9:1-10 The prophet, in vision, saw the Lord standing upon the idolatrous altar at Bethel. Wherever sinners flee from God's justice, it will overtake them. Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace, shall never be cast down; but those who seek to climb thither by vain confidence in themselves, will be cast down and filled with shame. That which makes escape impossible and ruin sure, is, that God will set his eyes upon them for evil, not for good. Wretched must those be on whom the Lord looks for evil, and not for good. The Lord would scatter the Jews, and visit them with calamities, as the corn is shaken in a sieve; but he would save some from among them. The astonishing preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, seems here foretold. If professors make themselves like the world, God will level them with the world. The sinners who thus flatter themselves, shall find that their profession will not protect them.He that buildeth His stories - The word commonly means 'steps,' nor is there any reason to alter it. We read of 'the third heavens 2 Corinthians 12:2, the heavens of heavens Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 148:4; that is, heavens to which this heaven is as earth. They are different ways of expressing the vast unseen space which God has created, divided, as we know, through the distance of the fixed stars, into countless portions, of which the lower, or further removed, are but as 'steps' to the presence of the Great King, where, 'above all heavens' Ephesians 4:10, Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of God. It comes to the same, if we suppose the word to mean 'upper chambers.' The metaphor would still signify heavens above our heavens.
- Meta 1 9 5 Commentary Verse
- Meta Commentary Define
- Meta 1 9 5 Commentary Matthew Henry
- Meta 1 9 5 Commentary Bible Gateway
- Meta Commentary Meaning
And hath founded His troop - (literally, band in the earth Probably, 'founded His arch upon the earth,' that is, His visible heaven, which seems, like an arch, to span the earth. The whole then describes' all things visible and invisible;' all of this our solar system, and all beyond it, the many gradations to the Throne of God. : 'He daily 'buildeth His stories in the heavens,' when He raiseth up His saints from things below to heavenly places, presiding over them, ascending in them. In devout wayfarers too, whose 'conversation is in heaven Philippians 3:20, He ascendeth, sublimely and mercifully indwelling their hearts. In those who have the fruition of Himself in those heavens, He ascendeth by the glory of beatitude and the loftiest contemplation, as He walketh in those who walk, and resteth in those who rest in Him.'
To this description of His power, Amos, as before Amos 5:8, adds that signal instance of its exercise on the ungodly, the flood, the pattern and type of judgments which no sinner escapes. God then hath the power to do this. Why should He not?
Almost 1 in 3 of those doubters voted for him anyway, but over the course of his presidency, their fears about Trump have solidified. The ABC/Post poll reports that about 9% of Republicans now say. How miserably degenerate was the Jewish church, when the priests of the Lord were become like the priests of the calves, a snare upon Mizpeh, and a net spread upon Tabor, and were profound to make slaughter (Hos. 5:2),—when, instead of keeping the feast with unleavened bread, they were themselves soured with the leaven of the worst.
6. stories—literally, 'ascents,' that is, upper chambers, to which the ascent is by steps [Maurer]; evidently referring to the words in Ps 104:3, 13. Grotius explains it, God's royal throne, expressed in language drawn from Solomon's throne, to which the ascent was by steps (compare 1Ki 10:18, 19).founded his troop—namely, all animate creatures, which are God's troop, or host (Ge 2:1), doing His will (Ps 103:20, 21; Joe 2:11). Maurer translates, 'His vault,' that is, the vaulted sky, which seems to rest on the earth supported by the horizon. Amazing 2 9 14 niv.
And hath founded his troop in the earth; he laid the foundations of this lower world, and can as easily shake or overturn as at first he laid them. All that is below the royal pavilions of God is but as a little bundle which he can soon untie and scatter about, nor are the things tied up of such worth and value that he should lose by doing it; how much more easy is it for him to destroy (as he hath spoken) your land and cities, which are a very small thing compared with the whole world, and this as a point compared with the unmeasurable greatness of the heavens! You set a value on yourselves, and are proud, and think that God will not lose, such jewels; as if a king in his royalty should fear to lose a pin's head, or one atom of dust that lieth on his footstool.
Calleth; the easiest way a man can take to get any thing done; nothing so easy for man to do, as it is easy for God to drown a sinful nation or world: possibly God by this may mind them what seeming impossibility he did when he called for the waters of the sea to drown the old world, and would hereby make them see that he can now do the like.
For the waters of the sea; either by wholesale in judgment to drown, or by retail by vapours in mercy to give rain.
And poureth them out, in storms and violence, or in gentler showers, to punish or refresh.
Upon the face of the earth; either a particular nation, or the whole world.
The Lord is his name; eternal, unchangeable, almighty, and just: see Amos 5:8. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven,.. The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered 'his chambers', which are the clouds, Psalm 104:3; perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2; and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the 'ascents' (y) to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is,
Meta 1 9 5 Commentary Verse
'who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shechinah of his glory:'
and hath founded his troop in the earth; this Kimchi interprets of the three above elements. So the words are translated in the Bishops' Bible in Queen Elizabeth's time,
'he buildeth his spheres in the heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth.'
Aben Ezra interprets it of animals; it may take in the whole compass of created beings on earth; so Jarchi explains it of the collection of his creatures; though he takes notice of another sense given, a collection of the righteous, which are the foundation of the earth, and for whose sake all things stand. Abarbinel interprets it of the whole of the tribe of Israel; and so the Targum paraphrases it of his congregation or church on earth: he beautifies his elect, which are 'his bundle' (z), as it may be rendered; who are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God, and are closely knit and united, as to God and Christ, so to one another; and perhaps is the best sense of the words (a): Cisdem pdf creator 7 1 0 4.
he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name; either to drown it, as at the general deluge; or to water and refresh it, as he does by exhaling water from the sea, and then letting it down in plentiful showers upon the earth; See Gill on Amos 5:8; now all these things are observed to show the power of God, and that therefore there can be no hope of escaping out of his hands.
Meta Commentary Define
(y) 'ascensiones suus', Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine version, 'gradus suo', Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius. (z) 'fasciculum suum', Montanus, Munster, Mercerus, Vatablus, Drusius, Burkius. (a) Schultens in Observ. ad Genesin, p. 197, 198, observes, that 'agad', with the Arabs, signifies primarily to 'bind', and is by them transferred to a building firmly bound, and compact together; and so may intend here in Amos the Lord's building, the church, which he hath founded in the earth; and so with Golius and Castellus is a building firmly compacted together. is used for a bunch of hyssop, Exodus 12.27. and in the Misnic language for a handful or bundle of anything; see Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. rad.
Meta 1 9 5 Commentary Matthew Henry
It is he that buildeth his {d} stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.Meta 1 9 5 Commentary Bible Gateway
(d) He declares by the wonderful power of God, by the making of the heavens and the elements, that it is not possible for man to escape his judgments when he punishes.
Meta Commentary Meaning
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