Amos 9:5

And the Lord God of hosts [is] he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt,.... Which is another reason why it is impossible to escape the hands of a sin revenging God, because he is omnipotent as

And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

The prophet having foretold such sad, universal desolations, miseries beyond what this secure people could think possible, and such as the atheists among them censured, and derided as impossibilities, as ; now in this and the following verses to the 10th the prophet confirms his word, and the certainty of these future judgments. The Lord; Adonai, the sovereign Lord. God; Jehovah, who speaks and doth, and need no more than will to work and accomplish; so he made, sustaineth, and disposeth of all. Of hosts; all the creatures are his army, and do what he commands them to do against his enemies. Is he that toucheth: a light touch of his hand, he needs not as man to take great pains to break and dissolve hard metals, a touch of his finger will do this. The land; either the inhabitants, or rather the land itself in which they dwelt, the land of Canaan; or more likely the whole earth, how firm and hard soever it seem to be. And it shall melt, as snow before the sun in its hottest influences, or as wax before a mighty fire. He who can do this, can do all that I have denounced against you, O Israel. The rest of the verse, see .

Amos 9:5 And the Lord GOD of hosts [is] he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt.Ver. 5. And the Lord God of hosts is he, &c] Here the prophet proveth what he had said in the foregoing verses, by an argument drawn from the wonderful power of God, which profane persons are apt to question, that they may harden their hearts against his fear. Consider, saith he, first, that he is the Lord God of hosts, and (as the Rabbis well observe) he hath the upper and lower troops ready pressed, as his horse and foot, to march against his enemies. Next, that he toucheth the land, as it were, with his little finger, and it shall melt, like the fat of lambs before the fire; it shall crumble to crattle, moulder away, and be moved, because he is wroth, Psalms 18:7 : and shall men be unmoved? shall they be more insensible than the senseless earth? The people of Antioch, though many of them gave their hands for Chrysostom’ s banishment, yet, terrified by an earthquake (which wrought in them a heartquake, as it had done in the jailer, Acts 16:25-30), they immediately sent for him again. But, thirdly, the tremendous power of God appears in this, that The land shall rise up wholly like a flood; and it shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt] God can float it and flood it at his pleasure, see Amos 8:8. Water is naturally above the earth as the garment above the body, saith David; and would (but for the power and providence of God) prove as the shirt made for the murdering of Agamemnon, where the head had no issue out. Let God be seen herein, and men’ s hearts possessed with his holy fear; who can so easily pull up the sluices, let in the sea upon them, and bury them all in one universal grave of waters. "Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?" Jeremiah 5:22. This Aristotle admires, and David celebrates in his physics (as one calleth that 104th Psalm), Psalms 104:6; Psalms 104:9, and all men should improve, to frighten their consciences from provoking to anger so great a God.

(5, 6) Accumulate in grand imagery the majesty, power, and irresistible resources of the Lord, who has at length become their enemy. The very world itself melts, as Sinai did, at His touch. The word “is” should be omitted in the rendering. The predicate “Jehovah (the Lord) is His name” (Amos 9:6) stands at the end of a series of attributive clauses. Like a flood . . .—The sentence should run thus: The whole of it rises like the Nile, and subsides (or sinks) like the Egyptian Nile. The future tenses should be replaced by presents. (Comp. Amos 8:8.) Stories—i.e., upper rooms (comp. Psalms 104:3). The word for “troop” is rightly rendered “arch,” or “vault,” from a root signifying to bind or compact together, the sky being regarded as a “firmament,” or solid extension, which rested on the earth as a foundation.

Verse 5. The Lord God of hosts is he] So powerful is he that a touch of his hand shall melt or dissolve the land, and cause all its inhabitants to mourn. Here is still a reference to the earthquake. See Clarke on Amos 8:8, where the same images are used.

Amos 9:1-6. The fifth vision, the smitten sanctuary. The people are all assembled for worship in their sanctuary: Jehovah is seen standing by the altar, and commanding the building to be so smitten that it may fall and destroy the worshippers: none, it is emphatically added, shall escape the irrevocable doom. The worshippers are manifestly intended to symbolize the entire nation.

And who is He who should do this? God, at whose command are all creatures. This is the hope of His servants; from where Hezekiah begins his prayer, “Lord of hosts, God of Israel” Isaiah 37:16.

5, 6. The people might think the prophet mad; hence he proceeds to disabuse their minds by informing them that it is Jehovah who makes the threats. Once more he depicts the divine majesty and omnipotence.