Amos 4 Study Notes: Israel Refuses to Return
Amos condemns the wealthy women of Samaria for oppressing the poor and mocks Israel's showy worship at Bethel and Gilgal. God recounts five disasters He sent to call Israel back, yet each time they refused, so He summons them to face Him, the Creator of all.
General
What is the LORD doing in 4:4-5 when He urges Israel to come to Bethel and Gilgal with sacrifices and tithes?
Answer: Exposing their eager worship there as only adding to their rebellion
The invitation is bitter irony. The LORD tells Israel to head to Bethel and sin, and to Gilgal and rebel all the more, bringing sacrifices each morning, tithes every third day, and loudly announcing their freewill gifts, because this is what they love to do (4:4-5). Their worship was busy and showy, but it pleased themselves, not God. Bethel was where Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, had set up one of his golden calves (1 Kings 12:28-29). Hosea likewise warns against going to Gilgal (Hosea 4:15), and Amos soon tells Israel not to seek Bethel or Gilgal at all (5:5).
- Amos 4:4-5 (BSB)““Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD.”The LORD ironically invites Israel to its favorite shrines to keep sinning.
- 1 Kings 12:28-29 (BSB)“After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.”Israel's first northern king set up a golden calf at Bethel, which explains why worship there was rebellion.
- Hosea 4:15 (BSB)“Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’”Hosea also warns Israel against journeying to Gilgal for worship.
- Amos 5:5 (BSB)“Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.”Amos later commands Israel to stop seeking these same sanctuaries.
Theological
What is the force of the LORD's summons to Bethel and Gilgal in 4:4-5?
Answer: Exposing their eager worship there as only adding to their rebellion
The summons is ironic: the LORD bids Israel go to Bethel to transgress and to Gilgal to multiply rebellion, with daily sacrifices, tithes every third day, leavened thank offerings, and well-publicized freewill offerings, since this is what they love (4:4-5). Their zeal for ritual did not reconcile them to God; it compounded their guilt. Bethel was the site of one of the golden calves set up by Jeroboam, the northern kingdom's first king (1 Kings 12:28-29), and both Hosea and Amos warn the people away from these sanctuaries (Hosea 4:15; Amos 5:5). Religion that serves the worshiper's self-image is rebellion, however frequent its offerings.
- Amos 4:4-5 (BSB)““Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD.”The LORD ironically invites Israel to its favorite shrines to keep sinning.
- 1 Kings 12:28-29 (BSB)“After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.”Israel's first northern king set up a golden calf at Bethel, which explains why worship there was rebellion.
- Hosea 4:15 (BSB)“Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’”Hosea also warns Israel against journeying to Gilgal for worship.
- Amos 5:5 (BSB)“Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.”Amos later commands Israel to stop seeking these same sanctuaries.
General
In 4:1, what sin does Amos charge against the women of Samaria he calls cows of Bashan?
Answer: Crushing the needy while demanding drinks from their husbands
Amos addresses the wealthy women of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, as cows of Bashan. He charges them with mistreating the poor and needy while ordering their husbands to keep the drinks coming (4:1). Their comfort was paid for by the suffering of the weak. The Lord GOD swears by His own holiness that they will be dragged away through breaches in the city wall (4:2-3). Amos had already accused Israel of selling the needy (2:6), and Proverbs teaches that mistreating poor people insults the God who made them, and that the LORD Himself takes up the cause of the afflicted (Proverbs 14:31; 22:22-23).
- Amos 4:1 (BSB)“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.””Amos addresses the women of Samaria and names their sin against the poor.
- Amos 4:2-3 (BSB)“The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the LORD.”The Lord GOD swears by His holiness that these women will be hauled off into captivity.
- Amos 2:6 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.”Israel's earlier indictment already includes the selling of the righteous and the needy.
- Proverbs 14:31 (BSB)“Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.”Oppressing the poor is an offense against the God who made them, which is why Amos treats it so seriously.
- Proverbs 22:22-23 (BSB)“Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.”The LORD takes the side of the afflicted against their plunderers, as He does here against Samaria's women.
Theological
What is the specific indictment Amos brings in 4:1 against the women he names cows of Bashan?
Answer: Crushing the needy while demanding drinks from their husbands
The indictment of 4:1 targets the leading women of Samaria, styled cows of Bashan: they exploit the poor and trample the needy while commanding their husbands to supply more drink. Their luxury rests on the exploitation of the weak. The judgment is sealed by an oath on God's own holiness, with the women hauled away through breaches in the walls (4:2-3). This continues the charge already laid against Israel of selling the needy (2:6). Wisdom literature grounds the seriousness of the sin in creation and covenant: exploitation of the poor is an affront to their Maker, and the LORD Himself pleads the case of the afflicted (Proverbs 14:31; 22:22-23).
- Amos 4:1 (BSB)“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.””Amos addresses the women of Samaria and names their sin against the poor.
- Amos 4:2-3 (BSB)“The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the LORD.”The Lord GOD swears by His holiness that these women will be hauled off into captivity.
- Amos 2:6 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.”Israel's earlier indictment already includes the selling of the righteous and the needy.
- Proverbs 14:31 (BSB)“Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.”Oppressing the poor is an offense against the God who made them, which is why Amos treats it so seriously.
- Proverbs 22:22-23 (BSB)“Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.”The LORD takes the side of the afflicted against their plunderers, as He does here against Samaria's women.
General
What does the description of God in 4:13 add to the warning of 4:12?
Answer: The God Israel must face is the Creator who rules all the earth
The God Israel must meet is described as the one who shapes the mountains, makes the wind, makes known His thoughts to people, turns morning into darkness, and walks on the high places of the world, and the verse ends by naming Him as the LORD, the God of Hosts, that is, the God who commands the armies of heaven (4:13). No one can hide from the Maker of everything. Amos repeats such praises of God's power in 5:8 and 9:5-6, and Jeremiah likewise praises the LORD who made the earth and brings out the wind (Jeremiah 10:12-13).
- Amos 4:13 (BSB)“For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.””Amos names the God Israel must meet as Creator and Lord of Hosts.
- Amos 5:8 (BSB)“He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—”A similar hymn praises the LORD as Maker of the stars and Lord of the sea.
- Amos 9:5-6 (BSB)“The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt— He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is His name.”Another hymn in Amos praises the LORD whose touch melts the land and who commands the waters.
- Jeremiah 10:12-13 (BSB)“The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.”Jeremiah also grounds the LORD's supremacy in His work as Maker of earth and wind.
Theological
What is the function of the doxology in 4:13 following the summons of 4:12?
Answer: The God Israel must face is the Creator who rules all the earth
The hymn of praise in 4:13 identifies the Judge Israel must meet: the one who forms mountains, creates the wind, makes His mind known to people, darkens the morning, and treads the earth's heights, named in closing as the LORD, the God of Hosts. The Creator's universal dominion makes the summons inescapable. Similar hymns punctuate Amos at 5:8 and 9:5-6, and Jeremiah grounds the LORD's supremacy in the same creative power (Jeremiah 10:12-13).
- Amos 4:13 (BSB)“For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.””Amos names the God Israel must meet as Creator and Lord of Hosts.
- Amos 5:8 (BSB)“He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—”A similar hymn praises the LORD as Maker of the stars and Lord of the sea.
- Amos 9:5-6 (BSB)“The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt— He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is His name.”Another hymn in Amos praises the LORD whose touch melts the land and who commands the waters.
- Jeremiah 10:12-13 (BSB)“The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.”Jeremiah also grounds the LORD's supremacy in His work as Maker of earth and wind.
General
In 4:6-11, how does each of the five disasters the LORD describes end?
Answer: Even so, Israel still did not come back to Him
The LORD lists five hardships He sent: hunger in every town, drought with rain given to some towns and withheld from others, blight and locusts on gardens and trees, plagues and the sword as in Egypt long before, and an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah that left some barely rescued. After each comes the same sad verdict: still they did not turn back to Him (4:6-11). The Law had warned that if Israel would not accept God's correction, He would send further blows such as the sword, plague, and shortage of bread (Leviticus 26:23-26). Isaiah and Jeremiah describe the same stubbornness: the people were struck yet refused to repent (Isaiah 9:13; Jeremiah 5:3). Hardship alone did not soften their hearts.
- Amos 4:6 (BSB)““I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.”The first disaster, famine, ends with the refrain that Israel did not return.
- Amos 4:11 (BSB)““Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.”The fifth disaster, an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah, ends with the same refrain.
- Leviticus 26:23-26 (BSB)“And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.”The Law warned that refusing God's discipline would bring further blows such as sword, plague, and shortage of bread.
- Isaiah 9:13 (BSB)“But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.”Isaiah records the same refusal to turn back to the God who struck them.
- Jeremiah 5:3 (BSB)“O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.”Jeremiah describes people struck by God who still refused correction and repentance.
Theological
What refrain closes each of the five disciplinary judgments recounted in 4:6-11?
Answer: Even so, Israel still did not come back to Him
Five times the LORD recounts a covenant chastisement: famine, drought distributed city by city, blight and locusts, Egypt-like plagues with the sword, and an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah from which some were snatched like a burning stick. Each closes with the same lament that Israel still would not come back to Him (4:6-11). They match the covenant warnings of Leviticus 26, which threatened escalating discipline, including sword, plague, and want of bread, when Israel refused correction (Leviticus 26:23-26). Isaiah and Jeremiah record the same hardness (Isaiah 9:13; Jeremiah 5:3). The refrain shows that affliction by itself does not produce repentance; the heart left to itself grows harder, and only God's grace turns it.
- Amos 4:6 (BSB)““I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.”The first disaster, famine, ends with the refrain that Israel did not return.
- Amos 4:11 (BSB)““Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.”The fifth disaster, an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah, ends with the same refrain.
- Leviticus 26:23-26 (BSB)“And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.”The Law warned that refusing God's discipline would bring further blows such as sword, plague, and shortage of bread.
- Isaiah 9:13 (BSB)“But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.”Isaiah records the same refusal to turn back to the God who struck them.
- Jeremiah 5:3 (BSB)“O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.”Jeremiah describes people struck by God who still refused correction and repentance.
General
True or False: In 4:6-11 the famine, drought, crop failure, plague, and overthrow are presented as the LORD's own deeds rather than as chance events.
Answer: True
This is true. Every disaster is described in the LORD's own first-person words: He afflicted, He held back the rain, He struck, He sent plagues, He overthrew (4:6-11). He even let rain fall on one town while keeping it from the next (4:7). Amos has already asked whether disaster can strike a city without the LORD causing it (3:6), and Isaiah and Lamentations say the same (Isaiah 45:7; Lamentations 3:37-38). God rules over hardship, yet the people remain fully responsible for refusing to turn, and the purpose of these blows was to call them back.
- Amos 4:7 (BSB)““I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.”The LORD says He gave rain to one city and held it back from another.
- Amos 3:6 (BSB)“If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?”Amos teaches that calamity in a city does not come apart from the LORD.
- Isaiah 45:7 (BSB)“I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.”The LORD claims both prosperity and calamity as His own work.
- Lamentations 3:37-38 (BSB)“Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?”Hardship as well as blessing is said to proceed from the Most High.
Theological
True or False: In 4:6-11 the LORD claims the famine, drought, blight, plague, and overthrow as His own acts, not as events outside His control.
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD speaks in the first person throughout: He afflicted the cities with hunger, withheld rain and directed it to one city and not another, struck with blight, sent plagues and the sword, and overthrew some like Sodom and Gomorrah (4:6-11; 4:7). Amos has already affirmed that calamity in a city comes from the LORD (3:6), and the same sovereignty over adversity is taught in Isaiah 45:7 and Lamentations 3:37-38. God's providence governs even calamity, while Israel remains culpable for its impenitence, and the evident aim of these chastisements was their return.
- Amos 4:7 (BSB)““I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.”The LORD says He gave rain to one city and held it back from another.
- Amos 3:6 (BSB)“If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?”Amos teaches that calamity in a city does not come apart from the LORD.
- Isaiah 45:7 (BSB)“I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.”The LORD claims both prosperity and calamity as His own work.
- Lamentations 3:37-38 (BSB)“Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?”Hardship as well as blessing is said to proceed from the Most High.
General
Because Israel refused to return after every warning, what does the LORD tell them in 4:12?
Answer: To get ready to come face to face with their God
Since none of the five warnings brought Israel back, the LORD says He will now act against them, and so they must get ready to meet their God (4:12). The next encounter would not be another warning but the LORD Himself coming as Judge. Paul warns that a hard, unrepentant heart stores up wrath against the day when God judges (Romans 2:4-5), and Hebrews warns how terrifying it is to come under the judgment of the God who lives (Hebrews 10:31).
- Amos 4:12 (BSB)““Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”After the five refusals, the LORD summons Israel to meet Him.
- Romans 2:4-5 (BSB)“Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”An unrepentant heart that ignores God's patience stores up wrath against the coming judgment.
- Hebrews 10:31 (BSB)“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”Meeting the living God as Judge is described as a fearful thing.
Theological
Following Israel's repeated impenitence, what summons does the LORD issue in 4:12?
Answer: To get ready to come face to face with their God
Because every chastisement failed to produce repentance, 4:12 turns from past discipline to direct encounter: the LORD will act, and Israel must ready itself to meet its God. The covenant Lord who had sent warnings now comes in person as Judge. Paul describes the same logic: despising God's kindness and patience with an impenitent heart stores up wrath against the coming judgment (Romans 2:4-5), and Hebrews calls falling into the living God's hands a fearful thing (Hebrews 10:31).
- Amos 4:12 (BSB)““Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”After the five refusals, the LORD summons Israel to meet Him.
- Romans 2:4-5 (BSB)“Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”An unrepentant heart that ignores God's patience stores up wrath against the coming judgment.
- Hebrews 10:31 (BSB)“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”Meeting the living God as Judge is described as a fearful thing.