Union Avenue Bap-st Church THE BOOK OF • HEARING AND BELIEVING • -9 • FEBRUARY 28, 2020

Trust in God comes by hearing and believing His Word.

He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people ; I will no longer spare them. Amos 8:3

What emo-ons do you feel when you think about the future? What are some of the specific things that you fear and/or look forward to?

Even when the future seems uncertain, how do you know you can trust God with your future? What certain-es do you cling to in those uncertain -mes?

We all have to deal with life’s uncertainSes. When unexpected events threaten our plans or cast dark clouds over our hope for the future, we may wonder where to turn for help. In Amos 8–9, which we will discuss this week and next, the Amos told the people of his day where they could find true hope —the same place we can find it today.

READ AMOS 8:1-3.

All of the vision in are related to God’s pending judgment against the na-on of Israel. What do you make of the vision that begins chapter 8 (vv. 1-3)?

How is this vision related to what we read last week?

The opening verses of Amos 8 describe the fourth of five visions the prophet received from the Lord. The divinely cra]ed image was of a basket filled with summer fruit. Ordinarily, such an image might have been interpreted as a blessed sign of abundant harvest. But in fact, it was not a sign of blessing, but of judgment. As summer fruit signaled the end of the harvest season, so in Amos’ vision the summer fruit signified that “the end has come for My people Israel” (8:2). The Israelites were about to experience

Page 1 of 8 the bider fruit of their conSnual wickedness and spiritual rebellion against the Lord. Judgment was no longer a mader of “if,” but “when.”

AMOS 8:4-14.

Verses 4-14 make up Amos’ speech to the na-on in which he warned of God’s coming judgment and pointed out their sins. What par-cular sin of the na-on did Amos point out (vv. 4-6)? Why was that such an offense to God?

Following the vision of summer fruit, Amos delivered a propheSc speech in which he specified a key piece of evidence concerning the Israelites’ sinful condiSon: wealthy Israelite merchants were ruthlessly cheaSng and oppressing the poor with dishonest prices and disregard for God’s law, especially regarding the Sabbath (see 8:4-6). Consequently, the Lord would bring severe judgments against those in Israel who commided such wicked deeds (8:7-14).

To people who were annoyed with the prophet’s message of God’s coming judgment, a famine of hearing the words of the Lord may have sounded like a blessing. How would it actually be a hardship to be cut off from His words?

The famine envisioned in these verses would consist not only of the absence of the Lord’s revelaSon through his , but of the Lord himself, whose presence and care brought about the propheSc word. To receive no word from God in response to cries for help meant that God had hidden His face from them and had abandoned them to their enemies

When have you felt a drought of God’s Word and work in your life? How did you respond to that spiritual famine?

Do you think this is the same or different from the discontent we experience when we pray but do not sense the Lord’s answer? Explain.

God is more than the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; He also is the Author of wisdom and the Light of the world. Apart from Him and His truth, people walk in spiritual darkness and are doomed to a life of recurring disappointments and frustraSons in their search for fulfillment. Without God’s presence and guidance, people search in vain for the full life. We who have unlimited access to God’s inspired Word have a precious treasure, the value of which cannot be measured in material terms.

How would your life be different if suddenly you no longer had access to the Scriptures?

How can we show that we don’t take for granted the blessing of having God’s Word freely available today?

Page 2 of 8 The majority of people in today’s materialisSc society would shrug off the idea of a famine of God’s words as long as they had plenty to eat and drink. That may have been the response of Amos’ hearers who were enjoying peace and plenty. When people feel secure and saSsfied, they o]en are indifferent to God, His teachings, and His guidance. When they experience the distress and afflicSon of a catastrophe, however, they are more eager for a message from Him. We must be careful not to take for granted having God’s Word abundantly available to us in the . We should make reading and hearing His Word a priority, receiving and obeying it with joy and seeking to share it with others.

READ :1-10.

The final chapter of Amos begins with another vision and message of God’s judgment. Amos’s fi]h vision portrayed the Lord standing beside an altar and ordering a massive outpouring of destrucSve judgment on Israel. God would intenSonally bring harm because of the people’s sins, and would treat them as though they were just another naSon.

What did God promise in these verses that He was about to do? What did He promise He would not do?

Why would the Lord not totally destroy the house of ? Would shaking Israel as one shakes a sieve be an act of jus-ce, mercy, or both? Explain.

According to Amos, the eyes of the Lord were on the sinful kingdom of Israel. He was keeping track of the naSon’s sin and was poised to destroy it from the face of the earth as punishment. Yet in the next sentence, the Lord expressed a plan to show divine mercy. He would not totally destroy the house of Jacob. How are we to understand these two seemingly opposed divine declaraSons? The house of Jacob represented a subset of the sinful kingdom. The sinful kingdom—signified by the elite, sinful, religious- poliScal structure—would end. However, the Lord would show mercy and spare a remnant of faithful Israelites—people who were grieved by their naSon’s spiritual and poliScal misdirecSon. They would lose their naSonal idenSty, and many would fall vicSm to the horrors of war or the distress of capSvity. Yet the Lord would maintain His covenant relaSonship with them (compare Rom. 11:22-24). Here, Amos hinted at the thread of hope that he addressed in 9:11-12.

What assump-ons had the sinners made about their future?

In what ways do people today have a similar false sense of security regarding God’s judgment?

Among those singled out for the judgment-sieve of God were Israelites who had become agnosSc in their convicSons about the Lord’s power, as well as those who had become openly hosSle to His role in

Page 3 of 8 their lives. The Lord would deal firmly with all the apostate and defiant sinners in the Northern Kingdom who said, either out loud or in their hearts, that disaster would never overtake or confront them.

READ AMOS 9:11-15.

The final five verses in the bring the prophet’s preaching to a posiSve and hopeful conclusion. In this secSon, Amos looked beyond the coming days of judgment to a Sme of restoraSon. In 5:18-20, Amos had warned those who yearned for the “Day of the Lord” while living sinful, unrepentant lives. That day for the unrepentant would not be a day of hope, but one of horror and disaster. Amos now envisioned that chastened, repentant Israelites would one day experience a different reality, a hope-filled Sme.

What did the Lord say He would do to the land of Israel aZer His judgment was finished?

What words or phrases describe the restora-on God was planning for His people? How did His plans extend beyond Israel to the other na-ons?

The concept of the “Day of the Lord” was specifically addressed by ten prophets. They didn’t envision that the day was limited to a 24-hour period of Sme. Rather, it was a coming era—a Sme when the Lord would dramaScally intervene in human history and carry out His purposes in glorious and unmistakable ways. Here Amos described that day as an awesome era —a Sme to be eagerly awaited by every Israelite who loved and served the Lord.

How do the benefits described in verses 13-14 provide a striking contrast with the warnings of fire and famine earlier in Amos’s prophecy?

How did the Lord describe the security His people would enjoy in this restored land?

Great blessings awaited Israel in God’s divine plan, and the Lord wanted all His people to hear of them. Following terrible Smes of judgment, the days were coming in which bounSful abundance would sweep across the land. The dreaded curse in the law of starvaSon connected with disobedience to the Lord (see Lev. 26:19-20) would be broken, because the people had returned to the Lord.

Read Acts 15:6-29. How is Amos’ prophecy ul-mately fulfilled in Christ?

What are the implica-ons of this truth for our lives?

Our understanding of this passage was expanded when James, the half-brother of Jesus and a leader of the church at , spoke at the Jerusalem Council (see Acts 15:6-29). At this event, James used Amos 9:11-12 as a propheSc outline of divine promises that were fulfilled in the New Testament era (see

Page 4 of 8 Acts 15:16-17). Jesus restored a covenant promise the Lord had made a thousand years before the New Testament era (see 2 Sam. 7:16; Luke 1:31-33).

Both the Amos passage and the Acts passage support the New Testament understanding that in Christ, believing GenSles are united with the faithful of Israel in God’s house and inheritance (Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:15). In Christ, repentant sinners can find forgiveness, renewal, and eternal life. This is a sure hope, not just for this life, but for eternity, and that hope is a person—Jesus (see Col. 1:3-6).

What opportuni-es do people today have to hear from God? Given the abundance of opportuni-es, why are some Chris-ans so malnourished in His Word? With what have they replaced the Word?

How are you taking advantage of the opportuni-es you have to hear from God?

How would you answer a friend who expressed the wish that God would speak to us directly today as He spoke to His people in the days of Amos? In what ways is He actually s-ll doing so, even today (see Hebrews 4:12)?

PRAYER

Close your group Sme in prayer by thanking God for His Word, His creaSon, the Holy Spirit, and all the other ways He speaks to us today. Thank God that, despite our sinful hearts and rebellious tendencies, He withholds His judgment from us because of the work of Jesus.

COMMENTARY

AMOS 8:1-14

8:1-3. The Hebrew word for summer fruit ( qayits) sounds almost idenScal to the word translated as end ( qets) in verse 2. Just as the fruit in the basket had ripened, so also Israel was ripe for judgment.

8:4-9:15 .This, the last major segment of Amos, is in four secSons. First, God accused the merchants and the wealthy class of cheaSng people in the sale of grain and of enslaving people for the sake of trifling debts (8:4-6). Next, there is a judgment in which God swears an oath, the land heaves like the River, people mourn, and there is a famine for the Word of God (8:7-14). For the third secSon, another judgment passage follows: God stands by the altar (in effect swearing another oath), the Israelites are hunted down, and the land again heaves like the Nile River (9:1-6). In the final secSon, Israel is compared

Page 5 of 8 to the naSons to which it must go in exile, but abruptly the judgment is reversed, and Israel becomes predominant among all the naSons and very prosperous (9:7-15). Other parallels also bind this passage together. There is, for example, a focus on food and crops. In 8:5 the merchants deceiqully sell grain, in 8:11-14 there is a famine, and finally in 9:13 there is a great harvest. Also, in 9:1-4 God hunts down and kills every last Israelite, but in 9:14-15 there is an abundant populaSon. Finally, 8:9 and 9:6 both refer to God’s power over the heavens.

8:5-6. Three accusaSons are combined here: contempt for the Sabbath, cheaSng customers when selling them food, and enslaving people who could not pay even the smallest of debts.

8:7 .It is odd that God swears in this verse by the Pride of Jacob. In 6:8, He said that He hated “Jacob’s pride,” and in that case the pride of Jacob was the citadels and wealth of Israel. It is not likely that God would swear by something He hated. In 4:2 God swore by His “holiness,” and in 6:8 He swore by “Himself.” In this verse, therefore, the “Pride of Jacob” is probably again God Himself. The implicaSon, comparing 6:8 to 8:7, is that the Israelites ought to boast in their God, but instead they were boasSng in their military and economic power.

8:8. The Nile River flooded every year. The upheaval, overflow, and subsidence of the river are metaphorical for an earthquake.

8:9. The darkening of the sun implies the coming of the Day of the Lord.

8:11-12. The famine for hearing the words of the Lord suggests the Sme of Israel’s exile and Diaspora, when Jewish people would wander through the naSons, alienated from their God and Messiah.

8:14. The guilt of is the shrines the people made throughout the land, but especially at and . The way of Beer-sheba probably refers to the pilgrimage devotees made to and by extension to the pagan god they worshiped there.

Page 6 of 8 AMOS 9:1-15

9:1. The phrase knock them down on the heads of all the people could be translated as “sever them at the head—all of them!” The shrines, fortresses, and palaces will come down. Also, the leaders of the people are described here metaphorically as the pillars that will be cut down. The common people are called the rest of them. The point is that no one, whether of high or low status, will escape God’s judgment.

9:2-4. None of the Israelites will be able to hide from God (v. 3). The language here is hyperbole (exaggeraSon for rhetorical effect). Obviously no one can literally climb into heaven or hide at the bodom of the sea.

9:7. The Cushites were people from Nubia, directly south of Egypt. Caphtor was either Crete or Cyprus, and it represented the Aegean Sea area from which the PhilisSnes came. Kir was probably east of Mesopotamia, in the area of Elam. The point is that God had moved many naSons, not just Israel, to their homelands. But it is astonishing that God would compare the exodus of Israel, the mighty act by which He claimed Israel for Himself, to the movements of other naSons. This seems to be a terrible demoSon of Israel, implying that it was no different than any other naSon (rather than being a “holy naSon”; Ex 19:6). Yet there is a posiSve side; if Israel is demoted to the level of the GenSles, the GenSles will be promoted to equality with Israel, and they will be included among God’s people (Am 9:12; see also Eph 2:11-16).

9:8-10. The text moves abruptly from God’s destrucSon of Israel to His restoraSon of the naSon. Although He will scader His people among the naSons, not one person will be lost to Him, and one day He will bring them back.

9:11-12. The fallen booth of David refers to the dynasty and empire of David (normally called the “house” of David but here a “booth,” symbolic of the patheSc condiSon of this once-mighty line of kings). The restoraSon will take place first at the resurrecSon of Christ but a]er that in the eternal kingdom of the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1). is representaSve of the GenSles that hated and persecuted Israel. The point is that some day all naSons, however hosSle they have been, will submit either willingly or unwillingly. Paul likewise declared that some day every knee will bow to Jesus (Php 2:10). But clearly Amos did not envision simple dominaSon of the GenSles. Many will be called by My name, implying that they will belong to God. This promise is fulfilled now, as GenSles all over the world worship Israel’s God and Messiah. James understood the passage in this way and cited it as being fulfilled in the mission to the GenSles (Ac 15:14-18). James’s citaSon of Am 9:12 in Ac 15:17 differs somewhat from the Hebrew because he seems to be loosely quoSng from the Greek

Page 7 of 8 translaSon of Amos. Also, the Hebrew word for “Edom” is similar to the word for “humanity” ( adam), which explains why Amos has “Edom” but James has “humanity.”

9:13-15. Just as God had promised to bring famine to Israel and nearly to exterminate the naSon, He promises in these verses to give them abundant crops and a large populaSon. The statement that the plowman will overtake the reaper is hyperbole for fruiqulness and served to assure the people that they would enjoy eternal well-being.

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