A Reminder Of Who It Is Who Will Do This (Amos 9:5-6).
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.
‘For the Lord, YHWH of hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn, and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.'
The picture here is possibly one of earthquakes (compare Amos 1:1) and expresses His total control over the earth. Just as the Nile rises and falls under His control, so does the earth rise and fall when He brings His earthquakes, touching the land and causing it to melt, something which inevitably results in great mourning among those affected. While we may not today see YHWH as directly causing earthquakes on an individual basis, we are equally well aware that His creation has been established in such a way as to make earthquakes certain. They are part of His reminder, deliberately built into His creation, that His judgment is upon sin. His control is no less simply because He has regularised it.
On the other hand the picture could equally be that of an invading army, causing the earth to tremble. In inscriptions the great kings of the nations regularly used this kind of language to indicate the nations quaking as they advanced on them. If the approach of great kings could cause upheaval in the land, how much moreso the approach of the Lord YHWH.
‘The Lord, YHWH of hosts.' This title, although comparable with what is found elsewhere is found in this particular form only here in Amos, possibly because it was part of the source on which he called (see excursus below).
‘He who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth, he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth, YHWH is his name.'
Furthermore YHWH has full control of heaven and earth. He has built His palace chambers in heaven, and sees the earth as His cellar, and has full control over the seas, pouring them out over the earth, both in life-giving rain, and in severe storm, vicious hurricane and deadly tidal wave.
The word for ‘chambers' comes from the verb ‘to go up or ascend', and indicates upper rooms, that which is ascended to. The word for ‘vault' connects with the verb ‘to tie up, bring together' which here involves bringing together in construction work so as to produce the cellars which are a part of the foundations.
Note how the second part of the verse parallels Amos 5:8 b. It is quite possible that Amos is calling on a hymnic source which he extracts and repeats as he will.
Brief Excursus On The Possible Hymnic Source Used By Amos.
It has been pointed out that there are certain seeming citations in Amos which possibly indicate a hymnic source, which could be either a hymn sung in the Jerusalem Temple, a hymn used by the sanctuary at Bethel, or a hymn written by Amos himself and used by such believers as presumably responded to his ministry. Alternately it may have been part of a kind of statement of faith used in worship, prepared by Amos himself for use with such believers.
Consider in this regard the following different possible citations in Amos, perhaps slightly altered in order to fit the context, which could be seen as coming together to form part of a hymn, as follows:
‘For lo, He Who forms the mountains, and creates the wind,
And declares to man what is His thought,
Who makes the morning darkness,
And treads on the high places of the earth.
YHWH the God of Hosts is His Name.
‘It is He Who makes the Pleiades and Orion,
And turns the deep darkness into the morning,
And makes the day dark with night,
Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth
YHWH is His Name.
For YHWH the God of Hosts,
Is He Who touches the land and it melts,
And all who dwell in it will mourn,
And it will rise up wholly like the River,
And will sink again like the River of Egypt,
It is He Who builds His chambers in the heaven,
And has founded His vault on the earth,
He Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth,
YHWH is His Name.
It will be noted that the verses contain similar themes and that two sections end with ‘YHWH is His Name', one ends with ‘YHWH the God of hosts is His Name', while Amos 9:5 commences with ‘For YHWH the God of Hosts --'. Furthermore lines four & five in Amos 5:8 parallel lines three & four in Amos 9:6, a repetition typical of a number of Psalms (e.g. Psalms 107:8; Psalms 107:15; Psalms 107:21; Psalms 107:31).
There is certainly no reason why Amos should not have used a hymn which was well known in order to reach the minds of his listeners, incorporating it into his prophetically inspired message.
End of excursus.
“Are you not as the children of the Cushites to me, O children of Israel?” says YHWH. “Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Aramaeans (Syrians) from Kir?”
Some see this as indicating that all nations are under YHWH's care and control for good (compare Deuteronomy 32:8-9), which to some extent is certainly true, but such an interpretation does not fit in with the context. In context it appears rather to imply something undesirable. The Cushites (from around the Sudan area) were proverbially well known for not being easily changeable (see Jeremiah 13:23), and the thought may therefore well be that Israel also had proved intractable, in spite of the fact that YHWH had delivered them from Egypt, indicating that YHWH saw them as incapable of repentance. Alternatively in mind may be the fact that the Cushites were a remote and far off people, with no connections with the land of promise. Thus to be like them was to be removed from any covenant relationship with YHWH of any kind whatsoever. Therefore, while they might think that they could claim special privileges as those who had been brought by YHWH out of Egypt, they should recognise the fact that in reality they were no different from their enemies against whom they boasted, for it was also YHWH Who had brought the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete), and the Aramaeans from Kir (contrast Amos 1:5). All were in the pot of YHWH's judgment together (chapter 1). So He wanted them to recognise that in view of their disobedience to the covenant, (obedience to which would alone have made them special as His covenant people), they would receive no different treatment from the others. In choosing to withdraw from covenant responsibility they had cancelled their privilege by their behaviour. Once again we have here the clear implication that YHWH controls the whole earth and can do as He will.
“Behold, the eyes of the Lord YHWH are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says YHWH.'
The fact of Israel's rejection by YHWH is here confirmed. The eyes of YHWH were on ‘the sinful kingdom', seeing all that they did, and He would therefore destroy then from the face of the earth. He would not, however, totally destroy the ‘house of Jacob'. The righteous remnant would escape. This was partly because in Judah, members from all ‘the twelve tribes' who had escaped there, or would subsequently escape there, would survive, thus preserving within Judah that remnant of ‘the house of Jacob' which did not make up a part of the ‘sinful kingdom', and partly because some of the poorest people, and some who fled to the mountains, would also survive, some to flee to Judah or Egypt, others to take over small parts of the land in order to scrape a living, once it was safe to do so, before becoming, at least to some extent, absorbed into the incoming population. Thus as in Isaiah 6:13 ‘the holy seed' would survive.
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, in the same way as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet will not the least pebble fall on the earth.”
For Israel were shortly to be sifted among the nations, in the same way as grain was sifted in a sieve. The figure is a vivid one indicating the violent shaking of Israel in order to remove all that was merely ‘waste'. Not one pebble (compare 2 Samuel 7:13) would escape from the sieve and fall on the earth. There is here the hint that the righteous will escape, slipping like good grain through the sieve's meshes, but the emphasis is on the certainty of judgment for the sinful. Not one would escape. This will be confirmed in Amos 9:10.
Some translate ‘pebble' as ‘kernel' (although in its only other usage it meant pebble - 2 Samuel 7:13). If this were the case it would indicate the total extinction of Israel from YHWH's purposes. There would be no good grain which could escape.
Note that this was all at YHWH's command. It would not happen by accident, but would be a consequence of His sovereign overlordship. However, as the purpose of sifting in a sieve was so that the good grain would fall through the mesh of the sieve, while the rubbish, such as pebbles, would remain in the sieve, it is more likely that we are to see in it the distinction between YHWH's treatment of the righteous and the sinful.
‘Among all the nations.' Amos has already declared that Israelites would be taken captive into foreign countries (Amos 4:2-3; Amos 5:11; Amos 5:27; Amos 6:7; Amos 7:11; Amos 7:17; Amos 8:12; Amos 9:4). Now we learn that it was to end for them in further judgment. They only had been ‘known' by YHWH of ‘all the families on earth' (Amos 3:2). Now those very nations would see their shame because they had failed in their response to His purpose for them.
“All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘The evil will not overtake or meet us.' ”
All who were at present so complacent in their sinfulness, and so sure that Amos could not be right, confidently saying ‘evil will not overtake us', would die by the sword. None would be left. It will be noted that there is an implied promise here that those few who were faithful to YHWH would in some way have His special hand on them, for they are excluded from the indictment.