Amos 3 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Amos 3

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

3:1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

2   “You only have I known
    of all the families of the earth;
  therefore I will punish you
    for all your iniquities.
3   “Do two walk together,
    unless they have agreed to meet?
4   Does a lion roar in the forest,
    when he has no prey?
  Does a young lion cry out from his den,
    if he has taken nothing?
5   Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,
    when there is no trap for it?
  Does a snare spring up from the ground,
    when it has taken nothing?
6   Is a trumpet blown in a city,
    and the people are not afraid?
  Does disaster come to a city,
    unless the LORD has done it?
7   “For the Lord GOD does nothing
    without revealing his secret
    to his servants the prophets.
8   The lion has roared;
    who will not fear?
  The Lord GOD has spoken;
    who can but prophesy?”
9   Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod
    and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,
  and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
    and see the great tumults within her,
    and the oppressed in her midst.”
10   “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD,
    “those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”

11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

  “An adversary shall surround the land
    and bring down¹ your defenses from you,
    and your strongholds shall be plundered.”

12 Thus says the LORD: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part² of a bed.

13   “Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,”
    declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
14   “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,
    I will punish the altars of Bethel,
  and the horns of the altar shall be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
15   I will strike the winter house along with the summer house,
    and the houses of ivory shall perish,
  and the great houses³ shall come to an end,”
      declares the LORD.

Footnotes

[1] 3:11 Hebrew An adversary, one who surrounds the land—he shall bring down
[2] 3:12 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
[3] 3:15 Or and many houses

Commentary

v1-8: Responsibility and accountability; nine questions revealing the mind of the Lord.

v1-2: Being the recipient of greater blessings, Israel has the greater responsibility to live more godly. She has been set apart from all the nations of the earth, see Rom 3.1-2; 9.4-5. The way of God under the old Covenant was that Israel would be punished for her sins.

Every Christian has a similar responsibility, to live godly and to testify of the glory of God. However, Christ has been punished in our place, and hence we are not punished for our sins.

v3: The first question; Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Should not Israel be in agreement with God?

v4-5: There must be a reason; for a lion roaring, for a snare closing; God does not speak into a vacuum; there are reasons for His denunciation of Israel.

v6-8: The word is spoken, and Amos is compelled to speak; like Jeremiah, there is fire in his bones. See also Gen 18.17, where God first revealed His plans concerning Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham.

v9-10: Since Israel will not acknowledge her sins, the Philistines and Egyptians are invited to see the unrest and oppressions within her. There are palaces (or fortresses) in Israel, indicating great riches, but there is "plunder and loot," indicating dishonesty; all this is exposed before the Gentiles, to shame Israel.

v11: Those fortresses on which Israel depends will be brought down.

v12-15: Judgment upon Israel;

few people left; Amos again uses a pastoral illustration, of a few bones left when a lion savages a sheep;
no safety; 1 Kings 12.28; the horns of the altar offer safety, but they are removed;
their riches useless; winter houses, summer houses, houses adorned with ivory, and mansions; all useless.