Amos 2

Amos 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Amos. It continues the declarations of judgment against the surrounding nations that begin in Amos 1. After Moab and Judah, the oracles reach the northern kingdom of Israel, where they become the longest and most detailed.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: Because Moab burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime, the palaces of Kerioth will be consumed by fire, and the judge and the princes (officials) will be destroyed.
• Verses 4–5: Because Judah despised the law of the LORD and was led astray by the lies their fathers had followed, the palaces of Jerusalem will be consumed by fire.
• Verses 6–8: Israel's sins are listed. The people sell the righteous and the needy for silver and for a pair of shoes, trample the poor, lie down on garments taken in pledge, and drink wine obtained through fines in the house of their god.
• Verses 9–12: God destroyed the Amorites, brought Israel up out of Egypt, led them forty years in the wilderness, and raised up prophets and Nazirites; yet the people gave the Nazirites wine to drink and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
• Verses 13–16: Judgment will press down like a cart loaded with sheaves, and on that day neither the swift nor the mighty will escape.

Key Verses

• Amos 2:4 "because they have despised the law of the LORD" — shows that the law is the standard by which Judah is judged.
• Amos 2:6 "because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes" — a representative verse for the social injustice the Book of Amos condemns.
• Amos 2:12 "commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not" — reveals Israel's rejection of the word of God.

People and Places

• Moab, Edom: neighboring nations to the southeast of Israel.
• Kerioth: a city of Moab.
• Jerusalem: the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah.
• The Amorites: a people who lived in Canaan and east of the Jordan before Israel.
• Egypt: the land where Israel was enslaved before the Exodus.
• Nazirite: a person set apart to God who vowed to abstain from wine. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) renders the term as "Nasir people."

Points for Reflection

• "For three transgressions, and for four" is an idiom of Hebrew poetry in which a number is stated and then increased by one. It is generally understood not as an exact count but as an indication that the sins had filled the measure to overflowing.
• Moab is judged not for what it did to Israel but for what it did to Edom. For this reason the passage is often read as teaching that nations outside Israel also stand under God's moral judgment.
• In verse 7, the Korean word buja used in the Korean Revised Version does not mean "a rich man" but "father and son" (父子); the New Korean Revised Version renders it explicitly as "a father and his son" (compare the KJV, "a man and his father"). Interpreters differ on whether the "young woman" (KJV "maid") in this verse should be understood as a female servant or as a temple prostitute.
• The garments taken in pledge in verse 8 are read in connection with the law requiring that a pledged garment be returned before sundown (Exodus 22:26–27).
• The passages of Amos quoted directly in the New Testament come mainly from chapters 5 and 9. This chapter is not directly quoted in the New Testament.