Grasshoppers in the Latter Growth Amos 7:1

After sharing how the LORD promised to “raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says the LORD the God of hosts” which would “afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness”, Amos the prophet continued to share how the LORD would afflict Israel as He “formed grasshoppers in the beginning” of the “latter growth” where we read:

Thus has the Lord GOD showed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

The verse begins, “Thus has the Lord GOD showed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth;” Amos began with the words, “Thus has the Lord GOD” which refers to “the title spoken in place of Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence who is the divine ruler and judge” “showed unto me” or “perceived, seen or had vision”; “and, behold he formed” which means “fashioned, framed, created, predetermined and per-ordained” “grasshoppers” or “locusts from their grubbing as a larvae” “in the beginning” which means “from the first, the opening or commencement” “of the shooting up” or “the ascending and going up” “of the latter growth” which refers to “the after-growth, aftermath, spring-crop or late crop after-growth”. Because the people of Israel were so defiant against the LORD, he cause “crop or grass eating locusts” to appear at the commencement of growth after the king's mowings.

The verse goes on to say, “and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.” Amos continued, “and, lo it was the latter growth” which is all one Hebrew word “leqesh” or “the after-growth, aftermath, spring-crop or late crop after-growth” “after” or “behind, following and hinder” “the kings's” which refers to “the royal ruler of the people or land” “mowings” which means “shearing or fleecing of grass”. These “grasshoppers” were “raised up” by the LORD as soon as the “king” “sheared” his grass in the latter harvest time.

When we meditate upon these words of Amos, we realize how early the LORD began the process of judgment that was to fall upon Israel. The “locusts” He formed were in their “larvae” state just after the fall cuttings of the “kings' grass”, and therefore would be fully mature during the early harvest. In other words, the commencement of these agents of destruction were formed well before they would actually cause ruin in Israel. This may have been a reference to the “enemy nations” of Israel whom God would use to be His instruments of punishment against Israel. God has continued His early preparation for destruction today as well, however, He has given a way to escape it by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and LORD. “Now is the day of salvation” the scripture says (2 Corinthians 6:2), and those who delay may be assured there are plans for those who reject His way of escape.

Next time Amos asks, “by whom shall Jacob arise?”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.