Narrative Commentary ~ Sunday, 10 November 2013 ~ Lectionary Scriptures

Narrative Commentary ~ Sunday, 10 November 2013 ~ Lectionary Scriptures

Amos 1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw 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. 2 He said:

“the LORD* will roar from Zion,

and utter his voice from Jerusalem;

and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn,

and the top of Carmel will wither.”(Messianic WEB)

Amos 5:14 Seek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you,

as you say.

15 Hate evil, love good,

and establish justice in the courts.

It may be that the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”21 I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings,

I will not accept them;

neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like rivers,

and righteousness like a mighty stream.(Messianic WEB

Gospel: John 7:37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast*, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38  He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”(Messianic WEB).

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Commentary on Amos 1:1-2; 5:14-15, 21-24 by Stephen Reid

Amos might just be the most famous of the biblical prophets.

The Amos material had at least three different historical settings. It began as an event in the eighth century B.C.E. The followers of Amos shepherded the tradition, and it became part of a collection that provided a rationale for the exile during the period of Persian hegemony (539-332 B.C.E.). Finally, it was brought into the collection that we now call the Book of the Twelve or the Minor Prophets around 200 B.C.E.

The superscription, an editorial title that is meant to orient the reader to the passage or book, gives us a picture of the earliest historical background. The superscription that introduces the book of Amos identifies the ministry of Amos in terms of the reigns of Jeroboam II (circa 786-746 B.C.E.) and Uzziah (circa 783-742 B.C.E.). The Assyrian Adad-Nirari III (811-784 B.C.E.) was not able to press upon vassal states of Israel, and Judah, as would his successor Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 B.C.E.) , would orchestrate the fall of Samaria/Israel.

When we consider the canonical location of the Book of Amos, we see two other historical settings that shape the interpretation of the piece. The book of Amos is the third book in the collection known as the Book of the Twelve. This group is sometimes called the Minor Prophets. The Book of the Twelve was collected on one scroll. The books may have been organized in what the editors thought was chronological order. The Book of the Twelve was not the first prophetic collection.

The opening of the book tells us that he came from Tekoa in Judah and came to Israel (the northern kingdom) to work as a prophet. The only other prophetic book with a Northern Kingdom location is Hosea. Some think these designations denote a migrant worker status for Amos, while others claim that he is a “gentleman” prophet. He was a shepherd and dresser of trees.

The second verse contains a Jerusalem fingerprint on these words that began in Israel. While the prophetic speech event occurred in Israel, the editor wants to shape the material for the edification of the people of Jerusalem and Judah. The word pair of Jerusalem and Zion occurs frequently (almost fifty times). The word pair occurs heavily in the book of Isaiah and in three books of the Book of Four (Amos, Zephaniah, and Micah).

One of the editorial devices we see in the book of Amos is the use of catchwords. The didactic sayings of chapter 5 use this device. Three times the editor connects the task of seeking and the result of living. The first occurrence, in verse 4, is in the first person: “Seek me and live.” The imperative is stated in the positive “seek,” but also in the negative as well. In the first occurrence, the negative is “not seek.” The opposite of God is the false sanctuaries of Bethel, Gilgal, and Beer-sheba (5:4-6).

The second occurrence shifts the imperative to a reference to the divine in third person. The third occurrence of the seek and live didactic sayings (verses 13-14) replaces the reference to the deity with a reference to good and replaces sites of apostasy with evil.

Good and evil can refer to behavior. Clearly the writer and editor want the reader to appreciate the ethical dimensions of the terms. Nonetheless, the term “good” can mean “good fortune,” just as “evil” can mean “disaster.” The text blends the ethical and the historical destiny. In other words, good leads to good fortune and evil leads to disaster.

The promise of the good fortune is the presence of the Lord the God of Hosts, a divine epithet, that likely points to the divine warrior tradition. The poetry creates a synonymous parallelism between “live” and the presence of God. This final “seek” saying has its negative. It has moved from the avoidance in the first occurrence to the active and affective language “hate.” Verse 15 reverses the didactic saying beginning with the negative and then moving to the positive. "Seek good, not evil" becomes "Hate evil and love good." The structure accents the dichotomy. The good is defined as setting up justice in the gate, the location of village dispute resolution; it was the law-giving place and process in the time of Amos.

The promise is contingent; “perhaps,” the fierce divine epithet frames the contingent possibility that this dangerous God might be gracious. The recipient of the act of grace is the “remnant of Joseph.” The language of Joseph points to the northern kingdom as the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. One can construe a movement from "live" in the first and second didactic sayings that talk about live. This third saying defines “live” as the promise that falls short of extinction. This notion of remnant would resonate to the audience in the Persian period and later, so one is not surprised that the saying is saved in the redaction of the Book of the Four and later in the Book of the Twelve.

The final verses (5:21-24) use the catchword “hate.” The listener was chided to hate evil. Now God is depicted as hating the liturgical pretense of humans. The critique of human false confidence in human liturgical acts occurs often in the Hebrew Bible in passages like Psalm 50:9 and Jeremiah 7:4.

The final imperative is verse 24. The metaphor has particular power when we remember the arid climate. The combination of vibrant waters is paralleled to the sustained waters. The prescribed language here reflects abundance, not lack. Abundance of justice and righteousness stands as a stark contrast to the world the prophet describes. This passage was quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his “I have a dream” speech on August 28, 1963, and again in his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech the night before his death. Whether heard in the eighth or the twenty-first century, Amos calls through the ages.

PRAYER OF THE DAY:

God of all people,
how us how to let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an every-flowing stream. Create justice and righteousness in us, that all may rejoice in your blessings. Amen.

HYMNS:

Let justice flow like streams (Jane Parker Huber)

1. Let justice flow like streams of sparkling water, pure,

Enabling growth, refreshing life, abundant, cleansing, sure.

2. Let righteousness roll on as others' cares we heed,

An everflowing stream of faith translated into deed.

3. So may God's plumb line, straight, define our measure true,

And justice, right, and peace pervade this world our whole life through.

~~~
Let streams of living justice (William Whitla)

1. Let streams of living justice

Flow down upon the earth; 

Give freedom's light to captives, 

Let all the poor have worth.

The hungry's hands are pleading,

The worker's claim their rights,

the mourners long for laughter,

The blinded seek for sight.

Make liberty a beacon, 

Strike down the iron power, 

Abolish ancient vengeance, 

Proclaim your people's hour 

2. For healing of the nations,

For peace that will not end,

For love that makes us lovers,

God grant us grace to mend.

Weave our varied gifts together,

Knit our lives as they are spun;

On your loom of time enrol us

Till our thread of life is run.

O great Weaver of our fabric, 

Bind church and world in one;

Dye our texture with your radiance, 

Light our colours with your sun. 

3. Your city's built to music; 

We are the stones you seek;

Your harmony is language:

We are the words you speak.

Our faith we find in service,

Our hope in other's dreams,

Our love in hand of neighbour:

our home land brightly gleams.

Inscribe our hearts with justice;

Your way - the path untried;

Your truth - the heart of stranger,

Your life - the Crucified.

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Glorious things of you are spoken (John Newton, 1725-1807)

1. Glorious things of thee are spoken, 

Zion, city of our God; 

God, whose word cannot be broken, 

formed thee for his own abode. 

On the Rock of Ages founded,

what can shake thy sure repose? 

With salvation's walls surrounded, 

thou mayst smile at all thy foes. 

2. See, the streams of living waters, 

springing from eternal love, 

well supply thy sons and daughters, 

and all fear of want remove.

Who can faint while such a river 

ever will their thirst assuage? 

Grace which like the Lord, the giver, 

never fails from age to age. 

3. Round each habitation hovering, 

see the cloud and fire appear 

for a glory and a covering, 

showing that the Lord is near! 

Thus deriving from our banner 

light by night and shade by day, 

safe we feed upon the manna 

which God gives us when we pray. 

4. Blest inhabitants of Zion, 

washed in our Redeemer's blood; 

Jesus, whom our souls rely on, 

makes us monarchs, priests to God. 

Us, by his great love, he raises, 

rulers over self to reign, 

and as priests his solemn praises 

we for thankful offering bring.

~~~

CHORAL:

Justice (Rollo Dilworth)

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John Wesley’s Notes & Commentary for:

Amos 1:1~2

The general title and scope of this prophecy, ver. 1, 2. God's controversy with Syria, ver. 3-5. Palestine, ver. 6-8. Tyre, ver. 9, 10. Edom, ver. 11, 12. And Ammon, ver. 13-15.

Verse 1. He saw - Received by Revelation. Israel - The kingdom of the ten tribes. Jeroboam - The great grand-son of Jehu. The earth- quake - Of which, only this text, and Zech xiv, 5, make any particular mention.

Verse 2. Will roar - Alluding to the roaring of an hungry lion for prey. Jerusalem - The city God had chosen where he dwelt, the seat of God's instituted worship, and the royal seat of the kingdom as God had settled it, from which in both respects the ten tribes had revolted. The habitations - Where the shepherds found pasturage they pitch their tents, and dwelt therein that they might attend their flocks. And this was the delight and wealth of these men; alluding to which Amos expresses the wealth and delight of the kingdom of Israel. Shall wither - Either blasted, or dried up with drought, and turned into barrenness. So the whole kingdom of the ten tribes, though as fruitful as Carmel should be made horrid and desolate as a wilderness.

Amos 5:14-15,21-24

Verse 14. With you - To bless and save you yet.

Verse 15. The evil - All evil among the people, and yourselves. Love - Commend, encourage, defend: let your heart be toward good things, and good men. Remnant - What the invasions of enemies, or the civil wars have spared, and left in Samaria and Israel.

Verse 21. I hate - Impure and unholy as they are. Will not smell - A savour, of rest or delight, I will not accept and be pleased with.

Verse 23. Thy songs - Used in their sacrifices, and solemn feasts; herein they imitated the temple-worship, but all was unpleasing to the Lord. Will not hear - Not with delight and acceptance. Thy viols - This one kind of musical instrument is put for all the rest.

Verse 24. Let judgment - Let justice be administered constantly. Righteousness - Equity. Stream - Bearing down all that opposes it.

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