Amos 5 - Introduction

This section of the prophecy falls naturally into three parts, Amos 5:1-27; Amos 6:1-14, each drawing out, in different terms, the moral grounds of Israel's impending ruin, and ending with a similar outlook of invasion, or exile.

(1) Amos 5:1-17. Israel continuing to shew no signs of amendment, there remains nothing but inevitable ruin; and the prophet accordingly begins to sing his elegy over the impending fall of the kingdom, which in spirit he beholds already as consummated (Amos 5:1). Israel deserves this fate, for it has done the very opposite of what God demands: God demanded obedience, judgement, and mercy; Israel has persistently practised the reverse, and has acted so as to call down upon itself a just retribution (Amos 5:4). Its state is desperate (Amos 5:12 f.); certainly, even now it is not too late to amend, and the prophet again in treats it earnestly to do so (Amos 5:14 f.); but he sees only too well that his words will not be listened to; and again therefore he draws in outline a dark picture of the calamities impending upon the nation.