Week 2 - Amos 1-7 & John 1 (Jan. 8 - 14)
The Book of Amos
Date of Authorship: Amos is written during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel (793-753) and Uzziah and Judah (792-739). Amos is one of the earliest prophetic books in the Old Testament, written at approximately the same time as Hosea. Some literary indicators can help us narrow that date down. Both Uzziah and Jeroboam ruled as co-regents for a time and the fact that those rulers are not named would seem to eliminate those periods, that combined with Amos not mentioning Assyria by name push the probable range of dates to 767-753 BC
Author: Amos is himself the author. He is a Shepherd of Tekoa, a small Judah town near Israel's border. God's word came to this shepherd and told him to go up to speak against Israel. God may have chosen a man of this humble profession to shame the wealthy and oppressive upper class in Israel who he prophecies against. Amos is viewed as an outsider by the Israelites who resent hearing this message from a man of Judah (7:10-13).
Purpose: Amos is a judgment of the kingdom of Israel for two aspects of unfaithfulness. First, Israel had become unjust and oppressive towards the poor. Second, they had been unfaithful to God by worshiping foreign Idols. For these transgressions, a dark "Day of the Lord" is coming in which they will be judged and punished and then restored one day.
The Book of John
Date of Authorship: There’s a healthy ongoing discussion about when the Gospel of John was written. D.A. Carson and Doug Moo note that there are good arguments for dating this book anywhere from 55 AD to as late as 95 AD. However, after considering the external witness of the Early Church fathers, and the internal textual evidence in John they conclude that it was likely written from 80-85. This date would make it the last of the four canonical gospels to be written. (Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, Zondervan Press, this resource will be used repeatedly in the notes that follow)
Author: John, the Apostle, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of James. While John does not tell us that he (by name) is the author of the book, this was the nearly univocal belief of the Early Church, and it appears that the character referred to in the Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is the apostle John - and this disciple does* claim to have written the account. Additionally, there is a certain and convincing shared language, theology, and style between this gospel and the Johannine epistles (esp. 1st John) which we will be reading next.
Audience: Carson and Moo believe (in accordance with the tradition of the Early Church) that John wrote this Gospel in Ephesus (western modern-day turkey) to Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) Jews and gentiles. You’ll notice that John provides the meaning or translation for many Hebrew words, events, and traditions, but also makes frequent references and allusions to the Old Testament. It is safe to assume that while John’s intended audience was not Hebraic Jews, they were very Biblically literate, similar to the gentile audiences for Paul’s epistles.
Uniqueness: John is the only Gospel not categorized as “synoptic” (‘having the same view’). Matthew, Mark, and Luke follow similar narrative storylines and a number of nearly identical passages; Most commentators believe that these three Gospel writers use Mark as a template or starting structure to tell their account of Jesus. It is a matter of debate as to whether or not John was familiar with these accounts (they were published and circulating by the time he wrote - according to my understanding of the historical timeline). However, it is demonstrably clear that John’s gospel takes a different format and literary approach to the account of Jesus’ ministry than the other three Gospels do. The most notable difference is the timeline as will be discussed below, but there are more. John is much more forthright about the identity of Jesus - that he is God(‘s Son) and the savior. Whereas the other gospel writers create a drama around the characters and even the readers learning this truth, John opens his account with a deep theological treatment of Christ’s identity and mission. Another striking difference is that John does not include any parables in his Gospel - isn’t that wild? The parables that Jesus taught with were a particularly Hebraic (Jewish) way of speaking, John has recorded Jesus’ teaching in a way that would have been familiar to his gentile (or at least Hellenistic) audience.
Purpose: John tells us the purpose of his Gospel directly, at the very end of this book:
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20)
Notes
Amos - a Prophecy of Doom
Israel among the nations
The first two chapters of Amos are condemnations of 8 different nations, each beginning with the phrase "For three sins of _____ or even four I will not relent." This phrase means that God's patience is running out with these nations and that just a few more transgressions will result in their demise. The nations listed are all neighbors of Israel shown on the map to the right. Damascus stands for the nation of Aram, Gaza for the nation of Philistia, and Tyre for the Phoenician States. Even Judah - the kingdom of David's line - is condemned for rejecting God's Law. However all of this is a lead-up to the staggering accusations brought against Israel in the final pronouncement (Amos 2:6-16). Israel's section is three times longer than charges brought against the other nations showing that they are the most odious to God
Israel's sin
Amos is full of indictments against the kingdom of Israel, but they have 2 main categories. First, Israel is condemned for being unjust. Israel had become very wealthy under the rule of Jeroboam II (see chart of kings above indicating when Amos is written). In their wealth they are charged with neglecting and oppressing the poor, and having unjust courts. Just listen to Amos 4:1 "Hear this word you cows of Bashan on Mt Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!" Second, Israel is condemned for idolatry; both for the worship of foreign gods, and also the illegitimate worship of God at the altars in Dan and Bethel (set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat) and also altars in Gilgal and Beersheba. God had already condemned the worship occurring at these sites, when it was combined with Israel's greed and injustice they became especially insufferable to God.
Israel's coming punishment
In Amos 4:12 the Israelite people are told these ominous words: "prepare to meet your God." this meeting is referred to elsewhere as "the day of the Lord" 5:18-20.
"The Day of Yahweh(the Lord)... refers to the occasion on which the destinies of His subjects will be determined as the righteous are rewarded and the wicked suffer the consequences of their rebellion and sin." (The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, note on Joel chapter 2)
Israel's meeting with God will be a day of darkness because of their evil laid out in the charges of Amos. Israel's specific punishment will be exile as prophesied by Amos in 7:17. in 734 BC - approximately 30 years after the prophecy of Amos, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III will invade Israel and exile many. Additionally, in 722 BC another Assyrian king, Sargon II, will demolish the capitol of Samaria and execute a more thorough exile of the Israelite people. 10 tribes of Jacob, God's chosen people through Abraham, are obliterated.
(more on how Amos ends with a promise of restoration for Israel next week)
John 1: “The Word”
The Greek term translated “word” was also used by many philosophers to mean “reason,” the force that structured the universe; *Philo combined this image with Jewish conceptions of the “word.” Although Greek conceptions undoubtedly did have some influence on how John’s hearers understood his phrase, they were not philosophically trained. (Statistically it is likely that most could not even read.) The most relevant background is background that all of them shared, at the very least from what they heard read in *synagogues or *churches each week: God’s “Word” was Scripture. The personification of this “Word” makes sense. The *Old Testament had personified Wisdom (Prov 8), and ancient Judaism eventually identified personified Wisdom, the Word and the Law (the Torah), sometimes identifying them with each other (e.g., Sirach 24:1, 23; Baruch 3:28–4:1). By calling Jesus “the Word,” John calls him the embodiment of all God’s revelation in the Scriptures and thus encourages his Jewish Christian hearers, marginalized from some of their synagogues, that only those who accept Jesus truly honor the law fully (1:17). Jewish people considered Wisdom/Word divine yet distinct from God the Father, so it was the closest available term John had to describe Jesus; to communicate, we normally take the best available language and then adjust it as needed (e.g., the Greek and English words for “God” were applied to other deities before being applied to the true God).
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (p. 249). InterVarsity Press. 2014