(The previous post covered judgments from God pronounced on various nations.)
Amos 4
1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink.
(Israel was referred to as kine: cows.)
2 The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks.
3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her; and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, saith Jehovah.
(These breaches were to be made in the city walls by the enemy, and through these the people were to go out, single file like cows.)
4 Come to Beth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three days;
5 and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings and publish them: for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
(God gave Israel up to her idolatry so she could see how her gods would not save her from the coming judgment.)
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
7 And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
11 I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
(God gave details of several of His chastisements against Israel, however, each ended with "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah." Israel was not learning through experience. It was going to have to get much worse for Israel.)
12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
(Since Israel had not responded to the chastisements, she would have to "prepare to meet thy God.")
13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the Earth - Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.
(God knows our thoughts after we choose to think them.)
Amos 5
1 Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
(A word of lamentation toward Israel…)
2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
(Israel fell and there was none to raise her up.)
3 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.
4 For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;
(A promise of life to those who sought God.)
5 but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.
6 Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.
(…the promise again.)
7 Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,
(Israel turned Justice into wormwood (to curse, bitterness) and cast down Righteousness to the earth.)
8 seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth (Jehovah is his name);
9 that bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.
10 They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
(The Israelites hated those who showed them where they were wrong and abhorred those who spoke uprightly. The Israelites were prideful.)
11 Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.
12 For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.
(Seek good (Right and Just) and not evil. Good creates, evil destroys.)
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
(Love good and hate evil.)
16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.
(The reason for the lamentation…)
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.
(…judgment from God.)
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Yea, though ye offer me your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
(Justice flows as water and Righteousness as a mighty stream.)
25 Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
(Israel forsook God with idolatry…)
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.
(…so, God sent Israel into captivity.)
Amos 6
1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!
(A warning…)
2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?
3 -ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away.
(The first among Israel in rank would be the first in captivity.)
8 The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
10 And when a man's uncle shall take him up, even he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No; then shall he say, Hold thy peace; for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah.
11 For, behold, Jehovah commandeth, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;
(Israel has turned Justice into gall (poison, venom, bitterness) and the fruit of Righteousness into wormwood (to curse, bitterness). The Israelites did not put shoes on horses, so they could not run on rocks.)
13 ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
(They vainly rejoiced in their riches.)
14 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of the Arabah.
(Amos rightly predicted Assyria would be against Israel.)
(This post covered God's review of His many overtures to Israel with Israel ignoring everyone of them and Israel eventually going into captivity.)
Day 268
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