Wednesday, November 20 – Amos 8, 9

1. What kind of famine does Amos prophesy that God will send upon the land? (Amos 8:11-12)

2. How does the prophet illustrate God’s people’s trials? (Amos 9:9)

Commentary and Reflection:

Today, we conclude the reading the book of the prophet Amos, a prophet from Judah whom God sent to minister to the kingdom of Israel, also known as the northern kingdom.

Chapter 8 opens with the image of a basket of summer fruit. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary explains: “Heb. qayiṣ, early maturing fruit, used especially of ‘figs.’ The purpose of this vision was to show that the people were ripe for judgment, that God’s forbearance was at an end.” (SDA Bible Commentary, Amos 8:1).

The Lord’s message concerning the basket of summer fruit is, “The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore” (Amos 8:2). Like many other prophetic writings, Amos 8 and 9 contain both an immediate and a prophetic meaning, both of which are significant. The immediate application pertains to Israel in Amos’s time, while the prophetic layer refers to the end times.

Regarding the famine for hearing the word of the Lord, the SDA Bible Commentary states: “The prophet plainly points to a time when, because of continued disobedience, it would be too late for the Israelites to turn to God’s Word in an attempt to avoid the divine judgments. Deep sorrow sometimes stimulates men to heed the Holy Scriptures. Unfortunately, such sorrow often comes too late to produce any beneficial result. This is so, not because God’s love is withdrawn from the sinner, but because the sinner has become so hardened in his iniquities that he wishes only to escape the consequence of his transgressions, and not to forsake his evil ways… In the final “day of the Lord,” just before the second advent of Christ, this experience of ancient Israel will be repeated, when the impenitent of the whole earth, suffering under the seven last plagues, will seek relief from calamity by any means possible, even turning to the Word of God, which they had formerly neglected to study and obey (see GC 629).” (SDA Bible Commentary, Amos 8:11).

“They shall wander… seeking the word of the Lord but shall not find it” (Amos 8:12) refers to what is known as the close of probation, or the end of the opportunity to accept salvation, which occurs before Jesus’ second coming.

In verse 14, when it speaks of those who swear “by the sin of Samaria,” it refers to the sin of Jeroboam, who established a false religious system in Israel for political reasons: “Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan” (1 Kings 12:30).

The phrase “the way of Beersheba” refers to the same pagan worship system that the kings of Israel practiced from the time of Jeroboam I onward. The Lord was deeply displeased with Israel for following this system of false worship based on manipulating faith for political gain. This is the theme of condemnation in Amos’s prophecy and the reason for the captivity.

Amos 9:8 says that not all of Israel will be destroyed: “Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.” “As wicked as the nation is, and as deserving of utter destruction, God graciously promises that a remnant will be saved (see Jer. 30:3, 11). Many from the tribes of Israel did return with the returning exiles of Judah (see on Hosea 1:11; 9:17).” (SDA Bible Commentary, Amos 9:8).

The sifting mentioned in verse 9 also applies to the church in the end times: “Israel will be scattered ‘among all nations,’ and there tossed about, as it were, in the ‘sieve’ of affliction and persecution that it might be determined through this trial who will remain loyal followers of God and who will cleave to the heathen and refuse to return from captivity.”  (SDA Bible Commentary, Amos 9:9).

Beyond its messages of condemnation and judgment, the book of Amos concludes with a beautiful prophecy of blessing and hope in the final verses of chapter 9.

Speaking of the life of the redeemed in the new earth, it says, “They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them” (Amos 9:14). This passage is very similar to Isaiah’s well-known prophecy: “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (Isaiah 65:21).

The work is God’s, and His people also belong to Him. Our role is to heed His voice through the prophets and the guidance of the Holy Spirit within His church.