Context: Prophet Amos (Amos 1:1, 2 Kings 14:23-24, 2 Chronicles 26:16-20)
- Amos was a herdsmen
- Timeline: Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam king of Israel – two bad kings
- 2 years before the earthquake around king Uzziah’s time
- Uzziah was initially an OK king. But when he became strong – he became proud
- Jeroboam was an evil king right from get go
What was the issue and the consequence? (v4:1-3)
- Cows of Bashan – the rich women of Israel
- Oppressed the poor and crushed the needy
- Asking their husbands to bring them drinks –
- They will be taken away with hooks
- Surrounding walls will be broken down so much that
- people don’t need a gate to be carried away
- Cast yourselves into Harmon
- Will be thrown into a garbage dump (GOD’S WORD® Translation)
- Cast down the high place (Young’s Literal Translation)
- Cast away to the mountain of Armenia (Lamsa)
- Surrounding walls will be broken down so much that
How did God reach out to the people? What was the response? (v6-11)
- God reached out in many ways – apart from prophets (Amos 1:1, 2:11)
- Famine: Cleanness of teeth – meaning no food to eat so nothing to clean
- Drought: Fields that didn’t get rain – withered. Not enough water for all.
- Destruction: Blight, mildew and locusts
- Plagues like the ones in Egypt – young men dead
- Some were overthrown like in Sodom and Gomorrah –
- Earthquake perhaps?
- They didn’t return to God
What did they like to do instead? (v4-5, Genesis 28:12-19)
- Sin in Bethel and Gilgal. Israel was worshiping idols and other gods in these places.
- At Bethel, Jacob saw God in a dream. Jacob built an altar at Bethel.
- Gilgal marked the end of Egypt’s influence over Israel.
- Sacrifice every morning and tithe every three days
- Brag about the free will offerings
What was the consequence? (v12-13, Psalm 94:11, Isaiah 66:1)
- Prepare to meet God. The God who
- created everything: the massive mountains to the invisible wind and man
- not only created everything but also knows the thoughts of man (Psalm 94:11)
- created light in darkness and can also turn morning to darkness (Genesis 1:3)
- Whose throne is Heaven and whose footstool is the Earth (Isaiah 66:1)
- Of Armies –
Conclusion / Application
- Israel didn’t return to God, even though they were going through miserable situations
- They oppressed the poor and crushed the needy
- Am I sensitive to God’s instruction and teaching? Or do I need a bit and bridle?
Main Passage Amos 4 – World English Bible (WEB)
4 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
2 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold,
“The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.
3 You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her;
and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says Yahweh.
4 “Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about
them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
6 “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
7 “I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest;
and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city.
One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered.
8 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied:
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
9 “I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards;
and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
10 “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword,
and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
11 “I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13 For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought;
who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth:
Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name.”.
Notes / Cross References
Psalm 94:11 Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
Isaiah 66:1 Yahweh says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest?
Psalm 32:8-9 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. 9 Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.
Genesis 28:12-19 13 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie on to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.” 16 Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.” 17 He was afraid, and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.” 18 Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
Genesis 35:1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
Joshua 5:9 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal to this day.
1 Kings 12:28-29 28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 29 He set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
