CHAPTER 1
1. The words of Amos (who was among the sheep-branders of Teqoa), which he beheld [as a seer] concerning Israel in the days of Uzziyah, king of Yehudah, and in the days of Yarav’am the son of Yoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
Sheep-branders: Having spent a lot of time with animals taught Amos much about caring for YHWH’s flock. Being one of those who counted the ones that “passed under the rod”, he would be concerned for individual sheep, like the shepherd in Y’shua’s parable. (Mat. 18:12) Indeed, it was only the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” (the very ones Amos was addressing) to whom Y’shua said he was sent. (Mat. 15:24) Teqoa: the name refers to a stockade, or possibly a sheepfold, but at its root it means “a trumpet”, and is related to the word for the short, staccato blasts on a shofar that signal danger or war (teqia). Yarav’am: Not the same one who led the secession of Israel from Rehav’am, son of Shlomo, but another, who began to reign 15 years after Uzziyah’s father Amatzyah began to reign, and reigned 41 years. (See 2 Kings 14:23). He began as a wicked king, but tradition says he was encouraged by the prophet Yonah, and turned around and had many great successes. The earthquake: possibly one of the massive catastrophes caused by the former orbit of Mars crossing over earth’s orbit every 54 years. (Patten, Hatch, and Steinhauer) The final one was in 701 B.C., which threw both into their present orbits and changed the earth year from 360 days to 365.24. The next to the last passby would have therefore been in 755 B.C., which coincides with the reigns of both kings mentioned here, according to the chronology by John Walton. (Uzziyah reigned from approx. 790 to 740, and Yarav’am from 793 to 753.) Because of the prophecy in Zech. 14:5, Josephus links the earthquake to Uzziyah’s sin of coveting the role of the priests, which earned him the punishment common to such sins, leprosy. (2 Chron. 26:16-23) The word for earthquake actually means “shaking”, which is also the root for “head” and “beginning”, so as at creation, YHWH was bringing something new out of the chaos and destruction being prophesied here. Indeed, Yeshayahu’s vision of YHWH as exalted (Isa. 6) came at his time of disillusionment at the death of Uzziyahu, once one of Yehudah’s finest kings.
2. Now [what] he said [was], “YHWH will roar out of Tzion, and extend His voice from Yerushayalim! Then the abodes of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Karmel will dry up.
Top (head) of Karmel: a mountain range roughly paralleling the northern coast of Israel, which meets the Mediterranean at present-day Haifa, an area that rarely experiences drought. (David Levy) Alt., best of the fertile fields.
3. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Damaseq, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because they have trampled Gil’ad with sharp iron [threshing tools].
Three…four: Some interpret this to add up to seven, the number of completeness—i.e., the cup of guilt is full, and judgment must fall. In most cases only the “last straw”--what triggered the end of YHWH’s patience--is listed. (Levy) Violations: specifically denotes rebelliously crossing a boundary. They would be responsible only to the Noachide covenant, but had broken even that by shedding innocent blood. (Levy) Damaseq means “silent is the weaver of sackcloth”—an arrogant name that said, “We will never mourn!”, since sackcloth is the garb of mourning. Yet this is the first place YHWH’s judgment descends. Trampled Gil’ad: a rocky, mountainous region, which only iron could thresh. While YHWH had initially sent the Arameans to chastise this region for the Northern Kingdom’s sins (2 Kings 10:32-33, 13:3-7), they were taking a perverse joy in doing so, overstepping what YHWH intended.
4. “‘I have also sent out a fire onto the House of Khaza’el, which will devour the fortified palaces of Ben-hadad.
Khaza’el’s name means, “He has beheld Elohim (in a vision).” He had been sent by his master, King Ben-hadad, to the prophet Elisha, to seek a remedy for Ben-hadad’s leprosy (2 Kings 8:8ff); he later killed Ben-hadad, assumed the throne, and soon became engaged in a war with the kings of Yehudah and Israel for the possession of the city of Ramoth-gilead. (1 Kings 19) Hadad was also the deity of the Syrians, and the king was called his son, much as the kings in the line of David were called “sons of Elohim”. YHWH was making war on him as well, showing that the lesser elohim had no strength when it was time for His wrath to fall.
5. “‘And I will break the bar of Damaseq, and cause the inhabitant of the Plain of Aven to be cut off, along with the one who holds the scepter of Beyth-Eden. Then the people of Aram will go into exile in Qir’, says YHWH.
The bar: that which held the city gates securely shut. Aram: i.e., Syria, of which Damaseq is still the capital. Qir: in Mesopotamia.
6. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Gaza, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because of their carrying away a whole [population] into exile in order to deliver them over to Edom.
Gaza (Heb., ‘Azzah): a center for slave trade due to its location on the Mediterranean coast.
7. “‘So I have sent out a fire against the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its fortified palaces.
Gaza was the chief city of the Filistines, as it now is for the people who have taken on the same name again (the Palestinians, which in Arabic is pronounced Filistiin). In 743 B.C., the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III attacked Gaza, making it a vassal city. Only after Babylon conquered Assyria were the Filistines as a people totally destroyed.
8. “‘I have also caused the inhabitant to be cut off from Ashdod, along with the one who holds the scepter from Ashqelon, and I will bring My hand back against Eqron, and the what is left of the Filistines will vanish.’ [This is what] Adonai YHWH has said.
Ashdod, Ashqelon, and Eqron were the other major cities of the Filistines; of its five chief cities, only Gath goes unmentioned (but shows up in 6:2). Joseph Good notes that the repeated patterns in this chapter are a clear example of the common practice of prophets singing or chanting out their prophecies in their own unique style.
9. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Tzur, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because of their delivering over a whole [group of] exiles to Edom; moreover, they did not remember the treaty of kinship.
He moves on to a third recipient of YHWH’s wrath. “Judgment on the Gentiles is not listed according to geographical location, but according to the severity of their persecution of [YHWH]’s people.” These exiles were probably a group of Israelites bought by the “Phoenicians”, then sold at great profit. (David Levy) Tzur (often called Tyre) was a major power on the coast of Levanon. Treaty of kinship: or simply, “brotherly covenant”—probably that made between King Shlomo and Tzur’s King Hiram (1 Kings 5:2-6; 9:11-14), or alternately between Akh’av and Hiram (1 Kings 16:29-31).
10. “‘So I have sent out a fire against the wall of Tzur, and it will devour its fortified palaces.’
Alexander the Great indeed destroyed this city by fire in 332 B.C. after a long siege of seven months (due to it being on a nearly-impregnable island). 6,000 were killed and 30,000 sold into slavery.
11. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Edom, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because he pursued his brother with the sword, ruined his tender affections, has constantly been tearing in pieces, and has retained his extravagance perpetually.
This is the only case in which four wrongs are actually listed. Ruined his tender affections: or, corrupted the wombs belonging to him. Extravagance: from the word for “crossing over”, meaning any kind of excess from overflowing anger and outbursts of rage to arrogance (having too high a view of himself).
12. “‘So I have sent out a fire against Teyman, and it will devour the fortified palaces of Botzrah.
These were Edom’s chief cities. The nation of Edom was subjugated by the Assyrians prior to 700 B.C. and made a wasteland in the 5th century B.C., later to be taken over by the Nabateans.
13. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] the children of Ammon, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because of their splitting open the pregnant [women] of Gil’ad for the sake of expanding their territory.
Again Gil’ad, the “land of Israel outside the Land proper” is the prize many nations were seeking for themselves. It is a beautiful, mountainous fertile land that stretches from the Sea of Galilee into what today is northwestern Jordan, in the area around the city of Irbid.
14. “‘So I have caused a fire to be kindled in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its fortified palaces with a cry of alarm on the day of battle, with a tornado in the day of a storm.
Rabbah: short for Rabbat-Ammon, the capital of the Ammonite kingdom, descendants of Lot’s son Ben-Ammi, which today has become the city of Amman, Jordan. Strom: from the word for “bringing to an end”.
15. “‘Their king will also go into captivity—he and his officials together.’ [This is what] YHWH has said.”
Tiglath-Pileser destroyed Ammon in 734 B.C.
CHAPTER 2
1. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Moav, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.
Moav bordered on Edom; both were east of Israel, across the Yarden and Aravah respectively.
2. “‘So I have sent out a fire against Teyman, and it will devour the fortified palaces of Q’riyoth. And Moav will die with the din of a great uproar, with the cry of alarm, and with the sound of the shofar.
Teyman: an Edomite offshoot that ended up becoming what is now known as Yemen.
3. “‘I have also cut off from its midst the one who judges, and I will slay all its officials along with him,’ says YHWH.
4. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Yehudah, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: because they have rejected the instruction of YHWH, and have not guarded His prescribed statutes. Their deceitful things after which their forefathers walked have been causing them to go astray.
Instruction: Heb., torah. Deceitful things: often a term referring to idols. Amos has been moving progressively closer to home, and by now those who might have cheered at the punishments to come upon their enemy neighbors should be starting to feel uncomfortable. Yehudah is right next door, and is their brother, so if YHWH is chiding even them, there is no way Israel will be exempt either.
5. “‘So I have sent out a fire against Yehudah, and it will devour the fortified palaces of Yerushalayim.
6. “This is what YHWH says: ‘On account of three violations [by] Israel, and on account of four, I will not revoke [the punishment]: on account of their selling the righteous one for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals--
Now he hits right at home. Selling the righteous one for silver: Though Yehudah appeared to have been responsible for Y’shua’s death, it was really on account of the Northern Kingdom (Israel)’s sins that he came and died. (Mat. 15:24)
7. “‘those who blow off the dust of the earth onto the head of the poor, and pervert the recourse of the afflicted. Also, a man and his father are going in to the same maiden, with the intent to dishonor My set-apart Name!
Blow off: snuff off, breathe out, or even kick up in a demeaning manner, despising their plight.
8. “‘They’ve even started stretching out beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and drinking the wine of those being fined in the house of their elohim.
Stretching out beside…altar: probably in sexual fertility rites common to paganism. Garments taken in pledge: meant to only be held as collateral for a short time, not used by those holding them. (Ex. 22:26) They clearly did not intend to give these back. Israel is charged with very different wrongs than Yehudah was. Every one of these sins is against one’s brother. Though they are clearly involved in idolatry, as every other prophet (and even this context) bears out, He is more concerned about how they treat one another—a root sin that will bring havoc on all her neighbors as well. What Israel does affects all the nations that have had significant contact with her (many even intermarrying with her). Nations like Egypt are not even mentioned, only her Semitic brothers. The salt of the earth is still refusing to let YHWH pulverize her into usefulness, and the whole region must therefore suffer.
9. “‘Though I was the one who annihilated before them the Emorite, whose height was like the height of cedars, and who had stored up strength like the oaks. I even annihilated his fruit from above and his roots from below.
10. “‘I was also the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you through the wilderness [for] forty years to take possession of the Emorite’s land.
11. “‘From among your sons I then raised up [some] to be prophets and from among your choicest young men, [some] to be Nazirites. Isn’t this indeed [the case], O sons of Israel?’, says YHWH.
12. “‘But you have been making the Nazirites drink wine, and you have given orders to the prophets, saying, “Do not prophesy!”
Nazirites: men consecrated to YHWH whether permanently or temporarily, identified by their uncut hair and abstinence from wine. His people did not want any such blatant reminders that He had set them apart, nor did they wish to hear reproof. Will we, their descendants, make reparation for their error?
13. “‘Look at Me! [I’m] struggling under your weight, pressed down like a cart loaded down with sheaves!
14. “‘So the place of refuge will vanish from the swift, the strong will not secure his forcefulness, and the mighty will not save his [own] life.
15. “‘Moreover, the one who wields the bow will not hold his ground, nor will the light-footed escape nor [will even] the one who rides a horse deliver himself.
16. “‘Even the one who is brave of heart will run away naked in that day,’ declares YHWH.”
CHAPTER 3
1. “Listen to this word that YHWH has spoken against you, O sons of Israel—against the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, and I quote:
2. “‘You alone have I known [intimately] out of all the families of the ground. Therefore, I will call you to account because of all of your guilt.’
YHWH’s family is held to a higher standard of judgment (compare Luke 12:48) as teachers are (Yaaqov 3:1), since all of Israel is called to be a teaching people—a light to the nations. The rewards for doing so are greater than others will receive, but the consequences for not doing so are also far greater. Israel of all people should understand what pleases Him. Because they did not seem to care, all who are in her family will pay as well, but especially Israel. Guilt: based on a root word meaning to twist, distort, pervert, or corrupt. It is not sin per se (which is defined as missing the target); rather, it is staying near the target, but moving it slightly so that it will appear that what we are doing actually met the standard after all. He will turn on them the very things they used against Him.
3. “Can two walk together without being in agreement?
In agreement: sometimes even used of betrothal. I.e., they walk together “down the aisle”. Joining together with other Israelites often means separating from those who have different priorities. But this is specifically about a relationship with YHWH Himself. If we and YHWH cannot even agree on the terms of the contract, it is already broken.
4. “Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion employ his voice out of his den if he has not captured anything?
I.e., would I be saying these things if I were not about to do something severe to you?
5. “Will a bird fall into a trap on the earth when there is no bait [set out] for it? Will a trap spring from the ground and catch nothing at all?
These rhetorical questions are a mere setup for the real ones:
6. “If a shofar is sounded in a city, won’t the people tremble [from fear]? If there is calamity in a city, isn’t it YHWH who has perpetrated it?
Sounded: the particular term used refers to short, staccato notes that signified an alarm due to an impending attack. Isn’t it YHWH…? Especially in Israel, where He has promised that no one would even covet our Land if His people are walking in His ways (Ex. 34:24), anything that went wrong had to have at least come through the filter of His permission, if not originating in His will. (Iyov/Job 1:12-2:7) There are no accidents.
7. “Because Adonai YHWH will do nothing unless He discloses the inner [secrets of] His council to His servants, the prophets.
Council: i.e., His plans to which only a few are privy to the reasons for, yet He promises that some (and any who heed them) will indeed be forewarned of His intimate purposes, as Avraham was. (Gen. 18:17)
8. “A lion has roared; who would not be afraid? Adonai YHWH has spoken; who should not [feel compelled to] prophesy?
Notice the subtle change in the metaphor. We should only fear if there were no one prophesying, because as Yonah shows, the purpose of such dire warnings is to avert the consequences. It is only too late if we fail to repent, but the burden is on the prophet to make sure the opening is provided to do so.
9. “Let it be heard in the fortified palaces of Ashdod, and in the fortified palaces of Egypt. Now [this is what you must] say: ‘Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Shomron, and watch the great disturbances in her midst, and the exploitation [being perpetrated] in her innermost [sectors],
Ashdod: a chief city of the Filistines. Shomron: or Samaria, the final capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Disturbances: confusion, disquietings, panic, trouble, or turmoil. Exploitation: specifically defrauding or extortion—pressing for unjust gain.
10. “‘because they do not even know [how] to do right,’ declares YHWH, ‘—those who are storing up violence and devastation in their palaces.’
Right: literally, what is straight. (Compare His accusation in v. 2 that they are “crooked”.) Storing up: He gives back to us from what we have given to Him. As the computer adage goes, if we put garbage in, we will get garbage out. When our resources run out and He opens the “cellar” into which we’ve put our rations for the hard times, if we have put the worst quality food there, it is all we will have. Having stored up the wrong things instead of learning what Torah really says, we will find ourselves without any true wisdom, discernment, or maturity when the real tests come.
11. “So this is what YHWH says: ‘An oppressor! And on every side of the Land! And he will bring down your ability to prevail, and your palaces will be plundered!’
Ability to prevail: the current status in Israel; they were counting on things remaining that way, and letting down their guard.
12. “This is what YHWH has said: ‘As a shepherd can recover from a lion’s mouth two legs or a [severed] piece of an ear, that is how the descendants of Israel will be rescued--[those] who remain in Shomron in the corner of a coffin or [on a] couch in Damaseq.
An animal that is torn like this is useless, for its remains are not even to be eaten (Ex. 22:31); they can only be thrown to the dogs, and that is exactly what YHWH did to our ancestors at this point, because “dogs” is an idiom for Gentiles, and they wanted to belong to the pagan world anyway. Recover: possibly so the lion would not be strengthened any further, but Y’shua, the “Beneficent Shepherd” (Yoch. 10), was able to salvage a small amount of the ability to hear from YHWH and a hobbled halakhah (way of walking out our faith), and was able to rebuild the nation from this, for it was the Shema’ (the command to listen to the fact that YHWH is one) and the festivals (called “legs” in Ex. 23:14) by which He began drawing us back to the Torah in our own day. Corner of a coffin: There will not even be enough remains to fill a fraction of it. On a couch in Damaseq: left alone in their lover’s bed, for they were no longer welcome in YHWH’s.
13. “‘Listen and bear witness in the House of Yaaqov!’, declares Adonai YHWH, the Elohim of Armies.
Elohim of Armies: When He begins to use this language, it is clear that He is serious about judgment.
14. “‘For on the day I bring punishment upon Israel for His rebellions, I will also bring punishment upon the altars of Beyth-El, and the horns of the altar will be chopped off and drop to the earth.
Beyth-El: the illegitimate substitute worship site set up by King Yarav’am I to keep his subjects from going to Yerushalayim, now his political rival, to worship. (1 Kings 12:29) But to bring it closer to home, many call churches the “House of God”—one way of translating Beyth-El.
15. “‘I will also cause the winter house to be attacked along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory will be lost, and the great houses will come to an end,’ declares YHWH.
He has moved on from addressing the general populace to the kings and priests (the leaders), for they had built a substitute priesthood out of a few apostate Levites, and kings were doing what they had no right to do.
CHAPTER 4
1. “Hear this word, [you] cows of Bashan, who are in the hill country of Shomron, who exploit the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their household superintendants, ‘Bring in, and let us drink!’
Cows of Bashan: i.e., those who are well-to-do and fat. Bashan (the Golan Heights) is still some of the best pastureland in Israel. Though the best-fed of any people, they were still oppressing others to get more.
2. “Adonai YHWH has sworn by His holiness that, indeed, days are coming upon you, and He will lift you up with barbs, and those behind you with meat hooks!
Lift you up: or, take you away. The Hellenists did fish Jews out of caves in the Arbel mountain with grappling hooks during the Maccabean era, but this is referring to the Northern Kingdom.
3. “Then you will go out through the breaches, [each] woman equally, and you will be thrown into the high tower, declares YHWH.
Equally: or fairly. High tower: a fortress with impenetrable walls. But this one belongs to our enemies, and no one will be able to rescue us from it until YHWH decides to free us. The term literally means “great harem”—being only one of many “equal” lovers, not an exclusive bride as we were to YHWH. (3:2)
4. “‘Enter into Beyth-El and rebel! Let rebellion be increased at Gilgal! So bring your slaughters for the morning, your tithes for three days,
Rebel: or transgress, overstep your boundaries. Three days: the times Yarav’am had substituted for YHWH’s three pilgrimage festivals meant to be taken to Yerushalayim. (1 Kings 12:32) He sarcastically says they might as well go ahead and fill up their cup of judgment. It will be easier for YHWH not to think about the fact that these are Avraham’s descendants if they are doing such evil things.
5. “‘and burn a thank-offering that is leavened, and proclaim free-will offerings; cause them to be heard about, because this is what you like, O descendants of Israel’, declares Adonai YHWH.
A thank-offering that is leavened: specifically forbidden in Lev. 2:11. He is being sarcastic because they have already decided what they want, with no thought given to what He prefers and has asked for.
6. “But I have also given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your [dwelling] places, yet [still] you have not turned back toward Me,’ declares YHWH.
Cleanness of teeth: not shiny ones, well-polished from excellent preventive care, but from disuse due to famine or the withholding of food by a besieging enemy.
7. “‘Also, I [Myself] have even withheld the rain from you when there were still three months until the harvest, or I let it rain on one city while I would not let it rain on a[nother] city; one area was rained on, while the area that was not rained on dried up.
Three months until the harvest: when rain is needed most. They were deliberately inequitable toward their fellow Israelites, and YHWH considers this as done to Him. (Luke 12:21) So He deliberately treats them unequally in return. He may also have been providing rain where people were faithful to Him, and withholding it where they were not, so they would notice that they were out of His favor.
8. “‘So two [or] three cities staggered to one city to [find] water to drink, but they were not satisfied. Yet [still] you have not turned back toward Me,’ declares YHWH.
9. “‘I have let you be hit with blight and mildew, and when your orchards and vineyards, fig trees and olives had increased abundantly, the [creeping] locust started devouring them. Yet [still] you have not turned back toward Me,’ declares YHWH.
10. “‘I have sent a pestilence among you the way [I did in] Egypt. I have slain your young men [in their prime] with the sword, along with [having] your horses captured, and I have made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils. Yet [still] you have not turned back toward Me,’ declares YHWH.
11. “‘I have overturned some of you like Elohim’s overthrow of S’dom and Ghamorah, and you were like a firebrand rescued out of the burning. Yet [still] you have not turned back toward Me,’ declares YHWH.
Like a firebrand: The same is said of Y’shua the high priest. (Zech. 3:2) He, too, was given a second try, and used it profitably, but by this point Israel had been given many openings to repent, and had not. (vv. 6-10)
12. “‘Therefore, I will do the same to you, O Israel; as a consequence of this, I will do [it] to you. Get ready to meet your Elohim, O Israel,
As a consequence of this: or, on the heels of this. Meet your Elohim: but not in the way they might wish to.
13. “‘because, indeed, He Who forms mountains and Who creates wind and makes known to mankind what His complaint is—the One Who makes dawn into darkness and Who treads upon the heights of the earth—YHWH, the Elohim of Armies is His Name!’”
What His complaint is: or, alternately, what his [man’s] thought is; i.e., He knows our intentions.
CHAPTER 5
1. “Listen to this word that I am lifting up against you—a dirge, O House of Israel:
Dirge: as if she had already died. Compare Lamentations 2:21 re: the destruction of the Temple.
2. “‘The virgin of Israel has fallen, not to get up again. She has been abandoned on her ground; there is no one setting her [back] up,
3. “‘because this is what YHWH says: “The city that goes out [to battle] a thousand [strong] will have a hundred left, and the one belonging to the House of Israel that goes forth a hundred [strong] will have ten”,
They would literally be decimated. Yaaqov had promised to give YHWH ten percent of all that he had. (Gen. 28:22) This includes his descendants. YHWH promised He would always leave a remnant (2 Chron. 30:6), but it appears that Israel had fallen to such a low condition that all YHWH would spare was the tithe that rightfully belonged to Him.
4. “‘because this is what YHWH says to the House of Israel: “Resort to Me, and survive!
Surv ive: or, be revived, restored to life. Later in the book we will see how Israel can rise again after all of this. Resort to: or seek out, beat a path to. So the salient question is “HOW do we seek Him?” Throughout Scripture He tells us how He wants to be sought: by loving knowledge, choosing to fear Him, not despising His rebuke, listening to Him, and taking His advice (Prov. 1:28-33); loving Him and seeking Him with diligent commitment (Prov. 8:17); drawing near to Him TOGETHER, leaving Gentile lifestyles behind (Yeshayahu 45:19-20); searching for Him with a whole heart, begging Him for mercy (Yirm. 29:10); acknowledging our guilt without excuses (Hos. 5:15)—and seeking the place He chooses and going there (Deut. 12:5):
5. “‘“But you must not seek Me at Beyth-El or go into Gilgal, nor cross over to Be’er-Sheva, because won’t Gilgal indeed go into exile, and Beyth-El become afflicted?”
Gilgal: Here, not the first place Yehoshua camped after crossing into the Promised Land, but a dwelling place of prophets about 4 km. from both Beyth-El and Shiloh within the borders of the Northern Kingdom. Be’er-Sheva was at least in Yehudah, but was not a big enough step. They had to fully repent; it was only Yerushalayim in which YHWH allowed His altar to stand.
6. “Seek YHWH and survive, or else He will break out like fire [against] the House of Yosef and devour her, and there is no one in Beyth-El who [can] extinguish it.
7. “Those who turn justice and righteousness into hemlock for the Land, He has laid to rest--
Hemlock: or wormwood; i.e., poison. Alt., turn justice into hemlock and cast righteousness down to the earth.
8. “He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the shadow of death into daybreak, and has darkened the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth: YHWH is His Name!
The Pleiades: Heb.,Kimah (stored ornaments). Orion: the western world knows him as a hunter, but in Hebrew, its name, Kesil, means “an arrogant simpleton”. What hunter would have grown into a legend by that time? Nimrod. YHWH is thus emphasizing that He is superior to the one many worshipped, since He indeed created him.
9. “He causes devastation to burst forth upon the fierce, so that devastation comes upon the stronghold.
10. “In the gate they hate the one who brings evidence, and cannot stand one who speaks [with] integrity.
The gate: the ancient equivalent of the civic courtroom, for it inspected and judged what would come into the city and what would not be permitted.
11. “‘“Therefore, on account of your trampling on the weak and seizing ‘contributions’ of pure grain from him, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them; you have planted desirable vineyards, but you will not drink of their wine,
Trampling: or, imposing heavy rent upon. Contributions: or, grain taxes. The treatment of the poor is the scriptural litmus test of true justice—neither oppressing nor unduly favoring them. (Lev. 19:15; Deut. 15:11)
12. “‘“because I have been aware of your many rebellions and your sins—too numerous to count: putting the righteous in dire straits, taking a bribe, and having turned away the needy at the gate.
13. “‘“The one who is circumspect is dumbfounded at that time, since it is a time of calamity.”’
Circumspect: one who keeps his eyes on what is going on all around him. Even one who has noticed the trends and prepared for them will be unable to keep up with the sudden changes that overwhelm the Land.
14. “Seek what is excellent and not evil, so that you may survive, and [so] it may become the case that YHWH, the Elohim of Armies, is with you, as you have claimed!
15. “Hate evil and love what is right, and exhibit justice in the gate. It may be that YHWH, the Elohim of Armies, will show pity to what is left of Yosef.
Aggressive opposition may also be included in “hate”, but the Hebrew sense often simply means “do not choose that option; favor the other”. This is sometimes all it takes to defuse evil. When our courts are righteous, we will regain YHWH’s favor. It may be: Some of the listeners must have responded appropriately, for He is now restoring Yosef. Yet we have no Torah-based courts yet. This may be the next step.
16. “Therefore, this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Armies—Adonai—says: ‘[There will be] wailing in all [the] open plazas, and in all the streets, and they will say, “Alas! Alas!” And they will call the plowman to mourn and anyone who knows how to wail, [they will call] to lament.
There will be so few left that anyone left will be called to fulfill the role usually assigned to professional leaders of mourning rites.
17. “‘And [there will be] wailing in all [the] vineyards, because I will pass through your midst,’ says YHWH.
Pass through your midst: i.e., as He did in Egypt through the angel of death.
18. “‘Woe to the ones who long for the Day of YHWH! Whatever for? For you, the Day of YHWH is darkness, not light!
Be careful what you ask for! This is like many today who expect the Kingdom to be a time of peace and glory for themselves, but are mistaken about where they stand with YHWH, since they do not walk in His Torah.
19. “‘It [will be] like when a man was escaping from a lion, and a bear attacked him, then when he got into the house, he rested his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him!
Just when they thought they were safe, a worse thing befell them.
20. “‘Isn’t the Day of YHWH indeed darkness and not light, and as dark [as after the sun has set], with no brightness in it?
21. “‘I have come to hate, to reject your festivals, and I will not be forced to accept your extended assemblies with delight.
Your festivals: not His, but the ones they have substituted for His, or the way they have changed His to suit their own purposes. This is not His abdication of the validity of the festivals He had prescribed, for Y’shua and Paul both reaffirmed that. (Luke 22:15; 1 Cor. 5:8; Acts 18:21) Accept with delight: or, smell.
22. “‘Even if you send ascending offerings and tribute-gifts up to Me, I will not be pleased, nor will I pay attention to the peace offerings of your over-fed beasts.
23. “‘Take the noise of your songs away from Me, because I will not listen to the music of your harps,
24. “‘and let just rulings roll like waters, and righteousness like a torrent that flows evenly!
Evenly: i.e., with equity; the Hebrew term emphasizes constancy and reliability.
25. “‘Did you bring near slaughters and tribute-gifts to Me [during the] forty years in the wilderness, O House of Israel?
26. “‘Yet you carried the woven coverings of your king and an image of your own likeness--the star of your elohim, which you made for yourselves!
Woven covering: or a proper name, Sikut, a Babylonian deity also known as Molekh (the ruling one, an alternate reading of “king”), a bloodthirsty deity renamed Zeus and Jupiter in the West. Image: Heb., Kiyun (“the established one”), an Assyro-Babylonian deity later adopted by Hinduism and identical to the Western world’s Saturn. The association of Saturn with a star may be why Christmas (Saturnalia) trees are often topped with a star.
27. “‘So I am about to make you go into captivity [much] further away than Damaseq,’ says YHWH, who is renowned as the Elohim of Armies.
Damaseq: Israel’s “paramour” (3:12), but close enough to home, where they still felt some sense of being in control. YHWH says He will fling them far beyond there, into being full-scale Gentiles. Yet, interestingly enough, it was one of the first places where the returning “lost sheep of the House of Israel” regathered, as Paul considered the destruction of the Messianic believers there very strategic. (Acts 9)
CHAPTER 6
1. “Woe [to] those who rest securely in Tzion, and who trust in the mountain[s] of Shomron—those designated as the first of the nations, and to whom the House of Israel came in!
Rest securely: with the connotation of being arrogant about it. Tzion … Shomron: the two governments that existed at this time in Israel. They were also the spiritual and secular seats of the Northern Kingdom, as if they were saying, “If all else fails, we can fall back on Yerushalayim and start serving YHWH again.” They were not walking in Torah, but thought it was there as a safety net.
2. “Cross over to Kalneh, and look, or go from there to the great Khamath! Or go down to Gath of the Filistines. Are they better than these realms, or is their territory greater than your territory--
Kalneh: a Babylonian city founded by Nimrod, captured by Assyria in the 8th century B.C.E. Khamath: an important city in the Orontes River valley of upper Syria. Gath: once the hometown of Golyath.
3. “[You] who are pushing back the evil day, yet bringing near the seat of violence,
Pushing back: putting off—saying they have bought time and the “Day of YHWH’s wrath” (5:20) is far off, so we need not worry about it; its negative effects do not apply to us. Violence: or mistreatment (Heb., Hamas). While the master is away, the servants are beating their fellows (Luke 12:45), because they feel like they can get away with it.
4. “who lie on beds of ivory and have sprawled out on their couches, and who devour lambs out of the flock and bull-calves from the middle of the stall,
Stall: where the cattle are fattened up, and the best are meant to be brought to the Temple. But they are using these for their own purposes instead.
5. “who improvise [carelessly] around the mouth of the harp? Like David, they invent for themselves instruments of song;
Improvise: or chant, stammer. David wrote songs for worship in the Temple, but they are using them for their own pleasure alone and profaning the medium.
6. “who drink wine in pitchers, and anoint themselves with first [-pressed] oils, yet are not sick with grief over the ruin of Yosef.
Pitchers: this may merely mean “by the pitcherful”, but in context it seems to refer to the kind of pitchers called by the same name (mizraq) meant to be used to toss blood against the altar when sacrifices were brought; they are using it for common purposes instead. First-pressed oils: meant to be given to the Levitical priests to light the menorah in the Temple. (Num. 18:12; Lev. 24:2) Some priests were indeed hired by the Northern kings to officiate in the substitute temples and train non-Levites to be their priests. They may well have co-opted some of the implements from YHWH’s true Temple in Yerushalayim. And they do all this oblivious to the spiritual state the whole Northern Kingdom is in, which is showing signs of being ready to make the whole society collapse, because the foundational principles have been forsaken.
7. “Therefore they will now go into exile with the first removing, and the revelry of those [who have] sprawled themselves out will be removed.
First removing: the first wave of captives taken on Assyria’s first sweep, which would be followed by more, but this is what YHWH wants taken away from His Land first.
8. “‘The Master YHWH has sworn by His own soul,’ declares YHWH, the Elohim of Armies: ‘I loathe the pride of Yaaqov, and have come to hate his fortified palaces; therefore, I will hand over the city and everything that is in it.
Hand over: or simply, close off.
9. “‘And [this is how] it will be: if there are ten men left in one house, then they will die.
Ten men: symbolic of a whole congregation. Normally, YHWH would spare a city for only ten righteous (Gen. 18:32), so these men are not righteous.
10. “‘And his uncle will carry him along with the one who burns him, to bring the bones out of the house, and will say to whomever is in the recesses of the house, “Is there [anyone] still with you?” And he will say, “[We’re] finished”, and will say, “Hush! Because we must not make mention of the Name of YHWH!”
Uncle: or, beloved. In those days there was a Gentile custom of not voicing the name of one’s deity lest he pay too much attention to them. This seems to be the way they are thinking here; those who know of the curse of v. 9 are in hiding. The one who has already been detected says no one is with him, and tells all those in the house to remain silent so they will not be noticed.
11. “‘Because, indeed, YHWH is giving the order, and He will cause the great house to be beaten into tiny fragments, and the insignificant house split open.
12. “‘Will horses run on rock? Or can someone plow it with oxen? Because you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock--
Poison: literally, “head”, possibly since it is derived from the heads of the plant—a poisonous “fruit”. Therefore, this land is no longer pasture. Neither house of Israel has been fully in Torah, so the sheep do not have the best food to eat.
13. “‘[you] who rejoice for a thing that does not exist--who say, “Haven’t we captured horns for ourselves by our own strength?”
Horns: a symbol of domination.
14. “‘Because, look at Me! I am raising up a nation against you, O House of Israel,’ declares YHWH, the Elohim of Armies, ‘and they will certainly squeeze you from the entrance to Khamath to the wadi of the Aravah.’”
Squeeze: or, oppress. The places mentioned here are the northern and southern limits of the inhabited part of Israel in that day; i.e., no one will escape this treatment
CHAPTER 7
1. This is what Adonai YHWH showed me: “Now, watch! He is forming locusts at the opening of when the late crop after-growth comes up.” And, in fact, it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.
This is right around the time when the special season of T’shuvah (repentance) begins, but would be a devastating time to have the crops devoured, for it is the most critical harvest for winter survival. Locusts have to be so numerous that they are rubbing up against each other’s legs before they will swarm like this.
2. And when it had finished completely devouring the green plants of the Land, what I said was, “Adonai YHWH, please forgive! How could Yaaqov [ever] recover, since he is tiny?”
3. YHWH was moved to pity over this. “It will not come about,” said YHWH.
4. This is what Adonai YHWH let me see, and behold, Adonai YHWH is summoning the fire to contend, and it was consuming the great deep, and devoured the assigned portion.
Assigned portion: the Land of Israel.
5. And I said, “Adonai YHWH, please stop! How can Yaaqov recover, since he is tiny?”
6. YHWH was moved to pity over this. “This, too, will not come about,” said YHWH.
7. This is what He let me see: and behold, Adonai had stationed Himself on a wall [built with a] plumb line, and a plumb line [was] in His hand.
8. And YHWH said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” So I said, “A plumb line.” And Adonai said, “Here I am, placing a plumb line in the innermost midst of My people Israel; I will not bypass him again.
Plumb line: an instrument of judgment, measuring what is and is not upright. Bypass: because they were not grateful enough that they had “dodged these bullets” to bother repenting. But the plumbline is our lifeline and how we can indeed recover: by restoring right judgments in his gates (i.e., courts of law).
9. “Then Yis’haq’s cultic platforms will be made desolate, and Israel’s holy places become desolate, and I have risen above the House of Yarav’am with a sword!”
Yis’haq’s cultic platforms: the alternative worship-site at Be’er-sheva (5:5), since that is where Yis’haq (an alternate spelling of Yitzhaq, son of Avraham) lived and built an altar. (Gen. 26:25) Apparently it was used again after Israel had abandoned YHWH’s command to build Him an altar nowhere but in Yerushalayim.
10. Then Amatzyah, the officiator of Beyth-El, sent [word] to Yarav’am, King of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you in the innermost midst of the House of Israel! The Land cannot endure all his words,
11. “because this is what Amos said: ‘Yarav’am will die by the sword, and Israel will go into exile from upon his Land for sure!’”
12. So Amatzyah said to Amos, “O clairvoyant, go, hurry for your own [sake] to the land of Yehudah, and eat bread there and you can prophesy there,
I.e., “You’re a nice boy; I don’t want to have to kill you. Just leave quietly and we’ll pretend nothing ever occurred.” Did he have a change of heart after he realized he had endangered Amos’ life?
13. “but don’t ever prophesy again [at] Beyth-El; it is the king’s sanctuary and it is the royal home.”
14. But Amos answered and said to Amatzyah, “I myself am not a prophet nor was I [the] son of a prophet, because I am a herdsman and gatherer of sycomore [figs],
I.e., “I am not doing this for fun or because it is my livelihood! I’m not trained for this at all, but I’m here because this is what YHWH wanted.” YHWH knew that someone who tended sheep would tend His human flock faithfully. A herdsman would be an ideal person to also tend sycomore figs, for they are inedibly bitter unless someone, at the right time, pierces them with a tiny reed and rubs olive oil on them, in which case they ripen very delicious. He would have the best vantage point to watch his flocks from such a tree, and could tend to the “figs” at the same time.
15. “but YHWH took me from following after the flock, and YHWH told me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
16. “So now, listen to the word of YHWH: ‘You are saying, “Do not prophesy against Israel” and “Do not bring [it] down on the House of Yis’haq!”
17. “‘Therefore, this is what YHWH says: Your own wife will [become] a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your ground will be distributed by region, and you will die on defiled ground. And Israel will [most] certainly go into exile from upon his Land!’”
Prostitute in the city: probably for one of the pagan temples in the place of her exile. Region: literally, measuring line. Defiled ground: i.e., outside the Land of Israel or in a Land of Israel overtaken by foreigners.
CHAPTER 8
1. This is what Adonai YHWH showed me: lo and behold, a basket of summer [fruit]!
Basket: actually based on the word for dog, the most literal meaning is “dog cage” or “dog trap”. This gives us an indication of how the ancient Hebrews looked at dogs in contrast to how Western culture does. They were rarely domesticated, and were scavengers feared by most. Efrayim’s name indicates that it was meant to be fruitful, but instead YHWH has to treat it like a wild, untamed dog. “Dogs” was a common Hebrew way of describing Gentiles, and that is exactly what the Northern Kingdom was acting like.
2. And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” So I said, “A basket of summer [fruit].” And YHWH told me, “The end has arrived for My people Israel; I will not bypass him again.
The Hebrew word for “end” (extreme limit) is qetz, a play on the word for summer (fruit), qayitz. Compare Gen. 6:13; Yehezq’El 7:23.
3. “And on that day they will be made to howl the songs of the Temple,” declares Adonai YHWH. “There will be abundant corpses in every place, and they will throw them out, [saying], ‘Hush!’
Songs of the Temple: what they used to love to sing, but not live out. So YHWH would silence them.
4. “Hear this, you who are trampling the needy, and putting an end to the poor,
5. “saying, ‘When will the New [Moon] have passed, so that we can sell grain? Or the Sabbath, so that we may release wheat, to reduce [the size of] the eyfah, increase [the value of] the sheqel, and craftily tilt the scales,
New Moon…Sabbath: While not explicit in Torah, it appears to be have been the expected standard to avoid buying and selling on those days. This practice of varying weights and measures was strictly forbidden in Lev. 9:36; Deut. 25:13; compare Prov. 20:10. But an eyfah represents a whole congregation, measuring ten omers, each of which is worth only a half sheqel that is, is the value of an individual person. (Ex. 30:13-15; 38:26) Thus this also symbolizes making the individual more important than the corporate identity. What is heavy (important) is treated as light and what is far less significant is given great weight. This person has not learned his lessons on functioning as a unified Body, which the Counting of the Omer emphasizes and depicts. There is another word play here: They want His holy days to pass (the root word from which the term “Hebrew” is derived), but they are not interested in being Hebrews (those who cross over).
6. “‘to acquire the weak for silver, and the needy for the sake of a pair of sandals, and sell the residual wheat?’
Residual wheat: from the word for “fallen”--either the worst part of the crop, the refuse, or (more likely in context) that which was to be left for the needy to come glean. (Deut. 24:21) No one is to make a profit from this. Though it grew in your field, this portion belongs to YHWH; it was never yours to dispose of.
7. “YHWH has sworn by the pride of Yaaqov: If I ever forget any of their deeds for perpetuity…!
Pride of Yaaqov: an idiom for the Land of Israel.
8. “Won’t the Land shudder over this, and all those who live in it lament? And all of it will rise up like the daylight and be driven out[ward] and subside as the Nile of Egypt [does].
Shudder: or tremble, be perturbed, upset—i.e., ready to vomit out its inhabitants who have not kept YHWH’s covenant. (Lev. 20:22) Rise up: alt., withdraw or retreat.
9. “And in that day [the way] it will be,” declares Adonai YHWH, “[is] that I will cause the sun to go in at noon, and make the Land dark on the day of light.
10. “Then I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into a dirge, and I will draw up burlap over every hip, and [bring] baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only [son], and its end like a day of bitterness.
Burlap: or sackcloth, worn as a sign of mourning. Baldness: another mourning ritual among the common people, but forbidden for priests (21:5; compare Deut. 14:1)
11. “Indeed, the days are coming,” declares Adonai YHWH, “when I will send a famine into the Land—not a famine for bread, or a thirst for water, but rather of hearing the words of YHWH.
The days are coming: This therefore applies to latter-day Efrayim. Hearing: the Hebrew term includes obedience. It is not that YHWH’s words will not be available, but that we will not be able to understand what they are really saying, obscured as they are by centuries of misplaced emphasis at best and twisting at worst. There is plenty of instruction available, so people think they are well-watered. But there is no real obedience to YHWH’s commands, so it is all out of context.
12. “And they will wander from sea to sea, and from the north all the way to the sunrise; they will run to and fro to search for a word [from] YHWH, but they will not be able to find [one].
Wander: or stagger. North: The Hebrew term also means “hidden”, but though he did miracles, Y’shua downplayed the spectacular and emphasized the true relationship with YHWH. (Luke 10:20) His word is not far off or hidden irretrievably on some mountaintop; it is very simple (Deut. 30:11-14); people just do not wish to obey its plain commands. So why should He say any more?
13. “In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men [in their prime] will faint from thirst--
No one will be exempt or have the advantage of immunity to His judgment.
14. “those who swear by the guilt of Shomron and say, ‘[As] your elohim lives, O Dan”, and “[As] the way of Be’er-Sheva lives”. So they will fall and not get up again.
Dan and Be’er-sheva: again, alternative worship sites not authorized by YHWH at this time. These two towns are the extremities of the arable parts of Israel, and so this encompasses the whole Land. The Northern Kingdom is by and large still swearing by the false altars and golden calves of security, prosperity, or Christian morals, in which they trust instead of YHWH or use to mask their fear of direct relationship with Him and one another.
CHAPTER 9
1. I saw Adonai taking His stand atop the altar, and He said, “Strike the capital [of the pillar] so that the thresholds will shake, and break them off at the top, all of them, and I will kill the last of them with the sword. Not one of them who runs away will escape, nor will any fugitive be rescued.
He seems to be standing on the altar to be able to swing His sledgehammer high enough to reach the capitals! Thresholds: Ancient edifices, such as the misnamed “Pharaoh’s treasury” at Petra, often had basins cut into the threshold so that libations of wine or blood could be poured out there to dedicate the building to whatever deity was being honored thereby. So the threshold represents a covenant with someone other than YHWH. The Temple in Yerushalayim would NOT have such basins. Capital of the pillar: which upheld the pagan temples, which fell on thousands at the time of Shimshon’s death. (Judges 16:26ff) There were two pillars in front of Shlomo’s Temple (1 Kings 7:21), but they did not uphold anything, but were symbolic only.
2. “If they dig into the underworld, from there My hand will take them out, and if they go up into the skies, from there I will bring them down.
The skies: the man-made caves built into the high cliffs a and around Petra (Sela).
3. “And if they draw themselves back to the top of Karmel, from there I will seek them out and take them from there. Even if they hide from in front of My eyes in the crevasse of the sea, from there I will give orders to the serpent and it will bite them.
Karmel: a mountain range that bisects northern Israel. Crevasse: or abyss. This is the one place He does not say He will go Himself to retrieve us. But this is because it is symbolic of the place the condemned demons are held in judgment. (Gen. 1:2; Rev. 9:11; 21:1) It is considered the home of this “serpent”.
4. “Even if they go into captivity before the face of their enemies, from there I will give orders to the sword, and it will slay them, and I will fix My eyes on them for misery and not for prosperity.”
This sounds just like the curses of Deut. 28:15ff. YHWH’s reach was not, as they supposed, limited to the borders of Israel.
5. Now YHWH, Master of Armies, is the One who strikes the Land so that it dissolves, and all of those who inhabit it will mourn. And all of it will overflow like the Nile then subside as the Nile of Egypt [does].
6. The One who builds His staircase in the heavens and His band [of troops] on the earth—the One who calls to the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the land—YHWH is His Name!
7. “Aren’t you like the sons of the Kushites to Me, O sons of Israel?” says YHWH. “Haven’t I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Filistines from Kaftor, and the Aramaeans from Qir?
I.e., “You are not the only people I let migrate from one land to another; why should I treat you as special if you do not do the same for Me?”
8. “Indeed, the eyes of Adonai YHWH are on the sinful kingdom, and I will cause it to be annihilated from upon the face of the earth, although in the end I will not completely destroy the House of Yaaqov,” declares YHWH.
9. “because here I am, giving the order; indeed, I have sifted the House of Israel among all the nations, just as one sifts [grain] in a sieve, yet not a grain will fall to earth.
Not a grain will fall to earth: or, not a parcel of land will fall. YHWH is concerned even for one lost sheep. (Luke 15:4-6) But alternately, He determined where the seed would take root and where it would not; He sowed us in some places for strategic reasons and allowed us to bear fruit, while others from Israel He allowed to be destroyed, possibly due to the seriousness or nature of their particular sins.
10. “All the sinners of My people will fall by the sword—those who say, ‘The calamity will not overtake us or confront us!’
I.e., we are YHWH’s chosen people; He would not do a thing like that to us!
11. “In that day, I will raise up the sukkah of David that is falling down, and close up the gaps in its walls. Then I will establish what was torn down and rebuild it as in the ancient days,
Ancient: or, eternal, as they were ages ago. Sukkah: a temporary dwelling place such as used during harvest times when to go back and forth from home would lose too much precious time, or when Israel dwelt in the wilderness for 40 years, which the feast of Sukkoth recalls. David: including David’s throne, which belongs to the Messiah. He has been in “exile” just as we have, and he has chiefly made his temporary dwelling among the Northern Kingdom. As we all come back to Yerushalayim, He will again establish His permanent dwelling place.
12. “so they may dispossess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles upon whom My Name is proclaimed,” declares YHWH, the One who is accomplishing this.
Dispossess: or, seize, occupy, expel. Edom: the land to the southeast of Israel, and possibly by extension, Rome, which was founded in part by an Edomite. Many of YHWH’s Northern Kingdom, which chose to become Gentiles, are in its sphere of influence.
13. “Indeed, the days are coming,” declares YHWH, “when the plowman will overtake the harvester, and the treader of grapes [will overtake] the one who drags along the seed. Then the mountains will distill sweet wine, and the hills will soften.
Drags along the seed: one ancient method used in planting. Overtake: i.e., the harvest will be so plentiful that it will take until the next planting to gather it all in! Also, the climate in Israel may become so favorable that several additional planting seasons per year can be added. Distill: or drip down. Soften: to respond more favorably to cultivation, being now hard and rocky.
14. “And I will bring back the exiles of my people Israel, and they will rebuild and inhabit the cities [that were] made desolate, and they will plant vineyards and drink their wine.
Israel: not just Yehudah, who is there now. This is a direct allusion to the reversal of the curse of building houses that conquerors would inhabit and planting vineyards whose grapes worms would devour. (Deut. 28:30, 39)
15. And I will plant them on their own soil, and they will never again be uprooted from upon their territory, which I have given them,” declares YHWH your Elohim.
This is not only about Yehudah, but all of Israel.
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Amos
INTRODUCTION: Amos (pronounced ah-MOSE) was from a small town in the hill country of Yehudah. His name means “burden-bearer” or “to place a load upon”, with a root meaning of encouraging. He prophesied while both kingdoms of Israel were still thriving. In fact, Yehudah and Israel had just expanded their borders and taken control of many trade routes in the newly-acquired territories. They had become very prosperous, but this brought about political corruption and exploitation of the poor by the “newly rich”, and most of all, forgetfulness that they were set apart from all other nations for YHWH’s special purposes.
Cows in Bashan, 2011
Sheepherders near Teqoa.
(Photo by Leon Mauldin)
9:7-15 is a haftarah (companion passage) to Torah portion Q'doshim.
