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Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
Verse 1. Hook. Hebrew “basket of summer fruit.” Septuagint “bird cage or net.” Bible.—Israel was ripe for destruction. verse 2. Calmet. 7:8. Calmet.—Not only those who were near, (4 Kennicott. 15:29) but the rest also were taken, (4 Kennicott. 17:6) as we pull with a hook the fruit when we cannot reach otherwise. Worthington.
He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
Verse 3. Temple, when God comes like a mighty warrior; or when the profane temples shall be pillaged. Calmet. 9:1. Hebrew also, “the canticles of the temple or palace shall be changed into lamentations.”—Place. Hebrew “a multitude of dead bodies shall be cast in every place. Keep silence.” Calmet.
Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
Verse 5. Mouth: the first day was observed as a festival. Numbers 10:10. Bible.—At the expiration of the month usurers demanded their money. Hor. i. sat. 3. Aristoph. Nub. ii. 1.—Corn, to sell after the sabbatical year, when it was dearest. Sabbath also denotes all “festivals.” These misers think that there are too many.—Sicle. Having a large measure to buy, and a small one to sell again. Deuteronomy 25:13. Proverbs 20:10.
1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
a normal shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
Verse 6. Shoes, for almost nothing. Thus they forced the poor to serve, or to sell their effects.
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Verse 7. Jacob, because the rich despise the poor. It may also mean, that he swore by heaven, or the temple, (Leviticus 26:19) or that he would destroy the high places. Calmet.
Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
Verse 8. Altogether. Septuagint “its total ruin shall rise as a river.”—Egypt. The whole land shall be visited with misery, as Egypt is by the Nile. Bible.—The enemy shall retire with the booty. The Nile overflows in summer, and covers Egypt for six weeks, carrying much earth with its impetuous waves. Isaiah 18:2.
It will happen in that day,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
Verse 9. Light. Usher ( A. 3213.) explains this of an eclipse, at Pentecost. The Fathers generally understand that which accompanied the death of Christ; but it only implies great desolation and terror. Jeremiah 15:9. Joel 3:11. Saint Jerome and so forth Calmet.—In their greatest prosperity, calamities shall unexpectedly fall upon them. Worthington.
I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
Verse 10. Baldness, the hair being cut in mourning. Job 1:20.—Son, most afflicted. Zechariah 12:10. Jeremiah 6:26. Calmet.
Behold, the days come,” says 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 LORD’s words.
Verse 11. Lord. During the siege provisions were wanting, but instruction still more so. Worthington.—Israel had banished Amos. They would be left destitute. We find no prophet among the during the captivity, except Tobias. Calmet. 13:3. We may apply this to the state of the Jews since the death of Christ. They have no guides. Calmet.—They read incessantly, and do not understand (Saint Jerome Mercer.) the Bible, which non will ever penetrate who refuse to receive the key from the Church. Bible.
They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek the LORD’s word, and will not find it.
Verse 12. Sea to sea: from west to south, or to the ocean; in whatever part of the world they may be. Calmet.
In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.
Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”
Verse 14. Sin. Septuagint “propitiation,” which the pagans deemed requisite; (Hor. i. ode 2.) or worship ( Bible.) of Baal, (4 Kennicott. 17:16. Calmet.) and all the other superstitions. Bible.—Way. Septuagint “thy God,” or religion, (Acts 9:2) or pilgrimage to Bersabee. Calmet. 5:5. Perhaps the true God was here adored; but it was in a manner which he condemned. Calmet.—In vain do those pretend to honour Him, who follow the traditions of unbelieving men. Bible.