Amo 2:9 | 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

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.