Amos 9:1-15

The Old Testament > Amos > Amos 7-9 > Amos 9:1-15

Previous (Amos 8:1-14)

Next (Obadiah)

Outline and brief summary

Chapter 4 of Amos can be outlined as follows:

B. Hear this word: Lord chastised Israel, but it did not return (4:1-13)

• Lord will carry away those who glut on oppressing the poor (1-3)

• Israel transgresses even in its religious ceremonies (4:4-5)

• past chastisement has not caused Israel to return (4:6-12)

• hymn: greatness and condescension of the Lord (13)

Vision #5 of Lord in judgment: only a remnant spared (9:1-10)

  a. vision of the Lord in judgment at the altar: none spared (1-4)
    b. hymn: Lord is omnipotent sovereign (5-6)
      c. Lord will destroy all sinners but save a remnant (7-10)
        d. in that day restored, bless with plenty (11-15)

In this final vision Amos sees the Lord himself standing upon the altar. It is not clear whether this occurs at Bethel or at the Jerusalem temple (9:1). A lintel is the beam across the top of a doorway. The shaking of supporting posts suggests the earthquake that occurred two years after Amos’ ministry (9:2; 1:1).

Here the Lord does not say that he will spare no longer, but that he will spare no one. Those taken captive will be killed. Those that escape will be hunted down, whether they flee to heaven, hell, the bottom of the sea, or the top of Mount Carmel in the wilderness (9:1-4). None shall escape.

Verses 5-6 are a hymn, again describing the Lord’s omnipotence (compare the hymns at 4:13 and 5:8-9) and again invoking the imagery of a flood (compare 8:8 following the previous vision). The sovereign Lord God is free to judge Israel as he will.

But though the Lord will thoroughly destroy the sinful kingdom, yet “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.” A remnant will be preserved and sifted among the nations. “But all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword” (9:7-10). Again the scattering of Israel is a purging process that leaves a purified remnant worthy of blessing and restoration.

In that day, when Israel is purified, the Jerusalem temple will be rebuilt and converted gentiles will seek there after the Lord (see Acts 15:13-21 where Paul's opponents did not complain that he was misquoting). The days come that those taken captive will return, the waste cities will again be inhabited, the land will be fruitful, and “they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God” (9:11-15).

Detailed discussion

Verse 1: That the posts may shake

A connection between door posts and speaking is made here and in Isa 6:4 where the moving posts are also evidence of the Lord's presence. Here the Lord tells Amos to smite the lintel (top) of the door wheras in Isa 6:4 "the posts of the door moved at the voice of [a seraph] that cried." The movement of these posts might be taken as a "parting of the veil" in which case the shaking of the posts here, in contrast to the more subdued term move in Isa 6:4, may suggest God's wrath. (Cf. shake in Isa 13:13, 14:16, and 24:18.)

Questions for further thought and study

• What is the Lord telling Amos to cut in 9:1, and what might this mean?

• Climbing to heaven is a familiar image, but what about digging to hell in 9:2? Where does this come from?

Notes

reflist

Related links

• Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links

The Old Testament > Amos > Amos 7-9 > Amos 9:1-15

Previous (Amos 8:1-14)

Next (Obadiah)