A Plowboy's Blog Post #1: Against Abortion (Amos 1:13-15)
Posted 25th November 2011 at 07:09 PM by ChristianLayman
Greetings Brethren and Sistren!
I have been putting together my own personal Bible commentary and while reading through on the Book of the Prophet Amos, I thought an excellent apologetics tool could be used in debate against those who erroneously use Scripture to claim that it does not support abortion. So in the final days of October, I present to you my thoughts on the subject! Please tell me what you think!
[Disclaimer: This is a personal interpretation only and I do not confer it as an article of faith that must be believed to be saved.... Basically, I don't want to accidentally father or dig up a heresy. As with all religious material or theological musings that are put forth in the public eye, I humbly submit these works to correction by a higher ecclesiastical authority if indeed error is found.]
· In the section dealing with the judgment on Israel’s neighbors, we find the cause of Ammon’s particular punishment due to the mass indiscriminate and merciless butchering of women, children and those who had yet to be born. Verse 13 in no uncertain terms declares why God is angry with the sons of Ammon: “Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.”
· It should be immediately clarified that while the context of the text reads as the motivation behind the Ammonites’ madness, our LORD’s anger was not simply confined to intent alone. God does not bring forth judgment because the women of Gilead did not consent to their children being murdered in the womb due to undesirability or inconvenience, for if that were the case, why should the Prophet Amos bother to phrase verse 13 to include the unborn among the victims who were slain? To defile the sanctity of innocent life that has not even had the opportunity to experience this world, if even only for a moment, is among the most horrific actions taken against God and neighbor, especially for a temporary material gain.
· Verse 14 begins with how the LORD will reciprocate with the Ammonites’ terror and unprovoked bloodlust. “So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour her strongholds, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; (v15) and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.”
· The message is clear: Because the Ammonites’ reign of terror and indiscriminate disregard for human life at the disproportionate desire of territorial gain, they in turn are to meet a similar fate as the citizenry of Gilead as the LORD will raise an unstoppable force to purge them from the earth by means of fire and overwhelm all of their lands as surely as the locusts overwhelmed the Egyptians prior to the great exodus of Israel. Split, broken, finished, the rulers of Ammon shall be routed and forced to leave, never to rise up against their neighbor in aggression again, their final destination to be that of fire everlasting.
· One should not however be self-righteous or take false comfort in the fate of the Ammonites for their crime is made manifest every day, ever present across the globe, whether committed by governments as population control mechanisms, territorial expansion, revenge, or even Western Civilization itself with its excessive greed and insatiable appetites for things of this world.
· Now obviously legal abortion’s aims are different in the sense that the West isn’t forcibly killing off other populations as a means to expand its own territorial boundaries, however the verses which Amos wrote are still applicable in that many men and women have been brought up in a culture that elevates the acquisition of material wealth and giving in to lust over the sanctity of human life. After all, raising children costs money that could instead be put towards to the purchase of a desired good or service.
· With this firmly at the forefront of our thoughts, let us pray that when God measures our moral conduct as a community, verse 13 of Amos will not be modified to read: “For three transgressions or for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they murdered their children in the womb, that they may not temper their carnal desires and have more money to spend on acquiring an over-abundance of cheap products made overseas from the nearest major retail outlet.”
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (JPS) – The Jewish Study Bible – Tanakh Translation
· From the JPS Tanakh study notes, not much information is given outside of the location of Gilead being to the north of Ammon and while biblically it was to have fallen under Israelite jurisdiction, that specific territory had been disputed during the Kingdom era.
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (RSV) – The Navarre Bible – The Old Testament
· The Navarre gives a brief overview of the six oracles against the peoples neighboring Judah and Israel, to which violence among women being cited in verse 13 being among the various sins. The notations on 1: 3 – 2: 3 (p115 in the Minor Prophets) don’t specifically go into detail of the Ammonites, but rather explains that, “The Lord will punish these nations for their wickedness, for he is the one who judges and rules over not only the chosen people but all nations; he is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and of all mankind”. Furthermore the notes reaffirm the idea that what crimes that the nations are guilty of are a rebellion against God.
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (NIV) – Zondervan Archaeological Study Bible
· The NIV verifies the destruction of Rabbah and conquest of the Ammonites in 732 B.C. by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III.
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (ESV) – Crossway Study Bible
· The ESV goes into a little bit more background detail citing that the Ammonites were in constant warfare with the Tribes of Gad and Reuben and further specified that their sin was the “viciousness and brutality of their attacks, without pity even for pregnant women” (p1660).
I have been putting together my own personal Bible commentary and while reading through on the Book of the Prophet Amos, I thought an excellent apologetics tool could be used in debate against those who erroneously use Scripture to claim that it does not support abortion. So in the final days of October, I present to you my thoughts on the subject! Please tell me what you think!
[Disclaimer: This is a personal interpretation only and I do not confer it as an article of faith that must be believed to be saved.... Basically, I don't want to accidentally father or dig up a heresy. As with all religious material or theological musings that are put forth in the public eye, I humbly submit these works to correction by a higher ecclesiastical authority if indeed error is found.]
AGAINST The SLAUGHTER of The UNBORN
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (RSV)
St. Ignatius 2nd Edition Official Catholic Bible
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (RSV)
St. Ignatius 2nd Edition Official Catholic Bible
· In the section dealing with the judgment on Israel’s neighbors, we find the cause of Ammon’s particular punishment due to the mass indiscriminate and merciless butchering of women, children and those who had yet to be born. Verse 13 in no uncertain terms declares why God is angry with the sons of Ammon: “Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.”
· It should be immediately clarified that while the context of the text reads as the motivation behind the Ammonites’ madness, our LORD’s anger was not simply confined to intent alone. God does not bring forth judgment because the women of Gilead did not consent to their children being murdered in the womb due to undesirability or inconvenience, for if that were the case, why should the Prophet Amos bother to phrase verse 13 to include the unborn among the victims who were slain? To defile the sanctity of innocent life that has not even had the opportunity to experience this world, if even only for a moment, is among the most horrific actions taken against God and neighbor, especially for a temporary material gain.
· Verse 14 begins with how the LORD will reciprocate with the Ammonites’ terror and unprovoked bloodlust. “So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour her strongholds, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; (v15) and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.”
· The message is clear: Because the Ammonites’ reign of terror and indiscriminate disregard for human life at the disproportionate desire of territorial gain, they in turn are to meet a similar fate as the citizenry of Gilead as the LORD will raise an unstoppable force to purge them from the earth by means of fire and overwhelm all of their lands as surely as the locusts overwhelmed the Egyptians prior to the great exodus of Israel. Split, broken, finished, the rulers of Ammon shall be routed and forced to leave, never to rise up against their neighbor in aggression again, their final destination to be that of fire everlasting.
· One should not however be self-righteous or take false comfort in the fate of the Ammonites for their crime is made manifest every day, ever present across the globe, whether committed by governments as population control mechanisms, territorial expansion, revenge, or even Western Civilization itself with its excessive greed and insatiable appetites for things of this world.
· Now obviously legal abortion’s aims are different in the sense that the West isn’t forcibly killing off other populations as a means to expand its own territorial boundaries, however the verses which Amos wrote are still applicable in that many men and women have been brought up in a culture that elevates the acquisition of material wealth and giving in to lust over the sanctity of human life. After all, raising children costs money that could instead be put towards to the purchase of a desired good or service.
· With this firmly at the forefront of our thoughts, let us pray that when God measures our moral conduct as a community, verse 13 of Amos will not be modified to read: “For three transgressions or for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they murdered their children in the womb, that they may not temper their carnal desires and have more money to spend on acquiring an over-abundance of cheap products made overseas from the nearest major retail outlet.”
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (JPS) – The Jewish Study Bible – Tanakh Translation
· From the JPS Tanakh study notes, not much information is given outside of the location of Gilead being to the north of Ammon and while biblically it was to have fallen under Israelite jurisdiction, that specific territory had been disputed during the Kingdom era.
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (RSV) – The Navarre Bible – The Old Testament
· The Navarre gives a brief overview of the six oracles against the peoples neighboring Judah and Israel, to which violence among women being cited in verse 13 being among the various sins. The notations on 1: 3 – 2: 3 (p115 in the Minor Prophets) don’t specifically go into detail of the Ammonites, but rather explains that, “The Lord will punish these nations for their wickedness, for he is the one who judges and rules over not only the chosen people but all nations; he is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and of all mankind”. Furthermore the notes reaffirm the idea that what crimes that the nations are guilty of are a rebellion against God.
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (NIV) – Zondervan Archaeological Study Bible
· The NIV verifies the destruction of Rabbah and conquest of the Ammonites in 732 B.C. by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III.
Commentary on The Book of Amos 1: 13-15 (ESV) – Crossway Study Bible
· The ESV goes into a little bit more background detail citing that the Ammonites were in constant warfare with the Tribes of Gad and Reuben and further specified that their sin was the “viciousness and brutality of their attacks, without pity even for pregnant women” (p1660).
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