John Calvin Commentary Amos 9:8-9

"Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as [grain] is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth." — Amos 9:8-9 (ASV)

Here the Prophet concludes that God would take vengeance on the Israelites just as on other nations, without any distinction, for they could not offer anything to prevent His judgment. It was indeed an extraordinary blindness in the Israelites, doubly guilty of ingratitude, to use as their shield the benefits with which they had been favored.

Even though the name of God had been wickedly and shamefully profaned by them, they still thought they were safe because they had once been adopted. Amos now refutes this presumption. He says, Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon all the wicked. Some restrict this to the kingdom of Israel, but, in my opinion, such a view contradicts the Prophet's intention.

He speaks indefinitely of all kingdoms, as if he had said that God would be the judge of the whole world and would spare no kingdoms or countries. God then will show Himself everywhere to be the punisher of vices and will summon all kingdoms before His tribunal: By destroying I will destroy from the face of the earth all the ungodly and the wicked.

Now, I understand the second clause differently from most, for they think it contains a mitigation of punishment, as the Prophets are accustomed to blend promises of favor with threats, just as our Prophet does in this chapter. But it does not seem to me that anything is promised to the Israelites; indeed, if I am not much mistaken, it is an ironical manner of speaking.

For Amos alludes here to that foolish presumption, which we mentioned earlier: namely, that the Israelites thought they were safe because of some special privilege and were to be exempt from all punishment. He implies God is saying, “I will not spare unbelievers who excuse themselves by comparing themselves with you. Shall I tolerate your sins and not dare to touch you, seeing that you know yourselves to be doubly wicked?”

We must indeed note how other nations differed from the Israelites. For the more the children of Abraham had been exalted, the more they increased their guilt when they despised God, the Giver of so many blessings, and became wickedly rebellious by, as it were, shaking off the yoke.

Since they so ungratefully abused God’s blessings, God might (in comparison) have spared other nations; it was therefore necessary to bring the Israelites to punishment, for they were wholly inexcusable.

Since they exceeded all other nations in impiety, the Prophet very aptly reasons here from the greater to the lesser, as if God were saying: “I take account of all the sins in the world, and no nation shall escape My hand; how then can the Israelites escape? For other nations can plead some ignorance, as they have never been taught, and it is no wonder that they go astray in darkness. But you, to whom I have given light and whom I have daily exhorted to repent—shall you be unpunished? How could this be? I would not then be the judge of the world.”

Thus we perceive the real meaning of the Prophet. He says, “Lo, the eyes of Jehovah are upon every sinful kingdom; I will destroy all the nations who have sinned from the face of the earth, though they have the pretense of ignorance for their sins; shall I not now, indeed, destroy the house of Israel?”

Here then the Prophet speaks ironically: Except that I shall not destroy by destroying the house of Israel. That is, “Do you wish Me to be subservient to you, as though My hands were tied, so that I could not take vengeance on you? What right have you for this? And what can hinder Me from punishing ingratitude so great and so shameful?”

He afterwards adds, For, lo, I will command, and so on. The Prophet here confirms the previous statement, and from this I conclude that the second part of the preceding verse is expressed ironically. For if he had promised pardon to the Israelites, he would have continued on the same subject.

But, on the contrary, he proceeds in a different direction, saying that God would justly punish the Israelites. For the event would eventually make it known that not even a grain would be found among them, but that all would be like chaff or refuse.

He says, Lo, I will shake among the nations the Israelites as corn is shaken in a sieve; a grain shall not fall on the earth. This is as if he said, “Though I will scatter the Israelites through various places so that they may be dispersed here and there, yet this exile will always be like a sieve. They now contend with Me when any grain has fallen.”

The event then will show that there is nothing in them but chaff and filth; for I will by sieving cleanse My whole floor, and nothing will be found to remain on it.” If one objects, saying that there were some godly persons in that nation, though very small in number, I admit this to be true.

But the Prophet speaks here, as in many other places, of the whole nation; he does not refer to individuals. It was then true, regarding the main body of the people of Israel, that there was not one among them who could be compared to grain, for all had become empty through their iniquities. Thus they necessarily disappeared in the sieve and were like chaff or refuse.

But it must be observed that God here removes any excuse, for hypocrites always contend with Him. Although they cannot wholly clear themselves, they still minimize their sins and accuse God of excessive severity.

The Prophet then anticipates such objections, saying, “I will command and will shake the house of Israel as corn is shaken.” It was a very hard fate when the people were thus driven into different parts of the world; it was indeed a dreadful scattering.

The Israelites might have complained that they were too severely treated, but God, by this simile, refutes this slander, as if saying: “They are indeed scattered in their exile, yet they remain in a sieve. He says, I will shake them among the nations, but not otherwise than corn when shaken in a sieve. And it is universally agreed that corn ought to be cleansed.

Though most of it disappears when the grain, threshed on the floor, is afterwards subjected to the winnowing fan, yet everyone sees that this is necessary and reasonable. No one complains that the chaff perishes in this way. Why is this? Because it is useless. God then shows that He is not cruel, nor does He exceed moderation, though He may scatter His people through the remote regions of the earth, for He always keeps them in a sieve.

He afterwards adds, And fall shall not a grain on the earth. They translate צרור, tsarur, a stone, but צרר, tsarer, means 'to tie.' And so this word, tsarur, means what is collected or bound—as when the children of Jacob had their money tied in their sacks, they said, ‘Behold my binding’—so also here it is taken for the solid grain.

God then intimates that He would not be so rigid as to refuse to moderate His punishment, so as to spare the innocent. I have already said that although there would still be a remnant among the people, yet what the Prophet says is true regarding the whole body, for it had nothing either sound or pure.

But this objection might be raised: It is certain that many faithful worshipers of God were taken into exile with the wicked; they then fell to the earth like useless chaff or refuse. But God denies that this would be the case.

To this I answer that although the Lord includes His servants with the ungodly when He executes temporal punishment, He is yet always gracious to them. And it is certain that however harshly they may be treated, they still do not protest; they groan, indeed, but at the same time they acknowledge that they are treated mercifully by the Lord.

But another thing must also be remembered: though the Lord would not have dealt so severely with His people had they all been like the few who were good, yet not one even of these good individuals was without some fault. Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were indeed like angels among men. It was truly a miracle that they stood upright in the midst of so much impiety; yet they too were led into captivity.

When they approached God, they could not object that they were punished beyond what they deserved. Indeed, Jeremiah was worthy of heavier punishment, and so was Daniel, though he was an example of the highest and even angelic integrity.

God then could have cast them away as refuse; nevertheless, it is certain that they were wheat. The Lord shook them in the sieve like the chaff, yet always so as to keep them gathered under His protection, but at the same time in a hidden manner.

For instance, when wheat on the floor is beaten together with the chaff, this happens to both; no difference can be observed in the threshing.

This is true, and the case is the same when the wheat is being winnowed. Therefore, when the wheat is gathered, it is, together with the chaff, to be sifted by the winnowing fan, without any apparent difference; but the wheat remains.

So also it happened to the pious worshipers of God: the Lord kept them collected in the sieve.

But here the Prophet speaks of the people in general. He says that the whole people were like refuse and filth, and that they vanished because there was no substance in them, no use for them, so that no one remained in the sieve.

That God then preserved His servants was an instance of His wonderful working. However, the denunciation of punishment spoken of here pertained to the outward dealings of God.

Since the people were like refuse or chaff, shaken and driven to various places, this happened to them justly, because nothing of substance was found in them.