Certain Prophesies in THE BOOK OF AMOS

[Howard_me]

I recently read, perhaps for the first time, The Book of Amos. As I was reading and trying to reflect upon its words three passages seem to jump out at me. To wit:

AMOS 5:18-20.
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light;
as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned with
his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

AMOS 8:11-12.
“Behold the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the
land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of
the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro,
to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.”

AMOS 9:13-15.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the
reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall
drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities
and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall
make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant them upon the land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the
land which I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
(REVISED STANDARD VERSION, CATHOLIC EDITION. Ignatius Press, 1966.)

Am I trying to read too much into these verses by thinking that these words are echoed in certain passages in the Gospels, pages of Revelations and certain messages from various apparitions and locutions of the past centuries? Or, are these prophesies among the “multiple fulfillment prophesies” one sometimes hears about? How could multiple fulfillment prophesies explain AMOS 9:15 when there are verses within the bible that tell us to essentially SAY WHAT WE MEAN AND MEAN WHAT WE SAY? Or, was the establishment of the state of Israel in1947 possibly the beginning of the fulfillment of the last days and these verses are among the first written prophesies to warn us of the some of the events preceding the LAST DAY?
Finally, if my thoughts are somewhere out there in left field can someone please tell me when they think these three prophesies of Amos were fulfilled. Or, as many would have you believe was Amos just shooting off his mouth because there is no such thing as a true prophesy?

 

[SHW]

Welcome to CA Forums!

Scripture can have more than one “layer” of meaning. Scripture can also have multiple “precursors” until THE fulfillment.

Ark:
Noah’s ark (original precursor to Ark of the New Covenant)
Ark of the Old Covenant (imperfect precursor to Ark of the New Covenant)
Blessed Virgin Mary - Ark of New Covenant (perfect fulfillment)

I do not think that you are out in left field at all. I would say that you have hit a home run.

Catholic Commentary on Amos Chapter 5: haydock1859.tripod.com/id691.html

Chapter 8: haydock1859.tripod.com/id694.html

Chapter 9: haydock1859.tripod.com/id695.html

These prophecies of Amos were given before the Israelites/Jews returned to Israel and built the second temple. However, it seems to me that Amos 9 is speaking of their final return to Israel and Jerusalem shortly before Jesus’ Second Coming because we have been in the “end times” since Jesus ascended into heaven. We are living in the “times of the Gentiles” but I believe that the Jews’ return to Israel was the beginning of the “last days” of the “end times” and this will culminate in Jesus’ Second Coming. The “times of the Gentiles” are drawing to a close.

As you believe, Amos is definitely not just shooting off his mouth. He is a true prophet and that is why his inspired words are in our Bible today. The Catholic Church does not pay any attention to those who believe otherwise.

 

[Muzhik]

Don’t forget that the word used to describe the basket of reeds that Moses was placed in literally translates into an ARK of reeds. So that is another shadow or type of the perfect Ark, one that saves.

Howard, Welcome! No, I don’t think you’re reading too much into these verses. In Chap. 5 the Day of the Lord is the final judgment of the Lord against all people. Some people I know talk about how they can’t wait for the Lord to come, because they’re convinced they’ll be raptured out and won’t have to suffer the Day of the Lord. Somehow, I don’t think the actual day will be something they’ll expect.

I believe the famine that is spoken of in Chap. 8 will occur in the Great Chastisement, when all the churches will be shut down and all the priests will need to go into hiding. People will crave a valid teaching of the Lord and won’t be able to find it. It will be a famine of our own making.

And with Chapter 9, I think that was fulfilled even before the creation of the State of Israel. One of the wonders of Israel is how fertile the land became under the hands of Jews who returned to Israel to work the land. “Innocents Abroad” by Mark Twain describes a deserted and dry land. Yet it’s been shown that with every Jew who made aliyah, the land grew more fertile. Weather records show that every year where Jews returned, more rain fell on Israel, with a direct correlation between the number of returning Jews and the amount of rainfall (i.e., when more Jews returned, the rainfall was greater than in years where not as many Jews returned.) The years of greatest rainfall on record are 1948 (when Israel became a nation in a day) and 1967 (when Jerusalem was re-united).

I think Amos 9:15 is something we REALLY need to pay attention to with all the talk of splitting Jerusalem again. Once the land has been returned to Israel, I pity the nation that opposes G_D by trying to take it away from them.

 

[SHW]

Don’t forget that the word used to describe the basket of reeds that Moses was placed in literally translates into an ARK of reeds. So that is another shadow or type of the perfect Ark, one that saves.

Thanks for pointing that out. I had no idea!

 

[Muzhik]

Howard, after reading Amos, you might want to read Obadiah and compare what it says there to what it says in Psalm 83.

I’m just sayin’ …

 

[SHW]

I think Amos 9:15 is something we REALLY need to pay attention to with all the talk of splitting Jerusalem again. Once the land has been returned to Israel, I pity the nation that opposes G_D by trying to take it away from them.

The Jews believe that they will get the Temple Mount back by an act of God.

I do wonder if it is now God’s plan that the Jews share part of the original “land area” with Christians due to the Jews’ rejection of Christ. Christians have a right to their holy shrines in Israel since the first Christians were ethnically Jews. I have no idea if my ancestors were Jewish. Of course, I do know that we all can call Noah our ancestor since all other people perished except his family and we know that he was righteous before God.

 

[Howard_me]

To both SHW and Muzhik --------- THANKS FOR YOUR MOST KIND WORDS. IT DOES AN OLD MAN’S HEART GOOD TO KNOW HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT SCRIPTURE ARE SHARED SO CLOSELY BY OTHERS.

To SHW --------- Thanks especially for the links to Catholic commentaries on the Book of Amos. Just what I was hoping to find out by posting my questions on CAF.

To Muzhik ------- You have added some insites about Israel that I never had. One question though. What is the meaning of the word aliyah** and spelling the name God as G_D?

Do hope to communicate further with both of you via CAF. **

 

[Muzhik]

To both SHW and Muzhik --------- THANKS FOR YOUR MOST KIND WORDS. IT DOES AN OLD MAN’S HEART GOOD TO KNOW HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT SCRIPTURE ARE SHARED SO CLOSELY BY OTHERS.

To Muzhik ------- You have added some insites about Israel that I never had. One question though. What is the meaning of the word aliyah**** and spelling the name God as G_D?

Do hope to communicate further with both of you via CAF.

My apologies. “Aliya” is a Hebrew word that means “return” (among other things). When a Jew emigrates to Israel, that is called “making aliya.”

As for spelling God as G_D, that is a tradition/habit I picked up from a number of Jewish web sites. Traditionally, the name of the Lord (in Hebrew, HaShem = Lord) is too sacred to be spelled out, so a dash or underline is substituted for the “o”, ergo, G_D. I do it without thinking now. Also, I frequently use “HaShem” when talking about G_D. “The Holy Spirit” is Ruach HaKodesh.

 

[DawnInTexas]

<snippity, snip>…

I think Amos 9:15 is something we REALLY need to pay attention to with all the talk of splitting Jerusalem again. Once the land has been returned to Israel, I pity the nation that opposes G_D by trying to take it away from them.

FROM WND’S JERSALEM, BUREAU
Obama promises Arabs Jerusalem will be theirs
Official: President said Palestinian state with holy city capital ‘in American interest’

Speaks volumes (my words):

worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99664

"Remember, we win!"
-Father John Corapi

God Bless.
+Pax, -Dawn

 

[SHW]

To both SHW and Muzhik --------- THANKS FOR YOUR MOST KIND WORDS. IT DOES AN OLD MAN’S HEART GOOD TO KNOW HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT SCRIPTURE ARE SHARED SO CLOSELY BY OTHERS.

To SHW --------- Thanks especially for the links to Catholic commentaries on the Book of Amos. Just what I was hoping to find out by posting my questions on CAF.

To Muzhik ------- You have added some insites about Israel that I never had. One question though. What is the meaning of the word aliyah**** and spelling the name God as G_D?

Do hope to communicate further with both of you via CAF.

You’re welcome. I am linking another “thread” for you so that you can learn how to “search” Haydock’s Commentary for specific “words.”

tinyurl.com/m3t7my

 

[Muzhik]

Howard,

Here are some books you might find interesting:

Epicenter 2.0: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future by Joel C. Rosenberg. DEFINITELY a must read – it’s the one book I recommend to people who want to have a crash course on events in the middle east.

Temple At The Center Of Time: Newton’s Bible Codex Finally Deciphered and the Year 2012 by David Flynn. I’m working my way through this book now, and I’m telling you, it’s a head-scratcher. I don’t know if you knew that all the scientific writings that Newton did was only one-quarter of his written output. The other three-quarters was theology. He taught himself Greek and Hebrew so he could read the ancient sources in their original languages. He had to determine the length of the Sacred Cubit (used as THE measurement in the Bible for the Ark, the Temple, everything) in order to make his calculations on the size of the Earth, so he could make his calculations on the effects of gravity. It turns out the Sacred Cubit is 20.25 inches long (plus or minus 0.01 inches), and apparently was the basis for about a dozen other measuring units used throughout the world. The present-day “inch” is related to one of those measuring units, as was several Japanese units. The thing is, the number “2025” keeps cropping up in different sections of the Bible. This book attempts to link all those sections with Newtons theological works. An interesting read all around.

Prophecies for the Era of Muslim Terror: A Torah Perspective on World Events by Menachem Kohen. I haven’t read this book (yet) but it’s recommended by a number of my friends. One of the sections has to do with the Great Drought that lasted for 1800 years from 70AD until the Jews started returning.