Perspective: Investing in Iniquity

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Investing in Iniquity

The Lord proclaims:

For three crimes of Israel,

and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,

because they have sold the innocent for silver,

and those in need for a pair of sandals.

They crush the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,

and push the afflicted out of the way.

Father and son have intercourse with the same young woman,

degrading My holy name.

They stretch out beside every altar

on garments taken in loan;

in the house of their god they drink

wine bought with fines they imposed.

Amos 2:6-8 (CEB)

Failed to see

How destructive we can be

Taking without giving back

'Til the damage can be seen

Can you see?

Can you see?

From "Price to Play" by Staind

Amos was a tree farmer and sheep herder who lived in the small town of Tekoa, a few miles south of the capital city of Judah.  He lived during the dark ages of Israelite history, when the nation had split into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah and when both kingdoms were headed down a destructive path.  Though Amos was too modest to claim the title for himself, he had been called by God to be a prophet.  He had received a series of visions from God, and he had been instructed to travel north to Israel to tell the people the things they needed to hear – things they didn't especially want to hear.¹

Amos was there to speak on behalf of God,

and God wasn't happy.

When Amos arrived in the city of Bethel, he began to speak.  First he issued oracles of judgment against six of the surrounding nations for their brutality.  Then he announced judgment against his own homeland, saying that the people of Judah had rejected the Law of God and had chosen to believe lies.²  These pronouncements of judgment were merely a prelude to the main event, a series of indictments against the Israelites themselves.  These indictments were against those who "crush the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way" - the wealthy Israelites who treated the poor among them not as fellow human beings, but as the means or the obstacles to their own ends.

Amos spoke out against those who "sold the innocent for silver."  In those days, "justice" was a commodity to be bought and sold, for the rich bribed judges to rule against the innocent.  As a result, the losers in these cases were forced to either sell their property or go into slavery.

Amos spoke out against the men who sexually exploited women, be they female servants or poor women who were forced into prostitution.

Amos spoke out against those who lay down "on garments taken in loan."  Some predatory creditors would loan poor people money, taking their garments as collateral.  These were the garments that the debtors wore at night, meaning that, if they could not repay their creditors, they would go to bed cold.

Amos spoke out against those who "drink wine bought with fines they imposed."  These fines could refer to either unjust fines levied against the poor or unreasonably high interest rates for loans.³

Amos's message was not well received.⁴

Hundreds of years before Amos brought these indictments against the wealthy of Israel, their ancestors suffered as slaves in another prosperous nation, namely Egypt.  They were subjected to backbreaking labor, and their taskmasters treated them cruelly, sometimes making their work more difficult without decreasing the daily quota.  God heard their cries of despair, and "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm," God liberated them from slavery and brought judgment against their oppressors.⁵

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites began their long journey through the desert, and, three months later, they arrived at Mt. Sinai, where God made a covenant with them.  The Israelites had been chosen by God to become "a priestly kingdom and a holy nation."⁶  Being chosen by God does not mean special treatment but rather special responsibility.  As a "priestly kingdom," it was the responsibility of the Israelites to show the world what their God is like.⁷  God gave them the Law, a series of instructions and rules that would guide them in their priestly duties,

rules that forbade people to prey on the vulnerable people in their society like widows, orphans, and immigrants,⁸

rules that forbade lenders to charge interest,⁹

rules that obligated lenders to return pawned garments before nightfall so that their debtors don't go to sleep cold,¹⁰

rules that forbade bribery, dishonesty, and partiality in court cases.¹¹

There were also rules that protected women.  Though many of these rules would be considered backward and barbaric by our standards, they were progressive for their time.¹²

Throughout the Law, God repeatedly reminded the Israelites that they were once slaves in a foreign land, that God hears the cries of the downtrodden, and that God does not excuse wrongdoing.  Basically, God said to them, "I did not deliver you from oppression just so that you could could become oppressors yourselves."  According to Rob Bell and Don Golden, the truth that "God always hears the cry of the oppressed" is "central to who God is."  God heard the cry of Abel, the victim of the first murder recorded in the Bible.  God heard the cry of the Israelites in Egypt when they suffered in slavery.  And God heard the cry of the poor in Israel who were trampled under the feet of the rich and powerful in Amos's day.¹³

Amos's warnings are as valid in our day as they were in the eighth century BC.  I am not opposed to the idea that God wants us to enjoy our lives - after all, what kind of parent wouldn't want his or her children to enjoy their lives?  God loves all of God's children, so God doesn't want any of us to enjoy our lives at anybody else's expense.  At a recent church conference, I heard our society compared to a zero-sum game, meaning that, for some to win in our society, others must lose.  It is important that we carefully examine our way of life, on guard against ways that the proverbial deck is stacked against certain people.

Hundreds of years after Amos spoke out against injustice in Israel, there was another prophetic figure who, at times, sounded a lot like the prophets of old.  John was an eccentric man who lived in the woods, wore weird clothes, and ate strange foods, yet many people looked to him for guidance.  Like Amos, he warned the people who came to see him about the judgment to come.  He reminded them that they were not off the hook simply because they were among God's chosen people.  He called them "to bear fruits worthy of repentance," in other words, to live lives that demonstrate a change of mind and heart - lives of generosity, contentment, and integrity.¹⁴

Six years ago, I worked as a software engineer for a company that manufactured video slot machines and video poker machines.  At that time, the company for which I worked did a lot of business in the state of Alabama.  Though slot machines are illegal in Alabama, bingo machines are perfectly legal.  To get around the legal prohibition against slot machines, many gaming companies, including my employer, manufactured bonanza bingo machines that were indistinguishable from slot machines.  One of my major projects involved updating such machines to ensure that they were within legal parameters.

My time in the gaming industry came to an end when my employer bought another gaming company, consolidated offices, and moved all operations out of state.  I was unwilling to relocate, so I was terminated.  Not long after I lost my job, my former employer had a string of bad luck.  First, the company faced some lawsuits involving its acquisition of the other company.  Next, my supervisor, the man who knew everything about the machinery and its programming, left the company for a position at a large corporation.  After that, the company was finally forced to remove its machines from Alabama, thereby losing one of its most lucrative markets.  I imagine there was a lot of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" within the company at that time.  Every now and then, morbid curiosity takes hold of me, and I Google the company's name to see if it has finally gone under.

My time working for the gambling industry was not a proud season in my life, and I counted my termination as an answer to prayer.  I don't think that it is always a sin to gamble, though there are always better uses for one's money.  What I find problematic is the fact that gaming companies benefit from the addiction of compulsive gamblers.  Though all of us, including gamblers, are ultimately responsible for our own choices, it is simply wrong to exploit a person's weaknesses for profit.  I would not say that my former employer's bad luck was necessarily judgment from God for preying on compulsive gamblers, but I do think it offers us an important object lesson.  To build a morally questionable business on legal loopholes is tantamount to building a house on sand.

I once heard a wise friend say that we all need something in which we can invest our lives.  This is a lesson I have taken to heart, and I have come to understand how important it is to choose carefully how we invest our lives.  I urge you, the reader, not to invest your life in iniquity.  As a Christian, I hold on to the hope that God will someday set all things to rights.  On that day, all things that exploit, oppress, and hurt people will come to an end.  All that we've invested in such things will be lost, and there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth."  May we invest our lives in the things that last.


Notes:

1. Amos 1:1,7:14-15
2. Amos 1:2-2:5
3. The sources I consulted regarding Amos 2:6-8 are as follows:
   
   1. Rashi's commentary on Amos 2
   2. The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV).  2009, Abingdon Press.  p. 1093
   3. Eric Elnes et al.  "Prophetically Incorrect Pt. 1: Selling the Righteous."  Darkwood Brew, 05/26/2013.
4. Amos 7:10-13
5. Exodus 1-14
6. Exodus 19:1-6
7. Rob Bell and Don Golden.  Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for a Church in Exile.  2008, Zondervan.  pp 30-31
8. Exodus 22:21-24
9. Exodus 22:25
10. Exodus 22:26-27
11. Exodus 23:1-3,6-8
12. Rob Bell discusses this at length in chapter 6 of his book What We Talk About When We Talk About God.  2013, HarperOne.
13. Bell and Golden pp. 23,35
14. Luke 3:7-14

The icon of the prophet Amos is on display in the Kizhi Monastery in Russia.