The Jewish Tradition, at its noblest and finest, has bequeathed to the Western Tradition a high and noble ethical vision. The oral prophets such as Elijah and Elisha never flinched from staring down power when those in power used it in a way that abused the weaker and less fortunate. The minor and major prophets embodied the best of the oral prophetic tradition and left the West a literate and passionate tale of faith and politics. Amos, like Jonah and Hosea, were active in the 8th century BCE, and they initiated the path and passage of the Minor Prophets. There is no doubt that these Jewish prophets tell us a great deal about their understanding of who God is and the relationship between God, Israel, dominant empires and the social/political/economic/military conditions of the time.
Amos begins his prophetic utterances with these words. ‘The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem: the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers’. The attentive reader cannot help but ask this simple question: why the roaring and lion like beginning? Why does Amos see God reacting in such a confrontational manner? What does this say about the reality and presence of God?
Amos is a subtle and wise prophet. He does not, initially, turn his gaze on his own people. The focus of Amos at the beginning of his critique is on the states surrounding Judah and Israel: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab. These were all states that threatened the very existence of the divided Jews, and most Jews would certainly nod a firm Amen at the way Amos described the questionable and immoral practices of the foreigners and gentiles. Amos lists, one after the other, the way these states brutalize those they have taken captive in war. Amos seems to be, in his initial evaluation of other states, very much the predictable Jewish Zionist. We are God’s chosen people, other people are of a lesser light, and such truths must be made clear for all to see and know. Amos is, as I said above, a subtle and wise prophet. A contemporary Amos, from such an initial perspective, would make it abundantly clear that the Palestinians, Iranians, Libyans and Islamists are not to be trusted, then point out all their terrorist ways. Most Jews and Americans would applaud such an approach. God, Zionism and the USA are one, and when the Lion roars, the Lion roars on their behalf. But, there is more to Amos than this. This is what makes him a prophet rather than an uncritical nationalist.
Amos has worked his wonders well. Most Jews would be on his side after he listed, in graphic detail, the inhumane acts of those from Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab. Amos is no fool, though.
He does not deny what the rogue states surrounding Judah and Israel have done and are doing, but he also points out to the Jews that they are doing the same things and even worse. Judah faces the ire of Amos, but Israel even more so. Amos lists in a catalogue fashion all their injustices, particularly those that are perpetuated from the powerful and wealthy (Amos 2:6-8). The core of the prophetic vision of Amos has a potent justice bite to it. There are those that are prospering by treating others as mules and slave labour. Amos knew, as a shepherd and member of the working class, of what he spoke. Amos pressed in his point about who the Jews were meant to listen to. ‘I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazarites from among your young men’ (Amos 2: 11). But, such moral visionaries were told to be silent (Amos 2:12). The fact that Amos has now turned on those from Judah and Israel means that he is not likely to be welcome to the seat of power. In fact, he threatens the status quo of a form of faith that fawns on the getting of wealth in an unjust manner, and, worse yet, the way religious leaders pander to the wealthy and powerful. Amos makes it clear that such an arrangement will have dire consequences for those that defend such a regime.
Amos 3 is dominated by the notion that God has elected, chosen and called the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land. Why do the Jews, therefore, trust the strange gods of wealth and power, injustice and tribalism. The fact that the Jews have betrayed their high ethical calling means the Divine Lion will not only roar, but tragic consequences will follow for the Jewish nation. Amos is not the sort of prophet that refused to question the actions of the Jewish people. Amos is not the sort of prophet that doffs his cap to nationalism or Zionism. He would, like many Jews today who question what the Jewish state is doing to the Palestinians, be called a ‘Jew hater’. The fact that he dares to doubt what the Jewish people are doing to themselves and others makes him a questionable person from the perspective of the Zionist. There was ‘oppression among her people’ (3:9), and ‘They do not know how to do right’, declares the Lord, ‘who hoard and plunder and loot in their fortress’ (3:10). Amos makes it clear that ‘An enemy will overrun the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortress’ (3: 11). Amos was no uncritical Jewish nationalist. There was a higher ethical vision to know and live by, and when justice becomes subordinate to nation, nationalism becomes a new idol. Amos saw this new idol, and he could not be silent. Amos, in some ways, reminds me of Allen Ginsberg and his graphic poem, Howl (1955. Howl has been called ‘the poem that changed America’. The lion roared in Amos,
and Ginsberg, the Jewish poet, howled against the Molech of the USA that devoured the young in Howl. Amos would, of course, face much opposition for daring to question the notion of Jewish nationalism. A remnant would be protested just as ‘a shepherd saves from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear’ (3:12). Bethel, the centre of Jewish worship, will be destroyed, for the simple reason that religion had become a plaything of the wealthy and powerful, and, as a result, many were the poor that laboured long and hard while the indulgent rich sat on comfortable beds, ivory couches and retreated to their winter and summer homes far from the poverty and exhaustion of the working class. Israel had very much created a Dickensian tale of two cities, and Amos would have none of it---neither would the God of Amos.
Amos 4 begins in a most confrontational and not to be forgotten manner. ‘Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands ’Bring us some drinks’ (4:1). Then, Amos becomes most satiric and ironic. He urges the power elite to go to Bethel and Gilgal (centres of religious worship) and do all the right liturgical things that are expected of them. The problem is this. When the substance of the religious journey is subordinated and relegated to the margins, the ornamental and peripheral things about religions come to dominate the day. Amos is very much playing with this reality. It’s almost as if Amos is goading the ‘cheap grace’ Jews to play this silly game, but time will take its toll on such shallowness. Warnings have been sent to those from Israel again and again. Famines have come and gone, water has been scarce, the crops have not produced as they should, blight and mildew have been on the grapes. In short God and Nature have conspired together to warn those in Israel that serious changes must be made. Amos insists that these flares of light must be responded to or the mercy of God will turn to judgement against the wealthy and indulgent. Amos, as a shepherd, knew of what he spoke. He did care for his flock.
Amos 5 works at various levels. The text begins with a lament and tragic end destination for Israel. Amos makes it clear that it is God that must be sought not religious sites and rituals. ‘Seek me and live’ (5:4).
‘Do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba’ (5:4). The subtle danger in religion is that the forms and sites of religion come to replace the God that is back of them, and, in the process, the forms and sites become the new god. This is the simple yet significant truth that Amos is pressing in again and again to those in Israel. Who then is God, and what is the difference between God and the gods of human creation and invention? It is impossible to miss Amos’ point on this. God is the God of Justice, and He despises those that ‘turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground’ (5:7). Amos states yet again, speaking to the Israelites, ‘You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample on the poor and force them to give you grain’ (5:10-11). The rich beat down the poor and take advantage of them in the public courts. This is an ethical anathema to the God of Amos. The mansions of the indulgent rich will be destroyed, and their crops will wither on the vine. The moral decline has sunk so low that even ‘the prudent man keeps quiet in such times’ (5:13). There are five main actors on the public stage: the oppressive power elite, the oppressed, the prudent who fear saying anything lest they become the new victims of the powerful, the prophet Amos and God. ‘Seek good, not evil…..hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts’ (5:14-15). Such is the message of God and Amos. If such a prophetic message is denied or ignored, Israel will descend to a catastrophic place. The ‘Day of the Lord’ will not be pleasant to live through if changes are not made in the economic and social structure. It will be like ‘a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear’ (5:19). Amos becomes even more blunt. ‘I hate, I despise your religious feast: I cannot stand your assemblies…Away with the noise of your songs…..But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing steam’ (5:21-24). There are those that suggest that Amos 5:21-24 is the central message of this prophetic missive. God does not need religious sites, elaborate liturgies, festivals and all the ornamentation that can become a diversionary substitute for genuine and authentic religion. The core of God-Amos’ message cannot be missed. It is equitable economic relationships, just working conditions, courts that do not pander to the powerful and compassion for the needy that is the golden centre and crown jewel of real religion. The rest is but idols and strange gods.
Amos 6 yet further reinforces and amplifies the lament and warning. The affluent and ruling classes ‘lie on beds inlaid with ivory…dine on choice lambs…strum on your harps---drink wine by the bowlful---use the finest lotion’, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph’ (6:4-6). Why will Joseph (Israel) face such ruin? Amos will not quit on his dominant theme. ‘You have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness’ (6:12). This, for Amos, is as inconsistent as ‘horses that run on rocky crags or ploughing rocky crags with oxen’ (6: 12). There are some things that should not be, and the treatment of brothers and sisters in an unjust manner is inconceivable to Amos. But, such is the reality of the historic moment. Amos cannot and will not be silent. The comfortable will get their reward.
‘I will stir up a nation against you O house of Israel, they will oppress you all the way’ (6:14). The God of Amos is appalled by the sheer class and caste gap in Israel at the time, and if the idle rich will not heed the warning s of Amos and Nature, then the imperial Assyrian military will devastate the place. Such is the final warning of Amos. The complacency of the rich will have an end, and it will be tragic for them.
Amos shudders at what might be, and he pleads with God to be more merciful with those in Israel. Amos 7 is a graphic dialogue between Amos and God. Amos wonders how ‘can Jacob survive’ if the ire of God through Nature is fully unleashed. The judgement of God on the powerful will not be pretty, but Amos three times engages God to relent and God does so. The dialogue is tender and touching. Amos does not realize, though, that his fate is about to get worse. The powerful have become hard of heart and head, they are fully committed to protect their wealth and comforts, and Amos is their prime target. Amos had hoped for a change of heart within the leadership, but God knew better. An alliance is formed between the religious leaders at Bethel led by Amaziah and the political leadership (Jeroboam). Amos is accused of ‘raising a conspiracy’ against the king. The theme is a common one---religious and political elites join forces to oppose the prophetic vision. Amaziah turns with vengeance on Amos, insisting he be silent, leave Israel in haste, and halt his criticisms of the political centre of religion at Bethel. Bethel is ‘the King’s sanctuary and the temple of the Kingdom’ (7:13). Many would be intimidated by such an alliance,
but not Amos. He now understands why God must do what must be done. If the Dickensian tale of two cities continues as it is, the poor and marginalized will yet be further impoverished and brutalized. Amos makes it clear that he was no court or temple professional. He was a shepherd and ‘took care of sycamore trees’ (7:14). Amos knew of what he spoke. He was a man of the working people. The sheer arrogance, blindness and obstinate stance of the leadership in Israel were going to be their demise.
Amos 8 begins with yet another dialogue between Amos and God. This time Amos sees yet clearer and cleaner into the real issue from the Divine perspective. God shows Amos a basket of ripe fruit, and makes it clear that the basket of injustice has reached its limit-- ‘Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land’ (8:4). The way the poor are cheated in the marketplace is listed, and Amos makes it clear yet again that the religious and political leadership are going to face the anger of God in a way most will not. The anger of God is focussed on those that oppress others and live in luxury. Bishop Dom Helder Camera once said, ‘When I feed the poor, I’m called a saint, but when I ask why the poor are poor, I’m called a communist’. Amos, like Dom Helder Camera, is targeting this issue, and he names those, without flinching, who make and keep the poor poor. Amos, in our time, might be called a communist. Amos certainly has the moral bite of a Marx. The end will not be pretty for those whose hearts and minds have no feel for the working poor, and Amos predicts a sad and painful end to those whose seem to be arrogantly invulnerable—their time will come, and it is coming soon.
Amos finished the final part of his prophetic missive with these words from God to Israel: ‘I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good’ (9:4). The failure of the Jews to respond to the call for justice reaches its climax in what seems to be a dirge, tragedy and painful ending. The nation will be purged of its unjust ways, and through this refining fire, good will, in time, emerge. The nation, indeed, will be sifted like grain in a sieve, and the unjust pebbles will not make it through the sieve. They will be gathered and face their fate. Amos does not end, though, in a purely destructive and negative way. There will be restoration and reason for hope. ‘The days are coming’ (6:13) when the people and land will revive again and the field bring forth a bountiful harvest, but between a distant hope and promise and the near future, Israel will go through a dark and purgative period in which hard and demanding lessons will be learned.
There are a few key points that Amos leaves with us. First, Amos held high the principle of justice, and he knew, in the marrow of his soul and bones, that God was, above all else, a God of Justice. Second, Amos saw all too clearly that Israel was divided into two nations: the idle rich and the victimized poor.
God and Amos sided with the marginalized and oppressed. Third, Amos confronted temple and King, and he was attacked for doing so. Prophets often stand alone in what they see, and know what it means to be opposed and rejected. Fourth, Amos never retreated from his vocation and calling—lesser people, when opposed or caricatured retreat, from the public fray—such is the way of the sentimentalist. A true prophet is loyal to the people but knows that truthfulness and loyalty are a difficult tension to live within- the more immature are often critical but not loyal (thereby demonstrating their lack of a deeper love) or loyal but not critical (thereby illustrating a lack of probing insight). A genuine prophet remains loyal to the people through years of opposition and misunderstanding but holds the demands of Justice above nationhood or pseudo-religion (that is a form of religion that lacks a passion for justice).
Amos, like Jonah and Hosea , was one of the first of the literate and published minor prophets. Much can be learned from Amos about the true and public nature of the genuine prophet and the costly grace of being one.
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