Historically speaking Amos was a prophet in the eighth century BC; the 700’s BC.  In order of when they wrote, the writing prophets start with Obadiah, then Joel, Jonah, and Hosea.  We have already covered these prophets.  Amos is next.  Amos identifies the times in which he lived and wrote as during the times of Uzziah the king of Judah (767-750 BC; 791-737 BC as shared king with his father and then his son) and the reign of Jereboam the son of Joash (or Jehoash) king of Israel (793-753 BC).  Other clues in the history of Israel and Judah point to a date around 760 BC  The earthquake mentioned in Amos 1:1 is unknown to scholars with respect to it’s date.

Amos’ message was directed to the northern kingdom, a kingdom with a history of defection from God and a kingdom on a downward path.  Jeroboam increased and secured the borders of the Northern kingdom against foreign invasion.  This period of peace was also one of prosperity.  The people were living quite comfortably.  If you read through Isaiah with us, you may remember he wrote to the Southern Kingdom, Judah,  about 20 years after Amos and was faced with a similar situation there.  In both cases the easy lifestyle led to selfishness and disregard for others.  If you read the Intro to Joel you might remember that the founder of the Northern Kingdom set up his own way of worshipping Yahweh, the God of all Israelites.  Theses changes were not approved of by God and led to the spiritual decline mentioned above.  Although Jeroboam was a good political leader he was not a good spiritual leader.  He allowed the people to worship Yahweh but set up false idols and images in the public places of worship and encouraged the people to have pretend gods (idols) in their homes.  The people, of course, though they were being “good” Israelites but their spiritual lives were focused on the wrong things and their day to day lives did not match up with the expectations of God.

It was to these comfortable Northern Israelites that the shepherd from hills of the Southern Kingdom came with his message from God.  He was out of his place and away from his people but he was right where God wanted him doing what prophets do, warning and encouraging the people to think about the true God and what he really expects of them.  Like most prophets he would not be very popular but god in his mercy still reaches out to rebellious people.  As we live in our comfortable homes living our sometimes selfish lives we need to listen carefully to the message of Amos and see how it applies to us today.