You Did Not Return to Me – Amos 1-5

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.   This is Episode #265 and today we’ll read Amos chapters 1-5 together.   And the Lord said I did all this, “and yet you did not return to Me.”  

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Intro to Amos  

Okay, dear friends…we’re gonna do a little bit of a change-up.  The sad truth is…I talk too much.  And I get excited…which means I talk even more.  When it comes to the Minor Prophets, that’s a problem.  Researching, writing and recording intros – sometimes twice a day – is a stretch for a Bible-loving podcaster and her loyal Editor-Extraordinaire.  So this is what we’re gonna do…

For the remainder of the Minor Prophets, I’m just gonna give you a line or two about what to expect from the book.  And then I really want you to take an extra six or seven minutes and watch – or at least listen to – the over view video at The Bible Project.  You probably have it bookmarked by now, but in case you don’t, there is a link in the Show Notes and in the Transcript of this episode at Lifting Her Voice.com.

So here goes…we’ll start with Amos:  Amos was a shepherd.  And like so many other of the prophets, God called him to warn Israel to repent.  Just one…more…chance.

Amos Chapter 1

The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa — what he saw regarding Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

He said:

The Lord roars from Zion

and makes his voice heard from Jerusalem;

the pastures of the shepherds mourn,

and the summit of Carmel withers.

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Damascus

for three crimes, even four,

because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges.

Therefore, I will send fire against Hazael’s palace,

and it will consume Ben-hadad’s citadels.

I will break down the gates of Damascus.

I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven,

and the one who wields the scepter from Beth-eden.

The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir.

The Lord has spoken.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Gaza

for three crimes, even four,

because they exiled a whole community,

handing them over to Edom.

Therefore, I will send fire against the walls of Gaza,

and it will consume its citadels.

I will cut off the ruler from Ashdod,

and the one who wields the scepter from Ashkelon.

I will also turn my hand against Ekron,

and the remainder of the Philistines will perish.

The Lord God has spoken.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Tyre

for three crimes, even four,

because they handed over

a whole community of exiles to Edom

and broke a treaty of brotherhood.

Therefore, I will send fire against the walls of Tyre,

and it will consume its citadels.

I Will Not Relent

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Edom

for three crimes, even four,

because he pursued his brother with the sword.

He stifled his compassion,

his anger tore at him continually,

and he harbored his rage incessantly.

Therefore, I will send fire against Teman,

and it will consume the citadels of Bozrah.

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing the Ammonites

for three crimes, even four,

because they ripped open

the pregnant women of Gilead

in order to enlarge their territory.

Therefore, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah,

and it will consume its citadels.

There will be shouting on the day of battle

and a violent wind on the day of the storm.

Their king and his princes

will go into exile together.

The Lord has spoken.

Amos Chapter 2

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Moab

for three crimes, even four,

because he burned the bones

of the king of Edom to lime.

Therefore, I will send fire against Moab,

and it will consume the citadels of Kerioth.

Moab will die with a tumult,

with shouting and the sound of the ram’s horn.

I will cut off the judge from the land

and kill all its officials with him.

The Lord has spoken.

Judgment on Judah

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Judah

for three crimes, even four,

because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord

and have not kept his statutes.

The lies that their ancestors followed

have led them astray.

Therefore, I will send fire against Judah,

and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.

Judgment on Israel

The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Israel

for three crimes, even four,

because they sell a righteous person for silver

and a needy person for a pair of sandals.

They trample the heads of the poor

on the dust of the ground

and obstruct the path of the needy.

A man and his father have sexual relations

with the same girl,

profaning my holy name.

They stretch out beside every altar

on garments taken as collateral,

and in the house of their God

they drink wine obtained through fines.

Yet I destroyed the Amorite as Israel advanced;

his height was like the cedars,

and he was as sturdy as the oaks;

I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.

And I brought you from the land of Egypt

and led you forty years in the wilderness

in order to possess the land of the Amorite.

I raised up some of your sons as prophets

and some of your young men as Nazirites.

Is this not the case, Israelites?

This is the Lord’s declaration.

But you made the Nazirites drink wine

and commanded the prophets,

“Do not prophesy.”

Look, I am about to crush you in your place

as a wagon crushes when full of grain.

Escape will fail the swift,

the strong one will not maintain his strength,

and the warrior will not save his life.

The archer will not stand his ground,

the one who is swift of foot

will not save himself,

and the one riding a horse will not save his life.

Even the most courageous of the warriors

will flee naked on that day —

this is the Lord’s declaration.

Amos Chapter 3

God’s Reasons for Punishing Israel

Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:

I have known only you

out of all the clans of the earth;

therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Can two walk together

without agreeing to meet?

Does a lion roar in the forest

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion growl from its lair

unless it has captured something?

Does a bird land in a trap on the ground

if there is no bait for it?

Does a trap spring from the ground

when it has caught nothing?

If a ram’s horn is blown in a city,

aren’t people afraid?

If a disaster occurs in a city,

hasn’t the Lord done it?

Indeed, the Lord God does nothing

without revealing his counsel

to his servants the prophets.

A lion has roared;

who will not fear?

The Lord God has spoken;

who will not prophesy?

Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod

and on the citadels in the land of Egypt:

Assemble on the mountains of Samaria,

and see the great turmoil in the city

and the acts of oppression within it.

The people are incapable of doing right —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

those who store up violence and destruction

in their citadels.

Therefore, the Lord God says:

An enemy will surround the land;

he will destroy your strongholds

and plunder your citadels.

The Israelites Will be Rescued

The Lord says:

As the shepherd snatches two legs

or a piece of an ear

from the lion’s mouth,

so the Israelites who live in Samaria

will be rescued

with only the corner of a bed

or the cushion of a couch.

Listen and testify against the house of Jacob —

this is the declaration of the Lord God,

the God of Armies.

I will punish the altars of Bethel

on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;

the horns of the altar will be cut off

and fall to the ground.

I will demolish the winter house

and the summer house;

the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed,

and the great houses will come to an end.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Amos Chapter 4

Social and Spiritual Corruption

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan

who are on the hill of Samaria,

women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,

who say to their husbands,

“Bring us something to drink.”

The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:

Look, the days are coming

when you will be taken away with hooks,

every last one of you with fishhooks.

You will go through breaches in the wall,

each woman straight ahead,

and you will be driven along toward Harmon.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Come to Bethel and rebel;

rebel even more at Gilgal!

Bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tenths every three days.

Offer leavened bread as a thanksgiving sacrifice,

and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,

for that is what you Israelites love to do!

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

God’s Discipline and Israel’s Apostasy 

I gave you absolutely nothing to eat in all your cities,

a shortage of food in all your communities,

yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I also withheld the rain from you

while there were still three months until harvest.

I sent rain on one city

but no rain on another.

One field received rain

while a field with no rain withered.

Two or three cities staggered

to another city to drink water

but were not satisfied,

yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I struck you with blight and mildew;

the locust devoured

your many gardens and vineyards,

your fig trees and olive trees,

yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I sent plagues like those of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with your captured horses.

I caused the stench of your camp

to fill your nostrils,

yet you did not return to me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I overthrew some of you

as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were like a burning stick

snatched from a fire,

yet you did not return to me —

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,

and since I will do that to you,

Israel, prepare to meet your God!

He is here:

the one who forms the mountains,

creates the wind,

and reveals his thoughts to man,

the one who makes the dawn out of darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.

Amos Chapter 5

Lamentation for Israel

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel:

She has fallen;

Virgin Israel will never rise again.

She lies abandoned on her land

with no one to raise her up.

For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left,

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left in the house of Israel.

Seek God and Live

For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live!

Do not seek Bethel

or go to Gilgal

or journey to Beer-sheba,

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

Seek the Lord and live,

or he will spread like fire

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

Those who turn justice into wormwood

also throw righteousness to the ground.

The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,

who turns darkness into dawn

and darkens day into night,

who summons the water of the sea

and pours it out over the surface of the earth —

the Lord is his name.

He brings destruction on the strong,

and it falls on the fortress.

They hate the one who convicts the guilty

at the city gate,

and they despise the one who speaks with integrity.

Crimes Many and Sins Innumerable

Therefore, because you trample on the poor

and exact a grain tax from him,

you will never live in the houses of cut stone

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted.

For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous, take a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates.

Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

Pursue good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of Armies,

will be with you

as you have claimed.

Hate evil and love good;

establish justice at the city gate.

Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious

to the remnant of Joseph.

Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares;

they will cry out in anguish in all the streets.

The farmer will be called on to mourn,

and professional mourners to wail.

There will be wailing in all the vineyards,

for I will pass among you.

The Lord has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!

What will the day of the Lord be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.

It will be like a man who flees from a lion

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

Won’t the day of the Lord

be darkness rather than light,

even gloom without any brightness in it?

I hate, I despise, your feasts!

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies.

Even if you offer me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.

Take away from me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.

“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness? But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.

Close

I was stopped short in this first section of Amos.  Having a relationship with God should transform the way I treat people.  I was immediately convicted.  Of course, that’s one of God’s intentions as we read Scripture.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Rebuking and correcting.  Here’s the truth of the matter:  I’m busy.  I make a lot of motion in what I think is serving God, but many times I’m busy with the things that matter to me.  Forget the rituals.  What really matters to God is people.  Am I taking care of my relationships?  How would God answer that question?  Heck, how would my friends and family answer that question?  

Does this speak to your heart?  Let me know at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will be changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.