Overview of the Book of Amos Chapters 1 and 2

BACKGROUND

Read Amos 1:1~The Book opens with a superscription that situates the prophet's ministry in the eighth century BC. Mention of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel, along with the words "two years before the earthquake," allow us to date that ministry to about 760 BC. Archaeological excavations at Hazor and Samaria indicate that a massive earthquake struck this region around that time. Whoever authored this superscription may have seen the quake as a harbinger of worse judgements to come (Amos 8:8; 9:1, 5). Most scholars are of the opinion that Amos' ministry lasted only a few days. For more notes on the superscription you may wish to go here.

Read Amos 1:2~These words were probably originally nothing more than a snippet from the prophet's preaching but the compiler of the book has placed them here as a keynote to the entire book. Here the Lord is portrayed as roaring like a lion. As a stockherder (Amos 1:1;7:14), a roaring lion would have been one of Amos' worst nightmares and, indeed, the image of a lion is later compared to the Lord's roaring in judgement through His prophet (Amos 3:8). The judgement coming upon Israel will be as devastating as a lion's attack on a sheep (Amos 3:12, see also Amos 5:19). In the bible the people of God are often referred to as God's sheepfold and He is often described as a Shepherd. Amos' oracles make it clear that God, Israel's shepherd, is about to become their worst nightmare.

The roar of a Lion is often a figure of hostility in the bible, describing what the enemies of God and his people do. In Psalm 22:13it is used to described the enemies of the righteous psalmist. InPsalm 74:4 it is used to describe the yelling of God's enemies (Babylonians) in as they destroyed the Jerusalem temple.

 

We are perhaps to understand that God is doing his roaring thru the prophet {see Amos 3:1-8 especially vv 4 and 8}. For more on this keynote verse see here.

Read Amos 1:3-2:5~This passage consists of oracles against seven nations/city states for various crimes described as "transgressions," a word often denoting political rebellion and here indicating transgressions against the king of the universe. The nations/city states that are mentioned were from time to time hostile towards Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel was longing for "the day of the Lord;" a day they believed would work to their benefit by bringing destruction upon their enemies. This passage might lead them to believe such a day was approaching. However, notice that the people of the northern kingdom were not the victims of all the transgressions noted here, some were perpetrated on pagans. But more telling is the order of the oracles of condemnation against the various nations/city states. The first two oracles are against Aram and Philistia, two of the most trenchant enemies of God's people. The next is directed against Tyre, which during the time of David and Solomon and other early kings enjoyed a good working relationship with the Chosen People. Then come oracles against Edom, Ammon and Moab, peoples who belonged to the family of Abraham. Finally, the seventh oracle is directed against Judah, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, brothers of the ten tribes making up the northern kingdom of Israel. In other words, relationally speaking, the oracles come closer and closer to Israel. The very order of the prophecies bodes ill for the kingdom.

The beginning of all seven oracles are identical, save for their object; this gives them a song-like quality. An audience at a rock concert always joins in the song during the refrain, and scholars suggest that Amos' audience would have begun doing the same by the third oracle. It would have gone something like this:

Prophet and people: "Thus says the Lord: 'For three transgressions of

Prophet: 'Tyre'

Prophet and people: 'and for four, I will not revoke the punishment...'"

The sing-a-long would have continued at the beginning of each oracle, including the eighth (see next passage).

In light of what has preceded, the effect of the opening of the eighth oracle would have been shocking to the people. As they started "singing" with the prophet they would have come to the sudden realization that they had been singing of their own punishment and doom. Now they would hear the longest and most vehement oracle uttered against themselves.

Having spoke judgement oracles against seven nations, including Judah, the prophet begins his eighth and longest oracle -against Israel itself.

Amos 2:6-8 ECONOMIC INJUSTICE

Vs 6. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not call it back; because for silver they have sold the righteous, and for a pair of sandals the destitute. My translation.

As we have seen already, transgression means deliberate rebellion against God. In Israel's case, however, the trangression is more deplorable than it was with the pagan nations because it, unlike those nations, was privileged with the law, the revealed will of God (seeDeut 4:5-8). Judah too, in a short, two sentence statement, was condemned for its infidelity to the law, but Amos sees Israel's sins as much worse.

In the first reason given for the condemnation, the operative words are the righteous and the destitute, not "silver" or "sandals". The sin of Israel, its rebellion against the revealed will of God is here identified as injustice toward men which manifests itself in greed. This brings to mind a famous Biblical text: He (Jesus) said to him: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: you mst love your neighbor as yourself. The whole of the law and of the prophets rests on these two commands. (see Mt 22:34-40. Also Lev 19:18)

As will be seen later, the righteous are sold and the needy are cheated by bribery in the law courts.

Vs 7 They lust for the very dust of the land that has settled on the head of the poor. They pervert the way of the poor; a man and his father go to the same servant, so as to profane my holy name. My translation.

Their greed, the manifestation of their unrighteousness, shows itself as greed for land. This greed is here described as so intense that it is a lusting after the very dust of the land that has settled on the poor man's head!

they pervert the way of the poor. The Hebrew word for way isderek, like its Greek counterpart hodos, it refers literally to a path or road (highway, freeway, pathway). In the Bible, both words are used to denote moral activity (see Psalm 1:1-6). The sense here could be that the action of the unrighteous leads the poor man into unrighteousness. Another possible interpretation is that the wordpoor is being used here in the sense of meek or humble. They pervert the way of the meek would then mean that they have left the right road, the right course of moral activity. They no longer walk the road of the humble. (Again, see the metaphor of "the way" in Psalm 1:1-6).

A man and his father go into the same servant: The law in Leviticus 18:8 and 20:11-12 forbid a father and son from having sexual relations with the same woman. Such an act was considered a form of incest and a gross perversion of the moral order, thus a profaning of the holy name of God.

The word I translated as "servant" could also be translated as prositute. But given the econmic context of vss 6-8 I think servant is better. A man could put his daughter into servitude to pay off a debt, alleviate a desperate financial situation, or simply because he could not take proper care of her. The law provided protection for such women (see Exodus 21:7-11). It may be that the wealthy men of Isarel were cheating and taking advantage of the poor to gain their daughters as "sexual" servants. (This is the view of Marvin Sweeney in THE TWELVE PROPHETS, Vol. 1).

Vs 8 And on garments taken in pledge they stretch themselves out beside every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the place of their gods. My translation.

If a person owed a debt certain of his garments could be taken in pledge (Ex 22:25-26), but these had to be returned to him at night for humanitarian reasons. According to Deuteronomy 24:12-13, a man who took another's garment as a debt pledge was forbidden to sleep on it since it had to be returned to the debtor for him to sleep in. Apparently, Amos is accusing the wealthy of not only breaking this law, but of using the garment for false religious practices (probably sexual). They compound this by drinking the wine of the condemned. Condemned here means those who have had a legal judgement go against them. Fines could be paid with agricultural commodities. As we have already noted, the courts in Israel were perverted by bribes. The prophet is here condemning people for enjoying ill-gotten wine on ill-gotten garments. Worse still, they are enjoying these things beside every altar in the place of their gods. They enjoy the fruits of their perversion of justice beside the altars of the "high places" so often condemned by the prophets (see Hosea 10:8; Amos 7:9).

Amos 2:9-11 WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR HIS PEOPLE

Vs 9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as high as the heights of the cedars, and who were as strong as the oaks; I destroyed the fruit that was above and the roots that were beneath. My translation.

The opening of verse 9 is emphatic. It highlights the marked contrast between what God has done for Israel and how they have responded.

Amorites refers to a Semetic speaking people who migrated into the Holy Land, Syria, and Mesopotamia (Iraq) early in the second millenium BC. The Bible identifies them , along with Canaanites and Hittites, as possessing the Holy Land before the advent of the twelve tribes. The Bible presents the Amorites as idolaters and as exceedingly sinful and this is given as the reason for God's action against them (see Leviticus 18:24-30).

Their height is compared to that of the cedar tree and their strengthis compared to that of an oak. In the bible, trees are often used as a symbol of might, but also of pride and arrogance (see Ezekiel 31;Isaiah 2:13; and my notes on Isaiah 2:13-16). The Amorites were too strong and powerful for the People of God to defeat without God's help (see Numbers 13:25-14:45). For the sake of his people God destroyed the tree-like Amorites completely: their fruit above and their root beneath.

Vs 10 And it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and who led you in the wilderness for forty years, so that you might take possession of the land of the amorites. My translation.

The forty years in the wilderness was a result of the people's lack of trust in God, manifested in their refusal to trust that he could conquer the Amorites (see the Numbers link above). Yet, although God did punish the people for this sin he did not reject them, he thus manifested both his justice and his mercy. Even in the midst of their forty year punishment God took care of them (Deut 8:1-5). The purpose of all they experienced those forty years was so that they might take possession of the land.

Vs 11 From among your sons I raised up prophets; and from among your young men (I raised up) Nazarites. Is this not so, O sons of Israel? says the Lord. My translation.

Once the people had come into the Holy Land God raised up prophetsfor them, to ensure that they stayed on the straight and narrow in their relations with him, for a prophet's prime duty was to oversee the right worship of God and the eradication of idolatry (Deut 18:9-22).

Nazarites The law regarding Nazarites can be found in Numbers 6:1-7. The exact significance of Nazarites is unknown. The term means "dedicated", this may imply that they were meant to be examples to the people of holiness and commitment to God since things were made holy when they were dedicated to the service of the Lord.

Amos 2:12-16 A FURTHER SIN AND GOD'S RESPONSE

Vs 12 But you caused the Nazarites to drink wine, and demanded of the prophet: "Do not prophecy." My translation.

They probably find commitment to the Lord a burden on their own guilty consciences, and so they force the Nazarite to abandon his commitment in order to feel better about themselves. Some things never change. For the same reason, prophets calling for right morality and a commitment to God are silenced. "Why should I listen to a celibate in Rome talk about sex and marriage?" "Don't impose your morality on me!" Like I said, some things never change.

Vs 13 Behold, I will press down upon you as sheaves press down upon a cart. My translation.

Having found God's moral will a burden, the people will now be burdened by the the Lord's punishment, which will weigh upon them like produce in an overloaded cart. Note the contrast with verse 11; having raised up prophets who were rejected, the Lord will now press down those who did the rejecting.

Vs 14 Flight will perish from the fleet, the strong will not hold onto his strength, and the mighty one will not deliver himself.
Vs 15 The skilled bowman will not stand, and the fleet of foot shall not deliver himself, and the one who rides a horse shall not save his life.
Vs 16 The stoutest heart among the mighty shall run away naked on that day, says the Lord. My translation.

Notice that here the self-reliance of the people is being thwarted: "the strong will not hold onto his strength, and the mighty one will not deliver himself....the fleet of foot shall not deliver himself, and the one who rides a horse shall not save his life." This stand in marked contrast to what was said in Amos 2:9. It is God who gives Israel its victories, but they are now left to their own devices. The self-reliant, the "free moral agents", will not be so fast, strong, or mighty, to save themselves from God's wrath (Vs 14). This wrath will apparently manifest it self in the form of an invading army (Vss 15-16); the Assyrians, who would destroy the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC.