AMOS

Amos Chapter 6

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

• Amos 6:1  Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 
• 2  Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? 
• 3  Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 
• 4  That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 
• 5  That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 
• 6  That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 

This is a sign of the latter days, not just Israel in the days just before the invasion of the Assyrians. Israel started out good under King David. They were one nation and feared God. David made his mistakes but idolatry was not one of them. After David's son Solomon died, the kingdom was split. The nothern kingdom was called Samaria and the southern kingdom called Judah. Judah lasted a little longer than the northern kingdom of Israel but they finally succombed to sin as their northern brothren did. Idolatry and the evil that went with it, caused their downfall.

This too is a remembrance of the things Joseph went through from the treatment he got from his older brothers. We don't know for sure if they had any guilt as such but they could have went on their way and lived their normal lives not knowing of Joseph's troubles before he was exalted by the help of God. We do know that they repented later. Praise the Lord for that, but here we see years later of Amos accusing them of living in luxury and not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Perhaps reference to the poor and suffering in the land is what is meant.

We don't realize how evil idolatry is. When we worship anything or anyone but the real God, we are opening the door to Satan's deception. Little by little more evil creeps in. They began to sacrifice little children to idols in fire like the heathen nations around them did. Previously God gave the land to Abraham knowing that He (God) was going to bring judgment upon wicked heathen nations because of the sins that they were doing at this time. God waited until the evil in those nations were full and at the point of no return; then He allowed the tribes of Israel to take over under the leader of Moses, then Joshua. They got lazy and didn't conquer all of it so the heathen nations remained thorns in their sides. Temptations to follow after their wicked ways was  always there. The wives of Solomon enticed him into building temples for their gods. This started Israel down the wrong path away from God.

The kings of Judah were not as evil at the time of the judgment upon the nothern kingdom of Israel, later called Samaria; but they did have evil kings that led the people into idolatry. Soon Babylon brought the southern kingdom into captivity. As I've written before, they didn't get their nation back entirely until 1948. Cyrus gave them permission to return to their land back when he ruled but they still remained under the rule of Persia, afterward Greece, then the Roman Empire, who was in power during the first coming of Jesus. After the crucifixion of Jesus and a few years afterword, in 70AD, Israel was no more in existance. They were scattered all over the world until after the German Holocaust. Many nations included Harry Truman voted to give them their own land back although they still do not have all that God promised Abraham.

At the time of Amos, they were in Samaria, lived in luxury, they ate good, had fresh water, had towers to protect against enemies, they had music to soothe their conscience and continue in their sin, expensive furniture, and they thought they were safe. They persecuted and ignored the prophets and did not heed their warnings.

In Amos chapter 3, it says:

• Amos 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 

God doesn't have to send any warnings by prophets or anyone else but He does because He would rather save than destroy. The book of Jonah reveals to us the heart of God. That story is much more than a the survival of being swallowed by a whale which is usually what is emphasized but toward the end of the book, Jonah sees the mercy of God toward the people of Ninevah.

• Amos 6:7  Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. 
• 8  The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. 
• 9  And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 
• 10  And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD. 
• 11  For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 
• 12  Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: 
• 13  Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? 
• 14  But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness. 

This chapter starts out by saying, Woe to those that are at ease in Zion. When we are at ease with our riches, comfort and wealth but ignore our sin, the word of God and God Himself; when we reject the one God sent to save us and even forbid the mention of the name of Jesus in the public schools or government buildings, yet seek riches, wealth and other things; we are opening the door to evil. We are at ease just like Israel once was.

Here is an example:
In 1962 and 63: Prayer and bible reading was removed from public schools and ruled unconstitutional. We can trace the downward spiral after that and look at our nation today. Ten years later in 1973. Abortion was legalized.

On the abortion issue. It started out by having compassion so to speak of an unmarried woman that gets pregnant and has no way to pay for doctors or raise the child so to abort it in the first couple of months was to them just a bunch of tissue with no life within it. The phrase, "A woman's right to choose" sounded so Democratic and reasonable.

A few years later abortion in the later trimesters were allowed, then just before birth when they could live outside the womb, their heads were crushed so that they died just before they were capable of being born alive. Then low and behold. I watched the video of a crowd of people around the governor of New York cheer when the governor signed a bill allowing the murder of a baby born alive but not wanted by the mother. Bad enough to allow it, but have people cheer over it boggled my mind.

I wonder if it was a coincidence that a year after that signing, covid 19 hit that whole state and many died. Shutting the door to God, opens the door to the one that hates all of us and that is Satan himself. He has always hated the human race that God created. We later found out that the harvest of baby organs was going on. This is so evil. The love of money surely is the root of all evil as the bible teaches.

Jesus is our hope out of this mess and it is our only hope. Our hope is not in who wins the presidency. It is in the Lord God and His holy Word. That was what will deliver Israel in the latter days and that is what will deliver our own souls now. We do not have to live in sin and deception. Christ makes us free. DC

Amos Chapter 7