Amos 9:9-15
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.
Part of the process of winnowing grain was the use of a
sieve which was used to separate particles of earth and other type of impurities
which clung to the corn during the time of threshing.
God is going to command the Assyrians to disperse them throughout their
empire where they shall be tried and winnowed by affliction and persecution.
This time of going through the sieve of persecution will show those who
are true Israelites, that is, those who are truly saved and of the spiritual
house of Abraham. Not one of these
true believers will fall upon the earth which means they shall not perish.
This will be like the judgment seat of Christ where the saved and unsaved
will be separated.
Amos 9:10
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Here God declares that all the sinners among his people
will die by the sword. Those are
the idolaters, the wealthy who oppressed the poor, the priests who prostituted
themselves with false gospels and the others who partook of the national sins.
They were so arrogant that they believed God would not judge them and
cause them to be overtaken or stricken in judgment.
Yet they say, The LORD shall not
see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
(Psalm 94:7) They did
not believe that the LORD would see their evil deeds but that is why he made
plain the fact in verse 8 that his eyes are upon the sinful kingdom.
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:
God had promised that one of his descendants would sit on
the throne.
The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David;
he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
(Psalm 132:11) After
Judah goes into captivity for 70 years, then after they return God will send
prophets to get them to build the walls and restore Jerusalem the way it was in
the time of David. They must
rebuild the city because the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be born in Bethlehem
and with him coming to Judah, when he brings in the gospel of grace, then there
is going to be a state of spiritual joy like there was in the time of David.
For the LORD will have mercy on
Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the
strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of
Jacob. (Isaiah 14:1)
The rebuilding of physical Jerusalem is a type of the building of
spiritual Jerusalem, the body of believers when it goes out to the world.
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.
All the heathens is a picture of all those in heathen
lands which will become saved through grace.
The gospel will go out to the world and even those who were the outright
enemies of Israel will have a remnant of true believers among them.
The LORD himself is performing these actions because it is he who is the
one who is paying for the sins of his people.
Who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word
of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews
1:3)
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.
Here we have a picture of the new Heaven and new earth
with all the great promises. The
plowman overtaking the reaper means that as soon as the crops are harvested, new
crops would be planted. The treader
of grapes overtaking the one who sows the seed is stating that as soon as the
grapes are tread then new vines will grow with grapes on them.
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved
a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a
very fruitful hill: (Isaiah 5:1)
They even planted vineyards on the mountains which will also yield sweet
wine. The mountain in scripture
symbolizes the kingdom of God and it will no more bring calamity but it will
bring the joy of new wine. The
hills shall melt is an interesting phrase.
Every valley shall be filled, and
every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
(Luke 3:5) When John the
Baptist announced the coming of the LORD, he stated that every hill or mountain
that would be a hindrance to people would be brought low.
Every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: (Isaiah
40:4)
Here is what the life of
salvation in Christ will yield the one who becomes saved. First, every valley
will be exalted. Those things in life which have brought us low or placed us in
the valley of sin will be done away with and will no longer allow us to live in
a valley. The mountains of life which seem to hinder our spiritual progress
shall be made low, that is, will be removed so it no longer hinders us.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and
doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if
ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea;
it shall be done. (Matthew
21:21) Then the crooked will be made straight. The word “crooked” in
the Greek carries with it the meaning of “full of obstacles, disorganized, or
devious.” It is the word “skolios” where we derive the name of the malady
“scoliosis” which normally is a crookedness in the spine. The crooked shall be
straightened. Then the rough places will be plain. The word “rough” in the Greek
carried with it in ancient times “crude or severe circumstances” such as war or
natural disaster. God promises to go through those rough places with us, He
never said He will keep us from them, although sometimes He does but He will
always be with us when we go through them.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
(Isaiah 43:2)
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.
Here God reiterates the rebuilding of the nation of
Israel as the people of God. They
will make everything like it is new because they must be in full bloom to make
way for the Messiah when he comes to Bethlehem of Judah.
After the Babylonians captured Judah and took them away for 70 years, the
Babylonians were conquered by the Medes and the Persians.
It was Cyrus who sent the Jews back to their land.
Thus saith the LORD to his
anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before
him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved
gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
(Isaiah 45:1) It is
interesting to note that Cyrus is mentioned by Isaiah about 150 years before he
was even born so the rebuilding of the physical city of Jerusalem was about to
happen again. In the 60s A.D. the
nation of Israel was prospering tremendously but that was the setup right before
the Romans came and sacked the city in 70 A.D.
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.