In this lesson, we will analyze the rhetorical style of these prophecies, specifically the opening formula of each. In the next lecture, we will study the overall pattern of the oracles and identify the underlying message of this pattern. In the following lectures, we will study the substance of the first seven of these oracles and then we will, in the final lecture of this series, complete our study of this section, analyzing the final oracle in the section – the prophecy against Yisrael.

 

Each of the oracles follows a common pattern – a pattern which is then greatly expanded in the final, culminating oracle against Yisrael.

 

Amos
Prophet to the Nations
Retribution against the nations
Biblical Poetry
Courtesy of the Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion