Warning to the Comfortable and Proud
Study note
Amos warns the people who feel safe in both Zion (Jerusalem) and Samaria. They consider themselves the greatest nation and live in extreme luxury. They lounge on beds decorated with ivory, feast on the best meat, make up songs for entertainment, drink wine by the bowlful, and use the finest perfumed oils. But they do not care at all about the coming destruction of their nation.
1 Trouble is coming for those of you who feel so safe in Zion and so comfortable on Samaria's mountain! You think you are the leaders of the greatest nation. The people of Israel come to you for help. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Go take a look at the city of Calneh. Then visit the great city of Hamath. Go down and check out Gath of the Philistines. Are those cities any better off than your two kingdoms? Are their borders any wider than yours? Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
3 You keep pushing the day of trouble out of your mind. But at the same time you are pulling the rule of violence closer. Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 You sprawl out on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge around on your couches. You feast on tender lamb and the finest beef. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 You make up songs and play away on your harps. You think you are great musicians like David. That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
6 You drink wine by the bowlful and cover yourselves with the most costly oils. But you do not shed a single tear over the ruin of your own nation. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Exile and Destruction Are Coming
Study note
Because of their selfish indifference, these comfortable people will be the very first to go into exile. God has sworn by Himself that He hates Israel's pride and its palaces, and He will hand over the entire city to its enemies. The destruction will be so complete that if ten people are left in one house, all of them will die. The survivors will be afraid to even speak the name of the LORD.
7 So you pampered loungers will be the very first people marched off into exile. Your lazy banqueting days are over. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
8 The Lord GOD has made a solemn promise by his own life. The LORD, the God of Armies, says: "I am disgusted by Jacob's pride. I hate his fancy palaces. I will hand over the city and everything in it to the enemy." The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
9 If ten people remain alive in one house, every one of them will die. And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
10 When a relative comes to carry out the dead and asks someone still hiding inside, "Is anyone else here?" the answer will come back: "No one." Then the relative will whisper, "Hush — do not even mention the LORD's name." And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
11 Look — when the LORD gives the command, the big mansions will be smashed to rubble and the small houses will crack apart. For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
Israel's Foolish Pride
Study note
Amos asks two ridiculous questions -- Do horses run on rocks? Does anyone plow the sea with oxen? -- to show how foolish Israel has been. The people have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into something bitter. They brag about their own strength and small victories. But God is raising up a nation that will crush Israel from the northern border all the way to the southern wilderness.
12 Can horses gallop across bare rock? Does anyone try to plow the ocean with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and twisted good living into something bitter and toxic. Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
13 You celebrate your victories over nothing. You brag, "Did we not win all that by our own strength?" Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
14 "But watch out — I am about to stir up a nation against you, house of Israel," the LORD says, the God of Armies. "They will grind you down from one end of the country to the other, from Hamath all the way to the Arabah valley." But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.