Amos 8

The prophecy of Amos concludes with the record of five special visions of judgment that God gave to

His servant: the locusts (7:1–3), the fire (vv. 4–6), the plumb line (vv. 7–9), the basket of fruit (8:1–14), and the ruined temple (9:1–10). However, the prophet closes his message on a positive note as he describes the future glorious kingdom that God has promised to His people (vv. 11–15).

But these visions center on three experiences of the prophet in which Amos struggles with God and man (chap. 7), declares that judgment is coming (chap. 8) and affirms that God is working out His perfect plan (chap. 9).

After his painful encounter with Amaziah, Amos received further messages from the Lord; for it’s just like the Master to encourage His servants after they’ve been through tough times (see Acts 18:9–11; 27:21–26; 2 Tim. 4:16).

The end is coming (vv. 1–3). God often used common objects to teach important spiritual truths, objects like pottery (Jer. 18–19), seed (Luke 8:11), yeast (Matt. 16:6, 11), and in this text, a basket of summer (ripe) fruit. Just as this fruit was ripe for eating, the nation of Israel was ripe for judgment. The Hebrew word translated “summer” or “ripe” in verse 1 (qayis) is similar to the word translated “end” in verse 2 (qes). It was the end of the harvest for the farmers, and it would be the end for Israel when the harvest judgment came (see Jer. 1:11–12 for a similar lesson). “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jer. 8:20).

There comes a time when God’s longsuffering runs out (Isa. 55:6–7) and judgment is decreed. The songs at the temple would become funeral dirges with weeping and wailing, and corpses would be thrown everywhere and not given proper burial. It would be a bitter harvest for Israel as the nation reaped what it sowed. People would be so overwhelmed that they would be unable to discuss the tragedy. Silence would reign in the land.

Why the end is coming (vv. 4–6). The reason was simple: Israel had broken God’s law and failed to live by His covenant. The first tablet of the law has to do with our relationship to God and the second tablet with our relationship to others, and Israel had rebelled against both. They did not love God, and they did not love their neighbors (Matt. 22:36–40).

They trampled on the poor and needy and robbed them of the little they possessed (Amos 8:4), an indictment that Amos had often brought against the people (2:6–7; 4:1; 5:11–12). When they did business, the merchants used inaccurate measurements so they could rob their customers. The law demanded that they use accurate weights and measures (Lev. 19:35–36; Deut. 25:13–16), but they cared only for making as much money as possible.

Added to their deception was their desecration of the Sabbath and the religious holy days. The worship of God interrupted their business, and they didn’t like it! You might expect Gentile merchants to ignore the holy days (Neh. 13:15–22), but certainly not the Jewish merchants. The poor were unable to pay for the necessities of life and had to go into servitude to care for their families, and the merchants would have them arrested for the least little offense, even their inability to pay for a pair of shoes.

These evil vendors would not only alter their weights and measures and inflate their prices, but they would also cheapen their products by mixing the sweepings of the threshing floor with the grain. You didn’t get pure grain; you got the chaff as well. “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6: niv).

How the end is coming (vv. 7–14). The prophet used four pictures to describe the terror of the coming judgment. The first was that of an earthquake (v. 8) with the land heaving like the rising waters of the Nile River. (The Nile rose about twenty-five feet during its annual flooding stage.) Even the land would shudder because of the people’s sins. Earlier Amos referred to an earthquake (1:1), but we aren’t sure whether it was the fulfillment of this prophecy.

God would also visit them with darkness (Amos 8:9), perhaps an eclipse. (There was one in 763 BC.) The day of the Lord will be a day of darkness (Isa. 13:9–10; Joel 2:30–31).

The third picture is that of a funeral (Amos 8:10), with all their joyful feasts turned into mourning and wailing. Instead of being dressed elegantly and going to banquets or concerts, the people would wear sackcloth and join in mourning. Parents would mourn greatly if an only son died because that would mean the end of the family name and line. But God’s judgment would mean the end of a nation.

Finally, the judgment would be like a famine (vv. 11–14), not only of literal food but also of spiritual nourishment. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4: nkjv; see Deut. 8:3). In times of crisis, people turn to the Lord for some word of guidance or encouragement; but for Israel, no word would come. “We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be” (Ps. 74: niv).

What a tragedy to have plenty of “religion” but no word from the Lord! That means no light in the darkness, no nourishment for the soul, no direction for making decisions, no protection from the lies of the enemy. The people would stagger like drunks from place to place, always hoping to find food and drink for their bodies and spiritual sustenance for their souls.