Behold, days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.
The prophet's fourth vision is a basket of summer fruit: Israel is ripe. The judgment that follows is not sword or plague but silence from God. The verse raises a hard question: what happens to a people when the God they stopped listening to stops speaking?
Amos 8 announces that the end has arrived and that God will not pass by any longer. One commentator names Israel's worst famine and ties it to their sin:
Amos 8 opens with a fourth symbol — a basket of summer fruit, showing how near as well as how sure the end was for Israel... Their worst famine would be one of the word (verses 11, 12): they will feel the lack of what they despised.
This famine is not empty barns or dry wells. God takes away His own speaking, and the search that follows finds nothing:
A great famine is announced. It is not to be a famine for bread, or thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. He is going to take away His Word and the light of His revelation from them completely. Then they would long for the Word of the Lord they had despised, and would look for it in vain. They will wander here and there from sea to sea, from the north to the east. They will run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and will not find it. Such was the case with them when the cruel Assyrian power took hold on them and carried them away.
This famine also has a place in Israel's future. It falls in a time of trouble, before a remnant of the nation is brought into blessing:
Amos speaks of the troubles that will come on Israel before the remnant of them are brought into blessing. He prophesies that there will be a famine of the "words of Jehovah." When judgements are falling on them, they will look for some word from God to guide and comfort them, but will not find it. For a time God will leave them in darkness and confusion.
This famine is not measured by how many copies of Scripture exist. Israel had the text read aloud week by week and still starved:
How many are there who read the Bible as a routine, and get nothing for their souls? Why is this? Are we not told that Moses and the prophets were read in the Jewish synagogue every Sabbath day? They had the Scriptures in their hands and read them at set times. Yet there was such a famine of the word of God that they did not know the One those Scriptures spoke about. They fulfilled those very Scriptures by condemning Him.
The same writer names the cure: "Christ is our Life-sustainer; and many are faint, and in perplexity and uncertainty, because they do not go to Him to be nourished by His truth" (The Christian's Friend).
Amos describes a hunger. One writer sets that hunger beside the crowds who came to hear Jesus:
These sheep of Israel and also other sheep not of that fold were "consumed with hunger in the land." For the Pharisees and scribes were shepherds who worked only for pay, and their days were like the days the prophet Amos wrote about... Is it any wonder, then, that the crowds listened with tireless eagerness to the words of life from Jehovah's diligent Servant? He spoke with authority and love, not as the scribes did, and not as any other man.
Commentators apply the verse forward as well as backward. Gaebelein sees a judgment like this "fast approaching for Christendom, which in its turning away from God rejects the Word of the Lord and turns to fables, till the day comes when the Spirit will leave. As a result there will be a famine of the Word, no comfort and no help for those who are ripe for judgment." Another writer sees the same thing starting now:
How solemnly we see, all around us, the fulfilment of Scripture warnings!... Religious people today are celebrating the decay of faith and the rise of rationalism dressed up as something it is not. One day they will look in vain for the light they once despised and rejected.
- Despised. The famine is not random hardship. It fits the sin: they will miss what they refused to value.
- Withdrawn. God's answer to contempt is not thunder but silence — His Word and the light of His revelation taken away.
- Searched. They wander from sea to sea, looking for guidance while judgment falls. God leaves them in darkness and confusion.
- Owned. Bibles on the shelf do not end a famine. The synagogue read Moses week by week and still did not recognise the One the Scriptures spoke about.
- Fed. The crowds hung on Christ's words. Many stay faint only because they do not go to Him to be fed by His truth.
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.
Amos has just seen a basket of summer fruit, a sign that Israel's end had come. The famine God announces is not one of bread but of His words, and people will cross the map hunting for them in vain.
One writer links the sign that opens this chapter with the famine that follows.
Amos 8 opens with a fourth symbol — a basket of summer fruit, showing how near as well as how certain the end was for Israel... Their worst famine would be one of the word (verses 11, 12): they will feel the want of what they despised.
The punishment matches the sin. Israel had heard the word and thought little of it. Now God takes it away, and they learn its worth by its loss.
The search in this verse is not idle curiosity. It starts once judgment has already fallen.
In speaking of the troubles that will come on Israel before God brings the remnant of them into blessing, Amos prophesies that there will be a famine of the "words of Jehovah." When judgments are falling on them, they will seek some word from God for guidance and comfort, but will not find it. God will leave them in darkness and confusion for a time.
Another writer summarises the same chapter as the announcement of a people cut off from direction:
The prophet also announces the distress the people would come into from being deprived of all guidance from Jehovah.
One commentator reads the wandering of this verse as God taking back His own light, and names when it happened:
His Word and the light of His revelation is to be completely withdrawn from them. The Word of the Lord which they despised they would then long to seek in vain. They will wander here and there from sea to sea, from the north to the east; they will run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and will not find it. That was their case when the cruel Assyrian power took hold of them and carried them away.
A famine of the word is not the same as having no Bibles. One writer points to people who had the Scriptures read aloud every week and still starved:
Some believers may be ready to say, "If we are deprived of all the Lord's gifts, we still have the Bible." True... But there is another side to this. How many read the Bible as a routine and get nothing for their souls? Are we not told that they read Moses and the prophets in the Jewish synagogue every Sabbath day? They had the Scriptures in their hands and read them at set times. Yet there was such a famine of the word of God that they did not know the One those Scriptures spoke of. They even fulfilled those Scriptures by condemning Him.
The same writer warns that no amount of activity can replace the missing food:
All the efforts and devices put into action, and all supposed improvements in organisation, must completely fail to supply what only personal enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ can give.
Commentators apply the threat past Israel to anyone who discards God's truth. Gaebelein sees the same judgment approaching now:
Such a judgment is fast approaching for the Christian world too. Having turned away from God, it rejects the Word of the Lord and turns to fables. This goes on until the day comes when the Spirit will leave. The result will be a famine of the Word — no comfort and no help for those who are ripe for judgment.
Another writer sees the same pattern at work now:
In what a solemn way we see all around us the fulfilment of Scripture warnings!... Religious people today celebrate the decay of faith and the advance of rationalism under false colours. One day they will seek in vain the light they once despised and rejected.
The famine is not the end of the story. One writer follows it through to God's answer:
This is the suffering of the "foolish nation." Filled with Jehovah's indignation, they find a snare in what should have fed them. They waste away under a famine more severe than a famine of bread (Amos 8:11-13). Then, in answer to their cry of sorrow, God sends them the word of saving health from above.
- Despised. They had God's word and thought it worthless. The famine answers that sin.
- Withdrawn. God does not argue. He stops speaking, so no guidance and no comfort reach them when judgment falls.
- Wanted. The famine teaches the value of the word. Now they hunt for what they once brushed aside.
- Wandering. Sea to sea and north to east is frantic effort in the wrong direction. Travel cannot recover a word God has withheld.
- Warned. Owning a Bible is no protection. Israel read the Scriptures every week and still condemned the One they spoke of. The same warning stands for anyone who trades God's truth for fables — yet when the hungry cry to God, He sends His saving word from above.