INTRODUCTION TO

Amos

AMOS WAS A SHEPHERD and a sycamore-fig farmer from Tekoa, a village about ten miles south of Jerusalem. His denial of any association with the religious establishment emphasized his detachment from the formal institutions of the royal court and Temple (7:14-15). Given his platform as an independent layman, Amos had the freedom to proclaim God’s message unfettered by vested interests or public opinion. Religious apostasy, moral decay, social injustice, and political corruption in the northern kingdom prompted God to send Amos across the border of Judah to preach in Bethel of Israel. Amos condemned Israel because they had “forgotten how to do right” (3:10). Since the preaching of Amos is dated to the early or mid-eighth century BC, he is the first Old Testament prophet to address the theme of the “day of the LORD” (5:18; chs 7–8). His understanding of the ethical implications of Israel’s covenant relationship with God for individual and corporate behavior made him a champion of social justice (5:7, 15, 24; 6:12).

AUTHOR

The book is silent on the specifics of authorship, although it is generally assumed that the prophetic word formula (“This message was given to Amos,” 1:1) signifies that Amos was responsible in some fashion for writing down his own message. The exact details concerning how the oracles that Amos delivered to Israel at Bethel came to be recorded remain unknown. He may have dictated his revelations to a scribe or composed them himself. The latter seems more likely given the first-person accounts of his messages and visions. He may have committed his revelations to writing shortly after his return to Tekoa from his brief “preaching campaign” in the northern kingdom of Israel. His ministry covers a period of less than two years (1:1), and in fact was likely only a few months (G. Smith 2001:209-210) or even a few days long (cf. Hayes 1988:46-47, who connects Amos’s preaching with the Marheshvan festival instituted by Jeroboam as an alternative to the fall pilgrimage Festival of Shelters; 1 Kgs 12:32-33).

Apart from the facts that the name Amos means “burden-bearer” and that he was from Tekoa (1:1), all we know of Amos comes from his own confession that he was not a professional prophet but a shepherd and sycamore-fig farmer (cf. 7:14-15). This disclaimer about not being a member of the “religious establishment” is significant because it implies his freedom to proclaim God’s message without any political motivations. As an “independent layman” and a “blue- collar” worker without formal academic and religious training, Amos reminds us that God shows no partiality in calling people to serve his cause. This is a timely admonition in our age of “professionalism.”

DATE AND OCCASION OF WRITING

The message of Amos is dated to the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah (c. 791/783–742/740 BC) and Jeroboam II, king of Israel (793/786–753/746 BC). Since the reigns of both of these kings extended over a period of more than four decades, and further, the exact dates for the rule of each king vary by some two to seven years depending upon the source consulted,[42] this leaves some ambiguity as to the exact date. Traditionally, the date of the book of Amos has been assigned to the middle years of the reign of Jeroboam II, sometime in the 760s BC (Niehaus 1992:316; Smith 2001:206). More recent historical analysis and chronological calculations have pushed the date for the message of Amos nearer the end of the reign of Jeroboam II, perhaps around 750–748 BC (cf. Hayes 1988:26-27).

The reference to the “two years before the earthquake” in the superscription (1:1) provides little help in determining the precise date of Amos’s prophecy. Archaeological findings at sites like Samaria and Hazor have been interpreted by some to attest to such destruction by an earthquake around this general time (see the discussions in Hayes 1988:46-47; Anderson and Freedman 1989:198-199), and Zechariah’s reference to the natural disaster indicates that this tremor was long remembered in Israel (Zech 14:5), but attempts to pinpoint the year in which the earthquake occurred are speculative. As a consequence, it seems best to assign the time of Amos’s prophetic activity to a general period ranging from 760–750 BC.

The general occasion prompting Amos’s message to Jeroboam II and Israel was the religious apostasy and moral and social decay of the northern kingdom (cf. 2:6-16). More specifically, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies had become weary of Israel’s sins of idolatry and oppressive greed (3:13–4:2). God’s patience had expired, and his decree of judgment and exile signaled the “sudden end” of Israel (7:9). The earthquake itself may have been the event prompting the prophet to publish his experience. The citation of the devastating natural disaster in the superscription suggests that Amos viewed the event as a partial fulfillment of his oracles to Israel and as confirmation of his divine commission (cf. 9:1).

The biblical records of the reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam II are found in 2 Kings 14:17–15:7 and 2 Chronicles 26. Both kings brought political stability and economic prosperity to their respective kingdoms. Both kings expanded their territorial borders by means of successful military campaigns. For instance, Uzziah fortified the walls and towers of the city of Jerusalem and built other defense outposts throughout Judah (2 Chr 26:9). His policies also increased agricultural productivity (2 Chr 26:10). In addition, he assembled a well-equipped army that enabled Judah to subdue the Philistines, Arabs, and Ammonites (2 Chr 26:6-8, 11-15). Although regarded a righteous king by the biblical historians, Uzziah was stricken with a skin disease as divine punishment for usurping priestly duties (2 Kgs 15:3-5; 2 Chr 26:16-20). The malady was God’s judgment against the king’s pride, and it plagued him until his death, making him a social outcast in his own kingdom (2 Chr 26:21).

Jeroboam II similarly expanded the political control of Israel into the Aramean regions of Damascus and Hamath by means of military achievements (2 Kgs 14:28). We learn (indirectly) from the prophets Amos and Hosea that under the policies of Jeroboam II the northern kingdom enjoyed greater economic prosperity than anytime in its history since the united monarchy of David and Solomon (3:15; 4:1-2; Hos 5:7; 8:14). Unlike Uzziah, however, Jeroboam II was assessed as an evil king by the biblical historians because he perpetuated the idolatry of his predecessors (2 Kgs 14:24).

Despite the facade of material wealth during what has been called the “Silver Age” of Israelite history (Paul 1991:1), Amos looked past external appearances and charged that the nation was guilty before God of sinning again and again (2:6) and forgetting how to do right (3:10). Thus, Israel was “ripe” for divine judgment (8:1-2). Underneath the veneer of political stability and economic prosperity, the cancer of social and moral decay metastasized. The success of Jeroboam II had come at the expense of the poor (who were oppressed by social injustice; 2:6; 4:1; 5:11) and of true worship (which was corrupted by religious apostasy; 3:14; 4:4-5). A just and holy God had no choice but to punish the people who had violated the intimacy of their covenant relationship with him (3:1; 5:25-27).

AUDIENCE

Broadly understood, the people of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were the intended audience of Amos’s message (2:4-16; 3:1, 13; 5:1; 6:1; 7:15). Specific groups or classes of people within the northern kingdom were targeted, including the “wealthy” (3:15; cf. 4:1; 6:4) and the “famous and popular” (6:1). Likewise, certain individuals, including Jeroboam II, king of Israel, and Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, were also recipients of the prophet’s oracles (cf. 7:10-17).

CANONICITY AND TEXTUAL HISTORY

Amos is the third book in the collection known as the Minor Prophets (or the “Book of the Twelve” in the Hebrew Bible). The Twelve Prophets are usually grouped with the other Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) and, without exception, are found in the earliest delineations of the Old Testament canon. These twelve books were always copied on one scroll in the ancient Hebrew manuscript tradition. The order of the Twelve Prophets is uniform in the Masoretic tradition of the Hebrew Bible (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). The order of the Twelve Prophets does vary, however, in some canon traditions. For example, Amos and Micah immediately follow Hosea in the Septuagint (LXX).[43] According to Hubbard (1989:88-89), the position of Amos as third among the Twelve Prophets is warranted because of the book’s length, antiquity, and comprehensiveness. More important, the movement from “disaster to rescue” in the prophet’s message distills the themes of the collection as a whole.

Overall, the Hebrew text (MT) of Amos is well preserved. Only portions of Amos are extant in fragments in the Dead Sea Scrolls (cf. DJD 15.246-249, 294-309). Generally the ancient versions provide a faithful witness to the MT, although on occasion the general tendencies for interpretive expansion and loose paraphrasing in the ancient versions are evident in the Septuagint and the Aramaic Targum (e.g., 4:13; 5:2, 8, 26; 6:9; 7:5). The book contains several passages where the MT proves difficult to understand, thereby prompting emendations based upon the ancient versions or conjecture at times (e.g., 1:3; 2:7; 3:12; 5:6, 26; 7:2; 8:1).

One example of such interpretive expansion is the grizzly (and somewhat sensationalist) translation of Amos 1:3b based on the ancient versions (LXX, Latin Vulgate): “because they threshed the pregnant women of Gilead with iron threshing sledges” (so Stuart 1987:304). Yet Andersen and Freedman (1989:238-239) view this as an illustration of the ancient trend to interpret obscure passages in light of other sources. They regard the gloss to “pregnant women” as a clear contamination of the Masoretic Text from Amos 1:13 (perhaps due to a connection with 2 Kgs 8:12 and Elisha’s prediction that Hazael would rip open the pregnant women of Israel). The NLT inserts “my people” in Amos 1:3 (“they beat down my people in Gilead,” following the Aramaic Targum, which reads, “they threshed the inhabitants of the land of Gilead”; cf. Cathcart and Gordon 1989:77).

LITERARY STYLE

Earlier form-critical analysis of the book of Amos questioned the authenticity of numerous isolated verses and pericopes in the book on the basis of historical, literary, or theological grounds.[44] More recent scholarship has asserted the overall unity of Amos based on the demonstration of the “literary coherence” of the diverse ingredients comprising the book (Andersen and Freedman 1989:144). In fact, there is a growing appreciation for the prophet’s literary skills. The bold and arresting style of the book indicates that Amos was a man of integrity and conviction. The fact that the prophet was “shown the words” that God revealed to him in the form of visions explains the vivid language of the book (cf. 7:1). The pastoral imagery of the illustrations, metaphors, and rhetorical questions of Amos’s sermons reveals his rural root as a shepherd and orchard keeper. Finally, the hymnic portions of the book (e.g., 5:1-2) and the doxologies (e.g., 4:13; 5:8-9; 9:5-6) indicate Amos had some poetic and musical ability (or, at the least, that he borrowed from existing popular songs).

Andersen and Freedman (1989:xxv-xliii) identify three books in the larger structure of Amos: the Book of Doom (1:1–4:13), the Book of Woes (5:1–6:14), and the Book of Visions (7:1–9:15). The Book of Doom and the Book of Woes are composed of eight oracles against the nations (1:3–2:16) and five prophetic “messages” or sermons against the kingdom of Israel (chs 3–6). These five prophetic sermons are counterbalanced by five prophetic visions (7:1–9:10). The book concludes with an epilogue promising blessing and renewal for Israel (9:11-15).[45]

Like other prophetic books of the Old Testament, Amos is a literary hybrid—a blend of prose and poetry sometimes labeled “oracular prose” (Andersen and Freedman 1989:145-149). Amos accents his message by utilizing a variety of prophetic speech forms, repeated words and phrases, and stock literary constructions. For example, the book contains the proclamation formula (“Listen to me,” 4:1), revelation formula (“the Sovereign LORD showed me,” 7:1), and oath formula (“the Sovereign LORD has sworn,” 4:2). Several types of prophetic oracles may be found in Amos’s messages, including judgment (2:6-8), instruction or admonition (i.e., “do” or “do not,” 5:4-5), repentance (“come back,” 5:6), and woe or indictment oracles (5:18). In keeping with typical prophetic speech patterns, rhetorical questions are sprinkled throughout every sermon of the book (e.g., 3:3-8; 6:11-14).

MAJOR THEMES

The opening proclamation of the prophet’s message serves as the theme verse for the entire book: “The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion” (1:2). Beyond this, the oracles against the nations (1:3–2:16) set the tone for the message of the book in that they all emphasize destruction and in some cases exile. The book’s message springs logically from the general outline of its content and is closely connected to Amos’s prediction of judgment and exile for Israel. The prophet’s first message promises divine judgment against the sins of the nations (1:3–2:3). The second message forecasts the destruction of Judah’s cities (2:4-5) and destruction and exile of the northern kingdom of Israel (2:6-16). The third message condemns specific acts of social injustice and religious apostasy (3:1–6:14). This portion of the message of Amos also called the people to repentance, encouraging a return to covenant obedience, and repudiated the popular notion that “the day of the LORD” was a time of national blessing only. The fourth message reinforces the themes of divine judgment and exile for Israel by means of a series of visions in which the prophet introduces the theme of a “remnant of Israel” (7:1–9:4). The prophet’s final message is a promise of messianic restoration and blessing—a word of hope reminding the people that God’s judgment is not final.

Niehaus (1992:327) has aptly observed that “if much of biblical theology is the story of salvation, much of biblical anthropology is the story of sin.” Amos accuses both Israel and Judah of lapsing into two basic categories of sin: social injustice (e.g., 2:6-8) and idolatry (e.g., 5:26). The essential themes of the message of Amos emerge from the prophetic indictment of these sins of idolatry and religious hypocrisy and the inability to “do right” by practicing social justice (3:10). Interestingly, as noted by Andersen and Freedman (1989:91), “the crimes of the other nations are international in character, while the crimes charged against Judah and Israel are internal matters, involving their behavior to God and fellow citizens.”

THEOLOGICAL CONCERNS

The prophet Amos espouses a simple, but not a simplistic, theology. By “theology” I mean the understanding of who God is and how he works in the world as portrayed in the sermons and visions of Amos. The statement that reports what the prophet “saw and heard” serves as a theme verse for the entire book: The message of Amos is all about the Lord who “roars” against sin from his Temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem (1:2). In fact, according to Gowan (1996:346), “God’s primary role in this book is to be the judge and executioner of those persons [and nations] who have refused to obey divine standards of justice.” We must remember, however, that although God is presented as the severe judge of the nations, he is also “just and impartial” (Andersen and Freedman 1989:91).

First and foremost, God is the creator of heaven and earth—the cosmic or universal deity of all that exists (4:13; 5:8-9; 9:5-6). These declarations about God as creator are not so much a theological treatise about creation “as practical statements of God’s power” (Smith 2001:214). There are only two categories of reality: “God and everything else. Everything else is subordinate and dependent upon the deity for its existence and whatever else it has or is” (Andersen and Freedman 1989:90).

This means Yahweh of Israel is sovereign over all the nations by virtue of the majesty, power, and authority he inherently possesses as the universal God of heaven and earth. As ruler of the universe and the nations, God is also the Lord of history (cf. Andersen and Freedman 1989:90-91). Although the prophet Amos differs from his Old Testament counterparts by first addressing sins of the nations before indicting the Hebrew kingdoms of Judah and Israel, he clearly sides with them in acknowledging Yahweh as the Lord of human history. Yet, the prophet offers no explanation as to why the nations should be held accountable to the God of Israel. This may be understood as an expression of the “practical monotheism” of the book, since Amos assumed the oneness and superiority of Yahweh and that he “has the power to judge all who violate basic principles of justice” (Gowan 1996:347). Hubbard (1989:111) concludes that “this all-embracing picture of sovereignty serves one basic purpose in the text: to bring Israel’s fantasies of invulnerability down to size.”

Amos never applies the word “judge” to God, but it is clear that Yahweh fills this role as the deity who both indicts and punishes the nations (1:3–2:16). The teaching associated with the “day of the LORD” further supports the idea of God as the divine judge (5:20). God’s judgment of the nations is his divine right by virtue of his work as creator of heaven and earth (5:8). This office of “cosmic” judge suggests some standard by which divine judgment is meted out. Explicitly, this punishment of sin among the nations is rooted in God’s character, his holiness (4:2) and righteousness (5:7, 24; 6:12). Implicitly, the measuring rod of divine justice for Israel and Judah is “the instruction of the LORD” (2:4), as seen in the prophet’s use of words like honesty, truth, and justice as applied to the poor and oppressed of society (2:6; 5:7, 10). God is vindicated in judging the sin of Israel and Judah because they have violated the sacred trust of his covenant relationship with them as his elect nation (3:1-2).

Finally, Amos understands God as the divine healer and restorer (9:11-15). Like Ezekiel, the prophet knows that God does not delight in the death of the wicked—but rather that they should “come back to the LORD and live!” (5:4, 6; cf. Ezek 18:23, 32). Even in judgment God will not destroy Israel completely (9:8) because he is also a God of mercy (5:15). God desires to be Israel’s “helper,” but he can only help those who decide to “hate evil and love what is good” (5:15).

OUTLINE

I.   Introduction (1:1-2)

II.   God’s Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab (1:3–2:3)

III.   God’s Judgment on Judah and Israel (2:4-16)

A.   Judgment against Judah (2:4-5)

B.   Judgment against Israel (2:6-16)

IV.   Further Oracles against Israel (3:1–6:14)

A.   Listen, People of Israel (3:1-15)

B.   Listen, Cows of Bashan (4:1-13)

C.   Listen, People of Israel (5:1-17)

D.   How Terrible for Those Anxious for the Day of the Lord (5:18-27)

E.   How Terrible for Those Who Lounge in Jerusalem and Samaria (6:1-14)

V.   Visions of Judgment (7:1–9:10)

A.   Three Visions: The Plague of Locusts, Devouring Fire, and the Lord’s Plumb Line (7:1-9)

B.   Interlude: Amaziah Challenges Amos (7:10-17)

C.   Fourth Vision: A Vision of Ripe Fruit (8:1-14)

D.   Fifth Vision: A Vision of God at the Altar (9:1-10)

VI.   Epilogue: The Restoration of Israel (9:11-15)