¹⁵ Truth is lacking,    and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him    that there was no justice.
¹⁶ He saw that there was no one,    and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm brought him victory,    and his righteousness upheld him.
¹⁷ He put on righteousness like a breastplate,    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,    and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.
¹⁸ According to their deeds, so will he repay;    wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;    to the coastlands he will render requital.
¹⁹ So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,    and those in the east, his glory;
for he will come like a pent-up stream    that the wind of the Lord drives on.
²⁰ And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord.
²¹And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord, from now on and for ever.

The movement of the prophet’s thought is clear enough. Addressing his compatriots who have returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, to reestablish their nation, he admits that things have not been going well. This is no accident he explains. There has been no justice in the life of the Jerusalem community and this has so displeased God that he has come out fighting against it. The difficulties and setbacks of the returnees are interpreted as the wrath of God. Nothing is more central to the message of the prophets that the conviction that God will reward a just and faithful people and will punish an unjust and unfaithful people. The worship of idols and the refusal of social justice inevitably bring disaster on a people.

Certainly this does not seem to be true in a general sense: the prosperous and successful nations of the world do not appear to be less idolatrous or unjust than others, quite the opposite some would say. Nor do the nations which have undergone war, plague or natural disaster appear to be more idolatrous or unjust.

Could it be true only of ancient Israel? One prophet certainly thought so. Amos has the Lord say to Israel, “You only have I loved (the Hebrew word is “known” the bible word for sexual intimacy) of all the families of the earth therefore you alone shall I punish for your sins.” Here God’s wrath is imagined, as it is repeatedly in the other prophets, as like that of a betrayed lover. We postmodern people might view that idea as gross, but I think it may have some truth.

If we imagine our lives to be marked by relationship with a God of truth and justice yet persistently give allegiance to idols of wealth, power and pleasure; or promote injustice in social relationships, we will know in our heart of hearts that we are hypocrites and liars, who have betrayed the one we call God. It seems to me perfectly possible that such personal and social disintegration may bring disaster.

This interpretation would present the message of divine reward and punishment in this world as directed primarily to communities of faith; that hypocrisy entails disintegration. I listened yesterday to a member of the Unification Church trying to excuse the hypocrisies of its founding family while desperately denying that the leadership of the church were at each other’s throats. On the other hand, this morning I heard a Sikh leader speak clearly about his religion’s commitment to the equality of women and its concern that Sikh girls who were not treated as equal to their brothers, might become easy prey for predatory men. It was possible to guess which of these two faith communities was in the process of disintegration.

The bible says that is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Perhaps it’s right.