God's Problem (5 page)

Authors: Bart D. Ehrman

BOOK: God's Problem

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Military defeat (a fire and broken gates) awaits the citizens of Damascus in exchange for their military exploits. So too with the Philistine city-state Gaza:

Thus says the L
ORD
:

For three transgressions of Gaza,

and for four, I will not revoke

the punishment;

because they carried into exile

entire communities,

to hand them over to Edom.

So I will send a fire on the wall of

Gaza,

fire that shall devour its

strongholds.

I will cut off the inhabitants from

Ashdod. (Amos 1:6–8)

And so it goes. In chapters 1–2 Amos predicts military defeat and violence in similar terms against seven of Israel’s neighbors. And one can just imagine his readers dwelling in Israel nodding their heads in agreement.
That’s right! It’s exactly what our wicked neighbors deserve: God will judge them in the end.

But then Amos turns the pointing finger on the people of Israel themselves, and in a rhetorical climax indicates that they too will be destroyed, with particular vengeance, by the God they thought was on their side:

Thus says the L
ORD
:

For three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not revoke

the punishment;

because they sell the righteous for

silver,

and the needy for a pair of

sandals—

they who trample the head of the

poor into the dust of the

earth,

and push the afflicted out of the

way;

father and son go in to the same

girl,

so that my holy name is

profaned….

So, I will press you down in your

place,

just as a cart presses down

when it is full of sheaves.

Flight shall perish from the swift,

and the strong shall not retain

their strength,

nor shall the mighty save their

lives;

those who handle the bow shall

not stand,

and those who are swift of foot

shall not save themselves,

nor shall those who ride horses

save their lives;

and those who are stout of heart

among the mighty

shall flee away naked in that

day,

says the L
ORD
. (Amos 2:6–16)

The sins of God’s own people, Israel, will lead to military defeat. These sins are both social and what we might call religious. Socially, the people have oppressed the poor and needy; and they have broken the law God has given in flagrant ways (father and son having sex with the same woman; cf. Leviticus 18:15, 20:12). As Amos goes on to indicate, these sins are particularly acute because Israel was to be God’s chosen people; therefore, their punishment will be all the more extreme: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (3:1). Moreover, the nature of this punishment is spelled out in clear terms: “An adversary shall surround the land and strip you of your defense; and your strongholds shall be plundered” (3:11). For Amos, this future military disaster and political nightmare is not simply an unfortunate outcome of human history: it is the plan of God, as God himself has decreed the future catastrophe. In a particularly memorable passage Amos presses home the point by stringing together a number of rhetorical questions, all of which are to be answered with a resounding “no!”

Do two walk together

unless they have made an

appointment?

Does a lion roar in the forest,

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from

its den,

if it has caught nothing?

Does a bird fall into a snare on the

earth,

when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the

ground,

when it has taken nothing?

Is a trumpet blown in a city,

and the people are not afraid?

Does disaster befall a city,

unless the L
ORD
has done it? (Amos 3:3–6)

The reader is compelled by the rhetoric of the passage to answer no to the final question as well. The only reason disaster comes is that the Lord himself brings it. This may sound severe, but it is consistent, according to Amos, with the way God has historically dealt with his people. In another powerful passage Amos claims
that God has sent all sorts of natural disasters on his people in order to compel them to return to him and his ways. But they never heeded his voice and never returned. And so God will subject them to a final judgment. Where did the famine, drought, blight, pestilence, and destruction that have plagued Israel come from? According to Amos, they came from God as a punishment for sin and an incentive for repentance: