John Gill Commentary Amos 8:2

"And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Jehovah unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more." — Amos 8:2 (ASV)

And he said, Amos, what do you see ?
&c.] To quicken his attention, who might disregard it as a common thing; and in order to lead him into the design of it, and show him what it was an emblem of:

and I said, a basket of summer fruit ;
some render it "a hook" ^F23 , such as they pull down branches with to gather the fruit; and the word so signifies in the Arabic language ^F24 ; but the other is the more received sense of the word:

then said the Lord to me ;
by way of explanation of the vision: the end is come upon my people Israel: the end of the kingdom of Israel; of their commonwealth and church state; of all their outward happiness and glory; their "summer [was] ended", and they "not saved", (Jeremiah 8:20) ; all their prosperity was over; and, as the Targum, their

``final punishment was come,'' the last destruction threatened them ^F25 :

I will not again pass by them any more ;
pass by their offences, and forgive their sins; or pass by their persons, without taking notice of them, so as to afflict and punish them for their iniquities:

or, "pass through them and more" ^F26 now making an utter end of them; (See Gill on Amos 7:8).

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FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (bwlk) "unicuus", V. L.
• F24: "ferramentum incurvum, seu uncus ex quo de sella commeatum suspendit viator", Giggeius apud Golium, col. 2055.
• F25: There is an elegant play on words in the words (Uyq) , "summer", and (Uq) , "the end".
• F26: So Mercerus, Grotius.