Amos 7:1-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:1-3

§ 1. The first vision, of locusts, represents Israel as a field eaten down to the ground, but shooting up afresh, and its utter destruction postponed at the prophet's prayer. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:1-3

The vision of devouring locusts. The prophet is appropriately called a seer. He sees clear and he sees far. Not only has Amos foresight of what is coming; he has insight into what, in certain circumstances, would have come. He is taken as it were behind the scenes, and made a witness of the forging of Heaven's thunderbolts, to be laid up for use as occasion may require. In this case he is cognizant by spiritual intuition of the preparation of judicial measures which, as circumstances turn... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:1-6

Revelation and prayer. "Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me," etc. This portion of the Book of Amos ( Amos 7:1-17 and Amos 8:1-14 ) contains four symbolical visions respecting successive judgments that were to be inflicted on the kingdom of Israel. They were delivered at Bethel, and in all probability at the commencement of the prophet's ministry. Each of them, as it follows in the series, is more severe than the preceding. The first presented to the mental eye of the prophet a swarm... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:2

The grass of the land. The term includes vegetables of all sorts, the feed of man and beast ( Genesis 1:11 ; see note on Zechariah 10:1 ). O Lord,...forgive. The prophet is not concerned to obtain the fulfilment of his prophecy; his heartfelt sympathy for his people yearns for their pardon, as he knows that punishment and restoration depend upon moral conditions. By whom shall Jacob arise? better, How shall Jacob stand ? literally, as who ? If he is thus weakened, as the vision... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:2

The problem of stability. The prayer of faith is free. The believing soul has the privilege of reasoning with God, and embraces it. It asks what it wills, and as it wills, and for whom it wills. There is room for originality in it, and scope for inventive resource; yet little risk of impropriety. The Spirit safeguards that in an effective "unction." Then grace is one thing ever, and there is a ground plan of supplication which is practically the same with all the faithful. It has... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:2

Intercessory prayer. In the language which the prophet employed in his appeal to God, he copied that of the great leader and lawgiver of his nation; and he was probably encouraged by remembering that Moses had not pleaded for Israel in vain. I. THE PROMPTING TO INTERCESSORY PRAYER . Why should one man plead with God on another's behalf? It is evident that there is in human nature not only a principle of self-love, but also a principle of sympathy and benevolence. Amos... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:3

Repented for this; or, concerning this destruction. The punishment was conditioned by man's behaviour or other considerations. Here the prophet's intercession abates the full infliction of the penalty (compare analogous expressions, Deuteronomy 32:36 ; 1 Samuel 15:11 ; 2 Samuel 24:16 ; Jeremiah 18:8 ; Jeremiah 42:10 ; Jonah 3:10 , where see note). Amos may have had in memory the passage in Joel 2:13 . The LXX . here and in Joel 2:6 has ΄ετανόησον κύριε ἐπὶ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:3

The repentance of Jehovah. Whatever it was of which the Lord is here said to have repented, the meaning, the lesson, is the same. The plague of locusts, the incursion of the foe, was stayed, and it was stayed in consequence of the prophet's intercession, and because of the pity and loving kindness of Jehovah. I. NO CHANGE IS ASSERTED IN THE CHARACTER , THE GOVERNMENT , THE WILL , OF THE ETERNAL . In this sense the Lord is not a man that he should repent.... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 7:1

And behold He formed - (that is, He was forming.) The very least things then are as much in His infinite Mind, as what we count the greatest. He has not simply made “laws of nature,” as people speak, to do His work, and continue the generations of the world. He Himself was still framing them, giving them being, as our Lord saith, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” John 5:17. The same power of God is seen in creating the locust, as the universe. The creature could as little do the one as... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 7:3

The Lord repented for this - God is said to “repent, to have strong compassion upon” or “over” evil, which He has either inflicted Deuteronomy 32:36; 1 Chronicles 21:15, or has said that He would inflict Exodus 32:12; Joel 2:13; Jonah 3:10; Jeremiah 18:8, and which, upon repentance or prayer, He suspends or checks. Here, Amos does not intercede until after the judgment had been, in part, inflicted. He prayed, when in vision the locust “had made an end of eating the grass of the land,” and when... read more

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