Straight Dope on Medicine: Amos from Tekoa

Amos ("to carry" עָמַס ('amas)) was a shepherd (Heb. ro'ah) and fig tree farmer who lived near the border of Northern Israel and Southern Judah.[i] Sycamore fig trees are not true fig trees, but a variety of the mulberry family, which produces fig-like fruit. n. These trees grew in the tropical Jordan Valley, and around the Dead Sea, to a height of 30 to 40 feet, and bore fruit three or four times a year.[ii] One of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. Incidentally, there were 16 writing prophets. He was a man of humble birth, neither a "prophet nor a prophet's son." Amos ministered during the reigns of King Jeroboam II of Israel (793-753 B.C.) and King Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah (792-740 B.C.), specifically "two years before the earthquake" (1:1).

Amos lived in a town called Tekoa. Tekoa is a city on Jerusalem’s protective perimeter (Jer 6:1). The city was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr 11:6). Later, Jehoshaphat’s army passed by Tekoa, and Jehoshaphat stopped nearby to pray (2 Chr 20:20). Tekoa is also the hometown of several named figures in Scripture. Ira, one of David’s mighty men, was from Tekoa (2 Sam 23:26; 1 Chr 11:28; 27:9). The “wise woman” who convinced David to allow Absalom’s return was also from Tekoa (2 Sam 14:1-20).[iii]

Archaeological excavations at Hazor and Samaria point to evidence of a violent earthquake in Israel about 760 B.C.[iv] The books of Amos, Zechariah and Ezekiel explicitly note an earthquake. While earthquakes in the Middle East and Levant are as common as flies, the ancient annals did not tend to mention them.[v]

This one stood out.

Josephus delved into startling detail, starting with Uzziah waxing extremely successful, which made him cocky. One day the king went to the Temple – the first one, Solomon’s Temple – and insisted on offering incense to God himself, rather than via the priests, who begged him to desist. He threatened to kill them, and then:

“a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it; and fell upon the King’s face; insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately. And before the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west” – Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews, Book IX 10:4

At Megiddo, archaeologists describe “tilted walls and pillars, bent and warped walls, fractured building stones, dipping floors, liquefied sand, mudbrick collapse and burnt remains” (Shmuel Marco and Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, with Amotz Agnon of Hebrew University and David Ussishkin).[vi]

“The city of Gezer was also severely shaken. The outer wall of the city shows hewn stones weighing tons that have been cracked and displaced several inches off their foundation. The lower part of the wall was displaced outward (away from the city), whereas the upper part of the wall fell inward (toward the city) still lying course-on-course. This indicates that the wall collapsed suddenly.”

Sudden destruction levels from the same time can also be found at places like Lachish, Acre, Tel Dan, Tel Abu Hawam, Deir ‘Alla, Tell Judeideh, and ‘En Haseva in a tightly confined stratigraphy of the eighth century BC.

This is the location of Israel’s largest fault called the Dead Sea Transform.

Cores taken from the sediment near Ein Gedi show clear breaks in the layers at two times in the 8th century (as determined by carbon dating). According to Austin, the larger of the two quakes had a magnitude that may have been at least a catastrophic 7.8, but more likely as high as 8.2. He writes, “This magnitude 8 event of 750 B.C. appears to be the largest yet documented on the Dead Sea transform fault zone during the last four millennia.”

Amos emphasized God's righteousness. Hosea, his contemporary in the north, emphasized God's love. Amos' prophecies are more threatening, but Hosea's are more tender.

"A flurry of prophetic activity was divinely inaugurated in the eighth century B.C., mainly to warn the northern kingdom of an impending destruction if she did not repent and reverse her way of life.”[vii]

Israel was about 150 years old and was being ruled by Jeroboam II. Jeroboam means a wine bottle with four times the capacity of an ordinary bottle. Successful military leader. Jeroboam conquered the Ammonites and Moabites and extended his kingdom all the way to Damascus. He won new territory and generated lots of wealth. Tack on financial success to his resume. He brought home the bacon.

This might have been the peak of Israel’s existence.

God does not use these criteria for evaluation. In God’s eyes, Jeroboam II was one of the worst kings ever. He was apathetic spiritually, and he allowed for worship of the gods of Canaan, which led to injustice and neglect for the poor. Pagan gods are not sterling examples of morality.

Proverbs 29:2 ESV

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,  but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Recently an ancient seal from Jeroboam II was found that is dated 2800 years old.[viii]

The seal has the impression of a roaring lion. The inscription above reads, “Abshemah, the servant of Jeroboam.” This was found in Megiddo.

2 Kings 14

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,which he made Israel to sin. 25 lHe restored the border of Israel from Lebohamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea), according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

Ruled from 789–748 B.C. He was the greatest ruler of the dynasty of Jehu.[ix]

Although paganism flourished under his reign, he preserved some fealty to God. This can be deduced not only from the name of his son Zechariah (Heb. "Remembered by YHWH")

Finally, Amos could not take it anymore. He felt God calling him to trek up to Bethel to confront this corrupt and irresponsible king. This city had a large temple with cow idols, and initially Amos started announcing God’s word to the people.

There are nine chapters in this book. Chapters 1-2 contain Amos’s message to the nations and to Israel. Chapters 3-6 are the message to Israel and its leaders. Chapters 7-9 are Amos’ vision. Vision is what you see while you are wide awake. Not a dream.

Chapters 1 and 2 begin with poems about Israel’s neighbors and their injustice. Included are Tyre, Gaza, Edom, Moab, Ammon and Damascus. Israel was right in the center of these nations, it appeared like a target geographically. At the end, Amos puts forward a poem that is three times longer and more intense than any of the accusations against the neighboring nations.

The injunctions levied against Israel’s neighbors can also be taken as an indictment of Israel. If Israel were truly the showcase society they were meant to be, the surrounding peoples may well have emulated them.

He accuses Israel’s wealthy of ignoring the poor, and allowing grave injustice in their land. Israel allowed their poor to be sold into debt slavery, and going on the deny any of them legal representation. “Is this the family that was once denied justice and enslaved in Egypt?” asks Amos.

The second section, chapters 3-6, opens up with how God chose Israel from all the families of the Earth. This is an allusion to Genesis 12. God called Abraham’s family to become a blessing to all of the nations. They can’t even govern themselves well. God tells them, “This is why I will punish you for all of your sin.” He has a reason and is justified.

Amos repeats over and over again the egregious hypocrisy of Israel’s wealthy and all of its leaders. They faithfully attend every religious gathering, giving offerings and sacrifices while totally ignoring the poor. They also turn a blind eye to injustice.

God actually hates their worship because its totally disconnected from how they treat people. It is all a show, and smoke and mirrors. They want to curry favor with God, so that they can benefit and be blessed. But they refuse to be a blessing to others.

True worship is to let justice flow like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream. Zedek is a set of right, equitable relationships. Justice, mishpat, refers to concrete actions that you take to correct injustice. Both of these properties are to permeate God’s covenant people and their society.

Next up is Amos’ rant against Israel’s repeated idolatry. This Israel did from the very beginning. They broke off from Judah, and their first king set up two temples with golden bulls in them. (1 Kings 12). This was just a start. They accumulated more idols and worshipped the gods of sex(Asherah), weather (Baal) and war (Anat).

These gods were immoral themselves. Following them leads away from justice and righteousness. God says, “Seek me so that you may live.” (5:4) “Seek good, not evil, so that you may live.” (5:14)

God will send “The Day of the Lord.” This is a terrible act of justice upon Israel, not a day of frolicking and dancing. Specifically, a powerful nation will come and conquer and decimate their towns and cities. They will also take them away into exile. About 40 years later, (some place it at 20 years) the Assyrians swooped in and did exactly what God predicted. You can just about imagine what happened in the intervening years.

The book of Amos closes with a series of visions that illustrate the coming day of the Lord. He sees Israel decimated by a locust swarm, and by scorching fire. They are then swallowed up like over-ripe fruit. In the final vision, Amos sees God violently striking the pillars of Israel’s great idol temple at Bethel, and the whole building comes tumbling down. This is a bit of an eerie forerunner to the 2nd temple being destroyed in AD70.

In the final paragraph, 9:11-15, God introduces a glimmer of hope. God says, out of the ruins, he will one day restore the house of David. Interesting, because Israel by breaking away from Judah was rejecting the house of David, yet their future hope contains him. A surprise here is that the future family and restoration is going to include people from all of the nations.

If God is good, He has to confront evil and injustice among Israel and the nations. But mercy always includes a plan of hope. Devastation cannot be the last word.

References

[i] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGgWaPGpGz4

[ii] https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/amos.pdf

[iii] https://www.bibleplaces.com/tekoa/

[iv] Y. Yadin, et al., Hazor II: An Account of the Second Season of Excavations, 1956, pp. 24, 26, 36-37; and Philip J. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah—An Archaeological Commentary, p. 21.

[v] https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2019-01-03/ty-article-magazine/.premium/fact-checking-the-book-of-amos-there-was-a-huge-quake-in-eighth-century-b-c-e/0000017f-e3f1-d7b2-a77f-e3f722d00000

[vi] Biblical Quake Confirmed By Scientists That Was Prophesied by Amos (patternsofevidence.com)

[vii] Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology, p. 192.

[viii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxLElgw6xbg

[ix] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jeroboam-ii