Amos shared a characteristic of disability with Moshe Rabbeinu. Vayikra Rabbah (10:2) tells us that Amos stuttered. It relates that Yeshaya HaNavi was told by Hashem to prophesize to Klal Yisrael regarding their sins and Yeshaya responded by asking Hashem to choose someone else. Hashem replied that he sent Amos but Klal Yisrael were unmoved because Amos could not speak well; he stammered and stuttered. The name Amos indicates burden.
What is the deeper meaning of this midrash? As we said, Moshe Rabbeinu had a speaking problem, which necessitated Aharon being the primary spokesman to Pharaoh and to Klal Yisrael in Mitzrayim, but the midrash tells us that Moshe was later healed, enabling him to teach Torah to Klal Yisrael. If Amos could not be effective, why would Hashem send him? Perhaps we can suggest that Amos was unable to warn and deliver strong mussar to Klal Yisrael because he didn’t want to speak so sternly to them. He had trouble saying the words he was supposed to say, stuttering and stammering through them in his desire not to be so tough with them. This is why Hashem was looking for a new prophet who might be more effective.
The general message of Amos in this haftarah is that despite Klal Yisrael’s sins and transgressions, Hashem has absolute loyalty and devotion to us as Amos tell us:
“I will return the internment of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild forsaken cities and occupy them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their produce” (9:14).
The Rambam (at the end of his listing of the 613 mitzvos, which appears after the introduction to Yad Hachazakah) describes it this way:
“We were commanded by the Chachamim to read Megillas Esther in its proper time in order to recall the praises of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the salvations He did for us and how close He was to our cries. We bless Him and extol Him in order to inform and publicize to all the generations to come that it is true what the Torah says that we have a G-d who is so close to us.”
Klal Yisrael faced Haman’s decree of annihilation but Hashem showed us that no matter what we do, no matter how much we “insult” Him with our misdeeds, He will never “get rid of” or “give up” on us, His special nation.
In the end, He will always lead us back to Him.