What is the meaning of Amos 5:10? There are those Amos opens this line by alerting us that certain people in Israel have developed a settled attitude of rebellion. Throughout the chapter the prophet has been calling the nation back to the LORD, yet pockets of resistance remain (Amos 5:6, 8). Their existence is not hypothetical—it is real and present. Similar acknowledgement of a rebellious remnant appears in Isaiah 1:2–4 and Jeremiah 5:23–24, where the prophets note that many hear God’s warnings yet refuse to repent. Who hate the one who reproves • “Hate” is deliberate hostility, not mere discomfort. • “The one who reproves” refers to those God appoints to confront sin. In Israel this included prophets like Amos and righteous elders who rendered judgment (Leviticus 19:17; Proverbs 27:5–6). • Proverbs 15:12 states, “A mocker does not love the one who reproves him.” This hate reveals hearts hardened against accountability. • Jesus later confirms that darkness resents light because it exposes evil deeds (John 3:20). In the gate • The city gate was the public court, marketplace, and center of civic life (Ruth 4:1–11). • Justice was meant to be transparent there. Deuteronomy 16:18 commands judges to administer righteous judgment “in all your gates.” • By hating reprovers at the gate, Israel rejected godly correction at the very place designed for it, echoing the corrupt courts condemned in Isaiah 29:21 and Amos 5:12. And despise him • “Despise” intensifies the thought: it is contempt that leads to dismissal. • Psalm 50:17 portrays the wicked as those who “hate My instruction and cast My words behind you,” underscoring that rejection of God’s messengers is ultimately rejection of God Himself (1 Samuel 8:7). Who speaks with integrity • Integrity (lit. “uprightness”) marks the faithful messenger. Psalm 15:2 describes the righteous as one “who walks with integrity, who practices righteousness, and who speaks the truth in his heart.” • Yet truth-telling provokes resistance when it exposes sin. Paul experiences the same dynamic in Galatians 4:16: “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” • God’s consistent pattern is to send truth through upright voices; human nature, apart from grace, resists and persecutes them (2 Chronicles 24:20–22; Matthew 23:29–35). summary Amos 5:10 exposes a heart issue: when people harden themselves against God, they grow to hate public correction and despise those who faithfully speak truth. The city gate—designed for justice—had become hostile territory for righteousness, signaling deep societal decay. The verse warns that rejecting godly reproof is rejecting God Himself and invites us instead to welcome correction, love truth, and uphold integrity wherever judgment is rendered. |
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