Amos 7

The Explanation

Amos was not a preacher's son. He was not trained at any school for prophets. He looked after sheep and he grew figs on sycamore trees, which is hot, dusty, ordinary work. Then God spoke to him and said: go, tell my people Israel what I say. So this farmer left his flock and walked north, into a country where the king lived in a palace and the priests wore fine clothes.

In this chapter Amos sees three pictures, like short films God plays in his head.

First he sees locusts. Not a few, but a swarm. They arrive exactly when the second crop is coming up, the crop that has to feed people through the year. The insects eat the grass of the land bare. Amos does not stay quiet. He shouts: "Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small." Jacob is another name for Israel, his people. Amos means: they will never survive this. And God listens. The text says simply: "Yahweh relented concerning this."

Then a second picture: fire. Fire so hot that it dries up even the deep waters under the earth. Again Amos begs: "Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you!" And again God stops.

The third picture is different. God stands next to a wall with a plumb line in his hand. A plumb line is a piece of string with a weight on the end. Builders let it hang and it always shows straight down, dead straight, because gravity does not lie. You hold it against a wall to see whether the wall is crooked. God says he will hold that line up in the middle of his people. And this time Amos does not beg. Something has been measured, and there is nothing left to argue about. God says the temples and altars where Israel worships will be broken down, and he will rise against the family of King Jeroboam.

That is when the trouble starts. Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sends a message to the king: Amos is plotting against you, the land cannot stand all his words. Then he turns to Amos and tells him to get lost: go back south to Judah, earn your bread there, do your prophesying there, but not here, "for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!"

Amos does not back down. He says, in effect: I never wanted this job. I was a herdsman and a fig farmer. God took me from behind the flock and sent me. And then he speaks a terrible word over Amaziah's own family and land, and repeats that Israel will be carried away out of its own country.

What Does This Mean?

Two things stand right next to each other here, and the Bible does not soften either one.

The first is that God can be moved. Twice Amos prays, and twice God pulls back a disaster. That is astonishing. It means prayer is not just talking into the air. When Amos says "he is small," God hears it.

The second is that this cannot go on forever. The plumb line is not cruel, it is honest. Israel had been building crooked for years: rich people trampling poor people, worship that looked impressive and meant nothing. A crooked wall does not become straight because everyone politely says nothing. Eventually someone has to hold up the line.

And notice what Amaziah does when the line comes out. He does not ask whether Amos is right. He says: not here, this is the king's place. That is a way of saying, God is welcome as long as he agrees with us.

I will be honest with you: verse 17 is hard to read. What Amos says will happen to Amaziah's wife and children is dreadful, and the text does not explain it or apologise for it. I do not have a tidy answer for that. What I do notice is that the disaster Amos describes is what happens when a whole country is invaded, and that Amos himself hated this message enough to beg God twice to hold it back.

The Common Thread

Amos stands between God and the people and pleads: forgive, I beg you. He does not defend Israel by saying they are good. His only argument is that they are small and would not survive.

Much later someone else stands in that place, and does more than plead. Jesus does not only ask God to hold back judgment; he takes it on himself. He is the plumb line, perfectly straight, and at the same time the one who catches the crooked wall before it falls.

And Amos is a picture of Jesus in another way too. Both were told, by important religious people, to be quiet. Both kept speaking.

For You

God did not call a professional. He called a man who smelled of sheep. If you ever think you are too young, too ordinary, or not religious enough for God to use you, Amos is your answer.

Here is something to try this week. Do what Amos did in the first two visions: pray for someone who is in trouble, even if you cannot fix anything. Say their name to God. That is what Amos did, and heaven moved.

And ask yourself the Amaziah question honestly: is there a part of your life where you would rather God said nothing? A way you treat your brother or sister, something you do when nobody is watching, something you say about a classmate. Holding up the plumb line hurts for a moment. Living in a crooked house hurts longer.

Talk About It

Amos begged God twice and God changed his mind twice. What does that tell you about praying for other people, and does it raise any questions for you?

Amaziah told Amos to prophesy somewhere else. Why do you think it is so hard to hear that we are in the wrong, even when it is true?

Praying Together

Lord Yahweh, you hear when people beg for others. Teach us to pray like Amos, for people who are small and in trouble. Hold your plumb line against our lives, and do not let us send you away when you show us something crooked. Thank you for Jesus, who is straight and who carries us. Amen.