Reflections on Amos 5

Amos 05 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Listen, nation of Israel, to my mournful message:
   
2. You, dearest Israel, have fallen, never to rise again-- you lie deserted in your own land, with no one to help you up.
   
3. The LORD God has warned, "From every ten soldiers only one will be left; from a thousand troops, only a hundred will survive."
   
4. The LORD keeps saying, "Israel, turn back to me and you will live!
   
5. Don't go to Gilgal or Bethel or even to Beersheba. Gilgal will be dragged away, and Bethel will end up as nothing."
   
6. Turn back to the LORD, you descendants of Joseph, and you will live. If you don't, the LORD will attack like fire. Bethel will burn to the ground, and no one can save it.
   
7. You people are doomed! You twist the truth and stomp on justice.
   
8. But the LORD created the stars and put them in place. He turns darkness to dawn and daylight to darkness; he scoops up the ocean and empties it on the earth.
   
9. God destroys mighty soldiers and strong fortresses.
   
10. You people hate judges and honest witnesses;
    
11. you abuse the poor and demand heavy taxes from them. You have built expensive homes, but you won't enjoy them; you have planted vineyards, but you will get no wine.
    
12. I am the LORD, and I know your terrible sins. You cheat honest people and take bribes; you rob the poor of justice.
    
13. Times are so evil that anyone with good sense will keep quiet.
    
14. If you really want to live, you must stop doing wrong and start doing right. I, the LORD God All-Powerful, will then be on your side, just as you claim I am.
    
15. Choose good instead of evil! See that justice is done. Maybe I, the LORD All-Powerful, will be kind to what's left of your people.
    
16. This is what the LORD has sworn: Noisy crying will be heard in every town and street. Even farmers will be told to mourn for the dead, together with those who are paid to mourn.
    
17. Your vineyards will be filled with crying and weeping, because I will punish you. I, the LORD, have spoken!
    
18. You look forward to the day when the LORD comes to judge. But you are in for trouble! It won't be a time of sunshine; all will be darkness.
    
19. You will run from a lion, only to meet a bear. You will escape to your house, rest your hand on the wall, and be bitten by a snake.
    
20. The day when the LORD judges will be dark, very dark, without a ray of light.
    
21. I, the LORD, hate and despise your religious celebrations and your times of worship.
    
22. I won't accept your offerings or animal sacrifices-- not even your very best.
    
23. No more of your noisy songs! I won't listen when you play your harps.
    
24. But let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry.
    
25. Israel, for forty years you wandered in the desert, without bringing offerings or sacrifices to me.
    
26. Now you will have to carry the two idols you made-- Sakkuth, the one you call king, and Kaiwan, the one you built in the shape of a star.
    
27. I will force you to march as captives beyond Damascus. I, the LORD God All-Powerful, have spoken!
    

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Chapter three began the first of five messages detailing the judgment that was coming upon Israel. Chapter four delivered the second message, and now in chapter five we have messages three and four. Message three is a lament over the death of the nation Israel. Though hope is given individuals who turn to God, of the nation verse 2 says, "She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up." To individuals, the call is made to "Seek Me and live!" But they were not to seek God through ritual worship at the sanctuaries of Bethel, Gilgal, or Beer-sheba. The sanctuaries were doomed and ritual worship had been made a sham. They were to turn to the Lord in their hearts and in their actions of justice and righteousness. In so doing they stood a chance, individually, of being spared in the destruction that was to come.

Verse 7 ties together justice and righteousness: "Those who turn justice into wormwood throw righteousness to the ground." When justice is corrupted, righteousness is thrown to the ground. I would also reverse that by saying that without righteousness there is no justice. This is a message my own nation needs to hear. Righteousness is pushed further and further away as if it is a choice of the religious fanatics but has nothing to do with justice or government or anything else for that matter. But remove righteousness altogether and there is no foundation for justice other than the opinion of one person over that of another. For Israel, the outcome of the injustice that had become common trade was that the sovereign God of the universe was bringing destruction upon her. They had ignored God as if He were of no consequence, but Amos is telling them that this God they have forgotten is "The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth--Yahweh is His name." In their turning to other gods, they had included worship of the heavenly bodies. But God, who they had forgotten, was the one who made those bodies and everything else.

Again, in verses 14-15, a call is made to individually turn to God, "Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed. Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." The key word here is 'remnant'. There is hope, not for Joseph, but for the remnant. There is always hope for those who turn to God, but in this instance that hope is not extended to Israel as a nation.

The fourth message begins with verse 18 and takes the remainder of the chapter. It begins with a description of certain judgment. An illustration is given of a man who tries to flee the destruction as one would try to flee a lion only to be confronted by a bear. He escapes them both and goes home, feeling that he is now safe. But when he rests his hand against the wall he is bitten by a snake. Such is the destruction facing Israel, and there is no place of safety, for God has deserted them.

While Israel's injustice was the sin given main attention in the third message, her religious hypocrisy is given main attention in this fourth message. Her feasts and solemn assemblies had become a stench to God and the songs of praise had become just noise to Him. When their lives gave no reflection of the one they supposedly worshiped, the worship was distasteful to God. It was a mockery and a sham. But it was not just their injustice that made a sham of their worship. They had also turned to other gods as pointed out in verse 26, "But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves." In this case, worshiping the heavenly bodies. This they were doing alongside their worship of God, which further mocked their worship of Him.

The final word? "So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus." Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name. He has spoken." (verse 27)