In our text the Lord asks a series of nine pointed rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is a question posed for the listener to reflect upon, rather than to literally answer. In fact the literal answer to a rhetorical question is usually known by the questioner. Such questions encourage the listener to reflect on what the implied answer to the question must be. Amos uses this very tool to bring into sharp focus what God is doing among the people of the nation of Israel. Namely that judgment was immanent and was coming from the hand of God, and that this judgment was coming as a direct result of Israel’s sin.
