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Book 30 of 39 · Minor Prophets

Amos

Let Justice Roll Down
Narrated book coming soon

Overview

Amos was "among the herdmen of Tekoa", a village in the Judean hills south of Bethlehem, and also "a gatherer of sycomore fruit" (1:1; 7:14). He was not a professional prophet. Around 760 BC, "in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake", God sent him north to preach in the kingdom of Israel, including at the royal sanctuary of Bethel. Under Jeroboam II, Israel was at the height of its wealth and power. The rich had ivory-decorated houses, winter and summer homes, and crowded religious festivals, while the poor were exploited in the courts and markets.

Amos is the great prophet of social justice. The book has three parts: oracles against the nations, ending with Israel (chs 1–2); speeches of judgement against Israel (chs 3–6); and five visions, with the confrontation at Bethel and a closing promise of restoration (chs 7–9). Within a generation of his preaching, Assyria destroyed Samaria in 722 BC.

Part 1 — Oracles Against the Nations (chapters 1–2)

The lion roars (1:2). "The LORD will roar from Zion… and the top of Carmel shall wither."

The neighbours (1:3–2:3). Each oracle opens with the formula "For three transgressions… and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof." Damascus threshed Gilead "with threshing instruments of iron". Gaza and Tyre sold whole populations into slavery to Edom. Edom pursued his brother with the sword. Ammon ripped open pregnant women in Gilead to enlarge its border. Moab burned the bones of Edom's king. The sentence on each is the same: "I will send a fire… and it shall devour the palaces."

Judah and Israel (2:4–16). Judah is condemned for despising the law of the LORD. Then the trap closes on Israel: "they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes". They trample the heads of the poor, father and son go in to the same girl, and they drink wine taken in fines in the house of their god. God reminds Israel that he brought them out of Egypt and raised up prophets and Nazirites among them, but they told the prophets, "Prophesy not."

Part 2 — Hear This Word (chapters 3–6)

Chosen for accountability (3). "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (3:2). A string of cause-and-effect questions follows: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" God will cut off the horns of Bethel's altar and destroy the winter house, the summer house and the "houses of ivory". Only remnants will survive, "as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear."

Cows of Bashan and failed warnings (4). The wealthy women of Samaria "oppress the poor… crush the needy" and say to their husbands, "Bring, and let us drink." Amos mocks the busy worship: "Come to Bethel, and transgress." God had sent famine, drought, blight, locusts, plague and war, and each time the refrain was "yet have ye not returned unto me". So: "prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" (4:12).

Lament and invitation (5). Amos sings a funeral song for "the virgin of Israel", yet the call stands: "Seek ye me, and ye shall live… Seek good, and not evil." The LORD who "maketh the seven stars and Orion" will not be bought off. Those who long for the day of the LORD are warned that it will be "darkness, and not light", like escaping a lion only to meet a bear. God rejects their feasts and songs: "But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream" (5:24).

At ease in Zion (6). "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." The elite lie on beds of ivory, eat choice lambs, play the harp and drink wine from bowls, "but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph". They will be the first to go into exile.

Part 3 — Visions, Conflict and Hope (chapters 7–9)

Locusts and fire (7:1–6). Amos sees locusts devouring the late crop and then fire consuming the deep. Both times he intercedes: "O Lord GOD, forgive… by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small." Both times "the LORD repented for this: It shall not be."

The plumb line (7:7–9). The Lord stands by a wall with a plumb line. "I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more." The high places will be laid waste and the house of Jeroboam will fall.

Amaziah at Bethel (7:10–17). The priest Amaziah accuses Amos of conspiracy and orders him home: "O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah… for it is the king's chapel." Amos answers: "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman… And the LORD took me as I followed the flock." He then pronounces exile on Amaziah's household and on Israel.

Summer fruit (8). A basket of summer fruit (qayits) means that "the end" (qets) has come. Merchants can hardly wait for the sabbath to end so they can sell with small measures and false balances, "that we may buy the poor for silver… and sell the refuse of the wheat." God swears he will never forget, and he will send "a famine… not a famine of bread… but of hearing the words of the LORD" (8:11).

The Lord at the altar (9:1–10). In the last vision the Lord stands beside the altar and commands that the pillars be struck. No one will escape, whether they dig into Sheol, climb to heaven, hide on Carmel or sink to the sea floor. Israel is no more privileged than the Ethiopians, the Philistines or the Syrians. Yet God will sift the house of Jacob "like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth."

The restored tabernacle (9:11–15). "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof." (James quotes this at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15:16–17.) The ploughman will overtake the reaper, and "the mountains shall drop sweet wine". Exiles will rebuild cities and plant vineyards, "and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land."

Key themes, and the bridge to Obadiah

  • Justice is worship. God rejects ritual that goes along with cheating the poor. Righteousness must flow "as a mighty stream".
  • Privilege brings responsibility. Being chosen does not exempt Israel from judgement. It makes Israel more accountable.
  • God of all nations. The LORD judges the cruelty of Damascus, Tyre and Moab as well as Israel's sins, and he rules over the Pleiades and Orion.
  • The prophet as outsider. A Judean farmer carries God's word into the king's own sanctuary.
  • Hope beyond the end. The last word is a rebuilt house of David and a people planted for good.

Amos ends with God's promise to plant his people in their land so that they will never be uprooted again. Edom, named in Amos's oracles (1:11–12) and in his closing promise (9:12), is the sole subject of the next book. Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament, condemns Edom for turning on its brother Judah on the day Jerusalem fell.