Judah

Bible Study

Amos 2:4-5 ESV

Today we look at Judah and once again God pronounced He would not revoke the punishment. Beginning with this scripture it was God punishing, but God’s punishment was specific. He is rejecting them for rejecting the laws of God.

Amos 2:4-5 tells us, “Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.

So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

Despite the fact that Judah was the target, God said they were being punished for good reason (because they rejected the law of the Lord.)

Specifically, Judah had not kept the statutes they were told must be obeyed.

Judah was following false prophets and they told lies to the people of Judah. Because they would not listen to the prophets God sent, God declared He would send fire on them.

God was very specific. Because of their disobedience God promised He would send fire on Judah. God was specific that the fire would consume the very fortresses of Jerusalem. The three specific sins of Judah were idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism.

I paused while writing this because I was having troubled relating to how the people of Judah felt.

I remembered when I was young and I had company over to play. Even though I knew the rules when someone else was there I would “fudge” a bit. If I got caught I knew I would get in trouble, and my punishment would be worse than the punishment of the other girl.

I thought that was unfair…but truth be told I knew better.

It’s the same with Judah. Amos was from the southern kingdom, specifically from Tekoa which is a small town in Judah.

God had been faithful but Judah broke their end of the deal. Now they had to face God. It hurt Judah a lot but they knew God was right.

Judah knew better but they sinned anyway.

In God, Deborah

acrazyjourney.com