Chris Evangelista
Dr. Marion Taylor
WYB1008HF
24 January 2012
Inductive Study on the Book of Amos
Part 1: Table of Contents
|
Verses |
Caption |
|
Amos 1:1 to 2:3 |
Judgement Against Surrounding Nations |
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Amos 2:4 to 2:16 |
Judgement Against Judah and Israel |
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Amos 3:1 to 4:13 |
More Warnings of Judgement |
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Amos 5:1 to 5:15 |
How Can You Be Saved? |
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Amos 5:16 to 6:14 |
More Warnings of Judgement |
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Amos 7:1 to 7:17 |
Amos Attempts to Intercede Yet They Turn on Him |
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Amos 8:1 to 9:10 |
The End is Near |
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Amos 9:11 to 9:15 |
But there is Hope: A Remnant Shall Remain |
Part 2: Analysis of the Book’s Structure
The majority of the book contains prophecy written in the form of Hebrew Poetry. This is shown by the poetic device graded numbers in the initial proclamation of judgement against the Judah, Israel, and its surrounding in the first two chapters: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment” (Amos 1:3, ESV). Furthermore, this is seen in the numerous uses of the various forms of parallelism throughout the whole book. The content of these prophecies, as well as whom they are addressed to helps to distinguish the major sections of the book. Also, the various narrative interludes that the author includes help to frame the prophecies, and also aid in distinguishing the section.
The first major section of the prophecy contains judgements against the nations surrounding Judah and Israel. After an introductory note, judgement is proclaimed against Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, the Ammonites, and Moab. These judgements follow a particular pattern, opening with the graded numbers poetic device “For three transgressions of… and for four, I will not revoke the punishment”, followed by the transgression of the offending nation, and closing with the judgement that will be sent against it.
While Amos 1:3 to 2:3 contained judgements against surrounding nations, Amos 2:4 turns the attention to Judah and Israel. These two judgements (verses 4-5 for Judah and 6-16 for Israel) follow the same poetic patterns of the earlier judgements against the surrounding nations. And so, they really ought to have been included in the previous division. However, as the shift is made to these two nations consisting of the people of God, I felt it deserved its own category. Nonetheless, what is clearly being shown in the first two chapters of Amos is that that there is no distinction between Judah, Israel, and its surrounding nations. They have succumbed to sin just as much as the evil nations surrounding them, and are just as deserving of punishment. This is reminiscent of a theme that was seen in the Book of Judges, the “Canaanization of Israel”. Although the people of Israel were supposed to transform the land of promise, they actually were themselves transformed by the land as a result of their apostasy from Yahweh. Read more »