Amos 2:6-16

“6b Sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals”

Could refer to bribery in courts. Could refer to slavery. Frequently, those turned into the same thing.

Deuteronomy 15:7–11 “7 “If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8 but you shall fully open your hand to him, and generously lend him enough for his need in whatever he lacks. 9 Be careful that there is no mean-spirited thought in your heart, such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. 10 You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all your undertakings. 11 For the poor will not cease to exist in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”

The pair of sandals may refer to land ownership. Ruth 4:7 “7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the way of confirmation in Israel.” Land-grabbing Isaiah 5:8 “8 Woe to those who attach house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, And you alone are a landowner in the midst of the land!”

“7a These who trample the head of the helpless to the dust of the earth Also divert the way of the humble”

“trample to the dust of the earth” can also be translated as “pant after the dust” NKJV, connecting with “pair of sandals” to be “land.”

Another interpretation is that the oppressed cast dust on their heads for mourning.

Exodus 23:6 “6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.”

Deuteronomy 16:19 “19 You shall not distort justice, you shall not show partiality; and you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous.”

“Divert the way of the humble” translated as “Push the afflicted out of the way” by NRSV. “Humble” can be translated “oppressed, wretched, meek, afflicted, destitute, needy, or lowly”

Are they pushing the “street-rats” out of the way, or are they preventing the righteous from walking their way? Notice how they stopped Nazirites and prophets.

“7b Father and son go into the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned”

Exodus 21:7–9 “7 “Now if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. 8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people, because of his unfairness to her. 9 And if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.”

Leviticus 18:8 “8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.” Leviticus 18:15 “15 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness.” Leviticus 20:11–12 “11 ‘If there is a man who sleeps with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death, they have brought their own deaths upon themselves. 12 ‘If there is a man who sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed incest, and have brought their own deaths upon themselves.”

Leviticus 18:24–25 “24 ‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these things the nations which I am driving out from you have become defiled. 25 For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has vomited out its inhabitants.” Romans 1 also.

Reference could be to cult prostitute, which connects with the next verse. Or could be a slave girl, which connects with previous verse.

“My holy name is profaned” Sexual sins just seem to upset God more. Perhaps it’s the radical commitment to monogamous marriage against cults, “fun”, power,

“8a They lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge”

Deuteronomy 24:6 “6 “No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s means of life as a pledge.” Exodus 22:26–27 “26 If you ever seize your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, 27 for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else is he to sleep in? And it will come about that when he cries out to Me, I will listen to him, for I am gracious.” Deuteronomy 24:17 “17 “You shall not pervert the justice due a stranger or an orphan, nor seize a widow’s garment as a pledge.”

It’s possible the “laying beside every altar” is connected to “father and son go into the same girl.”

The garments are supposed to stay with the poor for their sleep, but the rich are sleeping on them or possibly dining and drinking their illicit wine.

“8b In the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed”

Isaiah 10:1–2 “1 Woe to those who enact unjust statutes And to those who constantly record harmful decisions, 2 So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor among My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans.”

“9 I destroyed the Amorite…”

For the first time, God announces the grace he had shown to someone who was to be judged. Possibly, he’s absolving himself of guilt.

Numbers 13:28–33 “28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the descendants of Anak there! 29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” 32 So they brought a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are people of great stature. 33 We also saw the Nephilim there (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.””

vv10–11 discuss how God brought them out of Egypt and gave them prophets and Nazirites.

v12 Shows how Israel spurned God’s grace

“vv13–16 Judgment”

Four interesting translations of verse 13:

ESV “I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it is full of sheaves”

NASB “Behold, I am making a rut in the ground beneath you, just as a wagon makes a rut when filled with sheaves”

NIV “Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.”

NKJV “Behold, I am weighed down by you, as a cart full of sheaves is weighed down.”

Commentator “I will make you groan in your places just as the threshing wagon makes the floor filled with sheaves to groan.”

I’m gonna hit you like a loaded freight train.

1) Selling the righteous, poor, and needy 2) injustice 3) sexual sin 4) garments taken in pledge 5) fining people for wine 6) making Nairites drink wine 7) commanding prophets to stop prophesying

1) The swift 2) the strong 3) the warrior 4) the archer 5) the swift of foot 6) the calvaryman 7) the bravest

Amos prophesies around 762 BC, Assyria exiles Israel in 722 BC, 40 years later.

The sins can be categorized as …

It’s hard to say if idolatry is mentioned here. Regardless, social and sexual injustice were at the heart of the judgment.

The first section of Amos is complete. The lion has roared.