different nations that they're getting their comeuppance. And I can almost imagine, and maybe Isaac just has a weird and wild imagination, I realize, but I can almost imagine as Amos is delivering this prophecy that the Israelites are like, yeah, get them, yeah, get them, yeah. But then, as we go through, we're going to find that I think that changes a little bit. So, something to just, you know, an analogy or an idea as we start in on the book of Amos, something to think about as we go in. Now, I do have a few just general outlines. We are jumping into a new book of the Minor Prophets, and so I wanted to give you a couple of the key ideas, key points that are coming up. This is a general outline of the book. In the first two chapters, God's going to speak against nations. We're going to start out against the enemies of God's people, but ultimately by the end of chapter 2, he's even pronouncing judgment against Israel. In chapters 3 through 6, it'll be the continuation of that judgment against Israel. And then chapters 7 through 9 are going to be visions that the Lord showed to Amos. My expectation is we'll take approximately a chapter each Sunday as we go through this and break it down. Now, I say approximately because just like this Sunday, we're actually doing Amos chapter 1, 1 through 2 verse 3 because the chapter breaks are not inspired. They're put in there to make it nice and simple to be able to find things, to organize, etc. But I think that the first three verses of chapter 2 really fit with the first section as we dig into that. So in general, we're going to be dealing with about a chapter a week as we go through the book of Amos and find out what is it that God had to tell his people, his nation, Israel. Now, I started off this series of the Minor Prophets giving a little bit of a history of what was going on and where everybody was and timeframe. Bear in mind, this is, the book of Amos is going to be during the divided kingdom. So God's chosen people had left Egypt as slaves. They'd come to the promised land. They had conquered much of it. They had the period of the book of Judges in which everybody did what was right in their own eyes. Ultimately, they decided, we want a king. And so they got a king just like all the other nations. That was Saul. That was a terrible thing. They failed miserably, but God had a man. a young man by the name of David, that he selected and made into the king. And that ushered in the golden era. David was a great king. His son Solomon built the nation, built the temple. It was, like I said, the golden era, a wonderful time economically, spiritually, physically, all kinds of ways. And then things started to go downhill. After Solomon died, his son was not a very good ruler. In fact, Solomon started a lot of that because Solomon's heart was not fully devoted to God. He went the wrong way. After Solomon's death, the nation splits, and it divides into the northern tribes, ten tribes by the name of Israel, and the southern, it was two tribes, and they went by the name of Judah. Now, I'm going to be using the term Israel to refer both to the northern tribes and to the entire nation of God. And I know that can get confusing, so I'm going to try and designate which one I'm talking about. But be aware both of those are referred to as Israel throughout scripture. When the, after the nation divides, there are various periods in which things go well and things don't go well. In the southern kingdom, there are some good kings and some bad kings, but a few good kings. In the northern area of Israel, there are just wicked kings. Even though those kings are wicked doesn't mean that none of them were successful in expanding the kingdom and doing some good and even great things at times from a national standpoint. And that's actually where we're going to be when we get into the book of Amos. At the start of the book, it says, the words of Amos, who was among the shepherds from Tekoa, which he envisioned in visions concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. So this sets up the stage of when this is happening, what's going on. During this time frame, it was actually a pretty decent economic time for the northern tribes, for the nation of Israel. And yet we're going to find out that the prophecies indicate things are not going to be great. Now, who is Amos? Obviously, he's a prophet, but what do we know about him? Well, most of what we know comes from what I just read, chapter one, verse one, and chapter seven, verses 12 through 15. That's gonna give us most of the information that we'll have about Amos. So if you've got, hold a finger here and also look at chapter seven, verses 12 through 15. Now, at that point, Amos is in the midst of an interaction with the religious leaders. I'll just clue you into the context a little bit. And Amaziah is the high priest at that time. He is a priest in Bethel, and he is not a godly individual. We'll get to all of that eventually. But Amaziah says to Amos, Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "'A prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, "'for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. "'But the Lord took me from following the flock, "'and the Lord said to me, "'Go prophesy to my people Israel.'" So what do we know about Amos? Well, first of all, from verse one of chapter one, he is from Tekoa. And so I've got a map that'll show kind of the general area. If you would go to that slide, please. There we go. This kind of shows the general area of Israel and Judah. I know it might be a little bit small if you've got maps in the back of your Bible. That can also be very useful. But Amos, it says, is all the way down here towards the southern end, the bottom of the screen. That is Tekoa in Judah. And yet, in chapter 7, we hear that he is prophesying in Bethel, which is actually up in the northern section in the tribes of Israel. If you look between this long list of prophets and Jeremiah, there's Bethel right there, kind of the southern part of the northern tribes. I know that's a little strange to say, but that's where it appears that Amos was prophesying in that area of Bethel, but he's from Tekoa. Now it also tells us a few more things about who he was and what was going on. As I mentioned, it's in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the king of Israel. And so that makes him actually a contemporary by the kings of Jonah, which is who we just studied previously. So he is a prophet in about that same time frame. It says that it's two years before the earthquake. We don't know specifically which earthquake, but in Zechariah 14, verse five, it does kind of indicate that there was a major, massive earthquake that the people of Israel recognized and used as a point of chronology to know when things happened. And so he's giving a very specific time at which Amos was the prophet. Except, if you noticed in chapter seven, Amos says, I'm not a prophet. Like, that's not my trade. I wasn't like a religious leader. I'm not a great, eloquent individual. I'm not the prophet. I didn't go to school to be a prophet. My parents weren't prophets. I have nothing for this except for the fact that God called me to be a prophet. In fact, he tells us what his occupation was. In chapter one, he says that he was a sheep breeder. It is often translated as among the shepherds or he was a shepherd. The idea of that word is specifically that he was like an owner or manager. He wasn't like this little shepherd boy. He was an owner of the sheep and he was among the shepherds. That was kind of his occupation. But then when you get to chapter 7, it uses a different word there for shepherd, and it's actually a word that's only used in scripture here, and it comes from the word for cow. So there's sheep and there's cows. Now, we would call those shepherds and cowboys. Well, it appears that Amos kind of did both, that his occupation was multiple things. He took care of a variety of animals. Not only that, it also uses a term, technically the term means a stabber of sycamore figs. which I found interesting just because I thought it was neat. Now, the reason that it technically means that is the cultivation of that particular kind of fig. It's a sycamore fig, not a regular fig, so it's a different type of fruit. But the cultivation of that, in order to ripen it and get the best harvest, that somebody had to go out and actually kind of put slices or cut, stab the fruit to get it to ripen. And so that was just the process, and so the name, like I said, technically means a stabber of sycamore figs, but it's a cultivator, someone who took care of the figs in this grove. So we have an individual who took care of sheep, probably owned sheep, he took care of cows, and he took care of plants. This is just a regular layman who is active and doing a lot, not necessarily among the elites of extreme wealth because he was still having to do these. He wasn't paying everybody else to do it, but he was okay. We'll say middle class type of an idea is what it appears that he was a layman industrious, feared the Lord, but he was not a prophet by trade. That was not what he did or what his background was. He was an outsider from the religious elite, but we saw that when God called him, said, I want you to prophesy, I want you to be my prophet, what does Amos do? Do what? He obeys, right? He does it. When God tells him to go and do something, he does it. And so just, I mean, I realize I typically save my so what's towards the end, but what can we learn from Amos just from the get-go? You don't have to be a pastor. You don't have to be a Sunday school teacher. You don't have to be among the elites to be used by God. You simply have to be willing to serve him however, whenever, wherever, in whatever way God calls you. Do it. And if he wants you to serve him in a particular way, then do that. That's what Amos did. And so that's kind of the background, the basics of who Amos is, where he's from, a brief outline of what we know about him as a prophet. He was not schooled, he was not trained, he was not an eloquent big name until God said, I want you to prophesy. And so the book of Amos is simply a record of what God told Amos to do and to say. Looks like, it appears that he was a prophet for a short period of time and probably went back to being a herdsman and a cowboy and fig stabber and that was who he was. It doesn't give an indication that this went on for year after year after year for a long period of time. It was simply that he was obedient when God called him. Now that brings us to verse two. He said, well who said? Amos. These are the words of Amos, right? So Amos said, What's going on here? It's a fascinating verse. It's a very interesting way to introduce and to start off the book. Those are the words that Amos had to say. Well, it starts off with some imagery. The idea that the Lord roars from Zion is that God is, it's using an image like a lion. God is like this lion who is roaring out. But then it parallels that with his voice utters. So God is the one who is making the noise, he is the one who is speaking, he is the one who is going to give this information. But it starts off, he roars from Zion. Where's Zion? What is that? Jerusalem with God. Where is Zion? Zion is the name that is used in Scripture for where God dwells. It's where he puts his name. Now, there is a portion of Jerusalem that is referred to as Zion because God puts his name there and says, I will dwell with my people in this location. But it's also the way that this is phrased, the Lord roars from, can kind of indicate he speaks from heaven, he speaks from his presence, his throne, there you go. It's already started off with a poetic, picturesque expression. God is roaring as a lion from Zion, from his throne, from his dwelling, from his location. The idea is God is in authority. and he is letting this be known, he is proclaiming it. It's then paralleled by putting these two phrases together, from Jerusalem. Where is Jerusalem? That's the chosen capital city of the United Kingdom of Israel. Now, we just discussed that this is during the time of the divided kingdom. And so the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah each had their own capital city. And yet where is being referenced is where the temple it was. The only temple that God authorized to be constructed for His name, that's where He said that He would dwell with His people. The only capital city that He designated for His people, Jerusalem, that's where He's calling out or uttering from His voice, that's where this is coming from. And so right from the get-go, Amos is portraying this picture of the power, the authority, the rule of God, of Yahweh, that's the name that he uses here, of the Lord, and he is making this declaration not from where the nations say that he's going to rule, but from where God himself had said, I will rule from Zion. I will rule from Jerusalem. It follows that up by paralleling two more. And so this is just a really unique feature of the literature side, that it takes these two phrases and pairs them together to say kind of the same thing in two different ways. So he roars from Zion, his voice utters from Jerusalem. It's gonna do the same thing here in just a moment in the second set, in which it says, the shepherd's pasture grounds mourn, and the summit of Carmel dries up. What does that mean? What's that talking about? It's indicating that a drought's coming, that things are not going to be great. Now, I mentioned that during the time frame in which Amos was prophesying, the northern tribe was actually doing pretty well financially, physically, as a nation. They were not following the Lord at all, but Physically, things seem to be going well. Historically, this time is almost, though not quite, as good as the golden era of David and Solomon. It's a great time financially, fiscally, and yet, in fact, even the borders of the northern tribe of Israel had expanded under King Jeroboam, and yet, Amos here is letting it be known, hey, there's devastation coming. There's a drought. Pasture is very important to herds and to sheep, but that devastation is being promised in this first section. There it is. The shepherd's pasture ground mourns. It's not going to be able to produce and to support, which I found it interesting. Like, that's Amos' focus. That's his job. And yet he's seeing that the pasture land, where the herds and the cattle and the sheep and everything would be, that's going to mourn. It's not going to be in good condition. It's not going to be great. And then the second one, the summit of Carmel dries up. Now, if I say Carmel, what comes to your mind? Carmel? Okay, I get that one. I remember that myself. What about those of you who know the Old Testament? I think I heard it. Elijah, right? Elijah and the battle on Mount Carmel. It's the same location, but the thing that we don't often recognize or realize is that area was actually a very fertile farmland. It was where a lot of agriculture was able to take place. And the way that the land was, it had good moisture, it had good rains and harvest time and everything. It was just a good choice farmland. But we recognize that this is saying that it's going to dry up. The drought is coming. Now, if you remember from the Old Testament, previous to this, God had promised that when his people served him and obeyed him, he would send the rains at the right time, he would take care of the land, he would do all of those things, which means Amos, right from verse 2, is letting it be known that God is in charge and that this devastation is going to be coming from God. and that this is not the glorious golden era that people may think that it is. It's actually getting ready to be a time of judgment. This is two years before the earthquake. Like I said, it's a time of peace and prosperity. Things appear to be going well, but then we get into the specific prophecy that God gives. He's going to start off by saying, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of so-and-so and of four. Which I find a fascinating expression. That's going to be repeated for every single one of the nations. For three transgressions and for four. Which means we probably ought to understand what that means, what's going on there. When you see a phrase or a word or something repeated over and over again, probably a good indicator, hey, I ought to study this one out and figure out what's going on. So what does it mean, three transgressions in for four? Anybody? What you got? Yeah, go ahead, let's go. All right, I've got a ton of reasons that I'm upset with so and so. Well, do I have a literal ton, 2,000 pounds? No, it's an expression that you understand to mean I have lots of reasons. Let me tell you just one reason why I'm upset with, I'm not actually upset with anybody, so I can't give you one, but that's the idea that's going on here. It's a poetic expression in which it's letting it be known God has lots of reasons against this people, against this city or town or nation or whatever that he's going to be dealing with. And then it's gonna just give us one for most of these. When we get into next week, we're gonna see more than just one reason. And I think that that's significant, I think that that's important, and part of why it's structured the way that it is. But it's gonna start off, I have great cause against, well, the first one being Damascus. I have a lot of reasons to be upset with Damascus. Three of them. No, wait, four of them. I have a ton of issues with them. Let me tell you just one of them. And for that, He will not revoke its punishment. God's going to send punishment against each of these. Now, in each of these, God says that he has a lot of reasons that he could judge them, but he's only going to give one. And this word transgression, or sins, or depending on which translation you're using, whatever word that is used there, it's an interesting one because it's used of rebellion. It's used of when a covenant has been made between two peoples or between two nations. An example would be when a city owed a tribute to a king and they failed to pay that tribute. And really what's going on, what's being set up is the idea that God is in charge of everybody. He is the king. There's a term, if you ever are reading commentaries and stuff, Caesarean Lord. Caesarean, I can't even pronounce it, that's why I don't use some of those. Huh? Well, it's not sovereign, it's a type of treaty and a type of covenant that was made in that era in which a ruler who had power and authority made a covenant with a lower group. So if you think of like feudal lords in the Middle Ages, it's that kind of a thing where the king is in charge, but then he makes these agreements. I will protect you, I will take care of you, but you owe me tribute in X amount per year. What happens if that tributary does not pay? Well, the king gets upset, right? Yeah, the king can go in and deal with it. That's what's being set up here. That's what we're gonna see happen repeatedly throughout this section. The idea is that God is in charge, that he is the rightful ruler, he is the king, and these groups have rebelled against him. Wait a minute. I thought Israel was the covenant people of God. Why is it that God is holding these other nations responsible for a covenant, for a treaty? Did they ever make a treaty with him? Did they ever have a covenant with him? Like, why should God be just in holding them accountable? If it says, for these violations of our treaty, that's what transgression is, for three transgressions and for four, I will not revoke punishment, and then every single one of them follows that up with the idea that he will send fire upon something. So in all six of these, I will send fire upon That means God is promising to give judgment and destruction as that king whose tribute has not been received, he's gonna go in and clean things up. How could God possibly be just in that if they haven't made a covenant with him? You look like you've got enough. Well, not all of them, but basically, yeah. So why would God judge the Gentiles? That's your question? It's a good question. It's a valid question. It's one that we should ask ourselves. Where do they make a covenant with God? Genesis chapter nine. I think that this is very significant. So let's turn to it and take a look. What happens in the early parts of Genesis, along about six through 10 area? That's the flood, right? After Noah gets off the ark, God makes a covenant with all mankind. Genesis chapter nine and verse six, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man, and as for you, oh, in the image of God he made man. Jump on down then to No, I lost it. I think it's about 15, 16. 13, yeah, thank you, verse 13. I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come about when I bring a cloud over the earth, and that bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. So God has already made this covenant. Now, we often think of a covenant as an agreement between equals. That's not the only way in which that can be done. Like I said, you've got a king and a vassal, and the king makes this covenant. Hey, I'm not going to send worldwide destruction through a flood like I did before. and you cannot kill and execute, shed men's blood, just worthlessly undervalue or completely disregard human life. So that's the agreement. That's the context. And as we get into these six nations, each of the violations that are mentioned are the way that they treated people. how they disregarded man in the image of God. Most of the time it's going to be how they conducted war, but it's also going to include how they dealt with the unborn and how they responded to or addressed even dead bodies. It's fascinating what God is going to judge them for, but I think that it's going back to that idea that God has made a covenant with all mankind, expecting them to treat humanity as in the image of God. Not that they've had all of the law and the prophets and the agreements and everything that happened with Israel and with Judah, though when we get to those nations, we're gonna see that that is what God holds them accountable for. But in this first chapter of Amos, what we're gonna see God holding each of these six nations accountable for is how they dealt with their fellow man, how they treated humanity, how they treated people. We're gonna go move quickly through them. A lot of them are expressing ideas and concepts and there's a lot of history and there's a lot of background. I'm gonna try and move fairly quickly through each of these six. Not that I want to skip over anything, but I also don't wanna bore you with the history lessons and everything that's going on. So if that's something that you wanna dig into, I would definitely recommend studying each of these. But I'm gonna start off in verse three. So what we've looked at is kind of true of all of them. All six of these fit into that same idea and the same method and mode. But then he narrows it down and he speaks specifically to one. So verse 3 through 5. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus and four, I will not revoke its punishment because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. So I will send fire upon the house of Hazel and it will consume the citadels of Ben-Hadad I will break the gate bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Avon and him who holds the scepter from Beth Eden. So the people of Amran will go into go exiled to Kerr says the Lord. Okay, a lot going on there, like I said. First of all, if you'd go to the next slide, I've got a map of this region and this area. We're going to leave this one up so that you kind of get an idea of where stuff is. This first one, Damascus, is to the northeast. Damascus is part of where we would call Assyria. It's also, in this context, it's referred to as Aram. It's a nation that Israel had been at war with multiple times. I told you that right now, Jeroboam has expanded his territory. He takes a lot of it from the king of Damascus. And so they've been at war. They're not friends. So this is where that analogy that I started off with, like the ref, throwing the technical foul against your opponent, you're like, yeah, get him. Maybe it's just my mind, but I'm like, okay, the people of Israel, they hear this, they're like, all right, yeah, God's gonna judge Damascus. They need some judging. Look at what they did. See, at the time of Amos, these two nations would have been going back and forth at war, and the judgment that is against them is because of how they treated Gilead. Now, that is the area to the right on the screen. It's to the, which direction is that? East of the Jordan River. It's the Transjordan area. And it says that they treated them because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. This is painting the picture of like a threshing floor. You ever thresh wheat or you have that idea? What they would do is, Lay out the wheat and then they start beating it to break apart the the wheat from the husks So that they can then gather up the grain and and that was a normal way Well, he's using that picture of like not only did they go in and defeat Gilead But they like they just keep beating them and beating him and beating him with it says sharp iron the idea is like a flail that they're just relentlessly destroying Gilead They threshed them like wheat with iron rods. they conducted war against God's people. That's reason enough for God to judge a nation. And it appears that not only did they go in and just have war, but they continued it and just beat them down and beat them down. Not a very polite or kind way, not that you can conduct war politely, but not a good example of how war should be conducted. As a result, Verse 4 says that the king would be destroyed. I'm just summarizing it. Verse 4 says the king would be destroyed. Verse 5 says that the towns would be without defenses and that the nation would return to its founding, that they would go into exile back to Kur, which is where the people of Damascus had historically come from. Ultimately, we find that historically, Damascus was destroyed in 732 BC, and that's even recorded in scripture in 2 Kings 16, verses seven through nine. 2 Kings 16, seven through nine. So Damascus is prophesied against. They conducted war poorly, God is gonna judge them. Israel ought to hear this, be like, yeah, get them! Anyway, verse six, for thus says the Lord, or thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Gaza and for four, I will not revoke its punishment. Okay, who's Gaza? Well, it's to the southwest, another historic enemy. Typically, we think of the Philistines, right? You remember throughout the David and Goliath, David fights against a mighty, massive Philistine from Gath. It should be, yeah, down in this bottom left corner, Philistia. There were five major towns Yeah, five major towns in that area. We're actually gonna see all four of those listed. Gath is not listed. There's suspicion that it was already destroyed by this point. But this is a constant trouble to Israel throughout the time of the judges and during the time of the United Kingdom. Again, they hear this like, yeah, get them. I will not revoke, sorry, for three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke its punishment. Why? Because they deported an entire population to deliver it up to Edom. We'll deal with Edom here in a minute. Slavery, that's what this is. They're being judged because they're deporting, they're selling off to slavery these people. "'So I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza "'and it will consume her citadel. "'I will cut off the inhabitants of Ashdod "'and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon. "'I will even unleash my power upon Ekron.'" Those are four of those cities that make up the major part of Philistia. "'And the remnant of the Philistines will perish, "'says the Lord God.'" Each of these cities listed will be destroyed, and if you recall by the time of Christ, the Philistines, they're gone. They've been wiped out. That happens over a period of time, but God fulfills that promise. Now, Something interesting in this one, depending on what translation you've got, the final phrase, says the Lord God, it's probably printed a little bit differently. It'll have a capital L, lowercase o-r-d, and then capital G, capital O, capital D. Or you may have another translation that says the Sovereign Lord. Now typically, the name of God, Yahweh, is translated into English as capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's the normal way that we would see it. The lowercase, the capital L lowercase letters, is the translation of the word Adonai. It means lord or ruler, sovereign. the translation capital L, capital O, et cetera, is of God's name. Well, this one actually uses Adonai Yahweh. So they had to figure out a different way to put it in, and Amos is going to use this name for God 19 times. and it emphasizes that Yahweh is Lord, that Yahweh is sovereign, that he is the king, he is the one in charge. Throughout the rest of the Minor Prophets, you're only gonna find it five more times. So Amos is really emphasizing this aspect of who God is, that he is in charge, that he is the king. It is a title for God that emphasizes his right to rule. which sets up the whole picture that I mentioned earlier. Yes, sir? The what? What do you mean? I missed part of the question, I think. Okay. Okay, yeah, bring it to men's discipleship. I'll answer it then because I don't know what you're saying. So this title, this phrase for God, keep an eye out as you go through. It's just a fascinating way that Amos is going to let it be known God is in charge. He is the king. Verse 9. So far, we've been looking at enemies of Israel. Like I said, I could see them being excited about this, except the next one is Tyre. That's a trading partner. That's a friend. Like, wait a minute, this is where we get some economic benefit and some good things. Tyre is to the north, it's on the Mediterranean Sea. We often think of Tyre and Sidon as the two towns together. Well, they are two separate towns. And this judgment is against Tyre. It says, thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Tyre and for four I will not revoke its punishment because they delivered up an entire population to eat them. That sounds kind of familiar, right? Well, it doesn't stop there. And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. So I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre and it will consume her citadels. They did basically the same thing as Gaza, except this time there's also a violation of a covenant. Now we're not told specifically which one or how or what's going on, but I suspect that this is in regards to the agreement made between Solomon and Hiram. Solomon was the king. He made an agreement with the king of Tyre, who's named Hiram, in 1 Kings chapter five, and if you look specifically at verse 12, it talks about the fact that they have a brotherhood, or a covenant, or an agreement together that they would take care of one another and encourage one another, that they would have good trade, et cetera, and yet we find that they have violated that covenant. And so God is judging them because of that. Ultimately, historically, we find that Alexander the Great would take out the population in 332 BC, sending away as many as 30,000 slaves. And what was their violation? Well, they sent, they delivered up an entire population to Edom. Edom. That's actually the next one that we need to look at. Who is Edom? Well, they are to the southeast of Israel, so it's not on this map, it's a little bit further south than Moab, and they are the offspring of Esau, which means technically they are relatives of Israel. You can find out more about them in Genesis chapter 36, tells that the descendants of Esau are Edom. Jacob and Esau had been rivals, but ultimately, historically, they had made peace. It appears, however, that at some point in their history, Edom went back and decided to go after Israel, and they forgot that compassion. They forgot that they were relatives. And so, as a result, because of that, God says that he will not revoke its punishment because he pursued his brother with the sword while he stifled his compassion. His anger tore continually and he maintained his fury forever. So I will send fire upon Teman and it will consume the citadels of Borza." Again, two of the main cities of that area. And so God promises that they would also face God's judgment. Yes, ma'am. Timan is one of the cities. Timan is a city of the north, one of the strongholds, and Borzum is a city of the south part of the nation. I think that's what it is. It's the largest, the strongest, the main cities of that nation, and so the expression is encompassing the entire nation, saying that they are all going to be judged. Ultimately, we see that they will fall to Assyria and become a wasteland. Edom's going to come up repeatedly in the book of Obadiah when we get to that, as well as in Malachi. So we'll see Edom pop up again, but God promises judgment against them. Was there another question over here? Good to go? All right. Next one, Ammon. Ammon is straight to the east. They are listed out up here on the map. Who is Ammon? We're gonna get a little bit PG-13 here, just FYI. Telling you what the Bible says, but Ammon was from an incestuous relationship between Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and his younger daughter. That's recorded in Genesis chapter 19. They're going to be judged because, quote, they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their borders. So, like I said, Scripture isn't always PG. I'm going to tell you what it says, though. That's what's happening. The Lord says, for three transgressions of the sons of Ammon and for four, I will not revoke its punishment because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their borders. So I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabba and it will consume her citadels amid war cries on the day of battle and a storm on the day of tempest. Their king will go into exile. He and his princes together, says the Lord. because they ripped open pregnant women of Gilead. We already discussed where Gilead is. Side note, the murder of unborn babies for personal gain is an abomination to the Lord. It will be judged. That's what it says. So what's going on? God does not view that well. They're unborn babies. in the womb and being destroyed, and God will judge that. Ultimately, we see that, again, in 734 BC, Assyria will come and conquer this nation and fulfill the prophecy. Notice the way that the severity of it is pictured. Amid war cries on the day of battle and a storm on the day of tempest, This is not a gentle rebuke. This is a full out destruction that God promises against the people of Ammon. What about Moab? The last one that we're gonna look at today, this is to the south of Ammon, it's north of Edom, it's east of the Dead Sea, it's listed out up here. This is the half-brother of Ammon. So same situation in Genesis chapter 19 with the older daughter. And in verse one of chapter two it says, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Moab and for four, I will not revoke its punishment. "'because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime. "'So I will send fire upon Moab "'and it will consume the citadels of Kirov "'and Moab will die amid Ptolemaunt "'with war cries and the sound of a trumpet. "'I will also cut off the judges from her midst "'and slay all her princes with him,' says the Lord." The desecration of the body of a king was a pointless act of abuse and defiance. It may seem a little bit odd in our mindset. Why would God care about them burning the bones? Like, what's going on there? And yet, a couple of things that we need to be aware of. For one thing, God has said that people are important to him. And this is a desecration of, yeah, it's a dead body, but a body of an individual. It's also a pointless act, and in that era, in their mindset, this was an atrocious act because it's being conducted against the king or the representative of the people as an expression of a desire to just wipe them all out. And so this is a very disrespectful towards a people act. As a result, the same fate that was prophesied against Ammon would happen to Moab. So up to this point, all of the prophecies have been against other nations. Nothing's been said about Judah or Israel yet. So I could just see, again, this is just Isaac's imagination, but that they're sitting by and like, yeah, get them, God. Get after those guys. They're all terrible. They're all wicked. And they were, no doubt about it. But next week, we're going to turn our attention to what God has to say against Judah and Israel. See, they don't get off the hook just because they're God's chosen people. In fact, when we get to those nations, we're going to find that God holds them to a higher standard because they had a covenant relationship with God. He was their God. He had established them as a nation. He had promised them to be with them and they had rejected him. They had violated his rules, his ordinances. We're going to be getting into all of those. These nations were being held accountable because of how they treated their fellow man. Israel is going to be held accountable because of how they failed to live up to God's standards and violated his commands towards their fellow men. Really, the book of Amos is treated and thought of as a social justice-based book because it's how do people interact? How do people care for each other? And I hesitate to use that term social justice because of the connotations that are used in modern day, but the whole focus of Amos, God has expectations of how people ought to interact with one another. All mankind is to treat one another as made in the image of God as important. And these nations did not. And just one out of many, many violations has been listed. But then God's gonna turn his attention to Judah and Israel and the way that they treated their fellow Israelites, their fellow man. Not only did they mistreat them as creating the image of God, but also violated God's commands about how they were to treat slaves and the poor and their enemies and their friends and their neighbors and all of those things. And so in the upcoming weeks, we're gonna see how that God judges his own people for failing to live up to his expectations. But what should we take away from this morning, from what we've looked at so far? Well, I think there are several. I've got five listed out. Number one, I think that we should recognize that God is ruler over all people. He's not just the God of Israel. He's not just the God of this one small nation. No, He is in charge of everything. He is the King, He is the Sovereign, He is the Lord over all. Which brings us to number two, God will judge all. Even if it takes a while, his justice will come. So he promises that judgment will come against these six nations who, you notice, surrounded Israel. All around Israel is being judged, but Israel is also going to be judged, we'll see in the upcoming weeks. God's justice will come. It may take time in our mindset, but it will happen. I also have to point us back to something that we talked about last week. In Jeremiah 18, verses 7 and 8, it lets us know that God announces his judgment against a nation, but then he always gives them an opportunity for repentance. But one thing that we notice in these He doesn't say, hey, you missed the boat once or twice or three times. He lists out. He gives this expression over and over and over again. You have violated and therefore I will judge. Does that mean that there is no opportunity for repentance? No. When we know who God is and the way that he works, we recognize that God gives individuals repentance opportunities time and time again because he is patient and long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the time was up for these nations, and as a nation, each one would be judged and ultimately would be destroyed. For most of them, that judgment was only a few years later. Amos is approximately 760 BC. About half of the ones that I listed are going to be gone within 30 to 40 years. God's judgment will pour out on them. And that does include Israel itself. We'll get to that in future weeks. All of these nations, all of these people fall under the category of Gentiles. One thing that we need to remember or be aware of, Christ came to save the Gentiles. You remember when we went through the book of Mark, Jesus didn't just stay in Israel, he traveled around, right? He went to Tyre and Sidon. He circled the outside of the Sea of Galilee, which was where some of these groups and nations were. He sends his disciples out into these populations. Where does Paul go when he receives the message of Christ? He's on his way to Damascus. He's on the road to Damascus. I find it fascinating. Each of these nations were ones that Christ came to save. Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God to all of these nations. The kingdom of God, the fact that God is ruler and in charge and that we need to submit to him. That's the goal throughout all of this. That's what these nations have failed to submit to God's ultimate authority, and thus God is sending judgment. And yet, even still, God offers mercy to the individuals by sending his son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for their sins. Number five, ultimately, we see that God's right to rule is guaranteed. The only question is, will we submit? Will we submit individually? Will we submit as a nation? Now, you know I don't get into politics too much. We've had lots of discussions. It came up during prayer time, it came up during Sunday school. We as a nation need to submit to the Lord. But where does that start? That starts with the people of God. It starts with us. We who call ourselves Christians, do we submit to the ruler, to the power, to the authority of God? Or do we violate the covenant and do things our way? Do we mistreat other people even though they are created in the image of God? They are to be loved, they are loved by Him, they are to be loved by us. How do we handle those things? I started off with the example of cheering that the ref got after the other team. One of the things that's going to come up in the book of Amos is that they should not look forward to the destruction of others, nor should we. We shouldn't be excited that our opponents get negative things, but instead have the mind of Christ, have the attitude and the heart of God. So what? Well, I think thus far in the book of Amos, we've learned a little bit about who God is. And we ought to be reminded of the attitude and the heart that God has. Let's pray. Dearly Father, Lord, you are awesome and amazing, wonderful and glorious. The more that we know of you, the more we stand in awe of you. So Lord, thank you for the book of Amos, that we can see your power, your might, your authority, your justice, The Lord, we also recognize that you are merciful and kind, long suffering and gracious. So, Lord, we praise you for who you are, not who we might want you to be or think of you as, but who you truly are. You are God. You are Yahweh. So we praise you and we love you. We thank you for all that you do in Jesus name. Amen.