Amos 9
December 29
Reading: Amos 9
1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
"Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape.
2 If they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
if they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search them out and take them;
and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."
5 The Lord GOD of hosts,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who dwell in it mourn,
and all of it rises like the Nile,
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth;
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
the LORD is his name.
7 "Are you not like the Cushites to me,
O people of Israel?" declares the LORD.
"Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,"
declares the LORD.
9 "For behold, I will command,
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, 'Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.'"
11 "In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,"
declares the LORD who does this.
13 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land
that I have given them,"
says the LORD your God.
Amos 9 is the conclusion of his prophesy, and is divided into four sections:
1. The inescapability of the coming Day of the Lord. (vss. 1-4)
2. The Lord God of Hosts who is sovereign over all creation. (vss. 5-6)
3. The certainty of the coming Day of the Lord. (vss. 7-10)
4. The blessing of the coming Day of the Lord. (vss. 11-15)
There is nothing new, as far as Amos goes, in the first ten verses of this chapter. We see the sovereign “Lord God of Hosts” who melts the earth and reigns in the heavens. (vss. 5-6) No person, nation, or power can resist Him and what He chooses to do.
Surrounding this fact is the presentation of the coming judgment. (vss. 1-4, 7-10) No matter where people go, where they try to hide, the Lord will find them. This is a presentation of the all-seeing, all-knowing nature of God. It is like Psalm 139, but God can find you wherever you are for judgment rather than blessing.
People say, “Oh please! These things are not going to happen. This wrath of God stuff is all make-believe to get people to behave.” It is like what the Scripture says in 2 Peter 3:3-4.
Know this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."
But God keeps His promises, for good and for bad. The destruction is coming. And we know from history that it did come. Israel was thoroughly destroyed.
However, the prophesy does not end there. The final five verses add a note of hope to the prophesy of Amos. Destruction is coming, but the remains of Israel will endure. Some from the nations will return and believe and be called by the Lord’s name. God will preserve a remnant for Himself, and He will restore them. They will rebuild. God will keep all His promises to them forever.