Upon
completing his fourth vision of the destruction of Israel, Amos the
prophet wrote concerning those who “swear by the sin of Samaria,
and say, Your God, O Dan, lives”. He also included those who worshiped false gods after “the manner of Beersheba”, and
Amos proclaimed “they shall fall, and never rise up again”.
In chapter nine and verse one of his prophesy, Amos began his fifth
vision of judgment where he saw “the Lord standing upon the
altar” where we read:
I
saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel
of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all
of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that
flees of them shall not flee away, and he that escapes of them shall
not be delivered.
The
verse begins, “I saw the Lord standing upon the altar:
and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake:”
Amos began with the words, “I
saw” or “Amos looked at,
perceived and considered” “the Lord”
which refers to “the title which was spoken in place of
Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence”
“standing” or
“established, stations and appointed” “upon the
altar” which means “the
brazen altar of incense or golden within the temple”: “and
he said” which means “the
Lord uttered, declared and proclaimed”, “Smite”
or “strike, hit or beat” “the lintel of the door”
or “the bulb, knob, capital or
capital of a pillar” “that they posts”
which refers to “the basin, goblet, bowl, threshold or sill” “may
shake” which means “quake,
spring, undulate or tremble”. When Amos saw “the Lord” in this
vision, He was “standing”
as in judgment “upon the altar”
of the “false gods” which Israel worshiped, and He told Amos to
“strike” the “pillars” of the temple so that the “posts”
within it should tremble and
quake.
The
verse goes on to say, “and cut them in the head, all of them;
and I will slay the last of them with the sword:” Amos
continued, “and cut” which means “break off, finish,
stop, gain wrongfully or by violence, severe, complete” “them
in the head” or “the top, summit, upper part, chief, height
and front”, “all of them and I will slay” or “slay,
murder, destroy, ruin and kill” “the last” which means
“after part, end and hinder-most” “of them with the sword”
or “a knife, axe, dagger, mattock or other sharp implement”. Amos
was also to “break off” the “capitals” of those posts along
with a sword to destroy all of the Israelites who remained there.
Finally
the verse says, “he that flees of them shall not flee away, and
he that escapes of them shall not be delivered.” Amos ended the
verse by writing, “he that flees” or “escapes, takes
flight, departs and disappears” “of them shall not flee away”
or “escape, take flight, depart or disappear”, “and he that
escapes” or “the one who is as a fugitive or escaped one”
“shall not be delivered” which means “will not slip
away, escape or be delivered”. Though some of worshipers in the
temple would attempt to “escape”, their efforts would
fail.
When
we think through these words of Amos, we see the LORD bringing
judgment upon the people who worshiped false gods and their
“temples”. Once His judgment began, no one would escape His
punishment. Jesus Christ offers Himself to be our “Savior and
LORD”, and should we wait too long to receive His offer, we too
shall not be able to “escape” the judgment to come. May
all who read Amos' words take heed to the example he has shown.
Next
time we
Amos tell how even if people tried to escape into “hell or heaven”
God
would “bring them down”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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