COVENANT ACCOUNTABILITY - AMOS 3

 Privilege and Accountability

Amos 3:1-2

Chapter 3 begins a series of 3 prophecies. Each starts with the words “Hear this word”. When Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, put he chapter divisions into place in the 1200s, he divided these prophecies into 3 chapters (3, 4, & 5).  

God begins this message again referring to himself as the one who brought Israel out of Egypt. God’s act of redemption established the basis for his covenant with Israel. Remember that God prefaced his giving of the law by saying “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”. (Exodus 20:2) 

God chose the people of Israel to have this relationship with him. He knew them. 

Because Israel took this special relationship for granted and violated the covenant by worshipping other gods, he now has the right to enforce the curses of the covenant and punish them for disobedience. 

So, the privilege Israel enjoyed as God’s chosen, covenant,  people was accompanied by the requirement of accountability. As Jesus said, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more”. (Luke 12:48) 

Since God says his word is against the whole family he brought out of Egypt, this prophecy applies to Judah and well as Israel. 

Since all of Jacob’s descendants, his family, are in covenant  with God, he has a duty to punish them in accordance with the terms of the covenant. If he did not, he would not be faithful to the covenant. And God is always faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:9) 

What are the relevant terms of the covenant? 

First is the prohibition of idolatry. Israel may have no other gods besides the LORD (Yahweh). A corollary to that is, Israel cannot make images of anything and cannot worship them. (Exodus 20:2-4) 

Second is the proscribed progressive punishments for violating the covenant. God details the punishments in Leviticus 26, ending with devastation of the land and being scattered among the nations (exile). (Leviticus 26 27-33; Deuteronomy 4:23-28; Deuteronomy 28:15-68)

The Inescapable Logic of Judgment 

3:3-6 

Amos uses seven vivid analogies to show that God's warning through the prophet signifies that judgment is coming.

Two people walking together means they agreed to meet. (3) A lion roaring signifies that he caught his prey. (4) A bird caught in a snare means there was a trap set for it. (5) If a trumpet is sounded from the city walls, the people become afraid because it signals an attack. 

Also, when disaster comes, it means the Lord has done it. (6) That is a word for us in a time where many Christian people say the Lord had nothing to do with it when a disaster strikes. 

The Prophetic Call 

3:7-8 

God vouches for his prophets here. When he is going to do something for or to his people, he tells it to his prophets. The prophets are his servants in these matters. 

God thus warns his people through prophets to provide an opportunity for repentance before judgment. So they should fear these warnings as one would fear the lion roaring before it attacks.

God also affirms that prophets must prophesy when he speaks to them and through them. This will be relevant later in the book when a priest tells Amos not to prophesy.

We have examples of this in the Bible. Jeremiah, upon being called to be a prophet, tried to beg off for being too young. God said do not say that, you will go where I send you and say what I tell you to say. (Jeremiah 1:7) Jonah tried to flee. God caught him in the ocean and sent him back in the right direction. 

Balaam tried to curse Israel, but God made him bless them. (Numbers 22)

The Sanhedrin told Peter and John not to speak about Jesus. Peter and John said “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard”. (Acts 4:13-22) 

Social Justice and Corruption 

3: 9-10

God called Ashdod, the Philistine city, and Egypt, a perennial enemy, to witness the sins of Israel. Samaria was the capital of Israel which was built on a high hill. The nation is condemned for storing up violence and robbery in their palaces. They were so far gone into sin they did not know how to do right. (10)

Decree Of Invasion And Defeat

3:11-12

Because of their sins, God decreed an adversary to defeat and plunder Israel. We know this to be Assyria. There would only be a small remnant left. (12)

That remnant intermarried with gentiles who were resettled into the area by the Assyrians as they conquered other nations. They became known as Samaritans. 

Destruction of False Worship 

3:14 

God said he would destroy the altars at Bethel, the golden calves, representing the corrupt religious system established by Jeroboam I. 

Wealth Won’t Save

3:15

The wealthy might have thought they were insulated from trouble. But God dispels that notion, saying their many houses and their expensive houses will not be spared when he strikes.

Takeaways

As God chose Israel, redeemed them, and knew them, God chose believers, redeemed them, and knows them. (Ephesians 1:4) Like Israel, believers (the church) are called to holy living. Holy living reflects the holiness of God. (1 Peter 1:16)

PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL - AMOS 2:6-16

 Judgment Against Israel - Introduction

2:6-8

The judgment against Israel is much longer and more detailed than the others. It goes all the way to the end of chapter 6. It is the climax to the other judgments, showing Israel is the most guilty of the nations. Because of its idolatry and rebellion, it has effectively become a non-covenant country, a foreign nation. 

God’s first complaint is their treatment of the poor. (6-7) They sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a sandal. This seems to mean the rich sell their fellow Jews for money when they are enslaved for inability to pay their debts. Sometimes they bought and sold these slaves for a ridiculously small price, symbolized by the “sandal”. That would also mean the debt that enslaved them was also small. 

The rich were assisted in this by the courts. A judge favoring a rich person could impose a heavy fine on the poor person. When the poor person was unable to pay, they were sold into slavery. This was a perversion of justice and it violated the covenant. 

Exodus 23:6 says “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit”. Proverbs 17:6 says “To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.”

God said, if a person could not pay his debt and wanted to work it off, he must be treated as a hired servant, an employee, and not a slave. (Leviticus 25:39-40) He could not be sold as a slave. (Leviticus 25:42)

The Old Covenant law forbid the selling of any slaves, not just Jewish slaves. Exodus 21:16 (ESV says): "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death." This verse explicitly makes the kidnapping and selling of humans a capital offense.

Deuteronomy 24:7 (ESV): says further that "If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die."

Second, the wealthy Israelites trampled the poor and refused to help the afflicted. (7) Justice in the Old Testament most often refers to how the poor are treated.

God said this about the poor: “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner and he shall live with you.” (Leviticus 25:35) 

Next, God accused them of sexual immorality. Specifically, a father and son having sex with the same girl. (7) This is similar to Paul’s disgust at find the Corinthian church was proud that they had a man who was living with his father’s wife, that is, his stepmother. (1 Corinthians 5)

The Old Covenant law forbade this conduct. (Leviticus 18:8) So, Paul here applies the Old Covenant moral law to the church. 

It is also possible that men were engaged in pagan worship rituals, which sometimes included temple prostitutes. That would certainly profane God’s name.

To further show the trampling of the poor, the rich people used the cloaks of poor people taken as pledges of debt payments. (7) In contrast, the law required a person to return a pledged cloak to the debtor by nightfall so that he could sleep in something warm. (Exodus 22:26; Deuteronomy 24:12) The cloak might be all the poor person had to keep warm at night.

A further indication of idolatry is the idea that there were many altars. (8)

The wine referred to in verse 8 was probably given as restitution or pledge. But, rich people used it to party, participating in the drunken rituals like pagans did. This was inappropriate worship at best and idolatry at the worst.  

God Takes Offense

2:9-11

God took offense at Israel’s behavior.  He recited the things he had done for Israel, how he destroyed the Amorites in Canaan on their behalf, how he brought them out of slavery in Egypt, and how he led them through the wilderness. (9-10)

These statements form the basis for the very identity of Israel. The Israelites were a people God redeemed from slavery in Egypt. They were a people he led through the wilderness. And they were a people to whom he had given a land occupied by other people. They were the recipients of God’s grace. 

These statements also invoke the prologue to the covenant. Before setting the terms of the covenant with Israel, God identified himself. He said “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”. (Exodus 20:1)

God also said he had helped them spiritually, raising up prophets and calling some people to be Nazirites. Nazirites were men and women who took special vows to dedicate themselves to God. (11)

The word Nazirite comes from the Hebrew nazir, meaning "consecrated" or “separated". During the time of their consecration, they could not eat or drink anything made from grapes. They could not cut their hair. They could not go near dead bodies and get defiled. (Numbers 6)

Sampson and Samuel are the only Nazirites identified in the Old Testament. (Judges 13:5-7; 1 Samuel1:11) 

Normally, prophets and Nazirites would be revered as holy people. Instead, the Israelites commanded the prophets not to testify. 

Jeremiah is a good example of a prophet that the kings tried to silence. Jeremiah 32 records King Zedekiah of Judah imprisoning Jeremiah to keep him from prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of its people. King Jehoiakim burned the scroll of Jeremiah’s prophesy. (Jeremiah 36) Later, Jeremiah was kept at the muddy bottom of a cistern. (Jeremiah 38) 

Things got so bad in Israel that people even interfered with Nazirites keeping their vows, making the drink wine. (12) 

This is that thing people do when believers try to holy lives, trying to get them to do something unholy either by persuasion or force.  

What God Will Do In Response

2:13-16

In response to the sins and disrespect of Israel, God said he would make them “road kill”. They would be flattened as if a heavy cart ran over them.

There would be no escape from God’s punishment. No one could escape by fleeing, no matter how fast they ran. Physical strength would not matter. Skill at weapons or riding horses would not help them. 

All of this reinforces God’s statement that the punishment he decreed was irrevocable. 

AMOS - INTRODUCTION

 

Amos

1:1

The prophet Amos was a shepherd, or sheep breeder, before becoming a prophet. He was from Tekoa, a small town in Judah south of Jerusalem. 

By the time Amos came along, the kingdom of Israel had split into Judah, the southern kingdom, and Israel, the northern kingdom of 10 tribes. 

Amos prophesied during the overlapping reigns of Jeroboam II in Israel (793–753) and Uzziah (Azariah): 767–740 BC in Judah (792–740). His ministry is believed to have occurred sometime between 760 and 755 BC, but there is no conclusive evidence of that in the text. He would have overlapped for a short time with the prophet Isaiah. (Isaiah 1:1)

His prophecy was “two yers before the earthquake”. This must have been a major earthquake to become a time marker. It is also mentioned in Zechariah 14:5, which speaks of people fleeing from it. Unfortunately, no date is attached to it other than during the reign of King Uzziah.  

Amos’ prophecies are directed primarily against Israel although he was from Judah. God may have given him visions, as the text said he “saw” them rather than heard them. 

Amos prophesied at a unique time in the history of the divided kingdom. From approximately 780 to 750, Egypt, Syria, and Assyria did not pose a serious threat to Israel. 

During this time, Jeroboam II was able to expand the borders of Israel, and his successes created economic prosperity for many and a sense of security as well. 

During these years, Israel prospered, and a powerful and wealthy upper class emerged who exploited the poor and perverted justice. These wealthy Israelites were confident and secure. So, Amos preached to an affluent society that was deeply involved in false worship, sexual immorality, and mistreatment of the poor, all of which were violations of the covenant.

The Lord Speaks

 1:2

The opening proclamation of the prophet’s message serves as a theme verse for the entire book: “The LORD roars from Zion”. This imagery depicts God as a roaring lion, signifying that judgment is approaching and that the land itself will tremble due to the sins of the people. 

This is a “curse announcement”. It is a reference to the covenant curses of wild animals being released against them when they rebel against God. (Leviticus 26:22; ; Deuteronomy 32:24) Here, however, the curse will be carried out by God himself, making it even more terrible. 

Notice also that God speaks from Zion\Jerusalem. That is where the temple was located, where God’s presence resided. It was the place God designated for worship. 

But Israel did not worship in Jerusalem after the tribes split. The first king of the northern kingdom, Jereboam I, built two altars, one in Bethel in the south and Dan in the north. He made two golden calves, one for each location, and proclaimed them to be Israel’s gods. (1 Kings 12:28)

Jereboam also built temples on high places and appointed priests that were not levites. He created a new, but false, religion and priesthood to serve it. He did all this to prevent his people from going to Jerusalem to worship and wanting to reunite with Judah. 

Upon making the Golden calves, Jereboam said something terrible. He said: “Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt”. (1 Kings 12:28) These were almost the exact words of Aaron after he built the original golden calf. (Exodus 32:4) You would think, knowing this story and the wrath Israel incurred as a result, the people would have revolted. But they did not. 

Thus, he plunged  Israel into idol worship. 

Amos, the prophet of God, immediately shows that the one and only true God still resides in Jerusalem and speaks judgment from there.

Next, the Lord speaks a series of judgments, first against the nations around Israel and Judah for the things they have done against God’s people. There are six oracles against the nations. He concludes then with judgments against Judah and Israel.

Each of these judgment begins with the words “Thus says the LORD”, meaning that Amos is acting as a messenger, speaking the exact words spoken by God. 

Each judgment also has a formula saying the countries are judged for three transgressions and for four. Amos uses this rhetorical, numerical phrase to indicate that the sins of the nations have overflowed, making punishment inevitable. So, it is not exactly four transgressions, but many transgressions.

 And the declaration of punishment is irrevocable. 

The Doom Book: God's Irrevocable Punishments - Amos 1:9 - 2:5

 The Punishment of Tyre

1:9-10

Tyre was a wealthy and powerful city state northwest of Israel. It is now a city in Lebanon. 

God said he would punish it for delivering up a whole people to Edom, indicating the capture and selling of people into slavery. We do not have a specific event to identify in the Bible. Tyre was known for slave trading, however. 

God condemns slave trading. In Exodus 21:16, God says: “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” 

The prophet Ezekiel issued a lengthy prophecy concerning Tyre. (Ezekiel 26-28) He also mentioned their slave trading. (Ezekiel 27:13) The prophet Joel also prophesied against Tyre and accused them of removing Israelites from their cities and selling them to the Greeks. (Joel 3:6)

Amos also condemned Tyre for not remembering the covenant of brotherhood. (9) Tyre had previously had good relations with Israel during the reigns of David, Solomon, and Ahab. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent materials and workers to David when he built his house in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 5:11) Hiram loved David. (1 Kings 5:1) 

Hiram also sent materials to Solomon when he became king and wanted to build the Temple.(2 Kings 5:8-11) 

Ahab married Jezebel, a princess of Tyre, who led him into the worship of Baal. (1 Kings 16:3133) 

But, somewhere along the way, Tyre sided against Israel and became an enemy. God determined to punish Tyre and bring destruction upon it. (10) 

Judgment Against Edom

1:11-12

Edom was the country founded by Esau, brother of Jacob. 

There was a long history of enmity between Israel and Edom. Notably, when Israel came out of Egypt they sought to travel up the King’s Highway, but Edom prevented them from doing so with a large army. (11) This required the Israelites to travel south past the border of Edom then turn north and travel just east of Edom’s eastern border. (Numbers 20:14-21)

Because of this, there was continual conflict between the two nations. Now, through Amos, God says he will judge them and destroy two of their main cities, Temen and Bozrah.

Edom was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nabonidus (c. 553-550 B.C.E.). Later, in the 5th century B.C.E., the Nabataeans conquered the territory, forcing the Edomites into southern Judah, where they disappeared after the Roman era.

Judgment Against The Ammonites

1:13-15

The Ammonites were descended from Lot.You might remember the story where, after the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s oldest daughter decided she and her sister had to have sex with their father so they could have children and continue the family line. 

Moab was the son of the oldest daughter. The Moabites descended from him. Ben-ammi was the son of the youngest and is the father of the Ammonites. (Genesis 19:30-l38)

Ammon was east of the Jordan River, where the Kingdom of Jordan is now. They had many conflicts with Israel and attacked the region of Gilead often in attempt to expand their territory to the river, enlarging their border. (13)

The Ammonites were vicious as shown by God’s accusation that they ripped open pregnant women in Gilead. So, God said he would send fire to destroy the capital city of Rabbah and send the king and his sons into exile.

Assyria did conquer Ammon and made it a vassal state. Babylonia later conquered it and dispersed the people into exile so that Ammon ceased to exist as a country.

Judgment Against Moab

2:1-3

Moab’s offense was not against Israel. Instead, it was against Edom. So, we see that God’s justice is not only for those who do bad things to Israel, but is applied to any who commit atrocities. 

Moab had many conflicts with Edom, their neighbor to the south. We do not have a record of this in the Bible, but in one such conflict the Moabites burned the body of the king of Edom. 

This was evidently done to prevent resurrection of the king’s body. Many of the cultures of this region believed in a resurrection of the body, but only if it had been properly buried. So the Moabites attempted to impose an eternal death on the king.

Because of its atrocities, God said he would punish and destroy Moab. He would also kill the king and his sons. (2:3) The only city mentioned here for destruction is Kerioth, which was the center of worship of Chemosh. He was the supreme deity of the Moabites. 

Worship of Chemosh included child sacrifice. The king of Moab actually sacrificed his oldest son and heir on a burning altar when a battle against the Israelites turned against him. (2 Kings 3:27)

Sadly, King Solomon built an altar to Chemosh on the Mount of Olives to accommodate one of his foreign, pagan, wives. (1 Kings 11:7) The Bible records King Josiah destroying the shrines of Chemosh as part of his religious reforms. (2 Kings 23:13-14)

Judgment Against Judah

2:4-5

God also promised punishment of Judah, the southern kingdom. The reason is not war crimes, like the others, but because it rejected and violated the covenant with God, not obeying his laws. They also went astray, meaning they worshipped other gods. 

Jeremiah prophesied the same thing:

“But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 17:27)

In Jeremiah 26:4-6, God also told Judah that he would destroy the Temple if they did not repent. 

Hosea likewise prophesied:

For Israel has forgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

so I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

(Hosea 8:14-9:1)

So, they had plenty of warnings. Still, they did not heed them. 

So, we see that God’s justice is universal: God holds all nations accountable for violence and injustice—not only Judah and Israel.

We also see the truth of Romans 1:18-32 played out among these nations. 

And for Judah, we see that God holds them to the terms of the covenant and will impose the curses of the covenant for disobedience. Yet, we see that he gave many opportunities to repent before he said the punishment was irrevocable. 

He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6)