Amos 7:1-9

PROPHECIES PRESENTED, Chapter S 7-9
CAUSES OF JUDGMENT PROPHESIEDNOT ALIGNED WITH GOD'S STANDARD

TEXT: Amos 7:1-9

1

Thus the Lord, Jehovah showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

2

And it came to pass that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then, I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small.

3

Jehovah repented concerning this: It shall not be, saith Jehovah.

4

Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land.

5

Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small.

6

Jehovah repented concerning this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord Jehovah.

7

Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.

8

And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more;

9

and the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

QUERIES

a.

Why did God show in vision these judgments He was preparing?

b.

Why did God repent in two instances when Amos interceded?

c.

What is the message of the plumbline?

PARAPHRASE

This is what the Lord God showed me in a vision concerning the future: He had prepared a vast swarm of locusts to destroy all the main crop that sprang up after the first mowing, which went as taxes to the king, so that none of the people had any grain. These locusts devoured every stalk of grain and blade of grass. Then I cried, O Lord God, forgive your people, I beg you, and do not send this judgment upon them. If you turn against Israel and so utterly destroy them, what hope is there? For Israel is so small! The Lord turned from this plan and did not fulfill the vision and told me: I will not do this, Then the Lord-God showed me a great burning-up by which He intended to judge the people; it dried up the deepest rivers, lakes and springs and would have devoured the land. Then I said, O Lord God, Stop, I pray, If you so utterly consume them, what hope is there? For Israel is so small! The Lord turned from this plan also and did not fulfill the vision and told me: I also will not do this. But then He showed me another vision: The Lord was standing beside a wall which supposedly had been built according to a plumbline and He was checking it with His plumbline to see if it was straight. And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? I answered, A plumbline. Then the Lord said, I will test My people against My plumbline. I will no longer turn away from punishing them if they are out of line with My standard. The idol altars and temples of Israel will be destroyed; and I will destroy the dynasty of King Jeroboam with the sword.

SUMMARY

God will have patience for a time, and spare the land the plagues it deserves. But if there is no repentance by the people from this goodness of God, His forbearance will cease and the downfall will come.

COMMENT

Amos 7:1-3. HE FORMED LOCUSTS. THEY MADE AN END OF EATING THE GRASS OF THE LAND. I SAID, O LORD. FORGIVE. JEHOVAH REPENTED CONCERNING THIS. Amos is given a vision of a future judgment God has planned for Israel. Amos sees it as if it had already happened. God prepared a vast swarm of locusts, as He did in the days of Joel, and they devoured all the grain and grass of the land. The first mowing of the grain and grass crops (at least the greater part of it) was claimed by the king (cf. 1 Samuel 8:12-15; 1 Kings 18:5-6) for feeding the army horses. If the second growing was destroyed by locusts everyone else would soon perish. There would be no grain or grass for human or animal consumption. K & D feel this and the succeeding vision of the fire should be interpreted symbolically. We must agree with Lange that a literal interpretation best fits the facts. Amos intercedes and God's plan calls for forbearance or goodness which will lead men to repentance and thus God turns from immediate judgment. This, however, does not contradict the immutability of God's counsel. See our comments on Jonah 3:9 for a discussion of God repenting, We should like to quote Lange here:

What was threatened was deserved, but still the punishment as destructive has not yet become a necessity. God can still spare. If the stroke did fall, there would be no unrighteousness in God, and also just as little, if it did not. How the case stands only He who is the searcher of hearts and the Judge of all the earth can certainly know. But men may and should presume that forbearance is possible, and therefore should intercede. Even this has its limits, and cannot be a duty under all circumstances, otherwise the conviction of a moral government of the world would grow weak.

What happens to man in his relationship to God depends upon man's response to God's immutable will. If man rebels against God's righteous and wise government then he will suffer the consequences already decreed and determined. If he repents he may avert those consequences because that salvation is also a part of God's unchanging government. On the other hand it is also a part of that sovereign purpose of God to lead men to repentance by showing them His forbearance and mercy and kindness for a period of time decreed and determined by Him. This is what Amos prayed for and what the Lord, having already purposed to do, granted. One of the functions of a prophet was, by demonstrating his faith and dependence upon God by prayers of intercession, to lead the people to a penitent, dependent attitude toward God (cf. Genesis 20:7; Exodus 32:11 ff; Numbers 14:13 ff; 1 Samuel 7:8; Jeremiah 14:8 ff; Jeremiah 15:1).

Amos 7:4-6. THE LORD. CALLED TO CONTEND BY FIRE. IT DEVOURED THE GREAT DEEP. JEHOVAH REPENTED CONCERNING THIS. In a second vision of the future Amos is given to see a great burning-up where God is going to punish and try Israel by fire as it were. Most scholars agree that this is a drought. Such an intense drought as to dry up all the stream beds, the lakes, the deep springs and the deepest wells. All life would soon cease to exist in the land. K & D make this symbolic of God's judgment upon the heathen nations. The heathen nations, according to them, compose the great deep and God's judgment comes like a fire which devours the great deep. This great judgment by God, after having consumed the nations, would also begin to consume Israel. So Amos prays and God relents. But again we must agree with Lange:

How gratuitous is all this! Nothing of it is found in the visions themselves. What the prophet saw in the second vision is certainly not to occur; therefore the judgment upon the heathen, if it is contained there, is not to occur. Of a remnant remaining over, not a word is said.

In other words, God promises not to send this judgment. Now we know that the heathen nations were judged by God. If this is to be taken symbolically of their judgment and God promised not to do and yet did it, someone is wrong!

Amos 7:7-9. THE LORD STOOD BESIDE A WALL MADE BY A PLUMB-LINE, WITH A PLUMBLINE IN HIS HAND. BEHOLD, I WILL SET A PLUMBLINE IN THE MIDST OF MY PEOPLE ISRAEL. Plumblines were used then just as they are now to build walls perpendicularly straight. They are a standard or a rule or a norm to follow. Now Amos sees God standing upon a wall which had been, in the beginning, made according to this standard or divine plumbline. God is also holding along side this wall the divine plumbline again and, behold, the wall is out of plumb. It veers away from the plumbline. It is crooked and in danger of falling. It is ready to be condemned. God's revealed Word is the standard by which it is judged and it shows that Israel is no longer true to their covenant promise of loyal obedience (Exodus 19:7-8; Exodus 24:3-7). Instead, they make it their practice to be out of line with God's rule, disregarding His Law, which demands holiness, justice and righteousness. No more leniency will be shown to Israel. He will not again forgive Israel. God is a God of patience, and He does not come in judgment without a purpose. But this does not abrogate the fact that there is a point beyond which God, because of His own character, cannot go in dealing with man's sin.

To every man and to every nation there comes a time when the plumbline of God's revealed Word has been set. Judgment moves on with its inevitable tread and nothing is left for man's degenerate condition but judgment. When justice is turned into poison and the fruit of righteousness becomes wormwood and light is turned into darkness it shows that that which God has raised up is out of plumb and the time for tearing down has come!
Does America, raised up straight and true, dare now to see what God's plumbline indicates concerning her status? America with all her anarchy, licentiousness, materialism is leaning, nay, teetering dangerously out of plumb!

QUIZ

1.

How would you summarize this whole section as to what it teaches?

2.

What does it mean, God repented?

3.

What is the judgment of fire mentioned in Amos 7:4?

4.

What picture does Amos get when he is shown the plumbline of God?

5.

What is the plumbline of God?