Amos Chapter 6: Complacent in Sin

God promises to judge those who are complacent toward evil.

Ancient Israeli Feast by author via ChatGPT (AI)

Outline

• 1–6 Woe to the complacent and self-indulgent
• 7–11 Judgment and coming devastation
• 12–14 Pride and the coming defeat

Complacent to Sin: Amos Chapter 6

The Jews are God’s chosen people. They have been called to a higher way of life: given the commandments directly from the mouth of God on Mount Sinai, they received instructions for worship, daily living, and political interactions. However, in Amos’s day, they ignored those instructions. The political and religious rulers lived in the luxury of the world; they were indistinguishable from the nations around them. And they believed they were still holy.

Being in sin is one thing. Being in sin while thinking you are holy is another.

In Amos’s day, the Jews of the Northern Kingdom (Samaria) had fallen so low that they believed they still had a special relationship with God. They didn’t recognize God they had sinned so long that God had turned them over to judgment.

Consider the story of Samson. He was blessed by God from birth with supernatural strength on one condition—he had to keep the law of the Nazarite. The law was three-fold: avoid the dead, don’t eat or drink the juice of grapes, and never cut the hair (Judges 13:4-5). However, he continuously ignored God’s calling on his life. He broke the first law by eating honey from the carcass of a lion (Judges 14:8). He then most likely had wine during his wedding feast (Judges 14:10). And last, he let Delilah cut his hair (Judges 16:17). When the third law was broken, Sampson arose as he did at other times, believing he still had his strength.

He was wrong.

Perhaps the saddest part of his story is that “he wist not that the LORD was departed from him” (Judges 16:20, KJV).

Do you rise every day assuming God will bless you? Do you break God’s law and think nothing of it?

If you do, you are like the Israelites of Amos’s day. You are like Sampson. But there is hope. No matter how far in sin you have fallen, God can forgive you. Even Sampson—who had shown no respect for God’s law—received mercy when he cried out to God (Judges 16:28-30).

Don’t be at ease in your sin. Repent. Don’t wake up one day to find God’s blessing has left you, and you didn’t even know it.

Reflection

• Are you at ease in your sins?

Verse by Verse Study

​1 Amos identifies the recipients of the message: the indulgent and complacent ruling class in Samaria and Zion. This reveals an important principle: God’s judgment focuses on the guilty. Although an entire society may be affected, God will comfort and sometimes protect righteous individuals even during national judgment.

2 God challenged the Jews to compare Zion and Samaria to other capitals. These verses imply that the Jews thought they were better than everyone else when, in fact, they weren’t. Their capital and the size of the country (the borders) were not grander than those of the neighboring nations. This verse reminds us of God’s hatred of pride (Proverbs 6:16, 16:5).

3–6 God explains the rulers’ sins. The “evil day” is the upcoming judgment. The rulers did not believe they would be held accountable for their indulgence in luxury, pleasure in worldly music, drunkenness, or indifference to the suffering of their citizens because they ruled God’s chosen nation. In modern terms, they partied at the expense of the taxpayers and would not give a penny to help the needy. Paul addressed this issue: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Romans 6:1–2, KJV). Just because God has called you or placed you in a position of power does not mean He is happy with your conduct: if you delight in sin, you will receive God’s wrath. Their second sin was allowing the “seat of violence to come near.” In other words, they did not punish or put an end to violent acts. Today, a comparison would be when violent crimes increase in a society, and the government’s policies either do not address the problem or encourage it. For example, labeling riots as expressions of free speech, thus protecting the rioters from civil and criminal charges.

7–11 This passage makes it clear that the upcoming judgment was national—everyone from the social elite (great house) to the commoner (little house) would be affected. Additionally, those who committed the sins are the first to receive the judgment—those who believe God will never judge them will have a rude awakening when judgment arrives. Verse 10—that it would be forbidden to say God’s name—is a curious statement, and interpretation would be speculative given the lack of context. Possible explanations are that they recognized God was responsible for the judgment, they would be in such fear and shock that they wouldn’t call on God, or they blamed God spitefully. Again, these are purely speculative.

12–14 God repeats the theme of the chapter: He will judge those who twist or neglect justice. The image of the horse and oxen on the rock demonstrates the futility of the rulers’ arrogance: the so-called glory of the rulers could not even scratch the surface of the ground. The rulers and their glorying were worthless and meaningless. God provides everyone with the chance to praise Him and acknowledge Him as Sovereign (2 Peter 3:9). Those who reject His call, however, receive judgment.