As it is presented in this book, Amos’s message is one of almost unrelieved gloom (but see 5:14– 15). Israel’s rebelliousness has exhausted the divine patience and the destruction of Israel as a nation and as God’s people is inevitable ( 2:4, 13– 16 7:8– 9). Through the prophetic word and various natural disasters ( 4:6– 12) the Lord has tried to bring Israel to repentance, but to no avail. Several times he mentions deportation as the fate that awaits the people and their corrupt leaders ( 4:3 5:5, 27 7:17), a standard tactic of Assyrian foreign policy during this period. Amos alludes to historical forces at work through which God would exercise judgment on Israel ( 6:14).
The Lord is not some petty national god but the sovereign creator of the cosmos ( 4:13 5:8 9:5– 6). Religion without justice is an affront to the God of Israel and, far from appeasing God, can only provoke divine wrath ( 5:21– 27 8:4– 10). He stresses the importance and the divine origin of the prophetic word ( 3:3– 8) one must either heed that word in its entirety or suffer its disappearance ( 8:11– 12). He boldly indicts kings, priests, and leaders ( 6:1 7:9, 16– 17). But he was no innovator his conservatism was in keeping with the whole prophetic tradition calling the people back to the high moral and religious demands of the Lord’s revelation.Īmos’s message stands as one of the most powerful voices ever to challenge hypocrisy and injustice. The priest of Bethel drove Amos from the shrine-but not before hearing a terrible sentence pronounced upon himself.Īmos is a prophet of divine judgment, and the sovereignty of the Lord in nature and history dominates his thought. On this great day, Yahweh would appear in his salvific glory and might to destroy the nations on their behalf. The day of the Lord was most likely a hopeful concept for Israel during the days of Amos. Alas (hoy) for you who desire the day of the Lord. When Amos prophesied the overthrow of the sanctuary, the fall of the royal house, and the captivity of the people, it was more than Israelite officialdom could bear. Amos 5:18 begins a woe oracle against Israel. Israel could indeed expect the day of the Lord, but it would be a day of darkness and not light ( 5:18).
The prophecy begins with a sweeping indictment of Damascus, Philistia, Tyre, and Edom but the forthright herdsman saves his climactic denunciation for Israel, whose injustice and idolatry are sins against the light granted to her. The book is an anthology of his oracles and was compiled either by the prophet or by some of his disciples. The poetry of Amos, who denounces the hollow prosperity of the Northern Kingdom, is filled with imagery and language taken from his own pastoral background. He prophesied in Israel at the great cult center of Bethel, from which he was finally expelled by the priest in charge of this royal sanctuary ( 7:10– 17). Amos was a sheepbreeder of Tekoa in Judah, who delivered his oracles in the Northern Kingdom during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 B.C.).
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