Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
Parallel Translations
-
Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
-
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
-
Hear this, O ye that would swallow the needy, and destroy the poor of the land,
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Amos 8:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 30:14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.
- Psalms 14:4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?
- Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
- Isaiah 32:6-7 For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
- Psalms 12:5 “Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
- Psalms 140:12 I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.
- Amos 2:6-7 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals; They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
- Matthew 23:13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- James 5:6 You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
- 1 Kings 22:19 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
- Jeremiah 5:21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain And he assails by name the princes of the…
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 —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By staying the sale of food, and necessary things…
By staying 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 for necessity to become your slaves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Amo 8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up…
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"}
Read full note →
Even to make the poor of the land to fail] Heb. the meek of the, land. Poverty should meeken and tame men’s spirits; howbeit, some are humbled but not humble, low but not lowly. Those that are both are often oppressed by the great ones of the earth; and even devoured, as the lesser fish are by the bigger. "Ye have condemned and killed the just," saith St James to the wicked rich men of his time, "and he doth not resist you," Jas 5:6. He only committeth his cause to him that judgeth righteously, 1Pe 2:23, and indeed he need do no more than so; for God is the poor man’s king, as James V of Scotland was termed for his charity; yea, he is the world’s refuge, Awlen Penaugh, as the Great Turk vain gloriously styleth himself, and would have the world to take notice, that such poor people as lament to him shall be relieved by him, although his ministers fail them or abuse them, through their injustice, to make the poor of the land fail. "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him," Psa 12:5. Neither doth God say it only (though that were sufficient), but swear it too in this chapter, yea, in this text (the two next following verses are put in as by a parenthesis), and these cormorants are called upon to hear it, and not to pass it by with a deaf ear, tanquam monstra marina, as such kind of creatures used to do.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Though the prophet had several times told them what…
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,
Read full note →
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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain God is here contending with proud oppressors, and showing…
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 (Luk 18:2) that neither feared God nor regarded man.
Read full note →
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 1:13), and were, as Doeg, detained before the Lord (Sa1 21:7); 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 (Eze 33:31), 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 5:2-5. 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 (Amo 8:7), 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 (Amo 6:8) 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 (Amo 8:8), 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 (Amo 8:9): "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, Luk 21:35.
4. It shall change their note, and mar all their mirth (Amo 8:10): I will turn your feasts into mourning, as (Amo 8:3) 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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy,....…
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 Amo 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.
Read full note →
(a) "ad cessare faciendum", Mercerus; "et facitis cessare", Munster, Drusius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain To fail - Either to root them out, or…
To fail - Either to root them out, or to enslave them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up…
Verse 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy] Ye that bruise the poor; exact from them, and tread them under foot.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Amo 8:4-6. Hear, O ye that swallow up the…
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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Here ye this, ye that swallow - Or, better…
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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Hear--The nobles needed to be urged thus, as hating…
Hear--The nobles needed to be urged thus, as hating to hear reproof.
swallow up the needy--or, "gape after," that is, pant for their goods; so the word is used, Job 7:2, Margin.
Read full note →
to make the poor . . . to fail--"that they (themselves) may be placed alone in the midst of the earth" (Isa 5:8).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain AN EXPLANATORY DISCOURSE, Amo_8:4-14.
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.
Read full note →
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.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. Hear this] Amo_3:1, Amo_4:1, Amo_5:1.
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).
Read full note →
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.
4–6. Amos indignantly turns to the rapacious merchants of Israel, rebuking them for their avarice, their dishonesty, and their meanness.
4–14. A fresh denunciation of Israel’s sin, followed by a fresh picture of the impending calamities.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Ye that swallow up . . .—Better, ye…
(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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The prophet, by admonishing the grandees of their iniquities,…
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, (Amo_2:6, Amo_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.
Vers. 4-6.
Read full note →
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 sense. And Israel"s covetousness, detached as it was from all religious restraints, and operating in a purely heathen connection, was of the most aggravated and repulsive kind. Acting in character, observe that
I IT SELECTS AN EASY PREY. (Ver. 4, "the poor; the meek.")
1. The poor cannot defend themselves. Their poverty makes them helpless, and the weakness which ought to commend them to protection commends them to plunder. Covetousness, the meanest of the vices in any circumstances, goes down to the nadir of paltriness when it wrings its gold "from the hard hands" of the poor.
2. The meek will not resist. Their position and disposition are both against it. They would "rather suffer wrong." And they get enough of it to suffer. Weak on one hand, and unresisting on the other, they are a doubly tempting prey to the pitiless vulture"s beak.
II IT HAS MURDER IS ITS HEART. "Gape to destroy," as the beast of prey its victim at hand. There is a covetousness that puts its own paltriest gain above another"s life. It will have men"s money although their life should pay the forfeit. This is the very spirit of murder. To make money, at the necessary cost of human life, is to break the sixth commandment as well as the eighth.
III IT HANKERS AFTER SUNDAY TRADING. (Ver. 5, "When is the new moon over," etc.?) These people retained the form of sabbath observance, but the reality had been altogether abandoned. They occupied its sacred hours with wishes that they were over. "Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts" (Henry). The hours drag heavily. Time-killing devices are exhausted. "Behold, what a weariness it is!" is the verdict on God"s day, given weekly through all their years. "When shall I come add appear before God?" a question that the spiritually minded ask, is one which the carnally minded cannot even understand. They are making markets mentally in the very house of God, and, with the words of worship on their lips, "their heart goes after covetousness." From Sunday devising to Sunday transacting of business the step is but a small one too small not to be taken when opportunity and temptation meet.
IV IT PRACTICES UNFAIR DEALING. (Vers. 5, 6.) As they fear not God, neither do they regard man. When religion is abandoned, morality is undermined. Given arced present, and religious restraint absent, and dishonest dealing is inevitable.
1. One device is the use of a false balance. "Make the ephah small, and the shekel great," i.e. give thirteen pounds to the stone, and charge twenty-one shillings to the pound. They perpetrate thus a double swindle, robbing "with both hands earnestly." Such fraud is too unscientific and direct for any but the coarser cheats. There are more delicate ways of fraudulent dealing, which the more refined rogues affect. Such a method is:
2. Selling an adulterated or inferior article. "The refuse of the corn we will sell" (ver. 6). This is probably the commonest form of commercial fraud. There are few who possess the strength of moral fibre to avoid it entirely. We might arrange it on a graduated scale. At one end is the man who bluntly sells one thing under the name of another. At the other end is the man who, in selling, insinuates the impression that the thing is of better quality than it really is. Between these two are dishonest artifices of all varieties and shades. All, however, originate in covetousness, eventuate in injustice, and deserve the generic name of fraud.
V IT TRAFFICS IN HUMAN LIFE, AND THAT FOR A CONTEMPTIBLE PRICE. (Ver. 6.) The law, compelling the poor to sell themselves to their creditors to work for what they owed, was enforced in the case of the paltriest debts, and the needy might be brought into bondage for want of the price of even a pair of shoes. To work such hardship on such trifling occasion argues inhumanity too gross to be long endured. The worker has inverted the natural order, has lost out the sense of reverence, is blind to the dignity of human nature, and has conclusively shown that he is an eyesore, and his life a curse, to the society in which he lives. His selfishness puts the least interest of his own above the most essential interest of others. His greed of gain has so intensified that he is blind at last to all other considerations. He has fallen altogether beneath the human level, and when a man has done this, the chances are that he has lived his day. Well may we pray, "Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
Vers. 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 MORAL DISEASE OF COVETOUSNESS. The symptoms may differ in different states of society; and there are details in the text which apply rather to the state of society in Samaria of old than to the England of today. But the malady is the same, deep-rooted in the moral constitution of sinful men. This sin is:
1. Injurious to the person who commits it. He who sets his affection uponthis world"s good, who carries his selfishness so far as to deprive, or even to wish to deprive, his neighbour of what is his far more he who uses fraud or violence to gratify this desire is working his own ruin. He is subverting the standard of value, by setting the material above the spiritual. He is dragging his aspirations down from the stars above his head to the dust beneath his feet.
2. Mischievous to society. If all men follow the example of the covetous,and long for the possessions of others, then human society becomes a den of wild beasts bent upon devouring one another, and earth becomes a very hell. Instead of being members one of another, in the case supposed, every man sees an enemy in his neighbour, and seeks his harm. The bonds of society are strained, are even broken.
3. Displeasing to God. In the ten commandments a place was found for theprohibition of this spiritual offence: "Thou shalt not covet." This fact is sufficient to show how hateful is this sin in the eyes of the great Lord and Ruler of all.
II THE DIVINE REMEDY FOR COVETOUSNESS.
1. The recognition of the benevolence and bounty of God. From himcometh down "every good gift and every perfect boon." He is the Giver of all, who openeth his hands, and supplieth the need of every living thing. He who would share the Divine nature must cherish an ungrudging and liberal spirit.
2. The remembrance of the "unspeakable Gift," and of the incomparablesacrifice of the Redeemer. Our Saviour"s whole aim was to impart to men the highest blessings, and in the quest of this aim he gave his life for us. His constraining love alone is able to extirpate that selfishness which in human nature is the very root of covetousness.
3. The adoption of the counsels and the submission to the spirit of Christ.It was his saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive. T.
Vers. 4-10.
Avarice.
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 will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?" Bad as Israel was, it still kept up the outward observances of religion, yet these observances they regarded as commercial inconveniences. In their hearts they wished them away, when they seemed to obstruct their greedy plans. With sacrilegious spirit, they treated religious institutions as worthless in comparison with sordid gain. Avarice in heart has no reverence for religion.
2. It is dishonest. "Making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit." It is always overreaching, always cheating; it generally victimizes the poor; it makes its fortunes out of the brain and muscles, the sweat and life, of the needy.
3. It is cruel. "Ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes." Avarice deadens all social affections, steels the heart, and makes its subject utterly indifferent to all interests but its own; it will swallow up, or as some render it, gape after, the needy just as the wild beast pants after its prey. "Greedy men are 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 amongst men". (Pro_30:14)
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 that he swears, 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. One of the leading principles in his moral code is, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour"s house," etc. Against no sin did his blessed Son preach more earnestly. "Take heed, beware of covetousness," said he. (Lu 12) He closes the gates of heaven against covetousness. "The covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven". (1Co_6:10)
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. Avarice is an element of hell. It is in truth one of the fiery furies of the soul.
(2) It is against the happiness of society. It prompts men to appropriate more of the common good than belongs to them, and thus to diminish the required supplies of the multitude. It is the creator of monopoly, and monopoly is the devil of social life.
III IT IS A CURSE TO SOCIETY. See what punishment comes on the land through this! "Shall not the land tremble for this," etc.? Observe:
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. He can make the world of waters deluge the earth as the overflowing Nile at times inundates the land of Egypt. He can (to use human language) roll back the sun. "I will cause the sun to go down at noon.
2. How God makes a multitude to suffer on account of the iniquities of thefew. "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and I will bring up sackcloth," etc.
CONCLUSION. Avoid covetousness. It is the chief of the principalities and powers of darkness. It may be considered the great fountain whence all the streams of crime and misery flow forth. It is eternally opposed to the virtue and happiness of the universe. The fable of Midas in Grecian mythology is strikingly illustrative of this tremendous evil. Bacchus once offered Midas his choice of gifts. He asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold. Bacchus consented, though sorry that he had not made a better choice. Midas went his way rejoicing in his newly acquired power which he hastened to put to the test. He could scarcely believe his eyes when he found a twig of an oak, which he had plucked, become gold in his hand. He took up a stone, and it changed to gold. He touched a sod; it did the same. He took an apple from a tree; you would have thought he had robbed the garden of the Hesperides. His joy knew no bounds; and when he got home he ordered the servants to set a splendid repast on the table. Then he found to his dismay that whether he touched bread, it hardened in his hand, or put a morsel to his lips, it defied his teeth. He took a glass of wine, but it flowed down his throat like melted gold. In utter terror, fearing starvation, be held up his arms shining with gold to Bacchus, and besought him to take back his gift. Bacchus said, "Go to the river Pactolus: trace the stream to its fountainhead; there plunge your head and body in, and wash away your fault and its punishment." Hence Midas learned to hate wealth and splendour. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy.
Amo_8:4-10
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy.
Read full note →
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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain WE now enter the Third Section of the Book…
DOOM OR DISCIPLINE?
Amo_8:4-9
Read full note →
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 (Amos 7- 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.
1. EARTHQUAKE, ECLIPSE, AND FAMINE
Amo_8:4-14
"Hear this, ye who trample the needy, and would put an end to the lowly of the land, saying, When will the New-Moon be over, that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, that we may open corn (by making small the measure, but large the weight, and falsifying the fraudulent balances; buying the wretched for silver, and the, needy for a pair of shoes!), and that we may sell as grain the refuse of the corn!" The parenthesis puzzles, but is not impossible: in the speed of his scorn, Amos might well interrupt the speech of the merchants by these details of their fraud, flinging these in their teeth as they spoke. The existence at this date of the New-Moon and Sabbath as days of rest from business is interesting; but even more interesting is the peril to which they lie open. As in the case of the Nazarites and the prophets, we see how the religious institutions and opportunities of the people are threatened by worldliness and greed. And, as in every other relevant passage of the Old Testament, we have the interests of the Sabbath bound up in the same cause with the interests of the poor. The Fourth Commandment enforces the day of rest on behalf of the servants and bondsmen. When a later prophet substitutes for religious fasts the ideals of social service, he weds with the latter the security of the Sabbath from all business. So here Amos emphasizes that the Sabbath is threatened by the same worldliness and love of money which tramples on the helpless. The interests of the Sabbath are the interests of the poor: the enemies of the Sabbath are the enemies of the poor. And all this illustrates our Saviors saying, that "the Sabbath was made for man."
But, as in the rest of the book, judgment again follows hard on sin. "Sworn hath Jehovah by the pride of Jacob, Never shall I forget their deeds." It is as before. The chief spring of the prophets inspiration is his burning sense of the personal indignation of God against crimes so abominable. God is the God of the poor, and His anger rises, as we see the anger of Christ arise, heavy against their tyrants and oppressors. Such sins are intolerable to Him. But the feeling of their intolerableness is shared by the land itself, the very fabric of nature; the earthquake is the proof of it. "For all this shall not the land tremble and her every inhabitant mourn? and she shall rise like file Nile in mass, and heave and sink like the Nile of Egypt."
To the earthquake is added the eclipse: one had happened in 803, and another in 763, the memory of which probably inspired the form of this passage. "And it shall be in that day-tis the oracle of the Lord Jehovah-that I shall bring down the sun at noon, and cast darkness on the earth in broad day. And I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs to a dirge. And I will bring up upon all loins sackcloth and on every head baldness, and I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day."
But the terrors of earthquake and eclipse are not sufficient for doom, and famine is drawn upon.
"Lo, days are coming-tis the oracle of the Lord Jehovah-that I will send famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor a drouth of water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the dark North to the Sunrise shall they run to and fro, to seek the word of Jehovah, and they shall not find it who swear by Samarias Guilt the golden calf in the house of the kingdom at Bethel-and say, As liveth thy God, O Dan! and, As liveth the way to Beersheba! and they shall fall and not rise anymore." I have omitted Amo_8:13 : "in that day shall the fair maids faint and the youths for thirst"; and I append my reasons in a note. Some part of the received text must go, for while Amo_8:11-12 speak of a spiritual drought, the drought of Amo_8:13 is physical. And Amo_8:14 follows Amo_8:12 better than it follows Amo_8:13. The oaths mentioned by Bethel, Dan, Beersheba, are not specially those of young men and maidens, but of the whole nation, that run from one end of the land to the other, Dan to Beersheba, seeking for some word of Jehovah. One of the oaths, "As liveth the way to Beersheba," is so curious that some have doubted if the text be correct. But strange as it may appear to us to speak of the life of the lifeless, this often happens among the Semites. Today Arabs "swear wa hyat, by the life of, even of things inanimate; By the life of this fire, or of this coffee." And as Amos here tells us that the Israelite pilgrims swore by the way to Beersheba, so do the Moslems affirm their oaths by the sacred way to Mecca.
Thus Amos returns to the chief target of his shafts-the senseless, corrupt worship of the national sanctuaries. And this time-perhaps in remembrance of how they had silenced the word of God when he brought it home to them at Bethel-he tells Israel that, with all their running to and fro across the land, to shrine after shrine in search of the word, they shall suffer from a famine and drouth of it. Perhaps this is the most effective contrast in which Amos has yet placed the stupid ritualism of his people. With so many things to swear by; with so many holy places that once were the homes of Vision, Abrahams Beersheba, Jacobs Bethel, Joshuas Gilgal-nay, a whole land over which Gods voice had broken in past ages, lavish as the rain; with, too, all their assiduity of sacrifice and prayer, they should nevertheless starve and pant for that living word of the Lord, which they had silenced in His prophet.
Thus, men may be devoted to religion, may be loyal to their sacred traditions and institutions, may haunt the holy associations of the past and be very assiduous with their ritual-and yet, because of their worldliness, pride, and disobedience, never feel that moral inspiration, that clear call to duty, that comfort in pain, that hope in adversity, that good conscience at all times, which spring up in the heart like living water. Where these be not experienced, orthodoxy, zeal, lavish ritual, are all in vain.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Amo_8:4. Hear] The nobles hated reproof. Swallow] Heb. gape…
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).
Read full note →
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 curse—deprivation 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 God’s oath indicate immutable purpose? He swears that he will never forget any of their works. All men’s 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 question—“shall not?” The appeal is to human consciences. How can it be otherwise? Great sins bring grievous judgments.
1. Curse like an earthquake—will 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 flood—will 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 God’s 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 man’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 earth’s 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 God’s 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 shrewdness—this 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].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain A Last Admonition of the Lord
A Last Admonition of the Lord
v. 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, panting after the poor in their anxiety to destroy them and to grasp their property, even to make the poor of the land to fail, in order to take their property by a show of right,
Read full note →
v. 5. saying, When will the new moon, the day which they considered a time of enforced idleness, be gone that we may sell corn? speculating at the expense of the poorer in the land, and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, opening their storehouses in order to make unjust gains, making the ephah small, giving the people short measure, and the shekel great, by raising the price which they charged those in need, and falsifying the balances by deceit? so that they sold below weight, their scales having been arranged to cheat,
v. 6. that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, compelling him to sell himself either for a certain amount of money which he owed or for a pair of shoes which he had gotten and was unable to pay for; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? only the poor grain, for which they charged just as much as for the best grade. History repeats itself also in this respect, for the same tactics are used in our days by such as speculate in foodstuffs and in the necessaries of life, the manipulators always fixing the prices in their favor or else selling inferior goods for the price of that which is really high-grade.
v. 7. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, He Himself being Israel’s Pride and Glory, Surely I will never forget any of their works; for by leaving such sins unpunished, He would deny His glory in Israel.
v. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this, for the deeds of such conscienceless scoundrels, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? namely, on account of the force of the Lord’s punishment. And it shall rise up wholly as a flood, be changed into a mighty, billowing ocean; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt, the reference being to the regular overflow of the Nile.
v. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day, the day of the Lord’s punishment upon Israel, 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, by a terrible catastrophe, the picture being well applicable to the fate of a nation or of the earth when it is destroyed while in the very midst of its earthly fortune and power;
v. 10. and I will turn your feasts into mourning, taking away all joy, and all your songs into lamentation, Cf Hos 2:13; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, the usual garment of deepest grief, and baldness upon every head, for shaving the head was a sign of the deepest mourning; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, a most intense sorrow, which cannot be appeased, and the end thereof as a bitter day, one whose objectionable taste would not soon be forgotten.
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, causing men anxiously to search for the divine counsel, which they had so consistently rejected;
v. 12. and they shall wander from sea to sea, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, and from the North even to the East, to the limitless extent of the Arabian Desert, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, the pressure of punishment causing them to make this outward show of zeal, and shall not find it.
v. 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst, this in spite of their natural strength and stamina, which was lacking in those who had been overcome before them.
v. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, namely, the golden calf of Bethel, and say, Thy god, O Dan, the other golden calf in the extreme northern city of Canaan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth, literally, "By the life of the way to Beersheba," this being a third city of an idolatrous cult, even they shall fall and never rise up again. In those days they made pilgrimages to the cities where the altars of idolatry were erected and refused to heed the words of the true God; therefore the time would come when they would be only too glad to heed the Word of God, but would find no one who would proclaim it to them. History shows that this judgment of the Lord has repeatedly gone into effect upon such as first rejected His message, His Gospel. The word of Luther that the Word of God is like a rainstorm which quickly passes over may well be heeded also in our day.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Listen to this
Listen to this
Amos is speaking to the wealthy merchants who harm those who are poor.
Read full note →
you who trample the needy and remove the poor of the land
This can be restated to remove the nominal adjectives "the needy" and "the poor." AT: "you who trample those who are in need and remove those in the land that are poor" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
you who trample
Harming people is spoken of as if it were stomping on people. AT: "you who harm" or "you who oppress" (See: Metaphor)
They say, "When will the new moon be over, so we can sell grain again? When will the Sabbath day be over, so that we can sell wheat?
The merchants use theses question to emphasize that want to start selling their items again. This can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "They are always asking when the new moon will be over or when the Sabbath will be over so that can sell their grain and wheat again." (See: Rhetorical Question and Direct and Indirect Quotations)
We will make the measure small and increase the price, as we cheat with false scales
The merchants would use false scales that showed that the amount of grain they were giving was greater than it really was and that the weight of the payment was less than it really was.
the needy for a pair of sandals
The words "and buy" are understood. AT: "buy the needy for a pair of sandals" (See: Ellipsis)
translationWords
new moon
grain
Sabbath
wheat
silver
sandal
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:4-14 This section expands the indictments and judgments listed…
8:4-14 This section expands the indictments and judgments listed earlier (read with 2:6–6:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.