Amos prophet: Encyclopedia II - Amos prophet - Audience

Amos prophet - Audience

He prophesied in the days of Jeroboam II of Israel, while Uzziah was king of Judah. The writer of the book remembers that two years after he spoke an earthquake struck the area (1:1). Josephus, the Jewish historian, believed that the earthquake happened at the same time as Uzziah's seizure of the role of High Priest and his subsequent bout with leprosy. Amos was contemporary with Isaiah and Hosea. Under Jeroboam II, the kingdom of Israel rose to the zenith of its prosperity. The gulf between rich and poor widened at this time. Amos was called from his rural home to remind the rich and powerful of God's requirement for justice (e.g. 2:6-16). He claimed that religion that is not accompanied by right action is anathema to God (5:21ff.), and that the kingdom of Israel would be destroyed (e.g. 5:1-2; 8:2).

Amos had reasons to be reluctant about accepting his vocation. For one, he was commanded to give his message of judgment to the Northern Kingjdom, and he was not only a Southerner, but his audience was not particularly inclined to listen to prophecies of death and judgment. In fact, Samaria under the leadership of Jeroboam II had extended its territory into modern day Syria, and was enjoying an unprecedented level of economic fortune. This however, was the main focus of his mission as a prophet, and soon after Jeroboam came to power in 781, Amos was called to speak to the people of the Northern Kingdom. He was continually in conflict with the governing authorities. The narrative shows this by way of a conversation between Amos and a priest of Bethel, Amaziah. The priest, loyal to Jeroboam, accuses Amos of stirring up trouble and conspiring against the king, and asks him to stop prophesying. Amos responds with an oracle: “Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will certainly go into exile, away from their native land."(Amos 7:17)

Amos also had reason for his reluctance based in his lack of training. In Amos 7:14 we read, "Amos answered Amaziah, 'I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.'" However, regardless of his reservations, Amos seems to have prophesied in Israel for many years.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Audience", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki