Amos 9:12
That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
They who possess are David's restored family in his kingly successor, the Son of David, and those possessed are the faithful from Edom and all nations who bear God's name and share with faithful Israel as subjects and heirs under his rule. God rebuilds David's fallen house by taking from the Gentiles a people for His name through preaching the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people so that they seek the Lord. Their ingathering completes the number of subjects in God's kingdom, so that all Israel being saved means this full number rather than the restoration of Israel as a nation. The setting up of David's tabernacle spans the whole gospel work from presenting Christ to gathering the true seed, giving Him David's throne, destroying the nations under the seventh trumpet, and establishing His kingdom under the whole heavens. It also belongs to the promise of bringing back Israel's captivity to build the waste cities, plant vineyards and gardens, and dwell securely in their land never to be uprooted, fulfilled to living Israel at the beginning of the day of the Lord and finally in the new heavens and new earth.
Setting and Wording
Amos was a herdsman and fruit gardener of Tekoa about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, called to prophesy to the northern kingdom at Bethel and Samaria in the reign of Jeroboam II just after his great successes. His prophecy was directed against the idolatry and depravity of Israel and the surrounding nations at a time when prosperity brought luxury for the rich in houses of hewn stone paneled with ivory with feasting and music. That wealth was gained by violence and robbery, by selling of the poor and needy as slaves, by false weights and measures, and by corrupt judges. It teaches that justice between man and man is a divine foundation of society, that privilege implies responsibility and failure to recognize it surely brings punishment, and that nations and individuals must live up to the measure of light and knowledge granted them. It teaches that the most elaborate worship insults God when offered without conformity in will and conduct to His requirements.
The ones who possess in the verse are the family of David raised up in the preceding verse. That is David's restored family, represented by his kingly successor, the Son of David. The remnant of Edom and of the nations called by God's name are the people among them who are called by God's name. That is, they are the pious or converted from all nations. They will share with the pious of Israel in being subjects and heirs of the Son of David when his rule is established.
Restoration of David's Kingdom
The verse belongs to the promise of the re-establishment of David's throne and kingdom on this earth, in which God will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David and build it as in the days of old. In that restoration He will bring back the captivity of Israel to build the waste cities and inhabit them, to plant vineyards and gardens, and to be planted upon their land never to be pulled up again.
It belongs to a prophecy about Israel and the land whose promises will be fulfilled to living Israel at the beginning of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just. Amos 9:8-12 points to the same time as related prophecies in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. At that time living Israel, including God's living saints in every nation, will be gathered and delivered and God's Spirit poured out on them. Many of the remnant of literal Israel will be gathered and delivered in Jerusalem during the battle of the great day of the Lord.
Israel's gathering and deliverance occur together with the outpouring of God's Spirit on the living saints just before the resurrection of the just. The remnant of literal Israel is gathered and delivered in Jerusalem at the battle of the great day of the Lord while God's people in every nation are delivered and receive His Spirit. They are later redeemed from their nations with the righteous dead at Christ's second appearing. The prophecy is linked with the promise that the desolate land will become like the garden of Eden.
The possession takes place in the day when the fallen tabernacle of David is rebuilt, which is the resurrection, Christ's coming, and the restitution. The promised blessings are shared by God's faithful people, while the sinners among them perish. The verse belongs to Amos's closing prophecy, which describes judgment and a time when people who rejected God's word will search for it in vain, and promises that God will save His people and restore David's fallen tabernacle. These events in the last chapters about the last days and restoration under Christ are typical of last-day conditions.
The restoration of the kingdom to Israel is placed in the time of the new heavens and new earth, when God establishes His reign of righteousness on the earth made new. The setting up of the tabernacle of David, the restoration of his kingdom, is in gospel times, not a return of the Jews as such nor the conversion of the world. It embraces the whole work from beginning to completion: the presenting of David's heir, Christ, to the Jews, the gathering of the true seed out of all nations, the giving to Christ of the throne of his father David, the destruction of the nations under the seventh trumpet, and the establishing of his kingdom under the whole heavens.
Gentiles Called by God's Name
The people called by God's name are not limited to Jacob's descendants, for Gentiles are also named among them and share in the promises of future good. This is the prophecy James used to support preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, showing that God had long intended to save the Gentiles and include them among those called by His name. The promise to David reaches beyond Israel, for God rebuilds David's fallen house by gathering people from among the Gentiles to bear His name. That house is made up of people from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, gathered through the preaching of the everlasting gospel so that they seek the Lord.
The fallen house of David is restored through preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, for the Gentiles along with Jacob's descendants were intended from the beginning to become Israel. God calls a people from among them for His name so that they seek the Lord and belong to His people. God rebuilds David's fallen tabernacle so that people from among the Gentiles may seek Him and become a people called by His name. That rebuilding is the living temple formed by preaching the gospel throughout the world and gathering people for God, which prepares the way for the Lord's coming and removes the reproach caused by delay in carrying it out.
People from the Gentile nations, called by God's name, are gathered as His people, and their ingathering completes the number of subjects in God's kingdom. "All Israel" being saved means this complete number, not the restoration of Israel as a nation. Gentiles who seek the Lord will be called by God's name and become His subjects alongside the faithful of Israel. Their gathering through the preaching of the gospel comes before God rebuilds David's fallen house, the restored kingdom is established after the Gentile dispensation, and its righteous people are recognized as heirs of the kingdom.
God visits the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name to fill the breach in the house of Israel. After sifting the house of Israel among all nations and cutting off its sinners by the sword, God raises up the fallen tabernacle of David, closes its breaches, raises its ruins and builds it as in the days of old. Those taken from the Gentiles drop that name and, adopted into God's royal family, assume the name Israel, for in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted. Joined to Israel under God's name they with Israel possess the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen called by His name, so that through Israel's fall salvation comes to the Gentiles.
God rebuilds David's fallen kingdom as the everlasting kingdom of God under Christ, whose people are gathered from every nation without regard to birth or lineage. Jews who seek the Lord and Gentiles brought into God's plan become part of the same kingdom and fold. The restoration of David's fallen house includes Gentiles, with people from among the nations called by the Lord's name becoming part of His people, which fulfills the prophets' words. The salvation of the Gentiles was part of God's plan from the beginning, for God is willing to save Gentiles through simple faith, as shown when He blessed their work and poured out His Spirit on them so that nothing else was lacking for them to be saved.
The restoration of David's fallen house would bring people from the Gentiles, called by God's name, to seek the Lord, agreeing with God taking a people for His name from among the Gentiles. Gentile believers are therefore not to be burdened with additional requirements for turning to God, though they are to abstain from idolatry, sexual immorality, blood, and strangled meat. The verse is spoken of the righteous after the true Israel has been sifted among all nations and the sinning false professors who say evil will not overtake them have been destroyed and the fallen tabernacle of David raised up. Then the righteous will take possession of what remains of the wicked, including a second class of heathen who are called by the Lord's name. Edom means the ungodly and being called by God's name means being called Christian, so a person can bear the name Christian and still be a heathen in God's sight because believing the doctrines of the heathen makes a person a heathen, and a religious faith containing much error cannot possess the testimony of Jesus.