Amos 1:1-2:3
English Standard Version

1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Judgment on Israel's Neighbors
2 And he said:

“The LORD roars from Zion
    and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
    and the top of Carmel withers.”

3 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Damascus,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have threshed Gilead
    with threshing sledges of iron.
4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus,
    and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,
and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden;
    and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,”
says the LORD.

6 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Gaza,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
    to deliver them up to Edom.
7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.
8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
    and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
    and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the LORD God.

9 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Tyre,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
    and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.”

11 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Edom,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because he pursued his brother with the sword
    and cast off all pity,
and his anger tore perpetually,
    and he kept his wrath forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon Teman,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”

13 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead,
    that they might enlarge their border.
14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
    and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
    with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
15 and their king shall go into exile,
    he and his princes together,”
says the LORD.

2 Thus says the LORD:

“For three transgressions of Moab,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because he burned to lime
    the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
    amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
    and will kill all its princes with him,”
says the LORD.

The first verse tells us when the ministry of Amos happened and a little bit about who Amos is.  First, he is ministering concurrent with Isaiah's early ministry (during the time of King Uzziah in the southern kingdom and King  Jeroboam the son of Joash (as opposed to King Jeroboam that was the first king of the northern tribes after Solomon).  I will call this king Jeroboam II even though his father was not Jeroboam I.

The LORD calls Amos to declare judgment on the nations surrounding Israel.  Starting with Syria whose capital city was Damascus (everything up to and including Damascus was part of the Promised Land that the LORD gave to Israel, so the Syrians are living on stolen land).  The Syrians have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.  This may sound at first like they farmed land that did not belong to them, but this is probably metaphor for beating the people of God and mistreating them in way that the grain was beaten when it was threshed to separate the kernels of grain from the chaff.  They have probably invaded the land of the Trans-Jordan tribes and abused and mistreated them and the LORD is going to judge the Syrians by allowing the Assyrians (who brutally torture those those they take captive) to come against them when the king of Israel pays the king of Assyria to attack the Syrians for him (see 2 Kings 16 where these prophecies given here in Amos are fulfilled).

Gaza was one of the capital cities of the Philistines and it was as much trouble for the people of Israel and Judah as it is today.  They came against the people of God in an alliance with the people of Edom (the descendants of Esau).  For this, the LORD promises to bring judgment against all the Philistine city-states including Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron.  There would be a complete and total destruction of the Philistines so that no remnant is left.  For this reason we cannot believe that people of Gaza today are descendants of the people of Gaza in the Bible, nor are the "Palestinians" in any way related to the ancient Philistines (though that was the purpose in naming the land Palestine under the Romans because the Romans thought it would infuriate the Jews to be told that the Romans were not going to acknowledge that the Holy Land belonged to God's people Israel and instead claimed it belonged to a dead people group).

We have already discussed Tyre and Sidon and the way in which they were richly blessed, but they became proud and mistreated Israel.  The LORD will completely destroy Tyre for its allegiance with Edom against Israel.  The walls of Tyre will be burned with fire and its strongholds destroyed.

It seems like Edom is in the middle of all of this and stirring up other nations to do its dirty work.  They are still fighting a family feud that is as old as Jacob and Esau.  They have sought to kill their brothers--the people of Israel and have given themselves forever over to anger and wrath.  They refuse to forgive or forget the sins of the past, and so, their sins will not be forgiven.  Their cities will be destroyed by fire and their strongholds destroyed.  Much more is prophesied about the judgment of Edom in the other prophets, and they still have a place in the prophecy of the end times (possibly just about the piece of real-estate that was called Edom, but it seems like the people of Edom survive and continue their attempts to exterminate God's people through acts of war and genocide until the final Day of Judgment).

Judgment is also coming on the Ammonites, children of Lot who the people of Israel were not to destroy during the Exodus and Conquest because they were close family with them.  The LORD will use other nations to judge and destroy them.  They too have savagely treated the Trans-Jordan tribes in the Land of Gilead.  They believed that they could conquer the LORD's people and take the Promised Land away from them by force, not realizing that the LORD had already given their land to Israel as part of His eternal covenant with them.  The land of Ammonites will also have their walled cities burned with fire and their strongholds destroyed.  The king of the Ammonites and all of his princes will be taken into exile, just like they wanted to do to Israel and Judah.

The last group Amos prophesies against in this passage is the other people that came from lot--the people of Moab.  They also have been trouble for the LORD's people, though Ruth the Moabite woman was chosen to be in the lineage of Jesus, the Messiah.  It appears the LORD is going to use them to judge Edom and to burn the bones of the king of Edom so that they turn into lime, but the LORD is still going to punish them for the way in which they chose to carry out the judgment against the Edomites (they are still responsible for the sin that they committed, even though it was the LORD's plan to use them to punish Edom).  Their walled cities will be burned with fire and their strongholds destroyed, and it will be a day of great celebration when this happens.  The king of Moab and all its princes who might take his place will be killed (not taken into exile like the Ammonites).  No longer will Moab plague the people of Israel and Judah.

No exact dates are given to us on when these events will happen, but Israel and Judah are to look at all of these things happening and realize they could (and should) be next.  That is the tone of the next two passage we'll study in Amos 2--the coming judgment on Israel and Judah.  They should see these judgments on their enemies and repent for the day of reckoning is at hand for them and their children and their children's children.

Joel 3:17-21
English Standard Version

The Glorious Future of Judah
17 “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
    who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
    and strangers shall never again pass through it.

18 “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
    and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
    shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD
    and water the Valley of Shittim.

19 “Egypt shall become a desolation
    and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
    because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
    and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 I will avenge their blood,
    blood I have not avenged,
    for the LORD dwells in Zion.”

The book of Joel ends with a promise of a glorious future for the LORD's people.  The LORD will return to His holy mountain (Mount Zion), to Jerusalem, The City of the Great King.  Jerusalem will once again be called The Holy City, and there will never again be strangers (those who are not the people of God) who enter it.  This leads me to think we're talking about The New Jerusalem with The New Heavens and New Earth, as all the enemies of God have been destroyed.

The Land will be extremely fruitful so that even the mountains will drip with sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk and all the streambeds of Judah will be filled with living water.  The source of this living water will be from the Temple of the LORD (see Ezekiel).

The once powerful nations that have been a thorn in Jacob's side will be destroyed--Egypt and Edom will never again vex them.  The LORD's people will live in the Promised land throughout all generations, and He will avenge the innocent blood of His people that was shed by Egypt, Edom, and all the other enemies of His people.  By this, all people will know that the LORD lives in Zion and He delivers, saves, and avenges His people--the people that He has chosen to love and call by His Name.

Joel 3:1-16
English Standard Version

The LORD Judges the Nations
3  “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

4 “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the LORD has spoken.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate for war;
    stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
    let them come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords,
    and your pruning hooks into spears;
    let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

11 Hasten and come,
    all you surrounding nations,
    and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
    and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
    all the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
    for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
    for their evil is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes,
    in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
    in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD roars from Zion,
    and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
    and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
    a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The LORD will judge the nations on how they have treated His people--the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This is not the only place in the Bible where this kind of judgment is described, but it is clear that the purpose of this judgment is to punish those who have mistreated the people of Israel, scattering them across the whole earth, driving them out of the Land that the LORD prepared for them and even selling them into slavery to Gentile nations.  These offending nations will themselves be scattered and be dispossessed from their land and made to be exiles to the farthest reaches of the earth and made to be slaves to distant foreigners.  All the things they willfully did to the LORD's people will come back on them.  And the LORD will gather together His people to Himself from the uttermost parts of the earth and will restore them.

The nations will prepare for war and turn everything they can into a weapon of war, and they will arm all men for war, even the weak.  They believe that somehow they will overwhelm the LORD with such great numbers, forgetting that He is the one who spoke everything into existence out of nothing, and it will take nothing more than a word for Him to defeat all of them.

The symbolism of the harvest and the winepress is used to say that the time for the final judgment has come.  All these nations have a decision--will they submit to the LORD and His King and be submissive to His people or will they rebel against the the LORD and be destroyed and their souls sent into everlasting judgment (the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels)?

The LORD will shout so loudly that heaven and earth will shake--with a mighty roar.  None of the LORD's enemies will be able to hide, but the LORD will protect all of His people just like He kept those who belonged to Him safe inside the Ark on the day of judgment when the Flood came.  In the same way, the wicked will perish, but the righteous will be delivered and saved.

Joel 2:28-32
English Standard Version

The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

How do we know we are living in the last days and that the day of the LORD is quickly approaching? One of the ways is fulfillment of Scriptures like this one which was partially fulfilled in Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost.  This exact passage was quoted as being fulfilled when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon men and women from every nation and tongue, and many spoke in tongues and prophesied on that day.  There was no distinction between male and female, servant and master, slave or free.  All were one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.

Verses 30 through 32 are still to be fulfilled in the very end of days.  There will be great miracles done (great plagues will be sent to judge the wicked, but the righteous will be saved), and the sun will become dark and the moon will turn to blood.  Then another verse that was quoted at Pentecost, "And all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Joel sees all of the future compressed together like looking at a mountain range and two different mountains appear to be one in the distance.  It's not until you get closer, possibly even start claiming the first mountain that you start to see the depth and realize the other mountain is still some distance away.

As the land of Goshen was the place of protection for the LORD's people in the time of the Exodus, so the city of Jerusalem will be a place of protection for the people of the Lord during the time of Jacob's Trouble (the Great Tribulation) and those who call on the name of the LORD will be saved.  Only those whom the LORD calls as His own will be saved from the plagues and destruction that is to come upon the wicked in the great Day of the LORD.

Joel 2:18-27
English Standard Version

The LORD Had Pity
18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land
    and had pity on his people.
19 The LORD answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
    grain, wine, and oil,
    and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
    a reproach among the nations.

20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
    and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard into the eastern sea,
    and his rear guard into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
    for he has done great things.

21 “Fear not, O land;
    be glad and rejoice,
    for the Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, you beasts of the field,
    for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
    the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

23 “Be glad, O children of Zion,
    and rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
    he has poured down for you abundant rain,
    the early and the latter rain, as before.

24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore to you the years
    that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
    my great army, which I sent among you.

26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
    and praise the name of the LORD your God,
    who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
    and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.

The prophetic ministry of Joel is in the midst of the period of restoration after the decree from Cyrus goes out and everything is rebuilt.  The people were disheartened that there were Gentiles living among them who thought the Land now belonged to them and they were harassed and threatened by these people (see the book of Nehemiah).  The LORD promises that He will restore the Land to the Land Flowing with Milk and Honey that it once once--lots of grain and oil and wine.  Their enemies would be driven out just like the LORD did during the original Conquest.

The LORD would do all this not because the people had suddenly become righteous, but because the LORD had compassion on them.  He will send them showers of blessings, will fill up their storehouses with grain and their vats with wine and oil, and they will be more than satisfied with what the LORD provides for them.  They will be lacking nothing.  Never again will His people be put to shame (we know that does happen again and they leave the Land again and come back to it again, so this must be looking forward to the end times again and there is a "near" and a "far" view of this prophecy).

Joel 2:12-17
English Standard Version

Return to the LORD
12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the LORD your God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16     gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.

17 Between the vestibule and the altar
    let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O LORD,
    and make not your heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

Even though they are on the brink of disaster, the LORD calls His people to repentance once more and offers to be their Savior.  The people are reminded of His goodness and mercy that He told Moses of in the book of Exodus, but along with that came the promise of judgment for the wicked.  He is both things at the same time.  There is a chance He might relent, though not a definite promise.  As opposed to the invading army that is leaving nothing but wasteland behind them, perhaps the LORD will fight for them and destroy their enemies once more and leave a blessing behind Himself for them.

The priests and the government leaders are to blow the trumpets to call for a solemn assembly and declare a fast unto the LORD.  All people great and small, young and old are to gather together to fast and repent.  Even those who were ready to celebrate their weddings should stop and come to participate in this fast, because it is the most important thing they can do right now--to fast and pray for the mercy of God and to ask Him to change their hearts as only He can.

The priests were never supposed to show their emotion or mourn, but they are commanded to do so here because of their sin and the sin of the people.  They are to mediate and cry out for mercy.  Joel says the LORD should do this not just for the sake of His people, but for the sake of His own name, which the other nations now disparage.  They mock Him and wonder if He even exists if He will not defend His people who are called by His Name.  We know He does exist and He is directing events, and the Babylonians are His agents of change for His people, but there is coming a day when He will act to save His people, but not before their 70 years of exile are up.

Joel 2:1-11
English Standard Version

The Day of the LORD
2 Blow a trumpet in Zion;
    sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.

3 Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
    but behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.

4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.

6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
    all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
    each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
    they enter through the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The LORD utters his voice
    before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome;
    who can endure it?

We read Joel 2 and wonder if this is talking about the coming judgment of the Exile, but then we realize it cannot be because it says "and never again after them" for the number of people that would be attacking the Holy Land, and we know that one day all the nations of the world will gather together to make war against the Lord and His people.  So, this was only partially fulfilled by the time of Exile, but won't reach it's complete fulfillment until the time of the Great Tribulation.

There will be indeed be plagues of darkness and locusts and there will be wars and all the nations of the world will rise up against Jerusalem and the Holy Land which has been protected from all the plagues (it will look like The Garden of Eden in comparison to the rest of the earth).  The attackers consume everything like locusts and there is nothing but fire and destruction behind them.  This is what they intend to do to The Beautiful Land, but the LORD Himself will stop them.

It is unclear the way these armies are described if they are armies of men or demons or demonized men that Joel is seeing the true power behind them, but they certainly seem to be doing the work of the devil to steal, kill, and destroy.  The people in front of them are in fear.  The earth and the heavens shake with the sounds of their footsteps and chariots and weapons of war.  It would seem as if the LORD is once again going to use the armies of the world to bring judgment (and possibly destruction) to the people of Israel.  There appears to be no hope.  This is indeed their darkest hour (quite literally with no sun or moon giving light).  It will be in this very moment when the things are darkest that the LORD will appear to once and for all save His people.  That is what we will talk about next time.