Summer Fruit
I think it is unfortunate that many translations give this
explanation as to what Amos sees as chapter 8 opens. When I hear “summer fruit” I think of
cherries, plums, peaches, and melons.
But that isn’t quite what God has shown Amos. God shows Amos “ripe fruit.” In other words, fruit that has been picked
after it has been allowed to ripen on the tree.
Not “summer fruit” but fruit “picked in summer.” Amos would know this; he is, after all, a
dresser of sycamore fig trees.
Why is this important? When
fruit is picked after being allowed to ripen on the tree it has an amazingly
short shelf life. When melons or peaches
are ripe, they need to be eaten or they will decay surprisingly quickly. The same thing is true for any fruit – or
vegetable, for that matter. {Keep in mind that this is an age prior to
refrigeration technology.}
So here is what God says to Amos.
Israel is like a basket of fruit picked in summer. They are ripe right now, but they will very
quickly enter into the stage of being rotten.
The time for the harvest is now, because soon there won’t be anything
left worth harvesting. Israel is now in
their prime; the time was coming quickly when these elite would be killed and
strewn across the land at the hand of the Assyrians.
Call to the Unfaithful
In verses 4-6 we see God speaking to the people of business in the
land. Tell me if this sounds
familiar. The business people were
crying out when the religious festivals and holy times would be over because
they just wanted to get back to making money.
Behold: the power of the Almighty Silver! Or is it the Almighty Gold? Or is it the Almighty Dollar?
You see, the people in Amos’ day were all about economy. It was all about profit. It was all about doing whatever they could to
separate people from their silver so that the silver could be in their pocket
instead. Economy reigned supreme in
Israel right before they fell into spiritual and physical captivity. I think God’s point is fairly clear. Yes, making a living is okay – in fact, part
of godly living. But there is more to
life than economy and making money – especially if it is done at the expense of
others. When we are willing to make
money by trampling on the backs of others, God does not approve.
Judgment
Having described the reality, Amos now describes the reality of
the Lord. Listen to the words used. “I will never forget any of their deeds.” Yes, God takes sin pretty seriously.
The price of sin is mourning.
Here’s the funny part of it. Most
of the time, God doesn’t even have to do anything. He simply has to watch as the consequences of
our sinfulness overtake us. He just has
to watch as we do it to ourselves. The
greed of one person turns into the greed and vengeance of another person and
soon the whole system is out of whack as we are all trying to get the better of
each other.
We truly make our lives bitter by our sinfulness. It is not God who makes our lives bitter; it
is we who do it to ourselves. God simply
stands beside us and calls us out of that bitterness. Sometimes His call is pleasant (the call to
repent from the prophets). Sometimes His
call is unpleasant (captivity under Assyria/Babylon). But rest assured, it is we who make our lives
bitter.
Silence
True punishment from God is His silence. Think about it. What fate in life could ever be greater than
God ignoring us? What fate in life could
be worse than knowing that not only do I have the consequences of my sin but
the unbridled consequences of everyone else’s sin, too!
God claims that there is a day of famine coming to the Hebrew
people. It is a famine not of bread or
water but of word from the Lord. There
is a famine coming when the Hebrew people will only have human reasoning to
rely upon. Now that’s a scary thought
indeed! Can you imagine what life would
be like if the only thing we had to rely upon was our own reasoning?
That is the punishment we deserve when we ignore the words of the
Lord. When we say to the Lord, “We aren’t
interested in listening,” we deserve to hear Him say, “Very well, then I shall
stop talking.” Again, it isn’t the Lord
who brings it upon us. It is we who
bring it upon ourselves!
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