Amos 7:14

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:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) I was . . .—An interesting biographical touch. Prophecy, like other occupations, tended to form a hereditary guild, but Amos was not by birth a prophet. The word for “gatherer” is rendered in the LXX. and Vulg. “nipper,” or “pincher.” There was a custom mentioned in Theophrastus, Hist. Plant., iv. 2, Pliny, Hist. Nat., xiii. 14, of pinching or scratching the mulberry-fig in order to make it ripen. But it is very doubtful whether this is the meaning of the Hebrew word here, which is nowhere else employed.

Benson Commentary

Amos 7:14-15. I was no prophet — Not originally, or by study, or by any human designation; neither was I a prophet’s son — Neither was I bred up at the schools of the prophets; as those usually were who took that office upon them. But I was a herdman — By breeding and occupation I was, and still am, a herdman; and a gatherer of sycamore fruit — I got my livelihood also in part by gathering wild figs for those who had occasion for them. The Lord took me, &c. — As I was following my flock, and thinking of nothing else; and said unto me — By an extraordinary irradiation, or impulse of his Divine Spirit; Go, prophesy unto my people — Go, and as a prophet divinely commissioned, reprove, instruct, exhort, and warn my people of the calamities impending over them, and which will assuredly fall upon them, unless they avert them by turning to me in true repentance.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:10-17 It is no new thing for the accusers of the brethren, to misrepresent them as enemies to the king and kingdom, as traitors to their prince, and troublers of the land, when they are the best friends to both. Those who make gain their godliness, and are governed by the hopes of wealth and preferment, are ready to think these the most powerful motives with others also. But those who have a warrant from God, like Amos, ought not to fear the face of man. If God, that sent him, had not strengthened him, he could not thus have set his face as a flint. The Lord often chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty. But no fervent prayers, or self-denying labours, can bring proud sinners to bear faithful reproofs and warnings. And all who oppose or despise the Divine word, must expect fatal effects to their souls, unless they repent.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I was no prophet - The order of the words is emphatic. "No prophet I, and no prophet's son I, for a herdsman I, and dresser of sycamores." It may be, Amos would meet, for the people's sake, Amaziah's taunt. He had a living, simple indeed, yet that of the prophets was as simple. But chiefly he tells them of the unusual character of his mission. He did not belong to the order of the prophets, nor had he been educated in the schools of the prophets, nor had he any human training. He was thinking of nothing less; he was doing the works of his calling, until "God took him from following the flock," and gave him his commission. Rup.: "He promises humbly what he had been, what he had been made, not by merits, but by grace, that he had not assumed the prophetic office by hereditary right, nor had he begun to prophesy out of his own mind, but, being under the necessity of obeying, he had fulfilled the grace and the command of God who inspired and sent Him." Twice he repeats, "The Lord took me; the Lord said unto me;" inculcating that, what Amaziah forbade, God bade. All was of God. "He" had but obeyed. Jerome: "As then the Apostles, when the Scribes and Pharisees forbade them to teach in the Name of Jesus, answered, 'We must obey God rather than man' Acts 5:29, so Amos, when forbidden by the idol-priests to prophesy, not only prophesies, shewing that he feared God bidding, more than their forbidding, but he boldly and freely denounces the punishment of him who endeavored to forbid and hinder the word of God." Rup.: "heaven thundered and commanded him to prophesy; the frog croaked in answer out of his marsh, 'prophesy no more. '"

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. I was no prophet—in answer to Amaziah's insinuation (Am 7:12), that he discharged the prophetical office to earn his "bread" (like Israel's mercenary prophets). So far from being rewarded, Jehovah's prophets had to expect imprisonment and even death as the result of their prophesying in Samaria or Israel: whereas the prophets of Baal were maintained at the king's expense (compare 1Ki 18:19). I was not, says Amos, of the order of prophets, or educated in their schools, and deriving a livelihood from exercising the public functions of a prophet. I am a shepherd (compare Am 7:15, "flock"; the Hebrew for "herdsman" includes the meaning, shepherd, compare Am 1:1) in humble position, who did not even think of prophesying among you, until a divine call impelled me to it.

prophet's son—that is, disciple. Schools of prophets are mentioned first in First Samuel; in these youths were educated to serve the theocracy as public instructors. Only in the kingdom of the ten tribes is the continuance of the schools of the prophets mentioned. They were missionary stations near the chief seats of superstition in Israel, and associations endowed with the Spirit of God; none were admitted but those to whom the Spirit had been previously imparted. Their spiritual fathers travelled about to visit the training schools, and cared for the members and even their widows (2Ki 4:1, 2). The pupils had their common board in them, and after leaving them still continued members. The offerings which in Judah were given by the pious to the Levites, in Israel went to the schools of the prophets (2Ki 4:42). Prophecy (for example, Elijah and Elisha) in Israel was more connected with extraordinary events than in Judah, inasmuch as, in the absence of the legal hierarchy of the latter, it needed to have more palpable divine sanction.

sycamore—abounding in Palestine. The fruit was like the fig, but inferior; according to Pliny, a sort of compound, as the name expresses, of the fig and the mulberry. It was only eaten by the poorest (compare 1Ki 10:27).

gatherer—one occupied with their cultivation [Maurer]. To cultivate it, an incision was made in the fruit when of a certain size, and on the fourth day afterwards it ripened [Pliny, Natural History, 13.7,14]. Grotius from Jerome says, if it be not plucked off and "gathered" (which favors English Version), it is spoiled by gnats.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Then answered Amos: so soon as this false accuser had under the vizard of friendship given advice, and withal intimated his resolution to use his authority to make Amos desist if he did not do it voluntarily, Amos gives him answer readily, boldly, and yet smoothly, and outshoots the court pontiff in his own bow.

Said to Amaziah; not fearing his person or his power.

I was no prophet; not originally, or by succession, or by study, or by any human designation and preparation, as many have been;

neither was I a prophet’s son; my father was no prophet, nor was I bred up in the school of the prophets, such as 2 Kings 2:3,5,7,15 4:38 6:1. Though you call me seer, whether ironically or seriously, I matter not, but assure you I am not such by art, or trade, or for a livelihood.

But I was a herdman; by breeding, choice, and occupation I was and still am a herdman, and have my concerns in that mystery in or near Tekoa in Judah, on which I can live; though I prophesy without stipend or salary, I needed not to run into the prophet’s work for my bread.

And a gatherer of sycomore fruit: the tree and fruit is known by one name; Palestine abounded with both; and the fruit was sweet, not large, yet good for food for man or cattle, as some fruits are with us; on these I could still, as I formerly did, live, and be content.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah,.... With much freedom, boldness, and intrepidity, and yet with modesty and humility; not at all moved by his frowns or his flattery:

I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son: he was not a prophet originally, or from his youth, as Kimchi; he was not born and bred one; neither his father was a prophet, by whom he could get any instructions in the mystery of prophesying; nor was he a disciple of any of the prophets, or brought up in any of their schools as some were; he was no prophet till the Lord called him immediately, at once, from his secular employment to this office; and therefore did not take it up to get a livelihood by Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it, that he was not one of the false prophets that prophesied for hire, and took a reward:

but I was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit; that is, originally: this was the employment he was brought up in from his youth, and was in it when he was called to be a prophet; he looked after cattle, both great and small; and at a certain time of the year used, to gather sycamore fruit, which was a kind of figs; and by, its name had the resemblance both of figs and mulberries. Some take it to be what were called Egyptian figs; these he gathered, either for the use of his masters, or for food for himself, or for the cattle, or both: or he was an "opener" of them, as the Septuagint; he cut, them, and made incisions in them; for, as Pliny (l), Dioscorides (m), and Theophrastus (n) observe, this fruit must be cut or scratched, either with the nail, or with iron, or it will not ripen; but, four days after being scratched or cut, will become ripe. Mr. Norden (o), a late traveller in Egypt, has given us a very particular account of this tree and its fruit.

"This sycamore (he says) is of the height of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from other trees; it has them on the trunk itself, which shoots out little sprigs in form of grape stalks; at the end of which grow the fruit close to one another, almost like bunches of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit several times in the year, without observing any certain seasons: for I have seen (says he) some sycamores that have given fruit two months after others. The fruit has the figure and smell of real figs, but is inferior to them in the taste, having a disgusting sweetness. Its colour is a yellow, inclining to an ochre, shadowed by a flesh colour. In the inside it resembles the common figs, excepting that it has a blackish colouring with yellow spots. This sort of tree is pretty common in Egypt; the people for the greater part live upon its fruit, and think themselves well regaled when they have a piece of bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher filled with water from the Nile.''

This account in several things agrees with what Pliny (p) and Solinus (q) relate of this tree and its fruit; very likely there might be many of these trees in Judea; there seem to have been great numbers of them in Solomon's time, 1 Kings 10:27; and perhaps it was one of these that Zacchaeus climbed, in order to see Christ, Luke 19:4; for this sort of trees delight in vales and plains, such as were the plains of Jericho; and in the Talmud (r) we read of sycamore trees in Jericho; and of the men of Jericho allowing the branches of them to be cut down for sacred uses. These also grew in lower Galilee, but not in upper Galilee; and that they were frequent in the land of Israel appears from the rules the Misnic doctors (s) give about the planting, and cutting them down; and in the opening of these trees, and making incisions in them, and in gathering the fruit of them, Amos might be concerned. Kimchi and Ben Melech say the word signifies to "mix", and that his business was to mix these together with other fruit. Aben Ezra observes, that in the Arabic language it signifies to dry; and then his work was, after he had gathered them, to lay them a drying. Some render the word a "searcher" (t) of them; as if his employment was to look out for them, and seek them where they were to be got: however, be this as it will, the prophet suggests that he had been used to a low life, and to mean fare, with which he was contented, and did not take up this business of prophesying for bread, and could return to his former employment without any regret, to get a maintenance, if so was the will of God. The Targum gives it a different sense,

"for I am a master of cattle, and have sycamores in the fields;''

and so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, represent him as suggesting that he was rich, and had no need of bread to be given him, or to prophesy for that.

(l) Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 7. (m) L. 1. c. 143. (n) Hist. l. 4. c. 2.((o) Travels in Egypt and Nubis, vol. 1. p. 79, 80. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 7. (q) Polyhistor. c. 45. (r) T. Bab Pesachim, fol. 56. 1. & 57. 1. & Menachot, fol. 71. 1.((s) Misn. Shevath, c. 9. sect. 2. & Bava Bathra, c. 2. sect. 7. (t) "disquirens", Montanus, Vatablus; "perquirens", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Burkius. So R. Sol. Urbin Ohel Moed, fol. 31. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no {h} prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:

(h) Thus he shows by his extraordinary calling, that God had given him a charge, which he must necessarily execute.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. I was no prophet, and I was no prophet’s son] i.e. not one of the “sons of the prophets,” as the companies, or guilds, of prophets, at Beth-el, Gilgal, and other places, are called in the Book of Kings (1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 2:5; 2 Kings 2:7; 2 Kings 2:15; 2 Kings 4:1; 2 Kings 4:38; 2 Kings 5:22; 2 Kings 6:1; 2 Kings 9:1). In Semitic languages ‘son’ is often used in the figurative sense of belonging to: thus in Syriac bar naggârê, ‘a son of the carpenters,’ means a member of a carpenters’ guild. Amos disclaims being a prophet by trade or profession, who might, for instance, have adopted his vocation without any special fitness, or inward call, or who might have even prosecuted it solely with a view to the material advantages accruing from it: no motives such as these had actuated him; he was a simple herdsman, and cultivator of sycomore trees; and he was following the flock, at the moment when the summons came, bidding him be a prophet to Jehovah’s people.

an herdman] Lit. a cow- (or ox-) herd; but it is very possible, especially in view of the next verse (“from following the flock”), that bôḳçr (בקר) is here an error for nôḳçd (נקד), the rare word used in Amos 1:1 to describe Amos as a keeper of the peculiar breed of sheep called naḳad.

and a dresser (R.V.) of sycomores] The sycomore (or “fig-mulberry”)—not our tree of the same name—was a common (Isaiah 9:10; 1 Kings 10:27), but useful tree, which grew abundantly in the mild climate of the Shephçlâh, or Maritime Plain (1 Ki. l.c.; 1 Chronicles 27:28), as it does still in that of the deep Jordan valley: in Egypt, where it also grew (Psalm 78:47), and where it is found still, its wood was used for doors, boxes, coffins, and articles of furniture (Wilkinson-Birch, Anc. Eg., ii. 416). It attains the size of a walnut-tree, has wide-spreading branches, and, on account of its shade, is often planted by the way-side (cf. Luke 19:4). The fruit grows, not on the branches, but on little sprigs rising directly out of the stem, and in clusters like the grape (see the representation in the Dict. of the Bible, s.v.): it is something like a small fig, in shape and size, but insipid and woody in taste. The fruit is infested with an insect (the Sycophaga crassipes), and till the ‘eye’ or top has been punctured, so that the insects may escape, it is not eatable[185]. This operation, it is probable, is what is here alluded to. Bôlçs is a verb derived from balas, which in Ethiopic means a fig, or (sometimes) a sycomore (see Dillmann’s Lex. Aeth., col. 487), and in Arabic denotes a species of fig; in Hebrew, it may be inferred that it denoted the similarly shaped fruit of the sycomore, and the derived verb will have signified to deal with, handle, or dress the fruit of the sycomore. The LXX. having no doubt in view the method of rendering the fruit edible, referred to above, render by κνίζων, pricking or nipping (hence Vulg. vellicans)[186].

[185] Cheyne, ap. W. R. Smith, Proph., ed. 2, p. 396.

[186] Theophrastus and Dioscorides, in their descriptions of the process, use a compound of the same verb, ἐπικνίζω. Theoph. iv. 2 πέττειν οὐ δύναται ἐὰν μὴ ἐπικνισθῇ• ἀλλʼ ἔχοντες ὄνυχας σιδηρᾶς ἐπικνίζουσιν ἆ δʼ ἆν ἐπικνισθῇ• τεταρταῖα πεττεται: Diosc. i. 180 φέρει δὲ κάρπον μὴ πεπαινόμενον δίχα τοῦ ἐπικνισθῆναι ὄνυχι, ἢ σιδήρφ. Cf. Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 39. (p. 384; 406 Rosenm.).

Tekoa is however much too cold for sycomores to have ever grown there: the tree is not found in Syria above 1000 ft. above the sea, and Tekoa is more than twice as high as that. We must suppose the “naḳad-keepers of Tekoa” (Amos 1:1) to have owned lands in the ‘wilderness’ or pasture-ground, stretching down to the Dead Sea on the east (above, p. 126); and here, in some sufficiently sheltered situation, must have grown the sycomore-trees, which the prophet ‘dressed.’

14–17. Amos’ retort.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - The prophet, undaunted by Amaziah's threats, in simple language declares that he does not practise prophecying as a profession or to gain a livelihood, but in obedience to the voice of God. The exercise of the prophetical office was restricted neither to sex nor rank. There were many prophetesses in Israel, e.g. Deborah (Judges 4.), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14); and besides a large number of nameless prophets there are twenty-three whose names are preserved in Holy Writ, omitting those whose writings have come down to us (Ladd, 'Doctrine of Scripture,' 1:117, etc.). A prophet's son; i.e. brought up in the schools of the prophets, the pupils of which were called "sons of the prophets" (see 1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:5). Amos was neither self-commissioned nor trained in any human institution. A herdman (boger); usually "a cowherd;" here "a shepherd;" αἰπόλος (Septuagint). A gatherer of sycomore fruit. The phrase, boles shiqmim, may mean either one who plucks mulberry figs for his own sustenance, or one who cultivates them for others. The latter is probably the meaning of the term here. The Septuagint rendering, κνίζων συκάμινα, "pricking sycamore fruit," and that of the Vulgate, vellicans sycomoros, indicate the artificial means for ripening the fruit, which was done by scraping, scratching, or puncturing it, as is sometimes done to the figs of commerce. As the tree bore many crops of fruit in the year, it would afford constant employment to the dresser (see 'Dict. of the Bible,' 3. p. 1394; 'Bible Educator,' 4, p. 343). Amos 7:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Amos first of all repudiates the insinuation that he practises prophesying as a calling or profession, by which he gets his living. "I am no prophet," sc. by profession, "and no prophet's son," i.e., not a pupil or member of the prophets' schools, one who has been trained to prophesy (on these schools, see the comm. on 1 Samuel 19:24); but (according to my proper calling) a bōqēr, lit., a herdsman of oxen (from bâqâr); then in a broader sense, a herdsman who tends the sheep (צאן), a shepherd; and a bōlēs shiqmı̄m, i.e., one who plucks sycamores or mulberry-figs, and lives upon them. The ἁπ. λεγ. bōlēs is a denom. from the Arabic name for the mulberry-fig, and signifies to gather mulberry-figs and live upon them; like συκάζειν and ἀποσυκάζειν, i.e., according to Hesych. τὰ σῦκα τρώγειν, to eat figs. The rendering of the lxx κνίζων, Vulg. vellicans, points to the fact that it was a common custom to nip or scratch the mulberry-figs, in order to make them ripen (see Theophr. Hist. plant. iv. 2; Plin. Hist. nat. 13, 14; and Bochart, Hieroz. i. 384, or p. 406 ed. Ros.); but this cannot be shown to be the true meaning of bōlēs. And even if the idea of nipping were implied in the word bōlēs, it would by no means follow that the possession of a mulberry plantation was what was intended, as many commentators have inferred; for "the words contain an allusion to the 'eating of bread' referred to in Amos 7:12, and the fruit is mentioned here as the ordinary food of the shepherds, who lived at the pasture grounds, and to whom bread may have been a rarity" (Hitzig). From this calling, which afforded him a livelihood, the Lord had called him away to prophesy to His people Israel; so that whoever forbade him to do so, set himself in opposition to the Lord God.