7:10–17 An Experience Reinforcing the Vision. If the plumb line according to which Israel was constructed was the Torah, then the priesthood should have held Israel accountable to the Torah (Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:6–7). But the priesthood itself was corrupt (see 1 Kings 12:31 for how Jeroboam I ruined the priesthood for the northern kingdom). Thus, there was no external standard being applied by which Israel’s true condition could be recognized and corrected. In such a case, the end truly was at hand.