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Amos 5:18-20, Introduction
Amos was written around 800 BC and directed to the Northern Kingdom. The
book begins with an indictment on eight individual nations including both
Israel and Judah.
The language employed at verse 2, carries a double meaning.
First, it refers to the administration of the judgment of God, as He who
dwells at Jerusalem in the temple. Thus, He roars and utters His voice from
Zion and Jerusalem.
Second, the language speaks of a distant future “end-times” context, when
Yahweh will physically descend to Jerusalem and from there, administer His
final wrath on the nations of the earth in preparation for the Messiah’s
earthly reign.
The judgments predicted in verses 1:3 through 2:16, can all find historical
fulfillment and should probably NOT be viewed as being administered in an
“end-times” context.
The only reference to the Day of the LORD in Amos is at verses 5:14-20.
Amos 3:1-8 - Orientation to Israel’s commission
Amos 3:9-10 - General indictment
Ashdod and Egypt are called as witnesses.
Amos 3:11-15; 4:1-5 - Further indictment and prophecy of the 5th cycle of
discipline for the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Ephraim and Samaria).
Amos 4:6-11 - Review of previous national discipline and continued
rebellion.
Amos 4:12-13 - Therefore, the 5th cycle of discipline results.
Amos 5:1-13 - Plea for recovery to avoid the 5th cycle of discipline. Or
at least for individuals to escape death when the nation is disciplined. The
options available are three.
1. Death at the hand of the invader.
2. Life in captivity in the land of the invader.
3. Life, remaining behind under the management of the invader.
Amos 5:14-20 - Application to the future Day of the LORD.
Verses 14-15 - The plea is extended to those alive just prior to the arrival
of the Day of the Lord. But they do not heed the plea for recovery.
Amos 5:14, Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the LORD
God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!
Amos 5:15, Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps
the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Verses 16-17 - Therefore there will be great mourning and lamentation.
Amos 5:16, Therefore, thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, There is
wailing in all the plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They also call the farmer to mourning And professional mourners to
lamentation.
Amos 5:17, “And in all the vineyards {there is} wailing, Because I shall
pass through the midst of you,” says the LORD.
Verses 18-20 - The Day of the LORD
The Day of the LORD arrival of the Messiah is a promise passed down both
orally and in writing. The people of the Northern Kingdom have for their
frame of reference only the oral traditions about the Day of the LORD. Both
Joel and Obadiah ministerd to the Southern Kingdom several years prior to
800 BC, but it is unlikely that the Northern Kingdom would have heard of
them or seen their writings.
The Day of the LORD promise was viewed as a time of deliverance for God’s
chosen nation, Israel; a time of spiritual light and not darkness. However,
for those who are not right with God, that day will not be a day of comfort
and deliverance. For such spiritual rebels as those who have not trusted in
the “person” of the Messianic promise (The Messiah Himself), the Day of the
LORD will be a time of God’s wrath and judgment; “even gloom with no
brightness in it.”
Amos 5:18, Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD, For what
purpose {will} the day of the LORD {be} to you? It {will be} darkness and
not light;
Amos 5:19, As when a man flees from a lion, And a bear meets him, Or goes
home, leans his hand against the wall, And a snake bites him.
Amos 5:20, {Will} not the day of the LORD {be} darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
Those who are delivered are described in the above verses, 14-15, as those
who honor the principles of moral goodness and justice. It is this adherance
to their cultural heritage that they will resist beast worship and cling to
the Messianic promise.
Many of these will trust in Jesus as the Messiah BEFORE the Day arrives and
thus be raptured with the church. Many will not trust in Jesus until AFTER
the Day arrives. The first of these will become the 144,000 servants of God
described at Rev. 7:1-8. Deliverance will result in either case. Either
removal from the earth via rapture or physical protection during the
adminstration of God’s judgments (Rev. 7:3).
Isaiah 33:14-16 (NASB)
Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. Who among
us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual
burning?” He who walks righteously, and speaks with sincerity, He who
rejects unjust gain, And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who
stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from looking
upon evil; He will dwell on the heights; His refuge will be the impregnable
rock; His bread will be given {him} ; His water will be sure.
Joel 2:32, And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those
who escape, As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD
calls.
The remainder of the book of Amos deals exclusively with the impending
Assyrian invasion until verses 9:7-15. At this section, Amos once again goes
beyond the immediate historical crisis and looks far into the future to a
time when Israel will be restored to national glory and “they will not again
be rooted out of their land, (V. 15).
This can only refer to the Kingdom restoration after the Day of the Lord
arrival of Jesus the Messiah. It is necessary therefore, to also consider
the information in this section in order to have a complete perspective on
what happens in the “end-times.”
Amos 9:7, “Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?”
declares the LORD. Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And
the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?
The comparison is judgment. As Ethiopia has come under the judgment of God,
so also with Israel, God’s eyes are “on the sinful kingdom” to “destroy it
from the face of the earth.”
Amos 9:8, “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I
will destroy it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally
destroy the house of Jacob,” Declares the LORD.
But God “will not totally destroy the house of Jacob.”
Even though the people of Israel will be scattered throughout the world
“among all nations,” yet God still has a spiritual purpose for Israel, for
there will come a time when “all Israel will be saved, (Rom. 11:26).
However, this will not occur until AFTER the distress of the great
tribulation and the arrival of the Messiah at the Day of the LORD.
Amos 9:9, “For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel
among all nations As {grain} is shaken in a sieve, But not a kernel will
fall to the ground.
Amos 9:10, “All the sinners of My people will die by the sword, Those who
say, ‘The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’
Notice, it is “the sinners of My people” who will come under the specific
judgment.
The believers of Israel, as a whole, will be protected during the time God’s
wrath is poured out on the earth. This is specifically protection from God’s
judgment and NOT protection from the persecution wrath of man. It is often
within the plan of God that His people suffer persecution, even to the point
of physical death, and yet the principle of Luke 21:18 applies to all
believers of any age, “not a hair of your head will perish.”
Amos 9:11, “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, And wall
up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the
days of old;
This a promise of restoration in the Messiah’s earthly kingdom.
We know this because of the following verses.
The Davidic dynasty will be restored through the person of Messiah and the
temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40ff).
Amos 9:12, That they may possess the remnant of Edom And all the nations who
are called by My name,” Declares the LORD who does this.
Possessing the remnant of Edom refers to “control” over the geographical
area that is decimated by Yahweh’s action.
According to Obadiah 19, “then those of the Southland (Negev) will possess
the mountain of Esau.”
However, at Jeremiah 49:17-18 we learn:
“And Edom will become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be
horrified and will hiss at all its wounds. “Like the overthrow of Sodom and
Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will live there, nor
will a son of man reside in it.
And at Obadiah 18, we are told that there will be no “survivor of the house
of Esau,” which indicates that no one from that end-times generation will
remain alive to go into Messiah’s kingdom. No one from Edom escapes the Day
of the Lord judgments as described at Isaiah 34:5-17 and 63:1-6.
Isa. 34:5, “For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for
judgment upon Edom, And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.”
Isa. 63:6, “And I trod down the peoples in My anger, And made them drunk in
My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
Isaiah 34:8-10, “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense
for the cause of Zion.
And its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into
brimstone, And its land shall become burning pitch.
It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall go up forever; From
generation to generation it shall be desolate; None shall pass through it
forever and ever.”
Accordingly, possessing the “remainder” of Edom does not refer to a
geographical dwelling, but rather a geographical control over the land area
- perhaps to ensure that no one attempts to live there.
The reason Edom is singled out as distinct from “all the nations who are
called by My Name,” is because Edom alone carries a unigue guilt of
oppression upon Israel as is discussed at Obadiah 10-14.
The phrase, “all the nations who are called by My Name,” refers to the
believing survivors of “all the nations who went against Jerusalem,”
(Zechariah 14:16). These will be “spiritually” possessed by Israel, as
Israel becomes the center of all Messiah worship, for these will go up to
Jerusalem “from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts and to
celebrate the feast of booths,” (Zech. 14:16).
Also see Isaiah 60:10-14; 61:4-7.
Amos 9:13, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, When the plowman
will overtake the reaper And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; When
the mountains will drip sweet wine, And all the hills will be dissolved.
Amos 9:14, “Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, And they
will rebuild the ruined cities and live {in them} , They will also plant
vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit.
These verses describe the agricultural prosperity that will exist in Israel
during the Messiah’s earthly kingdom as described by the other prophets
(Isaiah 65:18-25).
Amos 9:15, “I will also plant them on their land, And they will not again be
rooted out from their land Which I have given them,” Says the LORD your God.
This of course is the clearest statement concerning the end-times context
for this passage, since we have here, the promise of ultimate and complete
restoration to their land which will never again be taken from them.
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