Amos 3
Summary for Amos 3:1-5:17: 3:1–5:17 a Amos directs the three prophetic messages in this section against Israel, indicting them for a false understanding of their status as God’s chosen people. The messages show a progression toward judgment.Summary for Amos 3:1-2: 3:1-2 b The first message from the Lord warns Israel that its status as God’s elect will not excuse them from God’s judgment. Instead, they will be held to a higher standard than the surrounding nations. 3:1 c Amos begins with a reference to God’s goodness to Israel when he rescued them from Egypt (see 2:10 d).
3:2 e The word translated been intimate indicates personal and experiential knowledge that often extends beyond mere intellectual awareness. It can indicate formal recognition and acknowledgment (Exod 1:8 f; 5:2 g), personal experience (Gen 2:17 h), or sexual relations (Gen 4:1 i). This word is frequently used of God’s relationship with Israel (Hos 5:3 j) and of Israel’s ideal relationship with God (Hos 2:20 k). Because of Israel’s privileged status, God would hold them accountable for all their sins, not just some of them. God holds people accountable in terms of what has been given them (Luke 12:47-48 l).
Summary for Amos 3:3-6: 3:3-6 m Amos explains his call to prophesy with a series of rhetorical questions that must be answered in the negative. But the metaphorical language carries deeper meaning than is implied in the questions themselves. 3:3 n Amos’s walk with God was evidence that his message was in accord with the direction of God’s plans for Israel’s judgment.
3:4 o Amos’s messages have God behind them: What he says would, in fact, happen to Israel. God is the lion who roars, and he has already found his victim—the people of Israel who are ready for judgment.
3:5 p The trap pictures the consequences of Israel’s sin. Israel fully deserved the judgment that Amos proclaimed.
3:6 q disaster ... the Lord has planned: God sends both the good and pleasant, and the harmful and painful (Isa 45:7 r; Lam 3:38 s; see Deut 28 t; Job 2:10 u).
3:8 v God, the lion, has roared from Mount Zion (1:2 w) and compelled Amos to prophesy (see 7:14-16 x).
3:9 y The prophet now turns to two of Israel’s enemies, Philistia (Hebrew Ashdod, one of the key cities of Philistia) and Egypt. He invites them to surround Samaria (the capital of the kingdom of Israel) to see its chaos and oppression. Israel appeared strong from the outside, but it was rotten within, rife with class struggles. The enemies would take advantage of Israel’s internal weakness (see 3:11 z).
3:10 aa Israel’s rich people acquired their wealth through their neglect and brutal treatment of the poor and helpless (see 2:6-8 ab).
3:11 ac The real enemy was not Egypt or Philistia, but Assyria, the only superpower in the region.
3:12 ad A shepherd who tries to rescue: The people of both Israel and Judah believed that, because of their chosen status, God would intervene to rescue them and never let them perish. The prophet’s words are ironic: Their rescue would be like a shepherd who arrives too late to save the sheep, and who can pull only two legs or a piece of an ear from the mouth of the lion.
• So it will be ... reclining on couches: Some have interpreted this statement to mean that only the fabric of a few couches would survive the Assyrian siege of Samaria. Accordingly, the last two lines of this verse could be translated So it will be when the Israelites in Samaria are rescued / with only a broken bed and a tattered pillow.
3:13 ae The Lord’s message is to go to all Israel (literally the house of Jacob). Jacob was the ancestor of both Israel and Judah.
• The witnesses who are told to listen could be the nations summoned in 3:9 af, the inhabitants of Samaria, or bands of prophets.
• Lord God of Heaven’s Armies: This title, traditionally “Lord God of Hosts” (also in 4:13 ag; 5:14-16 ah, 27 ai; 6:8 aj), portrays God as commander of the heavenly armies; this is the true God of the universe, not a local deity (see also Exod 15:3 ak).
3:14 al pagan altars at Bethel: The shrine at Bethel, built by Jeroboam I shortly after his inauguration (1 Kgs 12:26-33 am), continued through the dynasty of Jehu (2 Kgs 10:29 an), from whom Jeroboam II descended. This shrine merged worship of Yahweh (the Lord) with the pagan symbol of a bull. When the altars were destroyed, the Bethel shrine, the king’s official sanctuary (Amos 7:13 ao), and the northern kingdom would also be ruined.
3:15 ap Ivory represents the immense, ill-gotten wealth of the rich. Archaeologists have found some of these ivory inlays in the ruins of Samaria.
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