Amos 9:13 – Part 1

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Short Summary
The discourse discusses the prophetic messages of Amos, a minor prophet, particularly focusing on the significance of his words in Amos 9:13-14, which highlight a time of unprecedented prosperity and restoration for Israel. It contrasts the prosperous reign of King Jeroboam II with the moral failings of Israel’s leadership and emphasizes Amos’s role as a humble herdsman delivering God’s message of impending judgment and future hope. The speaker connects these prophecies to contemporary events, suggesting that they reflect the current state of Israel and its role in the divine plan for the nations.

Long Summary
### Detailed Summary of the Discourse on Amos

Introduction to Amos:
– The speaker emphasizes the significance of the prophet Amos, considered a minor prophet, but with profound messages.
– Focus on Amos 9:13, which states, “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper.”

Context of the Prophecies:
– Amos introduces himself in Amos 7:14 as a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees, indicating he is an ordinary person, not a professional prophet.
– He prophesies during a time of great prosperity in the northern nation of Israel under King Jeroboam II, who reigned from approximately 793 to 753 BC.

Historical Background:
– The discourse references King Jeroboam I, who led the split of the kingdom and established idolatrous practices (1 Kings 12).
– Jeroboam II is noted for a prosperous reign but continued the idolatry and sins established by his predecessor, failing to repent.

Amos’s Prophetic Message:
– Amos delivers a warning of impending judgment, stating that the dynasty of Jeroboam will come to an end.
– The prosperity experienced by the nation masks the moral decay and social injustices present, as the wealthy are oppressing the poor.

Amos’s Unique Position:
– Unlike other prophets supported by the king, Amos claims to be a layman, emphasizing that his authority comes from God, not human appointment.
– Despite being poor, Amos’s writings are eloquent, showcasing his understanding of the issues affecting the land.

The Prophecy of Harvest and Restoration:
– The metaphor of the plowman overtaking the reaper symbolizes a time of unprecedented agricultural abundance and a blessing upon the land.
– Reference to Psalm 65:12-13 emphasizes the joy and prosperity of the land, paralleling Amos’s prophecy.

End-Time Application:
– The speaker connects Amos’s prophecy to the present and future restoration of Israel, suggesting it symbolizes the end of the age.
– Amos 9:14 further describes a time when Israel will rebuild cities and plant vineyards, indicating a return to the land after captivity.

Acts 15 Connection:
– The discourse references Acts 15:14-18, where James mentions the restoration of Israel and the inclusion of the nations, associating Amos’s prophecy with the church’s mission.
– The term “the residue of men might seek the Lord” emphasizes that the restoration of Israel will lead to a broader understanding of God among the nations.

Significance of Translation:
– The speaker highlights a subtle difference in translation regarding Amos 9:12, noting that “the rest of mankind” signifies a broader scope of God’s plan for all nations.

Five Blessings from Amos’s Prophecy:
– The restoration of the Davidic dynasty.
– Israel’s return from captivity.
– The fruitfulness of the land.
– The rebuilding of waste cities.
– The conversion of the nations.

Conclusion:
– The discourse concludes with the idea that as the church faces challenges, it remains a witness on earth.
– The work at the end of the age involves both harvesting (the church) and plowing (preparing for the millennial age).
– The future involves Israel becoming a central focus, leading the world into a new covenant relationship with God.

### Bible Verses Mentioned:
Amos 9:13: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper.”
Amos 9:14: “I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel…”
Psalm 65:12-13: “The wilderness meadows drip and with joy; the hills are girded…”
Acts 15:14-18: Quoting Amos regarding the restoration of Israel and the nations seeking the Lord.

This discourse presents a rich blend of historical context, prophetic significance, and theological implications, emphasizing the enduring message of repentance and restoration found in the book of Amos.

Transcript

Been a real blessing, and, you know, the brethren picked this subject, and it’s a very powerful one. Amos, considered a minor prophet, but he has so much to say in these words that he puts together, and this ninth, this ninth chapter, the 13th verse is just the first part, is what I’ll talk about. Behold, the days come when saith Jehovah that the plowman shall overtake the reaper.

But I did want to mention the last part too, because that’s important in here, where he says, and almost to the last, he says, and the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed in the mountain shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. Amos starts out in chapter seven, verse 14, with a statement about himself, and he says, I was no prophet. Neither was I a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees.

Amos considered himself just kind of a deeply devoted person, ordinary person, like the rest of us, a farmer looking for the kingdom of God on earth, and many of his prophecies that we have here really describe things that will happen on earth. He came from the area of when he was coming, prophesying in this particular time at the northern nation of Israel, and that was when life in the northern nation was at its very best, and I’ll talk about that in a little more in a minute.

Life was really good there. They were having a great time, they had wonderful harvest, everything was good. But suddenly here comes this prophet who says he’s not a prophet coming from the southern nation of Judah, and he brings this unbelievable news. Here’s the news he brings is not what we see here just in verse 13, but in verse nine, in verse nine of chapter seven, he says, I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end, and this is.

Imagine that you’re having a great time and suddenly says, well, I’m sorry, it’s all going to end soon. Now, that was King Jeroboam the first. He was the one that started it all. You go back to the record we have in first kings 12, verses 25 to 33, we see he started it all. King Jeroboam the first.

It’s not the first being talked about here, but Jeroboam I, he led the rebellion against Solomon that resulted in the 10 tribes breaking away from the two tribes, and that was Solomon’s son Rehoboam, at the time as part of the house of David. David, remember, passed that on to Solomon, and Solomon’s son Rehoboam had then protected by Pharaoh. David had made an alliance to be protected by Pharaoh.

And now that went to the, to the northern tribe. But in that first Kings 12, we learn about what King Jeroboam had done, and, and I won’t read those verses, but there’s four things there you can read that Jeroboam did when he broke away. He formed this northern kingdom. He made golden calves for one.

Secondly, he made high place shrines, which we know is forbidden. Third, he made his own priesthood, and the fourth thing he did was he chose his own day for the Passover. Well, all those things were an abomination, and he lost a battle eventually with Abijah, who was the general from Judah.

And he never regained strength because God struck him dead. Now that was, that was what happened with King Jeroboam first. But here we have, the tribes went on, the kingship went on, and the 12 tribes that happened around the year 931 B.C. when he broke away.

And here we have now Jeroboam II who’s involved in this position with Amos, when Amos is preaching and he’s approaching the end of what was a really prosperous 41 year reign they said from about 793 to 753 BC. So it’s sometime later, but it was part of his reign was with a previous king, Joash. Now, if you want to study the kings, we’re just starting a study on Tuesday nights, and I would welcome anyone who wants to come to that. You can talk to Andrea, she’ll tell you if she likes it or not.

Anyways, he thought he had a prosperous reign. He was co regent. But then he reigned himself. He had recaptured some of the land that Solomon had taken that was once owned by Solomon, and today if you looked at that land, it incorporates what is Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

That’s one of the reasons why brethren feel, some brethren feel that those places will be eventually part of Israel again, especially the land east of Jordan. He didn’t repent. Now that was a long time spread, as I said, think about from 931 till 793. You know, we’re at over 100 years here where he never brought repentance. Remember all the northern kings of Israel, all the kings of northern Israel, when that nation broke, none of them were good.

They were all wrong. So Jeroboam II wasn’t any different. He had developed a prosperous time and during this time he’d recaptured the land like I said. But he never repented of all those sins. The four things that I mentioned never changed.

Throughout all this time that Israel was an independent nation, and the other things he said, if you read this context of Amos prophecy, they had oppressed the poor, the rich were very wealthy, and they were singing praises to God for all their wealth, even while they were mistreating the citizens. Now Amos comes in, he says, I’m not part of the other prophets. He wasn’t part of the prophets that were supported by the king. He says, I’m just a layman.

I owned birds, I owned orchard. But remember, it doesn’t matter who the kings appoint, it’s who God appoints. But when he says that I’m just a herdsman, which is that Hebrew word, it’s used only one other time in Scripture, and it refers to a king. So interesting point that he talks himself being a herdsman, and that particular word is used also for a king.

Now, it was true he was poor and Amos was poor, and most of the poor couldn’t read. They were not literate at that time. But Amos, when we read what he wrote, was very masterful. So it’s likely he was perhaps a little more wealthy than the poor.

And following this prophecy, Amos was ordered out of the country. They didn’t like what they heard, but yet it’s likely, at least I think Amos probably lived long enough that he could see this prophecy coming true. Because a little later, about 722 B.C. assyria attacks Israel, crushes them in a blitz and exiles the survivors, as we know, and then repopulates the whole area with the Syrian settlers, and some of the major prophets that we see later, like Ezekiel and some of the others that prophesy about Israel, are dealing with those that eventually are removed from power in that northern nation.

So when we look at the visions that Amos has, it’s not like those of Daniel or Ezekiel, but his are about prophecies of normal life, everyday life, and that’s why you see here that we have these things mentioned, like being a herdsman, and his prophecies deal with earthly type things. Now, the key to understanding is realize that Amos in one sense represents to an extent, the church in the flesh, the message that the church in the flesh is bringing, and you go through Amos, you’d see why that is.

Not that he’s necessarily a type, but he’s representing a message that goes out from the church in the flesh, and this parable he gives, I think is a parable for the time of the end, as we know. That’s really the. When we look at this parable, we look at a time that’s very similar to ours. Think about.

Here’s the background. Let’s talk about the background of this short parable he gives us here in verse. In verse 14, it’s a time unprecedented for material goods, as I mentioned earlier, great prosperity. Now, Israel’s harvest. When you think about this prophecy about the plowman overtaking the reaper is to remember that the harvest really in Israel lasts only about two months from May to June.

And during that time, that’s when they harvest most of the goods and the land is fallow for a little while, and plowing normally starts in October.

But that’s not true in this particular time that Amos is talking about. He’s saying it’s going to. There’s going to be a time when the plowman overtakes the reaper, which means everything is compacted and early. There’s going to be a time when these two points run together of a reaping work taking place, the harvesting taking place, and also a plowing taking place. That’s the key to remembering and understanding this prophecy.

In Psalm 65, verses 12 and 13, we have a very similar statement as Amos makes here in the ninth chapter, Psalm 65, 12 and 13 says, the wilderness meadows through drip and with joy. The hills are girded, the pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are mantled with grain. They shout for joy, they even sing. You think about that today. I mean, there’s.

Are we in a period of. Well, I say unprecedented prosperity. But every. Every time we have is unprecedented. But think about the accumulation that’s taken place and the tremendous advance we have in goods.

The next verse In Amos, the 14th verse, gives us the key as to when Amos is applying this prophecy. So 14, even though we’re talking here about what Amos says in verse 13, it’s verse 14. It gives us the impetus of. Understand, this is the time of the end prophecy. Here he says, I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build away 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, and I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land, which I have given them, saith Jehovah, thy God. Now we know that this is going on. Israel is being returned to their land, and certainly they’re returned in a period of prosperity. They’ve had development.

And if you look at just the agricultural development of Israel since its founding, really in 1878 onwards, when the vineyards have been planted and the amount of things they’ve been able to do to restore the land to its productivity. You have to say Amos has got to be talking about our time, about this time now, not some time in the future. It’s a time when they’re in a period of great prosperity. You’ve got to sort of put aside the troubles that they’re going through, because that’s political and that’s about the restoration as a nation. But as a people and as a people prospering, Israel is in a terrific position here.

So that’s why we know that this application of this parable is the end of the age where we are and the coming of the kingdom, and no matter what you think about the kingdom and when it arrives, it’s a time when, when there are plantings and harvests going on. In both cases, what I’ll talk about here and when Brother George talks about his One is for fields, one’s for grapes. If we go to Acts 15, Acts 15.

Remember, Acts 15 is about the Jerusalem conference, and there’s something that James mentions there that’s important, and I want to read that. Acts 15:14 18 Acts 15:14 18, and again, this is James at the Jerusalem conference.

He says, Simeon hath declared how God first did visit the nations to take out of them a people for his name and to disagree the words of the prophets. That is written after this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, and I will build again its ruins, and I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. I want you to remember that term. The residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the nations upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things known unto God, are all his works from the beginning of the age.

Here we have an association of this time of the restoration of Israel with the reaping of the end of the age work, harvesting, the church class, while at the same time plowing is going on for the millennial age, which is Israel. Verses 16 to 18 are quoted from Amos 9:12, which we had before. But there’s one subtle difference that’s very important. Let me go back to this Scripture in Amos, Amos 9:12 units 9:12 reads that they in the day I will 11 and 12 in the day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches of it. I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations which are called by in my name, saith the Lord who doeth this?

Now James is quoting from this Amos passage. But Amos 9, 11 says in that day, so we know in that day begins when this quote in Acts, and it’s different than what most translations have. The Septuagint, which remember is the Greek Old Testament, renders this verse. Now if you follow along in your King James, it renders 912 this way, that the rest of mankind, not they as translated, which makes it sound like Israel may seek the Lord and all the nations upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who does all these things. Note it uses this term the rest of mankind.

Well, we know once Israel is restored, the rest of mankind being raised or being converted to understanding that God is now there, that’s the resurrection, that’s the restoration of earth coming to all people. It only required the reason this was changed. It only required one change of one letter rendered as is in the King James verse to substitute not the rest of mankind, but substitute this word they as though it was Israel being talked about. So Amos’s Amos’s prophecy, if we understand this, a future blessing details for us. Well, James, I’m sorry, let me go back.

James quotes this as it should have been read, okay, that the residue of man might seek the Lord. That’s the way James quotes this, even though King James doesn’t. If that wasn’t right, there are a lot of scholars in that conference at Jerusalem. They would have pinned him down and said, hey, that’s not the way Amos reads. But that’s the way Amos prophecy reads.

That the residue of men might seek the Lord through Israel. So Amos is really five things that Amos’s prophecy here gives us of blessing. One, the restoration of the Davidic dynasty, that David and his posterity will again be on the throne. Which membered Messiah Jesus is one of those. Israel’s return from captivity prophesied the fruitfulness of the land and the rebuilding of waste cities.

Israel’s permanent settlement in Israel and the conversion of the nations, which is something that doesn’t come true without the proper translation. Since Daniel’s first vision of that 1260 days which ended in 1799, a lot has taken place regarding the activities of Christians. The meaning of a high calling has been identified. The traditional application of the times trouble stops the harvest work, and Jeremiah 8:20 indicates to us that the time of trouble isn’t the cause of ending of the harvest, but it happens when the Harvest is over.

And even Revelation, remember, we get that that is not the time of trouble as much as the end of the time of trouble. Armageddon in Revelation 7, where it says, hold back those four winds till the church is sealed. The harvest is over. It’s the same as in that Revelation 16 with the seventh plague. So what do we mean?

What does this all mean? As the church dwindles, as we’ve talked about at the end of the age, God doesn’t go without a witness on earth, never has before, and I think he never does. The work at the end of the age is a combination of harvest work and a plowing work. For the millennial age. The plowman in the parable is working with Israel for the next age.

Israel will inherit the nations. As a proper reading of Amos says, the nations will seek them, learn about the Lord. What has been the major message that we’ve had at the end of this age? Israel is established for the purpose of being God’s people, leading the world into the new covenant. The trouble on the nations caused the reaping work of the harvest to diminish.

Not entirely. As we discussed before, there are still church members to be reaped and found when the church is gone. Then Israel will become the total focus at the end of the age with Jacob’s Trouble and Ezekiel 38 and 39. But they have those roots that will not be plucked up as Amos says. There will still be those that are gathering seed for the kingdom, scattering seed for the kingdom.

There will still be some of that going on, but the treader of grapes will be very near, and that is the rest of our story.

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