From the Pulpit...

The people were enjoying a life of ease, but Amos seeks to disrupt their complacency by again prefacing his message with woe-a word that would have stirred up images of death in the minds of his audience. The punishment fits the crime. Those who thought of themselves as more important than others and demanded the very best oil for themselves would be at the head of the line when the enemy took the nation into exile. Amos offers a pair of ridiculous rhetorical questions-horses trying to run on rock walls and farmers trying to plow a rocky cliff-to illustrate how unnatural and unsustainable Israel's views of justice were. Because Israel relied too much on its military strength and too little on God, they would lose the cities they had overtaken.