Amos the Prophet

CONCERNING ST. AMOS THE PROPHET, AT TEKOA IN PALESTINE.

Amos the Prophet, at Tekoa in Palestine (Saint)

We begin this last day of March with the life and death of St. Amos, who is placed third among the Minor Prophets. He himself at the beginning of his prophecy clearly indicates the place and time where and when he lived. "The words of Amos," he says, "who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, Tekoa, the homeland of St. Amos: which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, King of Israel, two years before the earthquake."

Tekoa was formerly a city or fortress of the tribe of Judah, situated on a mountain, rebuilt and fortified by Rehoboam, son of Solomon, in order to establish his kingdom against enemies. Midway between Jerusalem and Tekoa was the city of Bethlehem, six miles distant from each. At Tekoa, Amos had been born of humble origin, who calls himself a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, called by the Lord while he was following the flocks. Chapter 7, verses 14 and 15. These things concerning the condition and homeland of the Prophet Amos, taken up by God two years before the earthquake: which Salianus asserts to have been in the twenty-fifth year of King Uzziah of Judah and the fortieth of Jeroboam II, King of Israel, the time of his life: in the year of the world three thousand two hundred and fifty after the beginning, eight hundred and three years before the birth of Christ. He prophesied in that and the following year against the Syrians, the Philistines, his prophecy: the Tyrians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and especially against the Israelites and their city of Samaria. From this arose a persecution against him, blows were inflicted, and at last death from a wound. Concerning this, Epiphanius in his book on the life and death of the Prophets writes the following: "The Prophet Amos of Tekoa ... was continually beaten by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, his death as reported by Epiphanius, marked by treachery and abuse; and finally the son of Amaziah killed him by striking him with a club on the temples." However, still breathing, he set out for his native land, and there, having met his fate, was buried together with his ancestors.

Isidore also relates the following concerning the Fathers of the Old Testament: "Amos was one of a number of shepherds, according to Isidore, whom the Lord, having taken him away, sent to the peoples of Israel, commanding him to go to Samaria and there prophesy what was to come. Amaziah* the priest frequently afflicted him with blows, and finally his son Uzziah pierced him through the temples with a stake and killed him by a cruel death: yet, still half-alive, he was carried to his own land, and after some days, from the excessive pain of the wound, he breathed out his lingering soul, and was buried with his fathers." Similar accounts are found in Dorotheus in his Synopsis, and in Peter de Natalibus, book 4, chapter 16.

The Greeks in the Menaia celebrate him on the fifteenth of June, The Greeks celebrate on June 15. but the Latins celebrate him on the thirty-first of March, in accordance with the Roman Martyrology, in which the following is read: "At Tekoa in Palestine, St. Amos the Prophet, whom Amaziah the priest frequently afflicted with blows, and whose son Uzziah pierced through the temples with a stake: who afterward, still half-alive, was carried back to his homeland, and there expired, The Latins on March 31. and was buried with his fathers." His memory is celebrated widely in manuscripts and printed Martyrologies, in Usuard, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Felicius, Galesinius, Canisius, and others. But here and there errors are mixed in, where either Amos is taken for the father of Isaiah, or Amaziah and Uzziah are said to be kings: which errors are repeated ad nauseam and refuted in Salianus and the interpreters of Sacred Scripture.

* In other sources, incorrectly called a king.