For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
This lesson covers 5:1-17 (the first half of chapter 5)
- The fall of Israel is a kind of death; this requires a song of mourning (v.1).
- Israel is alone, desolate (v.2).
- Her population has been drastically reduced (v.3).
- Yet there is a glimmer of hope here (vv.4,6,14). The Lord urges them to seek him.
- Not that this will avert the national catastrophe, which is inevitable, ineluctable.
- The alternative to seeking Yahweh is to "seek Bethel" (v.5) --idolatry--the golden calf.
- Pilgrimage sites:
- Bethel 3x (Genesis 28:19, Jeremiah 11 (1 Kings 12:26-33)
- Gilgal 2x (Joshua 5:2-12)
- Beersheba 1x (Genesis 22:19, 26:23, 46:1-5: associated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, respectively)
- Where you "go to church" is important; not all choices are equal.
- Another word-play (v.5):
- Gilgal galoh yigleh
- Gilgal will surely go into exile.
- Justice is absent, therefore judgment will come (vv.7-9).
- Wormwood -- see Deuteronomy 29:18, Jeremiah 23:15, Lamentations 3:19, Amos 6:12
- Pleiades, Orion – dig at Canaanite astrology?
- Yahweh is able to bring back the primeval watery chaos.
- Israel has shut its ears.
- She hates those who speak the truth to her (v.10; see also Galatians 4:16).
- Oppressing the poor, her goal is to improve her own lifestyle (v.11-12; see Haggai 1:3ff).
- This is sin, pure and simple. Yet the public square is the place where God's people should demonstrate morality (v.15).
- Speaking out seems useless (v.13), though Amos will of course prophesy, since he has heard the lion's roar.
- She claims the Lord is with her, but she is deceived (v.14; see also Matthew 7:21-23).
- Yahweh wants to show grace (v.15), but his mercy is conditional on man's response.
- Conclusion
- Judgment is certain, and great mourning will be made (vv.16-17).
- The fire (v.6, also implicit in chapter 2) doesn’t just come from Yahweh; it is Yahweh!
Advanced
- Wormwood (v.7)-- see Deuteronomy 29:18, Jeremiah 23:15, Lamentations 3:19, Amos 6:12.
- The two constellations (v.8) are also mentioned in Job 38:31.
- About the gate (vv.10,12,15). Inside it were alcoves or actual rooms, which served in effect as courtrooms.
- Re: v.11, cut stone was a luxury introduced by Solomon (1 Kings 5:13-18, 7:1-12). It was not cheap, this involved quarrying, cutting, dressing, transporting.
- About the aphorism of v.13: 5:13: It's not referring to Amos, otherwise this would contradict 2:1-12, 3:3-8, 7:10-17. It may imply acquiescence to the judgment of God.
- "The remnant of Joseph" (v.15) refers to two of the largest tribes of Northern Israel, Ephraim (also occasionally used as another name for Israel) and Manasseh (which actually existed in two half-tribes). Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph's sons (Genesis 41:50-52).
- The chiasm of chapter 5
- Lamentation announcement (1-3)
- Admonition (4-6)
- Accusation (7)
- Accusation (10-13)
- Admonition (14-15)
- Lamentation announcement (16-17)