Amos

THE BOOK OF

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INTRODUCTION

AMOS (meaning in Hebrew "a burden") was

(Am 1:1)

a shepherd of Tekoa, a small town of Judah, six miles southeast from

Beth-lehem, and twelve from Jerusalem, on the borders of the great

desert

(2Ch 20:20;

compare

2Ch 11:6).

The region being sandy was more fit for pastoral than for agricultural

purposes. Amos therefore owned and tended flocks, and collected

sycamore figs; not that the former was a menial office, kings

themselves, as Mesha of Moab

(2Ki 3:4),

exercising it. Amos, however (from

Am 7:14, 15),

seems to have been of humble rank.

Though belonging to Judah, he was commissioned by God to exercise

his prophetical function in Israel; as the latter kingdom abounded in

impostors, and the prophets of God generally fled to Judah through fear

of the kings of Israel, a true prophet from Judah was the more needed

in it. His name is not to be confounded with that of Isaiah's father,

Amoz.

The time of his prophesying was in the reigns of Uzziah king of

Judea, and Jeroboam II, son of Joash, king of Israel

(Am 1:1),

that is, in part of the time in which the two kings were contemporary;

probably in Jeroboam's latter years, after that monarch had recovered

from Syria "the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath to the sea

of the plain"

(2Ki 14:25-27);

for Amos foretells that these same coasts, "from the entering in of

Hamath unto the river of the wilderness," should be the scene of

Israel's being afflicted

(Am 6:14);

also his references to the state of luxurious security then existing

(Am 6:1, 4, 13),

and to the speedy termination of it by the Assyrian foe

(Am 1:5; 3:12, 15; 5:27; 8:2),

point to the latter part of Jeroboam's reign, which terminated in 784

B.C., the twenty-seventh year of Uzziah's reign,

which continued down to 759 B.C.

He was contemporary with Hosea, only that the latter continued to

prophesy in reigns subsequent to Uzziah

(Ho 1:1);

whereas Amos ceased to prophesy in the reign of that monarch. The scene

of his ministry was Beth-el, where the idol calves were set up

(Am 7:10-13).

There his prophecies roused Amaziah, the idol priest, to accuse him of

conspiracy and to try to drive him back to Judah.

The first six chapters are without figure; the last three

symbolical, but with the explanation subjoined. He first denounces the

neighboring peoples, then the Jews, then Israel (from the third chapter

to the end), closing with the promise or restoration under Messiah

(Am 9:11-15).

His style is thought by JEROME to betray his

humble origin; but though not sublime, it is regular, perspicuous, and

energetic; his images are taken from the scenes in nature with which he

was familiar; his rhythms are flowing, his parallelisms exact, and his

descriptions minute and graphic. Some peculiar expressions occur:

"cleanness of teeth," that is, want of bread

(Am 4:6);

"the excellency of Jacob"

(Am 6:8; 8:7);

"the high places of Isaac"

(Am 7:9);

"the house of Isaac"

(Am 7:16);

"he that createth the wind"

(Am 4:13).

HENGSTENBERG draws an able argument for the genuineness of the

Mosaic records from the evidence in Amos, that the existing

institutions in Israel as well as Judah (excepting the calves of

Jeroboam), were framed according to the Pentateuch rules.

Two quotations from Amos occur in the New Testament (compare

Ac 7:42, 43,

with Am 5:25, 26;

and

Ac 15:16, 17,

with Am 9:11).

PHILO,

JOSEPHUS,

MELITO'S catalogue,

JEROME,

JUSTIN

MARTYR

(Dialogue with Trypho, 22, quoting the fifth and six chapters of

Amos as "one of the twelve minor prophets"), and the sixtieth canon of

the Laodicean council support the canonicity of the book of Amos.