CRITICAL NOTES.] Showed] three visions in this ch. Locusts (Amos 7:1-3) the first; “all inward tuitions produced by the Spirit of God, which set forth the primitive judgments of God” [Keil]. Begin.] Time defined, as the springing up of a second crop, and this crop after the king’s mowings. Some take Jehovah as King, the mowing the judgments executed upon Israel. The period is most unfavourable. One crop had been taken and the second threatened. But this danger averted by intercession.
Amos 7:2. Small] Reduced in number and strength, poor in means and hope, unable to stand. Amos 7:4-6—The devouring fire. Contend] with Israel by war, of which fire is a symbol (Ezekiel 38:22); represented as drying up waters (many people, Revelation 17:15) and devouring on dry land (Isaiah 9:1).
Amos 7:6. For this] as well as threatenings of vision first. Amos 7:7-9—The third vision. Plumb.] applied expressly to Israel. Pass by] i.e. forgive them any more (Proverbs 19:11; Micah 7:18). God’s patience is exhausted. The prophet intercedes no more.
Amos 7:9. Places] of idol-worship; the royal family and the monarchy to be overthrown.
HOMILETICS
THE SCOURGING LOCUSTS.—Amos 7:1-3
The second half of Amos begins with visions; not mere warnings, but solemn predictions, adapted to the moral condition of the people. The impenitence of Israel is confirmed, their doom is fixed, and the sentence is irrevocable.
I. The judgment prepared. “He formed grasshoppers.”
1. Divine in its origin. God prepared the affliction. The prophet is most emphatic on this point. “Evil in the city” is from the Lord. “He maketh the day dark with night.” But such is our stupidity and ignorance, that we have need continually to be told. We require sensible evidence to show God’s hand in our lot. Affliction comes not from the dust, nor trouble from the ground (Job 5:6).
2. Specific in its character. Locusts are the creatures of God, and perfectly under his commands. Creatures magnificent and minute display his power and execute his design (Joel 1:4).
3. Special in its design. God formed grasshoppers. There was not only power in the act, wisdom in the shape, but purpose in the end for which they were sent. God is said to frame evil against a sinful people (Jeremiah 18:11). These creatures were prepared and specially sent to eat up the grass. In his moral government, Jehovah prepares instruments, specially forms judgments for the correction of his people.
(1) On account of disobedience.
(2) With a design to restore. “Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.”
II. The judgment timed. “In the beginning of the shooting,” &c. It might have been sent earlier and been more severe. The former might have been devoured with the latter growth. There was mercy as well as fitness in the time of affliction. “To everything there is a season,” a fixed time, and a determined purpose. “As exactly and exquisitely suited to your case and mine,” writes one, “every instant, as if it had been appointed and contrived only for that single case and that single moment.” Every dispensation is most fitly chosen. To common observers it may appear untimely, for men see not the judgments prepared. In Israel there might be signs of abundant crops, and some who ridiculed the calamity threatened. Men watch the rising corn, but forget the blight that may blast the harvests. Business may flourish, youth may bloom in beauty and strength, but God may consume the fresh and verdant scene. The messengers may be formed, and only waiting the command of their Creator to destroy the fruit of hand and mind. “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
III. The judgment arrested. “It shall not be, saith the Lord.”
1. By the intercession of the prophet. “Then said I, O Lord God, cease.” The prophet saw God in “the affliction of Joseph,” and, unlike his countrymen, was grieved and interceded with God. How few that are smitten are concerned in the judgments of God! Amos is a type in spirit and practice of all the godly who pray for their kindred and country in public calamity. Our best friends, our true patriots, are those who feel deeply and pray earnestly under Divine chastisement. “And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.”
2. By the mercy of God. “The Lord repented for this;” in mercy heard the prayer and warded off the danger. Whatever be the conduct of men in public distress God alone can take distress away. But if we confess our sins, humble ourselves in petition before him, he will be gracious. If we stand in the breach, the ruin shall not happen. Prayer has often preserved nations, averted judgments, and changed the course of events. God has not only formed calamities, but fitted a place for prayer. He repents of the evil and takes it away. “For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.”
GOD CONTENDING WITH FIRE.—Amos 7:4
If we take this fire literally or metaphorically it indicates the anger of God against his people and the judgments which should consume them.
I. God’s action against men. Man has challenged God, denied his authority and broken his law. Sin begets contention, creates a controversy between God and man (Hosea 4:1). God enters into judgment with him; pleads by insignificant creatures and terrible calamities, and executes fierce anger upon all workers of iniquity. Famine, fire, and sword, devour rich and poor, money and health, and consume everything before them (Ezekiel 38:22). “The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. By fire and by sword will the Lord plead with all flesh” (Isaiah 66:13; Isaiah 66:16).
II. Men’s obstinacy before God. We do not law or contend with men until we have tried other means. War and law should be the last resource. Judgment is God’s strange work. But when all means have failed to win a people, then he contends with them in severest measures. He will vindicate his cause and character. To strive against him is—
1. Foolish,
2. Guilty, and
3. Vain. Terrible will be the consequence of resistance. “Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree … And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched” (Ezekiel 20:47-48).
THE MEASURING PLUMBLINE.—Amos 7:7-9
In this vision we have the third stage of Divine judgments; God, the builder of the nation, tests and finds it degenerate. He will no longer spare nor seek to reform it Retribution is neither removed nor mitigated by prayer. The day of decision has come, and the kingdom, except a remnant, must be destroyed. In the vision we have the trial and the verdict.
I. The trial presented. “Thus he showed me.” The judgment is pictured and then explained.
1. The nation is Divinely tested. “Behold, I will set a plumbline” God himself stands upon the wall, plumbline in hand, fixed in purpose and exact in procedure. He had built them up, blessed them with holy laws and good rulers, and formed them for his praise and glory. But they were examined, found irregular, and judged fit to be pulled down. The hand which builds our families and estates can destroy them, if we deviate from rectitude. “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.”
2. The nation universally tested. “In the midst,” in the very centre of the kingdom. Inwardly as distinguished from outward judgment; wholly as distinguished from any part. In its religious and civil capacity, in its priesthood and government, God measures a nation. Our worship and conduct are weighed in the balance and found wanting. He condemns in proportion to our guilt. “He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness” (Isaiah 34:11).
3. The nation justly condemned. “I will not again pass by them.” God had exercised great care and kindness towards Israel, had been their bulwark and salvation: but since neither mercy nor judgment will mend them he will forbear no longer. He built them up in mercy and will ruin them in justice. The works and ways of men are tested by the word and providence of God; if discovered unequal, bending to the right or left, if they can no more be set upright, they will be demolished. All sin is transgression of law. The clearer the law and the greater the grace of the lawgiver, the more severe the punishment of guilt. God is justified when he speaks and clear when he judges (Psalms 51:4).
II. The verdict given. “The punishment is specified in its two chief effects—the overthrow of their idolatrous sanctuaries and the extinction of the dynasty of Jeroboam, which was in effect the overthrow of the kingdom. In other words, their whole polity, ecclesiastical and civil, was to be subverted.”
1. The destruction of the idolatrous sanctuaries. The centre and sanctuaries of a nation are its life and worth. If these be rotten or diseased the people will be corrupt. The great names of Isaac and Israel could not protect the high places and temples of the land. The altars at Bethel, Dan, and Gilgal were to be laid waste. If men obey not Jehovah, but sacrifice on their own hills and altars, they must expect the overthrow of their high places. Specious imitations of godly progenitors in Christian worship will not justify, but hasten the punishment of idolatry.
2. The extinction of the royal dynasty. Jeroboam II. died in peace. “The house of Jeroboam” is threatened in its prosperity and splendour. The kings of Israel were idolaters and drew the people from God. The court exerted an evil influence upon the sanctuary and corrupted the people. Its guilt was the greater and its judgment more certain. Princes and people had sinned and must be punished together. The prediction of Samuel came to pass. “If ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.”
3. The dissolution of the whole kingdom. The destruction of the ruling family was the prelude to the ruin of the entire kingdom. The stroke fell upon the family of Jeroboam (2 Kings 15:8-10); after that the kingdom decayed daily and speedily came to ruin. All kind of idolatry provokes God, destroys its votaries, and ruins the land in which it is practised (Psalms 106:29; Amos 2:4-5.)
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amos 7:8. The vision seen and explained. I. It is our duty to attend to what God has revealed.
1. It is worthy of attention—Behold.
2. We have need to be quickened in our attention, even when the message most concerns us and the people. What seest thou? II. In all our attention we have need of Divine aid to explain the revelation. We may see the vision, give an account of it, but cannot understand until God interprets it to our hearts and minds.
Amos 7:7. The plumbline.
1. Applied to the body, which must be kept healthy and erect. It is the work of God, and should be the temple of the Holy Ghost
2. Applied to the soul, which God made upright and should not fall into sin.
3. Applied to the life, which should be regulated by the law of God, the standard of right.
This is an emblem of God’s mercy and justice, who is the Master-builder of the Church. 1. It denotes his mercy, in that he made this Church right and firm like a perpendicular wall, made exactly by line and rule, he had curiously built it, and as carefully defended it.
2. It is an emblem of his justice. He stands upon the wall of his Church, continually trying and examining whether it continue right or not, bearing with its defects, until, like a wall quite bending and belching out, he resolves to throw down all (Isaiah 30:13. [Hall]. The wall of Israel had been built by God with a plumbline, and now it would be destroyed with a plumbline (cf. 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 35:2; Lamentations 2:8); that is, there was, so to speak, an architectural design and plan in God’s work of destroying Israel, no less than in his former favour to Israel in building him up. God does everything according to measure, number, and weight (Wis. 11:20). As one said of old, “The Deity is a perfect Geometrician,” and the plumbline of destruction was to be co-extensive with the plumbline of construction—it was to be total [Wordsworth].
HOMILETICS
THE FIRST THREE VISIONS.—Amos 7:1-9
These visions are closely related and mutually dependent one upon another. They may be classified under three heads. We shall compare them.
I. They are corrective in their design. God chastens whom he loves. Judgments and mercies are sent to discipline our hearts. Some have more judgments than mercies, and others more mercies than judgments. Both are mixed in life and regulated by infinite wisdom and human conduct.
II. They are graduated according to moral condition. Progressive in their series, they display God’s justice in the successive stages of sin. The underlying idea of the first is external visitation; of the second, inward decay by removal of Divine blessings and restraint; of the third, consummation of sin which lays the nation prostrate. Declension in communities and individuals is first punished with outward chastisements. If these fail heavier judgments follow. If judgments and mercies are unheeded, and declension merges into apostasy, nothing remains but destruction. When repeated acts of sin have produced confirmed habits of wickedness, God says, “I will not again pass by them any more.”
III. They are conditional in their issue. In the first and second, judgment is arrested by prayer. The prophet was encouraged in duty and the nation reprieved in sorrow. If we saw sin as rebellion against God, and productive of impending danger, we should be more earnest in prayer that God would forgive and pass by. But “reprieves are not pardons.” Many are spared, but not reclaimed; reduced to straits, but never return to God. They neglect advantages, sin away the day of grace, until prayer does not avail. Total destruction will come upon impenitent sinners. “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight and let them go forth.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Amos 7:1-3. Locusts. God hath armies of insects and little contemptible creatures wherewith to punish disobedient people. He needs not men to destroy us, he hath frogs and flies, lice and locusts, and these shall do it (Exodus 10:14; 2 Chronicles 7:13; Psalms 78:46). Much of God’s might is seen in these little armies, they all fulfil the word of God’s commands. Let none, then, murmur at second causes, but still look up to the first, lest by fretting at our troubles we double them [Hall].
Amos 7:4-6. Fire. The power of this fire showed it to be a fire of God; it was a precursor of the great conflagration which will consume the world—even the sea itself—at the Great Day (2 Peter 3:10). Compare Jeremiah 51:32, where the fire of God burning Babylon is described as burning its lakes and moats [Wordsworth].
“On Prague’s proud arch the fires of ruin glow,
His blood-dyed waters murmuring far below.” [Campbell.]
By whom? The time is come when men will ask this question in relation to the Church. How can it stand? The numbers are decreasing viewed in relation to the growth of the population. By whom shall it arise? Not by statesmen, scientists, ritualists, and priests. A new order of men are required to enable the Church to stand. Heaven raise them up [Dr Thomas]!
“More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of” [Tennyson].
Amos 7:7-9. Judgments. They are all exactly framed as it were by line and measure (Daniel 5:27). Justice is essential to God; he may as soon cease to be God, as cease to be just; hence he is called the righteous judge (Genesis 18:25), and the just Lord, who will do no iniquity (Zephaniah 3:5). He is just in and of himself, and just in his laws, just in his decrees, just in the execution of those decrees, just in the government of the world, just in his rewards, and just in his judgments; he is not only righteous in some, but in all his ways (Psalms 145:17) [Hall].