Stories of the Prophets (Before the Exile) | Page 7

poor fruit, out of which poor
bread was made, for poor people, must, himself, have been very poor.
But a poor man may love his country as much as a rich man; and, when
the foolish war between Amaziah of Judah and Joash of Israel broke
out, this "dresser of sycamore trees," from Tekoah, followed his king
on the battlefield.
At the battle in which Amaziah was defeated and Joash gained his
greatest victory, leading to the destruction of part of the fortifications of
Jerusalem, this man, fighting valiantly in the front ranks, with many
other patriotic Judeans, laid down his life for his country. He was
buried in the trenches, an unknown hero, whose name is not even in the
records.
But history gives us the record of his son, named Amos. Left with his
widowed mother, after the war, the burden of finding a living for the
two was soon thrust upon him. There was only one thing that he knew

by which he could earn money--"dressing sycamore trees."
He went at his work with a vim. As he grew up, and his and his
mother's needs increased, his wits became sharpened. Why could he not
dry and grind the sycamore fruit himself? This he did and increased his
income. Then, his mother suggested that she would bake the flour into
bread, if he would sell it. Amos agreed to that, and the little family
thrived.
One day Amos brought the idea to his mother that their sycamore bread
could be sold at a better price in Jerusalem. He asked for permission to
go there and his mother, desiring more that her son should see the
capital than that he should get higher prices for the bread, said:
"Go, my son, and God be with thee."
That trip to Jerusalem and the several trips that followed, made a great
impression upon the young man and gave a remarkable turn to his
whole life.
He saw Jerusalem, of whose beauty and glory his father had often told
him, a fallen city. It had not yet recovered from the terrible results of
the war with Amaziah of Israel; King Uzziah had not yet restored the
treasures and vessels of which the temples had been looted; and, in the
quarter of the city where Amos sold his bread, oh! such poverty, such
wretchedness, such desolation!
His heart was filled with grief. He went to the trenches where he knew
his father lay in an unmarked grave, and wept bitterly. There, at his
father's grave, a wonderful thought came to him. A new light entered
into his life and a great determination for his future career. His mind
once made up, he soon outlined a plan for himself, and having the
determination to carry the plan through, he made rapid progress.
With the additional profits that resulted from his business trips to
Jerusalem, Amos bought sheep and goats and became a shepherd, as
well as a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

The great rocky wilderness that slopes from the limestone hills of
Tekoah down to the Dead Sea was just the place where sheep and goats
could prosper.
So, in addition to the thriving business of his old trade, he dealt, also, in
goat milk and wool and in the animals themselves.
Often, as he sat on the hillsides, in the cool of the sycamores, and
watched his flocks, his mind would turn to the things he saw and heard
in Jerusalem. He had heard there that Bethel, one of the sanctuaries of
Israel, was always filled with pilgrims at festival time--and he
determined upon a trip to Bethel, twenty-two miles north of Tekoah.
He returned greatly disheartened.
"Wealth and feasting saw I there," Amos told his mother, "and wine
and song, and altars reeking with blood of fatted lambs and oxen; but
God was not in the heart of the people of Israel."
His mother chided him gently. To say such things was blasphemy; for
sacrifices were demanded of all the people by the religious laws of the
state; and it was also commanded that a portion of the sacrifice should
be consumed by him who brought it--therefore the feasting. As to the
song and wine, did not the Sweet Singer say, "Serve the Lord with
gladness?"
Amos did not reply. He knew that his good-hearted mother had given
expression to the idea of God's worship as all the people, both of Israel
and of Judah, at that time, understood it. They brought the sacrifices, as
prescribed by the priests at the sanctuaries; a portion of the slaughtered
animal was given to God on the altar, and the portion that was eaten by
the sacrificer was looked upon as a meal--a banquet--participated in by
him and God, together; such a meal soon became a