Amos 5:24
by Peter T. Nash
Download this Bible study as a PDF 
Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream.
What would it look like if justice were to roll down like waters
accompanied by an ever-flowing stream of righteousness? The eighth
century prophets, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah and our author, Amos were
concerned primarily with “inviting” the ten northern tribes of Israel
back into communion with the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin,
and with their God, Yahweh. While the history of this epic
separation
of brothers become tribes is rich and nuanced, it can be told quite
simply. The northern tribes of Israel left the brotherhood after the
death of Solomon and worshiped in the wrong place with rituals regarded
as unseemly by the two southern tribes, together called Judah. The
treatment of the poor and disenfranchised was a key issue; the
southerners accused the northerners of abandoning their shared core
value of equality before one another based in their equality before
Yahweh.
Poverty and landlessness were conditions that never should have come
to exist in ancient Israel and Judah. The laws and customs described in
Leviticus and Deuteronomy prohibited the accumulation of land in such a
way as to impoverish a fellow son or daughter of Abraham and Sarah.
Regular land reform was a part of the religious landscape. Ideally the
forgiveness or debts (or do you say sins?) was an integral part of life
in community. A man could sell of his birthright, but not that of his
grandchildren. Another man could accumulate the land of his neighbors,
but his grandchildren would have to return it to the descendents of
those who had sold it.
 |
In addition to questions found in this
study, here are some general questions that can
be used:
1. What is God saying to us through this
passage?
2. What does this passage tell us about
God?
3. How does this passage speak to us as a
community?
4. What does this passage teach us about
our neighbors and our world? |
|
 |
|
|
T
he
land, a visible sign of God’s presence and promise, was a trust from God
for the sake of all Israel and Judah. It could not be held in such a way
as to permanently deprive any family of its plot.
It seems that the ideal proposed by the writers of the Hebrew Bible
was one in which everyone was guaranteed the right to share in God’s
amazing grace in both its spiritual and physical manifestations. There
was to be room for all in the assembly of God’s elect, not only for
those who managed their affairs wisely and certainly not only to the
descendents of those who managed their affairs wisely. If God’s justice
were to roll down like waters and God’s righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream, there would be space and place enough for everyone.
Sometimes we act as if we believe that God’s imputed righteousness and
God’s justification of creation through Christ has limits. I think Amos
suggests otherwise. God’s justice flows inextricably from God’s love,
endless, limitless and flowing uncontrollably like waters raging toward
us to restore us to wholeness. We are invited back into oneness with God
and with one another. Let’s seize the opportunity to be one in God’s
imputed justice and righteousness.
Peter T. Nash teaches at Wartburg College in
Waverly, Iowa.
Questions on Amos 5:24
- Amos spoke to real people who lived in a very particular time in
history. How does the history of Amos’ time relate to our time, and
what difference does knowing this history make to how we read this
passage?
- How do you think about justice and faith? Justice and
righteousness?
- Does God’s justice and righteousness have limits?