Oracles Concerning Edom, Ammon, Moab

Amos

7

v. 11 Edom: “he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity; he maintained his anger perpetually, and kept his wrath forever.” --read Gen 25-27; 32-33 (Jacob and Esau Narratives); - attests to the hostility between Israelites and Edomites. “His brother” - indicates here less an ethnic bond than a political relationship, standard term in covenant making. -pursued…with the sword”, presupposes a military action Edom against Israel. Note Isaac’s statement to Esau: “By your sword you shall live” (Gen 27:40). -- for Edom’s successful revolt against Judah in the ninth century (see 2 Kgs 8:20-22). -“and cast off all pity” – indicates atrocities done by armed groups during raids. The Hebrew wüšiHët raHámäyw , literally, “and he destroyed his wombs”, refers to the killing of women (“his wombs” = “the wombs of his brother”). -; he maintained his anger perpetually – literally “his anger tore perpetually”; and and kept his wrath forever literally reads: “and his wrath watched forever”, metaphors for Edom as a lion that attacks and stands over its dead prey (Sweeney, p. 210). -Note that Oracles against Edom are rare before the 6th century BC (before the Exile). Most prophetic condemnations on Edom are either exilic or post-exilic. For example, Edom was condemned for its mistreatment of Judean refugees at the time of the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and its subsequent annexation of the southern part of Judean territory (Isa 34; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 25:12-14; 35:1-15; see Obadiah). Thus a number of scholars think this to be a later insertion to the original text of Amos. Cf. Psalm 108:10 Moab is my washbowl; upon Edom I cast my sandal; I will triumph over Philistia” (NAB). --Note Herod the Great, an Idumaean, hated by the Jews. v. 13 Ammonites: they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead in order to enlarge their territory. --note the horrifying atrocity of the Ammonites – land grabbing at the expense of destroying the enemy’s next generation (cf. Hos 10:14; 13:13; also 2 Kgs 8:12; 15:16). --women and female children are not part of the war, but it seems in this text, they are victims too not only as a sort of “collateral damage”, but an attempt to wipe out the entire population (a kind of “pogrom”) to occupy the lands of the defeated nation [added input not found in the earlier text] --note the equally horrifying punishment of this crime (v. 14-15): “storm on the day of the whirlwind” – Kamsin or Sharav (dry desert wind) in the Arabian desert; and exile of its leaders. v. 2:2 Moab: he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. -crime is committed not against Israel or Judah but Moab. --burning the bones of the King of Edom to lime – an Assyrian practice to curse a dead enemy by disinheriting the body and desecrating it. --burning to lime = burning to dust, Israel’s soil is composed of eroded limestone. --meaning is not clear, but perhaps an action done by Moab to instigate action against Judah by Edom (Sweeney, p. 212). --or destroying bones as injustice to the dead”, see John 19:33; also Ezek 37:5; cf. Gen 2:23 --note: Moabites in the Hebrew Bible: Ruth; cf. Balaam (see Num 22-23).