Amos

Holman Bible Dictionary

As a prophet, Amos was a primary figure among the series of courageous men known as the “Minor Prophets.” Neither they nor their inspired messages were minor, and they are called “minor” only because their books are far shorter than “Major Prophets” such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. So brief were their writings that all twelve were written on a single scroll. Hence, those writings were commonly known as the Book of the Twelve or the Minor Prophets.

Amos was a layperson who disclaimed professional status as a prophet: “I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel'” ( Amos 7:14-15 RSV). Because of God's call, Amos assumed his prophetic responsibilities as a lonely voice prophesying from both the desert and the villages. He indicted both Judah and Israel, challenging the superficial qualities of religious institutions. For Amos, his call and his continuing ministry rested in God's initiative and in His sustaining power: “The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (  Amos 3:8 RSV).

Amos lived in a time of relative peace on the international political scene. Both Egypt and Assyria were in a period of decline, although Assyria was beginning to expand its power. Syria had become ineffective, but the reduction of this buffer state between Israel and Assyria was to have serious repercussions in the generation following Amos.

Internally, the political structures of both Israel and Judah were stable. Beginning his prophetic activity during the reign of Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Amos lived during an era that rivaled Solomon's generation in its stability and economic prosperity ( 2 Kings 14:23-27 ). Yet, it was precisely the social, moral, and religious problems attending that prosperity that became the focus for Amos' voice of judgment. In the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the noble king Uzziah reigned ( Amos 1:1 ). Amos probably began his ministry with God's call in 765 B.C., “two years before the earthquake” ( Amos 1:1 ).

Morally, Israel and Judah were suffering under the corruption generated as a by-product of Canaanite and Tyrian Baalism, as well as infidelity to the Lord's covenant. Israelite society had experienced the inevitable decay which characterizes misdirected prosperity. It may appear strange that the corruption of Israelite society could be traced to its contemporary religious structures and to the material prosperity which Israelites so often interpreted as a sign of divine favor. Despite the contradictory nature of those circumstances, the debauched moral condition of the land was the product of both corrupt religion and perverted material prosperity. Rampant luxury and self-indulgence were clearly manifest ( Amos 1:6;  Amos 4:1;  Amos 5:10;  Amos 6:1;  Amos 8:4 ).

Exploitation of the poor occurred throughout the land ( Amos 2:6;  Amos 3:10;  Amos 4:1;  Amos 5:11;  Amos 8:4-6 ). Justice was distorted. The dynamism of personal religious experience gave way to the superficiality of institutional religion as demonstrated in the conflict between Amos and Amaziah, the priest of Bethel ( Amos 7:10 ). Amos' opposition to those moral and religious evils led him to emphasize the primary theme of the book: “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everlasting stream” ( Amos 5:24 RSV).

One may divide the book of Amos into three sections. Chapters one and two are a basic section, divided into subsections which begin with a common literary introduction ( Amos 1:3 ,Amos 1:3, 1:6 ,Amos 1:6, 1:9 ,Amos 1:9, 1:11 ,Amos 1:11, 1:13;  Amos 2:1 ,Amos 2:1, 2:4 ,Amos 2:4, 2:6 ). The second section of the book consists of judgment oracles directed against Israel ( Amos 3:1-6:14 ). The third section contains the visions of Amos (7-9), which may have been the earliest revelations through the prophet. The visions were central to his call experience. Aware of the awesome reality of human sin and divine judgment, these visions shaped his prophetic messages ( Amos 7:1-3 ,Amos 7:1-3, 7:4-6 ,Amos 7:4-6, 7:7-9;  Amos 8:1-3;  Amos 9:1-4 ).

The words of Amos address various issues, but the central theme stresses sin and judgment. Whether in addressing other nations, Israel, or Judah, the prophet condemned those who sin against a universal conscience ( Amos 1:1-2:3 ), the revealed law ( Amos 2:4-5 ), or God's redeeming love ( Amos 2:6-16 ). Amos challenged people to live by covenant standards and condemned them for their failure to reflect the covenant in daily life. He was concerned about people who “do not know how to do right” ( Amos 3:10 RSV). His word of judgment was severe for the “first ladies of Samaria” who encouraged the injustice and violence of their husbands “who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, Bring, that we may drink!'” (  Amos 4:1 RSV). Because of such injustice and the failure to bind authentic religious experience with a social conscience, Amos claimed that the nation was already dead. One could sing Israel's funeral lament: “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel” (  Amos 5:1 RSV). For individuals who were superficially and confidently “at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria” (  Amos 6:1 RSV), their only hope rested in the renewal of authentic religious experience leading to a life of justice and righteousness which overflow the land (  Amos 5:24 ). For those who rejected that way, only judgment remained: “prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” ( Amos 4:12 ).  2 . An ancestor of Jesus ( Luke 3:25 ).

Outline

I. The Sermons: God Confronts His People's Sin ( Amos 1:1-6:14 ).

A. God's Word is revealed in human words ( Amos 1:1-2 ).

B. God identifies and condemns all human sin ( Amos 1:3-2:16 ).

1. Acts against common human decency are sinful ( Amos 1:3-2:3 ).

2. The rejection of God's law by substituting one's own wisdom is sin ( Amos 2:4-5 ).

3. Rejecting God's love is sin ( Amos 2:6-16 ).

C. God condemns empty religion ( Amos 3:1-15 ).

1. The privilege of being loved by God brings responsibility ( Amos 3:1-2 ).

2. God reveals His purposes to His people ( Amos 3:3-8 ).

3. God uses historical agents in His judgment ( Amos 3:9-12 ).

4. Centers of empty religion and ill-gotten prosperity will all fall ( Amos 3:13-15 ).

D. God's love confronts His disobedient people in judgment ( Amos 4:1-13 ).

1. Insatiable desire leads to sin ( Amos 4:1-3 ).

2. Empty and meaningless worship is sin ( Amos 4:4-5 ).

3. Temporal judgment is intended to lead God's people to repentance ( Amos 4:6-11 ).

4. God's rebellious people face an ultimate confrontation with Him ( Amos 4:12-13 ).

E. God calls His people to practice justice and righteousness ( Amos 5:1-27 ).

1. God sees the end of His sinful people ( Amos 5:1-3 ).

2. God's rebellious people are invited to seek Him ( Amos 5:4-9 ,Amos 5:4-9, 5:14-15 ).

3. God's inescapable judgment is on His people ( Amos 5:10-13 ,Amos 5:10-13, 5:16-20 ).

4. Practical righteousness is God's ultimate demand of His people ( Amos 5:21-27 ).

F. False security in national strength leads to ultimate downfall ( Amos 6:1-14 ).

II. The Visions: Seeing God Properly Reveals Both His Judgment and His Mercy ( Amos 7:1-9:15 ).

A. God extends mercy in response to serious intercession ( Amos 7:1-6 ).

B. Ultimate confrontation with God can never be escaped ( Amos 7:7-9 ).

C. A proper view of God brings everything else into perspective ( Amos 7:10-17 ).

1. A false view of the nature of God's message leads to wrong decisions ( Amos 7:10-13 ).

2. A person transformed by a vision of God sees people and things as they really are ( Amos 7:14-17 ).

D. The final consequences of sin offers judgment without hope ( Amos 8:1-9:4 ).

1. An overripe, rotten religion is worthless ( Amos 8:1-3 ).

2. The empty observance of meaningless ritual leaves our morality unaffected ( Amos 8:4-6 ).

3. God's final judgment is a horrible sight ( Amos 8:7-9:4 ).

E. God's mercy can be seen beyond His judgment ( Amos 9:5-15 ).

1. God is Sovereign over all the universe ( Amos 9:5-6 ).

2. God's mercy still offers hope beyond temporal judgment ( Amos 9:7-10 ).

3. God's ultimate purpose of good for His people will be fulfilled ( Amos 9:11-15 ).

Roy L. Honeycutt

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

AMOS

1. The man . Amos, the earliest of the prophets whose writings have come down to us, and the initiator of one of the greatest movements in spiritual history, was a herdsman, or small sheep-farmer, in Tekoa, a small town lying on the uplands some six miles south of Bethlehem. He combined two occupations. The sheep he reared produced a particularly fine kind of wool, the sale of which doubtless took him from one market to another. But he was also a ‘pincher of sycomores.’ The fruit of this tree was hastened in its ripening process by being bruised or pinched: and as the sycomore does not grow at so great a height as Tekoa, this subsidiary occupation would bring Amos into touch with other political and religious circles. The simple life of the uplands, the isolation from the dissipation of a wealthier civilization, the aloofness from all priestly or prophetic guilds, had doubtless much to do with the directness of his vision and speech, and with the spiritual independence which found in him so noble an utterance. While he was thus a native of the kingdom of Judah, his prophetic activity awoke in the kingdom of Israel. Of this awakening he gives a most vivid picture in the account of his interview with Amaziah, the priest of Bethel (  Amos 7:10-17 ). He had gone to Bethel to some great religious feast, which was also a business market. The direct call from God to testify against the unrighteousness of both kingdoms had probably come to him not long before; and amidst the throng at Bethel he proclaimed his vision of Jehovah standing with a plumb-line to measure the deflection of Israel, and prepared to punish the iniquity of the house of Jeroboam II. The northern kingdom had no pleasant memories of another prophet who had declared the judgment of God upon sin (  2 Kings 9:25 ff.); and Amaziah, the priest, thinking that Amos was one of a prophetic and official guild, contemptuously bade him begone to Judah, where he could prophesy for hire, (  Amos 7:12 ). The answer came flashing back. Amos disclaimed all connexion with the hireling prophets whose ‘word’ was dictated by the immediate political and personal interest. He was something better and more honest no prophet, neither a prophet’s son, but a herdsman and a dresser of sycomores, called by God to prophesy to Israel. Herein lies much of his distinctiveness. The earlier prophetic impulse which had been embodied in the prophetic guilds had become professional and insincere. Amos brought prophecy back again into the line of direct inspiration.

2. The time in which he lived .   Amos 1:1 may not be part of the original prophecy, but there is no reason to doubt its essential accuracy. Amos was prophesying in those years in which Uzziah and Jeroboam II. were reigning contemporaneously, b.c. 775 750. This date is of great importance, because few prophetic writings are so interpenetrated by the historical situation as those of Amos. For nearly 100 years prior to his time Israel had suffered severely from the attacks of Syria. She had lost the whole of her territory east of Jordan (  2 Kings 10:32 f.); she had been made like ‘dust in threshing’ (  2 Kings 13:7 ). But now Syria had more than enough to do to defend herself from the southward pressure of Assyria; and the result was that Israel once more began to be prosperous and to regain her lost territories. Under Jeroboam II. this prosperity reached its climax. The people revelled in it, giving no thought to any further danger. Even Assyria was not feared, because she was busy with the settlement of internal affairs, rebellion and pestilence. Amos, however, knew that the relaxation of pressure could be but temporary. He saw that the Assyrian would eventually push past Damascus down into Palestine, and bring in the day of account; and although he nowhere names Assyria as the agent of God’s anger, the references are unmistakable (  Amos 5:27 ,   Amos 6:7;   Amos 6:14 ,   Amos 7:17 ).

It is this careless prosperity with its accompanying unrighteousness and forgetfulness of God that is never out of the prophet’s thoughts. The book is short, but the picture of a time of moral anarchy is complete. The outward religious observances are kept up, and the temples are thronged with worshippers ( Amos 5:5 ,   Amos 9:1 ); tithes and voluntary offerings are duly paid (  Amos 4:4-5 ,   Amos 5:22 ). But religion has divorced itself from morality, the stated worship of God from reverence for the character of God (  Amos 2:8 ). The rich have their winter houses and their summer houses (  Amos 3:15 ), houses built of hewn stone (  Amos 5:11 ), and panelled with ivory (  Amos 3:15 ). They drink wine by the bowlful (  Amos 6:6 ), and the fines unjustly extorted from the defenceless are spent in the purchase of wine for the so-called religious feast (  Amos 2:8 ). Lazy, pampered women, ‘kine of Bashan,’ are foremost in this unholy oppression (  Amos 4:1 ). There is no such thing as justice; the very semblance of it is the oppression of the weak by the strong. The righteous are sold for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes (  Amos 2:6 ); the houses of the great are stored with the spoils of robbery (  Amos 3:10 ); bribery and corruption, the besetting sins of the East, are rampant (  Amos 5:12 ). Commerce shares in the prevailing evil; weights are falsified and food is adulterated (  Amos 8:5-6 ). Immorality is open and shameless (  Amos 2:7 ). Small wonder that the prophet declares as the word of the Lord, ‘I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies’ (  Amos 5:21 ). While the observances of religion are maintained, the soul of religion has fled. Those who are responsible for the evil condition of things ‘are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph’ (  Amos 6:6 ).

3. Contents of the book . The book is framed upon a definite plan, which is clearer in the opening section than in those which follow.

(i)  Amos 1:2 to   Amos 2:16 treats of the judgment upon the nations for their sins. Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel are all passed under review. The assumption is that each people is subject to the dominion of Jehovah. Punishment will be visited upon each for the violation of some broad and universally recognized principle of humanity.

(ii) Chs. 3, 4, 5, three threatening discourses, each introduced by ‘Hear ye this word.’

(iii) 7 9:10, a series of five visions, interrupted in  Amos 7:10-17 by the account of Amaziah’s attempt to intimidate Amos. The visions are ( a ) the devouring locusts (  Amos 7:1-3 ); ( b ) the consuming fire (  Amos 7:4-6 ); ( c ) the plumb-line (  Amos 7:7-9 ); ( d ) the basket of summer fruit (  Amos 8:1-3 ); ( e ) the smitten sanctuary, and destruction of the worshippers (  Amos 9:1-10 ).

 Amos 9:11-15 is in striking contrast to the tone of the rest of the book. Instead of threatenings there are now promises. The line of David will be restored to its former splendour; the waste cities shall be built up; the settled agricultural life shall be resumed. This Epilogue is generally acknowledged to be a late addition to the prophecy. It contains no moral feature, no repentance, no new righteousness. It tells only of a people satisfied with vineyards and gardens. ‘These are legitimate hopes; but they are hopes of a generation of other conditions and of other deserts than the generation of Amos’ (G. A. Smith, Twelve Prophets , i. 195).

4. Theology of Amos . In his religions outlook Amos had many successors, but he had no forerunner. His originality is complete.

(i) His view of Jehovah . Hitherto Jehovah had been thought of as a Deity whose power over His own people was absolute, but who ceased to have influence when removed from certain geographical surroundings (  1 Kings 20:23 ). The existence of other gods had not been questioned even by the most pious of the Israelites; they denied only that these other gods had any claim over the life of the people of Jehovah. But Amos will not hear of the existence of other gods. Jehovah is the God of the whole earth. His supreme claim is righteousness, and where that is not conceded He will punish. He rules over Syria and Caphtor, Moab and Ammon, just as truly as over Israel or Judah (1, 2,   Amos 6:14 ,   Amos 9:7 ). Nature too is under His rule. Every natural calamity and scourge are traced to the direct exercise of His will. Amos therefore lays down a great philosophy of history. God is all-righteous. All events and all peoples are in His hands. Political and natural catastrophes have religious significance (  Amos 6:14 ).

(ii) The relationship of Jehovah to Israel . Amos, in common with his countrymen, considered the relation of Jehovah to Israel to be a special one. But while they had regarded it as an indissoluble relationship of privilege, a bond that could not be broken provided the stated sacrifices were maintained, Amos declared not only that it could be broken, but that the very existence of such a bond would lay Israel under heavier moral responsibilities than if she had been one of the Gentile nations (  Amos 3:2 ). As her opportunities had been greater, so too would her punishment for wasting them be proportionately severe. Jehovah’s first demands were morality and justice and kindliness, and any sacrificial system that removed the emphasis from these things and placed it on the observance of ritual was an abomination (  Amos 5:21-25 ).

(iii) The inevitable judgment . It is his certainty of the moral character of God that makes Amos so sure of the coming catastrophe. For the first time in Hebrew literature he uses the expression ‘the day of the Lord’ a phrase that may already have been current in a more genial and privileged sense to indicate the day that will utterly destroy the nations (  Amos 2:14-16 ,   Amos 3:12-15 ,   Amos 4:2-3;   Amos 4:13 ). With this broad view of history, a view from which the idea of special privilege is excluded, he sees in the northern power the instrument of Jehovah’s anger (  Amos 5:27 ,   Amos 6:14 ); a power that even in its self-aggrandisement is working out Jehovah’s purpose.

5. Style . It was the custom for many a century to accept the verdict of Jerome, that the prophet was rustic and unskilled in speech. That, however, is anything but the case. The arrangement of the book is clear; the Hebrew is pure; and the knowledge of the outside world is remarkable. The survey of the nations with which the prophecy opens is full of precise detail. Amos knows, too, that the Aramæans migrated from Kir, and the Philistines from Caphtor (  Amos 9:7 ); he has heard of the swellings of the Nile (  Amos 8:8 ,   Amos 9:5 ), and regards the fact with a curious dread. He has been a close observer of the social conditions in Israel. Much of his imagery is drawn from nature: earthquakes and the eclipse of the sun, the cedars and the oaks, the roaring of the lion, the snaring of birds, the bite of the viper; once only does he draw a comparison from shepherd life (  Amos 3:12 ).

6. Religious significance . Amos’ true significance in religious history is that with him prophecy breaks away on its true line, individual, direct, responsible to none save God. The word of the Lord had come to Amos and he could not but speak (  Amos 3:8 ). Such a cause produced an inevitable effect. In that direct vision of Jehovah, Amos learned the truths which he was the first to proclaim to the world: that Jehovah was the God of the whole earth; that the nations were in His keeping; that justice and righteousness were His great demands; that privilege, if it meant opportunity, meant likewise responsibility and liability to the doom of those who have seen and have not believed.

R. Bruce Taylor.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("a burden".) Of Tekoah, in Judah, six miles S.E. of Bethlehem. A shepherd (probably owning flocks) and dresser of sycamore fig trees; specially called of the Lord to prophesy, though not educated in the prophets' schools ( Amos 1:1;  Amos 7:14-15). These personal notices occur only as connected with the discharge of his prophetic function; so entirely is self put in the shade by the inspired men of God, and God is made the one all-absorbing theme. Though of Judah, he exercised his ministry in the northern kingdom, Israel; not later than the 15th year of Uzziah of Judah, when Jeroboam II. (son of Joash) of Israel died (compare  1 Kings 14:23 with  1 Kings 15:1), in whose reign it is written he prophesied "two years before the earthquake"; compare  Zechariah 14:5. Allusions to the earthquake appear in  Amos 5:8;  Amos 6:11;  Amos 8:8;  Amos 9:1;  Amos 9:5.

The divine sign in his view confirmed his words, which were uttered before, and which now after the earthquake were committed to writing in an orderly summary. The natural world, being from and under the same God, shows a mysterious sympathy with the spiritual world; compare  Matthew 24:7;  Matthew 27:50-54. Probably Amos prophesied about the middle of Jeroboam's reign, when his conquests had been achieved ( Amos 6:13-14; compare  2 Kings 14:25-27), just before Assyria's first attack on Israel, for he does not definitely name that power:  Amos 1:5;  Amos 5:27 ( Hosea 10:6;  Hosea 11:5). The two forces from God acted simultaneously by His appointment, the invading hosts from without arresting Israel's attention for the prophet's message from God within the land, and the prophets showing the spiritual meaning of those invasions, as designed to lead Israel to repentance.

This accounts for the outburst of prophetic fire in Uzziah's and his successors' reigns. The golden calves, the forbidden representation of Jehovah, not Baal, were the object of worship in Jeroboam's reign, as being the great grandson of Jehu, who had purged out Baal worship, but retained the calves. Israel, as abounding in impostors, needed the more true prophets of God from Judah to warn her. Her prophets often fled to Judah from fear of her kings. Oppression, luxury, weariness of religious ordinances as interrupting worldly pursuits, were rife:  Amos 8:4-5;  Amos 3:15. The king's sanctuary and summer palace were at Bethel ( Amos 7:13); here Amos was opposed by Amaziah for his faithful reproofs, and informed against to Jeroboam. (See Amaziah .) Like the prophet in 1 Kings 13, Amos went up from Judah to Bethel to denounce the idol calf at the risk of his life.

Calf worship prevailed also at Dan, Gilgal, and Beersheba, in Judah ( Amos 4:4;  Amos 5:5;  Amos 8:14), blended with Jehovah's worship ( Amos 5:14;  Amos 5:21-26);  2 Kings 17:32-33, compare  Ezekiel 20:39.

The book is logically connected, and is divisible into four parts.  Amos 1:1 to  Amos 2:13; the sins of Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, the neighbors of Israel and Judah  Amos 2:4 to  Amos 6:14; Israel's own state and consequent punishment; the same coasts "from the entering in of Hamath," which Jeroboam has just recovered from Syria, shall be "afflicted," and the people carried into "captivity beyond Damascus" ( Amos 5:27).  Amos 7:1-9:10; Amos's visions of grasshoppers devouring the grass, and fire the land and deep, both removed by his intercession; the plumb line marking the buildings for destruction; Amaziah's interruption at Bethel, and foretold doom; the basket of summer fruits marking Israel's end by the year's end; the Lord standing upon the altar, and commanding the lintel to be smitten, symbolizing Israel's destruction as a kingdom, but individually not one righteous man shall perish.

 Amos 9:11-15; David's fallen tabernacle shall be raised, the people re-established in prosperity in their own land, no more to be pulled out, and the conversion of the pagan shall follow the establishment of the theocracy finally; compare  Amos 9:12 with  Acts 15:17. Reference to agricultural life and the phenomena of nature abounds, in consonance with his own former occupation, an undesigned propriety and mark of truth:  Amos 1:3;  Amos 2:13;  Amos 3:4-5;  Amos 4:2;  Amos 4:7;  Amos 4:9;  Amos 5:18-19;  Amos 6:12;  Amos 7:1;  Amos 9:3;  Amos 9:9;  Amos 9:13-14. The first six chapters are without figure; the last three symbolical, with the explanation subjoined. He assumes his readers' knowledge of the Pentateuch, and that the people's religious ritual (excepting the golden calves) accords with the Mosaic law, an incidental confirmation of the truth of the Pentateuch.

Stephen ( Acts 7:42) quotes  Amos 5:25-27; and James ( Acts 15:16) quotes  Amos 9:11. Philo, Josephus, the Talmud, Justin Martyr, the catalogues of Melito, Jerome, and the council of Laodicea, confirm the canonicity of Amos. His use of the names Αdonai (Lord) and God of hosts marks that Jehovah, Israel's covenant God, is universal Lord. Characteristic and peculiar phrases occur: "cleanness of teeth," i.e., want of bread ( Amos 4:6); "the excellency of Jacob" ( Amos 6:8;  Amos 8:7); "the high places of Isaac" ( Amos 7:9), "the house of Isaac" ( Amos 7:16); "he that createth the wind" ( Amos 4:13). Hosea, his contemporary, survived him a few years.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

During the eighth century BC, there was widespread corruption in Israel and Judah. This stirred up opposition from men of God who condemned the people and announced God’s judgment upon them. Of the four prophets of this time whose writings have been preserved in the Bible, the earliest was almost certainly Amos. The others were Hosea, Isaiah and Micah.

Characteristics of the age

Amos prophesied during the reigns of Jeroboam II in Israel and Azariah (or Uzziah) in Judah ( Amos 1:1). These two kings between them expanded Israelite-Judean rule from Syria in the north to Egypt in the south, and from Philistia in the west to Ammon in the east ( 2 Kings 14:23-27;  2 Chronicles 26:1-15). With political stability and economic development, Israel and Judah entered an era of great prosperity. At the same time the religious and moral standards of society declined badly.

Previously, society had been built around the simple agricultural life. Now, with the rapid growth of commerce and trade, the merchants became the dominant people in society, and the farmers became the oppressed. City life developed, and with it came the social evils of corrupt government and commercial greed. Rapid prosperity for the few meant increased poverty for most. As the upper classes grew in wealth and power, they exploited the lower classes. Bribery and corruption flourished, even in the law courts, leaving the poor with no way to obtain justice.

As a shepherd-farmer who had to deal with ruthless merchants and corrupt officials, Amos knew how bad the situation was and he spoke out against it ( Amos 1:1;  Amos 7:14-15). He condemned the greed and luxury of the rich, for he knew that they had gained their wealth through cheating, oppression and injustice ( Amos 2:6-7;  Amos 3:10;  Amos 3:15;  Amos 5:10-12;  Amos 6:4-6;  Amos 8:4-6). Although they kept the religious festivals, all their religious activity was hateful to God so long as they persisted in social injustice ( Amos 5:21-24;  Amos 8:3;  Amos 8:10). Amos saw that the nation was heading for terrible judgment ( Amos 6:14;  Amos 7:8-9).

Amos’s message

By announcing God’s judgment on some of Israel’s neighbouring nations, Amos no doubt gained the enthusiastic attention of his hearers (1:1-2:3). He warned, however, that judgment was coming for Judah also (2:4-5), and particularly for Israel, the corrupt northern kingdom with whom Amos was mainly concerned (2:6-16).

As God’s prophet, Amos had a responsibility to announce whatever God told him (3:1-8). He did this fearlessly, condemning the corruption of Israel’s capital city Samaria (3:9-4:3) and the refusal of the people in general to heed God’s warnings (4:4-13). God demanded repentance (5:1-27), and warned that the nation’s corruption was leading it to certain destruction (6:1-14).

Three visions told Amos that God’s patience with the rebellious nation could not last indefinitely (7:1-9). A local priest, tired of Amos’s constant announcements of judgment, tried unsuccessfully to get rid of the troublesome preacher (7:10-17). Amos then revealed two further visions God had given him. The first emphasized that Israel was nearing its end (8:1-14), the second that there was no possibility of escape (9:1-10). But after the punishment of the captivity, God would restore the nation and bless its people again (9:11-15).

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the fourth of the minor prophets, who in his youth had been a herdsman in Tekoa, a small town about four leagues southward of Jerusalem. He was sent to the people of Samaria, to bring them back to God by repentance, and reformation of manners. Hence it is natural to suppose that he must have been born within the territories of Israel, and that he only retired to Tekoa, on being expelled from Bethel by Amaziah, the priest of the calves at Bethel. He frequently complains of the violence offered him by those who endeavoured to impose silence on him. He boldly inveighs against the crying sins of the Israelites, such as idolatry, oppression, wantonness, and obstinacy. Nor does he spare the sins of Judah, such as their carnal security, sensuality, and injustice. He utters frequent threatenings against them both, and predicts their ruin. It is observable in this prophecy, that, as it begins with denunciations of judgment and destruction against the Syrians, Philistines, Tyrians, and other enemies of the Jews, so it concludes with comfortable promises of the restoration of the tabernacle of David, and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. Amos was called to the prophetic office in the time of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Some writers, in adverting to the condition of Amos, have, with a minute affectation of criticism, pretended to discover a certain rudeness and vulgarity in his style; and even Jerom is of opinion that he is deficient in magnificence and sublimity. He applies to him the words which St. Paul speaks of himself, that he was rude in speech, though not in knowledge; and his authority, says Bishop Lowth, "has influenced many commentators to represent him as entirely rude, and void of elegance; whereas it requires but little attention to be convinced that he is not a whit behind the very chiefest of the prophets;" equal to the greatest in loftiness of sentiment, and scarcely inferior, to any in the splendour of his diction, and in the elegance of his composition. Mr. Locke has observed, that his comparisons are chiefly drawn from lions, and other animals, because he lived among, and was conversant with, such objects. But, indeed, the finest images and allusions, which adorn the poetical parts of Scripture, in general are drawn from scenes of nature, and from the grand objects that range in her walks; and true genius ever delights in considering these as the real sources of beauty and magnificence. The whole book of Amos is animated with a fine and masculine eloquence.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

In 7:1-9:10 are recorded five prophetic visions. (a) The first two (7:1-6) refer to judgments against the guilty people. (b) The next two (7:7-9; 8:1-3) point out the ripeness of the people for the threatened judgements 7:10-17 consists of a conversation between the prophet and the priest of Bethel. (c) The fifth describes the overthrow and ruin of Israel (9:1-10); to which is added the promise of the restoration of the kingdom and its final glory in the Messiah's kingdom.

The style is peculiar in the number of the allusions made to natural objects and to agricultural occupations. Other allusions show also that Amos was a student of the law as well as a "child of nature." These phrases are peculiar to him: "Cleanness of teeth" [i.e., want of bread] (4:6); "The excellency of Jacob" (6:8; 8:7); "The high places of Isaac" (7:9); "The house of Isaac" (7:16); "He that createth the wind" (4:13). Quoted,  Acts 7:42 .

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Amos'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/a/amos.html. 1897.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

One of the minor Prophets, a native of Tekoa in Judah, possibly the father of the prophet Isaiah. He told Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdsman and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel."  Amos 7:14,15 . His language indicates an acquaintance with things that would be familiar to one leading an agricultural life: cf.  Amos 2:13;  Amos 3:12;  Amos 4:9;  Amos 5:8;  Amos 6:12;  Amos 7:1,2 . He tells us that his prophecy was given in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and of Jeroboam II, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake; or at least began at that time.  Amos 1:1 . For about 25 years these two kings were contemporaneous: B.C. 810-785.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1. The fourth of the minor prophets, was a herdsman of Tekoah, a small town of Judah, about twelve miles south of Jerusalem. He prophesied, however, concerning Israel, at Bethel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam II, king of Israel, about B. C. 787, and was thus a contemporary of Hosea, Joel, and Isaiah. The first two chapters contain predictions against the surrounding nations, enemies of the people of God. But the ten tribes of Israel were the chief subjects of his prophecies. Their temporary prosperity under Jeroboam led to gross idolatry, injustice, and corruption; for which sins he denounces the judgments of God upon them: but he closes with cheering words of consolation. His holy boldness in reproving sin drew on him the wrath of the priests, who labored to procure his banishment,  Amos 7:10-17 . In regard to style, Amos takes a high rank among the prophets. He is full of imagery, concise, and yet simple and perspicuous.

2. One of the ancestors of our Lord,  Luke 3:25 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Amos (Â'Mos ), Burden. 1. The third of the minor prophets was a shepherd of Tekoa, a small town of Judah. He prophesied concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam the Second, king of Israel, about b.c. 790. The book of Amos takes a high rank among the writings of the prophets. The writer must have been a man of some education, as is evident from his observations relating to geography, history, and astronomy. He is full of fancy and imagery, concise, and yet simple and perspicuous.  Amos 1:1;  Amos 1:7;  Amos 1:10-15. 2. A son of Nahum, R. V., or Naum, A. V., of  Luke 3:25.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

A'mos. (Burden). Native of Tekoa in Judah, about six miles south of Bethlehem, originally a shepherd and dresser of sycamore trees, who was called by God's Spirit to be a prophet, although not trained in any of the regular prophetic schools.  Amos 1:1;  Amos 7:14-15. He travelled from Judah into the northern kingdom of Israel or Ephraim, and there exercised his ministry, apparently not for any long time.

(His date cannot be later than B.C. 808 for he lived in the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, king of Israel; but his ministry probably took place at an earlier date, perhaps about the middle of Jeroboam's reign. Nothing is known of the time or manner of his death. - Editor).

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A prophet of the Lord. See his prophecy. His name hath been sometimes spelt Omas, which signifies a burthen, or somewhat weighty. In allusion, perhaps, to the importance of his writings. But it is more generally spelt Amos, from Amatz, strong

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb., Amos', עָמוֹס , Bormne Sept. and New Test. Ἀμώς ), the name of two men.

1. One of the twelve minor prophets, and a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. He was a native of Tekoah, about six miles south of Bethlehem, inhabited chiefly by shepherds, to which class he belonged, being also a dresser of sycamore trees, and not trained in any of the prophetical schools ( Amos 1:1;  Amos 7:14-15). Though some critics have supposed that he was a native of the kingdom of Israel, and took refuge in Tekoah when persecuted by Amaziah, yet a comparison of the passages  Amos 1:1;  Amos 7:14, with Amaziah's language,  Amos 7:12, leads us to believe that he was born and brought up in that place. The period during which he filled the prophetic office was of short duration, unless we suppose that he uttered other predictions which are not recorded. It is stated expressly that he prophesied 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

( Amos 1:1). This earthquake, to which there is an allusion in  Zechariah 14:5, is represented by Josephus (Ant. 9, 10, 4) and some other Jewish writers as amark of the divine displeasure against Uzziah (in addition to his leprosy) for usurping the priest's office some time before his death. This agrees with the sacred narrative, which informs us that Jotham, his son, acted as regent during the remainder of his reign; for we must understand the accession spoken of in  2 Kings 15:33, when he was twenty-five years old, to refer to this association with his father. (See Jotham).

As Uzziah and Jeroboam were contemporaries for about twenty-seven years (B.C. 808-782), the latter part of this period will mark the dant when Amos prophesied. This agrees with the intimation in  Amos 7:10, of the proximity of Jeroboam's death. Amos speaks of the conquests of this warlike king as completed (6, 13; comp.  2 Kings 14:25); on the other hand the Assyrians, who toward the end of his reign were approaching Palestine ( Hosea 10:6;  Hosea 11:5), do not seem as yet to have caused any alarm in the country. Amos predicts, indeed, that Israel and other neighboring nations will be punished by certain wild conquerors from the north ( Amos 1:5;  Amos 5:27;  Amos 6:14), but does not name them, as if they were still unknown or unheeded. (See Niemeyer, Charakt. D. Bibel, 5, 302 sq.)

BOOK OF AMOS. — When Amos received his commission (B.C. 783), the kingdom of Israel, which had been "cut short" by Hazael ( 2 Kings 10:33) toward the close of Jehu's reign, was restored to its ancient limits and splendor by Jeroboam II ( 2 Kings 14:25). But the restoration of national prosperity was followed by the prevalence of luxury, licentiousness, and oppression, to an extent that again provoked the divine displeasure; and Amos was called from the sheepfolds to be the harbinger of the coming judgments. The poor were oppressed ( Amos 8:4), the ordinances of religion thought burdensome ( Amos 8:5), and idleness, luxury, and extravagance were general ( Amos 3:15). The source of these evils was idolatry, of course that of the golden calves, not of Baal, since Jehu's dynasty occupied the throne, though it seems probable from  2 Kings 13:6, which passage must refer to Jeroboam's reign, (See Benhadad Iii), that the rites even of Astarte were tolerated in Samaria, though not encouraged. Calf-worship was specially practiced at Bethel, where was a principal temple and summer palace for the king ( Amos 7:13; comp.  Amos 3:15), also at Gilgal, Dan, and Beersheba in Judah ( Amos 4:4;  Amos 5:5;  Amos 8:14), and was offensively united with the true worship of the Lord ( Amos 5:14;  Amos 5:21-23; comp.  2 Kings 17:33). Amos went to rebuke this at Bethel itself, but was compelled to return to Judah by the high-priest Amaziah, who procured from Jeroboam an order for his expulsion from the northern kingdom. Not that his commission was limited entirely to Israel. The thunder-storm (as Ruckert poetically expresses it) rolls over all the surrounding kingdoms, touches Judah in its progress, and at length settles upon Israel. Chapters 1;  Amos 2:1-5, form a solemn prelude to the main subject; nation after nation is summoned to judgment, in each instance with the striking idiomatical expression (similar to that in  Proverbs 30:15;  Proverbs 30:18;  Proverbs 30:21), "For three transgressions — and for four — I will not turn away the punishment thereof." Israel is then addressed in the same style, and in chap. in (after a brief rebuke of the twelve tribes collectively) its degenerate state is strikingly portrayed, and the denunciations of divine justice are intermingled, like repeated thunder- claps, to the end of chap. 6. The seventh and eighth chapters contain various symbolical visions, with a brief historical episode ( Amos 7:10 -

17). In the ninth chapter the majesty of Jehovah and the terrors of his justice are set forth with a sublimity of diction which rivals and partly copies that of the royal Psalmist (comp.  Psalms 9:2-3, with Psalms 109, and  Psalms 9:6 with Psalms 104). Toward the close the scene brightens; and from the eleventh verse to the end the promises of the divine mercy and returning favor to the chosen race are exhibited in imagery of great beauty taken from rural life. The allusions in the writings of this prophet are numerous and varied; they refer to natural objects, as in 3, 4, 8;  Amos 4:7;  Amos 4:9;  Amos 5:8;  Amos 6:12;  Amos 9:3 : to historical events,  Amos 1:9;  Amos 1:11;  Amos 1:13;  Amos 2:1;  Amos 4:11;  Amos 5:26 : to agricultural or pastoral employments and occurrences,  Amos 1:3;  Amos 2:13;  Amos 3:5;  Amos 3:12;  Amos 4:2;  Amos 4:9;  Amos 5:19;  Amos 7:1;  Amos 9:9;  Amos 9:13;  Amos 9:15 : and to national institutions and customs,  Amos 2:8;  Amos 3:15;  Amos 4:4;  Amos 5:21;  Amos 6:4-6;  Amos 6:10;  Amos 8:5;  Amos 8:10;  Amos 8:14. The book presupposes a popular acquaintance with the Pentateuch (see Hengstenberg, Beitrage Zur Einleitung Ins Alte Testament, 1, 83-125), and implies that the ceremonies of religion, except where corrupted by Jeroboam I, were in accordance with the law of Moses. As the book is evidently not a series of detached prophecies, but logically and artistically connected in its several parts, it was probably written by Amos as we now have it after his return to Tekoah from his mission to Bethel (see Ewald, Propheten Des Alten Bundes, 1, 84 sq.) (Smith, s.v.).

The canonicity of the book of Amos is amply supported both by Jewish and Christian authorities. Philo, Josephus, and the Talmud include it among the minor prophets. It is also in the catalogues of Melito, Jerome, and the 60th cation of the Council of Laodicea. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho (§ 22), quotes a considerable part of the fifth and sixth chapters, which he introduces by saying, "Hear how he speaks concerning these by Amos, one of the twelve." There are two quotations from it in the New Testament; the first (5:25, 26) by the proto-martyr Stephen,  Acts 7:42; the second (9:11) by the Apostle James,  Acts 15:16. (See, generally, Knobel, Prophet. 2, 147 sq.; Hitzig, Kl. Proph. p. 29; Carpzov, Introd. 3, 314 sq.; Eichhorn, Einleit. 4, 307 sq.; Jahn, II, 2, 401 sq.; Bertholdt, 4, 1611 sq.; Davidson, in Home's Introd. new ed. 2, 960 sq.).

Special exegetical works on the book of Amos are the following, of which the most important are designated by an asterisk [*] prefixed: Ephraem Syrus, Explanatio (in Opp. 5:255); *Kimchi, Commentarius (in Hebr. ed. Minster, Basil. 1531, 8vo); Luther, Enarratio (in Opp. 3, 513); Brent, Commentarius (in Opp. 4); Ecolampadius, Adnotationes (Basil. 1535, fol.); Quinquaboreus, Notes (Par. 1556, 4to); Mercer, Commentarius (Genev. 1574, fol.; Giess. 1595, 4to); Danean, Commentarius (Genev. 1578, 8vo); Lively, Adnotationes (Lond. 1587, 8vo; also in the Critici Sacri, 3); Schade, Commentarius (Argent. 1588, 4to); Tarnovius, Commentarius (Lips. 1622, 4to); Benefield, Sermons (Lond. 1629, 3 vols. 4to); Hall, Exposition (Lond. 1661, 4to); Gerhard, Annotationes (Jen. 1663, 1676, 4to); *Van Toll, Vitlegginge (Ultraj. 1705, 4to); Michaelis, Exercitatio (Hal. 1736, 4to); Hase, Stilus Amosi (Hal. 1755, 4to); *Harenberg, Amos expositus (L. B. 1763, 4to); Uhland, Animadversiones (Tub. 1779,1780, 4to); *Dahl, Amos' ubers. u. erlaut. (Gott. 1795,;8vo); *Horsley, Notes (in Bib. Crit. 2, 391); *Justi, Amos ubers. u. erlaut. (Lpz. 1799, 8vo); Berg, Specimem (in Rosenmuller's Repertor. 2, 1 sq.); Swanborg, Amos illustr. (Ups. 1808 sq. 4to); *Vater, Amos ubers. u. erlut. (Hal. 1810; 4to; also with Latin title, ib. eod.); *Rosenmuller, Scholia (Lips. 1813, 8vo); Juynboll, De Amoso (L. B. 1828, 4to); Faber, Abweichungen d. Gr. Uebers. (in Eichhorn's Repertor. 6, 288 sq.); *Baur, Amos erklart (Lpz. 1847, 8vo); Ryan, Lectures (Lond. 1850, 12mo). (See Prophets (Minor).)

2. The ninth in the maternal line of ascent from Christ, being the son of Nahum (or Johanan), and the father of Mattathiah ( Luke 3:25), B.C. cir. 400. His name perhaps would be more properly Anglicized AMOZ (See Amoz) , and in that case it would have the same derivation as under that article.

the Hebrew prophet, is commemorated as a Christian saint in the Byzantine calendar on June 15.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

A´mos (borne), one of the twelve minor prophets and a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. He was a native of Tekoah, about six miles south of Bethlehem, inhabited chiefly by shepherds to which class he belonged, being also a dresser of sycamore-trees. The period during which he filled the prophetic office was of short duration, unless we suppose that he uttered other predictions which are not recorded. It is stated expressly that he prophesied 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 ( Amos 1:1). As Uzziah and Jeroboam were contemporaries for about fourteen years, from B.C. 798 to 784, the latter of these dates will mark the period when Amos prophesied.

When Amos received his commission, the kingdom of Israel, which had been 'cut short' by Hazael ( 2 Kings 10:32) towards the close of Jehu's reign, was restored to its ancient limits and splendor by Jeroboam the Second ( 2 Kings 14:25). But the restoration of national prosperity was followed by the prevalence of luxury, licentiousness, and oppression, to an extent that again provoked the divine displeasure, and Amos was called from the sheep-folds to be the harbinger of the coming judgments. Not that his commission was limited entirely to Israel. The thunder-storm (as Ruckert poetically expresses it) rolls over all the surrounding kingdoms, touches Judah in its progress, and at length settles upon Israel. Amos 1;  Amos 2:1-5, form a solemn prelude to the main subject; nation after nation is summoned to judgment. Israel is then addressed in the same style, and in Amos 3 (after a brief rebuke of the twelve tribes collectively) its degenerate state is strikingly portrayed, and the denunciations of divine justice are intermingled, like repeated thunderclaps, to the end of Amos 6. The seventh and eighth chapters contain various symbolical visions, with a brief historical episode ( Amos 7:10-17). In Amos 9 the majesty of Jehovah and the terrors of his justice are set forth with a sublimity of diction which rivals and partly copies that of the royal Psalmist (comp.  Amos 9:2-3, with Psalms 109, and  Amos 9:6 with Psalms 104). Towards the close the scene brightens, and from the eleventh verse to the end the promises of the divine mercy and returning favor to the chosen race are exhibited in imagery of great beauty taken from rural life.

The writings of this prophet afford clear evidence that the existing religious institutions both of Judah and Israel (with the exception of the corruptions introduced by Jeroboam) were framed according to the rules prescribed in the Pentateuch, a fact which furnishes a conclusive argument for the genuineness of the Mosaic records.

The canonicity of the book of Amos is amply supported both by Jewish and Christian authorities. Philo, Josephus, and the Talmud include it among the minor prophets. It is also in the catalogues of Melito, Jerome, and the 60th canon of the Council of Laodicea. Justin Martyr, quotes a considerable part of Amos 5-6, which he introduces by saying,—'Hear how he speaks concerning these by Amos, one of the twelve.' There are two quotations from it in the New Testament: the first ( Amos 5:25-26) by the proto-martyr Stephen,  Acts 7:42; the second ( Amos 9:11) by the apostle James,  Acts 15:16.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

A poor shepherd of Tekoa, near Bethlehem, in Judah, who in the 8th century B.C. raised his voice in solitary protest against the iniquity of the northern kingdom of Israel, and denounced the judgment of God as Lord of Hosts upon one and all for their idolatry, which nothing could avert.