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NOTES for Amo 8:9-12

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9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:
12 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.
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Here is the hunger that the Lord sends: a hunger for the word of God. A moment comes in every person's life when His word becomes vitally necessary. Of course, one cannot say that there is ever a time when someone does not need it, but what matters here is that there are special moments when He sends an intense hunger.

But He says that people will seek the word and not find it. Why? Does an unkind God send hunger and refuse to satisfy it? No. This concerns a people who have once again forgotten God. And this is often exactly what happens to people: yes, the Lord gives them a hunger to hear His word, but a person has moved so far away from Him and turns away so persistently that he simply does not understand where to seek that for which his soul hungers. Often this hunger remains unsatisfied, while the person convinces himself that he has already satisfied it with something very, very useful and proper...

Yes, the Lord can send hunger, but He respects our freedom and does not impose on us the way to satisfy it. In fact, there is no need to wander throughout the world, because we already have His word, just as the people of Israel had it in the days of Amos.

Other notes

 
For Amo 8:11-12
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:
12 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.
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Surprising gift of God - it is the thirst of the word of the Lord. Sooner or later in the life of man, comes a moment, when God's word becomes extremely necessary. One should not say that it is not necessary another time, but there are...  Read more

Surprising gift of God - it is the thirst of the word of the Lord. Sooner or later in the life of man, comes a moment, when God's word becomes extremely necessary. One should not say that it is not necessary another time, but there are special moments, when the need in God's word becomes unbearable. And the Lord says that people will seek the word - but will not find. Why? Does God send thirst and don’t make it quench?

No, but rather often man goes so far away from Him, turns away so diligently that just doesn’t understand, where to seek what his soul is thirsty of. And this thirst remains mostly unquenched - but man persuades himself of having already quenched the thirst with something very useful and accurate... Yes, the Lord can send thirst - but He respects our freedom and does not impose to us the means of its appeasement. And it is not obligatory to walk, to roam all over the world, because we already have His word - quite as the Israeli people in the time of the prophet Amos had it.

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For Amo 8:1-14
1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:
12 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.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
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“And it shall be in that day, says the Lord...” That day, the day of the Lord...  Read more

“And it shall be in that day, says the Lord...” That day, the day of the Lord, is the day when God intervenes in this life. As a rule, when we encounter evil and injustice, we all complain: why does God not intervene and make everything right? But God has no double standard in His dealings with people, and if He begins to “settle accounts” with those who live without regard for Him, that “reckoning” will affect us as well! And yet there is hope: God gives us thirst for His word, and the prophet Amos declares, “Seek the Lord and live” (Amos 5:6, 14-15).

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For Amo 8:1-14
1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:
12 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.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
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Twenty-eight centuries have passed, and we see clearly that, although there is hunger and thirst in the world, the fate of the world is not determined by this, but by where, and in what, a person seeks the truth. And again we wander from sea to sea, roaming now in the East and now in the West, conducting deadly experiments on ourselves and on others, deifying any fruit of human reason, and then...  Read more

Twenty-eight centuries have passed, and we see clearly that, although there is hunger and thirst in the world, the fate of the world is not determined by this, but by where, and in what, a person seeks the truth. And again we wander from sea to sea, roaming now in the East and now in the West, conducting deadly experiments on ourselves and on others, deifying any fruit of human reason and then becoming disillusioned. We are driven by a thirst to hear the words of the Lord, while what has already been given to us we do not accept. We repeat, "Not by bread alone..." as a proverb, having already forgotten where it is said and what is said next there. We seek and, just as it is written, do not find, because it is best to seek where it is, not where it is not!

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