Introduction

Amos was a dude from the southern kingdom of Israel in the mid 700s BC. He wanted to be left alone, even though he agreed that oppressing everyone beneath their ruling class was moral and justified. The northern king Jeroboam II is very shrewd; he knows that rich, fancy, noble people can get real fussy if they don't keep getting richer and fancier. So you've got gross injustices going on in the north, but up there in the North it's so far away from Amos.