The prophecies by Amos were given in the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam II, king of Israel. He describes himself as a herdman of Tekoa, a town in the hill country of Judea, about twelve miles from Jerusalem. A desert town surrounded by solitude, it was a suitable place for men of pastoral occupation; and there Amos pursued his humble calling till separated to the prophetic office.
He tells us that he was neither born into the company of the prophets, nor did he choose that calling for himself. But when he was “a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit” (the fruit of the wild fig), the Lord said to him, “Go, prophesy unto My people Israel” (7:14-15). This was enough for Amos. We soon find him declaring the word of the Lord away up in the capital of the northern kingdom, to the disgust and indignation of Jeroboam and his false priest Amaziah. When ordered to flee to his own land and do his prophesying there, he boldly gives his divine credentials, and delivers a message more searching than ever.
It is God’s way to prepare His servants in secret for the work they are to accomplish in public: Moses on the backside of the desert; Gideon on the threshing-floor; David with his “few sheep”; Daniel refusing to be defiled with the king’s meat; Peter in his boat; Paul in Arabia; and Amos herding cattle in the wilderness. Only he who has learned from God in the school of obscurity is likely to shine in the blaze of publicity.
Amos had no thought of becoming a prophet, as men today select “the ministry” as a profession. He would have been content to pursue his humble vocation as a farmhand, to the end of his life, if such had been the mind of God. But as he followed the flock, his soul was communing with Jehovah. As he gathered the wild figs, his heart was meditating on the great issues of the soul’s relationship to God and the importance of walking in His ways. As he tended the herds he was learning lessons of a faithful Creator’s love and care. And so the Lord kindled the already prepared fuel into a flame, and the humble herdman became a mighty, Spirit-energized prophet of God.
We read of no unbelieving hesitation, no parleying with God, no bargaining or questioning as to temporal support; even as before there was no fleshly impatience or desire to be at the front attracting notice as a prophet. Throughout is the record of a simple, humble man of God, who can wait or run as his Lord sees fit. In all this how much there is for our souls today! Many insist on taking the place belonging to a servant of God who have never spent any time in His school, learning His ways. Thus their utterances are empty and disappointing, as might be expected when coming from men who had not been sent by the Lord. It is blessedly otherwise with Amos. The more we learn of the messenger, the more we are prepared to listen to his message.
Those hidden years had not been wasted. Not only were they years in which he listened to the voice of God speaking to his own soul, but in them he was acquiring experience, and insight which would be invaluable to him later on. Again and again in his public utterances he uses illustrations which show how closely and thoughtfully he had observed the many things, animate and inanimate, surrounding him in his early life. This the following passages make abundantly plain: 2:13; 3:12; 4:9; 5:8; 6:12; 7:1-2.
The theme of the book is emphatically one of judgment on Israel, Judah, and nations about them. God speaks against dishonest judges, perverted religionists, avaricious businessmen, and self-indulgent women.
In the first two chapters we have eight separate burdens addressed to Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel. The second part of the prophecy (chs. 3 to 6), gives the word of the Lord to Israel, the ten-tribed kingdom of the north.
In the third and last division (chs. 7 to 9) we have a series of five visions, with a considerable parenthesis (7:10-17) devoted to the personal history of the prophet. The visions close with the declaration of millennial blessing and restoration, as seen in both the preceding books, Hosea and Joel, and generally throughout the Prophets. For though judgment is the theme, yet judgment is but to prepare the way for glory. The Lord will not cease till He has established righteousness and blessing in all the earth.