Year 9, Day 229: Amos 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Amos 7 is an interesting conflux of stories.  It shows us the joy and pain of being a prophet.  As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

The first half of this chapter is a conversation between Amos and God.  God shows a plan to destroy the land by a famine brought about by locusts.  Amos asks God to repent and He does.  Amos then sees God’s plan to destroy the land by fire.  God relents once more when Amos intervenes.  Finally, God tells Amos that the Hebrew people will be judged.  A plumb line is drawn as a standard. 

Judgment may come, but a remnant will survive.  Amos has intervened.  That’s what prophets do.  Prophets stand in the gap between man and God.

Next comes the second half of the chapter.  Amos is accused.  He is told to get lost.  He is told that he is unwanted.  People don’t want to hear his call to repentance.  They want him to take his messages and go away.

People don’t realize the work that prophets do.  Culture doesn’t realize how important prophets are.  Instead, people only hear the critical nature of the prophet and feel the accusation.  They don’t understand the role that the prophet plays as they speak on behalf of the people to God and speak on behalf of God to the people.

What does Amos get for his trouble?  Amos gets the ire of the people.  They could be dead by starvation or consuming fire.  Instead they are alive and hateful towards the man that argued on their behalf.

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