Books of the Bible: Amos

On Facebook the other day, I asked what people thought the oldest written book in the Bible was. I expected a variety of answers, with a majority saying Genesis. I was surprised, however, when the unanimous answer I got was Job. As recently as planning this blog series, I thought so too. But Job is not in fact the oldest book in the Bible. Now, this isn't the same as saying the story of Job isn't the oldest; it very well probably is. But for the purposes of this blog series, when I say "the oldest book in the Bible," I am speaking very specifically about which written text as we posses it today is the oldest? That question brings us to two possible answers: Hosea or Amos.

I wrote at the end of my post introducing this series that we would be starting with Hosea, that it is the oldest book in the Bible. However, in the course of researching deeply, I have come to the conclusion that Amos is, in fact, an older text than Hosea. The difference isn't great, as they were contemporaries, but as I'll detail later, I think the evidence points to Amos being older by about 20-30 years.

Who wrote the book of Amos?

While the sayings of Amos were probably collected and written down either during the prophets life or immediately thereafter, it probably wasn't by Amos himself. The book describes him as a shepherd, making him relatively lower class, and thus probably illiterate. His sayings were probably collected by a follower or admirer and put into written form, or even dictated by Amos himself. Although he was the first to have his writings collected and passed down in a form available to us today, Amos was merely the next in a long line of Jewish prophets that included Elijah, Elisha, Nathan and Gad.

When was Amos written?

Amos wrote during the reign of King Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the reign of King Uzziah in the Southern Kingdom of Judah (1:1). Verse 1 also dates Amos' ministry "two years before the earthquake," but scholars aren't sure what historical event this refers to, so an exact date is impossible. The reigns of Jeroboam II and Uzziah overlapped from 783 BCE to 746 BCE, so Amos' ministry can probably be dated to the middle-to-late part of this range.

Hosea was slightly contemporary to Amos, but his ministry took place primarily during the tumultuous times that followed Jeroboam's reign, although he started during Jeroboam. He probably overlapped Amos, but chances are his sayings were collected later than Amos.

Where was the book of Amos written?

Although Amos was from the small town of Tekoa in the Southern Kingdom, he traveled to the North to preach, centering his ministry in the major cities Bethel and Samaria. The books were almost certainly written here as well.

What is the book of Amos about?

The reign of Jeroboam II was one of peace and prosperity, the last Israel would have before the Exile. Yet, despite the good times, there was growing inequality and injustice in Israel. The gains being reaped weren't being felt by the vast majority of people, while a select few were getting richer and richer. Dr. Gene Tucker, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Candler School of Theology describes the times:

“The reigns of Jeroboam and Uzziah were long and relatively peaceful. There had been no major threats to the small states from major Near Eastern powers such as Egypt or Assyria, and peace seems to have been accompanied by prosperity, at least for a few and -according to Amos-at the expense of many. There seems to have been a breakdown in the old tribal and family systems of land ownership and the emergence of a wealthy class at the top of society.”

Why was Amos written?

Being a small-time, poor shepherd, Amos acutely felt the pinch of the great mass of people, despite the peace and good times all around. As an observant Jew, Amos was aware of the teachings of Moses and the Patriarchs, and the injustice he experienced in everyday life at the hands of fellow Jews provoked a strong sense of moral outrage within him. Amos called strongly for a return to the more egalitarian society God envisioned for God's people. Social justice was the central theme of Amos' ministry, and he warned of coming destruction if change didn't happen. His predictions would come true just two short decades later, in the destruction of Israel by Assyria in 722/1.

Amos' language is sharp and uncompromising, some of the most direct prophesy among all the Old Testament prophets. His language of defeat and destruction stood in sharp contrast against the peace and prosperity Israel was experiencing. The Collegeville Bible Commentary calls Amos a "fierce champion of justice."

How does Amos relate to the rest of the Bible, and to us?

Given the antiquity of the text, and the urgency of it's message, the book of Amos sets a tone for the entire Bible, a lens of social justice through which all the later texts are viewed. The call for justice and equality is some of the strongest in the whole Bible, matched only by the words of Jesus himself.

Amos' words ring true in today's world, as more and more wealth and power flows to the top and leaves the great masses of people behind. Inequality and injustice are prevalent in our world, and the poetic nature of verse 5:24 - "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream"- has been a rallying cry for equality and social justice since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. 

The Books of the Bible: Exploring the History of the Scriptures

Pop quiz: what is the oldest book in the Bible?

The assumption many people make is that Genesis, as the first book in the Bible, is in fact also the oldest, authorship being attributed to Moses. But, as any Biblical scholar will tell you, both of these assumptions are wrong: Genesis was written in the 6^th century BCE, probably by two different groups whose works were combined, during the exile in Babylon.


Understanding the historical context of the various books in the Bible opens one up to a whole new understanding of the content of Scripture. In our above example, it takes you to a whole new place if you read Genesis knowing that Jewish priests wrote it in exile to keep the cultural memory of the Jewish people alive in anticipation of the day they would return to their destroyed temple. Yet, most Christians have no idea about when, where, or why the books in the Bible were written. Instead, they are allowed to keep thinking along the same lines as the pre-Enlightenment church, assuming that Moses wrote the Pentateuch while he wondered Sinai, and the apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel in the immediate aftermath of Jesus' death.


This uneducated view of Scripture reduces it, stripping away it's importance and purpose to those who wrote, to replace it with myth that only sows confusion and Biblical illiteracy. This lack of education is not the fault of lay Christians; instead, it lays at the feet of clergy and teachers who don't think their students and congregants are up to the challenge of hearing something that contradicts what they have been (erroneously) told their whole lives.


The purpose of this series is to explore the books of the Bible, one by one, in the order they were probably written, to understand:

• when they were written
  
• who wrote them
  
• where they were written
  
• why the author(s) felt the need to write these traditions down.
  

I want to undertake this project because, as I prepare for seminary and then my doctorate in history, I am delving into this subject matter and feel called to share what I learn as I learn it. One of my driving passions in getting my PhD in history along with a seminary education is I want to teach people about the world Jesus and his followers lived in, in an effort to deepen and grow the understanding we have of His message and example.


I don't intend this to be comprehensive. I am learning as we go, and there is always the likely probability I will miss something, or get something wrong. But know that this is a honest undertaking, and I will never intentionally lead you astray, and will correct mistakes as I catch them or are made aware.


I am going to be drawing from a variety of sources. My Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV, is a primary sources, as it my Collegeville Bible Commentary. I also recently started reading Diarmaid MacCulloch's masterful Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, and will certainly reference it. I will also be scouring the writings of Biblical scholars I can find online. Of course, any and all sources will be shared, along with links, so feel free to check me.

As I said, this will be in the order the books were most likely written. Now, as I couldn't find any authoritative sources who listed the chronological order, my first task in this project was to do this chronology myself, something I have been working on for a couple weeks now. As I did that, I decided to include what is commonly called the Apocrypha by the Protestants. That means books that are included in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles will be included. I do this because, in my initial studies, I found these texts to be not just authoritative to many Christians worldwide, but also central in many ways to the tradition of Judaism that Christianity arose from. Not to mention they are full of wisdom and should be read and understood by Protestants everywhere just as the rest of the Old Testament is.

I hope you enjoy this series. Please share all questions, comments or corrections you may have in the comment section; I will endeavor to answer them all in a timely manner.

And the answer to the pop quiz? The oldest book in the Bible is probably Hosea, which is where we will begin.