Amos 9:1-15 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Amos 9:1-15. Let’s go!
Amos 9:1-4 (NIV)
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. Not one will get away, none will escape.
2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”
On verses 1-4: You can’t escape God’s wrath, unless God in His mercy decides to let you escape. Aren’t you glad and aren’t we fortunate that God in His mercy decided to let sinners like us escape His wrath by placing His wrath on His Son Jesus instead?
Amos 9:5-6 (NIV)
5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, he who 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–
6 he who builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land– theLORD is his name.
On verses 5-6: God is bigger and more powerful than we can fathom. The LORD Almighty is His name.
Amos 9:7 (NIV)
7 “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?
On verse 7: Because Israel had treated God as so ordinary and with such disdain, here God is saying that He could easily treat Israel as nothing special and ordinary too, however…
Amos 9:8 (NIV)
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 house of Jacob,” declares theLORD.
On verse 8: …in God’s mercy, God decides not to totally destroy Israel (also called the house of Jacob). God refuses to treat Israel as ordinary despite the way Israel has treated Him.
Amos 9:9-15 (NIV)
9 “For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’
11 “In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things.
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. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.
14 I will bring back my exiled people Israel; 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.
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.
On verses 9-15: Here God elaborates on His plan to initially destroy the house of Israel (v9-10), including sending her into exile but then later to restore, repair, rebuild her (v11) and bring her back from exile (v14) “so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name” (v12). In His mercy God decides that He is still going to use and bless Israel in a powerful and special way (v13-15), but only after He breaks and disciplines her first. All the images in verses 13 to 15 speak of God blessing Israel for the long term.
What can we learn from this? So often God works in this way: despite how poorly we have treat Him, God decides not to give up on us and destroy us completely. Instead, He breaks us and disciplines us temporarily so that He can rebuild us, use us and bless us for the long term. That is the love, compassion, patience, wisdom and perseverance of our God.
Heavenly Father, thank You that despite how ordinarily and disdainfully we treat You, You refuse to treat us as ordinary. You could have easily chosen to reject and destroy us completely for all the ways we have hurt You, yet You refuse to give up on us. Instead You break us, discipline us, rebuild us and repair us so that for the long term we can useful to You and blessed by You. What a loving, compassionate, patient, wise and persevering God you are. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
