Amos 7-8:3
Notes
Transcript
Visions
Visions
We have begun the second half - even though it’s mosty the end of the book it’s our second part to Amos where we cover what God Shows to Amos
Jumping right in
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord God, please forgive!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
The Lord relented concerning this:
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
Some real technical terms about the timing of what Amos is shown… the latter growth after the king’s mowings… basically our late March into April time period. This would be the most devastating time period for there to be a locust swarm. So the response of Amos is a pattern we see many times in the Bible. Abraham with Sodom pleading with God to spare the righteous, Moses with God before Israel who has failed and rejected God so they live, Joshua after the sin of Israel and he falls on his face before the Ark.
Our next vision in verses 4-6
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said,
“O Lord God, please cease!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
The Lord relented concerning this:
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
This judgement by fire also destroys the crops like the first vision did with locusts but this one also burns up the “great deep” which is a term used for the deep parts below the earth you can draw up water from. If your deepest wells dry up that’s a problem far worse than not growing any crops that year. It’s like that rule of 3s, 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. Those are the 3 general 3s of survival, didn’t think you’d get a survival lesson snuck in tonight did you?
And we see the same thing happen again where Amos intercedes and God relents.
What else do we see? Is this going to escalate more?
This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them;
the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Oh, it looks like we’re changing things up Amos doesn’t see destruction and respond, instead God starts asking him the questions. What is a plumb line? Why does someone use one? So what happens if there is no plumb line? When a wall is build crooked will it do it’s job or fall over? What is the remedy if it’s crooked? So God sets a standard before the people (through Amos and the prophets) they fail, it’s obvious the wall, the people, have to be destroyed and remade. Specifically the destruction will be on the high places, which is where the pagan shrines were all at, and the sanctuaries, which is where Israel defiles itself in worship of other gods.
The house of Jeroboam will be conquered. This judgment is just a reality, it can’t be salvaged it must be destroyed like a wall that’s out of plumb.
There is no intercession from Amos or relent from God. We also know from history not long after this they’re totally wiped out or captured by Assyria.
Next vision, yes moving on no relenting, oh wait we have a brief interruption. These messages may be hitting a little too close to home.
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,
“ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’ ”
And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
“You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore thus says the Lord:
“ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”
So this priest, likely THE priest of Bethel who is complicit in the sin of the people, lured the people into their idolatry sends off a letter to the king. He makes one critical mistake and assumes Amos is like himself, just a man who is likely using religion for his own political gain. He makes out that Amos’ words are treason and politically motivated in some way.
Amos comes back with his non-credentials. He’s not a professional religious guy. He’s been called by God to speak the word of God. That’s important. Then he gives God’s judgment of this Amaziah… and wow that’s harsh but again this isn’t Amos’s decision or judgment it’s God’s and that’s made clear here in the text.