ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Amos 7

Amos 7:1–9:15 Visions of Judgment. In the final section of the book, Amos turns from speech to sight. He tells of visions he has received from God that confirm the nation’s situation. The first is a vision of inescapable judgment (7:1–9). This vision is frighteningly confirmed by the prophet’s experience with the priest of Bethel (7:10–17). The second vision is of Israel’s terrible end (8:1–14). The last is of the Lord standing at the altar of sacrifice (9:1–15). This vision has two parts. The first continues the theme of judgment (9:1–10), but the second sounds a note of hope (9:11–15).

Amos 7:1–9 God reveals to Amos in three pictures that there is no hope for Israel. In response to the first two, Amos pleads for mercy for the nation (vv. 2, 5), and God twice graciously relents (vv. 3, 6). But the third picture is so convincing that Amos sees there is no hope and therefore makes no intercession. God has repeatedly shown mercy to his erring people, only to have them continue in their complacency toward him. Sooner or later, their time will be up.

Amos 7:2 please forgive. In spite of the severity of all that Amos had said, he took no pleasure in the people’s suffering. He pleaded earnestly that God would show mercy.

Amos 7:3 The Lord relented. Like Amos, God does not desire to destroy his people. He is very patient (see Ex. 34:6). He has promised to relent in response to repentance (see Jer. 8:5–10; compare Jonah 3:10–4:2).

Amos 7:7–9 The third picture that God showed Amos was of a plumb line held against a wall. A plumb line is a string with a weight fastened to its end. When the string is placed beside a wall and the weight is allowed to hang freely, it will show whether or not the wall is perfectly vertical. If the wall is leaning and it is not fixed, it will eventually collapse. Compared to the Mosaic law, the plumb line according to which the wall of Israel was built, it is clear that the nation is so far out of line that the collapse cannot be prevented. Israel is hardened in sin; thus, in this case, Amos does not ask God to relent.

Amos 7:10–17 If the plumb line according to which Israel was constructed was the Law, then the priesthood should have held Israel accountable to it (Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:6–7). But the priesthood itself was corrupt (see 1 Kings 12:31 for how the first King Jeroboam had ruined the priesthood for the northern kingdom). Thus, there was no external standard being applied by which Israel’s true condition could be recognized and corrected. The end truly was at hand.

Amos 7:10 The reference to Amaziah the priest shows that a representative of the established religious leadership opposed Amos’s prophecies. Amaziah’s words to the king (Amos has conspired against you) were a lie.

Amos 7:12–13 When Amaziah called Amos a seer, his intent may have been to show contempt. The term suggests, what was true, that Amos is not a member of the royal guild of prophets, who, since they were paid by the king, would say only what the king wanted to hear. Thus Amos had no standing in the king’s sanctuary.

Amos 7:15 the Lord took me . . . the Lord said to me. Amos was prophesying on God’s authority.

Amos 7:17 All the honor that Amaziah prized so highly would be taken from him. These terrible punishments would happen because he rejected God’s word through Amos.