X. AMOS WAS A HERDSMAN

It has been remarked, with respect to the Prophet Amos, that the style in which his prophecies are written, and the images with which they abound, are in strict harmony with his calling and occupation. Yet, whatever coincidence of this kind there may be, is evidently casual.

Thus in chap. 7. v. 14, we read, “Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”

Compare this with the following passages, all found in the compass of nine chapters, for the Book of Amos consists of no more, and those short ones.

Ch. 1:2. “And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.”

3. “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:”

2:9. “Yet destroyed I the Amorite 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.”

13. “Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.”

3:4. “Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?”

5. “Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?”

12. “As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out.”

4:3. “And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her.”

5:11. “Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat, ” &c.;

16. “Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, … and in all vineyards shall be wailing.”

19. “As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him.”

6:4. They “that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall.”

12. “Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough there with oxen?”

7:1. “And, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo! it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.”

8:1. “Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

2. “And he said, Amos, what seest thou? and I said, A basket of summer fruit.”

5. “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? …”

6. “Yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?”

9:9. For, lo! I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”

13. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine.…”

14. “… And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land.”

I do not press this argument beyond a point. All I mean to say is, that the occupation of the prophet being accidentally made known to us, his language throughout his prophecy is just what might be expected to result from it.