The Lion Has Roared (Amos)
August 23, 2020
After Solomon's reign in Israel, everything started to go downhill. The nation split in two, and there were several bad kings. After over 150 years, two kings arise who have reigns that last fifty years (Uzziah, king of Judah), and forty-two years (Jeroboam II, king of Israel). These kings had reigns that were full of peace and prosperity. We might think that they would jump on this opportunity and become what God has called them to be. Surely they would show thankfulness to God by obeying the law. In Amos's book, we have nine Chapters that detail how the northern tribes of Israel used their prosperity and how God will judge them for it. This is one of the most scathing books. It's not until the end of the book that we find any words of hope or encouragement for future generations.
Amos 1:1--2 (ESV) --- 1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”
The beginning of this book has many shocking words. First, notice that God called Amos from being a shepherd in Tekoa. He does not call one of his prophets from Israel. Tekoa is a region about ten miles south of Jerusalem, but God wants Amos to travel up to the northern kingdom of Israel. Imagine having someone who is not only an outsider because he is from a rival country, but he is also a shepherd by trade. How is Israel going to respond to this guy coming to them with a message?
Second, notice the first words of Amos reveal what might sound like good news to Israel. He says, "The Lord roars from Zion." What animal do we think of when we hear the word roar? God is picturing himself as a lion roaring. Lions can roar loud enough to be heard from up to five miles away. When they roar, everyone listens because that means that he is aware of an intruder or wants to show dominance over another male lion. Israel wants God to roar and conquer all of their enemies.
"I Will Not Revoke The Punishment"
The rest of Amos 1 through 2:5 reveal judgments against all of the nations. This section starts something that we find to be common throughout Amos. Notice the words that are repeated over and over again, "For three transgressions of ______ and for four, I will not revoke the punishment." This statement is mentioned for Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah. God has pronounced punishment for every nation around Israel. What does this phrase mean, and why does he say it this way?
God has been patient toward all of these nations. He has allowed them time to repent, not bringing punishment immediately. After stating that they will be punished, he describes the evil that will bring this punishment about. Every sin is defined as harming their fellow man. God cares about the corruption of the nations, and he will destroy them along with his own people, Judah.
If you are Israel right now, you would think that all of your prayers have been answered. Every nation around you is about to get what they deserve. Then, Amos gets to 2:6, and we see the most extended judgment against Israel.
Amos 2:6--8 (ESV) --- 6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals--- 7 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
God calls them out for all the evil they perform against one another. Notice that these sins are not idolatrous. These sins are the sins of selfishness and afflicting the poor. They sell righteous people for silver or a pair of sandals. They are committing sexual immorality and using things they have stolen to worship God. Notice the words in verse 7, "My holy name is profaned." In verse 11, God says he gave them Nazarites and prophets. But they take the prophets and the Nazirites that God has raised to lead others to righteousness and make them sin.
God will punish these evil people for their sins, and there will be no more opportunity to repent.
"Hear This Word" (3-6)
After the initial indictments against all the nations and Israel, God speaks three oracles to Israel. Chapters 3 and 4 each contain one oracle, and Chapters 5-6 contain a larger oracle. These oracles are clearly separated by the phrase, "Hear This Word."
Oracle 1 - God Is Not Joking
The first oracle in Chapter 3 begins with rhetorical questions. These questions show Israel that God would not send a prophet to pronounce judgment if there wasn't going to be a judgment. Twice in this section, he brings up the lion again.
Amos 3:4 (ESV) --- 4 Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
Amos 3:7--8 (ESV) --- 7 “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
We get the sense that they do not believe the judgment that is given against them. He calls the nations to come to Samaria and witness their evil. "They don't know how to do right."
Verse 11 transitions to what God will do to his people. He uses this illustration to describe how bad this judgment will be against them.
Amos 3:12 (ESV) --- 12 Thus says the Lord: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
They will be saved like a shepherd saves his sheep from a lion. There is nothing left but two legs or a piece of an ear.
The oracle ends by saying that their worship and their prosperity will be brought to nothing. They will have their church building torn down and their multiple houses destroyed. The end of this oracle summarizes the sins of the northern kingdom as profane worship and materialism. The rest of this book will hit on these two major sins. What have they done with their prosperity? They have greedily destroyed the poor to build multiple houses.
Oracle 2 - You Have Not Learned
The second oracle continues these thoughts that Israel is materialistic and profaning worship. It begins with a great line.
Amos 4:1--2 (ESV) --- 1 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ 2 The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
God calls the women of Israel cows of Bashan. They command their husbands to bring them more wine as they oppress the poor and crush the needy. These women are like Jezebel, stealing the vineyard of Naboth.
In verses four and five, he sarcastically invites them to worship in Bethel or Gilgal. In this section, he calls them out for seeking their own glory when they worship God. They are like the Pharisees who sacrifice for everyone to see them as righteous.
The second half of the oracle describes how God has tried everything to bring them back to him, but they refuse. He has disciplined them by taking away their food, causing a drought, killing their crops, giving them diseases, and bringing nations against them. The phrase repeated in this section is, "Yet you did not return to me." That's what God was hoping for, but it never happened.
Verse 12 has the "Therefore" for us to see what God will do. So listen to what God will do for them.
Amos 4:12--13 (ESV) --- 12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” 13 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!
Oracle 3 - Seek God and Love Good
Chapter 5 begins by calling this oracle a lamentation or a funeral song. This gives us the impression that God is saddened by what he must do to Israel. He does not want to destroy them, but he must. He calls for his people to seek him and live. We learned earlier that God has tried to turn them around. He has been patient with them, but they persist in their sins. Now, we see God making a final plea to those who are about to be destroyed.
Amos 5:14--15 (ESV) --- 14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Verse 16, transitions us to the "Therefore" section. This section is larger than the first two. It extends into Chapter 6. Apparently, they think that God is going to judge all of the other people. They hear all of these judgments against them and believe that they will make it through them. After all, they worship God. They have feasts in God's honor and offer sacrifices for the Lord. They worship God, but they still do great evil against their fellow man. God says Woe to them three times in this section.
Amos 5:18 (ESV) --- 18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,
Amos 6:1 (ESV) --- 1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
Amos 6:4--7 (ESV) --- 4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
Israel is enjoying life. Everything is going well for them. What do they have to be afraid of? They find peace in the blessings that they have received from God. They enjoy all kinds of good foods, arts, and luxuries. But they are so wrapped up in the world that they do not care about their fellow man or God's glory. God expects his people to be upset about the destruction of their nation.
Visions (7-9)
The final section of the book has the repeated phrase or idea, "This is what the Lord God showed me." God shows Amos a series of visions that explain what he is doing.
In the first vision (1-3), God was forming locusts to devour crops. But Amos intercedes, and God graciously relents.
In the second vision (4-6), God calls for a fire to devour. But Amos intercedes, and God graciously relents.
These two petitions are interesting because we see the faith and compassion of Amos. He didn't want Israel to be destroyed.
In the third vision (7-9), God stands beside a wall built with a plumb line. A plumb line is used to determine whether a wall is vertically straight.
Amos 7:8--9 (ESV) --- 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Notice that there is not intercession in this case. God has measured the people of Israel and determined to destroy their idolatry, their places of worship, and Jeroboam, the king.
After this vision, we take a break from the visions to learn about Amos. Amos was condemned by a priest from Bethel for his words against the king and the people's worship. This shows how contrary Amos' message was to popular culture. No one wanted to hear what Amos was saying. They did not want to hear that God rejected their worship. Amaziah, the priest, tells Amos to go back to Judah. So God is going to judge the priest.
Amos 7:17 (ESV) --- 17 Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”
The fourth vision (8:1-3) is of a basket of summer fruit. Why would God show him a basket of summer fruit? The summer fruit is the last of the fruit before it gets cold, and the trees start to hibernate for winter. This is the last of the harvest.
Amos 8:2--3 (ESV) --- 2 And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. 3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares the Lord God. “So many dead bodies!” “They are thrown everywhere!” “Silence!”
The rest of Chapter 8 contains more words of condemnation and judgment.
The fifth vision portrays the Lord standing beside the altar, calling for destruction. They will not get away from this judgment. The Lord will sacrifice them like they have sacrificed the poor people in the land. But in verse 8, he transitions to words of hope. These are the only words of hope in the whole book.
Amos 9:8--15 (ESV) --- 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord. 9 “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’ 11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
God will not utterly destroy Israel. He plans to rebuild the nation with a king like David ruling over it. Notice how the words here at the end describe a complete reversal of the curses. Instead of drought and famine, there will be an abundance. Instead of losing everything, they will have an abundance. Instead of living in constant fear, they will live securely.
What is the Message?
The message of this book is the message that we all dread in the prophets. This is probably the reason we don't want to study the prophets. We think they all preach doom and gloom, and we don't want to hear that. Notice that the people of Israel did not want to listen to that either. The message is this: Prepare to meet your God. The lion is roaring at the beginning of the book because he is coming to meet those who do evil with judgment. God promises destruction for his own people because they oppress the righteous and offer up false worship to God. God is not going to stand by while his people repeatedly profane his name and harm the poor. He is a just and righteous God. When we take a step back, we realize that God was very patient with them. He does not destroy them entirely without giving them a chance to change their ways. He gave them multiple opportunities, but they refused.
The people’s hearts were completely wrapped up in their possessions. They did not love God, even though they offered plenty of sacrifices to him. Their rejection of God's prophets reveals to us the danger of selfish living. When they had an abundance and enjoyed a period of relative peace, they focused on their own life. God was not pleased with them. There is nothing wrong with having a summer house and a winter house. There is nothing wrong with owning things and having many possessions. But the problem comes when they focus so much on building up their own little kingdom that the kingdom of God becomes corrupt. They were using God's blessings and failing to share them with the poor for God's glorification. God will hold them accountable.
Application
How applicable is this book to us? We apply this book by analyzing how self-focused we have become. What are we doing with God’s blessings? Are we laying on our ivory beds and couches enjoying everything this life has to offer? Are we looking forward to the day of the Lord because everyone else will be judged? Do we worship God to satisfy ourselves and proclaim how righteous we are? These might all sound like silly questions, but the people of Israel overlooked them and refused to believe that they were guilty of sin. This judgment against Israel sounds a lot like Jesus' judgment against Israel's leaders in the Jesus’ day. They were focusing on the same things, hating the poor, and claiming to be righteous. We have two periods of extreme prosperity, and, in both cases, God's people rejected the truth they received from God. What will we do when we hear that we are too self-focused?
Is this us? Are we enjoying God's blessings and failing to consider how God wants us to use them? Has our enjoyment of prosperity made us greedy for more? If we aren't careful, we can fall into the combination of greed and self-righteousness that makes us worthy of judgment.
The apostle John warns us of this in his first epistle.
1 John 2:15--17 (ESV) --- 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world---the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life---is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
I heard a preacher say in this text that we escaped from the burning chariot, why would we hop back on? The things of this world are temporary and do not satisfy. We must train ourselves to use those blessings to glorify God.
Conclusion
Who here hasn't fallen short of what God would want us to be? We chase the comfort and luxuries of this world instead of chasing after the restoration of the lost. Thankfully, God does not make a complete end of Israel. He rebuilds the evil nation into a glorious kingdom with a new David at the helm. We can all be a part of that. We can make our lives God-focused instead of self-focused. When we do that, God promises to grant us access to the eternal blessings reserved for those who genuinely love him and genuinely love their neighbor.