Therefore flight shall perish before the swift, and the strong will not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself. And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

What a thing to consider, all these things have to do with the warfare of the time. Men who were swift of foot who could run down an enemy if they had to do so, who could dodge an enemy if they needed to do so. The men who could handle the bow, the most and best long distant weapon any army ever had back in those days. The man who was fast couldn’t get away. The horse was the armor of the day, the tanks of their day. The horses were for war, not for agriculture, and in those days the fighting men of Israel like ours were among the best in the world. They were courageous, they would stand and fight. There enemy came out against them in a single column and ended the day fleeing in seven directions. The Israel to which Amos was sent was about to get a role reversal, and it wasn’t because God would make it happen. This is really an important thing to understand.

You read the prophets and you almost feel like God is saying I’m going to come down on you. In reality what God is saying is, I’m going to give up on you, I’m going to let you go, I’m going to let you do this your own way and I’m going to stand back and watch. It isn’t because God made it happen, it was the natural end game on the board they were playing. How could that ever happen to a nation?