Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Book Overview - Amos
by John Dummelow
Introduction
1. The Man. We have but one trustworthy source of information concerning Amos, viz. the book which bears his name. Happily it is so written as to convey a sufficiently full and clear impression of the man and his career. He was born in the land of Judah, of unnamed and unimportant parents, during the first half of the 8th cent. b.c. His possessions consisted of a few sycomore trees, and a small flock of sheep which belonged to a peculiar breed, ugly and short-footed, but valuable for the excellence of their wool. These he pastured in the neighbourhood of Tekoa, in the wilderness of Judah. Although his means were but meagre, his position was independent, and when he wished to leave his flock he was able to do so, entrusting them perhaps to some lad, like that son of Jesse who in the same neighbourhood had followed the ewes great with young.
2. His Call. Three causes combined to turn the shepherd into a prophet. First, his knowledge of the deplorable state of affairs in the northern kingdom. The victories won by Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14) had brought wealth and power to the ruling classes in Israel. But luxury, impurity and intemperance were rife amongst them (Amos 2:7-8; Amos 6:4-6). And as to the poor, their case could hardly have been worse. They groaned under the most oppressive exactions; they were totally unable to get justice; they were treated as chattels, not as men (Amos 8:4-6). And the warnings sent by Providence—drought, locusts, famine, pestilence—were not understood by the well-to-do oppressors of the poor (Amos 4:6.). There is nothing to wonder at in the fact that Amos, a subject of Uzziah of Judah, knew all this. And the shepherd's soul was stirred with deep indignation, like Nehemiah's at a later day (Nehemiah 5). Secondly, he had heard of the campaigns against Western nations, waged by the great kings of Assyria; he could not help foreboding that God would use this mighty instrument for chastising the crying sins of Israel (Amos 5:27; Amos 6). Thirdly, and most important of all, God's spirit communed with him and impelled him to speak. Amos was as conscious of a direct call from heaven as St. Paul was (Amos 7:15; Galatians 1:1). He knew himself to be in possession of the divine counsel; he could not refuse to declare it (Amos 3:8).
3. The Prophet's Work. It is impossible to state precisely when the call came. If we could determine the date of the earthquake (Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5), there would be no difficulty. We must be content to know that it lay within the period when Jeroboam II and Uzziah occupied contemporaneously the thrones of Israel and Judah, about 775-750 b.c. It was at Bethel, the religious centre of the former kingdom, that his voice was heard. But Amaziah, chief priest of that famous sanctuary, soon intervened, sending a message to the king to accuse the uncourtly prophet of treason, and trying meanwhile to frighten away the preacher (Amos 7:10-17). Jeroboam does not seem to have taken any notice. Probably he cared as little for Amos as Leo X did for Martin Luther. And the prophet was not to be frightened. He explained his position, completed his message, turned upon the worldly-minded priest with a threat of divine retribution, and then withdrew unmolested. An unreliable Christian tradition of the 6th cent. asserts that Amaziah's son struck him on the forehead with a club, and that he died from the effects of the blow soon after reaching home.