Amos 1:1
The words of Amos
Not which he spoke of or for himself, but from the Lord; all the
prophecies, visions, and revelations made unto him, are intended:
who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa;
which was not in the tribe of Asher, as Kimchi; nor of Zebulun,
as Pseudo-Epiphanius F9; but in the tribe of Judah, (
2
Chronicles 11:5 2 Chronicles
11:6 ) ( Jeremiah 6:1
) . It lay to the south, and was six miles from Bethlehem. Mr.
Maundrell F11 says it is nine miles distant, to
the south of it; and, according to Jerom F12, it
was twelve miles from Jerusalem; though he elsewhere F13 says,
Thecua, or Tekoa, is a village at this day, nine miles from Aelia
or Jerusalem, of which place was Amos the prophet, and where his
sepulchre is seen: either there is a mistake of the number, or of
Aelia for Bethlehem; the former rather seems to be the case;
according to Josephus F14, it was not far from the castle of
Herodium. The Misnic doctors F15 speak of it as famous for
oil, where the best was to be had; near to it was a wilderness,
called the wilderness of Tekoa; and Jerom F16 says,
that beyond it there was no village, nor so much as huts and
cottages, but a large wilderness, which reached to the Red sea,
and to the borders of the Persians, Ethiopians, and Indians, and
was full of shepherds, among whom Amos was; whether he was a
master herdsman, or a servant of one, is not said. The word is
used of the king of Moab, who is said to be a "sheepmaster", (
2 Kings 3:4 )
; he traded in cattle, and got riches thereby; and so the Targum
here renders it,
``who was lord or master of cattle;''
and Kimchi interprets it, he was a great man among the herdsmen;
and so it was a piece of self-denial to leave his business, and go
to prophesying; but rather he was a servant, and kept cattle for
others, which best agrees with (
Amos 7:14 ) ; and so is
expressive of the grace of God in calling so mean a person to such
a high office. The word used signifies to mark; and shepherds were
so called from marking their sheep to distinguish them, which seems
to be the work of servants; and, in the Arabic language, a kind of
sheep deformed, and of short feet, are so called:
which he
saw concerning Israel;
or, against Israel
F17, the ten tribes, to whom he was sent,
and against whom he prophesied chiefly; for he says very little of
Judah. Words are more properly said to be spoken or heard; but here
they are said to be seen; which shows that not bare words are
meant, but things, which the prophet had revealed to him in a
visionary way, and he delivered; see (
Isaiah 2:1 ) ;
in
the days of Uzziah king of Judah;
who was also called Azariah, (
2 Kings 15:1 ) ;
and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of
Israel;
so he is called to distinguish him from Jeroboam the son of Nebat;
this king was the grandson of Jehu; he was, as Jerom says, before
Sardanapalus reigned over the Assyrians, and Procas Sylvius over
the Latines:
two years before the earthquake;
which was well known in those times, and fresh in memory. Zechariah
speaks of it many years after, from whom we learn it was in the
days of Uzziah, (
Zechariah
14:5 ) . The Jewish writers generally say that it was when
Uzziah was smote with leprosy for invading the priest's office; and
was in the year in which he died, when Isaiah had a vision of the
glory of the Lord, and the posts of the house moved, (
Isaiah 6:1 Isaiah 6:4 ) ; and with
whom Josephus
F18 agrees; who also relates, that the
temple being rent by the earthquake, the bright light of the sun
shone upon the king's face, and the leprosy immediately seized him;
and, at a place before the city called Eroge, half part of a
mountain towards the west was broken and rolled half a mile towards
the eastern part, and there stood, and stopped up the ways, and the
king's gardens; but this cannot be true, as Theodoret observes;
since, according to this account, Amos must begin to prophesy in
the fiftieth year of Uzziah; for he reigned fifty two years, and he
began his reign in the twenty seventh year of Jeroboam, (
2 Kings 15:1 ) ; who
reigned forty one years, (
2 Kings 14:23 ) ; so
that Uzziah and he were contemporary fourteen years only, and
Jeroboam must have been dead thirty six years when it was the
fiftieth of Uzziah; whereas they are here represented as
contemporary when Amos began to prophesy, which was but two years
before the earthquake; so that this earthquake must be in the
former and not the latter part of Uzziah's reign, and consequently
not when he was stricken with the leprosy.