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 out previously, they will be taken from their land like a fish being lifted out of the water by hooks, led through their broken defenses out of their homes.
Then Amos becomes sarcastic – Go ahead and go to your false worship centers (Bethel and Gilgal), bring your worthless sacrifices and your tithes, bring your leavened bread, and make sure everyone sees what you’re doing. As will be stated further by guys like Malachai, God is not satisfied with your bogus offerings – he desires mercy not sacrifice. Your show, facade, of offerings doesn’t fly with the Lord.
Then Amos lays out all the times God has tried to get their attention and they have not paid attention. These examples are pretty poetic. “Cleanness of teeth” means you didn’t have any food to get them dirty. God withheld food from them to get their attention and they didn’t come back to him. He withheld rain, sent blight, mildew, and locusts to destroy their crops and still they ignored it. (This harkens back to the to the previous accusation of shutting up the prophets. God was talking, they didn’t want to listen.)
v.11 is interesting, I’m not sure why God refers to himself in the 3rd person (the Hebrew isn’t clear on this and I don’t know Hebrew anyway). v.12 is also interesting as the repetition of the phrase “I will do to you” reads a little funny. However, it makes way for one of the most powerful declarations in Scripture for v.13:
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!
Dang! That last part is fierce. Amos is taking pains to remind the people exactly who they are dealing with.
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