One, Two, Three, Many
- The book begins with a series of prophetic oracles against neighboring counties, culminating to a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan.
- The oracles start with the phrase “for three transgressions and for four,” which is another way of saying that these people are bad, really really bad.
- Amos condemns six foreign nations for pursuing wealth, land and power with no regard for the individuals they hurt along the way.
- These nations are getting the wrath of God because of how they treated their neighbors and brothers—typically slaughtering and burning them.
- You can almost hear the people of Israel and Judah cheering in the background as God promises to wipe these evildoers off the map.
- Then, the trick ending: God condemns Judah and Israel for doing the same thing. Uh oh.
- Judah has spurned God’s teaching and followed the deluded ideas of their fathers, i.e. idol worship.
- Jerusalem will be burned to the ground as punishment.
- Israel isn’t off the hook either. Their top ten sins include oppressing the poor and needy, worshipping any god they come across, getting drunk in the temple, and fornicating.
- As usual, God brings up the fact that he brought Israel out of the land of Egypt and he’s still not appreciated.