Amos 9:11 - Exposition

In that day. When the judgment has fallen. The passage is quoted by St. James ( Acts 15:16 , Acts 15:27 ), mostly from the Greek, in confirmation of the doctrine that the Church of God is open to all, whether Jew or Gentile. The tabernacle ( sukkah ): hut, or tent (as Jonah 4:5 ); no palace now, but fallen to low esthete, a "little house" ( Amos 6:11 ). The prophet refers probably to the fall of the kingdom of David in the ruin wrought by the Chaldeans. Interpreted spiritually, the passage shadows forth the universal Church of Christ, raised from that of the Jews. Pusey notes that in the Talmud Christ is called "the Son of the fallen." The breaches. The house of David had sustained breaches under the hands of Jeroboam and Joash, and in the severance of the ten tribes at the hands of Assyriaus and Chaldees; these should be repaired. Unity should be restored, the captives should return, and another kingdom should be established under another David, the Messiah. Judah's temporary prosperity under Uzziah and Hezekiah would have been a totally inadequate fulfilment of the prophecy. Prophecies of the temporal and spiritual are, as usual, blended together and run up into each other. His ruins. The destroyed places of David! will build it; Hebrew, her . The whole Jewish Church (comp. Jeremiah 31:4 ; Jeremiah 33:7 ). As in the days of old. The days of David and Solomon, the most flourishing times of the kingdom ( 2 Samuel 7:11 , 2 Samuel 7:12 , 2 Samuel 7:16 ). In the expression, "of old," Hebrew, "of eternity," may lurk an idea of the length of time that must elapse before the fulfilment of the promise. Septuagint, ἀνοικοδομήσω αὐτὴν καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος , "I will build it up as are the days of eternity." This seems to signify that the building is to last forever.