Amos - For Three Sins of Gaza

“For Three Sins of Gaza”

(Amos 1:6-8, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 19, 2006)

Amos 1:6-8 6 Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. 7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. 8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish," says the Lord GOD.

THE PASSAGE CONSIDERED:
The Philistines did not always inhabit the coastland of Palestine. They came from a place called Caphtor. Caphtor was probably a coastal area somewhere in Greece or in Crete (Deuteronomy 2:23, Jeremiah 47:4, Amos 9:7). As residents of southwestern Canaan, their five city states would frustrate the plans of several generations of Israelites.

There is much that we do not know about the Philistines, but we can say these two things with some confidence. First, they were people of military power. They had iron weapons and chariots which at times gave them a military advantage over their neighbors. Secondly, like the Phoenicians to the north, they were heavily involved in trade.

Our text tells us their defining cultural as cited by Amos. “They carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.” Slaves were part of the spoils of war in the ancient world. It seems that the Philistines had a habit of selling theirs. In fact, we are told that they sold off whole Israelite communities. There is no note of pity for women and children. Everyone – the complete captivity – was carried off into exile to the Edomites.

Stealing people was a capital offense under the Mosaic Law (see Deuteronomy 24:7). But what is described here is not an isolated case of kidnapping, but mass deportations. Why would people do such a thing? Of course, the Philistines did this for their own gain. The foundation of their behavior was blinding greed.

To pursue such a policy you have to treat people as things, ignoring the fact that your captors are created in God’s image. This God hates, and He destroyed the Philistines for it. Attacked by the Assyrians and the Egyptians, it would be the Babylonians who would finally put an end to the people of Caphtor. After the year 604 BC, the history of the Philistines was over.

THE POINT: The world, absent the restraining hand of God, is a place of dehumanizing greed.

THE APPLICATION: How different is this from the mind of the Messiah! In the Old Testament ceremonial law, the high priest’s breastplate contained twelve precious jewels representing groups of people. He bore the tribes on His chest. Our great High Priest in his incarnation went one step further. He became one of us in order to rescue us. Our names are written on His hands. On the cross, the Son of God loved His people to the end.

A PRAYER: Mighty King and Priest, the world is full of consuming greed, and I have been a part of it. I have treated people as objects to be used for my own purposes, and ignored the dignity that you gave them by creating men and women in Your own image. Grant to me godliness with contentment, which is great gain. I know that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Help me to walk away from that unclean lust and to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, and love. May I live a life of holy Christian service so that the community around me may know that you are God. In Jesus name, Amen.

A POEM

The giants of Gloiath’s Caphtorim,
the Philistines who fought and captured lives,
have forced out all they conquered from their towns
and sold them to the Edomites for gain.

A greedy man
betrays His God,

for thirty silver pieces sold.

Much better would he be if never born.