Amos 7:1

Here begins the final major section of Amos, consisting principally of five visions, three of which are found in this chapter: (1) that of the locusts (Amos 7:1-3); (2) that of the fire (Amos 7:4-6); and (3) that of the plumb-line (Amos 7:7-9). The balance of the chapter (Amos 7:10-14) has an exceedingly interesting and instructive narrative of the confrontation between God's Prophet (Amos) and Jeroboam's Priest. The appearance of this historical narrative in the midst of these visions has been seized upon by Biblical critics anxious to use it in some way as a basis for their attacks upon the validity of the prophecy However, this last section of the chapter (Amos 7:10-14) belongs exactly where it is. The pagan priest Amaziah quoted from the third vision in his report of Amos' words to the king (Amos 7:9-11), and also referred to Amos as a "seer," literally, one who sees visions (Amos 7:12), a word which McFadden discerningly translated "visionary."[1] Thus, it is impossible to deny that the first three of these visions actually provoked and led up to the dramatic confrontation between Amos and Amaziah. When this is discerned, the reason for the narrative's appearance here (where and when it occurred) is evident.

The form of the narrative is designated by some as a terse prose, contrasting with what they call the poetry of the rest of the chapter; and the RSV has followed this false allegation of incompatibility between the narrative and the rest of the chapter, printing the narrative in prose form and the rest as poetry. However, the truth is that the narrative is just as poetic as anything else in Amos. W. R. Harper discussed this extensively, giving six reasons why this narrative is poetry, noting especially, "the logical division into two parts (Amos 7:10-13, and Amos 7:14-17), and the use of regular trimeter in the first, and regular tetrameter in the second."[2] His conclusion was that:

"The artistic skill which put the accusation (Amos 7:10-13) in a trimeter movement, and the strong and terrible reply (Amos 7:14-17) in the heavier and statelier tetrameter is characteristic of Amos. The symmetry is throughout extraordinary."[3]

In the light of this, which can hardly be denied, it is deplorable that the RSV accommodated the critics by printing this chapter as a poem into which a prose narrative had been inserted. As a matter of obvious truth, the chapter is a unit, being composed by one of Amos' extended public sermons at the shrine of Bethel, a sermon long enough for Amaziah to send a message to the king, and then attempt upon his own authority to expel the prophet. And what was the result of this interruption? Amos finished his sermon, including a special prophecy for Amaziah! The wild speculations to the effect that Amos was arrested and executed, or that, "He left under protest, for Judah,"[4] or that, "Amos appeared no more as a prophet in the Northern Kingdom,"[5] are unsupported by any evidence. The known sequel to this confrontation between God's Prophet and the King's Priest is that Amos went right on and gave the other two of the five visions that composed his sermon.

Amos 7:1

"Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo it was the latter growth after the king's mowings."

The thing to remember about the first two of the visions of threatened disasters against Israel is that they did not occur, but were averted through the prophet's intercession. The evident reason why Amos included these first two sections in his sermon was that of showing to all the people that he in no manner desired the evil things to come to pass which it was his duty to prophecy, but that he actually stood before God as an advocate of the people and as a prayerful intercessor for their good. This angle of Amos' prophecy was left out of Amaziah's report to the king.

"In the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth ... after the king's mowings ..." It is not clear, exactly what custom is referred to in the second phrase here; and the scholars have no agreement about what is meant; but the meaning is clear enough: the threatened locust plague occurred at exactly the right time to have done the maximum damage.

It is agreed by all that the language here is figurative, and that the locust plague stands for some terrible threatened disaster in the past which God had averted. It is certain that the visions do not stand for something that actually happened, but for that which appeared to be impending and did not occur. Nor do they refer to the ultimate judgment which would actually befall Israel, a fate strongly predicted by other words and other visions. As Harper said, "These visions are not premonitions of coming disaster."[6] In a sense, these first two visions are the prophet's revelation that the abyss had yawned underneath Israel repeatedly during the course of the chosen people's ceaseless rebellions against God, and that again, and again God's mercy had spared the impending punishment, or rather deferred it; for it would yet occur anyway unless Israel repented. It may not be wise therefore to limit the application of the vision to some single instance of such a relenting; and yet it is doubtless true that there were historical instances of such a a thing known to all. Deane thought that, "The vision is thought to refer to the first invasion of the Assyrians, when Pul was bribed by Menahem to withdraw."[7] Certainly, such a view does no violence to the text. It was a very efficient and fruitful device to represent all such deliverances which had rescued Israel from threatened disasters in the past under the figure of a locust plague, which in Palestine, is a recurring phenomenon.