Amos 1-2 Oracles against the

Nations

• Damascus (NE)

• Gaza (SW)

• Tyre (NW)

• Edom (SE)

• Ammonites (E)

• Moab (S of Ammon)

• Judah

(deuteronomistic?)

• Israel (7 + 1)

Outline of Oracles against

Foreign Nations 1:3-2:16 • A. Messenger Formula: Thus says Yahweh

• B. For 3 rebellions and for 4…I will not turn it back

because… (indictment)

– Expanded indictment with normative expression

(Tyre, Edom, Judah)

• C. Announcement of judgment

– Additional announcement of judgments (not in Tyre,

Edom, Judah)

• D. Concluding Messenger Formula (not in Tyre, Edom,

Judah) says Yahweh

• Note how form “explodes” in Israel oracle

Amos 2:4-5

• Thus says the LORD: For three rebellions of

Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the

punishment; because they have rejected the law

of Yahweh, and have not kept his statutes, but

they have been led astray by the same lies after

which their ancestors walked.

• So I will send a fire on Judah, and it shall devour

the strongholds of Jerusalem.

Crimes in Oracles against

Foreign Nations • In Nations

– cruelty in war (1:3, 11, 13 [ripped open pregnant women])

– slavery issues (stealing people for slave trade 1:5, 9)

– violation of the dead (2:1 burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom)

• In Israel – The crimes are committed against their own

citizens: injustice in court, violation of pledges, sexual sins? exploitation and enslavement of poor

Amos 2:6-8

• Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because

they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair

of sandals (or: for hidden gain)--

• they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of

the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father

and son “go in to” the same maiden, so that my holy

name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside

every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the

house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they

imposed.

Amos 2:8

Exod 22:26

Deut 24:17

Yabneh

.jpg

The Yavneh Yam Ostracon

• Hoshayahu came and took your servant’s

garment. All my companions will vouch for

me…that truly I am guiltless of any infraction.

• Please return my garment. If the official does

not consider it an obligation to return your

servant’s garment, then have pity on him and

return your servant’s garment from that

motivation. You must not remain silent when

your servant is without his garment.

The Inevitability of Judgment--

Chapter 3 (III. C. 1)

• Vv 3-5 Event followed by its cause

• V 6a Cause followed by event--

trumpet/fear

• v 6b Event followed by its cause

• v 7 Yahweh’s deeds preceded by

revelation to his servants the prophets

• v 8 Causes followed by events:

– Lion--fear

– Word of Yahweh--compulsion to prophesy

Amos 5:1-3--An Elegy (theme of

death)

• vv. 1-2 Prophet: Maiden Israel is fallen

– genre for an individual applied to nation

– Fallen. In battle?

– Hopelessness of the situation--listeners

treated as dead people

• v. 3 Yahweh: City will have 90%

casualties

Amos 5:4-6 (theme of life)

• vv. 4-5 Yahweh: Seek me, directly or through prophet,

and live; life, not death

• Do not seek Bethel or Gilgal or Beersheba

– Bethel: house of God becomes house of nothingness; royal sanctuary la tyb or !wa {[tyb\] 5bβ

– Gilgal = home of the traditions about the conquest or about Saul; hlgy hlg lglgh 5bα

– Beersheba--Isaac (cf. 7:16; 8:14)

• v. 6 Prophet: Coming judgment is conditional. Seek

Yahweh and live (unusual for Amos)

Amos 5:7-13 (injustice-hymn-

injustice)

• v. 7 Complaint: justice and righteousness are turned on their head

• vv. 8-9 Doxology of judgment: Praise of God who brings both death and life (reflection by later reader).

• vv. 10-13 Complaint about injustice (they hate the person who offers reproof in the gate) and oppression; followed by frustration oracle--build houses and not live in them. The “gate” is the place where justice should reign

Amos 5:14-15 (theme of life)

• v. 14 seek good (the moral life)--then the God of

the heavenly armies will be with you

• v. 15 Hate evil (i.e. do not hate the one who

reproves in the gate)

• “Perhaps”--it all depends on the sovereign

freedom of the God of the heavenly armies (and

definitely not a sure thing)—Yahweh will be

gracious to the remnant of Joseph (after the

inevitable military defeat)

The Remnant

• 5:15 Only the “remnant” of Joseph will be

saved--and it only “perhaps”

• 2:14-16 no one escapes--not even the

strong

• 3:12 “remnant” (two legs or piece of an

ear)= proof of destruction

• 5:18-20 people flee to their death on day

of Yahweh

Amos 5:16-17--Mourning

(theme of death)

• Announcement of judgment via an oracle

of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh: In all the

squares there will be wailing

• Vineyards, usually places of joy, will be

places for wailing

5:18-20

• Doom to those who desire the day of the

LORD Common English Bible

• What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only

the day of the Lord were here!” New Living

Translation

• Woe to all of you who want God’s

Judgment Day! The Message

Amos 5:19

• Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand

against a wall in his house—and he’s

bitten by a snake. NLT

• A woman goes home after a hard day’s

work and is raped by a neighbor. The

Message

Amos 5:20

• Surely the day of the Lord shall be Not

light, but darkness, Blackest night without

a glimmer. Jewish Publication Society

• Will not the day of the LORD be darkness,

not light—pitch dark, without a ray of

brightness? NIV

• Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and

hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope.

NLT

Turning the old traditions on

their head

• 5:18-20 The Day of Yahweh will be

darkness not light (III. E.)

• 3:1-2 Election; therefore, I will punish you

(III. I. a)

• 9:7 Everybody’s had an Exodus--

Philistines and Syrians, too (III. I. b)

Amos and the Sacrificial System

(III. F.) • Come to Bethel (Jacob) and transgress, to

Gilgal (conquest) and multiply

transgression (4:4a)

• Bring a thankoffering and freewill offerings

for so you love to do (4:4b-5)

• Seek me; do not seek Bethel, enter Gilgal,

or cross over to Beer-sheba (5:4-5)

• I hate, I despise your festivals….But let

justice roll down like waters (5:24)

Sacrificial System (continued)

• Did you bring me sacrifices…the forty years in

the wilderness [when faith was not overwhelmed

by the cult of Baal]? Genuine fellowship with God

desired as in the wilderness (5:25)

• You shall carry off Sakkuth (Sikkuth) and Kaiwan

(Kiyyun)…into exile! (5:26-27) beyond Damascus

(2 Kgs 14:28 Jeroboam II conquered

Damascus). Now beyond Damascus is not in

victory but in exile

Refusal to return 4:6-13 (C. 2)

• Famine, no rain, blight and mildew,

pestilence, destruction as at Sodom and

Gomorrah

• yet you did not return to me (6, 8, 9, 10,

11)

• Therefore, thus I am about to do to you

• Prepare to meet your God, O Israel: All

former judgments ineffectual, Israel must

now confront God in person.

The Word “Prophet”

• Individuals anachronistically

• Abraham, Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Deborah

• Ecstatics (Eldad and Medad; Saul in 1 Samuel

10 and 19)

• Court officials (Gad, Nathan, 400 with Ahab)

• “Sons of prophets”--Elisha = guild

• Other terms: “man of God”; seer (hozeh and

ro’eh)