The Locusts, Fire, and Plumb Line// Joel 2:1–11
1This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up. 2And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord Yahweh, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”
- AMOS 7:1[NOTE]THE KING'S HARVEST. The first cutting went to the king. The locusts would eat what was left for the people.
- AMOS 7:2[NOTE]AMOS PRAYS. His own words, so they are black. God listens and holds back.
3So Yahweh relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.
4This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me: The Lord Yahweh was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5Then I said, “Lord Yahweh, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”
6So Yahweh relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord Yahweh.
7This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand. 8“Amos, what do you see?” asked Yahweh.
- AMOS 7:7[NOTE]A PLUMB LINE. A string with a weight, used to see if a wall is straight. Israel failed the test.
“A plumb line,” I replied.
“Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
9The high places of Isaac will be deserted,
and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste;
and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with My sword.”
- AMOS 7:9[PROPHECY]God would rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword → 2KI 15:8-10
- AMOS 7:9[DEMONIC]Israel's idol shrines and high places will be laid waste
Amaziah Accuses Amos
10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words, 11for this is what Amos has said:
- AMOS 7:10[NOTE]AMAZIAH. The priest of Bethel, not the king of Judah with the same name.
- AMOS 7:10[NOTE]SERVANT OF JEROBOAM. A seal of an officer of a King Jeroboam, most think this one, was found at Megiddo in 1904. See The Seal of Shema, 2 Kings.
‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their homeland.’”
12And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”
14“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees. 15But Yahweh took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
- AMOS 7:14[NOTE]NOT A PROPHET. A farmer and fig grower, not a professional prophet. See Not a Prophet?
16Now, therefore, hear the word of Yahweh. You say:
‘Do not prophesy against Israel;
do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17Therefore this is what Yahweh says:
‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be divided by a measuring line,
and you yourself will die on pagan soil.
And Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their homeland.’”
- AMOS 7:17[PROPHECY]Amaziah would die on pagan soil and Israel would go into exile → 2KI 17:6MEDIUM