Erica's Bible Study and Journal: Amos

Amos 9:1-15 Summary

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:32:16 GMT

In this final chapter of Amos, God continues judging Israel. From the previous chapter we know that once the judgment begins, the people run to their idols for help. We find God here standing on the altar and directing their destruction. There is nowhere for them to hide. Wherever they ran to He would be there. His eyes that once looked lovingly at them now looked at them to destroy them.

A person who has not read the bible before but has heard of the judgment of God is usually apt to conclude that the God of the bible is heartless, cruel, and bloodthirsty. There are even some who have read it that take that stance. Both groups fail to see that God had a plan for man when he created him. From the time man was given a choice he chose sin over God.

Some may ask why it is sinful for us to want our own way. Why would God want to tell us what to do? Well our way runs counter to God’s way. He created us and he knows what is best for us. Everything God instructs is for our good not our harm. Just like a parent warns their child not to touch a hot surface, or not to walk on broken glass, God tells us what to avoid so we do not hurt ourselves. Think how often people hurt themselves through illicit sex, love of money, love of alcohol and drugs. They don’t do these things thinking they want to destroy themselves, but ultimately they do.

Now if God tells us to obey Him and that so doing will result in our betterment, then it stands to reason that disobeying would lead to our harm. What kind of God would He be to let us run amuck without consequence? I don’t want an unrepentant murderer to receive the same reward I get for trying to obey God. There is no justice in that. And God is justice. He has to judge sin or He is nothing He says He is. And even though He has to judge, He is always patient and merciful. If He judged at the instance of offence, we’d all be toast. If you were God how many people would you wipe out in a day? Instead He warns us, nudges us, and gives opportunity after opportunity to us. Just like he did with Israel. He gave them prophet after prophet and warning after warning and they would have none of it.

So, here Israel is appointed to annihilation. However, not everyone would die. God would still preserve His people. All those that sinned and thought nothing would happen to them would die. A day would come where His people would be restored to their land and they would be fruitful. They would rebuild the city and they would plant the crops faster than they could gather the harvest. God would establish them and they would never be removed from their land again.

For hundreds of years there was no Israel. But they are a growing nation even at this moment. God’s word spoken thousands of years ago is being fulfilled.

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Amos 8:1-14 Summary

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:26:45 GMT

In the previous chapter, Amaziah the priest interrupted Amos. His visions continue here. God showed Amos a basket of summer fruits and asked him what he saw. Amos remarked that it was indeed a basket of summer fruits. God then said the time of judgment was upon Israel and the time of mercy was over. The fruits are compared to Israel because just as summer fruits were ripe and ready for picking, so were the people of Israel ripe for judgment.

The songs they sang would turn to howling in grief and suffering. Dead bodies would become so common that they would eventually discard them in silence. Judgment was coming to those that had continually cheated the poor out of everything they had. They had made human life a commodity that they bartered to fulfill their own greed and lusts. God swore that he would never forget what they had done.

Those days of judgment would be supernaturally dark days. All their celebrations would be mourning, their songs would be lamentations, and all their rich clothing would become sackcloth. Their heads would be made bald in their mourning, which would be mourning as a family grieving an only son. For them an only son was the future of the entire family. He was their heir and carried their name on. To lose him was death for them all.

Worse than this, God was going to send a spiritual famine. There would be no one to speak for God and the people would be longing for it without any satisfaction. They would look everywhere for some sign of God and His truth and there would be nothing.

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Amos 7:1- 17 Summary

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:13:26 GMT

God showed Amos that the grasshopper (or more correctly locust) was going to eat the fruit of the land. At seeing this Amos interceded asking God to forgive and God relented (demonstrating the effectiveness of praying for others). Next, God showed Amos a fire that dried up the land. Again Amos interceded and God relented.

Finally, Amos sees God standing on a wall with a plumb line, which is used to make sure a wall is straight and built exactly. The wall He is standing on was built accurately with a plumb line. Now God with His plumb line is going to measure out judgment. His judgment would be accurate and fitting. He was not going to pass over them anymore. He would judge them head on. Their idolatrous temples would be destroyed and the household of the king would die by the sword.

Amaziah, the priest, went to the king and told him that Amos was against him and that the land couldn’t withstand his words. Amaziah told the king that Amos was testifying against him and all of Israel. Amaziah then went to Amos and told him to run away and to stop prophesying in Bethel where they presently were. Amos answered that he was a herdsman minding his business when God told him to go prophesy to Israel. He chose to obey God. Because Amaziah wanted to stop God’s will his wife would become a whore and his children would die. When Amaziah died the land would be polluted and Israel would be in captivity.

That may seem a harsh judgment against Amaziah but he was a priest. His job was to lead the people to God. Instead he was idolatrous and worked against God even to trying to stop God from carrying out his plan.

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Amos 6:1-14 Summary

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:18:59 GMT

The people of Israel felt secure in their positions because they lived in luxury and were able to fulfill all their desires. They were not discouraged by the ruin of nations around them. God had judged surrounding nations at various times for their sin and idolatry, yet the people of Israel felt they were immune to that. They supposed that judgment was some far off thing that would not touch them.

They enjoyed all the sensual pleasures they could. They had beds of ivory, ate the best food, enjoyed the best music. They drank wine from bowls rather than cups. They had the best ointments to anoint themselves. They enjoyed all this and none of them were grieved by the sinful state they were in. So God swore by Himself (because there was nothing greater to swear by) that this could not go on.

God had personally cared for them and provided for them so they would be His people. Not so they could be like everybody else. They would be taken captive and their great feasts would come to an end. None would be spared. God’s word can only be fulfilled. If He says something it has to come to fruition. Israel had destroyed justice and was proud of all they acquired. But God was going to raise up a nation against them and they would have no where to hide.

I usually don’t add my personal commentary to my chapter summaries, but I couldn’t help being struck by how familiar this all sounds. This is the world today! Not just America although she is definitely included. We are all EXTREMELY self-satisfied and self-indulgent.

I don’t know what is going to happen in this country or in this world (other than what is revealed in the Bible). That is to say I don’t know what each day holds. However, as I read the book of Revelations I notice something very striking. There is no mention of this country in end time events. Now how could the country that is at this time the greatest nation be absent from the cataclysmic end of days unless something happens to lessen our hold? Hmm.

Please don’t think that I am trying to spread gloom and doom. God has already decided what will happen. I rejoice in this! I know that as bad as things are and as bad as they will become, I have hope. I have the promises of God and if you don’t have that assurance, I encourage you not to waste anymore time. God doesn’t judge people because He enjoys it and He doesn’t send people to hell. He judges people because He is holy and He cannot accept sin. He is a God of justice. And people send themselves to hell when they make the determined decision to reject God. He has provide an alternative to hell and if you refuse it that is your choice, not His.

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Amos 5:1-27 Summary

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:48:25 GMT

God next pronounced a lamentation (funeral dirge) against Israel. Those outside of Israel that saw God’s judgment against them would mourn the falling of the great nation. For every 1000 that came forth only 100 would live. For every 100 that came forth only 10 would live. And even then God said that if they would look for Him and His ways they would have been spared. He urged them not to look to their surroundings. Otherwise His divine judgment would come.

In verse 7, He talks directly to those that have corrupted justice for their own gain. He implores them to look to the maker of the stars and the one that can turn the darkest night into morning. Look to God! He strengthens the downtrodden and causes them to become victors. He is talking to those who won’t tolerate anyone who speaks the truth. What a strange idea that seems until you look around you and realize you know people just like that.

Among their many crimes against God this lack of justice was chief. They trampled over the poor and whatever little the poor may have had, the chief people in the community would take away. For that cause, they wouldn’t get to live in the fine homes they built or otherwise enjoy the fruit of their deceit. They abused those that were lawful, they accepted bribes, and they turned away those in need. The spiritually prudent kept silent during this evil time. That implies that the culture was so far corrupted that nothing would sway them.

Even then, God pleaded with them to seek Him and His ways so they could continue to live. He tells them to stop loving evil and start hating it. If they would turn from all they had embraced, He would spare them.

If they would not, there would wailing and mourning in the streets. Those that claimed to desire the day of the Lord didn’t understand what they were longing for. Everyone would be affected by it and it would not be easy for anyone. That doesn’t mean He would judge the righteous with the wicked but they couldn’t help being touched by it.

God hated their feasts and their offerings. He implemented all these but they had so abused and degraded them that they had become vile. He wouldn’t even hear their songs. They had given themselves over to idolatry and judgment is all they were due. They would be carried beyond Damascus as captives for their continual disrespect for God and His mercy towards them.

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Amos 4:1-13 Summary

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:19:03 GMT

God compared Israel to the “kine of Bashan”. These were cows and because they were on the lush mountain of Samaria they were very well fed. So basically He was saying Israel was like fatted cows. But although they had plenty they still sucked everything they could get from the poor to satisfy their own lusts. They had no regard for the needs of the poor. Because of this God swore by His own name that the days were coming when the tables would be turned against them. They would become the oppressed and the poor.

Of course oppressing the poor was not their only offence. There was also the issue of their idolatry. God basically told them to continue in their idol worship. They offered the sacrifices that should have been to God to their idols. They were so far removed from God that they had no awareness of how great their transgression was. All that mattered to them was their own gain and pleasure.

Despite their sin, God gave them many opportunities to repent. He caused their food supply to diminish and they wouldn’t turn to Him. He withheld rain from their crops so that there was very little harvest and they wouldn’t turn to Him. He left them with very little water for drinking, caused what vegetation that grew to be eaten by bugs, and sent pestilence and war. But they still refused to acknowledge their sin or return to him. So He determined to overthrow them completely. He was going to show His power and that He alone was God.

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Amos 3:1-15 Summary

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:06:21 GMT

God told the children of Israel to hear (not just hear, but hear to take heed) what He had spoken against them. They are the only nation that He had shown special favor to. Because they had no respect for that favor, they had to be punished fully for their sin. Holy God could not have relationship with an unholy people.

Verses 4-6 seem to convey the idea that when a lion roars or a cub cries it is for a purpose and should not be ignored. Lions don’t sit around and roar. They roar when they are on the attack. Birds don’t just fall in to snares for no reason. They come to the trap because there is something in it to motivate them like bait. There wasn’t a person who just walked around the city blowing a trumpet. If a trumpet was blown, it was to warn of something or to signify something. In the same way, God used the prophets. They didn’t speak without a reason. They spoke to warn the people but the people would not listen. Just as the lion’s roar created fear in whoever heard it, when God spoke the prophets had no choice but to prophesy.

God tells them to gather in Samaria and look down at the confusion and the oppression. They no longer knew what was right nor how to do right. Because they loved violence and robbery an adversary would surround them and everything they took pride in would be taken away. Only a remnant would be spared in God’s mercy. And when He came to bring justice, His wrath would also be poured out on their altars and temples of idol worship.

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Amos 2:1-16 Summary

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:32:18 GMT

This chapter begins with the continuation of God’s judgment on the nations surrounding Israel. Moab was last of this list of nations and because they desecrated the bones of the king of Edom, they would be consumed by fire. The Moabites were a very idolatrous people and the king had even offered his own son as a burnt offering (2Kings 3:27). Nothing was off limits to them. This is typically the case anywhere sin is given free reign. Sin is not satisfied with a little. It always requires more and more.

Next God turns his attention to Judah. Their judgment was for hating God’s law and by perverting it they did the same as their forefathers. They lived as wickedly as the heathen nations around them but their sin was greater because God Himself gave them the truth, and they had rejected Him personally. He would burn their cities for this as well.

Then there was Israel. The bulk of Amos is directed to them. I don’t think they were more sinful than Judah it just happens that Amos was the prophet sent to them. God sent Judah prophets as well. Prophets are God’s way of warning people and giving them an opportunity to repent. That is love. If He didn’t love us, He would just smoke us and be done with it. But because He does love us and does not enjoy destroying us, He warns us. Every breath we take is God’s mercy giving us an opportunity to get it right with Him.

Israel had become so self-absorbed that righteousness had no value. They so despised God that they wouldn’t even allow other people to serve Him. They enjoyed degrading the poor so much that God said they panted after it. They would lead the meek astray, and fathers and sons had sexual relations with the same women. Does any of this sound familiar?

In Exodus 22:25-27, God told them that if someone used their outer garment (which was necessary for warmth during the cold of night) as collateral, that garment should be returned to them before night. Well Israel was so far removed from God that they would take this garment pledged as collateral and lay on it during their idol worship and revelry. That means that while some poor person was freezing, they had the means to help and instead were enjoying their sin.

The Amorites were a great and idolatrous people. Yet God destroyed them for their wickedness and gave the land to His people. Now they were living just as the Amorites had. While they wandered in the wilderness, God gave them prophets just like He was doing at the time of this prophecy. Yet they silenced them and thus smothered God’s will for them. As a result none of the things they trusted in—their speed, strength, might, etc.—could save them from God’s wrath. Those that thought they could take on God and win would run away naked and in terror before God.

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Amos 1:1-15 Summary

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:18:12 GMT

Amos was no one special. He was an ordinary man doing ordinary work tending his flock when God revealed Himself and made him a prophet. This is important to note because if He can use a herdsman in the Old Testament, and fishermen in the New Testament, then surely He can use us.

Amos begins by telling us something of the time frame he was in. He is prophesying during the time Uzziah ruled Judah (the southern kingdom) and Jeroboam ruled Israel (the northern kingdom). This chapter is largely devoted to God’s judgment of the nations surrounding Judah and Israel. These nations had abused God’s people every chance they could. They took Jews captive, fought against them, and even conspired with other nations to destroy them.

God sometimes used other nations to judge Israel, but those nations were themselves evil and sought to conquer them for their own personal gain. God couldn’t allow that to continue, and even this He used to show His power and His love for His people. God promised to come against these foreigners and burn their palaces not because Israel deserved His protection but because He said He would. And actually, any battle against God’s people is a battle against God.

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