Amos

The 8th Cent BC prophet who was called by God to leave his home in Judah to preach warnings and judgments against the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam ben Jehoash (782-753 BC). The period in history during which Amos preached was a time of international political stability as both Assyria and Egypt were facing internal problems and were therefore unable to meddle in the affairs of the larger Levant. As a result many of the smaller countries in the region, including Israel and Judah, enjoyed a period of territorial expansion and economic boom. With such good times, however, the rich grew richer and the poor, as always, took the brunt of the excesses of the wealthy. It was against this background of deep social and economic oppression and injustice that was the focus of his preaching.

The first of the so-called "classical prophets," i.e., those whose oracles have since been recorded in a book named after them in the Bible, Amos was, by profession, not a fulltime prophet, but, by his own admission, a shepherd/sheep-herder (two Hebrew words are used, noqed at 1:1, and boqer at 7:14) living in Tekoa, a small town on the edge between civilization and the Judean deserts and a tender of sycamore figs. It was unlikely, given the circumstances, that Amos came from a background of wealth; he, therefore, had a deep personal sense of what it was to be poor and oppressed. Despite this background, Amos drank deep in the word of God, a fact reflected everywhere in his oracles recorded for us in the book. From the form and structure of his oracles, we can tell that he was also a practiced preacher. How he came to be so remains a mystery but one that challenges us to the same kind of simple faithfulness for the Kingdom of God. Called by God, he went to Bethel, the central sanctuary and the most public spot in Israel, and there braved the scorn he would face—he would immediately have been recognized as a southerner from his accent—to preach against the sins of the nation.

Amos's entire ministy as reflected in the book took place over only a couple of weeks or so, and then he was gone and we hear no more of him: trully a "man for the season"—God's season. Like most of the prophets, Amos met with no success. Amaziah, the chief priest at Bethel, complained to Jeroboam about him and told him to go back from where he came from (Amos 7:12-14). But within less than fifty years the prophet would be vindicated when Israel was crushed and carried away into exile by the Assyrians and disappeared from history. As the modern Church grows more and more wealthy and affluent—and especially when it is plagued by the horror of the Prosperity Gospel which dares even to assert that the poor are poor because God has not blessed them (a financially bankrupt friend we know (cheated in a business deal before he became a Christian) was even told by his elder that he should stop preaching—Amos needs desperately to be preached more often.

A full commentary on the book and ministry of Amos is planned for ALBERITH.

Read the entry in:

Eaton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Leslie C. Allen, "Amos, Prophet of Solidarity," Vox Evangelica 6 (1969): 42-53.
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John Stafford Wright, "Studying the Minor Prophets," The Inter-Varsity Magazine 21.1 (1948): 17-19.
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Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., "The Davidic Promise And The Inclusion Of The Gentiles (Amos 9:9-15 And Acts 15:13-18): A Test Passage For Theological Systems," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20.2 (June 1977):97-111.
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