The Evolution of the Day of the LORD as Salvation or Judgment

Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Zephaniah all use the phrase ‘the day of the LORD’ to refer to a time where the LORD the God of Israel intervened in the life of Israel for salvation or judgment. Although this phrase is mainly used in these prophets, there are a number of similar phrases and ideas that pervade both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. The concept that the God of Israel intervenes in history is a central feature of the scriptures and probably originates for Israel in the memory of the deliverance of the people from their slavery in Egypt. Particularly at the critical moment in the story of Israel where the firstborn children of Egypt are struck down this is viewed as the critical day of God’s intervention for the people. Although the signs and wonders (or plagues as they are commonly referred) arrayed against the Egyptians unfold over an extended period of time, it is the final one that will be memorialized in the celebration of the Passover:

Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the LORD brought you out from there by strength of hand…You shall tell your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ Exodus 13: 1,8.

In Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel there are often key ‘days’ when the LORD delivers an enemy into the hands of the people or an individual. For example:

On the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD; and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Joshua 10: 12-13.

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. The LORD is indeed going before you. Judges 4: 14.

This very day the LORD will deliver you (Goliath) into my (David) hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand. 1 Samuel 17: 46-47.[1]

Throughout these the image of God as the divine warrior who defends Israel and fights on their behalf in their wars is present. When Israel was unfaithful the LORD would not go out before them, and the results were disastrous[2] but God was not actively opposing Israel, merely withdrawing support for a time.

It is probably the prophet Amos who first utilizes the day of the LORD as a judgment. Amos’ ministry is during the time of King Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah (783-742 BCE) and King Jeroboam II of Israel (786-746 BCE)[3] when Jeroboam seems to be restoring the boundaries of Israel.  Amos is a shrill and unwelcome voice challenging the assumptions of the king of Israel and those religious leaders in the north who believed that God would always intervene for Israel. Amos’ dark vision of the day of the LORD as judgment begins:

Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness and not light; as if someone fled from a lion and was met by a bear; or went into a house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it. Amos 5: 18-20

Other prophets will follow Amos’ lead to talk about the day of the LORD as a day or wrath or punishment by Assyria, by Babylon,[4] or by environmental destruction by locusts and drought.[5] Sometimes the day of the LORD’s wrath will be directed at the nations or the enemies of Israel[6] but within the prophets the day of the LORD as wrath or judgment can often be paired with the day of the LORD as salvation.[7] These visions of the day of the LORD’s deliverance can move towards a utopian vision of divine closeness and prosperity for the people expressed in very poetic ways:

Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. Joel 2:28-32

On that day there shall not be either cold or frost. And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the LORD), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one. Zechariah 14:6-9

The New Testament picks up these threads and weaves them into a new expectation of a coming day of God. The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all share a common expectation of a day of judgment[8] as does Paul.[9] Yet, this time of the Son of Man’s return, the judgment of God, or the day of the Lord are now also times of expectation for the elect. It can be a great day of wrath[10] and the great day of God.[11]

The God of both Judaism and Christianity is a God who is engaged in the life of the world. Many in Christianity have reduced these concepts of the day of the Lord to refer only to the end of history and the establishment of the kingdom of God at some time in the future. The day of the Lord can refer to some type of establishment of God’s presence among the people in the future, but it may also refer to God’s judgment as it is being experienced or anticipated in the present or God’s deliverance expected or experienced. There is a poetic vision of hope that often expresses itself within the hope for the future, but that poetic side can also view the past and present through the dark lens of judgment. The gift and challenge of the bible is that it can use the same idea in multiple ways to remind the people of God’s continuing activity in the life of the people and the world. Sometimes people of faith understood the community’s life as having strayed from the will of God and God worked through the environment, through the nations, and through the prophets warning to call the people to return. Yet, for the people of faith, God’s intervention in history is often a hoped-for experience. The day of the Lord can be darkness or light, destruction or deliverance. Yet, God’s judgment is often followed by God’s renewed presence and recommitment to the people.

[1] See also 1 Samuel 3: 12, 4: 12-13, 24:10

[2] For example, the story of Achan son of Carmi taking some of the devoted things that God instructed the people to destroy in Joshua 7.

[3] This is the time of the rise of the Assyrian empire which will eventually capture Israel and Judah will be miraculously saved.

[4] Isaiah 13, Jeremiah 4:9, 25:33, Lamentations 1:12, Zephaniah 1: 7-10, 14

[5] Joel 1-2

[6] Jeremiah 50: 21, Obadiah 1: 15

[7] Isaiah 49:8, Jeremiah 39: 16, Joel 2: 18-27, Zephaniah 3: 8, 11, Zechariah 14:6-7.

[8] Matthew 11:22, 12: 36, 24:42,50, 25:31-45, Mark 13: 32, Luke 22-37

[9] Romans 2: 5, 16, 1 Thessalonians 5: 2-8

[10] Romans 2:5, Revelation 6:17

[11] Jude 1:6, Revelation 16:14