Amos 2 The stories
and parables given through the prophets by the Lord are sometimes harsh in
nature but this is intended to match the harsh character of their sin.
Amos was a man familiar with God and His word
The book of Amos
illustrates the parable, ‘The plowing of the wicked is sin’, and that though a
man prosper monetarily in his sin he will not escape the judgment of God.
Psalm 49
Vs. 6-8 They had sinned against God’s law and oppressed others.
Vs. 9 God’s response
Vs. 10-12 they had sinned against God’s blessing and ordinations.
Vs 13-16 God’s response
We may get the idea
that God is like us because He doesn’t immediately deal with our sin but this
is not so ,we shouldn’t get the idea He agrees with our sin because He doesn’t
immediately strike us down.
Ps 50:21-22
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
The judgment of Israel
Vs.4
Amos 2:4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:
Isa 44:18-20
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his
soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my
right hand?
It wasn’t just that they had erred in their lying but that they had lied and it had brought error.
The heart is desperately wicked and we must go to God’s word as the authority to be submitted to , if we say but don’t do, we have lied to ourselves, or, if we twist God’s word with our own idea of what it means and don’t take it for what it says we are deceiving ourselves.
How they would not hear
God’s word had become simple information to them something to just know verbatim but had lost the character of something to be obeyed from the heart it was just rules they set up for others to follow.
There is a distinct danger in this because when we categorize and systematize Gods word but don’t see it as applying to ourselves also we can lose the purpose it was given for.
Rightly dividing God’s word is a command for us to follow,(2 Timothy 2;15), but not separating it out as we see fit to make it say what we want it to say.
A correct division of God’s word helps us to understand it in context of all the scripture and it will never contradict itself when rightly divided, if we see contradictions it is we who have divided it wrong not the Word that is contradicting itself.
Isa 28:10-15
10 For precept must be upon
precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little,
and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips
and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is
the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing:
yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept
upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a
little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and
taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of
the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in
15 Because ye have said, We
have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the
overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
The Lord here helps
us to understand the mind of men who hear but don’t hear.
Men who when exposed to the truth reject the surrendering to it condemning themselves to ever hearing and never really coming to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Tim 3:5-7
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
They then lead a life of seeming Godliness but it is a shell with no innards , they speak words in rote they don’t understand, the speak words with quote they can’t comprehend.
When the Lord Jesus spake to the Jew of His day and said having ears to hear you hear not they were much the same.
Luke 13:24-27
24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy
presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
You can almost hear some say ,I wish he would quit droning on, while others stubbornly refused for their own reasons.
Saying Jesus was there and taught amoung them wasn’t enough, you may sit in the room while good teaching is going on ,but you can only enjoy good teaching at the level with which you truly listen to obey.
We see in their lie and the believing that lie that they became deceived in their own hearts.
Vs.5 Judah
Amos 2:5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the
palaces of Jerusalem.
KJV
Jeremiah 37;7 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus
shall ye say to the king of
8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
9 Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
10 For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
The
judgment would hit the nation and burn to it’s very capital there would be no
help from outside nations.
Their Idolatries
Hos 3:1
3:1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved
of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the
children of
The people in their
Idolatries had forsaken God’s law and to such an extent that they were not
committing their sins with conscience as lawbreakers but religiously for their
false gods.
Hos 4:12-14
12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit
whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are
separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people
that doth not understand shall fall.
Ezek 23:1-10
23:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
3 And they committed whoredoms in
4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah
her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were
their names;
5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them
that were the chosen men of
8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from
9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
10 These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
They were still
referring to God as the God of Dan and were following the old Sin of
Samaria/Calf worship.
Amos 8:14
14 They that swear by the sin of
While they were also practicing Idolatry in Gilgal a place that should have reminded them of the covenant of their god for it was there they first camped in the land and set up the stones of remembrance Josh.4:19,20 and there they were first circumcised in the land
Josh 5:7-9
7 And their children,
whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were
uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.
8 And it came to pass,
when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places
in the camp, till they were whole.
9 And the LORD said
unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of
GILGAL
2. The first campsite
of the people of
(from Nelson's
Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
Lest you should say I
am making too much of these past events, remember I’m a gentile living
well over 2,000 years later and reading the scripture it comes to my mind not
even having ever been to Israel etc.
Hos 4:15-17
15 Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
16 For
17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
Vs 6
Amos 2:6-7
6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
Amos 8 tells us how they went about doing these things.
Amos 8:4-6
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
Amos 8:4-6
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
Hebrew scholars say in the construction of the language that the righteous and poor were being sold out in the courts and betrayed to the wicked people through bribery.
Keil and Delitch , Adam Clarke, Jameson ,Faucett and Brown,
Isa5:23
23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
By corrupting judgment they were stealing the righteousness of the righteous, no court of man has the power or authority to change what God says is right and when they call what God calls evil good and good evil they take the righteousness of the righteous away but not in the eyes of the Lord the final judge of all.
We may say ‘it’s o.k. to steal and condemn a righteous person for holding a thief accountable but it doesn’t change the fact that stealing is wrong.
OT:6662
tsaddiyq --
The righteous were those who obeyed and kept the law
just, lawful, righteous
a) just, righteous (in government)
b) just, right (in one's cause)
c) just, righteous (in conduct and character)
d) righteous (as justified and vindicated by God)
e) right, correct, lawful
(from The Online Bible
Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright
(c)1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the
Institute for Creation Research.)
We live in the same kind of
generation today ,it was so in the Lord’s day. it was so in the Apostles day
and it is so today..
Luke 11:50-51
50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Acts 2:40
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort,
saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Titus 2:11-15
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
Man may say, ‘well, since all things continue as they were, we marry give in marriage ,condone homosexual marriage and make it legal, it’s o.k.’, but this is not so.
Just because we aren’t sticken immediately doesn’t mean God has changed His mind.
Leviticus 18;22 + Romans 1;26,27
Luke 17:26-30
26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Ps 97:10
10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
Amos remained
faithful in the midst of a evil generation.
Phil 2:15-16
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
Vs.7
Amos 2:7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
KJV
They were like a dog panting for water waiting for a chance to drink as they panted after the chance to cause a poor person to be brought to the point of such misery that they threw dust on their heads in sorrow.
They were breaking the levitical laws in fact and spirit.
Lev 18:8
8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
Vs 8
Amos 2:8 And they lay
themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the
wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
KJV
They were lying on the clothing of the poor they took the very clothing off from in pledge of repayment for the debt the rich had caused them to have unjustly, thus breaking the law of God and being merciless in doing so.
Ex 22:25-27
25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
26 If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:
27 For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
Deut 24:10-13
10 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:
13 In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.
This is the man in whom God is pleased to favor.
Ps 15:4-5
4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.
(from New International Version)
Vs 9
Amos 2:9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the
cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.KJV
Military strength doesn’t deliver from God when He judges commercial strength doesn’t save when God Judges ,He brings down the mighty because of their sin though they think they rest secure.
Amos 2:10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
KJV
The Lord reminds them that they came to prosperity because of Him and the Amorites were removed because of iniquity.
Gen 15:16
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
KJV
Vs. 11,12 Those who
had separated themselves unto God were being
drawn into corruption.
Amos 2:11-12
11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your
young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of
12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
They had corrupted the Nazarites in their vow by enticing them to drink wine and stopping the prophets mouths by commanding them not to call to accountability by threat of punishment.
Num 6:2-4
2 Speak unto the children of
3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.
4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
2 Cor 6:17-18
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We live in a generation much the same, it’s o.k. to be a Christian if you don’t call sin, sin and when a person lives for the Lord we try to find some way to disqualify them rather than look at ourselves and say, I have sinned and need forgiveness for that sin through the payment for sin The Lord Jesus Christ made for me on calvary.
We come to Him in admission of our sin and turn to Him for forgiveness of sin not to be saved in our sin but from our sin.
When you truly repent you turn to The Lord Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing with the hope of one day being fully and finally delivered from sin which is our enemy.
Christ came to call sinners to repentance and came into the world to save sinners will you turn to Him today and be saved?