Amos 9:13

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,.... Or "are coming" (y); and which will commence upon the accomplishment of the above things, when the church of Christ is raised up and established, the Jews

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

Here is another promise made literally for assurance of abundant plenty to the returned captives, and mystically, of abundant grace poured forth in gospel days. But of the letter and history. Behold, mark well, ye poor captived Jews, the days come; the time will certainly come, nay, it hasteth, and whoso lives to return shall see this word performed. The ploughman, who breaks up the ground, and prepares it for sowing, shall overtake the reaper; shall be ready to tread on the heels of the reaper, who shall have a harvest so large, that before he can gather it all in it shall be time to plough the ground and prepare it for the seed for next year’ s crop. So God will take away the reproach of famine (in Ezekiel’ s phrase) from the mountains of Israel. And the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; so great shall their vintage be, that ere the treaders of grapes can have finished their work, the seedsman shall be sowing his seed against next harvest season. The mountains: the Jews did plant the mountains and hills of Canaan with vines, , there were their vineyards. Shall drop sweet wine; the vineyards shall be so fruitful, and new wine so plentiful, as if it did, like trickling streams, run down from the mountains; and all the hills shall melt; or as if whole hills were melted into such liquors. See . It is a lofty strain, and very elegantly expresseth the abundance of outward blessings promised to this people here spoken of. If any will object, It appears not that ever it was so. I answer, It is certain the sins of the returned captives did in very great degrees prevent these blessings, which are here promised under a tacit condition, which they never did fulfil.

Amos 9:13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.Ver. 13. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman] The gospel of peace brings with it the peace of the gospel, and with peace plenty, with the horn of salvation the horn of plenty, a confluence of outward comforts and contentments, as in Solomon’ s days and Constantine’ s (whom God prospered and blessed beyond all that he could have wished, saith Austin, Bonus Deus Constant tantis terrenis implevit muneribus quanta optare nullus auderet. De C. D. l. 5, 25), and Queen Elizabeth’ s whom, for her care to propagate the gospel, he made to be the happiest woman that ever swayed sceptre, as her very enemies were forced to acknowledge: so liberal a paymaster is the Lord, that all his retributions are more than bountiful; and this his servants have not ex largitate, sed ex promisso, out of his general providences, but by virtue of a promise, which is far sweeter. The Masorites have observed, that in this verse are found all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (as also in 26 more verses of the Old Testament), to note, say the Calvinists, that in the kingdom of the Messiah ( In instauratione casulae Davidicae collapsae) there shall be great abundance of all things, et plenum copiae cornu: or, if that should fail, yet plenty of all spiritual benedictions in heavenly things, Ephesians 1:3, and contented godliness, 1 Timothy 6:6, which hath an autarkeia, a self-sufficiency; so that having nothing, a man possesseth all things, 2 Corinthians 6:10. This the prophet expresseth in the following words, by many excellent hyperboles, though (to say sooth) Christus et regnum eius non patiuntur hyperbolen. All words are too weak to set forth the worth of Christ and his kingdom. The plowman shall overtake the reaper] In signis hyperbole, saith Mercer: no sooner shall harvest be ended but seeding shall succeed and that promise be fulfilled, Leviticus 26:5 : all businesses belonging to the tillage of the ground and the inning of the fruit shall have their fit and suitable seasons; where, under the name of corporal blessings, spiritual are to be understood; and indeed those blessings out of Zion are far beyond any other that come out of heaven and earth, Psalms 134:3. And the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed] "Precious seed," Psalms 126:5, sowingseed (as one translates it), drawn out of the seed basket, and cast all along upon the land: the meaning is, that the vintage shall last so long, that the seedsman shall scarcely have time to do his business, for waiting upon the winepress.

(13) Shall overtake the reaper.—So rapidly will the harvest follow the ploughing. These closing verses foreshadow the glories of the restored kingdom of David (comp. Hosea 3:5), wherein we see the germ of the great Messianic prophecies of Isaiah.

Verse 13. The ploughman shall overtake the reaper] All the seasons shall succeed in due and natural order: but the crops shall be so copious in the fields and in the vineyards, that a long time shall be employed in gathering and disposing of them; so that the seasons of ploughing, sowing, gathering the grapes, treading the wine-press, c., shall press on the heels of each other so vast will be the abundance, and so long the time necessary to gather and cure the grain and fruits. We are informed by travellers in the Holy Land, Barbary, c., that the vintage at Aleppo lasts from the fifteenth of September to the middle of November and that the sowing season begins at the close of October, and lasts through all November. Here, then, the ploughman, sower, grape-gatherer, and operator at the wine-press, not only succeed each other, but have parts of these operations going on at the same time. But great fertility in the land, abundance in the crops, and regularity of the seasons, seem to be the things which the prophet especially predicts. These are all poetical and prophetical images, by which happy times are pointed out.

11–15. The Epilogue Amos closes, as the prophets are wont to close their discourses, with the promise of a brighter future. The dynasty of David, though for the time humbled, will be reinstated in its former splendour and power (Amos 9:11-12); and the blessings of peace will be shared in perpetuity by the entire nation (Amos 9:13-15).—On the question of the authenticity of the epilogue, see above, p. 119 ff. In that day] The day which the prophet has in his mind: here, the day of restoration, which is to succeed the catastrophe of Amo 9:8-10. The expression is a common one in the prophets, especially Isaiah, who use it for the purpose of introducing fresh traits in their pictures of the future (see e.g. Isaiah 2:20; Isaiah 3:18; Isaiah 7:18; Isaiah 7:20-21; Isaiah 7:23). will I raise up the fallen booth (or hut) of David, and fence up the breaches &c.] The succâh, or “booth,” was a rude hut—properly one made of intertwined branches; and the word is used of a cattle-shed (Genesis 33:17), of the rough tents used by soldiers in war (2 Samuel 11:11), or by watchmen in a vineyard (Isaiah 1:8; Job 27:18), of the “booth” made by Jonah (Amos 4:5), and of the rude temporary huts, constructed of branches of trees, in which the Israelites dwelt during the Feast of Ingathering, or, as it is also called from this circumstance, the ‘Feast of Booths’ (Leviticus 23:40; Leviticus 23:42; Deuteronomy 16:13). The term itself denotes consequently a very humble structure, which here, in addition, is represented as fallen. In the following words the figure of the booth is neglected; the ‘breaches’ being those of a wall or fortress (cf. Amos 4:3; Isaiah 30:13). These expressions are evidently intended to represent the humbled state of the Davidic dynasty; though what the humiliation actually referred to is, is uncertain. According to some, the allusion is to the loss sustained by David’s house through the revolt of the ten tribes[203] according to others, it is to the future ruin of Judah, which it appears from Amos 2:5 (cf. the words of rebuke in Amos 3:1, Amos 6:1) that Amos contemplated; others, again, suppose the reference to be to the actual overthrow of David’s dynasty by the Chaldaeans in 586 b.c., and infer accordingly that Amos 9:11-15 was an addition made to the original prophecy of Amos during (or after) the Babylonian exile. On the whole, the second view seems the best (cf. p. 122 f.). [203] A reference to the blow inflicted upon Judah by Amaziah (2 Kings 14:13 f.) is doubtful, as this must have happened some 30 years previously, and under Uzziah Judah appears to have rapidly recovered itself.ruins] lit. things torn down. The cognate verb (hâras) is often applied to a wall or fortress (e.g. Micah 5:11; Ezekiel 26:12); it is the exact opposite of the following build (see Ezekiel 36:36; Malachi 1:4). as in the days of old] i.e. the age of David and Solomon.

Behold the days are coming - The Day of the Lord is ever coming on: every act, good or bad, is drawing it on: everything which fills up the measure of iniquity or which “hastens the accomplishment of

13-15. The outward extension of the territory will be followed by internal peace and prosperity. Amos 9:13 promises extreme fertility of the soil (see on Hosea 2:20-21; compare Joe 2:22 ff.; Leviticus 26:5).