I suppose the tough thing about going through these prophets is that for many of them, especially during this time in the books of Kings and Chronicles, they seem to be beating the same drum—namely that of judgment.
I sometimes wonder if I can say much more on the topic without people getting bored.
But just a few things here. There was a very interesting dialogue in chapter 7 between Amos and the Lord, very reminiscent of the dialogue between God and Abraham in Genesis 18.
In both cases, God is preparing to judge the people, and in each case, he shows a willingness to relent when someone intercedes.
But in both cases, there comes a point when God says, “No more. There is no turning back for these people anymore. Judgment must come.”
Twice Amos, through his intercession, causes the Lord to relent from his judgment on the people of Israel. But the third time, God said,
Look, I am setting a plumb line (a kind of tool used to make sure a wall was built straight, similar to a modern-day level) among my people Israel.
I will spare them no longer. (Amos 7:8)
In other words, God had measured this wall that was Israel, and found it so crooked that he had no choice but to tear it down.
He called them in chapter 8 a basket of ripe fruit—ripe, that is, for judgment. (Amos 8:1–2)
How did the people get so crooked?
We’ve talked about this before. They had stopped really listening to the Lord.
As long as the prophets God sent told them pleasant things, they were willing to listen. But as soon as the prophets warned about God’s judgment, the people told them to shut up.
You see this in the last part of chapter 7 where a “priest” from Israel accused Amos of treason for predicting King Jeroboam’s fall, and told him,
“Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7:12–13)
When we take away the “level” of God’s word in our lives, we can no longer tell what is crooked or not, what is evil or not.
We see that very clearly in the world today. People call what is crooked, straight; what is evil, good.
And when we willfully ignore the word of God, there comes a point where God will no longer speak. In chapter 8, he told the people,
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11–12)
God, in fact, would be silent for 400 years between the time of Malachi until John the Baptist came.
Is it any wonder that the people flocked to hear John when he came?
But as was usually the case with the prophets, God finishes with some words of hope in chapter nine, once again illustrating his faithfulness.
He promised that though he would punish Israel, he would also restore it. That though it would lie in ruins, it would be rebuilt.
He would do so, not because of their righteousness, or anything that they did, but rather out of his mercy and love for them.
As Paul wrote,
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 