לתשובת המינים

Amos 9:11, 12

Who is David’s Fallen Booth?

Acts 15:16-18

"On that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David; I will repair their breaches and raise up its ruins, and I will build it up as in days of old, so that they upon whom My Name is called may inherit the remnant of Edom and all nations the word of Hashem, Who shall do this."

This translation follows the opinion of Redak who sees "they who will inherit", Israel, as being upon whom "My Name is called". But even if we were to maintain that the nations are the ones that are called by Hashem’s Name, this passage comes no where near the implication suggested by the authors of the so-called New Testament.

In the 15th Chapter of the book of Acts, there is a sort of convention of the "Church" in Jerusalem to discuss the place of non-Jews in the early "Church". James cites the above verse in order to prove that the words of the prophets are in agreement that God from the Gentiles a people for himself (Acts 15:15,14). This is the quote given by James as recorded in the book of Acts, "After this I will return an rebuild David’s fallen tent, Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things". Compare this to the NIV (Christian) translation of the verse he is quoting, "In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may posses the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, declares the Lord" (Amos 9:11-12, NIV).

The remnant is not of men, it is of Edom, Israel’s primary enemy. And they are not seeking the Lord, they are being possessed, or "inherited" following the translation first given. My use of the term "they" in the last sentence isn’t quite accurate. The remnant of Edom isn’t from the people of Edom, it is from the land of Edom since Obadiah 1:18 says, "The house of Esau (Edom) will have no survivors." Likewise the gentiles or better translated, nations, refer to the land of the nations which Israel will posses in the Messianic Era

The passage quoted says nothing about gentile’s seeking God. In fact it doesn’t speak about the gentiles doing anything. It is a passage which discusses the eventual prosperity in the Messianic Era. In the Messianic Era gentiles will follow God, but according to the rules established by God and not those by their own imagination. As a side note, Edom is identified with Rome. Esau is the ancestor of the Romans in Jewish tradition and in our current exile we remain, in a manner, subjugated by the Roman Empire (the fourth kingdom in Daniel’s visions) to this very day. The physical nation has long ago dissipated, but the spiritual entity continues on and it is that Edom which must be conquered in the Messianic Age