The Captivity of Israel Again Amos 9:14

Though Amos the prophet pled on behalf of the LORD concerning the wicked ways of the people of Israel, they continued to rebel against Him. They were to face “judgment” for their actions, and great would be their destruction and captivity. However, Amos the prophet declared that God would restore Israel with a remnant of people, and He would make their produce so abundant they would nearly trample upon one another for the greatness of the harvest and replanting. In chapter nine and verse fourteen of his prophesy, Amos shared how God would “bring again the captivity” of His “people” where we read:

And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste 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.

The verse begins, “And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;” Amos began with the words, “And I will bring again” which means “God will return, come or go back, restore, refresh and repair” “the captivity” or “the exiles, prisoners and those with a former state of prosperity” “of my people” which refers to “God's nation of Israel” “of Israel” which means “God prevails” and was “the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob”, “and they shall build” or “rebuild, establish and cause to continue” “the waste cities” which means “the desolate, appalled, stunned, awestruck and stupefied towns and places of waking which were guarded” “and inhabit them” or “dwell, remain, sit and abide within the cities”. After the judgment of God, He shall “restore” and “rebuild” the dwelling places of the people of Israel.

The verse goes on to say, “and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.” Amos continued, “and they shall plant” which means “to fix, fashion and establish” “vineyards” or “gardens of plants of nobler quality such as a cultivated orchard of olives and grapes”, “and drink” which means “to imbibe or banquet with” “the wine thereof” or “the bubbling up or fermented clusters of grapes”; “they shall also make” which means “the Israelites shall fashion, accomplish, work and produce” “gardens” or “orchards”, “and eat” which means “devour, burn up or feed upon” “the fruit of them” or “the produce, bough and offspring of the vineyards”. When the LORD restores the people of Israel to their land, they would “plant vineyards” that would produce crops from which they would eat and drink.

When we think through these words of Amos, we marvel at the restorative power and grace of God Almighty. Israel rebelled against Him, and His judgment was to fall upon them. However, “restoration” was to replace the punishment they would endure. Sometimes people see the God of the Old Testament as judgmental and mean, yet, if they look close enough, as we have through this study in Amos, they shall see the LORD does not desire for men to perish, and should He bring judgment upon them, He is quick to restore. This shows us God's heart, and by sending His only begotten Son Jesus to die in our place for our pending judgment, He demonstrated His love to us and His desire to “restore” not destroy. May we consider today this loving God with whom we have to do, and should we be suffering “judgment” for our wrongdoings and rebellion, let us have hope that God desires to “rebuild” our lives as He did with the people of Israel.

Next time we shall finish the book of Amos as he shares about how God will plant Israel “upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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