The coming downfall and the utter collapse of the northern kingdom are two major themes in the Book of Amos. The basis for these predictions is not the rise in power of the Assyrian empire, with its threat of invasion from the north, but rather the immorality expressed in the political, economic, and religious life of Amos' contemporaries. Amos is convinced that Yahweh is a god of justice; Yahweh's power over the nations of the earth is evidenced by the fact that transgression of the principles of justice and social righteousness will inevitably be followed by ruin and decay. This cause and effect is illustrated in the book's first two chapters, which record oracles concerning Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Judah, and Israel. The first four of these oracles tell of calamities that have fallen upon the respective kingdoms because of their utter disregard for what is just and right. The last two indicate that both Judah and Israel are subject to the same kind of treatment.
The nation of Israel, because it "sells the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals," and because of the many other instances in which it violated the principles of justice, is doomed.
The luxurious homes of the rich will be spoiled, the women who have spent their time in idleness and pleasure will be dragged away into exile, and the entire country will be laid waste, a point about which Amos is especially emphatic. He insists that the coming captivity is a certainty and will mean final and complete destruction. He declares, "Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again." Whatever remnants remain after the approaching invasion from the north will be insufficient for rebuilding the nation. These remnants will be comparable to "only two leg bones or a piece of an ear" that a shepherd rescues from a sheep that has been torn to pieces by a lion or a bear.
