Amos 7
Summary for Amos 7:1-9:10: 7:1–9:10 a This section contains five visions. It is helpful to compare the progression of these five visions with the judgments listed in 4:6-11 b (famine, drought, crop devastation, plagues, destruction).Summary for Amos 7:1-6: 7:1-6 c The first two visions set up a mood of hopeful expectancy. God calls for judgment but then revokes it at the prophet’s intercession. 7:1 d Locusts (see 4:9 e) were one of the plagues brought upon Egypt (Exod 10:4 f). 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.
7:2 g Israel is so small: The population base of the kingdom was not large enough to survive such radical depletion.
Summary for Amos 7:3-6: 7:3-6 h The Lord relented twice in response to Amos’s intercession.
7:4 i This fire symbolizes oppressive heat and drought.
• depths of the sea: Although the Hebrew word properly indicates the sea, Amos probably did not suppose that the Mediterranean would disappear. More likely, this is a poetic reference to large bodies of fresh water (such as the Kinnereth Sea/Sea of Galilee) that Israel could use to irrigate its fields.
Summary for Amos 7:7-9: 7:7-9 j This vision begins like the previous two (7:2-3 k, 4-6 l), but this time the Lord allows no intercession. The abrupt shift in outcome contributed to the power of Amos’s message.
7:8 m The Hebrew word translated plumb line (Hebrew ’anak) is similar to the word for groaning (’anakhah, see Isa 35:10 n; Lam 1:22 o), alluding to great suffering when God would hold Israel accountable.
7:9 p pagan shrines ... temples: Every vestige of the apostate Israelite religion, from the common high places to the royal shrine at Bethel, would be destroyed.
• of your ancestors (literally of Isaac): Isaac stands for Israel’s ancestors, the fathers of the nation.
• dynasty of King Jeroboam: Jeroboam II died of natural causes (2 Kgs 14:29 q), but the murder of his son and successor, Zechariah, after a reign of less than a year (2 Kgs 15:8-10 r; see 2 Kgs 10:28-31 s), initiated instability in Israel’s government that it never overcame (2 Kgs 15:10-31 t).
Summary for Amos 7:10-17: 7:10-17 u This section graphically depicts the corruption of the priesthood, reinforcing the point of the visions on either side of it, that judgment is inescapable.
7:11 v Amaziah misinterpreted Amos’s words as a threat on Jeroboam’s life. Amos was calling the people to repentance, not sedition.
7:12 w Go on back to ... Judah, and earn your living by prophesying: Amaziah assumed that the supposedly backward people of Judah would appreciate Amos’s words, and that Amos was looking to be paid for his preaching.
7:13 x king’s sanctuary: According to Amaziah, the urbane and sophisticated Israelites did not appreciate the prophet. Amaziah’s loyalties were clearly to the throne; he wanted to keep the king happy in order to keep his job.
7:14 y Amos was not a professional prophet or even a disciple in training. He had no financial incentive to leave his livelihood in order to prophesy.
• shepherd: The Hebrew word here is not the same as in 1:1 z and is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. It is related to a word for cattle, suggesting that Amos may have raised cattle as a breeder or herder (see Amos Book Introduction, “The Prophet Amos”).
• The sycamore-fig was gathered for cattle feed.
7:15 aa Amos was not motivated by financial gain. Instead, the Lord’s voice (see 1:2 ab; 3:8 ac) moved Amos to prophesy.
7:16 ad against my people (literally against the house of Isaac): Isaac represents all Israel (see also study note on 7:9; cp. 5:6 ae, 15 af; 6:6 ag).
7:17 ah Because Amaziah had tried to silence Amos (7:12-13 ai), the Lord confronted Amaziah with a grim prophecy of what his life would be like after the Assyrian siege.
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