The Prophet Amos

There are many prophets and important figures in the Bible that stand out as being influential and necessary when it comes to the words God gave them. For instance, the prophet Amos is unique for his honest and brutal relaying of Yahweh’s message to the Israelites. The major theme of this prophecy was directed toward the northern kingdom of Israel. Yahweh gave Amos this message directly in order for Amos to inform the rich of their sins of moral injustice towards the poor. For this, it is important to understand who Amos was and the context of his book that put forth the message of Yahweh.

To start off, the prophet Amos is believed to have been prophesizing around the time when Jeroboam II was the leader of Israel and Uzziah was the king of Judah. Jeroboam died in 747 BCE and Uzziah in 733 BCE. Beyond this, to better understand the time frame of Amos, he is said to have preached 2 years prior to the earthquake, based off of archeological evidence. Thus, Amos was most likely preaching around 750 BCE and did so for nearly a decade.

Moreover, Amos was from Tekoa in Judah, a community 10 miles south of Jerusalem.1 This is known due to Amos being described as working with Sycamore figs, a type only native to Tekoa. Because of what Amos spoke about, it can be said that he was prophesizing mostly toward the Northern kingdom. His dialect was that of Hebrew from Judah and therefore he was seen as a southerner.1 At times while Amos was delivering a speech to the North he was charged for conspiracy to overthrow the Northern monarchy due to his “southern” background. 2 This occurred because the North was a society of rich that used the poor in order to increase their status. They were morally and ethically unjust and for that viewed Amo...

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... their sins. The historical context of Amos and his era helps to explain the reasons for Yahweh’s punishing of the Israel. The north and other parts of Israel have progressed into societies of injustice and foolishness. For this, Yahweh’s punishments are designed to improve the quality of Israel’s people and reinforce who is actually in charge, in hopes of reinstalling the notion that God is all-powerful.

Works Cited

Coogan, Michael D., ed., The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version (4rd ed., Oxford, 2010).

Coogan, Michael D., The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures (2nd ed.; Oxford, 2011).

Hayes, John . Amos: The Eighth Century Prophet: His Times and His Preaching. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1988. Print.

Mays, James. Amos: A Commentary . Philadelphia : The Westminster Press, 1969. Print.