All in Amos

Our current section provides some qualitatively new material to contend with. Breaking from the textually dominant rebuking speech, a series of four prophetic visions comprises the bulk of this section. A short narrative offers the only recorded portrayal of Amos directly interacting with his audience, inserted between the third and fourth visions. The entire section is remarkably illustrative of the Prophet’s self-perspective as well as the dynamic between prophet and audience...

The speech opens with a delineation of its primary target, the religious aristocracy — in all likelihood the wealthy class of priests running the Northern temples. The masses in v1b depend on these priests, who hold a corrupt monopoly on what is societally perceived as indispensable religious ritual. In v2 the Navi sardonically asks these overconfident leaders whether their nation is any greater than their neighbors...

This short piece comprises the first of two “הוֹי” (“Woe unto…”) sections which follow the kinah of 5:1-17, centering around a theme already initiated in 5:13-14, the nation’s mistaken premise that God remains a dependable ally, re-introduced in v18-20. This transitions into v21-25 which discuss ritual temple practice in a particularly interesting and nuanced way, following which v26-27 concludes with foretold consequences...

This following section serves as a convenient methodological demonstration of establishing the perspective and chronological contours of a prophetic speech. We have already dealt with the challenges of establishing a chronology between different speeches, but it sometimes occurs that even within a single speech the chronological perspective of different material is difficult to discern and bifurcate, as the Navi shifts the spoken scene to accommodate his rhetorical needs...

This piece continues the theme of God’s ultimately futile attempts to distance the nation from sin. However, these attempts are not as those we saw previously in 2:9-12 — the orchestration of religiously encouraging circumstances and developmental experiences — but instead a series of national punishments which had been sent in order to forcibly revert the nation back to God. The retrospective reflection on these failed attempts occupy v6-11, the bulk of the piece. The introductory v1-5 serves to delineate the persisting current state of sin, and the concluding v12-13 imply a disastrous future on an even greater scale. This outline is parallel to the structure of the previously examined 2:6-16, a section with which our current speech bears a significant relationship. Through delineating the key discrepancies between these largely parallel pieces, the singular significances and specific natures of both pieces will be shown...

This particularly substantial piece contends with what has persisted as an intellectual religious issue: The balance between what we can ascertain based on rational thought, and what lies beyond our rational and observational faculties. Through the employment of this mystery, the Navi in this piece conceptually vindicates his role as a necessary intermediary between the knowable and the unknowable...

The final ten verses of the first speech in the sefer serve as the punchline to the elaborate setup with the seven nations, as we explained there. Beyond the formulaic 3+1 opener, this section does not follow the regular structure or patterns used for the other nations, and is considerably longer and more multifaceted. The “4th” crime here is not any single action, but a multiplicity of different offenses filling v7-8. This leads into v9-12, in which God lists ways in which he has historically attempted to distance the nation from sin, all of which have proven futile. v13-16 conclude the speech with foretold disaster...

The following piece is a classic demonstration of the dramatic oratory skill with which neviim spoke in order to emotionally impact their audience. The speech consists of a litany of seven nations neighboring Yisrael, including Yehuda, who will all be divinely punished as a result of some particularly unforgivable degree of sin. The basic purpose of the list format is to build a sense of self-assured safety and superiority in the minds of his northern audience, which is abruptly shattered when Amos climactically lists Yisrael as the eighth condemned nation...

1: The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2: And he said: the LORD roareth from Zion, and uttereth His voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. (Translation doth cometh from Mechon Mamre (JPS 1917), which I feel best captures the optimally intimidating biblical voice.)

This series will attempt to analyze a sefer of Tanach using the contemporary Literary-Theological analytical approach as has been developed and pioneered in recent decades. Our subject will be Sefer Amos (The Book of Amos), the third of the Trei Asar (Twelve minor prophets). This series will be delivered on two consecutive levels. The first will be my own analysis of the sefer using the Literary-Theological methodology. Having already completed a prior thorough surface examination, this level of the series will follow my analysis as I complete the requisite hermeneutical circle with a second examination of the entire sefer. The second level of updates will be my third examination of the sefer, this time with a systematic integration of traditional Jewish commentators, midrashim, as well as secular commentaries and academia. Therefore, the entire series will hopefully accomplish not only a thorough exposition of Sefer Amos, but also act as a demonstration of the new methodology, as well as the advantages of integrating traditional and secular commentators into that methodology...