Chastening Still More Solemn Awaits Israel, Jehovah Himself Directing It
Amos 8 opens with a fourth symbol—a basket of summer fruit, betokening how near as well as sure the end was for Israel. “I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence” {vs. 2-3}. The command of the king, the intervention of the priest, would in no way stay, but rather accelerate and increase, the punishment of their iniquity. Thus, a still more solemn and complete chastening is proclaimed on Israel. Their oppressive conduct is exposed with vigor, and Jehovah’s sworn judgment is repeated. Nothing yet executed meets the term of verse 9. Their worst famine should be one of the word (vss. 11-12): they shall feel the want of what they despised. The most fresh and vigorous should not escape the suffering (vss. 13-14).