2 Thus says
the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Moab,
and for four, I will not revoke the
punishment,
because he burned to lime
the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of
Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the
trumpet;
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill all its princes with
him,”
says the Lord.
Amos 2:1-3
Amos 2:1-3 focuses our attention to
Moab. Moab, as we have known, was a
descendant of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
Moab was born to Lot’s younger daughter, who together with her older
sister committed incest with their father.
So, Moab was Lot’s son, which then became a big nation. Moab, thus, had blood connections to Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel or Jacob. Edom was
Esau, the firstborn of Isaac (Genesis 25:30), the twin brother of Jacob. Moab and Esau or Edom were then relative. With this background in mind, let us proceed
to God’s judgment against Moab.
The same formula of judgment is used
here: “For three… and for four…”,
which indicates God’s patience in waiting before pronouncing judgment. John Calvin said:
The Prophet then charges the Moabites here with perverseness:
and hence we learn that God’s vengeance did not come hastily upon them, for
their wickedness was intolerable, since they thus followed their crimes.[1]
God’s
judgment here was non revocable. It had
to be done because of the intolerable crime committed by the Moabites. What crime?
This is their crime:
because
he burned to lime
the
bones of the king of Edom.
We
might find our head spinning over this crime.
For it seems like a pretty small crime or even not a crime at all. Especially for us in Asia who are familiar
with burning the remains of the deceased.
Our head spinning because it feels like God was overreacting when He
pronounced the punishment that would destroy Moab completely.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of
Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the
trumpet;
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill all its princes with
him,”
says the Lord.
Was
God overreacting?
Let us hear what some theologians
have to say about the crime that Moab had committed against Edom. Gary Smith noted:
The burning
of the bones ‘to lime’ represents the totality of the destruction of the king. [2]
Calvin
pointed out:
To dig up
the bodies of enemies, and to burn their bones,—this is an inhuman deed, and
wholly barbarous.[3]
But
Calvin did not stop there, he pushed further:
But it was
more detestable in the Moabites, who had some connection with the people of
Edom; for they descended from the same family; and the memory of that
relationship ought to have continued, since Abraham brought up Lot, the father
of the Moabites; and thus the Moabites were under an obligation to the
Idumeans. If then any humanity existed in them, they ought to have restrained
their passions, so as not to treat so cruelly their brethren.[4]
Judging
from these commentaries, we could see that their crime is actually not a small
one. It is very serious. The gravity of the crime is amazingly
heavy. Calvin summed it up:
Now, when
they exceeded all moderation in war, and raged against dead bodies, and burnt
the bones of the dead, it was, as I have said, an extremely barbarous conduct.
The meaning then is, that the Moabites could no longer be borne with; for in
this one instance, they gave an example of savage cruelty. Had there been a
drop of humanity in them, they would have treated more kindly their brethren,
the Idumeans; but they burnt into lime,
that is, into ashes, the bones of the
king of Edom, and thereby proved that they had forgotten all humanity and
justice.[5]
Therefore,
their cruelty was beyond normal. Even
among enemies they should have respect.
They should have respected the ancestors of a nation. For they, the ancestors of Edom, might not
have done any wrong to them whatsoever.
Besides, the same blood flowed in their veins, so they ought to respect
their brothers. And what is more? James Montgomery Boice added:
So spiteful were the Moabites that they
heaped insult and sacrilege on defeat by desecrating the remains of one of the
national heroes of Edom.
We are to honor the past. [6]
Moab
did not honor the past. Without the past
there is no history. No history, no
origin. No origin means the wiping out
of humanity. This is a crime against
humanity. Billy Smith and Franklin Page
quoted Jeffrey Niehaus saying:
As J.
Niehaus explains: “Crimes against humanity bring God’s punishment. This
observation is a powerful motivation for God’s people to oppose the
mistreatment and neglect of their fellow human beings.”[7]
Now,
we get back to our question: Was God overreacting? It is clear from the views of the
theologians, God was not overreacting at all.
Surely the Judge of all the earth will do what is right. So Amos 2:1-3 opposes “crimes against
humanity.” This is indeed the theme of
the oracles in Amos. For our particular
passage, we learn that humans must not be cruel, nor disrespectful, nor
destroying the past, nor obliterating the memories of the noble heroes, even in
the context of war. Those who committed
crimes against humanity would get God as their opponent. Since Moab had abandoned all the noble ways
of humanity, they then had to be destroyed completely. Such was the pronouncement of judgment that
God uttered through His prophet, Amos.
The theme of judgment against those
who would destroy humanity never dies.
It continues on as long as humans still live on this earth. About 2500 years have passed since Amos
uttered the oracles, yet the warning from the oracles never fades. They continue to warn all people in the world
of crimes against humanity. Amos 2:1-3
is still so much relevant today as it was in the time of Amos. God judged Moab for their cruelty. He also judges those who choose the way of
Moab in this 21st century. We
all know about it in our heart of hearts that Moab’s kind of cruelty has no
place in human life.
The essence of Moab’s crime was
doing the unnecessary cruelty in order to lash out their hatred toward
Edom. Digging up the tomb of the
national heroes of Edom was not necessary.
Burning their bones to lime was many times over the limit. The very act that attempted to wipe out the
history of Edom was at the heart of Moab’s unnecessary cruelty. It would be enough to just defeat Edom in
battle. The humiliation of Edom was too
much. Moab had no pity, no mercy, no
heart toward the Edomites, even though they were their brothers. The abuse of power when they were on the
upper ground was a scandal of humanity.
Let me take it up a notch and speak
to you in the 21st century context, since we might not see anybody
today dig up the tomb of our loved ones in order to exact revenge on us. Let me bring this regional conflict into a
more personal problem. If say someone
had an argument with you, then in order to settle the matter he challenged you
to have a public debate. That person
then defeated you in debate. But he did
not feel enough by merely defeating you in that debate. So he wanted to humiliate you even more. In order to do so, he went to your past. Then he dug whatever embarrassing past you
had. He presented your embarrassing past
that had no relevance to the debate whatsoever, but only for the sole purpose
of humiliating you. It was a complete
humiliation. It was an unnecessary
cruelty.
Let me push further into the 21st
century everyday life. If say someone
had a beef with you, then in order to settle the matter he confronted you in
your WhatsApp group where all your friends hang out. He defeated you with his convincing arguments
in your WA group that you were then embarrassed. The matter should have settled right there
and then. But he did not feel enough. To lash out his anger further, he then took
an embarrassing photo of you and spread it all over the social media including
in your WA group. This is called
cyberbullying and that is an unnecessary cruelty.
In 2016, Tovanna Holton was 15 years
old when she committed suicide in her bathroom.
She shot herself on the head using her mom’s gun. What caused her committing suicide? Tovanna was a brilliant girl at the peak of
her teenage years. She was loved by her
family. But the incident began with Tovanna’s
friend secretly took a video of her bathing.
Then without Tovanna’s knowing, her friend posted that video on snapchat
and some other social media platforms.
Tovanna’s ex-boyfriend, who bore a grudge against her, viewed the video,
downloaded it and spread it on twitter.
Tovanna was beyond embarrassed.
She was completely humiliated. She
was bullied by many on and offline. When
she could not take it anymore, she took her own life.
Tovanna’s friend and ex-boyfriend
could have just settled whatever matter they had with Tovanna in a civil and
ethical way. But they did not. They dug her past that had no relevance to
whatever disagreement they had. Her
embarrassing video that she was not aware even existed was used to dishonor
her. They took the disrespectful route
in order to destroy her completely. They
were committing the unnecessary cruelty and crime against humanity. The bottom line is that they did not have any
decency to respect Tovanna as a human being.
They too did not act as respectful human beings. They might have sharp disagreements or even
in a very bad term with each other, but what they did was over the limit. They had committed the unnecessary cruelty
which in essence is just like what Moab committed against Edom. They desecrated the good memory of Tovanna.
Brothers and sisters, God is
just. He pronounced judgment against
Moab for their cruelty toward Edom. The
Edomites could rest in peace because the judge of all the earth took up their
case and justly punished Moab. God destroyed
Moab completely. We can also be sure
that whoever commits that crime against humanity, will have to face God. We may not see God’s execution of judgment
with our own eyes, but through the eyes of faith we trust. For even Jesus did not see God’s execution of
judgment against those who insulted and crucified Him unto the seconds He died
on that cross.
This message for us today ought to
keep us in check so as not to commit the unnecessary cruelty toward our fellow
human being, even though they might be very annoying to us. In order to keep us from committing Moab’s
sin, we ought to adopt the heart of Christ, who continued to express compassion
toward others. Remember that Jesus
prayed for the sinners when he spoke the first sentence of the seven words of
the cross. We don’t know whether they
then repented and be forgiven by God, but surely we see the heart of
compassion, the pity, the mercy of the Son of God. He could come down from the cross and then
with His power destroyed all the world for insulting Him and for wanting Him
dead. But He didn’t, did He? Jesus did not destroy humanity even though He
had every right and power to do so.
We, who live in the 21st
century, need to be careful with the use of social media. It can be a platform for unnecessary
cruelty. In itself, social media is
merciless. We, as Christians, should not
be agents of any crime against humanity via social media. Do not desecrate anyone’s good memory. Do not dig up the past with the motivation to
destroy other humans. Many politics in
this world have been dedicated to disrespect someone’s good memory. Do not learn from such horrible
practice. Have compassion, have pity,
have mercy, have the heart of Christ, so we would not commit any unnecessary
cruelty. And remember, God is just. God will deal with those who are cruel
against their fellow human beings. He
will destroy those who commit a crime against humanity. Amen!
[1]
John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets,
vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 171–172.
[3]
John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets,
vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 172.
[4]
John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets,
vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 172.
[5]
John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets,
vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 172.
[6]
James Montgomery Boice, The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 174.
[7]
Billy K. Smith and Franklin S. Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, vol. 19B,
The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers,
1995), 58.
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