Foundations: Amos

Introduction: In our reading this week, we have read through Jonah, Hosea, Amos and Joel. Tonight we are going to focus on Amos and his message to Israel.

Amos was a common sheepherder from a small place called Tekoa. Why is this important, well, he did not grow up in the temple like Samuel did. Remember Samuel’s mother committed him to the Lord before he was born and as soon as he could survive on his own, she brought him to the temple and he grew up under the leadership of Eli. Amos, not so much. He grew up in a small town on the farm.

Amos

The Word of the Lord comes to Amos and he travels north to Bethel to preach against the Northern Kingdom if Israel. He begins by calling out all of the surrounding nations.

Damascus is being judged for its harsh war crimes against Israel over disputed land of Gilead.

Gaza (Assyrians) is punished for forcing the Arameans into exile.

Tyre - Raided towns and sold the people into slavery, though they had a peace treaty in affect with those regions.

Edom - Destroyed entire village populations of Judah.

Ammon - slaughtered all of their pregnant women of Gilead to control the population and expand their borders.

Moab - enforced their anger and vengeance upon their enemies, even beyond the point of death.

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At this point, Judah is brought into the picture. Judah is the southern kingdom. They are also descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Judah actually had a few decent kings throughout the years that feared the Lord. Here is the punishment on Judah:

Amos 2:4–5 CSB

The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Judah for three crimes, even four, because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord and have not kept his statutes. The lies that their ancestors followed have led them astray. Therefore, I will send fire against Judah, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.

They have not kept the statutes and commands of the Lord ()

All of these areas are punished because of their sins, leading up to and culminating with Israel, the northern kingdom of God’s chosen people.

What were their crimes?

Selling people - for silver and other worthless items

They abused the temple and used it for a gathering place of sin (shrine prostitutes)

They have taken to pagan altars and abuse their power to take from powerless people.

The situation in Israel is not good in the understanding that we have of the Old Testament. Amos reminds the people of their past. They were once a poor and enslaved people who ultimately became something they swore they never would.

They became something they never thought they would.

Have you ever seen someone do something or heard of something terrible? You swore to yourself, “That will never be me.” You may have even promised yourself that because of your faith you would not partake in a specific action or even line of thinking, yet you have found yourself falling into that very thing. It may be lying to your parents, talking about your friends behind their backs, it may be partying, or even going straight through a physical boundary you set for yourself in dating.

This is exactly what Israel did. They saw the power of God. God reveals himself to them as the one true God and they tremble when He does, yet they forget so quickly and become distracted with worldly things that promise fulfillment.

They longed for a King. God turned them over to be subject to kingship. The kings turned away from the lust of idol worship. Israel as a nation of people were headed in a completely opposite direction than the one they longed to be headed in. So what did they do next?

They justified their actions.

The people of Israel believed their worship and pilgrimages to the holy place satisfied God, while they were, themselves oppressing the poor. ()

Amos 5:12 CSB

For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates.

The descendants of slaves became the oppressor. They treated the poor terribly in their land. They sold them into slavery for such small prices. Human life itself was devalued to a pair of shoes. To protect themselves, they did not allow poor people to have legal representation to protect themselves.

Amos Chapter 3 heads in a different direction. Amos begins to address the people’s attitude toward the prophesy of turmoil that is coming down upon them. The people believed they were God’s chosen people. Of course God will relent. He won’t actually destroy us. He needs us. The big problem with this mentality is that because Israel was chosen, they would be judged much more harshly than the pagan nations around them. In fact, Israel was so sinful that God would use the pagan nations around them to bring them to justice.

Don’t fall into the trap that because you are a Christian and a follower of Jesus that God needs you. He doesn’t He was long before you were on the earth and He will be long after. You cannot use your personal relationship with Jesus as an excuse to sin. That is not what freedom in Christ is — it is freedom from sin. Not freedom to sin.

Amos shifts to the religious hypocrisy and calls it out cold.

The worship that was taking place in Israel were not acceptable to God. () God tells the people that He will punish the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar will be cut off.

God goes even further and says don’t seek Bethel or Gilgal, the places of worship — He tells them to seek the LORD.

really gets into the root of the sins of the people The complacency and pride of Israel became their downfall. You want to talk about some sins that the church (read//we) are okay with? It’s complacency and pride. When you are in your group in just a minute and someone asks how your walk with the Lord is going, “complacent” is something we don’t spend much time unpacking, yet it is the very thing that ends up leading to destruction.

The complacency and pride of Israel became their downfall. You want to talk about some sins that the church (read//we) are okay with? It’s complacency and pride. When you are in your group in just a minute and someone asks how your walk with the Lord is going, “complacent” is something we don’t spend much time unpacking, yet it is the very thing that ends up leading to destruction.

So how do we combat complacency and pride in our lives? First we have to understand the weight of our sin. We will discuss that more next week when we read a prophecy from Isaiah about the Suffering Servant. But you have to acknowledge that God is the source of joy and strength in our lives. We do not do anything of significance out of our own power.

Escape pride by understanding the weight of your sin.

Escape complacency by actively seeking the Lord.

The end of Amos --

Amos speaks at great length about the destruction that is to come on Israel, but he shifts drastically at the end of the book.

Amos 9:11–15 CSB

In that day I will restore the fallen shelter of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name— this is the declaration of the Lord; he will do this. Look, the days are coming— this is the Lord’s declaration— when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce. I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. The Lord your God has spoken.

He concludes by telling the people that they have some dark days ahead. Those dark days are the result of their own actions, but God has still not forgotten about them. They are chosen. Just not exactly they way they think they are.

God is going to do a greater work through the Messiah than they know. From a complete and total collapse of the kingship of Israel, the King of Kings would rise and expand the kingdom of God to every nation under heaven through His name.