Amos 5:16-27

Amos 5 began with a lamentation (v1-3) leading to a call to repentance (v4-16).  Now the lamentation continues with a particular point: many will be surprised at the coming judgment because they do not accept the truth about their situation.  Consider his argument and how it may describe us or many around us.

·        5:16-17: The judgment theme picks up with a statement about how severe it will be for God’s people.  People everywhere will be wailing because God has passed through.

·        5:18-20: But when you tell people that God is going to pass through the common assumption is that He will be good and gracious and will bless His people.  In fact, as this paragraph notes, these are people who actually are hoping for the day of the Lord.  They see it as a good time for Israel, when her enemies will be judged and all will be made right.  

The day of the Lord is a special name for a time of judgment involving Israel.  Joel used it of a locust plague (Joel 1).  It was used of the coming invasions of Assyria (Amos fits this) and of Babylon (e.g. Joel 2).  And it is used of the still future day that involves the tribulation period and return of Christ (Joel 3). 

It is a Jewish day beginning at sundown.  First there is darkness, the time of difficulty on God’s own people when they are judged and then cleansed.  Then as the dawn comes Israel is saved from her enemy and made right before God.  God then deals with the enemy, even judging those that God had used to punish Israel.  Then comes the daytime, the light, the time of blessing on God’s people.

Thus, in this paragraph, the people longed for the time of blessing of the day of the Lord.  But what they did not realize was that that day would first be a time of cleansing for Israel, a grievous time.  Again, Amos’ description is graphic (v19).

·        5:21-24: These same people failed to understand their hypocrisy.  It is hard for the sinner to come to grips with hypocrisy because he sees himself as doing what he should do.  He may actually be doing the feasts of the Lord in the right format.  But yet, because his heart is not right, and he is tolerating sin in his life (v24), God wants nothing to do with his celebrations.

·        5:25-27: The same is true of their sacrifices.  And here God reminds them of their hypocrisy in the times of the wilderness wanderings.  The reference is to something made clear in the New Testament (Acts 7:42-43).  As Israel was learning to worship God in the way of the Mosaic Law they were, at the same time, worshiping idols they had brought from Egypt.  This is exactly what they were doing in Amos’ day.  They claimed to worship Yahweh, and yet it was through the golden calf in Bethel.  Thus God warns that He is going to send them into captivity beyond Damascus (i.e. to Assyria and beyond).

There is a coming day of the Lord with a perfectly just judgment for sin.  As has been said: Prepare to meet your God! Seek the Lord and live!