Amos: The Genius of Prophetic Rhetoric

Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). With timeless poetry and stunning imagery, a simple herdsman from the Judean mountains stands in front of a stubborn, antagonistic audience of Israelite royalty and aristocracy and rebukes them for their abuses of power. Summoned by God to chastise and ideally rehabilitate the upper class of eighth-century BCE Israel, Amos of Tekoa offers a hostile audience a better vision of themselves by lifting them to the heavens on wings of lyrical brilliance. We, his “eternal audience,” are privileged to eavesdrop on his evocative oratory. In this incisive presentation, master educator Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom guides us through Amos’s ageless and elegant oratory, with the aim of hearing his words through the ears of the immediate audience – and then teaching us those lessons that have eternal meaning.