#DailyDevotion Judge Not Is The Shibboleth Of Evil Doers
Amos 5:10-14
10You hate anyone who corrects others at the gate and loathe anyone who tells the truth. 11You trample on the poor and take part of his wheat away from him; so when you build houses of hand-cut stones, you won’t live in them; and when you plant pleasant vineyards, you won’t drink the wine from them. 12I know your wrongs are many and your sins are big —oppressing the righteous, taking bribes, and taking away the rights of the poor at the gate. 13That is why the wise man at that time will be silent because the time will be evil. 14Strive for what is good and not evil, in order to live, and so the LORD, the God of armies, will be with you as you say. 15Hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate.
It was perilous times in Israel. Those who tried to correct others bad behavior were hated and those who told the truth were loathed. It was very much like it is today. “Judge not!” you could say was their theme and “my truth” was in vogue. I guess you could say we are living in perilous times as well.
On top of them not wanting their wicked ways to be reproved and corrected, their idolatry, their turning away from the way of the Living God, led them to trample the poor and to use the tithe prepared for them for themselves instead. They were oppressing the righteous, taking bribes, and taking away the rights of the poor at the gate. While we in the US don’t have a theocracy that demands we take care of the poor do we individually close our hand to the poor when we see them? Do we open our hands to them or at least to organizations that will do that? Do we oppose unjust laws that unfairly affect the poor when we find out about them or do we sit on our hands and say there is nothing we can do? You do have representatives you can visit, call, send a letter, or email. You can vote for someone else who will listen to you. Eventually, it could be you who are affected by some unjust law that favors the rich over you.
At that time the wise man became silent because the times were evil. By his silence he consigned those who acted so wickedly to hell. I don’t think the LORD here is telling us this was good or his will. It was how they responded. Will we let those who do evil and oppress the weak go on without correction because they cry out “Judge not” not even knowing what that means?
The LORD’s command to the Israelites was this, “Strive for what is good and not evil in order to live…Hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate.” If the Israelites did this, the LORD would be with them and the Assyrians who were about to run over the land would not be able to do so. If they didn’t change their ways, the Assyrians would be hand of punishment from the LORD. Well we know they didn’t repent and Assyrians decimated the Israelites to where they were no more.
The LORD is calling us to do the same in our day. We individually are called to repent of our sins, strive for what is good and to hate evil. We will do that as we trust our LORD Jesus Christ to forgive us our sins and to give us his Holy Spirit. Trusting in him and living by the spirit we will not close our mouths at evil but renounce it. By his Holy Spirit we will begin to do what is right for the poor and the oppressed.
Heavenly Father, grant us courage by your Spirit, to reprove sin, repent of our own and live out Christ Jesus’ life in our own. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.