Albert Barnes Commentary Amos 7:12

"Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:" — Amos 7:12 (ASV)

Jeroboam apparently took no account of the false priest’s message. Perhaps the memory of the true prophecies of Elisha regarding the successes of his father, and of Jonah regarding his own, fulfilled in his own person and still recent, inspired him with a reverence for God’s prophets. To know his motive or motives, we must know his whole character, which we do not. Amaziah, failing in his purpose, uses his name as far as he dares. “Seer, go, flee.” He probably uses the old title for a prophet, in reference to the visions which he had just related.

Perhaps he used it in irony also. “You who see, as you think, what others do not see, ‘visionary! visionist!’ flee,” that is, for your good (he acts the patron and the counselor); “to the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and there prophesy.”

Worldly people always think that those whose profession is religious make “a gain of godliness.” “He is paid for it,” they say. “Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.” Interested people cannot conceive of one disinterested; nor the worldly, of one unworldly; nor the insincere, of one sincere. Amaziah thought then that Amos, coming out of Judah, must be speaking in the interests of Judah; perhaps, that he was in the pay of her king. Anyhow, prophecies, such as his against Israel, would be acceptable there and be well paid.

The words are courteous, like so much patronizing language now, regarding God or His revelation, His prophets or His Apostles, or His divine word. The words are measured: the meaning blasphemy. Perhaps, like the Scribes and Pharisees afterward, he feared the people (Matthew 21:26; Acts 5:26): “Seeing that there were many among the people who heard him gladly, he dared not do him any open wrong, lest he should offend them.”