Amos

From: Minor Prophets

By: John Gifford Bellett

Narrator: Mike Genone

Show More Sources

Amos

From: Bible Treasury: Volume 2

• 2 min. read • grade level: 8

Listen to This Article

Amos 1-9

Amos was the prophet who went before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah (Amos 1:l). We may say that he was the prophet of that event (Amos 8:8⁸Shall 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. (Amos 8:8); Amos 9:5⁵And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. (Amos 9:5)).

That earthquake is treated by Zechariah as typical, as a notice of the Lord’s controversy with the world, when again there will be earthquakes and pestilences, ministers of judgment and vessels of wrath (Zech. 14:5⁵And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)).

Accordingly, judgment is the great burden of Amos’ prophecy, and it therefore served the purpose of Stephen in Acts 7—for that moment was also a crisis in the history of the Jews. And Stephen there quotes Amos. (See 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); and Amos 5:25-27²⁵Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? ²⁶But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. ²⁷Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts. (Amos 5:25‑27).)

But, again, Amos treats the Gentiles as dealt with by God, as well as the Jews. He judges them all alike. He brought the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir, as he had brought Israel from Egypt. And in coming millennial days, He will have all the Gentiles called by His name, as surely as He will build again the fallen tabernacle of David. (See Amos 1-2, Amos 9:7-12⁷Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. ⁹For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. ¹⁰All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. ¹¹In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: ¹²That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this. (Amos 9:7‑12).)

In this character the word by Amos directly answered for James in Acts 15, where the apostle was insisting on the independence of Gentile saints, and that they must not be required to be circumcised and to adopt the custom of Israel. Amos intimates this, and James cites him, to show that the Gentiles were to be adopted of God (or have His name called on by them acceptably) in a way quite independent of the Jews; or that the Lord knew them before Israel knew them.

Thus, those two great occasions in the history of the church in the New Testament, Stephens’ words in Acts 7 and James’ in Acts 15 were served by the Spirit through Amos, who may be regarded as somewhat a distant and unnoticed portion of the Word of God. But it is beautiful thus to see that we are to live “by every word of God.” We know not in what obscure corner of the volume, so to speak, that scripture may lie, which is fitted and destined by the Holy Spirit to stand by the soul in the trying hour. Amos, ministering to Stephen and to James, witnesses this.

I only add a verse or two from George Herbert, which this finding of the words of Amos in Acts 7 and again other words of his in Acts 15 may call to mind. They are in his little piece called the Holy Scriptures.

“Oh that I know how all thy lights combine,

And the configurations of their glory!

Seeing not only how each verse doth shine,

But all the constellations of the story.

This verse marks that, and both do make a motion

Unto a third, which ten leaves off doth lie:

Then, as dispersed herbs do watch a potion,

Those three make up some Christian’s destiny.”

Click here to show subject links in the text for more information.