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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
7:1-9:15 Visions of Judgment. In the final section of the book, the prophet turns from speech to sight. He now tells of visions he has received from God that leave no doubt of the deadly peril in which the nation stands. The first is a vision of inescapable judgment (7:1-9), a vision frighteningly confirmed by the prophet's experience with the priest of Bethel (7:10-17). The second vision is of Israel's terrible end (8:1-14). The last is of the Lord standing at the altar of sacrifice (9:1-15). But this vision has two parts, the first of which continues the theme of judgment (9:1-10), whereas the second sounds a note of hope (9:11-15).
7:1-17 A Vision of Inescapable Judgment. Israel is too far gone to avoid judgment.
7:1-9 The Vision Itself. God reveals to Amos in three pictures that there is no hope for Israel. In response to the first two, the prophet pleads for mercy for the nation (vv. 2, 5), and God twice graciously relents (vv. 3, 6). But the third picture is so convincing that the prophet sees there is no hope and therefore makes no intercession. The idea is that God has repeatedly shown mercy to his erring people, only to have them continue in their complacency toward him. Sooner or later, their time will be up.
7:1 Judgment would fall on Israel like a plague of locusts. The latter growth was the wheat crop harvested after the barley. If it was lost, there would be little to eat in the coming year. The king's mowings were the part of the crop paid as a tax to the king.
7:2 please forgive. In spite of the severity of all that Amos had said, there was no element of vindictiveness in him. Unlike Jonah, he did not want what he was predicting to happen. He pleaded earnestly that God would show mercy.
7:3 The Lord relented. Like Amos, God does not desire to destroy his people. He is very patient (see Ex. 34:6). Unlike the capricious gods, who may decide for no reason either to destroy or release, the Lord is utterly reliable: he has promised to relent in response to repentance (see Jer. 8:5-10; cf. Jonah 3:10-4:2).
7:4 Judgment would come upon Israel like a fire so intense it would dry up the sea (the great deep) and scorch the land.
7:7-9 The third picture that God showed Amos was of a plumb line held against a wall. A plumb line is a string with a weight fastened to the end of it. When the string is placed beside a wall and the weight is allowed to hang freely, it will be apparent whether or not the wall is perfectly vertical. If the wall is leaning and it is not fixed, it will eventually collapse. Compared to the standard of the Torah, the plumb line according to which the wall of Israel was built, it is clear to Amos that the nation is now so far out of true vertical that the collapse cannot be prevented. Israel is hardened in sin; thus, in this case, Amos does not ask God to relent.
7:9 The reference to high places and sanctuaries makes it plain that Israel is out of line with reality, particularly regarding her relationship to God. When this situation is laid where it should be, at the foot of the king Jeroboam (II), the royal chaplain comes to his defense (vv. 10-17).
7:10-17 An Experience Reinforcing the Vision. If the plumb line according to which Israel was constructed was the Torah, then the priesthood should have held Israel accountable to the Torah (Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:6-7). But the priesthood itself was corrupt (see 1 Kings 12:31 for how Jeroboam I ruined the priesthood for the northern kingdom). Thus, there was no external standard being applied by which Israel's true condition could be recognized and corrected. In such a case, the end truly was at hand.
7:10 The reference to Amaziah the priest shows that a representative of the established religious leadership, who had the ear of the king, opposed the prophecies of Amos. His words, Amos has conspired against you, were a lie.
7:12-13 When Amaziah called Amos a seer, his intent may have been contemptuous. This term for a prophet (2 Sam. 24:11) suggests Amos is not a member of the royal guild of prophets (who, since they were paid by the king, would speak to his pleasure), and thus has no standing in the king's sanctuary. Note that no mention is made of this being God's sanctuary or temple. never again prophesy at Bethel. Amaziah the priest and those supporting him wanted only to hear messages of God's promises of blessing and success, not messages about sin and obedience and judgment (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3).
7:14-16 Far from being humiliated at his lack of professional standing, Amos takes it as a badge of honor. He is not paid to say what he is saying, but does so solely at the command of the Lord.
7:14 dresser of sycamore figs. Sycamore figs were somewhat like a mulberry. They would only ripen if bruised. They were usually eaten by the very poor.
7:15 the Lord took me . . . the Lord said to me. Amos was not prophesying on his own authority but on God's authority.
7:17 All the honor that Amaziah prized so highly would be taken from him: his wife would belong to other men indiscriminately; he would be deprived of any progeny; he would lose his property; he would lose his profession (because of being defiled by the unclean land to which he would be taken as captive); and he would die as an exile. These terrible punishments would be heaped on this religious leader (recognized by the king but not by God) for rejecting the words of God that came through the prophet Amos.
