There are a few people that it takes a lot to make them angry. These are the people who are not easily provoked. Their tolerance of others is astounding! However, some get angry very quickly. They are easily provoked and quickly react with hot, negative emotions. There are still others who get angry and keep a sense of resentment for a long timetheir anger (which may have been a just provocation) poisons their future because they cannot forget what happened in the past. They simply cannot get past an injustice that occurred years before to see the present for what it is.
One of the major injustices against God usually involves Gods anger. Those who misunderstand God and have little understanding of scripture often portray God as an angry, intolerant being who quickly, emotionally reacted to any human provocation or perceived injustice.
Consider the situation Amos addressed as an illustration. Begin with the understanding that Israel started as a United Kingdom which included all the Israelite tribes. That United Kingdom ended with Solomons death because of Solomons idolatrous acts. When Solomons son, Rehoboam, made some critical mistakes in seeking to become King of the United Kingdom, ten of the Israelite tribes made Jeroboam king, established a new kingdom known as the Kingdom of Israel, and permanently separated themselves from the Kingdom of Judah.
In this new kingdom that appointed Jeroboam as king, several things were true. (1) God promised to bless Jeroboam and establish his dynasty in that breakaway kingdom if he whole-heartedly followed God [1 Kings 11:30-40]. (2) Jeroboam, in fear, turned to idolatry and refused to trust God [1 Kings 12:25-33]. (3) From the time this kingdom began, there is no scriptural record of it ever instituting a religious reform to return to God. (4) In the kingdoms 200 plus year history as a kingdom, there is repeated declarations of the wickedness of the kings of this nation [as examples, 1 Kings 15:25, 26; 15:34; 16:7; 16:13; 16:25, 26; 16:30, 31; 22:52, 53; 2 Kings 10:29-31; 13:2, 11; 14:24.] (5) If it is assumed that Amos prophesied around 760 B.C., the wickedness and rebellion of the Kingdom of Israel lasted just over 160 years before Amos declared God would exact the consequences of the Kingdom of Israels wickedness. Though there were many past provocations in the Kingdom of Israel, never in those past provocations did God react as Amos declared was to come. Gods promised reaction was hardly a quick outburst of anger over a minor incident of injustice and rebellion!
God had been patient for generations, and the Kingdom of Israel was not even aware of Gods patience. The Kingdom of Israel exploited Gods patience like someone who is delivered from an impossible indebtedness only to use their deliverance to produce a new impossible indebtedness. There was no appreciation of Gods patience, only an arrogance that increased the Kingdom of Israels self-indulgence.
Amos, in chapter 3, began to detail the reasons for God being infuriated. Chapter 3 only begins the reasons for Gods deep frustration with the Kingdom of Israel. This frustration does not mean there were no godly people in that kingdom (see 1 Kings 18:3, 4 and 19:18 as examples). It means the Kingdom of Israel was wicked as a kingdom in spite of the presence of some godly people. (Is it not frightening to understand that godly people can suffer as the result of the wickedness of the majority?)
Chapter 3 began with a series of rhetorical questions with obvious, predictable answers. The point: With an unusual relationship with God also comes unusual responsibilities. The fact these people in the past had a unique relationship with God meant they also had unique responsibilities. The fact such unusual responsibilities existed for them should be obvious! As a person had reason to fear when he heard a lion roar, the Kingdom of Israel had reason to be afraid when God was frustrated with them!
Thus God gave an invitation to the Philistines and the Egyptians to come watch what happens to those who offend God by (1) ignoring the needs of others and (2) trusting in the security they built.
Gods message to the Kingdom of Israel is this:
1. A superior enemy will surround you and make you powerless.
2. What you trust in as your protection and strength will not protect youyou will be looted as you powerlessly watch.
3. As a shepherd rescues pieces of a dead sheep to prove he did not steal the sheep, there will be nothing alive among you to rescue.
4. Your idolatry frustrates Me endlessly, and your false gods cannot protect their altars or you.
5. Your prosperous indulgence will not and cannot deliver youyour prosperity cannot buy your way out of My fury!
6. I, God, am telling you it is over!
This is a chilling rebuke for those who trust in themselves instead of the Creator God!
For Thought and Discussion
1. Give three reactions to anger found in groups of people.
a.
b.
c.
2. What does one of the major injustices against God usually involve?
3. When did the United Kingdom that included all the tribes of Israel end? Why?
4. State five things that were true of the Kingdom of Israel.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
5. How long was God patient, not destroying the Kingdom of Israel?
6. Did Gods frustration mean there were not godly people in the Kingdom of Israel?
Explain your answer.
7. What should we today find frightening?
8. What was the point of the rhetorical questions in the opening of chapter 3?
9. Give possible reasons the Philistines and Egyptians were invited to be witnesses.
10. Give six statements of Gods message to the Kingdom of Israel.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
11. Why should all find this rebuke chilling?
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 5