John Calvin Commentary Amos 9:1

"I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape." — Amos 9:1 (ASV)

The Prophet confirms the threat which we have already explained, for he says that the people would soon be removed, as there was now no hope of repentance. But it must first be observed that he does not speak here of the profane temples which Jeroboam the first had built in Dan and in Bethel, but of the true and lawful temple. It would not have been fitting for this vision to have been given to the Prophet in one of those profane temples, from which, we know, God was far away. Had God appeared in Dan or Bethel, it would have been an indirect approval of superstition.

Therefore, those who think that the vision was given to the Prophet in any other place than on Mount Zion, as we have shown in other places, are mistaken. For the Prophets do not say that God had spoken either in Dan or in Bethel, nor had any oracle been announced from these places; for God intended in every way to show that He had nothing to do with those profane rites and abominations. It is therefore certain that God appeared to His Prophet on Mount Zion, and on the lawful altar.

Let us now see the purpose of the vision. Most interpreters think that the destruction of the kingdom and of the priesthood is predicted here, at the time when Zedekiah was taken and ignominiously led into exile, when his children were killed, and when afterwards the temple was razed and the city demolished.

But this prediction, I do not doubt, should be extended much further, even to the many calamities which immediately followed, by which eventually the whole people were destroyed. I therefore do not confine what is said here to the demolition of the city and of the temple.

But the meaning of the Prophet is the same as if he had said that the Israelites, as well as the Jews, boasted in vain of their descent and of other privileges with which they had been honored, for the Lord had resolved to destroy them, and also the temple, which they employed as a cloak to cover their iniquities. We now therefore understand the meaning of the Prophet.

But this also must be noted: if the Lord did not spare His own temple, which He had commanded to be built and in which He had chosen a dwelling place for Himself, those profane temples, which He had always despised, could not possibly escape destruction. We now see the purpose of this prophecy, which is the last, with the exception of the promise that is given, of which we shall speak in its proper place.

He says then that he saw God standing on the altar. The Prophet might have heard what follows without a vision; but God then, we know, was accustomed to sanction His predictions by visions, as we find in Numbers 12. God, therefore, not only intended to entrust to His Prophet what he was to proclaim, but also to add authority to his doctrine; and the vision was, as it were, the seal, which the Israelites as well as the Jews knew to be a proof that what the Prophet declared by his mouth proceeded from heaven.

It now follows, Smite the lintel. כפתור, caphtur, is, I think, the cover which is on top of the posts of the temple; for the Hebrews call כפתורים, caphturim, apples. Since they painted pomegranates and flowers there, the Hebrew scholars think that the part which is above the two posts of the temple is called כפתור, caphtur.

But that part of the entrance might have taken its name from its round form. However this may be, they called the highest part of the porch of the temple כפתור, caphtur. Now the posts sustained what they commonly called the lintel. God then says, Strike the lintel, and let the posts be moved, or let them shake, let the whole gate of the temple shake.

Then he adds, And strike and break all on the head, or on the head of all. Interpreters read this verb differently. Correctly, according to the rules of grammar, it should be read in the third person, and it will dash to the ground. Some, however, render it thus, “and dash to the ground,” or break, because he had said before, Smite.

As to the meaning, it does not matter much, for an explanation immediately follows. Now as to what he says, “on the head,” and as to the word אחריתם, achritam, which follows, some understand by “the head” the priests and the rulers of the people, a view I am inclined to embrace. But when they explain אחרית, achrit, to mean posterity or children, it does not seem to suit this place; for it should rather, I think, be referred to the common people.

Since the Prophet had spoken of the head, he now adds the people in general. The Hebrews call whatever follows or comes after by אחרית, achrit. They indeed understand posterity by it, but it is a word that has a variety of meanings, for it is taken for end, for a footstep, in short, for anything that comes after.

It is easy now to understand the meaning of the Prophet: A vision was shown to him which revealed that it was decreed by God Himself to smite both the chiefs and the common people. And since God begins with His temple, how can profane men, who had deserted the true and pure worship of God, hope for pardon? They were all apostates; how then could they have hoped that God would be merciful to them, inasmuch as He had broken down His own temple?

He now adds, I will slay with the sword, etc. We see therefore that this vision is to be referred to the stroke which was soon to be inflicted. I will slay then with the sword whatever follows, that is, the common people.

He afterwards says, Flee away from them shall not he who fleeth, nor shall he escape from them who escapeth; that is, though they may think that flight is possible, their expectation will deceive them, for I shall catch them.

Had the Prophet said that there would be no means for them to flee away, he would not have spoken with so much severity. But when he says that when they fled, He would catch them, and that when they thought they had escaped, there would be no safety for them, he says what is much more grievous.

In short, he cuts off all hope from the Israelites, that they might understand that they were certain to perish, because God had until now tried in vain to restore them to the right way. Therefore, inasmuch as they had been wholly incurable, they now hear that no hope remained for them.

And since the Prophet denounces such a dreadful destruction of an elect people, and since the vision was shown to him in the temple, there is no reason for us to trust in our outward profession and to wait until God’s judgments come, as we see many doing in our day, who are wholly careless because they think that no evil can happen to them, inasmuch as they bear the name of God.

But the Prophet here shows that God sits in His temple, not only to protect those whom He has adopted as His people and peculiar possession, but also to vindicate His own honor, because the Israelites had corrupted His worship, and the Jews also had departed from true religion.

Since, then, impiety prevailed everywhere, he now shows that God sits there as the punisher of sins, so that His people may know that they are not to tolerate those evils which for a time He does not punish; this forbearance is not as though He had forgotten His office, or as though He intends His favor to be the cover for their iniquity, but because He intends by degrees to draw to repentance those who are healable, and at the same time to take away every excuse from the reprobate. Let us proceed—