Amos 5:1-27

The Man with a Difficult Message from God

Amos

Mark Kirkpatrick

Chapter 5

God encourages Israel’s people to come back to him

v1 People in Israel, listen to this song.

‘This funeral song is about you.

v2 ‘The *virgin Israel has fallen.

She will not get up any more. People have left her alone, lying on the ground.

There is nobody to lift her up.’

v3 This is what the *Lord the Ruler says:

‘A city in Israel will send out a thousand men.

But only a hundred will return.

Another city will send out a hundred men.

But only ten will come back.’

v4 This is what the *Lord says to the people in Israel: ‘Come looking for me and live.

v5 Do not try to find me at Bethel.

Do not go to Gilgal.

Do not travel to Beersheba

because the enemy will take away the people from Gilgal as prisoners.

They will completely destroy Bethel.

v6 Look for the *Lord and live.

If you do not look, then a fire will start at Joseph’s house.

That fire will destroy the house of Joseph.

And nobody will be able to stop the fire at Bethel.’

Verse 1 In verse 1 either Amos or God is speaking. We are not sure, but perhaps it is both. God is speaking but he is using Amos to speak God’s words. Funeral songs were part of life in Israel. There were funeral songs about Tyre and Egypt in Ezekiel 26:28 and 32. David sang a funeral song about Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:19-27). Often there was music with the songs (see Matthew 9:23).

Verse 2 Israel was like a *virgin. Once she had a wonderful future, but now she is dying. Isaiah has a similar idea. He calls Israel a ‘daughter of *Zion’ (Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 10:32). Other *prophets have also call Israel a *virgin (Jeremiah 18:13; Jeremiah 31:4; Jeremiah 31:21). The *virgin has died in a battle. Her death is very sad because she has not had any children.

Verse 3 Israel’s armies were in groups of thousands and hundreds. But both these groups will become tiny and of no use in battle. They will not be able to protect the towns and cities, and most of the soldiers will die.

Verses 4-5 Now there is a call to listen. God wants Israel to make a choice. Israel’s *worship at Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba has been completely false. Bethel and Gilgal are familiar places (4:4), but God now adds Beersheba to the list. Beersheba was in the far south of Judah. It was an important place for the *Israelites. Abraham stayed there (Genesis 22:19), and God spoke to Jacob there (Genesis 46:1-5). Many people visited Beersheba. Jeroboam 1st (930-910 *B.C.) made Bethel into the most important place for *worship in the North. This was after Israel became separate from Judah. Gilgal was another place for *worship, where Joshua *circumcised many people. But these places became important for the wrong reasons. God wanted the *Israelites to look for him, and *worship him in the right way. He did not want them to offer *sacrifices and at the same time not to obey his other *laws.

Verse 6 Amos reminds the people about what God said in verse 4. We find true life as we look for God and obey his *laws. The ‘house of Joseph’ was the northern nation called Israel. Many people from the *tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh lived there. Their *ancestor was Joseph. However, these *tribes will not be able to stop God’s fire. Even Bethel will burn.

v7 You use *laws in a way that people hate.

You do not care about doing right things.

v8 God made the Pleiades and the Orion.

He changes the darkness into the dawn.

He turns the day into the dark night.

He calls for the waters of the sea.

He pours them out onto the land. His name is the *Lord.

v9 He destroys strong places. He ruins strong cities.

v10 Some men speak against guilty people in court. You hate these men.

You hate people that tell the truth.

v11 You do not care about the poor people. You steal their grain. So, when you build grand houses you will not live in them.

Perhaps you will plant beautiful fields of *grapes.

But you will not drink wine from them.

v12 I will do this because I know about your crimes.

I know about your many *sins.

You hurt people who do good things.

You accept money to do wrong things.

You make sure that poor people do not get the right decisions in the court.

Verse 7 Not much is fair in the courts. Powerful people put innocent people into prison. Judges free guilty people. Few people care about these things.

Verses 8-9 These verses are part of a song. The Pleiades and Orion are groups of stars. God put these stars in the sky. There were none there before he created them (Job 9:9; Job 38:31). The *Israelites turned good into bad. In the same way, God can change things. He brings comfort. But he also destroys things. He can even destroy strong cities.

Verse 10 This verse continues on from verse 7. There were leaders in Israel who still spoke the truth. They wanted the courts to be fair. But unfair leaders wanted these leaders to be quiet. When things are unfair, people will hate each other. Even people in other nations will think badly about Israel. God, however, wants to *bless good judges (Proverbs 24:24-25). They must not be afraid to speak if rich people are doing wrong things.

Verse 11 Bad judges took grain from poor farmers. Rich people then took this grain. They sold the grain to buy grand houses. There is a *curse in Deuteronomy 28:30. This says that people will build houses but they will not live in them. They will plant fields of *grapes, but they will not enjoy their fruit. This is how God will punish them for doing wrong things.

Verse 12 God speaks again about a familiar idea. The courts were not fair. The leaders got the decisions that they wanted They accepted money from rich people. The leaders wanted to be kind to rich people but not to poor people. There was no hope that things would get better.

v13 Therefore, a careful and sensible person will keep quiet in such times, because the times are evil.

v14 You say that the *Lord God *Almighty is with you.

Do good things, not evil things. Then you will live. Then the *Lord God *Almighty will really be with you.

v15 Hate evil things and love good things.

Be fair in the *law courts.

Then perhaps the *Lord God *Almighty will be kind to the people who are still alive. These are people from Joseph’s family.

Verse 13 When there is fear, people stay quiet. It is easier for people if they do not cause any trouble. A sensible man is silent (Proverbs 10:19).

Verse 14 People must try to be good. They need to make good choices. God has *blessed Israel in the past. Then he punished them because of their *sins. Now he wants to *bless them again. The people are sure that God is near them. But Amos says that God might not be near them. He can only be near if they make good choices. It is their duty to do everything that they can do for God (see Luke 17:10).

Verse 15 It is clear what the people have to do. Amos has already told them before this. He mentions the problem of bad courts again. The people will need to convince God that they are very sad about their *sins. He will want time to look closely at their lives. Then perhaps he will *bless them. ‘Joseph’s family’ is another way of saying ‘Israel’. This is because Joseph was one of Jacob’s (Israel’s) most important sons.

v16 Therefore, this is what the *Lord, the *Lord God *Almighty says:

‘There will be crying in the streets.

People will cry in the public squares where people meet.

Even farmers will have to weep.

People will pay other people to cry for the dead.

v17 People will be crying in the fields of *grapes.

This will be because I am going to come among you.’

The *Lord says these things.

Verse 16 Amos now repeats to his familiar idea of tears. God’s punishment will affect everyone. People will cry in the cities and in the country. There will not be enough people to cry. So even farmers, who are often busy, will need to cry. At that time, people paid other people to cry when somebody had died. Often these were women (Jeremiah 9:17).

Verse 17 God has decided that everywhere people will die, even in the fields. Nobody will escape his judgement. When God passed through Egypt, there was no escape for the *Egyptians. He punished them. In the same way, the *Israelites have caused God to be their enemy. So God will come again in judgement.

v18 ‘Some of you want to see the day of the *Lord.

You will be sad!

The day of the *Lord will not be a good day for you.

It will be dark, not light.

v19 You will be like a man who escapes from a lion.

But then a bear attacks him.

You will be like a man who goes into his house.

He leans on a wall and then a snake bites him!

v20 The *Lord’s special day will be dark, not light.

It will be completely dark. There will not be any light.’

Verse 18 In the past, the ‘day of the *Lord’ meant a special time. This time was when God helped the *Israelites to defeat their enemies. However, Amos has a surprise for the people. The ‘day of the *Lord’ will mean the opposite of what the *Israelites expected. They will not like it. Amos was the first of the *Old Testament *prophets to write about this ‘day’. When the *Old Testament *prophets spoke about this ‘day’, it referred to a definite event. It points to a time in the future. The *Lord alone decides when this time will be.

Verse 19 Amos now uses two pictures. These pictures say that there will be no escape. There will be no defence. The *Israelites cannot avoid the judgement of God.

Verse 20 People often use darkness as a picture. In the *Old Testament it is often a picture of trouble, unhappy people, danger, and even death (1 Samuel 2:9; Job 5:14; Psalms 91:6; Isaiah 5:30). Job described the place where dead people are as a land of darkness (Job 10:21-22). So, when he said this, God was being very clear.

v21 ‘I hate the special meals that you have for me’, says the *Lord.

‘I hate the times when you meet together for me.

v22 You may offer me grain. But I will not accept it.

You may offer me things that you burn. But I will refuse them.

You may bring me fat animals that you offer in peace.

But I will refuse them.

v23 Take your noisy songs away from me.

I will not listen to the music from your *harps.

v24 Everyone should act fairly.

Fair actions should flow like a river.

Let good things flow like a stream that never becomes dry.

v25 Israel, you were in the desert for 40 years.

It was there that you brought me *sacrifices.

You offered me things.

v26 But you carried Sakkuth, your ‘king’ and Chiun.

These were your *idols, the star of your gods.

You made these *idols.

v27 Therefore I will send you into *exile beyond Damascus.’

The *Lord God *Almighty says these things.

Verse 21 The *Israelites met together several times in the year to *worship God and to eat special meals. There were three special times. They were called Tabernacles, *Passover, and Weeks (Exodus 23:14-17; Exodus 34:22; Exodus 34:25; Deuteronomy 16:1-16). The *Israelites probably went to Bethel or Gilgal to eat the meals there. However, there were other less important meals. These were on *Sabbaths, new moons and other occasions. But God hated them all.

Verse 22 Amos now mentions the people’s *sacrifices. The ‘things that you burn’ were *sacrifices that burnt completely. The smoke went up to God (Leviticus 1:3-17). The ‘grain’ *sacrifice could refer to different types of *sacrifices that people made with flour (Leviticus 2). They burnt part of the ‘peace’ *sacrifices. The people ate the part that remained. However, God would not accept any of these *sacrifices.

Verse 23 Also God did not accept their songs. Music was an important part of the *worship of the *Israelites (Psalms 150; Ezra 2:65; Isaiah 5:12). But it was only a noise. God did not want to listen.

Verse 24 Amos now tells the *Israelites what was wrong. People were not living in the right way. They were not following the true way of God. They separated their *worship from their private lives. We must love our neighbour. Jesus warned us about this (Matthew 7:21-23). We often say the right things. But we do not always mean what we say.

Verse 25 God led Israel’s people as they wandered in the desert. The *Israelites had trouble in the desert, but God gave them food and water. It was a time when they were close to God. God told them how he wanted them to offer *sacrifices (Leviticus Chapter s 1-7). The *Israelites beat their enemies in Israel. But they did not offer *sacrifices in the proper way.

Verse 26 This is a very difficult verse to understand. The *Hebrew is not clear. We do not know which period of time this verse refers to. God did not like the way that the *Israelites made *sacrifices. He hated their *worship of *idols. When the *Israelites travelled, they carried Sakkuth and Chiun with them. Perhaps these *idols were from Assyria. The *Israelites made these *idols themselves. They were stupid to think that these *idols could do anything. They probably offered *sacrifices to these *idols as well as to God.

Verse 27 God had no more patience. He had decided to punish them. This punishment would be final. He would take them from their home and they would have to live far away.

virgin ~ a woman who has not yet had sex with a man.
Lord ~ a special name for God. God told the Jews that this was his name. Some Bibles use ‘LORD’ for this special name. There is another word ‘lord’ which means someone with authority. This is why I have translated as ‘the Lord the ruler’ the title that really is ‘lord LORD’.)
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Zion ~ the holy mountain in Jerusalem; another name for Jerusalem.
prophet ~ a man or woman who was able to speak God’s words to the people.
worship ~ a way to act when we are with God.
Israelites ~ people living in Israel, sons of Jacob.
circumcise ~ to cut off the loose skin from the end of the sex part of a boy or man.
sacrifice ~ to give a gift to God of an animal or food. Usually people burnt all or part of this gift. This may be a way to thank God, or to ask him to forgive us.
law ~ the rules that God or rulers make.
tribe ~ a large group of people from the same family; family from one man. The first Jews were the 12 sons of Jacob. The family of each son became a tribe.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
ancestors ~ member of our families who lived many years ago. They are now dead.
grape ~ a type of fruit. People make wine with it.'sin, sinful ~ when people do bad things against God or other people.
bless ~ to help people; to guard them.
curse ~ to use bad words; to wish evil things upon someone.
Almighty ~ better than everyone else; the Lord of everything. This can also mean that God leads the armies of heaven.
Lord ~ a special name for God. God told the Jews that this was his name. Some Bibles use ‘LORD’ for this special name. There is another word ‘lord’ which means someone with authority. This is why I have translated as ‘the Lord the ruler’ the title that really is ‘lord LORD’.)
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Egyptians ~ people who came from Egypt.'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before Christ’s birth.
harp ~ a type of musical instrument with strings.
idol ~ a false God; something that we love more than God.
exile ~ the time when the Israelites had to leave the land of Israel. (They went into exile.)
Israelites ~ people living in Israel, sons of Jacob.
Passover ~ annual ceremony to remember God’s rescue of the Jews from Egypt.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Sabbath ~ the seventh day of the week. On this day the Jewish people were not allowed to work.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Hebrew ~ the language of Jewish people.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.