Amos 9:1-6

DESCRIPTION OF JUDGMENTS PROPHESIEDTHOROUGH AND INESCAPABLE

TEXT: Amos 9:1-6

1

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the Sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.

2

Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.

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 it shall bite them.

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.

5

For the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, is he that toucheth the land and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again, like the River of Egypt;

9

it is he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name.

QUERIES

a.

Why does the Lord specify the smiting of the capitals?

b.

How may it be said that the Lord brings evil upon anyone?

c.

What is the Lord's vault upon earth?

PARAPHRASE

And I saw in a vision the Lord standing beside the idolatrous altar at Bethel to judge Israel. And He gaves orders, saying, Smash the tops of the pillars and shake the temple until the pillars crumble and the roof crashes down upon the people below. Those who may escape this destruction will be caught and slain with the sword. Though they might be able to dig into Sheol, the place of departed spirits, My hand will reach there and find them; though they climb up to heaven in their attempt to escape Me, I will bring them down from there. Let them try to hide in the rocks atop Mount Carmel and I will search them out and capture them. Even if they could hide in the bottom of the sea, I could simply send the sea-serpent after them to bite and destroy them. And even though they think that by willingly going into captivity they may be safe from My judgment, I will see to it that many of them are killed there by the sword and that they receive judgment and not good. For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the One who is judging, is the One who has but to touch the earth and it dissolves and all its people mourn, while the whole earth rises like the Nile, and sinks like the floods of Egypt. The sphere of this God's existence or His habitation is in the invisible heavens above the visible heavens as well as here on the earth. He is the same God who controls by His almighty power the waters of the sea, calling them up to pour out upon the face of the earth. Jehovah is this God's name.

SUMMARY

The judgment and destruction of Israel is inevitable, thorough and inescapable. This is because of the nature of her Godomniscient and omnipotent.

COMMENT

Amos 9:1 I SAW THE LORD STANDING BESIDE THE ALTAR: AND HE SAID, SMITE. We must agree with Lange and Pusey, against K & D, that the altar here is the altar Jeroboam set up at Bethel. It would symbolize all the idolatry of which Israel was guilty and which God is about to judge and punish. The whole context and intent of Amos-' ministry demands this interpretation. It is not possible in the light of the prophet's ministry that this is the altar at Jerusalem. God is giving Amos a vision of the thoroughness and inescapability of His judgment upon Israel and so it is pictured as being in progress. God commands, Smash the pillars! Capitals are really the crowns or tops of the pillars in the idolatrous temple there at Bethel and other locations. These pillars were probably imitations of those in the true sanctuary at Jerusalem and so the Israelite temple was struck from above and made to collapse in total destruction upon the heads of those worshipping the golden calf. Should any succeed in escaping the crash of the building, even these God would slay with the sword. The point is, none shall escape who justly deserve the Lord's judgment,

The manner in which the Lord addresses Amos, saying, Smite. reminds us of God's commission to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:9-10. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. In a sense Amos did Smite the pillars, even as Jeremiah pulled down kingdoms by foretelling the judgment of the Lord. The Lord's word of judgment is so absolutely certain to come to pass that when it is spoken it is as much as accomplished then.

Amos 9:2-4 THOUGH THEY DIG INTO SHEOL. CLIMB UP TO HEAVEN. HIDE. IN THE TOP OF CARMEL. HID. IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. GO INTO CAPTIVITY. THENCE WILL I COMMAND. AND. SLAY THEM. These verses sound very much like David's Psalms 139, praising God for His all-seeing providence. It is not unlikely tosuppose that Amos may have accommodated this Psalm in expressing the message God wanted him to give to Israel. However, it is not necessary to assume that he must have done so. In either instance it would not deny the infallibility of Amos-' message. Such phrasing and figurative language is simply natural to the Hebrew expression to picture the omnipotence of God. There is simply no escape for the impenitent, in this world or any other, when God's judgment time has come. Sheol is the O.T. name for the place of departed souls, corresponding to the N.T. word Hades. The word occurs 65 times in the Hebrew OT and is rendered in the King James Version 31 times hell, 31 times grave, and 3 times pit. This difference in translation is due to the fact that hell is ordinarily thought of as a place of punishment, while grave is substituted when the reference is to the souls of good men. In the American Standard Version no attempt is made to translate the wordit is merely transliterated into Sheol. Psalms 16:10, quoted by Peter as a Messianic prophecy shows that Hades is the N.T. synonym for the O.T. Sheol. The reference to Mt. Carmel is made because it is a point on the extreme western boundary, immediately next to the Great Sea. As one writer has stated it, Whoever hides himself there, must know of no other secure refuge in all the land beside. And if there be no security there, nothing is left but the sea. The serpent is the one named Leviathan (cf. Isaiah 27:1). Amos describes the people in their misery and terror as going willingly, gladly, into captivity before their enemies like a flock of sheep to escape judgment. Captivity, at least seemed safe. Yet, here too, God would command the swords of their enemies to slay them.

It is the omnipotent God who brings judgment. Judgment is never simply the action of humanity or nature alone. It arises out of the character of the holy God and finds expression through His control of time and history. God is the God of history, and history is the history of God. As such, history reflects God's action and ultimate control; it is not dominated solely by economic, social, or political forces. When judgment falls, let God be seen!

Amos 9:5-6 FOR THE LORD. TOUCHETH THE LAND AND IT MELTETH. HE. BUILDETH HIS CHAMBERS IN THE HEAVENS. Now Amos substantiates all that he has promised before. The thoroughness and inescapability of the judgment which Amos prophecies is certain because of the nature and character of Jehovah of Hosts. He speaks and it comes to pass, He commands and the earth stands forth. He has no need to exert anything more than a mere touch and the earth melts! The word chambers means literally, places to which one has to ascend, upper chambers, stories. K & D say, The heaven in which God builds His stories, is the heaven of clouds; and the vault, according to Genesis 1:7, is the firmament of heaven, which divided the water above the firmament from the water beneath it. Consequently the upper rooms of God are the waters above the firmament, in or out of which God builds His stories (Psalms 104:3), i.e. the cloud-tower above the horizon of the earth, which is raised above it like a vault. Vault means literally, arch. It probably refers to the firmament, or the visible heavens, which seems to span the earth like an arch. We believe Amos is simply picturing God's omnipresence. He dwells everywhere. He is high above everything that man can see or imagine. Not only so, but He is in absolute control of the forces of nature. Even in our own self-sophisticated age of science and technology the sea, the rain, the weather all remain uncontrolled by man yet mysteriously under universal laws which defy human comprehension and analyzation. What with all our advances we still are at the mercy of the sea, and floods. Jehovah commands the entire universe and uses it to bring judgment upon His enemies and blessing to His friends.

QUIZ

1.

Where was the Lord standing when Amos saw Him?

2.

What are the capitals God commanded to be smashed?

3.

Where is Sheol?

4.

What is the serpent of the sea?

5.

Where are the chambers which God builds in the heavens?

6.

What is the vault upon the earth?

7.

What is Amos-' purpose in all his figurative language?