Identification of the Sovereign Thus says the Lord
Revelation of God the Lord 1:3,6,9,11,13; 2:1
God has revealed himself to all people through Creation Rom 1:18-20, Ps 19- 1-3, 8:3-4, Ps 139, Acts 14:16-17), Conscience (Rom 1:32, 2:14-15, John 16:8-11) and Common Grace (Augustine) Providence – God’s care for his creation Ps 65:9, 104:14, Matt 5:45, Acts 14:17 Monotheism: There is but one living and true God and all peoples are subject to him and all must stand before his judgment. Thus there are not many roads that lead to God. There is one God, one gospel, one salvation, and one judgment day for everyone. All nations and the people of God are lumped together in sin and guilt before a holy God Rom 3:23. Everyone needs the grace of God because everyone has offended God (Robert Rayburn). People are judged on the revelation that they have received, thus, the greater the revelation the greater the responsibility (Luke 12:48). People can obtain a knowledge that God exists and knowledge of some of his attributes simply from observation of themselves and the world around them (Ps.19:1; Acts 14:16-17; Rom. 1:19-20). Furthermore, the Bible (the Law) is not necessary for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws (Rom. 1: 32, 2:14-15) (Wayne Grudum). There are two types of revelation: General and Special
General (Universal) Revelation
God speaks to all people all places all the time. Thus God is just in punishing disobedience because he has revealed himself. It puts all under judgment for their response to the revelation that they have received. It gives opportunity for those who follow the revelations received Acts 10:1-7, Rom 2:7, 10; 10:15-18, but It is not sufficient for a saving knowledge of God. They must receive and believe God’s special revelation to come to saving faith (Mark Driscoll). General revelation-comes through observing nature, through seeing God’s directing influence in history, and through an inner sense of God’s existence and his laws that he has placed inside every person. General revelation is a great blessing for society because it prevents unchecked sin from destroying everyone: people have a sense that God exists and has some moral standards, and that they will somehow be held accountable. But they don’t have an answer to how to deal with their sin. Scripture nowhere indicates that people can know the gospel, or know the way of salvation, through general revelation. This gives great motivation for evangelism and missions (Grudum).
Special (Specific) Revelation Special revelation refers to God’s words addressed to specific people, such as the words of the Bible, the words of the OT prophets and NT apostles, and the words of God spoken in personal addresses like at Mt. Sinai. (Driscoll). It is God speaking in the person of Jesus John 1:1, 14, John 14:10, Heb 1: 3, through the Scripture Rom 3:1-2, 15:4; 2 Tim 3:16-18, and in some causes through other means such as dreams and visions Acts 2:17 (1 Thess 5:20-21, 1 John 4:1-3). (Grudum).
God does not regard ignorance of the nations in any disregard. God gave man the conscience of right and wrong, even though it is marred by sin. When pagan people do what is right even though they don’t have the law, it shows how they have a moral character that is divinely given to all humans by their creator. Evolutionists work hard to
show that we are tied to our animal ancestors to show that men are no different than an animal. We are not uniquely made but God, In doing so they can consider humans as not different then other creatures. Thus men has no moral responsibility to God. But the Bible says that mankind cannot escape being human created in the image of God and thus distinct from the animals. The law is written on their heart, so although they don’t have the full revelation of God in his word they have sufficient revelation to hold them accountable to God. No human being can escape the obligation of being human. Those who have not receive the precepts of God still sufficiently bear the marks of their creator. Man is not judged by God because of their belief, but because of their behavior Matt 3:8 (Allister Biggs). In all our understanding of human life we begin with this conscience, this inner moral faculty of judgment within us that stands apart from us and will condemn us when we violate what we know full well are universal and unchanging standards of right and wrong. The conscience can be seared, to be sure. Good can be called evil and evil good. But this conscience is never fully silenced and it remains as a basis of God’s just judgment of mankind. It is a reality to which Christians can testify as surely as non-Christians, an inner judge we share with all other human beings (Rayburn).
Restraining Patience For three transgressions of . . . , and for four, I will not revoke the punishment 1:3,6,9,11,13; 2:1 for outrage after outrage JB Phillips the recurring phrase, “for three sins…even for four” is an important reminder of the Lord’s mercy demonstrated in his patience. The punishment did not fall upon the first sin, or the second, or the third. There is no rush to judgment on God’s part. He waits until every opportunity for repentance has been extended. God’s face toward the world is one of mercy, until the world has too long shown itself uninterested in God or his holiness (JA Motyer). When Amos speaks in this way it is teaching us how God deals with people. He is saying God is a patient God. God does not primarily and immediately jump on sin. But God as it were in human terms looks down and says well that’s one and that’s another, but I won’t act just yet maybe there won’t be a third. Maybe they will come to repentance. But there is a point at which he says that’s enough. That is what Amos describes as the fourth sin. It is the point as which God’s patience runs out and God’s patience does run out Gen 6:3, Rom 1:24, 26, 28 One writer said “beware the anger of a patient man” Biggs. They had done multiple atrocities and were to be judged at last by God who had already been more than merciful (Boice).
Responsibility of God’s Creation
All people are to respond for the revelation of God that they have been given. The people of God must be willing not only to affirm that God will judge all sin and injustice, but that all humanity is created in the image of God and a sin against humanity is a sin against God. We are to be vigilant in prayer and vigorous in our actions to stop the injustice in the world. We must not sit back and do nothing but we must seek to do what we can do to be the salt and light in a world of horrendous inhuman atrocities. God governs all calamity and all disease and permits things for a reason and this does not mean that humanitarian attempts to alleviate or eradicate these things should be disregarded. We should not look at devastation and join the ranks of the indifferent, no, loving your neighbor is God’s will of command. These disasters that God ordains are not aimed at paralyzing his people with indifference, but mobilizing them with compassion. (Piper). Believers must stand up for justice, and like Amos, must speak out against injustice. We must be mobilized with compassion to rescue and redeem those who are perpetrating injustice and those who are experiencing inhuman unjust acts: abortion, human trafficking, enslavement, genocide, etc. (Joseph LoSardo).
Introduction of the Wrongdoer In the text are the oracles addressed to eight nations (Syria (Damascus), Philistia (Gaza), Tyre, Moab, Edom, Ammon, Israel, and Judah) Six of the eight are the nations bordering the Israelites, while the remaining two are the Israelite nations of Israel and Judah.
Indictment for Sin The sins of the nations are sins of which they are guilty and, they should know themselves guilty. The law of God is written on the heart of every man Rom 2:12-15. Men know in general, the obligations he bears to other human beings and he knows when he has failed to meet those obligations (Rayburn). The Lord” is the God of the whole world, each individual is equally responsible before him, not only Israel, but the pagan nations as well. Even though they have not received God’s blessing they are nevertheless responsible for their violations of the law of God implanted in every mind and conscience (Boice).
Judgement of the Pagan Nations 1:3-2:3, Judgement of the People of God 2:4-16
Oracles 1 v. 3 Tyrannical Behavior: The Nation of Syria (the main city is Damascus) Damascus . . . they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. They ran over the bodies in a field with farm equipment desired to thresh wheat.
Oracle 2 v. 6 Trafficking: The Nation of Philistia (Gaza is a leading city) Gaza. . . they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.
Oracle 3: v 9 Treaty breaking: The Nation of Tyre . . . Tyre they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. Tyre ‘s violated a treaty or covenant she made with Israel: a treaty of brotherhood
Oracle 4: v 11 Racism: The Nation of Edom . . . he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. Edomites were decedents of Esau. Israelites were dependents of Jacob (also known as Israel), Jacob and Esau had the same father Isaac, thus Edomites and Israelites where “brothers”. But Edom had long harbored animosity toward Israel and had often done worst things to Israel.
Oracle 5: v. 13 The Nation of Ammon Ammonites . . . they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. Ammon’s atrocities were committed against the vulnerable, fragile, and helpless pregnant women and their unborn children to enlarge their borders. They stepped on the weak to advantage themselves.
Oracle 6: Amos 2:1 The Nation of Moab. Moab . . . he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. There was a vicious hatred between Moab and Edom which explains the senseless and irrational spite that drags a corpse from its tomb and subjects it to brutal indignities. [Motyer]
Imparting of the Sentence
Syria 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the LORD.
Philistia 7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. 8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish," says the Lord GOD.
Tyre 10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds."
Edom 12 So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah." v.4 these pagan nations are not condemned by the Lord for their false worship, or their erroneous, even revolting religious beliefs and practices [Motyer, 37] but for their violations of the obligations they owed to other human beings.
Ammon 14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15 and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together." Rabbah is the most prominent city in Ammon thus everything is destroyed.
Moab 2:2 So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him. . . .
The Lion did roar and every one of those countries was shattered, multitudes were killed, many more were carried off into captivity as slaves to work for their Assyrian masters in some other part of the world. And, says Amos, the one absolutely incontestable fact is that they got what they deserved. So it is not only human sin and guilt but the reality of divine wrath that must be faced (Rayburn).
The purpose of the judgement on the nations is precisely to demonstrate that, as none of these nations will escape divine retribution for their sins, so Israel will be subject to the same judgment for her similar or greater sins, sins she committed against light and against privilege (Driver)
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