Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:23-24 (NASB)
The words of Amos were meant to shock. He was confrontational and controversial. Wouldn’t we be shocked if God said, “I’m tired of listening to your prayers. All of your hymns, anthems and songs sound out of tune to me.” As The Living Bible translates it:
Away with your hymns of praise – they are mere noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. I want to see a mighty flood of justice – a torrent of doing good. Amos 5:23-24 (TLB)
Amos voices prophetic rage against the injustices of the day. If he were alive today, what might he say?
I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. Amos 5:24 (NLT)
Justice is equated with righteous living. Amos throws out a challenge: do our words and actions in worship and in prayer line up with justice and righteousness in our daily life? He goes on to say:
Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,
Just as you have said!
Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the gate!
Perhaps the LORD God of hosts
May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:14-15 (NASB)
Like the other prophets – Isaiah, Micah and Hosea – we are called to concrete actions in the way we each live our lives; we are called to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. The Hebrew word translated as “justice” has to do with right order in society, especially related to the poor and the weak. We have to read the rest of Amos to find out the specifics of what God is upset about. To generalise, God is upset with how the powerful are treating the powerless. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. They are doing nothing for the poor who have no food. They are doing nothing for the foreigners who are locked out of society. In selfishness they “turned justice into wormwood, and (laid) righteousness to rest in the earth”. There was worship on the Sabbath but cheating in business on Monday. There was prayer on the Sabbath but oppressing the poor on Monday. What a contrast to the way we should live.
Let’s obediently accept and honour the words of Amos 5:24 and truly worship the God of justice.
But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (NASB)