Amós 9

Amós 9

Garland writes - Here is the classic record of man’s response to his own sin—a vain attempt to hide from the omnipresent, omniscient, almighty God (Ge 3:8; Re 6:16). In the irony of God, those who persecuted God’s servants, who were “destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy,” who “wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:38) now experience firsthand a similar affliction from the very hand of God. Though they dig into Sheol, From there will My hand take them - There will be nowhere to flee in the day of His judgment. Hell and Heaven are both exaggerations because no man could even flee to those places, but if they could, the long arm of the LORD would find them and execute justice. Some say that digging into Sheol meant hiding in the ground. Hubbard - As dig (Heb. ḥtr; cf. Job 24:16; Ezek. 8:8) indicates, Sheol was viewed as a subterranean realm, occupied by the dead (Isa. 14:9–11, 15–20) and popularly thought to be outside of Yahweh’s sway of sovereignty (Job 10:20–22; 14:13). Amos, however, like the psalmist (Ps. 139:7–11), knew better. The God whose justice and power he had encountered was stranger to no part of his creation; his very dwelling embraced both heaven and earth (Amos 9:6). (Ibid) Sheol (07585)(she'ol) is the underworld or the place to which people descend at death. The grave, death, the depths, the nether world, the underworld. Sheol was viewed as the place where departed spirits went after death. Sheol was envisioned as a dark region within the earth, the entrance to which was the grave with its steep slopes (cf. Ps 88:4-6). In Job 14:13-22, Job expressed the common view of life beyond death, namely, that in Sheol there is no contact with the living, only separation, but in Sheol there is a conscious awareness of the dreary existence. In Jonah 2:3 Jonah pictures himself in the belly of Sheol, its very center - in other words he is as good as dead. In Ps 22:6 Sheol, the underworld, the place of the dead, is personified as David’s enemy. Abaddon is used as a name for Sheol in Ps 88:11. In Ps 143:3"dark places" is a synonym for Sheol, pictured as a dark place located deep in the ground. And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down - Here Amos uses extreme hyperbole! Heaven is God's home. These false worshipers certainly could not flee there! Smith writes "If neither heights nor depths can separate people from the love of God (cf. Ro 8:38-39), they are also unable to hide them from the wrath of God." Amos 9:3 "Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them. KJV Amos 9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: hide Job 34:22; Jeremiah 23:23,24 conceal themselves Ps 139:9-11; Jeremiah 16:16 Deepest Depth of the Sea NO CAVE NOR DEPTH CAN CONCEAL The description of complete destruction continues unabated. As Hubbard says "No place in all creation will afford shelter to the fugitives once God has set his judgment in motion." (TOTC-Amos) Though they hide on the summit of Carmel - There is no hiding from divine omnipresence! There are many caves in Carmel's sides, which at one time were inhabited by swarms of monks who were trying to "hide themselves" from their fleshly desires (in fact from the world, the flesh and the devil), but also discovered they could not hide from their fallen flesh nor subjugate it by rites or rituals into submission! The only way to kill sin (A HARSH TASKMASTER!) daily is by the Spirit of Jesus! (Romans 8:13+) Mt Carmel (picture) was one of the highest peaks in Israel. (Elevation 525.4 meters or 1,724 ft), but was not high enough to hide from God's justice! Jehovah declares "Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 23:23,24) Comment - Of course Jehovah's question is rhetorical and calls for a loud Yea and Amen! I will search them out and take them from there - Jer. 16:16 gives a similar description... “Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. God's promise is sure in blessing and in cursing. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” (Ps 139:9-11) The Hebrew for Search (02664) (hapas) means properly, to search by digging deeper; to mine out (implied by its Syriac and Aramaic cognates); searching that is set on arriving at the ultimate objective; a plan to uncover and discover. The Septuagint translates hapas here with the rare verb exereunao (ek = an intensifier + ereunao = to search into, investigate, explore) used in the NT only in 1 Peter 1:10+ and meaning to search diligently for something, especially for something hidden like miners engaged in digging for precious metals in the bowels of the earth. This word was used of a dog sniffing out something with his nose. THOUGHT - The Septuagint uses exereunao 5 times in the great Psalm 119 where it translates the word "observe" - Read the following passages from Psalm 119 with the meaning of this verb in mind - it gives a new "nuance" regarding what it means to "observe" God's testimonies, law, precepts, commandments = Ps. 119:2 (surprisingly it is not used to translate "seek" here); Ps. 119:34; Ps. 119:69; Ps. 119:115; Ps. 119:129. Now let's apply because truth not applied is in one ear and out the other (aka James 1:22+). Do you just skim over God's Word so that you can "satisfy" your goal of reading through the Bible in a year? Do you read it superficially so you can check that box in your list of activities in your quiet time? The verb exereunao calls us to "dig into" the precious Word, more precious in fact than gold, but too often we barely scratch the surface for we are more constrained (impelled) by our fallen flesh to go out into the world and "dig for gold!" Little wonder that so many believers are spiritual paupers and their faith is weak and their walk is like a yo-yo on a string! We go to cross fit to train our bodies, but too often we fail to go the old rugged Cross to train our souls! Tomorrow morning begin a new discipline (under grace not law), a discipline enabled by the Spirit, and begin to "dig in" to the living and active Word of God as if your spiritual life depended on it (because it does! cf Jesus' words Mt 4:4, Lk 4:4+). I am a retired medical doctor and would write prescriptions like this "Take 1 tablet q.d. for 30 days." Now that I am retired, I more often treat the soul, so let me prescribe that you try this "discipline" for "1 q.d. x 30 days" and see what a difference it makes in your spiritual vitality and your walk in Christ. I dare you! (under grace of course!). Solomon, the richest, wisest man (other than Jesus) who ever lived, extols the value of diligently digging for wisdom writing "If you seek her as silver, and search (Lxx = exereunao) for her (WISDOM) as for hidden treasures (it was the custom to bury valuables in the ground or in holes in the rocks)." (Pr 2:4+) What is emphasized is the diligent effort that must be made to obtain wisdom. The tragedy is that too often men show more zeal in acquiring material wealth than spiritual treasures. And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea - On one hand "How deep the Father's love for us" is but His wrath is also "deep" for those who reject Him and choose to worship idols as did the Israelites. God grant us today by His Spirit that we would worship God Alone! Amen. If the Spirit brings any "idols" to your mind, smite them down, hack them to pieces, destroy them before they destroy you! Or as Puritan John Owen said in his classic work Mortification of Sin, "Be killing sin, lest it be killing you." (The entire books is an "exposition" of Romans 8:13+, which Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones is one of the most important verses in all of Scripture [listen to his sermon "A Call for Action"] as regards our daily sanctification process.) The average depth of the ocean is about 12,100 feet. The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep (click picture above) and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam. Challenger Deep is approximately 36,200 feet deep. It is named after the HMS Challenger, whose crew first sounded the depths of the trench in 1875. Though a man were able to hide in the Challenger Deep, he could not hide from God! From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them - From there in context is from the depths of the sea. This Hebrew word nachash is the word used for the serpent in the garden! (Ge 3:1, 2, 4, 13, 14+) Indeed, since these men in Amos 9 have been "bitten" and poisoned with the deadly venom of sin, they will die in their sin (cf Ro 5:12+, Ro 6:23+). This declaration of divine serpentine judgment would recall a similar judgment on the people of Israel when God sent fiery serpents not from the sea but from the land in Numbers 21 Nu 21:5-9 The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” 6 The LORD sent fiery serpents (nachash) among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Comment - What is amazing is that the Israelites turned the bronze serpent of nachash into an IDOL which they carried around for the next 730 years worshiping the creation "For they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Ro 1:25+)! 2 Ki 18:4 says "He (King Hezekiah - 715-686 BC) removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan (a play on the word nahach and fittingly means a ‘trifling thing! = A good illustration of ALL idols!)." Oh, how evil are ALL of our hearts, how sinister and enticing is our fallen flesh (James 1:14+), as we so quickly default to the lusts of the flesh (1 John 2:16+), even those of us who have experienced that we have true life (Jn 10:10) and blessing in obedience (1 Sa 15:22, read Lk 11:28+) to the Lord (as the Israelites did when they simply looked -- but it was a look of faith and trust in the truth that Moses had declared and as shown below was but a shadow of perfect picture of the Messiah Who would in effect suffer the deadly bite of sin on behalf of all who would simply LOOK to Him in faith and trust as their Substitutionary Sacrifice (One "look" is what saved C H Spurgeon as he responded to Isaiah 45:22KJV). And so Jesus applied this picture to Himself in John 3:14-16 declaring "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."