Amos 9: Understanding Amos' conversational style of writing

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer for Avondale College

Australia

25 February 2010

For many readers, this will be one of the most horrified chapters in the Bible since some of the translators see in these verses evidence that Israel will be destroyed. The text of Amos 9 actually does not support the destruction of Israel for this reason: God made many promises to and about Israel and He is faithful in character to keep them. He honors His own blessings and words. Secondly, Amos is saying that it is the bad people of Israel that will die. The true Israel will not die since God does not destroy the righteous who is the apple of His eye. So what do we have here: God will give them over to their own decisions that they after constant rejection of constant appeal from Him, succumb to the powers of Satan. He actually says the snake but we know Who: (Lucifer and Satan) that He has in mind.    

A number of things will emerge from this chapter: Amos makes references to certain times in history and in the plan of God but the fact is that they are not in chronological order. What is last can be mentioned first and what is first can be mentioned last. When predictions appear in the prophecy of Amos in this chapter, these predictions are also not in chronological order, and one has to look out for the markers in the phrases that spells out the shift from one Historical or would be Historical Time Zone and the next or past one. There is evidence in this chapter of fastforwarding about the plan of God or of backtracking about the divine plan. Amos did both and one must analyse very carefully not to mix the facts of one event into another. Doing so, one may fall in to a false description of the detail of events and raise a false expectation in people's minds. All the Middle Age Rabbis like Rashi, Redak, Ibn Ezra have decided beforehand which main historical event in the history of Israel (that preceded Amos), they want to choose to apply the events to. Then they try to force all the different time zones mentioned by Amos into the selected or self-allocated time zone of the preteristic interpreter. The result is devastating to the inner context of the text. This is a wrong methodology and one should guard not to operate with such a modus operandi. Let the text speak first before we conclude. 

If I talk about the Second World War in terms very similar to that of the French Revolution, it is wrong to force all my statements into the description of the French Revolution since it was not my intention to even speak of it. I spoke about the Second World War. It is the same with utterances of God to Amos. God does not see only one event but many in history and is willing and able to move up and down the corridors of time to select the examples, illustrations or predictions He wants to make.

We are using the theology of the rest of the Bible to interpret Amos. Why? Because the theology of the rest of the Bible will concur with what God wants to say to Amos in this specific revelation. It will harmonize with Amos and Amos will harmonize with the theology of the rest of the Bible. Why? Because God is consistent in His love and consistent in His message. God does not change. It is part of the hermeneutics of suspicion to allocate to every prophet their own style, own message, contrasting and dissecting each pericope and even allocate it to different hands, authors, redactors or sources. Sources is no problem, and breaks in the writing times of Amos of his own work or combination of a bundle of small essays that he has composed over years, is no problem for the hermeneutics of affirmation. But, when one contrasts and even creates conflict within a book or with the theology of the rest of the Bible, one is playing in the hand of humanistic literary criticism and no longer in a design for the proper reading of the Bible.

God wants us to utilize the theology of the Bible to understand the Bible. What is the theology of the Bible? It is the maximal broad picture after all the small pieces are gathered together. There is no growth of this message, just fragments of it survived. In all probability, contrary to Eichrodt assessments, the full message was already known from the beginning. That is why the theology forms one message, one Gestalt. Why did God layered His message in its present form to us, actually since Moses? Why did He jump around in time zones to describe what He wanted to say? It is because that is the way in normal conversation. In a lecture we give things from a to z, but in conversation, we layered our information and content, jumping back and forth with conversational (now almost non-observant) footnotes and self-interruptions. Humans wrote the books of the Bible, not angels. God's mind or intentions are not fragmented, not jumping back and forth. What God is doing, is that God is adapting His message with human needs and desires, problems and wants in Mind. He wants to keep His listeners listening. He wants to guide humans the way humans are guiding each other in conversational anecdotes. The humanness of God's message is part of God's modus operandi of love towards us.

Gerhard Hasel wished to write a Theology of the Bible, in fact, he said it should be a canonical biblical theology. We know what he meant. Actually, reflecting now on it, a canonical biblical theology in Adventism is in existence. Think of it this way: the theology of the Bible is a large picture that one can see in a distance and it is very helpful and beautiful. When one comes nearer, one realizes that the picture is actually composite of many little puzzle pieces. What God did in Revelation is to present to His prophets and remnant through the centuries, ever since Adam, the total picture. What humans did since Adam is to orally tell each other about the picture and it was vivid upon their minds due to the excellent condition the predeluvian minds were capable of. Only after the flood, with the reduction in lifespan, did the need originate to record the events of that past. Their minds were still capable of a lot of memory and information, so the recording done was either extensive and most lost, or the recording done was only in fragments (bits and pieces) since there was no need to be extensive in description. The Bible revelation is thus bundles of puzzle pieces of the large picture that is in the products of the prophets and scribes for the remnant. So, in modern times, if Christianity is to do exegesis or interpretation of the Bible, the best way is to find the best theology that represents the reality of the Bible the best. That theology is Adventist theology and not Calvinistic Theology, why? Because Adventism has developed further the sanctuary doctrine based upon the Day of Atonement theology of Leviticus 16, the book of Hebrews and judgement themes of the Bible. Calvinism did not fully grasp the impact of the type and antetypical fulfillment. Another problem with Calvinistic Orthodoxy interpretation is preterism. Adventism has set itself free from these barriers by experiencing the dissappointment in 1844 followed by a correct understanding of the Sanctuary Message and secondly, by practicing historicism for prophetic interpretation which is a middle of a road approach for either preterism and futurism, which are the two extremes. Preterism actually leads to prophetic denial and we call it idealism, since the only importance such interpreters see in the Bible is not that God speaks today but that we extrapolate a message from it and we apply it to our lives to get a new message (symbiosis). A third reason why Adventist theology is the best modern developed theology, is because it stands in the long line of tradition in the history of interpretation of the interpreters of affirmation, like Isaac Newton et al. It does not join links with the hermeneutics of suspicion scholars like Feuerbach (modern father of the hermeneutics of suspicion) or with Wellhausen in any way. This is very crucial in a proper operation of the interpretation of prophets in general and Amos in particular. The difference between Adventist theology and other theologies before it from other confessions, is the difference between three-dimensional images in computer games and the older two-dimensional images earlier. Adventist theology strives to be cohesive, harmonious, seeking links and sustainability. Suspicion scholars seek division, separation, and dismantling. To get back to our picture and the puzzle pieces: when the seeker of meaning stands with the puzzle pieces of Amos in his hands, he can now, on the basis of a proper understanding of canonical biblical theology picture, bring those pieces and see where each one of them fit in within the total picture of the divine plan. Without a proper canonical biblical theology, the danger is there that the fragemented pieces of information representing aspects and parts of the broader picture, may be misrepresented or misplaced or parked at a place where they do not belong in reality. There are not several realities represented by these pieces, as the Preterists and Calvinists or Lutherans are promulgating. Interpreters are to find only one spot where they fit it and see the link there. Unless the Bible explicitly claim something to have multiplicity of applications or meanings, such a case should not be forced onto the text. Although Gerhard Hasel could not write the canonical biblical theology before his death in 1994, it is actually in existence in the theology of Adventism in an informal way. The correct reality of the bible is the canonical biblical theology only and only scholars through the centuries who operated with a hermeneutics of affirmation, were close to that reality. Ellen White's works is a fantastic paraphrase or summary of that canonical biblical theology. In Adventist theology, EGW's works serves a navigational role in the decision-making process regarding the exegesis of biblical interpretation. It is highly unlikely that an Adventist will take an opposite position as Ellen White's canonical biblical theology embedded in her works. It is because she expresses the reality of the Bible and in its simplicty of expression, as a tool, the closest with the Bible interpretation. It is the mirror of the Bible. Those who are operating with the hermeneutics of suspicion or with equal importance allocated to extra-canonical literature, will not appreciate the works of Ellen White. Thus, if a person is well read in EGW, well read in the Bible, and well acquainted with Adventist Theology, which is a canonical biblical theology, one is ready to approach the book of Amos for exegesis. Such an approach will allocate a pericope as preteristic when it is necessary from the text, historicistic if that is necessary and futuristic (not to be confused with dispensationalism or Futurism) when that is necessary from the text. Knowing then that preterism, futurism and historicism is twisted within each other in layers by a prophet, due to similar styles in day to day conversation, we are ready to interpret Amos 9.

Amos 9

9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon (`l) the altar, and he said:

       "Strike the lintel and the sideposts shall quake

and break to pieces those who are upon the head of all of them and those remaining with the sword I will slay. Not shall they flee, and not shall they escape."

The very first question we must ask: when did the Lord stand upon the altar? Izak laid upon the altar in Genesis 22 when God wanted Abraham to be a type of the Messiah to come. This is the key. The Day of Atonement event in Leviticus 16 is closely connected to what happened in Genesis 22 and also what Jesus ministry was all about. Isaiah 53 expected the same event. Thus, it is not farfetched or extra-textual to consider the Lord standing upon the altar as actually the Friday afternoon at 15h00 when He gave His life on the cross. Amos says that He stod on/upon the altar. That year was 31 CE. We are told in the gospels that when Jesus blew out His breath that there was a quake and the temple shook and the rocks (ai petrai) split the curtain (katapetasma) apart (eschisthesan) (Matthew 27:51). There are two curtains with the name katapetasma in the temple: the first curtain that separated the inner court from the Holies and the second curtain that separated the Holies from the Most Holies (see the book of Hebrews that talks about the first and second curtain). What shall be broken to pieces is an entity "in the head of all of them". What is this entity otherwise than the snake reference later in the chapter and what is the snake any different than Satan and Lucifer? So this brings us to the victory of Christ on the cross where He gave Satan His final blow. The rest of those who survive this situation in 31 CE, will be disciples and slaves of Satan and they will die with the sword. It is possible that it is a reference to the Jewish rejection of Christ and their wish that the curse may be upon their posterity as well. It may hint to the Jewish persecution through the centuries but also specific to the persecution in 70-73 CE with the destruction of Jerusalem. One can probably say, they could not flee or escape. So many of them died. This is why the reading of Amos 9 is one of the most difficult and painful in the history of mankind. It is wrong to say that God take revenge on people. It is not His character. Innocent people died because of the results of mankind orchestrated and guided by Satan and their willingness to follow him. That is a biblical fact. Innocent people who suffer through Satan's results in the history of the Jews rejection of God or Christ, will be fairly judged by God and their is a future afterlife in which they will have a perfect participation in God's plan with the new earth and new heavens on behalf of fallen mankind who accepted the relationship with God.  

9:2 If they dig in the grave (Sheol),

       from there My hand will take them.

       And if they climb up the heavens,

       from there I will bring them down.

God's focus of destruction is not upon the evil ones of Israel per se, but as He said in 9:1, against "those who are upon the head of all" of the evil ones. Who are upon the heads of the evil ones? Those who control them and organize evil. Who are they? Humans? They are but the agents of the Evil one. It is Satan that are in the leadership position trying to manipulate and control everyone. It is against him that God places His anger in the first place. Satan and his evil agents will not be able to find a space to hide. In Sheol or Hell or the grave God will find them all eventually to resurrect them for the final eternal death action. It is interesting that the phrase "if the climb up the heavens" is meaningful to us today. In the days of Amos, the only ones who could climb up the heavens, were angels or cases like Henoch and Elijah who could not climb up the heavens but were taken up by God. There is a difference. In our day and age, humans are climbing up the heavens with Airbusses and the role of NASA. Even if wicked people try to create a colony on another planet like Mars or the Moon to get away from this earth, says the text, "I will bring them down".

9:3 And if they hide on the top of Carmel,

       from there I will hunt them and seize them.

       And if they hide from before my eyes in the bottom  of the sea,

      from there I will command the serpent and to bite  them.

In the days of Elijah he found his way to the Carmel to hide from Ahab and Jezebel. The baal prophets had not way to escape the Judgement of God on Carmel that day when Elijah had trouble with them (1 Kings 18-20). But Amos is not using the past tense here, he is talking about a future event. For humans to hide on Carmel is understandable but what is strange for the days of Amos, is how people will hide "in the bottom of the sea"? If one takes a reed and remove the inside barriers and makes a straw out of it, it is possible to sit at the bottom of a river, breathing through the reed so that the enemy soldiers cannot see one. That can be theoretically apply even in Amos' days. But, how to sit at the bottom of the sea with waves pounding back and forth or currents, and how to sit with a reed long enough to sit safely without water coming into the reed, makes it difficult to say that it is applicable to the days of Amos. There is one case though, and that was the case with Jonah in the fish at the bottom of the sea. He wished to hide from God by running away from mission opportunities. But again, Amos is not refering to Jonah since he thinks of many of them (plural). There were not many Jonahs. Again in modern times, we find an excellent example of submarine abilities. That will include again the human agents of Satan. Satan and his angels have access to the bottom of the sea unlimited, even in the days of Amos. This is a very likely a reference to Satan and his angels in particular and his human agents in general. In reverse thinking, why would Satan and his angels want to hide on Carmel? The theme of hiding under mountains, was known to Jesus since He said that if the evil ones will ask the mountains to cover them from the Lord in the eschaton, it will not be possible. If this geographical reference should be taken seriously and not symbolically and allegorically, then one should expect some trouble during the Time of Jacob's trouble (see Daniel 12:1-2) at the time the Messiah will come, from the direction of the Carmel. Is it the Third World Order that will cause these troubles and will they proceed from enemies in Syria and enemies in Lebanon to Israel as far as Carmel?

Will they attempt to run back reaching Carmel when the Messiah comes? The geographical reference in Amos may be linked to the global cry to global mountains by the evil when the Messiah comes. Thus, among the many cries around the world for mountains to hide them from the glory of God there will also be a special group on mount Carmel.

There is another pericope that must be brought to this verse and that is the one by Isaiah 14:12-14.

In this pericope, Lucifer said in his heart that he wanted to climb up to the throne of God, up on the mountains. But he was cast out of heaven and in the words of Isaiah, thrown down. We also know that Satan had access to heaven until the cross in 31 CE. There his destiny was finalized with the death of God for the salvation of all. Why would Satan want to hide on Carmel? Since that is the place where the baal prophets, his agents wanted to hide themselves from the destruction of the glory of the Lord that day with Elijah on mount Carmel. A motif of Rebellion in Heaven and casting out thereof at calvary in 31 CE may be predicted by Amos in 782 BCE in similar fashion as Isaiah in Isaiah 14:12-14 and later by Daniel 8:11 and Ezechiel 28. The destruction of the baal prophets that day on mount Carmel may be seen in the light of the fact that also their supreme command, Satan was there that day. The destruction served a typical lesson to all of what Satan will go through at the end of time. The Middle Age Jewish commentator Redak (1157-1236) said that there are caves on the peaks of mount Carmel.

9:4 And if they go in captivity before their enemies

       from there I will command the sword and to slay them.

       I will place my eyes upon them

       to the evilness and not to the goodness.

The canonical biblical theology represents the idea that God hates sin but loves the sinner. It is cardinal in the works of Ellen White as well. She understood that point very well. Here it is said that the Lord is not looking at the sinner per se but to the evil deeds that they committed. God places His eyes not on the sinner but on the sins that were and are committed. If Satan was in mind in the previous verses, now it is definitely humans and the human agents or disciples of Satan. Only humans will go into captivity. The punishment eye of God will not look at those who have a relationship with Him. Their goodness is not necessary to look at here. The executive judgement only fix His eyes on the evil deeds of the evil ones. It was said by Jesus that those who are in Christ does not appear in Judgement but goes over automatically. Why? Because the eye of God was fixed on the substituted evil of His Son on Calvary in 31 CE and that act forever swang the situation in favor to all those with a relationship towards Him.

9:5 And the Lord, Lord of hosts,

       He who touches upon the earth and it quakes,

       and they shall mourn, all who dwell in it.

       and it rises like the Nile, all of it,

       and then sinks like the Nile of Egypt.

At the coming of Christ, the glory of the Lord shall make everything on earth quake, as Habakkuk expressed later in 520 BCE so explicitly. Nations mourn because of the coming of the Lord, since they are not ready. The earth will rise up and down like the river of Egypt. Amos must have visited Egypt at a time since he is familiar with the Nile and also with its rise and sinking phenomena.

9:6 Who builds in heavens, Who has taken it up

       and His company upon the earth He has founded,

       The One Who calls for the waters of the sea

       and pours them out over the face of the land?

       Lord is His name.

The New Testament in John 14:1-3 tells us that the Father has prepared mansions in heaven. Amos already in this verse in Amos 9:6. The Creator of the World built in heaven and then took it up. We are told that the New Jerusalem will be brought down at the end of time, see Revelation 21. The New Jerusalem is moble which means it can move up or down. In this case, it moved up and in Revelation 21 it will move down. The remnant was found by God on earth, it is said here in this verse. Tsunamis or the Flood can be created by God very easily. It is the Lord who is so powerful. Every time there was a disaster of water, there is a reason and a good reason for it. Satan is the master destroyer but when a signal of time has to occur because it is late in history, then its purpose is that it must serve as a reminder of the closeness of the end. 

9:7 Are you not like the sons of Cushites to me

       declares the Lord.

       Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,

       and the Philistines from Caphtor

       and the Arameans from Kir?

Three times are in mind here: Cain's curse about 2000 years before the Flood in 2521 BCE, Israel's Exodus from Egypt in 1450 BCE and the Philistines arrival from Caphtor in 1183-1094 BCE. The other example is the arrival of the oppression from the Arameans ca. 853 BCE from Kir. Where is Kir? It is probably a reference to the Sumerogram for land, used in Amos days by the Neo-Assyrians as KUR.

9:8 Behold the eyes of the Lord Lord is upon the sinful               
        kingdom.

       "I will destroy it

       from upon the face of the earth completely,

       for I will not destroy

       the house of Jacob"

       declares the Lord.

The judgemental eyes of the Lord is upon the sinful kingdom. It does not mean all kingdoms are sinful. It will be destroyed from the face of the earth completely. Total eradication is anticipated. Why? Since sin and Satan will be eradicated forever. What will not be eradicated is the spiritual house of Jacob. This is not the bloodline of the Jews at all. God does not function in the canonical biblical theology with irresponsible destruction left, right and center. There is a purpose and a will to self-destruction that places them in the category of destruct ones. It also safeguards those in relationship with Him from any destruction. He will protect them since they are the apple of His eye.

9:9 "For behold I, the One Who commands,

       and I will scatter in all the nations

       the house of Israel

      as it is shaken in a sieve

       and not shall fall the hostile earth.

This is the Creator speaking that He is the One Who commands. He said that He will scatter the house of Israel in all the nations. With a sieve flour are shaken and that which remains in the sieve is jumping around, separated from that which falls to the bottom. What is in the bottom is sometimes the good that will be used and what is in the top is the rejected part. The hostile earth (as we translated tsirrar = hostile and as an adjective to earth) shall not pass the scrutiny of judgement, the sieve. Thus, it will remain in the sieve to be rejected or dumped. Christ once said that He has 99 sheep that does not belong to this stall and He has to take care of them too. If the earth is the lost sheep of the universe, then 99 other unfallen worlds are there for Him to take care of? Would that then mean 99 worlds fell through the sieve, since they were not hostile but this sinful and hostile world does not fall through the sieve and has to be dealt with in the executive judgement?

9:10 By the sword shall they die

      all the sinners of my people 

       the ones who say,

       'not shall hasten and approach on us the evil'.

Spiritual true Israel shall not die. This is promised to Abraham and to all the ancestors through a set of repeated covenants. It is the sinners of God's people that will die. Satan was Lucifer and part of the inner circle of God as close as creatures can come to God. But, he will die an eternal death. These persons from the people of God make observations that the Evil shall not hasten and approach on them. They deny Satan's impact on them. They feel secure similar to the church of Laodicea in Revelation who says they can see but they are blind. Selfdeception is part of their composite. They feel in this verse that Satan will not hasten to them or approach them.

9:11 "In that day I will restore

       the tent of David, the fallen one.

       I will repair their broken places,

       and its ruins I will raise up,

       and build it as in the days of eternity (olam),

This is a very interesting verse. The key word to take note of, is the expression "eternity" or olam, at the end of the verse. That term will control or navigate the interpretation of the verse. If one is claiming that the word means just (from of old, or days of yore) then one is going to have all kinds of possibilities that includes the construction and repair of the temple in the days of Ezra 4 and 7, in 457 BCE.

If eternity is the meaning here, then it means that the earthly temple, that was a type of the eternal temple in heaven, the perfect temple, was imperfect and sometimes broken and ruined, but in the eschaton, God will restore that broken concept on earth by a perfect rebuilding and restoration program that will bring perfection unto eternity for His remnant after the destruction of Israel.

All fallen tabernacle stuctures (Davidic), the temple of  Solomon, Ezra or Herodian structures are meant here. They are imperfect replicas of what God showed Moses in Heaven. They were the types of the perfect antetype. Christ became the temple function for us in the book of Hebrews. He took over the physical stuctures in His actions on our behalf for the atonement of humanity. Thus, in the eschaton, when He completed this appeal on our behalf in the Heavenly courts (since legalities are connected to the temple system), He will appear and construct on the new earth (see Revelation 22) near or in the New Jerusalem, a temple for eternity, for the remnant of God. The purpose of the temple is atonement in our sinful era but in eternity, it is a dwellingplace or Emmanuel of the Shekinah, the glory of God. The Rebellion in Heaven history (of Lucifer becoming Satan), has in effect started in the Heavenly sanctuary and restoration of that sanctuary will also happen in Heaven. This is a principle in Adventism that was clearly demonstrated by Edward Heppenstall in his book, Our High Priest. Cleansing the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14 is very relevant to this destruction by Satan and his actions. In this chapter of Amos 9, God is against the Evil one, the evil ones of his people and thus against sin. He is dealing with sin. The context of the cleansing of the sanctuary after 2300 years is also within this context of Satan and his actions. It is the greatest disaster that ever occured in the universe. All evil, all pain, all disasters, all innocent death cases, are parked at the door of Satan's actions in the Heavenly Sanctuary near the throne of God. Isaiah 14:12-14 is very clear on this as well as Daniel 8:11 and Ezechiel 28.

9:12 "In order that they inherit the remnant of Edom

       and all the nations which is called My name upon them," declares
        the Lord, Who will do this thing.

The spiritual remnant of all spiritual territories, that means,  from all nations and all countries will unitedly be together and live together in eternity. This is the canonical biblical perspective. It is the theology of the Old and New Testaments, regardless whether Judaism claims ethnic Jewish applications for the Old Testament. A careful reading of the Old Testament indicates that the divine plan had in mind all nations, not only one. One was only chosen to be the instrument or agency to pass the message along to the others. All is about the glory of God not the glory of man or ethnic Israel. Israel is a relationship with God only and not a blood status. It is also not a geographical zone although physical Israel was chosen for the revelation of God to humanity. To be selected by God for a task does not make the individual inherently of a qualitative high ranking, since Nebuchadnezzar was chosen for the dreams of the future history of empires in Daniel 2. This principle is very clear in the Bible.

The Jewish commentator Rashi (1040-1105) felt uncomfortable with the first line and rephrased it in inverted order: "in order that Israel, upon whom My name is called, inherit the remnant of Edom and all the nations". The other Jewish commentator, Redak (1157-1236) indicated that in Messianic times, Israel will inherit the land of Edom. 

9:13 "Behold days are coming," declares the Lord,

       "and the reaper shall be overtaken in/with the  plowman and
        the treader of grapes with the one who carries the seed,

       and shall drip, the mountains, sweet wine

       and all the hills shall melt.

What is interesting in the style of Amos writing in this verse is the compact style of description, almost cryptic. Look for example at the literal rendering in the following: "and shall drip, the mountains, sweet wine". Where are the prepositions to smooth out the meaning of the verse? Absent. One must remember that a number of reasons can be given for the absence of necessary particles and prepositions in the syntax here: Amos was old, Amos spoke too fast and the copy scribe of Amos' dictation making the  notes wrote only cryptic. Amos had a diary or notebook which contained cryptic notes in this sentence and he left it like the notebook and did not extend the syntax with prepositions. It is also possible that Amos wrote it that way the day the Lord spoke to him and later he did not want to change it, since that was the way he recorded it firstly. The prophet-scribe, Amos is faithful to his pretext.

When we come to the aspect of meaning in this verse, we need to look at the role of spiritual harvest in the canonical biblical theology. The concept of harvest is used throughout the Bible to indicate the reaping of spiritual people who has a relationship with God from this world which is the field with problems created by Satan. This world is Satan's territory after he has been thrown out of Heaven. Salvation through methods of evangelism and missionwork is harvesting the faithful from the faithless. The faithful are the seeds and the faithless are the weeds. Christ said that when He comes, His reward of resurrection is with Him and thus, since 1844 (which is the end period of the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14 following the biblical principle of a year-day prophecy for prophetic period reckoning). Since then Christ is reaping the faithful in the Investigative Judgement that will last until the Second Coming. That is why He is ready to resurrect them since He knows who they are. After the Second Coming, the evil ones will be brought together for the great fire or Hell as it is known in scripture (Gehenna). Adventism has indicated that a number of events will take place between the Second Coming of Christ and the Hell event. Especially the book of Revelation with the millennium concept places the destruction of the wicked after the millennium.

The verse do say that the "hills will melt". This may be attached to the concept of the Hell that will destroy the wicked or the weeds that were burnt in the illustration of Christ.

What we need to explain, is why the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman. We know that after the harvest the next step is to plow again to prepare the land for the next sowing. The treader of grapes will be overtaken by the sower with the seed. The harvest is still in progress when the sower turns up to sow the seed. Our question is this: how come the one farming event is fused with the next? Why do the events intersect each other? Do we have here a prediction of global warming in future and the El-Nino shift will result in situation where the time of the reaping will be overtaken by the time of the plowing or the time of the treading of grapes will be overtaken by the sowing of seed? If this is the case, it would place this verse in our time.

A very interesting interpretation was made by the Jewish commentator Malbim (1808-1879) who translated and interpreted "the one who carries the seed" as "the Messiah, the One Who carries the seed or remnant of Israel" (in the eschaton).

9:14 And I will return the captivity of my people

       and they will rebuild the desolate cities

       and live in them.

       And they shall  plant vineyards and drink their wine;

       they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

In heaven, there will be planting and enjoying of fruit. Isaiah expressed a similar idea. The Middle Age Jewish  commentator, Redak (1157-1236), also saw the importance of Isaiah 65:21 here. In conjunction with the previous verse, the great reaping of God of both the good (first at Second Coming) and the evil (at the Hell event after the millennium) will be overtaken by the ploughing and sowing events of the righteous in heaven, planting and eating the fruits thereof. The return of the captivity of My people is just a promise similar to that of Ezra 4 and 7. They also returned there. But, the next verse, verse 15, prevents us from getting excited with Ezra 4 and 7 as application. The word eternity does not sound like a historical application. It is neither a hyperbole or rhetorical device. God does not lie. What He says, He does. He does not speak rhetorical and do less.

The Jewish commentators saw in the returning from captivity here the historical captivities of 723 BCE and 538 BCE. That is the case with Mezudath David in the 18th century.

9:15  "I will plant them upon their land,

       and not shall they be uprooted any longer (`wd)

       from upon the land which I have given them,"

       says the Lord your God.

The use of (any longer = `wd) takes all these verses outside the realm of this world and places it in the next world. It is in heaven that the fulfilment is. Hebrews 11 talks about a city that Abraham was longing for and could not find on this earth (even after visitin geographical Israel). If Moses and Elijah is in heaven, why would any geographical piece in our current world be significant? Are they to come down to a lesser grade abode in future? That makes no sense. God will plant the spiritual remnant upon their land that He will give them after the new earth is created (which will follow the event of the Hell or fire that will burn all evil).