Amos 4

CHAPTER 4THEME: Israel punished in past for iniquityBeginning with this chapter, we have a series of three chapters which deal specifically with Israel, the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. In chapter 4 we will be reminded that God in the past punished Israel for iniquity. Then in chapter 5 we will see that in the future Israel will be punished for her iniquity. Finally, in chapter 6 we will see Amos admonishing his generation in the present to depart from iniquity. You see that this section has a very practical application to us as well as to Israel in the days of Amos. As Amos is attempting to call the people back to God, he uses sarcasm that is really cutting.

Amos 4:1

“Ye kine of Bashan"kine are cows. Bashan is a territory on the east of the Jordan River between the mountains of Gilead in the south and Mount Hermon in the north. It was settled by the three tribes that stayed on the wrong side of Jordan, and it was part of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was a very fertile area and noted for its fine breed of cattle. The cows of Bashan were strong and sleek in appearance because of the lush grazing lands. Now whom is Amos addressing? Who are the “cows of Bashan”? Because the word cows is feminine, some expositors believe he is speaking to the women who were living in luxury, well fed, well dressed, well groomed. To enable them to enjoy this wealth, the poor were oppressed. In fact, Amos says, “which oppress the poor, which crush the needy.” Generally, a nation reveals its moral position and its economic standard by the way women dress. When women are well dressed and bejeweled, it denotes a time of affluence in the nation. So Amos could be referring to the women of Bashan. However, I believe that Amos is speaking to the rulers. Why, then, does he use the feminine gender? Well, that crowd was homosexual. If you will read the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, you will see that homosexuality is a thing which God judges. We know from history that when a nation starts to go down, homosexuality comes to the forefront. It was that which began the downfall of Rome.

Nero was a homosexual. Nero was known as a mad king. He was mad, yes, in a very unnatural way. In his great palace, he had one separate room which was reserved for the basest kind of sexual deviation imaginable. It was given over to the satisfying of his homosexual cravings. This certainly can be brought up to date.

What is taking place in our own country is alarming, and it can spell our national doom. We need an Amos to speak out against the growing acceptance and even encouragement of homosexuality today.

Amos 4:2

God uses the picture of having a hook in the jaw of the northern kingdom to drag them off into captivity. We sometimes speak of people being “hooked” on drugs. A person can be “hooked” by any besetting sin. God says these people are “hooked” for judgment. They are going to be dragged out of the land. We know from history that their conquerors did lead off their captives by a hook through the nose.

Amos 4:3

In effect, God is saying, “If you think because you are rich or because you are a ruler living in a palace that you will be spared, you are wrong.” And we read in the historical record that when Assyria finally came and took them into captivity, the king was taken also. This was true also of the southern kingdom when it went into Babylonian captivity. Now we come to an arresting expression:

Amos 4:4

I am sure you recognize that Amos is using bitter sarcasm as he invites them to come up to Bethel (the place where they went to worship the golden calf). “Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression.” The word Gilgal means “circle, or to roll along.” It was the first place to which Israel came after they had crossed the Jordan River under Joshua’s leadership, and it became a sacred place to them. Later it became a center of idolatry, and here again it is associated with idolatry. So Amos invites them to “multiply transgression” at Gilgal. That would be saying today, “Come to church to sin.” Obviously, one goes to church for the very opposite. Amos is using pungent satire and taunting rebuke. He makes such an ironical and ridiculous statement to alert the people as to what they are actually doing. Do you know that sometimes it can actually be dangerous to go to church? The Devil goes to church, you know. I think that he gets up bright and early on a Sunday morning, and wherever there is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, he is there trying to wreck their work in any way he can. That is the reason we ought to pray for Bible-preaching and Bible-teaching pastors. The Devil doesn’t need to be busy in cults or in liberal churches which deny the Word of God. Those places are already in his domain. He must concentrate his efforts in those places where there is spiritual life and the Word of God is being given out. When Jesus Christ was about to die and His enemies were plotting the details of His execution, He spent time in the Upper Room with His twelve disciples. You would think that was the most sacred spot in all the world at that moment. You might expect that the Devil was busy with those who were plotting the death of Jesus. But do you know where the Devil was that evening? He was in the Upper Room! He hadn’t been invited, but he was there.

Satan had entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him, and he walked into the Upper Room on the legs of Judas. That’s how he got there. And, my friend, sometimes he walks into our so-called conservative, fundamental churches on the legs of a deacon or a Sunday school teacher or another church member. It is tragic today to fail to recognize our enemy and to be ignorant of his devices. In the days of Amos, the people of Israel were coming to the place of worship in a very pious manner. Amos indicates that they were offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven. If you are familiar with the Book of Leviticus, you may think it was strange that they used leaven in their offerings since in the Scriptures leaven represents evilevil or wrong doctrine and evil living. In the Levitical system, at the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits, the use of leaven was forbidden. However, at the Feast of Pentecost, there was to be a meal offering to the Lord, which was to be presented in two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven (see Lev. 23). Pentecost was to depict the beginning and origin of the church.

There has never yet been a church in which there wasn’t at least a little leaventhat is, a little error or a little sin. For this reason leaven is included in the offering at Pentecost. Also, leaven was used in the thanksgiving offerings. Leviticus 7 gives the law of the sacrifice of the peace offerings: “If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried” (Lev_7:12). This is the Godward side of the offering. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ has made peace with God for us. Because it represents Christ, there is no leaven in this first offering. In the New Testament this is made clear: “Therefore being justified by faith [not by workswe could never be justified by anything but faith], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_5:1). Now, although the first offering represents Christ and contains no leaven, the second represents the manward side; the one who is bringing the sacrifice of thanksgiving offers himself to God: “Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings” (Lev_7:13). We can make an application of this to our own lives. You and I can dedicate our lives to the Lord. Sometimes this is done in a ritual which is called a “consecration” service. Since the literal meaning of consecration is to set something apart as being holy, that is really a misnomer for that kind of ritual. We can never present ourselves holy or perfect before God. We will always contain some “leaven.” So present yourself as a living sacrifice to God, as we are admonished in Rom_12:1. But don’t ever think that you can present yourself perfect to God. If you are waiting for that before you feel you can present yourself to God, you will be waiting your whole lifetime. Now, when Amos sarcastically invites the people of Israel to come to Bethel and Gilgal to transgress, it is very significant that he tells them to “offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven.” He doesn’t even mention the first unleavened part of the offering. Why? Because the people are totally removed from the living and true God. Therefore, the only thing they can do is offer evil to God. Of course, God will not accept that at all. This prophet Amos, just a country preacher, has a lot on the ball! He is an outstanding minister of the Word of God. This is tremendous. My friend, I hope you understand the satire and sarcasm of Amos when he invites people to Gilgal to transgress. He is not asking them to sin, but in biting sarcasm he is saying, “That’s what you do when you come to Bethel and to Gilgal. You come to sin, not to worship God!” Next Sunday morning when you put on your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, it might be well to first get down on your knees and ask God about the condition of your heart. Will you be taking a clean heart to church? Will you be taking lips that will not speak anything to hurt the cause of Christ? The message of Amos is very pertinent even in our day. If Amos were still around and if I were still a pastor, I would invite him to my church to preach. I think the modern church needs ministers like him.

There are many ministers who give only nice little messages on comfort and how to solve personal problems. Somebody needs to say something very strong about sin in people’s hearts in our day. Sin is rampant in and out of the church, and it is rampant in your heart and in my heart this very day. The biggest problem you and I have is to overcome the sin which is in our lives. There is no use trying to cover it up by church attendance or by going to some little course or seminar. The essential thing is to have a confrontation with the Lord Jesus Christ and to get your relationship with Him straightened out. Amos now reminds the people of Israel of the judgments God had sent upon them

Amos 4:6

They didn’t have “cleanness of teeth” because God had given them a new toothpaste or new mouthwash! The reason they had clean teeth was that they had nothing to eat. God had judged them with famine, but it had not awakened them to their spiritual condition. “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” It made no impression on them.

Amos 4:7

Then God sent a drought. God is the one who controls the rainfallsome think the weatherman does it! God withheld the rain three months before it was time to harvest, which was disastrous. And note that God caused it to rain on one city and not on another. God did this to show them that the rainfall was not by chance but by His sovereign will. The drought was so serious that people from one city would go to another city where there was water, and they would carry a little water home in a jug or wineskin. This should have turned them to God. “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” Those of us from Texas can appreciate this. It was a three-year drought in West Texas that caused my dad to leave there when I was a small boy. People in Dallas, Texas, can remember the drought that dried up the water supply for that city. They had to draw water from the Red River into which oil had been poured. I want to tell you, I have never tasted any other drinking water that was as bad as that! People who had friends or relatives in the little towns around Dallas would go there to fill up a jug of water to take it home for drinking. This wasn’t new; it was the same thing the people were doing in the days of Amos. It was a warning from God, but they paid no attention to it.

Amos 4:9

“Blasting and mildew.” The crops were blasted by the scorching east wind from the desert, and the mildew was from excessive drought, not moisture. “The palmerworm devoured them” refers to a locust plague which devoured what was left. “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.”

Amos 4:10

“The stink of your camps” was the stench of the dead bodies from the pestilence and from the warfare. Yet with all of this, they did not return to the Lord!

Amos 4:11

Some Bible expositors feel that this is sort of a summation of the previous plagues. I rather doubt that, because we know from the Book of Jonah that at this time the Assyrians were making forays down into the northern kingdom. Assyria would strike here and there and sometimes would take an entire community into captivity. God was permitting the Assyrian, just like a bird, to peck here and there in the kingdom. This should have been a warning to all the people that the whole kingdom might fall some day. They didn’t accept the warning from God but continued on in their evil ways. “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.”

Amos 4:12

God does not tell them here what He is going to do. He simply says, “Thus I will do unto thee” and “because I will do this unto thee.” It is going to be a surprise. We know now that it was the Assyrians who came down upon them suddenly and took them into captivity. In other words, the people of Israel simply did not believe God and did not turn to Him. God goes even beyond the judgment of the Assyrian captivity. He says, “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” When Assyria came down, they didn’t take all the people into captivity. Many of them were slain. This means that they were to meet God in death, which is something that every individual must do. We all must meet God in death. “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” This is a message to every individual even today. God has dealt very definitely with a friend of mine because of the sin that was in his life. He told me the story of how God had dealt with him. The judgment that had come upon him was rather severe, although it was something that a man could bear. As I was sympathizing with him about it, he said to me, “McGee, the judgment that has come upon me is not the thing that disturbs me. I have yet to stand before God, and I tremble.” I answered him, “You know that Vernon McGee is also going to stand before God. If I stood before Him as I am, I would be frightened to death. But I am not going to stand before Him as Vernon McGee. I am in Christ, and God is going to see Christ. I have been made acceptable in the Beloved.” My friend answered, “Yes, that is the only comfort that I have for the life that I have lived.” Well, my friend, that message is for you also. Prepare to meet thy God. Suppose at this very moment you went into the presence of Godperhaps both you and I will be going there shortly. Suppose this life is past. The things that were so important to you down here will have no importance anymore, I assure you. Life on earth is over, you’re through, you’re out of it, and you are in God’s presence.

How are you going to stand before Him? Perhaps you have lived to please people and have tried to keep up with the Joneses. Don’t you know that you cannot stand in your own strength, your own life, your own character? You and I have nothing to offer to Godwe are bankrupt, friend. We were dead in trespasses and sins. The only way you and I can stand there is in Christ.

He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom_4:25), that you and I might stand before Him justified. We stand before God in the righteousness of Christ. Now our country preacher will tell us who this God is whom we are to meet. This is one of the most majestic, awe-inspiring statements in the Word of God

Amos 4:13

Amos presents Him as the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. He is the omnipotent Creator. He has all power. It was He who formed the mountains and created the wind. He is omniscient, knowing your thoughts afar off. And He is omnipresentHe “treadeth upon the high places of the earth.” No matter where you go, even to the moon, you won’t get away from Him, friend.

Perhaps you have been able to keep up a pretty good front so that your friends and neighbors (and maybe even your mate) think you are a fine person. But in heaven, the psalmist says, “Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” (Psa_90:8). God knows you. There is no use trying to keep up a front. You might as well go to Him and turn yourself in. The FBI or the police may not be after you, but God knows your transgressions.

As Dr. Louis Sperry Chafer used to say to us in class, secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven. God not only knows us through and through, but He also knew personally the people to whom Amos was speaking. With intensity of feeling Amos urged them, “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”