In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the LORD who does this. -- Amos 9:11-12
The booth or tabernacle of David was the tent in which the
Ark rested after David brought it up to Jerusalem until the completion of
Solomon’s temple. Amos is prophesying
some two hundred years after the reign of Solomon. Referencing the tabernacle of David would
have been analogous, in a historical sense, to our referencing that period when
the seat of the federal government was in New York rather than in Washington,
D.C. The words of Amos, though, look
forward to the Son of David and His resurrection.
We were talking about the Ark and how we are God’s dwelling
a couple of days ago. It is sometimes
said, in words to this effect, God is so vast and transcendent that the cosmos
itself cannot contain Him yet so immanent, so personal and intimate that He is
able to dwell within a human heart. We
are not worried by paradoxes, recognizing enlightenment reconciles
parallel lines at the vanishing point of language.
I am not a diehard Dr. Who fan, but I know what TARDIS is,
and I know that it is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Humans are the same way. We tend to think, in common sense, of
our bodies as containers. They are more
like three-dimensional interfaces. I won’t
be tattooing this old carcass – too much like branding cattle – but if I were
of that persuasion, I would consider: Cosmos Inside.
Restoring the booth of David would serve to unite the people
of God. Edom, that is Esau, and Israel are
brothers separated and often at odds with one another. The Lord rejected Esau as He had previously
rejected Ishmael but not forever. The
rejection of the nations, whatever their lineage, was only temporary and
relative. Eventually all are reunited
in and under the one Tabernacle: Christ. We
are all in Christ, and He dwells in us. The kingdom of God is within you.
