Through a series of questions, Amos tries his best to make things as clear as possible for the Israelites (Amos 3:3–8). He wants to help them realize that he really has been sent by God; he is not a crazy person with a vendetta.
When considering these questions, we see that they all specify some kind of event that takes place and then prompt us to consider: what was the trigger or the cause? The questions also assume the same answer: no. So for the first question, when you see two people walking together in the street, do you assume they are complete strangers to one another and that they have never seen each other before? No, you probably think they have some kind of prior agreement. Certainly you expect them to know each other, don’t you? Likewise when a lion roars in the forest, you know he has his prey in his sight or he has just caught something. A bird in a snare means there must be some food, otherwise he would not go near the snare. The sound of a trumpet—that means the city is under attack and there is danger, like an alarm going off at school. Thus, we have this pattern of cause and effect. When we see or hear these events, we know there must have been a cause.
Cause and effect is true for all the natural
examples given by Amos and he then makes the point that the same holds true for the judgment of God (Amos 3:6). When disaster comes to those pagan cities, will that not have been the Lord’s doing? Most certainly, yes. The Lord is the King who rules over creation; if he says he will do something, he does it. If he wants to destroy a city, he can do it no problem. The implication for Israel is that if the Lord has said he will bring judgment upon you (Amos 2:6–16), you can be sure that he will most certainly do it. The lion has roared, who will not fear? The Lord has spoken, how can I but prophesy?
We can assume from Amos 3:8 that Amos was probably not very excited about the message he had to share. He was not gloating and happy about the destruction and misery that was going to come. He would probably have been much happier back in Judah looking after his sheep. We do not like conflict and we do not want to be the bearer of bad news. But God has spoken and Amos has to prophesy. The Spirit has revealed truth that he must share. The Israelites might not like his message—it may be a challenge to their theology—but it is a Word from God. It is a word that can be trusted.
3 “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?