Amos 7:1-6
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.
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