Day #194

Sermon - Audio
Amos 6-9 - Audio
Amos 6-9 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

6.1: The rich of the Northern kingdom believed that they were safe from harm due to their wealth and the strength of the nation of Israel at that time. Amos refers to Israel as the "foremost nation" in a mocking way. The wealthy of Israel actually believe they are the greatest nation in the area.
6.4-6: The wealthy enjoy a life of leisure and excess. They lie around, they eat the best foods (fattened calves are special calves usually saved for special occasions, for the rich they are regular fare), they believe themselves to be excellent musicians following in the line of David (but the text indicates that they play frivolous music while David wrote Psalms to God), they drink a lot of wine and do day spas. The interesting thing is that God finally does not condemn them for this excess but rather for their lack of a broken heart over the ruin of Jacob. The word ruin is Sheber and it means to shatter or fracture. Jacob is fracturing, being shattered by injustice, the abuse of the poor, a failure to worship God and these people simply do not care.
6.7: Those who are bragging they are foremost (see verse 1) will actually be first into going into exile. As it turns out to be foremost was not such a great thing.
6.10: The relative who comes, comes not to burn the bodies, but to light a fire in honor of the dead.
6.10: "Mention the name" The word for mention is the Hebrew word "Zachar" which means to remember. In Hebrew when someone remembers something they act on what they remember. So the person is saying, "Don't call on God to act-because right now he is all about judgment and we want to avoid that, so keep quiet because if you call on him he'll remember us and bring judgment."
6.11: This verse describes the judgment that the person in verse 10 wants to avoid.
6.12: "justice into poison" is a repetition of an earlier picture in Amos where justice which is supposed to be sweet for the poor actually turns into bitterness because the rich pervert it.
6.14: "Lo Debar" is a place but it is also a name that means "nothing". So the people rejoice in taking nothing. Karnaim is a play on a word that means horn (strength). The idea is that Israel, who believe herself to be foremost among the nations is basing her belief on the taking of nothing and that even her little strength will fade away in the face of mighty armies.
7.1-6: Amos cries out on behalf of Israel. God's punishments are so severe that it seems even the remnant of Israel will be destroyed. He asks God to not bring such severe punishment on the people.
7.2: "so small" a totally different perspective on Israel from the wealthy who see Israel as the foremost nation.
7.7: A plumb line is to see whether a wall remains straight or if its pitch is so bad it needs to be torn down. Israel begins her life with God as a straight wall, but now she needs to be torn down.
7.10: Amaziah is the high priest at Bethel. Bethel is a temple that was never supposed to be built and so is a temple that stands against God's true desires-even as Amaziah does.
7.11: "Jeroboam will die by the sword"-Amos never says this. He says that the house of Jeroboam will see the sword come against it (7.9). Amaziah is trying to strengthen his case with the king by making Jeroboam feel personally threatened.
7.12: One of the things Amos accuses the Israelites of in chapter 2 is silencing the prophets. Here we see his accusation is rooted in reality.
7.13: To call the temple in Bethel the king's sanctuary and temple of the kingdom belies the truth that this temple was not dedicated to Yahweh and his truth, but a prop for keeping the king in power. It is a sickly shadow of what the reality of what the temple in Jerusalem was supposed to be-the temple of the great King: Yaweh--where even kings bowed down and sought his counsel.
7.14: In the face of opposition Amos recalls his call by God.
7.17: Amos lays out the terror that will come to Amaziah's family. His wife will become a prostitute because the family's wealth is gone and her children who would have cared for her are dead. The last two lines of verse 17 echo the words spoken by Amaziah himself.
8.1-3: As the season of summer has come to an end, so God's patience has ended with Israel. Judgment is now coming.
8.4-10: God speaks out against the injustice of those who steal from the poor by dishonest weights and measures. For their lives of injustice and greed judgment is coming.
8.11-12: The people who would not listen to God's word will long for it--but God will be silent.
8.14: shame/Ashima. While the uncertainty with this word has led to its being translated "shame," it seems most likely that it is a reference to the Syrian god Ashima (NIV note). This deity's title comes from the Aramaic for "the name" and thus is a shorthand for any number of the northwest Semitic gods and goddesses (Baal, Anat, Astarte) IVP Old Testament Background Commentary
9.1: The altar is most likely the altar in Bethel, not Jerusalem. God is destroying the improper place of worship, the worship itself, and the people for their sin.
9.4: If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world's chaotic forces, is probably in view. Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the LORD, but this text implies that even this powerful enemy of God is ultimately subject to his sovereign will. NET notes
9.5-6: God is great, you can't escape him.
9.11-15: In a sudden change of tone we hear the promise of the Messianic age. The idea of wine flowing finds its New Testament fulfillment in Christ turning water into wine (John 2).