Day 266. Amos 7-9

Our reading for today comprises a series of visions which are intended to warn the people of the northern kingdom of Israel of the deadly jeopardy in which they stand and compel repentance before it is too late. Does the prophet really expect repentance? That is a question we cannot answer. To be a prophet of the LORD means to speak and act as if reform were always a possibility; hope is the horizon of all biblical prophecy.
The first vision, the locust plague (7:1-3), envisions an infestation similar to that described in Joel 1-2. If the LORD were to send the locusts his judgment would be just, considering the sins of "Jacob," but the prophet begs for mercy and the LORD relents—this time. The second vision, the rain of cosmic fire (7:4-6), is similar to the story of the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19:24ff. Again the prophet appeals for mercy on the basis, not of Israel's goodness, but of God's faithfulness to his covenant, and again the LORD relents. The third sign, the vision of "the LORD was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand" (7:7), speaks to the moral condition of the people. A carpenter or a mason would understand the message—Israel is "out of plumb"—unfaithful to the covenant they have made with the LORD, and he will no longer "pass them by"—overlook their glaring transgressions and postpone
his judgment. The verdict is in—the northern kingdom is guilty as charged. Amos foretells that the "sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste." and the Lord will "rise against the house of Jeroboam"—Israel's current king—"with a sword" (7:9) to destroy it..
This strikes too close to the seat of power, and now the prophecies of Amos come to the attention of one Amaziah, the priest of the most important of these "sanctuaries of Israel," the royal cult center of Bethel. Amaziah goes to King Jeroboam with the accusation that the Judean prophet is conspiring against him there in his royal sanctuary, the "temple of the kingdom." The priest then tells Amos to go back home—to Judah—and "earn bread there and prophesy" (7:12)—in other words, he tells him to mind his own business. Amaziah assumes that Amos is a professional prophet attached to the Jerusalem temple—an understandable assumption—but Amos answers with one of the small bits of biographical information found in the book—"I am no prophet, nor am I a prophet's son" (7:14). In Bible times prophets lived and traveled in schools or fraternities for mutual protection, support, and encouragement. Usually these prophetic bands would
have a leader—a sort of father-superior—and were attached to a shrine or cultic center. But Amos protests that he does not belong to one of these of these prophetic fraternities. He is instead a layman—"a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees" (7:14). Although Amos is clearly more than just that, he makes it clear that he was taken "from following the flock" by the LORD, and implies that his authority is based solely upon the direct call he has received from the LORD to prophesy to Israel (7:16). But Amaziah's disrespect for the LORD's messenger will not go unpunished. The priest of Bethel, like the sanctuary in which he serves, is cursed. His wife will be debauched, his children slaughtered, his land divided, and he himself "will die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile from its land" (7:17). His personal tragedy becomes the unlucky sign of Israel's fate.
The next vision, the " basket of summer fruit" (8:1), seems pleasant enough on the surface, but here it is used to represent the end of the kingdom of Israel. The combination of the words "end" (8:2) and "fruit" are a word play on the phrase "eternal winter." That is indeed what the prophet foresees—and eternal winter in which silence, despair, and death shall replace "the songs of the temple" (8:3).
For the prophets of Israel—and this is especially true of Amos--social justice is the value by which all other values are measured. If there is no honesty in business—if weights and measures—"the ephah" (8:5)—are corrupted, and the value of the money—"the shekel"—is manipulated so the poor are defrauded, there is no fidelity to the God of the covenant. Money is the worst of all idols, and greed is its worship. A jealous God cannot overlook the idolatry represented by "sharp" business practice. Cheating the poor is expressly forbidden by the Law of Moses—see Exodus 20:15—and will not be overlooked by the LORD who sees all and forgets nothing (8:7). The land of Israel, like the Nile River, shall rise, "be tossed about and sink again" (8:8) into the chaos of pre-creation. On that day LORD will in fact undo his creation. On the day of the LORD darkness will overwhelm the light, and "the sun will go down at noon." It will
be a time of despair, a day that will be "like the mourning for an only son" (8:10). It will be the death of hope. It will be a day of famine, but in that day the people will be hunger and thirst not for bread and water, "but for hearing the words of the Lord" (8:11). The silence of God will be worse than any privation. People shall "run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it" (8:12). Part of the worship of pagan gods of fertility like "Ashimah of Samaria" (8:14) was a desperate ritual search, and then a celebration of the finding of the god, representing the coming of spring. In this case, however, the LORD will not be found and eternal winter will reign.
Now in the last of Amos' visions we are in the shrine at Bethel. There the prophet sees the LORD "standing beside the altar" (9:1). He commands that the capitals be struck repeatedly until the building is shattered "on the heads of all the people." The scene is reminiscent of the story of Samson pulling down the pagan temple upon the heads of the Philistines—see Judges 16:23ff. The people of Israel will be destroyed—nothing in the universe can save them from God's anger. They flee to the height of Mount Carmel, but he will "search them out and take them" (9:3). They may descend to the bottom of the sea, but he will "command the sea-serpent"—the primeval monster he himself made—"and it will bite them" (9:3). Though they go into captivity in a distant land, he will pursue them there "for hard and not for good" (9:4). His control over the earth is absolute, and everything in it rises and falls at his command, like the
mysterious rising and falling of the Nile in Egypt (9:5). The movements of peoples are directed by the LORD—he brought the Israelites from Egypt, the Philistines from "Camphor"—the Aegean islands—the Arameans from Kir—northeastern Mesopotamia. He moves them like pieces on a game-board.
Yet in the future there is a far distant hope. The LORD will destroy the "sinful kingdom" of Israel—but he will stop short of utterly destroying the house of Jacob (9:8). Instead he will shake it "as one shakes a sieve"; no pebble "shall fall to the ground" (9:9)—only the sand. The complacent sinners of Israel shall "die by the sword"; the righteous remnant shall be preserved.
The last portion of Amos (9:11-15), which affirms the LORD's promise to Judah and the house of David, is like nothing else in the book. It may come not from the prophet Amos at all, but from another visionary writing during Judah's exile in Babylon. Its message is very like that of Isaiah—God is faithful, and he shall bring the remnant of Judah back from captivity and restore the Davidic monarchy. The restoration will be a time of fantastic prosperity when "the one who plows will overtake the one who reaps" (9:13). Farmers will not be able to keep up with the fertility of the earth. The ruined cities will be rebuilt, and the uprooted vineyards will be replanted. The People of the Promise will also be replanted, and "they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that the [LORD has] given them" (9:15)