Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest. When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” says Yahweh.
Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and behold, the Lord Yahweh called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. Then I said, “Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. Yahweh said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 Amos shows in this chapter that God had already…
Amos shows in this chapter that God had already often deferred the punishments which he had yet determined to inflict on the people; and thus he reminds the Israelites of their perverseness, inasmuch as they had abused the forbearance of God, and repented not after a long lapse of time: for God had suspended his judgments for this end — that they might willingly return to the right way, as he commonly allures men by his kindness, provided they be teachable. Since then this forbearance of God had been without fruit, Amos reproves the Israelites, though he had also another object in view: for ungodly men, we know, when God spares them and does not immediately indict the punishments they deserve, laugh at them, and harden themselves for the future, so that they fear nothing; and when the Lord threatens, and does not instantly execute his vengeance, they then especially think that all threatening are mere bugbears; and therefore they harden their minds in security and think that they can with impunity trifle with God. Inasmuch then as this obstinacy prevailed among the Israelites, the Prophet here shows in various ways, that in vain they gloried, and thus securely despised the judgment of God; for though the Lord for a time had spared them, yet the final vengeance was not far distant. This is the sum of the whole: but such expression must be considered in its order.
A vision, he says, had been shown to him by the Lord; and the vision was, that God himself had formed locusts. Yet some think יוצר, iutsar, to be a noun, and render it, creation; others, a swarm or a troop. But these are forced expositions. The Lord then, I doubt not, formed locusts in the Prophet’s presence, which devoured all the grass. He therefore says, when the grass began to grow, that is, after the cuttings of the king Here also expounders vary: some think that the shearings of the king are referred to, when the king had sheared his sheep. Others regard it as the mowing of hay; and they say, that the best grass was then cut for the use of the king, that he might feed his horses and his cattle. But these conjectures have nothing well-founded in them. I therefore doubt not, but the Prophet here calls that a royal cutting, when by a public order they began to cut their meadows. It is indeed credible that there was then some rule: as with us, no one begins the vintage at his own will, but a certain regular time is observed; so those cuttings, which were publicly done, were called royal; as the king’s highway is called that which is public. But yet the Prophet, I think, refers under this figurative expression to the previous calamities, by which the people had been already reduced as to their number.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 7 After the public commandment for mowing was given: or…
After the public commandment for mowing was given: or as some read, when the king’s sheep were shorn.
To devour the land: and he alludeth to the invading of the enemies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–9 Amo 7:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto…
Amo 7:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, [it was] the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
Ver. 1. Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me] sc. In a prophetic vision: this being the first of those five that follow to the end of the prophecy; all foretelling the evils that should befall this people, to whom Amos is again sent, as Ahijah was to Jeroboam’s wife, with heavy tidings, and as Ezekiel was afterwards to his rebellious countrymen, with a roll written full of lamentations, and mourning, and woe, Eze 2:10.
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And, behold, he formed grasshoppers] Or, locusts, forerunners of famine, Joe 1:4, {See Trapp on "Joe 1:4"} or (as some will), of the Assyrians, whom the Divine justice made a scorpion to Israel, as Israel had been a scourge to Judah. When the Israelites were in their flourish, as the grass or wheat is in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, they had been first mowed by Benhadad, King of Syria; but, growing up again under Jeroboam, their king, they were devoured by Pul and his army, as by so many greedy locusts.
In the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth] For in those fat and fertile countries they use
“ Luxuriem segetum tenera depascere in herba. ”
Now if the latter growth were eaten up too, what else could follow but extreme famine?
It was the latter growth after the king’s mowings] Or sheep shearings, as some read it; but the former is better: and Diodati here noteth that it is thought that the kings did take the first crop, in esum et usum iumentorum, to keep their wax horses and for other services; leaving the latter mowings for other cattle, who were taught to say, After your majesty, is good manners.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 Thus: sometimes this refers to what went before, here…
Thus: sometimes this refers to what went before, here it refers to what the prophet saw and is about to declare.
Hath the Lord God showed unto me: this is the first of five visions or prophetic representations of what was coming upon this people for their sins. The Lord gave Amos a clear sight of the future calamity by this vision.
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Behold; I could not but observe, and it is worthy your observance too.
He formed: it is not said he called for them, but he formed or created them, probably intimating somewhat extraordinary in them, either in their bigness or number, or rather sudden appearing of them. So the plague signified by them should suddenly come upon them.
Grasshoppers: in our country grasshoppers are not hurtful, but these in our text were locusts, and so rendered Isa 33:4; Nah 3:17; and the word used by Amos here is paraphrased by the Hebrew critics by a word that properly notes locust.
It was the latter growth: the shooting up of the first growth being too luxuriant, they did either mow off the tops, or eat it down with cattle, and this was done for preserving the corn and increase of the harvest; but if the second growth were cut off or eat up, it marred the whole harvest; and these devouring locusts were formed in such time as to do this, and so to bring a famine upon the land.
After the king’s mowings; it is supposed that the first mowing of the luxuriant corn in the blade was for the king’s use, and after this the second springing grew up to the harvest. It may possibly intimate, that though the kings of Israel did as it were mow the luxuriant riches vet they grew again; but when Assyrian locusts come all is devoured.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We here see that God bears long, but that…
We here see that God bears long, but that he will not bear always, with a provoking people, both these God here showed the prophet: Thus hath the Lord God showed me, Amo 7:1, Amo 7:4, Amo 7:7. He showed him what was present, foreshowed him what was to come, gave him the knowledge both of what he did and of what he designed; for the Lord God reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets, Amo 3:7.
I. We have here two instances of God's sparing mercy, remembered in the midst of judgment, the narratives of which are so much like one another that they will be best considered together, and very considerable they are.
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1. God is here coming forth against this sinful nation, first by one judgment and then by another. (1.) He begins with the judgment of famine. The prophet saw this in vision. He saw God forming grasshoppers, or locusts, and bringing them up upon the land, to eat up the fruits of it, and so to strip it of its beauty and starve its inhabitants, Amo 7:1. God formed these grasshoppers, not only as they were his creatures (and much of the wisdom and power of God appears in the formation of minute animals, as much in the structure of an ant as of an elephant), but as they were instruments of his wrath. God is said to frame evil against a sinful people, Jer 18:11. These grasshoppers were framed on purpose to eat up the grass of the land; and vast numbers of them were prepared accordingly. They were sent in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, after the king's mowings. See here how the judgment was mitigated by the mercy that went before it. God could have sent these insects to eat up the grass at the beginning of the first growth, in the spring, when the grass was most needed, was most plentiful, and was the best in its kind; but God suffered that to grow, and suffered them to gather it in; the king's mowings were safely housed, for the king himself is served from the field (Ecc 5:9), and could as ill be without his mowings as without any other branch of his revenues. Uzziah, who was now king of Judah, loved husbandry, Ch2 26:10. But the grasshoppers were commissioned to eat up only the latter growth (the edgrew we call it in the country), the after-grass, which is of little value in comparison with the former. The mercies which God give us, and continues to us, are more numerous and more valuable than those he removes from us, which is a good reason why we should be thankful and not complain. The remembrance of the mercies of the former growth should make us submissive to the will of God when we meet with disappointments in the latter growth. The prophet, in vision, saw this judgment prevailing far. These grasshoppers ate up the grass of the land, which should have been for the cattle, which the owners must of course suffer by. Some understand this figuratively of a wasting destroying army brought upon them. In the days of Jeroboam the kingdom of Israel began to recover itself from the desolations it had been under in the former reigns (Kg2 14:25); the latter growth shot up, after the mowings of the kings of Syria, which we read of Kg2 13:3. And then God commissioned the king of Assyria with an army of caterpillars to come upon them and lay them waste, that nation spoken of Amo 6:14, which afflicted them from the entering of Hamath to the river of the wilderness, which seems to refer to Kg2 14:25, where Jeroboam is said to have restored their coast from the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain. God can bring all to ruin when we think all is in some good measure repaired. (2.) He proceeds to the judgment of fire, to show that he has many arrows in his quiver, many ways of humbling a sinful nation (Amo 7:4): The Lord God called to contend by fire. He contended, for God's judgment upon a people are his controversies with them; in them he prosecutes his action against them; and his controversies are neither causeless nor groundless. He called to contend; he did by his prophets give them notice of his controversy, and drew up a declaration, setting forth the meaning of it. Or he called for his angels, or other ministers of his justice, that were to be employed in it. A fire was kindled among them, by which perhaps is meant a great drought (the heat of the sun, which should have warmed the earth, scorched it, and burnt up the roots of the grass which the locusts had eaten the spires of), or a raging fever, which was as a fire in their bones, which devoured and ate up multitudes, or lightning, fire from heaven, which consumed their houses, as Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed (Amo 4:11), or it was the burning of their cities, either by accident or by the hand of the enemy, for fire and sword used to go together; thus were the towns wasted, as the country was by the grasshoppers. This fire, which God called for, did terrible execution; it devoured the great deep, as the fire that fell from heaven on Elijah's altar licked up the water that was in the trench. Though the water designed for the stopping and quenching of this fire was as the water of the great deep, yet it devoured it; for who, or what, can stand before a fire kindled by the wrath of God! It did eat up a part, a great part, of the cities where it was sent; or it was as the fire at Taberah, which consumed the outermost parts of the camp (Num 11:1); when some were overthrown others were as brands plucked out of the fire. All deserved to be devoured, but it ate up only a part, for God does not stir up all his wrath.
2. The prophet goes forth to meet him in the way of his judgments, and by prayer seeks to turn away his wrath, Amo 7:2. When he saw, in vision, what dreadful work these caterpillars made, that they had eaten up in a manner all the grass of the land (he foresaw they would do so, if suffered to go on), then he said, O Lord God! forgive, I beseech thee (Amo 7:2); cease, I beseech thee, Amo 7:5. He that foretold the judgment in his preaching to the people, yet deprecated it in his intercessions for them. He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee. It was the business of prophets to pray for those to whom they prophesied, and so to make it appear that though they denounced they did not desire the woeful day. Therefore, God showed his prophets the evils coming, that they might befriend the people, not only by warning them, but by praying for them, and standing in the gap, to turn away God's wrath, as Moses, that great prophet, often did. Now observe here,
(1.) The prophet's prayer: O Lord God! [1.] Forgive, I beseech thee, and take away the sin, Amo 7:2. He sees sin at the bottom of the trouble, and therefore concludes that the pardon of sin must be at the bottom of deliverance, and prays for that in the first place. Note, Whatever calamity we are under, personal or public, the forgiveness of sin is that which we should be most earnest with God for. [2.] Cease, I beseech thee, and take away the judgment; cease the fire, cease the controversy; cause they anger towards us to cease. This follows upon the forgiveness of sin. Take away the cause and effect will cease. Note, Those whom God contends with will soon find what need they have to cry for a cessation of arms; and there are hopes that though God has begun, and proceeded far, in his controversy, yet it may be obtained.
(2.) The prophet's plea to enforce this prayer: By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small? Amo 7:2. And it is repeated (Amo 7:5) and yet no vain repetition. Christ, in his agony, prayed earnestly, saying the same words, again and again. [1.] It is Jacob that he is interceding for, the professing people of God, called by his name, calling on his name, the seed of Jacob, his chosen, and in covenant with him. It it Jacob's case that is in this prayer spread before the God of Jacob. [2.] Jacob is small, very small already, weakened and brought low by former judgments; and therefore, it these come, he will be quite ruined and brought to nothing. The people are few; the dust of Jacob, which was once innumerable, is now soon counted. Those few are feeble (it is the worm Jacob, Isa 41:14); they are unable to help themselves or one another. Sin will soon make a great people small, will diminish the numerous, impoverish the plenteous, and weaken the courageous. [3.] By whom shall he arise? He has fallen, and cannot help himself up, and he has no friend to help him, none to raise him, unless the hand of God do it; what will become of him, then, if the hand that should raise him to stretched out against him? Note, When the state of God's church is very low and very helpless it is proper to be recommended by our prayers to God's pity.
3. God graciously lets fall his controversy, in answer to the prophet's prayer, once and again (Amo 7:3): The Lord repented for this. He did not change his mind, for he is one mind and who can turn him? But he changed is way, took another course, and determined to deal in mercy and not in wrath. He said, It shall not be. And again (Amo 7:6), This also shall not be. The caterpillars were countermanded, were remanded; a stop was put to the progress of the fire, and thus a reprieve was granted. See the power of prayer, of effectual fervent prayer, and how much it avails, what great things it prevails for. A stop has many a time been put to a judgment by making supplication to the Judge. This was not the first time that Israel's life was begged, and so saved. See what a blessing praying people, praying prophets, are to a land, and therefore how highly they ought to be valued. Ruin would many a time have broken in if they had not stood in the breach, and made good the pass. See how ready, how swift, God is to show mercy, how he waits to be gracious. Amos moves for a reprieve, and obtains it, because God inclines to grant it and looks about to see if there be any that will intercede for it, Isa 59:16. Nor are former reprieves objected against further instances of mercy, but are rather encouragements to pray and hope for them. This also shall not be, any more than that. It is the glory of God that he multiplies to pardon, that he spares, and forgives, to more than seventy times seven times.
II. We have here the rejection of those at last who had been often reprieved and yet never reclaimed, reduced to straits and yet never reduced to their God and their duty. This is represented to the prophet by a vision (Amo 7:7, Amo 7:8) and an express prediction of utter ruin, Amo 7:9.
1. The vision is of a plumb-line, a line with a plummet at the end of it, such as masons and bricklayers use to run up a wall by, that they may work it straight and true, and by rule. (1.) Israel was a wall, a strong wall, which God himself had reared, as a bulwark, or wall of defence, to his sanctuary, which he set up among them. The Jewish church says of herself (Sol 8:10), I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. This wall was made by a plumb-line, very exact and firm. So happy was its constitution, so well compacted, and every thing so well ordered according to the model; it had long stood fast as a wall of brass. But, (2.) God now stands upon this wall, not to hold it up, but to tread it down, or, rather, to consider what he should do with it. He stands upon it with a plumb-line in his hand, to take measure of it, that it may appear to be a bowing, bulging wall. Recti est index sui et oblique - This plumb-line would discover where it was crooked. Thus God would bring the people of Israel to the trial, would discover their wickedness, and show wherein they erred; and he would likewise bring his judgments upon them according to equity, would set a plumb-line in the midst of them, to mark how far their wall must be pulled down, as David measured the Moabites with a line (Sa2 8:2) to put them to death. And, when God is coming to the ruin of a people, he is said to lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet; for when he punishes it is with exactness. It is now determined: "I will not again pass by them any more; they shall not be spared and reprieved as they have been; their punishment shall not be turned away," Amo 1:3. Note, God's patience, which has long been sinned against, will at length be sinned away; and the time will come when those that have been spared often shall be no longer spared. My spirit shall not always strive. After frequent reprieves, yet a day of execution will come.
2. The prediction is of utter ruin, Amo 7:9. (1.) The body of the people shall be destroyed, with all those things that were their ornament and defence. They are here called Isaac as well as Israel, the house of Isaac (Amo 7:16), some think in allusion to the signification of Isaac's name; it is laughter; they shall become a jest among all their neighbours; their neighbours shall laugh at them. The desolation shall fasten upon their high places and their sanctuaries, either their castles or their temples, both built on high places. Their castles they thought safe, and their temples sacred as sanctuaries. These shall be laid waste, to punish them for their idolatry and to make them ashamed of their carnal confidences, which were the two things for which God had a controversy with them. When these were made desolate they might read their sin and folly in their punishment. (2.) The royal family shall sink first, as an earnest of the ruin of the whole kingdom: I will rise against the house of Jeroboam, Jeroboam the second, who was now king of the ten tribes; his family was extirpated in his son Zecharias, who was slain with the sword before the people, by Shallum who conspired against him, Kg2 15:10. How unrighteous soever the instruments were, God was righteous, and in them God rose up against that idolatrous family. Even king's houses will be no shelter against the sword of God's wrath.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–9 Thus hath the Lord showed unto me,.... What follows…
Thus hath the Lord showed unto me,.... What follows in this and the two chapters, before the prophet delivered what he heard from the Lord; now what he saw, the same thing, the ruin of the ten tribes, is here expressed as before, but in a different form; before in prophecy, here in vision, the more to affect and work upon the hearts of the people:
and, behold, he formed grasshoppers; or "locusts" (u), as the word is rendered, Isa 33:4; and so the Septuagint here, and other versions. Kimchi interprets it, and, behold, a collection or swarm of locusts; and the Targum, a creation of them. Though Aben Ezra takes the word to be a verb, and not a noun, and the sense to be, agreeably to our version, he showed me the blessed God, who was forming locusts; it appeared to Amos, in the vision of prophecy, as if the Lord was making locusts, large and great ones, and many of them; not that this was really done, only visionally, and was an emblem of the Assyrian army, prepared and ready to devour the land of Israel; see Joe 1:4. And this was
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in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings; when the first grass was mowed down, and the first crop gathered in, for the use of the king's cattle; as the later grass was just springing up, and promised a second crop, these grasshoppers or locusts were forming, which threatened the destruction of it. This must be towards the close of the summer, and when autumn was coming on, at which time naturalists tell us that locusts breed. So Aristotle (w) says, they bring forth at the going out of the summer; and of one sort of them he says, their eggs perish in the waters of autumn, or when it is a wet autumn; but in a dry autumn there is a large increase of them: and so Pliny says (x), they breed in the autumn season and lie under the earth all the winter, and appear in the spring: and Columella observes (y), that locusts are most suitably and commodiously fed with grass in autumn; which is called "cordum", or the latter grass, that comes or springs late in the year; such as this now was. The Mahometans speak (z) much of God being the Maker of locusts; they say he made them of the clay which was left at the formation of Adam; and represent him saying, I am God, nor is there any Lord of locusts besides me, who feed them, and send them for food to the people, or as a punishment to them, as I please: they call them the army of the most high God, and will not suffer any to kill them; See Gill on Rev 9:3; whether all this is founded on this passage of Scripture, I cannot say; however, there is no reason from thence to make the locusts so peculiarly the workmanship of God as they do, since this was only in a visionary way; though it may be observed, that it is with great propriety, agreeable to the nature of these creatures, that God is represented as forming them at such a season of the year. Some, by "the king's mowings", understand the carrying captive the ten tribes by Shalmaneser king of Assyria; so Ribera; after which things were in a flourishing state, or at least began to be so, in the two tribes under Hezekiah, when they were threatened with ruin by the army of Sennacherib, from which there was a deliverance: but as this vision, and the rest, only respect the ten tribes of Israel, "the king's mowings" of the first crop may signify the distresses of the people of Israel, in the times of Jehoahaz king of Israel, by Hazael and Benhadad kings of Syria, Kg2 13:3; when things revived again, like the shooting up of the later grass, in the reign of Joash, and especially of Jeroboam his son, who restored the coast of Israel, the Lord having compassion on them, Kg2 13:25; but after his death things grew worse; his son reigned but six months, and he that slew him but one; and in the reign of Menahem, that succeeded him, an invasion of the land was made by Pul king of Assyria, Kg2 15:19; which is generally thought to be intended here. Or else, as others, it may refer to the troubles in the interregnum, after the death of Jeroboam, to his son's mounting the throne, the space of eleven years, when, and afterwards, Israel was in a declining state.
(u) "ecce fictor locustarum", Pagninus, Montanus; so Munster, Vatablus, Cocceius, Burkius. (w) Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 28, 29. (x) Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29. (y) Apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 6. col. 484. (z) Vid. Bochart, ib. col. 486.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 Threatened judgments turned aside by the prayer of Amos,…
Threatened judgments turned aside by the prayer of Amos, ver. 1-6. Yet at length they are sentenced to utter ruin, ver. 7-9. Amaziah accuses Amos, ver. 10-13. Amos justifies himself and denounces the judgment of God against Amaziah, ver. 14-17.
Thus - This is the first of five prophetic representations of what was coming upon this people. The latter growth - The shooting up of the first growth being too luxuriant, they often eat it down with cattle; but if the second growth were eat up, it marred the whole harvest. Mowed - It is supposed the first mowing of the corn in the blade was for the king's use; and after this the second springing grew up to the harvest.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 In this chapter God represents to Amos, by three…
CHAPTER VII
In this chapter God represents to Amos, by three several
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visions, the judgments he is about to bring on Israel. The
first is a plague of locusts, threatening to cut of the hopes
of the harvest by attacking it in the time of the second
growth; the first luxuriances of the crop being probably mowed
for the king's horses, 1-3.
The next vision threatens a judgment by fire, which would
consume a great part, 4-6;
and the third a total overthrow of Israel, levelling it as it
were by a line, 7-9.
The rest of the chapter is a denunciation of heavy judgments
against Amaziah, priest of Beth-el, who had brought an
accusation to the king against the prophet, 10-17.
NOTES ON CHAP. VII
Verse 1. Behold, he formed grasshoppers] גבי gobai is generally understood here to signify locusts. See the notes on Joe 1:1-2:32.
The shooting up of the latter growth] The early crop of grass had been already mowed and housed. The second crop or rowing, as it is called in some places, was not yet begun. By the king's mowings we may understand the first crop, a portion of which the king probably claimed as being the better hay; but the words may signify simply the prime crop, that which is the best of the whole. Houbigant thinks the shearing of the king's sheep is meant.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 7 Amo 7:1. Thus hath the Lord showed unto me…
Amo 7:1. Thus hath the Lord showed unto me — The Lord also showed me the following things. Here the prophet mentions the first of five prophetic representations of what was coming upon this people. He formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the latter growth — He appeared to me as bringing a vast multitude of grasshoppers upon the land at the season when the grass begins to shoot again after the first mowing. Though this be spoken in a literal sense of a plague of grasshoppers, yet some commentators think it is to be understood metaphorically, and that by the grasshoppers is meant the army of Pul, king of Assyria, mentioned 2Ki 15:19. After the king’s mowings — It is supposed that the first crop of grass was set apart for the use of the king’s stables.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 And behold He formed - (that is, He was…
And behold He formed - (that is, He was forming.) The very least things then are as much in His infinite Mind, as what we count the greatest. He has not simply made “laws of nature,” as people speak, to do His work, and continue the generations of the world. He Himself was still framing them, giving them being, as our Lord saith, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” Joh 5:17. The same power of God is seen in creating the locust, as the universe. The creature could as little do the one as the other. But further, God was “framing” them for a special end, not of nature, but of His moral government, in the correction of man. He was “framimg the locust,” that it might, at His appointed time, lay waste just those tracts which He had appointed to them. God, in this vision, opens our eyes, and lets us see Himself, framing the punishment for the deserts of the sinners, that so when hail, mildew, blight, caterpillars, or some other hitherto unknown disease, (which, because we know it not, we call by the name of the crop which it annihilates), waste our crops, we may think, not of secondary causes, but of our Judge. Lap.: “Fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind, fulfill His word, Psa 148:8, in striking sinners as He wills. To be indignant with these, were like a dog who bit the stone wherewith it was hit, instead of the man who threw it.” Gregory on Job L. xxxii. c. 4. L.: “He who denies that he was stricken for his own fault, what does he but accuse the justice of Him who smiteth?”
Grasshoppers - that is, locusts. The name may very possibly be derived from their “creeping” simultaneously, in vast multitudes, from the ground, which is the more observable in these creatures, which, when the warmth of spring hatches the eggs, creep forth at once in myriads. This first meaning of their name must, however, have been obliterated by use (as mostly happens), since the word is also used by Nahum of a flying locust .
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The king’s mowings - must have been some regalia, to meet the state-expenses. The like custom still lingers on, here and there, among us, the “first mowth” or “first vesture,” that with which the fields are first clad, belonging to one person; the pasturage afterward, or “after-grass,” to others. The hay-harvest probably took place some time before the grain-harvest, and the “latter grass,” “after-grass,” (לקשׁ leqesh) probably began to spring up at the time of the “latter rain” (מלקושׁ malqôsh). Had the grass been mourn after this rain, it would not, under the burning sun of their rainless summer, have sprung up at all. At this time, then, upon which the hope of the year depended, “in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter grass,” Amos saw, in a vision, God form the locust, and “the green herb of the land” (the word includes all, that which is “for the service of man” as well as for beasts,) destroyed. Striking emblem of a state, recovering after it had been mown down, and anew overrun by a numerous enemy! Yet this need but be a passing desolation. Would they abide, or would they carry their ravages elsewhere? Amos intercedes with God, in words of that first intercession of Moses, “forgive now” Num 14:19. “By whom,” he adds, “shall Jacob arise?” literally, “Who shall Jacob arise?” that is, who is he that he should arise, so weakened, so half-destroyed? Plainly, the destruction is more than one invasion of locusts in one year. The locusts are a symbol (as in Joel) in like way as the following visions are symbols.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 The locust, &c. These judgments by locusts and fire,…
The locust, &c. These judgments by locusts and fire, which by the prophet’s intercession were moderated, signify the former invasions of the Assyrians under Phul and Theglathphalassar, before the utter desolation of Israel by Salmanasar. (Challoner) --- Locusts denoted the Assyrian invaders, 4 Kings xviii. (Worthington) --- Formed. Literally, "the maker of the locust, in the beginning of the herbs shooting," &c., (Haydock) in spring. (St. Jerome) --- They pasture in our January: yet the grass of autumn may be meant. The king took the best which grows in summer. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "and lo, a swarm of locusts coming in the morning; and lo, one bruchus, Gog, the king," (Haydock) or "against king Gog." (Calmet) --- Aquila has, "of the king of Gaza." He probably left the original term, (St. Jerome) gizze. (Haydock) --- The invasion of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Scythians is insinuated. (Theodoret) --- The latter came the year after the earthquake, chap. i. (Pezron.) --- This was the first vision of Amos. (Calmet) --- He saw the first and last inroads of the Assyrians, as well as the prosperity of Jeroboam. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 III. Threatening Discourses against the Kingdom of Israel in…
CHAPTERS 7–9
III. Threatening Discourses against the Kingdom of Israel in the Shape of Visions. A Promise in the Conclusion
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Amos 7
Three Visions. Two of National Calamities are averted at the Request of the Prophet. The Third, of a Plumb-Line, indicates the certain Downfall of the Kingdom. Attempt of the Priest Amaziah to banish Amos from Bethel: thereupon a sharper Threat, especially against Amaziah.
1 Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me;
And behold, He formed locusts,1
In the beginning of the springing up of the second crop;
And lo, it was a second crop after the king’s mowing.
2 And when they had finished eating the plants2 of the land,
Then I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I pray,
How can Jacob stand,
For it is small.
3 Jehovah repented of this;3
It shall not take place, saith Jehovah.
4 Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me,
And behold, the Lord Jehovah called to punish with fire,
And it devoured the great flood,4
And devoured the inheritance.
5 Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, leave off, I pray.
How can Jacob stand,
For it is small.
6 Jehovah repented of this;
This also shall not take place, saith the Lord Jehovah.
7 Thus he showed me,
And behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made with a plumb-line5
And a plumb-line was in his hand.
8 And Jehovah said to me,
What seest thou, Amos?
And I said, a plumb-line.
And the Lord said, Behold, I put a plumb-line in the midst of my people, Israel;
I will pass by him no more.
9 And the high places of Isaac6 shall be laid waste,
And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolated,
And I will arise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10 And Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam the king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired7 against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land Isaiah 11 not able to bear all his words. For thus has Amos said,
“By the sword shall Jeroboam die
And Israel shall go into exile out of his land.”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go, flee into the land of Judah; and there eat 13 thy bread and there mayest thou prophesy. But in Bethel thou shalt no longer 14 prophesy, for it is the king’s sanctuary8 and a seat of the kingdom.” And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son, but 15 I am a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamores.9 And Jehovah took me from following the flock; and Jehovah said to me, Go, prophesy to my people, Israel.”
16 And now hear the word of Jehovah,
Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel,
And drop10 nothing against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah,
Thy wife shall be dishonored in the city,
And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword;
And thy land shall be divided by line,
And thou shalt die in an unclean land,
And Israel shall go into exile out of his land.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Amo_7:1-6. The two first visions. The judgments they represent are at the prayer of the prophet averted.
(a.) Amo_7:1-3. First Vision. The locusts. Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me. “Showed me” is used also in the following visions. These are thus defined to be “visions,” inward intuitions, rather than mere poetical fictions. But the question arises and must be answered, What did the prophet see in the first two visions? Certainly threatening judgments. But did he see the judgments themselves, or were the transactions only a figurative representation? Did they point symbolically to the future chastisements? The latter is certainly the natural view of the third vision, and also of the fourth (chap. 8). The plumb-line and the basket of fruit are mere symbols which are subsequently explained. In the fifth vision, also, a symbolical representation is made, although the form there is somewhat different from that of the third and the fourth. But it remains to determine how we are to regard the first two. For the prophet sees here a desolation produced by locusts and by fire. Are then these the actual judgments which threaten the people, or have they only a symbolical significance? I think we must decide for the former view. In their external form, these two differ greatly from the two following. In the latter, the prophet sees only an object, but what is to be done with it or what stroke it represents, has to be stated in words; but in the former he sees a judgment fully accomplished; why then should one look for anything farther? In that view, too, the analogy between the contents of these two visions and what we read in Joel is not to be mistaken. There also there is a plague of locusts, and then “fire” (Joel 1:19); the drought, also, is there described in words transcending actual experience, so that we must regard it as a poetical representation. Yet what is there treated of is what has actually happened, while here is something which is threatened, so that it need not offend if here the colors are higher, and we read of even an ocean dried up by the heat (Amo_7:4). If now in Joel locusts and fire are found in close connection, why not here also? What, too, should the locusts and the fire “signify?” It must be destruction by the foe; and yet of this it is here said that at the request of the prophet it shall not take place, while in the third vision it is said that it shall. The first two visions then must have a different object from the third. If the meaning is that the threatened infliction is twice revoked, then it is strange that the same judgment is presented in two different images. Keil therefore assigns a different meaning to each image, regards the first two visions as the more general and severe, and gives to them—although not very clearly—a scope comprehending all the past and all the future. They indicate an entire destruction except a remnant spa ed aתהוֹם prophet’s request, and the second vision points also to a judgment that falls upon the heathen world (= תהוֹם). The removal of the two at Amos’s request teaches that these judgments are not intended to effect the annihilation of the people of God but their purification, and the rooting out of sinners from them; and that in consequence of God’s sparing grace, a holy remnant will be left. Both the following visions refer to the judgment which awaits the kingdom of the ten tribes in the immediate future.
How gratuitous is all this! Nothing of it is found in the visions themselves. What the prophet saw in the second vision is certainly not to occur; therefore the judgment upon the heathen, if it is contained there, is not to occur. Of a remnant remaining over, not a word is said. Therefore the first vision cannot be understood differently (see below). In place of assuming an anticlimax, we must rather, since the discourse has various stages, determine the contrary. But this does not suit the symbolical view of the first two visions, for, taken figuratively, they would by no means indicate a lighter judgment than the third, but rather a complete devastation of the land. A climax is obtained only by a literal interpretation, according to which there is first a national calamity, and then a blow which overturns the state as such. The sense of the whole is that God will have patience for a time, and spare the land the plagues which it deserves. But it there be no change, and the goodness of God does not lead to repentance, forbearance will cease and the downfall come. The view that the two first visions refer to the kingdom of Judah which finds forgiveness, and only the third relates to the kingdom of Israel which is not forgiven, has much apparently in its favor, e.g., the appeal to the smallness of Jacob. Still it is to be rejected. Judah is not in question here at all. The entire chapter treats of the kingdom in the midst of which the prophet is. Were Judah meant, it would be plainly stated. Manifestly, the three visions form one series, so that it is unnatural to suppose that the two former relate to Judah, and that the third refers to something altogether different. The appeal to the smallness of Jacob admits also of being fairly applied to the kingdom of Israel. In the conduct of that kingdom the prophet finds no ground for forbearance; on the contrary, so far as this is concerned, the plagues must come. There remains, then, nothing but an appeal to the divine mercy and compassion on the ground of the smallness of Israel. Upon this motive alone can the prophet base his prayer, since no claim of merit is possible. Israel is small, is weak, in comparison with the strong hand of Jehovah; as if he would say, What would then become of him? Necessarily, he must be annihilated.
We return to Amo_7:1. That He, i.e., Jehovah, formed locusts, shows clearly that the infliction is due to Jehovah, without whose will they would not come, nay, would not exist at all. At the same time the prophet sees the plague in its very beginning. But this image of the locusts occurs at a period which is defined in two ways: first, as that in which the second crop springs up, and then, this second crop is that which follows the king’s mowings. The meaning is, that the period is a very unfavorable one, first, because then the only further product of the year would be destroyed, and in the next place, because the early crop having already been mown by the king, the people were restricted to the second, and this was now threatened with destruction. Since nothing is now known of any right of the king to the early crop, Keil, in accordance with his figurative conception of the vision in general, maintains that the king is Jehovah, and the mowing denotes the judgments He has already decreed upon Israel. But this is plainly an inconsistent mingling of the sign with the thing signified. Even if we adopt the symbolical interpretation, still the feature mentioned in the supposed comparison, i.e., in the process taken from actual life, must have a definite meaning. For one cannot, on account of the signification of a comparison, attribute to it features which in themselves are foreign to it. Therefore we must assume a mowing of the early crop by the king, whether only as a fact in the present case, or as a custom, even if we know nothing from other sources of any such right.
Amo_7:2. Plants of the land. Keil says that this does not mean the second crop just mentioned, but vegetable growth suited for the food of men. When this was devoured, the second crop of grass began to grow. But if the second crop itself had been devoured, the intercession of the prophet would have come too late. This is incorrect. The prophet sees a complete destruction of what had sprung up, and just because this image with its consequent misery stands before his eyes, he prays for the entire removal of it. “The plants of the earth,’ therefore mean, certainly not the second crop in particular, but all vegetable growth in general; yet in any event the grass is included. Nor can it be inferred from the conclusion of Amo_7:1 that this second crop was conceived of as not yet grown. Rather on the contrary it was when the locusts were formed; still we cannot assume that they at first spared it and attacked only the plants.
(b.) Amo_7:4-6. Second Vision.Devouring fire = Drought. Amo_7:4. “He called to contend with fire”=he called the fire in order to punish with it. The flood, etc.=even the deepest waters should be dried up by the “fire.”
Amo_7:6. This also, i.e., as well as the threatening contained in the first vision.
2. Amo_7:7-9. The Third Vision, the plumb-line. The downfall of Israel is announced. The vision is introduced just like the two preceding, but unexpectedly has a different result. Even the symbol used—plumb-line—indicates this. But Jehovah Himself gives the explanation to the prophet, and shows that the reference is to a hostile invasion which shall certainly fall upon the kingdom as a judgment. This is the more terrible, because in such vivid contrast with the foregoing.
Amo_7:7. The wall may be considered an image of Israel, which resembled such a solid, well-constructed wall, built, as it were, by Jehovah with a plumb-line. And now Jehovah comes again with a plumb-line, not however to build up but to tear down. As carefully and thoroughly as the wall had been erected, even so carefully should it be destroyed. In the midst is emphatic. The Lord’s judgment strikes not an outwork, but the very centre. Like the plumb-line it turns neither to the right nor to the left, nor varies at all from its aim. No longer will Jehovah pass by = spare. This naturally refers to the previous threats which had been “withdrawn.
Amo_7:9. Specifies the “middle” which is to be struck by the judgment, namely, the idolatrous sanctuaries of the people, and the king’s house, i.e., the monarchy, for in truth with the fall of this house, “the power of kingdom would be broken.” (Keil.)
3. Amo_7:10-17. Opposition to the prophet at Bethel on account of his predictions. New prophecies of wrath. Priest of Bethel is plainly the high priest in the sanctuary of the golden calf at Bethel. In the midst of the house of Israelin the religious centre of the kingdom, at Bethel. For it was from Bethel (Amo_7:13) that he was ordered away.
Amo_7:11. By the sword shall Jeroboam die, cf. Amo_7:9; here the head of the house is named, but this was naturally included in the house itself. But the threat in the present form sounds more severely, and hence not without design is it thus recited in the accusation.
Amo_7:12. Amaziah informs the king concerning the prophet, not so much in order to procure his punishment, as to justify the banishment which he proposed. But he represents it to the prophet in such a way as to effect a courteous removal. Hence the command comes in the form of good advice,—Flee, eat bread, etc.=there you may earn your bread by your prophecies. He considers prophesying a calling which Amos pursued for a living—a view against which the prophet guards (Amo_7:14) in his answer. For a king’s sanctuary = founded by the king, clothed with regal authority. A house = seat of the kingdom = a royal capital. Therefore nothing should be said against the king! Unconscious, bitter satire on “the sanctuary,” where all was decided by respect for the king, not for truth, nor for God’s command.
Amo_7:14. No prophet, i.e., by profession. Prophet’s son, i.e., scholar, have never been trained in the prophetic schools—gatherer of sycamores refers to the direction in Amo_7:12. There eat thy bread. Amos says that he need not go anywhere for the sake of bread, nor did he come to Bethel or Israel for a better support. As a herdsman he had been accustomed to be content with little; that was enough for him and he sought no more. And at any moment he could return to that occupation. If he were now prophesying in Israel and acting independently, he did this not out of selfish aims, but according to Amo_7:15, only because he must, in obedience to a divine command. Whoever therefore would hinder this, sets himself against Jehovah. Therefore Amos announces to Amaziah the punishment he is to suffer when the judgment comes upon Israel.
Amo_7:16. In return for his endeavor to stop the month of Jehovah’s prophet, he must bear the announcement of his own doom.
Amo_7:17. Wife become an harlot, to be dishonored at the storming of the city. Thy land = landed possession, unclean land = among the heathen. This presupposes his exile, and with that the exile of the whole people. The latter is expressly threatened in the conclusion; and thus is confirmed what Amaziah had charged before the king (Amo_7:11), although that threat was not uttered by Amos in Amo_7:9.
DOCTRINAL AND MORAL
1. Divine judgments are announced by the prophets with so much boldness that men might easily attribute to them a lack of tenderness as if they had no regard to the sadness and misery certain to follow from what they announce. But how wrong this would be! They do feel and that very deeply. They seek by the announcement to prevail on men to repent while there is yet time, and thus forestall the impending judgments. Certainly, as they have intense moral convictions and firmly believe in the truth of a moral government of the world, they distinguish between a people ripe of judgment and one that is not. In the latter case they intercede with God for the people. So pressed are they with love and desire to see the nation delivered or spared, that, although they best know the holy earnestness of God as judge, they go to meet Him and wrestle for forgiveness. Thus the reproach of a want of compassion fails to lie in the least upon them, but rather passes over to God, the Holy. But—
2. Even He is not truly liable to it. “It shall not be!” therein his mercy set itself against his justice and overcomes it. Thus is it proved the mightier. “The Lord repented”—not surely as if He would confess the unrighteousness of” his threatening, but merely to express the frank, positive withdrawal of the threat. What was threatened was deserved, but still the punishment as destructive has not yet become a necessity. God can still spare. If the stroke did fall, there would be no unrighteousness in God, and also just as little, if it did not. How the case stands only He who is the searcher of hearts and the Judge of all the earth can certainly know. But men may and should presume that forbearance is possible, and therefore should intercede. Even this has its limits, and cannot be a duty under all circumstances, otherwise the conviction of a moral government of the world would grow weak. It is therefore by no means of course a mark of a godly mind, but it is to be highly esteemed when in men like the prophets who consider God’s punitive righteousness a holy truth, it manifests itself as an expression of love for their fellow-men; and then, too, it is efficacious. That it has efficacy indicates its high importance. It affects the action even of God Himself, and thus conditions the destiny of men, toward whom He would have acted otherwise without these intercessions than He actually has done for the sake of them. This to be sure is a position which only a theism having full faith in a personal God can allow. But such a faith involves just this, as appears by the Holy Scriptures, which, standing on the ground of an actual theism, know nothing else than that intercession has such an efficacy, and everywhere speak of it as a matter that is self evident. It is therefore clearly impossible to accept the Biblical theism, and at the same time deny the power of prayer. The question is then whether we will admit the latter, or deny theism, and with it religion in general which necessarily presupposes it. If any will not accept the latter alternative, then they must demand of science that, instead of affirming a conception of God drawn from the assumed impossibility of a theism which maintains a real efficiency of prayer with God, it should either correct its idea of God, or, if this be not allowed, should admit its inability to come to a satisfactory conclusion, and thus exercise a modesty, which so far from being degrading, would be honorable.
3. Impending judgments are here set forth by the prophet in visions; partly such as in themselves disclose the judgment God is about to execute; partly such as contain a symbolical action which afterwards is distinctly explained by God. The appearance of visions here is something new. But it must be admitted that prophetic speech and vision stand nearer together than would appear at first blush. Even in the prophetic word there lies in a sense what is substantially a vision, since the prophet at first “sees” what He is to announce; for which reason the prophet is called a “seer” (even in our Amo_5:12), and the prophetic speech “a vision,” 2Sa_7:17; Isa_22:5; Isa_1:1, and the word “to see” is used simply of prophecies or prophetic utterances. If therefore Amos in chaps. 1–6 announces punishment in the most various forms, fire, plunder, desolation, killing, we must believe that through the divine efficiency such images presented themselves to his inner intuitions as incited him to the warnings and exhortations which he uttered through the power inwrought in him by the same Spirit. The two first visions afford us a glance into these inner processes. But no details of the judgment follow, because the threatened evil is averted by prayer. On the other hand, we must not obliterate the distinction between prophetic speech and vision. From the inward contemplation in which God revealed his will to the prophet, it was quite a step to the literal vision. In the latter there was a complete crystallization of the perception, which was not a necessity in every case, for even without it, the perception could find expression in prophetic words. Especially does the pure symbolical vision distinguish itself from the seeing which lies at the basis of all prophecy, and therefore from prophetic speech as such. Here at once the image as such is the principal thing. There is urgent need, however, of explanatory speech, so that here again, only from the other side, we encounter the mutual dependence of word and vision. But the vision is at first its own end, and because it does not speak for itself but needs explanation, it is here a vision in the literal sense. Whether we are to suppose that in such a case the prophet is always in an ecstatic state, we do not inquire. For the most part he is, in the case of a pure symbolic vision. Since in vision, the divine revelation becomes peculiarly precious to the prophet and makes a deeper impression than bare speech, the end it seeks is apparent. This aim is first upon the prophet who sees the vision. It renders the truth which is disclosed to him and which he is to announce, more vivid and impressive, so that he cannot do otherwise than set it forth just as he has not heard but seen it, whether actually or in the shape of a symbol. But the plastic form of the vision aimed also, and ultimately in a still greater degree, at impressing the hearer. When the prophet sets forth a literal vision, that is, what he has seen, the judgment he announces takes a concrete, tangible form which gives emphasis to the utterance, and thus dispels doubt and wins attention. The discourse seizes one more firmly when it is united with an image, even though it be symbolical; and in a certain sense this latter kind of image is still more impressive, because it is somewhat mysterious, and thus provokes attention to the explanation, and this again for that reason prints itself deeper on the mind, because it awakens surprise that a symbol so unpretending should have such a weight of significance. Hence the reason appears why visions make their appearance in the conclusion of our book. There was in the sense declared, i. e., not so much in fact as in form, a climax in the revelations to the prophet and therefore in the disclosure to the people. Since the direct statement of his message respecting the certainty of the judgment and the ripeness of the people for it, appeared not to be enough; at last, to leave nothing undone, these things were brought under the eye in the form of plastic visions which the prophet saw and naturally repeated to his hearers. The discourses therefore now have at least a negative efficiency in the opposition to which they aroused the priest Amaziah. (It is certainly wrong therefore to refer these visions with the narrative depending on them to an earlier period than the foregoing discourses.) Thus visions occur, as we see, in one of the oldest prophets. It may be asked, why do the other older prophets have either none at all or only faint traces of them? It is hardly a sufficient reply to refer the matter to the free action of the divine Spirit. Yet this would not be incorrect if we included with it the subjective factor in the case, since men allow that it stands in close connection with the separate individuality of the prophets. Not every one of these was equally inclined to this mode of representation, but one more than another, since a certain preponderance of the imaginative faculty, a peculiar excitability of the soul, was requisite in order to fit one for seeing visions. These are found in Amos, and we can easily see a certain natural affinity between the herdsman Amos with his quick sensibilities and the formation of outward visions. As to the visions in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, we refer to the Commentary on those prophets.
4. The centre, the heart of a nation and kingdom, is found in its sanctuaries and capital. From these proceeds its life; yes, as they are, so is the life of the whole people, either sound, or diseased, or altogether rotten. If the heart is corrupt, the blow must at last fall on this, otherwise no help is possible. The sanctuary of a nation is its chief nerve. But upon this the court, the secular government, exerts a powerful influence. If it uses this influence to subdue the sanctuary into an instrument of its own plans and thus corrupts it, the whole people is corrupted; and its guilt becomes so much the greater and God’s judgment the more certain. How significant is it that the priest can oppose no contrary testimony to the prophetic word! All he can do is to denounce Amos to the king, and thus call in the secular power. Naturally enough; for he is the court-priest, and is stationed at Bethel, which is, as he says with a naive candor, “a king’s sanctuary and a seat of the kingdom.” He obviously means to say something of great moment which will awe the prophet, and is not conscious of the poverty of the claim he makes for the sanctuary. As sacred it should take its authority from God, and its highest boast should be that is a sanctuary of God. Certainly it is of no avail to root its authority in that of the great and noble, for then it becomes a mere tool of state craft. A testimony against all Cäsareopapismus, a warning to every state Church never to forget where all Church authority strikes its roots,—not in the protection of the state nor in civil privileges, but only in the Word of God; and that the highest glory even of the strongest established Church should be that it has, not the state, but God and his Word on its side.
5. “There eat thy bread!” This is certainly the main thing in the view of the idol’s high-priest. He sees in office only a means of “bread.” Therefore without scruple he ascribes the same view to Amos. But the true prophet repels the charge with dignity. He seeks not for money or means, he needs it not; he does not once claim the title of prophet, for he had nothing to do with the title. When he came forth as a prophet, it was not for the sake of the name or the office any more than it was for bread, but solely in obedience to God’s direction. But as he did not seek reward, neither did he shun danger or persecution; he knew that the divine commission to announce wrath to a godless people involved peril, but he did not therefore for-bear. He did not allow himself to be intimidated by threats. Even if men would not hear him but would try to close his mouth, he would not be silent. He must speak, because he bore a divine command.
6. Strong faith belongs to the calling of a prophet who is to announce God’s punitive wrath. And not only that; but quite independent of the duty of reproving the lofty, a high measure of faith is needed in order to maintain and firmly to utter, in the midst of a degenerate race, the conviction that God still rules and will at last vindicate his honor and his law, and show Himself as Lord and Judge. This point may be weakened by a reference to the fact that the prophets did not speak of themselves but only as organs of God, and made their announcements only by virtue of their commission. But however firmly we hold the objective character of the prophetic speech, the more we regard it on this side, yes, even the more the announcement of wrath is a literal prediction of a definite form, and kind and degree of punishment; still the less are we to overlook the subjective factor in the case. The prophets were not soulless instruments of the Holy Spirit, according to the mechanical theory of inspiration, but what they had to disclose, they themselves believed and were firmly convinced of, as was certainly the case with the herdsman of Tekoa. Their predictions of punishment in the face of a prevailing religious and moral corruption testified the strength of their theocratic conviction, and the measure of their vigorous faith, which enabled them to stand unmoved and declare with all confidence, the Lord—although He so long delays, and human sin appears to triumph—will lay a plumb-line in the midst of his people Israel, or as in chap. 8, the time is ripe for judgment. Certainly there is a reciprocal action between the objective factor and the subjective, between the divine revelation and the prophet’s degree of faith. That was on one side conditioned by this, but so, on the other, a higher measure of confidence of faith was the fruit and effect of the divine revelations to the prophets. But in any case the strength of any one’s faith who was chosen for a prophet, rooted itself in the general revelation to and in Israel, therefore especially in that which was deposited in the holy Scriptures. This school of the Spirit, consisting in the “Word of God, was, as it appears, the only school which Amos ever attended, but he showed himself a very apt scholar, he was not so much an αὐτο- as a θεοδιδακτος. He had such a firm conviction of the power and majesty of God and especially of his righteousness that he was sure that He would maintain his honor and demonstrate his government As he was thus, in the sense of 1Co_1:26 ff., worthy and fit to be chosen by God for his messenger and prophet, so on the other hand that mission fully confirmed him in the assurance of faith.
[7. The latter half of this chapter (Amo_7:10-17) has been cited by one of the writers of Essays and Reviews, Prof. Jowett, as an illustration of his assertion that “the failure of a prophecy is never admitted in spite of Scripture and of history.” But wherein is the failure here? The predictions are first, the rising against the house of Jeroboam with the sword, which was fulfilled (2Ki_15:10) in the slaughter of Jeroboam’s son and successor by Shallum; secondly, the captivity and exile of Israel, the fulfillment of which is patent; thirdly, the terrible denunciation against Amaziah, his wife and his children, the execution of which is confessedly not recorded. But this is true of the doom pronounced upon other individuals, as Shebna (Isa_22:17-18), Ahab and Zedekiah (Jer_29:22), Shemaiah (Jer_29:32), Pashur (Jer_20:6), etc. Nor is it all strange, when one considers the excessive brevity of the accounts of the later kings and revolutions. There is nothing at all impossible or improbable in the fate pronounced upon Amaziah. And “unless the execution of God’s sentence upon one of the many calf-priests in Bethel is necessarily matter of history, it has rather to be shown why it should be mentioned than why it should be omitted.” Surely the burden of proof lies upon the objector.—C.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
[Amo_7:1. And behold he formed (was forming) locusts. The very least things then are as much in his infinite mind as what we call the greatest. The same power of God is seen in creating the locust as the universe. But further, God was framing them for a special end, not of nature, but of his moral government in the correction of man. In this vision He opens our eyes and lets us see Himself framing the punishment for the deserts of sinners, so that when hail, mildew, caterpillars, or some hitherto unknown disease wastes our crops, we may think not of secondary causes but of our Judge. (Pusey.)
Amo_7:2. Forgive, I beseech thee. He sees sin at the bottom of the trouble, and therefore concludes that the pardon of sin must be at the bottom of the deliverance, and prays for that in the first place. Whatever calamity we are under, personal or public, the forgiveness of sin is that which we should be most earnest with God for. (M. Henry.)
Amo_7:3. The Lord repented for this. See the power of prayer! See what a blessing praying people, praying prophets are to a land! Ruin had many a time broken in, had they not stood in the breach. See how ready, how swift God is to show mercy. (M. Henry.)
Amo_7:4. God called to contend by fire. Man by rebellion challenges God’s omnipotence. God sooner or later accepts the challenge. If man escapes with impunity, then he had chosen well in rejecting God. If not, what folly and misery was his short-sighted choice; short-lived in its gain; its loss, eternal! Fire stands as the symbol and summary of God’s most terrible judgments. It spares nothing, leaves nothing, not even the outward form of what it destroys. (Pusey.)—C.]
Amo_7:5. We should pray even for those who in our judgment are worthy of punishment. We may at least implore God’s mercy on their behalf. Perhaps He will forgive and grant space for repentance. He desires not the death of the sinner, but that he turn and live. On this ground they who know the mind of God, always intercede even for the worst of sinners; although if the judgment falls, they humbly adore the holiness of God’s ways but do not murmur.
[Amo_7:7. The Lord stood—with a plumb-line. There was so to speak an architectural design in God’s work of destroying Israel no less than in his former favor in building him up. God does everything according to measure, number and weight. As one said of old, “The Deity is a perfect geometrician.” (Wordsworth.)
Amo_7:10. Amos has conspired, etc. Amaziah, the high-priest, thought that the craft whereby he had his wealth was endangered. To Jeroboam, however, he says nothing of these fears, but makes it an affair of state. He takes the king by what he thought to be his weak side, fear for his own power or life. Similar was the experience of Jeremiah, of our Lord and of his Apostles. And so the heathen who were ever conspiring against the Roman emperors went on accusing the early Christians as disloyal, factious, impious, because they did not offer sacrifice for the emperors to false gods, but prayed for them to the true. (Pusey.)
Amo_7:11. On the supposition that Amaziah wilfully distorted Amos’s words, the same writer remarks justly enough, “A lie mixed with truth is the most deadly form of falsehood, the truth serving to gain admittance for the lie and to color it. In slander, and in heresy which is slander against God, truth is used to commend the falsehood and falsehood to destroy the truth.” So on the latter clause, “Amaziah omits both the ground of the threat and the hope of escape urged upon them. He omits too the prophet’s intercession for his people and selects the one prediction which could give a mere political character to the whole. Suppression of truth is a yet subtler character of falsehood.”
Amo_7:12. Go, eat thy bread. Do thou live by thy trade there, and let me live by my trade here. (Jerome). Worldly men always think that those whose profession is religious make a gain of godliness. Interested people cannot conceive of one disinterested; nor the insincere of one sincere. (Pusey.)
Amo_7:13. It is the king’s chapel, etc. All claims of reverence for a church simply and merely as a national establishment, independently of divine institution, are no better than these assertions of Amaziah. The first royal propounder of what is now called Erastianism was, as far as we know, Jeroboam I.; the first priestly advocate of it, as far as we know, was Amaziah. Jerome, in his note here, applies these words to the Arians who appealed to Arian emperors, supporting their dog-mas, and persecuting the orthodox teachers, by the secular arm. When in the fourth century Catholic bishops of Spain invoked the power of the Emperor Maximus and would have put the Priscillianists to death, they were sternly rebuked and opposed by the saintly and apostolic bishop, Martin of Tours. (Wordsworth.)
Amo_7:14. I was a herdman. One of that class to which Abraham and Moses and David had belonged; but not rich in fields and herds, in men-servants and maid-servants, like the first; nor learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, like the second; nor with any, the most distant intimation that he might one day be the shepherd of a people, like the third. (F. D. Maurice.)
Amo_7:15. The Lord took me,—the Lord said unto me. As the Apostles, when forbidden to teach in the name of Jesus, answered, we must obey God rather than man, so Amos, when forbidden by the idol-priests to prophecy, not only prophecies, showing that he feared God bidding more than their forbidding, but boldly and freely denounces the punishment of him who endeavored to forbid and hinder the Word of God. (Jerome.)
Amo_7:16. Drop nothing, etc. God’s Word comes as a gentle dew or soft rain, not beating down, but refreshing; not sweeping away as a storm, but sinking in and softening even hard ground, all but the rock; gentle so as they can bear it. God’s Word was to men such as they were to it; dropping like the dew on those who received it: wearing, to those who hardened themselves against it. (Pusey.)
Amo_7:17. Thy wife shall be dishonored. Thou teachest idolatry which is spiritual harlotry; and thou shalt be punished by harlotry in thine own house for thy sin. (Wordsworth.)—C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Amo_7:1.—כֹּה points to what follows. יוֹצֵ־ has Jehovah for its subject [omitted because אֲדֹנָי יְחֶֹוִה immediately preceded it. Jehovah, as usual, takes the pointing of אֱלֹהִים when אֲדֹנַי precedes it. נֹּבַי, not a plural, but a singular used collectively, is usually rendered locusts, but its precise origin is still in dispute.]
[2]Amo_7:2.—עֵשֶׂב, not grass, as in the A. V., but all vegetable growth. מִי, literally, “as who”=quails, i.e., how? יקוּם, stand, i.e., endure. [So Keil and Fürst.]
[3]Amo_7:3.—עַל־זֹאת = that which was threatened in the vision. קטוֹן, small = weak.
[4]Amo_7:4—תְּהוֹם רבָּה, elsewhere the ocean, e.g., Gen_7:11; Isa_51:10. In Gen_1:2, it denotes the immeasurable deep at the beginning of the creation. הַהֵלֶֽק, not “a part,” but the portion or inheritance.
[5]Amo_7:7.—אְנָךְ, plumb-line. חוֹמַת אְַנָךְ = a perpendicular wall. [Fürst follows the LXX., Sym., and Syr. in making אנךְ, ἀδαμας, a pointed hook for destroying, and the wall, a pointed wall, i. e., rising up as a pinnacle.]
[6]Amo_7:9.—בָמוֹת, heights used for idolatrous altars and shrines. יִשְׂהָק for יִצְחָק, so also in Amo_7:16. Jer_33:26; Psa_105:9 = Israel.
[7]Amo_7:10.—קָשֵׁר, to form a conspiracy.
[8]Amo_7:13.—מִקְדָשׁ, sanctuary.
[9]Amo_7:14.—בלֵס. Perhaps from a root meaning to nip or scratch (XLL., κνιξω), because it was common so to treat the mulberry or sycamore fruit to make it ripen the sooner [or a denom. from the Arabic name for the mulberry fig. (Keil); but Fürst says that in that case שִׁקמִים would not be added to it]. The meaning is, one that gathers figs and lives upon them.
[10]Amo_7:16.—הַטִּירּ, to drop, is used in the sense of prophesying, also in Mic_2:6; Mic_2:11, and Eze_21:2; Eze_21:7. The usage is borrowed from Deu_32:2. “My teaching shall drop as the rain.”
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 by whom shall Jacob arise?--If Thou, O God, dost…
by whom shall Jacob arise?--If Thou, O God, dost not spare, how can Jacob maintain his ground, reduced as he is by repeated attacks of the Assyrians, and erelong about to be invaded by the Assyrian Pul (Kg2 15:19-20)? Compare Isa 51:19. The mention of "Jacob" is a plea that God should "remember for them His covenant" with their forefather, the patriarch (Psa 106:45).
he is small--reduced in numbers and in strength.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 7 1-3. The swarm of locusts.
1-3. The swarm of locusts.
The Lord Jehovah — See on Amo_1:8.
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Showed unto me — Literally, caused me to see — presented in a vision. A just regard for the language forbids the interpretation of the form in which the truths are presented in these chapters purely as a literary device, adopted by the prophet to express in a forceful manner certain truths and convictions which impressed themselves upon him as the result of ordinary processes of thinking. The vision is mentioned as one of the divine means of communication (Num_12:6), and the reality of such visions cannot be denied. Modern psychological researches have made possible a clearer understanding of the nature of these visions. The prophet, meditating upon the nature and character of Jehovah, the divine claims upon Israel, and the people’s failure to recognize these claims, became so lost in contemplation that he fell into a trance, when all external objects were entirely removed from his mental horizon, he being alive only to the subject uppermost in his heart and mind. While in this sensitive mood, receptive to anything related to the subject of his contemplation, there was impressed upon him, in the form of calamities familiar to the prophet, the certainty of the nation’s doom. He in turn presented the pictures to the people.
He formed — Literally, was forming. Amos saw the process. LXX. apparently reads in the place of the verb a noun, “a swarm” or “a brood” (of locusts).
Grasshoppers — R.V., “locusts.” The word used here occurs again only in Nah_3:17. Many think that it is descriptive of locusts in the larva stage, when they are first hatched, but this is not certain. For other terms see on Joe_1:4.
The latter growth — The exact meaning of the Hebrew word is doubtful. It is from the same root as a word translated latter rain — the rain falling in March and April (Joe_2:23); and the word used here is thought by some to refer to the spring crops, which mature quickly after the fall of the latter rain. After the fall rains the seed springs up and begins to grow, but the growth is checked by the cold of the winter months; in the early spring the rise in temperature and the latter rain put new life into vegetation. Others interpret the word as referring to the aftermath, the second growth after one crop has been gathered. This is the meaning suggested by the English translations.
After the king’s mowings — Whichever translation of the preceding word is accepted, these words, if they are a correct reproduction of the original, must mean that the first crop went to the king as a sort of taxation (1Ki_18:5; compare 1Ki_4:7); only the second growth went to the people. While the people were preparing to gather their share the locusts appeared and threatened to devour all. To this interpretation two objections may be raised: (1) It is not certain that it was customary for the king to claim the first crops; the passages quoted in support are not conclusive. (2) The interpretation causes Amos to contradict himself. Everywhere else he makes the king and the nobles suffer most severely (compare Amo_7:9), here he would exempt the king from all judgment; he allows him to gather his share, only the people he makes to suffer. The second objection holds good against another interpretation, which makes king’s mowings a designation of the harvest season; the mowing of the royal fields would be the signal that the proper time for mowing had arrived, but out of respect for the king the common people waited until his fields had been mowed. The weakness of this interpretation is shown also by the last suggestion. Respect for the king cannot have been a sufficient reason for letting crops become overripe.
The difficulties vanish if the word translated “mowings” is given a different meaning. It comes from a root meaning originally to shear (sheep); only in a secondary sense is it used of the shearing of the fields — mowing. If the primary meaning is retained here the time indicated is after the king’s sheep-shearings. The shearing of the king’s sheep may have been a signal for others to do the same, and this may have become a common designation of the shearing season. If thus interpreted the words determine more definitely the time when the plague of locusts appeared. The spring rains had fallen, vegetation looked promising; but after the sheep-shearing season, perhaps in the late spring, a swarm of locusts covered the land, threatening to destroy completely the spring crops.
When they had made an end — The Hebrew underlying this translation is peculiar. Besides, it requires the assumption that a second calamity appeared before the mental vision of the prophet; for it (Amo_7:3) cannot refer to a calamity already past. A slight emendation results in “as they were making an end,” that is, as they were proceeding to ravage the country, but before they accomplished it. A similar meaning, “when they were on the point of devouring,” is given to the present Hebrew text by Mitchell, but this seems grammatically impossible.
Grass — Better, herb (as in Gen_1:11-12; Gen_1:29, etc.); it includes all vegetation.
Seeing that complete devastation is imminent, the prophet appeals for mercy (compare Num_14:19).
Forgive — The petition shows that Amos thought of Jehovah not exclusively as a stern, uncompassionate judge. The reason for the plea is added.
Jacob — The people of Israel cannot endure such calamity; they would never recover from it.
Small — Their resources are limited. LXX. and other versions read, “Who shall raise up Jacob?”
Repented — An anthropomorphism like “swear” (Amo_4:2; see on Joe_2:13). Jehovah responded to the prophet’s prayer.
This — Not some new, unnamed calamity, but the plague of locusts, which was still in its initial stage.
It shall not be — Shall not be allowed to proceed.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 1. Thus did the Lord Jehovah shew me] The…
1. Thus did the Lord Jehovah shew me] The same formula, Amo_7:4; Amo_7:7, Amo_8:1. Cf. “shewed me” (also in the description of a vision), Jer_24:1; Zec_3:1. Lit. caused me to see, the correlative of saw (râ’âh), viz. in a vision, 1Ki_22:17; 1Ki_22:19; Isa_6:1; Eze_1:1; Eze_1:4; Eze_8:2; Zec_1:18; Zec_2:1, &c.
was forming] Properly forming as a potter, a metaphor often applied to the creative operations of God: see on Amo_4:13. The participle (the force of which is lost in the English version) represents the action as in progress, at the time when Amos saw it in vision.
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locusts] Hebrew has many different terms for locust, which cannot now in all cases be exactly distinguished: the word used here (gôbay) perhaps denoted in particular locusts in the ‘larva’-stage, when they were first hatched (comp. the Excursus above, p. 86, No. 5). The derivation of the word is uncertain[183].
[183] In Arabic jabâ is to collect, and jaba’a is said of a serpent or other animal coming forth suddenly from its hole, as also of locusts coming suddenly upon a country, and from each of these words is derived a name for locusts, denoting them either as collecting anything by eating it, or as coming forth suddenly—whether of their swarming forth from the ground, when the warmth of spring hatches the eggs, or of their sudden arrival in a country from elsewhere (see Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 379a top, and pp. 372e top, 373a). It is possible (but not certain) that the Hebrew words referred to above are derived from one of these roots: they would be connected most easily with the first.
in the beginning of the coming up of the latter growth] The precise meaning of léḳesh is uncertain: it may (as in Syriac) denote the after-math, or grass which springs up after the first crop has been cut; or it may denote the spring-crops in general, which are matured under the influence of the malḳôsh, or “latter rain” (see on Joe_2:23), of March and April. In either case the locusts are represented as appearing at a critical moment, and destroying for the year the crops owned by private Israelites. The ‘king’s mowings’ appear to have been “a tribute in kind levied by the kings of Israel on the spring herbage, as provender for their cavalry (cf. 1Ki_18:5). The Roman governors of Syria levied similarly a tax on pasture-land, in the month Nisan, as food for their horses: see Bruns and Sachau, Syr.-Röm. Rechtsbuch, Text L, § 121; Wright, Notulae Syriacae (1887), p. 6” (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 228, ed. 2, p. 246). After this tax had been paid, every one would naturally expect to be able to cut his grass for his own use. But the locusts came and devoured it.
1–3. The first vision. The devouring locusts.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 (1) Each of the visions is introduced with closely…
(1) Each of the visions is introduced with closely resembling words. For “grasshopper,” read locusts. The phrase “king’s mowings” suggests that the king claimed tyrannically the first-fruits of the hay harvest, which was ordinarily followed by the early “rain upon the mown grass.” (Comp. 1Ki_18:5.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 Ver. 1-ch. Amo_8:1 Jer_24:1-3). He formed grasshoppers; rather, locusts.…
Ver. 1-ch. Amo_8:1 Jer_24:1-3). He formed grasshoppers; rather, locusts. (Nah_3:17) This points to the moral government of God, who uses nature to work his purposes, "wind and storm fulfilling his word." In the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; when the aftermath was beginning to grow under the influence of the latter rains. If the herbage was destroyed then, there would be no hope of recovery in the rest of the year. After the king"s mowings. It is deduced from this expression that the first crop on certain grounds was taken for the king"s use a kind of royal perquisite, though there is no trace of such a custom found in Scripture, the passage in 1Ki_18:5, where Ahab sends Obadiah to search for pasture, having plainly nothing to do with it; and in this case, as Keil remarks, the plague would seem to fall upon the people only, and the guilty king would have escaped. But to interpret the expression entirely in a spiritual sense, with no substantial basis, as "Jehovah"s judgments," destroys the harmony of the vision, ignoring its material aspect altogether. It is quite possible that the custom above mentioned did exist, though it was probably limited to certain lands, and did not apply to the whole pasturage of the country. It is here mentioned to define the time of the plague of locusts the time, in fact, when its ravages would be most irremediable. The LXX, by a little change of letters, render, idou broucov eiv Gwv , by which they imply that the locusts would be as innumerable as the army of Gog. The whole version is, "Behold, a swarm of locusts coming from the East; and behold, one caterpillar, King Gog." The vision is thought to refer to the first invasion by the Assyrians, when Pul was bribed by Menahem to withdraw.
HOMILETICS Vers. 1-3. The vision of devouring locusts.
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The prophet is appropriately called a seer. He sees clear and he sees far. Not only has Amos foresight of what is coming; he has insight into what, in certain circumstances, would have come. He is taken as it were behind the scenes, and made a witness of the forging of Heaven"s thunderbolts, to be laid up for use as occasion may require. In this case he is cognizant by spiritual intuition of the preparation of judicial measures which, as circumstances turn out, are never executed.
I ALL HIS CREATURES ARE MINISTERS OF GOD TO DO HIS WILL. The angels are his "hosts ministers of his that do his pleasure. The Assyrian was the rod of his anger. He says, "I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them." He maketh the winds his messengers, the flaming fire his minister. (Psa_104:4) All created things, in fact, are but different elements in a vast ministry, by which he executes his purpose.
1. Judgments are generally brought about by second causes. To this rule there is scarcely an exception. Sometimes it is famine, brought about by drought, or mildew, or locusts. Sometimes it is desolating war, brought about by jealousy, love of power, and greed. Sometimes it is pestilence, the result of causes all within the natural sphere. We know nothing of afflictive judgments coming apart from the interposition of the causes out of which they would naturally arise.
2. Second causes are all in the hands of the First Cause. They do not operate at random. Theirs is action "cooperant to an end." They are adjusted and controlled. They are combined in schemes of order and proportion, nicely fitted to the achievement of their ultimate results. The eye is of the blindest that cannot see how"Behind the dim unknown Standeth God, within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. (Lowell.)
3. Natural cause are prepared and used for a moral end. Manasseh"s captivity leads to his conversion. (2Ch_33:11-13) Israel"s desert discipline cultivates a robustness of national character which was wanting at the Exodus. (Isa_43:21) So a long captivity in heathen Babylon puts an end to the ever-recurring national idolatry. When all God"s measures were executed, he could look on the Hebrews and say, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise." And that is God"s method in all cases. Scripture declares, and experience and observation argue"All discord, harmony not understood: All partial evil, universal good. (Pope.)
II GOD"S AGENTS STRIKE IN THE NICK OF TIME. "He formed locusts in the beginning of the springing up of the second crop." In consequence of the timing of this judgment, it is:
More thorough-going. If the locusts had been sent earlier, there might have been time after they had gone for the second crop to grow. If they had conic later, it might have been already saved. God will not beat the air. He will strike how and when and where the culprit shall feel his blow.
It is more striking. The element of time is the chief index to the miraculous character of many events. They follow immediately on the Divine word or act, and so reveal themselves to be Divine works. The catching of a netful of fishes, or the sudden calming of a storm, or the recovery of a woman from fever, were none of them necessarily miraculous events. It was their occurrence at the Saviour"s word that revealed the Divine agency in them. The coming of the locusts at the prophet"s word, and at the critical time, revealed God"s hand in the event.
It is more effectual. A judgment is likely to serve its disciplinary purpose in proportion as it is real, appropriate, and manifestly of God. The difference between a timely judgment and an untimely one would be the difference between one blessed to its proper effect and one utterly futile.
III THEY MAKE AN END OF THE WORK THEY TAKE IN HAND. In all that God does we should expect thoroughness.
There is the power. All forces and agents are under his control. He can bring them to bear in any quantity and on any point. For him "nothing is too hard," and "all things are possible." When God lifts his hand he can "smite through.
There is the need. Divine judgments never come unneeded, nor till it is evident that nothing else will do. Each is wanted, and the whole of each. If anything less, or anything else, were sent it would be inadequate. The last atom of imagined strength must be destroyed. The last remnant of fancied resource must be swept away. Only when every conceivable prop has been knocked away will men be brought to their knees in absolute submission.
IV THE HAND OF JUDGMENT MAY BE ARRESTED BY THE TOUCH OF PRAYER. "Jehovah repented of this: It shall not take place, saith Jehovah." The pictured events never transpired. The adoption and abandonment of them as retributive measures occurred only in vision. Still, a parallel for this "plastic vision" may be found in God"s actual doings, as in the case of the antediluvians, of Saul, of Hezekiah, of Jerusalem, and of Nineveh. (Gen_6:6 1Sa_15:11 Isa_38:1-5 2Sa_24:16 Jon_3:10) As to this: God does not change his mind, but his method. His immutability arising out of his infinity is clearly revealed. (Num_23:19 1Sa_15:29 Eze_24:14 Mal_3:6) As self-existent and independent he is above the causes of change, whilst as an absolute Being he is above the possibility of it. And the immutability of his Being is true of his purpose. His ends are unchallengeably right and his means resistlessly powerful. He may change his method, and often does. Up to a certain point is mercy. Then it is expostulation, denunciation, and judgment in quick succession. When one method fails to bring about desired results, another and another are resorted to by a God who will not fail. The variation of method is really the expression of an unalterable plan.
This change of method is correlative to a change of circumstances. It is the varying of the one that leads to the varying of the other. New circumstances justify and even call for a new line of action. Yet these circumstances are themselves part of his wider purpose, which therefore remains unchanged and unchangeable.
Such a change of circumstances is often the introduction of the element of prayer. This is a new factor in the problem, and puts another complexion on the ease. Nineveh, sinning with a high hand, God said he would destroy. But Nineveh, praying in dust and ashes, was a different thing. God does not destroy penitent people. This, and not the sparing of them, would imply a change of purpose, and even of nature itself. Intercessory prayer, as here, modifies the circumstances in a different way; but the modification is real, and will be coordinated with a corresponding modification in God"s way.
The necessity of a case is a legitimate plea with God. "How can Jacob stand? for it is small." So David prays, "Pity me, for I am weak." God"s blessings are not only gifts, but mercies. He bestows them freely, and in pity for our need. The extremity of this need is, therefore, its strength as an appeal for God"s help. "My God shall supply all your need, according to his fiches in glory by Christ Jesus.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-6. Revelation and prayer.
hath the Lord God showed unto me," etc. This portion of the Book of Amos (ch. 7 and 8) contains four symbolical visions respecting successive judgments that were to be inflicted on the kingdom of Israel. They were delivered at Bethel, and in all probability at the commencement of the prophet"s ministry. Each of them, as it follows in the series, is more severe than the preceding. The first presented to the mental eye of the prophet a swarm of young locusts, which threatened to cut off all hope of the harvest (vers. 1-3); the second, a fire which effected a universal conflagration (vers. 4-6); the third, a plumb line ready to be applied to mark out the edifices that were to be destroyed (vers. 7-9); and the fourth, a basket of ripe fruit, denoting the near and certain destruction of the kingdom. (Amo_8:1-3) The intervening eight verses which conclude the seventh chapter (vers. 10-17) contain an account of the interruption of Amos by Amaziah the priest of Bethel, whose punishment is specially predicted. In point of style, this portion differs from that of the rest of the book, being almost exclusively historical and dialogistic (Henderson). In the words we have two subjects of thoughtA Divine revelation leading to human prayer, and human prayer leading to a Divine revelation.
I A DIVINE REVELATION LEADING TO HUMAN PRAYER.
1. Here is a Divine revelation. What is the revelation? It is a vision of judgments made to the mind of the prophet. Both judgments are symbolically represented.
(1) Destruction by grasshoppers at the beginning, or the "shooting up of the latter growth after the king"s mowings." The prophet saw the devouring grasshoppers eating up the grass of the land. No agents are too insignificant for the employment of Jehovah. He can inflict terrible judgments by insects. Here was a prospect of famine set before the prophet.
(2) Destruction by fire. "Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part." Perhaps this represents a great drought, the sun"s fire burning up all vegetation. It is said this fire "devoured the great deep." It drank up the pools, the lakes, the rivers. Thus in two symbolical forms is a Divine revelation made to the mind of Amos. Most terrible and alarming is the prospect of his country, thus divinely spread out before him. God makes revelations of his mind to his people. "Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?
2. Here is a human prayer. What is the prayer? Here it is: "O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small." And again, in ver. 5, "O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small." "Forgive." This calamity is brought on by the sin of the nation. Forgive the sin; remove the moral cause of the judgment. "By whom shall Jacob arise?" Or, better, "How can Jacob stand? for he is small." Jacob"s the nation"s weakness is the plea of the prayer for forgiveness. The Israelites had been greatly reduced by internal commotions and hostile invasions, and were now on the point of being attacked by the Assyrians, but purchased their retreat by a payment of a thousand talents of silver. (2Ki_15:19, 2Ki_15:20) The nation was now so weakened that it was unable to stand before another invader. How can Jacob stand? The time has come when men may well ask this question in relation to the Church. How can it stand? The numbers are decreasing, viewed in relation to the growth of the population. By whom shall it arise? Not by statesmen, scientists, ritualists, priests. A new order of men is required to enable the Church to stand. Heaven raise them up!
II HUMAN PRAYER LEADING TO A DIVINE REVELATION. The prophet prays, and the great God makes a new revelation a revelation of mercy. "The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord." "The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God." "Repented," which means merely that he appeared to Amos as if he repented. The Immutable One changeth not. Though we are far enough from holding the absurdity that human prayer effects any alteration in the ordinances of nature or the purposes of the Almighty, we nevertheless hold with a tenacious faith the doctrine that a man gets from God by prayer that which he would not get without it. Indeed, in every department of life man gets from the Almighty, by a certain kind of activity, that which he would never obtain without the effort. A man has a field which he has never tilled, and on which Providence has bestowed no crop for many a long year. He tills it this year, and in autumn God crowns it with his goodness. Another man has no health; for many years he has neglected the conditions of physical vigour, and he is infirm and afflicted. This year he attends rigorously to the laws of his physical well being. He takes the proper exercise, the right food, the pure air, and he feels his infirmities and his pains decrease, and new vigour pulsating through his veins. Another man has never enjoyed the light of Divine knowledge; his soul has been living in the region of indolence; he has neglected all the means of intelligence. He alters his course and sots to work; he reads and thinks, studies God"s holy book, and prays; he feels his nature gradually brightening under the genial rays of truth. Thus everywhere God reveals to man his goodness in connection with his activity, which never comes without human effort. It is so in prayer. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It puts the soul in that angle on which the Divine light falls, in that soil in which its intellectual and moral powers will grow. "Ask, and ye shall receive." "More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats, That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friends? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." (Tennyson.) D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7 O Lord, forgive, I beseech Thee . . .…
Amo_7:1-6
O Lord, forgive, I beseech Thee . . . The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.
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Intercession for pardon prevailing
I. Concerning intercession.
1. This intercession was made by Amos alone. Neither Hosea nor Isaiah, nor any other God-fearers of the time joined in it. To Amos alone the vision appeared, and by him alone the intercession was made.
2. This intercession was made in the behalf of a wicked people. Amos calls them Jacob, but they had renounced the principles of that holy man, and stained their manners with the vilest corruptions. Corruption in manners, the effect of corruption in principles, like a spreading pestilence, infected the whole kingdom.
3. The form of this intercession is a prayer for pardon. Sin is the cause of misery, and misery is the effect and punishment of sin. By pardon sin is taken away, and when the cause is taken away the effect ceases. In going to the throne for deliverance from misery, if we have a true sense of sin, pardon will be our chief concern.
4. This intercession was made in a moment of extremity. In the preceding reigns the kingdom had been mortally wounded, and though under Jeroboam some of its wounds were bound up and healed, others continued bleeding, and terminated in a universal mortification.
5. Importunity in this intercession is tempered with reverence. For the preservation of the house of Israel, the man of God is earnest and fervent in prayer; but his prayer is blended with the reverence that is suitable to Divine majesty and holiness.
6. This intercession is exemplary; an example and pattern to after ages.
II. Concerning the prevailing of this intercession. The Lord repented for this. His meaning is, the Lord accepted his importunity, granted the desire of his heart, and assured him that the miseries, represented under the emblem of the grasshoppers, would not eat up and consume all things. Illustrate the form of words in which this meaning is expressed.
1. The holy writings frequently contain this expression.
2. Changes in the administration of providence, according to the purpose of God, are expressed by these words.
3. These changes of administration encourage intercession, and furnish excitements and motives to repentance. Encouraged by considerations of the grace, mercy, and kindness of the God of Israel, Amos stood and interceded.
III. The sovereign manner in which the Lord was pleased to express and communicate the prevailing of the intercession. It shall not be, saith the Lord.
1. This intimation came immediately from the Holy One, by whom alone pardon of sin and remission of punishment is granted.
2. This intimation was made by the Saviour of Israel, who alone had power to restrain and countermand the destroyers of Israel. The waster is the creature of His power, and the servant of His providence.
3. The intimation came to the individual who had made intercession.
4. This intimation is effective and sovereign. He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.
5. The intimation is solemnly authenticated. Amos heard the words distinctly pronounced, and saith the Lord, solemnly added by the glorious Speaker. This encouraged him to continue interceding, and raised his hope of prevailing.
Inferences.
1. Intercession for a wicked and perverse people is a duty. The Lord allows, requires, and commands it, and in accepting it hath glorified Himself.
2. Supplication for pardon is an essential part of intercession.
3. Through the forbearance and long-suffering of God, some temporal strokes may be mitigated, or removed, upon intercession; while the desolation determined, deserved, and denounced, is making ready and hastening forwards.
4. Intercessors, though friends to their country, are sometimes treated in it as enemies. Toward the restoration of the country Amos contributed more by prayer than Jeroboam did by the sword. A few men who have power with God in prayer are better than chariots of war, and stronger than standing armies. Exhort--
(1) Men who are lively and warm in prayer. Do not faint because prayer doth not always prevail, nor because evidences of acceptance are withheld for a time. Men ought always to pray, and never to faint.
(2) Men who are cold and spiritless in prayer. Deadness of heart in devotion is one of the distempers of our time.
(3) Men who are formalists, who multiply prayers, but never pray from the heart, and with the Spirit. Whatever be your own opinion of these, forms, no petition which is not conceived and uttered by the Spirit, and offered in the name of Christ, comes into His censer, nor goes up before the throne with acceptance.
(4) Men who neglect prayer. Such are enemies to themselves, to their country, to their king, and to their God. (A. Shanks.)
Revelation and prayer
I. A divine revelation leading to human prayer.
1. A Divine revelation. A vision of judgments symbolically represented to the mind of the prophet. Destruction by grasshoppers. Destruction by fire.
2. A human prayer. Forgive. This calamity is brought on by the sin of the nation. Forgive the sin; remove the moral cause of the judgment. By whom shall Jacob arise? Or, better, How can Jacob stand? for he is small. Jacobs--the nations--weakness, is the plea of the prayer for forgiveness. The Israelites had been greatly reduced by repeated invasions on the part of the Assyrian kings, and were now on the point of being attacked by the Assyrians, but purchased their retreat by one thousand talents of silver (2Ki_15:19-20). The nation was now so weakened that it was unable to stand before another invader. How can Jacob stand? The time has come when men may well ask this question in relation to the Church. By whom shall it arise? Not by statesmen, scientists, etc.
II. Human prayer leading to a Divine revelation. The prophet prays, and the great God makes a new revelation of mercy. The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.] Showed] three visions in this ch. Locusts…
CRITICAL NOTES.] Showed] three visions in this ch. Locusts (Amo_7:1-3) the first; “all inward tuitions produced by the Spirit of God, which set forth the primitive judgments of God” [Keil]. Begin.] Time defined, as the springing up of a second crop, and this crop after the king’s mowings. Some take Jehovah as King, the mowing the judgments executed upon Israel. The period is most unfavourable. One crop had been taken and the second threatened. But this danger averted by intercession.
Amo_7:2. Small] Reduced in number and strength, poor in means and hope, unable to stand. Amo_7:4-6—The devouring fire. Contend] with Israel by war, of which fire is a symbol (Eze_38:22); represented as drying up waters (many people, Rev_17:15) and devouring on dry land (Isa_9:1).
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Amo_7:6. For this] as well as threatenings of vision first. Amo_7:7-9—The third vision. Plumb.] applied expressly to Israel. Pass by] i.e. forgive them any more (Pro_19:11; Mic_7:18). God’s patience is exhausted. The prophet intercedes no more.
Amo_7:9. Places] of idol-worship; the royal family and the monarchy to be overthrown.
HOMILETICS
THE SCOURGING LOCUSTS.—Amo_7:1-3
The second half of Amos begins with visions; not mere warnings, but solemn predictions, adapted to the moral condition of the people. The impenitence of Israel is confirmed, their doom is fixed, and the sentence is irrevocable.
I. The judgment prepared. “He formed grasshoppers.”
1. Divine in its origin. God prepared the affliction. The prophet is most emphatic on this point. “Evil in the city” is from the Lord. “He maketh the day dark with night.” But such is our stupidity and ignorance, that we have need continually to be told. We require sensible evidence to show God’s hand in our lot. Affliction comes not from the dust, nor trouble from the ground (Job_5:6).
2. Specific in its character. Locusts are the creatures of God, and perfectly under his commands. Creatures magnificent and minute display his power and execute his design (Joe_1:4).
3. Special in its design. God formed grasshoppers. There was not only power in the act, wisdom in the shape, but purpose in the end for which they were sent. God is said to frame evil against a sinful people (Jer_18:11). These creatures were prepared and specially sent to eat up the grass. In his moral government, Jehovah prepares instruments, specially forms judgments for the correction of his people.
(1) On account of disobedience.
(2) With a design to restore. “Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.”
II. The judgment timed. “In the beginning of the shooting,” &c. It might have been sent earlier and been more severe. The former might have been devoured with the latter growth. There was mercy as well as fitness in the time of affliction. “To everything there is a season,” a fixed time, and a determined purpose. “As exactly and exquisitely suited to your case and mine,” writes one, “every instant, as if it had been appointed and contrived only for that single case and that single moment.” Every dispensation is most fitly chosen. To common observers it may appear untimely, for men see not the judgments prepared. In Israel there might be signs of abundant crops, and some who ridiculed the calamity threatened. Men watch the rising corn, but forget the blight that may blast the harvests. Business may flourish, youth may bloom in beauty and strength, but God may consume the fresh and verdant scene. The messengers may be formed, and only waiting the command of their Creator to destroy the fruit of hand and mind. “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
III. The judgment arrested. “It shall not be, saith the Lord.”
1. By the intercession of the prophet. “Then said I, O Lord God, cease.” The prophet saw God in “the affliction of Joseph,” and, unlike his countrymen, was grieved and interceded with God. How few that are smitten are concerned in the judgments of God! Amos is a type in spirit and practice of all the godly who pray for their kindred and country in public calamity. Our best friends, our true patriots, are those who feel deeply and pray earnestly under Divine chastisement. “And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.”
2. By the mercy of God. “The Lord repented for this;” in mercy heard the prayer and warded off the danger. Whatever be the conduct of men in public distress God alone can take distress away. But if we confess our sins, humble ourselves in petition before him, he will be gracious. If we stand in the breach, the ruin shall not happen. Prayer has often preserved nations, averted judgments, and changed the course of events. God has not only formed calamities, but fitted a place for prayer. He repents of the evil and takes it away. “For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.”
GOD CONTENDING WITH FIRE.—Amo_7:4
If we take this fire literally or metaphorically it indicates the anger of God against his people and the judgments which should consume them.
I. God’s action against men. Man has challenged God, denied his authority and broken his law. Sin begets contention, creates a controversy between God and man (Hos_4:1). God enters into judgment with him; pleads by insignificant creatures and terrible calamities, and executes fierce anger upon all workers of iniquity. Famine, fire, and sword, devour rich and poor, money and health, and consume everything before them (Eze_38:22). “The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. By fire and by sword will the Lord plead with all flesh” (Isa_66:13; Isa_66:16).
II. Men’s obstinacy before God. We do not law or contend with men until we have tried other means. War and law should be the last resource. Judgment is God’s strange work. But when all means have failed to win a people, then he contends with them in severest measures. He will vindicate his cause and character. To strive against him is—
1. Foolish,
2. Guilty, and
3. Vain. Terrible will be the consequence of resistance. “Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree … And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched” (Eze_20:47-48).
THE MEASURING PLUMBLINE.—Amo_7:7-9
In this vision we have the third stage of Divine judgments; God, the builder of the nation, tests and finds it degenerate. He will no longer spare nor seek to reform it Retribution is neither removed nor mitigated by prayer. The day of decision has come, and the kingdom, except a remnant, must be destroyed. In the vision we have the trial and the verdict.
I. The trial presented. “Thus he showed me.” The judgment is pictured and then explained.
1. The nation is Divinely tested. “Behold, I will set a plumbline” God himself stands upon the wall, plumbline in hand, fixed in purpose and exact in procedure. He had built them up, blessed them with holy laws and good rulers, and formed them for his praise and glory. But they were examined, found irregular, and judged fit to be pulled down. The hand which builds our families and estates can destroy them, if we deviate from rectitude. “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.”
2. The nation universally tested. “In the midst,” in the very centre of the kingdom. Inwardly as distinguished from outward judgment; wholly as distinguished from any part. In its religious and civil capacity, in its priesthood and government, God measures a nation. Our worship and conduct are weighed in the balance and found wanting. He condemns in proportion to our guilt. “He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness” (Isa_34:11).
3. The nation justly condemned. “I will not again pass by them.” God had exercised great care and kindness towards Israel, had been their bulwark and salvation: but since neither mercy nor judgment will mend them he will forbear no longer. He built them up in mercy and will ruin them in justice. The works and ways of men are tested by the word and providence of God; if discovered unequal, bending to the right or left, if they can no more be set upright, they will be demolished. All sin is transgression of law. The clearer the law and the greater the grace of the lawgiver, the more severe the punishment of guilt. God is justified when he speaks and clear when he judges (Psa_51:4).
II. The verdict given. “The punishment is specified in its two chief effects—the overthrow of their idolatrous sanctuaries and the extinction of the dynasty of Jeroboam, which was in effect the overthrow of the kingdom. In other words, their whole polity, ecclesiastical and civil, was to be subverted.”
1. The destruction of the idolatrous sanctuaries. The centre and sanctuaries of a nation are its life and worth. If these be rotten or diseased the people will be corrupt. The great names of Isaac and Israel could not protect the high places and temples of the land. The altars at Bethel, Dan, and Gilgal were to be laid waste. If men obey not Jehovah, but sacrifice on their own hills and altars, they must expect the overthrow of their high places. Specious imitations of godly progenitors in Christian worship will not justify, but hasten the punishment of idolatry.
2. The extinction of the royal dynasty. Jeroboam II. died in peace. “The house of Jeroboam” is threatened in its prosperity and splendour. The kings of Israel were idolaters and drew the people from God. The court exerted an evil influence upon the sanctuary and corrupted the people. Its guilt was the greater and its judgment more certain. Princes and people had sinned and must be punished together. The prediction of Samuel came to pass. “If ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.”
3. The dissolution of the whole kingdom. The destruction of the ruling family was the prelude to the ruin of the entire kingdom. The stroke fell upon the family of Jeroboam (2Ki_15:8-10); after that the kingdom decayed daily and speedily came to ruin. All kind of idolatry provokes God, destroys its votaries, and ruins the land in which it is practised (Psa_106:29; Amo_2:4-5.)
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo_7:8. The vision seen and explained. I. It is our duty to attend to what God has revealed.
1. It is worthy of attention—Behold.
2. We have need to be quickened in our attention, even when the message most concerns us and the people. What seest thou? II. In all our attention we have need of Divine aid to explain the revelation. We may see the vision, give an account of it, but cannot understand until God interprets it to our hearts and minds.
Amo_7:7. The plumbline.
1. Applied to the body, which must be kept healthy and erect. It is the work of God, and should be the temple of the Holy Ghost
2. Applied to the soul, which God made upright and should not fall into sin.
3. Applied to the life, which should be regulated by the law of God, the standard of right.
This is an emblem of God’s mercy and justice, who is the Master-builder of the Church. 1. It denotes his mercy, in that he made this Church right and firm like a perpendicular wall, made exactly by line and rule, he had curiously built it, and as carefully defended it.
2. It is an emblem of his justice. He stands upon the wall of his Church, continually trying and examining whether it continue right or not, bearing with its defects, until, like a wall quite bending and belching out, he resolves to throw down all (Isa_30:13. [Hall]. The wall of Israel had been built by God with a plumbline, and now it would be destroyed with a plumbline (cf. 2Ki_21:13; Isa_35:2; Lam_2:8); that is, there was, so to speak, an architectural design and plan in God’s work of destroying Israel, no less than in his former favour to Israel in building him up. God does everything according to measure, number, and weight (Wis_11:20). As one said of old, “The Deity is a perfect Geometrician,” and the plumbline of destruction was to be co-extensive with the plumbline of construction—it was to be total [Wordsworth].
HOMILETICS
THE FIRST THREE VISIONS.—Amo_7:1-9
These visions are closely related and mutually dependent one upon another. They may be classified under three heads. We shall compare them.
I. They are corrective in their design. God chastens whom he loves. Judgments and mercies are sent to discipline our hearts. Some have more judgments than mercies, and others more mercies than judgments. Both are mixed in life and regulated by infinite wisdom and human conduct.
II. They are graduated according to moral condition. Progressive in their series, they display God’s justice in the successive stages of sin. The underlying idea of the first is external visitation; of the second, inward decay by removal of Divine blessings and restraint; of the third, consummation of sin which lays the nation prostrate. Declension in communities and individuals is first punished with outward chastisements. If these fail heavier judgments follow. If judgments and mercies are unheeded, and declension merges into apostasy, nothing remains but destruction. When repeated acts of sin have produced confirmed habits of wickedness, God says, “I will not again pass by them any more.”
III. They are conditional in their issue. In the first and second, judgment is arrested by prayer. The prophet was encouraged in duty and the nation reprieved in sorrow. If we saw sin as rebellion against God, and productive of impending danger, we should be more earnest in prayer that God would forgive and pass by. But “reprieves are not pardons.” Many are spared, but not reclaimed; reduced to straits, but never return to God. They neglect advantages, sin away the day of grace, until prayer does not avail. Total destruction will come upon impenitent sinners. “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight and let them go forth.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Amo_7:1-3. Locusts. God hath armies of insects and little contemptible creatures wherewith to punish disobedient people. He needs not men to destroy us, he hath frogs and flies, lice and locusts, and these shall do it (Exo_10:14; 2Ch_7:13; Psa_78:46). Much of God’s might is seen in these little armies, they all fulfil the word of God’s commands. Let none, then, murmur at second causes, but still look up to the first, lest by fretting at our troubles we double them [Hall].
Amo_7:4-6. Fire. The power of this fire showed it to be a fire of God; it was a precursor of the great conflagration which will consume the world—even the sea itself—at the Great Day (2Pe_3:10). Compare Jer_51:32, where the fire of God burning Babylon is described as burning its lakes and moats [Wordsworth].
“On Prague’s proud arch the fires of ruin glow,
His blood-dyed waters murmuring far below.” [Campbell.]
By whom? The time is come when men will ask this question in relation to the Church. How can it stand? The numbers are decreasing viewed in relation to the growth of the population. By whom shall it arise? Not by statesmen, scientists, ritualists, and priests. A new order of men are required to enable the Church to stand. Heaven raise them up [Dr Thomas]!
“More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of” [Tennyson].
Amo_7:7-9. Judgments. They are all exactly framed as it were by line and measure (Dan_5:27). Justice is essential to God; he may as soon cease to be God, as cease to be just; hence he is called the righteous judge (Gen_18:25), and the just Lord, who will do no iniquity (Zep_3:5). He is just in and of himself, and just in his laws, just in his decrees, just in the execution of those decrees, just in the government of the world, just in his rewards, and just in his judgments; he is not only righteous in some, but in all his ways (Psa_145:17) [Hall].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Amo 7:10-15
Amo 7:10-15
I. There is something very wonderful, and at the same time most natural, in the expansion of mind which a man brought up as Amos was, acquires when he has been raised out of himself and has been made to understand the glory and the guilt of his country. He knew that he was speaking of one who was true and in whom was no lie; he knew that he was testifying against lies; he knew that the whole universe and the consciences of those who heard him, however they might turn away from him or persecute him, were on his side, and were acknowledging his sentence to have issued from the mouth of the Lord Himself.
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II. Amos would not have left his sheepfolds to denounce the idolatries of Israel if he had not felt that men, that his own countrymen, were maintaining a fearful fight against a will which had a right to govern them, and which could alone govern them for their good. He could not have been sustained in the witness which He bore if an ever-brightening revelation of the perfect goodness—of that goodness, active, energetic, converting all powers and influences to its own righteous and gracious purposes—had not accompanied revelations, that became every moment more awful, of the selfishness and disorder to which men were yielding themselves. It is precisely because he has not only history and experience to guide him, but the certainty of an eternal God, present in all the convulsions of society, never ceasing to act upon the individual heart when it is most wrapped in the folds of its pride and selfishness—it is precisely because he finds this to be true, whatever else is false, that he must hope.
F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 155.
References: Amo 8:1.—Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., p. 167. Amo 8:1, Amo 8:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 343. Amo 8:2.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 186. Amo 8:11.—W. Wilkinson, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 205. Amo 9:1.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 217.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Three Visions and an Interruption
Three Visions and an Interruption
1-9. The visions.
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10-17. The interruption.
There are two senses in which the word 'Vision' may be used of one of the forms of Hebrew prophecy. In the first sense a state of mind closely akin to that of a dreamer is intended: 'I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream' (Num_12:6). The prophet falls into a kind of ecstasy, and has no control over the pictures which pass before his mind. Every one will remember the language ascribed to Balaam: 'He saith.. which seeth the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open' (Num_24:4, Num_24:16). In the second sense of the word it is meant that the subject-matter of the preaching was divinely inspired, but the prophet's own mind and will played an important part in throwing this matter into the form of a picture. The visions of Amos belong to the latter class. God's Spirit made the coming destruction of Israel certain to this man. Amos drew, and then explained, the pictures which were emblems of that destruction, the locusts, the devouring flame, the measurement with a plumb-line, the basket of summer fruit, the fall of temple and column.
1. Grasshoppers] RV 'Locusts.' The latter growth may possibly mean the grass which springs in Palestine after the late rains in March-April. We cannot be quite certain whether the king's mowings or 'shearings' are here mentioned. Sheep-shearing in N. Palestine takes place about April. The king's mowings would be a portion of the crops taken to feed his horses.
2. Render, 'And as they were about to make an end of eating.. Who shall raise up Jacob?' The question is equivalent to an exclamation: 'Oh that Jacob might be raised up!'
4. He would not conduct His controversy with words, but with a consuming fire (Isa_66:16).
The great deep] the abyss on which the earth was supposed to rest (Gen_7:11; Psa_24:2). A part] RV 'the land,' the portion appointed to Israel: this, also, the fire was about to consume.
7, 8. Upon a wall] RV 'beside a wall.' The testing of the wall is a symbol of the searching investigation into the people's conduct, which would be followed by a strictly just recompense (2Sa_8:2; 2Ki_21:13; Isa_34:11; Jer_1:11-12; Lam_2:8).
9. The high places of Isaac] i.e. Beersheba (Amo_5:5), which was especially associated with Isaac (Gen_27:23; Gen_28:10).
10, 11. Amaziah, being a royal official, intervenes as soon as the king's name is brought in (Amo_7:9). He sends a message to Jeroboam II at Samaria (2Ki_14:23), charging the prophet with stirring up sedition at the very centre of the national life. And he exaggerates. Amos had not said that the king himself should be killed.
12, 13. How contemptuous Amaziah is! His words literally are: 'Seer, go, flee thee away,' etc. There is a proverbial saying, 'Eat your pudding, slave, and hold your tongue.'
The king's chapel] RV 'The king's sanctuary': his 'Chapel Royal.' The king's court] RV 'a royal house': one of his residences (Dan_4:30).
14. We catch the emphasis if we render: 'No prophet am I, and no son of a prophet am I.' The latter expression may mean that he had not been trained in one of the schools for prophets (1Sa_19:24; 2Ki_4:38; 2Ki_9:1), but it is better to understand it as referring to the Oriental custom of the son following his father's occupation. A gatherer of sycomore fruit] RV 'A dresser of sycomore trees.' The sycomore fig required pinching or scraping to bring it to ripeness. It was not thought much of in Palestine.
15. Cp. 2Sa_7:8; 1Ki_19:19; Psa_78:70-71; Gal_1:1.
16. Thou sayest] in opposition to what the Lord said (Amo_7:17). Drop not thy word] don't let it drip, drip, drip, in imbecile and wearisome fashion (Mic_2:6, Mic_2:11; Eze_21:2, Eze_21:7).
17. An harlot] violated by the victorious soldiers. The greatest disaster that can befall an Eastern is to leave no son to continue his name. The ample domain of the wealthy priest would be divided into small properties for the new settlers (Jer_6:2; Mic_2:4). A polluted land] or, 'a land that is unclean' (RV), is one where Jehovah, not being its recognised lord, could not be legitimately worshipped (1Sa_26:19; 2Ki_5:17; Hos_9:3-5; Eze_4:13).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv3, 8, 9 (See Scofield "Zec 8:14").
repented
(See Scofield "Zec 8:14").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Three Visions and the Opposition Against Amos
III. THE FIVE VISIONS OF THE PROPHET
CHAPTER 7
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Three Visions and the Opposition Against Amos
1. The vision of locusts (Amo 7:1-3)
2. The vision concerning the fire (Amo 7:4-6)
3. The vision of the plumbline (Amo 7:7-9)
4. Opposition against Amos (Amo 7:10-17)
Amo 7:1-3. In the first vision Amos saw how the Lord prepared locusts (not grasshoppers as in the A.V. They started in with their destructive work, just as they did in the day of Joel. Then Amos interceded in behalf of the sinful nation, “O Lord, GOD, forgive, I beseech Thee, by whom shall Jacob rise for he is small?” He confessed and pleaded forgiveness, acknowledging their helplessness. With such a spirit the Lord is well pleased and the praying prophet received the answer from the Lord, “It shall not be, saith the LORD.”
Amo 7:4-6. He beheld a furious fire sweeping everything before itself so that it even devoured the great deep, the floods of water. This represents a more severe judgment than the previous one. This judgment also was kept back by the intercession of the prophet. But when the time came for judgment by the Assyrian, symbolized by the locusts and the fire, no intercession could change it. Tiglath-Pileser and Shalamaneser finally made an end of the sinful ten tribe kingdom.
Amo 7:7-9. He saw the Lord standing upon a wall with the plumbline to see if the wall was straight. The test by God’s Word and God’s holy law shows that all is crooked and must be condemned. Therefore, the announcement, “I shall pass by it no more. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” The false worship and the monarchy in Israel will be completely swept away by the judgment.
Amo 7:10-17. This is an interesting and instructive occurrence. Amaziah, the apostate priest at Bethel, who had charge of the idol worship, accused the prophet falsely before King Jeroboam. It was a religious political accusation. Thus the enemy accused Jeremiah also Jer 37:14-21; he did the same with our Lord and His apostles. At the same time Amaziah, the priest, sent an insulting message to Amos, saying, “Seer, go and flee into the land of Judah, and eat there thy bread; there thou mayest prophesy.” He tried to intimidate him, urging him to return to Tekoa in Judah where he came from. He received a courageous answer from the herdman-prophet. “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. The LORD took me from following the flock, He said unto me, Go and prophecy to My people Israel.”
The insinuation was that Amos prophesied for the sake of a living. Amos refutes the false charge and then announced the doom of the false priest and the doom of his family.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Visions of the Grasshoppers, of the Fire, and…
The Visions of the Grasshoppers, of the Fire, and of the Plumb-Line.
v. 1. Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, in visions and pictures shown by the Spirit of God, and, behold, He formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, of the second crop of the season; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings, the first crop, apparently, belonging to the king as a part of the nation’s revenue. The time of the grasshoppers’ coming, therefore, was very unfortunate, since the first crop had been delivered as the law required, and the second crop was bound to be ruined.
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v. 2. And it came to pass that, "when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, all the plants which came up at that time, in the rest of the season, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech Thee; by whom shall Jacob, the northern kingdom, arise? maintain his ground, not be annihilated altogether. For he is small, even now reduced in numbers and strength.
v. 3. The Lord repented for this. It shall not be, saith the Lord, He was willing to spare the people and the land upon the intercession of the’ prophet.
v. 4. Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, in a second vision; and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, that is, He directed that the punishment was to be made by fire, and it devoured the great deep, the great ocean itself, and did eat up a part, the heritage of Jehovah, which is Israel. It was a picture of the Lord’s devouring anger directed against His own people.
v. 5. Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech Thee; by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small, the prophet thus once more interceding in behalf of his sinful nation.
v. 6. The Lord repented for this. This also shall not be, saith the Lord God, as little as the punishment of the first vision.
v. 7. Thus He showed me, in a third vision; and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, one which was built upright and according to all the rules of the craft, with a plumb-line in His hand.
v. 8. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? the purpose of the question being to impress the importance of the vision upon the prophet’s mind. And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of My people Israel, the object, in this case, like in 2Ki 21:13; Isa 34:11, being to tear down a building. I will not again pass by them any more, He was determined not to show lenience any longer;
v. 9. and the high places of Isaac, in this case used of the northern kingdom, shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel, the various places devoted to idolatrous purposes, shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam, in this instance representing the entire kingdom and royal family, with the sword. Thus the destruction of the kingdom, the dissolution of the nation, was definitely foretold, and the prophet did not dare to intercede any more in behalf of his people.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 7, 9 Look ... look
Look ... look
The writer is telling the reader that he is about to say something surprising. Your language may have a way of doing this.
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locust
See how you translated this in Amos 4:9.
after the king's harvest
"after the king takes his share from the harvest"
please forgive
The words "your people" or "us" are understood. AT: "please forgive your people" or "please forgive us" (See: Ellipsis)
how will Jacob survive? For he is so small.
Here "Jacob" represents his descendants the Israelites. AT: "how will we Israelites survive? We are so small and weak!" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Lord Yahweh
king
harvest
forgive
Jacob
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 7:1–9:10 This section contains five visions. It is helpful…
7:1–9:10 This section contains five visions. It is helpful to compare the progression of these five visions with the judgments listed in 4:6-11 (famine, drought, crop devastation, plagues, destruction).
7:1-6 The first two visions set up a mood of hopeful expectancy. God calls for judgment but then revokes it at the prophet’s intercession.
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7:1 Locusts (see 4:9) were one of the plagues brought upon Egypt (Exod 10:4). Great swarms of locusts periodically invaded these lands, typically in times of drought. • king’s share: The first harvest went to the king as taxes, whereas the later harvest of the main crop fed the farmer and his family. However, if locusts devoured this crop, starvation would follow.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.