Amos, Part 10

The remarks which prefaced this program, on the Christian obligation to practice freedom of association and disassociation, are posted in the Christogenea Forum: Remarks on Freedom of Association and Disassociation.

The Prophecy of Amos, Part 10

In Amos chapters 1 and 2, while Yahweh pronounced judgements upon Israel because they oppressed the poor and the righteous, He also pronounced judgements upon Judah and the other surrounding nations for their various transgressions. Beginning with Amos Chapter 3 and through to the end of the book, Yahweh pronounces a series of judgements upon Israel alone which are actually repetitive pronouncements foretelling the same punishment, but giving differing reasons for that punishment in different ways. In Amos chapter 3 Yahweh announces to Israel that “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” The reasons given in this chapter are that “they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.” This means that the riches they had gained for themselves were accumulated through those unjust means. In verse 12 a reference is made to the horns of the altar of Bethel, which was a principle seat of idolatry in Israel. 

In Amos chapter 4 another pronouncement of judgement is made upon Israel, for reason that they oppress the poor and crush the needy of their tribesmen, as Yahweh singles out those who live sumptuously. Again, references are made to Bethel and also to Gilgal in verse 4 of the chapter, which in turn illustrate the idolatry of Israel and the corruption of the prophets.

In Amos chapter 5 another judgement is pronounced, this time in the form of a lamentation. Israel is warned that nine-tenths of the people would be taken away. Bethel and Gilgal are again mentioned, and by this it is clear that idolatry is the main cause of Israel's offense against God. The lamentation ends with the pronouncement of verse 27, “Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.”

Amos chapter 6 is yet another pronouncement of judgement upon Israel, and the nation is warned that this judgement is imminent and unavoidable. Samaria is singled out, and the people are again chastised for their sumptuous living and forewarned of their captivity and the loss of all of their city and all of their riches. The overall lesson is that, with their idolatry and their merchandising they have neglected the poor of their brethren. Therefore because their riches were acquired unjustly, and because they oppressed rather than assisted their kinsmen, Yahweh would ensure that they lose all that they had.

Beginning in Amos chapter 7 the prophet pronounces how Israel would be punished, and in doing so he is given three visions. The first vision is of grasshoppers, who would eat the grass of the land. This seems to represent the produce of the people of Israel. The destruction of Israel is assured. The second vision is of a plumbline by which the people themselves would be divided. Those for whom captivity or death is destined are already assured of their fate, and Israel would be laid to waste.

Before the third vision, the basket of summer fruit at the beginning of chapter 8, Amos seems to have been interrupted by Amaziah, priest of the idol of Bethel, who tries to stop him from prophesying. Because of that, Amos pronounces that the wife of Amaziah would become a whore, his children would be slain, and he would die in a polluted land, a reference to what would be left of Israel. Then Amos once again pronounced that Israel would be taken into captivity.

Amos 8:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

There is an apparent play on words here in Hebrew, where the word for summer fruit is qayits, Strong's # 7019, and the word for end is qets, Strong's # 7093. (The Hebrew word qets certainly seems to be cognate with our English word cut.) We do not know the season in which Amos received this vision, however in a hot climate, a basket of ripe summer fruit would not have long before it rots. Therefore the judgement of Israel would not be far off. It was actually over thirty years from when Amos wrote, which was ostensibly towards the end of the reign of Jeroboam II which ended about 753 BC, until Samaria was besieged and taken by the Assyrians, circa 722 or 721 BC.

3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

The punishment of the people is to be significant. The Septuagint has “And the ceilings of the temple shall howl in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many a fallen one in every place; I will bring silence upon them.”

4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Aside from their idolatry, the charge of transgression in Israel by the oppression of the poor and needy has been made throughout the prophecy of Amos. Here we see that the people against whom the charge is laid care more for their riches gained in commerce than they do for the state of their nation and especially for the needy of the land. They also care more for their commerce than they do for the feast days and sabbaths appointed by Yahweh their God. They see the sabbaths as a time of missed opportunity for trade, as an inconvenience to their commerce.

7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

The judgement which Amos has pronounced upon Israel would not be repented of. Mercy would not be granted. The punishment shall be executed.

8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

The nation will be washed away as if by a mighty river of water.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

The signs of darkness forebode the evil coming upon the land. The feasts were never celebrated in righteousness, so they would become a time of evil. The people who had rejoiced in their unseemly riches would mourn as though they had lost an only son.

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD: 12 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 the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

Amaziah, the idol priest of Amos chapter 7, was but one example of those who would seek to silence the men who were pronouncing the Word of Yahweh God. In Amos chapter 2, at the first pronouncement of judgement upon Israel, we read in part: “11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. 12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. 13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.” In Amos chapter 5 we see that the people also rejected righteous judgement, where it says in verse 10: “They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.”

Therefore, bereaved of their nation and their society, the children of Israel would be further bereft of the words of Yahweh their God, that they would have no guide and no compass. The same pronouncement of judgement is made in Hosea, but presented somewhat differently, where at Hosea 3:4 Yahweh said: “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim”.

Examining history, while some in the West were fortunate enough to have been familiar with Scripture, many of the dispersed of Israel would not hear the Word of Yahweh God again until the Reformation and the printing of Bibles on a large scale. That would mean that they were bereft of the Word of God for over two thousand years.

The Word of God would only return to the people in Christ. Therefore the apostle John says in the opening lines of His gospel, in John chapter 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Yahweh, and the Word was Yahweh. 2 He was in the beginning with Yahweh.... 14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His splendor, splendor as the most-beloved by the Father, full of favor and truth.”

14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Dan represents the northernmost, Beersheba southernmost of the cities of Israel proper in Palestine. Where the Scriptures speak of better times, one reads at 1 Kings 4:25 “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” The Septuagint has in this verse “Thy God, O Beersheba” rather than “The manner of Beersheba”, however the Dead Sea Scrolls agree with the Masoretic Text here. In any event, at this time the way of Beersheba was apparently just as evil as that of Dan, Samaria, Bethel, Gilgal, and the rest of Israel which followed.

Dan was also one of the seats of the idolatry of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Jeroboam I, who had instituted the worship of the golden calves and had set one of the two golden calves in Bethel, and the other in Dan. From 1 Kings chapter 12: “28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.”

Much later, in the days of Jehu, we read in 2 Kings chapter 10: “29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.”

KJV Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.

We learned in Amos chapter 7 that Amos was not in Judah, so this is not the temple at Jerusalem. Rather, Amos was in Bethel, and this is a reference to the temple housing that idol of the golden calf which had represented the state religion of Israel since the days of Jeroboam I. From Amos chapter 7 we also learned that this was the temple of the king's chapel, and the place where the kings of Israel had held their courts for nearly 200 years.

2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 4 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.

There is no escaping the judgement of Yahweh, and He will punish even those taken captive, if it is their destiny to be punished so, which had already been determined by the plumbline in the vision of Amos chapter 7. This is something that we should bear in mind in this present time, when once again we who examine the Word of God anticipate His judgement upon a nation deserving such judgement, for its evils. Those who would hide in the holes of the rocks are those who are guilty of transgressing against God, and who are unrepentant.

The prophet Isaiah, pronouncing the same judgement which was about to come on the children of Israel, illustrates this same thing in the second chapter of his much longer prophecy, where we also see Yahweh chastise Israel for their unseemly riches and their many idolatries, and also for their fornication: “6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. 7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself [before those idols]: therefore forgive them not. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: 13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, 14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”

However of the judgement to come, which many of us are assured has already begun, Christians should have no fear. From the words of Christ pronouncing His return at Luke chapter 21: “25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” While all men sin, the children of God who seek His Word and rejoice at His coming have nothing to fear, and nothing to hide themselves from on the day of His judgement. We should get out of Babylon, but we need not go and hide in the rocks.

5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.

This is poetic allegory for the destruction which Yahweh would bring upon the kingdom of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians.

7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

The Septuagint reading of the last clause of Amos 9:7 is “Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of the deep?” Yet it can be fully demonstrated that the Septuagint translators often botched ancient place names, trying to make sense of things that they did not fully understand. The Amos of the Dead Sea Scrolls is wanting the portion of this verse in question here. Note that the Scriptures do not speak evilly of the Philistines or the Syrians, who were nevertheless often opposed to Israel, as they do of the Canaanite tribes which were accursed.

The Ethiopians are properly Cushites. The children of Cush dwelt in Mesopotamia, where Nimrod founded the first Adamic empire as described in Genesis 10:8-12, which would be the first Babylonian Empire to archaeologists and historians. In the days of Moses, this empire stretched all the way to the border of Egypt, and Moses, who procured a wife of the Midianites in Arabia, for this reason was said to have been in the land of Cush. The Greek name for Cush was Ethiopia, a word from Greek which ostensibly means “sun-burnt face”. As there were two lands of Cush in early Hebrew records, there were two places called Ethiopia in early Greek records, and they correspond to the Hebrew. Herodotus and others mention the “Ethiopia of the East”. Homer recalls the hero Memnon, named “the Ethiopian”, who was credited with building Susa, a city which was later the capital city of Persia, and how he joined the Trojan side as an ally in the famous Trojan War. The Ethiopia to the south of Egypt was ostensibly a colony of that in Mesopotamia and was founded by way of the sea, by crossing the Persian Gulf to the horn of Africa.

The early Egyptians also professed as having come to Egypt from that same direction, and according to Scripture they are descended from Mizraim, the son of Ham and brother of Cush. It can be demonstrated that all of these people were originally White. However around the very time of the prophet Amos, Ethiopia had been overrun with Nubians, and Egypt would shortly follow thereafter. In Isaiah chapter 43, addressing the children of Israel Yahweh says “3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.” Egypt and Ethiopia having been overrun with Nubians, surrendered to the enemies of Yahweh, we now see why they are no longer White nations.

Scripture tells us that the Philistines were an offshoot of the early Egyptians, although by the time of the Pharaoh Merneptah in the 13th century BC they were counted among the “sea peoples” who were the enemies of Egypt. Of course this is after the Hebrew conquest of Palestine, and many of the so-called “Sea peoples”were those of the northern tribes of Israel whom Scripture tells us had taken to the sea, notably Dan and Asher (i.e. Judges chapter 5). In Genesis chapter 10, the descendants of Mizraim are listed not in the singular, but in the plural as peoples, all found to be occupying particular areas in and around Egypt: “13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.” The Septuagint also interpreted the listing of the descendants of Mizraim in this manner.

That Amos apparently said here that the Syrians had come from Kir is quite interesting. Everywhere that the term Syria appears in Scripture, the Hebrew word is Aram, and the word Syrians comes from the Hebrew plural of Aram. Aram was a brother of Arphaxad, the ancestor of the Hebrews, and his offspring were apparently quite close to the ancient Hebrews. In the historical books of the Bible, Kir is not mentioned in the Scripture until 2 Kings 16:9, which follows the time of Amos' ministry, where it says “And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.” This was in fulfillment of Amos' own prophecy at Amos 1:5 where it says that “the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir”. It is not clear just where this ancient Kir was located. However in reference to this statement concerning the origin of the Syrians here in Amos 9:7, the following remarks were made in Part 1 of this presentation of Amos: “The ancient district of Padan-aram, known from Genesis chapters 25 through 46, is a name which means plain of Aram, and Aram is a name for that tribe which is akin to the Hebrews (Genesis 10:22 ff.). But the Hebrew name for Aram is usually translated as Syrianin the King James Version and in reference to their land it is translated as Syria.If the original land of Aram was in northern Mesopotamia, where Padan-aram is clearly located, then Kir must be there, and the Syrians of Damascus must have been deported back to that region from whence their ancestors had once come. ”

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Corn in modern English is simply grain, and not the maize which we have more familiarly become acquainted with in North America. Grain is sifted through a sieve in order to refine it. In the prophecy of Hosea, who ministered around this same time, we read at 5:7 in reference to the children of Israel: “They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.” Likewise in Jeremiah chapter 2 Yahweh said of Israel “21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” Likewise again, in Isaiah chapter 17 Yahweh said of Israel: “10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips”. The deportations of Israel occurred so that Yahweh could sift Israel, thereby refining them and removing the impurities. For no man puts into the sieve chaff along with the grain. The grain must first be winnowed. In ancient times grain was winnowed with a shovel and a fan, to remove the chaff before it could be refined in a sieve.

From Isaiah chapter 41: “8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. 9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. 10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. 16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.”

Therefore John the Baptist said of the Christ: “11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12, cf. Luke 3:17)

10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

It is one thing to be a sinner. It is quite another to be a sinner and to scoff at the possibility that Yahweh God judges His people. Today we once again have a situation where we have several generations of sinful people who deny even the existence of God, and reject the notion that judgement may come upon them for their wicked doings. We also have basically the same situation with wealthy and poor Whites, and with the disdain of the Sabbath day by the wealthy, and by most people, which is evident here in the pages of Amos concerning ancient Israel.

11 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 his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen [nations], which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

Of course, the “remnant of Edom” was possessed by Christian kings for many centuries, as the jews were chattel property in Europe in the Middle Ages. But they are ultimately to be destroyed, as so many other prophecies promise in a different context. While the Dead Sea Scrolls apparently agree with the Masoretic Text here, nevertheless the Septuagint reading is far more plausible, and it is very easy for copyists and translators to confuse Adam and Edom, since in Hebrew the words are virtually identical, the difference only being the vowel points. Here the Septuagint has: “that the remnant of men, and all the Nations upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek me, saith the Lord who does all these things.” This is certainly the proper reading. It is also the reading employed by the apostle James as attributed by Luke in Acts chapter 15 where this passage is quoted.

In Acts chapter 15 there is a dispute, as to whether those non-Judaeans at Antioch who were being converted to Christianity would be circumcised and follow many of the other laws of Moses. There the apostle James is recorded as having responded, and having quoted this very passage of Amos in his response. A close examination of the context reveals that James is talking about non-Judaeans who are of the dispersed of Israel, the Nations “upon whom My Name is called”, as the King James Version has it, can only be those of the dispersed children of Israel. The proof of this is found elsewhere in Scripture, such as in Isaiah 43:7 where Yahweh addressed the children of Israel and says: “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” There is also Isaiah 45:4 where Yahweh says: “For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.” No people but Israel have Yahweh's name upon them, which is a matter of Yahweh's Word.

So we see in Acts chapter 15 these words from James: “13 And after their silence Iakobos responded saying “Men, brethren, you listen to me! 14 Sumeon has declared just how at the first Yahweh considered to take from among the Nations a people in His Name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree just as it is written: 16 After these things ‘I shall return’ and ‘I shall rebuild the tent of David which has fallen and I shall rebuild its ruins and I shall set it up again, 17 that those remaining of men [James' words here prove that Amos 9:12 should say Adam, or man, and not Edom] seek Yahweh, and all the Nations whom have My Name labeled upon them, says Yahweh doing these things 18 known from of old.’” That these things are known from of old indicates that they are known from the prophets, whose oracles prove that these things are intended only for the children of Israel: that Yahweh intended to take out of the dispersed nations of Israel a people in His Name. None of these things can ever be made to apply to any other people, and especially any non-Adamic people: to do so is a fraud of the utmost degree!

13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, 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.

A promise that Israel shall once again live bountifully, a sign of hope in their captivity.

14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of 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. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

As all of the Old Testament prophets relate, all of the hope in Christ is a hope which is exclusively for Israel. These passages are yet to be fulfilled, and we await and anticipate their fulfillment today. Praise Yahweh!

This concludes our presentation of the Book of Amos.