PM Dec 17th Amos 6

December 17^th               Amos 6             Israel will be destroyed

1: Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 2: Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or 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 chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 6: That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 7: Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. 8: The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD 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 a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD. 11: For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 12: Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: 13: Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? 14: But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.

Amos 7             C Visions of the Future              Three visions of destruction

1: Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 2: And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 3: The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. 4: Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, ehold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. 5: Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 6: The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. 7: Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 8: And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: 9: And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

Amos and Amaziah

10: Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11: For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 12: Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. 14: Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: 15: And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 16: Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 17: Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

Amos 8             A basket of fruit

1: Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2: And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. 3: And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

The end is near

4: Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5: Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6: That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7: The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8: Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9: And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10: And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13: In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14: They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

In the closing these closing chapters Amos brings some of the most shocking preaching that Israel has ever heard. Firstly he declares that Israel will be destroyed. He issues a woe to those who think that all is well in Zion. They do not read the see of the times so they sit back comfortably in their false security. They trust is the false security of the hill country of Samaria. They recline on ivory beds and they eat the lambs of the flock without a care in the world. They have no thought for the future. They sing with the violin and are absorbed in song writing. They get drunk and put on the most expensive scents. They will be the first to be taken captive by the enemy and all the food they feast on will be taken as spoil. The Lord has sworn to himself that he is disgusted by their wealth and hates their palaces and that is why the Lord will deliver them up with all they have. The Lord will cause a nation to grow in such a way that they will come to battle against you. Twice Amos appeals for mercy for Israel and twice he turns from judgment. Then the Lord showed Amos that he stood on a wall with a plumb line in his hand. Then the Lord asks him what he sees and he says a plumb line. Then the Lord says that he will set a plumb line in the middle of Israel. This will be the standard of judgment for the people of Israel. Then Amaziah sends a message to Jeroboab saying that Amos has committed treachery. And that the land is unable to stand all his words. They threaten Amos will murder and suggest he run away. Amos replies there was a time when l was not a prophet, l kept the herd and gathered fruit but the Lord took me from following the flock and he commissioned me to go and speak in the name of God and the message of the Lord is that your wife will become a prostitute and your children will be killed and the land will be divided and you will die in an unholy land because Israel will go into captivity from this land. The Lord put a basket of summer fruits in front of Amos and asked to what he saw. The Lord explains that the end has come for the northern kingdom. The songs of the temple will be cries of mourning and the dead will lie in the street with none to mourn them. Lastly the Lord sends a message to Israel. Listen says the Lord you who eat the needy and who make the poor to fail. Who are only interested in money and by false means. You buy and sell the poor for a pair of shoes. You even sell the food of the poor. The Lord will cause darkness to cover the land. Your feasts will be turned into funerals. Your clothes will become sackcloth and you will become bald. A famine will come into the land not a famine for bread but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. The people will search from east to west and not find Gods word. They will fall never to rise up. Such is the judgment that comes on those who forsake the Lord.