Context: Prophet Amos (v7,10-13, Amos 1:1, 2 Kings 14:23-24, 2 Chronicles 26:16-20)
- Amos prophesied – 2 years before the earthquake around king Uzziah’s time
- Timeline: Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam king of Israel – two bad kings
- People disregarded justice and righteousness.
- Lived luxuriously on bribes. Didn’t want to hear the truth.
- It was such an evil time, that it was better for people to not speak up!
What do we learn about the God of Israel? (v5-6)
- He is the Lord, Yahweh (I Am) of Armies
- Yahweh: The Existing One (Who Brings into Existence Whatever Exists)
- He is Lord over the land. When He touches the land
- It melts. It rises up and down like a river. Like NIle. Earthquake?
- Earth is God’s footstool (Matthew 5:35)
- It melts. It rises up and down like a river. Like NIle. Earthquake?
- He is Lord over the heavens
- Heaven is the throne of God (Matthew 5:34)
- He is Lord over the rain
- Lord over everything in between land and heavens!
- He is the God who provides drinking water and water for agriculture
- He is the Lord over land, heavens and everything in between? What is left out?
Is Yahweh, the God of Israel only? (v7-10, Genesis 12:3)
- Lord, God of Israel, not only considers Israel as His children, but the Ethiopians too
- Lord, God of Israel, not only brought Israel out of Egypt but also
- Philistines from Caphtor and Syrians from Kir
- Why Ethiopians, Philistines and Syrians? Lord, is God of not just Israel and their friends
- But God of their enemies too – He is the God of all
- While sinful kingdom will be destroyed – especially those who thought they will be safe
- The House of Jacob will not be utterly destroyed
- All the families of the earth will be blessed. Messiah.
- The House of Jacob will not be utterly destroyed
What is the message, from God, to Israel? (v11-15)
- A message of hope – that they would be restored – back to the land of their fathers
- Not just people restored to the land
- But the land itself would be restored to its former glory
- Land would be so fertile that –
- Reaping can’t be finished before its time to plow again
- Treading can’t be finished before its time to sow again
- Wine would be dripping from the mountains
- Left over grapes?
- Rebuild the ruins – and live there
- Not only plant vineyards and gardens
- But also enjoy the fruit
- And they won’t be thrown out any more
- Land would be so fertile that –
- But the land itself would be restored to its former glory
Conclusion / Application
- Total restoration: People restored back to the land. Land restored to its former glory.
- Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
Main Passage Amos 9:5-15 – World English Bible (WEB)
5 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt. 6 It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name. 7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh. 9 “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’ 11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.
13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,
“that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed;
and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,
and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;
and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.
They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,”
says Yahweh your God.
Notes / Cross References
Deuteronomy 29:25-28 25 Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them. 27 Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book. 28 Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
Deuteronomy 30:1-3 It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your God has driven you, 2 and return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.
2 Chronicles 16:8 Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army, with chariots and exceedingly many horsemen? Yet, because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand.
Isaiah 9:12-13 12 The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 13 Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.
2 Chronicles 14:8-9 8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor. 9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million troops and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.
Genesis 12:2-3 2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
Nehemiah 1:3 They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
Joel 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.
Acts 15:16-17 16 ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up 17 that the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.’
