The imagery in Amos 9 about the restoration of Israel takes on an eschatological tint due to it’s hyperbole.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBehold, the days are coming,\u201d declares the LORD,
\n\t\t\u201cwhen the plowman shall overtake the reaper
\n\t\tand the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
\n\tthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
\n\t\tand all the hills shall flow with it.
\n(Amos 9:13 ESV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe plowman will overtake the reaper because the latter will have so much grain to harvest, while the treader of grapes will scarcely have time to complete the vintage before he finds by his side the eager sowers of a new crop. This does not quite cancel out the curse in Genesis of earning bread by the seat of one’s brow, but it does intimate a smooth and rapid current of fertile production that recuperates through joyful labor something of the Edenic experience.<\/p>\n
-Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry, p.156<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Are things really THIS good when Israel comes back from captivity in 5th century B.C? Sounds to me more like a time reserved for the rule of Christ on the earth. Notice they are still tilling the earth, not sitting on clouds playing harps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The imagery in Amos 9 about the restoration of Israel takes on an eschatological tint due to it’s hyperbole. \u201cBehold, the days are coming,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cwhen the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall … <\/p>\n