AMOS 1-2

These chapters describe Amos's vision of God's judgment on Damascus, Philistia, Tyre, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel.

THE REVELATION OF GOD'S JUDGMENT (1:1-2):

In a vision Amos sees divine wrath falling upon certain nations.

THE RECIPIENTS OF GOD'S JUDGMENT (1:3-2:16)

Damascus (1:3-5)

1. Their sin (1:3): They have ravished the Israelite city of Gilead.

2. Their sentence (1:4-5):

Damascus will be burned, and its people will be enslaved.

Philistia (1:6-8)

Their sin (1:6):

They have sold God's people into slavery.

Their sentence (1:7-8):

The Philistine cities will be torched, and the people will be killed.

Tyre (1:9-10)

Their sin (1:9):

They have broken their treaty with the people of Israel and have betrayed them.

Their sentence (1:10):

The city will be burned.

Edom (1:11-12)

Their sin (1:11):

They have hounded Israel with the sword.

Their sentence (1:12):

Their cities will be burned.

Ammon (1:13-15)

Their sin (1:13):

They ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead.

Their sentence (1:14-15):

Their cities will be burned, and their people will be enslaved.

Moab (2:1-3)

Their sin (2:1):

They have desecrated tombs, showing no respect for the dead.

Their sentence (2:2-3):

Their cities will be burned, and their people will be killed.

Judah (2:4-5)

Their sin (2:4):

They have rejected the law of God.

Their sentence (2:5):

Jerusalem will be destroyed.

Israel (2:6-16)

Their sins (2:6-12)

Bribery (2:6):

They pervert justice with dishonest scales.

Cruelty to the poor (2:7a):

They trample helpless people in the dirt.

Immorality (2:7b):

Father and son sleep with the same woman.

Hypocrisy (2:8):

They go to religious festivals in stolen clothing.

Tempting the godly to sin (2:9-12):

They cause the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine.

Their sentence (2:13-16)

They will groan as an overloaded wagon (2:13)

Their enemies will defeat them (2:14-16):

The runners, the warriors, and those on horses will be unable to get away.

AMOS 3-6

These chapters record for us three sermons preached by Amos.

AMOS'S FIRST SERMON (3:1-15)

The privileges of Israel (3:1-3):

Amos reminds the nation that God treats them as a special

nation.

The perversions of Israel (3:10)

They do not know right from wrong (3:10a).

Their homes are full of loot they have stolen from others (3:10b).

The prophecy against Israel (3:4-9, 11-15)

God will roar out his wrath as a hungry lion (3:4-9):

God warns the people, but they do not listen.

Their enemies will devour them (3:11-14):

They will be torn into pieces.

Their beautiful homes will be destroyed (3:15).

AMOS'S SECOND SERMON (4:1-13)

He denounces the Israel of God (4:1-5).

Their godless women (4:1-3):

They will be led away with hooks in their noses.

Their hypocrisy (4:4-5):

They offer sacrifices to idols.

He defends the God of Israel (4:6-13).

The past patience of God (4:6-11):

He has given Israel repeated opportunities to repent, all to no avail.

The future punishment from God (4:12-13):

The nation will soon face him in judgment.

AMOS'S THIRD SERMON (5:1-6:14)

God's invitation to Israel (5:4-9, 14-15):

Amos makes one final plea, urging his people to repent.

Seek God and live (5:4, 7-9):

God is all-powerful.

Renounce your idolatry (5:5-6):

They are to worship idols no longer.

Do what is good (5:14-15):

The Lord will be their helper if they are obedient.

God's indictment of Israel (5:1-3, 10-13, 16-27; 6:1-14)

The nation's perversions (5:10-13, 25-26; 6:1-7, 12-13)

They hate the truth (5:10):

They hate honest judges and people who tell the truth.

They oppose the good (5:11):

They trample the poor and take what they have.

They are guilty of extortion and bribery (5:12-13):

They oppress good people by taking bribes.

They are lazy and complacent (6:1-3):

They lounge in luxury and think they are safe.

They are materialistic and indulgent (6:4-5):

They lie on comfortable beds eating choice meat and singing idle songs.

They are a nation of drunkards (6:6-7):

They drink wine by the bowlful.

They have turned justice into poison (6:12):

They make bitter the sweet fruit of righteousness.

They are arrogant (6:13):

They boast that they have made conquests on their own.

They worship idols (5:25-26):

Their real interest is in the gods they have made themselves.

The nation's punishment (5:1-3, 16-24, 27; 6:8-11, 14)

To be broken and deserted (5:1-2):

She will fall, never to rise again.

To lose 90 percent of her soldiers in battle (5:3)

To grieve (5:16-18):

Weeping will be heard throughout the land.

To go from bad to worse (5:19-20):

It will be a day without a ray of hope.

To have hypocritical offerings rejected by God (5:21-22)

To have her songs rejected (5:23-24):

God wants to see a river of righteous living instead. g. To go into slavery in exile (5:27; 6:14)

To lose their pride and glory (6:8-11):

God will give every thing to their enemies.

AMOS 7-9

These chapters describe Amos's visions of the future of God's people.

THE PLAGUES (7:1-9; 8:1-9:10):

These verses describe five visions received by Amos, all dealing with God's judgment on Israel.

Vision of the locusts (7:1-3)

God's intention (7:1):

He is preparing a vast locust plague to destroy Israel's crops.

Amos's intervention (7:2-3):

The prophet prays, and this judgment is set aside.

Vision of the fire (7:4-6)

God's intention (7:4):

A great fire will soon devour the land.

Amos's intervention (7:5-6):

Again the prophet prays, and judgment is averted.

Vision of the plumb line (7:7-9)

The revelation (7:7):

Amos sees God measuring the "spiritual straightness" of Israel with a plumb line.

The results (7:8-9):

The moral crookedness of the nation demands divine judgment.

Vision of the summer fruit (8:1-14)

The symbol (8:1-2):

Israel is pictured as a basket of fruit, ripe for judgment because of sin.

The sin (8:4-6)

The rich are robbing and enslaving the poor, buying and selling them for a pair of sandals (8:4a, 6).

The needy in the land are being trampled on (8:4b).

Gross dishonesty can be witnessed everywhere (8:5).

The suffering (8:3, 7-14):

Sin always results in sorrow, pain, and disaster! Amos now describes a fourfold judgment:

In regard to sinners (8:3, 10)

Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere (8:3):

Singing will turn to wailing.

Sheer misery will replace mirth (8:10):

Celebrations will become times of mourning, and songs of joy will become weeping.

In regard to the soil (8:7-8):

The entire land will rise and fall like the Nile River.

In regard to the skies (8:9):

The sun will go down at noon.

In regard to the Scriptures (8:11-14)

The famine (8:11):

God himself will send a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

The fruitless search (8:12-14):

Men will wander everywhere attempting to find it!

The vision of God at the altar (9:1-10):

Amos sees the Lord standing at the altar, and God tells Amos that he will destroy the people.

THE PRIEST (7:10-17)

Amos's confrontation with Amaziah (7:10-13)

He slanders Amos (7:10-11):

Amaziah tells King Jeroboam II that Amos is a traitor and a rebel.

He scorns Amos (7:12-13):

Amaziah tells Amos to take his foolish preaching back to Judah.

Amos's clarification to Amaziah (7:14-15):

He acknowledges that he is neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. But he then adds that:

He feels unworthy (7:14):

"I'm just a shepherd, and I take care of fig trees."

He knows God has called him to prophesy (7:15).

Amos's condemnation of Amaziah (7:16-17)

Amaziah's wife will become a prostitute (7:16-17a).

Amaziah's sons and daughters will be killed (7:17b).

Amaziah's land will be divided up (7:17c).

Amaziah will die as a slave in a pagan land (7:17d).

THE PROMISES (9:11-15)

Jerusalem will be rebuilt to its former glory (9:11-12):

The walls will be rebuilt.

Israel will be restored to her former land (9:13-15):

The people will rebuild the ruined cities and will live in them.