As the chapter opens, the Lord makes it clear that this judgment is from Him. It's not merely the result of living in a fallen world where bad things happen. You and I both know that tough circumstances can come into our lives even when we are living within the Lord's will; those circumstances are the result of living in a fallen world polluted by sin (which causes various types of disasters) and the result of things the Lord allows in our lives in order to fulfill a purpose through the hardship. But the hardship that's about to come upon the northern kingdom of Israel is of their own making. They have rejected the Lord time and time again and, as a result, are going to reap the curses found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 rather than the blessings found in those same chapters.
The Lord paints a clear picture of Himself being the one directing the events that are to come. Amos sees a vision of Him issuing the orders from the temple. "I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said: 'Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.'" (Amos 9:1a) The "house" of Israel is about to come down. You may recall the parable taught by the Lord Jesus in the New Testament in which two men built a house. One man built his house on the solid rock (on the foundation of the Lord) and his house stood firm when the storms of life came. But the other man built his house on the sand (on the things of this world, on that which is temporary) and his house fell when the storms of life came. By Amos' day, the house of the northern kingdom of Israel had been standing on nothing but sand for many generations---the sand of idolatry, the sand of worldliness, the sand of following their own carnal desires---and the Lord has mercifully withheld judgment for a long time while sending prophet after prophet to warn the people, but the time has come for the house to fall.
The vision shows the house collapsing upon the people, much like the temple of the idolatrous Philistines fell upon them when Samson pushed against the pillars in Judges 16. "Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. 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. 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 the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will keep My eye on them for harm and not for good." (Amos 9:1b-4) The Lord uses poetic imagery to describe the inability of any person to hide from Him. There is nothing in all creation He cannot see. There is no depth or height to which He cannot reach. When He passes sentence, no one can keep Him from carrying it out.
All creation is within the power and control of the Creator. "The Lord, the Lord Almighty---He touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn; the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt; He builds His lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation 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." (Amos 9:5-6)
Nations have risen and nations have fallen since the Lord brought the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt. And the Israelites understood that the Lord brought down idolatrous nations because of their idolatry and wickedness. He also warned them, before bringing them into the promised land, that He would bring them down too if they turned to idolatry and wickedness. So now He points out that they have become no better than the heathens that they have looked down on. "'Are not you Israelites the same to Me as the Cushites?' declares the Lord. 'Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir? Surely the eyes of the 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." (Amos 9:7-8)
A number of the nations mentioned in the Old Testament are no more. Their kingdoms fell and their people were either destroyed or scattered all over the world. In many of these cases there is no one on earth who can directly trace their lineage back to any of those fallen ancient nations. In some cases this is because there actually are no descendants, because the ancient nation or tribe was wiped out. In other cases it's because they were deported to other nations and assimilated into other cultures and their descendants today have no idea where their ancestors originated. The Lord isn't going to make such a final end of the people of the northern kingdom of Israel as has been made of many heathen nations. The kingdom will fall but there will be survivors from each tribe.
The first half of Chapter 9 begins on a very hopeless-sounding note but as we conclude this portion today we see a glimmer of hope shining from a far horizon. The first half of this chapter is about the fall of the house of the northern kingdom of Israel but the second half is about the spiritual restoration of these tribes of Israel and a future day of national prosperity as well.
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