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.

God is pictured as standing upon the altar in the court yard giving order to demolish the heathen temple. The altar which Amos sees God standing on is the altar on which Jeroboam sacrificed, which he set up and it became the center of the calf-worship whose destruction the man of God foretold on the day of its dedication.

At one blow God hit the top of the shrine pillars and the whole building shook, staggered, fell as though it had been hit with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. God gave the orders to smite the columns that supported the building which had a “capital” or chapter on the top of the columns that was in the form of a globe shaped like a pomegranate. The building will collapse on the priests and in addition to all this; God has set his eye upon them for evil and not for good. The lord would scatter them and visit them with calamities and shake them like grain in a sieve. There was nothing that would protect them. It would be impossible for them to escape. After the roof collapsed on them anyone left alive God says he will kill.

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:

No place to run to─no place to hide. The underworld can’t protect you─Heaven won’t accept you. God will see to it that none escape. The prophet takes the most extreme spaces starting with heaven and ending with hell and tells us that the Almighty would find them and punish them. Hiding somewhere in a cave on Mt. Carmel or committing suicide and going into Sheol would not keep God from tracking them down for punishment. No one can escape the judgment of God.

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 was a favorite place to hide among the rocks and caves but God says his search party will find them and bring them to justice. The other extreme was hiding in the bottom of the sea God says he will send his sea serpent after them.

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.

God is going to see to it that justice is rendered. Suicide bombers are running straight into the wrath of God. God says he will make sure that they receive evil and not good. There is no way of escape! We serve an inescapable God.

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.

When God decides to bring judgment on a nation there is no bounds or lack of means at his disposal. It can rain and wash the top soil away and cause a flood like the rising of the Nile which covered the delta and drowned many people. Amos pictures God using every avenue of punishment at his disposal.

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.

God is pictured as building the upper stories in the heavens with the earth as the ground floor and calling for the vapors from the sea to water the earth. This is the Great God that we serve.

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?

Amos rips away the carnal security that these people relied upon, namely that they were the chosen people of God. To them their election was an unquestionable pledge that God would not allow them to go into captivity as Amos had predicted. However, what they failed to recognize was that the election benefit was to those who kept the law. While we serve a God that chose Abraham and made the nation of the Jews his chosen people he is involved with all other nations. Has God cast off the Jew? The answer to this question is in the following verses of Scripture. For a complete understanding of the Jew and his future one must study Romans chapters 9-11.

• Rom 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid...
• Rom 11:11 ...by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
• Rom 11:23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in...

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.

Election, therefore, will not save sinful Israel from destruction however; the elect (remnant) will be preserved as can be seen in the verse quoted below. It must be observed that God made an end of all the nations where he scattered his people as we observed in our study of chapter one.

The punishment of reprobates is final and fatal; that of God’s people temporary and corrective. Babylon was utterly destroyed: Israel after chastisement was delivered. Israel’s national polity has been broken up by the Romans. But their preservation as a distinct people amidst violent persecutions, though scattered among all nations for eighteen centuries, unamalgamated, is a perpetual standing miracle.

Amos 9:9

For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

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.

Amos 9:10

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

Their security was the cause of their destruction.

Amos 9:11

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

Let’s let the scriptures speak to us regarding raising up the tabernacle of David. The apostle James made it clear that Jesus was the fulfillment of what the prophets said regarding the Tabernacle of David in the fifteenth chapter of the book of Acts.

Amos 9:12

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

Amos 9:13

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

There will be such an abundance of crops that by the time you have gathered it all in it will be time to plant again. The grapes, which were planted on the hill sides, would yield a bountiful harvest.

Amos 9:14

And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

God is once again blessing them, the book of Nehemiah and Ezra record the return of Israel from captivity and the rebuilding programs.

• Rebuilding cities.
• Planting vineyards and good wine.
• Tending their gardens.
• Planting their farms.

Amos 9:15

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

The prophet envisions them firmly planted in their home land.