Amos

Ok, so I know I’ve said this before, but the proclamation in chapter 9 is mega-super-fierce. It’s a vision, so we can’t take the imagery literally (it wouldn’t make sense with the end of the chapter if we did). However, that doesn’t mean it’s not intended to communicate something tangible and impactful to the people… Read more: Amos – Chapter 9

All false idols are like that, in their day as well as ours. They make promises that we foolishly buy into. But when you’re in the trench and going through the dregs of life, porn, food, pride, money and power don’t have your back. But they’ll be all you have left when you tell the… Read more: Amos – Chapter 8

Chapter 7 opens with a series of visions God gives to Amos. The first two are visions of circumstances that would bring destruction to Israel (forming locusts to basically eat the budding wheat crop after the king’s share has already been paid and a fire judgment so fierce that it consumes the land and the… Read more: Amos – Chapter 7

The woes continue to be aimed at those who seem to be at leisure in both Judah (Zion) and Israel (Samaria). These top of society folks are invited to visit Calneh, Hamath and Gath, cities in their vicinity (and who representatively surround them) who have already fallen. God’s people are blind and arrogant, they refuse… Read more: Amos – Chapter 6

    There’s a glimmer of hope buried in chapter 5, a call to repentance, but ultimately Amos doesn’t appear optimistic that they will respond accordingly.   He opens with “Hear this word…”, a familiar phrase that opened chapter 3 and showed up twice in chapter 4. The lament is dire, Israel has fallen and… Read more: Amos – Chapter 5

And…the prophet of the Lord calls the ladies of Israel “cows of Bashan”. That’s, well, you know, not good. The animals in reference were likely plump, well-fed cows, a striking comparison to the “poor” and “needy” the ladies of Israel are oppressing. And they celebrate as they do so. The ladies share the punishment laid… Read more: Amos – Chapter 4

Amos continues the judgment against Israel. They are reminded that of all the people in the earth, God has dwelled with and made covenant with them, and they have rejected it. Afterwards a series of examples that illustrate logical connections (two people walk together because they agreed to meet, lions roar because they have no… Read more: Amos – Chapter 3

  Continuing, Moab sucks because they have disrespected the bones of the King of Edom in a dastardly way (removing them from their resting place and burning them.) It’s a bit interesting that God is reinforcing respect for the bones of a nation He is also set to punish, although this is likely just presented… Read more: Amos – Chapter 2

Amos opens with an introduction of who he is. It’s interesting who he is not, which is a denoted prophet. In fact, he’s just a shepherd (Tekoa is a town just south of Jerusalem, so it’s in Judah. I remember Israel is in the north and Judah to the south by the order of the… Read more: Amos – Chapter 1

Amos was likely written in the mid 700 BC’s. Assyria was an aggressive nation and in the 800’s had asserted itself from its original territory (think parts of modern day Iraq and Iran) all the way over to the Mediterranean coast (modern day Israel-Palestine). However, by the 700’s, they had hit a lull and the… Read more: Amos | Introduction