Amos 7-9: Get out of here, Fig Boy!

We read Amos 7–9 aloud and trace how God’s justice and mercy meet through visions of locusts, fire, a plumb line, and summer fruit. We reflect on intercession that moves God to relent, judgment that confronts economic fraud, and a promise to rebuild David’s fallen house.

• why ordinary people can speak for God
• mercy shown when Amos prays for the weak
• the plumb line as God’s standard for righteousness
• economic injustice named and confronted
• the terror of a famine of hearing God’s word
• the altar struck and God’s sovereign reach
• exile foretold and restoration promised
• fulfilled prophecy and confidence in Scripture
• praying boldly and speaking truth with courage

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Daily Scripture And Lifelong Re-Reading

Calling, Support, And Mission

Setting Up Amos’s Visions

Locusts, Fire, And Mercy Pleas

Plumb Line And Clash At Bethel

Summer Fruit And Justice For The Poor

The Altar Struck And Sovereign Power

Judgment, Exile, And Future Restoration

Silent Years And Fulfilled Prophecy

Prayer That Changes Outcomes

Bold Truth In A Hostile World

Closing And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. And if this is one of your first times with me here in this podcast, thanks so much for joining me. I uh I really believe that you're going to experience the Word of God in a in a new and refreshing way. And I'm excited just to see what God does with His Word in your life. And I I really believe that if you if you hear it, you can love it and then you can live it. And that's where we really start to see the Bible making a positive impact in our lives. Keep it up. Keep it up. We recently grew to five episodes per week just so that we can have that many more opportunities to engage with scripture and let it soak into our lives so we can actually live it out. And if you've been with me for a while now, thank you. It's been such a uh a privilege to be able to walk through so much of the Bible together, and I'm so thankful for you. And hey, we're gonna keep going. We got more Bible to cover, and when we get through it all, we're gonna start over again because there's so much depth to explore and discover. I hope that's not an intimidating thing. Like, oh no, we're going again. I hope, I hope you've you've recognized that uh that man, God just seems to unlock certain parts of the Bible for us when we go through different circumstances, something that maybe didn't really mean anything or catch our attention one time. When we go through it again, it just lines up to be like, whoa, this is exactly what I need. I've read it before. I've I never really thought about it before now, you know, and uh it's just it's amazing. One thing that just fascinates me about the Bible is how it's shallow enough that you can wade up to your ankles in it, you know. You you can just taste it, taste and see. You can just step in and and get your feet wet and and that's valuable. Or you could wade in deeper and and never reach the bottom. You never you never got everything that you need to get out of the Bible. Like we will go to heaven and there will be no Bible because we will have the word uh face to face in front of us until that day we need it, and there's always something for us. Uh pretty, pretty amazing. So thank you so much for uh joining me here. Thank you also if you've supported Out Loud Bible uh through the website and whether it's a been a one-time thing or a recurring uh donation to this work. Thank you so much for that. This really is the work that I believe God has has given Kelsey and I to like it says in 1 Timothy 13, 113, until I get there, focus on reading the scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers and teaching them. I hope this has been a source for you, a source of encouragement, a source of learning and uh have in exploring the Bible and uh focusing on reading the scriptures to the church. I think that's something that often is uh neglected, I guess I'll say that word, uh, and uh certainly not emphasized, certainly not prioritized uh even in church. There's a lot of great encouraging, there's a lot of great preaching and exhortation and teaching, um, but there's not a lot of great reading the scriptures to the church, and uh it's it's very important to uh to hear the word of God out loud this way. And so we've thrown ourselves into these tasks and we have uh we have decided to depend on God's generosity to sustain our family through this work. And so if if you've contributed to that, thank you so much. That's such an encouragement to us uh as we as we keep up this work. So, hey, we've got more work to do, and uh, and you're here, and I'm here, and I think it's time to do it. So we've been in the book of Amos, and we get to actually wrap up the book of Amos today. Amos is divided up into three pretty well delineated sections. Uh, and last section, uh, the middle of the book, we read about uh the judgments that Amos is is delivering on God's behalf, which is, you know, again, common with these major and minor prophets in the Old Testament. Uh, but don't don't think it's all about his wrath. Don't think that, you know, God's just angry all the time. No, is he angry? Yes, certainly. But by virtue of the fact that we even have a prophet saying anything at all, that means God is patient. That means that God he could just wipe everyone out and not warn anyone. It's free to do that. But prophets are signs of God's patience and uh and and his warning. And so uh this section of Amos, we have some visions that Amos experienced. Remember, Amos is not like a professional prophet, he wasn't like raised in this, he wasn't pursuing any religious studies, he didn't go to seminary, he was just a herdsman. Uh, yet God called him. And uh I think that was an intersection of Amos's willingness to be used by God, and his he was seeing the world the way that God sees it. And I think we have that ability as well to, and it really comes through reading the Bible more, to know God's heart, to know how God sees people, know how God sees us, and sees the world and sees situations and and what God thinks about sin and righteousness, repentance and holiness, and and we can find ourselves in a position to be able to speak for God, just like Amos. Just like Amos. We don't have to be some religious person. We can just go about our blue-collar work or whatever it may be and find ourselves a mouthpiece for God. We see that, uh, a really good example of that today as we read Amos seven through nine in the New English translation. The Sovereign Lord showed me this. I I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest, and when they had completely consumed the earth's vegetation, I said, Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel. How can Jacob survive? He he's too weak. And the Lord decided not to do this. It will not happen, the Lord said. Well, the sovereign lord showed me this. I saw the sovereign lord summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields. I said, Sovereign Lord, stop how can Jacob survive? He he he's too weak. The Lord decided not to do this. The sovereign lord said, Well, this will not happen either. He showed me this. I saw the Lord standing by a tin wall holding tin in his hand, and the Lord said to me, What do you see, Amos? I said, Uh tin? And the Lord said, Look, I'm about to place tin among my people Israel. I will no longer overlook their sin. Isaac's centers of worship will become desolate, Israel's holy places will be in ruins, and I will attack Jeroboam's dynasty with a sword. Well, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel. Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel. The land can't endure all his prophecies. As a matter of fact, Amos is saying this, Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land. Amaziah then said to Amos, Leave, you visionary. Run away to the land of Judah. Earn your living and prophesy there. Don't prophesy at Bethel any longer, for a royal temple and palace are here. Amos replied to Amaziah, I wasn't a prophet by profession. No, I was a herdsman who also took care of sycamore fig trees. And then the Lord took me from tending flocks and gave me this commission, go prophesy to my people Israel. So now listen to the Lord's message. You say don't prophesy against Israel, don't preach against the family of Isaac. Therefore this is what the Lord says, your wife will become a prostitute in the streets, and your sons and daughters will die violently. Your land will be given to others, and you will die in a foreign land. Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land. The sovereign Lord showed me this. I saw a basket of summer fruit, and he said, What do you see, Amos? I replied, A basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, The end has come for my people Israel. I will no longer overlook their sins. The women singing in the temple will wail in that day. The sovereign Lord is speaking. There will be many corpses littered everywhere. Be quiet, listen to this, you who trample the needy and do away with the destitute in the land. You say, When will the new moon festival be over so we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath end so we can open up the grain bins? We're eager to sell less for a higher price, and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales. We're eager to trade silver for the poor, a pair of sandals for the needy. We want to mix in some chaff with a grain. The Lord confirms this oath by the arrogance of Jacob. I swear I will never forget all you've done. Because of this the earth will quake, and all who live in it will mourn. The whole earth will rise like the Nile River, it'll surge upward, and then grow calm like the Nile in Egypt. And in that day, says the Sovereign Lord, I will make the sun set at noon and make the earth dark in the middle of the day. I will turn your festivals into funerals, and all your songs into funeral dirges. I will make everyone wear funeral clothes and cause every head to be shaved bald. I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son. When it ends, it will indeed have been a bitter day. Be certain of this, the time is coming, says the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land, not a shortage of food or water, but an end to divine revelation. People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north around to the east, they'll wander about looking for a message from the Lord, but they will not find any. In that day your beautiful young women and your young men will faint from thirst. These are the ones who now take oaths in the name of the sinful idol goddess of Samaria. They vow, oh, as surely as your God lives, O Dan, or as surely as your beloved one lives, O Beersheba, but they will fall down and not get up again. I saw the Lord standing by the altar and he said, Strike the tops of the support pillars, so the thresholds shake, knock them down on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the survivors with a sword. No one will be able to run away. No one will be able to escape. Even if they could dig down into the nether world, my hand would pull them up from there. Even if they could climb up to heaven, I would drag them down from there. Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I would hunt them down and take them from there. Even if they tried to hide from me at the bottom of the sea, from there I would command the sea serpent to bite them. Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will not let them out of my sight. They will experience disaster, not prosperity. The sovereign Lord of Heaven's armies will do this. He touches the earth and it dissolves. All who live on it mourn. The whole earth rises like the Nile River and then grows calm like the Nile in Egypt. He builds the upper rooms of his palace in heaven and sets its foundation supports on the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours it out on the earth's surface. The Lord is his name. You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight, says the Lord. Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Kaftor, and the Arameans from Ker. Look, the sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth, but I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob, says the Lord. For look, I'm giving a command, and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations. It will resemble a sieve being shaken when not even a pebble falls to the ground. All the sinners among my people will die by the sword. The ones who say disaster will not come near, it will not confront us. In that day, I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David. I will seal its gaps, repair its ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. And as a result, they will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule. The Lord who is about to do this is speaking. Be sure of this. The time is coming, says the Lord, when the ploughman will catch up to the reaper, and the one who stomps the grapes will overtake the planter. Juice will run down the slopes, it will flow down all the hillsides, and I will bring back my people Israel. They will rebuild the cities lying in rubble and settle down, they will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce, they'll grow orchards and eat the fruit they produce. I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I've given them, says the Lord your God. Some interesting bits of vision and prophecy through Amos here today. He was talking about a time where there would be a famine, not of water, but of hearing from the Lord. Not too long after this, there's a period of four hundred years, called the four hundred silent years. That's in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament prophets had said everything they were going to say, and then Israel didn't hear from the Lord for 400 years until John the Baptist came on the scene. So that prophecy was fulfilled, and uh and certainly Israel was taken away. That prophecy was fulfilled. Judah was taken away into captivity, and people lived scattered among other nations. But sure enough, we'll read in uh in Nehemiah, Ezra and Nehemiah about the people who start to come back and plant their vineyards and start to own their land and live on the land again. That has been fulfilled. And sure enough, even we see to this day, the Lord said, after that, they will never again be uprooted from the land I've given them, even to this day. Against all odds, against all the surrounding nations, Israel is still on the land that God has given them. So uh it's we gotta remember this is not some you know fiction or alternate reality or just some I don't know, old-fashioned things, some ancient writings here. This is directly tied to the world we live in. This is uh even often talks about things we see around us today, and of course, there's still prophecy in the Bible yet to be fulfilled, but everything that the Lord has said in the prophets has come true. Everything Jesus has said has come true or will come true, so we can have confidence that uh if we have not yet seen the fulfillment, then uh we can trust that we will someday, someday. This Bible is living, it's active, and we can learn a lot from it. But before we go, I wanted to bring attention to the early part of this reading when uh Amos was seeing the Lord prepare all these disasters and was just pleading with the Lord to forgive his people and asking the Lord to stop and appeal to the weakness of humanity, the weakness of his people. We can't endure everything that you that you could do or even would plan to do. Have you prayed like that? Have you prayed that God would relent, that he would forgive, that he would lessen the blow on on his people and and on this earth? I don't think we recognize how willing God is to change his mind. I think we often settle for, well, you know, God's God, he's gonna do whatever he's gonna do. But this is not the only place in scripture where someone, just a human, just a guy, just says, Lord, please would you reconsider this? Would you would you please find another way? Would you please stop this? And God hears and he changes his mind. I mean, God's always going to be just. God's never gonna let people off and let them sin without consequence. But he is so big and so strong that he can fulfill his justice multiple ways, any way he wants. And you know what? He's willing to listen to us. Isn't that wild? I hope your relationship with God builds the confidence that you can speak to him, that you can partner with him. It's wild that we even have the possibility of doing so, that he even allows that to happen. But that's what he wants. He wants to just go about the work of building this kingdom and and pushing back sin together with us. One the victory is already his, and one day we'll see it in its fullness. But until then, he invites us into the work. And the the most important tool we have, the most powerful tool we have in this work is to pray, is to pray. He's allowed that to be some channel that he listens to and he responds to, and he even changes his mind from. It's amazing. And with that confidence, would you be able to go out like Amos to the people of the world, like Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, and say, hey, boldly, this is what the Lord says. I I wish I could say something different, but I can only say what the Lord says. And can we represent the truth of God's word in this way to a world that doesn't want to hear it, frankly? They don't want to hear it. They feel threatened by it. It feels like a scary, hateful thing. Have you heard that lately? How people think that even a Bible verse is hateful. John 3 16, oh, don't shove that down my throat. It's hateful. I'm sorry. Hey, I I I'm not looking to hate. I'm just looking to share what's true. And this is the way and the truth and the life through Jesus. A lot of great examples through Amos. I hope you've enjoyed this book, and uh, we're gonna keep going with the books of the minor prophets as we continue on in the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me here today. It's been a it's been a privilege to read the Word of God with you, and we'll see you next time.