Amos 8
I. Outline of Amos
A. \\#1:1\\ The Time of Amos
B. \\#1:2-2:5\\ Judgment Against Israel’s Neighbors
C. \\#2:6-9:10\\ Judgment Against Israel
1. \\#2:6-6:14\\ Three Sermons
a. \\#2:6-3:15\\ Israel’s Past Sins
b. \\#4:1-13\\ Israel’s Present Sins
c. \\#5:1-6:14\\ Israel’s Future Sins
2. \\#7:1-8:14\\ Five Visions
a. \\#7:1-17\\ Accountability
(1) \\#7:1-9\\ Visions of Accountability
i. \\#7:1-3\\ Vision of Grasshoppers
ii. \\#7:4-6\\ Vision of Fire
iii \\#7:7-9\\ Vision of a Plumbline
(2) \\#7:10-17\\ Accountability of Amaziah
b. \\#8:1-14\\ Timing - Vision of the Summer Fruit
(1) \\#8:1-3\\ Judgment Is At Hand
(2) \\#8:4-14\\ God’s Anger Is Stirred
c. \\#9:1-10\\ Totality - Vision of the Altar Destroyed
D. \\#9:11-15\\ God’s Promise of A Future Restoration
I. \\#7:1-8:14\\ Five Visions
A. \\#7:1-17\\ Accountability
B. \\#8:1-14\\ Timing - Vision of the Summer Fruit
1. \\#8:1-3\\ - Judgment Is At Hand
a. \\#1\\ "behold a basket of summer fruit" - Summer
fruit is fruit already picked and setting out. It
would have a limited life expectancy.
b. \\#2\\
(1) "The end is come upon my people of Israel" - The
same was true of Israel. Their destruction was
at hand.
(2) "I will not again pass by them any more" - God
again tells Israel that He will not pass this
way again \\#Amos 7:8\\. This means God will
not rebuild the northern kingdom again.
c. \\#3\\ "songs… shall be howlings…. many dead bodies"
God had already rejected their songs \\#Amos 5:23\\.
Now God tells of their new song - howling. The city
will be filled with dead bodies. So many that after
a time, the people will not be able to cry anymore.
2. \\#8:4-14\\ - God’s Anger Is Stirred
a. \\#4-6\\ "hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy"
God again speaks to those who have taken advantage
of the poor, even to the degree that the poor cannot
live. \\#Amos 2:6-7, 3:15, 4:1, 11, 5:11, 6:1-6\\.
(1) \\#5\\ "When will the new moon be gone… the
sabbath?
(a) "new moon" - Although not commanded in the
law, the new moon became a religious
holiday to the Jews in which no work was to
be done \\#1Sam 20:5-24, Psalm 81:3\\.
Apparently, this pleased the Lord, for the
new moon is to be kept in Israel’s future
worship. \\#Eze 46:1,6\\
(b) The new moon and Sabbath were then days when
work was not to be done, but the greedy of
Israel could not stand to have their money
making hindered by worship and reverence to
God.
(c) "ephah small… shekel great… balances of
deceit" - These greedy sellers had also
tampered with the scales, made the unit
size purchased smaller while making the
cost greater.
(2) \\#6\\ All that they might "buy the poor for
silver" or sell "the needy for a pair of shoes."
b. \\#7\\ "I will never forget their works" - God swears
that He will not forget what they have done to the
poor of His land.
c. \\#8-14\\ What God will do.
(1) \\#8\\ "the land tremble" - This verse speaks in
symbolic terms, describing the land itself as
trembling and mourning for the wickedness done
within it, then rising up against the people who
inhabit it, destroying them.
(2) \\#9\\ "I will cause the sun to go down at noon
…I will darken the earth in the clear day."
(a) Since the last verse was figurative in
nature, it is possible that this verse is
as well. If it is historic, then it would
be entirely symbolic, describing the gloom
and darkness which accompanied their
destruction, for we have no record of any
supernatural signs accompanying Assyria’s
conquest.
(b) However, it is possible that God is speaking
of something that He will do in the final
judgment. Zechariah describing the events
of the final battle, tells us that God will
alter the light and dark patters of day and
night.
Zech 14:6 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known
to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall
come to pass, that at evening time it shall be
light.
(3) \\#10\\ "a bitter day" - God will turn the
religious days which should have been days of
rejoicing in God’s goodness into bitterness.
(4) \\#11-13\\ God will remove His Word.
(a) \\#11\\ "I will send a famine… a thirst…
of hearing the words of the Lord" - To
hear from God and to have His Word is the
greatest blessing a people can have. If
God’s Word is absent, man will perish not
only in the life to come but in this life
as well. This verse has been fulfilled in
Israel for many years.
(b) \\#12\\ "they shall wander… and shall not
find it" - Not only will God remove His
Word, but the people will miss it and
search the land for it; yet they will not
find it. While the famine of God’s Word
has been existed for many years, the people
do not seem to have searched for it.
(c) \\#13\\ "virgins… men faint" - But the
youth (and the aged) are weak because of
it.
(5) \\#14\\ "They that swear by the sin of Samaria…
Beersheba… shall fall" - God will bring down
all of those who have placed their trust in
false gods and they would "never rise up again."
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