Amos 2:1-3 - Homiletics

The woe against Moab.

Much that has been said of Ammon applies equally to Moab. The two nations had close relations and affinities, and in Scripture are generally mentioned together. Both were mildly treated by Israel ( Deuteronomy 2:9 , Deuteronomy 2:19 ) as long as such treatment was possible. Yet were they at one in an implacable hatred of her, and a national policy of outrage towards her. A spring raid into Hebrew territory seems to have been an established Moabitish institution ( 2 Kings 13:20 , literally, "were wont to come"). Again, Moab adopted the novel and unlikely expedient of employing a prophet of God to curse his own people ( Numbers 23:7 ). Of the comprehensive and thorough character of the national hatred, which these doings reveal, we have evidence in the passage before us.

I. THE NATIONAL HATES OF MOAB WERE DETERMINED BY ITS HATE OF ISRAEL . "It has burned the bones of the King of Edom." The particular occasion referred to here is not known. But the events that led up to it are briefly recorded. Moab was for some time tributary to Israel, and rebelled against it in the reign of Jehoram ( 2 Kings 3:1 , 2 Kings 3:4 , 2 Kings 3:5 ). In the repressive war that followed, Jehoram was joined by the King of Judah and the King of Edom, then probably a tributary of Judah ( 2 Kings 8:20 ). This war, the only one in which Edom and Moab came into conflict, exasperated Moab against it even more fiercely than against Israel itself ( 2 Kings 3:26 , 2 Kings 3:27 ). The horrible sacrifice of the King of Edom's son by the King of Moab, and the subsequent burning of the King of Edom's bones by the Moabites, were both expressions of this wild and savage resentment. Moab's hatred of Edom was hatred of her as Israel's ally, and therefore at bottom was hatred of Israel itself. So the ungodly hate things from the standpoint of their connection with religion. They hate believers for Christ's sake ( Matthew 10:22 ), and the friends of believers for believers' sakes. The compensation for this is that for Christ's sake also Christians love each other and the ungodly as well, and God for his own sake loves them all.

II. MOAB 'S WAS A HATE THAT EVEN DEATH COULD NOT APPEASE . This fact illustrates its insatiability. "The soul being after death beyond man's reach, the hatred vented upon his remains is a sort of impotent grasping at eternal vengeance. It wreaks on what it knows to be insensible the hatred with which it would pursue, if it could, the living being who is beyond it" (Pusey). The employment of the burnt bones as lime is a circumstance which, like the ripping of pregnant women by Ammon, reveals the savage debasement of the people, and that contemptuous disregard of the human body which is generated by a career of blood and lust. There is a sacredness about death. It introduces an unseen factor, marks off a territory into which we may not intrude. There is a sacredness, too, about the human body. It is for a temple of the Holy Ghost, and to be treated as holy ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 , 1 Corinthians 6:20 ). Its members are to be members of Christ, and to be treated as consecrated things ( 1 Corinthians 6:15-18 ). The best guarantee against intemperance, uncleanness, violence, and every abuse of the body is respect for it as the home and instrument of God.

III. THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT MAKES MOAB THE ENEMY OF EDOM MAKES GOD HER FRIEND . Edom's alliance with Israel had results in two directions, it embroiled her with Israel's enemies, and commended her to Israel's friends. And primarily it commended her to Israel's God. His favour to his people includes, to certain intents, their friends. Members of the families of Noah and Lot were spared for their fathers' sake. A mixed multitude of foreigners were fed miraculously in the desert, because they were servants to the Israelites. Even the Egyptians were favoured because they for a time had given Israel a home ( Deuteronomy 23:7 ). So with Edom. He was a brother by blood ( Deuteronomy 23:7 ), and had been an ally against Moab, and so his cause is championed by God in this exactly as the cause of Israel is in the other woes. So with more spiritual relations. The virgin companions of the bride, the Church, are brought, as her companions, to the King ( Psalms 45:14 ). The final judgment apart, service rendered to God's people will not go unrewarded ( Matthew 10:40-42 ). No investment brings in surer return than help and kindness shown to the saints of God.

IV. MOAB 'S DOOM WAS ONE THAT MATCHED ITS LIFE . "Shall die with tumult." The Moabites were "sons of tumult" ( Numbers 24:17 ; Jeremiah 48:45 ), and as in tumult they lived, so in tumult they should die (see Pusey). This is providential, the punishment being made appropriate to the crime. It is also natural, violence provoking violence, and so fixing the character of its own punishment. Moab had probably lost its kings before the prophecy was fulfilled, but the judges and princes who had headed the nation in its violence fitly head it in its destruction also.