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Jeroboam II was the fourth king of the Jehu dynasty, which ruled Israel for over 80 years. This was an era of unprecedented stability in the Northern Kingdom, and Jeroboam reaped the benefits of stable successions and instability in his neighbors – most notably Assyria. 2 Kings 14 tells us that under Jeroboam Israel’s territory was expanded to it greatest extent since the kingdom split.

But the author of Kings whittles the longest and most prosperous reign in Israel’s three-century story down to just seven sentences. The LORD saved Israel through him, he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Judah, and he …did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. The prophets who were sent to Jeroboam receive much more airplay than the king himself.

And this prophet’s charge reaches a climax in chapters 5 through 7. The word “justice” appears four times in general terms: establish it at the gate, let it roll down like waters. And what does this look like? Amos is very specific: “…you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine… Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall… who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate..”

There is a transition in chapter 7, folding around a confrontation with one of Jeroboam’s priests. Given Amos’s heritage in Judah, he would naturally have been viewed with suspicion in Samaria. His response is faithful and powerful, evident of His respect for the LORD himself, who touches the earth and it melts, who builds His upper chambers in the heavens… who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth. By His command He will “shake the house of Israel as one shakes a sieve…”

Our verse for this week is Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Amos 5 through 9. Now let’s read it!

Amos 5 - 9

Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel: "The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up." For the Lord Jehovah says: "The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel." For Jehovah says to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live; but don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek Jehovah, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel. You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Jehovah is his name, who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts. Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Jehovah, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say. Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Jehovah, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." Therefore Jehovah, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: "Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing. In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you," says Jehovah. "Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! Why do you long for the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him. Won't the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies. Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream. "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says Jehovah, whose name is the God of Armies. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! Go to Calneh, and see. From there go to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Is their border greater than your border? Alas for you who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near, who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall, who strum on the strings of a harp, who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive. The feasting and lounging will end. "The Lord Jehovah has sworn by himself," says Jehovah, the God of Armies: "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. It will happen that if ten men remain in one house, they will die. "When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, 'Is there yet any with you?' And he says, 'No;' then he will say, 'Hush! Indeed we must not mention Jehovah's name.' "For, behold, Jehovah commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits. Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness, you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, 'Haven't we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?' For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel," says Jehovah, the God of Armies; "and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah." Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest. When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, "Lord Jehovah, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small." Jehovah relented concerning this. "It shall not be," says Jehovah. Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: behold, the Lord Jehovah called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. Then I said, "Lord Jehovah, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small." Jehovah relented concerning this. "This also shall not be," says the Lord Jehovah. Thus he showed me: behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. Jehovah said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword." Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For Amos says, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'" Amaziah also said to Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there, but don't prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!" Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs; and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Now therefore listen to Jehovah's word: 'You say, Don't prophesy against Israel, and don't preach against the house of Isaac.' Therefore Jehovah says: 'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'" Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. He said, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then Jehovah said to me, "The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day," says the Lord Jehovah. "The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence. Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?'" Jehovah has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their works. Won't the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt. It will happen in that day," says the Lord Jehovah, "that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day. Behold, the days come," says the Lord Jehovah, "that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing Jehovah's words. They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek Jehovah's word, and will not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, 'As your god, Dan, lives,' and, 'As the way of Beersheba lives,' they will fall, and never rise up again." I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake. Break them in pieces on the head of all of them. I will kill the last of them with the sword. Not one of them will flee away. Not one of them will escape. Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good. For the Lord, Jehovah of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt. It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth--Jehovah is his name. Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?" says Jehovah. "Haven't I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says Jehovah. "For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.' In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name," says Jehovah who does this. "Behold, the days come," says Jehovah, "that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills. I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them," says Jehovah your God.

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