000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

112 Proper 27 [32]/Year A
Amos 5:18–24 (Alternate) (Paired)
One of the most famous passages from the Prophets, today’s reading is
often quoted in sermons dealing with issues of justice. Following Amos’s
lament over the sins of the northern kingdom (see Proper 23/Year B),
today’s prophecy was likely uttered at Bethel and precipitated the action
of Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, in exiling Amos from the northern kingdom
(7:10–11).
Verses 18–20 strike a note that began in 5:16–17: the future will be grim
for Israel if it does not turn and worship the Lord appropriately, in authentic
worship that expresses and reinforces the considerate justice that the
people are to be actively engaged in doing as their grateful response to all
that God has graciously done for them. Amos broaches the topic with a
discussion of the “Day of the Lord,” a prophetic expectation of a time (frequently
referred to as “that day”) when the Lord would put things right
between all people and between them and the created order. The Prophets
could speak of the day of the Lord as a day of great expectation or a
day to be dreaded. Amos does the latter, likening it to “darkness, not light”
(v. 20). God’s putting things right will not be a happy time for the rich who
oppress the rights of the poor, the orphan, and the widow.
Amos launches into a full-blown critique of the worship at Bethel
(vv. 22–23). He censures every kind of worship in which Israel engages.
The “festivals” were the yearly observances of Passover, Pentecost, and
Sukkoth, or Booths. “Solemn assemblies” were weekly services of worship
and sacrifice. “Burnt offerings” were those in which the entire victim was
offered to God, totally burned on the altar with its smoke rising to the
heavens. “Grain offerings” were offerings of grain (often for the sake of
the poor in place of the more costly animal or bird offerings), and “offerings
of well-being” (or “peace offerings”) involved a meal (offerings and
meals obviously continued to characterize the worship of Israel and the
church). The “noise of your songs” and the “melody of your harps” refers
to musical worship in the sanctuary. Amos will have none of it; all of it is
rejected, utterly.
The language of rejection is spoken by YHWH in the first person and
is also unreserved. The Lord utters six rejections: “I hate . . . I take no
delight . . . I will not accept . . . I will not look upon . . . Take away from
me . . . I will not listen” (vv. 21–23). Yet the larger context puts this in
Amos’s perspective. What he rejects is worship without the active practicing
of considerate justice. “Seek good and not evil . . . establish justice
in the gate” (5:14–15). It is not enough to “come to Bethel—and trans-