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About Amos
Amos 1:1 “The words of Amos”
Amos’s name in Hebrew is H5986 – ʿāmôs and means a burden, infliction or carrying a heavy load. He was a shepherd from a town near Bethlehem, from the Judah tribe. His prophecies are dated to around 760-750 BC, during a time of prosperity for Israel under King Jeroboam II, but also marked by significant social and religious corruption. During this time it was going well in Israel, and no one expected that their exiles were about to begin.
Amos’s Oracles
Amos 1 & 2 “.. has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime…”
The oracles (or prophecies), reminds one of the oracles against the churches given in the beginning of Revelation. The following oracles were given against 6 surrounding nations, and 1 for Judah and 1 for Israel.
- Damascus (Syria): For cruelty and brutality in war.
- Gaza (Philistia): For deporting and enslaving God’s people.
- Tyre (Phoenicia): For violating a peace treaty by delivering God’s people.
- Edom: For unrelenting hatred and violence, no compassion for their relatives.
- Ammon: For covetous kingdom expansion that harmed God’s people.
- Moab: For desecrating the dead with disrespect, by cremating Edom’s king.
- Judah: For rejecting YHWH’s laws and practicing idolatry.
- Israel: For social violence, economic exploitation, and moral corruption, including selling the poor for debt and denying the poor justice.
A call for Repentance
Amos 5:4 “Search for Me and live!”
Israel and Judah didn’t heed the warnings of the prophets.. But if they did, YHWH would have saved them. Amos 4 explains how YHWH tried to warn them with drought, and in verse 8 He says, “And you still didn’t return to me, declares YHWH”. Then he struck their crops and food, in verse 9, “still didn’t return”. Then He sent plagues and swords, verse 10 “still didn’t return”. YHWH tried to discipline them so they could change their ways to follow YHWH’s Instructions, the Torah. Finally YHWH says, “Prepare to meet your Elohim” in verse 12. In Amos 5 YHWH still gives a call for people to repent, verse 14 “Search for good instead of evil so that you may live.. Hate evil and love good”.
See a post (click here to read more) in Psalm 51 that explains what Repentance really means.
Day of YHWH
Amos 5:18 “How horrible it will be for those who long for the day of YHWH”
Click here to read more what Joel 2 said about the “Day of YHWH”, or as most translations call it, “the day of the Lord”, as well as what Yeshua said about it. Here Amos confirms, it is not a day to wish for or long for – it is a day of darkness, pitch black – and judgement.
