Gobbets

Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Judah,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;

because they have rejected the law of the LORD,

and have not kept his statutes,

but their lies have led them astray,

after which their fathers walked.

So I will send a fire upon Judah,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

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 shoes …”

(Amos 2:4–6)

The context is Amos’ indictment of the neighboring nations and of both Israel and Judah.

Answers might refer to some of the following points:

• 2:4–6 lists a catalogue of evils committed: Damascus/Syria has threshed Gilead, and the punishment will include exile; and, four Philistine cities are condemned to perish for their slave traffic with Edom. The Moabites are condemned to ‘die amid uproar’ because they burned the bones of the King of Edom to lime.

• In 2:4–6, Amos indicates that no wrong-doing will be overlooked by God, whichever nation commits it. Judah is rejected for having herself rejected God’s law. Israel is rejected for a string of social and religious crimes: selling the righteous for silver and trampling the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth.

• The expression, ‘For three transgressions … and for four’ means ‘more than enough’ (cf. Proverbs 30:18: “Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand.”)

• Answers might also comment on the prophetic oracular style: ‘Thus says Yahweh/the LORD, and the concluding, ‘Oracle of Yahweh’.

• The charges directed at Israel are especially detailed. Israel had been given all the advantages of the Election – of being God’s chosen nation, and of receiving the law by which they were told to live – so the punishment will be even more severe.

• Answers might include further comments on Israel in relation to the appearance of Amos in the market place denouncing what he saw there.

• The extract shows Yahweh as King and Judge of all nations, and not just as King of Judah and Israel: all nations are under judgement of Yahweh. There might be comment here on the nature of the ‘heavenly council’ of gods, in which the gods of the nations were portrayed as Yahweh’s attendants in council.

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 shoes ”

(Amos 2:6)

The general context is the indictment by Amos of the neighboring nations, and of Israel and Judah, for a variety of crimes against humanity and against God (Amos 1:2–2:16).

• Amos’ language is very stylistic, and the separate oracles are introduced and generally concluded by the prophetic formulae: ‘Thus says the Lord’, and ‘Oracle of Yahweh’.

• The repeated phrase, ‘For three transgressions « and for four’ simply means, ‘more than enough’ (Job 33:14).

• Verses 2–16 are directed against Israel, and are more detailed than those directed at other nations, primarily because Israel (like Judah), being God’s elected nation, should know better, having a specific knowledge of God’s religious and moral commands. Throughout the book, Amos goes into detail concerning the people’s sins against God, and these primarily concern a lack of social justice.

• In this particular passage Amos condemns those who sell righteous people for money, or who sell the needy for a pair of shoes, in other words sending them into slavery. Candidates are likely to give details of similar accusations from this and other passages.

• There is likely to be general comment on the consequences of Israel’s social injustice, since the constant doom oracles in the Book of Amos lead to the inevitable conclusion that Israel will be punished by foreign invasion and destruction.

“Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the

wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up some of your sons for

prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of

Israel?” says the LORD.

(Amos 2:10-11)

General context is (in 1:1-2:16) the indictment against other nations.

Candidates will comment on some of the following:

• same standards are to apply to Israel as to her neighbours. Judgement is not reserved for other nations, but will be applied to Israel as a proper punishment for social injustices and religious sins

• candidates might be able to specify that oracles against the foreign nations include, in this section, Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Moab, Ammon and Judah

• reference perhaps to the king of Moab committing an unpardonable offence by burning to lime the bones of the king of Edom

• in the immediate context, God refers to his help given to Israel during the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings at the expense of the Amorites. Such favourable treatment will no longer continue

• comment on the raising up of the prophets and the Nazirites is explained in the following verse, and should be understood by candidates as part of the prophet’s invective against Israel’s social misconduct in (1) inciting the Nazirites to drink wine, despite the fact that this broke their vows, and (2) muffling the voice of prophecy in the land, which was tantamount to muting the word of God himself.

Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of

Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of

Egypt:

‘You only have I known

of all the families of the earth;

therefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.’

(Amos 3:1–2)

The context is the oracles concerning Israel’s sinfulness and the punishment that would be brought about by God (3:1–6:14).

Candidates might refer to some of the following points:

• The theme of the extract is that privilege brings responsibility, and the greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility.

• The reference to Egypt recalls the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

• ‘You only have I known’ refers to the exclusiveness of Israel’s election as Yahweh’s people.

•Expect comment on the theology of covenant and election.• The punishment to come will be commensurate to Israel’s abandonment of Yahweh / Yahweh’s laws.

• The neighboring nations are assembled to witness Israel’s punishment.

• Some think this is Amos’ call narrative: e.g. verse 8: ‘The lion has roared; who will not fear? The LORD God has spoken; who can but prophesy?’

• Accept general comments on the outworking of the punishment and Amos’ part in bringing it to the nation’s attention.

“Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,”

says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

“that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,

I will punish the altars of Bethel,

and the horns of the altar shall be cut off

and fall to the ground.

I will smite the winter house with the summer house;

and the houses of ivory shall perish ”

(Amos 3:13–15b)

The general context in 3:1–6:14 is Israel’s sinfulness and the inevitability of punishment by God. The immediate context is Amos’ message that Israel’s status as the elected nation required greater responsibility.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• Amos’ theme is the ‘Day of the Lord’, which Israel expected would be a day of rejoicing, and of Israel’s elevation. Amos insists it will be a day of darkness, destruction and mourning.

• Israel’s transgressions include the social and religious sins detailed by Amos in his book.

• Bethel was the major northern shrine – the king’s sanctuary, and as such was a symbol of national pride. To ‘punish its altars’ would mean the destruction of both the sanctuary and the king.

• The ‘horns of the altar’ refer to the horns of Bull El – a Canaanite deity who was ‘merged’ with Yahweh. To remove the horns of the bull image would be symbolic of the destruction of the power of Canaanite gods.

• Winter and summer houses are symbolic of the rich, whose unheeding luxury in the face of the suffering of the poor was instrumental in bringing about Israel’s destruction.

• Reference to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom.

“Come to Bethel, and transgress;

to Gilgal, and multiply transgression;

bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,

and proclaim freewill offerings,

publish them;

for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

says the Lord GOD.

(Amos 4:4–5)

The context is Amos’ satire on the public rites at the chief sanctuaries.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• the preceding verses on the “cows of Bashan” (4:1–3)

• the oracle is probably delivered at Bethel

• the scandalous nature of what Amos now says (especially if it is at Bethel – one of the most prestigious sanctuaries in the Northern Kingdom) – that the people should go to the temple in order to commit yet more sin.

• Amos in this way describes the sacrifices offered by the people as being simultaneously an act of rebellion against Yahweh

• Bethel was the official cultic centre of the North. Gilgal was near Jericho, and both spots were venerated as centres for the cult of Yahweh.

• Amos attacks the ritual practices that had been carried out for generations – blood sacrifices, tithes, sacrifices of thanksgiving, freewill offerings

• “for so you love to do” suggests that Yahweh is dissatisfied with the people’s focus on the outward ritual, and their entire satisfaction with it, whereas Yahweh himself, according to Amos, is absent from it – the practices satisfy the people but do not honour God

• candidates might comment on similar prophetic texts in Amos and elsewhere

• verses 4–5 are followed by an oracle threatening Yahweh’s doom on the North.

Thus the LORD God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts in the beginning of

the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s

mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“Oh LORD God, forgive, I beseech thee!

How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

(Amos 7:1–2)

The context is 7:1–9, and this is the first of five visions of God’s judgement.

Candidates might refer also to some of the following points:

• locusts are an obvious symbol of destruction in the ancient world, since there was little defence against them; see Joel 1–4, for example, and Exodus 10:12ff.

• the locusts are devouring the winter grass (January/February)

• this is the beginning of the dry season, so the rains have almost stopped

• the king’s first mowings have depleted the grass

• the arrival of the locusts is therefore the herald of famine

• candidates might comment on the second vision, which is fire. In a land ravaged by locusts, fire devours what is left, so the famine is intensified

• in both cases, Amos acts as an intercessor, pleading for mercy on Israel; intercession

being part of the normal prophetic function

• he refers to the smallness of Jacob (Israel), contrasting it with the Israelites’ view of themselves as strong

• the fact that God repents is sometimes seen as odd, since it is an anthropomorphic comment, showing weakness. Others see the portrayal of God as having emotions as a crucial part of the personal understanding of God.

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has

conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear

all his words. For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel

must go into exile away from his land.’ ”

And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat

bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the

king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

(Amos 7:10–13)

The context is the appearance of Amos, a southerner, in the Bethel sanctuary.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• Bethel was the royal shrine, and Amaziah its priest

• the preceding context is Amos’ visions of destruction

• it is presumably this announcement of destruction which Amaziah tells Jeroboam the land ‘cannot bear’ – Amaziah sees it as sedition/treason

• specifically, Amaziah says that Amos has predicted that Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will be exiled away from the land

• Amaziah calls Amos a hozeh/seer which might be seen as a professional title (cf. Samuel), the implication being that Amos is in Bethel in a professional capacity, acting as a cultic prophet

• the instruction to flee back to Judah and ‘eat bread there’ means ‘earn your living (as a prophet) there’

• the instruction never again to prophesy in Bethel, because it is the king’s sanctuary/the temple of the kingdom and so is outside Amos’ professional responsibilities

• Amos’ reply is often seen as an account of Amos’ call

• it is either saying that he is not a prophet, nor one of the sons of the prophets (guilds), but a shepherd taken from following the flock

• or else (if read in the past tense) claiming the opposite: ‘I was no prophet/one of the sons of the prophets but then God took me’

• Amos reiterates the threats against Amaziah and the land.

Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a

herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the LORD took me from following the

flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ”

(Amos 7:14-15)

General context is the conversation between Amos and Amaziah.

Candidates will comment on some of the following:

• Amaziah official priest of the royal sanctuary at Bethel

• incident recorded here perhaps because of the threat against the house of Jeroboam in v.9, and Amaziah warns him that Bethel is the king’s sanctuary (where threats against the royal shrine or house are not acceptable, especially from a southern prophet)

• Amaziah’s instruction to Amos to go back to Judah and earn his keep (“eat bread”) there, which implies that Amos is a professional prophet

• Amos asserts that he is not a nabi nor one of the bene hanebiim (credit reference to the terminology and explanations of it) – by which he appears to mean that he is not a professional prophet or a member of a prophetic guild, but was taken by Yahweh as a layman – a herdsman / dresser of sycamore trees alternatively, the Hebrew can be translated in the past tense – I was no nabi, etc., but was a shepherd, etc. – which implies that Amos does now consider himself to be a professional prophet

• some argue that Amos was a functionary attached to Bethel, and that Amaziah told him to escape to Judah, since his life was forfeit for making threats against Jeroboam and his sanctuary

• credit reference to prophetic compulsion.

Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.

You say, “Do not prophesy against Israel,

and do not preach against the house of Isaac.”

Therefore thus says the LORD:

“Your wife shall be a harlot in the city,

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

and your land shall be parcelled out by line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”

(Amos 7:16–17)

The general context is the conversation between Amos and Amaziah at Bethel.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• Amaziah was the official priest of the royal sanctuary at Bethel, and had taken exception to Amos, so sent a message to Jeroboam saying that Amos had conspired against him, and had prophesied that Jeroboam would die by the sword and that Israel must go into exile in a foreign land (v.11);

• the incident is recorded here perhaps because of the threat against the house of Jeroboam in v.9, and Amaziah warns him that Bethel is the king’s sanctuary (where threats against the royal shrine or house are not acceptable, especially from a southern prophet);

• Amaziah’s instruction to Amos to go back to Judah and earn his keep (“eat bread”) there, which implies that Amos is a professional prophet;

• Amos asserts that he is not a nabi nor one of the bene hanebiim (credit reference to the terminology and explanations of it) – by which he appears to mean that he is not a professional prophet or a member of a prophetic guild, but was taken by Yahweh as a layman – a herdsman / dresser of sycamore trees;

• alternatively, the Hebrew can be translated in the past tense – I was no nabi, etc., but was a shepherd, etc. – which implies that Amos does now consider himself to be a professional prophet; Amos in this extract rejects Amaziah’s warnings, and counter-attacks with dire predictions of the fate of Amaziah and his family and the impending exile of Israel;

• the division of the land (‘parceled out by line’) means that Israel will be divided up and disposed of;

• to die in an unclean land means that Amaziah will die in a land which does not obey the laws of Judaism, which for a priest would be anathema;

• the predictions are concluded by a prediction of exile, which is taken to refer to the Northern Kingdom by Assyria in 722;

• some argue that Amos was a functionary attached to Bethel, and that Amaziah told him to escape to Judah, since his life was forfeit for making threats against Jeroboam and his sanctuary.

Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said,

“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then the Lord GOD said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them.”

(Amos 8:1–2)

The general context is Amos’ 4th and final vision.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• Israel is described as ripe for punishment: further intercessory prayer on her behalf is useless

• comment on vision as a means of communicating God’s message

• the main point of interest in the passage is the pun / word play on Hebrew kets / ‘summer fruit’ and kets / ‘end’, showing that the ‘end’ has come – doom is inevitable.

• “I will never again pass by them” invites comparison with the passover of the angel of death during the Exodus. This time, Israel will not be saved.

• the extended context follows Amos’ prophecy of destruction to Amaziah and of exile for Israel (7:14–17) and is followed by prophecies that the temple or palace songs will become wailings, and that everywhere will be full of silent corpses (verse 3). Verses 4–14 then develop the indictment of Israel and the coming day of mourning, a repetition of the threat from chapter 5 that the Day of the Lord will be a day of darkness and gloom.

• credit general references to the theme of judgement.

‘And on that day,’ says the Lord GOD,

“I will make the sun go down at noon,

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I will turn your feasts into mourning,

and all your songs into lamentation ’

(Amos 8:9–10a)

The general context here is the fourth vision of Amos, where Amos sees a basket of ripe summer fruit, which symbolises that Israel is also ripe – for destruction. Yahweh says that he will never again ‘pass them by’, which is a reference to the passing over of the angel of death when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, by which the Hebrews were saved from death. This time, death cannot be avoided.

• Amos introduces what he has to say about ‘that day’ by a further reference to Israel’s religious and social sins. He refers to the merchants who are impatient for holidays to end so that they can resume the process of defrauding people, for example by dealing deceitfully with false balances.

• Amos goes on to repeat the accusation made in 2:6, that the merchants ‘buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals’, as well as selling the refuse of the wheat (v.6).

• This is followed by Yahweh’s sworn declaration that none of these deeds will be forgotten. ‘That day’ refers to the ‘Day of the Lord’ – an event in Israel’s future which the people expected would bring about Yahweh’s Kingdom over all nations, and which would be a day of rejoicing and celebration. Instead, Yahweh promises that it will be a day of darkness and eclipse, so that instead of rejoicing and celebration there will be feasts of mourning and songs of lamentation, a theme which Amos goes on to develop further.

• Candidates might perhaps comment on the prophecy of restoration at the end of Amos, which appears to contradict the words of this passage. Some might argue that the prophetic books have been edited during the period after the fall of the Kingdom in order to give a hope for future restoration.

In that day the fair virgins and the young men

shall faint for thirst.

Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,

and say, “As thy god lives, O Dan,”

and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives,”

they shall fall, and never rise again.

(Amos 8:13–14)

The context is the indictment of Israel, following Amos’ 4th vision of the basket of ripe summer fruits. Amos comments on the merchants who are impatient for the holy days to end so that they can go back to fraudulent business methods. Such behavior will lead to national mourning as for an only son; also a famine, not of food and water, but of hearing Yahweh’s word.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• ‘In that day’ uses the language of the expected ‘Day of the LORD’

• ‘fair virgins and young men’ means the most desirable / best elements of the population

• a second connotation of ‘fair virgins and young men’ is that they represent the future of Israel. They are to ‘faint / fall / never rise again’ – so Israel will never rise again either. The death of the Northern Kingdom is predicted in stark language

• expect no comment on Ashimah (the ‘sin’ of Samaria, unless the word represents Ashimat, from the name of a Syrian goddess). The point of the reference is that Dan is furthest north, and Beersheba furthest south, so the reference is a hyperbole meaning ‘the whole lot’

• accept general references to pagan deities of shrines in Beersheba, etc.

“Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,

O people of Israel?” says the LORD.

“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?

Behold, the eyes of the LORD GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground;

except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

says the LORD.

(Amos 9:7–8)

The context is the change of unmitigated threats of disaster in the bulk of the book to a scenario of eventual restoration after punishment.

Answers might refer to some of the following points:

• 9:1–4 records Amos’ fifth vision, in which God stands next to the altar and commands a destruction from which no-one will escape, wherever they hide themselves, regardless of whether they dig into the depths of Sheol or reach to the summit of Carmel.

• 9:5–6 is a doxology – a hymn of praise, and there are three such doxologies in Amos, where the prophet suddenly bursts into a hymn of praise to God (the other two are 4:13 and 5:8–9).

• Verses 7–8 form an immediate contrast to the doxology. It states baldly what has been stated before – that Israel can have no claim to special treatment morally.

• In v.7, Amos states something that would normally be unthinkable to Israel – that Yahweh was concerned with Ethiopia – a region which in geographical terms was a long way off in the Upper Nile. The implication is that Yahweh is just as interested in people such as the Ethiopians, the Philistines and the Syrians, as he is in his chosen people. Amos is not rejecting the idea that Israel is his chosen people; nevertheless, he is just as concerned about other nations and peoples.

• As well as bringing Israel out of Egypt, God brought the Philistines to their present location from Caphtor (possibly Crete), and brought the Syrians from Kir (in Mesopotamia), so Israel cannot claim any kind of exclusive privilege.

• Amos goes on to relay God’s message of destruction to Israel. Added to this is a promise that destruction will not be complete.

• This leads to the prophecy of restoration in 9:11–15. Some will identify this as an editorial addition common to those found in the Book of the Twelve. Answers may include comments on whether or not any element of salvation can be seen as a genuine oracle through Amos.

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,

“when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it.

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them ”

(Amos 9:13–14a)

The context is the salvation oracle that now concludes the Book of Amos, in 9:11–15.

Candidates might comment on some of the following:

• The fact that the book of the minor prophets (the Book of the Twelve) was edited at some point in order to reduce the impact of the consistent doom oracles, and to give some hope for the future.

• The image of the plowman overtaking the reaper and the treader of grapes overtaking the one who sows the seed is that prosperity will be so great and harvests so abundant that harvesting and replanting would be almost simultaneous.

• The image of mountains dripping sweet wine is similarly a common metaphor for prosperity.

• To ‘restore the fortunes’ is a technical phrase in biblical usage (shub shebut), generally in the context of restoration after exile.

• The concluding verse promises that Israel will never again be removed from the land which God had given them, a prophecy which unfortunately did not come true.

• The editing is presumably from Judah, because of the reference to the booth of David.

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,

“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it.

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

I will plant them upon their land,

and they shall never again be plucked up

out of the land which I have given them,”

says the LORD your God.

(Amos 9:13–15)

The context is the prophecy of restoration at the end of the Book of Amos (9:11–15).

Candidates might comment on some of the following points:

• probably editorial, part of the post-exilic redaction of the Book of the Twelve

• hardly accords with prophesies of doom throughout the book

• uses typical language of Davidic theology in v.11

• typical symbolism of flowing wine

• restoration of ruined cities implies a situation after attack and exile by Assyria

• images of land husbandry and peaceful pursuits

• emphasis on the theology of the land

• ‘never again’, although the prophecy was false

• some might argue that the section is from Amos on the grounds that he did intercede successfully in his earlier visions, so his work is not all doom and gloom

• comment on the oracular formulae.