Context:

The general treatment of the concept of ‘Day of the Lord’ by pre-exilic prophets in the Bible has been that of criticizing the society which they perceived to be violating the stipulations of the covenant with God. As a sinful nation, they could only expect divine punishment, rather than a glorious restoration which was their notion regarding the ‘Day of the Lord’.

Amos’ ministry took place around the year 760 B.C., when Jeroboam II (787-747) was on the throne of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Assyrian empire was the dominant military power at that time, but it was occupied with advances of the kingdom of Urartu from Asia Minor. Thus Jeroboam was free to enlarge and develop his territory and to enrich his economy with booming trade and business.

Reference:

“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness and not light.

It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him,

Is not the day of the LORD darkness and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?” – Amos 5:18-20 (NKJV)

Message:

The phrase ‘Day of the Lord’, in its earliest use in the Book of Prophet Amos in the verse above, implies that it already had a standard usage in society. For the people it meant – the day when Yahweh would intervene to put Israel as the head of the nations, irrespective of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him. Amos declared that the ‘Day of the Lord’ actually meant judgment for Israel. Amos’s expression about ‘the Day of the Lord’ is far clearer than the rendering of other Old Testament prophets.

The social, religious and economic picture of the society in his time is graphically described by him.

• There was hypocrisy in worship of God – (Amos 4:4-5; 5:21-23)
• Due to economic prosperity there was growth in upper class’ luxury and opulence but they were totally unsympathetic to the affliction of the poor – (Amos 6:4-6)
• The rich grew richer by exploiting the poor – (Amos 2:6; 8:4,6)
• Greed for money and consequent deceitfulness in business practices – (Amos 8:5)
• There was corruption and denial of justice (Amos 5:10,12)
• Excessive consumption patterns – (Amos 4:1)
• Lifestyle characterized by debauchery and immorality (Amos 2:7)

Thus Amos meant to preach about the impending doom of exile when he described the ‘Day of the Lord’. The doom of exile meant the collapse of all that was seemingly glorious in the eyes of the people. Due to the ideal military and economic circumstances in his day, the people of Israel found it hard to imagine the coming disaster predicted by Amos. However, it was only three decades until the downfall of Israel.

Lesson:

Does the book of prophet Amos also convey any message of the end times for us in the contemporary world? Maybe yes, if we also consider the promises of restoration of Israel. (Amos 9: 11-15)

The situation of New Testament Israel, that is, the church is not very different from the description of the society in Amos’ time. Today’s church is marked by apostasy, greed, injustice and immorality. Amos’ warns the people of Israel that the ‘Day of the Lord’ will be darkness for them instead of light as they expected. Is the same message not applicable for us too? We hope for a new dawn in the second coming of Jesus Christ. May it not turn out to be eternal darkness for us instead of light that we were hoping for.

“Now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” – I Cor 10:11

Paul, the Apostle, says that the end of the ages has come on us and we ought to be admonished by the things that happened to the people of Israel. They serve as examples for us.

May you be found in Him on that ‘Day of the Lord’. God bless you.

Maranatha!

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