The scene shifts again, this time from heaven to earth. This first trumpet blast signaled the beginning of a judgment that involved hail, fire (lightning?), and blood (bloodshed? cf. Exod. 9:23-26; Ezek. 38:22). This judgment resulted in the fiery destruction of one-third of the earth (cf. Ezek. 5:2; Zech. 13:8-9). This holocaust included a third of its trees and all of its grass. There are two explanations of how all the grass perishes here but in 9:4 we read that grass exists later. First, the grass may grow again since some time elapses between these two references. Second, it may only be the grass that is green that perishes now and what is now dormant and brown will be green when the events of 9:4 transpire. These judgments seem to be as literal as the plagues on Egypt were. Note the parallels with the Egyptian plagues.
"The OT prophets understood that the miracles of Egypt were to be repeated in the future (e.g., Isa. 10:22-25; 11:12-16; 30:30; Jer. 16:14-15; 23:7-8; Ezek. 38:22; Mic. 7:15) . . . At several points the prophet Amos uses God's miraculous work of deliverance from Egypt as a reference point for the way He will deal with His people in the future (cf. Amos 2:10; 4:10; 8:8-9; 9:5-7)."313
