Amos spends the next seven chapters exposing the sins of Israel.
Money Over Morality
The children of Israel became greedy. All they cared about was money. Judges would receive bribes and condemn people who were in the right. However, this goes far deeper. The people no longer cared about what was right and wrong, they only cared about what was profitable. Success was not defined as faithfulness to God and His commands; success was defined by wealth.
Clothing Over Compassion
Because of their greed they did not care for the poor. You could bribe a judge for a pair of sandals. People were literally more concerned about the clothes that they wore as opposed to the poor people among them. Poor people were not cared for and were constantly mistreated.
Progress Over the Poor
The Hebrew phrase here is translated several different ways. The idea is being out of breath as you hurry on your way. Essentially it is saying that the people were so eager and in a hurry that they did not care who they trampled in order to get what they wanted. The people of Israel did not care about how many poor people had to suffer as long as they attained wealth and status. Personal wealth and success was all that mattered.
Power Over Protection
Meek and humble people did not stand a chance in Israel. They would be taken advantage of left and right. Power was the only language people understood. If you were not loud and obnoxious your rights would be trampled. This was especially true in the legal system. Meek people would have their rights turned aside.
Jesus
Jesus is the exact opposite of everything that we see in the text. Jesus shuns money and dies for righteousness. He has only the clothes on His back which He then clothes His executioners with. He routinely stops to care for children, the poor, the blind, the disabled, and the sick. He defends the meek and speaks up for the victim and oppressed. We are like Israel, not Jesus. We need to repent of who we are and cry out for God to make us like Jesus.
Application
Will you repent? Will you seek for God to conform you to the image of His Son?
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