CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amos 9:5.] God is omnipotent, able judgment. Toucheth] Dissolves the stability of the earth (Psalms 46:7; Psalms 75:4).
Amos 9:6. Stories] Lit. steps, perhaps in allusion to Solomon’s throne (1 Kings 10:18-19). Troop] Lit. a band dividing the waters above from those beneath the heavens (cf. Genesis 7:11). Others, all the elements and living creatures, called the host (Genesis 2:1). God has bound the waters by perpetual decrees, and all creatures are subject to his control (Psalms 103:20-21).
GOD’S POWER A GUARANTEE OP HIS TRUTH.—Amos 9:5-6
These words confirm the threat in the preceding verses; describe the nature and the works of God; and present him in majesty and might, able and determined to administer justice.
I. He created the universe. “He that buildeth his stories in the heaven.”
1. He made the heavens. He arranged them in their place and fixed them in their distance. The clouds, the aërial heavens, are balanced by his hand (Job 37:16). He suspends, condenses, and pours out their contents at his pleasure. The starry heavens derive their glory from him. The heaven of heavens is the palace of the Great King. Like a stately building, God has reared (artistically and beautifully put in order, arranged, Hebrews 11:3) the celestial spheres in stories one above another; the lowest, like steps, leads to the highest, the material to the spiritual, earth to heaven. “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,” &c.
2. He founded the earth. He drew the plan and prepared the place, provided the materials and laid the foundation. “Thou hast also founded the earth,” given it order, beginning, and firmness. The “troop in the earth,” all the elements of nature and all the creatures of the world, are linked together as bands of men (2 Samuel 2:25), or yoked in submission to his will (Isaiah 58:6). “When I call unto them they stand up together.”
II. He governs the universe. He sits above earth and heaven, ruling all creatures and directing all agencies. Men only see law in the evaporation of water from the sea, the electric agency which binds it in the cloud, and in the current of air which wafts it to the land. But God creates rain and disperses it over the earth. “He calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.” He creates the earthquake and the flood. Fire and frost, thunder and lightning, promptly obey his command. “He sendeth out his word and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.”
III. He can destroy the universe. “The Lord God of Hosts, is he that toucheth the land.”
1. The ability with which he executes his word. Threats are formidable according to the power of him that threatens. We laugh at impotence and fear omnipotence. The power which reared the world is irresistible. How hopeless the case of those who have the powers of all creation against them! “Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.”
2. The ease with which he executes his word. He only touches the land and it melts; the lightness of the effort indicating the might of the power. The blast of God’s breath melts the mightiest armies like wax before the fire (Psalms 68:1-2). The highest and most solid parts of the earth feel his glance. “He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.” He merely breathes, and men perish (Job 4:9). Sinai trembled; and should we be more insensible than material creation? With one touch the earth would reel before him, or return to chaos. “He uttered his voice; the earth melted.”
3. The method in which he executes his word. He turns the land into a sea by rain or inundations; drowns it like the deluge of Noah or “the flood of Egypt.” Think of the disaster in Chili in 1868. God, enthroned above, “calleth for the waters of the sea.” They rise at his bid. “He pours them out upon the face of the earth,” and “all that dwell therein shall mourn.” The prophet wonders why men do not fear God, whose power is displayed in heaven, earth, and sea, and with a word of his mouth can melt the wicked like snow before the sun. “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence?” &c. (Jeremiah 5:22).
“How dare they, then, offend, when God shall see;
That must alone both judge and jury be?” [T. Randolf]
CREATION THE MIRROR AND THE MIND OF GOD
Men forget with whom they have to do and against whom they sin. The prophet therefore sets forth the majesty and power of God, who was able to do whatever he uttered against them. Sinners should fear to offend him, and speedily make their peace with him.
I. Creation reveals the nature of God. Every act of God is a manifestation of God; an egress of his nature. Power is seen in the creation and upholding of the universe in all its wonderful changes and combinations; wisdom, in its design and beauty, the adaptation of means to ends; benevolence, in its arrangements and enjoyments. Everywhere we have signs of the existence of a Being of intelligence and goodness. The heavens “declare his glory,” and the earth affirms his “eternal power and Godhead.” How strange to be unmindful of “goodness beyond thought, and power Divine!” Why not discern him,
“Who plann’d, and built, and still upholds a world
So clothed with beauty, for rebellious man?”
II. Creation reveals the mind of God. It has been called Adam’s library. The prophet read the mind of God in the Book of Nature, and discovered laws for the guidance of man.
1. The works of God subserve the purpose of God. God is not merely present in “laws,” “phenomena,” or “second causes.” He does not govern the world by proxy, like ancient monarchs ruling their empires. All things are made to subserve the design for which they were created, never cease to obey his will and reflect his power and goodness. The earth trembles, the floods rise, and calamities happen to fulfil the ends of his administration.
2. The works of God reprove the indifference of man. Israel had despised the word of God, and are directed to the ways of God, to rouse attention to his will. Sensible evidence should affect us. God teaches us by signs in heaven above and earth beneath. We should be stirred up to praise him (Proverbs 16:4), warned of the danger of offending him, and led to fear him. If he can alter the course of nature, and turn established laws into scourges for sin, we should not rebel against him. “Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them and not build them up.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amos 9:5-6. \\
1. God’s name.
2. God’s works—Creation and providence.
3. God’s judgments—Earthquakes and floods.
4. God’s design. “All that dwell therein shall mourn.”
God not seen in his works. I. Great indifference exists. Men see, but do not observe. Like Hamlet’s ghost, they have “no speculation in their eyes.” Hence they know nothing of the grandeurs by which they are surrounded, and never rise from Nature up to Nature’s God. II. Defective knowledge abounds. God is seen by many in his wisdom and power, acknowledged to be the Creator and Governor of the world, but not as a God of truth and justice, rewarding virtue and punishing sin. Divine perfections cannot be separated. Power is linked with holiness, and justice with truth. The Creator is the Moral Governor of the universe. To think of him at a distance, or judge of his purpose by one attribute of his being, is unreasonable. We cannot shun his presence. We only escape his anger by forsaking sin which causes it. “Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.”
Lessons.
1. God a Being of infinite perfection.
2. All things are under his control.
3. Nothing can hinder the accomplishment of his purpose.
4. It is ruinous to rebel against such a Being of almighty power and majesty.
5. It is blessed to have him for our Saviour and Friend.
“Take heed: for God holds vengeance in His hand
To hurl upon their heads that break His law.” [Shakespeare.]
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9
Amos 9:5-6. Creation. How close does it bring the Creator to us, to regard him, not so much as having made the world, as still engaged in making it; i.e. by supplying the life on which its laws, and thus its being and incidents, depend. “Depend upon it (says an eloquent preacher) it is not the want of greater miracles, but of the soul to perceive such as are allowed us still, that makes us push all the sanctities into the far spaces we cannot reach. The devout feel that wherever God’s hand is there is miracle; and it is simply an undevoutness which imagines that only where miracle is, there can be the real hand of God” [Grindon].
Much of the glory of God in creation is hid by a train of second causes, through which few look to the first [Howe].