Stop up those waters
Back to Amos though. Amos is a prophet from the the Southern Kingdom of Judah who is sent to the Northern Kingdom to pronounce judgments against a variety of peoples but eventually his book settles in on God’s judgment against Israel. Some argue that Amos is primarily criticizing the unordained worship rituals conducted at Bethel and Gilgal. As in our verses today we do hear God saying through Amos that God despises their festivals, God doesn’t want their burnt offerings, and God doesn’t want to listen to their worship music. But why doesn’t God care for these things. Is it because they’re doing it wrong? Maybe but this isn’t as big a deal as the fact that they are ignoring more crucial things- justice and righteousness. God makes it clear through Amos that the worship and sacrifices of Israel are inauthentic while the people, especially the leaders, perpetuate systems of injustice and ignore righteous behavior. Leveled against Israel are sins like these listed in chapter 2- taking bribes in legal matter, selling people into slavery, incest and temple prostitution, perverting the way of the poor, and temple leaders levying fines for their own pleasure. These are distortions of justice and righteousness. These issues get us beyond the worship wars.