Major Lessons from the Minor Prophets Amos Hosea Zephaniah Zechariah
Outline of Amos Judgment on Eight Nations, "For three transgressions and for four“ (1:3‑‑2:16) On Damascus (1:3‑5) On Gaza of Philistia (1:6‑8) On Tyre (1:9‑10) On Edom (1:11‑12) On Ammon (1:13‑15) On Moab (2:1‑3) On Judah (2:4‑5) On Israel (2:6‑16)
Outline of Amos II. Three Sermons Pronouncing the Judgment of Israel (3:1‑‑6:14) Sermon to the "whole family" of Israel ‑ A sermon of present warning (3:1‑15) Sermon to the "cows of Bashan" ‑ Past judgments have gone unheeded (4:1‑13) Sermon of "lamentation" and "woe" ‑ The future judgment of God on Israel would be overwhelming (5:1‑‑6:14) III. Five Visions of the Judgment of Israel (7:1‑‑9:10) Locust (7:1‑3) Fire (7:4‑6) The plumb line (7:7‑9) [Historical Parenthesis] (7:10‑17) The summer fruit (8:1‑14) The door posts of the sanctuary (9:1‑10) IV. Promises of a Bright Future for Spiritual Israel (9:11‑15)
Judgment on Judah The transgressions of Judah (2:4) They despised the law of the LORD They had not kept His commandments and they were led astray by the lies which their fathers had followed. What did Jesus say about those who allow human tradition to supplant the law of God? (Matthew 15:3-9) Judah’s punishment (2:5) “I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem." Jeremiah records the following event in 586 BC, about 165 years after the prophecy of Amos: “And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.” (Jeremiah 39:8)
Judgment on Israel The transgressions of Israel (2:6-8) Bribery, oppressing of the poor, sexual immorality, and idolatry – thus defiling God’s holy name. Man must either “love God’s law and hate and abhor lies” or he will despise God’s law and cleave to lies (Psalm 119:163) Sobering reminders from history (2:9-11) The Lord had blessed Israel in destroying the Amorites The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them the land of the Amorites. The Lord raised up prophets and Nazirites to show Israel the ways of holiness. But Israel defiled the Nazirites and rejected the prophets They weighed God down as a cart full of sheaves.
Israel weighed God down as a cart full of sheaves. The greatest warriors would be able neither to stand nor escape in the day of God’s wrath! (Amos 2:13-16)
A Sermon to the “Whole Family" of Israel A sermon of present warning (3:1‑15) God’s special treatment of Israel as family made their sins against Him worthy of greater punishment (3:1-2) Truisms of nature and human behavior illustrate that Israel should fear the warnings of the prophets and the calamity that the Lord will bring (3:3-8) The punishment of Israel is the logical result of her actions! Even heathen nations (Egypt & Philistia) could see the evils committed on the mountains of Samaria (3:9-10)
A Sermon to the “Whole Family" of Israel A sermon of present warning (3:1‑15) The “lion” God would send as an adversary to destroy Israel would leave nothing but scraps (3:11-12) Hosea and Isaiah identify this adversary as Assyria.
LEFT: The high place at Dan The metal structure has been placed to provide a visual of where the altar would have stood. The “horns of the altar” at Bethel and the luxurious mansions would be destroyed. (3:13-15) A Sermon to the “Whole Family" of Israel A sermon of present warning (3:1‑15)
The “cows of Bashan” are the wives who demanded to live in luxury through the oppression of the poor (4:1-3) Bashan is northeast of the Sea of Galilee, an area noted for fertile pastureland (Deut. 32:14; Ezek. 39:18). The women of Samaria were like the fatted cows who grazed there. They would be forcibly removed from their places of ease, as with fishhooks, marched through the breaches in the walls, and cast out. A Sermon to the “Cows of Bashan” Past judgments have gone unheeded (4:1‑13)
A Sermon to the “Cows of Bashan” Past judgments have gone unheeded (4:1‑13) In light of the impending Judgment upon her, Israel is sarcastically encouraged (double-dog-dared) to multiply transgression through worship designed to please the worshippers instead of God (4:4-5). What was wrong with the places where sacrifices were offered? What was wrong with offering the thanksgiving sacrifices with leaven? (Leviticus 2:11; 6:17, esp. 7:12) What was wrong with proclaiming and announcing the freewill offerings? (cf. Matthew 6:3) What can WE learn from Israel about UNACCEPTABLE WORSHIP?