Amos 5:1-17 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

2. Amos 5:1-17 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

3. “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.”

4. For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

5. For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;

6. but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”

7. Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,

8. O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!

9. 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;

10. who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

11. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.

12. Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

13. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.

14. Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

18. and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.

19. [1] Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: [2] “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.”

20. For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” Amos 5:1-3, ESV

21. Courtesy of ESV Study Bible

22. Lament Chapter five begins with lamentation A lament is a way of mourning Some scholars note that this particular lamentation is in song Either God, or Amos, or both are lamenting The lament shows Israel already fallen Israel has fallen with a mortal wound The nation was cut down in it’s prime, “Virgin Israel” Israel was cut off from their own land by an enemy, with no one to help get Israel back up It is sorrowful, because God could help Israel, but has abandoned her

23. Lament (2) God informs those who go out shall be destroyed The language of a city sending thousands… It is reminiscent of an army being decimated As such, Israel’s military forces will be destroyed by the coming enemy

24. [4] For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; [5] but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”

25. Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, (Amos 5:4-6, ESV)

26. Seek God and Live For the first time we have an encouraging statement, “seek me and live” If they are to turn in repentance toward God in faith, then they shall find salvation Is Amos speaking to all the people or the remnant? As such, there is division on the issue, though in context it seems likely he is talking to the faithful, since there is no hope for those at the coming judgment

27. Seek God and Live (2) The way to seek God is not to go to Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba These are locations that had significance in Israelite history Bethel an important place for the patriarchs (especially Jacob: Genesis 28:19) and had become a place of temple worship Gilgal was the first encampment during the conquest (Joshua 4:19) Beersheba was also associated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see Genesis 21, 26, and 46) and therefore a popular pilgrimage site Yet there is a promise of destruction for Bethel and Gilgal (Beersheba is likely secluded since it was in Judah)

28. Seek God and Live (3) The command is again stated, seek the LORD and live If they do not do this He will come Himself as fire Not only will the cultic sites, but on the whole house of Joseph God Himself, coming as a flame, would be unquenchable by any means Before such judgment happens, they are encouraged to seek God, not these false sanctuaries Thus, even for the remnant there is a continued warning to seek God

29. [7] O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! [8] 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; [9] who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

30. [10] They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. [11] Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards,

31. [12] For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. [13] Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. (Amos 4:7-13, ESV)

32. The people…and God The lamentation called people to seek God The reason they must turn toward God is because they turn justice to wormwood They make justice bitter They cast down all righteousness through their injustice in social, political, and religious lifestyles and fallacies Then in verse 8, Amos recites a hymn It praises God for His sovereignty He controls the morning and the night God is sovereign over all these things It is not any god, but the LORD, Yahweh, who is the one is sovereign, the covenant God of Israel and Judah

33. God…and the People God’s sovereignty does not end with nature It also includes peoples As such, He can bring destruction on people for their unfaithfulness to Him Thus, God’s destruction can come against their strong and their fortresses Amos then shifts back to the people He brings up their failure in social justice, recognizing they “hate him who reproves at the gate.” The gate of the city is where court proceedings occurred (See Ruth) Thus, the one who reproves is the one who calls out truth, and the people hate him for doing so

34. The People Because of their social injustice against the poor, treating the poor unfairly and taxing them unjustly, they will receive punishment Those who have mistreated the poor will find the fruit of their labors taken away (their stone houses and vineyards) God is not unaware of their sinfulness They include: Affliction of the righteous (seen previously in chapter 2 esp.), they take bribes in court, and instead of taking care of the needy they ignore them Much of this discussion is focused on judicial corruption, the needy are those at the gate Thus, they are allowing injustice by taking bribes Because of this, God will strike against them Those who witness it will be silenced

35. [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.

36. [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. (Amos 4:15, ESV)

37. Call to Action They are to seek God and note evil This is coupled with the previous statement “seek God”, “Seek Truth”, “So you may live” If judgment is coming, then this should be the response from the godly, and if they do they can be sure God is with them Hate evil, love good They can do this by establishing justice in their society The courts must be fair and enact justice They are to turn away from the things above and turn toward God and His goodness If they do then this will likely lead to their God being gracious But we notice it is not all the people whom He will be gracious, but the remnant of Joseph Judgment is sure, those who are faithful must remain so

38. [16] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, [17] and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD. (Amos 4:16-17, ESV)

39. Conclusion of the Lamentation The lamentation concludes with a call to mourning The LORD Himself says that there be much wailing Not only will the cities experience sorrow, but even the farmers in the countryside will be effected There were those who were paid to mourn with others, but the destruction will be so great there won’t be enough of them The destruction will not only come to the cities God’s judgment on the people will come to pass, He will pass through their midst While this was normally meant to be a good thing, in this case it leads to judgment for their sins The God of armies will send an army, the Assyrians, to fulfill all of these prophecies against the people of Israel, and the devastation will be great

40. Main Point The main point of this passage is to lament for what has happened, and will happen, to Israel Because of her sinning she will be cut off Yet there is hope that a remnant will remain in order for salvation to remain secured This remnant is called to be faithful and obedient to God by seeking Him, and His goodness, rather than evil

41. Application Points Judgment We have continued to see God’s sovereignty and His judgments against people for their transgressions We see this today, since the people are guaranteed judgment Amos preaches for them to turn away from their sins, but he recognizes the majority will not What is the result? Judgment There will be judgment for their atrocities against God and their fellow human beings This is where our own societies and communities would do well to listen God will judge any nation which acts in injustice and unrighteousness Nations are made up of individuals, hence individuals will be punished as well

42. Application Points Judgment (2) Sometimes it is easy for us to forget about judgment Sometimes we reflect so much on the love of God that we forget that if God loves He must also hate If God loves righteousness, He must hate unrighteousness It is no surprise that when the innocent are being beaten down and forgotten, God will deal with the guilty Such is the case we see in Amos, and their own judgment occurred in 722 BC via the Assyrians

43. Application Points Judgment (3) Such will be the wailing of those who come under the judgment of God We cannot sugarcoat judgment Even Christ, in the garden, pleaded for another way rather than the judgment Yet it was judgment which He faced Amos knows, as well as God, that judgment can be avoided if people repent The problem is, they do not, and they will not So they will experience judgment

44. Application Points Judgment (4) Like Amos, then, we too need to warn our own societies of judgment, and encourage them to repentance Amos does not believe that they will turn, but that does not stop him from preaching, knowing that some will repent and be faithful Even if we have a hard time believing people will change, we still need to continue to call them to it, while being like Amos to warn of judgment This may sound harsh to our ears, and it will sound harsh to the world, but if the world is to be judged we should be pleading with all to turn away Our prophetic voice is fire at times, but it does not come without love Love for God, and love for our fellow man

45. Application Points Judgment (5) So like Amos, lament over the darkness of the world Lament over the destruction which will befall it Be strong and courageous to confront evil, and strong and courageous to proclaim the prophetic message which is a warning in love The world may hate us for the truth of the Gospel, and it may reject us, but we must remain faithful Our God is worthy of our faith He is worthy to have His Gospel proclaimed to the nations This Gospel of righteousness, justice, wrath, and love

46. Application Points To Seek and Love Amos called for the people to seek This is both used negatively and positively That is, they are not to seek some things, and they are to seek other things They are also to hate and love things as well, hence we see a dichotomy The question is, what is is the people are warned not to seek, and what are they encouraged to seek? Should we too seek what they were to seek? The simple answer is yes

47. Application Points To Seek and Love (2) In verse 4 God tells the people to “Seek me and live” followed by the warning to, “not seek Bethel” What does it mean to seek God We find that out in the later verses, the people are to seek righteousness, and seek the Law in obedience and faithfulness The antonym of this is to seek God in untruth, to seek unrighteousness, to worship God in a way unpleasing to Him We see this when they are warned not to seek “Bethel.” Bethel was a site of false worship For them to seek Bethel rather than Jerusalem is to seek a worship practice contrary to what God desired

48. Application Points To Seek and Love (3) Reconsider what we read from last week, “[21] Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:21-23 ESV)

49. Application Points To Seek and Love (4) We are able to worship God in spirit and in truth In spirit implies with our beings, that which makes us who we are Likewise to worship Him in truth, not with false pretenses, nor in ways which are displeasing to Him In this way we can seek God and not Bethel Yet there is another warning in verse 6 of this chapter, when Amos says, “Seek the LORD and live” By seeking God we will not experience the judgment of God By seeking God it means to follow after Him God wants all of us, to seek Him with our lifestyles, our minds, our hearts

50. Application Points To Seek and Love (5) The next “seek” references are in verses 14 and 15 There we are told to seek good not evil, and to love good and hate evil…What is defined as good? The opposite of good is unrighteousness The Israelites in the verses before verse 14 were critiqued for their opposition to justice Justice is involved with seeking good This would play out with us not harming the poor among us It would look like Christians living as Christians, giving all things over to Christ We are to seek good in our lives, seek good in society, to do good rather than evil