Amos 5:18-20

Amos 5:18-20. Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord Scoffingly, not believing any such day will come: for this seems to be spoken of some among them, who, in mockery, expressed a desire of seeing those things which the prophet predicted brought to pass. Or, it may respect those who, notwithstanding all the prophet had said, still expected God would appear in their favour, not to their destruction: see Isaiah 5:19. To what end is it for you? To what purpose should you desire to see the day of the Lord? The day of the Lord is darkness Adversity, black and doleful, and not light No joy or comfort in it. It will certainly be a very dismal time to you, and indeed to all in the country, when evils shall succeed one another so fast, that he who seeks to escape one, shall fall into a greater. As if a man did flee from a lion A creature that has something of generosity in his nature; and a bear met him Which never spares any thing that comes in its way. Or went into the house Namely, for fear of being devoured by beasts, or to avoid some other danger which threatened him without; and a serpent bit him And a viper, whose sting is incurable, should creep out of the wall and bite him. Serpents sometimes concealed themselves in the holes and chinks of the walls of the eastern houses. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness It might indeed well be described as darkness; even very dark, without any brightness in it Since it was to be no less than the destruction of the towns and cities, the desolation of the country, the slaughtering of the people, or the carrying of them into captivity, and even the overturning of the whole kingdom.