AMOS 6:4-7

Q: What is wrong with lying down on beds, eating lambs and calves, and inventing musical instruments like David did?

One might expect verse 4 to be a poetic exaggeration, but actual bed frames and headboards with ivory veneer from 8-9^th century BC Samaria have been excavated. They were decorated with pictures of pagan gods. Thus, Israel is being condemned here for their decadent wealth and possibly their idolatry.

There are possible translation problems with verse 5 since David didn't invent musical instruments and that is not a typical feast activity. This verse should read “strum on the lyre and improvise on musical instruments.” It is probably the nature of the songs that is suspect here.

The Hebrew word translated “revelry” is the key to understanding this passage. It appears in the OT only here and in Jeremiah 16:5-8 (“Do not enter into the house of mourning to eat and drink and give consolation.”) Inscriptions from Israel have been found dating from a wide time period that contain this same word in the context of eating, drinking, beds and anointing with oil. From these inscriptions, we can piece together the custom of social and religious associations of wealthy couples who would host orgies lasting several days to honor the dead and dedicated to pagan gods. They would mourn in that manner, but (verse 6) would not bother mourning over what had become of Israel (“the ruin of Joseph”).