Question 4
- Give an account of Amos’ encounter with Amaziah the priest.
- Indicate any three practices in your society that need to be condemned.
Observation
This question was unpopular among the candidates as only a few candidates attempted it. There is no guess work in this question thus, since candidates were not familiar with this story, majority of them performed poorly. The supposed points candidates were expected to have written are:
- Amos was a shepherd and also a dresser of sycamore trees, while Amaziah was a priest at Bethel, the centre of Israel’s apostate religion.
- Amos denounced the social and religious malpractices of the Israelites of his days.
- He also preached at the king’s sanctuary that Jeroboam II would die by the sword.
- This statement infuriated Amaziah the priest in-charge of the temple at Bethel.
- Amaziah reported Amos to the king, accusing him of treason.
- Since the temple belonged to the king and not God, Amos was forbidden to speak against the king there.
- Amaziah commanded Amos to return to Judah to prophesy and earn his living there.
- He called Amos a “seer”- a prophet that was consulted for the discovery of lost articles for a fee.
- Amos denied being a paid prophet in the service of the king nor was he a member of the professional prophets.
- He said no one had engaged him to pronounce judgment on Jeroboam and Israel.
- He was only a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took him from following the flock in order to prophesy to Israel.
- According to Amos, no authority could stop him from delivering his message.
- Amos then cursed Amaziah for trying to turn him away from God’s command.
- He indicated that Amaziah’s wife would be a prostitute and his children killed.
- Furthermore, Amaziah’s land and property would be divided among the people.
- Israel would go into exile.
- Finally, Amaziah would die in a foreign land.
In the Part B, candidates were able to guess the answers right using the experiences of their immediate environment to point out some negative vices that should be condemned. To this end, candidates performed better in the B part than in the A part. On the average, candidate performed poorly in this question.