Amos 2

CHAPTER 2

Judgment on Moab and Judah (2:1–5)

1–3 The judgment on Moab, located east of Israel, follows the pattern of judgments in the previous chapter. However, there is one difference: the sin Moab is accused of was committed not against Israel but against Edom—namely, the desecration of the corpse of an Edomite king (verse 1). This means that God is concerned not only with how pagan nations treat His own people Israel but also with how they treat each other. God has established a moral or “natural” law for all humanity, and all humans are expected to abide by it (see Romans 1:18–20).

Because of this and other sins, God will send the fire of judgment upon Moab and its leaders (verses 2–3); this judgment was eventually carried out by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar.⁹

4–5 Next the Lord turns to Judah, the southern kingdom; although the Judahites were God’s chosen people, they were not exempt from His judgments. Judah’s special sin, however, was not against God’s general moral law for all humanity (as in the other judgments) but rather against God's revealed LAW, the law of MOSES, the law of the LORD (verse 4). Judah, and Israel also, had been given greater light than other nations had been given, and consequently Judah and Israel would be judged by a stricter standard (see Luke 12:47–48). Judgment fell on Judah in 586 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:8–11).

Judgment on Israel (2:6–16)

6–8 Notice what Amos has done so far; he has announced the Lord’s judgment on all of Israel’s immediate neighbors—including Judah. The Israelites who had been listening to Amos were no doubt agreeing with everything he said. They never suspected that Amos’s real target was Israel itself. We always love to point the finger at someone else,never suspecting that God’s “finger” is really pointed at us (see Matthew 7:1–5; Romans 2:1). Imagine how quickly the attitude of Amos’s listeners must have changed once he turned his attention to them! Who was this shepherd from Judah who had the audacity to speak to them this way?

In verses 6–8, the Lord (speaking through Amos, the shepherd from Judah) presents some of His charges against the Israelites. They sell the righteous and the needy (the debt–free and the debtor) for money or goods (verse 6); this refers to selling fellow Israelites into slavery and to perverting justice by offering bribes. They engage in unlawful sexual activity—even beside pagan altars, where they lie on garments taken in pledge¹⁰ (verses 7–8). All these activities were prohibited by the law of Moses.

9–12 In these verses, the Lord reminds the Israelites of the blessings He has given them in the past. He destroyed the Amorite (verse 9)—a collective name for the original inhabitants of Canaan—even though he was tall and strong (see Numbers 13:26–28,33); the Lord destroyed him totally—both his fruit and his roots. He brought the Israelites out of EGYPT through the desert, and into the land of the Amorites—Canaan, the “promised land” (verse 10). The Lord raised up PROPHETS and Nazirites¹¹ to guide them and inspire them (verse 11). And yet the Israelites despised the Lord’s prophets and made the Nazirites break their vows (verse 12).

13–16 Because of all these SINS—including the sins charged against Judah (verse 4)—the Lord’s judgment will soon fall on Israel and crush it, just as the wheels of a loaded cart crush everything they roll over (verse 13). No one will escape God’s judgment on that day (verse 16)the day Assyria destroys Israel. That day would come in 722 B.C. (see 2 Kings 17:7–23).

The judgments on these ancient Old Testament nations are relevant to us today. Human nature has not changed; modern nations commit sins very similar to these that Amos mentions. These judgments should prompt us to look within our own nation and community for anything that might be displeasing to God. And if we find anything, we should try to do something about it.