a. Judgment of the nations (1:3-2:16)
These oracles against various nations consist of a repeated series of short judgment speeches against several nations (1:3-2:5), culminating in a longer oracle against Israel (2:6-16). Each of them begins with the following: “Thus says Yahweh, ‘For three crimes of X and for four I will not cause it to return.’” This X + 1 pattern (one-two, three-four, etc.) is widely known in Israel and the ancient Near East (Wolff, Amos the Prophet, 34-44). Just why three-four is used here is uncertain.
It appears that Amos 1:3-2:16 employs a metaphor of a journey of Yahweh’s anger. The it that Yahweh has not caused to return is apparently his anger (Knierim, 170-72). Yahweh has sent out his hot anger to burn with fire the fortresses of the nations, which the text enumerates. Indeed, fire is typically associated with Yahweh’s anger (Dt 32:22; Isa 5:24, 25; 9:17-18; 66:15; Jer 15:14; 17:4). So Yahweh sends his anger out on a journey—to burn and destroy. But why does he not “cause it to return”? The obvious answer is that the judgment is not completed; the anger must remain where it has been sent to continue burning. But more can be said. When, in Israel’s experience, repentance took place, it was sometimes said that Yahweh’s anger returned, i.e., that the return journey of his wrath had been made. But what if repentance had not taken place? Then Yahweh might not call his anger back! Am 4:6-11 indicates just this circumstance; Israel had consistently failed to return to Yahweh. Undoubtedly, this is why Yahweh did not cause the return of his anger.
Although Yahweh’s anger is directed at several nations, it is especially aimed at Israel. The fact that the oracle against Israel (2:6-16) is placed at the end of the sequence of judgment speeches in 1:3-2:16, together with its greater length, must surely indicate that the center of interest is the divine judgment upon Israel. Moreover, Israel is judged by different standards: The foreign nations named in the text are condemned for acts of cruelty against other nations, but Israel stands accused for crimes against fellow Israelites. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals (2:6). They trample the poor into the dust (v.7).
Israel’s crimes against persons are at the same time crimes against Yahweh’s holiness: the people profane his holy name (2:7); they desecrate his sacred altar by their unjust social behavior (v.8); they profane his hallowed house by their reprehensible deeds. Furthermore, they have responded inappropriately to Yahweh’s gracious gift of the Promised Land (v.9) and to his care in delivering them from Egypt and choosing some of their sons as prophets and Nazirites (vv.10-11). Rather than accepting God’s gifts with gratitude, they made the intoxicant-abstaining Nazirites drink wine, and they commanded the prophets not to prophesy (v.12).
Yahweh will therefore punish Israel. They will be defeated in battle so badly that their mighty warriors will not escape (2:13-16). The text emphasizes the totality of defeat by narrating at some length the persons who will not escape: the swift, the strong, the mighty, the handler of the bow, the swift of foot, the rider of the horse. No one, absolutely no one, can escape with the dignity befitting his bravery; only in shame—naked and humiliated—can the brave (stout of heart) survive.