Amos 7:9, commentary and pictures

God will leave the idol shrines of the northern kingdom empty and ruined and turn His sword against Jeroboam's dynasty in captivity, destruction and decay. The wasted sanctuaries are the many false temples and worship places of idolatrous Israel, not the tabernacle of Moses, the temple of Solomon, nor the heavenly temple that was their pattern. They bear the name of sanctuary only as borrowed from the Lord's true sanctuary, as false gods are called gods. The warning came through Amos the herdsman of Tekoa in the later reign of Jeroboam II, when recovered prosperity had brought pride, idolatry, injustice and oppression. It came because persistent sin and privilege abused bring certain punishment, and it reaches to the last days when rejection of God's word brings famine for the Word while God saves His people and restores the fallen tabernacle of David.

Words and Historical Setting

The verse speaks of sanctuaries in the plural, the sanctuaries of Israel that shall be laid waste. The word sanctuary can denote broadly a place of devotion and worship, whether connected with true worship or with idolatry and heathenism. Here it denotes the worship places and temples of idolatrous Israel, the ten tribes, including sites of false worship destined for desolation. It is one of the very few exceptional uses of the word, and does not mean the tabernacle erected by Moses, nor the temple built by Solomon that enlarged and continued it, nor the temple of God in heaven that was their great original and pattern.

These rival sanctuaries set up against the Lord only take the name of sanctuary from the Lord's sanctuary, even as false deities are called gods, without misleading as to the real meaning of God and the sanctuary. The verse does not call the promised land itself a sanctuary. The warning came in the reign of Jeroboam son of Joash, Jeroboam II, and in the reign of Uzziah king of Judah. It was given in the later part of Jeroboam's reign, between about 800 and 786 B.C., after Israel's recovery of its possessions, when prosperity brought pride and was marked by idolatry, injustice, and oppression.

It was given through Amos, a herdsman and shepherd of Tekoa in Judea and dresser of sycamore trees, whose name means burdened. He prophesied at Bethel chiefly concerning the northern kingdom but with a message for both houses of Israel, in striking illustrations from shepherd life and in simple straightforward speech rich in rural figures as the work of the Lord and not his own. By exposing crookedness and broken-down condition with the plumb-line message, he struck home, so Amaziah the priest of Bethel accused him of conspiracy and treason against Jeroboam, ordered him to flee to Judah, and expelled him. Having departed from God, Amaziah must be displaced and replaced, yet Amos fearlessly refused to leave until he had delivered the message in the midst of God's people Israel.

Judgment and Last-Day Application

The high places of Isaac are to be made desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste, while God rises with the sword against the house of Jeroboam. That rising brings captivity and destruction upon apostate worship, with pestilence and sure ruin following. Corruption ripens into decay and ruin, so that desolation answers the abuse of prosperity and privilege. Bethel, as the house of God, must be His chapel and court and not Jeroboam's, and therefore the rival sanctuaries fall. As God stands upon a wall made by a plumbline with a plumbline in His hand, Israel must stand straight like God with the plumbline in hand, and the crooked and broken-down condition exposed by that testing is displaced by the faithful message delivered in the midst of God's people.

The stroke falls because of persistent idolatry and a course of sin whose doings are offensive to God. Prosperity had brought pride, and idolatry was joined with injustice, oppression, corruption, and licentiousness, which God hates. Privilege and knowledge brought responsibility, so failure to live rightly brings punishment and ruin. The warning was God's own message against Israel, given at God's command through Amos, calling the wicked kingdoms of Israel and Judah to turn from sins, put away idols, and worship God. Though king and priest rejected it, its fulfillment is certain, and pestilence and destruction surely follow such a course.

The overthrow foretold is the downfall of apostasy, reaching beyond the immediate judgment to the last days and last-day conditions. After rejecting God's word there shall be a famine of the Word, in which the wicked seek it in calamity but do not find it. At the same time God will save His people and restore the fallen tabernacle of David. Thus the desolation of the high places stands as a type of the final sifting between apostasy and restoration.