Explanations for Exile in Amos

By Martha Campos

In four places, Amos announces Israel's coming exile to Assyria: 4.1-3, 5.25-27, 6.1-14 and 7.7-17. It will be Yahwehs punishment for social injustice. But who is to blame? Most scholars think it is the women (and men) of the mid-eighth-century BCE Israelite upper class. Not so, says Campos. It is the kings who are the culprits. Kings should champion social justice, as we know from ancient Near Eastern texts and biblical books like Jeremiah, and the endurance of the kingship depends on their upholding justice. Kings must also remain loyal Yahwists, and keep clear of alliances with foreign powers. The kingship has failed on these counts. In this forensic overturning of time-honoured readings of Amoss oracles, and with a fresh eye for his metaphors, Martha Campos outs the successors of Jeroboam (7.9) as the cows of Bashan (4.1), manufacturers of images for non-Yahwistic worship, especially of Ninurta/Sakkuth (5.26), lounging on couches at their banquets (6.4). And Amos himself is a tin wall (7.8), strong enough to fend off the arrows of his opponents.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1910928992
• ISBN13: 9781910928998
• Release Date: July 2021
• Publisher: Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"