The Prophecies of Amos: Day of Doom (7)

We are now beginning our study of the last chapter, in the common divisions, of Amos. This is, however, not the beginning of anything; it is neither the final parasha nor the final unit. That unit, as we have argued, begins at 8:9, and from there on, Amos is presenting components of his eschatological vision.

 

Some have argued that the vision that makes up the first parasha in chapter 9 is part of the sequence of the visions in chapters 7 and 8, referring to it as “the fifth vision.” According to that approach, this vision is no more of an eschaton than anything else in Amos. I believe that this is not the case. The significant distinctions between this vision and the four that preceded it are enough to mark it as part of a different “vision-scheme,” and, couched as it is within what we have argued are clear end-of-days scenarios, this chapter must be understood in that manner.

 

In this shiur, we will examine the overall text of the vision and point out the linguistic, contextual, and syntactic nuances that mark it as set apart from the earlier visions – and which put it squarely in Amos’s “distant vision” (as opposed to his proximate prophecies that speak to the rather immediate fate of the Samarian kingdom). Over the course of the next few shiurim, in which we will examine the vision in greater detail, we will also note how many of the themes in this vision are expansions and intensifications of themes mentioned earlier in the book. It is as if the proximate prophecies of Amos, directed at his 8^th century BCE Samarian audience, are a microcosm of the eschatological visions. This eschaton either spells the end of the southern kingdom of Yehuda well over a hundred years later (as some Rishonim maintain – see Abravanel at the beginning of our chapter) or may point to a future as yet unrealized and which, we all hope, will remain an object of theoretical study. 

 

For purposes of this presentation, we will look at all six verses together. In the next few shiurim, we will examine the language, imagery and so forth in greater detail.  

 

THE TEXT

 

GENERAL ASSESSMENT

 

At first blush, this vision is far more reminiscent of Yeshayahu’s inauguration than of anything earlier in Amos:

 

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim; each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one called unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door were moved at the voice of them that called, and the house was filled with smoke. (Yeshayahu 6:1-4)

 

As in Amos’s final “vision,” Yeshayahu’s inauguration-prophecy begins with the navi describing himself as “seeing.” In the earlier visions (chapters 7 and 8), Amos reports that God “showed me” – ko hirani. In Amos, God is standing atop (or next to – we’ll discuss that in the next shiur) the altar; Yeshayahu sees God sitting atop a throne. This throne is in the vicinity of the mizbe’ach, as can be seen from verse 6:

 

Then flew unto me one of the seraphim, with a glowing stone in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.

 

In Amos’s earlier visions, God was showing him items from the mundane world (locusts, fire, the plumb-line, and the summer fruit), but in ours, like in Yeshayahu chapter 6, God is seen in a place of royalty/sanctity. In both Yeshayahu’s vision as well as that of Amos, the shaking of the sipim (posts) is an integral part of the vision. In Yeshayahu’s vision, it is part of the tremor of revelation; in Amos’s vision, it is God’s directive to…? (The addressee of God’s commands in verse 1 is unclear – more on that in the next shiur.)  

 

Furthermore, each of Amos’s earlier visions was comprised of an object (locusts, fire, plumb-line/wall, basket of fruit) that was then used in the dialogue between prophet and Master to deliver a message. In some cases, the imagery was sufficient (locusts, fire), and in the others, there was some sort of a word play that carried the message (the anakh and keluv kayitz – see shiur #69). In this vision, on the other hand, there is nothing about the setting or any objects present that symbolize the message. The message is stated, explicitly and with terrifying clarity, by God Himself.

 

Before moving on, it is prudent to note that there is a dispute among the Rishonim as to the assumed location of the mizbe’ach in this vision. Whereas some read it as the altar in Beit-El,[1] others understand it to be the mizbe’ach in Yerushalayim.[2] Perhaps they understood this from, among other context clues, the close parallel to Yeshayahu’s prophecy, which, as noted above (from verse 6), was set in Yerushalayim.

 

There is one vital distinction between Yeshayahu’s vision and that of Amos. Yeshayahu’s vision was, as the text makes explicit, his inauguration, and the vision related to absolutely current circumstances:

 

Then said I: “Woe is me! for I am undone; Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” Then flew unto me one of the seraphim, with a glowing stone in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Lo, this has touched thy lips; And your iniquity is taken away, And your sin expiated.” And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for us?” Then I said: “Here am I; send me.” (Yeshayahu 6:5-8)

 

It is placed near the beginning of Yeshayahu’s prophecies and expresses the navi’s reticence to accept his mission (akin to Moshe, Yirmiyahu, and Yona, among others, as well as, yes, Amos). Our vision, contradistinctively, appears within the context of Amos’s “distant vision” of an end-of-days scenario, following the famine “for the words of Hashem.” The rest of this vision similarly makes it clear that this is a “doomsday” vision. It is possible to maintain – as did some Rishonim –that this frightening prophecy was realized at a particular point in history. Alternatively, it might be posited as belonging to the distant future – and “end of history.” Parenthetically, that would also mean that it need not necessarily come about (more on this later).

 

STRUCTURE OF THE VISION

 

This vision is the longest single mar’eh in Amos, and its composite parts are readily identifiable. The first four verses are the vision, which is in turn made up of two parts. The first segment is the first half of verse 1 – the vision of God atop/aside the altar, commanding the terrible shaking of the (building?) (Land?). The rest of verse 1 and verses 2 through 4 are the terrifying consequences of this “shake-up” for God’s people. Note that this entire section is presented as a monologue; it should be imagined as enveloped in quotation marks.

 

God’s Name does not appear in this first section after the introductory ra’iti et A-D-N-Y.  Unlike Amos’s earlier visions, the Name used for God here is only A-D-N-Y, a Name that Amos uses frequently. In the earlier visions, he uses A-D-N-Y with Hashem (vocalized “Elokim”); in this vision, only A-D-N-Y is used. As mentioned, there is no Name for God used in the rest of the first half, as this is entirely made up of God’s words.

 

The second half is set off from the first. Verse 5 shifts to the words of the prophet, praising God. In verse 5, he again invokes A-D-N-Y, but this time adds “Hashem.”

 

Verses 5 and 6 complete the vision with a “cosmic hymn,” in the same spirit as the earlier hymns at 4:13 and 5:8-9. This paean is itself broken into two clearly distinct parts. Verse 5 praises God for His power, speaking of God’s immanence and relating directly to the destruction foretold in the preceding verses. Verse 6 speaks more transcendentally about God, with His power over the sea (or Sea) made manifest as part of the destruction. He concludes the section and the entire passage with Hashem shemo, a common signature for Amos.

 

The two sections seem to be sufficiently distinct from each other. Nonetheless, there are clear contextual and literary markers that bind them together.

 

In verse 2, the verse that seems most hyperbolic of the descriptions (and evokes Devarim 30:11-13), the image is of people burrowing under the earth to hide from God or ascending to the heavens to – escape Him? In any case, that is the image. As we will discuss further on, verse 3 is an explication of verse 2, which “makes it real.” In chiastic fashion, the one “climbing up to the heavens” has actually gone to the top of the Carmel to hide in one of the caves there. The one who is “burrowing under the earth” is really someone who is trying to hide under the sea.[3] Thus, the full phrases:

 

Though they dig into the nether-world, Thence shall My hand take them; And though they climb up to heaven, Thence will I bring them down.

 

And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; And though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of the sea, Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.

 

may be charted as the following chiasmus: