Thrust statement: Amos was a vigorous spokesman for God’s justice and     righteousness

Scripture Reading: Amos 1:1-2; 7:10-17

INTRODUCTION

            The prophets of God are as relevant today as they were during the time of their ministries. Prophets, such as Amos, call for justice and righteousness. Amos’ message thunders with judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel. In the reading of the Book of Amos, one quickly discovers a people without commitment to God’s law.  Amos witnesses idolatry, immorality, corruption of judicial procedures, and cruelty to the poor through cheating, perverting justice, and overpowering anyone who stood in the way of wealth. For many individuals, extravagant indulgence was a way of life. Since many had rejected God’s law, they had no basis for standards of conduct. This is the society that God calls Amos to rebuke and to call to repentance. Amos is a forceful spokesman for God’s justice and righteousness.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel (Amos 1:1).^[1]

            Amos (760 BCE=Before the Common Era) is one of the first of the writing prophets whose writings are preserved in the Old Testament. There were three writing prophets prior to the call of Amos. These were Obadiah (845 BCE), Joel (835 BCE), and Jonah (782 BCE). Amos is from the town of Tekoa, which is about six miles south of Bethlehem and ten miles from Jerusalem. He earned his living from the flock and the sycamore-fig grove (1:1 and 7:14-15). In his conversation with Amaziah, the priest of Bethel (7:10), he says,  “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.  ¹⁵ But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel” (7:14-15). The prophet, even though a shepherd and a caretaker of fig trees, is acquainted with a broad knowledge of general history and the world at large. God sends him to announce judgment against Israel, the northern kingdom.

The Book of Amos leads one to believe that the greater part of his ministry occurs at Bethel (7:10-13), which is where the main sanctuary for Israel is located and where the upper classes of the northern kingdom worshipped. Even though the northern kingdom is the focus of his prophecy, the southern kingdom, Judah, is also denounced (2:4-5). His ministry, as stated above, follows that of Elisha (855-800 BCE), Obadiah (845 BCE), and Joel (835 BCE), who were ninth-century prophets. In the eight-century, there were other prophets who were contemporary, or at least lived during the eighth century, with Amos. For instance, there were Jonah (782 BCE), Hosea (760 BCE), Isaiah (739 BCE), and Micah 735). In the eight-century, the Assyrians, under the leadership of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE), were the dominant world power. The Assyrians exercised an unprecedented effect upon the nation of Israel as well as the world of the Near East. During the eighth century, three great crises occurred, all of which involved the  Assyrians, which brought them into contact with the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

The Syro-Ephraimitic Crisis—734 BCE

            In 734 BCE, Rezin, king of Syria (capital at Damascus), and Pekah (752-732 BCE), king of Israel, formed an alliance to oppose Tiglath-Pileser III (7455-727 BCE), king of Assyria. Judah, under the leadership of Ahaz (735-716 BCE), apparently declined to join forces with Rezin and Pekah in opposition to the Assyrian aggression. And as a result of this refusal, Syria and Israel moved against Judah. Ahaz reacted with alarm and sought assistance from Assyria. Isaiah (739 BCE) objected to Ahaz’s reliance upon Assyria. Isaiah records this interference and admonition from God for Ahaz to put his trust in God, not Tiglath-Pileser III:

³ Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.  ⁴ Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.  ⁵ Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, ⁶ “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”  ⁷ Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘It will not take place, it will not happen, ⁸ for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. ⁹ The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all’” (Isaiah 7:3-9).

Tiglath-Pileser captured Damascus, the Syrian capital, and slew Rezin and carried its citizens to Assyria. He also invaded Israel and made Pekah a vassal of Assyria. This prophecy of Isaiah was preceded by one of the most famous of all Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Ahaz’s refusal to trust in God brought forth the Immanuel prophecy of Isaiah:

¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.” ¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?  ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.  ¹⁵ He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.  ¹⁶ But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.  ¹⁷ The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria” (Isaiah 7:12-17).

The Fall of Samaria—721 BCE

The second major crisis occurred in 721 BCE with the fall of Samaria. Ten years prior to the fall of Samaria (732 BCE), Hoshea, who then became Israel’s last king, assassinated Pekah, after Pekah’s reign of twenty years. The author of Second Kings describes the events this way:

In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria.  ³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah (2 Kings 15:29-30).

Upon the death of Tiglath-Pileser III (727 BCE), Hoshea withheld his heavy tribute to Assyria and turned to Egypt for assistance. The new king of Assyria, Shalmaneser V (727-722 BCE) invaded Israel and laid siege to Samaria. During the three-year siege, Shalmaneser died and Sargon II (721-705) continued the siege with the fall of Samaria in 721 BCE. This resulted in the complete disintegration of the northern kingdom of Israel. Thus, the territory of the kingdom of Israel became a part of the country of Assyria.  The kingdom of Israel (931—721) lasted for approximately two hundred and ten years.

The Sennacherib Crisis—701 BCE

            Sennacherib (704-681) succeeded his father Sargon II in 704. As a result of a change of sovereigns, the subject nations under Assyrian rule revolted, which included Palestine, the Southern kingdom. After Sennacherib suppressed the rebellions in the East, he then turned to his attention to the West. At this time Hezekiah (727-699 BCE), king of Judah, sent messengers to Lachish to pay tribute to Assyria.  The author of Second Kings (chapter 18) gives an account of this episode. Hezekiah, unlike Ahaz, trusted in the Lord for deliverance from this invasion of Sennacherib. The author of Kings writes:

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.  ⁶ He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses (2 Kings 18:5-6).

In spite of his efforts to appease the king, Sennacherib decides to lay siege to the city and plunder its resources. Whereupon God sent Isaiah to assure Hezekiah that the city would stand, even with such overwhelming odds of the Assyrians. As the Assyrian army lay encamped about Jerusalem, the angel of the Lord went forth and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian army. The penman of Second Kings records the following: “That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies” (2 Kings 19:35)! Sennacherib was so humiliated, that he was compelled to return to Assyria (19:36).

All of this information about the three crises is important for a proper understanding of what was going on at the time Amos came on the scene. In the first half of the eighth-century, Jonah (782 BCE), a prophet of Israel, was sent to the chief city of Assyria, Nineveh, with a stern message of judgment (see the Book of Jonah). This effort on the part of Jonah created a short-lived reprieve from her unparalleled evilness and bloodthirstiness, which delayed the actual conquest of Israel until 721 BCE. But this repentance on the part of Assyria was short-lived. As stated above, Elisha’s (855-800 BCE) ministry extends into this period. During the eighth-century, God raises up five prophets to proclaim His Word to the nation: (1) Jonah [782], Amos [760], Hosea [760], Isaiah [739], and Micah [735].

AMOS AND HIS MINISTRY

As observed above in Amos 1:1, Amos informs his readers that his ministry took place during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BCE), who is king of Israel, and Uzziah (792-740 BCE), who is king of Judah. Jeroboam II enlarges his borders and enriches his economy with trade and commerce. As a result of the peace that the northern kingdom experiences, one witnesses the upper class luxuriating in extravagance. The rich are totally indifferent to the poor. For example, Amos decries this kind of behavior that results in a total disregard for other people:

⁴ You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. ⁵ You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. ⁶ You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph (Amos 6:4-6).

            The callousness of the nobles brings forth a near “reign of terror” (6:3). They were totally indifferent to the troubles of the poor. The rich enlarged their material goods by confiscating the property of underprivileged debtors. Amos captures in graphic poetic language the utter disregard for the poor:

They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. ⁷ They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed (2:6-7).

The upper class is ruthless in their dealings with the underprivileged. Listen to Amos as he once more describes the untold horrors perpetrated on the needy by the well-to-do:

When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, ⁶ buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat (8:5-6).

The poor were cheated in the market place: “selling the sweepings with the wheat.” In addition to this cheating of the poor, the courts also participated in denying justice in the law courts. Amos paints a picture of the deplorable conditions for which God ultimately brought the northern kingdom of Israel to its knees by allowing a total destruction of the kingdom itself (721 BCE). Listen once more as he seeks to capture the utter degradation of the conditions in Israel: 

They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. ⁷ They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed (2:6-7).

¹⁰ you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. ¹¹ You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. ¹² For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts (5:10-12).

         One observes from Amos that bribes and lack of justice in the judicial system go hand in hand. The conditions that existed between the rich and the poor are appalling.  The insensitivity was so horrendous that Amos refers to the women as cows: “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks’” (4:1)! Wickedness characterized their lifestyle. This is the state of affairs that Amos addresses to a nation that is on its way to annihilation. Again, pay attention to Amos as he speaks of the debauchery and wickedness that is characteristic of the rich:

⁴ You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. ⁵ You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. ⁶ You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph (6:4-6).

This book covers social injustice and ineffective religious formalism. Amos strikes out at unfairness and tyranny. Amos condemns worship that is concerned only with the outward form and is not concerned with acts of love and compassion in the life of the believer. God says through Amos:

²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. ²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. ²³ Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream (5:21-24)!

One cannot think about these words without reflecting upon the language of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). Also, Mary, as the babe leaped in her womb, exclaimed:

⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. ⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:52-53).

Again, the thoughts that Amos presents are also found in Jesus’ reading from the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Even James, the Lord’s brother, calls attention to the unacceptable state of affairs that he found among the rich:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.  ² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.  ⁴ Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  ⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  ⁶ You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you (James 5:1-6).

            Both Amos (760 BCE) and Micah (735 BCE) criticize oppressive governments. For example, Micah writes:

Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power.² They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance (Micah 2:1-2).

The government officials would lie in bed at night and dream up ways to legalize the confiscation of someone’s property. The rulers would make unjust laws to make lawful the oppression of widows and to deprive the poor of their rights. Listen to Isaiah (739 BCE) as he too speaks, approximately twenty-years later, of the shocking events in Israel:

Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, ² to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey (Isaiah 10:1-2)!

            Just a casual reading of Amos reveals that God declares that worship to Him that is divorced from right conduct is an abomination. Amos insists that religion and morality are inseparable; there can be no separation between worship and conduct or between religion and life. This insistence on worship and right ethical conduct is still applicable to every child of God. James, the Lord’s brother, says,

²⁶ If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.  ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:26-27).

Amos describes in great detail the despicable life-style of many of its citizens. The following chart sets forth the moral decay found in Israel:

FALSE SECURITY	CONTEMPT FOR JUDGMENT
“Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!”   Amos 6:1	“You put off the evil day”   Amos 6:3a
BRUTALITY AND TYRANNY	APATHY
“You bring near a reign of terror”   Amos 6: 3b	“You lie on beds inlaid with ivory”   Amos 6:4a
UNJUSTIFIABLE EXTRAVAGANCE AND OVERINDULGENCE	WORTHLESS ENJOYMENT
“Lounge on your couches” Amos 6:4b “You use the finest lotions” Amos 6:6b	“You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.” Amos 6:5
DRUCKENNESS	LACK OF COMPASSION
“You drink wine by the bowlful” Amos 6:6a Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!” Amos 4:1	“You do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.” Amos 6:6b

            God decrees judgment upon the nation of Israel for its wickedness. Even though Israel’s relationship to God is based upon His divine election, this election demands the greater responsibilities. Israel prides herself in her election, but she rejects her moral and ethical responsibilities toward others as well as right ethical conduct in their own personal lives. The election of Israel gives special privileges, but it does not give the right to sin with impunity. This rejection of God’s law is the reason that Amos declares: “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12). What is Amos saying? Judgment is coming!

            As one contemplates the election of Israel, one should never forget that election is never arbitrary and meaningless; in other words, election is not just a monopoly on divine favor, but rather it is a call to moral responsibility. God calls Israel to be a holy people. She is chosen, according to Moses, to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: “Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites” (Exodus 19:6). This election of Israel was to be reflected in holiness and obedience. The same is true today of God’s new community. It is in this same regard that Peter says:

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Again, Peter instructs:

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (1 Peter 2:9-12). 

When one is a part of the elect of God, this fact does not give one a license to walk in darkness. God’s judgment upon Israel and Judah, as well as other nations, should become a wake-up call to a life of holiness.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK

            The Book of Amos is divided up into nine chapters; these chapters contain the announcements of judgment upon the northern kingdom of Israel for its social unfairness, immoral wantonness, and apostasy. Amos not only describes the downfall of Israel, but he also predicts the judgment of God upon the surrounding nations for their rebellion against the very foundation of the moral fiber of any society.  Amos sees evenhandedness, fairness, impartiality, and right ethical conduct as the very foundation of any society, and he maintains that without letting righteousness roll on like a mighty river, then one’s worship to God is in vain. In other words, one’s life cannot be characterized by self-centeredness, self-indulgence, depravity, repression, and, at the same time, worship God acceptably.

            As one reads through the Book of Amos, one observes the book consists of three groups of oracles. The first consists of eight burdens against the surrounding nations, which includes Judah and Israel. The following charts schematizes the judgments: 

JUDGMENTS AGAINST THE NATIONS INCLUDING JUDAH AND ISRAEL CHAPTERS 1 AND 2
1. Damascus	Amos 1:3-5
2. Gaza	Amos 1:6-8
3. Tyre	Amos 1:9-10
4. Edom	Amos 1: 11-12
5. Ammon	Amos 1:13-15
6. Moab	Amos 2:1-3
7. Judah	Amos 2:4-5
8. Israel	Amos 2:6-16

            The second section consists of three sermons against Israel for her sins. Chapter three, four, five, and six contains three proclamations. The following chart encapsulates the four chapters:

JUDGMENTS AGAINS ISRAEL IN THREE PROCLAMATIONS CHAPTERS 3 THROUGH 6
1. The Sin of Presumption	Amos 3:1-15
2. The Sin of Religious Orthodoxy	Amos 4:1-13
3. The Sin of Moral and Ethical Corruption	Amos 5:1—6:14

            The third group of oracles consists of five visions, which were symbolic of the coming judgment. Once more, the following diagram discloses the five visions:

SYMBOLIC VISIONS OF THE COMING JUDGMENT CHAPTERS 7:1 THROUGH 9:10
1. The Plaque of Locusts	Amos 7:1-3
2. The Devouring Fire	Amos 7:4-6
3. The Plumbline	Amos 7:7-9
4. The Basket of Summer Fruit	Amos 8:1-14
5. The Altar	Amos 9:1-10

CONCLUSION

The Book of Amos closes with a promise of restoration and glory for Israel. In his concluding remarks, he predicts the coming of the Messiah. In concluding this introduction, one should always be conscious that external behavior divorced from right ethical conduct is offensive to God. One’s life cannot be filled with wickedness, and, at the same time, worship God with His approbation. The nations of Israel and Judah are deceived into thinking that mechanical religious observances provide security from the consequences of coming judgment. The prophet Amos insists that worship and morality are inseparable. For Amos, there cannot be a severance between worship and behavior or between religion and life. God considers worship that is divorced from right deeds as an outrage to Him: 

I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. ²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. ²³ Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21-24)