Amos 9:11

Amos 9:11. In that day In this and the following verses, to the end of the chapter, we have a most consolatory conclusion of this prophecy in sundry evangelical promises, after so many very severe and sharp menaces. The phrase, in that day, signifies here the same as afterward, or, after this, for so St. James interprets it when quoting this very verse, Acts 15:16. And there are other places of Scripture where then, or in that day, signifies afterward. Will I raise up the tabernacle of David This promise seems, at least in the first place, to be intended of the return of the Jews from the land of their captivity, their resettlement in Judea, rebuilding Jerusalem, and attaining to that height of power and glory which they enjoyed in the days of the Maccabees. This restoration was an event so extraordinary, and the hope of it so necessary to be maintained in the minds of the Jewish people, in order to their support under the calamity of their seventy years’ captivity, that God was pleased to foretel it by the mouth of all his prophets. And though we suppose the prophecy before us to appertain chiefly to the kingdom of Israel, yet a promise of a future restoration was no less proper and necessary, in order to their encouragement, to be annexed to God’s threatenings against them: because it was his purpose to restore Israel in general, that is, the whole twelve tribes, and to make them one nation, as they were before their unhappy division. The edict of Cyrus was general, giving liberty to all the posterity of Jacob, wheresoever dispersed, to return to Judea. And many of the ten tribes certainly did return, though the main body of those who returned consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This prophecy, however, must also be extended to the days of the Messiah, and to the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God: and so St. James expounds it, Acts 15:16; for this was, emphatically speaking, raising up the tabernacle of David, both in the person of Christ, who is frequently styled David, and the seed of David in the prophets, and also in respect to what peculiarly distinguished David and Israel in God’s sight, namely, their having the knowledge of the true God, and worshipping of him alone.