Third book of the so-called Twelve Minor Prophets. It contains nine chapters. Amos, a shepherd born in Tekoa on the periphery of the Judean Desert, was chosen by God and taken from his flock to be a prophet. He prophesied in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Joash, king of Israel. A contemporary of Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, Amos saw righteousness and justice as God's chief demands upon man and believed the repression of the poor to be the most reprehensible rejection of divine teaching. Amos struggled valiantly against every sort of social injustice. His trenchant critique of society is filled with poetic images and parables drawn from the life experience of the shepherds and farmers who were his milieu. He reproved the wealthy classes of Israel for pursuing their own pleasure while oppressing the poor, and the people at large for their worship of idols. He spoke also against those who would seek the help of foreign powers.
Amos prophesied the severest of punishments: drought, blight, locusts, hunger, and finally exile after a cruel conquest. Amaziah, priest of the temple at Bethel, threatened Amos and demanded that he cease prophesying against Israel and return to the southern Kingdom of Judah. Amos, however, refused and continued delivering the severest of prophecies against Israel.
Amos emphasized that God rules all the nations and that all of Israel's neighbors, Aram, Damascus, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab, would eventually face judgment. Although God is more demanding of His chosen people, Israel, all of the evil nations will ultimately be destroyed while Israel will exist forever. When Israel repents, she will again benefit from God's grace.
