The name "Amos" means "burden." He was given a burden from God. Amos was from the area of Tekoa, located to the south of Jerusalem. However most of his prophecy is directed toward the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He tells us that he was not originally a prophet (1:1; 7:14).

Amos was not a professional prophet. He had no string of degrees behind his name. He had not been to propheteering school. He had not graduated from seminary. Amos wasn't even a preacher's kid. He had a real job.

There is a principle here. It is that God delights in using unqualified people to do His work.

• He uses a handful of Galilean fishermen.
• He uses a greedy tax-collector.
• He uses a shepherd boy with a sling, a farmer with a piece of fleece and a Samaritan woman with a jug of water.

The fact that God uses unqualified people means that He can use me and He can use you.

Amos tells us when this book was written. It was 2 years before the earthquake. This would give us an exact date if only we knew when the earthquake took place. We don't.

What we do know is that the Northern Kingdom of Israel had not yet been taken into captivity.

Amos tells us that he wrote during the reign of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel (1:1). This was Jeroboam II. His reign was one of great prosperity in Israel. During his reign, the borders of Israel were extended to their very greatest size.

This means that when Amos preached of the coming judgment of God, the circumstances of the made it appear as though such a prophecy was unwarranted.

The message of Amos begins on a loud note. It begins with the "roar" of the Lord. The Hebrew word used here is usually used in the context of a lion. This stands in contrast to the way in which God has been pictured elsewhere. The same God of whom David could say, "The Lord is my shepherd," is now seen to be playing the part of a hungry lion.

Interestingly, the book of Amos begins with the words with which the book of Joel ends. It is with this same reference to the roaring of the Lord from Zion.

We are not entirely sure when the book of Joel was written, but it is possible that Amos picks up where Joel left off. It is for this reason that the books have this arrangement in our Bibles.

Even though Amos was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, he was sent to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

1. Political Setting.

• Defeat of Judah.

• Fall of Aram.

• Decline of Egypt.

1. Economic Setting.

With all enemies subdued, a time of great economic prosperity ensued. This was especially seen in the rise of a rich merchant class. This financial prosperity brought with it a corresponding social corruption.

Although there were many rich, there were also many poor. Instead of this great wealth being utilized to relieve their distress, the rich set about using their riches to buy up the lands of the poor and to dispossess them.

2. The Religious Setting.

• It was a Pluralistic Religion.

• It was a Religion without Reality.

The Israelites had not abandoned their religious practices. They had merely watered them down. They said, "We want to follow God, but we don't want to be fanatical about it." This was the world to which Amos preached. It was a world that was enamored with financial success; a world that was intent on climbing the ladder of success.

If fifty years it would all be gone. The Assyrians had gone home for the time being, but within a few short years they would be back and they would completely obliterate the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Amos was a shepherd by trade. He is using shepherd language. Shepherds usually protect their flocks from lions and things that go roar in the night. The Psalms present the Lord as the Shepherd of Israel. But this time it is the Lord who is doing the roaring. He is the Lion who is going to gobble up the straying sheep.

On eight consecutive occasions throughout the first two chapters, we read the refrain: "For three transgressions and for four…" One by one we see each of the enemy nations around Israel being condemned by the Lord. We can imagine the people of Israel nodding their heads in agreement over these various judgments.

Closer and closer are the targets of each of these indictments until finally the condemnation of the prophet falls upon Israel.

One might be tempted to think that Israel would be able to get away with more because of her special position. Amos tells us that Israel's special position makes her more accountable before God. It is because Israel has been chosen by God that she will be punished.

There is a principle here. It is the principle that to whom much is given, much is required. I didn't say it -- Jesus did: And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more (Luke 12:48).

We live in a country where much has been given. There is a church on every street corner. You can walk into almost any bookstore and buy a Bible. Much has been given to us and we shall be judged accordingly.

Amos 3 contains a covenant lawsuit against the entire nation. It is presented in five points.

1. The Parties of the Covenant are Introduced: Hear this word which the LORD has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt (3:1).
2. Covenant Indictment: I will punish you for all your iniquities (3:2).
3. The Sovereignty of the Sovereign (3:3-8).
4. Summons of the Guilty: Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the oppressions in her midst (3:9).
5. Judgment (3:10-15).

As we begin in Amos 4, the prophet addresses himself to a new group: They are the cows of Bashan.

Bashan was that portion of Israel's land that lay on the eastern banks of the Jordan River. When the Israelites had first approached the land under Joshua, two and a half of the tribes decided that they would take for their inheritance the land on the east of the Jordan. By doing so, they were accepting God's second-best.

This land was known for its cattle. But God is not actually addressing cattle. These cows are of the human kind. It is a reference to the women of Israel. They are pictured like cows, interested only in grazing.

They are charged with oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. It is not that they were out actively doing these things. But in feeding their appetites, they were encouraging their husbands to go to any lengths to get ahead.

American culture caters to this sort of thinking. Women are taught to idolize the man who has a well-paying job and who drives a fancy car and who is able to own a nice home. So what if his aggressive business dealings put his competition out of business. That is what capitalism is all about, isn't it?

I'm not saying that capitalism is bad, but I want to point out that it often feeds the love of money and we are told in the New Testament that the love of money is at the root of all sorts of evils (1 Timothy 6:10).

God swears an oath. This is more than a promise. This is a binding decree. When an oath was sworn, the implication was that the thing by which you swore would be forfeit for destruction if the oath did not come to pass.

God swore by His holiness. He was saying in effect, "If My promise in this matter does not come to pass, then may My very holiness be destroyed."

What is the subject of the oath? It is a promise of Israel's coming captivity. It is described in graphic terms.

That this promise was literally fulfilled is graphically portrayed in the Assyrian inscriptions that show the Assyrian conquerors placing hooks through the lips of their conquered enemies.

The refrain, "Yet you have not returned to Me," is found five times in this chapter (4:6, 8, 9, 10, 11). The ever-increasing cycles of discipline are reminiscent of Leviticus 26 with its similar promise of increasing disciple.

There is a lesson here. When crops fail and when companies go out of business and when the stock market comes crashing down, God is in control.

Why does He allow these sorts of things to take place? It is to turn the hearts of His people back to Himself.

Amos 5 begins with a funeral dirge.

This is not a dirge of how Israel was in the days of Amos, but rather a dirge of what she would become. At the same time, there is a promise of restoration if they will only repent.

• Seek Me that you may live (5:4).
• Seek the Lord that you may live (5:6).
• Seek good and not evil, that you may live (5:14).

Again the charge is given that the rich have unfairly oppressed the poor.

In today's society, we do not label such things as "bribes." Instead they are called "campaign contributions" and are even tax deductible, but the effect is often the same.

In the last three chapters of his book, Amos is given five graphic representations of God's coming judgment against Israel.

Who is the "booth and tabernacle of David"? It is the same One who became flesh and "tabernacled" among us (John 1:14). It is a reference to Jesus. It is through His coming that we have a rebuilding of the tabernacle of David and a restoration of the people of God.

The name Micah means "who is like Ya?" He is introduced in Micah 1:1 as Micah of Moresheth. In verse 14 of the same chapter we read of Moresheth-gath. Evidently the town of Moresheth was located near the city of Gath in the land of the Philistines.

The ministry of Micah began at a time when the spiritual life of both Israel and Judah was at an all-time low. The eventual revival in the days of Hezekiah may well have been at least in part the result of Micah's ministry.

Micah is composed in three oracles.

Each of these oracles begins with the judgment of God against the rebellious nation and then goes on to give a promise of restoration for the future.

A number of years ago I recall seeing a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus is coming and, boy, is He ticked!" Micah begins his prophecy with a thundering proclamation. God is coming and His coming will shake the earth.

Both Israel and Judah come under condemnation. He begins with the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital city of Samaria. You can go to Jerusalem today and you will find a thriving, bustling city. But if you go to Samaria, you will only find a ruined heap of scattered stones.

Beginning in verse 9, Micah turns his attention to Judah. Verses 10-16 mention a number of specific cities throughout the land of Judah. Each of these is a play on words.

The first is a reference to the ancient city of Gath.

This initial call hearkens back to the funeral dirge that David composed at the death of Saul and Jonathan.

Now again, we see a lament. This time, the lament is not just for a king and his son, but for all of Judah. What follows is a series of playing on words with the place-names of the cities of Judah.

Adullam, mentioned in verse 15, was the place where David had hidden himself in a cave when Saul was in pursuit of him. In such a manner, the glory of Israel is pictured as going into hiding.

Dillard and Longman's book, Introduction to the Old Testament, relate Moffatt's paraphrase of this passage to capture some of the wordplays:

The reason for this coming judgment is set forth in chapter 2.

What once had been the sin of a single king had now become characteristic throughout the entire nation. There is a lesson here. As go the leaders, so also will go the followers. As goes the national rulers, so will go the nation. As goes the clergy, so also will go the laity.

Verse 1 gives a woe to those who scheme iniquity. This verse uses the same Hebrew word to speak of how God plans evil against those who have themselves planned to do evil.

Micah is the prophet of judgment. In this midst of Micah's prophecy of judgment, he also offers a ray of hope.

There is always a remnant. That is a common theme throughout the Old Testament. No matter how bad things turn, there is always a promise of a remnant.

Throughout the first 200 years of the history of the United States, Christians in this country got used to being a majority. That has changed over the last generation. Christians are losing their majority status. But there is still a remnant and God can work through a remnant.

Instead of protecting their flock from the invading wolf pack, these leaders were worse than the wolves -- they were eating their flocks alive.

Leaders are more liable. That is what James 3:1 tells us. Leaders incur a more stricter judgment. Why? Because as go the leaders, so goes the nation.

This is true of the church, too. As go the leaders, so will go the church. You are hard-pressed to find anything that ever moved the church that did not first move her leaders.

The indictment is made against both the political leaders, the priests and even the prophets. The problem was that they had come to assume that God was on their side, even when they were disobedient to the commands of God.

As a result of this, there would be a coming judgment. The judgment would take place against Jerusalem and the Temple. Jerusalem would become a heap of ruins and the Temple would become a place where trees grew wild.

This passage is repeated nearly word for word in Isaiah 2:2-4. Did Micah quote from Isaiah or the other way around? We do not know and it is not really important.

Micah has just said at the end of the previous chapter that the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest (3:12). Not he calls it the "mountain of the house of the Lord" and says that it will be established. First the temple would be destroyed and become a place of bareness, but in the last days the temple would be restored as a place of blessing.

There is coming a day when, not only the Children of Israel, but many nations will come to the mountain of the house of the Lord.

The city of Jerusalem is surrounded upon all sides by mountains. Although it is itself upon a mountain ridge, it is not the highest. There are several surrounding mountains which are higher. But the picture here is of the mountain of the house of the Lord - the Temple Mount - being raised up above the surrounding mountains.

What does it all mean? How are we to understand this prophecy? There are some who would predict future geological changes to take place in the land of Palestine. But this is not geological language. It is figurative language.

When did the nations begin to come to the Temple? It was seen at the Pentecost incident when we are given in the Scriptures a listing of all of the nations that were gathered.

But that is not all. This is a Messianic prophecy. Christ is the House of God. He is the Temple which was destroyed and which was raised up again in three days. He is the One who said, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself" (John 12:32).

This passage tells us that there is coming a day when all men would turn to God; when the throne of God would be recognized by all.

What is the house of God today? It is the church. This means that the exhortation that is given to believers in the Old Testament will also apply to the church today.

The reference to sitting under one's own vine and under one's own fig tree is a picture of peace and prosperity. It pictures a return to the golden age under Solomon.

This becomes a catch phrase to describe the blessings of God upon His people. The future blessings of God would continue to be described as a time when every man would be "under his vine and his fig tree" (Zechariah 3:10).

However, before the future time of restoration could come, there would first come a time of coming judgment. It is pictured in terms of a woman's labor pains.

It is in the context of this promise of exile and restoration that the coming of a future Davidic king is given.

Here is the point. Judah will be invaded and will suffer the ultimate insult and subjugation, but there will come from Bethlehem a promised redeemer who will return as the ruler of God's people.

Bethlehem was the city from which David had come. This was its primary claim to fame, as it was really only a small village. Ephrathah was the place name of the general area, a name that went all the way back to the days of the judges (Ruth 4:11).

Just as David had come from Bethlehem, so also the future ruler of Israel would also come from Bethlehem. He would be the One whose coming had been promised and described from ages past.

In the third Oracle, the prophet rails against the problem of religion without reality.

This is seen in Micah 7:20 where Micah says, "Thou wilt give truth to Jacob and UNCHANGING LOVE to Abraham." The fascinating part is the play on words found in the term "unchanging."

It is a play on words with the name "Jacob" which literally means "heel-grabber" but carries the idea of "supplanter, switcher, trickster or changer." Literally, the prophet says, "You will give truth to Jacob and non-Jacob mercy to Abraham."

The book of Nahum is a prophecy directed at Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria. It is the sort of book that we can imagine Jonah to have penned. Indeed, the similarities between these two books are striking.

• Both Nahum and Jonah focus upon Assyria and their capital city of Nineveh.
• Both Nahum and Jonah contain prophecies of Nineveh's destruction.
• Both Nahum and Jonah close their books with a question. The question at the end of the book of Jonah points to God's compassion. The question at the end of the book of Nahum points to Nineveh's continued lack of compassion for others.

The name "Nahum" means "consolation" or "comfort." One form of this word is used in Nahum 3:7 where we read: And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, "Nineveh is devastated! Who will grieve for her?" Where will I seek comforters [MeNahamim] for you?

We know virtually nothing of Nahum. Because the name Capernaum means "village of Nahum," some have supposed that he came from this Galilean village.

The Book of Nahum is organized in a large parallel known as a chiasm. The centerpoint of this chaism is the lament in which Nineveh is likened to a den of lions that had formerly gobbled up the nations and was now herself devoured.

The fall of Nineveh took place in 612 B.C. when a coalition of Chaldeans, Medes and Scythians attacked the city. Nahum's prophecy is vivid in its language and he utilizes a number of word pictures to describe the destruction of the city.

There are several lessons that we can learn from the book of Nahum.

1. God is concerned with politics and political happenings.

One must be careful when applying the political statements that are addressed to Judah and to Israel to countries and nations today. We are not a theocracy. But Israel was.

At the same time, we must also recognize that God is concerned with politics and with the movings of nations. We may try to separate church and state, but God will not remain separate from anything in His creation.

2. God takes it seriously when anyone hurts His people.
3. When God shows compassion (as He did toward the city of Nineveh in the days of Jonah), He demands that compassion is shown to others. Jesus said the same thing. When He taught His disciples to pray, He told them to say, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12).