Amos 7:4

Heilögum Biblíunni

4 Drottinn Guð lét þessa sýn bera fyrir mig: Drottinn Guð kom til þess að hegna með eldi, og hann svalg hið mikla djúp og eyddi landið.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

showed: Amos 7:1, Amos 7:7, Revelation 4:1

called: This is supposed to denote the invasion of Tiglathpileser, which threatened entire destruction. Amos 1:4, Amos 1:7, Amos 4:11, Amos 5:6, Exodus 9:23, Exodus 9:24, Leviticus 10:2, Numbers 16:35, Isaiah 27:4, Isaiah 66:15, Isaiah 66:16, Jeremiah 4:4, Jeremiah 21:12, Joel 2:30, Micah 1:4, Nahum 1:6, Hebrews 1:7

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 8:10 - the Lord Job 1:16 - there came Psalms 148:8 - Fire Isaiah 9:18 - wickedness Jeremiah 24:1 - Lord Jeremiah 27:2 - saith the Lord Joel 1:19 - the fire Amos 8:1 - General Haggai 1:11 - I called Acts 11:5 - and it Revelation 8:8 - burning

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus hath the Lord showed unto me,.... Another vision after this manner:

and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire; gave out that he would have a controversy with his people Israel, and proclaimed the time when he would try the cause with them, and that by fire: or he called his family, as Jarchi; that is, his angels, as Kimchi, to cause fire to descend upon Israel, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah; so other Rabbins Kimchi mentions: or, as he interprets it, the scorching heat of the sun, like fire that restrained the rain, dried up the plants, and lessened the waters of the river, and so brought on a general drought, and in consequence famine: or rather a foreign army, involving them in war, burning their cities and towns; see Amos 1:4;

and it devoured the great deep; it seemed, as if it did; as the fire from heaven, in Elijah's time, licked up the water in the trench, 1 Kings 18:38; so this, coming at God's command, seemed to dry up the whole ocean; by which may be meant the multitude of people, nations, and kingdoms, subdued by the Assyrians; see Revelation 17:15;

and did eat up a part; a part of a field, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; of the king's field, Amos 7:1; as Kimchi; showing, as he observes, that the reigning king was a bad king, and that this was for his sin: or rather a part of the land of Israel; and so refers, as is generally thought, to Tiglathpileser's invasion of the land, who carried captive a part of it, 2 Kings 15:29.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

God called to contend by fire - that is, He “called” His people to maintain their cause with Him “by fire,” as He says, “I will plead” in judgment “with him” (Gog) “with” (that is,” by”) pestilence and blood” Ezekiel 38:22; and, “by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh” Isaiah 66:16; and, “The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people” Isaiah 3:13. Man, by rebellion, challenges God’s Omnipotence. He will have none of Him; he will find his own happiness for himself, apart from God and in defiance of Him and His laws; he plumes himself on his success, and accounts his strength or wealth or prosperity the test of the wisdom of his policy. God, sooner or later, accepts the challenge. He brings things to the issue, which man had chosen. He “enters into judgment” (Isaiah 3:14, etc.) with him. If man escapes with impunity, then he had chosen well, in rejecting God and choosing his own ways. If not, what folly and misery was his short-sighted choice; short-lived in its gain; its loss, eternal! “Fire” stands as the symbol and summary of God’s most terrible judgments. It spares nothing, leaves nothing, not even the outward form of what it destroys. Here it is plainly a symbol, since it destroys “the sea” also, which shall be destroyed only by the fire of the Day of Judgment, when “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” 2 Peter 3:10. The sea is called the “great deep,” only in the most solemn language, as the history of the creation or the flood, the Psalms and poetical books. Here it is used, in order to mark the extent of the desolation represented in the vision.

And did eat up a part - Rather literally, “The portion,” that is, probably the definite “portion” foreappointed by God to captivity and desolation. This probably our English Version meant by “a part.” For although God calls Himself “the Portion” of Israel Deuteronomy 32:9; Jeremiah 10:16; Zechariah 2:12, and of those who are His (Psalms 16:5; Psalms 73:26, etc; Jeremiah 10:16), and reciprocally He calls the people “the Lord’s portion Jeremiah 12:10, and the land, the portion Micah 2:4 of God’s people; yet the land is nowhere called absolutely “the portion,” nor was the country of the ten tribes specially “the portion,” given by God. Rather God exhibits in vision to the prophet, the ocean burned up, and “the portion” of Israel, upon which His judgments were first to fall. To this Amos points, as “the portion.” God knew “the portion,” which Tiglath-Pileser would destroy, and when he came and had carried captive the east and north of Israel, the pious in Israel would recognize the second, more desolating scourge, foretold by Amos; they would own that it was at the prayer of the prophet that it was stayed and went no further, and would await what remained.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 7:4. The Lord God called to contend by fire — Permitted war, both civil and foreign, to harass the land, after the death of Jeroboam the second. These wars would have totally destroyed it, had not the prophet interceded.

It devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. — We are here to understand the partially destructive wars which afterwards took place; for the Lord causes all these things to pass before the eyes of Amos in the vision of prophecy; and intimates that, at the intercession of his prophets, total ruin should be prevented.