Amos 3

Amos 3:1

II. THE GUILT AND PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL (Chaps. 36) A. The First Summons to Hear (Chap. 3)3:1, 2 Again the LORD threatens judgment on the children of Israel. Because they occupied a uniquely close relationship to Jehovah, their sin was all the more serious, and their punishment would be all the more severe. Therefore He would punish them for all their iniquities. 3:3-8 The judgment would not descend without a reasonevery effect has a cause. Amos asks seven cause-and-effect questions, culminating with an urban calamity caused by the LORD. It should not come as a surprise because God had revealed it in advance through His prophets. 3:9-12 Ashdod (Philistia) and Egypt are invited to witness the oppression, injustice, violence, and robbery in Samaria. These sins would bring the Assyrian invader into the land of Israel. Only a small remnant, graphically pictured as remnant parts of a devoured sheep, would survive. 3:13-15 The altars at Bethel, where the golden calf was worshiped, would be thoroughly destroyed. The calf itself would be taken to Assyria (Hos_10:5-6). The great houses of the affluent would have an end.