Amos 8

The balances of deceit are in his hand: men, by making their weights lighter, make their account heavier. Thirdly, beware of sophisticating, mingling and debasing commodities (Amos 8:6). They sell the refuse of the wheat.

The golden head is degenerated into Iron, a more faeculent and impure mettal. 6. Weariness of Gods Ordinances; Amos 8. 5. When will the New Moon be gone, and the Sabbath? Vers. 11. Behold, the dayes come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the Land, not a famine of bre…

Answer. It implies, that when he is read, he is preached; for every Sabbath day when they read the Law, they gave the sense and meaning of it; that shows what diligence the Priests did use, when they did read they gave the sense, and wisely applied it to the edification of the p…

The devil buys many at a very easy price, he needs not carry them so high as the mountain, they are contented with a little gain that is got by a fraudulent bargain in the shop: if we stand in our window, or at our doors, we meet with temptations enough to carry us away. He need…

Let them take heede lest he punish them with a famine, not of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word. Amos 8:11. And let those that have itching eares, in heaping vp to themselues a multitude of teachers, take heede also that they have not tinglingeares, when they…

For there is no famine of bread that ought so much to affect us with fear and perplexity, as the famine of God's blessed word. And indeed look how much more precious the soul is than the body, so much the more ought we to fear that famine above all other famine: as also another…

Hard bondage made the lives of the Israelites bitter (Exodus 1:14). And when the Lord threatens to turn their feasts into mourning, and their songs into lamentation, he concludes thus, and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day (Amos 8…

The Lord has accomplished his fury, he has poured out his fierce anger. 6. The sixth terrible judgment is a famine of the word, which is threatened (Amos 8:11-12). Behold the days come, says the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for…

And truly, as much cause have they to weep and tremble, over whose souls God shuts up the spiritual clouds of the Gospel, and thereby sending a spiritual famine upon their souls. Such a judgment the Lord threatens in Amos 8:11. Behold the days come, says the Lord, that I will se…

Christians, the soul is better than the body; and eternal life is to be preferred before life natural; therefore the necessities of the soul are greater, and should be more urging than the necessities of the body. The famine of the word is threatened as a very great evil (Amos 8…

The Sabbath day is a feast day for souls. Now when men are weary of it, it's the most burdensome day of all the week round (Amos 8:5). When will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth wheat?

If the Word stir us a little, and make us anxious, and thoughtful about our eternal condition, the thorns which are the cares of this world choke the good seed (Matthew 13), it stifles our conviction, while it distracts our head with cares, and puts us out of all thought about t…

The Lord looks at it as a great sin thus feebly to oppose sin, and therefore verse 29 he tells him, that he honored his sons above God, and therefore he professes, far be it from me to maintain your house and comfort, for he that honors me I will honor, and he that despises me s…

Seventh, it is the root of fraud and deceit in dealings. Such as would be over-rich will over-reach; it is the covetous hand that holds false weights (Amos 8:5). Eighth, covetousness is the root of bribery and injustice; it makes the courts of justice into places of robbery, as…

1. Using of false weights, Hosea 12:7. The balances of deceit are in his hands: men by making their weights lighter, make their sin heavier, Amos 5:8. They make the Ephah small: the Ephah was a measure they used in selling; they made the Ephah small, they gave but scant measure;…

8th Commandment: You shall not steal. He breaks this commandment: who lives in no calling (1 Thessalonians 3:11); who neglects his calling (Jeremiah 48:10); who spends his wealth in riot and provides not for his family (1 Timothy 5:8); who is not content with his estate but seek…

O dreadful! — the sins of wicked men shall stand up in heaven before the justice of God, so long as God shall live, and that is for ever and ever. So the Lord swears, By the excellency of Jacob — that is, by himself (Amos 8:7): Surely, I will never forget any of their works. (Jo…

There is a time when sin grows ripe and full and then the sickle comes upon it. When the Prophet saw a basket of summer fruits, that were so ripe as that they were gathered off the tree, (which was a type of the sins of God's people, which are sooner ripe than the sins of heathe…