Israel: Selling the Righteous and Crushing the Poor

The trap closes on Israel. The same “three … four” formula now introduces an extended case against the covenant people: the righteous and needy are sold for money, the poor are trampled, the afflicted are pushed aside, sexual exploitation profanes God’s name, and garments taken in pledge are used beside altars. The shock is deliberate. Religious activity and social injustice coexist, but Amos will not allow worship to sanitize oppression. Torah legislation about pledges, honest judgment, sexual holiness, and care for the poor forms the moral background. This becomes one of Amos’s central Threads: the God worshiped at the altar also sees the marketplace, courtroom, bedroom, debt contract, and gate.