Amos (prophet)

Amos
Amos
	An 18th-century Russian icon of the prophet Amos (Iconostasis of Transfiguration Church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia).
Prophet
Born	Tekoa
Died	745 BCE
Venerated in	Judaism; Christianity; Islam
Feast	June 15 (Orthodox)
Major works	Book of Amos

Amos (/ˈeɪməs/; Hebrew: עָמוֹס – ʿĀmōs) was one of the Twelve Minor Prophets of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. According to the Bible, Amos was the older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah and was active c. 760–755 BCE during the rule of kings Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Kingdom of Judah and is portrayed as being from the southern Kingdom of Judah yet preaching in the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria). The prophet is characterized as speaking against an increased disparity between the wealthy and the poor with themes of justice, God's omnipotence, and divine judgment. The Book of Amos is attributed to him. In recent years, scholars have grown more skeptical of The Book of Amos’ presentation of Amos’ biography and background.^[1]

^ Couey, J. Blake. The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets. p. 424–436. 2021. “In more recent scholarship, one finds greater skepticism about historical reconstructions of Amos’s prophetic career. The superscription and Amaziah narrative are increasingly viewed as late, which raises questions about their historical validity (Coggins 2000, 72, 142–143; Eidevall 2017, 3–7). The vision reports may also belong to later stages of the book’s development (Becker 2001; Eidevall 2017, 191–193). Doubts about the existence of a united monarchy under King David undermine arguments that Amos advocated for a reunified Davidic kingdom (Davies2009, 60; Radine2010, 4). These questions reflect larger scholarly trends, in which prophetic books are increasingly viewed as products of elite scribes. Even if they reflect historical prophetic activity, one cannot uncritically equate the prophet with the author. There may in fact have been no “writing prophets,” in which case Amos loses one source of his/its traditional prestige as the first of this group. Further complicating the matter, the portrait of prophets like Amos as proclaimers of judgment contrasts starkly with surviving records of prophetic activity from other ancient Near Eastern cultures, in which prophets consistently support the state (Kratz 2003).”

[1] Couey, J. Blake. The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets. p. 424–436. 2021. “In more recent scholarship, one finds greater skepticism about historical reconstructions of Amos’s prophetic career. The superscription and Amaziah narrative are increasingly viewed as late, which raises questions about their historical validity (Coggins 2000, 72, 142–143; Eidevall 2017, 3–7). The vision reports may also belong to later stages of the book’s development (Becker 2001; Eidevall 2017, 191–193). Doubts about the existence of a united monarchy under King David undermine arguments that Amos advocated for a reunified Davidic kingdom (Davies2009, 60; Radine2010, 4). These questions reflect larger scholarly trends, in which prophetic books are increasingly viewed as products of elite scribes. Even if they reflect historical prophetic activity, one cannot uncritically equate the prophet with the author. There may in fact have been no “writing prophets,” in which case Amos loses one source of his/its traditional prestige as the first of this group. Further complicating the matter, the portrait of prophets like Amos as proclaimers of judgment contrasts starkly with surviving records of prophetic activity from other ancient Near Eastern cultures, in which prophets consistently support the state (Kratz 2003).”

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