Bible Commentaries

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Amos 8

Introduction

1  By a basket of summer fruit is shown the approach of Israel's end.
4  Oppression is reproved.
11  A famine of the word of God threatened.

Verse 1

Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
7:1,4,7

Verse 2

And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
Amos
7:8, Jeremiah 1:11-14, Ezekiel 8:6,12,17, Zechariah 1:18-21, 5:2,5,6
A basket
Deuteronomy 26:1-4, 2 Samuel 16:1,2, Isaiah 28:4, Jeremiah 24:1-3, 40:10, Micah 7:1
the end
There is here not only an allusion to the nature of the summer fruit, which must be eaten as soon as gathered, but also a paronomasia upon the words kayitz, "summer fruit," and ketz, "an end."
Jeremiah 1:12, 5:31, Lamentations 4:18, Ezekiel 7:2, 3:7,10, 12:23, 29:8
I will not
7:8

Verse 3

And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
the songs
10, 5:23, Hosea 10:5,6, Joel 1:5,11,13, Zechariah 11:1-3
shall be howlings
Heb. shall howl. many.
4:10, Isaiah 37:36, Jeremiah 9:21,22, Nahum 3:3
they shall
6:9,10, Jeremiah 22:18
with silence
Heb. be silent.
Leviticus 10:3, Psalms 39:9

Verse 4

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
Hear
7:16, 1 Kings 22:19, Isaiah 1:10, 28:14, Jeremiah 5:21, 28:15
swallow
2:6, 5:11, Psalms 12:5, 14:4, 56:1, 140:12, Proverbs 30:14, Isaiah 32:6,7, Matthew 23:14, James 5:6

Verse 5

Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
When
Numbers 10:10, 28:11-15, 2 Kings 4:23, Psalms 81:3,4, Isaiah 1:13, Colossians 2:16
new moon
or, month. be gone.
Malachi 1:13
and the
Exodus 20:8-10, Nehemiah 13:15-21, Isaiah 58:13, Romans 8:6,7
set forth
Heb. open. making.
Leviticus 19:36, Deuteronomy 25:13-16, Proverbs 11:1, 16:11, 20:23, Ezekiel 45:10-12, Micah 6:10,11
falsifying the balances by deceit
Heb. perverting the balances of deceit.
Hosea 12:7

Verse 6

That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
4, 2:6, Leviticus 25:39-42, Nehemiah 5:1-5,8, Joel 3:3,6

Verse 7

The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
sworn
6:8, Deuteronomy 33:26-29, Psalms 47:4, 68:34, Luke 2:32
I will
Exodus 17:16, 1 Samuel 15:2,3, Psalms 10:11, Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 17:1, 31:34, Hosea 7:2, 8:13, 9:9

Verse 8

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
the land
It is supposed that an earthquake is here intended; the rising and falling of the ground, with a wave-like motion, and its leaving its proper place and bounds, in consequence of an earthquake, being justly and beautifully compared to the swelling, overflowing, and subsiding of the Nile.
Psalms 18:7, 60:2,3, 114:3-7, Isaiah 5:25, 24:19,20, Jeremiah 4:24-26, Micah 1:3-5, Nahum 1:5,6, Habakkuk 3:5-8, Haggai 2:6,7
every one
10, 9:5, Jeremiah 12:4, Hosea 4:3, 10:5, Matthew 24:30
rise
9:5, Isaiah 8:7,8, Jeremiah 46:8, Daniel 9:26

Verse 9

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
that I
This is supposed to refer to an eclipse; and Abp. Usher has shown that about eleven years after Amos prophesied there were two great eclipses of the sun, one at the feast of tabernacles, and the other some time before the passover.
4:13, 5:8, Job 5:14, Isaiah 13:10, 29:9,10, 59:9,10, Jeremiah 15:9, Micah 3:6, Matthew 24:29, Revelation 6:12, 8:12
and I
Exodus 10:21-23, Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44

Verse 10

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
I will turn
3, 5:23, 6:4-7, Deuteronomy 16:14, 1 Samuel 25:36-38, 2 Samuel 13:28-31, Job 20:23, Isaiah 21:3,4, 22:12-14, Daniel 5:4-6, Hosea 2:11, Nahum 1:10
sackcloth
Isaiah 15:2,3, Jeremiah 48:37, Ezekiel 7:18, 27:30,31
as the
Jeremiah 6:26, Zechariah 12:10, Luke 7:12,13
a bitter
Job 3:5; *marg:

Verse 11

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:
but
1 Samuel 3:1, 28:6,15, Psalms 74:9, Isaiah 5:6, 30:20,21, Ezekiel 7:26, Micah 3:6, Matthew 9:36

Verse 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 the LORD, and shall not find it.
shall run
Proverbs 14:6, Daniel 12:4, Matthew 11:25-27, 12:30, 24:23-26, Romans 9:31-33, Romans 11:7-10, 2 Timothy 3:6,7

Verse 13

In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
Deuteronomy 32:25, Psalms 63:1, 144:12-15, Isaiah 40:30, 41:17-20, Jeremiah 48:18, Lamentations 1:18, 2:10,21, Hosea 2:3, Zechariah 9:17

Verse 14

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
swear
Hosea 4:15, Zephaniah 1:5
sin
Deuteronomy 9:21, 1 Kings 12:28,29,32, 13:22-34, 14:16, 16:24, 2 Kings 10:29, Hosea 8:5,6, 10:5, 13:2,16
manner
Heb. way.
Acts 9:2, 18:25, 19:9,23, 24:14
Beer-sheba
See on ver.
shall fall
Deuteronomy 33:11, 2 Chronicles 36:16, Psalms 36:12, 140:10, Proverbs 29:1, Isaiah 43:17, Jeremiah 25:27, 51:64

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