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It is good to encourage people to hate evilĪnd seek good and to do justice. Should be longing first and foremost for people to seek Yahweh. May we realize that while we desireīetter laws, better judgments, and better social interactions, we as Christians True justice in all areas will only occur when people sincerely seek Yahweh.Īs we long and fight for social justice today, The Israelites abandoned social justice because they abandoned Yahweh. Rather, for true social justice to happen, one must follow the other. The majority of Amos’ instructions on what the Israelites should do focuses on their relationship with Yahweh, and only two verses (5:14-15) include the concept of “social justice.” These are not two separate ideas.
![sins of the prophets sins of the prophets](https://i.imgur.com/70ggqkJ.png)
These two passages should help us reconsider how we view the current emphasis on social justice. Remove from me the noise of your songs, (5:23) Seek good and not evil in order to live, (5:14)Īnd establish justice in the city gates (5:15) In the second passage (Amos 5:4-23), he again focuses on their relationship with Yahweh, with a brief mention of what we call “social justice” today. Worshipping false gods and doing hollow acts of worship.Īnd proclaim freewill offerings! Make them known!
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These two passages (Amos 4:4-5) uses sarcasm to instruct them to stop In both of these passages his focus is on changing the people’s relationship with Yahweh, not on the social justice issues he also condemns them for. Out of all nine chapters, there are only two passages where he commands Israel to change their current actions. To help us understand how social justice fits together with the “religious sins,” we should look at the imperatives in Amos. There is no division for Amos, nor in the Bible at all, between “social justice” and these so-called “religious issues.” They are intertwined, mentioned in the same breath. These include, among other things, worshipping false gods (2:8), doing acts of worship while their heart is far from God (4:5-6, 8:5), and traveling to cultic sites to worship false gods (5:5).Īmos’ cry against social injustice is loud and clear, but that is only a portion of his message. But when you read Amos, you will see that these types of sins are intermingled with what we would call religious sins. Yes, Amos absolutely condemns Israel for these reasons. The term “social justice” today refers to injustices brought about because of disparities between wealth and privilege, and opportunities denied to certain groups. When we talk about Amos’ social justice today, we need to pause and consider how we define “social justice” and consider if it a fair description of Amos’ prophecies. Amos was not afraid to expose these sins that oppressed the poor and needy-and neither should we be afraid! Amos is quite harsh as he condemns Israel for their many social injustices: trampling on the poor like they were dirt (2:7), exploiting the weak and crushing the needy (4:1), extorting unfair taxes from the poor (5:11), taking bribes and denying justice to the needy (5:12), and stealing from the people in the marketplace (8:5). After all, he is considered the prophet of social justice, and for good reason. Have you ever wondered if there were any differences-or should there be any differences-between how the two groups approach social justice issues?īiblical discussions about social justice often involve Amos. That both Christians and non-Christians appear to have the same end-goal is intriguing. Yet, they are not alone as many non-Christians are fighting the social injustices alongside them. Thankfully, many Christians are leading the charge. As our awareness of social injustices increase, we are seeing more and more people not only stand against the injustices, but also actively work to stop it. Social media aids in spreading the word about social injustices that only seem to multiply and never fade. Every day the cries for social justice echo a little louder.