The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
The Prophet repeats here nearly the same words with those we explained yesterday: he used then the similitude of a flood, which he again mentions here. But as the first clause is capable of various explanations, I will refer to what others think, and then to what I deem the most correct view.
We have here the justice of God passing sentence upon a provoking people; and observe, I. With what solemnity the sentence is passed. The prophet saw in vision the Lord standing upon the altar (Amo 9:1), the altar of burnt-offerings; for the Lord has a sacrifice, and multitudes must fall as victims to his justice.
Commenting on Amos 9:1-10
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 well as omniscient; he is the Lord of all the armies above and below; and if he but touch the land, any particular country, as the land...