Amos and Hoshea: Before the Earthquake -
Lesson 14
The Prophecies of Amos: Oracles Against the Nations (L)
Text file
In this shiur, we will continue our study of Amos’s ultimate prophecy in this series of oracles against the nations. In the previous chapter, we concluded our analysis of the seven crimes of which Yisrael stand accused. We will now move on to the surprising segment of the oracle, which is unmatched in any of the previous seven (set-up) prophecies: the recitation of kindnesses, an almost liturgical presentation of God’s beneficence towards Yisrael in the conquest of the Land, several centuries earlier.
One prefatory note before presenting the text is in order. Presentations of God’s kindnesses appear in three distinct rhetorical styles and contexts in the canon.
Firstly, they appear in purely liturgical form as songs of praise. Tehillim 78, 105 and 136 are a few famous examples. We also find this phenomenon in the Torah itself (Shemot 15, Shirat Ha-yam), in earlier Nevi’im (Shoftim 5, Shirat Devora), in later Nevi’im (Yeshayahu 12) and elsewhere in Ketuvim (I Divrei Ha-yamim 29 and the early part of Nechemya 9, both of which appear in our daily prayers).
Secondly, they appear as “historiosophy,” a retelling of a historic narrative aimed at inspiring the audience to praise God and to commit to His covenant or to His worship. This phenomenon is also found in every part of Tanakh. In the Torah, Moshe employs this rhetorical tool when introducing the events of the Giving of the Torah (Devarim 4). Yehoshua (at the end of his career, ch. 24) as well as several unnamed prophets in Shoftim (e.g. ch. 2, 10) and Shemuel (I Shemuel 12) recount God’s many kindnesses with an aim to commit the people to the covenant, to abandon their assimilationist behavior and to reconsider their demand for a king, respectively. In Nechemya 9-10, the detailed recounting of God’s kindnesses is aimed to motivate the gathering to sign on to the amana )pact), recommitting to punctilious observance of God’s Torah.
The third rhetorical type is the one we encounter here: God’s grace and generosity are presented in opposition to the people’s rebellious behavior. Rather than being devotional or exhortative, this last one is a special form of chastening, as we will see forthwith.
What all three forms have in common is that the events recounted are presented in a manner which is distinct from the narrative record in three ways.
First of all, not all the events are presented; for instance, Yehoshua’s historiosophy (ch. 24) omits the famine which brings the Jew to Egypt and any mention of Yosef — certainly a key person in the narrative of the Exodus. Even more remarkable is his complete elision of Pharaoh and the “negotiations” which form a core element of the story.
Secondly, events are presented in a sequence that differs from the narrative record. In Nechemya 9, for instance, Avram’s name being changed to Avraham is presented before the covenant to give him the land of the Hittites, Hivites etc. In Bereishit, however, the covenant (ch. 15) precedes the name change (ch. 17) by more than a decade. Similarly, Yehoshua 24 mentions the defeat of Sichon and Og after the crossing of the Jordan, and Tehillim 78 and 105 both rearrange the Plagues.
Finally, those events which are presented in these retellings are often conflated. When the malakh speaks to the people at Bokhim (Shoftim 2:1-5), he states:
I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said: I will never break My covenant with you; and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars; but you have not heeded My voice; what is this that you have done? Wherefore I also said: I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be unto you as snares, and their gods shall be a trap unto you.
Note that the entry into the Land is presented as simultaneous with (or perhaps even preceding) the commands to destroy pagan worship sites and not to make a covenant with them. The command not to make a covenant with the pagans of the Land first appears in Shemot 23:32, a full generation before they enter the Land. Similarly, the commands regarding destroying pagan worship sites are first given at Sinai (ibid. v. 24).
There is a single explanation for these three deviations from the narrative sequence and scope. The purpose of a historiosophy is not to teach the events as they happened – i.e. what we refer to as “history”. It is, rather, aimed at evoking a particular sort of reaction from those listening and attending to the words: in one case, effusive praise; in another, resolve and commitment. In the third case, the goal is to inspire shame and, perhaps, to be prepared to accept God’s punishment for their wrongdoings. In none of these cases is the information incorrect or inaccurate. However, as we are all aware, there are numerous ways in which the same story can be told. In truth, there are few “objectively presented” histories and the tenor of how, for instance, Israel’s War of Independence is recounted has shifted in the last seventy years, telling us more about the orientations of the historians than about the facts. As it is, we generally begin by assigning factual and sequential objectivity to the narrative record and “agenda”-driven variations to the praising, exhorting and chastising texts.
We should not be surprised, then, when the chastising historiosophy that Amos presents does not accord exactly with the history of conquest and settlement as we know them.
THE TEXT
And I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorites. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O you children of Yisrael? says God.
But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying “Do not prophesy.”
As I suggested in shiur #11, v. 12 may be a bridge between the historiosophy and the crimes.
Or, as we delineated in an earlier shiur, we may read it like this:
[1] This is not an exhaustive presentation of the uses of the vav prefix, but it suffices for our purposes. [2] This has the potential of reorienting our understanding of the first two verses in Bereishit.
- And I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and he was strong as the oaks
- Indeed, I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath
- Also, I brought you up out of the land of Egypt
- And led you for forty years in the wilderness
- To possess the land of the Amorites
- And I raised up your sons to be prophets
- And of your young men to be Nazirites
- Destruction of the Amorite nations
- (1) Exodus à(2) wanderingsà(3) conquest
- Sanctification of the people
[1] This is not an exhaustive presentation of the uses of the vav prefix, but it suffices for our purposes. [2] This has the potential of reorienting our understanding of the first two verses in Bereishit.
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