A Teaching Outline for the Book of Amos

“A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” So wrote the prophet Amos concerning the message he had for the northern kingdom of Israel (cf. Amos 3:8). Like most of the apostles, Amos had no theological credentials (cf. Amos 7:14). He was not a prophet (no formal role in prophesying) nor the son of a prophet (no formal training in prophesying), just as they were uneducated and untrained men (cf. Acts 4:13). But, like the apostles, Amos was compelled to speak the message he was given, just as they were (Acts 4:20). And what a message it was!

Traveling from his home in Tekoa, a city in the southern kingdom of Judah, to Bethel, a major city of idolatry in the northern kingdom of Israel, Amos found himself not only out of his element geographically, but spiritually. Although both kingdoms had fallen from the Lord, the northern kingdom’s fall was undoubtedly faster and further. Under the leadership of its first king Jeroboam, the northern kingdom of Israel constructed an entire system of false religion, with a false priesthood, to false gods (1 Kings 12:25-33). And that false worship continued year after year in Israel.

Nevertheless, under the reign of Jeroboam II nearly 150 years later, God’s patience and kindness toward the northern kingdom continued. Jeroboam II was able to extend the borders of Israel to the north, waging successful military campaigns against their hostile neighbor Syria (cf. 2 Kings 14:28). The result was a time of great peace and prosperity for the citizens. Yet, rather than repenting of their idolatry and thanking the Lord for His abundant grace, they spent their days in indulgent lifestyles: resting, relaxing, feasting, singing, entertaining, drinking, and primping, all while the nation continued its downward spiral into apostasy (cf. Amos 6:4-6). The audacity of Israel’s “peaceful sin” paralleled that of Joseph’s brothers centuries prior—they threw him into a pit and then “sat down to eat a meal” (Gen. 37:25).

For those reasons, Amos (whose name means “burden-bearer”) was commissioned to deliver an important message. His prophecy began with a series of five messages directed at Israel. First, he indicted the surrounding pagan nations for their atrocities in order to establish moral credibility, but ended with a crescendo of sins committed by Judah and Israel (cf. Amos 2:4-16). He then proclaimed doom upon Israel by the hand of God directly, making sure they knew that their coming disaster was of divine intent (cf. Amos 3:7). Next, God used Amos to expose their religious hypocrisy by taunting them, telling them to go ahead and continue offering sacrifices at their forbidden altars since they loved it so much (cf. Amos 4:4-5). God showed just how defiant they were by stating five times, “Yet you have not returned to Me” (Amos 4:6, 8-9, 10-11). The next message was a “dirge” (lament song intended to be sung at a funeral) not only to indicate just how spiritually dead the nation was, but to warn them off the utter ruin they would experience when God was finished with them: “‘And in all the vineyards there is wailing, because I shall pass through the midst of you,’ says the Lord” (Amos 5:17). The final message of the initial series was a denunciation of decadence. Pronouncing woe upon those who were “at east” and “felt secure,” Amos explained that their self-indulgent lifestyle would soon be uprooted, as God intended to send a foreign nation against them—a nation which would destroy their extravagant houses and turn their singing into silence (cf. Amos 6:5, 10-11).

The end of Amos’ book depicts several visions given to him by God, all of which represented God’s anger poured out against this “sinful kingdom” (Amos 9:8). Since Israel failed to measure up to God’s plumb line of righteousness, they were going to be laid to waste (Amos 7:7-9). To those who said, “The calamity will not overtake or confront us,” God said He would totally destroy them (Amos 9:8-10). But perhaps the worst judgment of all would be the famine they would suffer—not for bread or water, but for “hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). They didn’t want God’s Word, and thus would get exactly what they asked for—divine abandonment.

The epitome of this willful disinterest in the truth was described in an encounter Amos had with the priest Amaziah who presided over the pseudo-worship taking place in Bethel (cf. Amos 7:10-17). When Amos explained that God was going to destroy Jeroboam II and send Israel into exile, Amaziah told him to go away, to return back home to the land of Judah. In response to such high-handed arrogance, Amos not only restated the warning, but excoriated Amaziah with intense language: “Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile” (Amos 7:17). Just as the apostle Paul consigned false teachers over to the flames of hell (cf. Gal. 1:8), so too did Amos provide no consolation to purveyors of false religion in Israel.

Despite all of this, to those with ears to hear Amos’ warning, and to those with new hearts to “seek the Lord” (Amos 5:6), there was hope. Those who repented of their sins, trusting in the promised Messiah, would one day be returned to the land, restored from captivity, and given new homes and crops (cf. Amos 9:13-15). This coming renewal will be so abundant that “the plowman will overtake the reaper” (Amos 9:13)—there will be so many crops that it will be time to plant before the harvest is done. Although such a renewed kingdom has not found its earthly fulfillment yet, the promise of that blessing is now graciously offered to Gentiles as well (cf. Eph. 2:12-13). The Lion of the tribe of Judah not only roars, but redeems.

Sadly, we too find ourselves today with a famine of God’s Word. Although we are not under a Mosaic Covenant curse as experienced by Israel, many lands are just as parched due to the number of churches that neglect verse-by-verse expository preaching, leaving the average churchman starving. But there doesn’t need to be a famine for you or your disciples. As you prepare to teach others, may you be nourished by the soul-sobering judgments and heart-healing promises found in the book of Amos. The following outline is offered to help.

Message: A Depraved Nation (Amos 1:1-2:16)

Syria: Torture (Amos 1:1-5)

Philistia: Trading of Slaves (Amos 1:6-8)

Phoenicia: Treaty Violation (Amos 1:9-10)

Edom: Tyranny (Amos 1:11-12)

Ammon: Treatment of the Unborn (Amos 1:13-15)

Moab: Torching the Dead (Amos 2:1-3)

Judah: Turning from God’s Law (Amos 2:4-5)

Israel: Transgressing God’s Law (Amos 2:6-16)

Message: A Doomed Nation (Amos 3:1-15)

Judgment Deserved (Amos 3:1-8)

Judgment Declared (Amos 3:9-12)

Judgment Described (Amos 3:13-15)

Message: A Defiant Nation (Amos 4:1-13)

Behold: Earthly Judgment (Amos 4:1-3)

Indulging Iniquity (Amos 4:4-5)

Refusal to Return: Famine (Amos 4:6)

Refusal to Return: Drought (Amos 4:7-8)

Refusal to Return: Pestilence (Amos 4:9)

Refusal to Return: War (Amos 4:10)

Refusal to Return: Fire (Amos 4:11)

Behold: Eternal Judgment (Amos 4:12-13)

Message: A Dead Nation (Amos 5:1-17)

The Song of Death (Amos 5:1-3)

The Summons to Life (Amos 5:4-15)

The Sorrow of the People (Amos 5:16-17)

Message: A Delusional Nation (Amos 5:18-27)

False Hope (Amos 5:18-20)

False Worship (Amos 5:21-24)

False Gods (Amos 5:25-27)

Message: A Decadent Nation (Amos 6:1-14)

Self-Confidence (Amos 6:1-3)

Self-Indulgence (Amos 6:4-7)

Self-Destruction (Amos 6:8-14)

Visions: A Destroyed Nation (Amos 7:1-9)

Locusts (Amos 7:1-3)

Fire (Amos 7:4-6)

Plumb Line (Amos 7:7-9)

Confrontation: A Disinterested Nation (Amos 7:10-17)

Rejection (Amos 7:10-13)

Response (Amos 7:14-17)

Vision: A Deserted Nation (Amos 8:1-14)

Picture of Judgment (Amos 8:1-3)

People of Judgment (Amos 8:4-6)

Promise of Judgment (Amos 8:7-10)

Permanence of Judgment (Amos 8:11-14)

Vision: A Divinely Governed Nation (Amos 9:1-15)

The Command Will Be Executed (Amos 9:1-4)

The Creator Will Be Glorified (Amos 9:5-6)

The Covenant Will Be Honored (Amos 9:7-8)

The Comfortable Will Be Troubled (Amos 9:9-10)

The Catastrophe Will Be Amended (Amos 9:11-12)

The Captivity Will Be Reversed (Amos 9:13-15)