Amos: Seek The Lord and LiveSample

The picture of a plumb line summons up the image of God measuring Israel against the plumb line of His Word. A plumb line reveals faults that we might miss at a superficial glance. It shows us that the wallpaper or shelves may be wonky. The Lord has measured Israel and found her morally warped. 

Why does God relent in the first two visions but not after the next two? Why does His patience run out in 7:7–9 and 8:1–3 so that He declares, ‘I will spare them no longer’ (7:8; 8:2)? The answer comes in Amos’ conflict with the high priest Amaziah. This incident is deliberately placed between visions 3 and 4 to explain why God’s patience has ended. We’ll look at some of the details tomorrow, but the headline is that this final rejection of God’s Word by the leadership of Israel leads to the final rejection of Israel by God. 

Amaziah is the chief priest in the land and in verse 10 he declares that the nation cannot bear the Word of God. He appeals to the monarch, Jeroboam II, in verses 10–11. I presume there’s a gap in time while they await the response. That appears to have come by verse 12 for Amaziah tells Amos to get out of the land: there’ll be no more preaching or prophesying here. In other words, by this stage the government and the church both say, ‘We’ve had enough of the Word of God. We don’t like what it says and we’re not listening.’ 

At this point, the Lord effectively says, ‘Enough. I will spare them no longer. I’ve been patient with your superficial worship. I’ve been patient with your immorality. I’ve been patient with your disregard for justice. But now you are deliberately refusing to listen to my Word. Enough.’

Reflection

Can you think of churches or denominations that have drifted from the plumb line of God’s Word? History reveals that eventually the Lord says, ‘Enough’, and they shrink away to nothing.