YHWH'S JUDGMENT AGAINST ISRAEL AND THEIR FALSE ALTAR IS CERTAIN AND SURE (AMOS 9:1). There is an interesting and possibly significant comparison between Amos 9:1 here and 1 Kings 13:1 (possibly as known to Amos in the tradition). There Jeroboam I had ‘stood by the altar' at Bethel, only to hear it c... [ Continue Reading ]
YHWH WILL INEXORABLY DEAL IN JUDGMENT WITH HIS PEOPLE, WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO AND WHAT HE REALLY IS, AND THERE WILL THEREFORE BE NO HIDING PLACE FOR THEM (AMOS 9:1). There is something genuinely awesome and thrilling about Amos's opening words here as he declares, ‘I saw YHWH' (compare Isaiah 6:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
A REMINDER OF WHO IT IS WHO WILL DO THIS (AMOS 9:5). The Lord YHWH can do all this because he is Lord of earthquakes, and is the One Who has built His mansions in the heavens, and His cellars on the earth, while also controlling the raging of the sea, and turning it into rain and storm. Amos 9:5... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GRAND FINALE - OUT OF RUIN YHWH WILL PRODUCE THE FULFILMENT OF ALL HIS PROMISES (AMOS 9:11). These verse are not to be seen as something tacked on to the prophecy as a kind of postscript, but as the end to which the whole of Amos's prophecies have been directed. Coming as he did from Judah he wa... [ Continue Reading ]