Amos 8 · The Lantern

The Basket of Summer Fruit

Thus the Lord GOD showed me: and look — a basket of summer fruit.

And he said, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” And the LORD said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

And the songs of the palace will wail in that day — the utterance of the Lord GOD. Many the corpse! In every place he has flung them. Hush!”

Hear this, you who trample the needy and put an end to the afflicted of the land,

saying, “When will the new moon pass, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may open the grain — making the ephah small and the shekel great, and making crooked the scales of deceit;

to buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and to sell the fallings of the grain?”

The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: I will never forget any of their deeds.

Shall the land not tremble over this, and everyone dwelling in it mourn? And all of it will rise like the Nile, and be driven out and sink like the Nile of Egypt.

And it will be in that day — the utterance of the Lord GOD — that I will bring the sun down at noon, and darken the earth in the daylight.

HOW THE PROPHECY AGREES WITH THE GOSPEL, CONCERNING THE DARKENING OF THE SUN AND CERTAIN OTHER THINGS. — Since at the Lord’s first coming it was foretold that the sun would be darkened at his passion, at the very hour when it is proved to have happened, that is, at midday, for therefore it is written in the prophet Amos: “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I…

(Verse 9, 10.) And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord (Vulgate adds God): The sun will be darkened at noon, and I will make the earth go dark in the midst of light. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth upon every waist, and baldness upon every head.

In relation to Christ's death, it is said: "The sun shall go down at midday." At midday, the sun falls for the Jews. When Christ was at the highest point of His power, that is, after the resurrection and the ascension, the Jews were blinded.

And I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into a lament, and I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head; and I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.

Let us keep [the Feast of Annunciation] with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. From ancient times Israel kept their festival, but then it was with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, of which the prophet says, "I will turn their feasts into afflictions and lamentation and their joy into shame." But our afflictions our Lord has assured us he will turn into joy by the fruits o…

Suspended, then, and fastened to his cross Christ cried out to God the Father in a loud voice and willingly laid down his life. In that same hour there was an earthquake, and the veil of the temple that separated the two tabernacles was cut in two, and the sun was suddenly withdrawn, and from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness.

Look, days are coming — the utterance of the Lord GOD — when I will send a famine in the land: not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the LORD.

But this also, which he says, "about thirty years old", must be considered. "Joseph was thirty years old" when he was released from his chains and, having interpreted the dream of Pharaoh, was made ruler of Egypt, and in the time of plenty gathered wheat, so that in the time of famine he might have what he could distribute.

We harm both soul and body if we are guilty of lack of moderation to them both by fattening one beyond need or by causing them to waste away from starvation.… The Lord of all once admonished the Jewish people … by way of extreme indignation in the words, "I will deal you not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord," to teach us tha…

(Verse 11, 12) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send forth (Vulgate: send) a famine upon the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

And they will stagger from sea to sea, and from north to east; they will rove to seek the word of the LORD, and they will not find it.

In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst —

those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, “As your god lives, Dan!” and “As the way of Beersheba lives!” — and they will fall and not rise again.

Amos8

The Basket of Summer Fruit