A. Oracles against nations 1:3-2:16

An oracle is a message of judgment. Amos proceeded to deliver eight of these, seven against Israel's neighbors including Judah (1:3-2:5) and one against Israel (2:6-6:14).¹²The order is significant. The nations mentioned first were foreign, but those mentioned next were the blood relatives of the Israelites, and Judah was its closest kin. Upon hearing this list the Israelites would have felt "a noose of judgment about to tighten round their [the Israelites' own] throats."¹³This is the "rhetoric of entrapment."¹⁴

"The prophet began with the distant city of Damascus and, like a hawk circling its prey, moved in ever-tightening circles, from one country to another, till at last he pounced on Israel. One can imagine Amos's hearers approving the denunciation of these heathen nations. They could even applaud God's denunciation of Judah because of the deep-seated hostility between the two kingdoms that went as far back as the dissolution of the united kingdom after Solomon. But Amos played no favorites; he swooped down on the unsuspecting Israelites as well in the severest language and condemned them for their crimes."¹⁵

Each oracle follows the same basic pattern. First, Amos declared the judgment to come. Second, he defended the judgment by explaining the reason for it. Third, he described the coming judgment.¹⁶

Other collections of oracles against foreign neighbors appear in Isaiah (chs. 13-17, 19, 21, 23, 34) , Jeremiah (chs. 46-51), and Ezekiel (chs. 25-32). One might also consider Obadiah and Nahum as oracles against foreign nations as well.

 1. An oracle against Aram 1:3-5

1:3 The expression "for three transgressions [Heb. pesha'im, rebellions, i.e., against the universal Sovereign; cf. Gen. 9:5-17] and for four"is one of Amos' trademarks (cf. vv. 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). It means for numerous transgressions (cf. Job 5:19; 33:29; Ps. 62:11-12; Prov. 6:16; 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 29-31; Eccles. 11:2; Mic. 5:5-6). Three transgressions represents fullness and the fourth overflow. Amos cited just the last transgression, the one that "broke the camel's back"and made judgment inevitable, or possibly the representative one, for Israel's enemies.¹⁷The phrase may also be a poetic way of describing seven transgressions, symbolizing completeness.¹⁸In the oracle against Israel, Amos cited seven sins (one in 2:6, two in 2:7, two in 2:8, and two in 2:12). Israel's panic would also be sevenfold (2:14-16).

Damascus was the capital city of Aram (Syria), and it stands for the whole nation by metonymy.¹⁹Yahweh promised that He would not turn back the punishment due Aram because the Arameans had proved to be a scourge to the people of Israel. Threshing Gilead, a transjordanian part of Israel, with sharp iron implements pictures the plowing up of that part of the nation militarily (cf. Isa. 41:15; Mic. 4:13; Hab. 3:12).²⁰Israelite citizens and territory had suffered greatly during constant battles with the Arameans, especially in Transjordan (cf. 2 Kings 8:7-12; 10:32-33; 13:3-7).

1:4 The Lord promised to send a consuming fire (judgment) on the house (dynasty) and citadels (fortified towns) of the Arameans. Hazael and Ben-Hadad, dynastic names, probably represent all the Aramean kings.²¹The idea of sending fire on the walls of the main cities of the land recurs throughout these oracles (cf. vv. 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, 2:2, 5). It is a vivid metaphor for consuming destruction.

1:5 Yahweh would also break the bar that secured the gate of Damascus making it impossible to defend (cf. 1 Kings 4:13). He would cut off the people who lived in the Valley of Aven (Baalbek?) and Aram's ruler who lived in Beth Eden (Bit-Adini?). These names mean "valley of wickedness"and "house of pleasure,"but since the other names mentioned in the oracles are real locations, these probably were as well. The Arameans would go into exile to Kir in Mesopotamia, from which they had originated (9:7). Thus God would send them back where they came from after obliterating all they had achieved. The fulfillment of this prophecy came when Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria took the Arameans captive in 732 B.C. (2 Kings 16:7-9).

 2. An oracle against Philistia 1:6-8

1:6 Gaza was the chief city of Philistia as Damascus was of Aram. The particular sin for which God would judge the Philistines was their capture and deportation of whole communities (or people at peace, Heb. shelema), possibly Israelites and or Judahites, to Edom as slaves (cf. Joel 3:4-8).

"The concern of Amos seems to have been the freedom and dignity of persons regardless of their national origin. Sale of such captives for use as slave laborers was to treat precious humans made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27) as mere commodities. The driving force behind these atrocities was nothing higher than the profit of the mighty.

"Broken treaties have marred the pages of history from ancient to modern times. God has a low tolerance level for those who break treaties, who take away human freedom and dignity, and whose motive is material profit. Such people should brace themselves for the destructive judgment of God."²²

1:7-8 Fire (destruction) would overtake the cities of the Philistines and affect everyone from the ordinary citizens to the rulers. Amos mentioned four of the five major cities of Philistia, all except Gath, probably because it had already fallen to enemies (cf. 6:2; 2 Kings 12:17; 2 Chron. 26:6).²³Sovereign Yahweh promised to cut off even the remnant of Philistines that remained in Amos' day.²⁴This prophecy was fulfilled during the Maccabean period (169-134 B.C.) when the Philistines passed out of existence.

 3. An oracle against Phoenicia 1:9-10

Tyre was the leading city of Phoenicia. The sin of the Phoenicians was the same as that of the Philistines. They had sold whole communities of people to the Edomites as slaves.²⁵They also broke a covenant of brothers.

"If Israel was the injured partner, the reference is probably to the pact between Solomon and Hiram (1 Kings 5) or perhaps to the later relations established through the marriage of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 16:29-31)."²⁶

Ironically many Tyrians became captives and were sold as slaves when Alexander the Great destroyed Tyre in 332 B.C. (cf. Ezek. 26-28). Phoenicia declined as a major power in the ancient Near East after that destruction and never revived.

 4. An oracle against Edom 1:11-12

Amos next moved from addressing chief cities to addressing countries, specifically countries with closer ethnic ties to the Israelites. Perhaps their closer relationship to Israel is why he mentioned countries rather than cities in the introductions to the later oracles. Edom's overflowing sin that brought divine wrath down on its people was the way the Edomites had treated the Israelites. The Edomites had been very hostile to their "brother,"Israel (cf. Gen. 25:29-30; Num. 20:14; Deut. 2:4; 23:7; Obad. 12). This hostility existed throughout the history of these two nations. This animosity even led the Edomites to attack the Israelites with the sword (cf. Obad. 10). Consequently God would send destruction on Edom's chief southern and northern cities (or districts), even on the whole land (a merism). The Assyrians subjugated Edom in the eighth century B.C., and the Nabateans, an Arabian tribe, took it over in the fourth century B.C.

 5. An oracle against Ammon 1:13-15

The Ammonites were descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew (cf. Gen. 19:30-38). Ammon was in trouble with Yahweh because its soldiers brutally attacked and slew the Israelites, even the pregnant women and their unborn children, who lived in Gilead to the west of Ammon. This brutal slaughter terrorized and decimated the attacked populace. The Ammonites did this to enlarge their territory to the west for materialistic advantage, not for self-preservation. Consequently Yahweh promised to destroy Rabbah, the capital, and Ammon's walled cities in battle. The Ammonites' king and royal officials would go into exile. This happened when Tiglath-Pileser III invaded Ammon in 734 B.C., but Ammon's final demise came when Nebuchadnezzar sacked Rabbah and took many of Ammon's citizens captive to Babylon around 586 B.C.

 6. An oracle against Moab 2:1-3

Yahweh promised not to revoke His punishment of Moab, another nation descended from Lot (cf. Gen. 19:30-38), because of its brutal treatment of an Edomite king's corpse (cf. 2 Kings 3:26-27). Burning the bones of a dead person dishonored that individual since there was then nothing substantial left of him. This was a despicable crime in the ancient Near East where a peaceful burial was the hope of every person. This treatment of a dead corpse reflected a lack of respect for human life, life made in the image of God.

"Highly significant is the fact that Amos here pronounced the punishment of Yahweh on a social crime involving a non-Israelite. In his other oracles the crimes were, for the most part, against the covenant people. Amos understood that an aspect of God's law transcended Israel."²⁷

"Crimes against humanity bring God's punishment. This observation is a powerful motivation for God's people to oppose the mistreatment and neglect of their fellow human beings."²⁸

Because of this sin Moab would perish in the tumult of battle, and its leaders would die. Kirioth was a major city in Moab (cf. Jer. 48:24). Nebuchadnezzar conquered Moab shortly after 598 B.C., which opened the way for Arab tribes to occupy its land.²⁹

 7. An oracle against Judah 2:4-5

God would treat Judah with the same justice that He promised Israel's other neighbor nations. Judah's overflowing sin was her failure to live by the Torah, the instruction that Yahweh had given her, including the Mosaic Covenant (cf. Rom. 2:12-15). Listening to false prophets and worshipping idols (Heb. kazib, a lie, something deceptive) had been major evidences of this apostasy (cf. Deut. 6:14; 7:16; 8:19; 11:16, 28).³⁰So Yahweh promised to destroy Judah and Jerusalem as He had promised to destroy her sinful neighbors. The fulfillment came with Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25:1-12).

 8. An oracle against Israel 2:6-16

The greater length of this oracle as well as its last position in the group of oracles points to its preeminent importance. Verse 10, by using the second person rather than the third, suggests that all these oracles were originally spoken to Israel.

There are four sections to this oracle: Israel's recent sins, God's past gracious activity on Israel's behalf, Israel's response, and Israel's punishment.