Judgment moves on to Moab (v1-3) who God said were guilty of burning the bones of the king of Edom to lime. Edom and Moab were neighbours. God would send fire on Moab and its palaces would be devoured, its princes slain and judges rendered useless.
That completes the judgments on Gentile nations, but Amos doesn’t stop there, Judah and Israel were not immune, and he moves to God’s people. No nation who went against Israel prospered. This, no doubt, pleased Israel until He came to them.
In verses 4,5 the word of The LORD came against Judah because they have despised the law of the LORD (which they had in writing so there was no excuse) and have not kept his commandments. They have lied and been led astray by them. Judgment will come on them by fire and the palaces of Jerusalem will be destroyed. Judah had sinned just as the Gentile nations had and they would not be excused. They had been privileged to have received God’s laws and commandments, but they had rejected them. God would use fire, which was in judgment, but fire is also used by God as a way of testing and purifying. We should pray that He will burn away the dross in our lives so that we can serve effectively.
God continues with His judgment on His people in verses 6-8 with judgment on Israel for their injustice towards the poor. The rich taking advantage of the poor with cruelty, selling the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals. Father and son having sexual relations with the same girl, a prostitute, which defiles The LORD’s name and being involved in idolatry. If a person’s garment was taken in a pledge, it should be returned before sunset for him to sleep in and keep warm (Exodus 22). It appears that these garments were being given to the temple prostitutes.
God reminded them that He had destroyed the Amorites and brought them out of Egypt and led them forty years in the wilderness (v9-12). He had raised some to be prophets and Nazirites, but they gave the Nazirites wine to drink and commanded the prophets not to prophesy. God had conquered the Amorites when they came to the Promised Land and led them from Egypt so how could they reject Him who had done so much for them? The prophets had given them the words of The LORD and the Nazirites had dedicated themselves (Numbers 6) to The LORD, but they had despised them and made little of them. The judgment upon Israel is by far the longest and the most detailed. The LORD continues (v13-16) by indicating that Israel was very burdensome to Him. Make no mistake, God sees everything, He knows when we sin and the way we mistreat others. The strong, the swift, the courageous will not succeed. Verses 14-16 show us that military power will not prevent judgement. Only those, including ourselves, will only stand if our trust is fully in the LORD and we are obedient to Him.
