A Famine of Hearing the Words of the Lord

God shows Amos a basket of summer fruit, left too long and now overripe. It is a sign that Israel has let the time for repentance pass. The priest Amaziah heard Amos’s warning, yet went to the king to turn him against the prophet, and Israel would not take hold of even its last chance.

This was what they truly were: they cheated the poor with false scales and sold people into slavery for the price of a pair of sandals. God swore judgment by the pride of Jacob, and that judgment came to pass just as he had spoken, with the sun going dark at midday. The songs of the palace turned to wailing, and when at last they called on the name of the Lord, God was silent.

Famine comes not from a lack of bread but from not hearing the words of the Lord. God’s people must listen to the word while it can still be heard, and each one needs to examine where their faith stands today. When God says he will no longer pardon Israel, he does not mean he will cast them away; it is his earnest longing that they turn back, even now.