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AMOS
AMOS CHAPTER SEVEN
Amos 7:1-9
1 THUS THE Lord God showed me [Amos], and behold, He formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the second crop, and behold, it was the second crop after the king's mowings. 2 And when [the locusts] had finished eating the plants of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I pray You. How can Jacob stand? For he is so small! 3 The Lord relented and revoked this sentence: It shall not take place, said the Lord [and He was eased and comforted concerning it]. 4 Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for punishment with fire, and it devoured the great deep and would have eaten up the land. 5 Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I pray You! How can Jacob stand? He is so little!
6 The Lord relented and revoked this sentence: This also shall not be, said the Lord [and He was eased and comforted concerning it]. 7 Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. [2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11.] 8 And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, a plumb line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I am setting a plumb line as a standard in the midst of My people Israel. I will not pass by and spare them any more [the door of mercy is shut]. 9 And the [idolatrous] high places of Isaac (Israel) shall be desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise with the sword against the house of King Jeroboam [who set up the golden calf shrines]. AMP
Amos 7:1
Punishment Alternatives
7:1. locusts. See comment on Amos 4:9. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)
7:1 king's share. Although it is not mentioned elsewhere in the biblical text, this reference indicates that the king was entitled, as a form of tax, to a portion of the mown grass. This may have been a measure instituted to insure the king's chariot horses and cavalry had sufficient fodder. A reverse example of this is found in a land grant made by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal to one of his officials. This decree exempted the official's new lands from being levied for straw, grain or a portion of his flocks. (IVP)
7:7 plumb line. This traditional translation is no longer acceptable, based on the recognition that the Hebrew °anak is a cognate of the Akkadian annaku, meaning "tin." A plumb line would have a lead or iron weight attached in order to determine that a wall is perpendicular during construction. (S. Paul) suggests this stands for a tin wall, a symbol of how weak or fragile Israel's defenses are (compare the iron walls in Jeremiah 1:18; Ezekiel 4:3). For now the exact meaning of this phrase remains uncertain.
(IVP Background Commentary: Old Testament)
[General Information - 7:1-9 three reports of prophetic visions of judgment] These are the first three of five reports about prophetic visions (7:1-3; 4-6; 7-9; 8:1-3; 9:1-6). The series leads up to the vision of the destruction in (9:1-6). In the first two of the present three cases, the Lord relents. [JSB]
7:1-3: Judgment by locusts (cf. Joel). [Jewish Study Bible]
7:4-6: Judgment by fire. [Jewish Study Bible]
AMOS CHAPTER SEVEN
7:7-9: The House of Jeroboam refers to Jeroboam 2 or better, the “House of Jehu,” the last stable dynasty of the Northern Kingdom. The term refers also – at least by connotation – to the Northern Kingdom as a whole. [Jewish Study Bible]
Amos 7:1
a [Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me ...] The 8th prophecy in Amos (Amos 7:1-9, fulfilled). Next, Amos 7:11.
Five Predictions — Fulfilled:
1. I will set a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel (Amos 7:8).
2. I will not pass by them anymore.
3. The high places of Isaac will be desolate (Amos 7:9).
4. The sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste.
5. I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
b [he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth] Three visions of Amos:
1. Grasshoppers destroying the land. This was changed in answer to prayer for mercy by Amos (Amos 7:1-3).
2. Fire destroying the land. This was also changed by the prayer of Amos (Amos 7:4-6).
3. A plumb line. Amos did not pray about this (Amos 7:7-9). (Dake Annotated Reference Bible)
Amos 7:1-9 STOP — LOOK — LISTEN!
Amos 7-9
The prophecy of Amos concludes with the record of five special visions of judgment that God gave to His servant:
1. The locusts (7:1-3),
2. The fire (vv. 4-6),
3. The plumb line (vv. 7-9),
4. The basket of fruit (8),
5. And the ruined temple (9:1-10).
However, the prophet closes his message on a positive note as he describes the future glorious kingdom that God has promised to His people (vv. 11-15).
But these visions center on three experiences of the prophet in which Amos struggles with God and man (chapter 7), declares that judgment is coming (chapter 8) and affirms that God is working out His perfect plan (chapter 9).
1. The prophet struggles (Amos 7)
The life of a prophet wasn't easy. On the one hand, he had to stay close to the Lord in order to hear His words and be able to share them with the people. But on the other hand, he also had to be with the people to whom he was ministering, and they didn't always want to accept his ministry. It's no wonder that some of the prophets wanted to resign, including Moses and Jeremiah. Amos had two struggles: one with the Lord and one with the authorities, especially the king and his priest. When you read the Book of Acts, you see that the apostles also faced struggles with the religious establishment and with the government.
AMOS CHAPTER SEVEN
Struggling with the Lord (Amos 7:1-9). Amos was a true patriot who loved God and loved his nation, and it grieved him that he had to tell Israel and Judah that judgment was coming. No doubt there were times when he wished he was back at Tekoa caring for the sycamore trees and the sheep. But the Sovereign Lord ("Lord God." used eleven times in these three chapters) was in control of history, and Amos knew that God's will was best. The prophet saw three visions of judgment and responded to them.
1. First, Amos saw the vision of the locusts (vv. 1-3) as they were poised to attack the second crop late in the summer, after the king had taken his share (1 Kings 4:7). This was the farmers' last chance for a harvest, and the harvest would be destroyed. The summer heat was on its way, and there would be no more chance for a crop. Being a man of the soil himself, Amos would sympathize with these farmers.
The strange thing is that it was God who prepared these insects and told them what to do! It was as though He turned against His own people and deliberately planned to strip their fields of food.
But since the heart of Amos agonized for his people, he prayed that the Lord would call off the judgment; and He did. Amos joined that select group of intercessors, which included Abraham (Genesis 18), Moses (Exodus 32; Numbers 14:1), Samuel (1 Samuel 12), Elijah (1 Kings 18), and Paul (Romans 9:1-3; 10:1-2). Amos argued that the nation was so small that they could never survive the plague of locusts. Amos didn't plead any of the covenant promises of God because he knew the people had violated God's covenant and were deserving of a plague (Deuteronomy 28:38-42). But God heard the prophet's plea and relented (Joel 2:12-14).
2. The second vision was that of the devouring fire (Amos 7:4-6) in which the fire dried up the water and burned the land. The image is that of a great drought, and Amos had mentioned a drought earlier (4:7-8). God's judgment so moved the prophet that he cried out to the Lord and begged Him to cease, and once more God relented.
3. The third vision was that of the plumb line (Amos 7:7-9), an instrument used to test whether a wall was straight and true. A man stood on top of the wall and dropped a line with a weight on it. By matching the line to the wall, the workers could tell if the wall was upright. God's Law is His plumb line, and He measures His people to see how true they are to the pattern in His Word, and if they are of upright character and conduct. "Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet" (Isaiah 28:17 NKJV) Alas, in Amos' time, He found that Israel was "out of plumb" and therefore had to be destroyed.
This would include Israel's high places and sanctuaries, where they worshiped contrary to God's law, for the only place the Jews were to bring their sacrifices was to the temple in Jerusalem (Leviticus 17:1-7).
"I will spare them no longer" was certainly an ominous statement. The nation had gone too far, and now there was no hope. For this reason, Amos didn't intercede for the land as he had done twice before. Like Jeremiah, he did not pray for the people (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14; 14:11).
(From The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament)
Note Just like God spoke to Abraham about the iniquities of the Amorites was not yet full. There is a cup of the wrath of God for every nation including ours. When this cup becomes full just like with Israel and then Judah, then the wrath of God falls on that nation and there is no longer any mercy shown.
Paul the Learner
AMOS CHAPTER SEVEN
III. Five Visions of Israel's Condition. 7:1-9:10.
A. The Devouring Locusts. 7:1-3.
A vision of destructive locusts, whose devastating invasion was stopped by the Lord when the prophet prayed. (From The Wycliffe Bible Commentary)
Amos 7:1
Verse 1. Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me. This formula introduces all the visions that follow except the fifth (Amos 9:1). He formed grasshoppers. These were locusts in the larval stage. In 4:9 the Lord says he sent locusts to point out Israel's sin, which was actually a revelation of the mercy of God.
Here the mercy of God is revealed in his withdrawing the locusts before they had completely destroyed the crops. The two accounts speak of the same plague and reveal the two sides of God's mercy-
1. In the first instance the active side,
2. And here the passive side. The latter growth.
The grass that grows after the late rains of March and April. The king's mowings. The first cuttings of grass were set aside to feed the king's horses, before the people harvested the main crop. The thought of the verse is that "in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth," the locusts were in the larva stage; after "the king's mowings," they were fully developed locusts. Thus Amos warned Israel of a complete destruction of the crops when the summer heat was due to begin.
(From The Wycliffe Bible Commentary)
7:1-9 SYMBOLIC
A-1 7:1. Symbol. Grasshoppers.
B-1 7:2. Signification. Deprecated.
C-1 7:3. Judgment averted.
A-2 7:4. Symbol. Fire. Repeated Alternation
B-2 7:5. Signification. Deprecated.
C-2 7:6. Judgment averted.
A-3 7:7. Symbol. Plumb line.
B-3 7:8-. Signification. Deprecated.
C-3 7:-8, 9. Judgment averted.
Amos 7:1
Amos 7 consists of two parts: First (Amos 7:1-9), PROPHECIES ILLUSTRATED BY THREE SYMBOLS:
(1) A vision of grasshoppers, or young locusts, which devour the grass, but are removed at Amos' entreaty;
(2) Fire drying up even the deep and withering part of the land, but removed at Amos' entreaty;
(3) A plumb-line to mark the buildings for destruction.
AMOS CHAPTER SEVEN
Secondly (Amos 7:10-17), NARRATIVE OF AMAZlAH'S INTERRUPTION OF AMOS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE FOREGOING PROPHECIES, AND PREDICTION OF HIS DOOM
Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me; and, behold - the same formula prefaces the three visions in this chapter, and the fourth, in Amos 7:1.
He formed grasshoppers - rather, locusts in the caterpillar state [gobay (OT: 1462), from a Hebrew root, gaabaah (OT:1362); Arabic, Jabaa, to creep forth; in the autumn the eggs are deposited in the earth; in the spring the young come forth from the eggs, which have been hatched by the heat (Maurer).
In the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth - namely, of grass, this comes up after the mowing. They do not in the East mow their grass and make hay of it, but cut it off the ground, as they require it.
And, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings - the first fruits of the mown grass, tyrannically exacted by the king from the people. 'The hay harvest was some time before the grain harvest, and the "latter growth," or the after-grass (halaaqesh (OT: 3954), began to spring up at the time of the latter rain (malqowsh).
It was at this critical season that Amos saw the locusts making an end of eating the grass of the land' - i.e., the green herb, which is for the sustenance of man as well as beast. The literal locusts, as in Joel, are probably symbols of human foes: thus the growth of grass after the king's mowings will mean the political revival of Israel under Jeroboam II. (2 Kings 14:25), after it had been mown down, as it were, by Hazael and Ben-Hadad of Syria (2 Kings 13:3, 22). (Grotius.)
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary)
Amos 7:2-3
As they were about to make an end of eating. The destruction was not completed. By whom shall Jacob arise? Or, who will rise up Jacob? For he is small. In spite of his boasts (cf. Amos 6:1), Jacob was small.