Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 4:7

And also I have withheld the rain from you, when [there were] yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

7 8. Drought.

And I also have withholden the winter-rain from you, when there were &c.]. The Heb. is not mr, but gshem, i.e. a burst of rain: the heavy rains of winter, which continue as a rule from the end of October to the end of February and are then followed by the ‘latter rain,’ or showers of March and April, which refresh and advance the ripening ears (see on Joe 2:23), had ceased prematurely; the crops were consequently deficient in fulness and strength, and the harvest (which comes in May) was seriously damaged. Something of the same sort happened in the winter of 1895; there had been hardly any rain since the Christmas of 1894, and in a report, dated Feb. 16, it was stated that unless rain fell shortly there would be great deficiency of water, as no houses had their cisterns full (G. A. Smith, p. 161). Gshem, though a general term for an abundant rain (as 1Ki 17:14 ; 1Ki 18:41; 1Ki 18:44-45), is used specially of the heavy rains of winter in Son 2:11; comp. Lev 26:4, Eze 34:26, Joe 2:23 (see note).

I caused it to rain &c.] would cause it to rain would be rained upon would wither. The tenses, both here and to the end of the verse, are frequentative, indicating what had happened repeatedly.

piece ] i.e. plot of land, or portion belonging to a particular proprietor (Rth 2:3; Rth 4:3; 2Sa 14:30). The same partial character of the rain-fall is still sometimes observable in Palestine.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And I, I too have withholden the rain – Jerome, dwelling in Palestine, says, that this rain, when three months yet remained until harvest, was the latter rain, of the very greatest necessity for the fields of Palestine and the thirsty ground, lest, when the blade is swelling into the crop, and gendering the wheat, it should dry up through lack of moisture. The time intended is the spring, at the end of April, whence, to the wheat-harvest, there remain three months, May, June, July. God withheld the rain that they might endure, not only lack of bread, but burning thirst and penury of drink also. For in these places, where we now live, all the water, except small fountains, is of cisterns; and if the wrath of God should withhold the rain, there is greater peril of thirst than of hunger, such its Scripture relates to have endured for three years and six months in the days of the prophet Elijah. And lest they should think that this had befallen their cities and people, by a law of nature, or the influence of the stars, or the variety of the seasons, He says, that He rained upon one city and its fields, and from another withheld the rain.

This was a second visitation of God. First, a general famine, in all their cities; secondly, a discriminating visitation. Nature possesses no discrimination or power over her supplies. Seeming waste is one of the mysteries of God in nature, to cause it to rain on the earth Job 38:26 where no man is; on the wilderness wherein there, is no man. Ordinarily too, God maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Mat 5:45. But God does not enslave Himself, (as people would have it) to His own laws. Amos appeals to them, that God had dealt with them, not according to His ordinary laws; that not only God had given to one city the rain which he had withheld from another, but that He had made the same difference as to smaller pieces of ground, the inherited portions of individuals . Some such variations have been observed in Palestine now. But this would have been no indication of Gods Providence, had not the consciences of people responded to the prophets appeal, and recognized that the rain had been given or withheld according to the penitence or impenitence, the deeper or more mitigated idolatry, the greater or less sinfulness of the people. We have. then, in these few words a law of Gods dealing with Israel. God, in His word, reveals to us the meaning of His daily variations in the workings of nature; yet, hardly even in such instances, as people can scarcely elude, do they think of God the Creator, rather than of nature, His creation.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. When there were yet three months to the harvest] St. Jerome says, from the end of April, when the latter rain falls, until harvest, there are three months, May, June, and July, in which no rain falls in Judea. The rain, therefore, that God had withheld from them, was that which was usual in the spring months, particularly in April.

I caused it to rain upon one city] To prove to them that this rain did not come fortuitously or of necessity, God was pleased to make these most evident distinctions. One city had rain, and could fill all its tanks or cisterns, while a neighbouring city had none. One farm or field was well watered, and abundant in its crops, while one contiguous to it had not a shower. In these instances a particular providence was most evident. “And yet, they did not return to the Lord.”

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

I also have withholden the rain from you; your vanities could not, and because ye did so greatly sin against me I would not, give you rain; I forbade the clouds from above, and they, thus prohibited, did withhold their rain, as I threatened, Deu 28:23,24.

When there were yet three months to the harvest; at a season when your country most usually had, and as then it ever did most need, rain: see Joe 2:23. Three months drought then, as it was unusual in the course of nature, so it was an extraordinary curse and punishment on them. That you might see my hand in it and be instructed, I gave rain to one city, and withheld rain from the next neighbour city; nay, one part of a field, the same field, was watered and flourished, another part dry and withered. All this to convince and turn you.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. withholden . . . rain . . . threemonths to . . . harvestthe time when rain was most needed, andwhen usually “the latter rain” fell, namely, in spring, thelatter half of February, and the whole of March and April (Hos 6:3;Joe 2:23). The drought meant isthat mentioned in 1Ki 17:1[GROTIUS].

rain upon one city . . . not. . . upon anotherAny rain that fell was only partial.

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

And also I have withholden the rain from you,…. As he did for the space of three years successively in the days of Ahab, as predicted by Elijah, 1Ki 17:1; the consequences of which are very bad to men and beast, and bring on a scarcity of food for both, and a famine if long withheld:

when [there were] yet three months to the harvest; that is, three months before the harvest, as Jarchi; when, as Kimchi observes, there was need of rain: this was the latter rain which was usually given and expected about this time, and on which the goodness of the crop, and so of the harvest, greatly depended; these three months before barley harvest were December, January, and February, that being in March; and before the wheat harvest, February, March, and April, that being in May usually:

and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; so that it might appear to be not by the course of nature, or through the influence of the planets, or by chance; but was according to the direction of divine Providence, the hand of God was manifestly in it: yea,

one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered; one piece of ground or field had a plentiful shower on it, whereby it became fruitful; and another field or close on the other side of the hedge or partition had none, whereby what did spring up withered away and came to nothing: or “one inheritance” u, or farm, as some render it; one man’s estate was well watered with rain from heaven, and brought forth much fruit; and another man’s estate, for want of it, was barren, and brought forth nothing: thus God was pleased to do in his providence, to show his sovereignty, and to chastise men for their sins; and in such a manner as that they might, if not blind easily perceive his hand in it.

u “fundus”, Mercerus, Vatablus; “hereditas”, Targum.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have said that another kind of punishment is here recorded by the Prophet; it is not, however, wholly different: for whence comes the want we have noticed, except through drought? For when God intends to deprive men of support, he shuts up heaven and makes it iron, so that it hears not the earth, according to what we have noticed elsewhere. Yet these words of the Prophet are not superfluous; for God would have the punishment he inflicts on men to be more attentively considered. When men are reduced to want, they will indeed acknowledge it to be the curse of God, except they be very stupid; but when a drought precedes, when the earth disappoints its cultivators, and then a want of food follows, more time is given to men to think of God’s displeasure. This is the reason why the Prophet now distinctly speaks of rain being withheld, after having said that the people had been before visited with a deficiency of provisions; as though he said “Ye ought to have returned, at least after a long course of time, to a sound mind. If God had been offended with you only for one day, and had given tokens of his displeasure, the shortness of time might have been some excuse for you: but as the earth had become dry; as God had restrained rain, and as hence sterility followed, and afterwards there came want, how great was your stupidity not to attend to so many and so successive tokens of God’s wrath?” We now perceive why the Prophet here connects drought with want of food, the cause with the effect: it was, that the stupidity of the people might hence be more evident.

But he says that God had withheld rain from them, when three months still remained to the harvest. When it rains not for a whole month, the earth becomes dry, and men become anxious, for it is an ill omen: but when two months pass without rain, men begin to be filled with apprehension and even dread; but if continual dryness lasts to the end of the third month, it is a sign of some great evil. The Prophet, then, here shows that the Israelites had not been in an ordinary way chastised, and that they were very stupid, as they did not, during the whole three months, apply their minds to consider their sins, though God urged them, and though his wrath had been manifested for so long a time. We now then see that the hardness of the people is amplified by the consideration of time, inasmuch as they were not awakened by a sign so portentous, When there were yet three months, he says, to the harvests I withheld rain from you.

Another circumstance follows, “God rained on one city, on another he did not rain; one part was watered, and no drop of rain fell on another This difference could not be ascribed to chance: except men resolved to be willfully mad, and to reject all reason, they must surely have been constrained to confess these to have been manifest signs of God’s wrath. How came it, that one place was rained upon, and another remained dry? that two neighboring cities were treated so differently? Whence was this, except that God appeared angry from heaven? The Prophet then does here again condemn the obstinacy of the people: they did not see in this difference the wrath of God, which was yet so very conspicuous. The import of the whole is, that God shows that he had to do with a people past recovery; for they were refractory and obstinate in their wickedness, and could bear the application of no remedy. It follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(7, 8) Three months to the harvest.The withdrawal of rain at this period (February and March) is at the present day most calamitous to the crops in Palestine.

Caused it to rain . . .The tenses should be regarded as expressing repetition of the act, and might be, with advantage, rendered as present cause it to rain . . . is rained upon, &c. The inhabitants of the most suffering districts wander, distracted and weary, to a more favoured city, and find no sufficiency. Comp. the graphic description in Jer. 14:1-6. Moreover, the specialties of affliction, in particular localities. reveal the purpose of God rather than the operation of universal laws.

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

7, 8. Drought.

The rain Hebrews geshem (see on Joe 2:23), here rain in general.

When there were yet three months to the harvest Since the harvest is in April and May, the drought must have set in during January or February. A drought at that time would be disastrous, and might completely destroy the prospects of harvest. A similar phenomenon occurred in Palestine in the winter of 1894-95. “After raining several times quite heavily in December, especially on the coast, the weather has been since before Christmas pleasant and mild, and if no more rain falls there will be great suffering, for up till now (February 16) no one has filled his cisterns.”

Caused it to rain The tenses in Amo 4:7-8 are frequentatives. Jehovah did the things mentioned again and again. To the ancients the phenomenon of a partial drought would be an even stronger proof of the presence of the supernatural than a universal withholding of rain. Partial rainfall such as is described here has been experienced in Palestine in more modern times. “There has been a smart shower here (Tiberias), while at Samakh the ground was baked hard, and the grain drooping sadly. The same was true on a former occasion when I came up the Jordan valley. The ground in the Ghor was like a parched desert. There had not been sufficient rain to bring up the grain, while here at Tiberias the whole country was a paradise of herbs and flowers.” And again, “It was literally so about Samakh and ‘Abadiyeh, while their nearest neighbors were rejoicing in abundant showers” (Thomson, ii, p. 66).

Piece Field (Rth 2:3; Rth 4:3).

Two or three cities That had suffered from the drought. For the ascending enumeration see on Amo 1:3.

Wandered Literally, tottered, or, staggered. The people were so weak from thirst that they could not walk with a firm step.

One city One favored with rain. With reference to this passage Thomson says (on the same page): “A fact often repeated in this country. No longer ago than last autumn it had its exemplification complete in Belad Besharah, the ancient inheritance of Naphtali.” Since there are few springs throughout Palestine, people are dependent largely upon rain water stored in cisterns; when the rainfall is irregular the water supply soon becomes exhausted.

They were not satisfied The water was not sufficient to supply the needs of all. This judgment also was in vain.

9a. Blasting and mildew. 9b. Locusts.

You Your fields and crops.

Blasting and mildew The two words are frequently joined (Deu 28:22; 1Ki 8:37; Hag 2:17). The former, from a verb to burn, describes the disastrous effects of the scorching east wind or Sirocco (see on Hos 12:1); the latter, literally, greenness, is “a blight in which the ears turn untimely a pale yellow, and have no grain.”

One word in the Hebrew makes the rest of Amo 4:9 awkward. With a very slight change, favored by most modern commentators, it may be translated, “I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; and your fig trees and your olive trees hath the palmerworm devoured.”

I laid waste By some blow not specified by the prophet.

Fig trees See on Joe 1:7.

Olive trees See on Hos 14:6; Joe 1:10.

Palmer-worm See on Joe 1:4, where reference is made to the frequency with which locusts visit Palestine.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Amo 4:7-8. And also I have withholden the rain These verses apparently refer to the withholding of those rains which filled their reservoirs of water for drinking; and our translators should have used the term dried up, as they did in translating the same word, Job 14:11 instead of withered. It is not to be supposed that their wheat harvest was delayed to the close of July. At present at Aleppo, barley harvest commences about the beginning of May, and the wheat harvest, as well as that, is generally over by the 20th. In Barbary it comes on at the latter end of May, or the beginning of June, according to the quality of the preceding seasons. Agreeably to this, Raimond de Agiles gives us to understand, that a great part of their harvest at Ramula was gathered in before the sixth of June in 1099, where he and the Christian army, having passed through Ramula in their way to Jerusalem, found most of the harvest ended.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Amo 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when [there were] yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

Ver. 7. And also I have withholden the rain from you, &c. ] And so have punished you with thirst and drought, as well as with dearth and famine: and because I have found you wells without the water of piety, 2Pe 2:17 , therefore I have refused to rain upon you, as I threatened, Deu 28:23-24 .

“ En quia iam vobis sunt ferrea pectora, reddit

Coelum etiam vobis durius aere, Deus. ”

When there were yet three months, &c. ] When you could worst of all want it See Trapp on “ Joe 2:23 “ for the watering of the seed and opening of the earth.

And I caused it to rain upon one city ] It rains not then by haphazard; neither are the seasons of the year (whether barren or fruitful) ruled by the course of nature or influence of the stars, but by God, Act 14:17 . It is he that giveth rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons. He covereth the heaven with clouds, he prepareth rain for the earth, he maketh grass to grow upon the mountains, and standing corn in the fields, Psa 147:8 . He weighs these waters by measure; so that not a drop falls in vain, or in a wrong place, but by Divine decree, Job 28:26 , for the fattening of the earth, allaying the heat, nourishing the herb and tree, Deu 32:2 Isa 63:14 , producing unto us “the appointed weeks of harvest,” Jer 5:24 , “that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,” Isa 55:10 . This the poor Pagans ascribed to their god Jupiter, whom they therefore styled N . Him they confessed the greatest of all, calling him , the overseer of their trading; hence , the keeper of their houses, hence Jupiter Herceus, from , a wall, or hedge. This they did, to the great shame of many atheists among us, who hold that all things come either by benign nature or blind chance.

One piece ] sc. Of the same field, was rained upon, and fructified (this was near to a miracle; as when Gideon’s fleece was wet and no place else; and again, every place else, and not Gideon’s fleece, Jdg 6:37 ).

And the piece whereupon it rained not ] It, that is, the cloud, but by God’s appointment; for he it is that filleth those bottles of the sky, and emptieth them again, where and when he pleaseth, either in mercy, as Joe 2:23 Zec 10:1 Lev 26:4 , or for a judgment, as Joe 1:17 Gen 17:11-12 1Sa 12:18-19 . In the year of grace 1551 a great multitude of men and cattle in Germany were drowned and destroyed; decidentibus subito nubibus, ac effusis certatim aquis, saith Bartholinus; by excessive showers and immoderate waters, pouring down upon people as by spouts. This was the very finger of God, who will one day rain upon the wicked snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, Psa 11:6 , Heb. a burning tempest; like as now out of those very clouds where hence he raineth, he doth again scatter sudden fires unto all parts of the earth, astonishing the world with the fearful noise of that eruption.

Withered ] It must needs do so; and so must God’s own vineyard, the Church, when he shall command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, Isa 5:6 , that is, his ministers, that they drop no doctrine upon it, Deu 32:2 Eze 21:2 Amo 7:16 , fitly resembled to rain in regard, 1. of cooling heat; 2. quenching thirst; 3. cleansing the air; 4. allaying the winds; 5. mollifying and mellowing the parched and heat hardened earth; 6. causing all things to grow and fructify. This rain of righteousness goes sometimes by coasts, as here: God tying up the tongues of his most faithful labourers, and withholding their showers, though they be clouds thick, and full, and likely enough to drop down in abundance; see Eze 3:26-27 Hos 9:7 Pro 16:1 . Pray, therefore, oh pray earnestly, both ministers, for ability and liberty to “drop their word toward the holy places, and prophesy,” Eze 21:2 , and people, that he would fill their ministers as full of good matter as ever Elihu was, Job 32:18 , and then be with their mouths, Exo 4:12 , yea, stretch out his holy hand, and touch them, Jer 1:9 , performing that piece of midwifery, Pro 16:1 , that they may freely utter their conceptions, “and come to their hearers in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of peace,” Rom 15:29 . In the Island of St Thomas, on the back side of Africa, in the midst of it, is a hill; and over that a continual cloud, wherewith the whole island is watered. This is our happiness for present. Oh that we knew but this gift of God, Joh 4:10 , and were answerably thankful and fruitful! Oh, how cursed a generation are those that repine at it, saying, Never was merry world, since so much preaching, &c. How shall such miscreants one day wish to have but one drop fall from these full clouds to cool the heat and horrors of their consciences, but shall not obtain it.

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

have withholden, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 28:22-24).

piece = portion of land.

it. Ginsburg thinks this should be “I”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

I have: Lev 26:18-21, Lev 26:23, Lev 26:24, Lev 26:27, Lev 26:28, Deu 28:23, Deu 28:24, 1Ki 8:35, 1Ki 8:36, 2Ch 7:13, 2Ch 7:14, Isa 5:6, Jer 3:3, Jer 5:24, Jer 5:25, Jer 14:4, Jer 14:22, Hag 1:10, Hag 1:11, Zec 14:17, Jam 5:17, Rev 11:6

when: Joe 2:23, Joh 4:35

and I: Exo 8:22, Exo 9:4, Exo 9:26, Exo 10:23, Jdg 6:37-40, 1Co 4:7

and the: Joe 1:10-18

Reciprocal: Gen 7:4 – For Exo 7:23 – neither Lev 26:4 – Then I Deu 11:17 – shut up 1Ki 18:1 – I will send rain Job 5:10 – giveth Job 28:26 – he made Job 37:12 – it Job 38:28 – Hath the Psa 107:33 – watersprings Isa 30:23 – shall he Joe 1:16 – the meat Amo 1:2 – the habitations Zec 10:1 – rain in Joh 19:13 – and sat

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Amo 4:7. This verse gives some more of the punishment that God imposed on the land because of the iniquity of the people. He is the creator of the rain and the seasons, and therefore would have the ability to control them as He sees fit.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when [there were] yet three {i} months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

(i) I stopped the rain until the fruits of the earth were destroyed with drought, and yet you would not consider to return to me by repentance.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

He had also sent drought when the people needed rain the most, three months before their harvest. He had let rain fall on one town but not another resulting in only spotty productivity (cf. 1Ki 8:35). This too should have moved them to repent. Drought was also a punishment for covenant unfaithfulness (Lev 26:19; Deu 28:22-24; Deu 28:48).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)