Amos 9
I. Outline of Amos
A. \\#1:1\\ The Time of Amos
B. \\#1:2-2:5\\ Judgment Against Israel’s Neighbors
C. \\#2:6-9:10\\ Judgment Against Israel
1. \\#2:6-6:14\\ Three Sermons
a. \\#2:6-3:15\\ Israel’s Past Sins
b. \\#4:1-13\\ Israel’s Present Sins
c. \\#5:1-6:14\\ Israel’s Future Sins
2. \\#7:1-8:14\\ Five Visions
a. \\#7:1-17\\ Accountability
(1) \\#7:1-9\\ Visions of Accountability
i. \\#7:1-3\\ Vision of Grasshoppers
ii. \\#7:4-6\\ Vision of Fire
iii \\#7:7-9\\ Vision of a Plumbline
(2) \\#7:10-17\\ Accountability of Amaziah
b. \\#8:1-14\\ Timing - Vision of the Summer Fruit
(1) \\#8:1-3\\ Judgment Is At Hand
(2) \\#8:4-14\\ God’s Anger Is Stirred
c. \\#9:1-10\\ Totality - Vision of the Altar Destroyed
D. \\#9:11-15\\ God’s Promise of A Future Restoration
I. \\#7:1-8:14\\ Five Visions
A. \\#7:1-3\\ Vision of Grasshoppers (accountability)
B. \\#7:4-6\\ Vision of Fire (accountability)
C. \\#7:7-9\\ Vision of a Plumbline (accountability)
D. \\#8:1-3\\ Vision of the Summer Fruit (Timing)
E. \\#9:1\\ Vision of the Altar Destroyed (Totality) - The
destruction of the temple \\#1\\, although a literal
prophecy, was also emblematic of how thorough God would be
in slaying the entire northern kingdom \\#2-4\\. Death was
degreed for this nation \\#Amos 4:12\\ and God would make
certain the sentence was carried out.
1. \\#1\\ Bethel’s Temple To Be Destroyed
a. "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar" - God was
standing on an altar, evidentially the false altar
in Bethel. He is NOT there for worship!
b. "Smite the lintel of the door… and cut them in the
head"
(1) The altar was not in the elements. After all, it
has been used for more than 150 years as a
place to worship. It appears a temple has been
built.
(2) God commanded that the posts which held the
temple up be stricken and cut down, thus
causing the collapse of the building.
c. "I will slay the last of them" - If any were not
killed in the fall of the building, God would make
certain they were slain.
d. "he that fleeth of them shall not flee away" - And if
any attempted to flee God’s wrath, He would go after
them.
e. "he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered"
And if anyone did escape immediate death, God would
make certain that they did not live. He was
determined to judge the entire nation for their
sin.
2. \\#2-4\\ God Declares None Shall Escape
a. \\#2\\ "Though they dig unto hell…climb into
heaven" - If these Jews could run into hell below or
heaven above, they would not be safe or spared from
death. God would bring them back to be judged by
Him.
b. \\#3\\ "the top of Carmel" - In a more realistic
possibility, God tells them that they could not hide
in the forest or caves of Mt. Carmel for He would
find them.
c. "in the bottom of the sea… the serpent… shall
bite them" - And if they could hide on the sea
bottom, God would still command their judgment.
d. \\#4\\ "into captivity" - And even in the captivity,
God would afflict and punish this kingdom. God is
determined to carry out the sentence regardless of
where the false worshippers might flee!
3. \\#5-6\\ God Will Be the Executor
a. \\#5\\ "the Lord of hosts is he that toucheth the
land" - The Lord is (present tense) and would
continue to touch the land in judgment. This is the
second time the land is pictured as rising up wholly
like a flood \\#Amos 8:8\\. It is probably a
picture of being completely covered in judgment - as
in the days of Noah.
b. \\#6\\ "It is he…." God again introduces Himself to
these people. \\#Amos 4:13, 5:8\\
(1) "that buildeth the stories in the heaven" -
Heaven’s expanse is compared to a high rising
building and God is the Designer and Builder.
(2) "hath founded his troop in the earth" - The word
translated "troop" is only used four times in
the Bible. It means band or binding. It
appears to mean that it is God that groups
things and people together. Perhaps it is a
reference to the powerful Assyrian army which
has been gathered by God and is on the way to
destroy Israel.
(3) "that calleth for the waters of the sea, and
poureth them out" - God is the One who brings
the floods and controls earth’s most powerful
forces.
(4) "The Lord is his name" - This would now be the
third time God has introduced Himself to His
own people; yet, we know that they do not know
Him.
4. \\#7-10\\ Israel Has Been An Ungrateful Nation
a. \\#7\\ "Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians?"
The Ethiopians were pagans. Israel had been behaving
like them.
b. "Have not I brought up Israel…?
(1) Yet Israel had been brought up out of Egypt by
the Lord.
(2) Likewise He had given the Philistines and the
Syrians their land, but they to showed no
loyalty to God.
(3) In fairness, neither the Philistines nor the
Syrians had been given the privilege of God’s
presence and word like Israel had been, which
is why they are to be destroyed with no remedy,
a judgment which will not come upon the
Philistines and Syrians.
c. \\#8-9\\ "the eyes of the Lord are upon THE sinful
kingdom" - That would be Israel.
(1) "I will destroy it from off the face of the
earth" - This clear statement leaves no doubt
what God is going to do to the northern kingdom.
(2) "I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob"
If God is going to destroy Israel and hunt down
all who might survive, this would have to be a
reference to Judah. Judah will not escape some
judgment in this conquest, but they will not be
totally destroyed.
(3) "I will sift the house of Israel" - But the
northern kingdom will be sifted by God, making
certain that even the smallest sins are
accounted for.
d. \\#10\\ "All the sinners of my people shall die by the
sword" - The inclusive term "all" might indicate that
God is going to use Assyria’s sword to purge both the
northern and southern kingdoms.
II. \\#9:11-15\\ God’s Promise of A Future Restoration
A. \\#11\\ "In that day…" - The phrase was used four other times
by Amos \\#Amos 2:16, 8:3, 8, 13\\, all of them apparently
referring to near-at-hand fulfillments; however, here the
phrase is definitely end time.
B. "I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen" - God
is either promising to raise up a structure like that of the
Tabernacle of David or to resume the worship like that
conducted there.
1. A fallen temple?
a. Amos is still speaking to the northern kingdom and has
just described their pagan temple being utterly
destroyed.
b. To give hope to any righteous person who might
survive, God is promising a better temple.
(1) However, it is obvious that this is not a
reference to any kind of temple that the
northern kingdom had. In fact, their temple was
a blasphemous building used to worship every
deity imaginable but Yahweh. God is not making
a promise to restore any such temple as that.
(2 It is also doubtful that Judah’s temple was in any
disrepair at this time.
(a) Uzziah was a good king who sought the Lord
for at least a portion of his reign
\\#2Chron 26:5\\. Sadly, Uzziah lifted
himself up with pride and was stricken
with leprosy \\#2Chron 26:21\\, after
which he could not enter into the house
of the Lord.
(b) Jotham, his son, was also a good king but
never entered into the temple
\\#2Chron 27:2\\.
(c) Even so, as they were godly kings, the
temple was probably kept up.
(3) So it is doubtful that this prophecy has anything
to do with the temples standing at that time.
c. As further evidence of that, the word "tabernacle"
means "tent" and God had not been worshipped in the
tabernacle for some time.
2. Some believe "the tabernacle of David" is a reference to
the entire kingdom of Israel and to the dynasty of David,
which had largely fallen away from God into sin.
3. Others take this as a direct reference to King David
himself. God would one day literally resurrect David,
\\#Eze 34:24-23-24, 37:24-25, Hos 3:4-5, Is 16:5\\. No
doubt, God will, but that may not be the intend of this
prophecy.
4. The more likely consideration is that this is a reference
to the tent that David pitched for the Ark of the
Covenant from the time that he brought the Ark into
Jerusalem until the time that Solomon build the temple
\\#2Sam 6:17, 1Chron 15:1\\.
a. This would be the place where worship to God was given
during the days of David’s rule, for around 40 years.
b. \\#1Chron 6:31, 15:16, 16:4, 16:37\\ It would have been
this tabernacle where David set up the singers for
praise and worship; thus to many, the Tabernacle of
David represents worship through song and praise.
c. \\#Acts 15:13-17\\ James says that the \\#Amos 9:11\\
prophecy was fulfilled when God sent the Holy Ghost
and called the church to be made up of both Jews and
Gentiles, although I am not certain how he arrived at
that conclusion.
d. Of course there are questions about this tabernacle.
(1) Why did David not bring the original tabernacle
up from Shiloh? Since David wanted to be
certain that he did not offend God again, would
not he have been very careful to prepare the
place for the Ark to rest according to God’s
commands?
(2) Was David’s tabernacle a reproduction of the
original tabernacle?
(3) Is it possible that David’s Tabernacle was a tent
large enough to house the original tabernacle
and still have room for singers and worship?
Perhaps like a tent temple?
C. So in the future:
1. Something of significance will fall and be destroyed.
2. God will have it built again, closing the fallen
portions and rebuilding it as it was in olden days.
3. \\#12\\ "That they (Israel) may possess the remnant
of Edom" - Edom will exist, if not as a nation then
as part of one, into the tribulation. God will give
that nation into Israel’s hands.
4. "and of all the heathen which are called by my name"
a. Israel shall "possess" all of the heathen that are
called by God’s name.
b. Some Gentile nations will turn to God, i.e. Egypt and
Assyria \\#Is 19:21-25\\, and all nations shall know
the Lord \\#Hab 2:14\\.
5. \\#13\\ Israel will be a fertile and prosperous country.
6. \\#14\\ "I will bring again the captivity of my people:
God will set Israel in the land with no oppression or
threat against them.
7. "they shall built the waste cities, and inhabit them"
All the things that Israel should be able to do in their
own land, they will be able to do in their own land.
8. \\#15\\ "and they shall no more be pulled up out of their
land"
a. Israel is in their land, but there is the pull by
many enemies to remove them. The anti-Christ will
come against them with much fury, scattering them
to the far reaches of the earth. But God promises
a day when Israel will possess their land and never
be threatened over it again.
b. This is an end time promise.
c. We look at this prophecy will awe, anticipating the
day when it will come to pass. Israel, however, was
still in the land. As this prophecy is being given,
they would have been awed at the notion that the
land would NOT be theirs!
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