CHAPTER VII AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM Our study of the preceding chapter has shown us with what perils the political life of Israel and Judah was menaced in the period between 780 and 745 B.C. In order to appreciate most fully the work of the prophets of this period we must place ourselves at its beginning, and as if unaware of the fate which actually met Israel look forward with the differing eyes of people and prophet. By way of review let us recall that although in the period from Jehu to Jeroboam II,' Israel had once, and probably oftener, paid tribute to Assyria, she regarded the greater nation as her ally against nearer foes, the Syrians, and not yet as the all-devouring monster which later experience revealed. Jeroboam had indeed, under the protection of Assyria, been able to reclaim much of the territory which had been taken from Israel by the Syrians, and now reigned over a kingdom little less in extent than that of his ideal predecessor David. For during part of this time it is probable that Judah also confessed the over-lordship of northern Israel. The temporary respite from vexing wars gave opportunity for the development of commerce and industries. Friendly intercourse with Assyria brought capital and stimulus for the accumulation of individual wealth. As always in seasons of sudden prosperity, the rich were able to seize the opportunity to grow richer, while the condition of the poor was little changed. The prosperity of the kingdom manifested itself in the foundation of great estates, in the building of wonderful houses, in extravagant and luxurious living among the rich, accompanied by disregard of the rights of the poor and even bitter oppression. Law courts were bought by the highest bidder; moneylenders exacted usurious fees. The poor, obliged to sell their land, helped to add to the rich man's estate. I See II Kings, 14:23-29 for the story of the reign of Jeroboam. In harmony with all this seeming prosperity' was the appreciation of the people of the blessings and favor of Jehovah evidenced in it. Rich altars with multitudinous sacrifices, offered in the midst of extravagant festivities, bound king and people together in a joyous religion of thanksgiving and self-congratulation. Amid all this glory of life none seemed to fear that the friendly Assyrian might attempt to absorb the little kingdom, or to see that the commercial life of the people was rotten and unstable, without moral basis, or to comprehend that the religion into which the people threw themselves with such abandon of joy was an external and commercial acknowledgment of the favor of Jehovah, showing profound ignorance of his real character, and of his requirements in daily living. The Jehovah of their imagination was as unmoral as were they themselves. We said that none saw. There was one, a man of the people, tending his sycamore trees and following his flocks somewhere in the wilderness of Tekoa, the arid and forbidding country south of Bethlehem, not more than twelve miles from Jerusalem. This man, like many a farmer of our own day, was observing with keenness of vision and judgment all which took place about him.2 In Amos we find a worthy successor of the prophets who preceded him, and an inspiration to many of the spokesmen of Jehovah who followed. His work is disclosed to us in a book bearing his name, a book which vividly portrays the conditions of his times, and his I To the Hebrew, who regarded his God as stronger than all other gods and who knew no evidence of the favor of God save that of external prosperity, to dream of disaster in the face of such evidence was impossible. Then, as now, the joy of the consciousness of the favor of God lay in a right relationship to him. At that time the conception of God was so gross, however, that people could think of him only as being pleased with material gifts and responding to the call of his people in like gifts. To what extent has our conception of God changed in this respect, and why? 2 In Palestine, the people were but a short time removed from the day when the kingdom was poor, and practical equality as to circumstances existed among the people. The occupation of a farmer or of a shepherd was honorable and useful, and essential to the well-being of the nation. A man living in Palestine could not be far away from the centers of political life. A farmer, whose life was perhaps less strenuous than that of those who lived in cities, would probably have more time for quiet and thoughtful consideration of passing events; his judgment upon them would be more unprejudiced and calm than that of those in the midst of the turmoil. vigorous and appalling interpretation of them. Unlike many of the books of the Bible, his is prefaced by a date, "The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he spake concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake," evidently a memorable date well known to the people. Let us imagine this sturdy shepherd in the solitude of his native desert, yet with the towered city of Jerusalem but twelve miles away, the highroad from Hebron to the north but one hour to the west, and a half-hour beyond that the highland, from which the Philistine plain stretched out toward the sea. Ten miles beyond Jerusalem, in the territory of northern Israel, was the royal sanctuary of Bethel, where the worship of Jehovah was conducted with. splendor such as had never before been seen in the Northern Kingdom, and less than thirty miles beyond that lay Samaria, the splendid capital, where wealth was pouring in from all sides as the rich men of the nation gravitated toward the more important cities. Thus alone, yet within easy reach of the teeming life of both his own Judea and northern cities, busied with his daily toil, or journeying to Jerusalem, to Bethel, to Gilgal, to Samaria, and even to Damascus, where the markets gave returns for his sheep and his figs, Amos observed and pondered, until a mighty spirit of indignation at what he saw, at what he deemed Israel's blindness and folly, swept over him, possessed him, and sent him forth upon the unwelcome errand of a man whose ruling passion was justice, to a nation wherein there was no justice. As a citizen of Judah, the sternness of his message to northern Israel would hardly be mitigated by sympathy. The substance and the spirit of that message can best be seen in extracts from the pages of his book.1 I The Book of Amos contains nine chapters in our version of the Bible. It is not chronologically arranged and consists of messages of judgment, some of which take the form of visions, and one small section of narrative, probably written down after a visit to Bethel, which is described in these pages a little later. The earthquake alluded to is not definitely dated and has not been found recorded in history. It was probably a local disturbance, but familiar to the people of Palestine. |