August 6, 2019 - Suggested Reading 2 Kings 21 for the August 11th message on Amos 6 thru 8 in our worship service at 10:00AM

“I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.”

2 Kings 21:13 (NIV) 

Amos 7:1-9 records 3 visions of impending judgment, and due to the intercession of Amos the LORD relented in carrying out the first 2 visions, but did not relent in bringing the last vision to reality, nor did Amos intercede. Scholars dispute the translation of the Hebrew Word that is translated plumb and plumb line, with some suggesting that it does not mean plumb line at all but a wall of tin. Anyone who has used a plumb line knows that its function depends upon heavy metal to hold the line true and can easily understand why a Hebrew word for metal used in the context of building a wall could be translated plumb line by English translators. The Hebrew Word translated plumb line in 2 Kings 21 is a different Hebrew Word that means weight, which once again is necessary for a plumb line to work.

It matters not which way you translate it, for 2 Kings 21 gives us the meaning of Amos 7 - the application of the plumb line by God is the wiping out of the family line (house) of leaders (first Jeroboam(Amos 7:9) and then Ahab (2 Kings 9:9) and then Manasseh) who did not reflect the righteousness and justice of God. The principle revealed is that God measures the rulers of His people against His own righteousness and justice, and without repentance on their part there will come a Day when He spares them no longer. This principle applies to parents, and pastors and teachers - all who lead His people, all of us who are part of building His kingdom. There is no doubt in my mind that the plumb line that we are measured with is our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the only way for us to pass the test is for us to do all that we do in His strength and His power through the grace He provides. It is only the work that Christ does through me that lasts. May we ask Him to work through us today.