If we are going to correctly understand the message spoken through Amos, we need to know something of the purposes of prophets. Old covenant prophets can be thought of as being equivalent to lawyers or covenant prosecutors. Typically these prophets explain how God’s people were being disobedient to the terms of the Mosaic covenant, then they stipulate what the just punishment was going to be, and finally they finish with a message of hope. Hope is grounded in the promise made by God to Abraham—a promise that there will be salvation for those who trust in God.
Old covenant prophets are not sent to predict the future. Though that is the way in which many people think about the prophets, prediction was not their primary task. They come to call people to repentance and obedience. They come to remind people of their obligations to God—obligations specified in the Mosaic covenant. And this will also be the task of Amos. He might come from Tekoa, a small town in the southern kingdom of Judah, but that does not mean his message can be ignored. Israel, the northern kingdom, is still part of the old covenant community. They are obligated to the terms of the covenant. They must listen to the words of Amos. The Lord who roars from Zion is their King.
1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.