Amos 8:4-6, Amos 8:9-12 NLT

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:1-14

§ 5. In the fourth vision, the basket of summer fruit, the Lord shows that the people is ripe for judgment. Explaining this revelation, Amos denounces the oppression and greed of the chieftains (verses 4-10), and warns them that those who despise the Word of God shall some day suffer from a famine of the Word (verses 11-14). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4

The prophet, by admonishing the grandees of their iniquities, which they will not cast away, shows how ripe they are for judgment. That swallow up; better, that pant after ( Amos 2:6 , Amos 2:7 ), like a beast after its prey, eager to devour. Even to make the poor of the land to fail; and cause the meek of the land to fail. They grasp at the property of the unresisting poor, adding field to field, and impoverishing them in various ways, to root them out of the land. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4-6

The covetous man's way. Punishment, however stern, is proportioned rigidly to sin. They answer to each other as face to face. From the contemplation of Israel's deplorable fate we turn to the horrors of her crime. And they are dark beyond exaggerating. To idolatry, dethroning God and robbing him of his glory, is added covetousness defrauding and destroying men. Indeed, the one is but a department of the other. The worst type of mammon worshipper, the covetous, is an idolater in a very real... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4-6

Covetousness. It was not for heterodoxy in theology, it was not for remissness in ritual, that Amos chiefly reproached the Israelites. It was for injustice, violence, and robbery; it was for seeking their own wealth and luxury at the expense of the sufferings of the poor. Avarice, or undue love of worldly possessions, is a serious vice; covetousness, or the desiring to enrich self at the cost of neighbours, is something very near a crime, for to crime it too often leads. I. THE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4-10

Avarice. "Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land. to fail," etc. The prophet here resumes his denunciatory discourse to the avaricious oppressors of the people. The verses may be taken as God's homily to greedy men. "Hear this." Hush! pay attention to what I am going to say. Listen, "ye that swallow up the needy." The words suggest three remarks concerning avarice. I. IT IS EXECRABLE IN ITS SPIRIT . 1 . It is sacrilegious. "When... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:5

When? expresses impatience and desire, as in the hymn— "Thy joys when shall I see?" The new moon . The first day of the month was a holiday, on which all trade was suspended. It is not mentioned in Exodus, Leviticus, or Deuteronomy; but its observance is enjoined in Numbers 28:11 , and various notices of this occur in later Scriptures; e.g. 1 Samuel 20:5 ; 2 Kings 4:23 ; Hosea 2:11 ; Colossians 2:16 . These greedy sinners kept the festivals, indeed, but they grudged the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:6

Buy the poor for silver (comp. Amos 2:6 ). The probable meaning is that they so reduced the poor marl by their exactions and injustice, that he was compelled to pay his debt by selling himself into slavery (Le 25:39; Deuteronomy 15:12 ). For a pair of shoes. For the smallest debt they would deal in this harsh manner. The refuse; literally, that which fell through the sieve ; Septuagint, ἀπὸ παντὸς γεννήματος ἐμπορευσόμεθα , "We will trade in every kind of produce;"... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 8:4

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” Isaiah 5:8, had to rid... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 8:5

When will the new moon be gone? - They kept their festivals, though weary and impatient for their close. They kept sabbath and festival with their bodies, not with their minds. The Psalmist said, “When shall I come to appear before the presencc of God?” Psalms 42:2. These said, perhaps in their hearts only which God reads to them, “when will this service be over, that we may be our own masters again?” They loathed the rest of the sabbath, because they had, thereon, to rest from their frauds. He... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 8:6

That we may buy - Or, indignantly, “To buy the poor!” literally, “the afflicted,” those in “low” estate. First, by dishonesty and oppression they gained their lands and goods. Then the poor were obliged to sell themselves. The slight price, for which a man was sold, showed the more contempt for “the image of God.” Before, he said, “the needy” were “sold for a pair of sandals” Amos 2:6; here, that they were bought for them. It seems then the more likely that such was a real price for man.And... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:1-14

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:4-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 8:6

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 8:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 8:5

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 8:6

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