Amos 9:8

Amo 9:8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD [are] upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.

Ver. 8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom] Be it Ethiopia, Palestina, Syria, or Israel, but especially Israel, Amo 3:2, not his eye only, his εκδικον ομμα, his jealous eye, as Amo 9:4, for evil, and not for good; but both his eyes, yea, his seven eyes, for he is ολοφθαλμος, all eye, to look through and through the sinful kingdom, to judge and punish, to inflict "tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first," because of his privileges, "and also of the Gentile," Rom 2:9. "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond," Jer 17:1, and Israel is therefore worse than others, because he ought to have been better. His whole kingdom is a kingdom of sin, a merum seclus, from pure wickedness, a very Poneropolis, as that place in Thraeia was called whither Philip had assembled all the infamous persons and men of evil demeanour. "What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria?" Mic 1:5; their capital sins were most in their capital cities; and thence overflowed the whole kingdom; called therefore here a sinful kingdom, wholly given to idolatry (as Athens was, Act 17:16, κατειδωλος), which is that sin with an accent, that wickedness with a witness, Exo 32:21 1Ki 12:30; 1Ki 15:3; 1Ki 15:30, that land desolating sin, Jer 22:7-9 Psa 78:58-62.

And I will destroy it] See here the venomous nature of sin, and shun it, else we shall prove traitors to the state, and have our hands, if not upon the great cart ropes, yet upon the lesser cords, that draw down vengeance upon the land. And here some one sinner may destroy much good, Ecc 9:18, how much more a rabble of rebels, conspiring to provoke the eyes of God’s glory!

Saying that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob] A remnant shall be left for royal use, reliquas faciam reliquias, and so make a manifest difference, see Jer 30:11, remembering my promise, Lev 26:40, which is a special text touching the rejecting and conversion of the Jews, as is also this in some men’s judgments. For here (say they) is a threatening of extreme desolation with some comfort interlaced of a remnant to be reserved; among whom it is further promised, 1. That the kingdom of David through Christ shall be set up as glorious as ever it was before, in the most flourishing times of David or Solomon, Amo 9:11 2. Next, other nations shall join with them and be made partakers of one common inheritance, Amo 9:12. So doth James, Act 15:16-17, expound it. 3. Thirdly, there is promised the fruitfulness of their land, Amo 9:13, the inhabiting in their own country, Amo 9:14, and the perpetuity of their abode there, Amo 9:15. But all this others think to be, optabile magis quam opinabile, little better than a golden dream.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Amo 9:8-10. The eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom — See Amo 9:4. Saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob — God still promises to preserve a remnant in the midst of his heaviest judgments, that he may perform the promises made to their fathers. Lo, I will sift the house of Israel among all nations — I will mingle, or scatter, the Israelites among other nations, just as good and bad grain are mingled in a sieve; but will so order it, that none of the good grain shall be lost or fall to the ground. Though the good shall be involved in the calamities which are sent to punish the wicked, yet shall they be preserved from destruction. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword — Those unbelieving and obstinately wicked men who have paid no regard to the warnings of the prophets, and have given no credit to their predictions, shall all perish by the sword, or by some judgment sent by me. Which say, The evil shall not overtake us — Who indulge themselves in their carnal security, without any dread or apprehension of the divine judgments denounced against them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.]

Amo_9:9.] The figure explains how. For] God will disperse Israel, shake them with other nations. Wheat and chaff are mixed together. The wicked, chaff and dust, fall through the sieve and perish; the grain (solid grain), the godly, will be preserved, every one shall be saved (Mat_22:12; Luk_22:31).

Amo_9:10. Sinners] who say in self-confidence. Prevent] To meet one round about, i.e. to come from every side. All self-secured sinners shall perish, but the righteous shall be delivered. History proves, that the kingdom of Israel, the most profane and idolatrous, fell first by the Assyrians; that Judah continued long after, enjoyed considerable prosperity under Hezekiah and Josiah; that a remnant of Israel, left by Assyrians, were united to Judah, and that others joined them. After the sifting-time comes the prosperity.

HOMILETICS

THE SIFTING PROCESS.—Amo_9:8-10

Punishment is again threatened, but mitigated. All shall not be destroyed. A remnant shall be sifted and preserved. But the impious and proud will be cut off with the sword.

I. The nature of the process. Like precious grain, God’s people have to be purified and fitted for use.

1. It is a violent process. “I will sift,” i.e. cause them to be moved, shaken, or jostled about by other nations. We have need to be shaken. We get deeply rooted in our pursuits, confirmed in our sins, and require no light measures to wean us from the world.

2. It is an extensive process. Israel were not to be unsettled among one nation, but many. Their life was to be spent “among all nations.” The Jews have been found in every country of the globe almost. The whole earth in the design of God has thus become a sieve to his people. Each change in business and residence may be a sifting to preserve from sin and prepare for service. “Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”

II. The results of the process. The righteous shall be saved and the wicked destroyed.

1. The grain is preserved. “Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” God’s eye is upon every one of his people, in their trials. Like a refiner of gold, he sits watching the process. Jewish history and Church history prove that this sifting results not in destruction, but purification. “At the present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Not one precious seed shall be lost. “It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones should perish.”

2. The chaff is destroyed. “The sinners of my people shall die by the sword.” The same process to one will be salvation, to another destruction. Like chaff, the wicked are worthless in their character and doom, blown away with the wind or burned in the fire (Psa_1:4). God spares the wicked for the sake of the godly now; but a separation will come. Each will go to the place for which he is fitted and destined. “He will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES

Amo_9:8. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, especially,

1. Observing sinners,

2. Scrutinizing character, and

3. dealing out justice.

Amo_9:9. I will sift.

1. God the sifter of his people.

2. Making Divine purposes real facts. “I will command.” He wills and it is done.

“When God commands, who dare oppose, Or ask Him why, or what He does?”

God’s people are sifted–

1. By God. Abraham, the Centurion, and the Syrophenician were tried and approved.

2. By Satan. As Peter, saved by the prayer of Christ (Luk_22:31-32). “The blast of temptation struck down the leaves; but the root stood fast.”

3. By the world. (a) Its infidelities, (b) Its persecutions, (c) Its opinions. “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” &c.

“This concise prophecy contains a draught of determinate history: the kingdom, the body politic, to be destroyed from off the face of the earth; but the people, the stock, not to be destroyed. The people to be sifted through all nations; but the seed so sifted not to perish, nor its least grain to fall to the earth. It has a history made up of opposite particulars; destruction and preservation, scattering and particular custody, combined. It is the true outline of Jewish history. Is it of any other whatever?” [Davidson on Prophecy].

Amo_9:10. Which say. I. The impious spirit of sinners. Ignorant, false, confident, and presumptive.

2. The great disappointment of sinners. Their sayings do not make facts. Punishment does overtake them, suddenly and grievously. “Evil is often nearest those that put it at the greatest distance from them.” Hope of impunity is only the refuge of the proud and rebellious; God by his judgments will change their verdict, and prove it to be a refuge of lies (Isa_28:15). Flee to Christ, and he will be your hiding-place in the storm.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9

Amo_9:8-10. Sift. Gold in the ore is a treasure; but it is when it has passed through the refiner’s hands, and has received the stamp of currency, that it becomes of acknowledged value, and fit for adaptation to all the circumstances and conveniences of life [W. S. M.].

Fiery trials make golden Christians; sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotion [Dyer].

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Election, therefore, will not save sinful Israel from destruction. After Amos has thus cut off all hope of deliverance from the ungodly, he repeats, in his own words in Amo 9:8., the threat already exhibited symbolically in Amo 9:1. Amo 9:8. "Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are against the sinful kingdom, and I destroy it from off the face of the earth; except that I shall not utterly destroy the house of Jacob: is the saying of Jehovah. Amo 9:9. For, behold, I command, and shake the house of Israel among all nations, as (corn) is shaken in a sieve, and not even a little grain falls to the ground. Amo 9:10. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, The evil will not overtake or come to us." The sinful kingdom is Israel; not merely the kingdom of the ten tribes however, but all Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes along with Judah, the house of Jacob or Israel, which is identical with the sons of Israel, who had become like the Cushites, although Amos had chiefly the people and kingdom of the ten tribes in his mind. Bammamlâkhâh, not upon the kingdom, but against the kingdom. The directing of the eye upon an object is expressed by על (Amo 9:4) or אל (cf. Psa 34:16); whereas ב is used in relation to the object upon which anger rests (Psa 34:17). Because the Lord had turned His eye towards the sinful kingdom, He must exterminate it, - a fate with which Moses had already threatened the nation in Deu 6:15. Nevertheless (אפס כּי, "only that," introducing the limitation, as in Num 13:28; Deu 15:4) the house of Jacob, the covenant nation, shall not be utterly destroyed. The "house of Jacob" is opposed to the "sinful nation;" not, however, so that the antithesis simply lies in the kingdom and people (regnum delebo, non populum), or that the "house of Jacob" signifies the kingdom of Judah as distinguished from the kingdom of the ten tribes, for the "house of Jacob" is perfectly equivalent to the "house of Israel" (Amo 9:9). The house of Jacob is not to be utterly destroyed, but simply to be shaken, as it were, in a sieve. The antithesis lies in the predicate החטּא, the sinful kingdom. So far as Israel, as a kingdom and people, is sinful, it is to be destroyed from off the face of the earth. But there is always a divine kernel in the nation, by virtue of its divine election, a holy seed out of which the Lord will form a new and holy people and kingdom of God. Consequently the destruction will not be a total one, a השׁמיד אשׁמיד. The reason for this is introduced by kı̄ (for) in Amo 9:9. The Lord will shake Israel among the nations, as corn is shaken in a sieve; so that the chaff flies away, and the dust and dirt fall to the ground, and only the good grains are left in the sieve. Such a sieve are the nations of the world, through which Israel is purified from its chaff, i.e., from its ungodly members. Tserōr, generally a bundle; here, according to its etymology, that which is compact or firm, i.e., solid grain as distinguished from loose chaff. In Sa2 17:13 it is used in a similar sense to denote a hard piece of clay or a stone in a building. Not a single grain fill fall to the ground, that is to say, not a good man will be lost (cf. Sa1 26:20). The self-secure sinners, however, who rely upon their outward connection with the nation of God (compare Amo 9:7 and Amo 3:2), or upon their zeal in the outward forms of worship (Amo 5:21.), and fancy that the judgment cannot touch them (הקדּים בּעד, to come to meet a person round about him, i.e., to come upon him from every side), will all perish by the sword. This threat is repeated at the close, without any formal link of connection with Amo 9:9, not only to prevent any abuse of the foregoing modification of the judgment, but also to remove this apparent discrepancy, that whereas in Amo 9:1-4 it is stated that not one will escape the judgment, according to Amo 9:8, the nation of Israel is not to be utterly destroyed. In order to anticipate the frivolity of the ungodly, who always flatter themselves with the hope of escaping when there is a threatening of any general calamity, the prophet first of all cuts off all possibilities whatever in Amo 9:1-4, without mentioning the exceptions; and it is not till afterwards that the promise is introduced that the house of Israel shall not be utterly annihilated, whereby the general threat is limited to sinners, and the prospect of deliverance and preservation through the mercy of God is opened to the righteous. The historical realization or fulfilment of this threat took place, so far as Israel of the ten tribes was concerned, when their kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians, and in the case of Judah, at the overthrow of the kingdom and temple by the Chaldeans; and the shaking of Israel in the sieve is still being fulfilled upon the Jews who are dispersed among all nations.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

9:8 Although God would severely punish Israel by uprooting and scattering them, he would never completely destroy them. A remnant would always exist.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Though he destroy the rebellious multitude, yet he will ever reserve the remnant his Church to call upon his Name.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

eyes . . . upon the sinful kingdom--that is, I am watching all its sinful course in order to punish it (compare Amo 9:4; Psa 34:15-16).

not utterly destroy the house of Jacob--Though as a "kingdom" the nation is now utterly to perish, a remnant is to be spared for "Jacob," their forefather's sake (compare Jer 30:11); to fulfil the covenant whereby "the seed of Israel" is hereafter to be "a nation for ever" (Jer 31:36).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Here the Prophet concludes that God would take vengeance on the Israelites as on other nations, without any difference; for they could not set up anything to prevent his judgment. It was indeed an extraordinary blindness in the Israelites, who were doubly guilty of ingratitude, to set up as their shield the benefits with which they had been favored. Though then the name of God had been wickedly and shamefully profaned by them, they yet thought that they were safe, because they had been once adopted. This presumption Amos now beats down. Behold, he says, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon all the wicked Some restrict this to the kingdom of Israel, but, in my opinion, such a view militates against the design of the Prophet. He speaks indefinitely of all kingdoms as though he had said, that God would be the judge of the whole world, that he would spare no kingdoms or countries. God then will show himself everywhere to be the punisher of vices, and will summon all kingdoms before his tribunal, By destroying I will destroy from the face of the earth all the ungodly and the wicked.

Now the second clause I understand otherwise than most do: for they think it contains a mitigation of punishment, as the Prophets are wont to blend promises of favor with threatening, and as our Prophet does in this chapter. But it seems not to me that anything is promised to the Israelites: nay, if I am not much mistaken, it is an ironical mode of speaking; for Amos obliquely glances here at that infatuated presumption, of which we have spoken, that the Israelites thought that they were safe through some peculiar privilege, and that they were to be exempt from all punishment: “I will not spare unbelievers,” he says, “who excuse themselves by comparing themselves with you. Shall I tolerate your sins and not dare to touch you, seeing that you know yourselves to be doubly wicked?” We must indeed notice in what other nations differed from the Israelites; for the more the children of Abraham had been raised, the more they increased their guilt when they despised God, the author of so many blessings, and became basely wanton by shaking off, as it were, the yoke. Since then they so ungratefully abused God’s blessings, God might then have spared other nations: it was therefore necessary to bring them to punishment, for they were wholly inexcusable. As then they exceeded all other nations in impiety, the Prophet very properly reasons here from the greater to the less: “I take an account,” he says, “of all the sins which are in the world, and no nations shall escape my hand: how then can the Israelites escape? For other nations can plead some ignorance, as they have never been taught; and that they go astray in darkness is no matter of wonder. But ye, to whom I have given light, and whom I have daily exhorted to repent, — shall ye be unpunished? How could this be? I should not then be the judge of the world.” We now then perceive the real meaning of the Prophet: “Lo,” he says “the eyes of Jehovah are upon every sinful kingdom; I will destroy all the nations who have sinned from the face of the earth, though they have the pretense of ignorance for their sins; shall I not now, forsooth, destroy the house of Israel?” Here then the Prophet speaks ironically, Except that I shall not destroy by destroying the house of Israel; that is, “Do you wish me to be subservient to you, as though my hands were tied, that I could not take vengeance on you? what right have you to do this? and what can hinder me from punishing ingratitude so great and so shameful?”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) Sinful nation.—The kingdom of the ten tribes which had so utterly revolted from the true centre and spiritual ideas of the worship of Jehovah.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8–9. the house of Jacob … the house of Israel] i.e. (cf. Amo_5:1; Amo_5:4; Amo_5:6, Amo_6:14, Amo_7:10; Amo_7:16; also Amo_6:8, Amo_7:2; Amo_7:5, Amo_8:7) the northern kingdom, which alone from Amo_7:1 has been in the prophet’s mind; at most, the expressions may be meant in a general sense, including (implicitly) Judah (Ewald, Keil; cf. Amo_6:1). The limitation (Grätz, Wellh.) to Judah alone is arbitrary, and unsupported by the context.

8–10. Jehovah’s eyes are against (Job_7:8) the sinful kingdom, whatsoever or wheresoever it be, and He will destroy it from off the face of the earth (Deu_6:15), save only, if the kingdom be that of the chosen people, it will not be destroyed by Him utterly: only the sinners in it will perish. Though the nation, as a whole, might be corrupt, and deserve to perish, it might well include many individuals who were the humble and faithful servants of Jehovah (cf. Isa_29:19); these, in the picture drawn by Amos, escape the judgement, and perpetuate the national existence of the people of God. There is implicit in these verses (cf. Amo_5:15) the thought of a faithful and worthy “remnant,” which should survive a catastrophe, and form the nucleus of a purer community in the future, which was adopted afterwards by Isaiah, and became one of the most characteristic elements of his teaching (Isa_1:26-28; Isa_4:3 f., Amo_6:13 b &c.). The words are really a limitation of the unqualified judgement expressed in Amo_9:1-4, a limitation demanded partly by the justice of God, partly by His faithfulness to His covenant-promise (cf. Jer_4:27; Jer_5:10; Jer_5:18; Jer_30:11).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,.... God is omniscient, and his eyes are everywhere, and upon all persons, good and bad, and upon all kingdoms, especially upon a sinful nation: "the sinning kingdom" (n), or "the kingdom of sin" (o), as it may be rendered; that is addicted to sin, where it prevails and reigns; every such kingdom, particularly the kingdom of Israel, Ephraim, or the ten tribes, given to idolatry, and other sins complained of in this prophecy; and that not for good, but for evil, as in Amo 9:4; in order to cut them off from being a people:

and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth: so that it shall be no more, at least as a kingdom; as the ten tribes have never been since their captivity by Shalmaneser; though Japhet interprets this of all the kingdoms of the earth, being sinful, the eyes of God are upon them to destroy them, excepting the kingdom of Israel; so Abarbinel:

saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord; and so it is, that though they have been destroyed as a kingdom, yet not utterly as a people; there were some of the ten tribes that mixed with the Jews, and others that were scattered about in the world; and a remnant among them, according to the election of grace, that were met with in the ministry of the apostles, and in the latter day all Israel shall be saved; see Jer 30:10.

(n) "hoc regnum peccans", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Mercerus; "peccatrix", Piscator. (o) "Regnum peccati", Pagninus, Montanus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom - The sinful kingdom may mean each “sinful kingdom,” as Paul says, God “will render unto every man according to his deeds - unto them who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile” Rom 2:6-9. His “Eyes” are “on the sinful kingdom,” whatsoever or wheresoever it be, and so on Israel also: “and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth.” In this case, the emphasis would be on the, “I will not “utterly” destroy.” God would destroy sinful kingdoms, yet Israel, although sinful, He would not “utterly” destroy, but would leave a remnant, as He had so often promised. Yet perhaps, and more probably, the contrast is between “the kingdom” and “the house of Israel. The kingdom,” being founded in sin, bound up inseparably with sin, God says, “I will destroy from off the face of the earth,” and it ceased forever. Only, with the kingdom, He says, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” to whom were the promises, and to whose seed, whosoever were the true Israel, those promises should be kept. So He explains;

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Behold; consider things better, and argue more like men of reason.

The eyes of the Lord God; God of infinite purity and knowledge, whose nature hateth all sin, and whose office it is to punish sinners, his eyes behold all the children of men, they run to and fro, as 2Ch 16:9. Are upon the sinful kingdom; every sinful kingdom, and on the kingdom of the ten tribes as notoriously the sinning kingdom, as the Hebrew.

And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; and I will ruin any such kingdom for their sins, that it shall cease to be a kingdom on earth.

Saving that I will not utterly destroy; and so would I do with the kingdom of Israel, but that I have by covenant with their fathers engaged to be their God for ever, which promise I will keep to a remnant of their seed for ever.

The house of Jacob; the seed of Jacob, which God will not utterly extirpate, though he do extirpate other nations, Jer 30:11.

Saith the Lord: this is added to confirm the gracious word concerning the remnant which shall be spared.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The sinful kingdom. The kingdom of all Israel and Judah, the same as the house of Jacob just below, though a different fate awaits this, regarded as the covenant nation, whose are the promises. Destroy it, etc., as was threatened. (Deu_6:15) Saving that. In spite of the destruction of the wicked people, God"s promises hold good, and there is still a remnant who shall be saved. (Jer_30:11)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sinful kingdom - Every sinful kingdom.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

and I will destroy it—The kingdom is the house of Jehu, but I will not destroy the house of Jacob.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.