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Today’s Teaching

Blessed To Bless

Erica Wiggenhorn

Day: 10 | Plan: Don't Let Go

Start Here: Amos 8:4-5

Key Verse: Amos 8:4 (ESV) "Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end ..."

Major Moment: Amos denounced merchants who exploited the poor and engaged in dishonest trade.

A few months before my father passed away, he had become too sick to take care of his finances. I took over paying his bills for him. As I daily checked his mailbox, two or three envelopes would arrive from various charity organizations thanking him for his donation. I asked him if he wanted me to continue giving, and in his weakened state, he cleared his throat:

"Erica, I am a very blessed man. God has blessed me to be a blessing to others. Send the checks every month until I take my last breath."

In today's scriptures, God had blessed the leaders of northern Israel with reprieve from their enemies, enlarged territory, and growing trade routes that led to prosperity; however, many of them chose not to bless others. While most Israelites remained quite poor, surviving as farmers, the wealthy landowners and merchants exploited them, "bring[ing] the poor of the land to an end" (Amos 8:4).

In Amos 8:6, God also accused these merchants of "buy[ing] the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals." God had strictly forbidden His people from enslaving each other (Leviticus 25:39-40), but now they enslaved their Israelite brothers and sisters for the smallest of debts: the price of a pair of shoes. By addressing "you who trample on the needy," Amos wasn't just being poetic; he was describing how the poor were quite literally under the feet of the rich (Amos 8:4).

By disdaining the poor, God's people also disdained His commands. During a "new moon" or "Sabbath," as Amos 8:5 mentions, God had instructed His people not to work, buy, or sell (Exodus 20:10; Psalm 81:3-4). God instituted these laws to remind Israel that their blessings came from His hand rather than their labor. He also desired to protect laborers, providing a day of rest and worship. But many wealthy landowners in Amos' day forgot whose hand their blessings came from, and they rushed through these holy days with little regard for the well-being of their workers.

Some also used dishonest systems of measurement to cheat farmers in the marketplace by "mak[ing] the ephah small and the shekel great ... with false balances" (Amos 8:5). The ephah was a common measurement of grain or wheat, and a shekel was a unit of money, like a dollar, yen, or euro. On an imbalanced scale, merchants shrank the ephah (giving less grain) and inflated the requirement of shekels (charging more money). This way customers paid more but received less, and the sellers price gouged every little bit from people barely getting by.

Amos' prophecy reminds us that God is angered by this kind of greed, dishonesty, and disregard for the difficulty of others. He has always cared for the poor (Leviticus 23:22), and He desires to bless all His people, including both the wealthy and the "least of these" (Matthew 25:40). Let's live by His Spirit of generosity and seek to bless others in return with the blessings we ourselves have received.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me to remember that everything I have comes from Your gracious hand. There is nothing I own that You have not graciously given to me (1 Corinthians 4:7). Help me not to shut my eyes to the needs of those around me, and help me walk with integrity in my work, whether in the marketplace or elsewhere. May I see my blessings as an opportunity to bless others and remember the words of Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). In Jesus' name, amen.

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