Amos 5:2

"The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up."

It is a mistake to make this whole chapter into a "poem," for it is no such thing. The lament was certainly cast into poetic form; but this was merely an attention-getting device used by the prophet as the background for the shocking and devastating words of God's prophecy which he was delivering to Israel.

The virgin of Israel is fallen ..." The use of the present tense here is prophetic, indicating that the projected overthrow of the kingdom was as certain as if it had already occurred. This device called "the prophetic tense" was widely used throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Likewise, in the New Testament, the final overthrow of Babylon the great is given in words very similar to these (Revelation 18:2), "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." The fact that the figure employed here is that of a virgin "does not indicate that this is (or will be) the first time that Israel is defeated,"[5] nor that the nation is in any sense righteous. "It is a feature related to the representation of Israel as a beautiful young woman."[6] "The death of a virgin, or of a man who had no children, was regarded as peculiarly sad."[7]

This outburst of Amos against Israel came at the very apex of Israel's pride and prosperity, the better part of a century having elapsed since Jeroboam II had restored the borders of the kingdom and seized control of the lucrative trade routes to the east. Israel had never had it so good; and a message like that so dramatically delivered by Amos would have been just about as unpopular as any that could be imagined.

But the very fact that Amos' message has been preserved for us shows that some people listened and remembered. There were some who honored the prophet and his message, and who gave service to God.[8]