The Remnant
If things go on as they are Amos can see only destruction following in their wake. It is a world of no escape, neither in the heights nor in the depths, neither on land nor on sea. He feels he has a sixth sense, and not unlike some of our scientists (though with less academic expertise or scientific evidence) who make their forecasts and forebodings about global warming, ecological disaster and so on, Amos has a tale of woe stretching into the next millennium. In all such cases we know we are talking about matters over which we have so little control. Amos is not unaware of that but has no no doubt that God has. Have you ever felt exactly as he did but lacked his conviction about God? Try to identify one or two such experiences and reflect on them.
Only in the closing verses does the mood change when he pumps out a message of hope with more conviction than he has shown in all his poetry. The good old days (as in the time of David) will return. Ruined cities will be re-built. Agriculture will be falling over itself with successful crops. The hills will be lush with wine. People who work and produce will enjoy the products of their labour. They will live in the cities they build instead of building cities for other people. They will drink the wine from their own vineyards and eat the produce from their own gardens. At its heart this is a picture of a God who can never give up on his creation and that is the message that all those who have shared the experiences of Amos, in every generation, want to hear.
So we have a choice. We can read it simply as a picture of the faithful Remnant, once all the sinners have been dealt with and only the faithful remain (vv 9 and 10). Alternatively we can see it as a vision of what is likely to happen even though everything always seems to point in the opposite direction and it is difficult, particularly at certain times, to see how it could ever be different. Which interpretation do we want to believe? The answer may not tell us much about what is, or what will be, but it might tell us an awful lot about ourselves.