Reference Scripture: Amos 7:7-17
In this morning’s reading from Amos, we find that Amos uses the concept of a Plumb Line as a metaphor for how God interacts with his people – and all of Creation for that matter.
What is a Plumb Line?
A Plumb line is simply a string with a weight on the end. As shown in the photo here. It is used to determine if something is perfectly vertical, or not. Without a Plumb Line, or something to do the same sort of job, you cannot build a structure of any size, because you will have no way of determining if your walls and pillars or columns are perfectly straight, or leaning. If they are not perfectly vertical, the structure will be weak and likely to fall down. The Sumerians, Egyptians and Jews all used Plumb Lines in the construction of buildings of all types, including their temples. Without them, structures of any size would not be possible.
The thing about a plumb line is that you don’t use it just once. Measuring a wall once it is complete doesn’t do much good because if the wall is “out of plumb,” then you’d need to tear it down and start over. Instead, you constantly use the Plumb Line throughout your construction project, to ensure that the wall is “plumb” as you build it.
Likewise, God is constantly beside us, guiding us, measuring our progress, speaking to us, so that we are “plumb” in our own lives. In Amos’ metaphor, God isn’t a distant, uninvolved god, but a god that is right beside us: involved in our lives at every moment.
Bonus question: So, we know that the Plumb Line is used to make sure walls are built perfectly vertically; but how did the ancients make sure that their foundations, such as the foundation for a temple or pyramid, were perfectly level? (Because if they weren’t, you’d be in trouble even before the first brick or stone was put in place!)
<You should get a bunch of suggestions for this!>
One answer is that a common technique was to use water: the builders would dig a trench and fill it with water. Water is automatically level. So, by marking where the water level was on the side of the trench, they could easily create a “perfect level” reference point wherever they needed one.
We still use this a variation of this technique today as shown here (click on the image for a tutorial)…
Idea: involve your audience in a small project that would use a Plumb Line and a Water Level.
Copyright (c) 2016, Allen Vander Meulen III, all rights reserved. I’m happy to share my writings with you, as long as proper credit for my authorship is given. (e.g., via a credit that gives my full name and/or provides a link back to this site – or just email me and ask!)
The Here and the Hereafter 