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”.

intercession should be exchanged for judgment³⁵. The text may, however, also be interpreted as a crisis of forced resignation, one which reflects the parallel between the roaring lion and the speech of God, and the surrender to the trap of Amos’ naming of the inscrutable Kn). The lion has roared (cf. Amos 3,8); prophecy is unavoidable. There is no appeal to God for mercy at Bethel, and no plea to Amaziah for repentance. Rather, Amos prophesies Amaziah’s doom for attempting to silence the word of God. The relationship between the prophet and God as the roaring lion of Amos 3,8 is not simply that of Amos acting as a spokesman. In Amos 3,12 we read, "As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people who dwell in Samaria be rescued". What is Amos the herdsman’s reaction to the lion and the doomed flock? Prophecies and fear, yes, but pity and helplessness too? His predicament is on display in the Amaziah episode too, as noticed by Landy.