Amos 5
Summary for Amos 5:1-3: 5:1-3 a The charges against Israel had been filed (3:1-2 b; 4:1-3 c); now it was time for judgment. Amos made this point clear by singing a funeral song for Israel, as though the nation were already dead. 5:1 d funeral song: The Hebrew word (qinah) describes a special rhythm (3+2 beats) used for funeral dirges (most of the book of Lamentations is written in qinah). The ominous significance was clear: Israel had already died and now awaited burial.5:2 e When used to describe political powers, virgin refers to a state of being unconquered by a foreign power (e.g., Babylon, Isa 47:1 f; Jerusalem, Lam 2:13 g; cp. Lam 1:1 h).
5:3 i This verse is a reversal of the promises made in Lev 26:8 j.
5:4 k Come back to me and live implies a condition: In order to live, Israel should seek the Lord (also in 5:6 l). Otherwise, the funeral song (5:1-2 m) would become Israel’s death sentence.
5:5 n Beersheba was another site (see study note on 4:4) with ties to the patriarchal era (e.g., Abraham, Gen 21:33 o; 22:19 p) that had been made into a shrine.
• Gilgal ... exile: A wordplay using alliteration (Hebrew hagilgal galoh yigleh).
5:6 q The northern kingdom of Israel (literally the house of Joseph) was dominated by the tribes of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (see study note on 5:15; see Hos 5:3 r, 5 s).
Summary for Amos 5:8-9: 5:8-9 t Amos quotes a second hymn fragment (see 4:13 u; 9:5-6 v). Once again, the prophet emphasizes the contrast between the cosmic God and the local gods.
• Stars, celestial bodies, and constellations such as Pleiades and Orion were regarded as deities in the ancient world. Not so, says Amos; the Lord made them and placed them in the sky.
• water: The ancients had observed a process that they did not understand (evaporation and condensation). However, the Lord understands and controls natural processes that seem mysterious to humans.
5:10 w Amos resumes the thought begun in 5:7 x. Israel’s courts, controlled by the wealthy, depended on corrupt judges and hired witnesses. They had no use for what was true, but only for what was expedient to their own cause (5:12 y).
5:11 z stone houses: Again, Amos targets the rich. The houses of peasants were built of mud brick. Cut stone, the result of laborious handwork, was very expensive.
5:13 aa Witnesses pleaded that they saw and heard nothing. Truthfulness had become a liability (5:10 ab) and might endanger the one who spoke it.
5:14 ac Amos makes his earlier hints (5:4 ad, 6 ae) more explicit: Israel must do what is good and right in order to survive.
5:15 af the remnant of his people: The Hebrew text uses the remnant of Joseph to refer to the northern kingdom, who were still God’s people despite their rebellion and idolatry.
Summary for Amos 5:16-17: 5:16-17 ag crying ... mourning ... wailing: Grief would result from the widespread and certain destruction that lay ahead (5:1-2 ah). 5:16 ai farmers ... professional mourners: This expression is a graphic way of describing that everyone would grieve.
Summary for Amos 5:18-6:14: 5:18–6:14 aj The pronouncements of sorrow in this section develop two themes: (1) Israel’s apostasy would make the “day of the Lord” a day of judgment, not salvation; and (2) Judah’s spiritual complacency would also bring judgment. 5:18 ak Amos again confronts the Israelites’ distorted view of their chosen status (see 3:2 al).
• The phrase What sorrow awaits you denotes despair brought on by a great tragedy.
• The day of the Lord in the Old Testament (see Isa 13:6 am, 9 an) was a time when God would intervene in the world to set right those things that had gone wrong. God’s intervention would mean vindication for the righteous, but judgment for the wicked. Israel thought that on that day (see also Amos 8:3 ao, 9 ap, 13 aq; 9:11 ar) God would save them. However, because the Israelites had been wicked, the day of the Lord would bring darkness, not light. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BC (2 Kgs 17:7-23 as), fulfilling this prophecy.
Summary for Amos 5:21-27: 5:21-27 at Amos again confronts the religious hypocrisy and spiritual unfaithfulness of the Israelites (see 4:4-5 au; Isa 1:10-20 av).
5:22 aw God would not accept the offerings (see Lev 1–6 ax) of the Israelites because they were attempts to manipulate him magically rather than signs of true repentance and faith.
5:24 ay This is the second of the great thematic verses in Amos (see 4:12 az).
• endless river: The streams or gullies (wadis) in Israel’s dry areas contained water only temporarily during rainy seasons. However, God wanted continual, not just seasonal, justice.
Summary for Amos 5:25-26: 5:25-26 ba Although the people of Israel claimed that God had to bless them because of the Sinai covenant, Amos demonstrated that they had been fundamentally pagan from the very earliest days of the covenant. 5:25 bb Israel’s relationship with God was based on true devotion that yielded obedience (1 Sam 15:22-23 bc). Sacrifices representing repentance and faith could repair a breach made by sin, but they were not a substitute for a life lived in accordance with God’s word.
• Forty years in the wilderness was the duration of Israel’s wandering after the rebellion at Kadesh-barnea (see Num 14:32-35 bd).
Summary for Amos 5:26-27: 5:26-27 be The names that appear in 5:26 bf have given rise to several conjectures, but many interpreters consider them to be names of unidentified pagan gods. The king god may well be Molech, god of the Ammonites (see 1:15 bg). The word translated you served may mean you will lift up, in which case the prophet is making a contrast between Israel or Judah, who carried their idols, and God, who carries his people (see Isa 46:1-7 bh).
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