Amos 8:9

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: IN THAT DAY ... I WILL CAUSE THE SUN TO GO DOWN AT NOON, AND I WILL DARKEN THE EARTH IN THE CLEAR DAY. "Darkness" made to rise "at noon" is the emblem of great calamities (; Ezekiel 32:7). Archbishop Usher refers the prophecy to an eclipse of the sun in the feast of Pentecost, 791 BC; the feast of tabernacles, 771 BC; and the Passover, 771 BC But , "The sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them," shows that the image is that of a sudden reverse (Pusey)....

The Prophet speaks here metaphorically of the punishments which were then to the people nigh at hand: and as prosperity and success deceived the Israelites, the Prophet makes use of this significative mode of speaking: “Ye congratulate yourselves on account of your wealth and other things which delight you, as though God could not turn light into darkness; and as God spares you, ye think that it will ever be the same with you; but God can, he says, turn light into darkness: a dark night therefore will overtake you even at mid-day.” We now understand why the Prophet employed this figurative expression, — that God would obscure the sun, or cause it to go down, and would on a clear day send darkness to obscure the earth. It was not, it is certain, the eclipse of the sun; and the Prophet did not mean this. But these figurative expressions must be first noticed, and then we must see what they...

4-10 The rich and powerful of the land were the most guilty of oppression, as well as the foremost in idolatry. They were weary of the restraints of the sabbaths and the new moons, and wished them over, because no common work might be done therein. This is the character of many who are called Christians. The sabbath day and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts. It will either be profaned or be accounted a dull day. But can we spend our time better than in communion with God? When employed in religious services, they were thinking of marketings. They were weary of holy duties, because their worldly business stood still the while. Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, who love market days better than sabbath days, who would rather be selling corn than worshipping God. They have no regard to man: those who have lost the savour of piety, will not long keep the sense o...

Verse Amos 8:9. _I WILL CAUSE THE SUN TO GO DOWN AT NOON_] This may either refer to that _darkness_ which often precedes and accompanies _earthquakes_, or to an _eclipse_. Abp. _Usher_ has shown that about eleven years after Amos prophesied there were two great _eclipses_ _of the sun_; one at the _feast of tabernacles_, and the other some time before the _passover_. The prophet may refer to the darkness occasioned by those eclipses; yet I rather think the whole may refer to the _earthquake_....

I WILL CAUSE THE SUN TO GO DOWN - Darkness is heaviest and blackest in contrast with the brightest light; sorrow is saddest, when it comes upon fearless joy. God commonly, in His mercy, sends heralds of coming sorrow; very few burst suddenly on man. Now, in the meridian brightness of the day of Israel, the blackness of night should fall at once upon him. Not only was light to be displaced by darkness, but “then,” when it was most opposite to the course of nature. Not by gradual decay, but by a sudden unlooked-for crash, was Israel to perish. Pekah was a military chief; he had reigned more than seventeen years over Israel in peace, when, together with Rezin king of Damascus, he attempted to extirpate the line of David, and to set a Syrian, one “on of Tabea” Isaiah 7:6, on his throne. Ahaz was weak, with no human power to resist; his “heart was moved, and the heart of h

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...

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... When this deluge and desolation of the land shall be, now spoken of: THAT I WILL CAUSE THE SUN TO GO DOWN AT NOON: or to he so dark as if it was set; as at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, to which many of the ancient fathers refer this prophecy, though it has respect to other times and things. Jarchi interprets it of the kingdom of the house of David. It doubtless designs the kingdom of Israel, their whole policy, civil and ecclesiastic, and the destruction of it; particularly their king, princes, and nobles, that should be in great adversity, and that suddenly and unexpectedly; it being a fine sunshine morning with them, and they in great prosperity, and yet by noon their sun would be set, and they in the utmost darkness and distress; AND I WILL DARKEN THE EARTH IN A CLEAR DAY; the land of Israel, the people of it, the...

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

CAUSE THE SUN. This determines the time of the fulfilment of this "threatening". See Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 59:9; Isaiah 59:10; Jeremiah 15:5.Joel 2:2; Joel 3:15.Micah 3:6. Can this refer to the earthquake of Amos 1:1....