BIG IDEA:
THE VOICE AND THE MOUTHPIECE –
THE LION ROARS IN PROPHETIC JUDGMENT AGAINST ISRAEL THROUGH HIS SURPRISING MESSENGER AMOS
INTRODUCTION:
Gary Smith: The heading to this scroll of sermons (1:1) introduces the readers to the person God uses to deliver his message, the general audience this message addresses, and the time when Amos interacts with his audience. It also contains a brief thematic statement about his message (1:2). . . These two verses serve as an introduction to the whole book.
Jorg Jeremias: This mortal danger, however, is not directed at enemies. Rather, in the following clause the divine roar of the lion directly causes the withering and drying up of the most fertile regions in the Northern Kingdom. Amos’ own vocation perhaps prompted the allusion to the shepherds’ vitally important pasturelands, whose desolation often represents the most terrible disaster during the later period (usually as “pastures of the wilderness,” Jer. 9:9 [10E]; 23:10; Joel 1:19, 20, et passim); during this period Mount Carmel, with its dense forests, together with Bashan (cf. Amos 4:1), Lebanon, or the plain of Sharon, stands representatively for the most fertile regions of Palestine (cf. Isa. 33:9; 35:2; Jer. 50:19; Nahum 1:4). The expression “top of Carmel” in particular, however, provides the bridge to the fifth vision (Amos 9:3). Together, these two poetic sentences circumscribe the end of all vegetation (Wolff, Weiss). It is not, however, some foreign power that brings about this devastation—this is the most important statement of the entire verse—but rather “Yahweh of Zion,” who in judgment on his own people demonstrates his power (cf. Ps. 50:2). This prepares the reader for the hymnic sections of the book of Amos (4:13; 5:8f.; 9:5f.) and for the numerous divine predicates such as “Yahweh, God of hosts.” This applies especially, however, to the book’s former concluding doxology in 9:5f. (cf. the introduction), in which the “mourning” of the shepherds’ pastures becomes the “mourning” of human beings in the face of the God who through the destruction of the temple withdraws his own presence from them and yet is still recognized and praised as the Lord of the world.
Tchavdar S. Hadjiev: The introductory verses make clear the divine origin of the text we are about to read and summarize its message. This is a vision that Amos saw of the Lord’s destructive roar against his land and its people. At the same time the opening of the book stresses more strongly than other prophetic books the human aspect of the message. These are the words of Amos, not just the roar of God. Prophetic preaching is a message fully incarnate in the words of the human herald. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the prophetic book reflects the style, theology, concerns and thought-world of its author(s). The other important point is the northward march of the divine speech, implicit in the superscription and explicit in the hymn. Amos came to Israel from Jerusalem to speak a message of judgment against the Northern Kingdom. There is also an implicit southward movement. The message against the Northern Kingdom was preserved and read in the South.
Allen Guenther: Outline
The Prophet, 1:1a
The People, 1:1b
The Time, 1:1c
The Tone, 1:2
I. (:1) SETTING
A. Identification of the Obscure Prophet
“The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa”
Amos would easily have been looked down upon by the kings of Israel and Judah and those in positions of authority and prominence. God usually does not choose to work through those who seem outwardly impressive (1 Cor. 1:26-31).
Thomas McComiskey: Most prophetic books (Isa 1:1; Jer 1:1; Hos 1:1; Joel 1:1; Na 1:1) as well as some wisdom books (Pr 1:1; Ecc 1:1; SS 1:1) begin with a superscription that serves a similar function to a title page on a modern book. The superscription was likely added by an editor or later tradent; in Amos, it identifies the genre, the author, his occupation, and the time period in which he ministered. . .
Likely that Amos was a breeder of various types of animals besides sheep.
Mark Copeland:
NAME – Amos means “burden-bearer”
HOME – The village of Tekoa
- 12 miles south of Jerusalem, 18 miles west of the Dead Sea
- Near the wilderness of Judea, a very rugged area
— So while he was Judah, he primarily prophesied against Israel in the north
OCCUPATION – “a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit.”
- An outdoorsman, accustomed to the wilds of nature, and of hard, honest toil
- It would be easy for him to have little sympathy for the lazy and materialistic conduct of his northern kinsman
CHARACTER
- Not known for his sympathy or warmth, but for his sense of justice and right
- “Not a sob is to be found in his book for the nation of wicked apostates, and there is only a sigh for the poor” (Hailey)
He is reminiscent of John the Baptist
Douglas Smith: Background on the Prophet
(Adapted from: The Bible Knowledge Commentary)
Before Amos began prophesying, he had been one of the “shepherds” of Tekoa, a town in the hill country of Judah about 10 miles south of Jerusalem. The word used for “shepherds” in 1:1 is not the usual Hebrew word roeh, but the rare word noqe, suggesting instead “sheep breeders.” Amos evidently managed or owned large herds of sheep and goats, and was in charge of other shepherds.
In Amos 7:14 the prophet further described himself as “a shepherd” and as one who “took care of sycamore-fig trees.” This word for “shepherd,” bôqer, occurs only here in the Old Testament, and describes a “herdsman” or “cattleman.” Besides overseeing his livestock operations, Amos was also occupied in growing sycamore fruit, presumably as a sideline. The sycamore-fig tree was a broad heavy tree, 25 to 50 feet high, which produced a fig-like fruit three or four times a year. The sycamore did not grow in the heights of Tekoa, but only in the warmer lowlands, as the Jordan Valley and the fertile oases by the Dead Sea. Both of these places were near enough to Tekoa for Amos to supervise the taking care of the trees (7:14)—a technical term that describes the process of slitting or scratching the forming fruit so that some juice runs out, allowing the rest of the fig to ripen into a sweeter, more edible fruit.
The three terms together indicate that Amos, as a breeder, rancher, and farmer, was a substantial and respected man in his community.
Gary Smith: The Hebrew word for “shepherd” used here (nqd) is a rare word in the Hebrew Bible, but the word is used in Akkadian and Ugaritic texts to refer to a person of status who is in charge of a group of shepherds. This implies that Amos is not a poor, uneducated shepherd, who spends his day leading a group of sheep. He probably is a manager of shepherds, possibly for a wealthy family or the government. This pastoral background explains why he uses illustrations about birds (Amos 3:5), lions (3:12), and the separation of the grain from other foreign material (9:9). These are all a part of his daily life in his natural surroundings. His involvement in the business world before going from Judah to Israel gives him insight into the way people sometimes unjustly treat others and makes him sensitive to the abuses he will observe later. . . . God calls common people such as Amos to be his servants, and these people are not always the most qualified; they are simply people willing to speak God’s words.
Lloyd Ogilvie: Amos’s business took him to the northern kingdom where he sold his wool, cattle, and fruit. On these journeys he was disturbed by the evidences of dissolute living, dishonesty, and injustice. His visits to Bethel shocked his spiritual sensitivity. There he saw the evidence of Baal worship syncretized with Yahweh. The priesthood was corrupt and indifferent to the issues of justice. In the nation as a whole, the poor were getting poorer and the rich richer.
B. Medium of the Revelation
“which he envisioned in visions”
James Mays: That Amos ‘saw’ (ḥāzāh) his words is a conventional way of saying that his words were received as revelation before they were spoken (cf. Isa. 1.1; 2.1; Micah 1.1). The conventional idiom rests on the visionary experience which underlay the activities of older seers and prophets (e.g. Balaam in Num. 24.2f., 15f.; and Micaiah ben Imlah in I Kings 22.17) and the canonical prophets. Amos reports five visions (7.1–9; 8.1–3; 9.1–4) through which he received his basic message. . .
Thus the title is primarily concerned to introduce the book as the sayings of a man who is carefully identified by name, home, vocation, and time. That his words were of divine origin is recognized by the note that he ‘saw’ them, and this fact is repeatedly emphasized by the recurrent ‘This is what Yahweh has said’ which introduces many of the oracles within the book. But the title stakes out a crucial hermeneutical principle; the sayings are to be read and understood as words for a particular time and place through one individual man. Rather than an embarrassment, their historicality is a key to their meaning.
C. Focus of the Prophet’s Burden = God’s Own People
“concerning Israel”
Billy Smith: Amos addressed Israel as the covenant people, not as the breakaway Northern Kingdom. The people of Israel, especially the king and official leadership, had seen themselves as a separate kingdom from Judah since their radical break with the Southern Kingdom in the days of Rehoboam of Judah and Jeroboam I of Israel (1 Kgs 12:16-17). That break occurred either in 930 or 922 B.C. Almost two hundred years later, Amos came to them as the people of God. Their recent history of rebellion had not canceled their covenant with God. Amos called them to account as responsible covenant partners.
D. Timeframe of His Ministry
- Southern Kingdom Reference
“in the days of Uzziah king of Judah”
- Northern Kingdom Reference
“and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel”
Robert Martin-Achard: Historians in general hold that the reigns of Uzziah (Azariah—about 783–742) and of Jeroboam II (about 786–746) were prosperous for both Judah and Israel. Moreover, both kings were successful at the expense of either their Edomite neighbours (2 Kgs. 14:22) or the Arameans (2 Kgs. 13:25; 14:25). . .
The economic situation profited from these favourable circumstances, the ruling class in the cities benefiting particularly. International trade developed, and houses were improved along with their furnishings (3:10; 5:11; 3:12; 6:4). But division developed right at the heart of Yahweh’s people, in so far as a minority, grouped round the court and settled in the capital city, increased its power and its resources, while the mass of the people, notably in the country, saw themselves dispossessed of their means and condemned to lead a pitiful existence. The coming of Amos fitted into this context of inequality, which could not be hidden by the grandiose nature of the festivals in honour of the national God (5:21 ff). Israel was going to pay very dearly for the ephemeral glory that they were then experiencing under Jeroboam II. Some thirty years later Israel had ceased to exist as an independent State, while its elite was to disappear for ever in the deportation!
- Natural Disaster Reference
“two years before the earthquake”
Allen Guenther: The earthquake mentioned here features prominently in the judgment scenes of chapters eight and nine. Amos ministered two years prior to that momentous event. Three centuries later it remained vividly alive in Judah’s memory (Zech. 14:5). That event was the break point anticipated by Amos. From the days of the earthquake, the judgments predicted by this seer were launched against Israel and stood as a warning to Judah.
John MacArthur: Josephus connects it with Uzziah’s sin of usurping the role of a priest (2Chr 26:16-23). An earthquake of severe magnitude occurred ca. 755 B.C.
The book of Amos was written about 760 B.C. We know this because he prophesied during the reigns of Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.) of Israel and Uzziah (790-740 B.C.) of Judah, and because he mentions an earthquake that archeologists calculate to have occurred about 760 B.C. Like Hosea, he specifically prophesies against the Northern Kingdom. During this time, the nation of Israel (the northern kingdom) was marked by total apostasy, idolatry, immorality, and such like. Amos prophesies against them ahead of their 722 B.C. destruction at the hands of the Assyrians.
Billy Smith: It may be that reference to the earthquake is to set an ominous tone for the predominant words of judgment that follow (cf. 2:13; 4:11; 6:11; 8:8; 9:1,5).
II. (:2) SEVERITY OF THE MESSAGE
James Mays: The couplet describes the awesome voice or noise of Yahweh and its devastating effect; when Yahweh utters his voice from his residence in Jerusalem, it reverberates across the earth, searing the landscape, and reaching even to the summit of Carmel in the north. . . Yahweh does not speak in the first person; his voice is portrayed as a devastating phenomenon. The two bi-cola are perfect synonymous parallelisms in 3+3 rhythm. . .
A hymnic overture presents Amos as a herald announcing the advent of Yahweh whose earthly residence is on Zion, the God whose ancient appearances wrought terror and defeat on his enemies, whose glory in judging all that resist his authority was celebrated in Jerusalem’s temple.
William Harper: When Yahweh manifests his power and majesty, all nature feels the terrible influence of the manifestation. The essence of the teaching of Amos seems to be presented in this verse, which serves as an introduction, prepared either by himself or the editor. In any case it is a separate section and not to be immediately connected with what follows.
A. Majestic Thunderings – The Lion Roars
“He said, ‘The Lord roars from Zion
And from Jerusalem He utters His voice”
Nobody can say that they didn’t hear the message; God spoke decisively and loudly and
from the center of His abode with His chosen people. There was nothing subtle or hidden or obscured about God’s revelation. He demands a hearing and He demands the appropriate response of confession of sin and repentance.
M. Daniel Carroll R.: Most importantly, 1:2 brings special attention to God. Rudolph has pointed out that the first recorded word of Amos is Yahweh. Yahweh is the ultimate focus of the message of the prophet. He is the primary actor in the oracles and visions; the hymnic passages highlight God’s power, and the visions reveal his demanding relationship with Israel. Yahweh will not tolerate worship or a socioeconomic and political world that uses his name for its own ends. He will not be mocked. Yahweh will not tolerate rivals, disobedience, or misrepresentation. Yahweh, the Divine Lion, is the incomparable and omnipotent sovereign King.
Thomas McComiskey: The prophet introduces a shocking note in depicting Yahweh as roaring form Zion. Though “roar” (sa’ag) is frequently used in the OT of a lion’s roar, it need not always carry this connotation (Job 37:4; Pss 38:8[9]; 74:4). In the Hebrew here, Amos’s words are identical to those of Joel 3:16, where sa’ag occurs with no apparent reference to a lion’s roar. The cosmic effects of the roar of the Lord in Joel may connote the crashing of thunder. In Job 37:4 sa’ag is used in this way. Nevertheless, the use of the same verb in Amos 3:8, where the Lord does roar like a lion, indicates that the lion metaphor may be intended here. Whether a cosmic roar or a lion’s roar, the image evokes a sense of God’s impending judgment.
Gary Smith: The imagery of roaring describes the bellowing warning that foreshadows an attack by a lion (3:4, 8). God’s roaring communicates his intention to attack. This warning is equated with the words Amos speaks both here and in 3:8. . .
The source of this warning is the Lord God, not Baal. The prophet reveals here his Judean theological position, namely, that God speaks from his temple in Jerusalem, not from the Israelite temples in Bethel and Dan.
Allen Guenther: The lion appears most often in the Scriptures in association with Judah. Indeed, Judah itself is referred to as a lion’s whelp (Gen. 49:9). The throne room of Solomon was decorated with lions (1 Kings 10:19-20), resulting in the proverb: “A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion” (Prov. 19:12, NIV). Appropriately, that authority and power is recognized as vested in Israel’s God, the One who rules on Mount Zion. . .
God’s warning comes from Zion, the temple hill; from Jerusalem, the holy city. Whose voice, then, have the Israelites been listening to in Bethel and in Gilgal? Presumably not that of the living and true God. Yes, God had frequently spoken to the Northerners through his servants, the prophets—through Elijah, Elisha, and the sons of the prophets. None of these genuine prophets, however, is ever associated with the alternative religious centers Jeroboam I had set up when he led the ten Northern tribes away from the Davidic dynasty. So the roar from Jerusalem implies a judgment on all other centers which profess to dispense the oracles of the Lord [The Yahweh-Baal Conflict, p. 398].
B. Global Grovelings – Creation Responds
“And the shepherds’ pasture grounds mourn,
And the summit of Carmel dries up.”
Nature got the message. The rest of God’s creation – the people made in His own image
to have fellowship and communion with Him – need to respond in humility and submission as well.
Gary Smith: The thundering voice of God will not bring rain and blessing, but the curse of drought and disaster, signs of his punishment (Deut. 28:22–24; Isa. 5:6; 19:7; 42:15). God, not the Canaanite fertility god Baal, controls the land. His curse will affect even the forested hills of Mount Carmel in Israel and the pasturelands of their shepherds. What does a shepherd like Amos think when there is no grass for his sheep? When the grass is gone and the vineyards and trees of Carmel turn brown for lack of water, one must ask why. Is this not the hand of God? Is God not trying to say something to us?
Verse 2 announces God’s ability to control the forces of nature. He is not just a God of history who marvelously redeems people from superior armies; he is also the God who has created and continues to control every aspect of this world. “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it” (Ps. 24:1); thus, he sends both the blessing of rain and fertility and the curse of drought and death. By implication, Amos’s claims devastate the Israelites’ belief in the fertility and power of Baal, for he is powerless, not even worthy of mention next to the mighty power of Yahweh. God’s daily providential care of nature and his unusual intrusion into the regular patterns of nature to create miracles are two primary ways of controlling the lives of people and accomplishing his will on earth.
Billy Smith: The effect of the Lord’s thunderous voice would be devastation. Older English translations have the homonym “mourn” instead of “dry up” as their rendering of the verb . In the context “dry up” is correct. It is parallel to “withers” in the second half of the line. Usually thunder accompanies rain. Instead, the “thunder” of the Lord would produce a general and devastating drought, from the “pastures of the shepherds” to the “top of Carmel.” This is a figure of speech known as merismus, which uses opposites to convey the idea of the whole. That is, the Lord will bring about devastation throughout the land.
Trent Butler: Amos’ Message Shakes the Earth.
John MacArthur: Carmel is known for its bountiful trees and lush gardens. “Carmel” means “fertility” or “garden land” and refers to the mountain range that runs E to W in northern Israel and juts out into the Mediterranean Sea (cf. 9:3).
Thomas McComiskey: The prophet saw God’s wrath causing a withering drought to destroy the green hills of Mount Carmel – a landmark of the northern kingdom. So in this vivid way, Amos pictured the impending judgment of God on that kingdom.
Douglas Smith – Background info taken from The Ultimate Guide to the Bible, Carol Smith, Barbour Publishing, 2000 — Major transition coming with 722 BC invasion by Assyria; Amos sent from Judah as a visiting prophet to bring God’s message of judgment to Israel. People tend to think that tomorrow will be like today; false sense of security.
Setting: The wealthy people of Israel were enjoying peace and prosperity. They were quite complacent and were oppressing the poor, even selling them into slavery. Soon, however, Israel would be conquered by Assyria, and the rich would themselves become slaves.
Megathemes:
1) Everyone Answers to God — Amos pronounced judgment from God on all the surrounding nations. God is in supreme control of all the nations, they all are accountable to Him.
2) Complacency — With all the comfort and luxury that Israel was experiencing came a false sense of security. Prosperity brought corruption and destruction.
3) Oppressing the Poor — The wealthy and powerful people of Samaria, the capital of Israel, had become prosperous, greedy and unjust. Illegal and immoral slavery came as the result of over-taxation and land-grabbing. There was also cruelty and indifference toward the poor. God is weary of greed and will not tolerate injustice.
4) Superficial Religion — Although many people had abandoned real faith in God, they still pretended to be religious. Merely participating in ceremony or ritual falls short of true religion.
Robert Martin-Achard: Verse 2b discloses the sad consequences for the country and for its inhabitants of Yahweh’s intervention. The pastures where the shepherds, amongst whom Amos is included (1:1; 7:14), were accustomed to lead their flocks, mourn for their vegetation withers as in the dry season when the whole of nature seems to be stricken to death. We should note that the author can make play with the double meaning of the Hebrew word abelu. It comes from the root abal which means both to be in mourning and to be dried up. Carmel, which was known for its flourishing vegetation, would become a miserable and sterile area, destined for death, with its glory turned into confusion. This is suggested by the verb yabesh, to become parched, which evokes by assonance with the verb bosh ideas of shame and dishonour.
Briefly, then, according to verses 1 and 2, Yahweh is about to reveal himself in his formidable grandeur, which will result only in ruin and misery for his people. The book of Amos begins therefore with a threat of death that hovers over the kingdom of Jeroboam II, and on which Amos’ oracles will comment at length and which they will confirm.