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Amos Chapter 7: The Plumb Line

Amos has five visions in the last three chapters of his book. The first two involve fire and locusts destroying the land in judgment, but God changes His mind when Amos prays. The next vision uses a plumb line to show that the people of Israel are crooked and sinful. Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, accuses Amos of conspiring against the king. Amos responds that he is not a professional prophet but speaks with God's authority. Amaziah faces severe consequences for manipulating Amos' message.

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125 views

Amos Chapter 7: The Plumb Line

Amos has five visions in the last three chapters of his book. The first two involve fire and locusts destroying the land in judgment, but God changes His mind when Amos prays. The next vision uses a plumb line to show that the people of Israel are crooked and sinful. Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, accuses Amos of conspiring against the king. Amos responds that he is not a professional prophet but speaks with God's authority. Amaziah faces severe consequences for manipulating Amos' message.

Uploaded by

ofchuntington
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Amos Chapter 7

The Plumb Line


Please read Amos Chapter 7
Overview of the rest of the text

 We have gotten to the last three chapters of


Amos
 In these chapters we see that Amos has five
visions and receives 5 promises
 We see a movement from grace to rejection of
that grace, to judgment and punishment
We begin with Amos’ first two
visions
 The first two visions are of fire and
locusts which will come upon the
land
 They are reminiscent of the
plagues on Egypt
 What is interesting is that God’s
mind is changed by Amos praying
 This happens twice
 Interesting concept for us which is
through prayer, God does change
God’s mind.
 We also see that Amos can be
compassionate and tender which
we have never seen before.
The next vision is that of a plumb
line
 A plumb line is a standard by
which a wall’s vertical trueness is
tested.
 Today we would use a laser level
 When God measured the people
of Israel against the plumb line,
he saw that they were crooked.
 Sort of like if we measured a wall
with a level and found out it was
crooked
 So the people of Israel were
crooked (sinful)
So what is our plumb line today?
 Christ and the teachings
of Christ are our plumb
line
 How do our walls stand
against this plumb line?
 What is interesting and
reassuring is that Christ
helps us straighten our
walls
Amaziah
 Amaziah is the High Priest at
Bethel
 Remember that Bethel is a
holy place desecrated by the
Baal religion
 Amaziah tells the King that
Amos is making plans against
him.
 In other words, there is a
conspiracy going on
 Is this true?
 No!!!
Amaziah’s Words

 What is disturbing is that Amaziah, a priest of


God, was not only not alarmed by what God
was saying to the people through Amos but
also that he was manipulating Amos’ words
 Does this sound familiar?
 In other words, my guess is we have all been
in situations where our words have been
changed to someone’s advantage.
Amos’ Response

 I am not a professional prophet


 At that time in Israel there were schools of
prophets where new prophets were trained and
tutored by older ones
 Amos was not in such a school
 Amos was under God’s authority
Consequences

 The consequences for Amaziah and his family


are horrible.
 So one must be VERY careful in manipulating
the voice of God

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