Amos 8:13

In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. IN THAT DAY SHALL THE FAIR VIRGINS AND YOUNG MEN FAINT FOR THIRST - namely, thirst for hearing the words of the Lord, being destitute of all other comfort. If even the young and the strong faint, how much more the infirm ()....

The Prophet, having threatened spiritual famine, now adds, that the people would in every respect be barren and destitute of every good: for I take not thirst here in the same sense as before; but that they should be dried up through the want of all things. It is indeed the worst deprivation when men are parched up with thirst; and this is what the Prophet threatens here. A country may suffer from want of provision, while there is water enough to drink; but when not even this remains, it is an evidence of a heavier and of almost the extreme curse of God. We now perceive what the Prophet meant, which was this, — that when God should take away his word, by which the souls of men are nourished up to eternal life, the Israelites would be then in want also of all blessings, so that they would not only be without bread, but also without water; and he mentions a circumstance which would greatly...

11-14 Here was a token of God's highest displeasure. At any time, and most in a time of trouble, a famine of the word of God is the heaviest judgment. To many this is no affliction, yet some will feel it very much, and will travel far to hear a good sermon; they feel the loss of the mercies others foolishly sin away. But when God visits a backsliding church, their own plans and endeavours to find out a way of salvation, will stand them in no stead. And the most amiable and zealous would perish, for want of the water of life, which Christ only can bestow. Let us value our advantages, seek to profit by them, and fear sinning them away....

In this hopelessness as to all relief, those too shall fail and sink under their sufferings, in whom life is freshest and strongest and hope most buoyant. Hope mitigates any sufferings. When hope is gone, the powers of life, which it sustains, give way. “They shall faint for thirst,” literally, “shall be mantled over, covered” , as, in fact, one fainting seems to feel as if a veil came over his brow and eyes. “Thirst,” as it is an intenser suffering than bodily hunger, includes sufferings of body and mind. If even over those, whose life was firmest, a veil came, and they fainted for thirst, what of the rest?...

EXPOSITION AMOS 8:1 § 5. _In the fourth vision, the basket of summer fruit, the Lord shows that the people is ripe for judgment. _Explaining this revelation, Amos denounces the oppression and greed of the chieftains (verses 4-10), and warns them that those who despise the Word of God shall some day suffer from a famine of the Word (verses 11-14). AMOS 8:1 A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT; Septuagint, ἄγγος ἰξευτοῦ_, _"a fowler's vessel;" Vulgate, _uncinus pomorum, _which Jerome explains," Sicut uncino rami arborum detrahuntur ad poma carpenda, ita ego proximum captivitatis tempus attraxi." The word _chelub _is taken to mean "a basket of wickerwork;" it is used for "a cage" in...

IN THAT DAY SHALL THE FAIR VIRGINS AND YOUNG MEN FAINT FOR THIRST. After the word, for want of that grain and wine, which make young men and maids cheerful, Zechariah 9:17; but, being destitute of them, should be covered with sorrow, overwhelmed with grief, and ready to sink and die away. These, according to some, design the congregation of Israel; who are like to beautiful virgins, as the Targum paraphrases it; and the principal men of it, the masters of the assemblies: or, as others, such who were trusting to their own righteousness, and seeking after that which they could never attain justification by, and did not hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ, and so perished....

CHAPTER 8 The Fourth Vision: The Basket With Summer Fruit _ 1. The vision (Amos 8:1) _ 2. Israel ripe for judgment (Amos 8:4) 3. The coming days of famine (Amos 8:11) Amos 8:1. In his fourth vision the prophet beholds a basket of summer fruit. The Hebrew shows that it was a basket filled with ripe fruit. The ripe fruit is a symbol that Israel was ripe for the harvest of judgment. The message of the Lord to the prophet is, “The end is come upon My people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.” The songs would be changed into howling lamentations and many should be slain....

DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEME OF AMOS 3. This section, which re-echoes Amos 2:6, has been regarded as a conglomeration of rather loosely-connected fragments (_cf._ G. A. Smith). The prophet addresses himself to those who persecute and destroy the needy and humble (Amos 8:4), the ruthless and godless rich who regard holy days and Sabbaths as tiresome interruptions of business and as troublesome reproaches to their guilty conscience (Amos 8:5), who traffic in the lives of the poor (see Amos 2:6) and tamper with the very staff of life (Amos 8:6). Such men and such deeds Yahweh will never forget or forgiv

VIRGINS. Hebrew. _bethulah (plural)_ See note on Genesis 24:43....

A fresh denunciation of Israel's sin, followed by a fresh picture of the impending calamities....