Amos—A Mentor Commentary

Written by Gary V. Smith Reviewed By David H. Jackson

As the book of Amos is my favourite of the so-called Minor Prophets, I am delighted whenever I find a thorough yet accessible commentary on it. Smith’s new volume from the Mentor series is a worthy addition to the many fine commentaries we have seen recently. Mentor’s goal is to publish ‘books written at a level suitable for Bible college and seminary students, pastors, and others’. Smith more than fulfils this vision, writing with both a depth to please the scholar and a breadth of application to suit the needs of the preaching pastor. There are full footnotes helpfully on the pages in question, as well as a complete bibliography.

The book of Amos is full of wordplays, double entendres, pictorial visions, and direct statements of fact and judgement. Smith’s job is to address the historical, stylistic and interpretative aspects of Amos: not just what is written, but also how and why the prophecies are recorded. To do this, Smith divides each of his chapters as follows: (1) important textual and philological questions; (2) background study on the literary traditions and forms of speech employed; (3) rhetorical markers of structure that unite paragraphs or larger units; (4) exegetical issues of interpretation; and (5) main theological themes within each unit. Smith deals especially well with the last of these. Each chapter ends with him drawing together the interpretative threads arising from the passage.

An example of Smith’s approach is his analysis of 5:1–17, the ‘Lament over Israel’. He notes that many commentators have expressed doubts about the hymnic fragment in 5:8–9, since it appears at first glance to interrupt the context of the passage by separating verse 7 from verse 10. However, Smith helpfully points out a chiastic structure for 5:1–17 first postulated by J. de Waard (1977), who saw the phrase ‘YHWH is his name’ in 5:8d as sandwiched by the hymns of YHWH’s judging power in 5:8a–c and 5:9. Rather than verses 5:8–9 being a later intrusion into an original passage which directly connected verse 7 and verse 10, Smith sees the hymnic fragment as central to Amos’ establishment of God’s power to act against the idolatry and injustices occurring in 8th century Israel. All this leads Smith to make his point about 5:13: rather than being a random addition describing the actions of the righteous, it is a description of crafty people about to experience YHWH’s judgement, and thus about to have their influential voices silenced.

This is a readable yet insightful volume, full of sound scholarship and clear writing. I am glad to have it on my shelf and at my side when reading Amos.


David H. Jackson

Thame