And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.
Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, had just ordered Amos out of the country: go home to Judah, earn your bread there, and stop preaching. Amos answers the insult here, and he does it by admitting he has no credentials at all.
One writer hears an insult in the order. Amaziah measured the prophet by his own standard:
Amos was seen as a troublemaker who disturbed the peace of the kingdom. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, warned him to flee away to the land of Judah, and to eat bread there and prophesy there. He spoke as if God's prophet were nothing more than a hired man like himself.
The place explains the hostility. Amos was preaching at the king's own shrine:
A prophecy like this was out of place in the king's chapel. A religion arranged by the policy of man without the fear of God cannot endure the testimony of truth.
Amos gives up every advantage a man might lean on. A "prophet's son" belonged to the trained circle of prophets, and Amos had no place in it:
Amos sought no arm of flesh, but openly confessed who and what he was, when God summoned and commissioned him to prophesy. "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs." He had not been brought up in the school of the prophets. Up to then he had enjoyed no other natural advantages either. He could boast of no learning gained among men. Birth or property had done nothing for him. His claim to speak was the fruit of divine grace.
God keeps His own rights over the men He sends. Two things did not make Amos a prophet: other people's approval, and his own wish to speak:
The king was the ruler in all religious matters: man was master. But the LORD does not give up His own rights. Amos was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. He had not this office from man, nor from the desire of his own heart. The LORD, in His sovereign will, had appointed him, and his word was the word of the LORD.
The past tense matters. Amos says what he used to be, not what he refused to become. One writer sets his words beside words spoken later in the book of Zechariah:
Christ stood there in His own person before Zechariah. He spoke and said, "I am no prophet." He did not say, as Amos did, "I was no prophet," but I became one (Amos 7:14-15). He said, "I am no prophet." This means that He was acting here in an entirely different character.
Both jobs he names are real trades. The sycamore was a common fruit tree of the region:
The sycamore is a tree large enough for a man to rest in its branches, as Zacchaeus did (Luke 19:4). It was plentiful in Palestine.
That background did not vanish when God called him — it shaped the book he wrote:
The prophet's account of himself and of his peasant life has a charming simplicity. His images and pictures are drawn from nature and animal life, which he knew so well, and they are beautiful and very striking. The native eloquence of the shepherd of Tekoa marks the book throughout.
Amos stands in a line of men taken from ordinary work. One writer traces his call back to the Holy Spirit's own choice:
Amos was not dependent upon a school of prophets, but directly upon God, nor was he of the priestly family... The Holy Spirit had chosen Amos from among the shepherds of Tekoa (Amos 1:1), taking him from the sheep. He had chosen David, His anointed, in the same way before. The LORD had said to him, "Go," and he had gone. We have in Amos an example of the ministry that is attached directly to that of Christ.
The same pattern runs through the rest of Scripture:
God chooses men for the ministry from every class of society and every walk of life. He does this to reach all classes of people. He takes them with just what they have of learning and experience, and by His Spirit and His Word He does the rest... Gideon was called from his threshing of wheat to the work of God. David is taken from the sheepfolds, Elisha from behind the plough.
- The sneer. Amaziah told Amos to go earn his bread elsewhere, treating God's prophet as a hired man like himself.
- The denial. Amos had no training in a prophets' school, no prophetic family, no learning, no property — nothing men could point to.
- The call. He had the office neither from man nor from his own ambition; God appointed him, so his word was God's word.
- The trade. He stayed the herdsman and fruit-gatherer of Tekoa. Country images fill his book from start to finish.
- The pattern. God takes men from sheepfolds, threshing floors and ploughs. He uses what they already have, and supplies the rest by His Spirit and His Word.
And Jehovah took me as I followed the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
Amos stands at Bethel, the religious centre of the northern kingdom. The priest there, Amaziah, has just told him to go home to Judah and earn his bread. Amos does not defend his qualifications. He answers by telling who took him from his sheep and sent him.
Amaziah told Amos to go and earn his living elsewhere. His words showed what he took the prophet to be.
People saw Amos as a troublemaker who disturbed the peace of the kingdom. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, told him to flee away to the land of Judah and "eat bread there, and prophesy there" — as if God's prophet were nothing more than a hired man working for pay, like himself.
Another writer names the charge:
The insinuation was that Amos prophesied for the sake of a living.
Amos answers by naming the One who put him in this work.
Amos was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. He had not this function from man, nor from the desire of his own heart. Jehovah, in His sovereign will, had appointed him, and his word was the word of Jehovah.
Amos names what he did not have rather than hiding it.
Amos sought no help from man. He openly confessed who and what he was, when God summoned and commissioned him to prophesy… He had not been trained in the school of the prophets, and up to then he had enjoyed no other natural advantages. He could boast of no learning acquired among men. Birth or property had done nothing for him. His claim to speak was the fruit of divine grace.
Amos had no title and no institution behind him. God's choice of him followed a pattern He had used before.
Amos did not depend on a school of prophets. He depended on God Himself. He did not come from the priestly family either… The Holy Spirit had chosen Amos from among the shepherds of Tekoa (Amos 1:1), from being among the sheep, just as He had earlier chosen David, His anointed. The Lord had said to him, "Go," and he had gone. In Amos we see a ministry joined directly to the ministry of Christ. It gives an early taste of what all Christian ministry would later be — or rather, ought to be.
Amos is not an exception. God lifts other men out of ordinary work and sends them with what they already have.
God chooses men for the ministry from all classes of society and from all walks of life to reach all classes of people. He takes them with just the learning and experience they have. By His Spirit and His Word He does the rest… God called Gideon from threshing wheat to His own work. David is taken from the sheepfolds, Elisha from behind the plough, and Ezra from the scrolls of the law of Moses. Saul of Tarsus is taken from his great learning and high place in Judaism to the feet of Jesus.
The call came with a destination. A man from Judah in the south had to preach in Israel in the north.
He was just a humble peasant. He was busy at his own work, and he was not a prophet or the son of a prophet. Then the Lord suddenly called him to leave his work and said to him, "Go, prophesy to My people Israel"… It was strange that a prophet should come out of Judah to prophesy to Israel. It probably drew wide attention, for such a thing had never happened before or after.
- Taken. Amos claims no office, no training and no family line — the Lord took him, and that alone is his answer to Amaziah.
- Grace, not credentials. He had no schooling among the prophets, no birth, no property; his right to speak was the fruit of divine grace.
- From the flock. God found him among sheep, as He once found David. Ministry that starts there shows what Christian service ought to be.
- Sent. The Lord said "Go," and he went — to Bethel in the north, across the border from his own country.
- Answered. The paid priest assumed Amos preached for bread. The Lord who took him is the whole answer to that charge.