Wednesday Bible Study- the end of all things-Amos

So this week I look at the end of Amos- chapter 9- but a bit of backstory is required.

Timeline- Amos is preaching in Israel, the northern kingdom, around 760-754 BC, or around 35 years before Israel is wiped off the map by Assyria.  Israel has become for the most part pagan, as they have no access to the Temple in Jerusalem.  Not one of the kings of Israel, starting with the first Jereboam, has followed the commands of God, and the current king Jereboam II was no better.  The rub was, God actually had a little mercy on Israel at this point, and had made them a power once again; and that would become their downfall.  It had two disastrous effects- it made them proud, and it made them a target for recovering Assyria.  But the problem wasn't political, it was spiritual.


I love the book of Amos, because it starts out with poetic curses based on the formula, "For three transgressions, and for four", effecting everyone in Israel's radius.  First, her neighbors:  Damascus (Syria), Gaza (Phillistia), and Tyre;  then her relatives: Moab, Ammon (the children of Lot's daughters way back when), and Edom (descendants of Esau); then her sister Judah; and finally coming to Israel itself.  And what were Israel's crimes?

Amo 2:6  Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals-- 
Amo 2:7  those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 
Amo 2:8  they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. 

Four sins:  Greed after money, abuse of the poor, sexual immorality (profaning the Name of God in its commission, note), and taking their comfort in idolatry.  That word 'fined' at the end is elsewhere translated 'condemned'.  So now the stage is set.

Amos 9 starts out with the wrath of God being fully poured out on the sinners of Israel.  And God means to destroy ALL the sinners:

Amo 9:10  All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, those who say, The evil shall not draw near or confront us. 

Get this part?  The biggest sin here is their thought process that GOD DOESN'T MATTER, we can do what we want.  And like I said, 35 years later, Israel would be destroyed.  But was this the fulfillment of the prophecy?  Yes- and no.

God's Word, we are told, is sharper than a two edged sword (Heb 4:12).  So think about this: if you are run through by such a weapon, it enters at a single point, BUT IT MAKES TWO DIFFERENT CUTS.  Israel's destruction by Assyria was one such cut; but we can see from the chapter that it wasn't a COMPLETE fulfillment.  Watch here:

First, in the destruction...

Amo 9:9  For, behold, I will command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes with a sieve; yet not a grain shall fall to the ground. 

If you know your Bible history, the part about "not a grain falling" strikes you.  Because, if a grain strikes the ground, it will grow anew.  There was a remnant in Israel, brought there because the Assyrians left them to "placate the local gods" after they began to have natural disasters that the Assyrian gods couldn't handle (2 Kings 17).  These intermixed with the peoples that Assyria colonized the land with, and eventually became the Samaritans the Jews so hated.    So this would indicate at least part of this prophecy involves a future date.

Secondly, in the aftermath...

The back half of this chapter begins with the idea that God was going to re-establish "the tabernacle of David" (v11), and the richer times that God promised the faithful way back in Moses' day would come to pass...

Amo 9:13  Behold, the days are coming, declares Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who draws along seed. And the mountains shall drop new must, and all the hills will be dissolved. 

Amo 9:14  And I will bring back the captivity of My people Israel. And they shall build the waste cities, and live in them. And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 

Now, the captivity of Israel has been brought back to an extent.  But are they at a point where "the plowman overtakes the reaper"?  A quick look up of "growing conditions in Israel" shows that the reaper of grain finishes in 'the fourth month' (June and July), but the plowing doesn't start until the 'seventh month' (September and October).  So, no, we haven't quite hit this yet.  Why?  Look at Ezekiel 37:

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Back in Israel, but with no breath- no Spirit of God- in them.  Again, this indicates a time AFTER the Lord Jesus returns at the Second Coming, when " they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn" (Zech. 12:10).  Armageddon, as we call it, will weed out the children of Israel who refuse to believe once and for all, leaving no evil seed to fall- and then Israel shall be blessed again.

So what does that mean for us in the meantime?  Look at our attitude.

How much more importance do we put on money than people?

Do we share what we have?

Do we revere the Name of the Lord by keeping His rules, particularly on immorality?

Do we take comfort in God, or things?

Now to connect:  "Four three transgressions, and for four, I WILL NOT TURN BACK FROM IT, says the Lord".  Turn back from what?  At the very beginning of chapter nine, it describes God as "standing beside the altar".  Schofield's reference notes point out:

The position of the Lord (Adonai) is significant. The altar speaks properly of mercy because of judgement executed upon an interposed sacrifice, but when altar and sacrifice are despised the altar becomes a place of judgment. 

So, 'it' is judgment.  And that judgment CAN be yours...