In Amos 3:7 סוֹד designates the confidential deliberative result of the
divine assembly; thus, the counsel-aspect of סוֹד is also used with reference to
the divine realm. This verse occurs in a disputation speech (Amos 3:3-8) that
functions as Amos’ prophetic legitimation. As most commentators agree, v 7 is a
Deuteronomic interpolation that introduces into the context a particular theological
view of prophecy for apologetic reasons. Leaving the contextual polemics aside,
the verse is important to the present study for the general statement it makes
about the nature of prophetic knowledge. Amos 3:7 reads:
כִּי לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה דָּבָר כִּי אִם־גָּלָה סוֹדוֹ אֶל־עֲבָדָיו הַנְּבִיאִים׃
For Lord Yahweh does not do anything except he has revealed his סוֹד to
his servants the prophets.
The use of גלה סוֹד here recalls the several texts cited above in which
סוֹד means “secret” (see Prov 11:13, 20:19 and 25:9). The linguistic parallel
with these wisdom texts suggest we understand סוֹד as found in Amos 3:7 as “secret
counsel” or “Plan.” The divine assembly as a body, therefore, is not in view in
Amos 3:7 at all; rather, the verse treats the deliberations that take place
there. The verse asserts that Yahweh reveals his secret plans to the prophets
before he implements his intentions among people. We have in Amos 3:7, then, an
explicit statement that the results of deliberation in the divine assembly were
secret, and the prophets, like a person’s confidant, were entrusted with these
secret plans. (Alan Lenzi, Secrecy and the Gods: Secret Knowledge in Ancient
Mesopotamia and Biblical Israel [State Archives of Assyria Studies 19; The
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project; Helsinki: Institute for Asian and African
Studies, University of Helsinki, 2008], 250-51)
Other general characteristics of the prophets support the idea that
their role as Yahweh’s servant was specifically defined as royal bearers
of messages and judgments from his divine assembly to humans. This role is
assumed, for example, by the juxtaposition of Amos 3:6 with Amos 3:7; Yahweh
may be responsible for harm that befalls a city (3:6), but he always forewarns the
people by announcing his secret plan to his servants the prophets (3:7). The
implicit assumption is that the prophets would receive the secret plan of
destruction and in turn communicate it to the people was a warning. As individuals
who had free admittance to the innermost secret council of the divine king,
they were uniquely qualified to convey such messages. Perhaps the strongest
evidence for this royal messenger status comes from the significance of the
ubiquitous prophetic messenger formula כֹּה אָמַר יהוה in prophetic literature.
As Brettler notes, this formula reflects a “high, primarily royal register.”
Blenkinsopp also recognizes this feature when he writes, “The standard
introductory formula ‘thus says Yahweh’ is taken from the protocol used in
official oral and written communications emanating from a royal court, which
suggests that the prophets understood themselves as emissaries of Yahweh.” One
also finds support for this royal messenger status in Isaiah’s prophetic
commissioning in Isa 6, which is explicitly characterized as occurring in the
presence of divine royalty ( וָאֶרְאֶה אֶת־אֲדֹנָי יֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא רָם וְנִשָּׂא, “I saw Adonai sitting upon a throne, high
and exalted,” 6:1). Finally, the biblical presentation of the historical
coincidence of the beginnings and demise of both kingship and prophecy
(generally) suggests a broad social context that could give rise to this
understanding of the prophetic role: just as human kings exchanged messages via
messengers, so would the heavenly royal court communicate to the human royal
council through prophetic messengers. (Ibid., 257-58)
