Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity
V 1 “Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer
fruit.”
Could it be that man
living day to day could be slow to repent thinking that God defers his
judgment? They could be lulled to sleep by the song, My Lord delays his coming.
However, in these
verses you see his wrath very near. However, Israel is still living day by day.
God represents his soon coming to Israel for destruction by a basket of summer
fruit. He shows it to Amos, and he wants to be sure that Amos sees it. He asks,
“What do you see Amos?”
Do you wonder how
often God asks you, “Hey,” your name, “What do you see?”
V 2 “He said, “What do
you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I
will spare them no longer.”
Amos sees a basket of summer fruit, ripe, ready to be
eaten, destroyed. For practical purposes, it was dead because it had been
picked. Israel was that basket of picked fruit. Although she still could be
seen as alive, she was dead because she had been picked.
Think about the fact that the summer fruit couldn’t be
preserved. It had to be eaten after it was picked like cantaloupes and water
melons. The intent and purpose of the vison given to Amos was that Israel’s end
was here.
V 3 “The songs of the palace will
turn to wailing in that day,” declares the Lord God. “Many will
be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence.”
The songs that will be
sung in the palace will be songs of wailing. There will be dead bodies
everywhere. So many that those who gather them will cast them forth in silence
like bales of hay.
Remember that God said
to them in 7:8, “The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said, “Behold I am about to put a plumb line In the midst of My
people Israel.
I will spare them no longer.”
God has waited and waited, warned and warned, now it is over.
God Contends
with the Proud Oppressors
V 4-6 “Hear this, you
who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land saying,
“When will the new moon be over, so that we may sell grain, And the sabbath,
that we may open the wheat market, to make the bushel smaller and the shekel
bigger, and to cheat with dishonest scales, so as to buy the helpless for money
and the needy for a pair of sandals, and that we may sell the refuse of the
wheat?”
Can you see what the
rich are doing? Once again, they are playing church! Look at the phrase, “when
will the new moon be over.” The new moon represented a time of worship for
them. These people are sitting in church wanting the preacher to be through.
They are ready to watch baseball, go out to dinner. They think all the food
over in the buffet will be picked through and no good parts will be left. KFC
will be out of breasts. They can’t wait for church to be over.
In Israel’s case, it
wasn’t to go to dinner. It was to make money. They couldn’t work on church day.
They were losing money. Note that they were using a dishonest weight. They
cheated the poor by selling them 6 ozs. of wheat for a pound. Their scale
showed one pound, but their weight was only ½ pound. In this way they made
twice as much money.
That’s what God means
when he tells Amos, “buy the helpless for money and the needy for a pair of
sandals.” The rich could buy sandals because they had cheated the poor and
helpless.
V 7 “The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob, indeed, I will never forget any of
their deeds.”
God has sworn by the
excellency of Jacob, all that he did for Israel, the miracles he worked, the
wars he fought for them, the power and glory he bestowed on them, he will never
forget any of the evil things they did. God says, I will not overlook the
things you have done after all the good I have brought to you.
His never forgetting
their deeds could be a sentence to eternal doom. Although Israel or Jacob was
excellent, you are rotten as the summer fruit above.
V 8 “Because of this
will not the land quake and everyone who dwells in it mourn? indeed, all of it
will rise up like the Nile, and it will be tossed about and subside like the
Nile of Egypt.”
Because of this, could
have a double meaning. 1. Because of your eternal doom, or because I am
bringing destruction on your land.
I cannot forget all
the evil you have done. Everyone who dwells in the land will mourn—in great
contrast to the prosperous lives they now live. The enemy will come on you like
a floor of the Nile. Then you will be tossed about and subside like the Nile.
V 9 “It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight.”
Can you imagine
the fear that the ones who knew prophesy felt whenever there was a solar
eclipse? Although this verse isn’t talking about a solar eclipse, rather it is
talking about the final days of the tribulation period. Jesus tells you in Matthew 24 that the sun
will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall
from the sky.
As a general rule, “in
that day” refers to the final days of judgment on the earth. It is also called “the
time of Jacob’s trouble,” too.
V 10 “Then I will turn
your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will
bring sackcloth on everyone’s loins and baldness on every head. And I will make
it like a time of mourning for an only son, and the end of it will be like a
bitter day.”
The new moon festivals
that they wanted to end will be times of mourning. There would be no songs of
joy only songs of lamentation.
Sackcloth, a rough
material worn as a sign of mourning, would be the designer jeans for the day.
One thing the Jews did whenever they mourned was pull out their hair.
Therefore, much mourning would take place because they would be bald.
V 11 “Behold, days are
coming,” declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for
hearing the words of the Lord.
Famine nearly always
accompanies war. Revelation 6:5-6, “And when he broke the third seal, I
heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” And I looked and behold, a
black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard
as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart
of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not
harm the oil and wine.”
A loaf of bread will
cost a day’s wages. At minimum wage of $10.00, that’s $80.00 for a loaf of
bread. Therefore, people would starve to death because they couldn’t afford to
buy bread. The idea is that famine and war go together.
V 12 “People will
stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to
and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.”
Another thing that will be scarce will be the word of the Lord. The bread of life will be as hard to come by as physical bread. Here’s is yet another reason why I think the church is in heaven. As long as the church is here, the bread of life will be plentiful. Jesus promised, “I am the bread of life. He certainly won’t starve his church to death, will he?
V 13 “In that day the beautiful
virgins and the young men will faint from thirst.”
It will be a terrible day. The
young and protected will suffer as they usually do in war. The ones who aren’t
street wise will find it devastating.
V 14 “As for
those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and,
‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’ they will fall and not rise again.”
Notice who will be some of the ones who die? Those who have been
testifying that their country is safe. The reference to Dan is because there is
a temple of worship in Dan. One of the golden calves, an idol god, resides
there.
Amos
Chapter 8
Questions
What does the basket of fruit represent?
_______________________________________________.
What’s the meaning of when will the new moon be over?
_____________________________________.
If man thinks that God defers judgment, how will he live?
_____________________________________.
Can you relate to the phrase, God showed me?
______________________________________________.
While will the songs of the palace be wails?
_______________________________________________.
Explain, “but the helpless for money and the needy for a pair of sandals.”
_____________________
________________________________________________________________________________.
How did they use dishonest scales?
___________________________________________________.
“The pride of Jacob can be called? _________________________________________.
God swore by good that he would bring about
________________________________?
What does he mean, “never forget any of their deeds?”
_____________________________.
What could be the double meaning of “because of this the land will
quake?”
1
_______________________________________________________________________.
2
_________________________________________________________________________.
Why would baldness occur? _________________________________________________________.
What is the reference to Dan for?
____________________________________________________.
Howard
PSS: Our first novel, The Red-Haired Master Shepherd, has been published. The novel is fiction about a little known Biblical character who meets Jesus. Check it out here. Or you can email us for your copy.
Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.
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