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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 447. Amos
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Literature
Aitken, W. H. M. H., Newness of Life, 172.
Cheyne, T. K., The Two Religions of Israel (1911), 158.
Davidson, A. B., Biblical and Literary Essays (1902), 105.
Driver, S. R., Joel and Amos (Cambridge Bible) (1897), 93.
Duhm, B., The Twelve Prophets (1912), 28, 53.
Edghill, E. A., The Evidential Value of Prophecy (1906), 45.
Findlay, G. G., The Books of the Prophets, i. (1900) 123.
Foakes-Jackson, F. J., The Biblical History of the Hebrews (1903), 257.
Fowler, G. H., Things Old and New (1892), 125.
Harper, W. R., Amos and Hosea (International Critical Commentary) (1905), c-cxl, 1-200.
Hitchcock, F. R. M., Hebrew Types (1913), 172.
Horton, R. F., The Hidden God (1905), 195.
Huntingford, E., Introduction to the Study of the Prophets (1896), 20.
Jordan, W. G., Prophetic Ideas and Ideals (1902), 17, 97.
Kirkpatrick, A. F., The Doctrine of the Prophets (1892), 81.
McFadyen, J. E., A Cry for Justice (1912).
Maclaren, A., Expositions: Ezekiel to Malachi (1908), 150.
McWilliam, T., Speakers for God (1902), 3, 10.
Maurice, F. D., The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament (1892), 159.
Montefiore, C. G., The Bible for Home Reading, ii. (1899) 262.
Russell, A., The Light that Lighteth Every Man (1889), 192.
Sanders, F. K., and Kent, C. F., The Messages of the Earlier Prophets (1899), 3, 23.
Smith, G. A., The Book of the Twelve Prophets (Expositor's Bible), i. (1896) 61.
Welch, A. C., The Religion of Israel under the Kingdom (1912), 59.
Whitham, A. R., Old Testament History (1912), 310.
Dictionary of the Bible, i. (1898) 85 (J. Taylor).
Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 7, 1913.
1. Amos appears at the very dawn of literary prophecy. We do not know that he wrote down his discourses with his own hand, or dictated them to a scribe in order that they might be preserved in book form. Jeremiah is the earliest prophet of whom this is distinctly recorded, and Ezekiel the first who made writing take the place of speech, actually composing and publishing his message in a literary form. But we have the utterances of Amos in a book, and this is the most ancient prophetic book that we possess. Elijah and Elisha appeared a hundred years before Amos, and Samuel's date would be some four centuries earlier than that. Meanwhile, other prophets cross the stage of history-such as Nathan and Gad. But none of these inspired teachers has left literary remains. We have no reason to believe that any of them was in the habit of delivering set discourses. It would seem that these prophets of antiquity were more like soothsayers, to whom people resorted for supernatural counsel in times of emergency, and in their own original action messengers from God with definite revelations and commands spoken as brief pointed messages. As far as we can see, Amos appears to be the first preaching prophet.
2. The period in which Amos prophesied is fixed by the title, the testimony of which is supported by the internal evidence of the book, and the mention in Amo_7:10-11 of Jeroboam (ii.) as king of Israel at the time of the prophet's visit to Bethel. It is true, we cannot define precisely the year in Jeroboam's reign in which Amos made thus his first appearance as a prophet; for though the same title states that this was “two years before the earthquake,” and though the memory of “the earthquake in the days of king Uzziah” survived till long afterwards (Zec_14:5), it is not mentioned in the historical books, and we are consequently ignorant of the year in which it occurred. But we shall hardly be far wrong if we place the ministry of Amos in the latter part of Jeroboam's reign, i.e., probably between 760 and 750 b.c.; for from the whole tenor of his book it cannot be doubted that the successes which gave Israel its prosperity and opulence had been already gained. The material and moral condition in which Israel thus found itself gives the clue to Amos's prophecy.