Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 3:5

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

5. Will a bird fall into a net upon the earth, when there is no bait for it? ] The pa must have been a kind of net; not improbably like the bird-traps figured in Wilkinson-Birch, Ancient Egyptians, ed. 1878, ii. 103, consisting of network strained over two semicircular flaps, moving on a common axis: this was laid upon the ground, and when the bait in the middle was touched by a bird, the two flaps, by a mechanical contrivance, flew up and closed, entrapping the bird.

gin ] bait. The msh (lit. a fowling-instrument) is shewn by the present passage to have been something connected with the pa, without which the latter was useless: elsewhere it often denotes metaphorically that which allures a person to destruction (e.g. Exo 23:33; Deu 7:16; 1Sa 18:21): hence it must have been something more definite than gin, and probably corresponded nearly to what we should term the bait.

will a net spring up from the ground without taking ( something)?] The construction of the pa was such that the flaps would not start up from the ground without a bird being there for the net to enclose.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Can a bird fall in a snare – Again, the bird taken in the snare is the image of those drawn down from heaven, where our conversation is Phi 3:20 and the soul may rise free toward its God , drawn up by the Spirit to high and heavenly things. Such souls being allured by the things of earth, are entangled and taken by Satan; as, on the other hand, the soul, escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler Psa 124:7, is a soul, set free by Christ and restored to heaven.

In the last likeness, the prophet comes nearer to the people themselves, and the trumpet is, at once, the well-known token of alarm among people, and of the loud voice of God, wakening them to repentance Isa 58:1; Joe 2:15 and still oftener, warning them of the approach of judgment Isa 18:3; Jer 4:5; Jer 6:1; Eze 33:2-6; Hos 5:8; Hos 8:1; Rev 8:1-13, or summoning man before Him 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16. Rup.: Gods Voice will not always be a still small voice, or whispered only among the Angels, or heard as from the ground. It will be heard terribly in the whole world. Jerome: Whatever is said in Holy Scripture is a trumpet threatening, and with loud voice sinking into the hearts of believers. If we are righteous, we are called by the trumpet of Christ to bliss. If we are sinners, we know that we are to suffer torment.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 5. Can a bird fall in a snare] Can ye, as a sinful people, fall into calamities which I have not appointed?

Shall one take up a snare – and have taken nothing] Will the snare be removed before it has caught the expected prey? – shall I remove my judgments till they are fully accomplished? This is a curious passage, and deserves farther consideration. The original, literally translated, is nearly as follows: “Shall the trap arise from the ground; and catching, shall it not catch?” Here is a plain allusion to such traps as we employ to catch rats, foxes, c. The jaws of the trap opening backward, press strongly upon a spring so as to keep it down and a key passing over one jaw, and hooking on a table in the centre, the trap continues with expanded jaws, till any thing touch the table, when the key, by the motion of the table, being loosened, the spring recovers all its elastic power, and throws up the jaws of the trap, and their serrated edges either close in each other, or on the prey that has moved the table of the trap. Will then the jaws of such a trap suddenly spring up from the ground, on which before they were lying flat, and catch nothing? Shall they let the prey that was within them escape? Certainly not. So my trap is laid for these offenders; and when it springs up, (and they themselves will soon by their transgressions free the key,) shall not the whole family of Israel be inclosed in it? Most certainly they shall. This is a singular and very remarkable passage, and, when properly understood, is beautifully expressive.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A bird; a sparrow properly, one kind put for all sorts.

Fall in a snare: these are taken by nets spread on the earth for that end, and these nets are watched by the fowler, attending till the birds are within the shrape, then he draws the net over them: so here, For your sins, O Israel, God will spread his net, he will as a watchful fowler attend and keep his eye upon you, and cast the net over you.

Shall one take up a snare, and have taken nothing at all? flatter not yourselves as if you should finally escape because you have so long been safe and prosperous; though the fowler doth long wait, he will not take up the snare before all the prey, or some of it at least, be taken in it: so the Lord, against whom you have sinned, and who hath spread his net for you, will certainly let it lie till you are taken in it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. When a bird trying to flyupwards is made to fall upon the earth snare, it is a plain proofthat the snare is there; so, Israel, now that thou art falling, inferthence, that it is in the snare of the divine judgment that thou artentangled [LUDOVICUS DEDIEU].

shall onetake up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothingThebird-catcher does not remove his snare off the ground till he hascaught some prey; so God will not withdraw the Assyrians, c., theinstruments of punishment, until they have had the success againstyou which God gives them. The foe corresponds to the “snare,”suddenly springing from the ground and enclosing the bird onthe latter touching it the Hebrew is literally, “Shallthe snare spring from the earth?” Israel entangled injudgments answers to the bird “taken.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him?…. No, there must be a snare set, or a bird can never be taken in it; and that is done, not by chance, but with the design of the fowler; yea, with the knowledge and will of God himself, Mt 10:29; the design of this is to show, that no judgment or affliction comes upon a people, or they into one, by chance, or without the appointment of God; they are his nets and snares, which he on purpose spreads and sets for persons, to take them in; and unless he did do so, they would not fall into any; see Job 5:6;

shall [one] take up a snare from the earth; the Targum adds, out of its time:

and have taken nothing at all? when men set a snare to catch anything, do they take it up before anything is caught? they do not; they let it stand till something is ensnared in it, and so their end answered, and then they take it up, and not before. And thus when God denounces or brings a judgment, or an affliction, upon a people, does he remove it before the end is answered by it? he does not; if the end is to bring men to a sense of sin, and humiliation for it; or to bring near to God who have been wandering from him; or to try their graces, or take away their sin; when such an end is answered, then, and not till then, is the snare taken up, or the affliction removed; tilt such an end is brought about, the distress is continued, or the threatening of it; and of this Israel is hereby assured.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The third similitude now follows, Will a bird fall on the earth, he says, without a fowler? The Prophet means here that nothing happens without being foreseen by God; for as nets are laid for birds, so God ensnares men by his hidden punishments. Unexpectedly indeed calamity comes, and it is commonly ascribed to chance; but the Prophet here reminds us that God stretches his nets, in which men are caught, though they think that chance rules, and observe not the hand of God. They are deceived, he says; for the bird foresees not the ensnaring prepared for him; but yet he falls not on the earth without the fowler: for nets weave not themselves by chance, but they are made by the industry of the man who catches birds. So also calamities do not happen by chance, but proceed from the secret purpose of God. But we must observe, that similitudes ought not to be too strictly applied to the subject in hand. Were one to asks how God could compare himself here to a fowler, as there is craft and artifice employed in catching innocent birds, when nets are laid for them, it would be a frivolous question; for it is evident enough what the Prophet meant, and that the design of his words was to show, that punishments fall on men, and that they are ensnared through the secret purpose of God; for God has long ago foreseen what he will do, though men act heedlessly, as the birds who foresee nothing.

Then it follows in the fourth place, Will the fowler remove his snare before he has made a capture? In this second clause the Prophet intimates that the threatening of God would not be without effect; for he will execute whatever he declares. It is indeed certain, that fowlers often return home empty, and gather their nets though they have taken nothing; but the Prophet, as I have said, in using these similitudes, only states what fowlers usually do, when they are in hope of some prey. As for instance, when one spreads his nets, he will wait, and will not gather his nets until he takes some prey, if so be that a prey should come; he may indeed wait in vain all night. Then as fowlers are not wearied, and wish not to lose their labor after they have spread their nets, so also the Prophet says that God does not in vain proclaim his threatenings to serve as empty bugbears, but that his nets remain until he has taken his prey; which means, that God will really execute what he has threatened by his Prophets. The meaning then is, that God’s word is not ineffectual, but when God declares any thing, it is sure to be accomplished: and hence he reproves the Israelites for receiving so heedlessly and with deaf ears all God’s threatening, as though he was only trifling with them. “It will not be,” he says, “as you expect; for God will take his prey before he takes up his nets.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) Can a bird.Better, Does the snare rise up from the ground, and take nothing at all? E.V. take up is due to ambiguity of the Hebrew. The idea is that Israel like a silly dove is falling into snares. The snare, even now, may be seen springing from the earth. The armies and politics of the nation that will enclose Israel are already in motion.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Amo 3:5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

Ver. 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth? &c. ] Think you that all things are carried here by blind fortune, and not by a particular providence, as if

“ mundo nullus inesset

Rector, et incerto fluerent mortalia casu? ”

Will you say of the evils you have suffered, in the language of Ashdod, “It is a chance?” 1Sa 6:9 . Is that heathen idol fortune anything in the world, 1Co 10:19 , more than a blasphemy, spued out by the devil against the Divine providence? Can a sparrow fall to the ground, or any the least bird into a snare upon the earth, without your heavenly Father? Mat 10:29 . Birds flying seem to be at liberty, yet are guided by an overruling hand. They fall sometimes into a gin; and do not you thereupon conclude that some fowler’s hand is in it? Lo, you are ensnared and ensnarled by your enemies; and can you not discern that it is the Lord who hath done it? Lam 3:37-38 Act 17:25 ; Act 17:28 Ecc 9:12 , “For man knoweth not his time” (nor his chance, Amo 3:11 ): “as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly” (but providentially) “upon them.”

Or shall one take up a snare from the earth, &c. ] No wise fowler will take up his nets till he have gotten his prey; no more will God withdraw his hand, or call off the enemy and the avenger, till he have his design; till he hath either reformed or ruined you.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)