(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 8:1-14)

What did Amos see? A basket of summer fruit. A basket of summer fruit left out in the sun will quickly over ripen and start to rot and decay. Yes, the time of judgment is near for Israel, “The end has come for My people Israel, I will spare them no longer.”

Yet, does Israel listen to the warnings of the Lord? Do they realize that they are a summer fruit that will quickly be thrown on the ground and trampled on? Or will they still think they are in a position of authority and the ones doing the trampling?

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5 saying,
“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,

Yes, the people are waiting thinking all things will pass and they will be able to once again hustle and bustle, do business, and continue in their dishonest ways. Yet, they do not realize that the days will not be over, but the hunger will increase. No, not just a physical hunger, but even more a spiritual hunger.

11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,
But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.”
12 “People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord,
But they will not find it.

A famine, not for bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of being able to hear the words of the Lord. The Lord has spoken, but they reject His word, the words of the prophets, and it leads to a spiritual famine of the heart.

Perhaps this is even greater than a physical famine in some ways because a spiritual famine without God’s word, leads not just to physical loss, but even deeper the loss of the soul.

Let us then hear God’s Word, hear God’s prophets, and be filled ourselves with the Bread of Life, that is Jesus Christ, and be led to spiritual abundance in the Holy Spirit.

Let us not be a basket of summer fruit that over ripens and can only be tossed out, but rather because of spiritual abundance in the Holy Spirit can be fruitful and multiply in Him.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Amos 8