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.
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.