Authors: Bart D. Ehrman
God's Problem (5 page)
Military defeat (a fire and broken gates) awaits the citizens of Damascus in exchange for their military exploits. So too with the Philistine city-state Gaza:
Thus says the L
ORD
:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
and for four, I will not revoke
the punishment;
because they carried into exile
entire communities,
to hand them over to Edom.
So I will send a fire on the wall of
Gaza,
fire that shall devour its
strongholds.
I will cut off the inhabitants from
Ashdod. (Amos 1:6–8)
And so it goes. In chapters 1–2 Amos predicts military defeat and violence in similar terms against seven of Israel’s neighbors. And one can just imagine his readers dwelling in Israel nodding their heads in agreement.
That’s right! It’s exactly what our wicked neighbors deserve: God will judge them in the end.
But then Amos turns the pointing finger on the people of Israel themselves, and in a rhetorical climax indicates that they too will be destroyed, with particular vengeance, by the God they thought was on their side:
Thus says the L
ORD
:
For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke
the punishment;
because they sell the righteous for
silver,
and the needy for a pair of
sandals—
they who trample the head of the
poor into the dust of the
earth,
and push the afflicted out of the
way;
father and son go in to the same
girl,
so that my holy name is
profaned….
So, I will press you down in your
place,
just as a cart presses down
when it is full of sheaves.
Flight shall perish from the swift,
and the strong shall not retain
their strength,
nor shall the mighty save their
lives;
those who handle the bow shall
not stand,
and those who are swift of foot
shall not save themselves,
nor shall those who ride horses
save their lives;
and those who are stout of heart
among the mighty
shall flee away naked in that
day,
says the L
ORD
. (Amos 2:6–16)
The sins of God’s own people, Israel, will lead to military defeat. These sins are both social and what we might call religious. Socially, the people have oppressed the poor and needy; and they have broken the law God has given in flagrant ways (father and son having sex with the same woman; cf. Leviticus 18:15, 20:12). As Amos goes on to indicate, these sins are particularly acute because Israel was to be God’s chosen people; therefore, their punishment will be all the more extreme: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (3:1). Moreover, the nature of this punishment is spelled out in clear terms: “An adversary shall surround the land and strip you of your defense; and your strongholds shall be plundered” (3:11). For Amos, this future military disaster and political nightmare is not simply an unfortunate outcome of human history: it is the plan of God, as God himself has decreed the future catastrophe. In a particularly memorable passage Amos presses home the point by stringing together a number of rhetorical questions, all of which are to be answered with a resounding “no!”
Do two walk together
unless they have made an
appointment?
Does a lion roar in the forest,
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from
its den,
if it has caught nothing?
Does a bird fall into a snare on the
earth,
when there is no trap for it?
Does a snare spring up from the
ground,
when it has taken nothing?
Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster befall a city,
unless the L
ORD
has done it? (Amos 3:3–6)
The reader is compelled by the rhetoric of the passage to answer no to the final question as well. The only reason disaster comes is that the Lord himself brings it. This may sound severe, but it is consistent, according to Amos, with the way God has historically dealt with his people. In another powerful passage Amos claims
that God has sent all sorts of natural disasters on his people in order to compel them to return to him and his ways. But they never heeded his voice and never returned. And so God will subject them to a final judgment. Where did the famine, drought, blight, pestilence, and destruction that have plagued Israel come from? According to Amos, they came from God as a punishment for sin and an incentive for repentance:
I gave you cleanness of teeth [i.e., famine] in all
your cities,
and lack of bread in all your
places,
yet you did not return to me,
says the L
ORD.
And I also withheld the rain from
you
when there were still three
months to the harvest…
yet you did not return to me,
says the L
ORD.
I struck you with blight and
mildew;
I laid waste your gardens and
your vineyards,
the locust devoured your fig
trees and your olive trees;
yet you did not return to me,
says the L
ORD.
I sent among you a pestilence after
the manner of Egypt;
I killed your young men with
the sword…
yet you did not return to me,
says the L
ORD
I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah…
yet you did not return to me,
says the L
ORD.
Therefore thus I will do to you,
O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God,
O Israel! (Amos 4:6–12)