Amos 7:10

"Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land."

"Amaziah ..." Nothing has been seen any more astounding than the argument from this pagan priests' name that he was a true priest of God! "His name (Yahweh is strong) is compounded with Yahweh and would indicate that the sanctuaries of Israel maintained the worship of Yahweh."[28] The same kind of argument would prove that the great New Testament preacher Apollos was a worshipper of Apollo. One can hardly understand the tenderness of so many commentators with regard to that utterly pagan and depraved worship of the Israelites.

These two verses (Amos 7:10-11) are the first of a three-fold division of this last section of the chapter, and relates to Amaziah's report to the king. The other two are: Amaziah's taking matters into his own hands (Amos 7:12-13), and Amos' answer to Amaziah (Amos 7:14-17). The whole passage is one of remarkable strength and effectiveness. Smith's quotation from George Adam Smith is appropriate:

"It `is one of the great scenes of history.' It reports the conflict between a priest who spoke for and with the authority of a king, and a prophet who delivered the Word of God."[29]

"Jeroboam shall die by the sword ..." Incredibly, some have defended this slander upon the basis that, "it is basically correct."[30] Indeed no! On the contrary, it is a base and unprincipled lie. As the Catholic Bible puts it:

"The prophet did not say this, but "that the Lord would rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword," as was verified when Zacharias, son and successor of Jeroboam, was slain with the sword."[31]

Amaziah's report was false for these reasons:

1. It falsely reported who was to be killed.

2. It falsely attributed the prediction to Amos, instead of the Lord.

3. It is false in that it omitted any mention of the sins of Israel which were the reason for this prophecy.

4. It is false in that it made no mention of any call to repentance, or to the hope extended if they did repent.

If this report is "basically correct," it would be interesting to see one that was "basically in error!"

Note particularly the point in Amos' preaching at which this rude interruption by the pagan priest occurred. Neither of the first two visions occasioned any objection from Amaziah, for they were accounts of deliverances which God had extended to Israel; but this third vision, which was a bold and thundering prophecy of the immediate and impending doom of the whole nation, to be effected by the overthrow of the monarchy, the destruction of the sanctuaries, and the captivity of the whole nation, aroused the "high priest" of Bethel to action, which issued in his sending a hasty message to the king, and then, apparently not waiting for any authority, nevertheless took what action he could against Amos without any authority. It would appear that Amaziah had been listening to all that Amos said.

Some have found it amazing that Jeroboam II is not represented here as taking any action whatever against Amos; and we believe that this is evidence enough that he took none, a conclusion that might seem incredible. However, this man, Jeroboam II, had evidently known personally the prophet Jonah, upon whose prophecies he had relied when he came to the throne, and in accordance with which he had won the great military triumphs which had led so disastrously to the sin and overconfidence of Israel. Jeroboam's respect for the prophetic office must, therefore, have been very considerable. In this light, Jamieson's conclusion is reasonable, "The king, however, did not give ear to Amaziah, probably from religious awe of the prophet of Jehovah."[32] Barnes was also of this opinion, pointing out that Jeroboam would also have had knowledge "of the true prophecies of Elisha with reference to the successes of his father, Jeroboam I."[33] The action of Amaziah in himself, taking the authority to forbid Amos to speak and ordering him to leave the country, does not nullify this; because it is exactly the kind of conduct one might have anticipated in a time-serving self-seeking pagan priest like Amaziah. The next sub-section of this episode presents Amaziah's action against Amos.