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”.

links with the fifth are strong enough to warrant a brief exploration⁴³. The key is the frequent (but certainly not exclusive) reference to structures and the use of expressions which recall buildings, even if they are used in context with different meanings. In vision three YHWH stands on or by a wall (7,7). Isaac’s high places, Israel’s sanctuaries, and Jeroboam’s dynasty or household (lit. "house" tyb) shall all be swept away (v. 9). In the following narrative this tendency is found as well. In v. 10, the priest of Bethel (lit. House of God) reports that Amos is conspiring against him in the "midst of the house of Israel". Verse 13 reports the attempted banishment from Bethel, the "king’s sanctuary" and "royal palace". Amos responds by recalling the ban against prophesying against Israel and the "house of Isaac" (v. 16). In chap. 8 such references to architecture are not found, except that the palace singers are mentioned in v. 3. In chap. 9, however, the scene again revolves around architecture, primarily temples and their furnishings. The altar, capitals and thresholds are mentioned in v. 1. This imagery is not immediately continued, but after the great prediction of divine wrath extending to Sheol and Heaven, mountain top and seabed (vv. 2-4), the doxology of vv. 5-6 ironically inverts the destruction of v. 1’s temple, by asserting that the destroying god is no other than YHWH: "Who built his chamber in the heavens, and founded his vault upon the earth" (v. 6). The links with the cosmic architecture in v. 6 suggest that it is an idealised heavenly temple which is in view in v. 1, or at least the connections between the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries are being recognised⁴⁴. Although the earthly counterpart may, perhaps, be here thought of as Bethel, its destruction only serves to maintain the integrity and sacrality of the heavenly ideal. Even so, perhaps something of greater significance is indicated, since the verb "to shake" #(r (9,1) is the same root as found in 1,1 which dates Amos’ prophesying to two years before the earthquake #(rh. In 1,2, Amos describes YHWH’s voice as roaring from Zion and Jerusalem. Perhaps in Amos 9,1, one should think that it is the Jerusalem temple that is being discussed. Although