Recently I was given the chance to speak on an overview of the Book of Amos in the Old Testament. Using different commentaries, study Bibles, articles, listening to other pastors, and my thoughts here is a summary of the 9 chapters from the book of Amos.
The Book of Amos
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) If you believe this statement, as I do. The book of Amos is in the Bible for a reason and should be looked at.
The opening verse of Amos sets the historical context within which the book is to be read. Amos 1:1
The opening verses of this book do far more than provide general information about the person and time of Amos. These verses alert readers to the foundational reality that everything that follows is divine revelation.
The book of Amos emphasizes prophets. Amos explained that God uses prophets to do His work (see Amos 3:7). “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
Amos warned of the judgments that were about to come upon the people of Israel because they had rejected the prophets.
Purpose of Writing: Amos is a shepherd and a fruit picker from the Judean village of Tekoa when God calls him, even though he lacks an education or a priestly background. Amos' mission is directed to his neighbor to the north, Israel. His messages of impending doom and captivity for the nation because of her sins are largely unpopular and unheeded, however, because not since the days of Solomon have times been so good in Israel. Amos' ministry takes place while Jeroboam II reigns over Israel, and Uzziah reigns over Judah.
Key Verses:
Amos 2:4, "This is what the LORD says: 'For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed.'"
Amos 3:7, "Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets."
Amos 9:14, "I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit."
Brief Summary: Amos can see that beneath Israel’s external prosperity and power, internally the nation is corrupt to the core. The sins for which Amos rebuked the people are extensive: neglect of God’s Word, idolatry, pagan worship, greed, corrupted leadership, and oppression of the poor. Amos begins by pronouncing a judgment upon all the surrounding nations, then upon his nation of Judah, (where Amos is from) The Israelites were excited to hear about the destruction happening to others. And finally, the harshest judgment is given to Israel. His visions from God reveal the same emphatic message: judgment is near. The book ends with God’s promise to Amos of the future restoration of
What I find fascinating is in chapter 4 Amos is talking about the Assyrians. Because God will use a worse nation like Assyria to punish a bad nation like Israel. Israel had 19 kings after Solomon, and they all did evil in the sight of God. The Assyrians were known for conquering countries by capturing people and driving huge metal hooks like fishhooks through their calves and dragging them away. The Assyrians were brutal. Amos chapter 4:2 when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
The GospelCoalition.org makes these two distinctions-Amos emphasizes two aspects of God that are essential to the book. First, he says that God is the Creator. Three hymnic statements throughout the book illuminate this characterization (4:13; 5:8–9; 9:5–6). For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and declares to man what is his thought who makes the morning darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name! 4:13
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning
and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name; 5:8
Together these hymns proclaim the majesty and sovereignty of God over all creation. He is the one who forms mountains (4:13) and ordains the rhythms of planetary movement and the hydrologic cycle (5:8). The highest places of the earth are under his feet (4:13). In short, all things were created by him, and for him.
This gives a much-needed perspective for readers. The Book of Amos is replete with gross exploitations of power.
those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and turn aside the way of the afflicted;
“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan,
who are on the mountain of Samaria,
who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
In a world where the powerful oppress the weak, and the weak oppress those who are weaker, it is important to remember where true power resides. The Sovereign God over all creation puts all human agency in perspective. Significantly in Amos, the God who wields all power also demonstrates kindness to the weak.
A second aspect of God that is essential to Amos’s message is that God is the God of covenant. In Amos 3:1–2, Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: 2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.
God notes his unique covenantal relationship with Israel. It brought a heightened responsibility. According to the law, Israel was to live in a way that heralded the greatness and nearness of God, as well as a mediated blessing to the world. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Instead of imaging/reflecting God, however, the people of God looked more like their wicked neighbors. In the Book of Amos, God is shown to be faithful to the covenant in announcing the terms and judgments of the covenant, particularly as it relates to the peoples’ treatment of one another. This latter point is significant for the way Amos portrays the central theological issue in the book.
The sin of idolatry is at the core of the Israelites’ faithlessness in the Old Testament, especially in the prophets (cf. Jer. 1:16; Eze. 8:10; Isa. 2:8; 42:8; Hos. 3:1; Mic. 1:7; Zech. 10:2). Yet in Amos, other gods are very rarely mentioned. At issue, rather, is the horizontal dimension of the people’s covenantal life.
For Israel, the only response from a faithful God toward his covenantally faithless people was judgment. This would come through a future exile from the land. God announces that in this judgment, “the end has come upon my people”
The predominant tone of the Book of Amos is one of judgment. Indeed, there are only a few glimpses of hope in the book (5:4–6, 14–15). While readers may find this disorienting or upsetting, it’s an important reminder that sin, both vertical and horizontal, is no small matter to the God of creation and covenant. And though judgment is paramount, the ending of Amos makes clear that there is hope beyond judgment (9:11–15) The restoration of Israel.
The Book of Amos ends with a glorious promise for the future. “’ I will plant Israel in their land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,’ says the LORD your God” (9:15). In 1948 Israel became their nation once again. Now free from british rule. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s land promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:7; 15:7; 17:8) will occur during Christ’s millennial reign on earth (see Joel 2:26,27). Revelation 20 describes the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, a time of peace and joy under the perfect government of the Savior Himself. At that time, believing Israel and the Gentile Christians would be combined in the Church and will live and reign with Christ.
Application: I love the application provided by gotquestions.com "Sometimes we think we are a "just-a"! We are just-a student, farmer, just a nobody, or runner. Amos would be considered a "just-a." He wasn’t a prophet or priest or the son of either. He was just a shepherd, a small businessman in Judah. Who would listen to him? But instead of making excuses, Amos obeyed and became God’s powerful voice for change.
God has used ordinary people such as shepherds, carpenters, and fishermen all through the Bible. Whatever you are in this life, God can use you. Amos wasn’t much. He was a "just-a." "Just a" servant for God. It is good to be God’s "just-a."
Thank you for reading!
Sources:
Tyndale Every Man's Bible (NLT)
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