Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el - chief priest of the royal sanctuary to the calves at Bethel.
Sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee. The "calves" being an engine of state policy to keep Israel separate from Judah, Amaziah construes Amos' words against them as treason. So in the case of Elijah and Jeremiah (1 Kings 18:17; Jeremiah 37:13-14). So the antitype Jesus was charged (John 19:12); political expediency being made in all ages the pretext for dishonouring God and persecuting His servants (John 11:48-50). So in the case of Paul (Acts 17:6-7, the Jews cried, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus;" Acts 24:5, Tertullus said before Felix, as to Paul, "We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes"). In the midst of the house of Israel - probably alluding to Amos' own words, "Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel" (Amos 7:8), foretelling the state's overthrow to the very center. Not secretly, or in a corner, but openly, in the very center of the state, so as to upset the whole utterly.
The land is not able to bear all his words - they are so many and so intolerable. A sedition will be the result. The mention of "the land" in general, and the expression "conspired," implies that Amos probably went at some great festival at Bethel, and by his denunciation of the calf-worship shook the idolatrous faith of many. So the opponents of Stephen were "not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake" (Acts 6:10). The Hebrew for "conspired" is properly banded, implying that others had been induced to join Amos, and formed a party х qaashar (H7194)]. The mention of his being "priest of Beth-el" implies that it was for his own priestly gain, not for the king or state, he was so keen.