Amos 2

Introduction

Amos 1:2 “And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem; And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, And the top of Carmel shall wither.”

The Lord will roar from Zion

The habitation of the shepherds shall mourn

The top of Mount Carmel shall wither

This verse speaks of fierce judgment

Damascus

Amos 1:2–5 “And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem; And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, And the top of Carmel shall wither. Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, Which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, And him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: And the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord.”

For 3 transgressions and for 4:

It speaks of multiplied sins

When one number follows another number the usual case is to highlight the last number or in this case, the last sin that broke the camels back.

Transgressions:

Revolt or rebellion

Genesis 9:5–17 “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

What they are guilty of:

Amos 1:3 “…Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:”

It speaks of torture or harsh and thorough conquest .

Judgment

I will send fire - Consume

I will break the bar - The city gates

The king and people will go into captivity

They were taken by Assyria

2 Kings 16:7–9 “So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.”

Gath

Amos 1:6–8 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Gaza, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they carried away captive the whole captivity, To deliver them up to Edom: But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, Which shall devour the palaces thereof: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, And him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, And I will turn mine hand against Ekron: And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.”

Four of the five Philistines cities are mentioned in v.6-8. The only one not mentioned is Gath because Gath had already been decimated.

What they are guilty of:

Amos 1:6 “…they carried away captive the whole captivity, To deliver them up to Edom:”

They took whole villages and communities and sold them into slavery.

Judgment:

The cities will be completely annihilated

This occurred partially with the Assyrians and more completely with the Maccabeans

Tyre

Amos 1:9–10 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Tyrus, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, And remembered not the brotherly covenant: But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, Which shall devour the palaces thereof.”

What they are guilty of:

Tyre was the capital city of Phoenicia

Amos 1:9 “…they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, And remembered not the brotherly covenant:”

This was worse than the Philistines:

They enslaved cities they had treaties with.

Likely with Israel.

Judgment:

Similar to Gaza

Alexander the Great destroyed Tyre in 332 B. C.

6000 died outright

2000 crucified

30,000 sold as slaves

Edom

Amos 1:11–12 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because he did pursue his brother with the sword, And did cast off all pity, And his anger did tear perpetually, And he kept his wrath for ever: But I will send a fire upon Teman, Which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

What they are guilty of:

Amos 1:11 “…he did pursue his brother with the sword, And did cast off all pity, And his anger did tear perpetually, And he kept his wrath for ever:”

Esau is the father of the Edomites.

Likely, the hatred Edom had for Israel

Obadiah 9–10 “And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, To the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, And thou shalt be cut off for ever.”

Judgment

Cities devoured

Teman was Edom’s largest souther city

Bozrah was her fortress stronghold in the north.

Ammon

Amos 1:13–15 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, That they might enlarge their border: But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, And it shall devour the palaces thereof, With shouting in the day of battle, With a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: And their king shall go into captivity, He and his princes together, saith the Lord.”

What they are guilty of:

Amos 1:13–14 “…they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, That they might enlarge their border.”

The Ammonites committed war crimes against women and unborn children not for self-preservation but greed - So they could enlarge their borders.

Judgment

Rabbah was Ammon’s capital city

This judgeent was fulfilled by the Assyrians in 734 B. C.

Moab

Amos 2:1–3 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, And for four, 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 the Lord.”

What they are guilty of:

Amos 2:1 “he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:”

They burned the king’s body that was in the grave, which was viewed as sacrilege in the ancient world.

Judgment:

Moab would be destroyed militarily.

Judah

Amos 2:4–5 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Judah, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they have despised the law of the Lord, And have not kept his commandments, And their lies caused them to err, After the which their fathers have walked: But I will send a fire upon Judah, And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

What they are guilty of:

Amos 2:4 “…they have despised the law of the Lord, And have not kept his commandments, And their lies caused them to err, After the which their fathers have walked:”

Judgment:

Babylon 606 and 586 B. C.

Israel

Amos 2:6–16 “Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they sold the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of shoes; 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 will go in unto the same maid, To profane my holy name: And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, And they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their 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 from the land of Egypt, And led you forty years through the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, And of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; And commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Behold, I am pressed under you, As a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. Therefore the 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 the Lord.”

What are they guilty of:

They broke the covenant of the Lord:

Social Injustice - Amos 2:6 “…Because they sold the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of shoes;”

Legal perversion - Amos 2:7 “That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And turn aside the way of the meek.”

Sexual sin - Amos 2:7 “…And a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, To profane my holy name:”

Abuse of collateral - Amos 2:8 “And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar…”

Idolatry - Amos 2:8 “…And they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.”

They spurned grace:

Amos 2:9–12 “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 from the land of Egypt, And led you forty years through the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, And of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; And commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.”

Judgment

He will crush Israel

This happened 722 B. C. by the Assyrians.