Many of the Old Testament prophets came from a lineage of prophets and priests. Amos was a humble shepherd when God called him to be a prophet to the nations. His message was primarily to Israel, the northern kingdom of divided Israel.
Amos used metaphors from his shepherd experience to speak to the people of Israel who were serving idols and oppressing the poor. Let us be mindful his message for those who heard his warming is just as applicable today as they were when he spoke of sin and impending judgment. He is considered to be one of the Minor Prophets; yet his message just as important as the messages of Jeremiah and Isaiah.
Amos proclaimed why God was judging the nations and Israel and still they would not repent so they would suffer the disasters he announced.
His message was to prepare for disaster and declared unto them God is in charge of the events of mankind who fail to repent. He used the name of the ruler of the earth: The Lord God of hosts which means “God of the armies of heaven.” In other words, the Lord has declared war on you.
“Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth – The Lord God of hosts is His name. Amos 4:13
One of the key verses in Amos is in chapter 5 where God declares His hatred of the attempt to offer false worship. He stated He would not accept them – they were being offered in vain. He hated their music and would not listen to their songs. All He desired was justice and righteousness to “run down like water…like a mighty stream.” God loves justice and righteousness and rewards it.
“I hate, I despise your feast days, and 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 justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:21-24
In spite of their rebellion and doom God declared there would be a day that He would restore His people to their land. God promised that the people would be returned to the land and they would be planted by the Lord and not uprooted again. He promised a great harvest, a time when the plowman would overtake the reaper and that the mountains would drip with sweet wine. God is so good to keep His promises.
Amos chapter 9 records a portion of Scripture that James quoted in Acts 15 regarding the salvation of the gentile believers at the council in Jerusalem.
“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. Amos 9:11-15
James spoke of this time as being the promise to bring the Gentiles into the planting of the Lord. We are grafted into the root of David. He promised the rebuilding of the tent or tabernacle of David (house of David) through Jesus so that the rest of mankind might seek the Lord.
Aren’t you glad the Lord was thinking about us during the days Amos was writing the Book of Amos? I am so glad we can now be partakers in the Kingdom of God if we will practice justice and righteousness.
‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things.’ Acts 15:16-18
When James had spoken these words, all the council agreed – Gentiles are a part of God’s plan and purpose in the earth. Praise the Lord!
