Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Amos Chapter 8
Metaphysically Interpreting Amos 8:1-14
8:1Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, a basket of summer fruit. 8:2And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Jehovah unto me,
The end is come upon my people Israel;
I will not again pass by them any more.
8:3And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day,
saith the LordJehovah: the dead bodies shall be many:
in every place shall they cast them forth with silence.8:4Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy,
and cause the poor of the land to fail,
8:5saying, When will the new moon be gone,
that we may sell grain?
and the sabbath,
that we may set forth wheat,
making the ephah small, and the shekel great,
and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
8:6that we may buy the poor for silver,
and the needy for a pair of shoes,
and sell the refuse of the wheat?8:7Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob,
Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8:8Shall not the land tremble for this,
and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?
yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River;
and it shall be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt.8:9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord
Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
8:10And I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins,
and baldness upon every head;
and I will make it as the mourning for an only son,
and the end thereof as a bitter day.8:11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah,
that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of Jehovah.
8:12And 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 Jehovah,
and shall not find it.8:13In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men
faint for thirst.
8:14They that swear by the sin of Samaria,
and say, As thy god, O Dan,
liveth; and, As the way of Beer-sheba liveth;
they shall fall, and never rise up again.
April 24, 1921: Amos 8:4-7
What relation do justice and honesty have to expression of the Divine Law? Justice and honesty are related to the Divine Law just as the principles of mathematics are related to numbers. When men are dishonest or unjust, they must, in due season, suffer the consequences. “Through the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.”
Does the prosperity that depends upon the possession of material things endure? No. The experience of all men is that such possessions are either swept away, or, in the end, left by those who have accumulated them.
April 16, 1950: Amos 8:1-3
What is the significance of the basket of summer fruit seen by Amos? Summer fruits are gathered in at the time of harvest, when growth and development have ceased. When cause comes to fruition, effects in kind are inevitably reaped. “The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.”
What is the key to prophetic vision? Understanding of the law of cause and effect. When this sequence is not recognized and the divine law is not kept, disaster follows.
April 23, 1950: Amos 8:4-7
How are the needy swallowed up? By being exploited by persons who serve their own selfish ends. Metaphysically a person “swallows up the needy”, when he refuses to give heed to his generous impulses, and when he stifles every instinctive wish to consider the welfare of others, or to do what is just and right.
Does the strict observance of sacred festivals (new moons and Sabbaths) have any weight in molding character, so as to offset cheating and double-dealing? No. The issues of life are out of the heart, and unless honesty and decency and justice abide there, the character is without weight or stability. “I will never forget any of their works.”
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 12-17-2013
