I know that if you had to pick one Biblical book to read at night and only had one, Amos would most likely not make your list. I can understand that. If you had to name your child you would mostly likely not name him Amos either. It is ranked #704 as a Bible name for boys. Yet back in the Puritan days, Amos was really popular. Circle further back to the eighth century B.C. and Amos would have been a force worthy to be noted.
Whenever I return back to the book of Amos, I am reminded of my first real introduction to this “minor” prophet in a class I took by Dr. Aulikki Nahkola, in the early 1990s. It was the same class in which I met my wife, Becky, a transfer student from Walla Walla College who attended Newbold College that single quarter. It was in that class that we investigated Amos and I found it to be worthy of study. The call to justice from God echos deep. It is the roar of a Shepherd.
I invite you to enjoy the journey and try the book of Amos for the first time over the next five weeks. The study schedule is as follows:
Amos 1-2: A Shepherd’s Vision
Amos 3-4: Versus: Against All Odds
Amos 5-6: Our Own Issues
Amos 7-8: Mean People
Amos 9: Promises of Hope
Senior Pastor
Boulder Church
An Introduction to the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann
Daniel & The Twelve Prophets for Everyone by John Goldingay
Joel, Amos & Obadiah: An Exegetical Commentary by Thomas J. Finley
Old Testament Ethics for the People of God by Christopher J H Wright
Prophets and Kings by Ellen White
The Message of Amos by J. A. Motyer
The Prophets (Chapter 2, “Amos”) by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Theology of the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann