Amos 1 and 2 the god's wrath against nations

Introduction to my post: If New Testament, CJB online, emphasis in bold or Old Testament from chabad.org, text I emphasize in green; NKJV in magenta; OT in olive. footnotes to CJB in superscript ^{sky blue} using Hebrew Bible; Nomads* discussion in yellow; and my comments in gray. I may use endnotes to cite outside literature or extensive comment.  

*Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Kenny Tipton. In my view, Kenny appreciates and owns opinion in a continuous search to discover the ineluctable truth.

 My evolving statement about Genesis 1:26-28,31 and Psalm 82, now from the Hebrew Bible at chabad.org, is at the end of this post: because I accept Genesis 1’s directive to constrain chaos in my way of living, I may personally attempt to develop a god facing death or angelic person (John 10:36 with reference to Psalm 82:6-7).

Understanding this series: Kenny is leading a series of 8 lessons on the book of the 12; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Minor_Prophets.

Key points in Amos 1 and 2:

1:1 Uzziah king of Judah 50 years starting 791 B.C.

1:2 “The Lord” is the G-d of Israel

1:3 through 2:8, the G-d cites specific transgressions by each of 8 nations, ending with Israel, and declares none is to be redeemed.

2:9-12 the G-d recalls favors to Israel: defeating giants, rescuing them from dependency on Egypt, and inspiring a faction to abstinences. Yet Israel failed their duties.

2:13-16 the G-d will punish Israel.

 

Amos 1

1The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2And he said: The Lord shall roar from Zion, and He shall give forth His voice from Jerusalem, and the dwellings of the shepherds shall be cut off, and the choice of the fruitful land shall wither.

3So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea for four, I will not return them; Because they threshed the Gileadites with sledges of iron.

4And I will send fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

5And I will break the bolt of Damascus, and I will cut off an inhabitant from Bikath-Aven, and one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden, and the people of Aram shall be exiled to Kir, says the Lord.

6So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea for four, I will not return them; Because they carried away captive a whole captivity, to deliver to Edom.

7And I will send fire into the wall of Gaza, and it shall consume its palaces.

8And I will cut off an inhabitant from Ashdod and one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will return My hand upon Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall be lost, says the Lord God.

9So said the Lord: For three sins of Tyre, yea for four, I will not return them; Because they delivered a whole captivity to Edom and did not remember the brotherly covenant.

10And I will send fire into the wall of Tyre, and it shall consume its palaces.

11So said the Lord: For three sins of Edom, yea for four, I will not return them: For pursuing their brother with a sword, and they destroyed their mercy and grasped forever their anger and kept their fury forever.

12And I will send fire into Teman, and it shall consume the palaces of Bozrah.

13So said the Lord: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yea for four, I will not return them: Because they ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead, in order to enlarge their border.

14And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall consume its palaces, with a shout on the day of battle, with a tempest on the day of the whirlwind.

15And their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, said the Lord.

Amos 2

1So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab, yea for four, I will not return them; for he burnt the bones of the king of Edom to lime.

2And I will send fire into Moab, and it shall consume the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amidst the tumult, with shouting, with the sound of the shophar.

3And I will cut off a judge from within it, and all its princes I will slay with him, says the Lord.

4So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, yea for four, I will not return them; for they rejected the Law of the Lord, and they did not keep His statutes, and their lies mislead them, which their forefathers followed.

5And I will send a fire into Judah, and it shall consume the palaces of Jerusalem.

6So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, yea for four, I will not return them; For selling an innocent man for money, and a poor man in order to lock [the fields].

7Who aspire on the dust of the earth concerning the head of the poor, and they pervert the way of the humble, and a man and his father go to the maid, in order to profane My Holy Name.

8And they recline on pledged garments beside every altar, and the wine of the fined ones they drink in the house of their gods.

9And I destroyed the Amorites from before them, [giant men] whose height is as the height of the cedar trees, and they are as strong as oaks, and I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from below.

10And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the desert for forty years, to inherit the land of the Amorites.

11And I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites [Israelites who abstained from wine and avoided contact with the dead]; is this not so, O children of Israel? says the Lord.

12And you gave the Nazirites [see Numbers 6:1–21 for the vows. "Nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word "nazir," meaning "consecrated," while "Nazareth" may derive from "netser," meaning "branch."] to drink wine, and you commanded the prophets saying, "Do not prophesy."

13Behold, I will oppress your dwelling place, as a wagon full of sheaves is oppressed.

14And escape shall be lost to the swift, and the strong shall not gain strength, nor shall the mighty man deliver himself.

15And he who holds the bow shall not stand, and the fleetfooted shall not deliver, and the rider of the horse shall not deliver himself.

16And the stout-hearted among the mighty shall flee naked on that day, says the Lord.

Table of Old Testament G-ds
Below is a table of nation-states and their G-ds, including cultures that existed before Amos’ time. Some cultures used human sacrifice to attempt to bargain with their G-d. The G-d of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob directed male circumcision to commemorate gifts to the people.

Map for Amos 1 and 2 Lands

Notice that Israel is encircled by nations in 140 mi by 208 mile area. Tekoa, just south of Jerusalem is Amos’ hometown.

[Genesis 1:26-28, 31, chabad.org:

I read to consider and apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy, religiously referenced by Semite (pre-Israel) scribes of 3900 years ago, in Genesis 1:26-28, in my paraphrase and extension to civic integrity:  

Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to practice the power, the authority, and the responsibility to pursue  goodness and constrain wickedness on earth. Civic citizens may and can develop statutory justice.

Political and religious philosopher Yeshua affirmed Genesis 1:26-28, contributing ideas in each Matthew 18:18 (no peace-power above humankind), Matthew 19:3-8 (mutual spousal-loyalty), Matthew 5:48 (in good behavior, pursue personal perfection, which also affirms Deuteronomy 18:13), Matthew 19:4-6 (don’t divide/lessen goodness), John 10:34 (humans who resist and avoid wickedness are gods facing death, as in Psalm 82:1-7), and in other direct dialogue, such as “go and sin no more”. Psalm 82 says nothing about resurrection.

Discussion

I think Genesis 1:26-28 informs humankind to flourish in goodness rather than accommodate badness and allow evil. Quoting chabad.org below,

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and they shall rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heaven and over the animals and over all the earth and over all the creeping things that creep upon the earth."

And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth."

Accepting the power, the authority, and the responsibility to have dominion over life on earth is human being (verb). Reliable human-beings choose goodness to actual reality.

Note: unlike chabad.org, OJB uses “Elohim” in Genesis 1 and 2, excepting “G-d” in 1:24-31. V 27 seems to equate the two entities. Septuagint uses “ὁ θεὸς”, or God throughout Genesis 1. I use “The phrase, the god or whatever constrains human choice”, hoping to express religious humility to whatever the god is.

Again, since theism is a human construct, I use the phrase, “the god, whatever it may be”, to express objection to any doctrinal God yet reserve humility to ineluctable evidence and remaining unknowns, about that which constrains the consequences of human choices. Make no mistake, I write opinion, because I do not know the ineluctable truth.]