Amos 8

Harvest Time!

Pray

Intro

√ Harvest time

With the close of chapter 6 God concludes His presentation of evidence against Israel.

The evidence in chapters 3-6 demonstrate convincingly that the nation was corrupt and had moved beyond repentance…

…therefore God would have to bring judgment upon them.

So, in the closing chapters God communicates through a series of visions what that judgment will be like.

Ap. Judgment is coming

God has revealed to us the coming judgment upon the whole world!

Judgment long overdue for a world that has abandoned God, worshipped themselves, and made commerce out of violating all of God’s moral Laws!

How should we respond to the knowledge that has been revealed to us?

Amos provides us an godly example!

Like Amos our hearts should be broken over the coming judgment and the death and destruction it will bring.

Like Amos we must intercede for our city, our nation and the people of the world.

Like Amos we must continue to speak the truth and warn people of the coming judgment.

So, as we study this section of the prophecy prayerfully ask the Lord how you might be like an Amos to our generation.

Harvest time (vs. 1-2)

Amos 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit.

Amos 8:2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me:

“The end has come upon My people Israel;

I will not pass by them anymore.

√ Harvest time

This is the fourth vision that God gave to Amos regarding the judgment that was coming upon Israel.

In the vision the showed Amos a basket of fruit and asked him to identify what he saw.

At first pass it might seem like an odd question for God to ask, I mean, what else would Amos say?

“A dog with a bone”

Ah, but here’s the reason God asks Amos to identify the basket of fruit…

…it’s not any fruit, it’s ripe fruit, and Amos would know that it was ripe because he was a fruit farmer (Amos 7:14).

The description in vs. 1 & 2 of the fruit as “summer fruit” literally means ripe fruit.

As in fully ripe, ready for harvest!

That’s why some translations render these verses…

Amos 8:1 Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit.

Amos 8:2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.” Then the LORD said, “This fruit represents my people of Israel—ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again.

The point of the vision and interpretation is to communicate that time was up…

…Israel was ripe for a harvest of judgment!

Just as ripe fruit has to be cut from the branch quickly, so God would cut off Israel.

There would be no last minute reversal of God’s judgment.

There would be no stay of execution.

The Lord would spare them no longer, rather, He would bring judgment and bring it swiftly.

Grief (vs. 4-10)

Amos 8:3 And the songs of the temple

Shall be wailing in that day,”

Says the Lord GOD—

“Many dead bodies everywhere,

They shall be thrown out in silence.”

Amos 8:4 Hear this, you who swallow up the needy,

And make the poor of the land fail,

Amos 8:5 Saying:

“When will the New Moon be past,

That we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

That we may trade wheat?

Making the ephah small and the shekel large,

Falsifying the scales by deceit,

Amos 8:6 That we may buy the poor for silver,

And the needy for a pair of sandals—

Even sell the bad wheat?”

Amos 8:7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

“Surely I will never forget any of their works.

Amos 8:8 Shall the land not tremble for this,

And everyone mourn who dwells in it?

All of it shall swell like the River,

Heave and subside

Like the River of Egypt.

Amos 8:9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD,

“That I will make the sun go down at noon,

And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;

Amos 8:10 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; (that’s bad?!)

I will make it like mourning for an only son,

And its end like a bitter day.

√ Grief

The result of God’s judgment would be grief in the hearts of every person who survived the massacre.

Instead of songs of praise and joy they would mourn and sing lamentations.

Instead of plenty they would suffer want.

Instead of luxurious clothing they would wear sackcloth (think burlap) and shave their heads in distress.

In that day they would understand how great their sin was…

Oppressing the poor

Degrading the Sabbath

Worshipping false gods

God’s judgment would be marked by an…

Earthquake ~ vs. 8

Eclipse ~ vs. 9

Funeral ~ vs. 10

Famine ~ vs. 11-14

That is, when the events predicted by Amos began to come to pass the people would perceive that he had in fact spoken the Word of God and that would add to their grief.

Ex. Historical fulfillment

The earthquake came just two years after Amos began preaching…

“The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” ~ Amos 1:1

That was 762 B.C.

A year before that great earthquake a solar eclipse had darkened the land (763 B.C.)

The funerals and famine would come when Assyria invaded Israel in 740 B.C..

Ap. When the signs begin

Many people today doubt the return of the Lord. Yet, it’s fascinating to watch the unbelievers and backslidden Christian react when they see the signs coming to pass!

Ex. 911 & Gulf Wars

Silence (vs. 11-14)

Amos 8:11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD,

“That 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.

Amos 8:12 They shall wander from sea to sea,

And from north to east;

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,

But shall not find it.

Amos 8:13 “In that day the fair virgins

And strong young men

Shall faint from thirst.

Amos 8:14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria,

Who say,

“As your god lives, O Dan!’

And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’

They shall fall and never rise again.”

√ Silence

Perhaps the most sobering judgment is that God tells them that when they cry out for a word from the Lord, for direction, or encouragement, or even a rebuke…

…they will be met with silence!

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD,

“That 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.” ~ vs. 11

God’s point is that He had been speaking loudly to them for many years through His word and by a long string of prophets that He sent to them.

But, the people of Israel had stopped their ears and refused to listen while there was still a chance to avert judgment.

So, because they had rejected His word in times past He warns them that when they finally do want to listen…

…He will be remain silent.

√ Hearing His voice

Even though God promised that He would not speak to them, that there would be a famine of His Word…

…still He did not leave them without the testimony of His Word.

While it is true that God would not speak any new revelation to the people of Israel who had rejected His prophets…

…they could still “hear” His voice through the Word that He had already spoken.

If they would go back to His Word they would find plenty that God had spoken through His servant Moses!

All that the children of Israel needed to know about God and how to please Him was recorded in the first five books of the Bible.

They would find God’s promise that if they would return to Him and once more obey the word that He had already given…

…then He would forgive their sin, bring them back to their land, and speak to them once more.

Ap. What do you do when you can’t hear the Lord?

There are many reasons that God may chose to be silent…

He may be growing your faith and teaching you to dig into His word where you’ll discover that most of the answers to the questions we have are already revealed in the Bible!

It may be because you’re in sin and the Lord has withheld His voice because you’re not obeying what He’s already told you.

It may be that He’s given you a task to do and you’re not doing it so He has decided not to give you any new revelation until you’ve done what He already gave you.

Regardless of the reason for God’s silence what you need to do when you can’t hear Him anymore…

…is to go back to the last thing you know that He spoke to you and do that faithfully!

Chapter 9

Judgment & Restoration

Judging (vs. 1-4)

Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:

“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,

And break them on the heads of them all.

I will slay the last of them with the sword.

He who flees from them shall not get away,

And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

Amos 9:2 “Though they dig into hell,

From there My hand shall take them;

Though they climb up to heaven,

From there I will bring them down;

Amos 9:3 And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel,

From there I will search and take them;

Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,

From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;

Amos 9:4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies,

From there I will command the sword,

And it shall slay them.

I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

√ Judging

In this vision Amos sees the Lord standing by the altar in the temple and passing judgment upon the people.

This isn’t the altar in His Temple, which was in Jerusalem.

This is the altar in the temple, or sanctuary, in Bethel where Jeroboam had set up a substitute place for worship.

It was one of two places that the people of Israel would go to worship their false gods or pretend to worship the true God.

One was in Bethel the other in Dan near the headwaters of the Jordan River.

Amos hears the Lord call for the destruction of the temple and all who worship there.

No one would escape!

If anyone did God declares that He would hunt them down and destroy them wherever they were found.

Reminding them, and us that no one can hide from the judgment that God ordains.

Ex. Adam and Eve

We human’s should have learned from Adam and Eve’s lame attempt to hide from God that it simply isn’t possible!

All of Creation stands naked before Him.

There’s nowhere that a person might go, or hide, that God doesn’t know it!

But the people of Israel had fallen so far from God that they arrogantly believed that they could escape the judgment that He was bringing on them.

Sifting (vs. 5-10)

Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of hosts,

He who touches the earth and it melts,

And all who dwell there mourn;

All of it shall swell like the River,

And subside like the River of Egypt.

Amos 9:6 He who builds His layers in the sky,

And has founded His strata in the earth;

Who calls for the waters of the sea,

And pours them out on the face of the earth—

The LORD is His name.

Amos 9:7 “Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,

O children of Israel?” says the LORD.

“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

The Philistines from Caphtor,

And the Syrians from Kir?

Amos 9:8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,

And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

Says the LORD.

Amos 9:9 “For surely I will command,

And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,

As grain is sifted in a sieve;

Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

Amos 9:10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,

Who say, “The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’

√ Sifting

Next God says that part of His judgment would involve sifting the people of Israel in the nations to which they would be carried captive.

Sifting is a common figure of speech in the Bible whereby God communicates how He is able to judge righteously between the good and the bad of His people.

Just as people use a sieve to sift out the rocks from the grain…

…so God would sift His people, removing the evil and yet preserving the small remnant of the faithful (vs. 9).

“For surely I will command,

And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,

As grain is sifted in a sieve;

Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.”

Reminding us that even in times of harshest judgment that God preserves a remnant that His people might survive and that His promises to Israel might come to pass.

Ex. Elijah & the 7,000

Elijah was sure that he was the only one left in Israel that still served the Lord with a faithful heart, yet God declared…

“Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” ~ 1 Kings 19:18

God spares a remnant so that the nation might continue.

Ap. God sifts His people

He does so to remove the wicked, and to remove sin in the lives of those He loves.

Ex. Peter

Jesus told Peter…

“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.” ~ Luke 22:31

So, if you’re a child of His you don’t need to fear the sifting process…

…God always preserves His own and won’t let even the small of His children fall to the ground.

Blessing (vs. 11-15)

Amos 9:11 “On that day I will raise up

The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,

And repair its damages;

I will raise up its ruins,

And rebuild it as in the days of old;

Amos 9:12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom,

And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”

Says the LORD who does this thing.

Amos 9:13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,

“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;

The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,

And all the hills shall flow with it.

Amos 9:14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;

They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;

They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;

They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.

Amos 9:15 I will plant them in their land,

And no longer shall they be pulled up

From the land I have given them,”

Says the LORD your God.

√ Blessing

As we’ve seen with God’s other prophets the Lord always leaves His people with hope…

Hope for a better future

Hope that God’s promises will come to pass despite the wickedness of His people.

Hope for restoration and renewal.

Amos doesn’t disappoint! In these closing verses of his prophecy God points to a bright future for God’s people…

A time when He will bring them back from their captivity.

A time when the Promised Land will once more flow with milk and honey.

A time when the ruins will be rebuilt.

A time when the King, a descant of David will be raised up to rule Israel once more!

That time is the Kingdom Age, the time when Jesus the Messiah will rule and reign over not only Israel but over the whole earth!

√ Gentiles in the Kingdom!

There’s an interesting prediction in vs. 12 that speaks of the future dominion of the Messiah’s kingdom…

“That they may possess the remnant of Edom,

And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”

Says the LORD who does this thing.”

Edom is used here to represent the kingdoms of the world who had previously been hostile to Israel.

God’s promise is that in the future Kingdom Age the people of Edom (all the world) will come under the dominion of Christ!

The second part of the prophecy is that there will be Gentiles who are…

“called by My name”

To bear someone’s name means to be under their care and protection!

This pictures the Gentiles who have come to trust in the Jewish Messiah!

That’s us! The glorious revelation in this Old Testament Jewish prophet is that God has always planned to include in His kingdom both Jews and Gentiles under the banner of Messiah!

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