Amos and an Earthquake

[fracturedInfinity]

I was reading last night in Amos. Amos 1:1 says:

1The words of Amos, who was among the(A) shepherds[a] of(B) Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel(C) in the days of(D) Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of(E) Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years[b] before(F) the earthquake.

The part that got me thinking was the earthquake. What earthquake is he talking about? Cross references point to passages in Zechariah and Isaiah that seem to be speaking of the earthquake on the day that Jesus stands on the mount of Olives and it splits east to west in the end times.

Zechariah 14:5
And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from(A) the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Isaiah 29:6
(A) you will be visited by the LORD of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

Isaiah cross references to 1 Kings:

1 Kings 19:11-12
11And he said, "Go out and(A) stand on the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and(B) a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind(C) an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.[a]


I don't think this is the earthquake of Amos, because Elijah was during the reign of Ahab, not Uzziah or Jeroboam, right? I guess I'm just curious where I can read in the Bible about this circumstances around this earthquake.

[bookworm1711]

Dear fracturedInfinity,

According to the notes in my NIV Study Bible at Amos 1:1,

Evidently a major shock, long remembered, and probably the one mentioned in Zec 14:5. Reference to the earthquake suggests that the author viewed it as a kind of divine reinforcement of the words of judgment.

Dake comments even more briefly, "Before a well-known earthquake of that day."

Additional cross references given in Nelson's Cross Reference Guide to the Bible at Isaiah 29:6 lead to a collection of further subject references at Matthew 24:7 and Revelation 6:12. These are particularly interesting from a prophetic standpoint. Matthew 24:7 gives the significant reference to Hebrews 12:26, which is a main reference point where (for the key words "I shake") many more references to earthquakes in prophecy are given: Isaiah 2:19, 21. Isaiah 13:13. Isaiah 24:1, 13, 18-23. Isaiah 34:4. Isaiah 64:1, 2. Jeremiah 4:23-26. Jeremiah 10:10. Ezekiel 38:19, 20. Daniel 2:44, 45. Joel 2:10, 30-32. Joel 3:16. Nahum 1:5, 6. Habakkuk 3:6, 10. Haggai 2:6, 7, 21, 22. Matthew 24:29, 30. Mark 13:24-26. Luke 21:25-27. Revelation 6:12-17. Revelation 8:5-12. Revelation 11:13, 19. Revelation 16:18.

I don't think there is any further information in the Bible itself about the earthquake Amos refers to beyond what you've found with the cross references you cite.

All this makes for a most interesting Bible study, though.

[Biblenuggetlady]

This is what I had learned too, J. Vernon McGee makes the same statement, that there was a significant quake so big that 2 years later they were still talking about it. Without cable news, I'd bet it must have been comparable to Indonesia's quake in 2004.

[Paidfor]

This is from John Gill's commentary.

two years before the earthquake; which was well known in those times, and fresh in memory. Zechariah speaks of it many years after, from whom we learn it was in the days of Uzziah, Zec_14:5. The Jewish writers generally say that it was when Uzziah was smote with leprosy for invading the priest's office; and was in the year in which he died, when Isaiah had a vision of the glory of the Lord, and the posts of the house moved, Isa_6:1; and with whom Josephus agrees; who also relates, that the temple being rent by the earthquake, the bright light of the sun shone upon the king's face, and the leprosy immediately seized him; and, at a place before the city called Eroge, half part of a mountain towards the west was broken and rolled half a mile towards the eastern part, and there stood, and stopped up the ways, and the king's gardens; but this cannot be true, as Theodoret observes; since, according to this account, Amos must begin to prophesy in the fiftieth year of Uzziah; for he reigned fifty two years, and he began his reign in the twenty seventh year of Jeroboam, 2Ki_15:1; who reigned forty one years, 2Ki_14:23; so that Uzziah and he were contemporary fourteen years only, and Jeroboam must have been dead thirty six years when it was the fiftieth of Uzziah; whereas they are here represented as contemporary when Amos began to prophesy, which was but two years before the earthquake; so that this earthquake must be in the former and not the latter part of Uzziah's reign, and consequently not when he was stricken with the leprosy.

[MillennialSaint]

From what I understand, this earthquake is not recorded in Kings of Chronicles. Maybe theres something in the Talmud or ancient Jewish writings, though. It sounds like an interesting topic for Bible study! :thumb