Amos 2:11

11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets, And some of your young men for Nazirim. Isn't this true, You children of Yisra'el?" says the LORD.

Amos 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 2:11

And I raised up of your sons for prophets
Such as Moses, Joshua, and the seventy elders, and others; not only to foretell things to come, but to teach and instruct the people in the doctrines and duties of religion, and to warn them of their sins, and the danger of them: and of your young men for Nazarites:
as Samson, Samuel, and others; whose vow not only obliged them from shaving their hair, but to abstain from drinking wine, and eating grapes, which the youthful age is inclined unto; but such grace was given them, as enabled them to deny themselves sensual gratifications, and to be examples of piety and constant attendance on the service of God, and instructing the people. The Targum is,

``of your young men for teachers;''

these were the spiritual mercies, as the former were the temporal ones, the Lord bestowed on these people, for the truth of which he appeals to them: [is it] not even thus, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?
can ye deny it? the thing was too notorious to be contradicted.

Amos 2:11 In-Context

9 Yet I destroyed the Amori before them, Whose height was like the height of the cedars, And he was strong as the oaks; Yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim, And led you forty years in the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amori.

11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets, And some of your young men for Nazirim. Isn't this true, You children of Yisra'el?" says the LORD.

12 "But you gave the Nazirim wine to drink, And commanded the prophets, saying, 'Don't prophesy!'

13 Behold, I will crush you in your place, As a cart crushes that is full of grain.