1/19/2024 0 Comments Plumb bob lineThe plumb line then is the image - the parable - of God’s holy and righteous standard for Israel. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. ( Isaiah 34:11) “I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line…” ( Isaiah 28:17) In 2 Kings, it says, “I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab” (21:13). While Amos perhaps offers the strongest plumb line reference, there are other Old Testament verses that use the same analogy. In other words, his patience with Israel was gone and he would bring the judgment upon them that their sin demanded. And how he, God, would “spare them no longer.” That Law represented the upright and perfect standard of the very righteousness of God.Īccording to this passage, God is reapplying the plumb line of the Law to display to Amos how far Israel had fallen away from his perfect standard. The very Law that served as the foundation of who Israel was. It was the Law that defined Israel as a nation - the Law that Israel had been built upon. That wall was nothing other than the Law - the perfect Law that God had given to Israel through Moses. He would measure them against the straightness of that plumb line and, when they did not measure up, would spare them from punishment no longer.īut what exactly was the plumb line God was referring to? And how does that plumb line apply to Christians today?Īs Amos describes it, God stood next to a wall - one which had been built absolutely true to plumb. He was letting Israel know that he was about to set a plumb line amid the people of Israel. Builders know that when a wall falls, it always will fall in the direction in which it is leaning.Īmos, one of the minor prophets, delivered a message from God unto Israel. The tool is a simple weight tied at the end of a string, which then serves as a guide for the perfect construct of the wall or structure.Īll construction workers know that bowed, or leaning walls are not at all secure and are quite easily toppled. Quite simply, a plumb line is a tool that is used by masons and other contractors to build walls that are straight up and down - at a perfect right angle to the earth, so as to align with the gravitational pull. The result might be a wall that leans or appears warped, rather than straight and strong. It is quite likely too that if you have ever had construction done, you can recognize when a plumb line has not been used. Anyone who has done any type of construction knows what a plumb line is.
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