Minor #18

Truth:
1. The first reproof to Israel was due to Israel's not being one with God and that Bethel had become a place for the worship of idols.
2. The second reproof to Israel was because they oppressed the poor, crushed the needy, and indulged themselves in pleasures.
3. The third reproof was the strongest of the three.  The leaders did not care for justice and righteousness and did not care for the people according to the law of God.  They hated him who reproved in the gate, the place where the leading ones exercised judgment, and they abhorred the one who spoke with integrity.  They took a forced gift from the poor.  Instead of making noise and singing songs, they should exercise justice and practice righteousness.
4. In the midst of such a situation, God has done something marvelous.  He came to be incarnated as a man, and He lived on earth to set up a model of how to have the divine life expressed in humanity, of how to have the divine attributes expressed in the human virtues.

Life experience/Application: