Rhetoric: Amulek, perceiving Zeezrom’s hidden agenda (v. 25), unleashes his righteous wrath. He vehemently declines the bribe, then turns the questioning process back on Zeezrom but without waiting for an answer. In an explosive rhetorical flurry, Amulek asks and answers the question. Does Zeezrom believe in Yahweh? He does, but he loves wealth more than Yahweh. Amulek implies that Zeezrom found it plausible to offer Amulek the bribe because Zeezrom himself would have found it tempting. Amulek is using Zeezrom’s offer to accuse Zeezrom of the very moral flaw of which Zeezrom would have accused Amulek.
He exposes Zeezrom’s ploy to the listeners by revealing that Zeezrom had no intention of actually paying the bribe had Amulek accepted it. Amulek, and probably the crowd, understood that six onties was a sum larger than Zeezrom himself, well-to-do but certainly not extravagantly wealthy, could probably have paid. Had Amulek accepted, Zeezrom could have suggested that his motives were for wealth and not the purity of Yahweh’s word. Amulek would have been discredited and Zeezrom would not have had to pay the bribe because the point had been made.