The City of God's Name - Part 2

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

The video version of this teaching is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-tsEgfcXzA&t=11s

The scripture reading is Amos 9:7-15

In a non-leap year cycle, this passage, Amos 9:7-15, is paired with last week’s passage of Ezekiel 22:1-18.  As such, it is a continuation of the judgment pronounced on Jerusalem even though Amos was written about one hundred years earlier than Ezekiel and the subject of Amos’s prophesies was the northern kingdom of Israel not Jerusalem or Judah. These passages are linked through the theme of exile as a means of purifying or refining his people. The passage in Amos is prefaced by the promised exile of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Amos 9:4 NKJV 4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword, And it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good."

This corresponds to Ezekiel’s pronouncement of exile for Jerusalem resulting in being refined.

Ezekiel 22:15 NKJV 15 "I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you.    

The Ezekiel passage ends in judgment and exile, however the Amos passage ends in restoration and prosperity. How does the judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel apply to the judgment on Jerusalem, the City of God’s name? How does the refining process lead to hope, and ultimately, the coming of the Messiah?

When Solomon built and dedicated the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, God heard Solomon’s prayer and promised that His name, His eyes and His heart would always be on that place.

1 Kings 9:3 NKJV 3 And the LORD said to him: "I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

Amos reminds Israel that God’s eyes are still on Israel; however, at the time of Amos, His eyes were on Israel for their harm and not for their good. God had warned Solomon that this would happen if his sons turned away from following Him.

1 Kings 9:6-7 NKJV 6 "But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 "then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

The passage in Ezekiel stated that Israel had forgotten God. Amos implies the same thing in the next verses of Amos 9 as he reminds Israel of who God is.

Amos 9:5-6 NKJV 5 The Lord GOD of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, And all who dwell there mourn; All of it shall swell like the River, And subside like the River of Egypt. 6 He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth-The LORD is His name.

In other words, Amos is asking Israel if they had forgotten who it was who had His eyes on them! Have they forgotten the power and might of their God? In their arrogance, they took their covenant with God for granted and expected that covenant to protect them from God’s judgment. They thought that they were the exclusive people of God, but Amos tells them that because they have forgotten Him, they are no different than the Ethiopians, that is, they are strangers to Him.

Amos 9:7 NKJV 7 "Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me, O children of Israel?" says the LORD. "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, The Philistines from Caphtor, And the Syrians from Kir?

Further, Israel was not the only nation that God had brought out of servitude. The Stone Edition Chumash states:

In this haftarah, the prophet tells the sinful nations that their transgressions have made them strangers to God, and, if so, there is no reason why He should not punish them in accord with their misdeeds. That He once took them out of Egypt should have made them His loyal servants, but they act no better than do the Philistines and the Arameans.[i]

Amos is also reminding Israel, that God acts on the behalf of people other than themselves! Although God acted on behalf of the Philistines and Syrians or Arameans, He did not take them into covenant with Him. Because Israel was in covenant with God, their judgment would be much harsher.

Amos 9:8 NKJV 8 "Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," Says the LORD.

As God promised through, first, Moses and, then, Solomon, Israel would be exiled from the land. This exile would serve a purpose however; while in exile, God would sift them.

Amos 9:9-10 NAS95 9 "For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a kernel will fall to the ground. 10 "All the sinners of My people will die by the sword, Those who say, 'The calamity will not overtake or confront us.'

God’s sifting process would be perfect and complete. Although our reading of these two verses would lead us to think that the good grain doesn’t fall through the sieve; it is actually saying the opposite. In the sieving process, the sieve is constructed with holes sized so that the small kernels of grain would fall through the sieve but the larger particles of mud and small stones would be trapped in the sieve and discarded. The word for “kernel” in this verse is, tzer-ore’, number 6872 in Strong’s Concordance meaning a parcel, particle, or small stone. It comes from the word “tsaw-rar’, number 6887, meaning to cramp. Figuratively it refers to an adversary, or enemy as well as those who are afflicted, besieged, or in trouble.  Amos is saying that not a single stone or particle of mud would pass successfully through the sieving process with the good grain. Everyone who sins will be found out! Judgment specifically falls on those who say God won’t judge them!

The prophet Jeremiah explains how this judgment on the northern kingdom was a warning to the people of Judah. Judah should have seen God’s judgment on Israel and repented of their idolatries.

Jeremiah 3:8-10 NAS95 8 "And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. 9 "Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 "Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception," declares the LORD.

Every judgment that fell on Israel would fall on Judah as well. Both nations went into exile and experienced God’s sifting process! After the sifting process, God will bring the remnant of His people, both Judah and Israel, back to the land.

Jeremiah 3:18 NKJV 18 "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.

Amos explains that this will be the time of the restoration of the tabernacle that David built.

Amos 9:11 NKJV 11 "On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;

What is this tabernacle of David’s that had fallen down? The Hebrew word translated as tabernacle is “sukka,” number 5520 in Strong’s Concordance meaning a hut, lair, booth, tabernacle or tent. It is the same word used for the temporary booths or sukkot that God commanded the children of Israel to build and live in during the Feast of Sukkot. They were to do this in commemoration of their dwelling places in the wilderness.

Leviticus 23:42-43 NKJV 42 'You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 'that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.'"

The tabernacle or sukka of David would be a reminder of when God spoke to them at Mt. Sinai and they were all of one accord in accepting the covenant with God. It would remind them of when God spoke to them in a thundering voice with lightning touching each of the people in the camp when God took them for His own people. It would remind them of an as yet future event when God once again speaks to them in the wilderness of the nations.

Ezekiel 20:35-36 NKJV 35 "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 "Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD.

But this wasn’t just any sukka, it was the sukka of David. E. W. Bullinger in the Companion Bible equates the sukka of David with the tabernacle that David built to house the Ark of the Covenant before the temple was built.

“Erected on Zion by David (2 Samuel 6:17) before the Temple was built on Moriah by Solomon. In Amos 7:7-9, it was seen to be “out of plumb”, therefore on the point of falling.”[ii]

David built this tabernacle after all Israel had accepted him as king over Israel. He built it after he had conquered Jerusalem, defeated the Philistines, and claimed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. At that time, God promised David that the throne of his son would be established forever. However, David’s sons turned away from the LORD. At David’s death, he recognized that his house didn’t live up to the standards for a king over God’s kingdom. As a result, Israel rebelled against the house of David. The kingdom of Israel was split; the nation was not united under the one true God. Symbolically, the sukka that David built to house the Ark of the Covenant had fallen!

When God brings Israel back to the Promised Land, the sukka of David will be restored! God will raise it up again. Isaiah writes of the day that all of Jerusalem will be holy and the city purged of the blood spilled in it. At that time, a sukka will be over all the land of Israel.

Isaiah 4:3-6 NKJV 3 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy-everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5 then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

The tabernacle or sukka over the city of Jerusalem will be exactly like the glory of God’s presence that was with them in the wilderness on their journey to the Promised Land! The promise of the tabernacle of David for a righteous kingdom will be fulfilled!

2 Samuel 23:3-4 NKJV 3 The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: 'He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, Like the tender grass springing out of the earth, By clear shining after rain.'

But, this is not all that God says through the prophet Amos. For a second time in this passage, God declares that He is the God not just of Israel but of all mankind. The Septuagint provides the first and perhaps best translation of Amos’ words about the purpose of the restoration of the tabernacle of David in Amos 9:11

“that the remnant of men, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek me, saith the Lord who does all these things.”[iii]

In this version of Amos 9:11, the Gentiles will seek shelter in the sukkah of David. James, the brother of Yeshua, refers to this version of Amos 9:11 when speaking about the inclusion of the Gentiles in the kingdom of heaven.

Acts 15:13-17 NKJV 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 "Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 "And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 16 'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.'

In this sense, James is stating that the sukkah of David had already been restored at the death and resurrection of Yeshua. Peter repeatedly refers to the fulfillment of the promises to David in Acts 2. W. Edward Glenny in “The Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics: Amos 9 and Acts 15” published in the Bulletin of Biblical Research writes:

In that chapter, Peter’s sermon on Pentecost includes several references to Davidic fulfillment (Ps. 132:11, 16:10, 110:1) to prove that Jesus is Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:32). And it is as Lord and Messiah, enthroned at God’s right hand in fulfillment of Davidic promises that Jesus administers salvation in this age to “whoever” calls on his name (2:21) and “pours out God’s Spirit on all flesh” (2:33).[iv]

The Gentile inclusion in the kingdom of God was a result of the restoration of the Davidic line and the fulfillment of the promises to David. The final fulfillment of this prophecy in Amos will be when God physically returns the children of Israel to the Promised Land. It will be when all of God’s children are sifted and only those who are holy to the Lord will be in Jerusalem. The land of Israel will be restored and the prosperity of the land will be unequaled.

Amos 9:13 NKJV 13 "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it.

The restoration of the land will be brought about by the people that God gathers back to the land; they will make it bloom!

Amos 9:14-15 NKJV 14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them," Says the LORD your God.

The remaining Gentiles will hear that God is with the people of Israel and will be drawn to God.

Zechariah 8:23 NKJV 23 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"

The refining process that will bring the children of Israel back to Jerusalem as a holy people and make Jerusalem a city holy to God is ongoing. Spiritually, the tabernacle of David has been raised and the Gentiles are flocking to it as they have since the days of the apostles starting with the Gentile Cornelius. Physically, we await the day of Yeshua’s return when He will sit on David’s throne and rebuild the sukkah David built to house the Ark of the Covenant. But, in that day, the Ark of the Covenant will not be needed as the seat of God’s throne on Earth. The entire city of Jerusalem would be His throne.

Jeremiah 3:16-17 NKJV 16 "Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days," says the LORD, "that they will say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore. 17 "At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.

Yeshua, the Living Word of God and the Bread of Life, will be sitting on the throne of David. God’s people will be dwelling safely in the land under Yeshua’s rulership. They will be permanently planted in the land never to be removed again. Jerusalem will once more be the city of God’s Name and His dwelling place forever!

Study Questions:

1. Discuss the connection of this teaching to the Torah Portion Kedoshim, Leviticus 19:1-20:27.

2. When David built the tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant, what was the spiritual state of Israel? What will be the spiritual state of Israel when God raises up the fallen sukkah of David?

3. Jeremiah chapter 3 seems to be a parallel passage to the Ezekiel 22:1-22 and Amos 9:7-15 passages. What further light does it shed on the relationship between Israel and Judah? What further light does it shed on God’s dealing with Israel and Judah?

4. Ezekiel 20:33-44 further explains God’s dealing with the house of Israel in the wilderness of the peoples and their return to the land. How does God deal with the house of Israel and bring them home?

5. In Acts 15:13-18, James referred to more than one prophet while mostly quoting Amos 9:11-12. W. Edward Glenny notes the influence Zech. 8:22-23 and Isaiah 45:21 may have had on the Septuagint translation of these verses in Amos. Peter’s testimony in Acts 2 relies on these passages as well as Zech. 2:14-17 and Jeremiah 12:16. Our Torah portion from last week included instructions about the “stranger who dwells among you in Leviticus 17 and 18. How do these passages refer to the inclusion of Gentiles into Israel?

6. What new insight did you gain by watching this video? How do you respond to this new insight? How will you realign your life based on this new understanding?

© 2019 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.

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[i] The Stone Edition Chumash. Rabbi Nosson Scherman and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz. Mesorah Publications, ltd. ©2007. Page 1174.

[ii] Companion Bible. E. W. Bullinger. Kregel Pulbications, 1990. Page 1243.

[iii] Septuagint. Amos 9:11. https://biblehub.com/sep/amos/9.htm

[iv] W. Edward Glenny. Bulletin for Biblical Research 22.1 (2012) The Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics: Amos 9 and Acts 15. Page 18. https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/bbr22a01.pdf