Contemplative Bible Reading

Amos 6:12 (New Living Translation)

12 Can horses gallop over boulders?
Can oxen be used to plow them?
But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poison
and the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness.

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Amos. And the topic, once again, is justice and righteousness. This topic appears so often in these writings that a person as dense as me can see how important it is to God.

God’s message begins with rhetorical and ridiculous questions: horses galloping over boulders? Oxen plowing boulders? Ridiculous. Foolish.

And that is how foolish it is when people turn justice into poison and righteousness into bitterness.

No one wants poison; no one wants bitterness. God certainly doesn’t want these either. Yet, the people were exchanging the best and most desired for the least and most despised. How could they do that? How was it that they didn’t recognize the error of their ways and change? Such is the condition of mankind. We are an odd lot. God, however, sent His Son to save us from such poison and bitterness. How can I turn away from this selfless gift from God? Please God, help me in my unbelief.