Amo 6:6 | KingComments | STEP | The tableware they use is meant to be used for drink offerings in the sanctuary. That sanctuary may be their own, but they say they serve the God of Israel there. The delicacies of the previous verse are washed away with large quantities of wine flowing down their throats. You can rightly say of them that they are “heroes in drinking wine” ( ). They also use the holy anointing oil, which may only be used for the service of the LORD ( ), to make themselves beautiful. The most excellent oil belongs to God ( ; ), but His rights are not taken into account at all. It is a depiction of the way Christianity celebrates, for example around and during Christmas. One indulges in luxury and excess and dances to the atmospheric Christmas music of the band playing at Christmas dinner. At the same time, the Christmas Child, He Who became poor to make poor sinners rich, has been replaced by Santa Claus with ever larger gifts. It resembles what Belsazar has done ( ). But who still grieves “over the ruin of Joseph”? We can think of the pit into which Joseph was thrown, while his brothers are settling down to eat ( ). They do not care about “the distress of his soul” and which they see ( ). While Israel sighs under the consequences of sin, its inhabitants surrender to carelessness, pleasure, and laziness. They use all the gifts God has given them for themselves. The pursuit of their own pleasure pushes the state of emergency of God’s people into the background. Israel is in distress, where the greatest distress is that the people do not see their distress. It laughs and dances towards its ruin. The fact that the unity of the people has already perished does not bother them. They are also blind to the breaches, the fragmentation, that have arisen in the people because of their selfish behavior and as a result of which they will soon collapse. Only “a cord of three [strands] is not quickly torn apart” ( ). People living among themselves who are dependent on each other alone will not be able to develop a lasting bond. Only when God is involved as the third and binding ‘factor’ in the bond, will it be preserved from breaking. Even today, many remain indifferent to the fact that the whole church has been crumbled into countless pieces. Even terms such as ‘the varicoloredness of God’, which would be seen in the division, are used to justify it. Pursuing our own convenience makes us insensitive to the decay in the church and the divisions that exist.

‏ Amos 6:6

Wine, Oil and Ruin

The tableware they use is meant to be used for drink offerings in the sanctuary. That sanctuary may be their own, but they say they serve the God of Israel there. The delicacies of the previous verse are washed away with large quantities of wine flowing down their throats. You can rightly say of them that they are “heroes in drinking wine” (Isa 5:22). They also use the holy anointing oil, which may only be used for the service of the LORD (Exo 30:22-33), to make themselves beautiful. The most excellent oil belongs to God (Exo 23:19a; Deu 18:4), but His rights are not taken into account at all.

It is a depiction of the way Christianity celebrates, for example around and during Christmas. One indulges in luxury and excess and dances to the atmospheric Christmas music of the band playing at Christmas dinner. At the same time, the Christmas Child, He Who became poor to make poor sinners rich, has been replaced by Santa Claus with ever larger gifts. It resembles what Belsazar has done (Dan 5:1-4).

But who still grieves “over the ruin of Joseph”? We can think of the pit into which Joseph was thrown, while his brothers are settling down to eat (Gen 37:23-25). They do not care about “the distress of his soul” and which they see (Gen 42:21).

While Israel sighs under the consequences of sin, its inhabitants surrender to carelessness, pleasure, and laziness. They use all the gifts God has given them for themselves. The pursuit of their own pleasure pushes the state of emergency of God’s people into the background. Israel is in distress, where the greatest distress is that the people do not see their distress. It laughs and dances towards its ruin.

The fact that the unity of the people has already perished does not bother them. They are also blind to the breaches, the fragmentation, that have arisen in the people because of their selfish behavior and as a result of which they will soon collapse. Only “a cord of three [strands] is not quickly torn apart” (Ecc 4:12). People living among themselves who are dependent on each other alone will not be able to develop a lasting bond. Only when God is involved as the third and binding ‘factor’ in the bond, will it be preserved from breaking.

Even today, many remain indifferent to the fact that the whole church has been crumbled into countless pieces. Even terms such as ‘the varicoloredness of God’, which would be seen in the division, are used to justify it. Pursuing our own convenience makes us insensitive to the decay in the church and the divisions that exist.