Reflections on Amos of Tekoa

I took my students on a field trip to the West Bank on the 20th of September in order to visit the ancient site of Tekoa, hometown of the prophet Amos. Amos is generally considered to be the first of the writing prophets and so has considerable importance for the study of prophetic literature.

Being on the site of Tekoa gave me a sense of connectedness with this man. First of all, like Amos, my roots are in a ranching way of life. Amos raised sheep and cattle and so did my father on our ranches in Kent, Oregon. Secondly, the elevation of Tekoa, 2800 feet, is almost exactly the same as the ranch house on our homeplace in Kent. Thirdly, the rainfall of Tekoa is very close to the annual rainfall at Kent, about 10-12 inches per year.

Shown above is a picture of our group as we huddled under the shade of a Carob tree and a Juniper tree. Ah, there's another similarity. On our ranch we had juniper trees that grew in the canyons. Only in a few regions in the western US and in the middle east does the Juniper grow naturally. At any rate, what follows is a summary of material I shared with the students on our visit to Tekoa.

I asked the students to look around at the landscape of Tekoa and tell me what descriptive terms came to mind as they surveyed this site right on the edge of the cultivated land and the desert. Here are some apt phrases that readily came to mind:

• It's a desolate place, largely lacking in significant vegetation, especially as one looks eastward over the Judean wilderness. I pointed out that a wilderness in the Bible is quite different from a wilderness in southern Indiana or in western Oregon. A wilderness area in S. Indiana may receive up to 40 inches of rainfall a year, about four times as much as falls on Tekoa in an average year. In S. Indiana the terrain is cloaked with hardwood forests of maple, oak, hickory, gingko and tulip trees among others. In w. Oregon one finds the majestic Douglas fir. This is a far cry from the kind of wilderness over which Tekoa looks. Is it a coincidence that Amos describes the restoration of David's kingdom in terms that remind us of the Garden of Eden (Amos 9:13-14)? Probably not. To one accustomed to seeing the forbidding wilderness always lurking to the east, it's fitting that God's kingdom should be depicted as a lush garden.
• It's a place of quietness and solitude. Isn't it interesting that Amos denounces the religious festivals at the state-supported shrines in this strident tone: "Take away the noise of your songs" (Amos 5:23).
• Tekoa is a rocky place. Notice that one of Amos' rhetorical questions to his audience is the following: "Do horses run upon rocks?" (Amos 6:12). His listeners knew the answer to that one!
• Tekoa lacks readily available water resources. Cisterns had to be cut out of the limestone in order to capture the limited rainfall that fell, but that was about it. The nearby wadis (Arabic word for canyons) were seasonal and had running streams only during the rainy season (Nov-April). No surprise then that Amos mentions a lack of rain as one of the covenant curses the Lord would send if his people would not obey his laws (Amos 4:7-8). And it's surely not a coincidence how Amos describes a fundamental covenant obligation of Israel: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream" (Amos 5:24). And is it mere happenstance how Amos portrays the great Creator in the doxology of 9:5-6? "Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth--the Lord is his name."
• It's a place from which one has a clear view of the heavens. Of course the students couldn't see this because we were there at mid day. But if we had stayed until nightfall, we would have been treated to a marvelous display. God's great light show would have lite up the sky! In the words of Amos, "He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night . . . the Lord is his name" (Amos 5:8-9).
• It's a place connected to other towns and villages. I pointed out the town of Bethlehem to our north only about seven miles away. I reminded the students that Amos would have been very much aware of a most important individual who grew up in the "little town of Bethlehem."This of course was the greatest figure in Israelite national history, King David. Amos and David shared much in common. They were both Judahites and both grew up taking care of sheep and goats. They both knew the Wilderness of Judah like the back of their hands. Both doubtless had many stories to tell about their encounters with predatory critters. Just like young David impressed King Saul with his prowess against a bear and lion, so Amos tells his listeners about a man who had a close call with both a lion and a bear (Amos 5:19). So it should be no surprise that when Amos speaks about the Lord's future plans for Israel, he refers to "the booth of David that is fallen," which will be raised up once again so that it can be rebuilt as in days of old (Amos 9:11). In other words, he sees a restoration of the dynasty of David. This restoration has already begun! As James, the half-brother of Jesus, puts it in the book of Acts, the Jesus movement is the beginning of this fulfillment of Amos' vision (Acts 15:14-18). Our great king Jesus is the legitimate heir of the house of David and even now sits on his throne. We await his return in glory and the full restoration that takes place on that day.

I concluded our day at Tekoa with this observation: God's revelation to us in Scripture comes wrapped in the garb of humanity, shaped by the world in which the recipients lived. God accommodates his revelation to human beings in terms that are appropriate to the times and places during which and in which he revealed himself. Amos speaks the very words of God in the words of a man reared right on the edge of the Wilderness of Judah. This is a feature of revelation that needs both to be appreciated and respected. And this can best be appreciated in the land of the Bible!