Bible Commentaries
Amos 3

Verses 1-15

VI

THE BOOK OF AMOS PART 2

Amos 3:1-9:15

Helps commended: (1) "Bible Commentary," (2) "Pulpit Commentary," (3) Pusey’s Minor Prophets, (4) "Benson’s Commentary."

The section, Amos 3:1-6:14, consists of three parts, or three distinct addresses, each commencing with the words, "Hear this word."

The first address consists, in particular, of the verdict and sentence of Jehovah against all Israel, and is divided as follows: (1) a principle stated (Amos 3:1-8); (2) a reason assigned (Amos 3:9-12); (3) a sentence announced (Amos 3:13-15).

The principle stated in Amos 3:1-8 is that an effect proves a cause. This principle is enforced by seven illustrative questions, viz: (1) communion proves agreement; (2) the lion’s roar proves the prey; (3) the cry of the young lion proves the prey possessed; (4) the fall of the bird proves the bait; (5) the springing of the snare proves the bird to be taken; (6) the sounding of the trumpet proves the alarm; (7) calamity in the city proves Jehovah. The application of all this is made by the prophet) bringing in his text, as follows: "The lion [Jehovah] hath roared; therefore I fear. The Lord hath spoken, therefore I prophesy."

In Amos 3:9-12 we hear the prophet giving a special invitation to the Philistines and Egyptians, Israel’s inveterate enemies, to assemble in Samaria to witness the great wickedness and destruction of Israel because they did not do right, storing up violence and robbery in their palaces, and whose tumults and oppressions abounded toward the people. The judgment to follow was to be like the work of the lion devouring his prey.

The sentence announced (Amos 3:13-15) is the complete destruction of Israel, and the thoroughness of its execution is indicated by the sentence of destruction against its objects and places of worship and the smiting of the habitations of the rulers, showing the complete desolation of their city, Samaria.

The second address consists, in particular, of an indictment and a summons of Jehovah, and its parts are as follows: (1) the king of Bashan threatened (Amos 4:1-3); (2) a sarcastic command (Amos 4:4-5) ; (3) a list of providences (Amos 4:6-11); (4) a summons to an account (Amos 4:12-13).

In Amos 4:1-3 we have Jehovah’s threat against the carousing and oppressive women. Bashan was famous for its flocks and herds. The proud and luxurious matrons of Israel are here described as like the cattle of Bashan, because the cattle of the pastures of Bashan were uncommonly large, wanton, and headstrong by reason of their full feeding. These women because of their luxuries were oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. How perverted their natures must have been from the true instincts of womanhood! But such is the effect of luxury without grace. How depraved and animal-like to say, "Bring and let us drink," but such are the marks of a well-developed animal nature. No wonder that just here we should hear Jehovah’s oath and threat announced: "they shall take you away with hooks," indicating their humiliation in contrast with their present luxury and pride. How true the proverb: "Pride goeth before a fall."

In Amos 4:4-5 we have a sample of the prophet’s sarcasm, commanding the people to multiply their offerings in their transgression at Gilgal and Bethel, the two most prominent places of worship in Israel. At these places they worshiped the calf after the pattern of Jeroboam 1.

In Amos 4:6-11 there are mentioned five distinct providences of the Lord as follows: (2) a scarcity of food, or a famine, per- haps the famine of 2 Kings 8:1; (2) a severe drought; (3) a blasting with mildew; (4) a pestilence; (5) a destruction of cities. The express purpose of all these was to turn the people unto Jehovah. This is an everlasting refutation of the contention that God’s providences do not come into the realm of the temporal. He sent the famine, he sent the drought, he sent the blasting and mildew, he sent the pestilence, and he overthrew the cities, and why not believe that he "is the same yesterday and today, yea and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8)? A great text is found in Amos 4:11, and also in Amos 4:12.

In Amos 4:12-13 we have the summons to get ready to meet a powerful and angry God. He had exhausted his mercy and chastisements to bring them back but all these things had failed, after which he calls them to meet him in judgment. So we may say that God is now in Christ exhausting his mercy and visiting the world with chastisements and when all has failed, he says to the one who has rejected his mercy and treated lightly his visitation, "Prepare to meet thy God," and it is appropriate to say that we may prepare to meet God in Christ, or we must meet him in judgment out of Christ, and out of Christ, "God is a consuming fire."

The third address consists of repeated announcements of judgments, with appeals to turn and do good, and its parts are as follows: (1) a lamentation, an exhortation, and a hope for the remnant (Amos 5:1-15) ; (2) another lamentation, a woe, a disgust, and a judgment (Amos 5:16-27); (3) another woe, an abhorrence, and a certain judgment (Amos 8:1-14).

In Amos 5:1-15 we have a lamentation, an exhortation, and a hope expressed. The lamentation is that of the prophet himself, over the condition of Israel and the judgment already decreed. The exhortation is to repentance and to seek the true God. The hope is, that through repentance, a remnant of Israel may be saved. In Amos 5:16-27 we have another lamentation, a woe, a disgust, and a judgment. The lamentation in this instance is that of the people when Jehovah comes in judgment upon the land; the woe is pronounced upon the hypocrite who wishes for the day of Jehovah, for it will be to him an awful day; the disgust here is that of Jehovah at their feasts, offerings, and music, because of their sins, and the judgment denounced is their captivity, beyond Damascus, or their captivity by the Assyrians. In Amos 6:1-14 we have another woe, an abhorrence and a certain judgment. The woe in this passage is to the rich, luxurious oppressors who feel secure; the abhorrence is that of Jehovah for the excellency, or pride, of Jacob. As a result of it all there is denounced against Israel again her certain doom and the extent of it particularly noted.

Amos 7:1-9:10 consists of revelations for all Israel, conveyed by means of visions. The several parts of this section are as follows: (1) the locusts, (2) the fire, (3) the plumb line, (4) the basket of fruit, (5) Jehovah himself. In Amos 7:1-3 we have the prophet’s vision of the locusts which are represented as eating the grass of the land, the latter growth after the king’s mowing. This signified a threatened judgment, which is the threatened invasion of Pul (Tiglathpileser II) (2 Kings 15:1-17 ff.), but it was restrained by the intercession of the prophet, at which Jehovah repented and judgment was arrested.

In Amos 7:4-6 we have the prophet’s vision of fire which is represented as devouring the deep and was making for the land. This signified a threatened judgment more severe than the other, which is the second invasion of Tiglath-pileser II, who conquered Gilead and the northern part of the kingdom and carried some of the people captive to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29). This, too, was restrained by the intercession of the prophet, at which God repented and arrested the judgment.

In Amos 7:7-9 we have the prophet’s vision of the plumb line in the hand of Jehovah by which he signified that justice was to be meted out to Israel and that judgment was determined. So the prophet holds his peace and makes no more intercession. This judgment was irremediable and typified the final conquest by Shalmaneser.

Just after the vision of the plumb line there follows the incident of the interference of Amaziah, the priest of Bethel. This Amaziah was an imposter, and yet held the position of priest. He reported to Jeroboam what Amos was saying, advising his exile. He, moreover, attempted to appeal to the fear of Amos, and advised him to flee to Judah. The answer of Amos was full of dignity, born of the consciousness of the divine authority of his mission. He declared that he was no prophet, but that Jehovah had taken him and spoken to him; thus he had become a prophet in very deed. Then he prophesied against Amaziah declaring that God’s judgment would overtake him and Israel.

In Amos 8:1-14 we have the vision of a basket of ripe, summer fruit which indicates that the people were ripe for judgment and that judgment was imminent. Jehovah declared that the end had come; that he would not pass by them any more. This announcement was followed, on the part of the prophet, by an impassioned address to the money-makers, in which he declared the effect of their lust for gain, viz: they swallowed the needy and caused the poor to fail. He described the intensity of that lust, thus: the new moon and sabbath were irksome. Then follows a figurative description of judgment, which declared Jehovah’s perpetual consciousness of these things and his consequent retribution. The final issue of judgment the prophet declared to be a famine of the words of the Lord, as a result of which there would come eager and fruitless search, followed by the fainting of youth because of their thirst for a knowledge of God. All this finds fulfilment in the events which followed in the history of Israel. They were deprived of prophets and revelations after Amos and Hosea, and the captivity came according to this prophecy, during which they had no prophets in the strange land of their captivity. This is a foreshadowing of Israel’s condition today. She rejected the Messiah and for these two thousand years she has been without a prophet, priest or Urim and Thummim, no revelation from God to cheer their dark and gloomy hearts.

In Amos 9:1-10 we have the vision of God himself standing beside the altar which symbolizes judgment executed, though there was no symbol, or sign. We hear the manifesto of Jehovah himself. It is one of the most awe-inspiring visions of the whole Bible. The message proceeded in two phases: First, an announcement of judgment irrevocable and irresistible; secondly, a declaration of the procedure so reasonable and discriminative. Jehovah is seen standing by the altar, declaring the stroke of destruction to be inevitable, and all attempts at escape futile, because he has proceeded to action. While the judgment is to be reasonable and discriminative, the claims in which Israel had trusted were nothing. They became as the children of the Ethiopians. The Philistines and the Syrians had also been led by God. The eyes of Jehovah were on the sinful kingdom and the sifting process must go forward but no grain of wheat should perish.

In Amos 9:11-15, we have a most consoling conclusion of this prophecy in sundry evangelical promises, after so many very severe and sharp menaces.

The phrase, "In that day," refers to the time after the events previously mentioned had been fulfilled and extends into the messianic age. See Acts 15:16. But what does the prophet mean by raising up the tabernacle of David? The promise, doubtless, at least in the first place, was intended of the return of the Jews from the land of their captivity, their resettlement in Judea, rebuilding Jerusalem, and attaining to the height of power and glory which they enjoyed under the Maccabees. This restoration was an event so extraordinary, and the hope of it so necessary to be maintained in the minds of the Jewish people, in order to their support under the calamity of their seventy years of captivity, that God was pleased to foretell it by the mouth of all his prophets. This prophecy however must be extended to the days of the Messiah, and to the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God, according to Acts 15:16. They did not possess the remnant of Edom until after their restoration in the days of Hyrcanus, when they made an entire conquest of Edom, but the statement which follows, viz: "and all the nations that are called by my name," goes farther into the future and, at least, intimates the salvation of the Gentiles.

In Amos 9:13 we have the promise of the blessings of grace to come in the messianic age in which the reaping shall be so great that the reapers cannot get out of the way of the sowers. This we see fulfilled now sometimes in a small way but these times of harvest are but the firstfruits of the harvest which is to follow, especially, the harvest that is to follow in the millennium. The promise of Amos 9:14-15 will find its complete fulfilment at the return of the Jews to their own land and their conversion which will usher in the millennium and extend the glorious kingdom of our Lord.

QUESTIONS

1. Of what in general, does the section, Amos 3:1-6:14 consist and how does each part commence?

2. Of what, in particular, does the first address consist and what its parts?

3. What is the principle stated in Amos 3:13, how illustrated and what the application?

4. In Amos 3:9-12 who were invited to witness Israel’s doom, what the reason assigned and what was to be the character of the judgment to come upon Israel?

5. What the sentence announced in Amos 3:13-15, and how is the thoroughness of its execution indicated?

6. Of what, in particular, does the second address consist and what its parts?

7. What the force and application of "ye kine of Bashan" and what the threat against them?

8. What of the sarcastic command of Amos 4:4-5?

9. What the items of providence cited and what their purpose as expressed by the prophet in Amos 4:6-11?

10. What the summons of Amos 4:12-13, and what application may be made of such texts in preaching?

11. Of what, in particular, does the third address consist, and what its

12. What the lamentation, what the exhortation and what the hope, of Amos 5:1-15?

13. What the lamentation, what the woe, what the disgust, and what. The judgment of Amos 5:16-27?

14. What the woe, what the abhorrence and what the certain judgment of Amos 6:1-14?

15. Of what, in general, does the section, Amos 7:1-9:10, consist, and what are its several parts?

16. What is the vision of locusts and what its interpretation?

17. What the vision of fire and what its interpretation?

18. What the vision of the plumb line and what its interpretation?

19. What historical incident follows the vision of the plumb line and what the several points of the story in detail?

20. What the vision of the basket of fruit, what its interpretation and what the prophet’s explanation following?

21. What the vision of God himself and what its interpretation?

22. What, in general, the prophecy of Amos 9:11-15?

23. What the meaning of the phrase, "In that day"?

24. What does the prophet mean by raising up the tabernacle of David?

25. When did they possess the remnant of Edom?

26. What the meaning of Amos 9:13?

27. What the fulfilment of Amos 9:14-15?