Amos 2:4

Thus saith the Lord. Having pronounced judgment upon alien nations, Amos now comes to the real theme of his prophecy, the sins of his own people and the chastisements to come upon them. Because the Israelites had rejected far greater spiritual light than had the heathen, they were under much greater condemnation (see John 9:40, 41). Amos deals first with the southern kingdom of Judah (vs. 4, 5), and then comes to his main objective, the northern kingdom of Israel (vs. 6-8).

Law. Heb. torah, the general name for the whole body of commandments and precepts, both moral and ceremonial (see on Deut. 31:9; Prov. 3:1). The previously mentioned foreign nations are condemned because of their offenses against God’s people and against the law of conscience. Judah is here condemned and punished for her offenses against the Lord Himself and the written law, revealed religion. Having a knowledge of the law of the Lord, Judah’s responsibility before God was incomparably greater than that of the other nations. In denouncing Judah, the people of his own country, Amos displays God’s impartiality (see Rom. 2:11-13).

Their lies. That is, their vain idols and their idol worship. It is not unusual for the Bible writers to refer to idols as “nothing,” nonentities (see Isa. 41:23, 24; Jer. 10:14, 15; 16:19,20; 1 Cor. 8:4; 10:19).

Walked. A common OT expression to designate the pursuing of a certain course of moral and spiritual conduct (see 1 Kings 15:26; 2 Kings 8:18; Eze. 23:31). Israel’s wrong belief led to wrong action; and time, tragically enough, gave error a sort of authority and standing. The wrong course of one generation became the accepted standard of the next.