Not a Prophet?

Amos may have quailed at the prospect of delivering his messages, knowing the fate of a previous “man of God from Judah” and his own lack of prophetic credentials (1 Kgs 13). A literal translation of his response to Amaziah reads, “not a prophet, I; and not a son of a prophet, I.…” Because these are nonverbal clauses, it is possible to read them in the past tense. Amos had not been a prophet, but when God called him, his role changed. Anderson and Freedman suggest that Amos may have denied any association with the professional prophetic guild prior to God’s calling him (Andersen and Freedman, Amos, 776–78; Paul, Amos Commentary, 244–46). Watts suggests that it may be a question of authority rather than status. With his flat denial, Amos declared that Amaziah did not have the right to alter God’s calling (Watts, Vision and Prophecy, 10–12).