God Judges the Nations (Amos 1 and 2)
In the first two chapters of the book of Amos, we are given a list of judgements that God was going to bring on eight nations in what we call the Middle East. The messages begin Syria on the north of Israel, then Philistia and Tyre on the west of Israel, then Edom, Ammon and Moab to the east of Israel, before moving into Judah and Israel. There is no suggestion that Amos went to all those countries with a message for each. Instead he was providing information to God’s people in Israel why certain judgements were to fall on those countries.
At that time, the people of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms for about two hundred years. Both of those kingdoms are addressed by Amos. Judah is the Southern Kingdom and Israel is the Northern Kingdom. As we read these chapters, one way of appreciating them is to imagine that they are like a report on the evening news when it deals with what is happening in the surrounding area. We can imagine headings such as ‘Prophet Announced Imminent Divine Judgment’ or ‘God is about to Intervene because of our Behaviour?’
Here Amos has written out one of the sermons that he delivered to Israel. He has a sermon of eight points, with each point dealing with a particular country. We are to imagine him speaking to an audience of Israelites and think about what their response would be as he made his way through the various countries that he listed. No doubt, they would have agreed with his comments about the first six countries, but the seventh, about Judah, would be getting a bit close to home. And when he did get home with the eighth point, what would we imagine the response of the Israelites to have been to this God-sent prophet? Would they have agreed with the divine diagnosis they had heard?
Who was Amos?
He tells us that he was a shepherd from Tekoa before he became a prophet. Tekoa was an obscure village in Judah, about ten miles south of Jerusalem. The period in which he ministered is identified by the kings who reigned in Judah and Israel. Both kings ruled for about forty years and during that time both countries had stability and prosperity. From an outward point of view, things seemed to be going well. Yet outward points of view are never enough in order to diagnose a situation. We also need to have God’s assessment of things and here, through Amos, he tells what he thought of those nations and what he was going to do in response. Although Amos was born in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, he ministered mainly in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
The God of Amos
Amos likens God to a lion roaring for his prey. Obviously, when other animals hear the roar of a lion they would be afraid. We don’t mind watching lions being fed in a zoo, but we would not stand so close if we were somewhere the lions were not confined and restrained. Clearly, we are being told here that God can act similar to how a lion does when looking for prey. The roar of a lion is an indication that he is about to attack, and we can see that is what the Lord is about to do. The problem for the nations at that time was that there was no escape for them from the judgements of God. Whatever their capabilities and methods of defence, he knew how he would overthrow each of them
The roar of God, however, is not just a loud incoherent noise. Instead, it is spoken words that can be heard at a great distance and understood easily. Amos says that the voice of God carried throughout the lands of Judah and Israel, from Jerusalem in Judah to Mount Carmel in Israel. The distance covered indicates that the message through Amos was mainly for God’s people, even although others were also described in the message that he gave. His people had to recover truths about him that they seemed to have forgotten.
Clearly, when someone speaks, their words can be comforting, challenging or condemning. The same is true of the words of God. We can see these effects in numerous places in the Bible. So what did God have to say through Amos and what kind of words did he use?
What God had to say about Israel's Neighbours (1:3–2:3?
It is obvious when we read what Amos declared that God’s verdicts were based on two factors. As far as nations surrounding Israel were concerned, his method of assessment was based on general revelation; whereas, his method of assessment of Judah and Israel was based on special revelation. General revelation is connected to all people being aware of certain standards because God’s law is written on their hearts whereas special revelation also includes specific instructions that God arranged for his people to have, whether in the form of writings or through the words of prophets sent by him.
We can briefly notice the reasons why God was going to act in judgement on the six nations around the borders of the promised land. Regarding Damascus (1:3-5), the reason for divine judgment was the cruelty they showed to the Israelites who lived in the region of Gilead during an invasion. The punishment was that Syria would be defeated, their security systems would be destroyed, and the survivors would go into exile in another country called Kir. This was fulfilled when the Assyrians overran Syria, and they had a policy of moving nations from their homelands.
The Philistines (here identified by their four cities of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Ekron) would be judged for selling a group of people, probably Jews or Israelites, to Edom as slaves (1:6-8). Their punishment would be that they would disappear as a people. Tyre would be punished for the same reason except they had made their actions more heinous by breaking a treaty they must have had with the people they sold (1:9-10), perhaps the treaty that was made between David and Hiram, a former king of Tyre.
Edom was guilty of constant attacks on God’s people and therefore they would be destroyed as a nation (1:11-12). Their animosity stretched all the way back to Esau. The Ammonites had also invaded Gilead and shown great cruelty, even to pregnant women (1:13-15), and for their actions they would go into exile. Moab would be punished because it burned the bones of a king of Edom (2:1-3), and they would cease to exist as a nation.
When did all this judgement take place? Could it all happen in the same period of time? It probably occurred with the invasions by Assyria when it was building its empire. As mentioned above, the policy of Assyria was to remove entire populations to other places, so we can easily see how nations would disappear and their national identities lost. What is not always easy to see is the actions of God and the connections between their fates and his punishment. But since Amos specified in detail what would happen to certain nations and why it happened, we can see the connection, and so would have his original listeners.
What did God have to say to Judah? (2:4-5)
Perhaps the inhabitants of Israel who had been told about the previous descriptions of the surrounding nations would not have minded the divine assessments of those countries. After all, they were pagan, unlike the people of Judah and Israel. If they did think like that, it means that they had forgotten the seriousness connected to having been given divine privileges.
The sin of Judah was that they had refused to obey God’s instructions revealed in his Word. While they did not have all of the Old Testament, they would have had the Pentateuch and some other writings. Moreover they had been given godly priests and prophets and kings who had taught the people the ways of righteousness. Yet they had chosen to follow the ways of false religion, called here lies. This turning away was not something recent, either. It had been taking place for centuries, with occasional recoveries.
The judgement on Judah would be the same as that imposed on the surrounding nations. They would be attacked by a foreign army and their security structures would not be able to save them. This came about when the Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem and the inhabitants went into captivity for seventy years, as we can see described elsewhere in the Old Testament.
God’s word for Israel (2:6-16)
The assessment of Israel is the longest of the descriptions given of the various nations mentioned by Amos. A reason for this is because he was going to serve God in the Northern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom comprised the ten tribes who had rebelled against the rule of Rehoboam and set up their own kingdom separate from the kingdom linked to David. They set up their own religious system as well, but such actions did not mean that God now regarded them as no longer obliged to keep his law.
What were the sins for which they were going to be punished? Amos lists them, and we can summarise them as four. First, there was oppression of the righteous and the poor (vv. 6-7); second, there was immorality connected with their contrived worship (vv. 7-8); third, there was forgetfulness of what God had done for them when he gave to them the promised land in the long-distant past (vv. 9-10); and fourth, they despised and mistreated those whom God had called to serve him, whether prophets or Nazarites (vv. 11-12). The outcome was going to be total collapse (vv. 13-16). This was fulfilled when the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians and deported from the land of Canaan.
Some lessons
First, the calling of Amos from being a shepherd to function as a prophet is a reminder that the Lord can use people of humble backgrounds in his service. Amos’ background is similar to that of David who was also called by God while looking after sheep to be his king.
Second, we can see from the words of Amos that the Lord can use whatever he wishes when he decides to act in judgement. The various descriptions reveal that the Lord can use natural disasters – the earthquake and wars between nations (such as the campaigns of the Assyrians and Babylonians) – when he rises to bring judgement on different peoples.
Third, we can see from the messages of Amos that there is such a thing as national sins. Those sins can be different depending on the place where they lived. Those who govern have a responsibility from God to act justly, and here we have examples of what happens when they do not.
Fourth, God is able to judge several nations at the same time or period. This was the case when he allowed the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire to conquer the nations mentioned by Amos. Those empires were not righteous, and eventually he punished them as well. We can see this kind of process repeating itself throughout history.
Fifth, those who have more privileges and despise them are more guilty in God’s eyes than those who never had them. From a human point of view, the sins of the surrounding nations were worse than the sins of Judah and Israel. Yet God also brings into the situation the amount of light that that the nations had. Judah and Israel had much more divine light given to them, therefore their sins in departing from the Lord was much greater.
Sixth, the messages to Judah and Israel reveal that their societies could no longer be classified as God-conscious. They had forgotten their history and had become like the other nations. In a similar way, that is where we are. Few people in our country know very much about our Christian heritage. Sadly, few people in the church know very much about her Christian heritage. We have a wonderful Christian history, although we have had our periods of decline. God found fault with Israel for forgetting what he had done in previous generations.
Seventh, God’s patience is long, but not permanent. I think that is the point of the repeated refrain made by Amos ‘of three transgressions or for four’ that introduces some of the messages. Each of the nations mentioned in Amos’ sermon had committed their sinful actions numerous times. Eventually, the time came for God’s temporal judgements to occur.
Eighth, Israel and Judah failed to live as lights for the nations around them. They had been called to different from the other countries, but while their conduct may not have been as bad as that of the other countries, they had fallen from a greater height. We can put it this way. The other nations only had spiritual darkness, but Judah and Israel moved from the day into the darkness of the night. Their behaviour did not show to others what God’s people should look like.
Ninth, the calling of Amos tells us that God not only calls some of his servants from a humble location, but that he can also call them to go a surprising location. Judah was the country that held more firmly to the revealed ways of God, but he chose to send Amos to Israel. While he did have a message of judgement, he also had a message of grace. In a sense, this was like the disciples of Jesus taking the gospel to the Samaritans after his resurrection and ascension. We need to be ready to go wherever the Lord will send us.
Tenth, we should take away from this sermon by Amos several important realities. His message revealed that there is only one God and people of every nation are accountable to him. Moreover, the fact that a country once served him does not count if it departs from him. This was a demanding sermon by the prophet, and it must have affected people when they heard it. Will God really judge?
This is what many people say about the gospel. On one occasion, when reading in Luke 3 about John the Baptist, I noticed that Luke described the message of John as good news. The good news did include details of a soon-coming Saviour, but it also included warnings of judgement and calls to show genuine repentance evidenced in a changed life.