Amos 3 Bible Study
AMOS TIMELINE:
A commonly agreed date for the writing of the Book of Amos is between 760-750 B.C. The first verse of the book informs readers that Amos‘ book opens during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel, two years before the earthquake. The earthquake must have been a significant one because it was also mentioned by the prophet Zechariah in his writing (Zec 14:5) around 250 years later.
MAP (TAKOA):
LIST OF THE PROPHETS:
Joel - Unknown
Amos - 760–750 BC
Hosea - 750–721 BC
Jonah - 750 BC
Isaiah - 740–680 BC
Micah - 701 BC
Zephaniah - 630–620 BC
Jeremiah - 627–580 BC
Nahum - 612 BC
Habakkuk - 610–600 BC
Ezekiel - 592–571 BC
Daniel – 606-539 BC
Obadiah - 587 BC
Haggai - 520 BC
Zechariah - 520 BC
Malachi - 430 BC
OUTLINE:
DOES A LION ROAR IN THE FOREST, WHEN HE HAS NO PREY? (3:1-8):
God continued His rebuke of Israel. They were especially guilty because they had enjoyed a special relationship with God, one their neighboring nations never had, yet they still turned their backs on God.
In verses 3 through 6, Amos lists a series of rhetorical questions to Israel. These questions were questions that the people could answer with certainty, things they took for granted as true.
Amos then followed those questions up with another one, one that spoke to the future fate of Israel. He asked, “Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?
As surely as the people knew the answers to Amos’ previous questions, they knew the answer to this question. They could know for sure that when disaster befell them, it was an act of God, a punishment for their sins.
Like a lion, God was roaring, and the people of Israel should have feared becoming His prey.
ISRAEL IN THE MOUTH OF THE LION (3:9-15):
God invited foreign people (the Philistines and the Egyptians, 3:9) to gather in the hills of Samaria (capital of Israel) and observe the depravity of the nation.
God said of Israel, “They do not know how to do right” (3:10).
God prophesied that He would send “an adversary” to surround them, ruin their cities, and tear down their idols at Bethel.
Those who escaped would be extremely small in number. Amos compared the remnant that would escape to a shepherd who attempted to wrestle a sheep out of the mouth of a lion but was only able to recover a severed ear or leg.
APPLICATION:
Israel was going to be punished more severely because they walked away from God even though they had a unique relationship with Him (3:2).
That fact should be a warning to all followers of God today.
The New Testament repeats the warning that those who know the goodness of God but choose to turn away from it will be judged more harshly than those who never enjoyed a privileged relationship with God.
