Amos 5:21

"Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?"

Key Reflection

Amos 5:21 challenges the Israelites to reconsider their expectations of the day of the Lord, a prophesied time of divine judgment and deliverance. For Amos, this pivotal moment would not be a time of joy and light for those who have strayed from God’s commandments but rather a period of profound darkness and despair, devoid of any hope or salvation. This stark image underscores the severity of Israel's sins and the gravity of impending divine judgment, inviting the people to seek genuine righteousness and justice in their lives.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

I hate, I despise your feasts -Israel clave to its heart’s sin, the worship of the true God, under the idol-form of the calf; else, it would fain be conscientious and scrupulous. It had its “feasts” of solemn “joy” and the “restraint” of its “solemn assemblies” , which all were constrained to keep, abstaining from all servile work. They offered “whole burnt offerings,” the token of self-sacrifice, in which the sacrificer retained nothing to himself, but gave the whole freely to God. They offered also “peace offerings,” as tokens of the willing thankfulness of souls at peace with God.

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