Conflict With The Priest Amaziah

 "Amaziah then said to Amos, 'Off with you, seer, go back to the land of Judah.  Earn your  bread there by prophesying.  But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is a king's Sanctuary and a national shrine.'

Amos replied to Amaziah, 'I am not a prophet or one of the fellow-prophets.  I am a breeder of sheep and a dresser of sycamore trees.  But YAHWEH took me from shepherding the flock and said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'" - Amos 7:12-15 

(Notice the boldness of Amos' action.  He goes to preach in the national temple, or to put it another way, in the country's cathedral.  He does so though he has no title, nor the priest's permission, and begins to denounce the false order, which allows the accumulation of so much private wealth.  Naturally, Amaziah, the king's chaplain, is scandalized.  In our days, Amos would have been arrested, beaten and perhaps killed.

For Amaziah, his priesthood is a well-paid position; and he is convinced that Amos is preaching against his way of earning a living.  In those days, there were many prophets who made a living from giving advice, without having been called directly by GOD as the great prophets were, [and as Amos was, as well].

Amos is not a prophet in the ordinary sense.  He is a lay person, to whom GOD entrusted a mission when called personally.  Apparently, he loses out, in the meeting with the religious authorities.  It is not said that he used any other weapons than GOD's word; and GOD knows how to judge HIS envoys.  We do not know if Amaziah succeeded in expelling him out of the country or if he only forbade him to preach in well-attended places.)

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