Today's reading is devoted to the central theme of Amos's preaching: the theme of the day of Yahweh, in the Synodal Translation, "the day of the Lord"...
Today's reading is devoted to the central theme of Amos's preaching: the theme of the day of Yahweh, in the Synodal Translation, "the day of the Lord" (vv. 18-20). It appears to have been a special festival that existed in the pre-exilic period, celebrated in the fall, probably around the time when Yom Kippur is celebrated. Traditionally it was the day of Yahweh's triumph as the God of Israel and the day of judgment over all the enemies of the people of God. It is no wonder that the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom, like all Jews, awaited it as the day of the triumph of their God, and therefore of their own triumph as well.
Meanwhile, Amos sees the day of Yahweh quite differently. For him it too is a day of Judgment, but not over the enemies of the people of God; it is over Israel itself. He understands that Judgment, in Paul's words, "begins with the house of God." For Amos's contemporaries, this understanding was new and unexpected. They were certain that no Judgment threatened them in any case, because in the confrontation between God and His enemies they had ended up on the right side. No one seems to have considered that there was no merit of their own in the fact that they were born Jews.
But Amos's preaching about Judgment was new in another respect as well. The traditional idea of Judgment was connected with a kind of ritual that included evaluating a person according to certain criteria. Properly speaking, Judgment was a kind of test of whether a person met these criteria. For Amos, Judgment is plainly not like that. It is no accident that he warns that the day of Judgment can easily become for many not a day of light, but a day of darkness (vv. 18, 20).
Theophanies in the time of Amos were associated by believing Yahwists precisely with light, with the radiance by which God marked the place of His presence. How then could the day of Yahweh's triumph turn into a day of darkness? Such a thing would clearly be possible only if those who wanted to see this radiant presence, coming to the Temple, saw nothing. When before a person's eyes there is something he cannot see, hear, or perceive in any other way, this imperceptible thing becomes impenetrable darkness for him. Then it becomes clear that for Amos, Judgment is not a test of conformity to any criteria, even the strictest. For him, Judgment is the moment when a person meets God face to face. And then only the spiritual condition of the one coming to Judgment determines whether the day of Judgment will become for him a day of light or a day of darkness. It is not God who condemns a person at Judgment, but his own sins. And they are precisely what turn the light of God into impenetrable darkness.
5 The deplorable condition of Israel, Amos 5:1-3.
An exhortation to seek God, Amos 5:4-15.
Judgments denounced, Amos 5:16-20.
Notwithstanding their outward services, Amos 5:21-27.
5:2 The virgin - So she was, when first espoused to God.Upon her land - Broken to pieces upon her own land, and so left as a broken vessel.
5:3 By a thousand - That sent out one thousand soldiers.An hundred - Shall lose nine parts of them.
5:4 Ye shall live - It shall be well with you.
5:5 Seek not - Consult not, worship not the idol at Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba.
5:6 The house of Joseph - The kingdom of the ten tribes, the chief whereof was Ephraim, the son of Joseph. In Beth-el - If once this fire breaks out, all your idols in Beth-el shall not be able to quench it.
5:7 Ye - Rulers and judges. Judgment - The righteous sentence of the law. To wormwood - Proverbially understood; bitterness, injustice and oppression. Leave off - Make to cease in your courts of judicature.
5:8 The seven stars - A constellation, whose rising about September was usually accompanied with sweet showers. Orion - Which arising about November brings usually cold, rains and frosts intermixt very seasonable for the earth. The shadow of the earth - The greatest adversity into as great prosperity. Dark with might - Changes prosperity into adversity.That calleth - Commands the vapour to ascend, which he turns into rain; and then pours from the clouds to make the earth fruitful.
5:9 The strong - The mighty, victorious and insolent.Shall come - Shall rally and form a siege against their besiegers.
5:10 They - The judges and people. In the gate - Where judges sat, and where the prophets many times delivered their message.
5:11 Your treading - You utterly oppress the helpless.Ye take - Ye extort from the poor great quantities of wheat, on which he should live.
5:12 In the gate - In their courts of justice.
5:13 Shall keep silence - Be forced to it. Evil - Both for the sinfulness of it, and for the troubles, wars, and captivity now at hand.
5:14 With you - To bless and save you yet.
5:15 The evil - All evil among the people, and yourselves.Love - Commend, encourage, defend: let your heart be toward good things, and good men. Remnant - What the invasions of enemies, or the civil wars have spared, and left in Samaria and Israel.
5:16 Therefore - The prophet foreseeing their obstinacy, proceeds to denounce judgment against them. The husbandman - This sort of men are little used to such ceremonies of mourning, but now such also shall be called upon; leave your toil, betake yourselves to publick mourning.
5:17 Vineyards - In these places were usually the greatest joy.Pass through - To punish all every where.
5:18 That desire - Scoffingly, not believing any such day would come.To what end - What do you think to get by it? Is darkness - All adversity, black and doleful. Not light - No joy, or comfort an it.
5:19 And a bear - You may escape one, but shall fall in another calamity. Into the house - At home you may hope for safety, but there other kind of mischief shall meet you.