4“Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithe every three years.
5Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,”
declares the sovereign LORD.
6“I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
7“I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
8People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
9“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
I struck them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
10“I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the LORD.
12“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
13He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.
Original Meaning
ALTHOUGH AMOS DOES not record how his audience responded to his message about the destruction of Israel’s temples and altars in 3:14, one can assume that some of his listeners (if not the majority of them) do not appreciate or agree with his prophecy. How would you and I respond if someone announced that God was going to destroy our church or synagogue? We would probably object by telling that person all the good things that are happening at our holy place of worship. Likewise, the Israelites probably think it is unbelievable that God will actually destroy a temple where his people have been bringing sacrifices and tithes to honor him. Amos’s sermon in 4:4–13 seems an attempt to answer mental or spoken objections to this prospect.
This section has three interrelated paragraphs. First, the prophet sarcastically calls for more sinful worship at Israel’s temples (4:4–5), an obvious put-down of what has been happening in their “wonderful” worship services. He next gives a brief history lesson, describing how God brought a series of covenant curses on the people because they never truly turned to meet God in their worship (4:6–11). Finally, Amos thunders an ominous warning that the people should prepare themselves now, because God will soon come to meet them (4:12–13). If the people can reconceptualize worship from God’s perspective, they can begin to evaluate if they are truly turning to God in their worship.
A Sarcastic Call to Worship (4:4–5)
IN OTHER WORSHIP contexts the priests call God’s people to the sacred assemblies (Lev. 23:2, 4): “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise” (Ps. 100:4); “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD” (95:1); and, “Sing to the LORD a new song” (96:1). The prophet Joel calls out to the priests:
Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God. . . .
Declare a holy fast;
call a sacred assembly.
Summons the elders
and all who live in the land
to the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD. (Joel 1:13–14)
Amos follows this traditional pattern by mimicking a call to worship,1 but he twists it in dramatic ways by changing the vocabulary. He does not just encourage people to go to the temples in Bethel and Gilgal;2 in Amos 4:4a he sarcastically exhorts them to multiply their “rebellious acts” (pšʿ, NIV “sin . . . sin yet more”) of worship. This paradoxical statement reveals the value of the people’s useless praise. Their sacrifices do not bring forgiveness of sin but add to the people’s sinfulness before God.
Amos’s second encouragement (Amos 4:4b) mocks the people’s overemphasis on the repeated bringing of sacrifices (every morning) and tithes (every three days, not every “three years” as in NIV). Although God commanded the people to bring regular sacrifices for atonement of sins, for dedication of themselves to God, and for fellowship with God (Lev. 1–5), the normal practice was for families to bring their sacrifices once a year, not every day (1 Sam 1:3, 7, 21). In addition, Moses spoke of the tithe of the produce of the land being paid in the third year (Deut. 14:22, 28; 26:12), not every third day. Amos cynically urges them to continue their multitude of useless acts that will not appease God. He wants his audience to ask themselves whether God is primarily impressed with the number of religious acts his people do, or is it something else?
The third exhortation involves offering up or burning a thank offering of leavened bread (Amos 4:5). Although leavened bread was specifically forbidden in the instructions on some blood sacrifices (Ex. 23:18; 34:25; Lev. 2:11), the Levitical regulations did allow for thank offerings of leavened bread (Lev. 7:13), but there is no instruction to burn this bread.3 Thus, the problem Amos is pinpointing here relates to the pious person’s bragging about his or her thank and freewill gifts. Their motivation for sacrificing is a selfish desire to be seen by others. The prophet focuses on the Israelites’ love to boast about the greatness of their gifts. Their worship has little to do with glorifying God; they are far more concerned about honoring themselves.
Amos’s rhetorical twisting of this call to worship turns it into an accusation of sin. No one can miss the irony of his call to sin or his strong criticism of their motivations for worship. This kind of worship will not please God or keep him from destroying their temples and altars.
No One Turns to God, Even After Chastening (4:6–11)
THIS PARAGRAPH IS divided into five short sections by the concluding phrase, “ ‘yet you have not returned to me,’ declares the LORD” (4:6, 8, 9, 10, 11). By the repetition of this phrase, Amos hammers home the central message that the Israelites do not have a proper relationship with God. The paragraph is also unified by the recitation of five different curses God has already brought on the nation (no food, no rain, no crops, no life, and his overthrowing of them). These are the covenant curses God said he would bring on the nation if they disobeyed him (see Lev. 26; Deut. 27–28).4
These judgments can be understood in two ways. They are perhaps God’s punishment for the people’s unacceptable worship in Amos 4:4–5, or they may be seen as trials sent by him to humble the nation and encourage them to turn to God for help. Throughout these formulaic curses is the powerful theme that God himself is the One who brought all the natural disasters into Israel’s history to transform their lives. Amos’s repeated use of this pattern of “a curse, but no response” shows that the people are responsible for their own fate and thus deserving of God’s judgment.
The first three curses affected nature, while the last two fell directly on the people. (1) God gave the people “cleanness of teeth” (lit. trans. of the Heb. in Amos 4:6; see NIV note), which resulted in “empty stomachs” because of a nationwide famine (“in every city”). Although the date of this famine is unknown, it is probably one the audience has experienced and not the much earlier famine in the time of Elijah (1 Kings 17:1). God sent this disaster to bring the nation to its knees before him, but the people showed a stubborn unwillingness to turn to him. Turning from implies a change of direction and repentance, but the context suggests that Amos is simply describing a refusal to turn to God—no true worship of God. This is surprising, for one would think that in times of crisis people would naturally turn to God for help. Sure, they were going to the temple and repeating ritual, but God did not see any real heartfelt turning to him. A intimate personal relationship—the thing God desired most—was missing.
(2) One reason for this lack of food was God’s withholding the normal spring rain (February–April) so that the barley harvest in May and June was virtually nil (Amos 4:7–8). Although some fields received a little rain, others received nothing. The drought grew so bad that in desperation people traveled from one village to another looking for someone who still had fresh water in a deep well or even a little stagnant water at the bottom of a large cistern. They desperately needed water in order to stay alive. In spite of all this the people remained unmoved and did not turn to God. These punishments were intended to bring restoration and a revitalized relationship with God, but the Israelites failed to respond to this chastening.
(3) Another reason for the famine was that God sent hot winds and mildew on the grain crops, plus locusts on the family gardens, vineyards, and fruit trees (4:9). Leaves and branches turned a sickly yellow-brown, and what was left was eaten by insects. This was an enormous blow to the agricultural economy, which threatened the existence of many poor farmers. What would they eat, where would they get seed to plant for the next year, and how could they cook food and light their lamps if they had no oil? One would think that people would cry out to God for help in such circumstances, but Israel did not learn from these bitter experiences.
(4) God allowed the strong army of Israel to be defeated, killing many young men (Amos 4:10). He also brought plagues similar to those experienced by the Egyptians when Moses led the people out of bondage (Ex. 7–12), though Amos does not specify the exact nature of these plagues. The key factor to notice is that God is now treating his own people as he previously treated his enemy Egypt. The nation that fought against Israel in these wars is not identified, but a few years earlier King Hazael of Syria defeated Israel and killed many of her horses (2 Kings 13:7). Amos reminds the people of the stench of rotting horse flesh and the terrible loss of life that affected so many families. How could they forget these events and not learn from them? These were acts of God against his people, yet the people did not transform their lives and turn to God in true confession and worship. Israel’s stubborn unwillingness to change was almost unbelievable.
(5) In his final curse of this series Amos describes how God overthrew the people as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah (Amos 4:11). Yes, the Israelites are as evil and stubborn as Sodom was and deserve to be treated similarly. It is not clear what the word “overthrow” (also used in Deut. 29:23 concerning Sodom and Gomorrah) refers to. Some have suggested an earthquake,5 but the comparison may be a more general comment about the suddenness and completeness of both destructions.
Whatever the source of this disaster, Amos mentions that only a few survived; they were like smoldering sticks pulled out of a fire. Yet amazingly, they still did not turn to God. The way to grace was provided through each trial, but the people did not see these as opportunities to turn to the Lord. They ignored what he was doing in their lives, as well as the prophet’s theological interpretation of these events as God’s curses.
God Will Meet Israel with Judgment (4:12–13)
THIS SERMON COMES to a climax with a final warning that the people of Israel must “prepare to meet . . . God.” They can no longer avoid God because he is coming to meet them. In an almost oath-like formula (cf. 1 Kings 2:23) the Lord declares what he will do to them. His patience has ended, and he will no longer chasten them with additional curses in hopes of bringing them into a dynamic covenant relationship.
In earlier times the people prepared to meet God and to confirm the covenant on Mount Sinai by purifying themselves for three days (Ex. 19:11, 15, 17). They also prepared themselves before going into holy war (Josh. 3:5) and prepared for worship at the temple, where God’s glory dwelt (2 Chron. 30:19; 35:4). In this worship context Amos calls these unwilling and unresponsive people to prepare to enter the threatening divine presence of their holy God.
The hymnic fragment in Amos 4:13 describes this God as the Creator of the earth, the One who reveals his thoughts—whose judgment can turn day into night and whose name is “the LORD God Almighty.” This doxology6 celebrates the glorious power of Israel’s God. No one can stand upright before a God with this power or survive his almighty judgment. Amos may have quoted a popular hymn that the people regularly sang but never thought much about. Indeed, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
Bridging Contexts
TRUE WORSHIP. This message evaluates Israelite forms of worship at semipagan Israelite temples, but the focus of attention is on the nature of true worship, not on the forms of ancient Israelite worship (sacrifices or the presence of the golden calf at Bethel), which are different from our methods of worship. Amos challenges the nation’s view of worshiping God and claims it is inadequate, even sinful. The central principle that forms the basis of this critique is that their worship is not based on a personal relationship with God. Their worship is unacceptable because:
(1) People cannot please God in their worship simply by increasing the quantity of gifts or confessions (4:4);
(2) they cannot honor God with praise if they end up putting most of their attention on themselves (4:5);
(3) they cannot develop a relationship with God by ignoring his chastening or by being unwilling to turn to and depend on him in times of trouble (4:6–11); and
(4) it is necessary for everyone to begin preparing for the day when they will meet the Creator of the universe face to face (4:12–13).
Worship traditionally is defined as the act of attributing worth to something. When people worship God, they give him the praise and glory that is due the holy and sovereign King of the universe (Ps. 96:7–8; Rev. 5:12). Throughout the years God has provided his people with information on different ways of worshiping, and they have developed cultural variations (in liturgy, music, and ritual)7 that are meaningful to them.
Since some ancient Israelite and New Testament church worship was rejected by God (e.g., Isa. 1:10–15; Rom. 14:16–18; Heb. 12:28), we know that God finds certain attitudes and activities unacceptable. As D. Peterson says, “acceptable worship under both covenants is a matter of responding to God’s initiative in salvation and revelation, and doing so in the way that he requires.”8 This means that worthwhile acts of prayer, praise, or ritual must be directed toward God and not be something that just makes people feel good. Worship is based on a willful turning to God in dependence for salvation and daily life. It gives glory to him through continual steadfast devotion of the heart rather than frequent performance of external obligations. Worship may “be judged by the degree in which it leads to Holiness”9 and a relationship to God.
Looking at examples of worship in Israel’s past history, we find a stark difference between true worship and what the people in Amos’s audience are doing. Abraham worshiped after God appeared to him (Gen. 12:7–8), Jacob made an oath of devotion to God after he saw a vision of God in a dream (28:12–22), and Moses bowed his head to the ground when God spoke to him from the burning bush (Ex. 3:1–6). The Hebrews worshiped God at the desert tabernacle and the Jerusalem temple, where God’s glory dwelt (Ex. 40:34; 1 Kings 8:10–11). In each case, worship was a humble response to the presence of Israel’s holy God.
Worship does not gain something that people can earn from God; it is a loving response to what God has already freely given. Amos’s audience does not please God since they are indifferent to his presence (they do not turn to him), nor are they focused on what he is doing. Even when God reveals his presence through several chastenings, they do not recognize his hand at work in their lives or submit to his will.
Biblical history includes comparable situations where God confronted a group unwilling to worship him appropriately. The people of Sodom ignored God, the Canaanites refused to turn to him, and the nation of Judah strayed far from him (Amos 2:4–5). All of these groups eventually had to face God and submit to his powerful judgment.
Israel’s prophets held the same expectation for future nations unwilling to turn to God (Isa. 24–27; Dan. 7–8). When God comes to this earth in power and glory, some will be prepared to meet the sovereign King of the universe and others will not. Those who worship God in Spirit and truth will bow before him and enjoy his kingdom, while others will be destroyed (Zech. 14; Rev. 19). Someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess God’s praise (Isa. 45:23; Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10–11). In the end God’s people will give him praise while those who hate him will be put to shame (Isa. 45:24–25). There is no other way, so each individual and every people group need to prepare for the day they meet the Lord face to face.
Contemporary Significance
HOW CAN THIS passage have an impact on the daily private worship of individual believers in the church? What principles need to be observed by those who plan and direct church worship each week? How can a believer use this passage to evaluate worship in order to discover if it is pleasing to God? One must realize, of course, that this passage is not a complete systematic treatment of worship or a full list of things to do or not to do. Nevertheless, it does give practical guidelines that can help the church and its leaders focus on what God sees as important.
Avoiding cultural stumbling blocks. We must first be careful not to get distracted by the Hebrew forms of worship that are so different from modern worship practices. We no longer offer burnt offerings or thank offerings with leavened bread in churches today (Amos 4:4–5), but we do have a variety of symbolic rituals that represent spiritual truths. Our prayers, songs, liturgies, and repeated acts can become just as dead as the meaningless offerings that some offered in Israel.
The interpreter must also beware of focusing on issues not raised by Amos. For example, the prophet does not mention the golden calf at the temple in Bethel in this sermon. Rather, he focuses attention primarily on the people’s misunderstanding of the nature of true worship. This does not mean that Amos approves of the golden calf; it just means that the prophet chooses to challenge the people on a different level.
In modern terms this is comparable to talking to a Catholic friend about worship without getting involved with an argument over her view of Communion. Maybe I do not agree with her theological interpretation of Communion, but I can choose to discuss worship based on her relationship with God rather than her understanding of ritual practices. Either approach is legitimate, but it is important that one not read into or add arguments that are not a part of the reasoning of the text. It is vital that believers today learn to discuss theological differences on several levels. Thus, I may get further in dealing with the spiritual life of my neighbor by focusing on her view of the death and resurrection of Christ rather than by bringing up the touchy issue of her interpretation of the Eucharist.
Amos also does not condemn sacrifice as a meaningless way of worshiping God. He assumes that this is a good way of relating to God, even though he is aware that some misconceive the nature and meaning of rituals or do not perceive how this ritual symbolizes the nature of their relationship to God. Nevertheless, worship should not just “be identified with a special sense of the presence of God,”10 as if its essence is associated solely with a feeling or with a prescribed experience one has. Such definitions can lead to deceptive subjective feelings that are self-defined rather than biblically defined and can lead people to make claims that are exclusive of other legitimate expressions.
In spite of this caution, worship is experiential in nature because it engages the worshiper in a relationship with God. This relationship is based on his self-revelation in words through Scripture and in deeds through a person’s encounter with God. The natural response of a believer to the glorious and fearful presence of a holy and all-powerful God is humble submission, reverence, and praise. This is part of what Amos has in mind when he talks about “turning to God.” If people are self-centered or unwilling to turn to God (Amos 4:6–11), worship is missing.
Evaluating our worship. What impact should Amos’s warnings have on worship services in churches today? Worship leaders should first evaluate what is happening in their churches to discover if true worship or sinful rebellion (4:4) is taking place. These contrasting alternatives provide an intimidating challenge that discourages careful analysis because God provides no in-between option. Worship is either good and honoring to God or it is sinful. If we are honest with ourselves, many would have to admit that they have been in worship services where they are preoccupied with other things and not focused on worshiping God, attended church with unconfessed sin, spoken words of praise without any real meaning behind them, or gotten involved in leading worship for personal recognition.
Although most people tend to look at such situations as inappropriate or unfortunate, we usually do not emphasize them as sin and rebellion against God. Maybe I have lived a sheltered life, but I seldom hear anyone confess the sin of not truly worshiping God when they go to church. In contrast, when the prophet Malachi observes useless ritual that does not honor God, he challenges the spiritual leaders to close the temple rather than continue unacceptable worship (Mal. 1:5–10). Jesus himself condemns the hypocritical Pharisees who love to stand in the synagogue or on the street corner to gain attention to themselves when they pray to God (Matt. 6:5–7). Maybe it is time for churches to be more concerned about the quality of their worship and less focused on the particular style that each age group prefers.
Amos provides at least two criteria to help believers and worship leaders assess the quality of worship. (1) Do God’s people place special value in the quantity of worship acts or their frequent repetition, an attitude that can easily develop into an approach of trying to earn God’s favor (Amos 4:4)? (2) Do people love those acts of worship that draw attention to themselves or display their piety before others (4:5)?
These criteria should not be just used as negative factors that condemn; they can also be positively employed to plan and encourage meaningful worship of God. Worship naturally involves doing the same kind of things week after week. Worship is a verb that describes what people do to honor God; it is not just a passive activity where people are entertained by performers.11 This repeated activity of honoring God takes place when people sing of his glory, rehearse his great deeds, and glorify his holy name.
But this activity of repeatedly doing similar things automatically raises two dangers. (1) First is the danger of vain repetitions. While there is nothing wrong with repeating a prayer or song if it is a meaningful expression of the heart, there is a strong possibility that too much of the same thing will result in habit-forming repetitions that are unconsciously mouthed because they are not fresh and full of dynamic significance. This suggests that one should not plan to sing the same worship chorus week after week. It also raises questions about the same liturgical phrases that so easily flow through the sanctuary. Certainly a new approach will require more work in preparation. This may shake up some people who thrive on the security of what is familiar, but the result may be some real mental involvement in the worship of God.
(2) A second danger is the subtle feeling that I myself have done something that deserves attention. If I have demonstrated my spirituality by doing something, God will reward my devotion and faithfulness to him. Although God does desire faithfulness, praising him is not a means for a person to gain his favor. The purpose of worship is not to earn points with God. Worship is focused outwardly to God and not inwardly on the worshiper. There is no place for declaring to others what we have done or how much we have given (4:5).
Why does God send troubles? When one hears about people losing their business in a tornado, farmers having their crops destroyed by a flood, or the burning of homes in a wild forest fire, it is hard to understand why these things happen. In the end, few people in the church today can ever fully know the reasons for these kinds of events. But Amos records five cases (Amos 4:6–11) where God himself planned and brought disasters on his people for a specific purpose. These verses emphasize that God was and still is sovereignly in control over nature (rain, wind, and heat), animals (locusts), and historical events (wars). These “natural disasters” are really “acts of God” that do not just happen by the chance blowing of high-pressure weather systems or accidental political mistakes.
Believers need to see the presence of God’s hand in the circumstances that surround them. This does not mean that every problem is caused by God, for Job 1–2 indicates that Satan is hard at work trying to tear down believers, and evil people have freedom to sin. Nevertheless, God can use evil deeds to bring glory to himself and growth in the hearts of his people. His purposes may sometimes be unknown, but his acts can be a means of bringing people to their knees.
In Amos’s case God brought these difficulties on the Israelites in order to cause them to turn from their sinful worship and come back to him (Amos 4:6–11). God wanted his people to approach their worship with a fresh vitality and turn to him for mercy and help. Since we usually do not know what God’s reasoning is in sending problems into people’s lives today, it is impossible to suggest that difficulties have come into a person’s life because of sin. Yet in spite of our limited knowledge, it is always appropriate for us to examine our lives and to turn to God for wisdom, strength, and grace. If we refuse to do so, he will probably deal with us in the same way he dealt with the Israelites.
If the church and its members are repeatedly unwilling to respond positively to God, he has only two options available: send another plague to wake us up and motivate us to turn to God, or give up on the possibility of change and bring judgment. The book of Jonah is an example of how God pursues a rebellious prophet to transform his behavior, while Romans 1:18–32 describes how God gives some people over to their evil desires and depraved minds because they purposely reject the revelation they have received. A stubborn unwillingness to listen to God will inevitably lead to judgment.
Preparing to meet God. Amos ends his sermon with the challenge to prepare to meet God. This is an issue the church cannot ignore, even if it makes people uncomfortable. Isaiah 45:23 predicts that “before me every knee will bow,” and Paul warned that “we will all stand before God’s judgment seat . . . each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:10, 12). Although the challenge is not often heard today, it is not inappropriate to ask if people are prepared to meet the almighty Creator and Judge of this world face to face (cf. Amos 4:12–13). Fire and brimstone preaching may be a thing of the past, but the facts remain the same. Everyone must prepare for that eventual meeting with the sovereign Creator of the universe, the King of kings.
On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached his most famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards was generally more pastoral in his sermons and was not one of the legendary hellfire preachers like George Whitefield; yet in this sermon he focused on the vengeance of God on a people unprepared to meet him. He claimed that “there is nothing that keeps men at any one moment out of hell, but the pleasure of God.”12 God has the power to throw rebellious sinners into hell, they deserve God’s divine justice, their sins condemn them, and God is angry at sinners. Thus, Edwards saw people on the brink of hell, walking over the pit of hell on a rotten cloth. Human wisdom gives no security, and many unprepared sinners will say:
No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself: I thought my scheme good; but it came upon me unexpectedly . . . death outwitted me. . . . O my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter.
Edwards called his audience to consider their dangerous position, the suffering that goes on in the fiery pit of hell, and the terrors of the wrath of an almighty Creator. This is what Jesus meant when he said in Matthew 25:31–32, 41:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another. . . . He will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
If Amos and Jesus accepted the task of warning people about their eternal destiny, should we not take on the responsibility of persuading people to evaluate whether they are ready to meet God? Our only hope is to prepare to face God before that fateful day, to repent of our sins, and throw ourselves on his mercy.
No anxious bride would go to her wedding without hours of careful thought and preparation for the wedding day. No serious politician would come to an election without months of campaigning so that victory will be possible. No successful business person would purchase a new company without weeks of examining the market for its products and due diligence in evaluating the company’s financial records. In everyday life people know that preparation is required in all aspects of life if one hopes to accomplish any significant goals.
People also know that the amount of preparation is directly tied to the importance of the decision. The higher the goal or the more important the person you are meeting, the greater the amount of money spent and the more one prepares. Certainly there can be no more important issue, no more powerful person, no more significant decision than the question of your eternal relationship to God.