Amos 7:4

4 Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land.

Amos 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 7:4

Thus hath the Lord showed unto me
Another vision after this manner: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire;
gave out that he would have a controversy with his people Israel, and proclaimed the time when he would try the cause with them, and that by fire: or he called his family, as Jarchi; that is, his angels, as Kimchi, to cause fire to descend upon Israel, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah; so other Rabbins Kimchi mentions: or, as he interprets it, the scorching heat of the sun, like fire that restrained the rain, dried up the plants, and lessened the waters of the river, and so brought on a general drought, and in consequence famine: or rather a foreign army, involving them in war, burning their cities and towns; see ( Amos 1:4 Amos 1:7 Amos 1:10 Amos 1:12 Amos 1:14 ) ; and it devoured the great deep;
it seemed, as if it did; as the fire from heaven, in Elijah's time, licked up the water in the trench, ( 1 Kings 18:38 ) ; so this, coming at God's command, seemed to dry up the whole ocean; by which may be meant the multitude of people, nations, and kingdoms, subdued by the Assyrians; see ( Revelation 17:15 ) ; and did eat up a part;
a part of a field, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; of the king's field, ( Amos 7:1 ) ; as Kimchi; showing, as he observes, that the reigning king was a bad king, and that this was for his sin: or rather a part of the land of Israel; and so refers, as is generally thought, to Tiglathpileser's invasion of the land, who carried captive a part of it, ( 2 Kings 15:29 ) .

Amos 7:4 In-Context

2 In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

3 So the LORD relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.

4 Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land.

5 Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

6 Then the LORD relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign LORD .