Amos 8:9
And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
Sermons
Early GravesHomilistAmos 8:9
Lessons of an EclipseA. Roberts, M. A.Amos 8:9
The Eclipse of the Sun Spiritually ConsideredRichard Glover.Amos 8:9
The Solar EclipseThe Essex RemembrancerAmos 8:9
Untimely SunsetHomiletic MagazineAmos 8:9
AvariceHomilistAmos 8:4-10
AvariceD. Thomas Amos 8:4-10














This language is actual truth, although it is based upon and accords with the experience of created intelligences. Memory is one of the primitive endowments of intellect, admitted to be such even by philosophers, who are very loth to admit that the mind of man can possess any such endowments. A man who should never forget would indeed be a marvel, a miracle. But it would be inconsistent with our highest conceptions of God to suppose it possible for anything to escape his memory. In his mind there is, of course, neither past nor future, for time is a limitation and condition of finite intelligence. To the Eternal all is present; all events to him are one eternal now.

I. A GENERAL TRUTH CONCERNING THE DIVINE NATURE AND GOVERNMENT. Nothing is unobserved by God, and nothing is forgotten by him. All men's actions as they are performed photograph themselves indelibly upon the very nature of the Omniscient and Eternal. Nothing needs to be revived, for nothing ever becomes dim.

II. A SOLEMN TRUTH CONCERNING THE CONDUCT AND PROSPECTS OF THE SINFUL. Parents forget the wrong doing of their children, and rulers those of their subjects. Hence many evil deeds escape the recompense which is their due. But Jehovah, who "remembered" (to use the expression necessarily accommodated to our infirmity) all the acts of rebellion of which the chosen people had been guilty, does not lose the record of any of the offences committed by men. On the contrary, they are written "in a Book of remembrance" - a book one day to he unrolled before the eyes of the righteous Judge.

III. A PRECIOUS ASSURANCE CONCERNING THE GOOD PURPOSES AND ACTIONS WHICH GOD DISCERNS AND REMARKS IN HIS PEOPLE. Thus we find saintly men of old in their prayers beseeching the Lord to remember them: "Remember me, O Lord, for good;" "Remember me with the favour thou showest unto thy people." He who said, "I know thy works," who said, "I will never forget any of their works," is a Being to whom we may safely commend ourselves and all that is ours which he himself creates and which he approves.

APPLICATION.

1. In our confessions let us be frank and open with God, who searcheth the heart, and who forgetteth nothing. It would be folly to suppose that he forgets our sins; it would be wickedness to strive to forget them ourselves. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive."

2. In our prayers for pardon let us bear in mind that there is a sense in which he will "remember no more" the offences of his penitent and believing people. He will treat us as if he had forgotten all our rebellion, and as if he remembered only our purposes and vows of loyalty. - T.

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.
Though the heavens are full of the glory of the Lord, yet they rarely engage our devout attention, or make their voice so to be heard as that we notice it and listen. The sight and the music are so constantly repeated, and become so common, that they cease to impress us. It is well, then, that God has so wisely ordered the universe that ever and anon the monotony of these ordinary phenomena should be broken by those that are more startling and extraordinary, — such as the visitations of eclipses, comets, and earthquakes, that so men might be compelled to see their Maker's hand and hear their Author's voice, and know that there is indeed a God that created and that governeth the earth.

1. Such a phenomenon as the eclipse is calculated powerfully to impress upon us a lesson of gratitude for the inestimable blessing of sunlight. Like some of our greatest mercies, it is a common one, and therefore it is unappreciated. From how few hearts arise the morning orison of thankfulness, and the noonday hymn of praise. Of this, like most of God's blessings, we need to be now and then deprived, in order to teach us how great it is. If suddenly at midday God were now and then to place the shadow of His hand before the sun, we should then feel to the full the horror of the deprivation and the great blessing of the gift. We read of those, like the Persians, who worship the Sun, and pay to it the homage that is due to its Creator. And far nobler it is to worship the sun than to walk day by day in his light with a heart thankless for the blessing.

2. A more solemn truth, of which this phenomenon may remind us, is the effect of sin on the soul of man. The darkness of eclipse will be caused by a large and opaque body coming between us and the sun. The moon will come between us and the sun. Were it not for some intervening object, God's light would be ever shining down upon us. The eclipse will not be caused by the sun's withdrawing his shining. God never changes. If there is darkness in the soul of man, it is to be accounted for by the fact that something or other has come between his soul and God, and eclipsed the light. Scripture teaches us that this object is sin. "Your iniquities have separated between you and God." Every soul who is under the dominion of sin may see in the eclipse a faint image, in the natural world of the position of his soul in relation to God. It is cut off from God, and so abideth in darkness.

3. This eclipse may bring to remembrance the awful death of Him through whose work alone those sins can be removed. During His supreme agony upon the Cross there occurred a preternatural eclipse of the sun. "The sun was darkened." It was truly a time for both nature and man to mourn.

4. The eclipse should enable us in some sort to realise the great day of the wrath of the Lord. Then "there shall be signs in the sun"; "the sun shall withdraw his shining." That appalling eclipse will not only be total but final, and to no man who is not then found to be a child of God, and a servant of Christ, will light evermore return.

(Richard Glover.)

Homiletic Magazine.
I. THE DIVINE HAND IN AN APPARENTLY UNTIMELY EVENT. The peculiar reference of the text is some sudden calamity which was to befall Israel. In nothing is the Divine sovereignty more conspicuous than in the untimely removal of useful and excellent characters from the world. The mystery attending it, however, arises more from ignorance and shortsightedness than from any other cause. We can only judge from appearances. With the real nature of the case, and the actual reasons which govern the decisions of the Eternal, we are equally unacquainted. Humanity seems to weep when her favourite sons are removed. Patriotism bears a dejected head when her brightest ornaments are no more. The world trembles when its best pillars bow before the stern hand of time and death — "when the earth is darkened in the clear day." Even religion cannot be unmoved. Religion contemplates, and teaches us to contemplate, this world in its true light, as introductory only to a more finished state of being — as connected with the purposes and plans of heaven. It is succeeded by an emotion of triumph, that in that world in which their splendours are renewed the same voice proclaims, "My sun shall no more go down."

II. THE DIVINE DISPENSATIONS DEMAND PARTICULAR ATTENTION. The very language of the text denotes surprise, and seems intended to awaken attention — "and it shall come to pass." So it is especially when God takes from the world important characters, — He expressly designs to arouse men from their lethargy. Fear should produce seriousness and desire for the true salvation.

(Homiletic Magazine.)

Homilist.
The words are suggestive of early graves, and these abound. The vast majority of the race die in early life, the greater number by far in childhood; the sun goes down just as it appears in the horizon. What do these early graves show?

I. That life is absolutely in the HANDS OF GOD. Who causes the sun to go down whilst it is yet noon? He alone can arrest its majestic progress, and turn it back. So it is with human life. The human creature seems organised to live on for years; but its Maker puts an end to its course at any time He pleases, so that the first breath is often immediately succeeded by the last.

II. That man in all stages of life should hold himself READY TO LEAVE THE WORLD. He should regard himself not as a settler, but as a sojourner; not as a tree, to root itself in the earth, but a bark to float down the stream to sunnier shores.

III. That there MUST BE A FUTURE STATE for the free development of human nature. What a universe of thought and sympathy and effort are crushed in germ every year by death! Potential poets, artists, statesmen, authors, preachers, buried in early graves. Why the creation of these germs — these seeds of majestic forests? Surely the wise and benevolent Author intended their full development; and for that there must be another world.

(Homilist.)

If the text were taken literally it would be very nearly verified in an eclipse. But the words are to be spiritually understood. Here is intended some dispensation of Divine Providence towards mankind, of which the sun's eclipse is a suitable and proper emblem.

1. Such a day is that wherein God makes a sudden and unlooked-for change in a man's circumstances. All may go well with a man, and his heart may be lifted up within him. Then, in great mercy to his soul, God may send him an eclipse. The bright sun of prosperity is suddenly put out.

2. God eclipses a man's sun when He calls him suddenly and prematurely from the world. How many a bright sun is thus extinguished every day!

3. The day on which the Lord maketh a man's sun to "go down at noon" is the day on which He is pleased to strip such a man of his opportunities and means of grace. There is a clear day of blessed opportunity for every penitent, awakened sinner in existence. None shall seek and seek in vain. But will the light shine for ever on those who will not "comprehend it"? And there are eclipse times for sincere believers. "Now, for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." And the Lord Himself sometimes appears to hide from him, and withdraw from him His customary favour, then indeed his sun. is gone — his day is darkened. Seasons like these may well be called the eclipses of believers. But, blessed be God! they are, like eclipses, of short continuance.

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

The Essex Remembrancer.
The darkness of an eclipse may be considered —

I. As AN EXCITEMENT TO GRATITUDE. The present state of knowledge affords abundant reason for gratitude. We axe not ignorant of nature as our distant fathers were. Ignorance is never a simple privation of knowledge; in the absence of correct knowledge there will always be erroneous conclusions; and hence ignorance is always injurious. The regularity of the course of nature claims our gratitude on an occasion like the present. Deviations from the ordinary course are not of frequent occasion, but we are acquainted with their arrival. One reason for such deviations may be, that our sluggish faculties may be awakened to observe the wonderful works of God.

II. THE DARKNESS OF AN ECLIPSE AS A MEMORAL OF PAST FACTS.

1. We are reminded of the creation of the world, when "darkness was upon the face of the deep." How concerned is God for man's comfort! Surely man ought to be concerned for God's glory!

2. Of the darkness with which God has surrounded Himself in His intercourse with man. How superior are the spiritual manifestations of Deity under the Gospel, to the personal manifestations of Deity under the law.

3. Of the plague of darkness which was inflicted on the Egyptians. The bewildering and distressing effects of darkness may be illustrated by a familiar example. It may have happened to us to lose our way in a field at night. Once bewildered, you wander without the least conception whither. So this plague of darkness gives us an impressive view of the value of that light which will be temporalily darkened by the expected eclipse.

4. Of the supernatural darkness at the time of the death of Jesus Christ. This could not have been occasioned by an eclipse, as the Passover was held at the time of the full moon. On this memorable instance we are taught how easily God can reverse the order of nature. The course of nature is but the will and energy of God, who "worketh all in all."

III. THE DARKNESS OF AN ECLIPSE AS A REMINDER OF EVENTS WHICH ARE TO COME.

1. We are reminded of the time when we shall " go whence we shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death." The grave is dark, but we shall not perceive its darkness if we are the disciples of Jesus Christ.

2. We are reminded of the punishment of the wicked. This is spoken of as "the outer darkness." As figurative, this seems rather to heighten our apprehensions of distress than to diminish them.

(The Essex Remembrancer.)

People
Amos, Dan, Ephah, Jacob
Places
Bethel, Egypt, Nile River
Topics
Affirmation, Broad, Cause, Caused, Clear, Dark, Darken, Darkness, Daylight, Declares, Middle, Noon, Pass, Says, Sovereign
Outline
1. By a basket of summer fruit is shown the approach of Israel's end.
4. Oppression is reproved.
11. A famine of the word of God threatened.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Amos 8:9

     1450   signs, kinds of
     4212   astronomy
     4284   sun
     4801   black
     4812   darkness, God's judgment
     4960   noon

Amos 8:4-10

     5541   society, negative

Amos 8:4-14

     8807   profanity

Amos 8:9-10

     5281   crucifixion

Library
Ripe for Gathering
'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
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Thoughts Upon Worldly Riches. Sect. I.
HE that seriously considers the Constitution of the Christian Religion, observing the Excellency of its Doctrines, the Clearness of its Precepts, the Severity of its Threatnings, together with the Faithfulness of its Promises, and the Certainty of its Principles to trust to; such a one may justly be astonished, and admire what should be the reason that they who profess this not only the most excellent, but only true Religion in the World, should notwithstanding be generally as wicked, debauched and
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

Jesus Raises the Widow's Son.
(at Nain in Galilee.) ^C Luke VII. 11-17. ^c 11 And it came to pass soon afterwards [many ancient authorities read on the next day], that he went into a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. [We find that Jesus had been thronged with multitudes pretty continuously since the choosing of his twelve apostles. Nain lies on the northern slope of the mountain, which the Crusaders called Little Hermon, between twenty and twenty-five miles south of Capernaum, and about
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Second Coming of Christ.
^A Matt. XXIV. 29-51; ^B Mark XIII. 24-37; ^C Luke XXI. 25-36. ^b 24 But in those days, ^a immediately after the { ^b that} ^a tribulation of those days. [Since the coming of Christ did not follow close upon the destruction of Jerusalem, the word "immediately" used by Matthew is somewhat puzzling. There are, however, three ways in which it may be explained: 1. That Jesus reckons the time after his own divine, and not after our human, fashion. Viewing the word in this light, the passage at II. Pet.
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Scriptural Predictions of an Apostasy.
Who has not wondered, as they read of the Savior's and the apostles' warnings of "false teachers," grievous wolves, delusive powers, and deceptive lights, what it all could mean? These things certainly are not without meaning. Jesus says, "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

A Serious Persuasive to Such a Method of Spending Our Days as is Represented in the Former Chapter.
1, 2. Christians fix their views too low, and indulge too indolent a disposition, which makes it more necessary to urge such a life as that under consideration.--3. It is therefore enforced, from its being apparently reasonable, considering ourselves as the creatures of God, and as redeemed by the blond of Christ.--4. From its evident tendency to conduce to our comfort in life.--5. From the influence it will have to promote our usefulness to others.--6. From its efficacy to make afflictions lighter.--7.
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

The Evening Light
This chapter is an article written by the author many years after she had received light on the unity of the church. It will acquaint the reader with what is meant by the expression "evening light." "At evening time it shall be light." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:6,7). The expression
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

Second Great Group of Parables.
(Probably in Peræa.) Subdivision D. Parable of the Lost Son. ^C Luke XV. 11-32. ^c 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons [These two sons represent the professedly religious (the elder) and the openly irreligious (the younger). They have special reference to the two parties found in the first two verses of this chapter --the Pharisees, the publicans and sinners]: 12 and the younger of them [the more childish and easily deceived] said to his father, Father, give me the portion of thy substance
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Figurative Language of Scripture.
1. When the psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psa. 84:11), he means that God is to all his creatures the source of life and blessedness, and their almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a shield. When, again, the apostle James says that Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day (Acts 15:21), he signifies the writings of Moses under the figure of his name. In these examples the figure lies in particular words. But it may be embodied
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Concerning Christian Liberty
CHRISTIAN faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do, because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation. While he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write,
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

Concerning Christian Liberty
Christian faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation; while he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write,
Martin Luther—Concerning Christian Liberty

The Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.' Exod 20: 15. AS the holiness of God sets him against uncleanness, in the command Thou shalt not commit adultery;' so the justice of God sets him against rapine and robbery, in the command, Thou shalt not steal.' The thing forbidden in this commandment, is meddling with another man's property. The civil lawyers define furtum, stealth or theft to be the laying hands unjustly on that which is another's;' the invading another's right. I. The causes of theft. [1] The internal causes
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

This Doctrine Confirmed by Proofs from Scripture.
1. Some imagine that God elects or reprobates according to a foreknowledge of merit. Others make it a charge against God that he elects some and passes by others. Both refuted, 1. By invincible arguments; 2. By the testimony of Augustine. 2. Who are elected, when, in whom, to what, for what reason. 3. The reason is the good pleasure of God, which so reigns in election that no works, either past or future, are taken into consideration. This proved by notable declarations of one Savior and passages
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Of the Incapacity of an Unregenerate Person for Relishing the Enjoyments of the Heavenly World.
John iii. 3. John iii. 3. --Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. IN order to demonstrate the necessity of regeneration, of which I would fain convince not only your understandings, but your consciences, I am now proving to you, that without it, it is impossible to enter into the kingdom of God; and how weighty a consideration that is I am afterwards to represent. That it is thus impossible, the words in the text do indeed sufficiently prove: but for the further illustration
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

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