Amo 2:9-11 | KingComments | STEP | To shame them, God points out His care for them, both past and present. Their actions towards God are in sharp contrast to what God has done for them. What an ingratitude! From what has He deserved this? It sounds like a disappointment: “Yet it was I.” The memory of the past should bring them to repentance. God has paved the way for them to come to the place they now occupy. “The Amorite” people are the original inhabitants of Canaan ( ; ; ). On their own, the people had never entered the land. Their unbelief had made them powerless. In their unbelief, they had felt like locusts to the inhabitants of Canaan who were like giants in their eyes ( ; ). But God had taken up their case. They have been witnesses to how He acted. He exterminated those strong giants for them, completely, from top to bottom. The cedar is more often a picture of what is high, lofty and stable ( ) and the oak of what is strong and hard and has a long lifetime. “His fruit” is his offspring and “his root” are the ancestors of that people. God exterminated all those people with root and branch for them. But now that they have lived in the land for so many years, they have forgotten all His efforts. They have also been warned about this ( ). But what do you expect when God’s people no longer listen to His Word, no longer take knowledge of it, and so ignore the warnings it contains? Misery and destruction cannot be avoided.

‏ Amos 2:9-11

What God Has Done for Them

To shame them, God points out His care for them, both past and present. Their actions towards God are in sharp contrast to what God has done for them. What an ingratitude! From what has He deserved this? It sounds like a disappointment: “Yet it was I.” The memory of the past should bring them to repentance. God has paved the way for them to come to the place they now occupy.

“The Amorite” people are the original inhabitants of Canaan (Gen 15:18; Jos 24:18; Jdg 6:10). On their own, the people had never entered the land. Their unbelief had made them powerless. In their unbelief, they had felt like locusts to the inhabitants of Canaan who were like giants in their eyes (Num 13:22 ; 32-33; Deu 1:28 ; Deu 3:11).

But God had taken up their case. They have been witnesses to how He acted. He exterminated those strong giants for them, completely, from top to bottom. The cedar is more often a picture of what is high, lofty and stable (Eze 31:3) and the oak of what is strong and hard and has a long lifetime.

“His fruit” is his offspring and “his root” are the ancestors of that people. God exterminated all those people with root and branch for them. But now that they have lived in the land for so many years, they have forgotten all His efforts. They have also been warned about this (Deu 8:11-20). But what do you expect when God’s people no longer listen to His Word, no longer take knowledge of it, and so ignore the warnings it contains? Misery and destruction cannot be avoided.

God’s Goodness in Redemption and Guidance

Once again the disappointment resounds. Have they forgotten how they were freed by God’s goodness from the hard slavery of Egypt? Have they also forgotten how He led them through that “great and terrible wilderness” (Deu 8:15) after their redemption, before they took possession of the land they were on their way to? If God had not redeemed them, they would still be in bondage; if God had not led them in the wilderness, they would have perished there.

Let us, too, never forget how we were redeemed from the world and from judgment. The Lord Jesus had to die for this. Let us also never forget how God has guided and cared for us throughout the world since our redemption. Great is His faithfulness. Too often we answer His faithfulness with unfaithfulness. Don’t we disappoint Him then, too?

Prophets and Nazirites

In the previous verses we have the testimony of all God’s blessings, given by Him to all the people, the twelve tribes. But God’s care for His people is also evidenced by the means He has given in the midst of His people to make them return to Himself. There in the first place is the testimony of the “prophets”. They have spoken His words. Secondly, Amos points to the testimony of the “Nazirites”. They spoke through their lives. Prophets have proclaimed Who God is in their preaching, Nazirites have shown Who God is in their lives.

Prophets usually speak when the people have deviated from God. Then God lets them preach His Word to His people to call them to confess and return to Him. Before Amos, many prophets have spoken to the whole people, the twelve tribes (Heb 1:1a). For example, we can think of Moses and Samuel. But also in the midst of the ten tribes, who had no temple, altar, and priesthood, God did not leave Himself without witness. Especially Elijah and Elisha worked in the ten tribes. Also after that God sent messengers who came forth from themselves and spoke their language.

God gave a special testimony through the Nazirites. Although we do not read much about the Nazirites, given the quote here by Amos, they must have had an important place among the people. The word ‘Nazirite’ – in Hebrew Nazir – means ‘separated’ or ‘set apart’. This indicates the devotion to God that these persons put into practice.

In order to separate oneself and dedicate oneself to God, the Nazirite makes a special vow. We read about this in Numbers 6. Becoming a Nazirite is something someone does voluntarily. But if someone, “a man or a woman” (Num 6:2), wants to become a Nazirite, God ascribes conditions to this. These conditions are that such a person

1. must not use anything from the vine,

2. let the hair grow long and

3. must not touch a dead person (Num 6:3).

In their application to us, these terms and conditions can be ‘translated’ as follows. Someone who wants to dedicate himself to God,

1. voluntarily renounces earthly joys – wine is a picture of things that are not bad in themselves (Jdg 9:13),

2. takes a submissive place – of which the long hair of the woman is still the picture (1Cor 11:1-16), which still applies today – and

3. stays away from everything that is not in connection with the living God – that is the hallmark of death.

It is a great blessing of God if He raises up such people, including young people, who want to live devotional lives among His people. They are a spiritual blessing for the whole people. In earthly blessings also the heathen nations can rejoice. That is why Amos points to the spiritual blessing that these gifts of God to His people contain. This spiritual blessing precedes the earthly one, because the earthly blessing depends on their spiritual state. In order to bring them in harmony with God, He lets His prophets hear what He expects from His people. Through the prophets He sends, He maintains the connection with His people.

Although Numbers 6 states that someone becomes a Nazirite as a result of a voluntary decision to fulfill a vow, it is clear that such a vow is made from an inner prompting by the Spirit. Also, life as a Nazirite can only happen under the power and guidance of God’s Spirit. Therefore, besides the prophets, the Nazirites can also be seen as a gift of God. In the Nazirite, the people can see their own calling to consecration to God, while at the same time seeing that the LORD also gives them the power to put it into practice.

Although being a Nazirite is not bound by age, Amos speaks here of “your young men”. It is precisely young people that God wants to use to show in the midst of His people what a life of dedication means. In Christianity today, too, there is a great need for young Christians who voluntarily deny themselves things their peers are committed to, to dedicate themselves entirely to the cause of God. Let us ask God to work this in the hearts of many young people. An example of the blessing that such dedication gives can be read in Jeremiah 35 (Jer 35:1-19).

With His question “is this not so?” God emphasizes His giving of the prophets and the Nazirites. He urges His people to judge whether His comments are correct. Such questions serve to appeal to the conscience, to incite reflection and to bring insight into God’s actions. Whoever agrees with them wholeheartedly returns to Him. God wants to involve people in His actions and, by thinking about them, bring them to the acknowledgment that there is no other way.