Amos

Who is Amos? He is a shepherd and a fruit picker when God calls him. He wasn’t a professional prophet, but God still called him to bring the word of God to Israel, even though he is from Judah(southern Kingdom).

To put somewhat of a timeline on his prophecy, it occurs after the division of the nation but before Assyria comes into the picture. So it is before the destruction of the kingdom.

When we were in Joel, what was the big event that surrounded the book? Locusts

Kind of on the same line, there is a big impending event looming in Amos. In the first verse, he mentions that it is 2 years before an earthquake. This would have been a significant earthquake because it is also mentioned in the book of Zechariah.

Main Idea: Yahweh is angry because His people are getting rich by oppressing their own kinsmen, and despising the righteous and His word.

This book is a collection of poems and vision collected over many years and compiled into a collection that we have to look at different oracles and visions that are still relevant for us to read and learn from.

Oracles against the nations (Chapters 1-2)

The first 2 chapters are a collection of oracles that Amos speaks against different nations. Interestingly, if you were to map this out, it is as if he takes them all working from the furthest out until he makes it to Israel. So the outermost would be Damascus and Gaza. Then he works his way a little closer. He deals with Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah.

Against all of these nations, Amos calls them out because of their sin. We see a pattern in what he says to them. “For 3 transgressions and for four, I will not revoke my punishment”. This is a literary pattern in poetry called parallelism. It is not something to be read literally, but to paint a picture to mean that they have committed man transgressions.

We also see a recurring picture of fire that is declared on each of these nations. I think we know enough about context to figure out what fire means to who he is writing this to? Judgment. The reason for this comes down to warfare in the time. They would use fire in warfare to destroy the enemy. So they all understood this and knew that with fire, comes judgment and destruction. But it also foreshadows to the New Testament prediction of God’s judgment in 2 Peter 3:7 “7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

Note what God judges them for. He judged Damascus “because they have Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.” That is, because she pillaged and robbed and left Gilead barren. God judges Gaza because “they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.” God judged Edom because “he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity.” He judged Ammon because “they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, so that they might enlarge their border.” These are sins of cruelty, oppression, slavery, and murder. They are big and obvious, war crimes on a grand scale. Even though the gentile nations had not received God’s revealed law or been given tablets with the Ten Commandments, they could not plead ignorance of his moral law. The gentile nations cannot escape the judgment of God.

God’s judgment of the gentile nations demonstrates his universal kingship. God made Israel to be his special people, but God is the rightful sovereign over all people and all nations under heaven. We see here in his judgment of the nations that he will hold them all to account and make his universal sovereignty known. Whether or not you have heard the gospel you are accountable for your actions and you will answer to God one day for your sins.

Oracles against Israel

But then, at the center of all of these other nations is God’s special people, Israel. And in 2:6 Amos begins of a long prophecy against Israel. With those first prophecies, the covenant people would have applauded Amos, because those nations have long been the enemies of Israel and Judah. But then Amos says “Not so fast there Israel and Judah. Your sins are not overlooked either.” In fact, the prophets are often a lot more critical and condemning of the covenant people for just that reason.

There are two broad categories of sins Israel is judged for. First, there are sins of social and political injustice. Second, there are religious sins, sins of idolatry, neglect of God’s word, and faithlessness to his covenant.

So Israel had committed crimes against other people. Israel was guilty of slavery, corruption, bribery, favoritism towards the rich, and exploitation of the poor. Precisely contrary to God’s will for them. God had shown specific concern for the poor in his law. He told Israel, “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit,” in Exodus 23:6. He said “there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” (Deuteronomy 15:11). Israel in the time of Amos mocked God’s concern for the poor.

Second, God’s people are judged for religious sins. And here is where they’re judged differently than their gentile neighbors. But Judah is condemned because “they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray,” (2:4). Israel “commanded the prophets” not to prophesy, (2:12). And they belittled God and people’s vows to him, for example by making Nazirites drink wine, something a Nazirite had vowed not to do (2:12).

What we learn here is that God’s election is not a blank check to irresponsibility, loose moral standards, and presumption. Rather, God’s election actually increases our responsibility to live uprightly before the Lord. Some people reject the doctrine of election because they say it undermines the Christian’s responsibility to live a holy life. Well, the prophets don’t think so. They see election as something that should weigh heavily on the people’s minds, as though to continually say to them “Hey! You’ve been called out. You’ve been separated. You’ve been set apart for a special purpose: to live holy lives in the fear of Yahweh, demonstrating His holiness to all onlookers. Fulfill your high and privileged calling! Be who you are specially called to be!” Election never leads to presumption, but great responsibility. God’s people have been given his revealed will and so are capable of a greater sin: neglecting God’s word. Again, 3:2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

What this should bring to the forefront of our minds is responsibility. We are chosen by God, we have his commands, therefore we are responsible to live as such. Just as the Israelites were responsible for their neglect of both people and God’s word, we are as well.

How are we doing? Are we looking down on others because they aren’t “like us”? Are we abusing the gifts that God has given us with our wealth and material? Are we not only reading God’s word but heeding God’s word?

Visions of Judgment and Restoration

I want to skip down to chapter 7 and begin look at some of the visions that Amos had. Here we see visions that points to God’s judgment.

Amos 7:7–9 ESV

7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Here in this vision, Amos and tell them that God is going to give them a plumbline. A plumb line is a cord with a weight on the end. A craftsman or an engineer holds one end of the cord; the weight ensures the cord hangs straight up and down. It’s a tool to determine true verticality, used to measure how well built a wall is. In other words, a plumb line is a perfect standard. In this vision, God is measuring Israel against his perfect standard, and finds them wanting. The focus is on the perfection and precision of his judgment.

As Jesus would say in the sermon on the mount, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Because God’s standard is perfection, God justly finds us wanting and judges us accordingly. In a later passage (Matthew 19) Jesus’ disciples rightly despaired about the possibility of salvation, understanding that because God’s standard is perfection, salvation is simply impossible for sinful people.

Amos is telling them that God will judge and that his judgment will be based on perfection, a perfect standard. So how will anyone be saved if they must be perfect? That is because God will also judge with mercy. And Amos also tells Israel this through his visions.

He tells them to seek repentance.

Amos 5:14–15 ESV

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

God even displays his mercy in action. In chapter 7 God gives Amos two visions of judgment—fire and a plague of locusts. Both times Amos cries out and asks God for forgiveness. And both times, the Lord shifts his intentions. As the book of Amos progresses, we see more visions of judgment through mercy.

Amos 9:11 “11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,”

God promises to restore what has been broken. The nations has separated and the kingdom will fall. But God will restore it.

Amos 9:14–15 ESV

14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

He is pointing to the new creation after the final judgment. Amos is here saying that those who desire to be rich should seek justice, do righteousness, and put their hope in Christ for the reward to be had in the coming world, not this one. That’s a theme Jesus later picks up when he tells his followers to store up treasure in heaven and give to the poor on earth.

What a beautiful vision that Amos has that we will be apart of.

Discussion Questions

1. “How does God’s judgment of both Israel and the surrounding nations challenge the idea that we can separate our faith from how we treat others—especially the poor and marginalized?”

2. “In what ways can we, like ancient Israel, become numb to God's Word or resistant to conviction? How can we cultivate hearts that remain soft and responsive to his voice?”

3. “Amos presents both a plumb line of judgment and a promise of restoration. How do we hold together God’s call to holiness with his offer of mercy in Christ?”