amos and the job of the navi by aaron koller

8/7/2019 Amos and the Job of the Navi by Aaron Koller

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Amos and the Job of the Navi by Aaron Koller

Looking at Amos chapters 7-8 you have 4 visions.

Vision 1

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Time of late crops and Amos sees locusts and this is after the king has already taken his

cut of the crops. Amos is in mid 8th

century (starts 2 years after the earthquake of 762). He

begins in the north in the time of Jerobam II who was a very successful king with his conquests

and building projects. You have cities like Hatzor which was a large city dominated by large

houses, 2 or 3 times the size of the houses next store with finely finished masonry. Clearly these

types of houses did not exist previously. Jerobam II is successful economically, has a long reign,and his son peacefully takes over. But the Tanach dont like him because he still worships in Beit

El and Dan and he is named after the original wicked Jerobam.

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Amos sees the locusts finish devouring the vegetation of the land and Amos says God forgive

them. How can Jacob survive?

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God changes his mind and does not do this.

Vision 2

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Amos sees another vision with fields being eaten up by fire.

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Amos once again says, God how can Jacob survive this? God changes his mind and God does

not do this punishment. We see Amos here in the little appreciated job of Navi as defender of


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Benay Yisrael. The most noteworthy example is Moshe Rabbenu. Amos says and

instead of Hashem saying he says . He does not really forgive and wipe away the

sin. is unique to God because it means that not only is the sin forgiven but it is erased

and cleaned away and only God can do this. In the second vision Amos no longer asks for

forgiveness (because God wont do this) but rather he says .

Vision 3

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God showed him standing on a wall of Anach and in his hand was Anach.

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God says that I am going to put Anach in the midst of my people. The problem is that we

dont know what is Anach. The first Anach is a common noun. Anach in other semitic

languages is tin. It is important because it is used with copper to make tin but a wall of tin is

rather feeble. Here there might not be symbolism in the wall of tin but it was a way to get Amos

to say the word Anach. This second Anach might be a short form of the word . God is thensaying, I am putting myself in the midst of the people. This would be a rather scary thing.

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The Bamot of (Amos name for the northern kingdom) will be laid waste and thetemples of Israel will be destroyed and I will arise against the dynasty of Jerobam with the

sword. This is the first time that Amos mentions that anything against the dynasty of Jerobam.

Immediately after this, Amos is attacked.

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Amatziah the priest of Beit El sends to Jerobam that Amos is conspiring against you because he

has said that Jerobam will be assassinated and Israel will be exiled. Amos did not quite say that

Jerobam would be killed although he certainly said that the dynasty would die out and Amos


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has said many times that Israel will be exiled. We never hear of answer from Jerobam to this

message. Gemara Pesachim 87 says that Jerobam gave Amos the benefit of the doubt that

either he did not these things of even if Amos said them it comes from God and not Amos so

Amos cannot be blamed.

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:Amatziah takes the law into his own hands and tells Amos, Seer, go run away to Judah and eat

read there because you cannot prophesy in Bet Eil in the Kings Temple and Palace.

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Amos says to Amatziah that I am not a Navi or son of a Navi. Rather I am a herder of cattle and

a a slasher of sycamore fruits.

:Amos says rather God took me from behind the sheep and said to me to prophecy to my nation

Israel.

:

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Amos ends saying to Amatziah that your wife will be a harlot and your children will fall to the

sword. Your land will be divided with a measuring line and Israel will be exiled.

We see here that Amatziah called Amos a Chozeh and Amos responded by saying that I

am not a Navi. Is there a difference between a Navi and a Chozeh? Maybe one would think that

Chozeh is a more derogatory term that distinguishes with a Navi. But it sounds very much like

the words are synonymous from Amos response that I am not a Navi. Also the Aramaic for Navi

is Chozeh. Maybe Chozeh is the more cosmopolitan word for Navi. The word Chozeh is used in

8th

century by other Aramaic texts to describe a prophet (see handout). The word Navi is only

used in Hebrew (except the word Nabu which appears 1000 years earlier). In Zakkur Inscription

we have the god Baal Shemaim who sends the Chozeh to them. The Chozeh is the word for

prophet. In Deir Allah text (written in ink on plaster in biblical Sukkot from Yaakovs sukkos) this

was smashed in the earthquake of 762. It was written about Bilaam Bar Beor the Chozeh. It has

lots of parallels with the biblical story of Bilaam. It is written in the 8th

century but inscribed on

the Temple walls so it describes events that clearly happened way earlier. Here we see that

Bilaam is called a Chozeh Elohin. We see that Navi=Chozeh.


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Amos responds with normal Hebrew language and says that I am not a Navi nor a Ben Navi. The

come up often and are mentioned a great deal especially during the time ofEliyahu and Elisha. They seem to have prophetic powers. They are Navis in training centered

around a master prophet like Eliyahu and Elisha (See Kings II 2:1-3 and 4:1). Amos is saying I am

not a Ben Navi. He is saying that I do not make my occupation as a prophet in training. I would

be glad to tend my cattle and slash my sycamore. I am not after the job. I am after my mission.

He says . This phrase should be familiar from David. In Shemuel

Beit it says :

: Also see Tehillim78.

Amos is a transitional figure. Because prior to him in the past few centuries Navis went

to special schools or apprenticed with prophets to be trained. In Eliyahu and Elisha in 9th

and

10th

centuries the Neviim behaved differently than Amos. The earlier prophets Shaul, Elisha

seem to have ecstatic experiences accompanied by music that give them a prophecy. They live

in groups. See Kings II chapter 3 where Elisha says . The earlier Neviim specializedin dynastic politics. This is what Shemuel did, Natan, Eliyahu, Elisha. The classical prophets dont

meet with the king. Amos talks to the people. Jeremiah is on terrible terms with the king and

goes to the people. You can go to Shemuel and ask a magic question, where is my lost donkey

and you can pay him and you will get an answer. But the later prophets dont get paid. The

miracles of Eliyahu and Elisha is not performed by Jeremiah. He gets thrown in jail and hecannot escape. There is not magic. He just sends a message to the people. The earlier Neviim

do not communicate through books of prophecy. The later prophets have books that they

wrote of their own Nevuot. The last point is where they lived. The early Neviim are all in the

north. The later classical Neviim are all in the south. Amos might be the transition because he is

from the south (Tekoa) but working in the north. The earlier Neviim from the north are more

miraculous ecstatic people who travel in groups and have prophetic experiences and can see

things. The later Neviim are more along the lines of the Rambams classic model that they are

chosen by God to prophecy.


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Vision 4

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Amos is shown a vision of a basket of summer fruit. Hashem says (play on )the end of my nation Israel is coming. I will no longer help them. This might be an even better

pun because this is written in the dialect of the south but the Hebrew Amos was speaking was

in the dialect of the north. In northern Hebrew, the word for wine is spelled not like wespell it. Why? It sounds like the word for wine was pronounced Yain in the north not Yayin. So

in the north Amos would not say Keluv Kayitz but Keluv Kaitz so it is an even better pun.

amos and the job of the navi by aaron koller

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