Amos 5:1-5

REVELATION CALLS FOR REPENTANCEGOD'S WORD AGAINST ISRAEL

TEXT: Amos 5:1-5

1

Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

2

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.

4

For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;

5

but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the virgin of Israel?

b.

Why only 1/10th left in each city?

c.

Why is Beer-sheba mentioned in company with Bethel and Gilgal?

PARAPHRASE

Listen, O house of Israel, to this mournful funeral dirge which I have begun to chant over you! You were destined from the beginning to be kept inviolate from heathen invaders like a virgin is kept chaste, but you shall be ravaged and die a violent death and there will be none to save you. For the Lord God says, Every city of Israel which marches out to war will be so utterly destroyed that only a small remnant of people will survive in each city. Again, the Lord says unto Israel, There is still timeSeek Me and live; seek the idolatrous places and ways of Bethel and Gilgal, or make a pilgrimage to the idols at Beersheba, and you will go into captivity and become nothingness just as these idolatrous cities are to become!

SUMMARY

Amos wants to impress even more dramatically before Israel her headlong rush into ruin, destruction and captivity. He does so by setting before Israel Jehovah God as the Fountain head of life and the destiny of the centers of idolatry.

COMMENT

Amos 5:1-2. A LAMENTATION OVER YOU. THE VIRGIN OF ISRAEL IS FALLEN. Amos the prophet, on behalf of God, begins chanting Israel's funeral dirge. And this at the very apex of her prosperity! One can surely visualize with what unpopularity Amos-' preaching would be greeted in Israel! He is mocked, ridiculed and slandered as a preacher of doom and a pessimist, The phrase virgin of Israel, is a poetical personification of the population of a city or of a kingdom, as a daughter, with a further idea of being unconquerable expressed by the term virgin. God had intended Israel's destiny to be one of separateness from the heathen world and as a result He would keep her inviolate from foreign invaders. Israel was to be pure, chaste, protected, untouchedbut now she has played the harlot and she will be attacked, ravaged and brought to a violent end! For other figurative uses of virgin in this same sense see Isaiah 47:1-2, etc. When God gives her up to be spoiled by foreign invaders there will be none to help her!

Amos 5:3-5. THE CITY THAT WENT FORTH A THOUSAND SHALL HAVE A HUNDRED LEFT. SEEK YE ME, AND YE SHALL LIVE. BUT SEEK NOT BETH-EL, NOR. GILGAL. BEER-SHEBA. Amos is not attempting to be mathematically precise when he predicts that only ten per cent of each city will be saved from total destruction, he is merely speaking figuratively (cf. Isaiah 6:13) to say that only a very small remnant of the whole nation will be saved from utterly perishing. This was fulfilled exactly (cf. 2 Kings 17). Such total ruin would, of course, be the fartherest thing from the minds of most of the people of Israel in these days of peace, luxury, prosperity and influence. Much like the people of the Roman empire just before its fall was the attitude of the people of Israel. We are fearful that there are many Americans who cannot see the danger signs in our generationcrime, government corruption, lewdness, selfishness, anarchy, and perversion of standards in almost every avenue of life from sex to art and music to law and order!

Yet God pleads with Israel once more. Seek Me, and live! Jehovah is the Spring of Life (cf. Jeremiah 2:13; Psalms 36:10); He is longsuffering and does not take pleasure in the death of any of His creatures (cf. Ezekiel 18:31-32; 2 Peter 3:9). But Jehovah can only be sought and found through His revelation! They will not find Him at Bethel or Gilgal or Beersheba. These are centers of idolatry, false teaching, false worship; they will find there only ruin, destruction and captivity for that is what God has planned for these places! Beersheba, although in Judah the southern kingdom, is mentioned evidently because, being sacred to Jewish history (Genesis 21:33; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 46:1) it had been made into a place of idolatrous worship, to which people of the northern kingdom went on pilgrimages frequently.

Irresponsible conduct, whether within or without the religious structures of the day, cannot continue unabated without experiencing inevitable retribution. This is a moral law of the universe just as inevitable as any physical law of nature! If man will not hear the word of God warning of judgment in His revelation, it is only left for man to experience that judgment in history. Amos proclaimed that Israel was dead! The people did not know it, nor did they want to know it (Amos 7:10 ff)! Although Israel continued to flourish for almost forty years after Amos-' prophecy before national extinction came, yet, for all practical purposes, she was dead when Amos was preaching; thus he speaks of her future as if it were already present. Is it only extreme pessimism to say, America is dead? Could there be any parallel between Israel's condition and America'S? If so, there must be a parallel looked for in their destinies! Perhaps it is not yet too late for America, even as it was not too late for Israel. Perhaps if America will seek Jehovah in His revelationHis wordshe will find Him and live. Only let her not seek life in the many idols her people have made for there she will find only false teaching, false worship and death!

QUIZ

1.

What is a lamentation and why did Amos begin one over Israel?

2.

Why did he refer to Israel as a fallen virgin?

3.

Why make a contrast between seeking Jehovah and Bethel, Gilgal or Beersheba?

4.

Could there be a parallel between Israel's condition and America'S?