Amos 5:18-20

18-20. The day of Jehovah a day of calamity and ruin.

Woe Introduces frequently announcements of judgment (Isaiah 5:8 ff; Isaiah 10:1, etc.). In the light of Amos’s general attitude it becomes exceedingly doubtful that it “implies commiseration rather than denunciation” (Driver).

Desire Literally, desire for themselves, because they expect it to be a day of triumph.

Day of Jehovah See on Joel 1:15.

To what end R.V., “Wherefore would ye have.” A question of amazement that they should desire that day. What good will it be when it does come? The prophet does not leave them in uncertainty as to what they may expect. Would it not be wiser to shrink from it?

Darkness A picture of calamity and distress (compare Joel 2:2; Joel 2:31; Joel 3:15; Isaiah 5:30; Isaiah 8:22, etc.).

Light A picture of prosperity and salvation.

The awful character of the day of Jehovah is described in Amos 5:19 by illustrations familiar to the prophet and easily understood by the people. Though one danger may be avoided, another is sure to come; escape is absolutely out of the question.

Lion See on Hosea 5:14.

Bear See on Hosea 13:8. From the one the peasant escapes to meet the other; from him he seeks refuge in the house, only to meet his doom there.

Serpent Here is meant, probably, the small adder (Psalms 91:13; Isaiah 11:8), which sometimes hides in the cracks and crevices of old walls, and which “is one of the few serpents that manifest an aggressive disposition” (Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 308). Being disturbed by the terrified fugitive it comes forth to inflict a deadly bite. Amos 5:20 is an emphatic restatement, in the form of a rhetorical question, of the truth that the day of Jehovah is one of utter darkness and despair; there is in it not one ray of light and hope.