Amos 9:11-15

The Restoration of David's Kingdom (Cp Acts 15.16-17)

11 On that day I will raise up

the booth of David that is fallen,

and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins,

and rebuild it as in the days of old;

12 in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom

and all the nations who are called by my name,

says the LORD who does this.

13 The time is surely coming, says the LORD,

when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps,

and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed;

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it.

14 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.

15 I will plant them upon their land,

and they shall never again be plucked up

out of the land that I have given them,

says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:11-15, NRSV)

Amos concludes his book by announcing the restoration of David's kingdom (Amos 9:11-15), which anticipates the end of David’s dynasty, “the booth of David that is fallen” (v. 11). Amos prophesied during the reign of Uzziah (Amos 1:1) in the eighth century B.C. (783-742 B.C., NOAB, 2^nd ed., p. OT 339), some two centuries before the fall of Jerusalem (587/586 B.C.) The date of Amos’ prophecies is dated “two years before the earthquake,” which “cannot be precisely dated” ( R. Lansing Hicks and Walter Bruggemann, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Amos 1:1); though some have suggested an approximate date of 761 B.C.). Amos himself must have looked forward beyond the judgments he was announcing to a time of restoration. Perhaps a later editor made it specific to Judah at a time when the northern kingdom was no more. “Edom was a traditional rival of Judah, not Israel” (Gregory Mobley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Amos 9:12).

The LORD will “raise up/the booth of David that is fallen,/and repair its breaches.” It will be rebuilt “as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11). Normal agricultural activity will resume (vv. 13, 14). “They shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them” (v. 14). The LORD will “plant them upon their land,/and they shall never again be plucked up/out of the land that I have given them” (v. 15).

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 13-17

2:1 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. (2 Thessalonians 1:1-3, NRSV)

Paul has previously told the Thessalonian believers about the Lord’s coming. “For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). He added an implicit warning to be ready, “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2). In today’s passage from Second Thessalonians, he offers a clarification, “that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction” (2 Thess. 1:3). While some believe they see contradictory “eschatological timetables” implied for these two passages, it is likely that Second Epistle offers a clarification of the First. Paul had to leave Thessalonica early, ahead of persecution (Acts 17:10-15). First Thessalonians was written soon after, very likely within weeks of his departure. So, in a sense, both Epistles may be seen as clarification of misunderstandings at Thessalonica.

13 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, NRSV)

In the interval (2 Thess. 2:4-12), Paul elaborates on his reference to “the lawless one” (v. 3), but the remainder of the chapter gives thanks for the Thessalonian believers, chosen by God “as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (v. 13). They are chosen to “obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 14). This thanksgiving echoes the opening thanksgiving (1:3-10), and is followed by a prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father may “comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word” (vv. 16-17).

John 5:30-47

30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But I have a testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

39 "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 I do not accept glory from human beings. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?" (John 5:30-47, NRSV)

This debate with “the Jews” (i.e. Jewish leaders) was occasioned by Jesus’ healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethzatha (Jn. 5:2-9). At first the issue was the healing on the sabbath (vv. 9-10, 16), but Jesus’ assertion, “My Father is still working, and I also am working” (v. 17), introduced the issue of his identity. “For this reason, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God” (v. 18). (The debate will continue on similar terms through chapters 5, 7-10.)

Jesus asserts that he does “the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 5:30). Jesus does not rely on his own testimony (v. 31), but refers to the testimony of John the Baptist (vv. 32-35). But there is “testimony greater than John’s,” that is “the works that the Father has given me to complete,” including the healing of the lame man, which “testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me” (v. 36). With the testimony of “the Father . . . himself” (v. 37a), that amounts to three witnesses, more than the two required by Deuteronomy 19:15 (cf. Deut. 17:6). Jesus challenges the Jews, “You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent [i.e. Jesus]” (vv. 37b, 38). They “search the scriptures” expecting “eternal life” from them, but the scriptures “testify on my behalf,” that is, on Jesus’ behalf–a fourth witness!–(v. 39). But they refuse to accept Jesus (vv. 40, 43), which means they “do not have the love of God in you [i.e. themselves]” (v. 42). Jesus does not have to accuse them; for Moses, the author of the Torah, accuses them (v. 45). They “do not accept” Jesus, but accept “another [who] comes in his own name” (v. 43); they “accept glory from one another [but] do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God” (v. 44). Jesus’ assertions here anticipate his very powerful statement made to the Jews later: “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am” (Jn. 8:58; cf. Ex. 3:14).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com