God chose one people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth (Dt. 7:6). That is not the same thing as saying God had no plan or purpose in the existence of all the other nations of the earth. The Old Testament prophets often spoke the word of God to the nations abound Israel, even as they spoke truth to the family of Jacob. We can learn from these prophets what God values in that nation He has created but which He did not make His “special treasure.”
Amos’ prophecy gives us a message we Americans can take to heart. If I know what God desires of Syria and Moab and so forth, I can know what He desires of us. Amos’ messages to the nations are found in today’s passage. What nations did God address? What had they done that caught the attention of the Judge of all the Earth?
· 1:3: Syria (Damascus) had attacked Gilead, that part of Israel that was east of the Jordan River and south of Syria. They treated the people with cruelty. This event is mentioned in 2 Kings 10:32-33.
· 1:6: The Philistines of Gaza had taken captives, perhaps in the same event as in 1:3, and turned them over to the Edomites, Israel’s most cruel enemy.
· 1:9: Apparently Israelites from Gilead had also fled to the north, to Tyre (Phoenicia), and they also turned the captives over to the Edomites.
· 1:11: Edom, the descendents of Jacob’s brother Esau, took the captives given to them and treated them with cruelty and with no pity.
· 1:13: Ammon, a nation that bordered on Gilead, treated the people of Gilead with great cruelty in an attempt to take land from them.
· 2:1: The last of Israel’s neighbors to be judged by God was Moab. Their sin is both unique and uncertain since there does not seem to be a record of this unrelented revenge against Edom.
One thing we can say about God’s “expectations” as Judge is that He sees things through His own prism. The sins have to do with excessive cruelty against His chosen people. If you read the event, you see that God was judging Israel by taking away from them the area of Gilead. It was eventually restored, but this was God’s work. But the sin of the nations was that they went beyond God’s intent. It indicated a rejection of God’s plan. I am reminded of Israel’s beginnings in Genesis when Ishmael did not recognize Isaac’s place but ridiculed him, Esau did not submit to God’s promise that “the older would serve the younger” and intended to kill Jacob, and Joseph’s brothers did not accept God’s word through the dreams but instead persecuted Joseph. The nations must submit to the will and wisdom of God.
Even today the Jewish people, the people of Israel, are under God’s judgment (cf. Deut. 28:64-68). Yet, they are still God’s treasure. A nation seeking to be blessed by God would do well to consider this. Recently this was in the news. I think it is a good illustration of what we are talking about.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba — son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni — who is considered to be his likely successor, has spent this week making a barrage of posts on X in support of Israel. "We stand with Israel because we are Christians," he wrote.
