Amos 2:9

9 I destroyed the Amorites in front of them, although the Amorites were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed their fruit above the ground and their roots below it.

Amos 2:9 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 2:9

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them
Here the Lord by the prophet reckons up the many favours and blessings he had bestowed upon Israel, which was an aggravation of their sins, and showed them to be guilty of great ingratitude, and a justification of him in his punishment of them he drove out the seven nations of Canaanites from before them, to make way for them, and destroyed them, of which the Amorite was a principal, and is here put for all the rest: whose height [was] like the height of the cedars;
being both tall of stature, and in great honour and dignity with the other nations, and in very opulent and flourishing circumstances: and he was strong as the oaks:
not only like the tall cedars of Lebanon for their height and largeness of stature, but like the sturdy oaks for the strength of their bodies, being of the race of the giants, ( Numbers 13:28 Numbers 13:32 Numbers 13:33 ) ( Deuteronomy 3:11 ) ; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath;
that is, utterly destroyed him, root and branch, so that nothing of him remained; still persisting in the metaphor of a tree. Jarchi interprets it of their superior and inferior princes; but it seems best to understand it of children with their parents, the one being the fruit, the other the root; and, both being destroyed, there must be utter ruin.

Amos 2:9 In-Context

7 They stomp the heads of the poor into the dust. They push the humble out of the way. Father and son sleep with the same woman. They dishonor my holy name.

8 Beside every altar, they spread themselves out on clothes taken as security. In the temples of their gods, they drink the wine that they bought with fines.

9 I destroyed the Amorites in front of them, although the Amorites were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed their fruit above the ground and their roots below it.

10 I brought you out of Egypt. I led you through the desert for 40 years so that you could take possession of the land of the Amorites.

11 I also sent you prophets from among your children and Nazirites from among your youths. Isn't that so, people of Israel? The LORD has declared this.