Amos / week 2

Read Amos 3-6

Amos 3

1. What is the expected answer to the questions that Amos asks in 3:3-5? What is the expected answer to the questions that he asks in 3:6-7? Why does Amos ask these questions (Amos 3:7- 8)? Do you notice any connection between Amos 1:2 and these questions?

2. What does it mean to “hoard up violence/plunder and devastation/loot” (Amos 3:10)? How do we do the same in our own lives (Ezekiel 22:29; James 2:3, 9)? Why do we do this naturally and how can we respond differently?

3. What do the various types of houses in Amos 3:15 indicate (“winter,” “summer,” “ivory,” “great/mansions”)? What does this verse tell us about the fleeting significance of worldly wealth? How should we respond to this reality today (Matthew 6:19-21; 1 Timothy 6:17-19)?

Amos 4

1. What tone is Amos (speaking on behalf of God) taking in Amos 4:4-5? What is God most interested in, their sacrifices or something else (1 Samuel 15:22; Psalm 51:16-17)? How do you focus more on external “performance” rather than a “contrite (or crushed) heart?”

2. How are we like the people of Israel, not “returning” to the Lord? What does this “returning” look like for us as members of the body of Christ (Acts 17:30; Titus 2:11-13; 1 John 1:9)? Where do you need to “return” to God in your life?

3. God promises that He will judge His people for their sinful actions and attitudes. He also promises that He will be gracious. How are we to reconcile these two ideas (Psalm 86:15; Romans 5:8)? How does He want you to respond to this truth this week (2 Corinthians 7:1)?

Amos 5

1. What is the solution for Israel’s predicted fate (Amos 5:4b and 6a)? What did this solution look like for the nation of Israel (Ezekiel 18:9) and what might it look like for us as the body of Christ (Philippians 4:8-9; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)?

2. What is the “day of the Lord” (Amos 5:18; Isaiah 2:12; Joel 1:15)? Is this a future day or has it already happened? Why is this day one of darkness and not light (Amos 5:20)? How does the use of animals in Amos 5:19 help describe this day?

3. Read Amos 5:24. Where else have you heard this verse quoted? What is the connection between “justice” and “righteousness” (Psalm 33:5; 1 Kings 10:9)? How might have idolatry (Amos 5:26) contributed to their judgment of exile to Assyria in 722 B.C. (Amos 5:27)?

Amos 6

1. How were the people of Zion (Israel) “at ease” or “complacent” (Amos 6:1)? Why is this such an offensive thing to God (Zephaniah 1:12)? In what ways are you like the people of Zion?

2. What point is Amos trying to make in Amos 6:2-3? What is the fate that awaits not only these Gentile cities (Calneh, Hamath, and Gath), but also Israel? In addition to complacency, what other attitudes summarize the people of Israel at this point?

3. What’s the deal with Amos 6:10? Why must the “name of the LORD” not be mentioned? Answer the questions that Amos asks in Amos 6:12? What is the point Amos is trying to make here? Read Isaiah 1:21. Do we see similar things going on in our world today?