Amos receives a vision from the Lord, commanding the destruction of idolaters in Israel, particularly those worshiping at Bethel. The vision emphasizes that no individual will escape divine judgment; those attempting to flee will ultimately be caught. The prophecy foretells a total collapse of the idolatrous temple and its worshipers, representing God's disapproval of their sacrifices and the impending judgment upon both Israel and Judah.

1. AMOS 9 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Israel to Be Destroyed
1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he
said:
“Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
those who are left I will kill with the sword.
ot one will get away,
none will escape.
BAR ES, "I saw the Lord - He saw God in vision; yet God no more, as before,
asked him what he saw. God no longer shows him emblems of the destruction, but the
destruction itself. Since Amos had just been speaking of the idolatry of Samaria, as the
ground of its utter destruction, doubtless this vision of such utter destruction of the
place of worship, with and upon the worshipers, relates to those same idolaters and
idoltries . True, the condenmation of Israel would become the condemnation of Judah,
when Judah’s sins, like Israel’s, should become complete. But directly, it can hardly
relate to any other than those spoken of before and after, Israel. “The altar,” then, “over”
which Amos sees God “stand,” is doubtless the altar on which Jeroboam sacrificed, “the
altar” which he set up over-against the altar at Jerusalem, the center of the calf-worship,
whose destruction the man of God foretold on the day of its dedication.
There where, in counterfeit of the sacrifices which God had appointed, they offered
would-be-atoning sacrifices and sinned in them, God appeared, standing, to behold, to
judge, to condemn. “And He said, smite the lintel,” literally, “the chapter,” or “capital,”
probably so called from “crowning” the pillar with a globular form, like a pomegranate.
This, the spurious outward imitation of the true sanctuary, God commands to be
stricken, “that the posts,” or probably “the thresholds, may shake.” The building was
struck from above, and reeled to its base. It does not matter, whether any blow on the
capital of a pillar would make the whole fabric to shake. For the blow was no blow of

2. man. God gives the command probably to the Angel of the Lord, as, in Ezekiel’s vision of
the destruction of Jerusalem, the charge to destroy was given to six men Eze_9:2. So the
first-born of Egypt, the army of Sennacherib, were destroyed by an Angel Exo_12:23;
2Ki_19:34-35. An Angel stood with his sword over Jerusalem 2Sa_24:1, 2Sa_24:15-16,
when God punished David’s presumption in numbering the people. At one blow of the
heavenly Agent the whole building shook, staggered, fell.
And cut them in the head, all of them - o This may be either by the direct agency
of the Angel, or the temple itself may be represented as falling on the heads of the
worshipers. As God, through Jehu, destroyed all the worshipers of Baal in the house of
Baal, so here He foretells, under a like image, the destruction of all the idolaters of Israel.
He had said, “they that swear by the sin of Samaria - shall fall and never rise up again.”
Here he represents the place of that worship the idolaters, as it seems, crowded there,
and the command given to destroy them all. All Israel was not to be destroyed. “Not the
least grain” was to “fall upon the earth Amo_9:9. Those then here represented as
destroyed to the last man, must be a distinct class. Those destroyed in the temple must
be the worshipers in the temple. In the Temple of God at Jerusalem, none entered except
the priests. Even the space “between the porch and the altar” was set apart for the
priests. But heresy is necessarily irreverent, because, not worshiping the One God, it had
no Object of reverence. Hence, the temple of Baal was full “from end to end 2Ki_10:21,
and the worshipers of the sun at Jerusalem turned “their backs toward the Temple,” and
“worshiped the sun toward the east, at the door of the Temple, between the porch and
the altar” Eze_8:16; Eze_11:1. The worshipers of the calves were commanded to “kiss”
Hos_13:2 them, and so must have filled the temple, where they were.
And I will slay the last of them - The Angel is bidden to destroy those gatered in
open idolatry in one place. God, by His Omniscience, reserved the rest for His own
judgment. All creatures, animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, stand at His
command to fulfill His will. The mass of idolaters having perished in their idolatry, the
rest, not crushed in the fall of the temple, would fain flee away, but “he that fleeth shall
not flee,” God says, to any good “to themselves;” yea, although they should do what for
man is impossible, they should not escape God.
CLARKE, "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar - As this is a continuation of
the preceding prophecy, the altar here may be one of those either at Dan or Beer-sheba.
Smite the lintel - Either the piece of timber that binds the wall above the door, or
the upper part of the door frame, in which the cheeks, or side posts, are inserted, and
which corresponds to the threshold, or lower part of the door frame.
And cut them in the head - Let all the lintels of all the doors of all those temples be
thus cut, as a sign that the whole shall be thrown down and totally demolished. Or this
may refer to their heads - chief men, who were principals in these transgressions. Mark
their temples, their priests, their prophets, and their princes, for destruction.
He that fleeth - shall not flee away - He shall be caught before he can get out of
the reach of danger.
And he that escapeth (that makes good his flight) shall not be delivered -
Captivity, famine, or sword, shall reach him even there.
GILL, "And I saw the Lord standing upon the altar,.... Either upon the altar of

3. burnt offerings in the temple of Jerusalem, whither he had removed from the cherubim;
signifying his being about to depart, and that he was displeased, and would not be
appeased by sacrifice: so the Targum,
"said Amos the prophet, I saw the glory of the Lord removing from the cherub, and it
dwelt upon the altar;''
and the vision may refer to the destruction of the Jews, their city and temple, either by
the Chaldeans, or by the Romans: or rather, since the prophecy in general, and this
vision in particular, seems to respect the ten tribes only, it was upon the altar at Bethel
the Lord was seen standing, as offended at the sacrifices there offered, and to hinder
them from sacrificing them, as well as to take vengeance on those that offered them,
1Ki_13:1;
and he said; the Lord said, either to the prophet in vision, or to one of the angels, as
Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or to the executioners of his vengeance, the enemies of the
people of Israel:
smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake; the upper lintel, on which
pomegranates and flowers were carved, and therefore called "caphtor", as Kimchi thinks;
this was the lintel of the door, either of the temple at Jerusalem, as the Jewish writers
generally suppose; or rather of the temple at Bethel, see 1Ki_12:31; which was to be
smitten with such three, that the posts thereof should shake; signifying the destruction
of the whole building in a short time, and that none should be able to go in and out
thereat:
and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with
the sword; which shows that the lintel and doorposts are not to be taken literally, but
figuratively; and that the smiting and cutting of them intend the destruction of men; by
the "head", the king, and the princes, and nobles, or the priests; and, by "the last of
them", the common people, the meanest sort, or those that were left of them, as Aben
Ezra and Kimchi:
he that fleeth of them shall not flee away; he that attempts to make his escape,
and shall flee for his life, shall not get clear, but either be stopped, or pursued and taken:
and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered; he that does get out of the
hands of those that destroy with the sword shall not be delivered from death, but shall
die by famine or pestilence. The Targum is,
"and he said, unless the people of the house of Israel return to the law, the candlestick
shall be extinguished, King Josiah shall be killed, and the house destroyed, and the
courts dissipated, and the vessels of the house of the sanctuary shall go into captivity;
and the rest of them I will slay with the sword, &c.''
referring the whole to the Jews, and to the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem.
HE RY, "We have here the justice of God passing sentence upon a provoking people;
and observe,
I. With what solemnity the sentence is passed. The prophet saw in vision the Lord
standing upon the altar (Amo_9:1), the altar of burnt-offerings; for the Lord has a

4. sacrifice, and multitudes must fall as victims to his justice. He is removed from the
mercy-seat between the cherubim, and stands upon the altar, the judgment-seat, on
which the fire of God used to fall, to devour the sacrifices. He stands upon the altar, to
show that the ground of his controversy with this people was their profanation of his
holy things; here he stands to avenge the quarrel of his altar, as also to signify that the
sin of the house of Israel, like that of the house of Eli, shall not be purged with sacrifice
nor offering for ever, 1Sa_3:14. He stands on the altar, to prohibit sacrifice. Now the
order given is, Smite the lintel of the door of the temple, the chapiter, smite it with such
a blow that the posts may shake, and cut them, wound them in the head, all of them;
break down the doors of God's house, or of the courts of his house, in token of this, that
he is going out from it, and forsaking it, and then all judgments are breaking in upon it.
Or it signifies the destruction of those in the first place that should be as the door-posts
to the nation for its defence, so that, they being broken down, it becomes as a city
without gates and bars. “Smite the king, who is as the lintel of the door, that the princes,
who are as the posts, may shake; cut them in the head, cleave them down, all of them, as
wood for the fire; and I will slay the last of them, the posterity of them, them and their
families, or the least of them, them and all that are employed under them; or, I will slay
them all, them and all that remain of them, till it comes to the last man; the slaughter
shall be general.” There is no living for those on whom God has said, I will slay them, no
standing before his sword.
II. What effectual care is taken that none shall escape the execution of this sentence. This
is enlarged upon here, and is intended for warning to all that provoke the Lord to
jealousy. Let sinners read it, and tremble; as there is no fighting it out with God, so there
is no fleeing from him. His judgments, when they come with commission, as they will
overpower the strongest that think to outface them, so they will overtake the swiftest
that think to out-run them, Amo_9:2. Those of them that flee, and take to their heels,
shall soon be out of breath, and shall not flee away out of the reach of danger; for, as
sometimes the wicked flee when none pursues, so he cannot flee away when God
pursues, though he would fain flee out of his hand. Nay, he that escapes of them, that
thinks he has gained his point, shall not be delivered. Evil pursues sinners, and will
arrest them. This is here enlarged upon by showing that wherever sinners flee for shelter
from God's justice, it will overtake them, and the shelter will prove but a refuge of lies.
What David says of the ubiquity of God's presence (Psa_139:7-10) is here said of the
extent of God's power and justice.
JAMISO , "Amo_9:1-15. Fifth and last vision.
None can escape the coming judgment in any hiding-place: for God is omnipresent
and irresistible (Amo_9:1-6). As a kingdom, Israel shall perish as if it never was in
covenant with Him: but as individuals the house of Jacob shall not utterly perish, nay,
not one of the least of the righteous shall fall, but only all the sinners (Amo_9:7-10).
Restoration of the Jews finally to their own land after the re-establishment of the fallen
tabernacle of David; consequent conversion of all the heathen (Amo_9:11-15).
Lord ... upon the altar — namely, in the idolatrous temple at Beth-el; the calves
which were spoken of in Amo_8:14. Hither they would flee for protection from the
Assyrians, and would perish in the ruins, with the vain object of their trust [Henderson].
Jehovah stands here to direct the destruction of it, them, and the idolatrous nation. He
demands many victims on the altar, but they are to be human victims. Calvin and
Fairbairn, and others, make it in the temple at Jerusalem. Judgment was to descend
both on Israel and Judah. As the services of both alike ought to have been offered on the
Jerusalem temple-altar, it is there that Jehovah ideally stands, as if the whole people

5. were assembled there, their abominations lying unpardoned there, and crying for
vengeance, though in fact committed elsewhere (compare Eze_8:1-18). This view
harmonizes with the similarity of the vision in Amos to that in Isa_6:1-13, at Jerusalem.
Also with the end of this chapter (Amo_9:11-15), which applies both to Judah and Israel:
“the tabernacle of David,” namely, at Jerusalem. His attitude, “standing,” implies fixity
of purpose.
lintel — rather, the sphere-like capital of the column [Maurer].
posts — rather, “thresholds,” as in Isa_6:4, Margin. The temple is to be smitten
below as well as above, to ensure utter destruction.
cut them in the head — namely, with the broken fragments of the capitals and
columns (compare Psa_68:21; Hab_3:13).
slay the last of them — their posterity [Henderson]. The survivors [Maurer].
Jehovah’s directions are addressed to His angels, ministers of judgment (compare Eze_
9:1-11).
he that fleeth ... shall not flee away — He who fancies himself safe and out of
reach of the enemy shall be taken (Amo_2:14).
CALVI , "Verse 1
The Prophet confirms the threatening which we have already explained; for he says
that the people would be soon removed, as there was now no hope of repentance.
But it must first be observed, that he speaks not here of the profane temples which
Jeroboam the first had built in Dan and in Bethel, but of the true and lawful temple;
for it would not have been befitting that this vision should have been made to the
Prophet in one of those profane temples, from which, we know, God was far away.
Had God appeared in Dan or Bethel, it would have been an indirect approbation of
superstition. They are then mistaken who think that the vision was given to the
Prophet in any other place than on mount Zion, as we have shown in other places.
For the Prophets say not, that God had spoken either in Dan or in Bethel, nor had
there been any oracle announced from these places; for God designed in every way
to show that he had nothing to do with those profane rites and abominations. It is
then certain that God appeared to his Prophet on mount Zion, and on the lawful
altar. (59)
Let us now see the design of the vision. The greater part of interpreters think that
the destruction of the kingdom and of the priesthood is predicted here, at the time
when Zedekiah was taken and led ignominiously into exile, and when his children
were killed, and when afterwards the temple was erased and the city demolished.
But this prediction, I doubt not, ought to be extended much farther, even to the
many calamities which immediately followed, by which at length the whole people
were destroyed. I therefore do not confine what is here said to the demolition of the
city and of the temple. But the meaning of the Prophet is the same as though he had
said, that the Israelites as well as the Jews in vain boasted of their descent and of
other privileges with which they had been honored: for the Lord had resolved to
destroy them, and also the temple, which they employed as a cloak to cover their
iniquities. We now then understand the intention of the Prophet. But this also must
be noticed, — that if the Lord spared not his own temple, which he had commanded
to be built, and in which he had chosen a habitation for himself, those profane

6. temples, which he had ever despised, could not possibly escape destruction. We now
see the design of this prophecy, which is the last, with the exception of the promise
that is given, of which we shall speak in its proper place.
He says then that he saw God standing on the altar. The Prophet might have heard
what follows without a vision; but God then, we know, was wont to sanction his
predictions by visions, as we find in umbers 12:6. God then not only intended to
commit to his Prophet what he was to proclaim, but also to add authority to his
doctrine; and the vision was as it were the seal, which the Israelites as well as the
Jews knew to be a proof, that what the Prophet declared by his mouth proceeded
from heaven.
It now follows, Smite the lintel ‫,כפתור‬ caphtur, is, I think, called the cover which is
on the top of the posts of the temple; for the Hebrews call ‫,כפתורים‬ caphturim,
apples. As then they painted there pomegranates and flowers, the Hebrew doctors
think that the part which is above the two posts of the temple is called ‫,כפתור‬
caphtur. But that part of the entrance might have taken its name from its round
form. However this may be, they called the highest part of the porch of the temple
‫,כפתוד‬ caphtur. ow the posts sustained that which they commonly called the lintel.
God then says, Strike the lintel, and let the posts be moved, or let them shake, let the
whole gate of the temple shake. Then he adds, And strike and break all on the head,
or on the head of all. This verb is differently read by interpreters. Correctly,
according to the rule of grammar, it ought to be read in the third person, and it will
dash to the ground But some however, render it thus, “and dash to the ground”, or
break, because he had said before, Smite. As to the meaning, it matters not much for
an explanation immediately follows. ow as to what he says, “on the head”, and as
to the word ‫,אחריתם‬ achritam, which follows, some by the head understand the
priests and the rulers of the people, which view I am inclined to embrace; but when
they explain ‫,אחרית‬ achrit, to mean posterity or children, it does not seem to suit this
place; for it ought rather as I think, to he referred to the common people. As then
the Prophet had spoken of the head, he now adds the people in general. The
Hebrews call whatever follows or comes after by ‫,אחרית‬ achrit. They indeed
understand posterity by it, but it is a word that has variety of meaning: for it is
taken for end, for a footstep, in short, for anything that comes after. (60)
It is easy now to gather the meaning of the Prophet: A vision was exhibited to him
which showed that it was decreed by God himself to smite both the chiefs and the
common people: and since God begins with his temple, how can profane men hope
for pardon, who had deserted the true and pure worship of God? They were all
apostates: how then could they have hoped that God would be placable to them,
inasmuch as he had broken down his own temple?
He now adds, I will slay with the sword, etc. We see then that this vision is to be
referred to the stroke which was shortly after to be inflicted. I will slay then with the
sword whatever follows, that is, the common people.
He afterwards says, Flee away from them shall not he who fleeth, nor shall he

7. escape from them who escapeth; that is though they may think that flight is possible,
their expectation will deceive them, for I shall catch them. Had the Prophet said that
there would be to them no means of fleeing away, he would not have spoken with so
much severity; but when he says, that when they fled, he would catch them, that
when they thought that they had escaped, there would be no safety to them, he says
what is much more grievous. In short, he cuts off all hope from the Israelites, that
they might understand that they were certain to perish, because God had hitherto
tried in vain to restore them to the right way. Inasmuch then as they had been
wholly incurable, they now hear that no hope remained for them.
And since the Prophet denounces such and so dreadful a destruction of an elect
people, and since the vision was exhibited to him in the temples there is no reason
for us to trust in our outward profession, and to wait till God’s judgments come, as
we see many are doing in our day, who are wholly careless, because they think that
no evil can happen to them, inasmuch as they bear the name of God. But the
Prophet here shows, that God sits in his temple, not only to protect those whom he
has adopted as his people and peculiar possession, but also to vindicate his own
honor, because the Israelites had corrupted his worship; and the Jews also had
departed from true religion. Since then impiety everywhere prevailed, he now shows
that God sits there as the punisher of sins, that his people may know that they are
not to tolerate those evils, which for a time he does not punish, as though he had
forgotten his office, or that he designs his favor to be the cover of their iniquity; but
because he designs by degrees to draw to repentance those, who are healable, and at
the same time to take away every excuse frown the reprobate. Let us proceed —
I saw the Lord standing on the altar, and he said, —
“Strike the lintel, that the pillars may shake,
And break them down on the head of them all;
And the remainder of them with the sword will I slay;
Flee away from them shall not he who fleeth,
And escape from them shall not he who escapeth.”
Junius and Tremelius, as well as Dathius, render the third and fourth lines, where
the difficulty alone exists, according to the version given above; and Henderson
renders the third line materially the same, —
And break them in pieces on the heads of them all.
But he retains “posterity” in the fourth line, which seems not consistent with the
tenor of the passage.
The version of Junius and Tremelius is this, —
Et divide ipsos in capite ipsorum omnium,
Quod autem post ipsos est gladio interrficam.
Dathius is more paraphrastic, and gives the same sense, —

8. Eosque diffinde ut ruantin caput omnium qui adsunt,
Reliquos vero gladio interficam
ewcome, who is too fond of emendations, folllows Houbigant, who, for no reason
that appears, turns the verb into the first person; and he gives this rendering of the
third line, —
For I will wound them in the head, evenall of them:
But this evidently does not comport with the context. — Ed.
K&D, "“I saw the Lord standing by the altar; and He said, Smite the top, that the
thresholds may tremble, and smash them upon the head of all of them; and I will slay
their remnant with the sword: a fugitive of them shall not flee; and an escaped one of
them shall not escape.” The correct and full interpretation not only of this verse, but of
the whole chapter, depends upon the answer to be given to the question, what altar we
are to understand by hammizbēăch. Ewald, Hitzig, Hofmann, and Baur follow Cyril in
thinking of the temple at Bethel, because, as Hitzig says, this vision attaches itself in an
explanatory manner to the close of Amo_8:14, and because, according to Hofmann, “if
the word of the prophet in general was directed against the kingdom, the royal house
and the sanctuary of the ten tribes, the article before hammizbēăch points to the altar of
the sanctuary in the kingdom of Israel, to the altar at Bethel, against which he has
already prophesied in a perfectly similar manner in Amo_3:14.” But there is no ground
whatever for the assertion that our vision contains simply an explanation of Amo_8:14.
The connection with Amo_8:1-14 is altogether not so close, that the object of the
prophecy in the one chapter must of necessity cover that of the other. And it is quite
incorrect to say that the word of the prophet throughout is directed simply against the
kingdom of the ten tribes, or that, although Amos does indeed reprove the sins of Judah
as well as those of Israel, he proclaims destruction to the kingdom of Jeroboam alone. As
early as Amo_2:5 he announces desolation to Judah by fire, and the burning of the
palaces of Jerusalem; and in Amo_6:1, again, he gives utterance to a woe upon the self-
secure in Zion, as well as upon the careless ones in Samaria. And lastly, it is evident from
Amo_9:8-10 of the present chapter, that the sinful kingdom which is to be destroyed
from the face of the earth is not merely the kingdom of the ten tribes, but the kingdoms
of Judah and Israel, which are embraced in one. For although it is stated immediately
afterwards that the Lord will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, but will shake the
house of Israel among all nations, the house of Jacob cannot mean the kingdom of
Judah, and the house of Israel the kingdom of the ten tribes, because such a contrast
between Judah and Israel makes the thought too lame, and the antithesis between the
destruction of the sinful kingdom and the utter destruction of the nation is quite
obliterated. Amos does not generally draw such a distinction between the house of Jacob
and the house of Israel, as that the first represents Judah, and the second the ten tribes;
but he uses the two epithets as synonymous, as we may see from a comparison of Amo_
6:8 with Amo_6:14, where the rejection of the pride of Israel and the hating of its
palaces (Amo_9:8) are practically interpreted by the raising up of a nation which
oppresses the house of Israel in all its borders (Amo_9:14). And so also in the chapter
before us, the “house of Israel” (Amo_9:9) is identical with “Israel” and the “children of
Israel” (Amo_9:7), whom God brought up out of Egypt. But God brought up out of

9. Egypt not the ten tribes, but the twelve. And consequently it is decidedly incorrect to
restrict the contents of Amo_9:1-10 to the kingdom of the ten tribes. And if this be the
case, we cannot possibly understand by hammizbēăch in Amo_9:1 the altar of Bethel,
especially seeing that not only does Amos foretel the visitation or destruction of the
altars of Bethel in Amo_3:14, and therefore recognises not one altar only in Bethel, but a
plurality of altars, but that he also speaks in Amo_7:9 of the desolation of the high places
and sanctuaries in Israel, and in Amo_8:14 places the sanctuary at Daniel on a par with
that at Bethel; so that there was not any one altar in the kingdom of the ten tribes, which
could be called hammizbēăch, the altar par excellence, inasmuch as it possessed from the
very beginning two sanctuaries of equal dignity (viz., at Bethel and Dan). Hammizbēăch,
therefore, both here and at Eze_9:2, is the altar of burnt-offering in the temple, at
Jerusalem, the sanctuary of the whole of the covenant nation, to which even the ten
bribes still belonged, in spite of their having fallen away from the house of David. So
long as the Lord still continued to send prophets to the ten tribes, so long did they pass
as still forming part of the people of God, and so long also was the temple at Jerusalem
the divinely appointed sanctuary and the throne of Jehovah, from which both blessings
and punishment issued from the. The Lord roars from Zion, and from Zion He utters His
voice (Amo_1:2), not only upon the nations who have shown hostility to Judah or Israel,
but also upon Judah and Israel, on account of their departure from His law (Amo_2:4
and Amo_2:6.).
The vision in this verse is founded upon the idea that the whole nation is assembled
before the Lord at the threshold of the temple, so that it is buried under the ruins of the
falling building, in consequence of the blow upon the top, which shatters the temple to
its very foundations. The Lord appears at the altar, because here at the sacrificial place of
the nation the sins of Israel are heaped up, that He may execute judgment upon the
nation there. ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ב‬ ָ ִ‫,נ‬ standing at (not upon) the altar, as in 1Ki_13:1. He gives
commandment to smite the top. The person who is to do this is not mentioned; but it
was no doubt an angel, probably the ‫ית‬ ִ‫ח‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ַ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫ך‬ፎ ְ‫ל‬ ַ ַ‫,ה‬ who brought the pestilence as a
punishment at the numbering of the people in the time of David (2Sa_24:15-16), who
smote the army of the Assyrian king Sennacherib before Jerusalem (2Ki_19:35), and
who also slew the first-born of Egypt (Exo_12:13, Exo_12:23); whereas in Eze_9:2, Eze_
9:7, He is represented as accomplishing the judgment of destruction by means of six
angels. Hakkaphtōr, the knob or top; in Exo_25:31, Exo_25:33, ff., an ornament upon the
shaft and branches of the golden candlestick. Here it is an ornament at the top of the
columns, and not “the lintel of the door,” or “the pinnacle of the temple with its
ornaments.” For the latter explanation of kaphtōr, which cannot be philologically
sustained, by no means follows from the fact that the antithesis to the kaphtōr is formed
by the sippım, or thresholds of the door. The knob and threshold simply express the
contrast between the loftiest summit and the lowest base, without at all warranting the
conclusion that the saph denotes the base of the pillar which culminated in a knob, or
kaphtōr, the top of the door which rested upon a threshold. The description is not
architectural, but rhetorical, the separate portions of the whole being individualized, for
the purpose of expressing the thought that the building was to be shattered to pieces in
summo usque ad imum, a capite ad calcem. Would we bring out more clearly the idea
which lies at the foundation of the rhetorical mode of expression, we have only to think

10. of the capital of the pillars Jachin and Boaz, and that with special reference to their
significance, as symbolizing the stability of the temple. The smiting of these pillars, so
that they fall to the ground, individualizes the destruction of the temple, without there
being any necessity in consequence to think of these pillars as supporting the roof of the
temple hall. The rhetorical character of the expression comes out clearly again in what
follows, “and smash them to pieces, i.e., lay them in ruins upon the head of all,”
(Note: Luther's rendering, “for their avarice shall come upon the head of all of
them,” in which he follows the Vulgate, arose from ‫ם‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫צ‬ ְ being confounded with ‫ם‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫צ‬ ִ
.)
where the plural suffix attached to ‫ם‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫צ‬ ְ (with the toneless suffix for ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ָ‫צ‬ ְ ; see Ewald, §
253, a) cannot possibly be taken as referring to the singular hakkaphtōr, nor even to
hassippım alone, but must refer to the two nouns hakkaphtōr and hassippım. the reference
to hassippım could no doubt be grammatically sustained; but so far as the sense is
concerned, it is inadmissible, inasmuch as when a building falls to the ground in
consequence of its having been laid in ruins by a blow from above, the thresholds of the
entrance could not possibly fall upon the heads of the men who were standing in front of
it. The command has throughout a symbolical meaning, ad has no literal reference to the
destruction of the temple. The temple symbolizes the kingdom of God, which the Lord
had founded in Israel; and as being the centre of that kingdom, it stands here for the
kingdom itself. In the temple, as the dwelling-place of the name of Jehovah, i.e., of the
gracious presence of God, the idolatrous nation beheld an indestructible pledge of the
lasting continuance of the kingdom. But this support to their false trust is taken away
from it by the announcement that the Lord will lay the temple in ruins. The destruction
of the temple represents the destruction of the kingdom of God embodied in the temple,
with which indeed the earthly temple would of necessity fall to the ground. No one will
escape this judgment. This is affirmed in the words which follow: And their last, their
remnant ('achărıth, as in Amo_4:2), I will slay with the sword; as to the meaning of which
Cocceius has correctly observed, that the magnitude of the slaughter is increased
exclusione fugientium et eorum, qui videbantur effugisse. The apparent discrepancy in
the statement, that they will all be crushed to pieces by the ruins, and yet there will be
fugitives and persons who have escaped, is removed at once if we bear in mind that the
intention of the prophet is to cut off every loophole for carnal security, and that the
meaning of the words is simply this: “And even if any should succeed in fleeing and
escaping, God will pursue them with the sword, and slay them” (see Hengstenberg,
Christology, on this passage).
BENSON, "Verse 1
Amos 9:1. I saw — Namely, in a vision or ecstasy; the Lord — That is, the glory and
majesty of the Lord, as Isaiah did, Isaiah 6:1, or a bright glorious light, indicating the
presence of God; standing upon the altar — Resting upon, or over the altar. The altar of
burnt-offering seems to be meant here, and the glory of God resting upon it to have
denoted that his justice demanded the lives of the sinners here spoken of to be cut off.
“He stands upon the altar,” says Henry, “to show that the ground of his controversy with
this people was their profanation of his holy things: here he stands to avenge the quarrel
of his altar; as also to signify, that the sin of the house of Israel, like that of the house of
Eli, should not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.” And he said — To an
angel, as Jerome explains it; or rather God here speaks to his people’s enemies, and gives

11. them a commission to destroy them and their temple. Smite the lintel of the door — This
signified that the temple, which was then represented to the prophet, should be
destroyed. Whether this was the temple at Beth-el, or that of Jerusalem, is not quite
certain. The Chaldee understands the vision of the kingdom of Judah; if so, the temple at
Jerusalem is undoubtedly intended. And even if the vision relates, as most suppose, to
the kingdom of Israel, yet still the temple of Jerusalem may be here spoken of, and the
scene be laid there, because Israel had forsaken this altar and temple and set up others
in opposition to them; and here God, in his jealousy, appears prepared to take
vengeance. Possibly, the vision might also be designed to intimate his future departure
from Judah too. There Ezekiel 9:2, saw the slaughter-men stand. By the lintel of the
door, the chapiter, knop, or ornament that was upon the lintel, is intended, namely, of
the door of the gate of the temple, or possibly of the gate that led into the priests’ court.
That the posts may shake — The posts were the strength and beauty of the gate, and by
these the princes, the door-posts as it were of the nation, are supposed to be
represented, as the king is by the lintel of the door. And cut them, wound them deep in
the head — That is, the people who were represented in the vision as standing in the
court of the temple. He says in the head, more fully to signify the destroying of the chief
or heads of this sinful people. All of them — Spare not one of them; let the destruction be
general. And I will slay the last of them — That is, their posterity and their families —
them, and all that remain of them, till it come to the last man. Observe, reader, there is
no living for those of whom God hath said, I will slay them; no standing before his
sword. He that fleeth of them shall not flee away — That is, shall not escape. He that
escapeth of them shall not be delivered — That is, he that escapeth in battle, or escapes
one or two, or even several judgments, shall, nevertheless, not escape finally; but shall
fall in some other way, or be made captive. The greatest precaution, and the highest
station in life, will not avail a man any thing when God is resolved to punish. This is
intended for a warning to all that provoke the Lord to jealousy: let sinners read it and
tremble. As there is no fighting it out with God, so there is no fleeing from him. His
judgments, when they come with commission, as they will overpower the strongest, who
think to withstand them, so they will overtake the swiftest, who think to outrun them.
ELLICOTT, "(1) The last vision is transferred to the shrine at Bethel, the seat of the calf-
worship. The prophet sees Jehovah Himself standing in pomp by the altar of burnt
offering, and by His side the angel of His presence, to whom now, as on many other
occasions, the mission of destruction has been entrusted. To him the words of Jehovah
are addressed (so Aben Ezra, Kimchi). It is doubtful what is meant by the Hebrew
Caphtôr (mistranslated “lintel of the door”). It may mean the wreathed capital of the
columns, as in Zephaniah 2:14. So Hitzig and Keil. The word sippîm (mistranslated
“posts”) properly signifies “thresholds,” but is here understood by the first-mentioned
commentator to mean the cornice supported by the columns. This is confirmed by the
LXX. on Isaiah 6:4 (see Delitzsch ad loc). But as there is no mention of the temple
building, but only of the altar of burnt offering, it is much safer to adhere to the ordinary
and well-established significations of these terms. We should accordingly follow Ewald
in taking Caphtôr as referring to the ornamented horns of the altar. Similarly, in Exodus
25:31; Exodus 37:17, it signifies the richly decorated extremities of the golden
candelabra. The scene is wonderfully vivid. Round the colossal altar of burnt offering a
crowd of eager devotees is gathered. Jehovah gives the word of command to His angel,
and with a blow that shakes the very threshold the ornamented altar horns are shivered
to fragments, which are hurled down upon the panic-stricken multitude below.

12. And cut . . .—Rather, and dash them in pieces upon the head of all of them.
CONSTABLE, "Verse 1
In the final vision that Amos recorded, he saw Yahweh standing beside an altar. The
altar at Bethel is probably in view since Bethel was the worship site in view in most of
this book and since Amos" encounter with Amaziah occurred there ( Amos 7:10-17).
Another possibility is that any and every Israelite shrine might be in view. [Note: Ellison,
p68.] The Lord gave a command that someone (an angel?) would strike the capitals that
supported the roof of the temple there with such force that its foundation stones would
shake and the whole structure would fall down (cf. Judges 16:29-30; Isaiah 6:4; Ezekiel
40:6). The Lord also said He would slay with the sword the rest of the priests and
worshippers who survived being killed by the collapse of the temple. No one would
escape with his or her life.
"The temple was not a literal temple, for the collapse of such a building would affect only
a few. Rather it represents the religion of the northern kingdom, which, in the end,
brought about the destruction of its adherents. The decay of the social structure that
resulted from their cold externalism could lead only to national ruin. The gross sin of
idolatry could lead only to judgment." [Note: McComiskey, p327.]
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
This chapter comprises the fifth vision of Amos as recorded in this section of the
prophecy. It is a vision diverse from all of the others and deals with a great deal more
than the temporal fortunes of the kingdom of Israel (either one of the two kingdoms,
Judah, or Israel). It entails the final and total destruction of both Jewish kingdoms, as
such, including even the overthrow of the Jerusalem temple, accounted as sacred by all
Israel (Amos 9:1-4). The certainty of this was emphasized by means of Amos' third
doxology (Amos 9:5,6). The vaunted position of the Jews as God's chosen people, a fact
the Jews had mistakenly interpreted as a perpetual heavenly endorsement of their
earthly, secular monarchy, is announced as being solemnly withdrawn by the Lord in the
announcement that the Jews were nothing more to him than the Ethiopians and the
Philistines! a fact which is sadly absent from the thoughts of most of the commentators
on this passage. In this very discerning passage, the "seed of Abraham," called the
"house of Jacob" (Amos 9:8), is severed, terminally and completely from any
identification whatever with a Jewish state, whether ancient Judah, or Israel, or any
subsequent state (or kingdom) that might appear later in history, professing to be any
kind of successor to it (Amos 9:7-10). Finally, the chapter presents a prophecy of the
Messiah, Jesus Christ the Lord, and the "rebuilding of the fallen tabernacle of David,"
which is as beautiful and circumstantial a prophecy of the church of Christ as may be
found anywhere in the Bible (Amos 9:11-14). Without any doubt, this is one of the most
important and instructive chapters to be found in the Old Testament.
Regarding the doubts of critical scholars and their fulminations against passages in this
chapter, such things are due, categorically, to their blindness to the prophetic
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ and his church in these passages, and also to their
failure to understand that neither the Jewish temple (at Jerusalem) nor the secular
kingdom of Solomon were in any sense harmonious with the will of God, and also to

13. their failure to understand that no kingdom, state or nation, in the sense of its corporate
existence, either ever was or ever will be "the chosen people of God," a fact made crystal
clear in this chapter.
Amos 9:1
"I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals that the
threshold may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay
the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not
one of them escape."
"The Lord standing beside the altar..." The notion that this is a reference to the pagan
altars (plural) in the temple at Bethel is false. It is utterly inconceivable that the Lord
would have taken a place beside the golden calf in the so-called "temple," at Bethel,
which, in the first place, is not called "a temple." There was a pagan shrine there, of
course, but no temple. There were many altars there and at other places in Israel; and no
one of them could possibly have been designated as "the altar" associated with the
history of the Jews. Many arguments are suggested in order to justify the application of
this verse to Bethel, such as: "it is the only holy place at which tradition locates Amos
during his ministry;"[1] "the chief temple of Northern Israel was located at Bethel;"[2]
"Jacob saw the Lord at Bethel;"[3] "there is a close connection with the preceding
chapter 8, (Amos 8:14) which mentions Bethel in the last verse,"[4] etc.; but none of
these alleged arguments has any weight whatever. As C. G. Keil noted:
"There is no ground whatever for the assertion that this chapter contains simply an
explanation of Amos 8:14 ... There was not any one altar in the northern kingdom that
could be called "the altar" ... In Amos 3:14, Amos foretold the destruction of "the altars"
(plural) at Bethel ... So there was not any one altar in the kingdom of the ten tribes, that
could be called "the altar."[5]
Another allegation designed to support this passage as a reference to Bethel relies upon
the assumption that this prophecy is not at all concerned with the southern kingdom, an
assumption denied by the frequent and pertinent references to the southern kingdom,
and to "the whole house of Israel, and to Judah," etc., occurring frequently enough.
Some of these are: Amos 2:5; 6:1; 5:4,5; 8:11,12, etc. It is true enough that the northern
kingdom is the principal focus of the prophecy, but not for one instant is the southern
kingdom left very far out of sight, as, for example, when the apostasy of David was
mentioned in Amos 6:5. One simply cannot read Amos 9:1 as any kind of reference to
Bethel.
This verse is therefore a prophecy of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, with the
implied end of the kingdom and of the dynasty of David at the same time. Most Biblical
exegetes seem to be unaware of what the Old Testament says of that Solomonic temple.
To begin with, it was never God's idea at all, but David's (2 Samuel 7). It stood in exactly
the same relationship to the tabernacle (which God indeed had given the people) as that
in which the secular monarchy stood to the theocracy, namely, a rejection of it, neither
the monarchy nor the temple ever being, in any sense whatever the true will of God. The
Christian martyr Stephen made this abundantly clear in Acts 7:44-50. The summary and
final end of the northern kingdom had just been announced in preceding verses; and, in

14. this passage, preparatory to the prophecy of the eternal kingdom of the Messiah, Amos
made it clear that neither the northern nor the southern kingdom, in their corporate
existence, would in any manner enter into the eternal purpose of God regarding the "true
Israel," which was never identified with either one of them.
The reason that the temple was widely viewed in Israel as "God's house" is that God
indeed did accommodate to it, as also he did in the case of the monarchy; and so long as
the Lord continued to send prophets to the northern kingdom, so long did they, despite
all their sin, still pass as belonging to the "people of God." This points up the relevance of
this reference to the temple at Jerusalem, which Keil defined as, "the divinely appointed
sanctuary and the throne of Jehovah."[6] Thus, what happened to the temple and the
kingdom of Judah was of the most vital relevance to Israel also, hence the inclusion of
this fifth vision of Amos' prophecy. God appeared at the altar in Jerusalem, because
there at the true sacrificial place of the nation (both of Judah and of Israel), their sins
were heaped up; and from that perspective the Lord will judge and punish them.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the meaning of "altar" in this first verse;
because, when this is understood as a reference to the pagan altars in Bethel, a correct
interpretation of the entire passage becomes impossible.
TRAPP, "Verse 1
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.
Ver. 1. I saw the Lord] This seer, Amos 7:12, saw the Lord in a vision; for otherwise God
is too subtile for sinew or sight to seize upon him. We cannot look upon the body of the
sun, neither can we see at all without the beams of it; so here.
Standing upon the altar] Or, firmly set, sc. to do execution upon that altar, sc. that
idolatrous altar at Bethel mentioned before, and formerly threatened by another
prophet, 1 Kings 13:1-2. The Rabbis say, God was seen standing upon that altar, as ready
to sacrifice and slay the men of that age, whose idolatries and other impieties he could
no longer bear with. And hence it is haply, that he is brought in standing; like as Acts
7:55, Jesus, at Stephen’s death, was seen standing at the right hand of God, where he is
usually said to sit. Stat ut vindex, sedet ut iudex. He stood as his defender and sat as his
judge.
And he said] sc. to the angel that stood by, Zechariah 3:7, or to the enemy commissioned
by him, or to some other creature, for they are all his servants, Psalms 119:91, neither
can he want a weapon to tame his rebels with.
Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake] Smite with a courage, as Ezekiel

15. 9:5. Angels give no light blows. "Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough
with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be
humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall
fall by a mighty one," Isaiah 10:33-34; that is, by an angel shall he smite to the ground
that mighty army which was like a thick wood. See Isaiah 37:36, Psalms 78:25; Psalms
89:6. So at our Saviour’s resurrection, an angel, in despite of the soldiers set to watch,
rolled away the grave stone, and sat upon it. And as a mighty man, when he sitteth down,
shaketh the bench under him, so did he shake the earth; "and for fear of him the keepers
did shake, and became as dead men," Matthew 28:2; Matthew 28:4. Down with this idol
temple, down with it, saith God here, even to the ground.
And cut them in the head, all of them] Cleave them down the middle, so that every post
may be sure to fall, being divided from the top to the bottom; and let this act be a sign to
them all of what I intend to do to their persons, as many of them as by this gate have
entered into this idol temple and altar. A deep cut in the head is dangerous and deadly,
Genesis 3:15, Psalms 68:21.
And I will slay the last of them] I, by mine agents and instruments, as before: for it is but
one hand and many executioners that God slays men with. Job could discern God’s
arrows in Satan’s hand, and God’s hand on the arms of the Sabean robbers. The sword is
bathed in heaven before it is imbrued in men’s blood, Isaiah 34:5. "The Lord killeth and
maketh alive," saith holy Hannah, 1 Samuel 2:6.
He that fleeth of them shall not flee away] See Amos 2:14. {See Trapp on "Amos 2:14"}
and say, Behold the severity of God, Romans 11:12.
EBC, "2. NEMESIS
Amos 9:1-6
There follows a Vision in Bethel, the opening of which, "I saw the Lord," immediately
recalls the great inauguration of Isaiah. He also "saw the Lord"; but how different the
Attitude, how other the Word! To the statesman-prophet the Lord is enthroned,
surrounded by the court of heaven; and though the temple rocks to the intolerable
thunder of their praise, they bring to the contrite man beneath the consciousness of a
lifelong mission. But to Amos the Lord is standing and alone-to this lonely prophet God
is always alone-and His message may be summed up in its initial word, "Smite." There-
Government: hierarchies of service, embassies, clemencies, healings, and though at first
devastation, thereafter the indestructible hope of a future. Here-Judgment: that Figure
of Fate which terror’s fascinated eye ever sees alone; one final blow and irreparable ruin.
And so, as with Isaiah we saw how constructive, prophecy may be, with Amos we behold
only the preparatory havoc, the leveling and clearing of the ground of the future.
"I have seen the Lord standing over the Altar, and He said, Smite the capital"-of the

16. pillar" that the" very "thresholds quake, and break them on the head of all of them!" It is
a shock that makes the temple reel from roof-tree to basement. The vision seems
subsequent to the prophet’s visit to Bethel; and it gathers his whole attack on the
national worship into one decisive and irreparable blow. "The last of them will I slay
with the sword: there shall not flee away of them one fugitive: there shall not escape of
them a" single "survivor!" Neither hell nor heaven, mountain-top nor sea-bottom, shall
harbor one of them. "If they break through to Sheol, thence shall My hand take them;
and if they climb to heaven, thence shall I bring them down. If they hide in Carmel’s top,
thence will I find them out and fetch them; and if they conceal themselves from before
Mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence shall I charge the Serpent and he shall bite
them; and if they go into captivity before their foes"-to Israel as terrible a distance from
God’s face as Sheol itself! "thence will I charge the sword and it shall slay them; and I
will set Mine eye upon them for evil and not for good."
It is a ruder draft of the Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Psalm; but the Divine Pursuer is
Nemesis, and not Conscience.
"And the Lord, Jehovah of the Hosts; Who toucheth the earth and it melteth, and all its
inhabitants mourn, and it rises like the Nile, all of it" together, "and sinks like the Nile of
Egypt; Who buildeth His stories in the heavens, and His vault on the earth He foundeth;
Who calleth to the waters of the sea and poureth them forth on the face of the earth-
Jehovah" of Hosts "is His Name."
2 Though they dig down to the depths below,
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens above,
from there I will bring them down.
BAR ES, "Height or depth are alike open to the Omnipresent God. The grave is not
so awful as God. The sinner would gladly “dig through” into hell, bury himself, the living
among the dead, if so he could escape the sight of God. But thence, God says, “My hand
shall take them,” to place them in His presence, to receive their sentence. Or if, like the
rebel angels, they could “place” their “throne amid the stars Isa_14:12-14 of God thence
will I bring them down,” humbling, judging, condemning.
CLARKE, "Though they dig into hell - Though they should get into the deepest
caverns; though they climb up to heaven - get to the most inaccessible heights; I will

17. drag them up from the one, and pull them down from the other.
GILL, "Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them,.... That
is, they that endeavour to make their escape from their enemies, though they seek for
places of the greatest secrecy and privacy; not hell, the place of the damned; nor the
grave, the repository of the dead; neither of which they chose to he in, but rather sought
to escape them; but the deepest and darkest caverns, the utmost recesses of the earth,
the very centre of it; which, could they get into, would not secure them from the power
and providence of God, and from their enemies in pursuit of them, by his permission:
though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down; the summit of
the highest mountains, and get as near to heaven, and at as great a distance from men, as
can be, and yet all in vain. The Targum is,
"if they think to be hid as it were in hell, from thence their enemies shall take them by
my word; and if they ascend the high mountains, to the top of heaven, thence will I bring
them;''
see Psa_139:8.
HE RY, " What effectual care is taken that none shall escape the execution of this
sentence. This is enlarged upon here, and is intended for warning to all that provoke the
Lord to jealousy. Let sinners read it, and tremble; as there is no fighting it out with God,
so there is no fleeing from him. His judgments, when they come with commission, as
they will overpower the strongest that think to outface them, so they will overtake the
swiftest that think to out-run them, Amo_9:2. Those of them that flee, and take to their
heels, shall soon be out of breath, and shall not flee away out of the reach of danger; for,
as sometimes the wicked flee when none pursues, so he cannot flee away when God
pursues, though he would fain flee out of his hand. Nay, he that escapes of them, that
thinks he has gained his point, shall not be delivered. Evil pursues sinners, and will
arrest them. This is here enlarged upon by showing that wherever sinners flee for shelter
from God's justice, it will overtake them, and the shelter will prove but a refuge of lies.
What David says of the ubiquity of God's presence (Psa_139:7-10) is here said of the
extent of God's power and justice. (1.) Hell itself, though it has its name in English from
its being hilled, or covered over, or hidden, cannot hide them (Amo_9:2): “Though they
dig into hell, into the centre of the earth, or the darkest recesses of it, yet thence shall my
hand take them, and bring them forth to be made public monuments of divine justice.”
The grave is a hiding-place to the righteous from the malice of the world (Job_3:17), but
it shall be no hiding-place to the righteous from the justice of God; thence God's hands
shall take them, when they shall rise in the great day to everlasting shame and
contempt. (2.) Heaven, though it has its name from being heaved, or lifted up, shall not
put them out of reach of God's judgments; as hell cannot hide them, so heaven will not.
Though they climb up to heaven in their conceit, yet thence will I bring them down.
Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace shall never be brought down; but those
who climb thither themselves, by their own presumption, and confidence in themselves,
will be brought down and filled with shame. (3.) The top of Carmel, one of the highest
parts of the dust of the world in that country, shall not protect them: “Though they hide
themselves there, where they imagine nobody will look for them, I will search, and take
them out thence; neither the thickest bushes, nor the darkest caves, in the top of Carmel,

18. will serve to hide them.” (4.) The bottom of the sea shall not serve to conceal them;
though they think to hide themselves there, even there the judgments of God shall find
them out, and lay hold on them: Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite
them, the crooked serpent, even the dragon that is in the sea, Isa_27:1. They shall find
their plague and death where they hope to find shelter and protection; diving will stand
them in no more stead than climbing.
JAMISO , "Though they dig into hell — though they hide ever so deeply in the
earth (Psa_139:8).
though they climb up to heaven — though they ascend the greatest heights (Job_
20:6, Job_20:7; Jer_51:53; Oba_1:4).
CALVI , "Verse 2
Here the Prophet denounces horrible punishments; but not without reason, for
there was astonishing torpidity in that people, as there is usually in all hypocrites
when they have any shadow of excuse. They were then the only elect people in the
whole world. When, therefore, they thought that they excelled others and that they
were endued with singular privileges beyond all other nations, this glory inebriated
them, and they imagined that God was in a manner bound to them, as we have seen
in other places. This, then, was the reason why the Prophet in so many ways
enlarged on the judgment of God on hypocrites; it was, that they might be terrified
by the vehemence and severity of his words.
Hence he says, If they dig for themselves passages to hell, that is, to the center of the
earth, for ‫,שאול‬ shaul, is here put for the center; thence shall my hand draw them
forth; and then, If they ascend to heaven, thence I will draw them down, saith the
Lord; If they hide themselves in deserts, if they flee to the top of Carmel, I will trace
them out: in short, they shall find no corner either in heaven, or on the earth, or in
the sea, where they can be hid from my sight. There is no need here to understand
by heavens high citadels, as the Chaldean paraphraser explains it: it is a frigid
paraphrase. But the Prophet speaks in an hyperbolical language of the center of the
earth, of the heavens, and of the deep of the sea; as though he had said, “Should all
the elements open themselves for hiding-places, yet the Israelites shall in vain try to
escape, for I will follow them when sunk in the depth of the sea, I will draw them
down from heaven itself; there shall, in a word, be no hiding-place for them either
above or below.”
We now understand the Prophet’s meaning; and an useful warning may be hence
gathered, — that when God threatens us, we in vain seek subterfuges, as his hand
extends itself to the lowest deep as well as to heaven; as it is said in Psalms 139:7,
‘Where shall I flee from thy presence, O Lord?
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there;
if I descend to the grave, thou art present;
if I take the wings of the dawn, (or, of the morning star,)
and dwell in the extremities of the sea,
there also shall thy hand lead me.’

19. The Prophet speaks not in that psalm, as some have very absurdly philosophized, of
the unlimited essence of God; but he rather shows, that we are always in his sight.
So then we ought to feel assured that we cannot escape, whenever God designs to
make a scrutiny as to our sins, and to summon us to his tribunal.
But we must at the same time remember, that the Prophet has not employed a
superfluous heap of words; there is not here one syllable which is not important
though at the first view it seems to be otherwise. But the Holy Spirit, as I have
already reminded you, knowing our heedlessness, does here shake off all our self-
flatteries. There is in us, we know, an innate torpor by nature, so that we despise all
threatenings, or at least we are not duly moved by them. As the Lord sees us to be so
careless, he rouses us by his goads. Whenever then Scripture denounces punishment
on us, let us at the same time learn to join with it what the Prophet here relates;
“Thou hast to do with God, what can’t thou effect now by evasions? though thou
climbest to heaven, the Lord can draw thee down; though thou descendent to the
abyss, God’s hand will thence draw thee forth; if thou seekest a hiding-place in the
lowest depths, he will thence also bring thee forth to the light; and if thou hidest
thyself in the deep sea, he will there find thee out; in a word, wherever thou betakest
thyself, thou canst not withdraw thyself from the presence and from the hand of
God.” We hence see the design of all these expressions, and that is, that we may not
think of God as of ourselves, but that we may know that his power extends to all
hiding-places. But these words ought to be subjects at meditations though it be
sufficient for our purpose to include in few words what the Prophet had in view. But
as we are so entangled in our vain confidences, the Prophet, as I have said, has not
in vain used so many words.
K&D 2-4, "The thought is still further expanded in Amo_9:2-6. Amo_9:2. “If they
break through into hell, my hand will take them thence; and if they climb up to heaven,
thence will I fetch them down. Amo_9:3. And if they hide themselves upon the top of
Carmel, I will trace them, and fetch them thence; and if they conceal themselves from
before mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence do I command the serpent, and it
biteth them. Amo_9:4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will
command the sword thence, and it slayeth them; and I direct my eye upon them for
evil, and not for good.” The imperfects, with ‫ם‬ ִ‫,א‬ are to be taken as futures. They do not
assume what is impossible as merely hypothetical, in the sense of “if they should hide
themselves;” but set forth what was no doubt in actual fact an impossible case, as though
it were possible, in order to cut off every escape. For the cases mentioned in Amo_9:3
and Amo_9:4 might really occur. Hiding upon Carmel and going into captivity belong to
the sphere of possibility and of actual occurrence. In order to individualize the thought,
that escape from the punishing arm of the Almighty is impossible, the prophet opposes
the most extreme spaces of the world to one another, starting from heaven and hell, as
the loftiest height and deepest depth of the universe, in doing which he has in all
probability Psa_139:7-8 floating before his mind. He commences with the height, which
a man cannot possibly climb, and the depth, to which he cannot descend, to show that
escape is impossible. ‫ר‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫,ח‬ to break through, with ‫,ב‬ to make a hole into anything (Eze_
8:8; Eze_12:5, Eze_12:7). According to the Hebrew view, Sheol was deep in the interior
of the earth. The head of Carmel is mentioned (see at Jos_19:26). The reference is not to

20. the many caves in this promontory, which afford shelter to fugitives; for they are not
found upon the head of Carmel, but for the most part on the western side (see v.
Raumer, Pal. p. 44). The emphasis lies rather upon the head, as a height overgrown with
trees, which, even if not very high (about 1800 feet; see at 1Ki_18:19), yet, in comparison
with the sea over which it rises, might appear to be of a very considerable height; in
addition to which, the situation of Carmel, on the extreme western border of the
kingdom of Israel, might also be taken into consideration. “Whoever hides himself there,
must assuredly know of no other place of security in the whole of the land besides. And if
there is no longer any security there, there is nothing left but the sea.” But even the deep
sea-bottom will not shelter from the vengeance of God. God commands the serpent, or
summons the serpent to bite him. Nâchâsh, here the water-serpent, called elsewhere
livyāthān or tannın (Isa_27:1), a sea-monster, which was popularly supposed to be
extremely dangerous, but which cannot be more exactly defined. Even by going into
captivity, they will not be protected from the sword. ‫י‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ ַ , not into captivity, but in statu
captivitatis: even if they should be among those who were wandering into captivity,
where men are generally sure of their lives (see Lam_1:5). For God has fixed His eye
upon them, i.e., has taken them under His special superintendence (cf. Jer_39:12); not,
however, to shelter, to protect, and to bless, but ‫ה‬ ָ‫ע‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫,ל‬ for evil, i.e., to punish them. “The
people of the Lord remain, under all circumstances, the object of special attention. They
are more richly blessed than the world, but they are also more severely punished”
(Hengstenberg).
SBC 2-4, "What a variety, what a reduplication of expression in order to represent as
utterly impossible that the parties who are here threatened could escape the vengeance
of their God! It matters not where they might be, or whither they might betake
themselves, the agency of vengeance is always close at hand. These words assert to us the
greatness, the certainty, the ubiquity of Divine vengeance.
I. Consider the text as illustrated in the case of the Jews. If it were specially in the
destruction of Jerusalem that these threatenings were accomplished, it is easy to show
that at the same time, as well before as after, vengeance, as though by a kind of natural
instinct, seized on the Jews wheresoever they were found. The history of the Jews, since
their exile from Jerusalem, has been a history of fierce wrongs, disgraceful to the nations
of the earth, of extortion, contempt, hatred, cruelty; the history of a people which every
other seemed anxious to exterminate, or to preserve only that they might oppress. The
serpent and the sword seemed to start forth wheresoever the exiles were found.
II. The text has reference to all men as well as to the Jews. In the kind of instinct with
which vengeance has appeared to follow the exiles of Judea; in the mysterious but
indissoluble association between themselves and suffering; we have but the picture of
what has been universally appointed to the exiles from paradise. They may cross the
ocean and ascend the mountain and dive into the cavern, but can never hide themselves
from conscience, which, armed with fearful powers, is always ready to put on them the
stamp of offenders, and to exact from them some of the penalties of offence. The
commission of sin seems to produce the ministry of vengeance; its cry is heard as soon
as the guilty pleasure has been enjoyed.
III. The words of the text may be applied to the second coming of Christ. The scenery of
the last dread assize is brought into every district, yea, into every household of the
world; and it does not sweep the earth of its inhabitants and gather them confusedly into

21. one court of judicature, but it spreads that court of judicature over the whole earth; so
that wheresoever a man is found, there is the white throne reared, there are the books
opened, and there is the trumpet sounded.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2,541.
BENSON, "Verses 2-4
Amos 9:2-4. Though they dig into hell, &c. — Here the subject is enlarged upon to
impress it more deeply on the minds of all that read or hear it. Though they hide
themselves in the deepest holes or caverns of the earth, (see Isaiah 2:10,) or take refuge
in the highest fortresses, they shall not escape my vengeance, but shall be brought forth
to destruction or captivity. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel —
There were great caves formed by nature in the tops of some mountains, where men
used to secure themselves in the times of danger. Such was the cave in a mountain of the
wilderness of Ziph. I will search and take them out thence —
Neither the thickest bushes nor the darkest caves shall serve to hide them. Though they
be hid in the bottom of the sea — The Chaldee reads, in the islands of the sea; but the
expression is rather to be understood metaphorically, as signifying that they should not,
by any means whatsoever, be able to escape the calamities which God had determined to
bring upon them. The word rendered serpent in our translation, is in some versions
rendered a whale. Without doubt it should be translated here by the name of some great
sea animal. And though they go into captivity, thence will I command the sword, &c. —
The same judgment is denounced against them in the passages referred to in the margin.
COFFMAN, "Verse 2
"Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up
to heaven, thence will I bring them down. 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 it shall bite them. 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."
This passage is a further elaboration of what was said in the conclusion of Amos 9:1,
that, "not one of them shall escape." There is no teaching here to the effect that anyone
could hide from God, or that it would be necessary for God to "search" for any who
might be attempting to do so. This is highly accommodative language used to emphasize
the inevitability of their destruction and the utter impossibility of any person being able
to escape it.
"Hide in the top of Carmel ..." Harper tells us that Carmel was noted for, "its limestone
caves, said to exceed 2,000 in number, and to be so close together and so serpentine as
to make the discovery of a fugitive entirely impossible."[7]
"The whole passage simply wishes to say that there is no place in the whole universe

22. where they can feel themselves secure against Yahweh.[8]
"Though they go into captivity ..." Amos had pointedly prophesied this fate for Israel;
and this is a terrifying amplification of it, showing that the captivity in store for them
will not be a benign and favorable one (as it had been in Egypt, at first); but it will be
terminal. The historical disappearance of the ten tribes after the Assyrian captivity is
proof enough of what happened. W. R. Harper, and other later commentators following
his views, have supposed that this clause is addressed to an Israelite conception
(borrowed from paganism, into which the whole nation had slipped) to the effect that,
"In a strange and foreign land, they would be under the power of the god or gods of that
land,"[9] and not any longer under Jehovah! We do not believe there is anything like this
in view, either in this place or in Jonah 1:1.
SBC 2-4, "What a variety, what a reduplication of expression in order to represent as
utterly impossible that the parties who are here threatened could escape the vengeance
of their God! It matters not where they might be, or whither they might betake
themselves, the agency of vengeance is always close at hand. These words assert to us the
greatness, the certainty, the ubiquity of Divine vengeance.
I. Consider the text as illustrated in the case of the Jews. If it were specially in the
destruction of Jerusalem that these threatenings were accomplished, it is easy to show
that at the same time, as well before as after, vengeance, as though by a kind of natural
instinct, seized on the Jews wheresoever they were found. The history of the Jews, since
their exile from Jerusalem, has been a history of fierce wrongs, disgraceful to the nations
of the earth, of extortion, contempt, hatred, cruelty; the history of a people which every
other seemed anxious to exterminate, or to preserve only that they might oppress. The
serpent and the sword seemed to start forth wheresoever the exiles were found.
II. The text has reference to all men as well as to the Jews. In the kind of instinct with
which vengeance has appeared to follow the exiles of Judea; in the mysterious but
indissoluble association between themselves and suffering; we have but the picture of
what has been universally appointed to the exiles from paradise. They may cross the
ocean and ascend the mountain and dive into the cavern, but can never hide themselves
from conscience, which, armed with fearful powers, is always ready to put on them the
stamp of offenders, and to exact from them some of the penalties of offence. The
commission of sin seems to produce the ministry of vengeance; its cry is heard as soon
as the guilty pleasure has been enjoyed.
III. The words of the text may be applied to the second coming of Christ. The scenery of
the last dread assize is brought into every district, yea, into every household of the
world; and it does not sweep the earth of its inhabitants and gather them confusedly into
one court of judicature, but it spreads that court of judicature over the whole earth; so
that wheresoever a man is found, there is the white throne reared, there are the books
opened, and there is the trumpet sounded.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2,541.
K&D 2-4, "The thought is still further expanded in Amo_9:2-6. Amo_9:2. “If they
break through into hell, my hand will take them thence; and if they climb up to heaven,
thence will I fetch them down. Amo_9:3. And if they hide themselves upon the top of
Carmel, I will trace them, and fetch them thence; and if they conceal themselves from
before mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence do I command the serpent, and it

23. biteth them. Amo_9:4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will
command the sword thence, and it slayeth them; and I direct my eye upon them for
evil, and not for good.” The imperfects, with ‫ם‬ ִ‫,א‬ are to be taken as futures. They do not
assume what is impossible as merely hypothetical, in the sense of “if they should hide
themselves;” but set forth what was no doubt in actual fact an impossible case, as though
it were possible, in order to cut off every escape. For the cases mentioned in Amo_9:3
and Amo_9:4 might really occur. Hiding upon Carmel and going into captivity belong to
the sphere of possibility and of actual occurrence. In order to individualize the thought,
that escape from the punishing arm of the Almighty is impossible, the prophet opposes
the most extreme spaces of the world to one another, starting from heaven and hell, as
the loftiest height and deepest depth of the universe, in doing which he has in all
probability Psa_139:7-8 floating before his mind. He commences with the height, which
a man cannot possibly climb, and the depth, to which he cannot descend, to show that
escape is impossible. ‫ר‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫,ח‬ to break through, with ‫,ב‬ to make a hole into anything (Eze_
8:8; Eze_12:5, Eze_12:7). According to the Hebrew view, Sheol was deep in the interior
of the earth. The head of Carmel is mentioned (see at Jos_19:26). The reference is not to
the many caves in this promontory, which afford shelter to fugitives; for they are not
found upon the head of Carmel, but for the most part on the western side (see v.
Raumer, Pal. p. 44). The emphasis lies rather upon the head, as a height overgrown with
trees, which, even if not very high (about 1800 feet; see at 1Ki_18:19), yet, in comparison
with the sea over which it rises, might appear to be of a very considerable height; in
addition to which, the situation of Carmel, on the extreme western border of the
kingdom of Israel, might also be taken into consideration. “Whoever hides himself there,
must assuredly know of no other place of security in the whole of the land besides. And if
there is no longer any security there, there is nothing left but the sea.” But even the deep
sea-bottom will not shelter from the vengeance of God. God commands the serpent, or
summons the serpent to bite him. Nâchâsh, here the water-serpent, called elsewhere
livyāthān or tannın (Isa_27:1), a sea-monster, which was popularly supposed to be
extremely dangerous, but which cannot be more exactly defined. Even by going into
captivity, they will not be protected from the sword. ‫י‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ ַ , not into captivity, but in statu
captivitatis: even if they should be among those who were wandering into captivity,
where men are generally sure of their lives (see Lam_1:5). For God has fixed His eye
upon them, i.e., has taken them under His special superintendence (cf. Jer_39:12); not,
however, to shelter, to protect, and to bless, but ‫ה‬ ָ‫ע‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫,ל‬ for evil, i.e., to punish them. “The
people of the Lord remain, under all circumstances, the object of special attention. They
are more richly blessed than the world, but they are also more severely punished”
(Hengstenberg).
TRAPP, "Verse 2
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:
Ver. 2. Though they dig into hell, &c.] No starting hole shall secure them from the wrath
of God and rage of the creature, set at work by him. "Hell and destruction are before the
Lord," Proverbs 15:11, yea, hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering,
Job 26:6. He hath a sharp eye, and a long hand, to pull men out of their lurking holes; as

24. he did Adam out of the thicket, Manasseh from among the thorns, 2 Chronicles 33:11,
Jonah from the sides of the ship, the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III’s time, &c. "Be
sure," saith Moses, "your sin will find you out," Numbers 32:23, and God’s hand will hale
you to punishment.
Though they climb up to heaven] That is (by a hyperbole), to high and strong places; as
the Babel builders, the Benjamites that fled to the rock Rimmon, and there abode four
months, 20:47, the gibing Jebusites, that were so confident of their stronghold of Zion
that they flouted David and his forces, 2 Samuel 5:8, the proud prince of Tyre, and
others.
Thence will I bring them down] From their loftiest tops of pride and creature confidence,
which God loves to confute and defeat: as I might instance in Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes,
Haman, Sejanus, Bajazet, that terror of the world, and (as he thought) superior to
fortune, yet in an instant, with his state, in one battle overthrown into the bottom of
misery and despair; and that in the midst of his great strength. The same end awaits the
Pope and his hierarchyruet alto a culmine Roma, that Jupiter Capitolinus shall be one
day unroosted by him, who casteth the wicked down to the ground, Psalms 147:6.
BI 2-3, "Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb
up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
The danger of impenitence
In this passage God manifests His determination to arrest and punish the worker of
iniquity. The prophet shows that when God came forth in judgment, none would be able
to stand before Him, or escape from His vengeance. This subject is enlarged upon, as a
warning to those who profane the ordinances and violate the laws of the Most High, to
stand in awe, lest the Divine indignation be poured out upon them. These things have,
however, very little influence on us. Many seem to believe, because sentence against
their evil deeds has not been executed speedily, that it will never be executed.
I. Some of the reasons why many entertain this belief.
1. Their success upon former occasions. When sinners first deviate into the paths of
error, they experience many uneasy feelings. But when the lusts of the flesh have
prevailed over other considerations, they try to persuade themselves that their
former fears were in great measure imaginary. Sometimes men are checked at the
very outset. They are detected and exposed. There is interposition of providence in
their favour. When enticed to the commission of sin, the recollection of the check he
formerly received will occur fresh to his memory, and deter him from the paths
wherein destroyers go.
2. The successful example of other men. Frequently we see men rising to opulence
and power by the most unjustifiable means. We see the wicked living in triumph, and
dying in apparent Peace. When such is frequently the prosperity of the wicked,
others are enticed to follow their example. They are induced to forsake the path of
duty, and engage in pursuits that are dangerous to happiness. Could we discern the

25. thoughts of wicked men when their conscience condemned them for their
wickedness, we should perceive them frequently endeavouring to stifle their
convictions and banish their fears, by appealing to Persons who had succeeded, or
were at that time successful, in the same evil courses as those upon which they had
entered.
3. They think they can repent whenever they see danger approaching. So great is the
propensity of men to sin, that no motives, no considerations can prevent them from
going on in their wicked practices. But at the same time they have such an aversion
to suffering, that when they sin, they always wish to do so with security and with
safety. And they generally contrive to persuade themselves that, in their case at least,
this object may be attained. Among the many false reasonings which they employ for
this purpose, there is none more successful than that which is founded on an after
repentance. Many think that, after having drunk the cup of sinful pleasures to the
dregs, all they have to do is to profess themselves sorry, and cast themselves upon
the mercy of God. This, they think, whatever their present conduct may be, will set
all things right at last. Repentance is not such an easy work as many people imagine.
We cannot repent at whatever moment we may wish to do so. Alas! many, relying
upon future repentance, neglect and abuse their present mercies.
II. It is impossible for wicked men to escape the just judgments of God. This world is not
a state of complete retribution, yet the Most High does rule among the children of men.
He has connected with holiness a portion of happiness, and with sin a portion of misery.
Whatever happiness wicked men may pretend to, still happiness is a state of mind to
which they can have no claim. They cannot possibly be really happy. Wicked men may
evade the vigilance of human laws, but they are still amenable to their own consciences.
And sometimes wicked men are punished more immediately by the hand of God
Himself; as were Ananias and Sapphira. Then there is death, which is not the extinction
of being. After death there is a judgment to come, which will seal the doom of every
human being. (John Mamsay, M. A.)
No escape for the sinner
Though they dig into hell, or though they undermine our kingdom with vaults and
cellarage, their impious labour shall come to nothing but to their own utter shame.
1. Here is the negotiation of the wicked, that they dig: there wants no pains, there
wants no secrecy.
2. Here is the object of their employment, and that is hell.
3. There is a twofold end implied, why they undertake such a business, either for
their own refuge, or to undermine others.
4. Here is the defeating and frustrating of their work. To what toil iniquity puts men
to. They dig and labour. To what secrecy, to what dread of conscience. They dig into
hell. How unprofitable is the event. For when all is done, they are apprehended by
the hand of God. (Bishop Hackett.)
The impossibility of the sinner’s escape
If we consider man in reference to God, we see in him a strange compound of hardihood

26. and cowardice. When Divine judgments are remote, he not only deems himself secure,
but bids defiance to Omnipotence itself. But when they actually come, he trembles like a
leaf shaken by the wind.
I. The means by which men seek to hide themselves from God. Some of the expressions
used indicate fear; others, presumption. Men will try and persuade themselves that God
is too great to notice the insignificant doings of creatures like ourselves. Another
subterfuge is, that as sinners they have numbers on their side. But if numbers do
anything, it is only to enhance the doom. Men have great confidence in their own virtues,
however little conformity there may be in their conduct to the Spirit of God and the
commands of God.
II. The vanity of all attempts of sinners to hide themselves from God. Who can flee from
the presence of such a Being? Where is the region which His all-penetrating gaze does
not pervade? None has ever hardened himself against God and prospered; sin has ever
had the seed of punishment along with it, and given beforehand some earnest of its
bitter wages. Be assured nothing can screen you from the wrath of heaven, nothing give
you composure in this world of afflictions and trials, but “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Stephen Bridge, A.M.)
CONSTABLE, "Verse 2-3
It would be impossible for those whom the Lord chose to slay to escape even if they tried
to dig into the earth or climb into the sky (cf. Psalm 139:7-8; Jonah 1-2).
"If neither heights nor depths can separate people from the love of God (cf. Romans
8:38-39), they are also unable to hide them from the wrath of God." [Note: G. Smith,
p268.]
The ancients conceived of Sheol as under the surface of the earth, so digging into Sheol
meant hiding in the ground. Neither would hiding in the forests and caves of Mt. Carmel,
one of the highest elevations in Israel, or trying to conceal oneself on the floor of the sea
be effective. The Lord would seek the guilty out and command His agents to execute
them, even if that agent had to be a serpent in the sea (cf. Amos 5:19; Job 26:12-13;
Psalm 74:13-14; Psalm 89:9-10; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 51:9-10). Note the chiastic structure
in these verses going from down to up and back down, signifying all places.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of
Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of

27. the sea,
there I will command the serpent to bite them.
BAR ES, "He had contrasted heaven and hell, as places impossible for man to reach;
as I David says, “If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there: If l make my bed in hell, behold
Thee” Psa_139:8. Now, of places in a manner accessible, he contrasts Mount Carmel,
which rises abruptly out of the sea, with depths of that ocean which it overhangs. Carmel
was in two ways a hiding place.
1) Through its caves (some say 1,000 , some 2,000) with which it is perforated, whose
entrance sometimes scarcely admits a single man; so close to each other, that a pursuer
would not discern into which the fugitive had vanished; so serpentine within, that, “10
steps apart,” says a traveler , “we could hear each others’ voices, but could not see each
other.” : “Carmel is perforated by a hundredfold greater or lesser clefts. Even in the garb
of loveliness and richness, the majestic Mount, by its clefts, caves, and rocky
battlements, excites in the wanderer who sees them for the first time, a feeling of
mingled wonder and fear. A whole army of enemies, as of nature’s terrors, could hide
themselves in these rock-clefts.”
2) Its summit, about 1800 feet above the sea , “is covered with pines and oaks, and
lower down with olive and laurel trees” . These forests furnished hiding places to
robberhordes at the time of our Lord. In those caves, Elijah probably at times was
hidden from the persecution of Ahab and Jezebel. It seems to be spoken of as his abode
1Ki_18:19, as also one resort of Elishas 2Ki_2:25; 2Ki_4:25. Carmel, as the western
extremity of the land, projecting into the sea, was the last place which a fugitive would
reach. If he found no safety there, there was none in his whole land. Nor was there by
sea;
And though they be hid - (rather, “hide themselves”) from My sight in the bottom
of the sea, thence will I command the serpent The sea too has its deadly serpents. Their
classes are few; the individuals in those classes are much more numerous than those of
the land-serpents . Their shoals have furnished to sailors tokens of approaching land .
Their chief abode, as traced in modern times, is between the Tropics .
The ancients knew of them perhaps in the Persian gulf or perhaps the Red Sea . All are
“highly venomous” and “very ferocious.” : “The virulence of their venom is equal to that
of the “most” pernicious land-serpents.” All things, with their will or without it through
animal instinct, as the serpent, or their savage passions, as the Assyrian, fulfill the will of
God. As, at His command, the fish whom He had prepared, swallowed Jonah, for his
preservation, so, at His “command, the serpent” should come forth from the recesses of
the sea to the sinner’s greater suffering.
CLARKE, "Though they hide themselves - All these are metaphorical
expressions, to show the impossibility of escape.

28. GILL, "And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel,.... One of the
highest mountains in the land of Israel; in the woods upon it, and caves in it:
I will search and take them out from thence: by directing their enemies where to
find them: so the Targum,
"if they think to be hid in the tops of the towers of castles, thither will I command the
searchers, and they shall search them:''
and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea; get into ships,
going by sea to distant parts; or make their escape to isles upon the sea afar off, where
they may think themselves safe:
thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them; the dragon that is
in the sea, Isa_27:1; the great whale in the sea, or the leviathan, so Aben Ezra, Kimchi,
and Ben Melech; and is that kind of whale which is called the "Zygaena", as Bochart (w)
thinks; and which he, from various writers, describes as very monstrous, horrible, and
terrible, having five rows of teeth, and very numerous; and which not only devours other
large fishes, but men swimming it meets with; and, having such teeth, with great
propriety may be said to bite. It appears from hence that there are sea serpents, as well
as land ones, to which the allusion is. Erich Pantoppidan, the present bishop of Bergen
(x), speaks of a "see ormen", or sea snake, in the northern seas, which he describes as
very monstrous and very terrible to seafaring men, being of seven or eight folds, each
fold a fathom distant; nay, of the length of a cable, a hundred fathom, or six hundred
English feet; yea, of one as thick as a pipe of wine, with twenty five folds. Some such
terrible creature is here respected, though figuratively understood, and designs some
crafty, powerful, and cruel enemy. The Targum paraphrases it, though hid
"in the isles of the sea, thither will I command the people strong like serpents, and they
shall kill them;''
see Psa_139:9.
JAMISO , "Carmel — where the forests, and, on the west side, the caves, furnished
hiding-places (Amo_1:2; Jdg_6:2; 1Sa_13:6).
the sea — the Mediterranean, which flows at the foot of Mount Carmel; forming a
strong antithesis to it.
command the serpent — the sea-serpent, a term used for any great water monster
(Isa_27:1). The symbol of cruel and oppressive kings (Psa_74:13, Psa_74:14).
CALVI ,"Verse 3
ow as to what he says, I will command the serpent to bite them, some understand
by ‫,נחש‬ nuchesh, not a serpent on hand, but the whale, or some other marine animal,
as the leviathan, which is mentioned in Scripture; and we may learn from other
parts of Scripture that “nachash” means not only a serpent, but also a whale or
some animal living in the sea. In a word, God intimates, that he would be armed
everywhere, whenever he should resolve to punish his adversaries, and that in all

29. elements are means in readiness, by which he can destroy the wicked, who seek to
escape from his hand.
TRAPP, "Verse 3
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:
Ver. 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel] In densis silvis, inter
spelaea ferarum. In the thick woods among the dens of the wild beasts. Lawful
enough it is in some cases to hide, as David did often and Elias, and Christ, and
Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, and Athanasius, and various other saints. Tertullian
was too rigid in condemning all kind of hiding in evil times. But to hide from God,
who searcheth Jerusalem with lights, and to whom the darkness and the light are
both alike, Psalms 139:12, to whom obscura clarent, muta respondent, silentium
confitetur, this is base and bootless. Carmel shall not cover them, nor any other
startinghole secure them from Divine justice. The poor Jews were pulled by the
Romans out of privies and other underground places, where they had hid
themselves, as Josephus writeth; and so were those Samaritans served by the
Assyrians, who ferreted them out, and slaughtered them.
And though they be hid from my sight] As they think, but that cannot be; for he
(like the optic virtue in the eye) sees all and is seen of none.
In the bottom of the sea] Which, how deep and troublesome soever, is to God a sea
of glass like unto crystal, Revelation 4:6 : corpus diaphanum, a pervious, clear,
transparent body such as he sees through, and hath the sole command of.
Thence will I command the serpent] For therre is that crooked serpent leviathan,
Isaiah 27:1, there are also creeping things innumerable Psalms 104:26, to arrest
wicked men as rebels and traitors to the highest majesty, and to drag them down to
the bottom of bell. All elements and creatures shall draw upon them, as servants will
do upon such as assault their lord Rebellisque facta est, quia homo numini, creatura
homini, as Austin truly and trimly avoucheth.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their

30. enemies,
there I will command the sword to slay them.
“I will keep my eye on them
for harm and not for good.”
BAR ES, "Captivity - , at least, seemed safe. The horrors of war are over. Men
enslave, but do not commonly destroy those whom they have once been at the pains to
carry captive. Amos describes them in their misery, as “going” willingly, gladly, “into
captivity before their enemies,” like a flock of sheep. Yet “thence” too, out of “the
captivity,” God would command the sword, and it should slay them. So God had
forewarned them by Moses, that captivity should be an occasion, not an end, of
slaughter. “I will scatter you among the pagan, and will draw out a sword after you” Lev_
26:33. “And among these nations shalt thou find no ease - and thy life shall hang in
doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of
thy life” Deu_28:65-66. The book of Esther shows how cheaply the life of a whole nation
was held by Eastern conquerors; and the book of Tobit records, how habitually Jews
were slain and cast out unburied (Tobit 1:17; 2:3). The account also that Sennacherib
(Tobit 1:18) avenged the loss of his army, and “in his wrath killed many,” is altogether in
the character of Assyrian conquerors. Unwittingly he fulfilled the command of God, “I
will command the sword and it shall slay them.”
I will set mine eyes upon them for evil - So David says, “The eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers. The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, to root out the remembrance of them from off the earth” Psa_34:15-
16. The Eye of God rests on each creature which He hath made, as entirely as if He had
created it alone. Every moment is passed in His unvarying sight. But, as man “sets his
eye” on man, watching him and with purpose of evil, so God’s Eye is felt to be on man in
displeasure, when sorrow and calamity track him and overtake him, coming he knows
not how in unlooked-for ways and strange events. The Eye of God upon us is our whole
hope and stay and life. It is on the Confessor in prison, the Martyr on the rack, the poor
in their sufferings, the mourner in the chamber of death, for good. What when
everywhere that Eye, the Source of all good, rests on His creature only for evil! “and not
for good,” he adds; “not,” as is the wont and the Nature of God; “not,” as He had
promised, if they were faithful; “not,” as perhaps they thought, “for good.” He utterly
shuts out all hope of good. It shall be all evil, and no good, such as is hell.
CLARKE, "I will set mine eyes upon them for evil - I will use that very
providence against them which before worked for their good. Should they look upward,
they shall see nothing but the terrible lightning-like eye of a sin-avenging God.

31. GILL, "And though they go into captivity before their enemies,.... Alluding to
the manner in which captives are led, being put before their enemies, and so carried in
triumph; see Lam_1:5; though some think this refers to their going voluntarily into a
foreign country, in order to escape danger, as Johanan the son of Kareah with the Jews
went into Egypt, Jer_43:5; in whom Kimchi instances:
thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them; or them that kill with
the sword, as the Targum; so that though they thought by going into another country, or
into an enemy's country of their own accord, to escape the sword of the enemy, or to
curry favour with them, yet should not escape:
and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good: this is the true
reason, why, let them be where they will, they cannot be safe, because the eyes of the
omniscient God, which are everywhere, in heaven, earth, hell, and the sea, are set upon
them, for their ruin and destruction; and there is no fleeing from his presence, or getting
out of his sight, or escaping his hand. The Targum is,
"my Word shall be against them.''
HE RY, " Remote countries will not befriend them, nor shall less judgments excuse
them from greater (Amo_9:4): Thought they go into captivity before their enemies, who
carry them to places at a great distance, and mingle them with their own people, among
whom they seem to be lost, yet that shall not serve their turn: Thence will I command
the sword, and it shall slay them, the sword of the enemy, or one another's sword. When
God judges he will overcome. That which binds on all this, makes their escape
impossible and their ruin inevitable, is that God will set his eyes upon them for evil, and
not for good. His eyes are in every place, are upon all men and upon all the ways of men,
upon some for good, to show himself strong on their behalf, but upon others for evil, to
take notice of their sins (Job_13:27) and take all opportunities of punishing them for
their sins. Their case is truly miserable who have the providence of God: and all the
dispensations of it, against them, working for their hurt.
JAMISO , "though they go into captivity — hoping to save their lives by
voluntarily surrendering to the foe.
CALVI , "Verse 4
ow when he says, If they go into captivity among their enemies, I will there
command the sword to slay them, some interpreters confine this part to that foolish
flight, when a certain number of the people sought to provide for their safety by
going down into Egypt. Johanan followed them, and a few escaped, (Jeremiah 43:2)
but according to what Jeremiah had foretold, when he said, ‘Bend your necks to the
king of Babylon, and the Lord will bless you; whosoever will flee to Egypt shall
perish;’ so it happened: they found this to be really true, though they had ever
refused to believe the prediction. Jeremiah was drawn there contrary to the wish of
his own mind: he had, however, pronounced a curse on all who thought that it
would be an asylum to them. But the Lord permitted him to be drawn there, that he
might to his last breath pronounce the Woe, which they had before heard from his

32. mouth. But I hardly dare thus to restrict these expressions of the Prophet: I
therefore explain them generally, as meaning, that exile, which is commonly said to
be a civil death, would not be the end of evils to the Israelites and to the Jews; for
even when they surrendered themselves to their enemies, and suffered themselves to
be led and drawn away wherever their enemies pleased, they could not yet even in
this way preserve their life, because the Lord would command the sword to pursue
them even when exiles. This, in my view, is the real meaning of the Prophet.
He at last subjoins,I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good. There is a
contrast to be understood in this clause: for the Lord had promised to be a guardian
to his people, according to what is said in Psalms 121:4,
‘Behold, he who guards Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.’
As hypocrites ever lay hold on the promises of God without repentance and faith,
without any religious feeling, and afterwards turn them to support their vain
boasting, the Prophet therefore says here, that the eye of God would be upon them,
not indeed in his wonted manner to protect them, as he had done from the
beginning, but, on the contrary, to accumulate punishment on punishment: it was
the same thing as though he said, “As I have hitherto watched over the safety of this
people, whom I have chosen for myself, so I will hereafter most sedulously watch,
that I may omit no kind of punishment, until they be utterly destroyed.”
And this sentence deserves to be specially noticed; for we are reminded, that though
the Lord does not indeed spare unbelievers, he yet more closely observes us, and
that he will punish us more severely, if he sees us to be obstinate and incurable to
the last. Why so? Because we have come nearer to him, and he looks on us as his
family, placed under his eyes; not that anything is hid or concealed from him, but
the Scripture speaks after the manner of men. While God then favors his people
with a gracious look, he yet cannot endure hypocrites; for he minutely observes
their vices, that he may the more severely punish them. This then is the substance of
the whole. It follows —
CO STABLE, "Verse 4
The Lord would even slay the Israelites whom their enemy led away into captivity.
Yahweh would order the sword to slay them even there, though there they would be
under the protection of a strong foreign power. They would not be able to hide from
His all-seeing eye. ormally God watched over His people for their good, but here
He promised to set His eyes on them for evil. His purpose and intention for them
was evil from their viewpoint. So thorough was the dispersion following the
Assyrian invasion of Israel that the exiles came to be known as the "lost tribes."
They were not really lost, however, as later revelation makes clear ( Amos 9:11-15;
et al.).
TRAPP, "Verse 4
Amos 9:4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I

33. command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for
evil, and not for good.
Ver. 4. And though they go into captivity, &c.] And so may hope the worst is over
("Surely the bitterness of death is past," 1 Samuel 15:32) yet it shall prove
otherwise: the hypocrite’s hope is as the giving up the ghost, saith Job and that is
but cold comfort; or, as the spider’s web, spun out of her own bowels; and, when the
besom comes, swept to the muckhill.
Before their enemies] Whose custom was to drive their captives before them,
Lamentations 1:5 young and o1d, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks
uncovered, Isaiah 20:4. Or, "before their enemies," that is, before they are taken
captive by the enemies, by voluntary yielding, in hope of quarter for their lives. The
Jews indeed had a promise from the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 21:9, that if they
went out and fell to the Chaldeans that besieged them they should have their lives
for a prey but the ten tribes had no such promise made them; they were strangers
from the covenants Ephesians 2:12, and therefore could look for no mercy. Loammi,
and therefore Loruhamah Hosea 1:8, the ark and the mercy seat were never
sundered.
Thence will I command the sword] See Isaiah 13:15-16, Jeremiah 9:10; Jeremiah
43:11, Ezekiel 14:17.
And I will set mine eyes upon them] Heb. eye (Emphaticoteron est quam si dixisset
Oculo pluraliter. Mercer), viz. the eye of my providence, that oculus irretortus,
whereby I will look them to death, and take course that nothing shall go well with
them; see a little below, Amos 9:8, Jeremiah 21:10, Psalms 34:10. In Tamerlane’s
eyes sat such a majesty as man could hardly endure to behold; and man in talking
with him became dumb. He held the East in such awe, as that he was commonly
called, The wrath of God and terror of the world. Augustus Caesar frowned to
death Cornelius Gallus; and so did Queen Elizabeth Sir Christopher Hatton, lord
chancellor God’s enemies are sure to perish at the rebuke of his countenance,
Psalms 80:16, and if he but set his eyes upon them for evil, and not for good, all
occurrences shall certainly work together for the worst unto them.
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,

34. and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the ile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt;
BAR ES, "And who is He who should do this? God, at whose command are all
creatures. This is the hope of His servants; from where Hezekiah begins his prayer,
“Lord of hosts, God of Israel” Isa_37:16. This is the hopelessness of His enemies. “That
toucheth the land” or “earth, and it shall melt,” rather, “hath melted.” His Will and its
fulfillment are one. “He spake, and it was; He commanded and it stood fast” Psa_33:9.
His Will is first, as the cause of what is done; in time they co-exist. He hath no need to
put forth His strength; a touch, the slightest indication of His Will, sufficeth. If the solid
earth, how much more its inhabitants! So the Psalmist says, “The pagan raged, the
kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted” Psa_46:6. The hearts of
men melt when they are afraid of His presence; human armies melt away, dispersed; the
great globe itself shall dissolve into its ancient chaos at His Will.
CLARKE, "The Lord God of hosts is he - So powerful is he that a touch of his
hand shall melt or dissolve the land, and cause all its inhabitants to mourn. Here is still a
reference to the earthquake. See the note Amo_8:8, where the same images are used.
GILL, "And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall
melt,.... Which is another reason why it is impossible to escape the hands of a sin
revenging God, because he is omnipotent as well as omniscient; he is the Lord of all the
armies above and below; and if he but touch the land, any particular country, as the land
of Israel, it shakes and trembles, and falls into a flow of water, or melts like wax; as when
he toucheth the hills and mountains they smoke, being like fuel to fire; see Psa_104:32;
and all that dwell therein shall mourn; their houses destroyed, their substance
consumed, and all that is near and dear to them swallowed up:
and it shall rise up wholly like a flood, and shall be drowned as by the flood
of Egypt; See Gill on Amo_8:8.
HE RY, "What a great and mighty God he is that passes this sentence upon them,
and will take the executing of it into his own hands. Threatenings are more or less
formidable according to the power of him that threatens. We laugh at impotent wrath;
but the wrath of God is not so; it is omnipotent wrath. Who knows the power of it? What
he had before said he would do (Amo_8:8) is here repeated, that he would make the

35. land melt and tremble, and all that dwell therein mourn, that the judgment should rise
up wholly like a flood, and the country should be drowned, and laid under water, as by
the flood of Egypt, Amo_9:5. But is he able to make his words good? Yes, certainly he is;
he does but touch the land and it melts, touch the mountains and they smoke; he can do
it with the greatest ease, for, (1.) He is the Lord God of hosts, who undertakes to do it,
the God who has all the power in his hand, and all creatures at his beck and call, who
having made them all, and given them their several capacities, makes what use he
pleases of them and all their powers. Very miserable is the case of those who have the
Lord of hosts against them, for they have hosts against them, the whole creation at war
with them. (2.) He is the Creator and governor of the upper world: It is he that builds his
stories in the heavens, the celestial orbs, or spheres, one over another, as so many
stories in a high and stately palace. They are his, for he built them at first, when he said,
Let there be a firmament, and he made the firmament; and he builds them still, is
continually building them, not that they need repair, but by his providence he still
upholds them; his power is the pillars of heaven, by which it is borne up. Now he that
has the command of those stories is certainly to be feared, for thence, as from a castle, he
can fire upon his enemies, or cast upon them great hailstones, as on the Canaanites, or
make the stars in their courses, the furniture of those stories, to fight against them, as
against Sisera. (3.) He has the management and command of this lower world too, in
which we dwell, the terraqueous globe, both earth and sea, so that, which way soever his
enemies think to make their escape, he will meet them, or to make opposition, he will
match them. Do they think to make a land-fight of it? He has founded his troop in the
earth, his troop of guards, which he has at command, and makes use of for the
protection of his subjects and the punishment of his enemies. All the creatures on earth
make one bundle (as the margin reads it), one bundle of arrows, out of which he takes
what he pleases to discharge against the persecutors, Psa_7:13. They are all one army,
one body, so closely are they connected, and so harmoniously and so much in concert do
they act for the accomplishing of their Creator's purposes. Do they think to make a sea-
fight of it? He will be too hard for them there, for he has the waters of the sea at
command; even its waves, the most tumultuous rebellious waters, do obey him. He calls
for the waters of the sea in the course of his common providence, causes vapours to
ascend out of it, and pours them out in showers, the small rain and the great rain of his
strength, upon the face of the earth; this was mentioned before as a reason why we
should seek the Lord (Amo_5:8) and make him our friend, as it is here made a reason
why we should fear him and dread having him for our enemy.
JAMISO , "As Amos had threatened that nowhere should the Israelites be safe from
the divine judgments, he here shows God’s omnipotent ability to execute His threats. So
in the case of the threat in Amo_8:8, God is here stated to be the first cause of the
mourning of “all that dwell” in the land, and of its rising “like a flood, and of its being
“drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.”
K&D 5-6, "To strengthen this threat, Amos proceeds, in Amo_9:5, Amo_9:6, to
describe Jehovah as the Lord of heaven and earth, who sends judgments upon the earth
with omnipotent power. Amo_9:5. “And the Lord Jehovah of hosts, who toucheth the
earth, and it melteth, and all the inhabitants of thereupon mourn; and the whole of it
riseth like the Nile, and sinketh like the Nile of Egypt. Amo_9:6. Who buildeth His
stories in heaven, and His vault, over the earth hath He founded it; who calleth to the
waters of the sea, and poureth them out over the earth: Jehovah is His name.” This
description of God, who rules with omnipotence, is appended, as in Amo_4:13 and

36. Amo_5:8, without any link of connection whatever. We must not render it, “The Lord
Jehovah of hosts is He who toucheth the earth;” but we must supply the connecting
thought, “And He who thus directeth His eye upon you is the Lord Jehovah of hosts,
who toucheth the earth, and it melteth.” The melting or dissolving of the earth is,
according to Psa_46:7, an effect produced by the Lord, who makes His voice heard in
judgments, or “the destructive effect of the judgments of God, whose instruments the
conquerors are” (Hengstenberg), when nations reel and kingdoms totter. The Lord
therefore touches the earth, so that it melts, when He dissolves the stability of the earth
by great judgments (cf. Psa_75:4). “Israel could not fail to test the truth of these words
by painful experience, when the wild hordes of Assyria poured themselves over the
western parts of Asia” (Hengstenberg). The following words, depicting the dissolution of
the earth, are repeated, with very inconsiderable alterations, from Amo_8:8; we have
merely the omission of ‫ה‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫ר‬ְ‫ג‬ִ‫נ‬ְ‫,ו‬ and the kal ‫ה‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ֽק‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ substituted for the niphal ‫ה‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ‫.נ‬ In Amo_
9:6 there is evidently an allusion to the flood. God, who is enthroned in heaven, in the
cloud-towers built above the circle of the earth, possesses the power to pour the waves of
the sea over the earth by His simple word. Ma‛ălōth is synonymous with ‫וֹת‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֲ‫ע‬ in Psa_
104:3 : upper rooms, lit., places to which one has to ascend. 'Aguddâh, an arch or vault:
that which is called râqıă‛, the firmament, in other places. The heaven, in which God
builds His stories, is the heaven of clouds; and the vault, according to Gen_1:7, is the
firmament of heaven, which divided the water above the firmament from the water
beneath it. Consequently the upper rooms of God are the waters above the firmament, in
or out of which God builds His stories (Psa_104:3), i.e., the cloud-tower above the
horizon of the earth, which is raised above it like a vault. Out of this cloud-castle the rain
pours down (Psa_104:13); and out of its open windows the waters of the flood poured
down, and overflowed the earth (Gen_7:11). When God calls to the waters of the sea,
they pour themselves over the surface of the earth. The waves of the sea are a figurative
representation of the agitated multitude of nations, or of the powers of the world, which
pour their waves over the kingdom of God (see at Amo_7:4).
CALVI , "Verse 5
The Prophet repeats here nearly the same words with those we explained yesterday:
he used then the similitude of a flood, which he again mentions here. But as the first
clause is capable of various explanations, I will refer to what others think, and then
to what I deem the most correct view. This sentence, that the earth trembles, when it
is smitten by God, is usually regarded as a general declaration; and the Prophets do
often exalt the power of God in order to fill us with fear, and of this we shall see an
instance in the next verse. Yet I doubt not but that this is a special threatening. The
Lord Jehovah, then, he says, will smite the land, and it will tremble.
Then follows the similitude of which we spoke yesterday, Mourn shall all who dwell
in it; and then, It will altogether ascend as a river Here he intimates that there
would be a deluge, so that the face of the earth would not appear. Ascend then shall
the land as a river. The ascent of the earth would be nothing else but inundation,
which would cover its surface. He afterwards adds, “and it shall be sunk”; that is,
every convenience for dwelling: this is not to be understood strictly, as I have said,
of the land, but is rather to be referred to men, or to the use which men make of the

37. earth. Sunk then shall it be as by the river of Egypt We have said that Egypt loses
yearly its surface, when the ile inundates it. But as the inundation of the river is
given to the Egyptians for fertilizing the land and of rendering its produce more
abundant, so the Prophet here declares that the land would be like the sea, so that
there would no longer be any habitation. It now follows —
BE SO , "Verse 5-6
Amos 9:5-6. And — Or, for, the Lord toucheth the land, and it shall melt — The
least token of God’s displeasure is sufficient to put the whole frame of nature out of
order. See the margin. And when God’s hand is visibly stretched out against a
people, they become altogether dispirited; the stoutest men lose their courage, their
hearts failing them for fear, and out of a dreadful expectation of the miseries which
are coming upon them. See the explanation of the next clause, Amos 8:8. He that
buildeth his stories in the heavens — This is an awful description of God’s power,
discovering itself in the works of the creation, particularly in his making several
regions of the air as so many apartments which lead to the highest heavens, the seat
of his glory. Archbishop ewcome renders it, He buildeth his upper chambers in the
heavens; alluding to the circumstance of the chief and most ornamented apartments
in the East being upper rooms. And hath founded his troop in the earth — Or, as
the old English translation renders the clause, And hath laid the foundation of his
globe of elements in the earth; the word rendered troop being taken to signify the
collection of elements and other creatures, which furnish the earth, expressed by the
word ‫,צבא‬ host, Genesis 2:1 . Many learned interpreters, however, render the word
his storehouses, supposing that there is an allusion to repositories in the lower parts
of houses, or to such as were sometimes dug in the fields. Thus Capellus: The heaven
is, as it were, God’s place of dwelling, his principal apartment; the earth is that to
him which the cellars are in a large house. He that calleth for the waters, &c. — See
on chap. Amos 5:8. “The power and sure vengeance of the Deity,” says Bishop
ewcome, “are very sublimely described in this and the four preceding verses.”
COFFMA , "Verse 5
"For the Lord Jehovah of hosts, is he that toucheth the land and it melteth, and all
that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall
sink again, like the river of Egypt; it is he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens,
and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea,
and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name."
THE DOXOLOGY This is the third of Amos' doxologies, the other two being in
Amos 4:13 and Amos 5:8,9, the purpose of all three being quite clearly that of a
reminder that the Lord, whose word to Israel Amos was faithfully delivering, was
indeed all-sufficient and powerful to bring to pass exactly that which he promised.
As Keil accurately discerned the intent of these verses: "To strengthen his threat,
Amos proceeds (in Amos 9:5,6) to describe Jehovah as the Lord of heaven and
earth, who sends judgments upon the earth with omnipotent power."[10]
"Like the River, etc ...." This is almost identical with Amos 8:8. (See under that

38. verse for the interpretation, which is identical with what is meant here.)
Smith detected an interesting progression in the three doxologies of Amos, thus:
"The first doxology praises God as the creator of the universe (Amos 4:13). The
second begins with creation (Amos 5:8) and goes on to refer to God's control. In this
third doxology Yahweh's creative power is turned into destructive might.[11]
"Calling for the waters of the sea ..." As noted in the interpretation of Amos 8:8,
which see, this appears to be a reminder of the great flood which God sent upon
rebellious mankind as a punishment of their malignant wickedness.
CO STABLE, "Verse 5
The judge is sovereign Yahweh who controls and leads armies, both heavenly
armies of angels and earthly armies of soldiers. As sovereign, He is the one to whom
all people and nations are responsible, not just Israel. He is the one who simply with
a touch can cause the earth to melt, a figure that recalls the effect on ice when a
human finger presses on it. He has the power to alter the course of human affairs as
well so everyone mourns, if that is His choice. He causes the earth and human
affairs to rise and fall, to ebb and flow, like the waters of the mighty ile River.
BI 5-7, "The Lord God is He that toucheth the land, and it shall melt.
God as the administrator of justice
I. He does it with the greatest ease. The Almighty has no difficulty. Never can there be
any miscarriage of justice with God. He bears it right home in every case.
II. He does it with all the powers of nature at His command. His throne is on high,
above all the forms and forces of the universe, and all are at His call.
III. He does it disregardful of mere religious profession. Jehovah here repels the idea
which the Israelites were so prone to entertain, that because He had brought them out of
Egypt and given them the land of Canaan they were peculiarly the objects of His regard,
and could never be subdued or destroyed. He now regarded and would treat them as the
Cushites, who had been transplanted from their primal location in Arabia into the midst
of the barbarous nations of Africa. The Almighty, in administering justice, is not
influenced by the plea of profession. A corrupt Israelite to Him was as bad as an
Ethiopian, though he calls Abraham his father.
IV. He does it with a thorough discrimination of character. “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.” There were
some good people amongst the Israelites, men of genuine goodness; the Great Judge
would not destroy them. “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob I will sift the house
of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve,” etc. He would burn up the
chaff but save the wheat. (Homilist.)
TRAPP, "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

39. shall be drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt.
Ver. 5. And the Lord God of hosts is he, &c] Here the prophet proveth what he had said
in the foregoing verses, by an argument drawn from the wonderful power of God, which
profane persons are apt to question, that they may harden their hearts against his fear.
Consider, saith he, first, that he is the Lord God of hosts, and (as the Rabbis well
observe) he hath the upper and lower troops ready pressed, as his horse and foot, to
march against his enemies. Next, that he toucheth the land, as it were, with his little
finger, and it shall melt, like the fat of lambs before the fire; it shall crumble to crattle,
moulder away, and be moved, because he is wroth, Psalms 18:7 : and shall men be
unmoved? shall they be more insensible than the senseless earth? The people of Antioch,
though many of them gave their hands for Chrysostom’s banishment, yet, terrified by an
earthquake (which wrought in them a heartquake, as it had done in the jailer, Acts
16:25-30), they immediately sent for him again. But, thirdly, the tremendous power of
God appears in this, that
The land shall rise up wholly like a flood; and it shall be drowned, as by the flood of
Egypt] God can float it and flood it at his pleasure, see Amos 8:8. Water is naturally
above the earth as the garment above the body, saith David; and would (but for the
power and providence of God) prove as the shirt made for the murdering of
Agamemnon, where the head had no issue out. Let God be seen herein, and men’s hearts
possessed with his holy fear; who can so easily pull up the sluices, let in the sea upon
them, and bury them all in one universal grave of waters. "Fear ye not me? saith the
Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of
the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss
themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?"
Jeremiah 5:22. This Aristotle admires, and David celebrates in his physics (as one calleth
that 104th Psalm), Psalms 104:6; Psalms 104:9, and all men should improve, to frighten
their consciences from provoking to anger so great a God.
6 he builds his lofty palace[a] in the heavens
and sets its foundation[b] on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.

40. BAR ES, "He that buildeth His stories - The word commonly means “steps,”
nor is there any reason to alter it. We read of “the third heavens 2Co_12:2, the heavens
of heavens Deu_10:14; 1Ki_8:27; Psa_148:4; that is, heavens to which this heaven is as
earth. They are different ways of expressing the vast unseen space which God has
created, divided, as we know, through the distance of the fixed stars, into countless
portions, of which the lower, or further removed, are but as “steps” to the presence of
the Great King, where, “above all heavens” Eph_4:10, Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of
God. It comes to the same, if we suppose the word to mean “upper chambers.” The
metaphor would still signify heavens above our heavens.
And hath founded His troop - (literally, band in the earth Probably, “founded His
arch upon the earth,” that is, His visible heaven, which seems, like an arch, to span the
earth. The whole then describes” all things visible and invisible;” all of this our solar
system, and all beyond it, the many gradations to the Throne of God. : “He daily
“buildeth His stories in the heavens,” when He raiseth up His saints from things below
to heavenly places, presiding over them, ascending in them. In devout wayfarers too,
whose “conversation is in heaven Phi_3:20, He ascendeth, sublimely and mercifully
indwelling their hearts. In those who have the fruition of Himself in those heavens, He
ascendeth by the glory of beatitude and the loftiest contemplation, as He walketh in
those who walk, and resteth in those who rest in Him.”
To this description of His power, Amos, as before Amo_5:8, adds that signal instance
of its exercise on the ungodly, the flood, the pattern and type of judgments which no
sinner escapes. God then hath the power to do this. Why should He not?
CLARKE, "Buildeth his stories in the heaven - There is here an allusion to
large houses, where there are cellars, or places dug in the ground as repositories for
corn; middle apartments, or stories, for the families to live in; and the house-top for
persons to take the air upon. There may be here a reference to the various systems which
God has formed in illimitable space, transcending each other, as the planets do in our
solar system: and thus we find Solomon speaking when addressing the Most High: “The
heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, ‫השמים‬ ‫ושמי‬ ‫השמים‬ hashshamayim
ushemey hashshamayim, 1Ki_8:27. Six heavens are necessarily implied in these three
words. According to the points, the first and third are in the dual number, and the
second is the contracted form of the plural. But how many more spheres may be
intended who can tell? There may be millions of millions of stellar systems in unlimited
space; and then what are all these to the Vast Immensity of God!
Hath founded his troop in the earth - ‫אגדיו‬ aguddatho, from ‫אגד‬ agad, to bind or
gather together, possibly meaning the seas and other collections of waters which he has
gathered together and bound by his perpetual decree, that they cannot pass; yet when he
calleth for these very waters, as in the general deluge, he “poureth them out upon the
face of the earth.”
The Lord is his name - This points out his infinite essence. But what is that

41. essence? and what is his nature? and what his immensity and eternity? What archangel
can tell?
GILL, "It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven,.... The three elements,
according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a
word near akin to this is rendered "his chambers", which are the clouds, Psa_104:3;
perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be
meant; we read of the third heaven, 2Co_12:2; and particularly the throne of God is in
the highest heaven; and the "ascents" (y) to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is,
"who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shechinah of his glory:''
and hath founded his troop in the earth; this Kimchi interprets of the three above
elements. So the words are translated in the Bishops' Bible in Queen Elizabeth's time,
"he buildeth his spheres in the heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe of
elements in the earth.''
Aben Ezra interprets it of animals; it may take in the whole compass of created beings on
earth; so Jarchi explains it of the collection of his creatures; though he takes notice of
another sense given, a collection of the righteous, which are the foundation of the earth,
and for whose sake all things stand. Abarbinel interprets it of the whole of the tribe of
Israel; and so the Targum paraphrases it of his congregation or church on earth: he
beautifies his elect, which are "his bundle" (z), as it may be rendered; who are bound up
in the bundle of life with the Lord their God, and are closely knit and united, as to God
and Christ, so to one another; and perhaps is the best sense of the words (a):
he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face
of the earth, the Lord is his name; either to drown it, as at the general deluge; or to
water and refresh it, as he does by exhaling water from the sea, and then letting it down
in plentiful showers upon the earth; See Gill on Amo_5:8; now all these things are
observed to show the power of God, and that therefore there can be no hope of escaping
out of his hands.
(y) ‫מעלותיו‬ "ascensiones suus", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine version, "gradus
suo", Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius. (z) ‫אגדתו‬ "fasciculum suum", Montanus, Munster,
Mercerus, Vatablus, Drusius, Burkius. (a) Schultens in Observ. ad Genesin, p. 197, 198,
observes, that "agad", with the Arabs, signifies primarily to "bind", and is by them
transferred to a building firmly bound, and compact together; and so may intend here in
Amos the Lord's building, the church, which he hath founded in the earth; and so with
Golius and Castellus is a building firmly compacted together. ‫אגדת‬ is used for a bunch of
hyssop, Exod. xii. 27. and in the Misnic language for a handful or bundle of anything; see
Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. rad. ‫.אגד‬
JAMISO , "stories — literally, “ascents,” that is, upper chambers, to which the
ascent is by steps [Maurer]; evidently referring to the words in Psa_104:3, Psa_104:13.
Grotius explains it, God’s royal throne, expressed in language drawn from Solomon’s

42. throne, to which the ascent was by steps (compare 1Ki_10:18, 1Ki_10:19).
founded his troop — namely, all animate creatures, which are God’s troop, or host
(Gen_2:1), doing His will (Psa_103:20, Psa_103:21; Joe_2:11). Maurer translates, “His
vault,” that is, the vaulted sky, which seems to rest on the earth supported by the
horizon.
CALVI , "Verse 6
The Prophet describes now in general terms the power of God, that he might the
more impress his hearers, and that they might not heedlessly reject what he had
previously threatened respecting their approaching ruin; for he had said, ‘Lo, God
will smite the land, and it shall tremble.’ This was special. ow as men received with
deaf ears those threatening, and thought that God in a manner trifled with them, the
Prophet added, by way of confirmation, a striking description of the power of God;
as though he said, “Ye do hear what God denounces: now, as he has clothed me with
his own authority, and commanded me to terrify you by setting before you your
punishment, know ye that you have to do with God himself, whose majesty ought to
make you all, and all that you are, to tremble: for what sort of Being is this God,
whose word is regarded by you with contempt? God is he who builds for himself
chambers (62) in the heavens, who founds his jointings (63) (some render it bundles)
in the earth, who calls the waters of the sea, and pours them on the face of the
earth”; in a word, He is Jehovah, whose being is in himself alone: and ye exist only
through his powers and whenever he pleases, he can with-draw his Spirits and then
vanish must this whole world, of which ye are but the smallest particles. Since then
He alone is God, and there is in you but a momentary strength, and since this great
power of God, the evidences of which he affords you through the whole order of
nature, is so conspicuous to you, how is it that ye are so heedless?” We now perceive
why the Prophet exalts in so striking a manner the power of God.
First, in saying that God builds for himself his ascendings (ascensiones )in the
heavens, he alludes no doubt, to the very structure of the heavens; for the element of
air, we know, rises upwards, on account of its being light; and then the element of
fire comes nearer to what heaven is; then follow the spheres as then the whole world
above the earth is much more favorable to motion, this is the reason why the
Prophet says that God has his ascents in the heavens. God indeed stands in no need
of the heavens or of the air as an habitation, for he is contained in no place, being
one who cannot be contained: but it is said, for the sake of men, that God is above
all heavens: he is then located in his own elevated throne. But he says that he founds
for himself his jointing on the earth, for this part of the world is more solid, the
element of earth being grosser and denser, and therefore more firm. So also the
waters, though lighter than the earth, approach it nearest. God then builds in the
heavens. It is a mechanism which is in itself wonderful: when one raises to heaven
his eyes, and then looks on the earth, is he not constrained to stand amazed? The
Prophet then exhibits here before our eyes the inconceivable power of God, that we
may be impressed by his words, and know with whom we have to do, when he
denounces punishment.
He further says, Who calls the waters of the sea, and pours them on the face of the

43. earth This change is in itself astonishing; God in a short time covers the whole
heaven: there is a clear brightness, in a moment clouds supervene, which darken the
whole heaven, and thick waters are suspended over our heads. Who could say that
the whole sky could be so suddenly changed? God by his own command and bidding
does all this alone. He calls then the waters of the sea, and pours them down Though
rains, we know, are formed in great measure by vapors from the earth, yet we also
know that these vapors arise from the sea, and that the sea chiefly supplies the dense
abundance of moisture. The Prophet then, by taking a part for the whole, includes
here all the vapors, by which rain is formed. He calls them the waters of the sea;
God by his own power alone creates the rain, by raising vapors from the waters;
and then he causes them to descend on the whole face of the earth. Since then the
Lord works so wonderfully through the whole order of nature, what do we think
will take place, when he puts forth the infinite power of his hand to destroy men,
having resolved to execute the extreme judgment which he has decreed?
It must be borne in mind, that it must be something on earth that corresponds or
forms a contrast with ascents in the heavens. God has his ascendings, or as it were,
his steps or stairs in the heavens, along which, speaking after the manner of men, he
ascends: then what has he on earth? It seems to me that something firm, solid,
compacted, is intended; and the earth is said to be his footstool. Hence a firm
footing, standing, or station, appears to be the meaning of the word.
The French translation is —
Qui fonde son batiment sur la terre —
“Who founds his buildingon the earth.”
— Ed.
COKE, "Verse 6
Amos 9:6. It is he that buildeth, &c.— See the note on Jeremiah 22:13-14 where it is
remarked, from the Observations, that the chief rooms of the houses in the East are
those above. Perhaps our prophet refers to this circumstance, when he speaks of the
heavens as God's stories or chambers; the most noble and splendid apartments of
the palace of God, and where his presence is chiefly manifested; and the bundle or
collection (the troop) of its offices, its numerous little mean apartments, the divisions
of this earth. Capellus observes, that the word ‫אגדה‬ aguddah, rendered troop,
signifies those store-houses and cellars which are usual in great palaces: thus, says
he, the heaven is, as it were, God's place of dwelling, his principal apartment; the
earth is that to him which the cellars are in a large house.
TRAPP, "Verse 6
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.
Ver. 6. It is he that buildeth his stories (or spheres) in the heaven] Surgit hic oratio.

44. The prophet here riseth in his discourse; and as Chrysostom said of St Paul,
Tricubitalis est, et coelos transcendit; Low though he were, and little, yet he got up
into the third heaven; so may we of Amos, though but a plain spoken and illiterate
herdsman, yet, in setting forth the power of God, he mounts from earth to heaven,
and shows himself to be Virum bonum, dicendi peritum, an exquisite orator,
according to Quintilian’s character. God, this great architect and public workman,
δηµιουργος (as the apostle after Plato, whom he seemeth to have read, calleth him,
Hebrews 11:10), hath, without tool or toil, Isaiah 40:28, builded his stories in the
heaven, which is three stories high, 2 Corinthians 12:2, wherein, as in a theatre, or
molten looking glass, Job 37:18, his majesty most clearly shineth, Amos 4:13; Amos
5:8, Psalms 104:3; every sphere and star twinkling at us, and as it were, beckoning
to us, to remember his omnipotence (whereof that rare fabric is a notable work and
witness), and not to think to escape his judgments if we go on in sin. For although he
be higher than the heavens, Job 35:5, yet "his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the
children of men," Psalms 11:4; Psalms 11:6, "Upon the wicked he shall rain down
snares, fire and brimstone," &c.
And hath founded his troop (or bundle) in the earth] That is, the other three
elements, say some: the sea, which, together with the earth, maketh one globe, say
others: the universe (saith Mr Diodati), which is like the fabric of a building; of
which the earth, being the lower part, and only unmoveable, hath some resemblance
of a foundation.
He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out, &c.] {See Trapp on
"Amos 5:8"}
7 “Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites[c]?”
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor[d]
and the Arameans from Kir?

45. BAR ES, "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of
Israel! - Their boast and confidence was that they were children of the patriarch, to
whom God made the promises. But they, not following the faith nor doing the deeds of
Israel, who was a “prince with God,” or of Abraham, the father of the faithful, had, for
“Bene Israel,” children of Israel, become as “Bene Cushiim, children of the Ethiopians,”
descendants of Ham, furthest off from the knowledge and grace of God, the
unchangeableness of whose color was an emblem of unchangeableness in evil. “Can the
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are
accustomed to do evil” Jer_13:23.
Have I not brought up - (Did I not bring up) Israel out of the land of Egypt? Amos
blends in one their plea and God’s answer. God by bringing them up out of Egypt,
pledged His truth to them to be their to protect and preserve them. True! so long as they.
retained God as their God, and kept His laws. God chose them, that they might choose
Him. By casting Him off, as their Lord and God, they cast themselves off and out of
God’s protection. By estranging themselves from God, they became as strangers in His
sight. His act in bringing them up from Egypt had lost its meaning for them. It became
no more than any Other event in His Providence, by which He brought up “the
Philistines from Caphtor,” who yet were aliens from Him, and “the Syrians from Kir,”
who, He had foretold, should be carried back there.
This immigration of the Philistines from Caphtor must have taken place before the
return of Israel from Egypt. For Moses says, “The Caphtorim, who came forth from
Caphtor” had at this time “destroyed the Avvim who dwelt in villages unto Gazah, and
dwelt in their stead” Deu_2:23 An entire change in their affairs had also taken place in
the four centuries and a half since the days of Isaac. In the time of Abraham and Isaac,
Philistia was a kingdom; its capital, Gerar. Its king had a standing army, Phichol being
“the captain of the host” Gen_21:22; Gen_26:26 : he had also a privy councillor,
Ahuzzath Gen_26:26. From the time after the Exodus, Philistia had ceased to be a
kingdom, Gerar disappears from history; the power of Philistia is concentrated in five
new towns, Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, Gath, Ekron, with five heads, who consult and act as
one (see above, the note at Amo_1:6-8).
The Caphtorim are in some sense also distinct from the old Philistines. They occupy a
district not co-extensive with either the old or the new land of the Philistines. In the time
of Saul, another Philistine clan is mentioned, the Cherethite. The Amalekites made a
marauding inroad into the south country of the Cherethites; 1Sa_30:14; which
immediately afterward is called “the land of the Philistines” 1Sa_30:16. Probably then,
there were different immigrations of the same tribe into Palestine, as there were
different immigrations of Danes or Saxons into England, or as there have been and are
from the old world into the new, America and Australia. They, were then all merged in
one common name, as English, Scotch, Irish, are in the United States. The first
immigration may have been that from the Casluhim, “out of whom came Philistim”
Gen_10:14; a second, from the Caphtorim, a kindred people, since they are named next
to the Casluhim Gen_10:14, as descendants of Mizraim. Yet a third were doubtless the
Cherethim. But all were united under the one name of Philistines, as Britons, Danes,
Saxons, Normans, are united under the one name of English. Of these immigrations,
that from Caphtor, even if (as seems probable) second in time, was the chief; which

46. agrees with the great accession of strength, which the Philistines had received at the
time of the Exodus; from where the Mediterranean had come to be called by their name,
“the sea of the Philistines” Exo_23:31 : and, in Moses’ song of thanksgiving, “the
inhabitants of Philistia” are named on a level with “all the inhabitants of Canaan” Exo_
15:14-15; and God led His people by the way of Mount Sinai, in order not to expose them
at once to so powerful an enemy Exo_13:17.
A third immigration of Cherethim, in the latter part of the period of the Judges, would
account for the sudden increase of strength, which they seem then to have received. For
whereas heretofore those whom God employed to chasten Israel in their idolatries, were
Kings of Mesopotamia, Moab, Hazor, Midian, Amalek, and the children of the East Judg.
3–10:5, and Philistia had, at the beginning of the period, lost Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron
Jdg_1:18, to Israel, and was repulsed by Shamgar, thenceforth, to the time of David,
they became the great scourge of Israel on the west of Jordan, as Ammon was on the
east.
The Jewish traditions in the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and three Targums, agree that
Caphtor was Cappadocia, which, in that it extended to the Black Sea, might be callad “I,
seacoast,” literally, “habitable land, as contrasted with the sea which washed it, whether
it surrounded it or no. The Cherethites may have come from Crete, as an intermediate
resting place in their migrations.
CLARKE, "Children of the Ethiopians - Or Cushites. Cush was the son of Ham,
Gen_10:6; and his descendants inhabited a part of Arabia Petraea and Arabia Felix. All
this stock was universally despised. See Bochart.
The Philistines from Caphtor - The island of Crete, the people of which were the
Cherethim. See, 1Sa_30:14; Eze_25:16; Zep_2:5.
The Syrians from Kir? - Perhaps a city of the Medes, Isa_22:6. Aram, from whom
Syria had its name, was the son of Shem, Gen_10:22. Part of his descendants settled in
this city, and part in Aram Naharaim, “Syria of the two rivers,” viz., Mesopotamia,
included between the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The meaning of the verse is this: Do not presume on my having brought you out of the
land of Egypt and house of bondage, into a land flowing with milk and honey. I have
brought other nations, and some of your neighbors, who are your enemies, from
comparatively barren countries, into fruitful territories; such, for instance, as the
Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir.
GILL, "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of
Israel? saith the Lord,.... And therefore had no reason to think they should be
delivered because they were the children of Israel, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; since
they were no more to God than the children of the Ethiopians, having behaved like them;
and were become as black as they through sin, and were idolaters like them; and so
accustomed to sin, and hardened in it, that they could no more change their course and
custom of sinning than the Ethiopian could change his skin, Jer_13:23; The Ethiopians
are represented by Diodorus Siculus (b) as very religious, that is, very idolatrous; and as
the first that worshipped the gods, and offered sacrifice to them; hence they were very
pleasing to them, and in high esteem with them; wherefore Homer (c) speaks of Jupiter,
and the other gods, going to Ethiopia to an anniversary feast, and calls them the
blameless Ethiopians; and so Lucian (d) speaks of the gods as gone abroad, perhaps to
the other side of the ocean, to visit the honest Ethiopians; for they are often used to visit

47. them, and, as he wittily observes, even sometimes without being invited. Jarchi suggests
the sense to be, that they were as creatures upon the same foot, and of the same descent,
with other nations; and paraphrases it thus,
"from the sons of Noah ye came as the rest of the nations.''
Kimchi takes the meaning to be this,
"as the children of the Ethiopians are servants so should ye be unto me.''
The Targum is very foreign from the sense,
"are ye not reckoned as beloved children before me, O house of Israel?''
the first sense is best:
have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and therefore it was
ungrateful in them to behave as they have done; nor can they have any dependence on
this, or argue from hence that they shall be indulged with other favours, or be continued
in their land, since the like has been done for other nations, as follows:
and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? that is, have I not
brought up the one from the one place, and the other from the other? the Philistines and
Caphtorim are mentioned together as brethren, Gen_10:14; and the Avim which dwelt in
the land of Palestine in Hazerim unto Azzah were destroyed by the Caphtorim, who
dwelt in their stead, Deu_2:23; from whom, it seems by this, the Philistines were
delivered, who are called the remnant of the country of Caphtor, Jer_47:4. Aben Ezra
understands it as if the Israelites were not only brought out of Egypt, but also from the
Philistines, and from Caphtor: others take these two places, Caphtor and Kir, to be the
original of the Philistines and Syrians, and not where they had been captives, but now
delivered: so Japhet,
"ye are the children of one father, God, who brought you out of Egypt, and not as the
Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir, who were mixed together;''
and R. Joseph Kimchi thus,
"from Caphtor came destroyers to the Philistines, who destroyed them; and from Kir
came Tiglathpileser, the destroyer, to the Syrians, who carried them captive there.''
Of the captivity of the Philistines, and their deliverance from the Caphtorim, we nowhere
read; the captivity of the Syrians in Kir Amos prophesied of, Amo_1:5; and if he speaks
here of their deliverance from it, he must live at least to the times of Ahaz; for in his
times it was they were carried captive thither, 2Ki_16:9. Caphtor some take to be
Cyprus, because it seems to be an island, Jer_47:4; but by it the Targum, Septuagint,
Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic versions understand Cappadocia; and the
Cappadocians used to be called by the Greeks and Persians Syrians, as Herodotus (e)
and others, observe. Bochart (f) is of opinion that that part of Cappadocia is intended
which is called Colchis; and the rather since he finds a city in that country called Side,
which in the Greek tongue signifies a pomegranate, as Caphtor does in Hebrew; and
supposes the richness of the country led the Caphtorim thither, who, having stayed

48. awhile, returned to Palestine, and there settled; which expedition he thinks is wrapped
up in the fable of the Greek poets, concerning that of Typhon out of Egypt to Colchis and
from thence to Palestine; and indeed the Jewish Targumists (g) every where render
Caphtorim by Cappadocians, and Caphtor by Cappadocia, or Caphutkia; but then by it
they understand a place in Egypt, even Pelusium, now called Damiata; for the Jewish
writers say (h) Caphutkia is Caphtor, in the Arabic language Damiata; so Benjamin of
Tudela says (i), in two days I came to Damiata, this is Caphtor; and no doubt the
Caphtorim were in Egypt originally since they descended from Mizraim; but Calmet (k)
will have it that the island of Crete is meant by Caphtor; and observes, theft, the
Philistines were at first called strangers in Palestine, their proper name being
Cherethites, or Cretians, as in Eze_25:16; as the Septuagint render that name of theirs;
and that the language, manners, arms, religion and gods, of the Philistines and Cretians,
are much the same; he finds a city in Crete called Aptera, which he thinks has a sensible
relation to Caphtor; and that the city of Gaza in Palestine went by the name of Minoa,
because of Minos king of Crete, who, coming into that country, called this ancient city by
his own name. The Targum and Vulgate Latin version render Kir by Cyrene, by which
must be meant, not Cyrene in Africa, but in Media; so Kir is mentioned along with Elam
or Persia in Isa_22:6; whither the people of Syria were carried captive by Tiglathpileser,
as predicted in Amo_1:5; and, as the above writer observes (l), not certainly into the
country of Cyrene near Egypt, where that prince was possessed of nothing; but to Iberia
or Albania, where the river Kir or Cyrus runs, which discharges itself into the Caspian
sea; and Josephus (m) says they were transported into Upper Media; and the above
author thinks that the Prophet Amos, in this passage, probably intended to comprehend,
under the word "Cyr" or "Kir", the people beyond the Euphrates, and those of
Mesopotamia, from whence the Aramaeans in reality came, who were descended from
Aram the son of Shem; and he adds, we have no certain knowledge of their coming in
particular out of this country, where the river Cyrus flows; and, upon the whole, it is
difficult to determine whether this is to be understood of the origin of these people, or of
their deliverance from captivity; the latter may seem probable, since it is certain that the
prophet speaks of the deliverance of Israel from the captivity of Egypt; and it is as
certain that the Syrians were carried captive to Kir, and, no doubt, from thence
delivered; though we have no account of the Philistines being captives to Caphtor, and of
their deliverance from thence; however, doubtless these were things well known to
Amos, and in his times, he here speaks of. In some of our English copies it is read
Assyrians instead of Syrians, very wrongly; for "Aram", and not "Ashur", is the word
here used.
JAMISO , "unto me — however great ye seem to yourselves. Do not rely on past
privileges, and on My having delivered you from Egypt, as if therefore I never would
remove you from Canaan. I make no more account of you than of “the Ethiopian”
(compare Jer_13:23). “Have not I (who) brought you out of Egypt,” done as much for
other peoples? For instance, did I not bring “the Philistines (see on Isa_14:29, etc.) from
Caphtor (compare Deu_2:23; see on Jer_47:4), where they had been bond-servants, and
the Syrians from Kir?” It is appropriate, that as the Syrians migrated into Syria from Kir
(compare Note, see on Isa_22:6), so they should be carried back captive into the same
land (see on Amo_1:15; 2Ki_16:9), just as elsewhere Israel is threatened with a return to
Egypt whence they had been delivered. The “Ethiopians,” Hebrew, “Cushites,” were
originally akin to the race that founded Babylon: the cuneiform inscriptions in this
confirming independently the Scripture statement (Gen_10:6, Gen_10:8, Gen_10:10).

49. K&D, "The Lord will pour out these floods upon sinful Israel, because it stands
nearer to Him than the heathen do. Amo_9:7. “Are ye not like the sons of the Cushites to
me, ye sons of Israel? is the saying of Jehovah. Have I not brought Israel up out of the
land of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Caphtor, and Aram out of Kir?” With these
words the prophet tears away from the sinful nation the last support of its carnal
security, namely, reliance upon its election as the nation of God, which the Lord has
practically confirmed by leading Israel up out of Egypt. Their election as the people of
Jehovah was unquestionably a pledge that the Lord would not cast off His people, or
suffer them to be destroyed by the heathen. But what the apostle says of circumcision in
Rom_2:25 applied to this election also, namely, that it was of benefit to none but those
who kept the law. It afforded a certainty of divine protection simply to those who proved
themselves to be the children of Israel by their walk and conduct, and who faithfully
adhered to the Lord. To the rebellious it was of no avail. Idolaters had become like the
heathen. The Cushites are mentioned, not so much as being descendants of the accursed
Ham, as on account of the blackness of their skin, which was regarded as a symbol of
spiritual blackness (cf. Jer_13:23). The expression “sons (children) of the Cushites” is
used with reference to the title “sons (children) of Israel,” the honourable name of the
covenant nation. For degenerate Israel, the leading up out of Egypt had no higher
signification than the leading up of the Philistines and Syrians out of their former
dwelling-places into the lands which they at present inhabited. These two peoples are
mentioned by way of example: the Philistines, because they were despised by the
Israelites, as being uncircumcised; the Syrians, with an allusion to the threat in Amo_
1:5, that they should wander into exile to Kir. On the fact that the Philistines sprang from
Caphtor, see the comm. on Gen_10:14.
CALVI , "Verse 7
The Prophet shows here to the Israelites that their dignity would be no defense to
them, as they expected. We have indeed seen in many places how foolish was the
boasting of that people. Though they were more bound to God than other nations,
they yet heedlessly boasted that they were a holy nation, as if indeed they had
something of their own, but as Paul says, they were nothing. God had conferred on
them singular benefits; but they were adorned with the plumes of another. Foolish
then and absurd was their glorying, when they thought themselves to be of more
worth in the sight of God than other nations. But as this foolish conceit had blinded
them, the Prophet says now, “Whom do you think yourselves to be? Ye are to me as
the children of the Ethiopians I indeed once delivered you, not that I should be
bound to you, but rather that I should have you bound to me, for ye have been
redeemed through my kindness.” Some think that the Israelites are compared to the
Ethiopians, as they had not changed their skin, that is, their disposition; but this
view I reject as strained. For the Prophet speaks here more simply, namely, that
their condition differed nothing from that of the common class of men: “Ye do excel,
but ye have nothing apart from me; if I take away from you what is mine, what will
you have then remaining?” The emphasis is on the word, to me, What are ye to me?
For certainly they excelled among men; but before God they could bring nothing,
since they had nothing of their own: nay, the more splendidly God adorned them,
the more modestly and humbly they ought to have conducted themselves, seeing that
they were bound to him for so many of his favors. But as they had forgotten their

50. own condition, despised all the Prophets and felicitated themselves in their vices, he
says, Are ye not to me as the children of the Ethiopians, as foreign and the most
alien nations? for what that is worthy of praise can I find in you? If then I look on
you, what are ye? I certainly see no reason to prefer you even to the most obscure
nations.”
He afterwards adds, Have I not made to ascend, or brought, Israel from the land of
Egypt? Here the Prophet reminds them of their origin. Though they had indeed
proceeded from Abraham, who had been chosen by God four hundred years before
their redemption; yet, if we consider how cruelly they were treated in Egypt, that
tyrannical servitude must certainly appear to have been like the grave. They then
began to be a people, and to attain some name, when the Lord delivered them from
Egypt. The Prophet’s language is the same as though he had said, “Look whence the
Lord has brought you out; for ye were as a dead carcass, and of no account: for the
Egyptians treated your fathers as the vilest slaves: God brought you thence; then
you have no nobility or excellency of your own, but the beginning of your dignity
has proceeded from the gratuitous kindness of God. Yet ye think now that ye excel
others, because ye have been redeemed: God has also redeemed the Philistines, when
they were the servants of the Cappadocians; and besides, he redeemed the Syrians
when they were servants to other nations.”
Some take ‫,קיר‬ kir, to mean Cyrene; but as this is uncertain, I pass it by as doubtful.
Whatever it was, there is no ground of dispute about the subject itself; for it is
certain that the Israelites are here compared with the Philistines as well as with the
Syrians, inasmuch as all had been alike redeemed by the Lord, and this favor was
common to all of whom he speaks. As God then pitied in former ages other nations,
it was certainly not peculiar to the race of Abraham, that they had been freed by
God, and by means of extraordinary miracles: “Even the Philistine will say the
same, and the Syrians will say the same; but yet ye say that they are profane
nations. Since it is so, ye are now divested of all excellency, that is, there is nothing
of your own in you, that ye should exalt yourselves above other nations.” This is the
meaning. It now follows —
BE SO , "Verse 7
Amos 9:7. Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians, &c. — The prophet, to take
away from the Israelites their false confidence, that the Lord was too much
interested in their preservation to permit their total ruin, says, that in consequence
of their idolatry and other sins, they were no more esteemed by him than the
Ethiopians, a barbarous and cruel race of people: as if he had said, You have
rendered yourselves unworthy the name of my people; you have renounced, by your
idolatry, the privileges of my covenant; you have given up me, and I give you up in
my turn. You may think my former kindness in delivering you out of the Egyptian
bondage, and giving you the land of Canaan, obliges me still to continue to be your
protector. But I have showed the like favour to other nations, particularly to the
Philistines, who had their original from Caphtor, and afterward dispossessed the
old inhabitants of Palestine, and dwelt in their stead; and to the Syrians, whom I
brought from Kir; and yet against these very nations have I denounced my

51. judgments for their sins.
COFFMA , "Verse 7
"Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith
Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines
from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?"
Due to their gross and repeated rebellions against God, Israel had forfeited their
status as "God's chosen people"; and here is revealed that God's providences for
them had in no sense been heaped upon them without any concern for other nations.
Israel seems to have been perpetually blind to the truth that even God's great
promise to Abraham, upon which all Jewish and Christian hopes must ultimately
rest, had never been given with a view to benefiting his secular posterity alone, but
that, in Abraham, "All the families of the earth might be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
Even from the first, as demonstrated by the rejection of a great portion of
Abraham's literal descendants, such as Esau, Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah,
Abraham's fleshly posterity was never the true possessor of the promise, which
pertained to his "spiritual seed" alone, those of a like faith and disposition of their
great progenitor.
The Jewish race, all of them, northern and southern kingdoms, had further
perverted and misconstrued the promise by applying it, without reservation, to their
secular kingdoms. This prophecy put an end to that error, for all who will read and
understand Amos.
"Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians...?" In a word, this means that, "Jews,
in the fleshly sense, are of no more concern to Almighty God than the Ethiopians,
the Philistines and the Syrians. This is still the truth. God has no more any special
program for dealing with racial Jews than he does for the Japanese, the Germans,
the French, or the Iranians. As Paul put it: "For there is no distinction between Jew
and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all" (Romans 10:12). It must be accounted
as absolutely incredible that a vast number of "Christian scholars" do not in any
sense believe this!
"The Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir ..." God's providence had
also been showered upon these nations. Paul, in his great missionary solicitation of
the Gentiles did not fail to point out that:
"God, in the generations gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways;
and yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you from
heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts
14:16,17).
COKE, "Verse 7
Amos 9:7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians— Amos, to take away from the
Israelites their false presumption, that the Lord was too much interested in their
preservation to prevent their total ruin, says that, in consequence of their infidelity

52. and revolt, God regards them no otherwise than as Ethiopians. "You have rendered
yourselves unworthy the name of my people; you have renounced by your idolatry
the privileges of that peculiar covenant which I entered into with your fathers; you
have given up me, and I give you up in my turn. But, Lord, is it not thou who hast
brought us out of Egypt? Yes, doubtless: but have I not also brought up the
Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Yet, are they the more my
servants and my people on this account?" See Calmet.
CO STABLE, "Verse 7
Rhetorically Yahweh asked if Israel was not just like other nations. It was in the
sense that it was only one nation among many in the world that lived under His
sovereign authority. It was like them too in that it was full of idolaters. The
Ethiopians (Cushites) were a remote people in Amos" day, living on the edge of the
earth from an ancient ear Easterner"s perspective, yet God watched over them.
He had separated the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete; cf. Deuteronomy 2:23) and
the Syrians (Arameans) from Kir in Mesopotamia (cf. Amos 1:5) just as He had led
Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Philistines and Syrians were Israel"s
enemies, but God had done for them what He had done for Israel. He could justly
send the Israelites into another part of the world since He had formerly relocated
these other nations. The Israelites considered themselves superior because of their
election, but really they were no better or less accountable than any other nation.
By referring to the pagan nations at the end of the book, Amos came full circle
having begun with oracles against these nations. Thus the emphasis on Yahweh"s
universal sovereignty brackets the rest of the contents like bookends.
BI 7-10, "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of Israel?
Sin dissolving the union between God and His people
1. These verses strike at the root of all Israel’s fancied security. They were the people
of God, whom He had brought from Egypt and planted in Canaan, whose whole life
had been passed under His peculiar guardian care. They thought that God would
never execute final judgment on them, because He had so often spared them and
blessed them. But sin dissolved this union at last.
2. The reason why this union was dissolved is given in the following verse. They are
the “sinful kingdom.” God’s purpose had failed. No union between God and man can
stand in the presence of sin—repeated and unrepented sin.
3. The effect of this separation between God and His people. They were destroyed off
the face of the earth; every sinner perished by the sword.
(1) No relations are more blessed than those which exist between God and His
people. His covenant is established with them, and it is a covenant of life and
blessing. Providential help in all the forms that man may need: grace and truth to
save the soul and to prepare for that home into which nothing unclean can enter.
These are God’s gifts to His people.
(2) Sin is the only power which can sever this union. In the face of all
persecution and trouble the good man can say with St. Paul: “ I am persuaded,

53. that neither death nor life, nor angels,” etc.
(3) The results of the separation for us will be more fatal than for Israel. (J.
Telford, B. A.)
And the Syrians from Kir.
Migrations from Kir
The most competent authorities teach us to conceive of successive waves of population
issuing from the mountainous country near the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris,
to which the narrative of Genesis points as the cradle of the human race, and to which
the Mosaic accounts of the Deluge bring us back as the centre from which the children of
Noah went forth again to people the earth. Of all the migrations from the land of Kir, to
the regions that lay south-west of it, that which is of the greatest importance in the
history of man, is undoubtedly the one which the Bible connects with the name of Terah.
But this was so far from being the first of the movements in this direction, that it is much
more likely to have been the last. The anthropomorphic language Of the Mosaic record is
certainly not intended to hinder us from the quest of second causes for the change of
abode, which it ascribes to the direct command of Deity. It was probably partly in
consequence of the barrenness of the upper valley of the Euphrates, that rendered it
little fitted for the home of a pastoral tribe; partly from the establishment of a powerful
non-Semitic empire upon the banks of the Tigris, leading, according to an old tradition,
which may be accepted in its general meaning, even if its details bear the stamp of later
invention, to the persecution of those who clung to the purer faith, that the family of
Abraham found its way into the more fertile and peaceful land of Canaan. But the same
causes which had urged him on we may believe to have been powerful with kindred
tribes. All evidence that we have confirms the supposition that, long before the days of
Abraham, Semitic tribes had pressed along the path by which the Divine guidance was to
lead him, to the land that should afterwards be possessed by his descendants, as the
sand that is by the seashore for multitude. (A. S. Wilkins, M. A.)
TRAPP, "Verse 7
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?
Ver. 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me] The emphasis lieth in this last
word, "unto me," who am no respecter of persons, "but in every nation he that feareth
God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him," Acts 10:35. Unto yourselves
indeed you seem some great business, because Israelites; "to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants," Romans 9:4. To others also you seem a
great nation, yea, a wise and understanding people, as having God so nigh unto you and
so set for you, Deuteronomy 4:6-7; Deuteronomy 33:29. But tell me, Quis te discrevit?
Who made you to differ? and what have ye more than others that ye have not me to
thank for? You look upon the Ethiopians with scorn, as an ignoble and servile people; as
likewise upon the uncircumcised Philistines and unhallowed Syrians. But wherein are
you beyond them, if you look back to your original, and consider my dealings with them
and you? It is nothing else but self-love that maketh you thus insolent; and teacheth you

54. to turn the glass to see yourselves bigger, others lesser than they are. You foolishly set up
your counter for a thousand pound; and are in some sense like those Ethiopians, or
Negroes, so much slighted by you; of whom it is said they paint the devil white, as being
a colour contrary to their own. But much more to blame are you, that being God’s
peculiar people, and partakers of such great privileges, you do no more change your evil
manners than the Ethiopians do their black hue, Jeremiah 13:23, you are nowhere white
but in your teeth, as they; good a little from the teeth outward. I am near in your
mouths, but far from your reins, Jeremiah 12:2. Such a one was that stigmatic Cush the
Benjamite, mentioned in the title of the seventh Psalm (perhaps Saul, the son of Kish the
Benjamite, is intended), non tam cute quam corde Aethiopicus, of black and ill
conditions; and therefore to God no better than an Ethiopian, or any other Pagan people.
Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt] q.d. I grant I have; and you glory
very much in it; whereas you should rather glorify me much for it, and walk worthy of
such a deliverance; for every blessing is a binder, and every new deliverance a new tie to
obedience. But what singular thing have I herein done for you more than for Philistines
and Syrians, whom yet you look upon as dogs and outcasts!
Have not I also brought up the Philistines from Caphtor] i.e. from Cappadocia (called an
island, Jeremiah 47:4, because it bordered upon the sea), or, as some will have it, from
Cyrus, a rich island, called therefore Macariah, that is, blessed.
And the Syrians from Kir] Syros e Ciro, from Cyrene, a country of Asia, as Beroaldus
thinketh. It is mentioned, Isaiah 22:6, as subject to the king of Assyria; and thither the
Syrians were resettled by Tiglathpileser, 2 Kings 16:9, but when either these or the
Philistines were brought back again to their own countries, we read not in Scripture or
elsewhere at this day. "These are ancient things" (as it is said in another case, 1
Chronicles 4:22), and are here alleged as well known to the Israelites, who are nipped on
the crown, as they say, and pulled from that perilous pinnacle of self-exaltation,
whereupon they had unhappily perked themselves.
ELLICOTT, "Verse 7
(7) Ethiopians.—Israel had presumed on the special favour of Jehovah. The prophet asks
them whether, after all, they are better or safer than the Ethiopians, whom they
despised. He who led Israel from Egypt also brought the Philistines from Caphtor, and
the Syrians from Kir. Caphtor is mentioned in the table of races, Genesis 10:14 (where
the clause referring to the Philistines should probably be placed at the end of the verse).
The LXX. followed by the Targums and Peshito interpret Caphtor as Cappadocia,
probably from resemblance in form. R. S. Poole, art. “Caphtor,” in the Dictionary of the
Bible, compares the Egyptian Kebtu or Koptos, and places the Caphtorim in Upper
Egypt, while Ebers holds that they had their settlements in the Nile delta. But the
identification of Caphtor with Crete is most probable. So Rosenmüller, Ewald, Dillmann,

55. &c. On Kir, probably E. of the Euphrates, see Note on Amos 1:5.
EBC, "THE VOICES OF ANOTHER DAWN
Amos 9:7-15
And now we are come to the part where, as it seems, voices of another day mingle with
that of Amos, and silence his judgments in the chorus of their unbroken hope. At first,
however, it is himself without doubt who speaks. He takes up the now familiar truth,
that when it comes to judgment for sin, Israel is no dearer to Jehovah than any other
people of His equal Providence.
"Are ye not unto Me, O children of Israel-‘tis the oracle of Jehovah-just like the children
of Kushites?" mere black folk and far away! "Did I not bring up Israel from Egypt, and
the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?" Mark again the universal Providence
which Amos proclaims: it is the due concomitant of his universal morality. Once for all
the religion of Israel breaks from the characteristic Semitic belief that gave a god to
every people, and limited both his power and his interests to that people’s territory and
fortunes. And if we remember how everything spiritual in the religion of Israel,
everything in its significance for mankind, was rendered possible only because at this
date it broke from and abjured the particularism in which it had been born, we shall feel
some of the Titanic force of the prophet, in whom that break was achieved with an
absoluteness which leaves nothing to be desired. But let us also emphasize that it was by
no mere method of the intellect or observation of history that Amos was led to assert the
unity of the Divine Providence. The inspiration in this was a moral one: Jehovah was
ruler and guide of all the families of mankind, because He was exalted in righteousness;
and the field in which that righteousness was proved and made manifest was the life and
the fate of Israel. Therefore to this Amos now turns. "Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah
are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the ground." In other
words, Jehovah’s sovereignty over the world was not proved by Israel’s conquest of the
latter, but by His unflinching application of the principles of righteousness, at whatever
cost, to Israel herself.
Up to this point, then, the voice of Amos is unmistakable, uttering the doctrine, so
original to him, that in the judgment of God Israel shall not be specially favored, and the
sentence, we have heard so often from him, of her removal from her land. Remember,
Amos has not yet said a word in mitigation of the sentence: up to this point of his book it
has been presented as inexorable and final. But now to a statement of it as absolute as
any that has gone before, there is suddenly added a qualification: "nevertheless I will not
utterly destroy the house of Jacob-‘tis the oracle of Jehovah." And then there is added a
new picture of exile changed from doom to discipline, a process of sifting by which only
the evil in Israel, "all the sinners of My people," shall perish, but not a grain of the good.
"For, lo, I am giving command, and I will toss the house of Israel among all the nations,
like" something "that is tossed in a sieve, but not a pebble shall fall to earth. By the
sword shall die all the sinners of My people, they who say, The calamity shall not reach
nor anticipate us."

56. Now as to these qualifications of the hitherto unmitigated judgments of the book, it is to
be noted that there is nothing in their language to lead us to take them from Amos
himself. On the contrary, the last clause describes what he has always called a
characteristic sin of his day. Our only difficulties are that hitherto Amos has never
qualified his sentences of doom, and that the change now appears so suddenly that the
two halves of the verse in which it does so absolutely contradict each other. Read them
again, Amos 9:8 : "Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful nation, and I will
destroy it from off the face of the ground-nevertheless destroying I shall not destroy the
‘house of Jacob: ‘tis the oracle of Jehovah." Can we believe the same prophet to have
uttered at the same time these two statements? And is it possible to believe that prophet
to be the hitherto unwavering, un-qualifying Amos? Noting these things, let us pass to
the rest of the chapter. We break from all shadows; the verses are verses of pure hope.
The judgment on Israel is not averted; but having taken place her ruin is regarded as not
irreparable.
"In that day"-the day Amos has threatened of overthrow and ruin-"I will raise again the
fallen but of David and will close up its breaches, and his ruins I will raise, and I will
build it up as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the
nations upon whom My Name has been called"-that is, as once their Possessor-"‘tis the
oracle of Jehovah, He who is about to do this."
"The "fallen but of David" undoubtedly means the fall of the kingdom of Judah. It is not
language Amos uses, or, as it seems to me, could have used, of the fall of the Northern
Kingdom only. Again, it is undoubted that Amos contemplated the fall of, Judah: this is
implicit in such a phrase as the whole family that brought up from Egypt." [Amos 3:1]
He saw then "the day" and "the ruins" of which Amos 9:11 speaks. The only question is,
can we attribute to him the prediction of a restoration of these ruins? And this is a
question which must be answered in face of the facts that the rest of his book is
unrelieved by a single gleam of hope, and that his threat of the nation’s destruction is
absolute and final. Now it is significant that in face of those facts Cornill (though ‘he has
changed his opinion) once believed it was "surely possible for Amos to include
restoration in his prospect of ruin," as (he might have added) other prophets
undoubtedly do. I confess I cannot so readily get over the rest of the book and its gloom;
and am the less inclined to be sure about these verses being Amos’ own that it seems to
have been not unusual for later generations, for whom the daystar was beginning to rise,
to add their own inspired hopes to the unrelieved threats of their predecessors of the
midnight. The mention of Edom does not help us much: in the days of Amos after the
partial conquest by Uzziah the promise of "the rest of Edom" was singularly appropriate.
On the other hand, what interest had so purely ethical a prophet in the mere addition of
territory? To this point we shall ‘have to return for our final decision. We have still the
closing oracle-a very pleasant piece of music, as if the birds had come out after the
thunderstorm, and the wet hills were glistening in the sunshine.
"Lo, days are coming-‘tis the oracle of Jehovah when the ploughman shall catch up the
reaper, and the grape-treader him that streweth the seed." The seasons shall jostle each
other, harvest following hard upon seed-time, vintage upon spring. It is that "happy
contention of seasons" which Josephus describes as the perpetual blessing of Galilee.

57. "And the mountains shall drip with new wine and all the hills shall flow down. And I-will
bring back the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build" the "waste cities and
dwell" in them, "and plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, and make gardens and
eat their fruits. And I will plant them on their own ground; and they shall not be
uprooted any more from their own ground which I have given to them, saith Jehovah
thy God." Again we meet the difficulty: does the voice that speaks here speak with
captivity already realized? or is it the voice of one who projects himself forward to a day,
which, by the oath of the Lord Himself, is certain to come?
We have now surveyed the whole of this much-doubted, much-defended passage. I have
stated fully the arguments on both sides. On the one hand, we have the fact that nothing
in the language of the verses, and nothing in their historical allusions, precludes their
being by Amos; we have also to admit that, having threatened a day of ruin, it was
possible for Amos to realize by his mind’s eye its arrival, and standing at that point to see
the sunshine flooding the ruins and to prophesy a restoration. In all this there is nothing
impossible in itself or inconsistent with the rest of the book. On the other hand, we have
the impressive and incommensurable facts: first, that this change to hope comes
suddenly, without preparation and without statement of reasons, at the very end of a
book whose characteristics are not only a final and absolute sentence of ruin upon the
people, and an outlook of unrelieved darkness, but scornful discouragement of every
popular vision of a prosperous future; and, second, that the prophetic books contain
numerous signs that later generations wove their own brighter hopes into the abrupt
and hopeless conclusions of prophecies of judgment.
To this balance of evidence is there anything to add? I think there is; and that it decides
the question. All these prospects of the future restoration of Israel are absolutely without
a moral feature. They speak of return from captivity, of political restoration, of
supremacy over the Gentiles, and of a revived Nature, hanging with fruit, dripping with
must. Such hopes are natural and legitimate to a people who were long separated from
their devastated and neglected land, and whose punishment and penitence were
accomplished. But they are not natural to a prophet like Amos. Imagine him predicting a
future like this! Imagine him describing the consummation of his people’s history,
without mentioning one of those moral triumphs to rally his people to which his whole
passion and energy had been devoted. To me it is impossible to hear the voice that cried,
"Let justice roll on like waters and righteousness like a perennial stream," in a peroration
which is content to tell of mountains dripping with must and of a people satisfied with
vineyards and gardens. These are legitimate hopes; but they are the hopes of a
generation of other conditions and of other deserts than the generation of Amos.
If then the gloom of this great book is turned into light, such a change is not due to
Amos.

58. 8 “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
the descendants of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
BAR ES, "Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom - The
sinful kingdom may mean each “sinful kingdom,” as Paul says, God “will render unto
every man according to his deeds - unto them who do not obey the truth but obey
unrighteousness, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the
Jew first, and also of the Gentile” Rom_2:6-9. His “Eyes” are “on the sinful kingdom,”
whatsoever or wheresoever it be, and so on Israel also: “and I will destroy it from off the
face of the earth.” In this case, the emphasis would be on the, “I will not “utterly”
destroy.” God would destroy sinful kingdoms, yet Israel, although sinful, He would not
“utterly” destroy, but would leave a remnant, as He had so often promised. Yet perhaps,
and more probably, the contrast is between “the kingdom” and “the house of Israel. The
kingdom,” being founded in sin, bound up inseparably with sin, God says, “I will destroy
from off the face of the earth,” and it ceased forever. Only, with the kingdom, He says, “I
will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” to whom were the promises, and to whose
seed, whosoever were the true Israel, those promises should be kept. So He explains;
CLARKE, "The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom - The
kingdom of Israel, peculiarly sinful; and therefore to be signally destroyed by the
Assyrians.
I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob - The race shall not become extinct:
I will reserve them as monuments of my justice, and finally of my mercy.
GILL, "Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,.... God
is omniscient, and his eyes are everywhere, and upon all persons, good and bad, and
upon all kingdoms, especially upon a sinful nation: "the sinning kingdom" (n), or "the
kingdom of sin" (o), as it may be rendered; that is addicted to sin, where it prevails and
reigns; every such kingdom, particularly the kingdom of Israel, Ephraim, or the ten

59. tribes, given to idolatry, and other sins complained of in this prophecy; and that not for
good, but for evil, as in Amo_9:4; in order to cut them off from being a people:
and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth: so that it shall be no more, at
least as a kingdom; as the ten tribes have never been since their captivity by
Shalmaneser; though Japhet interprets this of all the kingdoms of the earth, being sinful,
the eyes of God are upon them to destroy them, excepting the kingdom of Israel; so
Abarbinel:
saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord; and
so it is, that though they have been destroyed as a kingdom, yet not utterly as a people;
there were some of the ten tribes that mixed with the Jews, and others that were
scattered about in the world; and a remnant among them, according to the election of
grace, that were met with in the ministry of the apostles, and in the latter day all Israel
shall be saved; see Jer_30:10.
HE RY, "How justly God passes this sentence upon the people of Israel. He does not
destroy them by an act of sovereignty, but by an act of righteousness; for (Amo_9:8), it
is a sinful kingdom, and the eyes of the Lord are upon it, discovering it to be so; he sees
the great sinfulness of it, and therefore he will destroy it from off the face of the earth.
Note, When those kingdoms that in name and profession were holy kingdoms, and
kingdoms of priests, as Israel was, become sinful kingdoms, no other can be expected
than that they should be cut off and abandoned. Let sinful kingdoms, and sinful families,
and sinful persons too, see the eyes of the Lord upon them, observing all their
wickedness, and reserving the notice of it for the day of reckoning and recompence. This
being a sinful kingdom, see how light God makes of it, Amo_9:7.
(1.) Of the relation wherein he stood to it: Are you not as children of Ethiopians unto
me, O children of Israel? A sad change! Children of Israel become as children of the
Ethiopians! [1.] They were so in themselves; that was their sin. It is a thing to be greatly
lamented that the children of Israel often become as children of the Ethiopians; this
children of godly parents degenerate, and become the reverse of those that went before
them. Those that were well-educated, and trained up in the knowledge and fear of God,
and set out well, and promised fair, throw off their profession and become as bad as the
worst. How has the gold become dim! [2.] The were so in God's account, and that was
their punishment. He valued them no more, though they were children of Israel, than if
they had been children of the Ethiopians. We read of one in the title of Ps. 7 that was
Cush (an Ethiopian, as some understand it) and yet a Benjamite. Those that by birth and
profession are children of Israel, if they degenerate, and become wicked and vile, are to
God no more than children of the Ethiopians. This is an intimation of the rejection of the
unbelieving Jews in the days of the Messiah; because they embraced not the doctrine of
Christ, the kingdom of God was taken from them, they were unchurched, and cast out of
covenant, became as children of the Ethiopians, and are so to this day. And it is true of
those that are called Christians, but do no live up to their name and profession, that rest
in the form of piety, but live under the power of reigning iniquity, that they are to God as
children of the Ethiopians; he rejects them, and their services.
(2.) See how light he makes of the favours he had conferred upon them; they thought
he would not, he could not, cast them off, and put them upon a level with other nations,
because he had done that for them which he had not done for other nations, whereby
they thought he was bound to them, so as never to leave them. “No,” says he, “The

60. favours shown to you are not so distinguishing as you think they are: Have I not brought
up Israel out of the land of Egypt?” It is true I have; but I have also brought the
Philistines from Caphtor, or Cappadocia, where they were natives, or captives, or both;
they are called the remnant of the country of Caphtor (Jer_47:4), and the Philistim are
joined with the Caphtorim, Gen_10:14. In like manner the Syrians were brought up from
Kir when they had been carried away thither, 2Ki_16:9. Note, If God's Israel lose the
peculiarity of their holiness, they lose the peculiarity of their privileges; and what was
designed as a favour of special grace shall be set in another light, shall have its property
altered, and shall become an act of common providence; if professors liken themselves
to the world, God will level them with the world. And, if we live not up to the obligation
of God's mercies, we forfeit the honour and comfort of them.
JAMISO , "eyes ... upon the sinful kingdom — that is, I am watching all its
sinful course in order to punish it (compare Amo_9:4; Psa_34:15, Psa_34:16).
not utterly destroy the house of Jacob — Though as a “kingdom” the nation is
now utterly to perish, a remnant is to be spared for “Jacob,” their forefather’s sake
(compare Jer_30:11); to fulfil the covenant whereby “the seed of Israel” is hereafter to be
“a nation for ever” (Jer_31:36).
CALVI ,"Verse 8
Here the Prophet concludes that God would take vengeance on the Israelites as on
other nations, without any difference; for they could not set up anything to prevent
his judgment. It was indeed an extraordinary blindness in the Israelites, who were
doubly guilty of ingratitude, to set up as their shield the benefits with which they
had been favored. Though then the name of God had been wickedly and shamefully
profaned by them, they yet thought that they were safe, because they had been once
adopted. This presumption Amos now beats down. Behold, he says, the eyes of the
Lord Jehovah are upon all the wicked Some restrict this to the kingdom of Israel,
but, in my opinion, such a view militates against the design of the Prophet. He
speaks indefinitely of all kingdoms as though he had said, that God would be the
judge of the whole world, that he would spare no kingdoms or countries. God then
will show himself everywhere to be the punisher of vices, and will summon all
kingdoms before his tribunal, By destroying I will destroy from the face of the earth
all the ungodly and the wicked.
ow the second clause I understand otherwise than most do: for they think it
contains a mitigation of punishment, as the Prophets are wont to blend promises of
favor with threatening, and as our Prophet does in this chapter. But it seems not to
me that anything is promised to the Israelites: nay, if I am not much mistaken, it is
an ironical mode of speaking; for Amos obliquely glances here at that infatuated
presumption, of which we have spoken, that the Israelites thought that they were
safe through some peculiar privilege, and that they were to be exempt from all
punishment: “I will not spare unbelievers,” he says, “who excuse themselves by
comparing themselves with you. Shall I tolerate your sins and not dare to touch you,
seeing that you know yourselves to be doubly wicked?” We must indeed notice in
what other nations differed from the Israelites; for the more the children of

61. Abraham had been raised, the more they increased their guilt when they despised
God, the author of so many blessings, and became basely wanton by shaking off, as
it were, the yoke. Since then they so ungratefully abused God’s blessings, God might
then have spared other nations: it was therefore necessary to bring them to
punishment, for they were wholly inexcusable. As then they exceeded all other
nations in impiety, the Prophet very properly reasons here from the greater to the
less: “I take an account,” he says, “of all the sins which are in the world, and no
nations shall escape my hand: how then can the Israelites escape? For other nations
can plead some ignorance, as they have never been taught; and that they go astray
in darkness is no matter of wonder. But ye, to whom I have given light, and whom I
have daily exhorted to repent, — shall ye be unpunished? How could this be? I
should not then be the judge of the world.” We now then perceive the real meaning
of the Prophet: “Lo,” he says “the eyes of Jehovah are upon every sinful kingdom; I
will destroy all the nations who have sinned from the face of the earth, though they
have the pretense of ignorance for their sins; shall I not now, forsooth, destroy the
house of Israel?” Here then the Prophet speaks ironically, Except that I shall not
destroy by destroying the house of Israel; that is, “Do you wish me to be subservient
to you, as though my hands were tied, that I could not take vengeance on you? what
right have you to do this? and what can hinder me from punishing ingratitude so
great and so shameful?”
BE SO , "Verses 8-10
Amos 9:8-10. The eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom — See Amos 9:4.
Saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob — God still promises to
preserve a remnant in the midst of his heaviest judgments, that he may perform the
promises made to their fathers. Lo, I will sift the house of Israel among all nations
— I will mingle, or scatter, the Israelites among other nations, just as good and bad
grain are mingled in a sieve; but will so order it, that none of the good grain shall be
lost or fall to the ground. Though the good shall be involved in the calamities which
are sent to punish the wicked, yet shall they be preserved from destruction. All the
sinners of my people shall die by the sword — Those unbelieving and obstinately
wicked men who have paid no regard to the warnings of the prophets, and have
given no credit to their predictions, shall all perish by the sword, or by some
judgment sent by me. Which say, The evil shall not overtake us — Who indulge
themselves in their carnal security, without any dread or apprehension of the divine
judgments denounced against them.
COFFMA , "Verse 8
"Behold the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will
destroy it from off the face of the earth."
This verse is not a promise that God will destroy "the house of Jacob," nor a
promise that God will annihilate the total posterity of Abraham; but it is a promise
to wipe "the sinful kingdom" off the face of the planet. Which sinful kingdom?
Every sinful kingdom, especially the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom
of Israel. The ultimate application of this to the whole world of wicked and
unbelieving humanity is dramatically detailed in the prophecy of Revelation

62. (Revelation 19:11-21). In the case of the kingdoms of the Jews, the very initiation of
their kingdom under Saul was a rejection of God (1 Samuel 8:7); reciprocally, this
was also their rejection of their own status as "God's chosen people," a term that
henceforth would apply to the "righteous remnant" and not to Israel as a whole.
McKeating interpreted this and the preceding verse 7 as "a formal contradiction of
Amos 3:2, `For you alone have I cared among all the nations of the world.'"[12]
However, these verses are not speaking of the same thing. God's solicitous care for
"you," means his special and unique care for those who love and obey him, a
promise valid now, and eternally, and which in no sense nullifies or contradicts
what is said here of the destruction of the sinful kingdom. Furthermore, in God's
selection and choice of Abraham's posterity as containing "his chosen people," there
were countless instances in which Israel had indeed been "cared for" by the Father
in a manner absolutely unique in human history, a blessing absolutely not founded
in any divine partiality for Jews, but necessary for the ultimate blessing of "all the
families of the earth." At the time of God's choice of Israel, idolatry was so
widespread and nearly universal on earth, that the very knowledge of God might
have perished from the planet had it not been for the choice of Abraham.
McKeating's allegation of a contradiction here, as is usually the case with such
allegations, is founded upon a fundamental ignorance of what this prophecy is
saying. Hammershaimb correctly observed what is denoted by these verses thus:
"The point was that Israel had no entitlement to sin more than others, because
Yahweh had chosen it; on the contrary, this carried with it all the greater
obligations on the side of the people, and Yahweh would not spare them for that
reason."[13]
There is nothing in these verses which may be interpreted as a denial that, "God is
the God of all history, not of Hebrew history alone; he is behind all the great world
movements, the migrations of people ... are ultimately determined and effected by
him."[14] Paul's great sermon in Athens emphasizes this truth (Acts 17).
Smith also observed that:
"God seems to be announcing the end of God's special relationship to Israel as a
nation (i.e., a kingdom). It means that God will treat Israel like any other nation; the
nation will have no special privileges; and when they sin they will be punished."[15]
This of course, is true; but it needs to be pointed out that their secular state had
never been the object of any special favor from God (for it was contrary to his will),
except in the necessity that time and again, there was no way to aid the "righteous
remnant" without aiding and favoring the wicked state of which that remnant was
an integral part. This mingling of the two Israels in the Old Testament is one of the
primary factors usually overlooked by commentators. Paul elaborated the
distinction between these two Israels in Romans (Romans 9-11), and no full
understanding either of the ew Testament or the ancient prophecies is possible
without keeping this distinction constantly in view. The true Israel was, and ever
will be, the people who love and obey God; the other Israel, as this passage

63. dogmatically affirms has the same status with God as the Ethiopians, the Philistines
and the Syrians!
"The sinful kingdom ..." in this verse refers to both Judah and Israel; but "the
house of Jacob" in the last half of this verse is a reference to the "righteous
remnant," which is the true Israel.
"Save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah."
Having failed, completely, to understand what Amos is saying, some commentators
assault the integrity of this passage:
"This flatly contradicts the point of the whole (verse). It is a later addition to the
text ... The opinion expressed in 8b is doubtless that of a Judean redactor[16] ...
These verses are manifestly later additions,"[17] etc.
Such denials of the Word of God may be rejected with impunity; they are founded
upon no sufficient evidence and are but the futile denials of some scholars whose
fallacious interpretations of previous passages are contradicted here. It should be
kept in mind, however, that it is not the previous words of the prophet Amos which
this half-verse contradicts, but the false opinions advanced in the inaccurate
interpretation of preceding verses.
Smith, after taking note of the assault upon the integrity of this verse, freely
admitted that, "It must also be said that these verses could have come from
Amos."[18] The obvious truth is that any one understanding the full significance of
this section finds them fully harmonious with the whole verse and the whole
prophecy and will have no hesitancy whatever in receiving them as the true words
of God spoken through Amos.
Essentially, it is the good news of this passage which is so repulsive to many
interpreters, who have already decided that there can be no good news at all in a
book with so many warnings and denunciations. As Smith said, "Many earlier
scholars did not believe that a prophet could predict judgment and hope (woe and
weal) at the same time."[19] Fortunately, most present-day scholars have outgrown
such a naive and foolish notion. "Present scholars recognize that messages of weal
and woe often came from the same prophet."[20] It is surely evident that scholarly
bias entered into the rejection of this part of Amos, as did also their failure to
discern its true import.
"The house of Jacob ..." is not a mere distinction between the northern and
southern kingdoms, for the term stands for "the righteous remnant" of both
kingdoms; the true antithesis is between the "sinful kingdom" (8a) and "house of
Jacob" as a "divine kernel in the nation, by virtue of its divine election, out of which
the Lord will form a new and holy people."[21] This "kernel" is the "righteous
remnant," the true Israel of God, who were never, in fact, identifiable as "the
kingdom." Elijah and the 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal represented the totality
of that remnant during the reign of the wicked Ahab (1 Kings 19:10; Romans 11:4).

64. This righteous remnant was the remnant formed by the true believers in both the
secular kingdoms of Israel and Judah, in the same sense that "the sinful kingdom"
refers to the same two secular kingdoms.
Thus, here in Amos 9:8b is introduced the subject of the concluding verses of Amos'
great prophecy which foretells how God will, from that righteous remnant, develop
the universal kingdom of the church of Christ and endow it with the most
extravagant blessings, that new "kingdom," being not a kingdom of this world at
all, but the true followers of Christ, his church being called the "rebuilt tabernacle
of David" (Amos 9:11).
K&D 8-10, "Election, therefore, will not save sinful Israel from destruction. After
Amos has thus cut off all hope of deliverance from the ungodly, he repeats, in his own
words in Amo_9:8., the threat already exhibited symbolically in Amo_9:1. Amo_9:8.
“Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are against the sinful kingdom, and I destroy it
from off the face of the earth; except that I shall not utterly destroy the house of Jacob:
is the saying of Jehovah. Amo_9:9. For, behold, I command, and shake the house of
Israel among all nations, as (corn) is shaken in a sieve, and not even a little grain falls
to the ground. Amo_9:10. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say,
The evil will not overtake or come to us.” The sinful kingdom is Israel; not merely the
kingdom of the ten tribes however, but all Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes along
with Judah, the house of Jacob or Israel, which is identical with the sons of Israel, who
had become like the Cushites, although Amos had chiefly the people and kingdom of the
ten tribes in his mind. Bammamlâkhâh, not upon the kingdom, but against the kingdom.
The directing of the eye upon an object is expressed by ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ (Amo_9:4) or ‫ל‬ ֶ‫א‬ (cf. Psa_
34:16); whereas ‫ב‬ is used in relation to the object upon which anger rests (Psa_34:17).
Because the Lord had turned His eye towards the sinful kingdom, He must exterminate
it, - a fate with which Moses had already threatened the nation in Deu_6:15.
Nevertheless (‫י‬ ִⅴ ‫ס‬ ֶ‫פ‬ ֶ‫,א‬ “only that,” introducing the limitation, as in Num_13:28; Deu_
15:4) the house of Jacob, the covenant nation, shall not be utterly destroyed. The “house
of Jacob” is opposed to the “sinful nation;” not, however, so that the antithesis simply
lies in the kingdom and people (regnum delebo, non populum), or that the “house of
Jacob” signifies the kingdom of Judah as distinguished from the kingdom of the ten
tribes, for the “house of Jacob” is perfectly equivalent to the “house of Israel” (Amo_
9:9). The house of Jacob is not to be utterly destroyed, but simply to be shaken, as it
were, in a sieve. The antithesis lies in the predicate ፎ ָ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫,ה‬ the sinful kingdom. So far as
Israel, as a kingdom and people, is sinful, it is to be destroyed from off the face of the
earth. But there is always a divine kernel in the nation, by virtue of its divine election, a
holy seed out of which the Lord will form a new and holy people and kingdom of God.
Consequently the destruction will not be a total one, a ‫יד‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ፍ ‫יד‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫.ה‬ The reason for this is
introduced by kı (for) in Amo_9:9. The Lord will shake Israel among the nations, as corn
is shaken in a sieve; so that the chaff flies away, and the dust and dirt fall to the ground,
and only the good grains are left in the sieve. Such a sieve are the nations of the world,
through which Israel is purified from its chaff, i.e., from its ungodly members. Tse
rōr,
generally a bundle; here, according to its etymology, that which is compact or firm, i.e.,
solid grain as distinguished from loose chaff. In 2Sa_17:13 it is used in a similar sense to

65. denote a hard piece of clay or a stone in a building. Not a single grain fill fall to the
ground, that is to say, not a good man will be lost (cf. 1Sa_26:20). The self-secure
sinners, however, who rely upon their outward connection with the nation of God
(compare Amo_9:7 and Amo_3:2), or upon their zeal in the outward forms of worship
(Amo_5:21.), and fancy that the judgment cannot touch them (‫ד‬ ַ‫ע‬ ְ ‫ים‬ ִ ְ‫ק‬ ִ‫,ה‬ to come to
meet a person round about him, i.e., to come upon him from every side), will all perish
by the sword. This threat is repeated at the close, without any formal link of connection
with Amo_9:9, not only to prevent any abuse of the foregoing modification of the
judgment, but also to remove this apparent discrepancy, that whereas in Amo_9:1-4 it is
stated that not one will escape the judgment, according to Amo_9:8, the nation of Israel
is not to be utterly destroyed. In order to anticipate the frivolity of the ungodly, who
always flatter themselves with the hope of escaping when there is a threatening of any
general calamity, the prophet first of all cuts off all possibilities whatever in Amo_9:1-4,
without mentioning the exceptions; and it is not till afterwards that the promise is
introduced that the house of Israel shall not be utterly annihilated, whereby the general
threat is limited to sinners, and the prospect of deliverance and preservation through the
mercy of God is opened to the righteous. The historical realization or fulfilment of this
threat took place, so far as Israel of the ten tribes was concerned, when their kingdom
was destroyed by the Assyrians, and in the case of Judah, at the overthrow of the
kingdom and temple by the Chaldeans; and the shaking of Israel in the sieve is still being
fulfilled upon the Jews who are dispersed among all nations.
TRAPP, "Verse 8
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.
Ver. 8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom] Be it Ethiopia,
Palestina, Syria, or Israel, but especially Israel, Amos 3:2, not his eye only, his εκδικον
οµµα, his jealous eye, as Amos 9:4, for evil, and not for good; but both his eyes, yea, his
seven eyes, for he is ολοφθαλµος, all eye, to look through and through the sinful
kingdom, to judge and punish, to inflict "tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of
man that doeth evil, of the Jew first," because of his privileges, "and also of the Gentile,"
Romans 2:9. "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a
diamond," Jeremiah 17:1, and Israel is therefore worse than others, because he ought to
have been better. His whole kingdom is a kingdom of sin, a merum seclus, from pure
wickedness, a very Poneropolis, as that place in Thraeia was called whither Philip had
assembled all the infamous persons and men of evil demeanour. "What is the
transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria?" Micah 1:5; their capital sins were most in
their capital cities; and thence overflowed the whole kingdom; called therefore here a
sinful kingdom, wholly given to idolatry (as Athens was, Acts 17:16, κατειδωλος), which
is that sin with an accent, that wickedness with a witness, Exodus 32:21, 1 Kings 12:30; 1
Kings 15:3; 1 Kings 15:30, that land desolating sin, Jeremiah 22:7-9, Psalms 78:58-62.
And I will destroy it] See here the venomous nature of sin, and shun it, else we shall
prove traitors to the state, and have our hands, if not upon the great cart ropes, yet upon
the lesser cords, that draw down vengeance upon the land. And here some one sinner
may destroy much good, Ecclesiastes 9:18, how much more a rabble of rebels, conspiring

66. to provoke the eyes of God’s glory!
Saying that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob] A remnant shall be left for royal
use, reliquas faciam reliquias, and so make a manifest difference, see Jeremiah 30:11,
remembering my promise, Leviticus 26:40, which is a special text touching the rejecting
and conversion of the Jews, as is also this in some men’s judgments. For here (say they)
is a threatening of extreme desolation with some comfort interlaced of a remnant to be
reserved; among whom it is further promised, 1. That the kingdom of David through
Christ shall be set up as glorious as ever it was before, in the most flourishing times of
David or Solomon, Amos 9:11 2. Next, other nations shall join with them and be made
partakers of one common inheritance, Amos 9:12. So doth James, Acts 15:16-17,
expound it. 3. Thirdly, there is promised the fruitfulness of their land, Amos 9:13, the
inhabiting in their own country, Amos 9:14, and the perpetuity of their abode there,
Amos 9:15. But all this others think to be, optabile magis quam opinabile, little better
than a golden dream.
9 “For I will give the command,
and I will shake the people of Israel
among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
and not a pebble will reach the ground.
BAR ES, "For lo! I will command! - Literally, “lo! see, I am commanding.” He
draws their attention to it, as something which shall shortly be; and inculcates that He is
the secret disposer of all which shall befall them. “And I will sift the house of Israel
among all nations.” Amos enlarges the prophecy of Hosea, “they shall be wanderers
among the nations.” He adds two thoughts; the violence with which they shall be shaken,
and that this their unsettled life, to and fro, shall be not “among the nations” only, but
“in all” nations. In every quarter of the world, and in well-nigh every nation in every
quarter, Jews have been found. The whole earth is, as it were, one vast sieve in the
Hands of God, in which Israel is shaken from one end to the other. There has been one
ceaseless tossing to and fro, as the grain in the sieve is tossed from side to side, and rests

67. nowhere, until all is sifted.
Each nation in whom they have been found has been an instrument of their being
shaken, sifted, severed, the grain from the dirt and chaff; And yet in their whole
compass, “not the least grain,” no solid grain, not one grain, should “fall to the earth.”
The chaff and dust would be blown away by the air; the dirt which clave to it would fall
through; but “no one grain.” God, in all these centuries, has had an eye on each soul of
His people in their dispersion throughout all lands. The righteous too have been shaken
up and down, through and through; yet not one soul has been lost, which, by the help of
God’s Holy Spirit, willed truly and earnestly to be saved. Before Christ came, they who
were His, believed in Him who should come; when He came, they who were His were
converted to Him; as Paul saith, “Hath God cast away His people? God forbid! For I also
am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin - God hath not cast
away His people which He foreknew - At this present time also there is a remnant,
according to the election of grace” Rom_11:1-2, Rom_11:5.
Rib.: “What is here said of all, God doth daily in each of the elect. For they are ‘the
wheat” of God, which, in order to be “laid up in” the heavenly “garner,” must be pure
from chaff and dust. To this end He sifts them by afflictions and troubles, in youth,
manhood, old age, wheresoever they are, in whatsoever occupied, and proves them again
and again. At one time the elect enjoyeth tranquility of mind, is bedewed by heavenly
refreshments, prayeth as he wills, loveth, gloweth, hath no taste for ought except God.
Then again he is dry, experienceth the heaven to be as brass, his prayer is hindered by
distracting thoughts, his feet are as lead to deeds of virtue, his “hands bang down,” his
“knees” are “feeble” Heb_12:12, he dreads death; he sticks fast, languishes. He is shaken
in a sieve, that he may mistrust self, place his hope in God, and the dust of vain-glory
may be shaken off. He is proved, that it may appear whether he cleave to God for the
reward of present enjoyment, or for the hope of future, for longing for the glory of God
and for love of Himself. God suffereth him also to be sifted by the devil through various
temptations to sin, as he said to the Apostle, “Simon, lo! Satan hath desired you, to sift
you as wheat” Luk_22:31. But this is the power of God, this His grace to the elect, this
the devil attaineth by his sifting, that the dust of immoderate self love, of vain
confidence, of love of the world, should fall off: this Satan effecteth not, that the least
deed which pertaineth to the inward house and the dwelling which they prepare in their
souls for God, should perish. Rather, as we see in holy Job, virtues will increase, grow,
be strengthened.”
CLARKE, "I will sift the house of Israel among all nations - I will disperse
them over the face of the earth; and yet I will so order it that the good shall not be lost;
for though they shall be mixed among distant nations, yet there shall be a general
restoration of them to their own land.
The least grain - ‫צרור‬ tseror, little stone, pebble, or gravel. Not one of them,
howsoever little or contemptible, when the time comes, shall be left behind. All shall be
collected in Christ, and brought into their own land.
GILL, "For, lo, I will command,.... What follows; which is expressive of afflictive
and trying dispensations of Providence, which are according to the will of God, by his
appointment and order, and overruled for his glory, and the good of his people:

68. and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a
sieve; this is to be understood of spiritual Israel, of those who are Israelites indeed, who
are like to corns of wheat, first die before they live; die unto sin, and live unto
righteousness; grow up gradually, and produce much fruit; or like to wheat for their
choiceness and excellency, being the chosen of God and precious, and the excellent in
the earth; and their whiteness and purity, as clothed with Christ's righteousness washed
in his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit; and for their substance and fulness, being filled
out of Christ's fulness, and with all the fulness of God, with the Spirit and his graces, and
with all the fruits of righteousness; and for weight and solidity, not as chaff driven to and
fro, but are firm and constant, settled and established, in divine things; and yet have the
chaff of sin cleaving to them, and have need of the flail and fan of affliction; and this is
the sieve the Lord takes into his hands, and sifts them with; whereby sometimes they are
greatly unsettled, and tossed to and fro, have no rest and ease, but are greatly distressed
on all sides, and are thoroughly searched and tried, and the chaff loosened and separated
from them; and sometimes the Lord suffers them to be sifted by the temptations of
Satan, whereby they are brought into doubts and fears, and are very wavering and
uncomfortable, are sadly harassed and buffeted, and in great danger, were it not for the
grace of God, and the intercession of the Mediator, Luk_22:31;
yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth; or, "the least stone" (p); which is
in the spiritual building, and laid on the rock and foundation Christ; or the least corn of
wheat, so called because of its weight, solidity, and substance. The meaning is, that the
least true Israelite, or child of God, who is the least in the kingdom of heaven, and has
the least share of grace and spiritual knowledge, that is even less than the least of all
saints, shall not be lost and perish; though they fall in Adam, yet they are preserved in
Christ; though they fall into actual sins and transgressions, and sometimes into gross
ones, and from a degree of steadfastness in the faith, yet not totally and finally, or so as
to perish for ever; no, not a hair of their head shall fall to the ground, or they be hurt and
ruined; see 1Sa_14:45; for they are beloved of God with an everlasting love, ordained, by
him to eternal life, adopted into his family, justified by his grace, and are kept by his
power, according to his promise, which never fails; they are Christ's property, given him
of his Father, to whom he stands in the relation of Head and Husband; are the purchase
of his blood, closely united to him, and for whom he intercedes, and makes preparations
in heaven. The Spirit of God is their sanctifier and sealer; he dwells in them as their
earnest of heaven; and the glory of all the divine Persons is concerned in their salvation;
hence it is that not one of them shall ever perish.
HE RY, " How graciously God will separate between the precious and the vile in the
day of retribution. Though the wicked Israelites shall be as the wicked Ethiopians, and
their being called Israelites shall stand them in no stead, yet the pious Israelites shall not
be as the wicked ones; no, the Judge of all the earth will do right, more right than to
slay the righteous with the wicked, Gen_18:25. His eyes are upon the sinful kingdom, to
spy out those in it who preserve their integrity and swim against the stream, who sigh
and cry for the abominations of their land, and they shall be marked for preservation, so
that the destruction shall not be total: I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, not
ruin them by wholesale and in the gross, good and bad together, but I will distinguish, as
becomes a righteous judge. The house of Israel shall be sifted as corn is sifted; they shall
be greatly hurried, and shaken, and tossed, but still in the hands of God, in both his
hands, as the sieve in the hands of him that sifts (Amo_9:9): I will sift the house of
Israel among all nations. Wherever they are shaken and scattered, God will have his eye

69. upon them, and will take care to separate between the corn and chaff, which was the
thing he designed in sifting them. (1.) The righteous ones among them, that are as the
solid wheat, shall none of them perish; they shall be delivered either from or through the
common calamities of the kingdom; not the least grain shall fall on the earth, so as to be
lost and forgotten - not the least stone (so the word is), for the good corn is weighty as a
stone in comparison with that which we call light corn. Note, Whatever shakings there
may be in the world, God does and will effectually provide that none who are truly his
shall be truly miserable.
JAMISO , "sift — 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; compare Note, see on Jer_3:14). So spiritual Israel’s final
safety is ensured (Luk_22:32; Joh_10:28; Joh_6:39).
CALVI , "Verse 9
He afterwards adds, For, lo, I will command, etc. The Prophet here confirms the
former sentence; and hence I conclude that the second part of the preceding verse is
ironically expressed; for if he had promised pardon to the Israelites, he would have
gone on with the same subject; but, on the contrary, he proceeds in another
direction, and says, that God would justly punish the Israelites; for the event would
at length make it known, that among them not even a grain would be found, but
that all would be like chaff or refuse: Lo, he says, I will shake among the nations the
Israelites as corn is shaken in a sieve: a grain, he says, shall not fall on the earth; as
though he said, “Though I shall scatter the Israelites through various places that
they may be dispersed here and there, yet this exile shall ever be like a sieve: they
now contend with me, when any grain has fallen. The event then shall show, that
there is in them nothing but chaff and filth; for I will by sieving cleanse my whole
floor, and nothing shall be found to remain on it.” If one objects and says, that there
were some godly persons in that nation, though very small in number. This I admit
to be true: but the Prophet speaks here, as in many other places, of the whole
nation; he refers not to individuals. It was then true, with regard to the body of the
people of Israel, that there was not one among them who could be compared to
grain, for all had become empty through their iniquities; and hence they necessarily
disappeared in the sieve, and were like chaff or refuse.
But it must be observed, that God here cuts off the handle for evasion, for
hypocrites ever contend with him; and although they cannot wholly clear
themselves, they yet extenuate their sins, and accuse God of too much severity. The
Prophet then anticipates such objections, “I will command,” he says, “and will
shake the house of Israel as corn is shaken.” It was a very hard lot, when the people
were thus driven into different parts of the world; it was indeed a dreadful tearing.
The Israelites might have complained that they were too severely treated; but God
by this similitude obviates this calumny, “They are indeed scattered in their exile,
yet they remain in a sieve; I will shake them, he says, among the nations: but not
otherwise than corn when shaken in a sieve: and it is allowed by the consent of all

70. that corn ought to be cleansed. Though the greater part disappears when the corn,
threshed on the floor, is afterwards subjected to the fan; yet there is no one but sees
that this is necessary and reasonable: no one complains that the chaff thus perishes.
Why so? Because it is useless. God then shows that he is not cruel, nor exceeds
moderation, though he may scatter his people through the remote regions of the
earth, for he ever keeps them in a sieve.
He afterwards adds, And fall shall not a grain on the earth They translate ‫,צרור‬
tsarur, a stone, but ‫,צרר‬ tsarer is to tie, and hence this word means what is collected
or, binding, as when the children of Jacob had their money tied in their sacks, they
said, ‘Behold my binding;’ so also now it is taken for the solid grain. God then
intimates that he would not be so rigid as not to moderate his punishment, so as to
spare the innocent. I have already said that though there would be still a remnant
among the people, yet what the Prophet says is true as to the whole body; for it had
nothing either sound or pure. But this objection might be made: It is certain that
many faithful worshipers of God were taken away into exile with the wicked; they
then fell on the earth as useless chaff or refuse; but God denies that this would be
the case. To this I answer, that though the Lord involves his servants with the
ungodly when he executes temporal punishment, he is yet ever propitious to them;
and it is certain, that however hardly they may be dealt with, they yet do not
expostulate; they groan, indeed, but at the same time they acknowledge that they are
mercifully treated by the Lord.
But another thing must also be remembered, — that though the Lord would not
have dealt so severely with his people, had they been like the few who were good, yet
not one of them was without some fault. Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, ehemiah,
Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, were indeed like angels among men; and it was
indeed a miracle, that they stood upright in the midst of so much impiety; they were
yet led into captivity. When they approached God, they could not object, that they
were punished beyond what they deserved. Worthy, indeed, was Jeremiah of
heavier punishment; and so was Daniel, though an example of the highest and even
of angelic integrity. God then could have cast them away as refuse: it is nevertheless
certain that they were wheat; and the Lord shook them in the sieve like the chaff,
yet so as ever to keep them gathered under his protection; but at the same time in a
hidden manner: as, for instance, the wheat on the floor is beaten together with the
chaff, this is common to both; no difference can be observed in the threshing. True
is this, and the case is the same when the wheat is being winnowed. When therefore
the wheat is gathered, it is, together with the chaff, to be sifted by the fan, without
any difference; but the wheat remains. So also it happened to the pious worshipers
of God; the Lord kept them collected in the sieve. But here he speaks of the people
in general; and he says that the whole people were like refuse and filth, and that
they vanished, because there was no solidity in them, no use to be made of them, so
that no one remained in the sieve. That God then preserved his servants, was an
instance of his wonderful working. But the denunciation of punishment, here
spoken of, belonged to the outward dealings of God. As then the people were like
refuse or chaff shaken and driven to various places, this happened to them justly,
because nothing solid was found in them. It now follows —

71. COFFMA , "Verse 9
"For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like
as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth."
The "house of Israel" here has exactly the same meaning as "the house of Jacob,"
having no reference at all to any secular kingdom, but to that "kernel," the
righteous remnant who truly love and obey the Lord, not a single one of whom shall
be lost or suffer destruction from the Lord. The simile here is that of a sieve used for
screening out the trash, small stones, and chaff from the true wheat which passes
through the sieve.
The historical fulfillment of this took place very shortly after the times of Amos'
prophecy when the northern kingdom was carried away by the Assyrians, never
more to appear any more as any kind of an entity; but, as the future of the southern
kingdom comes particularly into focus here, since it was with that kingdom that
"the righteous remnant" would be principally identified in the future (after the
destruction of the northern kingdom), this verse is especially a reference to the
southern kingdom. This "sifting" was fulfilled in the fail of their city, the
destruction of their temple, and the deporting of the whole nation to Babylon; but
there are overtones in the passage reaching far beyond that historical event.
It should ever be remembered that the old Israel is a type of the new; and that
sifting of the house of Jacob among the nations in the Old Testament is still going
on. "The shaking of Israel in the sieve is still being fulfilled upon the Jews who are
dispersed among all nations."[22] Who but God could have prophesied such a
remarkable thing concerning Israel, at a time in history when it would have
appeared utterly incredible? o, these verses were not added by any later editor, or
redactor!
" ot the least kernel shall fall to earth ..." This means that no Israelite, or any other
person on earth, who truly loves and seeks to do the will of God will be cut off,
regardless of the evil nature of any kingdom, or group of people, with whom he may
be environmentally associated. God knows what he is doing.
CO STABLE, "Verse 9
God would sift all the Israelites, among the other nations, to separate the people
deserving judgment from the righteous few. He would allow the righteous person
(true wheat) to slip through but would retain the unrighteous (a kernel, pebble,
anything compacted, Heb. seror) for judgment. Another possibility is that those who
do not pass through the screen represent the righteous remnant and all others are
the sinful Israelites. He would separate the righteous from the sinful as He sifted
through the Israelites. God determines just how much sinfulness makes His
punishment inevitable; He determines the mesh of the sifting screen.
TRAPP, "Verse 9

72. 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.
Ver. 9. For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel] It is not without
God’s command and good leave that evil spirits and men can sift the saints, as Satan
desired to have done Peter. He desired it, as a challenger desireth one of the other
side to combat with; so he begged leave to sift Job, and so he tempted David to
number the people, but it was by God’s permission. Up therefore and pray, that ye
enter not into temptation, Luke 22:31; Luke 22:46, or, that ye may come clear out of
it, and more than conquerors, even triumphers. The enemy is stinted; yea, Christ
will tread him under your feet shortly, Romans 16:20.
And I will sift the house of Israel among all nations] The ten tribes among the
Assyrians (who were emperors of the whole East), and whither since are they
scattered, whether into China, Tartary, West Indies, or other countries, is not
known. The whole twelve tribes (those also that once "instantly served God day and
night," Acts 26:7), are now woefully dejected and dissipated; being cast out of the
world, as it were, by a common consent of nations, and generally slighted and hated.
The Romans permitted other nations to call themselves Romans after they had
conquered them; but so they would not suffer the Jews upon any terms to do; lest
there should be some blot stick to the glory of the Romans by that odious and sordid
people. The Pope useth them as spunges, the Turk as slaves.
Like as corn is sifted in a sieve] Or, by a fan, to the same sense as that, Zechariah
13:9, for as here a sieve, so there fire serveth to denote affliction with the use of it;
sc. to purge God’s people, specially of those two troublesome choke weeds, high-
mindedness and earthly mindedness: cribratione Dei non perditur sed purgatur
frumentum, saith Zanchy, God’s good grain is not lost, but made clean by the sifting
they suffer.
Yet shall not the least grain (Heb. stone) fall upon the earth] As the chaff and dust
shall; for "what is the chaff to the wheat?" saith the Lord, Jeremiah 23:28. Improbi
nobiscum esse possunt in horreo, sed non in area The wicked are able to be with us
in the storehouse but not on the theshingfloor. (Augustine). Christ hath his fan in his
hand, and will surely discriminate, Matthew 3:12; he will take out the precious from
the vile, he will drive the chaff one way and the wheat another; and take care that
not the least grain of weighty wheat, that had good tack in it (as a stone hath,
though but a little stone), shall be lost. He will turn his hand upon the little ones,
and secure them, Zechariah 13:7.
ISBET, "THE GAR ERI G OF THE LEAST GRAI
‘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.’
Amos 9:9

73. There is double comfort here, as to others and as to ourselves.
I. As to others.—Have not some of us had a scarcely detected notion as if to some
extent the salvation of others depended upon our efforts? Of course, we never put it
in so many words; but has there not been something of a feeling that if we tried very
hard to win a soul we should succeed, and if we did not try quite enough it would get
lost? And this has made our service anxious and burdensome. Cannot we trust Him
Whom the Father trusted with the tremendous work of redemption? Shall He not do
right? Cannot we trust the Good Shepherd about His own sheep? Why should it
actually seem harder to trust Him about His own affairs than about our own?
‘Trust in Him at all times,’ includes the time when we almost fancy the salvation of
a dear one depends on our little bits of prayers and efforts. ot that this trust will
tend to easy-going idleness. It never does this when it is real. The deepest trust leads
to the most powerful action. It is the silencing oil that makes the machine obey the
motive power with greatest readiness and result.
II. Then the comfort for ourselves.—Satan has desired to have us, that he may sift
us as wheat; but the Lord Himself keeps the sieve in His own hand, and pledges His
word that not the least grain shall fall on the earth.
I am so glad of that word, ‘not the least’; not even me, though less than the least of
all saints, though having only the claim of being a sinner.
Illustrations
(1) ‘This prophecy about the sifting of Israel among the nations is the story of
eighteen centuries of the Christian era. God seems to have cast away His people
whom He foreknew. As the farmer throws up the grain against the wind, so has God
sifted them, yet the nation has remained intact. ot the least grain has been
unnoticed or forgotten. Surely God will yet sow the unmowed grain in the soil of all
the earth, and harvests of souls shall result.’
(2) ‘A marvellous chapter. It begins with an announcement of the certainty of the
punishment of the guilty. Let them climb never so high, or burrow never so deep; let
them scale the loftiest hills, or plumb the deepest seas, yet would vengeance follow
and overtake them. What hope is there for the sinner to contend successfully against
Him, Who builds His chambers in the heavens, and founds His vaults upon the
earth, and at Whose bidding the waves roll in upon the land? The great desolations
which have befallen the mighty nations and cities of former days, prove how strict
God is to mark iniquity.’
SIMEO , "THE SECURITY OF ALL GOD’S PEOPLE
Amos 9:9. 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.
THOUGH God does not see fit to preserve his people wholly from national

74. calamities, yet he interposes, either to lighten their afflictions or to sanctify them to
their good. Daniel and the Hebrew youths were carried captive with their nation;
yet were they eminently protected by that God whom they served: and Jeremiah,
though not raised to any exalted station, was on many occasions marked as an
object of God’s incessant care and attention. The Prophet Amos was commissioned
to foretell the dispersion of Israel which began in the Assyrian captivity, and was
completed at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans: but the God of Abraham
promised by him, that he would be mindful of “his hidden ones,” and deliver them
from the evils to which the profligate and secure should surely be exposed.
There are now, as well as in former ages, sifting times, (if we may so speak,) both to
the Church at large, and to the individual members of it: and the same
distinguishing regard is still, though less visibly, manifested by God to his dear
children; not the smallest of whom shall ever be overlooked. To illustrate this truth
we shall shew,
I. By what methods God sifts his people—
God sees that a state of perfect ease would by no means conduce to his people’s
welfare: and therefore he suffers them sometimes to be agitated,
1. By outward afflictions—
[Persecution is the common lot of all who live godly in Christ Jesus: and this,
together with other trials common to the world at large, is made use of to separate
the godly from the ungodly, and to purify them from the corruptions that cleave to
them in their present state. While the world smiles upon us we are too ready to seek
its friendship by sinful compliances; and when we enjoy an entire freedom from
troubles, we are apt to grow careless, and to relax our diligence in seeking “the rest
that remaineth for us.” God therefore causes us to he “emptied from vessel to vessel,
that we may not be settled on our lees [ ote: Job 36:8-10. with Jeremiah 48:11.].]
2. By inward temptations—
[By far the sorest trials which Christians experience, are, for the most part, of an
inward and spiritual nature: Satan wounds them with his fiery darts, and harasses
them with many painful suggestions. That wicked fiend indeed desires to sift them
as wheat, that he may prevail against them to their destruction; but God permits
him to do it for a very different end, namely, that he may root out all their self-
confidence, and stimulate them to greater exertions in their spiritual warfare. This
was the effect which it produced on Peter [ ote: Luke 22:31. compared with 1 Peter
5:8.]; and it is with the same benevolent intent that our Almighty friend gives licence
to our adversary to make his assaults on us. Doubtless such “tossings to and fro” are
very distressing to us at the time; but they are overruled for good, in that they
separate us move effectually from an evil world, and render us more meet for the
heavenly garner.]

75. Doubtless many who make a fair appearance, perish by these means: nevertheless
we are assured of,
II. The security of all those that are truly upright—
There is an essential difference between the hypocrites and the sincere—
[As chaff and corn may to a superficial observer resemble each other, so may the
real and merely nominal Christian. But as there is a solidity in the corn which is not
to be found in the chaff, so the truly converted person has something, which clearly
distinguishes him from the most refined hypocrite: he is not contented with an
appearance of religion, but seeks to possess it in truth: nor can he rest in the
performance of duties; but labours to have his heart engaged in them. To be high in
the estimation of men is, in his eyes, a poor matter; he would approve himself to
God in all he does: nor is there any measure of perfection with which he would be
satisfied, while there remained a hope and prospect of attaining more.]
Moreover, God will infallibly distinguish the true professors from the false—
[Man may easily be mistaken in his estimate of characters: but God will form an
unerring judgment: he discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart: he weighs the
very spirits of men no less than their actions: “he needs not that any should testify of
man, for he knows what is in man:” he will discover sincerity under the most
unfavourable circumstances, and hypocrisy under the most artful disguise. Abijah
alone of all the house of Jeroboam had some good thing in his heart towards the
Lord God of Israel, and God did not fail to notice it with tokens of his approbation,
while he poured out the vials of his wrath on all the family besides [ ote: 1 Kings
14:13.]. If we were less than the least of all saints, if we were only as “smoking flax,”
having but one spark of grace and a whole cloud of corruption, God would
assuredly observe the latent principle, and discover the workings of his own Spirit
amidst all the infirmities of our fallen nature.]
or will he ever suffer the weakest believer to perish—
[From the violence with which corn is agitated, an ignorant person would imagine
that much of it must be lust with the chaff: in like manner many that are weak in
faith may be ready to cry, “I shall one day perish [ ote: 1 Samuel 27:1.].” But God
pledges himself for the preservation of every the smallest grain. lie represents
himself under the image of a woman, who, having lost a small piece of silver, lights a
candle, and sweeps diligently till she find it [ ote: Luke 15:8.]; and he assures us,
that “it is not his will, that any of Ins little ones should perish [ ote: Matthew
18:14.]. We have no reason then to fear: for whilst he continues possessed of
omniscience to discern his people, and omnipotence to preserve them, we shall be as
secure amidst all our agitations, as if we were already lodged in the granary of
heaven.]
Infer—

76. 1. How much are we concerned to be found sincere!
[There is a day quickly coming, when Christ, the Judge of (piick and dead, shall sift
and winnow us all. or will he merely cause a separation of the precious from the
vile, but such a separation as shall be followed with endless happiness or misery
[ ote: Matthew 3:12.]. Should we not then diligently inquire whether we be wheat
or chaff? To what purpose is it that “the tares grow up with the wheat,” and
sometimes are mistaken for it, if, at the harvest, they must be separated for ever
[ ote: Matthew 13:29-30.]? So it will be of little avail to have been reputed
Christians, if, the very instant we die, we are to take our portion with hypocrites
and unbelievers. Let us then turn to God now with our whole hearts, that we may
“have confidence before him at his coming.”]
2. How may we welcome afflictions, provided we be truly upright!
[What are afflictions but the sieve in our Father’s hand, whereby he takes us from
among the ungodly, and “purifies us unto himself a peculiar people?” And shall we
distrust his skill, or doubt his love? If the countryman, instructed by him, knows
how to suit his threshing-instruments to the nature of his corn, shall God be at a loss
how most effectually to produce his ends on us [ ote: Isaiah 28:26-28.]? Let us then
leave ourselves in his hands, and submit cheerfully to the means, that we may at last
attain the end.]
3. How important a grace is faith!
[Under the various trials with which we are harassed, it is faith alone that can keep
us steadfast, or afford us any solid comfort. If we be destitute of faith, we shall be
tormented with ten thousand fears: but if we be strong in faith, we shall, under all
circumstances, “stay ourselves on God, and be kept in perfect peace [ ote: Isaiah
26:3.].” However sensible we be of our own weakness and unworthiness, we shall
expect the accomplishment of God’s promise, and shall dismiss our fears, “knowing
that he is able to keep that which we have committed to him [ ote: 2 Timothy
1:12.].” May we all be enabled in this manner to trust ourselves in his hands, and to
wait quietly for that salvation which he has prepared for us!]

77. 10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword,
all those who say,
‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’
Israel’s Restoration
BAR ES, "All the sinners of My people shall perish - At the last, when the
longsuffering of God has been despised to the uttermost, His Providence is exact in His
justice, as in His love. As not “one grain should fall to the earth,” so not one sinner
should escape. Jerome: “Not because they sinned aforetime, but because they persevered
in sin until death. The Aethiopians are changed into sons of God, if they repent; and the
sons of God pass away into Aethiopians, if they fall into the depth of sin.”
Which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us - Their security was the
cause of their destruction. They perished the more miserably, being buoyed up by the
false confidence that they should not perish. So it was in both destructions of Jerusalem.
Of the first, Jeremiah says to the false prophet Hananiah, “Thus saith the Lord, Thou
hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron” Jer_28:13;
and to Zedekiah, “Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee; so
shall it be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth - thou shalt
not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and
thou shalt burn this city with fire” (Jer_38:20, Jer_38:23; add Jer_27:9-10, Jer_27:19).
At the second, while thee Christians (mindful of our Lord’s words) fled to Pella, the Jews
were, to the last, encouraged by their false prophets to resist. “The cause of this
destruction,” at the burning of the temple, says their own historian , “was a false
prophet, who on that day proclaimed to those in the city, ‘God commands to go up to the
temple, to receive the signs of deliverance.’ There were too, at that time, among the
people many prophets suborned by the tyrants, bidding them await the help from God,
that they might not desert, and that hope might prevail with those, who were above fear
and restraint. Man is soon persuaded in calamity. And when the deceiver promises
release from the evils which are upon him, the sufferer gives himself wholly up to hope.
These dcceivers then and liars against God at this time mispersuaded the wretched
people, so that they neither regarded, nor believed, the plain evident prodigies, which
foretokened the coming desolation, but, like men stupefied, who had neither eyes nor
mind, disobeyed the warnings of God.” Then, having related some of the prodigies which
occurred, he adds ; “But of these signs’ some they interpreted after their own will, some
they despised, until they were convicted of folly by the capture of their country and their
own destruction.”
So too now, none are so likely to perish forever, as they “who say, The evil shall not
overtake us.” “I will repent hereafter.” “I will make my peace with God before I die.”
“There is time enough yet.” “Youth is for pleasure, age for repentance.” “God will forgive

78. the errors of youth, and the heat of our passions.” “Any time will do for repentance;
health and strength promise long life;” “I cannot do without this or that now.” “I will
turn to God, only not yet.” “God is merciful and full of compassion.” Because Satan thus
deludes thousands upon thousands to their destruction, God cuts away all such vain
hopes with His word, “All the sinners of My people shall die which say, the evil shall not
overtake nor come upon us.”
CLARKE, "All the sinners of my people - Those who are the boldest and most
incredulous; especially they who despise my warnings, and say the evil day shall not
overtake nor prevent us; they shall die by the sword. It is no evidence of a man’s safety
that he is presumptuously fearless. There is a blessing to him who trembles at God’s
word.
GILL, "All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,.... By the sword of
the Assyrians, and of others, into whose countries they shall flee for shelter, Amo_9:1;
even all such who are notorious sinners, abandoned to their lusts, obstinate and
incorrigible; live in sin, and continue therein; repent not of sin, disbelieve the prophets
of the Lord, and defy his threatenings, and put away the evil day far from them:
which say, the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us; the evil threatened by the
prophet, the sword of the enemy, the desolation of their land, and captivity in a foreign
land; these evils, if they came at all, which they gave little credit to, yet would not in their
days; they would never come so near them, or so close to their heels as to overtake them,
and seize them, or to get before them, and stop them fleeing from them; they promised
themselves impunity, and were in no pain about the judgments threatened them; so
daring and impudent, so irreligious and atheistical, were they in their thoughts, words,
and actions; and therefore should all and everyone of them be destroyed.
HE RY, " The wicked ones among them who are hardened in their sins shall all of
them perish, Amo_9:10. See what a height of impiety they have come to: They say, The
evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. They think they are innocent, and do not deserve
punishment, or that the profession they make of relation to God will be their exemption
and security from punishment, or that they shall be able to make their part good against
the judgments of God, that they shall flee so swiftly from them that they shall not
overtake them, or guard so carefully against them that they shall not prevent or surprise
them. Note, Hope of impunity is the deceitful refuge of the impenitent. But see what it
will come to at last: All the sinners that thus flatter themselves, and affront God, shall die
by the sword, the sword of war, which to them shall be the sword of divine vengeance;
yea, though they be the sinners of my people, for their profession shall not be their
protection. Note, Evil is often nearest those that put it at the greatest distance from
them.
JAMISO , "All the sinners — answering to the chaff in the image in Amo_9:9,
which falls on the earth, in opposition “to the grain” that does not “fall.”
overtake ... us — “come on us from behind” [Maurer].

79. CALVI , "Verse 10
Amos goes on with the same subject, — that God without any measure of cruelty
would execute extreme vengeance on a reprobate people: Die, he says, by the sword
all the wicked of my people. In naming the wicked of the people, he meant no doubt
to include the whole people; though if any one thinks that the elect are by
implication excepted, who were mixed with the ungodly, I do not object: this is
probable; but yet the Prophet speaks here of the people generally. He says that the
wicked of the people would perish by the sword: for it was not the sin of a few that
Amos here refers to, but the sin which prevailed among the whole nation. Then all
the wicked of my people shall die by the sword. He points out what sort of people
they were, or at least he mentions the chief mark by which their impiety might be
discovered, — they obstinately despised all the judgments of God, They say, It will
not draw near; nor lay hold on our account, the evil.
Security then, which of itself ever generates a contempt of God, is here mentioned as
the principal mark of impiety. And doubtless the vices of men reach a point that is
past hope, when they are touched neither by fear nor shame, but expect God’s
judgments without any concern or anxiety. Since then they thus drove far away
from themselves all threatening, while at the same time they were ill at ease with
themselves, and as it were burying themselves in deep caverns, and seeking false
peace to their consciences, they were in a torpor, or rather stupor, incapable of any
remedy. It is, therefore, no wonder that the Prophet lays down here this mark of
security, when he is showing that there was no remnant of a sound mind in this
people. Die then shall all the wicked by the sword, even those who say, It will not
draw near; nor anticipate us, on our account, the evil: for we can not explain the
word ‫,הקדים‬ ekodim, in any other way than by referring it to the threatening. For
the Prophets, we know, commonly declared that the day of the Lord was at hand,
that his hand was already armed, that it had already seized the sword. As then the
Prophets, in order to smite despisers with fear, were wont to threaten a near
punishment; so the Prophet does here; wishing to expose the impious stupor of the
people, he says, “You think that there will not be such haste as is foretold to you by
the Prophets; but this sheer perverseness will be the cause of your ruin.”
As to the expression, It will not come on our account, from a regard to us, it
deserves to be noticed. Though hypocrites confess in general, that they cannot
escape the hand of God, yet they still separate themselves from the common class, as
if they are secured by some peculiar privilege. They therefore set up something in
opposition to God, that they may not be blended with others. This folly the Prophet
indirectly condemns by saying, that hypocrites are in a quiet and tranquil state,
because they think that there will be to them no evil in common with the rest, as also
they say in Isaiah 28:15, ‘The scourge, if it passes, will not yet reach us.’ We now
then see what the Prophet has hitherto taught, and the meaning of these four verses
which we have just explained. ow follows the promise —

80. COFFMA , "Verse 10
"All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, the evil shall not
overtake nor meet us."
Here again is reaffirmed the constant thesis of Amos that the two secular kingdoms,
which were evil, shall surely fail, and the kingdoms shall be wiped off the face of the
earth. The "not utterly destroy" of the previous verse (Amos 9:8b) is not a denial of
this, but an indication of a different fate for the "righteous remnant," in keeping
with God's eternal purpose. There are two things in these verses that must be
differentiated, the "kernel" and the "sinful kingdom," the great burden of the
prophecy being directed against the latter.
TRAPP, "Verse 10
Amos 9:10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil
shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Ver. 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword] The flagitious,
presumptuous persons, that bless themselves when I curse them, saying, We shall
have peace, though we walk every man in the imagination of his heart, and take his
full swing in sin, Deuteronomy 29:19. Such sinners in Zion, Isaiah 33:14, such
sacrificing Sodomites, Isaiah 1:10, such profligate professors shall die by the sword;
either by the hand of the enemy, or, which is worse, gladio spiritali, saith Mercer, by
the spiritual sword, being blinded and rejected by God; so that their preservation is
but a reservation to a greater mischief. Whereas, on the other side, some of God’s
elect might in a common calamity perish by the sword, but then (Josiah-like) they
died in peace, though they fell in battle; their death was right precious in the sight of
the Lord, and a plentiful amends made them in heaven.
Which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us] Or, for our sakes, by our
default, Begnadenu propter nos. If affliction do find us out, yet we have not
deserved it; common occurrences we cannot be against. Thus the wicked man
"flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful," Psalms
36:2. "In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin," Hosea
12:8. "Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me.
Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned," Jeremiah
2:35.
CO STABLE, "Verse 11
In "that day" Yahweh would also restore the fallen booth of David that had
suffered some destruction (cf. Amos 9:1; Leviticus 23:33-42; 2 Samuel 11:11; 1
Kings 20:12-16; Jonah 4:5). The booth (tent) of David is a reference to the dynasty
of David, which acted as a shelter over the Israelites. When Amos prophesied, the
tent of David had suffered major damage due to the division of the kingdom into
two parts, though it had not yet collapsed completely. In the future God would
restore the Davidic house and rebuild it as in former days, when it was a united
kingdom with a descendant of David ruling over all Israel (cf. Jeremiah 30:3-10;

81. Ezekiel 37:15-28; Hosea 3:4-5). That day, still future from our point in history,
would be a day of restoration as well as a day of judgment. The restoration will
follow in the Millennium after the judgments of the Tribulation.
11 “In that day
“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,
BAR ES, "In that day I will raise up - Amos, as the prophets were taught to do,
sums up his prophecy of woe with this one full promise of overflowing good. For the ten
tribes, in their separate condition, there was no hope, no future. He had pronounced the
entire destruction of “the kingdom” of Israel. The ten tribes were, thenceforth, only an
aggregate of individuals, good or bad. They had no separate corporate existence. In their
spiritual existence, they still belonged to the one family of Israel; and, belonging to it,
were heirs of the promises made to it. When no longer separate, individuals out of its
tribes were to become Apostles to their whole people and to the Gentiles. Of individuals
in it, God had declared His judgment, anticipating the complete exactness of the
Judgment of the Great Day. “All the sinners of” His “people” should “die” an untimely
death “by the sword;” not one of those who were the true grain should perish with the
chaff.
He now foretells, how that salvation, of those indeed His own, should be effected
through the house of David, in whose line Christ was to come. He speaks of the house of
David, not in any terms of royal greatness; he tells, not of its palaces, but of its ruins.
Under the word “tabernacle,” he probably blends the ideas, that it should be in a poor
condition, and yet that it should be the means whereby God should protect His people.
The “succah, tabernacle” (translated “booth” in Jonah) Jon_4:5; Gen_33:17, was
originally a rude hut, formed of “intertwined” branches. It is used of the cattle-shed
Gen_33:17, and of the rough tents used by soldiers in war 2Sa_11:11, or by the
watchman in the vineyard Isa_1:8; Job_27:18, and of those wherein God “made the

82. children of Israel to dwell, when” He “brought them out of the land of Egypt Lev_23:43.
The name of the feast of “tabernacles, Succoth,” as well as the rude temporary huts in
which they were commanded to dwell, associated the name with a state of outward
poverty under God’s protection.
Hence, perhaps, the word is employed also of the secret place of the presence of God
Psa_18:11; Job_36:29. Isaiah, as well as Amos, seems, in the use of the same word Isa_
4:6, to hint that what is poor and mean in man’s sight would be, in the Hands of God, an
effectual protection. This “hut of David” was also at that time to be “fallen.” When Amos
prophesied, it had been weakened by the schism of the ten tribes, but Azariah, its king,
was mighty 2Ch_26:6-15. Amos had already foretold the destruction of the “palaces of
Jerusalem by fire” Amo_2:5. Now he adds, that the abiding condition of the house of
David should be a state of decay and weakness, and that from that state, not human
strength, but God Himself should “raise” it. “I will raise up the hut of David, the fallen.”
He does not say, of “that” time, “the hut that is fallen,” as if it were already fallen, but
“the hut, the fallen,” that is, the hut of which the character should then be its falling, its
caducity.
So, under a different figure, Isaiah prophesied, “There shall come forth a rod out of
the stump Isa_11:1 of Jesse, and a Branch shall put forth from its roots.” When the trunk
was hewn down even with the ground, and the rank grass had covered the “stump,” that
“rod” and “Branch” should come forth which should rule the earth, and “to” which “the
Gentiles should seek” Isa_11:10. From these words of Amos, “the Son of the fallen,”
became, among the Jews, one of the titles of the Christ. Both in the legal and mystical
schools the words of Amos are alleged, in proof of the fallen condition of the house of
David, when the Christ should come. “Who would expect,” asks one , “that God would
raise up the fallen tabernacle of David? and yet it is said, “I will raise up the tabernacle of
David which is fallen down.” And who would hope that the whole world should become
one band? as it is written, “Then I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may
all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one shoulder” Zep_3:9. This is no
other than the king Messiah.” And in the Talmud ; “R. Nachman said to R. Isaac; Hast
thou heard when ‘the Son of the fallen’ shall come? He answered, Who is he? R.
Nachman; The Messiah. R. Isaac; Is the Messiah so called? R. Nachman; Yes; ‘In that
day will I raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen down. ‘“
And close up - Literally, “wall up, the breaches thereof.” The house of David had at
this time sustained breaches. It had yet more serious breaches to sustain thereafter. The
first great breach was the rending off of the ten tribes. It sustained breaches, through the
Assyrians; and yet more when itself was carried away captive to Babylon, and so many of
its residue fled into Egypt. Breaches are repaired by new stones; the losses of the house
of David were to be filled up by accessions from the Gentiles. God Himself should “close
up the breaches;” so should they remain closed; and “the gates of hell should not prevail
against” the Church which He builded. Amos heaps upon one another the words
implying destruction. A “hut” and that “falling; breaches; ruins;” (literally, “his ruinated,
his destructions”). But he also speaks of it in a way which excludes the idea of “the hut of
David,” being “the royal Dynasty” or “the kingdom of Judah.” For he speaks of it, not as
an abstract thing, such as a kingdom is, but as a whole, consisting of individuals.
He speaks not only of “the hut of David,” but of “‘their (fem.)’ breaches,” “‘his’ ruins,”
that God would “build ‘her’ up,” “that ‘they’ (masc.) may inherit;” using apparently this
variety of numbers and genders , in order to show that he is speaking of one living
whole, the Jewish Church, now rent in two by the great schism of Jeroboam, but which
should be reunited into one body, members of which should win the pagan to the true
faith in God. “I will raise up,” he says, “the tabernacle of David, the fallen, and will wall

83. up ‘their’ breaches,” (the breaches of the two portions into which it had been rent) and I
will raise up “his” ruins (the “ruinated places” of David) and I will build “her” (as one
whole) as in the days of old, (before the rent of the ten tribes, when all worshiped as
one), that “they,” (masculine) that is, individuals who should go forth out of her, “may
inherit, etc.”
CLARKE, "Will I raise up the tabernacle of David - It is well known that the
kingdom of Israel, the most profane and idolatrous, fell first, and that the kingdom of
Judah continued long after, and enjoyed considerable prosperity under Hezekiah and
Josiah. The remnant of the Israelites that were left by the Assyrians became united to the
kingdom of Judah; and of the others, many afterwards joined them: but this
comparatively short prosperity and respite, previously to the Babylonish captivity, could
not be that, as Calmet justly observes, which is mentioned here. This could not be called
closing up the breaches, raising up the ruins, and building it as in the days of old; nor
has any state of this kind taken place since; and, consequently, the prophecy remains to
be fulfilled. It must therefore refer to their restoration under the Gospel, when they shall
receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and be by him restored to their own land. See
these words quoted by James, Act_15:17. Then indeed it is likely that they shall possess
the remnant of Edom, and have the whole length and breadth of Immanuel’s land, Amo_
9:12. Nor can it be supposed that the victories gained by the Asmoneans could be that
intended by the prophet and which he describes in such lofty terms. These victories
procured only a short respite, and a very imperfect re-establishment of the tabernacle of
David; and could not warrant the terms of the prediction in these verses.
GILL, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen,.... Not
in the day of Israel's ruin, but in the famous Gospel day, so often spoken of by the
prophets; and this prophecy is referred to the times of the Messiah by the ancient (q)
Jews; and one of the names they give him is taken from hence, "Barnaphli" (r), the Son
of the fallen. R. Nachman said to R. Isaac, hast thou heard when Barnaphli comes? to
whom he said, who is Barnaphli? he replied, the Messiah; you may call the Messiah
Barnaphli; for is it not written, "in that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is
fallen down?" and they call him so, not because the son of Adam; but because he was the
son of David, and was to spring from his family, when fallen into a low and mean
condition; yea, they sometimes seem by the tabernacle of David to understand the dead
body of the Messiah to be raised, whose human nature is by the New Testament writers
called a tabernacle, Heb_8:2; see Joh_1:14; for, having mentioned (s) that passage in
Jer_30:9; "they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise
up unto them", add, whom I will raise up out of the dust; as it is said, "I will raise up the
tabernacle of David that is fallen down"; but elsewhere (t) it is better interpreted of the
Messiah's raising up Israel his people out of captivity; they say,
"her husband shall come, and raise her out of the dust; as it is said, "I will raise up the
tabernacle of David", &c. in the day the King Messiah shall gather the captivity from the
ends of the world to the ends of it, according to Deu_30:4;''
and which they understand of their present captivity, and deliverance from it, as in
Amo_9:14. Tobit (u) seems to have reference to this passage, when he thus exhorts Zion,

84. "praise the everlasting King, that his tabernacle may be built again in thee;''
and expresses (w) his faith in it, that so it would be,
"afterwards they (the Jews) shall return from all places of their captivity, and build up
Jerusalem gloriously; and the house of God shall be built in it, as the prophets have
spoken concerning it, for ever;''
agreeably to which Jarchi paraphrases it,
"in the day appointed for redemption;''
and so the Apostle James quotes it, and applies it to the first times of the Gospel, Act_
15:15. The Targum interprets this "tabernacle" of the kingdom of the house of David: this
was in a low estate and condition when Jesus the Messiah came, he being the carpenter's
son; but it is to be understood of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, the church; Christ is
meant by David, whose son he is, and of whom David was an eminent type, and is often
called by his name, Eze_34:23; and the church by his "tabernacle", which is of his
building, where he dwells, and keeps his court; and which in the present state is movable
from place to place: and this at the time of Christ's coming was much fallen, and greatly
decayed, through sad corruption in doctrine by the Pharisees and Sadducees; through
neglect of worship, and formality in it, and the introduction of things into it God never
commanded; through the wicked lives of professors, and the small number of truly godly
persons; but God, according to this promise and prophecy, raised it up again by the
ministry of John the Baptist, Christ and his apostles, and by the conversion of many of
the Jews, and by bringing in great numbers of the Gentiles, who coalesced in one church
state, which made it flourishing, grand, and magnificent; and thus the prophecy was in
part fulfilled, as the apostle has applied it in the above mentioned place: but it will have a
further and greater accomplishment still in the latter day, both in the spiritual and
personal reign of Christ: and though this tabernacle or church of Christ is fallen to decay
again, and is in a very ruinous condition; the doctrines of the Gospel being greatly
departed from; the ordinances of it changed, or not attended to; great declensions as to
the exercise of grace among the people of God; and many breaches and divisions among
them; the outward conversation of many professors very bad, and few instances of
conversion; yet the Lord will raise it up again, and make it very glorious: he will
close up the breaches thereof, and will raise up his ruins; the doctrines of the
Gospel will be revived and received; the ordinances of it will be administered in their
purity, as they were first delivered; great numbers will be converted, both of Jews and
Gentiles; and there will be much holiness, spirituality, and brotherly love, among the
saints:
and I will build it as in the days of old; religion shall flourish as in the days of
David and Solomon; the Christian church will be restored to its pristine glory, as in the
times of the apostles.
HE RY, "To him to whom all the prophets bear witness this prophet, here in the
close, bears his testimony, and speaks of that day, those days that shall come, in which
God will do great things for his church, by the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah,
for the rejecting of which the rejection of the Jews was foretold in the foregoing verses.
The promise here is said to agree to the planting of the Christian church, and in that to

85. be fulfilled, Act_15:15-17. It is promised,
I. That in the Messiah the kingdom of David shall be restored (Amo_9:11); the
tabernacle of David it is called, that is, his house and family, which, though great and
fixed, yet, in comparison with the kingdom of heaven, was mean and movable as a
tabernacle. The church militant, in its present state, dwelling as in shepherds' tents to
feed, as in soldiers' tents to fight, is the tabernacle of David. God's tabernacle is called
the tabernacle of David because David desired and chose to dwell in God's tabernacle
for ever, Psa_61:4. Now, 1. These tabernacles had fallen an gone to decay, the royal
family was so impoverished, its power abridged, its honour stained, and laid in the dust;
for many of that race degenerated, and in the captivity it lost the imperial dignity. Sore
breaches were made upon it, and at length it was laid in ruins. So it was with the church
of the Jews; in the latter days of it its glory departed; it was like a tabernacle broken
down and brought to ruin, in respect both of purity and of prosperity. 2. By Jesus Christ
these tabernacles were raised and rebuilt. In him God's covenant with David had its
accomplishment; and the glory of that house, which was not only sullied, but quite sunk,
revived again; the breaches of it were closed and its ruins raised up, as in the days of
old; nay, the spiritual glory of the family of Christ far exceeded the temporal glory of the
family of David when it was at its height. In him also God's covenant with Israel had its
accomplishment, and in the gospel-church the tabernacle of God was set up among men
again, and raised up out of the ruins of the Jewish state. This is quoted in the first
council at Jerusalem as referring to the calling in of the Gentiles and God's taking out of
them a people for his name. Note, While the world stands God will have a church in it,
and, if it be fallen down in one place and among one people, it shall be raised up
elsewhere.
JAMISO , "In that day — quoted by James (Act_15:16, Act_15:17), “After this,”
that is, in the dispensation of Messiah (Gen_49:10; Hos_3:4, Hos_3:5; Joe_2:28; Joe_
3:1).
tabernacle of David — not “the house of David,” which is used of his affairs when
prospering (2Sa_3:1), but the tent or booth, expressing the low condition to which his
kingdom and family had fallen in Amos’ time, and subsequently at the Babylonian
captivity before the restoration; and secondarily, in the last days preceding Israel’s
restoration under Messiah, the antitype to David (Psa_102:13, Psa_102:14; Jer_30:9;
Eze_34:24; Eze_37:24; see on Isa_11:1). The type is taken from architecture (Eph_
2:20). The restoration under Zerubbabel can only be a partial, temporary fulfillment; for
it did not include Israel, which nation is the main subject of Amos’ prophecies, but only
Judah; also Zerubbabel’s kingdom was not independent and settled; also all the
prophets end their prophecies with Messiah, whose advent is the cure of all previous
disorders. “Tabernacle” is appropriate to Him, as His human nature is the tabernacle
which He assumed in becoming Immanuel, “God with us” (Joh_1:14). “Dwelt,” literally,
tabernacled “among us” (compare Rev_21:3). Some understand “the tabernacle of
David” as that which David pitched for the ark in Zion, after bringing it from Obed-
edom’s house. It remained there all his reign for thirty years, till the temple of Solomon
was built, whereas the “tabernacle of the congregation” remained at Gibeon (2Ch_1:3),
where the priests ministered in sacrifices (1Ch_16:39). Song and praise was the service
of David’s attendants before the ark (Asaph, etc.): a type of the gospel separation
between the sacrificial service (Messiah’s priesthood now in heaven) and the access of
believers on earth to the presence of God, apart from the former (compare 2Sa_6:12-17;
1Ch_16:37-39; 2Ch_1:3).
breaches thereof — literally, “of them,” that is, of the whole nation, Israel as well as

86. Judah.
as in ... days of old — as it was formerly in the days of David and Solomon, when the
kingdom was in its full extent and undivided.
CALVI , "Verse 11
Here now the Prophet begins to set forth the consolation, which alone could support
the minds of the godly under afflictions so severe. Threatening alone might have cast
the strongest into despair; but the event itself must have overwhelmed whatever
hope there might have been. Hence the Prophet now applies comfort by saying, that
God would punish the sins of the people of Israel in such a way as to remember still
his own promise. We know, that whenever the Prophets designed to give some hope
to a distressed people, they set forth the Messiah, for in him all the promises of God,
as Paul says, are Yea and Amen, (2 Corinthians 1:20) and there was no other
remedy for the dispersion than for God to gather all the scattered members under
one head. Hence, when the head is taken away, the Church has no head; especially
when it is scattered and torn, as was the case after the time of Amos. It is no wonder
then that the Prophets, after having prophesied of the destruction of the people,
such as happened after the two kingdoms were abolished, should recall the minds of
the faithful to the Messiah; for except God had gathered the Church under one
head, there would have been no hope. This is, therefore, the order which Amos now
observes.
In that day, he says, will I raise up the tabernacle of David: as though he had said,
that the only hope would be, when the redeemers who had been promised would
appear. This is the import of the whole. After having shown then that the people
had no hope from themselves, for God had tried all means, but in vain and after
having denounced their final ruin, he now subjoins, “The Lord will yet have mercy
on his people, for he will remember his covenant.” How will this be? “The Redeemer
shall come.” We now then understand the design of the Prophet and the meaning of
the verse.
But when he speaks of the tabernacle of David, he refers, I doubt not, to the decayed
state of things; for a tabernacle does notcomport with royal dignity. It is the same as
though Amos had said, “Though the house of David is destitute of all excellency, and
is like a mean cottage, yet the Lord will perform what he has promised; he will raise
up again his kingdom, and restore to him all the power which has been lost.” The
Prophet then had regard to that intervening time, when the house of David was
deprived of all splendor and entirely thrown down. I will then raise up the
tabernacle of David: he might have said the tabernacle of Jesse; but he seems to
have designedly mentioned the name of David, that he might the more fully
strengthen the minds of the godly in their dreadful desolation, so that they might
with more alacrity flee to the promise: for the name of Jesse was more remote. As
then the name of David was in repute, and as this oracle,
‘Of the fruit of thy loins I will set on thy throne,’
(Psalms 132:11)

87. was commonly known, the Prophet brings forward here the house of David, in order
that the faithful might remember that God had not in vain made a covenant with
David: The tabernacle then of David will I then raise up, and will fence in its
breaches, and its ruins will I raise up; and I will build it as in the days of old Thus
the Prophet intimates that not only the throne of David would be overthrown but
also that nothing would remain entire in his mean booth, for it would decay into
ruins and all things would be subverted. In short, he intimates that mournful
devastation would happen to the whole family of David. He speaks, as it is well
understood, metaphorically of the tabernacle: but the sense is clear, and that is, that
God would restore the royal dignity, as in former times, to the throne of David.
This is a remarkable prediction, and deserves to be carefully weighed by us. It is
certain that the Prophet here refers to the advent of Christ; and of this there is no
dispute, for even the Jews are of this opinion, at least the more moderate of them.
There are indeed those of a shameless front, who pervert all Scripture without any
distinction: these and their barking we may pass by. It is however agreed that this
passage of the Prophet cannot be otherwise explained than of the Messiah: for the
restitution of David’s family was not to be expected before his time; and this may
easily be learnt from the testimonies of other Prophets. As then the Prophet here
declares, that a Redeemer would come, who would renew the whole state of the
kingdom, we see that the faith of the Fathers was ever fixed on Christ; for in the
whole world it is he alone who has reconciled us to God: so also, the fallen Church
could not have been restored otherwise than under one head, as we have already
often stated. If then at this day we desire to raise up our minds to God, Christ must
immediately become a Mediator between us; for when he is taken away, despair will
ever overwhelm us, nor can we attain any sure hope. We may indeed be raised up by
some wind or another; but our empty confidence will shortly come to nothing,
except we have a confidence founded on Christ alone. This is one thing. We must
secondly observe, that the interruption, when God overthrew the kingdom, I mean,
the kingdom of Judah, is not inconsistent with the prediction of Jacob and other
similar predictions. Jacob indeed had said,
‘Taken away shall not be the scepter from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from his bosom, or from his feet,
until he shall come, the Shiloh,’
(Genesis 49:10)
Afterwards followed this memorable promise,
‘Sit of thy progeny on thy throne shall he,
who shall call me his Father,
and in return I will call him my Son,
and his throne shall perpetually remain,’
(Psalms 132:11)
Here is promised the eternity of the kingdom; and yet we see that this kingdom was

88. diminished under Rehoboam, we see that it was distressed with many evils through
its whole progress, and at length it was miserably destroyed, and almost
extinguished; nay, it had hardly the name of a kingdom, it had no splendor, no
throne, no dignity, no scepter, no crown. It then follows, that there seems to be an
inconsistency between these events and the promises of God. But the Prophets easily
reconcile these apparent contrarieties; for they say, that for a time there would be
no kingdom, or at least that it would be disturbed by many calamities, so that there
would appear no outward form of a kingdom, and no visible glory. As then they say
this, and at the same time add, that there would come a restoration, that God would
establish this kingdom by the power of his Christ, — as then the Prophets say this,
they show that its perpetuity would really appear and be exhibited in Christ.
Though then the kingdom had for some time fallen, this does not militate against the
other predictions. This then is the right view of the subject: for Christ at length
appeared, on whose head rests the true diadem or crown, and who has been elected
by Gods and is the legitimate king, and who, having risen from the dead, reigns and
now sits at the Father’s right hand, and his throne shall not fail to the end of the
world; nay, the world shall be renovated, and Christ’s kingdom shall continue,
though in another form, after the resurrection, as Paul shows to us; and yet Christ
shall be really a king for ever.
And the Prophet, by saying, as in ancient days, confirms this truth, that the dignity
of the kingdom would not continue uniform, but that the restoration would yet be
such as to make it clearly evident that God had not in vain promised an eternal
kingdom to David. Flourish then shall the kingdom of David for ever. But this has
not been the case; for when the people returned from exile, Zerobabel, it is true, and
also many others, obtained kingly power; yet what was it but precarious? They
became even tributaries to the kings of the Persian and of the Medes. It then follows,
that the kingdom of Israel never flourished, nor had there existed among the people
anything but a limited power; we must, therefore, necessarily come to Christ and his
kingdom. We hence see that the words of the Prophet cannot be otherwise
understood than of Christ. It follows —
BE SO , "Verse 11
Amos 9:11. In that day — In this and the following verses, to the end of the chapter,
we have a most consolatory conclusion of this prophecy in sundry evangelical
promises, after so many very severe and sharp menaces. The phrase, in that day,
signifies here the same as afterward, or, after this, for so St. James interprets it
when quoting this very verse, Acts 15:16. And there are other places of Scripture
where then, or in that day, signifies afterward. Will I raise up the tabernacle of
David — This promise seems, at least in the first place, to be intended of the return
of the Jews from the land of their captivity, their resettlement in Judea, rebuilding
Jerusalem, and attaining to that height of power and glory which they enjoyed in
the days of the Maccabees. This restoration was an event so extraordinary, and the
hope of it so necessary to be maintained in the minds of the Jewish people, in order
to their support under the calamity of their seventy years’ captivity, that God was
pleased to foretel it by the mouth of all his prophets. And though we suppose the

89. prophecy before us to appertain chiefly to the kingdom of Israel, yet a promise of a
future restoration was no less proper and necessary, in order to their
encouragement, to be annexed to God’s threatenings against them: because it was
his purpose to restore Israel in general, that is, the whole twelve tribes, and to make
them one nation, as they were before their unhappy division. The edict of Cyrus was
general, giving liberty to all the posterity of Jacob, wheresoever dispersed, to return
to Judea. And many of the ten tribes certainly did return, though the main body of
those who returned consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This
prophecy, however, must also be extended to the days of the Messiah, and to the
calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God: and so St. James expounds
it, Acts 15:16; for this was, emphatically speaking, raising up the tabernacle of
David, both in the person of Christ, who is frequently styled David, and the seed of
David in the prophets, and also in respect to what peculiarly distinguished David
and Israel in God’s sight, namely, their having the knowledge of the true God, and
worshipping of him alone.
COKE, "Verse 11
Amos 9:11. In that day, &c.— "After the fall of the kingdom of Israel, that of Judah
shall continue for a long time in a flourishing state after their return from the
captivity." But the prophesy has a still farther respect, and carries us beyond the
times of the Babylonish captivity, to those of the Lord Jesus Christ; to which it is
applied by the best authority possible; see Acts 15:16.
The tabernacle of David, says Houbigant, signifies the church, which consists not
only of Jews, but of Gentiles. Some part of this prophecy had its completion in the
times of the apostles, and afterwards in the light of the gospel, which shone both
upon Jews and Gentiles. The prophesy will then be in a great measure completed,
when the people of Israel shall return into their own land, and shall build houses,
and plant vineyards and gardens; Amos 9:14. But in the great millennium it will
have its final accomplishment in the fullest and most glorious sense.
TRAPP, "Verse 11
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:
Ver. 11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David] A most sweet conclusion
of the prophecy by sundry evangelical promises, after so many very severe and
sharp menaces: the Sun of righteousness liketh not to set in a cloud. In that day, that
happy day, whensoever it shall dawn, that Christ shall come; for the prophets knew
not the certain time when, but made diligent inquiry as far as they might with
sobriety, 1 Peter 1:11, and well knew that the law, which they preached and
explained, was an introduction to a better hope, Hebrews 7:19, which they saw afar
off and saluted, Hebrews 11:13.
Will I raise up the tabernacle of David] That is, the kingdom of the house of David,

90. saith the Chaldee paraphrast; meaning, of the Messiah, whom the sounder sort of
Rabbis from this text call Ben iphlei, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of
paths to dwell in. ow the Church is here called the tabernacle of David, because
that once stately palace of David was by many desolations reduced to a tent, as it
were, and that ready to drop too. The Branch grew out of the root of Jesse, when
that goodly family was sunk so low as from David the king to Joseph the carpenter.
Besides, all was out of order both in Church and State when Christ came.
And close up the breaches thereof] Heb. wall up; by unwalling (as the Hebrew hath
it, umbers 24:17) all the children of Seth; by subduing the sons of men, the godly
seed, to the obedience of faith; by bringing into captivity every haughty thought, 2
Corinthians 10:4-5 (that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow, Philippians
2:10), and getting a full conquest by the preaching of the gospel, which shall quickly
close up all ruptures, and raise up all ruins, by chasing away terrors and false
worships, doctrines of devils, and traditions of men, whereby the scribes and
Pharisees had made the commandment of God of none effect.
And I will build it as in the days of old] In those purer times of David and the other
holy patriarchs, who made up but one and the same Church with us, and were saved
by the same faith in Christ Jesus, that Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the
world, Revelation 13:8. Mine antiquity is Jesus Christ, said Ignatius, the martyr. As
we prefer the newest philosophy, so the most ancient divinity, saith another.
COFFMA , "Verse 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 its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of
old."
PROPHECY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
This verse foretells how salvation for all men "shall be effected in the house of
David, in whose line Christ was to come."[23] ote that the Jerusalem temple is by-
passed, absolutely, here. All of the great victories of Israel were won during the
period when they had the "tabernacle," not the temple; and, as Barnes pointed out,
"He speaks of the house of David, not in any terms of royal greatness; he tells not of
its palaces."[24] This powerful and suggestive mention of the tabernacle speaks of
the days of the humility of Israel, indicating that when God's salvation comes, it will
be associated with the humble, and the simple, rather than with the royal palaces
and Solomonic glory of the house of David. Some of the scholars have translated
"tabernacle" here as "hut,"[25] applying it to the postexilic ruin of David's dynasty;
but there is unequivocally a reference here to the ancient "tabernacle" of the Jewish
wanderings in the wilderness, as proved by the sacred author James' reference to
this passage in Acts 15:
"After these things, I will return,

91. And I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen;
And I will build again the ruins thereof,
And I will set it up:
That the residue of men may seek after the Lord,
And all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called,
Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from of old."
(Acts 15:16-18)
It should be remembered that James here was not quoting Amos alone, attributing
his quotations to "the prophets." (Acts 15:15). However, the words of Amos in this
verse are definitely among the passages referred to, making it certain that this is a
reference to the building up of the Church, the antitype of the tabernacle. ote that
there is no reference whatever here to the Jewish temple, itself an apostasy from the
tabernacle; and, it is in the sense of that semi-pagan temple having supplanted and
taken the place of the tabernacle that the "tabernacle" is here represented as
"fallen," meaning that the Jews had simply discarded it and gone into the temple
business.
The type of blunder into which many scholars fall in the interpretation of this place
is exemplified by this: "The tabernacle of David is the Davidic dynasty, and these
words presuppose that it had come to an end; they must therefore have been written
later than the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C."[26] Such a view would, of course,
remove the passage far from the days of Amos. It should be perfectly obvious to any
discerning student that there is no possible reference here to "David's dynasty."
That had not fallen when Amos wrote, but the "tabernacle" had fallen!
"In that day ..." is a "reference to the times of the Messiah,"[27] and, in no sense
was fulfilled by anything that occurred before that. After the Babylonian captivity,
Israel did indeed return to their land (not the northern kingdom, but the Davidic
branch of it, the southern kingdom), but they did not restore the "fallen tabernacle"
at all, but merely built another temple, a far different thing, the difference being
that God had given the plans and specifications of the tabernacle to Moses; but the
temple was planned and built by men (Acts 7:44-47). The great error of the temple
was that it was patterned after the great pagan temples of the period, and was the
result of the same desire of the Israelites that led to the formation of the monarchy,
namely, that they could be "like the nations around them." Thus, when Christ
established his church, it was not a "rebuilding of the fallen temple," but a
rebuilding of the "fallen tabernacle."
"And close up the breaches of it ..." This does not refer to holes made in the palaces

92. of Jewish kings, but it refers to healing the breach among God's people. Jeroboam
had divided the "chosen people"; and the righteous remnant from both divisions
were thus separated; but when Messiah would come, then all of God's true Israel
would be under one theocratic head, namely Christ.
David's kingdom is a type of Christ's; and the restoration of the fallen tabernacle is
the same thing as the raising up of one of David's posterity (Christ) to sit upon
David's throne forever, a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ and his
enthronement in heaven, as Peter pointed out (Acts 2:30,31). o one could possibly
be expected to raise up again the kingdom of David, except one of his descendants,
this being the significance of the genealogies of Jesus which show him to be of "the
flesh of David." Thus, in this extended meaning of the "fallen tabernacle" being
restored, there is also hidden this prophecy of the restoration of David's throne "in
the spiritual sense." All kinds of errors result from a misunderstanding of the last
clause of this verse:
"I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old ..." This is alleged to
mean that God will reproduce in the history of Israel another period reflecting the
same kind of pride and glory that characterized the old Davidic and Solomonic
empire; but this is definitely not the thing to be rebuilt. "The tabernacle" stands for
the time when God's communion with his people had been established upon an
intimate and continual communication, in short, for "their fellowship with God." It
was that fellowship which had been destroyed by the sins and wickedness of the
people; and it was preeminently the "broken fellowship with God," which would be
restored in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which, alone, is foretold in this
promise to "rebuild," as "in the days of old." It was the great error of Israel, during
our Lord's ministry, that led them to identify the blessed Messiah himself as one
who would recreate their old Solomonic empire, which, in reality, was the scandal of
forty generations, and the very last thing on earth that God would have promised to
"rebuild." Christian interpreters today ought not to fall into the same error that
was fatal to Israel.
PREMILLE IAL VIEWS
Of course, those espousing a premillennial view of the Bible suppose that this
passage supports their contention: "Amos' view of the Messianic kingdom under the
throne of David, represents it as universal, and as including the Gentiles."[28] The
church of course is "under the throne of David' only in the spiritual sense of David's
throne having been an Old Testament type of universal reign of Christ upon his
throne in heaven. o temporal restoration of David's monarchy is prophesied here.
Another unfounded theory based upon this passage is that of the projected return of
the fleshly Jews to their land in Palestine and the exercise of some very wide and
successful dominion from Jerusalem during the historical period of the church of
Jesus Christ himself. Clarke referred to this, defining it thus:
"It must therefore refer to their restoration under the gospel, when they shall

93. receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and be by him restored to their own land.
Those victories (in the return of the southern kingdom to Palestine after the
captivity) could not warrant the terms of the prediction in this verse."[29]
Such interpretations overlook the fact that, long ago, God put "no distinction"
between Jews and anyone else on earth (Romans 10:12); their status as "God's
chosen people" was by themselves repudiated and rejected. After extended mercies
and extensive opportunities repeatedly offered them, the fleshly Israel adamantly
refused to have any of it, even crucifying the Son of God when he appeared upon
earth; and the notion that God will, for some incredible reason, again restore
secular, fleshly and rebellious Israel to "their land" in Palestine is one of the most
preposterous notions ever conceived by the students of God's word. God's Israel
today knows nothing of race, or any secular kingdom; it is a spiritual Israel, the only
"sons of Abraham" on earth today, being, in the light of the Scriptures, those who
have been "baptized into Christ." And should the Jews ever receive Christ as their
Messiah, they would of necessity also be "baptized into him"; and therefore, such a
proposition as that advanced by Clarke would mean that the holy church itself, in
its entirety, and not merely some racial fraction of it, would be reestablished in
Palestine! What a fantastic misunderstanding!
James D. Bales' summary of the teaching of this place is:
"The rebuilding of the tabernacle of David, was evidently not a rebuilding of the
Mosaic system, but the restoration of a king on David's throne; and that Christ is
now on David's throne we have shown in another chapter. The Mosaical system will
not be rebuilt; its mediator has now been replaced by Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-
17; Acts 3:22-26). The old Covenant was to pass away, and it has passed away
(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:5-10,16). Its sacrifices have ceased for the Lamb of
God has been offered once for all to bear the sins of the world.[30]
K&D 11-12, "The Kingdom of God Set Up. - Since God, as the unchangeable One,
cannot utterly destroy His chosen people, and abolish or reverse His purpose of
salvation, after destroying the sinful kingdom, He will set up the new and genuine
kingdom of God. Amo_9:11. “On that day will I set up the fallen hut of David, and wall
up their rents; and what is destroyed thereof I will set up, and build it as in the days of
eternity. Amo_9:12. That they may taken possession of the remnant of Edom, and all
the nations upon which my name shall be called, is the saying of Jehovah, who doeth
such things.” “In that day,” i.e., when the judgment has fallen upon the sinful kingdom,
and all the sinners of the people of Jehovah are destroyed. Sukkâh, a hut, indicates, by
way of contrast to bayith, the house or palace which David built for himself upon Zion
(2Sa_5:11), a degenerate condition of the royal house of David. This is placed beyond all
doubt by the predicate nōpheleth, fallen down. As the stately palace supplies a figurative
representation of the greatness and might of the kingdom, so does the fallen hut, which
is full of rents and near to destruction, symbolize the utter ruin of the kingdom. If the
family of David no longer dwells in a palace, but in a miserable fallen hut, its regal sway
must have come to an end. The figure of the stem of Jesse that is hewn down, in Isa_
11:1, is related to this; except that the former denotes the decline of the Davidic dynasty,
whereas the fallen hut represents the fall of the kingdom. There is no need to prove,

94. however, that this does not apply to the decay of the Davidic house by the side of the
great power of Jeroboam (Hitzig, Hofmann), least of all under Uzziah, in whose reign
the kingdom of Judah reached the summit of its earthly power and glory. The kingdom
of David first became a hut when the kingdom of Judah was overcome by the Chaldeans,
- an event which is included in the prediction contained in Amo_9:1., and hinted at even
in Amo_2:5. But this hut the Lord will raise up again from its fallen condition. This
raising up is still further defined in the three following clauses: “I wall up their rents”
(pirtsēhen). The plural suffix can only be explained from the fact that sukkâh actually
refers to the kingdom of God, which was divided into two kingdoms (“these kingdoms,”
Amo_6:2), and that the house of Israel, which was not to be utterly destroyed (Amo_
9:8), consisted of the remnant of the people of the two kingdoms, or the ᅚκλογή of the
twelve tribes; so that in the expression ‫פרציהן‬ ‫גדרתי‬ there is an allusion to the fact that the
now divided nation would one day be united again under the one king David, as Hosea
(Hos_2:2; Hos_3:5) and Ezekiel (ch. Eze_37:22) distinctly prophesy. The correctness of
this explanation of the plural suffix is confirmed by ‫יו‬ ָ‫ּת‬‫ס‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֲ‫ה‬ in the second clause, the suffix
of which refers to David, under whom the destroyed kingdom would rise into new
power. And whilst these two clauses depict the restoration of the kingdom from its fallen
condition, in the third clause its further preservation is foretold.
‫ה‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ does not mean to “build” here, but to finish building, to carry on, enlarge, and
beautify the building. The words ‫ם‬ ָ‫עוֹל‬ ‫י‬ ֵ‫ימ‬ ִⅴ (an abbreviated comparison for “as it was in
the days of the olden time”) point back to the promise in 2Sa_7:11-12, 2Sa_7:16, that
God would build a house for David, would raise up his seed after him, and firmly
establish his throne for ever, that his house and his kingdom should endure for ever
before Him, upon which the whole of the promise before us is founded. The days of the
rule of David and of his son Solomon are called “days of eternity,” i.e., of the remotest
past (compare Mic_7:14), to show that a long period would intervene between that time
and the predicted restoration. The rule of David had already received a considerable
blow through the falling away of the ten tribes. And it would fall still deeper in the
future; but, according tot he promise in 2 Samuel 7, it would not utterly perish, but
would be raised up again from its fallen condition. It is not expressly stated that this will
take place through a shoot from its own stem; but that is implied in the fact itself. The
kingdom of David could only be raised up again through an offshoot from David's
family. And that this can be no other than the Messiah, was unanimously acknowledged
by the earlier Jews, who even formed a name for the Messiah out of this passage, viz., ‫בר‬
‫,נפלין‬ filius cadentium, He who had sprung from a fallen hut (see the proofs in
Hengstenberg's Christology, vol. i. p. 386 transl.). The kingdom of David is set up in
order that they (the sons of Israel, who have been proved to be corn by the sifting, Amo_
9:9) may take possession of the remnant of Edom and all the nations, etc. The Edomites
had been brought into subjection by David, who had taken possession of their land. At a
late period, when the hut of David was beginning to fall, they had recovered their
freedom again. This does not suffice, however, to explain the allusion to Edom here; for
David had also brought the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the
Aramaeans into subjection to his sceptre, - all of them nations who had afterwards
recovered their freedom, and to whom Amos foretels the coming judgment in Amo_1:1-
15. The reason why Edom alone is mentioned by name must be sought for, therefore, in
the peculiar attitude which Edom assumed towards the people of God, namely, in the
fact “that whilst they were related to the Judaeans, they were of all nations the most

95. hostile to them” (Rosenmüller). On this very ground Obadiah predicted that judgment
would come upon the Edomites, and that the remnant of Esau would be captured by the
house of Jacob. Amos speaks here of the “remnant of Edom,” not because Amaziah
recovered only a portion of Edom to the kingdom (2Ki_14:7), as Hitzig supposes, but
with an allusion to the threat in Amo_1:12, that Edom would be destroyed with the
exception of a remnant. The “remnant of Edom” consists of those who are saved in the
judgments that fall upon Edom. This also applies to ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ. Even of these nations, only
those are taken by Israel, i.e., incorporated into the restored kingdom of David, the
Messianic kingdom, upon whom the name of Jehovah is called; that is to say, not those
who were first brought under the dominion of the nation in the time of David (Hitzig,
Baur, and Hofmann), but those to whom He shall have revealed His divine nature, and
manifested Himself as a God and Saviour (compare Isa_63:19; Jer_14:9, and the
remarks on Deu_28:10), so that this expression is practically the same as ‫א‬ ֵ‫ּר‬‫ק‬ ‫ה‬ָ‫ּו‬‫ה‬ְ‫י‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬
(whom Jehovah shall call) in Joe_3:5. The perfect ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫ק‬ִ‫נ‬ acquires the sense of the futurum
exactum from the leading sentence, as in Deu_28:10 (see Ewald, §346, c). ‫שׁוּ‬ ְ‫יר‬ִ‫,י‬ to take
possession of, is chosen with reference to the prophecy of Balaam (Num_24:18), that
Edom should be the possession of Israel (see the comm. on this passage). Consequently
the taking possession referred to here will be of a very different character from the
subjugation of Edom and other nations to David. It will make the nations into citizens of
the kingdom of God, to whom the Lord manifests Himself as their God, pouring upon
them all the blessings of His covenant of grace (see Isa_56:6-8). To strengthen this
promise, ‫וגו‬ ‫יי‬ ‫ם‬ ֻ‫א‬ְ‫נ‬ (“saith Jehovah, that doeth this”) is appended. He who says this is the
Lord, who will also accomplish it (see Jer_33:2).
The explanation given above is also in harmony with the use made by James of our
prophecy in Act_15:16-17, where he derives from Amo_9:11 and Amo_9:12 a prophetic
testimony to the fact that Gentiles who became believers were to be received into the
kingdom of God without circumcision. It is true that at first sight James appears to
quote the words of the prophet simply as a prophetic declaration in support of the fact
related by Peter, namely, that by giving His Holy Spirit to believers from among the
Gentiles as well as to believers from among the Jews, without making any distinction
between Jews and Gentiles, God had taken out of the Gentiles a people ᅚπᆳ τራ ᆆνόµατι
αᆒτοሞ, “upon His name” (compare Act_15:14 with Act_15:8-9). But as both James and
Peter recognise in this fact a practical declaration on the part of God that circumcision
was not a necessary prerequisite to the reception of the Gentiles into the kingdom of
Christ, while James follows up the allusion to this fact with the prophecy of Amos,
introducing it with the words, “and to this agree the words of the prophets,” there can be
no doubt that James also quotes the words of the prophet with the intention of adducing
evidence out of the Old Testament in support of the reception of the Gentiles into the
kingdom of God without circumcision. But this proof is not furnished by the statement
of the prophet, “through its silence as to the condition required by those who were
pharisaically disposed” (Hengstenberg); and still less by the fact that it declares in the
most striking way “what significance there was in the typical kingdom of David, as a
prophecy of the relation in which the human race, outside the limits of Israel, would
stand to the kingdom of Christ” (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 2, pp. 84, 85). For the
passage would contain nothing extraordinary concerning the typical significance
possessed by the kingdom of David in relation to the kingdom of Christ, if, as Hofmann
says (p. 84), the prophet, instead of enumerating all the nations which once belonged to

96. the kingdom of David, simply mentions Edom by name, and describes all the others as
the nations which have been subject like Edom to the name of Jehovah. The
demonstrative force of the prophet's statement is to be found, no doubt, as Hofmann
admits, in the words ‫ם‬ ֶ‫יה‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫ק‬ִ‫נ‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ. But if these words affirmed nothing more
than what Hofmann finds in them - namely, that all the nations subdued by David were
subjected to the name of Jehovah; or, as he says at p. 83, “made up, in connection with
Israel, the kingdom of Jehovah and His anointed, without being circumcised, or being
obliged to obey the law of Israel” - their demonstrative force would simply lie in what
they do not affirm, - namely, in the fact that they say nothing whatever about
circumcision being a condition of the reception of the Gentiles. The circumstance that
the heathen nations which David brought into subjection to his kingdom were made
tributary to himself and subject to the name of Jehovah, might indeed by typical of the
fact that the kingdom of the second David would also spread over the Gentiles; but,
according to this explanation, it would affirm nothing at all as to the internal relation of
the Gentiles to Israel in the new kingdom of God. The Apostle James, however, quotes
the words of Amos as decisive on the point in dispute, which the apostles were
considering, because in the words, “all the nations upon whom my name is called,” he
finds a prediction of what Peter has just related, - namely, that the Lord has taken out of
the heathen a people “upon His name,” that is to say, because he understands by the
calling of the name of the Lord upon the Gentiles the communication of the Holy Ghost
to the Gentiles.
(Note: Moreover, James (or Luke) quotes the words of Amos according to the lxx,
even in their deviations from the Hebrew text, in the words ᆋπως ᅌν ᅚκζητήσωσιν οᅷ
κατάλοιποι τራν ᅊνθρώπων µε (for which Luke has τᆵν κύριον, according to Cod. Al.),
which rest upon an interchange of ‫דוֹם‬ ֱ‫א‬ ‫ית‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ת־שׁ‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫שׁוּ‬ ְ‫יר‬ִ‫י‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ל‬ with ‫ם‬ ָ‫ד‬ፎ ‫ית‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ‫שׁוּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ְ‫ד‬ִ‫י‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫;ל‬
because the thought upon which it turned was not thereby altered, inasmuch as the
possession of the Gentiles, of which the prophet is speaking, is the spiritual sway of
the people of the Lord, which can only extend over those who seek the Lord and His
kingdom. The other deviations from the original text and from the lxx (compare Act_
15:16 with Amo_9:11) may be explained on the ground that the apostle is quoting
from memory, and that he alters ᅚν τᇿ ᅧµερᇰ ᅚκείνη ᅊναστήσω into µετᆭ ταሞτα
ᅊναστρέψω καᆳ ᅊνοικοδοµήσω, to give greater clearness to the allusion contained in
the prnophecy to the Messianic times.)
BI, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.
The tabernacle of David ruined by man, and reared up by the mighty God
Things to take notice of.
1. The designation that the prophet Amos, by God’s commission, gives unto the
kingdom of Israel. A “sinful kingdom” (verse 8).
2. An advertisement that the prophet Amos gives unto this sinful kingdom. He says,
“The eyes of the Lord are upon it.”
3. God’s purpose and resolution with reference to the sinful kingdom. “I will destroy
it from off the face of the earth.”
4. The limitation of the awful sentence. “Saving that I will not utterly destroy the

97. house of Jacob.”
5. An account of God’s management with respect to that remnant. “Yet shall not the
least grain fall to the earth.”
6. We are told what will become of the chaff. “Shall die by the sword.” Now follows
another scene: a scene of mercy is opened up in verse 11. Notice—
(1) The designation that God gives unto His Church, particularly the New
Testament Church. “The tabernacle of David.”
(2) The present case of the tabernacle of David; it is fallen; there are breaches
made in it; it is in a ruinous condition.
(3) We have a promise of rebuilding David’s tabernacle. “I will raise up his ruins,
and I will build it as in the days of old.”
(4) The time or season when this is to be done. “In that day.” Observation. “That
God many times ushers in a glorious work of reformation by very cloudy, dark,
and dismal dispensations of providence.” This is God’s ordinary way of working,
both towards particular persons and particular Churches. Illustrate by God’s
planting a Church for Himself in the land of Canaan. The return of the children of
Israel from Babylonish captivity. The times of Constantine. The revival of the
Church upon the downfall of Antichrist. Why is it that God goes to work in this
way?
1. That He may be avenged on the persecutors and enemies of His Church and
people.
2. That He may remove the abounding offences in the visible Church, and roll away
the impediments that hinder her reformation.
3. And there is something godlike, greatlike, and majestic in this manner of
procedure. There is something admirable in this way of working in respect of God
Himself; in respect of religion itself. In respect of the people of God, and the effect
that this way of working has upon them. Doctrine. That God has His own time and
way of rebuilding or reforming His Church, when she is brought to a very low and
ruinous condition.
I. Why the Church of Christ is represented under the name and notion of the
“Tabernacle of David.” There is evident allusion to the tabernacle which, by God’s special
command unto Moses, was reared in the wilderness.
1. The tabernacle was God’s lodging and habitation in the camp of Israel, a symbol of
God’s gracious presence among them.
2. The Divine oracles, the law and the testimony, were preserved and kept in the
tabernacle, and from thence they were given out for the use of Israel. So to the
Church pertain the oracles of God; His revealed mind and will in the Scriptures of
truth is committed to her trust.
3. The tabernacle was the place of worship. So the Church of Christ is the place
where He will be worshipped and sanctified of all that are about Him.
4. The pattern of the tabernacle was given by God unto Moses in the mount. So the
model of the Church, with a perfect system of laws, by which she is to be governed, is
given of God in the mount of revelation.
5. No man was to intrude himself into the service of the tabernacle. So, in the New

98. Testament Church, no man is to intrude himself into the sacred offices of the
Church, without he is qualified and called of God unto that work.
6. The greatest and most sacred thing in the tabernacle was the ark and mercy-seat.
And it is the great business of ministers of the Gospel, now under the New
Testament, to disclose or open the ark of the covenant of grace, to preach Christ.
7. The ark was a portable or movable kind of tent. In like manner the Church of God,
while in this world, is not fixed to any particular nation.
II. When may the Tabernacle of David be said to be fallen, broken, and ruinous?
1. When the God of the tabernacle is departed.
2. When the oracles of God are not carefully kept and purely dispensed.
3. When the God of the tabernacle is not worshipped according to His appointment.
4. When it is not kept according to the pattern in the mount.
5. When men are entered upon tabernacle service, without being called, qualified,
and sanctified for such service.
III. How is it that God raises up his tabernacle when it is fallen?
1. In a time of defection He raises up witnesses to bear testimony against the
corruptions and mismanagements of men about His tabernacle.
2. The Lord puts it in the hearts of His people and ministers to take pleasure in the
stones and rubbish of His fallen tabernacle, and to mourn and lament over their own
sins and the tokens of the Lord’s anger that have gone out against them.
3. The Lord polishes and prepares some for tabernacle work and service, as He did
Bezaleel and Aholiab.
4. His tabernacle is raised up by a plentiful downpouring of the Spirit.
5. Sometimes He inspires great men, kings, and nobles, to espouse the cause of His
fallen tabernacle.
6. Sometimes He rears up His fallen tabernacle in the very blood and sufferings of
His witnesses.
IV. Offer some thoughts anent the time or day of the Lord’s building up the tabernacle
of David.
1. It is a time which God hath kept in His own power, and therefore we should
beware of diving with too much curiosity into it.
2. When men think the time at hand, and their expectations are big, things
frequently take another turn, and defeat all their hopes for that season.
3. God’s time of building up His tabernacle is commonly when things axe brought to
the last extremity.
4. God’s time is a day of vengeance and vexation unto the wicked and ungodly world.
5. Yet is it a day of joy and gladness to all Zion’s friends and well-wishers.
In order to the successful building of the broken and fallen tabernacle of David.
1. It is necessary that every one of us prepare a habitation for the mighty God of
Jacob in our hearts.

99. 2. That we be well acquainted with the pattern showed in the mount, particularly of
the New Testament revelation.
3. That, like Elijah, we be “very zealous for the Lord God of hosts.”
4. We need to count the cost; to reckon what tabernacle work may cost.
5. Sympathise with and help all ministers or Christians who are endeavouring
honestly, in their spheres, to build up the tabernacle of God. (E. Erksine.)
The restoration of the true moral theocracy
The old Hebrew world was for ages governed by a theocracy. God was their King. He had
under Him, and by His appointment, human rulers and other functionaries; but they
were simply His instruments and He was their King. That form of government has
passed away, but it was symbolical. It was the emblem of a higher theocracy. Of which
we note—
I. It rose from the humblest condition. “In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of
David that is fallen.” Its founder was a poor Jewish peasant. Its first apostles, who were
they? In its origin, indeed, its symbols are the little stone, the grain of mustard seed, and
the few particles of leaven.
II. Heathens are subject to its authority. “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.” The
old theocracy was confined to the Jews; this one, this moral theocracy, is to extend to the
heathen. Even Edom—the old and inveterate foe of the theocratic people, who may be
regarded as the representative of the whole heathen world—is to be subjected to it. It
shall “ inherit the Gentiles.” It is to have the heathen for its inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for its possession.
III. Abundant material provisions will attend it. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that the ploughman 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.” “The
metaphorical language here employed is at once in the highest degree bold and pleasing.
The Hebrews were accustomed to construct terraces on the sides of the mountains and
other elevations, on which they planted vines. Of this fact the prophet avails himself, and
represents the immense abundance of the produce to be such that the eminences
themselves would appear to be converted into the juice of the grape.” Just as this moral
theocracy extends, pauperism will vanish. With the kingdom of God and His
righteousness all necessary material good comes. Godliness is profitable unto all things.
IV. Lost privileges are restored as it advances. Three blessings, which man has lost
through depravity, are here indicated.
1. Freedom. “I will bring again the captivity,” or rather, I will reverse the captivity,
give them liberty. Man in a state of depravity is a slave, a slave to lust, worldliness
etc. etc. This moral theocracy ensures freedom to all its subjects. “Ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
2. Prosperity. “Shall build the desolate cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards and drink the wine thereof.” One of the sad evils connected with man’s
fallen depravity is, that he does not reap the reward of his labours. He builds cities
and plants vineyards and makes gardens for others. Through the reign of social
injustice he is prevented from enjoying the produce of his honest labours. Under this

100. theocracy it will not be so. What a man produces he will hold and enjoy as his own.
3. Settledness. “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.” Unregenerate
man has ever been restless, homeless, unsettled. He stands not on a rock, but rather
on planks floating on surging waters; he is never at rest. All the subjects of the true
theocracy are established. “God is their refuge and strength.” Let us have faith in this
predicted future of the world. (Homilist.)
ELLICOTT, "Verse 11-12
(11, 12) These verses present some difficulties, as the quotation of the passage in Acts
15:15-17 is a free reproduction by St. James of the rendering of the LXX. The apostle uses
it to show that there was a prophetic promise that after the dispersion of Israel the
power and throne of David should be so re-established that it might be a rallying-place
of the rest of the nations, “that the residue of men should seek after the Lord” (LXX.
“me”). The clause which is quoted shows that the LXX. made their translation from a
different Hebrew text from ours, and probably an inferior one. The word for “men”
(âdâm) was read in place of Edom in the Masoretic text. The rendering “seek” can also be
accounted for by a slight modification of the Hebrew characters. The remarks of Dr.
Stanley Leathes (Old Testament Prophecy, p. 70) upon this passage are worthy of
attention:—“The Greek text, which the apostle did not make, but found, lent itself even
more forcibly than the Hebrew to the peculiar circumstances of the time . . . That he was
not speaking critically we are willing to admit, but are we sure that he was bound to do
so? At all events, our criticism will best display itself in judging his words according to
his standard, and not according to one which, it is plain, he did not follow.”
SIMEON, "CONVERSION OF THE JEWS AND GENTILES
Amos 9:11-12. 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 if as in the days of
old: 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.
PROPHECIES are of necessity involved in some measure of obscurity; so that the full
extent of their meaning cannot be seen at first, nor the precise period for their
accomplishment ascertained. To many of them is affixed an apparently determinate, but
really indeterminate, date; “In that day.” The expression, “In that day,” always refers to
some signally important time, but not always to the same time: it sometimes refers to
one advent of our Lord, and sometimes to another; so that we cannot determine, except
by the passage itself, whether it relate to his coming in the flesh, or his coming to destroy
Jerusalem, or his coming to reign in the Millennium, or his coming to judge the world.
The context however will generally enable us to fix the period intended, if it relate only to
one; or to specify the different seasons, if its reference be more extensive. It is with these
words that the prophecy before us is introduced: and in it the diversity of their meaning
will appear.

101. Let us consider,
I. The import of the prophecy—
It evidently has different seasons of accomplishment. It speaks of,
1. The return of the Jews from Babylon—
[All the prophets who lived before that event spake of it; to some it afforded very ample
scope for the minutest predictions. By their captivity in Babylon, the Jews were reduced
to the lowest state of degradation: their polity, both civil and religious, was destroyed;
and there were no remains of that grandeur to which they had been elevated in the days
of David. But, on their return from Babylon, things were restored, in a measure, “as in
the days of old;” and their inveterate enemies of Edom became subject to them [Note:
Obad. ver. 18–21.]. This however is certainly only a subordinate sense of this prophecy;
for it refers much more strongly to,]
2. The conversion of the Gentiles—
[When we speak of David’s kingdom as typical of the Messiah’s; and his enemies, of the
Messiah’s enemies; we perhaps may be thought to lean rather to the side of fancy than of
judgment. But fancy should find no scope for exercise in interpreting the word of God:
truth, and truth alone, should be the object of our research. The propriety of such
representations is strongly marked by an inspired writer; who, when determining a
controversy of the utmost importance to the Jews, adduces this very passage against
them, to shew, that God had, many ages before, decreed the reception of the Gentiles
into his Church, without subjecting them to the rite of circumcision: and if that Apostle
had imposed a sense upon the passage foreign to its real and received meaning, the Jews
would doubtless have objected to his interpretation of it [Note: Acts 15:13-17.]. Here
then we have one sense at least, (and that the most doubtful one,) of this important
passage, fixed by undisputed and infallible authority. That in this sense it was
accomplished, is too plain to stand in need either of proof or illustration: we ourselves,
as of Gentile extraction, are living monuments of its truth.]
3. The future restoration of the Jews, and their union with the Gentiles in one
universal Church—
[Though myriads of Gentiles have been converted to Christianity, we are far enough
from having seen “all the heathen” subjected to the yoke of Christ; yet it is of all the
remnant of the unconverted heathen that the prophet speaks. Nor have the Jews been so
brought back to their own land as to be driven from it no more: yet it is to such a
restoration of them that the prophet refers [Note: ver. 14, 15.]. Both of these events will
take place together, or in the nearest connexion with each other: “the fall of the Jews has

102. been the riches of the Gentiles,” and the fulness of the Gentiles will be as renewed life to
the Jews [Note: Romans 11:12; Romans 11:15; Romans 11:31.]: then will both be united
under one Head, the Lord Jesus Christ; and he, as the true David, will reign over them
for ever [Note: Jeremiah 30:9. Zechariah 14:9.]. All his enemies then, whether Jewish or
heathen, will he put under his feet; and all the kingdoms of the world become his
undisputed possession.]
Nor is this a speculative subject merely, but one replete with comfort: this will appear by
considering,
II. The encouragements to be derived from it—
Every prophecy admits of practical improvement; and this especially. It affords us rich
encouragement,
1. In relation to individuals—
[The state of multitudes is altogether as desperate as was that of the Jews in Babylon.
What hope is there of the proud infidel—the abandoned sensualist—the cruel
persecutor—the hardened backslider [Note: Shew in each of these states how desperate
their condition is.]?—We should be ready to say concerning them, “There is no hope:”
but there is nothing impossible with God; and he who restored the Jews from Babylon,
and converted so many Gentiles by the instrumentality of a few poor fishermen, can at
any time reclaim the prodigal, convert a Saul, or restore a David — — — Let none then
despair of themselves, as though they were beyond the reach of mercy; nor of others, as
though God could not subdue them to the obedience of faith. Though they are “dry
bones, very dry, the Spirit may yet enter into them, and they may live [Note: Ezekiel
37:1-14.].”]
2. In relation to the world at large—
[Who that sees the state of the world at this moment, would conceive it possible that
truth and righteousness should one day universally prevail? Yet God has ordained that
the little grain of mustard seed which has sprung up, shall become a tree that shall
extend its shadow over the whole earth — — — If we look at the work indeed, we shall sit
down in despair: but if we recollect who it is that says, “I, I will do it,” we shall see not
only the possibility, but the certainty, of that event. Many, from not adverting to this,
laugh at the idea of missions: and many whom God has fitted for missionary labours, are
afraid to engage in them. But “is there any thing too hard for the Lord?” and has he not
“ordained strength in the mouths of babes and sucklings?” Has he not said too, “The zeal
of the Lord of hosts will do this?” Let us then look with pity both on Jews and heathens;
and, in humble hope that the time of God’s effectual interposition is fast approaching, let
us labour, according to our ability, to extend the kingdom of our Lord, and to advance
his glory.]

103. 12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,[e]”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.
BAR ES, "That they may possess - rather, “inherit
The remnant of Edom - The restoration was not to be for themselves alone. No
gifts of God end in the immediate object of His bounty and love. They were restored, in
order that they, the first objects of God’s mercies, might win others to God; not Edom
only, “but all nations, upon whom,” God says, “My Name is called.” Plainly then, it is no
temporal subjugation, nor any earthly kingdom. The words, “upon whom the name is
called,” involve, in any case, belonging to, and being owned by, him whose name is called
upon them. It is said of the wife bearing the name of the husband and becoming his, “let
thy name be called upon us Isa_4:1. When Jacob especially adopts Ephraim and
Manasseh as his he says, “let my name be named upon them, and the name of My
fathers, Abraham and Isaac” Gen_48:16. In relation to God, the words are used of
persons and of places especially appropriated to God; as the whole Jewish Church and
people, His Temple 1Ki_8:43; Jer_7:10-11, Jer_7:14, Jer_7:30; Jer_34:15, His prophets
Jer_15:16, the city of Jerusalem Dan_9:18-19 by virtue of the temple built there.
Contrariwise, Isaiah pleads to God, that the pagan “were never called by Thy Name” Isa_
63:19. This relation of being “called” by the “Name” of God, was not outward only, nor
was it ineffective. Its characteristics were holiness imparted by God to man, and
protection by God. Thus Moses, in his blessing on Israel if obedient, says, “The Lord
shall establish thee an holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn to thee, if thou shalt
keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways; and all the people
of the earth shall see that the Name of the Lord thy God is called upon thee, and they
shall fear thee” Deu_28:9-10. And Jeremiah says to God , “Thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of my heart, for Thy name was called upon me, O Lord God of Hosts.”
Israel then, or the Jewish Church, was to inherit, or take into itself, not Edom only,
but all nations, and that, by their belonging to God. Edom, as the brother of Israel and
yet his implacable enemy, stands as a symbol of all who were alien from God, over
against His people. He says, the “residue of Edom,” because he had foretold the
destruction which was first to come upon Edom; and Holy Scripture everywhere speaks

104. of those who should be converted, as a “remnant” only. The Jews themselves are the
keepers and witnesses of these words. Was it not foretold? It stands written. Is it not
fulfilled? The whole world from this country to China, and from China round again to us,
as far as it is Christian, and as, year by year, more are gathered into the fold of Christ, are
the inheritance of those who were the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
James quoted these words in the Council of Jerusalem, to show how the words of the
prophet were in harmony with what Peter had related, how “God at the first did visit the
Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name” Act_15:14. He quotes the words as
they stood in the version which was understood by the Gentiles who came from Antioch.
In it the words are paraphrased, but the meaning remains the same. The Greek
translators took away the metaphor, in order, probably, to make the meaning more
intelligible to Greeks, and paraphrased the Hebrew words, imagining other words, as
like as might be to the Hebrew. They render, “that the residue of men may seek, and all
the nations upon whom My name is called.” The force of the prophecy lies in these last
words, that “the Name of God should be called upon all nations.” James, then, quoted
the words as they were familiar to his hearers, not correcting those which did not impair
the meaning. The so doing, he shows us incidentally, that even imperfection of
translation does not empty the fullness of God’s word. The words, “shall seek the Lord,”
although not representing anything expressed here in the original, occur in the
corresponding prophecy of Isaiah as to the root of Jesse, “In that day there shall be a
root” (that is, a sucker from the root) “of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the
people, and to it shall the Gentiles seek” Isa_11:10. It may be, that James purposely uses
the plural, “the words of the prophets,” in order to include, together with the prophet
Amos, other prophets who had foretold the same thing. The statements, that the Jewish
Church should inherit the Gentiles, that the Name of God should be called upon the
Gentiles, and that the Gentiles should seek the Lord, are parts of one whole; that they
should be called, that they should obey the call, and, obeying, he enrolled in the one
family of God.
CLARKE, "That they may possess the remnant of Edom - Bp. Newcome
translates this clause as follows: “That the residue of men may seek Jehovah, and all the
heathen who are called by my name.” Here, instead of ‫אדום‬ Edom, he reads ‫אדם‬ Adam,
men or mankind, which is the reading of the Arabic, and some MSS. of the Syriac, and of
Act_15:17.
The Pachomian MS. of the Septuagint adds here, ᆇπως εκζητησωσι µε, that they may
seek me. And the Arabic has the Lord; and in stead of ‫יירשו‬ yireshu, “they shall possess,”
the learned bishop seems to have read ‫ידרשו‬ yidreshu, “they may seek;” and thus the text
resembles the quotation by St. James, Act_15:17, “That the residue of men might seek
after the Lord.” It is strange that not one of the MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi,
nor any of my own, favors or countenances any of these alterations. I am of opinion,
therefore, that we must dismiss all these conjectural emendations, and take the Hebrew
text as we find it. That it speaks of the conversion of the Jews in Gospel times, we have
the authority of the New Testament as above to prove; and it we cannot make the words,
as they stand there, entirely to agree with the words here, the subject is not affected by it.
The Jews shall be converted and restored, and this text in both covenants is a proof of it.

105. GILL, "That they may possess the remnant or Edom, and of all the Heathen,
which are called by my name,.... Or that these may be possessed; that is, by David or
Christ, who shall have the Heathen given him for his inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for his possession, Psa_2:8; when the remnant, according to the
election of grace, in those nations that have been the greatest enemies to Christ and his
Gospel, signified by Edom, shall be converted, and call upon the name of the Lord, and
worship him; and be called by his name, Christians, and so become his inheritance and
possession. The Targum understands, by the Heathen or people, all the people of the
house of Israel; and Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Melech, think the words are to be
inverted, thus,
"that all the people on whom my name is called, nay possess the remnant of Edom;''
and the forager says, that all the Edomites shall be destroyed in the days of the Messiah,
but Israel shall inherit their land; and Aben Ezra says, that if this prophecy is interpreted
of the Messiah, the matter is clear; as it is in the sense we have given, and as the apostle
explains it; See Gill on Act_15:17. Some render the words, "that the remnant of Edom,
and of all the Heathen, that are" (that is, shall be) "called by my name, may possess me
the Lord" (x). The truth and certainty of its performance is expressed in the following
clause,
saith the Lord, that doeth this: whose word is true, whose power is great, whose
grace is efficacious, to accomplish all that is here promised and foretold.
HE RY, " That that kingdom shall be enlarged, and the territories of it shall extend
far, by the accession of many countries to it (Amo_9:12), that the house of David may
possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, that is, that Christ may have them
given him for his inheritance, even the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,
Ps. ii. 8. Those that had been strangers and enemies shall become willing faithful
subjects to the Son of David, shall be added to the church, or those of them that are
called by my name, saith the Lord, that is, that belong to the election of grace and are
ordained to eternal life (Act_13:48), for it is true of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews
that the election hath obtained and the rest were blinded, Rom_11:7. Christ died to
gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad, here said to be
those that were called by his name. The promise is to all that are afar off, even as many
of them as the Lord our God shall call, Act_2:39. St. James expounds this as a promise
that the residue of men should seek after the Lord, even all the Gentiles upon whom my
name is called. But may the promise be depended upon? Yes, the Lord says this, who
does this, who can do it, who has determined to do it, the power of whose grace is
engaged for the doing of it, and with whom saying and doing are not two things, as they
are with us.
JAMISO , "That they may possess ... remnant of Edom, and of all the
heathen — “Edom,” the bitter foe, though the brother, of Israel; therefore to be
punished (Amo_1:11, Amo_1:12), Israel shall be lord of the “remnant” of Edom left after
the punishment of the latter. James quotes it, “That the residue of men might seek after
the Lord, and all the Gentiles,” etc. For “all the heathen” nations stand on the same
footing as Edom: Edom is the representative of them all. The residue or remnant in both
cases expresses those left after great antecedent calamities (Rom_9:27; Zec_14:16). Here

106. the conversion of “all nations” (of which the earnest was given in James’s time) is
represented as only to be realized on the re-establishment of the theocracy under
Messiah, the Heir of the throne of David (Amo_9:11). The possession of the heathen
nations by Israel is to be spiritual, the latter being the ministers to the former for their
conversion to Messiah, King of the Jews; just as the first conversions of pagans were
through the ministry of the apostles, who were Jews. Compare Isa_54:3, “thy seed shall
inherit the Gentiles” (compare Isa_49:8; Rom_4:13). A remnant of Edom became Jews
under John Hyrcanus, and the rest amalgamated with the Arabians, who became
Christians subsequently.
which are called by my name — that is, who belong to Me, whom I claim as Mine
(Psa_2:8); in the purposes of electing grace, God terms them already called by His
name. Compare the title, “the children,” applied by anticipation, Heb_2:14. Hence as an
act of sovereign grace, fulfilling His promise, it is spoken of God. Proclaim His title as
sovereign, “the Lord that doeth this” (“all these things,” Act_15:17, namely, all these and
such like acts of sovereign love).
CALVI , "Verse 12
By these words the Prophet shows that the kingdom under Christ would be more
renowned and larger than it had ever been under David. Since then the kingdom
had been greatest in dignity, and wealth, and power, in the age of David, the
Prophet here says, that its borders would be enlarged; for then he says, Possess shall
the Israelites the remnant of Edom He speaks here in common of the Israelites and
of the Jews, as before, at the beginning of the last chapter, he threatened both. But
we now apprehend what he means, — that Edom shall come under the yoke.
And it is sufficiently evident why he mentions here especially the Idumeans, and
that is because they had been most inveterate enemies; and vicinity gave them
greater opportunity for doing harm. As then the Idumeans harassed the miserable
Jews, and gave them no respite, this is the reason why the Prophet says that they
would come under the power of his elect people. He afterwards adds, that all nations
would come also to the Jews. He speaks first of the Idumeans, but he also adds all
other nations. I cannot finish today.
BE SO , "Verse 12
Amos 9:12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom — This the restored Jews
did in the time of Hyrcanus, when they made an entire conquest of Edom, as
Josephus relates. And of all the heathen (or nations) which are called by my name
— Or rather, which have been called by my name; for so it is rendered in other
versions. The Ishmaelites, Ammonites, Moabites, and other neighbouring nations,
were in the beginning worshippers of the true God, as being descendants from
Abraham, Lot, &c., with whom the knowledge of the true God was preserved. And
the Jews subdued a considerable part of these nations in the times of the Maccabees.
But this is also a prophecy of setting up the kingdom of the Messiah, and bringing in
the Gentiles.

107. COFFMA , "Verse 12
"That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by
thy name, saith Jehovah that doeth this."
Without any doubt, "The possession of the heathen nations by Israel is
spiritual."[31] Israel's possession of the remnant of Edom, and all other heathen
nations was also foretold by Isaiah thus:
"And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they
that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall
call thee The city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 60:14)."
Both passages (here, and in Isaiah) are fulfilled in this manner: Christ is the true
Israel, of which ancient Jacob was only a feeble type; and all who are Christ's and
worship him, are therefore worshipping Israel! Indirect reference to this is found in
Revelation 3:9, where, in the present dispensation, the false Jews who opposed
Christianity, received the word from Jesus that they would "come and worship
before the feet" of the church at Philadelphia, fulfilled when Jews were converted
and bowed before Christ with whom, for ages during the present order, Gentiles
have been identified. "Thus, `the taking possession' referred to here will be of a very
different character from the subjugation of Edom and other nations to David."[32]
"The relationship between Israel and the nations will not be that of a conqueror to
the conquered because it will be the Lord 'who will do this.'"[33] Still another
excellent commentary concerning the proper interpretation of these verses is that of
J. A. Motyer:
"The warlike metaphor in many of these passages is, of course, to be understood in
terms of the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ and the missionary expansion of his
Church. This is the interpretation authorized by the ew Testament (Acts 15:12-19).
[34]
"All the nations that are called by thy name ..." A very interesting fact regarding
this passage concerns the variation of it that appears to be in Acts in the passage
cited above:
"Through slight changes, almost infinitesimal in the Hebrew, the Septuagint
translators (circa 250 B.C.) rendered this passage: "That the residue of men may
seek after the Lord," these last two words being supplied as a necessary object to the
transitive verb "seek"; and so it is quoted by James at the Council in Jerusalem
(Acts 15:17). This passage is especially interesting as an outstanding example in
textual criticism."[35]
In the manner thus indicated, the scholars, some of them, have made this example
(as they call it) their carte blanche permission to change the Hebrew text in any
manner that pleases them; but we reject this. In the first place, we have already
noted that there is no certainty that James quoted this verse, having categorically
stated that what he quoted came from more than one prophet (Acts 15:15); and the
words might well have been James' own inspired words derived from interpretation
of the general message of many Old Testament prophets. But even if it could be
proved that he actually quoted this changed translation from the LXX, the

108. explanation would then be that offered by Barnes:
"James quoted the words as they were familiar to his hearers (the Gentiles
accompanying Paul), not correcting those that did not impair the meaning. This
showed, incidentally, that even imperfection of translation does not empty God's
Word."[36]
Authority for recklessly changing the Hebrew text every time some scholar thinks
he could improve it is certainly not resident in this so-called "example."
CO STABLE, "Verse 12
When the house of David was again intact, Israel would exercise authority over all
the nations of the world and would be a source of blessing to them. This would
include even the small number of Edomites alive then, people who had formerly
been implacable enemies of the Israelites (cf. Obadiah 1:19). Israel"s blessing would
extend even to them, representing all Israel"s former enemies. All the nations would
become associated with the name of Yahweh then and would enjoy His lordship and
protection (cf. Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 9:1-7; Isaiah 11:1-13; Isaiah 42:1-7; Isaiah
45:22-25; Isaiah 49:5-7; Isaiah 55:1-5).
Amos described three different groups as remnants: (1) a small group of the faithful
within Israel in his day in contrast to all Israel ( Amos 3:12; Amos 4:1-3; Amos 5:3;
Amos 6:9-10; Amos 9:1-4), (2) a small group of faithful Israelites in the future (
Amos 5:4-6; Amos 5:15), and (3) a small group of Edomites and other neighbors of
Israel who would benefit from the Davidic promise in the future ( Amos 9:12).
[ ote: Gerhard Hasel, The Remnant, pp393-94.]
At the Jerusalem Council, the Apostle James quoted Amos 9:11-12 to support his
view that the Gentiles of his day did not need to submit to circumcision and the
Mosaic Law to obtain salvation or to live acceptably as Christians ( Acts 15:13-21).
He knew that the judgments of Israel were not yet over (cf. Matthew 24:1-22; Luke
21:5-24; Acts 1:6-7). He also knew, from this passage and others ( Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah
60:3; Malachi 1:11), that when God restored the house of David Gentiles would have
a share in that rule as Gentiles. James concluded, therefore, that Gentiles did not
need to become Jews to enter into these (millennial) blessings. He did not mean that
the church fulfills the promises to Israel but that since Gentiles will experience
millennial blessings as Gentiles they do not need to live as Jews in the church.
"The ancient Greek [Septuagint] translation rendered this verse as follows: "That
the rest of mankind may seek [the LORD], and all the nations upon whom my name
is called, saith the LORD, who does all these things." Strange as it may seem to
those who are unfamiliar with the Hebrew language, the Hebrew text may be
rendered this way, with little more than the change of one letter. The corruption of
this letter must have occurred after the time of the apostles, for James thus quoted
the verse at the Jerusalem Council, and based his decision upon it ( Acts 15:14-17).
There were learned men present, some of them hostile to his view, who would
certainly have shouted him down if he had based his decision upon a reading
different from that which existed in the then current Hebrew manuscripts." [ ote:

109. The ew Scofield . . ., p938.]
TRAPP, "Verse 12
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.
Ver. 12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom] "That they" which are called
by my name, which are called Christians, viz. the apostles and their successors to the
end of the world, "may possess," together with Christ (to whom the Father hath
given the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his
possession), "the remnant of Edom"; those few of them that receive the faith, who
are but as a remnant to the whole piece, a handful to a houseful. And not of the
Edomites only, those inveterate and hereditary enemies to the Israel of God, but of
all the heathen which are called by name, Psalms 2:8, who beseech and are baptized
into Christ’s name, being content to receive his mark and to profess his religion,
which formerly they were perfect strangers to. These and those first preachers of
the gospel, and planters of Churches (being Israelites by birth), are said to possess
by inheritance, because Christ was pleased to make use of their ministry; and upon
these his white horses to ride abroad the world, "conquering, and to conquer,"
Revelation 6:1-2. In a like sense it is promised, Isaiah 14:2, that the house of Israel
shall possess their proselytes in the land of the Lord for servants and for
handmaids, and take them captives whose captives they were, and rule over their
oppressors. Such a change shall the gospel make.
Saith the Lord that doeth this] For indeed none else could have done it. Effectual
conversion is his work alone. God persuaded Japhet. oah may speak persuasively,
but God only can persuade. Rebecca may cook the venison, but Isaac only can give
the blessing. "Paul may plant," &c. Deus potest facere, nec solet fallere.
13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the reaper will be overtaken by the
plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
ew wine will drip from the mountains

110. and flow from all the hills,
BAR ES, "Behold the days are coming - The Day of the Lord is ever coming on:
every act, good or bad, is drawing it on: everything which fills up the measure of iniquity
or which “hastens the accomplishment of the number of the elect;” all time hastens it by.
“The plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.”
The image is taken from God’s promise in the law; “Your threshing shall reach unto the
vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time” Lev_26:5; which is the order
of agriculture. The harvest should be so copious that it should not be threshed out until
the vintage: the vintage so large, that, instead of ending, as usual, in the middle of the
7th month, it should continue on to the seed-time in November. Amos appears
purposely to have altered this. He describes what is wholly beyond nature, in order that
it might the more appear that he was speaking of no mere gifts of nature, but, under
natural emblems, of the abundance of gifts of grace. “The plowman,” who breaks up the
fallow ground, “shall overtake,” or “throng, the reaper. The “plowman” might “throng,”
or “join on to the reaper,” either following upon him, or being followed by him; either
preparing the soil for the harvest which the reaper gathers in, or breaking it up anew for
fresh harvest after the in-gathering.
But the vintage falls between the harvest and the seed-time. If then by the “plowmen
thronging on the reaper,” we understand that the harvest should, for its abundance, not
be over before the fresh seed-time, then, since the vintage is much nearer to the seed-
time than the harvest had been, the words, “he that treadeth out the grapes, him that
soweth the seed,” would only say the same less forcibly. In the other way, it is one
continuous whole. So vast would be the soil to be cultivated, so beyond all the powers of
the cultivator, and yet so rapid and unceasing the growth, that seed-time and harvest
would be but one. So our Lord says, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then
cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they
are white already to harvest” Joh_4:35. “Four months” ordinarily intervened between
seed-time and harvest. Among these Samaritans, seed-time and harvest were one.
They had not, like the Jews, had teachers from God; yet, as soon as our Lord taught
them, they believed. But, as seed time and harvest should be one, so should the vintage
be continuous with the following seed-time. “The treader of grapes,” the last crowning
act of the year of cultivation, should join on to “him that soweth” (literally, “draweth”
forth, soweth broadcast, scattereth far and wide the) “seed.” All this is beyond nature,
and so, the more in harmony with what went before, the establishment of a kingdom of
grace, in which “the pagan” should have “the Name of God called upon” them. He had
foretold to them, how God would “send famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” Amo_8:11. Now, under the same
image, he declares the repeal of that sentence. He foretells, not the fullness only of God’s
gifts, but their unbroken continuance.
Jerome: “All shall succeed one another, so that no day should be void of grain, wine,
and gladness.” And they shall not follow only on one another, but shall all go on together
in one perpetual round of toil and fruitfulness. There shall be one unceasing inpouring of

111. riches; no break in the heavenly husbandry; labor shall at once yield fruit; the harvest
shall but encourage fresh labor. The end shall come swiftly on the beginning; the end
shall not close the past only, but issue forth anew. Such is the character of the toils of the
Gospel. All the works of grace go on in harmony together; each helps on the other; in
one, the fallow-ground of the heart is broken up; in another, seed is sown, the beginning
of a holy conversation; in another, is the full richness of the ripened fruit, in advanced
holiness or the blood of martyrs. And so, also, of the ministers of Christ, some are
adapted especially to one office, some to another; yet all together carry on His one work.
All, too, patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, shall meet together in one; they who, before
Christ’s coming , “sowed the seed, the promises of the Blessed Seed to come,” and they
who “entered into their labors,” not to displace, but to complete them; all shall rejoice
together in that Seed which is Christ.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine and all the hills shall melt - Amos
takes the words of Joel, in order to identify their prophecies, yet strengthens the image.
For instead of saying, “the hills shall flow with milk,” he says, “they shall melt, dissolve
themselves. Such shall be the abundance and super-abundance of blessing, that it shall
be as though the hills dissolved themselves in the rich streams which they poured down.
The mountains and hills may be symbols, in regard either to their height, or their natural
barrenness or their difficulty of cultivation. In past times they were scenes of idolatry. In
the time of the Gospel, all should be changed; all should be above nature. All should be
obedient to God: all, full of the graces and gifts of God. What was exalted, like the
Apostles should be exalted not for itself, but in order to pour out the streams of life-
giving doctrine and truth, which would refresh and gladden the faithful. And the lesser
heights, “the hills,” should, in their degree, pour out the same streams. Everything,
heretofore barren and unfruitful, should overflow with spiritual blessing. The mountains
and hills of Judaea, with their terraced sides clad with the vine were a natural symbol
fruitfulness to the Jews, but they themselves could not think that natural fruitfulness
was meant under this imagery. It would have been a hyperbole as to things of nature; but
what, in naturl things, is a hyperbole, is but a faint shadow of the joys and rich delights
and glad fruitfulness of grace.
CLARKE, "The ploughman shall overtake the reaper - All the seasons shall
succeed in due and natural order: but the crops shall be so copious in the fields and in
the vineyards, that a long time shall be employed in gathering and disposing of them; so
that the seasons of ploughing, sowing, gathering the grapes, treading the wine-press,
etc., shall press on the heels of each other; so vast will be the abundance, and so long the
time necessary to gather and cure the grain and fruits. We are informed by travelers in
the Holy Land, Barbary, etc., that the vintage at Aleppo lasts from the fifteenth of
September to the middle of November; and that the sowing season begins at the close of
October, and lasts through all November. Here, then, the ploughman, sower, grape-
gatherer, and operator at the wine-press, not only succeed each other, but have parts of
these operations going on at the same time. But great fertility in the land, abundance in
the crops, and regularity of the seasons, seem to be the things which the prophet
especially predicts. These are all poetical and prophetical images, by which happy times
are pointed out.
GILL, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,.... Or "are coming" (y); and which

112. will commence upon the accomplishment of the above things, when the church of Christ
is raised up and established, the Jews converted, and the Gentiles brought in:
that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper; or "meet the reaper" (z); or come
up to him, or touch him, as it may be rendered; and so the Targum; that is, before the
reaper has well cut down the grain, or it is scarce gathered in, the ploughman shall be
ready to plough up the ground again, that it may be sown, and produce another crop:
and the treaders of grapes him that soweth seed; or "draweth seed" (a); out of
his basket, and scatters it in the land; signifying that there should he such an abundance
of grapes in the vintage, that they would continue pressing till seedtime; and the whole
denotes a great affluence of temporal good things, as an emblem of spiritual ones; see
Lev_26:5; where something of the like nature is promised, and expressed in much the
same manner:
and the mountains shall drop sweet wine; or "new wine" (b); intimating that there
shall be abundance of vines grow upon the mountains, which will produce large
quantities of wine, so that they shall seem to drop or flow with it:
and all the hills shall melt; with liquors; either with wine or honey, or rather with
milk, being covered with flocks and herds, which shall yield abundance of milk; by all
which, plenty of spiritual things, as the word and ordinances, and rich supplies of grace,
as well as of temporal things, is meant; see Joe_3:18.
HE RY, ". That in the kingdom of the Messiah there shall be great plenty, an
abundance of all good things that the country produces (Amo_9:13): The ploughman
shall overtake the reaper, that is, there shall be such a plentiful harvest every year, and
so much corn to be gathered in, that it shall last all summer, even till autumn, when it is
time to begin to plough again; and in like manner the vintage shall continue till seed-
time, and there shall be such abundance of grapes that even the mountains shall drop
new wine into the vessels of the grape-gatherers, and the hills that were dry and barren
shall be moistened and shall melt with the fatness or mellowness (as we call it) of the
soil. Compare this with Joe_2:24, and Joe_3:18. This must certainly be understood of
the abundance of spiritual blessings in heavenly things, which all those are, and shall be,
blessed with, who are in sincerity added to Christ and his church; they shall be
abundantly replenished with the goodness of God's house, with the graces and comforts
of his Spirit; they shall have bread, the bread of life, to strengthen their hearts, and the
wine of divine consolations to make them glad-meat indeed and drink indeed - all the
benefit that comes to the souls of men from the word and Spirit of God. These had been
long confined to the vineyard of the Jewish church; divine revelation, and the power that
attended it, were to be found only within that enclosure; but in gospel-times the
mountains and hills of the Gentile world shall be enriched with these privileges by the
gospel of Christ preached, and professed, and received in the power of it. When great
multitudes were converted to the faith of Christ, and nations were born at once, when
the preachers of the gospel were always caused to triumph in the success of their
preaching, then the ploughman overtook the reaper; and when, the Gentile churches
were enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge, and all manner of spiritual gifts
(1Co_1:5), then the mountains dropped sweet wine.
JAMISO , "the days come — at the future restoration of the Jews to their own land.
ploughman shall overtake ... reaper ... treader of grapes him that soweth

113. — fulfilling Lev_26:5. Such shall be the abundance that the harvest and vintage can
hardly be gathered before the time for preparing for the next crop shall come. Instead of
the greater part of the year being spent in war, the whole shall be spent in sowing and
reaping the fruits of earth. Compare Isa_65:21-23, as to the same period.
soweth seed — literally, “draweth it forth,” namely, from the sack in order to sow it.
mountains ... drop sweet wine — an appropriate image, as the vines in Palestine
were trained on terraces at the sides of the hills.
CALVI , "Verse 13
Here the Prophet describes the felicity which shall be under the reign of Christ: and
we know that whenever the Prophets set forth promises of a happy and prosperous
state to God’s people, they adopt metaphorical expressions, and say, that abundance
of all good things shall flow, that there shall be the most fruitful produce, that
provisions shall be bountifully supplied; for they accommodated their mode of
speaking to the notions of that ancient people; it is therefore no wonders if they
sometimes speak to them as to children. At the same time, the Spirit under these
figurative expressions declares, that the kingdom of Christ shall in every way be
happy and blessed, or that the Church of God, which means the same thing, shall be
blessed, when Christ shall begin to reign.
Hence he says, Coming are the days, saith Jehovah, and the plowman shall draw
nigh, or meet, the reaper The Prophet no doubt refers to the blessing mentioned by
Moses in Leviticus 26:5 for the Prophets borrowed thence their mode of speaking, to
add more credit and authority to what they taught. And Moses uses nearly the same
words, — that the vintage shall meet the harvest, and also that sowing shall meet the
plowing: and this is the case, when God supplies abundance of corn and wine, and
when the season is pleasant and favorable. We then see what the Prophet means,
that is, that God would so bless his people, that he would suffer no lack of good
things.
The plowman then shall come nigh the reaper; and the treader of grapes, the bearer
of seed. When they shall finish the harvest, they shall begin to plow, for the season
will be most favorable; and then when they shall complete their vintage, they shall
sow. Thus the fruitfulness, as I have said, of all produce is mentioned.
The Prophet now speaks in a hyperbolical language, and says, Mountains shall drop
sweetness, and all the hills shall melt, that is, milk shall flow down. We indeed know
that this has never happened; but this manner of speaking is common and often
occurs in Scripture. The sum of the whole is, that there will be no common or
ordinary abundance of blessings, but what will exceed belief, and even the course of
nature, as the very mountains shall as it were flow down. It now follows —
BE SO , "Verse 13
Amos 9:13. Behold the days come — Here we have another promise, literally to be
understood of the abundant plenty which God would bestow on the returned
captives, and mystically of the abundant grace given and blessings conferred in

114. gospel days. That the ploughman shall overtake the reaper — He who breaks up the
ground, and prepares it for the seed, shall be ready to tread on the heels of the
reaper; who shall have a harvest so large, that before he can gather it all in, it shall
be time to plough the ground again. And the treader of grapes him that soweth seed
— This is to be understood in the same sense as the foregoing clause: so great shall
their vintage be, that before the treaders of grapes can have finished their work, the
seedsman shall be sowing his seed against the next season. And the mountains shall
drop sweet wine — The vineyards shall be so fruitful, and shall produce such
abundance of grapes, that wine shall appear to be as plentiful as if it ran down from
the mountains. And all the hills shall melt — Hebrew, shall flow. The meaning is,
that they should afford such plenty of rich feeding to the cattle, that they should in
consequence thereof give a large quantity of milk. The parallel expression to this, in
the prophecy of Joel, is, The hills shall flow with milk. As these predictions were not
fulfilled in their literal sense between the time of the return of the Jews from
Babylon and the coming of Christ, it is evident they are either to be figuratively
understood of gospel blessings, or, if taken in their literal sense, they respect the
happy state of things during the millennium, which may be supposed to begin after
the future restoration of the Jews to their own country. See notes on Joel 3:18. The
prophets, it may be observed, frequently describe the days of the Messiah in terms
similar to those which the poets used in describing the golden age.
COFFMA , "Verse 13
"Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, 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."
This language, couched in materialistic metaphor is nevertheless descriptive of the
"spiritual blessings" to be realized upon the earth through the ultimate coming of
the Messiah and the prosperity of his kingdom, the church, upon earth. Hyperbole
is also employed, the very idea of the mountain springs running sweet wine instead
of water being a certain indication of this. But, despite what seems to be over-
extravagant language in this description, nothing weaker than this passage could
properly convey the blessings that have come to mankind through the knowledge of
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In comparison to the dark heathen lands where
the Lord has never been received, those portions of earth which are even in the most
nominal sense "Christian" are excellent examples, even of those material blessings
which carry the weight of the metaphor in this glorious promise; and this still leaves
untouched the far greater and more wonderful spiritual blessings of the grace,
mercy, and peace that are the inheritance of all who know the Lord.
Jamieson interpreted the metaphor of the "plowman and the reaper" as meaning
that, "Such shall be the abundance that the harvest and vintage can hardly be
gathered before time for preparing for the next crop."[37] The footnote in the
Catholic Bible is also excellent: "By this is meant the great abundance of spiritual
blessings, which by a constant succession, will enrich the Church of Christ."[38]
It was the great misfortune of the Hebrew people to interpret such passages as this

115. literally; therefore, they looked forward to the coming of their Messiah who would
enlarge their secular kingdom to include all surrounding nations and miraculously
bring about the supernatural wonders like mountain springs running wine! The
unspiritual in all generations find the Word of God an enigma.
CO STABLE, "Verse 13
In contrast to the images of judgment that Amos had painted throughout this book,
days were coming when these terrible conditions would be reversed. The land would
become so productive that farmers planting seed for the next harvest would push
reapers of the same fields to finish their work so they could plant the next crop.
ormally the Israelites plowed their fields in October and the reaping ended in
May, but in the future reaping would still be going on in October because of the
huge harvests. Wine-makers would similarly push the farmers to plant more vines.
The grape harvest took place in August, and farmers planted new vines in
ovember. Harvests would be so abundant that the gathering of one crop would not
end before it was time to begin the new crop.
The mountains would be so full of fruitful grapevines that they could be described
as dripping with sweet (the best) wine. All the hills would be dissolved in the sense of
flowing down with produce, perhaps even washing the soil away with grape juice.
This verse pictures the reversing of the curse that God pronounced on the earth at
the Fall ( Genesis 3:17-19). Instead of drought and famine ( Amos 1:2; Amos 4:6-8)
there would be abundant harvests (cf. Leviticus 26:3-5; Deuteronomy 28:4-5;
Deuteronomy 28:8; Deuteronomy 28:11-12). Even though these may be hyperbolic
images, the point is clear.
TRAPP, "Verse 13
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.
Ver. 13. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman] The gospel of
peace brings with it the peace of the gospel, and with peace plenty, with the horn of
salvation the horn of plenty, a confluence of outward comforts and contentments, as
in Solomon’s days and Constantine’s (whom God prospered and blessed beyond all
that he could have wished, saith Austin, Bonus Deus Constant tantis terrenis
implevit muneribus quanta optare nullus auderet. De C. D. l. 5, 25), and Queen
Elizabeth’s whom, for her care to propagate the gospel, he made to be the happiest
woman that ever swayed sceptre, as her very enemies were forced to acknowledge:
so liberal a paymaster is the Lord, that all his retributions are more than bountiful;
and this his servants have not ex largitate, sed ex promisso, out of his general
providences, but by virtue of a promise, which is far sweeter. The Masorites have
observed, that in this verse are found all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (as also
in 26 more verses of the Old Testament), {Hebrew Text ote} to note, say the
Calvinists, that in the kingdom of the Messiah ( In instauratione casulae Davidicae
collapsae) there shall be great abundance of all things, et plenum copiae cornu: or, if

116. that should fail, yet plenty of all spiritual benedictions in heavenly things, Ephesians
1:3, and contented godliness, 1 Timothy 6:6, which hath an autarkeia, a self-
sufficiency; so that having nothing, a man possesseth all things, 2 Corinthians 6:10.
This the prophet expresseth in the following words, by many excellent hyperboles,
though (to say sooth) Christus et regnum eius non patiuntur hyperbolen. All words
are too weak to set forth the worth of Christ and his kingdom.
The plowman shall overtake the reaper] In signis hyperbole, saith Mercer: no
sooner shall harvest be ended but seeding shall succeed and that promise be
fulfilled, Leviticus 26:5 : all businesses belonging to the tillage of the ground and the
inning of the fruit shall have their fit and suitable seasons; where, under the name of
corporal blessings, spiritual are to be understood; and indeed those blessings out of
Zion are far beyond any other that come out of heaven and earth, Psalms 134:3.
And the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed] "Precious seed," Psalms 126:5,
sowingseed (as one translates it), drawn out of the seed basket, and cast all along
upon the land: the meaning is, that the vintage shall last so long, that the seedsman
shall scarcely have time to do his business, for waiting upon the winepress.
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine] Or juice of pomegranates, more delicious
liquor than that which the Italians profanely call Lachryma Christi, or that which
at Paris and Louvaine is called Vinum Theologicum, or Vinum Cos, that is, coloris,
odoris, saporis ortirol, the best in the country for colour, savour, and taste, to please
the palate.
And all the hills shall melt] sc. With milk, honey, oil, Joel 3:18, the same almost with
this. And the heathen poet (Claudian) hath the like,
- “ Subitis messor gaudebit aristis:
Rorabunt querceta favis stagnantia passim
Vina fluent oleique lacus. ” -
COKE, "Verse 13
Amos 9:13. Behold, the days come, &c.— In the note on ehemiah 4:7 we have
observed, that the Arabs frequently robbed the countryman of his seed-corn. They
treat the fruit-trees after the same manner, and oblige the inhabitants of those
countries to gather the fruits before they are ripe, when they apprehend any danger
from these mischievous neighbours. Maillet, speaking of the province of Fioume,
says, "It is surrounded with Arabs, who frequently make incursions into it,
especially in the season in which the fruits begin to ripen, which that district

117. produces in great abundance. It is to save them from the depredations of the Arabs,
that the inhabitants of this country gather them before they come to maturity,
sending them to Cairo, where they find no difficulty to dispose of them, though they
are not ripe." This circumstance may perhaps serve to explain the passage before
us. Behold, the days come, &c.; that is to say, "The days shall come, when the grapes
shall not be gathered, as they were wont before to be, in a state of immaturity, for
fear of Arabs or other destroying nations; but they shall be suffered to hang even till
the time of ploughing, so perfect shall be the security of those times; nor shall the
ploughman have any thing to do, after committing the seed to the earth, but wait in
undisturbed quiet for the time of reaping; no intervening labours of defence and
war separating the harvest from the seed-time." This explanation removes the
difficulty which might otherwise arise here; for the rains falling in the beginning of
ovember in the Holy Land, and the sowing following presently after, what would
there be astonishing in the treader of grapes overtaking, or meeting with him that
sowed seed? since the travels of Egmont and Heyman expressly affirm, that the
vintage at Aleppo lasts from the 15th of September to the same day in ovember;
and the vegetable productions of Judaea, Aleppo, and Barbary, are nearly
contemporary. It is certain, that, according to those travellers, nothing is more
common at Aleppo than this running of the vintage and summer season into one;
since in the same page that they affirm the vintage lasted till the 15th of ovember,
they say, the sowing season begins there towards the close of October, and lasts all
ovember. The grape, however, ripens much sooner; for Dr. Shaw tells us, that in
Barbary it is ready for the vintage in September, and ripens towards the latter end
of July; and consequently, when surrounded with Arabs, Judaea, through fear of
them, became obliged to hurry on the vintage. On the other hand, though the grapes
of Judaea might be sufficiently ripened for the vintage in common by September;
yet it being very well known, that their hanging long on the trees makes the wine
much the richer, more generous and sweet, the delaying the time of treading the
grapes there till the time of sowing, perfectly well answers the latter part of the
verse, And the mountains shall drop sweet wine. Answerable to this, La Roque
found the monks of Canubin, in mount Lebanon, absent from their monastery, for
the most part, and busied in their vintage, when he was there, at the end of October,
or beginning of ovember; who are noted for the richness and excellence of their
wines. Amos then speaks of their perfect quiet and freedom from disturbances in
that country, in those days to which the prophesy relates; whereas all
commentators, so far as I have observed, suppose that this passage either expresses
the temperateness of the season only, or the abundance of the productions of the
earth in those times; neither of which is the complete thought of the prophet, though
they may both be indirectly involved in his expression. The following words of
building the waste cities, and inhabiting them, planting vineyards, and drinking the
wine of them, &c. perfectly agree with this explanation. But it very ill suits with the
opinion of those who suppose abundance only to be intended; and that the first part
of the verse, in that view, only speaks of abundance of work, and long-continued
ploughing, and says nothing of the plenty of the crop. See Observations, p. 54.
REFLECTIO S.—1st, The judgments of God against a people devoted to
destruction are here fearfully declared.

118. 1. The awful command for the execution of these criminals is issued. I saw the Lord
standing upon the altar, at Beth-el probably, as about to stamp it into powder, and
destroy the idols with their worshippers; and he said, Smite the lintel of the door,
that the posts may shake, intimating the demolition of the idol temples; and cut
them in the head all of them, and I will slay the last of them with the sword, the
king, princes, priests, and people who committed idolatry there.
2. All attempts to escape from God's avenging arm will be fruitless: they shall be
arrested in their flight, and no place afford them protection in this day of wrath.
Could they dig into hell, it would not conceal them; or could they climb the heights
of heaven, thence would he drag them down. The caves or thickets of Carmel could
not hide them from his all-piercing eye, nor the depths of the sea cover them: God
has even there his instruments of vengeance. ay, when in a miserable captivity they
might have hoped that the vengeance of God would rest, the sword should still
pursue them, and make them exchange a wretched life for a more tormenting death.
ote; When God is against us, it matters not who are for us; they can afford us
neither help nor hope.
3. He that pronounces their doom is fully able to execute his threatenings. The Lord
God of Hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt: a touch, a frown from
him can dissolve the earth, or deluge it with waters; and all that dwell therein shall
mourn in bitterness the loss of all their substance, and whatever is dear to them
besides, swallowed up in the flood of his judgments. It is he, that great Creator of
all, that buildeth his stories in the heaven, like a stately palace reared by his power
and supported by his providence; and hath founded his troops in the earth, all
things here below being the instruments of his pleasure, and ready to execute his
commands: he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the
face of the earth, to descend in tempests from the clouds, or burst from the bosom of
the deep to punish guilty mortals: the Lord is his name, able to perform all the
purposes of his will. As happy and safe as it is to have him for our friend, so
miserable and fatal must it be to have him for our enemy.
4. Their iniquities had cut them off from their former honourable relation to this
Almighty God. They were become, by their sins, like Ethiopians, spiritually black,
guilty, and unholy; nor should they count upon the mercies which God had shewed
in bringing them from Egypt, as if these were so peculiarly distinguishing, or
insured his future favour; for he had brought the Philistines from Caphtor, the
place of their nativity, or whither they had been carried captives; and the Assyrians
from Kir, the land of their captivity, 2 Kings 16:9. Yet neither of these nations
would escape at last his judgments. For, behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon
the sinful kingdom, on every guilty land, especially on Israel, whose guilt was most
aggravated; and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, as was done by
Salmaneser. ote; When professors degenerate, and in spirit depart from God, their
privileges will stand them in no stead, but rather aggravate their guilt beyond that
of the vilest heathens.

119. 5. A remnant of Israel, even those who have preserved their fidelity, shall be
preserved amid the general ruin. I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith
the Lord; his eyes behold the men that sigh, and cry for all the abominations of the
land; and they shall be hid in the day of his fierce anger. For lo, I will command, by
his over-ruling providence, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like
as corn is sifted in a sieve; all the afflictions coming upon them shall be so ordered
as to separate the precious from the vile; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the
earth, all the truly faithful shall be preserved; but all the sinners of my people shall
die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us, so daring in
wickedness were they grown; but shall find, to their everlasting confusion, the
vanity of their impious boasts. ote; When the sinner most confidently flatters
himself with assurances of impunity, there is a lie in his right hand, and vengeance
is at his heels.
2nd, With one bright beam of hope the prophesy closes, and, in the promised
Messiah, still a glorious prospect remains of Israel's restoration; for to him bear all
the prophets witness.
1. In the Messiah shall the glory of David's throne be restored. 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 day of old; to what event
this refers we can have no doubt, having an infallible interpreter for our guide; Acts
15:16. When Christ came into the world, the church, the spiritual kingdom of our
David, was apparently fallen as low as the royal family whence the Redeemer
sprung; but in and by him the breaches were repaired, the gospel of the kingdom
was preached at his command, and religion revived its drooping head, and shone
more gloriously than in the brightest days of old. or were the higher privileges of
grace now confined to one nation or people; but Gentiles, as well as Jews, became
the happy subjects of Christ's peculiar kingdom—the Christian church. A remnant
of Edom, and of all the heathen, will now become the church's possession in this
high and glorious sense, and be called by the name of Christ, admitted into the
fellowship and privileges of the gospel, saith the Lord who doeth this, whose power
and grace can and will accomplish what he hath promised for every faithful soul;
and blessed be his name for what we have seen of the fulfilment hereof, and shall see
daily, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and all the faithful Israel of God be
finally saved.
2. The most abundant measure of spiritual blessings in these last days will be
diffused, signified by images of the most abundant plenty; the harvest and vintage
being so vast, that it should continue till seed-time again, and the very mountains, as
if dissolved, pour down streams of wine, and milk, and honey; the gifts, the graces,
and consolations of the holy spirit in the times of the gospel, being bestrowed in a
more eminent and extensive manner than ever before; but more especially in the last
days, and during the glorious millennium, to which the conclusion of this chapter
particularly refers.
3. The captivity of Israel will then be at an end; they shall be delivered from the

120. bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and help to build
the walls of the spiritual temple; enjoying, as members of the church of Christ, that
peace, prosperity, and plenty of heavenly blessings, which would be better than the
fruit of gardens or vineyards: though this may also be well referred to the literal
accomplishment of the prophesy, when the Jews converted to Christ in the latter
day will be planted upon their own land, and enjoy all that outward prosperity here
described.
4. This happy estate of God's Israel during this blessed millennium shall suffer no
interruption. They shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given
them, saith the Lord thy God; he will preserve them from corruptions within, as
well as from their spiritual enemies without; God, their God, their covenant God,
shall fulfil all his promises unto them.
CO STABLE, "Verse 14
Yahweh also promised to restore the Israelites to the Promised Land following their
captivity and exile from it. They would return to their land and establish life
marked by security and joy, abundant food and drink, and beauty and blessing.
Such conditions could not occur during wartime ( Amos 9:1; Amos 9:10; Amos 2:13-
16; Amos 3:11; Amos 3:15; Amos 4:10-11; Amos 5:2-3; Amos 6:9-10; Amos 7:17)
but would be possible in peacetime (cf. Leviticus 26:6; Deuteronomy 28:6).
K&D 13-15, "To the setting up of the kingdom and its outward extension the prophet
appends its inward glorification, foretelling the richest blessing of the land (Amo_9:13)
and of the nation (Amo_9:14), and lastly, the eternal duration of the kingdom (Amo_
9:15). Amo_9:13. “Behold, days come, is the saying of Jehovah, that the ploughman
reaches to the reaper, and the treader of grapes to the sower of seed; and the
mountains drip new wine, and all the hills melt away. Amo_9:14. And I reverse the
captivity of my people Israel, and they build the waste cities, and dwell, and plant
vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; and make gardens, and eat the fruit thereof.
Amo_9:15. And I plant them in their land, and they shall no more be torn up out of
their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God.” In the new kingdom of God
the people of the Lord will enjoy the blessing, which Moses promised to Israel when
faithful to the covenant. This blessing will be poured upon the land in which the
kingdom is set up. Amo_9:13 is formed after the promise in Lev_26:5, “Your threshing
shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing-time;” but
Amos transfers the action to the persons employed, and says, “The ploughman will reach
to the reaper.” Even while the one is engaged in ploughing the land for the sowing, the
other will already be able to cut ripe corn; so quickly will the corn grow and ripen. And
the treading of the grapes will last to the sowing-time, so abundant will the vintage be.
The second half of the verse is taken from Joe_3:18; and according to this passage, the
melting of the hills is to be understood as dissolving into streams of milk, new wine, and
honey, in which the prophet had the description of the promised land as a land flowing
with milk and honey (Exo_3:8, etc.) floating before his mind. In the land so blessed will
Israel enjoy unbroken peace, and delight itself in the fruits of its inheritance. On ‫שׁוּב‬
‫בוּת‬ ְ‫ת־שׁ‬ ֶ‫,א‬ see the exposition of Hos_6:11. That this phrase is not used here to denote the
return of the people from captivity, but the turning of misfortune and misery into

121. prosperity and salvation, is evident from the context; for Israel cannot be brought back
out of captivity after it has already taken possession of the Gentiles (Amo_9:12). The
thought of Amo_9:14, as attached to Amo_9:13, is the following: As the land of Israel,
i.e., the territory of the re-erected kingdom of David, will no more be smitten with the
curse of drought and failing crops with which the rebellious are threatened, but will
receive the blessing of the greatest fertility, so will the people, i.e., the citizens of this
kingdom, be no more visited with calamity and judgment, but enjoy the rich beneficent
fruits of their labour in blessed and unbroken peace. This thought is individualized with
a retrospective glance at the punishment with which the sinners are threatened in Amo_
5:11, - namely, as building waste cities, and dwelling therein, and as drinking the wine of
the vineyards that have been planted; not building houses for others any more, as was
threatened in Amo_5:11, after Deu_28:30, Deu_28:39; and lastly, as laying out gardens,
and eating the fruit thereof, without its being consumed by strangers (Deu_28:33). This
blessing will endure for ever (Amo_9:15). Their being planted in their land denotes, not
the settling of the people in their land once more, but their firm and lasting
establishment and fortification therein. The Lord will make Israel, i.e., His rescued
people, into a plantation that will never be torn up again, but strikes firm roots, sends
forth blossom, and produces fruit. The words point back to 2Sa_7:10, and declare that
the firm planting of Israel which was begun by David will be completed with the raising
up of the fallen hut of David, inasmuch as no further driving away of the nation into
captivity will occur, but the people of the Lord will dwell for ever in the land which their
God has given them. Compare Jer_24:6. This promise is sealed by ‫אל‬ ‫יי‬ ‫ר‬ ַ‫מ‬ፎ.
We have not to seek for the realization of this promise in the return of Israel from its
captivity to Palestine under Zerubbabel and Ezra; for this was no planting of Israel to
dwell for ever in the land, nor was it a setting up of the fallen hut of David. Nor have we
to transfer the fulfilment to the future, and think of a time when the Jews, who have
been converted to their God and Saviour Jesus Christ, will one day be led back to
Palestine. For, as we have already observed at Joe_3:18, Canaan and Israel are types of
the kingdom of God and of the church of the Lord. The raising up of the fallen hut of
David commenced with the coming of Christ and the founding of the Christian church by
the apostles; and the possession of Edom and all the other nations upon whom the Lord
reveals His name, took its rise in the reception of the Gentiles into the kingdom of
heaven set up by Christ. The founding and building of this kingdom continue through all
the ages of the Christian church, and will be completed when the fulness of the Gentiles
shall one day enter into the kingdom of God, and the still unbelieving Israel shall have
been converted to Christ. The land which will flow with streams of divine blessing is not
Palestine, but the domain of the Christian church, or the earth, so far as it has received
the blessings of Christianity. The people which cultivates this land is the Christian
church, so far as it stands in living faith, and produces fruits of the Holy Ghost. The
blessing foretold by the prophet is indeed visible at present in only a very small measure,
because Christendom is not yet so pervaded by the Spirit of the Lord, as that it forms a
holy people of God. In many respects it still resembles Israel, which the Lord will have to
sift by means of judgments. This sifting will be first brought to an end through the
judgment upon all nations, which will attend the second coming of Christ. Then will the
earth become a Canaan, where the Lord will dwell in His glorified kingdom in the midst
of His sanctified people.
BI, "Behold, The days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the
reaper.

122. A revival sermon
God’s promises are not exhausted when they are fulfilled, for when once performed they
stand just as good as they did before, and we may await a second accomplishment of
them.
I. Explain the text as a promise of revival.
1. Notice a promise of surprising ingathering.
2. The idea of amazing rapidity.
3. Notice the activity of labour which is mentioned in the text. One sign of a true
revival is the increased activity of God’s labourers.
4. A time of revival shall be followed by very extraordinary conversion.
II. What is taught us by a revival? That God is absolute monarch of the hearts of men.
God does not say here if men are willing, but He gives an absolute promise of a Messing.
If it were net for this doctrine I wonder where the ministry would be. Adam Old is too
strong for young Melanchthons.
III. The text should be a stimulus for further exertion. The duty of the Church is not to
be measured by its success. It is as much the minister’s duty to preach the Gospel in
adverse times as in propitious seasons. Recollect that even when this revival comes an
instrumentality will still be wanted. The ploughman is wanted even after the harvest.
The ploughman shall never be so much esteemed as when he follows after the reaper,
and the Sower of seed never so much valued as when he comes at the heels of those that
tread the grapes. The glory which God puts upon instrumentality should encourage you
to use it.
IV. A word of warning to those who know not Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
NISBET, "THE CONTINUITY OF HARVEST
‘The plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.’
Amos 9:13
God does not merely allow man to live. Besides life, He bestows blessings. He gives man
all that is needful—food, clothing, and enjoyment. By an annual miracle He sends the
products which provide sustenance and clothing, and contribute to man’s pleasure. And
yet, with all this, to hear a disobedient man whom God permits to live in the face of his
disobedience—yea, to whom He gives the necessaries and comforts of life, to hear such
an one complain, must fill us with wonder how God can strive with him and still bestow
on him many mercies. Many, did I say? God does not merely give man many mercies,
but He lavishes upon him abundant blessings. He gives not, as man gives, sparingly. God
gives abundantly. Not merely what we ask or what we want, but more, far more than we
need, and infinitely more than we deserve. This was the promise of old that there should
be ‘showers of blessing’—that ‘seedtime and harvest should not cease’—that the ‘old
store’ should not be consumed before the new had come—that the supply of our wants
should be so rich and so abundant, that the ploughman should overtake the reaper, and
the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. Taking into account all this—that man is
permitted to live on earth—that God supplies all his needs, yea, gives generously and
abundantly, and that all the time man is an undeserving and disobedient sinner—we ask,
Can the language of complaint ever come from his lips? Complaint! nay, must it not be

123. the language of the warmest gratitude, faith, and submission, and ought not the earth
that has yielded up her harvest to be one great altar upon which this day the sacrifice of
thanksgiving and the song of praise should ascend to Jehovah’s throne? For has not God
bestowed on us in unbroken succession the gifts of the earth, and have we not an earnest
that as His blessings have been, so they will be, ‘the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.’ For what is this but to say that the
harvest shall be more than our wants—that one supply shall come in before another is
exhausted, that that which was first sown shall be ready to reap before the ploughman
has finished his task, and that the vintage shall extend up to seedtime again; in short,
that there shall be no gap in the abundance of the gifts God may bestow?
I. In material things this is so.—The new always comes in before the old is eaten up. The
ground was once cursed for the disobedience of the chosen parent of our race. It was
once again blessed when God said He would no more curse it for man’s sake, but would
draw man by the bands of love and by the gracious influences of fruitful seasons; that
while the earth remained, seedtime and harvest should not cease; that His sun should
rise even upon the evil, and His rain fall on the just and unjust. Hence it has ever been
that the product of one harvest has not been consumed until another has been reaped,
that from the time of Noah until this time, the earth has yielded its increase in unbroken
succession, and though one harvest may be scanty and another abundant, still, the
ploughman has overtaken the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.
There has been enough and more than enough, and ere the last year’s produce is
consumed the present harvest yields its increase. How merciful and loving is our
Heavenly Father then that without fail His good things flow to us in unbroken order,—
that year by year, day by day, comes to us our bread, that it may supply us with the
refreshment nature requires, that so through God’s grace we may have strength to
glorify Him by our resistance of sin, and our cleaving unto holiness. And what is this but
to say that the continuity of harvest here is intended to be a means of preparing us for an
eternal state hereafter, when earthly harvests will be unnecessary, and when body and
soul will be continually strengthened and refreshed through Him Who loved us—even
Christ our life?
II. And what is true of the material harvest is no less true of the spiritual one.—One
supply comes in before another is exhausted. The treasures of heaven which He bestows
upon earth are far more than our needs. Do we seek for pardon of sin? He not only
bestows pardon, but the fatted calf is killed, the robe is put on us, and the ring is given.
Do we long after a better knowledge of Him? He reveals Himself to us in various mercies
and blessings, in ways and at times we thought not of. Do we pray for His Holy Spirit?
He gives it to those who ask it, and whenever they ask it. Do we yearn for His love? He
tells us He loves us with an everlasting love. There may be but a handful of meal and a
little oil in the cruse, but before even that is consumed, the true Elijah whispers, the
barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail. Whenever has God failed
to supply us with the strength and courage of grace needful to our walk in life, and
though the sky look dark and lowering, when has God failed to send the ray of sunshine
to cheer our almost drooping spirits? All God’s spiritual gifts are abundant. Before one
blessing is exhausted another is given.
If, then, God’s promise was that ‘the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader

124. of grapes him that soweth seed’—that His gifts and blessings shall come in unbroken
order—that before one is exhausted another shall be supplied; and the harvests of
earthly and heavenly things shall be given to us in need, and without ever failing, shall
not the language of complaint give place to that of heartfelt praise?
III. With God’s promise thus before us—with a tangible proof of it in the fruits of this
harvest—our duty becomes threefold, and at this season are we summoned to—
(1) Gratitude. Our sinfulness and disobedience render us undeserving of the least of
God’s mercies—we have no claim or right to the fruits of God’s earth, and whether the
harvest be scanty or abundant it matters not as regards our duty. Sufficient it is that the
new has come in before the old has been exhausted, and it is our work to accept the
change with thankfulness. We are apt to complain if the harvest is not up to our
standard. Unconsciously we find ourselves dictating what God ought to have done. It
seems hard to see our corn or hay or crops destroyed, or their abundance checked, and
we forget we deserve nothing but punishment for our worldliness and sin, and are not
satisfied with sufficient for our wants. Can we return any of God’s benefits? Can we pay
back in kind? Surely not. Then let us pay in the coin most easily rendered, let us praise
Him in thought and word,—let us hold Him in honour and reverence—let us
acknowledge and receive His benefits with good feeling in all our poor earthly ways, and
strive to show Him heartfelt gratitude. God looks for such—God expects it. Refuse it!—
hear His Word: ‘What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done
in it? I will take away the hedge thereof, and break down the wall thereof, and I will lay it
waste’ (Isaiah 5:4-6).
(2) Confidence. That if His gifts have hitherto come in regular order we may sit down
and rest in God’s loving guardianship of, and thought for, us. If the old is nearly
exhausted, His promise remains true that ‘the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and
the treader of grapes him that soweth seed’; and God, humanly speaking, does all He can
to engender this confidence, and we must fulfil our own tasks faithfully and
industriously. What was the tabernacle in the wilderness but for the presence of God,
that by being in Israel’s midst He might make them feel confident. What God has
bestowed, let us have a sure confidence He still will continue to send us. Let us trust
Him, that for His own glory and for our good, He will consummate many things that
man does not deserve, until we arrive at fruition.
(3) Submission. Be satisfied with what you have, and be ready to give it up whenever
newer harvests ripen. Conformity to the will of God is the first law of life. We cannot
change that will, we cannot escape it; let us submit to it. However limited some products
of this harvest may be, however abundant others, accept its fruits with resignation and
cheerfulness, and freely permit God to keep back what He might have given. Newer
harvests will yet ripen, newer and greater gifts will God yet bestow—the old shall pass
away; new shall take its place—‘The plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader
of grapes him that soweth seed.’ Corn of that harvest shall, in the true Bread of Life,
satisfy us for ever—wine of that vintage shall, in the true Vine, be to us an everlasting
fountain when earthly harvests shall be no more.

125. Rev. W. Fraser.
Illustrations
(1) ‘The mountains and hills of Judæa, with their terraced sides clad with the vine, were
a natural symbol of fruitfulness to the Jews; but they themselves could not think that
natural fruitfulness was meant under this imagery. It would have been a hyperbole as to
things of nature, but what in natural things is a hyperbole, is but a faint shadow of the
joys and delights and glad fruitfulness of grace.’
(2) ‘To the future prosperity of Israel belongs not only national power and greatness, but
also a rich blessing upon the land and thus upon the people (Isaiah 5:13), in fulfilment of
the promise in Leviticus 26:5. What is there said of the action—the threshing shall reach
unto the vintage—is here transferred to the person who performs it. “The ploughman
reaches to the reaper,” i.e. the ploughing will still continue in one place, although the
reaping has begun in another, which however does not mean that the crop will grow and
mature so quickly, but that so much is there to plough that it lasts to the harvest. This, at
all events, is the meaning of the next clause, “The treader of grapes [will reach] to the
sower of seed”=the vintage will last to the sowing time, so abundant is it.’
14 and I will bring my people Israel back from
exile.[f]
“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in
them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
BAR ES, "And I will bring again the captivity of My people - Where all
around is spiritual, there is no reason to take this alone as earthly. An earthly restoration
to Canaan had no value, except as introductory to the spiritual. The two tribes were, in a

126. great measure, restored to their own land, when Zachariah, being “filled with the Holy
Spirit, prophesied,” as then about to accomplished, that “God hath visited and redeemed
his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation to us in the house of His servant
David, as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets - that we, being delivered from the
hands of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before Him” Luk_1:68-70, Luk_1:74-75. So our Lord said; “ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. If the Son
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” Joh_8:32, Joh_8:34, Joh_8:36. And Paul,
“The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death” Rom_8:2.
And they shall build the waste - (Rather “shall build waste”) “cities.” “As they
who are freed from captivity and are no longer in fear of the enemy, “build cities and
plant vineyards” and gardens,” so shall these unto God. “This,” says one of old , “needs
no exposition, since, throughout the world, amid the desert of pagandom, which was
before deserted by God, Churches of Christ have arisen, which, for the firmness of faith
may be called “cities,” and, for the gladness of “hope which maketh not ashamed,
vineyards,” and for the sweetness of charity, gardens; wherein they dwell, who have
builded them through the word; whence they drink the wine of gladness, who formed
them by precepts; whence they eat fruits, who advanced them by counsels, because, as
“he who reapeth,” so he too who “buildeth” such “cities,” and he who “planteth” such
“vineyards,” and he who “maketh” such “gardens, receiveth wages and gathereth fruit
unto life eternal” Joh_4:36.
CLARKE, "They shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine - When threatened
with great evils, Amo_5:11, it is said, “They shall plant pleasant vineyards but shall not
drink the wine of them.” Previously to their restoration, they shall labor for others; after
their restoration, they shall labor for themselves.
GILL, "And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel,.... Which is
not to be understood of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, and their return from
thence, with whom some of the ten tribes of Israel were mixed; for they were not then so
planted in their own land as no more to be pulled up again, as is here promised; for they
afterwards were dispossessed of it by the Romans, and carried captive, and dispersed
among the nations again; but the captivity both of Judah and Israel is meant, their
present captivity, which will be brought back, and they will be delivered from it, and
return to their own land, and possess it as long as it is a land; see Jer_30:3; as well as be
freed from the bondage of sit, Satan, and the law, under which they have been detained
some hundreds of years; but now shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the
children of God, of Christians, with which Christ has made them free:
and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; literally the cities in
Judea wasted by the Turks, and others; and mystically the churches of Christ, of which
saints are fellow citizens, and will be in a desolate condition before the conversion of the
Jews, and the gathering in the fulness of the Gentiles; but by these means will be rebuilt,
and be in a flourishing condition, and fall of inhabitants:
and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also

127. make gardens, and eat the fruit of them; which, as before, will be literally true;
and in a spiritual sense may signify the churches of Christ, compared to vineyards and
gardens, which will be planted everywhere, and be set with pleasant and fruitful plants,
and will turn to the advantage of those who have been instruments in planting them; see
Son_6:2.
HE RY, "That the kingdom of the Messiah shall be well peopled; as the country shall
be replenished, so shall the cities be; there shall be mouths for this meat, Amo_9:14.
Those that were carried captives shall be brought back out of their captivity; their
enemies shall not be able to detain them in the land of their captivity, nor shall they
themselves incline to settle in it, but the remnant shall return, and shall build the waste
cities and inhabit them, shall form themselves into Christian churches and set up pure
doctrine, worship, and discipline among them, according to the gospel charter, by which
Christ's cities are incorporated; and they shall enjoy the benefit and comfort thereof;
they shall plant vineyards, and make gardens. Though the mountains and hills drop
wine, and the privileges of the gospel-church are laid in common, yet they shall enclose
for themselves, not to monopolize these privileges, to the exclusion of others, but to
appropriate and improve these privileges, in communion with others, and they shall
drink the wine, and eat the fruit, of their own vineyards and gardens; for those that
take pains in religion, as men must do about their vineyards and gardens, shall have
both the pleasure and profit of it. The bringing again of the captivity of God's Israel,
which is here promised, may refer to the cancelling of the ceremonial law, which had
been long to God's Israel as a yoke of bondage, and the investing of them in the liberty
wherewith Christ came to make his church free, Gal_5:1.
JAMISO , "build the waste cities — (Isa_61:4; Eze_36:33-36).
CALVI , "Verse 14
As the prophecy we have noticed was one difficult to be believed, especially when
the people were led away into exile, the Prophet comes to the help of this lack of
faith, and shows that this would be no hindrance to God to lead his people to the
felicity of which he speaks. These things seem indeed to be quite contrary, the one to
the other, — that the people, spoiled of all dignity, should be driven to a far country
to live in miserable exile, and that they should also be scattered into various parts
and oppressed by base tyranny; — and that at the same time a most flourishing
condition should be promised them, and that such an extension of their kingdom
should be promised them, as had never been previously witnessed. Lest then their
present calamities should fill their minds with fear and bind them fast in despair; he
says that the Israelites shall return from exile, not indeed all; but as we have already
seen, this promise is addressed to the elect alone: at the same time he speaks here
simply of the people. But, this prophecy is connected with other prophecies: it ought
not therefore to be extended except to that remnant seed, of whom we have before
taken notice.
Restore then will I the captivity of my people Israel; and then, They shall build
nested cities and dwell there; they shall plant vineyards, and their wine shall they
drink; they shall make gardens, and shall eat their fruit. He reminds the people here

128. of the blessings mentioned in the Law. They must indeed have known that the hand
of the Lord was opposed to them in their exile. Hence the Prophet now shows, that
as soon as the Lord would again begin to be propitious to them, there would be a
new state of things; for when God shows his smiling countenance, prosperity follows
and a blessed success in all things. This then is what the Prophet now intends to
show, that the miserable exiles might not faint in despair, when the Lord chastised
them. It follows at last —
BE SO , "Verse 14-15
Amos 9:14-15. I will bring again the captivity of my people — I will restore them to
their own country, and settle them in it. See the following verse, and notes on Isaiah
11:12; and Ezekiel 28:25. They shall build the waste cities, &c. — Compare the texts
referred to in the margin. This and the following part of the verse contains a
promise that they should enjoy the fruit of their labours, in opposition to that curse
denounced against them, chap. Amos 5:11; Deuteronomy 28:30, that they should
build houses and not dwell in them. I will plant them, &c., they shall no more be
pulled up — This part of the prophecy will receive its completion on the future
restoration of the Jews to their own land.
COFFMA , "Verse 14
"And I will bring back the captivity of my people 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. And I will plant
them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which
I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God."
Just as the materialistic metaphor of Amos 9:13 did not indicate any of those things
literally, the same is true here. The turning again of the captivity of Israel is a
reference to the captivity of men "in trespasses and sins," and the consequent joy of
salvation upon receiving the fountain of life in Christ Jesus. "Israel" is a type of the
holy Church, and the peace and prosperity in evidence here are symbols of the
spiritual blessings "in Christ." "The truth expressed through this imagery tells of
the total reversal of the effects of sin."[39] Sin is at the root of all man's problems; it
was sin that resulted in insecurity, in wretchedness, unhappiness, and want. Solving
the sin problem solves them all.
Some, of course, have found here a prophecy of the return of the Jews from
Babylonian captivity, a captivity that occurred over a century later; but, as Keil
noted, "This was no planting of Israel to dwell forever in their land, nor was it a
setting up of the fallen tabernacle."[40] It is absolutely mandatory to read this
prophecy of something that applies after the "fallen tabernacle" was restored in the
Church of Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, it is just as wrong to seek the fulfillment of this is some far-off future
event (altogether mythical), "When the Jews, who have been converted to their God
and Saviour Jesus Christ, will one day be led back to Palestine."[41] In this light, it

129. is a fact that, "The land which will flow with streams of divine blessing is not
Palestine, but the domain of the Christian church.[42] This divine project will be
completed when, one day, the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered into the
kingdom of Christ.
"They shall build the waste cities, and shall inhabit them ..." Barnes gave an
excellent interpretation of this, thus:
"Throughout the world, amid the desert of Heathendom, which was formerly
deserted by God, Churches of Christ have arisen, which, for the firmness of faith,
may be called cities, and for the gladness of hope which needeth not to be
ashamed."[43]
By way of summary: The raising up of the fallen tabernacle of David began with the
coming of Christ and the establishment of his church, or kingdom, upon earth. The
possession of the remnant of Edom and all the other Gentile nations upon whom the
Lord's name is called began to take place with the missionary thrust of the apostolic
church; the return of God's people from captivity, is the return of uncounted
millions of men from the service and pursuit of sin, with the resultant joy that issues
in such great blessings that the most extravagant metaphor is necessary to describe
them. The continued sifting of "the righteous remnant" of whatever origin will
continue throughout time until the full company of God's redeemed from earth shall
have been completed. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen.
TRAPP, "Verse 14
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.
Ver. 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people] There is an elegance in
the original that cannot be translated into English, and God seems delighted with
such alliteration, as hath been before observed; to show the lawful use of rhetoric in
divine discourses, so it be not affected, abused, idolized. This promise is fulfilled
when believers are by the gospel brought "from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins," Acts 26:18, and
be set free from the tyranny of corruption and terror of death, Hebrews 2:14-15,
Colossians 1:13, Luke 1:74, Zechariah 9:11, Psalms 68:19.
And they shall build the waste cities] Restore the sincere service of God, as those
noble reformers did in all ages; fetching the Church, as it were, out of the
wilderness, where she had long lain hidden, Revelation 12:6, and whence she is said
at length to come "leaning upon her beloved," Song of Solomon 8:5.
And they shall plant vineyards] That is, particular Churches.

130. And drink the wine thereof] Have the fruit and comfort of their labours in the Lord,
which they shall see not to be in vain, 1 Corinthians 15:58.
They shall also make gardens, and eat of the fruit] While they shall see their people
to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:8, but
far off flourishing, Psalms 92:13, actuosi et fructuosi, Isaiah 51:3. The Popish
commentators (as it is the manner of many of them to mar and bemire the text with
their absurd glosses) by cities here would have men to understand the state of
married people, by vineyards their prelates, and by gardens monks. Is not this to
wrest the Scriptures, and so to set them on the rack, as to make them speak more
than ever they intended? Is it not to compel them to go two miles when they are
willing to go but one? Is it not to taw them, and gnaw them, as Tertullian saith that
Marcion, the heretic (that Mus Ponticus, as he therefore calls him), did, to make
them serviceable to his vile purposes?
15 I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
BAR ES, "And I will plant them upon their own land - The promises and
threatenings of God are, to individuals, conditional upon their continuing to be of that
character, to which God annexes those promises or threats. Theodoret: “The God of all
often promises, when those who receive the promises, by joying in iniquity hinder those
promises from taking effect. At times also he threatens heavy things, and they who for
their offences were the objects of those threats, being, through fear of them, converted,
do not in act experience them.” The two tribes received some little shadow of fulfillment
of these promises on the return from Babylon. “They were planted in their own land.”
The non-fulfillment of the rest, as well as the evident symbolic character of part of it,
must have shown them that such fulfillment was the beginning, not the end. Their land
was “the Lord’s land;” banishment from it was banishment from the special presence of

131. God, from the place where He manifested Himself, where alone the typical sacrifices, the
appointed means of reconciliation, could be offered.
Restoration to their own land was the outward symbol of restoration to God’s favor, of
which it was the fruit. it was a condition of the fulfillment of those other promises, the
coming of Him in whom the promises were laid up, the Christ. He was not simply to be
of David’s seed, according to the flesh. Prophecy, as time went on, declared His birth at
Bethlehem, His revelation in Galilee, His coming to His Temple, His sending forth His
law from Jerusalem. Without some restoration to their own land, these things could not
be. Israel was restored in the flesh, that, after the flesh, the Christ might be born of
them, where God foretold that He should be born. But the temporal fulfillment ended
with that event in time in which they were to issue, for whose sake they were; His
coming. They were but the vestibule to the spiritual. As shadows, they ceased when the
Sun arose. As means, they ended, when the end, whereto they served, came.
There was no need of a temporal Zion, when He who was to send forth His law thence,
had come and sent it forth. No need of a temple when He who was to be its glory, had
come, illumined it, and was gone. No need of one of royal birth in Bethlehem, when “the
Virgin” had “conceived and borne a Son,” and “God” had been “with us.” And so as to
other prophecies. All which were bound to the land of Judah, were accomplished. As the
true Israel expanded and embraced all nations, the whole earth became “the land” of
God’s people. Palestine had had its prerogatives, because God manifested Himself there,
was worshiped there. When God’s people was enlarged, so as “to inherit the pagan,” and
God was worshiped everywhere, His land too was everywhere. His promises
accompanied His people, and these were in all lands. His words then, “I will plant them
upon their own land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have
given them,” expanded with their expansion. It is a promise of perpetuity, like that of
our Lord; “Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. The gates of hell shall
not prevail against” the Church, the people of God. The world may gnash its teeth; kings
may oppress; persecutors may harass; popular rage may trample on her; philosophy
may scoff at her; unbelief may deny the promises made to her; the powers of darkness
may rage around her; her own children may turn against her. In vain! Jerome: “She may
be shaken by persecutions, she cannot be uprooted; she may be tempted, she cannot be
overcome. For the Lord God Almighty, the Lord her God, hath promised that He will do
it, whose promise is the law to nature.”
Saith the Lord thy God - Rib.: “O Israel of God, O Catholic Church, to be gathered
out of Jews and Gentiles, doubt not, he would say, thy promised happiness. For thy God
who loveth thee and who from eternity hath chosen thee, hath commanded me to say
this to thee in His Name.” Rup.: “He turneth too to the ear of each of us, giving us joy, in
His word, ‘saith the Lord thy God.’” “They too who are plants which God hath planted,
and who have so profited, that through them many daily profit, “shall be planted upon
their own ground,” that is, each, in his order and in that kind of life which he has chosen,
shall strike deep roots in true piety, and they shall be so preserved by God, that by no
force of temptations shall they be uprooted, but each shall say with the holy prophet, “I
am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and
ever” Psa_52:9. Not that every tree, planted in the ground of the Church militant, is so
firm that it cannot be plucked up, but many there are, which are not plucked up, being
protected by the Hand of Almighty God. O blessed that land, where no tree is plucked
up, none is injured by any worm, or decays through any age. How many great, fruit-
bearing, trees do we see plucked up in this land of calamity and misery! Blessed day,
when we shall be there, where we need fear no storm!” Yet this too abideth true; “none
shall be plucked up.” Without our own will, neither passions within, nor temptations

132. without, nor the malice or wiles of Satan, can “pluck” us “up.” None can “be plucked up,”
who doth not himself loose his hold, whose root is twisted round the Rock, which is
Thou, O Blessed Jesus. For Thou hast said, “they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of My Hand” Joh_10:28.
CLARKE, "I will plant them upon their land - They shall receive a permanent
establishment there.
And they shall no more be pulled up - Most certainly this prophecy has never yet
been fulfilled. They were pulled out by the Assyrian captivity, and by that of Babylon.
Many were planted in again, and again pulled out by the Roman conquest and captivity,
and were never since planted in, but are now scattered among all the nations of the
earth. I conclude, as the word of God cannot fail, and this has not yet been fulfilled, it
therefore follows that it will and must be fulfilled to the fullness of its spirit and
intention. And this is established by the conclusion: “Saith the Lord thy God.” He is
Jehovah, and cannot fail; he is Thy God, and will do it. He can do it, because he is
Jehovah; and he will do it, because he is Thy God. Amen.
GILL, "And I will plant them upon their land,.... The land of Israel, as trees are
planted; and they shall take root and flourish, and abound with all good things, temporal
and spiritual:
and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given
them, saith the Lord thy God; by which it appears that this is a prophecy of things
yet to come; since the Jews, upon their return to their own land after the Babylonish
captivity, were pulled up again, and rooted out of it by the Romans, and remain so to this
day; but, when they shall return again, they will never more be removed from it; and of
this they may he assured; because it is the land the Lord has, "given" them, and it shall
not be taken away from them any more; and, because he will now appear to be the "Lord
their God", the "loammi", Hos_1:9, will he taken off from them; they will be owned to be
the Lords people, and he will be known by them to be their covenant God; which will
ensure all the above blessings to them, of whatsoever kind; for this is either said to the
prophet, "the Lord thy God", or to Israel; and either way it serves to confirm the same
thing.
HE RY, " That the kingdom of the Messiah shall take such deep rooting in the world
as never to be rooted out of it (Amo_9:15): I will plant them upon their land. God's
spiritual Israel shall be planted by the right hand of God himself upon the land assigned
them, and they shall no more be pulled up out of it, as the old Jewish church was. God
will preserve them from throwing themselves out of it by a total apostasy, and will
preserve them from being thrown out of it by malice of their enemies; the church may be
corrupted, but shall not quite forsake God, may be persecuted, but shall not quite be
forsaken of God, so that the gates of hell, neither with their temptations nor with their
terrors, shall prevail against it. Two things secure the perpetuity of the church: - 1. God's
grants to it: It is the land which I have given them; and God will confirm and maintain
his own grants. The part he has given to his people is that good part which shall never be
taken from them; he will not revoke his grant, and all the powers of earth and hell shall

133. not invalidate it. 2. Its interest in him: He is the Lord thy God, who has said it, and will
make it good, thine, O Israel! who shall reign for ever as thine unto all generations. And
because he lives the church shall live also.
JAMISO , "plant them ... no more be pulled up — (Jer_32:41).
thy God — Israel’s; this is the ground of their restoration, God’s original choice of
them as His.
CALVI , "Verse 15
The Prophet further mentions here a quiet dwellings in the land, for it was not
enough for the people to be restored to their country, except they lived there in
safety and quietness; for they might soon afterwards have been removed again. It
would have been better for them to pine away in exile, than to be restored for the
sake, as it were, of sporting with them, and in a short time to be again conquered by
their enemies, and to be led away into another country. Therefore the Prophet says,
that the people, when restored, would be in a state of tranquillity.
And he uses a most suitable comparison, when he says, I will plant them in their
own land, nor shall they be pulled up any more: for how can we have a settled place
to dwell in, except the Lord locates us somewhere? We are indeed as it were flitting
beings on the earth, and we may at any moment be tossed here and there as the
chaff. We have therefore no settled dwelling, except as far as we are planted by the
hand of God, or as far as God assigns to us a certain habitation, and is pleased to
make us rest in quietness. This is what the Prophet means by saying, I will plant
them in their own land, nor shall they any more be pulled up How so? “Because, he
says, I have given to them the land”. He had indeed given it to them before, but he
suffered them to be pulled up when they had polluted the land. But now God
declares that his grace would outweigh the sins of the people; as though he said,
“However unworthy the people are, who dwell in this land, my gift will yet be
effectual: for I will not regard what they deserve at my hands, but as I have given
them this land, they shall obtain it.” We now apprehend the meaning of the Prophet.
ow, if we look on what afterwards happened, it may appear that this prophecy has
never been fulfilled. The Jews indeed returned to their own country, but it was only
a small number: and besides, it was so far from being the case, that they ruled over
neighboring nations, that they became on the contrary tributaries to them: and
further still, the limits of their rule were ever narrow, even when they were able to
shake off the yoke. In what sense then has God promised what we have just
explained? We see this when we come to Christ; for it will then be evident that
nothing has been in vain foretold: though the Jews have not ruled as to the outward
appearance, yet the kingdom of God was then propagated among all nations, from
the rising to the setting of the sun; and then, as we have said in other places, the
Jews reigned.
Further, what is here said of the abundance of corn and wine, must be explained

134. with reference to the nature of Christ’s kingdom. As then the kingdom of Christ is
spiritual, it is enough for us, that it abounds in spiritual blessings: and the Jews,
whom God reserved for himself as a remnant, were satisfied with this spiritual
abundance.
If any one objects and says, that the Prophet does not speak here allegorically; the
answer is ready at hand, even this, — that it is a manner of speaking everywhere
found in Scripture, that a happy state is painted as it were before our eyes, by
setting before us the conveniences of the present life and earthly blessings: this may
especially be observed in the Prophets, for they accommodated their style, as we
have already stated, to the capacities of a rude and weak people. But as this subject
has been discussed elsewhere more at large, I only touch on it now as in passing and
lightly. ow follows the Prophecy of Obadiah, who is commonly called Abdiah. (66)
CO STABLE, "Verse 15
Furthermore the Israelites would put roots down in the Promised Land and never
have to leave it again (cf. Genesis 13:14-15; Genesis 17:7-8; Deuteronomy 30:1-5; 2
Samuel 7:10; Jeremiah 30:10-11; Ezekiel 37:25; Joel 3:17-21; Micah 4:4-7;
Zechariah 14:11). They would not fear exile ( Amos 4:2-3; Amos 5:5; Amos 5:27;
Amos 6:7; Amos 7:11; Amos 7:17; Amos 9:4) but would be secure from every foe (cf.
Leviticus 26:7-8; Deuteronomy 28:7; Deuteronomy 28:10). Yahweh, Israel"s true
God, promised this.
"The pivot on which all this turns is CHRIST. As we have seen, He is brought
before us in Amos:-(1) As Israel"s Shepherd, rescuing a remnant from the lion"s
mouth [ Amos 3:12]. (2) As Israel"s Intercessor, beseeching God for them that at all
events some might "arise" (or "stand," R.V) [ Amos 7:2; Amos 7:5]. (3) As the One
for whom Israel will mourn, and to whom their hearts will turn [ Amos 8:10]. (4) As
the true David, who will bring in the state of blessing and peace which God has from
the beginning purposed for His people [ Amos 9:11]." [ ote: Harold P. Barker,
Christ in the Minor Prophets, p36.]
The end of the Exile saw only a dim foreview of the blessings Amos announced here.
Blessings in the church age do not compare either. Amillennialists see the fulfillment
in the Israelites" return from exile, in the church age in a spiritual sense (i.e,
abundant spiritual blessings), or in heaven. [ ote: See Bruce K. Waltke, An Old
Testament Theology, p835.] Fulfillment has yet to come when God restores the tent
of David in Jesus Christ"s millennial reign.
"Amos" single prophecy of future blessing ( Amos 9:11-15) details (1) the
restoration of the Davidic dynasty ( Amos 9:11); (2) the conversion of the nations (
Amos 9:12); (3) the fruitfulness of the land ( Amos 9:13); (4) Israel"s return from
captivity ( Amos 9:14); (5) the rebuilding of the waste cities ( Amos 9:14); and (6)
Israel"s permanent settlement in the holy land ( Amos 9:15)." [ ote: The ew
Scofield . . ., p938.]
"God"s promises for the future are anchor points to keep us stable, and to give us

135. hope in times of personal distress and difficulty. The more we understand what God
has promised for the future, the more we can endure our problems today." [ ote:
Dyer, p763.]
TRAPP, "Verse 15
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.
Ver. 15. And I will plant them upon their land] As "trees of righteousness, the
planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified," Isaiah 61:3; Isaiah 61:11, being
well-rooted and no worse fruited, Philippians 1:6.
And they shall no more be pulled up] one shall pull them out of Christ’s hand; for
he and the Father are one, John 10:29-30. one shall separate them from the love of
God in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:39, they shall be sure of continual supplies of sap
and safety, being kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, 2 Peter 1:3.
The paradise of God was so planted, that it was watered on all sides with most noble
rivers, to keep it flourishing; how much more will the Lord do this in his heavenly
garden, the Church! see Psalms 92:13-14, when it comes to be transplanted
especially.
Saith the Lord thy God] "Thy God," O prophet, who will ratify and verify what
promises soever thou hast uttered in his name. Or "thy God," O people, now
reconciled unto thee in Christ, John 20:17, and therefore ready to heap upon thee all
things needful for life and godliness.
SIMEO , "THE MILLE IAL STATE
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 street wine, and all the hills shall melt.
IT is gratifying to see what a harmony there is in all the prophets, in their
descriptions of the glory of the latter day. The representations which heathen poets
have given of what they call the golden age, are more than realized in their
predictions. They appear indeed to speak of earthly things; but it is of heavenly
things that they speak: and by earthly images they embody truth, and present it to
our minds with incomparably greater force than it could by any other means be
conveyed. The idea of fertility, for instance, in all its richest luxuriance, is calculated
to make a strong impression on the imagination: it is tangible, as it were; and we
can apprehend it; and, when it is set before us in glowing language, we can with ease
transfer to spiritual things our perceptions with all their clearness, and our

136. impressions with all their force. Most striking is the picture drawn by the Prophet
Hosea. He represents the people uttering their complaints to the corn and wine and
oil; and they to the earth; and the earth to the heavens; and the heavens to Jehovah:
of them in succession conceding to the other the blessings solicited at their hands;
Jehovah granting clouds to the heavens; they pouring out their contents upon the
earth; the earth yielding its juices to the corn and wine and oil; and they nourishing
the famished people [ ote: Hosea 2:21-23.]. The Prophet Joel goes further, and
describes the effects produced, the mountains dropping down new wine, and the
hills flowing with milk [ ote: Joel 3:18.]; whilst the Prophet Amos proceeds yet
further, and represents the productions of the earth as so abundant, that there will
scarcely be time to gather them in; “the plowman overtaking the reaper, and the
treader of grapes him that soweth the seed:” in other words, that the successive
operations of husbandry will, by reason of the abundance, press so closely upon
each other, as almost to interrupt the regular execution of them.
It is with the spiritual import of these images that we are more immediately
concerned. It seems indeed highly probable, that agreeably to the promise given by
Moses [ ote: Leviticus 26:5.], there will be, as nearly as possible, a literal
accomplishment of these things in Palestine, after that the Jews shall have been
restored to their own land; (for that event shall certainly take place in the appointed
time [ ote: ver. 14, 15.]:) but infinitely richer blessings await them in that day; for
that period shall be distinguished by,
I. Frequent ordinances—
At the first establishment of the Christian Church, the people “continued daily in
the temple with one accord, and brake bread together from house to house, eating
their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Thus also will it be in that blessed
day, when apostolic piety shall again prevail throughout the Church: there will be
no “famine of the word,” but frequent ordinances in every place:
[In public, ministers will then “give themselves wholly to their work:” they will be
“instant in season and out of season:” they will live only to fulfil their ministry, and
will “count their lives dear to them” for no other end. The people too will be as
eager to receive instruction, as the ministers to convey it. As many followed our
blessed Lord for days together to hear his word, and forgot, as it were, the very
wants of nature through the insatiableness of their appetites for spiritual food; so,
methinks, in that day the people will, as it were, “dwell in the house of the Lord,
that they may flourish in the courts of our God.”
Then also will social ordinances abound. Friends, when they meet together, will then
seek to edify each other in faith and love. In families, all will look for the returning
seasons of divine worship, as much as for their regular meals. Parents will
“command their children to fear the Lord;” and masters will universally adopt the
resolution of Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
In private, too, men will delight in approaching to their God, and in pouring out

137. their souls before the throne of grace. “At morning, and at evening, and at noon-day
will they pray,” as David did in the times of old; yea, they will be ready to say with
him, “Seven times a day will I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments.”
Thus in the public, social, and private ordinances there will be such a rapid
succession, that the “plowman will overtake the reaper; and he that treadeth out the
grapes, the sower.” ot that temporal things will be neglected: men will “not be the
more slothful in business, because they are fervent in spirit;” but they will carry the
fear and love of God into every thing, so that they will “be in the fear of the Lord all
the day long.” “The fire on their altar will never go out.”]
From this state of things there will arise,
II. umerous converts—
[ ow ministers may fish all the day, and take scarcely any thing; but then the Lord
will direct them where and how to cast their nets; which they shall scarcely be able
to drag to land, by reason of the numbers that they shall catch. The days of
Pentecost shall be revived. From a small handful of corn shall spring up a crop
waving like the trees of Lebanon, and standing as close upon the ground as piles of
grass upon the earth [ ote: Psalms 72:16.]. Fresh converts shall be continually
hastening forwarsd, as “doves flying to their windows;” yea rather, they shall be
like a majestic river “flowing together to the goodness of the Lord,” and that too,
not as in an ordinary course, but upward, “even to the mountain of the Lord’s house
that shall be established on the top of the mountains [ ote: Isaiah 2:2.].” The
church itself shall be perfectly astonished at the increase; which will be so vast and
so rapid, that places shall be wanting for their reception [ ote: Isaiah 49:18-23.]. In
a word, “the fields will be always white ready to the harvest;” and one crop will not
be gathered in, before another is ripe for the sickle.”]
or will Christianity be a mere profession then; for all who embrace it shall be
distinguished for,
III. Exalted virtues—
[All will then “live, not unto themselves, but unto their God; even to Him who died
for them, and rose again.” The fruit which individuals will then bear will not be
thirty or sixty-fold, but an hundred-fold. It will appear as if all the most eminent
saints that have ever lived had risen again; on which account it is called, “The first
resurrection [ ote: Revelation 20:5-6.].” So subdued will be all the evil passions of
men in that day, that “instead of the thorn will grow up the fir-tree, and instead of
the brier will grow up the myrtle-tree [ ote: Isaiah 55:13.]:” “for brass there will be
gold; for iron, silver; for wood, brass; and for stones, iron [ ote: Isaiah 60:17.].” It
will be truly the reign of Christ upon earth: nothing but his will will be done; and it
will be done on earth, in good measure, as it is done in heaven. Godliness will then
be, not an act, but a habit; so that one act of piety will be only as a prelude to
another; “the very mountains dropping with sweet wine, and the hills melting” into

138. rivers of wine.]
Resulting from this state of piety, there will be,
IV. Abundant consolations—
[This is doubtless intimated in our text, as in the parallel passage in the Prophet Joel
[ ote: Joel 3:18.]. Truly “God will then comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste
places; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the
Lord: joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody
[ ote: Isaiah 51:3. See also 35:1, 2.].” The world at this time is only a vale of tears:
but then “there will be new heavens and a new earth: yea, God will make all things
new [ ote: Revelation 21:1; Revelation 21:5.].” What will be the state of men’s
minds at that time, may be gathered from the description given of it by the Prophet
Isaiah [ ote: Isaiah 12:3-6.] — — — Blessed and glorious state! “lthe peace of all
will flow down as a river,” and the joy of all be unspeakable and glorified [ ote:
Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 35:10.] — — — “God will cause them universally and without
ceasing to triumph in Christ [ ote: 2 Corinthians 2:14.];” and to live as on the very
confines of heaven itself.”]
Improvement—
Let us inquire,
1. Whence it is that we are comparatively in so low a state?
[It is manifest that religion, though perhaps flourishing in comparison of what it
was a century ago, is still but at a low ebb. If we look at the ordinances, public,
private, and social, they are far from being attended with that life and power that
they were in the apostolic age. And whence is this? Are we straitened in our God?
o: “we are straitened in our own bowels;” we do not pant after the life and power
of godliness, as the first converts did: and “we have not, because we ask not.” O that
we were more earnest and constant in prayer, forgetting all that we have received,
and pressing forward for higher attainments! — — —]
2. How we may attain a greater measure of that prosperity which the saints will
enjoy in the latter day?
[We must all begin with our own hearts. If all would labour for higher attainments
in their own souls, the whole Church of God would revive and flourish — — — But
an attention to others also is most desirable. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt
with incredible celerity, because all, women as well as men, “repaired before their
own doors [ ote: ehemiah 3:10; ehemiah 3:12; ehemiah 3:23; ehemiah 3:28-
29.]:” and if we laboured, all of us in our own more immediate neighbourhood, what
might we not effect! If only we “had a mind to the work,” “the work of the Lord
should prosper in our hands,” and the kingdom of Christ “should come with power”
in the midst of us.]