Bible Book of the Month: Amos

AMOS

During the eighth century B. C. there were four great prophets ministering unto the people of God. Two of these, Micah and Isaiah, conducted their ministry in the south, preaching to Judah, and two, Amos and Hosea, carried on their work in the north, bringing God’s Word to the northern tribes. Amos was from the town of Tekoa, about five miles to the southeast of Bethlehem. By occupation he was a herdsman, or sheepraiser, and also a dresser of sycamore trees (cf. Amos 7:14). While tending his sheep, the Lord called him into the prophetic ministry. Strangely, he was not to prophesy to Judah, but rather to the northern tribes of Israel, whom the Lord identifies as “my people Israel.”

It is difficult to date the prophecy with precision. Amos says that he prophesied two years before the earthquake during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash. It was a period of material prosperity, and the nation was confident that no evil or harm could befall it. At the same time there was a lack of justice in the land, and a stem prophet was needed, who would not only point out the sins of the nation, but would also make clear that a day of judgment and a time of reckoning were coming. Such a man was found in the shepherd of Tekoa.

Analysis Of The Prophecy

The following will serve as a brief analysis of Amos’ prophecy, and should help the reader in its study:

1:1—Superscription of the prophecy.

1:2–2:16—Prophecies against the cities and nations, culminating in a message directed against Judah herself.

3:1–15—The Lord sets forth the quarrel which he had with his people.

4:1–13—Israel has been the object of previous chastisements, yet she has not returned to the Lord.

5:1–6:14—A lamentation over the tragic condition of Israel.

7:1–9:15—Five visions of the coming judgment.

Content Of The Prophecy

Amos 1:2 mentions the theme of the entire prophecy. The Lord will speak forth in judgment, and the result of his uttering his voice will be that there will be devastation in Israel. It should be noted that in this verse there is implied a rebuke to the divided state of the kingdom. The Lord speaks from Zion, the capital of Judah; and in this fact it is shown that the Lord still dwells in Judah, and that the Temple is the place where men are to worship him. The divided condition of the nation is something that ought not to be.

In the following prophecies, 1:2–2:16, Amos uses a particular framework for each of the messages of this section, and this adds a certain force and strength to what he has to say. First he utters the statement, “For three transgressions, yea, for four, I will not turn away.” This phrase simply means that there are transgressions, many of them, and that they are not to go unpunished. The form of expression is one that was also employed in ancient times even outside the Bible.

Amos next announces the sin which characterizes the people under discussion and then the judgment that is to follow. He begins with Damascus, the capital of Syria, which had often been an enemy of Israel. There is psychological wisdom in the prophet’s approach. The Israelites would gladly have listened while the prophet denounced the people who had often been their enemy. They would have heard what judgment was to be meted out to such a people, and they would also have agreed to the justice of the punishment.

Damascus had engaged in cruelty, the result of which was that the Lord would take action, sending fire against the house of Hazael, and removing the ruler from the throne. From Damascus Amos turns his attention to Philistia, thence to Phoenicis, then Edom, Ammon and Moab. One can well imagine the Israelites listening with rapt attention as the prophet condemns one after another of the enemies. Then comes Judah. Would Amos dare to turn to Israel? He does, and proceeds to condemn her for her lack of justice, and for her unfair treatment of the poor. He closes this section of his message, after reviewing the goodness that God has shown to Israel, with an announcement of pending judgment, a judgment from which no man may escape.

In the third chapter the prophet sets forth in somewhat greater detail the quarrel which the Lord has against his people. God has chosen Israel of all the families of the earth to be his own. For that very reason he must punish Israel for her transgressions. Divine election, whether concerning nations or individuals, is always unto holiness. It would seem that there were those in Israel who thought that election gave them license to sin. At least, they felt that because God had chosen them, no evil could come upon them and that, as a consequence, they had nothing to fear.

By a series of examples, however, the Lord speaks through his prophet that he must punish sin wherever it occurs. Two cannot walk together unless they be agreed; no more can God allow sin to go unpunished. There will come a day in which God will smite Israel, and the nation must be apprised of that fact.

That Israel’s continued sin is without excuse is in chapter 4 illustrated. Although the Lord brought chastisement upon the nation in order to bring her to repentance, Israel did not turn unto him. In this section the words, “yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord” occur like a mournful refrain. The doctrine is clearly taught that God is truly the God of providence. It is he alone that controls the rain and the produce of the soil, the blasting and the mildew, the pestilence and the welfare of the cities. He is the God of providence, He is supremely sovereign. As he controls the events of men’s lives, so he leads men unto repentance for their sins.

The section closes with further announcement of coming judgment and also with an appeal to be ready for it. “Thus will I do unto thee,” says the Lord, and in these words he has reference to the exile which he is to bring upon the nation. He has determined to bring the judgment upon the people, and because he has determined to do this, they are commanded to prepare to meet him. It is a gracious command. Such an announcement, of course, reveals the Lord’s goodness and mercy who is not willing that any should perish. Man must prepare himself to meet God, and this passage stresses that doctrine of human responsibility. No false security of trusting in one’s own ability is given here. Rather man must prepare to meet God, as Amos later points out, by repentance for sins and belief in the words which God has spoken. Amos shows himself thus to be a true evangelist, preaching the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

The central section of the book, chapters 5 and 6, is one of great power. It contains a lament over the true condition of the northern kingdom, a condition brought about by sinfulness. Here there occurs one of the strongest condemnations of mere formalism in religion to be found in the entire Bible. Amos introduces the Lord as speaking (5:21), and the Lord proclaims his utter contempt for mere sacrifice and religious form in itself. The words which the Lord speaks here (namely Amos 5:21 ff.) have often been misunderstood. There was dominant in the earlier years of this century a view maintaining that Amos taught that God had never enjoined sacrifice at all. If God had enjoined sacrifice, so the argument went, then Amos would never have dared to speak as he does here. The conclusion was then drawn that the earlier parts of the Old Testament, wherein the laws of sacrifice are contained, had not yet been written and were to be dated at a period subsequent to that of Amos!

Such a conclusion is erroneous, for it conflicts with plain statements of the Bible, and is based upon a misunderstanding of the prophet’s words. Amos is not condemning sacrifice as such. He is condemning the misuse of sacrifice. The Israelites of his day apparently believed that inasmuch as God had chosen them, brought them out of Egypt, and given to them the land of promise, no evil could overtake them (cf. Amos 9:10). They believed that the nation’s “election” in itself would preserve them from outside evil. Consequently, they lived as they pleased, thinking that as long as they went through the forms of religion, they had nothing to fear. This was hypocrisy, and the prophet vigorously speaks against it. He makes it clear that God does not want sacrifices for their own sake, but rather a righteousness of heart. Thus Amos enunciates the great principle that faith without works is dead; that a religion which consists of form alone is one that God despises. These are the prophet’s words: “Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:23, 24).

In the last section of the prophecy, chapters 7 through 9, there is a series of five visions, having to do with the general theme of the book, namely pending judgment. These were probably visions in the technical sense of the word. The prophet was shown some things in a condition when he could see (with the inner eye) the message which God wished to reveal to him. The vision was not a dream, nor did it consist merely in the prophet’s subjective reflection upon words which God had spoken. Rather, it was something objective to the prophet, a genuine revelation from God. It was the communication of information from God to Amos.

Beginning with verse 11 of chapter 9, the prophet points to the present and sad condition and says that it will not always continue. The time will come when God will build up the booth of David that is fallen. The prophet looks to the future and sees the work of the Messiah, and in the New Testament his words are interpreted by James as the gathering of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God (cf. Acts 15:15 ff.). To Amos it was not given to depict the work of the Messiah in detail. Such was the privilege for his contemporary, Isaiah. Amos was, however, permitted to picture the blessings which the work of the Messiah would introduce, and this he did in words which may well serve as encouragement for missionary endeavor. “In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this” (Amos 9:11, 12). These words are followed by a beautiful description of the Messianic age, and with this the prophecy concludes.

The Significance Of Amos

Although Amos is a short prophecy, and is reckoned as belonging to the minor prophets, it nevertheless is one of the most helpful of the prophetical books. It is a practical work, for it points out sin clearly and exalts at the same time the purity of God. Amos stresses several doctrines, always in need of emphasis. He speaks of God as the truly sovereign one, in control of the forces of nature, and doing what he will. He also shows that God is no respecter of persons. If Israelites sin against him, he will condemn them as readily as other nations.

Amos makes it clear that there is no ground for false hopes. A man who claims to believe in the election of the Lord must live as one who is so elected. And the service which the Lord demands is one which flows from a heart devoted to him. God hates hypocrisy.

It has sometimes been claimed that Amos was a forerunner of the social gospel. That claim, however, misunderstands the situation represented. Amos was a prophet of the Lord, and was revealing the truth of all Scripture that right belief demands right practice. There can never be a divorce between doctrine on the one hand and ethics on the other. True faith will seek to honor and glorify God in every realm of life. And for this very reason is the true believer to be interested also in social problems. He must have a concern for the welfare of people, and he must use his influence to see that justice is provided for all. The prophet cries for justice and announces judgment.

The Literature On Amos

The minister desiring to preach on this prophecy will do well to read the book straight through several times (preferably in Hebrew) until he is well acquainted with its content. A good survey of the book is found in the article, “Amos,” in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Notes found in the commentary of Edward Pusey on the minor prophets (Baker) are useful. So is Keil’s Commentary on the minor prophets (Eerdmans). References to further literature may be found in the above mentioned works.

EDWARD J. YOUNG

Professor of Old Testament

Westminster Theological Seminary

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