The purpose of this lesson is to stress indirect oppression of the poor and to note when religious solutions are ineffective.
No one can imagine going back. Each generation imagines only going forward. The older adults commonly shake their heads at the younger adults because of all the experiences the younger adults have not had. The older adults like to speculate on “what if ...” The younger adults commonly regard the older adults as irrelevant because they are so easily confused by today’s newer ways. They regard the “what ifs ...” of the older adults as concerns that have no meaning in today’s world. The older question the values of the younger, and the younger question the lack of flexibility in the older. Nothing is new in any of this—it has happened generation after generation.
This clash between the older adults and the younger adults has existed in most generations. New advances always make the “tried and true methods” obsolete. Ways of life and occupations disappear with advances.
Real crisis comes for everyone (old and young) when a new, unanticipated danger redirects existence into ways and experiences no one has had. In dramatic fashion, life cannot continue as it has been, and no experience in the past equates to the “new now.” No one knows what to do. These disastrous conditions have never existed. Nothing works. Everything gets worse as the “living nightmare” continues and unfolds into more dreadful events and conditions. No one—old or young—has answers.
A new crisis that has not been experienced by anyone distresses the world of everyone—regardless of age or experience. The tension of the disaster increases because neither the experience of the past nor the innovations of the present can manage the new circumstances. Life is changed for old and young.
Amos chapter 4 is not the only discussion of the reasons for God’s intense anger with the Kingdom of Israel. Many situations that contributed to God’s anger occur throughout the book of Amos. Reasons for the divine anger begin in the last of chapter 3 with God’s reaction to their false gods and their luxurious lifestyle. However, chapter 4 deals with reasons for God’s anger in unexpected ways—in passive contributors and in commonly recognized solutions.
There is no desire to make students think only Amos 4 deals with God’s anger. For examples, consider 6:1-8 or 8:4-10.
Begin with a simple understanding. That world in the Kingdom of Israel and our American world have little in common. In our American world, women earn incomes by being a part of the work force. It seems in most instances to be necessary for a wife to work in order to provide the level of necessary income to make possible the things that the family unit wants. (Single adult women are expected to work to provide their own needs.) There are very few things that men can do work-wise that women cannot do, and some things women do better than men. Even women in higher social levels have jobs with an income when they are in families that make such jobs unnecessary financially. (This is not at all the suggestion that women who are not in the work force and do not “earn an income” do not work and work hard.)
Discuss and consider the numerous reasons for women seeking income-providing jobs in 21st century America.
What Americans consider “job opportunities” for women hardly existed in the Kingdom of Israel in Amos’ time. To enable themselves and the family to exist, women did hard, difficult, demanding labor.
Note (perhaps discuss) the fact that honorable job opportunities did not exist for women in the Kingdom of Israel in Amos’ time. Do not let the discussion pursue the matter of women’s rights. The focus of the discussion is not on women’s rights then and now, but their view of success.
If you would like to read in scripture some of the things wives could do, read Proverbs 31:10-31. A woman’s dream in the Kingdom of Israel was to have a husband who was so financially successful that she would not have to engage in demanding, difficult work.
Women worked hard then, and some of their work generated income. However, women’s “job opportunities” were limited.
Success was viewed in terms of a lifestyle, not in terms of productive work. For a woman, “having it made” was having a husband who made a luxurious lifestyle possible. The cows of Bashan are the wives of financially successful men who lived in the royal city of Samaria.
For women then, the success objective was not to do hard work rather than finding a fulfilling job opportunity that provided a significant financial reward.
Important question: How did these women oppress the poor and crush the needy? Shocking answer: They did so by urging their husbands to make more (regardless of who was hurt in the husbands’ commitment to success), so the wives could continue and increase their indulgent lifestyle.
Emphasize their “non-direct” role in the problem of exploiting people in need. Discuss which is worse: (1) to have no income, or (2) to have an exploited income. Neither is justification for exploitation.
Shockingly, God was angered by a passive oppressing of the poor and crushing of the needy. These women were not indicted for any direct actions against the poor and needy. They angered God because their passion for a self-indulgent lifestyle pressured their husbands to “use” the poor and needy rather than to “help” the poor and needy. The poor and needy were opportunity, not people. These women were indicted because they were only concerned about their self-indulgence, not struggling people.
Please note this was at its foundation a spiritual problem, not an economic problem. The distinction between secular and spiritual is an artificial means of seeking to avoid the problem. Social problems are spiritual problems when the core of the issue is examined.
We are accustomed to thinking that only a direct action of behaving evilly results in any sense of accountability. Here accountability is incurred by pressures that encourage and become the motivations for evil acts. It was accountability through indirect pressure.
With God, providing the need/motivation for wickedness is engaging in the wickedness. It is not just “their fault” when our lifestyle/habits motivate them to do it. Righteousness is concerned with the impact of its acts, not merely the immediate result of its acts.
Often people regard the solution to evil’s consequences to be religious acts. As an example, think of common reactions in America after the twin towers were destroyed in the September attack of 2001. In the aftermath of the attack, God was invoked and acts of worship were profuse. The religious outpouring was astounding!
Performing a religious act of worship is not the same as genuine repentance. God does not exist to be manipulated for human purposes, but to be served.
God declared He would regard their religious acts as transgressions—sacrifices, tithes, thank offerings, and freewill offerings are declared to be transgressions. God would be offended by their religious acts!
It is possible to offend God through correct religious acts. While functioning correctly is important, the motive for functioning correctly is equally important. Honestly examine much of the first two-thirds of Matthew 6.
God previously tried to gain their attention through starvation (cleanness of teeth), a withholding of rain, major inconvenience, a destruction of gardens and orchards, plagues, and military disasters. They refused to listen, connect events with conduct, or understand. God tried to gain their attention before this ultimate disaster, but they would not listen. Their wickedness left God no choice!
Note two things: (1) God seeks to gain the attention of the wicked; (2) wickedness can go so far that God must act against it. That is especially true when the wicked should be righteous.
For Thought and Discussion
1. What can no one imagine?
No one can imagine going back.
2. When does real crisis come for everyone?
Crises come for everyone when a new, unanticipated danger redirects existence.
3. Amos chapter 4 discusses what? Name two things that make chapter 4 unique.
Amos 4 discusses some reasons for God’s intense anger. It discusses (1) passive contributors to wickedness and (2) a common solution to an angry deity.
4. What simple understanding should begin your thinking? Contrast views of women.
The world of the Kingdom of Israel and the world of America today were quite different. The contrast should include many American women’s pursuit of job opportunities versus their women’s desire to escape hard work.
5. What does Proverbs 31:10-31 provide?
This scripture provides a picture of acceptable hard work for women in roughly that time period.
6. Women in the Kingdom of Israel then viewed success in life how?
They viewed success in terms of lifestyle.
7. Give the important question asked, and give the shocking answer.
The important question: How did these women oppress the poor and crush the needy?
The shocking answer: They did so by urging their husbands to make more so they could increase personal indulgence.
8. Shockingly, why was God angered?
God was angered by their passive oppression.
9. How are we accustomed to thinking?
We are accustomed to thinking only direct actions of behaving wickedly result in accountability.
10. What is the second way we are accustomed to thinking? How was God influenced by their religious acts?
We think the solution to evil’s consequences is religious acts. God regarded their religious acts as transgression.
11. How had God tried to gain their attention?
God had tried to get their attention through starvation, withholding rain, major inconvenience, a destruction of gardens and orchards, plagues, and military disasters.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 6