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: Hey Shabbat Shalom everyone. Please open your Bibles to the prophet Amos today to the fifth chapter. Amos chapter 5 is the ministry today and I would like to read the first 17 verses. Amos chapter 5 and the reason that I'm stopping it verse 17 for this ministry meeting is because Amos has three sermons that he gave our people Israel when he was speaking to the northern tribes of Israel in chapter 3 4 5 and 6 and those messages or those sermons called here O Israel messages. Every one of these chapters begin with the word here this word but in the third sermon that he gave to Israel in Amos chapter 5 and 6 there are additional two woe judgments that are mentioned in chapter 5 in verse 18 in chapter 6 in verse 1 which we're going to deal with it in the next ministry meeting.

So like us "to read Amos chapter 5 in verses 1 to 17 and please follow me. Hear ye this word which I take up against you even a lamentation O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen. She shall no more rise. She is forsaken upon her land. There is none to raise her up. For thus says the Lord God the city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel. For thus says the Lord unto the house of Israel seek ye me and ye shall live.

But seek not Bethel nor enter into Gilgal and pass not to Beersheba for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and Bethel shall come to naught. Seek the Lord and ye shall live lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood and live off righteousness in the earth seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion and it turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.

The Lord is his name. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong so that the spoil shall come against their fortress. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly for as much therefore as your threatening is upon the poor and ye take from him burdens of wheat. Ye have built houses of hewn stone but ye shall not dwell in them. Ye have planted pleasant vineyard but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins. They afflict the just. They take a bribe and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in their time for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil that ye may live and so the Lord the God of hosts shall be with you as he have spoken. Hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment in the the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Therefore the Lord the God of hosts the Lord says thus wailing shall be in all streets. And they shall say in all the highways alas alas and they shall call the husbandmen to mourning.

And such is a skillful of lamentation to wailing and in all vineyard shall be wailing. For I will pass through thee saith the Lord. And I want to stop here in verse 17. Amos chapter 5 verses 1 to 17. You remember beloved brothers and sisters if we are looking at this map one more time the map here right here remind us that Israel the nation have been divided into two separate nation. The one huge nation of Israel now have you might say two nations. Judah in the south Yehuda the kingdom of Yehuda and Israel in the north the kingdom of Israel.

In Hebrew we call it and two separate kingdoms. Now sadly this happened after Solomon died and his son have not submitted to God and by being so harsh and so self-willed he lost the kingdom to a man by the name of This man became the king of the northern kingdom and this man built two golden calves. One of them in a place called Bethel and another one above there in a place called Dan. And the northern kingdom of Israel instead of coming to worship in the city of Jerusalem there in the center they remain in the north.

They worship their own idols. They worship the golden calves and they had altars and burnt the sacrifices and incense to a gods that are not God to idols. That brought about the necessity of God judging the northern kingdom which is called So he raised the man as we are having speaking about it from the beginning of the study of Amos. A man that is called Amos who was a herdman who was a man from Tekoa who came all the way from below Bethlehem traveled all the way up north went to the city of Bethel and there he preached the messages that God gave him against the northern kingdom.

He preached eight prophecies in chapter one and two. And in chapter 3 4 5 and 6 he gives additional three sermons and each sermon began with the word here ye the word of the Lord. In chapter 3 and verse 1 we read here this word that the Lord had spoken. We covered chapter 3. In chapter 4 verse 1 we read here this word ye we have covered chapter 4. And now we begin with sermon number 3 that Amos is giving to the northern kingdom of Israel and you notice in chapter 5 verse 1 this third sermon is in chapter 5 and in chapter 6 together and in this third sermon it began with verse 1 hear ye this word which I take up against you.

And so Amos is giving now not only that he gave eight prophecies in chapter 1 and 2 now he is giving three sermons in chapter 3 4 5 and 6 and at the end of the book of Amos he will give additional five visions that he received in chapter 7 8 and 9 which we will cover in the future. So chapter 5 and chapter 6 really the title is hear Israel your punishment is imminent. You might think that your punishment will be delayed but no it is imminent and it is coming very shortly against you because of your rebellion against your God the God and father of the nation of Israel.

And in this two chapters 5 and 6 we have the third sermon of warning that Amos is sharing with the nation of Israel. Now in these 17 verses of chapter 5 we really have the Lord through Amos is lamenting over the people of Israel who were in darkness. You see God is lamenting. You know the word lamenting in Hebrew is come from the word Kina is a word that you often use in scripture like the book of lamentation of Jeremiah that we have covered together. We see God through Amos lamenting weeping and mourning over his own beloved nation the nation of Israel.

It's like a funeral service. When you go to a funeral service and you are walking behind the casket and there is the lamentation and the weeping of the women and the men and those who lamenting of a someone who died and you also said and we also said because this person passed away. Well in this case God through Amos is really lamenting over his people. is weeping over his nation the nation of Israel. And you can see that in these all these 17 verses God is lamenting but appealing to his people who are now in spiritual darkness.

You see there is always a warning that God gives to his own people to alert to be awake and get out of sleep and don't be like dead individuals but be alive and spiritually alive to him in order to honor him and to be a good servants of the God of the scripture. The apostle Paul a years ago when he was writing to the local assembly in Ephesus he really said to the brothers and sisters in Ephesus in chapter a 5 and verse 14 he says wherefore he saith awakest thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and the Messiah will give you light.

You see there's a way whereby God's people including us today that while we are saved and we go to heaven and our sins are forgiven but spiritually there's the darkness that comes into the life of God's people when they do not enjoy the relationship with God and so in a sense here in chapter 5 verses 1 to 17 Amos as the servant of God lamenting over the people of Israel and appealing to them to turn around and come back to a relationship with the Lord. So you notice that as we read the 17 verses and I want to highlight some things that are important for us to learn from the prophecy of Amos.

First of all look at the first three verses. Amos chapter 5 and verses 1 2 and 3 look at the lamentation itself. We read notice in verse 1 hear ye this word which I take up against you even a lamentation O house of Israel. Amos is speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel and he says I want you to hear these words which I this is Amos by the name of Jehovah by the name of the Lord is speaking against the people of Israel and he's taking a lamentation. Lamentation again in Hebrew is a a song of mourning because of the condition that happened among the people of Israel.

Notice that it says the word I here notice hear ye this word which I that I is the Lord himself. And then notice he said I take up against you. Notice it's not I take up for you at this point of time but it is against you because I know what I will have to do to you my people Israel. I'm going to have to judge you. I'm going to have to send you to be captive by the Assyrian. You going to suffer many of you going to die. You going to be perishing from your very own homeland.

You be going to become like a fugitive in no time where the Assyrians are going to take you captive. So it's here the word of the Lord which I this is Jehovah by the mouth of Amos take up against you namely Israel even a lamentation O house of Israel. The word notice it says not only the people of Israel but it is the house of Israel. In Hebrew it says Bite is a house. Israel is the nation that came out of Jacob whose name was changed from Jacob to Israel. So he's speaking to the whole house of Israel but in this context in light of our map here as we can see he specifically speaking about the northern kingdom because the southern kingdom later on going to be taking captive but he's now speaking about the northern kingdom of Israel.

And so now notice what he says. What a sad thing to say in verse 2 and verse 3 notice Amos sees Israel as a virgin that have fallen into sin and forsaken by her master. Look how sad. Look how sad. Look at verse 2. The virgin of Israel in Hebrew is fallen. She shall no more rise. She forsaken upon her land. There is none to raise her up. Now as far as God is concerned Israel was his own nation. Israel was like a virgin that he's marrying to her husband and have a relationship with her husband and become his own.

But what did this virgin have done? What did this woman have done instead of staying close to her husband? She departed away from him. And then she adopted into her life all sort of idols. And all sort of we were represented on a human level all sort of men become her men but her own husband she have left. So the virgin of Israel notice the virgin of Israel is fallen. What a sad state. God is speaking. She was his wife. She was the bride. You must say the wife of Jehovah and he was her husband of the nation of Israel but she has gone so far away by worshiping other gods and idols and and have turned away from him that she became and no longer enjoy a relationship with him.

She had fallen into sin and she's unable to rise. And you notice it said she's forsaken upon her land. There is none to raise her up. Think about it from a human perspective. When a woman gone astray and I'm no longer enjoy a relationship with her own master own husband and then she's dumped. No longer care. We're using her for a time and no one care for her anymore. Imagine how is an awful feeling. It's a terrible state to be forsaken. No one is able anymore to she's unable to rise. And she's and in a sense it says here and there's none that is able to help her to raise her up.

What a sad thing. You know if you read some of the other prophecies that the prophets of Israel gave about Israel who have gone astray from the Lord and the prophet was called to act on behalf of God and to restore the people of Israel. You remember the prophet Hosea Hosea whom God said to him go marry a woman which have been gone astray and she became a picture of Israel whom God himself alone was willing to restore her back to himself. And this is exactly what we see here a beloved brothers and sisters how sadly that this the people of Israel have left the one who loved the nation so much and now he's weeping over his own bride his own wife who have gone astray.

And he's sad and lamenting and weeping you might say through Amos his own servant who became the prophet of Israel. In Hosea chapter 3 and verse 1 we read then said the Lord unto me go yet love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteress. According to the love of the Lord towards the children of Israel who looked to other gods and love flagons of wine. Or I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver. Hosea became picture in his life behavior toward that woman in the same way that God is here seen.

He loved this woman Israel. He called her the virgin of Israel but she had fallen. She had been forsaken because she have gone elsewhere and she find herself destitute unable to lift herself up. Sad condition happened in 721 BC 722 BC when our people Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian. Destitute dispersed forsaken left without a land scattered in the diaspora among the nations of the world. No one cares for them. Persecution all sort of thing that had happened to our people Israel when the Assyrian came and took them to Assyria. But God is lamenting because ahead of time he knows what's going to happen to them.

When Amos preached this message it was about 770 BC. When Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian about 40 to 45 years later knowing that that will happen to them and notice verse 3 it says listen. What it says in verse 3 Amos describe what's going to happen to Israel once they will be taken captive. Only 10% will remain while the rest of the nation will be taken away. Notice what he says in verse 3. For thus says the Lord God the city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred. And that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel.

In other words you see what's going to happen to you Israel. It says you who once enjoyed the relationship with me you who once have been my you might say my possession that I've enjoyed to be with you have turned away from me. Look what's going to happen to you. For 1,000 they'll be left only 100. From a city that had 100 there will be only left ten. In other words 10% you might say will remain in the land while the rest of them will be scattered all over the nations of the world. In other words beloved brothers and sisters the Lord God will allow Israel to be taken captive and only a remnant shall remain in the land while the rest of them have been scattered.

And as I mentioned before ten tribes of Israel have been scattered in 721 722 BC and up till today their descendants are still scattered all over the world and God who knows his people will ultimately will restore them back to himself but here he's you might say predicting what's going to happen to the nation of Israel through the men by the name of Amos. So God is lamenting. He's weeping over his people. He's singing that song of lamentation already ahead of time seeing what's going to happen to the nation that he loved so much. So now from verses 4 all the way to verse 15 now God is appealing to Israel to repent and to turn around and to seek him because he's he doesn't want to judge them.

He doesn't want them to be scattered. He doesn't want them to be taken over by the nations of the world and lose their possession and be scattered in the diaspora. God does not want to see this happen to his people. He want them to be close to him and blessed and enjoying his presence. So he's appealing to them and you notice how is interesting. There are four points that are mentioned here from verses 4 to verse 15. In verses 4 5 6 and 7 the Lord is calling for Israel to repent and to seek God.

You notice what he tells them in verse 4. He said for thus says the Lord unto the house of Israel seek ye me and ye shall live. Look at the the the option. He says if you only going to seek me the Hebrew word here to seek it mean Look for me. Investigate where I am. Look for me and you will see you going to live.

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 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.