INTRODUCTION:

1. Commenting on Amos 6, Matthew Henry wrote, “In the former part of the chapter we had these secure Israelites loading themselves with pleasures, as if they could never be made merry enough; here we have God loading them with punishments, as if they could never be made miserable enough.”
2. God hates pride (6:8), and in this chapter we see that His judgment upon Israel was past revocation (6:7, 8).
3. “The LORD the God of hosts” (6:8) - signifies war and judgment.
4. “The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself” (6:8a).
5. Amos 4:2 says, “The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.”
6. Isaiah 45:23 says, “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return.”
7. Isaiah 62:8 says, “The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength.”
8. Psalm 110:4 says, “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent” (quoted in Hebrews 7:21).
9. Exodus 17:16 says, “The LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
10. Hebrews 6:13 says, “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.”
11. Jeremiah 22:5 says, “But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.”
12. Isaiah 14:24 says, “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.”

 

I. GOD JUDGED THEM FOR THEIR PRIDE (6:8).

1. All throughout the Bible we are told that God hates pride.
2. Leviticus 26:18, 19 says, “And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass.”
3. Psalm 10:2-4 says, “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
4. Psalm 12:3 says, “The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things.”
5. Psalm 101:5 says, “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.”
6. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”
7. Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”
8. Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”
9. Proverbs 16:5 says, “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.”
10. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
11. Proverbs 21:4 says, “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.”
12. Proverbs 21:24 says, “Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.”
13. Proverbs 29:23 says, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
14. Isaiah 2:12 says, “For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.”
15. Isaiah 13:11 says, “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
16. Isaiah 16:6 says, “We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.” (Cf. Jeremiah 48:29.)
17. Jeremiah 13:15 says, “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.”
18. Jeremiah 13:17 says, “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.”
19. Ezekiel 16:49, 50 says, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.” (Ezekiel prophesied 2,500 years before the “gay pride” movement.)
20. Daniel 4:36 says, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
21. Referring to King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel the prophet said to his grandson Belshazzar, “But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.  And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this” (Dan. 5:20-22).
22. Hosea 5:5 says, “And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.”
23. Hosea 7:10 says, “And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.”
24. Obadiah 1:3 says, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.”
25. Habakkuk 2:5 says, “Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people.”
26. Zechariah 9:6 says, “I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.”
27. Zechariah 10:11 says, “The pride of Assyria shall be brought down.”
28. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).
29. Luke 1:51 says the Lord “hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.”
30. Romans 1:29-31 describes sinners as, “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.”
31. In I Timothy 3:6 we are told a bishop (pastor) must not be “a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.”
32. First Timothy 6:4, 5 says the false teacher “is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”
33. Second Timothy 3:1-5 says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
34. James 4:6 says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
35. First Peter 5:5 says, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
36. First John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
37. God hated their palaces (Amos 6:8), because these palaces were places of corruption and storehouses of plunder from the poor (cf. 3:10, 15).
38. God’s judgment resulted in plague and pestilence (6:9, 10).
39. Cremation was not practiced by the Israelites, but was practiced by the heathen (cf. Amos 2:1).  However, there were exceptions. In I Samuel 31:12, cremation was allowed to prevent further dishonor to the bodies of King Saul and his sons by the wicked Philistines.  Here in this passage (Amos 6:10), cremation was resorted to in order to prevent contagion.  There would be so many dead bodies that it would be difficult to bury them all without spreading disease.
40. God’s name was not to be mentioned (Amos 6:10).  There are different ways to look at this.

    a.   “Those who would bury the bodies would fear to mention the name of the Lord, lest additional judgment fall on them” - Ryrie Study Bible.

    b.   “When at last the destruction came, the fearful sense of Jehovah’s wrath would close every mouth, even as they buried the dead, for the name of the Lord would be unsuited to their defiled lips.  It is sad indeed, to be under the rod, and yet to be utterly unable to get into touch with Him who appointed it.  Such is the hardening power of the deceitfulness of sin!” - HA Ironside.

    c.   “Here the scene is one of relatives gathering bodies for burial amid God’s allowing the Assyrian attackers to destroy the nation. At such a time it would be more than ever normal and proper for the name of God to be evoked continuously over the dead.  Instead, here we find the use of God’s name being forbidden.  Why, we must ask, did some of the people here forbid others to mention the name of the Lord?  Was it because of a realization that they had sinned so greatly and were no longer fit to mention so holy a name?  Or was it in bitterness against the Lord because they were blaming Him for the judgment that had overtaken them?” - Gary Cohen.

 

II. GOD JUDGED BOTH THE GREAT AND THE LITTLE (6:11).

1. The LORD asked two rhetorical questions (6:12).  The answer to both was “No.”
2. Israel was trusting in the military might of King Jeroboam II (6:13).  In the Bible, “horns” represent power, strength, kings, etc.
3. Psalm 75:10 says, “All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”

 

III. GOD RAISED UP THE ASSYRIANS (6:14).

1. The Assyrians would enter in from Hemath in the north, and afflict Israel all the way “unto the river of the wilderness” (6:14).
2. “Unto the river of the wilderness” - that would be the southern border.

 

CONCLUSION:

1. One winter day, a carcass upon a cake of ice was floating down the Niagara River.  An eagle, soaring above the river, saw it and swooped down upon it.
2. He sat there on the cake of ice devouring his prey.  Enjoying his feast, he was not paying attention to the fact that the strong current was moving him rapidly down towards the falls.
3. It appeared that he was getting awfully close to the falls, but was prepared to leap into the air at the last moment.  He was planning on stretching his great wings and flying away at just the right moment, at the brink of the great waterfall.
4. He floated on till finally he realized it was time to fly away. But as he stretched out his great wings for flight he realized he was not able to rise.  Unnoticed by him, his talons had frozen hard and fast in the ice.
5. He flapped his wings but could not move. He struggled with all his might, but his fate was sealed.  In a few moments he was swept over the Niagara Falls to his death.
6. Amos was warning the nation of Israel, but they were “at ease in Zion” (6:1).
7. They though the day of reckoning was “far away” (6:3).

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