Amos 9:1-8
Amos 9:1
I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said,
Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the
head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that
fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be
delivered.
Here in the fifth and final vision Amos now sees the LORD
standing above the altar at Beth-el.
The Hebrew suggests that he was towering over the altar.
This would represent not just the altar at Beth-el but all the pagan
altars found throughout Israel. To
stand means the job is not over yet as the LORD is ready to execute the judgment
upon Israel for her idolatry. The
lintels were the support beams of the door which was the entrance to the temple.
This would not be the temple in Jerusalem since that would be burned and
destroyed in 70 A.D. With the
lintels being struck, it means that door posts would be weak and the front door
could cave in. Then the Lord speaks
about smiting the people as they come into the temple to partake of the false
rituals and their reward for departing from the Lord will be their deaths.
Those who think they might be able to get away before the judgment comes
will not be able to flee away and will be cut down before they can escape and
those who do escape from the area will also not make it out alive to wherever
they plan on going.
Amos 9:2
Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take
them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
To show the guarantee that not one person would escape,
if it were possible that they could dig down to hell and try to hide from the
judging hand of God or if they thought they could climb up to Heaven like those
who built the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, from both of these places the Lord
would reach up and down and gather them to the place of judgment because the
final judgment has been declared and it will come to pass on all the
inhabitants.
Amos 9:3
And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I
will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in
the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite
them:
Mount Carmel had contained many caves and maybe they
believed that if they found their way into those caves, then they could escaped
the judgment of God. There is a
time coming right on the last day when the unbelievers will think that the caves
and mountains will give them security.
{15} And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and
the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
{16} And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from
the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
{17} For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to
stand? (Revelation 6:15-17)
Then the opposite side of the spectrum, if they could
find a place to hide in the bottom of the sea, they would be sought out by the
LORD and brought to judgment.
Remember when Jonah tried to escape the LORD by going to sea and what happened
to him?
{15} So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the
sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
{17} Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:15 + 17
No matter what they would think of to try and escape the
judgment of God, it would be of no effect as the day of accounting has come to
all the idolatrous inhabitants.
Amos 9:4
And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine
eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
Those who go into captivity will not escape further
judgment as the Lord will command the enemies that they be slain as criminals
because of the way they departed from the Lord and since then have not adapted
any ways of humility just pride so they will prove to be troublemakers and
empires like the Assyrian empire will not tolerate any rebellion.
Even in captivity, the Lord will not look upon them with any favor but as
an enemy and will determine evil for them.
These prophecies show why Amos was murdered by the son of Amaziah because
of what had been prophesied for the people of Israel.
Amos 9:5
And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land,
and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up
wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
The Lord GOD has such power that all he has to do is just
touch the land lightly with his hand and it would melt.
He looketh on the earth, and it
trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
(Psalm 104:32) To “melt”
means to “consume, dissolve, or disappear.”
All that dwell in the land where the Lord will touch shall be in mourning
for the great day of judgment has come and since the Lord will view them as an
enemy, there will be none to deliver them.
They shall be like the flooding Nile in Egypt, after the flooding
subsides, what is left is the result of the flood.
What will be left after the Lord judges Samaria, will be as if a flood
had stripped the land.
Amos 9:6
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and
hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea,
and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
Here the LORD is stating that he has built his stories in
the heavens, that is, the great place of elevation which is the third Heaven,
the highest of all. The troop is
the vault or the atmosphere of Heaven whereby he brings the rains to fill the
oceans and to water the earth to bring forth its harvest.
In contrast to the palaces built by kings which all have an end, the
kingdom of God built in glory shall never have an end.
The LORD is his name which is Jehovah “the self-existent one.”
Amos 9:7
Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O
children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land
of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
The children of Israel thought that they were so favored
by God that they would never be judged or destroyed by him.
God here states that the children of the Ethiopians are to God just like
the children of Israel. The
Ethiopians God is speaking of are those in Arabia Petrea not the country of
Ethiopia. He created the Ethiopians
as well as he created Israel and all creation.
Here God speaks to all 12 tribes of Israel as they all came up out of the
land of Egypt from bondage. The
Caphtorims had captured the Philistines but God had restored them out of their
land and when the Israelites went into the promised land, the Philistines were
there. Caphtor is mentioned in
Egypt, Mari, and Ugarit. Kir was a
country of Media where the captured Syrians went probably by the Assyrians and
then were finally delivered and brought back to their home.
Amos 9:8
Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful
kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I
will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.