1<\/strong>. Thus<\/em> did<\/strong> the Lord<\/em> Jehovah shew<\/strong> me<\/em> ] The same formula, Amo 7:4<\/em><\/span> ; Amo 7:7<\/em><\/span><\/em>, Amo 8:1<\/span>. Cf. “shewed me” (also in the description of a vision), Jer 24:1<\/span>; Zec 3:1<\/span>. Lit. caused me to see<\/em>, the correlative of saw<\/em> ( r’h<\/em>), viz. in a vision, 1Ki 22:17<\/span>; 1Ki 22:19<\/span>; Isa 6:1<\/span>; Eze 1:1<\/span>; Eze 1:4<\/span>; Eze 8:2<\/span>; Zec 1:18<\/span>; Zec 2:1<\/span>, &c.<\/p>\n was forming<\/strong> ] Properly forming as a potter<\/em>, a metaphor often applied to the creative operations of God: see on Amo 4:13<\/span>. The participle (the force of which is lost in the English version) represents the action as in progress, at the time when Amos saw it in vision.<\/p>\n locusts<\/strong> ] Hebrew has many different terms for locust, which cannot now in all cases be exactly distinguished: the word used here ( gbay<\/em>) perhaps denoted in particular locusts in the ‘larva’-stage, when they were first hatched (comp. the Excursus above, p. 86, No. 5). The derivation of the word is uncertain [183] .<\/p>\n [183] In Arabic jab<\/em> is to collect<\/em>, and jaba’a<\/em> is said of a serpent or other animal coming forth suddenly<\/em> from its hole, as also of locusts coming suddenly upon<\/em> a country, and from each of these words is derived a name for locusts, denoting them either as collecting<\/em> anything by eating it, or as coming forth suddenly<\/em> whether of their swarming forth from the ground, when the warmth of spring hatches the eggs, or of their sudden arrival in a country from elsewhere (see Lane, Arab. Lex<\/em>. p. 379 a top<\/em>, and pp. 372 e top<\/em>, 373 a ). It is possible (but not certain) that the Hebrew words referred to above are derived from one of these roots: they would be connected most easily with the first.<\/p>\n in the beginning of the coming up of the latter growth<\/em> ] The precise meaning of lesh<\/em> is uncertain: it may (as in Syriac) denote the after-math<\/em>, or grass which springs up after the first crop has been cut; or it may denote the spring-crops<\/em> in general, which are matured under the influence of the malsh<\/em>, or “latter rain” (see on Joe 2:23<\/span>), of March and April. In either case the locusts are represented as appearing at a critical moment, and destroying for the year the crops owned by private Israelites. The ‘king’s mowings’ appear to have been “a tribute in kind levied by the kings of Israel on the spring herbage, as provender for their cavalry (cf. 1Ki 18:5<\/span>). The Roman governors of Syria levied similarly a tax on pasture-land, in the month Nisan, as food for their horses: see Bruns and Sachau, Syr.-Rm. Rechtsbuch<\/em>, Text L, 121; Wright, Notulae Syriacae<\/em> (1887), p. 6” (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites<\/em>, p. 228, ed. 2<\/span>, p. 246). After this tax had been paid, every one would naturally expect to be able to cut his grass for his own use. But the locusts came and devoured it.<\/p>\n 1 3<\/strong>. The first vision. The devouring locusts.<\/p>\n And behold He formed – <\/B>(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 Joh 5:17<\/span>. The same power of God is seen in creating the locust, as the universe. The creature could as little do the one as the other. But further, God was framing them for a special end, not of nature, but of His moral government, in the correction of man. He was framimg the locust, that it might, at His appointed time, lay waste just those tracts which He had appointed to them. God, in this vision, opens our eyes, and lets us see Himself, framing the punishment for the deserts of the sinners, that so when hail, mildew, blight, caterpillars, or some other hitherto unknown disease, (which, because we know it not, we call by the name of the crop which it annihilates), waste our crops, we may think, not of secondary causes, but of our Judge. Lap.: Fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind, fulfill His word, Psa 148:8<\/span>, in striking sinners as He wills. To be indignant with these, were like a dog who bit the stone wherewith it was hit, instead of the man who threw it. Gregory on Job L. xxxii. c. 4. L.: He who denies that he was stricken for his own fault, what does he but accuse the justice of Him who smiteth?<\/P> Grasshoppers – <\/B>that is, locusts. The name may very possibly be derived from their creeping simultaneously, in vast multitudes, from the ground, which is the more observable in these creatures, which, when the warmth of spring hatches the eggs, creep forth at once in myriads. This first meaning of their name must, however, have been obliterated by use (as mostly happens), since the word is also used by Nahum of a flying locust .<\/P> The kings mowings – <\/B>must have been some regalia, to meet the state-expenses. The like custom still lingers on, here and there, among us, the first mowth or first vesture, that with which the fields are first clad, belonging to one person; the pasturage afterward, or after-grass, to others. The hay-harvest probably took place some time before the grain-harvest, and the latter grass, after-grass, (<\/span> leqesh<\/I>) probably began to spring up at the time of the latter rain (<\/span> malqosh<\/I>). Had the grass been mourn after this rain, it would not, under the burning sun of their rainless summer, have sprung up at all. At this time, then, upon which the hope of the year depended, in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter grass, Amos saw, in a vision, God form the locust, and the green herb of the land (the word includes all, that which is for the service of man as well as for beasts,) destroyed. Striking emblem of a state, recovering after it had been mown down, and anew overrun by a numerous enemy! Yet this need but be a passing desolation. Would they abide, or would they carry their ravages elsewhere? Amos intercedes with God, in words of that first intercession of Moses, forgive now Num 14:19<\/span>. By whom, he adds, shall Jacob arise? literally, Who shall Jacob arise? that is, who is he that he should arise, so weakened, so half-destroyed? Plainly, the destruction is more than one invasion of locusts in one year. The locusts are a symbol (as in Joel) in like way as the following visions are symbols.<\/P> <\/p>\n Amo 7:1-6<\/span><\/p>\n O Lord, forgive, I beseech Thee . . . The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Intercession for pardon prevailing<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>This intercession was made by Amos alone. Neither Hosea nor Isaiah, nor any other God-fearers of the time joined in it. To Amos alone the vision appeared, and by him alone the intercession was made.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>This intercession was made in the behalf of a wicked people. Amos calls them Jacob, but they had renounced the principles of that holy man, and stained their manners with the vilest corruptions. Corruption in manners, the effect of corruption in principles, like a spreading pestilence, infected the whole kingdom.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The form of this intercession is a prayer for pardon. Sin is the cause of misery, and misery is the effect and punishment of sin. By pardon sin is taken away, and when the cause is taken away the effect ceases. In going to the throne for deliverance from misery, if we have a true sense of sin, pardon will be our chief concern.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>This intercession was made in a moment of extremity. In the preceding reigns the kingdom had been mortally wounded, and though under Jeroboam some of its wounds were bound up and healed, others continued bleeding, and terminated in a universal mortification.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>Importunity in this intercession is tempered with reverence. For the preservation of the house of Israel, the man of God is earnest and fervent in prayer; but his prayer is blended with the reverence that is suitable to Divine majesty and holiness.<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>This intercession is exemplary; an example and pattern to after ages.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The holy writings frequently contain this expression.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Changes in the administration of providence, according to the purpose of God, are expressed by these words.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>These changes of administration encourage intercession, and furnish excitements and motives to repentance. Encouraged by considerations of the grace, mercy, and kindness of the God of Israel, Amos stood and interceded.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>This intimation came immediately from the Holy One, by whom alone pardon of sin and remission of punishment is granted.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>This intimation was made by the Saviour of Israel, who alone had power to restrain and countermand the destroyers of Israel. The waster is the creature of His power, and the servant of His providence.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The intimation came to the individual who had made intercession.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>This intimation is effective and sovereign. He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>The intimation is solemnly authenticated. Amos heard the words distinctly pronounced, and saith the Lord, solemnly added by the glorious Speaker. This encouraged him to continue interceding, and raised his hope of prevailing.<\/p>\n Inferences.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Intercession for a wicked and perverse people is a duty. The Lord allows, requires, and commands it, and in accepting it hath glorified Himself.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Supplication for pardon is an essential part of intercession.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Through the forbearance and long-suffering of God, some temporal strokes may be mitigated, or removed, upon intercession; while the desolation determined, deserved, and denounced, is making ready and hastening forwards.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Intercessors, though friends to their country, are sometimes treated in it as enemies. Toward the restoration of the country Amos contributed more by prayer than Jeroboam did by the sword. A few men who have power with God in prayer are better than chariots of war, and stronger than standing armies. Exhort–<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Men who are lively and warm in prayer. Do not faint because prayer doth not always prevail, nor because evidences of acceptance are withheld for a time. Men ought always to pray, and never to faint.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Men who are cold and spiritless in prayer. Deadness of heart in devotion is one of the distempers of our time.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Men who are formalists, who multiply prayers, but never pray from the heart, and with the Spirit. Whatever be your own opinion of these, forms, no petition which is not conceived and uttered by the Spirit, and offered in the name of Christ, comes into His censer, nor goes up before the throne with acceptance.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> Men who neglect prayer. Such are enemies to themselves, to their country, to their king, and to their God. (A. Shanks.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Revelation and prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>A Divine revelation. A vision of judgments symbolically represented to the mind of the prophet. Destruction by grasshoppers. Destruction by fire.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>A human prayer. Forgive. This calamity is brought on by the sin of the nation. Forgive the sin; remove the moral cause of the judgment. By whom shall Jacob arise? Or, better, How can Jacob stand? for he is small. Jacobs–the nations–weakness, is the plea of the prayer for forgiveness. The Israelites had been greatly reduced by repeated invasions on the part of the Assyrian kings, and were now on the point of being attacked by the Assyrians, but purchased their retreat by one thousand talents of silver (2Ki 15:19-20<\/span>). The nation was now so weakened that it was unable to stand before another invader. How can Jacob stand? The time has come when men may well ask this question in relation to the Church. By whom shall it arise? Not by statesmen, scientists, etc.<\/p>\n CHAPTER VII <\/P> In this chapter God represents to Amos, by three several<\/I><\/P> visions, the judgments he is about to bring on Israel. The<\/I><\/P> first is a plague of locusts, threatening to cut of the hopes<\/I><\/P> of the harvest by attacking it in the time of the second<\/I><\/P> growth; the first luxuriances of the crop being probably mowed<\/I><\/P> for the king’s horses<\/I>, 1-3.<\/P> The next vision threatens a judgment by fire, which would<\/I><\/P> consume a great part<\/I>, 4-6;<\/P> and the third a total overthrow of Israel, levelling it as it<\/I><\/P> were by a line<\/I>, 7-9.<\/P> The rest of the chapter is a denunciation of heavy judgments<\/I><\/P> against Amaziah, priest of Beth-el, who had brought an<\/I><\/P> accusation to the king against the prophet<\/I>, 10-17. <\/P> NOTES ON CHAP. VII<\/P> Verse 1<\/span>. Behold, he formed grasshoppers<\/B><\/I>] gobai<\/I> is generally understood here to signify locusts<\/I>. See the notes on Joe 1:1-2:32<\/span>.<\/P> <\/P> The shooting up of the latter growth<\/B><\/I>] The early crop<\/I> of grass had been already mowed and housed. The second crop<\/I> or rowing<\/I>, as it is called in some places, was not yet begun. By the king’s<\/I> mowings<\/I> we may understand the first crop<\/I>, a portion of which the king probably claimed as being the better hay; but the words may signify simply the prime crop<\/I>, that which is the best of the<\/I> whole<\/I>. Houbigant<\/I> thinks the shearing of the king’s sheep<\/I> is meant.<\/P> <\/p>\n Thus:<\/B> sometimes this refers to what went before, here it refers to what the prophet saw and is about to declare. <\/P> Hath the Lord God showed unto me:<\/B> this is the first of five visions or prophetic representations of what was coming upon this people for their sins. The Lord gave Amos a clear sight of the future calamity by this vision. <\/P> Behold; <\/B>I could not but observe, and it is worthy your observance too. <\/P> He formed:<\/B> it is not said he called for them, but he formed or created them, probably intimating somewhat extraordinary in them, either in their bigness or number, or rather sudden appearing of them. So the plague signified by them should suddenly come upon them. <\/P> Grasshoppers:<\/B> in our country grasshoppers are not hurtful, but these in our text were locusts, and so rendered Isa 33:4<\/span>; Nah 3:17<\/span>; and the word used by Amos here is paraphrased by the Hebrew critics by a word that properly notes locust. <\/P> It was the latter growth:<\/B> the shooting up of the first growth being too luxuriant, they did either mow off the tops, or eat it down with cattle, and this was done for preserving the corn and increase of the harvest; but if the second growth were cut off or eat up, it marred the whole harvest; and these devouring locusts were formed in such time as to do this, and so to bring a famine upon the land. <\/P> After the kings mowings; <\/B>it is supposed that the first mowing of the luxuriant corn in the blade was for the kings use, and after this the second springing grew up to the harvest. It may possibly intimate, that though the kings of Israel did as it were mow the luxuriant riches vet they grew again; but when Assyrian locusts come all is devoured. <\/P> <\/p>\n 1. showed . . . me; and, behold<\/B>Thesame formula prefaces the three visions in this chapter, and thefourth in Am 8:1<\/span>. <\/P> grasshoppers<\/B>rather,”locusts” in the caterpillar state, from a Hebrew<\/I>root, “to creep forth.” In the autumn the eggs aredeposited in the earth; in the spring the young come forth [MAURER].<\/P> the latter growth<\/B>namely,of grass, which comes up after the mowing. They do not in the Eastmow their grass and make hay of it, but cut it off the ground as theyrequire it. <\/P> the king’s mowings<\/B>thefirst-fruits of the mown grass, tyrannically exacted by the king fromthe people. The literal locusts, as in Joel, are probably symbols ofhuman foes: thus the “growth” of grass “after theking’s mowings” will mean the political revival of Israel underJeroboam II (2Ki 14:25<\/span>), afterit had been mown down, as it were, by Hazael and Ben-hadad of Syria(2Ki 13:3<\/span>), [GROTIUS].<\/P><\/p>\n Thus hath the Lord showed unto me<\/strong>,…. What follows in this and the two chapters, before the prophet delivered what he heard from the Lord; now what he saw, the same thing, the ruin of the ten tribes, is here expressed as before, but in a different form; before in prophecy, here in vision, the more to affect and work upon the hearts of the people:<\/p>\n and, behold, he formed grasshoppers<\/strong>; or “locusts” u, as the word is rendered, Isa 33:4<\/span>; and so the Septuagint here, and other versions. Kimchi interprets it, and, behold, a collection or swarm of locusts; and the Targum, a creation of them. Though Aben Ezra takes the word to be a verb, and not a noun, and the sense to be, agreeably to our version, he showed me the blessed God, who was forming locusts; it appeared to Amos, in the vision of prophecy, as if the Lord was making locusts, large and great ones, and many of them; not that this was really done, only visionally, and was an emblem of the Assyrian army, prepared and ready to devour the land of Israel; see Joe 1:4<\/span>. And this was<\/p>\n in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, [it was] the latter growth after the king’s mowings<\/strong>; when the first grass was mowed down, and the first crop gathered in, for the use of the king’s cattle; as the later grass was just springing up, and promised a second crop, these grasshoppers or locusts were forming, which threatened the destruction of it. This must be towards the close of the summer, and when autumn was coming on, at which time naturalists tell us that locusts breed. So Aristotle w says, they bring forth at the going out of the summer; and of one sort of them he says, their eggs perish in the waters of autumn, or when it is a wet autumn; but in a dry autumn there is a large increase of them: and so Pliny says x, they breed in the autumn season and lie under the earth all the winter, and appear in the spring: and Columella observes y, that locusts are most suitably and commodiously fed with grass in autumn; which is called “cordum”, or the latter grass, that comes or springs late in the year; such as this now was. The Mahometans speak z much of God being the Maker of locusts; they say he made them of the clay which was left at the formation of Adam; and represent him saying, I am God, nor is there any Lord of locusts besides me, who feed them, and send them for food to the people, or as a punishment to them, as I please: they call them the army of the most high God, and will not suffer any to kill them; [See comments on Re 9:3]<\/span>; whether all this is founded on this passage of Scripture, I cannot say; however, there is no reason from thence to make the locusts so peculiarly the workmanship of God as they do, since this was only in a visionary way; though it may be observed, that it is with great propriety, agreeable to the nature of these creatures, that God is represented as forming them at such a season of the year. Some, by “the king’s mowings”, understand the carrying captive the ten tribes by Shalmaneser king of Assyria; so Ribera; after which things were in a flourishing state, or at least began to be so, in the two tribes under Hezekiah, when they were threatened with ruin by the army of Sennacherib, from which there was a deliverance: but as this vision, and the rest, only respect the ten tribes of Israel, “the king’s mowings” of the first crop may signify the distresses of the people of Israel, in the times of Jehoahaz king of Israel, by Hazael and Benhadad kings of Syria, 2Ki 13:3<\/span>; when things revived again, like the shooting up of the later grass, in the reign of Joash, and especially of Jeroboam his son, who restored the coast of Israel, the Lord having compassion on them, 2Ki 13:25<\/span>; but after his death things grew worse; his son reigned but six months, and he that slew him but one; and in the reign of Menahem, that succeeded him, an invasion of the land was made by Pul king of Assyria, 2Ki 15:19<\/span>; which is generally thought to be intended here. Or else, as others, it may refer to the troubles in the interregnum, after the death of Jeroboam, to his son’s mounting the throne, the space of eleven years, when, and afterwards, Israel was in a declining state.<\/p>\n u “ecce fictor locustarum”, Pagninus, Montanus; so Munster, Vatablus, Cocceius, Burkius. w Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 28, 29. x Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29. y Apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 6. col. 484. z Vid. Bochart, ib. col. 486.<\/p>\n The first two visions. – Amo 7:1-3<\/span>. The Locusts. – Amo 7:1<\/span>. “Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me; and, behold, He formed locusts in the beginning of the springing up of the second crop; and, behold, it was a second crop after the king’s mowing.<\/em> Amo 7:2<\/span>. And it came to pass, when they had finished eating the vegetable of the land, I said, Lord Jehovah, forgive, I pray: how can Jacob stand? for he is small.<\/em> Amo 7:3<\/span>. Jehovah repented of this: It shall not take place, saith Jehovah.” <\/em> The formula, “Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me,” is common to this and the three following visions (Amo 7:4<\/span>, Amo 7:7<\/span>, and Amo 8:1<\/span>), with this trifling difference, that in the third (Amo 7:7<\/span>) the subject (the Lord Jehovah) is omitted, and ‘Adonai <\/em> (the Lord) is inserted instead, after v e hinneh <\/em> (and behold). denotes seeing with the eyes of the mind – a visionary seeing. These visions are not merely pictures of a judgment which was ever threatening, and drawing nearer and nearer (Baur); still less are they merely poetical fictions, or forms of drapery selected arbitrarily, for the purpose of clothing the prophet’s thoughts; but they are inward intuitions, produced by the Spirit of God, which set forth the punitive judgments of God. Koh <\/em> ( ita <\/em>, thus) points to what follows, and v e hinneh <\/em> (and behold) introduces the thing seen. Amos sees the Lord form locusts. Baur proposes to alter (forming) into (forms), but without any reason, and without observing that in all three visions of this chapter hinneh <\/em> is followed by a participle ( in Amo 7:4<\/span>, and in Amo 7:7<\/span>), and that the ‘Adonai <\/em> which stands before in Amo 7:7<\/span> shows very clearly that this noun is simply omitted in Amo 7:1<\/span>, because ‘AdonaI Y e hovah <\/em> has immediately preceded it. (a poetical form for , analogous to for , and contracted into in Nah 3:17<\/span>) signifies locusts, the only question being, whether this meaning is derived from = Arab. jab <\/em>, to cut, or from = Arab. jba <\/em>, to creep forth (out of the earth). The fixing of the time has an important bearing upon the meaning of the vision: viz., “at the beginning of the springing up of the second crop (of grass);” especially when taken in connection with the explanation, “after the mowings of the king.” These definitions cannot be merely intended as outward chronological data. For, in the first place, nothing is known of the existence of any right or prerogative on the part of the kings of Israel, to have the early crop in the meadow land throughout the country mown for the support of their horses and mules (1Ki 18:5<\/span>), so that their subjects could only get the second crop for their own cattle. Moreover, if the second crop, “after the king’s mowings,” were to be interpreted literally in this manner, it would decidedly weaken the significance of the vision. For if the locusts did not appear till after the king had got in the hay for the supply of his own mews, and so only devoured the second crop of grass as it grew, this plague would fall upon the people alone, and not at all upon the king. But such an exemption of the king from the judgment is evidently at variance with the meaning of this and the following visions. Consequently the definition of the time must be interpreted spiritually, in accordance with the idea of the vision. The king, who has had the early grass mown, is Jehovah; and the mowing of the grass denotes the judgments which Jehovah has already executed upon Israel. The growing of the second crop is a figurative representation of the prosperity which flourished again after those judgments; in actual fact, therefore, it denotes the time when the dawn had risen again for Israel (Amo 4:13<\/span>). Then the locusts came and devoured all the vegetables of the earth. is not the second crop; for does not mean grass, but vegetables, the plants of the field (see at Gen 1:11<\/span>). Amo 7:2<\/span> and Amo 7:3<\/span> require that this meaning should be retained. When the locusts had already eaten the vegetables of the earth, the prophet interceded, and the Lord interposed with deliverance. This intercession would have been too late after the consumption of the second crop. On the other hand, when the vegetables had been consumed, there was still reason to fear that the consumption of the second crop of grass would follow; and this is averted at the prophet’s intercession. for , as in 1Sa 17:48<\/span>; Jer 37:11<\/span>, etc. , pray forgive, sc. the guilt of the people (cf. Num 14:19<\/span>). , how ( qualis<\/em>) can Jacob (the nation of Israel) stand (not arise), since it is small? , small, i.e., so poor in sources and means of help, that it cannot endure this stroke; not “so crushed already, that a very light calamity would destroy it” (Rosenmller). for , see Exo 32:14<\/span>. (this) refers to the destruction of the people indicated in ; and is also to be supplied as the subject to .<\/p>\n Intercession for Israel; Ruin of Israel Foretold.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 785.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 1 Thus hath the Lord GOD<\/B> shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was<\/I> the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 And it came to pass, that<\/I> when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD<\/B>, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is<\/I> small. 3 The LORD<\/B> repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD<\/B>. 4 Thus hath the Lord GOD<\/B> shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD<\/B> called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. 5 Then said I, O Lord GOD<\/B>, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is<\/I> small. 6 The LORD<\/B> repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD<\/B>. 7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made<\/I> by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. 8 And the LORD<\/B> said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: 9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.<\/P> 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,<\/I>Amo 7:1<\/span>; Amo 7:4<\/span>; Amo 7:7<\/span>. 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,<\/I> ch.<\/span> iii. 7<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>.<\/P> I. We have here two instances of God’s sparing mercy, remembered in the midst of judgment, the narratives of which are so much like one another that they will be best considered together, and very considerable they are.<\/P> 1. God is here coming forth against this sinful nation, first by one judgment and then by another. (1.) He begins with the judgment of famine. The prophet saw this in vision. He saw God forming grasshoppers,<\/I> or locusts,<\/I> and bringing them up upon the land, to eat up the fruits of it, and so to strip it of its beauty and starve its inhabitants, v.<\/I><\/span> 1<\/span>. God formed these grasshoppers, not only as they were his creatures (and much of the wisdom and power of God appears in the formation of minute animals, as much in the structure of an ant as of an elephant), but as they were instruments of his wrath. God is said to frame evil<\/I> against a sinful people, Jer. xviii. 11<\/span>. These grasshoppers were framed on purpose to eat up the grass of the land;<\/I> and vast numbers of them were prepared accordingly. They were sent in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, after the king’s mowings.<\/I> See here how the judgment was mitigated by the mercy that went before it. God could have sent these insects to eat up the grass at the beginning of the first growth, in the spring, when the grass was most needed, was most plentiful, and was the best in its kind; but God suffered that to grow, and suffered them to gather it in; the king’s mowings were safely housed, for the king himself is served from the field<\/I> (Eccl. v. 9<\/span>), and could as ill be without his mowings as without any other branch of his revenues. Uzziah, who was now king of Judah, loved husbandry,<\/I> 2 Chron. xxvi. 10<\/I><\/span>. But the grasshoppers were commissioned to eat up only the latter growth<\/I> (the edgrew we call it in the country), the after-grass, which is of little value in comparison with the former. The mercies which God give us, and continues to us, are more numerous and more valuable than those he removes from us, which is a good reason why we should be thankful and not complain. The remembrance of the mercies of the former growth should make us submissive to the will of God when we meet with disappointments in the latter growth. The prophet, in vision, saw this judgment prevailing far. These grasshoppers ate up the grass of the land,<\/I> which should have been for the cattle, which the owners must of course suffer by. Some understand this figuratively of a wasting destroying army brought upon them. In the days of Jeroboam the kingdom of Israel began to recover itself from the desolations it had been under in the former reigns (2 Kings xiv. 25<\/span>); the latter growth shot up, after the mowings of the kings of Syria, which we read of 2 Kings xiii. 3<\/span>. And then God commissioned the king of Assyria with an army of caterpillars to come upon them and lay them waste, that nation spoken of ch.<\/I><\/span> vi. 14<\/span>, which afflicted them from the entering of Hamath to the river of the wilderness,<\/I> which seems to refer to Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>Concerning intercession.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Concerning the prevailing of this intercession. The Lord repented for this. His meaning is, the Lord accepted his importunity, granted the desire of his heart, and assured him that the miseries, represented under the emblem of the grasshoppers, would not eat up and consume all things. Illustrate the form of words in which this meaning is expressed.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The sovereign manner in which the Lord was pleased to express and communicate the prevailing of the intercession. It shall not be, saith the Lord.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>A divine revelation leading to human prayer.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Human prayer leading to a Divine revelation. The prophet prays, and the great God makes a new revelation of mercy. The Lord repented for this: <\/strong>It shall not be, saith the Lord. (Homilist.<\/em>)<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n