Amos 5:19-27
Amos 5:19
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or
went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
The day of the LORD was not going to be one of
deliverance for them. It will be
like escaping from a ferocious lion and in the place of repose where they
thought they were safe was a bear who would produce the same effect of death.
Then God likens Israel to a person who goes to their house thinking they
have a place of refuge and then they lean against a wall and out of the wall
comes a poisonous snake and bites him and causes death.
No matter what they do, there will be no escape from the coming judgment
of God.
Amos 5:20
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light?
even very dark, and no brightness in it?
God now poses a question to them based upon what he just
told them concerning the day of the LORD being darkness and not light.
The God goes on to pose a second question emphasizing the fact that the
day of the LORD will not just be dark but it will be very dark and no light will
be in it at all. To be very dark is
as the night after the sun sets.
The darkness will be like the plague upon Egypt.
It was so dark that not a bit of light was present.
{22} And Moses stretched forth his
hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt
three days: {23} They saw not one
another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of
Israel had light in their dwellings.
(Exodus 10:22-23) Just
as the plague of darkness was against Ra the Sun god of the Egyptians, the day
of judgment will be against the false gods which the Israelites worshipped
proving they cannot do anything to stop it.
Amos 5:21
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell
in your solemn assemblies.
Since they had combined the worship of the true God with
the worship of the false gods, God now tells them that he despises and hates
their feasts because they were not being done in purity to him as the law
commanded. All their attempts to
appease God with their polluted feasts caused him to despise them.
Then God tells them that he will not smell the incense coming from their
polluted solemn assemblies as he warned them back in the book of Leviticus.
And I will make your cities waste,
and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of
your sweet odours. (Leviticus
26:31)
Amos 5:22
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat
offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of
your fat beasts.
They had brought the finest burnt offerings which was
supposed to symbolize complete dedication to God.
They brought the grain offerings which memorialized the great
deliverances in the past. They
brought the choicest animals for fellowship offerings.
No matter how choice the animals and how sincere they were in bringing
these offerings because they had idolatry and evil works in their hearts, God
would not accept them. Even if they
offered one of the larger animals allowed under the law as a peace offering, God
would not accept it which means there would be no peace between them and God,
instead there would be enmity.
Amos 5:23
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will
not hear the melody of thy
viols.
The ten tribes no doubt had the music and the hymns which
they sang in the temple at Jerusalem and it did not matter how biblical they
were God wanted them removed from his holy presence because they were not
singing those songs with a true and dedicated heart.
God also told them to remove the viols which would have been used to
describe all the instruments they used in worship because they were no doubt
used in the worship of the false gods.
God would not hear them no matter how they played them, their music
ministry was rejected. This is also
a warning to the modern church with all their full bands and praise teams which
shake the building and deafen people with their loud music.
Amos 5:24
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as
a mighty stream.
Judgment or a verdict of judgment will run through the
northern ten tribes as fast and vehemently as water which rolls down hill and
carries with it everything in its path like a tsunami approaching an island.
God wants the judges and magistrates to rule with equity and to bring
righteousness back into the land and that these things should be so strong that
they are like a rushing river and a mighty stream which cannot be stopped.
Amos 5:25
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the
wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Since they had continually
rebelled against God and rejected Him and Moses, His prophet, God had turned
away from them and gave them up, that is, He gave them up to their own ways.
Instead of worshipping God, they instead, turned to the false gods worshipped by
the heathen nations which surrounded them.
The children gather wood, and the fathers
kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough,
to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other
gods, that they may provoke me to anger. (Jeremiah 7:18) The stage was
already set for their adopting the false gods which they would embrace until the
time both Judah and Israel were carried away into captivity for their
disobedience. Amos 5:25 teaches us that even in the wilderness wanderings, they
were already steeped in the worship of the false gods. This is why God would not
allow anyone, except Caleb and Joshua, above the age of twenty to enter the
Promised Land. God did not want the generation which worshipped the false gods
to infect the Promised Land.
Amos 5:26
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun
your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Moloch was the god of the Ammonites and with them they
brought not only their worship of Moloch but they also brought with them a place
to worship Moloch like a small chapel or canopy where they could do their
sacrifices which also included the sacrifice of children.
Chiun may have been associated with the planet Saturn and they worshipped
the false deities associated with it.
These things were found in Mesopotamia from archaeology digs.
Acts 7:43 has a commentary on Amos 5:26.
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan,
figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
(Acts 7:43)
Moloch was a god of Venus which was worshipped by the
Ammonites and some other Semitic peoples. Remphan is believed to be the Assyrian
name for Saturn and is called Chiun in Amos 5:26. The feast of Saturnalia is
still celebrated to this day. In the face of all the miracles which God had
performed on their behalf, they rejected Him and instead took up the practice of
idolatry and all it did was lead them into captivity. Since they wanted these
false gods, God had allowed them to have them but there would be definite
consequences for their actions. One of the most frightening phrases in the
previous verse is “God turned and gave them up.” When God gives them up, there
is no chance for return. Wherefore God
also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to
dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (Romans 1:24)
God uses that term when dealing with Sodomites in
Romans 1. Then God promises that they would be judged for their actions by being
removed from the Land which God gave them. This means they lost the right to the
land which God gave them and that is why the modern nation of Israel is not a
true biblical nation, they had to steal and murder to take the land they are in
because God gave them up. It is even thought by some that the six pointed star
they tout is the star of Remphan. The six pointed star is one of the highest
signs in Satanism.
They call it the Star of David “Mogen David”
but David did not have a star because that would have been considered idolatry
as one who worshipped the hosts of Heaven which the surrounding heathen nations
did.
(from my commentary on Acts)
Amos 5:27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond
Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.