Read Amos
7-9 & Revelation
7
To discover:
As you read consider how
God’s mercy is evident.
To ponder:
Chapter
7 begins affirming God’s judgements can be restrained. First, in a vision Amos
sees him preparing a swarm of locusts to strip the second crop at harvest,
after the king seems to have taken the first as some form of tax. This would
have left the people with nothing. The sense is that in his vision Amos sees
the locusts strip the land, causing him to cry out for God to forgive Jacob (Israel ),
fearing the people would not survive if this actually happened as they are so
small a nation. And God relents. Second, he sees God calling for a supernatural
sort of fire to devour the land and even dry up the sea. Again, Amos cries for
God to stop, and he relents. Nevertheless, in what follows we learn that Jacob
will still be judged. A plumb line is a weight hung on a string that was used
to ensure walls were vertical when built. By saying he was setting a plumb line
against Israel ,
God is saying he is measuring them for uprightness. And it is clear he finds
them lacking as he declares he will destroy their high places and sanctuaries
of worship, and bring his own sword against the kingly house. The point of the
whole section is that despite this, the judgement could be a lot worse (7v1-9).
We should remember that in experiencing some degree of good in life, none
actually get what their sins deserve.
Just as we saw happened to Jeremiah,
we then read of a priest telling the king (Jereboam) that Amos is conspiring
against him by saying he will die and the people be exiled. The priest also
told Amos to return to Judah and not prophesy at Bethel, which was the place of
the temple for the northern kingdom – created as an alternative to the rightful
one in Jerusalem (the south). Amos responds by outlining his call from being a
shepherd and carer of trees. His point must be that this proves he is a true
prophet as there was nothing that disposed him to taking on this role. He then
proclaims God’s word in response to the priest who had told him not to preach
against Israel .
It is a prediction of what Assyria ’s oppression would
mean for him: His wife would become a prostitute, his children be killed by the
sword, the land divided, he himself die in a pagan country, and Israel
suffer exile. It’s a terrible future, but reflects the seriousness of opposing
those who preach God’s word (7v10-17).
Amos now sees a basket of ripe fruit
that signifies Israel
is ripe for being picked in judgement. God’s declaration that he will spare
them no longer once again reminds us that he has been immensely patient with
them in not acting sooner. His outline of what “that day” will bring is
sobering: The songs of the temple will become wails, followed by bodies
everywhere and silence. God then addresses those who oppress the poor in the
land, who long for the end of their religious feasts so they can get back to
dishonestly making money, enslaving the poor, and selling bad products. These
are the key sins Amos has opposed. And to those who commit them, God swears by Israel ’s
pride (probably the land - her greatest possession) that he will never forget
what they’ve done. This is a way of saying his judgement is certain. He
therefore speaks of the land itself trembling, the sky being darkened, the
singing at religious feats becoming a time of mourning as for an only son –
implying a more intense grief than when one has numerous children (8v1-10).
Here we have to recall the earthquake and darkness, when God’s only son died
upon the cross. The implication is that there he experienced this punishment so
that those who come to him would not have to.
God continues by promising a famine
of the word of God, when people would wander in all directions seeking it but
not finding it. This implies 8v13 is speaking of Israel ’s
young men and women thirsting for God’s word. And without it, they will follow
the false gods of Samaria , Dan and Beersheba ,
and so fall, never to rise again (8v11-14). In one sense this lack of the word
of God is the most serious judgement, because it means people are not called to
repentance, but handed over to believe whatever false views are being
propounded. This was fulfilled in some sense when prophecy ceased from the time
of Malachi to that of John the Baptist. But it applies more broadly too. When
God removes faithful evangelists or Bible teachers from his church, the
implication is that it may be an act of judgement on that church and the nation
it inhabits.
Chapter 9 begins with Amos actually
seeing the Lord standing in a temple. This implies some human-like form –
perhaps that of God the Son. Because Amos has been speaking predominantly to
the northern kingdom (7v12-13), this probably refers to the northern temple in Bethel .
The point is that the Lord is supervising its destruction. He commands it be
brought down on the heads of the people, and declares that he will kill with
the sword any that survive – stressing in vivid language that this will be
inescapable wherever they seek to hide, and even if they go into exile. In
stating he will fix his eyes on them for evil not good, he means for “harm” as
a fitting punishment, rather than for evil per se, as God never does what is
wrong (9v1-4).
Amos then declares that “the Lord”
in the temple is the “LORD Almighty,” using language to stress his power and
majesty as creator (9v5, see 8v8). This should bring awe – but also conviction
that he can and will do just as he says. And so he now speaks of the Israelites
being to him no different than the pagan nations, who he also brought into
their various lands. This comparison would have been a shock, implying that Israel
had lost her privileged relationship with God because of her sin. Indeed, God
declares the north to be a sinful kingdom which he will utterly destroy,
despite the fact that the people say disaster will never overtake them.
However, he qualifies this by saying he will not destroy all Jacob, presumably
as he will keep some descendents alive in the south (Judea ).
This is probably the meaning of the sieve illustration. As the nation is sieved
by the nations, the imperfect pebbles (sinners) would be separated from the
grain (repentant). This took place as the righteous from the north travelled to
the south, and reflects how times of trial often reveal those with genuine
faith (see 1 Pet 1v7).
Compacting this destruction with
God’s future for his people as the other prophets do, Amos ends with hope in
Christ. God will restore David’s fallen tent (kingdom), and it will possess the
land of Edom (Israel ’s
great enemy) and all nations, which bear God’s name because they are ultimately
his. The reference to a “remnant” from Edom may imply the inclusion of some of
its people in God’s kingdom. Whatever the case, Israel’s land will so flourish
that it is pictured with harvesters overtaking those planting, and mountains
dripping with wine from the vineyards! The sense is that God will bring his
people from exile to rebuild and be replanted, never to be uprooted again, but
to enjoy an existence of abundance, peace and joy (9v11-15, esp, v14). We share
in this future.
Praying
it home:
Praise God for his
mercy in providing evangelists and preachers. Pray that you would heed and
never oppose those who faithfully teach the scriptures.
Thinking
further:
None today.
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