Amos 6:1 - Meaning and Application

The opening words of this chapter give the whole message of these verses, and they sound very strange to a vain world: “Woe to those who are at ease.” We are quick to say, “Happy are those who are at ease,” people who feel no trouble, fear no trouble, rest soft and warm, and take nothing seriously. We think those people are wise, because they enjoy life’s comforts and do not care how the world turns. We often think the people who take best care of their bodies are doing best for themselves. But here God warns against them, and the prophet explains both their ease and their woe.

First, the prophet describes their pride, false security, and love of pleasure, which would bring God’s judgment on them. They were vainly proud of their position, and they thought their standing would protect them from the judgments God had threatened. Those who lived in Zion, the strong and holy city of Jerusalem, trusted in it because it was a fortified city, the royal city of David, and the place of the temple, where God had set his name. They thought God’s sanctuary would be a safe shelter for them. People can still grow proud and careless because of church privileges and because they belong to Zion. Those who lived on the mountain of Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom, trusted in that city too. It was not a holy hill like Zion, but they treated it as their center of power, and perhaps even of religion. Both kingdoms also boasted that they belonged to Israel, the people chosen by God, the first of the nations, set apart to him.

These were the princes and rulers, the chief people of both kingdoms, the ones to whom the rest of Israel came for judgment. It is hard to be great and not become proud. Great nations and great people are tempted to overrate themselves and look down on others because they think they rise above them. To correct that pride, the prophet points them to cities they knew well, cities that had once been famous but were now ruined. He says, in effect, “Go to Calneh, Hamath, and Gath, and see what has become of them.” If those places, which were once great, have fallen, why should Judah and Israel think they are safe? The ruin of others should keep us from false confidence.

They also kept on in their evil ways because they acted as if they would never be called to account. They pushed the evil day, the day of reckoning, far away. They treated it as if it would never come, or as if it were so distant that it made no difference to them. Because they thought judgment was far off, they gave free rein to violence and oppression. They drew near to the seat of violence and joined themselves to the throne of iniquity, the place where wrong was made official and supported by law. Men often feel free to sin because they imagine judgment is far away. But they deceive themselves when they mock God in that way.

They also gave themselves over to every kind of bodily pleasure, verses 4 to 6. These Israelites were slaves to appetite. Their high rank should have made them examples of self-denial and self-control, but instead they used it to excuse their excess. They thought the money they gained by oppression and violence could pay for their pleasures, and they pushed the thought of judgment away so it would not disturb them. The things named here were not sinful in themselves, since they can be used in a proper way. The sin was that they made their happiness depend on bodily pleasure. Though they were officials with serious duties, they gave themselves to enjoyment, spent their time on it, and wasted their thoughts, energy, and wealth on it.

They wanted the finest furniture, with beds of ivory to lie on, or even to recline at their meals, when sackcloth and ashes would have suited them better. They were also lazy and fond of comfort. They did not just lie down, they stretched out on their couches when they should have been busy at work. They chose sloth, took pride in doing nothing, and lived in luxury. The result was that they enjoyed every excess while many poor people around them lacked even the basics.

They were also very particular and fussy about their food. They wanted the best of everything, and they wanted plenty of it. They ate lambs straight from the flock and calves from the stall, the fattest they could find. These may not even have come from their own animals, but from the poor, taken by force.

They were cheerful and lively at their feasts, with music and song. They sang to the sound of the harp, and they made up new musical instruments, trying harder to outdo their ancestors in this than in anything else. They put all their imagination to work just to please their own taste. Some people show their skill only in luxury, spending all their cleverness on pleasure.

They also invented instruments of music, as David had done, and enjoyed what had once been fit for kings alone. Or this may suggest that they were acting wickedly in their celebrations. They copied temple music and made a mockery of it, perhaps because it seemed old-fashioned to them. They were like the Babylonians, who forced the captives to sing the songs of Zion. Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, showed the same kind of disrespect when he drank from sacred temple bowls. So do those who sing loose, foolish songs to psalm tunes, just to ridicule a holy thing.

They drank to excess and never seemed to think they could have enough. They drank wine from bowls, not from ordinary cups (Jeremiah 35:5). They hated being limited and wanted large amounts, so they used vessels that let them swallow a lot at once. They also cared a great deal about strong perfumes. They anointed themselves with the best ointments to please their senses and to flatter their own bodies. Such costly oils were more than they needed, since cheaper ones would have served well enough.

They had no concern for the good of the church and the nation, which were falling into ruin. They were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Here Joseph means the people of God, including both Judah and Israel, as in Psalm 80:1. The church was in trouble, invaded, insulted, and broken open. Their own kingdom, which they were supposed to govern and protect, was suffering serious damage. Yet they were so dull that they did not notice, and so devoted to pleasure that they did not care.

They cared more about ease than about public duty. It did not matter to them whether the nation sank or survived, so long as they could live comfortably. Even when individual people among Joseph were suffering, they took no notice of their hardships or their wrongs. They made no effort to help or set things right. That was the opposite of the spirit of holy Job, who, when he was prospering, wept with those in misery and felt deep sorrow for the poor (Job 30:25).

Some think that calling the afflicted church Joseph also recalls Pharaoh’s butler, who, after being restored to favor, forgot Joseph in prison (Genesis 40:21, Genesis 40:23). In the same way, these people drank wine from bowls, but were not grieved for Joseph’s trouble. Those who are absorbed in their own pleasures are usually careless about other people’s pain. It is a serious offense against God when his church is in distress and we do not feel that grief.

So the sentence against them is given: therefore they will be taken into exile with the first who go captive, and all the misery of captivity will come on them. The feast of those who stretched out on their couches will be taken away (Amos 6:7). Their wealth will be removed from them, and they from it, because they used it to feed their sinful desires.

Those who lived in luxury will lose even their freedom, and slavery will rightly punish their misuse of power and rank. Those who trusted in the comforts of their own land will be carried off to a foreign land and humbled in their pride. Those who made their happiness depend on bodily pleasures will be deprived of them and learn what it is like to live in hardship. Those who stretched themselves out in comfort will be forced to shrink down and live in a smaller place.

Those who pushed the day of judgment far away will find it much nearer than they expected. The ones who imagined that they would be the last to suffer will be among the first taken captive. Trouble is coming quickly to those who refuse to care about the trouble of others and of God’s church. Those who give themselves to laughter when God calls for mourning will not escape punishment (Isaiah 22:14).