Totally Lacking #7

 

Read Amos 7.

Background.  We have seen God's message through Amos that judgment was coming on Israel and her surrounding nations, including Judah.  He had confronted Israel with her false worship, flagrant idolatry, and refusal to take repentance seriously.  He now gives Amos five visions of what judgment will look like for Israel.  In the first two, Amos cries out to God for mercy and God relents from sending judgment at that time, but with the third vision things change.  The first vision is that of locusts devouring the land, much like we see in Joel.  The second vision is that of a drought and wide-spread fires burning through the land.  These both were averted.  The third vision is that of the plumb line. Israel just does not "measure up," and as a result must be torn down and rebuilt.  This time Amos does not call out to God on their behalf, and King Amaziah accuses him of being a traitor, telling him to go back home to Judah and prophesy there.

Key Verses: You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
    and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,
    and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
    and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
    and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

Thoughts: Amos' response to Amaziah is both personal and representative. Amaziah's family would suffer, he would be taken captive and die in custody, and his people would be taken away into a pagan place.  All would receive what they deserved: judgment for their refusal to repent.  Amos had not come there because he wanted to, but because God had sent him. He had done everything he could for Israel.