Session 3 Amos 5:4-15

THE CHOICE (AMOS 5:4-9)

listen for at least three key words or phrases in the verses.

4 For the LORD says to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live!
5 Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba,
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Seek the LORD and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph;
it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. 7 Those who turn justice into wormwood
also throw righteousness to the ground.

8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn
and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea
and pours it out over the surface of the earth —
the LORD is his name.
9 He brings destruction on the strong,
and it falls on the fortress.

IDENTIFY:

Record the words or phrases identified by the group on a board or large sheet of paper.
Put a check mark beside those mentioned more than once.

• seek 3
• live 2
• exile
• nothing, no one
• fire, not extinguished
• consume
• justice to wormwood
• righteousness thrown down
• destruction
• lord 3,
  • who made stars, turns darkness to dawn, day to night,
  • summons water, pourss it out
  • brings destruction

EXPLAIN:

Amos had previously prophesied
that Israel as a nation would be judged,
but that a remnant would survive.

In Amos 5:4, we see the words
“Seek me and live”

as Amos indicates that individuals could still turn and seek the Lord,
even as judgment was coming for Israel (p. 33).

ASK:

• How would you define the word “seek”?
• (Ex: search for or try to reach or obtain)

DISCUSS:

• Where might a person search for God?

EXAMINE:

reread Amos 5:4-9,
looking specifically for characteristics of a sovereign God.

DISCUSS:

• What are substitutes that people seek instead of God, and how do those substitutes fall short of true worship? (p. 31)

TRANSITION:

Amos delivered an indictment against the people of Israel,
calling out their perversion of justice and oppression of others.
As a result, the people would not enjoy their gains because of their mistreatment of others.