Amos 6:1-14

 

The divisions of this chapter are:

1.   Verse 1-6 - The comfort Israel takes in material blessings and their lack of understanding about God’s discomfort of them.

2.      Verse 7-11 - The absolute and sure destruction of Israel.

3.      Verse 8-14 - The impossible (as far as Israel is concerned) will happen!

 

Verse 1 - 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!

A.    This verse refers to the final verses of the preceding chapter.

1.      In those verses, God reprimands Israel for trusting in the physical necessities of worship while neglecting the spiritual part of worship.

2.      Being at ease in Zion also refers to the fact that Israel is content with the indifference of the church state they are in, and are not at all concerned with true spiritual values.

3.      There is much care about the temporal things of this life, both spiritual and material, but very little concern about the spiritual things of this life and eternal life.

B.    There is nothing wrong with being at ease, but is wrong to be at ease when you are trusting yourself and the circumstances of your life.  It is always wrong to trust the protections of walls, personal financing, or anything else.

C.    Zion is another name for the temple, and eventually all of Jerusalem.  The name came to symbolize the city of Jerusalem, as a present spiritual reality, signifying the presence of God.

D.    Luke 12:13-21 - The parable of the rich fool, who gained everything for this life, yet lost his own soul.

1.      The whole problem is not the gaining of material goods, but the trusting in those material goods for health, wealth and happiness.

2.      There are many people today who are busy gaining material goods, yet will die and leave it all behind.

E.     Trusting in the mountain of Samaria.

1.      This has reference to trusting the kingdom of Samaria instead of trusting the kingdom of God.

2.      They are named chief of all the nations - refers to the fact that all the other nations of the world believe Samaria is a great and fabulous place to life and is an excellent place to copy your life after.

3.      Just because every other nation on the face of the earth believes Samaria is what every city should be, doesn’t mean that God thinks that.

4.      To whom the house of Israel came - This refers to the fact that Israel came to Samaria to worship their false gods, not that Israel captures these pagan nations, or that they went into their nations to witness to them of the glories of serving God.

 

Verse 2 - 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?

 

 

 

A.    Calneh is in the region of Babylon.

1.      According to Genesis 10:10, there was a city called Calneh in the kingdom of Nimrod in Babylon.

2.      Isaiah 10:9 speaks of “Calno” a variant spelling of Calneh.  In this passage, God tells Israel that this city was as good as Jerusalem, yet was conquered.

3.      There is no reason Jerusalem won’t be conquered as well.

B.   Hamath is in the land of Syria and Gath in a city of the Philistines.

C.    It is extremely bad when God compares the cities of Israel to the cities of pagan nations.

D.    This whole verse speaks about the folly of comparing what you have with what somebody else has.

1.      Whole nations today are comparing their citizens benefits with the benefits of other nations.

2.      Churches are busy getting what all other churches have.  This is so whether God wants them to have it or not.  It is a standard of meeting what the world requires, and not meeting the standard of God.

3.      Adults are comparing what they have with what other adults have.  If some adults have a speed boat, then other adults will think they should also have a speed boat.  People are often judged to be successful or a failure based on how many “extra’s” they have.

4.      Young people are busy comparing themselves to other young people.  Many young girls are flocking after the boys that have earring in their ears, and wickedness in their hearts because they see that other young girls like them.  Young boys are busy trying to get the attention of the popular young girls so all the young people will like them.  Both young men and young women use their “conquests” as a means to being popular themselves.  The problem is that they believe they are very inadequate themselves.

 

Verse 3 - Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

They do not believe the judgment of God will ever come to them.  But this is the thought that will cause the judgment of God to be shown to them in the form of another nation conquering them.

 

Verse 4-6 - 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 - That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 6 - That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

These people are doing everything they can do to enjoy their present pleasant status.  They do not recognize they are in trouble with God.  They have no thought that their pleasant circumstances are from God or that God would remove them from these good things.  It seems to me they have come to the place where they believe their “deserve” all these good things and that people that don’t have them are inferior to them.

I must state that God doesn’t mind His children having all these items of luxury.  What God minds is when they don’t realize where it come from, and why they have been given them.  God doesn’t want luxurious items to take away the minds of His people.  God wants His children to have the best of this world, but He also wants them to have the best of the world to come.  When His children forget Him, then God will bring judgment, as is seen in the next section of this chapter.   [1]

 

Verse 7 - Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

All this judgment will come upon these people because they have basked themselves in luxury when they should have been crying for mercy.

Note the economy is good!  But the morals of the people is not good!  This is today in the U. S. of A.

 

Verse 8 - 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.

Heb. 6:13 - There is none greater than God to swear by.

 

Verse 9 - And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

Note the word, “if”.

 

Verse 10 - 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.

Burning is cremation - a sign of the judgment of God.

Joshua 7:25 - Achan and all his family and possessions were burned with fire.

I Samuel 31:12 - Saul was burned with fire.

II Kings 23:20 - Josiah killed the priests of the high places and burned their bones on that altar.

A man’s uncle - the near kinsman because there is nobody else to take care of all these dead bodies.

There will be no mention of the name of the Lord.

This is explained in the next verse.

People know and understand they are under the condemnation of God, and are afraid to say that God has done all this to them.

They are also afraid to ask God for mercy or help because of their superstitious beliefs.

They are so moved by the terrible calamities upon them, they can hardly believe it is happening to them, who so recently dwelled in such prosperity.

 

Verse 11 - For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

Breaches - that is with drippings.  The ruin of the house will be so great that the rain will freely fall through the roof.

Clefts - fissures or small breaches.  The large house shall be greatly struck and the small house shall be lightly struck.  The blow will be the same for all houses, regardless of their size, power, or importance.

 

Verse 12 - 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:

You don’t run horses on a rock because they have no traction, and will soon fall and injure themselves and their riders.  You don’t plow on a rock because it can’t be done.  So it cannot be done to change the minds of the rebellious people.  When they look straight at the truth, they still cannot see it. 

Turning judgment into gall has also happened in this country, indeed in this entire world.

Hemlock refers to wormwood, or a thing that is very bitter.

 

Verse 13 - Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

They are rejoicing in something they didn’t do.

God did it for them, yet they take the glory and honor of the thing upon themselves.

They are greatly fooled into believing a falsehood.

Israel is claiming to have overcome other nations by their own strength. The word “horn” refers to power, especially the power of a nation, or a ruling person.  See Daniel 7:7 where the beast had 10 horns.  Daniel 7:23, 24 interprets the 10 horns as 10 kings.

 

Verse 14 - 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.

Israel might believe they have conquered other kingdoms by their own power, yet God will raise up a nation they will be unable to conquer.  This nation will conquer them.  [2]

 



[1] Preached to here 9/23/98 IBC Wednesday Evening

[2] Preached to here 9/30/98 IBC Wednesday Evening