Introduction

The prophet Amos (Amos from amas — bearer of burden), as the inscription of his book testifies, was a native of Tekoa — a small city that, according to the testimony of Jerome, was located six miles south of Bethlehem in the tribe of Judah, near the Judean desert (now the village of Tekua). Thus, by his origin the prophet belonged to the kingdom of Judah. Concerning the public standing of the prophet before his calling to prophetic service, the inscription of the book states that Amos was one of the shepherds (nokedim) of Tekoa. Since the word noked in 2 Sam 3:4 is applied to the Moabite king Mesha and denotes a wealthy livestock owner, some scholars consider the prophet Amos likewise a wealthy possessor of herds and sycamore plantations (Kimchi, Iannes, Hitzig, Baur, Gaume). But in Amos 7:14 the prophet himself testifies about himself that he was a shepherd (boker), taken by the Lord directly from the flock and gathered (boles — stripped) sycamore fruit, evidently for food. From this one must conclude that Amos was a poor man and, perhaps, a hired worker. In his stepping forth to preach, therefore, there was something similar to the calling of the apostles: as upon the apostles, upon him was displayed the almighty power of the Divine Spirit, choosing “the foolish things of the world, and the weak things and things despised.”

The place of Amos’s preaching activity was the Israelite kingdom, and specifically Bethel, the center of the unlawful worship of calves, introduced by Jeroboam I (Amos 7:10-15). By his bold denunciations of the impiety of Israelite nobles the prophet stirred up persecution against himself from the Bethel priest Amaziah, who even attempted to accuse Amos before the king of inciting the people and insulting the king’s person. Amos, he reported to the king, “is stirring up insurrection against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus says Amos: Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely be led away captive” (Amos 7:10-11). After this Amaziah drove Amos from Bethel. “And Amaziah said to Amos: O seer, go and withdraw to the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy there: But do not prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the king’s residence” (Amos 7:12-13). The pious tradition, supplementing the testimony of the book of Amos, reports that the prophet, driven from Bethel, received a heavy blow to the head from the son of Amaziah on the road to Judah, from which he died in Tekoa (Epiphanius, On the Lives of the Prophets).

Amos carried out his service during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel (? 787–746), and Uzziah, king of Judah (Amos 1:1). More precisely, the time of Amos’s stepping forth to preach is defined by the words — “two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1). But the year of this earthquake is unknown (cf. Zech 14:5). Therefore it is difficult to indicate with precision the time of Amos’s stepping forth to service. In any case he stepped forth to preach not in the early years of Jeroboam II, because as is evident from the content of the book of Amos and especially from Amos 6:14, he found already the borders of the kingdom expanded “from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the plain,” and the state standing at the height of its might. And this was achieved by Jeroboam only after several years of reign, by victories over the Damascus Syrians (2 Sam 14:25). It is possible to suppose that the victories of Jeroboam II over the Syrians were facilitated by the preceding attacks upon them by the Assyrian kings Rammanirari III and Shalmaneser III, who repeatedly captured even Damascus itself. Since the Assyrian conquests fall upon the years 806–772, the victories of Jeroboam over the Syrians, and also the stepping forth of Amos to preach are referred to a time somewhat later, that is to the second half of the reign of Jeroboam II or to the first half of the eighth century 1.

During the time of Amos’s prophetic service the Israelite kingdom was at the height of its might. The borders of the kingdom were expanded to the borders of the glorious kingdom of Solomon (2 Sam 14:25-29). The neighboring peoples became tributaries of the Israelites. The land was adorned with magnificent buildings (Amos 3:15) and was enriched with plunder, which gave the Samarian nobles the opportunity to devote themselves to idleness and luxury (Amos 6:4-6). Together with this, under the influence of temporary might, among the nobles of the ten-tribe kingdom there developed extreme arrogance (Amos 6:8), confidence in their own strength (Amos 6:13), a striving for gain, driving them to oppress the poor and the needy (Amos 2:7), a love of luxury and feasts (Amos 6:4-6).

The book of Amos, consisting of 9 chapters, may be divided into three parts: an introduction, embracing chapters I–II, speeches against the Israelite kingdom (chapters III–VI), and visions with prophesies explaining them (VII–IX). The fundamental theme of the book of the prophet Amos is the proclamation of judgment upon the ten-tribe kingdom for its impiety. The prophecy of God’s judgment is unfolded both in Amos’s speeches and in his visions. The prophet begins the proclamation of this judgment with foreign peoples — the Syrians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, whom he denounces for various crimes (Amos 1:2-2:3). Then the prophet turns to the kingdom of Judah and because of its turning aside to foreign gods threatens that the fire sent by Jehovah will devour the palaces of Jerusalem (Amos 2:4-5). After this the prophet speaks almost exclusively of judgment upon the Israelite kingdom. The peculiarity of Amos’s denunciatory speeches lies in the fact that he has in view chiefly the people’s crimes against the demands of the moral law — the prophet entirely avoids, unlike for instance Hosea, the politics of Israel, and speaks only in passing about religion and worship. The prophet is indignant at the violation of justice by the Samarian nobles, at the fact that they gather treasures for themselves by robbery and violence (Amos 3:10), oppress the poor (Amos 4:1), buy the needy for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals (Amos 8:6). “You,” says the prophet, “are enemies of the righteous, you take bribes and pervert the cause of the poor in the gate” (Amos 5:12). The prophet denounces the Samarian nobles for the fact that by violence (Amos 3:10), fraudulent trade (Amos 8:5), bribes from the poor (Amos 5:11) they have become wealthy, built magnificent houses, planted vineyards, live in luxury and ease (Amos 6:3-6). With particular indignation, furthermore, the prophet speaks of the Samarian women, whose love of luxury prompted their husbands to oppress the poor and afflict the needy (Amos 4:1). Softness and reliance upon their own strength (Amos 6:13) is already an abomination before the Lord. But the Samarian nobles added to this also the fact that they did not care about the misery of the people (Amos 6:6) and, as if mocking the Lord who delivered them from Egypt (Amos 2:9-10) “gave wine to the Nazirites and commanded the prophets, saying: Do not prophesy” (Amos 2:11-12). The gravity of the crimes indicated was increased by the fact that Israel did not recognize them. The Lord instructed the people through punishments (Amos 4:6-11), but it was not instructed; hoping on the covenant with God (Amos 5:14), Israel even desired the coming of the day of the Lord or the day of judgment, confident that this judgment would not touch them (Amos 5:14). Meanwhile the people continued to perform unlawful worship of God in Bethel, Dan, Gilgal, and Beersheba (Amos 5:5), limiting itself to the offering of sacrifices and the observance of festivals (Amos 5:21-23).

In denouncing the people’s crimes, the prophet points out to it also the ideal of moral life. The prophet invites them to seek the Lord (Amos 5:4). In Amos 5:24 the prophet says: “Let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream!” The prophet has in mind here, without doubt, first of all the sphere of public and private law, righteousness in the juridical sense. But the concepts of judgment and righteousness express in the prophet’s usage something greater: the prophet demands compassion, mercy, pity (1–2), in general not only good deeds, but also a disposition toward good, when he invites them to seek good and not evil, to hate evil and to love good (Amos 5:14-15). Touching the properly religious life of the people, the prophet denounces those who “swear by the sin of Samaria and say, ‘As your god, O Dan, lives; and as the way to Beersheba lives’” (Amos 8:14), and meanwhile exhorts them “do not seek Bethel, and do not come to Gilgal, and do not travel to Beersheba” (Amos 5:5).

But the people as a whole is no longer able to receive the prophet’s exhortation and prevent punishment. Therefore Amos proclaims God’s judgment upon the people. According to the prophet’s word, the punishment is unavoidable and the people can hide from it nowhere (Amos 9:2-4). The prophet already composes a lamentation for the house of Israel: “The virgin of Israel is fallen; she will rise no more: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up” (Amos 5:1-2). Punishment will come not only upon the reigning house, which had been foretold by Elijah and Elisha, but upon the whole kingdom. Destruction awaits all the sanctuaries of the people, all the houses great and small, and all the people (Amos 3:14-15). The prophet proclaims, furthermore, the destruction of the house of Jeroboam by the sword (Amos 7:9), the coming of various physical calamities (Amos 6:10), the captivity of the people (Amos 6:7) and its transportation beyond Damascus (Amos 5:27). Among the coming calamities upon the people the prophet points out with particular force the deprivation of the word of God and the thirst to hear this word (Amos 8:11-13). The communication of the word of God to the Israelite people was proof of their theocratic election, a privilege of the people above others, and a guarantee of their future greatness. Thus, the deprivation of the word of God, with which the prophet threatens them, is equivalent to the removal of the privileges of the chosen people and deprivation of their theocratic future.

The prophecies of God’s judgment upon Israel, set forth in the speeches, are also unfolded in the symbolic visions which the prophet beheld (VII–IX). In the fourth vision (Amos 8:1-2) the prophet is shown in the form of a basket filled with ripe fruit that Israel is ripe for judgment, and in the fifth (Amos 9:1) vision the prophet already hears the command to let fall the temple upon which the people had gathered, upon the heads of those gathered, so that all of them perish.

But in threatening God’s judgment upon the house of Jacob and occupied chiefly with the thought of this judgment, the prophet extends his gaze beyond this judgment, and his thought turns to a bright future. For the Israelite kingdom, as an independent political whole, there is no future, and it is doomed to destruction. But this future exists for the kingdom of Judah with its royal family and, evidently, for individual persons of the ten-tribe kingdom. The scattering of the people, according to the prophet’s word, will accomplish only the separation of chaff from grain, of sinners from the righteous (Amos 9:9). The latter may be saved by taking refuge under the tent of the tabernacle of David, that is, the reigning house of David. In the period of the terrible judgments of God that are to come upon both Judah and Israel (Amos 2:4), the house of David will lose its splendor and greatness and will become as it were a half-ruined tent (pavilion). But the Lord will at some time restore the destroyed tabernacle of David, will repair its breaches and gaps and will set it up as in the days of old. The house of David will be placed at the head of the purified people, which will consist of all those who call upon the name of the Lord. By its inner character the new kingdom will be a kingdom of peace, abundance of all blessings and the absence of all calamities (Amos 9:11-15).

Such is the content of the book of Amos. The prophet Amos sets forth his denunciations, exhortations and threats from the person of God. At the same time in the person of God Amos especially brings to the fore His greatness, almightiness and Justice. The greatness and almightiness of God, in the prophet’s view, is revealed both in nature and in history. In nature it is revealed in the fact that the Lord is God of hosts (Amos 3:13), He “formed the mountains and created the wind” (Amos 4:13), He created the constellation and Orion, transforms the shadow of death into the light of morning, and makes the day dark as night; shakes the earth, calls the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the land (Amos 5:8). In history the greatness and almightiness of God have been shown in the fact that He brought Israel out of Egypt, destroyed the Amorite before them (Amos 2:9-10), “He strengthens the spoiler against the strong” (Amos 5:9), and brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir (Amos 9:7). But in pointing to God’s greatness, the prophet at the same time with particular force wishes to set before the people the moral properties of the Divine Being and specifically His Justice. According to the prophet’s view the demand for righteousness is the fundamental demand of God, presented both to Israel and to all other peoples (I–II), only the keeping of righteousness gives value to ceremonies and sacrifices in God’s sight (Amos 5:21-25). The contemporaries of the prophet hoped upon the covenant with God, supposing that by virtue of this covenant, independently of their deeds, they would be secure, and that the day of the Lord’s judgment could bring them only well-being (Amos 5:18). Contrary to these views, the prophet wishes to make it understood that the Lord will deal with Israel also according to Justice, that from this justice the people cannot hide anywhere (Amos 9:3-4), that the election of the people itself, independently of the conduct of the people, is not only no guarantee of its security, but rather increases the gravity of its responsibility (Amos 3:2).

If we compare the teaching of the book of Amos with the teaching of the book of Hosea, then despite their essential agreement, we can note a difference between them. Amos sets forth the person of God, His greatness and Justice; Hosea sets forth especially the mercy of God and love. Arising against external worship of God not united with internal attitude, Amos demands chiefly the keeping of righteousness, the demands of the moral law; Hosea sets forth the need for love toward God and fidelity to Him. Jehovah established moral demands; their fulfillment is the service of Jehovah: such is the essence of Amos’s teaching. Jehovah loved you; answer this love with love, and you will serve the Lord: such is the essence of Hosea’s teaching. Evidently Amos and Hosea complete one another and unfold the divinely revealed teaching according to their personal characteristics. If Hosea, according to his personal characteristics and the character of his teaching can be compared with the New Testament preacher of love John the theologian, then Amos can be compared with the New Testament preachers of justice John the Baptist and the Apostle James.

From the standpoint of exposition the book of Amos is distinguished by high qualities and is one of the most perfect productions of Old Testament literature. Contrary to the opinion of Jerome, who calls Amos — imperitus sermone, inexperienced in speech, the recent commentators unanimously recognize that the prophet’s language is distinguished by simplicity, purity, elegance and power. The prophet’s speech abounds in images, and the prophet very often borrows these images from pastoral life. Thus the voice of the Lord the prophet compares to the roar of a lion, terrifying the shepherds (Amos 1:1-2); the salvation of Israel he compares to the snatching by a shepherd of a leg or part of an ear from the mouth of a lion (Amos 3:12), the Samarian women he compares to the heifers of Bashan (Amos 4:1) and the like. In general, according to the opinion of one of the commentators of the book of Amos (Ewald), “pastoral life is reflected not only in the similes and prophetic images, but in the finest threads of the representations and language of this prophet, in all his life experience and world view” (Ewald, Die Propheten. I, 84). From other peculiarities of the prophet’s exposition the commentators distinguish the frequent use of the same formulas in order to emphasize a thought (Amos 1:3-2:6; Amos 7:1-3), the use of assonance or plays on words (Amos 5:5), the frequent use of hapax legomena. At the same time recent authors find that in the construction of Amos’s speeches a division into strophes is observed, though in the indication of these strophes recent authors diverge greatly.

Regarding the text of the book of Amos it is held that it has been preserved in greater purity than, for instance, the text of Hosea. But at the same time there are in the book of Amos several passages whose obscurity makes one presume corruption of the text in them.

Literature on the book of Amos: 1) Foreign: Baur, Der Proph. Amos erklart 1847. chel, Amos. 1893. Valeton. Amos und Hosea 1894 Harper, Comment. on Amos and Hosea. 1906. Touzard, Le livre d’Amos. 1909. See also general works on the books of the Minor Prophets. 2) Russian: M. O. Verzbolovich, Proph. Serve in the isr. ten-tribe kingdom. 1891. Prof. P. A. Yungerov. Book of the Prophet Amos. Introduction, translation and explanation. 1887. Here on pp. LIV–LV see bibliographic references.

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The years of the reign of Jeroboam II are difficult to determine with precision, and they are indicated differently: 823–783 (Yungerov), 787–746 (Hoonacker), and others. In the cuneiform inscriptions under the year 736 the Israelite king Menahem is mentioned as a tributary of the Assyrian king Pul (Tiglath-Pileser), with whose help he evidently established himself on the throne. If we suppose that before this Menahem reigned for several years, then add 7 months of the reign of Zechariah and Shallum and 41 years of the reign of Jeroboam II, then the beginning of the latter’s reign will fall upon the years 785–780.