Funeral for a Dead Nation
Dr. Russell K. Tardo
I. COULD AMOS’ PROPHECIES APPLY TO AMERICA?
Amos, chapter 5, addresses the entire house of Israel while chapter 4 addressed the women of ease in Israel. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 all begin with, Hear the word. It’s God’s Word that transforms lives. This isn’t just a word to Israel, but a word against Israel. It’s a lamentation or dirge, i.e., a funeral song.
A. A Lamentation for Israel
1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3For thus saith the Lord God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel. [Amos 5:1-3]
These dirges were chanted by hired mourners. This gives us a glimpse of the emphasis that Israel put on the external, i.e., on appearances. Internals didn’t mean a lot to them.
What’s unusual about this particular lamentation? Well, it seems that Israel is not yet dead. They are having a funeral over something that has not yet died. From all outward appearances, Israel was still healthy. Their economy was in good shape, the army strong, etc. Amos is talking about holding a funeral for a seemingly prosperous nation.
Amos compares Israel to a pure woman saying that the pure woman has fallen. She has fallen from preeminence as a nation and will not become a nation again, i.e., the Northern Kingdom. This is a prophecy that came to pass when the people went into the Assyrian captivity.
Amos speaks of Israel falling morally and spiritually for there were great social evils and perversion of justice taking place. Israel had resisted all of God’s calls to repentance and God sent His prophet to proclaim the nation’s death. In verse 3 above, Israel is told that the nation will be reduced by nine-tenths, i.e., nine out of ten people will be destroyed.
These verses should be seen as a prediction of God’s wrath and mercy. Israel was a privileged nation. We see His wrath in that nine-tenths of the population was destroyed, but we also see His mercy in that not all were destroyed. A remnant is left, a tenth are preserved. Here’s a picture of election. All deserve death, but mercy spares a remnant. Wrath smites many, but mercy spares a remnant.
B. Seeking the Right Thing
4For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: 5But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. 6Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 8Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name: 9That strengthened the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. 10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of Hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. 13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. 14Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. 16Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing. 17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord. [Amos 5:4-17]
Verse 4: Here we see there is life and blessing in seeking the Lord (YAHWEH). [When all the letters are capitalized in YAHWEH, then we know that in the Hebrew it is the Lord’s covenant name. If in lower case, i.e., Yahweh, it is the Hebrew Adonai.] This is significant. Amos is saying to seek God in truth by asking after Him the right or correct way, i.e., through His Word. Otherwise, destruction comes upon you.
Verse 5: There are barrenness and bondage in seeking the wrong things. The cities mentioned here were religious centers. Keep in mind that the Israelites were religious people. They were just not seeking God in the right way. The same applies today. Hindus and Moslems are very religious people but they, too, are seeking the wrong way. God despises external religion. Israel’s religion was false and corrupt.
Verse 6: Amos repeats the call to seek God. Amos is a prophet of doom. This is the emphasis throughout the book. In this entire chapter, Amos, as God’s prophet, is pronouncing judgment over Israel.
Verse 7: Those who come seeking justice find only bitterness. There is no righteousness in Israel.
Verses 8 & 9: Seek God. He is the One who formed the universe, not the calves and false gods to whom they were bowing down in worship. Amos is saying, What’s happened to you that you would turn to calves and religious activity for righteousness and God? A religion that doesn’t affect one’s conduct is worthless and a great deception.
Verse 10: The general population will hate and despise those who stand for truth, holiness and righteousness.
Verses 11 & 12: These verses denounce their oppression of the poor. What are we seeking? Seek first the Lord and He will bless His servants with all the other things. The more you seek, the more the Lord wants to bless.
Verse 13: This tells of a day, a time that is going to be so vile and corrupt, when the hearts of God’s people are so hard that God’s servants will no longer call them to repent.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. [Eccl. 3:7]
Here we are told there is a time to speak and a time to remain silent.
Verses 14 through 17: Amos makes one last plea before Israel’s pain commences. He calls upon the people to repent and perhaps God will be merciful. He tells them, Israel, you’re a dead nation if you don’t repent and turn. If you don’t, there will be mourning and death. God will not continually or indefinitely put up with the sin and rebellion of His people.
C. The Day of the Lord:
18Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. 19As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? [Amos 5:18-20]
There is a day coming, a day of judgment. Messiah’s coming would not be a day of national rejoicing as Israel thought, but would be a day of judgment and wrath for them. They were so deceived by their external religion and religious practices that they thought it would be a day of brightness. Amos says, No! It will be for them a day of great darkness.
D. God’s View of Man-made Religion:
21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts. [Amos 5:21-27]
Take away all your sacrifices and singing. God says that He wants righteousness and purity of heart, not just attendance at religious meetings. The Israelites mixed what was right and true with paganism, i.e., that which was wrong. This produced a polluted religion and God will not accept a polluted religion. If religion departs from the Word of God, it’s unacceptable to Him. We’re not to add to what God has established as true religion.
The Israelites failed to mix morality with their religion. This is the same thing that Isaiah condemned them for. Israel was backslidden.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. [Isa. 1:4]
Then just a few verses down, Isaiah, who is speaking to the people of Israel before the Assyrian invasion, is calling them Sodom! The people’s sins had stained their lives and they were filled with corruption. Shortly after this time, Amos’ prophecy came to pass and the Israelites went into captivity in Assyria.
