Amos 1

THE PROLOGUE THE APPROACHING JUDGMENT, CHAPS. 1, 2.

Substance and form combine to prove that chapters 1 and 2 constitute one connected whole. Following the title (Amos 1:1) and the preface (Amos 1:2) comes a preparatory section (Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:5), leading up to the central thought, the condemnation of Israel (Amos 2:6-16). Every listener would give his assent that the surrounding non-Israelitish nations, Damascus (Amos 1:3-5), Philistia (Amos 1:6-8), Phoenicia (Amos 1:9-10), Edom (Amos 1:11-12), Ammon (Amos 1:13-15), and Moab (Amos 2:1-3), were deserving the wrath of Jehovah; they would even agree that Judah, since the division more or less hostile to the north, merited punishment (Amos 2:4-5). Hence these denunciations would awaken a ready response and win the good will of the prophet’s hearers. Having accomplished this, he burst forth in Amos 2:6-16, in the message for which he had been preparing the way, denunciation and judgment upon Israel. By their silent consent to the condemnation of the other nations they had pronounced the sentence of doom upon themselves.

It is to be noted that Amos is not partial to Israel; he does not condemn the surrounding nations exclusively for sins committed against Israel, but for sins against commonly recognized principles of humaneness and morality (Amos 2:1). The guilt of Israel is greater because of its special privileges. Even in this section Amos emphasizes the two central truths of his theology, that Jehovah is God over all, and that he governs all in righteousness.