INSINCERE WORSHIP - AMOS 5

 Amos 5

1. A Lament Over Israel’s Fall (Amos 5:1–3)

Chapter 5:1-17 is a lament. A lament is an expression sorrow. Amos calls Israel to hear his lament. He speaks of the future in the present tense, signifying that their future is determined. He treats Israel as already fallen and unable to rise. There is no one to help her. Israel is referred to as a virgin, meaning she was cut down when in her prime and full of potential. 

The word “fallen” normally means fallen in battle. For example, when David lamented the death of Saul and Jonathan in battle, he said “How the mighty have fallen”.( 2 Samuel 1:27) Amos is saying Israel will be defeated and destroyed in a war with invaders. 

Israel will be decimated. Only 10% will survive. This is the covenant curse of Deuteronomy 28:62: “Whereas you were as numerous at the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God”. 

II. The Call to Seek the Lord and Live (Amos 5:4–6)

God calls Israel to seek him. That is where life is for them. It is not in the worship of idols, as represented by the false worship centers of Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba. That worship has led them to be unjust and unrighteous. (7)

III. Israel’s Corruption of Justice (Amos 5:8–13)

As God decrees these curses, he identifies himself as God the creator. He made the stars, the daylight, and the sea. (8) He is Yahweh and he has the power to bring destruction even against strong nations. 

The people of Israel have become so evil that they abhor anyone who speaks the truth or objects to their behavior. (10) Abhor means to have disgust and hatred. The NIV uses the word “despise”. Their judges take bribes to rule against the poor.

They send the needy away rather than help them. 

Because they trample on the poor and steal from them, God will keep them from enjoying their riches, their fancy houses and pleasant vineyards. This evil is so prevalent that no one will speak against it. (13)

IV. A Second Call to Repentance (Amos 5:14–15)

Again God tells them what to seek if they want to live. They must seek good and not evil, justice, not oppression. When the seek these things, God will be with them. And, Amos says, God might be gracious to them again. (15)

Believers are called to live according to God’s standard of holiness. Regardless of the changing standards of the world, we are not to adopt them. Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed as our minds are renewed by the Holy Spirit so that we may discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect in God’s eyes. (Romans 12:2)

According to Jesus, we are to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness as the first priority. (Matthew 6:33) We can then trust him to take care of the rest. 

True religion leads to ethical behavior.

V. The Coming National Mourning (Amos 5:16–17)

When Israel falls, there will be great mourning in the streets, town squares, and fields. When all you know and cherish is destroyed before your eyes, you have much grief and sorrow. 

This destruction will come from an invading army, but it is the Lord bringing it. He will pass through them in judgment just as the Lord passed through Egypt in judgment, killing the first born of every family. (17) (Exodus 12:23-30) As there was a “great cry” in Egypt, there will be great mourning when Israel falls. 

VI. The Day of the Lord Misunderstood (Amos 5:18–20)

Amos said: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord”. (18) Israel expected the Day of the Lord to bring victory, but Amos said it would bring judgment. He described it metaphorically several ways: (1) It is darkness, not light; (2) it is like running from a lion and meeting a bear; (3) it is like leaning on a wall for support but getting bit by a serpent. Their expectation was for good, but their reality would be bad.

VII. God Rejects Hypocritical Worship (Amos 5:21–27)

The reason the Day of the Lord will be judgment, rather than blessing, is that their worship of the Lord was hypocritical (in addition to their other sins). God spoke, beginning in verse 21, saying he hated and despised their gatherings and rejected their sacrifices. Their lives did not reflect their worship, indicating that their worship was in form only and not in spirit. They took advantage of the poor and they engaged in idol worship - they lacked justice and righteousness. (24). 

Instead, they should have sought justice and righteousness. (24) Not only did God reject their worship, he would send them into exile. (27) The historical fulfillment of the prophecy occurred in 722 B.C. with the Assyrian exile. 

Takeaways

Worship without righteousness is offensive to God. He does not accept it. 

Ritual cannot substitute for obedience. We worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

The Day of the Lord is judgment for the unrepentant: “While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come up them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3)

 To be united to Christ by grace though faith is to be counted as having lived His life, obeyed His law, suffered His punishment, died His death, and risen in His resurrection. 

YET YOU DID NOT RETURN TO ME - AMOS 4

 

Amos 4

1. Indictment of Social Oppression (4:1–3)

It was not just the men who oppressed the poor. Here, God addressed the women of Samaria as oppressors who were obsessed with drinking parties. He used a derogatory term, “cows of Bashan”, when addressing them. 

Bashan was an area of good pastureland where the cattle ate well and grew fat, having a nice life. It was east of the Jordan River in the area originally allotted to Manasseh. The area is now partially in the Golan Heights of Israel and partially in Syria.

As a result of this oppression, God swore that the women would be taken away from their land and exiled somewhere else. (3)  The city would be conquered and the all torn down. The women would be tied or chained together and make to walk straight ahead, in a single file line, through the breaches in the wall, all the way to Assyria. 

II. Condemnation of Empty Worship (4:4–5)

It turns out that God can be sarcastic. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony, characterized by stating the opposite of what is actually intended, typically with a mocking, critical, or humorous intent. It is designed to insult, amuse, or convey irritation, often utilizing a specific, drawn-out, or lower-pitched tone of voice to signal that the words should not be taken literally. 

God called the people to worship at Bethel, the site of one of the golden calf idols. He said bring those sacrifices, tithes, and offering. Let people know you did it (publish it). Because this is what you love to do. 

The people were engaged in public displays of worship of these idols. They did all the things they were supposed to do in the worship of God at the temple in Jerusalem. But, they had perverted the proscribed worship with idolatry. We can see that the idea “it does not matter what you believe as long as you believe” is false. God actually finds it abhorrent. 

In the New Testament, Jesus condemned the Jews for some of these same things. They did not worship idols, but they deed all their deeds to be seen by others. (Matthew 23:5) Like the Israelites of Amos’ time, they had a lot of ritual, but failed to practice justice, mercy and faithfulness. (Matthew 23:23)

III. Discipline Rejected: “Yet You Did Not Return to Me” (4:6–11)

In this passage, God lists the covenant curses he imposed on them to bring them to repentance. (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). But they did not repent. After God recites each covenantal curse imposed on them, he concluded with “Yet you did not return to me”. (6,8,9,10,11)

First, God brought famine (cleanest of teeth) to them. But, that did not bring repentance.

Next, he brought drought (withholding the rain) during the months before harvest. (7-8) They did not have enough water to drink and their fields dried up, killing the crops. Yet, they did not return to God.

He struck them with blight and mildew in their gardens, vineyards, and orchards. He sent locusts to eat their fruit trees, a pestilence. (10) Yet that did not make them repent.

God then brought war to them. Their young men were killed and their horses taken. Yet, they still did not repent. 

Finally, God overthrew some of their cities just as he had overthrown Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, they still did not repent and return to the Lord.

God’s judgment was not just punitive. It was corrective. He did it to bring them to repentance. It was discipline to bring restoration.

In the New covenant, God delegates corrective discipline partially to the church. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus set out the process for church discipline. If a person sinned, the one harmed should speak to him. If he does not listen, the person takes others with him to speak to the one who sinned. If he refuses to listen to them, the matter is to be taken to the church. If he still refuses to listen, he is to be removed from the church and treated as an outsider.

Paul urged the Corinthian church to impose disciple on a member who was living in sexual immorality by removing him from the congregation. (1 Corinthians 5:1-2) 

Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians deals with the follow-up to excommunication. In 2 Corinthians 2:5–11, Paul seems to be talking about the very same person he had instructed the church to excommunicate. 

The sinner had repented, and Paul writes, “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (verses 6–8). 

As soon as the excommunicated believer repents, he should be welcomed back into warm relationship with the church community. Once repentance has been established, the excommunication should be fully reversed. The goal has been accomplished.

However, God also reserves the right to judge and discipline churches. We see this in the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. For example, God called the church in Ephesus to repent and do the works they did when they first came to faith. If not, God did he will come to them and remove their lamp stand. (Revelation 2:4-5)

God may also discipline individual believers. The book of Hebrews addresses this. The writer quotes Proverbs 3:11-12:

My son, do not regard lightly the disciple of the Lord,

Nor be weary when reproved by him.

for theLord disciplines the one he loves

and chastises every son whom he receives.

The writer goes on to say that God disciplines us for our good, to move us toward holiness. (Hebrews 12:3-10) 

IV. The Climactic Warning: “Prepare to Meet Your God” (4:12–13)

Because of Israel’s refusal to repent, God says he is coming in judgment. The Israelites may have looked to the Day of the Lord as rescue or vindication, but God says it will be judgment instead. 

God then identifies himself as the creator of the earth, the one who knows all things, and as God of hosts, (Sabaoth).“Hosts” refers to vast angel armies. Some translations, such at the New International Version, use the term Lord God Almighty instead of LORD of Hosts.

This is the one who will impose judgment against them. He is not weak or incapable, rather he is powerful and sovereign. 

Takeaways

God’s Holiness - he is holy and expects his people to be

Social Justice Matters to God

Religious Activity ≠ Repentance and worship

Divine Discipline Aims at Return

God’s Patience Has Limits

Repentance

 

Bible knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light men to hell. 

Thomas Watson

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.