Amos 1 & 2: Does God judge nations?

Every few years a group of people rise up who claim that America is about to be judged by God for her sins. In the 1970's we were taught by many people that the end was coming soon because it had been 40 years since the founding of Israel as a nation. Many people were convinced America was doomed. When the judgment did not come, and American prosperity increased, that movement faded...but soon another rose claiming that an economic earthquake was about to hit America. And about the same time, in 1987, a Romanian survivor of Soviet torture, prophesied that the Angel Gabriel showed him both coasts of America were going to be set on fire by nuclear attacks. And then time went by and nothing happened. Some people have grown very skeptical about any claim that God punishes nations. The new in vogue idea seems to be that a loving God would never judge a nation with any sort of punishment. That God cannot be a loving God if he punishes nations.

Does God punish nations or groups of people for the evil they as a nation commit?

Does the gospel propose anything regarding nations? Matt 28:19-20

How does the law of the Lord and the prophets of the Lord in the Old Testament fit into the gospel of Christ and His Kingdom?

Do we really need the dark message of the prophets of the Old Testament? Isn't it just doom and gloom and desparity?

Some Christians go so far as to refuse to accept the Old Testament prophets and the seemingly harsh message of the Old Testament.

Yet inside everyone is a sense of justice. All of us have an innate sense of right and wrong. We may define it differently, but our hearts testify that there is a right and a wrong.

The bible says that All scripture is useful. ESV 2 Timothy 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

ESV Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Who was Amos?

Home and Occupation.

—Biblical Data:
Jewish prophet of the eighth century B.C.; date of birth and death unknown. Among the minor prophets there is none whose personality is so familiar as that of Amos. His name occurs not only in the superscription of the book, but several times (vii. 8, 10 et seq., 14; viii. 2) in the body of it. His home was in Tekoa in Judah, five miles to the south of Bethlehem. The original title of his book was merely "The Words of Amos of Tekoa"; the rest, "who was among the herdsmen," is a later addition emphasizing the fact gleaned from vii. 14, that Amos had been a herdsman before he became a prophet. From the margin this notice appears to have intruded itself into the text. The attempt has been made to discover a northern Tekoa for his home, but there is no need for that. That Amos was from Judah is the simplest interpretation of vii. 13. Amos himself tells us what his profession was: he was a herdsman and one who tended sycamore-figs (vii. 14). At Tekoa sycamores are not grown, but Amos could very well have been the proprietor of a sycamore-grove at some distance from Tekoa, in the Shefelah, the hill country leading down to Philistia, where there were sycamoretreesin "abundance" (I Kings, x. 27). He makes this statement of his occupation to Amaziah, the chief priest of Bethel, who, startled by the ominous utterances of Amos, advises him to make his escape to Judah and there to earn his livelihood by his profession of prophet. Amos denies both premises involved in this rebuke. He does not need to take fees for his prophecies, because he is well-to-do, and he is no prophet either by profession or extraction, but was called by God from behind his flock by special summons. Amos' attitude marks a turning-point in the development of Old Testament prophecy. It is not mere chance that Hosea, Isaiah (ch. vi.), Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and almost all of the prophets who are more than unknown personages to whom a few prophetical speeches are ascribed, give first of all the story of their special calling.

First to Write down Prophecy.

All of them thereby seek to protest against the suspicion that they are professional prophets, because the latter discredited themselves by flattering national vanities and ignoring the misdeeds of prominent men. But Amos marks an epoch in Old Testament prophecy also in another respect. He is the first of the prophets to write down the messages he has received. It is easy to understand the reason for this innovation. He feels himself called to preach in Beth-el, where there was a royal sanctuary (vii. 13), and there to announce the fall of the reigning dynasty and of the northern kingdom. But he is denounced by the head priest Amaziah to King Jeroboam II. (vii. 10 et seq.), and is advised to leave the kingdom (verses 12 et seq.).

—In Rabbinical Literature:
According to the rabbis (Lev. R. x., Eccl. R. i. 1) Amos was nick-named "the stutterer" by a popular etymology. The people, on hearing his bitter rebukes, retorted: "Has the Lord cast aside all His creatures to let His spirit dwell only on this stutterer?"

Regarding the teachings of Amos, the following utterance of Simlai, an amora of the beginning of the third century, is noteworthy:

Six hundred and thirteen commandments were given to Moses; King David reduced them to eleven (Ps. xv.); Isaiah to six (Isa. xxxiii. 15); Micah to three (Micah vi. 8); Isaiah, a second time, to two (Isa. lvi. 1); but Amos to one: "Seek Me and Live!" (Mak. 24a). According to rabbinical tradition (Suk. 52b, Pirḳe R. ha-Ḳadosh, viii., based on Micah v. 5 [4]), Amos is one of the "eight princes among men" alluded to in Micah, v. 5. K.

According to rabbinical tradition, Amos was killed by King Uzziah, who struck him on the forehead with a glowing iron (Gedaliah ibn YaḦyah in his "Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah," quoted by Heilprin in "Seder ha-Dorot," i. 3110, Venetian ed. of 1587, does not mention anything of this).

The story of the martyrdom of Amos, found in the pseudo-Epiphanean writings ("Vita Prophetarum"), is somewhat different; according to this version, Amos was killed by a blow on the temple struck by Amaziah, priest of Beth-el. L. G. (gleaned from Jewish Encyclopedia online).

How does the subject of justice and judgment for wrong doing fit into the gospel message ?

I believe the answer is laid out most clearly in Paul's writings in the New Testament. WE need the revelation of the gospel of Christ to understand what is going on in the Old Testament.

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:1 ¶ Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 ¶ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 ¶ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 ¶ Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

To explain it more clearly, think of the law of Moses and the prophets who hold people accountable for violating the law with their prophecies of judgment this way...

Black velvet
Diamond

Otherwise we end up saying that everyone is basically fine and there are no sins. There is no judgment for sin and there is no sin at all. This error is becoming popular. Without the law their is no knowledge of sin. Without the knowledge of sin we don't see the justification for judgment. We see judgment as mean. We think the God of the Old Testament is a vindictive God and He is therefore rejected. This idea is becoming very popular in our age. It is completely wrong. The law reveals sin and death. It rightfully condemns. It is good and holy and right.

Under the influence of the Holy Spirit Amos writes judgments over a number of peoples who are around God's community, and then he turns to prophesy on God's community.

We have to understand what Amos is doing here. He is not simply talking about bad things that are coming. Prophets were viewed by the ancients as very powerful people who had the ability to activate things by their words. This is why it was very important for Kings to get positive blessings from prophets before going to battle. A bad word could cost the prophet his life, because a King may decide to kill the messenger in order to shut down his power. I don't believe a prophet like Amos would give words like he did unless the Lord God of heaven had clearly spoken to him.

In his mind these prophesies were releasing judgment. They themselves were delivering the judgment on these peoples.

He judges Damascus for oppressing Gilead (God's people).
He announces punishment on Gaza for slave-making.
Tyre is judged for slave-making.
Edom for pursuing his brother with the sword and for not getting over anger...but nursing anger continually.
Ammon is judged because they slashed pregnant woman open and ripped babies out of their stomaches to expand their territory.
Moab is judged for burning the bones of Edom's King to lime.
Judah is judged for despising the law of the Lord.
Israel for greed, immorality and spiritual adultery.


We can learn from Amos that God does deal with nations. That apart from the gospel of Christ, all peoples stand condemned by their own behavior and are under the right judgment of God. We can learn that the need to promulgate the gospel is intensified by the desperate condemnation that all peoples stand under for their sins as a people.

We as the church are called to not only disciple individuals, but nations as a whole. So we ought to take Christ's commands to all nations. Matt 28:19-20. We are to influence all of our society in every way that we can for Christ and His Kingdom for ultimately the Kingdoms of this world will become swallowed up by the Kingdom of Christ!

ESV Revelation 11:15 ¶ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."


The Lord's roar references how lions drive prey into the waiting pride by causing them to run into the dangerous waiting pride.

The implication of the pronouncement of judgment was the same for all nations...if one turns to seek the Lord then reprieve is available.