Amos
Key Word: Judgement of Israel
Key verses: 3.1-2 and/or 8.11-12
Date and Setting: Amos anticipates the 722 BC Assyrian captivity of Israel (7.11) and indicates that at the time of writing, Jeroboam II was not yet dead. Thus, Amos prophesied in Bethel about 755 B.C. Over two hunndred Astronimical calculations indicate that a solar eclipse took place in une 15, 763 B.C. This event was probably fresh in the minds of Amos's hearers (8.9). ---Talk Thru the Bible
I. Eight Oracles Against Nations 1:3—2:16
1.3 Damascus...because they have threshed Gilead... (cf. 2 Kings 8:7-12; 10:32-33; 13:3-7)
1.6 Gaza...delievered them up to Edom...
1.9 Tyre...delivered up the whole captivity to Edom...
1.11 Edom...he kept his wrath forever...
1.13 Ammon...ripped open women with children in Gilead...
2.1 Moab...burned the bones of the king of Edom...
2.4 Judah...
2.4 despised the law of the LORD... מָאַס ma'ac to reject, refuse
1. Israel's Judgement Deserved 3.1-10
2. Israel's Judgement Described 3.11-15
3.2 you only have I known...therefore I will punish you...
Opposition of Amaziah (Historical Parenthesis) 7:10-17
D. The basket of summer fruit ch. 8
E. The Lord standing by the altar ch. 9
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Key Word: Judgement of Israel
Key verses: 3.1-2 and/or 8.11-12
Date and Setting: Amos anticipates the 722 BC Assyrian captivity of Israel (7.11) and indicates that at the time of writing, Jeroboam II was not yet dead. Thus, Amos prophesied in Bethel about 755 B.C. Over two hunndred Astronimical calculations indicate that a solar eclipse took place in une 15, 763 B.C. This event was probably fresh in the minds of Amos's hearers (8.9). ---Talk Thru the Bible
I. Eight Oracles Against Nations 1:3—2:16
1.3 Damascus...because they have threshed Gilead... (cf. 2 Kings 8:7-12; 10:32-33; 13:3-7)
1.6 Gaza...delievered them up to Edom...
1.9 Tyre...delivered up the whole captivity to Edom...
1.11 Edom...he kept his wrath forever...
1.13 Ammon...ripped open women with children in Gilead...
2.1 Moab...burned the bones of the king of Edom...
2.4 despised the law of the LORD... מָאַס ma'ac to reject, refuse
2.4 their lies lead them astray...
2.6 Israel...sell righteousness for silver...
II. Five Messages of judgment against Israel chs. 3—6
A. The first message on sins against God and man ch. 3II. Five Messages of judgment against Israel chs. 3—6
1. Israel's Judgement Deserved 3.1-10
2. Israel's Judgement Described 3.11-15
3.2 you only have I known...therefore I will punish you...
B. The second message on women, worship, and willfulness ch 4
1. Israel's Judgement Deserved 4.1-5
4.1 cows of Bashan... I am thinking about the connection between this characterization and the sin of oppressing and crushing the poor and needy while drinking to excess.
What has God done to bring Israel to repentance?
Joel 4:6-13
2. Israel's Judgement Demonstrated 4.6-11
4.6 lack of bread... (cf. 1 Kings 8:37-39)
4.7 withheld rain... (cf. 1 Kings 8:35)
4.9 blight - mildew - locust... (cf. 1 Kings 8:37-39)
4.10 plague after the manner of Egypt... (cf. 1 Kings 8:33, 37)
4.11 overthrew some...as Sodom and Gomorrah... "Comparing these overthrown cities to Sodom and Gomorrah indicates their proverbial complete destruction (cf. Isa. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 50:40; Zeph. 2:9), not necessarily the method of their destruction. God had rescued His people like burning sticks from a conflagration, as He had formerly extracted Lot and his daughters from Sodom (Gen. 19). The Assyrian kings customarily sowed the ground of a conquered area with salt so nothing would grow there. (Niehaus, p. 402)" ---Thomas Constable's Expository Notes
3. Israel's Judgement Described 4.12-13
4.13 makes the morning darkness... NET Bible translation notes: tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear.
The present translation (He turns the dawn into darkness) assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5.20). Other options include:
(1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns.
(2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”
1. Israel's Judgement Deserved 4.1-5
4.1 cows of Bashan... I am thinking about the connection between this characterization and the sin of oppressing and crushing the poor and needy while drinking to excess.
What has God done to bring Israel to repentance?
Joel 4:6-13
2. Israel's Judgement Demonstrated 4.6-11
4.6 lack of bread... (cf. 1 Kings 8:37-39)
4.7 withheld rain... (cf. 1 Kings 8:35)
4.9 blight - mildew - locust... (cf. 1 Kings 8:37-39)
4.10 plague after the manner of Egypt... (cf. 1 Kings 8:33, 37)
4.11 overthrew some...as Sodom and Gomorrah... "Comparing these overthrown cities to Sodom and Gomorrah indicates their proverbial complete destruction (cf. Isa. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 50:40; Zeph. 2:9), not necessarily the method of their destruction. God had rescued His people like burning sticks from a conflagration, as He had formerly extracted Lot and his daughters from Sodom (Gen. 19). The Assyrian kings customarily sowed the ground of a conquered area with salt so nothing would grow there. (Niehaus, p. 402)" ---Thomas Constable's Expository Notes
3. Israel's Judgement Described 4.12-13
4.13 makes the morning darkness... NET Bible translation notes: tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear.
The present translation (He turns the dawn into darkness) assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5.20). Other options include:
(1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns.
(2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”
C. The third message on injustice 5:1-17
The structure of this message is chiastic, which focuses attention and emphasis on the middle part.
A description of certain judgment vv. 1-3
B. A call for individual repentance vv. 4-6
C. An accusation of legal injustice v. 7
D. A portrayal of sovereign Yahweh vv. 8-9
C. An accusation of legal injustice vv. 10-13
B. A call for individual repentance vv. 14-15
A. A description of certain judgment vv. 16-17
Another structural feature stresses the solidarity between Yahweh and His prophet, namely, the alternation between of the words of Amos (vv. 1-2, 6-9, 14-15) and the words of God (vv. 3-5, 10-13, 16-17).
D. The fourth message on unacceptable worship 5:18-27
5.23 noise... הָמוֹן hä•mōn' This word is usually translated "multitude" in the KJV. It is translated "noise" here by the KJV, NASB, ESV, and NIV84. Our best productions are just a lot of noise? What makes them pleasant?
5.25 Sikkuth... NET Bible translation notes: The Hebrew term סִכּוּת (sikkut) apparently refers to Sakkuth, a Mesopotamian star god identified with Ninurta in an Ugaritic god list. The name is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some English versions, following the LXX, translate as “tent” or “shrine” (NEB, NIV), pointing the term as סֻכַּת (sukkat; cf. 9:11).
The structure of this message is chiastic, which focuses attention and emphasis on the middle part.
A description of certain judgment vv. 1-3
B. A call for individual repentance vv. 4-6
C. An accusation of legal injustice v. 7
D. A portrayal of sovereign Yahweh vv. 8-9
C. An accusation of legal injustice vv. 10-13
B. A call for individual repentance vv. 14-15
A. A description of certain judgment vv. 16-17
Another structural feature stresses the solidarity between Yahweh and His prophet, namely, the alternation between of the words of Amos (vv. 1-2, 6-9, 14-15) and the words of God (vv. 3-5, 10-13, 16-17).
D. The fourth message on unacceptable worship 5:18-27
5.23 noise... הָמוֹן hä•mōn' This word is usually translated "multitude" in the KJV. It is translated "noise" here by the KJV, NASB, ESV, and NIV84. Our best productions are just a lot of noise? What makes them pleasant?
5.25 Sikkuth... NET Bible translation notes: The Hebrew term סִכּוּת (sikkut) apparently refers to Sakkuth, a Mesopotamian star god identified with Ninurta in an Ugaritic god list. The name is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some English versions, following the LXX, translate as “tent” or “shrine” (NEB, NIV), pointing the term as סֻכַּת (sukkat; cf. 9:11).
5.26 Chiun... There can be no doubt that we should vocalize kewan = the Assyrian
Kai(a)-wanu = Kaiamanu by which at least in late Babylonian Saturn was
indicated. The passage in Amos refers to the Saturn worship which
appears to have been in vogue in the prophet's days. The Israelites
shall carry with them into exile the images of their gods (render with
the margin of the Revised Version (British and American):... ---The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
E. The fifth message on complacency and pride ch. 6
6.2 Calneh... Meaning: "fort": one of the cities founded by Nimrod (Gen. 10:10)
It is the modern Niffer, a lofty mound of earth and rubbish situated in the marshes on the left, i.e., the east, bank of the Euphrates, but 30 miles distant from its present course, and about 60 miles south-southeast from Babylon. It is mentioned as one of the towns with which Tyre carried on trade. It was finally taken and probably destroyed by one of the Assyrian kings (Amos 6:2).
6.2 Hamath... Meaning: fortress: the capital of one of the kingdoms of Upper Syria of the same name, on the Orontes, in the valley of Lebanon, at the northern boundary of Palestine (Num. 13:21; 34:8), at the foot of Hermon (Josh. 13:5) towards Damascus (Zech. 9:2; Jer. 49:23) It is called “Hamath the great” in Amos 6:2, and “Hamath-zobah” in 2 Chr. 8:3. -- Bible Web Encyclopedia
IIII. Five Judgement Visions 7:1-9
A. 7:1-3 locusts swarming...
B. 7:4-6 fire...
C. 7:7-9 plumb line...
B. 7:4-6 fire...
C. 7:7-9 plumb line...
Opposition of Amaziah (Historical Parenthesis) 7:10-17
D. The basket of summer fruit ch. 8
E. The Lord standing by the altar ch. 9
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