Amos vs. Amaziah

In September 1957, a group of scholars, theologians, laymen, students, and rabbis attended a conference entitled “Law as a Moral Force” at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. Earl Warren, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court at the time, and former United States president Harry S. Truman were in attendance. The purpose of the conference was to present and discuss law as a moral force within ancient Hebrew texts and to consider these insights and how they might be applied to contemporary moral challenges. 

One of the main conference presentations, Spiegel’s lecture was so well received that he prepared a written version, of which this is an excerpt. Spiegel presents an embellished narrative of an imagined court case between Amaziah, a northern Israelite priest of Bethel, and Amos, a Judean prophet of doom who prophesied that the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be destroyed for its social injustices. Spiegel’s treatment emphasizes the prophet’s message that justice transcends all else.