Amos 7

This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. Amos 7:1

Here Amos begins to list five visions that have to do with the judgment of Israel. Three of these are in this chapter and the other two are in chapters eight and nine. The first two are so terrible that either one could bring an end to the nation.

The first vision is that of an awful locust swarm stripping the country bare. This event would happen just after the king’s share of the mown grass was offered up and just as the main crop was coming along. This main crop was the last chance for the farmers to get hay for their animals. Suddenly the locusts swarmed and began to devour it. Pett comments, “This swarm of locusts was of supernatural magnitude like nothing ever known before.” [1]

“When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, ‘Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!’” (7:2). At this point Amos became an intercessor for Israel. He joined the ranks of godly intercessors over the centuries like Abraham (Gen. 18), Moses (Exo. 32), Samuel (1 Sam. 23), Elijah (1 Ki. 18), and Ezekiel (Ezek. 9).

With this earnest intercession of the prophet, the Sovereign Lord repented. We must not think by this that God is fickle or wishy-washy (Mal. 3:6). Feinberg comments: “When sin is present God must condemn and punish it; when prayer and the grace of God operate to provide a way of escape, then God spares. In each case, he is working in the strictest conformity with his own holiness.” [2] God’s plan is holy and eternal but at times he will take a different path toward that plan because of human intercession.

“So the LORD relented. ‘This will not happen,’ the LORD said” (7:3) Pfeiffer & Harrison claim, “This is an anthropopathic expression (cf. 7:6; Gen. 6:7; 1 Sam. 15:35; Jon 3:9). God did not change his mind, as men do, but changed his course of action…” [3]

“This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land” (7:4). Commentators feel that this great fire is a reference to a serious drought. Pfeiffer & Harrison say, “The summer heat was so severe that it consumed the subterranean sources of the springs and rivers and so affected the land.” [4] In recent years we have witnessed a national drought of this kind in the country of Somalia. Humanitarian assistance is needed for almost 7 million people in that country.

The prophet sensed that little Israel could not survive such a dreadful drought so he prayed once more. “Then I cried out, ‘Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!’ So the LORD relented. ‘This will not happen either, the Sovereign LORD said.’” (7:5-6). What a quick answer to the prophet’s intercession.

In Genesis chapter 18, God shared with Abraham that he was about to destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham began to plead with God that he might spare the cities if fifty righteous people could be found. God agreed. Then Abraham continued his bargaining with God all the way down to 10 righteous. God agreed again, but apparently, the 10 could not be found. As a result, the cities were destroyed and only Lot and his two daughters were spared. It seems that God wants to take righteous men like Abraham and Amos into his confidence and let them help work out his plans.

The Plumb Line

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.” Amos 7:7-8

It is interesting that Amos did not bargain with God concerning this judgment. Boice comments here: “He did not protest this vision as he had the first two. What objection could he have to God’s testing of his people?” [5] The plumb line likely represented the word of God, [6] and Amos could not object to God’s testing by his word.

A plumb line helps builders make a structure stand straight. I remember one builder saying that if a foundation was off half an inch, the building would be off two inches on the second story. A plumb line is used in building and it is also used in destruction. Motyer says, “Neither Amos nor his God can bear to contemplate the full end of the chosen people.” [7]

“The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam” (7:9). King Jeroboam II was quite successful in worldly things. He built up the kingdom, conquered the enemies and gave Israel much wealth and success. However, he never departed from the sins of Jeroboam I, who set up the golden calves for Israel to worship (2 Ki. 14:24). There is a sad refrain in the books of Kings that is repeated over and over. It speaks of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin (1 Ki. 22:52; 2 Ki. 3:3; 10:29; 13:2, 11, 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28, 17:21, and 23:15).

No doubt, the golden calves were originally designed to represent the true God, but it did not take long until they were worshipped as pagan idols with all the filth and corruption that was attached to such worship. Along with idols Israel had a corrupt priesthood as well. Jeroboam I was intent on keeping his people from worshipping at the Jerusalem temple, lest they turn back in their allegiance to the house of David.

God says that the high places will be destroyed and the sanctuaries will be ruined. Many times I have gone with tour groups to the high place at Dan, which is located in Israel’s beautiful Dan Nature Reserve, and near the Lebanon border. The ruins of the ancient altar, which was destroyed according to God’s word, have been excavated and stand as a reminder of what false worship will do to a nation. Truly, God raised his sword against Jeroboam’s house, “ his fierce, great and powerful sword ” (cf. Isa. 27:1).

Amos Faces Amaziah

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.” Amos 7:10

Amaziah the priest and keeper of the calves, had all he could take from the upstart prophet Amos. Phillips says, “Amos was challenging the powerful and well-entrenched calf cult and bearding the old lion in its den at Bethel.” [8] Amaziah was charging the prophet with high treason. This was a common scenario in both kingdoms as men anointed by God challenged the ruling religious and political establishments. Finally, the same scenario would happen at last to Jesus as he challenged the establishment in Jerusalem. So often, God’s messenger would be killed.

“For this is what Amos is saying: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land’” (7:11). Amaziah had to fib a little in hopes of getting the king’s attention. Amos did not say that Jeroboam would die by the sword, but “…that God would rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword which was fulfilled in the assassination of his son Zechariah by Shallum (2 Ki. 15:8-10).” [9]

Israel’s main sanctuary was located at Bethel. It was the royal sanctuary where the king himself worshipped. We can understand what a risk Amos was taking in speaking against the whole religious and political establishment. Feinberg comments: “Political expediency in every age dishonors and opposes the testimony of the truth. Note Elijah (1 Ki. 18:17); Jeremiah (Jer. 37:13-15); our Lord Jesus (Jn. 19:12); the disciples (Jn. 11:48-50) and Paul (Ac 17:6-7).” [10]

“Then Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom’” (7:12-13). We can assume by this that King Jeroboam was not too interested in the farm boy prophet. Here we see Amaziah dealing with the problem all by himself.

Amaziah spoke contemptuously to the prophet. He insinuated that Amos was a hireling prophet who ministered only for his bread, or his salary. As Phillips says: “In other words, ‘Go on home to Judah, and play the prophet there.’” [11] Wiersbe says, “It’s no wonder that some of the prophets wanted to resign, including Moses and Jeremiah.” [12]

“Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees’” (7:14). Once again Amos displays his prophetic credentials (cf. 1:1). He freely admits that he was a simple farmer. He was not a member of the great prophetic schools (cf. 2 Ki. 2:3, 5; 6:1-7; 9:1-3), nor was he a son of the prophets. His background was that of a shepherd and in addition, to make a living he gathered sycamore figs, a fruit of little value that was only eaten by the poor. He was a nobody.

His situation reminds us of William Carey who began the modern mission movement. Phillips tells of an incident that occurred when a snobbish aristocrat spoke with Carey.

“I understand, Carey, he said, ‘that before you decided to become a missionary you were just a shoemaker.’ ‘No, sir,’ replied Carey, ‘I was not a shoemaker. I was only a cobbler. I did not make shoes; I mended them.’” [13] Carey was also a nobody but he had a fire in his bones that inspired the world mission movement. Paul tells us that God has chosen the weak things to shame the strong and the things that are not to nullify things that are (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

“But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’” (7:15). There is no substitute for a call and commission from the Almighty God. God can take the unqualified and qualify them. God is not interested in degrees or status. He will give his own status to those he calls. Woe unto those who stand against God’s anointed prophets!

Lowly Amos replied to the high and mighty Amaziah: “Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac’” (7:15-16). Wonderful are the pleasant prophecies of Isaiah and others. Terrible are the troubling prophecies of Obadiah and others like Amos, in his final words to Amaziah.

“Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land’” (7:17). Women living alone had little chance of success in the ancient world. Many times they resorted to prostitution to stay alive. Clarke says, “His wife was to be a public prostitute; she was probably such already privately in the temple, as the wife of an idolatrous priest.” [14] “Holy” prostitution was taken for granted in almost all the ancient religions.

Amaziah’s sons and daughters would be slaughtered by the brutal Assyrian troops. Most likely the priest would have to witness this tragedy. His land holdings, which were probably many, would be divided up by the enemy. Israel would be carried away into captivity and Amaziah would experience this horror since he would die in a strange land.

Footnotes

1. Pett, Commentary on Amos 6, Pett’s Commentary on the Bible, v. 7:1.

2. Feinberg, The Minor Prophets, p. 112.

3. Pfeiffer & Harrison, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 835.

4. Ibid.

5. Boice, The Minor Prophets, Vol. 2, p. 216.

6. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 108.

7. Guthrie, Motyer, et. al., The New Bible Commentary: Revised, p. 737.

8. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 108.

9. Feinberg, The Minor Prophets, p. 113.

10. Ibid., p. 114.

11. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 109.

12. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, OT, p. 1432.

13. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 110.

14. Clarke, “Commentary on Amos 7.” “The Adam Clarke Commentary,” v. 5:13.