John Calvin Commentary Amos 8:5

"saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;" — Amos 8:5 (ASV)

The Prophet continues here with the same subject, for this could not apply to the whole people, but only to the plunderers who were able to oppress the miserable and poor among the common people, and who had a great abundance of corn; we see the same today, for a few people in times of scarcity have provisions hoarded up, so that they, as it were, put miserable people to death by reducing them to poverty.

Since, then, the few rich held the whole populace in a state of famine, the Prophet says here, “Do you think that God deals too rigidly or too cruelly with you, inasmuch as you have until now been killing people with misery and want?” If anyone were to object and say that the slaughter which the Prophet has already threatened was to be common to all the people, and that therefore it is now incorrectly stated that the wrongs done to the people were brought upon them by a few individuals, to this I answer: there were other vices among the people that required correction, and this we have already seen and will see again in other parts. However, it was necessary to make a beginning with the proud, who, relying on their own dignity, thought themselves exempt and free from the common fate.

Therefore, it was necessary to silence them; and furthermore, the Prophet did not spare others in their turn. But we see to what extent of mad folly haughty people, and those who possess worldly riches and power, would run if the Lord did not restrain and check them. This is the reason why the Prophet now especially addresses them.

You therefore say, When will pass the month, that we may sell corn? Some take חדש, chedash, month, for the new moon, and it is sometimes understood this way; this interpretation is probable, for the word Sabbath immediately follows. When then will pass the month, and when will pass Sabbath, that we may be able to sell our corn? Since it was not lawful to conduct business on either the Sabbath or the new moon, whenever they rested for even one day, they thought that much time was lost to them. For we see that the avaricious grow weary, as their cupidity constantly excites them, for they are like an oven; and since they are so hot, if an hour is lost, they think that a whole year has passed. They calculate every moment of time.

“Why,” they say, “is no merchant coming? I have now rested one day, and I have not gained a farthing.” Since, then, the avaricious are so extremely anxious, it is probable that the Prophet here refers to this sickness of the mind, as if he said, “You have no rest, no relaxation.”

God has commanded His people to rest on every new moon, and His will also is that you should abstain from all work on the seventh day. Yet you think this time is lost, because you get no gain.”

But another interpretation is equally probable: that they expected corn to become more expensive each month. Like robbers in our day who eagerly seek profit, they gather corn from every quarter and thus reduce us to poverty. They look forward, month after month, thinking that some calamity might happen to increase the price of corn. Frost or rain might come, some disaster might take place; when spring passes, some hail or mildew might appear. In short, they are, so to speak, lying in wait for some misfortune.

This meaning fits this passage well. At the same time, some commentators refer it to the intercalary month, which, being an addition, prolongs time, so that the year becomes longer. What follows regarding the Sabbath also corresponds well with this view, as the word is to be understood in a sense other than the seventh day. For we know that in every seventh year there was no plowing, no cultivation of the land, among the Jews; and the corn was then more expensive when there was no crop. Thus, then, prey was, as it were, provided for the avaricious and the extortioners.

When then will pass the Sabbath, that we may open our storehouses? They closed their storehouses until the whole year—without cultivation, produce, or harvest—had passed. Then they opened their storehouses, or at least it was the time when they largely opened them. Since, then, they dealt so cruelly with the people, the Prophet justly rebukes them and shows that God did not treat them too rigidly but recompensed them with the reward they deserved. We will defer other matters to the next lecture.

Grant, Almighty God, that as You do not cease daily to warn us in time to repent and anticipate Your judgment, O grant that we may not be so deaf and slow as to delay until our vices are ripened, lest no remedy remain for us; but, on the contrary, that being tamed and subdued by Your threatening, we may flee to Your mercy, and so consider Your judgments while they are still at a distance, that we may not provoke Your wrath by our perverseness, but rather dispose You to pardon by striving to be reconciled to You in the name of Christ Your Son, and by doing this not only with our mouths and tongues, or by any other outward means, but also with a true feeling of heart and a life corresponding to it, so that we may present ourselves in uprightness and sincerity as Your children, and that You may also show Yourself as a Father to us in the same Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

In my last lecture, I was under the necessity of interrupting the subject: the sixth verse, with the two preceding ones, must be connected. The Prophet says