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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, 'thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Wail, alas! For the day!
[just] like [the] caring of a shepherd [for] his herd on the day when he is in the midst of his scattered flock. Thus I will look after my flock, and I will deliver them from all the places {to which they were scattered} on [the] day {of storm and stress}.
Look! [it is] coming, and it will happen," {declares} the Lord Yahweh. "It is the day {about which I have spoken}.
Then Yahweh became jealous for his land and took pity on his people. And Yahweh answered and said to his people, "Look at me, [I am] sending to you grain, new wine, and olive oil, and you will be satisfied by it. I will not give you [over] any more as a disgrace among the nations. read more. {The northerners} I will remove from you; I will drive them to a desert and desolate land, its front to the eastern sea, and its rear into the western sea; its stench and odor will rise up because he has done great things. Do not fear, land, rejoice and be glad, because Yahweh has done great things. Do not fear, wild animals of [the] field, because [the] pastures of [the] desert have put forth new green shoots, because [the] tree has produced its fruit, [the] fig tree and [the] vine have yielded their produce. Be glad, children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in Yahweh your God, because he has given for you the autumn rains for [your] righteousness, and he has {poured down} for you rainwater, [the] autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be full [with] grain, and the vats will overflow [with] new wine and olive oil. I will repay you the years that the locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my mighty troops that I sent against you. And you will eat abundantly and be satisfied, and praise the name of Yahweh your God, who has dealt with you {wondrously}. My people {will never be ashamed}. And you will know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and I [am] Yahweh, your God, and there is no [other]. My people {will never be ashamed again}.
And he said, "Yahweh roars from Zion and he utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds wither and the top of Carmel dries up." Thus says Yahweh, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron! read more. So I will send fire against Hazael's house and it will consume the citadel fortresses of Ben-Hadad. I will break the gate bars of Damascus and I will cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven and the one who takes hold of the scepter of Beth Eden, and the people of Aram will go into exile to Kir," says Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they exiled a whole community, handing them over to Edom! So I will send a fire against the wall of Gaza and it will devour its citadel fortresses. And I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and the one who takes hold of the scepter of Ashkelon. I will also turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish," says the Lord Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Tyre and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they delivered up a whole community to Edom and they did not remember the covenant of brotherhood! So I will send a fire against the wall of Tyre and it will devour its citadel fortresses." Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because he pursued his brother with the sword! He stifled his compassion and his anger tore [them] apart {continually}, and he kept his rage forever. So I will send a fire against Teman and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Bozrah." Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Ammon and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory! So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah and it will devour its citadel fortresses with a war cry on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the violent tempest. And their king will go into exile, he and his commanders together," says Yahweh.
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they have rejected the law of Yahweh and have not kept his rules, and their lies have led them astray, {after which their ancestors walked}! So I will send a fire against Judah and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Jerusalem. read more. Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals!
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals! Those who trample the heads of the powerless into the dust of the ground and turn aside the way of the destitute, a man and his father {have sexual relations with} the same girl, so that [they] profane my holy name.
Those who trample the heads of the powerless into the dust of the ground and turn aside the way of the destitute, a man and his father {have sexual relations with} the same girl, so that [they] profane my holy name. They stretch themselves out beside every altar on clothing taken in pledge and they drink wine, bought with fines imposed, in the house of their God.
They stretch themselves out beside every altar on clothing taken in pledge and they drink wine, bought with fines imposed, in the house of their God. Yet I destroyed the Amorite {before them}, {who was as tall as} cedars and was as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. read more. And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years to take possession of the land of the Amorite. And I raised up some [of] your sons to [be] prophets and some [of] your young men to [be] Nazirites. Is it not so, O {people} of Israel? [This is] the declaration of Yahweh! But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.' Look! I [am] going to press [you] down in your place just as a utility cart full of mature stalks of grain [is pressed down]. Flight will perish from [the] swift and [the] strong person will not muster his strength and [the] warrior will not save his life. And [the] one who takes hold of the bow will not stand and [the one who is] swift on his feet will not save himself, nor will [the] one who rides the horse save his life.
Proclaim to the citadel fortresses in Ashdod and the citadel fortresses in the land of Egypt and say: "Gather on the mountains of Samaria and see the great panic in her midst and the oppression in her midst!" "They do not know [how] to do right," {declares Yahweh}, "those who store up violence and destruction in their citadel fortresses." read more. Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh, "A foe shall surround the land and bring down your strongholds, and your citadel fortresses shall be plundered." Thus says Yahweh, "Just as the shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear from the mouth of the lion, so shall the {people} of Israel who dwell in Samaria, with the corner of a couch and the damask of a bed." "Listen and testify against the house of Jacob," {declares} my Lord Yahweh, the God of hosts. "For on the day I punish Israel for {its transgression}, I will also punish the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. I will ruin the winter house as well as the summer house, and the houses of ivory will perish and the great houses shall come to an end," {declares} Yahweh.
They hate the one who reproves in the gate and they abhor the one who speaks honestly. Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine. read more. For I know your transgressions [are] many and your sins [are] numerous, [you] foes of [the] righteous, those who take a bribe, and {those who} push aside [the] poor [ones] in the gate! Therefore, whoever has insight will keep silent in that time, for it [is] a time of evil.
[Alas for] those who lie on beds of ivory and lounge on their couches, and those eating young rams from [the] sheep and goats, and bull-calves from the middle of [the] animal stall. [Alas for those] who sing to the tune of the harp; like David they improvise on instruments of music. read more. [Alas for those] who drink from sprinkling bowls of wine and anoint themselves with the best of olive oils and are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they shall now go into exile at the head of the exiles and the feast of lounging shall pass away. My Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself, {declares} Yahweh, the God of hosts: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and I hate his citadel fortresses and I will deliver [the] city and its fullness!"
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spreads on the mountains, a great and strong army! There has been nothing like it from old, and after it nothing will be again {for generations to come}.
And Yahweh {utters} his voice before his army, because his encampment [is] very large; strong [is the] one who carries out his decree, for great [is] the day of Yahweh and exceedingly fearful. Who can endure it?
The sun will be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.
"For look! The day [is] about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every {evildoer} will be stubble. The coming day will consume them," says Yahweh of hosts. "It will not leave behind for them root or branch.
Now we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you will not grieve as also the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose [again], thus also God will bring those who have fallen asleep through Jesus together with him. read more. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain until the Lord's coming, will not possibly precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be snatched away at the same time together with them in the clouds for a meeting with the Lord in the air, and thus we will be together with the Lord always. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need [of anything] to be written to you, for [you] yourselves well know that the day of the Lord is coming in the [same] way as a thief in the night.
for [you] yourselves well know that the day of the Lord is coming in the [same] way as a thief in the night. Whenever they say "Peace and security," then sudden destruction will overtake them like the birth pains of {a pregnant woman}, and they will not possibly escape.
Whenever they say "Peace and security," then sudden destruction will overtake them like the birth pains of {a pregnant woman}, and they will not possibly escape. But you, brothers, are not in the darkness, so that the day should catch you like a thief,
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will disappear with a rushing noise, and the celestial bodies will be destroyed [by] being burned up, and the earth and the deeds [done] on it will be disclosed.
[while] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed [by] being burned up and the celestial bodies will melt [as they] are consumed by heat!