{"id":77043,"date":"2020-07-07T18:09:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T15:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77043"},"modified":"2020-07-07T18:09:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T15:09:15","slug":"israels-highly-conditional-specialness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/israels-highly-conditional-specialness\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Highly Conditional Specialness\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"77043","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":67893,"related_cahpter":"519","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Beware lest you be swept away in a flash flood of justice\r\n\r\n","content":"

Chronologically speaking, Amos is the first of the named prophets with his own book. This is perhaps because he was the first to write his prophecies down, or have them written down for him. Although Amos is a Judean, he spoke primarily against the kings of Israel in the time of King Jeroboam II.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeroboam had enjoyed fantastic success but had fallen into the wealth trap described in Deuteronomy (see e.g., ch. 8). He had defeated all before him and had exerted influence over the surrounding nations. Yet instead of enlightening them, he and his people became benighted by their pagan practices. They had become corrupt and had forgotten the message of the freedom from slavery to the extent that the elite had enslaved their poor brethren. Not only had they failed to become the intended light and blessing to the nations after being freed from bondage to Egypt, they had become exactly like the Egyptians themselves, holding their poor as bondsmen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amos opens with a litany against each of Israel\u2019s neighbors in turn, finally zeroing in on Israel for whom there is the worst condemnation. The message is that Israel\u2019s neighbors may be bad, but Israel is worse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amos was prophesying around the time of a great earthquake around 750 BCE. Many later prophets, including Isaiah and even Zachariah (14:5) ten generations later, recalled this seismic event. It would seem that this had an impact on the theology of the people, perhaps beginning to tie the actions to God\u2019s response as a prelude to their defeat and exile soon after.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amos denounces the people for their hypocrisy in demonstrating outward devotion to God through ritual while dealing unjustly with their fellow men. Amos clarifies that these are inseparable, and that if they do not act justly they will be swept away by a \u201cflash flood\u201d of justice (Amos 5:24). This implies a microcosm of God\u2019s punishment of the generation of Noah. Water is viewed as a constant metaphor for Torah within the Tanakh and by rabbis throughout the ages (see e.g., Bava Kamma 17a). Here the people are told, if you fail to repent and fail to behave justly, you will be swept away in a flood of Torah that will come suddenly and make your valley bloom once you are gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps it is Amos that set the people on the path to understanding that while Israel was special, that specialness was based on the people fulfilling their purpose and not an innate characteristic. Perhaps it was also Amos who began the preparation for the detachment of the people from the land without the loss of their belief in their God by establishing justice, not ritual, as paramount.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77044,"id":77044,"title":"amos1-flood2","filename":"amos1-flood2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos1-flood2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/israels-highly-conditional-specialness\/amos1-flood2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"amos1-flood2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77043,"date":"2020-07-07 15:08:48","modified":"2020-07-07 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