Topical Studies
What the Bible says about Moral Complacency
(From Forerunner Commentary)
A major key to understanding the application of both Hosea and Amos to us is that both prophets prophesied in Israel, the ten northern tribes, in an era similar to that in which we live, that is, in a last generation before a major national calamity. In their case, it was just before the people of Israel fell to the invading Assyrian armies, were removed from their homeland, and scattered to the four winds, never to return.
Historical records and archeological findings show that Israel was quite prosperous at the time, a major power in the world. Simultaneously, the nation was morally rotten to the core, and social injustice was the order of the day throughout the land. The Israelites of that time were literally getting drunk, as Amos reports them drinking wine by the bowlful (Amos 6:6). Yet a far more spiritual drunkenness guided their conduct. In addition, they practiced the ritual harlotry of the pagan religions they had adopted.
However, the lesson for us is spiritual. God is saying that at the end time, it will be as if a demonic power has seized the nation, destroying loyalty to God in a spiritual drunken frenzy, during which the people will think themselves totally in control.
Even as drugs destroy a person's capacity to think clearly, break down resistance to evil, and so becloud the mind that he becomes morally stupid, so does the spiritual drunkenness that results from a person allowing himself to drink in this world's ways. Escape into the fantasies of this world's attitudes and conduct deprives a person of his understanding, removes inhibitions, inspires false confidence - even bravado, plays havoc with modesty and restraint, and destroys loyalty within relationships.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Be There Next YearRelated Topics: Drunkenness | Escape | Moral Complacency | Moral Decay | Moral Insensitivity | Relationships | Resisting God's Will | Spiritual Drunkeness | Spiritual Fornication | Spiritual Harlotry
Law in Amos 2:4 refers to instruction, not legislation and its enforcement. From a Hebrew verb that means “to throw,” its root describes casting lots or throwing dice. When lots or dice were cast, God revealed His will in the way they landed (Proverbs 16:33; see Leviticus 16:8-10; Acts 1:26). At times, lots were used in making judgments in criminal cases in which judges needed to ascertain God's will (Joshua 7:13-25). Thus, by setting a legal precedent, the casting of lots provided instruction in other cases involving the same basic principles of behavior. God's will—His law—was taught to His people through casting lots.
This instruction process implies a teacher-student relationship. When the Israelites rejected God's instruction contained in His law, they rejected the Instructor as well. Their relationship with Him quickly deteriorated.
The Hebrew word underlying commandment means “to engrave or cut into stone,” suggesting its permanence and immutability in contrast to temporary and changeable lies. The law comes from an unchangeable, righteous, and pure God in contrast to fickle and iniquitous men.
Judah's despising of God's law and revelation of Himself was internal—from the heart (Psalm 78:37; 81:11-12; Jeremiah 5:23). The personal and social failures Amos records provide evidence that the people had rejected the truth. So it is with us: God wants to change our hearts so He can change our actions and turn around our lives.
In every area of life, Israel perverted the truth of God to accommodate human ideas. In the final tally, they loved lies rather than the revelation of God (II Thessalonians 2:11-12). Thus, Amos says that God's people despised His law. They made the mistake of devaluing their calling and considered it common. Believing they were God's elect, they thought they were irrevocably saved. With this attitude, it was only a matter of time before spiritual and moral complacency set in. As the church of God, we cannot allow ourselves to slip into this attitude because we, too, would fall into immorality.
If that occurs, God must pass judgment because His justice is the same for everybody (Colossians 3:25; I Peter 1:17). God's laws govern the people on the outside as well as the people on the inside. No matter what makes Israel or the church distinctly different, His judgment is always righteous. When God could not change Israel's immorality through His prophets, He had to punish them. So will He punish an apostate church.
It is easy to see why this book was written for the end-time church. The people of America and the British Commonwealth are already in the moral and spiritual condition of the people of Israel and Judah in the time of Amos. Members of God's church come out of such a world. Just as Israel's privileged position became a curse, so will it be for the Christian who ultimately rejects his calling (Hebrews 6:4).
John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Two)Related Topics: Calling, Rejection of | Casting Lots | Commandment | Complacency | Complacency, Moral | Despising God's Law | Fickleness | God's Judgment | God's Justice | Justice | Law | Moral Complacency | Rejecting God's Law | Rejecting Instruction | Teacher-Student Relationship | Truth, Despising | Truth, Love of
In Amos 3:9-10, the prophet is told to proclaim the tumults, oppression, violence, and robbery in the nation. The lack of law and order did not overly disturb the man on the street. He did not seem to realize that the cancerous immorality plaguing the country from within would result in her being crushed and destroyed from without.
However, when the time came to defend the nation from foreign invasion, Israel would have no strength (verse 11). God says in Ezekiel 7:14, “They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, but no one goes to battle.” Because the people were so preoccupied with their self-interests, they did not respond to the external threat of invasion, and the nation fell easily.
In our generation, we have seen that America's adversaries could not conquer it on the battlefield when its general level of morality was high. But as American moral fiber weakened between 1950 and today, they began to destroy it in the business world. Its foes in World War II, in becoming its allies during the Cold War, learned American ways and now rival or outpace the U.S. in many economic categories—not only in heavy industry, but in highly technological matters as well.
As American economic power is being sapped by moral cancer, its fighting spirit is being drained, too. Americans seem no longer able to present a united front on any matter. In addition, as the United States fills the role of sole superpower, as its troops are deployed all over the world, its military strength is exploited and thinned. In its moral and social malaise, Americans find it increasingly difficult to rouse themselves to action as a nation. America's allies know it is often a weak branch to lean on.
Behind all this is God, who sees the corruption and warns that the time is near:
“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'An adversary shall be all around the land; he shall sap your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered.'” (Amos 3:11)
“Therefore” connects the preceding verses with a conclusion or result. Tumult, oppression, violence, and robbery beget weakness and destruction.
Sin is inherently self-destructive. It holds out such promise of pleasure and fulfillment but contains within it the seeds of destruction. Whatever is sown is reaped. Why does Amos depict Israel as a powerless nation while she was at the height of her economic, political, and military power?
The nation's religion was a sham! Morality and righteousness make a nation strong, but immorality and unrighteousness will always bring it to ruin (Proverbs 14:34). Where religion is powerless, government, business, and community become ineffective because their moral undergirding is gone.
“'For they do not know to do right,' says the LORD” (Amos 3:10). Unable to tell the difference between good and evil, the Israelites finally reached the point where they called evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). This refers not only to spiritual truths but also to the marketplace. While they no doubt complained about the violence, they could not see that their own selfish ambitions actually produced the violence on the streets.
Evidently, even the religious people never made the connection between the moral and social breakdown in the nation and their selfish ambitions. They may have been embezzling from their company or overcharging their customers, but they went to worship services every week! That is why God says He will destroy the religious system, too (Amos 3:14).
Cold, calloused, indifferent, the ordinary Israelite just did not care about the other guy. “So what if he suffers while I enrich myself—that's life in the big city, baby!” Whether politician or businessman or religious person, all Israelites, it seems, looked at life this way. It was a view of life almost totally devoid of a social conscience. Their lifestyle glorified amorality. But, most condemning of all, it was a lifestyle diametrically opposite to that revealed by God through Moses.
We, too, need to be careful of this attitude in our own self-absorbed culture. Years ago, the media even called the “Baby Boom” generation the “Me Generation,” and a popular magazine found in supermarket checkout lines was boldly titled Self. Society has only become more self-centered in recent decades.
Notice the repetition of “palaces” and “houses” in Amos 3:9-11 and 15. God instructs Amos to tell the kings of foreign nations (verse 9) about the Israelites' stockpiling “violence and robbery in their palaces” against themselves (verse 10). To paraphrase, He says, “Look, My people have weakened themselves through sin! They are ripe for destruction!” God empowers the heathen, so they, as His battle-ax, will punish His people. His ultimate aim, of course, is to bring them to repentance.
John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Four)Related Topics: Complacency, Moral | Corruption | Immorality | Moral Complacency | Moral Decay | Repentance | Self Absorption | Self Centeredness | Self Interest | Selfish Ambition
“Cows of Bashan” (Amos 4:1-4) is a figure or symbol for the Israelite women in Samaria. Amos implies that these women are the trendsetters and leaders in Israelite society, a course Judah also took before she also fell (Isaiah 3:12). Apparently, when nations degenerate, leaders of society, who should be setting the standards, are replaced by women (or the effeminate) and children (or the immature), who, Isaiah says, “cause [them] to err, and destroy the way of [their] paths.”
In the United States, women have traditionally been the guardians of moral standards. In general, women have had high standards, while many men have held double standards. Amos, however, shows that the women of his day had slipped so far that they were “leading the pack” in immorality. And in America, the same is true: Women are becoming just as immoral as men in speech, sexuality, and criminal behaviors, even violent ones.
Apparently, God built safeguards into women to ensure that some measure of right ideals, standards, and practices are passed on to the next generation, providing a measure of stability to a society. With their mindset of aggressive ambition and their desire to compete and conquer, men tend to focus on achievement, often at the expense of morality and ethics. In general, women are not designed for this role, and when they begin to fill it, a nation is rapidly on its way down.
Besides this, a growing number of women today pursue full-time career positions for reasons of “fulfillment,” personal ambition, and social advancement, diminishing their high calling as wives and mothers. Womanhood, marriage, and homemaking (Titus 2:5) have become subservient to the selfish accumulation of things. Unfortunately, many women must work these days just to make ends meet. Primarily, Amos is speaking to the greedy, power-hungry, ruthless women we often see portrayed on television and in movies.
Amos impolitely calls them a demeaning name: a bunch of well-fed cows. Like cows, they are just following the herd. They are content with an animal existence, that is, they are completely carnal in their outlook (Romans 8:5-7). Their concern is only for the beautification, care, and satiation of their bodies. They live only for themselves, not for God.
Isaiah captures their attitude in a word—complacent (Isaiah 32:9-11).
Like their husbands, these cows of Bashan oppress the poor and crush the needy. By demanding more things, they push their husbands to succeed—at the expense of the weak. With the attitude shown in this passage, though, they did not care as long as their “needs” were met.
“Behold, the days shall come upon you when He will take you away with fishhooks and your posterity with fishhooks. You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast into Harmon,” says the LORD. (Amos 4:2-3)
The word translated “fishhooks” is relatively obscure in Hebrew, but it suggests that these lazy women will be ignominiously herded into captivity. Some have suggested it means carried away on the shields of their enemies or pulled on a leash.
In any case, those who formerly lay on the beds of ivory and on plush couches, pandering to themselves, will be led in humiliation through Samaria and into slavery. Isaiah describes the same scene in Isaiah 3:16-26. Because of their oppression of others and their haughty self-concern, their riches and beauty will be stripped away, and they will be left with nothing.
John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Four)Related Topics: Complacency | Complacency, Moral | Cows of Bashan | Immature Standards | Immaturity | Immorality | Moral Complacency | Moral Decay | Morality | Self Absorption | Self Centeredness | Selfish Ambition | Selfishness | Standards of Morality | Standards of Right and Wrong | Women as Guardians of Moral Standards | Women in Authority
Similar to Amos 6:12, Amos 5:7 connects justice and righteousness. The fruit of righteousness is justice. Justice is fair treatment, not only in the courts but in every aspect of life. This strikes at the root of a major portion of God's judgment of Israel (Isaiah 59:13-15).
In Amos 5:7, righteousness is pictured as a standard, flag, or banner thrown to the ground. They had “[laid] . . . to rest” or thrown aside the Torah, the law of God, the teachings of God. Instead, they were practicing what we call “situation ethics”—allowing their weak and untrained consciences to be their guide.
The practical result was “anything goes.” What does this mean in relation to social conditions?
Righteousness is what is right with God: “For all Your commandments are righteousness” (Psalm 119:172). It is the cultivation of correct moral principles within ourselves. As a nation, we should cultivate morality to produce spiritual and social growth.
Righteousness—morality—is therefore the foundation of justice. Justice is correct moral practice, the practical application of morality.
The Israelites were not cultivating God's commandments, the moral standards upon which any nation must operate if it is to be successful. Instead, they had developed a specious code of living which was incompatible with the Word of God. Since the correct moral principles were not being cultivated, there was no justice in society, and immorality reigned.
While righteousness is inward, justice is outgoing, concerning even such “trivial” things as being neat and orderly. Notice how much trash litters our highways, and graffiti mars our cities. Maybe no law of God specifically regulates our driving, but is it not fair and just to be considerate of others on the road? Certainly, God's law has to do with being thoughtful, gracious, tactful, and discreet, all of which are founded on one of its basic principles, the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12).
Once these “little things” stop being cultivated, then injustice begins to appear in more serious areas, such as increased crime, divorce, abortion, suicide, and the like. Morality plunges, and the people move farther and farther from godly mores and values.
And when God sees no repentance in sight, His wrath is not long in coming.
John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Four)Related Topics: Fruit of Righteousness | Golden Rule | Immorality | Justice | Little Things | Moral Complacency | Moral Decay | Moral Relativism | Moral Standards | Morality | Righteousness | Situation Ethics | Standards of Morality | Standards of Right and Wrong
In these two verses, Amos addresses the nation's leadership about the way they were living. Chief means “first.” They felt Israel was the chief nation on earth, and no other could withstand it. But God says the leaders of Israel were complacent, “at ease,” and the nation's citizens were following their examples.
The ordinary Israelite looked to the wealthy, powerful, and influential as models for their own behavior, and they saw self-indulgence, unfounded pride, moral degeneracy, and self-satisfaction. Another nation, the real “first nation,” would show Israel its true state by destroying it! Israel would be attacked from Hamath in the north to the Arabah in the south.
John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Six): Complacency and LaodiceanismRelated Topics: Complacency | Complacency, Moral | Israel's Privileged Position | Moral Complacency | Moral Degeneracy | Pride | Self Indulgence | Self Satisfaction
Amos 6:4-6 mentions feasting, indulging in artificial stimulation, listening to unusual music, and taking excessive and vain measures in personal hygiene. The single idea behind these illustrations is that the excesses of powerful Israelites were possible because of their oppression of the weak and poor.
By contrast, verses 9-10 show ten common Israelites huddled together in one house in fear of the war-induced plagues. People will die so rapidly that the survivors, looking out for themselves, will not take the time to bury the bodies of their own families but burn them in huge funeral pyres. These survivors will eventually recognize that God has dissociated Himself from them, and they will consider it an evil thing even to mention His name! How very bitter! And how very far from God!
The people, whether rich and indulgent or poor and deprived, were self-concerned. Throughout chapter six, Amos balances complacency and disaster, boasting and fear, showing that they result from rejecting God and idolizing self. Inevitably, God will send judgment upon Israel.
John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Four)Related Topics: Addictions | Artificial Stimulation | Complacency | Complacency, Moral | Creature Comforts | Drink | Epicureanism | Excess | Feasting | Food | God's Judgment | Hedonism | Hedonistic Lifestyles | Indolence | Israel's Worldliness | Luxury | Moral Complacency | Music | Oppression of Poor | Overindulgence | Self Centeredness | Self Idolization | Worldliness
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