Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:
“Fallen is Virgin Israel,
never to rise again,
deserted in her own land,
with no one to lift her up.”
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:
“Your city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left;
your town that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left.”
This is what the Lord says to Israel:
“Seek me and live;
do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not journey to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
Seek the Lord and live,
or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour them,
and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
There are those who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground.
He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.
With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.
There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court
and detest the one who tells the truth.
You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their 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.
For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.
Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:
“There will be wailing in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through your midst,”
says the Lord.
Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
That day will be darkness, not light.
It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
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.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
the pedestal of your idols,
the star of your god—
which you made for yourselves.
Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.
- Amos 5:1-27
Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments
Amos 5:1-2 ‘Lamentations’: “A lament is known as words of grief, regret, sorrow, and pain. I have conducted over 500 memorial services in my four decades as a pastor. Some funerals are celebrations of a life well lived, filled with devotion to faith and family. On the other hand, some funerals are Laments. These arc times of great sorrow and loss.
“Amos called Israel a Virgin. It is a word identifying a woman of young age. The saddest funerals arc those held for the death of a young person. The grief of a parent burying a child is the heaviest I know.
“In this chapter, the Lord gives Israel two worthwhile pursuits.”
- Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets
Amos 5:1 ‘Amos sings a dirge’: “He is taking up a dirge. He is singing a funeral song, a very sad one. He speaks of them now with tenderness—”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
Amos 5:2 ‘Israel was God’s bride’: “When Hosea began his prophecy, he spoke of the experience he had had in his home. He had married a harlot, and God sent him out to speak to the northern kingdom, saying, ‘You’re a harlot, but God still loves you.’ Here Amos says, ‘You were a virgin, God espoused you to Himself’ That is the picture of every believer today. Paul said even to the Corinthians, ‘I espoused you as a chaste virgin to Christ’ (see 2 Cor. 11:2). When we come to Him, our sins are forgiven, and we start new with Him. But how about it, friend? How has it been going the past few years? Have you done what Israel did? Have you played the harlot? Have you turned away from the One who loves you? Have you been led astray into the world and into the things of the flesh? Is the Devil leading you around like a pig with a ring in its snout? A great many Christians are in that condition today. This is a sad funeral dirge: ‘The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.’”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
Amos 5:3 ‘last warning’: “’The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred.’ Amos is saying, ‘Prepare to meet your God. Look at the number that are going to be slain.’ ‘That which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.’ These are the ones who will be left back in the land, but a great company of them will be slain.
“Listen to Amos. This is, as it were, a last call to the nation—”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
Amos 5:4-6 ‘Seek the Lord and Live’: “ For what are you looking? For what are you living? Your answers to these questions determine the Master over your life. Jesus states a fitting and higher search:
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)
“The people sought out holy places like Bethel and Gilgal to aid their condition. But a change in geography did not overcome a flaw in character. “Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way: No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.”
- Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets
Amos 5:4 ‘turn to God’: “The invitation is still open. The Word has gone out. God is calling upon them to turn to Him; if they do even now, they will live.”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
Amos 5:5 ‘visible symbols’: “These were the places where the calves and other idols were set up for the worship of God by means of visible symbols. Pure spiritual worship was ordained by God, but that was not enough for the idolatrous Israelites. They must set up the image of an ox, the emblem of power-not that they would worship the ox, they said, but that they might worship the God of power through that symbol. But they are absolutely forbidden by God-‘Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them’ (Ex 20:4-5). The first commandment forbids us to have any other God than Jehovah. The second forbids us to worship him through any emblem or symbol whatever.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon illustrations
Amos 5:6 ‘house of Joseph’: “Refers to the northern kingdom, since Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, were two of its largest tribes.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Amos 5:7 ‘justice to wormwood’: “Justice was so perverted that it was like wormwood, an herb known for its bitter taste (cf. Rev. 8:11).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Amos 5:8-9 ‘created objects, not gods’: ”The Pleiades and Orion are two primary constellations (see Job 9:9, note). The stars were worshiped by many ancient peoples, but they are created objects, not gods.”
- Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)
Amos 5:8 ‘Pleiades and Orion’: “Pleiades, part of the constellation Taurus, and Orion depict God’s creative power and wisdom (cf. Job 9:9; 38:31–35). Israel was guilty of worshiping the stars (cf. v. 26) instead of their Creator.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Amos 5:10-13 ‘corruption’: “The elders and judges of the city officially met at the ‘court’ where legal transactions took place (see vv. 10, 12; see Ru 4:1,7). ‘Times are evil’ probably refers to a time of calamity (Am 5:13). They would not benefit from any of their labors because they had denied justice to the poor, who could not pay the ‘bribes.’”
- Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)
Amos 5:11-15, 21-24 ‘The Book of Amos’: “Two of the minor prophets, Amos and Hosea, spoke to the northern kingdom of Israel during the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Both took the Assyrian threat very seriously, but their messages were unheard. Comparative prosperity in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 B.C.) had fed complacency.
“Amos spoke harshly about this complacency. Although he himself was from Tekoa in the land of Judah (Amos 1:1), Amos was sent by God to prophesy to Israel (see 7:10–17), and he brought with him a deep intolerance for oppression. He raged against the lavish lives of the rich (4:1–3), the oppression of the poor (5:11–15), and the ostentatious religious ceremony of the oppressors (5:21–24).”
- Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible
Amos 5:12-15 ‘Politics & Government’: “The gates of ancient cities were large structures that often included several rooms where business could be conducted. It is appropriate to find the figure of Wisdom calling for her students in this location (Prov. 8:3), since the city gate was a place where legal as well as commercial transactions took place (Ruth 4:1, 11; Amos 5:12, 15).”
- Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible
Amos 5:14-15 ‘seek the good and live’: “Remember, Amos prophesied to a tremendously prosperous land. The economy was booming. The citizens were convinced God ·was showing favor on them. But they were wrong. If they wished for God to be with them, they should seek after the Lord’s character and desires.”
- Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets
Amos 5:15 ‘love and hate’: “If we are committed, consecrated Christians, truly disciples of the crucified and risen Christ, there are some things we must face.
“We cannot love honesty without hating dishonesty. We cannot love purity without hating impurity. We cannot love truth without hating lying and deceitfulness.
“If we belong to Jesus Christ, we must hate evil even as He hated evil in every form. The ability of Jesus Christ to hate that which was against God and to love that which was full of God was the force that made Him able to receive the anointing-the oil of gladness-in complete measure.
“On our human side, it is our imperfection in loving the good and hating the evil that prevents us from receiving the Holy Spirit in complete measure. God withholds from us because we are unwilling to follow Jesus in His great poured-out love for what is right and His pure and holy hatred of what is evil.”
- A. W. Tozer, Jesus, Our Man in Glory
Amos 5:16-27 ‘the day of the Lord’: “The people of Israel perceived the day of the Lord as a day of victory for themselves and a day of judgment for their enemies. Amos corrected that popular misconception. He presented the day of the Lord as a day of judgment for the Lord’s people. Their judgment would be greater because they had received greater revelation (see Am 3:1–2 …). The Israelites misunderstood and asked for the day of the Lord (Am 5:18), but Amos warned that this ‘day’ would not bring ‘brightness’ or blessing but doom and ‘darkness’ (v. 20). The Israelites kept ‘religious festivals,’ attended ‘assemblies,’ and offered ‘burnt offerings’ but neglected justice and righteousness (vv. 21–22).”
- Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)
Amos 5:18 ‘The Day of Judgment’: “Among the Old Testament prophets the phrase ‘day of the Lord’ (or ‘day of Yahweh’) meant disaster and destruction for Judah and Israel. The prophet Joel could only announce, ‘Alas for the day!’ (Joel 1:15). In the ancient Near East, the ‘day’ of a deity meant a time of celebration in which that particular deity was honored as the most powerful god of the pantheon. In the liturgical calendars of Egypt and Mesopotamia there were holy days set aside all through the year for the worship of the various deities.
“In the cultures of both Egypt and Mesopotamia, banquets and celebrations marked each god’s day. In Egyptian festivals, the image of the god was brought from the temple and carried through the streets. In Mesopotamia, the statues of many gods might be brought in procession to the temple of the god whose day it was to join the celebration. As supreme ruler for that day, the deity was asked to bring justice to the world. Loyal worshipers were expected to be rewarded and the wicked punished.
“The people of Judah similarly considered the day of Yahweh to be one of festivals and good times. Prophets like Joel (Joel 1:15) and Amos (Amos 5:18), however, proclaimed a contrasting view. They agreed that Yahweh would indeed bring judgment and true justice on that day. But, since the people had not lived by the rules of God, the judgment that would come would result in their own destruction. The Judeans did not understand that their request for justice was a call for their own condemnation.”
- Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible
Amos 5:19 ‘Be careful in living your life’: “Amos is one of the most dramatic preachers that you will find in Scripture. He uses such figurative language. He uses the idiom of the earth and draws his illustrations from nature. Here he describes a man who is out in the woods, and suddenly there is a lion on the trail in back of him. As he runs away from the lion, he sees a bear coming toward him. In other words, if you say you want the Lord to come so that you can get out of your troubles down here, it may be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire (to use an adage of our day). Seeing the bear coming toward him, the man takes off over the hill and reaches his home. He puts his hand upon the wall to rest and get his breath, only to have a serpent come out of the wall and bite him. It might have been better if the lion or the bear had gotten him than to have the poison of a serpent in him!
“Amos is saying that we had better be very careful about the life we are living for God down here. As believers, our salvation is not in jeopardy—Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, but if our sins as believers are not dealt with and made right, He will make them right. My friend, He must do that—He is holy and righteous and just, and heaven is a place where things are right. Therefore, you and I will have to be right when we get there. This is something that a great many people do not realize today.”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
Amos 5:20 ‘Day of the Lord’: “’The day of the LORD’ begins with a period of judgment that is yet to come upon the nation of Israel. There is more than a period of judgment that is included in the Day of the Lord, however. The Day of the Lord also includes the second coming of Christ to the earth and the time of the millennial kingdom here upon earth.”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
Amos 5:27 ‘beyond Damascus’: “Israel is to be punished in the future. They will go into captivity ‘beyond Damascus’ (that is, beyond Syria), and beyond Damascus was Nineveh. God is telling Israel that the Assyrian would take them into captivity.”
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi
My Thoughts
The beginning of this chapter is the introduction to a lament. Israel will be taken into captivity. There will be no one left to mourn their loss. This reminds me of a poem from World War II as the Nazi Government silenced, removed, and killed all who disagreed with their way of thinking. Hmmm. Sounds familiar.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
- Pastor Martin Niemöller, First They Came
God says that 90% of their fighting force will be destroyed and removed in one way or another.
God calls for repentance. They must not seek help from Gilgal or Bethel or even Beersheba. Gilgal was the place where Joshua first camped in the Promised Land. The men were circumcised and they celebrated Passover prior to attacking Jericho at Gilgal. Bethel, meaning house of God, is in a small area next to Ai, where Joshua met defeat due to sin in the camp, and Beth Aven, meaning house of wickedness. While Bethel had been a good place to live, it became noted for its high places and golden calf, a place of false god worship.
But then Beersheba is mentioned. “Dan to Beersheba” was often mentioned as the north to south extents of the kingdom under David and Solomon. It seems like a misnomer here. Beersheba is the southernmost point of Judah, the land of their cousins. This says that Judah has enough trouble of its own and they will not be able to help. Amos is from Judah, from the small town of Tekoa, a neighboring town to Bethlehem. Amos giving the warning for them to repent was the only help Judah would give them.
And it seems that those who repent are the ten percent that remain. Doom is coming, but not for all. The call to repent is in the Hope of being in the ten percent. But then again, being the survivor of an apocalypse is not what most people would think was a blessing. Sometimes, it might be best to die and be done with the suffering.
God gives a special warning to those who oppress the righteous. I have heard how some people target believers because they turn the other cheek, but God will someday even the score.
The God who placed the constellations in the sky is talking, the God who created all the things that the people have fashioned false gods from.
They are commanded to love God, love good, and hate evil. They are commanded to promote justice. And then maybe God will have mercy.
The “Perhaps” in verse 15 is troubling, but do any of us deserve to be called a Son of God? No. That is what Grace is all about. And when we have promoted justice, loved good, and hated evil, do we do any of those things perfectly?
No, we do not deserve God’s mercy. That is part of the meaning of mercy.
Then God warns them that the day of the Lord will bring darkness, not light. They are now a rich nation. They are dreaming that when the Lord makes them rulers over the surrounding nations, they will be even greater. They compare themselves with others rather than seeing the blessings that God has already bestowed.
God is not impressed by the ceremonies and sacrifices of Israel. There heart is not right with God. God is one of many things that they worship, not the only thing. He will ignore their pleas of offerings and sacrifice. They will be exiled.
Some Serendipitous Reflections
Amos 5:1-17 A Lament and Call to Repentance 1. Recall a time you wanted, even prayed, for someone you loved to make a positive change in their life, and they didn’t. What happened? How did you feel?
“2. The Lord says, ‘Seek me and live’ (v.4). How will you do that this week? What spiritual disciplines help you feel more ‘alive’ in the Lord?
“3. Amos preaches both bad news and good news to Israel. Does his message to you bring to mind more things to lament, or more rays of hope? Choose one negative and one positive to pray about and share with the group.
“4. To what extent does money equal power in your world today? As much as in Amos’ day, or more? (Is your government the best one money can buy? How so? What examples come to mind of the very rich brought to justice for ‘white collar crime’?
Amos 5:18-27 The Day of the Lord “1. Are you yearning for the ‘Day of the Lord’? Why or why not?
“2. What. do you _think God would say about your worship and why: (a) Keep it up? (b) Wake up? (c) Shape up? (d) Ship out? (e) Other:____?
“3. If Amos were preaching in your church, what would he speak on and why: (a) Fellowship? (b) Worship? (c) Budget? (d) Justice for the poor? (e) False gods? What contemporary illustrations would he use?”
- Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups
Amos 5 has two sets of questions as shown.
Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.
If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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