The Vision of the Wall. The third vision is more difficult. The prophet saw (Amos 7:7) and behold, Yahweh stood by a wall of -' anak, and in His hand -' anak. -' Anak is usually translated plummet. By a wall that had once been found perpendicular, a plummet-wall, Yahweh stood with a plummet in His hand. What exact significance (Amos 7:8) had this plummet? Yahweh is tired of relenting; He will simply apply the plummet to His people, and once for all destroy an edifice which is no longer worthy to stand. Kent's omission of the first -' anak is an improvement: And behold the Lord was standing behind a wall, with a plumbline in His hand. Other Semitic languages seem to favour the view (so Marti) that -' anak may denote a hard or heavy kind of metal, possibly lead or steel. Marti translates, Thus the Lord showed me, and behold one standing on a wall of steel with steel in his hand. Amos beholds a man unconquerable, equipped with iron and sword (Amos 7:7), and Yahweh explains (Amos 7:8) that this man is about to turn his sword against Israel, because he cannot again spare her. In the utter devastation of the country, Israel's places of worship will be laid low (Amos 7:9).
Amos 7:8. The plummet is usually explained as a crucial moral test (Driver). Ehrlich, however, explains it as a figure for the execution of judgment (cf. 2 Kings 21:13; Lamentations 2:8).