Amos 4

Literally, “cows of Bashan.” Bashan was a land of pastures in Syria. Herders of Bashan were famous for raising some of the biggest and best livestock in the ancient Middle East. Moses promised the Israelites that they would one day have “Top-grade rams, Bashan-bred” (Deuteronomy 32:14).

Samaria was the capital city of the northern Jewish nation of Israel. It was also the surrounding region, much like the way New York, New York refers to a city and state. It was also an alternate name for Israel, like “Zion” was for “Jerusalem.”

The verse is unclear in the Hebrew. The translation is often “Harmon.” But some scholars say it may refer to Mount Hermon in the north. Assyrian invaders had to pass Mount Hermon on their way home, to the north and then to the east.

Bethel and Gilgal were the main worship areas in the northern Jewish nation of Israel. Jewish law, however, required them to worship only in Jerusalem. See footnote for 3:14.

This is a little hyperbole. Jews didn’t bring tithes to the worship center every three days. Apparently, Amos is saying they can put all the energy they want into their worship rituals. But we can’t really worship God by doing what he told us not to do. That’s not worship. That’s pretty much the bad side of the pancake.

A thank offering is one that the worshiper helped eat in a meal. People gave this offering as an expression of thanks or as part of a promise they made to God (Leviticus 7:12-15). This offering was the epitome of the sacrificial system because it provided a way to worship God and to thank him in a joyful way, with a meal.

This suggests the book of Judges. It’s one cycle after another: the Israelites turn their backs on God to worship idols, God sends invaders and oppressors to punish them, they ask God for help, he sends a leader like Gideon or Samson. Then they repeat that cycle all the way to chaos at the end of the book.

“LORD,” usually printed in all capital letters, is a name of God that appears around 7,000 times in many English editions of the Christian Bible. That makes it the most common way of referring to God.  The lower-case “Lord” is a translation of the Hebrew word Adonai. It refers to God as our master, our life coach, or the boss. He’s in charge of us, and we try to obey him. “LORD” is the spelling most Bibles use when the writer refers to the name of God. Moses asked God what his name was, and God said Moses should tell the Israelite ancestors of the Jews that his name is “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). In the original Hebrew language, the name is spelled with only consonants—no vowels. It’s an ancient shorthand to save hides used to make scrolls. The name is YHWH. Without knowing which vowels, most scholars have settled on YAHWEH, pronounced YAH-way. God’s name is so sacred to many Jews that they refuse to speak it. Instead, they’ll use names that describe the character of God, such as Adonai, which means “my Lord.” They won’t even write the name. In English, they’ll spell the name G-d.