Amos

Introduction

Towards the middle of the eighth century before Christ, the kingdom of Israel was rich and prosperous. Small properties were disappearing. Wealth was in the hands of a few rich people, while the poor increased in number. The luxury of the few was an insult to the destitute.

Unexpectedly, the Lord roars from Zion. His voice thunders from Jerusalem through Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa, a little village located about nine kilometers south of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah.

God takes him from his flock and sends him to the neighboring land, to Israel in the north. So the prophet traveled through the cities of Israel, denouncing the social injustices and a religion that was satisfied with external practices only. He warned of God’s punishment and the deportation of Israel; and, in the end, he predicted happy days.

Amos is the prophet of social justice. He reveals to us a God who defends the rights of the poor.

1.1 Chapters 1 and 2 announce the judgment of God which is coming soon. Amos severely attacks the pagan nations which have drifted away from universal morality and the rules of human life. Judah, a nation of believers, bears the sin of having forgotten the law of God (cf. 2:4).

2.6 He reproaches Israel for always trampling on the rights of the poor and, by so doing, falsifying religion. They keep up the religious rituals, which are a pretext for drunkenness and prostitution. They silence the prophets who proclaim the word of God, the source of authentic religion.

You gave the Nazirites wine to drink (v. 12): see Numbers 6. The followers of a corrupted religion make fun of those men whose lifestyle, even externally, is different from their own, and expresses the personal aspect of their religious commitment: let them drink! let them be like everyone else because their lifestyle disturbs our consciences.

3.3 Those listening to Amos do not understand why this man, who is not a priest, nor a member of the “fellow prophets,” came to preach to them. They are scandalized because he interferes into things which, according to them, have nothing to do with religion. The images which Amos uses in these verses have a clear message: he speaks because God forces him to speak.

In verses 9-15, Amos calls on Assyria and Egypt to come and level a society without faith and without law. Let them destroy temples and palaces since all are maintained through exploitation, and promote sin.

4.1 It is worth noting how Amos deals with rich and selfish women. He compares them with nothing less than the cows of Bashan. Bashan is on the other side of the Jordan and is famous in the Old Testament for its fattened flocks.

These women are getting fat at the expense of the poor and all they know is how to make cocktails. Amos announces the day when they will be taken from the conquered capital and exiled, with as little consideration as that given to a herd of cattle.

4. Amos recalls the many hardships and trials which gave the people of Israel an opportunity for reflection.

He notes the contrast between the luxury, the frequency of religious celebrations and the evil behavior of the people. They think that, if they go through the rituals and offer sacrifices, God will not pay attention to their evil ways. But that is not the way it is.

5.14 God’s complaints about his people sound like those of another time expressed through Isaiah: This people say they are loyal to me; they honor me with lip-service, while their hearts stay afar (Is 29:13).

Since the previous disasters were not enough to teach Israel to straighten its ways, Amos announces another disaster. Its nature is not specified, since what is unknown usually causes greater fear.

Amos speaks extensively of the Day of the Lord. When the Israelites spoke of the Day of the Lord, they meant the day of their triumph, when God would come to crush the enemy nations. Amos turns its meaning around. From then on, when used by the prophets, the Day of the Lord will mean, God coming to make his people accountable (see Zep 1:14). Even in the Gospel, and in other books of the New Testament, the Day of the Lord will mean the Day of universal Judgment (see Rom 1:18); but then, it will have a more specific meaning: the coming of Christ. He will judge those who rejected his word, and will fulfill the hopes of those who put their faith in him.

Perhaps the Lord, the God of hosts, will take pity on the remnant of Joseph (v. 15). This is the first time the word remnant appears in the Scriptures. The people of Israel were formed by the descendants of Abraham, the man of faith. The prophets realize that they are heading for ruin because of their lack of faith; their provinces are taken away from them, their children die. Yet, God will reserve a small group, the Remnant of Israel. They will return to an authentic faith and will be the “shoot” of the New People of God.

Ephraim, Joseph, Jacob, Israel: all these names refer to the same nation.

7.1 The prophets are never content with simply threatening their people. They always intercede for them before God (see Ezk 33 and 22:30). In the first two visions, Amos tries to stop God’s anger. In the third, he runs into God’s firm purpose to destroy Israel.

10. Notice the boldness of Amos’ action. He goes to preach in the national temple, or to put it another way, in the country’s cathedral. He does so though he has no title, nor the priest’s permission, and begins to denounce the false order, which allows the accumulation of so much private wealth. Naturally, Amaziah, the king’s chaplain, is scandalized. In our days, Amos would have been arrested, beaten and perhaps killed.

For Amaziah, his priesthood is a well-paid position; and he is convinced that Amos is preaching against his way of earning a living. In those days, many prophets made a living from giving advice, without having been called directly by God as the great prophets were (and as Amos was, as well).

Amos is not a prophet in the ordinary sense. He is a layperson, to whom God entrusted a mission when called personally. Apparently, he loses out, in the meeting with the religious authorities. It is not said that he used any other weapons than God’s word; and God knows how to judge his envoys. We do not know if Amaziah succeeded in expelling him out of the country, or if he only forbade him to preach in well-attended places.

8.1 This fourth vision continues the vision of Chapter 7:1-9.

Amos describes the greed of the merchants and of the rich, the exploitation of the needy, the luxury of the wealthy, the bribing of judges, etc.

Not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord (v. 11), in a little while, those who refuse to listen, because they lack nothing, will be so afflicted that they will long to hear a word of consolation from God, and that word will not come. The prophet’s words were to be fulfilled in several ways. We can read into them the prediction of the hunger and thirst for God’s word, which, in later times, would be the hallmark of the believer.

9.8 Following the threats of verses 1-6, verses 9-10 give the assurance, which is never lacking in the prophet’s words: God will not completely destroy Israel, but will leave a remnant to fulfill his promises.

11. In verses 11-14—written after the exile of Israel—we have the promise of the future re-uniting of the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, into a single people of God. The apostle James will refer to this promise, to show that God wills to extend the salvation earned by Jesus to all the nations, and not only to Israel (see Acts 15:16). Notice that James quotes this text in a different form from what it is here. This is because the apostles were using the Greek translation of the Scriptures, which many times changed the meaning, not to be unfaithful to the primitive text but rather because, in the course of time, the Jews had a better understanding of the will of God. For example, here Amos is speaking about Israel “conquering the nations” which, at the time, seemed to be a great favor from God. The Jews who later translated the Scriptures into other languages spoke of the “nations seeking God” because, in the meantime, the prophets had meditated deeply on God’s plan.