Ethiopians, Israel, Egypt, Philistines and Syrians Amos 9:7

As Amos the prophet continued to share the judgment that was come upon Israel, he told how God would pursue those who attempted to escape Him. He shared how the LORD was omnipresent and omnipotent by declaring, “it is he that builds his stories in the heaven and hath founded his troop in the earth”. He also declared that God calls “for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth”. “The LORD is his name” was Amos' statement, and in chapter nine and verse seven of his prophesy, Amos referred to “the Ethiopians, Israel, Egypt, the Philistines and the Syrians” in his message where we read:

Are you not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? says the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

The verse begins, “Are you not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? says the LORD. ” Amos began with the words, “Are you not as children” which means “descendants, sons and grandsons” “of the Ethiopians” which means “their blackness” and was “one of the descendants of Cush the grandson of Noah through Ham and a member of that nation or people” “unto me” which refers to “the LORD”, “O children” which means “descendants, sons and grandsons” “of Israel” which means “God prevails” and was “the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob”? “says” or “utters, declares and proclaims” “the LORD” which refers to “Yehovah or Jehovah who is the existing or becoming One and is the proper name for the one true God”. God questioned whether the “children of Israel” were like the pagan people who resided in “Ethiopia”.

The verse goes on to say, “Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?” Amos continued, “have not I brought up” or “ascended, climbed and shot forth” “Israel” which refers to “the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “out of the land” which means “the territory, district and region” “of Egypt” which means “land of the Copts” and was “a country at the northeastern section of Africa which is adjacent to Palestine, and through which the Nile flows”? “and the Philistines” which means “immigrants” and refers to “an inhabitant of Philistia who were the descendants of Mizraim who immigrated from Caphtor (Crete?) to the western seacoast of Canaan ” “from Caphtor” which means “a crown” and was “the original home of the Philistines perhaps on the southwest coast of Asia Minor and maybe in Egypt or close by or more probably on the island of Crete ”, “and the Syrians” which means “exalted” and was “the Syrian or Aramean people” “from Kir” which means “wall” and was “a place in Mesopotamia”. The LORD rescued or “brought up” Israel from Egypt, Philistia and Syria and yet they still rejected Him and His ways.

When we think through these words of Amos, we can only imagine God comparing His own “children” in Israel to the pagan “Ethiopians”, and we should keep in mind the fact that He rescued them from “the Egyptians, the Philistines and the Syrians”. God worked on Israel's behalf, and yet, they forsook Him and His ways. Jesus Christ came into the world to give His life for our sin, and should we reject Him, we are as the pagan nations in the day of Israel. Oh let us value the awesome gift that God has bestowed upon us, and may we repent and turn to Him before we are labeled like these apostate Israelites.

Next time Amos shares how “the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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