Amos 7:15

"And Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go prophesy unto my people Israel."

The acceptance of such a commission meant that Amos was no longer his own master, and that not even the words he was to deliver were to be his own, but the true Word of God. Thus it has ever been with the true prophet or apostle. (See Numbers 22:38; Jeremiah 20:9; and Acts 4:19-20.) Therefore, "Whoever sought to oppose the message of Amos opposed the Most High God."[42] Thus, Amaziah, in his opposition to Amos, had rebelled against God's Word; and therefore, God, through Amos, spoke a prophecy of doom against Amaziah. We may not, therefore, interpret Amos' rejoinder here as the mere "venting of his spite" against the priest of Bethel.