AMOS CHAPTERS 1–6

Since we are coming close to Sunday School restart, I thought we would just do a fly over of the OT book of Amos. It’s 9 chapters long but I’ll try to get through it in two lessons.

First, some background. After King Solomon died the 12 tribes of Israel divided. Two tribes occupied Jerusalem and the surrounding area called Judah. Ten tribes chose Jeroboam as their king and occupied north of Judah which was called Israel. Two hundred years later, Amos was a prophet from Judah. He was a herdsman who lived and worked in Tekoa, a town 10 miles south of Jerusalem. He also tended sycamore trees (a poor quality fig tree). God called him to be a prophet. By that time Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II was kind of Israel.

Amos gave his prophesy at Bethel, a town in the southern part of Israel, just about 12 miles north of Jerusalem. Bethel is one of the towns that the first king of the Northern Kingdom, King Jeroboam, put a golden calf for the people of the Northern Kingdom to worship, so they wouldn’t go to Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom to worship.

Central to Amos’ message is his belief in God’s divine sovereignty and his message was one of God’s coming judgement.

Amos’ message came in a time of great prosperity and growth in the northern kingdom of Israel. Archaeological discoveries confirm it. They were living the good life, and they considered themselves God’s chosen people, which they were, but they weren’t obedient to Him.

When reading Amos you may see some parallels between 8th century BC Israel and 21st century America. Prosperity, blessed by God, but people weren’t true to God.

The Israelites of Amos’ time were very bold with their idolatry and other sins. Amos being a country boy could clearly see the evils going on in the city. He begins his message talking about judgement coming to nations surrounding Israel, which might have brought cheers from the Israelites, but then his circle gets smaller and smaller until in chapter 2 he gets to Israel. Probably nobody is smiling then, since he was in Bethel, and important religious town of Israel.

Amos preached that God was the God of history. He is sovereign. He affects movement of peoples and controls natural phenomena. Yes, they were God’s chosen people, however they had free will as we do today to either bow in subjection to God or reject Him. We must make the same choice today.

Amos confirmed the election of Israel as God’s people, but he preached against their perverted concept of election that God was committed to take care of them no matter how they behaved.

I think you would agree God has blessed America, but he isn’t obligated to continue to do so when America turns against him.

At this point you may want to read chapter 1 through 2:5 of Amos.

Notes:

1:1–6:14 = God’s message against the pagan nations surrounding Israel. They would be judged by God.

Six pagan nations in all, Syria, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab. Surrounding Israel, subjective to them at this point but not always so in the past.

The earthquake mentioned in verse 1 helped to date the writing of Amos. It must have been a bad one. It was remembered 200 yrs later (Zech 14:5) and compared to God’s judgement. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the earthquake happened at the time king Uzziah of Judah was struck with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26), which was 750BC. Excavations in the area also confirm the timeline. Verse 1 says God revealed the prophesy to Amos two years before the earthquake.

1:3–5. Damascus, representing Syria. Amos repeatedly mentions “three crimes(or sins), make that four”. This type of verbiage is similar to that in wisdom literature, like in Proverbs 30. Sins aren’t really listed until he gets to Israel, which puts the emphasis on them. Syria was brutal against Israel in past wars. Hazel and Ben Hadad were past kings of Syria.

1:6–8. The Philistines. They would invade the Israeli border, capture Israelites and sell them as slaves to the Edomites.

1:9–10. Tyre, the most important city in Phoenicia at the time. Also enslaving Israelites and in doing so, failed to observe the “brotherhood”, long standing agreements with Israel.

1:11–12. Edom was another name for Esau, twin brother of Jacob. Remember when Moses was leading the Israelites in the wilderness, he asked the Edomites to allow them to pass through but they refused. When Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, Edom gloated and even delivered over some Israeli refugees over to Nebuchadnezzar. (Obadiah 10–14).

1:13–15. Ammon, the Ammonites (and Moabites) were a product of the incestual relationship between Lot and his two daughters (Genesis 19:30–38). The reference to the treatment of pregnant Israeli women would have been during one of their attempts to enlarge their borders. They too were brutal.

2:1–3 Moab. Remember from Numbers 22 that the king of Moab tried to use Balaam (the one the donkey talked to) to put a curse on Israel. The burning of bones referred to here may have been when the coalition of kings of Israel, Judah and Edom were attempting to suppress the Moabite rebellion. (2 Kings 3).

Now Amos turns to his nation, Judah, before finally getting to Israel.

2:4–5 Judah. Those who were tied to the covenant with God were judged based on that covenant. They rejected the Lord’s law. They had the benefit (like us) to know God’s will. They followed false gods. They were idolators, and they would be punished for it. This came to pass when the Babylonians conquered Judah and exiled them in 586BC.

2:6 thru 6:14. Israel.

Israel at this time were apparently treating the righteous and the needed very badly, and God would judge them for that.

The were also very immoral, and were committing incest. They engaged in deliberate acts of disobedience to God.

Do you believe a time will come when God will punish America for the deliberate acts of disobedience? How can the course be reversed?

Should the change begin in the home and in the churches? Rearing children in a home with prayer, bible study and love. Discipline, respect, focus on the grace of God and God’s will. Worship of God above all else. Churches that make disciples, preach the bible, teach a generation to put God first, in a world who tells us to put ourselves first. Recounting God’s goodness to us, as Amos recounts God’s good acts the Israel. Where have we gone wrong?

God raised prophets for them. Who has he raised up to teach the people of America about himself and what He expects? John Wesley, Francis Asbury, George Whitefield, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham are some names that come to mind. Who do you think of that made the most impact on you for the Kingdom of God? Do you pray for more of these type proclaimers of the gospel for our children and grandchildren’s generation?

Amos also talks about the coming judgment of God on the Israelites. We know from reading the new testament that there is also a coming judgement on this world. Eventually, Satan, his demons and sin will be removed forever. Until then, we have to deal with sin, and when some punishments come, very often Christians suffer along with non-Christians.

Could COVID, or some other things we see happening these days be an attempt by God to turn people in the world to him. Maybe so, maybe not, but I don’t think it would hurt for us Christians to take every circumstance in life and use it to re-adjust and align our lives a little closer to God and his will. What do you think?

Amos emphasizes how good the people of Israel had it in life at the time, blessed by God, but rather than worship God more faithfully, they did the opposite.

We too have been blessed by God with the greatest economy in the world, the highest standard of living, but the majority of us Americans give God little credit for it. Why is that? Why does prosperity lead so many in the opposite direction of God? How do we do what we know we should do?

In chapter 4 verse 1, Amos refers to the “cows of Bashan”. This is said to be a derogatory statement concerning the wealthy women there, whose craving for more wealth was never satisfied, and were compared to cows ready for slaughter… in the coming judgement.

Also in this chapter he says “go to Bethel and rebel”, referring to the Pagan worship practiced there. There was worship of God there, but it was mixed with Pagan worship and tolerated together.

Amos mourned the coming judgement he clearly saw coming. Chapter 5 begins by referring to their “funeral song”. It’s really a sad prophesy when you think of the faithful time of King David compared to the state of ungodliness in Amos’ time. They had had many ungodly kings leading them between Solomon and this time period.

Regardless of the ruler, God’s people are still required to be God’s people, remembering God has a plan and is in control. He blesses when his creation should be blessed and he eventually judges when his creation deserves judging. Finally, Christ will bring the final judgement, taking his own to be with him forever, and judging those who rejected Him.

We know there have been many times in history, and in many places in the world when doing God’s will made that person an enemy of the world. Think of how the early Christians suffered during the Roman Empire, and all over the world up to today. Jesus said the world hated him, so we shouldn’t be shocked when they hate us, if we are faithful.

In chapter 5 verse 4 God says “Seek me so you can live”. Seeking God is a never ending discipline isn’t it? Don’t we need to refresh our desire to do God’s will everyday, and show him our desire to grow as Christians?

Beginning Chapter 5 verse 18 he speaks of the “Day of the Lord”. This is a fearful day when God brings judgement. Not something anyone should desire to live through.

Traditionally many in the church have believed the church will not experience the coming wrath of God, but rather will be raptured up to heaven before the great tribulation. It’s of course not universally accepted, and probably less so now than 40 or more years ago. At any rate, we do have to live in this world today full of ungodliness. May we be a light on a hill while here!

I think a good discussion would be what can we do to have some part in growing the kingdom of God in our area in our time. Not what the right president can do, or the right supreme court can do, although I know those have impacts, but what can we as individuals and a church family do?

In chapter 6, Amos says the good times are over. Over are the riches and prosperity, an end to being an elite group, the arrogance. They didn’t think judgement would ever come, life was too good. Their worship wasn’t done with a pure and contrite heart. Because of all of this, the Northern Kingdom would be the first to be exiled. It happened in 722BC. Even though the Southern Kingdom witnessed it, they didn’t change their ways either, and in 586BC it happened to them. It was brutal. People were led off by ropes connected to hooks in their lips. Many died in battle, many died by starvation. They lost everything. The Assyrians were brutal. This is a sad story of God’s chosen people who refused to be obedient and finally after hundreds of years reaped the judgement.

We will look at the remaining chapters 7–9 next week.