The seventh chapter consists of two parts. First A vision of grasshoppers or young locusts, which devour the grass, but are removed at Amos’ entreaty; second by Fire drying up creeks and springs, and withering part of the land, but removed at Amos’ entreaty; and third by a plumb-line to mark the buildings for destruction. Secondly by Amaziah demanding that Amos go back to Judah with his preaching. In Consequence of the foregoing prophecies, Amos tells the priest Amaziah that his wife will become the town whore and that his children will all be killed and that he will face deportation and receives a life sentence in a heathen prison.
1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
He created the world in six days, and ceased the work of creation; but He has not ceased to govern it.
The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea (Jonah 1:4) now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. (Jonah 1:17) In this chapter there are three things prepared of the LORD. 1. Grasshoppers 2. Fire 3. A plumb line. God has had it with the sex and religion shrines and now he is going to knock these unholy shrines to pieces and destroy the house of Jeroboam.
The testimony of scripture proves that our God is in control of his creation and can form grasshoppers for the punishment of sinners. This is the same God that prepared a fish to swallow Jonah. A prophecy like the one to follow in this chapter is out of place in a secular church which preaches a religion arranged only by the whims of nature and that everything is arranged by the policy of man. These people cannot endure the testimony of truth as contained here in this chapter and elsewhere in the Holy Bible. God bears long, but he will not bear always with a provoking people. The remembrance of the mercies we formerly received, like the produce of the earth of the former growth, should make us submissive to the will of God, when we meet with disappointments in the latter growth. The Lord has many ways of humbling a sinful nation. Whatever trouble we are under, we should be most earnest with God for the forgiveness of sin. Sin will soon make a great people small. Reader consider the following verses regarding what the Lord prepares:
Psa 148:8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word.
Psa 107:29 He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed.
Joh 5:17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
Joel l:1-4; 2:25 “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days? 3 Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. 4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
2:25 Then I will make up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you.”
2Ch 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
The king’s mowing was the first crop and the other mowing would be called the second and third crop. I suppose it was called the King’s mowing because it was normally the largest mowing. I see no reason to believe that all the farmers took the first crop and gave it to the King. I was raised on and live on a farm and well understand the first mowing which would occur around late April or early May with the prospect of two or three other mowings.
2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
In the vision God revealed his plan to send the locust to devour the crops and Amos begs the Lord not to destroy the crops and in his plea asks God how Jacob shall survive if all the crops are destroyed.
3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
The entreaty of Amos is responded to by the Lord saying that he would not let it happen.
4 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
In the second part of the vision God shows his plan to send a forest fire that would not only devastate all the fields and orchards but even their water supply.
5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
Amos was like Moses in that he took his case to the Lord and begs God not to send such a devastation and adds the words “for he is small.” Again God responded with the words that this shall not be.
6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.
Before the chapter is ended Amos will be expelled from the Northern kingdom. They will show him the border and so will not have someone to plead with God in their behalf. When the righteous are killed or expelled from the land then we can expect sudden calamity. In this verse God again responds to the request of Amos.
7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the LORD stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the LORD, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
A plumb line is a weight on the end of a string; we use it to make certain that the walls are vertical A wall may look right, but if it doesn’t match a plumb line, it is out of kilter. Similarly God will use a plumb line to judge whether Israel is “straight” by his standards.
9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
God has spared them the last time─He has hung a plumb line and it reveals all that we have discussed before in previous chapters regarding Israel. So, now he is going to destroy the sanctuaries (sex and religion shrines) and destroy the house of Jeroboam for he was the one who instituted their idol religion.
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
Jeroboam is informed that Amos is a dangerous person and is stirring up anarchy and must be silenced and expelled from the land.
11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
They want to censor God’s message. The plan is to kick him out of the country. Amos is not very popular with his “king is going to die at the sharp end of a knife.” Israel will be slaves abroad and everything they worked for to be destroyed.
12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
Get out of here with your visions and prophesy somewhere else and don’t come back. Go take care of your goats, pick your figs and trim your trees. Your permit has just expired and won’t be renewed.
13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.
It’s the kings “chapel”, if he needs to know anything about what God is going to do he has plenty of preachers at his “chapel.” You are not polished enough to preach at the royal shrine.
14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
It was not my idea to become a prophet, I never made any plans to attend a prophetic school, my father was not a prophet, and I was a goat farmer and raised a few figs. It was God’s idea to take me off the farm and he gave me the messages that I preach.
15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
God’s messengers never leave without having the last word. Remember what Micaiah said on the way out of the Palace of Ahab “If you indeed return safely, the LORD has not spoken by me.” 2Ch 18:27
16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
Now he tells Amaziah that he has a special message for him. You can reject God’s message for the house of Isaac but you will never forget what God is going to do to your house.
17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
Your wife will be the town’s whore.
Your sons and daughters killed by the sword.
All the land will be surveyed and sold.
The pagans will lock you in a “Hell hole” the rest of your life.
Israel will be exiled to a foreign land for slaves.
