Section I The Approaching Judgment
Amos 1:1—2:16
The prophecy of Amos falls into three parts with a unity of plan which leaves no question as to its authorship and motivation. The prediction of immediate judgment is at the heart of Amos' ministry. He proclaimed that message skillfully starting with the non-Hebrew, moving toward the Judean, and concluding with Israel, the people he personally addresses. The “Israelite would listen with some inward satisfaction whilst his neighbor's faults, with the judgments that they would incur, were being pointed out.”1 However, he is measured by exactly the same standard applied to others with judgment no less severe.
A. SUPERSCRIPTION AND THEME, 1:1-2
The author of the prophecy identifies himself as a herdsman2 of Tekoa (1) in the reigns of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam … king of Israel. Tekoa is a town located on the southern border of Judah (cf. II Chron. 11:6; 20:20). Amos affirms that he was a simple shepherd and a “gatherer of sycomore fruit” (7:14). Thus we view Amos, not as a prosperous sheep owner, but a modest shepherd and a “dresser of sycomore trees” who was determined not to be classed as a nabi (professional prophet). He was the very kind that Israel “insisted on silencing” (Amos 2:11-12) 3.
Students could date the prophecy more accurately if they could identify the earthquake (cf. Zech. 14:5) spoken of in v. 1, which evidently was well known at the time of Amos' ministry. However, we know that Amos was active during the height of the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II sometime before the king's death in 753 B.C. (see Chart A).4
Amos initiates his prophecy with the confirmation of a theme first declared by Joel (3:16): The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter bis voice from Jerusalem (2). It was God himself who spoke through Amos. The figure was given to warn the covenant breakers who were at ease in their prosperity. They must know that the judgment of God would fall on Israel as well as the heathen world—even the top of Carmel shall wither5.
B. ORACLES AGAINST NEIGHBORING NATIONS, 1:3—2:3
This section is skillfully constructed to begin with a “burden” against foreign nations. It, of course, brings the applause of the people only to prepare them for the deep thrust to follow.
1. Damascus (1:3-5)
The first oracle is against Damascus (3; see map 2), the capital city of the Aramean (Syrian) kingdom, with which Israel had been at war for the greater part of the century. Three, the perfect number, is followed by four, which indicates a larger number of crimes in their worst form. The measure of iniquity was full, beyond all measure.
Gilead, the area most exposed to Syrian invasion (see map 2), was subjected to “threshing sledges of iron” (RSV). These threshing instruments were heavy, iron-shod rollers with jagged teeth, which had been used to destroy and mangle human flesh. The reference is to Hazael's destruction of Gilead in II Kings 10:32-33.
Verse 4 identifies the Syrian leaders who had sinned against Gilead (the story is told in II Kings 8—13). Hazael was the founder of the dynasty which Ben—hadad ( Ben-hadad II), his son, represented. The house of Hazael represents the dynasty, Ben-hadad the specific ruler (cf. Isa. 17:1-3; Jer. 49:23-27;Zech. 9:1-4). The concluding lines in v. 5 demonstrate the power of Jehovah in His judgment. The prophet hears the breaking of the bar of Damascus (the fortifications of the city) and he sees the massacre of the inhabitants of Aven (5). The balance of Syria will be taken to the remoteness of Kir—all of this through the word of the Lord,6 This prophecy was fulfilled when Tiglath-pileser of Assyria (see Chart A) conquered Damascus during the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah (II Kings 16:9). The final word, saith the Lord, identifies the authority with which the oracle is given.
2. Philistia (1:6-8)
A like destruction is to overtake the Philistines (see comments on v. 3). Gaza (6), the principal city of Philistia, is used as a symbol of the whole nation. It was a key caravan center on the road between Egypt and Syria, situated on the southern border of Judah near the Mediterranean Sea (see map 2). The specific accusation against the Philistines is that they carried away captive the whole captivity. That is, they carried an entire people captive and delivered them to Edom, the archenemy of Israel. The reference is to the invasion of the Philistines in the time of Joram (II Chron. 21:16; cf. Joel 3:4). Verses 7-8 verify the fact that all of Philistia is included in the coming destruction. A similar judgment will fall upon all of her chief cities: Gaza (7), Ashdod (8), Ashkelon, and Ekron All are included for extermination by the hand of the Lord God.
The irony of God's judgment is apparent. The very Edomites to whom the Israelites were sold will be those who will sell the Philistines into bondage. (The Edomites held a port on the Red Sea and were notorious as slave traders.)
3. Tyre (1:9-10)
The great sins of Tyre are symbolized again in for three transgressions … and for four (9; cf. comment on v. 3). The transgression is greater because Tyre remembered not the brotherly covenant, i.e., the earlier alliance between Solomon and Hiram (I Kings 5:1, 12). Though the historical occasions cannot be confirmed, it seems to be indicated in the charge that Tyre delivered the Israelites to Edom in slave trade. There is no record that any king of Israel or Judah had ever warred against Phoenicia (Tyrus). Because of her sin, even the magnificent city of Tyre would not escape the judgment of Jehovah (10) as declared by Amos. (See Ezekiel 28 for a description of Tyre.)
4. Edom (1:11-12)
A rather special animosity existed between Israel and Edom even before the Exile. Amos did not condemn a particular sin, but pointed out Edom's implacable hatred in the pursuit of Israel with the sword (11), the utter lack of pity, and the continual spirit of wrath toward his brother.7
As in the former oracles, the judgment was to be by fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah (12). Bozrah was the capital of Edom, situated south of the Dead Sea. Teman was probably a district to the north of Bozrah (see map 2). Both symbolized the whole of Edom.
5. Ammon (1:13-15)
The territory of Ammon lay across the Jordan River to the east of Gilead. The specific charge, They have ripped up the women with child of Gilead (13), was only the climax of a succession of cruelties against Israel. However, Israel might also have been charged with a similar offense (II Kings 15:16).
As a punishment upon Edom, the capital city of Rabbah (14; “the great one”) was to be burned in the day of battle. At that time the invader would seem like a tempest sweeping all before him. The prophecy closes with the oracle of doom against the king and his princes(15), who shall go into captivity.
6. Moab (2:1-3)
The final prophecy against the neighbors of Israel is directed toward Moab, situated between Edom and Ammon (see map 2). The specific crime was against the king of Edom(1), whose bones were burned to lime.
Though there is no historical reference to the incident, it may refer to the war Jehoram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah waged against the Moabites in which the king of Edom was an ally of Israel (II Kings 3).8 Jerome reports a Jewish tradition that the Moabites dug up the bones of the king of Edom and heaped insult upon insult by burning the remains to dust.
As a punishment, Moab's chief city, Kirioth (2), was to be burned and the nation destroyed. The prophecies from 1:6 on are all fulfilled in the Chaldean invasions which carried off the inhabitants to captivity (Ezekiel 25).
At the time of Amos' prophecy, Assyria's threat (Tiglath-pileser III, 745-727 B.C.) was still a little cloud on the horizon. Amos, however, warns of the judgments to come, not because of Assyria's ambitions alone, but because Jehovah was at work in the political area. The prophet affirms that Jehovah is Sovereign over all nations of the earth. Those mentioned are only an indication of the scope of His sovereignty. In this, Amos did not claim to say anything new, but he certainly “spoke with a disturbingly new accent.”9
C. ORACLE AGAINST JUDAH, 2:4—5
Amos turns from the neighboring nations to the Southern Kingdom, Judah. Here is the second movement toward his final thrust against Israel.
With respect to Judah, Amos condemns the rejection of the law of the Lord (4; Torah; this “law” was the sum total of all the precepts given by Jehovah as a rule of life). Commandments (chuqqim) are the separate precepts of the Torah, including both ceremonial and moral commandments.10 Lies (4) should probably be translated “idols,” or “their vanities which they made” (LXX).11
The punishment indicated in 5 was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. when he destroyed Jerusalem and carried away a greater part of the population to Babylon (see Chart A).
D. ORACLES AGAINST ISRAEL, 2:6-16
Amos finally turns to Israel. One can imagine the chagrin of the people in the marketplace. If they had cheered him for his prophecies against their enemies, and murmured of his prophecies against Judah, their hostility was made plain as he declared the truth against Israel. In precisely the same language that he had been using, he announced that God's judgment against Israel was just as irrevocable.
1. The Rebellion of Israel (2:6-8)
The first charge is that they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes (6). This phrase is usually interpreted as the custom which condemned the innocent through bribes and gave the poor to the creditor (for the merest trifle) as slaves. This was done on the strength of the law described in Lev. 25:39 (cf. II Kings 4:1).12 The rich thus showed callous disregard for the righteous (tsaddiq). Those who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor (7) are men who “trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth” (RSV). The address is phrased in participles as though they “panted” in their eagerness to humiliate the poor. In addition, they turned aside the way of the meek, i.e., kept them from their natural way of life, turning them to destruction.
The third accusation was profanity of the Lord's holy name by the gross immorality of a man and his father having intercourse with a maid.. “The meaning is, to one and the same girl; but achaih [the same] is omitted, to preclude all possible misunderstanding as though going to different prostitutes was allowed. This sin was tantamount to incest, which according to the law, was to be punished by death.”13
The fourth accusation concerned the house of their god (8). They drank wines purchased by the fines of the condemned. The clothes they slept on beside their altars profaned the holy name of Jehovah, since a pawned garment was to be returned before night came on (Exod. 22:26).
2. The Revelation of God (2:9-12)
Privilege brings corresponding responsibility. Amos cannot refrain from pointing out that, since Jehovah favored Israel above all other nations, He would hold them accountable for their sins.14 It is this revelation of God in history that provokes the rehearsal of His destruction of the Amorite (9, pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan) as a preparation for the migration of Israel from Egypt (10) to possess the land of the Amorite (cf. Josh. 3:10). The expression, I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath (9), is a figure to indicate complete devastation.
Jehovah's care was not only expressed by His protection on the journey from Egypt to Canaan, but through the raising of prophets (11) and Nazarites to reveal His holy will to Israel. The Nazarites were men of holy calling who were pledged to abstain from (1) strong drink, (2) eating meat, and (3) cutting the hair. Samson, Samuel, and probably John the Baptist were Nazarites. In the face of this divine providence, and against divine law, the Israelites tempted the Nazarites with wine to drink (12) and attempted to silence the prophets: Prophesy not. The word of the Lord was not wanted by them.
3. The Anticipated Judgment (2:13-16)
Because of their gross transgressions, the Lord now warns of a judgment which no one will escape. It will be an oppression in which the strongest shall suffer. “Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down” (13, RSV). Israel is to feel the grinding pressure of the heavily laden cart. Other expositors, with a slight change in the Hebrew verb translated “press” (a change supported by the LXX), get the meaning “to totter.” Thus, “I will make (everything) totter under you as a cart totters.”15
Verses 14-16 describe the inability of Israel to flee from the Lord. The swift (14) shall not be able to escape. The strong “shall not retain his strength nor the mighty save his life” (RSV). Neither the archer, the footman, nor the horseman shall be able to withstand the judgment of the Lord (15). The word naked (16) suggests the utter helplessness of a man “stripped of all the resources on which he counts to maintain himself when he faces the final catastrophe.”16
Amos startles his listeners by bringing his judgments to Israel after his monologue against the neighboring nations. Here are the reasons for “God's Judgments Against His People”: (1) They despised the law of the Lord, 4b; (2) They tried to deceive their Maker, 4c; (3) They sacrificed their God-given integrity, 6; (4) They oppressed the poor, 7a; (5) They fell into immorality, 7c; (6) They profaned that which was sacred, 8, 12. Therefore God will destroy those who have broken His covenant, 14-16.