Old Testament Theology II: Latter Prohpets and Writings

Old Testament Theology II: Latter Prohpets and Writings

Transcript - OT512 Old Testament Theology II: Latter Prohpets and Writings © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved.

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LESSON 17 of 24OT512

The 8th Century Prohpets: Amos and the Justice of God

Old Testament Theology II: Latter Prohpets and Writings

Let’s move on now and talk about the book of Amos and the justice of God. We’ve just talked about Jonah and the compassion of God, but we also need to remember that God is a God of justice. And this book, the book of Amos, is often used heavily in discussions of social justice issues. In fact, it became one of the primary books used earlier in the 20th century, in the early part of that century, for what we call the “social gospel mission,” where the gospel got really shifted in a significant degree away from salvation eternally through Jesus Christ, to a social action kind of gospel. Of course, evangelicals reacted against that because they didn’t want to lose the gospel of Jesus Christ in terms of the eternal life. But we must remember that those who know Jesus and think the way He does will stand against oppression always and everywhere, just out of compassion for people.

And this is an important thing and sometimes we, as conservatives, as evangelicals who believe in Jesus for eternal life, lose track of the fact that we should have the kind of view of people that Jesus had. He was very compassionate for the poor and for the lame, the people who had hard things going on in their life.

We need to have that soft compassion—that’s important—and what God becomes incensed about in the book of Amos is the fact that they were becoming so unjust toward people who were hurting. They were doing the opposite of what the way God would respond. People who are hurting are protected by God. He has compassion. These people are becoming so unjust and taking advantage of those who are disadvantaged. So this is an important part of biblical theology and including Christian theology. That’s why we do need to be concerned about what’s going on around us in the world that we live in.

Now the words of Amos—this prophet’s name is “burden.” He’s the one who carries a burden, and he’s one of the shepherds of Tekoa. Now Tekoa is his hometown in Judah in the Southern

Richard E. Averbeck, PhDExperience: Professor of Old Testament

and Semitic Languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School



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Kingdom. But he’s actually called out of the Southern Kingdom to become a prophet in the Northern Kingdom to bring God’s message there. He’d been a sheep breeder, and he was also at one time a caretaker of sycamore fig trees. He had agricultural as well as pastoral concerns. He was, the Hebrew word is noqued. The only other reference to this word is in II Kings 3:4 when it refers to Mesha, the king of Moab, who raised sheep, that’s a noqued. In other words, he is not just someone who raises sheep; he’s one who’s the manager of the flocks. He was an important person in the managing of the flocks. But this Mesha was also—this is the other place where this occurs—there’s a Mesha inscription called the Moabite Stone. It’s in The Context of Scripture, Volume II, pages 137-138. We actually have this person referred to in the Bible. We have an inscription from him in Moabite.

Now this becomes then a point of contention in the book of Amos in 7 when the prophets at Bethel hear him speaking the way he does in judgment against the Northern Kingdom. Of course, they see him as, “Hey, just go home, get out of here, you don’t belong here anyway.” And Amos responds, “Well yeah, I’m from the south, and I’ve not even been a prophet professionally. I’m not a professional prophet, but I’ve been called to speak this prophetic message; and I’m gonna do it whether you like it or not.” He says, “In fact, your reaction against me is going to bring great reaction against you from the Lord.” That’s what happens in Amos 7:10-17.

Now it’s interesting in that first verse, we have “The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa, which he envisioned in visions concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” Now there’s a couple of things perhaps that should be said here. First, the fact that it’s two years before the earthquake when these oracles came, or at least the ones at the beginning of the book. It tells us that this is written in retrospect, this book. The superscription tells us that it’s written at least two years later, and probably quite a bit later, after the time of Amos actually delivering them. And that’s important to understand how the books of the prophets were put together. They were put together later. These were preached oracles in an oral situation. Then later they would be brought together and collected as part of the process of inscripturation.

This earthquake, as referred to in Zechariah 14:3-5, becomes important even in thinking forward to the times when the Lord is going to straighten things out and is going to establish



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His kingdom on the earth and come violently to establish His kingdom. Zechariah 14:3-5:

Then the Lord [in that day that’s coming] will go out and fight against those nations as He fights in the day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel.

So there’s a splitting here that takes place, breaking up the mountain. “You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.” So he refers back to this time. This was a famous earthquake a couple centuries earlier in the Ancient Near East that Zechariah refers back to, long remembrance of these sorts of things, very dangerous and remembered in folklore and everything.

Now for the date of all this we have Josephus’ Antiquities, and I’ve got an extended quotation here talking about the days of Uzziah, who’s the king of the Southern Kingdom. Now Amos, of course, is speaking to the Northern Kingdom, but the dating is done according to this earthquake. And in those days Uzziah, although he was a good king in the south, at a point he became prideful. While Uzziah was in this state, in prosperity in the land, making preparation for his future, he was corrupted in his mind by pride. And then further down it’s highlighted, “He put on the holy garment and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the golden altar.”

Now, of course, this is forbidden. Only the priest does this, and he has violated this. And in the meantime, as he’s doing this, God became angry with him. “A great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple and the bright rays of the sun shone through it and fell upon the king’s face in so much that the leprosy seized upon him immediately.” So we have the earthquake connected then with the leprosy. Now that’s not how it’s set up in the Bible; we don’t see that. But according to Josephus, the tradition is there happened at the same time the leprosy of Uzziah and the earthquake. “And before the city, at a place called Eroge, half of the mountain broke off from the rest on the west and rolled itself four furlongs, and stood still at the east



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mountain until the roads as well as the king’s garden were spoiled by the obstruction.”

So now we have this splitting off part of the mountain which, of course, is what Zechariah is referring to [that’s] going to happen in the future. So there’s going to be something like this and they’re going to flee from that like they fled from this great earthquake in the history of Israel.

Well at this time he becomes a leper; therefore, Jotham took over the government for the last 10 years of Uzziah’s life. And Uzziah had a long reign, 52 years, but the last 10 years were really operated by Jotham, his son.

Now number 4—when Uzziah was king of Judah, now this is, of course, referring to that particular time and so on, and Jeroboam, the son of Joash, was king of Israel. This is Jeroboam II again. We’ve already looked at the passage there in II Kings 14 that refers to the prosperity of his reign, and this was a very prosperous time for them. Amos 3:15 refers to this, “‘I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,’ declares the Lord.” This is a time of great prosperity in the Northern Kingdom in the days of Jeroboam II, but it’s also a time of great oppression on people. This is a time where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and there is a reaction that the Lord has to how they’re handling their situation. Israel was to be a model nation. God had put in His covenant all sorts of rules about taking care of one another in this.

Now you notice that this is an oppressive time on the people of the land, the ones who did not have all the riches and also (Point B) this was a time of great religious hypocrisy and false piety and even apostasy away from the Lord. Now these really relate then to the two great commandments. The second great commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Well they certainly weren’t doing that in oppressing their neighbor and abusing the needy and so on; but also, the first commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your might, with all your strength,” and so on (Matthew 22:37-39). This was exactly what they weren’t doing when they were being hypocritical about their faith, having false piety, and not really being godly at all, not really knowing the Lord.



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So what we really have here is a way of talking about how they were violating the two great commandments. Jesus talks about the importance of the two great commandments, saying that everything else in the Law really hangs on these. This is in Matthew 22 and in various parallel passages. This is the covenantal focus that we have since the time of Abraham on through Moses and so on. This is important. Well they were violating the basics of relationship with God by violating their neighbor and the true worship of God.

So we have these oppressive times, and some important passages are cited there for you. Amos 2:6-8, “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back My wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.” So they just, they abuse the people that are needy and the righteous people. Verse 7, “They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane My holy name.” So we have this incest. “They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their God they drink wine taken as fines.”

Now this latter part of this in verse 8, “garments taken in pledge” and “They lie down beside altars with them,” that really is based upon violating the Law in Exodus 22:25-27: “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him. You shall not charge him interest.” So you didn’t charge interest because part of your obligations as an Israelite citizen was to take care of the poor. If somebody was borrowing money it means that they needed it, and to charge them more just oppressed them further. “If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering. It is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.”

Well what they’re doing here is, if they have somebody’s garments that they take in pledge, they just keep them, lie down on them, so on. When they’re supposed to be sure not to oppress people and harm them, by keeping their cloaks, their blanket overnight, so that they become cold and so on, this is an important part of just being good to people. To not give back the cloak for the night is just plain mean, and they were mean in their treatment of people.

Amos 4:1, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say



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to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’” They just want to be luxurious in themselves, and he actually calls them cows for this.

Exodus 22 again, with regard to the needy and the poor, Exodus 22:22-24, “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.’” So oppression like this is reacted against them pestiferously by the Lord. Chapter 23 of Exodus verses 10-11:

You shall sow your land for 6 years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the needy of your people may eat, and whatever they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

So again, and you can see this same thing in Deuteronomy 15:7-8, the concern for not oppressing or crushing the needy and the poor.

Amos 8:4-6, “Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land saying, ‘When will the new moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?’ skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the wheat sweepings with the wheat.” In other words, the chaff slip in there to get a little extra weight, dishonest scales.

Exodus 31:12-17 talks about the importance of the Sabbath as a time of rest; but these people, they get anxious. They want to keep on making money. And Proverbs 11:1 has this statement about scales. Chapter 11:1, “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” You would be easy to fraudulently do business deals by weighting the scales wrongly and, therefore, getting more for your money than is due and so on. And they even buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They cheat and they degrade people. This is the nature of this time, it’s oppressive. The people are just greedy.

B, the second point, is this is also a time of religious hypocrisy. They don’t only show lack of concern for people but for the Lord and for true worship and relationship with Him. Amos 5:4-6,



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“This is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: ‘Seek Me and live; do not seek Bethel,’” now Bethel is where the calves were set up in the north and various other kinds of perversions took place in other places, at Gilgal and Beersheba, “Do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.” “Seek Me and live.” The issue is to seek the Lord, not anything else. Not religious sites, not anything that’s just convenient. You seek the Lord, that’s the issue. And the Lord is very upset that they’re not seeking Him at all. They’re just being religious.

Amos 5:21-25, “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; I cannot stand your assemblies.” Verse 22, “Even though you bring Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.” He’s just going to turn away from these things. “Away with the noise of your songs!” The songs that they sing, the Psalms and so on, for them, because of their despising, really, of the Lord and of His standards and the oppressiveness that they’re showing in their society, their songs are just noise to Him. “I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings 40 years in the desert, O house of Israel?” And then He talks on about how they were even rebellious at that time.

Finally, Amos 7:9, “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with My sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam,” talking about Jeroboam II. God has no regard for their worship places or for their worship because of their hypocrisy, their false piety, and even their apostasy, turning to other gods.

This is all based on a covenant demand that we have of God already. Now the covenant is founded upon God’s caring relationship with His people through the covenant with Moses; but that goes all the way back to Abraham. For example, in Deuteronomy 7:7-8 and following we have this:

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers the Lord brought



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you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

We can go on, in verses 12-13, “Then it shall come about because you listen to the judgment and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His loving kindness, which He swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and multiply you.” This is the basic message of Deuteronomy is that God loves the people and He wants them to turn and love Him and love one another.

And so we’re going to talk more about the covenant instructions in the Bible when we get to the book of Jeremiah. But Amos ministered within this covenant context and spoke from it to Israel and Judah, especially the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They were to keep the stipulations of the covenant so God would bring blessing on them rather than curses. In Deuteronomy 28, we have the blessings and curses of the covenant that are the background of Amos’ call to the people of Israel.

Starting in Deuteronomy 28:1-4:

Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments, which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God: Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

And so on down through really verse 14 of Deuteronomy 28.

Then starting in verse 15 we get the curses, and this is a longer section which just lays out the curses that are going to come and they correspond to the blessings. The opposite of the blessings is the curses, and that comes if they violate the covenant. Verses 15-18:

But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with



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which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall you be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd, the young of your flock.

Now he goes through numerous expressions of God bringing chastisement upon His covenant people because they do not respond to Him. Verse 20, “The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke.” Verses 23-24, “The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you iron. The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust.” So you’re not going to get any rain. Verse 25, “The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies.” Verse 26, “Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky.” Verse 27, “The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt.” Verse 33, “A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, because they will come and defeat them.” Verse 41, “You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. The cricket will possess all your trees and the produce of your ground.” So it’s a combination of family and agricultural and pastoral, and just all sorts of different kinds of curses are used here.

And Amos actually refers to some of these patterns in Deuteronomy 28 and how God judges the people when he talks about how God has been working to drive them back to Himself, and yet they have refused to turn back. And that’s part of the point that he makes in certain sections of the book. They broke the Law of the Lord, so they receive the Lord’s curses. Along with these covenant curses of the Lord, the Lord also sent prophets to rebuke them and try to convince them or rebuke them to drive them back to the Lord.

So, for example, in Amos 3:7-8, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?” We’ll come back to the “lion roared” idea here in a moment, but the point is that the Lord reveals His Word to the prophets specifically to pronounce judgments against the nation. Therefore what will happen is because they have these prophets come, their fate is determined by how they handle the prophets too.



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Amos 4:6-11 picks up on some of the curses that we’ve been mentioning. Amos 4:6, “‘But I gave you as cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places, yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the Lord.” So He’s brought this chastisement upon this, not having food and yet they have not returned to Him. Verse 7, “‘Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you,’” now remember Deuteronomy 28 talking about how, if they don’t respond to the Lord and follow His requirements for them that He’s going to bring these kinds of judgments:

“While there were still 3 months until harvest then I would send rain on one city and on another city I would not send rain; one part would be rained on, while the part not rained on would dry up. So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water, but would not be satisfied; yet [in spite of Me doing this] you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord (Amos 4:7-8).

What we have is a refrain through here. Again, verse 9, “I smote you with scorching wind and mildew; and the caterpillar was devouring,” remember we talk about insects and so on even in Deuteronomy 28, “your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees; yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the Lord.” [Amos 4] verse 10, “I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt,” again, even Deuteronomy 28 talks about the plagues of Egypt He’s going to bring upon them if they don’t respond to His call for them in the covenant. “I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the Lord.”

So there’s this constant refrain here. Verse 11, “‘I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the Lord.” So He’s almost had them defeated in various instances through their history because of their rebellion. He snatched them out of that, but that won’t even cause them to return to the Lord. “So, therefore,” He says in verse 12, “prepare to meet your God.” God is going to come now in full judgment upon the Northern Kingdom because of their rebellion against Him. And we’ll see more about that now as we work through the book in some detail.

Turn back then to chapter 1 of Amos, and we’ll take a look at some things as we walk through the book step-by-step. Chapter 1:1,



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we have the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa. We’ve talked about that; we’ve talked about the earthquake. And then in verse 2 he said, “The Lord roars from Zion and from Jerusalem He utters His voice; and the shepherd’s pasture grounds pasture grounds mourn, and the summit of Carmel dries up.” So, again, it’s interesting right at the front the Lord bringing chastisement and the Lord roars from Zion. Now you recall that we mentioned that back in Joel 3:16, I’ll start with verse 15, we read this, “The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness, the Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth tremble,” at the coming of the Lord there in the Day of the Lord that Joel was talking about. And we will return to that when we talk about the book of Joel.

But now here in Amos 1:2 we have this same expression, “The Lord roars from Zion, and from Jerusalem He utters His voice.” Now this is the Lord bringing pronouncements of judgment and catastrophe, including the shepherd’s pasture grounds dying, drying up—Caramel dries up. This is the starting point of the book, so you can get a sense of what this book is going to be about. This is also the same idea when we talk about that verse back in chapter 3 where it talks about the prophets, where it says, “Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants, the prophets, the Lion has roared; who will not fear?” (verses 7-8). Well this lion really is the Lord, and how has He roared? Well He’s roared at the people of Israel through the prophets, and they’re supposed to hear this roar and, therefore, turn back, flee from this judgment that is to come. Well the end of Joel then refers to this concept of the Lord roaring from Zion. Amos picks it up; that may be why Amos is put after Joel even though Joel, in my view, is a latter book.

Now the oracles against the foreign nations then is what we start out with here in the book of Amos after this first basic oracle principle of the book. Chapter 1:3, we have this oracle against Damascus. And now there’s a whole series of oracles in the same format here all the way through chapter 2, and really actually through chapter 4 but in a different sort of way. But the oracle against Damascus is what we’re going to look at as a pattern, as an example of this.

So first you have the formula introducing the messenger’s speech, “This is what the Lord says,” then second, the general proclamation of irrevocable judgment, “For three sins of Damascus, even for



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four, I will not turn back My wrath” (1:3). This is like a patterned stylistic statement, three and then four; sometimes we have six and then seven. These kinds of patterns— numerical patterns—are found in the Bible. Third, we have then the specific indictment, “Because she threshed Gilead with sledges, having iron teeth.” Now this is against Damascus, which is against the Arameans. Damascus is one of the main centers of the Arameans.

Back in II Kings 10 we have a reference to how the Arameans had brought so much disaster on the Northern Kingdom. Verse 32, II Kings 10:32-33, “In those days the Lord began to cut off portions from Israel; and Hazael,” that’s the ruler of Damascus at the time, “defeated them throughout the territory of Israel from the Jordan eastward all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, the Manassites,” in other words, along the Transjordanian side, “from Aroer, which is by the Valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.” The Transjordanian regions of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were disputed territory between the Arameans and Israel, and a lot of battles took place there. And that’s what this is referring to, “because you threshed Gilead,” which is along the Transjordanian side of the Sea of Galilee “with sledges having iron teeth,” so the way they came through and wreaked havoc on the Northern Kingdom, that part of the Northern kingdom.

Fourth, you have the specific proclamation of judgment. “I will send fire upon the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad” (Amos 1:4). Those are two kings of the Arameans in Damascus. “I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven, and the one who holds the scepter in Beth-eden” (verse 5). These are particular areas of Aram. “The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir.” Now this is something that actually happened in II Kings 16, and, again, we’ve looked at this, but it’s important to look at it now as we walk through this oracle again. In II Kings 16:5-9, at the time of 732 BC, this particular thing happened. Second Kings 16:5, “Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel,” so we have Rezin who is now the king of the Arameans in Damascus, who came up with Pekah who is the son of Remaliah—he’s the king of Northern Kingdom; they’re going to come and wage war against the Southern Kingdom, “They came up to Jerusalem to wage war and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.” Now this actually is the background also for the oracle in Isaiah 7 where we have the Immanuel passage. We’ll come back then to that later.



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[Second Kings 16] verse 6, “And the Arameans came to Elath and they have lived there to this day.” This is the time when they took over whole regions of the Southern Kingdom all the way down through the Transjordanian region. Verses 7-9:

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria listened to him, and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and captured it and carried the people of it away into exile to Kir and put Rezin to death.

So here we have this big invasion by the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser—also called Pul—who comes and defeats Damascus. Well that’s really a fulfillment of this oracle of Amos here against Damascus.

And then finally you have, in the structure of the passage, you have the formula concluding the messenger’s speech, “says the Lord.” Now that’s not always there; there are a there’s a couple things that are not always there, but the basic pattern is clear throughout. It begins with, first, the indictment introduction, where you have the formula, “This is what the Lord says.” Then you get B, the general proclamation of irrevocable judgment, and this occurs in all of these oracles here, “for three sins of Damascus even for four I will not turn back My wrath” (Amos 1:3). The 3 and 4 pattern occurs throughout these chapters. And then under D, we also have the proclamation of judgment, “I will send fire upon the house of whoever will consume the fortresses” (verse 4), or “citadels” in some translations, for example, in New American Standard Bible, “of the particular place.” That’s a pattern.

So if we look on then, for example, starting in verse 6, “Thus says the Lord, ‘for three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke its punishment.’” So you have, “Thus says the Lord,” and “for three or for four.” And then in verse 7, “So I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza and I will consume her citadels,” and so on. Then in verse 9, “Thus says the Lord, ‘for three transgressions of Tyre and for four I will not revoke its punishment.” Verse 10, “So I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre,” and so on. We have the same pattern in each one of these specific oracles against foreign nations.



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Oracles against foreign nations are common in the prophets, and this is the way it comes out in the book of Amos, in this kind of pattern. And as this pattern continues, what you look at is you begin to see that it’s kind of a criss-crossing pattern so that you have, first, Damascus, which is up in what we would call the northeast up above Israel. And then down in the southwest is Gaza along the seacoast in the south part of the Holy Land. And then from the northeast northwest we get Tyre and then to the southeast we get Edom. So we criss-cross as we go through the different oracles, and then you go to the Transjordanian region and you have on the north Ammon and Moab on the south.

And so we have certain patterns where it’s looking at the regions right around the nation of northern Israel and how they are going to receive judgment because of what they have done, whether to Israel or to someone else. Now the point is that this sets a pattern then through here, and when we get to Judah we have the same basic pattern in [Amos] 2:4-5. So the oracle then against the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 2:6-16 actually begins with the same pattern but expands, because Amos’ true concern is the Northern Kingdom and all the injustice and so on that’s being done there and why the Lord is going to bring judgment there. So we get not just judgment oracles on the foreign nations but also on Judah and on Israel in the north, but especially Israel—the Northern Kingdom of the promised people.

Now in Judah [Amos] 2:4-5 we have this same basic form. [It] fits within the same pattern as the other foreign nation oracles, which tells us that this is kind of another foreign nation because Amos is talking to the Northern Kingdom, not to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. So we have this formula, “This is what the Lord says,” an indictment, “for three sins of Judah even for four, I will not turn back My wrath, because they have rejected the Law of the Lord and have not kept His decrees because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods of their ancestors followed.” And then verse 5, “I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.” Again, you can see the pattern—I’ve highlighted it there—the same basic pattern, 1, 2, and 3 down through it.

Now the oracle against Israel begins with this same format, “Thus says the Lord, ‘for three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not revoke its punishment.’” But then we don’t get the same basic pattern in a short form; we get more of an expanded form with some of the elements of the rest of the pattern fit in. And again, this confirms the centrality of the concern about the Northern



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Kingdom. And it’s “Because,” verse 6, “they sell the righteous for money and the needy for a pair of sandals.” So that’s the first thing that’s said in the statement of why there is going to be judgment upon the Northern Kingdom. It comes right down to how they’re treating the people within the land.

So we have this start of the basic indictment. Then the last part of it extends forward. We get the fortresses, the citadels referred to in 3:9-11, “Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels or the fortresses in the land of Egypt,” and so on. Also, verse 10, “‘But they do not know how to do what is right,’ declares the Lord, ‘these who hoard up violence and devastation in their fortresses or citadels.’” Verse 11, “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘An enemy, even one surrounding the land, will pull down your strength from you and your fortresses and citadels will be looted.’”

So we get, again, the repetition of this word “citadels” or “fortresses,” which is part of the regular pattern. For example, in the last verse of the Judah oracle, “I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses [or citadels] of Jerusalem” (Amos 2:5). So the fortresses concept, a part of the pattern, does come back; but it comes back in such expanded form that it’s not really in the same kind of form as the previous oracles are.

So we have the specific transgressions. We started with 2:6-7, “Because they sell the righteous for money and the needy for a pair of sandals. These who pant after the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless,” in other words, they just go after things just stepping on people, “also turn aside the way of the humble; and a man and his father resort to the same girl [incest] in order to profane My holy name. On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined” (verses 7-8). We talked about this a little bit earlier, the focus here being on this, and the willfulness of this oppression in the light of the Lord’s gracious dealings that He’s shown to Israel.

Verses 9-10:

Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like the height of cedars and he was strong as the oaks; I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below. It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, I led you in the wilderness 40 years that you might take possession of the land



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of the Amorite.

This is when they defeated the trans-Jordanian region, for example. “‘Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazirites. Is this not so, O sons of Israel?’ declares the Lord. ‘But you made the Nazirites drink wine,’” which, of course, is forbidden, according to the rules in the book of Numbers, “and you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’” (verses 11-12).

So the Lord was gracious to provide these things for them, but they reacted against them. Verse 16, “‘Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day,’ declares the Lord.” In what day? Well it’s talking about the day that’s coming when the Lord brings full judgment. We’re going to get to that more when we talk about the Day of the Lord in 5:18 and following.

First we need to look, though, at the lawsuit that fits in, in chapter 3 and to the beginning of chapter 4, where we have this basic lawsuit and the introduction. It’s interesting as you read it, you actually get the terminology for certain kinds of legal case expressions that are used in the courts in Ancient Israel. Chapter 3:1, “Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt.” Now He’s going to rebuke His family, the family that He has chosen. We’ve already talked about how He chose them because He committed Himself to the fathers (Genesis 12:3), how He committed Himself to this family of Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. Exodus 19:5-6, where what we have is this call to this nation to be a holy nation. They’re His family, they’re His people, and He is their God.

But He has harsh words for this family, and so we begin then starting in [Amos 3] verse 2 and we move on through to the harsh words that come. “You only have I chosen among the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” So they’re the chosen people and yet they don’t respond to Him, so He’s going to punish them for that.

Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth



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when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? (verses 3-5).

In other words, certain things follow. A trumpet blows; something’s going on, and the people will tremble. A lion roars; something is happening. He’s captured prey. “If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel” (verses 6-7). Again, we’ve had the lion roaring in verse 4, and now we have, “the Lord does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared!” (verses 7-8). In other words, the prophet speaking the judgment oracles is the lion roaring, “Who should not fear?”

And even in the introduction to the prophetic institution in Deuteronomy 18, it’s said if you have a true prophetic oracle from a prophet you had better fear and be sure to take heed to whatever that oracle is about. “The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” When God roars, He speaks, and the prophets are to prophesy. And that’s what’s going on. They should be able to see what’s coming, and they’re not looking; they’re not paying attention. And He’s frustrated with how they don’t pay attention even to the lion roaring or to the trumpet sounding.

See how this call [is] to proclaim the coming of that day that is coming. “Proclaim on the citadels” is a call to the prophets to proclaim how bad things are going to be (verse 9).

Chapter 3:12, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just as the shepherd snatches from the lion’s mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear, so will the sons of Israel dwelling in Samaria be snatched away.’” In other words, “Boy, you’re going to be basically gone; we’re just going to have an ear or a leg like when a lion catches a lamb.” This is, again, the lion motif from chapter 1 verse 2 through here to chapter 3. This is an important part of it. It’s really that verse 2 of the book [that] really sets up the whole notion of the book. Chapter 3:13, “Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” you can hear the courtroom terminology, “declares the Lord the God of hosts.”

Chapter 4, verses 1 and following: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor,” we looked at this earlier in terms of the social problems in Israel.



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Who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring now, that we may drink!” The Lord God has sworn by His holiness, “Behold, the days are coming upon you when they will take you away with meat hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks. You will go out through breaches in the walls, each one straight before her, and you will be cast to Harmon” (verses 1-3).

The Assyrians are known for this kind of harsh treatment in the ancient world; we even have images on walls and so on that were put up that actually show them carrying people in these kinds of ways.

We also have this play on words [like] “Harmon” that’s being used here, “you will be cast to Harmon.” Now the word for [citadels] or fortresses is pronounced “armonote.” Harmon is a play on words with their fortresses. They think their fortresses are going to protect them, but they’re going to be cast to Harmon, which may be a way of saying beyond Mount Herman, or something like that. It’s a play on words, nevertheless, with the citadels, the word “armonote” in Hebrew. They’re going to be cast way away; they’re not going to be able to be protected by their fortresses, or citadels.

There’s a sarcastic restatement of Israel’s perversions, then, in verses 4-5. “Enter Bethel and transgress; in Gilgal multiply transgression! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every 3 days.” He’s just saying, “Yeah, go ahead, do that.” “‘Offer a thank offering also from that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, make them known for so you love to do, you sons of Israel,’ declares the Lord.” It’s the sarcasm, “Go ahead, bring these offerings, go ahead; no big deal. You do it anyway.” It’s a sarcastic statement about how they worship in the worship places but end up really not having that affect how they live. They are just a corrupt people in every way.

Then you have the recitation of the Lord’s previous benevolent chastisement, and that we talked about already when we talked about, for example, verse 6, “‘But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places, yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the Lord.” In other words, they have not repented. That word “returned” is the word that means to repent, to turn about and go back in the other direction. They have not been willing to do that. And then you get the final sentence at the end of the chapter, “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel,” verses 12-13, “‘Because I will do this to you, prepare



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to meet your God, O Israel.’ For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth, the Lord God of hosts is His name.”

Now there you get the actual name “Lord God of hosts,” and this is the term that’s used for God as a warrior. He is the head of the hosts of the armies of heaven and earth, and the point is that He is the One who is coming. He’s coming as the warrior God who is going to bring judgment upon them. So the idea is: prepare to meet your God, O Israel.

You have the prophetic warning, then, in chapter 5. There’s this dirge about what’s going to be coming upon Israel. She has fallen, she will not rise, the virgin Israel, so on. And so we have this dirge that’s set up in this passage.

Verse 4, “Thus says the Lord to the House of Israel, ‘Seek me, that you may live. But do not resort to Bethel and do not come to Gilgal, nor cross over to Beersheba,’” and so on. Then it comes back again later on, verse 6, “Seek the Lord.” The issue is whether they’re going to seek the Lord or not; not what they’re going do in any kind of religious place or whatever. Are they going to simply seek the Lord? It is the Lord of the universe who is about to bring judgment. “He who made the Pleiades and Orion,” the various constellations and so on, “And changes deep darkness into morning” (verse 8). He’s the One that controls all this, so they better pay attention. This is not a God to mess with; pay attention and respond.

And the point is He’s done all sorts of things to get their attention. He’s brought chastisement upon them, He’s brought the message of the prophets, but they just refuse to turn back and go to the Lord in reality, in their hearts, in their real life of faith.

Then we come to the prophetic judgment oracle that we have in 5:10–6:14. And we have really in this section two woes in the second part of it, starting in 5:18-27 and then in 6:1-14. They both start with, “Woe,” or “Alas, you who are longing for the Day of the Lord,” in 5:18, and then in 6:1, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion.” So we have two real units within this. The reasons for which the Lord will bring judgment are set up. Again, social oppression, 5:10-13, and then a call to repentance to avoid judgment, verses 14-15, “Seek good and not evil, that you may live,” so again, there’s still a call to turn back, “and thus may the



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Lord God of hosts be with you, just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord God of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Perhaps. He might be gracious. We know that’s His character if people repent and turn back. Jonah tells us that in strong terms.

Now the problem is, in order to turn back, they’re going to need to learn to hate evil and to love good. And that’s really true of everybody. Repentance depends upon hating evil and loving good, and they go together. If you don’t hate evil, you’re not going to really love good either. And if you don’t really love good, you’re not going to hate evil. And this is a call to everybody everywhere. Some people have reacted against the use of the book of Amos for a concern for what’s going on in our society. They say it has to do with the kingdom of God and within that, not just concern for society in general. And part of the reason for that is because a while back there was this social gospel movement in which they would talk about the social concerns and just ignore the need for people to come to know the Lord in the first place and really have knowledge of God in their heart and life. But we should not allow that to cause us to forget that people who know the Lord really do hate evil, and that means evil of all sorts including the mistreatment of others whether they know the Lord or not.

We have, for example, the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament. Well he loved somebody that didn’t even belong to his group. The point is that we need to be concerned of other people around us. And that’s part of true repentance, truly becoming the way God wants us to be. This is true for all. We are to be the salt and the light of the world, and that means showing these kinds of concerns in our world wherever they should be shown. We should hate evil of all kinds and love good.

Now we have the initial statement of the judgment oracle then in verses 16-17:

Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, “there is wailing in all the plazas, and in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They also call the farmer to mourning and professional mourners to lamentation. And in all the vineyards there is wailing, because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.



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He’s going to come through. “Alas,” or “woe,” “you who are longing for the Day of the Lord, for what purpose will the Day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light.” Now the Day of the Lord really has two sides to it. He’s going to come and judge evil.

And so the people who are the ones who are following the Lord and who love the Lord and live in that way, that’s going to be a day of deliverance for them. But the people in the book of Amos, the Israelites, have taken it that God’s going to come for them even though they are part of the darkness. Well it’s going to be a day of darkness for them, a day when the Lord is going to bring judgment upon them. So they should not be looking at the Day of the Lord as a good thing for them, because of their lack of repentance.

Verse 19, “As when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or goes home, leans his hand against the wall and a snake bites him.” With the Day of the Lord coming, in their particular instance, it’s like jumping from the frying pan to the fire for them. They are not going to be escaping because of the lack of repentance amongst them.

And so the Lord works through this through the prophet. Why not the Day of the Lord “Will not the Day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, even gloom with no brightness in it? ‘I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies’” (verses 20-21). Will not the Day of the Lord be darkness instead of light? [Verse 23], “Take away from Me the noise of your songs,” verse 24, “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

This is the concern. Again, it keeps coming back at us. He even talks about how even earlier on there was so much rebellion in Israel. “Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for 40 years? Well you brought along your own gods, Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images” (verses 25-26). And the Lord is saying, “If you don’t turn back now, it’s just too late.” “‘Therefore,’” verse 27, “‘I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,’ says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.” “Damascus, the Arameans, are going to go into exile but you also are going to go into exile beyond Damascus.”

Now notice, this is a day of the Lord, and this is one of those days of the Lord that’s historical. There is a Day of the Lord that’s coming that has not come yet. We can see this from the apostle Paul’s remarks in II Thessalonians 2, and we’ll come back to that



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when we deal with the day of the Lord more fully. But there are historical days of the Lord when the Lord has broken through into history and brought judgment upon people. He did it here in the history of Israel in 722 BC when He took the Northern Kingdom into captivity. He did it earlier against the Arameans. He did it even earlier when they conquered the land in the day of Joshua. That was really a Day of the Lord. That’s why the people were destroyed under the ban in Joshua; it’s because it was a day of the Lord. The Lord was breaking through into this wicked situation and wiping it clean. And He does this—really, the flood back in Genesis was a day of the Lord. Now the terminology isn’t used, but it’s a way of straightening things out, and eventually God comes to the end of things and says, “I’m just going to wipe it out simply because they will not respond. They’ve become so wicked.” That’s the nature of a day of the Lord.

And there’s coming a day in the future when He’s going do that fully, and we’re going have a complete wiping out of wickedness; and, in fact, He’s going take that time and He’s going to make a new heaven and new earth without all the corruption in it. That’s Revelation 21–22. The Day of the Lord that comes in the book of Revelation is really about this wiping of things clean and setting things straight.

Well we have a second woe oracle, then, in [Amos] 6:1-4; then we have the prophetic judgment visions (these are interesting) in Amos 7. We have him doing various signs, for example, verse 1-3:

Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “O Lord, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?” The Lord changed His mind [or relented] about this. “It shall not be,” said the Lord.

And this goes through a couple cycles, and then the Lord actually comes to another one—the plumb line in verse 7—but does not give Amos a chance to intercede and He brings the judgment based upon the commitment that He has made to judge this Northern Kingdom.

We have the battle then between Amos and the prophet at Bethel, Amaziah, who says, “Okay, you’re from the Southern Kingdom; just go back there and make your money there, don’t come here


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The 8th Century Prohpets: Amos and the Justice of GodLesson 17 of 24

and be a prophet. Go home, get out of here.” But Amos’ point is, well he’s not a professional prophet; he doesn’t make his money by being a prophet. He’s a farmer in the first place—a pastoralist—and he says basically, “That’s not the way you deal with me. I’ve been given a special call to come here and speak these prophetic oracles.” So Amos basically says to Amaziah, verse 17, “Therefore, thus says the Lord, ‘Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil.’” Of course, a very bad thing for a priest. “Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.”

Amos ends the book in chapter 9 with really a salvation oracle, because eventually God is going turn back and God is gonna bring blessing again. And in that day there’s going to be, according to 9:11, “‘I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My name,’ declares the Lord who does this.”

This is picked up in Acts 15 where they’re talking about God is going to bring blessing upon the people, the nations, and actually there it’s translated “Gentiles.” It’s a quotation from the Septuagint translation of Amos 9, but the point here in Acts 15 that is being made is that God has promised that things are going to be restored and that that restoration is going to include the Gentiles. That solves the problem in Acts 15 about the Gentiles being called into God’s kingdom.=

Documents

Old Testament Theology II: Latter Prohpets and Writings