The following two passages (vv. 7-10 and 11-14) describe more fully the two results of God's judgment mentioned earlier, namely, wailing and silence (cf. v. 3).
8:7 For the third time in this book Amos said that Yahweh took an oath (cf. 4:2; 6:8). This time He swore by the pride of Jacob. This may be a reference to Samaria (cf. 6:8), but it is probably a reference to God Himself (cf. 1 Sam. 15:29).73He vowed never to forget any of the sinful Israelites' unrighteous deeds.
8:8 Because of the sins just described the land would quake from the approach of the Lord and the large enemy army that He would lead against Israel. Perhaps a literal earthquake did occur, but probably trembling with fear is in view (cf. 2 Sam. 7:10). All the inhabitants would mourn over the coming destruction. The waves of terror and destruction would be like the rising and falling of the Nile River.
"Since the rise and fall of the Nile usually extended over a few months, some national upheaval lasting a considerable period of time is implied by the analogy. Sometimes the flooding of the Nile was highly destructive. Amos may have been comparing the destructiveness of social injustice, civil strife, economic exploitation, and religious shallowness in Israel to the destruction caused by the inundation of the Nile. The flooding of the Nile occurred repeatedly, as did the social, civil, economic, and religious problems of society."74
8:9 On the day of judgment sovereign Yahweh would send darkness over the land. This may refer to an eclipse of the sun, or it may be a figurative description of the coming judgment as an unnaturally bad day. I prefer the metaphorical interpretation since this whole chapter contains many metaphors. The figure of the sun going down at noon was particularly appropriate since Jeroboam's reign was the zenith of Israel's prosperity, power, and glory.
8:10 Then Yahweh would turn their festivals into funerals and their melodious singing into mourning. The people would wear sackcloth and shave their heads as signs of their grief. Mourning would come because judgment had come. It would be as sad a time as the death of an only son. The death of an only son meant the extinguishing of hope for the future and the losing of provision for one's old age. The end of that day would be bitter indeed.
