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More Amos commentaries
Amos 6:1-14
Warnings to Zion and Samaria
Amos 7:1-17
Visions of judgment
Amos 8:1-14
The Vision of Summer Fruit
Amos 9:1-15
Destruction and Restoration of Israel
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Destruction and Restoration of Israel
Amos 9:1–15
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
As a pastor I try to be creative in teaching my deacons how to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us, but I am not the most tidy leader. One of my deacons was trying to invite a man to our church to experience Jesus. The man refuse saying that he didn’t have much … More
The Lord’s omnipresence is related to his judgment (vv. 1-10). His sovereignty was behind the movement of Israel’s enemies, the Philistines and the Syrians. The Lord appeared at the altar to announce the total devastation of Israel in this final vision of Amos. No one would be able to escape the Lord’s judgment, which began with those who claimed to believe Him. He promised to pursue them in judgment, no matter what measures they might take to avoid His wrath (vv. 2-4). The sovereignty of the Lord permitted no hiding place. Israel could not claim privileged status with the Lord (v. 7). He judges Israel no differently than He judges other nations. He is not the God of Israel only, He is God of the universe and He controls all nations. God’s eyes focused on His people for calamity and not for good (vv. 4,8). God wants to redeem, not punish. But when punishment is necessary, He doesn’t withhold it (v. 8). Judgment would fall on those who least expected it (v. 10).
The prophet Amos closes his book on a note of hope, describing a similar rebirth for the nation of Israel (vv. 11-15). God had promised to judge His people, but He did not intend to destroy them. In the future He would “restore David’s fallen tent,” “repair its broken places,""restore its ruins,” and “build it as it used to be” (v. 11). Amos predicted a time of unparalleled prosperity for Israel in their own land. He forsaw a harvest so abundant that “the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes” (v. 13). Normally the plowman worked in October and November and the reaper in March or April. In the future the harvest will be so great the reaper will not finish before the plowman begins. The destruction message of (Amos 5:11) stands in contrast to the restoration message of (v. 14). Amos says the restoration of Israel is complete and permanent. His judgments have a redemptive purpose in His people.
Application
Since I was saved Christ has brought many changes into my life. Where I once had no purpose He has brought new life and real purpose. I thank Him for His transforming work in my life.
Amos 9:1-15 (English Standard Version)
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: "Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. "If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth-- the LORD is his name. "Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD. "For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, 'Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.' "In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name," declares the LORD who does this. "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them," says the LORD your God.
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