Their lies lead them astray,
Lies which their fathers followed. (Amos 2:4)
A lie is something that is not true.
Lord Jesus said in John 17:17 “Your Word is Truth”
Psalm 119:60 says, “The entirety of Your Word is Truth”
A lie is something that is not found in the word of God.
A lie is hellishly designed to lead a person astray. Even more dangerous is the fact that a son or daughter can blindly follow the lies that his or her father practiced without even giving a thought to it.
Many people say, “We are simply following what our ancestors followed. We are doing what our ancestors did.” What if your ancestors were following the wrong thing? Does that mean that we too must follow the wrong?
Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have despised the law of the Lord,
And have not kept His commandments. (Amos 2:6)
The judgment on Judah is not for an atrocity committed against another state or people, but for the breach of covenant with Yahweh.
A man and his father go in to the same girl,
To defile My holy name. (Amos 2:7)
The law in Leviticus 18:8 and Lev 20:11-12 forbid a father and son from having sexual relations with the same woman. Such an act was considered a form of incest and a gross perversion of the moral order, thus a profaning of the holy name of God.
A man could put his daughter into servitude to pay off a debt, alleviate a desperate financial situation, or simply because he could not take proper care of her. The law provided protection for such women (see Exodus 21:7-11). It may be that the wealthy men of Israel were cheating and taking advantage of the poor to gain their daughters as “sexual” servants.
Yet I destroyed his fruit above
And his roots beneath. (Amos 2:9)
Speaks of total destruction
I raised up some of your sons as prophets,
And some of your young men as Nazirites.
Is it not so, O you children of Israel?”
Says the Lord.
“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
And commanded the prophets saying,
‘Do not prophesy!’ (Amos 2:11-12)
God declared to Israel that in spite of His dealing so faithfully with them, they had not remained faithful to Him, rejecting the words of their own sons, whom He had appointed; and even worse, influencing them to compromise their calling to serve the Lord. How careful we must be today as we spiritually influence the next generation.
But you gave the dedicated ones [the Nazarites] wine to drink and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. (Amos 2:12)
They commanded the prophets, saying, “Prophesy not”
God was angry at this. We must command the prophets, saying, “Prophesy”
And he who is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day, says the Lord. (Amos 2:16)
“A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind” (Mark 14:51–52).
We find this story in Mark’s Gospel right after the account of Jesus’s arrest, and it’s one of the least understood narratives in the entire New Testament. Scholars have described the account as strange.