Dating and Origin of Amos
Amos was a shepherd in Tekoa, which was a fairly small town
directly south of Jerusalem. Amos is
traditionally attributed to a time during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah
(792-740 BC), and Jeroboam, king of Israel (793 – 753 BC). According to the Biblical witness, Amos is
also believed to have prophesied 2 years prior to a substantial
earthquake. Archeological evidence
points to a significant earthquake occurring in Israel in the year 760 BC. It is thought that Amos was a prophet for no
more than a year of time.
Judgment Against the Nations
Amos is a neat book of prophecy because here in the beginning of
Amos we have a focus that is unlike most prophetic works. Most prophetic works are concerned about the
relationship with God and His people {and
occasionally the Gentiles}. While
this is still certainly true in Amos, the examples Amos gives are examples that
rather specifically reflect humanity’s relationship with each other. Amos – and God speaking through him – is concerned
with human barbarism. Amos speaks out
against the way we brutally treat each other.
The rest of chapter 1 and 2 will give example after example of this.
Damascus, Syria (Aram)
The first nation to be spoken against is Syria. Of what are the Syrians guilty? They have threshed Gilead with sledges of
iron. At first, you might think of this
as a farming crime. You might think of
this as a crime against the earth.
However, think about that for which iron was used. Iron was used to make strong weapons. Iron was an implement for war. Any metal – or stone, even – could handle
plants and recovering grain. Iron was an
implement of war. Amos is speaking here
about the Syrians coming to war and willingly shedding so much blood in their
warfare.
Historically, we know there is truth to this. Hazael and his son Ben-Hadad III were
merciless against God’s people in warfare.
In fact, look specifically at 2 Kings 13:7 and you will see a reference
to Ben-Hadad treating the Hebrew people as if they were upon a threshing
floor. God’s problem with Syria (Aram)
was their brutality in warfare.
Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron (Philistines)
Amos now turns to the enemies of the Hebrew people to their
west. Of what are the Philistines
guilty? A student of the Bible might
ask, “Of what are they not guilty?” In
Amos, though, their crime is limited because Amos is focusing in on crimes
people do against one another. Amos
convicts them of being slavers. They
captured whole villages and dragged them off to foreign countries where they
sold them into slavery.
Tyre (Phoenicia)
The judgment against Tyre is nearly identical to that against the
Philistines with one notable exception. Tyre
is guilty of doing their acts in violation of a treaty of brotherhood. They were not only slavers, but self-centered
backstabbing liars. The people of Tyre
made treaties of peace with the Hebrew people but then continued to raid them,
capture the people, and sell them into slavery.
Together with the witness against the Philistines, we see that God
values our relationships with one another.
He wants us to respect one another.
He wants us to keep our word. He
wants us to not see the next person as a means for profit.
Edom
Edom – the people of Esau – is guilty of violently pursuing their
kin. It is one thing to disagree with
kin. It is another thing for kin to go
separate ways as Jacob and Esau did. But
it is not acceptable for kin to pursue one another in hostility. After all, if God dislikes the actions of
Syria – which were violent but not against one’s kin, how much more must it
displease God when human beings are violent to people they should be able to
love or at least tolerate?
No, Edom forsook their kinship with God’s people. Edom treated them with contempt. Edom could have left them alone or even
treated them with respect. But out of
brotherly jealousy they pursued them like a true adversary. God was not pleased.
Ammon
Ammon is charged with ripping open pregnant women. Most people think that this is a literal
accusation as it was common in times of war.
You see, if you fight against a people and literally tear unborn babies
for the wombs of their mothers it will demoralize the defeated enemy quite
sufficiently. It might even cause them
to flee just to leave the horror of the act behind them. The other thing it did was to destroy the
next generation of people who would be raised up to take revenge. It was a disgusting but fairly common
practice during ancient warfare.
But the sin of Ammon goes further.
This wasn’t done just as an act of war.
This was done because Ammon was greedy.
Their goal was simply to expand their borders. They weren’t really at war; they just wanted
to take what belonged to the Hebrew people and make it their own. So here we see that the Ammonites were
behaving like barbarians out of their greed.
Ho common is this practice all throughout history!
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