For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy? Amos 3:7-8.
Israel tried to silence the prophets. Amos 2:11-12 indicted Israel for shutting them up. Now we discover why. At first glance it looks like the prophets are the most important part of this situation. It looks like God really values the prophets, therefore Israel should not shut them up. But there is something more, as this passage shows us. The prophets are, truly, important. But the reason they are important is that they speak the word of God. It is the word of God that must be protected, spoken, and given freedom. God is angry about Israel shutting up his prophets because God is passionate about his word being spoken. Shutting up the prophets wasn’t just a mean thing to do to nice prophets; it was silencing the word of God. Don’t try to do that to God. He doesn’t take well to it. I would do well to remember Psalm 138:2: I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
God does nothing without using his prophets to speak his word. That is a strong statement. It would have been enough – I would think – for him to say that he usually uses his prophets or that he sometimes uses his prophets. But God clearly says that he always speaks through his prophets. He does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. It is one of those exclusive-type statements, like John 5:19: Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Or the exclusivity of the classic words of Jesus in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” These exclusively worded passages of Scripture are meant to be just that – exclusive, highlighting an essential truth, pointing to a jarring reality, making me stop and really think through the exclusive language. God does nothing without using his prophets to speak his word.
Though God always speaks through his prophets that does not mean that God only speaks to his prophets. Other passages of Scripture make this clear. Proverbs 3:32 says that the upright, the righteous are in his confidence. Those who are righteous get in on some of these secrets; they are in the trusted circle of God’s revelation. Psalm 25:14 is another beautiful passage that says the friendship of the Lord belongs to those who fear him. And friendship includes the secret counsel, the inner thoughts, the plans of God. God says he reveals to them his covenant. Among other things, this means I should highly esteem and value what God speaks through his prophets – like preachers today. But I must not neglect my own personal pursuit of hearing from God.
God’s prophets are also his servants. They are not merely mouthpieces who live as they wish. Their lives are characterized as lives of servants, slaves, and men under authority. A prophet is a servant of God, speaking what God commands him to speak.
God’s final thrust of duh goes like this: The lion has roared; who will not fear? As Amos shares these very words of God with Israel, he knows that God is highlighting his role as one who speaks the words of God. God is telling Israel that they should listen to Amos and their own prophets. God has spoken! And the language he uses to describe his speaking should make them shudder in fear. He doesn’t say that he encoded the message in a secret script. He doesn’t say he has been giving little hints here and there. He doesn’t say he has been whispering quietly. Instead, he says he has roared his word like a lion sends out his anger. Which immediately sends me back to 3:4:
Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
And it hearkens back to how the entirety of Amos’ prophecy began:
The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers. Amos 1:2.
The second line of Amos 3:8 is another “duh” question: The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy? When God speaks, his prophets can’t help by prophesy his words to his people. The roar of the Lord drives them and mandates their speaking. God’s prophets are his servants who do his bidding and speak his words.