Amos 5:1-9
Amos 5:1
Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a
lamentation, O house of Israel.
The word which the LORD is sending them is a lamentation
which is a dirge that expresses extreme grief.
The LORD is sending this in anticipation of the judgment that he must
bring upon them for their idolatry and departing from him.
And he spread it before me; and it
was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and
mourning, and woe. (Ezekiel 2:10)
Amos 5:2
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise:
she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
The virgin of Israel is pointing to the fact that Israel
was a favored nation in God’s sight and also that he had a covenant with them,
something he did not have with other nations.
God is now pointing to the fact that Israel is going to fall, that is, to
be taken into captivity by Assyria and that she will not rise again or be
repatriated to the land that the Lord gave them.
Since Israel had departed from the Lord, she is now forsaken which means
that the enemy is going to do to her a horrible thing by decimating the land and
the population. They may try to
seek help but it will be to no avail because there was no nation powerful enough
to stand against Assyria.
Amos 5:3
For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a
thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall
leave ten, to the house of Israel.
Here is a description of what will happen to the land of
Israel which has been decreed by the LORD.
Those bigger cities which might send out a thousand warriors will see
only one hundred of them survive and the smaller cities which send out a
garrison of only one hundred men will see only ten survive.
This means that the destruction will be so immense that Israel would lose
90% of her fighting force which means a destruction of a proportion which was
never seen before.
Amos 5:4
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye
me, and ye shall live:
Once again God offers them his mercy that if they
genuinely return to him and seek him, then he will rescind his approaching
judgment and they will once again enjoy the blessings of a favored, covenant
nation. Their repentance must be
genuine and not for show.
Amos 5:5
But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not
to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come
to nought.
God warns them that if they truly want to seek him and
return to him that they must avoid the places which caused them to sin in the
first place. Beth-el was where
Jereboam I made his two golden calves and Gilgal was also a place of idolatry.
Beer-sheba was also a place that was used for idolatry.
They that swear by the sin of
Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth;
even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
(Amos 8:14) It would be
like a drunk whom God has delivered and that person would once again visit the
bars instead of walking past them in victory.
The inhabitants of Gilgal will be carried away by Shalmaneser and the
Assyrians so they would have no way to help anyone in the same predicament.
Beth-el also known as Bethaven would also come to nothing because of
their idolatry. Placing one’s trust
in the people of the world will only lead to ruin.
It is better to trust in the LORD
than to put confidence in man.
(Psalm 118:8)
Amos 5:6
Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like
fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in
Beth-el.
Once again God offers them a point of mercy that they
should seek the LORD and they will live in peace with his blessings and
protection. To break out may also
be understood as “Lest he succeed or go through” like a fire in the house of
Joseph which means if they do not turn from their idolatry, there will be a
judgment coming on them as devastating as a fire which completely destroys
everything in its path. This is
speaking about the entire ten tribes which will be utterly destroyed and none of
the false gods which were worshipped at Beth-el will be able to stop or hinder
the coming utter destruction of the northern ten tribes.
{15} The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the
work of men's hands. {16} They have
mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
{17} They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in
their mouths. {18} They that make
them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.
(Psalm 135:15-18)
Amos 5:7
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off
righteousness in the earth,
The leaders of Israel were supposed to bring justice in
Israel and to protect the innocent and maintain a civil order but their sinful
lifestyles had turned true justice into the bitterness of injustice.
Wormwood is a very bitter plant.
But her end is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a twoedged sword.
(Proverbs 5:4) Their idolatrous
and careless ways had left righteousness as if they trampled it under foot into
the ground so it will never be found.
{22} Woe unto them that are mighty
to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
{23} Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness
of the righteous from him! (Isaiah
5:22-23)
Amos 5:8
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and
turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with
night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the
face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
Once again God points out that he is willing to offer
them a pardon if they seek him and genuinely turn back to him.
Here God refers to his creation of the stars.
The seven stars is referring to the constellation Pleiades which normally
rises about September and then he mentions Orion which is also a winter
constellation which we see quite strongly up here in the northeast part of the
United States. It is my favorite
constellation. God is declaring
here that he can take the greatest adversity which would be the shadow of death
and turn it into great prosperity, not necessarily speaking of money.
Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy
rod and thy staff they comfort me.
(Psalm 23:4) Or God also has
the ability of turning prosperity into adversity which is turning the day dark
with night. He also states that he
has the power to call the sea waters and pour them on the face of the earth
which would have reference to the flood in Noah’s time.
It also references that God can command the clouds to rain down on the
earth as we previously read that he allowed some cities to have rain and others
to remain in drought. The LORD is his name which is Jehovah meaning the
self-existent one.
Amos 5:9
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so
that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.