4. The fourth message on unacceptable worship 5:18-27

This lament also has a chiastic structure. It centers on a call for individual repentance.

AA description of inevitable judgment vv. 18-20

BAn accusation of religious hypocrisy vv. 21-22

CA call for individual repentance vv. 23-24

B'An accusation of religious hypocrisy vv. 25-26

A'A description of inevitable judgment v. 27

 A description of inevitable judgment 5:18-20

5:18 The prophet began his message by crying, "Alas"(Heb., hoy, woe, oh). This word announced coming doom, another funeral lament (cf. v. 1). Many Israelites in Amos' day were looking forward to a coming day of the Lord. Former prophets had spoken of a day in which Yahweh would conquer His enemies and the enemies of His people and establish His sovereign rule over the world (e.g., Joel 3:18-21, and perhaps Isa. 24:21-23; 34:1-3, 8). The Israelites knew that this was going to be a time of great divine blessing, but Amos informed them that it would also be a time of divine chastisement. It would be a time of darkness rather than light (cf.; Jer. 46:10; Joel 3:1-17; Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 14:1-3). God would judge His people before He blessed them.

5:19 The coming day of the Lord would mean inescapable tragedy for Israel. The Israelites may have thought they had escaped one enemy, but they would have to face another. They might think they were secure and safe in their homeland, but deadly judgment would overtake them in that secure environment. There would be no safe haven from God's coming judgment.

5:20 Rhetorically Amos stated that the coming day of the Lord would be a day characterized by darkness and gloom (despair) rather than by bright light (joy; cf. Joel 2:1-2, 10-11; Zeph. 1:14-15).

A brighter day of the Lord was also coming (cf. 9:11-15; Jer. 30:8-11; Hos. 2:16-23; Mic. 4:6-7; Zeph. 3:11-20), but first a dark one would appear. The Israelites wanted to hasten the good day of the Lord, but they wanted to forget about the bad one. This prophecy found fulfillment when the Assyrians overran Israel and took most of the people into exile in 722 B.C. The later Tribulation period for Israel, which will precede her millennial day of blessing, will be similar to what Amos predicted here, but I think it was not what God was foretelling here.

 An accusation of religious hypocrisy 5:21-22

5:21 The Israelites enjoyed participating in the religious festivals and assemblies in which they professed to worship Yahweh. God had commanded the Israelites to observe several feasts and one fast each year, and these are probably the festivals in view.⁵⁰Yahweh hated the Israelites' worship assemblies, however, because the people were not worshipping Him from their hearts (cf. v. 15). They were only going through the motions of worship. The repetition of "I hate,""I reject,"and "Nor do I delight,"stresses how much He detested this type of worship.⁵¹

5:22 Burnt and grain (meal) offerings were voluntary and expressed the worshipper's personal dedication to Yahweh and the dedication of his or her works to the Lord (Lev. 1-2). Peace offerings were also voluntary and expressed appreciation for the fellowship that God had made possible for His redeemed people with Himself and with one another (Lev. 3). All three of these offerings were sweet-smelling to the Lord and were primarily offerings of worship rather than offerings to secure atonement for sins committed. These three offerings also represent all the worship offerings in another sense. The burnt offering was totally consumed on the altar. The grain offering was partly burned up and partly eaten by the offerer. And the offerer, the priest, and God shared the peace offering. God said He would not accept (lit. smell) or take any notice of any of these offerings, which represent all the others (cf. 4:4-5). In verses 21 and 22 the plural pronouns "you"and "your"appear indicating that God was addressing the whole nation.

 A call for individual repentance 5:23-24

5:23 In verses 23 and 24 the singular pronoun "your"appears indicating that the call is for individuals to repent. God told His people to take away the songs that they sang in worshipping Him because they were only so much noise in His ears. He would not even listen to the musical accompaniment. He would shut His ears as well as His nostrils (v. 21).

5:24 Instead of feasts and fasts, instead of offerings and sacrifices, instead of singing and playing musical instruments, the Lord said He wanted justice and righteousness (cf. v. 7). Instead of a constant stream of blood flowing from sacrifices, and an endless stream of verbal and ritual praise from His people, He wanted these ethical qualities to flow without ceasing from them. The Israelites were inundating Him with rivers of religiosity, but He wanted rivers of righteousness.

"Only when the personal concern of the law is incorporated into their social structure and rightness' characterizes their dealings with others will their worship be acceptable. A token practice of justice and righteousness will not do."⁵²

This is the key verse in the book since it expresses so clearly what God wanted from His people. It is a clear statement of the importance of moral and ethical righteousness over mere ritual worship.

"With Hos 6:6 and Mic 6:8 this text stands as one of the great themes in prophetic literature with regard to the nature of sacrifices and true religion. God is not pleased by acts of pomp and grandeur but by wholehearted devotion and complete loyalty."⁵³

 Another accusation of religious hypocrisy 5:25-26

5:25 The Lord now returned to explain further what He did not want (vv. 21-23). With another rhetorical question (cf. v. 20) the Lord asked if His people really worshipped Him with their animal sacrifices and grain offerings when they were in the wilderness for 40 years.⁵⁴As He clarified in the next verse, they had not. Their hypocritical worship was not something new; it had marked them from the beginning of their nation (e.g., the golden calf incident, Exod. 32).

5:26 During the wilderness wanderings the Israelites had also carried shrines of their king. This may refer to unauthorized shrines honoring Yahweh or, more probably, shrines honoring other deities (cf. Acts 7:42-43). "Sikkuth, your king,"probably refers to Sakkut, the Assyrian war god also known as Adar. "Kiyyun, your images,"probably refers to the Assyrian astral deity also known as Kaiwan or Saturn. Amos evidently ridiculed these gods by substituting the vowels of the Hebrew word for "abomination,"(shiqqus) in their names.⁵⁵"The star of your gods [or god]"probably refers to the planet Saturn that represented Kiyyun.⁵⁶They may have carried pedestals for their images of various idols including astral deities. Many scholars believe the Israelites conceived of the golden calf as a representation of that on which Yahweh rode, a visible support for their invisible God.⁵⁷The bull in Egyptian iconography was a symbol of strength and power. Jeroboam I had erected bulls at Dan and Bethel in Israel and had revived this idolatrous form of worship. Amos pointed out that Israel had always mixed idolatry with the worship of Yahweh, so Israel's worship of Him had been hypocritical throughout her history.⁵⁸

 Another description of inevitable judgment 5:27

Because of this hypocritical worship, Yahweh, the God of armies, promised that the Israelites would go into exile beyond Damascus. They did go into exile in Assyria, to the northeast of Damascus, after 722 B.C. (cf. 4:3).

"The horror of exile' was more than the ruin of defeat and the shame of capture. For Israel, it meant being removed from the land of promise, the land of God's presence. Exile, in effect, was excommunication."⁵⁹