Minor Prophets Amos

Lesson presented by Eddie Parrish; summary, outline, and transcript provided by Bee

Minor Prophets Amos - YouTube

Summary:

The lesson provides an overview of the Book of Amos, focusing on the stern message delivered by the prophet to the people of Israel during a time of moral and religious transgressions. Sections detail how Amos condemns their sins, warns of impending judgment, and uses symbolic actions to highlight the importance of repentance and obedience. The prophet's message underscores the need for justice, righteousness, and genuine repentance before facing the consequences of ignoring God's warnings. Additionally, the lesson discusses the visions recorded by Amos, emphasizing both impending punishment for disobedience and the opportunity for redemption through aligning one's life with God's standards. The overall message urges readers to reflect, make changes, and prepare to meet God while emphasizing the importance of living according to His expectations.

Contents

Pages 1—2: Prophet Amos' message

Pages 3—4: Religious warnings, punishments.

Pages 5—6: God's warning ignored.

Page 7—7: Amos' five visions

Pages 1—2: Prophet Amos' message

The section of the lesson discusses the prophet Amos and his role in delivering a stern message to the people of Israel during the reigns of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam II of Israel around 760-750 BC. Amos addresses the sins of the people, focusing on materialism, greed, cruelty to the poor, bribery, violence, thievery, idol worship, and religious corruption. The prophet condemns various nations for their transgressions and warns of the impending judgment of God. Amos criticizes Israel for selling the righteous, engaging in immoral practices, and rejecting God's law. The section provides an overview of Amos' message and highlights key themes addressed in the book.

Pages 3—4: Religious warnings, punishments.

This section of the lesson delves into a religious conlesson, referencing passages from the Book of Amos in the Bible. It discusses how God had elevated some individuals from the land of Egypt as prophets and Nazarites. The lesson emphasizes that God had done numerous things for the people of Israel, guiding them out of Egypt, leading them in victories against the Canaanites, and providing them with land. Despite this, the lesson highlights how the people of Israel strayed from God's teachings. It mentions their moral and religious transgressions, such as oppression of the poor and need, which leads to a warning of punishment. The prophet Amos is described as straightforward and bold in addressing these transgressions and the impending consequences. Additionally, there are mentions of various symbolic actions taken by God in an attempt to steer the people back to righteousness, symbolized by acts such as providing cleanness of teeth and lack of bread as messages that were unfortunately ignored by the people.

Pages 5—6: God's warning ignored.

God's message through the prophet Amos in this section highlights how God used natural disasters and tragedies to try to awaken the people of Israel to their sinful ways. Despite warnings and various calamities, the people did not repent or turn back to God. Amos describes how God withheld rain, sent plagues, and even killed their young men in battles. The people continued in their sinful practices, worshiping idols, and neglecting justice and righteousness, leading God to reject their offerings and feast days. Amos emphasizes the need for true repentance, seeking good over evil, establishing justice, and returning to God before it is too late. The section ends with a call to let justice and righteousness flow like a mighty stream, emphasizing the importance of genuine repentance and obedience to God's ways. It stresses the consequences of ignoring God's warnings and the urgency to prepare to meet God.

Page 7—7: Amos' five visions

The section discusses Amos' recording of five visions in chapters 7-9. The first vision is of locusts in 7:1-6, followed by the vision of fire in 7:7-17. The third vision is of a plumb line, where God measures the people's character in chapter 7. Then, there is a vision of a basket of ripe summer fruit in chapter 8, symbolizing that Israel is ripe for punishment due to disobedience. Finally, chapter 9 holds the vision of the sanctuary fulfilled, which in the New Testament signifies the bringing in of Gentiles into the body of Jesus Christ and underscores God's concern for how people treat others and live their lives aligned with His standards. The section concludes by urging readers to reflect on their lives and make necessary changes to align with God's expectations before it is too late.

### Outline for a Lesson on the Minor Prophets - Amos

#### Introduction

1. Definition of the Minor Prophets.

2. Overview of the prophet Amos:

- Meaning of his name: *Burden Bearer*.

- Amos's background:

- Village of Tekoa, south of Jerusalem.

- Occupation: Shepherd and dresser of sycamore trees.

#### Historical Context

1. Time period: Reigns of King Uzziah (Judah) and King Jeroboam II (Israel).

2. Cultural and societal context:

- Materialism in the Northern Kingdom.

- Idolatry and corruption in religious practices.

#### Main Messages and Themes of Amos

1. Call to repentance:

- *Prepare to meet your God* (Amos 4:12).

2. Denouncements:

- Greed, materialism, and cruelty to the poor.

- Bribery, idolatry, and moral decay.

#### Structure of the Book of Amos

1. **Chapters 1-2**:

- Judgments on surrounding nations, Judah, and Israel.

2. **Chapters 3-6**:

- Moral and religious transgressions of Israel.

- Sarcastic call to worship and unheeded warnings.

3. **Chapters 7-9**:

- Visions of judgment:

- Locust swarm.

- Fire.

- Plumb line (moral standard).

- Basket of ripe fruit (Israel ripe for punishment).

- Sanctuary fulfilled (prophetic allusion to Acts 15).

#### Practical Lessons and Applications

1. The importance of self-reflection and repentance.

2. Warnings and consequences of ignoring God's commands.

3. God's justice and mercy.

#### Conclusion

1. Reflection on the verse: *Prepare to meet your God* (Amos 4:12).

2. Call to evaluate personal spiritual readiness.

Transcript:

(00:01) now my great father true thank you for joining us today as we continue our series of lessons on the Minor Prophets today we're going to turn our attention to the prophet Amos the name Amos means burden Bearer and Amos the prophet had a burden to bear he was going to deliver a very Stern message to a hostile audience that was his burden but he would accept it and he would do his work very very well Amos was from the village of takoa which was about 12 miles south of the city of Jerusalem according to chapter

(00:55) 7:14 Amos was a Shepherd as well as a dresser of sycamore trees now if you research these sycamore trees that Amos was involved in working with you'd find that it produced a fruit that in order for it to ripen the fruit itself would have to be bruised or pinched which would make it very tedious work and uh very strenuous work to go through these trees and pinch all of this fruit fruit so that it would bruise and ripen so from that we learn at least one thing about Amos that he was accustomed to hard work and being

(01:41) accustomed to that kind of work Amos would have little Sympathy for the laziness that he was going to find in much of Israel Amos worked during the Reigns of aiah who was King in Judah at the time the southern Kingdom as well as during the reign of jeroboam II who was the King of the Northern Kingdom of Israel now this places his work between 760 and 750 BC and as you go through the Book of Amos you'll find that uh with a lot of the references that he makes to various sins that the people were guilty of you'll find that

(02:23) materialism basically ruled the day this was a very uh greedy and materialistic culture in the Northern Kingdom of Israel that he was sent to address for example he would speak of their silken cushions in chapter 3:12 he'll reference their winter house and their summer house in chapter 3:1 15 their houses of Ivory and houses of heed Stone chapter 5:2 he would charge them additionally with cruelty to the poor chter 5: 11 11 he would charge them uh with bribery 5:7 he would condemn their violence and thievery chapter 3: 9 and 10 as far as

(03:14) religious matters were concerned idol worship was rampant though they still offered worship to God in the process of also worshiping Idols uh the worship that they offered to Jehovah God he rejected chapter 5: 2- 23 because of all of these other sins that they refused to deal with and so a summary if you will of amos's message can be found in chapter 4:2 where he said very simply but straightforwardly prepare to meet your God and so let's begin with that as kind of our summary and our background information for the book uh let's kind

(03:53) of walk ourselves through these chapters and see what message Amos had for his day and draw some practical lessons for us today chapters 1 and two of the book Speak concerning the approaching judgment that God was going to bring uh on various Nations and he begins by addressing Nations that were around Israel and Judah and then he'll address Judah and Israel specifically but notice as he begins uh he'll make reference to Damascus in verse three for example for three transgressions of Damascus and for

(04:30) four I will not turn away its punishment and he begins really these discourses to these various nations in essentially the same way for three transgressions of this particular area and for four I'll not turn away my judgment so Damascus is mentioned in verse three uh you continue through the lesson and you see in verse 6 for three transgressions of Gaza and for four I'll not turn away punishment and he specifically mentions with them they took captive the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom uh there was evidently some slave

(05:02) trading that was going on between a lot of these areas and the prophet condemns them for that uh you'll look down in verse 9 for three transgressions of tire and for four I'll not turn away punishment because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom so this thing was going on among several of these cities and and Nations for three transgressions of Edom uh and for four I'll not turn away punishment that's in verse 11 and he mentions things particular or peculiar to them verse 13 uh he highlights Ammon uh that

(05:34) he is going to send judgment on and notice the terrible thing that he says about uh the ammonites he says verse 13 middle of the verse because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead that they might enlarge their territory uh you think about some of the the the terrible things that people can do to each other and what he says about the ammonites is about as bad as it gets just for no other reason than to enlarge their territory they did such terrible things as to uh take women who were preparing to to give birth and they

(06:11) would uh just to use his terminology rip them open uh terrible terrible things well God took notice of that and announced punishment was coming to Ammon because of it and you'll notice too as you go through uh again in the lesson and you get into chapter 2 and he addresses Moab in verse one for three transgressions of Moab and for four I'll not turn away punishment and then in verse four of chapter 2 uh after talking about the the slave trafficking the Indescribable cruelty uh that these nations were a part of and

(06:46) other sins he now begins to get closer to God's people he turns to Judah in Verses 4 and five of chapter 2 and he says for three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not turn away its punishment because they have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept his Commandments their lies lead them astray lies which their fathers followed and so he turns to Judah and he says you because of your religious corruption because you have transgressed God's word and have despised his law you're going

(07:22) to face punishment for that you've listened to lies you've accepted lies and those lies have led you astray and you'll have to face punishment because of it and so Judah is uh the Highlight in verses four and 5 Verse 6 beginning he turns to Israel and that's really going to be the major thrust of amos's work he was from the southern Kingdom in Judah this the city of takoa but he's going to spend most of his time addressing sins in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and so he begins that in

(07:55) chapter 2: 6 for three transgressions of Israel and for four I'll not turn away its punishment notice verse 6 they sell the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals uh he says in verse 7 uh a man and his father go into the same girl to defile my Holy Name what a terrible thing to say about the people but their rejection of God's law had led them to do things like that idolatry uh gross immorality all of those things were characteris IC of Israel uh as um as God had viewed their conduct and if you'll continue looking

(08:37) there in Chapter 2 uh verse number nine for example after the prophet had uh offered his condemnation of their sin notice What God Says through the prophet about his history with them he said yet it was I God says who destroyed the Amorite before them yet I end of the verse destroyed his fruit above and its Ruth uh Roots beneath verse 10 uh it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt verse 11 I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as nazarites is it not so oh children of Israel God calls upon them

(09:16) to think back in their history and remember all the things that God had done for them leading them out of Egypt leading them in victory over the Canaanites giving them the land in which they had lived and he he he bolsters that by saying is that not true Israel well they'd have to answer yes indeed it was true that God was the one responsible for doing all of that then he lowers the boom on them as it were when he says in verse number 12 of chapter 2 yet you gave the nazarites wine to drink and commanded the prophets

(09:48) saying do not prophesy all the good things that God had done for them all the blessings they had received at God's hand that God allowed them to raise up their sons to be prophets and nazari those that had taken a special vow of Devotion to God and then God basically says you tell the prophets to pipe down and you cause the nazarites to go back on their vow their promise of Devotion to me that's what Israel had done and so the prophet had a lot of material with which to work a lot of things to address

(10:21) and he addressed them with great boldness and courage now in verses or in chapters 3 through6 the prophet addresses more more of Israel's sins and so let's look at some of those beginning in chapter 3 first of all he addresses some of their moral and religious transgressions as you get into chapter three and on into chapter four let's just highlight some of those as we work ourselves through the lesson kind of get a flavor of what Amos is addressing look at verse two of chapter 3 you only have I known

(10:53) of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities as the prophet begins and he speaks on God's behalf he basically says God says through him Israel you alone have I known of all the nations in other words God points out the fact that it was not any of these other nations around them that God had specifically chosen for his purposes but it was Israel the descendants of Abraham that God had specifically Chosen and he says it was you above all the nations that I selected therefore he said I'll punish

(11:29) you for your transgressions it brings to mind the point that Jesus would make later in Luke 12:48 when he said to whom much is given much shall be required God had blessed Israel in a lot of ways God had bless them because he chose them to be his special people from whom and through whom he would bring his son into the world and so with that great privilege came great responsibility because they had forsaken God and not lived up to to their part of the Covenant God said I must punish your transgressions the justice of God uh is shown here in the

(12:09) early part of chapter 3 and so he warns them this is coming because you've been blessed with so much and now because you've rejected me you must suffer the punishment and so he goes on in describing their moral and religious uh transgressions look in chapter 3 verse 12 as a Shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear so shall the children of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria he calls attention to how these these um carnivorous animals lions for example uh that after they have attacked their prey

(12:42) that you know you might find a little bit a little bit of the prey here a little bit there a leg here piece of an ear there he said that's essentially what it's going to be like for Israel when your punishment is completed verse 14 chapter 3 in that day or in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions I'll also visit destruction on the altars of bethl I'll destroy the winter house with the summer house the houses of ivory Shall Perish he calls attention to the altars in bethl uh this was one

(13:11) of the the altars where calf worship had taken place set up by jeroboam the first right after the kingdom split when jeroboam set up those altars at Dan in the northern part and bethl in the southern part of Israel it was a place where a lot of transgressions had taken place and uh God calls for judgment to come down upon them when you get into chapter 4 uh the first few verses uh Amos addresses uh again more of this corruption and we could call Amos uh not just an unprofessional Prophet what I mean by that is Amos was

(13:47) not the politically correct uh preacher of the truth uh that um you know some people would like to see he didn't he didn't he didn't mince words he spoke very straightforwardly and here's one of those instances chapter 4:1 hear this word you cows of Bashan and he's referencing there as he goes on he's referencing some of the women that were a part of the nation and he refers to them as cows bold but notice what he says about them he says you oppress the poor you crush the needy you say to your husbands

(14:23) bring wine and let us drink and he says well behold the days come upon you when he will take you away with Fish Hooks and you'll go out through Broken Walls each one straight ahead of her he's calling their attention to the fact that captivity is coming and the Assyrians who would take Israel the northern kingdom captive when he says you'll be taken away with Fish Hooks they literally would do that they would take their captives a lot of times and they would put Hooks Fish Hooks through their noses and Lead their captive people out

(14:59) and he says you're going to be led with Fish Hooks out Broken Walls so their walls were going to be torn down the walls of their cities they'd be taken captive and led astray and he says you cows of basan are going to be treated just like that when the Assyrians come and take you captive well again not very politically correct but he was speaking the truth and so he calls upon them in Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 4 he says come to bethl and transgress at gilgal multip ly transgression bring your sacrifices

(15:31) every morning your tithes every 3 days offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving with leaven Proclaim and announce the Free Will offerings for this you love you children of Israel he's being very sarcastic and he's basically saying look you've made up your minds that you're going to be transgressors anyway you don't have any respect for my law so so come on come ahead bring your transgressions bring your sacrifices come on down to bethl and transgress come to gilgal and just multiply your sins offer your sacrifices with leaven

(16:00) which was a violation of the law he says go ahead come on do that cuz he says this is what you love to do well amamos was telling it like it was but he said essentially this is what you want to do so why don't you just go ahead and do it you've made up your mind you're going to do it anyway just go right ahead but they would suffer the consequences for that choice well you get into verses six and following and what I think is one of the the the great sections uh of the book of of Amos because of what God is trying to

(16:32) do for his people he's upset with them and with good reason but in the process of their transgression God continued to try to warn them to try to bring them back to their senses to try to wake them up to their monstrous spiritual condition so that they would turn from their sins and God used a variety of things to try to bring about their penitence he used a lot of things to try to warn them of ultimate impending doom but they wouldn't listen I want you to notice this in Amos 4 beginning in verse 6 and notice how God says he conducted

(17:05) himself and how he tried to wake them up verse six I also gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places yet you have not returned to me isn't that interesting the way he words that I gave you cleanness of teeth that's basically a way of saying uh you experienced a famine right if you if You' got plenty of food to eat and you're constant eating it right you're going to have it in your teeth so when he says I gave you cleanness of teeth he's saying you

(17:34) didn't have food to eat you didn't have bread to consume God says I did that the famine that you experienced was actually me but he said and yet even though I did that yet you did not return to me that gives us insight into why God allowed that to happen to them God allowed it to happen to try to get them to think spiritually try to think about their condition and recognize that it was their sin that was bringing about this oppression so that hopefully they'd turn from it but they didn't he goes on verse

(18:06) 7 I also withheld rain from you when there were still three months to the Harvest he goes on in verse eight two or three cities wandered to another to drink water but they were not satisfied yet you've not returned to me well a drought he said I I withheld the rain but you wouldn't return God said you should have considered that lack of water as a warning from me to wake up and change your ways but they didn't he goes on with these unheeded warnings verse uh nine of chapter 4 I blasted you with blight and mildew when

(18:45) your Gardens increase your Vineyards your fig trees your olive trees the Locust devoured them yet you've not returned to me so even this Locust plague uh similar to what Joel talked about but now he said Amos says Locus came and devoured it yet you did not return to me they should have used that as an opportunity to turn back to God but they didn't verse 10 I sent you a plague after the manner of Egypt your young men I killed with the sword in other words a lot of your young men went off to fight in battles they involved

(19:21) themselves in wars and many of them did not return they were killed with the sword yet you did not return to me verse 11 I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah yet you have not returned to me and so verse 12 he says therefore thus will I do to you oh Israel prepare to meet your God that's a powerful statement because it comes on the heels of all of those warnings that God tried to give them and if we were to look at those things we probably would look at them the same way they did well it's just natural disaster

(19:59) PS just natural things that happen in the course of life these things happen sometimes you go through drought sometimes your crops get destroyed for one reason or another and sometimes you know our young men die in battle and uh you know sometimes uh sometimes we just have these things that happen we call them natural disasters God In this passage was saying to them those things there was very little natural about them was using those things to try to get you to wake up and yet with each one you would not return you would not repent

(20:36) you would not come back to me and so therefore prepare to meet your God they had made their choice that they didn't want to turn back to God in his way and so God said okay here I come when he said prepare to meet your God he was basically saying your time is up and punishment is coming your way what about when we face what we uh refer to as natural disaster today well if I can borrow some of amos's words from chapter 7 I'm not a prophet nor the son of a prophet I can't look at things that happen in our world today perhaps

(21:08) drought stricken areas uh things like that I can't look at that today and say well that's that is definitely God trying to get your attention I can't say that with certainty because God doesn't address uh me or anyone else in that way today and and give us that kind of information but I do know this God has done that in the past as Amos 4: 6-13 tell us and so God's done that in the past he's tried to use these kinds of things in the past to wake people up and so we ought to anytime those

(21:44) kinds of tragedies happen we ought to take time to think what would God have me to learn from this what's my spiritual condition as I stand before God am I listening to his word am I following his will don't allow God's warnings to go unheeded don't allow opportunities to pass by where you don't take advantage of looking at your spiritual condition and making changes where they're necessary because one day we will all meet God and we need to prepare for that day well you get into chapters five and

(22:18) six and he goes uh further in his call for their penitence and in his announcement of punishment that's coming their way uh verse end of verse 4 first of verse 5 seek me and live God says but do not seek bethl well that they had been doing that for too long they had been seeking bethl right the place where these calves were these golden calves that they had set up to worship God says quit seeking that don't seek bethl seek me God says uh verse five continuing look at excuse me chapter 5 verse number

(22:53) 10 they hate the one who rebukes in the gate they abhor the one who speaks of uprightly therefore because you tread down the poor and take grain taxes from him though you have built houses of H Stone you'll not dwell in them you've planted Pleasant Vineyards but you'll not drink the wine from them for I know your manifold transgressions God said you've done a lot of things created a lot of things built a lot of houses created a lot of Vineyards you've been storing these things up building them

(23:21) for yourselves but he said you're not going to enjoy them why well because they were going to go into captivity at the hands of the syrians so verse 14 chapter 5 seek good and not evil that you may live so the Lord God of hosts will be with you as you've spoken hate evil and love good establish justice in the gate it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph and so he calls again for them uh to repent and come back uh more from chapter five about their transgressions

(23:53) verse 18 woe to you who desire the day of the Lord for what good is the day of the Lord to you in our lesson on Joel We said that the day of the Lord could be a day of good or a day of bad depending on your relationship with God here Amos calls attention to people who were calling for the day of the Lord bring on the day of the Lord and Amos says what are you doing you don't know what you're asking for what is what good is the day of the Lord for you they were so steeped in idolatry and sin that they even didn't

(24:27) even realize that calling for the day of the Lord would be calling punishment on themselves and he was trying to wake them up to that fact but they would not listen verse 21 chapter 5 I hate I despise your feast days I do not Savor your sacred assemblies though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings I will not accept them nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings take away from me the noise of your songs for I will not hear The Melody of your stringed instruments but let just jce run down like water and

(25:00) righteousness like a mighty stream powerful lesson Amos says essentially yes there are times when you're offering to God to Jehovah God worship and you're bringing uh offerings grain offerings and things like that but God says to them take those things away from me I don't have any joy in those things I'm not going to listen to the noise of your songs why because they were so steeped in sin and so whatever worship they did offer offer to God was not acceptable because they refused to address these glaring

(25:33) transgressions in their own lives and so God would hear none of it and so he says woe to you that are at ease in Zion chapter 6 verse 1 they thought they were at ease and having things good God said otherwise well then in chapter 7-9 Amos records five visions that he saw let me summarize those very quickly for us the five Visions first of all there was the vision of the Locust 7: 1-3 he formed Locust swarms and the Lord called for Conflict by fire verses 4-6 so you had the the Locust uh Vision uh the vision of the fire chapter 7: 7-1 17

(26:19) the vision of the plum line one of my favorites God said set a plum line in front of my people and measure them in other words we're going to measure whether whether or not the wall of character that they're building for themselves is straight just like you'd use a plum line to measure the straightness of a the vertical straightness of a wall he said let's do that with your character that tells us that God has an absolute standard and we've got to build by the standard or God's not going to

(26:47) accept it and so they had failed the test then you had the vision of the basket of summer fruit chapter 8 uh basically with the point being he saw this vision of the of the summer fruit ripe fruit Israel was ripe for captivity right for punishment because they had disobeyed God and then in chapter nine the vision of the sanctuary fulfilled incidentally in the New Testament Acts chapter 15 The Tabernacle of David uh that uh in the New Testament says that was fulfilled in the bringing in of the Gentiles into the body of Jesus Christ

(27:26) and so that Prophecy from Amos chapter 9 very important one in the New Testament and so Amos the prophet reminds us that God is concerned about a lot of things how we treat others how we treat him and whether or not we're living Our Lives the way that we ought to live them for him and so I want you to consider that today are you living life as you should in Amos 4:12 we said at the beginning that that was one of the key verses in the book and it is one of the key applications and I want you to consider it today

(28:01) before we conclude Amos said prepare to meet your God are you prepared to meet him I hope you'll take some time and seriously consider that and if you're not living your life according to his word like you should that you'll make whatever changes you need to make before it's too late and I will