Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore trees;
So God showed to him a vision of the locusts destroying the crops. This is one way by which God could bring His judgment against the nation. As he sees the devouring locusts, the crops destroyed, he cries out in intercession to God, "Oh God, don't do that. Forgive, I beseech Thee." And so God relented; He did not bring the plague of locusts.One thing that we might note here is the intercession of the prophet for the people. This indeed is commendable. It is quite a stark contrast to what we will read next Sunday night when we get to Jonah and his prophecies against the Ninevites. How that he became angry when God didn't wipe them out. He was far from interceding for the Ninevites. He was just the opposite; he was encouraging God to destroy them. "Wipe them out, Lord!" And became extremely angry with God when God didn't wipe them out, in fact, sat down pouting and asked God to kill him. "You don't want to kill them? Just kill me then, Lord, I don't want to live!"So here is the prophet of God interceding and, of course, this is always more true to the purpose of God for the prophet that he would intercede for the people. You might have to declare the judgment of God that is going to come; nonetheless, we still intercede. We don't declare God's judgment that is coming with a, "You know, God's gonna get even with you, you wicked people." It's just, "If you continue in your wickedness, this will be the inevitable result. Turn from your wickedness. Oh God, work in their hearts, cause them to turn." And you intercede.Many people misinterpret the prophets as they declared the judgment of God that was coming, as though they were relishing the idea of the judgment of God. Not so! Here is Amos declaring God's judgment that must fall because of the way these people were living. But even so, he's interceding, "Oh God, forgive them. Lord, they're small, how are they ever gonna rise if they're wiped out like that?"Then he saw a vision of a fire devouring the cities. And again he intercedes and prays for forgiveness. So God says, "All right, they won't be destroyed by a fire."