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An introduction to Amos
Amos was a prophet during the reign of King Uzziah (790-739) of Judah and King Jeroboam II (793-753) of Israel. According to Amos 7:14, he was a shepherd and gatherer of Sycamore fruit, but he was called to go prophesy to the Northern Kingdom. Amos lived in Tekoa, 10 miles south of Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom. Jeroboam II, of Israel (Northern Kingdom - Amos' target audience), was always into pagan worship as were all the kings of the Northern Kingdom. In the Southern Kingdom, Uzziah was a good king of Judah at first, but went astray during the latter part of his reign.

You're living it up for now (Amos 6)

1 Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,
And trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Go over to Calneh and see;
And from there go to Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?
3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself,
The LORD God of hosts says:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”
9 ¶ Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.
10 And when a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?” ¶ Then someone will say, “None.” ¶ And he will say, “Hold your tongue! For we dare not mention the name of the LORD.”
11 For behold, the LORD gives a command:
He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
13 You who rejoice over Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”
14 “But, behold, I will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the LORD God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”

These verses are particularly cryptic at first glance, but keep in mind, he's talking to the God-rejecting, living-it-up inhabitants of Israel (Northern Kingdom); the less-than-obvious references in this chapter would have been very piercing to Israel's inhabitants with regard to some of their daily practices and attitudes. All of these verses implicate Israel in that they took pride in their riches and national strength, but Assyria would soon bring all of their pride to a screeching halt. Woe to you! They were living like there was no tomorrow - no tomorrow to face God. But notice the prophecy of Amos in verse 8, "The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, The LORD God of hosts says: 'I abhor the pride of Jacob, And hate his palaces; Therefore I will deliver up the city And all that is in it.'" Verse 14 caps this chapter off with the promise that God will raise up a nation against Israel to afflict them. Assyria is coming! Assyria's defeat of Israel (Northern Kingdom) took place in 721/722 B.C. during the reign of King Hoshea of Israel (II Kings 17, see notes).

Warning visions (Amos 7:1-9)

1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.
2 And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:
“O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
3 So the LORD relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” said the LORD.
4 ¶ Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory.
5 Then I said:
“O Lord GOD, cease, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
6 So the LORD relented concerning this.
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.
7 ¶ Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.
8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” ¶ And I said, “A plumb line.” ¶ Then the Lord said:
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore.
9 The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.
I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”

Amos first gets a vision of the locusts coming and eating up all the grass after the first mowing of the season, the crop tax designated for the king's livestock. This would leave no grass for the cattle of the people of Israel. Amos makes an appeal, and God dismisses that judgment.

Then Amos has a second vision of fire consuming the land of Israel, but God dismisses this judgment as well. However, in the third vision, God invokes the plumb line. You've seen a plumb line before. It's a weight on the end of a string to make certain that vertical structures are precisely vertical. Here's what God is saying in this third vision. His judgment will be based upon a concrete standard (like a plumb line) of Israel serving (or not) the one true God. If they don't, they will fall to the Assyrians. Verse 8 says, "...I will not pass by them anymore." God is saying that he will no longer pass by them without judging them for their sin.

King Jeroboam's chief priest becomes hostile (Amos 7:10-17)

10 ¶ Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
11 For thus Amos has said:
“Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From their own land.’ ”
12 ¶ Then Amaziah said to Amos:
“Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
13 But never again prophesy at Bethel,
For it is the king’s sanctuary,
And it is the royal residence.”
14 ¶ Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:
“I was no prophet,
Nor was I a son of a prophet,
But I was a sheepbreeder
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
15 Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock,
And the LORD said to me,
“Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
16 Now therefore, hear the word of the LORD:
You say, “Do not prophesy against Israel,
And do not spout against the house of Isaac.’
17 ¶ “Therefore thus says the LORD:
‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city;
Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by survey line;
You shall die in a defiled land;
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From his own land.’ ”

Whoa! The truth hurts. Remember? Amos lived in Judah, but prophesied in religiously-corrupt Israel. Well, the chief priest (Amaziah) of Pagan Central (my term) in Bethel was sent by Jeroboam II to put a stop to the prophesying of Amos - to send him packing back to Judah and never return. In effect he says, "Go home and prophesy, and don't come back here." In the process, he accuses Amos of conspiracy against the king by twisting the prophecy of Amos (compare verse 11 with verse 9) in order to try to evoke a more violent reaction from Jeroboam.

Listen, it's not good to mess with God's prophets; you might get a little personal prophecy that you didn't bargain for...as Amaziah did in verse 17. Amos tells him: your wife will be violated, your children will die, you will lose all you have and die in a pagan country. Whoa! I know Amaziah (the pagan priest) was sorry he brought it up! Isn't it interesting that God's man (Amos) had no tolerance (nor did God) for the false religion of this priest and the King of Israel he served. I'm amused at the reply Amos gives the big-wig pagan priest in verses 14-15, "I wasn't a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but God told me to tell them, and I told them." So, what are the qualifications for proclaiming righteousness? Just God's command to go.

The last straw (Amos 8)

1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit.
2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” ¶ So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” ¶ Then the LORD said to me:
“The end has come upon My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore.
3 And the songs of the temple
Shall be wailing in that day,”
Says the Lord GOD—
“Many dead bodies everywhere,
They shall be thrown out in silence.”
4 Hear this, you who swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail,
5 ¶ Saying:
“When will the New Moon be past,
That we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
That we may trade wheat?
Making the ephah small and the shekel large,
Falsifying the scales by deceit,
6 That we may buy the poor for silver,
And the needy for a pair of sandals—
Even sell the bad wheat?”
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
“Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall the land not tremble for this,
And everyone mourn who dwells in it?
All of it shall swell like the River,
Heave and subside
Like the River of Egypt.
9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD,
“That I will make the sun go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,
And all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on every waist,
And baldness on every head;
I will make it like mourning for an only son,
And its end like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
But shall not find it.
13 “In that day the fair virgins
And strong young men
Shall faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria,
Who say,
“As your god lives, O Dan!’
And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’
They shall fall and never rise again.”

God had given Israel many chances to turn back to God, but they had declined all of them. This is the last straw, the end of the line, the deal breaker, so to speak. In other words: NO MORE CHANCES! Notice the declaration of verse 2, "The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore." Hang on; the Assyrians are coming.

Incidentally, the phrases "Behold, the days come" and "it shall come to pass in that day" have often been over simplified by some Bible teachers. We find these phrases here in this passage. Some have suggested that they always pack with them implications for the tribulation and afterward, but these words must always be viewed in light of their context. Here the references are clearly to the fall of Israel to the Assyrians, an event which took place in 721/722 B.C. during the reign of King Hoshea of Israel (II Kings 17, see notes). This prophecy has already been fulfilled in history.

The reference to "Dan" in verse 14 denotes one of the two locations where the founder of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam I, had erected one of two golden-calf altars for Israel's worship back in I Kings 12:25-33 (see notes). This worship of the calf became the state religion of the Northern Kingdom at that point. The "sin of Samaria" in that verse is a description of their worship of false gods instead of the one true God of Israel.

Nowhere to hide (Amos 9:1-10)

1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:
“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
2 “Though they dig into hell,
From there My hand shall take them;
Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
3 And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel,
From there I will search and take them;
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword,
And it shall slay them.
I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”
5 The Lord GOD of hosts,
He who touches the earth and it melts,
And all who dwell there mourn;
All of it shall swell like the River,
And subside like the River of Egypt.
6 He who builds His layers in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;
Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth—
The LORD is His name.
7 “Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,
O children of Israel?” says the LORD.
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
The Philistines from Caphtor,
And the Syrians from Kir?
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
Says the LORD.
9 “For surely I will command,
And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,
As grain is sifted in a sieve;
Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,
Who say, “The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’

Amos sees a vision of the heathen temple of the Northern Kingdom falling in on the people and the rest being slain. Amos then goes into great detail explaining that none of the false-worshipping Jews of the Northern Kingdom would escape judgment; there would simply be no place to hide. Notice the thoroughness with which Israel will be destroyed in verse 9, "For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground." They won't simply be defeated by the Assyrian army; they will be deported and spread throughout the nations. In fact, at the fall of Israel to the Assyrians, the influential people of Israel were deported to other lands. However, Amos does prophesy the preservation of a God-fearing remnant in verse 8 when he says, "'Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,' Says the LORD. "

Finally...some good news! (Amos 9:11-15)

11 “On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom,
And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”
Says the LORD who does this thing.
13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,
“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
And all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
15 I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the LORD your God.

So, what about this restoration seen in the last five verses of Amos? Well, James quotes from this passage in Amos: Acts 15:16-17 (see notes) "'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,' Says the LORD who does all these things." James was speaking to the Jerusalem council on the issue of Gentiles getting saved. These verses speak of the millennium under the provisions of the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 (see notes). The writer of Hebrews emphasizes the provisions of the new covenant also in Hebrews 8:8-12 (see notes) where he quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34 (see notes). The new covenant consists of an inward law written onto one's heart rather than an external law like the Law of Moses. It's a description of New Testament salvation in Christ.

The complete fulfillment of this new covenant for the Jews does not take place until every Jew is saved under its conditions - the conditions that will exist the first day of the millennium. So, while all of us today are saved by its conditions, the whole nation of Israel (per the covenant) will not be saved by those conditions until the millennium.

More information regarding the conditions of the millennium may be seen by viewing the notes on the following passages:

• Isaiah 2:1-5
• Isaiah 11:1-16
• Isaiah 60
• Isaiah 65-66
• Micah 4
• Ezekiel 34:25-31
• Revelation 20