Poor, weak little Judah! The Prophet was declaring the doom of his own country! It was a thing to laugh at! And how they did laugh!
But it was no laughing matter for Amos. His heart was wrung with woe from his own people. He waited for the uproar to subside, and then went on to the very point which he had come to make:
"Thus saith God,
For three transgressions of Israel,
Yea, for four, I will not revoke its punishment.
Because they sell the righteous for money,
And the needy for a pair of shoes;
Who trample on the head of the poor,
And turn aside the way of the humble.
Upon garments taken in pledge they stretch themselves beside
every altar,
And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the house
of their God."
Jeers and threatening cries were hurled at Amos from all directions, but he stood his ground.
With the art of a master orator he won back his displeased audience. Passionately he poured forth the story of Israel and its relationship to God—a story he knew so well—and brought the people back to breathless attention. He recounted the wonders God had done with and for Israel from the days when He brought them out of Egypt, poor, miserable slaves, until this day of their wealth and glory.
Here someone stepped out from the crowd and took up the argument for the people. If all this beautiful story is true, he claimed, then God may punish and destroy all the nations that Amos had mentioned; but Israel, to whom God had shown special favors, even up to this day, God will not destroy.
Quick as a flash the Prophet answered:
"Are ye not as the Cushites to me,
O children of Israel? saith God.
Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt
And the Philistines from Caphtor
And the Syrians from Kir?
(But) you, especially, have I known of all the races of the earth,
Therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.
Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
An adversary shall surround the land,
And shall strip from thee thy strength;
And thy palaces shall be plundered.
Verily, I am now raising up against you
O house of Israel, a nation,
And they shall oppress you
From the entrance of Hamath
Even to the brook of the Arabah,
Saith the Lord, God of hosts."
"Treason! Treason!" rose up the cry from the several army men who had been listening.
"Treason! Treason!" was shouted immediately from many directions.