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THE early life of the prophet Amos was spent at Tekoa, the modern Tekua, an elevated spot between four and five English miles due south of Bethlehem. This spot, according to Robinson (Biblical Researches, i. 486), has "a wide prospect. Towards the north-east the land slopes down towards Wady Khureitûn; on the other side the hill is surrounded by a belt of level table land, beyond which are valleys, and then other higher hills. On the south, at some distance, another deep valley runs off south-east towards the Dead Sea. The view in this direction is bounded only by the level mountains of Moab, with frequent bursts of the Dead Sea seen through openings among the rugged and desolate intervening mountains." No fitter scene can be imagined as the home of the prophet, whose farseeing vision and trumpet voice were to awaken the corrupt and selfish life of the northern kingdom. Amos was by birth not a prophet, but a herdsman, and likewise a dresser of sycamore-fruit. How long he plied his peaceful tasks in his Judæan home, secure against invasion or disturbance under the strong rule of King Uzziah, we do not know. But to him-a layman, and no prophet-there came the Word of the Lord as he meditated among the lonely hills and their wide prospects, urging him to utter God's doom against nations and kingdoms.

Respecting his prophetic work, we know that it was directed almost entirely to the northern kingdom, and was likewise exercised there. It is uncertain whether the striking episode described in chap. vii. 10-17 belonged to the beginning or the end of his ministry. We there read that the prophet boldly presented himself at Bethel, celebrated for its ancient historic associations, its important temple, and as being a place of royal residence. There Amos delivered the striking series of symbolic oracles contained in chaps. vii. and viii. This provoked the hostility of Amaziah, priest of the sanctuary, who endeavoured to obtain from King Jeroboam a sentence of banishment against the prophet, on the ground that he was speaking treason against the throne. To the charges and menaces of Amaziah Amos replied with a sentence of doom against king and priest.

It is extremely difficult to assign a probable date for the entire collection of oracles. We know from the superscription (1) that they were delivered two years before "the earthquake," an event so terrible and marked in its character that it is referred to again by Zechariah (Zech. xiv. 5); (2) that he prophesied during the reigns of Jeroboam and Uzziah. But we do not know the date of the earthquake, nor whether the prophetic ministry of Amos continued after the death of Jeroboam II. It is also doubtful how long a period is covered by the extant collection of oracles, though internal indications favour a short rather than a long interval. To this must be added the uncertainty which now prevails respecting Biblical chronology. (See Introduction to Hosea.) If we adopt Mr. Sharpe's

chronology, which seems more free from difficulties than other systems, the death of Jeroboam II. took place in 764. The Assyriologist, Professor Brandes, would put it several years later (Geo. Smith, Assyr. Eponym Canon, pp. 14, 15). We might, therefore, place the period of the prophet's activity between 804 (the year of Jeroboam's accession, according to Sharpe) and about 760 B.C. We shall assign reasons for showing that the prophetic career of Amos was probably subsequent to 780 B.C. The fact that the prophet never makes mention of the name of Assyria, though he refers expressly to the destinies of surrounding nations, seems to imply that Assyria was at that period not so disturbing a force in Syro-Palestinian politics as it had been in a former generation, and as it was destined to become during the ministry of the prophet Hosea, when the terrible invasions of Tiglath-Pileser made the names of Asshur and King Combat (Jareb) to be names of dread. Accordingly we prefer to regard the prophetic ministry of Amos as exercised when Syria had begun to recover from the disastrous invasion of Vulnirari III. (See Geo. Smith, Assyr. Eponym Canon, p. 115; Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, second edition, pp. 212-216, calls him Ramman-nirari), i.e., about 780 B.C.*

For the social, moral, and religious condition of the northern kingdom during this period we fortunately possess varied sources of information. Apart from the accounts contained in the historical books, we have the numerous allusions scattered throughout the prophet Hosea, whose discourses belong to a somewhat similar period, and are extremely valuable as illustrating those of Amos.

But

We thus obtain a tolerably vivid conception of this momentous and tragic century-the last days of Israel's history. The energetic rule and successful wars of Jeroboam II, had extended the bounds of the kingdom. Syria had been compelled to yield up to him a large tract of country extending from Hamath to the Dead Sea. Ammon and Moab had become tributary. the ease with which these conquests were obtained were due to the dangers which threatened the very existence of the Syrian states from the Assyrian power which had for many centuries been formidable, but was now extending itself westward, under the energetic sway of Vulnirari III. Under that monarch, as we learn from his inscription, Syria received a terrible blow;† and it is extremely probable that the recovery of the Trans

* Additional confirmation of this view is to be found in the reference of chap. viii. 9 to an eclipse, which probably occurred in 784 B.c. (See Excursus to the passage.)

+"To Syria I went. Mariha, king of Syria, in Damascus, his royal city, I besieged. Fear and terror of Assur his lord overwhelmed him, and my yoke he took. Submission he made; 2,300 talents of silver, 20 talents of gold, 3,000 talents of copper, 5,000 talents of iron, clothing of wool and flax, a couch of ivory, a high table, his goods and his furniture without number in Damascus, his royal city, in his palace, I received." This event is placed by Schrader in 800 B.C., and by G. Smith in 797.

jordanic district by Jeroboam from Syrian domination is to be closely connected with this temporary overthrow of Syria and the neighbouring kingdoms. (See Note on chap. vi. 14.)

But the external power and foreign conquests of Jeroboam were evidently viewed with mistrust by the prophet; and, though Assyria is never expressly named, it looms in the background of the seer's gaze, as the sword of Jehovah's vengeance, which is one day to make a full end of Israel. (Comp. Isa. x. 5.) The oracles of both Amos and Hosea abound in allusions to the moral and social rottenness of the northern kingdom. Amos dwells upon the splendour of the public buildings and of many private dwellings of the land (chap. iii. 15, v. 11; comp. Hosea viii. 14). Within Samaria's strong fortresses the wealthy nobles indulged in their drunken orgies, stretched upon ivory divans, singing their “lean and flashy songs" in wretched parody of David's minstrelsy, and bidding farewell to all thoughts of coming evil (chap. vi.). He rebukes the empty boasts of power in which these profligate leaders indulged (ibid.). He sternly censures the ladies of fashion who encouraged their lords to acts of gross self-indulgence (chap. iv. 1). Meanwhile their luxurious life is purchased at the cost and on the gains of frightful oppression. In the days when Amos lived, the simple agricultural life of earlier times had given place to the changed social conditions produced by growing civilisation and commerce (Hosea xii. 7, 8), by the growth of large towns, and by the extension of art and refinement, of unscrupulous trade, and accumulated wealth (Amos viii. 5; Isa. ii. 7). The poor cultivators of the soil were ground down to abject poverty by the princely landowners. The debts of the peasant, however paltry, could only be redeemed by a personal service, which was slavery (chap. ii. 6, 7). Their lords were also their judges in the courts of justice at the city gates, and extortionate bribes were the appointed means of averting a harsh sentence (chap. v. 11, 12).

But the root of all the social and moral disorder was indicated by Amos and Hosea (especially the latter) to consist in the idolatrous and sensuous corruption into which the people had sunk. Baal and calf-worship had become to the popular intelligence the degraded substitute and symbol of the ancient pure conception of the one true God inculcated in the Mosaic law and worship to which the prophet Hosea endeavoured to restore Israel. The whole of Canaan, from Dan to Beersheba, was studded with local shrines, in which Baal or the calf-symbols were adored. Of the former, probably Beersheba and Gilgal, of the latter, Samaria, Bethel, and Dan were the chief centres. (See chap. viii. 14, Note, also chap. iv. 4; Hosea xii. 11.) Moreover, all these sanctuaries possessed an elaborate ritual and calendar of feast-days (Amos v. 21, 22). Both prophets threaten

foreign invasion and exile as the penalty for this abandonment of ancient law and observance (Amos v. 26, 27; Hos. ii. 11). There are likewise traces, though obscure, of the worship of the Ammonitish star deity, Moloch, of the star deity Kevan, and of the Syrian Hadad-Rimmon. But the passages on which this is based are doubtful (chap. iv. 3, v. 26).

That the herdsman of Tekoa was a man of wide and varied culture, in the current acceptation of the times, is clearly evidenced by his writings. In that age the free movements of human intercourse diffused knowledge more widely and equably among all classes of mankind than is possible under present social conditions. The mind of the prophet was especially open to all physical phenomena. The rising of the Nile, the constellations of the sky, the eclipse, and the earthquake stirred his imagination. It is noteworthy that in Amos we have the first clear indication of the enlarging sweep of the prophet's gaze. His eye ranges over the surrounding kingdoms. Israel is no longer thought of exclusively, its destiny is no longer contemplated apart from that of the surrounding empires with which it was closely connected. Jehovah is God of the world, and not of his peculiar people the Hebrew race only. He brought Philistia from Caphtor as well as Israel from Egypt.

This conception of universal Divine sovereignty was certainly not a new one in Israel. But it was made especially prominent by Amos, and is the key-note of his prophecies. It is from this standpoint that the oracles are delivered. While to Hosea, Ephraim's sin, whether in morals or worship, appeared as an outrage to the relationship of loyalty and love to the Divine Lord, it was regarded by Amos as the violation of a supreme rule and a supreme justice.

The prophecies may be divided according to their contents as follows:

I. Chaps, i-vi. Prophetic threatenings directed against the nations.

(i.) Chaps. i. 2-ii. 5. Brief denunciations of sur rounding peoples;-against Damascus, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and closing with Judah.

(fi.) Chaps. ii. 6-vi. Indictment against Israel. The prevailing idolatry-The oppression of the poor, and the debauched and indolent lives of the nobles.

II. Chaps. vii.-ix. Symbolic visions of the coming doom of Israel interrupted by the episode of the hostility of the priest Amaziah to the Prophet. The series closes with the Messianic anticipations of reunited and restored Israel dwelling in peace under the reign of the house of David.

CHAPTER I.-The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the "earthquake. (2) And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

(3) Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, land for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instru

The Prologue to the Prophecies of Amos consists of a series of denunciations of the surrounding peoples. The ground of the awful threatenings is the word of Jehovah made known to the prophet. The reason for the doom predicted on such high authority, is the resistance and cruelty that were offered by these nations to the theocratic people, and, still more, their own moral offences, condemned by universal conscience. The denunciations begin with a judgment upon Syria, the age-long enemy of Judah, sometimes confederate with Israel. Then he passes to Philistia, which had been a thorn in the side of Israel and Judah from the days of the Judges till his own. Then he directs his gaze upon Phoenician cities, the emporium of the most extensive commerce in the world, Next he passes in review other three tribes, or nations, more closely related to Israel in blood, language, and proximity, and which, nevertheless, had often manifested an undying hatred of the covenanted people. After this Judah, his own tribe, does not escape. Lastly, the prophet gathers up all his strength to denounce Israel, then at the height of prosperity and splendour.

(1) See Introduction.

(2) Roar. The prolonged thunder-peal, or lion's roar, of the Divine voice, reverberates from the theocratic metropolis of Zion, to the luxuriant slopes of the noble Carmel, which forms the southern promontory of the Bay of Acre. The "pastures of the Shepherds" remind us of Psalm xxiii., and refers us to the prophet's own home in the wilderness of Tekoah. The same expression "head (or 'top') of Carmel" occurs in 1 Kings xviii. 42, and in chap. ix. 3. Compare the modern name Ras-el-Kerum. The whole country from south to north is summoned to listen to the Divine voice.

CURSE ON DAMASCUS.

(3) Three transgressions . . .-This form of transgression, which occurs eight times in the pro

(5) I will break . . .-The "bar" means the bolt of iron or brass with which the city was defended. But it is possible that it may be used of persons, i.e., princes or leaders (comp. Hosea iv. 18, xi. 6); and this seems confirmed by the parallelism. The plain or valley cleft between Libanus and Antilibanus is still called by the Arabs by a name closely resembling the rendering in the margin, "the valley." It is probable that the word rendered " vanity," (aven) is simply a Masoretic reading, and not what Amos intended. It is better to follow the LXX. and read the word On (as in Ezek. xxx. 17), the reference being to the Temple of Baalbec, then in ruins, the Syrian Heliopolis. (Comp. Hosea iv. 15.) The site of Beth-eden (house of Eden) cannot be satisfactorily determined. Kir is the region of the river Cyrus, or, perhaps, the E. of the Upper Euphrates (see ix. 7). (2 Kings xvi. 9, we see fulfilment of this doom.)

CURSE ON PHILISTIA.

(6-8) The marginal reading is more literal, and points to the special bitterness of the proceedings of Philistia, here represented by Gaza as the principal city (comp. 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17, which implies a veritable sack of Jerusalem). The extreme barbarity from which Judah suffered was that her children were delivered up to the *On the other hand the Masoretic reading seems to have been suggested (if not confirmed) by Amos v. 5, where LXX. read

aven.

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and Israel.

thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; (7) that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same 1maid, to profane my holy name: (8) and they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of 2 the condemned in the house of their god. (9) Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from

b

a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

(2) Kirioth. This properly signifies a group of towns, but here refers to a single large town in Moab, the modern Kureiát. (Comp. Jer. xlviii. 24.)

CURSE ON JUDAH.

Great privileges have met with mad and foolish despite. Exalted to the highest heaven of possibility, Judah has despised the "Law of the Lord," instead of preserving, with sacred reverence, His ordinances and institutions.

Their lies.-i.e., their false deities, which they have treated as divine. "The lies after which the fathers walked deceived the children. The children canonise the errors of their fathers. Human opinion is as dogmatic as revelation" (Pusey).

(5) Judah.-Such high privilege does not involve immunity from punishment. Judah shall be chastised with the same penalty as Edom, Philistia, Ammon, and Moab.

CURSE ON ISRAEL.

(6) Transgressions of Israel.-The storm of Divine threatening which had swept over the whole political horizon gathers, at last, over Israel. The sins and ingratitude of the people are aggravated by a recital of the Divine Mercy. By comparing this verse with chap. viii. 6, it is clear that the Jewish interpreters (followed by Keil) were incorrect in charging this sin upon corrupt judges, who, by bribery, would deliver unjust judgments against the righteous. The sin consists in the perverse straining of the law, which allowed an insolvent debtor to sell himself into bondage to redeem a debt (comp. 2 Kings iv. 1; also Lev. xxv. 39). In this case the debtor was a righteous man in sore straits for no fault of his own. Render, on account of a pair of sandals. A paltry debt, equivalent, in worth, to a pair of sandals, would not save him from bondage at the hands of an oppressive ruler (see Introduction).

(7) Dust of the earth on the head of the poor.-Can only mean, as Ewald and Keil interpret: they long to see the poor reduced to such distress that dust is thrown on their heads in token of grief. The meek are defrauded as being too weak to claim their

own.

(10) Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. (11) And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of

The latter part of the verse points to the sensuality of the popular worship, the word "maid" being really the prostitute (Heb. k'deshah) who was devoted to the lustful ritual of Ashera.* This obscenity is regarded by the prophet as part of a deliberate act of desecration to the name of the Holy One of Israel. Moreover, the relation of "father" and " son was thereby sullied and degraded. (Comp. Lev. xviii. 8, 15, xx. 11.)

(8) Rapacity and cruelty follow on pride, selfishness, and lust. With this verse compare the provisions of the Mosaic law (Exod. xxii. 25). Render, And upon garments received in pledge they stretch themselves, and for "condemned "adopt the marginal translation mulcted. The money that had been wrung from those who could not pay, or, who have been sold into slavery, is spent in rioting and feasting. The LXX. read this passage very differently, but the Masoretic text is justified by the translations of the Targum, Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome.

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In the house of their god.-Probably here, as in the previous verse, we are to understand the high places of syncretic, or heathenish, Jehovah worship as referred to. They drank the wine of the amerced. Where? In the house of their God.' What hardheartedness to the wilfully forgotten poor is compensated by a little church-going!" (Pusey.)

(9) Destroyed I.-Emphasis belongs to the pronoun "I." The Amorites proper occupied the S.W. coast of the Dead Sea. Their formidable stature and power were attributed occasionally to all the inhabitants of the land. (Josh. xxiv. 18; Jud. vi. 10.) They were absorbed before the time of Amos.

(10) Forty years.-The forty years' wandering was a punishment for fickleness and cowardice, but during the incidence of this judgment, of which we have only one or two events recorded in the Book of Numbers, God was disciplining and organising a tribe of restless wanderers into a nation. (Deut. xxxii. 9-13.)

(11, 12) God added to the mercies of His providence, the transcendent blessings of special revelation. The

* Kuenen, Religion of Israel, vol. i., pp. 92, 93.