Amos 4 and 5
TO be addressed, and that by God Himself, as cows, cows of Basilan (the grazing country east of the Jordan where many cattle were raised), must have been humiliating to the rulers of the kingdom of Israel, but it fitly expressed their state as He saw them. Of true intelligence they now had none, gone far from their God in all their ways.
In chapter 2 (verses 6, 7) Israel is rebuked for despising the poor, and here a second time their treatment of them is spoken of; we find the subject mentioned again, in chapter 5 (verse 11). It is of man’s selfish heart to neglect and deal unjustly with the poor, but such conduct does not pass unnoticed by the all-seeing eyes of God. The leaders of Samaria (the ten-tribe kingdom) thought themselves secure in their houses of ivory, their winter houses and summer houses, but the Lord Jehovah had sworn by His holiness concerning this unholy people (verses 2, 3).
Bethel and Gilgal were names that formerly spoke of God’s deep interest in His people; at Bethel He had spoken to Jacob when a wanderer from his father’s home; at Gilgal the reproach of Egypt was rolled away, when the Israelites entered the promised land. But now these were places of transgression; Bethel had become Beth-aven, house of idols instead of house of God, and Gilgal, as we judge from verse 4, was an even greater center of idolatry.
God had visited Israel because of their perverseness, and five measures He had employed are spoken of; it will be seen that these increased in severity from the first to the last (verses 6 to 11), but His complaint is that none of them moved the people to return to Him. Therefore (verse 12) He would meet them in judgment more intense; “Prepare to meet thy God.” Jehovah the God of hosts will be heard, and verses 2 and 3 of chapter 5 declare His word concerning the house of Israel, that “the virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more arise.” There is no hope now of recovery.
Yet there is an offer of mercy: “Seek ye Me, and ye shall live” (verses 4-9). In verses 10-13 a further exposure of the national sins is made, with warning of certain judgment, and (verses 14, 15) a call to repentance follows, but (verses 16, 17) mourning and wailing everywhere are assured. How plainly all this testifies of the love of God for man! God is beseeching and man is refusing His goodness to this very day.
In verses 21-27 God declares His full rejection of His people’s gatherings, supposedly in His honor, and will have none of their offerings, will not hear their songs, and reminds them of their sad history in the wilderness journey of 40 years from Egypt to Canaan. Verses 25-27 were quoted by the martyr Stephen (Acts 7:42, 4342Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. (Acts 7:42‑43)) from the translation which was in common use when the Lord was on earth —the Septuagint.
ML 01/24/1937