I'm not gonna lie....I'm a little confused by the first part (verses 1-9) of this chapter. I had to look up what a plumb line was because I thought I knew what one was but couldn't interpret the meaning of these verses. My best guess as to the meaning behind the plump line section is that God had raised up Israel, raised their defenses to build a wall to protect them from outside influences. Now, God is standing on that wall with His plumb line, which in my mind represents His word and plans. He then measures the "wall" of Israel with his Plumb Line and finds that this wall is no longer straight. It is instead bowed, indicating Israel's willingness to conform to the world through their acceptance of Ba'al and other gods in place of the One True God. I think this image is interesting as it brings to mind that God measures us against His will. I wonder what He would find if I were to be measured with his plumb line......
The second part of this chapter is interesting to me for a reason entirely different than the previous passage. Here we see for the first time how Amos deals with criticism leveled against him for his harsh words and his lack of a priestly pedigree. In the face of such harsh criticism, he remains steadfast to God even though he is "a herdsman". Such confidence is inspiring!
The biggest thing that stuck out to me was the idea that the representation of the plumb line. This instantly reminded me of Jesus, that was the first thought i had. It was also cool to see a direct encounter between God and Amos, i always have to wonder why these sort of encounters are no longer as evident, not to say that they aren't happening.
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