Amos 7:12

"Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophecy there: but prophecy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house."

"O seer, go flee thou away ..." It is puzzling why so many find nothing contemptuous or patronizing in such a statement as this, for there would appear to be plenty of both. It is true, of course, that some have made "seer" in every way a synonym of prophet; but there were "seers" by the hundreds in antiquity who were of the devil. The word also carries the thought captured by McFadden's paraphrase of it as, "Thou visionary,"[34] which, in the light of the visions Amaziah had just been hearing from Amos, would seem to be accurate. Dummelow was doubtless correct in his equating the words of Amaziah here with, "the proverbial saying, `eat your pudding slave, and hold your tongue.'"[35]

"Eat bread, and prophecy there ..." the implications of this are a gross reflection upon Amaziah himself, as many have pointed out. He did not recognize any such thing as a truly prophetic office; to him all prophets were concerned merely with what they could get out of it, this being a perfect reflection of his own character. The argument he makes, to the extent that there is any, is that Judah would pay more for prophecies against Israel than could be received for such prophecies being delivered in Israel itself! The expression "eat bread" means "make your living," "peddle your wares," or "do your thing" in Judah, and not at Bethel.

"It is the king's sanctuary ..." "It was founded by the king (1 Kings 12:28), and not by God; so, in truth, it had only an earthly sanction,"[36] although it may be doubted that Amaziah noticed the self-convicting admission of these words. There is a world of difference in God's sanctuary and the king's sanctuary. Barnes said that in three places only in the Old Testament is the alleged sanctuary of God called the sanctuary of Israel, here, and in Lamentations 1:10, and Leviticus 26:31.[37] Christ likewise designated the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:38), "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."

The balance of this chapter is comprised of Amos' undaunted response to Amaziah's peevish and blasphemous efforts to thwart the prophet's holy mission, namely, that of turning Israel to repentance before it would be everlastingly too late. It appears that Amos was in no way intimidated or silenced by Amaziah's interruption.