βAnd, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His handβ¦.Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel: I will not again pass by them any moreβ (Amos 7:7,8).
As we compare the two verses of this vision, God identifies the βwallβ as βMy people Israel.β But what did βthe plumblineβ represent?
A plumbline is a tool that is used even today by masons who wish to erect walls that are perfectly straight. A simple weight at the end of a string is suspended alongside the wall as it is being constructed, to ensure that it is being built straight, and at a perfect right angle to the gravitational pull of the earth. Construction workers know that bowed or leaning walls are easily toppled (Psa. 62:3).
Since our text tells us that this βwallβ that represents Israel was βmade by a plumbline,β we believe the plumbline to be the Law of Moses. It was the Law that defined Israel as a nation, and its perfect code of righteousness ensured that Israel was built in accord with the perfectly upright standard of the very righteousness of God. Here in Amos 7, God is re-applying the plumbline standard of the Law to Israel to show Amos how far his nation had shifted away from the perfect standard with which she had been constructed, and why He could no longer βpass by them any moreβ in mercy, but must rather bring the judgment that their sin demanded.
Today in the dispensation of Grace, of course, God is not dealing with Israel or any other nation, but rather with individual members of the Body of Christ. In the epistles of Paul we read of how in Christ we too have been formed in accord with the perfect standard of the Law (II Cor.Β 5:21), and that the righteousness of the Law is given to us as a free gift of Godβs grace through faith (Rom. 3:21-26; 10:4; I Cor.Β 1:30). Thus when believers today wish to apply a standard to our lives to check to see if we have drifted from who God made us in Christ, we look not to the Law, but to the epistles of the Apostle Paul.
We close with a very practical admonition. Every builder knows that when a wall falls, it always falls in the direction in which it is leaning. If the reader has ever wondered about the harm in an occasional drink of an alcoholic beverage, or the danger of seemingly βharmlessβ flirtations with immorality, it should be remembered that Christians are like wallsβthey too [can fall] and always fall in the direction in which they are leaning! Let us thank God for the plumbline of His grace, and may we determine as never before to walk worthy of Him. source
