#DailyDevotion The LORD Hates Perverted Justice
Amos 5 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.
The gates of the cities and towns were where justice was had. There the elders held court and judged the people. The verses here describe what was going on at these gates of the Israelites, whom the LORD, by the Torah, was to demonstrate to the world how wise and just they were, were instead demonstrating the opposite.
You may see some parallels to today. Those who corrected others at the gate and spoke the truth were hated and loathed. In today’s parlance, these are the same people telling others to “not judge,” and adding “phobe” to whatever sin is currently in vogue at the moment. They call evil good and good evil. It was happening in a similar fashion in Amos’ day in Israel. Would be the LORD spare us from what He inflicted upon Israel in his day.
Further, they trampled on the rights of the poor and stole their wheat in one fashion or another, no doubt with whatever “laws” they made up or were perverting of the LORD’s. Those who had were taking advantage of the poor and lowly. Certainly we have this going on in our country today. You might remember the great transfer of wealth that occurred during covid, where the big stores and online stores were permitted to do business while many small businesses were driven out of business by unfair laws, rules and regulations. And that is just the tip of the iceberg we can see.
Because of their sins the LORD was going to inflict upon them what He threatened in the Torah. Deut. 28, “30You will be engaged to a woman, and someone else will violate her; you will build a home and not live in it. You will plant a vineyard and not eat its grapes. . .39You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will drink no wine nor gather grapes, because the worms will eat them.” This is what the LORD is threatening to do to Israel because of their hatred of justice and everything good.
In Deut. 16 it is written, “19Don’t be unjust or show favoritism toward certain persons. Don’t take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of wise men and twists what righteous men say.” In Ex. 23 it is written, “6Don’t pervert justice when your poor man comes with a complaint.” Yet the Israelites did not do this. They were oppressing the righteous, taking bribes to get away with crimes, and taking away the rights of the poor. Have we seen injustice in our own land? Will the LORD treat our country better than Israel? I recall the judgment against Babylon in Revelation 18. It represents the religious/business world power of the world. It will be destroyed in one hour and all the merchants of the world who made their wealth off of her will mourn. Let us make sure we are not part of that system but rather tell the truth, demand justice, be merciful to the poor and see to it fair business practices are being done—instead of excusing evil by saying, “It’s just business.” The LORD has been merciful to us in Jesus. Let us do likewise.
Heavenly Father, You will judge all those who pervert truth, pervert justice and oppress the poor and lowly. Give us courage to tell the truth, demand justice, and be merciful to the poor of the land. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.