Amos 7-9

 Amos 7

Amos 7:1-6 Twice YHWH shows Amos a judgment on Israel. Amos prays for mercy, and the Lord relents.

• Amos 7:1-3 A devastating plague of locusts will destroy crops at harvest time, like the eighth plague on Egypt. (Exodus 10:1-20) Except that these locusts would be after the king’s share of the crop was harvested. So it is the people who would suffer, since it was earlier revealed that the rich showed no consideration for the poor. The Lord had compassion on the descendants of Jacob.
• Amos 7:4-6 Judgment by fire would dry up deep waters and destroy the land, like Sodom and Gomorrah. ((Genesis 19:24-25) Again the Lord showed compassion for Jacob. When Abraham interceded for the righteous people of the cities, God could not find even ten such on inspection, so they were destroyed. (Genesis 18:23-32; 19:4-5, 29) Although Amos did not frame his plea for mercy based on finding righteous people in Israel, there must have still been hope for repentance.

Amos 7:7-9 The Lord showed Amos a wall built true to plumb, and a plumb line to show that. He is now going to use the plumb line (His standards of righteousness) to show that the people are not morally upright, and that the kingdom they have built will therefore collapse, under its own crookedness. This judgment is final. He later cited this in His judgment of Manasseh, using the same standard that He had earlier applied to Israel, on Judah. (2 Kings 21:13) Shortly after Amos, Isaiah used the same language to describe God’s judgment of Israel, Judah, and Edom. (Isaiah 28:17, 34:11) In this case, the places of false worship will be destroyed, and Jeroboam II’s house would be wiped out.

Amos 7:10-13 Amaziah the priest of Bethel told Jeroboam II, the king, about Amos’ prophecy. Presumably this was because Jeroboam had appointed him, and he was doing his political duty. He called it a conspiracy against Jeroboam, and said that the land could not bear this prophecy. No indication if Jeroboam responded or directed him to, but Amaziah then told Amos to shut up. Moses had warned the people to pay attention when God sent a prophet, which Amaziah will learn the hard way. (Deuteronomy 18:19-20)

Amos 7:14-17 Amos replied to Amaziah. The judgment on him and his family would be specific and personal, dishonor and death on those he loved. He personally would die far from home. (Deuteronomy 18:19-20) Moses had given emphasis to discerning whether a prophet was genuine or a false prophet. However, God simply said to ignore false prophets. Discernment is  challenging in this type of circumstance. But that is probably why Moses said to ignore them, not to tell them to be shut up. Different people have different levels of discernment.

Amos 8

Amos 8:1-2 A basket of figs or summer fruit symbolize the harvest of sin that Israel has sowed. Fruit must be reaped at harvest time.

Amos 8:3-7 A summary of what has gone wrong in Israel. The needy and poor are oppressed. Peoples’ hearts are so focused on business that they can hardly wait for the Sabbath to be over so they can work. Then they cheat their customers. The Lord who identifies Himself with Jacob remembers.

Amos 8:8-10 Remember what happened to Egypt when they oppressed the Israelites. The day will be turned into darkness, like the ninth plague. (Exodus 10:21-29) It will be a time of mourning, like the tenth plague, death of the firstborn son. (Exodus 12:29-30) The ultimate price for rescue would, of course, be paid in Jesus’ death, God’s uniquely begotten Son, about 600 years in the future. It got dark then as well. (Matthew 27:45)

Amos 8:11-14 Will people no longer hear the word of the Lord because He stops speaking, as in the 400 years between Malachi and John the Baptist, or because they stopped listening to His prophets and no longer recognized His voice? The last two verses seem to suggest the latter - they turned to false gods and no longer were able to hear or recognize the one true God when He spoke.

Amos 9

Amos 9:1-4 A continuation of the judgment pronounced at the end of chapter 8. There will be no escapees from His punishment, the sentence was passed and will be executed. Neither land, sea, or oceans can hide those God has judged.

Amos 9:5-6 In this description of YHWH, His overarching power is described in terms of things we can relate to  - rivers, palaces, oceans, continents. What we cannot grasp is His transcendence. In the spiritual realm which is His true abode are wonders we cannot comprehend.  (2 Corinthians 12:4) He tells us His name.

Amos 9:7-10 The Lord relocates tribes and destroys them according to His sovereign standards. Although He chose Israel to be His people, He will still deal with them to judge sin, even though He has scattered them in the diaspora. The nation of Israel was to be politically ended, but the people of Israel will continue to exist, the survivors of His judgment, as a recognizable group. 

Amos 9:11-15 One day, Israel will return to their land and be blessed by God again. This passage was quoted by the apostle James at the council of Jerusalem.  The context was the debate about imposing circumcision and all of the detailed rules of the Mosaic Law on gentiles who believed in Christ. (Acts 15:16-17) The messianic promise of Amos would be fulfilled in Jesus, souls would be harvested for Him, the new wine of Holy Spirit will flow, and peoples’ spiritual lives will flourish. While physical Israel was once again uprooted from Palestine in 70 AD, not to return until 1948, the church of Jesus Christ will endure forever. As James understood (although Amos probably did not), this church will consist mostly of gentiles.

It is beyond our limited understanding why God chose to have the Jews struggle with the Law without the Holy Spirit, when He knew they would fail, and thereby suffer. Probably mankind’s free will and God’s transcendent grace play into this mystery. It is sad that beginning with Adam, humans have chosen sin over obedience, and God clearly grieves over this. But it is clear that we need the indwelling Holy Spirit to live otherwise, to enjoy the incredible blessings God has prepared for His people. (Numbers 11:29)