Lesson 7 - Amos 5:6-15 - SEEK ME THAT YOU MAY LIVE
INTRODUCTION: This morning we will begin a new section in the Book of Amos, starting with Chapter 5, verses 6-15. Amos was a very unusual prophet: He was an uneducated farmer who grew fig trees and herded animals in Tekoa, a small village about 10 miles south of Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Although his roots were in Judah, God called him to deliver his prophecy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the surrounding nations. His ministry, taking place during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam in Israel, was relatively brief, from about 750 to 760 B.C.
During this timeframe, the reign of Jeroboam in the Northern Kingdom of Israel has been a time of prosperity, at least in the material sense. On the other hand, it was time characterized by moral decline and injustice toward underprivileged people. While most of the prophets interspersed their warnings of judgment and doom with messages of redemption and restoration, Amos only devotes the final five verses of his prophecy to such reassurances. In truth, Amos was fed up with what he saw and expressed it truthfully. God's Word spoken through Amos was primarily directed at the privileged people of the Northern Kingdom, a people who showed no love for their neighbor and took unfair advantage of people under them. In a few words, they were selfish, arrogant, and callous.
More than most any other Book of Scripture, the Book of Amos holds God's people accountable for their ill-treatment of others. It repeatedly points out the utter failure of people to fully embrace and apply God's idea of social justice. The privileged class in Israel were taking unfair advantage of the helpless, oppressing the poor, and the men were abusing women immorally. Amos rebuked them because he saw in that lifestyle sure evidence that Israel had abandoned their LORD. In response to the strong allegations against them, the people in the north pointed to Amos' status as an ignorant southern farmer as justification for ignoring his message of judgment for their many sins.
Historical Note: In 721 B.C., about 30 years after Amos brought God's prophetic Word to Israel, the Assyrian Empire utterly conquered the ten tribes of Northern Israel, forcing many of its people into exile in foreign lands. Unlike the two tribes of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the ten tribes of Israel never returned to their lands in a distinct nation. Instead, they were assimilated and ceased to exist as a recognizable nation and people. They became past-tense.
Read Amos 5:6-7 - SEEK THE LORD THAT YOU MAY LIV
6 "Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel, 7 For those who turn justice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth."
v. 6a: "Seek the LORD that you may live," - From the very start, Amos doesn't mince words and goes straight to the heart of his message: (1) "Seek" the Lord and obey His Word, and (2) He will allow you to continue living.
v. 6b: "Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph," - Fear of judgment might not be the purest motive for obeying God, but God will still accept it. House "of Joseph" refers to the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh who, as distinct tribes, were allotted lands in northern Israel.
v. 6c: "And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel," - "Bethel," in the southern extremity of the Northern Kingdom, was where king Jeroboam had set up a pagan altar with a golden calf idol. It recalled Aaron's sin at Sinai (Ex. 32). God planned to incinerate the place.
v. 7: "For those who turn justice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth." - "justice" (Heb. mis-pat) and "righteousness" (Heb., seda-qa) are related ideas. Justice involves bringing people into a right relationship with God and righteousness is life lived in accordance with God's moral law. "Wormwood" was a very bitter-tasting plant, and the allusion to it here was that the Israelites were turning sweet justice into something bitter and throwing righteousness to the ground with disrespect. Instead of a justice system that functioned like a medicine, healing wrongs and soothing the oppressed, the powerful elite in Israel had turned it into poison.
Read Amos 5:8-9 - IT IS THE LORD WHO FLASHES FORTH WITH DESTRUCTION
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion And changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The LORD is His name. 9 It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, So that destruction comes upon the fortress.
v. 8a: "He who made the Pleiades and Orion And changes deep darkness into morning," -The "Pleiades and Orion" are massive clusters of stars visible at night nearly all over world at certain times of the year. The rising of Pleiades before daybreak heralds the arrival of spring and the rising of Orion after sunset signals the onset of winter. In this way, the Israelites needed only to step outside and peer up at the night sky to remember YHWH, the one true God who rules the entire universe.
v. 8b: "Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The LORD is His name." -This is another reminder of the LORD's sovereign control of everything in existence: He can routinely call "the waters of sea" and then "pour them out on the surface of the earth" in the form of needed rain. Indeed, in terms of divine discipline, He had the power to use it to flood the entire earth as He once did in the days of Noah. He's the same God.
v. 9: "It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, So that destruction comes upon the fortress." - Like a bolt of divine lightning, the LORD GOD possesses the power to flash forth from heaven and strike down and destroy the powerful oppressors in Israel and reduce their fortresses-their military might and material wealth-to worthless rubble. When God chose to strike, His destruction would be complete: As a nation and people, they would be no more.
Read Amos 5:10-13 - IT IS AN EVIL TIME
10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks with integrity. 11 Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor And exact a tribute of grain from them, Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, Yet you will not live in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate. 13 Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.
v. 10: "They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks with integrity." -The "gates" were the only way to leave or enter a city, so that people regularly went through the gates going to and from the fields and pastures where they performed their work. Israelite judges dispensed justice against wrongdoers at the gates and prophets delivered their messages there.
v. 10b: "And they abhor him who speaks with integrity." -The Israelites, particularly the elite and wealthy people, grew to despise those who spoke the truth against them at the gates. Amos' perspective this issue was probably based on his personal experience. When the wealthy and influential people in a society despise the truth, there is little hope that it will remain stable and secure in the future. The prophets, and Amos in particular, regarded the predatory and unjust behavior of the rich and powerful towards the weak and vulnerable people in their society as Israel's worst sin, and here they stand accused-by God Himself, no less.
v. 11a: "Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor And exact a tribute of grain from them," This is the substance of Amos' indictment. Although Torah Law made provision for the needs of the poor, the Israelites in power largely ignored them. Instead, they were imposing high rents on the land and high taxes on the grain as a method of keeping them as tenants on the land-keeping them poor.
v. 11b: "Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, Yet you will not live in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine." - The key word here is "Yet," which precedes a divine reversal, when God intervenes: the LORD would exercise His sovereign power to make it impossible for these wealthy landlords to enjoy the fruits of their ill-gotten gains or the comforts of their fancy houses. In the not too distant future their new Assyrian masters would cast all of them out. These are the wages of sin.
v. 12: "For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate. " -Here, Amos list three specific types of wrongdoing the influential Israelites were inflicting on the poor: (1) They were oppressing the righteous (the people who spoke the truth about them; (2) the judicial officials were accepting brides to favor the landlords; and (3) the needy people at the gate seeking help or justice were being obstructed and chased away. What was happening here wasn't just unfair; it was a sin against God. And God noticed and the prophets forewarned them.
v. 13: "Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time." - This verse illustrates a sad state of affairs. The word used here for "prudent" (Heb. sakal [saw-kal]) is difficult. It literally translates to 'have insight' or 'to consider.' However, the apparent sense of this verse seems to be that the times were so evil, that many of the normally upright and honest people would remain silent, knowing that they could do little or nothing to correct the evil system, and if they spoke out, they would only get themselves into trouble with the authorities. Sound familiar? In our own nation today, this is precisely what the secular human powers want to happen: That churches will be so intimidated that they will be reluctant to speak out about the evils seen in contemporary American society, "for it is an evil time." This is the liberal agenda. Say Amen if you agree.
Read Amos 5:14-15 - THAT YOU MAY LIVE
14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! 15 Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
v. 14a: "Seek good and not evil, that you may live;" - The similarity between this verse and v. 6 is an example of Hebrew parallelism, except here the prophet admonishes his listeners to "seek good and not evil." It isn't enough to simply avoid evil; these people need to learn to love good. Only when these values are firmly rooted in their hearts, dominating both their thoughts and their actions, will they be truly able to please the LORD their God. In other words, nothing short of radical change was mandatory. If they did, God would again become their defender rather than prosecutor.
v. 14b: "And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! - The phrase "thus may" indicates a conditional promise. The title "the LORD God of hosts" refers to the angelic armies of heaven God has under his absolute control (like a divine special operations group [1 Sam. 1:3]). God holds the power to smite all the enemies of Israel (i.e., Assyria) at the blink of His eye.
v. 15a: "Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate!" - This is the condition, which reiterates God's previous command to "hate evil" and "love good" specified in v. 14-to cleanse their hearts radically. And establishing "justice at the gate" would right the wrongs specified in v. 12.
v. 15b: "Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." - The word "Perhaps" used here might be paraphrased as "Just maybe or just might." So that the LORD just might be "gracious" enough, that is, grant His underserved favor, "to the remnant of Joseph." The term "remnant" is important in both the OT and NT. The concept was actually introduced with Noah and flood, when Noah's family was preserved by God to repopulate the earth (Gen. 6-9 generally). So here, Amos is predicting that a remnant will survive the Assyrian holocaust. This was the first Jewish Diaspora. We know that Hitler's evil Nazi regime (an Assyria type) tried to eradicate them again only 80 years ago; yet, God still preserved a remnant of Israel. But God's plan for them is still pending. For a good summation of this plan, read all of Romans, chapter 11, subtitled "Remnant of Israel." The short answer is that Jesus Christ will preserve the remnant of Joseph. He's still their Messiah.
APPLICATION-Learning How to Live
1. Amos reminds us that justice means bringing people into a right relationship with God and righteousness is a life lived in accordance with God's moral law. God's view of justice and righteousness haven't changed in the 2700+ years since Amos delivered his message. The Christian church and all its believers, as the body of Christ, have the missional responsibility to bring people into a right relationship with God and be living examples of lives lived in accordance with God's moral standards as defined in the Bible. By doing this, we become lights in a dark world.
2. The "gate" of Amos' time has been replaced by the pulpit in our time. Like the OT prophets at the city gates, our pulpits in churches today need to continually be speaking the Word of God with assurance, integrity and righteousness. Like Amos' gate, our pulpits must be places where people come to hear God's unvarnished truth and be given the opportunity to be healed by it. As one preacher aptly put it, our churches should hospitals for sinners, not museums for saints.
3. Amos reminds us that the people of God must speak out about the evils in our society. The "prudent" people in verse 13 were afraid to speak out against the powerful people in Israel. Indeed, in our own United States today, this is precisely what the secular human powers want to happen: That churches will be so intimidated that they will be reluctant to speak out about the evils seen in contemporary American society. This is the liberal agenda-they want to silence our voice. We can never take our freedom for granted. We must be prepared to remain at the gate.
4. Amos reminds us that it isn't enough to avoid evil; as the people of God we must likewise learn to love good. When we are honestly living out BOTH-avoiding evil and loving good-then we are really and truly living in a manner that pleases God. The many, many opportunities out there to 'love good' are too numerous to mention, but here are a few: the ministries of church that need our time, talents, and resources; and the local, state, national, and international missions supported by SBC churches. Operation Christmas Child is another great example. That's the short list.
