Amos Week 1
Introduce new book - Amos. We’ve covered Joel and Jonah. After this book only 9 minor prophets left. Ha. Amos is a longer book, it’s 9 chapters. We’ll cover multiple chapters each day. I think we can get through it in 3 or 4 weeks. I’m not going to be printing the whole book for you each week. I’m not going to reprint what we did in previous weeks. So expect a new handout for a new section each time. With smaller books like Joel or Jonah I could do that, but Amos is too big; it would waste paper and you’d get lost turning through it all.
Amos 1:1
“he saw concerning Israel” Amos’ ministry is directed at Israel.
“Shepherd of Tekoa” Amos is from Judah and is a shepherd. Later in the book, his career as a shepherd and his coming from Judah into Israel will have some significance
“In the days of Uzziah of Judah, and Jeroboam of Israel” hi Ah, split kingdom! It must take place somewhere between 930-722 BC. Both kings had long rules. Jeroboam II begins in 793. Uzziah dies in 739. So this book is somewhere between 793 and 739. For reasons I won’t bore you with why but scholars often place it in the later half maybe around 760 BC. [place it on the timeline]
A little context that this time provides for us, as we learned in Jonah, Assyria was the world power, but they weren’t doing that great right now. Power struggles, infighting, famine, etc. So without a big bully oppressing them, both Israel and Judah have been expanding and prospering. Remember under Jeroboam II, Israel is doing the best it’s ever done. When people are materially prospering they tend to think they’re living well and that this wealth is a reward for their goodness. So thought Israel. “We’re awesome. Assyria is weak and dying. It’s only a matter of time before God brings his final judgment on those other wicked nations and we usher in heaven.”Joel takes place - in 835 BC or in 400 BC.
Amos 1:2
Opens with some news Israel probably won’t appreciate. God reigns in Jerusalem and you’re all in trouble. From the lush green mountains to the low lying pastures. But he moves on to news that they likely did enjoy.
Let me point out something about the prophets in general. These books were necessarily written all at one time. When we think about the letter of Ephesians for instance. We imagine Paul sitting down in one setting and composing it start to finish, then dropping his completed letter in the nearest Mailbox. Something like that may have happened with the epistles, but it certainly didn’t happen with the prophets. The prophets messages weren’t first delivered in written form, but rather they were first spoken. Just as Jonah personally arrived in Nineveh and declared the message, all the prophets did the same.
So how did it get written down? Well sometime later the words from their “sermons” were collected, arranged, and written down. For instance we know that Jeremiah had a secretary named Baruch who would write down the things that Jeremiah spoke. At some point he likely organized them into a single scroll and “published” the book of Jeremiah. So these prophecies we’re reading were likely organized by someone who had heard the sermons, they wrote them down, likely under the prophet’s supervision, arranged them, and then “published” them. This means that the whole book wasn’t necessarily spoken at one time. And it may not have even occurred in this order chronologically, but its themes were intentionally arranged to teach us the message it contains. For instance we see that Amos’ ministry took place two years before the earthquake. That means this book was written at least two years after Amos preached and likely more than two years.
Does this mean that it’s not inspired? It’s just a human work? No. The Holy Spirit is just as capable of inspiring a prophet and his secretary who are planning out the arrangement of prophecies as he is able to inspire a prophet in a long one-time sermon.
Why do I bring this up? Because I want you to look at Amos 1:2 and then turn back to the book of Joel and see Joel 3:16. They are verbatim similar. The person who arranged Amos took the words that he spoke at some point in his ministry about the Lord roaring from Zion and he intentionally places them at the beginning of his book so that people reading will recognize his prophecy as standing in line with the themes of Joel’s prophecy. Basically that there is a Day of the Lord coming and only those who repent will be saved.
Amos 1:3-2:5 (READ THE WHOLE THING) big picture
Some very obvious repetitions here that highlight how this is one big section:
Thus says the Lord, helps us see the subsections of this big section. PUT A LINE OVER 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6 - there are 7 subsections here.
“For three transgressions and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because” Underline those SEVEN times and circle “because” (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4)
When he says three and four, he’s not counting out specific judgments as if four strikes and you’re out. He’s using it as a poetic expression to say, there have been a multitude of transgressions and sins. But he is going to list a specific sin or type of sins for each of these places that’s why we’ve circled “because” but we’ll cover those each in turn
Another repeated phrase is the judgment “So I will send a fire… and it shall devour the strongholds” Underline all 7 of those (1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5)
Fire is representative of God’s judgment and each time he’s going to mention it burning up the king or the capital city of the nation, meaning it wouldn’t be a fringe or small judgement it would be a final and complete one reaching to the core of the nation.
Amos 1:3-5 Damascus/Syria
Turn to your map. Put a star for Damascus and put SYRIA in all caps
Gilead was in Israel and Syria had crushed them like grain
Write “cruel to people” next to vs 3
Amos 1:6-8 Gaza/Philistia
Turn to your map. Put a star for Gaza and put PHILISTIA in all caps
This one is a bit tricky because Philistia didn’t really have a capital; it famously had 5 major cities. Four are named here: Gaza, Ekron, Ashkelon, and Ashdod. The fifth city is Gath where Goliath is from and it had lost significance by this time, possibly even being destroyed.
Delivering up people is the idea of a sort of slave trade
Write “cruel to people” next to vs 6
Amos 1:9-10 Tyre/Phoenicia
Turn to your map. Put a star for Tyre and put PHOENICIA in all caps
Similar to Gaza, Tyre is seen as selling people into slavery
Write “cruel to people” next to vs 9
Amos 1:11-12 Bozrah/Edom
Turn to your map. Put a star for Bozrah and put EDOM in all caps
He pursued his “brother”. Remember that Abraham had a son named Isaac and Isaac had twin boys named Jacob (who would later be called Israel) and Esau. Jacob’s descendants become the nation of Israel. Esau’s descendants become the nation of Edom. So when Edom mistreats Israel, he is mistreating his brother. This will be a big deal in Obadiah when we get there.
In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob tricks his brother Esau and steals his blessing and his birthright. Esua becomes furious and Jacob runs away. After a couple decades Jacob comes back and Esau is no longer angry. But here we see that Edom hated Israel perpetually and never turned back their anger. Thus they attacked them with the sword.
Write “cruel to people next to vs 11
Amos 1:13-15 Rabbah/Ammon
Turn to your map. Put a star for Rabbah and put AMMON in all caps
Similar to Edom, the Ammonites have a family history with Israel as well. If you remember back to the story of Abraham, he is often traveling with his nephew Lot. Now Lot has two sons and the names are Ammon and Moab. They become the Ammonites and the Moabites.
(Rabbah famous for being the city David sent Uriah to die at)
It is easy to see how Ammon is being cruel here and so again write “Cruel to people” next to verse 13
Amos 2:1-3 Kerioth/Moab
Turn to your map. Put a star for Kerioth and put MOAB in all caps
As mentioned Moab is the other son of Lot and so has family ties to Israel.
Burning someone’s bones was seen as a way of assaulting them in the “underworld”. It would prevent them from any rest.
This one is interesting because it’s the first one to not sin against Israel, but rather Moab sins against Edom. It’s not just sin against his own people that God judges, it’s sin against any people. Write “cruel to people” next to vs 2:1
Amos 2:4-5 Jerusalem/Judah
Turn to your map. Put a star for Jerusalem and put JUDAH in all caps
The sins of Judah are distinct from every other nation so far. You see they aren’t cruel to anyone. Rather their sin was rejecting God’s law so write “Reject God’s law” next to verse 4
He’s beginning to highlight something that’s going to be clear throughout the rest of the book. Having God’s law doesn’t excuse you from the judgment that others will receive. Instead it means that you will be held to a higher standard than everyone else.
For instance, God would not punish Moab for not observing the Sabbath, but he does punish Judah for that. He would not punish the Philistines for failing to offer sacrifices at his temple, but he does punish Judah for that. Having God’s law doesn’t mean you're less likely to receive judgment, but perhaps you’re even more likely because of the high standard.
Judah is Israel’s true brother. Israel is 10 of the tribes and Judah is 2 of them. And they used to be united under David and Solomon. So this judgment may have been surprising to Israel, but nonetheless they would have celebrated it because they were always at war with Judah.
Now consider how Israel must feel at this point in Amos’ message. He is building a case against all of Israel’s enemies. Syria will be judged. GREAT! Philistia and Phoenicia will be judged. ALSO GREAT! Your family members Edom, Ammon, and Moab will be judged. THIS KEEPS GETTING BETTER. Even Judah will be judged. I KNEW IT! I KNEW WE WERE RIGHT AND THEY WERE WRONG. BETTER NEWS COULD NOT BE SHARED. Israel has been living in relative prosperity. They are watching Assyria and other nations decline and are expecting that they are going to rise up. They are excited for the Day of the Lord to arrive. All these other nations are going to be judged and we will be vindicated. The glorious reign of God in us is almost here.
Then the words of 2:6 hit like a ton of bricks and completely disorient them, “For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not revoke the punishment”
Imagine this scenario with me. Our church is booming. Everything is in full swing. Ministries are packed. Programs are full. Everyone is participating and the Lord sends his prophet to us. He says, “The time for God’s judgment is here. He’s going to judge the atheists for their sins.” We think yeah that makes sense. It’s about time. Then the prophet says, “God is going to judge the Buddhists and the Hindus” and we think that’s great. We are being vindicated. Everyone will see that those people are wrong and have no future. The prophet goes on, “I’m going to judge the Muslims and the Jews” So now we’re getting to religions that are a bit closer to Christianity, they are Abrahamic religions, but still you say that makes sense they will be judged by God. The prophet says, “God will judge the Mormons.” And we think yes they call themselves Christian but we all know they’re not. But do you see how the circle is closing in on us and getting closer. Finally, the prophet says, “God will judge the Pentecostals, the Methodists, and the Lutherans” and we think… OK that’s a little surprising, but it’s a little bit oddly vindicating. We were right! I guess it’s time for our church to step out as the shining beacon in this community and the only one standing. And then the prophet says, “God will judge First Baptist Church Ashdown” and our list of sins is the longest. That’s pretty striking right? That’s what Israel is feeling right now.
Amos 2:6-16
What are the sins of Israel here? They are twofold.
Vs 6b-7a - they are abusing the poor to make themselves richer
Vs 7b-8 - they are defiling God’s name and his holiness
God points out the outrageous hypocrisy of this in verse 9-10 by reminding them of their history. They were poor oppressed slaves in Egypt and God delivered them. “You’re oppressing the poor. But you used to be poor. You’re defiling my name, but I’m the one who fought for you.”
Verses 11-12, God says, I raised up prophets and Nazirites (men dedicated to serving God) and you pushed them back down. You’re opposing my work in order to preserve yourselves.
Now to keep the relevance and how this could potentially play itself out today. Churches should be the center of God’s work on earth and the visible display of his goodness and glory to the world. Yet churches are notoriously cruel and cold towards those considered “sinners”. We don’t want them near us. We cast them out. We want them to get cleaned up before they come in here. And through Amos, God says, “Wait wait wait. YOU were sinners before I cleaned you up. Remember how I had to deliver you from the horrible place you were in and wash you and bring you here. Why would you reject other sinners whom I also love and desire to save?”
Then secondly, Christians can tend to try to make much of themselves at times - “Look at me I’m really great. I should get more attention. I should have more authority and glory because of the great things I’ve done” and God says, “It wasn’t you! It was me!” just like he tells Israel here.
Vs. 13-16 announce judgment. I like vs 13 because it essentially is saying that you will become roadkill. He goes on to describe how every strength they think they have will be stolen from them and they will be destroyed.
TO CONCLUDE - in these first chapters, we see that God’s reign extends over every nation on earth. No one is outside of his kingship. Everyone who violates his law will receive just judgment, whether they violate natural laws by being cruel to people or whether they violate his special law by disobeying his Word. Especially those people who think they are privileged by God and held in higher favor in some way will be judged with greater strictness because they are held to a higher standard.