Amos Chapter 1
The opening verse mentions an upcoming earthquake.
Uzziah/Uzziyah was king of Judah/Yahudah.
Jeroboam/Yarob'am son of Joash/Yo'ash was king of Israel.
Amos 1:1
1The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.(KJV)
This book was written at least two years after the time outlined in the verses.
What is this earthquake they are referring to?
Zechariah 14:5 references an "earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah".
Amos 1:3
3Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:(KJV)
What are the transgressions of Damascus?
This seems to refer to events prophesied in 2 Kings 8:12 , and which are detailed in 2 Kings chapters 10 and 13.
Amos 1:9
What is the brotherly covenant being refered to in this verse?
Amos Chapter 2
Amos 2:12
"12But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not." (KJV)
Nazarites/Nazirites were not allowed to drink wine.
Amos Chapter 3
Amos 3:2
2You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.(KJV)
It occured to me that the Hebrew people were the first and only humans to have YHWH in their midst for a while. When HE appeared/manifested as a pillar of smoke and fire, HIS presence was among them and clearly visible.
I see a disturbing trend among people today to try and idolize Jewish people as a superior race or bloodline. That supposition is typically cites a number of Scripture references speaking of HIS chosen people, or a special people.
To begin with, Jewish people does NOT describe a race but rather a national/religious group of people with similar ideologies.
YHWH's people, the Hebrew people, were a group of people who were descendants of Abraham together with the strangers and sojourners who dwelt with them. I believe what set them apart was they were the first group of people to see HIS power displayed in their behalf (i.e. the parting of the Red Sea) and the first to receive HIS instructions (TORAH).
This verse has me imagining what it was like to have a pillar of smoke and fire, day and night, existing directly over a temple, inside a tabernacle, among an encampment of priests, surrounded by a community descended from Abraham.
Amos 3:10
"10For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces." (KJV)
The wicked rulers of the earth.
Amos 3:15
15And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.(KJV)
I do not understand the terms winter and summer house. Did they have seasonal homes that they lived in for part of the year?
I think the Ivory house refers to a palace that King Ahab lived in that is mentioned in 1 Kings 22:39
Amos Chapter 4
Amos 4:6
6And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.(KJV)
I wonder if the phrase, 'cleanness of teeth' is historical slang for 'starvation or hunger'.
Amos 4:11
"11I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD." (KJV)
Is this YAHUSHUA speaking?
This seems to be evidence that YAHUSHUA and YHWH are NOT one in the same.
Amos Chapter 5
Amos 5:2
"The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up." (KJV)
Who is 'the virgin of Israel'?
Amos 5:5
"But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought." (KJV)
A prophecy is made against Gilgal and Bethel and a warning about Beersheba is given.
Amos 5:6
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." (KJV)
It says "the house of Joseph". (KJV)That would be Ephraim and Manasseh. (KJV)Also as Ephraim it would be the northern tribes which were dispersed among the nations. (KJV)In essence he is talking about all of the non Hebrew/Israelites of the world and telling us to seek YHWH.
Amos 5:8
"Seek 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:" (KJV)
Orion and the seven stars.
"He who made Kimah and Kesil and who turns the shadow of death into morning and darkened day into night, who is calling for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth - YHWH is His name" (The Besorah Of Yahusha)
Amos 5:13
"Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time." (KJV)
The prudent will keep silent at that time.
Amos 5:14-15
"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." (KJV)
"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." (KJV)
Instruction for the end of days.
Amos 5:18
"Woe 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." (KJV)
A warning is issued about how bad the day of YHWH will be.
The day of the LORD.
Amos 5:20
"20Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?" (KJV)
The day of the LORD.
Amos 5:21
"21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies." (KJV)
By keeping their civic calendar and modifying YHWH's calendar so that it became a calculated calendar rather than an observational calendar, the Hebrews began celebrating YHWH's feasts (mo'ed) and appointed times (mo'edim) on the wrong days. This meant that these events were now MAN's feasts and appointed times and NOT YHWH's. That is why they became an abomination to YHWH.
Amos 5:25
25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?(KJV)
YHWH is pointing out their hipocrisy.
Amos Chapter 6
Amos 6:2
2Pass 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?(KJV)
Amos 6:7-8
7Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.(KJV)
8The 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.(KJV)
Does this mean people in the cities will be the first to go or the hardest hit?
Amos Chapter 7
Amos 7
Amos prophesies against Israel.
Amos Chapter 8
Amos 8:4-7
4Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,(KJV)
I think he is referring to the rich and powerfull, the elite of the world.
5Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? (KJV)
There was no corn in the Middle East at this time. Corn came later from the Americas.
No servile work is to be done on Rosh Chodesh.
These people are in a hurry for YHWH's mo'ed to be over so they do business and make money.
6That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?(KJV)
The want to buy everything and everyone for as cheap a price as possible.
7The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.(KJV)
People will be judged for their works, this includes the rich, powerfull, and influential.
Amos 8:9
9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: (KJV)
Is this referring to a pole shift?
End time prophesy
Amos 8:11
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: (KJV)
People will turn away from the word of God.
Or the word of God will be removed from the people
Amos 8:14
14They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.(KJV)
- The sin of Samaria? - I think this is referring to when they set up a second (2nd) temple in the North and altered the feast days.
- Dan's god?
- The manner of Beersheba?
Is this why there is no mention of Dan mentioned being one of the sealed in the book of Revelation chapter 7?
Amos Chapter 9
Amos 9:9
9For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.(KJV)
9"For look, I am commanding, and I shall sift the house of Yisra'el among all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a grain falls to the ground."(The ISR Scriptures)
There was no corn in the Middle East at this time. Corn came later from the Americas.
Amos 9:11
11In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:(KJV)
YHWH will rebuild the tabernacle of David after HE returns.
General Notes On The Book Of Amos:
Amos was a shepherd of Tekoa in Judah, who exercised his ministry during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.). He prophesied in Israel at the great cult center of Bethel, from which he was finally expelled by the priest in charge of this royal sanctuary. The poetry of Amos, who denounces the hollow prosperity of the northern kingdom, is filled with imagery and language taken from his own pastoral background. The book is an anthology of his oracles and was compiled either by the prophet or by some of his disciples.
The prophecy begins with a sweeping indictment of Damascus, Philistia, Tyre, and Edom; but the forthright herdsman saves his climactic denunciation for Israel, whose injustice and idolatry are sins against the light granted to her. Israel could indeed expect the day of Yahweh, but it would be a day of darkness and not light. When Amos prophesied the overthrow of the sanctuary, the fall of the royal house, and the captivity of the people, it was more than Israelite officialdom could bear. The priest of Bethel drove Amos from the shrine-but not before hearing a terrible sentence pronounced upon himself.
Amos is a prophet of divine judgment, and the sovereignty of Yahweh in nature and history dominates his thought. But he was no innovator; his conservatism was in keeping with the whole prophetic tradition calling the people back to the high moral and religious demands of Yahweh's revelation. In common with the other prophets, Amos knew that divine punishment is never completely destructive; it is part of the hidden plan of God to bring salvation to men. The perversity of the human will may retard, but it cannot totally frustrate, this design of a loving God. The last oracle opens up a perspective of restoration under a Davidic king.
The Book of Amos may be divided as follows:
- Judgment of the Nations (Amos 1:1-2:16)
- Words and Woes for Israel (Amos 3:1-6:14)
- Symbolic Visions: Threats and Promises (Amos 7:1-9:8, 9)
- Epilogue: Messianic Perspective (Amos 9:8c-15)
Reference Links On The Book Of Amos:
Interlinear Amos (KJV)(mirrored PDF file)
The Man with a Difficult Message From God (KJV)(WWW.EASYENGLISH.INFO) (KJV)(12/09/09)
Amos Introduction (KJV)(WWW.USCCB.ORG)
An Introduction to the Book of Amos (KJV)(12/09/09) (KJV)(downloads/Religion/AMS-INTR.htm)
Book of Amos (KJV)(HTTP://MB-SOFT.COM) (12/09/09)
Book of Amos (KJV)(WWW.GOTQUESTIONS.ORG)