Amos – By Alex Humphry, Jr.

Outline

I. Introduction
A. Thesis sentence
B. Some background material is imperative

1. Political
2. Social
3. Religious

II. Discussion — Amos’s Procedure

1. Approaching judgments of the nations (chapters 1-2)
2. Israel’s crimes and God’s justice (chapter 3-4)
3. Five visions pronounce Israel’s doom (7:1-9:10)
4. Promises of a bright future for smitten Israel (9:11-15)

III. Conclusion — Relationship of the main message of the book to the purpose of the Bible

Introduction – The Message of the Book

The main message of the book of Amos is this: God’s treatment of the nations is just. The book is a book of doom for the nations bordering Israel as well as doom for the people of Israel. There are several outstanding messages to be found in the book, but the main one is that the perfect God is just in the judgment which was to come upon these people.

It is imperative that the readers of the book of Amos have some understanding of the political, social, and religious background for its publication. The first verse states that Amos saw the things contained in the book “in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1). This reference places the book near the middle of the eighth century before Christ. This was a time when the land of Israel was enjoying (and had been enjoying for some time) peace and tranquility. The surrounding nations were weak, and it was a time of political strength for Israel.

“Jeroboam II came to the throne in 783 B.C. and began a vigorous building program. He easily recaptured the lost territory and extended the limits of his kingdom. It would be difficult to exaggerate the significance of the military exploits of Jeroboam. . . . Uzziah built along the same lines in the South. Judah was made into a strong, vigorous kingdom with armies, fortifications, trade routes, and powerful political alliances. These two aggressive kings carried their small kingdoms along in the same stride from victory to victory. The limits of the kingdom built by David and Solomon were reached. It was a period of expansion, freedom, activity, prosperity, and peace. Money poured in; the armies were always victorious. The people were filled with a pride in their armies and their accomplishments. No one had any anxiety or fear of invasion”(1).

The book of Amos abounds with internal evidences of the social conditions of the people of his day. That it was a period of excessive luxury is certain because Amos mentions the winter houses and the summer houses, the houses of ivory, and the great houses (Amos 3:15). He speaks of the oppression of the poor and the crushing of the needy while the kine (the cattle or the women) of Bashan plead with their lords to bring them more to drink (4:1). There was no justice for the needy due to the lack of righteousness on the part of the people of God, so Amos spoke of their turning justice to wormwood (5:7). The people trampled upon the poor and took taxes of their wheat; they afflicted the just, took bribes, and turned aside the needy in the gate; thus, they were told that they should not dwell in the houses of hewed stone that they had built nor eat of the fruits of the pleasant vineyards they had planted (5:1-2). I wonder if some of them might have refused to help those who are not members of the Israel of God. How up-to-date the book of Amos is, indeed! These statements are only a brief sample of the words of Amos which abound with condemnation for the Israelites who lived luxuriously while they had no pity nor help for the helpless and afflicted.

The religious condition of the people of Israel was one which God despised (5:21). There was an abundance of religion, but it was far short of what God required because the ceremonies were not coupled with justice and righteousness (5:24). The people met–they sang and played (5:23); they offered the sacrifices required of the Israelites and gave ties every three days and proclaimed free will offerings, but it was that which pleased themselves rather than that which pleased God (4:4-5).

Discussion – Amos’s Procedure

With this brief look at the background of the times of the prophet, the reader of God’s word is able to see the clear message of God to His people through the prophet. God sent Isaiah and Micah to the southern kingdom of Judah during this period, and Hosea and Amos were his messengers to the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos’s home was in Judah in the town of Tekoa, which was about six miles (9.5 kilometers) southeast of Bethlehem, but God took him from following the flock and told him to “Go, prophesy to My people Israel” (7:15).

Amos’s message to Israel begins very bluntly with the statement that Jehovah will roar from Zion. That is, God is going to speak, and all Israel shall hear the voice far and wide threatening immediate danger. The first declaration of doom is upon those nations bordering Israel and Judah. With each pronouncement of a judgment the prophet comes closer to the people of God. He begins with the foreigners of Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre. Then doom is pronounced upon the kinsmen of the Israelites as follows: the Edomites, the Ammonites, and the Moabites. Finally, doom is to come also up on the brethren of the Israelites, the kingdom of Judah. In each case God says, “For three transgressions, yes for four,” indicating perhaps that the sins are not only full but also running over. They have been allowed to go beyond the range of sins, sufficient to warrant destruction.

One can almost hear the resounding “Amen!” coming from the Israelites as doom is pronounced upon Damascus for her use of cruel threshing instruments in war with her enemies. Scarcely could they have failed to be impressed with the justice of God and sending judgments upon Gaza and Tyre for delivering the Jews as slaves to the Edomites. The constant thorn to the Israelites was the Philistines; they were to get a just reward and the punishment God was to send.

One can imagine Amos preaching to the northern kingdom 750 years before Christ and see the discerning nods of approval as the announcement of God comes: “I will not turn away its punishment because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, and he kept His wrath forever” (Amos 1:11). Edom (Esau) was the brother of Israel (Jacob), and indeed, the justice of God is manifested in not allowing the Edomites to go unpunished for their sins. Likewise, the Ammonites and the Moabites were to receive justly for their deeds. Moab and Ben-ammi were sons of Lot by his own daughters, and their descendants had constantly been adversaries of the Israelites. Ammon had ripped up women, manifesting an intense and uncalled for cruelty, simply to enlarge her borders. Moab had not been able to capture her enemy alive, so she had taken vengeance on the king’s carcass, burning his bones into lime. Among all the neighboring nations, cruelty had been excessive, extending from the embryo of the expectant mother to the carcass of the dead king. Retribution was coming; Israel must have rejoiced.

If Israel rejoiced at this point in the preaching of the man of God, it was not to endure long. Judgment was soon to be pronounced upon God’s own people. He, indeed, is just in His dealing with both nations and individuals. The nations bordering Israel deserved punishment, and it was coming; Judah and Israel deserved punishment also, and it was coming. The sins of Judah were religious; they had “despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept His commandments. Their lies lead them astray, lies which their fathers followed” (Amos 2:4-5). The sins of the Israelites were religious, civil, and social. They were charged with oppression and corruption and that they had rejected the commandments of God.

God was careful to justify His statements upon these people. He pointed out to the Israelites their sins, and His constant pleading with them to get them to return to Jehovah and their refusal. They were the only people whom God had chosen (3:2), and He had brought them out of Egypt. They, however, had rejected Him, and as a shepherd only received a remnant out of the mouth of the lion, so shall there be only a remnant out of those who are at ease in Samaria (3:12). God had given them clean teeth and want of bread as a chastening to get them to return to Him, but they did not return (5:6). In the section that follows readers can see the great justice, love, and kindness of God because He caused many circumstances to develop to get His people to turn to Him. Since He withheld the rain, the people lost their harvests due to mildew and blasting and the palmer-worm; pestilence after the manner of Egypt came upon them, and their cities were overthrown in such a way to remind God’s people of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, but the people did not return to Him. Therefore, they are warned to prepare to meet God (4:12). This is a passage often taken completely out of context and misapplied. The sense is that God’s just punishment is coming, and Israel might as well get ready for it.

With this dark shadow hovering over Israel due to their history, God still pleads because He is not willing that any should perish. “Seek Me, and you shall live,” God says (5:4). Again the plea is stated in 5:14, “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you say.” One cannot help but be impressed again at this point with how up-to-date this book is. God still pleads with sinners to seek Him, to seek good, and to refrain from seeking evil that He might be with them.

Is it possible that anything else could be spoken by the prophet to make his book sound anymore like today’s news? Look at chapter six of his book. Here is judgment pronounced upon them because of their luxurious living and their impiety. They felt secure. “No one could overtake their armies,” the people thought. Further still they put away the evil day (verse 3), thinking that their ease in Zion, their beds of ivory, and their delicate foods (lambs and calves) would endure. The justice of God, however, demands the woe which is pronounced. In chapter six the luxurious living of the people while they show no mercy is that which is condemned. The statement in six is not condemnation for the use of mechanical instruments of music in worship, but rather is one of the many extreme luxuries of the people which is mentioned. Neither does this writer suppose that God condemns fine living. These people, though, like many modern people who claim to be people of God, live luxuriously, but they did not grieve “for the affliction of Joseph” (6:6). They had no fear for the person who was ill treated by his brothers. They had no mercy for the righteous bondman, no grief for the widow, or the orphan, or the needy. They were so absorbed in getting that they had no time nor desire for sharing. “Judgment is without mercy to him that has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). The prophet is very modern, and he needs to be heard today.

The Lord showed Amos five visions which emphasized that the time was ripe for the judgments of God to come. The first vision (7:1-3) was of the locust coming during the latter growth, and complete calamity was averted only by the mercy of God. Likewise, in the second vision (7:4-6) of the devouring fire, the mercy of Amos caused God to repent of the evil. In the third vision, however, God states that He will not pass by them anymore. The calamity is coming for sure as Amos saw the vision of the plumb line in the midst of the people (7:7-9).

At this point Amaziah interrupted Amos to plead with him to leave Israel and go home to prophesy in Judah and to refrain from prophesying in Bethel. Amos explained to Amaziah that the message he brought was from Jehovah and that the people would surely be led captive. Also a terrible curse was placed upon this priest of the false religion. His wife would become a harlot, his sons and daughters would die by the sword, and the priest himself would die in an unclean land. Amos had something to say, and he had to say it.

The fourth vision was of a basket of Summer fruit, and as ripe fruit cannot be kept, the judgment of God upon Israel could not be kept. The time was ripe, and God would not pass them by anymore. It was bringing to “a close the nation at high noon. Her sun was setting in the clear day” (8:9)(2). God would even send a famine of hearing the words of the Lord (8:11). What utter ruin for any people!

The final vision was that of the smitten sanctuary (9:1-10). The end was near, but the righteous would not be destroyed with the wicked (9:9-10). The least kernel will be kept by God. He is able to deliver the righteous, even the least.

The final message of the prophet is that of a bright future for the smitten people. The time was to come when God would raise up the tabernacle of David that was fallen (9: 11). According to James, this prophecy was fulfilled in the church since God had visited the Gentiles to take out of them “a people for His name” (Acts 15:13-18). In the verses that follow (Amos 9: 12-15) Amos affirmed that the plowman would overtake the reaper, that God would bring back the captivity of His people and plant them up on their land, from whence they would no more be plucked up. Jesus affirmed the fulfillment of the first statement in John 4:36 where we find that the reaper and the sower rejoice together in the gospel dispensation. The planter and the reaper work together and rejoice to do so in the gospel. According to Philippians 3:20 the land of the people of God is heaven where their citizenship is, and from this land no one can pluck the faithful. This joyous hope of the restoration of the tabernacle of David, then, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ the Son of God.

The main message, then, of this great Old Testament man of God is the doom of sinful Israel and the justice of God in sending His judgment upon His people. Other messages of real interest and worth are found in the book; for example, the real hope of the restoration of the tabernacle of David. Each of these messages, however, is related to the great message of the justice of God for His judgments.

Conclusion

Brother Deaver defined in his keynote address the purpose of the Bible as: the glory of God and the salvation of man through Jesus Christ. This book certainly fits into that purpose perfectly as the glory of God is affirmed and defended in the justice that belongs to the perfect Jehovah. The salvation of man through Christ is revealed through the prophet as he gives Israel hope of the restoration of the tabernacle of David and the ultimate planting of the people of God upon the land of God for an eternal dwelling place.

Footnotes

1. Yates, Kyle M., Preaching from the Prophets, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942, p. 33
2. Hailey, Homer, The Preceptor, “Amos,” January, 1955, p. 10.

Questions for Class Discussion

1. Discuss the political background of Amos’s time.
2. Discuss the social background of Amos’s time.
3. Discuss the religious condition of the people of God to whom Amos spoke.
4. Where was Amos’s home?
5. What is the main message of the book of Amos?
6. What is the purpose of the Bible?
7. Why were the nations bordering Israel doomed?
8. Why was Judah doomed?
9. What were the sins of the Kingdom of Israel?
10. Would God have accepted the repentance of the people of Israel at this late date?
11. What did the five visions seen by Amos mean?
12. Does Amos teach against the use of instruments of music in worship to God?