By Jesse Higgins
I. Judgment upon surrounding nations, Chapters 1:1—2:3
A. Introduction, Chapter 1:1, 2
- v. 1 — Who, What, When, Where? *Third person voice.
- Who:
- Amos – a herdsman & a dresser of Sycamore figs (F. sycomorus). See Amos 7:14.
- Jeroboam II – King of Israel (to the North).
- Restored Israel’s boundaries as prophesied; but evil (2 Kings 14:23-25).
- Uzziah (Azariah, 2 Kings 15) – King of Judah (to the South).
- Helped by GOD until became proud; good king turned bad. (2 Chron 26:15b-16).
- Ecc. 11:3 (tree falls North or South), Matt. 7:16-23 (tree by its fruit)
- What: What Amos saw concerning Israel
- When: Various dating methods give similar dates ranging between:
- 792 – 740 BC, King Uzziah of Judah (to the South).
- 793 – 753 BC, King Jeroboam II of Israel (to the North). 41 years (2 Kings 14:23).
- 780s-750 BC, general window for Amos’ ministry
- 2 years before, or during the two years leading up to “the earthquake”
- Numerous scholars, archeologists, etc. separately date this earthquake to 760 BC based off the work of Yadin (Stratum VI) and others.
- Uniquely powerful earthquake, estimated between 7.8-9.0 with an epicenter in modern-day Lebanon on the Dead Sea Transform fault. Decreasing affects further south.
- Became a timestamp and was even referenced over 200 years later in Zechariah 14:5.
- v. 2 — “The LORD will roar from Zion” (also Joel 3:16, Amos 3:4) suggests the roar of a lion as it pounces upon its prey. This speaks of the near judgment of God upon the nations.
- Zion is a poetic form for Jerusalem; repetition for emphasis (like bold font, but auditory).
- Mt. Carmel (means fertile field) to the far Northwest was known for bountiful crops, thus a drought capable of drying it up would need to be very severe.
B. Judgment against Syria for cruelty, Chapter 1:3-5
- v. 3 — “For three sins…and for four” means ungodliness in its worst form, according to many scholars, such as Luther. The number 3 is frequently used to convey an idea of completeness. This particular pattern seems to indicate a severe/chronic excess. I see parallels to GOD’s promise to completely/thoroughly punish even to “the 3rd and 4th generations of those who hate me.” (Gen 20:5b)
- Damascus was the capital of Syria (see 2 Kings 10:32, 33 for the fulfillment).
- v. 4 — Uno reverse, retribution for Hazael burning fortresses of Israel (2 Kings 8:12).
- v. 5 — Kir was in Moab, which is Southeast of Jerusalem, Eastern shore of the Dead Sea.
- Arameans (Semitic ppl of Syria) were free, though they had been slaves in Kir. Would be like cursing Israel to return to Egypt.
C. Judgment against Philistia for making slaves, Chapter 1:6-8
- v. 6 — Gaza, city of Philistia, West by Southwest of Jerusalem along Mediterranean. See v. 3. Abductors shall die (Ex. 21:16). (Indentured service vs abduction, i.e. Trans-Atlantic Slavery).
- v. 7 — See fulfillment (2 Kings 18:8; Hezekiah, AD 715-ca.686).
- v. 8 — Ashdod is north of modern Gaza strip. All major cities of Philistia, frequent aggressors of Israel.
D. Judgment against Phoenicia for breaking treaty (2 Sam 5:11, 1 Kings 5), Chapter 1:9, 10
- v. 9 — Tyre, chief city of Phoenicia. Merchants did business with all nations. See v. 3.
- v. 10 — Mainland by Nebuchadnezzar 586-573 BC (Ez. 29:18), island by Alexander the Great 333BC.
- Ez. 26:3-14 A.t.G. armies pushed down the stone walls into the sea to make a causeway to the island.
E. Judgment against Edom for revengeful spirit, Chapter 1:11, 12
- v. 11 — See v. 3. Edom came from Esau, the brother of Jacob; always fighting. Contrast 1 Peter 3: 8, 9.
F. Judgment against Ammon for violent crimes, Chapter 1:13-15
- v. 13 — See v. 3. 2 Kings 8:12, 13: crimes of Ammon. Incestuous line: Lot and y. daughter (Gen 19:30-38).
- vv. 14,15 — Rabbah, capital of Ammon. Fulfilled through Assyrian invasion.
G. Judgment against Moab for injustice and revengeful spirit, Chapter 2:1-3
- v. 1 — a spirit of injustice that pursues beyond death. Burn to lime, used to denote utter destruction.
- Lime burns at over 1500°F and produces quick lime, a caustic, grey-white powder. Whitewash tombs.
- Incestuous line: Lot and older daughter (Gen 19:30-38).
- vv. 2, 3 — Proud nation was brought to ruin by Nebuchadnezzar. See Ez. 25:10.
II. Judgment upon Judah and Israel, Chapters 2:4—6:14
A. Judgment against Judah for despising the Law, Chapter 2:4, 5
- v. 4, 5 — Judah had the Law of God, but despised it. God judged them according to the Law.
B. Judgment against Israel for immorality and blasphemy, Chapter 2:6-16
- v. 6 — Israel (10 tribes) 11 brothers, not Benjamin (Gen 37:28), past, present, future (Matt. 26:15, Judas)
- v. 7 — “A father and son” is atypical usage, may be an idiom like “everyone and their uncle” showing how ubiquitous the sexual sin was. No middle class. Extreme economic oppression/neglect.
- v.8 — may be a continuation of the sin in v. 7, but now in an idolatrous context.
- vv. 9-11 — They were committing the same sins as the Amorites. God had put the Amorites out of the land; therefore, Israel will go into captivity before Judah.
- v. 12 — Amos 7:12, parallel to Acts 4:16-18, and Rev. 19:10, contrast with 1 Thess. 5:19-21
- v. 13-16 — “That day” Assyria attacks Israel, destroys Samaria, takes ppl captive 722 BC
C. God’s charge against whole house of Israel (12 tribes), Chapter 3
- vv. 1, 2 — Israel occupied a unique relationship to God; chosen for a definite purpose. This privilege created a greater responsibility than any other nation had. (Pr. 13:24, Heb. 12:6)
- vv. 3-6 — Seven (a number of completion) rhetorical questions show how two things can relate: If this, then that. V. 3 Israel knew God’s way. They disagreed with it and departed from it.
- v. 7 — GOD is merciful, even in Anger; He makes His will known. See also John 15:15.
- v. 8 — Parallel to Jer. 20:9, Acts 4:20
- vv. 9-15 — Judgment upon the entire nation will be severe. The northern kingdom will be judged first.
D. Israel punished in past for iniquity, Chapter 4
- vv. 1-3 — Bashan, East of Galilee. Notoriously well-fed cattle. Criticizing the women of extreme indulgence while others remained in abject need. No middle class; extreme economic separation.
- vv. 4, 5 — With biting sarcasm he invited the people to transgress.
- vv. 6-13 — They had been judged by scant harvests, plagues of insects, pestilences, war, and destruction. None of these had deterred them from sin, nor turned them back to GOD.
E. Israel will be punished in future for iniquity, Chapter 5
- vv. 1-15 — Song of Lament as if they had already perished. Seek me and live! v.4 <=> Seek the LORD and live! v. 6 <=> Seek good, and not evil, that you may live! v. 14. Judgment may be averted.
- v. 10 They hate just judgment.
- vv. 16-20 — Paid mourners regular job. Death would be so constant there would be a shortage and farmers would have to stop working the fields in order to mourn for the dead.
- The day of the LORD opens with the Great Tribulation (not light, but darkness — vv. 18, 20).
- vv. 21-26 — The people were going through the forms of religion. They also worshiped other gods/idols.
- Creating extra religious zeal, i.e. extra tithes just to flaunt their opulence and multiply sins. Contrast to Luke 19:8
- v. 27 — They must go into captivity (Assyria).
F. Israel admonished in present to depart from iniquity, Chapter 6
- vv. 1-3 — Israel was taking it easy, resting in the lap of luxury. GOD drew His bullseye and forced them to compare to the surrounding nations, against whom He already revealed His judgments.
- vv. 4-8 — Gluttony, idleness, drunkenness.
- v. 10 — Fear, hiding, comfortless, not wanting to mention or call upon the LORD in their deepest grief.
- vv. 11-14 — Further warnings of captivity for both nations, despite celebrations of their own conquests.
III. Visions of the future, Chapters 7—9
A. The locusts, Chapter 7:1-3
- vv. 1, 2 — Locusts as judgment from God.
- v. 3 — God withdrew this judgment because of His tender mercy.
B. The fire, Chapter 7:4-6
- v. 4 — Fire was a judgment from God.
- vv. 5, 6 — God put out the fire because of His tender mercy.
C. The plumb line, Chapter 7:7-9
- vv. 7, 8 — God begins to measure with a plumbline, action is imminent (Isaiah 28:17; Jer. 31:38, 39; Zech. 2:1, 2, Rev. 11:1,2).
- v. 9 — Jeroboam is marked out for judgment.
D. Historic interlude: Personal experience of Amos, Chapter 7:10-17
- vv. 10,11 — Amaziah, priest of Baal at Bethel, lies to King Jeroboam II, re: Amos’ motives.
- vv. 12, 13 — Presumably with the king’s blessing, accuses Amos of being a Prophet-for-hire.
- Sarcastic tirade, patronizes Amos by emphasizing that Bethel is where the king worships and Amos is no longer welcome.
- v. 14 — “Not a son of a prophet,” idiom for belonging to a prophetic guild. Amos’ rejects the charge of being for hire with the defense of making a living as a herdsman and a gatherer of Sycamore figs (F. sycomorus). Originally from Egypt, common fig amongst the poor. Very labor intensive.
- v. 15 — God called Amos. (Paul’s defense as tent-maker and divine calling 1 Cor. 9:15, 2 Cor. 11, Gal 1:1).
- vv. 16, 17 — Amos did not leave, but rebukes Amaziah with a fearful, personal prophecy.
E. Vision of basket of summer fruit, Chapter 8
- v. 1 — Hebrew for “end” and “Summer fruit” sound alike. The goodness of Israel was like the summer fruit; highly perishable and soon deteriorated. God must judge them now.
- vv. 2-6 — Technically keeping festivals, but were actually using them to defraud the poor and to seek personal gain. (Acts 8:20-24, Phil. 1:15-18).
- vv. 10-11 — Dark days would come. God would withdraw His Word. Terrifying! (Psalm 106:13-15)
- vv. 12-14 — They would be scattered, even if seeking they would not find the Word of the LORD. (Matt 25:1-30, Rom 1:26-32).
F. Global dispersion, Chapter 9:1-10
- v. 1 — The judgment would begin at the Altar, the heart of Jewish life. GOD’s wrath will and has first fallen upon Christ, in “that day” it shall fall upon those who do not believe (1 Peter 4:17, John 3:16-18).
- vv. 2-4 — Parallel: heights of heaven/mountain, depths of the sea/grave will not spare them.
- vv. 7-9 — Israel would not be utterly destroyed. Israel would be dispersed throughout the world.
- v. 10 — The wicked would be judged by the sword physically at that time (by the Word, spiritually at Judgment). This has been and is being literally fulfilled.
G. Vision of worldwide regathering and restoration of kingdom, Chapter 9:11-15
- v. 11 — This was quoted by James at the Council of Jerusalem/Apostolic Council 448-50 AD (Acts 15:16, 17; Galatians 2:1-10). Isaiah 9:6-7
- v. 12 — All the Nations called by My Name (Acts 2:16-21, 37-39),
- v. 13 — John 4:36-38 -Reaping ahead of sowing, or without being the sower.
- The fields are white for the Harvest (Luke 10:1-2)
- v. 14 — Physically/Literally: present land of Israel?
- Spiritually: Kingdom of GOD is among you (Luke 17:20-21), Future Kingdom?
- v. 15 — John 10:28 -cannot be uprooted from His hand
- Psalm 92:12-25 Righteous planted in House of the LORD
- Heb 4:8-16 -A spiritual land of rest, Joshua led them into the land, but GOD still promised a later rest
- 2 Cor 1:20-22 precedent for GOD fulfilling His promises, even to Gentiles in Christ.
- Gal 1:6-10 When people want a different gospel, when they want us to bless and give well wishes, or simply to cease sharing Christ and to leave, we must hold fast the True Gospel, the Power of GOD unto Salvation (Rom 1:16). Seek the LORD and Live!
Amos Audio Transcription (Auto-Generated)
0:04OK.
0:04Due to the nature of the recording, it’s gonna be different than anything I’ve really done before.
0:09A lot of times, I’m used to just pointing out people who’ve looked up verses and you’re reading them out together.
0:16We’re all sharing in this labor of love.
0:18But they need my voice in some box to put on the web, I guess.
0:22So we’re gonna have me reading and saying everything, not my preferred way to go.
0:28I also have a timer going because they told me one hour and I typically never have taught like this either.
0:33Usually it’s been going through a book and it’s taken weeks to go through a book or maybe a topical study where we’re looking at, you know, who is Christ or what prophecies were fulfilled at that point that he’s the Messiah and there’s lots of questions and people are helping us dig verse by verse by verse all throughout the book.
0:55So it will be a little different.
0:56It’s new for me.
0:57But this is the book of Amos, I have a kind of pretty classic just educational outline.
1:07So this is not to say that this is how you should study, but I was educated a long time ago.
1:14So this is the only thing I know how to do and present an outline to someone.
1:19I’ll scroll through this real quickly and then come back to it just so we can see the overview.
1:25It’s Amos is structured like in our Bibles, we have our chapters and verses which are very helpful for us to all be on the same page together and to get to a place quickly that those were added later.
1:37I do recommend if you, if you want to try something new, getting what’s called a manuscript study where it’s just the whole text with no additional notes and reading that through because you can start to see some of the lyrical divisions and the structure that the writers originally intended that might not follow the, the textual subdivision that we have.
2:00And you’ll see that here where this just cuts off at chapter two, verse three in the first section, Judgment Upon surrounding nations.
2:07Chapter 11 versus two, chapter two, verse three.
2:12And I’ll just go through it.
2:14You can see it on the screen there and anybody online, you can see it on the website.
2:19We have three major sections and then subsection.
2:24So the first section of writing is the Judgment upon the surrounding nations like I just covered there and we’ll come right back to this in just a second.
2:33There’s subsections ABC and then there’s sub points under all of those.
2:38the second major textual chunk is honing in thank you brother honing in someone just got me water.
2:47That’s what that was about to judgment upon Judah and Israel in chapter two, verse four through chapter six through 14, you’ll see that that’s a good deal longer.
3:01Then basically just chapter one on surrounding nations.
3:05So as we get through this, there’s kind of this plan where God is bringing up issues that the people of Judah and Israel knew about in the surrounding nations.
3:16And God is calling them to account and they might be excited about that.
3:21They might be like, yes, they need to be judged, right?
3:24They’ve been waiting for these other prophets prophesy these judgments.
3:28But then in Amos, it just zooms in tighter and tighter from surrounding to neighboring to boom, right in the bull’s eye.
3:37Israel and Judah under the judgment of God, it actually goes right to the point of starting at the altar.
3:45So that is a much larger chunk.
3:48God is really sending them to task more so than the kind of cursory.
3:53Yep, they’re sinners out there in these other nations, but you who I bore out of Egypt, you who I’ve given my word, you have sinned against me.
4:01That is the second major section and then the third section and final section of the book of Avis, Our Visions concerning the Future, which is chapter seven through chapter nine.
4:18OK.
4:19So that’s the main overview when you just break down the text and you look at what is going on.
4:24Who, what, when, where, why like the classic journalistic things, not, what is my opinion?
4:30I hope to find it in Amos, right?
4:32But we’re coming in.
4:33What did the Lord say, what did actually happen in times past?
4:38And at the very, very end would be, what does that mean to me?
4:43Right.
4:43So the bulk of this study is gonna be what was actually said and what did actually happen?
4:49I’m scrolling back to the top.
4:50Now, I think it wasn’t too bad.
4:53Five minutes for an overview of the whole book.
4:56You know, the Bible project did it in eight.
4:58So we’re cruising now, we got glory to God.
5:06We got verse one.
5:09This is where like if I printed out a manuscript version or you can do it online, there’s, there’s ways to do it.
5:14I can maybe hook up with Brian and put instructions online how to get the manuscript version with all the notations taken out.
5:22And then you can just start leaving room in the margin and making notes with these basic questions, who is talking, who’s being talked about what is being talked about?
5:32When is this happening?
5:33Where is it happening?
5:34And then you can get a much clearer understanding of what of what’s going on.
5:39These people understood what was going on because it was happening in real time in their day.
5:43They weren’t confused about who Jeroboam the second was versus Jeroboam.
5:48The first, if you’re like me, you probably are, are confused unless you really get into the word and refresh your mind on it.
5:55So that’s where I’m starting.
5:56I made a note that verse one is kind of unique.
6:00There was another section two, but it’s in the third person.
6:05The other stuff is from a first person perspective.
6:08But the who the who of Amos one, I’ll read it the word of Amos who was among the shepherds of Tao, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, that’s how we know it’s Jeroboam.
6:27The second was this the son of clarifier versus Jeroboam the first, the king of Israel two years before the earthquake.
6:37So just in this one verse, we can answer a lot of who, what, when and where we see that Amos is a herdsman.
6:45Later, I pulled from Amos 714 that he was a dresser of sycamore figs, which is a very common fig.
6:52It’s a contextual evidence that Amos is prophesying and writing contemporaneous to the real time because these fig trees were ubiquitous throughout Egypt and they were carried out later.
7:06So scientists can go back and say, oh yeah, this is really happening.
7:09Whereas if he was talking about maple syrup, right, then that would be false.
7:14So this is interesting right out the, the start Amos not referred to as a prophet here, but as a herdsman and the dresser of Symo figs, then Jeroboam the second king of Israel.
7:26Now, that’s to the north.
7:28Basically, you guys know where Jerusalem is in Israel.
7:31If you think just ever so slightly north of that at this time, everything north of that was called Israel.
7:40You might hear it called poetically as like Jacob or I think is it e Ephraim?
7:47And then a main thing of note of who Jeroboam is or what he’s about, we can pull from second kings 1423 to 25.
8:01And it explains that he restored Israel’s boundaries according to prophecies that Jonah had.
8:11But that he did evil basically continually in the eyes of the Lord.
8:16So while God used him, he wasn’t blessing or condoning him, he used him just because he himself had spoken and would bring it to pass because God cannot lie the third who Uzziah in second kings.
8:34He’s referred to both as Uzziah and then switch to Azariah.
8:39And there’s another Azariah.
8:40So it can be very difficult when you’re navigating.
8:43That’s why I think not having extra things in the mind margins can be very helpful for you actually getting an understanding of what, what’s going on here.
8:52I mean, I was like tearing Bibles apart and had 30 tabs open trying to keep track of things because I’m no expert of this, I don’t think about Isaiah every day.
9:00I don’t think about Jeroboam every day.
9:03But in second kings 15, it gives a good overview and he was king of Judah, which was to the South.
9:10It included Jerusalem.
9:12Sometimes it’s referred to as the kingdom of Judah.
9:15Sometimes it’s referred to as Zion poetically, Jerusalem is also referred to as Zion.
9:22So you can see a lot of different names being thrown about that would make immediate sense to the hearers.
9:29We need refresher on that.
9:30And I think we should be humble about that and we should use as many tools as we can to make sure that we are getting that refresher and we are understanding who’s actually being spoken of.
9:42Now, he’s spoken of much more fondly than Jeroboam the second.
9:47But the conclusion of the matter is in second chronicles, 2615 b through 16.
9:56It says that he was helped by God and it gives all these things that Isaiah was accomplishing by God.
10:05But then he became proud.
10:08He was a good king turned bad, right?
10:14That would be a classic way.
10:16But God sees things from the end to the beginning.
10:20And he says in Ecclesiastes 11 3, that wheresoever a tree falls, whether to the north or to the south there it remains.
10:28That’s the truth of the matter.
10:30That’s the truth of what that tree was about in Matthew 716 through 23.
10:37Jesus says that another way, you’ll know a tree by its fruit.
10:42A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.
10:45That means Uziah was a bad king.
10:50So they had two political divisions with lots of victory and clout, especially in Israel to the north.
10:57There was such opulence and decadent, such wealth amassed by the efforts of jeroboam in the second.
11:04And God is pronouncing them both as wicked.
11:08So that’s the back story of who we’re talking about.
11:11What we’re seeing, what a saw concerning Israel already in verse one, all this information is unfolding when now this can get real heady, real scholastic.
11:27I’m I’m not saying that’s me or that it needs to be you.
11:30But it is amazing that God’s word is living and true and that it is fulfilled in history and there are ways to see these prophecies fulfilled different dating methods.
11:41Put Isaiah’s reign somewhere between 792 and 740 BC.
11:48So you remember the, this is the eighth century before Christ.
11:51So the higher the number is the further away from year one, the further away from Christ coming on the scene.
12:00And King Jeroboam the second to the north, he’s estimated to reign 793 to 753 BC.
12:08And there’s kind of some plus or minus going on on here where there’s different dating methods.
12:13I kind of gave the furthest breath of what what people are seeing.
12:17Someone might say 793 750 let’s say someone else might say 788 to 753 or something.
12:24But this is kind of the range we know these are, this is extra biblical information.
12:29But in the Bible, specifically in second kings, 1423 we know that Jeroboam the second reign was for 41 years.
12:38So you might see that 41 is not how you add between 753 and 793.
12:44So that’s the difference of of not having everything year by year written down.
12:50Another thing to know is that if we look at the agreed upon date ranges, a a general window that Amos might have ministered because he has to overlap with Usia and Jeroboam.
13:02The second would be the somewhere in the seven eighties to 750 BC.
13:09Then at the end of the verse, it says two years before the earthquake, another faithful render of that Hebrew could be during the two years before the earthquake.
13:21So there could have been all of this ministry going on and then then this earthquake, this earthquake is a really big, really big deal.
13:33It’s referred to by many people in different nations outside of the Bible.
13:40And it’s something that they’ve been able to look up in the archaeological evidence, numerous scholars, archaeologists, other scientists have separately dated this earthquake to about 760 BC.
13:52So it’s right in the likely ministry time frame of Amos what some of the major work was done by Yadin.
14:03But o others contributed.
14:04Well, this earthquake was so powerful that it’s estimated to be up to a 9.0 magnitude.
14:15Most likely most scholars say that it was the single largest earthquake from this fault line which is the dead sea transform fault.
14:24And they, what they see is radiating destruction from as far north into Lebanon modern day Lebanon.
14:32As what Amos is prophesying against by the spirit of the Lord radiating south, ripping through Israel to the north of Jerusalem, getting into Judah with lesser and lesser destructive power.
14:46The further south it goes so like a little bit of mercy was shown to Judah.
14:51And I think the text even bears even bears that out.
14:55It was such a critical time stamp that is referenced by many different cultures outside of the Bible and even almost 250 years.
15:08I said 200 years later here in Zachariah 1455.
15:13And it, it’s not just like an earthquake reference.
15:16It specifically says the earthquake in King Uziah Day real quick.
15:22Something the Fukushima Earth cake was 7.4 on the Richter scale.
15:28So this thing was like 25% worse than Fukushima and that was wiped off the planet and we have nuclear waste washing up on our shore 2000 miles east.
15:39Absolutely.
15:40This earthquake was and I’m no seismic expert, but when you go up in these scales, it’s exponent we’re talking magnitudes not, not percent 1/10 percent more.
15:53We’re talking magnitudes.
15:54OK.
15:54So this is history change earthquake.
15:58OK.
15:59No question about it.
16:01And just as surely as men and women called and referred to this date in their day, we have similar, I think, albeit less destructive things that we might reference as time stamps in our lives.
16:12You know, the older the white hairs among us, right?
16:15They, they know what happened when J F K was assassinated.
16:19That’s a very vivid time and it’s a pinpoint thing.
16:22They know what they were doing for some of us, September 11th, right?
16:26But those, those are kind of some manmade things.
16:29I reference some examples of cataclysmic events, natural so-called, natural disasters.
16:35Ok.
16:36But we, we’re gonna move on, I think.
16:42Yeah, I think some of my stuff just seems like a second edit.
16:45The Mount ST Helens thing.
16:47Yeah, some, this edit, sorry guys for here online.
16:50We had some printer issues.
16:51So we’re using four different phones here and doing stuff and I am not a tech guy.
16:56, but I am missing some of my final edits, but I’ll do my best and I think we’ll maybe swap it out online.
17:06So you might not hear some things in the audio, but you’ll, you’ll see it in the online because I’ll find that and we’ll basically redact this one out with it.
17:15But ex examples would be, I wanna see was it May well, 1980 Mount Saint Helen’s erupted.
17:23Ok.
17:24That is huge like that, that covered the whole North American continent with, with smog and ash and different different fallout from that.
17:33And scientists are gonna be studying that and creation scientists are very interested in that.
17:38And in the coming decades, they’re gonna be able to study things as the close ex ex living or extant example in our lives of what cataclysmic floods can do.
17:51Right?
17:51And then we’d be scaling that up when we’re looking at things like no Noah’s flood.
17:56So almost every single person here heard about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that was in a 79 August.
18:07OK.
18:08Mount Vesuvius erupted and just swallowed up Pompeii.
18:12So this the earthquake is that kind of time stamp, culture, changing region, changing world establishing fact.
18:25OK.
18:26So this is huge.
18:28I mean, we’re talking about it now 20 almost 2800 years later.
18:34And has you know, Zachariah was talking about it almost 250 years after the fact as a point of reference.
18:39So it is huge and we were only in verse one.
18:51Yeah, we have, I don’t know if it’s on the recording.
18:53My brother was saying that for five years after Mount Saint Helen, there was recorded global cooling, we continued to drop in temperatures.
19:00So this had huge huge ramifications.
19:05This is not like somebody was moving freight in the ground vibrated.
19:10There is without question that this happened and everybody knew.
19:17So thanks be to God for his word.
19:21Verse two, I pulled out from Joel 316 and Amos 34.
19:30It gives further expansion on this kind of this idiom.
19:35This phraseology, the Lord will roar from Zion and it indicates a lion with pray, a lion in action, pursuing having something in target.
19:50And that is the image of the Lord approaching Zion.
19:57OK.
20:02It’s, it says this speaks of near judgment of, of God upon the nations.
20:07There’s an imminent to it, you know, a lion might pounce and the prey might not be dead.
20:15But it’s one of the biggest yet in that animal’s life, right?
20:18It’s yet.
20:20And the Lord is, they’re pressing in the Lord of hosts.
20:24He’s encroaching upon all their comforts and all the lies and all the formalities that they’re hiding upon.
20:31And he, he introduces the Lord will roar from Zion.
20:38OK?
20:38I explained this earlier about Zion being a poetic form referring to Jerusalem.
20:46There’s repetition.
20:48So he says he’s going to roar from Zion.
20:51He’s talk.
20:52He refers to Jerusalem a lot of times when there’s doublets or three or four of something, it would be similar to that judgment against Syria heading that’s in bold or in a larger font.
21:04But you need a way to know that something is being emphasized auditorily and, and in Hebrew, a lot of times that is through the repetition, you’ll see it all throughout the Psalms, you’ll see it through the prophetic writing, there’s a structure that they know works that everybody in that time understands and that makes their ears perk up and saying this is serious.
21:26I didn’t mishear.
21:27It wasn’t, it wasn’t Zyon, right?
21:30It was Zion Jerusalem that underscore that emphasis.
21:38So that just brings us through the introduction.
21:42You’ll see.
21:43I have verses one and two are the introduction, but it’s, that’s kind of the prelude to this whole first section which goes through chapter two and verse verse three.
21:55So now we’re gonna get into the thick of it here.
21:58People might be scratching their heads because verse one says what Amos saw concerning Israel.
22:04And now we’re going to do anything but talk about Israel and, and it’s a way to catch them off guard.
22:10It’s a way to get them like, yeah, Syria is nasty, right?
22:14They, they can remember all these things that the people around them do wrong.
22:17It’s the old pointing fingers thing and taking the plank out of your eye.
22:22OK?
22:24So verse three for three sins and for four, you’ll see this for three and for through four, throughout the scripture, you’ll see it numerous times throughout Amos, I’m just gonna refer back to this note in verse three when it happens again, but it means ungodliness in its worst form according to many scholars such as Luther three is frequently used to convey an idea of completeness in the Bible.
22:49And this particular pattern seems to indicate a severity and a chronic excess.
22:57It’s, it’s three would be complete and then there’s even more.
23:01There’s this fourth, right?
23:04And, and I see very strongly a parallel to God’s over and over repeated promise to completely or thoroughly punish for sins to the 3rd and 4th generation.
23:16All those who hate me, Genesis 25 B the idea here is completeness.
23:23The idea is utterly and totally and without restraint.
23:30That’s how their sin was before the Lord for three and for four, following a little bit of the who, what when, where, why kind of concept we, we’re talking about Syria where Damascus is re reps mentioned.
23:48And so that was the capital of Syria.
23:51You can see second kings 1032 and 33 for the fulfillment of these words.
23:56I, I wish we could go all through it now, but I don’t have any real sense of, of the time on that.
24:02So I’m gonna keep going and we can do after the Bible Bible study and all this kind of stuff later.
24:08But you’ll see that there’s scriptural references for some things that were fulfilled.
24:14Here we see in verse four, he specifically mentions the house of Haza and it’s basically an uno reverse God is, is, is, is measuring back to Hazel because Hazza did abominable things and he set on fire the fortresses of Israel in second kings.
24:35I believe that chapter eight where this is referencing is specifically the prophet is shown what will happen.
24:44And he just stares at Hazel and Haza gets convicted.
24:47He, it says he gets embarrassed because, because the prophet just fixed his gaze upon him and he revealed what he would do.
24:56And then later Haza killed the king, he suffocated him in his sleep such that this Haza became king.
25:07Ok.
25:08Verse five specifically calls out K and K was in Moab which is southeast of Jerusalem and it’s along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea just to kind of get you oriented there and the Aras or it might say Syria, in your translation, it was not necessarily Syria proper, but it was a Semitic people in Syria.
25:37These people were free at the time of Amos’s pronouncement, but they had been slaves in Kirk.
25:46So God is swearing that they’ll go back into bonds.
25:50It would be akin to cursing Israel that they would have to return to the slavery in Egypt.
25:58And obviously Israel would hear this and see the parallel that if they could go back, you know, might might, we.
26:09The third subsection here is judgments against Philistia for making slaves.
26:15I I have.
26:17Gaza is a city in Philistia.
26:19It’s west by southwest of Jerusalem.
26:22It’s along the Mediterranean Sea.
26:26I referenced Exodus 21 where it shows what they’re violating here is that they’re abducting people.
26:32And I put a parenthetical way, totally different Bible study, but indentured service or slavery as defined in the scripture versus abduction and forced servitude such as the transatlantic slavery, very different things defined and annotated very, very distinctly in the scriptures.
26:52What they are doing is abducting people and selling them to another place which is wicked.
27:01It’s not the same thing as giving them a job and then working until the whole job is done like indentured servitude or until your debt is free and you’re, you’re financially able to move on very different things.
27:14Verse seven, we, we see verse seven was fulfilled in second kings 18 8 and under Hezekiah which was between 8715 and around 686.
27:33Verse verse eight, I hope you guys are kind of reading it in your mind as we’re as we’re going along.
27:41He’s just calling out more specific things.
27:43So Ashdod is just a bit north of modern day Gaza Strip, but that whole region was Gaza and there is a Gaza City, ok?
27:56These are, this is all Philistia, right where the Philistines were and they were frequent aggressors of Israel.
28:04So they, they might even have been getting excited about this, right?
28:08They’re going, oh, these people are gonna be ju oh the day of the Lord is coming.
28:11Someone did, would you say you were teaching Joel?
28:14Ok.
28:14So we’re gonna, there’s to the day of the Lord and some people were wrongly excited about that day and wanting destruction for their neighbors because well, they were sure that it didn’t include them.
28:29Right, wrongly.
28:30Right.
28:30I’m being sarcastic here.
28:32Then.
28:32Subsection D we go into Phoenicia, they broke a treaty.
28:37I give, I give examples there.
28:39This is verses nine and 10 Tire which was the chief city in Phoenicia where merchants did business with all nations are the major trade route going through there.
28:50So tons of wealth and opulence.
28:52OK.
28:55Verse 10 was fulfilled in two ways in Ezekiel.
29:03We have it recorded 2918 where Nebuchadnezzar takes over Mainland Tire.
29:08And one of the prophecies there is that all the great stones and all the mighty timbers would be thrown into the sea.
29:19And this happened in 333 BC when Alexander the great burned the city down and pushed every single stone.
29:28These are massive stones and created a causeway whereupon his armies marched straight out to the island of Tyre and he decimated them.
29:42So these are things I I studied a little bit of history.
29:45So some of these things might come more readily to mind.
29:49I’m sharing them with you if you can look and do research and was this fulfilled and stuff?
29:55But I’m throwing, throwing things out there that were, that were coming to mind.
30:00And you can see the prophecy more specifically, I think here.
30:04So it’s Ezekiel 26 3 through 14 and just to save space on the paper, I put a T G but that’s Alexander the great again and his armies did exac exactly what I, what I just described in and what’s described in Ezekiel.
30:17Right.
30:17I’m, I’m only repeating, I didn’t know anything about that.
30:20Right.
30:20I’m only repeating what’s recorded section.
30:26E we’re starting to get into, towards the end of this first chapter.
30:32We see God singling out Edom.
30:36And do I have verses missing Dear D from?
30:43Yeah, it looks like it.
30:44Well,, so Edam came from Esau, the brother of Jacob.
30:50Those two were always fighting.
30:52All right, I put it just a little contrast in there of what, what the spirit of Christ does for us.
30:58The first Peter 38 and nine, it is about unity and living together in harmony.
31:04It’s just a little contrast we’re going on for Amon and his violent crimes.
31:12We see that a the, the Ammonites came from an incestuous line, Genesis 1930 to 38 of lot and his younger or youngest daughter.
31:23That’s where the Ammonites come from.
31:27So there’s a whole history.
31:29They already going back to Genesis of why the Ammonites are going to be destroyed.
31:3514 and 15 RBA is this capital of Ammon and this was ultimately fulfilled through the Assyrian invasion.
31:45Then we get to Moab, they had a, a in sp revengeful spirit that said that they even burned the bones.
31:58Verse 1212 chapter two, verse one, it says for three transgressions of Moab and for four, again, that three for four pattern.
32:08I will not revoke the punishment because he burned to line the bones of the king of Edom.
32:15So we’ve seen this in somewhat more modern history.
32:18The Roman Catholic church has exhumed people and, and burned and pulverized their bones to condemn them as heritage there.
32:27God is drawing the line here.
32:29So like this revengeful spirit like pursued even beyond death where the king was dead and they’re burning and grinding the bones to li there’s other prophetic references to, to, to lime and the it it shows complete and utter destruction, right?
32:47Things are not recognizable.
32:49Lime itself burns.
32:50I had to look that up at over 1500 °F.
32:53It produces something called quick lime, which is a caustic gray white powder would look pretty similar to burnt up, dried up bones, which is which I think it’s calcium oxide, but they use that for a purpose like to whitewash tombs.
33:08You can kind of let the spirit take your mind where it needs to go with that, right?
33:13But this is just utterly dead and then dead and then burned and then ground and just totally annihilated.
33:21OK?
33:21And, and, and that’s not the place for men.
33:25That’s a, that’s going into vengeance’s mind says the Lord territory, right?
33:29The king was already gone.
33:30Why is he doing?
33:31Why?
33:32Why are they doing this horrible thing?
33:35OK.
33:36The moabites were from the incestuous line of lot and his older or eldest daughter, Genesis 19.
33:43Again, it’s craziness and verses two and three show at the Destruction of The Mobis, which was brought to ruin by Nebuchadnezzar Ezekiel 2510.
34:00And there’s, there’s likely loads of other verses.
34:03I was like jamming this paper up with so many Bible, so many Bible verses that I had to parse it out.
34:10There’s other notes that I couldn’t even include.
34:14Then we, after that, we ran through all that.
34:17We get to the second section and I was just thinking that all those prophecies, you said it was over a period of two years.
34:26So it’s not like they got all those prophecies at once and their prophecy against themselves either like, right?
34:31Like they had time to rejoice that oh those people.
34:35Yeah, we don’t know exactly how the delivery went, but quite very likely God announced the destruction of neighboring areas that they might have repented and Israel and Judah along with them, right?
34:50Like if you can look over and see someone getting in deep trouble for doing something, if you’re sane and humble, you would not do the same thing, you would stop, right?
35:01So that’s a good point that this is over a period of time.
35:04We’re gonna ram it in one hour.
35:05That doesn’t mean that Amos went to a high place, shouted this out in an hour and booked it out of there, right?
35:11This is what I think is happening in verse one is saying for a period of two years leading up to the great earthquake.
35:18OK?
35:23Then we have the judgment is being proclaimed now against Judah for despising the law in verses four and five, they had the law but they reject it.
35:34And so obviously, they are going to be judged by the law.
35:38We could look in piece by piece, what specific transgressions and things, a lot of this stuff, You can, you’re gonna find more detail in chronicles and kings of what was actually happening.
35:48These people knew what was happening.
35:50So this is just the pronouncements against them.
35:52Verse six.
35:54Now we’re getting into the judgments against Israel and I’ll read verse six, it says, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Israel.
36:06And for four, again, we’ve seen that pattern.
36:09I will not revoke the punishment because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
36:17I’ll be honest.
36:18Amos is often called the Prophet of Doom.
36:21It seems like there’s no hope anywhere until the last like four verses.
36:27Our culture is very much resistant to any kind of messaging like that.
36:30The spirit of Christ is not resistant to that kind of messaging.
36:33What is true is true and it’s true forever with, with this situation here.
36:40There’s obvious and you can go line by line, there’s obvious issues of social injustice.
36:47OK?
36:48There’s a, it’s a big buzzword.
36:49It’s a big big deal these, how we care for our neighbors does matter to God.
36:54It doesn’t seem to me that this is a social justice handbook.
37:00It seems to me that it’s much deeper that it’s already, it’s harken back to Genesis and it’s gonna throw ahead at the very end to a restored house of David and the in folding of all nations.
37:14I don’t think it’s good to come to this book as a social justice.
37:19How to it does matter to God.
37:22Don’t mishear me.
37:23It’s not the same thing at all.
37:25And to give two examples right there in Amos, the current injustice and what’s going on stretching all the way back to Joseph and throwing ahead to Christ.
37:36OK.
37:37Selling the righteous for silver.
37:41Well, who is the righteous?
37:42No, not one.
37:43So it’s not probably not really social justice is it?
37:47But we have a case where the man of God, the man of the hour is declared righteous by God in Joseph’s case or is just completely righteous by nature.
37:56In the case of Christ being sold for silver, Israel to the north 10 tribes, the lost tribes.
38:05They’re done.
38:06They’re gone Judah to the south with Benjamin.
38:11So Joseph had 11 brothers but Benjamin was too young.
38:15He was about 10 years old and Jacob was so fearful that harm should come to his youngest son to Rachel’s last son that he didn’t send them off during the time of famine to look.
38:29And later, he was reluctant even to send him at Joseph’s behest to, to Israel.
38:35Ok.
38:35So there were 10 tribes that sold Joseph for silver and they are gone.
38:42Hm.
38:44Then going into the future Judas, he says, if I surrender him unto you, you know what’s in it for me?
38:54And the priest gave Judas silver 30 shekels.
38:58I believe it was 20 for Joseph.
39:00So, you know, you figure inflation 30 for Christ.
39:05I never heard that one.
39:06OK.
39:07So there’s something really big going on here where it’s too small of a word just to be for Amos Day, too small of a thing just to be for Israel and Judah.
39:20OK, verse seven.
39:23And we should be looking, we should be praying.
39:25We should ache within our being.
39:26Where are you Christ?
39:28Every, every time we’re in this word, it’s fun to do the academic stuff.
39:32And there is real value in that you shouldn’t shirk discipline, but you can die just being academic.
39:38OK?
39:38If you’re in Christ, you’ll live forever.
39:40So this is, this is what, what I’m wanting us us to see.
39:45But we can see that and someone might see that through these examples of the fulfillment, through history, proving that the Bible was true.
39:54So all of it is worthwhile and can bring honor and glory in verse seven.
39:59There’s, there’s more going on mixed audience here and everything.
40:06I don’t know what the parents prepared or whatever, but it says a father and son go into a maiden.
40:11I changed it up a little bit for years.
40:14It’s eight several scholars, you know, we’re doing this in an hour in my super micro print.
40:20It’s about seven pages of the book of Amos.
40:22You can apparently turn it into almost 600 not counting, not calling prefaces and indices.
40:28This is like an 850 page tome on the book of Amos here by Daniel Carroll.
40:37Thi this seems to be an idiom kind of like we might say everyone and their uncle showing the ubiquity of these heinous sins.
40:48Obviously, it would still be wrong if it’s directly word for word, what it’s what it’s saying.
40:54And then of course, extreme economic oppression is gonna be the undergirding, you know, of all of this thing we could get into which gods and, and all this kind of stuff.
41:05I want us to find the living God.
41:07I think the Lord wants us to find the living God.
41:09We could get into all the, what were the false gods receiving from Israel and Judah and all this kind of stuff worthwhile thing.
41:16There’s a lot of parallels to our day, but I had an hour so we’re gonna get cooking.
41:21OK.
41:24In verse eight, it seems to specifically put it in the context of idolatry.
41:30There’s altars around, they’re doing this maybe for the service or appeasement of, of idols and fal false gods.
41:39OK.
41:40Verses 9 to 11.
41:42Key point is they’re committing the same sins as the Amorites.
41:45God had put the Amorites out of the land.
41:47Therefore, Israel will go into captivity.
41:49And that before Judah verse 12, I’m gonna read verse 12.
41:57This is chapter two, we’re still here.
42:00But you made the Nazar drink wine and command the prophet saying you shall not prophesy many, many other leaders, kings, et cetera have said, don’t prophesy or here’s this nice thing that we want say prophesized that to us, right?
42:14This parallels with Acts four where they were forbidden to be preaching or teaching in the name of Jesus and the disciples said, you decide for yourselves.
42:26But as for us, we can’t but you know, we have to, we must or another example.
42:36Oh I said contrast that with first the Falon 5, 19 to 21 which is the context of despise not prophesying.
42:47So a mark of these tyrannical governments of these authorities who have left the everlasting Lord is that they tell you to stop teaching, tell you to stop preaching.
43:08The spirit of Christ says, no, never and forever.
43:13OK?
43:13Because because the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.
43:19That’s from revelation.
43:21OK.
43:23That day was ultimately fulfilled when as Syria attacked Israel destroyed Samaria and took all the people’s captive about 722 BC.
43:35OK.
43:36Now we have an all inclusive you know, they like Adriana had said is that these messages are being delivered at different times.
43:45There might have been time for people to repent or to gloat.
43:48Ok?
43:49But now we’re coming back with an, with an all inclusive, you’re going on this thing, right?
43:55And it’s not just Israel or Judah.
43:58Now we have in chapter three verses one and two.
44:03Yeah, explain how Israel had a unique relationship with God and they were chosen for a specific purpose, but that privilege created greater responsibility than the surrounding nation.
44:14And we, I throw some verses in there.
44:16You’ll see it on the outline.
44:17Guys.
44:17I’ve got a, I’ve got a hall here.
44:20OK.
44:21Verse three through 67 is a number used throughout the scriptures to show completeness or a wholeness of something.
44:30And he asked seven rhetorical questions showing how things can relate like and if this then that and they get more pointed until there’s a finality.
44:40The last few pairs of questions, there’s just a finality.
44:43There’s not options to it.
44:45It’s gonna be that way.
44:47OK?
44:48And they disagreed with the way or where it talks about if how can two walk together unless they agree.
44:53And so they departed from it.
44:56Verse seven, God is merciful even in anger and he makes his will known in John 15, Jesus says that we’re no longer just servants but friends and that he makes what the father has revealed to him, known to us That is mercy.
45:21That is mercy.
45:24Verse eight.
45:26I don’t have too many notes so I’ll just quickly read it.
45:31I can read you if you ever want.
45:33It says thank you brother.
45:35The lion has roared.
45:36Who will not fear?
45:37The Lord has spoken.
45:38Who can but prophesy.
45:42So that goes back to the earlier thing.
45:44The Lord roars from Zion.
45:45We have it in, in Joel as well.
45:49This is a fearful thing.
45:50This is a lion with pray it’s imminent.
45:53It’s happening.
45:54It’s not time to dip and run.
45:57You’re caught, right?
45:58It’s all but game over.
46:00Ok?
46:01And that’s that intensity.
46:02And we, we see that in Jeremiah 29 and acts 42.
46:08So Old Testament, New Testament, we say we see the essence of the Lord God has spoken.
46:14Who can but prophesy when that living word gets put in you, you have to declare it, you have to share it.
46:22It’s that Jeremiah is that that fire, shut up in the bones, right?
46:27So Amos is experiencing that and this is in contrast to what we’ll see in a later chapter where he wasn’t even calling himself a prophet.
46:35He had to do this, he couldn’t.
46:37But right.
46:41So 9 to 15 shows that the the nation’s judgment will be severe and the Northern Kingdom or Israel would be judged first.
46:52Then we get into punishment for past iniquities.
46:54In chapter four, ban is East of Galilee.
47:00Most of us probably know about where Galilee is.
47:02These cows were notoriously well fed there and there was just abundance and it seems that he’s directly attacking women with power, who aren’t doing righteousness with that power, but who are abusing and neglecting.
47:24So he, he, it’s kind of like when Jesus says, you know, why should I, you know, this is this for the, the, the house of Israel, why should I give it to the dog?
47:35And then the lady says, but even the dog gets the scraps.
47:38It’s that kind of a thing.
47:40where saying, look at this extreme indulgence and you’re not taking care of anybody.
47:47Some historical analysis shows that there was no middle class whatsoever.
47:52There was very extreme economic separation with the majority being truly deeply impoverished and the elite class being very very wealthy.
48:04So not nothing really like what’s going on here in the United States.
48:07But maybe yet and, and maybe we might think of like the caste system in India that used to exist or, or if you’ve done overseas ministry, maybe you’ve seen, seen some of this complete the separation, but it was very extreme.
48:26It was so bad that the prophet is even sarcastic because we have to be careful sometimes with the word.
48:33You know, if you just point at something, the old joke go and do likewise, right?
48:36But verse four and five, he’s saying, go to Bethel go and transgress, go to Gilgal multiply your transgressions, bring your sacrifices every morning and your ties every three days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened and proclaim free will offerings, publish them for.
48:57So you love to do o people of Israel declares the Lord God.
49:00So it’s clearly biting sarcasm, right?
49:04He he’s saying this is what you do anyway.
49:06You know, I might as well just tell you to do it.
49:11But it does make me a little nervous.
49:12We have some parallels to that.
49:15Like in Romans one, there’s a point when transgression goes so far that God will send a spirit of delusion so that you believe the lie that you won’t turn again.
49:29So we, we have to be aware that a lot of this stuff isn’t.
49:32Oh That’s old Testament.
49:35It’s the same God yesterday, today and forever.
49:40He might be showing more long suffering today.
49:43But we, we should be aware.
49:45Verses 6 to 13.
49:48They show all the kinds of judgments.
49:50They had insufficient harvest plagues of insects, pestilence, war and destruction.
49:56But yet none of them had deterred them from sin, nor turned them back.
50:00And as Adriana was saying before, even before this point, perhaps they could have turned back when they saw the judgment on the surrounding nations.
50:10It makes me think of a verse that says that we shouldn’t rejoice when the wicked stumble e even though it’s like, oh, please end this, end, this tyrannical reign or end this leadership or oh, there’s that regime over in such and such a place better that they would repent in turn than that they would fall.
50:28OK?
50:28And I think that we see Israel and Judah time and again, and perhaps ourselves rejoicing when the other falls we shouldn’t do that.
50:39So in Israel section E is gonna be punished in the future for iniquity.
50:45But we see a lot of these verses were poems or even songs probably Amos was like singing this out.
50:54It’s a, it’s structured like a song of lament and it’s he’s singing it or declaring it as if they’re already perished and gone, right?
51:02Like if they were gone, he wouldn’t be speaking to anybody.
51:04So they’re clearly it hasn’t happened yet.
51:08But man, these verses jumping out, seek me and live verses four, seek the Lord and live, verse six, seek good and not evil that you may live.
51:17Verse 14.
51:18Judgment might actually be averted and seeking good and doing good is going to be done when you’re seeking the Lord there.
51:28He, he he’s saying that the Lord is good, seek the Lord and live, seek me and live.
51:34That’s the speaker of the spirit that was giving Amos the word and seek good.
51:38He’s good, right taste and see that the Lord is good.
51:41It’s not some social justice standard that we can create and vote on every four years.
51:47It’s an unchangeable person.
51:50That’s what goodness is.
51:52Verse 10, they hate just judgment.
51:55So therefore verses 16 to 20 it judgment would be so severe that in this culture at the time, they had paid Mourners death would be so abundant and so constant as as to require the farmers to stop working in the fields in order to come in and mourn for the dead, not necessarily their dead, right, the dead of their community.
52:19It doesn’t, doesn’t mean that they’ll be sad because they lost family members.
52:22But in order to show respect for the dead, which is something that was very important to them, they’d be stopping their work in the fields and coming in.
52:30There’s a kind of a foreshadow to the great trip to a great tribulation or the great tribulation the day of the Lord 18 through 20.
52:40Then we’ve got the 21 to 26 is a big one is that they had created extra forms of religion, extra forms we, we read when in the sarcastic verses that he’s saying, post them, publish them as you love to do.
52:56So they were making a big deal about and we’re going to do this ministry and we’re gonna do that and we give ties three times a week and all of this extra stuff, but just to flaunt their opulence, I contrast it to acts 19 8.
53:11I also could have included a parallel perhaps Ananias and Sapphira.
53:17They didn’t have to do all this stuff.
53:19They added this Ananias and S Fire didn’t have to even sell their property, let alone once they did, they didn’t have to give all the money, but they lied as if they were giving all the money and they held back some for themselves.
53:30That’s the same spirit that’s going on here.
53:32It’s terrible.
53:33And so boom, Assyria, they go into captivity.
53:37I section F Israel was admonished to depart from iniquity.
53:43This is, we’re, we’re emphasizing that bull’s eye that’s happening, right?
53:47We’re, we’re honing in tighter and tighter and tighter that they’ve already done the comparison.
53:53They already know what the neighbors, the neighbors were doing.
53:56Well, they have specific sins of like gluttony, idleness, drunkenness, their verse 10 judgment, they’re gonna be in fear and hiding and comfortless, not even wanting to mention or call upon the Lord in their deepest grief.
54:09That should contrast everyone who’s received Christ through the gospel because we have the spirit of comfort, the spirit of adoption, whereby what we do cry, we cry, Abba Father.
54:22These people were destitute, more warnings, captivity for both nations, right?
54:29Despite what there’s celebrations of their own conquest, we might have celebrations or, or woes on Tuesday or like our brother pointed out, it probably won’t be resolved on Tuesday.
54:41So in some number of weeks, right?
54:43And then we might be proud that that somebody won or didn’t, didn’t win.
54:47But even even if your candidate brings measurable success, wealth and ease.
54:56Whoa seek the Lord, seek me and live.
55:02Both nations were destroyed Israel to the North Judah, to the South.
55:06Final three chapters, guys were ripping in.
55:09We’ve got chapter seven through nine.
55:12You could do studies just on these and comparing other visions of other prophets that use the same wording.
55:18OK?
55:19But we get that everybody’s condemned.
55:21We’re gonna start looking forward.
55:23We’ve got the visions of Locusts.
55:26Those are a judgment from God all throughout this, this scripture.
55:30But there’s these glimmers.
55:31Some people say there’s only four verses of hope at the very end.
55:34But time and again, here in these little subsections that I have God withdrew his judgment.
55:39Not absolutely but in measure because of what his own tender mercy, not because anybody had earned anything but because of his own tender mercy.
55:49Same thing with the vision of fire.
55:51Fire came verse four, but in five and six with a measure, God put it out because of his own tender mercy.
55:59Amos cried out to God.
56:00Amos did cry out to God.
56:01And we have eventually there’s a verse where it shows I’m not sure but that he said, well, Jacob is not gonna be cut off forever, not all of it.
56:15OK?
56:16So we have the Plumb line.
56:21So there’s I gave a bunch of verses here.
56:23Isaiah, Jeremiah Zechariah Revelation.
56:26You’ll see it in the outline online here guys.
56:29But every single time that there is a plum line or God says go measure imminent action is about to take place when something is plum, that’s the vertical version of of level level is horizontal.
56:45Plumb is vertical.
56:46If something is, is plumb, it’s on a stable foundation, then it’s not going to falter.
56:52If something is canted one way or another, then the further over time or the higher up you build or the older it gets, the more exaggerated that’s going to be right.
57:02If I just move my finger, one tiny crook, you might not be able to tell.
57:05But if I had taped a ruler to it, now the tip of that ruler would be pointing away over here.
57:10That’s not even close to good enough.
57:12OK?
57:12So when a plumb line comes on the scene, imminent action is about to happen and it’s usually not positive.
57:20Verse nine.
57:21Jeroboam is gets marked out for judgment.
57:24OK?
57:25There’s a historic interlude here in verses 10 through 17 of chapter seven where Amos is including some personal experience that he’s had.
57:36And this is Amaziah.
57:37There’s two, at least two Amaziah here.
57:39So you’ll have to be careful when you read this.
57:41Who, but this Amaziah is the priest of Baal at Bethel, which is just a little bit north of Jerusalem.
57:48It’s in the south of Israel at this time.
57:51And Jeroboam the second had made an altar there and a temple and there were golden calves and who knows what other adulteries, you’ll see a lot of other verses for it.
58:05But Amaziah lies to King Jeroboam the second regarding Amos’s motives and says that he’s contriving against us, you know, like conspires, like maybe there’s a school of people that are trying to get a political agenda across or whatever and it’s vexing the land, the land can’t take it anymore.
58:25So he lies verses 12 and 13 are, they’re after that exchange.
58:29So presumably with the king’s blessing.
58:32Amaziah accuses Amos of being a prophet for higher.
58:36That’s what’s, that’s what’s going on there where it says verse 13, it says, but never again, prophesy at Bethel, we’ve already heard the prohibition against prophesying and preaching.
58:48That’s not the spirit of Christ.
58:50And for it is the king sanctuary.
58:52It’s kind of making a jab like this is where kings worship.
58:54You’re not, you’re not fit fit for here.
58:56And it’s the temple of the kingdom.
58:58He says in verse 12 to go flee and go eat bread in another place.
59:02Like, like we talked about bringing home the bacon or you know, the daily bread.
59:08It’s like a symbol of the provision and that’s where we get Amos kind of clapping back here in verse 14, he says that I am neither a prophet nor the, nor the son of a prophet.
59:28This might just seem like an out and out lie or a contradiction like what’s, what’s going on here.
59:33But he’s not a prophet for higher.
59:36So it’s that it’s that double it kind of idea.
59:38I’m not a prophet, I’m not a son of a prophet.
59:40It’s emphasis and the son of a prophet is, is an idiom for belonging to a prophetic guild.
59:46You, you know that there are prophets like the, I think Saul goes under the influence of the Holy Spirit to nail that Rama.
59:55And they say he, how is he prophesying?
59:58And he’s not of us, right?
1:00:01But that was something even a wicked man was being made to do by the Holy Pure Spirit of God.
1:00:07That is, you can round it, round it off.
1:00:09That’s saying that we were at an hour with some technical difficulties.
1:00:13So I think we’re, we’re not doing too, I think we’re not doing, not doing too bad.
1:00:19So that’s what’s going on here.
1:00:21It’s not a lie, it’s not a contradiction.
1:00:23It’s not, well, what he’s prophesying.
1:00:26I don’t understand.
1:00:27He also appeals like Paul did to the fact that you’ve got nothing on me because I have a job and I’ve not required any funds from any of you.
1:00:40Ok.
1:00:41So he says absolutely false.
1:00:43And I there would have been witnesses around and stuff.
1:00:45I’m a herdsman and more than that, I’m a, a gatherer or a AAA scourer of sycamore figs and those were originally out of Egypt.
1:00:57That’s the note that I was saying for, it was a very labor intensive thing.
1:01:00This is a very common like growing in the ditches everywhere you went, these things were going growing, but they produce very woody fruit.
1:01:08It wasn’t like a super juicy proper fig.
1:01:12And so they would have to score these trees at the base and by the fruit to get the sap out like the extra latex in order to encourage more ripening and induce earlier fruit sat and like more water content and stuff.
1:01:28So it was very labor intensive in order to eke out some good food and, and, and some and some profit.
1:01:35So he just totally shut down this accusation and he’s like Paul, he says, I was called by God.
1:01:44I was in the field, I was doing what I was supposed to be doing and then I couldn’t help but prophesy, right?
1:01:50Because he was called by God.
1:01:51That’s the same defense Paul used I leave those verses there.
1:01:55Clearly Amos didn’t leave verse 16 and 17, but he rebukes Amaziah with a fearful personal prophecy.
1:02:01OK?
1:02:02E the summer, the summer fruit, the Hebrew word for end.
1:02:05This was in the footnote of one of the Bibles.
1:02:07This one basically has no footnote.
1:02:09So I use that a lot, but I was using one with, with tons of footnotes and it said the word for end sounds just like summer fruit.
1:02:17So there’s some kind of play going on there that it’s like saying you’re right or it’s time, it’s the end.
1:02:24I put in there, maybe, maybe it’s saying the goodness of Israel is like summer fruit, highly perishable and soon deteriorated.
1:02:31God must judge them now.
1:02:34So there’s verses here that they were technically keeping the festivals verses two through six, but they were defrauding the poor to seek personal gain.
1:02:42Acts eight.
1:02:43They, the magician wants to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit and Philippians one.
1:02:50they, they’re saying people, sometimes people even preach for selfish gain.
1:02:54But I rejoice that Christ is preached.
1:02:57So there’s some things going on there that are parallels, dark days are coming, verses 10 to 11 and God is gonna withdraw his word.
1:03:06Terrifying.
1:03:09You could maybe survive an earthquake, you could maybe survive war.
1:03:13You just go live in another land, do strange things that you didn’t prefer to do.
1:03:17But you have your life.
1:03:19If the word is taken away, you no longer have life.
1:03:22And we have a reference 106, 13 through 15 that describes that process.
1:03:27Terrifying.
1:03:2812 to 14, they would be scattered.
1:03:31Even even if they sought the word of the Lord, they wouldn’t find it.
1:03:36We have an example.
1:03:37There’s virgins me mentioned in verses 12 to 14 in Matthew 25.
1:03:42A very similar thing is the virgins with the, with the oil and some of those won’t find.
1:03:48So even in our day, we might not find the word of the Lord in Romans one is if we’re going headlong into sin, right?
1:03:56He’s going to send the spirit of delusion.
1:03:57So we buy the lie.
1:03:59The very end.
1:04:00Chapter nine, we’re five minutes over here.
1:04:02We’ve got global dispersion nine through one.
1:04:05Verse one shows that and, and this to me is the crux of, of what’s going on here in Amos verse nine chapter one or no, excuse me.
1:04:18Chapter nine verse one, I saw the Lord standing beside the altar and he said, strike the capitals until the threshold shakes and shatter them on the heads of the people and those who are left of them, I will kill with the sword and none of them shall flee away.
1:04:33Not one.
1:04:36So judgment would begin and does begin at the altar which was the heart of Jewish life.
1:04:43Think of Jews.
1:04:44Now today they don’t have a temple, right?
1:04:48God’s, this is orthodox Jews.
1:04:51I’m saying if we’re Jews by faith, we’re Israel by faith.
1:04:54But God’s wrath will and has first fallen upon Christ at the altar.
1:04:59So that in that day, it shall fall upon those who do not believe why?
1:05:04Because John 316 says they’re condemned already, right?
1:05:09Verse 18, condemned already.
1:05:11So two through four, there’s imagery going on the heights of the heavens or of the mountain and the depths of the sea or the grave, no matter what extreme spiritual or physical, you won’t be spared.
1:05:24Ok?
1:05:25But then this verse of promise that Israel will not be utterly destroyed.
1:05:30Israel would be dispersed throughout the world.
1:05:32Verse 10, the wicked will be judged by the sword physically at that time, by putting a parenthetical, but by the word spiritually always and finally, at judgment.
1:05:44So this has been and is being literally fulfilled.
1:05:47This verse 10, we’re in the very last verses here.
1:05:51The vision of the worldwide regathering of restoration of the kingdom.
1:05:55Verse 11 was quoted by James at the Council of Jerusalem or the Apostolic Council around there’s an extra four there, it should be 48 to 50.
1:06:05Ad apologize for that guys but acts 1516 and 17 quotes.
1:06:09It verse 11 is saying and in that day, I will raise up the booth or the house of David that is fallen and repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it.
1:06:21As in the days of old James count at the, at the Council of Jerusalem or the Apostolic Council.
1:06:28They are saying, what is required of us regarding the gentile church.
1:06:34We have all of these non Jewish believers and there are these Judaize afoot that are saying, do this, do that follow this.
1:06:42They’re trying to preserve them by the law, but they had come to saving faith in Christ just by faith.
1:06:50What was going on here.
1:06:52And Galatians talks about them being Bewitched in another verse.
1:06:57But in this verse two, I believe is another reference.
1:07:00It’s when it’s in the middle of Paul’s ministry.
1:07:02He goes back with Barnabas and they have this huge cons the first big huge meeting of the church, not counting Pentecost when they were sent out.
1:07:11And they quote James quotes.
1:07:13This first is saying that we see in the context verse 12, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and that all nations who are called by my name declares the Lord who does this.
1:07:24And he said the gentiles are in.
1:07:27He used that verse and said, the gentiles are in Amos is being fulfilled right here.
1:07:31Acts 15, they are in the restoration has begun.
1:07:34The house of David is Forevermore.
1:07:38Wow.
1:07:39Glory to God.
1:07:39Verse 13 verse 13 says, behold, the days are coming.
1:07:45Declares the Lord when the plowmen shall overtake the reaper and the tread of the grapes.
1:07:49Him who sows them and the mountain shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it.
1:07:53These are all the prophetic blessings, the things that were to Amos, right?
1:07:58When you do well, when you go in to possess the land, all these things, but also seems to be happening in John when, when Jesus promises that we’re gonna now reap and take in a bountiful harvest where we never sowed.
1:08:13So we’re overtaking the sower.
1:08:14We ourselves are not the sower, the fields are white for the harvest.
1:08:19Luke 10 reference we have verse 14 is physically literally, where does this fall in with the land, the geography of Israel.
1:08:29And, and, but we know that spiritually, Jesus says, the Kingdom of God is among you, Luke 17.
1:08:36We know that he’s restoring a future, permanent eternal kingdom.
1:08:41And we, we see the same illusions about not being uprooted.
1:08:45We see in Psalm 92 it says the righteous are planted as literal fees, no planted in Israel proper.
1:08:54Not necessarily, it says in the house of the Lord.
1:08:57Well, this is the house of David.
1:08:58We planted grafted in Paul says to Jesus Christ, amen.
1:09:03That’s the implanting that you can never be plucked out from.
1:09:08Right?
1:09:08Paul says it another way.
1:09:09How could it be the literal physical land of rest?
1:09:13Because when they got there, Joshua had led them into the land of rest and yet they prophesized about a coming rest.
1:09:21So the implanting is the trees of righteousness.
1:09:24It’s souls.
1:09:26It’s when he rebuilds up the ruins.
1:09:28Jesus says he’s making a holy kingdom that’s not built with human hands.
1:09:32We’re living stones.
1:09:33So that is where I see the culmination of these prophecies pointing and we see some warnings there.
1:09:41I put a few verses in second Corinthians showing that the promises are being fulfilled in Christ.
1:09:48That’s where we get these promises fulfilled.
1:09:51And that we have a warning at the very end from Galatians 16 to 10.
1:09:55When people want a different gospel like these different kings, they wanted to be blessed by the prophets and not warned or judged when people want a different gospel, when they want us to bless and give well wishes or simply just to cease sharing Christ kind of you.
1:10:10Do you type thing?
1:10:12We must hold fast to the true gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.
1:10:16Romans 116, seek the Lord and live.
1:10:22That’s it.
1:10:2310 minutes over.
1:10:25Not bad.
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