Amos said he never planned to be a prophet. He was a shepherd who had a side job tending sycamore fig trees when he says, “the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” Amos 7:14

Amos didn’t ask for the visions he saw or the conversations he had with God. He would rather not have had anything to do with the work of a prophet, and that made him credible. A reluctant prophet, who doesn’t want attention, has no reason to make up what he says in God’s name.

Visions of Locusts, Fire, and a Plumb Line

God gave Amos a glimpse of his plans for Israel in a series of visions. In the first vision God sent locusts just as the people’s harvest began. Amos saw the land stripped bare and he cried out, “‘Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small! So the Lord relented. ‘This will not happen,’ the Lord said.” Amos 7:2-3

God showed Amos a second vision, this time of fire so fierce that it evaporated a great body of water and devoured Israel’s land. Amos passionately interceded again, and God said he would not send the fire.

In the third vision, God showed Amos a plumb line, a cord with a weight on the end that was lowered down the side of a wall to see if the wall was straight. God’s plumb line showed that Israel was severely out of alignment with him. God was going to destroy the places of detestable religious practices and end the royal house of King Jeroboam. This time Amos was silent.

Amaziah Confronts Amos

Amos went to Bethel to deliver his prophecies against Israel and the priest Amaziah heard him preach. Amaziah informed King Jeroboam about Amos’s prophecies and then he tried to drive Amos out of Israel.

But Amos replied, “The Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, ‘Do not prophesy to my people Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’” Amos 7:15-6

Amos had to preach what God gave him to say; no amount of intervention by Amaziah could stop that. His own family was going to suffer great loss and those who survived were going into exile.

The Vision of Ripe Fruit

God gave Amos a vision of a basket of ripe fruit and said, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.” Amos 8:2

God objected to the way Israel carried on with their New Moon and Sabbath festivals, impatiently singing his praises while thinking about how to cheat their customers and boost their profits. They made schemes to take advantage of the poor, and sell them in the marketplace.

Because Israel refused to repent, God swore he would never forget any of their sins. Terrible times were coming for them, days of darkness and grief. Israel’s people were going to stagger and faint from extreme famine and drought, and their idols could not help them.

“Those who swear by the sin of Samaria – who say ‘As surely as your god lives in Dan,’ or ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’ – they will fall, never to rise again.” Amos 8:14

God Himself Prophesies From Bethel

Amos saw a vision of God standing beside the altar at the temple to the golden calf in Bethel. God spoke against the temple and the people who worshiped there.

“Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with a sword. Not one will get away, none will escape.” Amos 9:1

There were plenty of places for Israelites to run in Samaria —  mountains, caves, and large bodies of water —  but no place to hide. God said, “I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good.” Amos 9:4

This was not what God wanted for Israel. He warned them for decades to give up their injustice and idolatry, and he would have forgiven and restored them in an instant, but they stood against him until he finally revealed his wrath. Yet even then, God wanted to preserve Israel.

“Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob.” Amos 9:8

God was going to shake Israel like grain in a sieve. All of the unrepentant sinners would fall through and die by the sword; those who remained would become the foundation of the future of Israel.

Promise of Restoration

God’s final words through Amos were full of hope: War and exile wouldn’t go on forever. God was going to help the Israelites repair what was broken. Plowing and harvesting would come again, beautiful gardens would be planted, and they would make wine from their own grapes. God’s plan was to restore his people to the Promised Land.

“I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them.” Amos 9:15

This promise has never yet been completely fulfilled. Israel has not fully become the peaceful, just, and fruitful land God has in mind, and it probably won’t happen until God creates the new heavens and earth and gathers all of the nations to himself at the end of time.

Kings Rise and Fall

King Jeroboam II died and his son Zechariah took the throne and reigned for six months. A man named Shallum assassinated Zechariah and was king for one month before Menahem, who was one of Zechariah’s military officers, killed him for assassinating Zechariah.

King Menahem went up to Aram and sacked the town of Tipsah, using the same warfare against the Arameans that they had practiced on Israel, including brutalizing pregnant women. Then Menahem settled in Samaria and ruled for the next ten years.

The Assyrians Begin to Arrive

It was during Menahem’s reign that the fierce Assyrians made their first foray into Israel. Pul, king of Assyria invaded the land, but Menahem bought him off with a thousand talents of silver collected from the people of Israel.

Menahem died and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah who only lived two years before he was killed by one of his chief officers, Pekah.

King Pekah reigned for twenty years and did evil in God’s eyes, committing the sins of Jeroboam. During Pekah’s reign the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser began capturing the outer regions of Israel, including Gilead, Galilee, and all of Naphtali.

The Assyrians subdued a nation by taking towns one by one and deporting their citizens to other parts of the Assyrian empire. Using this method they steadily closed in on Samaria during King Pekah’s reign.

Isaiah Sees God

After fifty-two years on the throne of Judah King Uzziah died. His son Jotham reigned with him the last ten years and then succeeded him. They had maintained temple worship and that was beneficial to a young man named Isaiah, because the temple is where God called Isaiah into a life of service.

Isaiah was probably already a priest, but now he also became a prophet and statesman who would guide kings over the next fifty years. Despite his access to royalty, Isaiah consistently sided with the poor. And despite his connection to the priesthood, he boldly criticized the hypocritical worship of God’s people.

In the vision that launched Isaiah’s career as a prophet he saw God, high and exalted, seated on a throne. The train of his robe filled the temple and around him were the seraphim, angels who constantly praised his holiness. They called to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:3

Isaiah Is Commissioned

At the sound of the angelic voices the temple shook and filled with smoke. Sitting in that smoke, Isaiah was suddenly overcome by his sinfulness.

“Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5

A seraph flew to Isaiah with a coal from the altar and touched his lips, purifying them. Then Isaiah heard the voice of God saying,

“‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’

And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Isaiah 6:8

Immediately God gave Isaiah a monumental task. He had to go and prophesy to obstinate people that they were going to be punished by God.

The stage was now set. All that remained was for God to put events into motion.