Amos 8:11-14

DESCRIPTION OF JUDGMENTS PROPHESIEDSPIRITUAL FAMINE

TEXT: Amos 8:11-14

11

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.

12

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.

13

In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst.

14

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, As the way of Beer-sheba liveth; they shall fall, and never rise up again.

QUERIES

a.

When did this famine of the words of Jehovah occur?

b.

Why would they run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah?

c.

Who is the god of Dan?

PARAPHRASE

Listen, the time is coming very soon when I am going to send a spiritual famine upon this land. People will be starving to death for God's Wordnot physical food. People will be dying of thirst for the living water. And they will stagger all over the earth, running hither and yon to find a consoling word from Jehovah but they will not find it. Even young women and young men in the vigor of youth, the strongest and best equipped to stand adversity will grow weak and pant for the living water of Jehovah's Word. Those who put their trust in the calf-gods of Israel like the one located at Dan and those who make pilgrimage to Beersheba to engage in idolatrous worship shall fall never to rise again!

SUMMARY

One aspect of God's judgment will be the spiritual famine resulting from Israel's rebellion. When the flood of judgment comes, however, the people will desperately seek for the bread of life, the word of God. Their impotent gods and worship will not supply them with the food they need,

COMMENT

Amos 8:11-12. I WILL SEND A FAMINE IN THE LAND. OF HEARING THE WORDS OF JEHOVAH. THEY SHALL WANDER FROM SEA TO SEA. AND SHALL NOT FIND IT. They had forbidden God's true prophets to bring to them the Word of the Lord (Amos 2:12). They refused to know His Word (cf. Isaiah 1:3; 2 Chronicles 15:3; Jeremiah 5:4). Hosea, a younger contemporary of Amos, describes the spiritual poverty of the nation in its death throes. He writes, ... the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children, (cf. Hosea 4:1; Hosea 4:6). This famine of the word of Jehovah began when Israel rejected the law and grew worse until God took them into captivity where they had no prophets to declare to them His word, (cf. Ezekiel 3:26; Ezekiel 7:26). God turned away from Israel when He took them to the land of the Assyrians and caused the word of prophecy to cease. Chrysostom says, God did not speak to them through the prophets; He breathed not upon them the Spirit through which they spake. He did not appear to them, but is silent and hidden. There was silence, enmity between God and man.

In death, destruction and in exile from the land of their fathers, crushed by their oppressors, hearing only of gods more cruel than the heathen who make them, they will run to and fro, they will suffer a famine of truth, they will hunger and thirst for the God of Israel and some word from Him of His care for them and His fulfillment of the covenant made by Him, but they shall not find it. Hosea tells how the people of Israel, just before their downfall, sought revelation from idols, My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God (Hosea 4:12). Jerome writes, Such is the present condition of the Jews. They roam in restless vagrancy about the world and seek the word of God; but they find it not, because they have killed the incarnate Word revealed in the written word.

To those of Amos-' day and to those in every generation who reject the Word of God for some other philosophy, the message is the same. Inevitably, there will come the time when a word from God will be sought for like starving men seek for food. One writer warns, Try to imagine all the influence of religion taken out of your life, In trouble, sickness, loneliness, failure, try to imagine yourself cut off from God. This is what Amos prophesies. Think of the nations, RussiaChina, etc. which have rejected the word of God and remember how desperately hungry some within those enslaved lands are for the word of the Lord. In Moscow when Gene Dulin was asked to preach at the Russian Easter Sunday afternoon service, the minister said, Give a powerful sermon on the resurrection! Think of the ignorance, poverty and backwardness of the many nations where there has been a famine of the word of God or where His word has been kept secret by heretical priests and churches. Think of our own country where men are running to and fro preaching one panacea after another which are all doomed to failure because in large segments of this land there is a famine of the word of God!

Amos 8:13-14. FAIR VIRGINS AND THE YOUNG MEN FAINT FOR THIRST. THEY THAT SWEAR BY THE SIN OF SAMARIA. SHALL FALL, AND NEVER RISE AGAIN. Even young women and young men, in the vigor of youth, the best equipped to withstand these adverse conditions, will grow weak and hunger and thirst for some voice of authority and promise of help from Jehovah. It is true even today! Thousands and thousands of young people across our land, disillusioned and starved to death on the garbage of the contemporary intellectualism are running to and fro seeking a voice of authority, a sane standard of conduct, a life which consists of more than things. But, because the intelligentsia of our world have, for the most part, rejected the word of the Lord, our young people faint for thirst.

In Israel, in Amos-' day, the people were swearing by (putting their trust in) the golden calf which they worshipped at Dan and Bethel. They believed that all their prosperity, like that of their heathen neighbors, was due to their worship of these idols and other idolatrous forms of worship made toward Jehovah at Beersheba. In our day, we are no better! Israel worshipped the golden calf only because she was sure her prosperity came through this. We worship science because we are sure our prosperity comes through it. Anthony Standen, in his book, Science Is A Sacred Cow, says, What with scientists who are so deep in science that they cannot see it, non-scientists who are too overrawed to express an opinion, hardly anyone is able to recognize science for what it is, the great Sacred Cow of our time. Yes, we have rejected the Word of God which reveals to us the True Source of both material and spiritual well-being, for our own Sacred Cowscience! We have our own Bethels, Dans, and Beershebasour own priests and our own oracles. And if we continue to worship there and seek guidance there, WE SHALL FALL, AND NEVER RISE AGAIN!

QUIZ

1.

What were the conditions of Israel in relation to spiritual knowledge of God in the days of Amos and Hosea?

2.

When did God take His word away from Israel finally and completely?

3.

Is the prophecy, they shall not find it still being fulfilled in the unconverted Jews today?

4.

How does this section of Amos have relevance for our generation today?