In the Cut

I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, and eliminate every inhabitant from the ^[c]Valley of Aven, as well as him who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden; so the people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the Lord.  Amos 1:5  NASB

Eliminate – Perhaps you recognize the symbolic, metaphorical use of this term.  It’s karat.  “The most important use of the root is ‘to cut’ a covenant bĕrît (q.v.). The word here is pregnant with theological meaning. A covenant must be cut because the slaughter of animals was a part of the covenant ritual (Speiser, Genesis, in AB, p. 112; BA 34:18). Genesis 15 is a significant passage in this regard. The Lord made (cut) a covenant with Abram (v. 18) involving a mysterious ceremony.”^[1]  But this isn’t the only use.  In fact, in its ordinary use, it has some rather dire meanings:

In addition to the literal meaning of this root, “to cut off” (Ex 4:25; I Sam 5:4) and “to cut down” (I Kgs 5:20; a “woodcutter” in Isa 14:8) there is the metaphorical meaning to root out, eliminate, remove, excommunicate or destroy by a violent act of man or nature. It is sometimes difficult in a given context to know whether the person(s) who is “cut off”’ is to be killed or only excommunicated. ^[2]

Amos reveals God’s intention to “cut” every inhabitant from the Valley of Aven.  What does this mean?  Exile or extinction?  Either one is tragic, although not to the same extent.  Perhaps we’d be inclined to accept the first rather than the second alternative.  Perhaps we’d find some solace in the second part of this verse where the word is gālû (“exile”) rather than eradication.  Neither is good news.  What these people did to offend God certainly has serious, perhaps mortal, consequences.  Just as we saw in Psalm 9:6, resolving the problem of idolatrous influence does not happen with spiritual counseling or trauma therapy groups.  God’s surgical skills cut away the disease—permanently.  It is the tragedy of human history that we tend to keep a few cancer cells close at hand just in case we bleed too much.

It seems to me that much of the conflict in the world today is the result of the human failure of the process of elimination. God’s solution is to clean house.  Ours is to renegotiate.  But an antiseptic environment requires intense cleansing.  A little leaven is a tragedy in the making.  Imagine how the chaos of the world would change if karat was one of the options; the first (and final) option.  What would happen to the present conflicts in the Middle East, in the China Sea, in central Africa if karat was on the table?  What would it take for anyone to decide to go in this direction?  Perhaps it is only valid when an authorized prophet provides divine guidance.  But I’m afraid that even then our ethics would get in the way of our duty.  Perhaps one of the greatest impediments to divine justice and a righteous society is religion.

Topical Index: karat, cut, covenant, conflict, eliminate, exterminate, Amos 1:5