Plumb Line
Text: Amos 7:7-17
Amos and Hosea are a couple of prophets that really don’t get a lot of attention, really. Considered to be the largest of the so-called “Minor Prophets” these two books can be really unpleasant to read if you don’t know the context. At face value they are a collection of angry rants, which provide lots of fuel for fire-and-brimstone kind of preaching… which as Presbyterians we tend to shy away from.
But I think the reason that we shy away from these texts is that perhaps we understand them slightly better than the fire bellied preachers… It’s a terrible stereotype, but the image that we get is that this type of ranting sermon, was an odd, but misplaced source of comfort to those who liked to listen to them. The world is evil, and God’s judgement will rain down upon them, and destroy all those wicked people… out there. We’re safe in here, and let all that nasty stuff happen to other people.
The problem is, neither Amos nor Hosea are talking about “other people.” They aren’t talking about those nasty, awful people out there who are getting their come-uppance. I think one of the reasons we tend to shy away from these two is because maybe at some level, we know that Amos and Hosea aren’t pointing at those people… but rather, are holding up a rather uncomfortable mirror. Both of them speak to people who think they’re faithful… who are seen to be doing everything right… but the real trap is at the very moment that we think that Amos is preaching against those people, about someone else… that’s the very moment that we become those people. We shy away from Amos and Hosea, because at some level, we realize that Amos is talking about us.
And it’s not a comfortable place to be.
One of the images Amos uses is this visual of a plumb line. The trouble is, most of us have never really learned what a plumb line is. We might think of a plumber, working away on some pipes under some shelf… but a plumb line is something different. It’s a tool used in construction, and is still very much in use today. It’s also a very simple tool, a small weight at the end of a string to indicate a straight vertical line. It is most useful when building walls, to make sure that the walls are straight and can bear the loads imposed on them… when building a wall, if it reaches a point where the plumb line isn’t straight, the wall needs to be taken down and rebuilt.
That’s where we find Amos. A wandering shepherd, a hick from the country, comes into the capital of Israel, the northern Kingdom, and proclaims to the powers that be that God is fed up with all that is going on… and the roof is going to come crashing in on their heads. Amos is full-up doom and gloom, and he’s doesn’t pull any punches. The word used for plumb-line can also mean “grief.” The North Kingdom of Israel has lost its way, and the fall is surely coming. It is important to note that when Amos preached, things looked outwardly good. Economic prosperity, foreign powers were on the decline, and relationships with the southern kingdom of Judah were in pretty good shape.
But there was something rotten at the core. Corruption was rampant, there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor… and it was getting worse. Officials were lining their own pockets, and leaving the rest of society to fend for themselves. There was a disconnect between what is supposed to be, and the reality on the ground. Even the religious leaders at the time in this north kingdom had lost their way… they had forgotten that in being faithful to God, justice in the land must be upheld… the needs of the poor must be tended to. Instead they were more interested in making alliances, and allowing politics to dominate the agenda… and soon even the unique witness of Israel’s faith didn’t look any different than the Arameans, the Philistines, or any other power. For Amos, this national decay… this forgetting of what makes them unique… was the death knell of the Northern Kingdom. The only recourse was that it would all be torn down… and nothing would be left.
Two years after Amos preached his lament, a massive earthquake struck… and while the Northern Kingdom of Israel did survive, this event left the nation weakened and vulnerable to the Assyrian Empire which would permanently destroy the Northern Kingdom a few short decades later. At the time, nobody wanted to listen to Amos… but history would vindicate him.
Preaching on Amos is difficult, let’s be honest… the easy way out is to talk about all those bad people out there getting their come-uppance… but Amos didn’t proclaim his prophetic oracles about those wicked people out there… he was speaking directly to the establishment of the day… including the established religious people. It’d be like someone homeless walking off the street and into this sanctuary and telling us that’s all going to come crashing down. How many of us would seriously listen to that if that had happened? Chances are we’d be doing our best to usher him out of the building and send him on his way down to the other churches around the corner. That’s what the king of Israel at the time tried to do… but it didn’t change the message. Preaching doom and gloom doesn’t send people away with a particularly uplifting message, and as such it is very hard for us to listen to Amos at a personal level. It’s easier to say that those people will get their come-uppance… it’s much harder to say that we’re going to get ours.
But there is, in Amos, a subtext of profound hope that looks beyond the doom and gloom. The image of the plumb-line… is used as a wall is being built… if the wall is not straight, it is torn down, and the builders start again. They don’t simply tear it down, walk away, and abandon it… that’s not what a plumb-line is about. For Amos, the message is that when things aren’t working, we shouldn’t be afraid when something is torn down, because it is an opportunity to build something better! It’s a new opportunity to let God do something new and fresh… and a new opportunity for us to be a part of God’s plan.
If there is good news to be found in Amos, it’s that he had a very long view that could see pass the physical trappings of the day. He could look and see what the possibilities were, beyond the barriers that were getting in the way. Maybe we can too.
Amos and Hosea are a couple of prophets that really don’t get a lot of attention, really. Considered to be the largest of the so-called “Minor Prophets” these two books can be really unpleasant to read if you don’t know the context. At face value they are a collection of angry rants, which provide lots of fuel for fire-and-brimstone kind of preaching… which as Presbyterians we tend to shy away from.
But I think the reason that we shy away from these texts is that perhaps we understand them slightly better than the fire bellied preachers… It’s a terrible stereotype, but the image that we get is that this type of ranting sermon, was an odd, but misplaced source of comfort to those who liked to listen to them. The world is evil, and God’s judgement will rain down upon them, and destroy all those wicked people… out there. We’re safe in here, and let all that nasty stuff happen to other people.
The problem is, neither Amos nor Hosea are talking about “other people.” They aren’t talking about those nasty, awful people out there who are getting their come-uppance. I think one of the reasons we tend to shy away from these two is because maybe at some level, we know that Amos and Hosea aren’t pointing at those people… but rather, are holding up a rather uncomfortable mirror. Both of them speak to people who think they’re faithful… who are seen to be doing everything right… but the real trap is at the very moment that we think that Amos is preaching against those people, about someone else… that’s the very moment that we become those people. We shy away from Amos and Hosea, because at some level, we realize that Amos is talking about us.
And it’s not a comfortable place to be.
One of the images Amos uses is this visual of a plumb line. The trouble is, most of us have never really learned what a plumb line is. We might think of a plumber, working away on some pipes under some shelf… but a plumb line is something different. It’s a tool used in construction, and is still very much in use today. It’s also a very simple tool, a small weight at the end of a string to indicate a straight vertical line. It is most useful when building walls, to make sure that the walls are straight and can bear the loads imposed on them… when building a wall, if it reaches a point where the plumb line isn’t straight, the wall needs to be taken down and rebuilt.
That’s where we find Amos. A wandering shepherd, a hick from the country, comes into the capital of Israel, the northern Kingdom, and proclaims to the powers that be that God is fed up with all that is going on… and the roof is going to come crashing in on their heads. Amos is full-up doom and gloom, and he’s doesn’t pull any punches. The word used for plumb-line can also mean “grief.” The North Kingdom of Israel has lost its way, and the fall is surely coming. It is important to note that when Amos preached, things looked outwardly good. Economic prosperity, foreign powers were on the decline, and relationships with the southern kingdom of Judah were in pretty good shape.
But there was something rotten at the core. Corruption was rampant, there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor… and it was getting worse. Officials were lining their own pockets, and leaving the rest of society to fend for themselves. There was a disconnect between what is supposed to be, and the reality on the ground. Even the religious leaders at the time in this north kingdom had lost their way… they had forgotten that in being faithful to God, justice in the land must be upheld… the needs of the poor must be tended to. Instead they were more interested in making alliances, and allowing politics to dominate the agenda… and soon even the unique witness of Israel’s faith didn’t look any different than the Arameans, the Philistines, or any other power. For Amos, this national decay… this forgetting of what makes them unique… was the death knell of the Northern Kingdom. The only recourse was that it would all be torn down… and nothing would be left.
Two years after Amos preached his lament, a massive earthquake struck… and while the Northern Kingdom of Israel did survive, this event left the nation weakened and vulnerable to the Assyrian Empire which would permanently destroy the Northern Kingdom a few short decades later. At the time, nobody wanted to listen to Amos… but history would vindicate him.
Preaching on Amos is difficult, let’s be honest… the easy way out is to talk about all those bad people out there getting their come-uppance… but Amos didn’t proclaim his prophetic oracles about those wicked people out there… he was speaking directly to the establishment of the day… including the established religious people. It’d be like someone homeless walking off the street and into this sanctuary and telling us that’s all going to come crashing down. How many of us would seriously listen to that if that had happened? Chances are we’d be doing our best to usher him out of the building and send him on his way down to the other churches around the corner. That’s what the king of Israel at the time tried to do… but it didn’t change the message. Preaching doom and gloom doesn’t send people away with a particularly uplifting message, and as such it is very hard for us to listen to Amos at a personal level. It’s easier to say that those people will get their come-uppance… it’s much harder to say that we’re going to get ours.
But there is, in Amos, a subtext of profound hope that looks beyond the doom and gloom. The image of the plumb-line… is used as a wall is being built… if the wall is not straight, it is torn down, and the builders start again. They don’t simply tear it down, walk away, and abandon it… that’s not what a plumb-line is about. For Amos, the message is that when things aren’t working, we shouldn’t be afraid when something is torn down, because it is an opportunity to build something better! It’s a new opportunity to let God do something new and fresh… and a new opportunity for us to be a part of God’s plan.
If there is good news to be found in Amos, it’s that he had a very long view that could see pass the physical trappings of the day. He could look and see what the possibilities were, beyond the barriers that were getting in the way. Maybe we can too.
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