Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Future blessings following imminent judgment 16:14-21
  The following three pericopes bracket assurance of imminent judgment for Judah with promises of distant blessing for Israel and the nations. This passage promises deliverance from the captivity for the Israelites. It appears ...
• Their practices 13:17-19
  13:17 The Lord also directed Ezekiel to speak judgment to the female false prophets who were concocting their own messages and passing them off as divine revelations (cf. Isa. 3:16-4:1; 32:9-13; Amos 4:1-3).13:18 He was to an...
• Historical Background
  These were times of political stability, material prosperity, and geographical expansion for both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms (cf. 1:6; 6:2, 13; 2 Kings 14:23-29; 2 Chron. 26:1-15). Jeroboam II and Uzziah were two ...
• Outline
  I. Prologue 1:1-2A. Introduction 1:1B. Theme 1:2II. Prophetic messages that Amos delivered 1:3-6:14A. Oracles against nations 1:3-2:51. An oracle against Aram 1:3-52. An oracle against Philistia 1:6-83. An oracle against Phoe...
• II. Prophetic messages that Amos delivered 1:3--6:14
  The Book of Amos consists of words (oracles, 1:3-6:14) and visions (chs. 7-9), though these sections also contain short sub-sections of other types of material....
• A. Oracles against nations 1:3-2:16
  An oracle is a message of judgment. Amos proceeded to deliver eight of these, seven against Israel's neighbors including Judah (1:3-2:5) and one against Israel (2:6-6:14).12The order is significant. The nations mentioned firs...
• Economic exploitation 4:1-3
  4:1 Amos opened this second message as he did the first (ch. 3), with the cry, "Hear this word."He addressed the wealthy women of Samaria, calling them "cows of Bashan."Bashan was a very luxuriant region of Transjordan east a...
• The complete devastation of Samaria 6:8-14
  6:8 The prophet announced further that the sovereign Yahweh of hosts, even He, had sworn by Himself (cf. 4:2; 8:7). He loathed the pride of Jacob. "Jacob"refers to the Northern Kingdom (cf. 3:13), and "the pride of Jacob"is p...
• The wailing of the sufferers 8:7-10
  The following two passages (vv. 7-10 and 11-14) describe more fully the two results of God's judgment mentioned earlier, namely, wailing and silence (cf. v. 3).8:7 For the third time in this book Amos said that Yahweh took an...
• The blessings of the restored kingdom 9:13-15
  9:13 In contrast to the images of judgment that Amos had painted throughout this book, days were coming when these terrible conditions would be reversed. The land would become so productive that farmers planting seed for the ...
• 2. The first disciples of the Servant 1:16-20 (cf. Matt. 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11)
  The account of the calling of these first disciples clarifies that to repent and believe the gospel (v. 15) should result in abandoning one's former life to follow Jesus from then on. This is the appropriate response that Mar...