Ancient Water System in Israel

 God Judges Israel's Neighbors

  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said,

The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four,

I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD;

For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:

But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD. (Amos 1:1-8)

The Book of AMOS The name Amos means "a burden," which is the key word of the book. It is an appropriate name for one suddenly taken from his humble country roots and given the burden of serving as God's prophet (Amos 7:14, 15).   Although Amos was from the town of Tekoa in Judah (see note on Amos 1:1), most of his ministry was carried out in the Northern Kingdom (Israel). Amos is believed to have prophesied between the years of 765 and 755 B.C. during the reign of Jeroboam II. The first verse suggests that at least two years passed between the time that he received the vision of chapter one and when he wrote it down. Amos was contemporary with the prophets Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, and Jonah. Amos' simple, rural upbringing is apparent in the frequent references to and images drawn from country life. Although he had no formal training, his prophecy contains passages of great literary beauty and oratorical skill. His pleas to the people to repent and predictions of the destruction of Israel made him very unpopular because he ministered at the peak of Israel's material and political success. They were enjoying a prosperous reign under Jeroboam II who had expanded Israel's territory and secured it from external threats. However, as Hosea observed and Moses predicted (Deut.6:4-10; Hos.2:5-13), this prosperity caused the people to forget God. Amos strongly denounced the rich and privileged classes who were using their power exploit the poor. Amos cited several flagrant violations of specific social and legal stipulations in the Law of Moses (Amos 2:6-8; 4:1; 5:7, 10-12; 8:5-7). He also condemned the hose religion practiced at the altar at Bethel (Amos 3:14; 4:4; 5:5, 6; 7:9, 10). As a result, Amaziah, the false high priest of Bethel rigorously opposed him (Amos 7:10-17). [Source for Introduction of chapter: Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible KJV edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN 37422]