Grace Remembered, Gifts Rejected

Before announcing punishment, the LORD rehearses grace. He destroyed the Amorite before Israel, brought Israel up from Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and gave them land. He also raised up prophets and Nazirites. Israel answered these gifts by commanding prophets not to prophesy and by giving Nazirites wine, directly colliding with the Nazirite restriction in Numbers 6. Amos’s logic is important: judgment is not the eruption of an arbitrary God. It comes after rescue, provision, revelation, and repeated gifts have been despised. The more clearly grace is remembered, the more serious covenant rebellion becomes.