"Are you not like the Cushites to Me, O children of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir? Sermons
I. IT IS A BROAD GENERAL FACT THAT THE MOVEMENTS OF NATIONS ARE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OR SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY RULER. Amos is directed to point out that what was true of Israel in this respect was equally true of the Cushites, the Philistines, and the Syrians. In the case of all these nations there had been remarkable migrations and settlements. The hand of God is recognized in one as much as in the other. The Hebrews are sometimes charged with narrowness and vanity in their interpretations of Divine providence. Doubtless many of them may be justly so charged. But the language of Amos is a proof that the enlightened Jews took a far wider view. There is no contradiction between general and special providence. The nations of men, because they are men, are subject to the control and direction of God. Not one tribe is unworthy of his regard. In what manner, and to what extent, the great Ruler interposes in the political affairs of peoples it is not for our limited wisdom to decide. But the petty notion that one favoured nation enjoys the protection and guidance of Heaven, whilst other nations are neglected and uncared for, is utterly inconsistent with the teaching of the text. III. THE GUIDANCE AND PROTECTION WHICH NATIONS HAVE ENJOYED IN THE PAST IS NO GROUND OF EXEMPTION FROM THE OPERATION OF THE MORAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD. There were those in Israel who deemed it incredible that a nation so favoured as theirs had been could possibly be called upon to experience defeat, conquest, captivity, disaster. But the fact is that great privileges simply place men upon a higher level of responsibility. To whom much is given, of them will much be required. Unfaithfulness is the one great ground of censure, condemnation, punishment. Israel had sinned in separating from Judah, in setting up rival altars at Dan and Bethel, in introducing an alien religion, idolatrous sacrifices and worship, in giving way in times of prosperity to luxury, pride, covetousness, and ambition. All the mercies accorded to their forefathers could not release the Israelites from the obligation to maintain the pure religion of Jehovah, and to keep his laws and ordinances. Nor could they be a ground for exemption from the action of those laws of Divine government which are universal in their operation, and disciplinary and morally beneficial in their tendency. The Captivity and the dispersion were conclusive proofs that there is no favouritism in the administration of God's rule; that his laws are not to be defied with impunity by the most privileged of nations. Presumption is irrational and foolish, and is the sure, swift road to destruction. - T.
Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto Me, O children of Israel? 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 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.) People Amos, Aram, Assyrians, Cushites, David, Ethiopians, Jacob, SyriansPlaces Caphtor, Carmel, Edom, Egypt, Kir, Nile RiverTopics Affirmation, Aram, Aramaeans, Arameans, Assyrians, Bring, Caphtor, Cushim, Cushites, Declares, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ethiopians, Haven't, Kir, O, Philistines, Says, Sons, SyriansOutline 1. The certainty of the desolation.11. The restoring of the tabernacle of David. Dictionary of Bible Themes Amos 9:7Library A Revival SermonBut, my dear friends, while this promise will doubtless be carried out, and every word of it shall be verified, so that the hill-tops of that country shall again bear the vine, and the land shall flow with wine, yet, I take it, this is more fully a spiritual than a temporal promise; and I think that the beginning of its fulfilment is now to be discerned, and we shall see the Lord's good hand upon us, so that is ploughman shall overtake the reaper, the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all he hills … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860 The Prophecy of Obadiah. Letter ix. Meditation. The Twelve Minor Prophets. Interpretation of Prophecy. The Prophet Amos. The Gospel Feast Redemption for Man Lost to be Sought in Christ. The Power of God The Doctrine of the Last Things. Baptism Links Amos 9:7 NIVAmos 9:7 NLT Amos 9:7 ESV Amos 9:7 NASB Amos 9:7 KJV Amos 9:7 Bible Apps Amos 9:7 Parallel Amos 9:7 Biblia Paralela Amos 9:7 Chinese Bible Amos 9:7 French Bible Amos 9:7 German Bible Amos 9:7 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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