AMOS 4:4-5 BIBLICAL SARCASM

I grew up in Southern California, a rather cynical atmosphere, and my friends and I seemed to have trouble saying anything unless it was tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic. I found when I moved to a different part of the country that sarcasm was not nearly as common. It was often not even understood to be sarcasm. And if it were recognized, I was informed on more than one occasion that sarcasm and ironic talk was unacceptable for a Christian to engage in since it usually expressed exaggerated, untrue and often cruel put-downs.

I didn't realize at the time that I could have quoted several passages of Scripture to disprove that opinion. But I must admit that even I was not totally immune to misunderstanding sarcasm when it occurred. Once in high school, I was taking my behind-the-wheel driver's training class as a very nervous and totally inexperienced driver. I was driving on a long straightaway with no traffic lights for about a mile. I could see in the far distance that there was a police car parked at the edge of the road. So I was carefully fixated on my speedometer to ensure that I didn't exceed the 40 mph limit. My teacher, who was sitting beside me, said, “That's it. Put your foot on the accelerator and gun it.” Who was I to disobey my teacher? I proceeded to put my foot down on the pedal until we were going well above the speed limit. At one point, the teacher looked at me and said, “What are you doing? Slow down!”

It turns out that his initial comment had been directed at another driver who had easily passed me in the other lane. The remark was an example of irony and sarcasm expressing the basic thought: “Keep up the way you are going and there will be a time of reckoning soon.” This is precisely the idea behind Amos 4:4-5, in which the prophet, speaking for God, tells the people of Israel:

“Come to Bethel – and transgress; to Gilgal – and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; bring a thank offering of leavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

Here are some some comments from scholars on these verses:

Averbeck offers three possible approaches to understanding these verses: (1) They may refer to the special sacrifices made during festivals; (2) The reference may be to required regular offerings if “days” is taken to mean “years”; or (3) a sarcastic call to worship exaggerating the number of sacrifices required. He opts for the latter explanation and cites a similar use of exaggeration in Micah 6:7.

Howard: “The oracle concerning the worship of Israel continues in the same vein of biting sarcasm that was employed in denouncing the self-indulgent women of Samaria...the words of Amos must have seemed like an irreverent blasphemy to his audience.”

Hilber: “In his satirical invitation to worship at Bethel (Amos 4:1,45 with Amos 5:4-7), the central symbol of Jereboam's kingdom (Amos 7:9,13), Amos indicts the whole nation for seeking injustice rather than Yahweh.”

Rooker: “Hosea's contemporary Amos also comments negatively upon the religious significance of Gilgal. He indicates that illicit sacrifices are being carried out at Bethel and Gilgal (Amos 4:4) and exhorts the Israelites to seek Yahweh and not Bethel or Gilgal (5:5a)...It is ironic that Gilgal, the place naturally associated with the Israelite entrance into the land of Canaan and the Conquest, is now depicted as the city that will lead the nation into exile out of the Promised Land.”

Oswalt: “The faithful offering of sacrifices would be pleasing to God if that activity actually represented wholehearted devotion to God (Joel 2:15-17; Mal 3:3-4), but when it was engaged in as a means of placating God while 'worshipers' kept their lives for themselves, it was deeply disgusting to God (Is 1:10-15; 65:1-5; Jer 14:12; Hos 5:6; Amos 4:4,5; 5:21; 8:10). Since this manipulative understanding of ritual is at the heart of paganism, when Israelites worshiped Yahweh in this way they soon fell prey to the worship of the manufactured gods of their neighbors.”

Ryken: “The literary imagination of Amos is most noteworthy, not in the structure of his book, but in his skill with smaller literary techniques ...Most impressive of all is the parody present in the book – echoing literary or ecclesiastical form with inverted effect, in this case satiric effect...The conventional priestly exhortation to worship is turned on its head with his parody (4:4).”

Carroll R: “The prophet's words in this passage satirically mimic a summons to worship. Form critics label this a parody of a Priestly torah whose constituent elements supposedly would have included exhortations (in the plural) to an assembly to perform religious rituals, as well as sometimes a rationale (cf. Lev 7:22-25; 19:5-8; Deut 14:3-8, 21)...This prophetic word uses a liturgical form and fills it with surprising vocabulary to ridicule the nation's behavior.”

McKeown: “Hosea warned the people that even though they would come with their flocks and herds to seek Yahweh, they would not be able to find him because 'he has withdrawn from them' (Hos 5:6). Instead of their altars being places of atonement and forgiveness, they had become 'altars for sinning and Yahweh is not pleased with them' (Hos 8:11-123; 9:4 ESV; cf. Amos 4:4).”

Moller: “The hymn fragments extolling God's destructive powers (Amos 4:13; 5:8-9; 9:5-6) and the acerbic criticism of Israel's religious activities (Amos 4:4-5; 5:21-23) are...best understood from the polemical perspective demanded by this...context...The numerous sacrifices and tithes that the people boast about cannot avert this punishment (Amos 4:4-5), as Amos points out, again with the help of a heavy dose of irony, as he parodies a priest's call to worship. Whereas a priest might have encouraged the people to 'go to Bethel and worship; go to Gilgal and bring your sacrifices,' Amos turns this on its head when he says, 'Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more' (Amos 4:4).”

G.V. Smith: This sarcastic parody employs Israelite traditions but transforms their normal meaning through the use of exaggeration, the charge of false motives, and the statement that this 'worship' is actually sinful.”

Andersen and Freedman: “This oracle reads like a mock call to worship, a sarcastic invitation to sin even more by going to the shrines.”

And for those will reluctantly admit that Amos might have been engaging in sarcasm but deny that there is any such talk in the New Testament, one need only point them to the many put-downs that Jesus directed toward the hypocritical Jewish religious leaders of the time. And if they still aren't convinced because they feel Jesus might be able to get away with it, but it is inappropriate of mere human followers of His, direct those skeptics to Paul's comment in Galatians 5:12 where he tells those who are demanding circumcision of Gentiles, “Why stop there? Why not go all the way and castrate yourselves?”