Raise Up, Rebuild, Restore (Amos 9:11-15)
Israel My Glory In Depth is a video interview series that explores the author’s motivation in writing their article.God’s wonderful promises to Israel couldn’t be plainer. But some Christians reject the obvious.
One of the clearest, most precious promises in the Old Testament appears in the book of Amos. There, God declares with certainty that the nation of Israel will one day live in its land, never to be uprooted again.
It guarantees the Jewish people a future, both spiritual and physical. Although individuals will still have to be reconciled to God through Christ in the coming national kingdom, the promise of redemption goes beyond individuals. It is for the nation as a whole.
God has a plan for the future of national Israel. He promises, “I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up” (Amos 9:15). Yet, many Christians do not accept the Amos passage for what it says.
Restoration of the Fallen Booth of David (9:11)
Amos wrote around 755 BC, during the period of the divided kingdom. After King Solomon died, the northern kingdom (usually called Israel) rebelled against the house of David and broke away from the southern kingdom (usually called Judah).
After pronouncing judgment on Israel through the prophet Amos, the Lord then gave the nation hope: “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old” (v. 11). With clarity, the people of Amos’s time were told that the divided kingdom was temporary. The entire nation of Israel would not be left in ruins. The kingdoms would one day be reunited into one nation, as in former times.
When would this restoration take place? The text says “on that day.” In light of the permanence of the promise in verse 15, it is best to see this day as future, a day in the end-times when God’s ultimate fulfillments will begin to unfold. Such a view correlates well with other prophecies, such as those given in Zechariah 12—14, where the Messiah’s arrival at the end of the age ushers in the Messianic Kingdom.
Some interpreters suggest that a long-term fulfillment would not have comforted Amos’s original audience. They are wrong. To know in detail that God holds our ultimate tomorrow in His hand gives believers some of their greatest encouragement for holy living and bold witness in any age.
Possession of the Nations (9:12)
Verse 12 reveals one of the results of Israel’s restoration in God’s decisive plan. Israel will “possess the remnant of Edom” and “all the Gentiles” who know the Lord.
Edom, located today in southern Jordan, is probably representative of the nations. But the overall message is unmistakable. We should not gloss over the political overtones of this passage. Along with the spiritual aspect of Israel’s rule among and over the nations, there also exist clear lines of authority. The language implies more than the mere inclusion of Gentiles in God’s coming Kingdom. It defines relationships, with Israel as the highest of the nations. As Bible scholar Dr. Charles Feinberg noted, “When Israel has her rightful King on the throne, then she will be the head of the nations.”1
Jesus the Messiah will rule from Jerusalem, which will be the capital not only of Israel, but also of the entire world. Earth’s headquarters will not be Washington, DC.
Plentiful Provision for the People (9:13–14)
Verse 13 notes, “the days are coming,” meaning the same as “on that day” in verse 11. Israel’s restoration will usher in a time of abundance beyond measure. Three beautiful word pictures in verse 13 advance the image of plentiful provision for God’s people in Israel:
1. The plowman shall overtake the reaper. Crops will yield so abundantly that the harvest will not even be completed until it is again time for the plowman to march through the fields.
2. The treader of grapes [will overtake] him who sows seed. Due to overwhelming prosperity, it will take so long to process the grapes in the winepresses that the job will not be finished before the next year’s crop is ready.
3. The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. This word picture is an extension of the second. Grapes will be so abundant that the mountains will “drip with sweet wine” and “the hills shall flow with it.”
Some interpreters use the figurative language of verse 13 to assert that the entire section outlining Israel’s restoration is figurative and cannot be taken at face value. However, this approach fails for two reasons: First, this is the only verse in Amos 9:11–15 that requires an understanding of figurative language. The other verses are straightforward, and it is a stretch to force a figurative interpretation on the entire passage. Second, the same truth (the idea of abundance) imparted in verse 13 in figurative language appears in the very next verse in straightforward language:
I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them (v. 14).
The figurative language of verse 13 is simply an appealing, metaphoric way of elaborating on the joyful abundance that will belong to everyone in the land.
Permanent Possession of the Land (9:15)
The reunification of the two kingdoms, the possession of the nations, and the plentiful provisions would not be possible without the Jewish people’s restoration to the land promised them in many biblical passages (Gen. 15:18; Isa. 11:10–16, to name a few).
Through the prophet Amos, God laid out His plan for the children of Israel: “‘I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,’ says the Lord your God” (Amos 9:15). Notice, God, in the future (from Amos’s time), will place a reunited Israel back in its land; and this return will be more than a temporary one.
Due to idolatry and rebellion, the northern kingdom was expelled from its land by Assyria in the 8th century BC; the southern kingdom was expelled by Babylon in the 6th century BC; and the Jews were expelled by Rome in AD 70. Each time, the Jewish people returned to their land, only to be expelled again.
However, what Amos envisioned was a permanent restoration: “No longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them” (v. 15). This prophecy coincides with others concerning the coming of the Messiah to set up His everlasting Kingdom, which will be centered in Israel (Isa. 2:1–4; 9:6–7; 11:1–5; chaps. 60—62). The nation will possess its land, never to be expelled again.
Amos 9:11–15 challenges those who replace Israel with the church and ignore (or even change) the land promises God gave to His earthly Chosen People.
It is impossible for us to accept the wonderful promise at the end of Romans 8 that true Christians will never be separated from Christ without accepting God’s promise in Amos 9 concerning Israel’s blessed future. We must be consistent in how we read and interpret Scripture.
The Amos passage is an encouragement to those who understand that, for God’s end-times scenario to take place, Israel must reside in the land. Since 1948, when the British Mandate for Palestine expired and Israel regained its independence as a nation, Israel has been in the land. Only God knows when the curtain will rise on the final act. But through His Word, we all know that Israel has a permanent place in His plan and a permanent home in the Promised Land.
ENDNOTE
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- Charles L. Feinberg, The Minor Prophets (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1976), 123.
