NOTES for Amo 5:1-20

Alongside denunciations and calls to repentance, the prophet Amos develops another theme—the Day of the Lord.

At this time Israel is living in a very difficult situation: surrounded by hostile pagan states, it wages endless and not very successful wars, and the people suffer... But there is one hope, one expectation: the Lord God Almighty will come, and on that day—the Day of Yahweh, the Day of the Lord—God Himself will set this world in order. He will punish all the pagans and establish a prosperous kingdom for Israel, as in the days of David and Solomon. Naturally, the people eagerly awaited the coming of this day. But this is what the prophet says: “Do you expect this day to be darkness for the pagans and light for you? You are mistaken: it will be darkness for you as well, because in your transgressions you are no better than the pagans.” Yet it is not too late to change everything: to do so, one must renounce evil and seek the Lord.