Structure

Each book of the Bible is presented to us as a whole unit, and since there is considerable variety in the way the books are structured and organised, for us to hear and understand the message of each book it is vital that we learn how to let each book present and communicate its structure and message.

The nine chapters of Amos fall into two parts. In the first six chapters, Amos challenges the religious hypocrisy of the rich and powerful, ‘the great and the (not-so) good’ in the northern kingdom of Israel. And in the second part, the last three chapters, we have a description of three different responses; first, Amos himself responds in intercession for the people, then the leading priest, Amaziah, forcefully rejects Amos, and then finally the Lord himself responds.

Today, I want to look at Amos’ first challenge. Amos starts by challenging the surrounding nations and exposing the violent way they treat each other. If you look at the Map

you can see that starting from Damascus in the north east he spirals in on God’s people sweeping clockwise around to the Philistines in the south and west, Tyre in the north and then around to Edom, Amon and Moab in the near East before focussing in first on the southern kingdom of Judah and then last of all, and most significantly on the northern kingdom of Israel.

Amos challenges the foreign nations for their violence, but he challenges God’s people for their disobedience to the Lord; ‘they have rejected the law of the Lord’ (2:4). Amos articulates this charge against the southern kingdom of Judah but then expounds it at length against the northern kingdom of Israel (2:6-16).

Read Amos 3:15 - Should disciples of Jesus own more than one house while many throughout the world are destitute & homeless?