Theory question 104
True Religion and Social Justice(a) Describe the social life of Israel during the time of Amos.
(b) Mention four vices condemned by Amos which are still rampant in your society
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(a) The rich sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes (Amos 2:6).
They trampled the head of the poor and turned aside the afflicted (Amos 2:7).
Father and son went in to the same maiden (Amos 2:7).
They lay on garments taken in pledge and drank wine of those fined (Amos 2:8).
The rich women ("cows of Bashan") oppressed the poor and demanded drink from their husbands (Amos 4:1).
They built houses of hewn stone, winter and summer houses with ivory (Amos 3:15; 5:11).
They took bribes and turned away the needy in the gate (Amos 5:12).
They lay on beds of ivory, feasted on lambs and calves, drank wine from bowls and sang idle songs (Amos 6:4-6).
Traders cheated with false balances, made the ephah small and the shekel great, and sold the refuse of the wheat (Amos 8:4-6).
(b) Any four: bribery and corruption; oppression of the poor; cheating in trade; luxury and drunkenness; sexual immorality; injustice in courts; hypocritical worship.
Describe social life with references, then four vices today.