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3. The setting of the oracles against nations (see Wolff, Joel and Amos, pp. 135-52):
1) Ritual of cursing on enemy nations. Such rite is attested in Egyptian execration texts in which a priest
pronounces curses upon a series of enemy nations and then breaks a pottery vessel to symbolize its defeat
and destruction.
2) Covenant cursing ceremony in which a prophet pronounces curses upon nations (not attested elsewhere).
3) Prophets and diviners pronouncing curses against enemy nations in time of war. E.g. The Moabite king and
Balaam in Numbers 22-24; 1 Kgs 22 in which Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, assemble
their armies for war against Aram. Note the symbolic action of the prophet Zedekiah ben Henaanah.
--War could be the setting of these oracles. YHWH is presented here as a warrior going to war against the nations
surrounding Israel and Israel itself.
--Note that in Amos there is no evident yet of Assyria threatening Israel (that would happen some years after
Amos time leading to the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C.). However, rumblings of war by Assyria could have
prompted Amos’ message (Sweeney, p. 202). Note that these nations mentioned are vassals of Israel (cf. 2 Kgs
14:25) and now start to rebel against Israel thereby weakening the kingdom and, later on, giving Assyria the
leverage when it attacks Israel and the other nations in its campaign some year later. Note the word
“transgression” (Hebrew Peša` ), at times, may mean “rebellion” (pag-aaklas) in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kgs
12;19; Isa 1:2; Ezek 20:38; Hos 8:1).
--the sequence of nations (counterclockwise) suggests also a war strategy by which Israel could be invaded and
conquered by an army approaching from the north (like Assyra) – from land to sea, along the trade route (see
map).
--but the sequence might simply indicate a rhetorical strategy of Amos. He sets the mood of condemnation by
first condemning the nations surrounding Israel, then against Judah (Amos 2:4-50), and finally against Israel, his
rhetorical goal. Note that the oracle against Israel constitutes the longest oracle of the series (Sweeney, p. 203).