Amos 7 Study Notes

If the CSB is correct, God is about to bring a plumb line to show that the people of Israel are crooked. This may be a reference to the function of the law in bringing sin to light (Rm 7:7). A wall that was not plumb would be torn down.

7:9 The high places referred to are probably the sanctuaries at Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba, Samaria, and Dan. The term Isaac being used to refer to the northern kingdom is unique here and in v. 16. Perhaps it is because Isaac worshiped at Beersheba. The house of Jeroboam II ended with the assassination of his son Zechariah in 753 BC.

7:10-17 The account of Amos’s confrontation with Amaziah in this section interrupts the sequence of visions. Amaziah represented the Israelite hierarchy, who considered Amos to be either a charlatan or a conspirator against King Jeroboam. Ironically, Amaziah called Amos a seer (someone who had visions; v. 12), and the context shows that Amos did in fact have visions from God and that he was a genuine seer. In addition, Amaziah accused Amos of plotting against Israel and the king (v. 10), but in fact Amos was interceding for Israel (vv. 2,5).

7:14 The Hebrew for I was not a prophet is ambiguous; it could be past tense, as here in the CSB, or it could be present tense, “I am not a prophet.” Both the past and present tenses are appropriate. On the one hand, Amos was not a prophet until God called him and gave him a message (v. 15). On the other hand, Amos is not a prophet in the sense that Amaziah meant it: a hireling who peddles his messages for gain (v. 12). Amos earned his bread as a herdsman, not by his prophesying. A son of a prophet refers not to a prophet’s biological son but to a member of a prophetic guild.

Sycamore figs had to be scraped or split in order to ripen properly. Apparently one part of Amos’s occupation was cutting such figs, but we do not know if he did it as a day laborer and was therefore poor or if he actually owned a grove of fig trees.