Amos 6:11–14

For behold, the LORD gives a command:
He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.

Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
You who rejoice over Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”

“But, behold, I will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the LORD God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”

This is about how absurd Israel’s actions are. Horses do not run on rocks; they can even refuse to walk on them. Only a lunatic would try to plow rocks with oxen, especially back then. The oxen would balk at doing it. If they could be coaxed into plowing there, the only result would be damage to the plow. (In the 19^th century, Esra Cornell made so much money from his invention of a plow that would cut through rocks that he founded a university.)

And all this effort would be for what? Nothing would grow there anyway.

So, this passage is depicting Israel’s actions as lunacy. Specifically, they have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.

OK, but why is that crazy? Isn’t that just selfish? They’re taking advantage of others. Sure, that’s wrong, but what’s nuts about it?

What’s crazy is that without justice, everyone suffers—including them. What goes around, comes around. They think their conquest of a couple of big cities shows they’re invincible.

They will be conquered from Hamath, in the far north of Israel, to the Valley of the Arabah in the south.

“What goes around, comes around,” is an important lesson in how civilizations work. Kleptocracies aren’t good for anyone. A nation that protects personal property flourishes.

Nations that don’t (think North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.) spiral into the abyss. Nothing works.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.