Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 5:4
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
4 10. Proof that Israel merits the fate which has just been pronounced against it: it has sought Jehovah by a ritual which He does not value, and it has spurned the virtues which He really prizes.
Seek ye me, and ye shall live ] The Heb. is more forcible and concise: ‘Seek ye me, and live’: cf. Gen 42:18 ‘This do, and live.’ To seek God was a standing expression for consulting Him by a prophet, or an oracle, even on purely secular matters (cf. Gen 25:22; Exo 18:15 ; 1Sa 9:9; 2Ki 3:11 ; 2Ki 8:8; 2Ki 22:13 ; 2Ki 22:18; Jer 37:7; Eze 14:3; Eze 20:1; Eze 20:3); but it is also used of seeking or caring for (Jer 30:14) Him more generally, by paying regard to His revealed will, and studying to please Him by the practice of a righteous and holy life, Hos 10:12; Isa 9:13; Jer 10:21; Zep 1:6; Isa 55:6; Isa 58:2; Isa 65:10; Psa 9:10; Psa 24:6; Psa 34:10; Psa 78:34, &c. The latter is the sense, which the expression has here. Seek ye me, says the prophet, in Jehovah’s name, by the means that I approve, and you will live, i.e. escape the threatened destruction.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Seek ye Me and ye shall live – Literally, seek Me; and live. Wonderful conciseness of the word of God, which, in two words, comprises the whole of the creatures duty and his hopes, his time and his eternity. The prophet users the two imperatives, inoneing both, mans duty and his reward. He does not speak of them, as cause and effect, but as one. Where the one is, there is the other. To seek God is to live. For to seek God is to find Him, and God is Life and the Source of life. Forgiveness, grace, life, enter the soul at once. But the seeking is diligent seeking. : It is not to seek God anyhow, but as it is right and meet that He should be sought, longed for, prayed for, who is so great, a Good, constantly, fervently, yea, to our power, the more constantly and fervently, as an Infinite Good is more to be longed for, more loved than all created good. The object of the search is God Himself. Seek Me, that is, seek God for Himself, not for anything out of Him, not for His gifts, not for anything to be loved with Him. This is not to seek Him purely. All is found in Him, but by seeking Him first, and then loving Him in all, and all in Him. And ye shall live, first by the life of the body, escaping the enemy; then by the life of grace now, and the life of glory hereafter, as in that of the Psalmist, your heart shall live who seek God Psa 69:32.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 5:4-5
Seek ye Me, and ye shall live . . . But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal.
I. The blessings of Israel. Gilgal and Bethel were places in Israels history bedewed by showers of blessing.
1. Gilgal was the scene of new life.
2. Bethel was the scene of the manifestation of the Divine presence.
II. Israel had misused these blessings.
1. All their wickedness is in Gilgal. The sanctuary had been desecrated.
2. Bethel, the house of God, had become the kings chapel and the kings court.
Jeroboam had set up the golden calf there as a convenient place for the worship of God, but in violation of the second commandment.
III. Misused blessings become curses. Gilgal and Bethel were marked for destruction on account of these idolatries. This was the retribution that should follow abuse of privileges.
IV. Gilgal and bethel have their counterparts in the Christian life. Gilgal may represent the new start in life which is taken at confirmation, after sickness, etc. Bethel represents the Sundays and the services which should be as gates to heaven in the house of God. Satan intrudes into our most sacred seasons and places, and introduces idolatry. He fills our minds with other thoughts, so that we forget our resolutions, make light of our blessings, and sacred things become an occasion of falling. The safeguard against misuse of blessing, is to keep in memory the redemption that has been wrought and the promised presence of the Lord. (W. Walters, M. A.)
The search which ends in life, and the search which ends in ruin
I. THE SEARCH WHICH ENDS IN LIFE. The end of such search is life. Ye shall live. Doubtless that form was given to the promise because of the calamities which were impending over the State. But there is something more than preservation from the scourge of sin. Life of the soul–full exercise of its powers, full pleasure in its blessings, with that life for evermore which God gives to those who seek Him.
II. The search which ends in ruin. Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba were the centres of idol worship in Israel (Amo 4:4; Amo 8:14). They could not keep themselves from ruin, what then must be the fate of their worshippers? The deluded people brought their sacrifices; but when trouble came it was in vain to turn to Bethel and Gilgal–even their deities perished. Application. Verse 6 shows that God would punish the nation, and none would be able to stay His hand. From Bethel in the days of vengeance there should be no deliverance. The sinner must meet his Judge, whom he had despised and refused to seek, and meet Him alone. (J. Telford, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Seek ye me, and ye shall live] Cease your rebellion against me; return to me with all your heart; and though consigned to death, ye shall be rescued and live. Deplorable as your case is, it is not utterly desperate.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For, or yet, truly.
Thus saith the Lord; amidst all those threats there is still a reserve, a conditional proviso, and the Lord here does by his prophet declare it.
Unto the house of Israel; though apostate both in sacred and civil things, though polluted and defiled greatly, and this through many scores of years, yet after all repentance would help them.
Seek ye me; inquire for my law, and repent of your despising it, obey it in all things for the future, inquire diligently what promises I have made and wait for them, believe, obey, and repent; for this is to seek the Lord, when a people have turned from the Lord, as you have done, O house of Israel.
Ye shall live; it shall be well with you, your persons, families, and the whole kingdom shall prosper, as the Hebrew phrase importeth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Seek ye me, and ye shallliveliterally, “Seek . . . Me, and live.” Thesecond imperative expresses the certainty of “life”(escape from judgment) resulting from obedience to the precept in thefirst imperative. If they perish, it is their own fault; God wouldforgive, if they would repent (Isa 55:3;Isa 55:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel,…. Or “yet” a, notwithstanding all this, though such judgments were threatened and denounced, and such desolations should certainly come, in case of impenitence, and an obstinate continuance in a course of sin; yet hopes are given of finding mercy and kindness upon repentance and reformation, at least to the remnant of them; see Am 5:15;
seek ye me; seek my fear, as the Targum; fear and reverence, serve and worship, the Lord God; return unto him by repentance; seek to him by prayer and supplication; acknowledge your sins, and humble yourselves before him, and implore his pardoning grace and mercy:
and ye shall live; in your own land, and not be carried out of it; live comfortably, in great plenty of good things; and live spiritually, enjoying the favour of God, and his presence in his ordinances, and live eternally in the world to come.
a “attamen”, Grotius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The short, cursory explanation of the reason for the lamentation opened here, is followed in Amo 5:4. by the more elaborate proof, that Israel has deserved to be destroyed, because it has done the very opposite of what God demands of His people. God requires that they should seek Him, and forsake idolatry, in order to live (Amo 5:4-6); but Israel on the contrary, turns right into unrighteousness, without fearing the almighty God and His judgment (Amo 5:7-9). This unrighteousness God must punish (Amo 5:10-12). Amo 5:4. “For thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and live. Amo 5:5. And seek not Bethel, and come not to Gilgal, and go not over to Beersheba: for Gilgal repays it with captivity, and Bethel comes to nought. Amo 5:6. Seek Jehovah, and live; that He fall not upon the house of Joseph like fire, and it devour, and there be none to quench it for Bethel.” The k in Amo 5:4 is co-ordinate to that in Amo 5:3, “Seek me, and live,” for “Seek me, so shall ye live.” For this meaning of two imperatives, following directly the one upon the other, see Gesenius, 130, 2, and Ewald, 347, b. , not merely to remain alive, not to perish, but to obtain possession of true life. God can only be sought, however, in His revelation, or in the manner in which He wishes to be sought and worshipped. This explains the antithesis, “Seek not Bethel,” etc. In addition to Bethel and Gilgal (see at Amo 4:4), Beersheba, which was in the southern part of Judah, is also mentioned here, being the place where Abraham had called upon the Lord (Gen 21:33), and where the Lord had appeared to Isaac and Jacob (Gen 26:24 and Gen 46:1; see also at Gen 21:31). These sacred reminiscences from the olden time had caused Beersheba to be made into a place of idolatrous worship, to which the Israelites went on pilgrimage beyond the border of their own kingdom ( ). But visiting these idolatrous places of worship did no good, for the places themselves would be given up to destruction. Gilgal would wander into captivity (an expression used here on account of the similarity in the ring of and ). Bethel would become ‘aven , that is to say, not “an idol” here, but “nothingness,” though there is an allusion to the change of Beth – el (God’s house) into Beth – ‘aven (an idol-house; see at Hos 4:15). The Judaean Beersheba is passed over in the threat, because the primary intention of Amos is simply to predict the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes. After this warning the prophet repeats the exhortation to seek Jehovah, and adds this threatening, “that Jehovah come not like fire upon the house of Joseph” ( tsalach , generally construed with al or ‘el , cf. Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14; 1Sa 10:6; here with an accusative, to fall upon a person), “and it (the fire) devour, without there being any to extinguish it for Bethel.” Bethel, as the chief place of worship in Israel, is mentioned here for the kingdom itself, which is called the “house of Joseph,” from Joseph the father of Ephraim, the most powerful tribe in that kingdom.
To add force to this warning, Amos (Amo 5:7-9) exhibits the moral corruption of the Israelites, in contrast with the omnipotence of Jehovah as it manifests itself in terrible judgments. Amo 5:7. “They that change right into wormwood, and bring righteousness down to the earth. Amo 5:8. He that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into morning, and darkeneth day to night: that calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them over the surface of the earth; Jehovah is His name. Amo 5:9. Who causeth desolation to flash upon the strong, and desolation cometh upon the fortress.” The sentences in Amo 5:7 and Amo 5:8 are written without any connecting link. The participle in Amo 5:7 cannot be taken as an address, for it is carried on in the third person ( hinnchu ), not in the second. And hahoph e khm (who turn) cannot be in apposition to Beth – el , since the latter refers not to the inhabitants, but to the houses. As Amos is generally fond of a participial construction (cf. Amo 2:7; Amo 4:13), so in a spirited address he likes to utter the thoughts one after another without any logical link of connection. As a matter of fact, hahoph e khm is connected with beth – yoseph (the house of Joseph), “Seek the Lord, ye of the house of Joseph, who turn right into wrong;” but instead of this connection, he proceeds with a simple description, They are turning,” etc. Laanah , wormwood, a bitter plant, is a figurative term denoting bitter wrong (cf. Amo 6:12), the actions of men being regarded, according to Deu 29:17, as the fruits of their state of mind. Laying righteousness on the ground ( hinnach from nuach ) answers to our “trampling under feet.” Hitzig has correctly explained the train of thought in Amo 5:7 and Amo 5:8: “They do this, whereas Jehovah is the Almighty, and can bring destruction suddenly upon them.” To show this antithesis, the article which takes the place of the relative is omitted from the participles oseh and hophekh . The description of the divine omnipotence commences with the creation of the brightly shining stars; then follow manifestations of this omnipotence, which are repeated in the government of the world. Kmah , lit., the crowd, is the group of seven stars, the constellation of the Pleiades. K e sl , the gate, according to the ancient versions the giant, is the constellation of Orion. The two are mentioned together in Job 9:9 and Job 38:31 (see Delitzsch on the latter). And He also turns the darkest night into morning, and darkens the day into night again. These words refer to the regular interchange of day and night; for tsalmaveth , the shadow of death, i.e., thick darkness, never denotes the regularly recurring gloominess of night, but the appalling gloom of night (Job 24:17), more especially of the night of death (Job 3:5; Job 10:21-22; Job 38:17; Psa 44:20), the unlighted depth of the heart of the earth (Job 28:3), the darkness of the prison (Psa 107:10, Psa 107:14), also of wickedness (Job 12:22; Job 34:22), of sufferings (Job 16:16; Jer 13:16; Psa 23:4), and of spiritual misery (Isa 9:1). Consequently the words point to the judicial rule of the Almighty in the world. As the Almighty turns the darkness of death into light, and the deepest misery into prosperity and health,
(Note: Theodoret has given a correct explanation, though he does not quite exhaust the force of the words: “It is easy for Him to turn even the greatest dangers into happiness; for by the shadow of death he means great dangers. And it is also easy to bring calamity upon those who are in prosperity.”)
so He darkens the bright day of prosperity into the dark night of adversity, and calls to the waters of the sea to pour themselves over the earth like the flood, and to destroy the ungodly. The idea that by the waters of the sea, which pour themselves out at the call of God over the surface of the earth, we are to understand the moisture which rises from the sea and then falls upon the earth as rain, no more answers to the words themselves, than the idea expressed by Hitzig, that they refer to the water of the rivers and brooks, which flow out of the sea as well as into it (Ecc 1:7). The words suggest the thought of terrible inundations of the earth by the swelling of the sea, and the allusion to the judgment of the flood can hardly be overlooked. This judicial act of the Almighty, no strong man and no fortress can defy. With the swiftness of lightning He causes desolation to smite the strong man. Balag , lit., micare, used in the Arabic to denote the lighting up of the rays of the dawn, hiphil to cause to light up, is applied here to motion with the swiftness of lightning; it is also employed in a purely metaphorical sense for the lighting up of the countenance (Ps. 39:14; Job 9:27; Job 10:20). In Amo 5:9 the address is continued in a descriptive form; has not a causative meaning. The two clauses of this verse point to the fate which awaits the Israelites who trust in their strength and their fortifications (Amo 6:13). And yet they persist in unrighteousness.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| God’s Message to Israel; The Aggravated Sins of Israel; Warnings and Exhortations; Exhortations and Encouragements. | B. C. 790. |
4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: 5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. 6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: 9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. 10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. 13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
This is a message from God to the house of Israel, in which,
I. They are told of their faults, that they might see what occasion there was for them to repent and reform, and that, when they were called to return, they might not need to ask, Wherein shall we return?
1. God tells them, in general (v. 12), “I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins; and you shall be made to know them too.” In our penitent reflections upon our sins we must consider, as God does in his judicial remarks upon them, and will do in the great day, (1.) That they are very numerous; they are our manifold transgressions, sins of various kinds and often repeated. Oh what a multitude of vain and vile thoughts lodge within us! What a multitude of idle, foolish, wicked words have been spoken by us! In what a multitude of instances have we gratified and indulged our corrupt appetites and passions! And how many our own omissions of duty and in duty! Who can understand his errors? Who can tell how often he offends? God knows how many, just how many, our transgressions are; none of them pass him unobserved; we know that they are to us innumerable; more than the hairs of our head; and we have reason to see what danger we have brought ourselves into, and what abundance of work we have made for repentance, by our manifold transgressions, by the numberless number of our sins of daily incursion. (2.) That some of them are very heinous; they are our mighty sins; sins that are more exceedingly sinful in their own nature and by being committed presumptuously and with a high hand, sins against the light of nature, flagrant crimes, that are mighty to overpower your convictions and to pull down judgments upon you.
2. He specifies some of these mighty sins. (1.) They corrupted the worship of God, and turned to idols; this is implied v. 5. They had sought to Bethel, where one of the golden calves was; they had frequented Gilgal, a place which they chose to set up idols in, because it had been made famous in the days of Joshua by God’s wonderful appearances to and for his people. Beer-sheba likewise, a place that had been famous in the days of the patriarchs, was now another rendezvous of idols; as we find also, ch. viii. 14. And thither they passed, though it lay at a distance, in the land of Judah. Now, having thus shamefully gone a whoring from God, no doubt they should have felt themselves concerned to return to him. (2.) They perverted justice among themselves (v. 7): “You turn judgment to wormwood, that is, you make your administrations of justice bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing both to God and man.” That fruit has become a weed, a weed in the garden; as nothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than justice duly administered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more abominable, than designedly doing wrong under colour and pretence of doing right. Corruptio optimi est pessima—The best, when corrupted, becomes the worst. “You leave off righteousness in the earth, as if those that do wrong were accountable to the God of heaven only, and not to the princes and judges of the earth.” Thus it was as before the flood, when the earth was filled with violence. (3.) They were very oppressive to the poor, and made them poorer; they trod upon the poor (v. 11), trampled upon them, hectored over them, made them their footstool, and were most imperious and barbarous to those that were most obsequious and submissive; they care not what shame and slavery they put those to who were poor and such as they could get nothing by. The judges aimed at nothing but to enrich themselves; and therefore they took from the poor burdens of wheat, took it by extortion, either by way of bribe or by usury. The poor had no other way to save themselves from being trodden upon, and trodden to dirt, by them, than by presenting to them horse-loads of that corn which they and their families should have had to subsist upon, and they forced them to do it. They took from the poor debts of wheat, so some read it. It was legally due either for rent or for corn lent, but they exacted it with rigour from those who were disabled by the providence of God to pay it, as Neh 5:2; Neh 5:5. In demanding and recovering even a just debt we must take heed left we act either unjustly or uncharitably. This sin of oppression by are again charged with (v. 12): They afflict the just, by turning the edge of the law and of the sword of justice against those that are the innocent and quiet in the land; they hated men because they were more righteous than themselves, and he that departed from evil thereby made himself a prey to them. They take a bribe from the rich to patronize and protect them in oppressing the poor, so that he who has money in his hand is sure to have the judgment on his side, be his cause ever so bad. Thus they turn aside the poor in the gate, in the courts of justice, from their right. If the poor sue for their right, who cannot bribe them, or are so honest that they will not, though they have it ever so clear in view and ever so near, yet they are turned away from it by their unrighteous sentence and cannot come at it. And therefore the prudent will keep silence, v. 13. Men will reckon it their prudence, when they are wronged and injured, to be silent, and make no complaints to the magistrates, for it will be to no purpose; they shall not have justice done them. (4.) They were malicious persecutors of God’s faithful ministers and people, v. 10. Their hearts were so fully set in them to do evil that they could not bear to be reproved, [1.] By the ministry of the word, by the reading and expounding of the law, and the messages which prophets delivered to them in the name of the Lord. They hate him that rebukes in the gate, in the gate of the Lord’s house, or in their courts of justice, or in the places of concourse, where Wisdom is lifting up her voice, Prov. i. 21. Reprovers in the gate are reprovers by office; these they hated, counting them their enemies because they told them the truth, as Ahab hated Micaiah. They not only despised them, but had an enmity to them, and sought to do them mischief. Those that hate reproof love ruin. [2.] By the conversation of their honest neighbours. Though things were generally very bad, yet there were some among them that spoke uprightly that made conscience of what they said, and, as it was their praise, so it was the shame of those that spoke deceitfully, and condemned them, as Noah’s faith condemned the unbelief of the old world, and for that reason they abhorred them; they were such inveterate enemies to the thing called honesty that they could not endure the sight of an honest man. All that have any sense of the common interest of mankind will love and value such as speak uprightly, for veracity is the bond of human society; to what a pitch of folly and madness then have those arrived who, having banished all notions of justice out of their own hearts, would have them banished out of the world too, and so put mankind into a state of war, for the abhor him that speaks uprightly! And for this reason the prudent shall keep silence in that time, v. 13. Prophets cannot, dare not, keep silence; the impulse they are under will not allow them to act on prudential considerations; they must cry aloud, and not spare. But as for other wise and good men they shall keep silence, and shall reckon it is their prudence to do so, because it is an evil time. First, They shall think it dangerous to complain, and therefore shall keep silence; this was one way in which they afflicted the just, that by false suggestions and strained innuendos they made men offenders for a word (Isa. xix. 21); and therefore the prudent, who were wise as serpents, because they knew not how what they said might be misinterpreted and misrepresented, were so cautious as to say nothing, lest they should run themselves into a premunire, because it was an evil time. Note, Through the iniquity of the times, as good men are hidden, so good men are silent, and it is their wisdom to be so; little said soon amended. But it is their comfort that they may speak freely to God when they know not to whom else they can speak freely. Secondly, They shall think if fruitless to reprove. They see what wickedness is committed, and their spirits are stirred up, as Paul’s at Athens; but they shall think it prudent not to bear an open testimony against it, because it is to no purpose. They are joined to their idols; let them alone. Let no man strive or rebuke another; for it is but casting pearls before swine. The cautious men will say to a bold reprover, as Erasmus to Luther, “Abi in cellam, et dic, Miserere mei, Domine—Away to thy cell, and cry, Have mercy on me, O Lord!” Let grave lessons and counsels be kept for better men and better times. And there is a time to keep silence as well as a time to speak, Eccl. iii. 7. Evil times will not bear plain dealing, that is evil men will not; and the men the prophet here speaks of had reason to think themselves evil men indeed, when wise and good them thought it in vain to speak to them and were afraid of having any thing to do with them.
II. They are told of their danger and what judgments they lay exposed to for their sins. 1. The places of their idolatry are in danger of being ruined in the first place, v. 5. Gilgal, the head-quarters of idolatry, shall go into captivity, not only its inhabitants, but its images, and Bethel, with its golden calf shall come to nought. The victorious enemy shall make nothing of it, so easily shall it be spoiled, and shall bring it to nothing, so effectually shall it be spoiled. Idols were always vanity, and things of nought, and so they shall prove when God appears to abolish them. 2. The body of the kingdom is in danger of being ruined with them, v. 6. There is danger lest, if you seek him not in time, he break out like a fire in the house of Joseph and devour it; for our God is a righteous Judge, is a consuming fire, and the men of Israel, as criminals, are stubble before him; woe to those that make themselves fuel to the fire of God’s wrath. It follows, And there shall be none to quench it in Bethel. There their idols were, and their idolatrous priests; thither they brought their sacrifices, and there they offered up their prayers. But God tells them that when the fire of his judgments should kindle upon them all the gods they served at Bethel should not be able to quench it, should not turn away the judgment, nor be any relief to them under it. Thus those that make an idol of the world will find it insufficient to protect them when God comes to reckon with them for their spiritual idolatry. 3. What they have got by oppression and extortion shall be taken from them (v. 11): “You have built houses of hewn stone, which you thought would be lasting; but you shall not dwell in them, for your enemies shall burn them down, or possess them for themselves, or take you into captivity. You have planted pleasant vineyards, have contrived how to make them every way agreeable, and have promised yourselves many a pleasant walk in them; but you shall be forced to walk off, and shall never drink wine of them.” The law had tenderly provided that if a man had built a house, or planted a vineyard, he should be at his liberty to return from the wars, Deu 20:5; Deu 20:6. But now the necessity would be so urgent that it would not be allowed; all must go to the battle, and many of those who had lately been building and planting should fall in battle, and never enjoy what they had been labouring for. What is not honestly got is not likely to be long enjoyed.
III. They are told their duty, and have great encouragement to set about it in good earnest, and good reason. The duties here prescribed to them are godliness and honesty, seriousness in their applications to God and justice in their dealings with men; and each of these is here pressed upon them with proper arguments to enforce the exhortation.
1. They are here exhorted to be sincere and devout in their addresses to God, v. 4. God says to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and with good reason, for should not a people seek unto their God? Isa. viii. 19. Whither else should they go but to their protector? Israel was a prince with God; let his descendants seek the Lord, as he did, and they shall be so too. Now, in order to their doing this, they must abandon their idolatries. God is not sought truly if he be not sought exclusively, for he will endure no rivals: “Seek you the Lord, and seek not Bethel (v. 5), consult not your idol-oracles, nor ask at the mouth of the priests of Bethel; seek not to the golden calf there for protection, nor bring your prayers and sacrifices any longer thither, or to Gilgal, for you forsake your own mercies if you observe those lying vanities. But seek the Lord (Amo 5:6; Amo 5:8); enquire after him; enquire of him; seek to know his mind as your rule, to secure his favour as your felicity.” To press this exhortation we are told to consider, (1.) What we shall get by seeking God; it will be our life; we shall find him, and shall be happy in him. So he tells them himself (v. 4): Seek you me, and you shall live. Those that seek perishing gods shall perish with them (v. 5), but those that seek the living God shall live with him: “You shall be delivered from the killing judgments which you are threatened with; your nation shall live, shall recover from its present languishings; your souls shall live; you shall be sanctified and comforted, and made for ever blessed. You shall live.” (2.) What a God he is whom we are to seek,Amo 5:8; Amo 5:9. [1.] He is a God of almighty power himself. The idols were impotent things, could do neither good nor evil, and therefore it was folly either to fear or trust them; but the God of Israel does every thing, and can do any thing, and therefore we ought to seek him; he challenges our homage who has all power in his hand, and it is our interest to have him on our side. Divers proofs and instances are here given of God’s power, as Creator, in the kingdom of nature, as both founding and governing that kingdom. Compare ch. iv. 13. First, The stars are the work of his hands; those stars which the heathens worshipped (v. 26), the stars of your god, those stars are God’s creatures and servants. He makes the seven stars and Orion, two very remarkable constellations, which Amos, a herdsman, while he kept his cattle by night, had particularly observed the motions of. He made them at the first, he still makes them to be what they are to this earth and either binds or looses the sweet influences of Peliades and Orion, the two constellations here mentioned. See Job 38:31; Job 9:9, to which passages Amos seems here to refer, putting them in mind of those ancient discoveries of the glory of God before he was called the God of Israel. Secondly, The constant succession of day and night is under his direction, and is kept up by his power and providence. It is he that turns the night (which is dark as the shadow of death) into the morning by the rising of the sun, and by the setting of the sun makes the day dark with night; and the same power can, for humble penitents, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, but can as easily turn the prosperity of presumptuous sinners into darkness, into utter darkness. Thirdly, The rain rises and falls as he appoints. He calls for the waters of the sea; out of them vapours are drawn up by the heat of the sun, which gather into clouds, and are poured out upon the face of the earth, to water it and make it fruitful. This was the mercy that had been withholden from them of late (ch. iv. 7); and therefore to whom should they apply but to him who had power to give it? For all the vanities of the heathen could not give rain, nor could the heavens themselves give showers Jer. xiv. 22. It is God that has made these things; Jehovah is his name, the name by which the God of nature, the God of the whole earth, has made himself known to his people Israel and covenanted with them. [2.] As he is God of almighty power himself, so he gives strength and power unto his people that seek him, and renews strength to those that had lost it, if they wait upon him for it; for (v. 9) he strengthens the spoiled against the strong to such a degree that the spoiled come against the fortress and make bold and brave attacks upon those that had spoiled them. This is an encouragement to the people to seek the Lord, that, if they do so, they shall find him above to retrieve their affairs, when they are brought to the lowest ebb; though they are the spoiled, and their enemies are the strong, if they can but engage God for them, they shall soon recruit so as the next time to be not only the aggressors, but the conquerors; they come against the fortress, to make reprisals and become masters of it.
2. They are here exhorted to be honest and just in their dealings with men, Amo 5:14; Amo 5:15, where observe, (1.) The duty required: Seek good, and not evil. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate; re-establish it there, whence it has been banished, v. 7. Note, Things are not so bad but that they may be amended if the right course be taken; we must not despair but that grievances may be redressed and abuses rectified; justice may yet triumph where injustice tyrannizes. In order to this, good must be loved and sought, evil must be hated and no longer sought. We must love good principles and adhere to them, love to do good and abound in doing it, love good people, and good converse, and good duties; and, whatever good we do, we must do it from a principle of love, do it of choice and with delight. Those who thus love good will seek it, will contrive to do all the good they can, enquire for opportunities of doing it, and endeavor to do it to the utmost of their power. They will also hate evil, will abhor the thought of doing an unjust thing, and abstain from all appearance of it. In vain do we pretend to seek God in our devotions if we do not seek good in our whole conversations. (2.) The reasons annexed. [1.] This is the sure way to be happy ourselves and to have the continual presence of God with us: “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, may escape the punishment of the evil you have sought and loved (righteousness delivereth from death), that you may have the favour of God, which is your life, which is better than life itself, that you may have comfort in yourselves and may live to some good purpose. You shall live, for so the Lord God of hosts shall be with you and be your life.” Note, Those that keep in the way of duty have the presence of God with them, as the God of hosts, a God of almighty power. “He will be with you as you have spoken, that is, as you have gloried; you shall have that really which, while you went on in unrighteous ways, you only seemed to have and boasted of as if you had.” Those that truly repent and reform enter into the enjoyment of that comfort which before they had only flattered themselves with the imagination of. Or, “As you have prayed when you sought the Lord. Live up to your prayers, and you shall have what you pray for.” [2.] This is the likeliest way to make the nation happy: “If you seek and love that which is good, you may contribute to the saving of the land from ruin.” It may be, the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph; though there is but a remnant left, yet, if God be gracious to that remnant, it will rise to a great nation again; and if some among them turn from sin, especially if judgment be established in the gate, though we cannot be certain, yet there is a great probability that public affairs will take a new and happy turn, and every thing will mend if men mend their lives. Temporary promises are made with an It may be; and our prayers must be made accordingly.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
A Call To Seek God, Renounce Sins, And Find Joy, v. 4-15
Verse 4 is an appeal from the heart and mouth of God for Israel to seek Him and live, not only remain alive, avoiding a chastisement of death, but also to find favor and fellowship with Him again, Isa 55:3; Isa 55:6; 1Co 11:31-32; Heb 12:9. See also 2Ch 15:2; Jer 29:13.
Verse 5 warns Israel to “seek not” either Bethel or Gilgal or pass through Beersheba, where they had imagined they could approach Him through the golden calves or other idol gods, upon whom doom was already irreversibly decreed, Hos 4:15; Hos 10:8; Gen 21:31; Gen 21:33.
Verse 6 appeals to Israel to seek the Lord through repentance or turning from their heathen-like, idolatrous ways, and keep on living, Isa 55:6-7. If they did not they were to be visited with a sweeping, consuming, conflagration of judgment, like a prairie fire. God is as a consuming fire, who burns and destroys in His judgment, as He burned against Jacob, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities round about. And the idol gods of Bethel and their kind could not stop or quench the fires of God, Deu 4:24; Isa 10:17; Lam 2:3; Eze 37:16.
Verse 7 charges Israel with perverting justice and turning it to bitter wrong. They had become corrupt, morally and ethically, and roots of bitterness had grown up in them against righteousness; they had cast righteousness under their feet, done despitefully toward it, Deu 29:17-18, Dan 8:12. They dethroned righteousness from their lives though it was the vicegerent and representative of God on earth.
Verse 8 is an appeal from Amos and the Lord for Israel to seek her creator, to seek His favor, the favor of the mighty God who made the seven smaller stars and Orion, the pleiades (the heap or cluster) of seven larger stars, Job 9:9; Job 38:31. These traveling guide stars were well known to the shepherds of the field. The word Orion means a fool or irreligious man, corresponding with Nimrod, which means “let us rebel.” This God turns the shadow of death into morning. He has control of all His creation still, to turn darkness into day or day into darkness, at His will. He also controls the sea, causes the sun to evaporate her water, and release pure water upon the earth. He causes both ordinary rains for good and deluges for judgment, 1Ki 18:44; Job 38:34. This is the God who loves Israel still.
Verse 9 further describes this mighty God of effective strength. in using the “spoiler” to destroy the strong, so that the spoils, Assyria, shall come effectively to put down the fortresses, bulwarks, and defenses of now mighty and proud, rebellious Israel, of the nature described, 2Ki 14:25.
Verse 10 describes Israel’s hate for “him that rebuketh in the gate,” or Amos the prophet, who publicly rebuked Israel’s nobles, princes, and priests, before the masses. And when Amos, in wisdom and Divine obedience, lifted up his voice, it was abhorred, not heeded, Pro 1:21. They detested or abhorred God’s rebuking prophet. They did not recognize that to follow the life and heed the voice of a righteous man was profitable, Pro 11:11.
Verse 11 describes judgment that shall come to Israel and her leaders because they “tread on the poor,” imposing burdensome and excessive taxes on them, that abscond from them most of their wheat, with which excess, dishonest profits, they have made for themselves luxurious, hewn, stone homes where they live, against the warnings of their own laws, Deu 28:30; Deu 28:38-39; Isa 29:21; Mic 6:15; Zep 1:13; Hag 1:6. They are therefore warned that their fine houses, vineyards, and ill gained assets will be taken from them by judgment enemies, so that they shall live no longer in their fine houses or drink wine from their vineyards.
Verse 12 asserts He observes specific, willful deeds of lawlessness. God declares that he knows of (takes note of) their manifold or many shaded (colored) transgressions, such as: 1) They afflicted the just or righteous, 2) They took bribes for personal favors, and 3) They turn the poor away from their gates or doors, without pity, help or compassion, as later described Mat 23:4-7; Mat 23:14. The judge accepted pay to free rich murderers, but placed heavy judgment on the poor, illegally, Num 35:31; 1Sa 12:3; Pro 6:35.
Verse 13 concludes that the prudent or spiritually wise person will keep silent, have discipline and self control, when that hour of just judgment falls upon the nation, when Israel shall have set aside righteous laws, and civil turmoil exists upon the invasion of the armies of the enemies, Eph 5:16; Col 4:4; Mat 7:6; Psa 39:9; Lev 10:3.
Verse 14 appeals again for them to seek, diligently pursue good, and not evil, that the Lord of hosts may be with them, even in adversity, Psa 34:7. Because they had boasted that the Lord was with them that they were His people, Mic 3:11.
Verse 15 calls upon all of Israel to do three things: 1) Hate the evil, 2) Love the good or ideal, and 3) To establish just judgment at the gate, where charges were brought over civil and criminal matters, a course of conduct from which they had departed, Isa 1:16-17; Rom 12:9. Based on such a penitent turn, Hosea assured them it was, possible that God might be gracious and stay the judgment He had announced against them, as a remnant of Joseph, 2Ki 19:4; Gen 16:2; Joe 2:13; Act 8:22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Amos here again exhorts the Israelites to repentance; and it was an address common to all, though the greater part, as we have said, were altogether past recovery; but it was necessary, as long as they continued a chosen people, to call them to repentance; for they had not been as yet abdicated. We further know, that the Prophets preached in order to invite some to God, and to render others inexcusable. With regard to the end and design of public teaching, it is, that all should in common be called: but God’s purpose is different; for he intends, according to his own secret counsel, to draw to himself the elect, and he designs to take away all excuse from the reprobate, that their obstinacy may be more and more apparent. We must further bear in mind, that while the people of Israel continued, the doctrine of repentance and faith was preserved among them; and the reason was that to which I have alluded, because they remained as yet in the fold of God. It is no wonder then that the Prophet gives again to the Israelites the hope of pardon, provided they repented.
Thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live. This sentence has two clauses. In saying, Seek me, the Prophet exhorts the Israelites to return to a sane mind: and then he offers them the mercy of God, if only they sought from the heart to reconcile themselves to him. We have elsewhere said that men cannot be led to repentance, unless they believe that God will be propitious to them; for all who think him to be implacable, ever flee away from him, and dread the mention of his name. Hence, were any one through his whole life to proclaim repentance, he could effect nothing, except he were to connect with this the doctrine of faith, that is, except he were to show that God is ready to give pardon, if men only repent from the heart. These two parts, then, which ought not to be separated, the Prophet here connects together very wisely and for the best reason, when he says, Seek me, and ye shall live; intimating that the gate of mercy was still open, provided the Israelites did not persevere in their obstinacy. But, at the same time, he lays this to their charge, — that they willfully perished through their own fault; for he shows that in themselves was the only hindrance, that they were not saved; for God was not only ready to receive them into favor, but also anticipated and exhorted them, and of his own free will sought reconciliation. How then was it, that the Israelites despised the salvation offered to them? This was the madness which he now charges them with; for they preferred ruin to salvation, inasmuch as they returned not to God when he so kindly invited them, Seek me, and ye shall live The same thing is stated in another place, where it is said, that God seeketh not the death of a sinner, (Eze 18:32)
But as we have already said, the Prophets spoke thus in common to all the people, but their doctrine was not to all efficacious; for the Lord inwardly attracted his elect, and others were rendered inexcusable. But still this is true, that the whole blame, that they perished, were in the children of Israel, for they refused the salvation offered to them. What indeed was the cause of their destruction, but their own obstinacy? And the root of the evil, was it not in their own hearts? Then none of them could evade the charge made against them by the Prophet, — that they were the authors of their own ruin, for each of them must have been conscious of his own perverseness.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo. 5:4. Live] Not only remain alive, but possess real favour.
Amo. 5:5. Bethel] A strong dissuasive from idolatry derived from the predicted fall of the objects and places of false worship.
Amo. 5:6. Lest] Danger threatened. Like fire] consuming everything before it (Deu. 4:24; Isa. 10:17; Lam. 2:3).
SEEKING GOD AND RENOUNCING SIN.Amo. 5:4-6
Departure from God is the root of all sorrow. Reformation therefore must beradical and not formal. God has not utterly abandoned Israel. He speaks as our God, ready on our return to him to deliver and bless. Seek ye me and ye shall live.
I. The urgent request. The prophet repeatedly urges them to seek God (Amo. 5:4; Amo. 5:6; Amo. 5:14), from whom they had wandered and whom they had offended.
1. God is the object sought. We must seek him not for any selfish ends, not for gifts, nor for anything out of him. What is the world without him? All may be found and enjoyed in him. Some pursue pleasure, riches, and wealth, others find in God their chief good. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
2. God must be sought earnestly. The seeking is diligent and anxious. Infinite good is more desirable than created good. We must not seek God anyhow, but with earnestness and perseverance. The pursuit is not an indefinite desire, the mere natural working of the mind, but an intense longing for God. Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
II. The needful caution. But seek not Bethel, &c. Israel sought God at Bethel; but idolatry is opposed to seeking God, and must be renounced. The worship of God cannot be reconciled with the worship of Baal.
1. Outward forms will not avail. Gilgal and Bethel were ancient places, but empty forms. The truth once taught there had become powerless, and Israel had ceased to obey. Men may plead beauty, antiquity, and prevalence of forms; but we are admonished to abandon them all and trust to the living God. Idolatrous customs will ensure and increase our condemnation. They are an abomination to God. Seek ye me, and pass not to Beersheba.
2. False hopes wiil disappoint. Bethel was not the house of God. Gilgal would go into captivity, and Beersheba would soon be in ruins. The pleasant things of Gilgal passed into the hands of the enemy. All hopes of residence there were disappointed, and bitter was the remorse of the people. Schemes of worldly happiness and forms of idolatry will utterly fail. False confidences allure men to destruction, do not avert danger nor quench the fire of Divine anger against sin. Idols of every kind are vanity. An idol is nothing in the world (1Co. 8:4; 1Co. 10:19); and they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
III. The encouraging promise. And ye shall live.
1. Ye shall escape danger. If the fire broke out none could quench it. Bethel, the centre of idolatry, would be consumed. But if they sought God, they would escape and be delivered from calamities. The sinner can only be saved from eternal death in Christ. For who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
2. Ye shall obtain Gods favour. We may be delivered from outward danger, from sickness and distress, yet not redeemed from sinpreserved in natural existence, but deprived of real enjoyment. Life in any sense is good, for a living dog is better than a dead lion! The soul can only live when converted, refreshed, and oured of its ills. Your heart shall live that seek God. In his favour is life, and thy lovingkindness is better than life.
DIVINE JUSTICE A CONSUMING FIRE.Amo. 5:6
This verse is an awful picture of sin and Divine retribution which breaks forth in violence upon ungodly nations.
I. The fuel. The house of Joseph. Sinners make themselves fuel for the flame, ripen themselves for destruction. Rotten and unfruitful branches of the Church will be burned. Behold, they shall be as stubble, the fire shall burn them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.
II. The conflagration. Lest he break out like fire.
1. The Divine nature is like fire. Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29; Isa. 33:14). Holy anger and holy love are found in God. He that is light and love may become, by the power of his wrath, a consuming fire. A fire goeth before him and burneth his enemies round about (Psa. 97:3; Deu. 4:24).
2. The Divine procedure is like a fire. When God is provoked to anger judgments will burn the wicked like chaff. Pestilence and war ravage and waste like fire. The material of sorrow and distress accumulates from period to period. Violation of Gods laws, followed by disregard for social duties, prepares both governments and people for tumult and war. The spark of discontent falls on some portion of the mass, suddenly it blazes forth, and is rapidly communicated from one part to another, till everywhere the signs of woe are seen, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo. 5:4. Such as find a distance and are seeking to make it up, may not speed at first, yet that should not weaken their hands, nor will they be accounted less penitent, or be further from acceptance, that they are but pursuers and not enjoyers; for, approven repentance here is not to find God, but to seek him, and these get the promise, Seek ye me, and ye shall live [Hutcheson]. Seek and live. Equally simple and definite are the monition and the promise. Man knows what he has to do, and what to expect. Not merely is warning given, but also promise and the reverse. The gain is certain if one fulfils the condition, but the condition is indispensable. [Lange]. Ye shall live. Gods gracious promises must be held before sinners, lest in despair they go from sin to sin. For how can one feel genuine repentance if he has no hope [Ib.].
Amo. 5:5. This is the law of Gods dealings with man; He curses our blessings, if we do not use them aright (Mal. 2:2). Christ, the Corner Stone, will break to pieces those who fall upon it; and it will grind to powder those on whom it falls (Mat. 21:44). Our holiest Gilgalsour Sacraments, our Scriptures, our Sermons, our Sundayswhich were designed by God to roll away from us the reproach of Egypt, will be rolled away from us, if we do not use them aright, and will roll us downward into our destruction [Wordsworth].
Amo. 5:6. Seek. The oft pressing of a duty imports:
1. The excellency;
2. The necessity;
3. The difficulty of doing it: else what need so many words? [Trapp].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Amo. 5:4-6. Jeroboam pretended that it was too much for Israel to go up to Jerusalem. Yet Israel thought it not too much to go to the extremest point of Judah towards Iduma, perhaps four times as far south of Jerusalem as Jerusalem lay from Bethel. For Beersheba is thought to have lain some 30 miles south of Hebron, which is 22 miles south of Jerusalem; while Bethel is but 12 to the north. So much pains will men take in self-willed service, and yet not see that it takes away the excuse for neglecting the true [Pusey].
Amo. 5:6. Justice is the great but simple principle, and the whole secret of success in all government. It is as essential in the training of an infant as in the government of a mighty nation.
Justice, like lightning, ever should appear
To few mens ruin, but to all mens fear. [Sivenam.]
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(4) Seek . . . live.Search after God is rewarded by finding Him, and this is life in the highest sense.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4, 5. The prophet begins again with the solemn “Thus saith Jehovah.”
Seek ye me, and ye shall live Hebrews “Seek ye me, and live”; that is, If ye seek me ye shall surely live (G.-K., 110f.). Return to Jehovah will save them from the threatened calamity. To seek the Deity has a twofold meaning in the Old Testament: (1) To go to the shrine to offer sacrifice (Amo 5:5), or to consult the oracle (Gen 25:22; 1Sa 9:9, etc.); (2) to enter into fellowship with the Deity in love and obedience (Hos 10:12; Isa 9:13, etc.). In the latter sense Amos uses it here.
Seek not Beth-el See on Amo 3:14. Nominally they went to the sanctuaries to “seek” Jehovah (see preceding comment); in reality their desire was to participate in the joyous festivals celebrated there under the guise of religion. Such worship could awaken no response in Jehovah.
Gilgal See on Amo 4:4.
Beer-sheba Also a very ancient sanctuary (Gen 21:14; Gen 26:25; Gen 46:1). Israelites desirous of visiting it had to pass over their borders and the borders of Judah, for it was located in the extreme south, in the Negeb. The long journeys were undertaken probably only on special occasions. The character of the worship at Beer-sheba, in all probability, differed but little from that at the other Hebrew sanctuaries. Its ruins are represented by the modern Bir-es-Seba’, about fifty miles south-southwest of Jerusalem, about twenty-eight miles southwest of Hebron. These sanctuaries can offer no permanent refuge, for they also are doomed (compare Isa 1:29-31). It is difficult to reproduce the paronomasia which is very marked in 5b, Gilgal galoh yigleh and Beth-el ( beth) aven. “Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile” (G.A. Smith). “Beth-el (the house of God) shall become Beth-aven (the house of naught).” Wellhausen offers a striking translation: “Gilgal wird zum Galgen gehen, und Beth-el wird des Teufels werden” ( Gilgal will go to the gallows, and Beth-el will become the devil’s).
Come to naught Hebrews aven. See on Hos 4:15.
In Amo 5:6 the exhortation is repeated with a few changes. Jehovah is used instead of me, as if Amos were taking up the exhortation uttered previously by Jehovah himself. A new motive for obedience is introduced. Obedience will mean life; disobedience what? (Compare Isa 1:20.)
Lest he break out A forceful verb, equivalent to cleave, penetrate.
Like fire The point of comparison is destructiveness.
Joseph As the ancestor of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two most powerful tribes of the north (Hos 13:1), Joseph stands here for Israel, that is, the northern kingdom (Amo 5:15; Amo 6:6). Hosea uses in the same sense Ephraim (Amo 5:3; Amo 6:4, etc.). House of Joseph house of Israel kingdom of Israel.
And devour it An unexpected change in the original from masculine to feminine, as if from now on fire were the subject. This makes the construction harsh; therefore Nowack suggests a slight emendation: “lest he will kindle the house of Joseph with fire, which will devour.” The conflagration will prove disastrous, for there is no one to quench it (Isa 1:31; Jer 4:4). Jehovah alone could do it, but he is sending the fire.
In Beth-el Literally, for Beth-el; LXX., “for the house of Israel.” While this is the thought expected here, it is not necessary to suppose that the present Hebrew text is incorrect. Beth-el, as the religious center, might represent the entire kingdom.
The transition from Amo 5:6-7 ff. is again abrupt, and the logical connection between the two parts has been variously explained. The most natural explanation is to regard Amo 5:7 a justification of the prophet’s earnest exhortation to seek Jehovah. The exhortation is needed, for at present they are not seeking him in a manner that will enable them to find him; far from it, they are doing the very things that will cause him to hide his face. As in Amo 2:7, the participial construction is used, which is reproduced correctly in English by the relative clause connected with the subject implied in seek (Amo 5:6): “You who are living such godless and immoral lives, seek Jehovah.”
Wormwood A plant having a bitter juice (Deu 29:18; Pro 5:4), unpalatable and, when drunk to excess, noxious. In Scripture it is always used as a symbol of that which is unpleasant and bitter (Amo 6:12; Jer 9:15).
Judgment R.V., “justice”; here the administration of justice. Under normal conditions this is desirable and of great value, but they have changed its character so that it has become undesirable and bitter.
Leave off righteousness in the earth More accurately, R.V., “cast down righteousness to the earth,” instead of “establishing” it (Amo 5:15). Righteousness justice, equity (2Sa 8:15; Jer 22:3). This they trample under foot, while they exalt violence and oppression. Primarily these are crimes committed by those in authority, but all have become corrupt (compare Isa 3:12), so that the description fits all.
The next two verses (8, 9) resemble closely Amo 4:13. Like the latter, and for similar reasons, they are denied to Amos (see Introduction, pp.
217ff). In this instance the objections derive additional weight from the fact that the interruption of the thought is more apparent, Amo 5:10 being the natural continuation of Amo 5:7. Whether from Amos or not, the verses, like Amo 4:13, present a reason why the listeners should receive the prophetic message with reverence and ready obedience. Assuming that they are authentic, two ways seem open for removing the apparent interruption in thought: (1) It is proposed to change the order, so as to read 7, 10, 8, 9, which would require no alteration in the text itself. True, this would make the transition from 10 to 8 abrupt, but no more so than at present, from 7 to 8. (2) Another possibility is to place 8, 9 after 6, in apposition to Jehovah in 6, followed by 7, 10. If this is done, 7, 10 cannot be connected very well with the preceding, but must be interpreted as introducing a new thought. To make the beginning more natural, it is proposed to prefix “Woe” (compare Amo 5:16; Amo 6:1): “Woe unto those who turn.” A few commentators deny that the thought is interrupted. Mitchell, for example, seeks to show the logical connection between 7 and 8ff. in the following paraphrase: “Ye oppressors (Amo 5:7), know ye not that Jehovah, whose mercy ye have spurned, is the maker and ruler of all things (Amo 5:8), a mightier than the mightiest (Amo 5:9)? Therefore, ye enemies of righteousness (Amo 5:10), because ye trample (Amo 5:11).” Absolute certainty on this point is impossible.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Call To Repentance And Rejection Of The False Sanctuaries ( Amo 5:4-6 ).
YHWH therefore calls Israel to repentance before it is too late. If only they will repent and truly seek Him they will live, and avoid His fire of judgment which could otherwise break out on them. But this will not be by turning to their present sanctuaries, which can offer them no hope. Rather they need to seek to YHWH. Note the deliberate paring off of the false sanctuaries one by one. The description commences with three (Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba), sinks to two (Bethel and Gilgal) and ends as one (Bethel). One by one the sanctuaries have been removed from consideration. Beersheba would, of course, initially be safe from the depredations of Assyria, being in the Negeb south of Judah. But it would not benefit them at such a distance and was the first to be removed from the picture. It would not join the others in being destroyed. Meanwhile the full force of the invasion would come on Bethel and Gilgal, and both would be nullified until only Bethel was left, and that simply in order to be burned up.
Amo 5:4-6
“For thus says YHWH to the house of Israel,
‘Seek you me, and you will live,’
But do not seek Beth-el,
Nor enter into Gilgal,
And do not pass to Beer-sheba,
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
And Beth-el will come to nought.”
Seek YHWH, and you will live,
Lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
And it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.”
The call to repentance is for the whole house of Israel, and is a personal call from YHWH, and the repetition of ‘seek YHWH and live’ brings out the urgency of the demand. They must turn from their false worship and their syncretistic sanctuaries to Him. It is interesting that Israelites still frequented a sanctuary in Beersheba in the Negeb. This possibly arose because of the connection of the tribe of Simeon (who had previously settled there) with Israel. The history of Simeon, which we know little about, was probably very complicated as the tribe had originally been in danger of being absorbed by Judah and yet was later seen as, at least partially, having retained its identity, and as part of the ‘ten tribes’. It suggests that a migration took place of some of the tribe to the north, while retaining a connection with Beersheba, a sanctuary which would also be a reminder of their patriarchal connections (with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel).
So their old sanctuaries were forbidden to them. But they were not called on to seek to Jerusalem. They were called on truly to seek YHWH. No doubt there were still ‘sons of the prophets’ around who could help them (in contrast with the cult prophets), as there had been in the days of Elisha some years before. There they could discover how to engage in true worship. Indeed it would clearly be useless to seek to the old syncretistic sanctuaries, for they would be taken over by the Assyrians and brought to nothing. Their only hope therefore was to seek the living God, ‘lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph’. The house of Joseph strictly represented Ephraim and Manasseh, but like ‘Ephraim’ could be used of all Israel as they made up the majority of it. And the fire would be unquenchable.
There is a play on words with regard to Gilgal. ‘Gilgal will surely go into exile’ is glgl glh yglh. And Beth-el will become awen (‘trouble’). Thus Beth-el would become Beth-awen (Bethaven – the house of trouble), as in Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8; Hos 10:5.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The first verse in this paragraph is a confirmation, if it were needed, of what I advanced in my observations on the former. Seeking the Lord, implies the hope of finding him, and indeed the promise is of life. For the Lord hath never said to the praying seed of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain. Psa 27:8 . It is a sure sign of returning grace, when such rich proclamations come from the throne. See Isa 55:6-7 . There is a great beauty in the allusion to the planets, those faithful nightly witnesses of heaven. Job speaketh of him that gives to the Pleiades, and Orion, their sweet influences. Job 38:31 . And as those heavenly bodies testify to God’s faithfulness concerning his covenant of day and night; so the Lord engageth to be gracious to his people when they call upon him. Gen 8:22 . I beg the Reader to remark with me, how again the Lord engageth that his people shall live in seeking him, and that as the Lord of hosts he will be with them. The wailing and mourning in all the streets that are spoken of, do not only refer to the desolations of Jerusalem as a city; but also to the sorrow of the soul, under the awakenings of the Holy Ghost, when the heart is leading under a sense of sin to the Lord.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
Ver. 4. For thus saith the Lord ] Or, truly thus saith the Lord; notwithstanding the former terrible sentence, which the prophet could not denounce with dry eyes; but takes up a lamentation, though less concerned in it, and might well say, as one did in another case,
“ Tu quibus ista legis, incertum est, lector ocellis,
Ipse quidem siccis dicere non potui. ”
All God’s threatenings (for the most part) are conditional, Jer 18:7
a A terse, pointed saying, embodying an important truth in few words; a pithy or sententious maxim. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Amos
THE SINS OF SOCIETY
Amo 5:4 – Amo 5:15
The reign of Jeroboam II, in which Amos prophesied, was a period of great prosperity and of great corruption. Amos, born in the Southern Kingdom, and accustomed to the simple life of a shepherd, blazed up in indignation at the signs of misused wealth and selfish luxury that he saw everywhere, in what was to him almost a foreign country. If one fancies a godly Scottish Highlander sent to the West end of London, or a Bible-reading New England farmer’s man sent to New York’s ‘upper ten,’ one will have some notion of this prophet, the impressions made, and the task laid on him. He has a message to our state of society which, in many particulars, resembles that which he had to rebuke.
There seems to be a slight dislocation in the order of the verses of the passage, for Amo 5:7 comes in awkwardly, breaking the connection between Amo 5:6 and Amo 5:8 , and itself cut off from Amo 5:10 , to which it belongs. If we remove the intruding verse to a position after Amo 5:9 , the whole passage is orderly and falls into three coherent parts: an exhortation to seek Jehovah, enforced by various considerations Amo 5:4 – Amo 5:9; a vehement denunciation of social vices Amo 5:7 , Amo 5:10 – Amo 5:13; and a renewed exhortation to seek God by doing right to man Amo 5:14 – Amo 5:15.
Amos’s first call to Israel is but the echo of God’s to men, always and everywhere. All circumstances, all inward experiences, joy and sorrow, prosperity and disaster, our longings and our fears, they all cry aloud to us to seek His face. That loving invitation is ever sounding in our ears. And the promise which Amos gave, though it may have meant on his lips the continuance of national life only, yet had, even on his lips, a deeper meaning, which we now cannot but hear in it. For, just as to ‘seek the Lord’ means more to us than it did to Israel, so the consequent life has greatened, widened, deepened into life eternal. But Amos’s narrower, more external promise is true still, and there is no surer way of promoting true well-being than seeking God. ‘With Thee is the fountain of life,’ in all senses of the word, from the lowest purely physical to the highest, and it is only they who go thither to draw that will carry away their pitchers full of the sparkling blessing. The fundamental principle of Amos’s teaching is an eternal truth, that to seek God is to find Him, and to find Him is life.
But Amos further teaches us that such seeking is not real nor able to find, unless it is accompanied with turning away from all sinful quests after vanities. We must give up seeking Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba, seats of the calf worship, if we are to seek God to purpose. The sin of the Northern Kingdom was that it wanted to worship Jehovah under the symbol of the calves, thus trying to unite two discrepant things. And is not a great deal of our Christianity of much the same quality? Too many of us are doing just what Elijah told the crowds on Carmel that they were doing, trying to ‘shuffle along on both knees.’ We would seek God, but we would like to have an occasional visit to Bethel. It cannot be done. There must be detachment, if there is to be any real attachment. And the certain transiency of all creatural objects is a good reason for not fastening ourselves to them, lest we should share their fate. ‘Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought,’ therefore let us join ourselves to the Eternal Love and we shall abide, as it abides, for ever.
The exhortation is next enforced by presenting the consequences of neglecting it. To seek Him is life, not to seek Him incurs the danger of finding Him in unwelcome ways. That is for ever true. We do not get away from God by forgetting Him, but we run the risk of finding in Him, not the fire which vitalises, purifies, melts, and gladdens, but that which consumes. The fire is one, but its effects are twofold. God is for us either that fire into which it is blessedness to be baptized, or that by which it is death to be burned up. And what can Bethel, or calves, or all the world do to quench it or pluck us out of it?
Once more the exhortation is urged, if we link Amo 5:8 with Amo 5:6 , and supply ‘Seek ye’ at its beginning. Here the enforcement is drawn from the considerations of God’s workings in nature and history. The shepherd from Tekoa had often gazed up at the silent splendours of the Pleiades and Orion, as he kept watch over his flocks by night, and had seen the thick darkness on the wide uplands thinning away as the morning stole op over the mountains across the Dead Sea, and the day dying as he gathered his sheep together. He had cowered under the torrential rains which swept across his exposed homeland, and had heard God’s voice summoning the obedient waters of the sea, that He might pour them down in rain. But the moral government of the world also calls on men to seek Jehovah. ‘He causeth destruction to flash forth on the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.’ High things attract the lightning. Godless strength is sure, sooner or later, to be smitten down, and no fortress is so impregnable that He cannot capture and overthrow it. Surely wisdom bids us seek Him that does all these wonders, and make Him our defence and our high tower.
The second part gives a vivid picture of the vices characteristic of a prosperous state of society which is godless, and therefore selfishly luxurious. First, civil justice is corrupted, turned into bitterness, and prostrated to the ground. Then bold denouncers of national sins are violently hated. Do we not know that phase of an ungodly and rich society? What do the newspapers say about Christians who try to be social reformers? Are the epithets flung at them liker bouquets or rotten eggs? ‘Fanatics and faddists’ are the mildest of them. Then the poor are trodden down and have to give large parts of their scanty harvests to the rich. Have capital and labour just proportions of their joint earnings? Would a sermon on Amo 5:11 be welcome in the suburbs of industrial centres, where the employers have their ‘houses of hewn stone’? Such houses, side by side with the poor men’s huts, struck the eye of the shepherd from Tekoa as the height of sinful luxury, and still more sinful disproportion in the social condition of the two classes. What would he have said if he had lived in England or America? Justice, too, was bought and sold. A murderer could buy himself off, while the poor man, who could not pay, lost his case. We do not bribe juries, but legal justice is an expensive luxury still, and counsel’s fees put it out of the reach of poor men.
One of the worst features of such a state of society as Amos saw is that men are afraid to speak out in condemnation of it, and the ill weeds grow apace for want of a scythe. Amos puts a certain sad emphasis on ‘prudent,’ as if he was feeling how little he could be called so, and yet there is a touch of scorn in him too. The man who is over-careful of his skin or his reputation will hold his tongue; even good men may become so accustomed to the glaring corruptions of society in the midst of which they have always lived, that they do not feel any call to rebuke or wage war against them; but the brave man, the man who takes his ideals from Christ, and judges society by its conformity with Christ’s standard, will not keep silence, and the more he feels that ‘It is an evil time’ the more will he feel that he cannot but speak out, whatever comes of his protest. What masquerades as prudence is very often sinful cowardice, and such silence is treason against Christ.
The third part repeats the exhortation to ‘seek,’ with a notable difference. It is now ‘good’ that is to be sought, and ‘evil’ that is to be turned from. These correspond respectively to ‘Jehovah,’ and ‘Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba,’ in former verses. That is to say, morality is the garb of religion, and religion is the only true source of morality. If we are not seeking the things that are lovely and of good report, our professions of seeking God are false; and we shall never earnestly and successfully seek good and hate evil unless we have begun by seeking and finding God, and holding Him in our heart of hearts. Modern social reformers, who fancy that they can sweeten society without religion, might do worse than go to school to Amos.
Notable, too, is the lowered tone of confidence in the beneficial result of obeying the Prophet’s call. In the earlier exhortation the promise had been absolute. ‘Seek ye Me, and ye shall live’; now it has cooled to ‘it may be.’ Is Amos faltering? No; but while it is always true that blessed life is found by the seeker after God, because He finds the very source of life, it is not always true that the consequences of past turnings from Him are diverted by repentance. ‘It may be’ that these have to be endured, but even they become tokens of Jehovah’s graciousness, and the purified ‘remnant of Joseph’ will possess the true life more abundantly because they have been exercised thereby.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Amo 5:4-7
4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek Me that you may live.
5But do not resort to Bethel,
And do not come to Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will come to trouble.
6Seek the LORD that you may live,
Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,
7For those who turn justice into wormwood
And cast righteousness down to the earth.
Amo 5:4 seek Me The Hebrew VERB (BDB 205, KB 233) is a Qal IMPERATIVE (cf. Amo 5:6; Amo 5:14-15). The connotation of the Hebrew phrase to seek involved going to a sanctuary, however, the context of Amo 5:5 demands that we must seek God on an individual, as well as corporate, basis (cf. Deu 4:29-30; Deu 30:1-3; Deu 30:10), not just in religious ritual. Our attitudes, motives, and lifestyle faith are crucial. Basically this is a call to repentance to those who already knew (covenantal aspect) YHWH (cf. Rev 3:20). Fellowship with YHWH demands an ethical life.
In Amo 5:4 Amos says, Seek the Lord. This same VERB is also found in Amo 5:14, seek good and not evil. These three are somewhat parallel. YHWH is said several times to be good (e.g., Psa 86:5; Psa 100:5; Psa 106:1; Psa 107:1; Psa 118:1; Psa 118:29). Therefore, seeking Me and seeking good may refer to YHWH (notice the second line of Amo 5:14). This same symbolism can be seen in Hos 8:2-3.
The Hebrew term seek has several meanings.
1. inquire of
2. seek a deity in prayer and worship
3. investigate (to know the heart)
4. ask or demand
In this context #2 fits best (cf. Deu 4:29; Hos 10:12; Isa 9:13; Isa 31:1; Isa 55:6; Isa 65:10).
NASBthat you may live
NKJV, NRSVand live
TEVand you will live
NJBand you will survive
The NKJV and NRSV are literal. The VERB (BDB 310, KB 309) is a Qal IMPERATIVE parallel to seek. The sense of the IMPERATIVE is seen in the NASB, TEV, and NJB. Israel’s survival as a covenant nation is the issue! This use of live is similar to Joh 10:10. YHWH is merciful, if they turn back to Him, He will pardon, restore, and protect (i.e., as in Holy War).
This outburst of mercy is a plea from the heart of God who does not want to destroy His own covenant people (cf. Hos 11:8-11).
Amo 5:5 Bethel. . .Gilgal. . .Beersheba These are all local centers of worship. The first two were in Israel and the third in southern Judah (cf. 2Ki 23:8; Gen 21:14; Gen 21:31; Gen 26:25; Gen 26:33; Gen 46:1).
Beersheba This was an ancient holy site connected to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Gen 21:33; Isaac, Gen 26:23-25; Jacob, Gen 28:10; Gen 46:1-7) located in southern Judah.
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity Amos is a skilled poet. Here he uses a sound play between Gilgal and to go into exile (BDB 162, KB 191, a Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and a Qal IMPERFECT of the same term, which is a grammatical feature to denote intensity). Hebrew poetry is characterized by thought parallelism, multiple meanings of words, and sound plays.
And Bethel will come to trouble This seems to be a contrast between Bethel (house of God) and what it had become (house of idolatry, cf. Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8; Hos 10:5; Hos 10:8).
One of the meanings of trouble (BDB 19) can be idolatry (i.e., nothing,cf. Isa 41:29; Isa 66:3).
Amo 5:6 Seek the Lord that you may live This is parallel to Amo 5:4.
He will break forth like a fire This may be another allusion to Deuteronomy (cf. Deu 4:24). Fire is a metaphor for the cleansing power of God or to put it another way, His holiness! See Special Topic: FIRE .
O house of Joseph It is unusual for Israel to be called the house of Joseph (cf. Amo 6:6). It is usually called the house of Jacob (or house of Israel, e.g., Amo 5:1). However, Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s two children, make up the largest land holdings and the most populous tribes of the northern kingdom.
Amo 5:7 for those who turn justice into wormwood Justice is a parallel to righteousness. These two terms often appear together in the same context in the OT (cf. 2Sa 8:15; 1Ki 10:9; 1Ch 18:14; 2Ch 9:8; Psa 99:4; Isa 1:21; Isa 5:7; Isa 9:7; Isa 28:17; Isa 32:1; Isa 32:16; Isa 33:5; Isa 59:14; Jer 4:2; Jer 9:24; Jer 22:3; Jer 22:15; Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15; Eze 18:5; Eze 18:19; Eze 18:21; Eze 18:27; Eze 33:14; Eze 33:16; Eze 33:19; Eze 45:9; Amo 5:7; Amo 5:24). This is not the justification by faith, imputed righteousness of the New Covenant, but the Old Covenant mandate that YHWH wanted a people to fully reveal His character (cf. Mat 5:19-20; Mat 5:48). However, sinful fallen mankind, even the covenant people, were unable to live out the holiness of God!
The PARTICIPLE (BDB 245, KB 253, Qal PARTICIPLE), when Israel is the subject, is used in a negative sense (cf. Amo 5:7; Amo 6:12; Jer 2:21). In Amo 4:11 Amos mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah as being overthrown, using the same root but with YHWH as the subject.
Wormwood (BDB 542) refers to any plant that is bitter (cf. UBS’s Fauna and Flora of the Bible, p. 198). The rich had prevented justice. The legal system was a bitter thing to the poor, not a haven (cf. Amo 5:12; Amo 6:12). This may be another allusion to idolatry in Deuteronomy (cf. Deu 29:18; Jer 9:14; Jer 23:15). The cognate in Arabic means curse.
NASBcast righteousness down to the earth
NKJVlay righteousness to rest in the earth
NRSVbring righteousness to the ground
TEVcheat people out of their rights
NJBthrow uprightness to the ground
The idea here is to cast down (BDB 245, KB 253, Qal PARTICIPLE) with a view toward trampling underfoot (cf. Isa 28:2-3). Judges, like the king, were to represent YHWH.
Notice that justice and righteousness are parallel (cf. Amo 5:24; Amo 6:12). There is an ethical-practical aspect to biblical faith! See Special Topic: Righteousness and Special Topic: Judge, Judgment, Justice .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
thus saith. Note the prophetic formula (see App-82), introducing the exhortation, and emphasising it.
the Lord. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Seek ye Me, &c.
Note this word “seek” in the several exhortations. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 12:5). App-92. As in Psa 9:10. Isa 9:13. Jer 10:21. Hos 10:12. Zep 1:6.
ye shall live. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 18:5, see note there. Deu 30:19). App-92. Compare Isa 55:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Amo 5:4. For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
And that it just the message of God to professing Christians now: Seek ye me. Get away from your mere ceremonies, from trusting in your outward performances, and get to God himself. Get beyond your fellow-worshippers and your ministers, beyond your sanctuaries and your supposed holy places, and get in spirit and in truth to God himself: Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
Amo 5:5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal and pass not to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.
These were the places where the calves and other idols were set up for the worship of God by means of visible symbols. That was the Romanism of that day. Pure spiritual worship was ordained by God, but that was not enough for the idolatrous Israelites. They must needs set up the image of an ox, the emblem of power, not that they would worship the ox, they said, but that they might worship the God of power through that symbol. And that is the plea of Papists today: We do not worship that cross; we do not worship that image; but these things help us. They are emblems. But they are absolutely forbidden by God: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. The first commandment forbids us to have any other God than Jehovah; the second forbids us to worship him through any emblem or symbol whatsoever.
Amo 5:6-7. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
Here you have another great truth, that, in order to seek God aright, we must turn away from sin. All the ritualism in the world will not save us, or be acceptable to God; there must be purity of life, and holiness of character; justice must be done between man and man, and we must seek to be right before the righteous and holy God.
Amo 5:8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,
The Creator of the spring-bringing Pleiades, and of the winter-bringing Orion,
Amo 5:8-9. And turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
The God of the weak, the Defender of the oppressed. Ye that oppress the poor, and tread down the people, seek ye him, and wash your hands from the stains of your past injustice.
Amo 5:10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
There is still a generation that cannot bear to be told of its faults, and that shows its venom against everything that is right.
Amo 5:11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
God has often shown how he can overthrow those who oppress the poor.
Amo 5:12-17. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus, Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
National sins bring down national judgments; and when God grows angry against the people, he makes the places of their feasting, the vineyards where grow their choicest vines, to become the places of their sorrow, so that wailing and distress are heard on all sides. Oh, that nations knew the day of their visitation, and would do justly! Then would such judgments be averted.
Amo 5:18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light, for such as you, impenitent, unjust, graceless sinners. The day of the Lord will not bring blessings to you; but it will be
Amo 5:19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
From bad to worse do they go who think to escape from present misery by plunging into the presence of God. The suicide is, of all fools, the greatest, for he goes before God with his own indictments, nay, with his own sentence in his hand. He needs no trial; he has condemned himself.
Amo 5:20-22. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
See how God speaks about public worship and formal sacrifices when the heart is not right with him. When the moral conduct of the offerer is wrong, the Lord will not accept his offering.
Amo 5:23-24. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
This is what God asks for, righteousness, not sweet music. Have they not, at this very day, turned what were once houses of prayer into music-halls, set up their idols in our parish churches, and adorned their priests with every kind of Babylonian garment which they could find at Rome, the mystical Babylon? Are they not turning this nation back again to that accursed Popery, the yoke of which our fathers could not bear? Therefore, the Lord is wroth with this land; there are storm-clouds gathering over it, because it is not sufficiently stirred with indignation against those idolatrous men who are again seeking to come to the front among us.
Amo 5:25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Did you worship me? Did you offer sacrifices to me? No, said God, ye did not.
Amo 5:26-27. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
Oh, for pure worship! Oh, for pure living! Oh, for hearts that spiritually worship the Lord, for Jesus said, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Seek: Amo 5:6, Deu 30:1-8, 1Ch 28:9, 2Ch 15:2, 2Ch 20:3, 2Ch 34:3, Psa 14:2, Psa 27:8, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Jer 29:12, Jer 29:13, Lam 3:25, Lam 3:26, Zep 2:3, Mat 7:8
and: Psa 22:26, Psa 69:32, Psa 105:3, Psa 105:4, Isa 55:3
Reciprocal: 2Ch 14:4 – seek Isa 31:1 – neither Isa 45:19 – Seek Eze 18:9 – he shall Hos 10:12 – time Hos 11:7 – are bent Amo 4:12 – prepare Mat 7:7 – seek Luk 11:9 – seek
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 5:4. Seek ye me and ye shall live presents the same apparent contradiction that has been mentioned several times. The explanation lies in the distinction between the nation as a whole, and certain individuals in it. See the long note on the subject, offered with comments on 2Ki 22:17, volume 2 of this Commentaey.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 5:4-5. For Or rather, nevertheless, seek ye me, and ye shall live That is, ye shall be prosperous again; for life, in the Scripture language, is used to express prosperity, or happiness. This shows, that what was said in the 2d verse, of their being fallen to rise no more, is to be taken as it is there explained; namely, in case they did not repent, but continued in their wickedness. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, &c. The places here named, it is probable, were all seats of idolatrous worship. The sense of the verse, therefore, is, that if they continued in their idolatries they should certainly be carried into captivity, and come to naught For it was only by returning and seeking Gods favour by true repentance and humiliation, and ceasing from their idolatry, that they could be saved from ruin.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A call for individual repentance 5:4-6
This pericope is also chiastic (Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba, Gilgal, Bethel).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Yahweh invited the Israelites to seek Him so they might live. Even though national judgment and death were inevitable, individuals could still live. Announcements of impending judgment almost always allow for the possibility of individual repentance (cf. Jer 18:1-10). The Israelites should not seek the Lord at the popular Israelite shrines at Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba in southern Judah, however. All these worship centers stood at cites that were important in Israel’s earlier history, but God had commanded His people to worship Him at Jerusalem. There is a play on words regarding Bethel. "Bethel" means "house of God," but it would become "Beth Aven," meaning "house of nothing." "Aven" (nothing) often referred to the powerless spirits of wickedness (cf. Isa 41:22-24; Isa 41:28-29).
"During my years of ministry, I’ve been privileged to speak at many well-known conference grounds in the United States, Canada, and overseas. I’ve met people at some of these conferences who actually thought that their physical presence by that lake, in that tent or tabernacle, or on that mountain would change their hearts. They were depending on the ’atmosphere’ of the conference and their memories of them, but they usually went home disappointed. Why? Because they didn’t seek God." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 357.]