Amos 5 — Sermon Prep & Expository Preaching Guide

Historical Setting

Amos prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel (ca. 786–746 BC) and Uzziah of Judah, a period of remarkable political stability and economic expansion in the Northern Kingdom. With Assyria temporarily weakened and Aramean pressure reduced, Israel had extended its borders and accumulated considerable wealth. Yet this prosperity was deeply uneven. A merchant class enriched itself through commerce and trade while peasant farmers fell into debt, were stripped of ancestral lands, and were sometimes sold into bondage for trivial amounts. The religious establishments at Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba flourished with elaborate festival and sacrifice, even as the vulnerable poor were trampled in the courts and markets of the very cities that hosted these sanctuaries.