against Gaza: the consequences
In the last post, I established what Judah had faced. Gaza wanted to completely wipe them out, rid the earth of them, and cut off all memory of them. To that end, they carried the whole of Judah away in exile captivity to the people of Edom (Judah’s worst enemies). One of Judah’s enemies (Gaza) delivered Judah over to another of Judah’s enemies (Edom). So what are the consequences for Gaza?
As a whole, God promises to do them as they have done unto others. To take it even further, God promises to do to them what they wished they could do to others. Amos 1:6-8 says it.
First, he sends a fire against the wall of the city of Gaza – the headquarters of the Philistines. Was it a literal fire? I am not for sure. But the point is that God attacked what Gaza used as defense. He overtook the key city of the Philistines.
Then God promises to cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, another city of the Philistines. The words are strong here. God is giving the Philistines what they wanted to give to others. He is going to cut them off. This is exactly what they were hoping to do to Judah. When the Philistines say they are going to cut off the Judaites, they can only try. When God says he is going to cut off the Philistines, they’re doomed because God doesn’t just try; he succeeds. He starts in Gaza, then proceeds to Ashdod.
Then God promises to cut off him who holds the scepter in Ashkelon, another city of the Philistines. The leaders – the scepter-holders – will be wiped out, too. God moves right along to the next major city, Ekron. You can get the sense of what God is saying. He is going to march right through Philistia and wipe out every last one of them. Just in case anyone misses the point, though, God finishes by saying that even the remnant of Philistia will perish. Those who run, will be found and cut off. Those who survive the initial attacks, will still get caught. Those who linger a little longer, still lose.
There are at least 2 things I can learn from this prophecy against Judah’s enemies. (1) Every last sin of mine will be dealt with. Thank you, Jesus, for dealing with my sin on the cross. You didn’t just seek out and destroy the biggies; you didn’t just do away with the most strategic sins. You dealt with all of those and the little ones, the easy ones, the sneaky ones. You dealt with all of them; not even a remnant (one day) will be left. This is good news to me. There is a promise in this judgment that sin will not be left untouched, it will not be swept under the rug, it will not find a hiding place in the closet. Sin deserves punishment. Oh, thank God for mercy! Every last sin has been punished and forgiven. No matter how hard I try to hide them, even the remnant will perish. But God, in his mercy, will spare all who trust in his Son, Jesus. And (2) greed is a powerful motive. Greed? Where did that come from? That seems like it is from out of nowhere. What are you talking about? It struck me that the Philistines had explicitly sworn to completely rid the earth of the people of Judah. So why did they take them to exile in Edom instead of just kill them? If they had the chance to kill them, why not do it and get it over with? My best guess (and this might be reading too much in to it) is that they would rather sell the people of Judah and make some money off of them. They do the capturing and humiliating, they get to take home the spoils of war, and they also get to make some money by selling the people they just defeated. If they kill them they can keep the spoils, but they can’t make money off of their deaths. Maybe greed drove them to sell them instead of kill them. And in the end, greed came back to bite them. They paid for it.
Finally, once again I ask, did this really happen? Did God really have his justice? Or is it mere threats? I believe God had his justice, and you can see it in 2 Kings 18:8. King Hezekiah routed them. And he started with the watchtower (i.e., the walls of Gaza, where the watchtowers for Philistia would be), and he finished by wiping out every fortified city (i.e., Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron). Quite precisely, God made sure his words did not return null or void or empty or incomplete. He sees to it that his word is sure. Furthermore, Uzziah also had his way with the Philistines (2 Chronicles 26:6). And, finally, “Subsequently to the subjugation of the Philistines by Uzziah, and then by Hezekiah, they were reduced by Psammetichus of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, the Persians, Alexander, and lastly the Asmoneans (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary on Amos 1:3-15).” God’s word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11).
