Amos 5:18-27 Click here for Bible Verses

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Amos 5:18-27.  Let’s go!

Amos 5:18-20 (NIV) 
18  Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.
19  It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.
20  Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light– pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

On verses 18-20:  Many people in Amos’ day were giving God regular offerings and sacrifices, but would carry on lifestyles of sin in other ways.  They would talk about the “day of the Lord” (i.e. the day when God comes to His people and establishes His kingdom) as a happy time for them.  According to some scholars, verse 18 is the earliest reference in the Bible to “the day of the Lord”.  Amos clarifies that the Israelites should not look forward to the day of the Lord. For that day will “be darkness, not light” (v18, 20), a day when you think you have escaped the trials of this world, only to be destroyed by the greatest trial of all.  This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, rather than in the Lord.

For those who trust in themselves, the day of the Lord (the day when Jesus comes again) will be a dreadful day.  Only for those who trust in the Lord will the day of the Lord be a joyful one.

Amos 5:21-24 (NIV) 
21  “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
22  Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
23  Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24  But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

On verses 21-24:  When we insist on living for ourselves and not for the Lord, our token sacrifices and songs can hardly bring God pleasure.  As Jesus says in Matthew 15:7-9:
 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'”

God wants more than a song or a sacrifice.  God wants our hearts permanently in the form of a life committed to living justly and righteously – as Amos writes, a life where “justice rolls on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (v24).

Amos 5:25-27 (NIV) 
25  “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
26  You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god– which you made for yourselves.
27  Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.

On verses 25-27:  Centuries before Amos’ time, the Israelites in the book of Exodus wandered through the desert.  Rather than worshiping the Lord, they grumbled against Him and worshiped a golden calf.  By mentioning these Israelites from Exodus in verse 25, it’s as if Amos is saying to the Israelites of his own time, “Throughout history nothing has changed with you, Israelites.  You’re still making idols for yourselves and worshiping them (v26).  Given your stubborn insistence on worshiping other gods, the Lord is sending you into exile and ousting you out of the land He reserved for you (v27).”

What can we learn from this?  Is there an idol you are tempted to worship instead of the Lord?  Is it money, status, your family, friends, or a secret obsession?  When we worship the Lord, we find life and take hold of the land God made us to live in (v4), but when we insist on worshiping idols we have made, we forfeit the land that God reserved for us and settle for something far less (v27).

Father, You desire more than a moment’s praise or a token sacrifice from me.  You desire a heart that is fully committed to You, to living this life with justice and righteousness.  Thank You that by Your grace at work in me, such a life is possible and that with it comes true life in the land You set aside for me.  May I live that way by Your grace today.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!