OUR LORD WHO HEARS HIS PROPHETS IN JUDGEMENT

Amos chapter 7 verses 7 - 8 reads as follows;

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”

“A plumb line,” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

The previous judgements against Israel that were shown to Amos were aimed at the entire nation. 

The locusts swarms that the Lord showed Amos, were going to devour the crops of all the people of Israel and destroy the whole country. Amos asked that the Lord spare Israel and the Lord relented.

Next, the Lord showed Amos the judgement of fire that was going to dry out the great deep and devour the land. The totality of the destruction caused Amos to ask the Lord to allay the judgement of fire and the Lord relented.

The plumb line in this passage represents the measuring of Israel's alignment to God's standard of righteousness and this was the means that the Lord showed to Amos that did not bring complete ruin to Israel.

This tool was the means by which judgement was to be aimed precisely at those who were causing Israel to be out of alignment. 

When the Lord held the plumb line among the people of Israel,  He named the following areas in Amos chapter 7 verse 9 as those that would be targeted for destruction;

“The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

The Lord heard the pleas of His prophet Amos and relented on His total  judgement of Israel and instead, aimed ruin against the religious and political leadership of the country that was  leading people into error.

Amen.