Amos 6:1-14. Sorry this didn’t get out yesterday’, had a friend in spiritual need and spent the evening with them.  That is why I usually try to do this in the morning.  Chapter 6 contains the final part of the message we have been reading the last two days.  Yesterday we saw that there was a coming day of both blessing and judgment and that Israel should not think that they were immune from the judgment part of it.  In today’s part of the message Amos warns them that they will not need to wait for the Day of the LORD to learn that lesson.

As we have talked about before Zion is basically another name for Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Kingdom.  Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom.  So this warning is to both kingdoms.  The city of Samaria was actually on a hill which made it easier to defend during battles and it would be easy to feel extra secure there.  So these people are basically relaxed and feeling secure in life.  The word translated “distinguished” or “notable” means “appointed” theses men were probably self appointed and considered their nation the best in the world.  This points out an attitude of pride in these men.  And we see that everyone in Israel is coming to them for advice.  The problem is we have already seen that their nation is in a spiritual mess so their pride is misplaced.  This becomes clear in the next couple of verses.

Amos tells these leaders to take a look at three cities; Calneh, Hamath, and Gath.  In the ancient world often cities were independent countries; city-states.  Sometimes these city-states would be conquered by a larger empire and come under it’s control.  Calneh and Hamath were city-states in the area where Syria is today.  They came under the control of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  Gath was a city-state on the coast in the territory controlled by the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  Amos tells the leaders of Israel and Judah to check out theses cities and see if they were any better than Israel and Judah.  The answer was intended to be no.  The point Amos was trying to make is that these cities were not immune from being conquered and Israel and Judah were no better.  They were ignoring the reality that God judges nations (like these three city-states) and by ignoring God’s holiness and justice were speeding the day of their own judgment

Verses 4-7 return to the “leaders” and describe how they are laying around eating and partying.  Verse 7 warns that they will be the first to be taken away when an enemy comes and their party will come to an end.  Verses 8-11 continue the picture of conquest.  Not only will the “leading” citizens suffer in the invasion, houses great and small will be affected.  For some reason we see a picture of the people not even wanting to mention Yahweh’s name.  It could be that they were afraid to mention God, or ashamed, or didn’t believe he was there to care.  What ever the reason they were in trouble and felt they had no where to turn.

In a sense their fears were justified.  Verse 12 describes their life as a rocky path or rock filled field. Their so-called right living was producing (fruit) wormwood (a word which indicates bitterness).  Lo-debar means “nothingness”.  The nothing they were trusting in was their own strength and effort.  They felt that their conquests were the result of their own intelligence and power; they pride thing again.  But the real power of the universe was going to show himself to them, he was going to cause another nation to invade them.  They would experience trouble from Hamath (in the northern most part of the land) to the Arabah.  The Arabah is a great desert valley from the southern tip of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqabah, it represents the southern most part of the territory controlled by Judah.

This whole message is a reminder that no one is immune from god’s purity, holiness, and justice.  God’s character requires that evil be dealt with.  We need to be careful that we do not mistake his patience for inaction, absence, in inability.  On the other side though we must remember the words of Amos 5:4 however from the beginning of the message, “Seek Me that you may live.”  2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is delaying the punishment so that people have an opportunity to turn back to him.  There is a coming judgment we need to remember God now and turn to him.

God thank you for giving us all a chance to come to you.  Thank you for giving me a chance to come to you.  Help us not take your patience for granted.  Let us seek you today and live lives of appreciation today and everyday until you return.  Let me also be a source of mercy to those around me.  Help me care for them physically and spiritually.  Thank you for your patience, help me not waste it.