Amos 7

Amos 7:1

III. THE SYMBOLS OF APPROACHING JUDGMENT (7:19:10) A. The Plague of Locusts (7:1-3)In verses 1-9, Amos intercedes for his people. Three threats to Israel are described. The first may typify the attack of Pul, king of Assyria, under the figure of a devouring locust. In answer to Amos’s prayer, the judgment was averted.

Amos 7:4

B. The Devouring Fire (7:4-6)The second may have been the invasion of Tiglath-Pileser, under the symbol of a consuming fire. Prayer for little Jacob again prevented a catastrophe.

Amos 7:7

C. The Plumbline (7:7-9)The third may refer to the destruction of Samaria by Shalmaneser. The plumb line speaks of the absolute uprightness of the judgment. God announced that He would not pass by . . . Israel in mercy anymore.

Amos 7:10

D. Parenthesis: Refusal of Amos to Be Intimidated (7:10-17)7:10-13 Amaziah, an idolatrous priest of Bethel, forbade Amos to prophesy against the king’s sanctuary of Bethel, telling him to go back to his home in Judah and earn his bread . . . there. 7:14-17 Amos answered that God had put him into the ministry and that he would not stop. He was no prophet in the technical sense, or the son of a prophet, but he must speak the word of the LORD. So, he told Amaziah of the fearful doom which would come upon him, his wife, his sons and daughters, and his land.