Amos 9

God's Judgement Against Israel

Verse 1 Paul wrote that 'nothing can separate us from the love of Christ' (Romans 8:35). But in this chapter, nothing will stop God's anger against Israel. The Lord is ready to speak again. Amos shows us a picture of God standing by a temple. There were usually columns on a temple. They supported the building. But God is going to break these columns. Everything will shake. When this happens people will die. God wants to be sure that people will die. He will even chase them with a sword.

Verse 2 God controls everything everywhere. It is impossible to hide from him. Even the grave is not safe. God's anger is like a fire. It will even burn the 'grave below' (Deuteronomy 32:22). Even if people escape to heaven God will bring them back.

Verse 3 Carmel was a high mountain. On it, there were forests with many trees. It was a good place to hide. The bottom of the sea was also a good place to hide. Jonah probably thought that he was safe in the fish (Jonah 2:6-7). People believed then that a large dangerous 'snake' lived in the sea. It lived at the very bottom. But God would search everywhere in the deep sea. He would find the people who were escaping from him. Then he would give his order to the snake to kill them.

Verse 4 Even exile would not be a protection. The people in exile must die too. God was going to watch them closely. This is usually a sign of God's good plans for a person (Jeremiah 24:6). But now God wanted them to die. The Israelites deserved this because they had done so many wrong things.

Verse 5 Verses 5 and 6 are probably from a song. But Amos has used the song as part of God's judgement. God has huge power. He can destroy the world if he wants to. Amos refers to the Nile again. He did this in 8:8. God has power over the rivers. He can shake the earth too. The people in Israel deserved all of God's anger.

Verse 6 God is a builder. He made heaven and earth. The earth is like a wonderful palace. God's measurements are different from the measurements of men. He has huge scales when he builds. Verse 6b is the same as 5:8b. Amos wants to repeat the same idea. In the Old Testament water is usually a sign of life. But God will now use water as a sign of death.

Verse 7 God now speaks again. Israel was not different from other nations. The Ethiopians, Egyptians, Philistines and Arameans were all special to God too. God led Israel out of Egypt. But he also led the Philistines from Crete to their country. And he led the Arameans from Kir to Syria. (We do not know where Kir was.)

Verse 8 This verse is similar to 9:4. The Lord continued to look very closely at Israel. He did not like what he saw. Israel would no longer be a nation. However, there would be a few people left, so there was some hope. Other prophets often gave some hope to Israel too (Hosea 1:11; Joel 2:18-19).

Verse 9 This verse is similar to 9:1. God has some serious work to do. Israel will not be the same when he finishes. Israel is like good grain mixed with small stones. The small stones are the bad parts of Israel. God will not allow any small stone to fall through the sieve. A sieve is a flat thing that has lots of small holes in it. People use it to separate things. God only wants good people to live.

Verse 10 There are sinful people in Israel. They think that they will live. But Amos does not want to give them any hope. They will certainly die.

God will Bring Back Israel's People to Himself

Verse 11 In the final verses of Amos, there is hope. The ten tribes in the north had separated themselves from Judah. This was sad. King David had wanted unity for his country. Jerusalem was now going to fall. The Babylonians would take Jerusalem. Amos was interested in the future. He looked back to David's time, but he was really thinking of the future. The word for 'has fallen' could also mean ' is going to fall'. Perhaps Amos was looking forward to the fall of Jerusalem. This happened in 539 BC. Later, the Jews returned to Jerusalem and built the wall again. We read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. But after Jesus' time the Romans sent most Jews out of the land. They have only returned in large numbers since 1947.

Verse 12 David defeated the people who lived in Edom. But then Edom fought back against Solomon (1 Kings 11:14) and became free (2 Kings 8:20). Edom represents the enemies of Israel. Another leader would follow David. He would be the Christ. He would defeat Israel's enemies. He would also rule the world.

Verse 13 Amos now gives us two pictures. In this future time, there would be a lot of food. As soon as a person had harvested a crop, someone else would sow the next crop! Grapes were an important crop in Israel. In the future, there would be a huge amount of wine. There would be more wine than the people could drink.

Verse 14 Again, Amos looks to the future. He looks beyond the exile. The Jews would be able to return to their land. They would be able to do normal things. They would be able to grow plenty of food for themselves. There would be enough to eat. There would be security.

Verse 15 Amos finishes with a promise. The Israelites would have their own land. They would not have to worry about exile again. They would be like a crop that God himself has planted. This is like another promise from God. God said that there would be no second flood. He would not kill all people again (Genesis 8:21). Sin had separated the people from God. But when Christ returned, there would be no more sin. People would no longer want to destroy anything. Instead, they would want to build. We cannot be sure where this perfect time of peace and happiness will be. Perhaps it will be in Israel. Perhaps it will be in the new heaven and the new earth. We can read about the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation 21.