Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom everyone. I hope you have your Bibles with you. We're going to open our Bibles to the prophet Amos today. Amos in English, Amos in Hebrew. And I would like to read today the first chapter, the finished chapter one from verse three into chapter two in verse three. So we're reading Amos one verse three to Amos two in verse three and I would like you to follow me as I'm reading the scripture. And so we read thus saith the Lord. For three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

But I will send fire into the house of Hazael which shall devour the palaces of Ben Hadad. I will break also the bar of the Damascus and cut off the inhabitants from the plain of oven. And him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden and the people of Syria will go into captivity unto Kedar saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Gaza and for the four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they carried away captive the the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom. But I will send fire on the walls of Gaza which shall devour the palaces thereof.

And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod and him that holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon. and I will turn mine hand against a crown. And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish saith the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord for three transgression of Tyre and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom and remembered not the brotherly covenant. But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre which shall devour the palaces thereof. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom and for four, will not turn away the punishment thereof because he did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pity and his anger did tear continuously and he kept his wrath forever.

But I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. Thus saith the Lord for three transgression of the children of Ammon and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead that they might enlarge their border. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah and it shall devour the palaces thereof with shouting in the day of battle with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. And their king shall go into captivity he and his princes together saith the Lord.

Amos chapter two and verses one to three. Thus saith the Lord for three transgression of Moab and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. But I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth and Moab shall die with tumult with shouting and with the sound of trumpet. And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof and I will slay all the princes thereof with him saith the Lord. Now I don't know about you but reading such a passage like this from the word of God makes you wonder.

Makes you wonder why is it that God is speaking so strong when he present before the people of Israel the coming judgment that will fall upon the surrounding nations of Israel and you just I want you to realize here is a man by the name of Amos. If you remember when we began the study of the prophet Amos in chapter one, the first two verses we read the words of Amos who was among the herdmen of Tekoa which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, the king of Israel two years before the earthquake.

And he said the Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the habitation of the shepherds shall mourn and the top of Carmel shall wither. And then we read the passage that we have before us today in Amos one verse three to Amos two verse three. Now Amos was a man that was raised among the people of Israel and he was part of the southern kingdom of Israel of Judah that is he was a little bit further south to the city of Jerusalem and Amos was there as a man that was a shepherd among the people of Judah.

He grew up somewhere there south of the people of the city of Jerusalem further south of the town called Bethlehem where Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel was born and Amos was raised by God in order to declare a punishment that is going to come upon the northern kingdom of Israel. You see God have chosen the people of Israel as one nation. He gave them the promised land, the land of Israel. But what happened? The people of Israel have divided into two kingdom. There was the northern kingdom called the kingdom of Israel. There was the southern kingdom called the kingdom of Judah.

And now instead of having one nation under the God and father or you would say the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you have two nations. Now these two nations, Israel and Judah went further and further and further from the God of their fathers. In fact, the condition among the people of Israel had been so bad, beloved brothers and sisters, that the northern kingdom instead of coming into the city of Jerusalem to worship the God of their fathers, they built golden calves in the north of Israel in a place called Bethel and in a place called Dan.

And instead of coming to the city of Jerusalem where the temple was, this northern kingdom, the 10 tribes of Israel went to worship all the way in the north of Israel and they were worshiping golden calves just the same as Aaron and the people of Israel built the golden calf when Israel came outside of the land of Egypt. What a condition, beloved brothers and sisters, Israel as a nation have fallen into. Now to remember these are the chosen people, the people of God. The purpose that God brought Israel out of the land of Egypt is that Israel will be a testimony to the whole world of the true and living God.

So the time has come that northern kingdom are going to be taken captive by the Assyrian. So what God does, he raised the man by the name of Amos. Amos name mean loaded or heavy burden, loader of a heavy burden. And he was carry this burden and now he's going to speak all the way he's going to the north of Israel to preach the message of the judgment that is coming upon the nation of Israel that God is going to disperse the nation of Israel in the coming days. When Amos spoke he preached at about a 765 BC when the people of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian, it was 722 BC, 40 years later.

The children of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian. But the time haven't arrived yet and God send Amos in order to preach to the northern kingdom. Now imagine he was a Jewish man from Judea. He was a man that was a shepherd. His father was not a prophet. He was not a son of a prophet nor a prophet, but God raised him to become a messenger for himself. And he traveled all the way to the north from the south to give this message of judgment. When you and I read that we say who want to read such a message?

Who want to hear even such a message of judgment? We like to hear about the love of God. We like to hear about the grace of God. We like to read about the forgiveness of God. We don't like to hear about the judgment that come. And you remember what the apostle said that the judgment must begin at the house of God. And if judgment began with us what shall be the end of those that obey not the gospel of Yeshua, the Messiah? So Amos is now beginning with the pronouncing of judgment. But it's so interesting that while the whole book of Amos there's these nine chapters is actually speaking about the judgment that going to come upon the people of Israel, the northern kingdom yet Amos began by declaring the judgment of God upon the surrounding nations that surround the people of Israel.

You will notice he going to speak about Damascus which is the capital city of Syria. He's going to speak about Gaza or we call it in Hebrew which is the capital city of the Palestinian or the Philistine. He going to speak about Tyre in Hebrew we call it which is where Lebanon is present day today. But it was the capital city of the Phoenician biblical day. He going to speak about which is in the south of Israel and Edom is the country that descendant from Esau, the brother of Jacob. He's going to speak about right above here.

And also and Moab were those two children that were born to Lot, the nephew of Abraham, our father. And you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, that all these nations, six of these nations surrounding the people of Israel. The only border that have no enemies, you might say, is the Mediterranean Sea where the only place where there was Israel was not surrounded by any of its own enemies that constantly fought with the nation of Israel. So I really wanted you to visualize, beloved brothers and sisters, Amos, a shepherd going north to speak to the kingdom of Israel about the coming judgment.

But he began by telling them about the judgment that are going to come upon six nations where the enemies of Israel past and present and will be in the future doing the tribulation period when God eventually going to send Yeshua, the Messiah, to come and restore Israel to himself. Now you might say brother Gideon I don't want to hear about all these judgment that are going to come in a future day. I like to hear a message of love, a message of grace, a message of forgiveness. I want you to be sure to understand that I would love to hear this as well, but God is holy.

And because God is holy, justice must come to pass. And because God is holy he send the Messiah Yeshua to die for our sins. And if our sins are not paid for, eventually judgment has to come. And that's why God spoke to Israel again and again and again. And when Israel refused to submit to his word, the time has come and Israel going to experience his own discipline. He will discipline his very own people, but he first noticed that this is extremely interesting that he began in the order of presenting the judgment of God. He first of all presented with the three nation.

Damascus is Syria. Then is Gaza is Philistine. And thirdly, he's going to speak about which is the Phoenicians, a nations that do not have any blood tie with Israel. Then he moving a little bit further or closer and he's going to speak about these three nations, namely and these three nations have a blood tie, you might say, relationship to Israel. You remember is a a brother, a twin brother of Jacob. And are the two sons that came out of a wrong relationship between Lot and his daughters who got him drunk in Genesis chapter 19 and had these two children who became an enemies of the people of Israel.

So he began by dealing with nations who are further than Israel. You might say no, not having any blood relationship with Israel. And then he get closer and he says not only them, but also those who are, you might say, families of the people of Israel. I will deal with them and then he will continue to speak directly to Judah and ultimately to the people of Israel in judgment that is going to come upon them. So please follow me as I'm going through these verses and you can see what God is declaring through Amos, the prophet from a place called Tekoa.

By the way, the word Tekoa come from the Hebrew word and means to blow the shofar, to blow the horn, the the ram horn, pronouncing the judgment of God that is falling upon those six nations which surround the people of Israel. And he began notice he began with Damascus. Damascus is the capital city of Syria. And you notice that Israel and Syria were rivals from generation to generation until today. If you will travel to the land of Israel, you're going to go to the border between Israel and Syria. And you will even hear some sounds of a bullets flying or bombs are being even today in the days in which we live in.

But notice he speaking here about 780 or so 760 or 70 BC when Amos is saying and notice what he said in verse three. First of all, in verse three he shows us the most terrible a sin of Damascus. What did they do? Notice that. He says in verse three thus saith the Lord for three transgression of the Damascus and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof. Now he gives us the reason because what's the reason? Because they have threshed with threshing instruments of iron. Now I didn't write this. This is the word of the Lord.

Now Damascus again I would like you to see that Damascus in the north of Israel in the map you can see the Damascus in the north of Israel. And if you will notice that on the eastern side of Dead Sea and the Jordan River, there were two and a half tribes who did not enter into the promised land. If you remember, it was half of the tribe of Manasseh. As we read in the days of old and it was Dan and there were two and a half a tribe that didn't enter into the promised land.

And to these two and a half tribes who remain there, they remain in the area that is called Gilead. Gilead in the north and northeast of Jordan River and look what they have done to these people in the land of Gilead. It says there in verse three that they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. After there was a warfare and a conflict and those people of Gilead from the two and a half tribes remained dead on the ground. Do you know what the Phoenicians have done? What Syria have done? Here was the Lord is saying here.

They have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. They ran over the bodies of the dead individuals that remained there from the conflict. And like they are threshing wheat in the gardens or in the field. They were going with it is their machinery, you might say, and they were cutting to pieces the bodies of those who remained dead on the ground. That was an awful sin of Damascus. In other words, it was the sin that rose up as it says here, a horrible sin that they have committed. Now there were many other sins that they have committed because it says in verse three three transgression of Damascus and the four will not turn away the punishment of God.

In other words, there were many sins that have already committed, but it's as it were the cup was running over. And the time has come is to discipline Damascus and the people of Syria who behave in such a way. And so what God is saying in verses four and five? It says the punishment, the judgment that going to come upon Syria is found in verses four and five. Listen, it says here but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael which shall devour the palaces of Ben Hadad. Verse five, I will break also the bar of Damascus.

And I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of oven. And him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kedar saith the Lord. In other words, the Lord says look because of multiplication of sins that Syria, the Damascus have committed I'm now it came to the point of you might say no return and the time will come and I will have to judge the people of Syria. And God promised them a few things. Number one, he promised that fire will enter into the house of Hazael and devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.

You know the usually in the capital city you have all these palaces all those places where they have to the king of Syria live and the time of judgment has come. And God was going to bring these fire into Damascus and the judgment of God will come upon them. And notice verse five he says I will break also the bar of Damascus, the protection of Damascus and I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of oven and him that holdeth the scepter. Who is the one who hold the scepter? That's the king. The king will the king of Syria, he eventually and with his people will going to captivity unto Kedar saith the Lord.

In other words, judgment is going to come upon the city of Damascus which is the capital city of Syria because of what happen in their activities that they have done to the people of Gilead. Please turn with me to second Kings chapter 10 second Kings chapter 10 verses 32 and 33. Look what we read, second Kings chapter 10. It saith in those days the Lord began to cut Israel short. And Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel. And listen to verse 33 from Jordan eastward all the land of Gilead the the Gadites, this is the tribe of Gad and the Reubenites, this is the tribe of Reuben and the Manassites, this is half of the tribe of Manasseh from which is by the River of Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.

Now chapter 13 and verse listen to the next verse, verse seven, chapter 13 verses three to seven. And there you find out what really happened. In verse three, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria and into the hand of Ben Hadad, the son of Hazael all their days. Verse four and besought the Lord and the Lord hearkened unto him for he saw the oppression of Israel because the king of Syria oppressed them. And the Lord gave Israel a savior so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrian and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time.

Then verse six. Nevertheless, listen Israel, even though our God deliver Israel from the hand of Syria, they still fail to submit to the Lord. Nevertheless, they departed not from their sin, the sins of the house of Jeroboam who made Israel sin. But they walked therein and they remained the grove also in Samaria. This is the terrible idols that they were worshiping in Samaria. Then verse seven. Neither did he leave of the people to but 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 footmen for and here is the word for the king of Syria had destroyed them and had made them.

Listen to this like the dust by threshing. See what the king of Syria did? Because Israel did not obey the Lord, the king of Syria rose up against Israel. And as we read in Amos chapter one and verse three, he have threshed with threshing instruments of iron.

Guest (Male): You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411 Niagara on the Lake, Ontario L0S 1J0 or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com.

God bless you. Shalom Shalom.