A Certain Hope

Hope does not exist in a vacuum. It is not rootless optimism, unfounded yearning, or ungrounded wishing. Authentic hope comes from God. It is based on His nature and promises.

Amos chapter 9 gives us a basis of lasting hope. As you scan the chapter, you may think I am referring to the last five verses on the five promises of the restoration of Israel. Not so. The entire chapter animates hope. We behold God who makes and keeps His promises. He follows through on His promises of judgment as well as His subsequent promises of a new beginning. His righteousness and grace are inseparable. God is absolutely reliable in both. Because He is, we have a solid source of profound hope.

There is a unity to this final chapter of Amos. We are called to behold our God. We behold Him as a God with whom we cannot trifle, a God who is inescapable, a God who is sovereign over all nature and all nations. A God who is Lord of the future.

A. The Promised Imminent Judgment, 9:1-10.

1. It will be inescapable, vs. 1-4.

The Lord is observed by Amos standing beside the altar. There is no location given; likely that at Bethel, but possibly Jerusalem. “He said, ‘Smite ...’” — the command is given to someone; whoever is the one who carries out the command; the significance is it is commanded by the LORD and that it be carried out.

The smite is not of a person , but that of a key structure of buildings that would hold up roofs. However the impact affects many people—there is death by the collapse of the buildings upon their heads. This may be a result of a natural disaster, like an earthquake that Amos has mentioned previously, or it could be destruction by an invading army.

Those who escaped this were to be slain in battle. There would be no attempt at defense, nothing would stop the invasion. The picture points out that none will escape the coming Judgment. though they may try hard.

They can not escape no matter how deep they delve, even to Sheol, the place of the dead, demonstrating desperation to escape the wrath to come. They would rather face Sheol than the wrath of God.

They cannot escape no matter how high they climb, even if they could ascend to heaven itself, the home of the living God, for the LORD will bring them down.

They cannot escape if they try to hide themselves on the heights of Mount Carmel, for the LORD will search them out, hunt them down and remove them from their hiding place.

They cannot escape if though they were able to conceal themselves in the depths of the sea, for they could never hide from the eyes of the LORD, the one who can command even the greatest monsters of the sea. Those monsters, a picture of forces opposed to the LORD, are yet subject to His command.

They cannot escape, even if they are scattered among their enemies; the LORD commands the judgment of the sword and promises to set His eyes against them for evil and not for good.

When God determines to judge, there is no escape. There is no reprieve even in exile; when God decides to judge with death. Those destined for imminent judgment through exile will not be able to escape God’s judgment just because they face a different judgment.

The exile is not the final judgment. Who is they judgment aimed at? Who are the “Them” of verse 4? The context points to those who enabled and encouraged false worship, and those oppressed and hurt the needy, poor, and innocent.

Who is the one who brings this judgment

2. The One who judges: the Lord GOD of hosts, vs. 5-6.

The Lord (Adonai) GOD (YHWH) of heavenly armies, who sees all.

The one who is over all creation, who can touch the land so that it melts, shifting and moving at His command ( same word picture used in chapter 8 of an earthquake)

The one who is all powerful, above ever so-called god. IN the ANE, the supreme god built his chambers above the heavens. This is how the LORD is pictured, but not a national or even regional god; He is God over all whose vaulted dome covers the whole earth.

He even can command the waters of the sea. The LORD’s placement in each role shows His superiority. He is the same God who does it all!

Amos affirms here the LORD’s reputation, stating that the God of the covenant is the supreme God! There is no one even close to Him!

3. The coming destruction, vs. 7-10.

Now Amos compares the destruction of Israel against the backdrop of the nations. In doing so, he point out the God of Israel is also the God of the nations. He makes a comparison of the nation Israel to the Ethiopians, Philistines, and Arameans. Each of these nations, like Israel, were brought by the LORD to where they now dwell by God’s permission. The point is that Israel is not so different from the other nations who do not share in the Mosaic covenant. Israel is privileged and as a privileged nation they are accountable to the LORD. God is over all the nations and as such, He can use them against Israel. God has evaluated Israel, judged them to be sinful and worthy of judgment, yet God is true to His promises, qualifying His destruction of Israel “from the face of the earth.” The northern kingdom indeed ceased to exist as a kingdom after the fall of Samaria in 722 BC.

But the LORD will not totally destroy the house of Jacob. When the exiles return, they will be a part of a unified kingdom under the control of other nations.

God is commanding, this judgment is coming very soon. the exile will be shaken among the nations to remove all but the heart of the ‘grain.’ the will not fall to the ground; the Lord Himself commands this.

In the same token He also commands that “all the sinners of My people” will die; those whom God has targeted will not escape. ALL are sinners, even as today, but the LORD in His judgment upon Israel is more specific, naming those who arrogant, rejecting the word of the LORD through His prophet Amos. They are here condemned. But there is hope ...

The Promised Future Restoration, 9:11-15.

In these verses is the embedded hope within the imminent judgment God is bringing. Up until now in these words delivered by Amos there has been sprinkled here and there the promises of God’s mercy and grace. In these verses is the promise of a future restoration.

1. The restoration of David’s ‘booth,’ vs. 11-12.

The promise to the northern kingdom is that one day in the future, the dynasty of David will be restored.

The theological key to this is to understand both the importance of the Davidic dynasty to Israel, and also to the nations. Though the state of the dynasty is broken, yet the LORD promises that it will be rebuilt as in the days of old. The reference is to the the kingdoms of David and Solomon; they will not at all be like the deceptive prosperity of Jeroboam II.

2 Samuel 7:16 NASB95

“Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

When this is accomplished, all the nations will be subject to the booth of David, even Israel’s closest enemy, Edom, because all the nations are subject yo the LORD’s control. And it will be the LORD, the Supreme God of Heaven and Earth who will indeed accomplish this!

2. The promise of abundance, vs. 13-15.

Behold or Look. These blessings are coming. These blessings are promised in Lev 26:4-5

Leviticus 26:4–5 NASB95

then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. ‘Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.

and verse 10,

Leviticus 26:10 NASB95

‘You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new.

as well as in Deut 11:4, where the LORD watched over His people.

Deuteronomy 11:4 NASB95

and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely destroyed them;

Deuteronomy 28:5 NASB95

“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

and later in verse 11

Deuteronomy 28:11 NASB95

“The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

These verses are part of the Mosaic covenant blessing. the LORD promises this because this hope comes with repentance and then following the LORD.

The harvesting will not be done before it is time to plant again. There will be an overabundance of the grape harvest vividly described here.

The hope will be that the people will be able to fully enjoy the work of their hands and the produce provided by the LORD, implying that this is during a time of continued peace.

The Lord also promises them not only security but permanence in the land. The LORD gave the land to their fathers and because of His promise, He will return the land to them “in that day” that will come soon.

Despite all of Israel’s sin and through 8 1/2 chapters of promised judgment, the Lord’s final words to Israel are full of mercy. He is still their God.

We need to know that God’s judgment is inescapable; His will cannot be thwarted.

God is the sovereign over every and all nations. As such, He works not only in our lives and the lives of those around us, but in the lives of people groups and the nations of the world, even those who do not serve Him.

There is both God’s judgment and mercy held in tension; the certainty of judgment with the certainty of mercy. With chapter 9, the LORD moves from describing unavoidable judgment that will be devastating to describing blessings beyond imagination. Judgment will come; repentance, returning to the LORD will bring the promised future blessings. Now it is up to the listener, the reader to choose.