Biblical Research Studies Group-THE MESSAGE OF AMOS

THE MESSAGE OF AMOS
Dr. David L. Cooper
Biblical Research Monthly
March 1954

[Amos 8:1-10 ASV] Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Jehovah unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many; in every place shall they cast them forth with silence.

Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River; and it shall be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

[Amos 8:11-14] Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, As the way of Beer-sheba liveth; they shall fall, and never rise up again.

[Amos 9:1-4] I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

[Amos 9:5,6] For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, [is] he that toucheth the land and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again, like the River of Egypt; [it is] he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name.

[Amos 9:7-10] Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as [grain] is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.

[Amos 9:11-15] In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, saith Jehovah that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God.

Amos was one of the earliest writing prophets of Israel. It is quite likely that Hosea, Joel, and Amos were contemporaries. They engaged in their ministry probably between 865 and 840 B.C. Hosea and Joel ministered largely to and in the southern Kingdom; Amos, on the other hand, who lived in Tekoa, Judaea, was called to minister primarily to the northern Kingdom. A close study of the book of Amos shows that he used the word Israel in two different senses. Sometimes he employed it in referring to the 12 tribes of Israel and at other times, to the 10 northern tribes. The context has to be studied to determine what significance it has in a given place.

In Chapter 7, 8, and 9 Amos recorded visions with reference to various matters pertaining to the Hebrew people. In chapters 8 and 9 the material presented is especially focused on things of the last days. In 8:1-3 he tells us that the Lord showed him a basket of summer fruit and said to him, "Amos, what seest thou?" He replied, "A basket of summer fruit." In response to this the Lord said: "the end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore. 3 And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, sayeth the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many; In every place shall they cast them forth with silence."

If we are to take this language at its face value—as it always should be unless the facts of the context indicate clearly otherwise—we conclude that the Prophet is talking about the things of the latter days.

Chapters 8 and 9 constitute a single vision, because the contents are largely focused on one spot in point of time. Since the perspective of these chapters shows that the Prophet was talking of the latter times, then we can be certain to interpret the message which he gives, from that angle. Of course, here, as in many other places, the language indicates that the Prophet referred first to local conditions and blended a description of them with matters of the end time. In his doing this, he employed the law of double reference.

A Special Picture of Israel in the End Time

In Amos 8:4-10 appears a detailed description of Israel of the end time. We can see that the standard of living and the ethics of commerce were at a very low ebb, as is reflected in verses 4 and 5. The poor having little chance of making an honorable living. Those engaging in commerce and trade simply observe religious regulations because it is forced upon them, and not from conviction. They are glad when the Sabbath, or any feast day, is passed so they can plunge into making money (vss. 5, 6). As a result of the moral, commercial, social, and religious conditions God must punish the nation. This is shown in verses 8 and 9. The land will literally tremble with earthquakes. There will be mourning everywhere. The sun shall go down at noon, and the earth be darkened in the clear day (vs. 9). This is perfectly in conformity with what Joel said in 2:28-32 of his prophecy. There will be a blackout and other horrifying and distressing conditions.

By the abnormal conditions thus described, there will be no more the mirth of the land. On the contrary, their joyful feasts will be turned into mourning and their songs into lamentations. People will humble themselves under the mighty strokes of God's judgments. This picture in verses 4-10 is similar to that which is seen in Zephaniah 1:14-18 and parallel passages.

Famine of the Word of God

In 8:11-14 there is a prediction that there would be a time when God's Word would be very rare. That was true in the immediate outlook of the days of Amos and also would be in the end time. When men reject the Word of God and choose their ways and preferences to those of the almighty, then he withholds his Word and does not allow them to give that which is holy to the dogs.

By the prophets referring to the famine of God's Word in verses 11 through 14, he followed the law of recurrence. As we have just seen in verses 4-10 he looks at the period of the end time from the standpoint of commerce, trade, religion and social conditions. Then he goes back over the same ground and speaks about the lamentable condition existing from the lack of God's word. We know from parallel passages which deal with the conditions of the end time that there will be a mighty revival sweeping the entire world in the first half of the Tribulation. When the middle of the Tribulation, however, is reached, this work of God will be brought to a sudden standstill. After that, in answer to prayer, the work of God will be revived in the midst of those years of terror. The revival, however, will not be in the same proportions and with the same majestic forward march that it has in the first half of the Tribulation. Toward the very close of the Tribulation, as appears from various passages, the Word will be given to Israel, and the famine of the Word will thus be broken at that time. Then the faithful remnant will turn to the Lord and will plead for Messiah to return. When this loyal portion of the race does this, he will return, the Tribulation will be brought to a close, and the Millennial age will be ushered in.

The Destruction of the Temple

The Prophet saw, as described in 9:1-4, the destruction of the Temple. Evidently this Temple is none other than the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, since the Prophet is talking about the end of the age. Solomon first built the Temple, which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and rebuilt by Zerubbabel at the return of the Babylonian captivity. But in A.D. 70 Titus the Roman general burned it and overthrew the Jewish Commonwealth. Israel was then scattered among the nations of the world. In the Tribulation, however, the Temple will be rebuilt. A vision of its being reconstructed is seen in Isaiah 66:1-4. It's standing in the end time is assumed by the Lord Jesus in his Olivet Discourse as seen in Matthew 24:15ff. Paul also assumed that it will be standing, as we see in II Thessalonians 2:1-14. Likewise, John the Apostle (Rev. 11:1-14) saw it standing in the middle of the Tribulation.

The Jews were prone to believe that this House of God would never be destroyed. They had a superstitious conception concerning it. Thus they said, "the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these." They felt that though other things might crash and crumble, the Temple would not.

The Lord assured the sinners who thus superstitiously look upon it that He will destroy them for their sin and wickedness, regardless of where they may go. They may go into the most inaccessible places in the world, but his eyes will see them and his hand find them and bring them to punishment. This prediction is strengthened by the strong manner in which Amos the Prophet made his assertion, as seen in 9:5,6.

The prophecy with regard to the destruction of the Temple had a threefold fulfillment. It was first destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the Babylonian captivity. It was again destroyed by Titus the Roman general in A.D. 70. Then, in the end time it will be destroyed. Thus there is a blending of the description of its being destroyed on these three occasions.

God's Guidance of the Nations

In 9:7 we find the assertion that God is the one who led Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land. He also just as truly brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir. This teaching is in harmony with Deuteronomy 32:8,9:

"8 When the most high gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he separated the children of men,
    He set the bounds of the peoples
    According to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For Jehovah's portion is his people;
    Jacob is the lot of his inheritance."

At the tower of Babel God dispersed the peoples from that center of culture and by his visible directing hand, he sent them to that portion of the original continent which was to be their future home. The nations think that they can determine their own destiny and fate. That is a mistake. The Apostle Paul declared in his speech at Mars Hill, Athens, Greece, that "He [God] made of one every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:26, 27). God raises up one and puts down another. He enlarges the borders of one and causes the boundaries of another to shrink. Thus he shifts the center of political gravity from one place to another—according to his will, plan, and purpose.

The Destruction of the Kingdom

The destruction of the Temple mentioned in 9:1-4, as we have already seen, embraces the three times when it was burned. The overthrow of the Kingdom of Israel which occurred in A. D. 70 under the Romans is especially in view in connection with the prophecy of 9:8: "Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the House of Jacob, sayeth Jehovah." The first installment of this prophecy concerning the destruction of the kingdom was the overthrow of the ten northern tribes constituting the kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 719 B.C. As just stated, the complete fulfillment was accomplished in A.D. 70.

Israel Scattered Among the Nations

In verse 9 we have a prediction that Israel, after the overthrow of the kingdom, would be scattered as grain among the nations and yet not one kernel is lost: "9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the House of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth."

The Sinners in Israel Destroyed in the Tribulation

There are various predictions that God will destroy all the wicked in Israel during the Tribulation. This thought is confirmed by verse 10, which reads as follows: "all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, the evil shall not overtake nor meet us." When this prediction is fulfilled, the nation will be purged of all ungodliness and will become a pure, holy nation. Then will be fulfilled the prophecy of Balaam, which declares:
"21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob;
  Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel:
  Jehovah his God is with him,
  And the shout of the King is among them" (Num. 23:21).

The Restoration of the Kingdom of Israel

In Amos 9:11,12 the Lord foretells that, at the time when he has purged all the sinners from Israel, he will raise up the Tabernacle of David that has fallen down and close up the breaches thereof : "In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; And I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, sayeth Jehovah that doeth this." The restoration of the throne of David is most beautifully and graphically set forth in Micah 4:1-8. When the throne of David is thus re- established and our Lord Jesus Christ mounts it and reigns over the earth, he will lift the curse from the earth and Edenic conditions will obtain everywhere. Then will dawn earth's Golden era.

—End.