Welcome to the blog of Pastor Alton Stone, from Simpsonville, SC. Pastor Stone is a retired Ordained Bishop of The Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee with over 45 years of pastoral ministry.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The Judgment of God (Part 4)

Judgment on Gaza, a city of the Philistines.

Amos 1:6-8 "Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they took captive the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom. But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which shall devour its palaces. I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and the one 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."

Gaza was a city of the Philistines, on the coast to the west of Israel and Judah. Because they came against God’s people and did deliver them up to Edom, God will bring judgment against Gaza plus Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron, other cities of the Philistines.

The condemnation here is not against slavery in and of itself, just as the previous oracle was not against war in and of itself. The crime is not that soldiers were enslaved after being taken in battle, which was the standard practice, but that the Philistines used their temporary supremacy to enslave whole populations - soldiers and civilians, men and women, adults and children, young and old - for commercial profit. Gaza did not even need the slaves. She merely sold them to Edom for more money.

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