1I saw the Lord standing by the altar. And He said, Strike the capital of the door, and the thresholds will shake; and cut them off on the head of all of them. And I will kill the last of them with the sword. Not one of them who flees will get away, and not a fugitive of them will escape. 2Even if they dig through into Sheol, from there My hand will take them. And if they ascend up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. 3And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. Even if they hide from My eyes in the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and he will bite them. 4And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. And I will set My eyes on them for evil, and not for good. 5And the Lord Jehovah of Hosts is He who touches the earth so that it melts, and all who dwell in it shall mourn. And all of it will rise up like the River, and sink down like the River of Egypt. 6He who builds His stairs in the heavens, and His firmament He has established, binding it to the earth; He who calls for the seawaters and pours them out on the face of the earth; Jehovah is His name. 7Are you not like the sons of Cush to Me, O sons of Israel? declares Jehovah. Have I not brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; except that, I will not utterly annihilate the house of Jacob, declares Jehovah. 9For, behold, I will command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve; yet not a grain shall fall to the ground. 10All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, those who say, The evil shall not draw near or come upon us. 11In that day I will raise up the covert of David that has fallen, and I will wall up its breaks. And I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12so that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by My name, declares Jehovah who does this. 13Behold, the days are coming, declares Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who drags along seed. And the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. 14And I will bring back the captives of My people Israel. And they shall build the waste cities, and live in them. And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be pulled up out of their land which I have given to them, says Jehovah your God.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 FIFTH AND LAST VISION. (
Amos 9:1-
Amos 9:15)
None can escape the coming judgment in any hiding-place: for God is omnipresent and irresistible (
Amos 9:1-
Amos 9:6). As a kingdom, Israel shall perish as if it never was in covenant with Him: but as individuals the house of Jacob shall not utterly perish, nay, not one of the least of the righteous shall fall, but only all the sinners (
Amos 9:7-
Amos 9:10). Restoration of the Jews finally to their own land after the re-establishment of the fallen tabernacle of David; consequent conversion of all the heathen (
Amos 9:11-
Amos 9:15).
Lord . . . upon the altar--namely, in the idolatrous temple at Beth-el; the calves which were spoken of in
Amos 8:14. Hither they would flee for protection from the Assyrians, and would perish in the ruins, with the vain object of their trust [HENDERSON]. Jehovah stands here to direct the destruction of it, them, and the idolatrous nation. He demands many victims on the altar, but they are to be human victims. CALVIN and FAIRBAIRN, and others, make it in the temple at Jerusalem. Judgment was to descend both on Israel and Judah. As the services of both alike ought to have been offered on the Jerusalem temple-altar, it is there that Jehovah ideally stands, as if the whole people were assembled there, their abominations lying unpardoned there, and crying for vengeance, though in fact committed elsewhere (compare Eze. 8:1-18). This view harmonizes with the similarity of the vision in Amos to that in
Isa 6:1-
Isa 6:13, at Jerusalem. Also with the end of this chapter (
Amos 9:11-
Amos 9:15), which applies both to Judah and Israel: "the tabernacle of David," namely, at Jerusalem. His attitude, "standing," implies fixity of purpose.
lintel--rather, the sphere-like capital of the column [MAURER].
posts--rather, "thresholds," as in
Isa 6:4, Margin. The temple is to be smitten below as well as above, to ensure utter destruction.
cut them in the head--namely, with the broken fragments of the capitals and columns (compare
Ps 68:21;
Hab 3:13).
slay the last of them--their posterity [HENDERSON]. The survivors [MAURER]. Jehovah's directions are addressed to His angels, ministers of judgment (compare
Ezek 9:1-
Ezek 9:11).
he that fleeth . . . shall not flee away--He who fancies himself safe and out of reach of the enemy shall be taken (
Amos 2:14).
2 Though they dig into hell--though they hide ever so deeply in the earth (
Ps 139:8).
though they climb up to heaven--though they ascend the greatest heights (
Job 20:6-
Job 20:7;
Jer 51:53;
Obad 1:4).
3 Carmel--where the forests, and, on the west side, the caves, furnished hiding-places (
Amos 1:2;
Judg 6:2;
1Sam 13:6).
the sea--the Mediterranean, which flows at the foot of Mount Carmel; forming a strong antithesis to it.
command the serpent--the sea-serpent, a term used for any great water monster (
Isa 27:1). The symbol of cruel and oppressive kings (
Ps 74:13-
Ps 74:14).
4 though they go into captivity--hoping to save their lives by voluntarily surrendering to the foe.
5 As Amos had threatened that nowhere should the Israelites be safe from the divine judgments, he here shows God's omnipotent ability to execute His threats. So in the case of the threat in
Amos 8:8, God is here stated to be the first cause of the mourning of "all that dwell" in the land, and of its rising "like a flood, and of its being "drowned, as by the flood of Egypt."
6 stories--literally, "ascents," that is, upper chambers, to which the ascent is by steps [MAURER]; evidently referring to the words in
Ps 104:3,
Ps 104:13. GROTIUS explains it, God's royal throne, expressed in language drawn from Solomon's throne, to which the ascent was by steps (compare
1Kgs 10:18-19).
founded his troop--namely, all animate creatures, which are God's troop, or host (
Gen 2:1), doing His will (
Ps 103:20-
Ps 103:21;
Joel 2:11). MAURER translates, "His vault," that is, the vaulted sky, which seems to rest on the earth supported by the horizon.
7 unto me--however great ye seem to yourselves. Do not rely on past privileges, and on My having delivered you from Egypt, as if therefore I never would remove you from Canaan. I make no more account of you than of "the Ethiopian" (compare
Jer 13:23). "Have not I (who) brought you out of Egypt," done as much for other peoples? For instance, did I not bring "the Philistines (see on
Isa 14:29, &c.) from Caphtor (compare
Deut 2:23; see on
Jer 47:4), where they had been bond-servants, and the Syrians from Kir?" It is appropriate, that as the Syrians migrated into Syria from Kir (compare Note, see on
Isa 22:6), so they should be carried back captive into the same land (see on
Amos 1:15;
2Kgs 16:9), just as elsewhere Israel is threatened with a return to Egypt whence they had been delivered. The "Ethiopians," Hebrew, "Cushites," were originally akin to the race that founded Babylon: the cuneiform inscriptions in this confirming independently the Scripture statement (
Gen 10:6,
Gen 10:8,
Gen 10:10).
8 eyes . . . upon the sinful kingdom--that is, I am watching all its sinful course in order to punish it (compare
Amos 9:4;
Ps 34:15-
Ps 34:16).
not utterly destroy the house of Jacob--Though as a "kingdom" the nation is now utterly to perish, a remnant is to be spared for "Jacob," their forefather's sake (compare
Jer 30:11); to fulfil the covenant whereby "the seed of Israel" is hereafter to be "a nation for ever" (
Jer 31:36).
9 sift--I will cause the Israelites to be tossed about through all nations as corn is shaken about in a sieve, in such a way, however, that while the chaff and dust (the wicked) fall through (perish), all the solid grains (the godly elect) remain (are preserved), (
Rom 11:26; compare Note, see on
Jer 3:14). So spiritual Israel's final safety is ensured (
Luke 22:32;
John 10:28;
John 6:39).
10 All the sinners--answering to the chaff in the image in
Amos 9:9, which falls on the earth, in opposition "to the grain" that does not "fall."
overtake . . . us--"come on us from behind" [MAURER].
11 In that day--quoted by James (
Acts 15:16-
Acts 15:17), "After this," that is, in the dispensation of Messiah (
Gen 49:10;
Hos 3:4-
Hos 3:5;
Joel 2:28;
Joel 3:1).
tabernacle of David--not "the house of David," which is used of his affairs when prospering (
2Sam 3:1), but the tent or booth, expressing the low condition to which his kingdom and family had fallen in Amos' time, and subsequently at the Babylonian captivity before the restoration; and secondarily, in the last days preceding Israel's restoration under Messiah, the antitype to David (
Ps 102:13-
Ps 102:14;
Jer 30:9;
Ezek 34:24;
Ezek 37:24; see on
Isa 12:1). The type is taken from architecture (
Eph 2:20). The restoration under Zerubbabel can only be a partial, temporary fulfilment; for it did not include Israel, which nation is the main subject of Amos prophecies, but only Judah; also Zerubbabel's kingdom was not independent and settled; also all the prophets end their prophecies with Messiah, whose advent is the cure of all previous disorders. "Tabernacle" is appropriate to Him, as His human nature is the tabernacle which He assumed in becoming Immanuel, "God with us" (
John 1:14). "Dwelt," literally, tabernacled "among us" (compare
Rev 21:3). Some understand "the tabernacle of David" as that which David pitched for the ark in Zion, after bringing it from Obed-edom's house. It remained there all his reign for thirty years, till the temple of Solomon was built, whereas the "tabernacle of the congregation" remained at Gibeon (
2Chr 1:3), where the priests ministered in sacrifices (
1Chr 16:39). Song and praise was the service of David's attendants before the ark (Asaph, &c.): a type of the gospel separation between the sacrificial service (Messiah's priesthood now in heaven) and the access of believers on earth to the presence of God, apart from the former (compare
2Sam 6:12-17;
1Chr 16:37-39;
2Chr 1:3).
breaches thereof--literally, "of them," that is, of the whole nation, Israel as well as Judah.
as in . . . days of old--as it was formerly in the days of David and Solomon, when the kingdom was in its full extent and undivided.
12 That they may possess . . . remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen--"Edom," the bitter foe, though the brother, of Israel; therefore to be punished (
Amos 1:11-
Amos 1:12), Israel shall be lord of the "remnant" of Edom left after the punishment of the latter. James quotes it, "That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles," &c. For "all the heathen" nations stand on the same footing as Edom: Edom is the representative of them all. The residue or remnant in both cases expresses those left after great antecedent calamities (
Rom 9:27;
Zech 14:16). Here the conversion of "all nations" (of which the earnest was given in James's time) is represented as only to be realized on the re-establishment of the theocracy under Messiah, the Heir of the throne of David (
Amos 9:11). The possession of the heathen nations by Israel is to be spiritual, the latter being the ministers to the former for their conversion to Messiah, King of the Jews; just as the first conversions of pagans were through the ministry of the apostles, who were Jews. Compare
Isa 54:3, "thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles" (compare
Isa 49:8;
Rom 4:13). A remnant of Edom became Jews under John Hyrcanus, and the rest amalgamated with the Arabians, who became Christians subsequently.
which are called by my name--that is, who belong to Me, whom I claim as Mine (
Ps 2:8); in the purposes of electing grace, God terms them already called by His name. Compare the title, "the children," applied by anticipation,
Heb 2:14. Hence as an act of sovereign grace, fulfilling His promise, it is spoken of God. Proclaim His title as sovereign, "the Lord that doeth this" ("all these things,"
Acts 15:17, namely, all these and such like acts of sovereign love).
13 the days come--at the future restoration of the Jews to their own land.
ploughman shall overtake . . . reaper . . . treader of grapes him that soweth--fulfilling
Lev 26:5. Such shall be the abundance that the harvest and vintage can hardly be gathered before the time for preparing for the next crop shall come. Instead of the greater part of the year being spent in war, the whole shall be spent in sowing and reaping the fruits of earth. Compare
Isa 65:21-
Isa 65:23, as to the same period.
soweth seed--literally, "draweth it forth," namely, from the sack in order to sow it.
mountains . . . drop sweet wine--an appropriate image, as the vines in Palestine were trained on terraces at the sides of the hills.
14 build the waste cities-- (
Isa 61:4;
Ezek 36:33-
Ezek 36:36).
15 plant them . . . no more be pulled up-- (
Jer 32:41).
thy God--Israel's; this is the ground of their restoration, God's original choice of them as His.
