#1145 Amos 8 How Ripe Is It

 

This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them.

3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”

declares the Lord God.

“So many dead bodies!”

“They are thrown everywhere!”

“Silence!”

4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

5 saying, “When will the new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great

and deal deceitfully with false balances,

6 that we may buy the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

“Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

and all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,

“I will make the sun go down at noon

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on every waist

and baldness on every head;

I will make it like the mourning for an only son

and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,

“when I will send a famine on the land—

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,

but they shall not find it.

13 “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men

shall faint for thirst.

14 Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria,

and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’

and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’

they shall fall, and never rise again.” Amos 8 ESV

Amos 8 

A basket of summer fruit - This is fruit that is ripe, and to it's end. Israel is ripe for judgement. God has been patient for a long time, but this is the end of His patience, the time of justice.

The great reason why sinners defer their repentance de die in diem-from day to day, is because they think God thus defers his judgments, and there is no song wherewith they so effectually sing themselves asleep as that, My Lord delays his coming; and therefore God, by his prophets, frequently represents to Israel the day of his wrath not only as just and certain, but as very near and hastening on apace; so he does in these verses.

1. That they were ripe for destruction, rotten ripe, and it was time for God to put in the sickle of his judgments and to cut them off; nay, the thing was in effect done already, and they lay ready to be eaten up.

2. That the year of God's patience was drawing towards a conclusion; it was autumn with them, and their year would quickly have its period in a dismal winter.

3. Those we call summer-fruits that will not keep till winter, but must be used immediately, an emblem of this people, that had nothing solid or consistent in them. - Matthew Henry

I will never again pass by them - He has left the fruit on the tree and reserved final judgement. He has sent them prophets to warn them of the coming wrath against sin. Amos was successful in His petitions to God in the last chapter, but relating to this, we see at the end of verse 3 an imperative, "SILENCE!" This judgement is coming, it will not be deferred. 

…29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. 30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”… Acts 17: 29-31

…24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. 26He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.… Romans 3: 24-26

…3So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.…  Romans 2: 3-5

You who trample on the needy - You can't claim to be of God and yet destroy those made in His image. To look at another human being and see a stepping stone, something beneath you, that is a direct attack against God Himself. Israel had been given much, yet they oppressed those with little. Where is the true voice for the poor? Not those that use them as a political tool; they trample them for themselves, and they would keep them poor for the sake of their political machine. Will you speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves? Will you wade through the mass of those posing, taking light away from the truly needy, tell them the truth as you search for those who really need help? Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, telling them the poor are with you always, what is stopping you from helping the poor, are they really a concern to you? They just wanted to use them for an argument, a soap box.

9When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. 11You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.… Leviticus 19: 9-11

When will the New moon be over...Sabbath - They did not mind festivals, but the Sabbath was an irritation to them, because they couldn't work, buy or sell, and they were greedy. Think about it now, when I was a kid I remember large grocery chains and many more businesses that were closed on Sundays, but that is 52 days of lost business every year, yet those were not times of major lack. Men need rest, but not only that they need to hear the word of God, have accountability to one another, a time to reflect on Who made the world and the things in it, yet they worship the creation over the Creator. Though they kept the Sabbath they begrudged it, it was not with a gracious heart, and yet to learn the things of God, to study His word, to pray, those things bear eternal implications, but they saw the temporal as superior. These statement are mixed in with their treatment of the poor as well, for the Sabbath also had provisions concerning them. You could not work your servant or a foreigner either on that day, but they were angry over having to honor someone else's time of rest. They wanted to work them 7 days a week.

…9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 11But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.… 1 Timothy 6: 9-11

That we may make the ephah small and the shekel great - The ephah is a form of measurement, so think of it like a pound, and a pound should always be the same 16 ounces, but they were skimming, using unjust weights. I asked for a pound and that was understood, yet you gave me less, so they were getting more money for less product, my eyes saw the scales though and the scales said a pound. Now, many people in business pass off hidden cost to consumers all the time, and without competition it would be even worse, but where God says plainly, "thou shalt not steal," yet men think they justify it by saying, "its just business." Culturally men like to be viewed as having integrity, but God knows how you adjusted your scales, He sees how you took advantage of another's misfortune, and He won't say, "oh, it was just business." Those that do these things, while claiming to be people of God, they rob God, bring dishonor to His temple and His name. 

12Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. 13And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” Matthew 21: 12-13

Surely, I will never forget any of their deeds -  An eye for an eye, someone has to pay for the balances to equal out. In my studying of God's word there have been many moments of conviction, about things that did not trouble me in the past, yet I was guilty of defiance and disobedience, even making light of Christ's work on the cross. We would often be satisfied that no one else knew, or that those that knew are now far away, or they are quiet about it, but God does not cover up our sins in such a fashion, He gives His Son to cover the price of our sin. I deserve the cross, yet He takes my place.

a. Surely I will never forget any of their works: This reminds us that time can never erase sin. We often feel that if we or if others forget the sins of our youth, then God must forget about them also, but that is not the case. Only the atoning work of Jesus can cover sin, not time. - Enduring Word

I will make the sun go down at noon - This could be an eclipse, and some think it was in his day, but though that could be it may also point to a later time of greater mourning. At the end of verse 10 it mentions, "like the mourning for an only son", which carries with it thoughts to Israel's mourning in the last days, the time of Jacob's trouble, a greater future fulfillment.

Though, some think Amos only referred to an eclipse. “Two such eclipses have been calculated to have occurred in Amos’ lifetime: one in 784 B.C., the other in 763 B.C.” (Hubbard).

10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.… Zechariah 12: 10-11

Not a famine of bread - This would not be a famine of physical hunger, but just like the glory of the Lord departs from the temple later in Ezekiel, now there will be a spiritual famine in Israel for the thing they needed the most, but had most neglected. In the intertestamental period there was a time of silence from God, no word from His prophets for some 400 years until John the Baptist. The ages of massive miracles were always short lived, the ages of the prophets were for a time, and the time of Christ first coming fulfilled a lot of OT prophecy, which then started the Apostolic era, the foundations of the church. There was a period in the dark ages with religion reminiscent to that which was found in Bethel, but God in His graciousness brought about the Reformation, which returned men to God's word and the true gospel therein. We put so much else up as a priority above God's word, and sadly lay it aside when it is most available, when we have the most free time. They will be left without light, and when the preceding generations had it, but did not use it, nor seek the Author's intent, then they will only pass on vain religion.

1Of David. I give You thanks with all my heart; before the gods I sing Your praises. 2I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else. 3On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.… Psalm 138: 1-3

…104I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way. 105Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 106I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.… Psalm 119: 104-106

Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria - It was a false religious system, idolatrous, so those who swear by it are guilty of it's abominations. This will be no way of commending yourself to God, just like Mystery Babylon, come out of her, repent. They are like those who sit around in circles, and say, "this is what that passage means to me, the way I see it etc.." Who cares? The Bible is God's word, not some loose rambling for you to force you will upon or to pretend to have deep thoughts about, what did He mean? That is what matters. They made up their own religion and called it Judaism; today men make up their own culturally inclusive religions and call it Christianity, and they call their message the gospel. People get into pulpits and call themselves pastors, yet they refuse to give the whole counsel of God. 

The sin they are charged with: They swear by the sin of Samaria, that is, by the god of Samaria, the idol that was worshipped at Bethel, not far off from Samaria. Thus did they glory in their shame, and swear by them as their god which was their iniquity, thinking that could help them which would certainly ruin them, and giving the highest honour to that which they should have looked upon with the utmost abhorrence and detestation. They say, Thy god, O Dan! liveth; that was the other golden calf, a dumb deal idol, and yet caressed and complimented as if it had been the living and true God. They say, The manner, or way, of Beer-sheba liveth; they swore by the religion of Beer-sheba, the way and manner of worship used there, which they looked upon as sacred, and therefore swore by and appealed to as a judge of controversy. Thus the papists swear by the mass, as the manner of Beer-sheba. - Matthew Henry

…7which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! 9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!… Galatians 1: 7-9

…26Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God. 28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.… Acts 20: 26-28