Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 2. NEMESIS Amos 9:1-6 There follows a Vision in Bethel, the opening of which, "I saw the Lord," immediately recalls the great inauguration of Isaiah. He also "saw the Lord"; but how different the Attitude, how other the Word! To the statesman-prophet the Lord is enthroned, surrounded by the court of heaven; and though the temple rocks to the intolerable thunder of their praise, they bring to the contrite man beneath the consciousness of a lifelong mission. But to Amos the Lord is standing and alone-to this lonely prophet God is always alone-and His message may be summed up in its initial word, "Smite." There-Government: hierarchies of service, embassies, clemencies, healings, and though at first devastation, thereafter the indestructible hope of a future. Here-Judgment: that Figure of Fate which terror’s fascinated eye ever sees alone; one final blow and irreparable ruin. And so, as with Isaiah we saw how constructive, prophecy may be, with Amos we behold only the preparatory havoc, the leveling and clearing of the ground of the future. "I have seen the Lord standing over the Altar, and He said, Smite the capital"-of the pillar" that the" very "thresholds quake, and break them on the head of all of them!" It is a shock that makes the temple reel from roof-tree to basement. The vision seems subsequent to the prophet’s visit to Bethel; and it gathers his whole attack on the national worship into one decisive and irreparable blow. "The last of them will I slay with the sword: there shall not flee away of them one fugitive: there shall not escape of them a" single "survivor!" Neither hell nor heaven, mountain-top nor sea-bottom, shall harbor one of them. "If they break through to Sheol, thence shall My hand take them; and if they climb to heaven, thence shall I bring them down. If they hide in Carmel’s top, thence will I find them out and fetch them; and if they conceal themselves from before Mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence shall I charge the Serpent and he shall bite them; and if they go into captivity before their foes"-to Israel as terrible a distance from God’s face as Sheol itself! "thence will I charge the sword and it shall slay them; and I will set Mine eye upon them for evil and not for good." It is a ruder draft of the Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Psalm; but the Divine Pursuer is Nemesis, and not Conscience. "And the Lord, Jehovah of the Hosts; Who toucheth the earth and it melteth, and all its inhabitants mourn, and it rises like the Nile, all of it" together, "and sinks like the Nile of Egypt; Who buildeth His stories in the heavens, and His vault on the earth He foundeth; Who calleth to the waters of the sea and poureth them forth on the face of the earth-Jehovah" of Hosts "is His Name." Amos 9:7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 3. THE VOICES OF ANOTHER DAWN Amos 9:7-15 And now we are come to the part where, as it seems, voices of another day mingle with that of Amos, and silence his judgments in the chorus of their unbroken hope. At first, however, it is himself without doubt who speaks. He takes up the now familiar truth, that when it comes to judgment for sin, Israel is no dearer to Jehovah than any other people of His equal Providence. "Are ye not unto Me, O children of Israel-‘tis the oracle of Jehovah-just like the children of Kushites?" mere black folk and far away! "Did I not bring up Israel from Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?" Mark again the universal Providence which Amos proclaims: it is the due concomitant of his universal morality. Once for all the religion of Israel breaks from the characteristic Semitic belief that gave a god to every people, and limited both his power and his interests to that people’s territory and fortunes. And if we remember how everything spiritual in the religion of Israel, everything in its significance for mankind, was rendered possible only because at this date it broke from and abjured the particularism in which it had been born, we shall feel some of the Titanic force of the prophet, in whom that break was achieved with an absoluteness which leaves nothing to be desired. But let us also emphasize that it was by no mere method of the intellect or observation of history that Amos was led to assert the unity of the Divine Providence. The inspiration in this was a moral one: Jehovah was ruler and guide of all the families of mankind, because He was exalted in righteousness; and the field in which that righteousness was proved and made manifest was the life and the fate of Israel. Therefore to this Amos now turns. "Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the ground." In other words, Jehovah’s sovereignty over the world was not proved by Israel’s conquest of the latter, but by His unflinching application of the principles of righteousness, at whatever cost, to Israel herself. Up to this point, then, the voice of Amos is unmistakable, uttering the doctrine, so original to him, that in the judgment of God Israel shall not be specially favored, and the sentence, we have heard so often from him, of her removal from her land. Remember, Amos has not yet said a word in mitigation of the sentence: up to this point of his book it has been presented as inexorable and final. But now to a statement of it as absolute as any that has gone before, there is suddenly added a qualification: "nevertheless I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob-‘tis the oracle of Jehovah." And then there is added a new picture of exile changed from doom to discipline, a process of sifting by which only the evil in Israel, "all the sinners of My people," shall perish, but not a grain of the good. "For, lo, I am giving command, and I will toss the house of Israel among all the nations, like" something "that is tossed in a sieve, but not a pebble shall fall to earth. By the sword shall die all the sinners of My people, they who say, The calamity shall not reach nor anticipate us." Now as to these qualifications of the hitherto unmitigated judgments of the book, it is to be noted that there is nothing in their language to lead us to take them from Amos himself. On the contrary, the last clause describes what he has always called a characteristic sin of his day. Our only difficulties are that hitherto Amos has never qualified his sentences of doom, and that the change now appears so suddenly that the two halves of the verse in which it does so absolutely contradict each other. Read them again, Amos 9:8 : "Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from off the face of the ground-nevertheless destroying I shall not destroy the ‘house of Jacob: ‘tis the oracle of Jehovah." Can we believe the same prophet to have uttered at the same time these two statements? And is it possible to believe that prophet to be the hitherto unwavering, un-qualifying Amos? Noting these things, let us pass to the rest of the chapter. We break from all shadows; the verses are verses of pure hope. The judgment on Israel is not averted; but having taken place her ruin is regarded as not irreparable. "In that day"-the day Amos has threatened of overthrow and ruin-"I will raise again the fallen but of David and will close up its breaches, and his ruins I will raise, and I will build it up as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations upon whom My Name has been called"-that is, as once their Possessor-"‘tis the oracle of Jehovah, He who is about to do this." "The "fallen but of David" undoubtedly means the fall of the kingdom of Judah. It is not language Amos uses, or, as it seems to me, could have used, of the fall of the Northern Kingdom only. Again, it is undoubted that Amos contemplated the fall of, Judah: this is implicit in such a phrase as the whole family that brought up from Egypt." { Amos 3:1 } He saw then "the day" and "the ruins" of which Amos 9:11 speaks. The only question is, can we attribute to him the prediction of a restoration of these ruins? And this is a question which must be answered in face of the facts that the rest of his book is unrelieved by a single gleam of hope, and that his threat of the nation’s destruction is absolute and final. Now it is significant that in face of those facts Cornill (though ‘he has changed his opinion) once believed it was "surely possible for Amos to include restoration in his prospect of ruin," as (he might have added) other prophets undoubtedly do. I confess I cannot so readily get over the rest of the book and its gloom; and am the less inclined to be sure about these verses being Amos’ own that it seems to have been not unusual for later generations, for whom the daystar was beginning to rise, to add their own inspired hopes to the unrelieved threats of their predecessors of the midnight. The mention of Edom does not help us much: in the days of Amos after the partial conquest by Uzziah the promise of "the rest of Edom" was singularly appropriate. On the other hand, what interest had so purely ethical a prophet in the mere addition of territory? To this point we shall ‘have to return for our final decision. We have still the closing oracle-a very pleasant piece of music, as if the birds had come out after the thunderstorm, and the wet hills were glistening in the sunshine. "Lo, days are coming-‘tis the oracle of Jehovah when the ploughman shall catch up the reaper, and the grape-treader him that streweth the seed." The seasons shall jostle each other, harvest following hard upon seed-time, vintage upon spring. It is that "happy contention of seasons" which Josephus describes as the perpetual blessing of Galilee. "And the mountains shall drip with new wine and all the hills shall flow down. And I-will bring back the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build" the "waste cities and dwell" in them, "and plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, and make gardens and eat their fruits. And I will plant them on their own ground; and they shall not be uprooted any more from their own ground which I have given to them, saith Jehovah thy God." Again we meet the difficulty: does the voice that speaks here speak with captivity already realized? or is it the voice of one who projects himself forward to a day, which, by the oath of the Lord Himself, is certain to come? We have now surveyed the whole of this much-doubted, much-defended passage. I have stated fully the arguments on both sides. On the one hand, we have the fact that nothing in the language of the verses, and nothing in their historical allusions, precludes their being by Amos; we have also to admit that, having threatened a day of ruin, it was possible for Amos to realize by his mind’s eye its arrival, and standing at that point to see the sunshine flooding the ruins and to prophesy a restoration. In all this there is nothing impossible in itself or inconsistent with the rest of the book. On the other hand, we have the impressive and incommensurable facts: first, that this change to hope comes suddenly, without preparation and without statement of reasons, at the very end of a book whose characteristics are not only a final and absolute sentence of ruin upon the people, and an outlook of unrelieved darkness, but scornful discouragement of every popular vision of a prosperous future; and, second, that the prophetic books contain numerous signs that later generations wove their own brighter hopes into the abrupt and hopeless conclusions of prophecies of judgment. To this balance of evidence is there anything to add? I think there is; and that it decides the question. All these prospects of the future restoration of Israel are absolutely without a moral feature. They speak of return from captivity, of political restoration, of supremacy over the Gentiles, and of a revived Nature, hanging with fruit, dripping with must. Such hopes are natural and legitimate to a people who were long separated from their devastated and neglected land, and whose punishment and penitence were accomplished. But they are not natural to a prophet like Amos. Imagine him predicting a future like this! Imagine him describing the consummation of his people’s history, without mentioning one of those moral triumphs to rally his people to which his whole passion and energy had been devoted. To me it is impossible to hear the voice that cried, "Let justice roll on like waters and righteousness like a perennial stream," in a peroration which is content to tell of mountains dripping with must and of a people satisfied with vineyards and gardens. These are legitimate hopes; but they are the hopes of a generation of other conditions and of other deserts than the generation of Amos. If then the gloom of this great book is turned into light, such a change is not due to Amos. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

I saw the Lord standing upon the altar. Amos 9:1 The Lord arising to judgment in His Church W. W. Tyler. God will no longer tolerate sin, nor allow sinners to trifle with His majesty. I. DWELLING-PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH — HIS CHURCH. 1. No Church is His without Him ( Revelation 3:2, 3, 9 ). 2. High privilege to have Him so nigh ( Deuteronomy 4:7 ). 3. Continuous realisation of His presence by Israel (Exodus 11:38). 4. Peculiar abiding-place in Holy of Holies ( Exodus 25:20-22 ). 5. And afterwards incarnate in the Holy One ( John 1:14 ). 6. Future tabernacling ( Revelation 21:3 ).But in text God is still in temple. II. His PRESENCE IN THE CHURCH REALISED. 1. Always by a spiritual discernment ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ). 2. Some times by outward signs ( 1 Kings 8:10, 11 ; 1 Kings 19:12 ). His Word, ordinances, blessings, visitations, etc. 3. But in text, "I saw the Lord.," Thus Moses ( Exodus 33:18 ), Isaiah ( Isaiah 6:1 ) ( Acts 7:56 ; Acts 9:3 , etc.). III. THE LORD COME OUT OF HIS ABIDING-PLACE. No longer "dwelling between the cherubim" ( Psalm 80:1 ), but " standing upon the altar " (unusual place), near the worshippers, ready to depart. 1. Because of spirit of infatuation. Israel often acted as if God were bound to remain while semblances only of religion existed ( Numbers 16:3 ; Matthew 3:9 ; Matthew 5:20 ). 2. God's judgments often begin at house of God ( 1 Peter 4:17 ). Hence, early official act of Jesus Christ ( John 2:15 ), repeated before His death ( Mark 11:15 ). 3. Our expectancy and duty ( Mark 13:33 , etc.; Revelation 22:20 ). IV. THE LORD UTTERING HIS JUDGMENTS AGAINST SIN. 1. Spared not His own Son, "made sin" ( Zechariah 13:7 ). 2. Spared not the heathen ( Amos 1 ., 2.), nor religious professors ( Amos 6:1 ), not any, great or small ( Amos 9:1 ; Hebrews, "capitals," and other parts). 3. Note remarkable parallelisms. 4. Observe the many "I wills" of judgment and power. 5. Yet "remembering His mercy." A remnant to be saved.Application. 1. Ministerial duty. 2. If the Lord be among us, is His presence honoured? 3. Our acknowledgments. ( W. W. Tyler. ) Great sins, great calamities, great efforts Homilist. "This chapter commences with an account of the fifth and last vision of the prophet, in which the final ruin of the kingdom of Israel is represented. This ruin was to be complete and irreparable; and no quarter to which "the inhabitants might flee for refuge would afford them any shelter from the wrath of the Omnipresent and Almighty Jehovah." The prophet in vision sees the Almighty standing upon the altar, and hears Him give the command to smite the lintel of the temple door, that the posts may shake; in other words, to destroy the temple. I. That under the RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT OF GOD GREAT SIN EXPOSES TO GREAT CALAMITY. How terrible the calamities here referred to! The Israelites, when threatened by the Assyrians, would flock in crowds to Bethel and implore protection from the golden calf. But the very place where they sought protection would prove their ruin. Jehovah says, "Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword," etc. The sin of these Israelites in their idolatrous worship was great. They were the descendants of Abraham the friend of God. Yet they gave themselves up to idolatry. Hence these terrible calamities. The greater the sin the greater the punishment "Unto whom much is given, much will be required." II. The CONSCIOUSNESS OF APPROACHING CALAMITIES WILL STIMULATE TO GREAT EFFORTS FOR ESCAPE. "Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down." There are here supposed attempts at escape. There is the supposed attempt to get into hell — Sheol, the dark realm of shadows, where they could conceal themselves. There is an attempt to climb Mount Carmel, 1200 feet in height, there to conceal themselves under the shadows, intricacies, and the crowded forests of oaks, pines, laurels, etc., and also in the deep caves running down to the sea. Men in view of great dangers always seek refuge. On the great day of retribution sinners are represented as crying to the rocks and mountains to fall on them. III. The GREATEST EFFORTS TO ESCAPE MUST PROVE UTTERLY FUTILE WHEN GOD HAS GIVEN THE SINNER UP. "Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them." Whatever the efforts of the sinner in the prospect of approaching danger, there is no escape for him. God is everywhere, and everywhere all-seeing, all just, and almighty. Conclusion. The only way to escape utter ruin is to renounce your sin and commit yourself unto the safe keeping of Him who is the Redeemer of mankind. ( Homilist. ) Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. Amos 9:2, 3 The danger of impenitence John Mamsay, M. A. In this passage God manifests His determination to arrest and punish the worker of iniquity. The prophet shows that when God came forth in judgment, none would be able to stand before Him, or escape from His vengeance. This subject is enlarged upon, as a warning to those who profane the ordinances and violate the laws of the Most High, to stand in awe, lest the Divine indignation be poured out upon them. These things have, however, very little influence on us. Many seem to believe, because sentence against their evil deeds has not been executed speedily, that it will never be executed. I. SOME OF THE REASONS WHY MANY ENTERTAIN THIS BELIEF. 1. Their success upon former occasions. When sinners first deviate into the paths of error, they experience many uneasy feelings. But when the lusts of the flesh have prevailed over other considerations, they try to persuade themselves that their former fears were in great measure imaginary. Sometimes men are checked at the very outset. They are detected and exposed. There is interposition of providence in their favour. When enticed to the commission of sin, the recollection of the check he formerly received will occur fresh to his memory, and deter him from the paths wherein destroyers go. 2. The successful example of other men. Frequently we see men rising to opulence and power by the most unjustifiable means. We see the wicked living in triumph, and dying in apparent Peace. When such is frequently the prosperity of the wicked, others are enticed to follow their example. They are induced to forsake the path of duty, and engage in pursuits that are dangerous to happiness. Could we discern the thoughts of wicked men when their conscience condemned them for their wickedness, we should perceive them frequently endeavouring to stifle their convictions and banish their fears, by appealing to Persons who had succeeded, or were at that time successful, in the same evil courses as those upon which they had entered. 3. They think they can repent whenever they see danger approaching. So great is the propensity of men to sin, that no motives, no considerations can prevent them from going on in their wicked practices. But at the same time they have such an aversion to suffering, that when they sin, they always wish to do so with security and with safety. And they generally contrive to persuade themselves that, in their case at least, this object may be attained. Among the many false reasonings which they employ for this purpose, there is none more successful than that which is founded on an after repentance. Many think that, after having drunk the cup of sinful pleasures to the dregs, all they have to do is to profess themselves sorry, and cast themselves upon the mercy of God. This, they think, whatever their present conduct may be, will set all things right at last. Repentance is not such an easy work as many people imagine. We cannot repent at whatever moment we may wish to do so. Alas! many, relying upon future repentance, neglect and abuse their present mercies. II. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR WICKED MEN TO ESCAPE THE JUST JUDGMENTS OF GOD. This world is not a state of complete retribution, yet the Most High does rule among the children of men. He has connected with holiness a portion of happiness, and with sin a portion of misery. Whatever happiness wicked men may pretend to, still happiness is a state of mind to which they can have no claim. They cannot possibly be really happy. Wicked men may evade the vigilance of human laws, but they are still amenable to their own consciences. And sometimes wicked men are punished more immediately by the hand of God Himself; as were Ananias and Sapphira. Then there is death, which is not the extinction of being. After death there is a judgment to come, which will seal the doom of every human being. ( John Mamsay, M. A. ) No escape for the sinner Bishop Hackett. Though they dig into hell, or though they undermine our kingdom with vaults and cellarage, their impious labour shall come to nothing but to their own utter shame. 1. Here is the negotiation of the wicked, that they dig: there wants no pains, there wants no secrecy. 2. Here is the object of their employment, and that is hell. 3. There is a twofold end implied, why they undertake such a business, either for their own refuge, or to undermine others. 4. Here is the defeating and frustrating of their work. To what toil iniquity puts men to. They dig and labour. To what secrecy, to what dread of conscience. They dig into hell. How unprofitable is the event. For when all is done, they are apprehended by the hand of God. ( Bishop Hackett. ) The impossibility of the sinner's escape Stephen Bridge, A.M. If we consider man in reference to God, we see in him a strange compound of hardihood and cowardice. When Divine judgments are remote, he not only deems himself secure, but bids defiance to Omnipotence itself. But when they actually come, he trembles like a leaf shaken by the wind. I. THE MEANS BY WHICH MEN SEEK TO HIDE THEMSELVES FROM GOD. Some of the expressions used indicate fear; others, presumption. Men will try and persuade themselves that God is too great to notice the insignificant doings of creatures like ourselves. Another subterfuge is, that as sinners they have numbers on their side. But if numbers do anything, it is only to enhance the doom. Men have great confidence in their own virtues, however little conformity there may be in their conduct to the Spirit of God and the commands of God. II. THE VANITY OF ALL ATTEMPTS OF SINNERS TO HIDE THEMSELVES FROM GOD. Who can flee from the presence of such a Being? Where is the region which His all-penetrating gaze does not pervade? None has ever hardened himself against God and prospered; sin has ever had the seed of punishment along with it, and given beforehand some earnest of its bitter wages. Be assured nothing can screen you from the wrath of heaven, nothing give you composure in this world of afflictions and trials, but "faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." ( Stephen Bridge, A.M. ) The Lord God is He that toucheth the land, and it shall melt. Amos 9:5-7 God as the administrator of justice Homilist. I. HE DOES IT WITH THE GREATEST EASE. The Almighty has no difficulty. Never can there be any miscarriage of justice with God. He bears it right home in every case. II. HE DOES IT WITH ALL THE POWERS OF NATURE AT HIS COMMAND. His throne is on high, above all the forms and forces of the universe, and all are at His call. III. HE DOES IT DISREGARDFUL OF MERE RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. Jehovah here repels the idea which the Israelites were so prone to entertain, that because He had brought them out of Egypt and given them the land of Canaan they were peculiarly the objects of His regard, and could never be subdued or destroyed. He now regarded and would treat them as the Cushites, who had been transplanted from their primal location in Arabia into the midst of the barbarous nations of Africa. The Almighty, in administering justice, is not influenced by the plea of profession. A corrupt Israelite to Him was as bad as an Ethiopian, though he calls Abraham his father. IV. HE DOES IT WITH A THOROUGH DISCRIMINATION OF CHARACTER. "Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord." There were some good people amongst the Israelites, men of genuine goodness; the Great Judge would not destroy them. "I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve," etc. He would burn up the chaff but save the wheat. ( Homilist. ) Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of Israel? Amos 9:7-10 Sin dissolving the union between God and His people J. Telford, B. A. 1. These verses strike at the root of all Israel's fancied security. They were the people of God, whom He had brought from Egypt and planted in Canaan, whose whole life had been passed under His peculiar guardian care. They thought that God would never execute final judgment on them, because He had so often spared them and blessed them. But sin dissolved this union at last. 2. The reason why this union was dissolved is given in the following verse. They are the "sinful kingdom." God's purpose had failed. No union between God and man can stand in the presence of sin — repeated and unrepented sin. 3. The effect of this separation between God and His people. They were destroyed off the face of the earth; every sinner perished by the sword.(1) No relations are more blessed than those which exist between God and His people. His covenant is established with them, and it is a covenant of life and blessing. Providential help in all the forms that man may need: grace and truth to save the soul and to prepare for that home into which nothing unclean can enter. These are God's gifts to His people.(2) Sin is the only power which can sever this union. In the face of all persecution and trouble the good man can say with St. Paul: " I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels," etc.(3) The results of the separation for us will be more fatal than for Israel. ( J. Telford, B. A. ) And the Syrians from Kir Migrations from Kir A. S. Wilkins, M. A. The most competent authorities teach us to conceive of successive waves of population issuing from the mountainous country near the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris, to which the narrative of Genesis points as the cradle of the human race, and to which the Mosaic accounts of the Deluge bring us back as the centre from which the children of Noah went forth again to people the earth. Of all the migrations from the land of Kir, to the regions that lay south-west of it, that which is of the greatest importance in the history of man, is undoubtedly the one which the Bible connects with the name of Terah. But this was so far from being the first of the movements in this direction, that it is much more likely to have been the last. The anthropomorphic language Of the Mosaic record is certainly not intended to hinder us from the quest of second causes for the change of abode, which it ascribes to the direct command of Deity. It was probably partly in consequence of the barrenness of the upper valley of the Euphrates, that rendered it little fitted for the home of a pastoral tribe; partly from the establishment of a powerful non-Semitic empire upon the banks of the Tigris, leading, according to an old tradition, which may be accepted in its general meaning, even if its details bear the stamp of later invention, to the persecution of those who clung to the purer faith, that the family of Abraham found its way into the more fertile and peaceful land of Canaan. But the same causes which had urged him on we may believe to have been powerful with kindred tribes. All evidence that we have confirms the supposition that, long before the days of Abraham, Semitic tribes had pressed along the path by which the Divine guidance was to lead him, to the land that should afterwards be possessed by his descendants, as the sand that is by the seashore for multitude. ( A. S. Wilkins, M. A. ) I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall net the least grain fall upon the earth. Amos 9:9 Winnowing W. Clayton. The winnowing of corn was effected in various ways. Sometimes by the mere operation of the wind blowing through the barns where it was thrashed, — when the worthless chaff was separated and dispersed. Which similitude well expressed the character and condition of the ungodly, who are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. As the action of the wind is very uncertain, the shovel was early used by agriculturists. The sieve and fan were, however, very soon invented and brought into use. Now, machines save much manual toil, and speedily and more effectually, answer the end proposed. The security of the true grain, amidst the winnowings to which in Divine wisdom it is exposed, is affirmed in our text. I. THEY THAT WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS MUST SUFFER PERSECUTION. Never can we be sufficiently grateful for the quiet and toleration we enjoy in this favoured island. Yet a degree of persecution winnows the Church at the present day. The finger of reproach is still pointed against the youthful convert, etc. II. SEVERE TEMPTATIONS WINNOW CHARACTERS. Temptations are as various as our circumstances, ages, or peculiar situations in life. It may be some time before the particular trial, well adapted to reach our case, may occur. Poverty has proved a snare to many; prosperity to more. There are temptations which chiefly affect the mind. III. ADVERSE OCCURRENCES MAY BE CONSIDERED AS THE SIEVE BY WHICH ISRAEL IS SIFTED. Personal adversity tries the character. Relative afflictions winnow our families. The Church has her winnowing times. At the period of death, the last and greatest extremity, the character is sifted as corn is sifted in a sieve. But the Lord commands His loving-kindness in the day of our trial, and in the night is our song to the God of our life. In conclusion, take a retrospect of all the way which the Lord our God has lcd us these many years in the wilderness. Various haw, been the sifting occurrences of our lives. Anticipate the period when we shall be finally sifted, and separated alike from the husks of our own imperfections and frailties, and the chaff of all carnal and ungodly associations. ( W. Clayton. ) Divine silting Anon. I will sift the house of Israel. I. IT IS A DIVINE SIFTING. The Oriental mode of sifting illustrates the Divine method. 1. The primary reference is to the Jews. 2. Then to the Church of God as a whole. 3. Also to individual members of the Church. II. THE MANNER OF SIFTING. "As corn is sifted." 1. The sifting suggests a mixed condition of character and condition. The mixed condition of things in the Church of God necessitates a sifting process. And the mixed experience of individuals necessitates various Divine siftings. Happy would a Church, family, or individual be, if it could be said to be altogether wholesome grain and pure. 2. The sifting of corn must be done prudently and patiently. Some grains require a finer sieve than others. 3. Sifting discriminates between chaff and corn. It does not create either chaff or corn, but makes each manifest. So all deceits and mere appearances are exposed by God's siftings. There is no such thing as permanent concealment of character in the moral world. 4. The sifting is thorough. There is an individual discrimination as well as a Church sifting. Each grain is severely subjected to this sifting. III. THE MEANS WHEREBY THE DIVINE SIFTER SIFTS THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 1. By the manifold changeful experiences of life. 2. A faithful ministry is a Divine sieve by which the great Husbandman sifts the grain. 3. Temptations of the devil. IV. THE DESIGN OF THE DIVINE SIFTINGS OF LIFE. There is then a call to submission, gratitude, patience, hopefulness, and searching inquiry. ( Anon. ) The sieve This prophecy is originally applicable to the long-afflicted seed of Israel. And how terribly has it been fulfilled. Apply to the spiritual Israel. Two things to remember — the sifting and the saving. I. THE SIFTING. God has ordained that this side Jordan there shall be no rest for His people as to their outward circumstances. As long as the wheat lies on the threshing-floor the flail must be kept in motion. The Church of God since its institution has never been perfectly pure. The Church has shared in the imperfection of everything else that is human. Then, wheresoever and whensoever God has a Church, it is sure to be in the sieve. Take this fact in reference to the Church at large. Illustrate from the history of the persecutions of the Christian Church. Other sieves besides persecution have been used. There is the sieve of heresy. The uprising of new infidelities acts as a test to the Church. At divers times the public mind exhibits a strong tendency towards unbelief. One wave rolls up black with superstition, and the next is pale with infidelity. The mind of man oscillates like a pendulum between believing a lie and believing nothing. Another sieve is that of providential examination by public opinion and sense of justice. You must never expect that any professing Church of God will be for a long time flourishing if it abide exactly in the same state. Whenever our Churches run for years in the same rut, little good is done. We must expect often to hear that the ship of Christ's Church is in a storm. Purification will be the result of agitation. Certain sieves in which you and I shall be. 1. The preaching of the Word. Wherever the Gospel is faithfully preached, it acts as a discerner of spirits. 2. Temptation. The daily temptations of the shop, the house, the field, the street, yea, even the Church of God, are the discoverers of sincerity, the detectives of delusion, the exposers of hypocrisy, and the beacons of wisdom. 3. The trials of life. There are temptations in prosperity. That is a sieve which few men can pass. Few men can endure long-continued, undisturbed prosperity. Capuau holidays ruined Hannibal's troops. Adversity acts in the same sifting manner. 4. Inward conflicts. There are times with us when everything in us is salted with fire. 5. The hour of death has often served as a touchstone by which formality has been revealed. 6. And what a test the day of judgment will be! II. THE SAVING. A few comfortable words. Sifting is not a pleasant experience. The farmer sifts his wheat because it is precious. And our trials, changes, catastrophes, and afflictions are no proof of want of affection on the part of the Most High, but the very contrary. The farmer does not mean to destroy the grain when he puts it into the sieve. God will chasten, but He will not destroy. The promise of the text is, "There shall not the least grain fall to the ground." He who holds the sieve watches with an observant eye, and acts with an unlimited power. The least corn of wheat He keeps His eye upon. Much sifted, but not lost; much tempest-tossed, but not shipwrecked; much put into the fire, but never consumed. Blessed be God for all that. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Divine sifting Henry Smith. When the Lord sends a soul- stirring message through His servant Amos, He avails Himself of an agricultural figure. I will sift the house of Israel. I. IT IS A DIVINE SIFTING. The Oriental method of sifting illustrates the Divine method. 1. The primary reference is to the Jews. 2. To the Church of God as a whole. 3. To individual members of the Church. II. THE MANNER OF SIFTING. "As corn is sifted." 1. The sifting suggests a mixed condition. The mixed experience of individuals necessitates various Divine siftings. 2. The sifting of corn must be done prudently and patiently. Some grains require a finer sieve than others. And often one sifting is not sufficient. 3. Sifting discriminates between chaff and corn. It does not create either chaff or corn, but makes each manifest. There is no such thing as permanent concealment of character in the moral world. 4. The sifting is thorough. Every grain is sifted. There is an individual discrimination as well as a Church sifting. Each grain is severely subjected to this sifting. III. THE MEANS WHEREBY THE DIVINE SIFTER SIFTS THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 1. By the manifold changeful experiences of life. 2. A faithful ministry is a Divine sieve. Such was the ministry of Amos. 3. Temptations of the devil are sieves through which the enemy desires to destroy good grain. IV. THE DESIGN OF THE DIVINE SIFTINGS OF LIFE. To purify unto Himself a peculiarly holy people. Whatever the manner and means of sifting this is the design. If these things are so there is a call to — (1) Submission, (2) Gratitude, (3) Patience, (4) Hopefulness, (5) Yea, searching inquiry. ( Henry Smith. ) In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen. Amos 9:11 The tabernacle of David ruined by man : — Things to take notice of. 1. The designation that the prophet Amos, by God's commission, gives unto the kingdom of Israel. A "sinful kingdom" (ver. 8). 2. An advertisement that the prophet Amos gives unto this sinful kingdom. He says, "The eyes of the Lord are upon it." 3. God's purpose and resolution with reference to the sinful kingdom. "I will destroy it from off the face of the earth." 4. The limitation of the awful sentence. "Saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob." 5. An account of God's management with respect to that remnant. "Yet shall not the least grain fall to the earth." 6. We are told what will become of the chaff. "Shall die by the sword." Now follows another scene: a scene of mercy is opened up in verse 11. Notice —(1) The designation that God gives unto His Church, particularly the New Testament Church. "The tabernacle of David."(2) The present case of the tabernacle of David; it is fallen; there are breaches made in it; it is in a ruinous condition.(3) We have a promise of rebuilding David's tabernacle. "I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old."(4) The time or season when this is to be done. "In that day." Observation. "That God many times ushers in a glorious work of reformation by very cloudy, dark, and dismal dispensations of providence." This is God's ordinary way of working, both towards particular persons and particular Churches. Illustrate by God's planting a Church for Himself in the land of Canaan. The return of the children of Israel from Babylonish captivity. The times of Constantine. The revival of the Church upon the downfall of Antichrist. Why is it that God goes to work in this way? 1. That He may be avenged on the persecutors and enemies of His Church and people. 2. That He may remove the abounding offences in the visible Church, and roll away the impediments that hinder her reformation. 3. And there is something godlike, greatlike, and majestic in this manner of procedure. There is something admirable in this way of working in respect of God Himself; in respect of religion itself. In respect of the people of God, and the effect that this way of working has upon them. Doctrine. That God has His own time and way of rebuilding or reforming His Church, when she is brought to a very low and ruinous condition. I. WHY THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IS REPRESENTED UNDER THE NAME AND NOTION OF THE "TABERNACLE OF DAVID." There is evident allusion to the tabernacle which, by God's special command unto Moses, was reared in the wilderness. 1. The tabernacle was God's lodging and habitation in the camp of Israel, a symbol of God's gracious presence among them. 2. The Divine oracles, the law and the testimony, were preserved and kept in the tabernacle, and from thence they were given out for the use of Israel. So to the Church pertain the oracles of God; His revealed mind and will in the Scriptures of truth is committed to her trust. 3. The tabernacle was the place of worship. So the Church of Christ is the place where He will be worshipped and sanctified of all that are about Him. 4. The pattern of the tabernacle was given by God unto Moses in the mount. So the model of the Church, with a perfect system of laws, by which she is to be governed, is given of God in the mount of revelation. 5. No man was to intrude himself into the service of the tabernacle. So, in the New Testament Church, no man is to intrude himself into the sacred offices of the Church, without he is qualified and called of God unto that work. 6. The greatest and most sacred thing in the tabernacle was the ark and mercy-seat. And it is the great business of ministers of the Gospel, now under the New Testament, to disclose or open the ark of the covenant of grace, to preach Christ. 7. The ark was a portable or movable kind of tent. In like manner the Church of God, while in this world, is not fixed to any particular nation. II. WHEN MAY THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID BE SAID TO BE FALLEN, BROKEN, AND RUINOUS? 1. When the God of the tabernacle is departed. 2. When the oracles of God are not carefully kept and purely dispensed. 3. When the God of the tabernacle is not worshipped according to His appointment. 4. When it is not kept according to the pattern in the mount. 5. When men are entered upon tabernacle service, without being called, qualified, and sanctified for such service. III. HOW IS IT THAT GOD RAISES UP HIS TABERNACLE WHEN IT IS FALLEN? 1. In a time of defection He raises up witnesses to bear testimony against the corruptions and mismanagements of men about His tabernacle. 2. The Lord puts it in the hearts of His people and ministers to take pleasure in the stones and rubbish of His fallen tabernacle, and to mourn and lament over their own sins and the tokens of the Lord's anger that have gone out against them. 3. The Lord polishes and prepares some for tabernacle work and service, as He did Bezaleel and Aholiab. 4. His tabernacle is raised up by a plentiful downpouring of the Spirit. 5. Sometimes He inspires great men, kings, and nobles, to espouse the cause of His fallen tabernacle. 6. Sometimes He rears up His fallen tabernacle in the very blood and sufferings of His witnesses. IV. OFFER SOME THOUGHTS ANENT THE TIME OR DAY OF THE LORD'S BUILDING UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID. 1. It is a time which God hath kept in His own power, and therefore we should beware of diving with too much curiosity into it. 2. When men think the time at hand, and their expectations are big, things frequently take another turn, and defeat all their hopes for that season. 3. God's time of building up His tabernacle is commonly when things axe brought to the last extremity. 4. God's time is a day of vengeance and vexation unto the wicked and ungodly world. 5. Yet is it a day of joy and gladness to all Zion's friends and well-wishers.In order to the successful building of the broken and fallen tabernacle of David. 1. It is necessary that every one of us prepare a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob in our hearts. 2. That we be well acquainted with the pattern showed in the mount, particularly of the New Testament revelation. 3. That, like Elijah, we be "very zealous for the Lord God of hosts." 4. We need to count the cost; to reckon what tabernacle work may cost. 5. Sympathise with and help all ministers or Christians who are endeavouring honestly, in their spheres, to build up the tabernacle of God. ( E. Erksine. ) The restoration of the true moral theocracy Homilist. The old Hebrew world was for ages governed by a theocracy. God was their King. He had under Him, and by His appointment, human rulers and other functionaries; but they were simply His instruments and He was their King. That form of government has passed away, but it was symbolical. It was the emblem of a higher theocracy. Of which we note — I. IT ROSE FROM THE HUMBLEST CONDITION. "In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen." Its founder was a poor Jewish peasant. Its first apostles, who were they? In its origin, indeed, its symbols are the little stone, the grain of mustard seed, and the few particles of leaven. II. HEATHENS ARE SUBJECT TO ITS AUTHORITY. "That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My name, saith the Lord that doeth this." The old theocracy was confined to the Jews; this one, this moral theocracy, is to extend to the heathen. Even Edom — the old and inveterate foe of the theocratic people, who may be regarded as the representative of the whole heathen world — is to be subjected to it. It shall " inherit the Gentiles." It is to have the heathen for its inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for its possession. III.

9:1-10 The prophet, in vision, saw the Lord standing upon the idolatrous altar at Bethel. Wherever sinners flee from God's justice, it will overtake them. Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace, shall never be cast down; but those who seek to climb thither by vain confidence in themselves, will be cast down and filled with shame. That which makes escape impossible and ruin sure, is, that God will set his eyes upon them for evil, not for good. Wretched must those be on whom the Lord looks for evil, and not for good. The Lord would scatter the Jews, and visit them with calamities, as the corn is shaken in a sieve; but he would save some from among them. The astonishing preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, seems here foretold. If professors make themselves like the world, God will level them with the world. The sinners who thus flatter themselves, shall find that their profession will not protect them. 9:11-15 Christ died to gather together the children of God that were scattered abroad, here said to be those who were called by his name. The Lord saith this, who doeth this, who can do it, who has determined to do it, the power of whose grace is engaged for doing it. Verses 13-15 may refer to the early times of Christianity, but will receive a more glorious fulfilment in the events which all the prophets more or less foretold, and may be understood of the happy state when the fulness both of the Jews and the Gentiles come into the church. Let us continue earnest in prayer for the fulfilment of these prophecies, in the peace, purity, and the beauty of the church. God marvellously preserves his elect amidst the most fearful confusions and miseries. When all seems desperate, he wonderfully revives his church, and blesses her with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. And great shall be the glory of that period, in which not one good thing promised shall remain unfulfilled.