Amos 5 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.
REVIEW OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS:
Amos 1 – Amos is introduced and God condemned several of Israel’s neighboring nations, including Syria, Philistia, Edom, Tyre, and the Ammonites.
Amos 2 – God condemned Moab and the southern kingdom of Judah before turning His anger against Israel. They were guilty of trampling the poor, worshiping idols, and ignoring God’s law.
Amos 3 – Amos asked Israel a series of obvious questions and told them Israel’s destruction would be equally obvious as being the work of God. Israel was portrayed as a sheep devoured by a lion.
Amos 4 – God rebuked the women of Israel who crushed the needy to feed their appetite for sin and luxury. He listed His past efforts to discipline Israel, which they had ignored, and because they had ignored them, they were told to prepare to meet their God.
OUTLINE:
ISRAEL, A STAIN ON THE HOLY LAND (5:1-17):
Chapter 5 repeats many of the themes from previous chapters but does it in more poetic language.
Israel is pictured as a fallen virgin, never to be restored.
When her cities sent warriors out to battle, those that sent thousands would receive hundreds back, those that sent out hundreds would receive only tens back.
God was against the nation, and He would make sure they were ruined.
But though God was angry at them, He was still willing to relent if they were willing to repent.
God told Israel to “Seek Me and live” (5:4).
Amos told them to “Seek good, and not evil… Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate” (5:14-15).
If they continued to worship false gods at Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba, God would break out against them like a devouring fire.
Israel was a corrupting blot on the face of the earth. They turned the sweetness of justice to wormwood (a bitter plant) and they beat down the righteous. They hated the judges who ruled fairly and those who spoke the truth.
God had taken account of all of their sins, and He was going to make sure that the justice, righteousness, fairness, and truth they detested so much would prevail over them.
Their sins had made many rich, but God was going to take their houses and their vineyards away from them.
When the day of the Lord came, there would be wailing and mourning in the streets of Israel.
THE DAY OF THE LORD (5:18-27):
It seems that some in Israel were welcoming “the day of the Lord (5:18), either because they were mocking the idea or because they were ignorant of what it held in store for them.
Amos warned them that “the day of the Lord” had nothing good for them.
It would be a day that none of them would escape. Like a man who escaped a lion only to run into a bear.
It was going to be a day of darkness and gloom for Israel.
God cared nothing for their phony devotions, empty sacrifices, and heartless hymns.
God wanted justice to roll over Israel like rushing water and righteousness like a stream. The whole land needed to be restored and reset, and that is part of what the day of the Lord would accomplish.
God was going to send Israel into exile and purge the land of the evil.
APPLICATION:
Pray for more hate in your life. You should be praying to have a greater capacity for hate in your heart.
Amos wrote, “Hate evil, and love good” (5:15).
We love too many things that we should hate.
People love their gossip, their pornography, their drugs, and their grudges. People love their ungodly wealth, their sinful thoughts, their idolatrous ambition, and their excuses. People love their bad TV shows, their “tolerance,” their rotten music, their laziness, their false doctrines, and their perversions of God’s created order.
Christians have become calloused to many of these things. We acknowledge they are wrong, but they don’t often evoke strong reactions from us. Our hearts and minds don’t repulse from them. We don’t smell the filth of these things like God does.
We need to hate these things more. Especially when these things show up in our own behavior, but also in the world at large.
These things are pollutants, blots, and stains on God’s good land.
