Amos Chapters 7 – 9
The book of Amos is divided into three large
sections, and the last section is from chapter 7-9. This last section contains
five prophetic oracles based on visions.
The first vision was the
vision of locusts (7:1-3).
Amos saw that all the crops were devoured by
locusts. In that time, great swarms of locusts periodically invaded these
lands, typically in times of drought. And, the first harvest went to the king
as taxes, whereas the subsequent harvest of the main crop fed the farmer and
his family.
Amos saw this plague of locusts coming to
attack after the king’s share was harvested. All these crops were supposed to
be consumed by the people, but God sent locusts to eat them up. It would cause
a terrible famine.
The second vision was the
coming of fire (7:4-6). The fire symbolized oppressive heat and drought. The
sun was shining right overhead, and it dried up
the great deep and devoured the land, causing no water to irrigate the
fields.
Both the
plague of locusts, or the disasters caused by hot scorching sun, were realities
that would possibly happen. The prophet cried out to God after seeing these two
visions, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”
Israel was indeed small. The population base
of the kingdom was not large enough to survive such radical depletion. The LORD
relented concerning this; “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
Amos actually knew how sinful the Israelites
were, but when he saw that God had put these two grave disasters upon the
Israelites, he never felt overjoyed with it. Instead, he cried out earnestly to
God for mercy. As a result, God changed His mind, and the disasters were
withheld.
Do we have such a big heart like the prophet?
We see in this world many wicked men who stubbornly refused to change after
many rounds of admonishment, e.g. the evil politicians and oppressive nations.
Do we eagerly hope for their punishment and can’t wait to see them demolished
by divine plagues? Or like prophet Amos, do we lovingly seek for God’s
forgiveness upon them?
We must practice the big heart of Amos if we
were to evangelize. All unbelievers are those whom we should love. Amos’s
prayers should remind us to pray for our nation and our unbelieving friends and
relatives. God still offer them opportunities time and again to keep them away
from judgment.
The first and the second visions were real
life natural disasters, but the third and the fourth visions were some symbolic
scenes.
The third vision was the
vision of a plumb line (7:7-9).
The prophet saw a wall that was built by the
measurement of a plumb line. A plumb line is a device used to ensure the
straightness of a wall. A wall that is not straight will eventually collapse.
God wants his people to be right with him; he wants the sin that makes us
crooked removed immediately.
7:8, the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a
plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.”
God’s Word (law and commandments) is the
plumb line that help his people be aware of their sin. God’s punishment would
come upon the Israelites because they failed to reach up to God’s measurement. Today,
how do we measure up to God’s plumb line?
The fourth vision was the
vision of the summer fruits (8:1-4). The prophet saw a basket of ripe fruits.
And God says, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no
longer.”
(8:2)
Then, the following verses 8:5-14, narrated
the sin, judgment, and end of the Israelites.
The prophet’s response towards these two latter
visions was totally different from his response towards the former two visions.
He did not plead to God after seeing the third and the fourth vision.
Was he discouraged? Had he stopped loving the
Israelites? No! It was because he came to realize God’s heartbeat, and he was
willing to submit to God’s works.
Amos came to understand that God had indeed
given the Israelites ample time to repent. When Amos knew that God would not
spare them, he understood what it meant. He came to comprehend the heartbeat of
God.
After the prophet had mentioned about the
third vision of the plumb line (7:7-9), the narration was interjected by a
dialogue between Amos and the Israel priest, Amaziah. This interjection served
to make known to the readers, the specific reason why the Israelites were
punished by God.
7:10 says that Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,
sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying: “Amos has conspired against you in
the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
For Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into
exile away from his land.’
Amos was calling the people to repentance,
but Amaziah charged him with sedition by reporting him to the king. Prophets
like Amos were often seen as traitors and conspirators because they spoke out
against the king and his advisers, questioning their authority and exposing
their sin. The kings often saw the prophets as enemies rather than as God’s
spokesmen who were really trying to help them and the nation.
So here was a priest, using the regime to
oppress a prophet who spoke God’s words. Why did Amaziah reacted this way?
7:12-13, Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go,
flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but
never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the kings’ sanctuary, and it is a
temple of the kingdom.”
Amaziah was the chief priest in Bethel,
representing Israel’s official religion. He assumed that the supposedly
backward Judeans would appreciate Amos’s words, and that Amos was looking to be
paid for his preaching.
According to Amaziah, the urbane and
sophisticated Israelites did not appreciate the prophet. Amaziah’s loyalties
were clearly to the throne; he wanted to keep the king happy in order to keep
his job. He was not concerned about hearing God’s message. He was only worried
about his own position.
Don’t let your desire for prestige,
authority, or money keep you tied to a job or position you should leave. Don’t
let anything come between you and obeying God.
Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I
was not prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of
sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said
to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Amos was not a professional prophet or even a
disciple in training. He had no financial incentive to leave his livelihood in
order to prophesy. He was not motivated by financial gain. Instead, the Lord’s
voice moved him to prophesy.
Without any special preparation, education,
or upbringing, Amos obeyed God’s call to “go and prophesy to my people in
Israel.” And, Amos sacrificed his handsome secular job income for being a
prophet. Obedience is the test of a faithful servant of God. Are you obeying
God ‘s call to you?
Since Amaziah had tried to silence Amos, the
LORD confronted him with a grim prophecy. In 7:16-17, now therefore hear the
word of the LORD:
“You say, ‘do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Your
wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall
fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you
yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile
away from this land.”
The Israelites sinned time and again which
culminated in Israel’s destruction because they refused to take heed of the
word of God. They chased out the prophet, silent his words. They tuned the
volume of the voice of God to the lowest, and they tuned the voices of their
heart desires and worldly views to the maximum volume.
8:11 also indicates this, “Behold, the days
are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land—not
a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
LORD.”
The Israelites had no appetite for God’s word
when Amos brought it to them. Because of their apathy, God said he would take
away even the opportunity to hear his word.
There are many disasters now, and government high
officials are corrupted, even Christians are succumbing to the voice of this
world (secularism; political correctness), and do not listen to God’s words.
Many still look everywhere for answers to life’s problems except in the
Scripture.
Thank God, we have God’s Word, the Bible!
God’s Word is available to us. The Lord Jesus said, “Man shall not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew
4:4). It is only those who live by the words of God will be able to be fed
spiritually. It is an unchanging truth forever.
Let’s turn to the Bible for answers and help
in our predicaments. Let’s also help others to know the Bible before a time
comes when we cannot find it.
The last vision was the
vision of the temple being smitten by God (9:1-10). The vision was terrifying
and agonizing to the heart.
The altar was the center of the entire
temple, and God stood there and said, “Strike the tops of the pillars so that
the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and
those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall
flee away; not one of them shall escape.” (9:1)
The Israelites were wrong to think that they
could receive protection in the temple. Judgment must begin at the center of
worship. God would destroy their base of security in order to bring them to
himself.
No one can escape God’s judgment. Even if
they were to dig down to the depths below, or climb to the heavens above, they
would not be able to escape God’s punishment (9:2-3).
When people trust, believe and obey God, his
inescapability is a great blessing, for it vindicates the righteous and brings
a new earth of peace and prosperity. But because Israel rejected God’s
revelation, his presence would mean judgment, not comfort.
Although God would severely punish Israel by
uprooting and scattering them, he would never completely destroy them. A
remnant would always exist (9:8). And even the LORD’s most severe judgment is
just. Only the sinners are destroyed, but not one true kernel will be lost; God
will save the righteous who are faithful to him (9:9-10).
God wants to redeem, not punish. But when
punishment is necessary, he does not withhold it. Like a loving father, God
disciplines those he loves in order to correct them. If God disciplines you,
accept it as a sign of his love.
The concluding words of Amos is related to a
prophecy of future revival.
9:11-12, “In that day I will raise up the
booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name.” declares the LORD who does
this.
From the punishment, the house of David was
reduced to a “fallen booth”. However, God’s covenant with David stated that one
of David’s descendants would always sit on his throne (2 Samuel 7:12-16).
The Exile made this promise seem impossible.
But “in that day” God would raise up David’s fallen booth, making the kingdom
great again. This was a promise to both Israel and Judah, not to be fulfilled
by an earthly, political ruler, but by the Messiah who would renew the
spiritual Kingdom and rule forever.
“They may possess the remnant of Edom and all
the nations who are called by my name,” envisions the messianic Kingdom, which
will be universal and include Gentiles. God’s promise to Abraham that he and
his descendants would be a blessing to all the people of the earth would come
to past.
Galatians 3:7-9, Understand, then,
that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture
foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel
in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who
rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Amos 9:13-15, “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken
by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New
wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will
bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined
cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their
wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in
their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says
the Lord your God.
The coming age would also restore the natural
harmony lost in Eden and bring a new era of prosperity. Humans would once again
live in harmony with God’s creation. This prophecy informs us that God’s
ultimate desire is for men to repent, and return to Eden so as to enjoy all the
good life given by Him.
Conclusion
The Israelites of Amos’s day had lost sight
of God’s care and love for them. The rich were carefree and comfortable,
refusing to do justice nor helping others in need. They observed their
religious rituals in hopes of appeasing God, but they did not truly love him.
Amos announced God’s warnings of destruction for their evil ways.
We must not assume that going to church and
being good are good enough. God expects our belief in him to affect all areas
of our conduct and to extend to all people and circumstances. We should let
Amos’s words inspire us to live faithfully according to God’s desires.
