Amos 8

Am 8:1-14.

VISION OF A

BASKET OF

SUMMER

FRUIT

SYMBOLICAL, OF

ISRAEL'S

END.

RESUMING THE

SERIES OF

SYMBOLS

INTERRUPTED BY

AMAZIAH,

AMOS

ADDS A

FOURTH.

THE

AVARICE OF THE

OPPRESSORS OF THE

POOR:

THE

OVERTHROW OF THE

NATION:

THE

WISH FOR THE

MEANS OF

RELIGIOUS

COUNSEL, WHEN

THERE

SHALL

BE A

FAMINE OF THE

WORD.

1. summer fruit--Hebrew, kitz. In

Am 8:2

"end" is in Hebrew, keetz. The similarity of sounds implies

that, as the summer is the end of the year and the time

of the ripeness of fruits, so Israel is ripe for her last

punishment, ending her national existence. As the fruit is

plucked when ripe from the tree, so Israel from her land.

2. end--

(Eze 7:2, 6).

3. songs of . . . temple--

(Am 5:23).

The joyous hymns in the temple of Judah (or rather, in the

Beth-el "royal temple,"

Am 7:13;

for the allusion is to Israel, not Judah, throughout this

chapter) shall be changed into "howlings." GROTIUS

translates, "palace"; compare

Am 6:5,

as to the songs there. But

Am 5:23,

and Am 7:13,

favor English Version.

they shall cast them forth with silence--not as the

Margin, "be silent." It is an adverb, "silently." There shall be

such great slaughter as even to prevent the bodies being buried [CALVIN]. There shall be none of the usual professional

mourners

(Am 5:16),

but the bodies will be cast out in silence. Perhaps also is meant that

terror, both of God (compare

Am 6:10)

and of the foe, shall close their lips.

4. Hear--The nobles needed to be urged thus, as hating to hear reproof.

swallow up the needy--or, "gape after," that is, pant for their goods;

so the word is used,

Job 7:2,

Margin.

to make the poor . . . to fail--"that they (themselves) may be placed

alone in the midst of the earth"

(Isa 5:8).

5. So greedy are they of unjust gain that they cannot spare a single

day, however sacred, from pursuing it. They are strangers to God and

enemies to themselves, who love market days better than sabbath days;

and they who have lost piety will not long keep honesty. The new moons

(Nu 10:10)

and sabbaths were to be kept without working or trading

(Ne 10:31).

set forth wheat--literally, "open out" stores of wheat for sale.

ephah--containing three seahs, or above three pecks.

making . . . small--making it below the just weight to purchasers.

shekel great--taking from purchasers a greater weight of money than

was due. Shekels used to be weighed out in payments

(Ge 23:16).

Thus they committed a double fraud against the law

(De 25:13, 14).

6. buy . . . poor for silver . . . pair of

shoes--that is, that we may compel the needy for money, or any

other thing of however little worth, to sell themselves to us as

bondmen, in defiance of

Le 25:39;

the very thing which brings down God's judgment

(Am 2:6).

sell the refuse of . . . wheat--which contains no nutriment, but which

the poor eat at a low price, being unable to pay for flour.

7. Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob--that is, by

Himself, in whom Jacob's seed glory [MAURER].

Rather, by the spiritual privileges of Israel, the adoption as His

peculiar people [CALVIN], the temple, and its

Shekinah symbol of His presence. Compare

Am 6:8,

where it means Jehovah's temple (compare

Am 4:2).

never forget--not pass by without punishing

(Am 8:2;

Ho 8:13; 9:9).

8. the land . . . rise up wholly as a flood--The land will, as it

were, be wholly turned into a flooding river (a flood being the image of

overwhelming calamity,

Da 9:26).

cast out and drowned, &c.--swept away and overwhelmed, as the land

adjoining the Nile is by it, when flooding

(Am 9:5).

The Nile rises generally twenty feet. The waters then "cast out" mire

and dirt

(Isa 57:20).

9. "Darkness" made to rise "at noon" is the emblem of great calamities

(Jer 15:9;

Eze 32:7-10).

10. baldness--a sign of mourning

(Isa 15:2;

Jer 48:37;

Eze 7:18).

I will make it as . . . mourning of an only son--"it,"

that is, "the earth"

(Am 8:9).

I will reduce the land to such a state that there shall be the same

occasion for mourning as when parents mourn for an only son

(Jer 6:26;

Zec 12:10).

11. famine of . . . hearing the words of the Lord--a

just retribution on those who now will not hear the Lord's prophets,

nay even try to drive them away, as Amaziah did

(Am 7:12);

they shall look in vain, in their distress, for divine counsel, such as

the prophets now offer

(Eze 7:26;

Mic 3:7).

Compare as to the Jews' rejection of Messiah, and their consequent

rejection by Him

(Mt 21:43);

and their desire for Messiah too late

(Lu 17:22;

Joh 7:34; 8:21).

So, the prodigal when he had sojourned awhile in the "far-off country,

began to be in want" in the "mighty famine" which arose

(Lu 15:14;

compare

1Sa 3:1; 7:2).

It is remarkable that the Jews' religion is almost the only one that

could be abolished against the will of the people

themselves, on account of its being dependent on a particular

place, namely, the temple. When that was destroyed, the Mosaic

ritual, which could not exist without it, necessarily ceased.

Providence designed it, that, as the law gave way to the Gospel, so all

men should perceive it was so, in spite of the Jews' obstinate

rejection of the Gospel.

12. they shall wander from sea to sea--that is, from the Dead Sea to

the Mediterranean, from east to west.

from . . . north . . . to . . . east--where we might expect "from north

to south." But so alienated was Israel from Judah, that no Israelite

even then would think of repairing southward, that is, to Jerusalem

for religious information. The circuit is traced as in

Nu 34:3,

&c., except that the south is omitted. Their "seeking the word of the

Lord" would not be from a sincere desire to obey God, but under the

pressure of punishment.

13. faint for thirst--namely, thirst for hearing the words of the Lord,

being destitute of all other comfort. If even the young and strong

faint, how much more the infirm

(Isa 40:30, 31)!

14. swear by the sin of Samaria--namely, the calves

(De 9:21;

Ho 4:15).

"Swear by" means to worship

(Ps 63:11).

The manner--that is, as "the way" is used

(Ps 139:24;

Ac 9:2),

the mode of worship.

Thy god, O Dan--the other golden calf at Dan

(1Ki 22:26-30).

liveth . . . liveth--rather, "May thy god . . . live . . . may the

manner . . . live." Or, "As (surely as) thy god, O Dan, liveth." This is

their formula when they swear; not "May Jehovah live!" or, "As Jehovah

liveth!"