Gilbert House Fellowship #477: Amos 6–7

PROPHESYING DOOM and destruction during a time of peace and prosperity does not make one popular with the ruling elites. Amos learned this while declaring God’s judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (reigned 793–753 BC), the time of Israel’s greatest power. The prophet was confronted by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, and told to flee to the southern kingdom of Judah, which prompted the Lord to tell the priest that his wife would be forced into prostitution, his children would fall by the sword, Amaziah would die in a foreign land, and Israel would be taken away into exile. These things did come to pass in 732 BC, when Assyria conquered Israel and captured the capital city of Samaria. We also discuss the strange reference in the Septuagint to “King Gog” or “Agag, the king” in Amos 7:1, which is quite different from the ESV rendering, “the king’s mowings” (or the NET translation, “the royal harvest”). Apparently the LXX translators didn’t know what to make of the literal Hebrew (“the mowings of the king”) but recognized the context as a prophecy of destruction. Agag was the Amalekite king spared by Saul (and then executed by Samuel). In the book of Esther, Haman, the Persian official who plotted the genocide of the Jews (and thus a symbol of hatred toward Jews), was called “the Agagite.” Gog, a reference to Ezekiel 38–39, is the great end times enemy of God—essentially the Old Testament conception of the Antichrist. Thus, the Septuagint translators who struggled to interpret an archaic reference simply plugged in a similar-sounding word (Gog or Agag) that preserved the context of a prophesied supernatural enemy of God and Israel. Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, has been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources: Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF) The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser’s two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch Follow us!• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation | @thebiblesgreatestmysteries• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site! Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store. Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.