095. LXVII. The Fatal Errors And Crimes Of The Israelites

§ LXVII. THE FATAL ERRORS AND CRIMES OF THE ISRAELITES 1. Responsibility proportionate to opportunity (Amos 3:1-2).

Hear this word Which Jehovah hath spoken against you, O Israelites, Against the whole race that I brought up from the land of Egypt:

You only have I known of all the races of earth, Therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.

2. The law of cause and effect (Amos 3:3-6). Do two walk together unless they be agreed? Does a lion roar in the forest, when there is no prey for him? Does a young lion cry out in his den, unless he has taken something? Does a bird fall to the earth, if no bait is set for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, without catching anything? Can a trumpet be blown in a city and the people not tremble? Can calamity befall a city and Jehovah not have caused it?

3. Reason for the prophet’s presence (Amos 3:7-8).

Surely the Lord Jehovah doeth nothing, Unless he revealeth his purpose to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who does not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?

4. Samaria’s as tounding wickedness (Amos 3:9-10).

Proclaim over the palaces in Ashdod:

Gather upon the mountain of Samaria, And see the manifold tumults, And acts of oppression in its midst; For they know not how to do right, They are heaping up violence and oppression in their palaces!

It is the oracle of Jehovah.

5. The pitiless penalty (Amos 3:11-12).

Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, An adversary shall surround the land, And he shall strip from thee thy strength, And thy palaces shall be plundered. As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion Two shin-bones or a piece of an ear, So shall the Israelites be rescued—

They who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, On the damask of a divan!

6. Temple, palace and hovel, all to be destroyed (Amos 3:13-15).

Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, It is the oracle of Jehovah, the God of hosts, That in the day when I visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit in judgment the altars of Bethel, And the horns of the altar shall be cut off, And they shall fall to the ground. And I will smite the winter house, together with the summer house; And the houses of ivory shall perish, Yea, many houses shall be swept away.

It is the oracle of Jehovah.

7. Guilt of the wives (Amos 4:1).

Hear this word, Ye kine of Bashan, who dwell in the mountain of Samaria Who oppress the poor and crush the needy Who say to your husbands, ‘Bring that we may drink.’

8. Their pitiable fate (Amos 4:2-3). The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness:

‘Behold, days are coming upon you, When ye shall be taken away with hooks, even the last of you with fish-hooks, And through the breaches shall ye go out, each woman straight before her, And ye shall be cast toward Harmon,’ is Jehovah’s oracle.

9. Futility of ceremonial (Amos 4:4).

Come to Bethel and transgress, At Gilgal increase your transgression; And bring in the morning your sacrifices, On the third day your tithes!

10. Its selfish motive (Amos 4:5). And burn some leavened bread as a thank offering, And proclaim aloud the voluntary offerings, For you love to do so, O Israelites!

It is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah.

11. Failure to learn theleston taught by famine (Amos 4:6). But it was also I who gave to you Cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your palaces, Yet ye have not returned to me, is the oracle of Jehovah.

12. By drought (Amos 4:7-8b).

I, also, it was who withheld from you the rain, And I sent rain upon one city, While upon another I did not let it rain, Yet ye did not return to me, is the oracle of Jehovah.

13. By blight and insect plagues (Amos 4:9).

I smote you with blight and mildew, I laid waste your gardens and vineyards; Your fig and your olive trees the young locust devoured;

Yet you did not return to me, is the oracle of Jehovah.

14. By pestience and destructive war (Amos 4:10).

I sent among you a pestilence by the way of Egypt, I slew your youths with the sword, taking captive your horses, And I caused the stench of your camps to rise in your nostrils;

Yet ye did not return to me, is the oracle of Jehovah.

15. By a great disaster (Amos 4:11).

I wrought a destruction among you, As God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, And ye were as a brand plucked from the burning;

Yet ye did not return to me, is the oracle of Jehovah.

16. Doom impending over Israel (Amos 4:12-13e).

Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel, Because I am about to do this to thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.

17. Overwhelming disaster impending (Amos 5:1-3).

Hear the word which I take up against you, even a dirge, O house of Israel:

Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel!

Hurled down upon her own soil she lies, with none to raise her! For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that taketh the field with a thousand hath but a hundred left, And the one that taketh the field with a hundred hath but ten left.

18. The true source of deliverance (Amos 5:4-5). For thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live, But seek not Bethel, And Gilgal do not enter, To Beersheba go not over; For Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile, And Bethel [House of God] shall go to perdition.

19. Danger of not seeking Jehovah (Amos 5:6).

Seek Jehovah and live, Lest he cast fire on the house of Joseph, And it devour and there be none to quench it for Bethel.

20. Woe to the foes of justice (Amos 5:7;Amos 5:10).

Alas for those who turn judgment to wormwood, And cast righteousness to the ground, Who hate him that reproves in the gate, And abhor one that speaks uprightly!

21. Their punishment (Amos 5:11).

Therefore, because ye trample upon the weak And take from him exactions of grain, Houses of hewn stone have ye built, But ye shall not dwell in them, Charming vineyards have ye planted, But ye shall not drink their wine.

22. Their judicial crimes (Amos 5:12).

Surely I know how many are your transgressions, And how great are your sins!

Ye persecutors of the righteous, takers of bribes!

Yea, the needy in the gate they thrust aside!

23. Advice to the prudent (Amos 5:13-14).

Therefore, since the prudent man at such a time keeps silent, It is surely an evil time.

Seek good and not evil, That ye may live. That this Jehovah, God of hosts, May be with you, as ye have said.

24. Hope for the honest man (Amos 5:16).

Hate evil and love good, And establish justice in the gate;

Perhaps Jehovah will be gracious, The God of hosts, to a remnant of Joseph.

25. The catastrophe about to overtake all classes (Amos 5:16-17).

Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: In all squares there shall be wailing, And in every street they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they shall summon the husbandman to mourning, And to wailing those skilled in lamentation, Yea, in all vineyards there shall be wailing, When I pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.

26. Horrors of the day of Jehovah to the guilty (Amos 5:18-20).

Alas, for those who long for the day of Jehovah!

What have you to do with the day of Jehovah?

It is darkness, and not light.

It is as when one flees from a lion, And a bear falls upon him, Or goes into the house and leans his hand upon the wall, And a serpent bites him. Shall not Jehovah’s day be darkness and not light, Yea, murky darkness without a ray of light in it?

27. Jehovah’s rejection of mere ceremonialism (Amos 5:21-24).

I hate, I despise your feasts, And I will not smell the savor of your festivals, And with your cereal-offerings I will not be pleased, And the peace-offerings of your fatlings I will not regard with favor.

Banish from me the noise of your songs, For to the melody of your lyres I will not listen. But let justice roll on as a flood of waters, And righteousness like an unfailing stream.

28. Banishment of the nation that trusts in ceremonialism (Amos 5:26-27). Was it only sacrifices and cereal offerings ye brought me In the wilderness during forty years, O house of Israel? But now ye shall lift up the shrine of your king, And the image of your God which you have made for yourselves, And I will carry you away into exile beyond Damascus, Saith Jehovah, the God of hosts.

29. Woe to the irresponsible rulers (Amos 6:1;Amos 6:3).

Alas for those who are careless in Zion And overconfident on the mountain of Samaria!

Men of mark of the first of the nations, To whom the house of Israel resort!

They who would postpone the day of calamity, And yet have instituted a rule of violence!

30. Their selfish indulgence and debauchery (Amos 6:4-6).

They who lie on ivory couches, And sprawl upon their divans, And eat lambs from the flock, And calves from out the stall;

They drawl to the sound of the lyre, Like David, they devise for themselves instruments of song, They drink bowlfuls of wine, And anoint themselves with the finest of oil, But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

31. Conquest and exile awaiting them (Amos 6:7-8;Amos 6:11b, c).

Therefore now they must go into exile at the head of the captives, And hushed shall be the revelry of the sprawlers, It is the oracle of Jehovah, the God of hosts.

Jehovah hath sworn by himself:

I abhor the pride of Jacob, And his palaces I hate, Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it. And one shall smite the great house into atoms And the small house into fragments.

32. Folly of trusting their own strength (Amos 6:12-13). Do horses run upon crags? Does one plow the sea with oxen? That you turn justice into poison, And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood?

Ye who rejoice in that which is not, Who say, Have we not by our own strength taken horns for ourselves!

33. Approach of the Assyrian conqueror (Amos 6:14).

Verily, I am now raising up against you, O house of Israel, a nation; And they shall oppress you, From the entrance of Hamath Even to the brook of the Araban, Is the oracle of Jehovah, the God of hosts.

I. The Literary Form of Amos’s Prophecy. The original prophecies of Amos fall naturally into three groups. The first contains a series of brief, forcible oracles of judgment, dealing with Israel’s foes and then culminating in the oracle regarding Israel herself (chaps. 1, 2). The second division, the main body of the book (3–6), is cast in the form of a judicial charge against the leaders of the nation. The prophet presents his own credentials, summons the heathen nations as witnesses against Israel, and then prefers the detailed charges against the guilty classes in the nation, supplementing these charges with argument, exhortation, lamentation and warning. Frequently the prophet takes up anew a familiar theme, expanding or emphasizing it. At times one may recognize the influence of his audience, and in some cases even their rejoinders to his bitter denunciations. Hence the thought does not run on uninterruptedly from premise to conclusion, but is characterized by a recurring cycle of woe, condemnation and doom. The third division of the book (Amos 7-9) consists of a series of visions in which the note of judgment also prevails. Thus, in the three general divisions of the prophecy, the same fundamental teachings are repeatedly presented, although in very different literary form. In the more argumentative passages the four- or five-beat measures are employed, as, for example, in Amos 7:1-3; Amos 7:7-8; Amos 7:11-16 of the present section. Elsewhere the characteristic three-beat measure prevails. The parallelism of thought is carefully observed. There is also often a marked rhythmic parallelism between succeeding stanzas. The literary style is forceful, vigorous, logical and often impassioned. A great variety of figures are employed and most of them are drawn from nature and were suggested by Amos’s shepherd experiences. These figures reveal a prophet of superlative poetic skill and originality, and are characterized by a literary finish and beauty which establish Amos’s position as one of the greatest Hebrew masters of style. The literary form of his prophecies suggests that they were the product of careful thought and preparation, were shaped under the influence of the noblest poetic inspiration, and were probably later carefully revised, as the prophet returned to put them in written form in the quiet of his home at Tekoa.

II. The Prophet’s Credentials. The setting of the present section is clearly the great festival at Bethel. The same hostile audience, made up of the rich and ruling classes of Northern Israel, confront the shepherd-prophet from Tekoa. Amos first takes up the objection, probably suggested by some one of his hearers, that Israel was the special object of Jehovah’s care and protection, and therefore would not be left to suffer the same fate as her heathen neighbors. Like a flash comes the rejoinder, “Yes, you have been the most favored of all the nations, and therefore, since you have been faithless to your responsibilities, you shall be the most severely punished.”

Amos next answers the question, which was doubtless prominent in the minds of his hearers, “By what authority do you proclaim this message of doom?” His method is the same as that in his opening address. In a series of questions he leads his hearers to accede to the truth that no effect in nature is without its corresponding cause, and conversely that no cause fails to produce its corresponding effect. The application of this principle was obvious to even the dullest of Amos’s hearers. The prophet’s presence to deliver at the danger of his life an unpleasant message to Northern Israel pointed to some compelling cause. The only sufficient cause was that Jehovah, who always reveals in advance his purpose to his servants the prophets, had commanded him to go and speak. Having once heard the roar of the Assyrian lion, as it was about to leap, Amos the shepherd could not remain silent without uttering the cry of warning.

III. The Crimes of the Ruling Classes. It is significant that Amos nowhere speaks of the sins of the masses. In his great arraignment of Northern Israel, the acts of cruel oppression and the wealth secured by the king and nobles through violence and injustice rise up before his vision as witnesses whose testimony even their heathen neighbors can appreciate. The ancient principle, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” is evidently in his mind. They who have plundered others shall themselves in turn be plundered, and only a pitiable remnant shall survive. Palaces, hovels, and even the temples shall not escape the impending judgment. From the nobles of Israel and their blood-bought luxury the prophet turns in hot indignation against their wives, whom he likens to the fat, sleek kine of Bashan, which in their pursuit of food stupidly and ruthlessly crush every humble flower or worm which may lie in their path. That they may secure the means to satisfy their own appetites these greedy women goad on their husbands to crush by oppression the poor and needy of the land. Before their startled eyes the prophet flashes the bold figure of a fisherman hauling out fish with the cruel hook, and declares that even so they will be dragged forth from their proud city as victims of the foreign conqueror.

IV. The Uselessness of Mere Ceremonial. Amos next deals with the popular fallacy that Jehovah desires sacrifice, not mercy. As he recalled the crimes against justice committed by the sanctimonious worshippers who stood before him, their proud ritual seemed to him but hateful hypocrisy. With biting sarcasm he advises them to go on with their round of sacrifices, not because it secures Jehovah’s favor but because they find in it pleasure and satisfaction. If they would but read the signs of the times, they could not fail to see how distasteful to Jehovah is all this ceremonialism.

Rapidly, in a series of balanced strophes concluding with the same powerful refrain, Amos refers to the calamities which had overtaken the nation within the memory of many of those who stood before him. Famine, drought, plague, pestilence, defeat at the hands of their enemies, disasters, even as great as those which overtook the wicked Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, had swept over Israel. And yet these calamities, which even the heathen interpreted as a call to repentance, had not touched the heart of the proud, self-satisfied Israelites. Therefore nothing remains for Jehovah to do except to visit upon Israel its well-deserved doom. The indefiniteness of this doom added greatly to its impressiveness. In imagination the prophet already saw and pictured the effects of this imminent judgment. In the characteristic five-beat measure, in which the hired mourners in ancient Israel voiced their lamentation over the dead, he sings a dirge over the nation. Nothing more striking could be imagined than the contrast between the proud confidence of Israel’s leaders and the prophet’s crooning its death dirge in their presence.

V. The Call to Repentance. Amos’s message from beginning to end was almost without exception that of condemnation and doom; and yet it is evident that his one supreme purpose was to save Northern Israel from the awful fate which he proclaimed with absolute conviction. He felt himself to be the watchman, who alone saw the approaching foe and was, therefore, called to sound the alarm that the nation might put itself in a state of defence. The sternness of his denunciation but reveals his passionate eagerness to save. The call to “seek Jehovah and live” expresses his ultimate conception of Jehovah as a God not merely of grim judgment but of tenderness and mercy, eager to forgive the guilty nation, if it would but turn to him in true repentance. The reëstablishment of the vital and personal relation between Jehovah and his people meant life. The refrain, “seek Jehovah and live,” is therefore Amos’s positive message to his race and to humanity.

VI. Amos’s Ideal of Righteousness. Amos felt keenly the startling contrast between the elaborate ritual at the sanctuaries and the gross injustice in the public tribunals, in the market place, and in the court and palace. To him the palaces built by exactions and oppression seemed but sepulchres. Unflinchingly, to their very face, he pronounced woes upon the nobles, the judges, and the rich who had built these palaces at the expense of the needy members of the community. They who were fondly waiting for the day of Jehovah and were expecting that it would prove a day of national victory and exaltation were following a grim spectre. Instead, it should be a day of judgment with no escape for the guilty. In the name of Jehovah, he declared that all the feasts and festivals and offerings with which they thought to buy divine favor, were only hateful to Jehovah. Israel’s wilderness experience had proved that offerings were unnecessary to insure his care and guidance. Only justice, not meted out with scanty measure, but like a mighty flood, pervading palace and court and public tribunal, could win the divine favor which they craved.

VII. The Impending Doom. Amos concludes his sermon with a clear announcement of coming conquest and exile. Again his conclusions were based on the laws of cause and effect. Horses cannot run upon crags nor can one plow the sea with oxen; no more can men sin against the fundamental laws of the universe and expect that the results will be peace and strength. Already the inevitable consequences of Israel’s crimes were beginning to appear: the rulers were incapable, the natural resources had been deflected for personal ends, the middle class had been reduced to servitude, there were no leaders to inspire public confidence and arouse patriotism, and the hope of the nation centred in mere material strength and a vain hypocritical formalism. In the presence of Assyria’s armies, Israel’s guilt and weakness were clearly patent to the mind of a keen observer like Amos; but to the c he spoke his words seemed but madness. In the face of these conditions, the prophet could predict only doom and disaster for the nation.