I. AMOS Al.tdos), carried, or a burden; one of the twelve minor prophets, and a contem porary of Isaiah and Hosea. Gesenius conjectures that the name may be of Egyptian origin, and the same as Amasis or Amosis, which means son of the moon (v. Gesenii Thesaztr. s. v. vox/ and rityn). He was a native of Tekoah, about six miles S. of Bethlehem, inhabited chiefly by shepherds, to which class he belonged, being also a dresser of sycamore trees. Though some critics have supposed that he was a native of the kingdom of Israel, and took refuge in Tekoah when persecuted by Amaziah ; yet a comparison of the passages Amos i. I ; vii. 14, with Amaziah's language vii. 72, leads us to believe that he was born and brought up in that place. The period during which he filled the pro phetic office was of short duration, unless we sup pose that he uttered other predictions which are not recorded. It is stated expressly that he pro phesied 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 (Amos i. I). As Jeroboam died in the fifteenth year of Uzziah's reign, this earthquake, to which there is au allusion in Zechariah (xiv. 5), could not have happened later than the seventeenth year of Uzziah. Jose phus indeed (Antiq. ix. to, 4) and some other Jewish writers represent the earthquake as a mark of the divine displeasure against Uzziah (in addition to his leprosy) for usurping the priest's office. This, however, would not agree with the sacred narrative, which informs us that Jotham, his son, acted as regent during the remainder of his reign, was twenty-five years old when he became his successor, and consequently was not born till the twenty-seventh year of his father's reign, As Uzziah and Jeroboam were contemporaries for about fourteen years, from B.C. 798 to 784, the latter of these dates will mark the period when Amos prophesied. 4 In several of the early Christian writers, Amos the prophet is confounded with Amoz (MN), the father of Isaiah. Thus Clement of Alexandria iStrom. i. 21, 118), rpoOnrcbouot Se tsr' airob '1%.1.46s Kai 'Herat:is 6 vi.6s eirol; ; this mistake arose from their ignorance of Hebrew, and from the name Ageos being applied to both in the Septuagint.
In our Authorized Version the names are, as above, correctly distinguished, though, strange to say, some commentators have asserted that the two individuals are named alike.
When Amos received his commission, the king dom of Israel, which had been cut short' by Ilazael (2 Kings x. 32) towards the close of Jehu's reign, was restored to its ancient limits and splen dour by Jeroboam the Second (2 Kings xiv. 25). But the restoration of national prosperity was fol lowed by the prevalence of luxury, licentiousness, and oppression, to an extent that again provoked the divine displeasure, and Amos was called from the sheep-folds to be the harbinger of the coming judgments. Not that his commission was limited entirely to Israel. The thunder-storm (as Rtickert poetically expresses it) rolls over all the surround ing kingdoms touches Judah in its progress, and at length settles upon Israel. Chap. i. ; 1-5, form a solemn prelude to the main subject ; nation after nation is summoned to judgment, in each instance with the striking idiomatical expression (similar to that in Proverbs xxx. 15, 18, 21, and to the Tpls sal rerpcuas, the terque quaterque of the Greek and Roman poets), For three transgres sions—and for four—I will not turn away the punishment thereof.' Israel is then addressed in the same style, and in chap. iii. (after a brief rebuke of the twelve tribes collectively) its degenerate state is strikingly portrayed, and the denunciations of divine justice are intermingled, like repeated thun der-claps, to the end of chap. vi. The seventh and eighth chapters contain various symbolical visions with a brief historical episode (vii. to-17). In the ninth chapter the majesty of Jehovah and the terrors of his justice are set forth with a sublimity of dic tion which rivals and partly copies that of the royal Psalmist (comp. vers. 2, 3, with Ps. cxxxix., and ver. 6 with Ps. civ.) Towards the close the scene brightens, and from the eleventh verse to the end the promises of the divine mercy and returning favour to the chosen race are exhibited in imagery of great beauty taken from rural life.