Amos 7:15

And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Followed the flock.—There is no hint of any lack of education or refinement (see Introduction) through the exclusion of any special aid derived from the training of earlier prophets. In this case God’s inward call had been more than sufficient.

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

15. took me as I followed the flock—So David was taken (2Sa 7:8; Ps 78:70, 71). Messiah is the antitypical Shepherd (Ps 23:1-6; Joh 10:1-18).

unto my people—"against" [Maurer]; so Am 7:16. Jehovah claims them still as His by right, though slighting His authority. God would recover them to His service by the prophet's ministry.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Lord, the great and jealous God, whom you oppose by idols, took me; by an extraordinary power of his Spirit took me off from my old, mean, and private employment and recess, and I could not withstand him.

As I followed the flock; a description of a shepherd’s employment.

The Lord said unto me; commanded, whether by voice from heaven. or extraordinary irradiation of his mind, or impulse of the Divine prophetic Spirit, comes all to one, his authority is Divine.

Go out of Judah.

Prophesy; as a prophet instruct, threaten, promise, invite. and foretell.

My people Israel; the ten tribes, which with like civility are called by Amos God’s people as he is called seer.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord took me as I followed the flock,.... Or "from behind" it (u); a description of a shepherd, such an one Amos was, and in this employ when the Lord called him, and took him to be a prophet; he did not seek after it, nor did he take this honour to himself; by which it appears that his mission was divine, and that he did not enter on this work with lucrative views: thus God took David in a like state of life, and made him king of Israel; and Elisha from the plough, and made him a prophet: and Christ several of his disciples from being fishermen, and made them fishers of men, or ministers of the word; and so their call appeared more clear and manifest;

and the Lord said unto me; in a vision or dream by night; or by an articulate voice he heard; or by an impulse upon his spirit, which comes from the Spirit of God:

go, prophesy unto my people Israel; for so they were by profession, and notwithstanding their apostasy; as yet they were not tallied "Loammi", Hosea 1:9; to these the prophet was bid to go out of the land of Judea, where he was a herdsman, and prophesy in the name of the Lord to them; wherefore what he did was in obedience to the command of God, and he did but his duty; and what he in this verse and Amos 7:14 declares, is a sufficient vindication of himself, his character, and conduct; and having done this, he has something to say to the priest, as follows.

(u) "de post pecus", Montanus; "de post gregem", Vatablus; "a post gregem", Liveleus.

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. It was while he was engaged in the ordinary occupations of his rustic life, that he became conscious of a call, which he could not but obey (cf. Amos 3:8), to become the prophet of Jehovah’s people, Israel.

from following the flock] Cf. (of David) 2 Samuel 7:8; Psalm 78:71.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - As I followed; literally, from after from behind, as in the call of David (2 Samuel 7:8; Psalm 78:70), The Divine call came to him suddenly and imperatively, and he must needs obey it. He, therefore, could not follow Amaziah's counsel. Amos 7:15

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.