עמוס, פרק ח׳, פסוק י׳

A sudden, sharp shift from joy to utter despair stands at the center of God's planned destruction. The festive times and holidays that once brought happiness are destined to become moments of deep tragedy, felt both in the heart and shown through physical acts of grief.

The happiness of the holidays and joyful songs will be completely replaced by sadness and cries of grief [מצודת דוד]. This deep sorrow is understood by some as a hint to the heavy national tragedy of King Josiah's death, an event that caused all of Judah and Jerusalem to mourn and sing songs of grief for him [רש״י]. Looking closer at the nature of this sadness, there is a distinction based on time. The act of mourning reflects ongoing pain over present or future troubles, while the songs of grief are specifically sung for what has already been lost in the past [מלבי״ם].

The overwhelming pain will also take a physical toll. God will bring about a disaster so great that everyone will adopt the customs of mourners. People will wear rough sackcloth [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ] and tear the hair from their heads as a sign of their intense sadness [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Just as the emotional grief is divided by time, so too are these physical acts. Wearing sackcloth is a way to pray and fast over the troubles of the present and future, while tearing out hair is an expression of grief over what is already gone [מלבי״ם].

This destruction will fall upon the entire land and the whole nation, plunging the people into an unbearable state of sadness [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, אבן עזרא]. The depth of this pain is compared to a father mourning the death of his only son [רש״י]. The intensity of this specific grief comes from the fact that the father has no other children left to bring him comfort [מלבי״ם]. The final, bitter outcome of this tragedy is understood by some simply as a way to emphasize how naturally bitter the day of losing an only child truly is [רד״ק, מצודת דוד]. Others view it as an extreme, unprecedented situation [אבן עזרא]. It represents the very day of death [ביאור שטיינזלץ], a moment when all hope is completely lost. Normally, a person who loses a child might still find a small measure of comfort in the fact that he himself is still alive. However, in this final, bitter reality, even that basic comfort will completely disappear [מלבי״ם].