Amos 7:1-9--Warning Visions

Amos 7:1-9
English Standard Version

Warning Visions
7 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. 2 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!”
3 The LORD relented concerning this:
    “It shall not be,” said the LORD.

4 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. 5 Then I said,

“O Lord GOD, please cease!
    How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
6 The LORD relented concerning this:
    “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

7 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. 8 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;
9 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.”

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Amos sees a vision of a day coming when l plague of locusts will come upon the Land.  He gives the timeframe of this plague as sometime after the king had taken his tithe of the firstfruits, and later growth is just beginning to sprout (anything that would have been harvested might be protected from the locusts, and anything which did not yet sprout would be safe too, but it seems as if nearly all of the harvest will be vulnerable).  Amos cries out to the LORD to forgive the people and not let this vision come to pass, because they could not survive such a judgment, and the LORD relents and says "It shall not be."

Then the LORD gives Amos another vision of a judgment by fire.  The "great deep" (the seas) were dried up and the land was being eaten up by this consuming fire.  Amos also cried out for the LORD to forgive and save the people from this judgment because he knew they could not survive this either.  The LORD also relented of this judgment.

Then the LORD showed Amos that He was going to destroy all the high places, sanctuaries to the idols, and false prophets and priests and priestesses.  He will make war with the house of Jeroboam (the king of the northern kingdom of Israel at this time), and they will cease to exist as a nation.  Amos did not ask for the LORD to relent, and He did not say He would, for this is exactly what He promised would happen.  The northern kingdom of Israel would not like this prophesy, as we'll see next time, and they would blame Amos for it, but Amos did not invent these words.  He simply spoke the words that the LORD put in his mouth.