Revelation and prayer.
"Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me," etc. This portion of the Book of Amos (Amos 7:1-17 and Amos 8:1-14) contains four symbolical visions respecting successive judgments that were to be inflicted on the kingdom of Israel. They were delivered at Bethel, and in all probability at the commencement of the prophet's ministry. Each of them, as it follows in the series, is more severe than the preceding. The first presented to the mental eye of the prophet a swarm of young locusts, which threatened to cut off all hope of the harvest (verses 1-3); the second, a fire which effected a universal conflagration (verses 4-6); the third, a plumb line ready to be applied to mark out the edifices that were to be destroyed (verses 7-9); and the fourth, a basket of ripe fruit, denoting the near and certain destruction of the kingdom (Amos 8:1-3). The intervening eight verses which conclude the seventh chapter (verses 10-17) contain an account of the interruption of Amos by Amaziah the priest of Bethel, whose punishment is specially predicted. In point of style, this portion differs from that of the rest of the book, being almost exclusively historical and dialogistic (Henderson). In the words we have two subjects of thought—A Divine revelation leading to human prayer, and human prayer leading to a Divine revelation.
I. A DIVINE REVELATION LEADING TO HUMAN PRAYER.
1. Here is a Divine revelation. What is the revelation? It is a vision of judgments made to the mind of the prophet. Both judgments are symbolically represented.
2. Here is a human prayer. What is the prayer? Here it is: "O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small." And again, in verse 5, "O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small." "Forgive." This calamity is brought on by the sin of the nation. Forgive the sin; remove the moral cause of the judgment. "By whom shall Jacob arise?" Or, better, "How can Jacob stand? for he is small." Jacob's—the nation's—weakness is the plea of the prayer for forgiveness. The Israelites had been greatly reduced by internal commotions and hostile invasions, and were now on the point of being attacked by the Assyrians, but purchased their retreat by a payment of a thousand talents of silver (2 Kings 15:19, 2 Kings 15:20). The nation was now so weakened that it was unable to stand before another invader. How can Jacob stand? The time has come when men may well ask this question in relation to the Church. How can it stand? The numbers are decreasing, viewed in relation to the growth of the population. By whom shall it arise? Not by statesmen, scientists, ritualists, priests. A new order of men is required to enable the Church to stand. Heaven raise them up!
II. HUMAN PRAYER LEADING TO A DIVINE REVELATION. The prophet prays, and the great God makes a new revelation—a revelation of mercy. "The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord." "The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God." "Repented," which means merely that he appeared to Amos as if he repented. The Immutable One changeth not. Though we are far enough from holding the absurdity that human prayer effects any alteration in the ordinances of nature or the purposes of the Almighty, we nevertheless hold with a tenacious faith the doctrine that a man gets from God by prayer that which he would not get without it. Indeed, in every department of life man gets from the Almighty, by a certain kind of activity, that which he would never obtain without the effort. A man has a field which he has never tilled, and on which Providence has bestowed no crop for many a long year. He tills it this year, and in autumn God crowns it with his goodness. Another man has no health; for many years he has neglected the conditions of physical vigour, and he is infirm and afflicted. This year he attends rigorously to the laws of his physical well being. He takes the proper exercise, the right food, the pure air, and he feels his infirmities and his pains decrease, and new vigour pulsating through his veins. Another man has never enjoyed the light of Divine knowledge; his soul has been living in the region of indolence; he has neglected all the means of intelligence. He alters his course and sots to work; he reads and thinks, studies God's holy book, and prays; he feels his nature gradually brightening under the genial rays of truth. Thus everywhere God reveals to man his goodness in connection with his activity, which never comes without human effort. It is so in prayer. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It puts the soul in that angle on which the Divine light falls, in that soil in which its intellectual and moral powers will grow. "Ask, and ye shall receive."
"More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats,
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friends?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."
(Tennyson.)
D.T.