Amos 6
Judgement comes to the unrepentant
The nation was guilty of complacency born of false confidence. They were trusting in military leaders and not the Lord. Self-indulgence was the order of the day, no concern for anyone else or anything else. However they seem unconcerned about coming judgment. [1-7]
God warns of three coming judgments:
- Death [9-10]- those celebrating would die
- Destruction [11-13]- the great houses would be in ruins
- Defeat [14]- the boast of recent victories would not stop the Assyrian conquest.
We see here the dangers of man-made security. Perhaps they had felt quite smug when they heard the prophet condemning the selfish women in chapter 4, those with a religious frame of mind in chapter 5, who were calling for the day the Lord. Did they realise but it was their turn to come under the eye of the Lord. In the opening verses he shatters their sense of security. Here he is addressing the Leaders of the community and not just the Northern Kingdom, he includes Judah as well. He challenges them to look around, to look at the cities they had captured in the north which were causing them to boast. Amos emphasises his message in verse 3 saying, you put off the evil day, like those who don’t want to think about the future they live for today and not worry about what tomorrow may bring. In verses 4 to 6 Amos paints a picture of their decadent shame, they had nothing to boast about they just enjoyed there wealth in luxury living. Amos makes it clear that they who demand preference, will get it, they will be the first to be dragged off into captivity.
In the second half of the chapter, he deals with their pride. In verse 8, twice the name of the Lord is mentioned as he declares his final verdict on disobedient Israel. It is pointed out that the roots of their problem is pride, he refers back to Jacob, reminding them that he had 12 sons, the judgement is on all his sons, the whole nation. Their fortresses would not protect them from their enemies, God was going to deliver up the whole city, the whole people of God, and everything they had. The Lord has spoken and no one would escape judgement, all types of people will be deported, their houses will be demolished whether they were the houses of the poor or the rich. Amos draws attention to the absurd situation by asking questions like, ‘do horses run on mountains or do you plough there, or in the sea?’, no one would ever dream of doing that. Yet in their actions God’s people reversing the normal way of working, instead of justice there was unfairness, instead of righteousness and its fruits, there was bitterness. He piles on the irony but referring to their military victories, they rejoice at the conquest of Lo Debar and Karnaim. Lo Debar, means nothing and Karnaim means, horns. Is he pointing out their strengths had been for nothing. Verse 14 begins the same as verse 11, ‘the Lord God Almighty declares,’ emphasising the certainty of God’s action. God had already chosen another nation to be victorious over Israel, the destruction will be from Lebo Hammath in the north to the valley of Arabah, the Dead Sea because Israel had not taken God seriously, not heeded the warnings of the prophets, they had pride in their own achievements, they refused to practice righteousness and justice and going into apostasy, led to their downfall. The Lord was going to carry out His will and demonstrate He means what He says.