From the prophet Amos we read a prophecy against the northern kingdom of Israel that would have greatly surprised them. The warnings of judgment were first delivered against seven nations surrounding Israel: six Gentile nations as well as Judah. The Gentile nations didn’t have a covenant with God, but they were condemned for lack of respect for human life. Judah was condemned for rejecting God’s covenant. Then, Amos zeroed in on Israel, who was condemned for both.
Israel was oppressing people, which is a way of profaning the Lord’s name. And how hypocritical after God had delivered them from oppression!
“I brought you up out of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to give you the land of the Amorites.” (Amos 2:10, NIV)
“You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” (Amos 3:2, NIV)
Israel’s covenant relationship with God didn’t give them a special status that excused them from judgment—as they seemed to expect. Instead it called them to a greater level of accountability. They broke the covenant with their idol worship:
“On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.” (Amos 3:14, NIV)
Bethel is a location where Jeroboam I (son of Nebat) had established golden calf worship generations earlier when the kingdom first split.
“Israel’s covenant relationship with God didn’t give them a special status that excused them from judgment.”
Amos also delivered a word of warning to the women specifically:
“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’” (Amos 4:1, NIV)
Excellent quality cows came from the region of Bashan. The Israelite women were accused of living in luxury to the detriment and exploitation of others. They were lazy and not submitted to their husbands, demanding their husbands serve their self-indulgence. In reading Isaiah, we see the prophet there also deliver a judgment specifically against the women of the southern kingdom of Judah for similar reasons:
The Lord says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles.” (Isaiah 3:16, NIV)
“The Israelite women were accused of living in luxury to the detriment and exploitation of others.”
God delivered a lot of calamity ahead of total destruction to try and turn the people back to him. Throughout Scripture, we don’t read judgment language without first seeing lots of warning signs and opportunity to repent (see Amos 4:6–11). And so comes the day of the Lord. This is an important appointed time (kairos in Greek) in Scripture.
“Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.” (Amos 5:18, NIV)
Because Israel was God’s chosen people, they actually looked forward to the day of God’s judgment—the day of the Lord—because they believed that’s when they would be given victory over their enemies. But again, their covenant relationship called them to greater accountability, rather than shielding them from accountability. The day of the Lord would not be a time of favor for them.
“Their covenant relationship called them to greater accountability.”
“The day of the Lord” in Scripture describes a time when God would deliver judgment and/or restoration. The day of the Lord that Amos was describing against Israel would come through Assyria. For us, the day of the Lord is described in this way:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” (2 Peter 3:10, NIV)
If we’re looking forward to the day of the Lord, let’s examine ourselves and be sure it’s because we are in a right relationship with God—that we’re loving him by loving people and walking in his new covenant truth.
Excerpted from Tina Wilson’s 365-day chronological Bible study Step into Scripture: A Daily Journey to Understanding Your Bible.
