[7] Verse 7 interrupts this tightly
constructed sequence. It is prosaic, lacks the form of the other lines, and
makes a dogmatic assertion, rather than advancing the argument. The verse is a
didactic proposition reminiscent of the vocabulary and point of view expressed
in Jer. 23:18, 22, but its flat claim is more dogmatic than the position of
these authentic sayings of Jeremiah. ‘His servants the prophets’ is an
expression which belongs to the vocabulary of the Deuteronomistic historical
work (2 Kings 17:13, 23; 21:10; 24:2) and to the prose sections of Jeremiah
(‘my servants the prophets’, Jer. 7:25; 26:5; 35:15; 44:4). The verse
undertakes to vindicate the authority of the prophet by basing his knowledge on
a consistent policy of Yahweh who always discloses his decisions to a prophet
before he acts. The theory is very close to the view of prophecy developed in
the Deuteronomistic history. As an explanation the sentence is out of
order; it pertains to the following verse more closely than the preceding. And
one must note that the necessity that revelation precede action binds Yahweh’s
sovereign freedom to a specific modus
operandi. The prophet becomes a sine
qua non of divine action. The theology seems very unlike the thinking of
Amos. Probably, the verse belongs to the redactional history of the book of
Amos and is the work of Deuteronomic editors who strengthen Amos’ original
argument with an indisputable theological truth. The true prophet has stood in
the divine council where Yahweh’s policy is formulated and decreed before it is
carried out in history. Because the heavenly counsel (sōd) has been revealed to the prophet, his messages are true and to
be believed. The role of the prophet as messenger has become an institution of
the divine government. (James Luther Mays, Amos: A Commentary [The
Old Testament Library; Philadelphia, Pa.: The Westminster Press, 1969], 61-62,
emphasis in bold added)
