Questions on Amos
1. What did Amos do before God called him to be a prophet (Amos 1:1)? Answer
2. When did Judea's Azariah (called Uzziah in the KJV) and Israel's Jeroboam II serve as kings (Amos 1:1)? Answer
3. How does the earthquake mentioned in Amos 1:1 help us date the book? Answer
4. What eight nations are condemned in Amos 1 and 2? Answer
5. For what sins did God condemn Judah and Israel? Answer
6. Does God always accomplish his will in secret? Answer
7. What is the threat God makes in Amos 4? Answer
8. What is one of the calamities to come upon Israel? Answer
9. What does the phrase "Ye who turn judgment to wormwood" in Amos 5:7 mean? Answer
10. Which celestial bodies are referenced in Amos 5? Answer
11. Did God say he hated the Biblical Holy Days (Amos 5:21 - 23)? Answer
12. What is Zion referred to in Amos 6:1? Answer
13. What does the phrase "Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?" mean (Amos 6:13)? Answer
14. How many times does God "repent" or change his mind in Amos 7? Answer
15. Who was Amaziah the priest of Bethel (Amos 7:10)? Answer
16. What is false about Amaziah's accusations against Amos in chapter 7? Answer
17. When would Israel "surely go into captivity forth of his land" (Amos 7:17)? Answer
18. What were some of Israel's great sins listed in Amos 8? Answer
19. What is the "famine of the word" discussed in Amos 8:11 - 12? Answer
20. Why is the Lord seen standing next to an altar (Amos 9:1)? Answer
21. With what encouragement does Amos end his book? Answer
Answers on Amos
1. Amos was a herdsman (Amos 1:1) and gatherer of sycamore fruit (7:14 - 15).
2. The kingdom of Judah's king Azariah ruled from 792 to 740 B.C., one of the longest reigns of anyone over Israel or Judah. Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash (Joash), was monarch over Israel (northern ten tribes) from 793 to 753 B.C.
[Timeline of Israel's Ruling Dynasties]
3. Amos dates his ministry to starting two years before a great earthquake (Amos 1:1). The earthquake he mentioned was massive and undeniable!
"The epicenter was north of present-day Israel . . . A large area of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah was shaken . . .
"The earthquake was at least magnitude 7.8, but likely was 8.2 . . . (the earthquake) appears to be the largest yet documented on the Dead Sea transform fault during the last four millennia." (Amos' Earthquake, International Geology Review).
[Earthquakes in the Old Testament]
[Earthquakes in Biblical Prophecy!]
The earthquake, which likely took place around 760 B.C., helps us date the start of Amos' ministry to around 762 B.C. The nature of the earthquake was such that more than 225 years later the Minor Prophet Zechariah referred to it (Zechariah 14:4 - 5)!
4. The five nations condemned in Amos 1 are Syria (verses 3 - 5), the Philistines (verses 6 - 8), the Phoenicians (verses 9 - 10), Edom (verses 11 - 12) and Amon (Ammonites, verses 13 - 14).
The three additional nations, making eight total, condemned in Amos 2 are Moab (Moabites, verses 1 - 3), Judah (verses 4 - 5) and finally Israel (verses 6 - 16).
5. God condemned the Kingdom of Judah for rejecting his law and not keeping his commandments. His also judged them for believing lies through their idolatry (Amos 2:4 - 5).
Israel was condemned for several sins. These include perverting justice, oppressing the poor, being greedy, incest, selfishness, drunkenness and idolatry (Amos 2:6 - 8). They were also judged for making Nazarites, who were not to drink any alcoholic beverage, drink wine and for telling their prophets to shut up (verses 11 - 12)!
6. Amos 3 states the following.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).
God has promised to reveal his plans for man to those who serve him. The question is, will we believe it when we hear it?
7. God promises to meet those who disobey him and render his judgments (Amos 4:12).
8. One of the calamities inflicted on Israel, due to her sins, will be the loss of 90% of her people (Amos 5:4).
9. The plant named wormwood in Amos 5 derives its name from a Hebrew word meaning bitterness or to curse (Strong's Concordance #H3939). Wormwood was considered cursed since it was regarded as poisonous.
[Wormwood in Biblical Prophecy!]
Amos' phrase "Ye who turn judgment to wormwood" refers to those who pervert and twist judgment such that it becomes bitter.
10. Amazingly, Amos 5 references at least three celestial bodies! Its eighth verse references the constellations Orion and the Pleiades.
Seek him that maketh the seven stars (Pleiades) and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning . . . (Amos 5:8).
[Does Scripture Refer to the Big Dipper?]
Amos 5:26 also contains a reference, albeit somewhat hidden, to another celestial object.
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves (Amos 5:26).
Chiun, according to a 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article on Astronomy, is a direct reference to the planet Saturn.
11. It was God who established the keeping of seven annual Holy periods for his people. These are Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day (Exodus 23:14 - 16, Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16, etc.). God was not contradicting himself by opposing that which he set up. He was, however, opposed to his people keeping his special feast days their own way and not his!
[What Are God's Annual Holy Days?]
I hate, I despise YOUR feast days, and I will not smell in YOUR solemn assemblies . . . Take thou away from me the noise of THY songs; for I will not hear the melody of THY viols (Amos 5:21, 23).
12. Zion, in Amos 6:1, is a symbolic reference to Judah's capital city of Jerusalem and to the people of the Kingdom of Judah in particular (see Amos 1:2).
[What Can Zion Biblically Reference?]
13. The phrase "Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?" in Amos 6:13 refers to Israel boasting that they had the power to overcome their neighbors. Horns are one of the many symbols of power in the Bible (see Psalm 75:10).
14. God repents, or changes his mind, the first time in regard to punishing his people with locusts (Amos 7:1 - 3). He then changed his mind a second time and stopped fire from consuming all the grasslands and trees (verses 4 - 6).
15. Jeroboam I, after the ten tribes of Israel split from Judah in 930 B.C., established places of worship in the cities of Dan and Bethel (1Kings 12:26 - 33). Jeroboam did this because he feared if his people traveled to Jerusalem to worship God they would want to reunify with Judah which would lead to his death.
[Why Did Ancient Israel Split?]
Jeroboam believed the separate priesthood he established, which would lead the people into worshipping false gods, would keep the people loyal to him.
Amaziah was one of a long line of idolatrous priests meant to serve the people of the Kingdom of Israel.
16. There are two major things wrong with Amaziah's accusations in Amos 7:11. He first claimed that the prophet spoke for himself and second that he had declared Jeroboam would die by the sword. Amos always stated he spoke what God told him to say (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, etc.). He also never said Jeroboam would die by the sword!
17. Amos' book is dated to about 762 B.C. The Assyrian Empire completed their conquering of all of Israel (northern ten tribes), and took almost everyone out of the land, in 723 B.C. His prophecy would come to pass only 39 years after he gave it!
18. God condemned Israel for their greed and dishonesty. Instead of spending time focusing on worshipping God on the Sabbath, their hearts were set on making money as soon as the day ended (Amos 8:5). When they did work at their jobs, their habit was to cheat people by using illegal weights and taking advantage of those who were poor and needy.
19. The fullness of when the famine of the word will occur is revealed to us in Amos 8:9.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day (Amos 8:9).
[The Greatest Famines in the Bible!]
The prophet's words parallel the lack of sunlight that will take place prior to Jesus' return to earth (Joel 2:30 - 31, Mark 13:24 - 25, Revelation 8:12). During the Great Tribulation period, people will actively pursue insight and understanding concerning God's will. They will zealously search for those divinely inspired by the Lord but will be unable to find them.
20. God is seen standing next to his altar because judgment begins at the house of the Lord (see 1Peter 4:17).
[Where Did Israel Go Into Captivity?]
21. God promises to ultimately gather his people from wherever they are and abundantly bless them (Amos 9:13 - 15). He will bring them back to the land he promised them and no one will be allowed to chase them away.