Amos 12

The Meaning of Justice (mishpat) and Righteousness (sedaqah) in Amos

A. Preliminary Remarks
1) The relevant texts: Amos 5:7; 5:24; 6:12; and 5:15 (only mishpat)
-note that these texts come from the second section of Amos (Collection of Sayings, chapters 3-6).
2) A common language of Eight Century Prophets e.g. Isa 5:7; Hos 2:21; Mic 6:8
3) A common language also of Wisdom Literature e.g. Job 29:14; Prov 1:3; Qoh 3:16; Wis 5:18; Sir 27:8
4) “Justice and Righteousness as “hendiadys” (=righteous justice” see M. Weinfeld).
“A figure of speech in which two words connected by a conjunction are used to express a single notion that would
normally be expressed by an adjective and a noun” (grab: answers.com). E.g. grace and favor = gracious favor; the
power and glory = powerful glory.

5) Justice and Righteousness in the study of Moshe Weinfeld

Justice and righteousness are less a juridical matter in Scripture than a sociopolitical one, and the starting point is the
responsibility of the king for the establishment of a just society. A significant feature of that establishment is the proclamation
of freedom or liberation that is reflected in the royal edicts of ancient Mesopotamia that freed people from forced labor,
economic debts, and the like. In Mesopotamia, Syria, and Israel, these took two basic forms: the one-time proclamation of
release for the entire population of the land, which usually involved manumission of slaves and return of property, and the
granting of permanent rights to certain cities, for example, freedom from forced labor and military service. Weinfeld gives
particular attention to the sabbatical year and the jubilee in the biblical laws and to the activity of the deity to establish justice
and righteousness. (Excerpt from the review of P. D. Miller in Theology Today (1996).

6) The concept of social justice in Ancient Near East (see supplement 2)

Important note: the concept of a just king.

7) Conclusion: Ancient Israel had a long and deep tradition of how God rendered mishpat to them (cf. Exodus event).
Likewise, this tradition is shaped by the concept of social justice of Israel’s neighbor countries in Ancient Near East. When
Israel had to face new crises over justice, it combined earlier Ancient Near Eastern ideas about justice and its own past
experience with its new thought about the subject. Thus, Israel’s justice tradition continued to grow and constantly remained
relevant to the changing conditions of life (adapted from B. V. Malchow, pp. xiv-xv).

8) Further Bibliography:

JOHN BARTON, Understanding Old Testament Ethics: Approaches and Explorations (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press,
2003).
BRUCE C . BIRCH, Let Justice Roll Down: The Old Testament Ethics, and Christian Life (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John
Knox, 1991).
PIETRO BOVATI, Giustizia e inguistizia nell’AT (Unpublished notes; Rome: Biblicum)
WALTER BRUEGGEMANN, The Prophetic Imagination (2nd edition; Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2001).
HERMAN HENDRICKX, Social Justice in the Bible (Quezon City: Claretians, 1985)
THOMAS L. LECLERC, Yahweh is Exalted in Justice: Solidarity and Conflict in Isaiah (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001).
BRUCE V. MALCHOW, Social Justice in the Hebrew Bible: What is New and What is Old (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press,
1996).
J. DAVID PLEINS, The Social Visions of the Hebrew Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001).
Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffman (eds.) , Justice and Righteousness: Biblical Themes and their Influence (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1992).
MOSHE WEINFELD, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995).

B. Injustice Hidden under the Veil of Justice

1. Emblematic example: David in 1 Sam 12 (esp. v. 7), the king who is a judge becomes the murderer.
2. Amos 2:6-16 (see our previous exegesis of the text).

C. The Equal Distribution of the Goods of the Earth

1. Basic principle: God’s blessing is manifested in the abundance of material goods (see Gen 13:2, 6; Lev 26:3-13; Deut 28:1-
14). The fact, good is limited. Surplus of wealth in one place means poverty on another. If a person becomes rich, another
becomes poor.
2. Social Justice and Economic Prosperity (Amos 4:1-3)
--addressed to the “cows of Bashan” (metaphor)
 Amos 13
-- traditional interpretation: allusion to the wives of the big time of Samaria who are oppressing the poor.
-Similarly: Jezebel (1 Kgs 21); Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines, all foreigners, who “turned away
his heart” (1 Kgs 11:1-3); see also the haughty “daughters of Zion” in Isa 3;16-24).
--recent interpretation (P. Bovati): “cows of Bashan” (gender of “cow” in Hebrew is feminine) do not refer to women
of Samaria, but the feminine form is at times employed for emphasis or further designation rather than indicating literally a
gender. Note the Semitic expression “mother of battles” (=great battle); “kingdom” (malkut or mamlaka, feminine).
-- In Amos 4:1, there is mixed used of masculine and feminine genders: “Hear [masculine plural] this word,
you cows [feminine plural] of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria… “Cows” are a metaphor of power (see Ps 22:12). “Their
husbands” (4:1b “their ´aDonim) maybe not literally physical husbands but allusions to the princes of Samaria with whom
these rich and powerful people conspire to plunder the goods of the land. In Hebrew, ´aDonim (singular form is ´aDon)
literally means “lords” or “princes”.
--in this interpretation, the image of the “cows of Bashan” functions to underline the opulence of the rich
people of Samaria. “Cows of Bashan” is a proverbial term for cows that are fat, grazing one of the most fertile lands of Israel,
in Bashan. In the concept of limited good, a fat cow means another cow is made malnourished (a similar theme is found in
Ezek 24:20-21 and Jer 5:28). Injustice occurs when goods are not divided equally.
--The phrase “"Bring something to drink (NRSV)!" (literally, “Bring here, let us drink!) 4:1b)—drinking wine is
characterizes Amos’ way of critiquing the lifestyle of the rich of Israel. Note, however, that God’s gift to his people is a land
that is rich in vines (Num 13:23; Deut 6:11; Josh 24:13). To drink wine would indicate the enjoyment of the fruits of God’s
blessings, as the joyful participation of salvation. Perhaps, in Samaria, wine drinking becomes excessive at the expense of the
poor. The invitation “let us drink” (first person plural) indicates the idea of conspiracy among the rich and powerful to do evil
and to celebrate the success of such a sinister plan (see Prov 1:11). Moreover, drinking wine becomes a scandal to the poor, is
at the expense of the poor (as in Amos 2:8).
--Note that the punishment of these “cows of Bashan” is exile (deportation), the phrase “they shall take you away with
hooks” (4:2b) maybe a metaphor of the cows being led to the slaughterhouse. The greedy are made to satisfy the appetite of
others.

3. Luxurious Lifestyle (Amos 6:1-7).

--literary structure (3 parts): v.1 (false security); vv. 2-3 (pride); vv. 4-7 (luxurious lifestyle).
--luxurious lifestyle in vv. 4-6. It lists four activities: eating, singing, drinking, and perfuming oneself. Furthermore,
the beds are made of ivory (v. 4a); food is special (v. 4b); cups are huge (“bowls”, v. 6a); perfume is very expensive (6a); song
is accompanied by various instruments (v. 5). With all these, they ignore the suffering of the “ruin of Joseph” (v. 6b). Amos
alludes here to the destruction of a certain territory perhaps because of natural disaster (earthquake?). The point is the
insensitivity on the part the rich; enjoying while many others are suffering.
--false security in v. 1 “those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria” The wealth of
the rich Samaritans constitutes a sense of guarantee against the “evil day” (v. 3a), perhaps referring to either the time of famine
or war or both. Those who hoarded goods will have enough during hard times, a wise move as like the proverbial ant in Prov
6:6-8. The problem however is that in this hoarding of goods, they “bring near the reign of violence” (hamas). In this text, we
can say that the security of the rich is the fruit of violence. We have again there a situation of injustice.
--pride in vv. 2-3. Note that in v.1b, the wealthy Samaritans are said to belong to “the first of the nations.”. In v.2b, the
prophet criticizes the nobles of Samaria for having “better” and “greater” kingdom than the others. The desire to be first seems
to be the reason of oppressing others. In fact, it’s pride therefore brings the desire to be wealthy, in living in luxury to gain
respect from others even to the point of resorting to violence. Against the pride of the aristocrats of Samaria, the prophet
announces punishment (v. 7); the end of luxurious banquets because of exile. Amos makes an irony here in a kind of inclusio:
those who think that they “first among nations” will be the “first to go to exile” (v. 7).
--a similar theme is found in Isa 5:11-17.

4. Fraudulent Business (Amos 8:4-7)

There two possible interpretations here:
(1) Traditional interpretation: Cheating the balances and weights eventually reduce the poor to debt-slavery (see Sweeney, p.
264). (2) Bovati: In vv. 4-5a, the “businessmen” are being criticized here by Amos because of their being “greedy” (note the
verb “trample” as in Amos 2:7 = “intense desire”) to cut short the time of their obligation to open their stores free for the needy
and the poor, that is during “new moon” (see Num 28:11-15) and Sabbath (better “full moon”), when work is not allowed
(hence business is not allowed too). As Bovati suggests, there could have been economic difficulties during Amos’ time,
perhaps caused by famine or war, or natural disasters such as earthquake. The poor and the needy go their leaders to buy food
(see the story of Joseph in Egypt, Gen 41:33-36). But instead, their leaders take advantage of the situation by raising the prices
of commodities and cheating the balances and weights.

D. Social Justice and International Politics (Globalization?) – see our exegesis of the Oracles Concerning the Nations (Amos
1:3-2:3).