Douglas Jacoby Podcast

Amos B

Episode Summary

Douglas continues his series on the Book of Amos, today looking at Lesson B.

Episode Notes

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Introduction

• There are oracles against nations in most of the prophetic books of the Bible.
• In 1:3 to 2:5 there are 7 doom oracles.
• Yahweh is lord over the gentile nations, so why should we think Israel will be judged less strictly?

The seven oracles of doom

• Damascus (1:3-5) is the chief city of Syria (Aram)
  • It may be the world's oldest continuously inhabited city.
  • Gilead, east of the Jordan and bordering Syria, included Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
  • “I destroyed 592 towns of the 16 districts of the country of Damascus, rendering them like hills over which the flood had passed.” – Tiglath-Pileser III, Annals
  • Syria will go into exile (the divine punishment of last resort against the covenant people in the law of Moses)
• Gaza (1:6-8), one of the 5 cities of Philistia (Gath is often omitted in oracles against the Philistines).
  • Exodus 21:16 forbids kidnapping, and by implication the slave trade.
  • Hear the slavery podcast for more discussion.
  • Again, there will be no escape for the nation that has defied the righteous standards of Yahweh.
• Tyre (1:9-10)
  • 100 miles NW of Jerusalem, modern Lebanon
  • Again, condemnation of the slave trade
• Edom (1:11-12)
  • Ammon, Moab, and Edom are the lands east of Canaan, partly in (modern) Jordan, partly in Israel.
  • Obadiah (plus Jeremiah, et al) contains oracles against Edom.
  • The sin was a lack of brotherly love. Instead, bitterness, vengeance, lack of forgiveness.
• Ammon (1:13-15)
  • Barbaric cruelty: pregnant women were ripped open to ensure that male offspring would not rise up to avenge their enemies.
    • Tiglath-Pileser I was praised by his chroniclers in the 11th C. BC for the ruthless murder of pregnant women and the children in their wombs.
    • Menahem (2 Kings 15:16), ruling a few years after the time of Amos, did the same thing.
  • Again, there will be no escape from the impending judgment.
• Moab (2:1-3)
  • Burned bones to lime amounts to desecration of the dead, a serious transgression in ancient times.
  • At Kerioth (v.2) was a shrine to Chemosh.
• Judah (2:4-5), the southern part of the divided kingdom
  • She survived longer (till 586 BC, when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem).
  • She was only relatively more righteous than the northern kingdom of Israel, which fell in 722 BC at the hand of the Assyrians.
  • Including Judah proves that Amos wasn’t prejudiced.
• Seven nations have been singled out. But Amos isn’t done yet. We come to the climax in 2:6-16, which is the substance of our third lesson in the series.

Conclusion

The Lord is sovereign over all the world, over all nations. If the nations are held responsible for their actions, how much more the people of God!  Yet instead of viewing themselves as belonging exclusively to God, Israel viewed God as belonging exclusively to them.

Advanced:

• The 7 target nations were all at one time under the control of David.
• Three acts… four (x, x+1) is a common literary device in the wisdom literature. (See Proverbs 6:16-19, 30:18-19,21-23,29-31; Sirach 26:5-6.) This implies each nation has done more than enough to deserve punishment.
• House of Hazael (v.4) probably refers to Hazael (c.843-796) and Ben-Hadad III (c.796-770), who caused much trouble for Jehoram, Jehu, and Jehoahaz.
• Gath is usually ignored in oracles against the Philistines. Sargon of Assyria destroyed Gath in 711 BC.
• Re: v.11, brother may mean treaty-partner, as in 1 Samuel 20:29, 1 Kings 9:13.
• Kerioth may be singled out because it contained a shrine for Chemosh, as recorded in the Mesha inscription. (Click here to learn about this inscription.)