Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
Amos 3:13 belongs to the prophetic testimony directed to the house of Jacob in the northern kingdom. Amos went to Bethel and Samaria to speak against Israel's idolatry and depravity. His name probably means burdened, expressing his burden for his people.
He was a shepherd of Tekoa in Judea who prophesied at Bethel in the reigns of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam II king of Israel. He came from the south to deliver his message in the north, where he was accused of treason by the priests and expelled from the northern kingdom. Many of his prophecies, including this testimony in the house of Jacob, refer to that northern kingdom.
The verse belongs to his foretelling of the downfall of apostasy, pointing forward to the last days when there will be a famine of the Word. The prophecy clothes its warnings in striking illustrations drawn from shepherd life. It warns prideful churches that their steeples and towers face divine judgment, and it is linked with the next verse's prediction that their altars will be destroyed.
Amos 3:13 belongs to the prophetic testimony directed to the house of Jacob in the northern kingdom. Amos went to Bethel and Samaria to speak against Israel's idolatry and depravity. His name probably means burdened, expressing his burden for his people.
He was a shepherd of Tekoa in Judea who prophesied at Bethel in the reigns of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam II king of Israel. He came from the south to deliver his message in the north, where he was accused of treason by the priests and expelled from the northern kingdom. Many of his prophecies, including this testimony in the house of Jacob, refer to that northern kingdom.
The verse belongs to his foretelling of the downfall of apostasy, pointing forward to the last days when there will be a famine of the Word. The prophecy clothes its warnings in striking illustrations drawn from shepherd life. It warns prideful churches that their steeples and towers face divine judgment, and it is linked with the next verse's prediction that their altars will be destroyed.