AMOS עמוס

Amos, a Judaean prophet from the village of Tekoa, was active in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. According to 7:14, Amos was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; i.e., he was not a member of a professional prophetic guild. His only credential to prophesy to Israel was a summons by Yahweh.

Amos’ message is primarily one of doom. Although Israel’s neighbors do not escape his attention, his threats are directed primarily against Israel, which, he contends, has defected from the worship of Yahweh to the worship of Canaanite gods. This belief prompts his polemic against the feasts and solemn assemblies observed by Israel.

He also pronounces judgment on the rich for self-indulgence and oppression of the poor, on those who pervert justice, and on those who desire the day of Yahweh on which God will reveal his power, punish the wicked, and renew the righteous. That day, Amos warned, will be a day of darkness for Israel because of its defection from Yahweh.

The book ends unexpectedly (9:8–15) with a promise of restoration for Israel. These verses radically differ from the threatening nature of the rest of the book.

The little that is known about Amos’ life has been gleaned from the book that bears his name. A native of Tekoa, situated in the south of Jerusalem, Amos flourished during the reigns of King Uzziah of Judah (the southern kingdom) and King Jeroboam II of Israel.

By occupation, he was a shepherd; whether he was merely that or a man of some means is not certain. He actually preached for only a short time. He accurately foretold the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel (although he did not specify Assyria as the cause) and, as a prophet of doom, anticipated later Bible prophets.

Under the impact of powerful visions of divine destruction of the people in such natural disasters as a swarm of locusts and fire, Amos traveled from Judah to the neighboring richer, more powerful kingdom of Israel, where he began to preach. The time is uncertain, but the Book of Amos puts the date as two years before an earthquake that may have occurred.

Amos fiercely castigated corruption and social injustice among Israel’s pagan neighbors, Israel itself, and Judah; he asserted God’s absolute sovereignty over man, and he predicted the imminent destruction of Israel and Judah. After preaching at Bethel, a famous shrine under the special protection of Jeroboam II, Amos was ordered to leave the country by Jeroboam’s priest Amaziah. Thereafter his fate is unknown.

From his book, Amos emerges as a thoughtful, probably well-traveled man of fierce integrity, who possessed a poet’s gift for homely but forceful imagery and rhythmic language.

Amos 1:7 – “But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:”

Amos 2:4 – “This is what the LORD says: ‘For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back (my wrath). Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed.'”

Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.”

Amos 4:1 – “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’”

Amos 7:17 – “Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

Amos 8:11 – “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.’”

Amos 9:14 – “I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.”

Two towns named Bethel appear in the Bible. The Bethel of lesser significance, a village in the Negev, is mentioned as one of the places where David sent spoils to his friends, the elders of Judah (1 Samuel 30:26–27).

Another Bethel, a city of foremost importance in the Bible, was located about 11 miles north of Jerusalem near Ai. A major trading center, Bethel stood at a crossroads, with its north-south road passing through the central hill country from Hebron in the south to Shechem in the north, and its main east-west route leading from Jericho to the Mediterranean Sea. Originally called Luz (Genesis 28:19; Judges 1:23), Bethel was important in the Bible and was frequently associated with Abraham and Jacob.

The city was renamed Bethel by Jacob after the patriarch experienced a remarkable dream there. While traveling from Beersheba to Haran to escape his brother Esau, Jacob stopped for the night in Luz. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway or ladder that stretched up from earth to heaven. The angels of God were climbing up and down the ladder as God stood at the top (Genesis 28:10–13).

After the division of Israel, Jeroboam I made Bethel the chief sanctuary of the northern kingdom (Israel), and the city was later the centre for the prophetic ministry of Amos. The city apparently escaped destruction by the Assyrians at the time of the fall of Samaria, but it was occupied by Josiah of Judah.

Amos was a shepherd who lived in the region of Tekoa, not many miles from the city of Jerusalem. He made his living by raising sheep and taking care of sycamore trees. When his produce was ready for market, he went to the towns and villages of Israel. His journeys took him through the country districts, where he observed the hardships imposed on the working class of people by the wealthy landowners who lived in the towns or cities in the midst of comparative luxury.

While in the cities, Amos was deeply troubled not only by the contrast between the rich and the poor but by the way in which the political and religious leaders tried to justify this disparity. These leaders insisted that Yahweh materially rewards those who are faithful in the performance of their ritualistic obligations to him. Hence they interpreted their own prosperity and that of the nation as a whole, as evidence that the divine favor rests on them and will continue to do so for all time to come.

At the same time, they reasoned that poor people deserve their hard lot in life because they do not regularly participate in the sacrifices and other religious activities practiced at the established places of worship. Amos was not impressed by this kind of argument. He was raised in an environment where it was understood that loyalty to Yahweh involves fair dealings among people rather than observance of religious rites and ceremonies.

The main message in the book of Amos is that God puts his people on the same level as the surrounding nations – expecting the same purity of them all. As it is with all nations that rise up against the kingdom of God, even Israel and Judah will not be exempt from the judgment of God because of their idolatry and unjust ways. The nation that represents Yahweh must be made pure of anything or anyone that profane the name of God.

Amos is the first prophet to use the term “the Day of the Lord.” This phrase becomes important within future prophetic and apocalyptic literature. For the people of Israel, this phrase means the day when God will fight against his and their enemies, and it will be a day of victory for Israel. However, Amos and other prophets include Israel as an enemy of God, as it is guilty of injustice. To Amos, it will be a day of doom.

Other major ideas include justice and concern for the disadvantaged, and that Yahweh is God of all nations (not just Israel), and is likewise the judge of all nations, and is also a God of moral righteousness.

Also that Yahweh created all people, and the idea that Israel’s covenant with God did not exempt them from accountability for sin; as well as that God elected and liberated Israel so that he would be known throughout the world. And that if God destroys the unjust, a remnant will remain, and that God is free to judge whether to redeem Israel.