Chapter 5

God’s Wrath upon Israel

1. THE LAMENTATION OF THE LORD (Amos 5:1-3 [1] Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. [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. [3] For 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.
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1. Lamentation Defined (Amos 5:1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
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1. Times of lamentation
1. Lamentation is often made for the dead (Genesis 50:10And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
   See All...; 1 Samuel 6:19And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
   See All...; 1 Samuel 25:1And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
   See All...; 2 Samuel 1:17And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
   See All...; 2 Samuel 3:33And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?
   See All...; Jeremiah 25:33And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
   See All...; John 16:16A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
   See All..., 20; Acts 8:2And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
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2. Lamentation is made in the absence of God’s presence (1 Samuel 7:2And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.
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3. Lamentation is made in the presence of God’s judgment (Jeremiah 4:8For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
   See All...; Jeremiah 7:29Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
   See All...; Lamentations 2:5The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
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2. What lamentation is not…
1. It is not merely mourning (Isaiah 3:26And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
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2. It is not merely wailing (Jeremiah 9:20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
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3. It is not merely weeping (Jeremiah 31:15Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
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4. It is not merely crying (Jeremiah 49:3Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
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3. What lamentation is…
1. A specific statement of mourning (2 Samuel 1:17-27 [17] And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: [18] (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) [19] The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! [20] Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. [21] Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. [22] From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. [23] Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. [24] Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. [25] How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. [26] I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. [27] How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
   See All...; Jeremiah 22:18Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
   See All...; Jeremiah 34:5But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
   See All...; Ezekiel 19:1-2 [1] Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, [2] And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
   See All...; Ezekiel 26:17And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!
   See All...; Ezekiel 27:2-3 [2] Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; [3] And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
   See All...; Ezekiel 28:12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
   See All...; Ezekiel 32:2Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
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2. Something that could be made into a song (2 Chronicles 35:25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
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3. It is considered to be a skill (Amos 5:16Therefore 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 skilful of lamentation to wailing.
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2. The Object of the Lamentation (Amos 5:1-2 [1] Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. [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.
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1. The house of Israel (Amos 5:1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
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2. The virgin of Israel (Amos 5:2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
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1. Virgin defined
1. It is not merely being a woman who has not known a man by lying with him (Genesis 24:16And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
   See All...; Judges 21:12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
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2. It can be connected to not having known a man (2 Samuel 3:2And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
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3. Virgins are often connected to young women (Isaiah 23:4Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
   See All...; Lamentations 1:18The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
   See All...; Lamentations 2:21The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
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4. It can be defined as an unmarried woman (Leviticus 21:3And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.
   See All...; 1 Corinthians 7:34There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
   See All...) though they cannot be divorced (Leviticus 21:13-14 [13] And he shall take a wife in her virginity. [14] A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
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2. The reason Israel is likened to a virgin
1. The term “virgin of Israel” when applied to the nation is always connected to past judgment or coming judgment (Jeremiah 18:13Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
   See All...; Jeremiah 31:4Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
   See All...; Jeremiah 31:21Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
   See All...; Amos 5:2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
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2. Perhaps this is God’s way of suggesting to Israel that they have never known or been married to Him.
3. The Reasons for the Lamentation (Amos 5:2-3 [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. [3] For 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.
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1. The fall of Israel (Amos 5:2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
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1. She is fallen or she is forsaken upon her land.
2. She shall no more rise or there is none to raise her up.
2. The remnant of Israel (Amos 5:3For 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.
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1. The city of a thousand will only leave an hundred.
2. The city of an hundred will only leave ten.
3. This is contrary to Leviticus 26:8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
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2. JUDGMENT UPON ISRAEL (Amos 5:4-17 [4] For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: [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. [6] Seek 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. [7] Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, [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: [9] That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. [10] They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. [11] Forasmuch 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. [12] For 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. [13] Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. [14] Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. [15] Hate 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. [16] Therefore 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 skilful of lamentation to wailing. [17] And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
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1. A Call to Seek the Lord (Amos 5:4-9 [4] For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: [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. [6] Seek 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. [7] Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, [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: [9] That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
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1. Seek Him rather than a place (Amos 5:4-5 [4] For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: [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.
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1. Seeking the Lord would preserve their life (Amos 5:4For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
   See All..., 6; Numbers 21:8And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
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2. Israel was not to seek a place (Amos 5:5But 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.
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1. Seek not Bethel for it shall come to nought (Amos 3:14That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.
   See All...; Amos 4:4Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
   See All...; Amos 5:6Seek 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.
   See All...; Amos 7:10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
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1. Bethel means “house of God.”
2. God, however, is no longer in Bethel because it has become the king’s chapel or the king’s court (Amos 7:13But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
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2. Don’t enter into Gilgal for it shall go into captivity (Amos 4:4Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
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3. Pass not to Beersheba (Amos 8:14They 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.
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4. Putting the pieces together makes it look like the Lord was speaking against the pathway to Egypt.  Perhaps He knew that their method of avoiding His wrath would be to escape to Egypt.
3. This ought to be a warning to all of the people of God that our responsibility is to seek God rather than…
1. Experiences
2. Shrines
3. Great leaders
4. Position
5. Fame
2. Seek Him to escape His wrath (Amos 5:6Seek 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.
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1. If Israel sought God they could live.
2. If Israel did not seek God…
1. He would break out like fire in the house of Joseph.
2. He would devour the house of Joseph.
3. There would be none to quench it in Bethel.
3. Seek Him rather than unrighteous living (Amos 5:7-9 [7] Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, [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: [9] That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
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1. The unrighteous living of Israel (Amos 5:7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
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1. They turned judgment to wormwood.
1. The Lord’s people were to execute His judgment (1 Kings 6:12-13 [12] Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: [13] And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
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2. They apparently turned righteous judgment into something of bitterness (Lamentation 3:15Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
   See All...; Revelation 8:11And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
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2. They left off righteousness in the earth.