Amos J

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/amosjmp3/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p>So far:</p><ul><li>Amos preached a message of divine judgment, demanding repentance.<ul><li>Religion without righteousness is worthless.</li><li>Economic and political prosperity are not necessarily a sign of divine approval.</li><li>Opulent, self-directed living plus lack of concern for the needy is reprehensible.</li><li>Yahweh's reign is over all the earth, not just over Israel.</li><li>Since the law demands covenant faithfulness, without which the ultimate penalty of exile will be exacted, and since Israel has refused to listen to her prophets, she will surely go into captivity.</li></ul></li><li>Amos encountered official opposition.<ul><li>Religion in Israel was closely allied with the state. Power appears to have intoxicated the priests of the corrupt system of Jeroboam.</li><li>Amaziah, priest at Bethel, commands Amos to return to Judah. "Southerner, go home!"</li><li>The prophet remains undaunted.</li></ul></li></ul><p><strong>Light-hearted harvest is to become heavy-hearted judgment (8:1-3)</strong></p><ul><li>Songs of joy in the season of plenty will become dirges and laments in time of judgment.</li><li>The summer fruit (in August or September) would have been figs or pomegranates.</li><li>Word-play: q<i>ayits</i> means summer fruit (2 Samuel 16:1-2); <i>qets </i>means end. It's the end of Israel; the time is ripe!</li><li>In these verses the message is no longer “Seek the Lord and live” (5:6). Now it has become: “It’s too late; you must die” (like a physician telling patient his disease is terminal).</li><li>That day (v.3) is none other than the day of 5:18-20. The Assyrians will surely come, though this is still a couple of decades off.</li></ul><p><strong>Love of money at any cost (8:4-7)</strong></p><ul><li>8:4-7 echoes 2:6-8. The entrepreneurs are running roughshod over the poor.</li><li>The rapacity of the leaders reached criminal proportio