Homilist Amos 7:10-17 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying… I. THE CONVENTIONAL PRIEST. Amaziah was chief priest of the royal sanctuary of the calves at Bethel. 1. He was in close intimacy with the king. 2. He seeks to expel an independent teacher from the dominion of the king. (1) By appeal to the king. By bringing against Amos the groundless charge of treason. By a base slander he endeavours to influence the king against the true teacher. He does this — (2) By alarming the prophet. Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court." It does not appear that the king took any notice of the message which this authorised religious teacher had sent him concerning Amos; hence, in order to carry out his malignant purpose, he addresses the prophet and says, "O thou seer, go, flee thee away." Not imagining that Amos could be actuated by any higher principle than that of selfishness, which reigned in his own heart, the priest advised him to consult his safety by fleeing across the frontier into the kingdom of Judah, where he might obtain his livelihood by the unrestrained exercise of his prophetical gifts. Thank God, the days of the Amaziahs, through the advancement of popular intelligence, are drawing to a close! II. Here we have the GENUINE priest of a people. Amos seems to have been a prophet not nationally recognised as such. 1. He is not ashamed of his humble origin. "I was no prophet," that is, I am not a prophet by profession, "neither was I a prophet's son." By the son of a prophet he means a disciple or pupil. He had not studied in any prophetic college. No true prophet is ever ashamed of his origin, however humble. As a rule the greatest teachers of the world have struggled up from the regions of poverty and obscurity. 2. He is conscious of the Divinity of his mission. "The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel." Amos seems to have had no doubt at all as to the fact that the Lord called him. How he was called does not appear. When God calls a man to work, the man knows it. No argument will convince him to the contrary. 3. In the name of heaven he denounces the conventional priest. In return for this rebellion against Jehovah, Amos foretells for the priest the punishment which will fall upon him when the judgment shall come upon Israel, meeting his words, "Thou sayest, Thou shalt not prophesy" with the keen retort, "Thus saith Jehovah." The punishment is described in verse 17. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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 all his words. |
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