Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Amos 9:6
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
[It is] he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, etc.] The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered “his chambers”, which are the clouds, (<19A403>Psalm 104:3,13); perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven, (<471202>2 Corinthians 12:2); and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the “ascents”f239 to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is, “who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shechinah of his glory:” and hath founded his troop in the earth; this Kimchi interprets of the three above elements. So the words are translated in the Bishops’ Bible in Queen Elizabeth’s time, “he buildeth his spheres in the heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth.” Aben Ezra interprets it of animals; it may take in the whole compass of created beings on earth; so Jarchi explains it of the collection of his creatures; though he takes notice of another sense given, a collection of the righteous, which are the foundation of the earth, and for whose sake all things stand. Abarbinel interprets it of the whole of the tribe of Israel; and so the Targum paraphrases it of his congregation or church on earth: he beautifies his elect, which are “his bundle”f240, as it may be rendered; who are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God, and are closely knit and united, as to God and Christ, so to one another; and perhaps is the best sense of the wordsf241: he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord [is] his name; either to drown it, as at the general deluge; or to water and refresh it, as he does by exhaling water from the sea, and then letting it down in plentiful showers upon the earth; (see Gill on “<300508>Amos 5:8”); now all these things are observed to show the power of God, and that therefore there can be no hope of escaping out of his hands.
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