CHAPTER IX _The first part of this chapter contains another vision, in_ _which God is represented as declaring the final ruin of the_ _kingdom of Israel, and the general dispersion of the people_, 1-10. _The prophet then passes to the great blessedness of the people_ _of God under the Gospel d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:2. _THOUGH THEY DIG INTO HELL_] Though they should get into the deepest caverns; _though they climb up to heaven _- get to the most inaccessible heights; I will drag them up from the one, and pull them down from the other.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:3. _THOUGH THEY HIDE THEMSELVES_] All these are metaphorical expressions, to show the impossibility of escape.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:4. _I WILL SET MINE EYES UPON THEM FOR EVIL_] I will use that very _providence_ against them which before worked for their good. Should they look upward, they shall see nothing but the terrible lightning-like eye of a sin-avenging God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:5. _THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS_ IS _HE_] So powerful is he that a touch of his hand shall _melt_ or dissolve _the land_, and cause all its _inhabitants to mourn_. Here is still a reference to the _earthquake_. Amos 8:8, where the same images are used.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:6. _BUILDETH HIS STORIES IN THE HEAVEN_] There is here an allusion to large houses, where there are _cellars_, or places dug in the ground as _repositories_ for corn; _middle apartments_, or stories, for the families to live in; and the _house-top_ for persons to take the air upon. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:7. _CHILDREN OF THE ETHIOPIANS_] Or _Cushites_. Cush was the son of Ham, Genesis 10:6; and his descendants inhabited a part of Arabia Petraea and Arabia Felix. All this stock was universally despised. See _Bochart_. _THE PHILISTINES FROM CAPHTOR_] The island of _Crete_, the people of w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:8. _THE EYES OF THE LORD GOD_ ARE _UPON THE SINFUL KINGDOM_] The kingdom of Israel, peculiarly sinful; and therefore to be signally destroyed by the Assyrians. _I WILL NOT UTTERLY DESTROY THE HOUSE OF JACOB_] The race shall not become extinct: I will reserve them as monuments of my _ju... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:9. _I WILL SIFT THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AMONG ALL NATIONS_] I will disperse them over the face of the earth; and yet I will so order it that the _good_ shall not be _lost_; for though they shall be mixed among distant nations, yet there shall be a general restoration of them to their own la... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:10. _ALL THE SINNERS OF MY PEOPLE_] Those who are the boldest and most incredulous; especially they who _despise_ my warnings, and _say the evil day shall not overtake nor prevent us_; they shall die by the sword. It is no evidence of a man's safety that he is _presumptuously fearless_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:11. _WILL I RAISE UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID_] It is well known that the _kingdom of Israel_, the most profane and idolatrous, fell first, and that the _kingdom of Judah_ continued long after, and enjoyed considerable prosperity under Hezekiah and Josiah. The remnant of the Israelites... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:12. _THAT THEY MAY POSSESS THE REMNANT OF EDOM_] Bp. _Newcome_ translates this clause as follows: "That the residue of men may seek Jehovah, and all the heathen who are called by my name." Here, instead of אדום _Edom_, he reads אדם _Adam, men_ or _mankind_, which is the reading of the _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:13. _THE PLOUGHMAN SHALL OVERTAKE THE REAPER_] All the seasons shall succeed in due and natural order: but the crops shall be so copious in the fields and in the vineyards, that a long time shall be employed in gathering and disposing of them; so that the seasons of _ploughing, sowing,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:14. _THEY SHALL PLANT VINEYARDS, AND DRINK THE WINE_] When threatened with _great evils_, Amos 5:11, it is said, "They shall plant pleasant vineyards but shall not drink the wine of them." _Previously_ to their _restoration_, they shall labour for _others;_ _after_ their restoration, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 9:15. _I WILL PLANT THEM UPON THEIR LAND_] They shall receive a permanent establishment there. _AND THEY SHALL NO MORE BE PULLED UP_] Most certainly this prophecy has never yet been fulfilled. They were _pulled out_ by the _Assyrian captivity_, and by that of _Babylon_. Many were _plant... [ Continue Reading ]