Amos The Prophet And His Oracles

The book of Amos holds a unique and central place among the canonical prophetic literature and presents a special array of issues for scholarly discussion. This book provides a thorough and balanced overview of the history of scholarship on the book of Amos, two essays that trace the history of scholarship and offer promising lines for further inquiry, a substantial anthology of readings of the multiple ways Amos has been analyzed and appropriated, an extensive and current bibliography, and notes on doctoral dissertations conducted in recent years. The result is a comprehensive compendium of resources for scholarly writing on the book of Amos.

In the first two chapters of the book of Amos, the prophet denounces a number of neighbouring nations for committing atrocities in war and then declares Israel to be equally blameworthy in view of the social injustices prevailing in his time. The essential contribution of Amos to Old Testament theology is to be found in his radical criticism of Israel.

Robert Coote describes the stages of growth of the book of Amos, discussing the process of the book's gradual formation. Chapter One introduces Coote's approach, rationale, and method for his analysis. Chapter Two deals with the oracles of doom, basically the oral legacy of the prophet himself. Chapter Three shows how the words of Amos were reactualized and composed in their seventh century setting. Chapter Four comes to grips with the book of Amos as a theological whole, as it now stands in the biblical canon. This book also serves as a useful resource for understanding pre-exilic prophecy because of the many similarities between Amos's message and other prophetic traditions which Coote highlights.

This Oxford dissertation offers a fresh redactional analysis of the Book of Amos. It starts with a critical survey of existing approaches and an examination of the methodological issues involved and proceeds with a detailed exegetical analysis of the prophetic text which forms the basis for the redactional conclusions. It steers a middle course between extreme conservative treatments which trace all the material back to the prophet Amos and more radical sceptical approaches which attribute most of the prophetic oracles to the work of later redactors. The composition of the book began with two collections: the Polemical scroll written not long after the end of Amos’ ministry and the Repentance scroll composed shortly before 722 BC. The Repentance scroll was reworked in Judah towards the end of the 8th century BC and the two scrolls were combined to form a single work sometime during the 7th century BC. The Book underwent only one redaction during the exilic period which sought to actualise its message in a new historical context. The study pays special attention to the literary structure, aim and probable historical circumstances of the various collections which gradually evolved into the present Book of Amos and seeks to show how the prophetic message lived on and spoke to the various communities which preserved and transmitted it.

This book provides a detailed exploration of the important elements of the theology underlying the book of Amos. It considers Amos as a figure representing social justice, surveys major developments in the critical assessment of the book, and examines the history of the book's reception.

Prophetic Oracles of Salvation in the Old Testament is a comprehensive and innovative assessment of these often ignored or misunderstood canonical texts. Claus Westermann shows that these oracles occur in distinct forms and make up a coherent tradition. He goes on to demonstrate that these texts, often percieved only as a message of judgement and doom, in fact proclaim hope and deliverance as well.

When Jesus overturned the carts of the merchants in the temple, he was just the latest in a long line of people who decried the activities that took place there. To understand his actions better, one must go back in history to the eighth century BCE, to the first two prophets to criticize the temple cult: Amos and Isaiah. Their criticism of all worship activities came as a result of the people setting wrong priorities in their lives. What happens in the temple should extend into regular everyday activities in the home, in the market, in business dealings, at work, and at the city gate. Amos and Isaiah present similar oracles that address the prioritization of worship over real life. This book looks closely at their oracles, comparing and contrasting them, and analyzes what they were trying to teach the people.