seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Amos 1:1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash[a] was king of Israel.
2 He said:
“The Lord roars from Zion
and thunders from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds dry up,
and the top of Carmel withers.”
and thunders from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds dry up,
and the top of Carmel withers.”
3 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,
4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael
that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus;
I will destroy the king who is in[b] the Valley of Aven[c]
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,”
says the Lord.
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,
4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael
that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus;
I will destroy the king who is in[b] the Valley of Aven[c]
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,”
says the Lord.
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Gaza,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she took captive whole communities
and sold them to Edom,
7 I will send fire on the walls of Gaza
that will consume her fortresses.
8 I will destroy the king[d] of Ashdod
and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
till the last of the Philistines are dead,”
says the Sovereign Lord.
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she took captive whole communities
and sold them to Edom,
7 I will send fire on the walls of Gaza
that will consume her fortresses.
8 I will destroy the king[d] of Ashdod
and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
till the last of the Philistines are dead,”
says the Sovereign Lord.
9 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Tyre,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom,
disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
10 I will send fire on the walls of Tyre
that will consume her fortresses.”
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom,
disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
10 I will send fire on the walls of Tyre
that will consume her fortresses.”
11 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Edom,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because he pursued his brother with a sword
and slaughtered the women of the land,
because his anger raged continually
and his fury flamed unchecked,
12 I will send fire on Teman
that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.”
even for four, I will not relent.
Because he pursued his brother with a sword
and slaughtered the women of the land,
because his anger raged continually
and his fury flamed unchecked,
12 I will send fire on Teman
that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.”
13 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins of Ammon,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
in order to extend his borders,
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
that will consume her fortresses
amid war cries on the day of battle,
amid violent winds on a stormy day.
15 Her king[e] will go into exile,
he and his officials together,”
even for four, I will not relent.
Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
in order to extend his borders,
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
that will consume her fortresses
amid war cries on the day of battle,
amid violent winds on a stormy day.
15 Her king[e] will go into exile,
he and his officials together,”
says the Lord.
a. Amos 1:1 Hebrew Joash, a variant of Jehoash
b. Amos 1:5 Or the inhabitants of
c. Amos 1:5 Aven means wickedness.
d. Amos 1:8 Or inhabitants
e. Amos 1:15 Or / Molek
This is from Bibletrack.org.
Amos was a prophet during the reign of King Uzziah (790-739) of Judah and King Jeroboam II (793-753) of Israel. According to Amos 7:14, he was a shepherd and gatherer of Sycamore fruit, but he was called to go prophesy to the Northern Kingdom. Amos lived in Tekoa, 10 miles south of Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom. Uzziah was a good king of Judah at first, but went astray during the latter part of his reign. Jeroboam II, of Israel, was always into pagan worship as were all the kings of the Northern Kingdom.
Assyria would soon come knocking on everyone's door in that region. Ultimately, all would fall to Assyria except for the walled city of Jerusalem itself. Amos is prophesying against these nations (including Israel and Judah) for their wickedness.
Following are his prophecies against Israel's neighbors:
- Syria (3-5) (to Israel's northeast)
- Gaza (6-8) (southwest of Israel)
- Tyre (9-10) (north of Israel)
- Edom (11-12) (east of southern Israel)
- Ammon (13-15) (east of central Israel)
- Moab (2:1-3) (east of Israel between Edom and Ammon)
Amos prophesies the imminent fall of all of these nations.
And this is from the easy English site.
Amos is probably a short name for Amasiah. We can see the name in 2 Chronicles 17:16. The book of Amos gives us some information about Amos. This is much more information than other prophets give about themselves. Jeremiah also tells us about his home and his work. Amos probably had several jobs. We know that he looked after sheep. But probably he bought and sold farm animals too. Perhaps the earthquake happened about 760 B.C. An *earthquake is when the ground moves a lot and buildings fall down. This means that it is quite easy to tell when Amos wrote.
Amos 1:2 to 2:16 is a series of messages that are against the nations. First, he gives judgements against these nations. He writes about the terrible things that they have done. Then he says something to his own people who live in Israel and Judah. God will bring his judgement on them too. Verse 2 gives the main idea of the book of Amos. God is like a lion. He announces, by Amos, that he wants to cause death to his enemies. It is like the sound when there is lightning in the sky. But there will be no rain and all the plants will die.
Damascus was the capital of Aram. It was north and east of Israel. Damascus was Israel’s main enemy at this time. Aram was very cruel to the people in Gilead, and this was not necessary. Amos is referring to machines. People used these machines to separate grain. The Arameans were cruel to Gilead’s people. It seems that the Arameans used these iron machines to hurt them.
Hazael of Damascus took power in Aram by killing Ben-Hadad. 2 Kings 8:7-15 describes this. Later, when Hazael’s son became king, he used the name Ben-Hadad. However, God’s fire would destroy their palaces and strong places.
The gates of Damascus had a huge wooden bar, which kept them shut. God would destroy this bar and these gates, so that the enemy could come in. We are not sure about the position of the Aven valley. It might be a valley in Lebanon (Joshua 11:17). Beth-Eden was probably a city that was north and east of Damascus. Kir was the country that the people in Aram came from. The people in Aram would never achieve anything again.
Gaza was a Philistine city. It guarded the way between Egypt and Israel. The Philistines’ crime was that they forced many people to leave their villages. They then sold them as slaves to Edom. The Edomites then sold the slaves to other buyers. To sell slaves was legal (Exodus 21:2-11, 20-21, 26-27). But God hated the way that nations stole people.
Therefore God would punish Gaza. Gaza would not continue to be a city. This happened in 734 B.C. when Tiglath-pileser from Assyria defeated them.
Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron were three more cities that were in the Philistine group of cities. These places also would not continue to be cities. Sargon from Assyria defeated Ashdod in 711 *.C. and Sennacherib, king of Assyria defeated Ashkelon and Ekron in 701 B.C. Amos is really sure that God wants to bring judgement to these cities. The people in these cities wanted big profits from the slave trade. God hated this.
The people who lived in Tyre were famous for commerce. But they had very little honour. In this way, they were like the Philistines. The people in Tyre did not care if they did not keep an agreement. They also did not care how they made a profit. The ‘agreement’ may refer to agreements between the king of Israel and the king of Tyre. These were in the time of David. They were also in the time of Solomon (1 Kings 5:1, 12; 9:13) and Ahab (1 Kings 16:30-31).
Tyre was an island. It was a very difficult place to take in war. The people in Tyre were proud of their security. But Nebuchadnezzar defeated Tyre’s people in a long battle (585-573 B.C.) So Tyre, too, came to an end.
Amos was angry with Edom’s people as well. Edom had been an enemy of Israel for a long time (Numbers 20:14-21). In Moses’ time the people in Edom did not want the Israelites to go through their land. Both Saul and David won battles against Edom (1 Samuel 14: 47; 2 Samuel 8:12-14). But Hadad from Edom continued to fight against Solomon (1 Kings 11:14-25). Later, in the time of Jeroboam (853 B.C.), Edom was often the enemy of Judah. The Edomites came from Esau, who was a brother to Israel (Jacob). And so, the Edomites and the Israelites were members of the same family. But Edom did not care about this fact.
Teman and Bozrah were important cities in Edom. When their enemies destroyed them, they would have no more power.
Ammon was east of the Jordan river. It was between Moab in the south and Gilead in the north. Ammon’s people, too, wanted to make their country larger (Judges 11:4-5; 1 Samuel 11:1-11). We do not know all the details of Ammon’s terrible behaviour. But we do know that soldiers did not care much then about poor people. In wars, they often behaved very badly towards them.
Rabbah was the capital of Ammon. In the New Testament, it is called Philadelphia. Today it is called Amman and it is the capital of Jordan. God himself will make sure that Rabbah will fall. Perhaps he himself will start the fires. He will come quickly, like a strong wind.
As a result, the leaders will go into exile. But Amos does not tell us where they will go. Jeremiah also says later that the people in Rabbah will be very sad, and they will cry out (Jeremiah 49:3).
Back in the days of David and Solomon..... I'm talking way back.... even as far back as Moses and even Joseph before him..... slavery was legal. If someone owed a debt they could not pay.... they would work it off. Now these "slavery" contracts wouldn't last forever..... as a matter of fact.... if the whole family was enslaved and the father [or mother] earned his [or her] freedom.... they could stay a slave to remain with his family.... the owner would simply drive a nail through their ear which meant that that slave had agreed to stay. On top of that..... Amos says the commerce had gone sour. Merchants were ripping people off.... entering agreements and then refusing to pay what they had agreed upon. They were gouging people.... and ripping them off.
The rich were getting richer and the poor were sinking deeper and deeper into debt..... and no one cared.
