Amos

Amos

Book Outhne

Key theme: A call for justice, a warning of judgments

Key verse:

I. Look Around and See God’s Judgment: Eight Nations Judged ()

A. Six Gentile nations condemned ()

B. Judah condemned (, )

C. Israel condemned ()

II. Look Within and See the Corruption: Three Sermons to the People of Israel ()

A. Message #1: Israel’s judgment certain ()

B. Message #2: Israel’s sins denounced ()

C. Message #3: Israel’s doom lamented ()

III. Look Ahead and See the End Coming: Visions of Judgment and of the Kingdom ()

A. Three visions of judgment ()

1. The locusts ()

2. The fire ()

3. The plumb line ()

B. Historical interlude: Amos at Bethel ()

C. Two more visions of judgment ()

1. The basket of ripe fruit ()

2. The ruined temple ()

D. A vision of the glorious kingdom ()

Book Overview

If the prophet Amos were to come to our world today, he would probably feel very much at home; for he lived at a time such as ours when society was changing radically. Both Israel and Judah were at peace with their neighbors, which meant that their wealth and energy could be used for developing their nations instead of fighting their enemies. Both kingdoms were prosperous; their cities were expanding rapidly; and a new wealthy merchant class was developing in society. The two kingdoms were moving from an agricultural to a commercial society and experiencing both the benefits and problems that come with that change.

Amos (“burden bearer”) was a shepherd and a cultivator of sycamore fruit trees (; ) when the Lord called him to be a prophet. He lived in the village of Tekoa, about eleven miles from Jerusalem, during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah (790–740 B.C.) and Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel (793–753 B.C.). Amos was a layman, a humble farmer and shepherd, who was not an official member of the Jewish religious or political establishment.

At this time, both Judah and Israel were enjoying prosperity and security. Luxury abounded (; ), and religion was popular. Israel flocked to the royal chapel at Bethel (, ), and Judah celebrated the feasts enthusiastically (, ); but the sins of both nations were eroding the religious and moral fiber of the people. Making money was more important than worshiping God (); the rich exploited the poor, the judicial system was corrupt, and injustice flourished (, ; ).

Amos declared God’s judgment not only on the Gentile nations but also on Israel and Judah. It was a call to repent of ritual religion and seek the Lord sincerely. He warned the aristocrats that God would judge them for the way they were abusing the poor. Despite the nations’ peace and prosperity, Amos saw the end coming and warned the people to prepare to meet their God.

One of the key verses is Amos is —“But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream”—a command the nations need to obey today.

“Be Transformed”

The life of a prophet in Israel wasn’t easy. On the one hand, the prophet had to stay close to the Lord in order to hear His words and be able to share them with the people. But on the other hand, the prophet also had to live among the people to whom he was ministering, and they didn’t always want to accept his ministry. This rejection sometimes led to ridicule, but it also led to threats on the prophets’ lives and an occasional death. No wonder some of the prophets—including Moses and Jeremiah—wanted to resign.

Amos had two struggles: one with the Lord and one with the authorities, especially King Jeroboam and his priest Amaziah (see ). He was stuck between the rock and a hard place. Being a prophet wasn’t part of Amos’s background or training, yet God called him to that task. Amaziah recognized Amos as a prophet and wanted him to give his message somewhere else (, ). God’s Word is not “our” word; yet when we speak it into the world, we can expect that both the Word and we ourselves may well be rejected. Amos took no pleasure in forecasting doom—these were people in his extended family. But God had called him to tell the truth, and he was faithful. The lesson we see repeatedly in the lives of the prophets is that God does not express pleasure in His messengers, because they have a large following but, because they have been faithful even when others refused to follow. God still uses that standard of faithfulness to measure our lives today.

“The LORD roars from Zion,

And utters His voice from Jerusalem;

The pastures of the shepherds mourn,

And the top of Carmel withers.”

Judgment on the Nations

“For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron.

Which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

5I will also break the gate bar of Damascus,

And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven,

And the one who holds the scepter from Beth Eden.

The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,”

Says the LORD.

“For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because they took captive the whole captivity

To deliver them up to Edom.

7But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,

Which shall devour its palaces.

8I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod,

And the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;

I will turn My hand against Ekron,

And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”

Says the Lord GOD.

“For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom,

And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

10But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,

Which shall devour its palaces.”

“For three transgressions of Edom, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because he pursued his brother with the sword,

And cast off all pity;

His anger tore perpetually,

And he kept his wrath forever.

12But I will send a fire upon Teman,

Which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

“For three transgressions of the people of Ammon, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead,

That they might enlarge their territory.

And it shall devour its palaces,

Amid shouting in the day of battle,

And a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.

15Their king shall go into captivity,

He and his princes together,”

Says the LORD.

“For three transgressions of Moab, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.

2But I will send a fire upon Moab,

And it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth;

Moab shall die with tumult,

With shouting and trumpet sound.

3And I will cut off the judge from its midst,

And slay all its princes with him,”

Says the LORD.

Judgment on Judah

“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because they have despised the law of the LORD,

And have not kept His commandments.

Their lies lead them astray,

Lies which their fathers followed.

5But I will send a fire upon Judah,

And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

Judgment on Israel

“For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,

I will not turn away its punishment,

Because they sell the righteous for silver,

And the poor for a pair of sandals.

And pervert the way of the humble.

A man and his father go in to the same girl,

To defile My holy name.

And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

Whose height was like the height of the cedars,

And he was as strong as the oaks;

Yet I destroyed his fruit above

And his roots beneath.

10Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,

And led you forty years through the wilderness,

To possess the land of the Amorite.

11I raised up some of your sons as prophets,

And some of your young men as Nazirites.

Is it not so, O you children of Israel?”

Says the LORD.

12“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,

And commanded the prophets saying,

‘Do not prophesy!’

As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down.

14Therefore flight shall perish from the swift,

The strong shall not strengthen his power,

Nor shall the mighty deliver himself;

15He shall not stand who handles the bow,

The swift of foot shall not escape,

Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself.

Shall flee naked in that day,”

Says the LORD.

Authority of the Prophet’s Message

2“You only have I known of all the families of the earth;

Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

4Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?

Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?

5Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it?

Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?

6If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?

If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?

Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

Who will not fear?

The Lord GOD has spoken!

Who can but prophesy?

Punishment of Israel’s Sins

And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say:

‘Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;

See great tumults in her midst,

And the oppressed within her.

Says the LORD,

‘Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.’ ”

“An adversary shall be all around the land;

He shall sap your strength from you,

And your palaces shall be plundered.”

12Thus says the LORD:

“As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion

Two legs or a piece of an ear,

So shall the children of Israel be taken out

Who dwell in Samaria—

In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch!

13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”

Says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel;

And the horns of the altar shall be cut off

And fall to the ground.

The houses of ivory shall perish,

And the great houses shall have an end,”

Says the LORD.

Who oppress the poor,

Who crush the needy,

Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!”

“Behold, the days shall come upon you

When He will take you away with fishhooks,

And your posterity with fishhooks.

3You will go out through broken walls,

Each one straight ahead of her,

And you will be cast into Harmon,”

Says the LORD.

At Gilgal multiply transgression;

Bring your sacrifices every morning,

Your tithes every three days.

5Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,

Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings;

For this you love,

You children of Israel!”

Says the Lord GOD.

Israel Did Not Accept Correction

And lack of bread in all your places;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the LORD.

7“I also withheld rain from you,

When there were still three months to the harvest.

I made it rain on one city,

I withheld rain from another city.

One part was rained upon,

And where it did not rain the part withered.

8So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,

But they were not satisfied;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the LORD.

9“I blasted you with blight and mildew.

When your gardens increased,

Your vineyards,

Your fig trees,

And your olive trees,

The locust devoured them;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the LORD.

10“I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt;

Your young men I killed with a sword,

Along with your captive horses;

I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the LORD.

11“I overthrew some of you,

As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;

Yet you have not returned to Me,”

Says the LORD.

12“Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel;

Because I will do this to you,

Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

He who forms mountains,

And creates the wind,

Who declares to man what his thought is,

And makes the morning darkness,

Who treads the high places of the earth—

The LORD God of hosts is His name.

A Lament for Israel

2The virgin of Israel has fallen;

She will rise no more.

She lies forsaken on her land;

There is no one to raise her up.

3For thus says the Lord GOD:

“The city that goes out by a thousand

Shall have a hundred left,

And that which goes out by a hundred

Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

A Call to Repentance

“Seek Me and live;

5But do not seek Bethel,

Nor enter Gilgal,

Nor pass over to Beersheba;

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And Bethel shall come to nothing.

6Seek the LORD and live,

Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

And devour it,

With no one to quench it in Bethel—

And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”

8He made the Pleiades and Orion;

He turns the shadow of death into morning

And makes the day dark as night;

He calls for the waters of the sea

And pours them out on the face of the earth;

The LORD is His name.

9He rains ruin upon the strong,

So that fury comes upon the fortress.

10They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,

And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.

11Therefore, because you tread down the poor

And take grain taxes from him,

Though you have built houses of hewn stone,

Yet you shall not dwell in them;

You have planted pleasant vineyards,

But you shall not drink wine from them.

12For I know your manifold transgressions

And your mighty sins:

Afflicting the just and taking bribes;

Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.

13Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

14Seek good and not evil,

That you may live;

So the LORD God of hosts will be with you,

As you have spoken.

Establish justice in the gate.

It may be that the LORD God of hosts

Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

The Day of the LORD

16Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this:

“There shall be wailing in all streets,

And they shall say in all the highways,

‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmer to mourning,

And skillful lamenters to wailing.

17In all vineyards there shall be wailing,

For I will pass through you,”

Says the LORD.

For what good is the day of the LORD to you?

It will be darkness, and not light.

19It will be as though a man fled from a lion,

And a bear met him!

Or as though he went into the house,

Leaned his hand on the wall,

And a serpent bit him!

20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light?

Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?

And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.

22Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,

I will not accept them,

Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.

23Take away from Me the noise of your songs,

For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.

And righteousness like a mighty stream.

25“Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings

In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26You also carried Sikkuth your king

And Chiun, your idols,

The star of your gods,

Which you made for yourselves.

27Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,”

Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Warnings to Zion and Samaria

And trust in Mount Samaria,

Notable persons in the chief nation,

To whom the house of Israel comes!

2Go over to Calneh and see;

And from there go to Hamath the great;

Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms?

Or is their territory greater than your territory?

Who cause the seat of violence to come near;

4Who lie on beds of ivory,

Stretch out on your couches,

Eat lambs from the flock

And calves from the midst of the stall;

5Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,

And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;

And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,

But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

7Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,

And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.

The LORD God of hosts says:

“I abhor the pride of Jacob,

And hate his palaces;

Therefore I will deliver up the city

And all that is in it.”

9Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.

10And when a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?” Then someone will say, “None.” And he will say, “Hold your tongue! For we dare not mention the name of the LORD.”

11For behold, the LORD gives a command:

He will break the great house into bits,

And the little house into pieces.

Does one plow there with oxen?

Yet you have turned justice into gall,

And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,

13You who rejoice over Lo Debar,

Who say, “Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves

By our own strength?”

O house of Israel,”

Says the LORD God of hosts;

“And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath

To the Valley of the Arabah.”

Vision of the Locusts

2And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:

“O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray!

Oh, that Jacob may stand,

For he is small!”

3So the LORD relented concerning this.

“It shall not be,” said the LORD.

Vision of the Fire

4Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory.

5Then I said:

“O Lord GOD, cease, I pray!

Oh, that Jacob may stand,

For he is small!”

6So the LORD relented concerning this.

“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

Vision of the Plumb Line

8And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said:

“Behold, I am setting a plumb line

In the midst of My people Israel;

I will not pass by them anymore.

9The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,

And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.

I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”

Amaziah’s Complaint

10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.

11“For thus Amos has said:

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

And Israel shall surely be led away captive

From their own land.’ ”

“Go, you seer!

Flee to the land of Judah.

There eat bread,

And there prophesy.

13But never again prophesy at Bethel,

For it is the king’s sanctuary,

And it is the royal residence.”

“I was no prophet,

Nor was I a son of a prophet,

But I was a sheepbreeder

And a tender of sycamore fruit.

15Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock,

And the LORD said to me,

‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

16Now therefore, hear the word of the LORD:

You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

And do not spout against the house of Isaac.’

17“Therefore thus says the LORD:

‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city;

Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;

Your land shall be divided by survey line;

You shall die in a defiled land;

And Israel shall surely be led away captive

From his own land.’ ”

Vision of the Summer Fruit

2And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me:

“The end has come upon My people Israel;

I will not pass by them anymore.

3And the songs of the temple

Shall be wailing in that day,”

Says the Lord GOD—

“Many dead bodies everywhere,

They shall be thrown out in silence.”

And make the poor of the land fail,

5Saying:

“When will the New Moon be past,

That we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

That we may trade wheat?

Making the ephah small and the shekel large,

Falsifying the scales by deceit,

6That we may buy the poor for silver,

And the needy for a pair of sandals—

Even sell the bad wheat?”

“Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8Shall the land not tremble for this,

And everyone mourn who dwells in it?

All of it shall swell like the River,

Heave and subside

Like the River of Egypt.

9“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD,

“That I will make the sun go down at noon,

And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;

10I will turn your feasts into mourning,

And all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on every waist,

And baldness on every head;

I will make it like mourning for an only son,

And its end like a bitter day.

“That I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine of bread,

Nor a thirst for water,

But of hearing the words of the LORD.

12They shall wander from sea to sea,

And from north to east;

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,

But shall not find it.

13“In that day the fair virgins

And strong young men

Shall faint from thirst.

14Those who swear by the sin of Samaria,

Who say,

‘As your god lives, O Dan!’

And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’

They shall fall and never rise again.”

The Destruction of Israel

“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,

And break them on the heads of them all.

I will slay the last of them with the sword.

He who flees from them shall not get away,

And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

From there My hand shall take them;

Though they climb up to heaven,

From there I will bring them down;

3And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel,

From there I will search and take them;

Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,

From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;

4Though they go into captivity before their enemies,

From there I will command the sword,

And it shall slay them.

I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

He who touches the earth and it melts,

And all who dwell there mourn;

All of it shall swell like the River,

And subside like the River of Egypt.

6He who builds His layers in the sky,

And has founded His strata in the earth;

Who calls for the waters of the sea,

And pours them out on the face of the earth—

The LORD is His name.

7“Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,

O children of Israel?” says the LORD.

“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

The Philistines from Caphtor,

And the Syrians from Kir?

And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

Says the LORD.

9“For surely I will command,

And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,

As grain is sifted in a sieve;

Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

10All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,

Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’

Israel Will Be Restored

The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,

And repair its damages;

I will raise up its ruins,

And rebuild it as in the days of old;

12That they may possess the remnant of Edom,

And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”

Says the LORD who does this thing.

13“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,

“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;

The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,

And all the hills shall flow with it.

14I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;

They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;

They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;

They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.

15I will plant them in their land,

And no longer shall they be pulled up

From the land I have given them,”

Says the LORD your God.

Annotations for Amos

, God wanted to get the nations’ attention, but people weren’t listening. We would think they could hear a lion roar or the thunder roll and know that danger was at hand. God was speaking (“roars”) from Jerusalem, for judgment always begins at the house of the Lord ().

Eight times Amos used the phrase “for three transgressions and for four” (v. ), a Hebrew idiom that means “an indefinite number that has finally come to the end.” God is patient with sinners (); but He marks what they do, and His patience eventually runs out.

Damascus was the capital of Syria, one of the Israelites’ persistent enemies. Amos denounced the Syrians for their inhuman treatment of the Israelites who lived in Gilead, east of the Jordan River. They cruelly “threshed” the people as though they were nothing but stalks of grain.

The phrase “I will send a fire” (vv. , , , , ; , ) means “I will send judgment”; for fire represents the holiness and judgment of God.

Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron were the five key Philistine cities (), and Amos denounced all of them for trading in human lives. They raided Hebrew villages and captured people to be sold as slaves.

Throughout ancient Israel’s history, slavery was practiced; but the Law of Moses clearly governed how the slaves were treated. The law that permitted slavery at the same time protected the slaves. Putting a prisoner of war to work was one thing, but kidnapping innocent people and selling them like cattle was something else altogether. Neither Jesus nor the apostles openly denounced slavery, but they made it clear that all people are sinners whom God loves and that all saved people are one and are equal in Christ ().

, Amos’s prophecy had moved from Damascus in the northeast to the Philistine cities in the southwest. Next he set his sights straight north on Phoenicia and its major city, Tyre.

During the reigns of David and Solomon, Israel had enjoyed a warm relationship with the people of Tyre (.). Amos called it “their treaty of brotherhood,” suggesting that the covenant was more than a treaty but involved a friendly partnership that went deeper than politics. Even if the peoples of different nations don’t agree in their religious practices or their political structures, they can still treat one another like fellow human beings. Tyre, however, committed the same sins as the Philistine cities by selling Hebrew captives to the Edomites as slaves ().

In this verse Amos condemned the Edomites for their persistent hatred of the Israelites. That boiling hatred would receive a just punishment from God.

The Ammonites (vv. ) and the Moabites () were the descendants of Lot through his incestuous union with his daughters (). They were a ruthless people who were the avowed enemies of the Israelites (; ).

Amos announced that a tempest in the day of the whirlwind of judgment would come to the people of Ammon and that their capital city (Rabbah) would be destroyed. This took place when the Assyrians swept over the land in 734 B.C. Not only did Amos predict the destruction of their land, but so did Ezekiel ().

Animosity between Moab and Israel began very early, when the Moabites refused to give the Israelites passage on the major highway (, ; ). The king of Moab also had hired Balaam to curse Israel (), and then the Moabite women had seduced the Hebrew men to commit fornication and idolatry (). During the period of the judges, Israel was subject to the Moabites for eighteen years ().

What was the sin of Moab? Disrespect for the dead and for royalty. For the most part, society today shows respect for the dead, but ancient Eastern peoples protected their dead even more. Steeped in pagan superstition, they interred bodies carefully to ensure the spirit’s continued existence in the next world. Relatives of the deceased would often inscribe frightful curses on the tombs, warning people to refrain from opening them.

Before reading God’s messages to Judah and Israel, we should pause to reflect on the messages we have just studied that were delivered to six Gentile nations. God expected these Gentiles to listen to a Hebrew prophet and heed what he said! Though not under the Mosaic law, these nations were responsible to God for what they did, and responsibility brings accountability. God sees what the nations do, and He judges them accordingly. God controls the rise and fall of the nations (), and His judgments are always just.

, As his fellow Israelites heard Amos’s denunciations of the Gentiles (), no doubt they applauded and wanted to hear more. But when Amos focused on Israel and Judah (his own land), their attitude changed completely. The very idea of a Hebrew prophet classifying God’s chosen people in the same category with the Gentile dogs! “We know we aren’t a perfect people,” the people of Judah would argue, “but at least we worship the true and living God!”

The Gentiles had sinned against conscience and the laws of brotherhood and humanity, but the Israelites had despised and rejected the very laws of God, given to them by Moses. Theirs was the greater sin, for greater privilege always brings greater responsibility ().

, Amos first exposed their sinful present, and he named three flagrant sins. To begin with, the people of the northern kingdom were guilty of injustice. Supported by corrupt judges, the rich were suing the poor, who couldn’t pay their bills, and forcing them into servitude and slavery.

Their second gross sin was immorality, with fathers and sons visiting the same prostitute! These may have been cult prostitutes who were a part of the heathen idolatrous worship. Thus a double sin was involved: immorality and idolatry. Or the girl may have been a household servant or a common prostitute. We would think that a father would want to be a better example to his son by obeying the Law of Moses (; , ).

The third sin was open idolatry. Wealthy men took their debtors’ garments as pledges but did not return them at sundown as the law commanded (, ; , ). Instead, these rich sinners visited pagan altars, where they got drunk on wine purchased with the fines they had exacted from the poor. Then, in their drunken stupor, they slept by the altars on other people’s garments, defiling the garments and disobeying the law.

After describing their sinful present (vv. ), Amos reminded them of their glorious past. God had led His people out of Egypt (v. ), had cared for them in the wilderness (v. ), and had destroyed other nations so the Israelites could claim their inheritance in Canaan (vv. , ). He had given them His Word through chosen prophets (v. ), and He had raised up dedicated people like the Nazirites () to be examples of devotion to God. What a glorious past they had! Instead of being humbled by these blessings, however, the people rebelled against the Lord by rejecting the messages of the prophets.

Amos closed his message with the announcement of his people’s terrible future. Israel would be crushed by their own sins, just as a loaded cart crushes whatever it rolls over. Judgment was coming, and nobody would be able to escape. The swift wouldn’t be able to run away; the strong wouldn’t be able to defend themselves; the armed would be as if unarmed; even the horsemen would be unable to flee.

We need to pause and ask ourselves whether we truly fear God and seek to obey His will. Just because we enjoy a measure of peace and prosperity doesn’t mean God is pleased with us. For that matter, the goodness of God ought to lead us to repentance, as it did the Prodigal Son (; ).

Amos’s first message to Israel was that judgment is certain. This message was delivered to “the whole family,” that is, to both Israel and Judah; for both kingdoms were guilty of disobeying God’s holy law. Amos reminded them of their divine calling as the people of God, a calling that they were prone to despise and forget.

Catalyst

God’s call is gracious (). The Lord had chosen Israel and no other nation to be the special recipients of His bountiful gifts (; see ). This principle of gracious election also applies to the church. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (); and Paul reminded the Corinthian believers “for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” But God chose the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised. “No flesh should glory in His presence” (, ). God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (), and His choice was purely an act of grace.

God’s call is effective (). The Lord had demonstrated His great power in delivering Israel from the bondage of Egypt. The blood of the Passover lamb protected the Jews from death, and they were taken through the Red Sea to be separated from Egypt forever. Christians today have been saved by the precious blood of Christ (, ; ) and separated from the world because of His mighty resurrection ().

God’s call is exclusive (). “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” The word “known” indicates a husband and wife relationship (). “To know” means “to choose” (see ; ; , ), a term Paul applies to Christian believers (). Because they were exclusively the Lord’s, God did for Israel what He did for no other nation (, ).

God’s call involves responsibility (). Because God had chosen His people, called them, and blessed them, the people of Israel and Judah were responsible to love God and obey Him. If they didn’t, God would chasten them in love and seek to bring them back to Himself.

God’s call invites our response. The doctrine of divine election is not an excuse for sin; rather it is intended to motivate us to holy living. We should be so humbled by His grace and so amazed at His love (, ) that our hearts would want to do nothing other than worship and serve Him. Privilege always brings with it responsibility (; ; , , ). “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” ().

As God’s chosen people, we are expected to live worthy of our calling () and not follow the practices of the unsaved world (). This means living in love (), in wisdom (), and in the Spirit (). To do anything less is to live beneath our high calling and privileges as God’s children.

Go to the

At this point, the people were probably saying, “Who is this rustic farmer that he should preach to us and claim to be God’s prophet? What kind of authority does he think he has?” Amos even dared to preach uninvited at the king’s chapel at Bethel, where King Jeroboam’s chaplain told Amos to go home and preach in Judah ().

Amos replied to their ridicule by arguing from effect to cause. If two people want to walk together, they have to appoint a time and place to meet. The lion roars because he’s caught his prey (v. ). A trap springs because the bird has been caught (v. ); and the people in a city are terrified because the trumpet has blown, warning them of danger (v. ). These are obvious facts of life that any thinking person would acknowledge.

A prophet proclaims God’s Word because the Lord is about to do something important and wants to warn His people. When we open God’s Word, we ought to anticipate that something important is about to happen in our lives.

Amos was not proclaiming God’s message by some accident of vocational choice—God had called him. And Israel and Judah were not facing judgment by accident, for they had sinned against God. Every effect has a cause. What caused Amos to preach God’s Word? The call of God on his life.

, In his day, the prophet Isaiah had called heaven and earth to witness against Judah (; see ; ); Amos summoned the Gentile nations to witness against the northern kingdom of Israel whose capital was Samaria. The sin of Israel was so great that it even appalled the pagan nations; for, after all, Israel was sinning, and they knew better because they had God’s Word ().

Israel’s leaders weren’t interested in obeying God’s law and helping the less fortunate. Rather, they were eagerly and unjustly robbing the poor and amassing as much wealth as possible. They had built costly houses and filled them with expensive furnishings, and they were living in luxury, while the poor of the land suffered (v. ; ; ; ). The Law of Moses clearly stated that the nation was to care for the widows and orphans, the poor, and the strangers in the land.

What a terrible indictment: “They do not know to do right.” They were so bound by their greed and idolatry that they found doing what was right virtually impossible. Like many people today, they were addicted to affluence. They didn’t care that others lacked the necessities of life so long as they themselves enjoyed luxuries.

Amos announced that the kingdom of Israel would fall to an enemy, and the great city of Samaria would be plundered. This happened in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians invaded Israel. The people of Israel had plundered one another, but now a pagan Gentile nation would plunder them. We reap what we sow.

, According to ., the Assyrians killed some Israelites, took others captive, and then brought into the land captives from other nations, thus producing a people with diverse racial and religious backgrounds. The surviving Israelites in the ten tribes of the northern kingdom married people who were not Israelites, and this produced the people we know as Samaritans. The “pure” Jews rejected this new mongrel race (); so the Samaritans set up their own temple and priesthood and established their own religion, which the Lord rejected ().

Amos made clear that the invasion of the Assyrians was a work of God, for He was punishing Israel for her sins (v. ). Why? Because of their selfish luxury and their impudent idolatry. The people resting on their ivory beds in their expensive mansions would be stripped and led off as prisoners of war. The wealthy who had both summer and winter houses would have no houses.

Like Israel of old, nations today measure themselves by their wealth; and the gross national product becomes the indicator of security and success. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer as people worship the golden calf of money and greedily exploit one another. But God can quickly wipe out the idols that people worship and the unnecessary luxuries that control their lives. He hears the cries of the poor and eventually judges the guilty (see ; ; ).

Amos’s second message to Israel was to denounce her sins. The Samaritans were living in luxury. The word “luxury” comes from a Latin word that means “excessive.” It originally referred to plants that grow abundantly (our English word “luxurious”), but then it came to refer to people who have an abundance of money, time, and comfort, which they use for themselves as they live in aimless leisure. Whenever we are offered “deluxe service,” that’s the same Latin word: service above and beyond what we really need.

Luxury doesn’t mean owning abundant possessions so much as allowing possessions to own us. To live in luxury is to use what we have only for our own enjoyment and to ignore the needs of others. It means being irresponsible in the way we use our wealth, wasting it on futile pleasures instead of using it for the good of others and the glory of God.

Why did Amos, the farmer, use this image? Not because these women were overweight and looked like cows, but because by their sins they were fattening themselves up for the coming slaughter. Both they and their husbands were wallowing in wealth, while the poor of the land were suffering because these same people had exploited them and robbed them of money and land.

They would be led off like animals to the slaughter. The wealthy younger generation in Israel had everything money could buy, but they didn’t have what money can’t buy, the things of the Lord that make life worthwhile.

On the surface, Israel seemed to be experiencing a religious revival. Crowds of people were flocking to the “altars” and “shrines” (), bringing their sacrifices and tithes (; , ) and even singing songs of praise to the Lord (; ; , ). They offered sacrifices more frequently than the law required as if to prove how spiritual they were. But their gifts and songs didn’t impress the Lord, for He saw what was in their hearts; and the sin in their hearts made their sacrifices unacceptable.

The people of Israel loved going to religious meetings, but they didn’t love the God they claimed to worship. Making a pilgrimage to Bethel or Gilgal was popular in that day, and everybody wanted to keep up with the crowd. The experience included no confession of sin, no brokenness before the Lord, only a religious event that made the participants feel good. The whole system was corrupt; the people were sinning when they thought they were serving God.

Catalyst

Like the people of Israel in the time of Amos (, ), and like people throughout history, we have the capacity for giving attention to external or shallow effects while ignoring the issues of the heart. We evaluate by sight and feeling rather than by truth (see ).

We can easily join a large, happy, religious crowd, enthusiastically sing rousing songs, and put money in the offering plate, and yet not be changed in our hearts. The test of a spiritual experience should not be good feelings, large crowds, or a good time. The real test should be if we are drawn closer to God and if we are becoming more like Christ.

Whether we’re involved in evangelism, education, social action, world missions, or feeding the hungry, everything the church accomplishes for the Lord flows out of worship. If the fountainhead of worship is polluted, the church’s entire ministry will be defiled. Like the Israelites in Amos’s day, we’re only going to Bethel and sinning! Thus God’s people should examine their hearts to make certain that their motives are right and that what they do in public meetings glorifies the Lord.

Go to the

Consider some of the disciplines that God had sent to Israel to bring His people back to Himself: famine, drought, destruction of crops, sickness, defeat in war, catastrophe and ultimate judgment. What parallels can you see in your own experience?

God’s covenant with the Israelites clearly stated that God would bless them if they obeyed His law and that He would discipline them if they disobeyed (). God set before them life and death, blessing and cursing; and He urged them to choose life (, ). Unfortunately, they often spurned His love, rejected His warnings, and chose death.

Amos ended his second message with a doxology of praise to the Lord (; see , ; , ). For God’s servant to praise the Lord in the face of impending calamity, he or she must be a person of great faith (see ). In this doxology, Amos reminds us that our God is the Creator who can do anything, including making the earth out of nothing. He can turn dawn into darkness; He can tread upon the mountains, and nobody can hinder Him. He is also the omniscient God who knows what we are thinking. Thus we can hide nothing from Him (). He is the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of heaven and earth!

Amos’s third message was a lamentation, a funeral dirge over the death of the nation of Israel. (Israel is mentioned four times in .) “There shall be . . . wailing in all streets,” he declared (v. ), not just wailing in one or two houses where people had died. The people’s grief will be so great that there won’t be enough professional mourners available to express it, so they’ll call the farmers and workers in the vineyards to help them (vv. , ). Amos wove into his lamentation three pleas to the people, urging them to return to the Lord.

Amos’s first plea urged the people to listen to the Word of God. The first step toward revival and returning to the Lord is to hear what God has to say to us from His Word. “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, LORD, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly” ().

Amos’s second plea was for the people to return to the Lord. To seek the Lord means first of all to change our thinking and abandon the vain thoughts that are directing our wayward lives. Disobedient children of God are thinking wrongly about God, sin, and life. They think God will always be there for them to turn to, but they forget that sinners reap what they sow. To walk “in the counsel of the ungodly” is folly indeed (), for it leads to a fruitless and joyless life. When we return to the Lord, we also change directions: We turn around and start to move in the right direction. It means forsaking sin and turning to the Lord for mercy and pardon.

Until we realize how heinous our sins are in the sight of God, we will never repent and cry out for mercy. To seek the Lord doesn’t mean simply running to God for help when our sins get us into trouble, although God will receive us if we’re sincere. It means loathing and despising the sin in our lives, turning from it, and seeking the fellowship of God and His cleansing.

Amos’s third plea urged the people to do what is good! To seek the Lord might appear difficult for some people, an intangible experience they can’t understand. Thus Amos brought the challenge down to practical, everyday life. He spoke about justice, righteousness, and the importance of telling the truth. He named the sins the people needed to forsake: accepting bribes, charging the poor exorbitant rents, living in luxury while the poor starved, and sustaining a crooked legal system. True repentance begins with naming sins and dealing with them one by one.

Seeking the good means rejecting the evil and not being ashamed to take our stand against what’s wrong. God is still seeking for wall-builders, for intercessors who will plead with God to send revival and renewal to His church. For only when God’s Spirit is allowed to work among His people will the flood of evil be stopped and righteousness and justice flourish in the land.

Amos was still lamenting the impending doom of the nation of Israel. In this section, he pronounced “woe” upon four kinds of people in the kingdom: the ignorant (), the indifferent (, ), the indulgent (vv. ), and the impudent (vv. ). The circumstances are different, but we have these same people in the professing church today.

Looking ahead, Amos gave three descriptions of “the day of the LORD.” It would first of all be a time of despair and mourning (). Second, it would be a time of darkness (vv. , ). Third, it would be a time of doom (v. ). No one would escape God’s wrath because they would have no place to hide! These Israelites were eagerly expecting the day of the Lord without realizing what that day would bring to them. They were like some people today who want Jesus to come so they can escape painful situations and not because they “who have loved His appearing” (). They forget that Christ’s return means judgment as well as blessing.

Amos looked around and pointed out the sins of the people that made them totally unprepared to experience the day of the Lord. He began with their hypocritical worship (vv. , ), something he had mentioned earlier (, ). They honored special days on the Hebrew calendar, called sacred assemblies, offered sacrifices, brought offerings, and sang songs of worship. Their meetings looked so beautiful and holy, yet God not only refused to accept their worship, He said He despised and hated it! (See .)

The prophet’s second indictment was against their lack of concern for others. This is a key verse in the Book of Amos, for it reveals God’s concern that His people be righteous in their character and just in their conduct. We have already noted the emphasis on justice in Amos’s messages and how the leaders of the land had turned the pure river of justice into wormwood (v. ; see ). No matter how much religious activity we participate in, if we don’t love our brothers, sisters, and neighbors, we can’t honestly worship and serve the Lord.

, Complacency is an insidious sin because it’s based on lies, motivated by pride, and leads to trusting something other than God (). Like the people in the church of Laodicea, complacent people consider themselves rich and in need of nothing (). In reality, however, they have lost everything important in the spiritual life. When the Lord sees His people becoming complacent and self-satisfied, He sometimes sends trials to wake them up.

Nothing is wrong with enjoying good food or good music, provided the things of God are uppermost in our hearts. David designed and made musical instruments, but he used them to praise the Lord. Abraham was able to prepare an elegant feast for his guests (), and the Lord didn’t rebuke him. But the sin in Amos’s day was that these luxuries distracted the people from the nation’s real problem.

Finding people these days who are truly burdened about the sins of the nations and the sins of the church is a difficult task. Too many are like the rulers of Samaria or the members of the church of Laodicea, closing their eyes to reality and living on fantasy based on false theology.

Jesus said, “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (). The people boasted of their fortresses, their mansions, and their elegant way of life, all of which God abhorred and would one day destroy.

The prophet argued from the order of nature. Horses are too wise to gallop on slick rocks, where they might slip and fall. Farmers are too wise to try to plow the rocks or the sea because the plow won’t accomplish anything on rocks or water. (Remember, Amos was a farmer.) Plain common sense convinces us of the truth of these statements. Then why would God’s people poison their own judicial system? Their actions just didn’t make sense!

If a nation rehearses the victories of the past and gives the glory to God, that’s one thing. If they claim the victory for themselves, however, they are asking only for future defeat. Humble dependence on God is the only guarantee of His help and blessing.

Amos argued that the nation was so small that they could never survive the plague of locusts. Amos didn’t plead any of the covenant promises of God because He knew the people had violated God’s covenant and were deserving of a plague (). But God heard the prophet’s plea and relented ().

God’s law is His “plumb line,” and He measures His people to see how true they are to the pattern in His Word and if they are of upright character and conduct. “I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet” (). Alas, in Amos’s time, God found that Israel was out of plumb and therefore had to be destroyed. This would include Israel’s high places and sanctuaries, where they worshiped contrary to God’s law, for the only place the Israelites were to bring their sacrifices was to the temple in Jerusalem ().

In the Old Testament, conflicts between priests and prophets were common. (Of course, Amaziah was a false priest and not a true servant of God.) Actually, both prophets and priests were needed in the land because the priests conserved the ancient religious traditions, while the prophets applied the Word to the present situation and called people back to God. False prophets taught lies and sometimes worked with the priests to maintain the status quo. The true prophets had to oppose both priests and false prophets.

Here is the prophet’s message to the priest. First, Amos revealed the kind of man he was by not being intimidated or running away. Like Nehemiah, he could say, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life?” (). To run away would be to agree with all the accusations and insinuations the false priest had made. Then Amos revealed his identity to Amaziah: Amos was a prophet called by God.

Eventually God’s patience ran out (, ), and He decreed judgment. The songs at the temple would become funeral dirges with weeping and wailing, and corpses would be thrown everywhere and not given proper burial. This would be a bitter harvest for Israel as the nation reaped what it had sown. People would be so overwhelmed that they would be unable to discuss the tragedy. Silence would reign in the land.

Amos declared why the end was coming. The reason was simple: Israel had broken God’s law and failed to live by His covenant. The first tablet of the law speaks to our relationship to God () and the second tablet to our relationship to others (), and Israel had rebelled against both. They did not love God, and they did not love their neighbors ().

Amos described how the end would come. The prophet used four pictures to describe the terror of the coming judgment. The first was an earthquake (v. ) with the land heaving like the rising waters of the River of Egypt. (This refers to the Nile, which would rise about twenty-five feet during its annual flooding stage.) Even the land would shudder because of the people’s sins. Other images were darkness, a funeral, and famine (vv. ). The famine would be a lack of not only literal food but also of spiritual nourishment.

What a tragedy to have plenty of religion but no word from the Lord! Note the striking similarity in the contemporary world with its proliferation of religions and spirituality without truth or substance. That means no light in the darkness, no nourishment for the soul, no direction for making decisions, no protection from the lies of the enemy. The people in Amos’s day as well as ours stagger like drunks from place to place, always hoping to find food and drink for their bodies and spiritual sustenance for their souls.

This final chapter of the book shares four affirmations from the heart of the Lord—three of which deal with judgment and the fourth with mercy.

In a vision, Amos saw the Lord standing by an altar and announcing that the worshipers would be killed because the building would be destroyed and fall upon them. This was probably not the temple in Jerusalem because Amos was sent to the northern kingdom of Israel; also, when the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, it was by fire (, ).

Any idolatrous worshiper who tried to escape would be tracked down and killed. Even if they were to run down into Sheol, the realm of the dead, God would search them out; and if they could reach heaven, they would find no protection there. They couldn’t hide from God on the highest mountain or in the depths of the sea (see ).

Amos reminded the people of the greatness of the God they thought they were worshiping. He is the God of creation, who can melt the earth with a touch and make the land rise and fall like the swelling of the River of Egypt. He controls the heavens, the earth, and the seas, and no one can stay His hand.

God is always the God of mercy, who will keep His covenant with Abraham and his descendants and not destroy the nation. The nations would be sifted, and the sinners punished, but not one of His true worshipers would be lost. God always watches over the believing remnant so that they might fulfill His will on the earth. The self-confident sinners, who wouldn’t expect to be punished, are the ones who would be killed by the sword (v. ).

One day, the Lord will restore, repair, and rebuild the dynasty of David and establish the kingdom He promised. When Jesus Christ comes again, the breach between Israel and Judah will be healed, and there will be one nation submitted to one king. God will bless the land and the people, and His people shall live in peace and security. It will be a time of peace and prosperity to the glory of the Lord.

Amos 1

1:1 ;

1:1

1:1

1:1

1:1

1:1 Compare

1:2

1:2

1:3 ;

1:3 ,

1:4 ;

1:4

1:5

1:6 ,

1:7

1:8

1:8

1:8

1:9

1:11

1:11

1:12 ,

1:13

1:14

1:14

1:15

Amos 2

2:1

2:1 ,

2:2 ,

2:3

2:4

2:4

2:4

2:4 , ,

2:5

2:6 ;

2:6

2:6 ; ;

2:7

2:7

2:7

2:7 Or trample on

2:8

2:8

2:9

2:9

2:9 []

2:10

2:10

2:11

2:11 ,

2:12

2:13

2:14

2:14

Amos 3

3:2 []

3:2 []

3:6

3:7 []

3:8

3:9 Following Masoretic Text; Septuagint reads Assyria.

3:10

3:12 The Hebrew is uncertain.

3:14

3:15

3:15

3:15

Amos 4

4:1

4:1

4:1

4:1 Literally their lords or their masters

4:2

4:2

4:3

4:4

4:4

4:4

4:4

4:4 Or years (compare )

4:5

4:5

4:6

4:9

4:9 ,

4:10

4:11

4:12

4:13

4:13

4:13

4:13 Or His

Amos 5

5:1 ; ,

5:4 []

5:4 []

5:5

5:5

5:5

5:6 [, , ]

5:7

5:8 ;

5:8

5:8

5:8 []

5:10 ;

5:10

5:11

5:11

5:12

5:12

5:12

5:13

5:14

5:15

5:15

5:16

5:17

5:18

5:18

5:19

5:21

5:21

5:22 ,

5:24

5:25

5:26

5:26 A pagan deity

5:26 Septuagint and Vulgate read tabernacle of Moloch.

5:26 A pagan deity

5:27

5:27

Amos 6

6:1

6:1

6:1

6:1

6:2

6:2

6:2

6:2

6:3

6:3

6:3

6:3

6:5 ;

6:5 ;

6:5

6:6 ;

6:6

6:7

6:8

6:8

6:10

6:10

6:10 Literally bones

6:11

6:11

6:12

6:13 Literally Nothing

6:13 Literally Horns, symbol of strength

6:14

6:14

Amos 7

7:2

7:3

7:5 ,

7:8

7:8

7:9

7:9

7:10 , ;

7:10

7:10

7:11 ;

7:13

7:13 ,

7:14

7:14

7:14 Compare

7:15

7:16

7:17 ; ,

7:17

7:17

Amos 8

8:2

8:2

8:3

8:3 ,

8:4 Or trample on (compare )

8:5

8:5 ,

8:5 ,

8:6

8:7

8:7 ;

8:8

8:8

8:8 That is, the Nile; some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read River; Masoretic Text reads the light.

8:9

8:10

8:10

8:10 []

8:11

8:12

8:14

8:14

8:14

8:14 Or Ashima, a Syrian goddess

Amos 9

9:1

9:1

9:2

9:2

9:2 Or Sheol

9:3

9:4

9:4 ; ;

9:5

9:5

9:5 That is, the Nile

9:6 ,

9:6

9:6 ;

9:7

9:7

9:7

9:8

9:8 ;

9:9 []

9:10

9:11

9:11 Literally booth, figure of a deposed dynasty

9:12

9:12

9:12 Septuagint reads mankind.

9:13

9:13

9:14 ,

9:14

9:15 ;

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