| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| |
|
| 1 Here, My Lord, Yahweh, gave me to see,–and lo! there was a basket of summer fruit. |
|
| 2 So then he said, What canst thou see, Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Yahweh unto me, The end hath come unto my people Israel, I will not again any more forgive them; |
|
| 3 but palace-songs, shall become howlings, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh,–Many shall be the dead bodies in every place–cast forth–[with a] hush! |
|
| |
|
| 4 Hear this, ye who pant after the needy, and to make an end of the oppressed of the land: |
O ye – An aristocracy of brains and wealth instead of the former aristocracy of heredity. D309
Swallow up the needy – Seeking to hold them down to bare subsistence. D309
|
| 5 Who say, When will the new moon, pass away, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath that we may open grain? who diminish the ephah, and increase the shekel, and who falsify by deceitful weights: |
The ephah – The measure. R2357:2
And the shekel – The price. R2357:2
|
| 6 Who buy–for silver–the poor, and the needy for a pair of shoes,–and that the refuse of the grain we may sell. |
And sell – And sell them. R2357:2
|
| 7 Sworn hath Yahweh, by the Excellency of Jacob,–Surely I will never forget any of their doings! |
|
| 8 Is it not, for this, that the land, shall tremble? and shall mourn every inhabitant therein? Shall it not come up–like the Nile, all of it, and be tossed and subside like the river of Egypt? |
It shall rise up – A new battle has begun on the part of the rich for the maintenance and increase of their wealth and power, and on the part of the lower classes for the right to labor and enjoy the moderate comforts of life. D308, D309
|
| 9 Yea it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go in at high noon,–and will darken the earth on a day of brightness.! |
|
| 10 So will I turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into a dirge, and I will bring up–on all loins–sackcloth, and upon every head–baldness,–and I will make it like the mourning for an only one, even the afterpart thereof, as a day of bitterness. |
|
| |
|
| 11 Lo! days are coming, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will send a hunger throughout the land,–not a hunger for food, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Yahweh; |
Will send a famine – The 1260 years of Papal supremacy. B256
Began 539 AD, when ecclesiastical power attained persecuting ability, and ended 1799 AD, as its persecutions came to an end. R5742:1, R234:6, R389:2*, R491:5
In another sense, the 1260 years from 325 AD, the Council of Nice, to 1585 AD. R5742:1
A spiritual famine. R5993:3, R557:3
A hunger and thirst for the truth--the bread of life and the water of life. OV259:4, R263:3; R3334:4; CR343:1
Resulting in nominal spiritual Israel's being in a dilapidated condition. R4923:1
The true-hearted are starving. R5063:1
Resulting in a lack of church attendance in fulfilment of this prophecy. R5375:1
"The honorable men (clergy, bishops and popes) are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst." (Isa. 5:13) R1896:3
Starving upon the inconsistencies of human theory and "tradition of the elders." R2808:3
Poor parishioners have been fed upon husks until they are famished. HG712:6
Not with standing Bibles by the millions and general education, so that rich and poor have the ability to read God's Word. OV259:2
Our day is full of philosophies, inventions, sciences (true and false), money-making, financial and theological schemes--but these things do not satisfy even the worldly. R3334:4
Even Babylon's notables are dissatisfied, famished. R2905:1
My people are "perishing for lack of knowledge." (Hos. 4:6) They have "hidden the key R2693:4; OV263:3
Typified by the 3 ½-year drouth in the days of Elijah. (1Kings 18,19) B256; R5993:3, R2326:6, R557:3, R491:5*, R389:2*, R234:6
Applies to Jews as well as to Christians. OV154:T
Of bread – Crying out for the bread of truth instead of the stones of error. R1579:2
Nor a thirst – "Because the people have no knowledge." (Isa. 5:13) they are consumed with th R2904:6, R1896:3
Illustrated by the large demand for truth literature, especially the Photodrama Scenario. R5618:6*
Hearing – Understanding. OV154:T, HG317:2
The words of the LORD – The message of God's love and of his plan. CR343:3
The necessary thing to do is to resume Bible study and that without our creedal spectacles. R4923:2
|
| 12 Therefore shall men rove about–from sea to sea, and from the north even unto sunrise,–they shall run to and fro–seeking the word of Yahweh, but shall not find [it]. |
From sea to sea – There is a famine in every denomination, in every part of the world. OV259:5
They – The Jews. Q269:2
Shall not find it – While today the Lord could feed the hungry Israelites indeed without our aid, let us gratefully thank him for the privilege of being co-workers in any capacity. R2644:4
Because they seek not where alone it is to be found. OV260:2
|
| 13 In that day, shall the fair virgins and the choice young men faint for thirst. |
Faint for thirst – Increasing intelligence on every hand has awakened our reasoning faculties along religious lines, and the result is the gnawing of hunger in our hearts. OV259:3
|
| 14 They who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy God, liveth, O Dan! and, As the Way of Beer-sheba, liveth, shall fall, and shall not rise any more. |
|