22 September

Bible In 365 Days

Amos 1-5  

Amos 1

The second verse of this first chapter gives the key to the book. Jehovah declared Himself in judgment. Beginning at the point farthest from Israel, the prophet delivered his messages to the nations as such. Each in turn passes before Jehovah, and receives sentence.

The sin of Syria was cruelty. At last, sentence was uttered; the flame would devour, all defense would be useless, and the people would be driven into captivity.

The sin of Philistia had been the slave trade. Here, as before, and as in each subsequent case, the form of the declaration reveals the exhausted patience of God. Philistia would be visited with the devouring flame, her inhabitants be cut off, and even the remnant would perish. Phoenicia's special guilt had been that in spite of the covenant made, she had acted as a slave agent. Edom was doomed for determined and revengeful unforgiveness. The children of Ammon were specially denounced for cruelty based upon cupidity.

Moab's chief wickedness had been her shocking and vindictive hatred.

Amos 2

Having thus uttered the word of God concerning the surrounding nations, thereby revealing the fact of His government over all, the prophet turned to Judah, and declared that she also was to share the doom of the other nations, because she had despised the law of Jehovah and had not kept His statutes.

Finally, he spoke to Israel. All the foregoing had been in preparation for this. He described the sins of Israel in detail and with almost startling directness. He charged the people with injustice, avarice, oppression, immorality, profanity, blasphemy, and sacrilege. Moreover, he said that their sin had been very greatly aggravated by the privileges which they had enjoyed. They had seen the Amorites destroyed before them for the very sins which they themselves had subsequently committed. They had been brought up out of Egypt and so knew the power of Jehovah. They had raised up their sons for false prophets and young men for Nazarites, and had silenced the true prophets. The sentence against them was that of oppression and judgment, from which there would be no possibility of escape.

Amos 3

Having thus uttered the declamations of Jehovah's judgment on all the nations, the prophet delivered his special message to Israel in a series of three discourses. In each the introductory word is, "Hear this word."

The first discourse consists of a statement of Jehovah's verdict and sentence. It opens with a simple announcement that the privileged people were to be punished; their privileges were named, and their punishment described.

In view of the probability that the people would object to his message, the prophet, in an interpolation, defended himself. By a series of seven questions he illustrated a principle which may thus be stated-an effect proves a cause. The illustrations may be summarized thus: communion proves agreement; the lion roaring proves the prey; the cry of the young lion proves the prey possessed; the fall of a bird proves the bait; the springing of the snare proves the bird to be taken; the trumpet proves alarm; calamity in the city proves Jehovah. From this principle the prophet deduced an application: Jehovah hath roared, therefore fear; Jehovah hath spoken, therefore prophesy.

Turning back to the main argument, Amos proclaimed the punishment of the privileged and declared its reason. The reason was stated to the heathen, who were invited to witness the justice of the doom.

Amos 4

The second discourse consists of Jehovah's summons to the people.

It commences with a severe and terrible indictment of the women. He addressed them as "Ye kine of Bashan," which reveals the degradation of womanhood to mere animalism. The prophet described their doings, declaring that they oppressed the poor and crushed the needy, and said unto their lords, "Bring and let us drink." Their doom would be that they would be taken away with hooks, that is, in shame and helplessness, and in the presence of judgment would take refuge in wild flight. He then uttered the final summons to the people. In this call there was a piece of stinging satire. They were to come to Bethel to transgress, to Gilgal to multiply transgression. Their sacrifices they were to offer every morning instead of once a year, their tithe every third day instead of every third year, their sacrifice was to be leavened; they were to make free-will offerings and publish them.

Jehovah then described His patience and their perversity. He had spoken to them by famine, by drought, by blasting and mildew, by pestilence and sword, by earthquake. After each description, Jehovah declared, "Yet have ye not returned to Me." All this culminated in a great call, "Prepare to meet thy God."

Amos 5

The third discourse was a description of Jehovah's judgment. This opened with a lamentation for the virgin of Israel, "The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise, she is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up." This lamentation the prophet followed with a sequence of explanations, each introduced by the formula, "Thus saith the Lord."

The first declared the coming decrease in population. Only a tithe of them would be spared.

The second recounted the history of God's past calls to the people. He had appealed to them to seek Him, and live. They had refused, hating the reprover in the gate, and abhorring him that spoke uprightly. The results had been that they oppressed the poor, and judgment was determined against them in consequence. Yqt another call came to them to hate the evil and love the good. The last announced the doom the people would suffer if they refused to answer the calls of God's patience, the whole procedwe of judgment being graphically summarized in the declaration, "I will pass through the midst of them."

Finally, he pronounced the double woe. Two classes of the sinning people were addressed. First, those who desired "the day of the Lord," most evidently the hypocrites, according to the description. They were religionists who kept feasts, observed solemn assemblies, brought burnt meal, and peace offerings, sang songs and made melody with viols; but who, nevertheless, were living a life of sin. With tremendous force the prophet described God's attitude toward such, "I hate, I despise . . . I will take no delight . . . I will not accept . . . neither will I regard . . . I will not hear." Jehovah's call was for righteousness and judgment. "The day of the Lord" for the hypocrites would be a day of darkness and destruction.