And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
Amos names three places every faithful Israelite loved. Then he tells the nation to stay away from all three. The reason is not that these places were worthless. It is that the memory of what God once did there had crowded out God Himself.
The verse is the negative half of an appeal. God had just told Israel to seek Him and live. Here He rules out the three places they would have gone instead.
Then the Lord makes a solemn appeal to Israel: seek Him and live. They are not to seek Bethel, or enter Gilgal, or cross over to Beersheba, "for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing." When superstition turns names and places loaded with religious memories against the truth, faith must look only to God Himself. It was empty, or worse, to praise the sacred character of spots where God had once spoken. They were now openly turned to idolatry — worship His people invented for themselves.
If not these places, then who? Amos points to the Maker of the stars.
"Seek Me, and live," said the Lord; "but do not seek Bethel" (the house of God); seek HIM who made the seven stars and Orion, the Lord is His Name (5:5-8). In our Lord Jesus Christ He now makes Himself known to us. He shows Himself fully; as He said, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father."
Bethel means "the house of God." Gilgal is where Israel's life in the land began. Both were treasured. Both had lost the one thing that made them worth visiting.
From Gilgal, Joshua and his men went out to fresh victories over the uncircumcised nations, and there they came back to enjoy the spoils. So it was a place full of holy interest… But what could make Gilgal valuable, except the spirit and principles that belonged to it? If those were no longer known in real power, Gilgal could only prove an empty name, drawing the heart away from living communion with God Himself.
Beersheba, far to the south, was "the well of the oath," where Abraham and Abimelech swore peace. It too had faded.
The prophet Amos warns the people not to trust in any places of renown or of former blessing, such as Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba; the glory of all had faded: they must seek Jehovah, and they should live.
Gilgal's story shows how complete the change was.
Israel's history in Canaan started at Gilgal (Joshua 5). There they made their camp. There God rolled away the reproach of Egypt. From there they marched out at God's command to conquer the land… But Gilgal was now one of the chief centres of national wickedness. The place of Israel's early consecration to God had become the place of gross unfaithfulness to God.
The sentence Amos passes plays on what the names mean.
In the days of Jeroboam, idolatry defiled Gilgal… Gilgal, which means 'rolled away,' would itself be 'rolled away.' Amos 5:5.
The threat against Bethel came true, and the ruins still show it.
It is now identified with Beitin… about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Amos 5:5 said it would 'come to nothing.' Today about 20 houses stand among the scattered ruins, roughly built out of the old materials.
The danger was not open evil. It was good history, kept after the life had gone out of it. That is what makes it hard to spot.
The devil does not offer the Christian things that are plainly evil and unsound. He knows a Christian would reject them at once. So he works through things that look true and godly — yes, and things which may once have had God's own approval, but which will not stand up to the searching light of the Word.
People often defend such things by their age. This verse removes that defence.
Men may defend religious forms by pleading their great age. But where can we find anything older than Bethel and Gilgal could boast? Yet they failed and came to nothing, and the call to the faithful was to abandon them all and look up in simple faith to the living God.
- Gift — Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba were real places of past blessing. Bethel was "the house of God." At Gilgal, God rolled away the reproach of Egypt.
- Memory — a place is worth only the spirit and principles that belong to it. Once those are gone, the name is empty.
- Snare — the same holy memories became the trap. The devil works through things that once had God's approval, not through plain evil.
- Ruin — the names became the sentence. Gilgal, "rolled away," was rolled away into exile. Bethel came to nothing, and its ruins remain.
- Remedy — age is no defence. Leave the substitute and seek God Himself, whom Jesus Christ has now fully made known.
Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and there be none to quench [it] in Bethel.
Amos speaks to a nation whose famous holy places had become centres of idol worship. God's answer is not a better shrine but Himself. The warning is severe: a fire in the house of Joseph that no one can put out. Why could places with such a history offer no shelter?
The call comes twice here: first "seek Me," then "seek the LORD." One writer sets the two side by side and explains whose house is named:
Here the Lord urges Israel once more to give up her idolatrous way and to seek Him instead of the worship at Bethel and Gilgal, for He would surely carry out judgment there. "Seek Me and live." Then again, "Seek the LORD and live." If they disobeyed, He whom they refused would fall like fire on the house of Joseph. The prophet names the house of Joseph because the tribe of Ephraim was the most powerful tribe in the kingdom of Israel, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim.
Bethel and Gilgal carried real history with God. Yet idolatry had turned that history against the truth:
When idolatrous superstition turns names and places loaded with religious associations against the truth, faith must look simply and only to God Himself. … It was empty or worse to praise the sacred character of places where God had once spoken. Sadly, they were now openly turned to the purposes of idolatry — not set apart to God, but by the self-chosen worship of His people.
The risk is not only in obvious evil. It sits closest to what God Himself gave:
An openly ungodly thing is not the only hindrance. Right things can hinder us too — yes, even things God Himself has given. Indeed, the more clearly you can show that an institution comes from God, the more you must watch it, in case it takes God's place in our hearts. A believer's conscience will easily spot and shrink from what is plainly opposed to God and His truth. But he may not so readily see the danger in what God Himself has set up, and what faithful people honoured in past generations.
The usual defence of an empty form is its age. That defence fails here:
Nothing but the divine reality of personal communion with God will stand. People may defend forms by pleading their great age, but where can we find greater age than Bethel and Gilgal could boast? Yet they failed and came to nothing, and the faithful were told to abandon them all and look up in simple faith to the living God.
Bethel has a long record, and one writer traces its idolatry back to the golden calves Jeroboam set up:
Bethel was a breeding ground of wickedness from the time of Jeroboam to the days of Josiah. In Amos 4:4 the LORD says with biting irony to His wayward people, "Come to Bethel and transgress." But in the next chapter of the same prophet we hear a pleading voice. … When Jeroboam fled into Egypt to escape Solomon's anger, he saw the people there worshipping the god Apis. This probably suggested to him the golden calves that he set up in Bethel and in Dan.
The same fire that no one can put out appears elsewhere, aimed at the same trust in outward forms:
Jeremiah 4 continues the moral pleadings with the people. Then comes the call showing that God could not be satisfied with outward forms: "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD… lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it."
The command to seek does not stop with Amos. The God Israel was told to seek is now made known in a Person:
"Seek Me and live," said the Lord, "but do not seek Bethel" — the house of God. Seek HIM who made the seven stars and Orion; the LORD is His Name (5:5-8). In our Lord Jesus Christ He is now made known to us. He is fully revealed now. As He said, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father." In Him, raised from the dead, we have redemption through His blood, and we are brought to God in the One who makes Him known.
- Seek — God says it twice. He calls Israel away from idols to Himself, and promises life to all who come.
- Seek Him, not it — Bethel and Gilgal had become empty names. When holy places turn against the truth, faith must look to God alone.
- Seek with care — the sharpest danger sits in things God really did set up. A conscience that rejects open evil can miss a good form taking God's place.
- Seek now — age proves nothing. Bethel and Gilgal were as old as anything could be, and they still came to nothing. Only real communion with God stands.
- Seek, or burn — the fire falls on the house of Joseph, named for Ephraim, the strongest tribe in the kingdom of Israel. The One they refused becomes the fire, and no outward religion can put it out.