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Text: Amos 4:1-3
God, through Amos, turns his sights on the upper crust women. He calls these women cows; the kine of Bashan are the females contrasted with the bulls of Bashan. They are consumers, drunks, busybodies, gossips, greedy, demanding of a certain lifestyle, and void of honor. They live to eat, drink, sleep, and be in control. Amos, the shepherd turned preacher, doesn’t mince any words, he calls them heifers. Now, you might say Amos is over the top, and most would say that. But do YOU believe this book is God’s words? So Amos is simply the voice of God here. Amos didn’t call them heifers, God called them heifers. So you’d have to say God is over the top. Or you could say, God is too plain.
So Amos is trying really hard to build a congregation. That’s sarcasm.
Bullying cows (vs 1)
- The women are “liberated”, country club, feminists, whose lives revolve around power. They are obsessed with empowerment.
- Wrong or right leadership is not the point, just power and control.
- Going in the right direction is secondary to whether a male or female is making the decision.
- And truly, going in the right direction is secondary to whether THEY are making the decision.
- Dictators …which oppress the poor… (vs 1)
- These women abuse their position. Oppression is the unjust exercise of authority.
- They burden people with unreasonable financial burdens because they can.
- They use their money to keep people without money away from office. Not because they know what their doing, but because THEY want the title.
- Demanding …which crush the needy… (vs 1)
- Trample whoever gets in their way.
- They destroy people who can’t defend themselves.
- They are gossips and busybodies.
- Drunkards …which say to their masters, Bring, let us drink. (vs 1)
- These women lay around sloshed while they make demands and manipulate their husbands
- (Master is the master of the house as Jesus Christ used the word almost 10 times in the gospels.)
- Isaiah 3:12-13 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
- …Bring, let us drink.. Let’s have another round here!
- According to the Bible, Proverbs 31, a strong woman is a virtuous woman.
- You don’t get honor by demanding to be honored. It is earned.
- Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies… Strength and honour are her clothing… Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
- She is accomplished, not bossy. She has taken care of her responsibilities, not contracted them out to someone else. Her children say she’s a blessing.
- Titus 2:3-5 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Country Club beef (vs 2)
- They will be hauled out on hooks. (They are HOOKED!)
- Have you ever seen a cow hanging from hooks? What circumstance would a cow be hanging from hooks? In a slaughterhouse. The cow is meat at that point.
- The irony is they wanted honor, power, control, but became helpless pieces of meat.
- A little note here. The things that you’re looking for are results.
- You don’t create joy, it’s the fruit of planting, watering, and harvesting.
- There are no shortcuts. These women were in love with power and they lost whatever of it they thought they had.
- Girls seek attention and that’s not difficult to get. What you really want is respect and honor, not attention. Lamentation 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. To teenage girls: boys aren’t staying close to you because they respect you. (Amazing how quickly dad’s with daughters forget what it was like being a teenager.) It’s easy to get a boy’s attention. But getting him to see you as more than a piece of meat will require you to keep your clothes on… all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness.
- I said that to show the irony of chasing something, and winding up not only without whatever you wanted, but in worse shape than you started because you didn’t do it God’s way.
- Amos said, The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness…
- That’s an interesting way of putting it. God doesn’t say he’s going to make your life miserable now.
- What he does say is he is the holy Creator of all things and you can’t destroy the framework he set up without deadly consequences.
- Not only will the cows be hauled out as beef, but the calves too… and your posterity with fishhooks.
- Grades of beef
- Prime grade is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. …
- Choice grade is high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. …
- Select grade is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. …
- Standard and Commercial grades are frequently sold as ungraded or as “store brand” meat.
- It’s all still beef.
Tearing down fences (vs 3)
- The cows will be hauled out in the same places they broke down the fences.
- One of the fulfillments of this is in Isaiah 39:7
- Betsy got out the other day.
