James R. Linville, «Visions and Voices: Amos 7–9», Vol. 80 (1999) 22-42

The final chapters of Amos are read synchronically to highlight the relationship between the divine voice, which demands that its hearers prophesy (Amos 3,8), the voice of Amos, and those of other characters. Amos’ intercessions soon give way to entrapping word-plays and these are related to the rhetorical “traps” in Amos 1–2. Divine and prophetic speech defy the wish of human authority that they be silent. The figure of Amos eventually disappears from the reader’s view, but not before the prophet has been used as a focal point for the readers’ projections of themselves into the literary world of the text. As the scenes change from ultimate destruction to restoration, the readers appropriate the prophetic voice themselves, especially in the final verse which ends with a declaration of security uttered by “your God”.

I. Identity and Prophecy

In the book of Amos we encounter Amos of Tekoa as a man charged with bringing the word of God to the apostate and corrupt kingdom of Israel. In Genesis 1, the divine word was the act of creation: in the visions and oracles of Amos, creation itself is threatened. The book is introduced as "The words of Amos" swm( yrbd (Amos 1,1), and he is referred to as speaking in 1,2, but he is not mentioned again until chap. 7 when he speaks in the first person. The reader is prevented from gaining a clear description of Amos in the book, although a few details are given in 1,1, and 7,14¹. There are, however, a number of places in which the expression ynd) appears, and these may be translated "my lord", implying the presence of Amos as speaker².Through a series of vignettes, including the reporting of five visionary experiences, the final three chapters articulate Amos’ encounters with YHWH, his initial successful intercessions and the deity’s subsequent resolve to punish Israel anyway. Yet, YHWH once