rought, Ch. 1.

2. By the scourge to come, 2:1-17.

II. Israel's Repentance and Jehovah's Promised Blessing, 2:18-3:21.

1. Material blessing, 2:18-27.

2. In the world Judgment, Ch. 3.

For Study and Discussion. (1) Point out the different statements about
the drouth and locusts that indicate their severity and ruinous
effects. (2) Collect the passages referring to the Messianic age and
try to see how or what each foretells of that age. (3) Point out all
references to the sins of Israel. (4) Collect evidences of the divine
control of the universe as seen in the book.

* * * * *
Chapter XIX.

Amos and Obadiah.

Amos.

The Prophet. His name means "Burden," and he is called the prophet of
righteousness. His home was at Tokea, a small town of Judea about
twelve miles south of Jerusalem, where he acted as herdsman and as
dresser of sycamore trees. He was very humble, not being of the
prophetic line, nor educated in the schools of the prophets for the
prophetic office. God called him to go out from Judah, his native
country, as a prophet to Israel, the Northern Kingdom. In obedience to
this call he went to Bethel, where the sanctuary was, and delivered
his bold prophecy. His bold preaching against the land Of Israel while
at Bethel aroused Amaziah the leading idolatrous priest, who
complained of him to the king. He was expelled from the kingdom, after
he had denounced Amaziah who had perhaps accused him of preaching as a
trade, 7:10-14, but we know nothing more of him except what is in this
book, which he perhaps wrote after he returned from Tekoa.

The Time of the Prophecy. It was during the reign of Uzziah, king of
Judah and of Jereboam II, king of Israel, and was outwardly a very
prosperous time in Northern Israel. But social evils were everywhere
manifest, especially the sins that grow out of a separation between
the rich and poor, 2:6-8, etc. Religion was of a low and formal kind,
very much of the heathen worship having been adopted.

The Significance of the Prophecy. One need but read the book of Amos
to see that he expects doom to come upon foreign nations, that he
foretells the wickedness of the Jews and their coming doom, showing
how the nation is to be dissolved and sold into captivity and that he
predicts the glory and greatness of the Messianic kingdom. He thinks
of Jehovah as the one true God, an all wise, all-powerful,
omnipresent, merciful and righteous person whose favor can only be