The Book of Amos: A Commentary (Old Testament Library | OTL)
Overview
Jorg Jeremias presents a critical presentation of this Minor Prophetic book, positing that the book was created in stages, both exilic and post-exilic. His creative reconstruction of its formation is a unique and insightful help for students and teachers alike.
Top Highlights
“Because God’s patience has run out, Israel’s ‘harvest’ and ‘end’ are not events in a distant future, but rather have already commenced. Through the third and fourth visions, Amos has become a prophet of death. The final vision shows how this ‘end’ will take place.” (Page 134)
“According to the book’s superscription, Amos appeared as a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II (usually dated 787–747 b.c.e., and almost simultaneous with the reign of Uzziah over Judah, who is also mentioned). His words as passed down to us are directed almost without exception against, and delivered in, the Northern Kingdom (1:1b), presumably above all in the capital Samaria (3:9–4:3; 6:1–11) and in Bethel (7:10–17; cf. 4:4f.; 5:4f.). If one takes the concluding date of the superscription (‘two years before the earthquake’) literally, he was only briefly active as a prophet, at most about a year.” (Page 1)
“Tekoa is located a good fifteen kilometers south of Jerusalem, at the extreme edge of the cultivated land that drops off abruptly to the wilderness of Judah; this locale possibly also explains the agricultural double occupation that made him an economically independent prophet. On the one hand, he owned oxen (and—if 7:14 is not drawing on proverbial sayings3—possibly also small livestock); on the other, he cultivated mulberry figs, which flourished in the warm climate of the Jordan plain (7:14f.). Amos’ language also reflects this rural milieu of his surroundings.” (Page 2)
“that his prophetic activity underwent an incisive transformation.” (Page 2)
- Title: The Book of Amos: A Commentary
- Author: Jörg Jeremias
- Edition: First American edition
- Series: The Old Testament Library
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Print Publication Date: 1998
- Logos Release Date: 2017
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. O.T. Amos › Commentaries
- ISBN: 066422086
- Resource ID: LLS:OTL30AM
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:33:36Z