analysing Amos 5:24 (M1) by free association
Option 1
Students approach the biblical theme of „justice and righteousness“ using individual words from Amos 5:24, working individually on M1.
Option 2
justice – brook – streams – righteousness – never-ending – water
The above 6 terms are written on index cards or presented on the smartboard. The students then work individually or in pairs on the tasks laid out in M1.
Consolidation I
The teacher presents the text as it is actually written in the Bible in Amos 5:24: „Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a never-failing stream“ (visualisation on the board or smartboard).
In the class discussion, by comparing the synonyms found by the students, it is worked out that the verb „roll down“ is very dynamic and is practically thought as a superlative of „to flow“. The consequences for the understanding of Amos 5:24 are then discussed when it says: Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a never-failing stream. The description of righteousness as a never-failing stream can also be made fruitful for further discussion.
Consolidation II
Option 1 Discussion social reality
In class discussions with the students, situations and examples from social reality and, if possible, from their own lives are explored in which justice and righteousness are not perceived as rolling down powerful or even as a dried-up stream.
Option 2 Discussion positions
The teacher gives examples in which the existence of justice and righteousness is (at least) questionable, but certainly not certain.
The students are asked to position themselves on a line between „justice and righteousness“ and „injustice and unrighteousness“.
The individual positions are then discussed.
Development I (Prophets – justice and righteousness)
The development of M 2 (Prophets – fighters for God’s righteousness) and M 3 (righteousness in the context of the Bible) can be carried out in group work or everyone together. In the case of group work, it must be ensured that all students can take note of the respective work results of the other group (presentation).
Transition
In a (short) lecture on prophecies of doom and salvation, the teacher is making a transition to deepen the reflections on the prophetic demand for the flow of justice and righteousness by Amos and on the vision of the realisation of God’s flow of justice and righteousness for the whole people of Israel. This is based on God’s presence in the temple in Ezekiel (47):
Proposed input by teacher:
If you listen to the words of Amos and many other prophets in the Bible, you can get the impression that they primarily proclaim disaster, usually as an act of punishment by God due to the misbehaviour of individuals or the entire nation. This is why theological research also calls these prophets „prophets of doom“. However, there is also another side. The basic principle is that God’s goal with the world is not disaster, but salvation; disaster is only a necessary intermediate step towards the fulfilment of salvation. All prophetic books therefore also contain words of salvation for the eschatological future.
There are repeated passages in the Bible that speak polemically about prophets of salvation. This refers to those who proclaim salvation where disaster would actually be the right thing, i.e. who reassure the people instead of shaking them up and calling on them to turn away from wrong ways.
The aim of the prophets of doom is not the realisation of divine punishment, but rather turning away from wrong developments and achieving salvation, i.e. a good and healthy state for all. When Amos says: „Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a never-failing stream“, he is expressing a wish. This is how it should be. What then happens can be read in another biblical prophet, Ezekiel, in chapter 47 with the heading „The river of life“.
Analysing Ez 47 (M4)
Option 1
The students take it in turns to read Ez 47 (M4) and then work individually to visualise the Bible text as a structural image, using the course of the water as a guide (alternatives: making a collage or a drawing).
Option 2
he students independently analyse Ez 47 on the basis of the following key questions:
1. What is the significance of the water gushing out from under the threshold of the temple (Ez 47:1) for the interpretation of the entire text?
2. Where in the text do you discover the pair of opposites „dead – alive“?
3. What significance do salt water and fresh water have in the vision of Ezekiel?
Development II Water, a symbol of life and death (M5)
The students work individually to create a word cloud with associations to the keyword water (either with pen and paper or digitally).
From the individual terms found and assigned, a cluster with three columns (initially without captions) is visualised on the blackboard or smartboard as part of the presentation of the results in the classroom discussion. With the active participation of the students, the teacher sorts the associations with water into three categories (1. water as life-giving – 2. water as both life-giving and life-threatening – 3. water as life-threatening). After the joint cluster, the students look for and agree on headings that roughly represent 1,2,3.
The pupils work individually on M5 „The importance of water in the Bible“ by formulating a core statement in one sentence for each of the essential statements in the individual sections.
Deepening and linking to the students‘ world of life and experience
As part of a class discussion on the question of where the issue of water plays a role in the students‘ personal lives or in their perception of the reality of life, the students’ contributions are summarised and noted on a blackboard/smartboard for further work (possible answers: drought, constant rain, floods, rising sea levels, salinisation of fresh water, thirst, climate change…).
Competences
- Students are ablet to…
