Of Shepherds and Lions

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

Amos is most likely the very first of the four greats of the 8th century; Which also means that his collected oracles might very well be the earliest "book" written out of the entirety of the collected works in the TaNaKh!

And if so, then the rich tradition of the literary prophets of ancient Israel and Judah would start out with a bang; A big one:

The point deserves repeating; This might be the first thing that any of the literary prophets that we have to us today, have ever spoken in the name of YHWH! And what does he say?

YHWH ROARS from Zion!!!!

And when YHWH roars, the world shall tremble. Or, languish and wither, as Amos puts it.

There's something really masterful about this opening. The very first thing we learn about Amos is that he was a shepherd. But so what? Why does that matter?

Well, in the ancient near east, to be a shepherd was a very common metaphor for the relationship between a king and his people, or between a god and his people. And this idea is ancient - even by the standards of the writers of the works in the TaNaKh!

How ancient? Well, it stretches all the way back to the dawn of civilization itself; To the Sumerians.

Sumer is the earliest-known civilization throughout all of Mesopotamia, and is one of the first civilizations of humankind, alongside Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, and a select few others. It emerged at some point between the 5th and 6th millenium BCE. Yes, you heard that right. Between 4,000 and 5000 years BCE!

To put things into perspective, Amos lived approximately 2,750 years go. Well, the Sumerians emerged on the scene upwards of 3,000 years before that!!!! (See wikipedia for more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer)

And it was the Sumerians who came up with the idea of the Shepherd-King. This idea was of such importance that on Sumerian Shakespeare, a website dedicated to Sumerian scholarship (link below), an article claims that "you cannot understand Sumerian civilization until you understand the shepherd kings."

So what is there to understand?

Well, much of it is intuitive once you start thinking about it. Here is how they put it:

There is actually so much fascinating scholarship about the Sumerian Shepherd Kings, which go all the way back to the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk. You might have heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem about the quest of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian King, attempting to gain for himself immortality.

Well, Gilgamesh ruled Uruk 27 centuries BCE!!! (Compared to these eras, we really should not be speaking of "Ancient Israel." Compared to Sumer, Israel is just now barely reaching adulthood!)

The very earliest carvings and statues we have of the kings of Sumer portray them as Shepherds in a number of ways. Here's a really neat example:

I love this statue. I see this figure as presenting itself so warmly and humbly. I'm drawn first to its eyes, which look so inviting. And note the young calf that it is clutching to its chest, and the "shepherds hat" on his head. (I'm not sure how it is known that this is a king, but the Sumerian Shakespeare article presented it as such without any doubt.)

This idea, of the king-as-shepherd, would be one of the several invaluable gifts that the Sumerian people would bestow upon humankind. (Another one is writing, in the form of cuneiform.)

This concept would be, for very good reason, quite compelling to many different ancient peoples. Inhabitants of Canaan were very well-aware of much of what was going on in Mesopotamia; and so it is unsurprising that it would have huge prominence in the Israelite and Judean texts.

I'll give you three examples:

In this one, we first see YHWH-himself acting as Israel's shepherd, bringing them forth from Egypt and "shepherding" them for 40 years.

And then ultimately, whom does YHWH choose to serve as the earthly King of Israel? Another shepherd... David!

In fact, David's shepherding background is the very first thing we learn about him! Let's look back at the moment where we, together with the Kingmaker Samuel, meet him for the first time as Samuel is searching for the next king:

There is a reason that at some point, an unknown time later, an Israelite poet would reflect back fondly on David's role as shepherd in the prayer-poem of Psalm 78 above; For this is most definitely not a throw-away detail. It will resurface at what might be the most important and defining moment of David's life.

The context is the face-off between the Israelites and the Philistines at the Elah Valley, with David, a young shepherd-boy, volunteering to act as Israel's champion against the the Philistine-hero Goliath.

Madness!

What happens next is also note-worthy. Saul adorns David in Saul's own armor, gives him his own weapons; But David ends up refusing them, opting instead for the weapon with which he had become so familiar; The sling with which he would fight off bear and lion, and went forth against Goliath to victory.

What an amazing coming-of-age story of the founder of the Judean-Royal dynasty!

My takeaway from all of this is that the Israelites, like the Sumerians (or, more probably, because of them), recognized the beauty in drawing on shepherd-imagery to celebrate their kings.

Shepherds had to be compassionate for their flock; They had to be able to provide them with sustenance, with water, with shade; And they had to be courageous, to be willing and able to stand in-between his flock and any threats, ready to put his life on the line if need be.

We see from David that his career as a shepherd primed him to succeed against Goliath; Just as it would prime him to succeed in shepherding the flock of the people of Israel.

Now with all this in mind, the very first utterance we saw coming forth from Amos's mouth is a complete shocker!:

YHWH ROARS from Zion!!!!

For those of us reading in English, we might miss an important point. We are not speaking about just any roar.

The specific word for "roars" here, ש-א-ג, is one that is readily recognized to the ancient Israelite as a word associated with the roar of a lion specifically. This is evident in numerous passages, here are few examples across different books:

Here is YHWH's roar serving as a signal of the moment of redmption:

Here's one of the Babylonians roaring like lions, but in frustration as YHWH orchestrates their downfall:

And finally, here is a criticism of Jerusalem from within Jerusalem by Zephania, a contemporary of Jeremiah, ministering in the 7th century.

I think you're getting the point, though believe me that there are more examples where those came from.

So with all that, there is great irony in the beginning of the collected works of Amos. Here is is again:

The words of Amos, a sheep-breeder from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

He proclaimed:

YHWH roars from Zion, Shouts aloud from Jerusalem; And the pastures of the shepherds shall languish, And the summit of Carmel shall wither.

Remember what was so significant about David's shepherd background during the battle of the Elah Valley? It meant that he was able to stand up to lions, who would try to come prey on his flock. And he, as a shepherd, would fight them off; Kill them, if need be.

Well now we have Amos, a prophet of YHWH, introduced as a shepherd; But rather than fulfill his duty as a shepherd protecting the flock of Israel against evildoers, the first thing that happens when Amos opens his mouth is that his persona has flipped. He brings not the comfort of the shepherd, but the sound and fury of the lion.

And when the shepherd has himself become the lion against whom the shepherd was supposed to stand, the future is grim indeed.

Just to drive this point home a little further, I want to share two powerful verses with you that should further help to appreciate the intended impact of of Amos's move here.

In the first one, yet again we are seeing shepherd-imagery for YHWH, but now it's shepherd-as-warrior against, yup, lions.

In the next one, we see YHWH as the lion, ready to pounce on Edom, boasting that there is no shepherd who would be able to stand against him.

It is for good reason that Amos is known as the prophet of doom-and-gloom, as we're seeing. He had a lot to say, as did his three contemporaries, Micah Isaiah and Hosea. Which means YHWH had a lot to say. And in Israelite history, whenever YHWH had much to say, it probably meant "uh-oh!"

But then when Amos goes on, what happens next catches us off-guard:

Huh. YHWH here is proclaiming a punishment for... Damascus? But the introduction stated that Amos is bearing the word-of-YHWH against Israel.

Strange. And then yet again:

No sooner is YHWH finished with Damascus that he turns to Gaza!

Did the narrator who added the superscription not even read the darned prophecies? It says These are the words of Amos regarding Israel!

Well, Damascus and Gaza are just the beginning. In fact, the whole first section of Amos's oracles is a collection of proclamations about the wickedness of Israel's neighbors, and how they will be punished accordingly. Each proclamation follows the same pattern:

Thus says YHWH! For three transgressions of ______; For four, I will not turn it back. Because he did ____, I will do _____ . (And it ain't going to be good.)

In order, here are the various cities/regions which are listed through chapter 2 verse 6:

(1)Damascus; (2) Gaza; (3) Tyre; (4) Ammon; (5) Moab; (6) Judah

Now take a look at this map and follow the trajectory:

The rhetorical effect here is stunning. Every place surrounding Israel gets nailed.

Imagine the effect this would have on his listeners.

First of all, for us as readers, given that we have the introductory sentence "These are the words against Israel," well the buildup is therefore quite ominous. We know Amos's real target (Israel). And so given that, it's now almost as if YHWH is playing around, slowly drawing a circle over the whole of the near-east, with Israel right smack-dab in the middle. In the crosshairs.

But how about Amos's listeners, if this was originally delivered orally? Of course, Israel never had the most pleasant of relationships with these neighbors, as the ancient near east was not the most friendly place. And so, I imagine that Israelites listening to Amos's opener would stop to listen with glee.

And that is what would make the impact so much stronger when we get midway through the second chapter. Because suddenly, Amos will redirect all of his fury at Israel and just unload.

It's a very long proclamation. Here is a part of it:

Note the structure of the passage above. It starts out exactly the same. For three... For four...

However, while in all the other cases YHWH mentioned just one transgression and a line of punishment, For Israel, once he begins, he does not stop. YHWH even pauses to remind Israel what he had done, uniquely, for her as her shepherd:

I even brought you up from the desert and personally sheltered you for 4 decades! And then I gave you this land!

We then get to the consequences:

What vivid imagery. All of the bravest of what Israel had produced will be reduced to sheer, blind panic; Flinging off their armor and tossing aside their weapons, allowing them to flee all the faster.

Things don't particularly pick up as we move into chapter 3:

YHWH reminds Israel, yet again, of what he had done for her; And that once upon a time, she had enjoyed a privileged position in YHWH's heart; The apple of his eye. With this position came responsibilities, expectations. And it is by virtue of those failed expectations that YHWH is now compelled to punish.

Take a look at what Amos does next; It is one of the most memorable and evocative of all of his passages.

I'm going to give it to you all at once. Try to read slowly, really picturing the imagery, and thinking about where he might be going with this; Doing so will enable you to savor the build-up, and to then really feel it when he hits the punchline:

Amos here is speaking about inevitability. In observing the natural world around him, he sees that everything is based on contingencies, everything has a direct cause, everything has an explanation. This is true for the lion's roar, for the springing of a trap, for the reaction of human beings to the call of the shofar;

And it is true for the proclamation of prophecy. When YHWH roars, when YHWH wants to be heard and summons his prophets to witness; there is no refusing.

I think what Amos is doing here is daring anyone to challenge him on his claim to be authentically speaking in the name of YHWH. He is not choosing to do this. He is called. Compelled.

Amos's main message throughout his oracles is against the social injustices he witnesses around him, and the same is true here. If you read the chapter in full, you will see that he wants even Egypt to bear witness that Israel will fall because of the oppressed in her midst, that Israel continuously fails to do what is right.

For Amos, it sometimes seems that Israel's failure to care for the oppressed was as urgent as the very cosmos coming to a catastrophic end.

There's one more line I want to share with you from this chapter, one in which yet again, he goes back to the shepherd and lion imagery:

This is one of those lines where it's uncertain whether a prophet intends to strike fear, or plant hope; Probably both. A remnant will remain. It will be bloody, it will be scraps; But it will remain. Despite any and all hardships, and even if this remnant is unworthy in Amos's, or YHWH's eyes.

There is another way of seeing this entirely, though, one much more grim.

To prepare you for that explanation, take a look at the following legal passage from the book Exodus:

Do you see where this is going?

Here are the words of David Guzik (quoting Hubbard) in his Enduring Word Commentary (2014):

As a shepherd takes from the mouth of the lion: Exo_22:10-13 says that if an animal dies in the care of another man - such as a shepherd - that the shepherd must make restitution to the owner of the animal, unless he can bring remains that demonstrate the animal was attacked by a predator. “Amos’ comparison, then, makes the sarcastic point that when invasion strikes Israel’s devastation will be so complete that all that will be rescued is proof of death in the form of scraps of furniture.”

below: Bonus points if you can figure out what the picture is, and it's connection to the material. (Hint: It is from a story in the book Genesis.)

Yikes. Doom-and-gloom indeed.

However, if we jump ahead to the very end of Amos's oracles, we will finally find some positivity, which is not an insignificant point. After pages and pages of doom, Amos leaves us with optimism and hope! And it will also result in the grim reading of Guzik above being undermined, even if he does bring a brilliant point.

Here is how Amos's collected oracles finish:

Wow; Beautiful.

For those of you who have been on the journey with us for the long-run already, you might remember this passage, for we looked at it way back in Mountains Dripping Wine: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/233705?lang=bi .

May we conduct ourselves in such a way so as to allow YHWH-Almighty to play the role of the shepherd, and never the lion. May he delight in guiding us along, defending us, bestowing upon us abundant blessings, bringing us to green pastures, to running waters, and to mountains dripping wine.