Amos 5 · The Lantern

A Lamentation against Israel

Hear this word that I am lifting up over you — a lament, house of Israel:

She has fallen, she will not rise again — the virgin of Israel. She is forsaken on her ground; there is none to raise her up.

For thus says the Lord GOD: The city that goes out a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one going out a hundred will have ten left, for the house of Israel.

A Call to Repentance

For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: Seek me and live!

And do not seek Bethel, and do not come to Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba — for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will become iniquity.

Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel —

those who turn judgment to wormwood, and set righteousness down to the earth.

The one making the Pleiades and Orion, and turning the shadow of death into morning, and darkening day into night; the one calling to the waters of the sea and pouring them out on the face of the earth — the LORD is his name.

See how highly God has honored us, in committing to us so excellent a frame. I made heaven and earth, He says, and to you I give the power of creation. Make your earth heaven. For it is in thy power. "I am He that maketh and transformeth all things" (Amos v. 8, Sept.), saith God of Himself.

(Verse 8 onwards) You who turn judgment into wormwood and abandon righteousness on earth, who makes the Bear and Orion, who turns darkness into morning and darkens day into night. He who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth: His name is the Lord. He who laughs at destruction, bringing devastation upon the strong.

What, then, is your opinion about that section of the statement that follows, "He brings about rain upon the just and the unjust"? Surely he who gives, gives when he wishes and gives where he wishes, either by arranging the well- ordered nature or by lavishly bestowing his own munificence.

The one flashing devastation on the strong, and devastation comes on the fortress.

They hate the one reproving in the gate, and they abhor the one speaking blamelessly.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from him a levy of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone but you will not dwell in them; you have planted desirable vineyards but you will not drink their wine.

For I know your many transgressions and your mighty sins — you who afflict the righteous, takers of a ransom, and who turn aside the needy in the gate.

Therefore the prudent will be silent in that time, for it is an evil time.

Seek good and not evil, so that you may live; and so may the LORD, the God of hosts, be with you, as you have said.

Let us hurry to him in whom is that highest good, since he is goodness itself. He is the patience of Israel calling you to repentance, so you will not come to judgment but may receive the remission of sins. "Repent," he says. He is the one of whom the prophet Amos cries, "Seek you good." He is the highest good, for he needs nothing and abounds in all things.

Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so it will be the Lord God the Almighty with you; in the manner that you said, We have hated evil and loved good, and establish judgment in the gates, so that the Lord God the Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

It was the old custom that the elders should sit at the gate to make out by judicial trial the quarrels of persons at strife, in order that they should never enter the city at variance and should dwell there in harmony. And hence the Lord says by the prophet, "Establish judgment at the gate."

Hate evil and love good, and establish judgment in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Woe to Rebellious Israel

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: In all the squares, lamentation; and in all the streets they will say, “Alas! Alas!” And they will call the farmer to mourning, and to lamentation those who know wailing.

And in all vineyards, lamentation — for I will pass through your midst, says the LORD.

Woe to those craving the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness and not light —

Perhaps we will understand what has been written if we deal with a Gospel text spoken by the Savior, which expresses it in this way: "Work while it is day.

(Verse 18-20.) Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for it? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

Since there were some buoyed up by audacity and temerity who resisted the prophetic oracles, raging against them, calling the divine pronouncements false and demanding the fulfillment of the prophecies, the Lord declares these people lamentable for longing to see darkness instead of light.

as when a man flees from before the lion and the bear meets him; and he comes into the house and leans his hand on the wall, and the serpent bites him.

Is not the day of the LORD darkness and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

I hate, I reject your festivals, and I will not smell your assemblies.

This brings us to a conclusion on another matter of great importance. The observances regarding sacrifices, sabbaths, new moons, and all such things prescribed by the Jewish way of life of that day—they are not essential.

(Verses 21, 22.) I hated and rejected your feasts, and I will not take the smell of your heavens. But if you bring me burnt offerings and your gifts, I will not accept them, and I will not look at the fat of your animals. LXX: I have hated and rejected your feasts, and I will not be pleased with your assemblies.

The word would be especially fitting for those from Judah and Benjamin. For the tribes in Samaria to the worship of idols being wholly attached, they were found to be very slothful and greatly negligent of the laws given through Moses; but those in Jerusalem sacrificed on the high places to Baal and offered libations to the host of heaven, yet in addition to this they pretended…

For if you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offering of your fatlings I will not regard.

Remove from me the noise of your songs, and the music of your harps I will not hear.

And besides, before His coming He refused the sacrifices of the people, while they frequently offered them, when they sinned against Him, and thought He was to be appeased by sacrifices, but not by repentance. For thus He speaks: "Why dost thou bring to me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a remote land?

What shall I say to those who worship Astarate or Chemosh, the abomination of the Sidions, or the likeness of a star, a god a little above them to these idolaters, but yet a creature and a piece of workmanship, when I myself either do not worship two of those into whose united name I am baptized, or else worship my fellow servants, for they are fellow servants, even if a little…

(Verse 23) Take away from me the tumult of your songs, and I will not listen to the music of your harp. LXX: Take away from me the sound of your songs, and I will not listen to the melody of your instruments.

And let judgment roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing wadi.

Did you bring me sacrifices and a grain offering in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

And you carried Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your images, the star of your god that you made for yourselves.

And I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD — the God of hosts is his name.

Amos5

A Lamentation against Israel

A Call to Repentance

Woe to Rebellious Israel