Amos 8:1 to Amos 9:11. The visions resumed. Amos 8:1-14. The fourth vision (Amos 8:1-3). The basket of summer fruit. 1. _Thus_ DID _the Lord_ JEHOVAH CAUSE _me_ TO SEE] The same formula as before, Amos 7:1; Amos 7:4. _a basket of summer fruit_ Partly the thought of Israel's _ripeness_for judgement... [ Continue Reading ]
The question is asked for the same purpose as in Amos 7:8. _The end_ Amos answers, "A basket of _ḳaitz_": Jehovah replies, "_Ḳêtz_an -end" is come upon my people Israel." The last vision had declared that the approaching judgement was certain; this, that it was final, and also close at hand. _I wi... [ Continue Reading ]
The nature of the -end" more fully described: the songs of the temple will be turned into loud cries of woe; so many will be the slain that they will be flung out unburied and unlamented. _temple_ The word might equally be rendered _palace_; and hence some have thought the allusion to be to the sou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear this_ Amos 3:1; Amos 4:1; Amos 5:1. _that_ PANT AFTER _the needy_ i.e. who are eager to destroy them: the word has the same figurative sense in Psalms 56:1-2; Psalms 57:3; cf. also above Amos 2:7 (Jerome renders, as there, perhaps rightly, _that crush_). AND ARE FOR MAKING [190] _the poor of... [ Continue Reading ]
Amos indignantly turns to the rapacious merchants of Israel, rebuking them for their avarice, their dishonesty, and their meanness.... [ Continue Reading ]
A fresh denunciation of Israel's sin, followed by a fresh picture of the impending calamities.... [ Continue Reading ]
_When will the new moon be gone?_ The new moon, the first of the month, was observed as a popular holiday (2 Kings 4:23; cf. 1 Samuel 20:5; 1 Samuel 20:24), and marked by religious services Isaiah 1:13-14; Hosea 2:11; and often in later writings: cf. Numbers 28:11-15). From the present passage, it i... [ Continue Reading ]
The final issue of the rapacious conduct described in Amos 8:5 is that the poor are more and more impoverished, and, falling into debt, have in the end to sell themselves or their children as slaves (Leviticus 25:39) to their rich oppressors, who were only too ready to _buy the poor for the silver_w... [ Continue Reading ]
Such heartless dishonesty arouses Jehovah's indignation; and He swears _by the_ PRIDE _of Jacob_, that He _will never forget any of their works_, but bring them, namely, into account. The _pride of Jacob_may be Jehovah Himself (cf. 1 Samuel 15:29 "the splendour of Israel," of Jehovah; and for the oa... [ Continue Reading ]
A hyperbolical description of the terrible nature of the coming judgement. On account of such enormities, the land will tremble, and rise up in mighty convulsions against the offenders; and darkness at noon-day will envelope the heavens. _Shall not_ ON THIS ACCOUNT &c. Cf. (esp. in the Heb.) Jeremi... [ Continue Reading ]
Celestial wonders, which Amos pictures as accompanying the day of retribution (comp. Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:10, Joel 4:15). It is possible that the imagery is borrowed from an eclipse of the sun; and one which occurred June 15, b.c. 763, has been thought of as having suggested it. According to von Opp... [ Continue Reading ]
The lamentation to be produced by such an alarming spectacle. _And I will turn your_ PILGRIMAGES _into mourning_ The sacred pilgrimages (Amos 5:21) were occasions of rejoicing: cf. Isaiah 30:29; Hosea 2:11 "And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her _pilgrimages_, her new moons, her sabbaths, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold_, DAYS ARE COMING] Amos 4:2. _words_ Read probably (with many MSS., LXX. Vulg. Pesh.; cf. Amos 8:12) the sing, "word," the regular term for a particular communication from Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then, in the general distress, there will be an eagerness to hear that word of Jehovah, which is now scorned and rejected: men will seek everywhere throughout the land to find a prophet who will declare it to them, but in vain. The reference may be partly to Jehovah's moral commandments, which, when... [ Continue Reading ]
_wander_ GO TOTTERING (comp. on Amos 4:8), with allusion to the uncertain gait of persons partly (Amos 8:13) exhausted, and partly bewildered, not knowing where to find what they are in search of (cf. Lamentations 4:15). _from sea to sea_ i.e. from the Dead Sea, the S. limit of the kingdom of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
In the day of agony and distress then coming upon Israel, the young men and fair maidens, the strength and pride of the population, will _faint for thirsty_, exhausted by the privations of a siege, or the sufferings involved in the sack of a city by the foe (cf. especially Lamentations 2:11-12; Lame... [ Continue Reading ]
_They that swear_…; _even they shall fall_ better, _Who swear_(connecting with Amos 8:13) …; _and they shall fall_&c. _swear by the_ GUILT _of Samaria_ Men _swear_by that which they revere: the Israelite was commanded to _swear by_Jehovah (Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20); and Jeremiah (Jeremiah... [ Continue Reading ]