Amos 3

This message was delivered to “the whole family,” that is, to both Israel and Judah; for both kingdoms were guilty of disobeying God’s holy law. Amos reminded them of their divine calling as the people of God, a calling that they were prone to despise and forget.

What kind of a calling did God give to the Jewish nation? To begin with, it was a gracious call; for the Lord had chosen them and no other nation to be the special recipients of His bountiful gifts. “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers” (Deut. 7:6–8 nkjv; see Ex. 19:1–5).

This principle of gracious election also applies to the church. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15: niv); and Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called”; but that God chose the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised “that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor. 1:26, 29). God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), and it was purely an act of grace.

God’s call was also an effective call (Amos 3:1b), for the Lord had demonstrated His great power in delivering Israel from the bondage of Egypt. The blood of the Passover lamb protected the Jews from death, and they were taken through the Red Sea to be separated from Egypt forever. Christians today have been saved by the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18–19; 2:24) and separated from the world because of His mighty resurrection (Eph. 1:19–23).

Third, their calling was an exclusive call (Amos 3:2a). “You only have I chosen [known, kjv] of all the families of the earth” (niv). The word known indicates an intimate relationship, such as that of husband and wife (Gen. 4:1). “To know” means “to choose” (see 18:19; Jer. 1:5; 2:2–3), a term Paul applies to Christian believers (Rom. 8:29). Because they were exclusively the Lord’s, God did for Israel what He did for no other nation (9:4–5).

Finally, it was a calling that involved responsibility (Amos 3:2b). Because He had chosen them, called them, and blessed them, the people of Israel and Judah were responsible to love God and obey Him. If they didn’t, God was responsible to chasten them in love and seek to bring them back to Himself.

The doctrine of divine election is not an excuse for sin; rather it is intended to motivate us to holy living. We should be so humbled by His grace and so amazed at His love (1 John 3:1–2) that our hearts would want to do nothing other than worship and serve Him. Privilege always brings with it responsibility (Eph. 1:3–5; John 15:16; 1 Peter 2:4–5, 9). “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12: nkjv).

As God’s chosen people, we’re to live worthy of our calling (Eph. 4:1) and not follow the practices of the unsaved world (v. 17). This means living in love (5:2), in wisdom (v. 15), and in the Spirit (v. 18). To do anything less is to live beneath our high calling and the privileges we have as the children of God.

Now that Amos had the attention of the people, he proceeded to deliver three messages, each of which begins with “Hear this word” (3:1; 4:1; Look within and see the corruption 5:1). By using this phrase, he reminded them that they weren’t listening to a mere man making a speech; they were listening to a prophet declaring the living word of God.

It’s indeed a great privilege to have God speak to us, but it’s also a great responsibility. If we don’t open our hearts to hear His Word and obey Him, we’re in grave danger of hardening our hearts and incurring the wrath of God. “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3:7–8 nkjv; see Ps. 95:7–11).

The first message (Amos 3:1–15) was one of explanation, in which Amos clarified four divine calls and announced that Israel’s judgment was certain. His second message (4:1–13) focused on accusation in which the prophet denounced Israel’s sins. The final message (5:1—6:14) was a lamentation as the prophet felt the anguish of his nation’s certain doom.

In this first message, Amos explains the significance of four divine calls.

At this point, the people were probably saying, “Who is this rustic farmer that he should preach to us and claim to be God’s prophet? What kind of authority does he think he has?” Amos even dared to preach uninvited at the king’s chapel at Bethel, where King Jeroboam’s chaplain told Amos to go home and preach in Judah (7:10–16).

No doubt when D. L. Moody began to preach, some people said, “What can this uneducated shoe salesman say to us?” And when Billy Sunday began to hold evangelistic campaigns, it’s likely that the sophisticated religious crowd asked, “What can this former baseball player teach us?” But God used Moody and Sunday, not in spite of their humble background, but because of it; for He delights to bypass the “wise and prudent” and share His power with “babes” (Luke 10:21).

Amos replied to their ridicule by arguing from effect to cause. If two people want to walk together, they have to appoint a time and place to meet (Amos 3:3). If the lion roars, it’s because he’s caught his prey (v. 4). If a trap springs, it means the bird has been caught (v. 5); and if the people in a city are terrified, it’s because the trumpet has blown, warning them of danger (v. 6). These are obvious facts of life that any thinking person would acknowledge.

Now for the final thrust: if an untrained rustic farmer is preaching God’s Word, it means God has called him. This isn’t a vocation Amos would have chosen for himself; it was chosen for him by the Lord. Amos said, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’” (7:14–15 niv).

When a prophet proclaims God’s Word, it’s because the Lord is about to do something important and wants to warn His people (3:7). Review the images Amos used in verses 3–6, and you will see what kind of work God called Amos to do. Because he was walking with God, he knew God’s secrets. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant” (Ps. 25:14). The lion was roaring. “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3: nkjv) God was about to spring the trap: Israel would be wiped out by the Assyrians, and Judah would go into exile in Babylon. Amos was blowing the trumpet and preparing the people for the judgment to come.

Amos clearly made his point. It was no accident of vocational choice that he was proclaiming God’s message, for God had called him. And it was no accident of international diplomacy that Israel and Judah were facing judgment, for they had sinned against God. For every effect there is a cause. What caused Amos to preach God’s Word? The call of God on his life.

Bible history and church history both reveal that God can and does use a variety of people to minister to His people. He used an educated man like Moses, and a humble shepherd like David, a priest like Jeremiah, and common fishermen like Peter, James, and John. Both Charles Finney and C. I. Scofield were trained to be lawyers, while John Bunyan was a mender of pots and pans, and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a physician. Add to this the names of dedicated women God has greatly used—Catherine Booth, “mother” of the Salvation Army; Amy Carmichael, rescuer of abused children; Lina Sandell, Fanny Crosby, and Avis B. Christiansen, composers of beautiful hymns and gospel songs—and you can see that God calls, equips, and uses all who will surrender to Him and let Him have His way.

Amos is an encouragement to all believers who feel they are inadequate to do the work of the Lord. He was a layman, not a graduate of a prophetic school. He learned spiritual truth as he communed with God while caring for the flocks and orchards. Self-taught? Yes, but he was God-taught; and he was willing to share with others what God had said to him. Robert Murray M’Cheyne wrote, “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.” This is not to minimize the importance of either talent or education, but to remind us that neither can be a substitute for heeding God’s call and walking in communion with Him. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15: niv).

In his day, the prophet Isaiah called heaven and earth to witness against Judah (Isa. 1:2; see Deut. 30:19; 31:28); and Amos summoned the Gentile nations to witness against the northern kingdom of Israel whose capital was Samaria. The sin of Israel was so great that it even appalled the pagan nations; for, after all, Israel was sinning against a flood of light (1 Cor. 5:1).

It’s tragic and humiliating when the unsaved world catches professed Christians in their sins. It happened to Abraham twice when he lied to heathen kings about his wife Sarah (Gen. 12:10–20; 20:1ff.). Samson was shamed before the Philistines (Judg. 16), and David was embarrassed before the king of Gath (1 Sam. 21:10–15). David’s adultery with Bathsheba gave “great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme” (2 Sam. 12:14). In the late 1980s, the media ministry scandals brought great shame to the church; and whenever a prominent servant of God falls into sin, the news media seem to enjoy telling the story.

Amos called for the Philistines (“Ashdod,” Amos 1:8) and the Egyptians to witness what was going on in Samaria (v. 9). The leaders of Israel weren’t interested in obeying God’s law and helping the less fortunate. Rather, they were eagerly and unjustly robbing the poor and amassing as much wealth as possible. They built costly houses, filled them with expensive furnishings, and lived in luxury, while the poor of the land suffered (3:15; 4:1; 5:11; 6:4–6).

The law of Moses made it clear that the nation was to care for the widows and orphans, the poor and the strangers in the land (see Ex. 22:25–27; 23:11; Lev. 19:9–15; 25:6; Deut. 14:28–29; 15:12–13; 16:11–14). Amos wasn’t the only Hebrew prophet to accuse the rich of exploiting the poor and ignoring the needy, for you find similar messages in Isaiah (1:23; 10:1–2), Ezekiel (chap. 34), Micah (2:1–2), and Malachi (3:5).

What a terrible indictment: “They do not know how to do right” (Amos 3: niv). They were so bound by their greed and idolatry that it was impossible for them to do what was right. Like many people today, they were addicted to affluence. They didn’t care that others lacked the necessities of life so long as they themselves enjoyed luxuries. No wonder there was unrest in the land, for the possession of wealth never satisfied the hungers of the heart. “To pretend to satisfy one’s desires by possessions,” says a Chinese proverb, “is like using a straw to put out a fire.”

Even more tragic than their greed was their arrogance. They lived in fortresses so they and their possessions were safe. Like the farmer in one of our Lord’s parables (Luke 12:12–21), they thought they were safe and secure, but they discovered that their wealth couldn’t stop death from coming. The attitude of the church of Laodicea is prevalent among God’s people today: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17).

Amos announced that the kingdom of Israel would fall to an enemy and the great city of Samaria would be plundered. This happened in 722 BC when the Assyrians invaded Israel. The people of Israel had plundered one another, but now a pagan Gentile nation would plunder them. We reap what we sow.

To illustrate what would happen to Israel, Amos borrowed from his experiences as a shepherd. According to Exodus 22:10–13, if a lion takes a sheep and tears it to pieces, the shepherd had to bring the remnants of the sheep to prove that it was truly dead (see Gen. 31:39). This would assure the owner of the flock that the shepherd wasn’t stealing the sheep and lying to his employer. By the time Assyria was through with Israel, only a small remnant of the people would be left. The lion was about to roar (Amos 1:2; 3:8)!

According to 2 Kings 17:5ff., the Assyrians killed some Israelites, took others captive, and then brought into the land captives from other nations, thus producing a people with diverse racial and religious backgrounds. The surviving Jews in the ten tribes of the northern kingdom married people who were not Jews, and this produced the people we know as Samaritans. The “pure” Jews rejected this new “mongrel race” (John 4:9); so the Samaritans set up their own temple and priesthood and established their own religion, which the Lord rejected (vv. 19–24).

Amos made it clear that the invasion of the Assyrians was a work of God, for He was punishing Israel for her sins (Amos 3:14). Why? Because of their selfish luxury and their impudent idolatry. The people resting on their ivory beds in their expensive mansions would be stripped and led off as prisoners of war. The wealthy who had both summer and winter houses would have no houses.

When the Jewish kingdom was divided after the death of Solomon (1 Kings 12), King Jeroboam of Israel didn’t want his people going to Jerusalem to worship, lest they go to Judah and never return to Israel. So he established shrines with golden calves at Dan and Bethel, set up his own priesthood, and encouraged the people to worship in Israel. Contrary to the law of Moses, the kings also allowed the people to visit local shrines, where it was more convenient to worship whatever god they chose.

Amos announced that the Lord would destroy the royal chapel at Bethel (Amos 7:13); Israel’s entire manmade religious system would be demolished. Nobody would be able to lay hold of the horns of the altar and claim protection (1 Kings 1:50–53), for the horns would be cut off.

For two centuries, God in His longsuffering had tolerated the people of the northern kingdom as they participated in their idolatrous rival religious system, but now it would come to an end. Instead of turning to God, however, the remnant in the land would set up another man-made religious system that the Lord would also reject. It would not be until the days of Christ (John 4) and the apostolic church (Acts 8) that the ancient division between Judah and Israel (Samaria) would be healed.

Like Israel of old, nations today measure themselves by their wealth; and the gross national product becomes the indicator of security and success. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer as people worship the golden calf of money and greedily exploit one another. But it doesn’t take long for God to wipe out the idols that people worship and the unnecessary luxuries that control their lives. He hears the cries of the poor and eventually judges the guilty (see Ps. 10:14; 69:33; 82:3).

This isn’t the end; Amos has two more messages to deliver.