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The book has a fairly clear design. Chapters 1-2 are a series of messages to Israel and the other nations. Chapters 3-6 are a collection of poems that express Amos’ message to the people of Israel and its leaders. Chapters 7-9 contain a series of visions Amos experienced that visually depict God’s coming judgment on Israel.
Usage: Amos is a proper noun used as the name of a prophet in the Hebrew Bible. Cultural and Historical Background: The name signifies "burden" or "burden-bearer," reflecting the weight of the prophetic messages he was tasked to deliver.
Amos (/ ˈ eɪ m ə s /; Hebrew: עָמוֹס – ʿĀmōs) was one of the Twelve Minor Prophets of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament.According to the Bible, Amos was the older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah and was active c. 760–755 BC during the rule of kings Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Kingdom of Judah and is portrayed as being from the southern Kingdom of Judah yet ...
The opening phrase, "The words of Amos," introduces us to the prophet and his message. Amos, whose name means "burden" or "burden-bearer" in Hebrew, was chosen by God to deliver a heavy message of judgment and hope. This phrase emphasizes the divine origin of the message, as Amos speaks not his own words, but those given to him by God.
- The Historical and Social Context
- The Message of Amos The Prophet
- Amos’s Audience
- Redactions in The Book of Amos
- The Relevance of The Prophet Amos Today
- Bibliography
The prophet Amos is historically and socially situated in the eighth century B.C.E. Leading up to this setting, Israel and Judah were two separate kingdoms. Beginning in the ninth century B.C.E., the northern kingdom of Israel was politically, economically, and socially wealthier and more stable than their southern counterpart, the kingdom of Judah...
In the midst of national and international affairs, Amos, a local rancher (Amos 1:1) and/or farmer (7:14) from Tekoa in Judah is commissioned to the influential north, Israel. Amos 1:1 describes Amos as one who deals with sheep. Although Amos’s occupation is simply translated as a “shepherd,” the preferred technical translation is “one who owns or ...
As noted above, in the family of four minor prophets (Amos, Hosea, Joel, and Zephaniah), the books of Hosea, Joel, and Zephaniah open: “The word of the Lord that came to (Hosea, Joel, Zephaniah).” There is an emphasis on the one-ness, the singularity of the texts as one. Amos’s words, however, are in the plural. According to scholars, Amos’s judgme...
The redactions or continued growth of the Book of Amos has a richer complex literary history that extends into the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. In chapters 1 and 2 of Amos, there is a unique phrase, “for three transgressions of [X] and for four” set against the nations (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). This literary phrase denotes the threefold e...
In closing, the Book of Amos continues to be relevant concerning social and economic (in)justice. Especially pertinent in today’s central issues of human trafficking, DACA, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and the divide between Wall Street and Main Street, the words of Amos continue to echo and remind readers to be engaged and outraged, and the Lord ro...
John Ahn, “Zephaniah, a Disciple of Isaiah?” in John J. Ahn and Stephen Cook, eds., Thus Says the Lord: Essays on the Former and Latter Prophets in Honor of Robert R. Wilson. The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 502 (New York: T & T Clark, 2009). Israel Finkelstein, The Forgotten Kingdom: The Archeology and History of Northern Israel(A...
The opening phrase, "The words of Amos," introduces us to the prophet and his message. Amos, whose name means "burden" or "burden-bearer" in Hebrew, was chosen by God to deliver a heavy message of judgment and hope. This phrase emphasizes the divine origin of the message, as Amos speaks not his own words, but those given to him by God.
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Amos is the third of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. The prophet is presented in the book as a shepherd and tender of sycamore trees from the southern town of Tekoa. Speaking during the First Temple period, he primarily delivers messages to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos condemns their oppression of the poor, arrogance, and insincere ...
