Gradation of Judgments on Israel
In Amos 7 a gradation of three judgments on Israel is set forth: first (vss. 1-3) by the grasshoppers or creeping locusts, next (vss. 4-6) by fire, and lastly (vss. 7-9) by a plumbline, which intimated the strict measure applied to mark their iniquities. When patience had exhausted itself, further delay would have been connivance in evil. These troubles were accomplished historically, it would seem, in Pul, Tiglathpileser, and Shalmaneser, who finally swept away the kingdom.
The priest Amaziah strives to arouse the fears and jealousy of the king against Amos (vss. 10-11), while he also pretends to counsel Amos for his good, his aim being to get rid of the divine testimony, which he dreaded. “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. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court” {vss. 10-13}. It is remarkable how his language betrays him. Religion in Israel was political arrangements, spite of their effort to imitate the ritual of God. So here even Amaziah speaks of the king’s sanctuary as naturally as of the king’s court. Just so men call their religious associations by the name of their country, an invented polity or a favorite dogma. A divine source and authority is unthought of, save to adorn the structure, not for subjection of heart and obedience.
Danger and Judgment of Him Who Would Get Rid of God’s Messenger and Message
The course of this world is traversed by a godly unsparing testimony, which does not fail to be regarded as troublesome to the government. Amos sought no arm of flesh, but openly confessed who and what he was, when God summoned and commissioned him to prophesy. “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.” {vs. 14}. He had not been brought up in the school of the prophets, nor had he hitherto enjoyed any other natural advantages. He could boast of no learning acquired among men. Birth or property had done nothing for him. His claim to speak was the fruit of divine grace. Any power that Amos possessed was as a true prophet of Jehovah, and solemn is the message he delivers: “Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith Jehovah: 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” (vs. 16-17). In the reiteration of Israel’s doom the presumptuous opposition of Amaziah meets with a special, relative, and personal humiliation.