Amos Denounces Social Injustice in Israel
Amos, a shepherd and fig tree farmer from Tekoa in Judah, was called by God to prophesy against the northern kingdom of Israel during a time of prosperity and peace under Jeroboam II. But beneath the economic boom lay rampant injustice, and Amos—an outsider with no prophetic credentials—delivered one of Scripture’s most scathing denunciations of religious hypocrisy and social oppression.
He condemned Israel’s sins:
- Selling the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals
- Trampling the heads of the poor into the dust of the ground
- Denying justice to the oppressed
- Father and son using the same girl, profaning God’s holy name
- Lounging on garments taken in pledge beside every altar
- Lying on beds adorned with ivory, feasting on choice lambs and fattened calves, while ignoring the ruin of Joseph
Most devastating was God’s rejection of their religious observance:
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them… Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:21-24)
When Amaziah, priest of Bethel, told Amos to go back to Judah and prophesy there, Amos replied: “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”
Amos prophesied that Israel would be destroyed and exiled—which happened when Assyria conquered Israel in 722 BCE, just decades after his ministry.
His message endures: Ritual without justice is an abomination. God demands not just worship but righteousness—caring for the poor, defending the oppressed, ensuring justice. Religion divorced from social ethics is worthless.