B13-devotions

Amos 7:1-9

Devotions for Friday 2nd July

Amos’ series of damning prophecies against Israel suddenly comes to a stop, and he reports three visions in which the Lord sets out His complaint against Israel

Throughout Amos we read a consistent message about the sins of Israel and her coming judgment by war, and Amos uses a series of different methods to open our eyes to its details. The first two chapters are a round of evocative prophecies that focus eventually on Israel’s sins. Chapter three pronounces God’s judgement and sets out some evidence, and chapter four continues with a series of pronouncements revealing God’s unrequited love for Israel. Chapter five contains a dramatic lament bewailing Israel’s death, and chapter six follows with a tragic description of the dying nation. The prophecy now reaches its climax in chapter seven with this series of summary visions.

Today’s reading contains three visions, with the first two leading up to the third. This is interesting because Amos clearly uses numbers in a special way, for example, in chapters 1 and 2, he takes a ‘perfect’ number (3 or 7), and adds one more; he gives seven prophecies against the nations before rounding on Israel in the eighth (2:6-16), and he says in each ‘for three sins ... and for four ...’ (1:3,6,9 etc.). In general, this suggests that we need to look beyond a perfect number of prophecies if we want to know Amos’ full message, and here in chapter seven, we have three visions, so is there a fourth? Astonishingly, if we read ahead in Amos, we will find a fourth vision of identical structure at the beginning of chapter 8!

All this means that although each of the visions in today’s reading are important, the third is not the true climax of the sequence. It is a stunning vision, but it is an important ‘lead-in’ to the fourth vision found in chapter 8, which we will study in a few day’s time.

The first vision describes a swarm of locusts coming after the first cutting of feed for the King’s cattle in early summer, stripping the land (7:2) and leaving no grazing for cattle. Amos then takes the role of a prophet or priest who intercedes for the people in their peril (7:2), and God answers by averting the plague. This vision reflects accurately what people of the day would have expected of their relationship with God and of their priests and prophets.

The second vision is similar, except that the catastrophe is judgement by fire. It describes a cataclysmic drying up of sea (the ‘deep’) and land (7:4), which may be a poetic picture of Israel’s piercing hot south wind that could create havoc with crops. Amos intercedes for the people again and emphases Jacob’s inability to handle such catastrophes, ‘he is so small’ (7:5), and the Lord accepts Amos’ pleas yet again (7:6) and holds back the judgement.

The third vision is different. Amos sees a plumb line, used then as now to measure a straight vertical line. The Lord then announces that He will use the plumb line against Israel as a measure of justice and righteousness. But Israel no longer measures up to God’s standards, and will therefore be destroyed by invasion (7:8).

Together, these three visions reveal Amos’ message about God’s absolute justice and His consequent condemnation of Israel. Together with his famous word-picture, ‘let justice surge down like water, and righteousness like a never-failing stream’ (5:24), this third vision is often presented as the heart of Amos’ message. But although this is undoubtedly a climax, we should be careful. As a whole, Amos’ prophecy bemoans every aspect of a broken relationship with God, from injustice to religious deviance. We must also bear in mind that after the third prophecy there is a fourth, and we should hold on our opinion of the third until we have read it.

Lastly, it is worth thinking about when Amos had these visions. Did he see them in the middle of his stressful visit to Bethel, or had they been seen earlier? We cannot know for sure, but it is unlikely that God would give these visions merely to reinforce a message Amos already knew. It is far more likely that these visions were God’s way of impressing his Word on Amos before he arrived at Bethel, perhaps when he was working as a shepherd, back home in Tekoa.

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: he formed locusts around the time the late growth of grass began to grow (the late growth after the king's mowings). 2 When they had completely stripped all the grass in the land, I said, ‘O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!’ 3 The Lord changed His mind about this; ‘It shall not be,’ said the Lord.

4 This is what the Lord God showed me: He was calling for a judgement by fire, and it dried up the great deep and was consuming the land. 5 Then I said, ‘O Lord God, please stop! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!’ 6 The Lord changed His mind about this; ‘This also shall not be,’ said the Lord God.

7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. 8 The Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’ I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said, ‘Look, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not pass them by again. 9 The high places of Isaac will be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be destroyed, and I will attack the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’

O God my Father, I worship You and praise You. Help me I pray when my life does not make sense and nothing appears to work for good. Make me aware of Your presence and touch me with Your love, and give me the faith to bear the heartaches of life as well as enjoy its thrills. So may I see a glimpse of Your eternal love, and be encouraged to stand firm in faith throughout my life; AMEN

Prayer ideas

Consider reading a book about the life of a great Christian, and let the Lord use this to inspire your prayers

On-going prayers

Pray for forgiveness. Pray for forgiveness for all that you have done wrong in the last 24 hours. Submit all to Him, repent and wait for His forgiveness
Give thanks for God’s healing power and the many ways this is shown
Pray about the space industry; pray that space flight will be used for the good of all

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