Amos

Amos was no professional prophet: a herdman and a gatherer of sycomore fruit from Tekoa in Judah, called by God to prophesy against the northern kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam II, two years before the earthquake, around the mid-eighth century BC. Third of the twelve Minor Prophets, he preached at the height of Israel's prosperity, when trade flourished, houses of ivory multiplied, and religion was busy at Bethel and Gilgal, yet the poor were sold for a pair of shoes.

The book opens with a ring of judgments on the surrounding nations, Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah, before landing with full weight on Israel itself. Amos exposes courts that turn aside the needy, worship that God despises because it is divorced from justice, and complacent ease in Zion and Samaria. Five visions follow, locusts, fire, a plumbline, a basket of summer fruit, and the LORD at the altar, and the priest Amaziah tries to silence him at Bethel. The book ends with a promise to raise up the fallen tabernacle of David.

Amos rings with the message that privilege brings accountability: you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you. God will not accept songs and sacrifices from hands that crush the poor. Its cry, let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream, still stands as Scripture's great summons to justice.