Amos · chapter 4 of 9
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Amos 4 rebukes the wealthy women of Samaria who oppress the poor, mocks the religion of Bethel and Gilgal, and recalls the calamities with which the Lord tried to call Israel back: hunger, drought, blight and destruction. Five times it repeats that they still did not return to him, and it ends with a solemn summons: prepare to meet your God.
After explaining in chapter 3 why judgment is unavoidable, Amos returns to direct accusation. Chapter 4 describes a society that is comfortable and religious on the surface but hardened. Its refrain, yet you did not return to me, sums up the heart of the book: God sent warnings and the people did not respond.
Amos addresses the cows of Bashan on the mountain of Samaria, the wealthy women who oppress the weak, crush the needy and tell their husbands to bring drinks. The Lord has sworn by his holiness that days are coming when they will be taken away with hooks and fishhooks and go out through the breaches in the walls, each one straight ahead.
Then the prophet ironically invites the people to go to Bethel and Gilgal and sin even more: bring sacrifices every morning, tithes every three days, thank offerings with leaven and proclaim your freewill offerings, because that is what the people of Israel love. The religion they practice is abundant and noisy, but it is empty because the injustice continues.
The Lord then lists what he did to bring them back: he gave them cleanness of teeth in all their cities, withheld the rain three months before harvest, sent rain on one city and not another, and struck their gardens and vineyards with blight and mildew while the locust devoured their fig and olive trees. He sent plagues like those of Egypt, killed their young men with the sword and overthrew them as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and they were like a brand plucked from the fire. After each blow the Lord repeats: yet you did not return to me.
Therefore God says he will do to Israel what he announced, and Israel must prepare to meet its God. The chapter closes with a short hymn of praise: the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares his thoughts to man, makes the dawn into darkness and treads the heights of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Amos calls the wealthy women of Samaria cows of Bashan because they oppress the poor and ask their husbands for drinks. Bashan was famous for its well-fed cattle, and the image condemns a life of luxury sustained by abuse.
With irony, the prophet invites them to go to Bethel and Gilgal and multiply their sins. Their religion is plentiful and noisy but changes nothing in their actions, and so it becomes another form of rebellion.
The Lord gave them hunger, and still they did not return to him. The refrain repeats through the chapter and shows that the disasters were calls to repent that the people ignored.
The Lord tells Israel to prepare to meet its God. It is a solemn warning: whoever has ignored every sign will meet the God they refused to answer.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The wealthy women of Samaria who oppress the poor and ask their husbands for drinks. — Amos 4:1
Answer: Bethel and Gilgal. — Amos 4:4
Answer: Sacrifices every morning, tithes every three days, thank offerings with leaven and freewill offerings. — Amos 4:4-5
Answer: Hunger: the Lord gave them cleanness of teeth and lack of bread. — Amos 4:6
Answer: Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. — Amos 4:8-11
Answer: That it must prepare to meet its God. — Amos 4:12
Amos 4 asks how much of our church life is sincere practice and how much is habit. We can attend, give and sing while ignoring the person in need. In a Sunday school class it is worth reviewing what we do with what God gives us and how we treat those who work for us.
The chapter's refrain warns about a dangerous hardness: going through difficulty without listening to what God wants to teach us. Not every hardship is a punishment, but every hardship is an opportunity to draw near to God. If something in your life is asking for a response, do not put it off; God would rather we return now than meet him later in judgment.
Amos 4 ends with an unavoidable appointment with the Creator God. In chapter 5 the prophet will turn this warning into a lament and an urgent call: seek the Lord and live.
Bashan was a region known for its strong, well-fed cattle. The image is harsh and deliberate: the prophet describes women who live in luxury thanks to the oppression of the poor, and compares them to animals fattened for the day of slaughter.
It is prophetic irony. Bethel and Gilgal were busy centers of worship, but the people used them to feel justified without changing their conduct. Amos says that worship is really sin when it is combined with injustice.
It is the picture of a piece of wood pulled from the fire just in time. It shows that Israel had already experienced God's judgment and some had been saved by a hair, yet even so they did not return to him.