Amos
Author: Amos
Amos, a herdsman from Judah, prophesies against Israel in the days of Jeroboam II.
Outline
Oracles against the neighbors (1–2)
Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab are judged, and then Judah and Israel.
The charges against Israel (3–6)
Oppression, corrupt courts, and ease in Zion are set against the Lord’s roar from Zion.
Five visions (7–9)
Locusts, fire, a plumb line, summer fruit, and a fallen altar end with a promise to raise David’s booth.
Key verses
Amos 3:2
Israel is told that being known by the Lord is the reason they will be punished for their iniquities.
Amos 5:24
The prophet calls for justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a stream.
Amos 9:11
After the visions of ruin, the Lord says he will raise up the booth of David that is fallen.
Amos is not a court prophet and not a son of a prophet. He is a herdsman from Tekoa in Judah, and he is sent to the northern kingdom in a time when Jeroboam II has made Israel feel secure. The book opens with a roar from Zion and then a series of oracles that sound, at first, like news Israel would welcome. Damascus will be punished for threshing Gilead. Gaza for taking a whole people captive. Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab each receive the formula, for three transgressions and for four. A listener in Bethel can nod until the formula reaches Judah for rejecting the law, and then Israel itself.
The charge against Israel is not ignorance of religion. They keep festivals. They lie on beds of ivory, drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves, and they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. They sell the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes. They pant after the dust on the head of the poor. They command prophets not to prophesy. Amos says the Lord will not turn back the punishment. Election is not a shelter. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. The privileges of the exodus, the wilderness, and the Amorite victories are listed as reasons the present injustice is inexcusable, not as reasons the nation is safe.
Amos tells the people not to seek Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba. Seek the Lord and live. He hates their feasts and will not accept their offerings while justice is missing. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. The line is not a decoration on a book about worship style. It is the alternative to a liturgy that coexists with cheated scales and a court that takes a bribe. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria. They put the evil day far off.
The visions tighten the warning. Amos intercedes when he sees locusts and fire, and the Lord relents. A plumb line is set in the midst of the people, and the high places of Isaac will be desolate. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, tells Amos to flee to Judah and eat bread there, and not to prophesy at the king’s chapel. Amos answers with his occupation and with a word against Amaziah’s house. A basket of summer fruit says the end has come. The songs of the temple will become howlings. The last vision has the Lord standing on the altar, and there is no escape in heaven, in Sheol, or on Carmel. Even so the book does not close on the sieve only. The booth of David that is fallen will be raised. The plowman will overtake the reaper. Israel will be planted in their land, and they will not be pulled up again. Amos’s severity and that ending belong together. The justice he demanded is not replaced by the restoration. It is what the restored people are raised to practice.