Haftorah Reading for April 24, 2021

Aharei Mot/K’Doshim (Leviticus 16-20); Haftorah: Amos 9:7-15

By Irv Jacobs, M.D.

LA JOLLA, California –This short, entirely poetic message is from the writings of Amos, one of the 12 ‘minor’ prophets. He was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, but his preaching (760-755 BCE) was against the Northern Kingdom of Israel, notably its cities of Samaria and Bethel. This was during the reign of Jeroboam II (788-747 BCE), a time of foreign conquests, thus internal peace and prosperity in the North. [1] Amos’ preaching coincided with the reign in the Southern Kingdom of King Uzziah (785-733 BCE), considered one of the ‘good and righteous kings.’

The Northern Kingdom, via free associations with heathen peoples from conquest and trade, went so far as to fuse the Lord’s worship with that of pagans. [2]

Amos entered, then went about to chastise the North for its large disparity between the wealthy and the poor.  These chosen passages in the Haftorah connect to the Torah reading via a shared emphasis that God will judge all peoples for their iniquities. [3]

Actually there is scant extant biographical material on Amos.

Amos was a sheep herder and sycamore fig farmer. He claimed ‘not to be from the school of prophets, nor did he allege a ‘special calling.” Such made him a ‘true’ prophet? [4]

In fact, he wrote very good poetry.

Here are examples of Amos’ art in writing (as translated by Robert Alter of the University of California at Berkeley):

Amos 9:7

Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt
and the Philistines from Crete
and Aram from Kir? [5]

Amos 9:8
Look, the eyes of the Master, the Lord,
are upon the offending kingdom,
and I will destroy it|
from the face of the earth. [6]

But (as for Israel)

Amos 9:8-9

But I will surely not destroy the House of Jacob…
and I will shake up the house of Israel in all the nations…
as one shakes in a sieve
and no pebble shall fall to the ground. [7]

(Now comes a turnaround sentiment):

Amos 9-11
On that day I will raise up
the fallen shelter of David
and I will stop up its breaches [8]
and its ruins will I raise
and rebuild it as in days of yore…

(Now comes the required upbeat ending for the Haftorah)

Amos 9:13

Look, days are coming, said the Lord,
when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes the sower of seed.
And the mountains shall drip fermented juice,
and all the hills shall melt. [9]

Amos 9:15

And I will plant them on their soil,
and they shall no more be uprooted from their soil
that I have given them, said the Lord your God.

For his unwelcome preaching, Amos was denounced by the North’s head priest and advised/forced to leave. Thus prevented from bringing his message to an end, he wrote instead. If they could not hear him, they could read his words. If his contemporaries refused to do so, later generations might still profit by them, as is the case.

It is believed that Amos wrote the record of his prophetical work in Jerusalem, committed to a circle of faithful followers there. The apocryphal work The Lives of the Prophets records that Amos was killed by the son of Amaziah, priest of Bethel. He died in Jerusalem and was buried there.[10] To be accurate, his latter years are not detailed in any writing.

It is certain that not much later, Isaiah I (c. 740-687 BCE) knew Amos’s book, since he tended to imitate Amos’s writings. [11]

I recognize Amos as a knowledgeable, honest, accomplished writer/poet, and historian. Unfortunately, like most all the prophets, he was rejected in his lifetime.

We recognize the opposite of such a phenomenon in our own day, with a strong overlay of negative demeaning false political propaganda. It will
take scientific historians later to resurrect the truth. God help us in the meantime.

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[1] Amos (prophet), from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] Ibid, Amos (prophet)

[3] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 706

[4] Op. cit. Amos (prophet)

[5] acknowledges history universally, beyond that of the Hebrews, Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, p. 1279

[6] strong words against all offender nations, Ibid, Alter, p. 1279

[7] Israel will be filtered out—a dramatic scene, a strong simile, Ibid, Alter, p. 1279

[8] a metaphor for Israel’s failings, Ibid. Alter, p. 1280

[9] more active image metaphors, Ibid, Alter, p.1280

[10]Op. cit, Amos (prophet)

[11] Ibid, Amos (prophet)

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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis.  He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.