On Moab
2
📚Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Moab 📖,
and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because he burned 📖 the bones
of the king of Edom to lime.
2 📚So I will send a fire on Moab,
and it will devour the palaces of Kirioth 📖;
and Moab will die amid tumult
and shouting and the sound
of the trumpet.
3 📚And I will cut off 📖 the judge
from its midst,
and will slay all its princes
with him”, says the LORD.
Judgment on Judah
4 📚Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions
of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because they have despised the law 📖
of the LORD,
and have not kept his commandments,
and their lies led them astray,
the lies 📖 their fathers 📖
followed.
2:4 From here to the end of this book God speaks of His own people. He has much more to say about their sins than about the sins of other nations. Because they had His law and knew much more truth than other people, they were more guilty and deserved harsher punishment. God determined to punish other nations; He could not let His own people escape punishment. See Amos 3:2.⚜
5 📚So I will send a fire 📖 on Judah,
and it will devour the palaces
of Jerusalem”.
Judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel
6 📚Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because they sold the righteous
for silver,
and the poor for a pair of sandals.
7 📚They pant after the dust of the earth
that is on the head of the poor,
and turn aside the way of the humble.
And a man and his father go in to the
same girl 📖,
thus profaning my holy name 📖.
8 📚And they lie down beside every altar 📖
on clothes taken in pledge 📖,
and in the house of their god
they drink the wine of those
who have been condemned.
2:6-8 Now attention is focused on Israel, especially the northern kingdom (concerning the division of the twelve tribes into two kingdoms see 1 Kings chapter 12). It too was guilty of many sins against God and His law, and had to be punished. The nation as a whole was called to be a holy and righteous people, to have compassion on the poor – Ex 19:3-6; 23:11; Deut 15:7-8, 11. Instead they persecuted the righteous and oppressed the poor, and for financial gain were willing to commit any evil – Amos 4:1; 5:11; 8:4-6. They were not interested in justice, only in bribes and profit. The poor and oppressed could not pay bribes and so got no justice.⚜
9 📚Yet it was I who
destroyed the Amorite 📖 before them,
whose height was like the height
of the cedars,
and whose strength was
like the oaks.
Yet I destroyed his fruit above,
and his roots below.
10 📚“Also it was I who
brought you up from the land of Egypt 📖,
and led you forty years through
the desert, to possess the land
of the Amorite.
11 📚And I raised up some of your sons
as prophets 📖, and some of your young
men as Nazirites 📖.
Is it not so, O children of Israel?”
says the LORD.
12 📚“But you gave the Nazarites
wine to drink,
and commanded the prophets, saying,
‘Do not prophesy 📖’.
2:12 This is how Israel treated these great gifts of God. They showed utter contempt for the servants of God and therefore for God Himself. If a Nazirite drank wine he broke his vow of dedication. Israel did not want people fully dedicated to God or people telling them the truth of God. They did not want to be rebuked for their sins by either the lives or words of anyone. Compare 2 Tim 4:3-4.⚜
13 📚“See, I am weighed down by you,
as a cart full of sheaves is
weighed down.
14 📚Therefore flight will perish
from the swift,
and the strong will not strengthen
his power, nor will the mighty
deliver himself,
15 📚Nor will the one who handled
the bow be able to stand;
and the one who is swift
of foot will not escape,
nor will the one who rides a horse
deliver himself.
16 📚And the bravest of the mighty
will run away naked in that day 📖”,
says the LORD.
2:13-16 There could be no escape for such people even if they were God’s chosen nation.⚜