Amos: “Yet you have not returned”

Judgement of God, 1-2	Message of God, 3:1-9:10	Promise of God, 9:11-15
Against the nations 1:3-2:3	Three sermons 3:1-5:15 “Hear this word,” 3:1; 4:1; 5:1	Restoration
Against Judah 2:4-5 – Forsaking the Law	Three woes, 5:16-6:14 “Woe to you…” 5:18; 6:1; 6:3
Against Israel 2:5-16 – Injustice – Idolatry – Immorality – Idleness	Five visions 7:1-9:10 – Locusts, 7:1-2 – Fire, 7:3-6 – Plumb line, 7:7-9 – Summer fruit, 8 – The Lord, 9:1-10

Major Characters

• Amos (“burden”), a farmer from Tekoa, called to be a prophet to the Northern Kingdom (1:1; 7:14-15)
• Uzziah, king of Judah (1:1)
• Jeroboam II, king of Israel (1:1; 7:7-11)
• Amaziah, a priest of Israel’s false religion (7:10-17)

Major words/phrases

• “for three transgressions… and for four”
• “Yet you have not returned to Me…”
• “Seek the Lord and live!”
• “Thus the Lord God showed me”

Major themes

• The judgement of God on the sins of the nations
• The judgement of God on the sins of Judah
• The judgement of God on the sins of Israel
• The purpose of Divine discipline

God’s intent is always to bring His people back to Himself. His discipline and punishment are not merely punitive but restorative. But though God sent famine, drought, disease, death, and destruction, “Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord” (Amos 4:6-10)