Amos 9: A Sieve

Amos, What Do You See?

This week, Amos sees the Lord standing beside the altar in the sanctuary, striking the capitals on the pillars until the whole building collapses, shaking even the foundations.  He hears a hymn--usually a source of encouragement--but this time it contains an ominous warning.  Finally, in the last vision of the book, he sees a sieve. 

With the sieve, God is cleaning the grain: sifting out every stray piece of chaff, all the stones and pebbles of every size, and every bit of dirt.  The cleaning requires removal and destruction of the debris.

Israel's response, to the bitter end, is to ridicule the prophet.  They treat him like Henny Penny--echoing his words, but mixed with laughter: "the sky is falling, the sky is falling."  They ignore him.  They think he is a boy crying wolf.

But Amos has seen what he has seen.  Disaster may not fall today or tomorrow, but it will come, especially if Israel does not take the warning to heart.  These are not things that must be, but they are things that will be in the absence of any change of heart.

And then, in the last five verses of the book, Amos catches a glimpse of the world that will emerge after destruction.  When the first are last and the last are first, to quote Jesus; when things are set right, the hills will drip with wine.  Plenty will replace famine; new buildings will replace ruins.  God's people will be finally, wholly restored.