Amos 3

Cause and effect (vs. 1-8)—While Amos aims his prophecy mostly at the northern kingdom of Israel, the first half of this chapter applies to “the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt” (v. 1). Great opportunity brings greater responsibility brings greater punishment: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (v. 2). Sin will always be punished, but Israel’s sin was more substantial because of the knowledge they had. In verses 3-6, Amos asks a series of cause and effect questions: “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” (v. 3). “Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?” (v. 4); and so forth. These questions emphasize the point made in verse two—sin, the cause, will bring punishment, the effect. But Israel has no one to blame but herself: “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (v. 7). The Lord has given, and will give His people, plenty of notice. That theme comes up so often in the Bible. God allows us every possible chance to repent and be saved. If we’re lost, it will be in spite of everything He has done for us. And the man of God really has no option—morally or personally—but to proclaim His message: “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” (v. 8). Just like people reactively fear when they hear a lion roar, Amos says, what can I do but prophesy when Jehovah speaks? "Don't blame me!" Would that all “preachers” had that attitude.

Punishment on Samaria and Israel (vs. 9-15)—This section starts again by God wanting His message announced as publicly as possible: “Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, And in the palaces in the land of Egypt” (v. 9), in other words, everywhere. Oppression, violence, robbery (vs. 9-10); these are some more of the sins of Samaria. “For they do not know to do right, says the LORD” (v. 10). It is a sad thing when people lose the knowledge of what is right. Just as Israel was filled with the Law of Moses, yet it was a “strange thing” to them (Hosea 8:12), even so America today has an abundance of Bibles—and yet an overabundance of ignorance of what God’s Word says. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), and Amos would agree.

Even though Amos is prophesying rather early in the 8th century B.C., verse 11 might have reference to the upcoming Assyrian captivity (which began in 722/21): “An adversary shall be all around the land; he shall sap your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered." Whatever the meaning, when God finishes there won’t be much left: “Thus says the LORD: ‘As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria’” (v. 12). What a vision! Amos tells Israel that, when God gets through with you, all that will be left is maybe a couple of legs and the piece of an ear. That kind of preaching probably didn’t make him very popular. God will “visit destruction on the altars of Bethel” (v. 14). Remember, it was at Dan and Bethel that Jeroboam I set up the golden calves as idols for the northern kingdom to worship: “Therefore the king [Jeroboam] asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan” (I Kings 12:28-29). This idol worship was the main cause of punishment, for both the northern and southern kingdoms. But it wasn’t the only reason. Wealth and worldliness had infiltrated Israel and turned the people away from their Lord. “’I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end,’ says the Lord” (v. 15). Recall that the reign of Jeroboam II, during which Amos prophesied, was a period of great wealth and affluence in Israel. And they had failed to heed God’s warning through Moses in Deuteronomy 31:20: “When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.” Worldliness is a subtle sin against which we must be ever vigilant. It might be the number one sin that afflicts the Lord’s people today—church parking lots filled with fancy automobiles, million dollar church buildings, padded pews and Power Point presentations—while 6+ billion people in the world are lost, dying, and hell bound because we can’t find the money to send gospel preachers to preach to them. Something just isn’t right with that picture.