Old Testament Prophets

Class 8 – Amos Analysis – Part I

1. Review last week – questions?
   
   
1. Amos –
   
   
2. To who was Amos’ prophesy addressed?
1. The Nation of Israel – the northern Kingdom; However

                                                               i.      These people had no conception of the separation of church & state as we understand it today. To them the nation was the people of God – He had brought them out of Egypt and cared for them through many years…they took His guidance for granted.

                                                             ii.      We should assume Amos’ book is directed to the Church – ie., to each one of us members of the Body of Christ – we are the people who “say” we walk with God today.

                                                            iii.      We are reminded that to those who are given much, much is required. The nearer to God we are drawn, the closer scrutiny and more certain the judgment we will receive (Motyer – pp 17)., “True religion is a reverent hearing and receiving of His Word; and towards other people it appears as honesty, considerateness and unfailing concern for the needy”. – take those away and what little remains does nothing more than invite God’s righteous indignation and adverse judgment.

3. Literary Structure – has three primary sections:
1. Overview

                                                               i.      Hearers or readers would have loved his sermons – until he hit closes to home.

                                                             ii.      His sermons must have been well-prepared with study to be well informed about the history surrounding Israel

                                                            iii.      Amos is directly applicable to the Church today

1.      Read page 10 paragraph from Motyer - The Message of Amos

2.      and page 15 – 2^nd paragraph & pp 16

2. Structural breakdown

                                                               i.      Chapters 1 & 2 – Oracles against the nations

                                                             ii.      Chapters 3-6 – a series of judgment speeches against Israel

                                                            iii.      Chap 7-9 – a group of visions culminating with an oracle of salvation

4. Oracles against the Nations – Chapters 1 & 2
1. Amos encircles Israel by naming his indictments and then ends with Israel herself.
2. Generally the gentile nations are indicted for war crimes
3. The numerical scheme – “for X and X+1” – was common to wisdom literature of the day. Amos is using them as a device leading up to his surprise condemnation of Israel.
4. The Fathers tend to fin analogies in the Oracles against the nations for various moral deficiencies in Jews (and Christians) – sexual immorality, sobriety, false worship etc are some that are mentioned.
   
   
5. Judgments against Israel – Chapters 3 & 4
1. Vs 3:3-6 – Note Fathers discussions on nature, reality and use of evil

                                                               i.      Theodoret of Cyr

                                                             ii.      Chrysostom

                                                            iii.      John of Damascus

3:3-5 Does a Lion Roar When It Has No Prey?

NO PUNISHMENT IMPOSED WITHOUT GODS WILL. THEODORET OF CYR: As it is impossible for two people to share a journey at the same time, he is saying, unless indicating to each other where and why they are traveling, or for a lion to roar if there is no prey, or for a bird to fall with­out a hunter, or for all the other things men­tioned, so it is impossible for any punishment to be imposed without God willing it. He calls pun­ishment "evil," note, by use of a general custom: we are accustomed to use "troubles" of diseases, chastisements, untimely deaths, famines, wars, and the like, not because they are troublesome by nature but because they are troublesome to hu­man beings and the source of distress and grief. COMMENTARY ON AMOS 3.6-8.⁴

3:6

Unless the Lord Has Done It

TWO FORMS OF EVIL EXPLAINED. CHRYSOS­TOM: I do not say these things in arrogance, but I have the prophet Amos standing at my side, cry­ing and saying, "There is no evil in the city which the Lord has not done." Now evil is a many-facet­ed term. I wish that you shall learn the exact meaning of each expression, in order that on ac­count of ambiguity you may not confound the na­ture of the things and fall into blasphemy. There is then evil, which is really evil; fornication, adul­tery, covetousness, and the countless dreadful things, which are worthy of the utmost reproach and punishment. Again there is evil, which rather is not evil but is called so, famine, pestilence, death, disease, and other of a similar nature. For these would not be evils, On this account I said they are called so only. Why then? Because, were they evils intended to become the sources of good to us, chastening our pride, goading our sloth and leading us on to zeal, making us more attentive.

HOMILY AGAINST THOSE WHO SAY THAT DEMONS GOVERN HUMAN AFFAIRS I.4-5.⁵

GOD NOT THE AUTHOR OF EVIL. JOHN OF

DAMASCUS: It is, then, customary for sacred Scrip­ture to speak of his permission as an action and deed, but even when it goes so far as to say that God "creates evil" and that "there is not evil in a city which the Lord has not done," it still does not show God to be the author of evil. On the con­trary, since the word evil is ambiguous it has two meanings, for it sometimes means what is by na­ture evil, being the opposite of virtue and against God's will, while at other times it means what is evil and painful in relation to our sensibility, which is to say, tribulation and distress. Now while these last seem to be evil, because they cause pain, actu­ally they are good because to such as understand them they are a source of conversion and salvation. It is these last that Scripture says are permitted by God. Moreover, one must know that we too cause them because involuntary evils spring from volun­tary ones. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.20.⁶