amos 4 through 6

Read Amos 4 through 6 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Amo 4:1-13 {p} Oppression + idolatry will be judged, for former calamities did not inspire repentance
Amo 5:1-15 {s} Population reduced to one tenth, yet seek the LORD and live, so that He may be gracious
Amo 5:16-17 {p} There shall be wailing in all streets + in all farms, for the LORD will pass through you
Amo 5:18-27 {p} Do not desire the day of the LORD/ I despise your sacred assemblies when you pervert justice
Amo 6:1-10 {s} Woe to the rich whose trust is in their greatness: they will be the first of the captives
Amo 6:11-14 {p} For I will raise up a nation against you, who will afflict you from one end of the land to the other

The strong themes:

Amo 5:1-17 {s+p} Population will be reduced, yet seek the LORD that He may be gracious to you; if not, wailing
Amo 6:1-14 {s+p} Woe to the rich who trust in their greatness: they will be the first of the captives, for I will raise up a nation against you

The chiastic structure:

1a.1) Amo 5:1-2, Hear this lamentation, O house of Israel: Israel has fallen + there is no one to raise her up;
1a.2) Amo 5:3, Thus says YHVH: One- tenth shall be left to the cities of the house of Israel;

1b) Amo 5:4-6,Seek YHVH and live, not the idols which are nothing;

1a) Amo 5:4, Thus says YHVH to the house of Israel: Seek Me and live;
1b) Amo 5:5a, But do not seek Bethel,
1c) Amo 5:5b, Nor enter Gilgal,
central axis) Amo 5:5c, Nor pass over to Beersheba;
2c) Amo 5:5d, For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
2b) Amo 5:5e, And Bethel shall come to nothing.
2a) Amo 5:6, Seek YHVH and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, with no one to quench it;

1c) Amo 5:7, You who turn justice to wormwood + lay righteousness to rest in the earth;

1d) Amo 5:8a, He made the stars/ turns shadow to morning + day dark/ He it is who calls for the flood;

central axis) Amo 5:8b, Yehovah is His name;

2d) Amo 5:9, He rains ruin upon the strong, So that fury comes upon the fortress.

2c) Amo 5:10-13, You tread down the poor + afflict the just + divert justice for bribes;

1a) Amo 5:10, They hate + abhor the one who rebukes in the gate + speaks uprightly;
1b) Amo 5:11a, Therefore, because you tread down the poor + tax his grain;
central axis) Amo 5:11b, You have built houses + planted vineyards but shall not partake of them;
2b) Amo 5:12, Your manifold + mighty transgressions: afflicting the just + diverting justice for the poor;
2a) Amo 5:13, Therefore the prudent keep silent, for it is an evil time;

2b) Amo 5:14-15 {s} Seek good that you may live, so YHVH will be with you;

1a.1) Amo 5:14a, Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
1a.2) Amo 5:14b, So the Lord God of hosts will be with you;
central axis) Amo 5:14c, As you have spoken;
2a.1) Amo 5:15a, Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate;
2a.2) Amo 5:15b {s} It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

2a.1) Amo 5:16-17 {p} There shall be wailing + mourning + lamentation in the streets + fields, for I will pass through you;
2a.2) Amo 5:18-6:9 {p+s} If ten men are in a house, only one will be left.

The issue was the golden calves of Bethel and Dan, who were called, the God who brought Israel up from Egypt (1 Kin 12:28-29). In association with these idols, they celebrated feast days, and were zealous in worship– but it was not the feast days or the worship that YHVH had established. Perhaps because they made gods in their own image, according as it seemed right to them, and not according to the word of YHVH, they also lived their daily life according as it seemed right to them, but not according to YHVH’s righteousness defined in Torah. For repeatedly throughout Amos we see the admonition to forsake oppression as often as the admonition to forsake idols. The parallels to our own modern day are convicting and humbling.