It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the
prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under
which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of
Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also.
For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at
which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the
reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the throne in
Judah.
The circumstances of the prophet we learn, generally, from the words in
chap. i. 1: "Who was among the herdmen of Tekoah." If there existed no
other statement than this, there might be truth in the remark made by
many interpreters, that we cannot, from his having been a herdman,
infer that he was poor and low. It is shown, however, by a statement in
chap. vii. 14, that, by the "herdman," we are not to understand one who
was also possessed of flocks, or, like David, the son of such, but a
poor servant herdman. For, in that passage, the prophet replies to the
command of the priest Amaziah to get himself out of the country, to
which he did not belong, and to return to his native land: "I am no
prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I am a herdman; and _such an one
as plucketh sycamores_. And the Lord took me from behind the flock, and
the Lord said unto me. Go prophesy unto My people Israel." The fruit of
the sycamores, called ἄτροφος and κακοστόμαχος by _Dioscorides_, served
as food for only the poorest and meanest. _Bochart_ (_Hieroz._ t. i. p.
407 [385] _Rosenmüller_) remarks: "It is the same as if he had said,
that he was a man of the humblest condition, and born in poor
circumstances, so that he scarcely maintained his life by scanty and
frugal fare; that he had never thought of obtaining the prophetical
office in Israel, until a higher power, viz., divine inspiration,
impelled him to undertake it."[1] But this passage merits our attention
in another [Pg 353] point of view. In what sense is it that Amos here
denies that he is a prophet? It is evidently in a very special sense
that he does so. He obviously does not mean thereby to deny that he
possessed the gift of prophecy, or held the prophetical office; for,
otherwise, he would himself have furnished weapons to his enemy, to
whom he wishes to prove his right. The following remarks will be found
to contain the true answer.
It cannot be proved in any way, that the schools of the prophets,
established by Samuel at a time when the circumstances of Judah and
Israel were altogether similar, were continued in the kingdom of Judah.
Every prophet there stands in an isolated position. The entire
prophetic order and institute bears rather a sporadic character. But in
the kingdom of Israel, where the prophetic order occupied a position
altogether different from that which it held in the kingdom of Judah,
inasmuch as, after the expulsion of the tribe of Levi, they had to
watch over all the interests of religion, the schools of the prophets
had a very important mission assigned to them. We must not by any means
imagine that their constitution was such, that after a few years'
training, the sons of the prophets attained to perfect independence.
The greater number of them remained during all their lifetime in the
position of sons. The schools of the prophets were a kind of
monasteries. Even those who, in consequence of their peculiar
circumstances, no longer remained there, but were scattered throughout
the country, continued always under their authority. One needs only to
read attentively the histories of Elijah and of Elisha, which afford us
the fullest information regarding these institutions, to be speedily
convinced of the soundness of the view which we have here presented. On
the subject of the organization of the schools of the prophets in the
kingdom of Israel, compare _Dissertations on the Genuineness of the
Pentateuch_, i. p. 185. f.
[Pg 354]
But how can Amos adduce it as a proof of his divine mission, that he is
neither a prophet, nor, in the sense explained, a prophet's son,
_i.e._, that he was neither a superior nor an inferior member of the
prophetic order? The answer is,--It was the result of that organization
of the prophetic order, that the relation to the Lord was one which was
more or less mediate. To those who would not acknowledge the immediate
divine influence, some ground was thereby afforded for doing so. Their
training, their principles, the form of their prophecies, all admitted
of a natural explanation. It is true that the _spirit_ which animated
them baffled any such attempt; but that spirit was not so easily
perceived. In the case of any one, then, who appeared as a prophet,
without standing in that connection, and yet in the full possession of
all prophetic gifts,--in demonstration of the spirit and of power, a
natural explanation was far more difficult; especially if, like Amos,
he was, by his outward situation, cut off from all human resources for
education. But was Amos, for that reason, an uneducated man? This is a
question which one may answer either in the affirmative or negative,
according to what he understands by education. So much is certain, that
he was in possession of the essential part of a true Israelitish
education--viz., the knowledge of the law. The most intimate
acquaintance with the Pentateuch everywhere manifests itself; compare
in proof of this the _Dissertations on the Genuineness of the
Pentateuch_, i. p. 136 ff. There are too many instances, down to most
recent times, of living piety breaking, in this respect, through almost
impenetrable barriers, to allow us to consider this as a strange thing,
and to make it necessary for us to excogitate the various ways and
means by which Amos may have received this education. It is only on the
lower ground of the mere forms of language, that the rank of Amos not
unfrequently appears. In all the higher relations he shows himself a
type of the Apostles, who, although they were uneducated fishermen of
Galilee, exhibit the most distinguishing proofs of true education.
Amos belonged to that circle of prophets who received a commission to
prophesy the ruin which was impending over the Covenant-people, before
any human probability existed for it. _Baur_, on Amos, S. 60, is of
opinion that "the definiteness with which he prophesies the destruction
of the kingdom of [Pg 355] Jeroboam, although its power was at that
time still flourishing, leads us to expect that he must have had
distinct indications of its speedy decay." In a certain sense we may
assent to this opinion. The prophet himself continually points to such
indications. These indications are the sins of the people. But if
_Baur_ endeavours to put political indications in the stead of these
moral ones; if he be of opinion that the Assyrians must, at that time,
have stood in a threatening attitude in the background, we must give to
his opinion a decided opposition. We can, in such an assertion, see
only an effect of that naturalistic mode of viewing things, which would
limit the horizon of the prophets to that of their own times.[2] Not
the slightest allusion to the Assyrians occurs. The supposition that
Calneh or Ktesiphon, in chap. vi. 2, appears as having already fallen
(through the Assyrians), rests upon an incorrect interpretation, just
as does the assertion that Hamath, in the same passage, is supposed to
be conquered; concerning the latter point, compare _Thenius_ on 2 Kings
xiv. 28. In the announcement of the carrying away into captivity beyond
Damascus, made in chap. v. 27, there appears nothing more than the
knowledge, that the catastrophe will not be brought about by that
heathen power which had hitherto brought ruin upon the kingdom of
Israel But, everywhere, we may see that the prophet--whom we have no
reason to think an especially ingenious politician--appeared at a time
when no one expected any danger. Amos prophesied at a time when the
morning-dawn had risen upon Israel, iv. 13, v. 8; "in the beginning of
the shooting up of the grass, and behold the grass was standing, after
the King (Jehovah) had caused to be mown," vii. 1; at a time when the
prosperity of the kingdom of the ten tribes was again budding forth. In
chap. viii. 9, the Lord threatens that He will cause the sun to go down
at noon, and bring darkness over the land in the day of _light_. In
chap. vi. 4-6, the prevailing careless luxury and [Pg 356] joy are
graphically described. Chap. v. 18 implies that the people mocked at
the threatening of the coming of the day of the Lord, the coming of
which could, therefore, not have been indicated by any human
probability. In chap. vi. 1, the prophet gives utterance to an
exclamation of woe over them that are secure in Zion, and that trust in
the mountain of Samaria. In chap. vi. 13, he opposes the delusion of
those "who rejoice in a thing of nought, who say, Have we not taken to
us horns by our own strength?" The people in the kingdom of the ten
tribes must accordingly have imagined that they were living in the
golden age of the fulfilment of Deut. xxx. 17, and must not have
thought for a moment that the axe was already laid to the root of the
tree.
But we are not at liberty to seek the fulfilment of the prophecy of
Amos, only in the visitation by the Assyrians. That which happens to
the people of the ten tribes is, to the prophet, only a part of a
general visitation, which comes, not only upon all the neighbouring
nations, but upon Judah also, and which brings utter ruin upon the
latter, chap. ii. 4, 5, destroying the temple at Jerusalem, and driving
the house of David from the throne, ix. 1, 11. According to prophecy
and history, however, this catastrophe came upon Judah, not by Asshur,
but, in the first instance, by Babylon.
The prophecy possesses a comprehensive character, such as we should be
led to expect from the close connection of Amos with Joel. It
comprehends everything which Judah and Israel, along with the
neighbouring people, had to suffer from the rising heathen powers;
compare vi. 14, v. 24, according to which, judgment shall roll down as
waters, and righteousness as a _continual_ stream.[3]
In the case of Amos, also, interpreters have been at considerable pains
in fixing the time and the occasion of the single portions, but with as
little success as in the cases of Hosea and Micah. The very inscription
proves that we have before us a whole, composed at one time, and
containing the substance of [Pg 357] what the prophet had uttered
previously, and in a detached form. According to this inscription, the
book was composed only two years after the prophet's personal ministry
in the kingdom of Israel. But if there were such an interval betwixt
the oral preaching of the prophet and its having been committed to
writing, it is, _a priori_, not likely that the latter should have
followed the former, step by step.
The words, "Two years before the earthquake," cannot be regarded as a
chronological date, intended to fix more definitely the exact time
within the more extended period previously stated, viz., "the days of
Uzziah and Jeroboam." For such a purpose they are ill suited, inasmuch
as the time of the earthquake is not fixed; and, moreover, any such
more definite determination would have been without either significance
or interest. This only was of importance, that the word of the Lord
should have been uttered in the days of Jeroboam, and that the prophecy
of the destruction should have been delivered at a time when the
Israelites enjoyed an amount of prosperity, such as they had not known
for a long time. It can scarcely be doubted that the earthquake under
Uzziah, the fearfulness of which is testified by Zech. xiv. 5, comes
under consideration only as the reason for the composition of the
book,--for committing to writing what had formerly been delivered
orally. The earthquake denotes, in the symbolical language of
Scripture, great revolutions, by which the form of the earth is
changed, and that which is uppermost, overturned; compare my remarks on
Rev. vi. 12. To point to such an earthquake had been the fundamental
thought of Amos' oral predictions. By the natural earthquake, he was
induced to commit them to writing, that they might go side by side with
the symbol, and serve as its interpreter.
There is a plan in the arrangement of the book, which indicates that
the book is not a collection of separate discourses, but that it bears
an independent character. It is distinctly divided into two parts,--the
first, made up of naked prophecies, from chap. i. to chap. vi.; the
second, of such prophecies as are connected with a symbol, which is
always very simple, and very briefly described,--from chap. vii. to
chap. ix.
In the first part, the prophet begins with the announcement of the
wrath of the Lord, ver. 2. He then reviews, in their [Pg 358] order,
those kingdoms upon which it shall be poured out, viz., Damascus,
Philistia, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah: until at last the storm
reaches to Israel, and, according to _Rückert's_ striking remarks,
remains suspended over it.
In addition to Israel, there are seven nations, and the seven are
divided into three, and four; three not related to the people of the
ten tribes, and four related to them; the brotherly people of Judah
being introduced after three nations have been mentioned which are more
distantly related to Israel.
According to _Rückert_, it is only in chap. ii. 6-16 that the storm
which remained suspended over Israel is described; then in chap.
iii.-vi. there follow four threatening discourses, which are not
connected either with the preceding ones, or with each other. But the
correct view rather is, that this stationary suspension is described in
the whole of the first half,--in the main, indeed, even to the end of
the book.
This is evident from the consideration that, if such were not the case,
the treatment of the main subject would be, as regards the extent of
the description, greatly disproportioned to the introduction; for chap.
i. to ii. 5 must be considered to be, throughout, merely introductory.
But as the ground on which we advance this assertion is made in
opposition to an unsound view, it requires a more particular
determination. It is assumed by many interpreters, that in the nations
besides Israel, the prophet reproves "some haughty excesses, but,
evidently, only as instances of the immorality prevailing" (_Jahn_,
_Einl._ 2, p. 404). But this view, according to which the prophet
might, instead of the various crimes mentioned, have noticed any other
crime, _e.g._, fornication, idolatry, etc., is certainly erroneous. It
is rather a _theocratic_ judgment of which he speaks throughout; they
are crimes against the theocracy, the punishment of which he announces.
These he considers as being more heinous than all others; for the guilt
of the latter is diminished by the circumstance of their having been
committed against the hidden God only, while the former have been
committed against the God who has manifested Himself, and who is living
among His people. For so much is evident, that the main cause of the
hatred of all the neighbouring nations against Israel was, that Israel
was the people of God. For where can an instance be found of a hatred
betwixt any [Pg 359] two of them, so inextinguishable, and continuing
through centuries? How entirely different is, _e.g._, the position of
Edom against Moab, from that of Edom against Israel? Three reasons
confirm the correctness of our assertion as to the purely theocratic
nature of the judgment. 1. The general announcement of the judgment.
"Jehovah roareth from Zion, and from Jerusalem He giveth His voice."
The very use of the name Jehovah here deserves attention. A judgment of
a general kind upon the heathen would belong to God as Elohim. It is
Elohim who is the God of the heathen,--the Creator, Preserver, and
Governor of the world, from whom blessings, as well as judgments upon
it, proceed. Now it might be said that Jehovah is used in the case of
the heathen also, for the sake of uniformity, because to Him belongeth
the judgment upon Judah and Israel. But that this is not the case, is
seen from the addition: "From Zion,--from Jerusalem." Every general
judgment proceeds from heaven; it is only as a theocratic God, that God
reigns in Zion and Jerusalem. This argument admits of no exception; all
that God does from Zion is theocratic deliverance, or theocratic
judgment.--2. The nature of the crimes themselves, which are cited by
way of example. It can certainly not be merely accidental, that they
are all such as were committed against the Covenant-people. There is
one only which forms an apparent exception, viz., that of the Moabites,
who are, in chap. ii. 1, charged with having burned into lime the bones
of the king of Edom. But, with the consent of the greater number of
interpreters, _Jerome_ remarks on this: "In order that God might show
that He is the Lord of all, and that every soul is subject to Him who
formed it. He punishes the iniquity committed against the king of
Edom." But in this remark of Jerome, the relation in which Idumea stood
to the Covenant-people is altogether lost sight of. It is only as a
vassal of their kings that the king of Edom here comes into view. This
is sufficiently manifest from 2 Kings iii., although the event narrated
there is different from that which is here alluded to, of which no
record has been preserved in history.[4] The hatred against the
Covenant-people, which the [Pg 360] Moabites were too weak openly to
exhibit, impelled them to this wicked deed against the king tributary
to them.--3. It must be carefully observed how the prophet, when coming
to Judah, introduces us, at once, into the centre of _theocratic_
transgression, the forsaking of the living God, and the serving of
vain, dead idols.
It will now be easily seen in what way the portion, chap. i.-ii. 5,
serves as an introduction to what follows. The prophecies against
foreign nations do not, as elsewhere, serve as a consolation, or as a
proof of the love of God towards His people, and of His omnipotence, or
as a means for destroying confidence in man's power, in man's help;
they are, on the contrary, intended, from the very outset, to give rise
in Israel to the question: If such be done in the green tree, what
shall be done in the dry? That question the prophet answers at large.
If severe punishment be inflicted, even upon those who have trespassed
against the living God, with whom they came into contact only
distantly, what will become of those to whom He manifested Himself so
plainly and distinctly,--among whom He had, as it were, gained a
form,--before whose eyes He had been so evidently set forth? The
declaration, "You only do I know of all the families of the earth;
therefore I shall visit upon you all your iniquities" (iii. 2), forms
the centre of the whole threatening announcement to Israel. And could
it indeed be introduced in any better way than by pointing out, how
even the lowest degree of knowledge was followed by such a visitation?
But now, that which under the Old Testament was the highest degree,
becomes, under the New Testament, only a preparatory step. The
revelation of God in Christ stands in the same relation to that made to
Israel under the Old Testament, as the latter stands to the
manifestation of His character and nature to the heathen, who came into
connection with the Covenant-people. Thus the fulfilment becomes to us
a new prophecy. If the rejection of God, in His inferior revelation,
was followed by such awful consequences to the temporal welfare of the
people of the Old Covenant, what must be the consequences of the
rejection of the highest and fullest revelation of God to the temporal
and spiritual welfare of the people of the New Covenant? This is a
thought which is further expanded in Heb. xii. 17 ff., and it forms the
essential feature of [Pg 361] the description of the judgment of the
world in the New Testament. This judgment has been but too often
thus misunderstood, as if it concerned the world as the world,--a
misunderstanding similar to that of the section before us. The Gospel
shall first be preached to every creature, and according as every one
has conducted himself towards the _living_ God, so he shall be
judged.--But it is not to the heathen nations only, but to Judah also
that, by way of introduction, destruction is announced. The
circumstance that not even the possession of so many precious
privileges, as the temple and the Davidic throne, could ward off the
well-merited punishment of sin, could not but powerfully affect the
hearts of the ten tribes. If God's justice be so energetic, what have
_they_ to expect?
If we continue the examination of _Rückert's_ view, it will soon appear
that the phrase, "Hear this word," in iii. 1, iv. 1, and v. 1,
can alone be considered as the foundation on which it rests. But
these words do not at all prove a new commencement, but only a new
starting-point. This appears sufficiently from the absence of these
words at the alleged fourth threatening discourse in chap. vi.; and
likewise from a comparison of Hosea iv. 1 and v. 1: "Hear the word of
the Lord, ye children of Israel," and "Hear this, ye priests, and
hearken, ye house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king;" while
nothing similar occurs in the following chapters. That such an
exhortation was appropriate, even in the middle, is clearly seen from
Amos iii. 13. It cannot then, _per se_, prove anything in favour of a
new beginning. If it is to be regarded as such, the discourse must be
proved, by other reasons, to have been completed. But no such reasons
here exist. We might as reasonably assume the existence of ten
threatening discourses, as of four. The circumstance that we can
nowhere discover a sure commencement and a clearly defined termination,
shows that we are fully justified in considering the whole first part,
chap. i. to vi., as a connected discourse.
The second part, which contains the visions of the destruction, is
composed, indeed, of various portions,--as might have been expected
from the nature of the subject. Each new vision, with the discourse
connected with it, must form a new section. Chap. vii., viii., and ix.,
form each a whole. From the account which is added to the first vision;
and which relates [Pg 362] to the transactions between Amos and the
high priest Amaziah, which were caused by the public announcement of
this vision (chap. vii. 12-14), we are led to suppose that these
visions were formerly delivered singly, in the form in which we now
possess them. But that, even here, we have not before us pieces loosely
connected with each other in a chronological arrangement, is evident
from the fact, that the promises stand just at the end of the whole
collection. The prophet had rather to reprove and to threaten than to
comfort; but yet he cannot refrain, at least at the close, from causing
the sun to break through the clouds. Without this close there would be
wanting in Amos a main element of the prophetic discourse, which is
wanting in no other prophet, and by which alone the other elements are
placed in a proper light.
It also militates against the supposition of a mere collection, that in
the last vision the prevailing regard to the kingdom of the ten tribes
disappears almost entirely, and that, like the third chapter of Hosea,
it relates to the whole of the Covenant-people,--in agreement with the
reference to the earthquake mentioned in the inscription, which the
prophet had experienced in Judah, and which brought into view, not a
particular, but a general, judgment.
The symbolical clothing, however, forms the sole difference betwixt the
second part and the first. As the "real centre and essence of the book"
the second part cannot be regarded; the threatening is as clear and
impressive in the first part.
That which is common to Amos with the contemporary prophets, is the
absolute clearness with which he foresees that, before salvation comes,
all that is glorious, not only in Israel, but in Judah also, must be
given over to destruction. Judah and Israel shall be overflowed by the
heathen world, the Temple at Jerusalem destroyed, the Davidic dynasty
dethroned, and the inhabitants of both kingdoms carried away into
captivity. But afterwards, the restoration of David's tabernacle (ix.
11), and the extension of the kingdom of God far beyond the borders of
the heathen world (ver. 12), take place. The most characteristic point
is the emanation of salvation from the family of David, at the time of
its deepest abasement.
Footnote 1: _Bochart_ remains unrefuted by the assertions of _Hitzig_,
_Baur_, and others, who make Amos the owner of a plantation of
sycamores, which, according to them, made him a wealthy man. בלס can be
understood only of the plucking, or gathering of the fruits of the
sycamores. The "cutting of the bark" is by no means obvious, and is too
much the language of natural history. That the prophet's real vocation
is designated by בוקר, and that בולס שקמים is not, by any means,
something independent of, and co-ordinate with that, appears from ver.
15, where the בוקר is resumed. The fruits of the sycamores may,
occasionally, not have a disagreeable taste, for him who eats them only
as a dainty; but they are at all events very poor ordinary food;
compare _Warnekros_ in _Eichhorn's Repert._ 11. 256.
Footnote 2: The groundlessness of such a mode of viewing things is
shown by the prophecy of events such as that mentioned in i. 15: "The
people of Aram are carried away to Kir, saith the Lord;" compare the
fulfilment in 2 Kings xvi. 9. They had originally come from Kir, Amos
ix. 7. This circumstance furnished the natural foundation for the
prophecy, and it was certainly this circumstance also which induced the
conqueror to adopt his measures. But the supernatural character of the
definite prophecy remains, nevertheless, unshaken.
Footnote 3: _Caspari_ in his commentary on Micah, S. 69, is wrong in
remarking: "Joel beholds the instruments of punitive justice upon
Israel, as numberless hosts only; Amos, already, as a single nation."
In Amos vi. 14 the גוי as little means a single nation, as it does in
the fundamental passage, Deut. xxviii. 49 ff., beyond the definiteness
of which Amos does not go.
Footnote 4: Scarcely any doubt can, however, be entertained that we
have here before us a _consequence_ of the war mentioned in 2 Kings
iii., viz., the vengeance which the Moabites took for what they
suffered on that occasion.
[Pg 363]