For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Background

• The mid-8th C. was a heady time for both kingdoms, because
  • Syria (Aram) was drained from its exertions in resisting Assyria.
  • Egypt was weak, thus constituting no southern threat.
  • Assyria was preoccupied with the kingdom of Urartu.
  • Israel's smaller neighbors, Phoenicia, Philistia. Ammon, Moab, and Edom, posed no threat.
• The prophet now shifts his attack to the rich and powerful men (having already criticized the callous upper class women in chapter 4).

Complacent (6:1-7)

• In heady times, it is easy to grow complacent.
• Zion is Jerusalem.
  • The southern kingdom of Judah was not much more righteous than the northern kingdom of Israel.
  • Israel, despite its (false claims) to be God's people (the true Zion), were not!
  • Samaria and the entire kingdom of which it was the capital went into captivity nearly a century and a half before the kingdom of Judah was exiled.
• Israel was no better than other kingdoms (v.2).
• Lives of luxury are reprehensible when basic physical and spiritual needs in others are going unmet!
  • The operative word is "lounge."
  • These people are drinking wine straight from the bowl!
  • Note: anointing was part of daily personal hygiene (as in Matthew 6). It also kills body lice.
  • Meat (probably lamb) was a great delicacy, at a time when most tasted meat only 3x/year. (See Luke 15:23.)
  • They cared only for themselves and the perks that come with power.
  • Their creative energies went into music, not into helping the poor. Their priorities were skewed.
  • Historical sidelights:
    • Harvard University expeditions of 1908-1910 found potsherd inscriptions at Samaria recording deliveries of jugs of old (well fermented and textured) wine and refined olive oil.
    • An ivory carving from Megiddo depicts a noble quaffing her thirst from a bowl while a servant is playing the lute.
• Exile is certain! "Your feasting and lounging will end!"

Devastation and a dismal post-war scene (6:8-14)

• A pattern of military victory will not, in the case of Israel, avert ultimate military defeat. The homes of which they were so proud will be smashed to pieces.
• As useless as plowing the sea with oxen, or plowing the rocky crags with horses. Donkeys can manage the rocks, not horses. Either way, Israel's self-directed efforts are ultimately worthless. Word-play: Lo-debar -- nothing (not a thing). Their efforts have been in vain, their military achievements meaningless. (As though Robin Hood were to call Nottingham "Nothingham.")
• The nation to be stirred up is none other than Assyria!

Thought questions

1. Does Amos 6:1 apply to me? Am I one of those who could be described as "complacent in Zion?"
2. Am I living for luxury, status, indulgent pleasures, guilty of conspicuous consumption?
   1. Do I have to live at my present standard of living?
   2. Calculate how many hours a week you are working to pay your rent or mortgage, meals, entertainment, etc. Do your budgetary priorities reflect your spiritual convictions? (They usually do!) Our use of time (the Lord's time) should follow biblical priorities.
3. Am I grieving over the ruin of Joseph?
   1. Grieving over the fractured and faithless state of most groups that claim to be following Christ?
   2. Grieve when your local church is not growing spiritually / numerically?
   3. Grieving over the pain, alienation, lostness and ultimate condemnation of the world?
   4. Does my involvement in evangelism reflect my conviction about the lostness of the world?
4. Are we taking excessive pride in our own accomplishments, as though they can shield us from the Judgment day?

Advanced:

• V.2: Calneh and Hamath are in Syria. Cities suggest human ingenuity, strength, and achievement. But (Hebrews 13:14) we have here no continuing city. Our city is above (also a theme in Revelation).
• V.8: "by himself" is literally "by his throat," an image underscoring the seriousness of keeping the oath.
• V.10: Not mentioning the name of the Lord is susceptible of several interpretations. Should his name not be mentioned because of the risk of further judgment? or for shame? or because it would be fruitless, given Israel's abandonment by the Lord? The text is not clear.
• V.12: One doesn't plow there (or doesn't plow the sea, depending on a single consonant [yam or sham]).
• Karnaim (v.13) is a Hebrew dual form meaning (two) horns. Horns represented power.