Amos

Amos was not a professional prophet: "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel" (Amos 7:14-15). His ministry circa 760-750 BCE coincided with northern prosperity under Jeroboam II — and with that prosperity, economic exploitation, bribery in the courts, and crushing of the poor. Amos's rhetorical structure is distinctive. He begins with oracles against surrounding nations (Amos 1-2) — a move that would have pleased his Israelite audience — before pivoting to oracles against Judah and, climactically, Israel itself. The sudden turn is rhetorically devastating. His social-ethical vision is uncompromising: "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24). He condemns the worshippers who "trample on the poor" (2:7), "sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals" (2:6), and whose religious festivals God abhors (5:21-23). The closing vision of restoration — the fallen booth of David rebuilt (Amos 9:11) — is cited by James at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:16-17) as prophecy of Gentile inclusion in the messianic age.