person · P0040

Amos עמוס

Shepherd and tender of sycamore figs from Tekoa who was sent north to prophesy against Shomron's complacency and social injustice — "two years before the earthquake" in the days of Uziyahu and Yeravam ben Yoash. Insisted he was no professional prophet. Per the Rambam he received the Oral Torah from Hoshea and transmitted it to Yeshayahu.

I. Who

Hebrew
עמוס
Era
bible
Received the mesorah from
Hoshea
Transmitted the mesorah to
Yeshayahu

II. When

Traditional
c. 3110–3170 AM
Academic
fl. c. 760–750 BCE
Lifespan (traditional)
≈60 years
Precision
approximate

V. How do we know

ClaimEvidenceConfidenceSources
Received the Oral Torah from Hoshea and his court, and transmitted it to Yeshayahu — the thirteenth link in Rambam's forty-generation chain.
Confidence is for the chain as stated by the Rambam. The biblical superscriptions make Hoshea and Amos contemporaries; the Rambam's order is a transmission sequence, not a birth order.
rabbinic ★★★★★
A herdsman from Tekoa in the days of Uziyahu and Yeravam ben Yoash, "two years before the earthquake"; he protested "I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet — I am a cattleman and a tender of sycamores."
Confidence is for what the biblical text states.
biblical ★★★★★
Amatzyah, the priest of Beit El, reported Amos to King Yeravam and ordered him to leave Beit El and return to Judah.
This documents conflict with the royal sanctuary establishment at Beit El.
biblical ★★★★★
Traditional placement c. 3110–3170 AM; academic dating c. 760–750 BCE, one of the earliest datable literary prophets.
Schematic traditional dating.
tradition reconstruction ★★☆☆☆