Amos 9:1-15. This chapter contains a third vision that Amos shared with the Northern Israelites.  In a way the actual vision is kind of short, he sees God standing by an altar.  Although really the whole chapter is the vision because it is not about what Amos sees but what God has to say while he is standing there.  An altar was a place where offerings were put, let, or made for God.  It was a place where people would go to sort of meet with God.  People would make their offerings expecting God to accept them.  We don’t know what particular altar Amos saw but based on what comes next it may have been the altar in Bethel, one of the main places of false worship in the Northern Kingdom.

So Amos saw God sanding by the altar.  If you are going somewhere to meet someone it is a good sign that they are there when you get there, so the Northerners probably were pleased to know God was there waiting; waiting for their offerings no doubt.  But they should have doubted because they were not honoring God according to God plan and rule, Amos has made that very clear so far and things are going to be no different with this vision.

In verse 1 God starts to talk and he talks for he rest of the chapter.  First he tells someone to “shake the capitals”.  In some translations is says pillars.  In architecture the top of a pillar or stone post is called a “capital”.  Permanent places of worship, especially in a main city, were usually pretty nice buildings.  In that part of the world and in those days these temples would be built of stone and would have many pillars.  Usually the altar would be inside of the temple.  God is telling someone to hit the temple so hard it shake all the way down to it’s foundation.  It is clear he was commanding that the temple be smashed and we see that fell in on those who are inside.  It may be that God was commanding an earthquake here (Remember Amos 1:1) but in light of the next part of verse 1 it seems more likely that he was having a foreign army invade Israel.  It seems that there were many in the temple when it fell down.  During times of invasion people would often run to their temples hoping their god would protect them.

When David (the second king of the Nation of Israel) was dying his fourth son, Adonijah, made a play for the throne.  David had promised the kingdom to Solomon.  David arranged a coronation (a ceremony where a new king is crowned) for Solomon.  When Adonijah heard the sounds of the coronation he ran to God’s altar and grabbed hold of it because he was afraid that Solomon was going to kill him. At that time Solomon spared Adonijah’s life.  It wasn’t long before Adonijah made a second play for the throne and this time Solomon had him killed.  One of his chief followers also ran to the altar for protection and he also was executed (1 Kings 1-2).

In the next part of verse 1 we see that those who did not die in the false temple were killed with a sword.  This is definitely a picture of an invasion.  Most of theses invasions in the Bible are by other nations that God motivates to invade.  Occasionally we see angles, God, or even Jesus wielding a sword though.  The end of verses one is a picture of total destruction.  We will see later though that God must have a specific group of Israelites in mind and that not every single Northern Israelite is killed in this invasion.

Verses 2-4 basically tell the people that they “can run but they can not hide”.  The language is very similar to Psalm 139 but it turns that Psalm upside down.  Psalm 139 is a Psalm (or song) by David in which he takes comfort in the fact that he was made by God and that God is there for him no matter where he goes.  Unfortunately God presence is no comfort for those in Amos who are now trying to hide from him.

In verse 5 Amos uses a compound name for God, “Lord GOD”.  AS I mentioned before many translations do not translate the personal name of God (Jehovah or Yahweh) out of respect.  This was a practice started by the Jewish people who would substitute the word “Adoni” which means “master of lord” when they would read “Jehovah” (probably more correctly “Yahweh”) in the Old Testament.  Here in verse 5 both words are together, “adoni Yahweh”, lord Yahweh.  In this case the translators have substituted GOD instead of LORD.  Notice that the word is all capitals (that’s how most translations which do the substitution let you know the word is really “Yahweh”).  The word hosts usually referred to some sort of army and often it was an army of angels. Whether this is an army of angels or a human army we see that Yahweh is master over it.  The rest of verse 5 and the beginning of verse 6 describe the power of God over the physical world.  At the end of verse 6 Amos makes it very clear we are talking about a very specific god here, the one true god, Yahweh.

Remember the picture of God standing by the altar in verse 1?  Seeing someone waiting for you can cause a sense of pride, the Israelites probably took it for granted that God was there for them, after all he is often described as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Jacob is Israel the father of the twelve tribes of Jacob or Israel) (See Exodus 3:16).  In verse 7 God tells them that they are no different that anyone else to him, he loves the Ethiopians, Philistines, and Arameans (who Jeroboam, the Northern king had recently defeated) too.  Verse 8 tells the Northerners why they are in trouble, they are sinners.  The word “sin” was used in archery when someone missed the bullseye; they had “sinned” or missed the mark.  Israel here is being told they have missed God’s standard for them.  Because the kingdom has consistently gone another way God is going to destroy them.

Remember above that I said that God had a specific group of Israelites in mind when he was talking about the destruction.  Here in verse 8 we see that the group is the disobedient rebellious Israelites, the “sinful kingdom”.  Starting with the end of verse 8 through verse 12 we see that God “will not totally destroy the house of Jacob”.  He describes what is happening as a way of separating the faithful from the unfaithful Israelites.  Notice in verse 10 it is the “sinners” who will die by the sword” and that those people have had a prideful attitude.  In verses 11-12 we see that the “tent of David” will be rebuilt.  This is a reference to the promise of a forever kingdom for David, the one that will come at the end of the “Day of the LORD”.  It will be a universal kingdom, over the whole world, a world filled with people “called by God’s name.”  The end of verse 12 tells us just who that god is, Yahweh.  Verses 13-15 further describe the goodness of this future kingdom.  The book ends with one last assurance that Yahweh is speaking and he is still their God.

So the book ends sort of where it began, Amos the obscure shepherd for the Southern Kingdom goes back into obscurity.  The words of Amos, which were really the words of Yahweh have come to an end, but the message still stands.  History is moving toward that “day of the LORD” and each generation, each person must decide if they are called by Yahweh’s name or are going to follow some other God.  We all have missed God’s mark, we all are under the penalty of sin (Romans 3:23; 6:23).  But God has provided a way of escape.  You can run but you cannot hide.  The only escape is the free gift of salvation through Jesus, God with us (Romans 3:23).  Heaven is there for the taking, take God’s offer today and honor the one true God now and forever.

Jesus thank you for the offer.  Thank you for calling out to me.  Thank you for helping me see.  Thank you for eternity with you.  Let me live for you each day.