Amos 7 is the seventh chapter of the Book of Amos in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the ChristianBible.[1][2] In the Hebrew Bible it is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.[3][4] This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophetAmos; in particular, the seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters contain visions and their explanations.[5] This chapter contains three visions: the locusts, the fire (or drought), and the plumb-line.[6] The visions are then "interrupted" by a narrative about Amos and his listeners in Bethel (verses 10–17),[7] before they continue in chapter 8.
Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.[17]
Jennifer Dimes suggests that the "king's mowings" was a tax;[18][19] the Jerusalem Bible suggests that the king exacted a part of the first crop to feed his horses.[20] The "late" or "second" crop suggests a multiple cropping process was in place.[21]
Verses 4–6: the vision of a fire
Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, the Lord God called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory.[22]
The Jerusalem Bible associates the fire with a drought,[23] the "first manifestation of the judgment of the LORD", anticipated in Amos 1:2: The green pastures of the shepherds will turn brown and die. Even Mount Carmel will become dry.[24][25] On the LORD "contending" or "disputing" by fire, Samuel Driver notes the words of Isaiah, for by fire and by His sword, the Lord will judge all flesh.[26]
Verses 7–9: the plumb-line
And the Lord said unto me,
Amos, what seest thou?
And I said, A plumbline.
Then said the Lord,
Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel:
"Amos, what seest thou?" God calls the prophet by name, as a familiar friend, just as He said to Moses, "I know you by name" Exodus 33:12, Exodus 33:17. For "the Lord knows them that are His" (2 Timothy 2:19).[28]
"Plumbline" or "plumb bob"; "plummet": a tool to measure not only for building, but also for pulling down (see 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11; Lamentations 2:8), which should be done "in the midst" of the people, that all might be tried individually, and that all might acknowledge the justice of the sentence, which is a complete ruin.[29] The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "a plasterer's" or "mason's trowel"; with which they lay their plaster and mortar on in building: the Septuagint translates as "an adamant", and it is called "anachites" by Pliny,[30] a word in sound near to this here used: the Targum renders it, "judgment": but Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe that in the Arabic tongue it signifies "lead" or "tin",[31] and thus "a line with lead at the end of it".[32]
In this "historical account of Amaziah's opposition to Amos",[33] Amos is expelled from Bethel, where he had been warning about the impending threat to the northern Kingdom. Michael Coogan suggests that these verses "interrupt" the sequence of visions.[7] Dimes treats this part as a "central narrative" which "demonstrates why judgement is irrevocable".[18]F. E. Gigot considers it "probable" that Amos left Bethel in compliance with Amaziah's directives and "withdrew to Juda[h]".[33] Gary Rendsburg has noted that the verb here always refers to fleeing one's home country to a foreign state, suggesting that his home town of Teqoaʿ was in the Galilee in Samaria and not the Teqoaʿ south of Jerusalem.[34]
^Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Old Testament. London, Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^Joseph S. Exell; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^"plumbum, sive nigrum, sive album puriusque", Camusus; "plumbum et stannum", Ibn Maruph apud Golium, col. 176. Avicenna apud Castel. col. 161. Vid. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 7. p. 122.[clarification needed]
^Gill, J., John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Published in 1746–1763. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ ab This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Amos". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Rendsburg (6 April 2021). "Israelian Hebrew in the Book of Amos". In Hornkohl, Aaron D.; Khan, Geoffrey (eds.). New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew. Semitic Languages and Cultures. Vol. 7. Open Book Publishers. pp. 717–740. doi:10.11647/OBP.0250.23. ISBN978-1-80064-164-8. In a second lexical study, Rosenbaum (1990, 35–37) demonstrated that the verb b-r-ḥ always refers to fleeing from one's own country to a foreign land.