Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 7:10
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
10. Amos hath conspired, &c.] Amos had not, as a matter of fact, done this: he had not himself spoken treasonably against the king, or made any attempt upon his life, nor had he incited others to rebel against him. But he had foretold disaster for the house of Jeroboam, and threatened Israel generally with exile; hence disaffected spirits might readily have supposed that his words merely gave expression to his wishes, and that in acting so as to give them effect, they were but promoting the purposes of Providence. He seemed, consequently, in Amaziah’s eyes, to be guilty of constructive treason; and this formed a colourable pretext for making a representation to the king, which Amaziah hoped would be followed by an order for his immediate expulsion from the country.
in the midst of the house of Israel ] where his influence would be the greatest: an aggravation of his offence.
the land is not able to bear (lit. contain) all his words ] They are too numerous, and too monstrous, to be tolerated.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 17. A historical episode, intimately connected with the preceding visions, and arising out of them. In particular, Amos, in explaining the last of these visions, had spoken so unambiguously, even, in appearance, threatening the person of the king, that Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, denounces him to Jeroboam II., upon a charge of conspiracy; and upon the king’s taking no notice of the accusation, takes it upon himself to bid the prophet leave Israel and return to his own country. Amos replies that he has been commissioned by Jehovah to speak as he has done, and re-affirms, with even greater emphasis, his former prediction, with reference in particular to the fate in store for Amaziah’s own family and possessions.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel – Was probably the high priest, in imitation of the high priest of the order of Aaron and of Gods appointment. For the many high places around Bethel required many idol-priests; and a splendid counterfeit of the ritual at Jerusalem, which should rival it in the eyes of Israel, was part of the policy of the first Jeroboam. Amaziah was at the head of this imposture, in a position probably of wealth and dignity among his people. Like Demetriers the silversmith Acts 19, he thought that the craft whereby he had his wealth was endangered. To Jeroboam, however, he says nothing of these fears. To the king he makes it an affair of state. He takes the king by what he expected to be his weak side, fear for his own power or life. Amos hath conspired against thee. So to Jeremiah the captain of the ward said, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans Jer 37:13.
And the princes; Let this man be put to death, for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt Jer 38:4. And of our Lord they said to Pilate, If thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesars friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king, is an enemy to Caesar Joh 19:12. And of the Apostles; these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans Act 16:20-21; and, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also – and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus Act 17:6-7. And so the pagan, who were ever conspiring against the Roman Emperors, went on accusing the early Christians as disloyal to the Emperors, factious, impious, because they did not offer sacrifices for them to false gods, but prayed for them to the True God . Some doubtless, moved by the words of Amos, had forsaken the state-idolatry, reformed their lives, worshiped God with the prophet; perhaps they were called in contempt by his name, Amosites or Judaizers, and were counted as his adherents, not as the worshipers of the one true God, the God of their fathers. Whence Amaziah gained the plea of a conspiracy, of which Amos was the head. For a conspiracy cannot be of one man. The word, by its force, signifies banded; the idiom, that he banded others together against 1Sa 22:8, 1Sa 22:13; 1Ki 15:27; 1Ki 16:9, 1Ki 16:16; 2Ki 10:9; 2Ki 14:19; 2Ki 15:10, 2Ki 15:15, 2Ki 15:25; 2Ki 21:23 the king. To us Amaziah attests the power of Gods word by His prophet; the land, that is, the whole people, is not able to bear his words, being shaken through and through.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 7:10-17
Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel.
The conventional and the genuine priests of a people
I. The conventional priest. Amaziah was chief priest of the royal sanctuary of the calves at Bethel.
1. He was in close intimacy with the king.
2. He seeks to expel an independent teacher from the dominion of the king.
(1) By appeal to the king. By bringing against Amos the groundless charge of treason. By a base slander he endeavours to influence the king against the true teacher. He does this–
(2) By alarming the prophet. Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the kings chapel, and it is the kings court. It does not appear that the king took any notice of the message which this authorised religious teacher had sent him concerning Amos; hence, in order to carry out his malignant purpose, he addresses the prophet and says, O thou seer, go, flee thee away. Not imagining that Amos could be actuated by any higher principle than that of selfishness, which reigned in his own heart, the priest advised him to consult his safety by fleeing across the frontier into the kingdom of Judah, where he might obtain his livelihood by the unrestrained exercise of his prophetical gifts. Thank God, the days of the Amaziahs, through the advancement of popular intelligence, are drawing to a close!
II. Here we have the genuine priest of a people. Amos seems to have been a prophet not nationally recognised as such.
1. He is not ashamed of his humble origin. I was no prophet, that is, I am not a prophet by profession, neither was I a prophets son. By the son of a prophet he means a disciple or pupil. He had not studied in any prophetic college. No true prophet is ever ashamed of his origin, however humble. As a rule the greatest teachers of the world have struggled up from the regions of poverty and obscurity.
2. He is conscious of the Divinity of his mission. The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. Amos seems to have had no doubt at all as to the fact that the Lord called him. How he was called does not appear. When God calls a man to work, the man knows it. No argument will convince him to the contrary.
3. In the name of heaven he denounces the conventional priest. In return for this rebellion against Jehovah, Amos foretells for the priest the punishment which will fall upon him when the judgment shall come upon Israel, meeting his words, Thou sayest, Thou shalt not prophesy with the keen retort, Thus saith Jehovah. The punishment is described in verse 17. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Amaziah the priest of Beth-el] The idolatrous priest who had been established by the king to maintain the worship of the golden calves which Jeroboam the elder had set up at this place.
Amos hath conspired against thee] This was truly a lying prophet; there is not one word of truth in this message which he sent to Jeroboam. Amos had not conspired against the king-had not said that Jeroboam should die by the sword-and had not said that Israel should be carried away captive, though this last was implied in God’s threatening and afterwards delivered by this prophet; see Am 7:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then; after that Amos had expressly and peremptorily foretold the ruin of idolatry and kingdom of Israel for their sins. Amaziah: it appears not what family he was of, nor is it much material we should know; it is probable he might be of some mean family, or possibly an apostate priest of the tribe of Levi.
The priest, by way of eminency; no common priest, but the chief priest.
Of Beth-el; to the calf at Beth-el; and it is like he was prefect or governor for the king in the civil affairs of that city and country.
Sent; gave information by messengers sent.
To Jeroboam; the second of that name, of Jehus race: the third from Jehu.
King of Israel; at that time living, and on the throne of Israel.
Saying, Amos hath conspired against thee: he accused the prophet of high treason, and conspiring to raise war against his sovereign.
In the midst of the house of Israel; openly and publicly, or hath endeavoured to raise all Israel into sedition or rebellion against their own king.
The land is not able to bear all his woods: either thus, If what he threateneth should come to pass, it will be ruin and utter desolation to all: or thus, The people are incensed so much against this prophet for his harsh predictions, that he must be made an example to quiet and content them. What he saith will come, if it doth come, will certainly ruin all, high and low, and a well-ordered government may not bear such a prophet. Thus far the general accusation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. priest of Beth-elchiefpriest of the royal sanctuary to the calves at Beth-el. These being adevice of state policy to keep Israel separate from Judah. Amaziahconstrues Amos words against them as treason. So in the case ofElijah and Jeremiah (1Ki 18:17;Jer 37:13; Jer 37:14).So the antitype Jesus was charged (Joh19:12); political expediency being made in all ages the pretextfor dishonoring God and persecuting His servants (Joh11:48-50). So in the case of Paul (Act 17:6;Act 17:7; Act 24:5).
in the midst of . . .Israelprobably alluding to Amos’ own words, “in the midstof . . . Israel” (Am 7:8),foretelling the state’s overthrow to the very center. Notsecretly, or in a corner, but openly, in the very center of thestate, so as to upset the whole utterly.
land is not able to bear allhis wordsThey are so many and so intolerable. A sedition willbe the result. The mention of his being “priest of Beth-el”implies that it was for his own priestly gain, not for the king orstate, he was so keen.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel,…. The Targum calls him the prince or president of Bethel; and the word used signifies both a prince and a priest; and very probably this man had the care of the civil as well as religious matters in Bethel. Aben Ezra styles him the priest of Baal; he was one that succeeded the priests that Jeroboam the son of Nebat placed here, to offer sacrifices to the calf he set up in this place, 1Ki 12:32; who hearing the above three visions of Amos delivered, and fearing that he would alienate the people from the idolatrous worship he was at the head of, and frighten them from an attendance on it, which would lessen his esteem with the people, and also his worldly gain and profit; and observing that Amos did not make any intercession for the averting of the judgment threatened in the last vision, as in the other two, and which particularly concerned the king’s family: he
sent to Jeroboam king of Israel; either letters or messengers, or both; who, it seems, was not at this time at Bethel, but at some other place; perhaps Samaria, which was not a great way from hence:
saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the land of Israel; he speaks of Amos as if he was well known to the king, and perhaps he might be, having long prophesied in the land of Israel, and near the court; and represents him as a seditious person, not as affecting the crown and kingdom himself, but as stirring up a spirit, of rebellion among the people; taking off their affections from their prince, and them from their allegiance to him, by representing him as a wicked person that would in a little time be cut off; and this he did not privately, and in a corner, but publicly, in the midst of the land, and before all the people of Israel; and this was no new and unusual thing to represent good man, and especially ministers of the word, as enemies to the civil government, when none are truer friends to it, or more quiet under it:
the land is not able to bear all his words; either to withstand the power of them; they will have such an influence upon the people, if timely care is not taken, as to cause them both to reject the established religion and worship at Dan and Bethel, and to rise up in arms against the civil government, and dethrone him the king; such terrible things he says to the people, as will frighten them, and put them upon taking such measures as these: or else the prophet’s words were so intolerable, that his good subjects, the inhabitants of the land could not bear them; and if he did not give orders himself to take away his life, they would rise up against him, and dispatch him themselves.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Opposition to the Prophet at Bethel. – The daring announcement of the overthrow of the royal family excites the wrath of the high priest at Bethel, so that he relates the affair to the king, to induce him to proceed against the troublesome prophet (Amo 7:10 and Amo 7:11), and then calls upon Amos himself to leave Bethel (Amo 7:12 and Amo 7:13). That this attempt to drive Amos out of Bethel was occasioned by his prophecy in Amo 7:7-11, is evident from what Amaziah says to the king concerning the words of Amos. “The priest of Bethel” ( Kohen Beth – el ) is the high priest at the sanctuary of the golden calf at Bethel. He accused the prophet to the king of having made a conspiracy ( qashar ; cf. 1Ki 15:27, etc.) against the king, and that “in the midst of the house of Israel,” i.e., in the centre of the kingdom of Israel – namely at Bethel, the religious centre of the kingdom – through all his sayings, which the land could not bear. To establish this charge, he states (in Amo 7:11) that Amos has foretold the death of Jeroboam by the sword, and the carrying away of the people out of the land. Amos had really said this. The fact that in Amo 7:9 Jeroboam is named, and not the house of Jeroboam, makes no difference; for the head of the house if naturally included in the house itself. And the carrying away of the people out of the land was not only implied in the announcement of the devastation of the sanctuaries of the kingdom (Amo 7:9), which presupposes the conquest of the land by foes; but Amos had actually predicted it in so many words (Amo 5:27). And Amaziah naturally gave the substance of all the prophet’s addresses, instead of simply confining himself to the last. There is no reason, therefore, to think of intentional slander.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Amaziah’s Charge against Amos; Amaziah’s Doom. | B. C. 785. |
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. 14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: 15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
One would have expected, 1. That what we met with in the former part of the chapter would awaken the people to repentance, when they saw that they were reprieved in order that they might have space to repent and that they could not obtain a pardon unless the did repent. 2. That it would endear the prophet Amos to them, who had not only shown his good-will to them in praying against the judgments that invaded them, but had prevailed to turn away those judgments, which, if they had had any sense of gratitude, would have gained him an interest in their affections. But it fell out quite contrary; they continue impenitent, and the next news we hear of Amos is that he is persecuted. Note, As it is the praise of great saints that they pray for those that are enemies to them, so it is the shame of many great sinners that they are enemies to those who pray for them, Psa 35:13; Psa 109:4. We have here,
I. The malicious information brought to the king against the prophet Amos, Amo 7:10; Amo 7:11. The informer was Amaziah the priest of Bethel, the chief of the priests that ministered to the golden calf there, the president of Bethel (so some read it), that had the principal hand in civil affairs there. He complained against Amos, not only because he prophesied without license from him, but because he prophesied against his altars, which would soon be deserted and demolished if Amos’s preaching could but gain credit. Thus the shrine-makers at Ephesus hated Paul, because his preaching tended to spoil their trade. Note, Great pretenders to sanctity are commonly the worst enemies to those who are really sanctified. Priests have been the most bitter persecutors. Amaziah brings an information to Jeroboam against Amos. Observe, 1. The crime he is charged with is no less than treason: “Amos has conspired against thee, to depose and murder thee; he aims at succeeding thee, and therefore is taking the most effectual way to weaken thee. He sows the seeds of sedition in the hearts of the good subjects of the king, and makes them disaffected to him and his government, that he may draw them by degrees from their allegiance; upon this account the land is not able to bear his words.” It is slyly insinuated to the king that the country was exasperated against him, and it is given in as their sense that his preaching was intolerable, and such as nobody could be reconciled to, such as the times would by no means bear, that is, the men of the times would not. Both the impudence of his supposed treason, and the bad influence it would have upon the country, are intimated in that part of the charge, that he conspired against the king in the midst of the house of Israel. Note, It is no new thing for the accusers of the brethren to misrepresent them as enemies to the king and kingdom, as traitors to their prince and troublers of the land, when really they are the best friends to both. And it is common for designing men to assert that as the sense of the country which is far from being so. And yet here, I doubt, it was too true, that the people could not bear plain dealing any more than the priests. 2. The words laid in the indictment for the support of this charge (v. 11): Amos says (and they have witnesses ready to prove it) Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive; and hence they infer that he is an enemy to his king and country, and not to be tolerated. See the malice of Amaziah; he does not tell the king how Amos had interceded for Israel, and by his intercession had turned away first one judgment and then another, and did not let fall his intercession till he saw the decree had gone forth; he does not tell him that these threatenings were conditional, and that he had often assured them that if they would repent and reform the ruin should be prevented. Nay, it was not true that he said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, nor did he so die (2 Kings xiv. 28), but that God would rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword, v. 9. God’s prophets and ministers have often had occasion to make David’s complaint (Ps. lvi. 5), Every day they wrest my words. But shall it be made the watchman’s crime, when he sees the sword coming, to give warning to the people, that they may get themselves secured? or the physician’s crime to tell his patient of the danger of his disease, that he may use means for the cure of it? What enemies are foolish men to themselves, to their own peace, to their best friends! It does not appear that Jeroboam took any notice of this information; perhaps he reverenced a prophet, and stood more in awe of the divine authority than Amaziah his priest did.
II. The method he used to persuade Amos to withdraw and quit the country (Amo 7:12; Amo 7:13); when he could not gain his point with the king to have Amos imprisoned, banished, or put to death, or at least to have him frightened into silence or flight, he tried what he could do by fair means to get rid of him; he insinuated himself into his acquaintance, and with all the arts of wheedling endeavored to persuade him to go and prophesy in the land of Judah, and not at Bethel. He owns him to be a seer, and does not pretend to enjoin him silence, but suggests to him,
1. That Bethel was not a proper place for him to exercise his ministry in, for it was the king’s chapel, or sanctuary, where he had his idols and their altars and priests; and it was the king’s court, or the house of the kingdom, where the royal family resided and where were set the thrones of judgment; and therefore prophesy not any more here. And why not? (1.) Because Amos is too plain and blunt a preacher for the court and the king’s chapel. Those that wear silk and fine clothing, and speak silken soft words, are fit for king’s palaces. (2.) Because the worship that is in the king’s chapel will be a continual vexation and trouble to Amos; let him therefore get far enough from it, and what the eye sees not the heart grieves not for. (3.) Because it was not fit that the king and his house should be affronted in their own court and chapel by the reproofs and threatenings which Amos was continually teazing them with in the name of the Lord; as if it were the prerogative of the prince, and the privilege of the peers, when they are running headlong upon a precipice, not to be told of their danger. (4.) Because he could not expect any countenance or encouragement there, but, on the contrary, to be bantered and ridiculed by some and to be threatened and brow-beaten by others; however, he could not think to make any converts there, or to persuade any from that idolatry which was supported by the authority and example of the king. To preach his doctrine there was but (as we say) to run his head against a post; and therefore prophesy no more there. But,
2. He persuades him that the land of Judah was the fittest place for him to set up in: Flee thee away thither with all speed, and there eat bread, and prophesy there. There thou wilt be safe; there thou wilt be welcome; the king’s court and chapel there are on thy side; the prophets there will second thee; the priests and princes there will take notice of thee, and allow thee an honourable maintenance. See here, (1.) How willing wicked men are to get clear of their faithful reprovers, and how ready to say to the seers, See not, or See not for us; the two witnesses were a torment to those that dwelt on the earth (Rev. xi. 10), and it were indeed a pity that men should be tormented before the time, but that it is in order to the preventing of eternal torment. (2.) How apt worldly men are to measure others by themselves. Amaziah, as a priest, aimed at nothing but the profits of his place, and he thought Amos, as a prophet, had the same views, and therefore advised him to prophesy were he might eat bread, where he might be sure to have as much as he chose; whereas Amos was to prophesy where God appointed him, and where there was most need of him, not where he would get most money. Note, Those that make gain their godliness, and are governed by the hopes of wealth and preferment themselves, are ready to think these the most powerful inducements with others also.
III. The reply which Amos made to these suggestions of Amaziah’s. He did not consult with flesh and blood, nor was it his care to enrich himself, but to make full proof of his ministry, and to be found faithful in the discharge of it, not to sleep in a whole skin, but to keep a good conscience; and therefore he resolved to abide by his post, and, in answer to Amaziah,
1. He justified himself in his constant adherence to his work and to his place (Amo 7:14; Amo 7:15); and that which he was sure would not only bear him out, but bind him to it, was that he had a divine warrant and commission for it: “I was no prophet, nor prophet’s son, neither born nor bred to the office, not originally designed for a prophet, as Samuel and Jeremiah, not educated in the schools of the prophets, as many others were; but I was a herdsman, a keeper of cattle, and a gatherer of sycamore-fruit.” Our sycamores bear no fruit, but, it seems, theirs did, which Amos gathered either for his cattle or for himself and his family, or to sell. He was a plain country-man, bred up and employed in country work and used to country fare. He followed the flocks as well as the herds, and thence God took him, and bade him go and prophesy to his people Israel, deliver to them such messages as he should from time to time receive from the Lord. God made him a prophet, and a prophet to them, appointed him his work and appointed him his post. Therefore he ought not to be silenced, for, (1.) He could produce a divine commission for what he did. He did not run before he was sent, but pleads, as Paul, that he was called to be an apostle; and men will find it is at their peril if they contradict and oppose any that come in God’s name, if they say to his seers, See not, or silence those whom he has bidden to speak; such fight against God. An affront done to an ambassador is an affront to the prince that sends him. Those that have a warrant from God ought not to fear the face of man. (2.) The mean character he wore before he received that commission strengthened his warrant, so far was it from weakening it. [1.] He had no thoughts at all of ever being a prophet, and therefore his prophesying could not be imputed to a raised expectation or a heated imagination, but purely to a divine impulse. [2.] He was not educated nor instructed in the art or mystery of prophesying, and therefore he must have his abilities for it immediately from God, which is an undeniable proof that he had his mission from him. The apostles, being originally unlearned and ignorant men, evidenced that they owed their knowledge to their having been with Jesus, Acts iv. 13. When the treasure is put into such earthen vessels, it is thereby made to appear that the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man, 2 Cor. iv. 7. [3.] He had an honest calling, by which he could comfortably maintain himself and his family; and therefore did not need to prophesy for bread, as Amaziah suggested (v. 12), did not take it up as a trade to live by, but as a trust to honour God and do good with. [4.] He had all his days been accustomed to a plain homely way of living among poor husbandmen, and never affected either gaieties or dainties, and therefore would not have thrust himself so near the king’s court and chapel if the business God had called him to had not called him thither. [5.] Having been so meanly bred, he could not have the courage to speak to kings and great men, especially to speak such bold and provoking things to them, if he had not been animated by a greater spirit than his own. If God, that sent him, had not strengthened him, he could not thus have set his face as a flint, Isa. l. 7. Note, God often chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty; and a herdman of Tekoa puts to shame a priest of Bethel, when he receives from God authority and ability to act for him.
2. He condemns Amaziah for the opposition he gave them, and denounces the judgments of God against him, not from any private resentment or revenge, but in the name of the Lord and by authority from him, Amo 7:16; Amo 7:17. Amaziah would not suffer Amos to preach at all, and therefore he is particularly ordered to preach against him: Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord, hear it and tremble. Those that cannot bear general woes may expect woes of their own. The sin he is charged with is forbidding Amos to prophesy; we do not find that he beat him, or put him in the stocks, only he enjoined him silence: Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac; he must not only thunder against them, but he must not so much as drop a word against them; he cannot bear, no, not the most gentle distilling of that rain, that small rain. Let him therefore hear his doom.
(1.) For the opposition he gave to Amos God will bring ruin upon himself and his family. This was the sin that filled the measure of his iniquity. [1.] He shall have no comfort in any of his relations, but be afflicted in those that were nearest to him: His wife shall be a harlot; either she shall be forcibly abused by the soldiers, as the Levite’s concubine by the men of Gibeah (they ravish the women of Zion, Lam. v. 11), or she shall herself wickedly play the harlot, which, though her sin, her great sin, would be his affliction, his great affliction and reproach, and a just punishment upon him for promoting spiritual whoredom. Sometimes the sins of our relations are to be looked upon as judgments of God upon us. His children, though they keep honest, yet shall not keep alive: His sons and his daughters shall fall by the sword of war, and he himself shall live to see it. He has trained them up in iniquity, and therefore God will cut them off in it. [2.] He shall be stripped of all his estate; it shall fall into the hand of the enemy, and be divided by line, by lot, among the soldiers. What is ill begotten will not be long kept. [3.] He shall himself perish in a strange country, not in the land of Israel, which had been holiness to the Lord, but in a polluted land, in a heathen country, the fittest place for such a heathen to end his days in, that hated and silenced God’s prophets and contributed so much to the polluting of his own land with idolatry.
(2.) Notwithstanding the opposition he gave to Amos, God will bring ruin upon the land and nation. He was accused for saying, Israel shall be led away captive (v. 11), but he stands to it, and repeats it; for the unbelief of man shall not make the word of God of no effect. The burden of the word of the Lord may be striven with, but it cannot be shaken off. Let Amaziah rage, and fret, and say what he will to the contrary, Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. Note, it is to no purpose to contend with the judgments of God; for when God judges he will overcome. Stopping the mouths of God’s ministers will not stop the progress of God’s word, for it shall not return void.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Amaziah, Priest of Bethel, Files Charges Against Amos Before
The King, v. 10-13
Verse 10-13:
Verse 10 recounts a civil conspiracy against Amos. Amaziah, the idolatrous chief priest of calf-gods at Bethel, had listened to the judgment preaching of Amos and became all “shook up”, came “unglued,” 1Ki 12:31-32. He went for help, not to the Lord, but to king Jeroboam of Israel, to protest the preaching of Amos. With vehemence he charged Amos with conspiracy against Jeroboam for preaching the word God had given to him. Like Elijah, Jeremiah, and Jesus, Amos was charged with treason or sedition for the calfgods were cleverly state-designed means of keeping Israel and Judah separated, 1Ki 18:17; Jer 37:13-14; Joh 19:12. This wicked priest was really fearful of losing his lucrative business. Paul later encountered the same spirit in Corinth, Act 17:6-7 and before Felix, Act 24:5.
Verse 11 recounts how Amaziah, with half-truth, charged that Amos had said, “Thus saith the Lord—the house of Jeroboam,” should be destroyed by the sword and Israel should be led away’ captive out of their own land, v. 9. But the king did not “buy” the exaggerated charges.
Verse 12 describes Amaziah’s direct emotional tirade against Amos. He ordered Amos to leave the feast at Bethel, and the altars, and the people, to stop preaching His message to the very people to whom the Lord had sent him, and return to Judah; And down there, eat bread and prophecy down there; He imagined his priestly business would profit more without this prophet of God. Amaziah implied that Amos was only preaching for bread, for what he could get out of it, evidently as he himself was doing, as false prophets do. He did not want his priestly baliwick disturbed, Eze 13:15-16; Eze 13:19.
Verse 13 contains the directive of Amaziah, a false prophet, to Amos, this true prophet of the Lord. Amaziah ordered Amos “prophecy not again any more at Bethel.” As well tell the wind to blow no more, command the rain not to fall, or water to run up hill, as to tell a true man of God not to prophecy or witness any more, Amo 2:12; Act 4:18-20; Act 5:27-29. Amaziah declared that the Bethel chapel, temple, or sanctuary was the king’s court, but Amos was prophecying for a different and more noble king, the king of glory. In effect Amaziah put on a brazen veneer of piety, in supposed defense of the king, contending that Amos was too crude, as a shepherd from Tekoa, not of sufficient polish to be preaching in the preferred court, the royal area, and place of calf-god worship to the king at Bethel, twelve miles north of Jerusalem. The king preferred this seat of calf-god worship to that of Dan near Samaria, as hallowed by Jacob of old, Gen 28:16-19; Gen 35:3; Gen 35:6-7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet here relates the device by which Satan attempted to depress his mind, that he might not go on in the discharge of his prophetic office. He says, that Amaziah had sent to the king to induce him to adopt some severe measure; for he pretended that as Amos scattered words full of sedition, and made turbulent speeches, the affairs of the king could not be carried on, except the king in due time prevented him: and besides, the same Amaziah said, that nothing could be better for the Prophet than to flee into the land of Judah, as he might live in safety there; for he had incurred great danger in having dared to prophesy against the king. It hence appears that Amaziah was a perfidious and cunning man, but not so bloody as to attempt openly anything serious against the Prophet’s life; unless perhaps he thought that this could not be done, and gave this advice, not so much through his kindness, as that the thing was impracticable: and this second supposition is probable from the words of the passage.
For, in the first place the Prophet says, that Amaziah had sent to the king He then tried whether he could excite the king’s mind to persecute Amos. It may be that his design did succeed: hence he undertook what in the second place is related, that is, he called the Prophet to himself, and tried to frighten him, and drive him by fear from the land of Israel, that he might no longer be troublesome to them. But we must, in the first place, notice the motive by which this Amaziah was influenced, when he endeavored so much, by any means possible, to banish the Prophet from the kingdom of Israel. It is certainly not credible that he was influenced by what he pretended to the king, that there was a danger of sedition; but it was a pretense cunningly made. Amaziah then had a care for his own advantage, as we see to be the case in our day with cardinals and milted bishops who frequent the courts of princes, and do not honestly profess what their designs are; for they see that their tyranny cannot stand unless the gospel be abolished; they see that our doctrine threatens to become a cold and even an ice to their kitchens; and then they see that they can be of no account in the world, except they crush us. And what do they at the same time pretend? that our doctrine cannot be received without producing a change in the whole world, without ruin to the whole civil order, without depriving kings of their power and dignity. It is then by these malicious artifices that they gain favor to themselves. Such was the device of Amaziah, and such was his manoeuvre in opposing the Prophet Amos.
Behold, he says to the king, he has conspired against thee קשר, kosher, is to bind, but, by a metaphor, it signifies to conspire: Conspired then has Amos against thee. But who speaks? Amaziah; and the Prophet omits not the title of Amaziah; for he says that he was the priest of Bethel He might have only said, “Amaziah sent to king Jeroboam”, but by mentioning that he was a priest, the Prophet shows that Amaziah did not strive for the peace of the public, as he pretended; and that this was therefore a fallacious pretense, for he fought for his own Helen, that is, he fought for his own kitchen, in short, for his living: for he would have been deprived, with disgrace, of his priesthood, and then reduced to penury and want, except he had driven away the Prophet Amos. Since then he saw that such and so great an evil was nigh him except Amos was banished, he had this object in view, and pretended another thing, and sent to the king and said, Amos has conspired; and he enhances the crime, In the midst of the house of Israel. “This is not done,” he says “in a corners or in some obscure place; but his doctrine is heard on all the public roads, whole cities are filled with it; in short, it burns like fire in the very bosom, in the very midst of the kingdom; and thou wilt soon find thy own house to be all in a flame, unless thou applies a remedy, yea, except thou extinguishest it.” We hence see how Amaziah acted, and the reason why he so earnestly persuaded the king to give liberty no longer to the Prophet Amos.
With regard to what follows, — that the land could no longer bear his words, the sentence admits of two probable meanings. The first is, that he said, that the people, being offended with his turbulent doctrine, did now of themselves hate and detest the Prophet Amos, as a seditious man. Kings are in our day stirred on in like manner, — “Why do you delay? Your subjects desire nothing so much as to extinguish this evil, and all of them will eagerly assist you: ye are in the meantime idle, and your people complain of your tardiness. They think the princes in power are unworthy of their station, since they thus suffer the ancient rites and ordinances of holy Mother Church to fall into decay.” So they speak: and we may imagine the words of Amaziah to have been in the same strain, — that he stimulated the king by this artifice — that the people were prepared to do their part. The other meaning is this, The land cannot bear his words; that is, “If he goes on here with full liberty to raise tumults, as he has begun, the whole kingdom will be on the verge of ruin, for many will follow him; and when an open sedition will arise, it cannot be checked without great difficulty. We must therefore make every haste, lest Amos should get the upper hand; for there is already the greatest danger.” As the Pharisees held a consultation, and said,
‘
Lest the Romans come and take away our place and nation,’ (Joh 11:48)
so also Amaziah might have excited the king by causing him to fear, that the land, the country, or its inhabitants, had been disturbed by the words of Amos, and that therefore it was time to put a stop to him. Such was the message of Amaziah to the king.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo. 7:10.] The prophet opposed at Bethel on account of these predictions. Conspired] Heb. banded, implying that others joined. There is a charge of conspiracy and sedition; insinuates that Amos prophesies for bread (Amo. 7:10-11), and in pretended courtesy advises him to remove. Say nothing against the king, let us alone in our customs, or we will suppress you by force.
Amo. 7:14. Said] Indignantly repudiated the charge against himself. He was no scholar; as a herdsman he was content with a little, did not seek a mere livelihood, but as the messenger of God he spoke with dignity and authority.
Amo. 7:17. Therefore] in return for this opposition Amaziah must bear his own doom. Wife] will be violently taken by the enemy. The city] publicly and openly: she would be dishonoured at the storming of the city. Land] possessed or assigned to others. Sons] Children slain by the foe; he himself would die in exile among the heathen, and the whole nation would be carried away into captivity.
THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN PRIEST AND PROPHET.Amo. 7:10-17
These verses contain an interesting episode, and present the prophet of God undaunted in danger. We see the issue of his preaching and the requital for his pains. Amaziah, the idolatrous priest of Bethel, is greatly incensed, resolves by force and fraud to get rid of Amos.
I. The conduct of the priest. Amaziah must be viewed as representative of the system of which he was no doubt the ecclesiastical head.
1. He seeks to silence the prophet by civil power. He seems to have been intimate with the king, pretends great kindness to him, when really he consulted his own interests. If Amos prevailed, his gods would starve, and Jerusalem would have all the custom. False teachers prove most cruel persecutors. Their authority is based on the patronage of the great and the support of the state. They are uncharitable in feeling and impotent in power. Flattery may find friends, but truth alone will stand.
2. He brings false charges against the prophets conduct. Every word has weight, like so many daggers, to stab the prophet.
(1) He makes false accusation against the character of the prophet. He was the proud pompous hierarch of a popular religion, a system upheld by prestige and patronage. Amos in his estimation was a needy vagrant, a contemptuous seer.
(2) He makes false accusation against the motives of the prophet. He insinuates Amos to be a mean, self-interested person, plying his vocation to eat bread. Self-interested persons, worldly priests, measure others by their own motives. Those who make godliness a gain, and are governed by hopes of preferment and wealth, understand not the aims of Gods servants, and think to rule others by inducements which influence them.
(3) He makes false accusation against the conduct of the prophet. He charges him with conspiracy. Amos hath conspired against thee. This was a most dangerous accusation, in the unsettled condition of the kingdom. This spirit has characterized a false priesthood in every age. Prophets and apostles, martyrs and reformers, and Christ himself, were all subject to the same persecutionthe same artful and malicious design to excite the temporal power against them.
3. He brings false charges against the prophets preaching. In whatever spirit Amaziah reports the words of the prophet, he keeps back or perverts the truth. He artfully frames the language to establish his charge. He makes a base slander. The prophet had uttered the downfall of the house of Jeroboam, but not in a spirit of rebellion and treason. Amos hath conspired against thee. This was done openly at Bethelthink of that! In the midst of thy people Israel. Commotions of the people are dangerous, O king! The people resent this. If thou dost not act they will. The land is not able to bear all his words. Gods people have often been represented as enemies to the state and disloyal to princes. The true power of Christian character has been felt and hated. But unable to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which servants of God have spoken, recourse has been had to illegal methods, and men have not dared to appeal to reason and the word of God (Act. 6:10). Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
4. He advises the prophet to consult his own safety. Flee thee away. As a seeming friend he requests him to flee away from danger.
(1) He urges him in the language of terror. It is not safe to prophesy here against the king. This is Bethel, the centre of worship and the seat of government. He could expect no encouragement or sanction in the court. He was too blunt, too faithful, to be heard. Go to Judah.
(2) He urges him in the language of threats. As a haughty prelate he assumes authority. Prophesy not again any more, in my parish and jurisdiction. We have enough of schism and sedition. I am resolved to suspend and silence thee. Prohibition from man will not destroy the authority of God. Peter and John were forbidden to preach, Luther and Knox were threatened, but they could not but speak. We ought to obey God rather than men.
II. The behaviour of the prophet. Amos was too deeply impressed with a sense of duty to be swayed by arguments like these.
1. He repudiates the personal charge. I was no prophet, &c. He was a humble shepherd, neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet by profession. Content to cultivate and gather figs, he would never have thrust himself into office. He was a labouring man, neither ashamed of his origin nor employ. Others may boast of rank and authority, but God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty.
2. He asserts his Divine commission. The Lord took me. What the priest forbade, God commanded. Go, prophesy. Amaziah was in direct rebellion against God, Amos was acting in obedience to God. God often calls men from flocks and herds to stand before priests and princes. They may not be recognized by the learned scribe, the proud prelate, and the kings court: but they are conscious of a Divine mission, and are determined to fulfil it.
3. He refuses to leave the path of duty. Amaziah might be influenced by the fear of man, Jonah may escape from Nineveh, but Amos fears not the wrath of a king. God sent him to Israel, not to Judah, and from Israel he would not go. If we are conscious of Gods sanction we shall be supported in trial and courageous in danger. This made Amos resolute against Amaziah; Nathan free with David; Elijah bold with Ahab; John faithful with Herod; and the apostles confident before the world. One prophet sent by God shall overcome the hosts of Baal, though backed by the power of king and queen. Should such a man as I flee?
4. He repeats his solemn message. He is not terrified by priest or king. Though forbidden to prophesy, he desists not, but denounces Gods words and bids the priest attend to the awful sentence.
(1) His wife would be dishonoured. She would be openly and publicly insulted at the storming of the city.
(2) His children would be slain by the sword. He had trained them up, and God would cut them off, in idolatry.
(3) His lands would be taken by the enemy. They would be allotted to others by line (Deu. 32:9; 2Sa. 8:2; Psa. 16:6). Thus he would lose his heirs and his inheritance also.
(4) He would die a captive in a foreign land. He who now gloried in priesthood and position should become an exile and die in a land polluted by idols. The greatest misery that could happen to one expecting a grave in the land of promise.
(5) The kingdom itself would be destroyed. And Israel shall surely go into captivity. The prediction is in the very words of the priest himself (Amo. 7:11), and a warning to all who oppose the servants and abuse the gifts of God. If we pollute the people of God, we shall be dishonoured ourselves. Wicked parents and ungodly ministers reap what they sow and bring a curse upon posterity. Sinners and seducers can never make void the threatening of God. The most haughty and powerful cannot defy judgments which offend them. Opposition may provoke God to contend with them as individuals, and bring ruin upon their families and estates, upon body and soul, for time and eternity.
A POLITICAL PRIEST AND A TRUE PROPHET
Let us view the transactions of this high priest, and we shall find a complete character of a false prophet, or the perfect picture of a politician.
1. They use to flatter and delude great ones, making them to believe that none are their friends but such as say as they say, do whatever they would have them do, and humour them in their sins;that they are their foes that, like Amos, deal faithfully and plainly with them; and this is no small part of great mens misery, that they have few about them that dare or will deal faithfully with them. They may use the Litany (in this sense) with that alteration which the poor curate used, when he saw his lord come into the Church, O God the Father of Heaven, have mercy upon us Right Honourable sinners. Their state is worse (in this respect) than that of inferior persons, who are plainly and truly told of their sins, when these are soothed up to their destruction.
2. They calumniate and belie the true prophets. They observe the rule of MachiavelLie lustily, somewhat will stick though it be never so false.
3. They labour with might and main to suppress and silence the true prophets. They know that their kingdom cannot long stand, if once the faithful ministers of Christ be countenanced; light and darkness, the ark and Dagon, Christ and Belial, can never subsist together. This made Amaziah use both force and fraud to rid the land of Amos
4. They labour to suppress good men before they can be heard. They must not speak nor dispute the case. Thus Amaziah clandestinely accuseth Amos to the king, when he could make no defence for himself.
5. They usually mingle some truth with their lies. As fowlers do mix some wheat with their chaff, to catch the birds the sooner; so did Amaziah mix some truth with his lies. Amos hath said Jeroboam shall die by the sword (that was false), and Israel shall surely go into captivity (that was true) [Hall].
Let us now view the true prophet of God. He is the very opposite of a timeserving, conventional priest.
1. He is Divinely called to his work. He is no mere professional servant. He does not assume office for his own interests, nor does he run before he is sent. He does not always belong to the regular order of prophets, nor is he always qualified by human learning, but God has appeared to him and uttered the word, Go prophesy to my people.
2. He is often persecuted and opposed in his work. He predicts judgments which some cannot bear. He is called an enthusiast and a mover of sedition, denounced, reproached, and hindered in his work. If open violence does not answer, secret fraud is devised (Jer. 11:19; Jer. 12:6). Hence men display their personal spite and vile ingratitude. But they will find it perilous to fight against God and persecute his servants.
3. He is always faithful in doing his work. Truthful men are valiant. Cowards fear and creep behind. Gods servants stand their ground and are faithful to their trust. They are not deterred by false friends nor threatening foes. Fidelity to conscience and God often costs them their life. The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. If God be for us, who can be against us?
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
The sins of Amaziah.
1. Contradicting Gods command. Prophesy not against Israel
2. Slanderous report of Gods servant. Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
3. Frustrating Gods purpose. (a.) In seeking to crush the truth, (b.) In tempting the messenger to flee from duty. The prophets defence proved the nature of the charge. Amaziah hears his doom, like Peter telling Ananias, Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Amo. 7:10. Not able to bear all his words. Truth often an offencealways a power in the land. The world is compelled to confess their impotence against it.
Amo. 7:12. Worldly advice to Gods servants. Flee, &c. This given by Pharisees to Christ (Luk. 13:31). It is folly to declare alarming truths before the great; impiety to oppose established customs and eminent dignitaries; and insolent to preach the gospel in kings chapels. Smooth things and popular heresies must pass current with some, and royalty must pass undisturbed to destruction.
This was fit advice for the priest of Bethel. Carnal men do not rise above carnal motives; but true prophets consult not flesh and blood, have higher motives than safety, bread, &c. Apostles, Reformers, and Missionaries took no counsel with advisers like Amaziah. Duty before temporal interests. Pray for help to discharge it. This advice proves
1. Selfishness,
2. Timidity, and
3. Disobedience.
Amo. 7:13. Observe, this priest of Bethel claims honour for it, not because it is the Lords sanctuary, but because it is the kings sanctuary, and not because it is the house of God, but the house of Jeroboam. All claims of reverence for a Church simply and merely as a national establishment, independently of Divine institution, are no better than these assertions of Amaziah. The first royal propounder of what is now called Erastianism, as far as we know, was Jeroboam I.; the first priestly advocate of it, as far as we know, was Amaziah [Wordsworth].
Amo. 7:14. Herdman. One of that class to which Abraham, and Moses, and David had belonged; but not rich in fields and herds, in men-servants and maid-servants, like the first; nor learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, like the second; nor with any, the most distant, intimations that he might one day be the shepherd of a people, like the third [F. D. Maurice].
1. God loves to appear to men diligent in their calling. Moses keeping sheep, David following the ewes, and Saul seeking the asses, &c.
2. When God calls we must be ready to forsake all. Amos leaves his herds, disciples their nets, and Abraham his country. Grace makes men able to do and willing to suffer what God commands.
3. The sphere must be left with God to appoint. Whatever the lot may be, we must be satisfied. Other places may seem better, but God knows best.
4. When once the place is fixed we must not quit it without Divine guidance. Nothing warrants unlawful fear in the performance of duty or neglect of it. Providence must never be construed to sanction flight or withdraw us from our work. We may apparently do little good, be permitted to prophesy in another place and be more successful. But we must abide in our calling, never give way to corrupt principles, and shun not to declare the whole counsel of God.
Amo. 7:17. Opposers of Gods word examples of his justice and indignation. Amaziah led Gods people into idolatry, and his wife is an harlot in the city. He destroyed the souls of the people, and his own family fall by the sword. Given to the world, he was the chief cause why Israel was despoiled of their inheritance, and his land is divided among the conquerors. He was the chief cause of Israels exile, and would not let them believe it, the threatening was verified upon himself, and without recovery died in a polluted land [Hutcheson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Amo. 7:10-11. Latimer spoke his mind before Henry VIII. and was complained of by his enemies. One of them kneeled before the king and accused him of seditious doctrines. Latimer turned first to his accuser and asked, What form of preaching would you appoint me to preach before a king? No answer was given to this and several other questions. Then he turned to the king, confessed his unworthiness to preach, declared that he was called to it, but would give way to his betters. But if your Grace allow me for a preacher, I would desire your Grace to discharge my conscience, give me leave to frame my discourse according to mine audience. The king was pleased with Latimers words, who was congratulated by his friends, and told with tears in their eyes that they looked for nothing but confinement in the Tower for him [Whitecross].
Amo. 7:14. Herdman. In Palestine at the present day none but the very poor consent to be herdmen, and only such gather sycamore fruit or use it [The Land and Book].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CAUSES OF JUDGMENT PROPHESIEDCORRUPT RELIGIOUS LEADERS
TEXT: Amo. 7:10-17
10
Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
11
For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.
12
Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13
but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el; for it is the kings sanctuary, and it is a royal house.
14
Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophets son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore-trees:
15
and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
16
Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac;
17
therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.
QUERIES
a.
Why was the land not able to bear all Amos words?
b.
What did Amaziah mean, flee . . . into . . . Judah and there eat bread?
c.
What did Amos mean by saying he was not a prophets son?
PARAPHRASE
Then Amaziah, the high priest at the sanctuary of the golden calf at Bethel, rushed a message to King Jeroboam which said: Amos has plotted a conspiracy against you and our nation. And he is preaching his treason right here in the religious center of the nation. The nation cannot survive his seditious words for it will soon lead to rebellion all across the land. Amos is saying you will be killed in war, O King, and all Israel will be taken far away into exile and slavery. When the King took no action against Amos, Amaziah sent orders, saying, Amos, get out of the land of Israel; go on home to your own land of Judah and earn your salary as a prophet there! Never again are you allowed to preach in Israel, and especially at Bethel, for it is the royal center of religion in Israel. Then Amos gave this reply to Amaziah: I am not a prophet by profession and simply for the livelihood involvedneither was I trained to become such a professional religionist. My livelihood was earned by herding sheep and dressing sycamore fruit trees. The Lord God Himself called me and told me to leave my flock and commissioned me to go and preach unto my kinsmen and countrymen in Israel. The Lord has commissioned me personally, I am no professional prophet preaching merely for the money as you falsely assume, Amaziah! Whoever forbids me to preach sets himself in opposition to the Lord God. Now therefore listen to this message to you from the Lord. You say, Do not prophesy against Israelthe Lords reply is this: Because of your enmity to the word of the Lord your wife shall become a prostitute in this very city, and your sons and daughters will be slain violently, and your property will become the booty of an invader. You yourself will die in a heathen land, and the people of Israel will most definitely become slaves in exile, far away from their homeland.
SUMMARY
The daring announcement by Amos of the overthrow of the dynasty of Jeroboam excites the wrath of the high priest at Bethel. He relates the affair to the king. The king apparently does not intervene. The high priest then takes it upon himself to banish Amos from Israel. Amos announces the terrible wrath of God upon Amaziah and Israel.
COMMENT
Amo. 7:10-11 . . . AMAZIAH . . . SENT TO JEROBOAM . . . AMOS HATH CONSPIRED AGAINST THEE . . . Evidently Amos preaching had met with some response among some of the people of Israel. The people were responding or taking notice of the prophets warnings enough to cause Amaziah, high priest of the golden calf worship at Bethel, to be concerned about rebellion. If the people had paid no attention to Amos preaching, Amaziah would not have bothered the King with it. Amaziah sends an urgent appeal to the king that Amos be dealt with for what Amaziah says is a plot of conspiracy against the kings life and the nation. Amaziah very shrewdly does not even mention the main content of Amos preaching; the apostacy of Israel, his pleas for repentance, etc. As a good politician he turns it into a threat against the kings life and unpatriotic sedition against the nation. This is the first show of the corruption in the heart of Israels religious leader. He is not concerned with worshipping Jehovah God nor with righteousness; his only concern is that the status quo not be disrupted,
Amo. 7:12-13 . . . AMAZIAH SAID . . . FLEE UNTO JUDAH . . . AND THERE EAT BREAD, AND PROPHESY THERE . . . BUT NOT AGAIN ANY MORE AT BETH-EL . . . We can only conjecture as to whether Amaziah acted on authority from the king or on his own authority in banishing Amos from Israel. It seems that Amaziah was determined to get rid of this trouble of Israel, king or no king! His command to Amos is to flee (get out of Israel, while the getting is good) to Judah, Amos own country. Amaziah adds a nasty insinuation that if Amos expects to make any money at this preaching business it wont be in Israel. His insinuation is that Amos was only prophesying for the money or livelihood it brought. Furthermore, Amos assault upon the very center of the calf worship of the northern kingdom jeopardized its independence. Jeroboam I realized in the very birth of the northern kingdom that if the people of Israel were allowed to return to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah in the temple they would soon move to dissolve the divided kingdoms and reunite them into one. His first move (1Ki. 12:26 ff) was to institute the calf worship as distinct from the worship in Jerusalem. Amos attempt to overthrow this apostate religion threatened the very existence of the nation of Israel. Now we see the next indication of the corruptness of Amaziahs religious leadership. He was only a priest because of the livelihoodhe was a hireling and insinuated that Amos was also. Amaziah was not a priest in order to serve the people as a minister of the word of Godhe was a priest to be sustained and served by the ignorant and sensual worshipers of the calf. The corruption of his heart led the people of Israel in a corrupted religion. And this became a major cause of the judgment of God upon Israel.
Amo. 7:14-17 . . . I WAS NO PROPHET, NEITHER WAS I A PROPHETS SON . . . HEAR THOU THE WORD OF JEHOVAH . . . THY WIFE SHALL BE A HARLOT . . . THY SONS AND DAUGHTERS SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD . . . THOU . . . SHALT DIE IN A LAND THAT IS UNCLEAN . . . Calmly Amos repudiates the insinuation that he was in the business of prophesying for the sake of money. He was not a prophet by profession neither had he ever been trained to preach the Law of God as others had (see Special Study Eight The Schools of The Prophets). Professionally or vocationally Amos was a herdsman in the hills of Tekoa. He also dressed sycamore trees to provide his living. The sycamore tree of Palestine bore a kind of fruit that required piercing, nipping or scratching in order to ripen. K & D call it a mulberry-fig tree. He earned his living this wayhe was not a hireling preacher like Amaziah. God took this honest-hearted, willing, God-fearing man from the flocks and commissioned him with a divine command to Go! tell my people! He was not sent by the religious leaders of Judah; no human had advised Amos what to preach. His commission and his message were both from Jehovah Himself, Who was Amaziah to forbid that this message should be preached? Who was Amos that he should disobey the Lord God, merely because a human priest, and an apostate one at that, did not like his message?
Whoever sought to oppose the message of Amos opposed the Most High God! Since Amaziah had rebelled against the word of God, God, through Amos, pronounces His judgment upon His enemy, Amaziah. Amaziahs wife was to become a common prostitute, selling her body and soul to other men. This is probably what she did because of the extreme conditions of privation and starvation during the siege of the cities of Israel just before the captivity. Amaziahs sons and daughters were to die violent deaths by the sword, either by murderers or soldiers in battle. His property, undoubtedly a large and rich estate, would become the booty of the invaders and be divided amongst heathen soldiers and conquerors. As for Amaziah himself, he would be taken captive with all the people of Israel and he would die in a heathen land, never again to see his beloved homeland. The encounter between Amos and Amaziah reminds us of the encounter between Jeremiah and Hananiah (Jeremiah 38). Gods word shall not return unto Him void but shall accomplish that which He purposes (Isa. 55:6-11).
Honeycutt in Amos And His Message, has said, In a day when the ministry tends toward a cold professionalism, the message of Amos carries a severe warning for the contemporary minister. The world will always need men of integrity who cannot be intimidated, coerced, or threatened into silence at the very time when a prophetic voice is needed most. Here is to be found the acid test of preaching: Will a preacher speak for God in the face of adversity and hardship, even the threat of both job and life? Knudson has well observed: Someone has said that there are two classes of preachersthe good preachers who have something to say, and the poor preachers who have to say something. But there is yet another and higher class. It consists of those who both have something to say, and who have to say it. Such are the prophets. Such a one was Amos. A poet has said it this way:
God give us men. The time demands
Strange minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking!
For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds
Mingle in selfish strife; lo! Freedom weeps!
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.
by J. G. Holland
QUIZ
1.
Why was Amaziah so excited about Amos preaching?
2.
Why would Amos preaching at Bethel be particularly threatening to Israel?
3.
What is a son of the prophets?
4.
Name the specific judgments of God upon Amaziah and his family?
5.
How does Amos furnish an example for preachers today?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) There follows a brief historical interlude of much interest. It shows that the effect of the preaching of the Judan prophet had been felt in the sanctuary at Bethel and the palaces at Samaria. The chief priest of the Temple, with the characteristic exaggeration of fear and anger, accuses Amos of treason against the house of Jeroboam.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The experience of Amos at Beth-el, Amo 7:10-17.
The account of the fourth vision is separated from that of the third by an historical section, in which is recorded the experience of Amos at Beth-el. The incident related is closely connected with the vision immediately preceding. In connection with the latter Amos made startling announcements concerning the destiny of Israel and of the ruling dynasty. These aroused the resentment of the chief priest, who accused Amos of treason and sought to drive him from Beth-el. Amos refuses to go, however, and justifies himself and his message by an appeal to the divine call which impelled him to enter upon the prophetic career. Fearlessly he repeats the previous denunciations and adds a personal woe upon Amaziah and his family.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10-13. The opposition.
Then When Amos had uttered the startling announcements contained in Amo 7:9.
Amaziah the priest Probably the chief priest at the sanctuary of Bethel. Nothing is known of him otherwise.
Jeroboam See Introduction, p. 195.
Conspired Not, has entered into conspiracy with others, but, his words are such as will result in conspiracy against the throne. Under normal conditions denunciation of the government and the prediction of the overthrow of the national institutions may rightly be considered treason; and to an unspiritual politician the words of Amos must have seemed treasonable, but the priest, a representative of Jehovah, should have understood the attitude of the prophet. In reality the latter was the only one who did not betray the best interests of the nation. It was only because he considered it essential to the welfare of the people that he was willing that the nation should be exiled and the dynasty overthrown, if only a pious remnant could be preserved to form a nucleus of a new kingdom of God.
In the midst At the very center of the national life; that is, at Beth-el, which was the religious center.
Not able to bear The message is so revolutionary, the priest means to say, that it will surely lead to serious disturbances. To prove his case he sends to the king a summary of Amos’s message.
Jeroboam shall die by the sword Not an exact reproduction of the words of Amos (Amo 7:9). The manipulation may have been caused by a desire to arouse more readily the king’s resentment.
Shall surely be led away captive This the prophet had asserted repeatedly (Amo 5:5; Amo 5:27; Amo 6:7).
Also Amaziah said Nothing is said of Jeroboam’s attitude. Hence Amaziah’s attempt to silence Amos has been variously interpreted. Some think that Jeroboam took no notice of the priest’s message, or that the reply was not satisfactory, and that, therefore, Amaziah, who had reason to fear for his own position (Amo 7:9), endeavored, on his own authority, to drive out Amos. Others think that it was at the king’s command that Amaziah bade Amos flee, though the authorization is not mentioned. Still others interpret the priest’s words as a friendly advice to the prophet to leave the country before the wrath of the king should be felt by him. The last interpretation is shown to be impossible by Amos’s reply in 14-17. It is, perhaps, best to suppose that Amaziah addressed Amos as soon as he had dispatched the messenger to the king. Having made an appeal to Jeroboam, he thought himself in a position to rid the country, in any manner whatever, of this “troubler of Israel.”
Seer According to 1Sa 9:9 (where a different word, though identical in meaning, is used), this is an older designation of the men called in later days prophets; here the word is used probably with a touch of sarcasm visionary, fanatic.
Land of Judah The home of Amos (Introduction, p. 191).
Eat bread Make a living. The early seers made their living in much the same way as modern clairvoyants (1Sa 9:7-8); and even among later prophets there were those who prophesied “for a reward” (Mic 3:5; Mic 3:11; 1Ki 22:13), who followed the adage, “Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.”
Such a one Amaziah took Amos to be.
Prophesy there In his own country Amos might say anything he pleased; Beth-el needed no prophet, its spiritual interests were well cared for.
The king’s chapel R.V., “sanctuary.”
The king’s court R.V., “a royal house.” From the time of Jeroboam I the sanctuary at Beth-el enjoyed the royal patronage (1Ki 12:29; 1Ki 12:32), and it is quite likely that the king had a palace there.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Prophet at Bethel
v. 10. Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, v. 11. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, v. 12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah and there eat bread, v. 13. but prophesy not again any more at Bethel, v. 14. Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, v. 15. and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, v. 16. Now, therefore, bear thou the word of the Lord, Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel and drop not thy word, v. 17. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
This is an interesting passage in the history of Amos, and deserves to be particularly considered. It seems that this Amaziah, priest of Bethel, was priest of the golden calves at Bethel which Jeroboam had set up. He had the ear of the king, and, therefore, while the poor Prophet was preaching to the common people, Amaziah was accusing him at the court. In his accusation, he endeavors to make Amos appear as though he had only personally preached against the king. He hath conspired against thee, said Amaziah. Whereas the whole bent of Amos’s preaching was to say to the whole house of Israel, that by their sin the land would be laid waste by the sword. The land (he said) was not able to bear with Amos’s preaching. Whereas, we have not a word of any complaining but himself. But did he tell the king how Amos had interceded with the Lord for Israel, and how he had succeeded? Not a word of this! So that in the very moment, while the poor herdman of Tekoa was really and truly the best friend of Israel; he is represented as the greatest enemy both to the king and country: a traitor to his people, and a disturber of the people! These things are not uncommon.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The True Ministry
Amo 7:10-17
Amaziah was no true priest. He mimicked the priesthood and made the best he could of it; he was not called or ordained of God. Amaziah, therefore, was a false priest, and whatever he says will have a note of falsity in it When he says good words they will turn to bad ones upon his lips. No flower retains all its bloom when a bad man culls it; it is ashamed of its ownership.
“Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel” ( Amo 7:10 ).
A very familiar policy; the very rudest idea that could occur to the commonest quality of mind. Amaziah has no answer in music; he cannot supply a counterpart to the wondrous talk of Amos; therefore he adopts the policy of describing Amos as a conspirator. How the tone of the prophecy changes at this point! Whilst Amos talks we are in the presence of one who with the thunder talks as friend to friend, who lays his hand familiarly on the ocean’s mane, and plays with those hoary locks without sign or throb of fear. When Amaziah comes upon the scene all he can say is, that Amos is at enmity with the king, and is seeking to carry out some political idea fatal to the throne. Accuse the man to the king, was Amaziah’s simple but base policy.
Before the days of Amaziah, and since, this policy has been, and has become, well known. Jesus Christ was accused of seeking to overturn the throne of Csar “If thou let this man go, thou art not Csar’s friend.” That staggered Pilate. He knew he was the friend of Csar any Csar; he pledged his troth and loyalty to the throne, and not to the passing Csar only. He was therefore stupefied, bewildered, lost. And the apostles were pursued by the same charge. There was no other charge that could be understood against them. Their prayers could not be assailed; they were so simple, spiritual, noble, benevolent; they were charged with the spirit of goodwill towards men. Their miracles were all miracles of beneficence; their doctrine was so mysterious that the common mind could not argumentatively handle it or reply to it; there was a ghostliness about it which kept men at bay. All that could be said was that if they succeeded Caesar was no longer king not that they cared about Csar; in their hearts they hated him, but any stone will do to throw at an enemy.
Amaziah continues, “Thus Amos saith.” How he belittles the occasion! Amos did not say a word of it And yet he said every word. But they were not the words of Amos, and Amos disclaimed them. He said, I never created that music; I was as much surprised at the majesty of the music as anybody who heard it could possibly be: I was an instrument. Amaziah, however, personalises the thing and says, Here is a man talking a fanatical, enthusiastic, ill-regulated man, who has certain things to say, certain babbling that he must utter, and specific declarations that he must speak, and the whole land is tired of his treasonable talk; send word what is to be done with this political heretic. Amaziah was false himself, and therefore he thought it was impossible for any other man to be true. That is the philosophy of all badness. Only goodness can see goodness; only innocence thinks that the dog will not bite; only childlike simplicity can lay its hand on the cockatrice’s den, and run out to meet the lion in his rampant fury. It never occurs to the little child’s heart that anybody or any beast can propose to do mischief. Contrariwise, the bad man never gives credit to any other man for being good. He says, It looks well enough, but under it all there is a spirit of selfishness and badness. He judges by himself. “Evil be to him who evil thinks.” The French language has given us that proverb about the solidest thing it ever gave the world. The evil man cannot get away from himself. When good is done to him he suspects it; when he gets a letter all love he says, There is a thorn somewhere about this rose. A man who is insincere cannot believe in the sincerity of another man. He says that that man is playing a game; he can see the trickster in him; he does not hesitate to describe him as a juggler he knows that the end of it will be bad. How does he come to know all this? Because of the malignity of his own heart As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The false man never met a true one. We see what we ourselves are; we see our reflection in all things, in all life; the noble nature sees nobleness everywhere. The selfish man cannot believe in the benevolence of any other man; he says, This is an investment; this is done for the sake of publicity; this is a tribute to selfish vanity all this is arranged. The base man cannot talk noble language. The earthly man cannot understand the heavenly. He says, This is fanaticism, this is ill-regulated enthusiasm; here is a man who pretends that he sees spirits, and feels spiritual ministries operating in the heart; here is an individual who looks upon all nature as symbolical, typical, apocalyptic, pointing to something beyond itself; here is a man who sees in time an algebraic sign indicative of eternity; what folly he talks, what folly he perpetrates; instead of standing on the solid earth, and talking about things that can be handled, he moves away above the horizon, and professes to see some other worlds glowing in the unmeasured distance. So earthliness can never understand heavenliness; the lips that are dumb in prayer never can speak a word of appreciation about the man who lives in divine communion. Always get at the character of the critic. Never mind his criticism, pay no attention to it; get at himself, his life, his deepest thought, his highest purpose, and you will find the revelation of all his judgments; be they ill-natured or magnanimous, they are but a portraiture of himself.
“Amaziah said unto Amos… Go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el” ( Amo 7:12-13 ).
Why? “For it is the king’s chapel”: literally, it is the king’s sanctuary. What is the mistake in that statement? The whole statement is a mistake. The high priest at Jerusalem never called the temple the chapel of the king, except he meant by the term king the eternal Majesty of heaven. It was God’s temple, the Lord’s house, Zion elect and consecrated, and made the home of the people of his choice. This is a fine conception of a State Church “It is the king’s chapel.” The whole secret is there of a mistaken conception of the Church of God, or the Church of Christ. The king has no chapel, except in the sense of a worshipper, a contrite brokenhearted man, who has left his crown anywhere that would hold it until he went in to say his prayer, and call upon God for mercy. “It is the king’s chapel,” quoth Amaziah: in other words, and more modern, It is private property; you must not prophesy here; this chapel was built by private money for private purposes, and beyond those purposes it must not be used. So, in modern times, saith the trust-deed, duly enrolled in the High Court of Chancery. This is exactly what is being said to-day. We have to-day what we term denominational property. That is a peculiar expression. The stones are denominational stones; the bricks are Methodistical bricks; the beams are Congregational wood; the roof is Episcopalian slating. We have denominational property; you must not speak here, because you do not belong to us; if you speak here it is by tolerance, by courtesy, by momentary concession, as who should say, Friendliness seems to compel us to allow you to say what may occur to you; noblesse oblige ; you can deliver your soul, but the moment you have done we take up the broom and sweep out your footprints: it is the king’s chapel. There is no such house of God. The house of God belongs to every true man. The house of God is consecrated to all truth. If any man were to rise and say, Two and two are five, it is the Church that should correct him. All truth nests under the roof of the sanctuary; all poetry sings within the walls of the Christian temple; all beauty has a right to hang its pictures on the walls of God’s house. Never drive music and poetry and beauty away to build secular walls and secular roofs, but welcome them; there is always room if you choose to find it in the Church of God for every lovely song, for every beauteous picture, for every noble exposition of known or unknown truth. The Lord built a sanctuary for Israel not of Israel. We must take great care how we talk about our Church, our property, and our trust-deed, and our denomination, and our theology. It would be a blessed flood of rain, straight down out of heaven, that sunk a good many of these things so that they never could be found any more.
See the policy of Amaziah, and in his policy see the exact stature of the man. Amos is a conspirator; the chapel is private property; if any prophet wants to say anything let him go anywhere else and say it. Has the world got much beyond that? There was one good thing about Amaziah’s statement he did see that there was a connection between prophecy and the state; he saw clearly enough that if the principles of Amos took effect, the State could not remain as it was. The State ought always to feel that there is a Church in the middle of it; and that Church should represent itself as a judgment seat, as the fountain and source of much human benevolence, as a critic that ought to be feared not because of its censoriousness, but because of its righteousness. And the State should be made to feel that every preacher that is in it affects its quality and its destiny. You cannot preach truth in the State without affecting the State sooner or later. Every school that is built carries the State inside it; every home that is well conducted will affect the imperial policy in due time. All things should be levelled in this direction, so that they shall not terminate in themselves or in the formation of common sentiments which are to be quoted as parts of rhetoric or copied as specimens of writing; they should be looked upon as ministries, forces, agencies, remoulding, renewing, readjusting all things, with a view to the incoming of the eternal morning called heaven.
It will be well now to hear Amos a fine rugged voice that was at home in the open air; that noble tone that melted into the high wind as if by right of kinship:
“Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son” ( Amo 7:14 ).
Read it emphatically: No prophet I, no prophet’s son I. The emphasis is intense. “… But I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.” Amos always kept good hold of his history. Because we let our personal history slip from the memory we lose a great deal of power. Remember your poverty; remember early hardships; remember through what difficulty you had to fight for every inch of foothold you have secured; remember how you were sustained in weakness; recall the time when men were so savage against you that you were not certain whether you would end your days in the workhouse or in the madhouse; recall your history, have it as a daily companion, because keeping fellowship with your memories you can take the next step with the greater ease and grace, and it shall be by the goodness of God a step upward and a step heavenward.
“And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel” ( Amo 7:15 ).
“The Lord took me”: I was passive, I was never expecting such election and elevation an elevation that brought danger; an election that was charged with solemn responsibility. It is the Lord’s doing; if I am a prophet at all it is because the Lord hath anointed me. How he lifts the subject to a new level! With Amaziah he is a conspirator, a man arranging a policy of selfishness, talking mysteries that he may bewilder the people. When Amos stands upon the scene he changes the whole perspective, he elevates the entire level; he says, If I am anything at all, I am God’s chosen servant; I have only spoken what I was told, I have simply delivered a message; I never sat down in my life to write a sentence, saying, This is shapely, this is classical; the people of Israel will consider this a very polished composition; I never made a sentence in my life. When I opened my mouth the Lord’s thunder escaped my lips, and I heard it with surprise, and knew it was the tempest of judgment How his face burns; how his port dignifies; how he conquers a space for himself; and how the caitiff Amaziah, the mimicking priest, falls back into his proper shadow. You know the true man when you see him. If people will listen with their hearts they can easily tell which is the true voice and which is the false voice.
Jesus Christ submits himself to this test; he is willing to be tested in the stress and agony of life. “No prophet I,” only an instrument. Have I uttered music? The Lord discoursed it upon me himself. Have I said anything revolutionary? It came from him around whom the lightnings gather, saying always, Here we are: if I have declared any great principle it was given me to declare. This is what the Apostle Paul says: “I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you” I am not a gospel-maker, I am a gospel preacher; I have taken the gospel as I find it, and according to my ability and opportunity I have made it known.
This is the true ministry. Ministers are not self-made. Be very careful how you get up and say the Lord has made you a minister. Let this coming into the ministry be a matter of irresistible pressure; a question of real pain, bringing with it a consciousness of a certain degree of momentary loss, peril, a deep sense of insufficiency, and let your life express great and solemn and reverent conviction. The Lord will find his own ministers. All we have to do is to say, Lord, thrust out labourers into thy harvest. Any men we thrust out are wrong men they are nice, very nice; some of them very nice-looking, and so quiet, and inoffensive, and childlike, and sweet, they would not make a noise in a parlour; they would never annoy any prejudice. There never was a hoary old prejudice in the human mind that could not slumber because it knew they were not talking at it, but only talking about it; so it could keep on napping and slumbering even in the Church that famous dormitory. The Lord will find his ministers. Some of them will be rough; rams’ horns will be the only instruments they have, and they will, thanks be unto God, be destitute of theological training; but how they will talk when they come; how they will chop their way through social jungles; how they will burn and denounce on the one hand, and how tender and gentle and shepherdlike they will be on the other! Meeting proud self-righteousness, they will go mad with holy indignation; meeting the outcast and the lonely and the weary and the lost, they will say, Go, and sin no more; or they will say, Arise, the Master hath come, and calleth for thee; or they will say, Return, O wanderer, to thy home, thy Saviour calls for thee. They will not be men who have certain little patent keys which alone can open certain little patent drawers in which eternal enigmas are hidden, and which can only be read by men who have passed through a certain training. God has kept nothing for scholars. There is nothing worth knowing that requires scholarship to know in the kingdom of God. Scholarship has the smallest theatre in which to operate. It is great in mines, in electricity, in biology; great in zoology, great in many ologies; but there is nothing in God’s Cross that needs scholarship. Otherwise salvation would be of works; salvation would be a question of intellectual cultivation, capacity, agility; salvation then would depend upon the mind, whereas now it depends upon the broken heart. This is the guaranteed ministry, because it is the true ministry. God will find his men. We are far too meddlesome about this matter of trying to discover men whom we can put forward into a ministry for which they are utterly unfit. Thank God the people are the judges. We may jewel these dear little watches in five holes, but if they will not keep the time, tell the time, people will soon throw them away. Blessed be God for the people!
“Now,” said Amos, gathering himself together, “Now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord.” Contrast this statement with what Amaziah had said in Amo 7:11 : “For thus Amos saith.” Amos says, No: I did not say it “hear thou the word of the Lord.” No man must make his own sermon. No man has any right to make a sermon. He is a trickster in the sanctuary who makes sermons. He must simply stand up and say, Lord, at thy call I am here: now thunder through me, or give me the tears that are more persuasive than tempests; I am thy instrument, discourse upon me as thou wilt.
“Thou” [continueth Amos], “Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land” ( Amo 7:16-17 ).
They were awful men, the old prophets. Would God they lived now!
Prayer
Almighty God, thou dost watch our life; there is nothing hidden from the eyes of judgment, or from the vision of love: all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Thou knowest our neglect, our shortcoming, our trespass; all the innermost thought of our mind thou lookest upon as if it were plainly spoken in the words of men. Enable us to know that the eye of the Lord our God continually searches us, and may we be prepared to meet him, not in judgment, but in penitence and self-accusation. We thank thee for thy Word, for its great boldness, for its mystery of power and majesty, and its still greater mystery of tenderness, pity, sympathy, and redeeming love. Truly thou art wonderful; such is thy name, and such thy revelation. We have heard thee roar from Zion, and we have heard thee plead with thy wayward people as if they were little children that could only understand words of love Speak to us as thou wilt, now in this way, now that; only take not from us thy presence, and the assurance of thine interest in our lives. May we know thee to be near, to be looking on, to be taking continual notice of us; mayhap we may be awakened to higher attention, we may turn upon thee the expectation of our heart, and in some moment, suddenly coming, but to be remembered for ever, we may cry, God, be merciful unto me a sinner! And concerning each of us the angels may say, Behold, he prayeth. Look upon us in all our activities, policies, undertakings; sanctify to us all our bereavements, losses, sorrows; make us solemnly joyous, and joyously solemn, so that whatever the air may bring, vision of light, or frown and cloud of judgment, we may know that God is near, and that the Cross of his Son uplifts itself above all the tumults of time. At that Cross we bow, before that Cross we pray; it is the only way to God, to pardon, to purity, to peace. O blessed Cross, rugged, shameful, ghastly Cross, yet to become a Tree of the Lord’s right hand planting, and to gather within its hospitable shade the whole universe of men, hear us when we sing, hear us when we pray, and whilst we are confessing our sins before the Cross, may we know that the Lamb has been lifted up, and that by the grace of our dying, triumphing Saviour we have been pardoned and set at liberty. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Amo 7:10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
Ver. 10. Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel ] Observing that the prophet had foretold a desolation, and not prayed as before that it might be averted; because he saw God was fully resolved, and their destruction determined.
Amos hath conspired against thee in the land
The land is not able to bear all his words
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Amo 7:10-13
10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. 11For thus Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’ 12Then Amaziah said to Amos, Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! 13But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.
Amo 7:10-17 This account of an encounter between God’s spokesman and the leader of the Bethel sanctuary breaks into the context of several judgments:
1. locusts, Amo 7:1-3
2. fire or famine, Amo 7:4-6 (cf. Amo 8:11-13)
3. plumb line, Amo 7:7-9
4. summer fruit, Amo 8:1-3
5. earthquake, Amo 9:1-2 (possibly Amo 8:7-10)
Amo 7:10 Amaziah the priest This was the chief priest (Targums) of the national golden calf shrine at Bethel. Here we see the dilemma of the people when confronted by two representatives of God. The Priest and the Prophet both claim to speak for God, both claim to have His authority.
Jeroboam This refers to Jeroboam II (cf. Amo 1:1), the current king of Israel. As is often the case the exact dates of his reign vary from scholar to scholar:
1. John Bright, 786-746 B.C.
2. E. J. Young, 783-743 B.C.
3. R. K. Harrison, 782/81-753 B.C.
There are several problems connected to dating OT events:
1. the only clear link between secular history and the OT is the battle of Charchemish in 605 B.C.
2. the reigns of the kings overlap (co-reigns)
3. the Babylonians and Palestinians date the reign of their kings differently (i.e., count or do not count first partial year).
Amos has conspired against you Amaziah accused Amos of political treason (conspired, BDB 905, KB 1153, Qal PERFECT, for examples of the use of this term see 2Sa 15:12; 2Ki 11:14; 2Ki 15:15). Near Eastern kings were very conscious of their prophet’s words and popularity among the populace and feared any negative prediction.
the land is unable to endure all his words Amos is speaking at Bethel. All the geographical directions of the book are given from the position of Bethel. However, this phrase implies that Amos spoke in many locations in the north, not just Bethel.
The VERB endure (BDB 465, KB 463, Hiphil INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) is used of enduring YHWH’s wrath (cf. Joe 2:11; Jer 10:10). The Israelites were listening to Amos!
Amo 7:11 For thus Amos says, Jeroboam will die by the sword’ This refers to Jeroboam II. Amaziah slightly misquoted Amos, but in reality it was the essence of his message.
Israel will certainly go from its land into exile This was a staggering judgment pronouncement. The Promised Land is no longer under YHWH’s protection! No, quite the opposite; it is under YHWH’s attack. Israel had allowed the confiscation of the land allotments (by the wealthy, powerful, and influential) of her farmers and now YHWH revoked His promise!
The Exile of Israel is mentioned several times by Amos (cf. Amo 4:2-3; Amo 5:5; Amo 5:27; Amo 6:7; Amo 7:17; Amo 9:4; Amo 9:14).
Amo 7:12 Go. . .flee away These are both Qal IMPERATIVES (go BDB 229, KB 246, flee BDB 137, KB 156). There is a third Qal IMPERATIVE later in the verse, eat (BDB 37, KB 46). Amaziah wants Amos to get out of the sanctuary, the city, and the country!
you seer Amaziah called Amos a seer possibly because of his public proclamation of his visions. It was a synonym for prophet.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE DIFFERENT HEBREW TERMS FOR PROPHET
flee away to the land of Judah Possibly Amaziah was charging Amos with being prejudiced against Israel or a meddling foreigner.
there eat bread and there do your prophesying Apparently, some prophets were supported by the state, while others lived on the freewill offerings of the people to whom they preached. Amaziah was accusing Amos of preaching for money. Amos seems to answer in Amo 7:14 that he already had a source of income.
Amo 7:13 for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence It is obvious that Amaziah was expressing the truth ironically when he states this is not God’s sanctuary but the king’s. The reference here is, of course, to one of the national shrines set up by Jeroboam I that became the site of the official state religion of the Northern Ten Tribes. It was later corrupted by Ahab and Jezebel (cf. 1 Kings 18-21) into the worship of the fertility gods of Canaan.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the priest. The idolatrous priest.
Beth-el. Compare Amo 3:14; Amo 4:4; Amo 5:5, Amo 5:6.
conspired = formed a conspiracy; the calves being connected with Israel’s state policy (1Ki 12:26-33).
in the midst, &c. : i.e. openly. Compare Amo 7:8.
bear = endure.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Amo 7:10-17
CAUSES OF JUDGMENT PROPHESIED-
CORRUPT RELIGIOUS LEADERS
TEXT: Amo 7:10-17
The daring announcement by Amos of the overthrow of the dynasty of Jeroboam excites the wrath of the high priest at Bethel. He relates the affair to the king. The king apparently does not intervene. The high priest then takes it upon himself to banish Amos from Israel. Amos announces the terrible wrath of God upon Amaziah and Israel.
Amo 7:10-11 . . . AMAZIAH . . . SENT TO JEROBOAM . . . AMOS HATH CONSPIRED AGAINST THEE . . . Evidently Amos preaching had met with some response among some of the people of Israel. The people were responding or taking notice of the prophets warnings enough to cause Amaziah, high priest of the golden calf worship at Bethel, to be concerned about rebellion. If the people had paid no attention to Amos preaching, Amaziah would not have bothered the King with it. Amaziah sends an urgent appeal to the king that Amos be dealt with for what Amaziah says is a plot of conspiracy against the kings life and the nation. Amaziah very shrewdly does not even mention the main content of Amos preaching; the apostacy of Israel, his pleas for repentance, etc. As a good politician he turns it into a threat against the kings life and unpatriotic sedition against the nation. This is the first show of the corruption in the heart of Israels religious leader. He is not concerned with worshipping Jehovah God nor with righteousness; his only concern is that the status quo not be disrupted.
Zerr: Amo 7:10. This is not the Jeroboam mentioned in the preceding verse, but the one named in Amo 1:1, and who is often referred to as Jereboam II. Bethel was one of the places where the first Jeroboam erected altars for idolatrous worship {1 Kings 12: 29), and of course such a place would call for the services of a priest; hence the statement that Amaziah was the priest of Bethel. That will also explain why he objected to the work of Amos. In all ages, men have opposed those who offered them unpleasant truth, espe-cially if it condemned their conduct. The predictions by Amos that the na-tion was to be overthrown were made in view of the corruptions of which the services of Amaziah were an ini- portant part. He realized that truth and hence was aroused against the prophet and sent the message to the king of Israel. He doubtless thought he was acting the part of a loyal citizen in giving this information to his master. Not able to bear means they could not endure or be reconciled to the predictions of the prophet. Amo 7:11. There is no evidence that Amos predicted the death of Jeroboam in the manner accused by Amaziah. 2 Kings 14: 26-29 shows the death of that king not to have been caused by the sword. But the other statement of Amaziah was true, for Amos was authorized to predict the exile of the kingdom of Israel. It is a common trick of evil men to mix some truth with their error so as to deceive their hearers and cause them to accept the entire story.
Amo 7:12-13 . . . AMAZIAH SAID . . . FLEE UNTO JUDAH . . . AND THERE EAT BREAD, AND PROPHESY THERE . . . BUT NOT AGAIN ANY MORE AT BETH-EL . . . We can only conjecture as to whether Amaziah acted on authority from the king or on his own authority in banishing Amos from Israel. It seems that Amaziah was determined to get rid of this trouble of Israel, king or no king! His command to Amos is to flee (get out of Israel, while the getting is good) to Judah, Amos own country. Amaziah adds a nasty insinuation that if Amos expects to make any money at this preaching business it wont be in Israel. His insinuation is that Amos was only prophesying for the money or livelihood it brought. Furthermore, Amos assault upon the very center of the calf worship of the northern kingdom jeopardized its independence. Jeroboam I realized in the very birth of the northern kingdom that if the people of Israel were allowed to return to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah in the temple they would soon move to dissolve the divided kingdoms and reunite them into one. His first move (1Ki 12:26 ff) was to institute the calf worship as distinct from the worship in Jerusalem. Amos attempt to overthrow this apostate religion threatened the very existence of the nation of Israel. Now we see the next indication of the corruptness of Amaziahs religious leadership. He was only a priest because of the livelihood-he was a hireling and insinuated that Amos was also. Amaziah was not a priest in order to serve the people as a minister of the word of God-he was a priest to be sustained and served by the ignorant and sensual worshipers of the calf. The corruption of his heart led the people of Israel in a corrupted religion. And this became a major cause of the judgment of God upon Israel.
Zerr: Amo 7:12. A seer is the same as a prophet; it means literally one who sees into the future, Amaziah thought he could get rid of the unpleasant pre-dictions of Amos by having him move into some other locality. He suggested that he go and deliver his messages in the land of Judah, which was the 2-tribe kingdom. Such a suggestion had the appearance of being fair and that he recognized him as a prophet of God who was qualified to contact His people wherever they might be. Amo 7:13. Amaziah spoke on behalf of Jeroboam who was the king and whose chapel (religious headquarters) was at Bethel, one of the seats of idol-atry. He seems to think that by the removal of the one who was giving the unpleasant predictions, he could be rid of the fulfillment of them. It was as foolish as it would be to discharge a doctor who discovered a dreadful disease in ones body.
Amo 7:14-17 . . . I WAS NO PROPHET, NEITHER WAS I A PROPHETS SON . . . HEAR THOU THE WORD OF JEHOVAH . . . THY WIFE SHALL BE A HARLOT . . . THY SONS AND DAUGHTERS SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD . . . THOU . . . SHALT DIE IN A LAND THAT IS UNCLEAN . . . Calmly Amos repudiates the insinuation that he was in the business of prophesying for the sake of money. He was not a prophet by profession neither had he ever been trained to preach the Law of God as others had (see Special Study Eight The Schools of The Prophets). Professionally or vocationally Amos was a herdsman in the hills of Tekoa. He also dressed sycamore trees to provide his living. The sycamore tree of Palestine bore a kind of fruit that required piercing, nipping or scratching in order to ripen. K & D call it a mulberry-fig tree. He earned his living this way-he was not a hireling preacher like Amaziah. God took this honest-hearted, willing, God-fearing man from the flocks and commissioned him with a divine command to Go! tell my people! He was not sent by the religious leaders of Judah; no human had advised Amos what to preach. His commission and his message were both from Jehovah Himself, Who was Amaziah to forbid that this message should be preached? Who was Amos that he should disobey the Lord God, merely because a human priest, and an apostate one at that, did not like his message?
Zerr: Amo 7:14. The speech of Amaziah implied that he considered Amos as one of the regular prophets who had no other occupation. In that case it would not matter very much where he worked, just so he did the work of a prophet. He would then not be idle from his life’s work were lie to go into the land of Judah and continue his regular occupation. But Amos enlightened him on the subject and told him that he was not that kind of prophet, but was a shepherd by occupation. He had been called as a special servant of the Lord for the missioD of delivering the predictions intended for the 10-tribe kingdom, and only incidentally to include some things pertaining to Judah. Prophets son means one of the young men who were being trained by the regular prophets, not a son in the usual sense of that word. Amo 7:15, While Amos was engaged about his work with the flock, the Lord appeared to him by inspiration and told him to go and prophesy unto Israel, which here means the 10-tribe kingdom, not Judah as Amaziah wanted him to do. Amo 7:16. Amos wants Amaziah to know that he is not speaking his own ideas, but that it is the word of the Lord. House of Isaac has the same meaning as house of Israel since he was one of the important men in the blood line from Abraham. Amo 7:17. Amos was not intimidated by the criticism of Amaziah but gave him the final paragraph of his pre-dictions. Not only was the nation to suffer the captivity but his own family was to be disgraced. Divided by line means the land would be measured off into lots and taken possession of by the enemy.
Whoever sought to oppose the message of Amos opposed the Most High God! Since Amaziah had rebelled against the word of God, God, through Amos, pronounces His judgment upon His enemy, Amaziah. Amaziahs wife was to become a common prostitute, selling her body and soul to other men. This is probably what she did because of the extreme conditions of privation and starvation during the siege of the cities of Israel just before the captivity. Amaziahs sons and daughters were to die violent deaths by the sword, either by murderers or soldiers in battle. His property, undoubtedly a large and rich estate, would become the booty of the invaders and be divided amongst heathen soldiers and conquerors. As for Amaziah himself, he would be taken captive with all the people of Israel and he would die in a heathen land, never again to see his beloved homeland. The encounter between Amos and Amaziah reminds us of the encounter between Jeremiah and Hananiah (Jeremiah 38). Gods word shall not return unto Him void but shall accomplish that which He purposes (Isa 55:6-11).
Honeycutt in Amos And His Message, has said, In a day when the ministry tends toward a cold professionalism, the message of Amos carries a severe warning for the contemporary minister. The world will always need men of integrity who cannot be intimidated, coerced, or threatened into silence at the very time when a prophetic voice is needed most. Here is to be found the acid test of preaching: Will a preacher speak for God in the face of adversity and hardship, even the threat of both job and life? Knudson has well observed: Someone has said that there are two classes of preachers-the good preachers who have something to say, and the poor preachers who have to say something. But there is yet another and higher class. It consists of those who both have something to say, and who have to say it. Such are the prophets. Such a one was Amos. A poet has said it this way:
God give us men. The time demands
Strange minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking!
For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds
Mingle in selfish strife; lo! Freedom weeps!
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.
by J. G. Holland
Questions
1. Why was Amaziah so excited about Amos preaching?
2. Why would Amos preaching at Bethel be particularly threatening to Israel?
3. What is a son of the prophets?
4. Name the specific judgments of God upon Amaziah and his family?
5. How does Amos furnish an example for preachers today?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the priest: 1Ki 12:31, 1Ki 12:32, 1Ki 13:33, 2Ki 14:23, 2Ki 14:24, 2Ch 13:8, 2Ch 13:9, Jer 20:1-3, Jer 29:26, Jer 29:27, Mat 21:23, This was truly a lying prophet; there was not one word of truth in his message to Jeroboam.
hath: 1Ki 18:17, Jer 26:8-11, Jer 37:13-15, Jer 38:4, Luk 23:2, Act 5:28, Act 24:5
not: Gen 37:8, Jer 18:18, Act 7:54
Reciprocal: Exo 5:4 – wherefore Num 16:41 – Ye have 1Sa 22:13 – Why have 1Ki 13:4 – Lay hold 1Ki 21:13 – the king 2Ki 14:16 – Jeroboam 2Ch 25:16 – Art thou made Isa 29:21 – and lay Jer 1:1 – words Jer 6:10 – the word Jer 20:2 – smote Jer 26:9 – Why Jer 36:16 – We Eze 2:6 – though they Hos 7:3 – General Amo 5:10 – hate Luk 11:45 – thou Joh 21:25 – that even Act 17:6 – These 2Ti 4:3 – they will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 7:10. This is not the Jeroboam mentioned in the preceding verse, but the one named in Amo 1:1, and who is often referred to as Jereboam II. Bethel was one of the places where the first Jeroboam erected altars for idolatrous worship {1 Kings 12: 29), and of course such a place would call for the services of a priest; hence the statement that Amaziah was the priest of Bethel. That will also explain why he objected to the work of Amos. In all ages, men have opposed those who offered them unpleasant truth, espe-cially if it condemned their conduct. The predictions by Amos that the na-tion was to be overthrown were made in view of the corruptions of which the services of Amaziah were an ini- portant part. He realized that truth and hence was aroused against the prophet and sent the message to the king of Israel. He doubtless thought he was acting the part of a loyal citizen in giving this information to his master. Not able to bear means they could not endure or be reconciled to the predictions of the prophet.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 7:10-11. Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam This was a priest not of the tribe of Levi, but such a one as those were whom Jeroboam I. had consecrated to perform the idolatrous services at Beth-el: see 1Ki 12:31. Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst, &c. That is, in an open and barefaced manner. He represents the prophet as exciting sedition, because he denounced destruction against the kingdom, and threatened the house of Jeroboam. The same crime was objected to Jer 26:9-10; to Christ, Luk 23:2; and to St. Paul, Act 24:5. The land is not able to bear all his words The friends of the government cannot patiently hear his words, and the enemies of it will take advantage from them to make some disturbance. If he proceed to speak in this manner, the inhabitants will be moved to take up arms against each other. For Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword This was a perverting of the prophets words; for he did not prophesy against the king himself, but against his family, or posterity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Amo 7:10-17. Effect of Amos Public Utterances.A historical episode is here interposed. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, interrupts the work of Amos, charging him, by twisting his words, with conspiracy (Amo 7:10). So revolutionary is he that the earth (not the land) cannot bear all his words. Really he had spoken not of Jeroboam but of the house of Jeroboam. There is perhaps a note of scorn in the word seer (almost equivalent to visionary). Amos had better flee to Judah and earn his bread and prophesy there. Amos retorts that he was no professional prophet. He had earned his bread by tending sheep and cultivating fig-mulberries (rather than sycamore trees). In Syria these did not grow in such high and cold regions as Tekoa, but the pasture-grounds and gardens of its shepherds may well have extended on the E. down to the Dead Sea (cf. G. A. Smith). Amos refuses for the moment to be silenced (Amo 7:16), and does not leave Amaziah without a word of warning and denunciation (Amo 7:17 f.). His own wife will become a prey to the outrages of a powerful enemy; and the priest and his people will be led into captivity.
Amo 7:14. For herdman (bkr) Marti and others would read shepherd (nkd) as in Amo 1:1*.The fig-mulberry was common in parts of Palestine. The fruit had to be nipped or punctured to release an insect and thus render it eatable.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
7:10 {f} Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
(f) That is, when Amos had prophesied that the king would be destroyed: for the wicked priest more for hatred he had for the Prophet than for love toward the king, thought this accusation sufficient to condemn him. However, only what the Prophet said could take place.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. An intervening incident 7:10-17
The event described in this pericope evidently followed and grew out of the preceding visions that Amos announced (Amo 7:1-9). Certain key words occur in both sections of the book but not elsewhere in it: Isaac (Amo 7:9; Amo 7:16) and sanctuary (Amo 7:9-11). Also the historical incident is a concrete example of God’s plumb line in operation, but here it judged individuals. The prophet Amos passed the test, but one of the priests of Bethel, Amaziah, failed the test.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. The challenge 7:10-13
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Amaziah, who was one of the apostate priests who served at the Bethel sanctuary (cf. 1Ki 12:26-33), felt that Amos was being unpatriotic in what he was prophesying. So Amaziah sent a message to King Jeroboam II charging Amos with conspiring against the king within the land. He felt that Israel could not afford to endure Amos’ prophesying any longer. Previously internal revolt against a king had sometimes followed a prophet’s pronouncements (cf. 1Sa 16:1-13; 1Ki 11:29-39; 1Ki 16:1-13; 1Ki 19:15-17; 2Ki 8:7-15; 2Ki 9:1-28; 2Ki 10:9).