Introduction

The book of Amos is a small book—nine chapters, 146 verses, and about 2,050 Hebrew words— but it is a challenging book. Works on this book are legion, the interpretation of almost every clause is debated among scholars, and all kinds of methods have been applied to its study—from historical criticism with its question of the “historical Amos” and the ipsissima verba, through form-criticism with its interest in genre, traditions, and Sitz im Leben of the oracles, and redaction-criticism with theories of presupposed layers of redactions, to literary approaches that read the book as a comedy or drama. Liberation theologies have also derived inspiration from the prophet’s critique of eighth-century BC Israel’s social injustice and corruption.¹

The debates and disagreements aside, scholars agree that judgment is a key theme in the book of Amos.² Some would even go so far to suggest that judgment is the only theme of the prophet. In his announcement and description of the impending punitive judgment of Israel, Amos on three occasions seems to burst into a hymnic praise of the immeasurable power of the Lord (Amos 4:13; 5:8–9; 9:5–6) that invites the reader to investigate things further. In this study, we will briefly describe these doxologies and indicate their relationship to God’s right to judge and His righteousness in judgment as presented in the book of Amos.

Doxologies of Judgment

The doxologies (Amos 4:13; 5:8–9; 9:5–6) occur in the context of judgment, hence they have been referred to as “doxologies of judgment.”³ They speak eloquently of, and increasingly portray, the Lord’s sovereign power⁴ and His right to judge. But as we will see, God’s righteousness shines through His judgment. R. Reed Lessing notes that

the first doxology (4:13) follows the recital of the plagues in the judgment oracle in 4:6–12. The second . . . is imbedded in an oracle of judgment. The third doxology comes at the end of the five visions of impending judgment in 7:1–9:4. In this way the doxologies are drawn into the rhetoric of judgment. The praise evokes in suffering believers a trusting confidence that Yahweh in his righteousness eventually will deliver them from all evil, but for unbelievers the doxologies ironically reinforce that his judgment is unavoidable and inescapable. For them such hymnic language serves to evoke fear rather than joy.⁵

We will discuss each of the doxologies and try to shed light on the role of these doxological judgments.

If Amos 4:12 summons Israel to prepare themselves to face the Lord, the first doxology establishes the legal and moral authority of God in doing what He is about to announce: “For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth—The Lord God of hosts is His name” (Amos 4:13). Verse 13 depicts the attributes of God as Creator, Omniscient, and Sovereign. The three key verbs describing God’s activity of creation in Genesis 1–2 appear in Amos 4:13. God “forms” the mountains, “creates” the wind, and “makes” morning darkness. The reference to mountains and winds may be understood in a positive, ordinary sense, hence recalling Genesis 1. But the making of the morning as darkness presents a negative picture. In Genesis 1, morning is light, and darkness is night. The reversal of these phenomena often describes disaster. This seems further highlighted by the use of different terms for “morning” and “darkness” instead of the terms used in Genesis 1. In Amos 4:13, the term for “morning” means “dawn” (Gen 19:15; 32:25), when light breaks forth (Job 3:9; 38:12; 41:18; Song 6:10; Isa 8:20; 58:8), and the term for “night,” which appears only in this verse and in Job 10:22, seems to denote “darkness.” It is related to a verb that means “to be dark,” which is used in Job 11:17 in parallel with another term that means “dark” or “gloom.” With this description, Amos indicates that the God who is the Creator of both material realities and phenomena is also the one who can reverse what we call “nature.”

Another assertion in this doxology is the Lord’s omniscience. He “declares . . . thought.” The verb translated “declare” means to “tell” (Gen 3:11; 9:22), “declare” (Gen 12:18; Deut 5:5; Mic 3:8), or “reveal” (Gen 41:25; 2 Sam 7:11; Job 11:6). But whose thought is being declared here? The clause literally reads, “he who declares to human what is his thought.” Since “his thought” is farther away from the subject (i.e., “he who declares”) and is close to the indirect object (i.e., “human”) we may argue that “his thought” is the “thought” of human beings. The word translated “thought” occurs only in Amos 4:13. It is related to a verb that means “complain, muse, talk” (Judg 5:10; Pss 55:18; 77:4, 7; 104:34; 105:2; 119:97; Prov 6:22) and cognate nouns that also mean “complaint” or “musing” (1 Sam 1:16; 1 Kgs 18:27; 2 Kgs 9:11; Job 7:13; 9:27; 15:4; Prov 23:29). The ability to declare the musing of humans is a characteristic of the Omniscient. The Lord knows the thought/musing of humans (cf. Jer 17:9–10). Although most scholars suggest that “thought” is the thought of God,⁶ it should be noted that what is being described in Amos 4:13 is God’s power and that the idea of God declaring human thought may better fit the context, for it is something that only God can do. The God of Israel is all-knowing; nothing escapes His notice, and so He judges rightly.

The final assertion of the doxology is that the Lord “treads the high places of the earth.” “High places” may denote mountains (Num 21:28; Ezek 36:2; Mic 3:12), places of worship (1 Sam 9:12; 1 Kgs 14:23; 22:44; Ezek 16:16), or battlefields (1 Sam 1:19, 25). To “tread” or even to “ride” upon high places is a metaphor for victory or the subduing of someone/something. The promise that Israel would ride upon high places describes their possessing the promised land (Deut 32:13; 33:29; Isa 58:14). The Lord’s treading upon the high places of the earth or the waves of the sea portrays His sovereignty and judgeship (Job 9:8; Amos 4:13; Mic 1:3). In Micah 1:3–7, the Lord’s coming is depicted as treading upon the high places and His coming is for the judgment of Israel. The personal name of the God of Israel, Yahweh, is used in Amos 4:13 together with “God of hosts,” which fittingly describes the coming of the Lord with an army to defeat Israel. This name speaks to God’s sovereignty over the world.

The second doxology constitutes the center both of the book of Amos and of the chiasm in 5:1–17. The focus of these sections of the book is on the sovereignty of God as marked by His creatorship and judgeship.

He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth; The Lord is His name. He rains ruin upon the strong, so that fury comes upon the fortress. (Amos 5:8–9)

Five verbal forms are used to describe the idea of sovereignty: “make,” “turn,” “call,” “pour,” and “rain.” Yahweh is the Creator God. The names “Pleiades” and “Orion” occur only in Job (9:9; 38:31) and Amos (5:8). In both books the context is God’s work of creation. These constellations represent God’s creation of heavenly bodies. The references to “morning,” “darkness,” “waters,” and “earth” add to “Pleiades” and “Orion” to complete the list of the spheres of God’s creation: heavenly bodies, phenomena, water, and land. Because the Lord created all these things, He has power over them.

The expression “deathly darkness” recalls the famous verse of Psalm 23:4 (see also Job 3:5; 10:21–22; 12:22; 16:16; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22) and represents distress (Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:10; Jer 13:16) and danger (Ps 23:4; 44:20; Jer 2:6). The Lord is able to “turn” deathly darkness into morning light. Like the idiom of turning mourning into joy (Ps 30:12; Jer 31:13), turning darkness into light depicts hope and joy (Job 12:22; Pss 18:29; 112:4; Isa 9:1; 29:18; 42:16; 58:10; Mic 7:8). Should Israel seek the Lord, He is able to replace the calamity of darkness with the joy of the morning.

But the Lord is also able to turn daytime into night darkness. Darkness describes distress (Isa 5:20; 42:7; 49:9; 59:9; 60:2; Lam 3:2; Mic 7:8) and judgment or calamity (Ezek 22:8; Joel 2:2, 31 [MT 2:4; 3:4]; Nah 1:8). The Lord’s bringing of darkness is a picture of His meting out judgment. So, Amos says that the day of the Lord is a day of darkness, not of light (Amos 5:18, 20). If Israel can turn justice into wormwood (Amos 5:7), the Lord can turn Israel’s daytime into darkness in reaction to their injustices.

The sovereignty of the Lord is also demonstrated by the fact that He can “call” the waters of the sea to “pour” upon the surface of the earth. Water can figuratively represent danger and destruction (2 Sam 5:20; 22:17; Ps 66:12; 69:2–3; Lam 3:54; cf. Gen 6–8). Thus, this is a negative imagery as it depicts God’s power to unsettle the waters of the sea to cause an engulfing flood.

Like the first doxology, the second includes the declaration of the name of the Lord. He is Yahweh, the name He revealed in a special way to Moses and Israel (Exod 3:13–15; 6:2–3). It is a name that highlights God’s covenantal, redeeming love⁷ and holiness, but this name is also used in contexts of judgment (appearing eighty-one times in the book of Amos).

The fifth verbal form comes in Amos 5:9, which states that the Lord can “rain” ruin upon the strong. The root of the verb translated “rain” may basically denote “flash” or “spark,” and by extension “gleam” or “smile” (Job 9:27; 10:20; Ps 39:14). The sense here is that the Lord can cause “ruin” to “flash” upon the strong. The word translated “ruin” occurs twice in this verse Amos 5:9 (also in 3:10). It is related to a verb that means “to deal violently,” “devastate,” “ruin,” “destroy” (e.g., Judg 5:27; Isa 15:1; Jer 5:6; 51:55; Ezek 32:12; Hos 10:2; Mic 2:4). The noun may denote “violence” as a social evil (Isa 59:7; 60:18; Hos 12:2; Hab 1:3), but it also means “devastation” and spoiling of a nation (Isa 13:6; 16:4; 22:4; 51;19; Jer 48:3; Hos 7:13). Both the verb and the noun are related to the divine name Shadday, usually translated “Almighty.” Indeed, this divine epithet by which Yahweh revealed Himself to the patriarchs (Exod 6:3) is a powerful and awesome name. It has negative connotations, but within the covenant relationship the name is positive: in His name Shadday the Lord promised to dispossess the Canaanites to give the land to Abraham, and to disrupt nature to allow Sarah and Abraham give birth at a time they do not expect (Gen 17:1–19). Elsewhere, the name occurs often at difficult moments, moments where the Lord is seen to be “destructive” or one who brings calamity. Naomi complains that Shadday dealt bitterly with her and brought calamity upon her (Ruth 1:20–21). The name occurs often in the book of Job where the man experiences excruciating pain and loss (e.g., Job 6:4; 21:20; 22:3; 23:16; 27:2). Isaiah 13:6 states that the day of the Lord comes like “destruction from the Almighty”). In Amos 5:9, to “flash destruction upon the strong” is to bring “destruction upon the fortress.” The words “strong” and “fortress” are related in this verse. The word translated “fortress” denotes both “fortification” or “fortified city” (Num 32:17, 26; Josh 10:20) and “fortress” or “stronghold” (Num 13;19; 2 Kgs 8:12; Jer 48:18), which represents the “strength” of a city and gives a (false) sense of impregnability (e.g., Num 32:17; Jer 4:5–6; 5:17; Nah 3:14). Military strength and fortifications cannot stop the Lord from executing judgment on the wicked. Amos implies in this doxology that the power of the Lord is shown not only in creation and in the protection of His faithful ones; it is also shown in the destruction of those who have willfully exercised their free will against Him.

The third doxology also emphasizes God’s sovereign power:

The Lord God of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell there mourn; all of it shall swell like the River, and subside like the River of Egypt. He who builds His layers in the sky, and has founded His strata in the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth— The Lord is His name. (Amos 9:5–6)

He has power over the earth. When He “touches” the earth, it “melts” and its inhabitants “mourn.” This is a touch of judgment that recalls the drying up of the life support mechanisms elsewhere (Amos 1:2; 4:7; 7:4). In Amos 8:8, we read that when the Lord visits the works of Israel, the land will tremble before the enemy army and its inhabitants will mourn because of the tumult and destruction that follows. In Amos 9:5, the land “melts,” translating a verb whose meanings include “melt” (see also Ps 46:6) in the sense of “dissolve” (Ps 75:3; Isa 14:31; Nah 2:6).⁸ If the “melting” results in a watery mass (see Amos 9:13 where the same verb occurs in the sense of “flow”), then the idea is that the land will “dissolve” to “swell” like flood. In Amos 8:8, the trembling of the land is compared to the swelling/flooding of the river— it will swell and subside like the river of Egypt, like the Nile’s annual flooding and receding. There is a close similarity of phraseology between 8:8 and 9:5: “all who dwell” in her, “mourn, swell like the River,” and “subside like the River of Egypt.” As in 8:8, the context is the day of the Lord, when He will work calamity among His wayward people, a calamity that is necessitated by their choices.

The second part of the third doxology emphasizes the Lord’s sovereignty over not only the earth but also over the heavens and the waters of the sea (9:6). He “builds” His “layers” in the heavens. The word translated “layers” denotes “ascent” of a hill or city or stairs of a house (Josh 15:3; Judg 8:13; 1 Sam 9:11; Neh 9:4; 12:37; Ezek 40:31, 34) and here seems to represent a dwelling place. If Amos here refers to God’s abode in heaven, then it is better to translate “heaven” (KJV, NET) instead of “sky” (NKJV) and the reference would be to His heavenly temple (cf. 1 Kgs 10:19–20). The statement that the Lord “has founded His strata in the earth” is best understood to mean that He has “established the vault of the sky over the earth.”⁹ He rules over the earth from heaven. And Isaiah would state that the heaven is the abode of the Lord and the earth is His footstool (Isa 66:1; see also Pss 78:69; 104:3).

As in Amos 5:8, and in exact wording, the sovereignty of the Lord is also expressed by His ability to call for the waters of the sea to pour upon the surface of the earth as in a tsunamic flood. And as in the first and second doxologies, the declaration of the name of the Lord appears in the third: Yahweh is His name, the name that would remind Israel of the character and acts of the covenant-making God.

The Meaning and Purpose of the Judgment Doxologies

The doxologies reiterate the theme of judgment in Amos. They serve to praise God’s sovereign power to judge: the one who is about to judge is He who forms mountains, creates winds, reveals deep secrets, turns morning into darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth (Amos 4:13); it is He who made the heavenly bodies, turns deathly shadows into morning, darkens daylight, commands the waters of the sea, and rains ruin upon the strong (Amos 5:8–9; 9:6); and it is He who touches the earth and it melts and foams like flood, and has the heavens as His abode (Amos 9:5–6). Although in their specific contexts they occur within the indictments against Israel, the power of the Lord to judge is not limited to Israel. The nations will be judged because of their crimes against humanity (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13). Judah will be judged because they have despised the law of the Lord and followed lies of idolatry (Amos 2:4). And Israel will be judged because of corruption and untold injustices against the poor in their midst (Amos 2:6–8). The judgment of Israel is described as the “day of the Lord.” It is a day of darkness and gloom (Amos 5:18–20; 8:9), panic (Amos 2:14–16; 9:1–4), evil and bitterness (Amos 6:3; 8:10–11), overthrow (Amos 8:8), destruction and death (Amos 3:11–12, 14–15; 5:1–3, 9; 6:9; 7: 9; 9:1–4, 8–10), and captivity (Amos 5:5, 27; 6:7; 7:17). The purpose of the doxologies seems to be to demonstrate that the Lord has the power to bring about the “day of the Lord” against Israel. In context, therefore, the doxologies may be understood as part of the descriptions of the coming day of the Lord against Israel, and thus constitute warnings of judgment. The first doxology follows the invitation to Israel to “prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12), declaring that the Lord has the power to do to Israel as He has warned about. This “meeting” with the Lord is a meeting of judgment on the day of the Lord. The second doxology follows God’s lament over Israel and a call to repentance (Amos 5:1–7), warning that should Israel fail to heed the call to turn to the Lord, He will exercise His power to bring about punitive judgment. And the third doxology follows the description of the day of the Lord in Amos 9:1–4 where we read that His hand will be against Israel wherever they turn to bring about judgment. Here again, the doxology emphasizes that He who has promised to judge Israel has the power to do so. Finally, the connection between the day of the Lord and the doxologies is also marked by the fact that the concepts of darkness, panic, and overthrow run through the descriptions of both.

God’s Right to Judge

The book of Amos not only describes God’s power to judge, but it also shows that He has the right to judge. The book opens with judgment oracles against nations in Syro-Palestine (Amos 1:3–2:5). As both the doxologies and these oracles emphasize, Yahweh is not just the God of Israel; He is the God of the world. The sovereignty of Yahweh is demonstrated in several ways in the oracles against the nations (Amos 1:3–2:16). He rules over the nations—even over those whom He did not specially elect for mission (Amos 3:1–3)—and holds them responsible for their actions. As the Creator and Sustainer of the earth, He requires accountability of humans everywhere, especially those He places in positions of authority. He has the right to punish Israel for their stubbornness by the hand of foreign nations (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13), but He also holds these nations responsible for mishandling His people (1:4–5, 7–8, 10, 12, 14–15).

If Yahweh would punish pagan nations for their misdeeds, He certainly would not pardon the continued disobedience of His people Israel who were supposed to uphold justice and righteousness as a holy nation. So, if Yahweh has the right to judge because He is the Creator of the world, then He has double right to judge His Israel. He is the Creator of every individual in Israel, but He is also the Creator of the people as a nation: He redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage and cut a covenant relationship with them, giving them the special privileges of His special presence (Amos 2:10; 3:1–2).¹⁰ The covenant provided that the Lord would be Israel’s God and they, His people (Amos 7:8, 15; 8:1; 9:10, 14–15; Exod 6:7; Jer 32:36). Israel would experience blessings if they served and worshipped Him alone, if they desisted from following other gods, and if they loved their fellows and treated them with dignity and integrity. Failing this, Israel would experience the curse of the covenant—famine, foreign hegemony, and exile from the land (Deut 28).¹¹

God is merciful and slow to anger, but the book of Amos shows that eighth-century Israel grew worse in atrocities and injustices than the heathen nations, so that the time was ripe for the Lord’s intervention. The reigns of Jeroboam II and Uzziah saw the extension of territorial boundaries (Amos 6:13; 2 Kgs 14:25–27) and the Israelite elite reaped the fruits of the resulting economic prosperity. During this “silver age of Israelite history,” the wealthy engaged in luxurious and self-indulgent lifestyle, building luxurious houses (Amos 3:15; 5:11) and eating extravagantly (Amos 6:4–6). But extravagance of the upper class usually comes at the expense of the common people and further widens the gap between the two. The provisions of the covenant relationship included that Israel would imitate the Lord in justice and mercy (Exod 34:6; Deut 10:18; Isa 61:8; Jer 9:24). He provided for the defense and support of the poor—needy, widow, orphan, stranger (Exod 22:22–24; Deut 10:18; 14:29; 24:19–21; Ps 82:2–4). And He required the elders of Israel to judge righteously (Lev 19:15; Deut 24:17). The call to let justice and righteousness run like a river in Amos 5:24 is a call to faithful covenant keeping that affects the individual’s relationship both with the Lord (Deut 6:5) and with fellow human beings (Lev 19:18). However, in the days of Amos, the social structures instituted for the care of the poor seem to have collapsed at the watch of Israel’s leaders and the elite subjected the poor to all forms of injustice and oppression.

Israel’s disregard for the Lord and His covenant demonstrated itself in spiritual and social corruption. The book of Amos highlights that, spiritually, Israel’s corruption was expressed by her pride (Amos 6:13; 8:7, 14), idolatry (Amos 4:4; 5:5, 26; 7:9, 16; 8:14), immorality (Amos 2:7), oppression of the righteous and holy (Amos 2:6, 12), attempts to silence the prophets (Amos 2:12; 7:12–13), disregard for the Sabbath (Amos 8:5), and religious formalism (Amos 4:4; 5:5, 21–27; 8:14) with a false sense of spirituality (Amos 4:4–5; 5:14, 18; 6:1, 3). Socially, Israel’s corruption exhibited itself through injustices against the poor and needy, including physical oppression, denying them justice at the courts, and even selling them into debt-slavery.¹² The wealthy and upper class of Israel seem to have become so degraded that they did not know how to do right anymore (Amos 3:10). Their pursuit of personal gain led the people to abandon the value of love and care for others as required of the covenant community. The atrocities of the elite of Israel against the powerless is described as turning justice and righteousness into wormwood and gall, into intense bitterness (Amos 5:7; 6:12).

When God’s people disregard the covenant and its requirements, they not only lose its blessings, but also invite its curses (Deut 28). Israel was a “sinful kingdom” (Amos 9:8) deserving of punishment (Amos 5:12–20; 8:4–6). Consequently, God summons them to prepare to face Him in judgment (Amos 4:12). And because He is sovereign over everything, both the animate and the inanimate creation will stand at His service against wayward Israel—light and darkness will give way (Amos 4:13; 5:18–20; 8:9), winds and waters will obey His word (Amos 4:7–9; 5:8; 9:6), and locusts will stand at His service (Amos 4:9; 7:1–2). Israel will experience that Yahweh can create and has the right to uncreate, a fact that the doxologies underscore (Amos 4:13; 5:8; 9:8).

God’s Righteousness in Judgment

The descriptions of the day of the Lord and the doxologies in Amos not only illustrate God’s power and right to judge Israel, but they also show that He remains righteous even when He punishes. This fact is expressed in several ways in the book.

First, Amos reminds Israel that the Lord has done everything good for them. He fulfilled His promise to Abraham by displacing the Amorites from Canaan and giving the land to Israel (Amos 2:9–10; cf. Gen 15:13). He gave His good laws and promised blessings for obedience (Amos 2:4). Of all the nations, He knew only Israel (Amos 3:1–2). And He raised prophets and Nazirites to remind the people to seek righteousness in fulfillment of their covenant obligations (Amos 2:12). But Israel continually transgressed God’s law, slighting the covenant and the Lord (Amos 2:4, 6–8; 4:1–2, 4–5; 5:10–11). The tumults within Israel in the eighth century evidenced that the people had grown worse than the heathen nations (Amos 3:2, 9–10, 14; 5:12; 8:7; 9:8). Israel had destroyed the very purpose of the covenantal relationship: justice and righteousness (Amos 5:7; 6:12).

Second, the Lord had been patient with His people despite their refusal to repent, warning and hoping that they would change their course. As the longsuffering and forgiving God (Amos 7:2–3, 5–6), He warned Israel many times and through several means. He warned of the consequences of continued disobedience. The phrase “for three transgressions . . . and for four” (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6) that occurs in each of the eight oracles underscores God’s willingness to forgive the wayward once they change the course of their actions towards justice and righteousness. Scholars have debated the meaning of this repeated formula.¹³ The formula “three . . . and four” appears in Proverbs 30:15, 18, 21, 24, 29. In these passages, the formula is followed by a list of four things. The assumption that the numerical formula is only imaginative and is not meant to be taken literally does not hold in view of the usage of the similar pattern in Proverbs (see also Prov 6:16–19). Similarly, other ancient Near Eastern poetry uses numerical formula in a literal sense, such as the Ugaritic “two . . . three” and “seven . . . eight” patterns (e.g., “two sacrifices does Baal hate, three, the Rider of the Clouds”¹⁴). But there is a difficulty in Amos. While the transgressions of each nation are stated, it is not possible to itemize these transgressions into three or four. However, if we could understand “for three . . . and for four” to mean that the Lord would forgive the transgressions of the nations a couple of times, and if we should understand the oracles against the other nations as preparatory to God’s message to Israel, then an interesting phenomenon emerges in the presentation of the visions in the book that may enable us to understand the formula in relation to God’s judgment upon Israel. There are five visions in chapters 7–9. In visions 1 (locusts) and 2 (fire), the Lord listens to Amos’ plea and relents His destruction. In visions 3 (plumbline) and 4 (basket of summer fruit), the Lord states that He will “not pass them by” (Amos 7:8; 8:2), which has the same sense as “I will not turn away” (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). In vision 5, Amos only sees the Lord commanding the destruction of Israel.¹⁵ So in the narration of the visions, the Lord forgives the transgression of Israel two times, but the third and the fourth times, He promises to punish.

The pronouncement of judgment against the nations surrounding Israel in chapters 1–2 is itself a warning to Israel that if the Lord would not let the sins of the heathen go unpunished, He would not let Israel continue in sin. Following the pronouncements against the nations (Amos 1:1–2:5), the rest of the book focuses on the situation of the northern kingdom. Israel had strayed from the covenant (Amos 2:16–16) and in chapter 3 the Lord warns them through His prophets—for the Lord would not do anything unless He revealed it through His prophets (Amos 3:7–8)—but Israel asked the prophets to stop prophesying. Philistia and Egypt are summoned to attest to the atrocities within Israel that require the intervention of the Judge of Israel (Amos 3:9). As the law required a minimum of two witnesses in cases that required the application of the death penalty (Num 35:30; Deut 17:6), the Lord summons these two nations as witnesses in the legal proceedings against Israel. The sordid nature of Israel’s transgressions justifies the judgment that the Lord will execute. If Israel would not heed to verbal warnings (Amos 3:1–15), would they change their ways when they suffer acts of judgments (chap. 4)? The Lord punished Israel through, for example, droughts and famine, and harassment by other nations (Amos 4:1–11). Five times, the Lord sought to lead Israel back to Himself through disciplinary actions, and five times we read, “Yet you have not returned to Me” (Amos 4:6, 8, 9, 10, 11). Because Israel failed to repent, the Lord announces a more severe punishment: they would be exiled from the land (chaps. 5–6). The coming captivity and exile are the focus of chapters 7–9. If chapters 1–4 present the basis of Israel’s final punishment, chapters 5–6 announce that punishment, and chapters 7–9 describe the punishment and its effects. From his descriptions, one can imagine that Amos already has access to the autopsy report of Jeroboam’s Israel even before the demise of the kingdom: Israel’s was a self-inflicted, coronary infection that led to heart failure—failure to remember God’s covenantal word, to heed the warnings of judgment, and to repent amidst acts of judgment. In response, the Lord promises to set His face against His people, except He “will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob” (Amos 9:8). From all indications, Israel deserved to be disinherited, but God still loved His people. Although He would visit them with destruction and captivity, He would still preserve a people for Himself. Only a righteous God would do this.

Third, we find in the book of Amos that the Lord is hesitant to punish. He is indeed longsuffering. Even while announcing judgment (Amos 5:1–4:14), the Lord mourns for His people. The announcement of judgment is cast in the form of a divine lament over Israel that is replete with calls to repentance. He beckons Israel to seek Him and live, so as to avoid the day of the Lord (Amos 5:4–6, 14–15). The call to “seek me and live” is the summary of the divine exhortation. The verb translated “seek” means also to “consult, inquire of, resort to.” It occurs four times in Amos 5: Israel is called to seek the Lord in order to live (Amos 5:4, 6), to seek good and live (Amos 5:14), and to not seek Bethel (Amos 5:5). In Amos, to seek the Lord means to pursue righteousness instead of injustice (Amos 5:6–7, 12, 15, 24)—to do good¹⁶ instead of evil (Amos 5:13–15; 6:12)—and to truly worship the Lord instead of the falsehoods at Bethel and Gilgal (Amos 5:4-6, 26).

Fourth, the God of Israel is a holy and righteous God. The reference to “His name” in each of the doxologies is a reminder of the Lord’s character of righteousness (Amos 4:13; 5:8; 9:6). His name is holy (Amos 2:7). And He swears by His holiness (Amos 4:2). Israel will be punished because of their unrighteousness, and this is because Yahweh is righteous and demands righteousness from His people. The metaphor of the plumbline shows that Israel is a crooked nation that falls short of uprightness (Amos 7:7–8).¹⁷ Israel is a “sinful kingdom” (Amos 9:8) that has turned justice and righteousness to wormwood (Amos 5:7; 6:12). But Israel needs to reflect the character of their God, so the Lord calls them to cease evil and pursue justice and righteousness (Amos 5:14–15, 24; 6:12). For the righteous God, righteous character is more important than sacrifices; even if the people offered more sacrifices, tithes, and offerings than required (Amos 4:4–5), these could not substitute righteous character (Amos 5:21–25). Fifth, even though the Lord would punish Israel for their continued disobedience, He remains faithful to the covenant. If Israel would seek the Lord, they would no longer have to prepare to face Him in judgment (Amos 4:13). But the Lord is merciful and forgiving (Amos 7:1–3, 4–6), so that He will keep His covenant no matter what (Amos 9:8, 14). When the Lord judges, He protects; when He judges the wicked and unrepentant generation, He fulfills His promises of salvation by protecting a righteous remnant.¹⁸ Even though Israel deserves destruction and the Lord vows to remember their many sins (Amos 5:12) and “destroy it from the face of the earth” (Amos 9:8), there is hope for Israel because He will “not utterly destroy the house of Jacob” (Amos 9:8). So, Israel’s “day of the Lord” is both the day of judgment and the day of salvation. The righteous God will still keep His covenant by preserving a remnant of Joseph (Amos 5:15).¹⁹ He will save a remnant by/with the “corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch” (Amos 3:12) as the shepherd rescues “two legs or a piece of an ear” of the sheep being preyed upon (Amos 3:12). He will save the remnant as a “firebrand plucked from the burning” (Amos 4:11). Cities with military strength of one thousand and one hundred will be survived by one hundred and ten persons respectively (Amos 5:3), as if to save a tithe of His people. He will shake Israel among the nations as the farmer shakes the sieve, and no pebble shall fall through to be collected among the remnant (Amos 9:9–10).²⁰

Finally, Amos indicates that the righteousness of Yahweh will be acknowledged by Israel even during their punishment. Israel had no excuse whatsoever to disregard the covenant, to ignore the divine warnings in word and in action, or to forget about their history. On the contrary, Israel had every reason to trust in the Lord for their redemption, blessings, and the privileges of special divine presence in their midst. So, when the Lord finally judges, He is beyond accusation because He has provided His people with everything they needed as well as ample time for them to mend their ways. They will remember that the Lord had been faithful to His part of the covenant. And indeed, as we see throughout the pages of Amos, Israel would acknowledge that the Lord had gone beyond the extra mile of to get His people back on track with Him, but that He could not turn them to Himself against their willingness. This is a trait of a just and righteous God. While He does encourage people to choose His ways, He allows them to exercise their power of choice. Israel’s acknowledgement of the Lord’s righteousness in judgment seems to be presented in two instances in Amos. First, in the description of the disastrous effect of the day of the Lord in chapter 6, a scenario is presented of two persons who go to the house of a dead relative to pick up their mortal remains for burial. One tells the other, “Hold your tongue! For we dare not mention the name of the Lord” (Amos 6:10). In calamities the name of the Lord would usually be mentioned, either in cry for help (2 Chr 14:11; Ps 109:26) or to attribute the calamity to Him (Josh 7:7; Amos 7:2). Why does the speaker in Amos 6:10 ask that the name of the Lord not be mentioned? Israel has been wayward, has refused to repent despite repeated warnings, and hence is deserving of the calamity that has come upon them. It was the Lord who wrought the calamity in response to Israel’s sins, so it was pointless to invoke His name under the circumstances. It is also possible that the speaker implies that invoking the holy name could lead to further destruction.²¹ Second, according to Amos 8:11–12, during the day of the Lord Israel would search for God’s word of comfort, but there would not be a prophet to proclaim such word to them; Israel would only remember that God had sent His prophets to warn them of a calamity that would not have happened had they listened to the prophets, but this would be too late.²² The day of calamity would take its full course, and the billows would subside only when the Lord was done with His work against His people. The experience of Israel would testify that sin does not only infect the heart; it leaves irrecoverable scars on the world. When destruction would eventually surround Israel, their sad hearts would witness the far-reaching results of waywardness. Israel’s vain search for God’s word of comfort on the day of judgment means also that they would at that time acknowledge God’s rightness, righteousness, and justice even in their punishment.

The question has often been asked as to why God could bring calamity or destroy people and yet remain righteous. But God’s righteousness is not demonstrated only in the fulfillment of covenantal blessings; righteousness is also expressed in the fulfillment of the covenantal curses. Righteousness is not only positive. Judgment against sinners is equally a manifestation of God’s righteousness. So, Isaiah states that “though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness” (Isa 10:22–23). Righteousness also means justice, and justice demands that the perpetrator of evil is punished. But the question we also need to ask is whether the righteous God could continually allow evil to ruin His creation and void His purposes and promises. In no uncertain terms Amos announces repeatedly that Israel’s situation was beyond repair—they no longer knew how do right. It would be a violation of God’s own character and His covenant to let Israel continue to perpetrate evil and idolatry. His intervention would mean destruction for Israel, but it would also mean the continuation of the covenant promises. This is where the concepts of salvation and judgment intertwine. This pair reflect the twin characteristics of mercy and justice and cannot be separated because they are two sides of a coin. The judge acquits and sentences. God is committed to resolving the conflict between God and evil, to end sin and suffering and usher in everlasting righteousness. And His character of love, justice, and righteousness will remain untainted throughout the process. The rightness and righteousness of God is demonstrated in divine judgment, but punitive judgment is not the final word of God. The book of Amos demonstrates that God’s final word is redemption and eternal life of righteousness in His presence.

Salvation is an act of divine grace on the part of the righteous God (Amos 5:15; 7:1–6). And Amos 9:11–15 elegantly presents hope beyond the crises, hope of restoration. The Lord will gather His remnant from the nations and bring them back to the land (Amos 9:9). In Amos 1:2–9:10, we see a picture of the Lord roaring like a lion to warn, destroy, and scatter, but in 9:11–15 we find that the heights of His covenantal love overshadow the depths of devastation that attend His anger. God embraces even when He threatens. He loves, even when He punishes. He punishes, but He also makes a way for the continuation of His unfailing covenant. When the closing verses of the book arrive, they look beyond Israel of Amos’ day, beyond their atrocities and the devastation that waywardness brings, beyond the current generation, and beyond the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. “On that day,” the Lord will raise the booth of David and repair its breaches (Amos 9:11). He will restore the fortunes of Israel and they will rebuild the cities, plant vineyards, and enjoy life to its fullest in safety; it will be a time of peace, not war (Amos 9:13–14), a time the Lord will replant His people in the land, never again to be uprooted (Amos 9:15). Israel will return from captivity as one people under David, the Messiah, and the remnant of the nations will join God’s people in worship.²³ Rich agricultural metaphors of lasting peace and prosperity depict in lush the ultimate restoration of the people of God. At the end of the book of Amos, God’s people are back to Eden, where the Lord will plant His new creation—the remnant that keeps His commandments and the faith of His Messiah—that will forever live in love and perfect harmony with their God.

Conclusion

Although it would seem awkward at first glance that Amos should praise the Lord’s power and activity of judgment, the doxologies in the book point to the fact that God’s act of judgment is also a demonstration of His righteousness. The judgment of the nations as well as the judgment of Israel in the book of Amos is a microcosm of the final judgment. This judgment will include both the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked. Yahweh is a God of justice and righteousness, and He demands that humans imitate His character by seeking justice and righteousness. Although He is longsuffering and forgives sins, He is also the just God whose actions must match His character. God will save a remnant because He is faithful to His promises and because the remnant seeks Him. But He will also destroy sinners who have had the opportunity to repent but who have failed to do so. God’s destruction of sinners accords with His character of justice and righteousness, and this is part of His solution to the sin problem. As in the situation of Israel, the entire universe will get to acknowledge that the Lord is righteous in all He does—“true and righteous are His judgments” (Rev 19:2; cf. 15:3–4; Jer 11:20). In the end, the question will not be whether a righteous God should destroy, but whether a righteous God could let evil continue to ravage His beautiful and precious creation; not whether God can destroy and remain morally good, but whether He can remain morally good without resolving the sin problem.