Amos 3:7-11

The Lord has spoken -- Amos 3:7-11: Whatever God intended to do He revealed through His prophet. It was not just talk. It would happen just as He revealed through His messenger. When God's prophets sounded the warning the people should take heed. Everyone is terrified when a lion roars. Just so, when God spoke to the prophet fear would cause him to prophesy the exact message that God had given him by revelation. The people, then, should have trembled when God promised punishment.

Philistia and Egypt were invited to come and witness what was going to happen to Samaria. Samaria was the capital of Israel, the 10-tribe northern kingdom of the Jews. They would be able to see the injustice, the lawlessness and the wickedness of God's people. They would also observe that even the sins of God's own people would not go unpunished. The people of God were unwilling to do right. They did not even consider what the Lord had told them to do. They had not been honest, but had become rich from violence and robbery. God promised that the Assyrians would break through their defenses and steal their treasures. In 2 Kings 17:5 we read, "Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years."