My jaw dropped when I read the first verse of this passage. I thought back to my school days when boys who were trying to be mean would call girls “heifers”. And to find out now that it all originated from Amos 4:1 – “you cows of Bashan”. Amos was directed to address the powerful women of Israel and their sinful practices – and God calls them cows (fat cows in one translation).
Here is what God had against them. They oppressed the poor to keep their fancy lifestyles (sounds almost like the Real Housewives show…). They crushed the needy. They bossed their husbands around. Sounds like a bunch of nagging…insert foot in mouth before I get in trouble.
God’s design for marriage is for the man to be the head of the household as Christ is the head of the church. That means the man is to respect his wife and defend her honor. When all else has been done, however, the wife is to depend on her husband to make the necessary godly decisions for the sake of their household.
These women of Israel had lost any care for people. They only cared for their own pleasures and comforts. When someone was hungry, these women were likely to feed their dogs. When people were thirsty, these women were likely to bath in the water. When people needed justice, these women were likely to bring up other issues to keep those needing help from being heard. They were wicked women – fat cows – heifers.
God’s judgment was to treat them as they treated others. Look at the imagery here. The women would be led by hooks out of the city through breaches in the wall. Have you ever seen cattle being herded through corrals? These women would be herded out of their places of power and led to a place of oppression. The served would become the wanton slaves of their oppressors. Oh the irony.
I could go on and on about the way some people lavish themselves uncouthly in the face of those in need.
Israel was in real trouble. Their false worship and the braggadocios manner of giving sacrifices to their false gods was sickening. God tells them to go ahead and sacrifice in Bethel (a city set up for worship after the majority of Israel left the rule of David’s family). He tells them to go to their worship places in Gigal. Every sacrifice was a sin against God. They loved the act of worship more than what they worshipped because they had long forgotten God.
Yet God spent countless years trying to guide them back. Their sin corrupted them so much that even natural disasters were not enough to turn them back to God. We see this in verses 6 to 11.
- God allowed the poor who were hungry to multiply in the cities – no response.
- God withheld rain from some and gave rain to others to the point of causing a water shortage – no response.
- Blight, mildew, and locusts were used to strike against the food supplies causing even greater need – no response.
- God allowed plagues to kill off families to the point of causing a great stench from all the death – no tears, no fears, and no response.
- God even overthrew the great cities and let their enemies ransack them – no response.
I do not know about you but I do not have to face these things to know I need to return to God. My heart is pricked by the Holy Spirit on a continual basis. The Israelites did not have this prick because their hearts had been seared by the damage caused by sin. God is slow to anger but His anger is terrifying when unleashed. God is forgiving and gracious but will not let the unjust go unpunished. God is caring and loving yet will not stand in the way of the carrying out of justice.
Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Amos 4:12 (NIV)
With all the floods, drought, sicknesses, diseases, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, you would think that people might start wondering if God is trying to get our attention. In plain English, verse 12 says, “Prepare to meet your maker.” I wonder if people really under stand this. This thought goes beyond just the death and meeting face to face with God. For many in the Bible being without God is terrifying but seeing His face can be even more frightening. God told Moses that he could not see God’s face or Moses would die!
Prepare to meet your God meant that they would see the power of God and for those who died they would meet Him face to face with their sins spread out before them. They would also be shown how many times God tried to get their attention. I really wish I could fully described how utterly powerful this statement is. How can you prepare to meet God? How have you prepared? How are you preparing? If you can answer those three questions, then maybe you can see this statement a little more clearly.
Verse 13 gives us a clue to those questions. God is the Almighty. He is Creator of all things. Therefore to prepare to meet Him you have to meet Him on His terms. God reveals His thoughts to man. Therefore to prepare to meet Him you have to want to listen to Him. God treads upon the highest places on earth which means, in preparing to meet Him, you must realize that He is available at all times to you. “The Lord God Almighty is His name” tells us that preparation to meet God must include knowing His name because some who meet Him will have a hard time clinging to the lies they tell themselves about His existence.
- How do you relate to today’s reading?
- Are you prepared to meet God?
- In what ways is God using the natural to get us to return to Him?
- Seeing the plight of the oppressive women, how unlike them are you? How like them are you? How do you need to change?
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