A Study of Amos
A cry of “Injustice!” is heard in the street. The people turn and look, but they are not interested in what the man has to say. They find him curious, so they listen, but in their hearts they hear nothing. “Who is this man?” they ask. “We’ve never seen him before.” His words cut to the very core of their heart. “God doesn’t like your festivals! Not when you treat the poorest of His people with such contempt. Repent, and show mercy, or you will find yourselves feeling the mighty hand of God’s wrath!” “Not us!” they say. “We are God’s chosen people, we will never suffer the wrath of God.” Who is this man? Where did he come from and who gave him the right to say such things?
A farmer from a small town south of Bethlehem in Judah, Amos was an unlikely candidate for a prophet of the people of Israel. Not only was he not a well known “man of God” nor even from a line of prophets, Amos was not even from the Kingdom of Israel. What he had to say was not the pleasant, uplifting word that they wanted to hear. Everyone knew what he was saying was true, but they didn’t want to hear about it; it hurt too much. The truth has a way of doing that.
Amos comes on the scene during a very troubled time in the history of Israel. It has been about 170 years since the kingdom split and most of the members of the Northern tribes were no longer worshipping Adonai at His temple in Jerusalem. They were instead worshipping at one of the false altars set up in Israel, either at Gilgal in Dan, or at Bethel. (See 1 Kings 12) It is at Bethel that we find Amos.
Amos, unlike most prophets of old, had a very short ministry. According to most sources, it only lasted about 2 days before he was kicked out of Bethel because , “The land cannot bear all his words.” (Amos 7:10) Between you and me, I don’t think it was the land that couldn’t bear the words, I think it was the people who couldn’t bear to hear the words of the Lord. Like I said before, the truth can hurt.
So what exactly were these words that Amos was saying? He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.” (Amos 1:2) Ok, now we know what he said (to start with), but we are left with one very big question: What does that mean?
Of course we all understand that both Zion and Jerusalem are related to the idea of Adonai dwelling among His people. These are the places where He is to be approached and worshipped by the people. Outside of these places He also has shepherds working amongst the people. These were to be the Levites who lived among the rest of the tribes teaching them the ways of the Lord. Unfortunately the shepherds of Israel were leading His people astray because they were not the Levites and they were not following the ways of the Lord. They were “making it up as they were going along.” (See 1 Kings 12:31-33) This type of behavior is exemplified at the top of Mount Carmel itself, where Elijah confronted the worshippers of Baal and 450 of his prophets are killed (See 1 Kings 18:17-46.)
So, what Amos is saying is that Adonai was going to rise up from His dwelling among the people and bring Judgment upon the false worshippers of Israel. These are His own people that He is going to wipe out so that these false shepherd will have no sheep to pasture. He is fed up with the false worship “in His Name” and He is going to do away with those who do not repent of this sin. He wants His people to repent and turn back to following Him the way He prescribed. He has sent Amos to warn these people before the judgment falls.
No wonder the people didn’t want to hear from Amos. He was telling them that they were wrong, and no one wants to hear they are wrong. That is a “slap in the face” of everything they ever believed in. This is what they were taught they should do to worship the Lord, and where they should go to worship, so they didn’t see anything wrong with going to Bethel instead of Jerusalem. They didn’t see anything wrong with setting up their own festivals; all that mattered is that it honored the Lord, so the time and place didn’t matter. This is what happens when the Torah, the law of Adonai, is ignored. They didn’t know because they had stopped learning the Torah and instead were learning the ways of man. They had adapted to the people around them, instead of inspiring others to reach to God in the way He intended.This was just the beginning of what Amos had to say to the people of Israel, but before he continues, he talks about the countries surrounding Israel. This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, ” Amos 1:3
Damascus is the present day capital of Syria. At the time it was located in the land of Aram bordering Israel to the north. Gilead is the region where the two countries meet. Sounds like the people of Aram have not been very nice to the people of Gilead. In fact, it sounds like they have been downright nasty to them. This basically is the land of the Golan Heights and neighboring Syria. Boy, things don’t change very much with the passage of time, do they? These very same people are still fighting. So, the Lord will send his wrath against them because of the way Damascus has treated His people.
Next the Lord gives a message for Gaza. This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, ” Amos 1:6
Yes, this is the very same Gaza we hear about in the news. Edom in located in present day Jordan. It sure does sound like He’s talking about the Palestinian people! Of course He is speaking of the Philistines here, but as Solomon discovered, there is nothing new under the sun.
Then, Amos moves onto Tyre. This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood, ” Amos 1:9
Tyre is located in present day Lebanon, directly north of Israel along the Mediterranean Sea. This area is also still in conflict. These people also seem to “have a deal going” with Edom. It is no surprise to us then when Amos moves onto Edom.
This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, ” Amos 1:11 I think this verse is self-explanatory.
This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, ” Amos 1:13
OK, these people were just savage to their neighbors. It seems that when the people of Ammon (which is also present day Jordan) had “border skirmishes” with the Israelites, they would actually be so brutal as to rip open pregnant women and kill the child within. There was no love for their neighbor, only desire to enlarge their own power base. God was not going to stand for this kind of behavior any longer. His Mighty Wrath was on its way!
I find the next verse interesting in the light of present day events. Her king will go into exile, he and his officials together,” says the LORD. Amos 1:14 If this is a message to the people of today, we might know for sure if we saw the Jordanian king end up in exile as a result of this upcoming war, don’t you think? That would be very interesting indeed!
This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he burned, as if to lime,” Amos 2:1 This last nation is also within the borders of present day Jordan. Amos has now pronounced judgment from Adonai on the entire region surrounding Judah and Israel. This all sounded just fine to the people of Israel. They didn’t like the neighbors and were happy to hear that God was going to finally do something about them.
Then Amos mentions Judah. This also is not a problem for the people of Bethel. They liked to hear about judgment against their “brothers” down in Judah, who they felt to be pompous and arrogant in their attitude regarding Jerusalem. “What’s so special about Jerusalem?” was the attitude of most of the Israelites. This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed,” Amos 2:4
“Hold on here, I thought that Judah was the one still doing it the right way! I don’t get it.” This is what I thought when I first read these words. After a little bit of investigation I discovered that Judah was having problems at this time as well. Judah had been watching Israel and saw what was happening… and then it started looking good to Judah. The people of Judah were beginning to follow the same path as the Israelites. They were no longer keeping the festivals as they should and were even setting up “high places” to worship Baal and Ashtoreth. Adonai wants Judah to learn from what is about to happen to Israel so that they will not make the same mistakes as Israel. Unfortunately, they did not heed the warning.
This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.” Amos 2:6-7
Now Amos begins his discourse on the problems of Israel itself. Right away we see the theme that is central to his message: injustice. In verse 8, when Amos says, “they lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge,” he is referring to a law found in Exodus 22:26-27. This law states that if you take a poor man’s cloak as a pledge that he would pay you back the money you loaned him, and he has no other cloak with which to keep himself warm at night, you are to give it back to him at night so that he may stay warm. This is an act of compassion that shows God that we hold the person more dearly then the money.
The next few verses remind the Israelites what Adonai has done for them. The Amorites, who where driven out before them, were no group of weaklings. The Lord raised up prophets and Nazirites, but they were rejected by the people. Nazirites take a vow to abstain from all products of the vine, even raisins, and they were being made to drink wine. Because of all of this, the Lord is ready to crush His own people and there is no one who will be able to save them selves from the wrath to come. No matter how strong or smart or rich the person may be, it will not do him any good. There is no escaping the judgment of the Lord. This is a very important message that we, the children of Israel, need even today.
In chapter 3 verse 3 we read: Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? The word translated as “agreed” is the same word used for “betrothal.” Adonai wants to remind the people of Israel that they are “engaged” to Him, and have been since Mt. Sinai. There they made an agreement, a covenant, that they would walk together in this life and that Israel would be a light unto the world, drawing others into this same relationship. He is reminding them that they agreed to do exactly what He said to do, exactly as He told them to do it. They were not living up to their end of the agreement.
Verse 6 also contains a little reminder that most people don’t want to hear about, even today. When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Amos 3:6 This is the kind of message that people today are afraid to give, especially in light of 9/11. The message is still valid, though. We still need to remember that He is in control of everything, and nothing can happen outside of His will. There is a reason that God allows certain things to happen, and that is to have us turn back to Him? Let’s be honest with ourselves, have we really turned back to Him, as a nation, as the result of any of the disasters that have come our way in recent years? No, we haven’t… and neither did the Israelites.
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7 Once again, nothing is new under the sun. The end was foretold from the beginning. Moses told them this would happen. They didn’t listen then, we aren’t listening now. Like the Israelites, we would rather listen to soothing words even if they don’t fully match up with scripture. If it doesn’t line up, it must be tossed out before we find ourselves guilty of worshipping a false god without even realizing that it has happened.
“They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses.” Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “An enemy will overrun the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses.” Amos 3:10-11
They did not know how to do right, because they had not been taught. Why? Because they would not listen to the truth when the prophets presented them with it. (Remember, Amos is a contemporary of Hosea and Jonah.) Did this ignorance save them from the wrath to come? No, it did not. The truth is, we are held accountable for the knowledge presented to us. Whether we take hold of that knowledge is up to us, but we are still held responsible. In this case, ignorance is not bliss!
Even in the midst of this, the Lord reminds us that He will not utterly destroy His people. This is what the LORD says: “As a shepherd saves from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites be saved,” Amos 3:12a Yes, some will survive what is to come, but most will not. It seems to me that those who have tried to stay faithful to the covenant would be those who are able to “make it through.” These are the people often referred to as “the remnant.”
Adonai then throws another curve in as He mentions Judah in the midst of the judgment on Israel.
“Hear this and testify against the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty. “On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. ” Amos 3:13-14
He is hoping that this will be a warning to the people of Judah, that they would see this and repent and return to worshipping in spirit and in truth. Note that the altar at Bethel had horns on it just like the one in the Temple in Jerusalem. Although they appeared identical, that is not the way that God sees them. He only told the Israelites to set up one, not two, or even three altars. Anything beyond that first one would not be “of God” but “of man.” Are you paying attention, Judah?
In chapter 4 Amos begins to get personal. He calls the women of Bashan “cows.” Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!” Amos 4:1 Samaria is where the capital of Israel was. There is no “Mount Samaria” as Samaria was a city. What he is saying here is that they live “high on the hog,” so to speak, sitting on the backs of the poor and needy instead of providing for them out of their abundance. They don’t even think of those around them who are without, but instead tell their husbands, “I don’t care what you do, just make sure we keep up our standard of living.” Sound familiar? It’s amazing what people will do to one another to insure that fat check at the end of the week, isn’t it? Once again, there is nothing new here. Amos found the same self-centeredness that we find today. The well-to-do people of Samaria couldn’t care less about those who are orphaned or widowed. This was not pleasing God.
These same people would sacrifice daily and tithe regularly, but their hearts were without pity. The Lord has made it plain to them, and us, that He desires mercy, not sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6) So why are they doing it? Why bother sacrificing and tithing if it’s not going to bless the Lord? Because they like doing it. They are not doing all of this for Him, but for themselves. They enjoy the process of worshipping, not the One they were worshipping.
“Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings– boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign LORD. Amos 4:4-5
As one who enjoys music, dance, and the spiritual high that can come from worship, I can see how easy it is to become so caught up in the worship as to forget the One being worshipped. Being raised in a church rich with tradition and pageantry, I can also see how our focus can go from “the main course” to “the trimmings.” It is easy to be religious, but it is the relationship that really matters. As our Savior said, “They have their reward.”
As a parent trying to reason with a child, Adonai continues to remind Israel of all the things He has done for them. But this is a parent trying to teach the child about the love of discipline. So, He reminds of all of the things He did to try and bring about repentance. We, as parents, take away toys and deprive our child of special privileges. What He takes away is a little more valuable then that.
“I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD. “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD. “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD. Amos 4:6-9
We have droughts and blights, yet do you hear people saying, “it is because of the Lord”? I have witnessed how one field can be full of big, green stalks of corn, while one mile away the corn withered in the summer sun due to lack of rain. Texas farmers are unable to harvest hay for their own animals and are having to buy it from other states and wildfires are a real threat to many in this country. Yet how many would say, “return to the ways of the Lord and be saved from this”? I haven’t heard it yet. I’ve heard “turn to the Lord” but they are actually saying, “turn to us.”