Amos 9

No escape from God (vs. 1-6)—The last chapter of this marvelous book begins with the somber warning that there can be no escape from Jehovah. God stands by the altar (probably of Dan or Bethel) and commands Amos to “strike the doorposts that the thresholds may shake and break them on the heads of all” (v. 1). The whole shall be thrown down and demolished, and none who worship there will elude punishment: “I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered” (v. 1). They will not find refuge in hell or heaven (v. 2). They can try to hide on the mountain tops, or the depths of the sea, but God will find them (v. 3). And even in the captivity that awaited them, “from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them" (v. 4). And for the third time in his book, Amos announces in eloquent language the majesty of this sovereign God Who held Israel’s destiny in His hands: “The Lord GOD of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, And all who dwell there mourn; All of it shall swell like the River, And subside like the River of Egypt. He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth-- The LORD is His name” (vs. 5-6). Did Israel really think they could evade His commandments and prosper? Do we think we can?

A despised people (vs. 7-10)—The northern kingdom had become abhorrent to God. “Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me?” (v. 7)—a universally despised people. God had brought them up from Egypt, indeed, had also placed the Philistines and Syrians in their present locations (v. 7). He is sovereign, and “the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth” (v. 8). Yet…there is always, always running through the Old Testament the Messianic thought: “’Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,’" says the Lord” (v. 8). He cannot, because He there is something greater at stake—the salvation of all of mankind through Jesus Christ, a promise which He had made to us immediately after man first sinned (Genesis 3:15). And He also swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that it would be through their people that the Savior would come. So, in spite of their merited punishment, God would not completely obliterate Israel. They would lose their homeland eventually, though: “For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations” (v. 9). Because of the following verses, there is a possibility that this thought has reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the resultant scattering of the Jews throughout the world.

Salvation for all of mankind (vs. 11-15)—This definitely refers to the church age; we know this because, in Acts 15, James quotes it at the Jerusalem conference and applies it to that period. The quote in Acts 15 starts out “After this I will return…”; Amos 9:11 reads “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins.” David didn’t have a tabernacle, folks, and it was Solomon who built the temple. So we must look at this figuratively, and again, James clearly tells us that the church age is in view. In Acts 15:17, James has Amos 9:12 saying “So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name.” The verse in Amos reads a little differently, but the meaning is the same: “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name." All the world will be allowed entrance into God’s eternal kingdom. There would be great blessings (v. 13), “captives” would be returned to “Israel,” and “’I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,’" says the LORD your God” (v. 15). The Messianic Age will be the final one and those who find salvation in the church will be eternally safe, never to be “pulled up” from the “land” God gives us. Always keep in mind that, when the New Testament tells us what a passage means, then that’s what it means, and all the language of the prophecy must be understood figuratively, in the light of the inspired interpretation of the New Testament preachers.

So even the fiery Amos ends his book with a message of hope. There is always hope for those who truly seek the Lord.