Amos 1:1. Amos was not a prophet "professionally" (chapter 7: 14); that is, he was not devoting his life among the group of men classed as prophets, but was a shepherd by occupation. But the Lord can call upon a man from any walk of life to receive instruction and directions to whatever work is needed. For instance, the Lord called Moses from this very same occupation to take upon him the great work that was to engage him all the rest of his life (Exodus 3:1-2). Likewise, Amos was called upon to receive a prophetic message and write it down to become a part of the Bible. Israel and Judah- mean the 10-tribe and 2-tribe kingdoms which were in power when Amos was called. The time of his call is spe¬cifically Indicated by naming the kings who were reigning over the Jews, and the date is made still more definite by its relation to an earthquake that is recorded in history. I shall give the reader the information of this very unusual circumstance: “ While Uzziah was in this state [condition of prosperity and power], and making prepa-rations for futurity, he was corrupted in his mind by pride, and became in¬solent, and this on account of that, abundance which he had of things that will soon perish, and despised that power which is of eternal duration (which consisted in piety toward God, and in the observation of his laws); accordingly, when a remarkable day was come, and a general festival was to be celebrated, he put on the holy garment, and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the golden altar, which he was prohibited to do by Azariah the high priest. In the meantime, a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and felt upon the king’ s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately; and before tfie city, at a place called Erpge, half the mountain broke off from the rest of the west, and rolled itself four furloughs, and stood still at the east mountain, til] the roads, as well as the king’ s gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction.”— Josephus, An¬tiquities, Book 9. Chapter 10, Section 4. This was not the first and only time where God expressed his attitude to¬ward a situation by some interference with the established order of things in creation. He caused the sun to stand still for Joshua (Joshua 10:13), and the shadow lo go backward for Isaiah (2 Kings 20:11). The difference in the cases being that the two mentioned last were to show His approval of what was being done, while the one of our verse was to demonstrate His disap-proval. It is all in keeping with the thought in Hebrews 1:1. Amos 1:2 See the comments on Joel 3:16 for the various meanings of “ roar.” In the present case it signifies the intensity of the Lord’ s feelings against the wrongs of the heathen na¬tions, as well as those of some of His own people. Jerusalem is named as the place from which the voice of the Lord will sound, because that was the capital of his kingdom on earth. Carmel shall wither implies that it would be a remarkable event for such a place to fail. I shall quote what Funk and Wagnalls Standard Bible Dictionary says: "It [Carmel) was also famed in literary composition for natural beauty, Together with Sharon, Lebanon, and Bashan it is one of the points of Pales-tine which especially show God’ s favor to Israel in bestowing such a country upon it. Its devastation is, therefore, a sign of the decided displeasure of Jehovah." Amos 1:3. The prophet now takes up the Lord's denunciations against cer¬tain cities and nations. Damascus was the capital of Syria that lay just north of Palestine. Threshed Gilead is a figurative description of the cruel treatment that Damascus accorded that district, i'or three transgressions, and for four. This form of speech is used a number of times, and means that the ones accused had not been guilty just once or even twice, but they had done so three or four times; had been guilty repeatedly. Amos 1:4. Hazael and Ben-hadad were father and son who reigned succes-sively over Syria (2 Kings 13; 2 Kings 24). God threatens to destroy the buildings of these men because of the "three or four” transgressions. Amos 1:5 A bar is used to defend a house or other place against an un-friendly Intruder. To break the bar of Damascus would therefore mean to overcome the defence of the city and expose it to an enemy. Him that holdeth the scepter means the king, and he was to be cut off from the house of Eden. Smith’ s Bible Dictionary ren¬ders this phrase “ Beth-Eden," and says it means “ house of pleasure,” and that it was probably a country residence of the kings of Damascus. The cap¬tivity unto Kir was fulfilled and the account of it Is in 2 Kings 16: 9. Amos 1:6. Gaza was an important town of the Philistines, and 2 Chron¬icles 28: 18 records an instance of the greediness of those people for con-quest. Carried cetpfu’ e the whole cap-tivity means that the Philistines were not satisfied with taking some of the people, but wished to remove the en¬tire population and sell them as slaves to the Edomites. Amos 1:7. The Philistines were pun-ished for their cruelty, and 2 Kings 18 : S gives an account of one instance of it. Amos 1:8. All of the towns named were in the land of the Philistines, and were to share in the chastisement that God threatened to bring against that land. Amos 1:9. Tyrus (or Tyre) was the principal city of the Phoenicians, a country lying along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The complaint against this city was that it had taken some of God’ s people and turned them over to the Edomitee who had long been bitter foes of Israel. Brotherly covenant means that fraternal under-standing that should exist between nations located near each other. This friendship had been indicated pre-viously in the dealing with David and Solomon (2 Samuel 5:11). Amos 1:10. Devour the palaces means to destroy the houses of the kings of Tyre. Amos 1:11. The Edomites were always bitter enemies of Israel. They were descended from Esau and seemed to have harbored a resentment for the people of Israel who were descendants of Esau’ s twin brother Jacob. Did pursue his brother with the sword had been predicted In Genesis 27:40, yet God was always jealous of his own people and would not tolerate any im-proper motive that any nation showed against them, Amos 1:12, Teman and Bozrah were cities of the Edomites, and they were destined to feel the wrath of God for their Injustices against Israel. Amos 1:13. The Ammonites were de-scendants of Lot (Genesis 19:38), and sometimes were given favorable regard by the Lord because of their relation to Israel, but He always condemned even his own children when they did wrong. These Ammonites were so greedy for territory that they com¬mitted the brutal acts in order to de¬stroy the population of the territory they wished to seize. Amos 1:14. Smith’ s Bible Dictionary says that Rabbah was the chief city of the Ammonites, hence the most valu-able of their buildings would be there. But the city was threatened with in-vasion from an enemy army that would devour (destroy) those houses. Amos 1:15. To go into captivity merely means to be taken captive by the at-tacking army and be taken from his seat of authority. Judgments upon Moab“ For three transgressions of Moab I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet; and I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith Jehovah” (Amos 2:1-3). Moabites occupied the land east of the Dead Sea and north of Edom. Moab, father of the tribe, was also a son of Lot by his daughter. Though kin to Israel, there was an implacable hatred toward them and hostility that never burned out. Moab is cited for one of her many infamous crimes; the dead body of the king of Edom had been desecrated by burning it to ashes. By burning them into lime, some supposed that they were then mixed with mortar and used in some building. Such a shocking and diabolic deed revealed an evil aspect of the nation’ s character. Judgment must come. Fires of war will devour her. Kerioth, chief city of Moab, would be destroyed. What nations sow they also reap (Galatians 6:7). Moab was the subject of other prophets as well. (See Isaiah 15:1 to Isaiah 16:14; Jeremiah 48:1-47; Ezekiel 25:8-11; and Zephaniah 2:8-9). Judgments upon Judah“ For three transgressions of Judah...I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers did walk. But I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem” (Amos 2:4-5). Given the rivalry and hostility of the Northern Kingdom toward the South we can imagine the evident approval on the faces of Amos’ audience; the amens and perhaps even cheers as he lashed Judah for her sins. In a masterful way, he led them as a leader leads his animals to their fold.The charge laid against Judah is not atrocity or violence, it is religious apostasy. They rejected the law of Jehovah. The law or Torah says Keil, “ is the sum and substance of all the instructions and all the commandments which Jehovah had given to His people as the rule of life.” The statutes are the individual precepts. The lies that caused them to err were their idols and the false religious system they had substituted for Jehovah’ s worship. The writer of Kings tells us that idolatry was wide spread in Judah during Uzziah’ s reign (2 Kings 15:1-4). The judgment of Judah for her transgressions was the same as for her heathen neighbors. Fiery judgments of war would sweep over her. This occurred when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587/586 (See 2 Kings 25:8-12). It is noteworthy that nations that sinned without having God’ s written revelation were no less guilty than Judah who had the Law. (Compare Paul’ s teaching on this subject in Romans 2:11-16). Having thoroughly disarmed his hearers and having won their attention by his sound thrashing of their neighbors, Amos turns to the business at hand. Judgment Upon Israel“ For three transgressions of Israel...I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes— they that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek; and a man and his father go unto the same maiden to profane my holy name and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined” (Amos 2:6-8). The ten northern tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam I, revolted against the house of David and established themselves as the Kingdom of Israel. (Compare 1 Kings 12:1-21). While rebelling against God politically, they also corrupted his worship by embracing the Baal worship of their heathen neighbors. Thus at Bethel Jeroboam I had set up one of his golden calves (1 Kings 12:26-33). That pagan religion soon reflected itself in the moral, ethical life of the nation. From their many transgressions, he chooses a few examples. They abused the poor, by selling them into servitude because of indebtedness. A poor man was allowed to sell himself into slavery in order to work out his debts (Leviticus 25:39), but he was to be treated as a brother. No authorization however was given for the forcible selling of the poor. The guilt of the oppressors is exposed when he notes that for a trifling amount, the price of a pair of sandals, they would enslave a brother! They were guilty of land grabbing. Micah also rebuked this sin; “ they covet fields and seize them” (Micah 2:2). Their greed is painted in hyperbolic strokes. They even demand the dust the poor farmer cast on his head in mourning, when he saw his fate. (Compare Lamenations 2:10). They turned aside the way of the meek. This refers to a corrupt legal system that allowed the wealthy and powerful to get unjust advantage over law-abiding citizens. (See Proverbs 17:23).They were guilty of blatant immorality. “ A son and his father go unto the same maiden” for sexual purposes. Such was considered incestuous under the law. (Compare Leviticus 18:7; Leviticus 18:15). This is an allusion to the ritual fornication of the Baal worship (See Hosea 4:14). Each shrine had its male and female prostitutes. Such immoral practices profaned God’ s holy name because the degenerate worshipers claimed they were doing so in the name of Jehovah. It is important to note that the Hebrews did not renounce Jehovah in their apostasy. They simply embraced Baal practices and said that they were doing those things in service to Jehovah. This common practices is called syncretism which is the blending of two or more things together. Profanation of God’ s name was strictly forbidden (Leviticus 22:32) In their ritual fornication they laid down beside the altar on a poor man’ s cloak taken in pledge. If a man was so poor that all he had for collateral was his large outer cloak, it could be used but had to be returned to him at sundown (Deuteronomy 24:12-13). This was because the cloak was also his blanket under which he slept at night. These wicked people had kept the poor man’ s cloak overnight and used it for a pallet for their sinful indulgence lest their own cloak be soiled. Note that Amos says these things were done “ in the house of their God.” It was not Jehovah’ s house, but the Baal shrines where such took place. Such practices had nothing to do with the righteous God of heaven. Their Baal worship included indulgence in wine. Amos shames them for extracting unjust fines from their neighbors and then using the proceeds in worship. Such was an insult to God. “ Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah. But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets saying Prophesy not” (Amos 2:9-12). In this section he stresses their utter ingratitude toward God who had done so much for them and their contempt toward his righteous servants. “ Yet I destroyed the Amorite” ties this paragraph with what had been previously noted. They had turned from Jehovah to embrace the religion of the local population whom he calls Amorites. Yet Jehovah had defeated the Amorites and shown their gods to be nothing but wood and stone. He was clearly superior to the legendary Baal gods. Amorite was technically the name of one group of the Canaanites. They were the mightiest of those tribes. By metonymy, Amos makes them stand for all the tribes that Jehovah had driven out (Deuteronomy 1:20; Deuteronomy 1:27). To emphasize how strong they were, he likens them to oaks and cedars. Their cedar trees were conifers growing 80-100 feet high. Moses tells us that the Canaanites were of unusually large stature. (Numbers 13:32-33). Their great strength meant nothing to Jehovah who easily destroyed them (Joshua 10:12-21). To destroy their roots and fruits simply meant total destruction. Their tribe became extinct. It was Jehovah not the Baal gods or Jeroboam’ s calf that had brought their fathers out of Egypt and safely led them through the wilderness to their homeland (Exodus 20:2). They showed their ingratitude and contempt for God by seeking to corrupt his holy servants, Nazirites, and prophets. Nazirites lived plain and simple lives for God. They abstained from all products of the vine including wine (Num. l-12).Their abstinence was a constant reminder of the sins of indulgence of the people, hence they sought to corrupt the Nazirites. Heavy drinking was a problem Amos fared. (See Amos 2:8; Amos 4:1; Amos 6:6). They tried to silence the prophets that God sent to rebuke them. Isaiah rebuked the same sin (30:10). God sent the prophets to warn them lest they perish. They rejected God’ s merciful gift. “ Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves. And flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; neither shall he stand that handleth the bow, and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself; and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah” (2:13-16). As a heavily loaded cart presses down the soft earth beneath its wheels so will God crush Israel. The KJV renders the lines “ Behold, I am pressed under you...” If this be the correct reading, God is saying that he is weary of dealing with the rebellious people. (See Isaiah 43:24). Israel under Jeroboam was strong militarily (2 Kings 14:23-28). They were confident that their mighty troops could deliver them from any enemy. With words describing their forces of war he predicts that all will perish. Kenneth Taylor captures the meaning of Amos’ prophesies: “ Your swiftest warriors will stumble in flight. The strong will all be weak and the great ones can no longer save themselves. The archers aim will fail the swiftest runners won’ t be fast enough to flee and even the best of horsemen can’ t outrun the danger then. The most courageous of your mighty men will drop their weapons and run for their lives in that day (Living Bible Amos 2:14-16). Amos Chapter TwoVerse 1 The prophecies against eight nations reach their climax in this chapter where the judgments are pronounced against Moab (Amos 2:1-3), against Judah (Amos 2:4-5), and against Israel (Amos 1:6-15), in which the principal thrust of Amos' great prophecy reaches its primary object. It will appear in this chapter that Amos' words were directed against the gross social sins of that era, but also against the sins of apostasy from the true religion of God; and, throughout, the particular sin of fighting God by fighting God's people is repeatedly condemned. By no stretch of the imagination is it true that this prophecy is the "harbinger of the social gospel!" The pronouncements against sins against the poor, the perversion of justice, etc., as found here, are all based upon prior teachings of the Bible, universally known and understood by God's people long before the times of Amos. Frequent references to the Pentateuch are found in this chapter. Morgan classified the judgments here as being against (1) injustice; (2) avarice; (3) oppression; (4) immorality; (5) profanity; (6) blasphemy; and (7) sacrilege.[1] These violations are specifically related to the portion of the Mosaic law which is applicable in each case. Amos' prophecy should be accepted as sufficient proof of the prior existence of written records of God's law; and the fact that the manifest reference to the Pentateuch, as repeatedly made, along with the evident assumption that the things referred to were well known and universally understood by God's people, encourages the conclusion that, "The written sources in question go back to a much earlier period."[2]One may only grieve at the gross immorality and irreligion of the northern kingdom: "The depth to which the people had fallen is characterized in their seeming indifference to their position as a delivered and cared-for nation. Repentance and obedience were imperative, the only escape from imminent judgment."[3] THE In this chapter, Amos reached the principal object of his prophecy, the rebuke of Israel and the prophecy of her destruction. This series of judgments (Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:16) is not a "collection" of separate "oracles," assembled and pieced together by some "editor" or "redactor" from some undetermined period subsequent to the times of Amos; but they constitute a very coherent, logically arranged, and skillfully presented prophecy, the principal import of which was directed against the northern kingdom. In the previous chapter, Amos cried out against the wickedness of Damascus, Philistia, and Tyre (Israel's pagan neighbors), then against Edom and Ammon (two of Israel's pagan relatives). In this chapter, Amos continued the prophecy against Israel's pagan kinsmen, Moab, and then very properly, and of necessity, included the prophetic denunciation of his own nation, Judah, including a specific revelation that Jerusalem too would be destroyed for their sins. If Amos had left out this denunciative prophecy of Jerusalem, it would have compromised his whole message. The people would have said, "Ah, we see that this so-called prophet is blind to the spectacular sins of his nation at the very moment he is crying out against everyone else!" In the light of this truth which is clearly visible to anyone, how utterly unfounded, unprovable, illogical and arbitrary are the postulations of the malignant critics who would credit Amos 2:4-5 to some nameless "redactor." Further attention to this will be given in the notes on those verses; but let it be said here that the "redactor" of critical fancy is an imaginary person created subjectively by Biblical enemies, having no genuine reality whatever. This ephemeral, shadowy "character" is impossible of any objective identification. He belongs to all races, all centuries, all religions, and all conditions of society. Every conceivable motive is freely ascribed to him, but no one has ever named him! We unhesitatingly declare him to be a fraud and a deceit perpetrated in the interest of destructive criticism. He is the "Piltdown Man" of Old Testament exegesis! If the student is unfamiliar with this universally-known hoax, called the "Piltdown Man", let him consult an encyclopedia. Amos 2:1"Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.The New English Bible translation of this place, while being no translation whatever, nevertheless gives the true sense of this passage thus: (See the note at the end of Amos 2.) For crime after crime of Moab I will grant them no reprieve, because they burnt the bones of the king of Edom to ash. "To pursue the dead, even to the point of violating the corpse, is a mark of peculiar hatred and particularly offensive to the common conscience of mankind.[4] Unrestrained hatred will not stop with death. Wycliffe's bones were dug up and burned 44 years after he died."[5]History reveals nothing whatever regarding this particular crime of Moab, although a Jewish tradition quoted by Jerome says: "That after this war, the Moabites, in revenge for the assistance which the king of Edom had given to Israel, dug up and dishonored his bones."[6]Verse 2 "But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Keiloth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.This pronouncement prophesied the overthrow of Moab by military conquest, a forecast actually fulfilled by the Assyrian monarchs Shalmanezer and Sargon. "From then on, a succession of world conquerors subdued, and in the process, annihilated Moab as a nation"[7] Moab is identified with the high plateau, some 3,000 feet high, that lies south of Arnon, north of Edom, and between the Dead Sea on the west and the desert on the east. "The palaces of Keiloth ..." Fosbroke identified this place thus: "Keiloth is perhaps to be identified with Ar, elsewhere named as a chief city of Moab (Isaiah 15:1). On the Moabite stone, it is named as the site of a sanctuary of the Moabite god, Chemosh."[8]Fosbroke declared that, "This oracle against Moab is beyond doubt an authentic utterance of Amos,"[9]which, of course, is the truth; but we deny the right of Biblical critics to decide which portions of God's Word are authentic and which are not. Such an admission by the Old Testament critics of the undeniable truth of this oracle, however, actually frustrates their assertions that the so-called "oracle" against Judah is not an authentic part of Amos. As pointed out in the introduction, Amos, by thus concluding the prophetic denunciations against surrounding nations, including both the pagan neighbors and the pagan relatives of Israel, it would have been absolutely impossible for Amos, in any logical sense, to have proceeded to announce the destruction of Israel, without, at the same time, denouncing the apostasy of his own country, Judah. The critics, however, intent on affirming just such a proposition, like to make it out that Amos considered Judah and Israel as a single family! "Therefore, he would not have uttered a special oracle against Judah!"[10] What is an argument like that? It is a denial based upon what someone in the 20th century imagines that Amos thought! There is no evidence whatever that Amos believed Israel and Judah to be a single family; and, in fact there was not any more basis for such a thought than for believing that Israel and Edom were a single family, for both had a common ancestor. We receive the following prophecy against Judah, therefore, as indeed a genuine and dependable portion of the true Word of God. Verse 3 "And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith Jehovah."The judge ..." This does not mean that Moab was without a king at the time of this prophecy. "It implies the chief magistrate, like the Carthaginian "sufes", which is the same word."[11] The prophecies of doom for the surrounding nations, "Were fulfilled by the Chaldeans, who conquered all these kingdoms, and carried the people themselves into captivity."[12]Verse 4 "Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have cause them to err, after which their fathers did walk. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.This is that famous "oracle" against the southern kingdom. (See additional comments on this in the Introduction and under Amos 2.) The frantic efforts of critics to get this out of the Bible is based altogether upon a prior bias to the effect that Amos was not all concerned about violations of the Pentateuch (the law of Jehovah), but that he was a prophet like the modern liberals interested only in social reform! In fact some have hailed him as the "father of the social gospel!" To be sure, this pronouncement against Judah categorically refutes such prejudices. "For three transgressions, yea, for four ..." This first great strophe is couched in exactly the same language as all the others, being part of a single address, delivered upon a definite occasion, and later written down by the prophet himself. Furthermore, as we have observed, it was the absolutely necessary prelude to pointing the prophetic barrage against Israel herself. "Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah ..." Amos could not have formulated a more perfect reference to the Pentateuch, the prior corpus of the divine Law of God, known and received by all the Israelites for generations prior to Amos' times. As Dummelow said, "These offenses are against a law set forth by positive commandments."[13] The word, "Law, here refers to the Torah, the general name for the whole body of precepts and commandments."[14] Thus, Judah is not judged for the wild excesses of the heathen, but for their rejection of the Lord's word. "Judah is not immune to God's judgment because they are God's elect; indeed their judgments are greater because they are his, and being his, they chose to rebel against him."[15] Jamieson was correct in his discernment that this prophecy against Judah was included here, "Lest it should be said that Amos was strenuous in denouncing sins abroad, but connived at those of his own nation."[16] He also positively identified "the law of Jehovah," in this place as, "The Mosaic Code in general."[17] It is difficult to be patient with the type of false definition of "law of Jehovah," as used here, which occurs in so many commentaries of the various liberal persuasions, such as: "Here it must mean religious and moral teaching given in Jehovah's name by priest and prophet."[18] Such a definition, of course, presupposes that there actually was no "law of Jehovah" in any definite sense at that time. "Have not kept his statutes ..." This is a definite and technical reference to the various ordinances and prohibitions of the law of Moses, as given by God on Mount Sinai. "And their lies have caused them to err ..." This refers to: "The unreal and imaginary deities, the Baalim, and Ashteroth, who have no existence save in the mind of the worshipper, and are therefore sure to disappoint his hopes."[19]"After which their fathers did walk ...""Their sin is deeply ingrained in them by inheritance from their fathers, a truth which the Old Testament uses, never to excuse the sinner, but always to indicate that he is in the place of mounting guilt."[20]Judah continued to go after the old idol gods of the Canaanites, despite all that God had done for them; and they were never cured of this shameful idolatry until after the Babylonian captivity, following which, they never again tolerated among them any semblance of idol-worship. "But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem ..." The military judgments here prophesied with reference to Judah and Jerusalem were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar, and finally a second time in the destruction by Vespasian and Titus in A.D. 70. It is a pleasure to mention here one of the truly great scholars, Hammershaimb, who has well defended "the genuineness of this passage."[21]Barnes made a practical application of this passage to the church and the Christians of all ages. God's judgment against sin is certain to be executed: "It will not the less come, because it is not regarded. Rather, the very condition of all God's judgments is, to be disregarded and to come, and then most to come, when they are most disregarded."[22]Verse 6 "Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes."The righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes ..." This expression simply means that, "For mere trifles, they had given debtors over to their creditors as slaves."[23] It appears that efforts to make some big land deal out of the second half of this denunciation are incorrect. Rather than being, as Mays thought, "an idiom for the legal transfer of land,"[24] it is far more probably a statement that the judges in Israel "could be influenced for paltry bribes."[25] "The verb used here is used of selling people into slavery."[26]Verse 7 "They that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go unto the same maiden, to profane my holy name."Dust of the earth on the head of the poor ..." "Dust on the head" in ancient Israel was a sign of mourning; and the desire of the oppressors in this passage would appear to be their wish to exploit to the uttermost, and hence, bring them to mourning, the poor of the land. This whole clause appears to be merely a figurative expression, "for treading under foot the rights of the poor."[27]"A man and his father unto the same maiden ..." Motyer accurately described the sin here as an open defiance of the law of God against adultery (Exodus 20:14), and fornication in the name of religion in particular (Deuteronomy 23:17). The widely supported efforts to eliminate from Amos' writings all except his "social concerns', has led to all kinds of bizarre interpretations of this place, some going so far as to make an "oppressed domestic servant" out of this girl which Amos mentioned, and then denominating the whole passage as "another expression of the oppression of the poor!"[28] This interpretation of the passage is endlessly parroted, as in, "All the items (here) can be placed under the general rubric of the oppression of the poor."[29] No. Adultery and the frequenting of the sacred prostitutes in such temples as those of Astarte do not come under the classification of oppressing the poor! There can hardly be any doubt that "same maiden" in this place is a reference to idol worship, a conclusion required by the clause immediately following which connects the action with profaning God's name. Jamieson wrote: The "damsel" meant is one of the prostitutes attached to the idol of Astarte's temple: the prostitution being part of her filthy worship.[30] The Canaanite religion thought that the performance of the human actions of procreation could be used to remind the god to fertilize the earth. It is this practice which Amos sees and denounces in Israel. The holy Yahweh is being worshipped as a Canaanite Baal.[31]Some have attempted to deny the obvious connection with idol-worship which surfaces in this verse, basing the denial solely upon Amos' use of an unusual word for "maiden," instead of the word ordinarily used to describe the temple prostitutes; but Keil explained the reason for this thus: "The meaning is, to one and the same girl, but [~'achath] is omitted, to preclude all possible misunderstanding, as though going to different prostitutes was allowed. This sin was tantamount to incest, which, according to the law, was to be punished with death (Leviticus 18:7; Leviticus 18:15 and Leviticus 20:11)."[32]"To profane my holy name ..." "The crux of the matter seems to lie in this expression ... the next lines refer to every altar, and the house of their God, which would indicate that some type of worship is related to these sins."[33]Verse 8 "And they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God, they drink the wine of such as have been fined."Clothes taken in pledge ..." Jamieson has this: "Clothes refers to the outer garment, which Exodus 25:22-27 ordered to be restored to the poor man before sunset, as being his only covering. It aggravated their crime that they lay on these clothes in an idol temple."[34]Keil strongly disagreed with the position of Jamieson that these perversions took place in idol temples, affirming that they were being committed in the house of the true God.[35] However, we are compelled to believe that Jamieson is right. God's true house, in the mind of the Jews, was at Jerusalem; and although it was true enough that the apostate Israelites pretended to be worshipping their God, they were nevertheless not doing so, but worshipping idols instead. It is our conviction, then, that it would be better not to capitalize the word God in this verse. "They drink the wine of such as have been fined ..." Drinking liquor, however procured, and lying down on clothes taken in pledge (in order to commit fornication) in connection with worship are sufficient clues to determine who was being worshipped by such actions; and we do not think it was the God of heaven. It was, of course, an aggravation of guilt that the pledged garments were illegally retained; and there would also seem to be something reprehensible in their possession of the wine mentioned here. This, of course, is speculative; but Fosbroke supposed that this may have reference to, "wine pawned and forfeited to creditors who lost no time in foreclosing."[36] However, since Amos certainly did not mention anything illegal about their possessing wine, it appears that it is the desecration of worship that is primarily condemned. Certainly, we cannot find any way to agree with the opinion that, "Amos had only one standard by which a society is judged ... by the way it treats the poor."[37] Such a view is sternly rebuked by this very passage where, adultery, incest, fornication, and getting drunk in the worship are the sins primarily in focus, although oppression of the poor is also cited, but not as the one and only mistake of that society. Verse 9 "Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.In this through Amos 2:12, Amos turned his attention to the great redemptive acts of God's love for Israel wherein he had delivered them from bondage, dispossessed the nations of Canaan, and done many other marvelous works upon their behalf. The remarkable nation of the Amorites was one of the dispossessed peoples, being noted particularly for their remarkable physical prowess and their great size (Numbers 13:32). He had been wiped out of existence by the divine decree, due to their idolatries and gross sins. This singular mention of the Amorites does not mean that they alone were displaced to make way for Israel; but here "The Amorite, the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations is put for them all."[38]Verse 10 "Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite."Why does Amos list the conquest of Canaan before the exodus from Egypt?"[39] Some commentators seem quite troubled by that question since chronologically the exodus came first; but it appears to be a climactic arrangement of God's wonders, reserving the greatest act of his mercy to the last. "From the many allusions in this section, we see how familiar Amos and his hearers were with the history and the law of the Pentateuch."[40]Verse 11 "And I raised up of your sons prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites, is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah.The next verse will recount the shameful manner in which Israel had responded to the wealth of spiritual leaders which God had raised up from among them to teach them and to lead them in the right way. Some of the prophets God had raised up out of Israel were: Ahijah of Shiloh, Jehu, Elijah, Elisha, Hosea and Jonah! The Nazarites were a class of spiritual leaders who used neither wine nor strong drink and never allowed the use of a razor. There were two classes of these: (1) the Nazarite of days, whose vows were for a stated season only, and (2) the Nazarite for life, of whom there are three mentioned in the Bible: Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. Verse 12 "But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.This indicates that God's Word and the spiritual leaders who taught it and advocated it were alike hated by the Israelites. They despised the Nazarites and tempted them to drink, in violation of their sacred vows. The prophets also were silenced, if not by one device, then by another; and even the Saviour referred to the dishonorable and even fatal treatment of God's prophets that was heaped upon them by Israel and by Judah (Matthew 23:29-36). Much of the Old Testament is a history of the brutal and inhumane treatment of the prophets by God's chosen people. It will be noted that this section pertains almost exclusively to those matters which are strictly religious. Verse 13 "Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.The overthrow of Israel is given in different words from that of the other nations, but the meaning is the same, military defeat and destruction. This verse is as if he had said: Behold, I will run over you with a loaded wagon! Scholars tell us that the translation of the Hebrew here is uncertain; and the sense of the English version is that the load of Israel's sin and guilt is a burden that presses God down; but the figure of being run over by a wagon (or wain) "is very natural in the mouth of the shepherd Amos."[41] "Whatever meaning is given to the verb, it is clear that the ultimate action of God would be catastrophic upon the nation.[42] The divine judgment against Israel in these four verses (Amos 2:13-16) will be such that, "Neither natural ability (Amos 2:14), military equipment (Amos 2:15), nor outstanding courage (Amos 2:16) will avail."[43]Verse 14 "And flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself; and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah."(See under Amos 2:13 above for further comment on these verses.) The complete and irreversible overthrow of Israel is solemnly prophesied in this climactic denunciation. "Naked ..." This word, "upon which the description ends, sums up effectively the pitiful helplessness of a man stripped of all the resources on which he had counted to maintain himself when he faces the final catastrophe."[44]"In that day ..." The day of the Lord refers to that day when, "God's judgment would fail upon Israel."[45]Although the immediate application of these words is thus accurately indicated, there is a more extended and ultimate sense in which they refer to the Great and Final Day of Judgment, when the entire human race shall confront the judgment of God upon human rebellion and wickedness. All of the predictions here made against Israel, as is also the case in all the other judgments cited in these two chapters, were most accurately and circumstantially fulfilled. We conclude this chapter with the following discerning paragraph from McKeating: (The predictions of Amos) were fulfilled to the letter, and within the prophet's own lifetime or shortly afterward. They were fulfilled while there were still plenty of people around who could remember what they said. Their words were therefore treated with respect and eventually written down.[46]We regret accepting in an unguarded moment the critical nonsense that the repeated expressions in Amos regarding: "for three transgressions ... yea, for four," to the effect that these are merely a stereotyped formula. This cannot be true; and we are delighted to correct the error in this Revised Edition. We have the words repeated eight times that, "Thus saith Jehovah," making God Himself the author of these words, not Amos. Furthermore, there is no known recurrence of this formula anywhere else in the literature of all nations. It is therefore not a stereotype. We believe that there is an eternal message in this eight-fold warning. The three and four pattern holds good for the whole world of Adam's race. Adam's race has already been judicially hardened THREE TIMES; and the FOURTH AND FINAL TIME (perhaps even now beginning) will usher in the SECOND ADVENT AND FINAL OF ADAM'S RACE! Judah Condemned (Amos 2:4-5)Now the judgment turns to the people of God. God pronounces judgment on Judah, but for different reasons that what we read in the previous judgments. Judah is condemned because they refused to follow God’ s stipulations and instructions. They rejected the law of the Lord. Judah had been given a covenant which they violated. Instead of obeying God, they turned to lies, false gods who led them astray just as their ancestors followed before them. Israel Condemned (Amos 2:6-16)The condemnation finally arrives on Israel. One can feel the weight of the prophecy. Israel is acting like the nations. They are committing the same sins as these nations who do not have a covenant relationship with God. They oppressed the weak and poor. Amos 2:6 describes the merciless selling of destitute people who could likely have paid their debt if given a bit more time. They unnecessarily foreclosed on small loan amounts (like a pair of sandals). They abused the helpless and weak. Amos 2:7 says that they “ turn aside the way of the afflicted.” Powerful people were manipulating the weak and afflicted, using their power against them. They forced people to do things that they did not want to do and made life miserable for them. Amos 2:7 describes the sexual abuse of a servant woman by both the father and son. God condemns the mistreatment of a hard working household employee. We can commit the same sin when we take the power or authority we have and use it to force others to do what we want. We see this abuse in marriage and friends, where through our words or actions we will punish each other until we make them do what we want them to do. We will ignore them, be rude to them, be angry with them, or act in some other sinful way to force the other to do something. We do not have the right to force anyone to do anything. Not even our Lord forces us to do anything. Husbands, you do not force your wives to do things by being loud or threatening. Wives, you do not force your husbands to do things by being a nag or withholding affection. Friends, you are not to force one another to do what you want through manipulation. Neither are we do use our power to compel people we do not know to do what we want. Notice how God describes these actions in Amos 2:7. He says that his holy name is profaned. This is God’ s view of our sins. We must not see our sins as nothing or merely small indiscretions. We are disrespecting, corrupting, and defiling the holy name of the Lord when as the supposed people of God we force people to obey our wishes. In Amos 2:9-11 God gives the reason why we cannot use force and oppression on others. God graciously cared for his people when they were oppressed. God reminds the people how he took care of his people when they were oppressed in Egyptian slavery. God does not abuse the oppressed. God does not take advantage of the weak. God cares for them. This is most clearly seen in sending his Son for our sins. God calls us weak and helpless in our sins. God came for our deliverance. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6 ESV) We cannot forget the grace of God toward us. We are to be thankful to God and obey his covenant because of his grace. The purpose of God’ s past actions of grace are to generate grace toward others and obedience toward God. Grace is not given to be wasted but is provided to encourage a positive response of thankfulness and service. God’ s grace is also seen in sending messengers to warn his people of impending judgment. Restoration is possible only if people are open to God’ s gracious attempts to convict them of sin and his gentle prodding to discipline those who need correction. If people are not affected by God’ s grace, they will one day stand accountable before his face. We cannot rebel against God’ s grace and plunge ourselves into sin. Further, we will not encourage others to sin. But this is what these people did. They forgot God’ s grace and encouraged sinful behavior. Amos 2:12-16 reveals how they made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded to the prophets not to speak to the words of the Lord. The Nazirites were outstanding examples of lives consecrated to the Lord, providing a visible testimony of the humility of heart and purity of life that the Lord expects. They encouraged people to break that holiness and purity and commit sin. Therefore, Israel and her army will be defeated. They will not survive the coming day of the Lord. ConclusionRebellion against God’ s design for healthy human relationships erodes God’ s holy reputation. We are to have a concern for God’ s holy name just as Moses had on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:12). When we act like the world, how can the world learn about the holy God? We have a covenant relationship with God and we know what God expects from our lives. We must not defile the holy name of God. We must see God’ s grace as the means for us to show grace to everyone we know and meet. Amos 2:1. The Moabites had the same origin as the Ammonites (Genesis 19:37), The historians and commentaries offer various suggestions about this strange act of the king of Moab. It is questioned whether he actually burned the bones of the reigning king of Edom, or that he dug up the bones of the son who (had he lived) would have reigned over Edom. But the main point in the passage is not affected either way it may be understood. God wouid not endorse such an inhuman performance that could have been prompted only by the spirit of wicked vengeance. Amos 2:2. Kirioth was an important city of the Moabites and it was destined to be destroyed by Are from an attacking army. The success of the invader was to be accompanied with shouts and the Instruments commonly used in warfare. Amos 2:3. Judge and princes means any of the leading men of the nation. In all military operations it is regarded as of special importance to remove the most outstanding men of the city or nation attacked. Amos 2:4, While the Iawd was giving these threatening messages through the prophet, He did not overlook his own people in their misconduct. To despise the law means to belittle it and hence treat it as if it had very little or no Important purpose with them. Their lies refers to the false predictions of peace that the unfaithful prophets were Issuing to the nation, The effect of these false messages was to cause them to err in following in the steps of their unfaithful ancestors. Amos 2:5. This verse was literally fulfilled as recorded in 2 Kings 25:9, Amos 2:6. Judah was named in verse 4, therefore we should understand Israel to be the 10tribe kingdom. This agrees with Amos 1:1 that states that Amos “ saw” some things concerning Israel. Both the kingdoms of the Jews were yet in power when he began his writing. Sold the righteous for silver, poor for a pair of shoes. No proper money value can be placed upon a human being, but to sell one for such a paltry price denotes a most contemptible estimate of him. Amos 2:7. All the terms of any passage should be interpreted in view of the general thought of the whole writing in the connection. We know the prophet Is writing about the mistreatment the leaders of Israel were imposing upon the poor and otherwise dependent common people. They had very little regard for even the humble customs and religious practices of their brethren. It was a custom in ancient times to put dust upon the head in times of grief and anxiety, or at such occasions when devout servants of the Lord wished to emphasize their feeling of reverence for God, These wicked leaders were so bitter against the common poor people that they panted or selfishly sought to cast this dust of devotion from the heads and dash it to the ground. They were also very loose in their conduct of the intimate affairs of life. Ali the laws or decency forbade a man and his son being intimate with the same woman, but these corrupt men did not stop short of that kind of iniquity. Amos 2:8. The law of Moses permitted a man to take a garment aa security for a financial obligation, but he was not allowed to keep it overnight (Exodus 22; Exodus 26; Deuteronomy 24:12), But these evil men made personal use of garments that had been taken temporarily, and intensified their guilt by lounging around in them in the temples of idolatrous worship. Condensed is from anash, which Strong defines, “ A primitive root; properly to urge; by implication to inflict a penalty, specifically to fine." The law authorized fines to be levied on certain conditions (Deuteronomy 22; 39), but it must not be done unjustly. These men abused their authority by fining the poor without cause, then spending that money for wine which they drank in the idolaters' house. Amos 2:9. There was a distinct tribe of early inhabitants in Palestine that went by the name of Amorlte. They were so outstanding in Iniquity that the name came to be used sometimes as a designation for all the heathen. (See Genesis 15:16.) Amos 2:10. Ingratitude is a very bad principle and is condemned in both sacred and profane literature. The Lord had done so much for Israel that it made their evil conduct all the more to be condemned, and they are being reminded of the subject In a number of verses. The one event of rescuing them from the Egyptians after four centuries of bondage should have bound them to God in a firm spirit of unmixed devotion. And their release from that country put them in a situation that would have been distressing from the unsettled state of the wilderness, yet the Lord took care of them miraculously for the entire journey of 40 years, so that they could come into possession of the land being held by these Amorites. Amos 2:11. After settling the people of Israel In the land promised to the fathers, the Lord honored them with national distinction and gave their children an honorable part in the conduct of public affairs. Prophets were given the important work of standing between God and the people in delivering inspired messages of instruction and consolation, and the Nazarites were permitted to form a special class of servants for God, with the provision that they would have distinctive favors from Him. Amos 2:12. One of the conditions of a Nazarite’ s vow was that he abstain from the use of wine or any other part of the grape during the term of his vow (Numbers 6:24). Gave the Nazarites wine to drink. Two wrongs never make one right, and no one is justified in doing evil just because some one places the temptation before him. But it is also true that if one furnishes the occasion that causes another to go wrong, he will be held accountable for that wrong (Romans 14:15-16; 1 Corinthians 8:11-12). There were devout persons in the congregation who look upon themselves the obligations of the Nazarite vow in order to obtain some special favor, and to satisfy their desire for a distinctive service to the Lord. And there are people in the world who are so selfish that they do not want anyone else to have some blessing that they do not have. They seem to be acting under the idea that says, "if I eannot have certain favors, I do not want others to have them either.” These persons did not want to make the sacrifice required to obtain the blessings coming upon a Naza rite, hence they induced them to drink wine so they would not receive them either, having violated their vow. They also obstructed the work of the prophets because they did not like the warnings and exhortations to duty that were spoken by them. Amos 2:13. We cannot think of God as being pressed in ihe sense of being burdened by a load that would feel heavy to Him. The marginal reading is, "I will press your place as a cart full of sheaves presseth,” and also the American Standard Version words the passage in ihe same way. Such a rendering also is in keeping with the general thought, tor the Lord is threatening to hear down upon these leaders of Israel so heavily that they will not be able to travel. Amos 2:14, The reasoning in this verse justifies the conclusion expressed as to the proper rendering of the preceding one. Because of the pressure the Lord was to put on the shoulders of the unfaithful men of Israel, they would not be able to make any progress In traveling. Being unable to travel as satisfactorily as desired, they would not be able to deliver themselves from the condition that He had in mind to bring upon Israel, namely, the Assyrian captivity. Amos 2:15, The bow and the horse were used in warfare, either offensive or defensive. Hence when the Assyrians make their invasion into the realm of Israel they will overcome them because of their insufficient ability either for fighting or fleeing. Amos 2:16. Naked is defined by Strong as “ Naked, either partially or totally.” The idea is that they would strip themselves of part of their wearing articles so that they might be the more able to flee. Judgments upon Moab“ For three transgressions of MoabI will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet; and I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith Jehovah” (Amos 2:1-3). Moabites occupied the land east of the Dead Sea and north of Edom. Moab, father of the tribe, was also a son of Lot by his daughter. Though kin to Israel, there was an implacable hatred toward them and hostility that never burned out. Moab is cited for one of her many infamous crimes; the dead body of the king of Edom had been desecrated by burning it to ashes. By burning them into lime, some supposed that they were then mixed with mortar and used in some building. Such a shocking and diabolic deed revealed an evil aspect of the nation’ s character. Judgment must come. Fires of war will devour her. Kerioth, chief city of Moab, would be destroyed. What nations sow they also reap (Galatians 6:7). Moab was the subject of other prophets as well. (See Isaiah 15:1 to Isaiah 16:14; Jeremiah 48:1-47; Ezekiel 25:8-11; and Zephaniah 2:8-9). Judgments upon Judah“ For three transgressions of Judah...I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers did walk. But I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem” (Amos 2:4-5). Given the rivalry and hostility of the Northern Kingdom toward the South we can imagine the evident approval on the faces of Amos’ audience; the amens and perhaps even cheers as he lashed Judah for her sins. In a masterful way, he led them as a leader leads his animals to their fold.The charge laid against Judah is not atrocity or violence, it is religious apostasy. They rejected the law of Jehovah. The law or Torah says Keil, “ is the sum and substance of all the instructions and all the commandments which Jehovah had given to His people as the rule of life.” The statutes are the individual precepts. The lies that caused them to err were their idols and the false religious system they had substituted for Jehovah’ s worship. The writer of Kings tells us that idolatry was wide spread in Judah during Uzziah’ s reign (2 Kings 15:1-4). The judgment of Judah for her transgressions was the same as for her heathen neighbors. Fiery judgments of war would sweep over her. This occurred when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587/586 (See 2 Kings 25:8-12). It is noteworthy that nations that sinned without having God’ s written revelation were no less guilty than Judah who had the Law. (Compare Paul’ s teaching on this subject in Romans 2:11-16). Having thoroughly disarmed his hearers and having won their attention by his sound thrashing of their neighbors, Amos turns to the business at hand. Judgment Upon Israel“ For three transgressions of Israel...I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes— they that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek; and a man and his father go unto the same maiden to profane my holy name and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined” (2:6-8). The ten northern tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam I, revolted against the house of David and established themselves as the Kingdom of Israel. (Compare 1 Kings 12:1-21). While rebelling against God politically, they also corrupted his worship by embracing the Baal worship of their heathen neighbors. Thus at Bethel Jeroboam I had set up one of his golden calves (1 Kings 12:26-33). That pagan religion soon reflected itself in the moral, ethical life of the nation. From their many transgressions, he chooses a few examples. They abused the poor, by selling them into servitude because of indebtedness. A poor man was allowed to sell himself into slavery in order to work out his debts (Leviticus 25:39), but he was to be treated as a brother. No authorization however was given for the forcible selling of the poor. The guilt of the oppressors is exposed when he notes that for a trifling amount, the price of a pair of sandals, they would enslave a brother! They were guilty of land grabbing. Micah also rebuked this sin; “ they covet fields and seize them” (Micah 2:2). Their greed is painted in hyperbolic strokes. They even demand the dust the poor farmer cast on his head in mourning, when he saw his fate. (Compare Lamenations 2:10). They turned aside the way of the meek. This refers to a corrupt legal system that allowed the wealthy and powerful to get unjust advantage over law-abiding citizens. (See Proverbs 17:23).They were guilty of blatant immorality. “ A son and his father go unto the same maiden” for sexual purposes. Such was considered incestuous under the law. (Compare Leviticus 18:7; Leviticus 18:15). This is an allusion to the ritual fornication of the Baal worship (See Hosea 4:14). Each shrine had its male and female prostitutes. Such immoral practices profaned God’ s holy name because the degenerate worshipers claimed they were doing so in the name of Jehovah. It is important to note that the Hebrews did not renounce Jehovah in their apostasy. They simply embraced Baal practices and said that they were doing those things in service to Jehovah. This common practices is called syncretism which is the blending of two or more things together. Profanation of God’ s name was strictly forbidden (Leviticus 22:32) In their ritual fornication they laid down beside the altar on a poor man’ s cloak taken in pledge. If a man was so poor that all he had for collateral was his large outer cloak, it could be used but had to be returned to him at sundown (Deuteronomy 24:12-13). This was because the cloak was also his blanket under which he slept at night. These wicked people had kept the poor man’ s cloak overnight and used it for a pallet for their sinful indulgence lest their own cloak be soiled. Note that Amos says these things were done “ in the house of their God.” It was not Jehovah’ s house, but the Baal shrines where such took place. Such practices had nothing to do with the righteous God of heaven. Their Baal worship included indulgence in wine. Amos shames them for extracting unjust fines from their neighbors and then using the proceeds in worship. Such was an insult to God. “ Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah. But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets saying Prophesy not” (Amos 2:9-12). In this section he stresses their utter ingratitude toward God who had done so much for them and their contempt toward his righteous servants. “ Yet I destroyed the Amorite” ties this paragraph with what had been previously noted. They had turned from Jehovah to embrace the religion of the local population whom he calls Amorites. Yet Jehovah had defeated the Amorites and shown their gods to be nothing but wood and stone. He was clearly superior to the legendary Baal gods. Amorite was technically the name of one group of the Canaanites. They were the mightiest of those tribes. By metonymy, Amos makes them stand for all the tribes that Jehovah had driven out (Deuteronomy 1:20; Deuteronomy 1:27). To emphasize how strong they were, he likens them to oaks and cedars. Their cedar trees were conifers growing 80-100 feet high. Moses tells us that the Canaanites were of unusually large stature. (Numbers 13:32-33). Their great strength meant nothing to Jehovah who easily destroyed them (Joshua 10:12-21). To destroy their roots and fruits simply meant total destruction. Their tribe became extinct. It was Jehovah not the Baal gods or Jeroboam’ s calf that had brought their fathers out of Egypt and safely led them through the wilderness to their homeland (Exodus 20:2). They showed their ingratitude and contempt for God by seeking to corrupt his holy servants, Nazirites, and prophets. Nazirites lived plain and simple lives for God. They abstained from all products of the vine including wine (Num. l-12).Their abstinence was a constant reminder of the sins of indulgence of the people, hence they sought to corrupt the Nazirites. Heavy drinking was a problem Amos fared. (See Amos 2:8; Amos 4:1; Amos 6:6). They tried to silence the prophets that God sent to rebuke them. Isaiah rebuked the same sin (30:10). God sent the prophets to warn them lest they perish. They rejected God’ s merciful gift. “ Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves. And flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; neither shall he stand that handleth the bow, and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself; and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah” (Amos 2:13-16). As a heavily loaded cart presses down the soft earth beneath its wheels so will God crush Israel. The KJV renders the lines “ Behold, I am pressed under you...” If this be the correct reading, God is saying that he is weary of dealing with the rebellious people. (See Isaiah 43:24). Israel under Jeroboam was strong militarily (2 Kings 14:23-28). They were confident that their mighty troops could deliver them from any enemy. With words describing their forces of war he predicts that all will perish. Kenneth Taylor captures the meaning of Amos’ prophesies: “ Your swiftest warriors will stumble in flight. The strong will all be weak and the great ones can no longer save themselves. The archers aim will fail the swiftest runners won’ t be fast enough to flee and even the best of horsemen can’ t outrun the danger then. The most courageous of your mighty men will drop their weapons and run for their lives in that day (Living Bible Amos 2:14-16). Amos Chapter ThreeVerse 1 The nature of Amos 3-6 has been disputed; but it appears that Keil's analysis is correct: "The contents of these chapters show that they do not contain three separate addresses delivered to the people by Amos at different times, but that they group together the leading thoughts of appeals delivered by word of mouth, so as to form one long admonition to repentance."[1]Amos had just concluded the great prophecy looking to the utter destruction of eight nations; and, as regarded the six pagan nations included, the Israelites were indeed delighted to have it so; but much to their consternation and disappointment, the prophet had included them, both Judah and Israel, in the doom foretold; therefore, Amos dealt with the reasons why the favored and chosen people, "the whole family" which God brought up out of Egypt, would also be destroyed, and why that destruction was fully deserved. The children of Israel had long disregarded the words of comfort, instruction, and discipline which God, through many prophets, had spoken to them; "And now they shall be made to hear the word of reproof and threatening that the Lord has spoken against them; for he will act as he has spoken."[2] Beginning with Amos 3, this word of denunciation and warning continues through Amos 6. The divisions of this chapter usually noted are: 1. An introductory justification of his message (Amos 3:1-8). 2. Samaria as an oppressor (Amos 3:9-10). 3. The Doom of Samaria foretold (Amos 3:11-12). 4. The Doom of Bethel foretold (Amos 3:13-15). Thus, it is evident that the particular subject of this chapter is the northern kingdom, especially the capital of Samaria, and also the center of the nation's religious life at Bethel. Amo_3:1"Hear this word which Jehovah hath spoken against you. O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt."Against the whole family ..." The indictment is against the entire covenant people, both Judah and Israel. Judah had already been warned of impending doom (Amos 2:4); and, as the principal thrust of the whole prophecy is against Israel, the prophet turned immediately to the business in hand. "Which I brought up out of Egypt ..." The thing which Amos was called to do lay totally beyond the thought-pattern of God's "chosen people," who had assumed that their unusual privileges endowed upon them a status of exemption from any unusual requirements. It was inconceivable to them that their God would punish them for wickedness, no matter how great it was; God was thought to be their tower of strength always, no matter what they did. It was surely a difficult task which Amos discharged in "getting through" to the people with that attitude. It was this difficulty which led him to authentication of his message in Amos 3:3-8. This is also probably the reason why, in these chapters, "The prophet shows in greater detail the depth to which Israel had fallen and the inevitability of God's righteous judgment upon them as a result."[3]Verse 2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities."You only have I known ..." "The word `known' in this context is a covenant word, used to describe a relationship instead of cognition."[4] It means, "Jehovah chose Israel alone to be his people."[5] To infer from this that God had no information of other nations, or that, in any sense, he was unaware of them, "would be a limitation upon God's nature,"[6] and also a notion utterly confounded by the stern judgments against other nations appearing in this very prophecy. In short, the doctrine of the election of Israel is the thing in view; but Amos revealed an altogether shocking corollary of it, responsibility and conformity to the will of God, a corollary that Israel had overlooked. Instead of reading their election as: Now that we are God's, he will help and bless us no matter what we do. Amos gave them the true version of it: Now that we are God's, he will surely punish us for all of our iniquities. It is amazing how this ancient delusion of Israel persists even today in millions of people who think they are "saved by faith alone." God's election, God's grace, God's covenant with his people has from the beginning, continually, and always rested upon the contingency that the recipients of his mercy would continue to love God, and to the best of their ability, obey him. Christians today should also read the true version of their salvation by the grace of God: We are God's, and therefore we are under the uttermost obligation to love him and obey him. Verse 3 "Shall two walk together except they have agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is set for him? shall a snare spring from the ground, and have taken nothing at all? Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah hath not done it?These verses are the prelude to Amos 3:7-8, below; and they consist of a series of questions, each of which demands a negative answer from the hearers, an answer that is not awaited, for it is considered obvious. "Shall two walk together ..." Israel's having forsaken God's way means that they are no longer "agreed" with God. "Can they continue together? The law of cause and effect operates to separate them."[7] As Butler noted, "This verse is often quoted in treatises on `Unity,' but Amos 3:3 has nothing to do with the subject of `Unity.'"[8] There is a sin and consequence relationship in all of the statements here. They all mean the same thing: "No calamities or judgments can fall upon any people, but by the express will of God, on account of their iniquities."[9] All of these sayings likewise have a cause and effect connection. "They illustrate the truth that all effects have causes, and that from the cause you can infer the effect."[10]GOD IN HISTORYOne of the big things in this whole passage is Amos' view of history, not as the accidental and opportunistic deployment of peoples upon the earth, but as a "controlled" entity, subject, absolutely to the will of God. Nations rise and fall by God's will only, wicked nations being used for a season to punish the righteous, but themselves being quickly liquidated when their sins have gone beyond that hidden boundary that separates God's mercy from his wrath. No matter how men resent and oppose this view of history, it is nevertheless the truth. Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to eat grass with the beasts of the earth for seven years in order that he might know that, "The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will" (Daniel 4:25). Paul affirmed that, "God made of one every nation of men ... and determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek God" (Acts 17:26-27). The reason that one nation is blessed is that they might seek God and lead others to know him; and the reason that another nation is oppressed is that they may be punished for their iniquities and know repentance. So-called "modern man" rejects a premise such as this, as effectively stated by McKeating: "They (the Israelites) did not think of themselves as wicked. Most modern men would deny the logic of the conclusion. It would be reassuring if history could be shown to exhibit a consistent moral purpose, but such a pattern is difficult to demonstrate convincingly."[11]Aside from the viewpoint of basic humanism regarding the oppression of the poor, most "modern men" find nothing at all wrong with the conduct of the Israelites. Such vices as drunkenness, adultery, fornication, idol-worship, neglect of religious duty, etc., are merely "doing what comes naturally." Despite the unawareness of the terrible sinfulness of sin which characterizes our own generation to a degree rivaling, we fear, that of ancient Israel itself, God still rules in the kingdom of men; offenses against God will be severely punished; and nations that forget God shall be turned to destruction, regardless of whether or not "modern man" believes it. Ancient Israel did not believe, nor did any other of the eight nations confronted by the judgments of Amos' prophecy; but where are any of those nations now? "Will a lion ... will a young lion ..." These two similies have the same meaning. Just as the roar of the lion, or the growl of the young lion, means that the prey is before them, the roaring of the prophet against Israel means that, "God not only has before him the nation that is ripe for judgment, but that he has it in his power."[12]"Can a bird fall into a snare ... etc." The two previous similes were from the standpoint of the predator; in these two (Amos 3:5) the standpoint is that of the prey. "The snare" which God has set for sinners is "the consequence" inevitably connected with evil doing. The very consequences of evil indicate that the Infinite Intelligence wills it so. He indeed has "set the snare." The springing up of the trap is always the consequence of the trigger having been set off by the trespasser. None of the judgments, therefore, which have already been declared by Amos against Israel, and which he is here attempting to explain to the unbelieving people, are in any sense capricious or undeserved. Israel has tripped the trigger of the wrath of God; and the trap would not have sprung had this not been so. Keil quoted a passage from Jeremiah to explain what is said here: "Can destruction possibly overtake you, unless your sin draw you into it? (Jeremiah 2:35)."[13]"Gin ..." as used in Amos 3:5, "is an old English contraction of `engine.' referring to the mechanism that releases the trap."[14]"Shall the trumpet be blown in a city and the people not be afraid ..." Here is "the application of the two sets of illustrations,"[15] namely, that the prey hear the voice of the predator and are afraid. Israel has heard the roar of the lion in the prophetic warnings of Amos, and they should be afraid. Motyer pointed out here that: "The only view of history that the Bible espouses is that the Lord is the Great Agent. Behind every event stands a cause; behind all history stands the Lord (Isaiah 45:5-7). Maybe thus they will prepare themselves for his future acts of judgment."[16]Keil likewise discerned this as the import of this passage: "As the trumpet when blown frightens the people out of their self-security, so will the voice of the prophet... The calamity which is bursting upon them comes from Jehovah, and is sent by him for punishment."[17]Verse 7 "Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophecy?The logic of this verse requires its placement exactly where it is. The foolish arguments of some to the effect that "this is a later insertion,"[18] are effectually denied and refuted by the sheer necessity of this thought in relation to what has preceded it. The whole passage gives the prophetic view of history as a drama in which sin is punished and righteousness rewarded; omitting Amos 3:7-8 would have been subject to the objection in Amos' hearers that such calamities as those foretold would have been "unfair without adequate warning." Very well, Amos here affirmed the validity of such a forensic objection, but set it aside by the fact that his great prophecy was itself the adequate warning, indicating also that thus it had ever been with God's dealings with the human race. Howard commented on the unity and skillful arrangement of this passage thus: "The whole saying (Amos 3:1-8) is a very skillful linkage of cause and effect, developed as a series of questions leading up to the final statement (Amos 3:8), that in the same way as natural events are linked in such a causal chain, so too there is a causal relationship behind his own words to Israel."[19]Verse 9 "Publish ye in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold what great tumults are therein, and what oppressions in the midst thereof.SAMARIA AS AN (Amos 3:9-10) "In the palaces of Ashdod ..." The desire of some scholars to translate this "Assyria" instead of Ashdod should be rejected. There is no other mention of Assyria in this prophecy (although it is evident enough that Assyria was clearly the enemy Amos had in mind); but the proposition here seems geared to the ancient fear of Israel that their wickedness and calamities should be known to their traditional enemies. Following the death of Saul, the lament took this form: Tell it not in Gath, Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon; Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice - 2 Samuel 1:20 There is definitely an echo of this in the verse before us. "Ashdod" also carries a more pointed meaning for Israel than would "Assyria" in this verse. "It is a more stinging implication that the Philistines (Ashdod) and the Egyptians, the two hated ancestral enemies were morally superior to Israel."[20] "It was to the eternal disgrace of Israel that there were doings in her cities which the very heathen would condemn."[21]"Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria ..." The imagery is that of a court of world-judgment summoned to take places of advantage overlooking Samaria and to view the terrible wickedness that was perpetuated there. "The mountains are Ebal and Gerizim, from which one could look down upon Samaria."[22]Verse 10 "For they know not to do right, saith Jehovah, who store up robbery and violence in their palaces."Know not to do right ..." Butler paraphrased this, "Israel does not even know how to do right."[23] This charge is perhaps the worst of all: "It speaks of a state of depravity in which the conscience ceases to function properly and the sinner is unable to distinguish between right and wrong ... When people do not do right, the time comes when they cannot do right."[24]"Store up robbery and violence ..." The most of the commentators interpret this to mean that the gains of those who lived in palaces were stored in their strongholds; but it could very well mean that the people trusting in their wealth were merely storing up plunder for the forthcoming invader. Smith agreed that, "Society was only storing up or postponing the day of violence ... a foreign invasion or internal disruption."[25] However interpreted, it simply means that the day of judgment upon their wickedness is promptly coming. Verse 11 "Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: an adversary there shall be, even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered.DOOM OF SAMARIA (Amos 3:11-12) It will be noted that there are multiple references to: "saith Jehovah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, etc." in this section, and, in fact, throughout Amos; but the conclusion of critical scholars that, "The multiplicity of introductory formulae shows that here we have a collection of three or four fragmentary sayings,"[26] should be rejected as unfounded and unproved. The repetition of such expressions is merely characteristic of Amos' style, a fact that cannot be denied. Look at the repeated questions that are propounded in Amos 3:3-6. Repetition was also a characteristic of the teachings of Jesus our Lord. "There shall be ..." It will be noted that these words are italicized in the ASV and in the KJV, but they should nevertheless be retained. "The KJV here makes sense of the awkward Hebrew text by introducing there shall be."[27]"The three measures of the line (Amos 3:11) sketch in terse staccato sentences the stages of a military campaign: invasion, siege, and looting. The foe is not identified; but it is generally assumed that the Assyrians are in mind."[28]Verse 12 "Thus saith Jehovah: As the shepherd rescueth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued that sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.This and the preceding verse relate the doom of Samaria; and this verse is addressed to the possible hope that they would be rescued. Rescued? Yes, but it will be like the gory remains when a shepherd picked up a part of the carcass which had been devoured by a lion, nothing worth rescuing! To the query of the present that might be expected today as to why the shepherd would pick up such worthless pieces of a carcass, it was due to the law of God (Exodus 22:13). "A shepherd was accountable to the sheep-owner for any animal lost, unless he could prove it was lost owing to circumstances beyond his control."[29] Note that this indirect reference to the Pentateuch together with the implied assumption that all of Israel knew it shows beyond question that the Pentateuch was not merely in existence, but that it had been known for a long, long time prior to the days of Amos. Thus, the rescue which is mentioned in this verse is a "rescue" of that which is worthless. Of Israel, "Nothing will be saved that is worth saving."[30] It implies that, the Divine Shepherd (Psalms 23), on whose protection they presumed, now only wanted the evidence of their death."[31]The translation of this verse, which is very difficult due to uncertainties in the text, is given thus in the New English Bible: "As a shepherd rescues out of the jaws of a lion two shin bones or the tip of an ear, "So shall the Israelites who live in Samaria be rescued like the corner of a couch or a chip from the leg of a bed." This translation has the merit of rounding out the simile more perfectly. Furthermore, this rendition is known to have been fulfilled literally when excavations at Samaria uncovered broken pieces of furniture and remnants of the ivory house of Ahab. "These fragments must be what was left when the city was sacked by the Assyrians in 722 B.C."[32] Despite the attractiveness of the New English Bible rendition, however, Fosbroke defended the "silken cushions" of the ASVas being "satisfactory as any."[33] In that rendition, the meaning is the same, but not as dramatically stated, the focus shifting to the luxurious lives of the Samaritans. Verse 13 "Hear ye, and testify against the house of Jacob, saith the Lord Jehovah, the God of hosts.DOOM OF BETHEL (Amos 3:13-15) This is a reference to the ten northern tribes, as indicated in the next verses by the mention of the altars of Bethel. "The Lord Jehovah, the God of hosts ..." "This full title appears nowhere else in the book,"[34] indeed nowhere else in the entire Bible. "It emphasizes in a special way the omnipotence of God for the purpose of magnifying the effect of the predicted judgment."[35] "In Hebrew the name is [~'Adonay] [~Yahweh] [~'Elohiym] [~Tsba'owth]."[36] It is from the last member of this quadruple designation that our word "Sabaoth" is derived. The Lord of Sabaoth means "the Lord of Hosts" and is found some 300 times in the Old Testament. The imagery of "Lord of Sabaoth, Lord of Hosts" is that of the ruler over an organized host, such as a great army, or all of the angels of heaven. Verse 14 "For in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.The singling out of the polluted shrine at Bethel is significant, as this was the seat of the religion of Israel. It will be recalled that when Jeroboam led the ten tribes in their secession from "the house of David," he was alarmed that the people returning to Jerusalem to worship God might eventually defect from his authority; he perpetuated a most contemptible and daring perversion of the worship of God: "Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them (the people), `It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: Behold thy gods, O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan'" (1 Kings 12:28-29). "It has commonly been assumed that the golden calves were direct representations of Yahweh as bull-god,"[37] and some commentators claim that the true God was thus worshipped in Israel; but the very making of those golden calves was a flagrant violation of the law of God as known for centuries prior to Jeroboam. Aaron, it will be remembered, had done such a thing in the wilderness of wanderings while Moses was absent to receive the tables of the law, an event quite early in Israel's history; and that sinful episode had resulted in unqualified disaster for the Israelites. This action, therefore, on the part of Jeroboam was actually a repudiation of the worship of God, no matter how he had dressed it up and attempted to make it look like a "new form" of genuine worship. "The bull affiliations of Baal were too closely connected with the more degrading aspects of pagan cults to be safe, and there is every indication that the Northern Kingdom fell a prey to idolatrous pollution as a result."[38] The stinging words of this prophecy also indicate that the people were lying down upon pledged garments "beside every altar" (Amos 2:8), a plain reference to the fornication that was openly practiced in "the house of god!" Israel had forsaken the true God and had gone back to the gross idolatry of the old Canaanites, even adoring their filthy old "bull god." It is no wonder that God promised to "visit" those altars in Bethel, with the purpose of their total destruction. "The punishment of these altars suggests that false religion is the root of social decadence."[39] In fact, false religion was the root of all Israel's sorrow. Together with Amos 3:15, below, we have in this denunciation of Bethel God's emphatic "cease and desist" in regard to all that Israel held dear. The word "house" as repeatedly used in the passage shows the completeness of this stop order which was hurled against them from heaven. Note the following from Mays: "House of Jacob, house of God (Beth-El), winter house, summer house, ivory house, and great house. What Israel had built stands as the manifestation of the nation's rebellions. The devastation of these houses is the actualization of Yahweh's "No" to Israel's cult and culture."[40]The claim of the Israelites, of course, was that they were indeed worshipping the true God, a farce which they encouraged by observing many of the rituals and commandments of the law of Moses. Burnt offerings, thank offerings, and meal offerings were presented there (Amos 5:22); but as Dummelow wrote: "All this was vitiated by two faults: (1) The god whom the worshippers adored was not the Holy One, who alone is worthy, but a mere nature god, and (2) the worship was not of a kind to make men better; but it was closely associated with immorality and with luxurious eating and drinking."[41]Verse 15 "And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith Jehovah.The heartless affluence, luxury and self-satisfied unconcern of the ruling classes in Israel were the sins of the people who owned and lived in the houses described in this passage; and their rich and easy lives had been made possible through all kinds of corruption and deceit as outlined in Amos' prophecy. They would sell a man into slavery for a pair of shoes. God announced that he was putting an end to that kind of culture, an end which came within the lifetime of those who heard Amos' words. We cannot highly regard the words of McKeating who criticized Amos as a nomad who was merely hostile to the refinements of city life, saying that his "was the uncomprehending indignation of what he sees as the vices of city life."[42] This is totally wrong. It was not Amos' indignation that is poured out in Amos, but the indignation of the infinite God. Mays more clearly understood the words of this remarkable prophecy thus: "The judgment which Amos announces is no ascetic primitivism, growing out of simple hostility against a commercial culture and its influence. The houses were built beam by beam, and stone by stone, from a store of crimes."[43]"Houses of ivory ..." The import of this is not likely to be that houses were built entirely out of this substance, but rather that they were extensively decorated with it. The Bible mentions the "ivory house which Ahab built" (1 Kings 22:39). "Winter houses and summer houses ..." Plural houses were provided for some who could afford them with elevations that were designed to provide comfort in diverse seasons. That ancient culture, founded upon the heartless oppression of the poor, is not the only such society that God has destroyed, as a trip through the palaces of Europe will quickly demonstrate. Maria Theresa's bedroom was decorated with over three million dollars worth of gold and precious stones. Wherever such selfishness is enshrined and honored, the wrath of God abides there forever. "The horns of the altar shall be cut off ..." The horns of the altar were supposed to be its most sacred part; and, in pagan societies, a criminal could claim refuge by taking hold of the horns of the altar; but this was not allowed in Israel. Joab attempted to do this but was executed in spite of his doing so (1 Kings 2:28 ff). The meaning is simply that the whole religious apparatus at Bethel shall perish, along with the rest of Israel. The Lion Has Roared (Amos 3:1-15)One of the problems with being the chosen people of God is that we think we are the chosen people of God. We lose humility and begin to think of ourselves as important before God. God repeatedly challenges the arrogant thinking that we are special. Israel believed that because they were the chosen people of God that they were special because of their obedience to God and therefore would avoid judgment. Judgment would happen to the world, but the chosen people of God would be spared. God tried from the beginning to warn the people against this kind of foolish thinking. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘ My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18 ESV) “ Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘ It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. “ Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (Deuteronomy 9:4-6 ESV) The events of the Exodus were not for them. The people were not to witness the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of the Egyptians, and the miraculous provisions of the wilderness and think that they were something special. These things were to draw the people to God in awe and proclaim his glory and goodness. Unfortunately the people thought their chosen status would protect them from harm. With Privilege Comes Accountability (Amos 3:1-2)Notice the privileges that God expresses to the people. “ I brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Amos 3:1). “ You only have I know of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2). You were the chosen people of God. You saw God work to redeem you and deliver you. You were the only people to have this covenant relationship with God. “ Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” The result is not that God is going to overlook their sins. Rather, God will punish them for every sin. Their chosen status does not mean they are protected from judgment. Their chosen status meant they had greater accountability to God. They knew what God required. They were to be to the Lord a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6). With the privilege of knowing God came the responsibility of acting like the people of God. The same accountability is described to us. Consider the message found in the parable of the talents. Everyone was given a degree of wealth from the master and each were accountability for what they were given. Israel was the one talent man who had taken the blessings and privileges of God and did nothing with them. Listen to the words of the apostle Peter: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV) You are the chosen people of God, a holy nation. The purpose is not to think that we are special because of ourselves. Our status before God is not because of ourselves, that we can boast in our works. Seeing what God has done for us is to cause us to proclaim the excellencies of Christ. He called us out of darkness. Christ is the light who is shining in the darkness. We proclaim him because we were blind and without the light of Christ we would continue to be blind. The Lion Has Roared (Amos 3:3-8)Amos now introduces a serious of rhetorical questions to lead the people to grasp two important conclusions. The first message is that the judgment of God is coming with cause. Notice the rhetorical questions in verses 4-6 to see God making this point. Does a lion roar when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry if he has taken nothing? Does a bird fall in a snare if there is no trap? Does a trap snap shut if there is nothing to spring the trap? The answer to all of these questions is no. These things only happen with a purpose. The victim has been trapped. Look at the questions in verse 6. Are people to be afraid when the trumpet sounds in the city? Yes, they are because that is the alarm to the people warning of invasion. Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord does it? The cities of Israel only fell when the people were in rebellion. God would cause their defeat because of their sins. Think about the success of the conquest of Jericho and the failure of the attack at Ai. Disaster comes when you are not faithful to him. What is the point? The beginning of verse 8 is the answer. “ The lion has roared; who will not fear?” The Lord has spoken. Judgment is coming. Amos is calling for the people to make a decision to respond appropriately to the revealing of God’ s plan. God’ s plan will be revealed in verses 11-15. But before revealing God’ s plan, Amos is preparing the hearts of the people to listen to the message of God. The trumpet has sounded. The trap has shut. The lion has roared. You need to listen to the alarm and hear the message of the Lord. The second point is that Amos is carrying the message of the Lord. Amos needs to validate that he indeed is God’ s messenger. Look at verse 3. “ Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” Amos’ message is not a coincidence or an accident. Amos has been called by God to make this declaration. Verse 7 continues this point. “ For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” Amos declares that his message is from God. Amos proves his relationship with God because God has revealed his plan for the nation of Israel to him. Notice the end of verse 8 for the second conclusion to be drawn from these questions. “ The Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy?” The Lord has spoken. Who can refuse to proclaim God’ s message? God has called me to walk with him and revealed his plan to me. I must speak God’ s plan to you. God is the lion and his prophecy is roar. God calls for us to pay attention to the declaration of his word. When God speaks, his voice roars through the earth. It is easy to lack intensity when listening to God’ s word. We can pay attention to everything else and get distracted when trying to read God’ s word or listen to its proclamation. The voice of the Lord must grab our attention. The voice of the Lord must cause us to respond in attention, like the blowing of the trumpet sounding the alarm. God has spoken. Be at attention and focus on what God has to say. The Downfall and Devouring of Israel (Amos 3:9-15)In Amos 3:9 God through his prophet Amos calls Egypt and Philistine to be witnesses to the wickedness in Israel. These two nations were past oppressors of Israel. Yet these immoral heathens are called to judge the morality of Samaria. See how wicked God’ s people are! The nations are called to be a witness against the people of God. Verse 10 defines the problem. They are morally warped. They do not even know how to do what is right. Their storehouse is not full of mercy and grace, but violence, robbery, and oppression. This is an accurate description about the nature of sin. We look at sin is a harmless act. The problem is that sin warps our thinking, our hearts, and our consciences. We lose our innocence and develop depraved hearts and minds. Sinful act after sinful act leads us to a point that we can no longer even do what is right because we have lost all sensitivity to the will of God. We look at people and perhaps ourselves and wonder how people can get so steep in sexual sin. The path is very simple: dabble in it a little and lose sensitivity to the sinfulness of what you are doing. Soon you need a little more to satisfy the desire you have awakened. Before long you will get so far down the path that you will be consumed by these sins. What began as a hobby or an occasional act now has become a vice. You have become imprisoned to the sin and it feels like you cannot stop. You engage in it even when you do not want to and even if you know better. Finally you will be at the point where it can be said that you do not even know what is right. This is why it is so important to guard our hearts. The danger of allowing our hearts to stray from the right paths of the Lord are very serious. The final verses of this chapter describe the coming doom against the nation. All of their defenses will not help and their strongholds will be plundered. Amos 3:12 pictures the ferocity of their doom. Like a shepherd rescuing a sheep from the mouth of a lion with only two legs or a piece of an ear, so will be the people of Israel. There will be nothing left of their former lifestyle. There will only be fragments left, just enough to prove who the victim was. Their lavish living will suddenly perish. All that will be left is part of a bed. Your comforts and conveniences will all be taken away. Your wealth will be gone. You will have nothing left but a fragment. Life apart from God may yield temporary material gain, but will surely result in eternal loss. Their houses of ivory and summer and winter homes will be taken away (Amos 3:15). Your pleasures in comfort and wealth will come to an end. How foolish to plunge ourselves into what makes us comfortable when God will destroy all these things! Amos 3:1. The chief part of the nation to which this book is directed is the 10-tribe kingdom, but a part of it is so composed that it may he properly addressed to the whole family of Israel. 2 Amo 3:2. You. only have I known means that God had not recognized or accepted any other family. It is forcefully expressed in Deuteronomy 7:6 as follows: "The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people upon the face of the earth.1' This favor placed them under greater obligation to eonduct themselves in a manner pleasing to Him. They did not do so, therefore it was divinely decreed to punish you for all your iniquities. 3 Amo 3:3. Two men might unexpectedly come together while each is out walking and that would not require any previous understanding, but they would not continue their walk together without it. Together is from yachad, which Strong defines, “ Properly a unit, i. e. (adverbially) unitedly." This means not only that the two might, happen to walk in the same general direction, but that they were doing so as a unit of action. The statement (in question form) is that the men will not do so except they be agreed. That word is the key to the whole passage. It is from yaap and Strong’ s definition is, “ A primitive root; to fix upon (by agreement or appointment); by implication lo meet (at a stated time), to summon (to trial), to direct (in a certain quarter or position), to engage (for marriage)." Moffatt renders the word “ have planned It.” I have gone into much detail here because of the fundamental importance of the subject being considered. The principle is clearly set forth that in matters of right and wrong it is not enough that the parties be “ all striving for the same place," and that they be a united in their activities. Not only so, but that unity must have been agreed upon by tbe parties proposing to walk together. Since the actual case at hand is that of "walking with God,” it is a foregone conclusion that He is the one to do all the planning, and that man is expected and should be glad to agree to the plan. 6 Amos 3:4-6. I have grouped these verses into one paragraph because they are all written for one purpose, and that may well be expressed by the phrase, “ no effect without a cause.'' For instance, a lion does not roar if there is no prey; a bird cannot be entrapped unless there is a trap; a snare cannot be taken up if there is no snare to take; a trumpet would not be blown unless there was some danger to be announced. Evil is used in the sense of some chastisement, and its presence is proof that there is some cause for It in the mind of the Lord. 7 Amos 3:7. God will not cause any false alarm, and when He instructs the prophets to sound a warning, there is a cause for it. 8 Amos 3:8. In view of the foregoing logical conclusions, how foolish it would be were the people not to fear since the lion (God) has roared; and what neglect of duty it would be for the prophets not to utter the predictions of warning since the Lord has spoken of them through the channel of inspiration. 9 Amos 3:9. This and the next two verses are a prediction of the Assyrian siege. Ashdod was a city of the Philistines and Egypt was another of the heathen countries. In a figuralive manner these foreign people were Invited to come and witness what was going to happen to Samaria, the capital of the 10-tribe kingdom of the .Jews. The tumults and oppression would be the natural result of a siege. 0 Amos 3:10. They refers to t.he people of the kingdom of Samaria. Know not to do right is said in the same sense as Isaiah 1:3; they knew' not because they did not consider what the Lord had told them in his word. Instead of dealing justly with their brethren, they increased their own store of wealth by means of violence and robbery. 1 Amo 3:11; Amos 3:4 n adversary even round about the land is a direct prediction of the Assyrian siege, and the fulfiIment is recorded in 2 Kings 17:5. Spoiled is from bazaz, which Strong defines, "A primitive root; to plunder.” While the Assyrians were conducting the siege of Samaria, they entered the houses of the city and took possession of their valuables. 2 Amo 3:12. From this verse through the close of the chapter the passage is a prediction of the Assyrian captivity of Israel. If the shepherd could rescue only the legs and piece of an ear of his sheep from the mouth of the lion, it would be because the sheep was almost wholly devoured. The figure is used to indicate the "close call” that Israel was to make to being entirely destroyed. But the great Shepherd would not let his dock (the 10-tribe kingdom) be entirely ruined, and so He will take out a part of it even though at the time the members of the flock will be lounging on beds and couches. Damascus is from demesiieq, which Strong defines, "Damask (as a fabric of Damascus).” The idea is that the people of Israel (especially the leaders in the capital city of Sa-maria) will be taking it easy, lolling their time away on beds and couches adorned with the luxurious fabrics of Damascus. 3 Amo 3:13. The Lord bids the prophet call upon the house of Jacob (from whom came the name Israel) to hear what the God of hosts has to say. 4 Amos 3:14. Visit the transgressions means to bring judgment upon them for their transgressions, Those sins consisted in their sacrifices to idol gods, and Bethel is named because one of the idol calves was erected there (1 Kings 12:29). Horns of the altar shall he cut off is a prediction of the destruction of idolatrous worship, which was to be accomplished by the captivity. 5 Amos 3:15. Winter house and, summer house. The luxury-loving leaders had the two separate houses erected in sucli a manner and in such places as to give them eomfort at the various seasons. Houses of ivory were a part of the extravagancies indulged in by the pleasure-mad princes of Israel. Smith’ s Bible Dictionary says the following about this subject: "The ivory house of Ahab. 1 Kings 22:39, was probably a patace, the walls of which were panelled with ivory, like the paiace of Menelaus, described by Homer's Odyssy 4, 73. Beds inlaid or veneered with ivory were in use by (he Hebrews.” Centainty of Coming JudgmentIn chapter four, Amos tells his hearers that judgment is definitely coming upon them. They had better get ready for it. He opens with a ringing rebuke of the women of Samaria. “ Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks and your residue with fish-hooks. And ye shall go out at the breaches, and every one straight before her, and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, saith Jehovah” (Amos 4:1-3). “ Hear this word” is a strong imperative to his audience that they pay attention to his message. “ Kine” are cattle. “ Bashan” was the region east of Jordon between Mount Herman and the mountains of Gilead renowned for its rich pasture land. He speaks not of four legged cows but of those wealthy women “ of Samaria that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink” (4:1). Ezekiel called the mighty men and princes of Israel’ s enemies, “ fadings of Bashan” (Ezekiel 39:18). David spoke of his enemies as strong bulls of Bashan (Psalms 22:12). He uses this demeaning phrase to rebuke the wicked self-indulgent women who, by their insatiable demands, pushed their husbands to exact more from the suffering poor. Isaiah had a similar rebuke for the women of Israel (Is. 3:12; 32:9-11). God swore by his holiness (4:2), which they had offended and which was opposed to all for which they stood, that He would justly punish them. (See also Psalms 89:35). The conquering Assyrians would take them away “ with fish-hooks” (Amos 4:2). Hooks and fish-hooks are parallel with the same meaning. As fish are helpless when snared on a hook and their captor will certainly drag them out of their natural habitat, so will those proud women be snared when the Assyrians take them into captivity. Engravings discovered by archeologists show in vivid detail that the Assyrians did literally put hooks in the lips of some of their captives and led them by strings. Their “ residue” most likely refers to their children and personal attendants. “ Breaches” are gaps tom in the walls of their defeated city. His picture is, as the cowherd drives his cattle through a gap in a fence so the Assyrians will drive the fat kine of Samaria through the broken walls of Samaria. “ Everyone straight before her” as a line of cows proceeds one after the other with eyes cast down. “ Ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon” is considered by many scholars the most difficult verse in Amos. This is because, the Hebrew text, is hopelessly, obscure. We are consoled by the fact that our understanding of the gist of Amos message is not affected if we cannot resolve these few words. Laetsch understands it to be Harman, the northern boundary of Bashan, through which they would pass when led away into captivity. This agrees with Amos’ words in (Amos 5:27) “ I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus" which is north of Harmon. The KJV renders it “ ye shall cast them into the palace.” Cook understands this to mean that the cruel wanton nobles of Samaria would be made slaves to serve in the palaces of their conquerors. That was a common practice in those days. The former seems more likely the meaning to this author. With great and sarcastic irony Amos now addresses the pilgrims who had come to Bethel for worship. “ Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days; and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened and proclaim freewill offerings and publish them; for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah” (Amos 4:4 -­5). As Amos witnesses the fervent activities of the priests and worshipers at Bethel, he rebukes them with words dripping with irony. “ Go on in the path you have chosen for yourselves; go on disobeying God; go in your pretentious hypocrisy.” He must not be understood as in anyway, endorsing or approving their actions. It is as when a parent, after repeated warnings, tell the child “ go ahead and do it” implying that to do so will bring swift punishment for disobedience. Bethel and Gilgal were places rich in the sacred history of the Hebrew people. At Bethel, Jacob saw, in a dream, the ladder extending into heaven with Jehovah standing at the top (Genesis 28:12; Genesis 28:18-19). At Gilgal (between Jericho and the Jordan River), the Hebrews first camped after crossing the river and renewed the covenant and rite of circumcision (Joshua 4:19; Joshua 5:3). Jeroboam had positioned one of his golden calves at Bethel. Gilgal also was devoted to idolatrous worship (See Hosea 4:15; Hosea 9:15). They went to these shrines to worship God, but Jehovah viewed it as transgression because it was contrary to his will. Jesus declares the same is true today (Matthew 7:21-23). Amos proceeds to describe the extravagance of their worship, “ sacrifices every morning” and “ tithes every three days.” The law called for a tithe for the poor every three years (Deuteronomy 14:28). Keil correctly observes that this should not be taken literally. “ Amos speaks hyperbolically to depict the great zeal displayed in their worship.” He is saying, even if you did this it would be of no value. The whole system is flawed at the heart. You only increase your sin by so doing! The law forbade the use of leaven in loaves that were burned as thank-offerings (Leviticus 7:11-12). Leaven was to be used in the loaf of the heave-offering given to the priest (Leviticus 7:13-14. Worshipers at Bethel either defied God or perhaps they sought to go a little beyond duty and bum even some of the priest’ s loaf. In either event they sinned. Beyond the required worship, they offered abundant “ freewill offerings.” We can conclude from this that the worship of the Northern Kingdom was patterned largely after that of Moses’ law. They did not totally reject it, they only mingled it with the Baal worship of their neighbors. “ For this pleaseth you” (Amos 4:5), tells, us God’ s evaluation of their worship. In the words of Paul, it was “ will-worship” (Colossians 2:23). “ What they willed they kept of God’ s system and what they willed they rejected.” This was the fundamental flaw of their religion and of modem denominational systems. Repetition in religious observances cannot compensate for a disobedient spirit (Matthew 6:1-7). The prophet now reminds his hearers of five previous judgments God had sent upon them and the fact that they had not learned from them nor repented. Therefore, only destruction was left (Amos 4:6-13). “ And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all of your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah” (Amos 4:6). Cleanness of teeth is an idiom for famine and scarcity of food. Without food to eat the teeth need no cleaning. Famine is one of God’ s four sore judgments (Ezekiel 14:21). God sends hardships on people for a purpose, hoping that they will return unto him. Israel repeatedly ignored the warnings. “ And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water and were not satisfied; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah” (Amos 4:7-8). God withheld his blessing of rain as a chastisement for their sins. We must not conclude that every drought is such a punishment. Our present knowledge of meteorology helps us understand the cycles of rainfall. If every drought were a judgment from God, then water storage or irrigation would be attempts to thwart a punitive lesson from God. No believer would think this to be the case. On the other hand our modem knowledge must not lead us to the faulty conclusion that God cannot or will not use the elements to punish rebellious people. God withheld their needed rain! Sadly they ignored the warning. “ I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees hath the palmer worm devoured; yet have ye not returned unto me...” (Amos 4:9) “ Blasting” is the result of the scorching hot winds that sometime blew from the Arabian desert, wilting the crops and causing them to die (Genesis 41:6) Mildew is a fungus that causes the grain to weaken, turn yellow and die without fruit. It usually comes when there is too much rain (Compare Deuteronomy 28:22). The palmer worm refers to a form of locusts. The Hebrew word means “ Shearer” (See Joe 1:4). “ I have sent among you pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me...” (Amos 4:10). Pestilence was the scourge of the ancient world. They did not understand how it was transmitted nor the conditions that were conducive to it. Neither did they have any treatment for it. It had to run its course, taking multitudes in its wake. Pliny, the Roman historian, styled Egypt as the mother of such pestilence. When God delivered Israel from Egypt he promised that none of the diseases of Egypt would be upon them, if they obeyed him. (Deuteronomy 7:15). On the other hand if they disobeyed him those plagues would overtake them (Deuteronomy 28:58-60) Their young men God caused to be slain by the sword of war. What God causes to be done, Scripture writers say He did. Their victorious enemies would take away their war horses and implements of war. Hazael of Syria conquered the North and left them but fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand footmen (2 Kings 13:3-7). The stench of decaying corpses and dead animals, following their defeat, did not teach them anything (Is. 34:3). Pestilence and war are among God’ s four sore judgments (Ezekiel 14:21). “ I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning...”(Amos 4:11). Most all commentators agree that he speaks of earthquakes and the fires commonly resulting from them. To “ overthrow” means literally to turn upside down (Cook). (Compare 2 Kings 21:13). When God threatened to turn Samaria upside down like a dish, this throws light on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25). The specific calamities Amos had in mind are not stated. Note how he has proceeded from the lesser to the greater judgments. We marvel at the blindness of those Hebrews who experienced all of those chastisements and yet returned not to God. Is our generation any more perceptive or penitent? The prophet proceeds to draw the inevitable conclusion, “ Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth— Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name” (4:12-13). Having persistently rebelled against Jehovah and having ignored his merciful warnings, Amos charges them to “ prepare to meet (their) God,” to answer for their crimes. The judgment threatened will be far worse than all the others. Amos does not tell them what it will be. He leaves them to ponder, in suspense, their coming doom. We know from later history that it was the dismantling and destruction of their nation and the deportation of their people by the Assyrians. That began in 734 and was completed in 722 B.C. Lest they think that they can escape their doom, he then describes in words of uncommon force and beauty the God to whom they must answer. God is omnipotent, he forms great mountains and creates the wind, an invisible, yet powerful and destructive force. He declares man’ s thought. He is omniscient. He maketh the morning darkness. He providentially rules his creation. Morning is a symbol of hope and goodness whereas darkness symbolizes pain, sorrow, despair, destruction. He treadeth upon the high places as a_victorious conqueror. He is invincible. Jehovah, the self-existing, unchanging one, is his name (Exodus 3:14-15). He is God of hosts, he leads the armies of heaven in crushing his enemies (See Habakkuk 3:12-15).Verse 1 There is a continuation in this chapter of the general thought and movement of the last, consisting of denunciations and exhortations of Israel. First, there is a powerful blast against the idle, sinful and oppressive rich "in the mountain of Samaria" (Amos 4:1-3), then, a sarcastic and ironical "call to worship" at Bethel and Gilgal (Amos 4:4-5), and next, a dramatic reminder by the prophet of the seven disasters God had sent upon Israel with the benign purpose of leading them to repentance (Amos 4:6-12). Some have considered these disasters as progressive in intensity and severity. "Amos has arranged them in climactic form."[1] Mays, however, wrote that: "There is no perceptible development in the sections, no heightening of the disasters' intensity. Each is terrible in its own right, no worse than the previous one. The sequence gains its effect from repetition, the recollection of one disaster after another as though the narrative meant to exhaust the catalogue of human misery."[2]Of particular interest is May's reference to "repetition," which we have already cited as one of the principal characteristics of this remarkable prophet; and the recurrence of a number of different names for God, the recurrence of identical phrases in his denunciations of the nations (Amos 1-2), and the dramatic repetitions of this section (Amos 1:5-12) are all alike genuine and inseparable from the authentic words of this prophecy. Of this chapter, Mays said: "The sequence is not the work of a collector assembling units of similar form. The individual sections have no point as isolated sayings. The art of repetition is a feature of Amos' own style."[3]Finally, there is a beautiful but brief doxology in Amos 4:13, a logically placed exclamation, concluding the terrible indictment and announced punishment of Israel. Amos 4:1 - Hear this, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink."Ye kine of Bashan ..." By far the majority of modern translators and commentators render this. "Ye cows of Bashan, "making it a reference exclusively to the "fat cat" women of Samaria. We shall accept this, but it should be noted that most of the older commentators did not go along with that view. Clarke wrote, "I think the prophet means men of effeminate and idle lives."[4] The word here is "cows," the feminine form of "kine" having no other meaning; but the uncertainty with regard to the meaning derives from the fact that the Hebrew text in this place uses a mixture of feminine and masculine gender words with some inevitable confusion as to what exactly is meant. The best explanation of this we have seen is this: "Kine of Bashan ... is figurative for those luxurious nobles mentioned in Amos 3:9, etc. The feminine kine, or cows, not bulls, expresses their effeminacy. This accounts for masculine forms in the Hebrew being intermixed with feminine; the latter being figurative, the former the real persons meant."[5]The fact which overrules the view thus expressed by Jamison derives from the last clause in which they say to "their lords": "Bring, and let us drink ..." giving a situation which answers most properly to the assumption that the sinners condemned here are those wicked, dissolute and voluptuous women of Samaria who had only one imperative for their "lords," or "husbands," and that was, Bring! This means, "Get it; we don't care how!" The only thing that mattered to them was the procurement of the means to carry forward their luxurious parties. "Cows of Bashan ..." Hammershaimb thought that such an expression could have been used in a complimentary fashion, saying that, "Oriental writers use the comparison with thoroughbred cows as a compliment to the women's beauty and opulence."[6] We dare not accept this view, however, as that of the prophet. If he had been giving a compliment, it seems incredible that he would have chosen a sleek fat beast as an appropriate comparison. "And let us drink ..." Butler's terse paraphrase of this is, "You debauched women who nag your husbands to supply you with intoxicants."[7] Thus, the husbands of those women, "are induced to deal oppressively with the poor that they may procure the viands needed for their wives' debaucheries."[8] Due to the general character of the language employed here, their drinking, "may be understood to have included drinking, feasting, and wanton luxury of every kind."[9] Why was Amos so concerned with the actions of these idle and wicked women? McFadden was right in his declaration that: "All of the Hebrew prophets knew that for the temper and quality of a civilization the women are greatly responsible. A country is largely what its women make it; if they are cruel or careless or unwomanly, the country is on the road to ruin."[10]But these particular women so vigorously condemned by God's prophet had done what no animal could do, "They had made coarse pleasure the deliberate end of life."[11]The great ladies of Samaria! What were they, really? Intent only upon pleasure, cruel and oppressive to subordinates, dominating and demanding of their husbands, competing endlessly with their contemporaries for preeminence in staging one debauchery after another, with never a thought of God, or of any fellow human, what were they? Just, "so many prime beasts from Bashan, sunk in a purely animal existence."[12]"Bashan ..." Before leaving this verse, it should be remembered that Bashan was proverbially the home of fine pastures and fat cattle. "The bulls of Bashan" were mentioned by the Psalmist (Psalms 22:12). It was the land lying eastward from the sea of Galilee and somewhat to the north. One other thing of interest is the way some have tried to downgrade Amos' denunciation of these sensual women with the assertion that: "There is something about fashionable upper-class women that brings out the venom in a puritan. They epitomize for him the most offensive vices of society. Isaiah reacts to them much as Amos does (Isaiah 3:16 to Isaiah 4:1)."[13]How blind are they who can get nothing out of this passage of the Word of God except what they call "the venom" of a humble prophet! What a low concept such so-called "scholars" have of the word of the Lord, and how clearly their prejudice in favor of the "upper-class" appears in words which suggest approval of their wicked and dissolute conduct. Given such a glimpse of the writer's "soul" as afforded by the above quotation, one need not be troubled at all regarding his allegations against the Bible. It would be impossible for them to be otherwise than opposed to the truth. Verse 2 "The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her; and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, saith Jehovah."The exact meaning of this passage is very difficult to determine, due to the damaged nature of the Hebrew text from which it is translated. Some widely different translations have come down to us. Wolfe translated it thus: "You shall be dragged by the nose with hooks, And by your buttocks with fish spears; Even as dung you shall be hauled out, one by one, To be cast forth on the dump heap naked."[14]The Septuagint and Vatican renditions of this place have: "And fiery destroyers shall cast those with you into boiling cauldrons."[15] Such uncertainties are due to the fact that the words translated "hooks," "fish-hooks" and "Harmon" are not exactly known, as to their meanings. Such difficulties, however, do not in any sense obscure the meaning of the prophet in this passage, that being that a terrible fate is in store for the sensual profligates called the "kine of Bashan." The leading of captives by "hooks" which is certainly one of the possible meanings here was no unlikely event, for: "The Assyrian illustrations depict such scenes with captives being led with hooks through their noses or mouths, and Amos was no doubt familiar with this barbaric practice."[16]"The breaches ..." mentioned here indicate that the city will be overthrown by military action and that its citizens shall be removed through the breaches made in the wails. "Harmon ..." is sometime construed as "naked" and sometimes as a place-name; but if it is the latter, no such place has ever been identified. Verse 4 "Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgressions; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three days; and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings and publish them: for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah."False religion is the root of all social ills, and here the prophet poured out God's wrath upon the polluted, innovative, and unauthorized worship that marked the religious culture of Israel. "Come to Bethel, and transgress ..." Of course, they called it "worship"; but it was no such thing. It was, first of all, conducted at an unauthorized place, Jerusalem only being the appropriate place for the Jews to worship God. They pretended, of course, that it was the true God whom they adored there, but it was not true. The "god" they really worshipped was the filthy "Baal," the old god of the Canaanites, and with all the drunkenness, fornication and other debaucheries practiced by the pagans for centuries prior to God's placing Israel in their land. The identification of such human lust with the worship of Almighty God was at the very seat of all Israel's troubles. We have no desire at all to accommodate with that school of expositors who are willing to declare that the only thing wrong in Israel was social injustice as manifested in the oppression of the poor. That was only the froth that had risen to the top of the barrel of rotten irreligion that characterized Israel's culture at that time. What do such exegetes suppose was the utility of those "garments of the poor" spread out around "every altar" in Israel? "Your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three days ..." To interpret this as it stands in our version, "Amos exaggerates in order to emphasize the beloved fallacy"[17] that the "more" they served "god" (!) the better things would be for them. The tithes were due once a year, but in this place Amos seems to say, "If you tithed your possessions every three days" it would be only an increase in your sins! Why? nothing connected with that worship at either Gilgal or Bethel had any genuine connection whatever with the true worship of the Lord. The New English Bible, of course, translates this: Bring your sacrifices for the morning, And your tithes within three days. We believe that our own version is better and that Amos used hyperbole. Amos utterly rejected the worship of Israel because it was not offered to the true God, but to Baal, because the idolatrous images of the calf were adored there, because the so-called "worship" consisted of drunkenness, fornication, gluttonous feasting, and other low forms of debauchery, because they were violating the clear rules of the Pentateuch regarding freewill offerings, by publishing the names of the donors, and by offering leavened bread, which was contrary to the law of God, and because their oppression of the poor indicated their heartless and disobedient disregard for the entirety of God's law. "Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving which is leavened ..." Here is a clear, forceful, and undeniable denunciation by the prophet Amos of a violation regarding one of the rituals in the service of God. The Mosaic law has this: "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread." (Exodus 23:18). However, some expositors of God's message in Amos are very unwilling to let this go unchallenged, because it contradicts their major premise that only the social ills were of any concern to Amos. Well, there's no social involved here, however it may be sought; and that is the mountain truth that set off a series of comments like this: "Amos does not here refer to the transgression of any law in existence.[18] It is not, however, likely that Amos is sarcastically charging Israelites with a breach of ritual regulations.[19] Amos is not condemning the offering of sacrifice with leaven because it was forbidden in the law, but because the presence of leaven was simply another sign of their affluence."[20]Despite postulations such as those, it is quite clear that the Law of Moses was indeed in existence when Amos wrote, and it was known wherever Jews lived; and this prohibition in that law would never have been mentioned in the context here unless that is the way it was. As for Smith's notion that "leaven" was the sign of anyone's affluence (!), one would be hard-pressed indeed to come up with anything more ridiculous. The children of Israel, while in slavery, had plenty of leaven, hence, the prohibition that the Passover should be celebrated with "unleavened" bread. Note also another violation of the Mosaic law in the matter of publishing the names of donors of "freewill offerings." "And proclaim freewill offerings, and publish them ..." The violation here is two-fold. Freewill-offerings were not supposed to be motivated by any specific regulation, but the people of Amos' day had "proclaimed" freewill-offerings, that is, exhorting the people to give them. They were supposed to be absolutely spontaneous; and these proclamations were a violation of that intention. Furthermore, as an added incentive, they were "publishing" the freewill-offerings, that is, they were publishing the names of the donors! This, of course, was a good fund-raising device, but it was contrary to God's will. Now, in the light of these very specific, yet incidental, references to the Law of Moses, it is impossible logically to support the notion that no such law existed when Amos wrote. If no such law had been in existence, it would have been necessary for him to explain why the things mentioned were sinful; and the fact of no explanation being offered proves the prior existence of the Mosaic law which included those prohibitions. The mere denials of scholars who wish to think otherwise are worthless in such a clear-cut demonstration as is found here. "For this pleaseth you ..." The ancient Israelites had fallen into the error of supposing that whatever was pleasing and acceptable to themselves was allowable in the worship of God. Many moderns are blinded by the same delusion. The determinative factor regarding what is, or is not, acceptable to God in his worship is the fact of whether or not God has commanded whatever actions, sacrifices, etc., are offered. The proposition that God has no concern with regard to "how" he is worshipped by men is refuted on every page of the Bible. Cain was condemned for violating God's prescription for worship; and, both in that instance, and here, there is no way to limit God's displeasure to prior social injustice on the part of the worshipper. And why do men do otherwise than what God has commanded in their worship? The answer is right here. As in this case with ancient Israel, "they do what pleases them" and not what pleases God. GOD HAD SENT UPON ISRAELIn Amos 4:6-12, are listed no less than seven calamities which the Lord had visited upon Israel in the hope of inducing them to repentance and wooing them to return unto the Lord. The lesson to be derived from such events is one which has proved to be very difficult for the human race to learn; and yet it is one of the oldest admonitions in the Holy Scriptures: "And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and has eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:17-19). The simple and obvious meaning of this passage is that man's environment shall exhibit a certain hostility to him throughout man's pilgrimage upon earth. Also, the opposition which shall arise from the environment itself has a benign purpose, not the mere punishment of man, but "for his sake," in order that he might not forget God. This principle, from the very first book in the Bible is carried forward in the last book of the Bible, in Revelation 8-9, in which is related the story of the seven trumpets sounding over the human environment; and significantly, the disasters foretold there are part and parcel with the disasters visible in this section regarding God's dealings with ancient Israel. Amos' view of these calamities is clearly that of emphasis upon their relationship to the long-standing covenant with God. If the Pentateuch did not exist, if there had been no solemn covenant with God, then this portion of Amos makes no sense at all; but, of course, they did exist, and had long existed when Amos wrote. Speaking of Amos' view of these events, Howard said, "Such an interpretation of history can only possess significance within the covenant situation."[21]Regarding the disasters mentioned here, Motyer enumerated them as follows: "God sent his people seven warning chastisements: famine (Amos 4:6); drought (Amos 4:7-8); mildew (Amos 4:9 a); locusts (Amos 4:9 b); epidemic (Amos 4:10 a); war (Amos 4:10 b); and earthquake (Amos 4:11), before the great threat of direct confrontation."[22]The ancients regarded "seven" as a round, perfect number, and the appearance of this number of disasters in this list proves that this denunciation is not "a fragment," or that any of it is missing; it is all here. It is the cumulative weight of these calamities which was supposed to have its effect upon Israel. Time after time, God had sent punishments upon them, but in every instance, he had received only obstinate and stubborn rebellion from his people. This situation clearly called for redress, and Amos here proclaimed God's intention to destroy the Northern Kingdom, showing by these repeated opportunities Israel had had for repentance, that despite the ultimate severity of God's judgment, his final destruction was nevertheless one that bore testimony to his longsuffering, as well as to his justice and holiness. Verse 6 "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.""Cleanness of teeth ..." If there is nothing to eat, one has no difficulty keeping his teeth clean; they stay clean! As Jamieson put it, "Where there is no food to masticate, the teeth are free of uncleanness."[23] This is not the only place in the Bible where cleanness is made to stand for something else. "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean" (Proverbs 14:4).This is the first of the seven disasters that had fallen upon Israel. "Yet have ye not returned unto me ..." Note the purpose of human disasters which, in their aggregate, are due to the displeasure of heaven with a fallen and rebellious race of men, that purpose being benign. God's purpose had been that difficulties would turn the hearts of his people toward himself; but, in the case of Israel nothing like that had occurred. Verse 7 "And I also have withholden, the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered."The disaster in view here is that of drought. The ultimate authority and power for sending either rain or drought is resident not in men but in God. Man finds it absolutely impossible to predict weather even for periods that lie immediately in the future; and all over the earth are startling evidences that areas once favored with abundant rains are now arid and barren. Look at the ancient rain forests of Arizona. Its huge trees are now almost as hard as diamonds; and they lie glistening in the desert sun, startling adornments of an environment which now provides hardly enough rain to grow a cactus. God is the author of such changes, despite the eagerness of some men to deny it. The perversity, if we may call it that, of man's natural environment is a condition ordered and directed by God himself as a response to the human race which is in open rebellion against God, a situation that has existed ever since God cursed the ground for Adam's sake (Genesis 3:17-19), and a condition that should not be expected to change. Despite the sorrows and; inconveniences that come as a result of environmental woes, God's purpose in it is surely that of leading men to repentance, and not merely that of punishing men. "When there were yet three months to the harvest ..." This was drought at the most critical part of the crop-year, with the result of almost certain crop failure. "Rain upon one city ... not to rain on another ..." This merely describes the capricious and indiscriminate aspect of the drought; but there is no thought here that cities blessed with rain were any more righteous than the ones without it. Jesus taught quite clearly that the "rain falls on the just mid unjust," and God sends the sunshine upon the good and bad alike. It is the over-all condition that is sent by God, the controlling pattern which produces failures and blessings indiscriminately mingled. Men proved to be undependable in their responses to the will of God; and therefore, God has sent them an environment in which to live which is also not dependable. Men should get the message and repent and turn to God. Verse 8 "So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah."The efforts of scholars to reduce this chapter to the status of a poem are frustrated by Amos' inclusion here of material which defies such a classification; and, as should be expected, the liberal critics cry, "Interpolation!"[24] However, as many scholars have testified, the Hebrew text of Amos is one of the best preserved of all Old Testament texts; and there is no evidence whatever of any interpolation here, the "alleged evidence" being nothing more than the ephemeral and uncertain imagination of men seeking to overthrow portions of the Holy Scriptures. "Yet have ye not returned unto me ..." "After each visitation, she (Israel) seemed to plunge deeper into immorality and crime. Instead of being brought to a reflective mood, the national conscience had become increasingly dulled."[25]Verse 9 "I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah."The two disasters recorded here are (1) the blasting and mildew, and (2) the invasion of the palmer-worm, or locust (as in some versions). Some doubt persists as to which insect, exactly, is mentioned; but, whatever it was, the effect of it was totally ruinous. "Blasting and mildew ..." Barnes noted that: "Both words are doubly intensive. They stand together in the prophecy of Moses (Deuteronomy 28:22), among the other scourges of disobedience; and the mention of these would awaken in those who would hear, the memory of a long train of other warnings and other judgments."[26]Verse 10 "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah." Two more disasters are recounted here, (1) pestilence, and (2) military disaster. The New English Bible renders "plagues of Egypt" instead of "pestilence after the manner of Egypt"; but despite this there remains some doubt of what, exactly, is meant. All of the disasters mentioned in these verses were known to the Israelites, either as experiences through which they themselves had passed, or as experiences of their ancestors known by tradition. Amos had no need to explain any of them. Thorogood also believed that Amos has in mind here the plagues of Egypt, and also: There is some likeness to the terrible series of warnings (@@28:15-57): "All these curses shall come upon you ·.. because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God."[27]"Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah ..." This dire lament is dramatically repeated five times (Amos 4:6; Amos 4:8-10; Amos 4:12), somewhat like a refrain. It has the utility of constant emphasis upon the truth that the disasters were not mere punishments, but solicitations for the chosen people to repent and return to the Lord, the purpose of the Father being benign throughout. Verse 11 "I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah."In a sense, Sodom and Gomorrah were surely "cities among" the Israelites; and yet, despite the fact that Israel was actually "more corrupt than they (Sodom and Gomorrah)" (Ezekiel 16:47 f), God had nevertheless spared them. This truth, that Israel was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah is seldom stressed, but it is profoundly evident in the Bible; and the only reason that God spared Israel, as far as we are able to discern, was that the promise of the Messiah to come through Israel had not yet been realized; and, in a sense, God was "stuck" with the chosen people until that promise should become a reality. Instead of being humbled by the judgment of other nations around them, Israel only presumed upon God's unlimited tolerance of their wickedness, a presumption that nerved them to the murder of the Son of God Himself when he finally arrived. "I have overthrown cities among you ..." "This is generally taken to refer to an earthquake of extreme severity,"[28] an opinion followed by Barnes,[29] Smith,[30] and many others; but it appears to us that a specific reference to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is made. Of course, that event was accompanied by a great earthquake also. McFadden's quotation from Lecky is: "The theological habit of interpreting the catastrophes of nature as Divine warnings or punishments or discipline, is a baseless and pernicious superstition."[31]This is a fair representation of so-called "scientific" or "modern man"; and, while true enough, that each individual disaster might not be attributed to the immediate sin of the victim (John 9:1-10), there is nevertheless a direct and pertinent connection between the disasters of earth and the rebellion of Adam's race. "To the sensitive heart, every disaster speaks an urgent message. We have no right to interpret it as the punishment of others, but we have every right to regard it as a call to ourselves, a call to reflection and repentance."[32]Amos 4:6-11 have recounted the seven great disasters through which Israel had passed, ending in the same plaintive cry every time. "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah." Some critics make a big thing out of God being referred to in this verse (Amos 4:11) in the third person, whereas, the first person is otherwise prominent throughout; but this is not due to any interpolation, and only signifies that Amos unconsciously reverted to quotations from the Pentateuch in mentioning Sodom and Gomorrah, as any one familiar with the Bible would have done. It should be noted, as Smith pointed out, that: "The oracles in Amos 1 and Amos 2 were addressed to seven nations before reaching Israel. Here seven calamities strike before the final act of judgment is experienced."[33]That final judgment upon the Northern Kingdom will be uttered in the very next verse. Verse 12 "Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.""Thus will I do unto thee ..." Nothing specific is mentioned in this verse, for it was unnecessary. The carrying away of the people from Samaria, the Northern capital, had been factually and dramatically prophesied in Amos 4:1-5, above; and this is a terse reference to what was already prohesied. This arrangement proves the unity of the whole passage, in fact, the whole prophecy; because all that the prophet says in any portion of this book is evidently in the mind of the author throughout all of it. "Prepare to meet thy God ..." Howard saw in this a summons for Israel, "to meet her God in the final judgment";[34] and although true in a typical, or ultimate, sense, something much more immediate was in store for Israel. The people were to be carried away captive with "hooks," a prophecy which the Assyrians fulfilled in the customary habit of taking away the captives of the lands they ravaged with hooks in their lips, or noses, and fastened together in chains. There was still time for Israel to repent and turn to the Lord in order to avert the impending judgment; but they never heeded it. They simply overlooked the truth that God will not indefinitely warn and threaten; for the incorrigibly wicked, there remains the final and ultimate confrontation of God; and, for Israel, the time was growing short indeed. Verse 13 "For lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth - Jehovah, the God of hosts is his name."We should begin the study of this verse with the words of Smith who wrote: "There is very little agreement among scholars as to the origin of this verse and the reason for its being placed where it is ... Of course, if one accepts the tradition that Amos wrote all of this book, just as we have it, there can be no problem here except a difficulty in understanding why he put a hymn of praise immediately after an announcement of terrible judgment."[35]We are happy indeed to be placed among those who indeed accept the view that Amos wrote this whole book, just as we have it; for that is our deep and abiding conviction. Furthermore, the book itself carries the unmistakable imprimature of the Holy Spirit, not the least of which is observable in this very verse. In placing this hymn of praise in close juxtaposition with the announcement of judgment, Amos was writing in the tradition later followed by the holy apostles of Christ who did exactly the same thing. In the Book of Revelation, the apostle John frequently inserted, immediately following the announcements of great and terrible judgments, a proleptic vision of the saints rejoicing in heaven, that being, in fact, one of the outstanding characteristics of that prophecy; and it is a very similar thing which Amos has done here. The truth is that any mind fully attuned to the will of God should have expected this doxology precisely where it is located. As Hammershaimb said: This concluding doxology which describes the might of Jehovah serves to assure the hearers that he will also be able to carry out what he threatens. It is therefore a complete misunderstanding that many commentators have wanted to explain this doxology and the two in Amos 4:5 and Amos 4:9 as secondary because they do not fit the style of the context.[36]The beautiful doxology with which this chapter closes has another valid utility: "Some have claimed that Israel did not have a developed doctrine of creation until the postexilic period. Such claims are no longer valid. Amos 4:13 has five phrases describing Yahweh as the Lord of creation."[37]Motyer's summary of this verse is: "God is sovereign over things visible (the mountains), things invisible (the wind), and things rational (man and his thought). He is in direct executive control of the world, as is evident when he makes the morning darkness, brings about the sequence of day and night. No place is beyond his reach, even the heights of the earth being beneath his feet."[38]"Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name ..." This means that the eternal God has every conceivable power and ability to do as he wills. Blessed be his name forever. Amos Chapter FourIn Amos 3 we saw the prophet declare the voice of the Lord concerning the sins of the nation of Israel. There were two sins in particular that were specified as being punished by God. In Amos 3:14-15 Amos announces the demolition of the altars and the houses of ivory. The problem is in their hearts that falsely worship God and desire wealth, possessions, and comfort. The fourth chapter of Amos explores these two issues in greater depth. Before we begin this prophetic declaration warns us that God is very much concerned about our worship and about our desires for wealth and comfort. These two sins are specifically identified. Therefore we need to be deeply concerned about these sins. The Heart of Materialism (Amos 4:1-3)Perhaps one of my favorite images in the book of Amos. Amos calls the women, “ cows of Bashan,” and tells them to pay attention. The cows in Bashan were particularly known as being excellent cattle and were fed well. Amos calls them cows of Bashan because these are pampered, self-indulgent ladies who maintain their lifestyle by crushing the poor and speaking demandingly to those around them. In fact, notice the poor treatment of the husbands. They demand their husbands to wait upon them and provide them luxuries so that they can indulge themselves in satisfying their pleasures. This problem is not unique to their society. This same materialistic drive brings out these attitudes today. We have to have stuff and we will harm others so that we can have our luxuries. Amos pictures women who do not have a quiet and submissive spirit that God commands (cf. 1 Peter 3:3-5; 1 Timothy 2:9-12), but have seized control and are bossing the husbands around. They are demanding of husbands because they have a taste of luxury and comfort. It is not enough to work to pay the bills and provide a home. Instead, the command is to crush the poor so that we can have our luxuries. Therefore, God makes an oath against this attitude. Notice in verse 2 that God swears in his holiness. The holy Lord cannot lie and sin cannot go unpunished before his holy eyes. Judgment is coming upon the nation because they are so consumed by wealth and comfort. God declares the comfort these people will experience. A nation will take them away with hooks. Amos is prophesying the means of Assyrian captivity. Each prisoner was connected to a rope by a hook through the nose or lip. They are going to go out through the breaches, which means that the walls of the city will be destroyed. In fact, the walls to their cities will be so demolished that they will be able to walk out straight ahead. They will not have to weave and wind through the rubble. The destruction will be so extensive that they will be taken by hooks straight out of the city. Being cast out to Harmon symbolized being taken off of their land and being sent to a far away land. Wealth and comfort are sources of false security. God will take away the things that we put in our trust in. Listen to the New Testament writers make the same point. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17 ESV) 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. (James 5:3-5 ESV) The way we use, own, acquire, and disperse material goods symbolizes and expresses our attitudes about ourselves, other people, and God. How we handle our wealth and pursue our comforts reflects our the depths of heart. Do we really trust God? Is our hope in our things? Is our comfort our greatest desire? The use of our goods reveals the answer to these questions and more. Sinful Worship (Amos 4:4-5)The second indictment is the sin in their worship. Amos calls for the people to go to their centers of worship and continue to sin. It is a sarcastic call to worship. Instead of calling to worship with the traditional words, “ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise” (Psalms 100:4) and “ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord” (Psalms 95:1), Amos begins, “ Come and sin.” Bring your sacrifices! Bring your tithes! While they do these things they are sinning. Their sacrifices do not bring forgiveness but adds to the people’ s sinfulness. These people are very religious! But worship that is not God-focused is sin. Notice that these people keep these religious practices so that they can brag about them to everyone. We do the same thing where we think we are so holy and so pious because we come to worship every time the doors are open. But if you are boasting then you are not worshiping God but yourself. You are not worshiping for the glory of God but for the glory of self. Further, God does not care about external religion. Notice that the people were bringing their tithe every three days. Moses declared that the tithe of the produce of the land would be paid in the third year (Deuteronomy 14:22; Deuteronomy 14:28; Deuteronomy 26:12). These people are over religious. Is this a bad thing? No, except that they are not doing this because they love God but love the attention of others. Don’ t think that you are impressing God with the number of religious acts that you do. We are not impressing God. God wants worship when it is motivated from a thankful and gracious heart. He does not want checklist religion. He wants grace-driven obedience. You Did Not Return To Me (Amos 4:6-13)God now declares all the things that happened in an effort to try to generate repentance in their hearts. Events were happening to them in an effort to cause them to turn to God rather than continue down their sinful path. Amos 4:6 says that God gave them cleanness of teeth. This is not good hygiene, but is an idiom to speak of having a lack of food to eat. You have clean teeth because you have nothing to eat. There was famine (Amos 4:6), drought (Amos 4:7-8), blight, mildew, and locusts (Amos 4:9), pestilence (Amos 4:10), and destruction (Amos 4:11). God is teaching us something important about these events. We are supposed to consider our ways and dedicate ourselves to God. In last week’ s lesson we studied Luke 13:1-9 and saw Jesus teach that God does not punish individuals presently for their sins. However, this does not mean we are blind about the things that go on around us. When bad things do happen, we are supposed to use those times turn our hearts to God. This is a key teaching by James and Peter in their letters. Trials and suffering are to produce within us godly characteristics that will draw us to him. Trials are to humble us so that we are prepared for repentance. We are to see these things as God’ s grace to try to stop us plummeting away from God. However, notice the repeated phrase in this section by Amos. “ Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord” (Amos 4:6; Amos 4:8-11). They refused to turn their eyes to God. They refused to see that they needed the Lord in their lives. They were blinded by all of their religious acts and desires for wealth and comfort that they could not see that they were lacking. Therefore, God has a response for the people. “ Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” If we will not prepare to meet God in holiness, then prepare to meet God in judgment. Prepare to meet your glorious God. The God who forms the mountains and creates the wind. The God who knows our thoughts. The God who makes the morning turn to darkness. The God who walks on the mountaintops of the earth. The Lord, the God of heaven’ s armies, is the one. Prepare to encounter God. Prepare To Meet GodWe do not want to meet God in judgment. We need to make preparations to meet God on good terms, which can only occur with the blood of Jesus covering our sins. Bring our hearts to worship.God does not want our attendance, but our hearts in worship. Two years ago we reformatted our worship to try to encourage this. Our acts of worship are not to interfere with each other but draw our hearts closer to God. We are engaged with God. Our hearts and minds are so engaged with song that we are joining with God. We do not want to interrupt that but facilitate it. The Lord’ s Supper brings us to the next stage of worship as we orient our minds to the great sacrifice of our Lord. Then we are offered an opportunity to show our thanksgiving as we give back to God a portion of what he has given us. Then when I get up here to speak, I do not want to break that engagement. So I am not going to start sermons with jokes or levity but try to bring continuity as we move our hearts closer to God as we dig into his wonderful word. We do not want to interrupt engage hearts so that this turns into just getting acts of worship out of the way. So we have called upon our worship leaders to make a conscious effort as they lead the congregation to draw people’ s hearts to God. When we do not bring our hearts then we are multiplying our sins as we worship. Worship is a loving response to God, not a means of impressing God or pleasing ourselves. The people of Israel are worshiping for what they get out of it. They were getting pride and arrogance. They were bragging about the frequency of their worship. Frequency of worship comes from a desire to worship, not for selfish fulfillment. Worship is not about us but is about God. We need to consider our hearts before worship and prepare our hearts for worship. Proper worship is difficult to participate in when we have not given ourselves every opportunity to attain it. When we show up late, we make it hard to get ourselves ready for God, and worse, we are taking others out of that engagement with God. When we are tired because of decisions we made earlier in the day or the night before, then we make it hard on ourselves to engage God with our heart. Clear your obstacles so that you can meet and engage God. Don’ t be cows of Bashan.Do not allow yourself to be consumed by your comforts and your wealth. Do not make decisions based on your comfort and your wealth. Our choices must be based on what is godly and what is good for the kingdom of God. We spend too much of our time and too much of our effort not on godliness but worldliness. Too many important decisions neglect to calculate the spiritual impact it will have on us, our spouses, our children, our church, and God’ s kingdom. Think clearly. Think godly. Amos 4:1. According to Moffatt’ s translation these ktne were the wives of the nation's men who practiced oppression and injustice against the poor for their own selfishness. Their masters were their husbands who were bidden to join with them in providing luxuries of wine at the expense of the poor. Amos 4:2. There is virtually no difference in the meaning of hook and fishhook. Each of them may mean a hook in the ordinary sense of the word, or it may refer to a thorn from a tree; again they may have specific reference to a metal ring that was originally made for the control of a vicious animal hy running it through his nose. This is the origin of the expression "leading one around by the nose" when speaking of someone who humbly does what a domineering person demands. In view of the indefinite uses and meanings of the word, we should take our verse to denote that the evil characters of Israel were to be treated with the cruelty and humiliation they deserved. Amos 4:3. Go out at the breaches refers to the protecting wall around the capital city that was to be pierced, and the inhabitants forced to leave the city by way of these breaches or gaps Cast them into the palace is explained in. the margin to mean that the inhabitants of the palace will be forced to discard the things belonging to it. Amos 4:4. Bethel was one of the cities where an idol god was erected (1 Kings 12:29) by the first king of Israel, and Gilgal was the place where the first king of Judah committed his serious offence (1 Samuel 10 : S; 13: 8-10). Both parts of the people of the Jewish nation had been guilty of much transgression. Come to Bethel, etc., sounds as if the Lord was bidding the people to continue in their sin. We know that is not the case, hut it has the force of saying, "You have gone so far in your corrupt practices that you will not change them now until you are given the deserved chastisement." Amos 4:5. The last part of the preceding verse and beginning of this describes some of the rites authorized by the law of Moses. The prophet is condemning these people indirectly, which raises the question of why it is so if the law provided for such ser-vices. The explanation is in the first part of the preceding verse, where the practice of idolatry is included with the things set out, by the law. Such a mixture was always displeasing to God and he rejected their entire religious life because of such an impure combination. The reader should see the long note offered with the comments on Isaiah 1:10 in volume 3 of this Com- metctabt. For this liketh you is an accusation that the people not only practiced the things named, hut they did It because they liked to do so; their heart was in it. Amos 4:6. Have given you is present and past tense in form, hut it is one of the styles of prophetic speech. However, there was also such a condition referred to as a matter of the past, for God had before punished his people with some of these temporal shortages, Cleanness of teeth is a figurative designation for the results of famine. The phrase is followed immediately with the words want of bread, which would be a cause for the cleanness of teeth; no food to cause them to be unclean. Amos 4:7. This verse gives some more of the punishment that God imposed on the land because of the iniquity of the people. He is the creator of the rain and the seasons, and therefore would have the ability to control them as He sees fit. Amos 4:8. The scarcity of drinking water is indicated by the fact that the citizens of several cities would consume all the supply in one of the more favored ones, and even then their thirst was not satisfied. What made the condition more deplorable was the fact that none of these chastisements brought the rebellious people to re-pentance. Amos 4:9. The reader may still be wondering why the Lord brought all these misfortunes upon the land of Israel. It, was just what he had warned them of in more than one place. It may help some to quote a statement written by Moses as follows: “ But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his com-mandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt. thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou he in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store” (Deuteronomy 28:15 to Deuteronomy 1:7). With all these threatenings recorded in the Sacred Text, the people of Israel should have been induced to observe the divine laws. They were not, for the passage complains, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Amos 4:10. Pestilence of Egypt means a pestilence like that sent upon the land of Egypt. (See Exodus 9:3, S; 12; 29.) The losses cited in this verse would be suffered when a foreign force came against the land, which God would cause to happen for a punish-ment upon them. The stink of your camps would be a natural result of the death of so many living creatures, both human and brute. Amos 4:11. They were not destroyed literally In the same manner as was Sodom, but their destruction was just as sure. Firebrand plucked cut of the burning denotes the near complete ruin that the Lord suffered to come upon His unfaithful people. But God still loved the nation and saw to it that the enemy could not put the nation entirely out of existence as a distinct people. Amos 4:12. Prepare to meet thy God. Many Impassioned speeches have been made on this statement by public speakers, exhorting men to get ready for “ the great judgment day.” The exhortations are important in themselves, but they are a farfetched application of this passage. The last words, 0 Israel, are generally omitted in the exhortations, and hence the correct meaning of the statement is lost. The admonition is addressed to the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel, and it is said in view of the things soon to happen to the nation. A key word to the verse is thus, referring the reader back to verses 2, 3, where the Lord is predicting the siege and captivity of the kingdom. Verses 4-11 recounts the various instances of their misbehaviour in the past, and of the temporal misfortunes that God brought upon the people for their sins. But those chastisements had failed to bring them to repentance, therefore God determined to do unto them according to the prediction in verses 2 and 3. In view of that great event to come upon the nation, it is exhorted to prepare (get ready) for the time. The word meet is from QIRAB. which Strong defines. “ An encountering.” It is called an encountering with God because He is the one bringing the Assyrians against them. Amos 4:13. As proof that God is able to bring this great encounter upon the nation, mention is made of the other vast works that He has already done in creation. A Funeral Dirge for a Dying Nation (Amos 5:1-27 and Amos 6:14)“ Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise; she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah; The, city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel” (Amos 5:1-3). “ Hear ye” calls their attention to his doleful words. A “ lamentation” is a song of mourning for the dead. Although the Northern Kingdom of Israel was in its heyday of power and prosperity, the intrepid prophet sings her death chant as a present reality.Poetically he calls the population of the nation “ the virgin of Israel.” This speaks not of their purity, for that had long since been lost. Rather, he means that up to this point she had been carefully guarded and sheltered by God. Isaiah used similar words for Babylon: “ sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon...for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate” (Isaiah 47:1). Using the prophetic perfect or “ prolepsis,” he speaks of the nation as already fallen. Her wound is mortal. “ She shall no more rise up.” She cannot save herself and “ there is none to raise her up.” She had rejected her only hope, which was Jehovah. “ The city that went forth a thousand” refers to the number of military troops sent forth to battle (Compare 1 Samuel 8:20; 1 Samuel 11:8). Only “ a hundred left” suggests that their losses would be staggering. We should not interpret the number literally. He uses a metonymy, a definite for an indefinite number. The point made is their armies would be devastated. A small town would supply a hundred troops, a larger town a thousand. “ For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live; but seek not Bethel nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and Bethel shall come to nought. Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel” (Amos 5:4-6). While judgment tarries, God extends to them a gracious offer. If they turn back to him they shall live; if not, they will perish. The prophet uses an antithesis to make his point.“ Seek ye me (Jehovah) and ye shall live” “ Seek not Bethel (idolatry) for it cannot save.Jehovah the only true God would not be found at Bethel, Gilgal etc. Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba were centers of idol worship. Beersheba was sacred to the memory of the Hebrews. There Abraham called upon God (Genesis 26:23-25; Genesis 46:1-2). It later degenerated into a center of idolatry (2 Kings 23:8). Beersheba was located in Judah some fifty-three miles southwest of Jerusalem. Doubtless some of the people of the North made the long pilgrimage to worship at Beersheba’ s pagan shrine. Amos likely mentions this to shame them about Jeroboam I’ s excuse for building the shrine at Bethel. “ It is too much for you” he said, to go up to Jerusalem” (1 Kings 12:28). It was too hard to go twelve miles to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah at his temple, but, not too hard to travel sixty five miles to Beersheba to worship at a forbidden shrine. This he says to shame them. With a figure of speech called paronomasia he plays on the sound and meaning of Gilgal and Bethel. “ Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile.” (G .A. Smith). “ Bethel (house of God) shall become Bethel (a house of nothing).” Hosea made a similar play on the meaning of Bethel (Hosea 10:5; Hosea 10:8). “ The house of Joseph” stands for the Northern Kingdom, Joseph being (the father of the founders of the two principal tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.” God’ s wrath is often described as a raging fire (See Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 10:17; Jeremaih 4:4). In those days, fire was much more disastrous and uncontrollable than in our day. It was greatly feared and once started, the destruction was usually total. “ Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). “ Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth (Jehovah in his name); that bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong so that destruction cometh upon the fortress” (Amos 5:7-9). “ Wormwood” is a bitter plant. Here it is used figuratively for injustice. What is more bitter than a corrupt court? “ Righteousness” means “ right doing.” This they had overthrown or cast to the ground. They put down righteousness and exalted wickedness in their courts.For the third time, he urges them to seek God as their only hope of deliverance (Psalms 34:10). They are urged to seek Jehovah who has the power to create the heavenly bodies (Pleiades and Orion) and to destroy. Pleiades is the heavenly constellation called the seven stars or seven sisters. Job alludes to them (Job 9:9; Job 38:31). Orion is the constellation sometimes called the giant. Amos’ point is that they should seek the mighty Creator who alone can save them. The “ shadow of death” is the night which God turns to day. He “ calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.” This alludes to the moisture evaporated from the sea and returned to the earth in rain. This is a provision of the great Creator. Some take it to mean destructive tidal waves or hurricane-type storms. God’ s destructive power cannot be resisted. It comes suddenly and unexpectedly (Matthew 24:44). Even strong fortresses will crumble before him (Amos 5:9). He is almighty and irresistible. “ They hate him that reproveth in the gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly” (Amos 5:10). The gate was the business center of a city. There kings held court (1 Kings 22:10) and legal matters were pursued (Deuteronomy 25:7). There prophets often resorted to declare God’ s message (See Jeremiah 17:19; Jeremiah 19:2; Isaiah 29:21). “ Him that reproveth in the gate” was the prophet Amos and any other faithful men of God sent to correct them. Rather than welcome them, the people hated them. “ Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor and take exactions from him of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn stone but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards but ye shall not drink the wine thereof. For I know how manifold are your transgression and how mighty are your sins— ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right” (Amos 5:11-12). We can imagine the rustic prophet now stationed near the gate where judges conducted court. Pointing with his gnarled finger, he charges them with tramping the poor and unjustly taking even the food from the mouth of him and his family. Henderson takes the “ exactions” to be exorbitant taxes. Laetsch and Pusey think it is interest on loans. The law forbade one to lend or take food for interest (Deuteronomy 23:19). The average Hebrews lived in houses made of mud bricks (Isaiah 9:10). Only the wealthy could afford houses of cut stone. We should not summarily condemn those with wealth and fine houses. It is how they acquire they wealth and use it that makes it good or bad. To prosper at the unjust expense of the poor is always wrong. Oppressing the poor is a perennial problem of ancient and modem civilizations. The Psalms, the Proverbs, and the Prophets abound with references to this sin (Psalms 10:9; Proverbs 22:16; Isaiah 3:14-15). “ He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker” (Proverbs 14:31). As a just reward for their ill-gotten gain they will not live to enjoy their fine homes and the produce of their vineyards. This threat is taken from (Deuteronomy 28:38-45). “ For I know” your transgressions, stresses God’ s omniscience. Nothing can be hidden from him. He knew all about their secret bribes and private agreements made with judges and lawyers to get advantage over the righteous poor (Comp. 1 Samuel 12:3-4). Job is a good example of how a righteous man deals with his poor neighbors (Job 31:16-22). Amos refers to himself in verse 13, observing that from the world’ s point of view, he would be wise to keep silent. Perhaps he is repeating what someone was overheard to say. As he said earlier, “ Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?” (3:8). In the words of Jeremiah, God’ s word was like fire (fever) in his bones it had to come out (Jeremiah 20:9). Having rebuked their sins, he offers an exhortation: “ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah the God of hosts, will be with you as ye say. Hate the evil and love the good and establish justice in the gate; it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:14-15). In these lines the prophet makes clear that religion and morality are inseparable. If one is seeking good he will naturally hate evil. In a day when religious folks want to constantly hear about love, they need to be reminded that being godly involves hating the things God hates. (Comp. Proverbs 6 : lb- 19; Malachi 2:16; Hebrews 1:9). The specific thing that they should seek and love was “ justice in the gate” or courts! Likewise they should hate and abhor injustice. If that glaring social wrong could be corrected forthwith, “ it may be that Jehovah.... will be gracious unto the remnant...” While it is too late to avert judgment, with proper repentance, God would save a remnant of the nation. “ Joseph,” the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, stands for the Northern Kingdom. With prophetic vision Amos sees the mourning their sin will bring. “ Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord; Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing; and in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah” (Amos 5:16-17). People would mourn for their losses in the coming war of judgment. Husbands, sons and fathers would be slain or captured in combat, cities would be burned, homes rifled, women ravished and captives taken. A similar prophetic picture is given by Zechariah of Jerusalem’ s fate at the hands of the Romans (Zechariah 14:1-2). Those “ skillful in lamentation” were the professional mourners who were a common part of ancient society (See Jeremiah 9:17-18). Such pitiful mourning is reflected in Jeremiah’ s Lamentations which describes the horrible plight of the survivors after Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar’ s troops. The reason they will mom is, “ for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.” It will be as when He passed through Egypt and smote their first bom (Exodus 12:12). Then he passed over Israel and smote Egypt, now Israel, will feel his wrath. Amos now delivers two “ woes” upon his hearers: “ Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would you have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him, shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even very dark and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20). Perhaps some in the audience had responded to his warnings by saying, “ Let the day of the Lord come we are ready for it” or “ We are God’ s chosen people. When the day of the Lord comes he will bless and save us.” To this he sharply responds. With his “ woe to you” he points out that the day of the Lord will be different than they think. It will not be one of light and blessing but a dark night of suffering. Jeremiah encountered this same spirit in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 17:15). Amos then uses a homely illustration from the wilderness country to show that they would in no wise escape the judgment. He describes a man out in the countryside when suddenly he is confronted by a lion, in panic he turns and flees for his life. Just when he thinks he is safe he meets a ferocious bear. With heart pounding, he finally makes it to the safety of his house. Panting, he leans for rest upon the rock wall and from between the cracks a deadly viper strikes him. For all ofhis efforts to escape death, it finally caught him. So will God’ s judgment find every sinner in Israel. The day of which he speaks is the day when Assyria will destroy their nation and take them into captivity. Like most people, the people of Israel falsely assumed that sin, rebellion and disobedience could be atoned for by elaborate ritual and effusive religious observances. To this attitude the prophet, addresses himself. He represents God as saying, “ I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Yea though ye offer me your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace- offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:21-24). Sinful man, tends to think that God is a beggar who is obliged to cheerfully accept any scrap thrown to him. Amos makes it clear that such is not the case. God hates hypocritical, insincere worship. He will not accept it, nor bestow blessings upon such worshipers. Other prophets made the same point about worship. (See Isaiah 1:11-17, Malachi 1:6-10). “ Feasts” refers to their great annual festivals of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (Leviticus 23 :Iff). “ Solemn assemblies” refers to their gatherings for the ceremonies of those feasts (Leviticus 23:36). “ Burnt-offerings” are described in Leviticus chapter 3. “ Meal- offerings” are sometimes translated “ meat-offerings” but they involved neither blood nor meat. They consisted of cereals or grains. It was always accompanied by a whole burnt-offering or peace-offering. (See Leviicus 2:1­4; Numbers 15:1-6). “ Peace-offerings” were animal sacrifices presented to God, but eaten by the priest and the worshipers. A “ viol” was a kind of harp frequently used in worship (Psalms 150:3-4). Their worship was lavish, the ritual no doubt beautiful but it was rejected because their lives did not measure up to God’ s standard. Amos must not be understood as condemning true, scriptural worship. God actively seeks true worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). Liberal writers seize verses such as these to argue that all worship is useless. Such exegesis reveals much about the state of their hearts. That which nullified their worship was their wicked life style and the way they treated their neighbors. Therefore he challenges them to “ let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness are a mighty stream.” These words need still to be emblazoned on every house of worship and in every human heart. With this statement, Amos erected a monument that will honor his name until the Lord comes. Continuing his reproof of their false worship, he says, “ Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah whose name is the God of hosts” (5: 25-27). Verses 25 and 26 have been the occasion for thousands of hours of study on the part of commentators. Two possible meanings are seen for verse 25.“ Did ye bring unto me (Jehovah) sacrifices in the wilderness” he asks, or were, they really for the idol gods you knew in Egypt? It could be elliptical; “ Did ye bring unto me only sacrifices....in the wilderness” or did you not have to obey me as well. The author omits a word, (in this case it is only), not by accident. Similar usage on the same subject is seen in 1 Samuel 15:22. “ Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice (only)....” Jeremiah also in 7:22 of his book uses this devise. “ For I spake not unto your fathers....concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices (only).” We know that he certainly did speak to them of sacrifices (Lev. l:lff). Given the context of the proceeding verses, (Amos 5:21-24), it seems that he is saying that God has never been satisfied with sacrifices and ritual alone, but has always expected personal righteousness and social justice as well. Given the verse following he seems to say that” from the beginning you Hebrews have been idolatrous at heart, even though you worshiped me outwardly.” Centuries and scholarship have yet to settle the point absolutely. There is uncertainty as to the time-frame of c5:26. “ In the Hebrew it is simply and ye bare” (Cook). The KJV and ASV render it “ ye have borne” which can mean that the Hebrews, as a race, practiced idolatry even during the wilderness wandering or that those of the Northern Kingdom, to whom Amos spoke, were guilty of idolatry. Both of these points are true. The RSV and the NEB both reflect this idea. “ But now you shall take up the shrine of your idol.. .(NEB). That is to say “ if you want to worship idols you can take them with you when you go into captivity.” That Israel was prone to idolatry from earliest times is fact. The golden calf was made and worshiped while Moses was yet on the mount (Exodus 32:1-6). In Deuteronomy 32:17, Moses looks back over the past forty years and reminds them that they had clung to their idols. Ezekiel makes the same charge in chapter 20:16 of his book. Amos now offers specific facts to substantiate his allegations “ ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god” (ASV). The difficulty of these words is seen in the variety of translations; “ ye have borne the tabernacle of your Molock and Chium your images, the star of your god” (KJV) “ you shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star” god your images (RSV) “ you shall take up the shrine of your idol king and the pedestals of you images” (NEB) The ASV and NEB seem to best convey the meaning. “ Tabernacle” refers to a portable booth in which the idol was housed. Such, were common among the pagans in those days. The word rendered “ shrine” (ASV) is better rendered “ pedestal” in the NEB. This was the stand on which the image rested when in camp. This is Keil’ s understanding. The KJV and RSV translators took the words for tabernacle and pedestal as proper names for their gods. The only hint as to the nature of their idolatry is in the expression “ star of your god.” This implies it was astral worship which was evidently a problem during the Exodus. Moses saw fit to warn them against worshiping the sun, moon and stars (Deuteronomy 4:19). All of their Canaanite neighbors adored the heavenly bodies; the Assyrians’ system of idolatry was built upon worship of the heavenly orbs. The NEB seem correct in saying “ but now you shall take up the shrine of your idol king and the pedestal of your images and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus” i.e. into Assyria. Amos reminds them that this is no idle threat for God is its author. Stephen cites these words from Amos in his speech before the Sanhedrin (Acts 7:40-43). He uses the words of the Septuagint. Amos Chapter FiveVerse 1 There are suggestions in this chapter of the method of the apostle Paul, as when he used the diatribe so effectively in Romans. There are apparent interruptions of Amos' line of thought, such as might have occurred when members of his audience objected to his preaching, or attempted to refute his arguments. The discernment of this completely refutes the allegations of critical scholars who laboriously postulate a paste and scissors job that some later editor is alleged to have done on this chapter, the great weakness of such postulations being that they are believed by no one except the postulators! Also, the postulators exhibit no agreement regarding any of their alleged "solutions." The entire chapter is a continuation of Amos' prophecy against Israel, elaborating and expanding the condemnation and overthrow of Israel already announced in Amos 3. Amos 5:1"Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel."The impact of this upon Amos' hearers was essentially that of his crying, "Listen, Israel, while I preach your funeral!" The whole chapter has no other purpose than, "to impress upon the people of God the impossibility of averting the threatened destruction, and to take away from the self-secure sinners the false foundations of their trust."[1] To make his message still more powerful, Amos actually uttered it in the tone and meter of the traditional funeral service known by all the people; and Hammershaimb, along with others, supposes that the occasion was that of a popular feast at Bethel: "We can picture him appearing during the feast at Bethel and suddenly tearing the participants away from their revelry by starting the mournful tones of the lament, so that when they listen to him they are seized with terror and perhaps also with indignation when they hear that it is the death of Israel that he is lamenting.[2]"Amos to this point has spoken of the fall of Israel as being still in the future. Here he speaks as if it had already happened. He sings a funeral song (a dirge) for Israel."[3]The dirge which Amos chanted for Israel was the real thing, a traditional and highly stylized lament, "cast in 3 + 2 metre."[4] It was probably spoken in a very loud and wailing voice, calculated to stun and shock everyone who heard it. Verse 2 "The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up."It is a mistake to make this whole chapter into a "poem," for it is no such thing. The lament was certainly cast into poetic form; but this was merely an attention-getting device used by the prophet as the background for the shocking and devastating words of God's prophecy which he was delivering to Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen ..." The use of the present tense here is prophetic, indicating that the projected overthrow of the kingdom was as certain as if it had already occurred. This device called "the prophetic tense" was widely used throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Likewise, in the New Testament, the final overthrow of Babylon the great is given in words very similar to these (Revelation 18:2), "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." The fact that the figure employed here is that of a virgin "does not indicate that this is (or will be) the first time that Israel is defeated,"[5] nor that the nation is in any sense righteous. "It is a feature related to the representation of Israel as a beautiful young woman."[6] "The death of a virgin, or of a man who had no children, was regarded as peculiarly sad."[7]This outburst of Amos against Israel came at the very apex of Israel's pride and prosperity, the better part of a century having elapsed since Jeroboam II had restored the borders of the kingdom and seized control of the lucrative trade routes to the east. Israel had never had it so good; and a message like that so dramatically delivered by Amos would have been just about as unpopular as any that could be imagined. But the very fact that Amos' message has been preserved for us shows that some people listened and remembered. There were some who honored the prophet and his message, and who gave service to God.[8]Verse 3 "For thus saith the Lord, Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel."Military defeat and the near-total destruction of Israel's reservoir of fighting men are sternly indicated by this. This portion of Amos' lament continues in the stylized 3 + 2 metre; and, "Some scholars have imagined that Amos actually put on the garb of a professional mourner and sang this song in Samaria and Bethel."[9]Verse 4 "For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, seek ye me, and ye shall live."Seek ye me ..." "This does not mean, `inquire about,' or `search for' something or someone lost or inaccessible. When Yahweh is the object, the meaning is, `turn to Yahweh,' and `hold to Yahweh' as a way of life."[10] Many have noted that this passage does not in any sense mean that the Lord is hiding from Israel, or even that he is not available to them. "It must be understood as meaning, to seek out and observe God's commandments."[11] W. R. Harper noted the audience-response type of thing which we mentioned in the chapter introduction; these words, "suggest at once the question, `Are we not zealouly engaged in the worship of Yahweh? Why are we then to suffer?'"[12] Very well, Amos will respond to such a question, whether or not it was actually raised by any of his hearers. The answer is simple, and simply devastating: "Their religion is false!" We deplore the apparent blindness of so many who do not see in Amos' prophecy anything except the social injustice and oppression of the poor. Of course, those aspects of Israel's sins are courageously denounced in Amos, but no more so than are condemned the vanities of their religious system. To deny that God was also gravely concerned about that is to miss the principal relevance of this prophecy for modern man. Thorogood accurately observed the intention of this section of Amos when he declared that: "The chief theme in Amos 5 and Amos 6 is the contrast between true religion and false religion."[13]This is a good place to mention the scholarly superstition to the effect that, "The editors who put together the Book of Amos, divided his sayings into sections; but the divisions are not very clear, etc."[14] Of course, no "editors" or "redactors" had anything to do with Amos. The so-called "evidence" of any such thing is usually pointed out in this fashion: "(This chapter has): a funeral song (Amos 5:1-3); a call to repent (Amos 5:4-7); part of a song of praise (Amos 5:8-9); a warning about injustice (Amos 5:10-13); a further call to repent (Amos 5:14-15); and a further funeral song, or vision of death (Amos 5:16-17)."[15]With all due deference to the intelligence and understanding of those scribes who take the piece-meal nature of this chapter as the work of some "editor," they are simply mistaken, the mistake being due to an apparent total ignorance of the art of preaching. What we really have here is a typical "shotgun type" of sermon; and this writer is free to confess that he has preached a hundred just as strangely put together as Amos' words in this chapter. One need look no further than the prophet himself to account for the motley arrangement which confronts us here. Of course, such a thing would seem inconceivable to a seminarian! Amos was no seminarian, but a shepherd! To fasten this hodge-podge chapter upon some later "editor" or "redactor" must be to suppose that the one or ones doing the scissors and paste job here were phenomenally stupid. Any "editor" worthy of the name would have put the elements of the dirge together and also those of the hymn of praise. By far the most logical and reasonable explanation of the piece-meal, intermittent style which is seen in these chapters is that they are the result of an extemporaneous, give and take, free-for-all confrontation between Amos and Israel, with many interruptions to answer questions, either actually propounded by the audience, or astutely discerned by the speaker before they were propounded. Instead of criticizing the style of these chapters, the really discerning student will recognize them as the impassioned outflow of a soul in tune with God, burning with righteous indignation against the gross abuses of Israel's social order, overburdened by the tragic weight of the message of destruction he was commissioned to deliver, and yet motivated by a passionate patriotism and love of God's "chosen people," and an unspeakable grief at the tragic words he faithfully delivered. The message of such a man with such a burden of his soul and spirit could never have taken the form of neat little tidy messages such as many so-called sermons of the present day. No indeed! The impassioned words flow forth without any Particular organization, tumbling over each other like red-hot rocks out of a volcano. Behold here the truly magnificent structure of genuine prophecy! Verse 5 "But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught."The people no doubt supposed that their frequenting the shrines at such places as Bethel, Beersheba and Gilgal would enable them to know God; but in this they were totally wrong. "God can only be sought and found through his revelaton."[16] It was impossible to find God at such places. "Those were centers of idolatry, false teaching, false worship; they would find there only ruin, destruction and captivity, for that is what God had planned for those places."[17]The high places mentioned in this verse had never been a proper place for seeking God; and what we have here is the total repudiation of an entire system of false religion. Many commentators seem to be unaware of this. Some seem to have forgotten that the golden calf-idols installed by Jeroboam were the principal features of the so-called worship at Bethel; and that all of the shrines here mentioned were notorious for the debaucheries and immoralities that were carried on there. Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught ..." The scholars tell us that there is a play upon the words Gilgal and Bethel in the Hebrew text, incapable of being translated into English; but many approximations of it have been given. One of the most interesting is that of Wellhansen, as cited by Hammershaimb: "Gilgal will go to the gallows, and Bethel will become the devil's."[18]Beersheba ..." It is a little surprising to find this place mentioned as one of the shrines frequented by the Israelites, since it was in the extreme southern part of Judah and quite a long distance from the Northern Kingdom. Barnes observed that: "Jeroboam I pretended that it was too much for Israel to go up to Jerusalem; and yet Israel thought it not too much to go to the extremest point of Judah toward Idumaea, perhaps four times as far south of Jerusalem, as Jerusalem lay from Bethel!"[19]Verse 6 "Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel."The house of Joseph ..." here means the Northern Kingdom, of which the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the sons of Joseph) constituted the most powerful component of the kingdom. This led to the "House of Joseph" being a kind of title for the Northern Kingdom. The great contrast in these verses is between "Seek Jehovah" and "Seek not Bethel," or any other of the false shrines. The limitation which Almighty God has placed upon those who would truly seek him should never be overlooked. People who are merely doing what pleases them religiously are just as hopeless as were those ancient Israelites condemned in this chapter. As Keil put it: "God can only be sought, however, in his revelation, or in the manner in which he wishes to be sought, or worshipped."[20] Jamieson's comment on this verse is: Break out like fire in the house of Joseph ..." means bursting through everything in his way. God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 10:17; and Lamentations 2:3).[21]Verse 7 "Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth."As already indicated in this prophecy, and as will appear also in later passages, the whole system of justice had failed in Israel, even the judiciary being corrupted, leaving the poor and the humble with no protection whatever against the avarice and oppression of heartless ruling classes. Justice to wormwood ..." Wormwood was the name of a plant having an exceedingly bitter taste; and this is a very effective figure for the perversion of justice. Any honest man seeking redress of his wrongs in the Israel of that day would have found "justice" turned into a very "bitter pill" for him. Righteousness is represented as fallen and prostrate on the ground with no one to raise it up and support it. Those were horrible times indeed; and it seems incredible that the very people responsible for such gross wickedness should have fancied themselves to be the favored children of God! How blind is the worshipper of false gods! Verse 8 "Seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth (Jehovah is his name)."We have exactly the same theme here that was visible in Amos 4:13; it is just Amos' way of emphasizing that the God who threatens such awful consequences upon Israel is fully able to bring them to pass just as he has promised. Pleaides and Orion ..." These great constellations, the first dominating the spring and summer months, and the second the months of fall and winter, were known to the ancients; and, "They are referred to in the Old Testament (Job 9:9; Job 38:31) as demonstrations of God's creative power."[22]The changing of day and night, and the sending of rain upon the earth are usually thought to be what is indicated by the balance of this verse; and certainly there is good reason for so construing it; but Keil was of the opinion that a reference to the deluge which came upon sinful men in the time of the Genesis flood is involved. This may well be, for it would have been a most appropriate reminder in the context of Amos' prophecy of a similar doom upon Israel, and for exactly the same reasons, unbridled wickedness and rebellion against God. He wrote: "We should not understand this as a reference to the moisture that rises from the sea and then falls upon the earth as rain. The words suggest the thought of terrible inundations of the earth by the swelling sea, and the allusion to the judgment of the flood can hardly be overlooked."[23]If this is merely a reference to the mysterious power of God in sending the rain upon the earth, it would still have a very potent and appropriate meaning for the people of that day who attributed the rain to certain of their false gods: "They had a god of rain and storm; in some places he was called Baai, and in others Hadad. Amos here asserts that it is Yahweh who sends the rain."[24]Verse 9 "That bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress."McKeating and other critical scholars mention this and the preceding verse as "the second of the hymn fragments, or doxologies," favoring the theory (a subjective imaginative "guess") that they were not "composed or inserted by the prophet, but put in, almost at random, by an editor."[25] (See under Amos 5:4, above, for our refutation of the "editor" theory.) No responsible, intelligent "editor" could possibly have arranged a chapter in the form of this one. Only a preacher like Amos could have produced such a "shotgun sermon" as this; and, with that view of it, it becomes a classic of power and effectiveness. On this and the preceding verses, Deane has this: "Here is an allusion to the flood and similar catastrophes, which are proofs of God's judicial government of the universe, when, "he maketh his creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies"...God doeth all these marvelous things, and men presume to scout his law and think to be unpunished."[26]Verse 10 "They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly."A picture of the rotten judicial system of Israel is in this. The "court" was a type of open forum conducted in the gate of the city, where the wall was expanded to enclose a considerable area where important city business was conducted and affording an outdoor theater large enough for a considerable gathering of people. In the ancient system of justice, men of good will were expected to appear before the city fathers in court proceedings and speak the truth on behalf of the poor or oppressed; but anyone performing such a function in that society was "hated" and "abhored." The indifference and corruption of the whole society were the result. Smith makes a big "to do" over the fact that " Amos 5:10 is in the third person, and Amos 5:7 is in the second person!"[27] What do the critics expect? That this shepherd should have kept all of his persons in the proper focus? Some of the changes from one person to another are evidently due to Amos' reference to God's law in the Pentateuch, the person of the passage cited, naturally appearing in his address here, whether it matched the person he was using or not. One of the Proverbs (Proverbs 15:12) could have been in Amos' mind here, accounting for the third person. Such quibbles are unimportant, and are certainly no proper basis for postulations about "editors" and "redactors!" The entire concept of "the redactor" so vital to current Biblical criticism is in reality a kind of scholarly Piltdown Man, in short, a hoax widely received and honored, but a hoax nevertheless. This is a second reference we have made to this in this commentary, but it is necessitated by the incessant and reiterated appeal to this monstrosity by the commentaries which we are reading. Verse 11 "Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof."In this verse again, Amos goes back to the great covenant passages of the Pentateuch where almost the identical language of this verse is used, making it likely, as we indicated above, that this pattern of his thinking was habitual. By thus appealing to the great covenant words of the Mosaic law, Amos is declaring the justice of God's forthcoming judgment against Israel: "When Amos uses these formulations, he is saying in effect, that Yahweh will invoke the sanctions of his covenant with Israel against these perverters of Israel's social order ... The maintenance of that order, especially justice and righteousness in the courts is a requirement of God's covenant; and for those who violate his will, the salvation-history will become a judgment-history."[28]Verse 12 "For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty your sins, ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate from their right."What is evident in this verse is not merely oppression of the poor, despite that's being an invariable result of it, but the absolute corruption of Israel's judiciary. The courts of law are always the last vestiges of justice in a decadent society; and when that is gone, there is nothing else left to go. It is that awful condition that is uppermost in this prophecy. Wolfe further commented on this very thing: "Usually, the last stand of respectability in a declining nation is found in her judiciary. With the degeneration of Israel's legal machinery, the fate of the nation seemed certain."[29]To be sure, the results of such a corrupt system were particularly devastating to the poor and weak of the nation, who were mercilessly exploited, their exploiters apparently having no conscience whatever. The cries of the poor for justice were not heard in the gates of Israel, but they were heard in the gates of heaven; and God moved immediately and effectively to destroy that whole wretched society. "Human personality cannot be abused for personal gain without Divine retribution. Let us pray that our own generation learns this lesson from God's book before it has to experience God's judgment."[30]Verse 13 "Therefore, he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time."This verse has posed a problem for some commentators. It is admitted by all that the viewpoint expressed in this verse could not possibly be that of Amos; for he was then in the act of daring to speak out vehemently against the evil of that society, without regard to any "prudent" concern either for his own safety, or his own life. The best explanation of this verse is that it is merely a sarcastic statement of Amos of the sinful view that had led to the perversion of justice in the Northern Kingdom. The prophet is here putting in the mouths of his audience their lazy, indifferent, and selfish philosophy which was the underlying cause of the judiciary's corruption. The words stand here at this dramatic point in Amos' address like Banquo's ghost at the feast; and we may well hope that some of Amos' hearers were shamed and corrected by it. Whatever this verse is, the above explanation of it satisfies all the requirements of the text. Certainly, it is not "a bit of advice added to the book"[31] by some later editor, a view which would denominate such an editor as a very foolish and unspiritual person! We therefore reject out of hand the groundless speculation to the effect that Amos 5:13, "is a manifestly later insertion."[32] What "editor" could have been so perverse and unspiritual as to inject a "sour note" like this into Amos' beautiful prophecy? Such a conception of how these words happened to be in it is not supported by any reasonable thesis or any evidence whatever. As we have interpreted it, it makes good and wholesome sense. Verse 14 "Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say."The very fact that Amos here definitely quotes from what his hearers were in the habit of saying surely supports what was just said regarding his having done so sarcastically in the preceding verse. Amos here strikes at the fundamental cause of all of Israel's transgressions and sorrows: they loved the wrong things. That, of course, is exactly the way it still is with the world. As McFadden said: "The root of the social problem, as some one has said, is not defective social arrangement, but sin; and no fundamental improvement can be effected by a change in the environment, but only by a change in the men."[33]Much of the present-day preoccupation of churches with such things as "better housing," "improved standards of living," etc., has resulted from the failure to behold this truth. No matter what social planners and environmentalists may say, there is no escaping the fact that all of man's problems originated in Eden; and there was nothing at all wrong with that environment. The entry of sin was the destructive factor that drowned the whole world in woe. Regarding the probable reason for Israel's confidence that the Lord was with them, Hammershaimb explained it thus: "It arose from the people's conviction of the unfailing good fortune which they thought they had evidence of in the external successes of Jeroboam II."[34] It is also a fact that the whole nation had blindly trusted in their boasted fleshly descent from the patriarch Abraham, claiming to be "the seed of Abraham," despite their spiritual rejection of the obedient faith which marked the life of Abraham. Verse 15 "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph."The slender thread of hope which marks this verse is recurrent throughout the prophecy; but the uncertainty which is indicated as to whether or not mercy would be extended did not derive from any unwillingness on God's part. "The prophet regarded it as dubious whether they would really repent."[35]Love the good ..." or "seek good," as in Amos 5:14 was not considered by Amos as one and the same thing as seeking God. "When he said in one place, `Seek the Lord,' and in another `Seek good,' he was not making them synonymous. Amos was not preaching just an ethical religion. The seeker of Yahweh was more than `a do-gooder.' He was emphasizing the two dimensions of true religion: the vertical, Seek Yahweh, and the horizontal, Seek good."[36]Verse 16 "Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing."They shall call the husbandman ..." This means that: "The citizens shall call the inexperienced husbandmen to act the part usually performed by professional mourners, as there will not be enough of the latter for the universal mourning which will prevail."[37]Alas! Alas! ..." "This renders the wail of the mourners rather than actual words. Wailing and mourning with loud public lamentations mark the funeral rite throughout the east."[38] One meets with this also in the New Testament, as, for example, when the paid mourners were lamenting the death of Jairus' daughter whom Jesus raised from the dead. To paraphrase this verse, it means that the mourning over the deceased shall be so widespread and universal that there will be not enough personnel to observe properly the funeral rites. Verse 17 "And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah."I will pass through ..." For ages, at the time Amos wrote, Israel had observed the Passover Feast which celebrated the "passing over" of Israel in the visitation of the death of the firstborn upon the land of Egypt; and the terrible contrast evident in this verse is that God, instead of "passing over" Israel in the forthcoming judgment will instead "pass through the midst" of them, indicating that there would be no mitigation of the penalty for their wickedness. "Amos was reminding Israel that God had been passing by in judgment, as he did that night in Egypt. But now, he would not pass by them any more. He would pass through their midst and leave a trail of tears as he had in the homes of the Egyptians."[39]This sobering thought with reference to these stern words is that there is not a line of exaggeration anywhere in them. All that is foretold here happened exactly as God had promised; and that proud, arrogant and rebellious people were led away to their doom, never more to appear as an organized entity upon the earth! What a tragedy that none of them, or at the most, very few of them, believed the impassioned warning of the shepherd prophet. Verse 18 "Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah! It is darkness and not light."THE DAY OF THE LORDThis, and through Amos 5:20, presents a remarkable view of the Day of the Lord, that is, the Day of Judgment, first as it would be in the case of Israel when God judged and destroyed her for her sins, and secondly, as it will be at the end of time for the great majority of the rebellious race of mankind. This has been cited as the very earliest reference to the Judgment Day in scripture; but regardless of whether that is actually the case or not, the knowledge of it had existed for generations in Israel, as attested by the widespread, but untaught, desire for that day to come, mentioned in this very verse. Some of the Bible critics are very sensitive about such a doctrine as "The Day of the Lord," going out of their way to deny that even Amos approved of any such doctrine. "Amos did not deny or refute the doctrine"[40]was the way Smith viewed it; but in the viewpoint here, it must be affirmed that Amos did far more than refrain from denying the popular theology regarding the judgment day. "Yes," these words mean, "there is to be a judgment day, but it will not be the type of judgment day you people are longing for, but a day of terror and destruction." Regarding the source of the prevalent conviction regarding the judgment day, or "the day of the Lord," it came into being at least a very long, long way prior to the times of Israel. "This idea had a central place in the religious expectation of the people."[41]The true origin of the theology of the day of the Lord must be looked for in the revelation of God Himself to his people; and our inability at the present time to pinpoint the time and place and name of the particular prophet who first revealed the mind of God with reference to it does not at all diminish the truth and authenticity of the doctrine itself. Amos was inspired of God, and his acknowledgment of the popular belief in the day of the Lord is proof enough of the validity of the doctrine. What Amos condemned in the words of these verses (Amos 5:18-20) was not the public confidence in the coming of the day of the Lord, but Israel's perversion of the doctrine, lowering the conception of it to that of a military victory for the Israelites. Israel's view of that day has been described thus: "They looked for a new era in which the deity himself would be their special champion, miraculously intervening in history, subduing Israel's enemies permanently, ushering in an age of world dominion and grandeur for her people.[42] When the heathen should be judged, all the enemies of Israel defeated, and when Israel herself would be exalted to the highest pitch of prosperity and dominion, and without any regard to the moral condition."[43]Regarding our own confidence in the doctrine of the Day of the Lord, or the Final Judgment of all men, it is anchored firmly in the teachings of the Son of God Himself who brought to mankind, through his own words, and those of his apostles, a very definite and extensive corpus of teaching related to this very thing, the words of the New Testament, therefore, providing an inexhaustible reservoir of truth regarding this fundamental doctrine of Christianity (Hebrews 6:2). All Old Testament references to the day of the Lord are illuminated by the New Testament. Verse 19 "As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?"The word "or" in the above could likewise be translated "and," according to McKeating, thus making all of the actions consecutive, thus: "Running from a lion, he meets a bear. In even greater panic, he reaches the shelter of his house. A snake strikes him from a crevice in the wall."[44]However it may be translated, the passage clearly teaches that there shall be no possibility of escape from the adverse judgment of God upon human wickedness. It must not be thought that Israel was totally wrong about the judgment day, for they were profoundly correct about two things: (1) there would indeed be such a day, and (2) it would also be a time of deliverance, joy and utmost felicity for the true Israel. Whatever their sources of this information, they were accurate in these important elements of the doctrine; and we have no alternative except to conclude that one or more of their prophets had conveyed to them the mind of God regarding such matters. There was only one flaw in the people's thinking; they had made a mistake about who were the true Israel, that not being themselves at all with their stubborn and impenitent wickedness, but the spiritual seed of Abraham, those of Abraham's obedient faith and righteous disposition! Butler is correct in viewing Amos' words here as typical and prophetic of the final Day, the Great Assize, at which time God through Jesus Christ shall judge the whole word in righteousness. "The truth of the matter was, the Day of the Lord would be a day of deliverance, but only for the true Israel, those who were Jews inwardly and not Jews only outwardly; for the Day of the Lord of which Amos speaks is' typical and prophetic of the climactic Day of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah."[45]The illustration of the man fleeing from the lion and the bear and finally gaining the shelter of his home, only to be bitten to death by a serpent in the very place of his imagined security is one of the most forceful in the Bible. Howard commented that: "The death he thought he would escape awaited him at his own house. Thus it was to be for Israel, there would be no escape; the day of Yahweh would be a day of gloom and darkness in which there would be no relieving feature for the rebellious house of Israel."[46]Our own summary of these three verses is simply that the "day of the Lord" was to be bad news for Israel; and the great corollary of that is that it will be likewise "bad news" for the entire race of sinful and rebellious men. The entire Book of Revelation might be interpreted as an extended commentary and revelation regarding this very passage in Amos. The theme of Revelation is "the judgment" of the great Day; and all of the figures that describe the onset of that occasion (of which there are seven) are those depicting unalloyed terror, slaughter, destruction, and sorrow for the near-total family of Adam who may live at the time it occurs. Just one passage from Revelation is sufficient (of thirty that might be cited) to show how it will be for humanity at the judgment, Amos 6:12-14. One other thing should be noted. Those in Israel who longed for the day of the Lord were apparently sincere, but sincerely mistaken. However, Barnes pointed out another class who pretend to long for the coming of the Lord. They are today professed Christians - hypocrites: "Who in order to appear righteous before men, are wont to long for the Judgement Day, and to say, `Would that the Lord would come; would that we might be dissolved and be with Christ,' imitating the Pharisee who said, `God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are!"[47]Verse 21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take not delight in your solemn assemblies.God's repudiation of their worship was based upon several things: (1) It was not really the worship of God at all, but the worship of the old pagan gods they had always adored, even in the wilderness; (2) the formal services which were patterned after the commandments laid down in the Mosaic Law had been conspicuously altered and perverted by such things as: (a) the omission of the sin-offering; and (b) the mingling of leavened bread with the burnt offerings; and (c) sacred images in the form of such things as the golden calves, adored at the shrines; (d) instruments of music such as had always marked pagan worship which they added to the worship, etc.; (3) all ethical and moral requirements of God having been forgotten and rejected in the practice of all kinds of immorality, drunkenness, and gluttonous feasting in the very worship itself; (4) the very shrines of Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba, where they worshipped, were illegal and contrary to the will of God, having been set up in their inception as supports for the throne of Jeroboam I. These are but a few of the outstanding features of an entire system of religion which was totally unacceptable to God. I despise your feasts ..." As Hammershaimb noted: "The three great pilgrimage feasts (were): The Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles."[48] These correspond to Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. The prior existence of the Mosaic Law, as well as the radical drift away from it, on the part of Israel are in clear focus in this picture which emerges from Amos. The words in this verse carry the thought expressed in the King James Version, that "I will not smell in your solemn assemblies," reminding Israel of that threat in the law (Leviticus 26:31). Although the outward forms of the worship in Israel carried many distinctive likenesses to the true Mosaic Law from which much of it had been originally derived and later perverted, there were also radical and presumptuous departures from it. "So secure were they that the only sacrifice which they did not offer was the sin or trespass offering."[49]"Amos stripped away all of Israel's false hopes."[50] Here it was their trust in an inadequate, incomplete, unauthorized, perverted, and innovated worship. In Amos 3, he took away their vain trust in the doctrine of election. In Amos 4, he took away their trust in tithes and offerings; and also in this chapter (Amos 5:18-20), he took away their trust in the future destruction of their enemies by God Himself. Verse 22 "Yea, though ye offer me your burnt-offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts."Conspicuous by their absence were the sin-offerings, the Israelites being conscious of no sin whatever and feeling no need of forgiveness. This accounts for their longing, without fear, for the "day of the Lord." As Barnes wrote, "The very fact that they desired but did not fear `The Day of the Lord' shows that they were worthy of punishment, since no man is without sin!"[51] Butler observed that the same principles taught in this verse hold good today for, "those who claim to be covenant people of God."[52] Men need to take a look at their worship. Is some conspicuous part of it missing, such as the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper? Have instruments of music been added to the singing? Are the solemn ethical, moral and personal virtues of God's kingdom no longer stressed or particularly honored? Has so-called Christian worship become a parade of what men like, what they like to do, what they like to hear? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/zerrcbc/ Amos 5:2. The word virgin Is often applied to God’ s people because the first definition of the original is, "to separate." Israel had been separated from the other nations of the world to be the Lord's own special people (Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2), hence the term virgin is an appropriate one. Shall >io more rise denotes that Israel had sunk so low as a nation that it would not be able to rise above the fate of the siege and captivity threatened. Amos 5:3, The nation was destined to be greatly reduced by the exile as Indicated by the contrasting terms thousand and hundred. It is a prediction of the remnant that was salvaged from the captivity, and the fulfillment is in Ezra 2: 1. 64. Amos 5:4. Seek ye me and ye shall live presents the same apparent contradiction that has been mentioned several times. The explanation lies in the distinction between the nation as a whole, and certain individuals in it. See the long note on the subject, offered with comments on 2 Kings 22:17, volume 2 of this Commentaey. Amos 5:5. The significance of Bethel is in the fact that It was one of the places where the first king of the 10- tribe kingdom of Israel erected an idol calf, and the nation had practiced idolatry ever since. Gilgal is the place where the first king of Judah committed his first great sin after entering upon the throne (1 Samuel 10:8; 1 Samuel 13 : S-14). Beer-sheba was once a stronghold of idolatry and hence not a proper place to receive a favorable impression on the subject of service to God. Amos 5:6. Seek the Lord and ye shall live is commented on in verse 4. Amos 5:7. Wormwood was a very bitter substance and is used much as a figurative likeness of any unpleasant experience. The leaders in Israel were selfish and regulated the lives of others in. view of their own personal interests. Instead of dealing justly with those who looked to them for advice and decisions in times of difficulty, they deprived them of their rights and thus turned their case into bitterness. Amos 5:8. Seven stars is the same as Pleiades In Job 9:9. the cluster of stars that is popularly called “ the seven sisters," and Orion is defined by Strong, "Any notable constellation." Instead of being interested in the gods of the heathen, Israel is exhorted to seek the Maker of these heavenly bodies. He is the one who can rule day and night and turn one into the other at will; who can control the mighty waters of the sea and use them in whatsoever manner He pleases. Amos 5:9. Strengtheneth the spoiled means to support the man who has been overcome by a stronger force, and enable him to turn against his oppressor successfully. Amos 5:10. This verse describes a kind of character that has existed ever since there has been man on the earth. It is not always manifested in the same way, but the principle is the same. The reason a man is hated who rebukes sin is that the person rebuked realizes he is guilty and does not want to be reminded of It. The rebuke does not always have to be done directly or in words. It may be done by the righteous life of one in contrast with the wicked life of the other, the good life being a silent rebuke to the other. It is thus we read about the first family where Cain and Abel had their experience. There is nothing said about Abel’ s rebuking Cain verbally, but his righteous life was a stinging rebuke of Cain's evil one. So John says that Cain slew Abel "because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous (1 John 3:12).” The people of Israel did not like to be told of their sins, so they insisted that the teachers give them messages that suited them (Jeremiah 5: 81; Isaiah 30:10). Since the people wanted the teachers to give this false instruction, they catered to them and hence brought upon them the wrath of God. Another had thing that resulted from the practice of false teaching was the chance it gave them of making improper rules of conduct, and that also opened the way for them to impose upon the poor, Amos 5:11. We should remember that the rebuking running through most of these verses is addressed chiefly to the leaders of the nation who took advantage of their standing to oppress the poor. They forced them to furnish unjust portions of their crops so that they could live in luxury. They had also indulged themselves with costly houses and had planted vineyards to suit their own extravagant desires. But God now warns them that it will all be taken from them and their luxurious provisions will he in vain. Amos 5:12. Everything that is done is open before the eyes of the Lord. The leaders took advantage of their position to oppress the poor so that they could enlarge their own possessions. Not only so, but if some one of the poor had the misfortune of being treated with fraud in a deal, it would not avail him anything to appeal to these leaders who were the rulers, for they could be bribed by the fraudulent dealers to render a verdict against the victim. Amos 5:13. A prudent man is one who does not "speak out of turn," and in the present case it means not to speak any word of protest against what the Lord is threatening to do, The times are so evil that all wise men should endorse the Lord's judgments. Amos 5:14. This verse takes the same comments and note as verse 4. Amos 5:15. There is no uncertainty in the promises of God. It may he has the force of saying “ it will be,” on condition that the people will hate evil and love the good. Remnant of Joseph. The 10-tribe kingdom, to which most of these messages are addressed, was also called “ Ephraim,” and sinee he was a son of Joseph, the name is used as a designation of the whole group, the remnant meaning those who survive the captivity. Amos 5:16. When the people see the presence of the Assyrian forces, they will make the wailing here stated. They will even call for a public demonstration of regret over the sad condition Of their country. Amos 5:17. There were two outstanding occupations in Palestine, the production of sheep and the growing of vineyards. It would therefore be a special cause of regret to be deprived of their vineyards. Amos 5:18. Woe. . . . desire the day of the Lord. In times of distress men will often call upon the Lord, even though they have been disrespecting Him in the past. These inconsistent leaders will pretend that they would like for the Lord to “ show hi3 hand” when the clouds of trouble seem to be gathering. But that is just what He will be doing when those clouds begin to hover, and they will bring national darkness and not light. Amos 5:19. The comparisons in this verse are similar to a familiar one, "jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.” and the prophet is using them in connection with his statements in verse IS, When a man rebels against the Lord as these wicked leaders had done, it is inconsistent to ex- nect Him to furnish relief; instead. He is the very one whose wrath will be felt if the guilty person turns in that direction. Amos 5:20. This verse repeats the thought of the preceding ones.(Amos 5:19) Amos 5:21 Before taking up the comments of each verse, I request the reader to indicate, either in bis Bible if he Is marking it, or in whatever place he is making notes, that all of the verses from the present one through the end of the chapter, and through the first 6 verses of the next chapter, are to be regarded as one paragraph with one general subject. That has to do with one of the outstanding apparent contradictions in God's tbreaten- ings and predictions against His people. In more than one place they have seemed to be condemned for doing some of the very things that the Mosaic system required. We cannot be-lieve that God would tell a man to do something, and then condemn him for doing it. When it seems to he so, there Is an explanation in the premises and we should examine them for it. I have composed at length a note, based on the truths and facts of history, both sacred and profane, that fully clarifies this seeming difficulty, and the reader is urged to consult that note again with extreme care, before proceeding with the study of these comments. That note is offered in the comments on Isaiah 1: 10, volume 3 of this Com:- MENTABY. 1 shall now take up the comments on the verse of this paragraph, followed with the others in their order, explaining them in the light of the general subject of the suggested general paragraph. The note referred to will explain why God hated their feast days. In their solemn assemblies they used sweet incense under the law, and the only use that could be made of it would be to smell it. God refused to smell the odor of their incense for the same reason that he hated their feast days. Amos 5:22. The sacrifices and offerings mentioned were required by the law of Moses, but God was rejecting them for the same reason mentioned above. Amos 5:23. Instrumental music was not introduced by the law of Moses, hut it was later instituted by David and the Lord sanctioned it by giving it His glory (2 Chronicles 29:25; 2 Chronicles 5:14). But although the Lord had blessed the use of the musical instruments with his glory, after the leaders became so corrupt, that service was rejected on the same ground as were the others mentioned above. Amos 5:24. Judgment is from mishpat, which Strong defines, "Properly a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially." Since the term is connected with righteousness as a mighty stream, we know the word means a favorable verdict. The leaders had imposed upon the poor and decided matters unjustly against them. This verse is an exhortation for them to reverse that practice and render decisions that are just. Amos 5:25. God never asks a question for the sake of his own information, so this one is a reminder for the people of Israel, calling their attention to the practices that they followed alt through the wilderness. Amos 5:26. The Lord admits that Israel had performed the services stated ill the preceding verse, but they were offset by their practices of idolatry. Moloch was one of the invisible gods of the heathen, and the Israelties look up the worship of that false deity. Chiun was an image that they made, a star or chief article they made in honor of the heathen god that they worshiped. Amos 5:27. Therefore means that God concluded to punish his people because of these idolatrous practices which they thought they could add to the ordinances of the divine law. Captivity beyond Damascus. That city was the capital of ancient Syria and it was located just north of Palestine. But the Jewish nation was destined to go into captivity under both the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, which were located far away in the territory of the Euphrates, and that was literally beyond Damascus, The two empires were in. control in succession from one another, hut they were virtually in the same part of the world, hence the Jewish people all came finally to be held in captivity in the same general location according to the various prophecies. Certainty of More Judgment To Come Woe To Those At Ease In ZionAmo_6:1-14 Amos’ second woe rebukes the rulers for their sins of pride, indulgence and false security. “ Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!” (Amos 6:1). God’ s prophet spares neither the rulers of Jerusalem nor Samaria, denouncing all of them. “ At ease” means ‘ secure.’ He is rebuking the false sense of security that both sets of rulers were displaying. Words of warnings about a coming day of Jehovah did not faze them. Both nations were enjoying a high degree of economic and military strength in Amos’ day. With their fortress cities, they felt invincible. “ Notable men” means distinguished and renowned. The same word is used by Moses to identify the princes of the tribes (Numbers 1:17). They thought of themselves as “ the chief (men) of the nations” i.e. the choicest. The house of Israel came to them for advice and leadership. He then urges them to consider three contemporary examples; Calneh, Hamath, and Gath. Calneh was to the east on the Tigris. One had to “ pass over” the Euphrates to get there. Hamath was situated on the Orontes River in Syria, north of Israel. Gath was a Philistine city state south and west, near the Mediterranean coast. Each of these cites had been strong, fortified and prosperous. Hamath had recently been taken by Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:25; 2 Kings 14:28). Gath had fallen to Uzziah of Judah (2 Chronicles 26:6). Calneh’ s history was that of being ravaged by first one enemy and then another. Some scholars identify Calneh with Kollani, north of Hamath (see Laetesch). If these powerful kingdoms had fallen, in their own day, why should they think that they would fare better? Taylor paraphrases it will. “ Once they were better and greater than you, but look at them now.” He continues his rebuke of the rulers, “ --ye, that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near” (6:3). They refused to believe that God would destroy them or that they could be brought down. As in Ezekiel’ s day, they said, “ the vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of times that are far off “ (Ezekiel 12:27). (See also 2 Peter 3:3-4). They refused to face the possibility and reality of a coming judgment. They continued to indulge themselves and actually “ caused the seat of violence to come near,” even sooner and more certainly. The word rendered “ seat” of violence means, the sitting, dwelling or throne” (Laetsch). It is noteworthy that the Assyrian monarchs carried their thrones with them into battle and sat upon them when observing or administering judgment following the battle (Rawlinson). This may be his point. Five examples of their indulgence are cited. “ That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph” (Amos 6:4-6). He describes the life style of the rich and powerful. The masses knew no such luxury. The things listed were not sinful in and of themselves. It was not evil to rest on a bed of ivory or to eat beef and mutton etc. It was wrong because they were not grieved or concerned about the sad state of affairs in the nation. “ Beds of ivory” were wooden frames decorated with inlaid ivory. They lounged on couches while they ate and relaxed. Verse 5 has frequently been used to try to show that God disapproved of David’ s introduction of instrumental music into the worship of God. Such an interpretation is faulty. This speaks of the banqueting and entertainment of the rich, not worship. If it was wrong on the basis of this verse for David to use instruments, it was also wrong to lie on couches and eat beef, mutton, etc. David introduced instrumental music into temple worship because “ the commandment was of Jehovah by his prophets” (2 Chronicles 29:25). If it was sinful for Israel to use instruments of music in worship then the Holy Spirit inspired the psalmist to encourage them to sin by saying “ Praise ye Jehovah....with stringed instruments” (Psalms 150). Such could not possibly be the case. The fact is, this passage is not discussing the use or non-use of musical instruments in worship. The New Testament church uses no musical instruments because Christ has not authorized their use (Matthew 28:18; Matthew 28:20; 2 John 1:9). “ Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away” . His conclusion is drawn and his point made; those careless, indulgent rulers will be in the forefront of those marched away into captivity. The Assyrian’ s policy was to deport and resettle, in distant lands, the people they conquered (2 Kings 17:5-6) Their revelry will be a sad bitter memory as they are marched away in chains, knowing that because of their sinful indulgence God had destroyed their nation. “ The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts; I abhor the excellency of Jacob and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein” (Amos 6:8). God swore by himself since there is no higher authority by which to sware (Hebrews 6:13). “ The excellency of Jacob” refers to their national pride. (See the footnote). Hosea saw and condemned that pride (5:5; 7:10). Jeremiah dealt with the same problem in Judah (13:9). It was not a wholesome sense of self-worth which he condemned, but an arrogant, false pride based on their feelings of national superiority. God hated their hollow insincere worship (5:21) their pride and their grand palaces. “ And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house that they shall die. And when a man’ s uncle shall take him up, even he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No; then shall he say, Hold thy peace; for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah” (Amos 6:9-10). With graphic, chilling strokes, Amos describes the horrors of the coming judgment. Assyria’ s siege of Samaria would last three years. He sees ten survivors huddled in one house. Perhaps in one of the palaces mentioned above. One by one they succumb to starvation and the ever present plague that accompanied siege warfare. All immediate family members have perished. An uncle, the nearest surviving relative, comes with “ a burner” whose job it is to dispose of the corpses. When nine have been removed, the burner discovers the last one yet alive, “ in the innermost parts of the house,” i.e., the fartherest comer. He asks him, “ Is there yet any with thee?” And the pitiful emaciated survivor whispers, No. Perhaps the poor fellow began thank God that they had found him. Please, the uncle interrupts, “ Hold thy peace,” i.e., “ hush,” we may not mention the name of Jehovah. The likely reason being a matter of fear lest Jehovah’ s attention be called “ to the survivor and he too be smitten. Then in solemn, doleful tones Amos says, “ For, behold, Jehovah commandeth. And the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts” (Amos 6:11). The judgment will smite all, great and small. They will be beaten to dust. The RSV renders it “ fragments and bits.” This section closes with two rhetorical questions, a rebuke and a promise of doom. “ Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into worm-wood; ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of the Arabah” (Amos 6:12-14). No right-thinking person would run his horse upon a rock lest he fall and break a leg or shatter his hooves nor would one plow on a rock lest he break his plow. But Israel has followed a course just as stupid. Four instances are cited;1. They have turned justice into the bitter gall of injustice; 2. Righteousness they have turned into hemlock (a poisonous plant) of unrighteousness; 3. They rejoice in idols which are things of nought (nothing); 4. They have boasted that they had taken horns of power by their own strength. Homs were considered symbols of power. By their own strength meant they thought they were strong enough that they did not need God (Deuteronomy 33:7; 1 Kings 22:11). This boast probably refers to their recent victories over Syria whereby their ancient border had been restored (2 Kings 14:25-28). To reward their wickedness; God would raise up Assyria and whip them from Hamath, their northern boundary, to the brook of the Arabah, their southern boundary below the Dead Sea. Amos Chapter SixVerse 1 This chapter continues the further elaboration of the prophetic doom pronounced upon Israel at the conclusion of Amos 2. First, he uttered the second woe over the careless and indulgent leaders of the nation, sunk in their revellings and indifference (Amos 6:1-6). For them, he pronounced their destruction and the overthrow of their nation (Amos 6:7-11), emphasizing that they had acted perversely, trusting in their own power (Amos 6:12-14). The blunt reiteration of their doom in Amos 6:14 concludes this section of the prophecy. In the first sub-section of the chapter (Amos 6:1-6), "The link word is first."[1]They considered themselves first among the nations (Amos 6:1); they only used the finest oils (literally, first)[2] (Amos 6:6); and then in the first line of the second section is revealed the fact that they shall also be first into captivity (Amos 6:7). The whole chapter is pointed squarely at the over-confidence and conceit of the nation, as exhibited in its evil leaders. Amos 6:1"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come."God's gospel of dealing with mankind is a gospel of grace; but in Amos the emphasis is not upon grace but upon law and obedience, an emphasis which should certainly be observed in our own times; because as McFadden put it: "It is the gospel of law, for that, too, is gospel. To understand and obey the laws by which God governs his world is the way of peace; to ignore or defy them is the way to destruction."[3]"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion ..." This is the second great woe, the first being in Amos 5:18, where it is written. "Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah!" Zion here is the poetic name of Jerusalem, and some of the commentators would like to get it out of the text on the basis that, "It would seem out of keeping with his habit of concentration upon the immediate situation for him";[4] but such a view ignores one of the outstanding features of Amos, the fact that Judah is by no means left out of these prophecies of destruction, as in Amos 2:4-5; Amos 3:1; Amos 5:1; Amos 5:5, etc. To be sure Amos was sent particularly to the Northern Kingdom; but Judah is always in the back of his mind; for it is not the Northern Kingdom only, but, "The whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt" (Amos 3:1) which is under the judgment of God for their sins. Hammershaimb has brilliantly refuted the allegations of those intent upon disturbing the validity of the text here as it has come down to us. "We must nevertheless keep the Masoretic Text, which must be understood as showing the threat worked out with poetic parallelism against the two capital cities."[5]The over-confidence of the entire nation of the Jews was founded in their regard for Zion (Jerusalem) as the place where the name of God was recorded, and considered by them invulnerable to any disaster of whatever nature, and (especially in the Northern Kingdom) upon the strength and military fortifications of the "mountain of Samaria." The confidence they had in Samaria, although destined to be frustrated, was nevertheless justified to a certain extent by the unusual strength of the place. When it finally fell, some three years were required to subdue it. The great error lay in the people's having forgotten that, "Unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Psalms 127:1). "These people misunderstood the terms of the covenant, thinking that God would spare Jerusalem regardless of what they did; they were at ease in Zion ... (in Samaria) they were trusting in the mountain of Samaria, a natural fortress which Israel's leaders must have thought impregnable."[6]"At ease in Zion ..." has entered all languages as an idiom for self-indulgent complacency, indifference and over-confidence. Verse 2 "Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?"This verse again follows a pattern already observed in Amos' words, that of putting words or arguments into the mouths of his hearers in order to prove his point, much as the apostle Paul used the diatribe in the Book of Romans. Some scholars have mistakenly tried to take these words as a threat from Amos based upon the premise that since other great cities of the neighboring kingdoms have fallen, Israel herself should not be over-confident; but this is not the case at all. It is a quotation from those proud leaders boasting that they were "Number 1." As Smith pointed out, it could hardly be a threat, "Since it is fairly certain that Calneh and Hamath did not fall until after Amos' ministry."[7] The mention of Gath in this place also proves that the omission of that city from the list of those enumerated in Amos 1:6-8, could not be interpreted as proof that Gath no longer existed when Amos wrote. (See the notes on those passages.) The writers who insist upon the other interpretation, which is manifestly false, are evidently doing so in order to use the passage as an assault upon the integrity of the verse. McKeating said, "If this interpretation is correct (the false one), the verse must have been inserted after Amos' time."[8] This is an excellent example of one of the favorite devices of destructive critics, namely, that of giving a verse a false interpretation, and then using it as an argument against the validity of Biblical texts. The true interpretation of this place was accurately discerned by Motyer, thus: "Amos is ironically repeating the propaganda handout of the rulers who kept up the morale of their people by drawing advantageous comparisons with reasonably distant and clearly inferior places."[9]"Are they better than these kingdoms ..." This obviously requires a negative answer. "These kingdoms" are Judah and Israel. As Keil said, "Amos names three great and flourishing capitals, because he is speaking to the great men of the capitals of the two kingdoms of Israel."[10]Before leaving this verse, it should be noted that Mays also defended the correct interpretation of this verse by noting that the other one is "embarrassed by the uncertainty whether Hamath and Calneh had been captured by the Assyrians in the mid-eighth century."[11] He also observed that the Masoretic Text (as followed in our version) makes excellent sense as a quotation. "The boast articulates a pride that is nurtured by the success of Jeroboam's reign, and a belief in their manifest destiny as the people of Yahweh."[12]Verse 3 "Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near.""Put far away the evil day ..." This does not mean, of course, that they actually moved the evil day. They did not really put it off. The passage means "to regard as far off."[13] They were indifferent to the eventual consequences of their wickedness and regarded their sure and certain punishment as a thing that could be relegated to the remote future, and as something for which they needed not to have any apprehension at all. "And cause the seat of violence to come near ..." A society that tolerates violence and corruption is hastening the day when violence and corruption will be enthroned among them. As Motyer commented: "They were hastening the day when lawlessness would reign, "the reign of terror." So it must have been in the final years of the kingdom of Israel when, after Jeroboam II, only one king passed the throne on to his son, and the rest ended their reigns by assassination."[14]Verse 4 "That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall.""Beds of ivory ..." The idle rich were using inlays of ivory to decorate their beds, indifferently ignoring the gross poverty around them, and living as extravagantly as possible. "Lambs out of the flock ... calves out of the ... stall ..." This was a custom severely frowned upon by God's prophet, because it was an extravagant and unnecessary waste. The result was that the flocks and herds were diminished. The current society is guilty of a similar waste in their extravagant taste for caviar, which has practically destroyed the whole species of the sturgeon from which the fish eggs are derived. It would appear that Amos was particularly outraged by their eating of the lambs! There is a great deal in Amos that might induce a superficial criticism to the effect that he was merely a country bumpkin who was opposed to the aristocracy, affluence and culture of city life; "But it is unjust to regard him so."[15] It is the rebellion of the people against God and his word which is the primary concern of Amos: "His message is primarily a religious one, and only inferentially social. Hate the evil, and love the good - that is a motto as applicable to the city as to the country, and as capable of realization."[16]Verse 5 "That sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for themselves instruments of music, like David.""That sing idle songs to the sound of the viol ..." One is amused at a comment which finds nothing more here than the fact (?) that, "Amos does not like the contemporary fashion in music! We might translate, 'who wail to the accompaniment of the lute.'"[17] Not much is known about this singing, but Barnes is probably correct: "The word which Amos alone uses in this place describes probably a hurried flow of unmeaning, unconsidered words, in which the rhythm of words and music was everything, the sense, nothing."[18]"That invent to themselves instruments of music, like David..." Whatever was reprehensible in those who were condemned in this clause, it was compared to a similar reprehensible action on the part of David. Much more is known with reference to David's sinful action than is known about the sinful actions of the class Amos rebuked with these words; and a little further attention to what David did, and particularly to the action mentioned here, should give the clue to what the lords of Samaria were guilty of. Some things can be ruled out at once. It is not a sin to invent instruments of music, or anything else, so that could not be the thing in focus here. However, it was sinful for David to introduce, organize, and maintain the use of mechanical instruments in the worship of God, a fact clearly discernible in Amos 5:23. The explanation usually offered on this interesting verse is given thus by Keil: "As David invented stringed instruments in honour of his God in heaven, so do these princes invent playing and singing for their god, the belly."[19]This, of course, is ingenious; and many have followed it in their own interpretations, almost verbatim, as, for example, Butler: "As David invented instruments of music to worship his God, you invent musical instruments to worship your god, your belly."[20]Clever as this interpretation appears, however, it cannot be correct; the key element being overlooked in it is that the passage makes it quite clear that what David did was wrong. If, as this interpretation suggests, the action of the nobles was sinful, that being clear enough from the text, how was it "as" or "like" what David did? The incredible, fanciful view that their worshipping their belly was in any way comparable to David's "honouring his God" is too fantastic to be accepted. On the other hand, if the passage is viewed as the sinful action of David in introducing instruments into God's worship, and the action of the nobles (also sinful) who were likewise introducing the instruments of music into the alleged worship of "God" at Bethel, then the comparison is perfect; and that is exactly what we believe to be taught here. It is clearly and uniquely a "religious thing" that is evident, not only in this verse, but in Amos 6:6, immediately following, where the "sacrificial bowls" were being profaned by these gluttonous and drinking nobles. (See the notes on Amos 6:6, below.) Note also that it is not the "invention" of musical instruments which is primarily in focus here, that having no element of sin in any way connected with it; but it is the sin of "inventing for or unto themselves," a clear echo of "Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image" (Exodus 20:4), the thing forbidden there not being merely the making of any kind of image, but the making "unto themselves" of graven images, the making of religious images! The similarity of the language here shows that the innovative nobles of Samaria had further corrupted their own perverted worship at Bethel by following the sinful example set by David in his introduction of the musical instruments into God's worship in Jerusalem. There is no good reason for setting aside this obvious meaning of the passage. Some astute scholars have discerned this and, accordingly, have invoked their rule of last resort, screaming "Interpolation,"[21] when there's no other way to support the popular prejudice that freely allows the use of mechanical instruments in the worship of the Author of Christianity. The great leaders of the Reformation practically all understood the obvious teaching of this place, including Wesley and many others. There is no need to multiply the witnesses from that era as to what these verses most certainly mean; but we shall quote a few lines from Adam Clarke: "I believe that David was not authorized by the Lord to introduce that multitude of musical instruments into the divine worship of which we read; and I am satisfied that his conduct in this respect is most solemnly reprehended by this prophet; and I further believe that the use of such instruments of music in the Christian Church is without the sanction and against the will of God."[22]We have included this quotation because it is not widely known, the great scholar's words having long ago been edited out of his commentaries by those who did not agree with his conclusions, the same not appearing in any of the recent abridged editions. One other word regarding this passage. The orthodox Hebrew church, who understand the Hebrew text of the Old Testament better than any Gentile commentator could ever expect to know it, have never allowed instruments of music in their worship of God, their conviction of the sinfulness of it being due in part to the teaching of these very passages in Amos; and the Jews, at least a very considerable percentage of them, have consistently maintained this conviction for some twenty-seven centuries! The view of this passage advocated here is then, by no means, a Johnny-come-lately opinion. If David's action in introducing mechanical instruments into God's worship was honorable; and if the Samaritan leaders were using instruments dishonorably in the worship of "their belly," how could the Holy Spirit possibly have equated these actions or referred to one of them as "like" the other? Verse 6 "That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.""That drink wine in bowls ..." The sin indicated here is not merely that of "funneling." Something far different is indicated: "One view is that their offence consists in not being satisfied with drinking wine in small quantities, but drinking it from the bowl; but the meaning is certainly that they have committed an offence by using sacrificial bowls, which it was not permissible to drink from."[23]"The Hebrew word for "bowl" in this place actually means "the great bowl" and is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament only in connection with ritual procedures."[24]The sin which Amos condemned here is therefore a religious violation, and not merely excessive drinking, further pointing up the truth that this whole passage deals primarily with perversion of God's worship, the particular thing here, being desecration of holy vessels. The ancient people of God viewed this latter thing with extraordinary abhorrence. It will be recalled that for a similar offence of drinking from the sacred vessels robbed from the temple in Jerusalem, Belshazzar was punished by a summary judgment from God; and the kingdom was torn away from him in the same night (Daniel 5:1-25). "And anoint themselves with the chief oils ..." Hammershaimb assures us that the word for chief oils (or first oils) could also "be taken with the meaning of firstfruits; their sin would then be that they have anointed themselves with the firstfruits which belong to God."[25] Thus, it is seen that the religious factor is the dominating thought throughout these verses. Understanding the transgression in this light certainly clears up the problem with the other view, which would make it appear that Almighty God was concerned about the "size" of a wine-guzzler's goblet, bottle, or bowl. It was not "drinking," as such, which was condemned here, but their drinking from "bowls," evidently the consecrated vessels which had been dedicated to God. Here also is strong presumptive evidence that it is a similar religious violation in Amos 6:5. An additional facet of the sin mentioned in these verses with regard to their anointing themselves with the "first" oils is seen in the fact that all anointing was suspended in time of mourning (1 Samuel 14:2); and, the sad state of Israel's rebellion against God should have led to widespread mourning and prayer, instead of the drinking and anointing evident here. That Amos probably had this in mind also, is manifest in the next clause which mentions "the affliction of Joseph." Verse 7 "Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away."Motyer's summary of the balance of this chapter is thus: "The fact of pride (Amos 6:8), its moral indifference (Amos 6:12), and its self-centeredness (Amos 6:13) are brought before us; but now we see the divine reaction to them. Amos 6:1-7 tell us in so many words that pride goes before a fall; Amos 6:8-14 tell us why this is. The divine reactions are hatred (Amos 6:8), alienation (Amos 6:9-10), and enmity (Amos 6:11-14)."[26]"Go captive with the first that go captive ..." Here is a glimpse of eternal justice. These gross sinners who were hailed as the "first" among the "first" of nations, and used up the "first" fruits (or oils) for their own pampering instead of giving them to God, as was their duty, shall now be "first" to go into captivity! Keil added this: "You that are first in riches will be the first to bear the yoke of captivity"[27]However, they do Amos an injustice who suppose that he was opposed to the rich merely because of their riches. "His message is, by no manner of means, `Down with the aristocracy!'; but `Return unto God' (Amos 4:6), `Seek good and not evil!'"[28] As Amos 6:1-6 sternly reveal, the thing that was wrong with the leaders of Israel was that they had lost all regard for their status as a God-rescued, God-redeemed, and God-chosen community and had corrupted his worship, prostrated themselves before idols, desecrated his sacred vessels, introduced pagan mechanical instruments into his worship "like David," and had violated with impunity the sacred ordinances of the Pentateuchal covenant, except in those cases where the observance of them was in some manner pleasing to themselves! Verse 8 "The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.""Jehovah hath sworn by himself ..." It may not be allowed that God's oath is any more binding, or more true, than his word; but, inasmuch as the opposite is true among men, the Holy Spirit here, wishing to emphasize the dependability and certainty of God's Words, uses this anthropomorphic accommodation to the prejudices of men in order to achieve that purpose. "I abhor the excellency of Jacob ..." This expression shows that Amos never has Judah very far out of mind; for Jacob was the ancestor of Judah, as well as of Israel. Writers who try to make out that these various references to Judah, Jacob, and the whole house of Israel which came up out of Egypt, etc. are added to the prophecy by later writers are totally wrong. Despite the principal burden of Amos' commission having been to cry out against the Northern Kingdom, unless he had kept before them continually the reminder that God was also displeased with similar sins in Judah, he would have lost his effectiveness through the appearance that he was merely crying out against the sins of his neighbor, and not against the sins of his own nation. Verse 9 "And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. And when a man's uncle shall take him up, even he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say to him that is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No; then shall he say, Hold thy peace; for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah."The situation envisioned by these verses presupposes the possible survival of "ten men in one house," evidently one of the "great houses" which normally had a hundred or more inhabitants, as the remnant after a devastating military defeat; and the prophecy is that they (these few survivors) will all die of the plague. The plague is evidenced by the burning of the bodies, contrary to the usual Hebrew custom. "A man's uncle ..." An alternate reading here is "kinsman," in any case, the person who came to burn the bodies. "Is there any yet with thee? ..." The picture is that of the very last of the survivors who answered the inquiry negatively. "Hold thy peace, for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah ..." A number of somewhat fanciful interpretations have been given to this, but it seems merely to indicate that all of the people at that late stage of their sorrow had at last recognized that their punishment was of God, and that it was God's judgment that was upon them. The solicitation, therefore, not to invoke the name of God would have come from the fear that if God were aware of "any" survivor, he also would have been destroyed. That such a conception does not take account of the omniscience of God does not nullify it, for the very fault that led to Israel's destruction was their total failure to develop any adequate conception of the true nature of God. Verse 11 "For behold, Jehovah commandeth, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.""The great house ..." does not mean any particular "great house," but all of the great houses, the same being true of the "small house." The mention of "great house" first in this verse, immediately after Amos 6:9-10, strongly supports the probability that the "ten men left in one house" in those verses has reference to one of those great palatial establishments for which Samaria was famous, each having an occupancy of a hundred or so, including domestics, servants and retainers. Although the great houses shall all be carried away by the destruction, the small houses also will not escape. Why? God has commanded it! "Rich and poor alike have been guilty of turning away from Jehovah to serve their appetites."[29]Verse 12 "Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood."The meaning of this verse was thus summarized by Schultz: "There is a spiritual and moral order in the universe that is just as impossible to ignore as the natural order. It is as senseless to pervert justice as it is to expect horses to run on the rocks, or for oxen to plow on rock."[30]Translators have difficulty with this verse, some of them rendering it "horses to run up a cliff... or plow in the sea with oxen"; but such renditions, even if allowed, would not change the essential meaning of the passage. "It is easier to change the course of nature, or the use of things of nature, than the course of God's providence or the laws of his just retribution."[31]As Keil said, "These verses show the moral perversity of the unrighteous conduct of the wicked."[32]Verse 13 "Ye that rejoice in a thing of naught, that say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath, unto the brook of the Arabah.""Things of naught ... horns ..." Recent scholarly studies on these words indicate that, "a thing of naught is actually a mistranslation for Lodebar, which has the same sound in Hebrew, and that horns is the same as the proper name Karnaim, which means horns in Hebrew."[33] In this light, most recent translations renderAmos 6:13, as follows: "You brag about capturing the town of Lodebar. You boast, We were strong enough to take Karnaim." "The verse is a sarcastic allusion to the conquests of Jeroboam II in Transjordan, which are narrated in 2 Kings 14:25, two towns that he captured being mentioned here."[34] Amos here made a play upon the meaning of the names of the towns, Lodebar, for example, meaning "a thing of naught." Nevertheless, the people were very arrogant and boastful about their successes. `The reiterated emphasis on `our ... we ... ourselves' mocks the boasting assessment which the people made of Jeroboam's successes.'"[35]"I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel ..." It should always be remembered in studying this prophecy that it was exactly and terribly fulfilled just as God had promised. Both the Sacred Scriptures and the testimony of the archeologist testify to the overwhelming destruction of Israel within some thirty years after Amos wrote this prophecy. "The kingdom of Israel was destroyed in the year 722 by Sargon in the first month of his reign when Samaria was taken after a siege which was begun by his predecessor, Shalmanezer IV, and had lasted three years."[36]Excavations made about 1843 revealed the old palace of Sargon II and the so-called "Display Inscription" at Khorsabad, in which Sargon II described the humiliation of Samaria in his own words: "I besieged and captured Samaria, carrying off 27,290 of the people who dwelt therein. Fifty chariots I gathered from among them. I caused others to take their portion (of the deported inhabitants). I set my officers over them and imposed upon them the tribute of the former king."[37]"From the entrance of Hamath, unto the brook of Arabah ..." This expression stands for the northern boundary of the kingdom and the southern boundary of Canaan,"[38] thus including the southern kingdom of Judah also, a recurring theme in Amos. "Hamath is the pass between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, the northern limit of Israelite territory. The Arabah is the deep valley in which the Dead Sea lies."[39] The most extended borders of Jewish dominion in the days of Solomon were encompassed in these limits; and, although they had for a brief season been restored under Jeroboam II, it was but for a little time. All was swept away by the Assyrian invasion, except that Jerusalem and the southern kingdom remained about 150 years until they were carried away to Babylon. The relevance of this prophecy for our own times should never be overlooked. As Butler said: "The message of Amos is still quite relevant and contemporary. Our society is almost a sister to that one in its ingratitude, irresponsibility, arrogance, and sensuality. Amos was not able to call men back to God in his day; but he was willing to lay down his life if necessary to give God's call to repentance. Can prophets of today succeed where Amos did not? Time alone will tell."[40] Amos Chapter SixWoe To Complacency (Amos 6:1-7)The second woe is against the complacency and affluence of the people. The people think they do not need God for anything. They have everything they could ever want. They are believe they are secure and satisfied because of their wealth. They take their ease. They live for their comforts. The condemnation is not the wealth itself, because God had made them prosperous. The condemnation is that the people found their security and joy in their wealth. Now the people felt secure because of the wealth they possessed. They thought the day of judgment and disaster would not come because they had their wealth (Amos 6:3). We easily do the same thing as these people in the days of Amos. One way we do this is by making comparisons in wealth. We want to make sure that we are equal to or greater than our neighbors. If they get a new car, then we need to get a new car because we think we deserve it more than they. We compare the new toys they buy versus ours. We compare the size of our homes, the niceness of our yards, or some other standard by which we are finding our value. Rather than finding our value in God and his grace, we care about what we have. We find security in accumulating possessions, keeping things nice and as new as possible, and always keeping up with the neighbors. What we fail to see is that our wealth is causing us to be complacent toward God. We lose our passion and our zeal for him and his word because we are caught up in the things we have. We are entangled in having the comforts and ease that this world has to offer. Rather than being uncomfortable to the glory of the Lord, we want to be comfortable for the glory of ourselves. Instead of seeking and saving the lost, we will sit and watch the television show, Lost. Our efforts turn to our comforts and we lose our purpose and mission given to us by God to passionately pursue his kingdom. Verse 6 shows that this was the trouble with Israel. They are enjoying drinking wine from the bowl rather than being grieved over the spiritual condition of Israel. Spiritual things no longer drive our hearts nor direct our actions. Comfort and wealth become the drive and the decision-maker. We think we have all we need without God. Woe To Pride (Amos 6:8-14)This complacency and enjoyment of wealth leads to pride. In this section of Amos God declares that he will take their pride away. God decrees, “ I will deliver up this city and all that is in it.” If ten are in the house, they shall die. Fear will strike the nation so severely that they will be afraid to even utter the name of the Lord lest the wrath of God come against him. How proud do you think you can be when you stand before the Almighty God? Job’ s pride was brought low when the Lord visited him in the whirlwind. We too easily are trusting in ourselves on the basis of our wealth, our work, and wisdom. We need to seriously consider if we are trusting our lives to God or if we are trusting in ourselves. Can we honestly say that we have put our lives in the hand of God or are we still running our lives? God tells Israel that they think they are something when they are actually nothing. They were rejoicing because they had conquered Lodebar. God makes fun of them because Lo-debar literally means “ nothing.” God makes a play on words telling the people that they think they are something when they conquered nothing. How can we possibly think that we have power before God? How can we think that we have any room for pride or selfish ambition before God? Who do we think we are? Trust in God, not in yourself. To think that we do not need God’ s direction and do not need to obey his words is the highest point of selfish pride. We are not that wise or that smart. God possesses wisdom and we are arrogant to think that we know better how to live in this world than what he has revealed to us. ConclusionGod has promised that another “ day of the Lord” is coming. “ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (2 Peter 3:10 ESV) We need to carefully consider if we are truly ready for the coming the Lord. We must learn from Israel’ s example by carefully considering if we are holding on to our idols and false worship all the while thinking that the day of the Lord is something to look forward to when it is not. We must prepare our hearts and change our lives if we are going to be truly ready for the day of the Lord. Do not be caught by surprised. Do not let the day of the light of Christ become your day of darkness because you were walking in the sins of Israel. Amos 6:1. Woe is pronounced just once in the present connection and it applies to all the leading men in Israel who are described in the first 6 verses of the chapter. It is from nowv and Strong defines it with the single word "oh!” It has been rendered by ah, alas, ho, O, and woe in the A. V. It signifies that something very distressing is going to come upon those of whom it is spoken. At ease means to be feeling secure and contented, and unconcerned about the comfort of others. And that, too, even when the feeling of security might be at the expense of the poor and be causing them much distress. Zion is used figuratively to denote the people of Israel as a nation. Samaria was the capital of the 10-tribe kingdom, and that portion of the Jews trusted in the power of their headquarters to stand between them and all trouble. Named chief of the nations. These leaders of the Israelites had obtained a high standing even among the heathen nations because of their partaking with them in idolatrous practices. House of Israel came. These princes had so much power that the common people looked to them for leadership, notwithstanding the unjust treatment they had received concerning their own rights. Amos 6:2. Calneh, Hamath and Gath were communities of the heathen which were once powerful. But what was their condition now as Amos was writing? It was one of humiliation brought about by the same people who were predicted to come against Israel. Since the people of the Lord were no stronger than the mentioned ones who were subdued, they should not loll around with a feeling of “ security” as if nothing evil could come upon them. Amos 6:3, The false teachers denied that the nation was in any danger, or at least for the time being. Such as-surances of security misled the people because they believed their prophets. The result of it was to encourage further acts of injustice. This is along the same line as a statement of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 8; Ecclesiastes 11 : “ Because sentence against, an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil,” Amos 6:4. The simple meaning of this verse is that the princes and other leaders of the nation were living in the height of luxury. That fact alone would have been bad enough, hut by picking out the choicest food only, they deprived the common people of their share of the good things that were intended for all of the citizens. Amos 6:5. With all of the facts and truths before him that have been so clearly set forth, surely the reader is prepared to avoid a fundamental error that has been made in commenting on this verse, It is a common thing for certain .teachers to use this verse in showing that God condemned instrumental music even in Old Testament times. In such teaching they miss en-tirely the point the prophet is making. The verse is but another item of the practice I have already explained, that of mixing some things that would have been endorsed previously, with their idolatrous and other evil things, thinking that God would accept the whole program. Amos 6:6. In the preceding chapter we saw how these selfish leaders had sandwiched their evil doings with some of the original ordinances of the law, and the same thing is done in this. Verse 5 is the "fining” composed of instrumental music, something in-troduced and endorsed by David with the Lord’ s blessing. Then around that are the things that were prompted by their own evil desires. Drink wine in bowls. The last word is from MIZBAQ, which Strong defines, "A bowl (as if for sprinkling),” and the word has also been rendered by ‘ 'basin." It indicates the extravagance and selfishness of these men. They were not satisfied with what a regular drinking cup would supply, but drank so much wine that it required these large vessels to serve them. The ointments were all precious and costly, but these men appropriated to their personal use the chief or choice ones. After his description of the general program of these leaders, the prophet states his concluding charge against them in the words, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. For some reason the name of Joseph is occasionally used to designate the nation as a whole, especially when the writer is dealing with the sorrows and injustices of its common people. This is doubtless because he was such an unusual example of patience and virtue even under the most trying circumstances. But the hardships of the poor did not mean anything to these leaders among the Israelites, for they persisted in gratifying their own selfish desires at the expense of their poor brethren. Amos 6:7. When an army invades a city or territory, it is considered good strategy to capture its leading men first if possible (for example see 1 Kings 22:31). That idea seems to have been followed in this case, for the men who were “ out in front” in their selfish domination over the common people, were destined to he first, to go when the enemy came against, the land. That will put ail end to their banquets and other indulgencies. The reader should again consult the long note in connection with the comments on Isaiah 1:10, volume 3 of this Commentary. Amos 6:8. Excellency is from a Hebrew word that means arrogance or pride. Jacob is used as a designation for the nation as a whole, but espedaily the leading men who dominated the common people. These men exalted themselves in their pride of power, and did many evil things under the pretense of their position. It was all this that God said he abhorred, and caused Him to decree the complete destruction of their city. Amos 6:9. The destruction threatened was to be so complete that if a house contained 10 men. they would a!! die and would need to be disposed of by someone outside the building who was supposed to be Interested in their cases. Amos 6:10. It was customary in ancient times for the nearest relative living to bury the dead (see Genesis 25:9; Genesis 35:29; Judges 16:31), which is the reason that the uncle is mentioned here. Burneth is rendered “ burial" in Moffatt’ s translation, I shall Quote from Funk and Wagnalls Standard Bible Dictionary on the subject of “ Mode of Burial.” “ Cremation was not practiced in Israel; the usage was rather to bury the dead, while cremation, of criminals for example (Leviticus 20; Leviticus 14; Leviticus 21:9; Joshua 7:25), appears as a disgrace added to the penalty of death.” The burning of incense in connection with burial cere-monials sometimes might be mistaken for the burning of the bones of the dead (1 Samuel 31; 1 Samuel 12; 2 Chronicles 16:11; Jeremiah 31:5). By the sides of the house means someone near the house where those 10 men were just found dead. Is there yet any with thee; is there one that I have overlooked? Hold thy tongue, etc. The destruction decreed for the place was to be so complete that it would he of no use at that late hour to make any appeal to the Lord. Amos 6:11. This verse explains why the remark was made in the close of the preceding one. The Lord had com-manded that just such a complete de-struction. was to come upon the people and houses of Israel as is described. Amos 6:12. The two questions in the beginning of this verse should be an-swered in the negative. The wickedness of the nation had turned good judgment into gall (bitterness), and righteousness had been supplanted by hemlock (poison). Therefore the Lord determined to strip the land of its fertility, and render it useless to work their beasts. Amos 6:13. Strong says the figurative meaning of the original for horn is "power.” These exacting leaders of Israel were boasting that they had power by reason of their own merit. Tile truth of the matter was that they beat down all who asked for their own rights, and usurped a position of almost absolute power. Amos 6:14. Hemath was a place at the northern extremity of Palestine, and the wilderness refers to the valley at the south near the Dead Sea. The prediction is that a nation was to come against Israel and subdue the Whole territory between the points. Five Visions of Judgment (Amos 7:1-17). “ Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me; and behold, he formed locust in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo it was after the king’ s mowings. And it came to pass that when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, 1 beseech thee; how shall Jacob stand? for he is small. Jehovah repented concerning this: it shall not be, saith Jehovah” (Amos 7:1-3). Amos stresses in each of these messages that “ the Lord showed me.” They were not tales or speculations of his own contrivance. The same is true of all the writers of scripture. David said “ The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and his word was upon my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2). Paul wrote, “ which things we speak, not in words which man’ s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words” (1 Corinthians 2:13). Then he reminded them that the things he wrote “ are the commandment of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37). In Peter’ s words, “ men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21) Faithfulness to God involves belief in the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. It is important to note that Amos relates to us a vision, not an historical event that had occurred. This is evident from verse three where God repented and said “ it shall not be.” Locust plagues were the scourge of the eastern people. Before the days of pesticides and crop dusting, the people were helpless against the invading horde. They would literally strip the land bare of vegetation, even barking the trees. The Lord “ formed” the locust. Clearly Amos had pointed their attention to God who formed the mountains (Amos 4:13) and the heavenly orbs (Amos 5:8). Now he reminds them that even the tiny grasshopper is the product of God’ s power. Further all the works of his hand, exist to serve him. In the face of a God so awesome, with such inexhaustible resources, how can they expect to successfully ignore or resist him? He sees the hay fields. The first mowing had been completed. It went to the king as a tax or levy (See 1 Kings 4:27; 1 Kings 18:5). “ The latter growth” would be the second and last mowing before the long dry summer season set in. If this crop failed, the common people would be in great distress. Remember, locust eat not only hay but every green plant. Seeing this coming disaster, Amos cries out, “ O Lord Jehovah forgive, I beseech thee.” Intercession was part of a prophet’ s work. So did Moses (Numbers 14:19) and Samuel (1 Samuel 7:8) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:19-22). The prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16). Jehovah heard and honored Amos’ prayer and “ repented concerning this.” He suspended the planned judgment. Infidels and skeptics pounce on this and similar verses, attempting to find a contradiction and discredit God. They cite, “ God is not a man that he should repent” (Numbers 23:19). The answer is simple. The holy and righteous God commits no sin for which he needs to repent. He does however, alter his course of action as a wise ruler. In this vision we see God’ s mercy in restraining judgment. “ and behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land. Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee; how shall Jacob stand? for he is small. Jehovah repented concerning this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord Jehovah” (Amos 7:4-6). The fire that devoured the great deep (large bodies of water) and would have eaten up the land, is an extended drought. Realizing the awful damage a prolonged drought would do and the suffering that would result therefrom, again the prophet successfully intercedes. Not only for nations, but for individuals should we intercede (1 John 5:16). Again, we remind our readers that this was a vision Amos saw, not a particular historical event. “ Thus he showed me; and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more; and the high places of Isaac shall be desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword” (Amos 7:7-9). Before, Amos saw locusts and drought as God’ s agents of destruction. In this vision, the Lord himself is seen inspecting the nation. In his hand is a plumb-line, i.e., a string with a metal weight attached at one end which is used to measure and determine the vertical straightness of a wall. We call the metal weight a “ plumb-bob.” A wall that is standing properly is said to be plumb. Such measuring devises were used in erecting walls. They were also used to determine if a wall was leaning and therefore in need of demolition (See 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11). The wall stands for the Northern Kingdom. The plumb-line represents God’ s, word his righteous standard of judgment. The nation was out of plumb. God had confirmed it and would call for its demolition. Twice judgment had been deferred through the intercession of Amos. Now it must come. We are reminded of his earlier words “ for three transgressions of Israel, yea for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof’ (Amos 2:6). “ The high places of Isaac” stand parallel to “ the sanctuaries of Israel.” He refers to their centers of idolatry. He likely calls them by Isaac’ s name for that patriarch had worshiped God faithfully in the very place, such as Beersheba, where they now worshiped idols (Compare Genesis 26:23-25; Amos 5:5; Amos 8:14). The house of Jeroboam suffered this violence when, Zechariah, was assassinated by Shallum (2 Kings 15:8-12). His death fulfilled yet another prophecy spoken to Jehu, founder of the dynasty, that his sons would reign to the fourth generation (2 Kings 10:30). This threat against the house of Jeroboam provoked an immediate response by the priestly guardian of Bethel’ s shrine. “ Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam the king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land” (Amos 7:10-11). Rankled at Amos’ preaching and concerned by the attention he was getting, Amaziah sends a message hurriedly to the king. He was seeking relief; perhaps an injunction prohibiting Amos’ preaching or better still his arrest. As is typical of corrupt professionals, Amaziah painted Amos’ preaching in the darkest colors, not hesitating to shade it to gain a favorable response. He falsely asserts that Amos was part of a conspiracy, which would involve others in some planned criminal activity. He took Amos’ warning against the dynasty and said that Amos had threatened the king’ s life. He failed to note the basis of the prophet’ s threat of captivity and that it was conditional. National repentance could help their situation (5:14-15). He did not tell the king that God had said these things, only that Amos had done so. “ The land is not able to bear all his words” means “ we cannot afford to tolerate such preaching.” Opponents of reformation frequently protest that such change would be destructive to the society and government. “ Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there; but prophesy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’ s sanctuary, and it is a royal house” (7:12-13). It is noteworthy that Jeroboam evidently took no notice of Amaziah’ s urgent communique. Either he did not view Amos as a threat or he hesitated to challenge a prophet of God. Perhaps he recalled how a prophet from Judah had dealt with the first Jeroboam at that very place. (1 Kings 13:1-6). Such information would temper even a king’ s reaction. Not getting the desired results from the king, Amaziah proceeded to deal with the pesky prophet personally, “ flee thou away into the land of Judah” means literally, “ flee for thy profit” or as we would say, “ if you know what is good for you, you will get out of here.” The word "sccr” from the Hebrew hozch is a word frequently used for prophets because they saw visions (1 Samuel 9:9; 2 Samuel 24:11). The pagan priest urged Amos to go back to Judah, his homeland where such preaching as his would be acceptable. He later told him that he was persona non grata in Bethel. He then added an insult by suggesting the Amos’ motivation was for “ bread,” i.e., food for his belly. Then as now, there were mercenary prophets in the land. Micah speaks of corrupt prophets that “ divine for money” (Micah 3:5-11). Being a priest who served for hire, Amaziah wrongly assumed Amos to be cut of the same cloth. Bethel was “ the king’ s sanctuary,” i.e., a sanctuary founded by and governed by the king as the principle seat of worship in his land. Amaziah spoke better than he knew. It surely was Jeroboam’ s and not Jehovah’ s sanctuary. God’ s house was at Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 23:25). That which is human in origin will forever remain human. It was “ a royal house” which means that the king had a residence there. While the chief seat of political power was at Samaria, the king had residences in other places for his enjoyment. Earlier, Amos had mentioned summer houses and winter houses (Amos 3:15). “ Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’ s son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees; and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go prophecy unto my people Israel” (Amos 7:14-15). We thrill at the response of Amos to the threats, insults and prohibitions of the corrupt priest. Imagine the rustic shepherd, staff in hand, as he straightens himself and fastens his unblinking, piercing eyes on the gorgeously arrayed Amaziah. With firm measured tones his answers first his insult that he was preaching or prophesying for bread. He was not a prophet by profession or training. The rebellious kings of Israel kept a large band of time-serving prophets on payroll to preach the king’ s will to the people (1 Kings 18:19; 1 Kings 22:6). This kind of prophet Amos was not. We should not conclude, as do some liberals, that Amos repudiates and indicts all prophets with these words, only those who are false. Such false prophets did their work in view of the financial reward it would bring them (See Jeremiah 6:13-14; Micah 3:5; Micah 3:11). “ A prophet’ s son” is a disciple or student of a school of the prophets. Such schools existed from the days of Samuel (1 Samuel 19:19-21; II King’ s 2:3-7). Doubtless, young men of spiritual inclination went to these schools to study at the feet of great prophets like Samuel, Elijah and Elisha. Amos had not gone to school to become a prophet. Jehovah had specially called him for his task and given him his message. As to Amaziah’ s assertion that he was looking for bread, Amos informs him that he had an honorable occupation as a shepherd and tender of sycamore fig trees. Among the Hebrews, shepherds were common and respected. David had secured them a place of honor in the eyes of the people. His use of the word noked, rendered “ flock,” provides a clue for the variety of sheep he kept. Noked’ s are a small ugly sheep with a highly valued, superior coat of wool. The sycamore tree, of which he spoke, is the sycamore fig (not to be confused with our American sycamore). It is a large tree reaching up to fifty feet in height. It has a fruit similar to the mulberry fig but of inferior quality and eaten only by the poor. The fruit was dressed by pinching or puncturing the end of the fruit to allow insects to escape and to hasten ripening. God had specifically commission this rugged man of the wilderness to “ Go prophesy unto my people Israel.” As the prophet responded directly to the corrupt priest, his words of bold confidence sent a shudder through the body of Amaziah. “ Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah; Thou saith Prophesy not against Israel and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac” (Amos 7:16). God had said, “ Go prophesy unto my people Israel.” Amaziah had said “ Prophesy not against Israel.” The unspoken question rings out, who should a prophet, obey? How dare a mortal man contradict the command of the living God? We can visualize Amos taking a step nearer to Amaziah, extending his finger to touch his chest and saying, “ therefore, thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land unclean, and Israel shall be led away captive out of his land” (Amos 7:17). In the coming fall of the nation to the Assyrian invaders, his wife would be forced by the extremities and hardships to sell herself in order to survive. His children would perish in the battle. His property would be apportioned to foreigners whom the Assyrians would send to occupy the land. Amaziah would be led away captive to a foreign land from which he would never return. To the Hebrews every land beyond their own was unclean, polluted by the heathen population and their customs. He ends his solemn pronouncement with the very words that Amaziah had reported to Jeroboam “ Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.” We can well imagine Amaziah standing there, thunderstruck and speechless. With a gulp, he slowly backs away and with trembling heart makes his way to his chamber. Like a mighty warrior, Amos emerges from the battle arena unscathed, the enemy humiliated and driven from the field. Amos Chapter SevenVerse 1 Here begins the final major section of Amos, consisting principally of five visions, three of which are found in this chapter: (1) that of the locusts (Amos 7:1-3); (2) that of the fire (Amos 7:4-6); and (3) that of the plumb-line (Amos 7:7-9). The balance of the chapter (Amos 7:10-14) has an exceedingly interesting and instructive narrative of the confrontation between God's Prophet (Amos) and Jeroboam's Priest. The appearance of this historical narrative in the midst of these visions has been seized upon by Biblical critics anxious to use it in some way as a basis for their attacks upon the validity of the prophecy However, this last section of the chapter (Amos 7:10-14) belongs exactly where it is. The pagan priest Amaziah quoted from the third vision in his report of Amos' words to the king (Amos 7:9-11), and also referred to Amos as a "seer," literally, one who sees visions (Amos 7:12), a word which McFadden discerningly translated "visionary."[1] Thus, it is impossible to deny that the first three of these visions actually provoked and led up to the dramatic confrontation between Amos and Amaziah. When this is discerned, the reason for the narrative's appearance here (where and when it occurred) is evident. The form of the narrative is designated by some as a terse prose, contrasting with what they call the poetry of the rest of the chapter; and theRSV has followed this false allegation of incompatibility between the narrative and the rest of the chapter, printing the narrative in prose form and the rest as poetry. However, the truth is that the narrative is just as poetic as anything else in Amos. W. R. Harper discussed this extensively, giving six reasons why this narrative is poetry, noting especially, "the logical division into two parts (Amos 7:10-13, and Amos 7:14-17), and the use of regular trimeter in the first, and regular tetrameter in the second."[2] His conclusion was that: "The artistic skill which put the accusation (Amos 7:10-13) in a trimeter movement, and the strong and terrible reply (Amos 7:14-17) in the heavier and statelier tetrameter is characteristic of Amos. The symmetry is throughout extraordinary."[3]In the light of this, which can hardly be denied, it is deplorable that the RSV accommodated the critics by printing this chapter as a poem into which a prose narrative had been inserted. As a matter of obvious truth, the chapter is a unit, being composed by one of Amos' extended public sermons at the shrine of Bethel, a sermon long enough for Amaziah to send a message to the king, and then attempt upon his own authority to expel the prophet. And what was the result of this interruption? Amos finished his sermon, including a special prophecy for Amaziah! The wild speculations to the effect that Amos was arrested and executed, or that, "He left under protest, for Judah,"[4]or that, "Amos appeared no more as a prophet in the Northern Kingdom,"[5] are unsupported by any evidence. The known sequel to this confrontation between God's Prophet and the King's Priest is that Amos went right on and gave the other two of the five visions that composed his sermon. Amos 7:1"Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo it was the latter growth after the king's mowings."The thing to remember about the first two of the visions of threatened disasters against Israel is that they did not occur, but were averted through the prophet's intercession. The evident reason why Amos included these first two sections in his sermon was that of showing to all the people that he in no manner desired the evil things to come to pass which it was his duty to prophecy, but that he actually stood before God as an advocate of the people and as a prayerful intercessor for their good. This angle of Amos' prophecy was left out of Amaziah's report to the king. "In the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth ... after the king's mowings ..." It is not clear, exactly what custom is referred to in the second phrase here; and the scholars have no agreement about what is meant; but the meaning is clear enough: the threatened locust plague occurred at exactly the right time to have done the maximum damage. It is agreed by all that the language here is figurative, and that the locust plague stands for some terrible threatened disaster in the past which God had averted. It is certain that the visions do not stand for something that actually happened, but for that which appeared to be impending and did not occur. Nor do they refer to the ultimate judgment which would actually befall Israel, a fate strongly predicted by other words and other visions. As Harper said, "These visions are not premonitions of coming disaster."[6] In a sense, these first two visions are the prophet's revelation that the abyss had yawned underneath Israel repeatedly during the course of the chosen people's ceaseless rebellions against God, and that again, and again God's mercy had spared the impending punishment, or rather deferred it; for it would yet occur anyway unless Israel repented. It may not be wise therefore to limit the application of the vision to some single instance of such a relenting; and yet it is doubtless true that there were historical instances of such a a thing known to all. Deane thought that, "The vision is thought to refer to the first invasion of the Assyrians, when Pul was bribed by Menahem to withdraw."[7] Certainly, such a view does no violence to the text. It was a very efficient and fruitful device to represent all such deliverances which had rescued Israel from threatened disasters in the past under the figure of a locust plague, which in Palestine, is a recurring phenomenon. Verse 2 "And it came to pass when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small. Jehovah repented concerning this: It shall not be, saith Jehovah."Foremost in this is the prayer of the prophet with the resulting deliverance of the people. It would appear to be obvious that the reason for the inclusion of these visions by Amos, visions which he had actually had, in his proclamations against Bethel, is that of disarming any suspicion that the people might have entertained to the effect that Amos hoped for, or desired, any calamity to befall them. On the other hand, he was the source of prayers which had actually averted disasters from them many times in the past. "Jehovah repented ..." Such expressions in the scriptures do not imply any instability, fickleness, or indecision on the part of God, his repentance always meaning that some justifying change had occurred in the threatened people themselves. "When they made an end of eating the grass of the land ..." This indicates that the disasters which had been averted through prayer were not totally avoided, but that they were interrupted and averted before fatal damage was inflicted. This would fit the interpretation of such things by Deane who cited one of them thus: "This refers to the retreat of the Assyrians under Pul, the usurping monarch who assumed the name of Tiglath-Peleser II (2 Kings 15:17 ff). Some commentators consider this judgment to be literally a plague of locusts; but this is not probable."[8]Verse 4 "Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land. Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small. Jehovah repented concerning this: This shall not be, saith the Lord Jehovah."No matter how this vision is understood, the meaning of it is exactly that of the preceding vision, namely, great disasters threatening Israel, and yet being averted through the intercession of the prophet. Since it was a vision, it could have been a fire so great that it burned up the sea (the "great deep"),[9] and even the earth itself was threatened, carrying with it suggestions of the great and final Judgment Day itself. "This is not for Amos a naturalistic vision. This is the supernatural fire of the Lord's judgment."[10] There is certainly nothing wrong with this interpretation. Some scholars, however perhaps overlooking the fact that this is a vision, have interpreted it naturalistically, making it, "A drought so intense that the great subterranean depths which supply the springs and streams with water dried up."[11] It really makes no difference at all which view is taken; the message is the same either way. It would appear that the vision's being that of a supernatural event is preferable. Keil understood the fire as, "not an earthly fire, but the fire of the wrath of God";[12] and Barnes thought that the destruction of the sea by fire (in the vision) was a symbol of, "The fire of the Day of Judgment."[13] Schultz and others insist that it is "the summer heat."[14] Refer to the interpretation of the first vision, above, for the meaning here; for it is identical with this. Regarding some particular historical situation that may, along with others, be symbolized by this, Dean has: "The particular calamity alluded to is the second invasion of Tiglath-Pelese II, when he conquered Gilead and the northern part of the kingdom, and carried some of the people captive to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29)."[15]The spiritual overtones of the passage describing these two visions are definite and impressive; and the introduction of what appeared to be a threat of the final judgment itself is a strong suggestion that all of the great punitive judgments of God upon rebellious humanity are typical of the ultimate and final judgment that will be executed at the Last Day. Mankind should never forget that the entire race of Adam's posterity are still living under the primeval sentence of death imposed in Genesis 2:17, a sentence which was never vacated or repealed, but only deferred, and is yet destined to be executed in its fullness upon humanity. There are surely overtones of that in the passage before us. Verse 7 "Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand."The proper understanding of this vision must include the recognition that the plumb-line was a symbol both of building and of destruction, the plumb-line symbolizing the testing required for the construction of a sound building, and for revealing those defects that required the destruction of a building. The figure elaborated in this vision, "represents the Lord himself as coming to examine the conduct of Israel, and finally deciding upon its entire ruin."[16] In this vision, "Amos makes no prayer, and Yahweh, on his part, confirms the meaning with an interpretative oracle."[17] It is significant that the same plumb-line used to build Israel was that which was used in their destruction. "By that law, that right, those Providential leadings, and that grace which we have received, by the same we are judged."[18]Verse 8 "And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more."The direct conversation which Amos here mentions as occurring between himself and the Lord was probably for the purpose of emphasizing the truth that Amaziah later ignored in his message to the king, namely, that the words of denunciation uttered by the prophet were not his words at all, but the words of the true God of Israel. "A plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel ..." This was an ominous promise: "The plumb-line was used not only in building, but in destroying houses (2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 28:17; Isaiah 34:11, and Lamentations 2:8). It denotes that God's judgments are measured out by the most exact rules of justice."[19]"I will not again pass by them any more ..." Again, the clear reference to the ancient Passover is evident; only, this time, he will not do a similar thing. As Smith said: "The word `pass by' here and in Amos 5:17 was probably deliberately used by Amos (rather, by the Lord) to represent the reversal of the "passover" when God passed through Egypt in judgment, but delivered Israel (Exodus 12:23)."[20]Through the passage of time, the word "passover" had come to have somewhat the same meaning as forgiveness. As Motyet noted, "The phrase "pass by", used again at Amos 8:2, appears in Micah 7:18 in the meaning `to forgive.'"[21]Before leaving this passage, it should be noted that some allegations commonly made regarding this passage should be rejected. "In spite of his plans to punish Israel, for Yahweh they will always remain his beloved and chosen people."[22] As regards the secular, fleshly descendants of Abraham, nothing could be further wrong that such a view, except in its unique application to the true Israel of God, the church of Jesus Christ. That the rebellious and grossly wicked children of Abraham in the fleshly sense whose notorious rebellions against God and all righteousness are the burden of the entire Old Testament, and who climaxed their unrighteousness by the murder of the Son of God Himself - that that people are, in some sense, still "the chosen people of God" is a monstrous error. Verse 9 "And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.""The high places of Isaac ..." "Isaac" is here a title of Israel, as the parallel in the next line shows. It is not the religious conduct of the patriarch Isaac that is under indictment here, but that of the Northern Kingdom. The amazing notion current among many scholars to the effect that there was nothing wrong with those shrines which the rebellious people had built upon the very sites of the old pagan shrines that Once were there before Israel came into the land could not possibly be correct. Some of the patriarchs indeed had been associated with some of those places, through events that marked their lives; and, no doubt, the paganized priesthood of Jeroboam's Israel had, from such premises, alleged the legitimacy of their shrines; it was, nevertheless, a deception. Harper's opinion that, "Down to the days of Josiah, the nation worshipped Yahweh regularly and legitimately upon the so-called high places,"[23] cannot be allowed, the sole reason for the shrine of Bethel, for example, having been Jeroboam's repudiation of God's true religion and the institution of another, as a political device to establish his throne. "Even the priesthood which Jeroboam I appointed was absolutely illegitimate (1 Kings 12:31 f)."[24] This latter fact was one of the gross sins of Israel that would be exposed by God's plumb-line, of which Thorogood gives this excellent definition: "First, He was using the Law which he had given to the Israelites long before, as the standard of their faith and conduct. Secondly, He was using the prophets, such as Amos ... Their preaching was a standard by which the Israelites could judge their own lives."[25]One false idea which is almost invariably associated with these vigorous condemnations is expressed as follows, "Amos also taught that the most elaborate worship, if insincere, is but an insult to God." This is true enough, except for the implication that, if the worship of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom at the pagan shrines of Dan, Bethel and other high places had been "sincere" it would have been acceptable to God; and this is not the case at all. As Christ himself declared, "In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). This applies pointedly to the very thing that characterized the worship in the Northern Kingdom; it was founded on practically nothing that God commanded, but was built altogether upon traditional, pagan and opportunistic practices. "The sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste ..." This refers to the, "idol-temples at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:29), at Gilgal (Amos 4:4), and perhaps in other places."[26] It was not merely the social indifference and oppression of the poor, and not merely a matter of their insincerity, but their whole rotten system of gross paganism, garnished and embellished with a few trappings from God's true religion, that was marked for destruction here. Furthermore, not merely the overthrow of false religion would occur, but also the overthrow of the evil dynasty that had initiated it, and the whole people of that evil generation which had received and reveled in the false religion. "And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword ..." As Keil pointed out, this is a reference to the dynasty of Jeroboam I, "but not to be restricted to the overthrow of his dynasty, but an announcement of the destruction of the Israelitish monarchy."[27] Three things should be noted, no special king is mentioned here, but a dynasty, such being the meaning of "the house of Jeroboam"; secondly, this is something which God promised to do, not Amos; and in the third place, the name, or identity of any ruler to be killed by the sword was definitely not mentioned. Verse 10 "Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.""Amaziah ..." Nothing has been seen any more astounding than the argument from this pagan priests' name that he was a true priest of God! "His name (Yahweh is strong) is compounded with Yahweh and would indicate that the sanctuaries of Israel maintained the worship of Yahweh."[28] The same kind of argument would prove that the great New Testament preacher Apollos was a worshipper of Apollo. One can hardly understand the tenderness of so many commentators with regard to that utterly pagan and depraved worship of the Israelites. These two verses (Amos 7:10-11) are the first of a three-fold division of this last section of the chapter, and relates to Amaziah's report to the king. The other two are: Amaziah's taking matters into his own hands (Amos 7:12-13), and Amos' answer to Amaziah (Amos 7:14-17). The whole passage is one of remarkable strength and effectiveness. Smith's quotation from George Adam Smith is appropriate: "It `is one of the great scenes of history.' It reports the conflict between a priest who spoke for and with the authority of a king, and a prophet who delivered the Word of God."[29]"Jeroboam shall die by the sword ..." Incredibly, some have defended this slander upon the basis that, "it is basically correct."[30] Indeed no! On the contrary, it is a base and unprincipled lie. As the Catholic Bible puts it: "The prophet did not say this, but "that the Lord would rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword," as was verified when Zacharias, son and successor of Jeroboam, was slain with the sword."[31]Amaziah's report was false for these reasons: 1. It falsely reported who was to be killed. 2. It falsely attributed the prediction to Amos, instead of the Lord. 3. It is false in that it omitted any mention of the sins of Israel which were the reason for this prophecy. 4. It is false in that it made no mention of any call to repentance, or to the hope extended if they did repent. If this report is "basically correct," it would be interesting to see one that was "basically in error!" Note particularly the point in Amos' preaching at which this rude interruption by the pagan priest occurred. Neither of the first two visions occasioned any objection from Amaziah, for they were accounts of deliverances which God had extended to Israel; but this third vision, which was a bold and thundering prophecy of the immediate and impending doom of the whole nation, to be effected by the overthrow of the monarchy, the destruction of the sanctuaries, and the captivity of the whole nation, aroused the "high priest" of Bethel to action, which issued in his sending a hasty message to the king, and then, apparently not waiting for any authority, nevertheless took what action he could against Amos without any authority. It would appear that Amaziah had been listening to all that Amos said. Some have found it amazing that Jeroboam II is not represented here as taking any action whatever against Amos; and we believe that this is evidence enough that he took none, a conclusion that might seem incredible. However, this man, Jeroboam II, had evidently known personally the prophet Jonah, upon whose prophecies he had relied when he came to the throne, and in accordance with which he had won the great military triumphs which had led so disastrously to the sin and overconfidence of Israel. Jeroboam's respect for the prophetic office must, therefore, have been very considerable. In this light, Jamieson's conclusion is reasonable, "The king, however, did not give ear to Amaziah, probably from religious awe of the prophet of Jehovah."[32] Barnes was also of this opinion, pointing out that Jeroboam would also have had knowledge "of the true prophecies of Elisha with reference to the successes of his father, Jeroboam I."[33] The action of Amaziah in himself, taking the authority to forbid Amos to speak and ordering him to leave the country, does not nullify this; because it is exactly the kind of conduct one might have anticipated in a time-serving self-seeking pagan priest like Amaziah. The next sub-section of this episode presents Amaziah's action against Amos. Verse 12 "Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophecy there: but prophecy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house.""O seer, go flee thou away ..." It is puzzling why so many find nothing contemptuous or patronizing in such a statement as this, for there would appear to be plenty of both. It is true, of course, that some have made "seer" in every way a synonym of prophet; but there were "seers" by the hundreds in antiquity who were of the devil. The word also carries the thought captured by McFadden's paraphrase of it as, "Thou visionary,"[34] which, in the light of the visions Amaziah had just been hearing from Amos, would seem to be accurate. Dummelow was doubtless correct in his equating the words of Amaziah here with, "the proverbial saying, `eat your pudding slave, and hold your tongue.'"[35]"Eat bread, and prophecy there ..." the implications of this are a gross reflection upon Amaziah himself, as many have pointed out. He did not recognize any such thing as a truly prophetic office; to him all prophets were concerned merely with what they could get out of it, this being a perfect reflection of his own character. The argument he makes, to the extent that there is any, is that Judah would pay more for prophecies against Israel than could be received for such prophecies being delivered in Israel itself! The expression "eat bread" means "make your living," "peddle your wares," or "do your thing" in Judah, and not at Bethel. "It is the king's sanctuary ..." "It was founded by the king (1 Kings 12:28), and not by God; so, in truth, it had only an earthly sanction,"[36] although it may be doubted that Amaziah noticed the self-convicting admission of these words. There is a world of difference in God's sanctuary and the king's sanctuary. Barnes said that in three places only in the Old Testament is the alleged sanctuary of God called the sanctuary of Israel, here, and in Lamentations 1:10, and Leviticus 26:31.[37] Christ likewise designated the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:38), "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." The balance of this chapter is comprised of Amos' undaunted response to Amaziah's peevish and blasphemous efforts to thwart the prophet's holy mission, namely, that of turning Israel to repentance before it would be everlastingly too late. It appears that Amos was in no way intimidated or silenced by Amaziah's interruption. Verse 14 "Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees."This was leveled squarely at Amaziah's unjust charge, by implication, that Amos was a cheap "seer" picking up a little money where he might for prophesying against Israel, there being also some implications in Amos' reply, namely, that the regular line of prophets, especially those identified as "the sons of the prophets," those attending the prophetic schools and following the traditions that many of them followed, were indeed the same type of "seer" with whom Amaziah sneeringly sought to identify Amos. "I was no prophet ..." The past tense is vital to this verse, for in no sense whatever was it Amos' purpose here to deny his divine commission and calling as a true prophet of the Almighty God. We may only deplore the fact that both the RSV and the New English Bible, by rendering the verb here in the present, "I am no prophet, etc.," put in Amos' mouth a denial of the very thing he so emphatically affirmed in Amos 7:15 (next). To be sure, the passage could be rendered in either fashion. "The doubt about the tense arises because in Hebrew the verb is not expressed, but left to be understood."[38] Smith included this further explanation: "The Hebrew language often used nominal sentences without verbs. In such a case, the tense of the verb was usually supplied by adopting that of the previous verb. If that principle were followed in this case, the past tense would be required, `I was no prophet.'"[39]Our own choice of the ASV for these studies is due to the fact of there being in it strong evidence of a much greater respect for considerations of this kind than is evident in other versions. Rowley's paraphrase of these verses was given thus by Hammershaimb: "It is not money I prophecy for; I am a prophet by divine constraint. I had not chosen the calling of a prophet, or trained to be a prophet. God laid his hand upon me, and charged me with his word, and I have delivered it where he constrained me to deliver it."[40]"Dresser of sycamore trees ..." "The phrase [~boles] [~shiqmim] may mean either one who plucks mulberry-figs for his own sustenance, or one who cultivates them for others."[41] Dean thought it was the latter in the case of Amos, and Keil believed it was the other. We do not know. In any event, it was a humble calling. Verse 15 "And Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go prophesy unto my people Israel."The acceptance of such a commission meant that Amos was no longer his own master, and that not even the words he was to deliver were to be his own, but the true Word of God. Thus it has ever been with the true prophet or apostle. (See Numbers 22:38; Jeremiah 20:9; and Acts 4:19-20.) Therefore, "Whoever sought to oppose the message of Amos opposed the Most High God."[42] Thus, Amaziah, in his opposition to Amos, had rebelled against God's Word; and therefore, God, through Amos, spoke a prophecy of doom against Amaziah. We may not, therefore, interpret Amos' rejoinder here as the mere "venting of his spite" against the priest of Bethel. Verse 16 "Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.""Drop not thy word ..." Dummelow seems to have captured the thought behind this second clause thus: "Don't let it drip, drip, drip, in imbecile and wearisome fashion (Micah 2:6; Micah 2:11; and Ezekiel 21-2, 7)."[43] Harper, and others, rejected this view: "The word does not carry with it any contemptuous idea";[44] but the idea, especially in English, is certainly there; furthermore, it fits the context perfectly. Before leaving this verse, the rendition of this in the Catholic Bible seems pertinent and is included. It has, "Thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol (instead of "the house of Isaac.")."[45] Their authority for this rendition is not cited, and it certainly could be wrong; but, regardless of that, it properly identifies that "house" at Bethel! Verse 17 "Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife will be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land."This terrible prophecy against Amaziah was doubtless fulfilled exactly, as were all the other prophecies, the evident truth and divine origin of them being the primary reason that the prophecy of Amos has survived some 27 centuries of human history. It is a perpetual memorial to the grand truth that what God prophesies through his prophets will surely come to pass. "Thy wife will be a harlot ..." Such a result as this would have been an inevitable consequence of the great military disaster that loomed upon the horizon of the doomed people: "Rape of women, slaying of youth, partition of property among the victors, and exile of the leaders were all part of the ordinary treatment of a conquered people by the victorious invaders."[46]It is not necessary to assume that Amaziah's wife willingly became a harlot of the city, although some have assumed that she did. What seems more likely is that, violated by the soldiers of Assyria, and left behind with the residue of the people after the deportation, she could have had no other means of sustenance. "Thy sons and thy daughters ..." That these were not mentioned as among those to be "carried away," is likely because they were too young to have any value as slaves, or as objects of gratification; and they were therefore brutally slain by the heartless invaders. "Thy land shall be divided by line ..." that is, parceled out as "booty" among those, including some of the soldiery, with whom the Assyrians repopulated the land. "Thou thyself shall die in a land that is unclean ..." This referred to any land where God was not worshipped, and where paganism was established, here, meaning the land of the Assyrians; and here is powerful evidence that the "repentance" of Nineveh under the preaching of Jonah produced no lasting changes in the character of the fierce, sadistic, and bloodthirsty Assyrians. Behold in this terrible fate of Amaziah the utter worthlessness of a false religion. The trouble in Israel was not merely their "insincerity" in their worship, and not even their "oppression of the poor," which is made out by most modern commentators to be the sum and substance of all that was wrong; but it was their total departure from the Word of God in (1) setting up shrines without divine authority; (2) commissioning priests who according to the Law of Moses were not legitimate; (3) installing idols, such as the golden calves of Jeroboam; (4) polluting their worship through the burning of "leavened bread" to produce an aromatic smell; (5) omitting all sin-offerings, as if they were not sinners; (6) introducing the unauthorized instruments of music "like David"; (7) committing fornication after the ancient pagan rites observed by the followers of Baal, and doing it in the very shrines and lying down by every altar (!) in Israel "upon the clothing" extorted from the poor; (8) drinking wine out of sacred vessels dedicated to God's service, etc. The very suggestion that a tender regard for the poor and a deep sincerity on the part of the people could have sanctified and legitimatized such a bastard religion as that is an affront to all that is written in the Holy Scriptures. The religion by which men hope to receive and retain the favor of Almighty God must be something far more than a sensitive humanism with reference to the common needs and sufferings of mankind, and something far more than a "sincere" following of and participation in some traditional system of worship. Just as ancient Israel had a plumb-line, by which they could have measured, corrected, and constructed a proper and obedient faith, our own generation has the same privilege, that plumb-line, of course, being the teaching of the Word of God. Despite this, many, it would appear, are still making the same fatal mistake as that of the ancient Israelites. As Smith said: "Amaziah undoubtedly felt secure behind the defenses of Samaria and the religious observances at Bethel. He erred in considering the word of God to be just the word of a man and in failing to examine himself and his society (and may we add: and his religion) in light of the covenant privileges and responsibilities."[47]The word of the Lord endureth forever; and it is our humble prayer that the Lord's followers may never forsake that holy word. Amos Chapter SevenThere is a dramatic shift in the closing chapters of Amos’ prophecy. The final three chapters unveil five visions of judgment. Amos 7 contains the first three visions. The visions begin in verse 1 with the words, “ This is what the Lord God showed me.” Vision #1 — Locusts (Amos 7:1-3)The first vision is an image of utter devastation. The timing of this plague is critical. The latter growth was the final harvest until the next season. The king has already taken his portion (likely as taxes) and so the harvest that is left is now reserved for the people. However, the judgment is a mass of locusts coming and wiping out the food for the people. Amos recognizes that this judgment is severe and that no one would survive. The people will die from starvation if the final harvest is destroyed by the locusts. The use of locusts was one of God’ s tools of judgment as a warning for the nation of Israel if they broke the covenant (Deuteronomy 28:42). We have observed in our study of this prophecy the fiery nature of Amos’ words against the nation of Israel. But even at seeing this vision of judgment, Amos prays to God for his to not do this. Notice Amos’ words, “ O Lord, God, please forgive!” Amos is calling for an act of pure grace. The people have not repented. There is no basis upon which Amos can make a plea to God because the people have not changed at all (which is the irony of this chapter as we will see as we progress through this chapter). Amos simply cries out, “ Forgive,” depending completely on God. There is no reason for God to act. But notice what God does: “ The Lord relented concerning this. ‘ It shall not be,’ said the Lord.” Vision #2 — Fire (Amos 7:4-6)The second vision is similar to the first vision. The vision is of an all-encompassing, all-consuming fire upon the nation, devouring sea and land. Once again Amos surprisingly intercedes on behalf of the people of Israel, asking the Lord to relent. Once again there is no basis for God to relent of this judgment. There has been no change in the hearts of the people. Yet Amos begs for grace and the Lord relents of this judgment. We must never underestimate the value of prayer and the intercessions of the righteous. As much as Amos is angry with these people for their sins, there is compassion for the souls of these people. His compassion for these people has led him to proclaim God’ s word to them and his compassion has led him to intercede on their behalf. Intercession requires a love for the souls of the people. We must learn the value of intercession on behalf of others. We should see the power of our prayers in the hands of our God. God is influenced by our prayers. It is a truth that is difficult to see and perhaps even more difficult to accept. But the repeated message of the scriptures is that we have the ability to speak and influence the Almighty God. We can even ask for God to act graciously in the lives of others without basis or cause. What an amazing and compassionate God we serve! Israel was worthy of these judgments because of their sins. Yet Amos begs mercy and grace, and the Lord, without cause, relents. God is long-suffering and surprisingly patient. We must appreciate this in how we pray and treat others. God has been gracious and compassionate toward our great sinfulness. On that basis we must cry out to God to act similarly toward others because we love God’ s creation and want their souls saved from the coming judgment. Vision #3 — Plumb Line (Amos 7:7-9)The third vision is of a plumb line. A plumb line is a standard by which a wall’ s vertical trueness is tested. It determines if the wall is straight and in line, or if it is leaning. The plumb line is being set in Israel to determine its moral straightness. God exposes the true state of his people’ s character and faithfulness to his covenant with the plumb line. It is a call to the people to measure up. God is going to test them for their moral uprightness. The plumb line is placed and God will not overlook or pass by the sins of the people any longer. God has overlooked the sins of Israel for hundreds of years. But this is no longer the case. It is time for judgment. The people have not measured up. Therefore, the judgment is described in Amos 7:9. The places of their pagan sacrifices and sanctuaries will be destroyed. Further, the dynasty of Jeroboam will be brought to an end. Notice that this is a merciful change from the previous two visions. In the first two visions, all the people were going to die. Now the picture is of being taken into exile and the death of the royal family and the leadership (cf. 7:11). Even in judgment, God is being compassionate toward the people. Accusing Amos (Amos 7:10-17)In the middle of Amos revealing the visions that the Lord gave him, we have an interruption. You will notice that chapter 8 continues the rest of the visions Amos saw from the Lord. But Amos 7:10 records an interruption to Amos’ preaching. Amaziah is a priest at Bethel. Recall that Bethel is one of the locations were the first king of Israel, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, erect golden calves and sanctuaries for worship. This was an abomination to God. Amaziah is a priest at this false temple and send a message to King Jeroboam (please note that this is a later Jeroboam, often called Jeroboam II, to differentiate him from Jeroboam the son of Nebat). The summary of Amos’ message is this: “ Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.” Amaziah cannot handle listening to Amos’ message against sin and the coming judgment for sins. Amos is preaching a counter-cultural message. He is preaching a message that is not politically correct. We are in a society that rejects the message of God. We are in a society that only wants to hear what is acceptable and correct in our culture today. If you say anything against this acceptable message, then you will be rejected and labelled. We are called upon as Christians to preach counter-cultural messages. We are given that task. That is exactly what it means to be lights shining into the midst of a crooked and perverse people (Philippians 2:15). It is shame and sad that all too often Christians are molded by the world rather than transforming the world with the message of the gospel. Christians too often are deeming what is acceptable or not acceptable by the definitions of the world, rather than the definitions of God’ s word. Only when the world says something is wrong do we then say that it is wrong. Sexual sins and marriage issues are classic examples. Seventy years ago the church would stand up and say that sex before marriage, sex outside of marriage, sex with anyone who is not your spouse, and the like are sinful. The church would say that divorce is sinful. The church would say that homosexuality and adultery are sinful. The church would say that remarriage is sinful. But the reason that was taught was not because that was God’ s word but because the world agreed. The proof is that the world has changed its thinking and Christians have changed their thinking also. Now Christians do not have a problem with divorce and remarriage or do not have a problem with sex before marriage or adultery, and all the rest. Why? Why is it a problem now? The reason we have problems now with it is not because God’ s word changed or became more difficult, but because the world changed and we do not want to be counter-cultural. We make an enormous mistake and commit a grave sin when we examine God’ s law through the lens of our culture today. Please notice how Amaziah frames the message of Amos to the king. “ For thus Amos has said” (Amos 7:11). Amos was saying, “ The Lord said to me.” But Amaziah does not see this as a message from God, but the words of a man. How many times people will do this with God’ s word! You will not believe how many times I will read a passage of scripture and the person I am studying with will say, “ Are you trying to say…?” Or “ So what you are saying is…” I always answer the same way: “ I am not saying anything. This is what God said.” This isn’ t my interpretation. This is not my words. This is the word of the Lord. This is what God’ s word said. All I did was read it and make some passing comments of interest about what God said. Finally, notice what Amaziah says to Amos in verse 12. Amaziah calls Amos a prophet for hire. Basically, I know you have a job to do and that is why you are preaching, but go do your preaching somewhere else. Stop preaching against Bethel. Amos responds that he is not a prophet for hire. He was a herdsman and a grower of figs. Amos was not doing his job for the money. He was prophesying because he received the word of the Lord. We need preachers, teachers, elders, and leaders among God’ s people who do not work for the money, but because the work needs to be done. We should not have to bribe people to do the Lord’ s work and people should not be working because of the money. Preacher, do not preach because of the pay check. Do not preach because you do not know what else to do with yourself. Preach because your are compelled by the word of the Lord! Preach because you feel like you must proclaim God’ s word and not for any other reason. The irony of this chapter is staggering. Amos has been the one who has interceding on behalf of these people to not be fully destroyed by locusts or by fire. The thanks that Amos receives is to be called a prophet for hire and told to go home. Do not tell a person who is declaring God’ s word to not speak it. Everyone must proclaim God’ s word and we cannot listen to those who tell us not to. We cannot listen to people who want a softer, more culturally acceptable, and more politically correct message. God’ s word is God’ s word and we must declare God’ s word, even in the face of rejection and opposition. This is the consistent example of the scriptures from the prophets to the apostles. People will reject, but we must obey God rather than humans by continuing to proclaim God’ s truths. Notice the retribution God brings on those who reject and torment those who are proclaimers of God’ s word. Amos responds to Amaziah that he will die in an unclean land, his land would be divided up and given away, his children would be killed by the sword, his wife would turn to prostitution, and Israel will surely go into exile. We cannot be shaken when people tell us to adjust our message to match the culture. We cannot give up when people do not want to listen to God’ s word. We must keep teaching, knowing that God will pass his judgment on those who try to interfere with the work. Amos 7 --ConclusionNotice how compassion and the proclamation of truth fit together in this chapter. We are compassionately praying to God on the behalf of others, meanwhile teaching them the way of the Lord. We must proclaim the truth of God’ s word, unchanged, unfiltered, and undiluted. This is a compassionate reaction to the world, and then pray for them to receive and accept the good news that God has extended to the world. Amos 7:1. We see Amos in the role of an intercessor for Irsael, and by his plea to God causes the divine wrath to tie turned back. The subject is presented figuratively and begins with the idea of insects being created to destroy the young vegetation. After the main crop is harvested, called the king's mowings, a tender growth of grass comes up in the same field, here called the latter growth. This is what the insects destroyed according to the figurative prediction. Amos 7:2, After this destruction by the insects, Amos made his plea on behalf of Jacob (Israel), suggesting that the nation was too small to withstand such a loss. Amos 7:3. Lord repented means the Lord changed his mind and removed the insects. Amos 7:4. But the people were not truly penitent and did not make the proper reformation even though the Lord had relieved their distress. Then He brought a more severe chastisement upon the land. This time it was in the form of fire that dried up the great deep which means the water supply in the veins of the earth, Amos 7:5, Again the prophet pleads on behalf of the people. Amos 7:6. The Lord was again en-treated to relent and withdraw His wrath, to give the nation a chance to reform or change the way of life from had to good. Amos 7:7. The repeated acts of mercy that God. showed toward Israel were not appreciated, but they always slipped back, into their former way of sin. If they even ceased It at all. The pa-tience of the Lord finally was exhausted and He determined to use more severe measures against the unfaithful nation. It is Indicated by the use of the plumbiine w'hich will be explained with the comments on the next verse. Amos 7:8. Plumbline is from anas, which Strong defines, "To be narrow," In symbolic language it indicates something strict and exacting, and was an appropriate article for the decree that God was about to make. He had been lenient with the unfaithful people until they no longer deserved mercy as a nation. Wot pass by means that the Lord would not overlook their iniquity again but would bring severe punishment on them. Amos 7:9. We have seen the names of Joseph and Jacob used to signify the nation of Israel, now it is Isaac that is used in the same way. In all of the cases it is because of the important relation the men sustained to the race. The predictions and rebuke of the book frequently apply with equal force to all of the Jewish nation, but the writings of Amos generally are made with reference to the 10-tribe kingdom, That is why this verse mentions Jeroboam, he being the man who led the revolt resulting in the establishment of that kingdom (1 Kings 12). Amos 7:10. This is not the Jeroboam mentioned in the preceding verse, but the one named in Amos 1:1, and who is often referred to as Jereboam II. Bethel was one of the places where the first Jeroboam erected altars for idolatrous worship \ Amos 7:11. There is no evidence that Amos predicted the death of Jeroboam in the manner accused by Amaziah. 2 Kings 14: 26-29 shows the death of that king not to have been caused by the sword. But the other statement of Amaziah was true, for Amos was authorized to predict the exile of the kingdom of Israel. It is a common trick of evil men to mix some truth with their error so as to deceive their hearers and cause them to accept the entire story. Amos 7:12. A seer is the same as a prophet; it means literally one who sees into the future, Amaziah thought he could get rid of the unpleasant pre-dictions of Amos by having him move into some other locality. He suggested that he go and deliver his messages in the land of Judah, which was the 2-tribe kingdom. Such a suggestion had the appearance of being fair and that he recognized him as a prophet of God who was qualified to contact His people wherever they might be. Amos 7:13. Amaziah spoke on behalf of Jeroboam who was the king and whose chapel (religious headquarters) was at Bethel, one of the seats of idol-atry. He seems to think that by the removal of the one who was giving the unpleasant predictions, he could be rid of the fulfillment of them. It was as foolish as it would be to discharge a doctor who discovered a dreadful disease in one’ s body. Amos 7:14. The speech of Amaziah implied that he considered Amos as one of the regular prophets who had no other occupation. In that case it would not matter very much where he worked, just so he did the work of a prophet. He would then not be idle from his life's work were lie to go into the land of Judah and continue his regular occupation. But Amos enlightened him on the subject and told him that he was not that kind of prophet, but was a shepherd by occupation. He had been called as a special servant of the Lord for the missioD of delivering the predictions intended for the 10-tribe kingdom, and only incidentally to include some things pertaining to Judah. Prophet’ s son means one of the young men who were being trained by the regular prophets, not a son in the usual sense of that word. Amos 7:15, While Amos was engaged about his work with the flock, the Lord appeared to him by inspiration and told him to go and prophesy unto Israel, which here means the 10-tribe kingdom, not Judah as Amaziah wanted him to do. Amos 7:16. Amos wants Amaziah to know that he is not speaking his own ideas, but that it is the word of the Lord. House of Isaac has the same meaning as house of Israel since he was one of the important men in the blood line from Abraham. Amos 7:17. Amos was not intimidated by the criticism of Amaziah but gave him the final paragraph of his pre-dictions. Not only was the nation to suffer the captivity but his own family was to be disgraced. Divided by line means the land would be measured off into lots and taken possession of by the enemy. Visions of Judgment Amos 8:1-14 He now reverts to his visions of judgment. “ Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a basket of summer fruit. Then said Jehovah unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore. And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah; the dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall cast them forth with silence” (Amos 8:1-3). Having routed Amaziah, Amos turned back to the crowd that had gathered and related his fourth vision. “ Summer fruit” was the fruit gathered in the summer, the last thing to be harvested in the Hebrew agricultural cycle. As summer fruit meant the end of the growing life of the fruit, so it symbolized the end of the northern kingdom. Here again, Amos plays on the sound and spelling of the words “Summer fruit kayitz” and “end qets” (Laetsch). The end he sees is the judgment and destruction of their nation by the Assyrians. God “ will not again pass by them anymore.” In the earlier visions, twice he saw judgment deferred, but now justice demands it be exacted (Compare Amos 7:3; Amos 7:6; Amos 7:8). It is now too late to avert it. The word “ temple” is the same as “ palace” (See foot note). If he means temple, the praise songs celebrating Baal’ s gifts will turn into shrieks and howls of terror and anguish; if he means “ palace,” their songs of merriment and entertainment will be turned into cries of anguish when the alien armies overrun them. The vision is ghostly. He sees the horrible aftermath of the siege and dead bodies everywhere, victims of famine, pestilence and sword, God’ s agents of judgment (Ezekiel 14:21). So numerous are the corpses that proper burial is impossible. The pitiful survivors cast them out of their midst. Shock, sorrow and misery weigh so heavily on the workers that not a word of mourning, prayer or eulogy is spoken. “ Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with the balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes and sell the refuse of the wheat?” (Amos 8:4-6). The prophet then turned his broadside against the greedy merchants of the land. They swallow up, literally “ pant after,” the poor like a ravening beast does his prey. They oppressed the poor economically, causing them to fail financially. Especially, they wanted the poor man’ s land (Isaiah 5:8). He specifies several examples of their corrupt practices. The day of “ the new moon” was a holiday on which men rested and trading was suspended (See Numbers 28:11; 2 Kings 4:23). The same was true of the weekly Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:12-14). Those pillars of the community dutifully observed the holy days but chaffed and fretted because in so doing they were losing so much business. They drew near with their lips but their hearts were far from God (Matthew 15:8). “ To set forth wheat” meant literally to open the granaries for buying and selling (Genesis 41:56). They were crooked business men. Four examples of their dishonest practices are reported. They made their ephahs small. An ephah was a basket for dry measurement holding 5.8 gallons. By using smaller than standard ephahs they got the same money for less goods. They made the shekel larger. A shekel was a coin or a measurement of weight. In those days, a customer’ s precious metal was weighed to determine its value. By using extra heavy counter weights they again defrauded their customers. They used deceitful balances or scales that always weighed to the advantage of the merchant. Moses’ Law strictly forbade such evil practices. “ Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights a great and a small... a perfect and just weight shalt thou have” (Deuteronomy 25:13-16). They sold the refuse of the wheat, i.e., the hulls, trash, that which was spoiled and broken pieces that had been sifted out and was normally given to the animals. Those greedy merchants sold the trash by carefully mixing it with the good. Such economic fraud is still a current problem. Governments have to constantly monitor manufacturers and merchants lest they defraud consumers. The news frequently reports those apprehended so doing. In their greed, after having reduced to poor man to poverty they then would buy him, i.e., place him in servitude. To show how vicious they were, he notes that they would do so for a sum as trifling as a pair of sandals. This of course was done with the collusion of the corrupt courts condemned in Amos 5:10-12. “ Jehovah, hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River, and it shall be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day” (Amos 8:7-9). “ The excellency of Jacob” is Jehovah himself (Compare Amos 4:2). This verse poses some difficulty because in other settings “ the excellency of Jacob” reflects the prosperity and status of Israel (See Nahum 2:2). This can be explained by viewing it as a metonymy where the benefit received stands for the bestower thereof which is Jehovah. God “ will never forget any of their (evil) works.” He is omniscient, knowing all things and forgetting nothing. Every crime against the poor would one day be properly rewarded. This reminds us of Jesus’ words that every hair of your heads is numbered and not even a tiny sparrow will be forgotten by God (Luke 12:6-7). God will not forget abuse of the poor who are made in his image. Because of their sins of oppression, the land, i.e., their society or nation, will “ tremble” as in an earthquake; be troubled and swept away like the flooding Nile, and darkened as the sun in an eclipse. All of these phenomena of nature were viewed with great fear by the ancients. Amos’ use of similes and metaphors does not demand a literal earthquake, flood or eclipse. The upheaval of their nation in the coming judgment by Assyria was what he has in mind. To darken the sun is frequently used as a symbol for the violent overthrow of rulers and government (See Joe 2:31; Isaiah 13:9-10; Revelation 6:12-15). “ And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day” (Amos 8:10). He describes the awful sorrow that will come upon them when the Lord’ s judgment comes. Instead of their great and joyous festivals, there will be bitter mourning as at the death of an only son. Other prophets used similar language to describe the sufferings of national judgment by war. (See Isaiah 15:1-3; Ezekiel 7:14-18). “ Lamentations” are funeral dirges. Sackcloth is a coarse cloth like our burlap. It was worn as a sign of great mourning. Shaving the head and/or beard was a sign of great sorrow (See Isaiah 3:24). The whole nation would mourn bitterly as a family who lost an only son (See Jeremiah 6:26). Their loss, however, would be their defeat in war; the loss of thousands of casualties in combat and slaughter; the ruining of their cities; the overthrow of their government and the deportation of their people. “ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst” (Amos 8:11-13). As the most serious and disastrous penalty against Israel, God promises that he will take away from them his faithful prophets and the divine message they conveyed. The results would be a spiritual famine. They had despised God’ s prophets and ordered them to keep quite (Amos 2:12), now God would take away his messengers and his word (Compare Micah 3:7) and they would yearn for and search for it like a starving man searches for food. The same kind of famine later occurred in Judah (Ezekiel 7:26). It is an awful judgment when God abandons people.“ From sea to sea” means from west to east, from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. We would say, from one end of the land to the other. Even the young in their strength shall not survive without God’ s life-giving word (Matthew 4:4). Our modem generation shows great contempt for God’ s word as they indulge themselves in sensual pleasures and materialism. But when hardships come, and come they surely will, they will go seeking after a word from God. They may well, by then, find themselves in a spiritual wasteland. “ They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, As the way of Beersheba liveth; they shall fall, and never rise up again” (Amos 8:14). “ The sin of Samaria” refers to the golden calves that the rulers of Samaria had set up at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:26-29). At Beersheba, where Abraham had worshiped God, Amos’ generation worshiped idols (See 2 Kings 23:8; Amos 5:5). For the “ way of Beersheba” the marginal note has “ the manner of’ which is the clearer meaning. Paul spoke of Christianity as “ this way” (Acts 22:4). Such swearing was meaningless for their calves and oaths were nothing (aven). Furthermore, such oaths violated Deuteronomy 6:13-14. “ Thou shalt fear Jehovah.. ..and him shalt thou serve and shalt swear by his name.” “ They shall fall and never rise up again” speaks of the final and complete overthrow of their nation. When Assyria dismantled the Northern Kingdom in 722 and deported her people, the political kingdom of Israel was forever destroyed. Her scattered survivors were absorbed by the Kingdom of Judah. Thus was fulfilled the words of David; “ The wicked shall be turned back into Sheol, Even all the nations that forgot God” (Psalms 9:17).Amos Chapter EightVerse 1 Amos, having effectively disposed of the interruption by Amaziah, proceeded to deliver his sermon. The first four visions actually occur in pairs, the two first being of disasters averted through prayer, and the next two announcing the summary and forthcoming end of Israel, the first of these (the third) having already been delivered. This fourth one, therefore (Amos 8:1-3) is not a recapitulation of the third, nor the introduction of any startling new element. Amos' denunciation continued as if nothing had occurred. "Notwithstanding the interference of Amaziah, the prophet finishes the recital of his visions."[1] Deane outlined the chapter thus: (1) the vision of the basket of the summer fruit (Amos 8:1-3); (2) The denunciation of the dealers (Amos 8:4-10); and (3) the warning of a famine of hearing God's Word and a wandering all over the earth by Israel (Amos 8:11-14).[2]This fourth vision cannot be, therefore, a mere "reassertion of the thought contained in the third vision, which had been interrupted."[3] We may safely reject such allegations as, "these verses were inserted by a later editor of the book,"[4] based upon the bizarre and unfounded proposition that, "Amos had been imprisoned and executed,"[5] etc. As Smith has noted: If Amos did not flee from Amaziah; and there is almost no reason to conclude that he did, it is conceivable that he stayed at Bethel to deliver the last two vision reports and the oracles that went with them.[6]Not only is such a thing "conceivable," but it is clearly and logically an almost mandatory conclusion. We would amend Smith's admission that there is "almost no reason" to conclude otherwise with an affirmation that there is "no reason whatever" against this. Amos 8:1-3"And thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Jehovah unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many; in every place shall they cast them forth with silence."This is the vision of the basket of summer fruit, the fourth vision in Amos' sequence. "A basket of summer fruit ..." Despite this translation being widely received, there is, nevertheless, some question about it. Most commentators and translators are greatly impressed with what they see as a kind of pun in the similarities between the Hebrew word for "basket" and their word for "end."[7] But the Hebrew word from which this is translated actually means "a receiver"[8] and might just as well be translated "hook" for plucking, or receiving the fruit from the tree. The Catholic Bible gives it that meaning: "And behold a hook to draw down fruit."[9] In either case, the meaning is essentially the same, namely that the ripeness of the fruit signals the end of its cycle. Motyer commented that, "The harvest metaphor is well suited to the passage. The crop comes to harvest as the climax of its own inner development."[10]"The end is come upon my people Israel ..." "The harvest is past and the summer is ended; and we are not saved" (Jeremiah 8:20), was the plaintive cry of Jeremiah; and the same sad extremity is in view here. "I will not again pass by them any more ..." As repeatedly in Amos, there is an indirect allusion to the passover experience of the children of Israel in Egypt when God "passed over" them and spared them from disaster; but this can no longer be expected. The people are ripe for judgment and destruction. (See underAmos 7:8, above.) "The songs of the temple shall be wailings ..." Here again the translation should be corrected, as in the New English Bible,[11] to "the palace," instead of "the temple." The Jerusalem edifice is not in view here at all, as it is particularly the sins of the Northern Kingdom that are under consideration. The mistranslation is quite understandable, since the Hebrew text actually has a "Great House," which might mean either the temple, or the palace of the king. "The word came to the Hebrews from Babylonia, and literally signifies `Great House.'"[12]"The dead bodies ... many, etc ... silence ..." This verse is rendered differently in several versions; and Fosbroke complained that, "The phrasing is abrupt, disjointed, and with no discernible grammatical construction," but, in spite of this, went on to state that even as the text stands, "it presents effectively the horrors of the aftermath of war, or possibly of pestilence."[13] We appreciate what McKeating said; "Amos seems to specialize in these fragmentary pictures, whose very lack of clarity makes them the more menacing."[14] Hammershalmb rendered the Hebrew text literally as, "The dead bodies are many! in every place one throws out, silence!"[15]The most pertinent of all comment upon these verses is that of the Word of God itself, thus: "But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish: ye shall not prolong your days in the land, whither thou passest over the Jordan to go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, and thy seed; to love Jehovah thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" (Deuteronomy 30:17-20). Prominent in that warning was the prohibition against worshipping other gods; and this was preeminently the sin which Israel had committed. Verse 4 "Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail."Well, what has this to do with worshipping other gods? It was a condition brought about by the rejection on the part of Israel of the allocation of the land on the basis of inheritance, in order to prevent the very type of landed aristocracy with a heartless disregard of the poor, which had replaced the theocratic arrangement given by the Lord when Israel entered Canaan. Their rebellion against God by their rejection of the theocracy and the elevation of a monarch, "like the nations surrounding them," was the beginning of their sorrows. What is in view in this verse is the end result and ripened fruit of that original departure from the Word of God. Verse 5 "Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit?"The heartless traders grudged even the sabbaths and feast days as interruptions in their business, which was simply that of cheating in every way possible. There had already come to its fruition in the Northern Kingdom, the diabolical sin that eventually culminated in the Jerusalem temple, designated by Jesus as "a den of thieves and robbers." "The new moon ..." The feast of the new moon was allegedly derived from the commandment of God to offer sacrifices upon the first of each month (Numbers 28:11); but that is a far different thing from "worshipping the host of heaven" in any such thing as a feast of the new moon. That this feast (evidently of pagan origin) did creep into Jewish worship is clear enough, evidently having been introduced and established by King David (1 Chronicles 23:31), which in the light of other things that David did still leaves the practice questionable. We believe this is a clear instance in which it came to pass as declared by the martyr Stephen, "That God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42). While the sabbath day was indeed a legitimate religious day, the same was not true of the "new moons"; and thus we have another example of the gross departure of Israel from their duty. The Hebrews had twelve months; and thus there is no question of the first of each month falling upon the feast of the new moon as would (or might) have occurred had the Israelites been following a lunar month. "Making the ephah small ..." Amazingly, of the dozen or so commentaries consulted on this, no two of them give the same size to the ephah! Harper noted that: "The size is not definitely known, being estimated at from 21.26 quarts to 40.62 quarts (Josephus)."[16]"And the shekel great ..." Coinage was unknown until a later period; and weights were used for weighing the amount of silver, or other substance, used as the medium of exchange. Of course, if a dishonest tradesman used one set of weights for buying, and another set of weights for selling (neither of them being true), he would be able easily to defraud his customers. A similar deceit was used with regard to the ephah, a fact demonstrated by the truth that, until this day, nobody knows for sure what an ephah was! They were indeed a vicious class of robbers, exactly like those that Jesus ran out of the temple during his ministry. "And dealing falsely with the balances of deceit ..." These were dishonest scales, indicating that current laws in every civilized state regarding weights and measurements, and the necessity of inspecting the scales in stores and markets continually, is anchored in the long experience of the human race with the very practices condemned here by the prophet Amos. Before leaving this verse, the question at the beginning of it should be noted, for it was that question which Amos answered in Amos 8:9 - "When will the new moon be gone ... and the sabbath...?" Verse 6 "That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?"This reference to buying the poor for silver, etc., is probably a reference to forcing the poor into slavery, through their unjust laws, due to their having defaulted upon some minor and trifling debt. "Sell the refuse of the wheat ..." This is a third device pointed out in this passage, used for swindling and defrauding the customer. They were: (1) false measurements; (2) false scales; and (3) delivery of inferior merchandise. The refuse of the wheat was hardly fit for animals, as it was derived from the sweepings of the threshing floors; but these unscrupulous rascals were delivering it to the poor instead of the good merchandise which they were paying for. The corruption of the judicial system left them no recourse, and no respite, from such crooked dealers. Verse 7 "Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely, I will never forget any of their works."Barnes understood this as the equivalent of "God's swearing by himself, since God was, in fact, the true excellency, or glory of Jacob (1 Samuel 15:29)."[17] In all likelihood, this is the true meaning of the passage; but there is another view which also has much to commend it. McKeating wrote that Amos' intention here is "ironic. One swears by what is fixed and unalterable, hence, 'by Jacob's monumental pride.'"[18] The Catholic Bible renders the place: "The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob," etc.[19] Harper supported the second view, thus: "Although Yahweh himself is Israel's glory (1 Samuel 15:29), the author of @@6:8 could hardly have described Yahweh as "the glory of Jacob": it is rather the vain-glorious boasting of Israel, by which, as an unchangeable fact, Yahweh swears scornfully.[20]However the passage may be understood, or interpreted, the fact of God's utmost displeasure with the Northern Kingdom stands sharply in focus. Verse 8 "Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River; and it shall be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt."It seems rather strange to compare the trembling of the earth with the rising and falling of the Nile River (as most interpret this), "because the rise and fall of the Nile River are quite gradual."[21] However, since the devastation caused by the Nile at flood (rising some 20 feet)[22] was tremendous, it is an apt figure of the overwhelming destruction in store for Israel. Thus, it would appear better to understand "tremble" as a metaphor for such a disaster, instead of "literally" as an earthquake, which does not seem to be indicated at all. There may be something else here. Dummelow pointed out the fact followed by most interpreters that the word for "River" used in this place is regularly employed for the Nile";[23] but Barnes noted that, "It is the Egyptian name for river which Israel brought with them out of Egypt, and is used either for the Nile, or for one of the artificial trenches derived from it,"[24] hence, by extension (through time) as the name of any river. In this light, we interpret the verse as a reference to two rivers, not merely one, the application above pertaining to the second river, which was surely the Nile; but the other river is the one mentioned by Isaiah: "Now, behold, therefore the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the River, strong and mighty, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks, and it shall sweep onward and pass into Judah; it shall overflow and pass through (Isaiah 8:5-8)." It will be noted that "River" in the first part of this verse is definitely not referred to as the "River of Egypt." Also, the fact that Assyria is clearly in the mind of Amos throughout this prophecy adds to the probability of their being two rivers in view. In that case, it would mean that the River (Assyria) would overflow against Israel in a manner ("as") like the well-known innundations of the Nile, "of Egypt" in that case being the identification of the river to which comparison was made, and not an identification of the first river. Verse 9 "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in a clear day."This is Amos' answer to the question propounded by the dishonest traders in Amos 8:5, "When will the new moon... and the sabbath ... be gone?" Very well, the answer was: "At that time when the sun goes down at noon, and the earth is darkened in a clear day," an undeniable reference to the crucifixion of the Son of God, that being the only occasion in the history of the world when the sun set at noon, and the earth (not just a portion of it, but all of it) was darkened in a clear day! We may only marvel at the blindness of Biblical interpreters who fail to see this. Some have tried to refer this to an eclipse, even attempting to discover which eclipse was meant; but, even as McKeating admitted, "It is pointless to decide that Amos 8:9 refers to an eclipse and then try to identify the eclipse!"[25] No eclipse ever recorded could be an example of the sun's "going down"; and, besides that, no eclipse ever involved more than the tiniest fraction of "the earth." "The language as Amos used it referred to more than just an eclipse of the sun,"[26] and it should be added, "something far different from any such natural phenomenon." It is also impossible to restrict the meaning of this passage to something that was to come to pass in the near future. As Mays pointed out: "In general usage, the temporal phrase `in that day' would point to a time identified in the context (as in 1 Samuel 3:2). Here the context offers only the coming deeds of Yahweh as a specification of the time in question.[27]It is clearly a supernatural event at some undetermined future time that Amos here prophesied; and, as already noted, the only event ever known that answers to it is that of the supernatural darkening of the sun for three hours, involving the entire earth, when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Such an ordinary event as an eclipse could not possibly be intended; and, there is the additional fact that, "Nowhere in the Old Testament is there direct mention of an eclipse."[28] Hammershaimb referred this prophecy to "the day of Judgment";[29] and Barnes spiritualized it and denied the reality of it: "Not that the sun was hidden, or the day disappeared, but that the mourners could see no light even at midday, for the darkness of their grief!"[30] All such interpretations appear to be blind to the circumstantial and specific fulfillment at the crucifixion. Perhaps part of the trouble (or, indeed, all of it) derives from the fact that men are unwilling to allow that we are dealing here with the Word of God. Dummelow said, "The eclipse of June 15,763 B.C. may have impressed his imagination powerfully."[31] This writer would not spend five minutes on the prophecy of Amos, if he saw nothing in it except the imagination of an ancient shepherd. This verse is an outstanding example of that heavenly phenomenon mentioned by Peter, to the effect that the ancient prophets uttered words which they themselves did not understand, and which they diligently studied in order to try to ascertain the meaning of what they had spoken (1 Peter 1:10-12). We believe that Amos, in this prophecy, is not likely to have had the slightest idea regarding how such a thing as he had prophesied could ever happen, and indeed might have thought such a thing to be absolutely impossible; but he was delivering the words of God! His own interpretation of them was probably to the effect that "there never would be a time when the sabbath would be gone"; but, of course, it was summarily abolished in the cross of Christ, a fact clearly stated by Paul inColossians 2:14-17, a passage which entails some of the exact language of this very passage in Amos. There are some things which must be discerned as literal in the Sacred Scriptures, and this prophecy is surely one of them. The ancients unanimously understood this passage as we have interpreted it: Irenaeus (i:510), Tertullian (iii:167), Cyprian (v:525) and Lactantius (vii:122) all unhesitatingly reading Amos' prophecy as a foretelling of our Lord's Passion.[32] (See more under Amos 8:10. below.) Verse 10 "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day."There is not a figurative or symbolical word in this verse, strongly suggesting that the previous verse (Amos 8:9) is also to be understood literally. We may therefore reject the interpretation that explains it thus: "To any man, the sun sets at noon, when he is suddenly snatched away by death in the very midst of life. And this also applies to a nation when it is suddenly destroyed in the midst of its earthly prosperity."[33]Of course, this figurative application of the passage is indeed true; but we cannot receive this as the primary meaning of it. Israel was not being destroyed at the "high noon" of their prosperity, but at its sunset, when their sin had about finished its course and at a time when they were fully ripe for destruction. "Baldness upon every head ..." This is not the prophecy of some kind of scalp disease; the reference is to the Jewish custom of shaving the head as a sign of mourning; and the universality of it indicated that there would be mourning everywhere. Verse 11 "Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah."Many great and wonderful prophets were yet to speak the message of threatened doom and the call to repentance upon Israel's part; but Amos here definitely prophesied an end to the prophetic missions. This was most remarkably fulfilled during the inter-testamental period between the OT and the New Testament, when no prophet spoke anything at all to the wayward and rebellious people of Israel. This literally came to pass. This verse is labeled as "a comment later inserted into the text by mistake";[34] but if that is so, how do the critics account for the truth that it was fulfilled exactly over a period of three or four centuries? That fulfillment was noticed and incorporated into the Psalms: We see not our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long - Psalms 74:9. Only the inspiration of God could have so accurately foretold the true course of events in the future of Israel. Verse 12 "And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it."Although this was fulfilled by the cessation of the prophetic missions to Israel in the long centuries preceding Christ: "The wide scope taken by the prophecy, which is not exhausted by one fulfillment, reveals here the fate of the Jews to the present time hopelessly seeking Messiah and the Word of God, never finding that which they once recklessly rejected."[35]"Shall wander from sea to sea ..." Some have tried to read this as a reference to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean, thus confining its application to Palestine; but in Zechariah 9:10 it is a clear reference meaning, "from one end of the earth to the other." Harper, after citing the other view, admitted that, "Perhaps, the term is a more general one, meaning the ends of the earth."[36] The ancient quotation from Jerome, cited by Butler, gives the true sense: "They roam restlessly about the world and seek the Word of God; but they find it not, because they have killed the incarnate Word revealed in the written Word."[37]Verse 13 "In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst."This indicates that the flower and glory of Israel shall not be spared from the disaster achieved by their leaders who were the architects of their long and stubborn rebellion against God. But it must not be thought that the terrible results of such a famine were restricted to Israel. No, indeed! Every people which forgets God and rejects the Christ shall suffer the same fate; and there is much in our own culture today to suggest that the same fate may be in store for our own nation: "Thousands and thousands of young people across our land, disillusioned and starved to death on the garbage of the contemporary `intellectualism,' are `running to and fro' seeking a voice of authority, a life which consists of more than `things.'"[38]Many of the very same mistakes that deceived and eventually destroyed ancient Israel are the "accepted assumptions" of our current society. See more on this under the next verse. Verse 14 "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, As the way of Beersheba liveth; they shall fall, and never rise again.""They that swear by the sin of Samaria ..." This expression means, "The calves at Dan and Bethel, and to `swear by,' means `to worship.'"[39] McKeating, following the New English Bible, translated this, "All who take their oath by Ashimah, goddess of Samaria";[40] but this cannot possibly be correct. The New English Bible and other translations following this alleged "reading" represent a colossal "goof" as far as Biblical translation goes. In the first place, the Hebrew text, which alone we receive as inspired, clearly has, "The guilt of Samaria, which is a reference to the idolatrous worship carried on there."[41] Furthermore, the change to "Ashimah" in this verse involves "a change" in the Hebrew text[42] a change for which there is no authority. By changing it a little more, they could make it read, "Diana of the Ephesians!" But that is not all of it, the intrusion of "Ashima" into this passage makes the verse applicable to a period long after the time when Amos lived; and, of course, the perverted meaning is promptly made the basis for an assault upon the integrity of the passage and the discarding of the whole verse as the work of a later author! It is merely the old device of misinterpreting, or mistranslating, a passage, and then making that error the basis of an attack upon the Bible! "The sin of Samaria ..." which is under indictment here was that of worshipping the golden calves, one at Dan, the other at Bethel; and they are attributed to "Samaria," because Samaria was the capital of the country in which this monstrous departure from God's Word had taken place. Deane concurred in this view, thus: "The sin of Samaria (means) the golden calf at Bethel. The expression, `Thy god, O Dan, liveth' refers to the other calf erected at Dan, near the source of the Jordan, in the extreme north."[43]Smith also concurred in the judgment that the best reading of the Hebrew text in this place is "the guilt of Samaria,"[44] and not "Ashimah." "As the way of Beersheba liveth ..." This is another instance of swearing by, or worshipping a false god, a fact deduced from the terminology employed here. Smith observed that, "The word he (lives) is used in both lines, always used in Hebrew to swear by false gods and nonsacral objects, Ha was used when oaths were taken in the name of the true God."[45] In this light, it must be true that both the god of Dan, and the way of Beersheba are references to false deities. What a remarkable thing it is, therefore, to encounter the stout denials of commentators that there was anything wrong in that worship in Israel, except their insincerity and their oppressiveness! "Those who, in Amos' time, swore `by the life of your god, O Dan, would not think of themselves as apostates. Neither does swearing `By the sacred way to Beersheba' in itself imply apostasy!'"[46]Although no particular false god is mentioned in connection with "the way of Beersheba," there was, in all probably such an idol there. The notion has been advanced that the Israelitish pilgrims to the place adored "the sacred way" that led to it; but, as Harper admitted, "It is possible to understand `way' of the method of worship at Bethel."[47]Hammershaimb beautifully summarized this verse thus: "The god that they worship and swear by is therefore not the true Yahweh, but a god which they have fashioned to their own desires."[48] Idolatry in the Northern Kingdom had come of age. The people no longer either recognized or honored the true and Almighty God, but instead, worshipped and swore by their golden idols. Added to that was the licentious and abominable worship they practiced there; and if that was not apostasy, there never was such a thing. "They shall fall, and never rise again ..." When God's judgment was decreed against his ungrateful and apostate people, it was determined that the pagan gods they worshipped, together with the shrines that honored them, would be utterly, completely, and finally destroyed. It should be remembered in contemplating the fulfillment of this death sentence against the Northern Kingdom that it was terminal. The ten tribes which comprised it never returned to Canaan; their course through subsequent history, as regards any of their survivors, is totally unknown, buried by the dust of more than twenty-six centuries. The southern kingdom was granted some additional respite, due to God's purpose of bringing in the Messiah through their posterity; but when that was accomplished; and, after a due season in which God further extended his mercy and offered them the gospel, and after their complete rejection of that, they were perpetually hardened "until the times of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25); their vaunted temple was reduced to rubble, their capital city ravished and destroyed, over a million of them being put to death by the sword; and their state perished from the earth for the space of almost two millenniums of time! Amos Chapter EightAmos in the midst of revealing the visions the Lord has shown him. In chapter 7 Amos revealed the first three visions. But then Amaziah the priest from Bethel interrupted this preaching concerning the visions from the Lord. Chapters 8 and 9 continue with the final two visions of this prophecy. The Vision of Summer Fruit (Amos 8:1-3) The fourth vision is a basket of summer fruit. This vision contains a play on words. The Hebrew word for “ summer fruit” sounds very similar to the word for “ end.” The play on words brings about the idea that the fruit is ripe for harvest, that is, Israel is ripe for God’ s judgment. As God declared in Amos 7:8, God restates that he will not spare the nation from judgment any longer. The nation is worthy of judgment and God cannot overlook their sins any more. The songs in their idolatrous temples will become the sound of wailing. Here is what Amos sees: dead bodies, thrown everywhere, and total silence. It is a gruesome scene of judgment because the people have rejected the Lord. Dark Hearts (Amos 8:4-6) God does not judge without cause. God is not acting out of emotional anger but out of justice because the sins of the nation have become so great. Amos 8:4-6 describes the condition of the people’ s hearts. Listen to what they are doing. They have become so worldly and so materially minded that they do not want to keep the feast and holy days to the Lord. In verse 5 they are asking when the new moon will be over so they can get back to selling grain. They want to get back to their schedules. They want the Sabbath to hurry up and end so they can get back to making money. In the process they are acting unjustly, destroying the poor and oppressing the needy as they try to acquire more for themselves. “ When will worship be over? We want to get back to our schedules.” Can you see these people as clock watchers, hoping for the Sabbath to end so they can get back to making money? There is no joy in worship. There is just the desire to get the worship over. Hurry up and get through it because we have things to do. You will notice over the past couple years that we have extended our worship with scripture readings and the Lord’ s Supper talks because the last thing we want to communicate is that we are in a hurry. Rather, we are trying to give a focused amount of time to each aspect of our worship as we draw our hearts near to God. There is supposed to be a life change that comes from worship because we have entered the presence of God. Too often we come with a “ leave me alone and let me get back to my life.” Silence From God (Amos 8:7-14) These are chilly words of judgment: “ Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” Judgment is coming for every sinful act they have committed. These people will not get away with abusing the poor and cheating the oppressed. These people will not get away with swindling others. They will not avoid judgment for desiring their own schedules and wealth over worshiping the Lord. Amos 8:9 describes the nation falling at its peak. We have noted through our study of Amos that the northern nation called Israel is at its peak in power and wealth. It is like the sun at noon in terms of the greatness of the nation. But in its greatness of wealth and power God is going to darken the earth. It is the end of the nation, even though it seems to be in its pinnacle. Bitter mourning and wailing is coming. Further, the Lord is going to send a famine, but it is the most fearful famine you can experience. It is a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. You have rejected the word of the Lord now, so that when you see the word of the Lord you will not find one. You will not have the Lord to rely upon anymore because you have relied on your wealth and despised the word of the Lord. God will be silent toward these people. They will look for a prophet but they will not find it (Amos 8:12). Even the strong or the young will not have the word of God (Amos 8:13-14). Now they will reap the harvest of the whirlwind for their rejection of God’ s word. How often this happens to us! How often we live how we want to live and reject the counsel and the commands of the Lord. Then we experience suffering, depression, desperation, and misery from our foolish decisions. Because we have rejected the counsel of the Lord we experience terrible consequences in our lives, in our families, and in our relationships. Then we start running to the word of God looking for some magic words to fix our problems. Yet so often it is too late. The damage of sin has been inflicted and now we must suffer the consequences. Suddenly we turn our eyes upward only to see the darkness of our sins coming down upon us. We pay the temporal consequences for our sins. Amos 8:1. Summer fruit is used figuratively to indicate the end of the season. The original is a word that means the product of any kind that has come to full growth, and in its application to the predictions of the nation it means that the season is over. Amos 8:2. In answer to the Lord's question Amos acknowledged the vision of the basket of fruit. The meaning of it was then stated, that the end is come upon my people of Israel. The “ season" that was ended was the period of God's leniency toward the unfaithful nation. Not pass by means the Lord would not overlook their iniquity any more, hut would bring an enemy force against them. Amos 8:3. Songs of the temple refers to the religious performances that the people of Israel bad so inconsistently carried out, even while their minds were polluted with the belief in false gods. But instead of those songs, the people were to be made to howl by the attack of the foes. Cast forth with silence denotes that these hypocritical songsters would be silenced by their death, caused by the might of a hostile army that the Lord would suffer to come against His people. Amos 8:4. The main complaint all along has been against the head men of the nation, who imposed upon the poor and common people to advance their own interests. This is the meaning of the expression swallow up the needy. Amos 8:5. The days of new moons were holy days with the Jews (1 Samuel 20: 2427; 1 Chronicles 23:31), and on such days they were not to work or transact any secular business. These covetous men could Dot dismiss from their minds the worldly subject in order to give "undivided attention" to their religious duties, but even while the holy day was being (outwardly) observed, they were thinking of the deals they intended to perform. Their worldlyminded interests were made worse by the unjust means they intended to take for profit. Ephah small, shekel great. They tampered with the scales by causing the balancing weights to show more than they actually contained, then cheated their customers in another way which was to increase the price unjustly. Amos 8:6. Poor for silver, needy for shoes. See the comments on Amos 2:6 for this subject. Sell the refuse of wheat means they sold the worthless part of their grain as if it had full value. Amos 8:7. Excellency is also rendered by "pride" and "arrogance," so we may rightly conclude that it is used in an unfavorable sense. The Lord would not have something favorable as a basis for an oath, hence the sense of the verse is that God made an oath in view' of the pride of Jacob, or the people of Israel. Their works refers to the unrighteous practices of the leaders in Israel, and the Lord was never to forget or never io overlook it. Because of such an oath it meant that something very serious was going to come upon the unfaithful nation. Amos 8:8. The antecedent of this is the chastisement threatened In the preceding verse. Well might the land (Its people) tremble at thought of the wrath of God that was prophesied to come upon it. Floods and waters are used figuratively in the Bible to signify some overwhelming condition, and the particular application in this case is to the national calamity to come by the agency of the Assyrians or Babylonians. The specific reason for connecting Egypt with the figure is that the original word for flood means any large body of water, and the Nile River in Egypt is such a body. Amos 8:9. Sun to go down at noon is a figure of speech and indicates that the national sun (power) was to cease to shine prematurely. Had Israel been faithful to God the nation would have remained in power through the entire Jewish dispensation. Instead, that power was cut off many centuries before that age ceased. Darken the earth in the clear day fias the same meaning as the preceding figure. Amos 8:10. The thought running through this verse is that ail conditions were to be reversed, changing from favorable to unfavorable. On occasions of feasts there was usually great enjoyment, but it was to be turned into mourning. Songs were expressions of cheer, but they were to be changed into those of lamentation. In their prosperity they wore gay clothing, but it was to be replaced with the coarse material called sacking. Smith’ s Bible Dictionary says that artificial baldness was a sign of mourning, and so it is predicted that the distress to come upon them would cause them to shave off the hair in their mourning. The comparison as to that (or an only son is to indicate how profound will be the grief when the nation has been humiliated by invaders. Amos 8:11. Famine of . . . words of the Lord. The people will have resisted the teaching of those who would have given them the truth (such as Ama ziah against Amos, verses 12, 13) until God will cease to offer them such teachers. Amos 8:12. They will realize when it is too late what they have done, and will seek frantically to find some of the true teachers. However, it will be in vain because of the famine just predicted in which no spiritual food will be available. Amos 8:13. Virgins and young men are usually possessed of more reserve vitality than others, but the famine was to be so severe that even they would faint. Amos 8:14. The reference to Samaria and Beersheba is because of the idolatry that was set up and practiced in those places. Dan was one of the 10 tribes that formed this kingdom, and it had trusted in this false religion started in Samaria. Israel's End Foreseen (Amos 9:1-4).“ And I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away and there shall not one of them escape” (Amos 9:1). This is the last of the five visions of God’ s judgment upon the Kingdom of Northern Israel. In the vision, Amos saw the Lord standing by the altar. The prophet used the name Adonai for God which denotes his power and authority. Thus Adonai has the power and authority to judge and destroy a rebellious nation. He does not use the name Jehovah, which means God of the covenant, because Israel had long since despised and broken their covenant with Jehovah. The altar, by which Amos saw the Lord standing, was most likely the one at Bethel where Amos was confronting the people. This is the most natural meaning. It was the worship center that would shortly be smitten and destroyed. Some reason that since he speaks of altar (singular) it would have to be the one delegated altar at Jerusalem but the citizens of the North had long since rejected Jerusalem’ s temple for their shrines at Dan and Bethel. Although Solomon’ s temple would later be destroyed, that would be a judgment on the Southern Kingdom of Judah, not Northern Israel. The vision shows God smiting one particular altar of idolatry. The one stands by metonymy (a part for the whole) for every pagan shrine in the land. God ordered an unnamed agent to smite the capitals of the temple. Some think he speaks to Amos, but the prophet would not be able to bring down the building. To described the judgement, God borrowed imagery from previous destructions. (Compare 2 Samuel 24:15-16 and 2 Kings 19:35). “ The capitals” are the ornamental crowns of the great supporting columns of their temple. On the capitals rested the threshold or lintel beams that supported the roof. Amos sees a smashing blow from above that brings down the roof of the temple upon the heads of the pagan worshipers. This is reminiscent of Samson bringing down the temple of Dagon on the Philistine idolaters (Judges 16:29-30). The actual fulfillment of this vision was when Tiglath- pileser, Shalmaneser IV and Sargon II brought their Assyrian troops into Israel. They defeated and dismantled the sinful nation. None would escape the threatened judgment. If they survived the destruction of their temple and fled, the avengers God would hunt them down. “ Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence, and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them” (Amos 9:2-3). With vivid poetic style, he describes the desperate attempt of the survivors to escape from God’ s punishment. He uses a double parallel. Sheol means literally, “ the unseen world, the state or abode of the dead” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). It is frequently used for the grave where the bodies of the dead are deposited and left unseen to those upon the earth. If the fugitives tried to hide in the dark recesses of a cave or an underground chamber, they would not escape the hand of the all-seeing God. “ Though they climb up to heaven,” a literal impossibility, is explained in the parallel line that follows; “ though they climb up to heaven” “ though they hidein the top of Carmel” Notice the contrast. They could not hide from God in the deepest cave nor on the top of a mountain. Mount Carmel was only 1728 ft. above sea level, but it was covered with a rich growth of trees and shrubs and riddled with over 1000 caves. It was thus an excellent hiding place for one pursued by men, but of no avail when fleeing from God. Hiding in “ the bottom of the sea” balances with the earlier line about digging into Sheol. In those days, no man could actually hide in the depth of the sea. But should he try to do so, God would not be thwarted. He will command a sea serpent to bite him. These venomous sea serpents, called hydrophidae, are common in the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Their bite is deadly. All of these examples of man’ s inability to flee from God declare the fact of His omniscience. Nothing is hidden from his sight (Hebrews 4:13). David praised the all-seeing God in similar terms in Psalms 139:7-12. “ And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good” (Amos 9:4). A fifth attempt by the idolatrous Israelites to escape death is now illustrated. Some might think to meekly surrender to the conquering Assyrians and accept life in captivity. God responds by warning that even in a far distant land he can send his sword to destroy them. Normally, the idea of God’ s eyes being upon his people is considered to be a blessing. “ The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous” (Psalms 34:15). “ The eyes of Jehovah are always upon it” (the land of Israel) (Deuteronomy 11:12). But Amos sees the omniscience of Jehovah as assurance that the wicked will in no way escape his just reward. “ For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, is he that toucheth the land and it melteth and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like the River and shall sink again like the River of Egypt” (Amos 9:5). With two awesome word pictures Amos describes the coming judgment upon Israel. God will touch the nation, and it will melt under his finger as butter before the sun. They will be helpless to resist their destruction. The nation will be in a state of upheaval, churning like the Nile in flood season. It will then sink in the flood with everything of value swept away. The same thought was expressed in (Amos 8:8). “ It is he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name” (Amos 9:6). In verse 5 Amos sets forth God’ s irresistible power to destroy the wicked. In verse 6 he speaks of the divine exaltation. He is God whose “ chambers” are in the heavens. This is rendered “ stories” in the KJV. It literally means “ stairs.” The thought being, that the heavens we see are but the stairs that lead upward to the dwelling place of Jehovah (Laetsch) . “ His vault” refers to the sky visible to inhabitants of earth. The ancients looked up into the heavens and described them as the underside of a great cupola or dome, above which God resided. The KJV rendering “ of his troops” has led to much speculation. It is rendered “ his vault” in the ASV and “ its foundation” in the NIV. This mighty, transcendent God that Israel had spumed, is the same God who in Noah’ s day called for the waters of the sea and then poured out the destructive deluge upon a wicked generation (Genesis 7:4). “ Jehovah is his name.” The Hebrew YHWH translated Jehovah means the God of “ underived existence” (Fairbaim) or the self-existing one. All other things in existence, whether spiritual or material, exist because of His will and power. Jehovah has always existed. He depends upon no one and holds the power to destroy all things created. (Compare Exodus 3:13-15 and Colossiansl:16-17). He Destroys Their Boasting (Amos 9:7-10). In the following verses the prophet respond to four common boasts of the Israelites Even though they had long ago apostatized from Jehovah, yet they clung to what they believed to be a privileged status with him. “ Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah” (Amos 9:7 a). They boasted “ we are the children of Israel.” They falsely assumed that since God had blessed their father Jacob and promised the land of Canaan to his descendants, they would always be privileged and secure therein. God responded to their faulty theory by telling them that they were no different than the “ children of the Ethiopians,” idolatrous Gentiles, whom they despised! The Hebrews boasted that God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They assumed that they alone were the objects of God’ s providential rule in the earth. “ Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?” (Amos 9:7). God smashes their mistaken idea by informing them that he had also brought the wicked Philistines from Caphtor and the hated Syrians from Kir. Caphtor is thought to be an early name for the island of Crete from whence the Philistines had migrated to Canaan. (See Jeremiah 47:4 and Ezekiel 25:16). The location of Kir, from whence the Syrians migrated, is unknown. In 1:5, Amos predicted the Syrians would be taken captive unto Kir. The history of the world is the migrations of nations. Few lands today are populated by their original stock of people. A good example is the United States, migrating Englishmen and Europeans took the land from its native inhabitants. Paul reminds us that it is God who determines the appointed seasons and bounds of the habitation of the nations of the earth. (Acts 17:26) In this respect, Israel was no different than other nations. “ Behold the eyes of Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom” (Amos 9:8 a). They also boasted that “ the eyes of the Lord Jehovah were upon them. Their poets and prophets had often used that phrase (See Amos 9:4). The Hebrews assumed His eyes were on them only for good. He corrects their mistaken view by informing them that His eyes are truly on them and what he sees is a sinful nation deserving punishment. “ And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah” (Amos 9:8 b). The extent of the nation’ s judgment is now announced. The political kingdom will be destroyed from off the face of the earth. That was done by Sargon II in 722 B.C. He defeated, dismantled and deported Northern Israel. Jehovah then hastened to add that in the destruction he will save the righteous remnant, even as he saved Noah and his family. “ For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like a grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth” (Amos 9:9). The threshed grain is sifted to cleanse it, to save the good wheat and to separate the chaff and trash. Likewise, through the judgment to come upon Israel, God will providentially preserve his righteous remnant (Compare Matthew 3:11-12). The surviving remnant from the North attached themselves to the nation of Judah (2 Chronicles 30:10-19; 2 Chronicles 30:25). “ All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, the evil shall not overtake nor meet us” (Amos 9:10). While the righteous will be saved as wheat in the sieve, the wicked will die by the sword of war. Their fourth boast was “ the evil shall not overtake nor meet us.” How wrong this idea was, was fully realized by those who lived to see the first Assyrian invasion in c.a. 734 B.C. Blessing of Future Days (Amos 9:11-15). In the final five verses, the prophet offers a glowing ray of hope for a people whose national doom had just been announced. That this passage is messianic is indisputable, for James, at the Jerusalem conference, said so and applied it to the establishment of Messiah’ s kingdom and the conversion of the Gentiles (Acts 15:13-18). And examination of the entire section (Amos 9:11-15) leaves theimpression that the prophecy is dual in nature. By that we mean, it had both a close and a distant fulfillment. That such dual prophecies are used by God in predicting the future can be seen by considering the great prophecy of 2 Samuel 7:12-16. In that prophecy, both Solomon, his temple and his kingdom and Christ and his spiritual kingdom (temple) are under consideration. The flag that suggests this conclusion is in (Amos 9:14-15); “ I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them....and I will plant them upon their land...”“ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, saith Jehovah that doeth this” (Amos 9:11-12). “ In that day,” i.e., in the day when the fortunes of God’ s people are in hopeless disarray, He will act on behalf of his people. This looks back to 9:8-10 and the disastrous judgments promised. “ The tabernacle of David” will be restored. F. C. Cook notes it is “ a word used for a temporary structure of boughs, or the rude hut of soldiers in the field” (See 2 Samuel 11:11). This speaks of the ruined condition of David’ s dynasty and kingdom at the time the prophecy would be fulfilled. Normally, one would speak of the “ house of David,” but after the fall of Israel to Assyria and Judah to Babylon and their resulting captivity, it was more like a hut. When God restored David’ s people to their land in 536 B.C., and placed Zerubbabel of the Davidic line, in the governor’ s chair, it was only a dim shadow of the kingdom over which David had ruled. Only in Messiah’ s kingdom was their prediction fully realized (Acts 2:29-35). The little state of Judah was broken and in ruins when Jesus came to it. It was subject to Rome who had divided the land and set petty rulers over it with no consideration for the house of David. “ That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, saith Jehovah that doeth this” (Amos 9:12). Edom was kin to Israel, being descended from Esau, Jacob’ s brother. Yet the Edomites were Israel’ s most bitter enemy. David had subdued the Edomites (2 Samuel 8:14) but they regained their freedom by revolting from Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:8­10). In the days of Judah’ s restoration, John Hyrcanus defeated the Edomites and they were absorbed into the Jewish nation. But Amos looks beyond that event to the day when Edom and all the Gentile “ nations “ that are called by God’ s name are part of Messiah’ s spiritual kingdom, the church. They would be identified or called by the name Christian (Acts 11:26). Edom stands representatively for all Gentile nations, for when James cited this verse it was to prove that Peter was justified in taking the gospel to Cornelius the Roman (Acts 15:13-19). It is noteworthy that James, in referring to Amos, loosely quotes from the Septuagint, hence the variation in the wording. “ Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And 1 will bring back the captivity of my people Israel and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them” (Amos 9:13-14). The promise of super abundant crops is to be understood as a restoration of prosperity, not literally. It took Israel’ s crops as long to grow and mature as it does ours. This is a renewal of the promise made to the fathers through Moses. “ And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and ye shall eat your bread to the full....” (Leviticus 26:5). In Messiah’ s kingdom these promises are realized in the spiritual blessings we have in Christ (Eph.l:3; Philippians 4:18-19). “ The mountains shall drop sweet wine” is a metonymy where by mountains stand for the vineyards grown upon them. From the vines the sweet wine came. “ The hills shall melt” is explained by the parallel verses (Joe 3:18). “ and the hills shall flow with milk.” In this illustration, the hills stand by metonymy for the flocks of goats and herds of cattle that grazed on them and produced the milk. Through the kindness of Cyrus, king of Persia, the remnant was restored to their land in 536 B.C. They were led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest. They did rebuild Jerusalem and the wasted cites in the years following, but they were not to stay there forever. Sin would once more be their undoing. “ And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God” (Amos 9:15). Only in Messiah’ s kingdom does this verse find its fulfillment. Of his faithful sheep who follow him, the good shepherd says “ no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’ s hand” (John 10:29). Those who come to him on his terms he, “ will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). The Lord’ s church is a spiritual “ kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28). Amos’ prediction of the establishment of Messiah’ s kingdom, which is his church, is solid proof that the church was foreknown and fore-planned by God. It was part of the eternal purpose of God (Ephesians 3:10-11) and not an afterthought as the advocates of premillennialism affirm. LESSONS TO National sin will result in national judgment. While individuals will stand before the judgment throne of God (Revelation 20:11-12), nations will be judged now! Nations and individuals that have received special privileges must assume corresponding responsibilities. God is gracious and patient in warning us of judgment (2 Peter 3:9), but he will not keep warning us forever. From Amos, we see purpose and meaning in national disasters. God is sovereign ruler over all the nations of the earth to make them prosper or to destroy them. Social injustice is as intolerable in God’ s sight as religious corruption. Selfish indulgence leaves us deaf to the cries of the poor and oppressed. False pride in ones self-sufficiency chokes out God’ s influence in our lives. The most elaborate worship, if insincere, is an insult to God. God’ s spokesmen must never be silenced by the worldly-minded in the church. Foolish sinners worship the stars while rebelling against Him who made the objects they adore. Worldly men, like Amaziah, cannot conceive of one serving God from any motive other than money (7:12). A crooked wall always hates a straight plumb line. Justice between men is one of the divine foundation blocks of society. Amos Chapter NineVerse 1 This chapter comprises the fifth vision of Amos as recorded in this section of the prophecy. It is a vision diverse from all of the others and deals with a great deal more than the temporal fortunes of the kingdom of Israel (either one of the two kingdoms, Judah, or Israel). It entails the final and total destruction of both Jewish kingdoms, as such, including even the overthrow of the Jerusalem temple, accounted as sacred by all Israel (Amos 9:1-4). The certainty of this was emphasized by means of Amos' third doxology (Amos 9:5-6). The vaunted position of the Jews as God's chosen people, a fact the Jews had mistakenly interpreted as a perpetual heavenly endorsement of their earthly, secular monarchy, is announced as being solemnly withdrawn by the Lord in the announcement that the Jews were nothing more to him than the Ethiopians and the Philistines! a fact which is sadly absent from the thoughts of most of the commentators on this passage. In this very discerning passage, the "seed of Abraham," called the "house of Jacob" (Amos 9:8), is severed, terminally and completely from any identification whatever with a Jewish state, whether ancient Judah, or Israel, or any subsequent state (or kingdom) that might appear later in history, professing to be any kind of successor to it (Amos 9:7-10). Finally, the chapter presents a prophecy of the Messiah, Jesus Christ the Lord, and the "rebuilding of the fallen tabernacle of David," which is as beautiful and circumstantial a prophecy of the church of Christ as may be found anywhere in the Bible (Amos 9:11-14). Without any doubt, this is one of the most important and instructive chapters to be found in the Old Testament. Regarding the doubts of critical scholars and their fulminations against passages in this chapter, such things are due, categorically, to their blindness to the prophetic appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ and his church in these passages, and also to their failure to understand that neither the Jewish temple (at Jerusalem) nor the secular kingdom of Solomon were in any sense harmonious with the will of God, and also to their failure to understand that no kingdom, state or nation, in the sense of its corporate existence, either ever was or ever will be "the chosen people of God," a fact made crystal clear in this chapter. Amos 9:1"I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals that the threshold may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.""The Lord standing beside the altar..." The notion that this is a reference to the pagan altars (plural) in the temple at Bethel is false. It is utterly inconceivable that the Lord would have taken a place beside the golden calf in the so-called "temple," at Bethel, which, in the first place, is not called "a temple." There was a pagan shrine there, of course, but no temple. There were many altars there and at other places in Israel; and no one of them could possibly have been designated as "the altar" associated with the history of the Jews. Many arguments are suggested in order to justify the application of this verse to Bethel, such as: "it is the only holy place at which tradition locates Amos during his ministry;"[1] "the chief temple of Northern Israel was located at Bethel;"[2] "Jacob saw the Lord at Bethel;"[3] "there is a close connection with the preceding chapter 8, (Amos 8:14) which mentions Bethel in the last verse,"[4] etc.; but none of these alleged arguments has any weight whatever. As C. G. Keil noted: "There is no ground whatever for the assertion that this chapter contains simply an explanation of Amo 8:14 ... There was not any one altar in the northern kingdom that could be called "the altar" ... In Amos 3:14, Amos foretold the destruction of "the altars" (plural) at Bethel ... So there was not any one altar in the kingdom of the ten tribes, that could be called "the altar."[5]Another allegation designed to support this passage as a reference to Bethel relies upon the assumption that this prophecy is not at all concerned with the southern kingdom, an assumption denied by the frequent and pertinent references to the southern kingdom, and to "the whole house of Israel, and to Judah," etc., occurring frequently enough. Some of these are: Amos 2:5; Amos 6:1; Amos 5:4-5; Amos 8:11-12, etc. It is true enough that the northern kingdom is the principal focus of the prophecy, but not for one instant is the southern kingdom left very far out of sight, as, for example, when the apostasy of David was mentioned in Amos 6:5. One simply cannot read Amos 9:1 as any kind of reference to Bethel. This verse is therefore a prophecy of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, with the implied end of the kingdom and of the dynasty of David at the same time. Most Biblical exegetes seem to be unaware of what the Old Testament says of that Solomonic temple. To begin with, it was never God's idea at all, but David's (2 Samuel 7). It stood in exactly the same relationship to the tabernacle (which God indeed had given the people) as that in which the secular monarchy stood to the theocracy, namely, a rejection of it, neither the monarchy nor the temple ever being, in any sense whatever the true will of God. The Christian martyr Stephen made this abundantly clear in Acts 7:44-50. The summary and final end of the northern kingdom had just been announced in preceding verses; and, in this passage, preparatory to the prophecy of the eternal kingdom of the Messiah, Amos made it clear that neither the northern nor the southern kingdom, in their corporate existence, would in any manner enter into the eternal purpose of God regarding the "true Israel," which was never identified with either one of them. The reason that the temple was widely viewed in Israel as "God's house" is that God indeed did accommodate to it, as also he did in the case of the monarchy; and so long as the Lord continued to send prophets to the northern kingdom, so long did they, despite all their sin, still pass as belonging to the "people of God." This points up the relevance of this reference to the temple at Jerusalem, which Keil defined as, "the divinely appointed sanctuary and the throne of Jehovah."[6] Thus, what happened to the temple and the kingdom of Judah was of the most vital relevance to Israel also, hence the inclusion of this fifth vision of Amos' prophecy. God appeared at the altar in Jerusalem, because there at the true sacrificial place of the nation (both of Judah and of Israel), their sins were heaped up; and from that perspective the Lord will judge and punish them. Considerable attention has been devoted to the meaning of "altar" in this first verse; because, when this is understood as a reference to the pagan altars in Bethel, a correct interpretation of the entire passage becomes impossible. Verse 2 "Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good."This passage is a further elaboration of what was said in the conclusion of Amo 9:1, that, "not one of them shall escape." There is no teaching here to the effect that anyone could hide from God, or that it would be necessary for God to "search" for any who might be attempting to do so. This is highly accommodative language used to emphasize the inevitability of their destruction and the utter impossibility of any person being able to escape it. "Hide in the top of Carmel ..." Harper tells us that Carmel was noted for, "its limestone caves, said to exceed 2,000 in number, and to be so close together and so serpentine as to make the discovery of a fugitive entirely impossible."[7]"The whole passage simply wishes to say that there is no place in the whole universe where they can feel themselves secure against Yahweh.[8]"Though they go into captivity ..." Amos had pointedly prophesied this fate for Israel; and this is a terrifying amplification of it, showing that the captivity in store for them will not be a benign and favorable one (as it had been in Egypt, at first); but it will be terminal. The historical disappearance of the ten tribes after the Assyrian captivity is proof enough of what happened. W. R. Harper, and other later commentators following his views, have supposed that this clause is addressed to an Israelite conception (borrowed from paganism, into which the whole nation had slipped) to the effect that, "In a strange and foreign land, they would be under the power of the god or gods of that land,"[9] and not any longer under Jehovah! We do not believe there is anything like this in view, either in this place or in Jonah 1:1. Verse 5 "For the Lord Jehovah of hosts, is he that toucheth the land and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again, like the river of Egypt; it is he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name."THE This is the third of Amos' doxologies, the other two being in Amos 4:13 and Amos 5:8-9, the purpose of all three being quite clearly that of a reminder that the Lord, whose word to Israel Amos was faithfully delivering, was indeed all-sufficient and powerful to bring to pass exactly that which he promised. As Keil accurately discerned the intent of these verses: "To strengthen his threat, Amos proceeds (in Amos 9:5-6) to describe Jehovah as the Lord of heaven and earth, who sends judgments upon the earth with omnipotent power."[10]"Like the River, etc ...." This is almost identical with Amos 8:8. (See under that verse for the interpretation, which is identical with what is meant here.) Smith detected an interesting progression in the three doxologies of Amos, thus: "The first doxology praises God as the creator of the universe (Amos 4:13). The second begins with creation (Amos 5:8) and goes on to refer to God's control. In this third doxology Yahweh's creative power is turned into destructive might.[11]"Calling for the waters of the sea ..." As noted in the interpretation of Amo 8:8, which see, this appears to be a reminder of the great flood which God sent upon rebellious mankind as a punishment of their malignant wickedness. Verse 7 "Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?"Due to their gross and repeated rebellions against God, Israel had forfeited their status as "God's chosen people"; and here is revealed that God's providences for them had in no sense been heaped upon them without any concern for other nations. Israel seems to have been perpetually blind to the truth that even God's great promise to Abraham, upon which all Jewish and Christian hopes must ultimately rest, had never been given with a view to benefiting his secular posterity alone, but that, in Abraham, "All the families of the earth might be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). Even from the first, as demonstrated by the rejection of a great portion of Abraham's literal descendants, such as Esau, Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah, Abraham's fleshly posterity was never the true possessor of the promise, which pertained to his "spiritual seed" alone, those of a like faith and disposition of their great progenitor. The Jewish race, all of them, northern and southern kingdoms, had further perverted and misconstrued the promise by applying it, without reservation, to their secular kingdoms. This prophecy put an end to that error, for all who will read and understand Amos. "Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians...?" In a word, this means that, "Jews, in the fleshly sense, are of no more concern to Almighty God than the Ethiopians, the Philistines and the Syrians. This is still the truth. God has no more any special program for dealing with racial Jews than he does for the Japanese, the Germans, the French, or the Iranians. As Paul put it: "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all" (Romans 10:12). It must be accounted as absolutely incredible that a vast number of "Christian scholars" do not in any sense believe this! "The Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir ..." God's providence had also been showered upon these nations. Paul, in his great missionary solicitation of the Gentiles did not fail to point out that: "God, in the generations gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways; and yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:16-17). Verse 8 "Behold the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth."This verse is not a promise that God will destroy "the house of Jacob," nor a promise that God will annihilate the total posterity of Abraham; but it is a promise to wipe "the sinful kingdom" off the face of the planet. Which sinful kingdom? Every sinful kingdom, especially the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom of Israel. The ultimate application of this to the whole world of wicked and unbelieving humanity is dramatically detailed in the prophecy of Revelation (Revelation 19:11-21). In the case of the kingdoms of the Jews, the very initiation of their kingdom under Saul was a rejection of God (1 Samuel 8:7); reciprocally, this was also their rejection of their own status as "God's chosen people," a term that henceforth would apply to the "righteous remnant" and not to Israel as a whole. McKeating interpreted this and the preceding verse 7 as "a formal contradiction of Amo 3:2, `For you alone have I cared among all the nations of the world.'"[12] However, these verses are not speaking of the same thing. God's solicitous care for "you," means his special and unique care for those who love and obey him, a promise valid now, and eternally, and which in no sense nullifies or contradicts what is said here of the destruction of the sinful kingdom. Furthermore, in God's selection and choice of Abraham's posterity as containing "his chosen people," there were countless instances in which Israel had indeed been "cared for" by the Father in a manner absolutely unique in human history, a blessing absolutely not founded in any divine partiality for Jews, but necessary for the ultimate blessing of "all the families of the earth." At the time of God's choice of Israel, idolatry was so widespread and nearly universal on earth, that the very knowledge of God might have perished from the planet had it not been for the choice of Abraham. McKeating's allegation of a contradiction here, as is usually the case with such allegations, is founded upon a fundamental ignorance of what this prophecy is saying. Hammershaimb correctly observed what is denoted by these verses thus: "The point was that Israel had no entitlement to sin more than others, because Yahweh had chosen it; on the contrary, this carried with it all the greater obligations on the side of the people, and Yahweh would not spare them for that reason."[13]There is nothing in these verses which may be interpreted as a denial that, "God is the God of all history, not of Hebrew history alone; he is behind all the great world movements, the migrations of people ... are ultimately determined and effected by him."[14] Paul's great sermon in Athens emphasizes this truth (Acts 17). Smith also observed that: "God seems to be announcing the end of God's special relationship to Israel as a nation (i.e., a kingdom). It means that God will treat Israel like any other nation; the nation will have no special privileges; and when they sin they will be punished."[15]This of course, is true; but it needs to be pointed out that their secular state had never been the object of any special favor from God (for it was contrary to his will), except in the necessity that time and again, there was no way to aid the "righteous remnant" without aiding and favoring the wicked state of which that remnant was an integral part. This mingling of the two Israels in the Old Testament is one of the primary factors usually overlooked by commentators. Paul elaborated the distinction between these two Israels in Romans (Romans 9-11), and no full understanding either of the New Testament or the ancient prophecies is possible without keeping this distinction constantly in view. The true Israel was, and ever will be, the people who love and obey God; the other Israel, as this passage dogmatically affirms has the same status with God as the Ethiopians, the Philistines and the Syrians! "The sinful kingdom ..." in this verse refers to both Judah and Israel; but "the house of Jacob" in the last half of this verse is a reference to the "righteous remnant," which is the true Israel. "Save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah."Having failed, completely, to understand what Amos is saying, some commentators assault the integrity of this passage: "This flatly contradicts the point of the whole (verse). It is a later addition to the text ... The opinion expressed in 8b is doubtless that of a Judean redactor[16] ... These verses are manifestly later additions,"[17] etc. Such denials of the Word of God may be rejected with impunity; they are founded upon no sufficient evidence and are but the futile denials of some scholars whose fallacious interpretations of previous passages are contradicted here. It should be kept in mind, however, that it is not the previous words of the prophet Amos which this half-verse contradicts, but the false opinions advanced in the inaccurate interpretation of preceding verses. Smith, after taking note of the assault upon the integrity of this verse, freely admitted that, "It must also be said that these verses could have come from Amos."[18] The obvious truth is that any one understanding the full significance of this section finds them fully harmonious with the whole verse and the whole prophecy and will have no hesitancy whatever in receiving them as the true words of God spoken through Amos. Essentially, it is the good news of this passage which is so repulsive to many interpreters, who have already decided that there can be no good news at all in a book with so many warnings and denunciations. As Smith said, "Many earlier scholars did not believe that a prophet could predict judgment and hope (woe and weal) at the same time."[19] Fortunately, most present-day scholars have outgrown such a naive and foolish notion. "Present scholars recognize that messages of weal and woe often came from the same prophet."[20]It is surely evident that scholarly bias entered into the rejection of this part of Amos, as did also their failure to discern its true import. "The house of Jacob ..." is not a mere distinction between the northern and southern kingdoms, for the term stands for "the righteous remnant" of both kingdoms; the true antithesis is between the "sinful kingdom" (8a) and "house of Jacob" as a "divine kernel in the nation, by virtue of its divine election, out of which the Lord will form a new and holy people."[21] This "kernel" is the "righteous remnant," the true Israel of God, who were never, in fact, identifiable as "the kingdom." Elijah and the 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal represented the totality of that remnant during the reign of the wicked Ahab (1 Kings 19:10; Romans 11:4). This righteous remnant was the remnant formed by the true believers in both the secular kingdoms of Israel and Judah, in the same sense that "the sinful kingdom" refers to the same two secular kingdoms. Thus, here in Amos 9:8 b is introduced the subject of the concluding verses of Amos' great prophecy which foretells how God will, from that righteous remnant, develop the universal kingdom of the church of Christ and endow it with the most extravagant blessings, that new "kingdom," being not a kingdom of this world at all, but the true followers of Christ, his church being called the "rebuilt tabernacle of David" (Amos 9:11). Verse 9 "For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth."The "house of Israel" here has exactly the same meaning as "the house of Jacob," having no reference at all to any secular kingdom, but to that "kernel," the righteous remnant who truly love and obey the Lord, not a single one of whom shall be lost or suffer destruction from the Lord. The simile here is that of a sieve used for screening out the trash, small stones, and chaff from the true wheat which passes through the sieve. The historical fulfillment of this took place very shortly after the times of Amos' prophecy when the northern kingdom was carried away by the Assyrians, never more to appear any more as any kind of an entity; but, as the future of the southern kingdom comes particularly into focus here, since it was with that kingdom that "the righteous remnant" would be principally identified in the future (after the destruction of the northern kingdom), this verse is especially a reference to the southern kingdom. This "sifting" was fulfilled in the fail of their city, the destruction of their temple, and the deporting of the whole nation to Babylon; but there are overtones in the passage reaching far beyond that historical event. It should ever be remembered that the old Israel is a type of the new; and that sifting of the house of Jacob among the nations in the Old Testament is still going on. "The shaking of Israel in the sieve is still being fulfilled upon the Jews who are dispersed among all nations."[22] Who but God could have prophesied such a remarkable thing concerning Israel, at a time in history when it would have appeared utterly incredible? No, these verses were not added by any later editor, or redactor! "Not the least kernel shall fall to earth ..." This means that no Israelite, or any other person on earth, who truly loves and seeks to do the will of God will be cut off, regardless of the evil nature of any kingdom, or group of people, with whom he may be environmentally associated. God knows what he is doing. Verse 10 "All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, the evil shall not overtake nor meet us."Here again is reaffirmed the constant thesis of Amos that the two secular kingdoms, which were evil, shall surely fail, and the kingdoms shall be wiped off the face of the earth. The "not utterly destroy" of the previous verse (Amos 9:8 b) is not a denial of this, but an indication of a different fate for the "righteous remnant," in keeping with God's eternal purpose. There are two things in these verses that must be differentiated, the "kernel" and the "sinful kingdom," the great burden of the prophecy being directed against the latter. Verse 11 "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old." OF THE CHURCH OF CHRISTThis verse foretells how salvation for all men "shall be effected in the house of David, in whose line Christ was to come."[23] Note that the Jerusalem temple is by-passed, absolutely, here. All of the great victories of Israel were won during the period when they had the "tabernacle," not the temple; and, as Barnes pointed out, "He speaks of the house of David, not in any terms of royal greatness; he tells not of its palaces."[24]This powerful and suggestive mention of the tabernacle speaks of the days of the humility of Israel, indicating that when God's salvation comes, it will be associated with the humble, and the simple, rather than with the royal palaces and Solomonic glory of the house of David. Some of the scholars have translated "tabernacle" here as "hut,"[25] applying it to the postexilic ruin of David's dynasty; but there is unequivocally a reference here to the ancient "tabernacle" of the Jewish wanderings in the wilderness, as proved by the sacred author James' reference to this passage in Acts 15 : "After these things, I will return, And I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen; And I will build again the ruins thereof, And I will set it up: That the residue of men may seek after the Lord, And all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from of old." (Acts 15:16-18) It should be remembered that James here was not quoting Amos alone, attributing his quotations to "the prophets." (Acts 15:15). However, the words of Amos in this verse are definitely among the passages referred to, making it certain that this is a reference to the building up of the Church, the antitype of the tabernacle. Note that there is no reference whatever here to the Jewish temple, itself an apostasy from the tabernacle; and, it is in the sense of that semi-pagan temple having supplanted and taken the place of the tabernacle that the "tabernacle" is here represented as "fallen," meaning that the Jews had simply discarded it and gone into the temple business. The type of blunder into which many scholars fall in the interpretation of this place is exemplified by this: "The tabernacle of David is the Davidic dynasty, and these words presuppose that it had come to an end; they must therefore have been written later than the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C."[26] Such a view would, of course, remove the passage far from the days of Amos. It should be perfectly obvious to any discerning student that there is no possible reference here to "David's dynasty." That had not fallen when Amos wrote, but the "tabernacle" had fallen! "In that day ..." is a "reference to the times of the Messiah,"[27] and, in no sense was fulfilled by anything that occurred before that. After the Babylonian captivity, Israel did indeed return to their land (not the northern kingdom, but the Davidic branch of it, the southern kingdom), but they did not restore the "fallen tabernacle" at all, but merely built another temple, a far different thing, the difference being that God had given the plans and specifications of the tabernacle to Moses; but the temple was planned and built by men (Acts 7:44-47). The great error of the temple was that it was patterned after the great pagan temples of the period, and was the result of the same desire of the Israelites that led to the formation of the monarchy, namely, that they could be "like the nations around them." Thus, when Christ established his church, it was not a "rebuilding of the fallen temple," but a rebuilding of the "fallen tabernacle." "And close up the breaches of it ..." This does not refer to holes made in the palaces of Jewish kings, but it refers to healing the breach among God's people. Jeroboam had divided the "chosen people"; and the righteous remnant from both divisions were thus separated; but when Messiah would come, then all of God's true Israel would be under one theocratic head, namely Christ. David's kingdom is a type of Christ's; and the restoration of the fallen tabernacle is the same thing as the raising up of one of David's posterity (Christ) to sit upon David's throne forever, a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ and his enthronement in heaven, as Peter pointed out (Acts 2:30-31). No one could possibly be expected to raise up again the kingdom of David, except one of his descendants, this being the significance of the genealogies of Jesus which show him to be of "the flesh of David." Thus, in this extended meaning of the "fallen tabernacle" being restored, there is also hidden this prophecy of the restoration of David's throne "in the spiritual sense." All kinds of errors result from a misunderstanding of the last clause of this verse: "I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old ..." This is alleged to mean that God will reproduce in the history of Israel another period reflecting the same kind of pride and glory that characterized the old Davidic and Solomonic empire; but this is definitely not the thing to be rebuilt. "The tabernacle" stands for the time when God's communion with his people had been established upon an intimate and continual communication, in short, for "their fellowship with God." It was that fellowship which had been destroyed by the sins and wickedness of the people; and it was preeminently the "broken fellowship with God," which would be restored in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which, alone, is foretold in this promise to "rebuild," as "in the days of old." It was the great error of Israel, during our Lord's ministry, that led them to identify the blessed Messiah himself as one who would recreate their old Solomonic empire, which, in reality, was the scandal of forty generations, and the very last thing on earth that God would have promised to "rebuild." Christian interpreters today ought not to fall into the same error that was fatal to Israel. VIEWSOf course, those espousing a premillennial view of the Bible suppose that this passage supports their contention: "Amos' view of the Messianic kingdom under the throne of David, represents it as universal, and as including the Gentiles."[28] The church of course is "under the throne of David' only in the spiritual sense of David's throne having been an Old Testament type of universal reign of Christ upon his throne in heaven. No temporal restoration of David's monarchy is prophesied here. Another unfounded theory based upon this passage is that of the projected return of the fleshly Jews to their land in Palestine and the exercise of some very wide and successful dominion from Jerusalem during the historical period of the church of Jesus Christ himself. Clarke referred to this, defining it thus: "It must therefore refer to their restoration under the gospel, when they shall receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and be by him restored to their own land. Those victories (in the return of the southern kingdom to Palestine after the captivity) could not warrant the terms of the prediction in this verse."[29]Such interpretations overlook the fact that, long ago, God put "no distinction" between Jews and anyone else on earth (Romans 10:12); their status as "God's chosen people" was by themselves repudiated and rejected. After extended mercies and extensive opportunities repeatedly offered them, the fleshly Israel adamantly refused to have any of it, even crucifying the Son of God when he appeared upon earth; and the notion that God will, for some incredible reason, again restore secular, fleshly and rebellious Israel to "their land" in Palestine is one of the most preposterous notions ever conceived by the students of God's word. God's Israel today knows nothing of race, or any secular kingdom; it is a spiritual Israel, the only "sons of Abraham" on earth today, being, in the light of the Scriptures, those who have been "baptized into Christ." And should the Jews ever receive Christ as their Messiah, they would of necessity also be "baptized into him"; and therefore, such a proposition as that advanced by Clarke would mean that the holy church itself, in its entirety, and not merely some racial fraction of it, would be reestablished in Palestine! What a fantastic misunderstanding! James D. Bales' summary of the teaching of this place is: "The rebuilding of the tabernacle of David, was evidently not a rebuilding of the Mosaic system, but the restoration of a king on David's throne; and that Christ is now on David's throne we have shown in another chapter. The Mosaical system will not be rebuilt; its mediator has now been replaced by Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-17; Acts 3:22-26). The old Covenant was to pass away, and it has passed away (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:5-10; Hebrews 8:13). Its sacrifices have ceased for the Lamb of God has been offered once for all to bear the sins of the world.[30]Verse 12 "That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by thy name, saith Jehovah that doeth this."Without any doubt, "The possession of the heathen nations by Israel is spiritual."[31] Israel's possession of the remnant of Edom, and all other heathen nations was also foretold by Isaiah thus: "And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee The city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 60:14)." Both passages (here, and in Isaiah) are fulfilled in this manner: Christ is the true Israel, of which ancient Jacob was only a feeble type; and all who are Christ's and worship him, are therefore worshipping Israel! Indirect reference to this is found in Revelation 3:9, where, in the present dispensation, the false Jews who opposed Christianity, received the word from Jesus that they would "come and worship before the feet" of the church at Philadelphia, fulfilled when Jews were converted and bowed before Christ with whom, for ages during the present order, Gentiles have been identified. "Thus, `the taking possession' referred to here will be of a very different character from the subjugation of Edom and other nations to David."[32] "The relationship between Israel and the nations will not be that of a conqueror to the conquered because it will be the Lord 'who will do this.'"[33] Still another excellent commentary concerning the proper interpretation of these verses is that of J. A. Motyer: "The warlike metaphor in many of these passages is, of course, to be understood in terms of the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ and the missionary expansion of his Church. This is the interpretation authorized by the New Testament (Acts 15:12-19).[34]"All the nations that are called by thy name ..." A very interesting fact regarding this passage concerns the variation of it that appears to be in Acts in the passage cited above: "Through slight changes, almost infinitesimal in the Hebrew, the Septuagint translators (circa 250 B.C.) rendered this passage: "That the residue of men may seek after the Lord," these last two words being supplied as a necessary object to the transitive verb "seek"; and so it is quoted by James at the Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:17). This passage is especially interesting as an outstanding example in textual criticism."[35]In the manner thus indicated, the scholars, some of them, have made this example (as they call it) their carte blanche permission to change the Hebrew text in any manner that pleases them; but we reject this. In the first place, we have already noted that there is no certainty that James quoted this verse, having categorically stated that what he quoted came from more than one prophet (Acts 15:15); and the words might well have been James' own inspired words derived from interpretation of the general message of many Old Testament prophets. But even if it could be proved that he actually quoted this changed translation from the LXX, the explanation would then be that offered by Barnes: "James quoted the words as they were familiar to his hearers (the Gentiles accompanying Paul), not correcting those that did not impair the meaning. This showed, incidentally, that even imperfection of translation does not empty God's Word."[36]Authority for recklessly changing the Hebrew text every time some scholar thinks he could improve it is certainly not resident in this so-called "example." Verse 13 "Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt."This language, couched in materialistic metaphor is nevertheless descriptive of the "spiritual blessings" to be realized upon the earth through the ultimate coming of the Messiah and the prosperity of his kingdom, the church, upon earth. Hyperbole is also employed, the very idea of the mountain springs running sweet wine instead of water being a certain indication of this. But, despite what seems to be over-extravagant language in this description, nothing weaker than this passage could properly convey the blessings that have come to mankind through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In comparison to the dark heathen lands where the Lord has never been received, those portions of earth which are even in the most nominal sense "Christian" are excellent examples, even of those material blessings which carry the weight of the metaphor in this glorious promise; and this still leaves untouched the far greater and more wonderful spiritual blessings of the grace, mercy, and peace that are the inheritance of all who know the Lord. Jamieson interpreted the metaphor of the "plowman and the reaper" as meaning that, "Such shall be the abundance that the harvest and vintage can hardly be gathered before time for preparing for the next crop."[37] The footnote in the Catholic Bible is also excellent: "By this is meant the great abundance of spiritual blessings, which by a constant succession, will enrich the Church of Christ."[38]It was the great misfortune of the Hebrew people to interpret such passages as this literally; therefore, they looked forward to the coming of their Messiah who would enlarge their secular kingdom to include all surrounding nations and miraculously bring about the supernatural wonders like mountain springs running wine! The unspiritual in all generations find the Word of God an enigma. Verse 14 "And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God."Just as the materialistic metaphor of Amo 9:13 did not indicate any of those things literally, the same is true here. The turning again of the captivity of Israel is a reference to the captivity of men "in trespasses and sins," and the consequent joy of salvation upon receiving the fountain of life in Christ Jesus. "Israel" is a type of the holy Church, and the peace and prosperity in evidence here are symbols of the spiritual blessings "in Christ." "The truth expressed through this imagery tells of the total reversal of the effects of sin."[39] Sin is at the root of all man's problems; it was sin that resulted in insecurity, in wretchedness, unhappiness, and want. Solving the sin problem solves them all. Some, of course, have found here a prophecy of the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity, a captivity that occurred over a century later; but, as Keil noted, "This was no planting of Israel to dwell forever in their land, nor was it a setting up of the fallen tabernacle."[40] It is absolutely mandatory to read this prophecy of something that applies after the "fallen tabernacle" was restored in the Church of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it is just as wrong to seek the fulfillment of this is some far-off future event (altogether mythical), "When the Jews, who have been converted to their God and Saviour Jesus Christ, will one day be led back to Palestine."[41] In this light, it is a fact that, "The land which will flow with streams of divine blessing is not Palestine, but the domain of the Christian church.[42] This divine project will be completed when, one day, the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered into the kingdom of Christ. "They shall build the waste cities, and shall inhabit them ..." Barnes gave an excellent interpretation of this, thus: "Throughout the world, amid the desert of Heathendom, which was formerly deserted by God, Churches of Christ have arisen, which, for the firmness of faith, may be called cities, and for the gladness of hope which needeth not to be ashamed."[43]By way of summary: The raising up of the fallen tabernacle of David began with the coming of Christ and the establishment of his church, or kingdom, upon earth. The possession of the remnant of Edom and all the other Gentile nations upon whom the Lord's name is called began to take place with the missionary thrust of the apostolic church; the return of God's people from captivity, is the return of uncounted millions of men from the service and pursuit of sin, with the resultant joy that issues in such great blessings that the most extravagant metaphor is necessary to describe them. The continued sifting of "the righteous remnant" of whatever origin will continue throughout time until the full company of God's redeemed from earth shall have been completed. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Amos Chapter Nine Vision of the Lord Besides the Altar (Amos 9:1-10) The final vision reveals the Lord standing beside the altar. God declares that there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Try to go to the tops of the mountains or the depths of the sea but judgment is surely coming (Amos 9:2-4). There is no escape for rejecting the word of the Lord. Listen to the power of the Lord in Amos 9:5-6. Do not suppose that we can hide ourselves from God. This reminds me of the foolishness of Adam and Eve thinking they could hide themselves from the Lord after they committed the sin of eating from the tree. Israel is not protected. Israel does not have special status before the Lord (Amos 9:7-10). The surrounding nations are going to shake Israel so that they sinners are punished with the sword. God sees this sinful nation. This is a grave warning against being arrogant. Israel was arrogant, believing that they were special which led them to being immune to God’ s judgment. Notice in verse 7 that the Lord points out that Israel was not the only nation that he delivered from a land. The Lord governed the migration of Israel just as he had governed the migration of these other nations. We have no special standing before the Lord. The apostle Paul warns us against this kind of thinking in his letter to the Romans. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “ Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’ s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Romans 11:17-24 ESV) Observe verse 22: Note “ God’ s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” When we forget God’ s kindness toward us, then we are liable to become arrogant. Further, we must continue in his kindness based on his kindness toward us. Israel had lost their way and we can lose our way when we presume our place in the kingdom of God. As soon as we think that we stand without the grace of God and without standing fast in the faith, then we are also ripe for judgment, rather than ripe for receiving God’ s blessings. Amos 9:1. As a general comment on this and several verses following, it should be stated that them. and kindred pronouns stand for the people of Israel who have been so unfaithful to God, and who were destined to be punished with exile into a foreign land Idolatry was the predominating corruption of the nation, hence the altar spoken of pertained to that used In the idolatrous worship. The lintel and door were parts of the idols’ temple and they were to be smitten by the prophet at the commandment of the Lord. Posts may shake signifies that the temple of idolatry was to be overthrown and its worshipers to be scattered. That fleeth . . .. not flee away means that, although the unfaithful idolators attempt to get away from tlie wrath of God they will not succeed. That escapeth , , . not he delivered denotes virtually the same as the preceding statement. Some may escape the immediate capture by the enemy but they will not succeed in the end, for they will be taken into the territory of the foreign foes. Amos 9:2, The impossibility of escaping tlie wrath of God is the thought of this verse. Hell and heaven are used figuratively because they are opposite terms, and denote the complete presence of God no matter where a man might flee. David used the same figure in Psalms 139:8 where he was considering the subject, being discussed by Amos. Amos 9:3. In seeking to escape the wrath of God it would be natural to hunt out places that were considered as a good place of seclusion, Carmel was thought of as such a spot because it was a high point and was situated at the top of a long range that was separated from the country in general. Nothing is actually hidden from the vision of the Lord, hence the phrase hid from my sight means to become invisible to the general view. Even though the victim of God’ s wrath might seek refuge in such an apparently secret place, the Lord would find some kind of means to take him. Ordinary serpents do not live in the bottom of the sea, hence the statement means that some agency would be called upon to carry out the vengeance of God upon the evil servant of Him who was so displeased at the corruption of the divine law. Amos 9:4. Even after the Lord’ s people have been moved into the territory of a foreign land, the wrath of an offended God will not he satisfied, for the severity of their captors will reduce their numbers. Evil is not something wrong morally for God does not use such means to punish his people. The term refers to something in the nature of a chastisement that would cause great humiliation. Amos 9:5. God of hosts means he is the God of armies and all other forces that could lie used in proper causes. The touch of His hand when administered in wrath will result in the overthrow of that land or other object that might be touched; will cause it to melt. Flood ("river") of Egypt is explained at Amos 8:8. Amos 9:6. The leading term in the lexicon definition of stories is, “ superiority of station,” and the statement of the verse means that God is the high and exalted One. Troop is a strained rendering of the original which simply means to bind together as a man would a group of articles that he wanted to handle. The entire first sentence of this verse means that God is as exalted as the highest heaven, and also is strong enough to take possession of all things on the earth. As a specific example of this power, mention is made of the waters of the sea which have been made subject to Him more than once (Exodus 14:16-31; Jonah 1:4; Jonah 1:15 : Matthew 8:26-27). Amos 9:7. The children of Israel are named in a group with a number of heathen nations. That is for the purpose of showing the vast power of the Almighty, and to indicate the dependence of the whole world upon the independent God. Amos 9:8. The comparisons and figures of speech are dropped and the literal prediction of the fate of the nation of Israel is stated. Saving, etc., refers to the remnant that was to be left after the captivity was ended (Ezra 2:64). Amos 9:9. This verse has the same subject matter as the preceding one, only It is expressed In figurative language. The heathen nations are the sieve and God was going to use that means of separating many of the people of Israel. In literal actions a sieve retains the good grain, while the dwarfed and otherwise objectionable particles will drop through and fall to the ground. The prediction of the verse Is that none of the grain among the people of Israel would fall. Amos 9:10. The context will justify the insertion of a word between this and the preceding verse, making the present one read: But, all the sinners of my people, etc. The particular sinners referred to were the false prophets who belittled the idea that any danger was threatening the nation, and who were all the time preaching “ peace, peace; when there Is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). Amos 9:11. That day denotes the time when the nation of Israel will have reecived its chastisement at the hands of the heathen. God promised to restore the service that had been interrupted by the exile. Tabernacles of David is a phrase used in the sense of the regime that started with that great patriarch, the first ruler of Judah. Amos 9:12. Israel had previously been troubled by these peoples, but the promise is that it will be favored by the Lord and the downtrodden people will rejoice. Amos 9:13. The prosperity that was to return to Israel was to be prompt and great. The strong expressions of this verse are rather figurative, yet they are a true picture of the speed with which the blessings of God would come to the land. Amos 9:14. Bring again the captivity means that the captivity will be reversed, and the Lord's people were to be brought out of it. They also were to be restored to tbelr own land to produce and enjoy the crops of the soil. Amos 9:15, No mare be pulled, up applies to them as a nation, for Israel was never moved bodily out of Palestine after the return from captivity. The nation was finally subjugated by another government and the power of the same was taken from it, but it took place while living in its original territory.