Talk:Amos 9:1-5

Verse 1

I'm not a Hebrew scholar, can someone help me here with this verse 1? How is nakah (smite) being used here, is the Lord telling Amos to smite the doorway? It seems like nakah has a negative connotation, as does batsa` (cut off). What is really going on here? And what is he to smite? Is there some other meaning to kaphtor (lintel)? Kaphtor seems to be related to Crete, the Philistines, and Ba'al as well--is there some word play or imagery here related to that? I'm not satisfied whith the translation here as lintel--since elsewhere it is part of the candle in the tabernacle, or some part (maybe a door frame?) of Ninevah that birds are sitting on (Zeph 2:14). Are we somehow back to the "tribes of the gate" here (cf. Isaiah 6:4)? And since 'achariyth (last) might also be translated as "posterity", is this some sort of reference to breaking temple/Abrahamic covenants and having your posterity destroyed?

Might there be some translation here that has to do with smiting the heads of the apostate families of Israel (the "tribes of the gate" symbolically the kaphtor) so that their eternal posterity is similarly cut off? I think there is something else here in the symbols of this verse, but not sure what---Rob Fergus 09:45, 22 Aug 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to look closer at this question, but am writing away from all my resource material. I hope to have time to delve into it tomorrow at home. --Joe Spencer 14:48, 22 Aug 2006 (UTC)

Good thoughts Rob. I esp. like the kaphtor-Philistine-Ba'al `achariyth-last connections. Here are some thoughts from what I found on this:

• nakah (smite) and batsa (cut): The smiting and cutting are important themes that Isaiah later builds on (I read somewhere that Amos was sort of a country-hick-prophet and that Isaiah was well-educated and came later but built on many of Amos's ideas, themes and symbols). In particular, in Isa 10:33 God will "lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the ahughty shall be humbled." The bough I take as building on the tree and vineyard analogy—God will prune any shoots that won't bear tame fruit.

• kaphtor (lintel of the door) and saph (posts): Perhaps it's significant that in Isa 6:4 it is the `mwt (which has "base/root" connotations) of the saph that moves whereas here it is the kaphtor that moves (which has "top/flower" connotations). Rob's comment also suggests a possible (far-fetched?) link between the menorah, vineyard and threshold motifs. Taken as a doorway/threshold, saph is an opening through which something comes forth (God in the case of the temple). Taken as a basin, a saph is something out of which something is poured. In Ex 12:22 the cph is the basin out of which the lamb's blood is taken to paint the door posts for passover (where posts is apparently from a different root shqp meaning "overlook"). The menorah is often taken as a symbolic tree with the kaphtor as the knops of the tree (likely symbolizing the fruit of the almond, cf. Ex 25:31ff). In each of these meanings, saph is the source out of which something comes forth.

• Cut them in the head. The KJV phrase "cut them in the head" seems ambiguous to me—is "them" the posts? The NET has an interesting note on this. Apparently there is an ambiguity in the Hebrew also, so this could be interpreted as cutting off the top of the doorframe and using that to hit those that stand underneath (NRSV: "Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people"; NASB: "Smite the capitals to that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of them all!"; NAB: "Strike the bases, so that the dioorjambs totter till you break them off on the heads of them all!"). I think these translations are much clearer than the KJV, but of course that doesn't mean they're accurate. In fact, the WBC seems to take the same view as the KJV: "Strike the pillar top so that the thresholds shake. Cut them off at the head—all of them!"

• The altar? Is the altar Jehovah's (so God is destroying it for reasons similar to why he kept having the temple in Jerusalem destroyed), or is this an altar of a false/rival god?

I'm not sure any of this really helps answer your question, but it's definitely got me thinking about the possible significance of doorposts (in the Passover, the temple, and many prophecies), the menorah, and trees (I officially confess trees as a new obsession—happy Joe?).... --RobertC 19:39, 22 Aug 2006 (UTC)

If one should read chapter 9 in light of chapter 8 at all here, then this vision must be connected with the shocking Day of the Lord that concludes chapter 8. The Day of Lord seems to be the day of sudden judgment, connected with the Day of Atonement (and hence, Isa 6:1ff). If this contextualization is justified: Amos' vision anticipates (or will later be taken up by) Luke's account of Zacharias in the temple. Suddenly, the incense ritual is interrupted (how very like Isa 6!) and a divine figure stands beside the altar (`l might as well be translated "beside" as "upon"). Here it is the Lord, whereas it is Gabriel in Luke, but the difference follows: Gabriel comes as a preparatory work, announcing The Preparer (John), while here it is the actual Day of the Lord. It is a day of judgment.

As for the smiting/striking and posts/lintel business. I have little to add beyond Robert for now. It does seem clear that this passage must be read in terms of Isa 6, but I don't know exactly how yet. (A peculiar start: is Isaiah trying to explore a personal Day of the Lord in Isa 6 in his taking up the themes of this prophecy?) --Joe Spencer 15:06, 23 Aug 2006 (UTC)