The Crooked Wall: Amos 7:7-9
God’s perspective is always true. As the visions from the prior verses indicate, He invites conversation about it. God is willing to relent or postpone or even forgive. Even so, He is always right.
God comes before Amos in another vision. Amos sees a wall and some means of determining the straightness of the wall – we translate it as plumb line because that’s what a modern reader would use to make the measurement. God’s message is clear. God has brought Amos to this moment to talk about adjudication.
Unlike the prior visions, where God set a vision of destruction before Amos and evoked prayer out of Amos, God brings Amos to the point of determining guilt. God shows Amos a crooked wall and makes him realize it isn’t straight. Not only is it not straight, but since the wall is already built, there is no way to make it straight. The wall is irrevocably crooked; nothing can be done about it.
Amos’ response is markedly different than his response to the prior two visions. Amos does not respond. Amos does not pray. Amos just listens.
There is a reason for Amos’ different posture. In this passage, God is not demonstrating judgment, He is laying out His rationale for the judgment. The difference between this vision and the prior visions is similar to the difference between standing in the execution room and standing in the courtroom. When facts are put on display in the courtroom, no argument can be made. When the verdict is enacted in the executioner’s room, we cannot help but have an emotional response. Amos doesn’t respond because the guilt of the Hebrew people cannot be questioned.
When God announces His decision, He tells Amos that He will no longer pass by the Hebrew people. While that translation is literal, what God means is that He will no longer allow His presence to be felt. He won’t come in the direction of the people of Israel any longer. God’s great judgment is that He will remove Himself from their life. God will let them continue to live, continue to find their own way, continue to let them create their community in their own image, and then let them suffer the consequences. He will stand back and watch as the world comes to their door and devours them.
God’s judgments are always poignant. I am torn between a destructive judgment and a judgment like the type God speaks about here. God’s judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah was severe, but it was quick and decisive. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah did not have to linger. The people of Israel would languish for decades before the Assyrians would come and take them away.
In either case, God’s judgment is significant. The people of Israel are crooked. Like an unstable wall, it is dangerous to even approach it. It needs to be torn down, and Amos cannot legitimately argue the case. God’s perspective is always true.
