Amos 5

This is the third time Amos has called the people to give attention to God’s Word (3:1; 4:1). The way we treat God’s Word is the way we treat God, and the way we treat God’s messengers is the way we treat the Lord Himself (John 15:18–21). “God … has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. … See that you do not refuse Him who speaks” (Heb. 1:1–2; 12: nkjv).

The listeners must have wondered why Amos was wailing a funeral dirge when nobody in his family or circle of acquaintances had died. They were perplexed as to why he was grieving over the death of his nation when the nation seemed to be prosperous and religious. But the prosperity and “revival” were only cosmetics to make the sick and dying nation look healthier. Amos looked at the vital signs, and they were almost gone. Israel’s enthusiastic concerts would become funerals (5:23; 8:3, 10) and their sacred shrines ruins, for the Assyrians were destined to destroy the kingdom of Israel.

Amos compared the nation to a virgin daughter in the bloom of youth, ravaged and slain on the field of battle, her corpse left to rot. All hope was gone, and nobody could help her get up. History records the fulfillment of Amos’s words. After the Assyrian invasion, the kingdom of Israel ceased to exist and has never been restored. Some of the people were taken into exile, some were slain, and the rest were left to mingle with the Gentiles that were brought in to resettle the land. The result was a mixed race—the Samaritans— neither Jew nor Gentile.

Israel had a strong standing army, but it would be defeated, and the population decimated, just as the Lord had warned in His covenant (Lev. 26:7–8; Deut. 28:25; 32:28–30). There can be no victory when the Lord has abandoned you to your fate, because you have abandoned Him. Nations today depend on their wealth, their military establishment, and their political wisdom when they need to depend on the Lord. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12).

Of course, what happened to the northern kingdom of Israel didn’t end God’s promises to the Jews or His purposes for them in the world. Groups who claim to be the “ten lost tribes of Israel” are suspect, because nowhere does Scripture say the ten tribes were “lost.” The New Testament indicates that God knows where all twelve tribes are (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; Acts 26:7; James 1:1; Rev. 7:4; 21:12), and the prophets speak of a time of reunion and glory (Ezek. 37:19–28; 33:23, 29; Jer. 3:18; 23:5–6; Hos. 1:11).

The first step toward revival and returning to the Lord is to hear what God has to say to us from His Word. “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly” (Ps. 85:6–8 nkjv).

The prophet’s third message (5:1—6:14) was a lamentation, a funeral dirge over the death of the nation of Israel. (Israel is mentioned four times in 5:1–4.) “There will be wailing in all the streets,” he declares (v. 16 niv), not just wailing in one or two houses where people have died. Since the people’s grief will be so great that there won’t be sufficient professional mourners available to express it, they’ll call the farmers and workers in the vineyards to help them (vv. 16–17).

However, Amos weaves into his lamentation three pleas to the people, urging them to return to the Lord.

This phrase is found more than thirty times in Scripture. It applied to Israel in ancient days, and it applies to God’s children today. Even if the whole nation (or church) doesn’t respond to the message and return to the Lord, a remnant can return and receive the Lord’s help and blessing. God was willing to save the evil city of Sodom if He had found ten righteous people in it (Gen. 18:32); and in Jeremiah’s day, the Lord would have been happy to find even one righteous person in Jerusalem! God can work through the many or the few (1 Sam. 14:6); we should never despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10).

What does it mean to “seek the Lord”? The prophet Isaiah answers the question: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6–7 nkjv).

To seek the Lord means first of all to change our thinking and abandon the vain thoughts that are directing our wayward lives. Disobedient children of God are thinking wrongly about God, sin, and life. They think God will always be there for them to turn to, but they forget that sinners reap what they sow. To walk “in the counsel of the ungodly” is folly indeed (Ps. 1: nkjv), for it leads to a fruitless and joyless life.

When we return to the Lord, we also change directions: we “turn around” and start to move in the right direction. It means forsaking sin and turning to the Lord for mercy and pardon. Until we realize how heinous our sins are in the sight of God, we will never repent and cry out for mercy. To seek the Lord doesn’t mean simply to run to God for help when our sins get us into trouble, although God will receive us if we’re sincere. It means to loathe and despise the sin in our lives, turn from it, and seek the fellowship of God and His cleansing. “A broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51: nkjv).

Why should we seek the Lord? The prophet gave three reasons, the first of which is that we might have life (Amos 5:4). The way of disobedience is the way of darkness and death. “Seek me and live” is God’s invitation and admonition (v. 4 niv). God disciplines His children in love so that they will repent and return; but if we don’t change our ways, He may take our lives. “Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!” (Heb. 12: niv) The suggestion here is that if we don’t submit, we may die; for “there is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16).

The second reason we should seek God is because there is no other way to experience spiritual blessing (Amos 5:5). The people were going to the shrines in droves and coming home further from God than when they left. Emerson said that a change in geography never overcomes a flaw in character, and he was right.

During my years of ministry, I’ve been privileged to speak at many well-known conference grounds in the United States, Canada, and overseas. I’ve met people at some of these conferences who actually thought that their physical presence by that lake, in that tent or tabernacle, or on that mountain would change their hearts. They were depending on the “atmosphere” of the conference and their memories of them, but they usually went home disappointed. Why? Because they didn’t seek God.

I’m reminded of a lady at one conference who, when she checked out to go home, asked if she could buy a carton of the soap used in the rooms. When asked why she wanted that particular kind of soap, she explained that it was so rich and lathery, much better than what she used at home. The conference director gave her a carton of the soap, but didn’t have the heart to explain to her that it was the softness of the water, not the formula of the soap, that guaranteed the rich lather.

God doesn’t franchise His blessings the way companies franchise their products to local dealers. You can’t go to Bethel and Gilgal (see 4:4) or to Beersheba and go home with a blessing in your baggage. Unless we personally meet the Lord, deal with our inner spiritual life, and seek His face, our hearts will never be transformed.

The “holy places” would all be destroyed. The people of Gilgal would go into captivity (5:27), the shrine would be abandoned, and Bethel, the “house of God,” would become “Beth Aven,” the “house of nothing” (see Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5) and go up in smoke (Amos 5:6). Even if pilgrims traveled into Judah to visit Beersheba, that was no guarantee of blessing. Eventually Judah would fall to the Babylonians.

The third reason for seeking God is because judgment is coming (v. 6). The phrase “lest he break out like fire” reminds us of God’s repeated warning in chapters 1 and 2: “I will send a fire” (1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5). “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29; see Deut. 4:24). If the Gentiles, who never had the written law of God, suffered fiery punishment for their sins, how much more would the Jews be punished who possessed God’s holy law! “The Lord shall judge his people” (Heb. 10:30; see Deut. 32:35–36; Ps. 135:14).

Fear of judgment may not be the highest motive for obeying God, but the Lord will accept it. Animals and little children understand rewards and punishments, but we hope that the children will eventually mature and develop higher motives for obedience than receiving some candy or escaping a spanking. God’s people, Israel, never achieved that higher level of obedience, the kind of obedience that comes from a heart that loves God (Deut. 4:37; 6:4–6; 7:6–13; 10:12; 11:1; 30:6, 16, 20).

For Israel to repent and return to God was a reasonable thing to do. It would bring them life; it would produce spiritual reality; and it would save them from impending judgment. Those are good reasons for God’s people to repent today.

To “seek the Lord” might appear difficult and distant for some people, an intangible experience they can’t get their hands on. Thus Amos brought the challenge down to practical, everyday life. He spoke about justice, righteousness, and the importance of telling the truth. He named the sins the people needed to forsake: accepting bribes, charging the poor exorbitant rents, living in luxury while the poor starved, and sustaining a crooked legal system. True repentance begins with naming sins and dealing with them one by one.

We must notice that verses 8–9 are a parenthesis in the prophet’s message, but a very important parenthesis as he reminded the people of the greatness of their God. Jehovah is the God who created the heavens and the earth, who controls the seasons and the daily motions of the earth, and who is Lord of the heavens, the sea, and the land. The pagan Gentiles worshipped the heavenly bodies, but the Jews were privileged to worship the God who made the heavens and the earth (Jonah 1:9).

But this God of creation is also the God of judgment! “He flashes destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin” (Amos 5: niv). J. B. Phillips graphically translated verse 9, “He it is who flings ruin in the face of the strong, and rains destruction upon the fortress.” In the light of the holiness of God and the terms of His holy covenant, the people of Israel should have been on their faces, calling out for mercy. Instead, they were complacently comfortable in their luxury and their sins. Amos named just a few of their sins.

Promoting injustice (v. 7). God established human government because of the sinfulness of the human heart. Without the authority of government in society, everything would fall apart and the strong would enslave the weak and the rich would exploit the poor. Justice is supposed to be “a river … a neverfailing stream” (v. 24 niv) that cleanses and refreshes society, but the leaders of Israel had turned that refreshing river into bitter poison (see 6:12).

Righteousness and justice should be the pillars that hold up society, but these selfish rulers had thrown the pillars to the ground. One of the evidences that the pillars of national justice are shaking and ready to fall is the increase in lawsuits. “They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field” (Hos. 10: niv). Israel was afflicted with poisonous weeds and poisonous water (Amos 5:7), and the Lord was displeased.

Instead of running to religious meetings, the people should have stayed home and seen to it that their leaders weren’t poisoning the river of justice and knocking down the pillars of righteousness. Christians are the salt of the earth, and salt prevents corruption. They are the light of the world, and if there were more light, there would be less darkness (Matt. 5:13–16). The church must not abandon its marching orders and turn preachers into politicians, but it dare not ignore the problems of society—problems that can be solved by the application of the gospel and the truth of the Word of God.

Rejecting rebuke (vv. 10, 13). The city gate was the place where the elders met and transacted city business (Ruth 4). When the dishonest leaders attempted to foist their lies on the people and manipulate the court, if somebody rebuked them, they turned on that person and tried to silence him or her. It got to the place where the righteous wouldn’t say anything because their interference did no good (Amos 5:13). Leaders with integrity will gladly listen to counsel and even to rebuke, but leaders bent on evil will seek to destroy those who stand in their way. “Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you” (Prov. 9: nkjv; and see 1 Kings 22:5ff. for an illustration of this principle).

For many years, American legal experts have called for an overhaul of the legal system. (Other nations probably have the same or worse problems.) So many cases are pending, and too many trials proceed at a snail’s pace, with seemingly interminable appeals and delays, that very little justice results. Isaiah saw a similar situation in his day: “So justice is driven back, and the righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. … The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice” (Isa. 59:14–15 niv). A traffic jam!

Oppressing the poor (vv. 11–12). The prophet Amos was the champion of the poor and oppressed (2:6–7; 4:1; 8:6) as he called for justice in the land. He pictured the rich trampling the poor into the mud by claiming their crops for payment of the high rents they were charging. The rich were literally taking the food right out of the mouths of their tenants and their children. And if these hungry tenants appealed to the local judges for justice, the wealthy landowners bought off the judges.

So what did the rich do with this ill-gotten wealth? They used it to build mansions for themselves and to plant luxurious vineyards. They anticipated lounging in their big houses and drinking wine, but the Lord had other plans. He announced that they would neither live in their mansions nor drink their wine, because the Assyrians would destroy all their houses and vineyards. Like the selfish rich in the apostolic days, these powerful landowners were fattening their hearts for the day of slaughter (James 5:1–6).

God knew what these wealthy exploiters were doing, just as He knows what sinners are doing today; and though He appeared to be unconcerned, He would judge these evil people in due time. God had warned in His covenant with the Jewish people, “You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes” (Deut. 28: nkjv). God always keeps His promises, whether to bless when we’ve obeyed or to chasten when we’ve rebelled.

Arrogant self-confidence (vv. 14–15). The people were boasting, “The Lord God is with us!” After all, wasn’t the nation enjoying great prosperity? Certainly that was a sign of God’s blessing. And weren’t the people active in religious activities, bringing their sacrifices and offerings to the shrines? And didn’t the king have a special priest and a royal sanctuary in Bethel (7:10–17) where he consulted with Amaziah about the affairs of the kingdom?

Yes, these things were true, but they could not be used as evidence of the blessing of God. They were but a thin veneer of religious self-righteousness over the rotting corpse of the nation. The only proof that God is with us is that we love Him and do His will. Religion without righteousness and justice in the land is hypocrisy. No matter how many people attend religious meetings, if the result is not obedience to God and concern for our neighbor, the meetings are a failure.

How can we claim to love the good if we don’t hate the evil? We claim to love the Lord, but God commands, “You who love the Lord, hate evil!” (Ps. 97: nkjv). We enjoy studying the Bible, but the psalmist said, “Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (119:104 nkjv). Seeking the good means rejecting the evil and not being ashamed to take our stand against what’s wrong.

Is there any hope for such a wicked society? Yes, as long as the grace of God is at work. “It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5: nkjv). Disaster was coming to Israel, but who knows what God would do if only a godly remnant turned to Him and sought His mercy?

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezek. 22: nkjv).

God is still seeking for wall-builders, for intercessors who will plead with God to send revival and renewal to His church. For it’s only when God’s Spirit is allowed to work among His people that the flood of evil can be stopped and righteousness and justice flourish in the land. The saints want God to judge the wicked, but “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).

If only a remnant will repent and turn to God, there is hope that He will send the revival that we desperately need.

“Hear God’s Word!” Are we listening?

“Seek the Lord!” Are we praying?

“Seek the good!” Do we hate that which is evil?

There is no other way.

Amos is still lamenting the impending doom of the nation of Israel. In this section, he pronounces “woe” upon four kinds of people in the kingdom: the ignorant (5:18–27), the indifferent (6:1–2), the indulgent (vv. 3–7), and the impudent (vv. 8–14). The circumstances are different, but we have these same people in the professing church today. Do you recognize them?

“The day of the Lord” is a period of time during which God judges His enemies and establishes His kingdom on earth. It’s the answer to our prayer, “Thy kingdom come” and is described in Revelation 6—20 and many passages in the books of the prophets.

The people Amos was addressing saw “the day of the Lord” as a time of great deliverance for the Jews and terrible punishment for the Gentiles (Joel 2:28–32), but the prophets had a clearer vision of this momentous event. They realized that “the day of the Lord” was also a time of testing and purifying for Israel (see Isa. 2:10–21; 13:6–13; Jer. 46:10; Joel 3:9–17; Zeph. 2:1–2), when God’s people would go through tribulation before entering the kingdom of God.

Amos looked ahead and gave three descriptions of “the day of the Lord.” It would first of all be a day of despair and mourning (Amos 5:18a). “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!” (niv). Good theology can lead to hope, but bad theology leads to false hopes. Since these hypocrites were sure that God would spare Israel but condemn their enemies, they longed for the day of the Lord to come. They were like the editors of old editions of the Bible that I’ve seen: If the chapter was about judgment, the heading read, “God’s judgment on the Jews”; but if the chapter was about blessing, the heading read, “God’s blessing on the church.” Heads we win, tails you lose!

Second, it would be a day of darkness (vv. 18b, 20). God had warned that He was about to pass through their midst (v. 17), but not “pass over” as He had in Egypt. This time He was coming to judge His own people; and as there was darkness for three days prior to that first Passover (Ex. 12:12), so “the day of the Lord” would bring darkness. In addition, what Israel experienced at the hands of the Assyrians was a small sampling of what will happen in the end times when the whole world will see “the day of the Lord.”

Third, it would be a day of doom (Amos 5:19). There would be no escaping God’s wrath because there were no hiding places! Run from the lion, and you meet the bear; run for safety into your house, and a serpent bites you. We would say, “Out of the frying pan, into the fire!” Remember, God’s judgments are very thorough and accurate.

These Israelites were eagerly expecting “the day of the Lord” without realizing what that day would bring to them. They were like some Christians today who want Jesus to come so they can escape painful situations and not because they “love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). They forget that Christ’s return means judgment as well as blessing. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:10–11).

Next in his message, Amos looked around (Amos 5:21–24) and pointed out the sins of the people that made them totally unprepared to experience the day of the Lord. He began with their hypocritical worship (vv. 21–22), something he had mentioned earlier (4:4–5). They honored special days on the Jewish calendar, called sacred assemblies, offered sacrifices, brought offerings, and sang songs of worship. Their meetings looked so beautiful and holy, yet God not only refused to accept their worship, He said He despised and hated it! (See Isa. 1:10–20.)

The prophet’s second indictment was against their unconcern for others (Amos 5:24). This is a key verse in the book of Amos, for it reveals God’s concern that His people be righteous in their character and just in their conduct. We have already noted the emphasis on justice in Amos’s messages and how the leaders of the land had turned the pure river of justice into a poisonous stream (5:7; see 6:12). No matter how much “religious activity” we participate in, if we don’t love our brother and our neighbor, we can’t honestly worship and serve the Lord.

Finally, Amos looked back (5:25–27) and reminded them of their relationship to Jehovah after He had delivered them from Egypt. God asked the Jews to give Him faith, obedience, and love; but at Mount Sinai, after vowing to serve God, the people worshipped a golden calf! (See Ex. 32.) Their forefathers sinned further by offering sacrifices to false gods even while Jehovah was leading the nation through the wilderness! (Stephen quotes this in Acts 7:42–43.)

After the Jews settled in the Promised Land, two generations of leaders guided them in the way of the Lord. But by the time the third generation came along, the people had turned to the idols of the nations around them (Judg. 2:10–15). God chastened them by allowing these nations to enslave Israel in their won land. But the message Amos had for the people was that they would have to leave their land and go into exile wherever the Assyrians sent them. It meant the end of the northern kingdom (2 Kings 17:6ff.).

“Where ignorance is bliss,” wrote Thomas Gray, “’tis folly to be wise.” But the poet was writing about the naive innocence of childhood, not to spoil the joys of children by telling them about the burdens of adulthood. However, in the Christian life, ignorance of God’s truth keeps us in darkness (Isa. 8:20); so we must understand His “word of prophecy” that shines as a light in this world’s darkness (2 Peter 1:19).