"Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel-against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt " ( Amos 3:1 Amos 3:1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,Īmerican King James Version ×). When God chooses a nation for a sacred responsibility, He holds it specifically accountable for its national conduct. But subsequent events sadly proved that the house of Israel paid little attention either to Amos or to the contemporary Hebrew prophet Hosea, also divinely sent to warn the country. "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream," was the way God eloquently expressed His divine wishes ( Amos 5:24 Amos 5:24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.Īmerican King James Version ×, New International Version throughout). Clearly Amos had been a great patriot in warning the house of Israel to cease and desist from its ungodly lifestyle and to begin a serious campaign of commandment-keeping. At that time Israel ceased to function as a sovereign nation. Historical hindsight shows us that roughly 30 years after Amos' prophecy the Assyrians took the northern tribes into captivity (721 to 718 B.C.). But at the time of Amos’ writing, His patience was rapidly running out. God is the epitome of long-suffering, ever waiting for sinners to repent. One scholarly book observed: "Seldom was a prophet so out of step with his times." But was he really? Both nations were enjoying relative prosperity and power under the governments of the time. At the general time of his prophecy, Amos appeared to be out of step with the times in prophesying disaster for the house of Israel. Amos out of step?īut the focus of this prophetic book soon shifts primarily to the 10-tribe northern nation of Israel and secondarily to the southern country of Judah. Several times he uses the phraseology, "For three sins .even for four" in establishing the basic reasons for the divine displeasure with them. Seldom read or heeded today, how do the warning words of Amos impact our world of the 21st century?Īmos begins his prophecy by articulating God's anger against Syria, Gaza, Ammon and Moab-Mideastern nations that anciently bordered Israel and Judah-and whose descendants remain in that general area even today. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them to go into captivity among idolaters.Nearly three millennia ago in the eighth century B.C., the Hebrew prophet Amos wrote a highly significant book indicting the amoral and immoral behavior of Israel and Judah along with that of some surrounding Mideastern nations. Professors thrive so little, because they have little or no communion with God in their duties. The law of worshipping the Lord our God, is, Him only we must serve. The people of Israel copied the crimes of their forefathers. A pretence of piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found. Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God, will be pursued by them if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them. When God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners. Woe unto those that desire the day of the Lord's judgments, that wish for times of war and confusion as some who long for changes, hoping to rise upon the ruins of their country! but this should be so great a desolation, that nobody could gain by it. Matthew Henry's Commentary on Amos 5:21-24 Commentary on Amos 5:18-27
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