Amos 8:8-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Amos 8:4-10

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 18:2) 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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Amos 8:11-14

In these verses is threatened, I. A general judgment of spiritual famine coming upon the whole land, a famine of the word of God, the failing of oracles and the scarcity of good preaching. This is spoken of as a thing at some distance: The days come, they will come hereafter, when another kind of darkness shall come upon that land of light. When Amos prophesied, and for a considerable time after, they had great plenty of prophets, abundant opportunities of hearing the word of God, in season... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:8

Shall not the land tremble for this ,.... For this wickedness committed, in using the poor with so much inhumanity? may not an earthquake be expected? and which happened two years after Amos began to prophesy, Amos 1:1 ; or that the earth should gape and swallow up these men alive, guilty of such enormities? or shall not the inhabitants of the land tremble at such judgments, which the Lord hath sworn he will bring upon it? and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein ? at the hearing of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:9

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God ,.... When this deluge and desolation of the land shall be, now spoken of: that I will cause the sun to go down at noon : or to he so dark as if it was set; as at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, to which many of the ancient fathers refer this prophecy, though it has respect to other times and things. Jarchi interprets it of the kingdom of the house of David. It doubtless designs the kingdom of Israel, their whole policy, civil... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:10

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation ,.... Either their religious feasts, the feasts of pentecost, tabernacles, and passover; at which three feasts there were eclipses of the sun, a few years after this prophecy of Amos, as Bishop Usher F17 Annales Vet. Test. ad A. M. 3213. observes: the first was an eclipse of the sun about ten digits, in the year 3213 A.M. or 791 B.C., June twenty fourth, at the feast of pentecost; the next was almost twelve... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:11

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God ,.... Which Kimchi interprets of all the days of the second house or temple after Malachi, when prophecy ceased; but it rather has respect to the time of Shalmaneser's carrying captive the ten tribes, when they had no more prophets nor prophecy among them, or any to tell how long their captivity should last, or when it would be better times with them, Psalm 74:9 ; that I will send a famine in the land ; which, in a literal sense, is one of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:12

And they shall wander from sea to sea ,.... From the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee; or from the Dead sea, the lake Asphaltites; or from the Red sea, which was to the south of the land of Israel, to the great sea, which is to the west, as Aben Ezra: so the Targum, "from the sea to the west;' that is, to the Mediterranean sea: and from the north even to the east ; proceeding from the south to the west, they shall turn from thence to the north, and so to the east, which describes the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:13

In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. After the word, for want of that grain and wine, which make young men and maids cheerful, Zechariah 9:17 ; but, being destitute of them, should be covered with sorrow, overwhelmed with grief, and ready to sink and die away. These, according to some, design the congregation of Israel; who are like to beautiful virgins, as the Targum paraphrases it; and the principal men of it, the masters of the assemblies: or, as others,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 8:14

They that swear by the sin of Samaria ,.... The calf at Bethel, which was near Samaria, and which the Samaritans worshipped; and was set up by their kings, and the worship of it encouraged by their example, and which is called the calf of Samaria, Hosea 8:5 ; the making of it was the effect of sin, and the occasion of leading into it, and ought to have been had in detestation and abhorrence, as sin should; and yet by this the Israelites swore, as they had used to do by the living God; so... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 8:8

Shall not the land tremble for this - It is supposed that an earthquake is here intended, and that the rising up and subsiding as a flood refers to that heaving motion that takes place in an earthquake, and which the prophet here compares to the overflowing and subsiding of the waters of the Nile. But it may refer to commotions among the people. read more

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