Amos 4

1:2 Amos’ Motto

And he said: The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the
pastures of the shepherds wither, and the top of Carmel dries up.

--summary of Amos’ view of YHWH (Sweeney, p. 199).

--perhaps part of a hymn sung at liturgical worship in Jerusalem (Wolff, p. 122).
--a kind of theophany (J. Jeremias, pp. 13-14).
Cf. Nahum 1:2-6; Hab 3:3-12; Pss 97:2-5; 114:3-7; the voice at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration.
--“the top of Carmel”, a proper name (Carmel mountain range near modern Haifa); or a generic name, any
area in which grape vines are planted. Mt. Carmel was the scene of the contest between Elijah and the four
hundred prophets of Asherah ( 1 Kgs 18:19). The term “carmel”, perhaps from Hebrew keºrem el
“vineyard of El”;
--above all, Carmel is a place known in antiquity for its fertile areas. The reference of Carmel
becoming dry indicates that YHWH’s action will affect the entire land of Israel (both the northern kingdom
of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah (Sweeney, p. 200).

--“The LORD roars from Zion”. Note the simile. A similar simile is found in Amos 3:8. The word “roar”
(Heb šä’aG) is proper to a lion. It could be an expression of anger as the context shows, but also of lament
(see Psalm 22:2). At times, animals and birds are used to describe the divinity -- Lion, dove, eagle, cf.
Behemoth and Leviathan in the Book of Job.
-- In the Ugaritic texts, the supreme god, El, carries the title “Bull” while the goddess Anat could
assume the form of a bird like of an eagle. Cf. Mt 23:37//Lk 13:34; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:29; Exod 19:4; Deut
32:11-12; but also retribution and destruction may come “as an eagle” see Jer 49:22; Hos 8:1; also Jer
38:40; Jer 39:42; Deut 28:39.
-- The lion provided a strong image for retribution and destruction: “For a nation has invaded my
land, powerful and innumerable; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness” (Joel 1:6).
Yahweh too can be a vengeful lion: “For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house
of Judah…I will carry off, and no one shall rescue (Hos 5:14). ). The lion is a fitting point of comparison
for Yahweh because he is the king of beasts, see Proverbs 30:29-31.
--lion is the symbol of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:8-12).
--In Rev 5:5, it’s the symbol of Jesus; (The use in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia of a lion as a
messianic figure is seen as a potential reference to this section of Revelation).

--“Zion” - precise meaning in Hebrew is not known, perhaps “citadel” or “fortress”. In the Bible, Zion
refers to three places (see J. Andrew Dearman, “Zion” in HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (revised), p.
1245-1246).
1) very often, to Jerusalem, the city of David as in 2 Sam 5:6-10, esp. v. 7.
2) to the Temple Mount area located immediately to its north. See Psalm 2:6 Zion as “my [God’s]
holy hill”; see also Ps 46:4; Ps 78:68-69).
3) Zion in Amos 6:1 occurs in parallel with “the mountain of Samaria”, maybe a generic term for a
citadel.

--Other meanings of Zion:

1) Zion = Zaphon? (North), dwelling of the gods in the Ugaritic texts (see Ps 48:2 “Mount Zion,
the heights of Zaphon, the city of the great king” NAB).
2) In the NT, Zion = the church (Heb 12:22).
3) Since Byzantine times (4th century A.D._), Zion is erroneously assigned to the hill immediately
south of the southwestern corner of the present “old city”. A church now stands there, Dormition Abbey –
Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental churches have the tradition that this place is where Virgin Mary have
fallen asleep for the last time just before she was taken into Heaven (Assumption). The Mount Zion is also
where the Cenacle, place of the Jesus’ Last Supper” is now located according to tradition
3) Zionism (today) - is a national liberation movement that supports a homeland for the Jewish
people in the Land of Israel (cf. Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948).