TEXT [Commentary]

black diamond   I.   Introduction (1:1-2)

1 This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in visions two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash,[*] was king of Israel.

2 This is what he saw and heard:

“The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion

and thunder from Jerusalem!

The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up;

the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.”

NOTES

1:1 This message. Lit., “the words of Amos.” The term (dabar [TH1697, ZH1821], “word”) is used here as a technical term for divine revelation, in this case, oracles of Yahweh delivered by Amos. As a title, the expression may be understood as “the story of Amos” or “the record of Amos” (i.e., materials connected with the name of Amos; cf. Andersen and Freedman 1989:184-185).

shepherd. The word for “shepherd” (noqed [TH5349, ZH5924]) is rare, used in the OT only here and in 2 Kgs 3:4. It is unclear whether Amos was a tender of flocks or an owner of sheep (cf. Stuart 1987:299, “sheep breeder”). His autobiographical statements to Amaziah concerning his profession suggest the prophet was “just a shepherd” (i.e., a hired hand, not a wealthy owner and breeder of flocks; see 7:14).

Tekoa. A hill-country village allotted to the tribe of Judah located 10 miles southwest of Jerusalem (Josh 15:59, LXX). Tekoa was home to one of David’s mighty warriors (2 Sam 23:26) and the unnamed wise woman who brokered Absalom’s return to Jerusalem after his slaying of Amnon (2 Sam 14:1-24).

visions. The word “vision” (khazah [TH2372, ZH2600]) is a technical expression for one form of divine revelation. Amaziah identified Amos as a “seer” (khozeh [TH2374, ZH2602]; 7:12, NLT reads “prophet”), a title Amos accepted for himself, unlike the title “prophet” (nabi’ [TH5030, ZH5566]), which he rejected (7:14). According to Andersen and Freedman (1989:189), the vision is the experience in which the divine revelation is received and both “auditory and visionary components were integral to the prophet’s close encounter with God.” It is also noted that the term “seer” (khozeh [TH2374, ZH2602]) is applied to Judean prophets alone, perhaps because of their emphasis on the divine council motif (cf. Hubbard 1989:125).

Uzziah . . . and Jeroboam II. Cf. 2 Kgs 14:17–15:7. The incomplete date formula sets the ministry of Amos during the period of the divided Hebrew kingdoms sometime in the mid-eighth century BC. The precise dating of the oracles of Amos to “two years before the earthquake” is of little help in establishing the chronology of the prophet’s ministry (see “Date and Occasion of Writing” in the Introduction).

1:2 LORD. The divine name (Yahweh) associated with Israel’s covenant experience at Mount Sinai is the prophet’s favorite title for God and is found 60 times in Amos.

roar. The verb “roar” (sha’ag [TH7580, ZH8613]) is often connected with the roaring of a lion (e.g., Judg 14:5; Isa 5:29). Amos made the direct association between Yahweh and a roaring lion later in his message to Israel (3:8). This roaring of Yahweh serves as a call to repentance in Hosea 11:10, while Joel used the same word to threaten judgment against the nations (Joel 3:16). Yahweh’s roar is a metaphor for divine judgment in Amos, indicated by the effect of his thunderous outburst—the death of living things! Later Jeremiah uses the same expression to describe God’s judgment against the whole earth (Jer 25:30).

Zion . . . Jerusalem. The geographical movement from the specific site of the Temple to the city of Jerusalem emphasizes the location of true worship for the Hebrew people—the place where Yahweh set his name. The association of the divine presence of Yahweh with Jerusalem and Judah implicitly indicted the false worship centers of Dan and Bethel in the northern kingdom of Israel (cf. 7:13). The NLT “thunders from Jerusalem” (qol + natan; lit., “gives” or “utters his voice,” NRSV) is interpretive based on the parallelism of the preceding line describing Yahweh’s voice like that of a roaring lion.

Mount Carmel. The peak is part of a mountainous area in northern Israel dividing the plain of Acco to the north from the plain of Sharon to the south. The lush tree cover of Mount Carmel made it a symbol of beauty and fertility (Isa 35:2). The larger context of Amos’s message suggests that Carmel is also a symbol for the kingdom of Israel itself that will soon experience the “withering” judgment of God (cf. 9:3). No doubt the reference to Carmel is also an allusion to the earlier triumph of Yahweh over Baal during the days of Elijah the prophet (1 Kgs 18:20-40).

dry up . . . wither. The verbs ’abal [TH56A, ZH62] (dry up) and yabesh [TH3001, ZH3312] (wither) are often found in contexts describing divine judgment (e.g., Isa 24:4, 7; Ezek 17:9, 24) and at times are paired together to indicate the extent of the devastation (e.g., Joel 1:10). The word yabesh especially connotes the power of God, as it is used to describe the drying up of the Sea of Reeds and the Jordan River (Josh 4:23; Ps 74:15).

COMMENTARY [Text]

The superscription (1:1) is a formal statement that corresponds to the title of a document. It serves to classify literature by genre or literary type (in this case as an oracular or prophetic text) and to identify the author, audience, date, and sometimes the occasion prompting the divine message. This superscription identifies the author of the book as Amos and includes a brief biographical sketch noting him as “a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah.” It also classifies the genre as prophetic revelation given in the form of a vision, and broadly dates the book to the reigns of rival kings of the divided Hebrew monarchies. The theological purpose of the superscription is to emphasize that God himself is the source and authority behind the message of Amos (cf. 2 Pet 1:20-21).

The book of Amos is unusual among the Minor Prophets in that an introduction to the prophet’s message (1:2) is coupled with the superscription (1:1; note the prelude to Zechariah’s visions [Zech 1:2-6] that accompanies the superscription to the book [Zech 1:1]). The introduction sets both the tone and the theme of the message of Amos. The mood of the book is ominous and threatening, evidenced in the “roaring” and “thundering” of the voice of Yahweh. The theme of the book is the destruction and death associated with divine judgment, seen in the descriptions of pasture lands “drying up” and grass “withering and dying” (1:2). Theologically, the introduction legitimizes God as the divine Judge because the name “LORD” (yhwh [TH3068, ZH3378]) signifies his position as the suzerain or king in his covenant relationship with the vassal Israel. Later, the prophet Jeremiah would illustrate this master–servant relationship with his message about the potter and the clay (Jer 18:1-17).