Why Sentence Diagram?
It seems straightforward and obvious what Amos is saying, doesn’t it? Which is one of the reasons I think sentence diagramming is helpful. How many times do we frankly skim scripture with half an eyeball actually in the text? The other half on what is upcoming in the day?
Slow down. Consider the who’s and what’s and wherefore’s. Feel the weight of the words God has preserved for us. Notice the general structure of the passage and in Amos specifically, the repetition. It’s there for a reason. I believe sentence diagramming is one way to help focus the mind for the purpose of knowing our God.
Now let’s figure out the scope of our passage for this diagram.
Deciding the Passage
If you remember, when deciding the cut off for the first passage in Amos, I made the decision based on who Amos was addressing. Since for the foreseeable future in Amos he talks to God’s people, this time I have to choose a different aspect for delineation.
Oh, it occurs to me, I need to make sure I read or listen to the whole of the book again. Context is vital. Just last Sunday at church someone read aloud an excerpt from Isaiah 49. Literally, I had no idea what was even said. When a section of verses is read but without preamble or context, how can we know what it says? There is no frame of reference. Anyway, reading Amos again will help me see the organization of the whole in order to choose a passage. I recommend the discipline often.
As we’ve observed before, God indicts Israel’s friends and relations for a few moments and then turns his attention to those that matter most to him: his chosen people.
Change in Format
Reading along there through chapter 2 and into chapter 3, I noticed a change in the typeset of the ESV. Scanning the other Bibles I have open in Logos (the NET, NASB, Lexham, and RSV), they all make a distinction with the type between poetry and prose save one. I’m not surprised that the Lexham doesn’t make the same distinction because the editors of that translation have the type in paragraph format for all the literary styles within non-poetic books of the Bible. (I didn’t hear back from my friend who’s married to one of the editors about why that is. I find it curious.)
In my initial reading, I had thought that this was Amos gathering the attention of his audience again. That he was saying, “Hey! Pay attention to what God has to say!” Upon closer investigation, I see that God himself is still speaking. But he identifies himself in the third person.
God Has Personality
The verse I’m talking about is Amos 3:1 and the ESV renders it, “Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt…”
Now we have to be cautious about inserting North American understandings of language and method into the scriptures which were written by men from the Middle East. Even still, can you hear a mom saying this kind of thing?
“Hear this word that your mother has spoken against you, O my children, against all of you children to whom I gave birth!”
I’m not saying this is definitively the attitude, but I wonder if it isn’t the tone God has in this instance. So I thought at first the passage would end at Amos 2:16 because I thought the speaker changed for a moment. Nope, I see a better break at Amos 3:2. God starts to ask rhetorical questions of Israel in Amos 3:3. Different topic or tact at least.
The Passage
When you look at the sentence diagram I provided below at the end of this article, you’ll see there’s a break between Amos 2:16 and Amos 3:1 and that’s because after I diagrammed, I thought better of the break between chapters. See? Sentence diagramming isn’t scary. Even if I change my mind about boundaries for the passage, the diagram isn’t the point. Using the technique and tool is the point.
Our passage to study for the next few sessions is Amos 2:4-3:2. Do you remember that I told you a story about Stephanus and how the chapter breaks occurred? I mentioned it here. I’ve heard Dr. Stein say that Stephanus was riding his horse while he was deciding where the chapters and verses would be. Wherever the quill landed in the up-and-down motion of the horse stride is where the divisions occurred. Seems to me like the horse and rider were not syncing very well in Amos. The first passage being Amos 1-2:3 and now the second is Amos 2:4-3:2. Not neat and pretty. Oh well. I don’t need Stephanus to tell me where the divisions are, do I?
The Process of Diagramming
This passage is going to have a similar thought process for diagramming as the previous one. In fact, when I diagrammed mine, I used my last observational worksheet as reference. At least for the portion of the passage where God is leveling the charges against Judah and Israel.
Similarity Between the Two Passages
If you look at these two sentence diagrams, you can see the first couple of verses of our current passage follows a similar format to the previous passage. “For three transgressions and for four I will not…so I will…” Although, when he speaks to Israel, he actually has four transgressions and he doesn’t yet go into what he will do about it. See how the sentence diagram makes that glaringly obvious?
Organization for Observation
Starting in Amos 2:9, God recounts how he has been a faithful God to them. I recommend lining up those statements which include the personal pronoun “I” so the list of God’s actions are laid out. When other people are referenced and described with multiple phrases, line those up so that they are clearly seen.
For example, in Amos 2:13-16, God speaks of how he will press them down. But that isn’t all. Along with being pressed, God explains what will happen in that pressing. Or because of the pressing. This organization will help when making lists.
Try It Yourself
Before you look at or print what I’ve done in my sentence diagram (which is not in any way the absolute “right way;” only a way), give it a shot yourself. See how beneficial the process is. Does the exercise help you to slow down and see the relationships between the phrases better? Can you see the organization that Amos employs as he relates truth to God’s people?
Reflection
As always, in the process of slowing down in the process of being in the Word, the difficulty arises that I haven’t studied anything yet in order to arrive at truth. I’ve only begun observing. That gives me no clear-cut conclusion about who God is. Which is my primary purpose in studying the OT.
But I might have glimmers of what I think I see. The information I think I might see I need to hold loosely and be ready in the blink of an eye to let it go if it proves unworthy to think of God. Perhaps the right way to consider this is more of a question. “Is it true of God that ____?” A hypothesis, if you will.
My observation that is becoming a question in my mind is that God spends only a little time on those who are not his chosen people. They are an annoyance for sure, but where does he camp?
So the question I ask (and I already think this so it’s a discipline to have it proved) is does God spend more of his attention on the whole family that he brought out of Egypt? Is it true of God that loves and attends to particular people more than others?
He’s the same God in the Old as well as the New Testaments. So if it is true that God loves and attends to particular people more than others, it holds true right now. If it is true, by faith I am part of the whole family he brought out of Egypt. I’m not a Jew, but to bring the question to the present day, by faith I am a Gentile who has been grafted into that family. We studied it in Ephesians! Therefore I am potentially someone that God loves and attends to more than someone who is not in relationship with him.
How is that for a thought to start my morning?
Wrap Up
Our Bible Study Bite for today is to slow down. Yes, I’ve said it before. But maybe I didn’t make it clear: I wasn’t slow enough to catch that Amos wasn’t the one talking in Amos 3:1. God is speaking in the third person. I’m advocating to slow down to you my fellow student of the Word. And I’m not doing it. If I’m not, chances are it’s a common problem to all of us from time to time and we need reminding.
Here is your friendly reminder. Slow down.
Not take every verse apart and dissect it to its constituent parts until you can’t recognize it for what it is. That’s not the slowing down I’m suggesting. Sometimes some word studies are required, yes. But I’m talking about listening to the Voice of God. Valuing him enough to consider the words he says and why he says them in the way he says them.
An Example from English
You know that double negatives in English are generally discouraged? So then when someone uses a double negative, you know they are meaning something by it (or the person speaking isn’t a grammar Nazi like we are). They are often using the double negative for emphasis. We want to notice things like that. Why is God speaking in the third person?
And we may never know. But asking the question will help direct our study and see if we can’t learn something else about our God.
Thanks for studying with me today! If you’ve found anything helpful here, please like and subscribe. And if you know of other students of the Word, would you please share so we can all study and encourage each other with what we’re learning?
