The Book of Obadiah

Stoke Poges is a small village in England not too far from Windsor Castle.278 One of the most famous cemeteries of the world is located in this village, where the well-known poet Thomas Gray penned his famous Elegy written in a Country Churchyard. Those who have gone through the American school system have, I am sure, studied it, or, at least, read this poem at one time or the other during the course of their studies. I came to know about it only recently when I wrote a commentary on the First Letter of Peter and was reading Warren Wiersbe's commentary on that book. Wiersbe quotes these words from that poem:

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,

Awaits alike the inevitable hour,

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.279

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” and “… there was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:11). Those who find their safety and security in the things under the sun will finally be destroyed, along with the things in which they trusted. But those who find their safety and security in the Eternal God will never be shaken. This is the central message of the Bible so clearly presented in the little book penned by an ancient prophet named Obadiah.

The shortest book in the Old Testament and among all the writing prophets, Obadiah provides an overview of the message presented in each of the writing prophets: God's judgment on the unbelieving Gentiles who opposed God's chosen people Israel, and God's grace and ultimate deliverance of the believing Israel. This double thread is woven throughout every prophetic book in the Old Testament.
The Author

Obadiah literally means “Servant of the Lord.” This was one of the most common names in the Hebrew Bible. There are 12 other men with this same name in the Old Testament, none of whom can be identified with the author of this book. We do not know anything about this man except that he must have lived in Judah since he prophesies in relation to Jerusalem.
Historical Context

From the historical references in the book, we can locate Obadiah’s ministry in Judah during the reign of Jehoram (848-841 B. C.), son of Jehoshaphat. Edom is indicted because of his violence against his brother Jacob: “On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them …” (11-14). Both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell of the war and rebellion of Edom in the days of Jehoram when Edom, after a fierce struggle, threw off the yoke of Judah (2 Kings 8:20-22; 2 Chronicles 21:8-10). Shortly after that revolt of Edom, according to 2 Chronicles 21:16ff, the Philistines and Arabians broke into Judah and,

They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah (Jehoahaz), the youngest (2 Chronicles 21:17).

This best fits the statements in Obadiah, chapters 11-14. When the Philistines, Arabians, and Edomites entered Jerusalem, they cast lots to decide which portions of the city would be granted to each contingent for the purpose of plunder.
The Literal Theme of the Book

The animosity between Edom and the Israelites, and Edom’s punishment because of that, is the literal theme of the Book of Obadiah. The animosity between the Edomites and the Israelites is one of the oldest examples of a discord in human relationships. It began even before their ancestors, Esau and Jacob, were born: “The babies jostled each other within her,” in the womb of their mother Rebekah (Genesis 25:22). Then, for a bowl of red stew, Esau readily traded his birthright to his younger brother Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34). Later Jacob stole the blessing to which Esau said, “Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: he took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing!” And so, Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob” (Genesis27:36, 41). Then Esau moved to the land of Seir (Genesis 36:8-9), the red sandstone area southeast of the Dead Sea.

Later, Edom refused to let the Israelites pass through their land when the Israelites were on the way to the Promised Land, and the Edomites “… came out against them with a large and powerful army” (Numbers 20:14, 21). Even then, God told Israel, “Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother” (Deuteronomy 23:7). However, the animosity continued for centuries, and the Edomites harbored hostility against Israel (Ezekial. 35:5). Saul (1 Samuel 4:47), David (2 Samuel 8:13-14), Joab (1 Kings 11:16), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:17-22) all had problems with the Edomites.

The enmity between the seed of Jacob and the seed of Esau is seen even in the New Testament incident. Edom was later controlled by Assyria and Babylon, and in the Fifth century B. C., they were forced by the Nabateans to leave their territory and move to the area of southern Palestine, where they became known as Idumeans. Herod the Great, an Idumean, became the King of Judea under Rome in 37 B. C. This was the king who attempted to murder Jesus by ordering that all the babies under two years of age be killed.

Obadiah, the oldest of all the writing prophets, takes up here the topic of the doom of Edom. After him, almost all prophets have made Edom an object of the Lord’s wrath and destruction, and more than any other nation mentioned in the Old Testament, Edom is the supreme object of God's wrath.
The Cause for God’s Wrath

What was so wrong about Edom that God was so upset with him and made him the object of His supreme wrath? The basic reasons were his pride and self-sufficiency. The book gives five reasons for this pride and self-sufficiency:

1. Pride because of their safety and security. Obadiah writes:

The pride of your heart had deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, “Who can bring me down to the ground?” Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars … (verses 3-4).

Edom’s imposing capital city of Petra was impregnable and virtually inaccessible. Edom found her security in the clefts and the rocks. Some of the peaks reached as high as 5,700’ and surrounded her like fortresses. The deep terrifying gorges kept the enemy away. Edom found her safety and security in her surroundings.

However, there is something more involved in the high peaks and lofty clefts. The prophet speaks about her soaring like the eagle and making her nest among the stars. That reminds us of someone else who thought to himself:

I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; will make myself like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Edom in her pride had lifted her head against God, just like Satan.

2. Pride because of her hidden treasures. Obadiah talks about Edom's hidden treasures (verses 5-6), for which Edom was proud.

3. Pride because of her allies. Edom was proud of her allies and friends and their political alliances (verse 7).

4. Pride because of wisdom and wise men. Obadiah talks about “the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau” (verse 8). Edom was known for her wise men and sages. Her location on a major highway provided intellectual exchange with distant nations.

5. Pride because of her military power. Obadiah talks about her warriors, her military power for which Edom was proud. All these things for which Edom is proud, the prophet tells her, will be taken away. From her lofty heights, she will be brought down on the ground (verse 4). She will be ransacked and her hidden treasures pillaged (verse 6). All her allies will deceive and overpower her and set a trap for her (verse 7). The wise men will be destroyed (verse 8). The warriors will be terrified and will be cut down in the slaughter (verse 9).

Anything and everything that man trusts and relies upon will be taken away. These things will be taken away not because they are evil in and of themselves, but because they take the place of God. Man trusting in these things makes himself God and does not see any need for God. He raises his fist against God and says, “I don't care for you; I don't need you.”

Edom is a symbol of human philosophy that has no place for God. Strangely enough, if there is any nation on the face of the earth today who can boast of these things listed about Edom, it is the United States of America. Where has all the prosperity, military power, and prominent place in world politics brought us today?

6. Pride against God expressed in persecuting God’s people. Edom, and any nation’s or people’s pride and haughty attitude against God, is expressed in various ways. One of the ways is persecuting God’s people, which Obadiah describes about Edom.

The major reason for the judgment of Edom is: “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever” (verse 10). The details of the violence against his brother are given in the next four verses:

1. They stood withholding assistance (verse 11).

2. They rejoiced over Judah’s downfall (verse 12).

3. They plundered the city, Jerusalem (verse 13).

4. They prevented the escape of Judah’s fugitives (verse 14).

Behind every persecution of God’s people, there is pride and rebellion against God. Jesus said:

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me (John 15:18-21).
The Ultimate Outcome – The Day of the Lord

Speaking about the judgment of Edom because of his violence against his brother Jacob, Obadiah turns to speak to all nations who have turned their back to God and talks about their final judgment in terms of the Day of the Lord: “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head” (verse 16). On the other hand, “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance” (verse 17).

There are two major aspects of the Day of the Lord.

5. 1. Judgment. The first major aspect of the Day of the Lord will be judgment upon the nations who did not obey God. The wicked nations will drink the cup of God’s wrath: “ … so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been” (verse 16). As the psalmist describes God’s wrath: “In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs” (Psalm 75:8). Isaiah declares in God’s words: “I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end of the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless” (Isaiah 13:11).

Those who trust in things will be destroyed, along with the things in which they trusted.

6. 2. Deliverance. The other major aspect of the Day of the Lord is the final deliverance of those who trust God, and the Lord's eternal Kingdom, as noted above: “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance” (verse 17).

A. Mount Zion. Jerusalem will be the capitol of the Kingdom of God as noted in verse 17 above. Isaiah notes:

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it… . The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3).

The moon will be abased, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously (Isaiah 24:23).

7. B.Israel will fully possess the Promised Land (verses 18-20).

8. C.The people of God will rule with the King as it says in verse 21: “Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau.”

9. D.Finally, the Lord’s eternal Kingdom will be established: “And the kingdom will be the Lord’s” (verse 21b). And, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

Obadiah, the first of the writing prophets, provides the overview of the kingdom message that becomes one of the major theses of all the rest of the prophets.

Obadiah does not talk about the “cross;” he only talks about the “crown.” David had already prophesied:

Why do the nations conspire

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand

and the rulers gather together against the Lord

and against his Anointed One.

“Let us break their chains,” they say,

“and throw off their fetters.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

Then he rebukes them in anger

and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord:

He said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have become your Father.

Ask of me,

and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.

You will rule them with an iron scepter;

You will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Therefore, you kings, be wise;

be warned, you rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear

and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry

and you be destroyed in your way,

for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalm 2:1-12, NIV).

Those who rebel against God, trusting in themselves, will finally be destroyed. Those who trust in the Lord will finally be delivered for eternity.

To whom do you think Obadiah is talking? To Edom? No, the prophet is not talking to Edom; he is talking about Edom to his own people.

Remember the situation in Judah during Obadiah’s time? In northern Israel, Ahab-Jezebel ruled with all their wickedness (1 Kings 16-22).

In Judah, Asa begins well (2 Chronicles 14, 15), but ends in disgrace (2 Chronicles 16). Asa’s son Jehoshaphat, like his father, began well: “The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways his father David had followed … ” (2 Chronicles 17:3-6), but later allied himself with Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:1; 19:1-2; 20:37). Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram from the beginning “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel,” and “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 21:6).

During this time, Obadiah brings the message to the faithful in Judah – a message of doom to those who trust in their own evil practices and wickedness – and a message of comfort and peace to those who continue to trust the Lord in spite of the wickedness around them.
Applications

We see three applications to us today in the Book of Obadiah:

1. God keeps His promises. God had promised Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). He had promised Jacob, through Isaac’s blessing; “May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed” (Genesis 27:29b). God kept those promises.

Similarly, God kept His promise to Edom too: “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother” (Genesis 27:39-40).

One of the most striking statements of God’s faithfulness in the Bible comes from the mouth of a heathen prophet. When the Moabite king Balak saw the hordes of Israelites camped along the Jordan across from Jericho, he was filled with dread, and he summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites. However, Balaam was not successful in cursing the Israelites, and when the Moabite king Balak kept forcing him, he said:

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).

What he was saying is that God is faithful in keeping His promises, and no one can revoke the promises that He has given.

2. God makes His own choices. Not only does God keep His promises, He also makes His own choices. Obadiah speaks of the final doom of Edom and the final deliverance and blessing of Israel. However, God had already made His choice between Esau and Jacob, even before they were born. As Malachi later notes:

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord says, “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals” (Malachi 1:2-3).

Paul, commenting on this, notes,

Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Romans 9:10-13).

10. 3. We are responsible for the choices we make. Edom made his choice, and he suffered the consequences. Moab (Lot) made his choices, and his descendants suffered the consequences. The people of the world make their own choices, and they will suffer the consequences. “They will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5).

We too will have to stand before the Lord to give account of our choices. We will not be condemned like the unbelievers (Romans 8:1). However, we will have to give an account to the Lord of how we spend our life, how we use our resources that He has given us as His stewards, how we decide our priorities and goals, and where our heart is set. “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Those who trust in the things under the sun will be destroyed along with those things. But those who trust in the Lord will finally be delivered and enjoy His blessing.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

But we trust in the Name of the Lord our God.

They are brought to their knees and fall,

But we rise up and stand firm” (Psalm 20:7-8).

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

All that beauty all that wealth e’er gave,

Awaits alike the inevitable hour,

Paths of glory lead but to the grave.280

“… but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17).

278 This is the edited manuscript of a message delivered by Imanuel G. Christian, guest speaker at Community Bible Chapel, on July 29, 2001.

279 Warren W. Wiersby, Be Hopeful (1 Peter), (Colorado Springs: Victor Books, 1982), p. 18.

280 See footnote 1.

Amos

I. Introduction²⁷²

When Jim Ellis taught us the overview of the Prophets, and explained the various literary forms the prophets used, he went to Amos for several of his examples. Amos contains all of the literary types he described: The Covenant Lawsuit, Woe Oracles, Laments, Promise Oracles, Visions, and parallelism. Although he may have been just a sheepherder from Tekoa, he was a well educated one and a skilled writer, and his book has quite an elaborate structure.

A. Author And Date (1:1)

Amos was a sheepherder from the southern kingdom of Judah. Amos 7:15 shows us that he received a direct call from God to go prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. So Amos goes to Bethel, which was where the king, Jeroboam II, lived. Bethel had special significance in Israel’s history. In Genesis 28, we see that this is where Jacob had his dream about the angels descending on the ladder and his wrestling with God. But now it had become the center for idol worship in the Northern Kingdom. Jeroboam set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan for the Israelites to worship, because he didn’t want the people worshipping God in Jerusalem and reuniting the kingdom.

It says this happened in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam. So we know this to be somewhere between 790-753 BC. Most date the book around 760 BC. Israel was at the height of its power politically, but was very corrupt spiritually and morally.

We know that Israel was defeated by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., so this is just before that time, and Amos is warning Israel so they will turn from their wicked ways before it is too late.

B. The Theme (1:2)

Three things we need to notice is the phrase, “The Lord comes roaring out of Zion.”²⁷³

• God has been Israel’s shepherd. The Israelites are familiar with the 23rd Psalm, etc. Like a shepherd, God is supposed to take care of them. But Amos, a sheepherder himself, uses what would have been a very vivid word picture to that society. God is now like a Lion to Israel. The lion was probably the most feared animal of that time. It could attack and devour a flock of sheep while the shepherd watched helplessly.
• Like the lion roars just before he attacks (3:4), the Lord is announcing his judgment on Israel.
• And, I think it is probably more than coincidence that Assyria was big into lion hunting and is compared to a lion in Nahum 2:11-12

^2:11 Where now is the den of the lions,
the feeding place of the young lions,
where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled
and no one disturbed them?
^2:12 The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed
and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses;
he filled his lairs with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.

So this imagery sets the stage and lets the people know that God is angry.

Why is He angry? That is the theme of the book. And I don’t want to tell you just yet.

OVERVIEW OF BOOK

Key to unlocking the book – Understanding the literary devices used, isolating each unit, figuring out what the point of that unit is and then put the pieces together. When we do that, we see that Amos might be organized as follows:

• Seven speeches pronouncing Judgment (following the covenant lawsuit format).
• Five messages describing the reasons for the judgment and just how bad they were. (Laments and Woe Oracles)
• Five visions to show how bad the judgment will be.
• Promise of restoration in the future. (promise Oracle)

So, with these things in mind, we see Amos is preaching in the northern kingdom to the Israelites, and he begins by giving a series of speeches against Israel’s surrounding enemies.

II. The Roar Of Judgment (1:3-2:16)

The Old Testament prophets were adept at luring hostile audiences into listening to their judgment speeches. In 1 Kings 20:35-43 a prophet tricked Ahab into pronouncing his own guilt and punishment. And Nathan tricked David into declaring his own guilt by the artful use of a parable (2 Samuel 12).

Amos 1-2 contains a great example of this entrapment technique, and recognizing what Amos is doing here really helps us to understand what is being said and what is the theme of the book.

I can just imagine him shouting and pronouncing judgment on these surrounding nations, and his audience would be listening with delight as he listed the evil things their enemies had done and what God was going to do to them. Israel was anticipating a day when God would deliver them from their enemies. When we studied Obadiah and Joel, you may remember they talked about the day of the Lord when the nations would be judged.

Let’s look at the speeches in Amos. Typically, people read these speeches and try to draw application from each one. They try to analyze each nation’s sin, etc. But that is perhaps, not the best way to understand what Amos is doing here.

It seems that Amos is using these speeches to build to a climax. He starts with foreigners, then denounces Israel’s neighbors and then the seventh speech is against Judah. You all know that the number seven is significant in the Bible, and it was to the Jew. They would have thought this was the culmination of the sermon, and they certainly would have been pleased that Judah was going to get what was coming to her.

But Amos uses another literary device to build the listener’s interest and make him hang around till the end.

Let’s look at what Amos does:

THE THREE/FOUR FORMULA

One of the first things you notice is this saying, “Because ________ has committed three treaty violations—make that four! (Amos 1:3a) What does that mean?

It is especially confusing when he doesn’t list three or four things after he says that. We might label this device as an x/x+1 formula--explain...

This x/x+1 formula is found throughout the Bible and usually follows a set pattern.

• It is occasionally used to emphasize completeness as in Job 40:5 which says, “I have spoken once, but I cannot answer; twice, but I will say no more.”
• It is sometimes used to mean “a few” - one or two of something. E.g., there were a couple of people at the meeting.
• It is sometimes used to mean abundance - “7 even 8” is used more often to refer to that. Micah 5:5 says,

He will give us peace.
When the Assyrians try to invade our land,
and attempt to set foot in our fortresses,
we will send against them seven shepherd-rulers,
make that eight commanders.

This means there will be plenty of shepherds (leaders). This is also seen in Ancient Near Eastern secular literature (from Ugarit). E.g. Baal has 7 yea 8 bolts of lightning.

• Sometimes it is more literal. The second number is what is being emphasized and the phrase “3 even 4” is mostly used for poetic parallelism.

But it usually precedes a list of some sort. In Psalm 62:11-12, we see the one/two formula. In Proverbs 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 29-31, we have the three/four formula and in Job 5:19-22 and Proverbs 6:16-19 we have a six/seven grouping. Proverbs 6: 16-19 is fairly well known.

In all these sections the author gives a list corresponding to the larger number of the formula. The significance of all this is that the typical Jew would have been expecting Amos to list four transgressions for each of these nations mentioned. Does he do that? No. Why?

Amos is going to adapt this common 3-4 # formula to set up the audience and emphasize his message.

Let’s look at the speeches:

A. Judgment Against The Nations (1:3-2:5)

Damascus – verses 3-5

“They ripped through Gilead like threshing boards with iron teeth.”

Damascus was the capitol of the Arameans or Syrians off to the North. Hazael and Ben-hadad were previous kings of Aram. This probably refers to the constant battles between Gilead and the Arameans. The word “threshing” is probably figurative for harsh and thorough conquest with the idea of Aram’s armies raking across Gilead slicing and crushing it as though it were grain on the threshing floor. This could even refer to actual methods of torture where a device like a sledge with iron prongs or knives was used on prisoners, or as Charles Ryrie says in his footnote²⁷⁴--the huge sledges were literally dragged over the enemies to crush them.

But notice, even though it is a gruesome thing, there is only one transgression listed. Not four as the audience would have expected.

For your information, Damascus fell to Assyrians in 732 BC.

Gaza - verses 6-8

The cities mentioned, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron were major cities in Philistia.

Their sin was “They deported a whole community and sold them to Edom.”

Although it might look like two crimes listed, the overall concept is that of one thing--large-scale slave trade. The Philistines were famous for capturing whole villages and selling them into slavery to Edom, and from there they were sold to other parts of the world. Joel 3:4-8 talks further about their slave trade and also mentions that Tyre participated with them. Tyre is the next city mentioned.

Tyre - verses 9-10

This section refers to the Phoenicians. Their crime against humanity was also slave trade with Edom. Strictly speaking, we might see two transgressions here, but it seems that it is really one sin because the covenant of brotherhood was broken by the slave trade.

So, we have three nations condemned but only one sin listed for each. The 3/4 formula would have made the audience anticipate the fourth nation to be mentioned as the climax of the story.

Edomites - verses 11-12

When Amos mentioned Edom fourth, I’m sure many thought this was the conclusion because the 3/4 formula might be mirrored in the speech as a whole with Amos denouncing three nations and then concluding with a special denunciation on the fourth. And I’m sure they were pleased. Charles Ryrie mentions in his footnote on 1:7²⁷⁵ that Edom was Israel’s bitterest enemy. That is truly a sad thing because the Edomites were the descendants of Esau - Jacob’s brother. Remember Jacob’s other name was Israel.

“He chased his treaty partner with a sword, he wiped out his allies” certainly refers to this relationship between Israel and Edom.

With all the emphasis on three and four transgressions, these four separate statements might make it seem like this is the culmination of the speech. But these four statements really all describe one basic sin and that is the intense hostility for Israel.

So Amos continues.

Ammon - verses 13-15

They ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women, so they could expand their territory. (1:13)

This is certainly a gross sin. Ancient armies would sometimes do this to terrorize the enemy. And certainly committing this atrocity against defenseless women and children showed how immoral they had become. But again, I think there is just one conceptual sin listed. It says they ripped open the pregnant women in order to expand their borders. So it is their cruel imperialistic expansion that is in view.

Moabites - 2:1-3

Ammon and Moab were daughters of Lot. More relatives. The sin listed is burning the bones of the king of Edom. It seems that in ancient times, much importance was placed on a dead man’s body being peacefully placed in the family burial site, so he could be, “gathered to his fathers.”²⁷⁶ If you remember they hauled Joseph’s bones out of Egypt to bury them in the promised land.

So their sin was that of desecrating graves.

Judah - 2:4-5

Now he is getting closer to home. And he makes a couple of statements against them. But again, I think these statements are really just an elaboration on one sin.

• The sin is rejecting the law of the Lord
• The means is by not keeping the decrees, and
• The reason is because they followed false gods instead of the one true God.

And as Judah is the seventh nation mentioned, the audience would be certain this was the point of the message. Actually, the sin listed is perhaps the worst so far and is appropriate for the seventh pronouncement.

Notice the progression in his indictments. He starts off with foreign nations and gets closer to home as he lists relatives.

Notice the numbers. First we notice Amos doesn’t follow the usual convention of listing four sins after he uses the 3/4 formula. And second, it appears at first that he is going to focus his attention on Edom and then he continues. Then it looks like he is culminating with Judah which is listed 7th. Seven is a significant number and represents fullness, etc. The number eight is also significant in that it follows seven and gives the idea of abundance or “therefore … .”

So there is something wrong with the way Amos has told his story. He didn’t follow the rules. That is part of understanding and appreciating the literature of the Bible. When someone doesn’t follow the rules, it is usually done on purpose to make you take notice. The audience would have noticed this and been expecting something more. In other words, he has set up his audience. He has told them of those that will be destroyed and seemingly ends with Judah.

But - surprise - he continues and adds an 8th item to the list -- Israel. Israel is the target of the speech and the judgment. So we really shouldn’t isolate each speech and the sin and judgment of each nation and turn them into principles. These are more than likely just building to #8.

The point is: Israel is worse than all the other nations.

B.Judgment Against Israel (2:6-16)

Now he gets personal. He gives it to them. Amos 2:6-16 is the eighth oracle. Here he lists eight or ten sins (depending on how you count them), which could possibly be divided into four categories. So, Israel appears worse than the rest.

As you read verses 6-8, you notice some parallel structure:

E.g.: They sold the innocent for silver,
the needy for a pair of sandals.

Parallel structure was just the Hebrew way of saying everything. They like to repeat themselves. So, in this case, although it might look like separate sins, it is really a poetic way of describing one sin. Since we divided the sins of the other nations conceptually, we will do that here to be consistent.

I’m going to give you the four conceptual categories:

Oppressing the innocent and the poor (2:6b-7a)

In verse 6, we see the justice system was corrupt. The law said it was okay to sell a debtor to pay the debt, but they were abusing it. The word “righteous” may mean the one who is right in a lawsuit. So the rich and the powerful may have been able to bribe judges to decide in their favor in a false lawsuit and that allowed them to sell the “righteous” (the one who was innocent but declared guilty) into slavery to pay the fine.

Selling “the needy for a pair of sandals” shows that the people were being sold into slavery for small debts or pledges. The Law commanded the Israelites to give to the needy without demanding repayment (Deuteronomy 15:7f), but I guess “business was business” for most Israelites.

Verses 9-11 recounts God’s provision for Israel. This reminds me of the unforgiving servant who refused to forgive his fellow slave a small debt, when he had just been forgiven a huge amount. I think God is heightening Israel’s guilt by setting their rebellion against the backdrop of his own gracious acts toward them. It was He who conquered Canaan for Israel—at Jericho, Ai, etc. and later with Gideon and Samson. They took his forgiveness and salvation and provision but did not pass it on to others.

Engaging in pagan religious practices (2:7b)

Verse 7 is probably a reference to the fact that the Israelite men were going to pagan temples and participating with the temple prostitutes.

Abusing the system of pledges and fines (2:8)

Verse 8 may also be referring to a different scenario. First, they weren’t supposed to keep a cloak taken as a pledge overnight (Exodus 22:26-27). It was assumed that only the very needy would borrow anything, and so lenders were not to charge interest and profit from another person’s misfortune, nor were they to keep coats that were given as collateral overnight. The poor persons would need it to stay warm. The poor person probably was required to give his coat as collateral so he couldn’t go from place to place borrowing from every merchant. If a guy came in without a coat, that meant he had already borrowed for the day, and he wouldn’t be able to borrow anything else. He needed his coat back so he could stay warm that night and have something to use as collateral the next day. So these merchants were keeping the coats and, to make matters worse, we see the second sin - they used them to sleep on at night as they “worshipped” at pagan altars.

Showing lack of respect for God’s special servants (2:12)

Verse 12 shows the corruption and rejection of the religious system and the rejection of religious leaders. The Nazarites had taken a vow not to drink any alcohol, but the Israelites were coercing them to break their vows. They had no commitment to God and had no respect for those who did.

Does anything stand out to you at first glance?

I think two things stand out:

First, Amos finally lists four sins. This is the point of his 3/4 formula. He didn’t list four sins for the other nations because Israel is the target of the coming judgment.

Second, these sins don’t look nearly as bad as those of the other nations. So what is the point? Why does God consider Israel to be worse than all the other nations?

I think this points us to the theme of the book.

THEME: God requires more from those to whom He has given more (Luke 12:48).

God had given the Jews the Law. They knew better. That was God’s complaint against Judah in
verse 4 – that Judah rejected the Law. And it is God’s complaint against Israel, but he elaborates because Israel is the target audience, and he really wants to drive the point home.

Summary

Amos wants you, the listener, to ask the question, “Why are these lists so short?” Then he gets to Israel who has many more sins listed than every other nation. Israel is really guilty - more guilty than all the rest.

What do all these sins of Israel have in common? Love of money and things had replaced love for people. Money had become their god. Does this have any practical application for America and for us?

The sins of Israel don’t look as bad as those of the other nations. After all, the other nations were going to war, murdering people and ripping open pregnant women. But Israel’s sins are worse because they knew better. Theirs was the sin of hypocrisy.

Application

One obvious problem in Israel was the sin of materialism. We certainly face this problem in our society. We can see how the Israelites compromised God’s laws and principles to achieve success (which they defined as wealth). We need to be careful that we do not fall into the same trap. The Israelites did something else. Their theology said that the wealthy person was a righteous person. We see that over and over again in the parables in the New Testament. This further pacified their conscience as they told themselves that their prosperity was God’s sign of approval.

We see how the Israelites abused people in need. I don’t know if we overtly abuse people, but how concerned are we for the poor? What are we doing for them? Are we ignoring them or ministering to them? I think in our society we expect Uncle Sam to take care of them. We criticize big government, but we depend on government to do what we ought to be doing.

I said the Israelites’ theology said prosperity was a sign of spirituality. Is our theology such that we assume they are poor because they are ungodly?

The main point of this section is this: We look at society and think other people are bad … abortion, homosexuality, murder, etc., but we do things that are, in God’s eyes, worse, because we know better. God expects more out of His people. This doesn’t mean we ignore the other sins. They are terrible, but don’t gloss over what we think are little sins, or what we have rationalized away as not even being a sin.

Remember: To him who has been given much is much required.

III. The Reasons For Judgment 3-6

A. The First Message 3

The Unique Relationship 3:1-2

When you get to 3:2, you see that Israel is chosen, and you would normally think that means special treatment. That is what the Jews thought at that time. There was an aberrant doctrine of eternal security floating around Israel. They thought they were immune from judgment, because they were the chosen people living in the chosen city. They thought it didn’t matter what they did. They took their relationship with God for granted. I think 6:8 may be a reference to this attitude.

But to God, being chosen, means having responsibility. Israel forgot the stipulations of the covenant made in Deuteronomy. They were only secure as long as they followed God. That was part of the Old Testament law.

How does this relate to us since we are not under the covenant blessings and curses?

The father/child relationship is probably the most helpful for understanding this. I treat my children differently than other children. I wrestle with them, play games, take them out to eat breakfast, buy them things, etc., but I also spank them when they disobey. If I’m watching several kids at my house, I don’t spank other people’s kids when they disobey. It would probably be fair to say that I expect more from my kids than the other kids. I know I’ve told my kids not to do carrier landings on the coffee table. If they do it, they will get a spanking.

In the same way, we are children of God. We can’t remove the relationship no matter how much we sin. What we can change is whether or not he needs to discipline us or whether He can continue with His planned blessings for us. When Israel was bad, they were still God’s chosen people, they just didn’t get to enjoy His blessings. Instead, God had to discipline them. And He disciplined them for transgressions that didn’t seem as bad to us as the other nations. But they knew better.

We have a tendency to want to earn God’s blessings, and we think we deserve God’s blessings. (That is one of the main lessons from Hosea), but there is a fine line here that we need to understand. We do not earn God’s blessings by being good. We just free God up to graciously bless us.

The Inevitable Judgment 3:3-8

In 3:3-8, Amos uses seven rhetorical questions to show that the judgment of God is inevitable. There is a progression here:

3:3 No element of force or disaster

3:4 One animal overpowering another

3:5 Man overpowering animals

3:6 Man overpowering other men

3:6b God overpowers man. Climax

3:7-8 God always reveals Himself and His plan to mankind. He tells us what He wants us to do, but with that information comes responsibility to do it. If we fail to do it, judgment will follow.

EXAMPLE: The theme of this whole book and especially this section causes me to go back to the parenting/discipline process for an analogy. When Mandy does something wrong, but I have never before told her not to do that, I usually tell her what she is doing is wrong and not to do it again. But I don’t discipline her then. However, if I’ve told her not to do something and she does it anyway, the discipline is sure to follow. Because she knew better.

And the Israelites knew better!

Unparalleled Oppression 3:9-10

3:9 Ashdod (Philistines) and Egypt were former oppressors of Israel. But things were so bad in Israel now that Amos is sarcastically calling them to witness the internal oppression going on now. It is like saying, “You thought you oppressed them? You don’t even know how to oppress compared to them. Watch them oppress themselves.”

The Coming Catastrophe 3:11-15

Because of the oppression God was going to send an enemy in to destroy them. And in case some of the listeners thought God would save them again this time, Amos compares God’s saving them to a shepherd snatching a leg bone or ear from a lion’s mouth. Only a few people would be spared.

The reference to the lion in 3:12 goes back to the first verse of Amos. Remember he said, “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem … .” This is just another literary device Amos uses which shows his skill as a writer.

So, the point of the first message is that Israel was chosen and because of their rebellion and internal oppression, judgment was certain.

B. The Second Message 4

Economic Exploitation

4:1 This is certainly a colorful and sarcastic section. Women are normally sensitive and compassionate, but note the contrast here. The women are compared with the fat cows living on the lush pastures of Bashan. The idea here is that these spoiled women demanded luxury from their “masters” (not the typical word for husband – more sarcasm and reversal of roles), and the only way their husbands could meet their demands was by oppressing the poor.

How does this apply to us? Are we guilty of this? Are we so materialistic and so demanding that our spouse has to work overtime to make enough money to satisfy our demands? Do we have to cheat other people in our business in order to make the most money we can?

4:2 The cattle imagery is continued by the meat hook imagery. See Ryrie’s note.

So, economic exploitation was one problem; now, he describes another.

Religious Hypocrisy

4:4 continues the sarcasm. Bethel and Gilgal were important sites in Israel’s salvation history (Genesis 28:10-22; Joshua 4-5). Normally the priest would call people to come worship, but here we see Amos calling the people to come to Bethel and Gilgal to sin. The sacrifices and tithes that they were bringing to God had become a sham. They did everything to impress other people (verse 5), not to worship God. They were actually going to church to sin. Not to mention the fact that they weren’t going to Jerusalem to worship, which was the only authorized worship center for Yahweh.

4:5 Notice it says “Make a public display of your voluntary offerings!.” I think this shows that they were bragging about their spirituality, their giving, etc. They were doing things to be seen.

We might ask ourselves if we are guilty of this.

4:6-11 shows God’s response to their hypocrisy and His repeated attempts to bring them back to Him. The phrase, “Yet you did not come back to me” is repeated five times.

Amos 4:6 says, “yet you did not come back to me,” declares the Lord. The punishments mentioned in the next few verses are an allusion to the promised curses of Deuteronomy 28.

• Famine is mentioned in Amos 4:6 and in Deuteronomy 28:17-18.
• Drought in Amos 4:7-8 and Deuteronomy 28:23-24.
• Locusts in Amos 4:9 and Deuteronomy 28:38.
• Plague in Amos 4:10 and Deuteronomy 28:60.
• Conquest in Amos 4:10 and Deuteronomy 28:25.

I think this shows God’s patience - that He tried so many times, and it shows His mercy because we see that He started out with less severe measures and then increased the severity. (Famine, drought, crop failure, disease and war.)

4:12 – Turning point in book – “Prepare to meet your God, Israel.”

C. The Third Message (5:1-17)

Chapter 5 is divided into two sections using a favorite literary device called a Chiasm.²⁷⁷

Sometimes a Chiasm was just used as an outline and sometimes it really points us to the key idea of main point of the section. So not only is it fun to look for these, but it usually helps us understand the main idea of the author.

If we outline these two messages, it points to the overall truth that: the nation would be judged by its mighty Sovereign God, but individuals could yet repent and live.

1. Description of certain judgment (5:1-3)

2. Call for individual repentance (5:4-6)

3. Accusation of legal injustice (5:7)

4. Portrayal of a sovereign God (5:8-9)

5. Accusation of legal injustice (5:10-13)

6. Call for individual repentance (5:14-15)

7. Description of certain judgment (5:16-17)

D. The Fourth Message (5:18-27)

1. Description of certain judgment (5:18-20)

2. Accusation of religious hypocrisy (5:21-22)

3. Call for individual repentance (5:23-24)

4. Accusation of religious hypocrisy (5:25-26)

5. Description of certain judgment (5:27)

Remember Isaiah 6: When Isaiah saw the glory of God on his throne, it caused him to repent and make himself available to serve God.

That is the point of the third and fourth messages. The Chiastic structure points us to that. The sovereignty of God in message three should cause the repentance in message four.

There are a few things I’d like to point out about these messages.

In 5:1, Amos summons the people to hear his lament over Israel.

Israel’s demise was so certain that Amos lamented her fall as though it had already happened. This should have been as shocking to the Israelites as it would to one of us to read our own obituary in the newspaper.

5:2 The reference to “the young lady, Israel” (or “virgin Israel” depending on your translation) is a picture of being in the prime of life and experiencing a premature death. Israel could have and should have had a long prosperous life. Actually, God’s plan was for an eternal kingdom for them.

5:10 They hate the one who points out their wickedness. Doesn’t that sound like America? One example that comes to mind is the abortion issue. The Pro-life people are abused and beaten and thrown in jail when they try to protest (point out or reprove) those having and performing abortions. People don’t want to be told that they are sinning. Darkness hates the light.

5:17 Just as God passed through Egypt (in judgment), He was going to pass through Israel (Exodus 12:12).

5:18-20 pictures a man fleeing from one thing after another with no escape to be found.

5:23 shows that their worship and singing was just noise in God’s ears because their worship was merely external.

5:24 shows that God desires justice. How you treat your fellow man is what is important to God and that is what shows that you love God. Over and over again, we see the theme repeated that we are to love God and show it by our love for our neighbor.

This reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story, the priest and Levite are on their way from Jerusalem. If they were on their way to Jerusalem, they might have been able to use the excuse that they didn’t want to become defiled and not be able to worship God. But they had already “worshipped God” (which supposedly showed that they loved God) but they refused to help the injured man (they did not love their neighbor) and that demonstrated that they really did not love God. Their worship was also merely external.

E. The Fifth Message 6

Their Boastful Complacency

6:1 Here we see Amos saying it is “all over” for both Judah and Israel. By referring to the capitol cities, he is referring to the whole nation.

6:2 This message addresses the problem in Israel in which everyone felt they were better because they were the chosen people. And they felt that God would always bless them.

Their Luxurious Indulgence

I think this section speaks for itself:

6:4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory,

and sprawl out on their couches.

They eat lambs from the flock,

and calves from the middle of the pen.

6:5 They sing to the tune of stringed instruments;

like David they invent musical instruments.

6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls,

and pour the very best oils on themselves.

Yet they are not concerned over the ruin of Joseph.

6:7 Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile,

and the religious banquets where they sprawl out on couches will end.

The Complete Devastation

6:8 We’ve already mentioned the aberrant doctrine of eternal security going around in that day. They thought they were invincible - partly because they were God’s people, and because of their own strength. The rest of this chapter shows how wrong they were.

“I detest his citadels” – another translation for this word is “palace.” 11 of 33 occurrences of this word in the bible occur in Amos. This is the 11th and last time Amos uses this word. It is a special term to him and I think it represents oppression, arrogance and self-sufficiency.

6:12 “Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,” The judicial system, which was designed to preserve the nations’ health, had become a lethal poison within its body. This sounds exactly like America with all the lawsuits that are going on and the lack of punishment for crimes.

6:13 says rb*d* aOl= or (h^C=m@j’< l="l)a">) which is translated in as “You are happy because you conquered Lo-Debar.” Lo Debar was a city on the East side of the Jordan which they had conquered. rbd (d*b*r) can mean either “word” or “thing” and with the negative (loa) could mean “no thing.” Therefore, Amos could be making a play on words (Lo Debar vs. Lo Dabar) saying that they rejoice in nothing.

6:14 Reference to Assyria. Hamath was a city in the north. The Brook of Arabah marked the southern border of Israel during Jeroboam II’s reign. Mentioning these two cities shows how complete will be the destruction.

IV. The Results Of Judgment - Five Visions

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Once on a time there were three billy goats who were to go up to the hillside to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was “Gruff.”

On the way up was a bridge over a river they had to cross, and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll with eyes as big as saucers and a nose as long as a poker.

So first of all came the youngest Billy Goat Gruff to cross the bridge. “Trip, trap, trip, trap!” went the bridge.
“Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” roared the troll.
“Oh, it is only I, the tiniest Billy Goat Gruff, and I’m going up to the hillside to make myself fat,” said the billy goat with such a small voice.
“Now, I’m coming to gobble you up!” said the troll.
“Oh, no! pray don’t take me. I’m too little, that I am.” said the billy goat. “Wait a bit till the second Billy Goat Gruff comes. He’s much bigger.”
“Very well, be off with you,” said the troll.

A little while after came the second Billy Goat Gruff to cross the bridge. “Trip, trap, trip, trap” went the bridge.
“Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” roared the troll.
“Oh, it is only I, the second Billy Goat Gruff, and I’m going up to the hillside to make myself fat,” said the billy goat and his voice was not so small.
“Now, I’m coming to gobble you up!” said the troll.
“Oh, no! Don’t take me,” said the billy goat. “Wait a bit till the big Billy Goat Gruff comes. He’s much bigger.”
“Very well, be off with you,” said the troll.

Just then up came the big Billy Goat Gruff. “T-r-i-p, t-r-a-p, T-r-i-p, t-r-a-p!” went the bridge, for the billy goat was so heavy that the bridge creaked and groaned under him.
“Who’s that tramping over my bridge?” roared the troll.
“It is I! the BIG BILLY GOAT GRUFF!” said the billy goat, who had an ugly hoarse voice of his own.
“Now, I’m coming to gobble you up!” said the troll.
“Well, come along! I’ve got two spears,
And I’ll poke your eyeballs out at your ears,
I’ve got besides two great big stones,
And I’ll crush you to bits, body and bones.”

That was what the billy goat said, and so flew at the troll, and poked his eyes out with his horns, and crushed him to bits, body and bones, and tossed him into the river. Then he went up to the hillside.

There the billy goats got so fat they were scarce able to walk again, and if the fat hasn’t fallen off them, why they’re still fat and so --

“Snip, snap, snout.

This tale’s told out.”

You are probably wondering why I told you that story. Well, I did so because it illustrates what goes on in oral literature. You typically read stories like this and “The Three Little Pigs” to children who can’t read. They become totally caught up in the story and the author sets them up for the unexpected conclusion. The New Testament does this for us with the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.

That is what Amos does to his audience with the next three visions. He uses the same literary technique. The first two visions are similar but the third one is different and catches the listener or reader’s attention.

A. The Vision Of The Locust Swarm Amos 7:1-3

1. The vision of destruction - 7:1-2a

2. The plea for mercy 7:2b

3. The suspension of judgment 7:3

B. The Vision Of The Fire AMOS 7:4-6

1. The vision of the all consuming fire 7:4

2. The plea for mercy 7:5

3. The suspension of judgment 7:6

C. The Vision Of The Plumb Line Amos 7:7-9

1. The vision of the Plumb Line 7:7-8

2. The promise of Judgment

The third vision does not begin with judgment nor have a plea for mercy and the subsequent cancellation of judgment. The rhetorical purpose of this trilogy of visions is to set the audience up for the message of the third vision. The contrast of the third vision with the first two should draw attention to what is being said to emphasize to the audience that Israel is “out-of-line” and doesn’t measure up to God’s standards. The prophet had asked for mercy in the first two visions, but when he was shown just how bad the people were (with the plumb line), he didn’t ask for mercy because he could see that the judgment was deserved.

What is the main point of these visions? First we notice that the first two visions are like motion pictures. Amos responds to them emotionally and is overwhelmed by the destruction and effect on the nation. The third vision is like a snapshot. It invites reflection from the one seeing it. Amos sees the nation as God sees it. He looks at the situation theologically (the plumb line) and from reality (Amaziah’s response) and sees that the judgment is deserved.

Too often we respond to bad things emotionally and blame God or think that it isn’t fair, but we don’t see what is going on from God’s perspective.

The Reaction 10-17

The biographical account in 7:10-17 seems out of place but really isn’t. It shows the reaction of the leaders of Israel (especially the priest) to the message of Amos. They rejected his warning and this proves that the visions are correct. The nation is corrupt all the way up to the priests and the king.

Amaziah’s report is not accurate. He accuses Amos of conspiring to kill Jeroboam with the sword (7:11), but Amos’ prophecy and reference to the sword was figurative language (metonymy of adjunct) referring to God’s judgment on Jeroboam, or perhaps it was picturing the severing of the king’s line. Amaziah also says that the Israelites will go into exile. Amos didn’t say that.

Amos responded to Amaziah’s accusation by describing in more detail what God’s judgment would bring. It is ironic that the details of Amaziah’s saying would indeed come true. Many would fall by the sword and the rest would be hauled away into exile.

D. The Vision Of Ripe Fruit 8

The vision in 8:1-3 fits in nicely with the preceding section. The three visions, culminating with the vision of the plumb line, showed that judgment was very much deserved. The response of Amaziah, the priest, showed the corruption of the nation, even up through the leadership. It also showed that the warning was rejected. Finally, the vision of the basket of summer fruit or ripe fruit showed the time was ripe for executing the judgment. The time was now.

There is word play in verse 2 between the word for “fruit” (Jy!q*) q*y!J and the word for “the end” (JQ@h^) h^ Q@J. They both sound the same. I believe this figure of speech is called paronomasia. When Amos said he saw a basket of Jy!q*, God says, “Yes, the JQ! has come.”

This is one figure of speech that could be transferred into English. It is not the same type of figure of speech, but the idea is similar. The NIV says the fruit is “ripe,” and God says the time is “ripe” for judgment.

Verse 5 shows the hypocrisy of the people. They went to worship on the sabbath, but they resented the sabbath because they couldn’t go to work and make more money by cheating others. If the law can be summed up by loving God and loving your neighbor, the Israelites showed that they did neither. And as we have pointed out before, if you don’t love your neighbor, it proves that you don’t love God.

Verse 11 shows that it is worse to go without hearing the word of God than to go without food.

E. The Avenging Lord 9:1-10

Amos 9:8-9 shows that God will shake the nation to separate the wheat from the chaff. And when God shakes, no good wheat is lost and no chaff will remain. Time and again, we see God will sort everyone out in the end and He will determine who will be saved and who will not. We have a tendency to want to judge others and determine if they are saved, but that is God’s job.

V. Restoration 9:11-15

Because of God’s promises to Abraham and David, He will not totally annihilate Israel. He will save a few.

The ultimate purpose for God’s judgment is not revenge; it is restoration. God punishes us to bring us back to Him. This is always the purpose for discipline. You see it in Matthew 18 when Jesus talks about reproving your brother. The goal is to bring him to the point where he sees his sin and repents. Peter understands this, and so he asks the question in Matthew 18:21 about how many times we must forgive. Jesus’ answer is - always.

Political Renewal 9:11

There will come a time when God will restore the nation of Israel.

National Purpose 9:12

Verse 12 shows that it will be time when godly people from other nations will be included. That was Israel’s purpose all along -- to be a testimony to the world of how great God is and lead the nations to Him. In Ezekiel 17:22-23, God says:

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
17:23 I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,
and it will send forth branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar.
Every bird of every kind will live under it;
in the shade of its branches they will live.

He gave them another parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 13:32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

In these passages, the birds represent the nations partaking of and benefiting from the establishment of the kingdom.

Application: It is the church’s and the individual believer’s role to attract the nations to God and bring them into the kingdom.

In Acts 15 at the council of Jerusalem, when they met to discuss whether or not the Gentiles needed to be following the Law. Peter said that the Gentiles did not need to be under the Law, and that just as the Jews were now saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, so also the Gentiles were saved by grace. James stood up and quoted Amos to show that what Peter was saying was consistent with Old Testament prophecy.

Prosperity, Peace And Permanence

Verses 13-14 make references to much wine when Israel is restored. Perhaps Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water into wine, should have made the Jews who witnessed the miracle think about prophecies such as this one.

Verse 15 says they will not again be rooted out from their land. This has to be a reference to the millennium and eternity. The many references in the prophets to the land promise made to Abraham are one reason I believe there is still a future for Israel, and they haven’t been replaced by the Church.

Application/Conclusion

Just like the Israelites looked down on her neighbor’s for the atrocities they committed, I think we look down on those that commit gross sins and think that we are better than they. We forget that if it were not for the grace of God, we would be the same. And we do not realize that God hates our sins of hypocrisy and idolatry more. So, although the unbeliever’s sins often appear worse to us, in God’s eyes, those of the Christian are worse because we should know better (chapters 1-2).

All the nations surrounding Israel were judged based on their treatment of others. Much of what Amos condemned in Israel was the way they treated others, especially the poor. And like Amos said in 2:9-11, we have what we have because God gave it to us. We need to evaluate how we are treating others. What might some of the modern day equivalents for oppression be? The way the poor are treated in the legal system? Sweat shops? This might be a good topic to discuss in your Sunday school classes.

Israel’s material wealth caused her to feel arrogant and self-sufficient. When you don’t trust in God, you trust in yourself, and you do everything you can to protect yourself. We are certainly a materialistic society and very wealthy compared with the rest of the world. We need to guard against trusting in our bank account instead of God.

Israel’s greed caused her to mistreat others as she thought only of profit instead of people. I can’t help but think of all those special “sales techniques” in which you conquer every buyer’s objection. How often do you find a salesman that says, “You know, after talking about this with you, I don’t think my product is best for you. I think you’d be better off with brand X.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve become just like Israel.

Just like God was patient with Israel and gave opportunity to repent, God also is patient with us and gives us time to repent, but don’t abuse God’s grace because we don’t know when He will finally bring judgment (chapter 4).

Just like Amos reacted to God’s judgment emotionally and thought it was unfair, we often do the same. When Amos saw things from God’s perspective, he didn’t protest any more (chapter 7).

---

²⁷² This is the edited manuscript of a message delivered by Hampton Keathley, IV at Community Bible Chapel, on July 8, 2001.

²⁷³ All Scripture quotations are from the New English Translation: NET Bible. 1998 (electronic edition) Dallas, TX: Biblical Studies Press.

²⁷⁴ Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, NASB 1977.

²⁷⁵ Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, NASB 1977.

²⁷⁶ Donald R. Sunukjian, “Amos,” Bible Knowledge Commentary (Victor Books, 1985), p. 1430.

²⁷⁷ http://www.hccentral.com/gkeys/chiasm.html

Understanding the Writing Prophets

Introduction

As you know, we are in the midst of what may be called an Old Testament Survey, a series entitled “From Creation to the Cross.” The purpose of this series is to provide us with a better working knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, a better understanding of God’s progressive revelation, and a fresh look at the unfolding drama of redemption which culminates in Jesus Christ.

The previous two lessons discussed the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, which has given us some insight into the deteriorating situation in Israel, Judah, and the divided kingdom. Following on the heels of Elijah and Elisha, God raised up new prophets to speak for him. These new prophets continued in the prophetic tradition of Moses. They continued in the spirit of Elijah. I call these new prophets the writing prophets to distinguish them from their predecessors, for they are unique in that their prophecies are written down for us. I am referring of course to the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) and the Twelve Minor Prophets (the final twelve books of our Old Testament). In fact, it may be helpful to turn to the Table of Contents in your Bible to see them all listed.

It should be pointed out that the minor prophets are so-called only because these books are relatively short in length; the major prophets are relatively long books. The terms imply nothing about their relative importance.²⁵¹ It would perhaps be more appropriate to refer to them as the longer and shorter prophets.

These two combined lessons will give an introduction to these Writing Prophets. It is appropriate to devote some time to an “introduction” for a couple of reasons. First, there is much in common among them as a type of Old Testament literature which can help us understand them.²⁵² They have similarities not only in literary style, but in context and content which are worth noting. Second, an overview will hopefully prepare us and encourage us to study them on our own, as we look forward to dealing with most, if not all of them, individually as our series continues.

Chronological Overview

Let us first take a look at the chart in Figure 1 on page 2, which will help us see how the writing prophets fit chronologically in the history of Israel and Judah.²⁵³ The bar represents the nation of Israel becoming a divided kingdom after the rule of Solomon. You will remember God told Solomon that upon his death, the Kingdom would become divided (1 Kings 11:9-13), and it did.

As you see, the writing prophets come on the scene immediately after Elijah and Elisha and continue where their ministries left off. We see here an approximate chronological relationship of the writing prophets, which span the period from Elisha to the end of the Old Testament Scriptures.²⁵⁴

The writing prophets may be divided into four groups:

Prophets of Israel – Jonah, Amos, and Hosea

Prophets of Judah – Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk

Exilic Prophets – Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel

Post-exilic Prophets – Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

The dating of the prophets Jonah, Joel, and Obadiah are more questionable than the other prophets. All three of these have are the subject of fair arguments for much later dates.²⁵⁵ I have shown them here at their earliest suggested dates for convenience.

Studying the Figure above can give us a feel for how the various prophets relate to each other chronologically, which we notice is not how they are presented in the canonical order. Understanding the chronological order along with the corresponding events in Israel’s history is vital to understanding why the prophets say what they say (which will hopefully become evident later). But let’s begin by considering the writings of the prophets in general, as we find them presented to us in the Old Testament.

Why We Have Difficulty Understanding the Prophets

I think most of us would agree at the outset that these prophetic books are among the most difficult parts of the Bible to interpret or to read with understanding. We shouldn’t be embarrassed to admit we have difficulty reading the prophets, for actually we are in good company if we do. In referring to the prophets, Martin Luther once said the following:

“They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next so that you cannot make heads or tails of them or see what they are getting at.”²⁵⁶

Now that is a comment to which I can relate.

Let’s look at a few reasons for some of the difficulty we have:

The Meaning of Prophecy – The primary difficulty for most modern readers of the prophets stems from an inaccurate understanding of the words “prophet” and “prophecy.” The word prophet refers to one who tells forth (or proclaims), as well as one who foretells.²⁵⁷ But we often limit the meaning of prophecy to foretelling the future, so many Christians refer to the prophets only for predictions about Christ’s first coming, or his second coming, and the end times as though prediction of events far distant to their own day was their main concern.

It should be pointed out that less than 2% of Old Testament prophecy is messianic. Less than 5% specifically concerns the New Covenant age. And less than 1% concern events still future to us.²⁵⁸ The prophets did indeed announce the future. But it was usually the immediate future of Israel, Judah, and the surrounding nations they announced – not our future. One of the keys to understanding the Prophets, therefore, is to recognize that for us to see their prophecies fulfilled, we must often look back on times that were still future to them, but for us are past.²⁵⁹

To see the prophets as primarily predictors of future events is to miss their primary function, which was, in fact, to speak for God to their contemporaries.

Historical Distance – Another matter that complicates our understanding the prophets is the problem of historical distance. By the very nature of things, we will have a harder time understanding the words of the prophets than the Israelites who heard those same words in person. We are far removed from the religious, historical, and cultural life of ancient Israel, and we simply have trouble putting the words of the prophets in their proper context. It is often hard for us to see what they are referring to and why. Things clear to them tend to be opaque to us.

The Spoken Nature of the Prophets – Finally, the spoken nature of their prophecies causes many of our difficulties in understanding.

For example, of the hundreds of prophets in ancient Israel in Old Testament times, only 16 were chosen to speak oracles that would be collected and written down into books. We know that other prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, played a very influential role in delivering God’s Word to His people and to other nations as well. But we know more about these prophets than we do of their actual words. What they did is described in far greater length than what they said -- and when we are told what they said, it is placed very specifically and clearly in the context of the narratives in which they appear. Generally, in the narrative books of the Old Testament, we hear about prophets and very little from prophets. In the prophetic books, however, we hear from the prophets and very little about the prophets themselves. That single difference accounts for most of the problem people have making sense of the prophetic books.

Furthermore the prophetic books, especially the longer ones, are collections of spoken oracles, not always presented in their original chronological sequence, often without hints as to where one oracle ends and another begins, and often without hints as to their historical setting. On top of that, most of the oracles were spoken in poetry. We’ll talk more about oracles later, but I think you get the point.

Now, if these are the reasons we have difficulty with the prophets, then in order to really understand the prophets, we have to get a better handle on: (1) the function of a prophet; (2) the historical context of their writings; and (3) the form of their writings.

Function of the Prophets

Covenant Enforcement Mediators – To understand what God would say to us through these inspired books, we must first have a clear understanding as to the role and function of the prophet in Israel. The prophets spoke for God to His people. They functioned to call Israel back to God,²⁶⁰ which meant a call back to faithfulness to their Covenant relationship with God; i.e., back to the Law of Moses. In accomplishing this primary purpose, they confronted Israel’s sin and demanded repentance. Simply stated, the prophets were “covenant enforcement mediators.”²⁶¹ There was a covenant relationship between God and His people. This covenant contained not only the rules which they were to keep, but it describes the sorts of punishments that God will necessarily apply to His people if they do not keep the Law, as well as the benefits He will impart to them if they are faithful. What is important is that God does not merely give His Law, but He enforces it. Positive enforcement is blessing; negative enforcement is curse. This is where the prophets come in. God announced the enforcement of His Law (both positive and negative) through the prophets.

Moses as a Model – Moses was the mediator of God’s Law when he first announced it, and thus is a paradigm (or model) for the prophets. They are God’s mediators, or spokesmen, for the covenant. Through them, God reminds people in the generations after Moses that if the covenant is kept, blessing will result, but if not, judgment will come.

Blessing and Cursing – The kinds of blessings that come for faithfulness are found in Leviticus 26:1-13, Deuteronomy 4:32-40, and Deuteronomy 28:1-14. Generally, these may be categorized as life, health, prosperity, agricultural abundance, respect, and safety. But these blessings are announced with a warning of curses (punishments) if Israel is not obedient and faithful to the covenant. The curses are found in Leviticus 26:14-39, Deuteronomy 4:15-28, and Deuteronomy 28:15-32:42. Generally, these may be categorized under ten “D’s”: death, disease, drought, dearth, danger, destruction, defeat, deportation, destitution, and disgrace.

These same categories apply in what God communicates through the prophets. One must always bear in mind that the prophets did not invent the blessings and curses they announced. They reproduced God’s Word, not their own. Through them, God announced His intention to enforce the covenant and always in accordance with the categories of blessing and curse already contained in the Law. If we will take the trouble to learn those chapters from the Pentateuch, we will be rewarded with a much better understanding of why the prophets say the things they do.

When God wants to announce blessing for the nation through the prophet Amos, He does so in terms of metaphors of agricultural abundance, life, health, prosperity, respect, and safety (see Amos 9:11-15). When He announces doom for the disobedient nation of Hosea’s day, He does so according to one or more of the ten “D’s.” For example: destruction in Hosea 8:14 or deportation in Hosea 9:3. These curses are often metaphorical, though they can certainly be literal as well. They are always corporate, referring to the nation as a whole. Blessings or curses do not guarantee prosperity or dearth to any specific individual.

Statistically speaking, a majority of the prophets announce curse because in the time of their prophecies (generally 800 - 587 BC), the Israelites (north and south) were heading for punishment. After the destruction of both kingdoms, i.e., after 586 BC, the prophets were moved more often to speak of blessings rather than curses because once the punishment of the nation is complete, God resumes His basic plan, which is to show mercy. Deuteronomy 4:25-31 gives a nutshell description of this sequence:

25 “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but shall be utterly destroyed. 27 “And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall drive you. 28 “And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 “For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

As you read the prophets, look for these simple patterns: either (1) an identification of Israel’s sin followed by a prediction of cursing, or (2) an announcement of God’s faithfulness and love for her followed by a prediction of blessing, depending on the circumstance. Most of the time, that is what the prophets are conveying.

The Context of Their Writings

The prophetic books require time and study. People often approach these books casually, as if a surface reading through the Prophets will yield a high level of understanding. This isn’t done with textbooks in our ordinary schooling, and it doesn’t really work with the Prophets either. Specifically for understanding and interpreting the Prophets, one must be willing to consult outside resources, such as Bible dictionaries and commentaries, which can shed light on the background information so we will be able to catch the point of what a Prophet conveys. God’s Word came through the prophets to people in particular situations. Its value depends partly on our ability to appreciate those situations so we can in turn apply them to our own.

Historical Context – It is interesting to note that the 16 prophetic books of the Old Testament come from a rather narrow band in the whole panorama of Israelite history. Why is there such a concentrated writing down of prophetic word during the time between Amos and Malachi? It is probably because this period in Israel’s history called especially for covenant enforcement mediation, which was the task of the prophets. That is along with the evident desire of God to record for all subsequent history the warnings and blessings that those prophets announced on His behalf during those pivotal years.

Those years were characterized by three things: (1) unprecedented political, military, economic, and social upheaval; (2) an enormous level of religious unfaithfulness and disregard for the original Mosaic covenant; and (3) dramatic shifts in populations and national boundaries. In these circumstances, God’s Word was needed anew. God raised up prophets and announced His Word accordingly.

The Books of 1 and 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles provide the biblical context of the writing prophets leading up to the Babylonian exile. There we see that by the time the writing prophets come on the scene, Israel was a nation permanently divided by a long ongoing civil war. The northern kingdom’s disobedience to the covenant had far outstripped anything yet known in Judah, and Israel was slated for destruction by God because of its sin. Amos, beginning around 760, and Hosea, beginning around 755, announced the impending destruction. God raised up the Assyrians as the new superpower at that time and the instrument of judgment on Israel. In 722 BC, Assyria sacked the capital city of Samaria and thus conquered Israel.²⁶²

The people of Judah witnessed the destruction of the northern kingdom, as did Isaiah and Micah, who warned that they were not immune to God’s wrath and were, in fact, on the same road to destruction. Thereafter, the mounting sinfulness of Judah and the rise of another superpower, Babylon, became the subject of the prophets Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, as well as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Judah, too, was destroyed for its disobedience and carried off into exile. Perhaps this is where an example of the importance of historical context can be best illustrated.

The Babylonians rose up and defeated the Assyrians (612 BC), and then defeated the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC to become the number one power in the civilized world. Following the defeat of the Egyptians, Nebuchadnezzar headed south into Judah and entered Jerusalem as conqueror. Then begins the exile. When we think of the exile, however, we need to know that there were actually three deportations. The first occurred in 605 BC when Daniel was taken to Babylon. The second deportation occurred in 597 BC when Nebuchadnezzar returned to quell a resistance movement; this is when Ezekiel was taken to Babylon (during all this, Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem). The final deportation occurred in 586 BC when Jerusalem was finally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

Now take, for example, the writings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Both prophesied before and after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The Book of Jeremiah was written before the destruction. Jeremiah, an eyewitness to the destruction, wrote Lamentations afterward. Ezekiel’s prophecies in chapters 1-32 were given in Babylon before the fall of Jerusalem. Chapters 33-48 were prophecies given after. The focus of the prophet’s ministry changes with respect to that event. Before the destruction of Jerusalem, they spoke mainly of judgment. After the destruction, they begin to talk more of restoration. If you know the historical context, it is easier to understand why they said what they did.

After the exile, when the people were allowed to return to Jerusalem, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi announced God’s will for the rebuilding of the temple, the rebuilding of the nation, and the reinstitution of orthodoxy.

Unless we know these events and others within this era too numerous to mention here, we probably will not be able to follow very well what the prophets are saying. Each prophetic oracle was delivered in a specific historical setting. God spoke through His prophets to people in a given time and place, and under given circumstances. A knowledge of the date, audience, and situation, therefore, when they are known, contributes a great deal to a reader’s ability to comprehend an oracle.

Literary Form

A. They Spoke in Oracles – When we come to the actual study of the prophetic books, the first thing we must learn to do is to think oracles (just as we must learn to think paragraphs in the epistles or narrative sections of the Bible).²⁶³ This is not always an easy task, but to know the difficulty and the need to do this is the beginning of some exciting discovery. For the most part, the longer prophetic books are collections of spoken oracles, not always presented in their original chronological sequence, often without any indication as to where one oracle ends and another begins, and often without hints as to their historical setting. To top it off, most of the oracles were recorded in poetic form.

Most of the time, what the prophets said is presented in their books in run-on fashion. That is, the words they spoke at various times and places over the years of their ministry have been collected and written down together, without divisions to indicate where one oracle ends and another begins. Moreover, even when one can assume by a major change of subject that a new oracle has probably begun, the lack of explanation still leaves one asking, “Was this said on the same day to the same audience, or was it said years later -- or earlier -- to a different group under different circumstances?” The answer can make a big difference as to one’s understanding.

Some parts of prophetic books provide exceptions. In Haggai and the early chapters of Zechariah, for example, each prophecy is dated. With the help of a Bible dictionary, handbook, or commentary, we can follow the progression of those prophecies in their historical context rather easily. And some of the prophecies in other books, notably Jeremiah and Ezekiel, are likewise dated and placed in a setting by the inspired author. But it simply does not work that way most of the time. A good commentary or Bible dictionary is often helpful in explaining such things to us as we read.

Literary Form of the Oracles – Since the isolation of individual oracles is one key to understanding the prophetic books, it is important to know something about the different forms the prophets used to compose their oracles. Just as the Bible as a whole is composed of many different kinds of literature and literary forms, so also the prophets employed a variety of literary forms in their divinely inspired messages. The commentaries can identify and explain these forms. Perhaps the three most common forms are the lawsuit oracle, the woe oracle, and the promise oracle.²⁶⁴ They each have different literary features. Understanding the features of these prophetic literary devices helps one to comprehend the message of God more accurately. I’d like to take the time to look at some examples to show you what I mean.

The Lawsuit Oracle – Let’s turn to Isaiah 3:13-26, which constitutes an allegorical literary form called a “covenant lawsuit.” In this and scores of other lawsuit allegories in the Prophets (e.g., Hosea 3:3-17, 4:1-19, etc.), God is portrayed imaginatively as the plaintiff, prosecuting attorney, and judge in a court case against the defendant, Israel. The full lawsuit form contains a summons, a charge, evidence, and a verdict, though these elements may sometimes be implied rather than being explicit. In Isaiah 3, the elements are incorporated as follows: The court convenes, and the lawsuit is brought against Israel (verses 13-14a). The indictment or accusation is spoken (verses 14b-16). Since the evidence shows that Israel is clearly guilty, the judgment sentence is announced (verses 17-26). Because the covenant has been violated, the sorts of punishments listed in the covenant will come upon the people of Israel: disease, destitution, deprivation, and death. The figurative style of this allegory is a dramatic and effective way of communication to Israel that it is going to be punished because of its disobedience, and that the punishment will be severe. The special literary form helps get the special message across.

The Woe Oracle – Through the prophets, God makes predictions of imminent doom using the device of the “woe,” and no Israelite could miss the significance of the use of that word. Woe oracles contain, either explicitly or implicitly, three elements that uniquely characterize this form: an announcement of distress (the word “Woe,” for example), the reason for the distress, and a prediction of doom. Read Habakkuk 2:6-8 as an example of a woe oracle spoken against Babylon. The oracle announces “woe” in verse 6. The reason is also given in verse 6, where Babylon is personified as a thief and extortionist. Disaster is predicted in verses 7-8, when all those Babylon has oppressed will one day rise up against it. This form is allegorical, though not all woes are; cf. Micah 2:1-5; Zeph. 2:5-7.

The Promise (or Salvation) Oracle – Another common prophetic literary form is the promise or “salvation” oracle. You will recognize this form whenever you see these elements: reference to the future, mention of radical change, and mention of blessing. Amos 9:11-15, a typical promise oracle, contains these elements. The future is mentioned as “In that day” (verse 11). The radical change is described as the restoration and repair of “David's fallen tent” (verse 11), the exaltation of Israel over Edom (verse 12), and the return from the exile (verses 14, 15). Blessing comes via the covenantal categories already mentioned (e.g., life, health, prosperity, agricultural abundance, respect, and safety). All these items are included in Amos 9:11-15, though health is implicit rather than explicit. The central emphasis here is upon agricultural abundance. Crops, for example, will be so enormous that the harvesters will not be finished by the time the sowers are to start planting again (verse 13). For other examples of promise oracles, see Hosea 2:16-20 and 2:21-23, Isaiah 45:1-7, and also Jeremiah 31:1-9.

B. They Were Poets – God spoke through His prophets largely in poetic form. People were used to poetry, and they could remember it much better than prose. The prophets often used what may be called “poetic prose,” a special, formal style employing the same characteristics as poetry, though less consistently. Because it is so much more regular and stylized than colloquial prose, it too was better remembered.

All the prophetic books contain a substantial amount of poetry, and several are exclusively poetic. As a matter of fact, poetry is the second most common literary feature and comprises almost one-third of the Bible.²⁶⁵ Therefore, we must have some understanding of biblical poetry in order to better understand Scripture. The language of poetry is imagery. It is designed to stir the emotions and create vivid mental pictures, not feed the intellect. Consequently, poetry uses devices such as simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole to create images that evoke a sensory experience in our imagination. It is therefore important that we be able to identify and interpret the devices of poetic language. Poetry must be read, understood, and interpreted as poetry.

Finally, the structure of poetry is parallelism. Parallelism is the verse form in which virtually all biblical poetry is written.²⁶⁶ Hopefully, you have some knowledge of poetic parallelism in the Bible, but I’ll touch on it just a bit anyway since it is so prevalent in the prophets. When we speak of parallelism, we are referring to the Hebrew technique of presenting a thought using parallel literary members. It is the phenomenon whereby two or more successive poetic lines strengthen, reinforce, and develop each other’s thought. The most common types of parallelism are Synonymous, Antithetical, and Synthetic parallelism as illustrated below:

Synonymous parallelism is where the second or subsequent line repeats or reinforces the sense of the first line, as in Isaiah 44:22:²⁶⁷

“I have swept your offenses like a cloud,

your sins like the morning mist.” Or,

“Then I shall turn your festivals into mourning

And all your songs into lamentation” (Amos 8:10a).

Antithetical parallelism, on the other hand, is where the second or subsequent line contrasts the thought of the first, as in Hosea 7:14:

“They do not cry out to me from their hearts,

but wail upon their beds.”

Synthetic parallelism, perhaps a little harder to discern, is where the second or subsequent line adds to the first line in any manner which provides further information, as in Obadiah 21:

“Deliverers will go up from Mount Zion

to govern the mountains of Esau.

And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.”

It should be noted that the literature discusses other more extensive and sophisticated forms of parallelism found in biblical poetry. It would certainly be worthwhile to become more familiar with this poetic structure.²⁶⁸ As with oracle forms, a general familiarity with Hebrew parallelism can be quite rewarding as we read the prophets. The presentation of ideas in poetic forms such as this need not be confusing, as long as we read carefully and are aware of the unique features. Poetry is just as comprehensible as prose if we know the rules.

Pedagogy in Biography

There is another feature in the prophetic books which I find fascinating. This feature is primarily seen in the narrative portions where we are told something about the prophets themselves. Many of the Old Testament prophets became what may be called a “pedagogy in biography.”²⁶⁹ This means that what they did became a teaching experience for the onlookers.

Very often the prophets of God had to endure unusual hardship so that their lives and experiences could be an instrument of teaching to those around them. It is interesting to look for these “pedagogy’s in biography” in the narrative sections of the prophetic books. You will find the prophets have some hard days to live through and some hard experiences to endure as they provided themselves as visual aids for the prophecies which God would deliver to the people.

Examples of “Pedagogy in Biography” in the life of Ezekiel – A striking example is found in Ezekiel 4:1-13. He was instructed to take a brick, lay it on the ground, and inscribe the word Jerusalem on it. Making believe the brick was “Jerusalem,” he was to build a siege wall, pitch toy camps around it, and place battering rams against it on all sides. The reason for this is given in verse 3. It was to be a sign to the house of Judah. This was prior to the final invasion of Nebuchadnezzar in 588, which lasted until 586 when the city was breached. Ezekiel’s prophecy took place between 592 and 589 BC.

In addition, Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days (apparently beside his little model of the city under siege) to bear the iniquity of the house of Israel, and when that was completed, he was to lie on his right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for 40 days. For nourishment, he was to eat only peasant’s food cooked over cow dung. All this was to symbolize the pollution with which Israel and Judah had defiled themselves.

A second good example is seen in chapter 12:3-7. God commanded Ezekiel to dig a hole in a wall, to gather the baggage of an exile by day, throw it over his shoulder, and to go out through the wall in the evenings like an exile leaving his city. He was apparently to do this over and over so the people would ask him what he was doing. He was to say,

“I am a sign to you. As I have done, so it will be done to them (in Jerusalem). They will go into exile, into captivity.”

Other Examples of “Pedagogy in Biography”:

Hosea is another example of pedagogy in biography (Hosea 1:2-9). God had Hosea experience the heartbreak of an unfaithful wife as both a picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him and a preparation of Hosea for his prophetic ministry.

Isaiah went about barefoot and naked as a sign for the Lord. “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush” (Isaiah 20:2-4).

Jeremiah became a participant in the technique of “Pedagogy in Biography” when God commanded him to make a yoke for his neck and then to walk around wearing it (Jeremiah 27:2-3). This was to illustrate God’s prophecy that Judah was to soon come under the yoke of Babylon. And since this was God’s judgment, Jeremiah told them to submit to Babylon rather than resist. The people hated Jeremiah, not only for this message of coming judgment, but for his call to submit and surrender. He was branded a traitor.²⁷⁰

Summary

We have touched on a number of characteristics and features of the writing prophets, which hopefully will encourage us to spend more time reading them. In summary, let’s remember that in order to understand the prophets, we must understand the function of the prophet (which is not merely to tell the future), the historical context (not only in general, but specifically with regard to each prophet and, ideally, each oracle). We must also understand the literary devices used in the prophetic writing (the poetic and oracle forms). And we must be willing to devote a little time and prayer to the endeavor. We must remember that the prophets were primarily covenant enforcement mediators. They spoke for God to His people. They confronted Israel’s sin and called them back to the Law. They called them back to a covenant relationship with God.

There is much more that could be said about the writing prophets. I have only scratched the surface and talked of some of the features they have in common. They each have their own unique features, their own unique structure, and their own unique contribution to the Old Testament, which are well worth our study.

What Does It Mean to Us?

The task of interpretation is to set the Prophets within their own historical contexts and to hear what God was saying to Israel through them. Once we hear what God said to them, even if our circumstances differ considerably, we will often hear it again in our own settings in a rather direct way, which brings us to the area of application. In thinking about application of the prophets to us today, we can make some observations:

(1) The ungodly society in Israel and Judah in the days of the prophets is certainly similar to the ungodly society of our day; i.e., we see the similar self-indulgence, materialism, sexual promiscuity and perversion, pluralism, humanism, rampant ungodliness, etc. Does that in itself not suggest that there is a message in the prophets for us today?

(2) Can it not be argued that the sins of Israel are sins in the New Testament too? After all, they violate the two great commandments that both the Old Covenant and New Covenant share (Matthew 22:36-40).

(3) We see through the prophets that God is serious about His covenant with Israel. Does this not suggest He is just as serious about His New Covenant through Jesus Christ? Does this not imply that there is a message in the prophets for the church today?

There are, no doubt, many varied applications for today which may be derived from the individual prophetic writings, but I want to step back and look at the context for application from the prophets viewed as a whole. There is an overarching theme in the prophets which should serve as the primary thrust of application.

To understand what I am driving at, let me ask a couple of questions: “What was the goal of the prophetic ministry?” Or, perhaps more appropriately, “What was it the prophets were seeking in their ministry?” You might say restoration, i.e., a restored covenant relationship with God. Yes, that may properly be understood as the ultimate goal. But what was it the prophets actually sought? The prophets sought repentance. Restoration was the goal, but repentance is what they hoped to see from the people. In fact, this message of the prophets was so prevalent that Zechariah (one of the last prophets) was able to sum up in one sentence all the prophets that preceded him: “the earlier prophets proclaimed: Thus says the Lord of Hosts, turn from your evil ways and doings,” (Zechariah 1:4). The message of the prophets was a call for repentance.

Is there a place for a call to repentance today? Is there a need for a message of repentance today? Israel, the people of God in the Old Testament, turned away from God and needed a message of repentance. Do we Christians, who are looking so much like the pagan society around us that we are virtually indistinguishable, need the same message?

Walt Kaiser, one of my favorite authors in Old Testament studies, commented on application from the prophets in the following,

“Preaching from the prophets can have a great contemporary application if we recognize repentance as the condition for experiencing God’s favor.” ²⁷¹

How much are we like Israel, who claimed God’s eternal favor based on His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then worshipped the things of this world? We claim the eternal favor of God based on the blood of Jesus, we say “once saved always saved,” and we worship the things of this world. How different is that? I say the prophets of the Old Covenant do indeed have a message for us today. As one of our elders related to me last week, “When you read the book of Micah, it’s almost as if he was writing to the church today.”

God preserved a faithful remnant in Israel. But being an Israelite did not guarantee you were part of that remnant: “not all Israel is Israel,” (Romans 9:6). God is preserving a faithful remnant in the church today, but being “in the church” does not guarantee that you are a part of that remnant.

The prophets serve as constant reminders to us of God’s serious regard for His covenant. For those who obey the stipulations of the New Covenant (loving God and loving one's neighbor through Jesus Christ), the final, eternal, result will be blessing, even though the results in this world are not guaranteed to be so encouraging. Dare I suggest that for those who disobey, the result can only be curse, regardless of how well one fares during life on earth?

---

²⁵⁰ This is the edited manuscript of messages delivered by Jim Ellis at Community Bible Chapel, on June 10 and June 17, 2001.

²⁵¹ Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Zondervan, 1993), p. 165.

²⁵² The Old Testament is made up of a number of types of literature (or literary genre). One of those genre is “prophetic” literature which has its own unique features. See William W. Klein, et. al., Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Word Publishing, 1993), pp. 259-322.

²⁵³ Thomas R. Rodgers, The Panorama of the Old Testament (Trinity Press, 1997): chronology of the early prophets, p. 310, and chronology of the later prophets, p. 321.

²⁵⁴ The prophets are shown at single points-in-time along the bar to keep the graphic from getting too complicated; however, this does not do justice to the fact that some had long ministries. For example, Isaiah’s ministry covered a period of 40 years. Hence, Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea were contemporaries with overlapping ministries.

²⁵⁵ For a chronology showing later dates for Jonah, Obadiah, and Joel, see Willem A. VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word (Zondervan, 1990), p. 103.

²⁵⁶ Cited by Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Trans. D.M.G. Stalker, 2 Vols. (New York: Harper & Row, 1962, 1965) 2:33, n. 1.

²⁵⁷ The most common term for the person and office is “prophet,” from the Greek prophetes, which basically means “one who speaks for God.” It can mean “to speak for, proclaim” as well as “speak beforehand.” A prophet then is a forthteller as well as a foreteller; both meanings are implicit and both usages are found in the Bible. The corresponding Hebrew word nabi emphasizes “one who is called.” See William S. LaSor, et. al., Old Testament Survey (Eerdmans, 2nd ed, 1996), p. 222.

²⁵⁸ William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, & Robert L. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Word Publishing, 1993), p. 303.

²⁵⁹ Klein, et. al., pp. 307-310.

²⁶⁰ For specific examples of the prophets calling Israel back to God, see Amos 5:6, Hosea 14:1, Joel 2:12-13, Isaiah 55:3, and Zephaniah 2:1-3.

²⁶¹ Fee and Stewart, p. 167.

²⁶² As an aside, the Assyrians not only plundered the cities of the northern kingdom, but they removed the wealthy and influential people of Israel to other conquered areas and took people from other nations and moved them into the land (2 Kings 17:24). This was an effective way to prevent organized resistance in conquered lands. It also effectively resulted in a new mixed race of people who became known as Samaritans.

²⁶³ Fee and Stuart, p. 176.

²⁶⁴ Ibid., pp. 175-178.

²⁶⁵ J. B. Gabel and C. B. Wheeler, The Bible as Literature, 2nd. ed. (New York/Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 37 and p. 293.

²⁶⁶ Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature (Academie Books, Zondervan, 1984), p. 103.

²⁶⁷ Jesus used parallelism on numerous occasions. For example, he uses synonymous parallelism in John 6:35.

²⁶⁸ See William S. LaSor, David A. Hubbard & Frederic W. Bush, Old Testament Survey (Eerdmans, 2nd edition, 1996), pp. 231-242. Also see Klein, pp. 225-236.

²⁶⁹ Rodgers, p. 351.

²⁷⁰ For more examples of “Pedagogy in Biography,” see Jeremiah 19:1-11; 43:9; 51:63-64; Ezekiel 5:1-4; 21:6,7; and 24:1-24.

²⁷¹ Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (Baker Books, 1981), p. 195.