Amos 7:11

For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. FOR THUS AMOS SAITH - whereas Amos spoke not in his own name, but, "Thus saith the Lord." JEROBOAM SHALL DIE BY THE SWORD. Amos had not said this, but that "the house of Jeroboam" should fall "with the sword" (). But Amaziah exaggerates the charge, to excite Jeroboam against him. The king, however, did not give ear to Amaziah, probably from religious awe of the prophet of Yahweh....

Now our Prophet is wholly silent as to the answer of the king: it is therefore probable, either that the king was not much excited, — or that he dared not openly to take away the life of Amos; for he had probably obtained some authority among the people; and though he was hated, yet his name as a Prophet and his office were had in reverence, — or that the matter was by agreement arranged between the two enemies of sound doctrine, as flatterers often gratify kings by putting themselves in their place, and by bearing all the ill will. However this might have been, it is certainly a probable conjecture, that the king did not interfere, because he was so persuaded by the priest Amaziah, or because he feared the people, or because religion restrained him, as even the ungodly are sometimes wont to contain themselves within the bounds of moderation; not that they are touched by real fear toward...

10-17 It is no new thing for the accusers of the brethren, to misrepresent them as enemies to the king and kingdom, as traitors to their prince, and troublers of the land, when they are the best friends to both. Those who make gain their godliness, and are governed by the hopes of wealth and preferment, are ready to think these the most powerful motives with others also. But those who have a warrant from God, like Amos, ought not to fear the face of man. If God, that sent him, had not strengthened him, he could not thus have set his face as a flint. The Lord often chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty. But no fervent prayers, or self-denying labours, can bring proud sinners to bear faithful reproofs and warnings. And all who oppose or despise the Divine word, must expect fatal effects to their souls, unless they repent....

FOR THUS AMOS SAITH - Amos had said, “Thus saith the Lord;” he never fails to impress on them, whose words he is speaking. Amaziah, himself bound up in a system of falsehood and imposture, which, being a creature-worship, gave itself out as the worship of the true God, believed all besides to be fraud. Fraud always suspects fraud; the irreligious think devotion, holiness, saintliness to be hypocrisy: vice imagines virtue to be well-masked vice. The false priest, by a sort of law of corrupt nature, supposed that Amos also was false, and treats his words as the produce of his own mind. JEROBOAM SHALL DIE BY THE SWORD - Amos had not said this. The false prophet distorts the last words of Amos, which were yet in his ears, and reports to Jeroboam, as said of himself, what Amos had just said of his “house.” Amos “was” opposed to the popular religion or irreligion of which Jeroboam was the head...

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-CH. 9:10 Part III. FIVE VISIONS, WITH EXPLANATIONS, CONTINUING AND CONFIRMING THE PREVIOUS PROPHECY. The afflictions are climactic, increasing in intensity. The first two symbolize judgments which have been averted by the prophet's intercession; the third and fourth adumbrate judgments which are to fall inevitably; and the fifth proclaims the overthrow of the temple and the old theocracy. AMOS 7:1 _§ 1. The first vision, of locusts, represents Israel as a field eaten down to the ground, but shooting up afresh, and its utter destruction postponed at the prophet's prayer._...

FOR THUS AMOS SAITH, JEROBOAM SHALL DIE BY THE SWORD,.... Which was not saying truth; for Amos said not that Jeroboam should die by the sword, but that God would raise up the sword against his house or family; nor did Jeroboam die by the sword, but his son Zachariah did: AND ISRAEL SHALL SURELY BE LED AWAY CAPTIVE OUT OF THEIR OWN LAND; this was true; Amos did say this, and he afterwards confirms it. This is the amount of the charge brought against the prophet, which has some truth and some falsehood mixed together; and by which method the priest hoped to gain his point, and get the prophet either banished or put to death....

III. THE FIVE VISIONS OF THE PROPHET CHAPTER 7 Three Visions and the Opposition Against Amos _ 1. The vision of locusts (Amos 7:1) _ 2. The vision concerning the fire (Amos 7:4) 3. The vision of the plumbline (Amos 7:7) 4. Opposition against Amos (Amos 7:10) Amos 7:1. In the first vision Amos saw how the Lord prepared locusts (not grasshoppers as in the A.V. They started in with their destructive work, just as they did in the day of Joel. Then Amos interceded in behalf of the sinful nation, “O Lord, GOD, forgive, I beseech Thee, by whom

EFFECT OF AMOS-' PUBLIC UTTERANCES. A historical episode is here interposed. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, interrupts the work of Amos, charging him, by twisting his words, with conspiracy (Amos 7:10). So revolutionary is he that the earth (_not_ the land) cannot bear all his words. Really he had spoken not of Jeroboam but of the house of Jeroboam. There is perhaps a note of scorn in the word seer (almost equivalent to visionary). Amos had better flee to Judah and earn his bread and prophesy there. Amos retorts that he was no professional prophet. He had earned his bread by tending sheep and cultivating fig-mulberries (rather than sycamore trees). In Syria these did not grow in such high and cold regions as Tekoa, but the pasture-grounds and gardens of its shepherds may well have extended on the E. down to the Dead Sea (_cf._ G. A. Smith). Amos refuses for the moment to be silenced ...

JEROBOAM SHALL DIE, &c. This charge was not true. Compare Acts 17:6; Acts 24:5. Note what Amaziah omitted to repeat....

A historical episode, intimately connected with the preceding visions, and arising out of them. In particular, Amos, in explaining the last of these visions, had spoken so unambiguously, even, in appearance, threatening the person of the king, that Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, denounces him to Jeroboam II., upon a charge of conspiracy; and upon the king's taking no notice of the accusation, takes it upon himself to bid the prophet leave Israel and return to his own country. Amos replies that he has been commissioned by Jehovah to speak as he has done, and re-affirms, with even greater emphasis, his former prediction, with reference in particular to the fate in store for Amaziah's own family and possessions....