In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament, Amos (; he, עָמוֹס – ''ʿĀmōs'') was one of the

Twelve Minor Prophets 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 ...

. An older contemporary of

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is t ...

and

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

, Amos was active c. 760–755 BCE during the rule of kings

Jeroboam II Jeroboam II ( he, יָרָבְעָם, ''Yāroḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ; la, Hieroboam/Jeroboam) was the son and successor of Jehoash (alternatively spelled Joash) and the thirteenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, over which ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Uzziah Uzziah (; he, עֻזִּיָּהוּ ''‘Uzzīyyāhū'', meaning "my strength is Yah"; el, Ὀζίας; la, Ozias), also known as Azariah (; he, עֲזַרְיָה ''‘Azaryā''; el, Αζαρίας; la, Azarias), was the tenth king of t ...

of Judah. He was from the southern

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

but preached in the northern Kingdom of Israel. Amos wrote at a time of relative peace and prosperity but also of neglect of God's laws. He spoke against an increased disparity between the very wealthy and the very poor. His major themes of justice, God's omnipotence, and divine judgment became staples of prophecy. The

Book of Amos The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the second in the Greek Septuagint tradition. Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alt ...

is attributed to him.

Life

Before becoming a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

, Amos was a sheep herder and a

sycamore fig ''Ficus sycomorus'', called the sycamore fig or the fig-mulberry (because the leaves resemble those of the mulberry), sycamore, or sycomore, is a fig species that has been cultivated since ancient times. The term '' sycamore'' spelled with an A ...

farmer.Coogan, Michael. ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament''. p. 257. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. His prior professions and his claim "I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet" () indicates that Amos was not from the school of prophets, which Amos claims would qualify him as a true prophet. Amos' declaration marks a turning-point in the development of Old Testament prophecy. It is not mere chance that

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

, Ezekiel, and almost all of the prophets given significant coverage in the Hebrew Bible, give first of all the story of their special calling. All of them seek to protest against the suspicion that they are professional prophets, because the latter discredited themselves by flattering national vanities and ignoring the misdeeds of prominent men.Amos
, ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. 1906. The Bible speaks of his prophecies concluding around 765 BC, two years before the earthquake that is spoken of in Amos 1:1, "...two years before the earthquake." The prophet Zechariah was likely alluding to this same earthquake several centuries later: Zechariah 14:5, "And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah." Though he came from the southern

kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

, Amos aimed his prophetic message at the northern kingdom of Israel, particularly the cities of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

and Bethel. Jeroboam II (c. 781–741 BC), ruler of the Northern kingdom, had rapidly conquered Syria, Moab, and Ammon, and thereby extended his dominions from the source of the Orontes on the north to the Dead Sea on the south. The whole northern empire had enjoyed a long period of peace and security marked by a revival of artistic and commercial development. Social corruption and the oppression of the poor and helpless were prevalent. Others, carried away by the free association with heathen peoples which resulted from conquest or commercial contact, went so far as to fuse with the Lord's worship that of pagan deities. Amos is the first of the prophets to write down the messages he has received. He has always been admired for the purity of his language, his beauty of diction, and his poetic art. In all these respects he is Isaiah's spiritual progenitor. What we know of Amos derives solely from the book that he himself authored. This makes it hard to know who the historical Amos truly was. Amos felt himself called to preach in Bethel, where there was a royal sanctuary (), and there to announce the fall of the reigning dynasty and of the northern kingdom. But he is denounced by the head priest Amaziah to King Jeroboam II and is advised to leave the kingdom. There is no reason to doubt that he was actually forced to leave the northern kingdom and to return to his native country. Being thus prevented from bringing his message to an end, and from reaching the ear of those to whom he was sent, he wrote instead. If they could not hear his messages, they could read them, and if his contemporaries refused to do so, following generations might still profit by them. No earlier instance of a literary prophet is known; but the example he gave was followed by others in an almost unbroken succession. It cannot be proved that

knew the book of Amos, though there is no reason to doubt that he was acquainted with the latter's work and experiences. It is certain that Isaiah knew his book, for he follows and even imitates him in his early speeches (compare , ff, with ; ff with ff, ). Cheyne concludes that Amos wrote the record of his prophetical work at Jerusalem, after his expulsion from the northern kingdom, and that he committed it to a circle of faithful followers residing there. 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 , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , 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

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