Amos 5

God Encourages Israel's People to Come Back to Him

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; 10:32). Other prophets have also call Israel a virgin (Jeremiah 18:13; 31:4, 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 BC) 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.

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; 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.

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.

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.

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; Psalm 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.

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; 34:22, 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 burned 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 burned 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 (Psalm 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 chapters 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.