In verse 1, Amos experienced a vision - a basket of summer fruit - a metaphor for abundance. Fruit is commonly interpreted as a thing coming to completion. Since the fruit was shown by the Lord in a vision, it stands for an abundance of spiritual things coming to fruition, or coming into existence.

When in verse 2, the Lord asks Amos what he has seen, it indicates the depth and importance of the vision of spiritual prosperity. The exact opposite of this spiritual abundance is shown by Jehovah saying, “The end is coming upon my people.... I will not again pass by them any more.”

If it was just a warning, it would mean the end might happen. Here, since Jehovah is stating it as a fact, it shows that the old way of seeing the Lord’s truth among the people (the Church) is actually ending.

Verse 3 is self-explanatory: “And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day . . . the dead bodies shall be many . . . .” Throwing the dead bodies out in silence shows the grim nature of the thing being done.

Verse 4 depicts the ruining, or making impure, of good and truth by those who “swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail.” The extent of this devastation can be seen by the inner meaning of the word “poor” as “those who do not have the knowledges of good and truth but still long for them” (Secrets of Heaven 10227:19).

The “new moon” in verse 5 means “serving the Lord with gladness (Secrets of Heaven 7093:5), and asking “When will the New Moon be past?” shows they are finding no joy in serving the Lord. (See Hosea 2:11)

Wanting the “sabbath” gone means essentially the same thing. “That we may sell grain... and set forth wheat,” shows the love of intelligence and wisdom coming from themselves, since these grains need the hand of man to grow them. The “Ephah and shekel” are a measurement and a means of paying, “and dealing falsely with balances of deceit,” shows the intention to deceive people, inserting seeming truths devised by humans in place of truth given by God.

In verse 6, “That we may buy the poor for silver,” the poor symbolize those who long for truths and might fall for any shiny thing. Then, in the phrase “And the needy for a pair of shoes,” the needy represent people who lack good (Apocalypse Revealed 95).

In context, “silver” and “shoes” show the desire to mislead by money and by comfortable natural things, where “shoes” mean things that are corporeal or that have to do with our bodies (Secrets of Heaven 3761).

“Even sell the bad wheat?” Instead of dealing falsely and with deceit as in the previous chapter, here the meaning is the desire to give bad food to people who long for truth, and that shows how uncaring the evil are because the bad food will cause spiritual sickness.

In verse 7 the Lord swears by the excellency of Jacob. Since excellency can only be attributed to the Lord, and this chapter is dealing with the poor being misguided, what the Lord has sworn to, or is dedicated to, must be truths or knowledges that teach about Himself. The Lord “not forgetting any of their works,” shows that He always knows the things the evil are doing wrong.

In verse 8 the effect evil has is seen by making “the land tremble,” badly enough to make the people “mourn.” In the next verse the treacherous deeds of the people are shown as rising up, being troubled, and sinking again, comparing it to the annual flood of “the River of Egypt” or the Nile. Instead of the effect of bringing life-giving silt, the rise and sinking of treachery and deceit is said to be troubled.

Causing “the sun to go down at noon” just when it should be at its height gives an image of the polar opposite of what it should be (verse 9). To “Darken the earth in the clear day,” is another image of things being troubled and the opposite of the true spiritual state, the state where light abounds and good and evil are seen in clarity.

“Your feasts into mourning”, “songs into lamentation”, “sackcloth” instead of clothing, and “baldness” in place of hair, is a list that shows how evil continues to build up as a time of judgement draws nearer.

“Mourning as for an only son,” is a state of internal grief, grief that is inconsolable. Those who previously could “buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes,” (see verse 6) are “being reduced from a state of opulence to want and misery” (Apocalypse Revealed 765.)

Verse 11 is a place where the inner meaning comes through clearly in the literal text. Jehovah will send “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.” Jehovah says in a very clear way that natural food and water are not meant, but hearing His words. The lack of hearing and obeying truths from Jehovah, or the Lord, if not reversed, moves toward the death of the spirit because, as the end draws near, the evil will suffer more and more.

To “wander from sea to sea” and “run to and fro” in verse 12 give a picture of the frantic unrestful nature of the evil who can find no true peace because they have spurned the Sabbath (see verse 5). Unable to find the “word of Jehovah,” they live in this state of unpeacefulness. It’s not that they can’t see the Word of Jehovah, but that they can’t find any meaning in it (see previous verse.)

“Fair virgins” and “young men” that “faint for thirst” in verse 13 show that no new growth in anything spiritual is possible because it faints and dies from lack of truth, “thirst” being “to perish from want of truths” (Apocalypse Revealed 956).

Verse 14 shows that the final end has come. The “Sin of Samaria” means people who worshipped the Syrian goddess, Ashima; therefore, those who worship false gods.

“Beersheba” and “Dan” were boundaries or ways to enter the land of Canaan, but here they mean exiting from it, rejecting the truths of faith that lead to heaven (Secrets of Heaven 3923:10).

“They shall fall, and never rise up again,” shows the complete end of any good and truth with the person, or of the Church.

Churches die. The people in them start out being willing to receive true ideas from the Lord, and to put them into practice. But as time goes by, and people stop listening, and start to worship false gods, or their own intelligence, the churches wither.

In Amos 8, the Israelitish church is dying. Its end is stated by Jehovah. But, look back at the beginning of the chapter, to the basket of summer fruit. The Lord can take whatever remains of good and truth in a people, and start a new church. The repeated promise in the Biblical prophets is the promise of the Messiah, the Christ... who would found this new church.

The same thing happens in each of us. Our false gods can kill our spiritual lives. But, there is a remnant -- the embers of good and truth -- and if we turn to the Lord, a new life can be kindled in us. And it can be fruitful.

9212. 'If you ever take your companion's clothing as a pledge' means if factual knowledge of truths is dispersed by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking as a pledge' as receiving a token for goods that are supplied, for 'a pledge' is a token for goods that are being lent. When spiritual things are understood instead of these, supplying goods means giving instruction in truths, and the token or pledge in this instance means truth on the level of the senses. For 'the clothing' here which is given as a pledge means the lowest level of the natural, which is that of the senses. Since illusions abound on this level and illusions wipe out truths, 'taking your companion's clothing as a pledge' means the dispersing of truths by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. The fact that these things are meant is clear from the whole train of thought in the internal sense.

[2] In general 'clothing' means everything that clothes another, and so whatever is relatively more external. Consequently the external or natural man is called the clothing in relation to the internal or spiritual man. In a similar way truth is called the clothing in relation to good, because truth clothes good; likewise factual knowledge of truth in relation to the truth of faith which belongs to the internal man. Sensory perception, which constitutes the lowest level of life with a person, is the clothing in relation to factual knowledge of truth.

'Clothes' are lower things that cover higher ones, or what amounts to the same thing, exterior things that cover interior ones, see 2576, 5248. In general they are truths, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 9093, factual knowledge of truths, 6918, or truths on the level of the senses, 9158. Sensory perception constitutes the lowest level of life with a person, 4009, 5077, 5125, 5128, 5767, 5774, 6201, 6313, 7442, 7693, and sensory perception is subject to illusions, 5084, 5089, 6201, 6948, 6949, 7442.

[3] The meaning of 'clothes' as truths owes its origin to representatives in the next life. There angels and spirits appear dressed in clothes in keeping with the state of faith or truth that is theirs, and their clothes are varied in keeping with the changes which that state undergoes. Those governed by authentic truth appear dressed in white garments, and those governed by truths springing from good in shining ones. But those governed purely by good, as angels of the inmost heaven are, called celestial angels, appear naked. So it is then that clothes are truths, and that truths are meant in the Word by 'clothes', as may be seen from places referred to above. To these places let the following in the Gospels be added:

[4] In Matthew,

When Jesus was transfigured His face shone like the sun, and His garments became [white] as the light. Matthew 17:2.

'Face' in the Word means the interiors, in particular the affections, 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796, 4797, 5102, 5695, 6604, 6848, 6849, and 'God's face' Goodness itself, 222, 223, 5585. 'The sun' means God's love, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 4696, 7083, 8644. From this it is evident what the meaning is when it says that the Lord's face shone like the Sun, namely that His interiors were the Good of Divine Love. 'His garments became [white] as the light' means Divine Truth radiating from Him, which also appears in heaven as the light, 1521, 1619-1632, 3195, 3222, 3485, 3636, 3643, 4415, 5400, 8644.

[5] In the same gospel,

When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem they brought the she-ass and the colt and laid their garments on them and set Him on them. But a very great crowd spread their garments on the road, while others were breaking off branches from trees and spreading them on the road. Matthew 21:1, 7-8.

Riding on a she-ass and her colt was a representative sign of the Supreme Judge and King, see 2781, as also is evident from what comes before in verse 5,

Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, meek, seated on a she-ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

It is also evident in Mark 11:1-12; in Luke 19:28-41; in John 12:12-16; and in Zechariah 9:9-10, where it says of the Lord that He would ride on an ass, and on a young ass, a son of she-asses. There He is called a King, and in addition it says that His dominion will be from sea even to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the earth. The fact that the supreme judge rode on a she-ass, and his sons on young asses, see Judges 5:9-10; 10:3-4; 12:14; and that the king rode on a she-mule, and the king's sons on mules, 1 Kings 1:33, 38, 44-45; 2 Samuel 13:29.

[6] When the disciples laid their garments on the she-ass and her colt, it represented the recognition that truths in their entirety were the foundation on which the Lord as supreme Judge and King rested; for the disciples represented the Lord's Church in respect of truths and forms of good, see 2129, 3488, 3858 (end), 6397, and their garments truths themselves, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 9093. This same recognition was likewise represented when the crowd spread their garments, also the branches of trees, on the road. Another reason why they spread them on the road was that 'the road' means the truth by means of which a member of the Church is led, see 627, 2333, 3477. And the reason why they also spread the branches of trees was that 'trees' meant perceptions and also cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, 2682, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7692, so that their branches are the truths themselves. Those actions were also performed then because it was customary for the chief persons among the people to lay their garments on supreme judges and kings' she-asses and mules when they rode in pomp on them, and for the people themselves to spread their garments on the road, or the branches of trees instead. For in heaven judgeship consists in Divine Truth derived from Good, and kingship in Divine Truth, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

[7] In Luke,

No one adds a piece of a new garment onto an old garment; in doing so he splits the new, and the binding from the new is unsuitable for the old.

Luke 5:36.

The Lord used this comparison to describe the truth of the new Church and the truth of the old Church; for 'garment' means truth. Sewing on one or binding it to the other means destroying both; for the truth of the new Church is interior truth, thus truth for the internal man, whereas the truth of the old Church is exterior truth, thus truth for the external man. The latter kind of truth prevailed in the Jewish Church, for by means of external things this Church represented internal ones, whereas the Church of today has knowledge of the internal truths that were represented then, because the Lord has revealed them. The fact that these truths are not suited to external ones in such a way that they can exist together is what the words used by the Lord serve to mean. From all this also it is evident that 'garment' means the Church's truth.

[8] In John,

Jesus said to Peter, Truly, truly I say to you, When you were a boy you girded your loins and walked where you wished. But when you are old you will stretch out your hands, [and] another will gird your loins and lead you where you do not wish. John 21:18.

No one without knowledge of the internal sense can see what these words imply; plainly, they contain arcana. In the internal sense 'Peter' means the Church's faith, see the Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, and 3750, 6000, 6073 (end), 6344 (end). Consequently Peter when he was a boy means the nature of the Church's faith as it is initially, and Peter when he would be old means the nature of the Church's faith as it is finally. From this it is evident what 'when you were a boy you girded your loins and walked where you wished' means, namely that the Church's faith as it is initially is faith composed of truth derived from good, thus faith composed of charity towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. And at this time a member of the Church in doing what is good acts freely, because his actions spring from the Lord. For aspects of the good of love are meant by 'the loins', 3021, 3294, 4280, 4575, 5050-5062, so that 'girding the loins' means clothing good with truths; and living is meant by 'walking', 519, 1794, 8417, 8420, so that 'walking where one wishes' means leading a life that is free. Those people lead a life that is free, or act freely, whose faith springs from love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour; for they are led by the Lord, 892, 905, 2870-2893, 6325, 9096. 'When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird your loins and lead you where you do not wish' means that the Church's faith as it is finally will be none at all, at which time falsities that arise from evil springing from self-love and love of the world will take the place of faith and enslave it. This is the arcanum which these words spoken by Lord contain and which can be seen only from their internal sense. All this shows once again the kind of way in which the Lord spoke, namely in such a way that an inner meaning might be present within every detail, to the end that heaven might be joined to the world by means of the Word. For without the Word, that is, without Divine Truth that has been revealed, they are not joined together; and if they are not so joined the human race perishes.