According to Amos, Israel's fate is fully deserved. That its religious and political leaders have overconfidently believed that their manner of worshiping Yahweh will bring them continued peace and prosperity avails them nothing at all. They had the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the past that Yahweh's relationship to them is conditional on their obedience to his moral requirements. Because their opportunities in this respect have been greater than those of other nations, they must bear the greater responsibility. Yahweh, no longer obligated to protect them, will not be influenced by their prayers, offerings, or solemn assemblies.
Amos interprets the coming of the Day of Yahweh — God's kingdom on earth — in sharp contrast to what generally was accepted by the priests and other contemporary rulers of the land, in whose opinion the coming Day of Yahweh will be a triumphant day of gladness for the people of Israel, a time when their enemies will be subdued and their own peace and prosperity made permanently secure; these acts will be the final realization of the divine purpose that from the very beginning has guided the destiny of Israel. But for Amos, the coming Day of Yahweh means nothing of this kind. If Yahweh is indeed the god of justice, he cannot show special favor to the Israelites by allowing them to escape the type of punishment that he brought down upon other peoples for exhibiting the same kind of irreverent and disrespectful conduct. The Day of Yahweh will, therefore, be a dark day for the Israelites: "Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord. . . . That day will be darkness, not light." The nation's captivity will not mean the overthrow of the god of Israel but rather the supremacy of the god of justice.
