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| There were other issues besides sexual misconduct and the treatment of the poor plaguing Israel. In 2 Kings 17 we have an account of the last king of Israel, Hoshea. During his reign they sinned against the Lord by worshiping other gods; they walked in the customs of other nations whom the Lord had driven out; they set up sacred pillars and wooden poles (poles were in honor of the Canaanite goddess Asherah); they served idols; they made their children pass through fire (child sacrifices to other gods); they used divination and augury, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord. All this was going on and yet it says in verse 2 that the evil Hoshea did was not to the extent that his ancestors did evil. If you read the books of 1&2 Kings, you will see how Israel’s unfaithfulness was a continual problem. You will also see how patient and loving God was to them. It is important for us to recognize both sides of God’s disapproval with Israel. We can easily look at 2 Kings and only focus on Israel’s adultery and idolatry. It is equally important to focus on the book of Amos, and how the poor were mistreated. This might be something that we are tempted to gloss over, but many other passages speak to our relationship to those who are poor, and it is necessary to give attention to this issue, especially in our materialistic world. WORKS CITED: Buttrick, George Author, ed. The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 1,2,3, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1980 Acknowledgement: Marion Bontrager. Hesston College. Biblical Literature |
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