[
The apocryphal work '' The Lives of the Prophets'' records that Amos was killed by the son of ]Amaziah
Amaziah or Amasias (in the Douay Rheims Bible, Douay-Rheims translation) ( he, אֲמַצְיָה, "strengthened by God"; la, Amasias) may refer to:
* Amaziah of Judah, the king of Judah
* A Levite, son of Hilkiah, of the descendants of Ethan (He ...
, priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
of Bethel. It further states that Amos had made his way back to his homeland before he died, and then was buried there.
Themes
God's omnipotence and divine judgment
* No modern interpreter has denied that he taught that God is ethical to the extent that he cannot be affected by ceremonies as such. "For Amos ... religion consists not in ritual but in righteousness. YHWH, God of justice, demands right living not oblations."
* "Amos thus proclaimed an ethical God so clearly that only ethical relations between men could assure divine favor; and nothing in his words indicates that he recognized any other approach to God. Such an approach naturally involves worship – a term that includes the whole process of man's communion with his God; even in ancient Israel worship was never confined to sacrifices and offerings, as witness Jacob at Bethel, Moses before the burning bush, Elijah on Mt. Horeb. Man also has never failed to devise new forms of approach to God to accord with his changed conceptions of Deity."
Teachings
Some of his main teachings are:
* Prayers and sacrifices do not make up for bad deeds. "Practice of religious acts is no insurance against the judgment of God" and that "privilege involves opportunity, or escap-ism... Immunity cannot be claimed simply because of past favor of God, irrespective of deeds and the measure of faithful service."
* Behaving justly is much more important than ritual (). "Ceremonial worship has no intrinsic value...the only genuine service of God consists in justice and righteousness (5:24)".
* Amos believed in economic justice, "the conviction of Amos that economic justice was necessary to preserve the nation (whereas his opponents asserted that sacrifices and offerings were preserving it) forced him to conclude that a God who wanted the nation preserved must want justice and want it always, and could never therefore want sacrifices, which abetted and condoned injustice."
* "Amos was an uncompromising monotheist. There is not a verse in his writing that admits the existence of other deities."
* The relationship between the people of Israel is articulated to be a moral contract. If the people of Israel fall below the moral requirements of God, then their relationship will certainly be dissolved.
* Dependence on God is a requisite towards fulfillment. One will live if he seeks the Lord ().
Justice
Ancient interpretations
The ancient exhortation towards justice is expressed by the voice of God in Amos' teachings. Amos is told by God that the Israelites are going to face divine intervention as oppression was running rampant in Israel. God expressed this oppression by saying that the Israelites were practicing religiosity without righteousness. By oppressing the poor and failing to practice justice the Israelites were behaving unrighteously; justice was to be enacted as a core of God's message in Amos' prophetic teachings.
Modern interpretations
Influences of or references to Amos' teachings can be found in certain modern political and civil rights speeches. In Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's " I Have a Dream", King states "we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream", which is an allusion to Amos 5:24: "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!". Bernie Sanders also referenced Amos 5:24 in a speech during his 2016 presidential campaign. It was used in a sub-tweet by James Comey
James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...
after Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents during the ongoing Trump Russia scandal.
Feast days/religious veneration
Within Roman, Byzantine, and other high liturgical churches saints are regularly celebrated and venerated on Feast days
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does ...
throughout the calendar year. This practice honors Christian martyrs on the traditional day of their death with facts about their life and insights attributed to them meant to edify the faithful.
In the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar
The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar describes and dictates the rhythm of the life of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Passages of Holy Scripture, saints and events for commemoration are associated with each date, as are many times special rule ...
, Amos' feast day is celebrated on June 15 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
, June 15 currently falls on June 28 of the modern Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
). He is commemorated along with the other minor prophet
The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets ( he, שנים עשר, ''Shneim Asar''; arc, תרי עשר, ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve") ( grc, δωδεκαπρόφητον, "the Twelve Prophets"), occasionally Book of the Twelve, is a collection of propheti ...
s in the Calendar of Saints
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
of the Armenian Apostolic Church
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, icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg
, icon_width = 100px
, icon_alt =
, image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg
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, a ...
on July 31.
In Catholic tradition Amos' day is celebrated on March 31.
In the Eastern Church the Troparion
A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas.
The wi ...
of Amos is sung:
"Celebrating the memory / Of Your Prophet Amos, O Lord, / For his sake, we entreat You, save our souls."
Reflecting Amos' sense of urgency and social justice, the Kontakion of Amos is sung:
"Purifying your fervent heart by the Spirit, / O glorious Prophet Amos, / And receiving the gift of prophecy from on high, / You cry with a loud voice to the nations: / This is our God, and there is none beside Him."
References
Sources
*
Further reading
* Anderson, Bernhard W. & Foster R. McCurley ''The Eighth Century Prophets: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah'' Wipf and Stock: 2003.
* Anderson, Francis I. & David Noel Freedman, ''Amos'', The Anchor Yale Bible, vol. 24A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
* Rosenbaum, Stanley Ned ''Amos of Israel: A New Interpretation'' Georgia: Mercer University Press: 1990.
External links
The Holy Prophet Amos
– Orthodox icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
and synaxarion
Hypertext bible commentary: Amos
8th-century BC people
Christian saints from the Old Testament
People from Tuqu'
Farmers
Book of Amos