ABSTRACT
The ritualization and sacralization of the world reaches its climax in the final three chapters. These chapters are composed of a variety of kinds of materials, some with strong connections to the preceding oracles and theophanic hymns. Yet, one also encounters some new developments. There are the five reports of visions in which Amos speaks in his own voice, and the appearance of a brief narrative episode in which Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, confronts Amos. The chapters raise the judgement imagery to its ultimate, cosmic level and then at the end suddenly turn to describe a reconciliation between a punished people and their God. Most scholars see Amos 7–9 as a distinct section within the book and a number of different reconstructions of the compositional history have been proposed. The question of whether 9:11–15 was appended secondarily is a primary question in this regard. Despite the extreme likelihood that these chapters, like the rest of Amos, are composite in nature, the artistry of the literary collage is quite high, as some have noticed already. 1 The chapters clearly reflect a lot of earlier content in Amos, and so the changes in style, form and perspective are not so much jarring as they are part of the mounting tension and suspense. We can also see the poetic process of landscaping – turning the natural and historical into the timeless and heavenly – continue but now with even more frightening consequences.
