Amos chapter 5

Judgment is certain. Individuals can still repent. Look to God. Their many unjust practices. How to repent. Judgment is certain. God despises hypocrisy.

 


 

JUDGMENT IS CERTAIN

 

VERSE 1. Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

Listen to this word. This was a spoken message. They were to listen.

I take up for a lamentation over you. A “lament” was a poem of grief that was sung at the funeral of a relative, friend, or leader.

In the case of the prophets, they used laments to mourn the death of a city, a people, or a nation.

 

VERSE 2. “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

has fallen. In this lament, the word “fallen” means “fallen by the sword.”

 

VERSE 3. For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

went out a thousand … shall have a hundred left. In the war, they suffered 90 percent losses.

2 Esdras 16:28. For of a city there will be ten left, and two of the field, who have hidden themselves in the thick groves, and in the clefts of the rocks.

 

INDIVIDUALS CAN STILL REPENT

 

VERSE 4. For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;

Seek me, and you will live. The nation was doomed.

However, there was still a chance for individuals to seek the LORD God and live.

 

VERSE 5. but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

Bethel. The Hebrew word means “house of God.”

Later, it would be renamed “Beth Aven.” That means “house of nothing,” or “house of spirits.”

Gilgal. This city had been the memorial of their arrival into the Promised Land.

But now it would become the symbol of their exile from the Promised Land.

 

VERSE 6. Seek the LORD, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

Seek the LORD. What does it mean to seek the LORD. It does not mean attending liturgies. Amos says God hates our liturgies! Micah delivers a splendid answer. Read more »

and you will live. As we seek the LORD, we will live.

The Enemy is a Thief. He steals and kills and destroys. Read more »

The Lord Jesus came that we may have life, and have it abundantly. Read more »

lest he break out like fire. Fire is a consuming element.

 

VERSE 7. You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:

turn justice to wormwood. In the Bible, the word “wormwood” refers to water made bitter. Or to a corrupt political leader. Or to corrupt officials perverting justice. Read more »

cast down righteousness to the earth. Court officials had cast righteousness to the ground.

They made the courts into places of injustice.

 

LOOK TO THE SOVEREIGN GOD

 

VERSE 8. seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion. Amos points them back to the sovereign LORD God.

He controls the workings of the physical universe. And he will overturn human injustice.

 

VERSE 9. who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

 

THEIR MANY UNJUST PRACTICES

 

VERSE 10. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

In the verses that follow, Amos brings up their many unjust practices:

hate him who reproves in the gate. They hate righteous people.

abhor him who speaks blamelessly. They hate righteous people.

 

VERSE 11. Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

trample on the poor. They abuse poor people.

 

VERSE 12. For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins—you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

afflict the just. They are corrupt.

take a bribe. They are corrupt.

turn away the needy in the courts. They are corrupt.

 

VERSE 13. Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

it is an evil time. They made it an era where evil triumphs.

 

HOW TO REPENT

 

VERSE 14. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you say.

1 Thessalonians 5:21. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:22. Abstain from every form of evil.

 

VERSE 15. Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

 

JUDGMENT IS CERTAIN

 

VERSE 16. Therefore the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways; and they will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

 

VERSE 17. In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.

 

VERSE 18. “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.

the day of the LORD. The day of the LORD God will be dark. It will be without joy. Read more »

 

VERSE 19. As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

 

VERSE 20. Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness. The day of the LORD God will be dark. It will be without joy. Read more »

 

THE LORD GOD DESPISES THEIR HYPOCRISY

 

VERSE 21. I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

What does it mean to seek the LORD. It does not mean attending liturgies. Amos says God hates our liturgies! Micah delivers a splendid answer. Read more »

 

VERSE 22. Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

 

VERSE 23. Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

 

VERSE 24. But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

NASB translation. But let justice roll down like waters. And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

let justice roll down like waters. This verse was important to the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King.

 

VERSE 25. “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

 

VERSE 26. You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

 

VERSE 27. Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

 


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AMOS

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09

RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize

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