Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Amos 8:4-7
The Reason For The Judgment (Amos 8:4).
One reason for this judgment is now clearly stated (we have already been told, and will be told again, that it was partly because of false and debased worship - e.g. Amos 8:14). It was because they had become so selfish, inconsiderate and uncaring of others (apart from their own circles), that God would never be able to forget it. What is described is an equally vivid picture of our own day. They took advantage of the needy by deception, and brought the poor into even deeper poverty and misery by their ways.
“Hear this, O you who would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying,
‘When will the new moon be gone,
That we may sell grain?
And the sabbath,
That we may set forth wheat,
Making the ephah small,
And the shekel great,
And dealing falsely with balances of deceit?
That we may buy the poor for silver,
And the needy for a pair of shoes,
And sell the refuse (sweepings) of the wheat?' ”
There is here a devastating denunciation of their hypocrisy. They were very religious, for they faithfully observed the holy days. But the truth was that they could not wait for holy days to be over so that they could once again get on with their deceitful dealings. The new moon day (Numbers 10:10; Numbers 28:11), at the commencement of each ‘month' (moon period), and the Sabbaths, were recognised feast days on which secular activities were forbidden. But as soon as these days were over they began again their trading for huge profits, selling wheat and other grain to city dwellers at extortionate prices, and mixing it with sweepings. They gave under weight (the ephah was a volume measurement but could be made to vary), and charged exorbitantly (the ‘shekel', which was the weight used to weigh up how much silver was given, was made heavier than it should have been, thus requiring more silver to reach the target price). They put the poor and needy under heavy burdens, even literal bondage, for trivial amounts of ‘money', the equivalent of a pair of shoes (compare Amos 2:6), or a small amount of silver (the nearest equivalent to ‘money' that they had). And they could not wait to get rid of their poor quality wheat on the unsuspecting, mixing the relatively good with what was swept up from the threshingfloor or from the floor of the barn. (No doubt they argued that it was ‘just business'). All this was in direct contravention of YHWH's covenant (see Leviticus 19:35; Deuteronomy 25:13), and contrary to the generosity and compassion that YHWH required from His people (e.g. Deuteronomy 15:1).
‘YHWH has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.” '
But Amos wanted them to know that they would not get away with it. YHWH saw all that they did, and Himself measured it up, and He swore by the wealth that they had built up that He would never forget anything of what they had done. (None of us should ever forget that all that we do is also similarly ‘audited' by God. We shall receive for what we have done, whether good or bad - 2 Corinthians 5:10). There was to be no ‘easy forgiveness'. The time for forgiveness was past. Like them we also can treat God's forgiveness too lightly. We equally need to remember that God will not easily forget what we do, unless there is true repentance, and that even when we do receive forgiveness it is only at the great cost of the sufferings of Jesus Christ on our behalf (1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18).
For ‘the pride of Jacob' compare Amos 6:8. It represented all that they had built up for themselves and prided themselves in. They were proud of what they had ‘achieved' and did not realise that it was forfeit because YHWH saw how it was done, and swore by it that they would have to face up to the consequences. Compare ‘the glory of the children of Israel' in Isaiah 17:3, where the idea was that it represented their possessions and was a fading glory.