"Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
Thus it was altogether true of the Northern Kingdom, as stated by Barnes, that: "The idolatry of the ten tribes was the revival of the idolatry in the wilderness.  The ten tribes owned as the forefathers of their worship those first idolators."[66]  All of these considerations, therefore, are more than sufficient reason for rejecting allegations to the effect that, "The point Amos was trying to make was that sacrifice is not essential to a right relationship with God."[67]  The New Testament affirms, of that period, that "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins"  (Hebrews 9:22); and, therefore, there can be no acceptance of such a view as that just quoted.  With equal authority, we also set aside as erroneous all such affirmations as this: "Amos was disputing the divine origin of the institution of sacrifice as it existed in his day."[68]  Such erroneous misconceptions are actually founded in a failure to read the sacred text.  Everything that is either stated or implied in this verse is fully explained by the observation that: