Amoschapter 3
15 verses · BSBAmos book hub →
Speaks with:Amos 1×2Zephaniah 1×2Amos 6×2Amos 2×1Jeremiah 8×1Micah 3×1
Summary
Chapter summary
The logic chapter. Privilege is not immunity: 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities' (3:2). Then a chain of questions that all mean one thing, do two walk together unless they have agreed? does a lion roar without prey? does a bird fall to a snare with no trap set? does a trumpet sound and the people not tremble? Amos speaks because God has spoken: 'Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets' (3:7). Even Ashdod and Egypt are called to witness Samaria, where 'they know not to do right.'
Context
Prophecy · Amos — Amos overview
- A. 1–2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth
- B. 3–8 Can two walk together? The lion has roared
- C. 9–12 Rescued like two legs or a piece of an ear
- D. 13–15 Horns of the altar cut off, winter and summer houses smashed
The outline
A.You only have I known of all the families of the earthvv. 1 to 2
Read vv. 1 to 2 →B.Can two walk together? The lion has roaredvv. 3 to 8
Read vv. 3 to 8 →C.Rescued like two legs or a piece of an earvv. 9 to 12
Read vv. 9 to 12 →D.Horns of the altar cut off, winter and summer houses smashedvv. 13 to 15
Read vv. 13 to 15 →
The world behind this chapter
Amos 3The history
The chain of questions in the middle is a countryman's logic, and every image comes from the hills Amos worked. A lion roars over prey it has already caught, not while stalking. A bird does not fall into a trap where no bait was set. And a trumpet sounding in a town means one thing, which is why nobody stays calm.
The two-legs-and-a-piece-of-an-ear detail is legal, not colourful. Under the Law, and under the wider law codes of the region, a hired shepherd who lost an animal to a predator had to produce the remains as evidence or pay for it himself. Amos is saying Israel will be recovered like that: proof of what was destroyed, not a living flock.
The horns of the altar were the four projections at its corners. A man fleeing a blood-avenger could grab them and claim sanctuary, and the Bible records people doing exactly that. Amos says the horns themselves will be cut off — the last refuge removed.
The winter house and the summer house, and the houses of ivory, were real buildings owned by real people. Excavations at Samaria have turned up hundreds of carved ivory inlays — panels, furniture fittings, figures in Phoenician and Egyptian style — the fittings of the very houses Amos names. The luxury he is describing is in a museum today.
What it meant to them
You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. That inversion is the point of the whole chapter. Election was heard in Israel as a shield; Amos says it is the basis of a higher liability.
The line about God doing nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets told hearers how to treat the man in front of them. If it is God's word, an unimpressive Judean fig-picker is not the issue.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Amos 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 8 · Bookends: the same words open and close
BOOK/SECTION. Amos's roaring-lion frame: 'The LORD will roar from Zion' (1:2) and 'The lion hath roared, who will not fear?' (3:8) bracket the oracles against the nations.
Amos 1:2→He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”
ASV/WEB text; academia.edu 'The Literary Tapestry of Amos 3:1-8'
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.