Amos 1: 6-10…. Strikes 2 and 3.

Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Gaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
to deliver them up to Edom.
So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the Lord GOD.
Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Tyre,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
and it shall devour her strongholds.”

Comment: Amos turns down the Western side of Israel where he meets the next two close neighbours. There was bitter enmity with the Philistines (remember David and Goliath and those years of war as told in 1 Samuel) and Tyre further to the north. Amos reminds them that this is the LORD speaking; with the phase three or four he underlines the continuity of evil practices: and then he describes massive destruction. It appears that both countries had been horrible to surrounding humanity. We are reminded that both in the OT law and in the NT even from the mouth of Jesus, that second to loving God is loving our neighbours.

Prayer: Please write Your law on my heart and mind and let it flow out through my actions, talking and even my thinking, O Lord.