REVENGE (AMOS 2:1-3)
1. We rarely hear people use the word sacrilege.
2.
If you use the KJV and you read Rom.
3. The word sacrilege means to violate what is consecrated to God.
4. It is intentional desecration or disrespectful treatment of a person, place, thing, or a sacred idea.
5.
Thus, in Rom.
6. Perhaps the best example I can give of sacrilege comes from the book of Amos.
7.
When the second chapter of this book opens attention is
turned to the nation of
8.
The Moabites had descended from
9. The Moabites had done a very terrible thing.
10. Amos 2:1 says “they burned the king’s bones into lime.”
11. If the entire passage is not read some might conclude this verse prohibits cremation.
12. Some might think that incinerating the remains of a body is wrong.
13. This is not what the prophet had in mind.
14. Notice
that one nation (
15. We
could compare this to
16. Fidel
Castro dies, and after
17. Amos 2:1 describes an unusual situation, though we lack a lot of the details.
18. What Amos described is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.
19. Thus, we can only surmise from Amos 2:1 what happened.
20. It would appear that the Edomite king died and was buried.
21. Sometime
after the burial people from
22. They then burned the body so thoroughly it became like lime (similar to chalk dust).
23. It has been noted by many that in ancient times desecration of the dead was the ultimate sacrilege.
24. The Targum says the Moabite king used the burned remains to plaster his house
25. This was apparently done to obtain revenge plus express contempt and shame.
26. People
from
27. To accomplish these goals they desecrated the grave of Edomite king and burned his body into dust.
28. This act made God angry.
29. Notice
the punishment that would come to
30. God said that a fire would come upon a city. This city was likely the capital.
31. God
said He would destroy what was apparently the principal city of
32. The people of this nation would die. The palaces would be brought down with fire.
33. The “judge” (who would have been the ruler) would be destroyed along with the royal family.
34. There would be great noise (tumult); people would be shouting, and trumpets would be heard.
35. The Moabites would find themselves involved in a military battle that they would lose.
36. God’s promise came true. In 581 B.C. the Moabites were attacked and beaten.
WHAT
WE LEARN IN THE FIRST THREE VERSES OF AMOS 2 IS VERY, VERY HELPFUL.
A. This passage teaches all people to have respect for the dead.
B. Tomorrow is Memorial Day.
C. According to a local funeral director this is the time of year when cemeteries are especially prone to vandalism.
i). This is the time of year when many headstones are knocked over or defaced.
ii). Smaller headstones are thrown into rivers.
iii). The flags that have been or are being put on graves are taken.
iv). People take the flowers planted by graves and insert them into their own landscaping.
v). Just about any local funeral director will affirm that flowers and stolen and replanted.
vi). People go to cemeteries and think, “Look, free flowers.”
vii). When a funeral process moves down streets some also fail to show respect for the deceased.
viii). Cars do not stop for the procession or they cut the procession in half.
ix). Some like to make jokes about those who work in the funeral industry.
x). According to funeral directors 3 of the most common are,
a). “Undertakers are the last one to let you down.”
b). “How’s business – pretty dead?”
c). “People must be dying to see you.”
xi). I am told that people outside of the funeral industry usually make these jokes.
xii). As one man told me, “We are competitors, but we are all professionals too.”
xiii). Our society, in some cases, has people who show a lack of respect for the deceased.
xiv). In Amos 2:1-3 the Bible teaches that this is wrong.
xv). There needs to be respect shown for those who leave behind this life.
xvi). In
xvii). Most of us remember the police officer that was shot.
a). To honor his death flags were flown at half-mast.
b). Police cars had black flags on the antennas.
c). A police car was placed at the civic plaza and people covered it with flowers.
d). During a funeral procession many people pull off the road as the cards drive by.
e). In this area farmers may stop their tractors and some even get out of their tractors.
f). I am told by those who pay attention to funeral customs in the south that…
g). People who are pedestrians often stop and put their hand over their heart.
h). Men will take off their hats.
i). Even oncoming traffic comes to a standstill.
xviii). Showing respect for the deceased is right.
xix). This is consistent with God’s will.
xx). Showing disrespect, and this is what some do, angers God, Amos 2:1.
xxi). When graves are tampered with or other forms of sacrilege occur, punishment may be expected.
xxii). Having made these observations I want to add what seems to be a related point.
xxiii). At times I am asked about cremation.
a). Is it right for a Christian to have their body incinerated?
b). This is a common question in the minds of many Christians.
c). Some Christians have said to me (after a cremation), “That bothered me.”
d). I once heard a preacher say this practice originated with the pagans and it is wrong.
e). The days of the week are of pagan origin but we don’t object to them.
f). The origin of a word or a practice does not necessarily make the word or practice wrong.
g). When we think about someone dying the key to the matter is respect for the dead.
h). If cremation occurs and the process is one of order and respect there is no sin.
i). The same may be true for placing the deceased in a mausoleum, a grave, or in the sea.
j). If the deceased is treated with respect and honor there is nothing to fear.
k). Whatever process is used is acceptable to God if respect is shown.
l). This lack of respect caused God’s judgment to fall upon Moab.
D. HONOR AND RESPECT MUST BE GIVEN FOR THE DECEASED BECAUSE MAN IS IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS TO LEARN FROM AMOS 2:1-3. THE OTHER POINT THAT I WISH TO CONCENTRATE OUR ATTENTION ON IS FOUND IN VERSES 2-3.
i). Amos 2:1 suggests that the people of Edom were motivated by hate and revenge.
ii). They were so angry they burned a king’s body into powder.
iii). This action implies anger, hate, malice, and revenge.
iv). If other information from history is correct this powder was used as plaster in a palace.
v). Revenge can be a controlling force and it can make people do strange things.
vi). There is a fascinating story from the life of Abraham Lincoln.
a). When Lincoln was practicing law a man came to see him.
b). This man said another person owed him $2.50 and he hadn’t paid.
c). The debtor who owed the $2.50 was very poor.
d). Lincoln begged the potential client to forgive the debt but the man would not be swayed.
e). He insisted that Lincoln initiate legal action against the man for $2.50.
f). Lincoln agreed but said his fee would be $10. The man said that was fine.
g). Lincoln took the $10, gave $2.50 of that amount to the poor man,
h). And the poor man used this to pay his debt.
i). Would you believe that the fellow who paid the $10 came away a happy man.
vii). Some people become so bent on revenge they don’t make sense.
viii). Many are blinded by anger, rage, and absurd ideas.
ix). Such seems to have been the case with the Edomites.
x). They wanted revenge and this drove them to burn the body of someone who was dead.
xi). They burned it until there was nothing left but dust.
xii). In so many cases today a similar thing happens.
xiii). There was, some time ago, a man arrested in Tokyo.
xiv). This fellow had been denied entrance into graduate school.
xv). For the next 14 years this man carried out acts of revenge.
xvi). He made about 10 calls per night to a graduate professor he blamed for his lost opportunity.
xvii). These phone calls were made between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. in the morning.
xviii). It was estimated that the phone calls, over a 14 year period, totaled about 50,000 calls.
xix). That’s a lot of dialing and wasted energy.
E. Though the Moabites are gone, the interest in revenge is alive and well.
i). I once read about a despondent woman who was walking along the beach.
ii). She found a bottle, picked it up, and after cleaning it freed a genie.
iii). The Genie promised three wishes but every wish came with a condition.
iv). She would get whatever she wanted but her husband would get twice as much.
v). This woman had been recently abandoned by her husband (he wanted to marry someone else).
vi). She didn’t think this was fair but the genie said this was the rule.
vii). The woman wished for a million dollars.
viii). She got the cash and 2 million dollars appeared at the feet of her husband who was miles away.
ix). She then asked for the world’s most expensive diamond necklace. It too appeared.
x). The husband received a necklace that was twice as nice.
xi). The wife then asked the genie if the husband was really receiving twice as much as her.
xii). When the genie said “yes”, the wife said, “I am ready for my final wish.”
xiii). She said, “Scare me half to death.”
F. So many people are motivated by revenge.
i). When relationships break apart in school or marriage.
ii). When people lose jobs or opportunities.
iii). When we do not get what we want or our way…revenge is sought and some pursue it till their dying day.
iv). Deuteronomy 32:35 says, Vengeance is mine, and recompense.
v). Also, Rom. 12:19 - Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath (of God): for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.
vi). Winston Churchill once said that there is nothing more costly than revenge.
vii). This was a lesson the Moabites learned the hard way.
viii). This is a lesson that still needs to be taught as well as respect for the dead.
G. God’s ways are the only ways we must live our lives by.
H. We hope and trust that you are currently using His ways.
I. We hope that each one here has become a Christian in the way the Bible describes.