We begin to hear about prophets in the Bible after Israel convinced God to let them have a king. It was almost as if God set up his own checks and balances system. Once the people looked to a king and the government to guide them, God also called prophets to remind the government that it, too, was subject to God.
There were apparently professional prophets in Israel who served as ethical advisors to the king, but occasionally a voice arose that challenged the very nature of the society. Amos was one of those unique voices.
By his own admission, he was not a professional prophet or one of the king's ethical advisors. He was better described as a migrant worker who trimmed fig trees in season and hired out as a shepherd at other times. He lived in Judah, the southern nation after the sp…