The Second Vision - The Consuming Fire (Amos 7:4-6).
We must remember that this was a vision not something that actually happened. It commenced with a fire from YHWH which ‘devoured the great deep'. As we have seen fire was regularly a picture of YHWH's judgments in the initial judgments (Amos 1:4; Amos 1:7; Amos 1:10; Amos 1:12; Amos 1:14; Amos 2:2; Amos 2:5, compare also Amos 5:6), but so awesome was it that it here that it dried up the ‘the great deep (tehom)'. To the Canaanites the sea itself contained divinity as they worshipped Yam (sea). Thus as had happened with the Egyptian gods in the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 12:12), the gods of Canaan, in which Israel took such delight, were being annihilated. There may, however, be a case for seeing the great deep here as indicating the nations which had sought to swamp Israel, which as we know from Chapter s 1-2 were to suffer the fire of YHWH (compare how Egypt could be seen in terms of the Nile, and Mesopotamia in terms of the Tigris and the Euphrates (Isaiah 27:1; Ezekiel 29:3 and compare Psalms 46:3; Psalms 93:3-4). It is not, however, until the New Testament that such an idea becomes explicit (Revelation 13:1). Having accomplished its work in the great deep the consuming fire was about to move from sea to land and devour up the whole of the land. It was evident that so all-consuming was the fire that nothing could stand before it. All would be swallowed up. It was fire of a kind that was totally outside Amos's experience, even though he would probably have experienced relatively large scale local fires before in the dry hot climate around Tekoa. But he had never before seen one that dried up the sea, not even the Dead Sea.
Amos therefore called on YHWH to ‘stop' before the land had been fully devoured, again on the grounds of Israel's puniness. He did not cry for forgiveness because YHWH's previous reaction had demonstrated that forgiveness was not possible, only mercy. And again God had compassion on His people and spared them.
‘Thus the Lord YHWH showed me, and, behold, the Lord YHWH called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the inheritance.'
What YHWH now showed Amos was the Lord YHWH contending by fire (or we could repoint, using the same consonants, as ‘a rain of fire') and initially devouring ‘the great deep'. In Isaiah 51:10 ‘the great deep' is the equivalent of ‘the depths of the sea', and thus here the awesome vision in mind is that of the sea being dried up with the intensity of the consuming fire. We need not go into detail because this was all in a vision and visions are not necessarily intended to be taken literally. Alternatively we might see the great deep as representing surrounding peoples on whom YHWH had already threatened fire (Amos 1:4; Amos 1:7; Amos 1:10; Amos 1:12; Amos 1:14; Amos 2:2; Amos 2:5; Amos 5:6; compare also Psalms 46:3; Psalms 93:3-4) with Israel and Judah in the midst of them now about to experience the same.
Then the fire advanced on the inheritance (cheleq) of Israel and would have eaten it up. We have only to imagine the intensity of a fire that dries up the sea, especially as, to the Israelites, the sea was an enemy to be feared. This was not an example of a normal fire caused by the dryness of the vegetation and the heat of the sun. It was a supernatural visitation. And the idea was of the whole land being consumed with everything in it. The drying up of the great deep (tehom) would indicate among other things the defeat of the Canaanite god Yam (at Ugarit ‘prince sea (yam)'). The raining of fire would indicate that Baal (the Canaanite of storm and lightning) had been superseded.
We may compare with this picture of a consuming fire the words of Deuteronomy 32:22 which were the result of His people having moved Him to jealousy by their behaviour, ‘for a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the depths of Sheol, and devours the earth with her increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains'. Note that the ‘foundations of the mountains' were regularly seen as in the depths of the sea (Psalms 46:2; Jonah 2:6). Here therefore Moses' words are seen as being literally fulfilled. It is the ‘fiery heat' of Deuteronomy 28:22, but multiplied and extended. There may well here be an indication that YHWH was (theoretically) considering bringing about the final conflagration.
‘Then said I, “O Lord YHWH, cease, I beseech you. How will Jacob stand, for he is small?” '
This time a horrified Amos called on ‘the Lord YHWH' and begged Him to ‘cease'. He could not bear what he was seeing. And although he had now recognised as a result of YHWH's previous reply that forgiveness was not available, he once more drew attention to the puniness of ‘Jacob'. How could such a great Lord totally destroy what was so puny?
‘YHWH repented concerning this. “This also shall not be, says the Lord YHWH.” '
Again YHWH ‘repented' and declared that what he had shown Amos would not in fact now happen as a result of his intercession. Perhaps also in the light of Genesis 18:23-33 it was intended to indicate that there were sufficient righteous people in Israel and Judah for YHWH to spare the world from total destruction. However that may be the visions underline the fact that YHWH was not now about to destroy His people completely. That did not, however, mean that they would escape punishment.