Amos 7 | “How Could Yaakov Survive This – He, Who Is So Small”

This chapter contains Amos’s prophetic visions, as well as his confrontation with Amatzya, the high priest of the temple at Beit El. Two points are worth noting with regard to the prophetic visions:

“How could Yaakov survive this – he, who is so small”: The book of Amos includes four prophetic visions, arranged in two pairs. In the first pair, Amos sees a looming catastrophe and pleads with God to show mercy to Israel. The first vision describes a plague of locusts; the second, a consuming fire. In both cases, Amos appeals for mercy, in light of the frailty of the nation — and both times, God relents.

There is, however, a noticeable shift in the tone of his appeals. In the first vision, Amos pleads: “Please forgive.” (7:2) But in the second, he says only: “Please stop.” (7:4) The first is a request for forgiveness. The second seems to abandon that hope and merely asks that God will not punish, even if He cannot forgive.

Amos’s intercession recalls a verse from Melakhim, which offers the historical backdrop for the entire book: “For the Lord had seen the depth of Israel's bitter suffering, with neither bond nor free left and no helper for Israel. But the Lord had not decreed to bolt out Israel's name from under the heavens, so He delivered them through Yerovam son of Yoash” (Kings II 14:26–27; see also Devarim 32:6). Israel may not have merited salvation, but God granted it out of mercy. And look where it led them: to pride and corruption, to complacency and the throwing off of all restraint. One is left to wonder: what if Amos had not asked for mercy? What if they had been struck by the locusts or the fire before the earthquake or the Assyrian invasion arrived? Might they have had a chance to repent then? Might Amos have had a better chance of turning them back on the right path?

The Plumb Line and Amatzya the Priest of Beit El: In the third vision, God announces “I will spare them no longer,” (7:8) and declares Yerovam will die by the sword, and that the Israelites will be exiled. At this stage — when Amos dares to name Yerovam and declare that his dynasty will fall — the machinery of the state begins to stir. But it is not stirred to repentance. It is stirred to persecute the prophet. As long as Amos had preached social reform and warned of vague, general troubles, he could be tolerated. But now, the regime is no longer willing to accept him. Let us recall that prophets had once played active roles in revolts against kings. The founder of Yerovam son of Yoash’s dynasty, Yehu, seized power by force with the encouragement of the prophet Elisha.

Amos’s response to Amatzya underscores a theme repeated throughout the book. Amos has no desire to be a prophet. He does not get a salary for it, nor does he get any profit. He was summoned by God for this mission, and if “The Lord God speaks; who would not prophesy?” (3:8)