Amos 1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the
sheepherders from Tekoa, which he envisioned in visions
concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the
days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before
the earthquake.
“In the meantime, a great earthquake shook the
ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays
of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king’s face,
insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately; and
before the city, at a place called Eroge, which will half the mountain
broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself four furlongs,
and stood still at the east mountain, till the roads, as well as the
king’s gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction. (226) Now, as
soon as the priest saw that the king’s face was infected with the leprosy, they told him of the calamity he was under, and commanded that he should go out of the city as a polluted
person. Hereupon he was so confounded at the sad distemper,
and sensible that he was not at liberty to contradict, that he did as
he was commanded, and underwent this miserable and terrible
punishment for an intention beyond what befitted a man to have,
and for that impiety against God which was implied therein. (227)
So he abode out of the city for some time, and lived a private life,
while his son Jotham took the government; after which he died
with grief and anxiety at what had happened to him, when he had
lived sixty-eight years, and reigned of them fifty-two; and was
buried by himself in his own gardens.” (1.)
Archeological excavations at Hazor (haht-zor) and Samaria have uncovered
evidence corresponding to a violent earthquake in Israel cir. 760BC
Amos prophesied during a period of national optimism in
Israel… But below the surface, greed and injustice were
festering.
Hypocritical religious motions had replaced true worship, creating a false sense of security and a growing callousness to God’s disciplining hand. Famine, drought, plagues, death, destruction—nothing could force the people to their knees.
Amos, the country-farmer-turned-prophet, lashes out at sin unflinchingly, trying to visualize the nearness of God’s judgment and mobilize the nation to repentance. The nation, like a basket of rotting fruit, stands ripe for judgment because of its hypocrisy and spiritual indifference. (2.)
Amos was a contemporary of Hosea, who also addressed the northern kingdom of Israel––yet, in some respects, the two prophets had different messages.
Amos was a peasant, a herdsman, a fruit picker from a small town in Judah. From his own admission, an unlikely if not unqualified messenger: Amos 7:14-15
In Hosea we read of God’s love even through the judgment to come. Amos’ message reminds Israel of God’s righteousness and justice, and that He will implement His wrath and justice
9 chapters, 146 verses
Careful study of the book also suggests a palistrophe, i.e., the entire book can be views as an extended chiasm. Within Amos, chapter 5:8-9 is the “center” and generally regarded as a hymn fragment:
A Dirge – Fallen Israel 5:1-9
B Call to seek the Lord 5:4-6
C Complaint of injustice 5:7
D “Doxology” 5:8-9
C’ Protesting injustice 5:10-13
B’ Call to seek good and not evil 5:14-15
A’ Mourning – wailing 5:16-17
Doxology – ology is the study, doxa means glory. the study of glory. When we sing a doxology, we’re worshiping God for who He is. It’s a vertical offering of praise. Amos 5:8-9
God brought a vine, his people, out of Egypt (cf. Exodus 15:17) and planted it (Psalm 80:8 [H 9]) with his own hand (Ps 80:15); cf. Psalm 44:2 among choice vines (Isaiah 5:2). Indeed, they were “his pleasant planting” (Isaiah 5:7). Yet with all this care, God’s vine became a wild vine (Jeremiah 2:21). He longed once again to call them “the shoot of my planting” (Isaiah 60:21) for they were meant to be the “planting of the lord (Isaiah 61:3). Before this could be, however, God told Israel that they must first be uprooted and exiled from their land: ”Thus says the lord: “What I have planted I am plucking up, that is, the whole land” (Jeremiah45:4; cf. Jeremiah 24:6). But this would not be a permanent transplant, for God specified in his covenant with David, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more” (2 Samuel 7:10; 1 Chronicles 17:9). Later, God’s last word through Amos reiterated the promise: “I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land which I have given them” (Amos 9:15; cf. Jeremiah 31:28; 32:41). (3.)
Resources:
Dr. Mark Chavalas, Dr. Wendy Widder, and Dr. Kevin Zuber join Michael to wrap up The Big Book—Cover to Cover with a discussion about the value of studying and understanding scripture as a whole, from Genesis to Revelation.
Dr. Mark Hitchcock joins Michael to discuss the complex and valuable book: Revelation.
It’s remarkable to step back on this Big Book and see that it begins and ends with connections that are impossible to ignore. In this episode, Michael teaches an overview of the book of Revelation.