Amos 7:8-9

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Amos 7:1-9

We here see that God bears long, but that he will not bear always, with a provoking people, both these God here showed the prophet: Thus hath the Lord God showed me, Amos 7:1, 4, 7. He showed him what was present, foreshowed him what was to come, gave him the knowledge both of what he did and of what he designed; for the Lord God reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets, Amos 3:7. I. We have here two instances of God's sparing mercy, remembered in the midst of judgment, the narratives... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 7:8

And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou ?.... This question was put to him, the rather, since he was silent, and did not upon this vision, as the former, make any supplication to the Lord; as also, because this vision portended something of moment and importance, which he would have the prophet attend to: and I said, a plumbline ; the same word as before, and is differently rendered, as already observed. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "a plasterer's" or "mason's trowel";... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 7:9

And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate ,.... Such as the ten tribes of Israel, who descended from Isaac, built at Beersheba, in imitation of Isaac, and pleading his example; who worshipped there, though not idols, as they, but the true God; and in commemoration of his being bound upon an altar on Mount Moriah: but these, as the Septuagint version renders it, were "high places of laughter", ridiculous in the eyes of the Lord, despised by him, and so should be made desolate: and the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 7:8

I will set a plumbline - I will visit them by justice without any mixture of mercy. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 7:9

And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate - Their total destruction is at hand. The high place of Isaac was Beer-sheba, where Isaac had built an altar to the Lord, Genesis 26:25 . This high place, which had been abused to idolatrous uses, was demolished by Josiah, king of Judah, as we read in 2 Kings 23:8 , for he defiled all the high places from Geba to Beersheba. I will rise against the house of Jeroboam - The Lord had promised to Jehu, the ancestor of Jeroboam, that his... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 7:8

Verse 8 But that which follows has an important meaning: God asks his Prophet, What sees thou, Amos? It is probable that the Prophet was astonished at a thing so mysterious. When locusts were formed, and when there was a contention by fire, he might have easily gathered what God meant; for these visions were by no means ambiguous: but when God stood on a wall with a plumbline, this was somewhat more hard to be understood; and the probability is, that the Prophet was made to feel much... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 7:9

Verse 9 It now follows, And destroyed shall be the high places of Isaac, and overthrown shall be the sanctuaries (some render palaces) of Israel; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. The Prophet here distinctly declares, that the people in vain trusted in their temples and superstitions, for by these they kindled the more against themselves the wrath of God. He would not indeed have expressly threatened the high places and the temples, unless the Israelites had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:7-9

§ 3. The third vision, the plumb line, represents the Lord himself as coming to examine the conduct of Israel, and finally deciding on its entire ruin. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:7-9

Righteousness to the plumb line. here has been reprieve after reprieve. The enemy of God's wrath has been met in the breach by intercessory prayer, and, for the time, turned back. Once and again the hounds of vengeance have been cried off. But respite is not escape. There is a certain limit beyond which the system of Divine reprieves cannot go. And that limit has now been reached. The locust has been disappointed of his meal. The fire has been beaten back from the tinder. But the criminal... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 7:7-9

The plumb line of judgment. The pictorial style of Amos here sets before us in an impressive and memorable way a great truth. Whether in a dream or in a prophetic ecstasy, the prophet beheld one with a plumb line standing by a wall. He recognized in the wall the palaces, the temples, the city ramparts of Samaria; in the figure, a representation of the eternal Ruler of the nations; in the plumb line, the emblem of just and orderly procedure. And a voice explained the vision as predictive of... read more

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