Earthquakes and Meteorites

Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

(Zechariah 14:3-6) KJV

Zechariah prophesies an earthquake which is equal in severity to one that occurred in the time of Uzziah, King of Judah. The historical earthquake that this refers to was prophesied by Amos.

The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

(Amos 1:1) KJV

The impending disaster prompted King Uzziah rush into the temple in Jerusalem in panic to burn incense, presumably in an attempt to ward off the judgement of God. He was not sanctified to burn incense in the temple, and this was the sin for which he was struck with leprosy. I am inclined to believe that Amos, a herdsman who lived most of his life outdoors, had been observing the night skies. He saw a star, or some heavenly body,  on a collision course with the earth. It looked like it was heading straight for Jerusalem. Amos dutifully went to Jerusalem to warn the people to repent of their sin in order to avert the coming destruction. Unfortunately he was so appalled by the godlessness that he saw that he gave them up to their fate. The meteor struck. The earthquake was so severe that it was felt around the earth, and it prompted Isaiah to begin his prophetic ministry.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

(Isaiah 1:7-9) KJV

Young Isaiah looked out at the devastation of Jerusalem and the surrounding lands and summed it up: you got what you deserved.

It’s circumstantial to say that Amos saw an approaching meteorite. However, circumstantial evidence is the very backbone of the popular science narrative of godless existence (SciPop). The NARRATIVE is inexorably yoked to the idea that a giant meteor struck the Earth 65 million years ago causing the mass extinction which included the large dinosaurs. There are significant issues with this interpretation.

1. Firstly, there are no millions of years.
2. Secondly, the mass extinction event that caused deposition of the stratigraphic column from Cambrian to Quaternary, including the large dinosaurs, was Noah’s flood.

Obviously there’s evidence of a massive Earth shock that needs to be accounted for. A meteorite strike is certainly within the realm of possibility. We happen to really like the idea that Amos the herdsman saw it coming.

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