- Classes
- Certificates
- My Account
- Donate
- Search
Search
Search
Amos
AMOS (ā'mŏs, Heb. ‘āmôs, Gr. amos, burden-bearer). One of the colorful personalities in an era that saw the rise of several towering prophetic figures. His ministry occurred in the reign of Jeroboam II (c. 786-746 b.c.), son of King Jehoash of the Jehu dynasty of Israel. Due to the removal of Benhadad III of Syria as a military threat, the northern kingdom had been able to consolidate its hold on Damascus and extend its borders northward to the pass of Hamath. To the south and east, its territorial acquisitions equaled those of the early kingdom period under David and Solomon. While Assyria was becoming an increasingly serious political threat, its military might under Tiglath-Pileser III was still a distant prospect when Jeroboam II began to rule Israel.
Jeroboam’s forty-year reign was one of great prosperity for the northern kingdom, approaching in character the “golden age” of David and Solomon. With the threat of war removed, a cultural, social, and economic revival took place. The expansion of trade and commerce resulted in a steady drift from country to city, and the small towns in the northern kingdom gradually became overcrowded. But prosperity was accompanied by an almost unprecedented degree of social corruption (
Archaeological discoveries in Palestine have furnished a dramatic picture of the extent to which this depraved, immoral religion exerted its corrupting influences over the Israelites. Characteristic of the ritual observances were drunkenness, violence, gross sensuality, and idolatrous worship. The effect was seen in the corruption of justice, in wanton and luxurious living, and in the decay of social unity in Hebrew society. The rich manifested no sense of responsibility toward the poor, and instead of relieving their economic distress seemed bent on devising new means of depriving them of their property.
To this perilous situation Amos brought a message of stern denunciation. Although he was not an inhabitant of the northern kingdom, he was painfully aware of its moral, social, and religious shortcomings. Amos lived in the small mountain village of Tekoa, which lay to the south of Jerusalem on the borders of the extensive upland pastures of Judah. By trade he was a herdsman of sheep and goats (
The style of his book, though simple, is picturesque, marked by striking illustrations taken from his rural surroundings. His work as a herdsman was clearly not incompatible either with a knowledge of history (
Analysis
Bibliography: J. K. Howard, Amos Among the Prophets, 1968; J. L. Mays, Amos: A Commentary, 1969; J. A. Motyer, The Day of the Lion, 1974.——RKH

AMOS ā’ məs (עָמֹ֔וס amos, LXX ̓Αμώς, G322, burden-bearer). An 8th-cent. b.c. literary prophet of Judah who uttered denunciations against Israel and other nations as contained in the canonical book attributed to him.
1. Background
2. Authorship and unity
3. Date
4. Place of origin and destination
5. Occasion and purpose
6. Canonicity and text
7. Content
8. Theology
Background.
The concurrent reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel were marked by a period of peace and prosperity in the N and S which approached in character the “golden age” of David and Solomon. This situation resulted from a number of factors, one of the most important being the removal of Benhadad III of Syria (c. 796-776 b.c.) as a military threat to the northern kingdom. This ruler, son of Hazael (
Shortly afterward, Damascus came under the sovereignty of Jeroboam II (
Once the menace of war had been removed, a remarkable cultural, social, and economic revival took place in Israel and was reflected to a lesser extent in Judah. The northern kingdom was now free to control the trading caravan routes of the E which passed through its newly acquired territory. One consequence of this was the rise of a rich mercantile class which shared with the nobility the wealth of the nation and created new demands for an increasingly wide variety of luxury items. The expansion of trade and commerce fostered a steady drift of the populace from the country to the city, and for the first time in their history the small towns in the northern kingdom gradually became overcrowded.
Prosperity was accompanied by an almost unprecedented degree of social corruption (
Ritual prostitution was a perennial feature of Canaanite religion, and characterizations of Anat, an eminent female member of the pantheon, depicted her as a divine courtesan. One cuneiform text from Ugarit portrayed her as a butcher, brutally slaying both young and old in a fiendish orgy. The lily and the serpent, commonly found in association with this fertility goddess, were venerated as symbols of fecundity. Canaanite religion recognized four principal annual feasts, and for the most part the worship was carried on at outdoor altars or near the tops of hills. Certain types of sacrifice were indulged in, and from cuneiform sources appear to have been more diversified than Israelite sacrifices. Drunkenness, violence, idolatrous worship, and gross sensuality were inevitable concomitants of Canaanite festal observances, and were extremely common in Israelite religion also. On every side in the northern kingdom there was an avowed interest in cultic worship at the shrines (
The effect of this degenerating influence upon Heb. society began to be felt in the corruption of justice, in willful and luxurious living of the upper classes, and in the general decay of social unity. The rich manifested no sense of responsibility toward the poor, and instead of relieving their economic distress, they seemed bent upon depriving them of all their property. Small farmers were dispossessed by the rapacious wealthy class in order to make possible the accumulation of vast estates, and where this could not be done legally, it was achieved by means of bribing the judiciary to render judgment in favor of the rich contestant. In a very short time the nation, whose strength had subsisted in the mass of its independent citizens, was divided into the dissolute rich and the oppressed poor. Within a few short years the latter had been reduced to the level of serfs, and when circumstances made it necessary, they were sold into bondage by their masters, frequently for trivial considerations (
This situation has been amply illustrated archeologically by the famous Samaritan ostraca, which have been assigned to the reign of Jeroboam II. Some sixty-three potsherds inscribed in ink were recovered in 1910 by the Harvard expedition to Samaria in some ruins just W of the site of the royal palace. When the fragments were deciphered, they were found to comprise administrative documents recording shipments of wine and oil to Samaria. One potsherd contained the name of the treasury official in receipt of the wine, the district from which it had been sent, and the names of the peasants who had paid their taxes in this manner. Of the twenty or more place names in the ostraca, six appear as clan-designations in the OT. The references in the sherds to “pure clarified wine” and “refined oil” typified the exaggerated demands of the luxury loving Samaritan elite, and demonstrated the extent to which the northern kingdom had moved away from the ancient Heb. ideal of the small independent landowner.
Some idea of the way in which cultural interests were coming to the forefront can be obtained from the jasper seal of “Shema, servant of Jeroboam,” discovered by Schumacher at Megiddo in 1904. On epigraphic grounds it prob. should be assigned to the period of Jeroboam II, and the magnificently executed lion which it depicted is a striking testimony to the artistic standards of the 8th cent. b.c. A great many ivory inlays, the earliest of which belonged to the time of Ahab (874/3-853 b.c.), have been recovered from the hill of Samaria (modern Sebastiyeh), mostly in the form of small panels in relief depicting such things as palmettos, lilies, lions, deer, sphinxes, and winged human figures. The remains of a bed decorated with ivory inlays were also recovered (cf.
Authorship and unity.
Questions relating to the authorship and composition of the prophecy have been widely discussed in recent years. While the Heb. text furnishes no indication as to whether or not Amos actually put his oracles into written form during his lifetime, or at his death left behind written sources containing some or all of his utterances, the freshness and vitality of much of the material would suggest the direct authorship of Amos himself. Adherents of the Scandinavian tradition historical theories have maintained that the oracles of Amos, like those of all other prophets, were transmitted orally over a long period of time before being put into their extant form. However, the remarkably sound condition of the Heb. text seems to favor the view that either Amos or an amanuensis set down the utterances in writing within a short time of their promulgation.
Certain scholars have suggested that the visions (
A modification of this view suggested that apart from certain minor additions, the prophecy was in fact the accredited work of Amos, but entertained the idea of a twofold division, the first part of which comprised
Great caution must be urged in advancing any theory which would make for a hard and fast division between oracles and visions in the extant prophecy. When the Book of Amos is compared with other clearly attestable prophecies compiled in bipartite form, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, it is evident that the grouping of the Amos material into oracles and visions is incidental to the process of compilation and was never meant to depict a true bipartite structure. That the visions ought to be integrated with the oracular utterances in the ministry of the prophet is apparent in the first vision (
A careful reading of the text leaves little doubt that the visions comprise a literary as well as a spiritual homogeneous unit. This is apparent from the construction of the material as a whole, which rises rhetorically to a climax, and also by the general consonance of the form and subject matter. There seems little reason for doubting that they comprised a unified group from the time of oral proclamation, and the fact that the first person sing. was used for the visions suggests that Amos himself was the author. While it is possible that the material in
The collection of oracles in
Some scholars have detected what are thought to have been annotations to the original prophecy, i.e., the fact that in the superscription the king of Judah was placed before the king of Israel. While this could have been the work of a Judaean scribe, the juxtaposition of the two names need imply nothing more than that, in the mind of Amos, only the Davidic line, represented by Uzziah, was legitimate, a situation which may also be in evidence in
In general the great majority of liberal scholars are prepared to accept the prophecy as being the authentic product of Amos, although the work of editorial hands is frequently posited. Attempts to distinguish between individual editors seem pointless in view of a complete lack of supporting evidence. Some minor insertions have been argued for, mostly in connection with material relating to Judah, along with the concluding vv. of the prophecy dealing with the future prospects of the nation.
The extent to which the prophet may have attracted disciples depends largely upon whether or not he exercised a later ministry in the southern kingdom, as Amaziah had advised (
The literary style of the prophecy exhibits freshness, simplicity, and originality, all of which must have made an immediate claim upon the attention of his hearers. His poetic utterances are among the finest in Heb. lit., and the dirge-like rhythms which he utilized are powerful agents in the task of building up an ominous sense of expectation of calamity. Yet his diction is never so compounded with figures of speech that its meaning is not immediately apparent, nor his lyricism so exalted as to obscure his theological teachings.
Some scholars have suggested that Amos included fragments of a cultic hymn in his prophecy, such sections represented by
Date.
From the superscription to the prophecy (
The mention in the superscription of an earthquake which occurred two years after the appearance of the prophet is unfortunately of no help in dating his ministry, even though the phenomenon was still remembered in the days of Zechariah (
It is difficult to say precisely how long the ministry of the prophet continued, and it may have lasted only a few months at the most. It appears to have terminated in Bethel (
Place of origin and destination.
Although Amos was one of the more colorful personalities in an era of several towering prophetic figures, comparatively little is known about his origin. He was a native of Tekoa (
Upon receiving his call, Amos proceeded resolutely to the center of pagan worship in the northern kingdom and protested vigorously against the luxurious and careless living so typical of Samaria. He pointed to the unmistakable symptoms of a morally sick society and castigated the perversion of religion which was being allowed at the cultic shrines of Gilgal and Beersheba, stating flatly that ritual could never constitute an acceptable substitute for righteousness. His denunciation of idolatry included the firm assertion that God exercised a moral jurisdiction over all nations (
Occasion and purpose.
Amos had been greatly exercised by the license, apostasy, and corruption of life in the northern kingdom, a situation which furnished the occasion and reason for the prophecy. To these circumstances Amos came with a message of stern denunciation. Although he was not an inhabitant of the northern kingdom, he was well aware of its moral, social, and religious shortcomings. The fact that Amos forsook Judah to deliver his oracles at Bethel and perhaps Samaria has led some scholars to make him a northerner by origin, on the supposition that he moved to Tekoa only when expelled by the authorities of the northern kingdom because of his prophecies of doom. While the absence of sycamores near Tekoa in modern times might seem to support such a view, it is refuted by the fact that Amaziah clearly regarded Amos as a native Judaean and bade him return home with all speed (
Canonicity and text.
This prophecy stood third in the list of the canonical twelve Minor Prophets, but Amos was one of the first of the so-called “writing prophets,” and as such initiated a new period in the growth of the prophetic office in Israel. The Heb. text of Amos is in good condition, although some scholars have seen fit to suggest emendations for certain passages such as
Content.
Theology.
Any interpretation of the prophetic message which sees the Judaean shepherd as the harbinger of unrelieved doom is incorrect, particularly since it requires the rejection of
While Amos did not mention the covenant directly, it was clearly fundamental to his estimate of the relationship between God and Israel. The creator of the cosmos had entered into a special association with Israel (
Like other Heb. prophets, Amos made it a matter of prime importance to stress that no form of rite, ceremony, liturgical procedure, or festal celebration could form an acceptable substitute for sustained and deliberate violation of the revealed moral law. The elaborate rituals which had been devised were an abomination to a Deity who demanded first and foremost that His people should manifest holiness of life. If the nation persisted in showing that it had no serious intentions of measuring up to the ethical standards laid down in the law, its implicit divorce of religion from morality could only result in drastic punishment (
The primary call of the prophet was for national repentance and a return to God, but this was not just a matter of reforming cultic practices and observing traditional forms of Heb. worship. The corruptions of Canaanite religion had spread to all levels of society, and the appalling violations of justice and equity in Israel demanded immediate redress in the spirit of the Torah, which exhibited an advanced doctrine of social responsibility among the covenant people. Judgment and righteousness (
So convinced was Amos of impending doom that he never wavered in his pronouncements of future destruction. While God naturally desired the nation to choose repentance and life rather than continued sin and consequent destruction, it was clear to Amos that the covenant of grace existing between Israel and God demanded that Deity should be more severe in His dealings with delinquent Israel than with any of the pagan nations. While Amos did not present the doctrine of the remnant in as developed a form as did his younger contemporary, Isaiah, there is no doubt that it was present in essence in his prophecy (
The message of judgment for the nation, based upon the concept of a divine righteousness, involved a repudiation of the widely-held notion of the “day of the Lord” as an occasion of prosperity and material blessing for Israel (
Much scholarly discussion has taken place regarding the possibility that such eschatological ideas were in existence in the 8th cent. b.c. Precisely what form the “day of the Lord” was supposed to have taken has also been debated, with a resultant wide diversity of opinion. The popular expectation appears to have envisioned a time when Israel would triumph gloriously over all her foes and exact tribute from them while living in luxury herself. Abetting this view was the fact that the contemporary state of material prosperity was taken as a sign of divine blessing and a token of the greater riches to follow when the successes of the nation occurred.
Bibliography
W. R. Harper, Amos and Hosea in ICC (1910); E. J. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament (1953), 250-252; R. S. Cripps, Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Amos (1955); J. D. W. Watts, Vision and Prophecy in Amos (1958); R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (1969).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
(`amoc, "burdensome" or "burden-bearer"; Amos):
I. THE PROPHET 1. Name
2. Native Place
3. Personal History
4. His Preparation
(1) Knowledge of God
(2) Acquaintance with History of His People
(3) Personal Travel
(4) Scenery of His Home
5. His Mission
6. Date
II. THE BOOK 1. Its Divisions
2. Its Outlook
3. Value of the Book
(1) As a Picture of the Social Condition
(2) As Picture of the Religious Condition
(3) Testimony to History
(4) Testimony to the Law
(a) The Ritual
(b) Ethical Teaching
(5) The Prophetic Order
(6) The Prophetic Religion
LITERATURE
I. The Prophet. 1. Name:
Amos is the prophet whose book stands third among the "Twelve" in the Hebrew canon. No other person bearing the same name is mentioned in the Old Testament, the name of the father of the prophet Isaiah being written differently (’amots). There is an Amos mentioned in the genealogical series
2. Native Place:
Tekoa, the native place of Amos, was situated at a distance of 5 miles South from Bethlehem, from which it is visible, and 10 miles from Jerusalem, on a hill 2,700 ft. high, overlooking the wilderness of Judah. It was made a "city for defense" by Rehoboam (
3. Personal History:
The particulars of a personal kind which are noted in the book are few but suggestive. Amos was not a prophet or the son of a prophet, he tells us (
4. His Preparation:
Nothing is said as to any special preparation of the prophet for his work: "The Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel" (
(1) Knowledge of God.
(2) Acquaintance with History of His People.
Then his book shows not only that he was well acquainted with the history and traditions of his nation, which he takes for granted as well known to his hearers, but that he had reflected upon these things and realized their significance. We infer that he had breathed an atmosphere of religion, as there is nothing to indicate that, in his acquaintance with the religious facts of his nation, he differed from those among whom he dwelt, although the call to go forth and enforce them came to him in a special way.
(3) Personal Travel.
It has been conjectured that Amos had acquired by personal travel the accurate acquaintance which he shows in his graphic delineations of contemporary life and conditions; and it may have been the case that, as a wool-merchant or flock-master, he had visited the towns mentioned and frequented the various markets to which the people were attracted.
(4) Scenery of His Home.
Nor must we overlook another factor in his preparation: the scenery in which he had his home and the occupations of his daily life. The landscape was one to make a solemn impression on a reflective mind: the extensive desert, the shimmering waters of the Dead Sea, the high wall of the distant hills of Moab, over all which were thrown the varying light and shade. The silent life of the desert, as with such scenes ever before him, he tended his flock or defended them from the ravages of wild beasts, would to one whose thoughts were full of God nourish that exalted view of the Divine Majesty which we find in his book, and furnish the imagery in which his thoughts are set (
5. His Mission:
Thus, prepared in the solitudes of the extreme south of Judah, he was called to go and prophesy unto the people of Israel, and appears at Bethel the capital of the Northern Kingdom. It may be that, in the prosecution of his worldly calling, he had seen and been impressed by the conditions of life and religion in those parts. No reason is given for his mission to the northern capital, but the reason is not far to seek. It is the manner of the prophets to appear where they are most needed; and the Northern Kingdom about that time had come victorious out of war, and had reached its culmination of wealth and power, with the attendant results of luxury and excess, while the Southern Kingdom had been enjoying a period of outward tranquillity and domestic content.
6. Date:
The date of the prophet Amos can approximately be fixed from the statement in the first verse that his activity fell "in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake." Both these monarchs had long reigns, that of Uzziah extending from 779 to 740 BC and that of Jeroboam II from 783 to 743 BC. If we look at the years when they were concurrently reigning, and bear in mind that, toward the end of Uzziah’s reign, Jotham acted as co-regent, we may safely place the date of Amos at about the year 760 BC. In a country in which earthquakes are not uncommon the one here mentioned must have been of unusual severity, for the memory of it was long preserved (
II. The Book.
We can distinguish with more than ordinary certainty the outlines of the individual addresses, and the arrangement of the book is clear and simple. The text, also, has been on the whole faithfully preserved; and though in a few places critics profess to find the traces of later editorial hands, these conclusions rest mainly on subjective grounds, and will be estimated differently by different minds.
1. Its Divisions:
The book falls naturally into three parts, recognizable by certain recurring formulas and general literary features.
(1) The first section, which is clearly recognizable, embraces
(2) The second section embraces
(3) The third section has some well-marked characteristics, although it is even less uniform than the preceding. The outstanding feature is the phrase, "Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me" (
2. Its Outlook:
If the discourses are put down in chronological order of their delivery, it would appear that Amos did not immediately take his departure, since more visions follow this episode, and there is a special appropriateness in the intervention of Amaziah just at the point where it is recorded. As to the closing passage of this section (
3. Value of the Book:
The Book of Amos is particularly valuable from the fact that he is certainly one of the earliest prophets whose writings have come down to us. It is, like the Book of Hosea which belongs to about the same time, a contemporaneous document of a period of great significance in the history of Israel, and not only gives graphic sketches or illuminating hints of the life and religious condition of the people, but furnishes a trustworthy standard for estimating the value of some other books whose dates are not so precisely determined, a definite starting-point for tracing the course of Israel’s history.
(1) As a Picture of the Social Condition.
The book is valuable as embodying a contemporary picture of society and the condition of religion. From the abuses which the prophet denounces and the lifelike sketches he draws of the scenes amid which he moved, taken along with what we know otherwise of the historical movements of the period, we are able to form a fairly adequate estimate of the condition of the age and the country. During the reign of Jeroboam II the kingdom of Israel, after having been greatly reduced during preceding reigns, rose to a degree of extent and influence unexampled since the days of Solomon (
But success in war, if it encouraged this boastful spirit, brought also inevitable evils in its train. Victory, as we know from the Assyrian monuments, meant plunder; for king after king recounts how much spoil he had taken, how many prisoners he had carried away; and we must assume that wars among smaller states would be conducted on the same methods. In such wars, success meant an extension of territory and increase of wealth, while defeat entailed the reverse. But it is to be remembered that, in an agricultural country and in a society constituted as that of Israel was, the result of war to one class of the population was to a great extent disastrous, whatever was the issue, and success, when it was achieved, brought evils in its train which even aggravated their condition. The peasant, required to take up arms for offense or defense, was taken away from the labors of the field which, in the best event, were for a time neglected, and, in the worst, were wasted and rendered unproductive. And then, when victory was secured, the spoils were liable to fall into the hands of the nobles and leaders, those "called with a name" (
(2) As a Picture of the Religious Condition.
(3) Testimony to History.
The book is valuable for the confirmation it gives of the historical statements of other books, particularly for the references it contains to the earlier history contained in the Pentateuch. And here we must distinguish between references to, or quotations from, books, and statements or hints or indications of historical events which may or may not have been written in books or accessible to the prophet and his hearers. Opinions differ as to the date of composition of the books which record the earlier history, and the oldest Biblical writers are not in the habit of saying from what sources they drew their information or whether they are quoting from books. We can hardly believe that in the time of Amos copies of existing books or writings would be in the hands of the mass of the people, even if the power to read them was general. In such circumstances, if we find a prophet like Amos in the compass of a small book referring to outstanding events and stages of the past history as matters known to all his hearers and unquestionable, our confidence in the veracity of the books in which these facts are recorded is greatly increased, and it becomes a matter of comparatively less importance at what date these books were composed.
Now it is remarkable how many allusions, more or less precise, to antecedent history are found in the compass of this small book; and the significance of them lies not in the actual number of references, but in the kind of reference and the implications involved in the individual references. That is to say, each reference is not to be taken as an isolated testimony to some single event in question, but involves a great deal more than is expressed, and is intelligible only when other facts or incidents are taken into consideration. Thus e. g. the reference to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (
(4) Testimony to the Law.
(a) The Ritual.
(b) Ethical Teaching.
As a preacher of righteousness, Amos affirms and resists upon those ethical parts of the law which are its vital elements, and which lie at the foundation of all prophecy; and it is remarkable how even in phraseology he agrees with the most ethical book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy. He does not, indeed, like his contemporary Hosea, dwell on the love of God as De does; but, of sterner mould, in almost the very words of Deuteronomy, emphasizes the keeping of God’s commandments, and denounces those who despise the law (compare
Compare also
(5) The Prophetic Order.
As Amos is without doubt one of the earliest writing prophets, his book is invaluable as an example of what prophecy was in ancient Israel. And one thing cannot fail to impress the reader at the very outset: namely, that he makes no claim to be the first or among the first of the line, or that he is exercising some new and hitherto unheard- of function. He begins by boldly speaking in God’s name, assuming that even the people of the Northern Kingdom were familiar with that kind of address. Nay, he goes farther and states in unequivocal terms that "the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (
(6) The Prophetic Religion.
LITERATURE .
W. R. Harper, "Amos and Hosea," in the ICC; S. R. Driver, "Joe and Amos" in Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges; H. G. Mitchell, Amos, an Essay in Exegesis (Boston); A. B. Davidson, two articles in The Expositor, 3rd ser, V, VI (1887); W. R. Smith, The Prophets of Israel; G. A. Smith, "The Book of the Twelve Prophets," in Expositor’s Bible; J. J. P. Valeton, Amos und Hosea (1894); C. von Orelli, Die zwolf kleinen Propheten, 3. Aufl. (1908) and ET; Nowack, "Die kleinen Propheten," in Hand-commentar zum Altes Testament; Marti, "Das Dodekapropheton erklart," in Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Altes Testament.
An ancestor of Jesus in Luke’s genealogy, the eighth before Joseph, the husband of Mary (