Bible Commentaries
Amos 4

Verses 1-13

Chapter 4

Then the Lord says,

Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan ( Amos 4:1 ),

They worshiped the calf so God calls them a bunch of cows. But because they worshiped the calf, He speaks disdainfully concerning them.

which are on the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor ( Amos 4:1 ),

Again, the oppression of the poor must have been great because God makes continual reference to it.

who crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink ( Amos 4:1 ).

So there is that disparity between the very wealthy and the extreme poor. That kind of disparity that is a curse and a plague to many nations where they really do not take care of the poor with whom God is very interested.

The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks ( Amos 4:2 ).

This literally happened. The Assyrians were extremely cruel people. They were so cruel that history does record of many cities when surrounded by the Assyrian army, the inhabitants would commit mass suicide much as Masada, rather than to be captured by the Assyrians, because they feared them. Because the Assyrians were accustomed to mutilating their captives: cutting off their ears, mutilating their bodies, mutilating their faces. One of the things the Assyrians did with their captives is that they would put fishhooks through their lips to drag them back to Assyria, or through their noses, or through their ears, so that you'd have to keep marching. You try to slow down and that thing begins to pull on your nose, or on your lip or on your ear. And here is the prophecy, "You're gonna be led away with fishhooks." So it was. The Assyrians, when they captured Samaria, attached to the people these fishhooks and drug them away, or led them away captive to Assyria. "The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness, that lo, the day shall come upon you that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks."

And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. Come to Bethel ( Amos 4:3-4 ),

This place where Jacob first met God and called it Bethel, the house of God. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." But they had made it a place of idolatrous worship, the center of their idolatrous worship in the Northern Kingdom. "Come to Bethel,"

and transgress; at Gilgal [another place of pagan worship] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD ( Amos 4:4-5 ).

Now God here speaks of the judgment that He had brought against them, and the purpose of these judgments was to cause them to turn to God. God oftentimes uses what we call judgments or chastisements, in order to turn us from our path of destruction. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth" ( Hebrews 12:6 ).

Now, as long as you're a child you don't understand that. It's not until you become a parent that you understand it. I thought my dad was just feeding me the biggest line when he would say, "Son, this hurts me more than it hurts you." I did not believe that. I thought my dad was just putting me on, until I became a dad and I understood exactly what he meant. The hurt that you feel when it is necessary to punish your child, but you know you must for their own sake and for their own good chastise them, or else they could destroy themselves. But you don't want to inflict pain, but you know that you've got to somehow teach them the danger of their activities. So you are forced to chastise them, though it is an extremely painful thing to do. God, for our benefit, chastises us, and for Him it's a painful process. God says, "Turn! I don't want to meet you in judgment. I would rather meet you in mercy. I delight in mercy, not in judgment." I know that as a parent. I always look for any excuse not to spank them. "Say you're sorry, please say you're sorry." I was a softie. I would let them talk me out of it, with a very stern warning, "Next time..." And God doesn't enjoy chastising His children, but it is for our benefit and our good in order that we might turn to Him.

So God brought various chastisements against the land. Oh, how we misunderstand God. Whenever a chastisement or judgment comes, somehow in our minds we picture God is angry with us, as I often pictured my dad angry with me, because I did not understand him. After being chastised, I would often go in my room and I'd begin to cry, "Nobody loves me. I don't even think my dog loves me anymore. Nobody loves me." Then I'd wish I were dead, because they would all feel sorry then if I were dead, you know. So you think about them standing around your casket crying like everything. The emotional traumas of a child.

When in the Garden of Eden after Adam had sinned and the Lord came down in the cool of the day to walk with him, Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord, for he realized that he was naked. God said, "Adam, where art thou?" That was not the cry of an arresting policeman, but the sob of a heartbroken Father. But so many times we read it and we think, "Oh man, here he is. Gonna wring his neck, 'Where are you!'" No. You've got to read that and hear the sob in the voice, "Adam, what have you done?" As God could see the effect of Adam's transgression upon the whole human race, you and me included. What we have suffered, and what mankind has suffered for the action of Adam. "Adam, where are you?" Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and the purpose is always to turn us to God from the path of self-destruction. God knows to continue that path is to destroy ourselves. So God speaks of those things.

I've given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, want of bread in all of your places: and yet you did not return to me ( Amos 4:6 ),

He had allowed food shortages to develop, yet the people wouldn't turn.

So I withheld the rain ( Amos 4:7 ),

He began erratic weather patterns.

when there was yet three months until harvest: I caused it to rain on one city, and not to rain upon another: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereon it did not rain withered. There were two or three cities wandering into one city, looking for water; but they were not satisfied: [A drought in the land.] and yet [God said] you didn't return to me. So I have smitten you then with a blasting mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, then the palmerworm [the locusts] devoured them ( Amos 4:7-9 ):

The Medfly, the white fly, and yet the Lord said, "You have not returned unto Me."

So I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt [that is, the viral infections and all]: and your young men I have slain with the sword, and I've taken away your horses; and I've made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: and yet you have not returned unto me, saith the LORD. So I've overthrown some of you, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, [fire, earthquakes] the firebrand plucked out of the burning: and yet you have not returned unto me, saith the LORD. Therefore ( Amos 4:10-12 )

Because they had not hearkened to these warning judgments of God, because they had not turned away from their evil deeds.

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel ( Amos 4:12 ).

This is not meeting God in friendly terms, but meeting God to face His judgment. Heavy, heavy duty. "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." It is necessary and important that each of us make preparation, because each of us ultimately, one day are gonna stand before God. "And I saw all of the dead small and great standing before the great white throne judgment of God" ( Revelation 20:11-12 ). All of the dead. Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And every man was judged according to the things which were written in the book. "For it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment" ( Hebrews 9:27 ). No one can escape it. Inevitably, inescapably, one day each of you are gonna stand before God, and that will be a very awesome experience, because you'll be standing before the very Creator of the universe.

For, lo, he that formed the mountains ( Amos 4:13 ),

God said, "Let the dry land appear."

and created the wind, and declared unto man what is his thoughts, and makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth, Yahweh, The God of hosts, is his name ( Amos 4:13 ).

Prepare to meet Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Creator of the universe. "