I was reading Amos yesterday, thrown up by the lectionary, which speaks about fire on the wall of Gaza.
Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;*
because they carried into exile entire communities,
to hand them over to Edom.
7So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
fire that shall devour its strongholds.
Obviously my mind was drawn to the current conflict in Gaza, which is vexing me a lot at the moment, partly because I think that it is very simple but also very complex. Simple - Israel should stop bombing now. Simple - They should fully recognize the Palestinians right to the land and seek ways of living together. Complex - US foreign policy, Israeli elections, Zionism, War on Terror, Hammas, rocket attacks, use of language, WW II, Jewish diaspora, Imperialalism, empire building...
It is almost like the Israeli's are reading Amos 1 without then reading Amos 2 which speaks of God's judgement on Israel for trampling the poor of the earth...
For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;*
because they sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
wine bought with fines they imposed.
Metaphorically 'Father and Son do go into the same girl' Gaza being the girl and the generation after generation oppressing her. The poor are trampled, or bombed, into the dust and God's holy name is profaned through this.
And judgement will come on Israel with more suicide bombers, more bus bombers, more hate, more violence, more death, the cycle of violence must stop.
