The International Bible Lesson (Uniform Sunday School Lessons Series) for Sunday, June 21, 2015, is from Amos 6:1-14. Please Note: Some churches will only study Amos 6:4-8, 11-14. This posting and podcast includes both the International Bible Lesson Commentary and the International Bible Lesson. The International Bible Lesson Commentary is now available in five different Bible translations on the International Bible Lessons Commentary (http://www.ouosu.com/IBLC/) website: these versions are the English Standard Version (ESV), King James Version (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New International Version (NIV), and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).  Questions for Discussion and Thinking Further follow the verse-by-verse International Bible Lesson Commentary. The Study Hints for Discussion and Thinking Further discusses each of the Questions for Discussion and Thinking Further to help with class preparation and in conducting class discussion: these hints are available on the  International Bible Lessons Commentary (http://www.ouosu.com/IBLC/) website along with the International Bible Lesson that you may want to read to your class as part of your Bible study using the easy printable lesson. To help your class review the lesson, links to an easy printable Word Search Puzzle, a Crossword Puzzle, and a True and False Test are also available below. To listen to this commentary a podcast is available by subscribing (http://ouosu.com/biblelessonforum/?page_id=6113) and by clicking on the audio links here on the International Bible Lesson Forum.
International Bible Lesson Commentary
Amos 6:1-14
(Amos 6:1) Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria, the notables of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel resorts!

Amos preached during the reign of King Jeroboam II [786 BC-746 BC], perhaps for only one year, which was all that would be necessary, perhaps because Amaziah told Amos to stop preaching (see Amos 5:10 and Amos 7:10-17). God condemned both Zion (Jerusalem) and Samaria (capital of the Kingdom of Israel) for their pride. At the time of Amos’ preaching, both kingdoms were powerful and prosperous compared to their neighboring nations. Israel claimed to be first, above all others, and secure because of their military might and wealth. They trusted in themselves instead of in God.

(Amos 6:2) Cross over to Calneh, and see; from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is your territory greater than their territory,

In this verse, Amos most probably was paraphrasing the propaganda of those who ruled Israel in Samaria. They told the people to look to the two northern territories or city-states (Calneh and Hamath) and consider how much better they have made the Kingdom of Israel. Then, they said that the people could go to Gath, a Philistine city under the control of Jerusalem at that time. They could see how much better “we are†and how much greater “we are†that these places. Of course, the Assyrians would conquer these territories and cities as well as the Kingdom of Israel.

(Amos 6:3) O you that put far away the evil day, and bring near a reign of violence?

The “evil day†is the “day of the LORD†spoken of in the previous chapter. It is a day of judgment and punishment, of darkness and gloom. The proud rulers of Israel and those who had acquired their wealth through immoral and unjust means were refusing to consider that the LORD would hold them accountable for their evil deeds and responsible for their oppression of the poor and needy. They had violently oppressed their own people and stolen their property; therefore, a reign of violence was coming near that would destroy the Kingdom of Israel. Thinking they were much better than their neighbors, the unjust leaders of Israel put away the evil day or refused to think of the coming day of the LORD when God would pu