The Poorest of the Poor

Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: Amos 7:14

The sycamore fig has been an important food among the poor of the Near East since prehistoric times, although it is much inferior to the common fig. No one ate it who could afford anything better.

When Amos said he was a gatherer of sycamore figs (“a dresser of sycamore trees,” Amos 7:14), he was describing himself as being among the poorest of the poor.

(Juengst, Sara Covin., Like a Garden: A Biblical Spirituality of Growth, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1996, pg 9)