From: Amos 6:1a; 4-7
A life of luxury gives a false sense of security
[4] Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory,
and stretch themselves upon their couches,
and eat lams from the flock,
and calves from the midst of the stall;
[5] who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp,
and like David invent for themselves instruments of music;
[6] who drink wine in bowls,
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
[7] Therefore they shall now be the first of those to go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves shall pass away.”
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
6:1-7. The third “woe” (v. 1; cf. 5:7, 18) marks the start of the last section of this
part of the book. Two distinct fragments can be detected in this passage, but
they both attack pleasure-seeking and pride. The first (vv. 1-7) reproaches those
who live thoughtlessly (vv. 4-6), be they in Samaria or in Zion (v. 1), putting their
trust in the ruling classes of “the first of the nations”, that is, the Northern king-
dom, Samaria. In describing the country in that way, Amos is being sarcastic.
But there is no sarcasm about his threat that those who “anoint themselves with
the finest oils” (v. 6) “will be the first of those who go into exile” (v. 7). The main
charge laid against them is that of living a life of luxury, heedless of the misfor-
tunes of others, of “the ruin of Joseph (v. 6). Concern for others is always a religi-
ous duty: “Coming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences, this
council [Vatican II] lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider his
every neighbour without exception as another self, taking into account first of all
his life and the means necessary to living it with dignity. […] In our times a spe-
cial obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbour of every person without
exception and to actively help him when he comes across our path, whether he
be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign labourer unjustly looked down upon,
a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did
not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the
voice of the Lord, ‘As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren,
you did it for me’ (Mt 35:40)” (Gaudium et spes, 27).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.