Amo 1 | TNotes | STEP | Book of Amos — Quick facts: Purpose: To confront the northern kingdom’s apostasy and oppression of the marginalized Author: Amos Date: Around 755 BC Setting: The shrine at Bethel in the northern kingdom, during the reign of Jeroboam II Book of Amos — Overview: Setting In 931 BC , the kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). The first king of the north, Jeroboam I, did not want his subjects to go to Jerusalem (in the south) to worship, so he established shrines at Dan and Bethel. Drawing on an earlier precedent (Exod 32 ), Jeroboam used images of young bulls to represent the Lord (1 Kgs 12:25-33 ). This move typified the northern kingdom’s rejection of God’s revelation in defining both their worship and their ethics. Paganized Israel became an abuser of the powerless. The calf shrines that Jeroboam I established at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:29 ), together with the presence of the baals (local representations of the Canaanite storm-god), reduced the worship of Yahweh (the Lord ) in the northern kingdom to a pagan religion like that of Israel’s neighbors. Often, the worship of Yahweh did continue, but it did so alongside the worship of local deities. The Israelites thought they would receive some desired benefit (such as rain or fertility) from worshiping these deities. When Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, it was because the people wanted to worship both Yahweh and Baal. However, Elijah left them without that alternative (1 Kgs 18:21 , 24 ). The message of Amos was similar. When Amos arrived in Israel (shortly before 753 BC ), the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. Around 801 BC , the Assyrians had captured Damascus but were forced to withdraw due to problems elsewhere. Egypt was also in decline during this time. In the resulting power vacuum, both Israel and Judah flourished, recovering some of the territory they had lost to Aram (2 Kgs 14:23-29 ; 15:1-7 ; 2 Chr 26:1-23 ). The two kingdoms increased in prosperity, but the greater prosperity merely increased the power of those who already had it. Those who had no power became even more oppressed. In response to this situation, Amos traveled from Tekoa (in Judah) to the northern shrine at Bethel, where he called Israel to account for its apostasy and inhumanity. Summary Amos confronted Israel with the message that lip service is not enough in worship of the Lord. After a brief introduction (Amos 1:1-2 ), the first section of Amos (1:3–2:16 ) is a series of eight indictments. The prophet directs the first seven charges against surrounding nations, with the eighth against Israel itself. By first charging Israel’s enemies with war crimes and theological aberrations, Amos wins the sympathy and agreement of his hearers. But then he says, “The people of Israel, too, have sinned.” What follows (3:1–5:17 ) is framed by three prophetic messages. The first (3:1-2 ) accuses Israel of abusing its privileged status as God’s chosen people. The second (4:1-3 ) is an indictment of Israel’s party crowd. The third (5:1-2 ) is a funeral song for the predicted death of the nation. Between the prophetic messages Amos includes rhetorical questions (3:3-6 ), metaphors from his life as a shepherd (3:8 , 12 ), sarcastic irony (4:4-5 ), historical recitation (4:6-11 ), hymn fragments (4:13 ; 5:8-9 ), puns (5:5 ), pleas for repentance, and predictions of the doom that awaits the unrepentant. The third section of Amos (5:18–6:14 ) contains two prophetic messages of woe: The first is a warning to those who proclaim the day of the Lord as a time when God will reestablish Israel as a leading nation (5:18-27 ); the second admonishes those who trust in their wealth, houses, or fortifications to save them (6:1-14 ). The fourth section (7:1–9:10 ) contains five prophetic oracles based on visions. Amos first wins over his hearers with visions of two judgments that would be averted (7:1-6 ), but then drives home his message with two judgments that would not be turned aside (7:7-9 ; 8:1-3 ). These visions are interrupted by a brief biographical vignette (7:10-17 ). The final vision is of the complete destruction of Israel and its religious system (9:1-10 ). Finally, in 9:11-15 , Amos promises better days to come, a time of healing and restoration when Jerusalem would be rebuilt, the dynasty of David would be reestablished in the land, and people would live in the peace of God’s Kingdom. Date and Location Amos’s ministry was brief, perhaps limited to a single year. Its setting was the royal shrine at Bethel in the northern kingdom (7:13 ), a short time before the death of Jeroboam II in 753 BC (1:1 ). Recipients Amos directed his message to all the Israelite people, but especially to the rich, powerful, and self-indulgent (see especially 5:18–6:8 ). While Amos clearly considered Israel’s split from Judah and the Jerusalem sanctuary as the primary cause of its moral and spiritual decline, he was aware that Judah was also slipping away from a pure worship of the Lord (2:4-5 ). Thus, the book includes condemnation of those “who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem,” as well as indictment of the smugly secure in Samaria (see 6:1 ). The Prophet Amos All that is known about the life of Amos comes from the book bearing his name. According to the superscription, he was a shepherd ( noqed ) from Tekoa (modern Teku’a ), a small, fortified town about five miles south of Bethlehem in Judah. Earlier scholars often characterized the prophet Amos as a poor sheepherder who represented the marginalized classes in Judah and who was unjustly oppressed by wealthy landowners. More recent studies have taken a different direction, however. The Hebrew word commonly used for a shepherd is ro‘eh (as in Ps 23:1 ), not noqed . In its only occurrence as a noun outside the book of Amos, the word describes Mesha, king of Moab, as one who regularly delivered a substantial tribute of wool and sheep to Israel (2 Kgs 3:4 ). The term noqed therefore probably designates someone who owned sheep rather than a shepherd who worked for someone else. A second insight comes from 7:14 . Here Amos uses a different word for shepherd ( boqer; literally herder ), perhaps indicating that he owned cattle, a sign of considerable wealth. Amos further describes himself as one who tends sycamore-fig trees (7:14 ), the fruit of which was used for animal fodder. The word that is used ( boles ) does not occur elsewhere, but in the context of a boqer , it may mean someone who raised sycamore-figs, rather than a worker who tended the orchards of others. The emerging picture, then, is not one of a simple herder who tended the sheep and trees of others, but of an owner and manager of livestock and trees. This newer perspective on Amos harmonizes well with the contents of his prophecy. The book is written in excellent Judean Hebrew and shows a keen awareness of Israel’s heritage as well as its contemporary political and economic circumstances. Meaning and Message Moses had depicted God as ethical and as caring deeply for the powerless (see, e.g., Deut 24:10-22 ). But Israel’s apostasy and moral corruption permitted oppression of the poor and powerless. Material prosperity erroneously came to be seen as a sign of God’s favor, and the people prized appearances over substance. This violated God’s requirements for a holy people. Proper worship of the true God leads to ethical behavior toward others. But corrupt worship and theology will corrupt human relationships. Theology yields morality, right worship yields good works, and faith yields practical change. Morality cannot be defined simply as personal purity or integrity; it also includes social obligations born of the conviction that all human life is God’s creation and bears his image (Gen 1:26-27 ). Service to God is expressed through service to his creatures. Because this cry for humane treatment of the downtrodden applies to all people in every generation, Amos has inspired some great social reformers. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used these denunciations and exhortations in his own preaching as a stimulus for the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. 1:1 message (literally words ): This standard way of introducing a prophetic message (Jer 1:1 ; see also Hag 1:12 ) emphasizes its form and content. • shepherd (Hebrew noqed ): This word is used just one other time in the Old Testament, to describe the king of Moab as a “sheep breeder” (2 Kgs 3:4 ). Amos describes his vocation in Amos 7:14 using a different Hebrew word ( boqer, which means “herder”; see Amos Book Introduction, “The Prophet Amos”). Amos was not a professional prophet serving the court or the Temple. • Amos received this message in visions —that is, by divine revelation (see Isa 1:1 ). • Amos depicts the earthquake that occurred during the reign of Uzziah (Zech 14:5 ) as an act of God’s judgment (Amos 3:14-15 ; 6:11 , 14 ; 8:8 ; 9:1 , 9 ). • Uzziah , also called Azariah (792–740 BC ), was the most powerful king of Judah after the division of the kingdom. • Jeroboam II (793–753 BC ), who descended from the dynasty of Jehu, took advantage of a power vacuum in the region and recovered territory earlier lost to the Arameans.

Book of Amos — Quick facts:

Purpose: To confront the northern kingdom’s apostasy and oppression of the marginalized

Author: Amos

Date: Around 755 BC

Setting: The shrine at Bethel in the northern kingdom, during the reign of Jeroboam II

Book of Amos — Overview:

Setting
In 931 BC, the kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). The first king of the north, Jeroboam I, did not want his subjects to go to Jerusalem (in the south) to worship, so he established shrines at Dan and Bethel. Drawing on an earlier precedent (Exod 32 ^a), Jeroboam used images of young bulls to represent the Lord (1 Kgs 12:25-33 ^b). This move typified the northern kingdom’s rejection of God’s revelation in defining both their worship and their ethics. Paganized Israel became an abuser of the powerless.
The calf shrines that Jeroboam I established at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:29 ^c), together with the presence of the baals (local representations of the Canaanite storm-god), reduced the worship of Yahweh (the Lord) in the northern kingdom to a pagan religion like that of Israel’s neighbors. Often, the worship of Yahweh did continue, but it did so alongside the worship of local deities. The Israelites thought they would receive some desired benefit (such as rain or fertility) from worshiping these deities. When Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, it was because the people wanted to worship both Yahweh and Baal. However, Elijah left them without that alternative (1 Kgs 18:21 ^d, 24 ^e). The message of Amos was similar.
When Amos arrived in Israel (shortly before 753 BC), the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. Around 801 BC, the Assyrians had captured Damascus but were forced to withdraw due to problems elsewhere. Egypt was also in decline during this time. In the resulting power vacuum, both Israel and Judah flourished, recovering some of the territory they had lost to Aram (2 Kgs 14:23-29 ^f; 15:1-7 ^g; 2 Chr 26:1-23 ^h). The two kingdoms increased in prosperity, but the greater prosperity merely increased the power of those who already had it. Those who had no power became even more oppressed.
In response to this situation, Amos traveled from Tekoa (in Judah) to the northern shrine at Bethel, where he called Israel to account for its apostasy and inhumanity.

Summary
Amos confronted Israel with the message that lip service is not enough in worship of the Lord. After a brief introduction (Amos 1:1-2 ⁱ), the first section of Amos (1:3–2:16 ^j) is a series of eight indictments. The prophet directs the first seven charges against surrounding nations, with the eighth against Israel itself. By first charging Israel’s enemies with war crimes and theological aberrations, Amos wins the sympathy and agreement of his hearers.
But then he says, “The people of Israel, too, have sinned.” What follows (3:1–5:17 ^k) is framed by three prophetic messages. The first (3:1-2 ^l) accuses Israel of abusing its privileged status as God’s chosen people. The second (4:1-3 ^m) is an indictment of Israel’s party crowd. The third (5:1-2 ⁿ) is a funeral song for the predicted death of the nation. Between the prophetic messages Amos includes rhetorical questions (3:3-6 ^o), metaphors from his life as a shepherd (3:8 ^p, 12 ^q), sarcastic irony (4:4-5 ^r), historical recitation (4:6-11 ^s), hymn fragments (4:13 ^t; 5:8-9 ^u), puns (5:5 ^v), pleas for repentance, and predictions of the doom that awaits the unrepentant.
The third section of Amos (5:18–6:14 ^w) contains two prophetic messages of woe: The first is a warning to those who proclaim the day of the Lord as a time when God will reestablish Israel as a leading nation (5:18-27 ^x); the second admonishes those who trust in their wealth, houses, or fortifications to save them (6:1-14 ^y).
The fourth section (7:1–9:10 ^z) contains five prophetic oracles based on visions. Amos first wins over his hearers with visions of two judgments that would be averted (7:1-6 ^aa), but then drives home his message with two judgments that would not be turned aside (7:7-9 ^ab; 8:1-3 ^ac). These visions are interrupted by a brief biographical vignette (7:10-17 ^ad). The final vision is of the complete destruction of Israel and its religious system (9:1-10 ^ae).
Finally, in 9:11-15 ^af, Amos promises better days to come, a time of healing and restoration when Jerusalem would be rebuilt, the dynasty of David would be reestablished in the land, and people would live in the peace of God’s Kingdom.

Date and Location
Amos’s ministry was brief, perhaps limited to a single year. Its setting was the royal shrine at Bethel in the northern kingdom (7:13 ^ag), a short time before the death of Jeroboam II in 753 BC (1:1 ^ah).

Recipients
Amos directed his message to all the Israelite people, but especially to the rich, powerful, and self-indulgent (see especially 5:18–6:8 ^ai). While Amos clearly considered Israel’s split from Judah and the Jerusalem sanctuary as the primary cause of its moral and spiritual decline, he was aware that Judah was also slipping away from a pure worship of the Lord (2:4-5 ^aj). Thus, the book includes condemnation of those “who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem,” as well as indictment of the smugly secure in Samaria (see 6:1 ^ak).

The Prophet Amos
All that is known about the life of Amos comes from the book bearing his name. According to the superscription, he was a shepherd (noqed) from Tekoa (modern Teku’a), a small, fortified town about five miles south of Bethlehem in Judah.
Earlier scholars often characterized the prophet Amos as a poor sheepherder who represented the marginalized classes in Judah and who was unjustly oppressed by wealthy landowners. More recent studies have taken a different direction, however. The Hebrew word commonly used for a shepherd is ro‘eh (as in Ps 23:1 ^al), not noqed. In its only occurrence as a noun outside the book of Amos, the word describes Mesha, king of Moab, as one who regularly delivered a substantial tribute of wool and sheep to Israel (2 Kgs 3:4 ^am). The term noqed therefore probably designates someone who owned sheep rather than a shepherd who worked for someone else. A second insight comes from 7:14 ^an. Here Amos uses a different word for shepherd (boqer; literally herder), perhaps indicating that he owned cattle, a sign of considerable wealth. Amos further describes himself as one who tends sycamore-fig trees (7:14 ^ao), the fruit of which was used for animal fodder. The word that is used (boles) does not occur elsewhere, but in the context of a boqer, it may mean someone who raised sycamore-figs, rather than a worker who tended the orchards of others.
The emerging picture, then, is not one of a simple herder who tended the sheep and trees of others, but of an owner and manager of livestock and trees. This newer perspective on Amos harmonizes well with the contents of his prophecy. The book is written in excellent Judean Hebrew and shows a keen awareness of Israel’s heritage as well as its contemporary political and economic circumstances.

Meaning and Message
Moses had depicted God as ethical and as caring deeply for the powerless (see, e.g., Deut 24:10-22 ^ap). But Israel’s apostasy and moral corruption permitted oppression of the poor and powerless. Material prosperity erroneously came to be seen as a sign of God’s favor, and the people prized appearances over substance. This violated God’s requirements for a holy people.
Proper worship of the true God leads to ethical behavior toward others. But corrupt worship and theology will corrupt human relationships. Theology yields morality, right worship yields good works, and faith yields practical change. Morality cannot be defined simply as personal purity or integrity; it also includes social obligations born of the conviction that all human life is God’s creation and bears his image (Gen 1:26-27 ^aq). Service to God is expressed through service to his creatures.
Because this cry for humane treatment of the downtrodden applies to all people in every generation, Amos has inspired some great social reformers. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used these denunciations and exhortations in his own preaching as a stimulus for the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
1:1 ^ar message (literally words): This standard way of introducing a prophetic message (Jer 1:1 ^as; see also Hag 1:12 ^at) emphasizes its form and content.

• shepherd (Hebrew noqed): This word is used just one other time in the Old Testament, to describe the king of Moab as a “sheep breeder” (2 Kgs 3:4 ^au). Amos describes his vocation in Amos 7:14 ^av using a different Hebrew word (boqer, which means “herder”; see Amos Book Introduction, “The Prophet Amos”). Amos was not a professional prophet serving the court or the Temple.

• Amos received this message in visions—that is, by divine revelation (see Isa 1:1 ^aw).

• Amos depicts the earthquake that occurred during the reign of Uzziah (Zech 14:5 ^ax) as an act of God’s judgment (Amos 3:14-15 ^ay; 6:11 ^az, 14 ^ba; 8:8 ^bb; 9:1 ^bc, 9 ^bd).

• Uzziah, also called Azariah (792–740 BC), was the most powerful king of Judah after the division of the kingdom.

• Jeroboam II (793–753 BC), who descended from the dynasty of Jehu, took advantage of a power vacuum in the region and recovered territory earlier lost to the Arameans.
1:2 ^be This message speaks of judgment at the day of the Lord.

• Mount Zion (the Temple in Jerusalem) was the logical source of a message from the Lord.

• Mount Carmel rises from the Mediterranean Sea and is well watered even in time of drought. If all the grass on Mount Carmel withered, it would be the sign of a catastrophic drought.
Summary for Amos 1:3-2:16: 1:3–2:16 ^bf The eight judgments of this prophecy proceed from the most obvious enemy, Damascus, to the least obvious, Israel itself. The sequence would have engaged Israel’s attention as they heard God’s judgment against their enemies, but Amos eventually confronted the people with God’s judgment on them.
Summary for Amos 1:3-5: 1:3-5 ^bg Damascus, the capital of Aram, was brutal in its treatment of the people of Gilead, Israel’s territory east of the Jordan. By the time Ahab died (853 BC), Damascus had captured Ramoth in Gilead (1 Kgs 22:3 ^bh). Around 801 BC, Assyria captured Damascus, and the city never again held the power it had wielded in its prime. 1:3 ^bi have sinned again and again: Literally have committed three sins, even four. This expression is used for a repeated act of rebellion against the natural order established by God. The Hebrew phrase does not denote a strict count but a pattern of repeated violations.

• beat down my people: Threshing grain involved separating the heads of the grain from their hulls by pulling wooden sledges with sharp teeth over the cut grain (Isa 41:15 ^bj; see Mic 4:13 ^bk). This description provides a graphic picture of the brutality of the people of Damascus.
1:4 ^bl I will send down fire: In ancient times conquered cities were burned by invading armies (see also 1:7 ^bm, 10 ^bn, 12 ^bo, 14 ^bp; 2:2 ^bq, 5 ^br). The conquest of Damascus would be God’s judgment on them.

• Hazael reigned as king of Damascus (about 843–802 BC) after he seized the throne by assassination. Ben-hadad was Hazael’s son and successor (about 802–792 BC).
1:5 ^bs Aven and Beth-eden were both connected with Aram and Damascus. Aven (meaning evil, wickedness) refers to the valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains or the plain of Damascus. The city-state Beth-eden was north of Aram, elsewhere simply called Eden (2 Kgs 19:12 ^bt; Ezek 27:23 ^bu).

• The Arameans originally came from Kir (Amos 9:7 ^bv), probably in southern Babylonia; Kir was where Assyria deported them when Damascus fell (2 Kgs 16:9 ^bw). Just as Egypt was a symbol of captivity for Israel (see Deut 28:68 ^bx), Kir represented captivity for Aram.
1:6 ^by The Philistine city of Gaza, on the seacoast at the southwest edge of Palestine, was the gateway for traffic between Africa and Asia. Its sin was slave trading; Philistia had raided Israel or Judah and sold whole villages into slavery to Edom.
1:7 ^bz I will send down fire: Uzziah conquered Philistia (2 Chr 26:6 ^ca); in 701 BC, the Assyrian invasion all but ended the distinct identity of the Philistines.
1:8 ^cb The Philistine cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon were on or near the seacoast, while Ekron lay inland. Gath is not mentioned here, as it had been conquered earlier by Hazael (2 Kgs 12:17 ^cc) and then Uzziah (2 Chr 26:6 ^cd).

• the few Philistines still left: The Philistines maintained their ethnic identity through the Assyrian period, but this distinction faded by the time of the Persians (Zech 9:5-7 ^ce).
1:9 ^cf Tyre and Sidon were the principal seaports of Phoenicia.

• Tyre’s crime, like Philistia’s (1:6-8 ^cg), was selling whole villages of Israelite captives to the Edomites as slaves, a captivity made more bitter by a sense of betrayal (see 2 Sam 5:11 ^ch; 1 Kgs 5:1 ^ci, 11 ^cj; 16:30-31 ^ck). Tyre’s reputation was “anything is for sale”; Isaiah portrayed the city as a prostitute peddling her wares (Isa 23:15-17 ^cl).
1:10 ^cm fire on the walls: The main part of Tyre was built on an island, making it almost impossible to capture (see Ezek 26:1–28:19 ^cn).
1:11 ^co Edom was another betrayer (see 1:9 ^cp; Gen 36 ^cq; see also Gen 25:23-30 ^cr; 27:39-40 ^cs).

• The NLT adds the Israelites to make explicit what relatives (literally brother) means (see Gen 25:25-30 ^ct). “Brothers” can also refer to parties to a treaty (see Amos 1:9 ^cu). Apparently Edom exerted constant pressure on the borders of Israel and Judah, raiding and plundering at moments of weakness (Jer 49:7-22 ^cv; Obad 1:1-9 ^cw).
1:12 ^cx With the destruction of the major cities of Teman and Bozrah, Edom lost its capacity for continual warfare. Babylon destroyed Edom shortly after Judah in 553 BC (see Jer 27 ^cy; 49:7-22 ^cz; see also study note on Obad 1:18).
1:13 ^da Israel regarded the people of Ammon as kin who also betrayed them. The Ammonites (like the Moabites, 2:1 ^db) were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew (Gen 19:37-38 ^dc). Ammon had been a constant threat to Gilead (see Judg 10:7-9 ^dd).

• In ancient times, conquering armies commonly ripped open pregnant women (2 Kgs 8:12 ^de; 15:16 ^df; Hos 13:16 ^dg); they also raped the women and slaughtered the children of the towns they seized (Isa 13:16 ^dh, 18 ^di; Lam 5:11 ^dj; Hos 10:14 ^dk; 13:16 ^dl; Nah 3:10 ^dm; Zech 14:2 ^dn).
1:14 ^do Rabbah was the chief city of the Ammonites (2 Sam 12:26 ^dp).

• Ammon (Amos 1:13 ^dq) was crushed by the Assyrians in the 800s BC, then attacked and depopulated by the Babylonians in the 700s.
1:15 ^dr their king: The Hebrew term malkam may be a reference to the Ammonite god Molech. In ancient times, people believed that a conquered nation’s god or gods went into exile together with them (see 5:26-27 ^ds; 1 Sam 5:1-2 ^dt; Isa 46:1 ^du).