Chapter 8
As chapter seven started with visions that God showed Amos, so does this chapter, leading right into a pronouncement that the end has come, and that there will be many dead bodies.
vss 4-6 are about greed displacing worship. They want the new moon feasts and the sabbath to be over so they can go back to cheating the poor with their commerce. They use false balances and false measures to make the poor overpay for what they get. Like making ice cream cartons 3 pints instead of a half gallon. All the containers are getting smaller, but the prices stay the same or go up. Here, it is not individuals, but corporations that are being so greedy. The principle is the same. The rich are cheating the poor to increase their wealth. God does not care for this. In Israel's case, they resent any and all religious activities because they are not allowed to cheat people with their daily buying and selling during the festivals. In our terms, they hate the blue laws and all that they stand for.
Sections starting at verse 9, 11, and 13 seem to be about "that day". Hard to tell from the text if this is about the coming Assyrian invasion, or about the end times. It says a time is coming when there will be a famine of God's words. This could be the 400 year inter-testamentary period. Or it could be end times.
An interesting note on vs 9 from MSB:
9 "And on that day," declares the Lord GOD, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. [Amo 8:9 ESV] This likely referred to the total solar eclipse of 763 BC (three years after that big earthquake) as a picture of God's coming judgment. This is possible, but I think it more likely referred to a truly supernatural darkening of the sky. Only God makes changes in the heavens. Satan is prevented from this. Signs in the heavens are God's signs and His alone. These cannot be faked, even in the end times.
2024 - Note also that the events described would need more than a single day to occur. So "on that day" refers to a period of time here. We have seen t his before.
2024 - Vss 11-12 could about Amos' day. No word, no prophet in Israel as the Assyrians bear down on them. Perhaps Amos and all others like him are gone by the time Assyria actually begins to march toward Israel. In their fear, they finally seek God, but God is nowhere to be found. I think this kind of thing still happens. This prophecy in Amos is about those days. I believe this prophecy is complete, not about end times.