When we lived in Istanbul before a Turkish friend and I met for lunch every now and again for many years at a restaurant in the heart of the city. We have restarted this practice and had yet another good conversation over lunch a few days ago. Needless to say, with the Ukraine just across the Black Sea from here, we also spoke about the war. As it was with the wars in the Middle East and North Africa it seems so bizarre that somebody feels it is justifiable to attack neighbourhoods in another country and devastate the homes of people who have done them no wrong. Over the years I have discovered that my friend, who became a Christian almost 30 years ago, love to share the Gospel with people, but at the same time he is deeply offended by injustice and see it as part of his Christian responsibility to seek justice for others.  In a world where people often experience injustice in one or other form, being it as victims of war or underpaid migrant workers or people being sold into slavery it is important to understand how injustice offends God. The Book of Amos continues to guide us in God’s truth and help us to understand how important this matter is in the eyes of God.

At the heart of the message of Amos to Israel we find the following words in Amos 5:4–7.

‘This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel:  “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”  Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.’ There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.

Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba played very important roles in the salvation history of Israel. 

Bethel was the place God met with Jacob and confirmed the covenant promises that he had made to Abraham and therefore it become known as a place of covenant confirmation. After the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land Gilgal was the place where the provision of the manna ended and where they ate the first fruit of the promised land. It was here where they circumcised all the men who were born in the desert, and it became known as a place of covenant renewal.

Beersheba was in the south, within the borders of Judah, but people from the northern kingdom also made pilgrimages there. At Beersheba God spoke with Abraham, later with Isaac, and then with Jacob when he was on his way to Egypt with the brothers of Joseph.  So, Beersheba was a place associated with the idea of God being present with his people. 

These were all very significant places and yet Amos told the people not to seek Bethel, nor go to Gilgal, nor journey to Beersheba. Even though these places were closely associated with God’s dealing with his people in history they had become centres of false worship and injustice and stood under the judgement of God.   People still journeyed there on pilgrimages and religious activity thrived at these centres. Sacrifices were brought, music was made, songs were sung and generous tithes were paid. But God despised these actions and was offended because the people carried out only outward religious actions and not true worship of God Almighty. (Amos 5:21 — 23.) The people thought it was sufficient to enter the sacred space of Bethel and Gilgal and Beersheba and to participate in the liturgy and ritual of religion without really seeking God and encountering him. The result was that their hearts were untouched and even during the ritual of religion they plotted injustice. (Amos 8:5.) In the process the covenant law was broken and God’s holiness was offended and therefore He announced His judgement.

In the same verses Amos is also saying that God expected His people to seek Him so that they could live.  Life for Israel depended on their relationship with Him. A relationship would mean that they would know Him and love Him. Andersen and Freedman in their commentary on the book Amos point out that the Hebrew text allows for personification in Amos 5:16 so it could read: ‘Hate the evil One and love the good One.’ In Old Testament thought good was found only in the person of God and expressed in his holy law.  Without God there was no good. Reading Amos 5:4- 6 together with 5:14, 15 we can see what God desired instead of the false religion of  Bethel and Gilgal and Beersheba. He expected his people to hate what is evil and to love what is good. Seeking God means to love good and to love God.  He wanted His people to seek Him and to stand in a covenant relationship with Him. This relationship with God would result in obedience to His holy law. His law was an expression of His character and revealed what was good. The result of seeking God and standing in a loving relationship with Him would mean that justice and righteousness would flow out of the lives of His people. 

These words of Amos found their fullest expression more that 700 years later when the Son of God entered into a conversation with a woman who was a half descendent of the Israelites 

whom Amos had addressed. The conversation took place at Sychar (Schechem) not far from Bethel. This Samaritan woman wanted to talk about outward religious practice and asked Jesus on what mountain they should worship. Jesus wanted to talk about true religion and true worship and he answered that the time had come that the true worshippers would not worship on mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem, but would worship the Father in spirit and truth. Worship would flow from the inmost being of the worshipper and it would be in truth. The true worshippers would seek God in worship and stand in a relationship with Him. Out of such worship obedience would flow. And they would love God and their neighbours as they loved themselves and righteousness and justice would flow out of their lives. And the two commandments on which the law and prophets hung would be fulfilled.  The Israelites rejected the words of the prophet of God and received his judgement, but the woman accepted the living water and live the Son of God offered her and became a full member of the new Israel.   

For many years now in Mauritius worship is taking place in churches all over the island. Churches have musical instruments and well-rehearsed worship services led by able enthusiastic worship leaders. But all this will mean nothing, and our worship will be meaningless unless we truly seek the Lord. He longs for us to know Him and to stand in relationship with Him. Our worship should be an expression of our relationship with Him and as a result we must obey Him. That means that we will obey the great commandment to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and our neighbours as our selves. Then justice and righteousness will flow from our lives. 

It also means that I personally in my life and ministry must seek the Lord. I must seek to know Him and to love Him. I must seek good by obeying God and hate evil. If I fail to do this my ministry will also become a ritual and habit rather than an expression of a living relationship with God. A consequence of a living relationship with God will be a life that is marked by justice and righteousness along with the desire to share the Gospel. This would reflect itself in my relationships with other people being it my own family, the members of the church, my neighbours and refugees and migrants who often suffer injustice. Amos alerts us to God’s offense of injustice in personal actions, but also in the systems of the world and I must be sensitive to what offends God in the world and seek for His will to be done.