Take away from me the noise of thy songs, and I will not hear the melody of thy lutes;
God's word here is blunt: He asks Israel to stop the music. God does not condemn songs or instruments in themselves. The real question is why He refuses worship that looks and sounds religious.
Israel's worship was not thin. There were feast days, sacrifices, songs and harps. The problem lay in what went with them.
The pretence of honouring Him in sacrifice and feast-day, in song or harp, was hateful. It was all joined with self-will, with departure from His word, and with the setting up of idols.
The ESV calls the instrument a harp. Older translations read "viol" or "lute." One Hebrew word lies behind them all.
A stringed instrument. The word is nebel, and is often translated "psaltery." Its exact form is not known.
God calls their singing noise. Skill did not soften the offence; it sharpened it.
If they were not used for revelry, their sound would have been even less welcome in the ears of holiness. The studied strains of artificial melody stirred a fresh remembrance of deep hypocrisy. These people professed on the outside to love the places of God's honour, while their hearts were empty both of His fear and of His love (Amos 5:23; John 5:42).
Commentators apply this verse to Christian singing. A hymn can carry true words and skilled voices, and still offend God.
Psalms and spiritual songs may be sung without discernment and believing enjoyment of the One who is their theme. Sung that way, they are among the most offensive of the unacceptable offerings that fleshly irreverence brings, in its unholy rashness, into the courts of God (Amos 5:23 and following).
So the problem is not accuracy. It is coldness.
The heart therefore must be right before the Lord as well as the mind. Otherwise, though the expressions may be as clear as crystal, they will be as cold as ice.
God rejects the offering because of something outside the sanctuary: how these people lived. Yet there is a way back.
God does want our daily lives and our worship to be consistent with His word. Otherwise, He will not be able to accept what we offer... Amos had to tell the people of Israel that God would not accept their sacrifices. Their actions were the reason (Amos 5:21 and following). If we have dishonoured the Lord we need to judge ourselves (1 Cor. 11:31). Then we can draw near to God again in worship.
Self-judgment that stops at last week does not go deep enough.
When the Lord judges, He always goes back to the first sin. It is no different when grace works in our souls. Suppose a Christian has been walking at a distance from God. To begin merely with what he was doing today or yesterday is not enough; we must go back to the beginning. The Lord will have him look closely and judge, and see what was the root of such bad fruit. God's aim in allowing the fall is to lead him to retrace his steps to the first point of departure from Himself.
God is not against stringed instruments forever. One writer looks ahead to a day when the instruments He rejects here will please Him.
The melody of stringed instruments was once hateful, an ornament of deep and shameless hypocrisy (Amos 5:23). It shall be pleasant in Jehovah's ears when Israel's heart has truly turned to Him.
God does not stop at silencing the songs. The next verse asks for justice and righteousness. Commentators also read it as a promise for the day God blesses His people.
It is then that "justice shall roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24).
- Noise, not music. God calls their singing noise, not worship. Their show of honouring Him went hand in hand with self-will, departure from His word, and idols.
- Skill made it worse. Skilled melody did not hide the hypocrisy. These people claimed to love God's holy places, but had neither His fear nor His love.
- Crystal but cold. The same warning reaches Christian singing. Words can be clear as crystal and cold as ice. The heart must be right before the Lord, not only the mind.
- Life first, then song. God will not accept an offering that our daily life contradicts. The way back is self-judgment, then drawing near again.
- Songs restored. The instruments God refuses here will please Him again once Israel's heart turns back. Then justice rolls down like waters.
but let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream.
Israel kept its religious calendar in full swing. At the same time its courts were corrupt and its poor were crushed. God does not ask for better festivals. He asks for something that runs through the whole national life like water. Commentators ask what that stream is, why it dried up, and when it will run. (Older translations render the first word here as "judgment" where the ESV has "justice.")
The verse comes after a run of refusals. God rejects their feasts, their offerings and their music. One writer looks at the people behind the ritual.
They were superstitious and, as usual in such a case, they did not trust God. They talked about godliness, but there was no substance, no reality, in them… Their pretence of honouring Him with sacrifice and feast-day, with song or harp, was hateful. It went hand in hand with self-will, with turning away from His word, and with setting up idols.
The verse is a contrast. God pushes their worship away, then names two things He wants in its place.
Jehovah took no pleasure in their offerings and sacrifices. He could not put up with their religious festivals. What He wanted was judgment and righteousness.
Earlier in the chapter Amos shows what was blocking the stream.
They were unrighteous and loved the ways of unrighteousness. If the judge at the gate gave a just verdict, they hated him for it. They could not stand anyone who spoke honestly. They trampled the poor into the dust and forced payments of grain out of them.
The gate is where Amos says justice belongs.
It is well known that in the East the gate is the seat of judicial authority. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; that is, he became a magistrate or judge… "Establish judgment in the gate," we read in Amos 5:15.
Israel's rulers were meant to carry this justice to the people. One writer sets the verse against what they gave instead.
Instead of judgment flowing down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream (Amos 5:24), the land mourned because of the wrongdoing of its rulers. The shepherds, who should have cared for the Lord's flock, thought only of feeding themselves… The leaders of the people should have displayed God's own justice and mercy. Instead they had become rebels and companions of thieves.
God had just refused Israel's music. One writer carries that refusal over to singing today.
Psalms and spiritual songs have Christ as their theme. If they are sung without discerning Him and enjoying Him by faith, they are among the most offensive of the unacceptable offerings that the irreverence of the flesh rashly brings into the courts of God.
The way back is not better singing but honesty about the life behind it.
Amos had to tell the people of Israel that God would not accept their sacrifices because of their actions (Amos 5:21ff). If we have dishonoured the Lord we need to judge ourselves (1 Cor. 11:31). Then we can draw near to God again in worship.
The words are a demand, but commentators also read them as a promise waiting for its day.
That is when "judgment shall roll down as waters, and righteousness as an overflowing stream" (Amos 5:24). Jerusalem will be a peaceful home, for there "the mighty Jehovah will be for us a place of rivers."
The same turnaround reaches the music God once refused.
The music of the harps was once hateful, because it decorated a deep and open hypocrisy (Amos 5:23). It will be pleasant in Jehovah's ears when Israel's heart is turned to Him.
- Blocked — The stream stopped at the gate. Israel hated honest judges, could not stand honest speech, and trampled the poor into the dust.
- Diverted — Israel poured its energy into feasts, offerings and songs. There was no substance, no reality in them, so God refused all of it.
- Named — God said what He wanted: not sacrifices and festivals, but judgment and righteousness.
- Channelled — Justice was meant to flow through the rulers. Instead the land mourned because of their wrongdoing.
- Released — Judging ourselves reopens the way to worship now. In the coming day the same words become a promise: judgment rolling down like waters, and the music once hateful now pleasant in His ears.