Doing Justice with Amos - Amos 5:21-24

Sentiments encouraging us to justice occur in many places in the Bible, but certainly not least in the prophets. I guess one of my favourite statements on this theme comes in the stirring words recorded by Amos in Amos 5:21-24 – "I spurn with loathing your pilgrim-feasts; I take no pleasure in your sacred ceremonies. When you bring me your whole-offerings and your grain-offerings I shall not accept them, nor pay heed to your shared-offerings of stall-fed beasts. Spare me the sound of your songs; I shall not listen to the strumming of your lutes. Instead, let justice flow on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing torrent."

Well, there’s not an awful lot held back here, is there? I spurn with loathing. I take no pleasure. I shall not accept. Spare me the sound of your songs. I shall not listen.

Amos is an interesting character. He began his prophetic task around the middle of the 8th century BC. He is the first of Israel’s prophets to have his words preserved in written form, though he was certainly not the first prophet. Elijah and Elisha were amongst those who had preceded him and, though there is some record of their activities, it is interesting that neither of them gets a book of their teaching preserved, while the likes of Amos does.

Though he is interesting, we actually know very little of Amos, only what we can glean from the nine chapters that make up his book. He is never mentioned in the historical books of Kings and Chronicles. His home was somewhere near Tekoa in the southern kingdom of Judah, though his prophetic ministry took place in the northern kingdom of Israel. He had something to do with sheep and fig trees. He apparently had visions and was involved in a confrontation with the priest at Bethel. He seems to have had a thing about the people going on pilgrimage to Bethel and their thinking that by engaging in a pilgrimage they could do just what they liked the rest of the time. Not so, says Amos, and he offers a clear call to a different way of living – in which the pilgrimage impacts on every other aspect of life. Amos has no time for what a friend of mine once called ‘Sunday Christians’.

He expects faith and worship to be lived out in everyday detail. Amos would have got on well with James. James 2:17 – "So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is by itself a lifeless thing." Earlier in the chapter it is made clear that God’s concern is with what is going on inside the people, not with any external demonstrations of piety. That’s in Amos 5:4/5 – "These are the words of the Lord to the people of Israel: if you would live, make your way to me, not to Bethel; do not go to Gilgal or pass on to Beersheba; for Gilgal will surely go into exile and Bethel come to nothing."

Amos condemns the traditional holy places, clearly indicating that lifestyle is far more important than location. What matters is that the people behave themselves, not where they do it. There is a wealth of religion in verses 21 to 23. It’s what we might call Gilgal, or Bethel, religion. Festivals, sacrifices and music are all evident and abundant. There is no doubt that they went in for religion in a big way at Gilgal. They took it seriously. They gave full expression to their religious joys, singing songs to the accompaniment of harps. The vibrancy and excitement virtually communicates itself. One can almost hear them singing. Only God can’t. I doubt if there are any other Biblical passages that so vehemently and so lucidly express the divine distaste. I spurn. I shall not. Instead.

They went to Gilgal to be religious, but they left their religion behind when they went home. Pilgrims rolled in to the festivals, but justice and righteousness failed to roll out into everyday life and relationships. Therefore their religion stank so far as God was concerned. When, in verse 21, it says I take no pleasure in .. , that literally means ‘I will not breathe in the odour of’. God rejects the worship the people offer him, looking instead for justice and righteousness.

What are these? What is this about? In verse 7 there is a reference to you that turn justice to poison. This indicates justice as being something that involves the treatment of other people. Justice is right behaviour in relation to others. The good person wants what is good for others, what is good for the neighbours. That is what he works towards.

In the same verse 7 righteousness is depicted as something thrown to the ground –"you thrust righteousness to the ground." This suggests righteousness to be a standard or a norm that is rejected. This measure of how things are is not taken up.
Amos here offers a clear expression of what God will not countenance and what God demands. It is simply not possible to offer God worship while trampling justice underfoot. Amos rejects a cult that is too rich in ceremony. He is looking for something different. Amos’ remarks must have seemed monstrous to his contemporaries, as they called in question the whole religious life of the Israelities. Amos is wanting to press another way.

The trouble with the Gilgal theology is that it kept religion in a sealed compartment. It was an activity isolated from the rest of life. What we have here is a tick box kind of mentality. Do the religious bit. Do the worship bit, then tick it off and move on to something else. There is always a risk that chuch can be viewed like that. Fulfil your obligations, and then it doesn’t matter how you behave the rest of the time.

Amos is stunningly clear that that is not how things should be. That view, of course, puts him firmly in the prophetic tradition. He knows that such a stance was never God’s intention for his people. What is needed is joined-up thinking. Their faith and their lifestyle need to influence each other. Is Amos saying that worship is a waste of time? I don’t think so – not for one minute.

But he is saying that meaningless worhip is precisely that – meaningless. Their worship needs to be accompanied by justice and righteousness. Justice and righteousness must not be things of fits and starts. They must be a consistent feature of the nation’s life if its corporate and organised worship is to be pleasing to God, so maintaining a proper relationship with him.

The metaphor used for the impact of justice and righteousness is that of water. Justice is to flow like a river. Righteousness is to be like a never-failing torrent. This has been Amos’ complaint all along. The torrent is the stream that flows from the hills in flood when the rains come, but dries up in the hot, dry summer. Rather, it should be never-failing.