Amo 8:4-7 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy - Ye that bruise the poor; exact from them, and tread them under foot.

Amos 8:4-7

Verse 4

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy - Ye that bruise the poor; exact from them, and tread them under foot. Verse 5

When will the new moon be gone - This was kept as a kind of holy day, not by Divine command, but by custom. The Sabbath was strictly holy; and yet so covetous were they that they grudged to give to God and their own souls this seventh portion of time! But bad and execrable as they were, they neither set forth their corn, nor their wheat, nor any other kind of merchandise, on the Sabbath. They were saints then, when compared to multitudes called Christians, who keep their shops either partially or entirely open on the Lord's day, and buy and sell without any scruples of conscience. Conscience! alas! they have none; it is seared as with a hot iron. The strong man armed, in them, is quiet, for all his goods are in peace.

Making the ephah small, and the shekel great - Giving short measure, and taking full price; or, buying with a heavy weight, and selling with one that was light.

Falsifying the balances - Having one scale light, and the other weighty; one end of the beam long, and the other short. A few months ago I detected a knave with such balances; with a slip of his finger along the beam he altered the center, which made three ounces short weight in every pound. He did it so dexterously, that though I knew he was cheating, or, as the prophet expresses it, was falsifying the balances by deceit, it was some time before I could detect the fraud, and not till I had been several times cheated by this accomplished knave. So we find that though the knaves of ancient Israel are dead, they have left their successors behind them. Verse 6

That we may buy the poor for silver - Buying their services for such a time, with just money enough to clear them from other creditors.

And the needy for a pair of shoes - See Amo 2:6.

And sell the refuse of the wheat! - Selling bad wheat and damaged flour to poor people as good, knowing that such cannot afford to prosecute them. Verse 7

By the excellency of Jacob - By the state of eminence to which he had raised the descendants of Jacob; or, by the excellent One of Jacob, that is, Himself. The meaning is: "As surely as I have raised you to such a state of eminence, so surely will I punish you in proportion to your advantages and your crimes."