Resumo de Amos - The bible

One of the Minor Prophets, Amos is an interesting book in the bible; because, Amos starts a trend; Prophets writing for themselves, he was the first in a line of prophets who wrote down what they saw and what God revealed to them. Amos is from the small town of Tekoa in Judah, a rustic Shepherd from the Judean hills, he is called forth by God to prophesy against his people; to warn the kingdom?s of Judah and Israel against turning away from god, he rails against the kingdom of Israel for it?s injustices, warning of the coming destruction, which will come about if the Israelites do not turn back to god. The prophet also brings warnings and rebukes from God unto the kingdoms and people?s that border the Hebrew kingdom?s of Judah and the northern Israel.
When Amos comes into the scene, the single Hebrew kingdom has already been divided into the southern kingdom of Judah, composed of the Judah and Benjamin tribes and with Jerusalem as its Capital, and the Northern kingdom of Israel composed of the remaining ten tribes, with Samaria as its Capital. When Amos comes into the scene, around the 8th century B.C, the northern kingdom of Israel is under the rule of Jeroboam II, and it is at the zenith of its political and economic power. To Amos though, only the suffering of the poor is evident, and the social inequality and injustices disturbed him; where others see prosperity, he sees excess, indeed besides his pronouncements of impending doom on kingdoms near and far including Israel and Judah, the sensitive nature of a conscientious man seeps through the fiber of the book. Amos the simple shepherd from Tekoa is dismayed at the debauchery and the pretensions of the Israelite?s, a message of the need for social justice pervades the book and speaks volumes about the man.
The word?s from God that come through the mouth of Amos are almost an endless stream of rebukes, God condemns through the prophets mouth the neighboring kingdoms of Syria, Tyre, the philistines etc spelling out their impending doom and downfall, left and right of Israel kingdoms would fall and Israel itself would follow if it did not reform its ways. God is also appalled at the economic disparity that is present in Hebrew society, the poverty and utter destitution of the poor contrast starkly with the excesses of the rich who can even afford to sleep in beds of ivory! Shame on you God seems to say through Amos. God is angered at the complacency that has grown in the lives of his people; the words through his prophet are both a warning of utter and complete ruin and a call for repentance, a call to return to the ways of God.
While most of the book of Amos is followed one after another by warnings, rebukes and admonishments for varied peoples and cities, the Book ends on a Happier note. God promising that he would rescue his people, at a later time he would come back for them, that Israel even though condemned now was still his people. The strong vein of social consciousness that runs through the pages of this small book is its uniqueness. God is apparently very concerned for the downtrodden; the message of a caring god comes through the thicket of rebukes and reproaches. One cannot help liking the Prophet Amos, we can peer into the sensitive and sober soul of this rustic, through his writing as he peered and saw so easily through the pretentiousness and the debauch nature of unrepentant Israel and its failures.

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