Reference: Day of the Lord
Hastings
The day in which Jehovah was expected to punish sinful Hebrews and the enemies of Israel, and to establish at least the righteous remnant of His people in political supremacy. The Hebrews believed implicitly that their God Jehovah was certain to defeat all rivals. Before Amos this view had not reached a definite eschatology, and probably involved only a general expectation of the triumph of Israel and Israel's God. With Amos, however, the conception of punishment became less ethnic and more moral. The sins of Israel itself deserved punishment, and Amos declared that the luxury of the nation, with all its economic oppression, had grown hateful to Jehovah, and unless abandoned would bring fearful punishment (Am 2:6-8; 3:9-15; 5:10-13; 6:4-8). The righteousness of Jehovah demanded that the sins of His people as well as those of the heathen should be punished. After Amos the thought of an awful day of Divine punishment was extended from Israel to a world of sinners. According to Zephaniah (Am 1:2-15; 2:4-15), punishment was now to come upon all wicked persons, both Jews and Gentiles, because of wrong. So, too, the unknown prophet who wrote under the name of Malachi. Ezekiel (Eze 30:2 f., Eze 34:12; 39:8 f.), however, reverted to the same national thought of a 'day of battle,' in which Jehovah would conquer all Israel's foes; and to some extent this same national idea is represented by Joel (Joe 2:18-27). With the later prophets there is to be seen an element of reconstruction as well as punishment in Jehovah's action. Sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are to be punished, but a pious remnant is to be saved, the beginnings of a new Israel.
It is clear that this conception of a great Day of Jehovah underlies much of the Messianic expectation of apocryphal literature. The establishment of a remnant of a pious Israel was the germ of the hope of the Messianic kingdom; and the Day of Jehovah itself became the Day of Judgment, which figures so largely in both Jewish and Christian Messianism. It fact, it is not too much to say that the eschatology of Judaism is really a development of the implications of the prophetic teaching as to the Day of Jehovah.
Shailer Mathews.
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Son of man Prophesy. and thou shalt say, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, - Howl ye. Alas for the day!
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day he is in the midst of his sheep that are scattered, So! will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they were scattered in the day of cloud and thick darkness;
Lo! it is coming, and shall be brought to pass, Declareth My Lord. Yahweh,-the same, is the day whereof I had spoken.
And Yahweh became jealous for his land, - and took pity on his people; Then answered Yahweh, and said to his people: - Behold me! sending you the corn, and the new wine and the oil, so shall ye be satisfied therewith; and I will not make you, any more, a reproach among the nations. read more. And, the Northerner, will I remove far from you, and drive him into a land parched and desolate, with, his face, toward the eastern sea, and, his rear, toward the hinder sea, - then shall come up his ill odour, yea his stench, shall ascend, because he hath shown himself great in doing. Be not thou afraid, O soil, - exult and rejoice, because Yahweh, hath shown himself great, in doing. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for sprouted have the pastures of the wilderness, - for, the tree, hath borne its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine, have yielded their wealth. Ye sons of Zion, then, exult and be glad in Yahweh your God, for he hath given you the seed-rain, in right manner, - Yea he hath caused to descend for you a down-pour, of seed-rain and of the harvest-rain in the first month; So shall the threshing-floors, be filled, with corn, - and the vats, overflow, with new wine and oil. Then will I make good to you the years which were eaten by the swarming locust, the grass locust, and the corn locust and the creeping locust, - even my great army, which I sent among you. And ye shall eat and eat, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Yahweh your God, who hath dealt with you wondrously, - so shall my people, not be abashed, unto times age-abiding. So shall ye know that, in the midst of Israel, I am, and that, I, Yahweh, am your God, and none else, - and my people, shall not be abashed, unto times age-abiding.
So then he said - Yahweh, out of Zion, will roar, and, out of Jerusalem, will utter his voice, - and the pastures of the shepherds, shall mourn, and the top of Carmel, be dried up. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Damascus, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because, with threshing instruments of iron, they have threshed Gilead. read more. Therefore will send a fire, into the house of Hazael, - which shall devour the palaces of Ben- hadad; And I will break the bolt of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant out of the plain of Aven, and the holder of the sceptre out of the house of Eden, - and the people of Syria, shall be exiled, unto Kir, saith Yahweh. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Gaza, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because of their taking into exile the whole body of exiles, to deliver to Edom, Therefore will I send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, - which shall devour the palaces thereof; And I will cut off the inhabitant out of Ashdod, and the holder of the sceptre out of Ashkelon, - and will turn my hand against Ekron, So shall perish the remnant of the Philistines, saith My Lord, Yahweh. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Tyre, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because of their delivering up the whole body of exiles to Edom, and they remembered not the brotherly covenant, Therefore will I send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, - which shall devour the palaces thereof. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Edom, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because he pursued, with the sword, his brother, and stifled his compassions, and his anger tare in pieces evermore, and, his indignation, kept watch perpetually, Therefore will I send a fire into Teman, - which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because of their ripping up the pregnant women of Gilead, that they might enlarge their own boundary, Therefore will I kindle a fire upon the wall of Rabbah, which shall devour the palaces thereof, - with a war-cry in the day of battle, with tempest in the day of storm-wind; And Milcom shall go into exile, - he and his rulers together, saith Yahweh.
Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Judah, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and, his statutes, have not kept, but their falsehoods, have led them astray, after the which their fathers, did walk, Therefore will I send a fire upon Judah, - which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. read more. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Israel, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because they have sold - for silver - the righteous, and the needy - for a pair of shoes:
Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Israel, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because they have sold - for silver - the righteous, and the needy - for a pair of shoes: Who strive to bring the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and, the way of the oppressed, they pervert, - Yea, a man and his own father, go in unto the maid, to profane my holy Name!
Who strive to bring the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and, the way of the oppressed, they pervert, - Yea, a man and his own father, go in unto the maid, to profane my holy Name! And, on pledged garments, they recline, beside every altar, - and, exacted wine, do they drink, in the house of their God.
And, on pledged garments, they recline, beside every altar, - and, exacted wine, do they drink, in the house of their God. Yet it was, I, who destroyed the Amorite, from before them, whose height was, like the height of cedars, and, strong, was he, like the oaks, - but I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath. read more. And it was, I, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, - and led you in the desert, forty years, to take possession of the land of the Amorites; And I raised up, of your sons, for prophets, and, of your young men, for Nazirites, - Was it not even so, ye sons of Israel? Demandeth Yahweh; And yet ye caused the Nazirites to drink wine, - and, on the prophet, laid ye command, saying, Ye shall not prophesy! Lo! I, am pressed under you, - as a full cart is pressed by its sheaves, Therefore shall flight, perish, from the swift, and, the mighty, shall not invigorate his strength, - nor shall, the hero, escape with his life; Nor, he that handleth the bow, make a stand, and, the swift on his feet, shall not escape, - nor, he that rideth on a horse, escape with his life:
Announce it over the palaces in Ashdod, and over the palaces in the land of Egypt, - and say ye - Gather yourselves together upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold ye - the great disorders in the midst thereof, and the oppressed within her. Therefore do they not know how to do right, Declareth Yahweh, who are treasuring up violence and spoil in their palaces. read more. Therefore - Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, An adversary! Yea round about the land, - and he who shall bring down, from thee, thy strength, And spoiled shall be thy palaces. Thus, saith Yahweh, Just as a shepherd rescueth, out of the mouth of the lion, a couple of shankbones, or the tip of an ear, so, shall be rescued the sons of Israel, who are tarrying in Samaria, in the corner of the divan, and on the damask of the luxurious couch. Hear ye and bear witness, throughout the house of Jacob, - Commandeth My Lord, Yahweh, God of hosts: That, in the day I visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, then will I punish, concerning the altars of Bethel, So shall the horns of the altar, be broken off, and they shall fall to the ground; And I will smite the winter house along with the summer house, - and the houses of ivory, shall be destroyed! and the great houses, shall disappear, Declareth Yahweh.
They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh, - and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor. Therefore - because ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them, - Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye not drink the wine of them. read more. For I know how numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins, - ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away! Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb, - Because an evil time, it is!
Who are lying on beds of ivory, and sprawling on their couch of pleasure, - and eating the well-fed of the flock, and the fatted calves out of the midst of the stalls: Who are bawling at the bidding of the harp, - like David, have they invented for themselves instruments of song: read more. Who are quaffing bowls of wine, and, with the best of oils, anointing themselves, - and are not afflicted for the injury of Joseph: - Therefore, at once, shall they go into exile among the first of the exiles, - so shall be disturbed the revelry of sprawlers. Sworn hath the Lord, Yahweh, by his own life, Declareth Yahweh, God of hosts, abhorring am I, the grandeur of Jacob, and, his palaces, I hate, - therefore will I cast off the city and the fulness thereof.
Morish
This cannot be separated from Messiah's day. It is often characterised by judgement: "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness . . . . the day of the Lord is great and very terrible." Joe 2:2,11,31; Mal 4:1. "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night; for when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." 1Th 5:2-3. "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2Pe 3:10. This scene is followed by 'THE DAY OF GOD' in 2Pe 3:12, which ushers in the new heavens and the new earth.
It is important to keep the 'day' quite distinct from the coming of the Lord to fetch His saints; for many have misapplied the term, and it has been constantly asserted that the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written to show the saints that it was wrong to be expecting the return of the Lord; whereas the fact is they thought the day of the Lord had come (though the First Epistle keeps the two things quite distinct: compare 1Th 4:13-18 with 1Th 5:1-4), and this could not come until Antichrist was revealed. There will be judgements before the millennium, and there will be judgements after the millennium, so that we may regard the Day of the Lord as extending through the millennium: it will be 'the Lord's' day in contrast to 'man's' day.
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A day of obscurity and deep gloom, a day of cloud, and thick darkness, as dusk, spread over the mountains, - a people, many and bold, like whom, hath not been from age-past times, and, after whom, shall not be again unto the years of generation after generation.
And, Yahweh, hath uttered his voice, before his host, for great indeed is his camp, for bold is he who executeth his word, - for great is the day of Yahweh, and awful exceedingly, Who then shall endure it?
The sun, shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, - before the coming of the great and awful day of Yahweh.
For lo! the day, cometh, that burneth as a furnace, - and, all the proud and everyone who worketh lawlessness, shall be, stubble, and the day that cometh, shall consume them utterly, saith Yahweh of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are falling asleep, - lest ye be sorrowing, even as the rest also, who are without hope; For, if we believe that, Jesus, died, and rose again, so, also will, God, bring forth with him, them who have fallen asleep through Jesus; read more. For, this, unto you, do we say, by a word of the Lord, - that, we, the living who are left unto the Presence of the Lord, shall in nowise get before them who have fallen asleep; Because, the Lord himself, with a word of command, with a chief-messenger's voice, and with a trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven, - and, the dead in Christ, shall rise, first, After that, we, the living who are left, together with them, shall be caught away, in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: - and, thus, evermore, with the Lord, shall we be! So then, be consoling one another with these words.
But, concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, - ye have, no need, that, unto you, anything be written; For, ye yourselves, perfectly well know - that, the day of the Lord, as a thief in the night, so, cometh;
For, ye yourselves, perfectly well know - that, the day of the Lord, as a thief in the night, so, cometh; As soon as they begin to say - Peace! and safety! then, suddenly, upon them, cometh destruction, - just as the birth-throe unto her that is with child, - and in nowise shall they escape.
As soon as they begin to say - Peace! and safety! then, suddenly, upon them, cometh destruction, - just as the birth-throe unto her that is with child, - and in nowise shall they escape. But, ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that, the day, upon you, as upon thieves, should lay hold;
Howbeit the day of the Lord will be here, as a thief, - in which, the heavens, with a rushing noise, will pass away, while, elements, becoming intensely hot, will be dissolved, and, earth, and the works therein, will be discovered.
Expecting and hastening the presence of the day of God, by reason of which, heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and, elements, becoming intensely hot, are to be melted;