Amos 1-2: The Blue Collar Prophet

We meet Amos, a borderland herdsman called by God to confront a prosperous yet unjust Israel under Jeroboam II. As we read Amos 1–2, we trace God’s roar over the nations and the sharper charge against Israel for exploiting the poor and silencing truth.

• Amos as an ordinary herdsman, not a career prophet
• Context of Jeroboam II’s success and spiritual decline
• Structure of Amos: oracles, poems, visions
• Oracles against nations for cruelty and betrayal
• Charges against Judah for rejecting the law
• Expanded indictment of Israel’s injustice and idolatry
• God’s covenant reminders and gifts rejected
• Image of the roaring lion and the weight of judgment
• Call to speak truth to power with humility and courage
• Tension and unity of loving God and fearing God

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Amos The Herdsman Prophet
• 1:15 Israel’s Wealth And Moral Decline
• 2:46 Called To Speak Truth To Power
• 4:09 How Amos Is Structured
• 4:35 Reading Amos Chapters One And Two
• 10:23 The Lion Roars At Nations And Israel
• 11:21 Love Of God Without Fear Of God

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Outloud Bible Project Podcast. My name is Mike, and uh thanks so much for joining me here as we walk through the Bible and uh specifically in the section of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. Now, I get it. A lot of these prophets in the Old Testament that we read about, whether they have a book named after them or not, they just come across as this like larger-than-life kind of person. Like, who are these people that hear from God and have to go confront such powerful people and say such big, sweeping, prophetic things about what's going to happen in the near future and the distant future? And some of them are even prophesying about things that we in 2026 haven't even seen yet. It all just seems like so untouchable, doesn't it? Like, I could how how could we possibly relate to these people? Well, Amos might be your guy, if that's what you're thinking. Amos was not a prophet from an early age. He was not raised to work in a temple or be a religious type person. He was not an apprentice to some other prophet. He was not a political leader, he was not anyone of influence really at all. Frankly, he was just a herdsman, a shepherd. And he lived in an area that was basically on the border between the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. So he kind of got a sense of this civil war politics as he was kind of living in the middle of it. And in his day, the northern kingdom was seeing the reign of King Jeroboam II, who, as far as politics and military goes, he was a very successful king. Like he he won a lot of battles, he brought back a lot of loot, he increased the wealth of Israel quite a bit. He made Israel pretty wealthy. However, he was not a good king when it came to following God. In the eyes of God and in the eyes of God's prophets, this guy was not doing well. He was leading the people further and further into idolatry, he was perpetuating injustice, and while his he and his friends and the powerful people got rich, honestly there was a big disparity between the wit the rich and the poor, and the poor were being treated very unfairly, and God saw all of this and wanted it to stop. Amos also, having the heart of God, saw this, and he was done. He was just fed up with it, and so he goes up to Bethel, which is a prominent temple town in the Northern Kingdom, and starts sharing what's on God's heart. And that began his prophetic career. Is that relatable? When you see the state of your nation, when you see the state of the world, when you see the state of even, I don't know, the board that you're on, the organization that you're with. And if you see things that just break your heart and you know, as a Bible-believing Jesus follower that this breaks the heart of God too, are you willing to step into that and be God's voice? You don't have to consider yourself some prophet, but you are perfectly qualified as a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ, who values his word and wants people to know the truth, you are perfectly qualified to go into that space and speak truth to power, to fight against the injustice that God sees as injustice, and ultimately to call people's hearts to be closer to God, to call to repentance. That's something you can do. Amos did it. Let's see what he said as we read the book of Amos. We're just going to read two chapters today. The first two chapters are just a series of messages from Amos, from on behalf of God, to Israel and to the other surrounding nations. Chapters three through six are a collection of poems that Amos wrote, and chapters seven through nine are uh several visions that Amos had in line with the prophetic messages that he was receiving from God. So we will break it up like the book of Amos breaks it up and get into it here today. So this is Amos 1 and 2 in the New English Translation. The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. He was one of the herdsmen from Tokoah, and these prophecies about Israel were revealed to him during the time of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam, son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. Amos said, The Lord comes roaring out of Zion. From Jerusalem he comes bellowing, the shepherd's pastures wilt, the summit of Carmel withers. This is what the Lord says, because Damascus has committed three crimes, make that four, I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth. So I will set Hazael's house on fire. Fire will consume Ben-Hadad's fortresses, I'll break the bar on the gate of Damascus, I'll remove the ruler from Wicked Valley, the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth-Eden. The people of Aram will be deported to Kir. The Lord has spoken. This is what the Lord says, because Gaza has committed three crimes. Make that four. I will not revoke my degree of judgment. They deported a whole community and sold them to Edom. So I will set Gaza's city wall on fire. Fire will consume her fortresses. I'll remove the ruler from Ashdod, the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon, I'll strike Ekron with my hand. The rest of the Philistines will also die. The sovereign Lord has spoken. This is what the Lord says, because Tyre has committed three crimes, make that four. I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold a whole community to Edom. They failed to observe a treaty of brotherhood. So I'll set fire to Tyre's city walls. Fire will consume her fortresses. This is what the Lord says. He wiped out his allies. In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest. In his fury he relentlessly attacked them. So I will set Timon on fire. Fire will consume Basra's fortresses. This is what the Lord says. Because the Ammonites have committed three crimes, make that four, I will not revoke my degree of judgment. They ripped open Gilead's pregnant women, so that they could expand their territory. So I'll set fire to Rabbah's city wall. Fire will consume her fortresses. War cries will be heard on the day of battle. A strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. Ammon's king will be deported, he and his officials will be carried off together. The Lord has spoken. This is what the Lord says, because Moab has committed three crimes, make that four, I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They burned the bones of Edom's king into lime. So I will set Moab on fire, and it will consume Kirioth's fortresses. Moab will perish in the heat of battle amid war cries and the blaring of the ram's horn. I will remove Moab's leaders, I'll kill all Moab's officials with him. The Lord has spoken. This is what the Lord says. Because Judah, Judah has committed three covenant transgressions. Make that four. I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They rejected the Lord's law. They didn't obey his commands. Their false gods, to which their fathers were loyal, led them astray. So I will set Judah on fire, and it will consume Jerusalem's fortresses. This is what the Lord says, because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions. Make that four. I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals, they trample on the dirt covered heads of the poor, they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl, and in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity. They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral, and they do so right beside every altar. They drink wine bought with the fines they've levied, and they do so right in the temple of their God. For Israel's sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground. I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I led you through the wilderness for forty years so that you could take the Amorites' land as your own. I made some of your sons prophets, and some of your young men Nazarites. Is this not true, you Israelites? Lord speaking. But you made the Nazarites drink wine. You commanded the prophets, don't prophesy. Look, I will press you down like a cart loaded down with grain presses down. Fast runners will find no place to hide. Strong men will have no strength left. Warriors will not be able to save their lives. Archers will not hold their ground. Fast runners will not save their lives, nor will those who ride horses. Brave hearted warriors will run away naked in that day. The Lord is speaking. And we'll stop there. Amos's prophecy starts kind of startling when he says the Lord comes roaring out of Zion. Just like this lion that's been lying in wait, and now is his time to pounce and strike. And who is he striking against? Yes, the surrounding nations who have committed many injustices, but also his very own people. Judah and especially Israel. God's list of complaints against Israel and the judgments that he lists are way more severe, but it's because Israel has been God's chosen people that have had a covenant with God and they've broken it. Why? Because I think they forgot that God is a lion. They lost the fear of the Lord. You can lose the fear of the Lord while maintaining a declaration of love for the Lord. But the lion is not fooled, the lion is not mocked. In your mind, do you see God as a lion, or do you see him as a doting father who loves you? Not that he's not both, but you can't have one without the other. And as for me, I know which one I'm more likely to ignore. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day. We'll see you next time.