Amos 7

The Man with a Difficult Message from God

Amos

Mark Kirkpatrick

Chapter 7

v1 This is what the *Lord the Ruler showed me.

He was preparing a large number of *locusts.

This was after the king had taken his share of the harvest.

It was the time when the second crop had just begun to grow.

v2 The *locusts ate everything that grew in the country.

After that I said, ‘*Lord the Ruler, *forgive us! Jacob cannot continue to live! He is so small!’

v3 So the *Lord changed his mind about this.

‘This will not happen’, the *Lord said.

Verse 1 The patience of God is over. He will send his *locusts as a judgement. The time of this picture is late spring. There was an earlier crop. The king took a share from this crop. However, we know very little about the circumstances of this. The harvest from the second crop was for the farmers. So if the *locusts ate this second crop, there would be no food left.

Verse 2 *Prophets often saw the future. Amos saw what might happen. Amos saw that the people were going to starve. Very few people or animals could live. Amos therefore stood between God and the people. He *prayed for Israel. He *prayed that God would not send this punishment. But he did not remind God about his *covenant with Israel although he had done this before. This was because Israel had too many *sins.

Verse 3 God has plans. But it is always possible that he can change his plans. This can happen when people *pray to him (Genesis 18:22-32; Joshua 7:6-13; Jonah 3:10). Neither God nor Amos wanted the people to die.

A picture of fire

v4 The *Lord the Ruler showed these things to me.

I saw him preparing to punish his people by fire.

The fire dried up the great deep and destroyed the land.

v5 Then I said, ‘*Lord God, please stop!

Jacob cannot continue to live. He is so small!’

v6 So the *Lord changed his mind about this.

‘This too will not happen’, the *Lord the Ruler said.

Verse 4 Amos now has another picture from God. God is going to send fire. But it is not a natural fire. It can even burn water. The great deep is deep water. This came up as streams and rivers. Fire can often be a sign of judgement in the Bible (Joel 1:19-20; Joel 2:3; Joel 2:5; Joel 2:30).

Verses 5-6 These verses are similar to verses 2-3. Amos cries out ‘Stop!’ He uses the same reason as he used before. The fire will destroy everything. In the same way as before, God listens. He changes his mind. The fire will not happen.

A picture of a *plumb-line

v7 This is what he showed me.

The *Lord was standing by a wall.

He had a *plumb-line in his hand.

This *plumb-line showed that the wall was quite straight.

v8 The *Lord asked me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ ‘A *plumb-line’, I replied.

Then the *Lord said, ‘Look, I will put a *plumb-line among my people Israel.

I will not stop myself from punishing them.

v9 I will destroy the places where the family of Isaac *worship.

I will ruin the *holy places of Israel.

I will attack and kill Jeroboam’s family with my sword.’

Verse 7 Amos now has a third picture. God compares Israel to a wall. A plumb-line is a builder’s tool. It is a piece of string with a weight on the end. A plumb-line shows if a wall is straight or not. God himself ‘built’ Israel. He led Israel in the beginning. He made standards for his people. These were the *laws he gave to Moses. There was therefore no reason for the *Israelites to fail.

Verse 8 God compared this straight wall with Israel. He is not pleased with what he saw. The *Israelites were not following his standards. They were not ‘straight’ any more. He had no more patience with them. So he would punish them. The *Hebrew says that God will not ‘pass by them’. Instead, he will see their *sin. This reminds us of the *Passover (Exodus 12:23). The *Israelites found shelter because of the blood. Now, however, there would be no escape.

Verse 9 God would even destroy the ‘*holy places’. Actually, they were not very *holy. They were important places for false religion. People *worshipped Baal and other gods. They *worshipped God at these places. But they *worshipped him as if he were a Baal. Isaac had a connection with Beersheba (Genesis 26:33; Genesis 28:10). This was also a place of *worship in the time of Amos. People thought that this connection made the *worship legal.

Amos and Amaziah

v10 Then Amaziah, the *priest at Bethel, sent this message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: ‘Amos is making plans against you. He is trying to make the people fight against you. We refuse to hear any more of what he says. v11 Amos is saying: “Jeroboam will die by the sword. The *Israelites will go into *exile, away from their own country”.’ v12 Then Amaziah said to Amos: ‘Get out, you *prophet! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and *prophesy there. v13 But do not *prophesy any more at Bethel. This is the place where Jeroboam *worships. This is the nation’s *temple.’

Verse 10 Amos has a hard message for Israel. The leaders thought that this message was too hard. They did not want to hear it. Amaziah was probably the chief priest at Bethel at this time. Certainly, he hated the attack on Israel’s religion. So he appealed to the king. This was because the king controlled nearly all the religion in Israel. In fact, the first King Jeroboam almost made a new religion. But this religion was not true to God’s *covenant. Amaziah said that Amos was trying to destroy the government. But this was not true.

Verse 11 Amaziah said another thing that was not true. Amos did not say that Jeroboam would die because of a strong attack. In fact, Jeroboam died in a peaceful way (2 Kings 14:29). Clearly, Amos said that Israel would go into *exile (5:5; 6:8, and other verses). He repeated the *prophecy in 7:17.

Verse 12 Amaziah hoped that Amos would return to Judah. Then his *prophecies would not make the leaders in Israel so nervous. Amaziah tried to say that Amos could earn more money in Israel. *Prophets needed to receive gifts of money. So it was easy for Amaziah to attack Amos in this way.

Verse 13 Amaziah received his authority from Jeroboam. This was the reason that the *prophets attacked the royal authority. Amaziah said that the *temple at Bethel was the king’s *temple. It was a special place. Amaziah looked after this *temple. Therefore, Amaziah thought that he had the authority to decide things. He thought that he was able to tell Amos to go to Judah.

v14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was neither a *prophet nor a *prophet’s son, but I was a *shepherd. I also took care of *sycamore-fig trees.’ v15 But the *Lord took me from looking after sheep. He said to me: “Go and *prophesy to my people Israel.” v16 So listen to the *Lord’s message: “You tell me not to *prophesy against Israel. You tell me not to give a message against Isaac’s family.”

v17 Therefore this is what the *Lord says:

“Your wife will become a *prostitute in the city.

People will kill your sons and daughters with the sword. They will divide your land and give it to other people.

And you will die in a foreign country.

The people in Israel will certainly go into *exile.

They will have to leave their own country”.’

Verse 14 It is not clear what the *Hebrew means in this verse. Perhaps Amos means that he does not belong to a group of *prophets. We cannot be sure. But he certainly spoke a message from God, and this certainly made him a *prophet. The *Hebrew word for ‘*shepherd’ is different from the word in 1:1. We do not find this word anywhere else in the *Old Testament. It might mean that he looked after other animals too. Perhaps this means that Amos did not need to receive money as a *prophet. So he did not want people to pay him.

Verse 15 Amos describes how God chose him to be a *prophet. God chose David, who was also a *shepherd, in the same way. It was only God who chose kings and *prophets. Perhaps Amos wanted Amaziah to compare him with David.

Verse 16 Therefore Amaziah was actually asking Amos not to obey God! Amos mentions both Israel and Isaac. All Israel, both north and south (including Judah) was part of God’s plan. Amaziah was opposing the real king. The real king was God.

Verse 17 Amos now said that four bad things would happen to Amaziah.

1) Amaziah’s wife would become a *prostitute. This could happen if another country defeated Israel. Amaziah and his wife might then have to separate.

2) His children would die fighting against a foreign army.

3) The enemy would take his land and give it to other people. ‘The land’ probably does not refer to the personal land of Amaziah. It probably refers to the country of Israel.

4) He would go into *exile and die there. The *Hebrew for ‘foreign country’ means ‘a land that is not clean’. Amaziah would hate to live in a country where people had other gods. *Exile would be the final judgement of God.

Lord ~ a special name for God. God told the Jews that this was his name. Some Bibles use ‘LORD’ for this special name. There is another word ‘lord’ which means someone with authority. This is why I have translated as ‘the Lord the ruler’ the title that really is ‘lord LORD’.)
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
locust ~ a type of insect. Locusts often fly in groups of thousands. They eat green plants and sometimes destroy all the crops in the farmers’ fields.
forgive ~ when someone stops being angry with another person who has done bad things.
prophet ~ a man or woman who was able to speak God’s words to the people.
pray ~ to talk to God.
covenant ~ special agreement, especially between God and the Israelites. The covenant that God made with Moses was that he would take care of the Israelites. But they must obey his law.
Israelites ~ people living in Israel, sons of Jacob.
law ~ the rules that God or rulers make.'sin, sinful ~ when people do bad things against God or other people.'plumb-line ~ a builder’s tool. It is a piece of string with a weight on the end. A plumb-line shows if a wall is straight or not.
worship ~ a way to act when we are with God.
holy ~ something that God has set apart; perfect; something that belongs to God; separate from sin.

sin, sinful ~ when people do bad things against God or other people.
law ~ the rules that God or rulers make.
Israelites ~ people living in Israel, sons of Jacob.
Hebrew ~ the language of Jewish people.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Passover ~ annual ceremony to remember God’s rescue of the Jews from Egypt.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
priest ~ a man who gave gifts and burned animals as a sacrifice to God for the Jews.
sacrifice ~ to give a gift to God of an animal or food. Usually people burnt all or part of this gift. This may be a way to thank God, or to ask him to forgive us.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
exile ~ the time when the Israelites had to leave the land of Israel. (They went into exile.)
Israelites ~ people living in Israel, sons of Jacob.
prophet ~ a man or woman who was able to speak God’s words to the people.
prophesy ~ to speak God’s words.
temple ~ the special building in Jerusalem where Jews worshipped God.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
worship ~ a way to act when we are with God.
prophecy ~ the words that a prophet speaks or writes.
prophet ~ a man or woman who was able to speak God’s words to the people.
shepherd ~ a person who looks after sheep.'sycamore-fig ~ a type of fruit tree.
prostitute ~ a woman who sells herself for sex.'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before Christ’s birth.
exile ~ the time when the Israelites had to leave the land of Israel. (They went into exile.)
Israelites ~ people living in Israel, sons of Jacob.