Category: <span>Amos</span>

Amos, a Judean herdsman (Amos 1:1), was called to preach a message of judgment to the northern kingdom and her king, the powerful Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14;23-29). Amos called the nation to repent of their idolatry during a period of socioeconomic success. The prophet’s courageous sermons provide a composite of prophetic ministry: divine visions, proclamations of judgment, announcements of destruction, endurance of persecution, lament, and hope of restoration.

Amos cast a vision of hope. He proclaimed that after the Lord disciplined His people by sending them into exile, He would have compassion and restore them (Amos 9:11-15). “In that day,” the Lord said, “I will restore the fallen booth of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that are called by My name” (Amos 9:11-12). Amos announced that the Lord would prosper His people to the degree that sweet wine would run down the mountains and the hills would overflow with produce. The Lord said, “I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel; they will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce” (Amos 9:14).

Amos’s vision of restoration in Amos 9:11-15 sounds a note of fulfillment in the storyline of Scripture. At the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, James employed Amos’s prophecy to provide a historical basis for articulating which elements of the Jewish law Gentiles were required to practice. After Paul’s first missionary journey, Paul returned to Antioch and enjoyed fellowship with the disciples there. When a delegation from Judea came to Antioch and urged the brothers to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses, Paul and Barnabas opposed them. It was agreed that the opposing factions should go to Jerusalem and gather with the leaders there to decide what elements of the Mosaic law should govern the churches.

At the council, Peter recounted his proclamation to Gentiles (Acts 10), noting that the Spirit came upon them just as it did upon the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2). Paul and Barnabas addressed the council with a similar report, describing God’s work through them to the Gentiles during their missionary journey recorded in Acts 13-14. The council reached a climactic moment when James addressed the assembly from Amos 9:11-12. In James’s view, although the Jewish nation was yet subject to Roman rule, the Jews had enjoyed restoration to “David’s tent” (Acts 15:16). James interpreted Amos’s prophecy as a description of how God would fulfill the purposes of the Jewish nation: the advent of Jesus opened the door for Gentiles to experience God’s blessings to Israel apart from the law of Moses. At the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, James saw in Amos 9:11-12 the justification of the Gentiles in the church and proposed that they were free from adopting the identity-markers of natural Jews. “In my judgment,” James said, “we should not cause difficulties for those who turn to God from among the Gentiles” (Acts 15:19). Gentiles thus needed only to avoid items associated with idolatry, abstain from immorality, and decline any food strangled and yet having blood (Acts 15:19-20). For Paul, James’s verdict was such good news that he set out on his second journey to report to the churches what the council, in accord with Amos 9:11-12, had decided (Acts 15:36).

Amos had the difficult task of preaching a message of judgment to upper-middle-class folk who were enjoying a period of political stability. During the reigns of Jeroboam II in Israel (2 Kgs 14:23-29) and Uzziah in Judah (2 Kgs 15:1-7), the Lord was merciful, granting socioeconomic success despite the unfaithfulness of His people. During Amos’s short ministry, this layman turned prophet (Amos 1:1) confronted God’s people for their lack of faithfulness to covenant standards; they claimed to be the people of the Lord but did not practice righteousness. The people ignored Amos’s messages as the ranting of a fanatic because they were secure and at ease. Could anything really harm such a prosperous people, they wondered. Amos countered that the Day of the Lord was at hand.

Amos confronted the hypocrisy of his audience. The people practiced temple worship while simultaneously participating in idolatry. Instead of pure religion and righteous relationships, Israel went through the motions of temple life, made idols to the gods of the nations, and took advantage of one another. Amos warned his audience that if they remained in their hardened state, the Day of the Lord—which they hoped would bring them permanent victory over their enemies and establish them above the nations—would actually “be darkness and not light. It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to have a bear confront him” (Amos 5:18b-19). On that Day, the Lord would reject empty adherence to temple ordinances. Amos spoke the word of the Lord, “Even if you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle” (Amos 5:22). Rather, the Lord would be pleased to see justice flowing like water and righteousness like an unfailing stream (Amos 5:24). Because of Israel’s hypocrisy and idolatry, Amos announced that the Lord would send His people into exile even beyond Damascus (Amos 5:27). Israel’s failure had been predicted by Moses (Deut 31:24-30) and in time the Lord would remove His people from the land because of their idolatry (2 Kings 17).

Amos’s condemnation of Israel contributed to the storyline of Scripture. When Stephen defended himself before the Jewish leadership in Acts 7, he cited Amos 5:25-27 as evidence that Israel consistently rejected God’s messengers. Stephen quoted multiple Old Testament passages as he reviewed Israel’s history. He began by noting God’s call on Abraham (Acts 7:3; Gen 12:1) and the covenant God made with the patriarch (Acts 7:6-7; Gen 15:13-14). Stephen reminded his Jewish opponents that an Israelite rejected Moses because Moses killed an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew (Acts 7:27-28, 35; Exod 2:14). Moses then fled to Midian and in the desert, the Lord appeared to Moses and commissioned him to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt (Acts 7:32-34; Exod 3:5-15). When Moses wrote the law, he prophesied that the Lord would raise up a prophet like him and that the people should listen to him (Acts 7:37; Deut 18:15). But Israel had rejected Moses—as evidenced by their idolatry with the golden calf in the wilderness (Acts 7:40; Exod 32:1, 23). And Israel’s spiritual character had not changed during the intervening period from the exodus to the time of Amos’s ministry. When Amos indicted his audience for their idolatry in Amos 5:22-23, he was condemning God’s people for demonstrating the same spiritual dullness that led their ancestors to worship idols in the wilderness. By the point that Stephen took up Amos 5:25-27 in Acts 7:42-43, Stephen’s thesis was just rising to the surface: Israel had consistently rejected God’s messengers and that is why they resisted the Holy Spirit and rejected Jesus Christ as the true temple of God.

While dating some Old Testament prophecies is a difficult task, Amos does not leave the reader at a loss. His prophetic writing begins, “The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa—what he saw regarding Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1). Amos was one of the earliest writing prophets sent to Israel. He preached during a period of relative strength for Israel under Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14:23-29) and while Uzziah reigned in Judah (2 Kgs 15:1-7). Called from an agronomical background as a sheep breeder (Amos 1:1), Amos’s prophecies contain metaphors of rural life. Amos’s proclamations against the nations imply that he was educated and knew the world situation of his day. The prophet demonstrated rhetorical skill with a repeated introductory statement when he announced the word of the Lord: “I will not relent from punishing…for three crimes, even four, because they…” (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6).

In the first two chapters of Amos’s prophecy, the nations in and around the land of Canaan were in the prophet’s purview. The prophet announced the Lord’s intention against these nations by first addressing those furthest from Jerusalem. He then announced the Lord’s intention against Israel and Judah. Thus, Amos’s sermons against Damascus, Gaza, Edom and the like preceded his condemnation of Israel and Judah. Amos indicted God’s people because though they had enjoyed the benefits of a special relationship with the Lord since the Exodus, Israel had failed to maintain covenant loyalty in their behavior. In Amos 1-2, the prophet condemned both the nations surrounding the Promised Land and those living in it.

Amos described the Lord’s wrath against Israel for their failure to keep the demands of the law. Amos pictured the Lord as a lion, roaring against the nations and even those dwelling in the Promised Land (Amos 1:2). Throughout Amos 1-2, the prophet announced that the Lord would send fiery judgment against those that dishonored Him (Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5). Even though God had given His people the land promised to Abraham, had removed their enemies from before them, and had even allowed them to prosper under Jeroboam and Uzziah, they were unfaithful to the practical socio-economic demands God gave to Moses. Judgment was in order. The author of Hebrews recognized that the failure of Israel and Judah was part of the schema of the storyline of Scripture. He wrote that:

(1) God found fault with His people, annulled the Mosaic covenant, and instituted a new covenant in Christ. In Heb 8:7-8, the author noted that God had found fault with His people in the first covenant. The new covenant in Christ, prophesied in Jer 31:31-34, was thus God’s word of grace to Israel and Judah (Heb 8:8-12; 10:16-17). In the new covenant, God said He would put His law on the minds of His people and write them on their hearts so that they would all know Him. God promised that in the new covenant He would finally deal with His people’s sins. The author of Hebrews wrote that God has forgiven His people through Jesus’ sacrificial death (Heb 1:3). In Jesus’ incarnation, suffering, and death, He defeated the Devil (Heb 2:10-15) and through the offering of His own blood, fulfilled the role of a high priest (Heb 2:16-18; 4:14-16; 7:26-28; 10:19-22; 12:22-24; etc.).

(2) God will judge those who partake in the benefits of the new covenant but fail to endure in their profession of faith. The warnings of Hebrews are no less severe than those written by Amos or Israel’s other prophets. The author warned his audience, saying that if the Mosaic covenant was binding and those who turned away were punished, how much worse punishment would God exact on those who would reject God’s Son (Heb 2:1-4)? The author of Hebrews urged his audience to remember God’s judgement against the wilderness generation lest they fail to enter God’s rest, namely, fully identifying with Christ (Heb 3:7-4:12). In light of the dangers of falling away (Heb 6:1-8; 10:26-39; 12:14-17), the author urged the participants in the new covenant to be faithful and to persevere in Christ (Heb 11:1-12:13; 13:13-15).