Amos - For Three Sins of Damascus

“For Three Sins of Damascus”
(Amos 1:3-5, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 12, 2006)

Amos 1:3-5 3 Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the LORD.

THE PASSAGE CONSIDERED:
Ancient Syria (or Aram) is the first of seven nations that Amos speaks against. In each case God says “Enough is enough” by speaking of three sins and four. Then the Lord goes on to highlight one type of offense for each nation, and he announces the firmly settled consequences coming upon that land for their multiple transgressions.

Syria, with its capital of Damascus, was the nation to the Northeast of Israel. It should not be confused with Assyria. The language of the Syrians (Aramaic) was used all over the area. While they seemed to shared this with the Israelites, they had different societal rules and different gods.

In 2 Kings 8:7-15 we read about the ruling offices (Ben-hadad was probably a throne name for Syria, just as Pharaoh was in Egypt) and about specific rulers listed in our text in Amos. The brutality of the people becomes clear. Yet they were certainly not alone among the nations of the world in possessing that sinful attribute.

Amos specifically notes one defining cultural sin. “They have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.” Gilead was a part of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan river. The Syrians apparently used tools that were intended for harvesting crops and ran over people with them. A threshing sledge was pulled by a large animal. A man stood on the sledge, which was a board with iron spikes on the underside. As the animal pulled the man on the sled, anything beneath it would be torn up. This instrument of torture was use on people. Our understanding of this text is supported by 2 Kings 13:7. Because of this God would send fire upon them and send them back to Kir, their place of origin. This happened in 732 BC by the hands of the Assyrians.

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

THE APPLICATION: Despite any individual instances of brutality we may see around us, we are a society that is heavily influenced by a moral code informed by the Bible. This means that there is much of the restraining hand of God in our moral order. Yet we share this with the threshing sledge drivers of ancient Syria and with torturers in North Korean gulags. We have this awful depravity in us – a brutality that can only be restrained by God.

A PRAYER: Merciful Father, I have sinned against You, and have shown great malice toward my enemies. In doing this I have followed the depravity of the world, and not the gentleness which is Your good will for Your Son’s church. I think of the nails that tore the flesh of my Savior’s hands and know that my sin against You is not a light matter. Please take away this Damascus spirit from my heart, and fill me with Your lovingkindness. Only You can rid me of my awful sin. Thank You for Your mercy. In Jesus name, Amen.

A POEM

The iron-studded boards of Aram’s men
threshed human lives to dust in Gilead.
We tell our minds and hearts to look away.
Yet cries of people slaughtered God shall hear.

O brutal man!
You slay the Just.

I see the nails upon His hands.

The crucified Messiah lives again.