Prepare to Meet Your God, Israel! I. Base Text: Amos 4:1-5:27 II. Context A. Amos of Tekoa (Amos 1:1) 1. Amos of Tekoa, prophesying in the days of Jeroboam II king of Israel (796-739 BCE; likely 760-750 BCE) 2. Time of political stability, economic prosperity B. Tone set: YHWH roars from Zion, pastures mourn, Carmel withers (Amos 1:2) C. Amos begins presentation with nation oracles (Amos 1:3-2:5) 1. Provides critique of Aram, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab in succession (Amos 1:3-2:3) 2. All condemnations for actions against people of God 3. So far, all would be on board 4. Then critique of Judah for covenant unfaithfulness (Amos 2:4-5) D. Amos then begins critique of Israel (Amos 2:6-16) 1. Condemnation for oppression of poor 2. Distortion, perversion of pure religion E. Amos then provides the word of YHWH against Israel (Amos 3:1-15) 1. The word is given and is sure: Samaria will pay for her sins (Amos 3:1-11) 2. Pitiful remnants will remain; prosperity will cease (Amos 3:12-15) F. Amos now continues the word of YHWH against Israel in Amos 4:1-5:27 III. Meaning A. The Cows of Bashan (Amos 4:1-3) 1. Amos turns the critique specifically to the wives of the Samarian nobility, deriding them as "cows of Bashan" (so also Isaiah 3:16-26) 2. Bashan as the rich pastureland east of Jordan, noted for its timber (Deuteronomy 32:14, Psalm 22:12, Isaiah 2:13, Ezekiel 27:6, 39:18) 3. Denunciation: they demand drink, luxury from their husbands, gained through the oppression of the poor (Amos 4:1) 4. God against oppression of the poor (Proverbs 14:31, 22:16, 28:3, Ecclesiastes 4:1-3) 5. God swears by His holiness, for He can swear by no other or greater (Psalm 89:35, Hebrews 6:13) 6. Condemnation: women who perceive themselves as noble, dignified, to be cast out into exile most ignobly and shamefully, with hooks and thorns (Amos 4:2-3) 7. Harmon as Mount Hermon to the northeast, indication of departure for Assyrian exile B. Transgression by Sacrifice (Amos 4:4-5) 1. Amos then addresses the religious situation in Israel, inviting them to come to Bethel and Gilgal, but to transgress (Amos 4:4)! a. Bethel: literally, "House of El/God"; where Jacob saw his ladder (Genesis 28:10-22), as a religious center in Judges 20:18, and one of two cultic sites established by Jeroboam with a golden calf as YHWH (1 Kings 12:28-32) b. Gilgal as first place in Canaan overrun by Israel; reproach removed there in Joshua 4:19, 5:9, but now a reproach again c. Transgress a strong word with hint of rebellion (cf. Genesis 50:17, 1 Kings 12:19, Proverbs 28:24, Isaiah 1:2) 2. Amos then describes their transgression: they make daily sacrifices, bring tithes, offered leavened thanksgiving offerings, and publish freewill offerings, which they love to do (Amos 4:4-5) a. Sacrifices commanded in Leviticus 1:1-7:38 b. Tithes also commanded (Genesis 28:22, Deuteronomy 14:22-29) c. In offerings to YHWH, there is to be no leaven (Exodus 23:18, Leviticus 2:11, 7:11), yet Israel was to offer leavened cakes for the priests (Leviticus 7:13-14) 3. So where is the transgression? a. Bethel, Gilgal cultic centers not approved by YHWH b. Offering sacrifice before a golden calf called YHWH as idolatry (Exodus 20:3-6) c. Yet the core of the critique seems to come at the end, how Israel loves to continue to offer the requisite sacrifices, but do not practice righteousness or justice (so Isaiah 1:10-17) d. All those sacrifices cannot atone for their continued rebellion and unfaithfulness! C. Prepare to Meet Your God, O Israel! (Amos 4:6-13) 1. Amos then proceeds with an extended demonstration of God's judgments upon Israel, how they did not return to Him in repentance, and the ultimate judgment of Israel to come 2. These judgments according to the covenant curse of Leviticus 26:14-39, Deuteronomy 28:15-68 3. Cleanness of teeth not a good dental hygiene program but an expression of famine (Amos 4:6) 4. YHWH as withholding rain in February and March, when rain is most needed for crops; intermittent rain, unpredictable and leading to feast or famine (Amos 4:7-8) 5. YHWH brings environmental pestilence (Amos 4:9) a. Blasting: scorching east wind withering crops b. Mildew: blight leaving grain yellow and fruitless c. Palmer-worm as locust devouring greenery 6. YHWH brings the pestilence He brought upon Egypt, death in war (Amos 4:10; Exodus 12:1-32, 14:1-31, 15:26) 7. YHWH overthrew some of them as He did Sodom and Gomorrah, some plucked out as a brand from the fire (Amos 4:11) a. Sodom and Gomorrah already as byword for sinfulness, devastation (Genesis 13:13, 18:22-19:29, Isaiah 1:9-17) b. Note the lesser to greater structure: judgments get more severe 8. Despite famines, pestilences, and then Aramean incursions, Israel did not repent! 9. Thus, Amos warns Israel: prepare to meet your God (Amos 4:12)! a. This is not intended to be a friendly meeting b. Without doubt, Israel will meet God in the form of the marauding Assyrians who will destroy them and exile them (2 Kings 17:1-23)! 10. Amos then establishes his confidence in YHWH as able to declare this and make it come to pass with first of three doxologies (also Amos 5:8-9, 9:5-6) a. YHWH as creator of mountain and wind b. YHWH declares the thoughts of a man c. YHWH makes light and darkness (cf. Joel 2:2) d. YHWH is God of armies! 11. YHWH's word against Israel is given: they have oppressed the poor, engaged in the pretense of religion, have not repented, and the ultimate judgment of exile is coming! D. Lamentation Over Israel (Amos 5:1-3) 1. Amos then utters a lament over the fate of Israel, from afar looking back and seeing their end 2. "Virgin" Israel as fallen, not to rise again (Amos 5:1-2; Hosea 1:4, Amos 9:8) 3. The losses are horrendous: only ten percent left, a small remnant (cf. Isaiah 1:9) 4. Israel will not fare well when she meets her God! E. Seek YHWH (Amos 5:4-17) 1. Amos continues his critique of Israel in Amos 5:4-17 along the theme of seeking YHWH and goodness (Amos 5:4, 6, 14; Isaiah 55:6) 2. Amos exhorts Israel to seek YHWH, not at Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba, for they will be destroyed (Amos 5:4-5) a. For Bethel and Gilgal, cf. Amos 4:4 b. Beersheba not a major cultic location but is among the idolatrous places listed in 2 Kings 23:8 3. Amos again emphasizes the need to seek YHWH and live, affirms another doxology of YHWH's glory and power, and chastises those who seek injustice (Amos 5:6-13) a. Israel must seek YHWH to live or Joseph and Bethel will be destroyed (Amos 5:6) b. Woe introduced against those who turn justice into wormwood, a poison, and cast righteousness down to the earth (Amos 5:7; Revelation 8:11) c. YHWH as having made the Pleiades and Orion (Amos 5:8; cf. Job 9:9, 38:31) d. YHWH makes dark, pours out water of sea onto land (Amos 5:8) e. YHWH causes destruction even on the strong (Amos 5:9); the doxology serves as a warning for Israel that YHWH can overthrow them even in the midst of prosperity f. Amos returns to those of Amos 5:7, who hate those who reprove in the gate, that is, those who stand for justice and righteousness in the city seat of judgment, and hate those who speak uprightly (Amos 5:10; e.g. 1 Kings 18:17-18) g. Such people have built stone houses and planted vineyards with the proceeds of their oppression of the poor, but they will not enjoy it (Amos 5:11; Deuteronomy 28:30) h. Their sins and transgressions are high and many; they hinder people from getting justice in the gate, and even bribe judges (Amos 5:12; contra Exodus 23:6-9, Deuteronomy 16:18-20) i. This climate leads to many prudent people staying quiet, for evil is magnified, and right oppressed (Amos 5:13; Isaiah 6:11-12) j. A sobering and devastating chastisement of the status quo! 4. Amos again exhorts the people to seek good and not evil, to establish justice, or the day of judgment will come (Amos 4:14-16; Isaiah 1:17-20) a. Reference to Joseph indicates pre-eminence of Ephraim (Amos 4:14; Hosea 4:17, 5:11, 13, 6:4, 11:8) b. YHWH will "pass through," evoking the Passover of Exodus 12:12, 23, but this time to cause devastation and death among Israel (Amos 4:15-16)! F. Woe to Those Seeking the Day of YHWH (Amos 5:18-24) 1. Amos then turns to those who think they want to see the Day of YHWH, making it clear that they really don't want to see that 2. He says twice that it is darkness, not light (Amos 5:18, 20) 3. He compares it to a very bad, no good day: fleeing from a lion only to meet a bear; leaning his hand upon the wall thinking he has found rest, only to be bitten by a snake (Amos 5:19) 4. It will be quite unpleasant indeed, a day of condemnation of Israel to death or exile, and not vindication over their enemies 5. YHWH condemns Israel's ceremonial service (Amos 5:21-23) a. Feasts involve Passover, Pentecost, Booths/Sukkot (Deuteronomy 16:16) b. Solemn assemblies as a religious assembly, akin to 2 Kings 10:20 c. The smell of offerings is acceptable in Genesis 8:21 d. Harps (or viols) as 12 stringed instrument played with fingers, established in Temple service in 2 Chronicles 29:25 6. Israel ought to let justice roll like waters, righteousness as an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:34; Isaiah 1:17, Micah 6:8) a. Powerful, evocative imagery b. Waters, streams as life-giving, result of rain, nourishing, healthy c. Life can be maintained in Israel if they practice justice, righteousness! G. Exile Beyond Damascus (Amos 5:25-27) 1. YHWH asks if He demanded sacrifices in the wilderness, for even then they served Mesopotamian gods and will carry them off into exile beyond Damascus for their covenant unfaithfulness (Amos 5:25-27; also quoted in Acts 7:41-43) 2. Israel not to serve the host of heaven, but clearly do so (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3) 3. Textual challenge #1: God did command sacrifices in wilderness a. Leviticus 8:1-10:20, Numbers 7:1-88 b. Yet Jeremiah makes this same critique in Jeremiah 7:22 c. Perhaps priesthood, Tabernacle inaugurated, but most of legislation intended for post-Conquest living d. Main theme, however, evident: God expected trust and faithfulness before He demanded sacrifice 4. Textual challenge #2: Who are the gods and what are their objects in Amos 5:26? a. Consider ESV reading from MT: "Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god" b. Consider ESV reading from Acts 7:43, based on LXX of Amos 5:26: "the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan" c. Consider ASV reading from MT, just translating it all: "the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god" d. All read the same text! e. So who are the gods? f. Sikkuth, Kiyyun are Mesopotamian gods g. Moloch - could be as Molech, as in OT h. Hard to find reference to Remphan as god i. Thus, likeliest reading is MT as reckoned by ESV j. Possible indication, with Joshua 24:14, that Israel was still serving Mesopotamian gods even after the Exodus 5. The consequence of their idolatry is the covenant curse of exile (Leviticus 26:33, Deuteronomy 28:64) H. Amos' message throughout is consistent: Israel has turned from God through oppression and idolatry, and without repentance, will experience the Day of YHWH, death, devastation, and exile to Assyria IV. Application A. Guilt of Oppression 1. In Amos 4:1-3, the noble women of Samaria are condemned for oppressing the poor and crushing the needy 2. It is highly unlikely that they directly participated in such oppression; you would not have seen a woman in the streets thus abusing the poor 3. Instead, it is their desire for luxury, wealth, eating, and drinking that either helps drive their husbands to engage in the behaviors that oppress and crush the poor or is only able to exist because of what their husbands have done to the poor 4. Therefore, even though they are indirect reasons or "beneficiaries" of that oppression, the women are condemned as if they were the active agents! 5. We can see that God holds accountable not only those who actively perpetuate oppression and abuse of the poor but also those who benefit by it and drive it! 6. This should give us pause in 21st century America: what if God holds us responsible for oppression of the poor and the crushing of the needy, not because we have directly participated in it, but have indirectly driven it or benefitted from it, perhaps through lower prices on products made on account of substandard labor practices in other places, etc.? B. Transgressive Religion 1. In Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23, Amos chastises Israel for transgressing in religion 2. All the things Amos mentions (sacrifices, tithes, observances) are authorized and commanded in the Law 3. Such a critique, along with Isaiah's in Isaiah 1:10-17 and Jeremiah's in Jeremiah 7:22, have led later rabbinic scholars and some scholars to this day to suggest that the prophets were really against the sacrificial concept and the whole idea of a cult center! 4. Yet such a conclusion goes a bit too far and misses the main issue Amos and the other prophets emphasize: while some aspects of the sacrifices are not according to the Law, the attitude of the Israelites is the primary concern! 5. They think that by observing the ceremonial and sacrificial aspects of the Law they are pleasing God and accomplishing true religion 6. Yet it is a religion of their own making in Israel, bowing down to an image of their own manufacture, seeking atonement from a dumb statue while perpetuating oppression and injustice! 7. Instead, they are to let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream! 8. Martin Luther King, Jr., used this line of Amos in his "I Have a Dream" speech, and for good reason! 9. Israel's problem remains a temptation to this day: to emphasize and cultivate the ceremonial and "religious" aspects of religion without proper practice or emphasis on the cultivation of justice and righteousness in one's thoughts, feelings, and actions! 10. So Matthew 23:1-36, James 1:26-27: we must practice true, pure, and undefiled religion, assembling with the saints, acting in all ways according to God's purpose, but not neglecting the weightier matters and seeking to do good and practice justice and righteousness (Galatians 2:10, 6:10)! C. "Yet They Did Not Return to Me" 1. Amos 4:6-13 is an extended description of God's activities among Israel as He sought for them to repent 2. God did not give them prosperity or strength to thus warn them; He gave them famine, pestilence, war, death! 3. Israel is guilty because they should have recognized in these disasters the covenant curses God promised for disobedience, and therefore these challenges should have pricked their heart so that they would turn back to YHWH (Leviticus 26:14-39, Deuteronomy 28:15-68) 4. Today we do well to reflect upon this concept, for it has been lost on so many! 5. When people experience distress, pain, and suffering of any sort, they are more than willing to blame God, find fault with God, but how many would interpret them as God's attempts to warn them toward repentance? 6. It is not for us to thus chastise others, but does present a good warning for us: are we willing to see the hand of God even in our distress, and will we prove willing to do what Israel did not, and return to God in our distress? D. The Day of YHWH 1. Amos speaks of the Day of YHWH, a theme pervasive in the prophets 2. He asks why anyone would want to see it, for it is darkness, and not light 3. The Day of YHWH came for Israel in 722 BCE, the end of Israel; 701 BCE, Assyrian devastation of Judah; 586 BCE, the end of the Kingdom of Judah; 30 CE, the death of Jesus; 70 CE; the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (Joel 2:28-32, Matthew 24:1-36, etc.) 4. Note how the day was quite unpleasant for Israel in all of these occasions! 5. Sure, God visited destruction upon Assyria, Babylon, Macedon, and Rome as well 6. A good reminder for us: yes, we expect the final day of YHWH, the day of resurrection and judgment (Matthew 25:1-46, Romans 2:5-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10), but we do well to recognize that the day is doom for the disobedient as much as the day of vindication for those who follow God! V. Conclusion A. Amos paints a grim picture of Israel in his day 1. The nobility have gained through oppression, suppress righteousness and justice 2. They all continue in sacrifice and idolatry, confident in their prosperity and peace 3. Righteousness and justice left undone; the poor oppressed and maltreated B. Yet the Day of YHWH would come, and these wrongs would be set to right 1. Assyria would punish Israel 2. The nobles would lose all nobility 3. The idolatrous cultic sites would be destroyed C. Yet Israel still had time to repent if she only would D. Let us repent of our sins and return to God before the final day of the LORD! E. Invitation/songbook Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: "Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, 'Bring, and let us drink'" (Amos 4:1). The wives of Samaria did not directly oppress but were found guilty of oppression. God thus holds accountable those who drive or benefit from oppression as much as those who actually oppress! Let us stand for justice and righteousness in every aspect of our lives lest we be condemned! 2: "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD" (Amos 4:6). God sent a series of plagues and pestilence upon Israel to get her to repent, and she did not. Sometimes our distresses, trials, and suffering are to teach us a lesson and to turn back to God. Let us learn from the past and repent of our sins when we are afflicted! 3: "Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" (Amos 4:12). The people would not change their ways; there was nothing left for God to do but to visit His people. It was not pleasant; they died or were exiled to Assyria. May we so live as to never hear the words, "prepare to meet thy God, O Christian!" 4: "But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream" (Amos 5:24). Israel still observed holy days and offered sacrifices, but God hated them since they were not paired with faithful living. As waters and streams flow with life-giving and sustaining water, so a land is nourished and sustained in justice and righteousness. Let us live in and advance justice and righteousness to the glory of God in Christ!