---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Amos 9:1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar — As this is a continuation of the preceding prophecy, the altar here may be one of those either at"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/amos/9"
---

Verse [Amos 9:1](../../../kjv/amos/9/1). ***I saw the Lord standing upon the altar*** — As this is a continuation of the preceding prophecy, the *altar* here may be one of those either at *Dan* or *Beer-sheba*.
***Smite the lintel*** — Either the piece of timber that *binds the wall* *above the door*, or the *upper part* of the *door frame*, in which the *cheeks*, or side posts, are inserted, and which corresponds to the threshold, or lower part of the door frame.
***And cut them in the head*** — Let all the lintels of all the doors of all those temples be thus cut, as a sign that the whole shall be thrown down and totally demolished. Or this may refer to their *heads-chief men*, who were principals in these transgressions. Mark their temples, their priests, their prophets, and their princes, for destruction.
***He that fleeth - shall not flee away*** — He shall be caught before he can get out of the reach of danger.
***And he that escapeth*** (that makes good his flight) *shall not be* *delivered.*] Captivity, famine, or sword, shall reach him even there.

Verse [Amos 9:2](../../../kjv/amos/9/2). ***Though they dig into hell*** — Though they should get into the deepest caverns; *though they climb up to heaven*- get to the most inaccessible heights; I will drag them up from the one, and pull them down from the other.

Verse [Amos 9:3](../../../kjv/amos/9/3). ***Though they hide themselves*** — All these are metaphorical expressions, to show the impossibility of escape.

Verse [Amos 9:4](../../../kjv/amos/9/4). ***I will set mine eyes upon them for evil*** — I will use that very *providence* against them which before worked for their good. Should they look upward, they shall see nothing but the terrible lightning-like eye of a sin-avenging God.

Verse [Amos 9:5](../../../kjv/amos/9/5). ***The Lord God of hosts*****is*****he*** — So powerful is he that a touch of his hand shall *melt* or dissolve *the land*, and cause all its *inhabitants to mourn*. Here is still a reference to the *earthquake*. [Amos 8:8](../../../kjv/amos/8/8), where the same images are used.

Verse [Amos 9:6](../../../kjv/amos/9/6). ***Buildeth his stories in the heaven*** — There is here an allusion to large houses, where there are *cellars*, or places dug in the ground as *repositories* for corn; *middle apartments*, or stories, for the families to live in; and the *house-top* for persons to take the air upon. There may be here a reference to the *various systems* which God has formed in illimitable space, *transcending each other*, as the *planets* do in our solar system: and thus we find Solomon speaking when addressing the Most High: "The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, השמים ושמי השמים *hashshamayim ushemey hashshamayim*, [1 Kings 8:27](../../../kjv/1-kings/8/27). SIX *heavens* are necessarily implied in these *three* words. According to the *points*, the *first* and *third* are in the *dual* number, and the *second* is the *contracted form* of the plural. But how many more *spheres* may be intended who can tell? There may be millions of millions of *stellar systems* in unlimited space; and then what are all these to the VAST IMMENSITY *of God*!
***Hath founded his troop in the earth*** — אגדיו *aguddatho*, from אגד *agad*, to *bind* or *gather together*, possibly meaning the *seas* and other *collections of waters* which he has *gathered together* and *bound* by his perpetual decree, that they cannot pass; yet when *he* *calleth for* these very *waters*, as in the *general deluge*, he "poureth them out upon the face of the earth."
***The Lord*****is*****his name.*** — This points out his *infinite essence*. But what is that essence? and what is his nature? and what his immensity and eternity? What archangel can tell?

Verse [Amos 9:7](../../../kjv/amos/9/7). ***Children of the Ethiopians*** — Or *Cushites*. Cush was the son of Ham, [Genesis 10:6](../../../kjv/genesis/10/6); and his descendants inhabited a part of Arabia Petraea and Arabia Felix. All this stock was universally despised. See *Bochart*.
***The Philistines from Caphtor*** — The island of *Crete*, the people of which were the *Cherethim*. See, [1 Samuel 30:14](../../../kjv/1-samuel/30/14); [Ezekiel 25:16](../../../kjv/ezekiel/25/16); [Zephaniah 2:5](../../../kjv/zephaniah/2/5).
***The Syrians from Kir?*** — Perhaps a city of the *Medes*, [Isaiah 22:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/22/6). *Aram*, from whom Syria had its name, was the son of *Shem*, [Genesis 10:22](../../../kjv/genesis/10/22). Part of his descendants settled in this city, and part in *Aram Naharaim*, "Syria of the two rivers," viz., *Mesopotamia*, included between the *Tigris* and the *Euphrates*.
The meaning of the verse is this: Do not presume on my having brought you out of the land of Egypt and house of bondage, into a land flowing with milk and honey. I have brought other nations, and some of your neighbours, who are your enemies, from comparatively barren countries, into fruitful territories; such, for instance, as the *Philistines* from *Caphtor*, and the *Syrians* from *Kir*.

Verse [Amos 9:8](../../../kjv/amos/9/8). ***The eyes of the Lord God*****are*****upon the sinful kingdom*** — The kingdom of Israel, peculiarly sinful; and therefore to be signally destroyed by the Assyrians.
***I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob*** — The race shall not become extinct: I will reserve them as monuments of my *justice*, and finally of my *mercy*.

Verse [Amos 9:9](../../../kjv/amos/9/9). ***I will sift the house of Israel among all nations*** — I will disperse them over the face of the earth; and yet I will so order it that the *good* shall not be *lost*; for though they shall be mixed among distant nations, yet there shall be a general restoration of them to their own land.
***The least grain*** — צרור *tseror*, little stone, pebble, or gravel. Not one of them, howsoever little or contemptible, when the time comes, shall be left behind. All shall be collected in Christ, and brought into their own land.

Verse [Amos 9:10](../../../kjv/amos/9/10). ***All the sinners of my people*** — Those who are the boldest and most incredulous; especially they who *despise* my warnings, and *say the evil day shall not overtake nor prevent us*; they shall die by the sword. It is no evidence of a man's safety that he is *presumptuously fearless*. There is a blessing to him who *trembles at God's word*.

Verse [Amos 9:11](../../../kjv/amos/9/11). ***Will I raise up the tabernacle of David*** — It is well known that the *kingdom of Israel*, the most profane and idolatrous, fell first, and that the *kingdom of Judah* continued long after, and enjoyed considerable prosperity under Hezekiah and Josiah. The remnant of the Israelites that were left by the Assyrians became united to the kingdom of Judah; and of the others, many afterwards joined them: but this comparatively short prosperity and respite, previously to the Babylonish captivity, could not be *that*, as *Calmet* justly observes, which is mentioned here. This could not be called *closing up the breaches, raising up the ruins, and* *building it as in the days of old*; nor has any state of this kind taken place since; and, consequently, the prophecy remains to be fulfilled. It must therefore refer to *their restoration under the* *Gospel*, when they shall receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and be by him restored to their own land. See these words quoted by James, [Acts 15:16-17](../../../kjv/acts/15/16-17). Then indeed it is likely that they shall possess the *remnant of Edom*, and have the whole length and breadth of Immanuel's land, [Amos 9:12](../../../kjv/amos/9/12). Nor can it be supposed that the victories gained by the *Asmoneans* could be that intended by the prophet and which he describes in such lofty terms. These victories procured only a short respite, and a very imperfect re-establishment of the tabernacle of David; and could not warrant the terms of the prediction in these verses.

Verse [Amos 9:12](../../../kjv/amos/9/12). ***That they may possess the remnant of Edom*** — Bp. *Newcome* translates this clause as follows: "That the residue of men may seek Jehovah, and all the heathen who are called by my name." Here, instead of אדום *Edom*, he reads אדם *Adam, men* or *mankind*, which is the reading of the *Arabic*, and some MSS. of the *Syriac*, and of [Acts 15:17](../../../kjv/acts/15/17).
The Pachomian MS. of the *Septuagint* adds here, ὁπως εκζητησωσι με, *that they may seek me*. And the *Arabic* has [Arabic] *the* *Lord*; and in stead of יירשו *yireshu*, "they shall possess," the learned bishop seems to have read ידרשו *yidreshu*, "they may seek;" and thus the text resembles the quotation by St. James, [Acts 15:17](../../../kjv/acts/15/17), "That the residue of men might seek after the Lord." It is strange that not one of the MSS. collated by *Kennicott* and *De Rossi*, nor any of my *own*, favours or countenances any of these alterations. I am of opinion, therefore, that we must dismiss all these conjectural emendations, and take the *Hebrew* text as we find it. That it speaks of the *conversion of the Jews* in Gospel times, we have the authority of the New Testament as above to prove; and if we cannot make the *words*, as they stand *there, entirely* to agree with the words here, the *subject* is not affected by it. The Jews shall *be converted and restored*, and this text in both covenants is a proof of it.

Verse [Amos 9:13](../../../kjv/amos/9/13). ***The ploughman shall overtake the reaper*** — All the seasons shall succeed in due and natural order: but the crops shall be so copious in the fields and in the vineyards, that a long time shall be employed in gathering and disposing of them; so that the seasons of *ploughing, sowing, gathering the grapes,* *treading the wine-press, c., shall press on the heels of each* *other* so *vast* will be the abundance, and so *long* the time necessary to *gather* and *cure* the *grain* and *fruits*. We are informed by travellers in the Holy Land, Barbary, c., that the vintage at Aleppo lasts from the *fifteenth* of September to the middle of November and that the sowing season begins at the close of October, and lasts through all November. Here, then, the ploughman, sower, grape-gatherer, and operator at the wine-press, not only succeed each other, but have parts of these operations *going on at the same time*. But great fertility in the land, abundance in the crops, and regularity of the seasons, seem to be the things which the prophet especially predicts. These are all *poetical* and *prophetical* images, by which happy *times* are pointed out.

Verse [Amos 9:14](../../../kjv/amos/9/14). ***They shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine*** — When threatened with *great evils*, [Amos 5:11](../../../kjv/amos/5/11), it is said, "They shall plant pleasant vineyards but shall not drink the wine of them." *Previously* to their *restoration*, they shall labour for *others;* *after* their restoration, they shall labour for *themselves*.

Verse [Amos 9:15](../../../kjv/amos/9/15). ***I will plant them upon their land*** — They shall receive a permanent establishment there.
***And they shall no more be pulled up*** — Most certainly this prophecy has never yet been fulfilled. They were *pulled out* by the *Assyrian captivity*, and by that of *Babylon*. Many were *planted in* *again*, and again *pulled out* by the *Roman conquest* and *captivity*, and were *never since planted in*, but are now *scattered* among all the nations of the earth. I conclude, as the word of God cannot fail, and this has not yet been fulfilled, it therefore follows that it will and must be fulfilled to the fulness of its spirit and intention. And this is established by the conclusion: "Saith the Lord thy God." He is JEHOVAH, and cannot fail; he is THY GOD, and will do it. He *can* do it, because he is JEHOVAH; and he *will* do it, because he is THY GOD. Amen.

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