and the Judgment
of Israel in Amos 6:4 – 7
Tarsisius Sigho, SVD
ABSTRACT
Amos, who addressed his prophecy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II, is widely seen as a prophet of social injustice, since the minority wealthy elite groups in Israel were living a luxurious lifestyle at the expense of the poor. However, a close examination of the prophet's words will show that the worship of other gods was also one among other reasons of Israel's judgment by God. This is clear from the passage taken from Amos 6:4–7 that the cultic festival of
Marzeah(Amos 6:7) was a direct reason for Israel to be taken exile.
59
I. Introduction I. Introduction I. Introduction I. Introduction
In our modern world, marked with social injustice and unbalanced distribution of wealth among the rich and the poor, the voice of Amos becomes even more relevant than in the past. The prophecies of Amos are quoted and given new perspectives according to the new modern context. The prophet, who lived in the 8th century before the Common Era, lives on through his words. The same words which were addressed to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II continue to be heard by the whole world. This is because Amos had shown through his prophetic words that he was the prophet of social justice.
Scholarly discussions have acknowledged beyond any doubt that Amos addressed his prophecy and announcement of judgment to the minority wealthy elite group in Israel because they were living a luxurious lifestyle at the expense of the poor.1 In addition, they oppressed the weak and manipulated the poor to serve their needs (Amos 2:7). The poor were sold for a pair of sandals (Amos 2:6) and were cheated by the rich in the marketplaces through manipulated scales and falsified measures. The poor and the weak were also maltreated in court (Amos 5:12). This corrupt lifestyle eventually led the Israel to be judged by God and to be taken captive to the foreign land (Amos 6:7).
A close examination of the prophet’s words, however, will show that the judgment of Israel was not solely based on the social injustice committed by wealthy elite group in Israel. Though many scholars have suggested that idolatry was not the main concern of Amos’s prophecy,2 it is the main argument of this paper that the worship of other god(s) was also one among the reasons of Israel’s judgment by God through Amos. This is clear from the passage taken from Amos 6:4–7 that the cultic festival of Marzeah (Amos 6:7) was a direct reason for Israel to be taken to exile.
This paper will first present how scholars have interpreted the passage of Amos 6:4–7. Many scholars have noted that this passage describes the prophet’s denouncement of the wealthy ruling elite of Samaria for their self-indulgence, gluttony, drunkenness, and luxurious lifestyle at the expense of the poor.3 This
1. Bruce C. Birch, Hosea, Joel, and Amos (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 170–71.
2. Ibid. 166–67.
3. David Allan Hubbard, Joel and Amos (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1989), 192.
will be followed by an alternative interpretation of the passage. The basic argument, which will be the core of this short paper, is that Amos denounces the practice of idolatry in 6:4–7 with his condemnation of the cultic worship of Marzeah (Amos 6:7). This claim is supported by some archaeological findings from the ancient Mediterranean world.
II. Traditional Interpretation of Amos 6:4 II. Traditional Interpretation of Amos 6:4 II. Traditional Interpretation of Amos 6:4
II. Traditional Interpretation of Amos 6:4– –– –7: Injustice of 7: Injustice of 7: Injustice of 7: Injustice of W
W W
Wealthy ealthy ealthy E ealthy E E Elite of Israel lite of Israel lite of Israel lite of Israel
Many scholars agree that Amos 6:4–7 is part of a larger unit of woe oracles against Israel (Amos 5:15–6:14). There are two woe oracles in this unit, namely the woe against misguided interpretation of the Day of Yahweh (5:18–27) and the woe against misdirected sense of material security (6:1–14).4 Hubbard points out that these sub-units have similar structures: each begins with the pronouncement of the woe (Amos 5: 18; 6:1) and ends with a threatened common fate; exile (5:27) and invasion (6:14).
Scholars agree that the passage at hand (Amos 6:1–7) contains the prophet’s denunciation of the idle rich elite in Israel especially in Samaria.5 Billy K. Smith and Frank S. Page argue that the focus of the woe in these verses is the self-indulgence of Israel’s leading citizens.6 The rich lived in luxurious houses and reclined and slept on beds of ivory (6:4), while the poor could not afford a bed, much less one inlaid with ivory. Israel’s leading citizens dined on choice lambs and fattened calves, while ordinary people could only afford to get meat three times a year at the annual festivals (Amos 6:4). While the poor had to struggle for their lives, the rich of Israel lounged around eating, drinking, and making up songs, imagining themselves as to be little Davids (Amos 6:5–6).
Smith and Page present all these as clear comparison of the lifestyle of the rich contrasted with that of the poor.
As Birch points out, the real indictment in this passage is that the upper wealthy elite of Israel were so busy feeding their aesthetic and bodily desires that
4. Ibid., 176–200.
5. Hans Walter Wolff, Joel and Amos (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977) 274–77; Hubbard, Joel and Amos, 188–89; Bill K. Smith, and Frank S. Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (Nashville: Broadman
& Holman, 1995), 116–20.
6. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 118–19.
they “are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph” (6:6). They did not care what was happening in Israel (Joseph). Elsewhere earlier, Amos has described the social conditions in which the poor and the weak were exploited, the law courts were corrupted, illegal business practices abound, and justice was not honored. The rich were indifferent to and unconcerned with the heavy burdens on the poor.7 All these led the nation to be taken to the exile (Amos 6:7).
This explanation has been widely accepted by scholars. Literary analysis of the texts points clearly that Amos was dealing with social injustice in his time.
While accepting the validity of this explanation, this paper attempts to offer an alternative explanation based on the cultic practice of marzeah, which is explicitly mentioned in Amos 6:7: “Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging (marzeah) will end.”
III. Alternative Interpretation of Amos 6:4 III. Alternative Interpretation of Amos 6:4 III. Alternative Interpretation of Amos 6:4
III. Alternative Interpretation of Amos 6:4– –– –7: The 7: The 7: The 7: The Marzeah Marzeah Marzeah Marzeah
The proposed interpretation of this passage, which is based on the marzeah festival, is not to replace the widely accepted traditional one. It is only an attempt to understand the richness of this passage. To do so, the marzeah in the ancient Mediterranean World will be first discussed to find some of its basic features with which the marzeah festival in Amos 6:4–7 can be evaluated.
3.1. Marzeah in the Mediterranean World
The Marzeah is a social institution which members consisted of wealthy high-class citizens. This institution can be dated back to the late 3rd millennium at Elba and the late 2nd millennium at Ugarit and Emar.8 Smith, in his studies, shows that the institution of the marzeah was a limited social group, who regularly met at private residence. The institution had both a leader as well as a divine patron.9
There are only two occurrences in which the word marzeah appears in the Hebrew Bible, namely Amos 6:7 and Jeremiah 16:5. However, this word in
7. Birch, Hosea, Joel, and Amos, 227–28.
8. Mark S. Smith, “The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Volume I, Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU 1.1–1.2,”Vetus Testamentum 55 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994): 140–55. See also Jonas Carl Greenfield, ‘Al Kanfei Yonah: Collected Studies of Jonas C. Greenfield on Semitic Philology, edited by Shalom M. Paul, Michael E. Stone, and Avital Pinnick (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2001), 907–11.
9. Ibid.
Amos and Jeremiah is used in different context. The marzeah in Amos refers to a luxurious banquet with music, exquisite dishes and abundant wine. Here the marzeah is used in the domain of the rich. In contrast, Jeremiah refers to a building which is called “Marzeah house,” in which funerals were held. Stefan Schorch argues that given the historical and political distance between Amos and Jeremiah, it appears not entirely sure that the word marzeah in these texts can be understood with the same precise meaning.10
Die jeweiligen Ko-Texte vermitteln eine gewisse Vorstellung davon, was mit “Marzeach” gemeint sein konnte: Bei Amos handelt es sich offenkundig um ein luxuriöses Gelage mit Gesang, erlesenen Speisen und reichlich Wein – eine Domane der Reichen. Bei Jeremía scheint demgegenüber mit “Marzeach-Haus” ein Ort bezeichnet zu sein, in dem Trauerfeiern und Totenmahler abgehalten wurden, ohne daß sich dies auf eine Elite einschranken ließe.11
In Ugaritic texts from around 13th to 12th century BCE, the term marzeah referred to an institution with several members who owned properties and vineyards. The social importance of this institution was underlined since it was given special rights by the king. Some Ugaritic texts also described the marzeah as a place in which an El banquet was celebrated. Schorch notes, “Das Marzeach hatte einen Leiter,zudem scheint es nach dem Zeugnis einzelner Texte unter dem Patronat einer Gottheit gestanden zu haben.In einem ugaritischen literarischen Text ist das Marzeach ein Raum im Palast des Gottes El, in dem Gelage stattfinden.”12 In some later Phoenician inscriptions of the 4th and 3rd century BCE found in Lebanon, Marseille (France), and Piraeus (Greece), marzeah was seen as a divine banquet in which drink offerings were included.
10. Stefan Schorch, “Die Propheten und Der Karneval: Marzeach – Maioumas – Maimuna,”
Vetus Testamentum 53 (2003): 399.
11. Ibid. Simple translation of the German text: “The respective co-texts convey a certain idea of what could be meant by ‘Marzeah’: In Amos, it is evidently a luxurious feast with songs, exquisite food and plenty of wine – a domain of the rich. In Jeremiah, on the other hand,
‘Marzeah House’ seems to indicate a place where funeral and memorial services were held without this being restricted to an elite group.”
12. Ibid. 401. Simple translation of the German text: “The Marzeah had a leader, moreover, according to the testimony of individual texts, it seems to have been under the patronage of a deity. In a Ugaritic literary text, the Marzeah is a room in the palace of the god El, in which binges take place.”
In the Nabatean inscription found in Palmyra, another element of the marzeah was found. According to this inscription, the institution of marzeah was headed by a divine patron. The consumption of wine is also found in this inscription.13 This shows that there is considerable continuity of some components of the marzeah in such an amazingly long period of time.
Though the Nabatean inscriptions show some form of continuity, however, it seems that our understanding of the central meaning of marzeah remains unsatisfied despite the wide variety of details from these different sources. Schorch points out that some information about the importance and the context of the components is missing almost completely.14 Unable to find satisfied explanation, Schorch turns to the rabbinic literatures with references to the celebration of Maioumas festival,15 which is recorded in Leviticus Rabba as well as in the Madeba Mosaic floor which is now preserved in the church of St.
George in Amman. The Maioumas festival is still being held as part of religious worship among Moroccan Jews.
John L. McLaughlin proposes that examination of extra biblical sources should be centered on the texts which contain explicit word of marzeah.
Moreover, these texts should be dated from the contemporary of the prophets or before the prophetic texts, not from much later sources.16 Unlike Schorch who believes that information about the importance and the context of the components of marzeah are missing almost completely, McLaughlin argues that the basic components of the marzeah can still be reconstructed. Examining some inscriptions of pre-biblical marzeah found in Ebla, Ugarit, and Emar, McLaughlin claims that one cannot assume a complete uniformity in the pre biblical marzeah. Nevertheless, it is possible to paint a composite picture of it.
Reading the post-biblical marzeah in light of these inscriptions, McLaughlin establishes its basic constitutive features with which the biblical marzeah festival in Amos can be evaluated.
13. Ibid. 401–2. See also Jane B. Carter and Sarah P. Moris (eds.), The Ages of Homer: A Tribute to Emily Townsend Vermeule (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), 300.
14. Schorch, “Die Propheten und Der Karneval,” 402–3.
15. The Maioumas festival is mentioned in the epigraph written on the floor of a Bynzantine Church in Madeba, Jordan, dated from the 6th century CE. The epigraph was written in Greek (ΒΗΤΟΜΑΡΣΕΑ Η Κ(ΑΙ // ΜΑΙΟΥΜΑΣ).See John L. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature: References and Allusion in Light of the Extra-Biblical Evidence (Leiden:
Koninklijke Brill, 2001), 64.
16. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 1–8.
3.1.1. Upper-Class Membership
McLaughlin notes that the high degree of prestige accorded to the marzeah is due to the social standing of its members. The first suggestion of the elite status of the marzeah comes from Ugaritic inscription. Two indications are presented by McLaughlin, the location where the tablets were found and the content of the tablets themselves. The tablets were found in Ugarit, the kingdom’s capital city. In addition, these tablets were discovered in either royal or temple archives, or in the private collections of wealthy individuals.17
The content of the tablets also confirmed that the members of the marzeah were wealthy elite. Ugaritic marzeah inscription mentions the buildings and vineyards owned by the members of this institution, which alludes to the financial means beyond those of the average peasant. The amount of money was also mentioned. Though some scholars claim that the sum of 50 silver shekels is not a very large sum when it is compared with another transaction involving a marzih at Ugarit, this amount of money would purchase between five to ten bulls or as many as 75 sheep. This shows that the group consists of wealthy elite class of the society.18
3.1.2. Religious Festival
The marzeah’s religious aspect can be established on the basis of its consistent association with deities.19 Emar inscription describes that the marzeah members brought offerings to the gods. Some Ugaritic tablets note that El himself hosts the festival, while other Ugaritic texts are associated with Satrana, the “Hurrian” Ishtar, and Anat. The Phoenician drinking bowl refers to the cultic festival of Shamash, while the Piraeus inscription is linked with Ba’al. The cultic characters of the marzeah can also be found in Nabatean texts which are related to the gods ‘Obadas and Dushara.20 Palmyra inscription mentions 11
17. Ibid., 66–68.
18. Ibid. See also Smith, “The Ugaritic Baal Cycle,” 141.
19. Gregorio Del Olmo Lete, “The Marzeah and the Ugaritic Magic Ritual System: A Close Reading of KTU 1.114,” Aula Orientalis 33.2 (2015): 221–41.
20. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 68–69. See also Marvin H. Pope, “A Divine Banquet at Ugarit,” in James M. Efird (ed.), The Use of the Old Testament and Other Essays (Durham: Duke University, 1972), 170–203, referred here 191–92.
different deities in its texts. Philip J. King especially notes that the drinking bowl found in the Phoenician inscription is attested by archaeological evidence which suggests that the marzeah was a cultic worship.21
3.1.3. The Consumption of Alcohol
Alcohol consumption in the form of wine can be found in all the marzeah inscriptions. In Ugaritic inscription, El hosts a festival (marzeah) for the other gods during which they “drink wine to satiety, new wine to drunkenness.”22 El has drunk so much that he has to be led to and collapsed at his place. The Ugaritic inscription mentions the vineyards in its listings of the property owned by the members of the marzeah. The Phoenician drinking bowl as mentioned above and the serving troughs found in Avdat reflect the role of wine in the marzeah banquet. The identification of the god Dushara in the Nabatean inscription with Dionysus confirms the heavy drinking in association with the marzeah festival. Drinking activity was also recorded in rabbinic literature concerning the marzeah as well as in the Madeba map.23
3.1.4. Non-Funerary
Marvin H. Pope suggests that marzeah is a celebration of mourning the death, a feast for and with the departed ancestors in which excessive drinking is involved.24 He notes:
The biblical and rabbinic correlation of the marzeah with both mourning and licentious pagan revelry may seem incongruous and even contradictory from our puritan and Victorian perspective, but not from the viewpoint of a fertility religion which recognized life and death as integral natural process and confronted death with the assertion and reaffirmation of life.25
21. Philip J. King, “The Marzeah Amos Denounces,” BAR 14 (1988): 34–44. This article was revised and published in his book, Amos, Hosea, Micah: An Archaeological Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1988), 137–63.
22. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 69. See also Lete, “The Marzeah and the Ugaritic Magic Ritual System,” 222.
23. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 69.
24. Marvin H. Pope, “The Cult of the Dead at Ugarit,” in Gordon D. Young, Ugarit in Retrospect (Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1981), 159–79. Referred here 176.
25. Pope, “A Divine Banquet at Ugarit,” 193.
Some scholars reject the view that marzeah is related with the cult of the dead.26 They argue that Pope relates the marzeah with the cult of the dead since he falsely identifies the marzeah as the West Semitic equivalent of the Mesopotamian kispum banquet, a banquet commemorating the dead in which food and drink were ritually shared with the deceased.27 McLaughlin argues that there is no indication that ritual activity was an essential activity which includes the feeding of the dead.28
3.2. Marzeah in Amos 6:4–7
Hubbard suggests that the key to interpret verses 4–6 may be found in verse 7 in the word “revelry” (mrzh). “Amos seems to condemn not just ordinary carousing but some kind of religious rite that had drunkenness to the point of uncontrollable stupor as its purpose.”29
Evaluating Amos 6:4–7 in light of constitutive elements of marzeah presented above, McLaughlin concludes that verses 4–6 clearly describe an actual marzeah festival, which is consistent with what is known about the marzeah from extra-biblical materials.30 The marzeah in these prophetic texts involves specific upper-class group.31 Their identification as “the notables of the first of the nations” (6:1) is confirmed by various indications of wealth in 6:4–6. Reclining on ivory beds, eating the best meats, calves from the midst of the stall, are instances which indicate their affluence. Using the finest oil to anoint themselves is also another sign that the participants enjoyed significant financial standing.
Heavy drinking during the festival is also found in this passage. Drinking from a bowl instead of a cup is an indication of a large amount of vine being consumed. McLaughlin argues that the resultant drunkenness is conveyed in this passage by the Hebrew word usrchim ( ) in verses 4 and 7, which means
“go free, be unrestrained, overrun, exceed.” Elsewhere it is used for physical objects, but in this passage it is employed to describe the attitudes of the upper
26. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 70–71.
27. Pope, “The Cult of the Dead at Ugarit,” 176.
28. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 71.
29. Hubbard, Joel and Amos, 192.
30. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 97.
31. Ibid., 98–100.
elite class, their physical position as well as their mental disposition after the excessive consumption of wine.
There are numerous indications that the festival mentioned in this passage is a religious cultic worship. King clearly relates the marzeah with a pagan ritual that took the form of a social and religious association.32 He especially explains that the inclusion of the sound of the harp in 6:5 and the use of bowl for drinking mentioned in Amos 6:6 are related to the cultic worship.33
3.2.1. The Sound of the Harp
Music played important role in the life of ancient peoples. Archaeological excavation provides a great deal of evidence about the instruments they played.
However, there are only two stringed instruments mentioned in the bible, namely the nebel and the kinnor .34 Although they are both lyres, the nebel was larger than the kinnor and perhaps the more solemn instrument used for liturgical purposes. Analyzing the macadanah’s seal from the seventh- century BCE and the incensed ivory plague found at Megiddo which is dated back to about 1180 BCE, King suggests that the celebration pictured in Amos can be easily understood as the celebration of the marzeah festival. Since the Hebrew word nebel is used in Amos instead of kinnor, King concludes that this celebration was a religious cultic worship.35
Amos also employs the same Hebrew word nebel in other place; “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps (nebel) I will not listen” (Amos 5:23). King observes that the divine condemnation in Amos 5:23 is utter as part of God’s total rejection of Israel’s worship. The occasion was a combination of feast and sacrifice marked by eating, drinking, playing the instrument nebel, and singing.36 It is clear here, according to this view, that Amos denounces religious worship in this passage.
In the previous chapter Amos clearly states about their idol worship. “You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god – which you made for yourselves” (Amos 5:26).37 Their practice of idol worship is
32. King, “The Marzeah Amos Denounces,” 36.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid., 42.
35. Ibid.
36. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 154–55.
37. Italics added to stress the content of their idol worship.
the reason for their exile. “Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus” (Amos 5:27). This denouncement is exactly repeated in chapter 6 with the threat of exile in Amos 6:7.
3.2.2 Drinking in Bowls
Despite the widely accepted views by scholars that Amos denounces the rich by describing them drinking from bowls instead of cups, Jorg Jeremias argues that the emphasis on drinking from “bowls” refers probably not to any excess in enjoying wine, but to a violation of the boundary between God and human beings, since the bowls usually occur only in connection with sacrifice (Ex. 27:3; Num 7:13).38 The Hebrew Mizraq is formed from its root zrq ( ) which means to toss, to throw or to scatter abundantly. In the ceremony of covenant ratification at Sinai, Moses threw ( ) half of the sacrificial blood against the altar. “Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw ( ) against the altar” (Ex. 24:6). The BDB defines the word mizraq as bowl, bason or vessel for throwing or tossing (water or blood) used in ritual of sacrifice.39
Examining archaeological finding of a fluted bronze bowl with a Phoenician dedicatory inscription on it which is dated back to the fourth century BCE, King concludes that the bowl refers to the marzeah festival of Shamash and most probably it was used in this religious festival. This festival was dedicated to the sun-god of the Semitic pantheon.40
McLaughlin also makes it clear that the marzeah denounced by Amos in Amos 6:4–7 was a religious cultic festival. In addition to the drinking “bowls”
and the instrument nebel , McLaughlin points other aspects that connect the marzeah with religious festival. The Hebrew verb imshchu ( , to anoint) used in Amos 6:6, is normally used of religious anointing. He also identifies that the meat in verse 4 might have been offered in sacrifice and the songs might be religious ones.41 It seems clear that in this passage (6:4–7) Amos not only
38. Jorg Jeremias, The Book of Amos: A Commentary (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox, 1998), 113.
39. Francis Brown, Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publisher, 2006), 284.
40. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 158–59.
41. McLaughlin, The Marzeah in the Prophetic Literature, 103.
condemns the injustice in Israel, where the poor and the week were mistreated by the rich. He also denounces a pagan religious worship. This idol practice was the direct cause for their exile.
IV. Conclusion IV. Conclusion IV. Conclusion IV. Conclusion
Amos, the prophet from Tekoa who announced his prophetic messages to the northern kingdom of Israel, is widely seen a prophet of social justice. He addressed the wealthy elite group in Samaria who conducted luxurious lifestyle while ignoring the poor and the weak. The poor and the weak were oppressed and mistreated. Some scholars even claim that Amos did not condemn idol practice in Israel.
However, a close examination of Amos 6:4–7 reveals that Amos also addressed the practice of idol worship in Israel which is called the marzeah. The denouncement of idol worship can also be found in other passage (Amos 5:26–
27) which end with the same threat of exile. Thus, the immediate reason for Israel to be taken into exile according to Amos is their pagan idol worship (Amos 5:27; 6:7).
The prophet’s voices are still being loudly spoken today, partly because social injustice has never departed from our society. The problems of migration, human trafficking, maltreatment of foreign workers, manipulations in workplaces, over exploitations of our mother nature are just a few examples to mention. New forms of modern idolatries – such as the adoration of capitalism, the worship of military might, the transference of religious centers into cultic hubs of political leaders – might be the core judgment of the roaring prophet, if he were to live again in our time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TARSISIUS SIGHO, SVD, is an Indonesian missionary who has been working in Taiwan for 28 years. He got Master of Divinity from St. Bellarmine School of Theology at Fujen Catholic University in Taipei, and an MA in Biblical Studies at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in Chicago. He was the SVD Asia-Pacific Zonal Coordinator of Biblical Ministry for eight years, as well as the North-East Asia Regional Coordinator of Catholic Biblical Federation (CBF). Currently he is the Coordinator of the Chinese Catholic Federation for Biblical Apostolate of the Regional Bishop’s Conference of Taiwan, as well as the Director of One World Community Services Center in Taipei. He published a dozen of biblical articles in Taiwanese Catholic Weekly, as well as in international journals.
