The LORD roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers. (Amos 1:2)
In the wild, a lion roars just as it is about to pounce on its prey. Symbolically and metaphorically, the roar of a lion or a similar startling event like the crack of thunder shows the imminent intervention of God in human affairs (I Samuel 2:10; Isaiah 29:6; 31:4; Hosea 11:9-11; Revelation 16:18).
In the mid-eighth century BC, when Amos preached, Israel’s economic base was agricultural, but a drought had destabilized the nation. The pastures had already begun to feel the effects of God’s roaring, as had Carmel, the most verdant part of Israel and, incidentally, the supposed stronghold of Baal. Amos proclaims that the drought is the result of God’s judgment.
The prophet uses this drought to illustrate that God is not an absentee landlord. He governs His creation (Psalm 104; Matthew 6:26) and knows everything that happens in it (Psalm 139; Matthew 10:29). He has neither abdicated nor delegated these responsibilities. If calamity strikes, God is involved in some way, possibly executing judgment.
A Lion Has Roared!
“A lion has roared” (Amos 3:8) concludes the section that began with “The LORD roars from Zion” (Amos 1:2). The Lord, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5), has roared against Israel to take heed. When a lion roars, anyone within hearing distance should change the direction of his path, especially if that lion is very close!
Amos 3:3-6 contains seven consecutive questions:
Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it?
Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?
If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?
If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?
After the first one (verse 3), the remaining three pairs of questions comprise a sequence of “before” and “after” illustrations:
» When a lion roars (verse 4), he is warning others of his presence; there is still time to escape. When a young lion cries out of his den, however, he is content because he has killed and eaten. It is too late to escape.
» Birds cannot fall into a snare when there is no trap (verse 5), but the trap always springs when one walks into it.
» The trumpet warns of approaching danger (verse 6), but it cannot sound if the watchman is already dead and the city has fallen.
The Lord has done what He warned He would do. While the threat is being made, one can still escape, but once judgment begins, it is too late.
When a lion spies his prey, he will try to kill it. When the divine Lion roars, the people need to shake off their complacency because His roar means He is about to spring into action! He means what He says about living His way of life, and He follows through when we depart from it.
Some people, like birds, unwittingly stumble into trouble. Oblivious to everything around them, they fall into traps, like being swindled by con men or crafty deceivers. God’s people are often just like birds, naively going to their destruction, unmindful of the dangers around them. In other words, God is warning: “Don’t be a birdbrain!” We must think about the direction we are heading. In His mercy, God always warns His people of coming calamity, either through His prophets (Amos 3:7) or through escalating disasters that lead to His ultimate judgment.
Unlike the other six questions, Amos 3:3 stands alone without a second question following it: “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” It pictures a couple who have arranged to meet and do something together; they have a date. In the language of the Bible, this metaphor depicts a covenant. God considered His covenant with Israel to be a marriage (Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:8, 14). Could the silent second question be: “Can a marriage be restored if the bill of divorce has already been issued?”
God chose to withdraw Himself from Israel because, over time, He found He had nothing in common with her. Since they disagreed about almost everything, they could no longer walk together. But in Amos’ day, the divorce was not yet final; God and His people could still reconcile.
But there came a point in Israel’s history when it was too late. The die had been cast. Repentance was no longer possible. The trumpet blew, the trap sprang, the lion pounced.
Through Amos, God is warning our nations today that similar, devastating calamities lie just ahead, and escape from them is still possible. As yet, the lion has not pounced. It is not too late!
Is God Fair?
Before Amos gives specific reasons for God’s judgment of Israel, he explains His judgment on the surrounding nations in Amos 1:3-2:3. Some may question God’s punishment of nations to whom He has not revealed Himself. But God’s response is that every human being knows—to one degree or another—what is moral and immoral (Romans 2:14-15). Abimelech, a pagan king of the Philistines, knew it was wrong to commit sexual immorality (Genesis 26:10). In like manner, God holds these surrounding nations guilty.
Man has learned to silence the voice of his conscience (Romans 1:18), which has led to his sinking into total depravity (verses 20-32). Though God does not hold man accountable for understanding every detail of Him and His way, God judges him for suppressing the truth he has.
As the epitome of justice, God does not unfairly accuse anyone. When He judges the Gentile nations as guilty, He does it with good cause. David writes poetically in Psalm 19:1-4 that humans have ample evidence in creation to conclude that an awesome Creator God exists. In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas preached that God witnesses to the Gentiles through the abundance of things He provides for them (Acts 14:12-17). Similarly, Paul writes in Romans 1:19, “What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” If he follows his conscience, man should bow down in reverence and awe before his Maker. Instead, mankind has worshipped things God has made.
Impartial Judgment
God’s impartial judgment is a significant factor in the book of Amos. The nations surrounding Israel in 760 BC shared a common negative denominator: They had no revelation of God or His law and no priests or prophets from God. Yet Amos portrays them as nations under judgment. Even without special revelation, they had a moral responsibility to God and one another.
They were accountable to God to be good men, not depraved animals. He does not hold them responsible for their horrible and erroneous religious ideas, but He judges them for what they did or failed to do to other men. No human being can escape the obligation to be humanly moral as God intended, not even the Gentiles. Although God has never dealt directly with them, they know enough of His moral standards to be accountable to Him.
If God requires this of men who have had no revelation of Him, what does He require of us? The sobering fact is that we are held accountable for our relationship with both God and man. This underscores our need to heed Amos.
The Father has given Christ “authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:27). The Son executes judgment because He fully realizes the perfection of God’s purpose for humanity. Only He embodies the law and its perfect fulfillment. How will this work in His judgment of us?
God judges us for failing to be righteous men and women, not God beings. In His earthly life, Jesus lived as a perfectly righteous human, so He knows how difficult it can be. Therefore, He can truly be a merciful Judge and High Priest.
Peter writes, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear” (I Peter 1:17). Whether he is a Gentile or Israelite, heathen or Christian, one who turns to God will be judged without partiality.
God’s Judgment of the Nations
The Hebraic formula, “For three transgressions of [a nation], and for four,” is a way of showing that a matter has been investigated thoroughly and a complete list of sins has been made. It could also be described as accounting for a nation’s sins and exhibiting the worst ones. God concentrates on the fourth transgression, a sin that exemplifies each nation’s iniquities.
God’s judgment of Syria (Amos 1:3-5) focuses on her use of total war—take no prisoners and leave nothing productive. Amos says to them: “War or no war, you had no right to treat people like that!” It is barbarism, and even in war, people must be treated honorably and well.
His accusation against the cities of Philistia (verses 6-8) shifts from the battleground to the marketplace. Other parts of the Bible indicate they took thousands of Israelites captive, selling a whole nation into slavery for profit (II Chronicles 21:16-17; Joel 3:1-6). Amos reminds them that human welfare is more important than commercial profit.
God’s judgment on Tyre (verses 9-10) echoes that of Philistia. As greedy for gain as the Gazans, the Tyrians breached an agreement between Solomon and Hiram to secure it. When one enters into a contract with another and does not follow through with its terms, to God, it is the same as breaking one’s word to a brother. God allows an individual to break a covenant only if keeping it will cause further sin. The pledged word of Tyre, however, was always negotiable, depending on her self-interest.
Already implicated with Gaza and Tyre in slave trading, Edom is now directly accused of bitter enmity against Israel (verses 11-12). Esau’s descendants (Genesis 36:1, 9) never forgave Jacob for stealing the blessing and the birthright. They let their anger smolder within them—blowing it into a flame now and then lest it die—and it broke out in unreasonable acts of aggression against Israel. This simmering animosity is perhaps the worst sin because hatred concealed in the heart is a transgression without fear and a candidate for the unpardonable sin.
The people of Ammon are guilty of wanton cruelty against the helpless, the expectant mother, and the unborn child (verses 13-15). God is the defender of the helpless and the weak (Psalm 68:5). Pure and undefiled religion is to show kindness, warmth, and generosity and to care for the widow and the orphan in their affliction (James 1:27).
Next, Amos exposes Moab’s major transgression, the result of a long-burning feud between Moab and Edom (Amos 2:1-3). Out of spite and anger, the Moabites dug up the bones of a long-dead Edomite king and threw them into a fire. This desecration is another example of taking advantage of the weak and defenseless. Can a corpse fight back? The principle is that every sin has a boomerang. God noticed the sin, burning the bones of the Edomite king, and promised to avenge it (Deuteronomy 32:35).
In one way or another, these Gentile nations took vengeance in retaliation for injustices they believed other nations committed against them. God promises to judge their barbarity, but He does not say when. Many years may pass before He acts because His overriding goal is repentance and a change in character.
He will execute proper judgment—true justice—and it is our responsibility to have faith in that. Fifty years passed before God avenged the depredating acts of Hazael, king of Syria, against Gilead (Amos 1:3; II Kings 10:32-33). God waited for the right time and place to act, but He followed through with a punishment from which He will not turn back (II Kings 13:22-25). When He decides to act, He acts!
When He says He knows our sitting down and rising up (Psalm 139:2), He is not speaking metaphorically. He is involved with His people. We must learn that sometimes God may not act within our lifetime, but when He says, “I will repay” (Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35), He means it!
Eye for an Eye
What kind of justice does God dispense? Is it based on so-called cruel Old Testament law? The “Christian” churches of this world say that Jesus came to do away with that law. Preposterous! Without law as a foundation, there can be no justice. Jesus explicitly says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).
Some think Jesus condemns the Old Testament system of justice in Matthew 5:38-40. However, the text reveals He is correcting, not nullifying, an abuse of the eye-for-an-eye principle, which the Romans called Lex Talionis. The Jews of His day were advocating it for settling personal disputes. In effect, each person was taking justice into his own hands, and Jesus says that was not His intent when He gave it to their forefathers.
Considered by many to be barbaric and primitive, the eye-for-an-eye principle is, on the contrary, the basis of God’s system of judgment, of civil law, for ruling a nation (Exodus 21:22-25; Leviticus 24:19-20). It is founded on the principle of equal justice, as provided by equal payment for the damage done. God established this principle so that a judge could be merciful in evaluating the circumstances of the crime and render a fair and just decision in cases of sin against other men.
This law does not mean that if A bloodies B’s nose, then B must punch A in the nose in return. Lex Talionis requires commensurate payment for damage done, that is, punishment befitting the crime. It is the basis for even-handed justice, demanding fair compensation for damages. As implemented in God’s law, Lex Talionis was enforced with a system of fines—with the money paid to the injured party, not to the state (e.g., Exodus 21:22, 28-32).
Though it was to be the basic law, a judge had the power to give mercy. For instance, if he determined that B really goaded A into punching his nose, he was free to show mercy along with the payment required. In His judgment of us, God does the same. When we deserve death because of sin, God shows us mercy by allowing Christ’s blood to cover our transgressions. He has forgone the strict application of the eye-for-an-eye principle and extends mercy.
Amos, however, tells Israel that it is too late. The people had gone too far. They had refused correction and warning too often. As God’s retribution for rejecting His revelation to them of His way of life, the prophet warns that an invading foe was coming against Israel (Amos 3:11; 6:14; 8:2-3). In actuality, this judgment is the eye-for-an-eye principle brought to bear against the whole nation.
Israel Ignores Correction
God’s people were busy making money, accumulating things, and practicing their religion. But God was also very busy—sending famines, droughts, blights, locusts, epidemics, warfare, and perhaps earthquakes in judgment for their unrighteousness (Amos 4:6-11). He hoped they would heed these “minor” warnings before He sent the rod of His anger against them (Isaiah 10:5).
Rain fell on one part of the country, but not on another. When it rained, it rained too much, causing floods. In other places, just enough rain fell to deceive the people into feeling hopeful—that it was not so bad after all.
This process is evident in the United States. Natural disasters—insurance companies call them “acts of God”—seem to be growing more frequent and more intense, killing many and causing billions of dollars in damage. Floods ravage some areas of the nation, while drought kills crops in other areas. After a year or so of good rainfall, California frequently falls back into drought conditions—only to suffer from floods the next year! Fires rage over thousands of acres after periods of drought, destroying forests and homes. Sudden earthquakes, storms, tornadoes, and extreme temperatures destroy homes, businesses, and lives.
It never gets quite bad enough to send the nation into an actual tailspin, but it is just enough that, like the Egyptian Pharaoh of the Exodus (Exodus 7:13-14), we continue to harden our hearts. We fail to repent. If the unrepentant attitude continues, the “natural” disasters will intensify, bankrupting the nation economically. Since money seems to be the nation’s foremost god, the true God will hit where it hurts most. Most Americans have become so far removed from God that they lack the eyes to see and the ears to hear the warnings He sends. Educated in a system that fundamentally denies God, they lack understanding.
Blind to God, they interpret His warnings as natural events—just nature running her course. Most view an earthquake, flood, or drought as “nature doing her thing.” Rather than heed the warning and repent, Americans turn to their other false gods—science and technology—to bail them out. “Design better levies to protect us from floods,” they cry. “Seed the clouds to produce more rain.” “Engineer stronger buildings to withstand more powerful earthquakes.” “Science will someday give us the ability to predict—even stop—earthquakes.” Americans have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear (Isaiah 6:9-10; Matthew 13:14-15).
In these disasters, God is saying something quite different—something vitally important. He is warning the people that they have a responsibility, and if they fail to live up to their covenant with Him, He has the power to correct them so that they will repent. So, in fairness and mercy, God lays a simple choice before them: “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12). Their choice is either to face their sins and repent or face the wrath of a just God.
To bring about His purpose, God is active in His creation, especially among His people, whether physical or spiritual Israel. “If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?” (Amos 3:6). Is God involved in our lives? Do things happen by chance to God’s people? This world would have one believe God is not really aware, that He does not care or even exist. But He says, “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7).
Is God involved? “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29-30). Do we see God working in our lives? Events do not happen accidentally to God’s people, of whom God is very aware. He is deeply concerned and thus extremely involved.
We must remember that, as an attentive Father, God is actively working in our lives to produce sons and daughters with His characteristics. When trials and calamities occur, rather than rebel, we must learn to improve our witness of Him and strive to become more like Him. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, our fathers in the faith (Hebrews 11:8-22), had numerous trials, but they never rebelled against Him.
God brought Assyria to power so that He might use them as the rod of His anger against Israel. But He never intended to abandon or eradicate His people—only to punish them in correction.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their righteousness is from Me. (Isaiah 54:17)
His punishments will bring repentance in the end!
Nothing can separate His people from His love. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). God may raise up a nation as His “battleax” to correct His people (Jeremiah 51:20-23), but He always promises peace and blessings after repentance (Amos 9:11, 14).
