Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 8:4
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
4. Hear this ] Amo 3:1, Amo 4:1, Amo 5:1.
that pant after the needy ] i.e. who are eager to destroy them: the word has the same figurative sense in Psa 56:1-2; Psa 57:3; cf. also above Amo 2:7 (Jerome renders, as there, perhaps rightly, that crush).
and are for making [190] the poor of the land to cease ] viz. by their eagerness to take every advantage, and to secure everything for themselves, as they might do, for instance, by exacting the labour of the poor without proper pay (Jer 22:13; Mic 3:10), or by building large palaces, or amassing large estates (Isa 5:8; Mic 2:2), and so depriving their less fortunate neighbours of the means of livelihood, or compelling them to seek a home elsewhere, or even to sell themselves into slavery. In the present instance, however, their inconsiderate treatment of the poor took the form of commercial dishonesty, Amo 8:6-7.
[190] For the Heb. idiom employed, see the writer’s Heb. Tenses, 206; Davidson, Heb. Syntax, 96 R. 4; or Ges.-Kautzsch (ed. 25 or 26), 114. 2 R. 5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 6. Amos indignantly turns to the rapacious merchants of Israel, rebuking them for their avarice, their dishonesty, and their meanness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 14. A fresh denunciation of Israel’s sin, followed by a fresh picture of the impending calamities.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Here ye this, ye that swallow – Or, better in the same sense, that pant for the needy; as Job says, the hireling panteth for the evening Job 7:2. They panted for the poor, as the wild beast for its prey; and that to make the poor or (better, as the Hebrew text,) the meek , those not poor only, but who, through poverty and affliction, are poor in spirit also, to fail. The land being divided among all the inhabitants, they, in order to lay field to field Isa 5:8, had to rid themselves of the poor. They did rid themselves of them by oppression of all sorts.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 8:4-10
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy.
Avarice
I. It is execrable in its spirit.
1. It is sacrilegious. Bad as Israel was, it still kept up the mere observances of religion, yet these observances they regarded as commercial inconveniences. Avarice in heart has no reverence for religion.
2. It is dishonest. Always over-reaching, always cheating. It makes its fortunes out of the brain and muscles, the sweat and life of the needy.
3. It is cruel. Avarice deadens all social affections.
II. It is abhorrent to Jehovah. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Some render the excellency of Jacob the pride of Jacob, and suppose the expression to mean, that Israel professed to regard Him as its glory: and therefore it is by Himself, for He can swear by no one greater. God observes all the cruelties which avarice inflicts upon the poor. Nothing is more abhorrent to His benevolent nature than covetousness.
1. It is repugnant to His nature. His love is disinterested, unbounded love, working ever for the good of the universe. Greed is a hideous antagonist to this.
2. It is hostile to universal happiness. He created the universe in order to diffuse happiness; but greed is against it.
(1) It is against the happiness of its possessor. The soul under the influence of covetousness can neither grow in power nor be gratified in desire.
(2) It is against the happiness of society.
III. It is a curse to society. Shall not the land tremble for this, etc.
1. How God makes nature an avenging angel. He makes the land tremble. He toucheth the hills and they smoke, pours out waters as a flood.
2. How God makes a multitude to suffer on account of tile iniquities of the few. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations: and I will bring up sackcloth, etc. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy] Ye that bruise the poor; exact from them, and tread them under foot.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Though the prophet had several times told them what were the sins for which God would thus punish Israel, yet on a repeated threat he repeateth the rehearsal of the sins which draw down these judgments on their heads.
Hear this, attend, and consider it,
O ye that swallow up, greedily and cruelly devour, that do, like the greater fish, swallow up the lesser fry: in this one word the prophet includeth all the methods of their cruel oppression, wasting tho poor.
The needy; such as were objects of your mercy, had you been just and honest, as well as rich and great.
Even to make the poor of the land to fail; either to root them out, or to enslave them, while their necessities force them to sell themselves for bread.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. HearThe nobles needed tobe urged thus, as hating to hear reproof.
swallow up the needyor,”gape after,” that is, pant for their goods; so the word isused, Job 7:2, Margin.
to make the poor . . . tofail“that they (themselves) may be placed alone in themidst of the earth” (Isa 5:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy,…. Like a man that pants after a draught of water when thirsty; and, when he has got it, greedily swallows it down at one gulp; so these rich men swallowed up the poor, their labours, gains, and profits, and persons too; got all into their own hands, and made them bondsmen and slaves to them; see Am 2:7; these are called upon to hear this dreadful calamity threatened, and to consider what then would become of them and their ill gotten riches; and suggesting, that their oppression of the needy was one cause of this destruction of the land:
even to make the poor of the land to fail; or “cease” a; to die for want of the necessaries of life, being obliged to such hard labour; so unmercifully used, their faces ground, and pinched with necessity; and so sadly paid for their work, that they could not live by it.
a “ad cessare faciendum”, Mercerus; “et facitis cessare”, Munster, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To this vision the prophet attaches the last admonition to the rich and powerful men of the nation, to observe the threatening of the Lord before it is too late, impressing upon them the terrible severity of the judgment. Amo 8:4. “Hear this, ye that gape for the poor, and to destroy the meek of the earth, Amo 8:5. Saying, When is the new moon over, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may open wheat, to make the ephah small, and the shekel great, and to falsify the scale of deceit? Amo 8:6. To buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and the refuse of the corn will we sell.” The persons addressed are the , i.e., not those who snort at the poor man, to frighten him away from any further pursuit of his rights (Baur), but, according to Amo 2:6-7, those who greedily pant for the poor man, who try to swallow him (Hitzig). This is affirmed in the second clause of the verse, in which is to be repeated in thought before : they gape to destroy the quiet in the land ( = , in Amo 2:7), “namely by grasping all property for themselves, Job 22:8; Isa 5:8” (Hitzig). Amo 8:5 and Amo 8:6 show how they expect to accomplish their purpose. Like covetous usurers, they cannot even wait for the end of the feast-days to pursue their trade still further. Chodesh , the new moon, was a holiday on which all trade was suspended, just as it was on the Sabbath (see at Num 28:11 and 2Ki 4:23). , to sell corn, as in Gen 41:57. , to open up corn, i.e., to open the granaries (cf. Gen 41:56). In doing so, they wanted to cheat the poor by small measure (ephah), and by making the shekel great, i.e., by increasing the price, which was to be weighed out to them; also by false scales ( ivveth , to pervert, or falsify the scale of deceit, i.e., the scale used for cheating), and by bad corn ( mappal , waste or refuse); that in this way they might make the poor man so poor, that he would either be obliged to sell himself to them from want and distress (Lev 25:39), or be handed over to the creditor by the court of justice, because he was no longer able to pay for a pair of shoes, i.e., the very smallest debt (cf. Amo 2:6).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Sin and Doom of Oppressors. | B. C. 785. |
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
God is here contending with proud oppressors, and showing them,
I. The heinousness of the sin they were guilty of; in short, they had the character of the unjust judge (Luke xviii. 2) that neither feared God nor regarded man.
1. Observe them in their devotions, and you will say, “They had no reverence for God.” Bad as they are, they do indeed keep up a show and form of godliness; they observe the sabbath and the new moon; they put some difference between those days and other days, but they were soon weary of them, and had no affection at all to them, for their hearts were wholly set upon the world and the things of it. It is a sad character which this gives of them, that they said, When will the sabbath be gone, that we may sell corn? Yet is still the character of many that are called Christians. (1.) They were weary of sabbath days. “When will they be gone?” They were weary of the restraints of the sabbaths and the new-moons, and wished them over because they might do no servile work therein. They were weary of the work or business of the sabbaths and new-moons, snuffed at it (Mal. i. 13), and were, as Doeg, detained before the Lord (1 Sam. xxi. 7); they would rather have been any where else than about God’s altars. Note, Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity. Can we spend our time better than in communication with God? And how much time do we spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be gone before we have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it? Why then should we be in such haste to part with it? (2.) They were fond of market-days: they longed to be selling corn and setting forth wheat. When they were employed in religious services they were thinking of their marketings; their hearts went after their covetousness (Ezek. xxxiii. 31), and thus made my Father’s house a house of merchandise, nay, a den of thieves. They were weary of holy duties because their worldly business stood still the while; in this they were as in their element, but in God’s sanctuary as a fish upon dry ground. Note, Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping God.
2. Observe them in their conversations, and you will see they have no regard to man; and this commonly follows upon the former; those that have lost the savour of piety will not long retain the sense of common honesty. They neither do justly nor love mercy. (1.) They cheat those they deal with. When they sell their corn they impose upon the buyer, both in giving out the goods and in receiving the money for them. They measure him the corn by their own measure, and pretend to give him what he agreed for, but they make the ephah small. The measure is scanty, and not statute-measure, and so they wrong him that way. When they receive his money they must weigh fit in their own scales, by their own weights, and the shekel they weigh by is above standard: They make the shekel great, so that the money, being found too light, must have more added to it; and so they cheat that way too, and this under colour and pretence of exactness in doing justice. By such wicked practices as these men show such a greediness of the world, such a love of themselves, such a contempt of mankind in general, of the particular persons they deal with, and of the sacred laws of justice, as prove them to have in their hearts neither the fear nor the love of that God who has so plainly said that false weights and balances are an abomination to him. Another instance of their fraudulent dealing is that they sell the refuse of the wheat, and, taking advantage of their neighbour’s ignorance or necessity, make them take it at the same price at which they sell the finest of the wheat. (2.) The are barbarous and unmerciful to the poor: They swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land to fail. [1.] They valued themselves so much on their wealth that they looked upon all that were poor with the highest contempt imaginable; they hated them, could not endure them, but abandoned them, and therefore did what they could to make them cease, not by relieving them to make them cease to be poor, but by banishing and destroying them to make them cease to be, or at least to be in their land. But he who thus reproaches the poor despises his Maker, in whose hands rich and poor meet together. [2.] They were so eager to increase their wealth, and make it more, that they robbed the poor to enrich themselves; and they fastened upon the poor, to make a prey of them, because they were not able to obtain any redress nor to resist or revenge the violence of their oppressors. Those riches that are got by the ruin of the poor will bring ruin on those that get them. They swallowed up the poor by making them hard bargains, and cheating them in those bargains; for therefore they falsify the balances by deceit, not only that they may enrich themselves, may have money at command, and so may have every thing else (as they think) at command too, but that they may impoverish those about them, and bring them so low that they may force them to become slaves to them, and so, having drained them of every thing else, they may have their labour for nothing, or next to nothing. Thus they buy the poor for silver; they bring them and their children into bondage, because they have not wherewithal to pay for the corn they have bought; see Neh. v. 2-5. And there were so many that they were reduced to this extremity that the price was very low; and the oppressors had beaten it down so that you might buy a poor man to be your slave for a pair of shoes. Property was first invaded and then liberty; it is the method of oppressors first to make men beggars and then to make them their vassals. Thus is the dignity of the human nature lost in the misery of those that are trampled on and the tenderness of it in the sin of those that trample on them.
II. The grievousness of the punishment that shall be inflicted on them for this sin. When the poor are injured they will cry unto God, and he will hear their cry, and reckon with those that are injurious to them, for, they being his receivers, he takes the wrongs done to them as done to himself, Exo 22:23; Exo 22:24.
1. God will remember their sin against them: He has sworn by the excellency of Jacob (v. 7), by himself, for he can swear by no greater; and who but he is the glory and magnificence of Jacob? He has sworn by those tokens of his presence with them, and his favour to them, which they had profaned and abused, and had done what they could to make them detestable to him; for he is said (ch. vi. 8) to abhor the excellency of Jacob. He swears in his wrath, swears by his own name, that name which was so well known and was so great in Israel. He swears, Surely I will never forget any of their works, but upon all occasions they shall be remembered against them, for more is implied than is expressed. I will never forget them is as much as to say, I will never forgive them; and then it proclaims the case of these unjust unmerciful men to be miserable indeed, eternally miserable; woe, and a thousand woes, to that man that is cut off by an oath of God from all benefit by pardoning mercy; and those have reason to fear judgment without mercy that have shown no mercy.
2. He will bring utter ruin and confusion upon them. It is here described largely, and in a great variety of emphatic expressions, that, if possible, they might be frightened into a sincere repentance and reformation. (1.) There shall be a universal terror and consternation: Shall not the land tremble for this (v. 8), this land, out of which you thought to drive the poor? Shall not every one mourn that dwells therein? Certainly he shall. Note, Those that will not tremble and mourn as they ought for national sins shall be made to tremble and mourn for national judgments; those that look without concern upon the sins of the oppressors, which should make them tremble, and upon the miseries of the oppressed, which should them mourn, God will find out a way to make them tremble at the fury of those that oppress them and mourn for their own losses and sufferings by it. (2.) There shall be a universal deluge and desolation. When God comes forth against them the waters of trouble and calamity shall rise up wholly as a flood, that swells, when it is dammed up, and soon overflows its banks. Every thing shall make against them. That with which they thought to check the progress of God’s judgments shall but make them rise the higher. Judgments shall force their way as the breaking forth of waters. The whole land shall be cast out, and drowned, and laid under water, as the land of Egypt is every year by the overflowing of its river Nile. Or the expressions may allude to some former judgments of God. Their ruin shall rise up wholly as a flood, as Noah’s flood, which overwhelmed the whole world, so shall this the whole land; and the land shall be cast out, and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt, as Pharaoh and his Egyptians were buried in the Red Sea, which was to them the flood of Egypt, both which judgments, as this which is here threatened, were the punishment of violence and oppression, which the Lord is the avenger of.
3. It shall surprise them, and come upon them when they little think of it (v. 9): “I will cause the sun to go down at noon, when it is in its full strength and lustre, at their noon, when they promise themselves a long afternoon, and think they have at least half a day good before them. The earth shall be darkened in the clear day, when every thing looks pleasant and hopeful.” Thus uncertain are all our creature-comforts and enjoyments, even life itself; the highest degree of health and prosperity often proves the next degree to sickness and adversity; Job’s sun went down at noon; many are taken away in the midst of their days, and their sun goes down at noon. In the midst of life we are in death. Thus terrible are the judgments of God to those that sleep in security; they are to them as the sun’s going down at noon; the less they are expected the more confounding they are. When they cry Peace and safety then sudden destruction comes, comes as a snare, Luke xxi. 35.
4. It shall change their note, and mar all their mirth (v. 10): I will turn your feasts into mourning, as (v. 3) the songs of the temple into howlings. Note, The end of the sinner’s mirth and jollity is heaviness. As to the upright there arises light in the darkness, which gives them the oil of joy for mourning, so on the wicked their falls darkness in the midst of light, which turns their laughter into mourning, their joy into heaviness. So great, so general, shall the desolation be, that sackcloth shall be brought upon all loins, and baldness upon every head, instead of the well-set hair and the rich garments they used to wear. The mourning at that day shall be as mourning for an only son, which denotes the most bitter and lasting lamentation. But are there are no hopes that when things are at the worst they will mend, and that at evening time it will yet be light? No, even the end thereof shall be as a bitter day, a day of bitter mourning; that state of impenitent sinners grows worse and worse, and the last of all will be the worst of all. This shall you have at my hand, you shall lie down in sorrow.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Jehovah’s Full Complaint Against Israel
Verses 4-14:
Verse 4 addresses the oppressors, the nobles in Israel, who swallowed up the needy, or panted, carnally desired, the property of the poor, dreaming up ways to seize it unjustly, Job 7:2. They foreclosed against field after field of the poor, and those disheartened, because unjust lords seized their properties, Isa 5:8; Job 7:2.
Verse 5 described these greedy and unjust landlords as asking themselves how long it will be till market day, which they coveted, more than Sabbaths of rest and worship of the Lord, Num 28:11; 2Ki 4:23. The law forbad work and trade on the new moon and on the Sabbath, Neh 10:31. They made the ephah of wheat small, like selling three quarts, for the price of a gallon (four quarts), while making the shekel great, requiring a heavier weight than was honest, defrauding, charging double price, using the false balance, Gen 23:16; Jer 32:9; Deu 25:13; Pro 1:1; Pro 20:23.
Verse 6 declares that the rich defrauded the poor to impoverish themselves so that they would sell themselves as bondsmen for silver or a pair of shoes, in defiance of the very law they were covenanted to obey and uphold, Lev 25:39; Amo 2:6. They also sold the refuse of the wheat, which was almost nil of nutrient, to the poor, who were unable to pay for flour. The refuse was the bran and unfilled grain which they mixed with meal and sold for an high price, Hos 12:7.
Verse 7 reminds all Israel that the Lord has been looking on and has sworn by the “excellency of Jacob,” by himself, in whom Jacob’s seed gloried, by His adoption of Israel as His peculiar people. What He has just sworn to them through Amos was that He would not forget or pass by their personal and national sins without punishing them, v. 2; Hos 5:5; Hos 7:10; Hos 8:13; Hos 9:9.
Verse 8 rhetorically states that “the land shall tremble and everyone shall mourn therein because of their perverted sins, shall they not?” All the land shall be flooded with a devastating army, like a drowning flood, even as when the flood of Egypt came from the Nile river. This image is described, Amo 9:5; Dan 9:26. The Nile often rose 20 feet, generally casting out mire and dirt, Isa 57:20.
Verse 9 recounts the Lord’s warning that in that day of judgment He will “cause the sun to go down at noon,” and “darken the earth in the clear day.” This darkness is an emblem of judgment calamaties, Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7-10.
Verse 10 further affirms that the flood of national judgment will turn their feasts to mournings and their sons into lamentations, wailing sounds in a minor key, Isa 3:24. Sackcloth will be worn on their loins (garments of mourning) and baldness upon every head, a sign of mourning described Isa 15:2; Jer 48:37; Eze 7:18. God threatened to make the land so barren, dead, or unproductive that the people would mourn as parents mourn over the death of an only son, Jer 6:26; Zec 12:10.
Verse 11 predicts a famine for the land, a famine of neither bread nor water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. It is to be a just retribution to those who will not now hear the word of the Lord’s prophet, but try to drive them away, as Amaziah had done, Amo 7:12. They shall then look in vain, in their distress, for Divine counsel, such as the prophets now offer, Eze 7:26; Mic 3:7. The rejection of Jesus Christ has brought and still brings this crisis to every persistent unbeliever, Mat 21:43; Luk 17:22; Joh 7:34; Joh 8:21.
Verse 12 continues prophesying that these rejecters of God’s message from the prophet Amos, and others with God’s message like him, should wander aimlessly from sea to sea (the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, and from the north to the south, from Dan to Beersheba) reeling and stumbling like a drunk, but should find no relief, for they sought not obedience to the word of the Lord, but a ceremonial show of attachment to it, when under the pressure of punishment, Isa 40:30; Pro 29:1.
Verse 13 asserts that in that day of judgment fair virgins and young men shall faint for thirst, with near starvation, with yearning to hear the word of the Lord, being destitute of any other kind of help or comfort. When even the young and strong faint, how much more shall the weak and infirm faint and weaken, with no relief, Isa 40:30-31; Luk 16:31; Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24.
Verse 14 indicates three groups of unbelievers of the day with an inevitable fall from which they should never rise again:
First, those who swear by the sin of Samaria, the calves of idol worship in Samaria, made after the order of the golden calf made by Aaron, later destroyed by Moses, Deu 9:21; Hos 4:15. The term “swear by,” means “to worship,” Psa 63:11. Second, those who swore that the gods of Dan, the other golden calf at Dan was a living god, 1Ki 12:26-30, or may be live.
And, Third, that the manner of idol worship at Beersheba lived also, or may it live, Psa 139:24; Act 9:2. Yet Jehovah God had vowed that they shall fall and never rise again, so great would be the fall, Act 18:25; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 24:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
And he assails by name the princes of the people, Hear this, he says, ye who tread upon or swallow up the poor The Prophets, as we have already stated, did not without reason direct their discourses to the chief men, though the common people were nearly as much involved in the same guilt. It is certain that the state of the people of Israel was then so corrupt, that all, from the highest to the lowest, were become degenerated and none were free from blame. But as more guilt belongs always to leaders, this is the reason why the Prophets treated them with more sharpness and severity: for many of the common people go astray through thoughtlessness or ignorances or are led on by others, but they who govern, pervert what is just and right, and then become the originators of all kinds of licentiousness. It is no wonder then that the Lord by his Prophets inveighed so sharply against them; and this is now the object of the Prophet in saying, Hear this: for there is an emphasis in the expression, when he bids them to hear; it was either because they did not sufficiently observe their sins, and were wholly deaf, or because they in vain contended with God; for hypocrites think that by evasion they can escape judgment. Hear, he says, ye who devour the miserable, and destroy the poor of the land. We see here some difference marked, and that the Prophet does not generally and indiscriminately summon the common people and the princes to God’s tribunal; but turns his discourse to the princes only. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo. 8:4. Hear] The nobles hated reproof. Swallow] Heb. gape after, earnestly desire (Job. 7:2); pant after goods as wild beasts for prey. They sought to rid the land of all the poor. 5 and 6 describe the method of doing this. New moon] Festivals were impatiently kept; they begrudged the regular holiday and suspension of trade (Num. 28:11; 2Ki. 4:23). Set forth] Lit. open out to sell. Falsifying] Heb. perverting the balances of deceit (Hos. 12:7). Money was weighed. They increased the price both ways, dishonestly trading and breaking the command (Deu. 25:13-15).
Amo. 8:6. Poor] Made so poor that he was necessitated to sell himself for silver, which he owed, or a pair of shoes, which he could not pay for.
Amo. 8:7. Sworn] to punish such conduct, by the pride, by Himself (Hos. 5:5; Hos. 7:10). Forget, i.e. leave unpunished.
Amo. 8:8. Punishment] will be so great that the earth shall quake, its inhabitants mourn, and the globe will rise and fall like a flood
Amo. 8:9. Noon] Darkness then an emblem of great calamities (Jer. 15:9; Eze. 32:7-10); a type of judgments upon ungodly people and of the great day of accounts.
Amo. 8:10. Feasts] will be turned into mourning; baldness as a sign of it (Isa. 3:24; Jer. 48:37). Mourning deep as that for the death of an only son (Jer. 6:26; Zec. 12:10).
HOMILETICS
THE DEEDS OF COVETOUSNESS.Amo. 8:4-6
After describing the calamities, Amos now sets forth the ground of these calamities. Israel had broken both tables of the law and sinned against great light and love. They sought to secure themselves in irreligion towards God and unrighteous conduct towards men. In their oppressive and covetous rapacity they are summoned to hear threatenings against their cruel deeds. Hear this. Their covetousness is seen
I. In cruelty to men. An avaricious man is naturally a selfish man. He makes laws of his own and regards not the interests of others. He isolates himself from the common brotherhood, and constitutes himself an all-absorbing and enlarging circle.
1. Oppression of the poor. O ye that swallow up the needy. They panted for the needy as wild beasts for prey, and sought to rid the land of the poor. Those who devour the poor without pity or compassion are inhuman in their disposition. They have iron teeth, vent their wantonness where there is no power to resist, and eat up the people as they eat bread (Psa. 14:4). There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
2. Selling and enslaving the poor. Buy the poor for silver. The nobles of Israel oppressed the needy, that they might eventually trade in them. They gained the purses, and then sought the persons of their bondmen. Corn was dear, and they resolved to make merchandise of men. The mean and selfish estimate their fellows at a contemptible price. A little silver or a pair of shoes. Human nature is insulted, the rights of property disregarded, and the laws of liberty trampled upon, by greedy oppressors. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
II. In contempt for the worship of God. When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? They kept the Sabbath with a weary, impatient spirit. Religious services were too great restraints upon them. When will this service be over, that we may attend to business again? Covetous men are formal and hypocritical in their devotion. Their hearts are in the mart, the field, and the ways of buying, and selling, and getting gain. The world does not tire them, they are not anxious for a day of rest. Religion is irksome. It interrupts worldly pursuits and is often turned into means of traffic. Men crowd the temple with tables like the money-changers, and convert the Sanctuary into a palace of Mammon. They reject the true God and worship a false one. They begrudge time for Christian worship, and like Doeg are detained before the Lord, when they long to be in the counting-house. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it!
III. In fraudent trade with men. If men grudge time for God, they will grudge right to man; if they resist the claims of piety, they will soon fall into tricks of dishonesty. These tricks are manifold. A few are given in the text.
1. False weights and measures. In two ways they defrauded the poor(a) diminishing the measure, making the ephah small; and (b) increasing the price, and the shekel great. They doubly deceived, by paring down the quantity and by uneven balances obtained more silver for what they sold. This was disobedience to the law (Lev. 19:35-36), and violation of the conditions on which they held the land (Deu. 25:13-15). In robbing God you indulge a propensity to injure man; in giving less and taking more than you ought you bring a double cursedeprivation of blessing and increase of pains which pierce the soul with many sorrows. Take heed and beware of covetousness.
2. Adulteration of food. Sell the refuse of the wheat. The bran or unfilled grain which fell through the sieve. The worst was sold and the best paid for. The poor are victimized now. Short weight and short measure are too common in England. Almost every article of food is adulterated, and even poison sold for bread! Men are hard-hearted, dishonest, inexorable as the taskmasters of Egypt, in driving bargains! We are influenced by the spirit of gain, and worship too much in the temple of Mammon. Every nation has its idol, and money is our god. The love of money is the root of all evil.
THE CURSE OF COVETOUSNESS.Amo. 8:7-10
Good men would rather be poor by providence than rich by sin. He that becomes rich by unlawful means, that hasteth to be rich, may haste to his ruin, and shall not be innocent or unpunished (Pro. 28:20; 1Ti. 6:9-11). Covetousness, more than any other sin, brings its own punishment. But in addition to this God often visits it with positive infliction, as in the text.
I. The certainty of the curse. The Lord hath sworn. If oaths among men confirm a promise, does not Gods oath indicate immutable purpose? He swears that he will never forget any of their works. All mens doings are known to God. No lapse of times nor change of circumstances veil them from his omniscient glance. Iniquity is never forgotten until forgiven in Christ. Flight of years may efface the memory, but cannot ward off the fruit of transgression. God can sooner cease to be, than forget to punish the wickedness of men. He may seem to forget, but a faithful record is kept, an immutable purpose is formed, and eventually justice will give its reward. Woe, and a thousand woes, to the man who is cut off by an oath of God, from all benefit of pardoning mercy.
II. The terribleness of the curse. Mark the emphasis of the questionshall not? The appeal is to human consciences. How can it be otherwise? Great sins bring grievous judgments.
1. Curse like an earthquakewill bring terror and consternation. The land is represented as shaking, returning to primeval chaos, and suffering under the weight of sin. Wicked men are a curse to the earth, and all creatures testify indignation against their conduct (Psa. 60:1-2; Rom. 8:22). For this shall the earth mourn and the heavens above be black.
2. Curse like a floodwill rise up and deluge the land; calamities shall overflow them. Judgments will be like the breaking forth of waters. Floods of sorrow, like the deluge of old, sweep impenitent sinners from the earth. General calamities affect insensate earth, until it casts out or drowns its wicked inhabitants. The Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth the land and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like a flood, and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt.
III. The suddenness of the curse. The sun to go down at noon. It is not a gradual, a natural, but unlooked-for, untimely sinking. So the sun of prosperity rises and shines upon the wicked in all its splendour; but God darkens the sky in the clear day. The darkness is blacker in contrast with the light; the sorrow the sadder when it succeeds festive joy. Thus prosperity ends in ruin and sinful prospects fade away. Her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded.
IV. The consequences of the curse. Prosperity is turned into misery, and mirth into mourning. Their common and holy feasts, their domestic and temple songs, into lamentation.
1. Mourning universal. Every one mourn (Amo. 8:8). Rich and poor without exception. Judgments were prevalent as the sins (Hos. 4:3), penetrated all ranks and suffered none to escape.
2. Mourning with ceremonial rites. Instead of gay attire they would put on sackcloth. It was not the time for ornaments and fine clothing. Baldness would be upon every head. They would either shave in sorrow, or pull the hair off their heads in anguish (Ezr. 9:3). Inward distress revealed itself in outward signs.
3. Mourning most bitter. As the mourning of an only son. The death of an only son was regarded as the most mournful of events. In Egypt one universal cry arose from the death of the firstborn. Parents may lose one out of many and be comforted in the possession of others. But the loss of an only child can never be repaired. Make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
4. Mourning without relief. It is not an eclipse, but a going down of the sun. The duration of sorrow is unto posterity, the end of the kingdom. The clouds will not vanish soon away. The wrath of God would abide upon them. When they looked for an end, the day would still be bitter. At evening time sometimes light will arise; but to the impenitent the day grows darker, and the night will be darkest of all. Bitterness will be the issue, and the end the beginning of sorrows. What will ye do in the end thereof? (Jer. 5:31). This shall ye have at my hand, you shall lie down in sorrow.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo. 8:4-6. Covetous men.
1. Are cruel to others.
2. Selfish in their aims.
3. Dishonest in their conduct.
4. Weary in religious worship. They are never at rest in their minds, never satisfied in their possessions, and never idle in their pursuits.
The value worldly men set upon the poor. Dross and dung, the filth and offscouring of society (1Co. 4:13). Contrast this with Gods judgment of the poor. He esteems them the excellent of the earth (Psa. 16:3); the glory of the world (Isa. 4:5); and too good for ungrateful men (Heb. 11:38). If men make a prey of the poor, God will make an example of them.
Sin in wrong measures once begun is unbroken. All sin perpetuates itself. It is done again because it has been done before. But sins of a mans daily occupation are continued of necessity, beyond the simple force of habit and the ever-increasing dropsy of covetousness. To interrupt sin is to risk detection. But then how countless the sins which their poor slaves must needs commit hourly, whenever the occasion comes! And yet, although among us human law recognizes the Divine law, and annexes punishment to its breach, covetousness sets both at nought. When human law was enforced in a city after a time of negligence scarcely a weight was found to be honest. Prayer went up to God on the Sabbath and fraud up to God on the other six days [Pusey].
Amo. 8:7. The excellency of Jacob. By this title he would teach
1. That nothing beside God can make a people truly excellent, enjoy what dignity and excellency they will.
2. That it is great ingratitude of a people, when being excellent through him, they do not acknowledge him, nor walk answerable [Hutcheson].
The favour and presence of God with a people is the glory and excellency of a people. It is not corn, wine, women, health, wealth, or multitude, that make a nation happy, for then Turks and Tartars, Barbarians and Indians, would excel Gods people, for they abound in these external comforts; but happy is that people whose God is the Lord (Psa. 106:20; Psa. 148:14; Jer. 2:11; Luk. 2:32). Hence Moses glories in this above all other privileges (Deu. 4:7-8). The fruition and enjoyment of Gods favour is the life of our lives, and the honour of our honours; without this we may write Ichabod upon all that we have. Hence the greater is their sin who dishonour him with sin and turn the glory which he hath put upon them into shame. This makes the Lord to swear that he will strip them of their privileges, and make them naked as in the day when they were born [Hall].
Amo. 8:8-10. This will be a sudden ruin, a check in the midst of apparent prosperity, irresistible as the waters of a flood, sudden as the setting of the sun at noon, gloomy and dreadful as a darkness which should at once succeed to the light of a clear day. Those feasts, which had been the instruments of their pleasure and the cause of much of their sin, would be succeeded by mourning; luxurious and licentious music would give place to sounds of bitter lamentation. Instead of purple and fine linen, sackcloth would be their clothing, and delicious ointments and costly tiaras would be followed by baldness [Ryan].
1. To any man the sun sets at noon, when he is suddenly snatched away by death in the very midst of his life.
2. When he is suddenly destroyed in the midst of earthly prosperity.
3. But it has still wider application. When the Lord shall come to judgment, at a time when the world, in its self-security, looketh not for him (cf. Mat. 24:37), this earths sun will set at noon, and the earth be covered with darkness in bright daylight. Every judgment that falls upon an ungodly people or kingdom, as the ages roll away, is a harbinger of the approach of the final judgment [Keil].
Changes in human destiny and experience. Clear days, dark days, and bitter days.
Sin is a bitter thing. Bitter in itself and its consequences. It promises pleasure and brings pain; liberty, and brings bondage; happiness, and brings misery. Its misery is personal and eternal, darkness without day, sorrow without relief.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Amo. 8:4. Oppression.
Press not a falling man too far [shakespeare].
Deliver him that suffereth wrong from the hand of the oppressor; and be not faint-hearted when thou sittest in judgment (Ecc. 4:11).
Amo. 8:5. Sabbath. In Gods house and business forget thine own; be there as a member of the Church, not of the commonwealth. Empty thyself of this world, thou art conversant with the next. Let all thy senses have no other object but God; let thine ears be open, but thine eyes shut. Remember God regards the heart of the worshipper. We are never safe till we love him with our whole heart whom we pretend to worship [Bp Henshawe]. Deceit. Commerce is a providential appointment for our social intercourse and mutual helpfulness. It is grounded with men upon human faith, as with God upon Divine faith. Balances, weights, money, are its necessary materials. Impositions, double-dealings; the hard bargain struck with self-complacent shrewdnessthis is the false balance forbidden alike by law (Lev. 19:35) and gospel (Mat. 7:12). Men may commend its wisdom; God not only forbids, but abominates it [Bridge]. A straight line is the shortest in morals as in geometry [Rahal]. Honesty is the best policy.
Amo. 8:4-6. Covetousness. The man who sets his heart on riches must necessarily be a stranger to peace and enjoyment. Fear, care, anxiety, suspicion, and jealousy place him on a constant rack. To the toil of getting is added the trouble of keeping his pelf. Avarice is insatiable as the grave, or rather as a gulf without bottom. The more this passion is supplied with fresh fuel the more vehement the flame [Rusticus].
Amo. 8:9-10. Go down. So use prosperity that adversity may not abuse thee. If, in the one, security admits no fears, in the other, despair will afford no hopes. He that in prosperity can foretell a danger, can in adversity foresee deliverance [F. Quarles].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(4) Ye that swallow up . . .Better, ye that pant (or are greedy) for the very ashes on their heads.
Make . . . to fail.Literally, make . . . to cease: i.e., destroy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
AN EXPLANATORY DISCOURSE, Amo 8:4-14.
In the oral delivery this discourse may not have followed immediately upon the presentation of the fourth vision, but logically there is a close connection between Amo 8:1-14. In the vision Israel is pictured as ripe for judgment; in 4-6 the prophet expands this thought: they are ripe because they are utterly corrupt; their measure of iniquity is full and running over. As an illustration he singles out the conduct of the greedy and dishonest merchants. In punishment terrible judgments will fall (7). In 8-14 these are described under various figures.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4-7. The greedy merchants of Israel.
Hear this See on Amo 3:1.
Swallow up the needy Literally, pant after (Amo 2:7). Here also Jerome renders ‘crush.” The verb is explained in the next clause.
Even to make the poor of the land to fail Literally, and better, and are for making the poor of the land to cease; that is, they seek to make an end of them as free men and property holders. To accomplish this end various means might be employed, in this case commercial dishonesty. The construction is somewhat unusual; according to G.-K., 114p, the thought of the whole verse may be expressed as follows: “O ye that pant to make an end of the needy and of the poor of the land.”
Amo 8:5 shows that the prophet thinks primarily of the greedy merchants (but compare Amo 2:7; Isa 5:8-10; Mic 2:2).
New moon sabbath See on Hos 2:11.
When will be gone It appears from the present passage that on sacred days ordinary pursuits of life were discontinued; this the greedy merchants considered a foolish interruption of their profits.
Set forth Literally, open up, that is, for sale. In various ways they took advantage of their customers; they gave scant measure, charged exorbitant prices, “doctored” the scales, and adulterated the goods.
Ephah The measure in which they measured the grain for the buyer (see on Hos 3:2); this they made small, perhaps by putting a false bottom in it.
Shekel Before money was coined a weight was used for the weighing of gold and silver. Its value has been variously estimated; the most commonly received estimate gives the value of a shekel of gold as approximately equivalent to $10.80; of silver, 60 cents (see on Hos 3:2). This weight they made heavier, so as to get more than the legitimate price. In 1890 Dr. Chaplin found, on the site of the ancient Samaria, a weight which is thought, from an inscription on it, to represent a quarter of a shekel. Its weight is greater than that of a legitimate quarter of a shekel; and W.R. Smith has suggested that it is one of the heavy shekels condemned by Amos.
Falsifying the balances by deceit R.V., “dealing falsely with balances of deceit”; literally, perverting the balances of deceit. They tampered with the scales in order to deceive the buyer, and thus to take advantage of him.
Amo 8:6 expresses the motive which caused the merchants to wish for the resumption of business; they sought to get under their control the poor and the needy.
Buy As slaves, when the poor found themselves unable to meet their financial obligations (Lev 25:39).
For silver The money which the poor owed them.
A pair of shoes See on Amo 2:6.
Refuse Literally, that which falls, that is, through the sieve the chaff. It is worthless, but they mix it with good grain and sell it.
Amo 8:6 is rejected by several modern commentators as being unnecessary and out of harmony with the context. Marti says, “The connection of 6a with Amo 8:4-5 is unintelligible; the rich corn merchants are not interested in buying the poor and needy, but rather in selling their grain and securing for it the highest price.” However, the one does not exclude the other, and the objection cannot be considered conclusive. While 6b does not follow quite naturally upon 6a, it also fits in the prophet’s thought.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Reason For The Judgment ( Amo 8:4-7 ).
One reason for this judgment is now clearly stated (we have already been told, and will be told again, that it was partly because of false and debased worship – e.g. Amo 8:14). It was because they had become so selfish, inconsiderate and uncaring of others (apart from their own circles), that God would never be able to forget it. What is described is an equally vivid picture of our own day. They took advantage of the needy by deception, and brought the poor into even deeper poverty and misery by their ways.
Amo 8:4-6
“Hear this, O you who would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying,
‘When will the new moon be gone,
That we may sell grain?
And the sabbath,
That we may set forth wheat,
Making the ephah small,
And the shekel great,
And dealing falsely with balances of deceit?
That we may buy the poor for silver,
And the needy for a pair of shoes,
And sell the refuse (sweepings) of the wheat?’ ”
There is here a devastating denunciation of their hypocrisy. They were very religious, for they faithfully observed the holy days. But the truth was that they could not wait for holy days to be over so that they could once again get on with their deceitful dealings. The new moon day (Num 10:10; Num 28:11), at the commencement of each ‘month’ (moon period), and the Sabbaths, were recognised feast days on which secular activities were forbidden. But as soon as these days were over they began again their trading for huge profits, selling wheat and other grain to city dwellers at extortionate prices, and mixing it with sweepings. They gave under weight (the ephah was a volume measurement but could be made to vary), and charged exorbitantly (the ‘shekel’, which was the weight used to weigh up how much silver was given, was made heavier than it should have been, thus requiring more silver to reach the target price). They put the poor and needy under heavy burdens, even literal bondage, for trivial amounts of ‘money’, the equivalent of a pair of shoes (compare Amo 2:6), or a small amount of silver (the nearest equivalent to ‘money’ that they had). And they could not wait to get rid of their poor quality wheat on the unsuspecting, mixing the relatively good with what was swept up from the threshingfloor or from the floor of the barn. (No doubt they argued that it was ‘just business’). All this was in direct contravention of YHWH’s covenant (see Lev 19:35-36; Deu 25:13-15), and contrary to the generosity and compassion that YHWH required from His people (e.g. Deu 15:1-11).
Amo 8:7
‘YHWH has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.” ’
But Amos wanted them to know that they would not get away with it. YHWH saw all that they did, and Himself measured it up, and He swore by the wealth that they had built up that He would never forget anything of what they had done. (None of us should ever forget that all that we do is also similarly ‘audited’ by God. We shall receive for what we have done, whether good or bad – 2Co 5:10). There was to be no ‘easy forgiveness’. The time for forgiveness was past. Like them we also can treat God’s forgiveness too lightly. We equally need to remember that God will not easily forget what we do, unless there is true repentance, and that even when we do receive forgiveness it is only at the great cost of the sufferings of Jesus Christ on our behalf (1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18).
For ‘the pride of Jacob’ compare Amo 6:8. It represented all that they had built up for themselves and prided themselves in. They were proud of what they had ‘achieved’ and did not realise that it was forfeit because YHWH saw how it was done, and swore by it that they would have to face up to the consequences. Compare ‘the glory of the children of Israel’ in Isa 17:3, where the idea was that it represented their possessions and was a fading glory.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Last Admonition of the Lord
v. 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, v. 5. saying, When will the new moon, v. 6. that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, v. 7. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, v. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this, v. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day, v. 10. and I will turn your feasts into mourning, v. 11. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord, v. 12. and they shall wander from sea to sea, v. 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst, v. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Amo 8:4. O ye that swallow up the needy Ye that tread down the poor, and oppress the meek of the land. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Amo 8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
Ver. 4. Hear this, ye that swallow up the needy ] That seep them up as drink (our word seep seems to come of the Hebrew Shaaph ), that would make but a breakfast, nay, but a bit of them; that would swallow them at once down their wide gullets, and do, for that purpose, pant and even faint, as well nigh windless, after them, to devour them. Hence they are called man eaters, cannibals, Psa 14:4 . See Amo 2:7 . See Trapp on “ Amo 2:7 “
Even to make the poor of the land to fail
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Amo 8:4-6
4Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land,
5saying,
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,
6So 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?
Amo 8:4 Hear This is the Hebrew term Shema (BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE). It means to hear so as to do. It is the key term of the significant prayer of Deu 6:4-6 (cf. Amo 3:1; Amo 3:13; Amo 4:1; Amo 5:1).
Amo 8:4 refers to subjugation (trample or crush BDB 983, KB 1375, Qal PARTICIPLE) of the poor (the needy parallel to the humble of the land and the helpless. . .the needy, cf. Amo 8:6) by the rich and politically powerful (cf. Amo 2:7; Amo 5:11-12).
Amo 8:5 The wealthy, powerful, and influential could not wait for the religious assemblies (i.e., new moon, cf. Num 28:11; 2Ki 4:23 and sabbath, cf. Exo 31:13-17) to be over so they could instigate their illegal, improper, and unjust schemes toward the poor: (1) to make the bushel smaller; (2) the shekel bigger; (3) use dishonest scales; and (4) sell the husk of the wheat (those grain heads that fell in the dirt, BDB 655, or under-developed grain that fell through the sieve, cf. Amo 9:9) with the wheat. All of these refer to cheating the poor when they buy food (cf. Lev 19:35-36; Deu 25:13-16; Pro 20:10).
The VERBS sell (BDB 991, KB 1404) and open (BDB 834, KB 986) are both COHORTATIVE. These merchants’ desire to exploit is so strong that their actions are the commands of their own hearts.
SPECIAL TOPIC: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN WEIGHTS AND VOLUMES (METROLOGY)
the new moon This refers to the ancient custom of observing a religious holiday at the first of the month (cf. Num 28:11; 2Ki 4:23). Remember, the Jews went by the lunar calendar.
dishonest scales This CONSTRUCT (BDB 24, 941) denotes unfair and dishonest commercial enterprises, especially against the poor (cf. Mic 6:10-11). God hates this falsehood (cf. Pro 11:1). It is never business is business with God or His people! Exploitation reveals a heart of self, greed, and fallenness.
Amo 8:6 This verse gives an example of how poor people who could not buy food were forced to sell themselves or their families into slavery for a small amount (i.e., a pair of sandals, cf. Amo 2:6).
These wealthy merchants sank so low as to sell grain mixed with husk, dirt, pebbles, etc. With profits from these fraudulent sales they purchased more slaves! Therefore, the poor paid for the exploitation of the poor!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
swallow up = devour.
the needy = a needy one. Hebrew ‘ebyon. See note on ‘ poverty”, Pro 6:11.
make. to fail = destroy, or cause to cease.
the poor = meek ones. Hebrew ‘amah, See note on “poverty”, Pro 6:11,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Hear: Amo 7:16, 1Ki 22:19, Isa 1:10, Isa 28:14, Jer 5:21, Jer 28:15
swallow: Amo 2:6, Amo 5:11, Psa 12:5, Psa 14:4, Psa 56:1, Psa 140:12, Pro 30:14, Isa 32:6, Isa 32:7, Mat 23:14, Jam 5:6
Reciprocal: Exo 20:15 – General Lev 25:14 – General Deu 15:2 – exact it Deu 24:14 – General Job 20:18 – swallow Job 24:4 – turn Pro 4:17 – General Pro 11:26 – that withholdeth Pro 20:10 – both Pro 22:7 – rich Ecc 5:8 – regardeth Isa 3:15 – ye beat Jer 5:27 – so are Jer 17:11 – he that Jer 51:34 – swallowed Eze 16:49 – neither Eze 18:7 – hath not Eze 22:8 – General Eze 22:13 – thy dishonest Eze 45:10 – General Amo 4:1 – which oppress Amo 8:6 – General Mic 2:2 – they covet Mic 3:2 – pluck Luk 20:47 – devour Rom 2:21 – dost thou steal Eph 6:9 – ye 1Ti 6:9 – they Jam 2:6 – Do
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 8:4. The main complaint all along has been against the head men of the nation, who imposed upon the poor and common people to advance their own interests. This is the meaning of the expression swallow up the needy.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 8:4-6. Hear, O ye that swallow up the needy That greedily and cruelly devour such as would have been objects of your compassion, had you been just and merciful as well as rich and great. He alludes to the greater fish swallowing up the lesser. To make the poor of the land to fail Either to root them out or to enslave them. Saying, When will the new- moon be gone This was one of their solemn feasts, the use of which they retained with their idolatrous worship; that we may sell corn It seems they were prohibited during this feast, and probably in their other solemn feasts, from every kind of traffic, even the selling of corn; and these covetous wretches thought the time during which they were so restrained long and tedious, wishing to be again at liberty to trade and get gain. Making the ephah small, and the shekel great The ephah was the measure whereby they sold corn, &c., containing about one of our bushels. This they made smaller than the just standard, and so cheated in the quantity of what they sold. The shekel was the money they received for the price of their goods, and by weighing this by too heavy a weight, they diminished its real value, and so cheated also in the sum they received. So that both ways they over-reached those that dealt with them, who received less of what they bought than it was their right to receive, and paid more than they ought to pay for it. That we may buy the poor for silver That we may, by these unjust dealings, soon get the poor so much into our debt, that they may not be able to discharge it, but be obliged to surrender themselves to us as slaves, and that for a very trifling consideration in reality. So that these avaricious and merciless men wished the new-moon and sabbaths to be over, that they might go to market, as it were, and buy the poor; and when these poor owed but for a very trifling article, as suppose a pair of shoes, they would take advantage against them, and make them sell themselves to pay the debt. Or, to buy any thing for a pair of shoes, was a proverbial expression to signify getting it at a very vile, or low price. It was the custom of those times when a man could not discharge his debts, for him to surrender up himself and family to his creditor as bond-servants. By this the rich increased their power, as well as their wealth; and such was their inhumanity, that they practised every art of fraud and extortion to reduce the needy to this miserable condition. Yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat Not content with defrauding in the measure and price, ye mix the chaff, or refuse, such as is not fit to make bread, and sell it together with the wheat. This was another kind of oppression; corrupted wares were sold to those that were necessitous.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Amo 8:4-14. Development of the Theme of Amos 3.This section, which re-echoes Amo 2:6-8, has been regarded as a conglomeration of rather loosely-connected fragments (cf. G. A. Smith). The prophet addresses himself to those who persecute and destroy the needy and humble (Amo 8:4), the ruthless and godless rich who regard holy days and Sabbaths as tiresome interruptions of business and as troublesome reproaches to their guilty conscience (Amo 8:5), who traffic in the lives of the poor (see Amo 2:6) and tamper with the very staff of life (Amo 8:6). Such men and such deeds Yahweh will never forget or forgive (Amo 8:7). The very ground will shudder at them and suffer an earthquake, swaying upwards like the Nile, rolling, and sinking again like the river of Egypt (Amo 8:8). The sun will disappear at noon, and darkness reign instead of daylight (Amo 8:9). The expressions are figures of speech, and do not necessarily imply an earthquake and eclipse in the days of Amos. Joy (Amo 8:10) shall be turned into lamentation and mourning like the mourning for ones dearest one (so Ehrlich, not for an only son). The end of all this will be the most bitter distress. The words of Yahweh have been despised and rejected. The time will come (Amo 8:11) when men will seek as feverishly to hear the word (read as sing.) of the Lord as they seek to find food and water in time of famine and drought. And they will seek in vain (Amo 8:12). Of this thirst the fairest maidens and the youths will pine away (Amo 8:13), who (Amo 8:14) used to swear by the guilt (false worship) of Samaria and say, As liveth thy God, O Dan! They used to take an oath by the God of Dan and by the pilgrimage-route to Beersheba.
Amo 8:4. Read, ye that crush (cf. Amo 2:7).
Amo 8:6. the refuse of wheat: a similar expression, the sweepings of corn, occurs in an old Aramaic inscription from Nirab, near Aleppo (Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, i. 1902, p. 193).
Amo 8:7. Translate the pride of Jacob.
Amo 8:8. troubled: rather tossed (lit. driven, cf. Isa 57:20).
Amo 8:12. It is perhaps better to translate, against the accents, And from the north even to the sun-rising shall they run to and fro, seeking, etc.
Amo 8:14. the sin of Samaria: the sin (ashmath) or guilt here is usually taken to be the calf worshipped at Bethel (cf. Hos 8:5; Hos 10:5; Hos 10:8). But it has become probable that the reference is to a god Ashma. The Elephantine papyri (p. 79) speak of a deity, Ashem-bethel, worshipped by the Jewish military colony in Upper Egypt (5th cent. B.C.); and we know that the Hamathites worshipped a god Ashma. Translate, therefore, by Ashma of Samaria (so Edghill).As the way of Beersheba liveth: the Muhammadans swear by the pilgrimage to Mecca, but there is no other instance of this kind of oath in OT. Perhaps ddka, thy darling, should be read for derek. Here Hoffmann takes it to denote a special patron-god: As liveth thy patron, O Beersheba!
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
8:4 Hear this, O ye that {c} swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
(c) By stopping the sale of food and necessary things which you have gotten into your own hands, and so cause the poor to spend quickly that little that they have, and at length because of need to become your slaves.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The sins of the people 8:4-6
Non-visionary material followed the third vision (Amo 7:7-9), and non-visionary material follows the fourth vision (Amo 8:1-3).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Amos called those who oppressed the needy and tried to exterminate them to hear him (cf. Amo 5:11). Israel’s law called God’s people to extend an open hand of generosity to the poor (Deu 15:7-11; cf. Psa 72:12-13), but the stingy Israelites were trying to eliminate them.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
DOOM OR DISCIPLINE?
Amo 8:4-9
WE now enter the Third Section of the Book of Amos: chapters 7-9. As we have already treated the first part of it-the group of four visions, which probably formed the prophets discourse at Bethel, with the interlude of his adventure there (Amo 7:1-17 – Amo 8:3) -we may pass at once to what remains: from Amo 8:4 to the end of the book. This portion consists of groups of oracles more obscure in their relations to each other than any we have yet studied, and probably containing a number of verses which are not from Amos himself. They open in a denunciation of the rich, which echoes previous oracles, and soon pass to judgments of a kind already threatened, but now with greater relentlessness. Then, just as all is at the darkest, lights break; exceptions are made: the inevitable captivity is described no more as doom, but as discipline; and, with only this preparation for a change, we are swept out on a scene, in which, although the land is strewn with the ruins that have been threatened, the sunshine of a new day floods them; the promise of restoration is given; Nature herself will be regenerated, and the whole life of Israel planted on its own ground again.
Whether it was given to Amos himself to behold this day-whether these last verses of the book were his “Nunc Dimittis,” or the hope of a later generation, which found his book intolerably severe, and mingled with its judgments their own new mercies-we shall try to discover further on. Meanwhile there is no doubt that we start with the authentic oracles of the prophet. We know the ring of his voice. To the tyranny of the rich, which he has so often lashed, he now adds the greed and fraud of the traders; and he paints Israels doom in those shapes of earthquake, eclipse, and famine with which his own generation had recently become familiar. Note that in this first group Amos employs only physical calamities, and says nothing of war and captivity. If the standard which we have already applied to the growth of his doctrine be correct, these ought therefore to be counted among his earlier utterances. War and captivity follow in chapter 9. That is to say, this Third Section follows the same line of development as both the First and the Second.