Amos 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: Israel admonished in the present to depart from iniquityAmos begins this chapter with a “Woe.” He is not a prophet who majors in woes, but you will find them in several other of the prophets and in the Book of Revelation. “Woe” also means “Whoa!“it means to stop, look, and listen, because this is something that is important. The word woe is one that ought to draw our special attention to that which follows.

Amos 6:1

Zion was, of course, in the southern kingdom of Judah; so both parts of the nation, Judah and Israel, are addressed here. Zion was the center of religionGod’s temple was there, and Samaria was the metropolis of a powerful kingdom. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.” The common expression at departure a few years ago was, “Well, take it easy!” Today we often say, “Have a good day!” which I take to mean practically the same thing. That is what Israel was doing: they were taking it easy. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.” They were sitting in the lap of luxury in a day of affluence. We have been doing that as a nation since the Depression and World War IIwe have been sitting in the lap of luxury in a day of affluence. “And trust in the mountain of Samaria.” It was as if Samaria was the place where they stored their atom bombs. It was the capital of the northern kingdom, Ahab and Jezebel had lived there, and lovely palaces of ivory were built there. The mountains of Samaria provided such excellent natural fortifications that the city was able to stand the Assyrian siege for three years before it fell. Samaria was such an important city that, after the Assyrians had destroyed it, Herod later rebuilt it. Herod was quite a builder, and he built all over Palestine. He built Caesarea right from the ground up, but Samaria he rebuilt because it was such a marvelous location. With all this luxury and excellent fortifications, Israel felt secure and well protected. “Which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!” “Chief of the nations” probably refers to Israel’s princes who were men of rank and authority. To these godless and careless heads of the nation the people of Israel came for justice and for help. But the princes were interested only in their own ease and self-indulgence. The term chief of the nations may also refer to Israel herself, as she was recognized among the nations in that day. In other words, she belonged to the United Nations and had a great deal of influence.

Amos 6:2

“Pass ye unto Calneh, and see.” Calneh is one of the cities that was in the intersection of the Tigris River and the upper Zab River. Nineveh was there, Calneh was there, and that area constituted a great center. “And from thence go ye to Hamath the great.” Hamath is the chief city in Syria. We are going south now. “Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.” Gath is way south in Philistia and was the leading city of the Philistines. “Be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?” In other words, “Go look at these other nations. Why do you think that you are superior to these nations? You’re not superior. You are engaged in the same sins that they are, and your responsibility is greater. They have no revelation from God, but you do have a revelation from God.” Now Amos will mention the three national sins of Israel. These are the three sins which brought the northern kingdom down. They also brought Babylon down; they brought Egypt down; they brought Greece down; and they brought Rome down. They have brought down many great nations. They are the reason that France and Great Britain have become second-rate nations today. At one time we said, “The sun never sets on the British Empire,” but today it looks as if the British Empire itself is setting. These three sins are national sins, and they are sins for which God will judge the nations.

Amos 6:3

Israel was saying, “Yes, a day of judgment is coming, but it is not near. We do not need to worry about it.” That was the thing that Hezekiah said to Isaiah when Isaiah told him that judgment was coming on the southern kingdom and that they were to be carried into captivity. Hezekiah said, “Will it be in my day?” Isaiah said, “No, it won’t be in your day.” And even Hezekiah, who was a great king, said, “Well, then, that’s all right.” Our present generation is passing on to our grandchildren a nation that is in debt and in great trouble. I used to worry about my daughter and the day in which she would live. Now I worry about my two little grandsons and the world that they are moving into and in which they will live. The evil day is coming. What are the three sins which destroy a nation? The first sin is given in verse Amo_6:4

Amos 6:4

Illicit sex and gluttony are the two sins that are mentioned here, and they are sins of the flesh. “That lie upon beds of ivory.” Ahab and Jezebel had built an ivory palace in Samaria. It has been thoroughly excavated now, and the workmen have found there many very fine, delicate vessels that were in the rubble and ruin of that great palace. That palace represented the life of the upper class of that day. “They lie upon beds of ivory"they all had king-sized beds. They were taking it easy. “And stretch themselves upon their couches” suggests their preoccupation with sex. That was the thing that they were engaged in, and it is that which characterizes our own day. Someone tried to answer the current women’s liberation movement by saying that the woman’s place is in the kitchen and in the bedroom. May I say to you, that is an awful thing to say. I totally disagree with that comment, but it does show the color and complexion of our nation today. Much has been reported in the press regarding the social life in our nation’s capital.

We are told that when they get together, they are heavily involved in drinking and that the main topic of conversation is who is dating whose wife. Such activity is not limited to those of any particular political party. Thank God there are individuals who are exceptions to this type of thing, but I am afraid that more attention is paid to sex in Washington, D.C., than to any of the problems which face this nation. When our lawmakers appear on television, they become very serious, but their social lifethis is not true of all of them, of courseseems to be very corrupt. No nation has been able to survive such involvement in sin. Rome was probably the greatest of all nations; then why did it fall apart? No outside enemy destroyed Rome. It was like “Humpty-Dumpty” Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall; All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men Could not put Humpty-Dumpty together again. Why did Rome fall? Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, mentions that the destruction of the family was one of the important reasons Rome fell. When immorality came in, then the nation began to go down. The second national sin is given in verse Amo_6:5

Amos 6:5

They came up with a lot of new tunes in that day. You may think that jazz, rock and roll, and hard rock music are something new, but Israel had it back in that day. The character of music can destroy a nation, and as far as I’m concerned, we have arrived at that point in our nation. I know that I sound like a square and a real backward fellow, and that I am. Someone will say, “You just don’t know anything about music.” While it is true that I do not know much about music, I do know what I like and what I don’t like; a lot of it I don’t like today, and simply do not listen to it. “They chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David.” But the music was no longer used as it was in David’s day. David was a genius whose music was to praise and glorify God. Israel also had geniuses in Amos’ day, but they were not writing music to the praise and glory of God. Instead, it was that which took people away from God and from the worship of God. Now we come to the third national sin

Amos 6:6

“That drink wine in bowls"not just in little glasses but in bowls; they were really alcoholics. “And anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” In that day there was a great deal of attention given to the matter of getting the right kind of ointment for the underarms. I don’t mind mentioning this because it is mentioned on television all the time. It was pretty important in Israel that you use the right kind of deodorant, but it was drunkenness that was destroying the nation. Drunkenness is the thing that is destroying our nation today along with these other sinsand we are not getting by with it, my friend. There is an alarming number of alcoholics in this country and many, many more people whose lives are directly affected by the alcoholic. A majority of the fatal automobile accidents are caused by alcohol. More people are being killed in automobile accidents in this country than were ever killed in Vietnam, but no one is protesting about that. I was amazed a few years ago when one of the distilleries ran an advertisement about young people drinking, saying they were concerned about the problem. In their ad, they said: “Teenagers, especially in a group, are often tempted to do things they might not do on their own, like taking a drink when they know they shouldn’t. We are sure you are concerned about this problem.” Imagine the liquor makers telling you and me that they think we are concerned because they are concerned! Well, why don’t they quit making the stuff? Their ad continued: “You don’t have to worry much about it if you’ve shown your youngster over the years that your ideas about drinking are healthy and mature.” What are “healthy and mature” ideas about drinking? Drinking is drinking, isn’t it? They certainly were not running an advertisement for prohibition! I would like to share with you this poem, “It’s Nobody’s Business” It’s nobody’s business what I drink. I care not what my neighbors think, Or how many laws they choose to pass. I’ll tell the world I’ll have my glass. Here’s one man’s freedom cannot be curbed. My right to drink is undisturbed. So he drank in spite of law or man, Then got into his old tin can, Stepped on the gas and let it go, Down the highway to and fro. He took the curves at fifty miles, With bleary eyes and a drunken smile. Not long ’til a car he tried to pass, Then a crash, a scream, and breaking glass. The other car was upside down, About two miles from the nearest town. The man was clear, but his wife was caught, And he needed the help of that drunken sot, Who sat in a maudlin, drunken daze And heard the scream and saw the blaze, But too far gone to save a life. By helping the car from off the wife. The car was burned and a mother died, While a husband wept and a baby cried. And a drunk sat by, and still some think It’s nobody’s business what they drink. Unknown The sins of the flesh (illicit sex and gluttony), heathen music, and drunkenness are the three great sins which have brought great nations down. I simply cannot believe that our nation will be the exception to the rule. It is enough to break any person’s heart to see what is happening in this great nation of ours. Yet we try to explain it away by saying that now we are civilized, now we have a new morality, now we have grown up and gotten rid of the old Puritan notions. By the way, the Puritans and the Pilgrims founded a great nation. Are we, the sophisticated and suave folk, going to keep that great nation, or are we losing it? This message from Amos was fulfilled in his day. The northern kingdom was destroyed and went into captivity. These are the sins that brought it down. In verse Amo_6:4 it was gluttony and illicit sex; in verse Amo_6:5 it was heathen music; and in verse Amo_6:6 it was drunkenness. It is the same old story: wine, women, and song. That is what a great many people think life is all about.

Actually, that is not what life is all about but what death is all about. It is the philosophy which says, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Or the philosophy which says, “Pick the daisies while you can"the day is coming when you won’t be able to pick them. In other words, satisfy self. But if a man (or a nation) goes down that line, he will find out that it does not lead to a pot of gold; it is a dead-end street with the emphasis upon dead. It has led to the death of individuals and of nations. All of this reveals something quite interesting about the human heart. You can put the whole world into the heart and it still will not be satisfied. That is remarkable, is it not? Only God can fill the vacuum of the human heart. The iniquity of Israel is going to lead to the destruction of the nation

Amos 6:7

“Therefore.” One preacher has said that when you come to therefore in the Bible, you’d better investigate what it’s there for. Here it leads to this great statement that because of these three great sins, the northern kingdom will go into captivity first. That is the direction in which they were moving, and they were moving rapidly. They were much closer to it than they could really believe.

Amos 6:8

Their palaces were places of corruption and storehouses of plunder from the poor. God hated all this. If you want to know God’s attitude toward the present-day philosophy of the new morality, of illicit sex, gluttony, degrading music, and drunkenness, He makes it very clear here. God says He hates them. As a result of these sins, Israel had become a godless nation. These are the things which will take you away from God or prevent your coming to Him in the first place.

Amos 6:9

Some expositors believe that this refers to the coming of a devastating plague, such as often follows warfare.

Amos 6:10

This is a strange statement. I shall give you Dr. Charles L. Feinberg’s explanation (from his book Joel, Amos and Obadiah, pp. 89-90), which is probably accurate: How widespread the plague will be is noted for us in verse Amo_6:10. When one’s next of kin, to whom the duty of burial belonged, would come to carry the corpse out of the house to burn it, he would find but one remaining out of the ten who lived there formerly. And that last surviving one hidden away in the innermost recesses of the houses fearfully awaiting the hour when the plague would carry him away also. In ancient Israel in accordance with the words of Gen_3:19 burial was the accepted method of disposal of the dead. In this the New Testament doctrine of the body concurs. Hence cremation was considered wrong and not countenanced (see Amo_2:1).

But when God’s judgment falls upon His people, there will be so many dead that they will not bury but burn them. The cases here and 1Sa_31:12 are exceptional cases. Here cremation is resorted to in order to prevent contagion; in 1 Samuel it was done to obviate further dishonor of the bodies of Saul and his sons by the Philistines. When asked if there are others alive, the remaining occupant of the house will say there is none. Immediately he will be told to hold his peace for fear he would mention the name of the Lord in announcing the death of the others in the household, or in praising God for his own deliverance. Punishment will so work fear and despair in them all that they will refrain from even the mention of the name of the Lord (which should be their sole refuge in such an hour) lest further wrath come upon them.

Amos 6:11

High and low, great and small were going into Assyrian captivity.

Amos 6:12

“Shall horses run upon the rock?” If you have ever ridden horseback in mountain country where there is great deal of rock, you know that a horse can slip and fall there. As a young fellow I belonged to the cavalry division of the National Guard. We were out on patrol duty, and I was riding a big, tall red horse. The section I patrolled was a very rocky one up in middle Tennessee. My horse slipped and fell on one of my feet. As a result, I got out of patrol duty and was sent home because they did not want me hanging around. That got me out of a lot of hard work, and very frankly, I have always appreciated that old red horse. “Shall horses run upon the rock?” Well, they’d better not because they will slip and fall. “Will one plow there with oxen?” You cannot run a plow over a rock. “For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock.” Israel had done that which was contrary to righteousness. Amos is saying to them, “You’ve acted foolishly"as foolish as I was in riding that old red horse over rocky terrain.

Amos 6:13

“Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?” Since in the Scriptures “horns” are symbolic of power, this is probably a reference to the military strength of Jeroboam II in which Israel was trusting.

Amos 6:14

“They shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath”; that is, from all the way up in Syria, for Hemath was the chief city of Syria. “Unto the river of the wilderness” should be translated “unto the river of Arabah.” Arabah is the river on the other side of the Jordan River which flowed into the Dead Sea. God is saying, “Through the whole extent of your land this enemy will come down from the north.” That enemy was not Ben-hadad of Syria, but it was the king of Assyria who would take these people into captivity.