James R. Linville, «Visions and Voices: Amos 7–9», Vol. 80 (1999) 22-42

The final chapters of Amos are read synchronically to highlight the relationship between the divine voice, which demands that its hearers prophesy (Amos 3,8), the voice of Amos, and those of other characters. Amos’ intercessions soon give way to entrapping word-plays and these are related to the rhetorical “traps” in Amos 1–2. Divine and prophetic speech defy the wish of human authority that they be silent. The figure of Amos eventually disappears from the reader’s view, but not before the prophet has been used as a focal point for the readers’ projections of themselves into the literary world of the text. As the scenes change from ultimate destruction to restoration, the readers appropriate the prophetic voice themselves, especially in the final verse which ends with a declaration of security uttered by “your God”.

against the king. What were the reactions of Amaziah and the king to Amos’ refusal to leave? If the reader was hoping that the narrative would provide a biographical context for the visions, the hope was in vain; the story’s brevity, openness and inconclusiveness preclude this. The aura of strangeness and suspense created by this lack of closure is only increased when, in the next component, Amos returns to tell of his fourth vision.

IV. Words and Days

        In the fourth vision (8,1-2) the reader is once again introduced to the symbolic duplicity of words. In this case, however, the word-play is not just suggested, it is explicit. Amos sees a basket of summer fruit, Cyq qays9, but upon identifying it, YHWH announces the end Cq qes9 of Israel. The miserable sounds of grieving predicted with the setting of the Kn) in Israel (7,8) are intimated here too, as the songs of the temple are transformed into wailing (8,3). The sword which strikes down the house of the king in the Bethel story (7,9) prefigures the many corpses God will cast out in Amos 8,3. In this fourth vision, the intent of the third is reinforced, and yet the theme of punishment has progressed. Rather than predict the end of the shrines of Isaac, the sanctuaries of Israel, and the house of Jeroboam (Amos 7,9, matters reintroduced by Amaziah, in 7,10-13), the fourth vision attacks the people directly. The subsequent oracles give reasons for this: social injustice has motivated God’s action (8,4-6).

        Although the vision initially returns to Amos’ first-person reports, the narrative sequence is not maintained. God’s speech is introduced in v. 2 with conventional narrative constructions: "And he said", followed by "And YHWH said to me". In the next verse, however, the formula "Oracle M)n of my lord YHWH" (8,3, and also vv. 9,11) is used to identify divine speech. This formula serves to legitimize the statements made as coming from God, but does not necessarily imply narrative connections with the preceding. The insertion of the oracle formula in v. 3 blurs the relationship of the prophecy of corpses to the preceding passage in which YHWH speaks to Amos. By setting the speeches of God as oracles rather than as obvious components of Amos’ narration of his visionary experiences, Amos becomes almost invisible, except to acknowledge the source of words the readers find before them. Outside of the vision and the oracle formulas, Amos is found perhaps only in v. 7 where YHWH is spoken of in the third person, but even here YHWH may be