Chapter Nine

1. A vision of the Lord standing over the altar. 2–10. Announcement of Israel’s destruction. 11–15. Prophecy of the restoration of the fallen tabernacle of David.

Amos 9:1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: strike the capital so that the thresholds shall shake, and break them upon the heads of all of them; and the remainder I will slay with the sword: none of them shall flee away, and none of them shall escape. The fifth and final vision of the prophet Amos. The prophet sees the Lord standing at the altar (al hamisbeach, as in 1 Sam 13:1 it is better to translate “at the altar,” rather than “upon the altar”), and hears the command to bring down the temple upon the heads of the gathered people. According to the opinion of many interpreters (the blessed Jerome, Theodoret, Shegge, Knabenbauer, Yungerov), the temple spoken of in the description of the vision should be understood as the Jerusalem temple, since 1) the word misbeach (altar) is used with the article and points to a certain lawful altar, which was only the Jerusalem altar; 2) the Lord could not appear in another temple where worship not pleasing to him was conducted. But it is better to agree with those interpreters of the book of Amos who Amos 9:1 refer it to the sanctuary of Bethel, near which the prophet preached. (Cyril of Alexandria, Nowack, Hoonacker, Bishop Palladius). The prophet, indeed, speaks of Israelites; consequently, he could not represent them as filling the Jerusalem temple. And the feature of the vision that the Lord appears in an unlawful sanctuary contains nothing strange if one recalls that the Lord appears for judgment and punishment. The article before the word misbeach is perfectly understandable even if we suppose that the prophet is speaking about the Bethel altar. “And he said”: to whom the Lord addressed the words is not indicated; either to the Angels accompanying the Lord (the blessed Jerome, Knabenbauer, Yungerov), or to the prophet himself (Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Shegge). “Strike the capital above the gate (hakapthor), so the thresholds (hasippim) shake.” The word kapthor (Russ. the capital above the gate) in Exod 25:31 means an ornament of the lamp stand (“ramerku”) and in the passage in question probably names the capital of a column (Nowack, Hoonacker). The LXX, apparently, instead of kapthor read kapporeth and therefore translated it with the word hilasterion, the mercy seat (Slavonic: “strike the mercy seat”). The word sap (in Russ. threshold) is used in other places of the Bible to mean threshold (Judg 19:27; 2 Sam 12:9), and a basin (1 Sam 7:50). The LXX translated it as—propylon, vestibule (Slavonic: “and the vestibules shall shake”). Modern commentators (Nowack, Hoonacker) usually take hasippim in the meaning of thresholds; all the expression—“strike the capital of the column (the capital above the gate), so the thresholds shake”—will be equivalent to this: strike so that the entire building shakes from top to foundation. An objection against translating hasippim as thresholds is the following phrase “break them (bezaam) upon the heads,” for thresholds cannot be broken upon the heads. This same phrase also shows the unsatisfactoriness of the translation of hasippim accepted in our text as thresholds, because thresholds cannot be broken upon the head. The difficulty of the expression may perhaps be explained by the fact that biblical architectural terms are not precisely known to us. The proposal of Hoonacker also deserves attention—to read instead of hasippim the hasippun, ceiling (1 Sam 6:15), changing at the same time Vejreaschu (“and they will shake”) to the singular veiraasch. “And the remainder of them,” that is, those saved from the destruction of the temple or all without exception. The part of verse 1 from the words “and the remainder” is considered not a continuation of the description of the vision, but already the beginning of speech concerning the vision and its clarification (Nowack).

Amos 9:2. Though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them; though they climb to heaven, from there I will bring them down. The prophet uses a hyperbolic expression expressing the thought that there is nowhere to escape from the avenging hand of God.

Amos 9:3. And though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search for them and take them from there; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the sea serpent to bite them. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel. See Amos 1:2. The prophet names Carmel as a supposed place of refuge for fugitives, perhaps because of the abundance of caves in Mount Carmel, as well as because the summit of the mountain was covered with dense vegetation suitable for concealment. “And there I will command the sea serpent to bite them”: the sea serpent or Leviathan is a creature, according to popular representations, living in the seas (see Ps 103:26; Isa 27:1).

Amos 9:4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. Those who escape the sword of enemies will perish in captivity.

Amos 9:5. For the Lord God of hosts is he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell upon it mourn; and the whole land shall rise like the Nile and shall sink like the river of Egypt. As in Amos 5:13, the announcement of judgment concludes with a glorification of the greatness and almightiness of God. The image of speech in verse 5 is borrowed from the memory of a recent earthquake (Amos 4:11). From there in Amos 8:8 the prophet borrows also the form for expressing a threat. See the note to Amos 8:8.

Amos 9:6. He has built his upper chambers in the heavens and founded his vault upon the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them upon the face of the earth; the Lord is his name. The prophet gives a figurative description of God’s greatness. “He built his upper chambers (maalothav) in the heavens”: maalah properly means an ascent or step on a ladder (1 Sam 10:19; Ps 120:1, and others); the LXX translated it with the word anabasis, Slavonic: “ascent”; modern commentators usually identify maalothav with the Hebrew aliyoth—upper dwellings, heavenly chambers. “And his vault” (Vaaguddatho): Hebrew aguddah means a tie, a yoke, a belt (Exod 12:22; Isa 58:6), a crowd of people (2 Sam 2:25); in application to a building aguddah can mean a vault, a foundation, in which sense this word is used in verse 6. The prophet calls the foundation (vault) of the upper chambers the firmament or visible sky. The whole expression of the prophet is identical to the strong utterance of Isaiah: “the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isa 66:1): the LXX derived the word aguddah from the verb nagad and translated—epanggelia—testimony, promise; hence in Slavonic: “promise his on earth establishing.”

Amos 9:7. Are not you to me like the children of the Ethiopians, O children of Israel? says the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir? Israel could have hoped that it would be saved from the coming judgment of God as a covenanted nation, chosen by God from among others. The prophet destroys this vain hope. In Chapters I–II he placed Israel on the same level with pagan nations before the avenging Justice of God. In Amos 3:1-2 the prophet showed that the special mercies of God toward the people, his election—imposed upon it special obligations and would serve as the foundation for a stricter judgment upon them. In Amos 9:7 the prophet again points out that Israel has no advantage before other nations. The sons of Israel are to the Lord the same as despised Ethiopians, and just as the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, so he brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. Caphtor, the homeland of the Philistines (Deut 2:23; Jer 47:4), is identified with the island of Crete (Hitzig, Keil), with Cyprus (Hoonacker), or with the Nile Delta (Ebers). The LXX and Vulgate mistakenly identified Caphtor with Cappadocia; hence in the Slavonic text: “and the foreigners (Philistines) from Cappadocia.” “And the Arameans from Kir”: according to the translation of the LXX—“and the Syrians from a pit”; the LXX apparently derived the word Kir from karoh to dig. Symmachus, the blessed Jerome translated kir as Kyrene, Cyrenae, Theodotion—toichos, wall. Regarding the location of Kir, see the note Amos 1:5. The prophet equates the leading out of Israel from Egypt with the relocation of the Philistines and Arameans, because the special meaning of the leading out from Egypt and the theocratic calling of Israel has now been lost: only simple historical events remained, analogies to which can be found also in the history of pagan nations.

Amos 9:8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; but I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. The election of the people was not unconditional but conditional; if the people did not fulfill the conditions of the covenant, the requirements of righteousness, then Jehovah breaks the covenant and instead of showing mercy, will destroy and exterminate. “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom”: the prophet apparently speaks not generally of the kingdom of sinners (Driver), but specifically of the kingdom of Israel. Moreover, there is no reason to think that the prophet with the expression “sinful kingdom” wished to show a contrast between the Israeli and Judahite kingdoms, contrary to what is said in Amos 3:1; Amos 6:1) the equal condemnation of both kingdoms. (From this Wellhausen, Nowack, and others conclude that verses 8 and following are inauthentic). The prophet speaks of Israel without relation to Judah. From verse 8 begins the conclusion of the book of Amos and there is set forth the promise of salvation of the remnant of the house of Jacob. The prophet, supplementing what was said earlier, announces that only the sinners will perish (8–10), that after trials the restoration of the people will be accomplished (11–12), and abundant mercies of God will be poured out upon the saved. Negative criticism (Baudissin, Smend, Wellhausen, Nowack) considers verses 8–15 an addition made by the hand of the last editor of the book of the prophet Amos, in view of the fact that in the preceding speeches the prophet decisively speaks of the destruction of all the people led out of Egypt (Amos 3:1; see Amos 2:4-5; Amos 6:1). But this argument cannot be considered convincing. The division of threat and promise in prophetic discourse is a usual practice. The speeches of Amos in Chapters I–VIII do not exclude the thought of salvation, for apparently the threat of punishment the prophet described hyperbolically. In the first half of verse 8 it is also said of the destruction of the house of Israel in an absolute sense; but after this, in the second half of the verse, there is speech of salvation. This is not a contradiction, but the usual accepted form of presentation. And if one cannot reject the authorship of verse 8 to one author, there is no reason to doubt the authorship of verses 8–15 to the same prophet who earlier announced the destruction of the people in absolute form. As for the images used in verses 8–15 to depict the future salvation, they fully correspond to the peculiarities of the speech of the prophet Amos and thus prove the authorship of verses 8–15 by the same prophet. The expression “house of Jacob” in verse 8 denotes the Israeli kingdom, and in some LXX manuscripts, as well as in the Slavonic text, is replaced by the words: “house of Israel.”

Amos 9:9. For behold, I will command, and the house of Israel shall be shaken among all nations, as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble shall fall upon the earth. The prophet explains the words of the preceding verse—the house of Jacob I will not utterly destroy—in the sense that only sinners will perish. The coming trial of the people—apparently captivity and dispersion—the prophet compares, according to the Russian text, to the cleaning of grain by means of a sieve, or, as in the Slavonic text, a fan. “As grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble shall fall upon the earth”: in Hebrew kaascher innoa bakebarah velo ippol zeror arez, “as they shake in a sieve, and not a zeror will fall on the earth. The image is not clear, as the meaning of the word zeror (in Russ. “grain”) in verse 9 is questionable. The LXX translated it with the word syntrimma, Slavonic: shattering (“and no shattering shall fall upon the earth”). The blessed Jerome gives the word zeror the meaning lapillus, a pebble, as in 2 Sam 17:13. Some commentators accept zeror in verse 9 in this meaning. With this, they explain the image of the prophet to mean that, as only stones will remain in a sieve, so in the land of captivity only sinners will remain (Hoffman). Etymologically zerar (from zarar to squeeze, to bind, to pay) means something hard, compact, a solid mass. Hoonacker understands the word in such a general sense, which translates the end of verse 9 as: (I will shake the house of Israel) “as they shake in a sieve, and as a solid mass it will not fall to the earth.” The image turns out, as seen, strained, and therefore there is no reason to prefer it to the one accepted in our text.

Amos 9:11. In that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, and repair its breaches, and restore its ruins, and build it as in the days of old, The prophet begins to describe the future restoration of Israel «in that day» (bajom hahu),—that is, after the period of trials designated for the people. «I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David»: by the fallen tabernacle of David the prophet understands the royal house of David; calling this house a fallen tabernacle, that is, a half-ruined tent, the prophet indicates the decline of the dynasty of David, likening its inhabitants to tent-dwellers. The thought of the decline of the house of David is strengthened by the following expressions: «and repair its breaches and restore its ruins.» Critics of the negative school (Baudissin, Smend, Wellhausen, Nowack) pay attention to the fact that Uzziah, a contemporary of Amos, was a Judahite king who gave the state power and splendor (2 Sam 14:22; Isa 2). From this they find it impossible for Amos to speak of the house of David as a fallen tabernacle with breaches and ruins, and refer verses 11–15 to the post-exilic period (Nowack). But in Amos 5:1-2 the prophet calls the Israelite kingdom also a fallen maiden, although at that time, under Jeroboam II, the Israelite kingdom reached the height of its power. Apparently, the prophet evaluates the actual situation, and the temporary splendor of the house of David does not blind him: essentially and with Uzziah this house was already a tabernacle with breaches and ruins, ready to open at any moment. Consequently, there is no reason to deny the authorship of the verses in question to Amos. «And build it as in the days of old,» that is, in the days of David and Solomon, the most glorious period in the history of the house of David (2 Sam 7:1; 1 Sam 9:5). The LXX understood the words of the prophet as indicating the eternal existence of the restored tabernacle and translated: oikodomeso katho tai emerai tou aionos, in Slavonic: “and I will build it as in the days of eternity.”

Amos 9:12. that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations upon whom my name has been called, says the Lord, who does this. The restored house of David in its former splendor and the people of Israel will again possess those nations over which it ruled in the days of David, namely Edom, of which only (Amos 1:11) a remnant will remain; and it will also possess all nations «upon whom the name [of the Lord] is called” (Russ. not precisely: “among whom my name will be proclaimed”), that is, which honor the Lord and constitute the property of the Lord (see 2 Sam 12:28; Deut 28:10; Jer 7:10). The LXX convey the thought of verse 12 differently, for instead of ijrschu eth-scheerith edom they apparently read idrischuni (from darasch to search, to seek) scheerith adam: the result is the translation hopos ekzestousin Me oi katalloipoi ton anthropon, in Slavonic: “that I may be sought by the remaining people.” Thus, according to the translation of the LXX, the prophet speaks not of the possession by Israel of Edom and other nations, but of the conversion to God of all nations. The reading of the LXX corresponds perfectly to the context of the discourse in Chapter IX, gives a thought in agreement with the prophetic worldview, and is confirmed by the words of Apostle James, who cites verse 12 of the prophecy of Amos precisely according to the Greek text (Acts 15:15-17).

Amos 9:13. Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading the grapes shall overtake the one sowing the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. The prophet speaks of the blessings that the restored people of Israel will enjoy following the restoration of the tabernacle of David. The prophet foretells an extraordinary abundance of fruit; because of this, there will no longer be the usual break between field work (“the plowman shall overtake the reaper,” etc.), grape juice will flow directly from the hills covered with vineyards, and the hills on which herds pasture will be covered with such abundant vegetation that as it were milk will flow from them. Instead of the words “the plowman shall overtake the reaper” in the Slavonic it reads: “and the harvest will overtake the picking of grapes”: the LXX omitted the word choresch, plowman, and rendered the phrase bemoscheh hazzarah freely as merkassei en to sporo hesataphyle, grapes will ripen at the time of sowing. The figurative expressions of the original at the end of verse 13 are simplified by the LXX; hence in Slavonic we read: “and the mountains will distill sweetness, and all the hills will be planted.”

Amos 9:14. And I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit. Amos 9:15. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God. The prophet announces the restoration of cities, the rebirth of former peaceful life, and complete safety from enemies. The prophecy of Amos regarding the restoration of the tabernacle of David and the bestowal of blessings upon the people of Israel is understood by some commentators (Cyril of Alexandria, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Calmet) as a prediction of the return from the Babylonian captivity and the times of Zerubbabel. In particular, the prophecy that Israel will at some time possess the remnant of Edom was fulfilled, in the opinion of Calmet, by the subjection of Edomites to the Jews under Hyrcanus (Josephus, Antiquities 13:1, 1–6). But the prophet in verses 11–15 foresees the outpouring of such an abundance of blessings as never occurred either under Zerubbabel or still less under Hyrcanus. The form of the prophet’s expression (verses 11, 12) shows that he contemplates the same times which are described by similar traits also by other prophets (Isa 11; Hos 2:21-23), that is, the messianic times. In the messianic sense the prophecy of Amos was understood even by ancient Jews, who called the Messiah «bar naphalim,” “Son of the fallen,” evidently borrowing this name from verse 11. In the New Testament the prophecy of Amos about the restoration of the tabernacle of David is interpreted by Apostle James in his speech delivered at the apostolic council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:16-17). According to the explanation of the apostle, the prophet foretells the conversion to Christ of all pagan nations and the formation from them of the people of God or the Church, which is obviously the restoration of the tabernacle of David. Following the apostle, the words of the prophet Amos were interpreted in the messianic sense also by Church Fathers. According to the explanation of Saint John Chrysostom, the restoration of the tabernacle of David was accomplished in the “re-creation of the offspring of David in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the offspring of David according to the flesh and the King of the new spiritual kingdom on earth” (Homilies on Acts 15:16-17). According to the interpretation of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, by the “tabernacle of David” the prophet calls all of humankind, which was brought low by the transgression of the commandment and restored from its fall by Christ, or the Church. The blessed Theodoret understands by the restoration of the tabernacle the Savior’s assumption of humanity from the lineage of David. The times should be referred the verses 13–15, which speak of the bestowal upon the restored people of abundant blessings. The very expressions of the prophet in verses 13–15 show that his speech is not direct and should be understood in a spiritual sense. In the law, an abundance of earthly blessings is promised as a reward to the people for faithfulness to God’s commandments (Lev 26:3-6). Hence, an abundance of blessings becomes for the prophet a symbol of spiritual perfection of the people, their holiness, an image of those spiritual gifts that will be bestowed upon the members of the restored tabernacle of David or the Church of Christ. Church Fathers interpret even the individual features of the image of the glorious future presented by the prophet spiritual Israel. “The prophet means,” says Saint Ephrem the Syrian in the explanation of verses 13–15, “divine blessings and heavenly gifts bestowed upon us after the resurrection of Christ. He calls the churches mountains, and the teaching imparted in them—sweetness. He calls the holy abodes and the hermit caves of those who worship God hills, which flourish in the mountains, engage in glorification.” According to the explanation of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, the words of the prophet about the return of the people from captivity and their settlement forever in their land (verses 14–15) should be referred to the deliverance given by Christ to people from the captivity to the devil and sin and eternal life in the Kingdom of glory. The expression of the prophet in verse 15—and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land—is a prophecy about the Church of Christ, which enemies will persecute but never overcome and never enslave. (Yungerov, pp. 201–202).