Amos 5:4 - Meaning and Application

This is a message from God to the house of Israel. He tells them where they have gone wrong, so they can see their need to repent and change. Then, when he calls them to return, they will not have to ask, “How should we return?” (Amos 5:12).

When we think seriously about our sins, we should see them as God sees them in his just judgment, and as he will see them on the great day. First, our sins are many. They are our many transgressions, sins of different kinds, repeated often. What a crowd of vain and evil thoughts live within us. What a crowd of foolish, sinful words we have spoken. In how many ways have we followed our corrupt desires and passions. And how many times have we failed to do what we knew was right. No one can fully understand his own errors, or count how often he offends. God knows exactly how many our sins are, and none of them escape his notice. We already know they are too many for us to count, more than the hairs on our head. That should show us what danger we have brought on ourselves, and how much repentance we owe, because of our many daily sins.

Second, some sins are very serious. They are mighty sins, sins made worse by their nature and by the boldness with which they are committed. These are sins against the light of nature, open crimes that are strong enough to silence our conscience and bring down judgment on us.

He then names some of these mighty sins. They corrupted the worship of God and turned to idols. They looked to Bethel, where one of the golden calves stood. They went to Gilgal, a place they chose for idols because it had once been made famous in Joshua’s day by God’s great works for his people. Beer-sheba, which had been famous in the days of the patriarchs, became another meeting place for idolatry. They even traveled there, though it lay far away in the land of Judah. After such shameful unfaithfulness to God, they should have felt deeply moved to return to him.

They also perverted justice among themselves. They turned justice into wormwood, making it bitter and hateful to God and man. Justice, when rightly carried out, is one of the greatest blessings. But nothing is more harmful, and nothing more hateful, than doing wrong while pretending to do right. The best thing, once corrupted, becomes the worst. They acted as if those who did wrong answered only to heaven, and not to the rulers and judges on earth. So it was like the days before the flood, when the earth was full of violence.

They were also very hard on the poor, making them even poorer. They trampled on the poor, crushed them down, and treated the humble as their footstool. They were harsh and brutal to those who were meek and submissive. They cared nothing about the shame and misery they brought on people from whom they could gain little. The judges wanted only to enrich themselves, so they took from the poor burdens of wheat, either as bribes or as interest taken by force. The poor had no way to keep from being crushed except by giving them loads of grain that should have fed their own families, and they were forced to do it. Some understand this as taking lawful debts of wheat, due for rent or for grain lent, but they exacted them with cruelty from people unable to pay because God’s providence had left them in need (Nehemiah 5:2, 5). Even when demanding a real debt, we must be careful not to act unjustly or without mercy.

This oppression is charged against them again. They afflicted the righteous by turning the law and the sword of justice against those who were innocent and quiet in the land. They hated people because they were more righteous than they were. Anyone who turned from evil became prey to them. They also took bribes from the rich, so they would support them in crushing the poor. Whoever had money in hand could be sure the judgment would go his way, no matter how bad his case was. In this way, they pushed the poor aside in the gate, where cases were heard, and took away their right. If the poor sued for justice, and could not bribe the judges, or would not bribe them even if they could, they were still turned away by an unjust sentence and could not reach what was due them. For that reason, the prudent kept quiet (Amos 5:13). When people are wronged and know that speaking up will do no good, they often think silence is the safest course.

They were also malicious persecutors of God’s faithful ministers and people. Their hearts were so set on doing evil that they could not bear reproof. They hated the one who rebuked in the gate, whether in the gate of the Lord’s house, in courts of justice, or in public places where wisdom calls out (Proverbs 1:21). Those who rebuke by office they hated, treating them as enemies because they told the truth, just as Ahab hated Micaiah. They not only despised such people, they wished harm on them. Those who hate correction love ruin.

They also hated the honest conduct of their upright neighbors. Though things were very corrupt, there were still some among them who spoke truthfully and took care with what they said. That was their honor, and it was the shame of those who spoke deceitfully. In that way, the upright condemned the wicked, just as Noah’s faith condemned the unbelief of the old world. Because of this, they detested them. They were such enemies of honesty that they could not stand the sight of an honest man. Anyone who cares about the good of human society will love and value those who speak truthfully, because truth is the bond that holds people together. What great folly and madness it is, then, when people cast justice out of their own hearts and want it driven out of the world too. That would turn mankind into a state of war. Yet that is what they did, hating the one who speaks uprightly. For this reason, the prudent will keep silent in that time (Amos 5:13).

The prophets cannot keep silent. They are under a strong inner impulse, so prudence cannot stop them. They must cry out and hold nothing back. But other wise and good people may keep silent, and even count that silence as wisdom, because the time is evil.

First, they may think it dangerous to complain, so they say nothing. One way the wicked oppressed the righteous was by twisting plain words and making people seem guilty for saying the wrong thing (Isaiah 19:21). So careful people, wise as serpents, had to watch every word. They did not know how their words might be twisted or used against them, and in such a time silence seemed safer. When times are corrupt, good people are often hidden, and good people are often quiet. That silence can be wise, because a little said is soon repaired. Yet it is a comfort that when they cannot speak freely to anyone else, they can still speak freely to God.

Second, they may think it useless to reprove others. They see the evil being done, and their hearts are stirred, as Paul’s was in Athens. Still, they judge it prudent not to protest openly, because it will do no good. People are tied to their idols, so let them alone. Do not keep arguing with everyone, or casting pearls before swine. Careful men may even say to a bold reprover what Erasmus said to Luther, "Go to your room and cry, 'Have mercy on me, Lord!'" Leave serious warnings and counsel for better people and better times. There is a time to keep silence as well as a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Evil times do not endure plain dealing, meaning evil people do not. When wise and good people think it is useless and unsafe to speak to them, those people have strong reason to see themselves as very evil indeed.

They are also warned of the danger they are in and the judgments their sins have brought near. First, the places of their idolatry will be ruined before anything else, Amos 5:5. Gilgal, the center of their idol worship, will go into exile, along with its inhabitants and its idols. Bethel, with its golden calf, will come to nothing. The conquering enemy will make quick work of it. It will be spoiled so completely that it will be left worthless. Idols have always been empty things, things of no value, and they will prove it when God rises to destroy them.

Second, the whole nation is in danger of being ruined with them, Amos 5:6. If they do not seek the Lord in time, he may break out like a fire in the house of Joseph and devour it. God is a righteous Judge, a consuming fire. Israel, as guilty men, is like dry straw before him. Woe to those who make themselves fuel for the fire of God’s anger. The text says there will be no one to quench it in Bethel. That was where their idols were, along with their idol priests. There they brought their sacrifices and offered their prayers. But when the fire of God’s judgment came, all the gods they served at Bethel would be helpless. They could not stop the judgment or give any relief under it. Those who make an idol of the world will find that it cannot protect them when God calls them to account for their false worship.

Third, what they gained by oppression and cheating will be taken away from them, Amos 5:11. They built houses of dressed stone, thinking they would last. But they will not live in them, because enemies will burn them, take them over, or carry them away into captivity. They planted pleasant vineyards and planned them carefully, expecting many enjoyable days there. But they will be forced to leave and will never drink the wine from them. The law had kindly allowed a man to go home from war if he had just built a house or planted a vineyard (Deuteronomy 20:5, 20:6). But now the need would be so urgent that this would no longer be allowed. All must go to battle, and many who had only recently built and planted would die in war, never enjoying what they had worked for. What is not honestly gained is unlikely to be long enjoyed.

They are also told their duty, and given strong reasons to do it with real earnestness. The duties here are devotion to God and fairness toward other people, serious prayer and honest dealing. Each duty is pressed on them with fitting reasons.

First, they are urged to be sincere and devoted in coming to God, Amos 5:4. God says to the house of Israel, "Seek me." And that makes sense, for should not a people seek their own God? (Isaiah 8:19) Where else should they go but to the One who protects them? Israel was a prince with God. Let his descendants seek the Lord, as he did, and they too will be blessed. To do this, they must turn away from their idols. God is not truly sought unless he is sought alone, because he will not share his place with rivals. "Seek the Lord, and do not seek Bethel" (Amos 5:5). Do not ask your idol shrines for guidance, and do not go to the priests of Bethel for help. Do not trust the golden calf there for protection, and do not bring your prayers and sacrifices there anymore, or to Gilgal. You would be throwing away your own mercy if you kept following those lies. Seek the Lord, and seek him earnestly (Amos 5:6, Amos 5:8). Ask after him. Ask him. Seek to know his will so you can follow it, and seek his favor as your true happiness.

To strengthen this call, we are told to think about what we gain by seeking God. It will be our life. If we find him, we will be happy in him. God says it plainly here, "Seek me, and you will live" (Amos 5:4). Those who seek dead gods will perish with them (Amos 5:5), but those who seek the living God will live with him. They will be saved from the deadly judgments threatened against them. Their nation will live and recover from its present weakness. Their souls will live, and they will be made holy, comforted, and blessed forever. They will live.

We are also told what kind of God he is, the one we are to seek, Amos 5:8, Amos 5:9. First, he is a God of almighty power. The idols were helpless things. They could do neither good nor evil, so it was foolish either to fear them or trust them. But the God of Israel does everything and can do anything, so we ought to seek him. He calls for our worship because all power is in his hand, and it is good for us to have him on our side. Several proofs of his power are then given from creation, where he made and rules the natural world. Compare Amos 4:13. The stars are the work of his hands. Those stars that the heathen worshiped (Amos 5:26), the stars of your god, are really God’s creatures and servants.

He made the seven stars and Orion, two striking groups of stars that Amos, a herdsman, likely watched while tending his cattle at night. God made them at the beginning, and he still keeps them in their place and order. He can also, as Job says, control the gentle influence of the Pleiades and Orion (Job 38:31; Job 9:9). Amos seems to point back to those early signs of God’s glory, before God was known as the God of Israel.

Second, the steady cycle of day and night is under God’s rule. He turns the dark night, like the shadow of death, into morning by causing the sun to rise. Then he makes the day grow dark again by setting the sun, and he can use that same power for humble sinners. He can quickly turn affliction and sorrow into peace and joy, and he can just as quickly turn the success of proud sinners into darkness, even total darkness.

Third, rain rises and falls according to his command. He calls the waters of the sea, and the sun draws up vapors from them. These gather into clouds and then fall on the earth to water it and make it fruitful. This was the blessing God had recently withheld from them (Amos 4:7), so they should have looked to him alone for it. The false gods of the nations could not send rain, and even the sky itself could not produce showers (Jeremiah 14:22). It is God who made all these things, and Jehovah is his name, the name by which the God of nature, the God of the whole earth, made himself known to Israel and entered into covenant with them.

As he is the God of almighty power, he also gives strength and power to his people who seek him. He renews the strength of those who have lost it, if they wait on him for it. So in Amos 5:9, he strengthens the weak against the strong so fully that the weak can come against the fortress and boldly attack those who had oppressed them. This is a strong encouragement to seek the Lord. If people do so, he can restore their situation when they have sunk to the lowest point. Though they are weak and their enemies are strong, if God is on their side, they will recover so well that next time they will be the attackers, and even the conquerors, taking the fortress back and making proper claims against their oppressors.

They are also urged to be honest and fair in their dealings with others, in Amos 5:14-15. The duty is plain: seek good, not evil. Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate, that is, restore justice where it had been pushed out (Amos 5:7). Things are not so bad that they cannot be improved if the right steps are taken. We should not despair of fixing wrongs and correcting abuses. Justice can still win where injustice has been ruling.

To do this, we must love what is good and seek it. We should love good principles and hold firmly to them. We should love doing good and do it often. We should love good people, good conversation, and good duties. Whatever good we do must come from love, from choice, and with delight. Those who love good will seek it. They will look for chances to do good and try to do as much as they can. They will also hate evil, loathe the idea of doing wrong, and avoid even the appearance of it. It is useless to claim that we seek God in worship if we do not seek good in our whole way of life.

The reasons given are clear. First, this is the sure path to our own happiness and to God’s continuing presence with us. Seek good and not evil, and you will live. You will escape the punishment that comes from the evil you have chosen, for righteousness delivers from death. You will also have God’s favor, which is your true life and better than life itself. You will have peace within, and your life will count for good. You will live, because the Lord God of hosts will be with you and will be your life. Those who stay in the path of duty have God with them as the God of hosts, the God of almighty power. He will be with you as you have said, that is, as you have boasted. You will truly have what you once only seemed to have and bragged about while you were still walking in wrongdoing. When people truly repent and reform, they begin to enjoy the comfort they had only imagined before. Or, if you have prayed for this, then live in a way that matches your prayers, and you will receive what you asked for.

Second, this is also the likeliest way to bring blessing to the nation. If you love and seek what is good, you may help save the land from ruin. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will show kindness to the remnant of Joseph, the small surviving part of the nation. Though only a remnant remains, if God is gracious to it, it can still grow into a great nation again. If some people turn from sin, especially if justice is restored in the gate, then, though we cannot be certain, there is strong reason to hope that public affairs will take a better turn and that everything will improve as people improve their lives. Promises for this life are often given with an “it may be so,” and our prayers should be made with the same humble spirit.