Oh Ladies
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Introduction
Introduction
Romans 1:26-27
It seems that the true barometer of any society are the actions of the women within that society
Men are expected to be brutish and to treat one another badly but not the women
They are the more compassionate sex - so when that compassion is lost the society is in danger
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
That is the situation that Amos is now confronting
Oh Ladies
Oh Ladies
Amos 4:1; 1 Timothy 3:11; Psalm 22:12
He doesn’t win himself any friends calling the women cows
This is not an effective strategy for ministry growth
The region of Bashan was known for it’s robust cattle industry and rich pasturelands
Cattle are stubborn animals
I remember seeing corpses of cows at the bottom of a ravine on my uncle’s farm because they would follow the same path in both summer and winter
He lists two indictments against the women
They are equal opportunity offenders
They are mistreating the poor
They are ruling their homes - arrogantly dominating their families
Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.
It is interesting to note that the cattle of Bashan are also referenced in Psalm 22 - one of the Psalms that most clearly depicts the crucifixion of Christ
Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
There are only two times in Scripture that the description of being a cow or bull of Bashan is used
In our Scripture tonight and regarding the mob at the cross
I Promise
I Promise
Amos 4:2-3; Hebrews 6:13-14; Matthew 25:32-46; Psalm 89:35-37; Genesis 24:22; Isaiah 3:18-26; Proverbs 11:22; Amos 3:10; Genesis 3:16; Genesis 4:7
The Lord God swears by Himself that this will happen
There is nothing greater by which God could swear than Himself
For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”
The fact that God would swear by Himself speaks to the grave nature and seriousness He takes the treatment of others
All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
God, in effect, puts His own character on the line with this oath
“Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.
“His descendants shall endure forever
And his throne as the sun before Me.
“It shall be established forever like the moon,
And the witness in the sky is faithful.”
Selah.
Once God swears by Himself - it is final, what He says is going to happen will happen
And what He says will happen is horrific - suitable for this time of year
They will be taken out of the city - some by meat hooks and some by fish hooks
One way or another they would be forcibly removed from the city
Meat hooks are used to move dead bodies
In the Navy whenever we practiced for a man overboard situation we always had a sharp grappling hook on the deck for the most extreme circumstance that we were pulling up dead flesh
These fine, polished women’s corpses would be lifted like dead cattle and carried out of the city
The other alternative was with fish hooks - possibly a reference to harpoon type lances or cattle prods - but also an illustration of how the Assyrians would lead their captives away
In ancient Israel nose rings were worn by women as decorative ornaments
Made of ivory, gold or jewels they were valuable pieces of jewelry
When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,
The half shekel ring was for her nose to mark her as betrothed to Isaac
In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.
Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp;
Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
Your men will fall by the sword
And your mighty ones in battle.
And her gates will lament and mourn,
And deserted she will sit on the ground.
It seems these women failed to learn the lesson from Solomon’s proverb
As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout
So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
These nose rings that they took such pleasure and drew status from would become their shackles as they were led away from Samaria
The Assyrians were known for linking their prisoners of war with chains from hooks placed in the nose or lips of their captives
The fact that they could simply go straight ahead speaks to the total destruction of the walls of Samaria
The society in Samaria had completely lost their way
But they do not know how to do what is right,” declares the Lord, “these who hoard up violence and devastation in their citadels.”
And it was exemplified in the way the women of the society acted
They were mistreating and abusing the poor for personal, financial gain
They were forcing their husbands to wait on them and to bring them drink that they may get drunk and revel in their debauchery on their ivory couches
It is much the same in our society today
I’ve mentioned that 33% of young women (18-24) watch porn regularly
An August 9, 2017 article in Science Daily highlights the systemic increase of alcohol use, high risk drinking and alcohol use disorder among all demographic groups but primarily among women
While the number of sexual partners may not be on the rise, the casual attitude towards sex before marriage is - 55% of young Americans now say that sex before marriage is ok
And the abortion rate is unbelievable - 59% of those who have an abortion are already mothers, in 2014 19% of all pregnancies ended in abortion
Women have taken over the dominant roles in society as well - and even in some cases in the home
Now for any women listening, or for you husbands before you go home and tell your wives that I said their supposed to be submissive and wait on you hand and foot - that is not what I’m saying
Ephesians 5 tells us differently
What I am saying is that our culture has drifted significantly from any sort of Biblical standards and it is most easily recognized in the reversal of roles between men and women, the mistreatment of the most vulnerable in our society and the lack of any moral standards among society whether it be male or female. Scripture bears it out that when women lose their moral standards society is on it’s last leg.
So what is to be done - what policy will fix this? None of them. We could outlaw abortions, porn and alcohol, slap a chastity belt on every unmarried woman and that wont fix the core issue at stake here
It is the heart - and it is the result of the Fall
To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
While there is some debate as to what desire means in this passage - it seems best to take it in reference to Genesis 4:7
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
In this verse sin’s desire is to be the master of Cain but God is telling him he must master sin
In the same way the desire of the woman’s heart is to be the master of the home and over her husband but the God appointed roles have put him in the head position
The only way that this condition gets remedied is through the cross - through the Gospel - through Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Now I’m sure some of you are wondering - that’s great but what does this sermon about women have to do with me?
Remember those bulls of Bashan - the one’s around the cross. That was us - it was our voices crying out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” on the square in Jerusalem. We are no better than the cows of Bashan - we have mistreated the poor and mistreated those that have been put into positions of authority over us.
We were running headlong to the day that the Lord promised would come (and is still coming) where we would be led away by a hook through our nose into everlasting damnation
All of the things we place our security in - our finances, our jobs, our family, our religion - everything will be breached and destroyed there will be nothing that protects us or prevents our being taken away
Except - the blood of Jesus.