For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
The book concludes with good news (9:11-15).
- "The words of Amos burst upon the landscape of the Northern kingdom, Israel, with all the terror and surprise of a lion’s roar. Though their main targets were the palaces of Samaria and the shrines at Bethel and Gilgal, the prophet’s words were to resound throughout Israel’s entire landscape leaving no part nor person unscathed" (Tyndale commentary, p.87).
- But the message of doom is followed by a message of hope.
- Gospel! "[Yahweh] committed himself to Jacob’s descendants long before they committed themselves to him” (Hubbard 236).
- Most books of prophecy alternate judgment and restoration oracles, but not Amos.
The people will return.
- Reversals are a major theme of Amos
- Days are coming (v. that day – 2:16, 5:18ff, 8:3,9,13).
- Falling/rising (5:2, 8:14).
- Walls closed up/open.
- Hunger/harvest.
- People of God under grace > under judgment.
- See how many more you can find...
- The return would take place in the Persian Period.
- Assyrian exile -- from 722 BC.
- Babylonian exile -- 605, 597 BC, and fall of Jerusalem in 587/586 BC.
- Persian period -- Babylon falls 539 BC. Cyrus decrees return of Jews, 539/538. See Isaiah 44, 45, 2 Chronicles 36, and Ezra 1.
- Greek period -- Persia falls in the 300s. By 333 Persian rules the land of Israel.
- Roman period -- in 63 BC the Romans march into Israel.
- The punishment comes to an end. God is good!
The fallen tent will be rebuilt.
- This vision was not fulfilled in 1948, but in 49 AD. Amos 9:11 is fulfilled in the church of Christ, particularly through its Gentile mission, according to Acts 15:16. In Joshua 21:43 the land promised to Abraham (Genesis 12) was received, and during the reign of David and Solomon its borders reached their maximum. After the exile, the Lord brought the people back to their land -- in 539 BC. Now if there was a secondary fulfillment, according to James in Acts 15, it was in the first century, not in the political events of the Zionist movement and the mid-20th century.
- The restoration of the land does not refer to modern Israel, formed by Zionists (many of whom are atheists…). Orthodox Jews today insist that the restoration to the land will take place only when Messiah comes.
- The purpose of the rebuilding includes all the nations (as in 9:7 and Revelation 7:9).
The plowman will overtake the reaper.
- Plowing/reaping took place in October/November, March/April.
- v.13 amazing fertility – grapes growing on upper, inaccessible reaches of the land.
- Such abundant fertility requires water – streams of Ezekiel 47, Zechariah 14, Joel 3.
- V.12 Enemies (Edom) to be called by God’s name!
- The towns of the northern kingdom of Israel will be rebuilt.
- Before we hear this message of hope, we must hear his message of judgment.
Conclusion
- "Perhaps the saddest aspect of the book of Amos is not the tone of doom throughout its pages, but the perennial relevance of its message beyond its own world and time. For human society in the modern world has changed very little from that which Amos encountered, and his message continues to speak to each succeeding generation with the same immediate relevance and urgency” (Craigie 123).
- The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken— who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:8)
Further study (repeated from Amos A):
- Francine Rivers, The Prophet (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House, 2006)
- Hosea-Jonah, The Word Biblical Commentary (New York: Word, 1987)
- The Twelve Prophets, Volume 1 : Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, The Daily Study Bible Series (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1984)
- Joel & Amos, The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1989)
- Podcast on the prophet Amos (at this website), here.