Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 4:11
I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
11. The earthquake. This, the most terrible visitation, is reserved for the last. The earthquake is not only the most unfamiliar and the most mysterious of all the judgements enumerated; it is also the most sudden and startling, as well as the most formidable: it is as instantaneous in its operation as it is irresistible: the destruction which it works can never be guarded against, and seldom escaped.
as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ] See Gen 19:24-25; Gen 19:28. The same stereotyped expression recurs Deu 29:23, Isa 13:19, Jer 49:18; Jer 50:40, to describe a disaster ending in a state of ruin and barren desolation. The word mahpkhh, ‘overturning,’ ‘overthrowing,’ is always used with reference to the Cities of the Plain, either directly, as here and in the passages quoted, or allusively (Isa 1:7): cf. hph khh, Gen 19:29. The verb rendered ‘overthrow’ ( hphakh) is cognate: see Gen 19:21; Gen 19:25; Gen 19:29; and cf. Jer 20:16, Lam 4:6. The ‘overthrow’ of the Cities of the Plain was due, there is good reason to believe (see Tristram, Land of Israel, pp. 348 ff.; Dawson, Egypt and Syria, pp. 124 ff.), to an eruption of bitumen (which is abundant in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea); but this may well have been accompanied by an earthquake; and in any case the comparison here relates to the destructive effects of the calamity rather than to the particular agency by which it was brought about.
and ye i.e. those of you who escaped were as a firebrand pluckt out of the burning ] i.e. as something scorched, charred, and almost consumed: so near were you to complete destruction. For the figure, comp. Zec 3:2; for the thought, Isa 1:9.
The only earthquake in Palestine, mentioned in the O.T. (1Ki 19:11 hardly coming into account), is the one in the reign of Uzziah, two years after Amos prophesied (Amo 1:1), which, to judge from the terms in which it is referred to long afterwards in Zec 14:5, must have been one of exceptional severity. Dr Pusey, in his Commentary, has collected, with great learning, from Ritter’s Erdkunde (chiefly vol. xvii.) and other sources, notices of the principal earthquakes affecting Palestine on record. On the whole, the borders of Palestine, rather than central Palestine, appear to have been the regions mostly affected. “The line chiefly visited by earthquakes was along the coast of the Mediterranean, or parallel to it, chiefly from Tyre to Antioch and Aleppo. Here were the great historical earthquakes, which were the scourges of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Botrys, Tripolis, Laodicea on the sea; which scattered Litho-prosopon, prostrated Baalbek and Hamath, and so often afflicted Antioch and Aleppo, while Damascus was mostly spared. Eastward it may have reached to Safed, Tiberias, and the Hauran,” all, especially the Hauran, volcanic regions. Josephus ( Ant. xv. 5, 2) mentions an earthquake occurring b.c. 31 in Judaea, in which some 30,000 persons perished under the ruined houses. Ar-Moab was destroyed by an earthquake in the childhood of St Jerome. The terrible earthquake of Jan. 1, 1837, affected not only Palestine, as far south as Hebron, but also many places on the north, from Beirut on the west to Damascus on the east. Robinson ( B.R [155] ii. 529 531, cf. 422 f.) cites a graphic account of the havoc wrought by it at Safed, a little N.W. of the Sea of Tiberias. “Up to this moment I had refused to credit the accounts; but one frightful glance convinced me that it was not in the power of language to overstate such a ruin Safed was, but is not.” The town was built around and upon a very steep hill; and hence when the shock came, the houses above were dashed down upon those below, causing an almost unprecedented destruction of life. “As far as the eye can reach, nothing was to be seen but one vast chaos of stones and earth, timber and boards, tables, chairs, &c. On all faces despair and dismay were painted; in numerous families, single members alone survived, in many cases mortally wounded. Eighteen days afterwards the earth continued to tremble and shake; and when a shock came more violent than the others, the people rushed out from the ruins in dismay, many began to pray with loud and lamentable cries, and females beat their bare breasts with all their strength, and tore their garments in despair.”
[155] .R. Edw. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine (ed. 2, 1856).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I have overthrown some of you – The earthquake is probably reserved to the last, as being the rarest, and so the most special, visitation. Frequent as earthquakes have been on the borders of Palestine, the greater part of Palestine was not on the line, which was especially shaken by them. The line, chiefly visited by earthquakes, was along the coast of the Mediterranean or parallel to it, chiefly from Tyre to Antioch and Aleppo. Here were the great historical earthquakes, which were the scourges of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Botrys, Tripolis, Laodicea on the sea; which shattered Litho-prosopon, prostrated Baalbek and Hamath, and so often afflicted Antioch and Aleppo , while Damascus was mostly spared .
Eastward it may have reached to Safed, Tiberias, and the Hauran. Ar-Moab perished by an earthquake in the childhood of Jerome . But, at least, the evidence of earthquakes, except perhaps in the ruins of the Hauran , is slighter. Earthquakes there have been (although fewer) at Jerusalem. Yet on the whole, it seems truer to say that the skirts of Palestine were subject to destructive earthquakes, than to affirm this of central Palestine .
The earthquake must have been all the more terrible, because it was unprecedented. One or more terrible earthquakes, overthrowing cities, must have been sent, before that, on occasion of which Amos collected his prophecies. For his prophecies were uttered two years before that earthquake; and this earthquake had preceded his prophecy. I overthrew, God says, among you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. He uses the word, especially used by Moses and the prophets of that dread overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, when they were turned, as it were, upside down. The earthquake is at all times the more mysterious, because unseen, unannounced, unlooked for, instantaneous, complete. The ground under a mans feet seems no longer secure: his shelter is his destruction; mens houses become their graves. Whole cities must have been utterly overthrown, for He compares the overthrow worked among them, to the overthrow of the cities of the plain. Other visitations have heralds sent before them. War, pestilence, famine, seldom break in at once. The earthquake at once, buries, it may be, thousands or tens of thousands, each stiffened (if it were so) in that his last deed of evil; each household with its own form of misery; each in its separate vault, dead, dying, crushed, imprisoned; the remnant indeed surviving, for most whom they loved were gone. So he says;
And ye, who escaped, were as a firebrand, plucked out of the burning – Once it had been green, fresh, fragrant, with leaf or flower; now scorched, charred, blackened, all but consumed. In itself, it was fit for nothing, but to be cast back into the fire from where it had been rescued. Man would so deal with it. A re-creation alone could restore it. Slight emblem of a soul, whose freshness sin had withered, then Gods severe judgment had half-consumed; in itself, meet only for the everlasting fire, from which yet God withdraws it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 4:11
Ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.
The firebrand plucked out of the burning
A large portion of the sacred writings sets forth Gods exhibitions of kindness towards men as their Protector. Men in every age should study to preserve in their memory the Divine procedure, both in providence and in grace, as being adapted to secure their highest welfare. Here God magnified His mercy by interposing when justice appeared about to consummate its work in their destruction. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Those who are the subjects of Gods grace under the Gospel may properly be thus addressed.
I. Here is indicated a fearful danger.
1. This danger in its nature. It arises under the moral government of God consequent upon the character of man as a sinner. Man in his original state is everywhere under the Divine displeasure, condemned and exposed to punishment. The punishment does not extend merely to the infliction of temporal calamity and sorrow, it extends also to the life which is to come. The punishment incurred through sin is illustrated in the text by the metaphor of fire; the figure being taken from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible representations of future punishment set forth the intensity of that punishment. They are not to be interpreted literally; they are intended to denote most powerful and supreme intensity of mental suffering; the recollections of the past, the consciousness of the present, and the anticipations of the future, being united in one unmitigated torment and agony.
2. Its imminence. It is represented as being on the eve of consummation. The firebrand is spoken of as being close upon the element that is to consume it, nay, as being already seized. There are few metaphorical expressions more adapted to set forth extreme imminence and exposure to danger. All men, without exception, are in imminent danger of the doom appointed as the consequence of sin, because of the fact that their state of sin constitutes a moral fitness and preparation for it; because of the fact that they are condemned in their sinful state already; and because of the fact that their lives–the season of their probation and trial–are evanescent, frail, and uncertain.
II. A delightful rescue. The source from which the rescue is derived. They are not saved by themselves, or by any finite agency whatever. The only Deliverer of the human soul from the burning is God. And the deliverance is wrought out by a sublime redemptive scheme, the agents being the Divine Son and the Holy Spirit.
III. The characteristics by which this deliverance is distinguished.
1. Observe the freeness of it.
2. The permanence of it.
3. The blessedness of it.
4. The powerful effect which the contemplation of the rescue from the danger should secure.
In this contemplation there will be involved astonishment, gratitude, and compassion for those who are still in the place of burning. (James Parsons.)
A fast sermon for the fire of London
I. The severity of the judgment. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Observe–
1. The nature and kind of it. The suddenness and unexpectedness of it; the force and violence of it; the sad train of circumstances which attend and follow it.
2. Consider it in the series and order of it. It comes in the last place, as a reserve, when nothing else would do any good upon them.
3. The causes moving God to so much severity in His judgment. These are the greatness of the sins committed against Him. But it is not enough in general to declaim against our sins, we must search out particularly those predominant vices which by their boldness and frequency have provoked God thus to punish us. Three sorts of sins are here spoken of. Luxury and intemperance; covetousness and oppression; contempt of God and His laws
4. The Author of the judgment. God challenges the execution of His justice to Himself, not only in the great day, but in His judgment here in the world. When God is pleased to punish men for their sins, the execution of His justice is agreeable to His nature now, as it will be at the end of the world.
II. The mixture of his mercy in it. Ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Note–
1. The nearness they were in to the danger. Like a brand, the greatest part of which is already consumed by fire. This shows the great difficulty of their escaping.
2. The unexpectedness of such a deliverance. They are not saved by their own skill and counsel, nor by their strength and industry, hut by Him who, by His mighty hand, did pluck them as firebrands out of the burning. Though we own the justice of God in the calamities of this day, let us not forget His mercy in what He hath unexpectedly rescued from the fury of the flames. Let us then not frustrate the design of so much severity mixed with so great mercy. Let it never be said that neither judgments nor kindness will work upon us. We have cause enough for mourning and lamentation. Let us meet God now by our repentance, and return to Him, by our serious humiliation for our former sins, and our steadfast resolution to return no more to the practice of them. (Bishop Stillingfleet.)
The fire of iniquity
Many figures are employed to represent the evil of sin. But even the most suggestive are inadequate. Fire is very suggestive.
I. Both fire and sin are involved in much mystery. No inspection, or speculation, can determine the weight, colour, consuming power, etc., of fire. Thus with the fire of iniquity, there is much that is unaccountable connected with its origin, constitution, and processes of ruin; but none can doubt the terrible fact of its existence.
II. Both find ready and abundant food for the flames. Matter universally possesses the property of heat in various degrees. Human nature is morally of an inflammable character, and universally so. It is only a question of time in the instance of every life, when the hidden properties of sin develop in active, visible form.
III. The most disastrous fires are often from smallest beginnings. A sweeping conflagration that in two hours transformed an American town into a waste of smoking ruins, had its beginning in an unseen flame in a small upper storey. It is in the apparently harmless beginnings of impure thoughts, and unholy desires, and little sins that the desolating fires of iniquity have their rise.
IV. Superior worth of objects does not exempt from attack and ruin. Everything succumbs to fire. This is as sadly true of the fires of sin. It would seem that the brightest genius, the noblest heart, and the most promising talent were the especial victims of the arch-fiend. Satan is no respecter of persons, for the rich and poor, high and low, ignorant and intelligent, useless and useful are drawn upon as fuel to feed his merciless flames.
V. Means of defence are provided against the ravages of this monster. Fire-engines, fire-escapes, etc. Neither has God left humanity destitute of means for the defence of the soul exposed to Satans flames. A fountain has been opened, the waters of salvation, the means of grace, the Church, and the Holy Spirit, all these are given us in liberal provision, that the fires of sin may be quenched. Have we been rescued? There are many others yet enveloped in the flames of sin. Pulling them out of the fire is the work of next importance. God demands this at our hands. (W. G. Thrall.)
The strange parallel between fire and sin
All nature has its lessons. Fire is a most expressive emblem. What is there in the moral world to which it answers? It is a terrible agent; it is all activity. It tends to consume and to ruin whatever it touches. All life perishes when involved in it. But before that end comes it inflicts the keenest torture. And its inherent tendency is to spread. Let it alone, and with a field before it, its ravages will be terrible and complete. It must be resisted, fought with, mastered, and over come. One thing in the moral world answers to it. Sin against God, sin in a mans life.
I. The analogy between fire and sin.
1. You cannot weigh fire in the scales. You cannot grasp it. Yet you would call the man absurd or a fool who should deny its existence. So it is with sin. You cannot take hold of it, but you can see the desolation and the ravages it makes. It is a fact which no man can dispute.
2. Fire sometimes becomes almost invisible. At noonday its flame grows indistinct, but the pillar of cloud rises over it and marks the spot. So it is with sin. Some, in the glare and noonday of their busy life, fail to see it. The dimness of religious truth to their minds is a terrible monitor of what sin is doing in their hearts.
3. Sin is like fire in its attractions. A little child loves to play with fire, careless or unconscious of the danger. So it is that men toy with sin. They see its brilliant forms, its beautiful but deadly blaze, and fall in love with it. The moth loves the flame. Men are drawn to sin by its pleasing, winning aspect. It has indulgence for appetite; mirth, wit, and humour, to amuse and gratify; feasts for gluttons; splendour for pride; revelry for the reckless.
4. Sin is like fire in its consuming power. In a short time the flames will turn the grandest and most imposing fabric of human hands into a heap of smouldering rubbish. Sin will do the same thing, only it burns down men. The soul cannot be burned. But what no furnace seven times heated can do, sin will. It can burn the soul down to an eternal ruin. It has done it. It can set it all ablaze with unholy desires; with lust, envy, pride, selfishness, avarice, malice, and all manner of iniquity. It can burn out of it all the elements of reflection, sensibility, principle, and reverence for God. And it is not gross passions alone that will burn down the soul. You can kindle with shavings as well as with pitch and tar. You can desecrate the soul by vain and selfish thoughts as well as by criminal deeds.
5. Sin is like flame, because it spreads, and tends to spread. One spark is enough to kindle a fire that would burn down all London. And so one wicked thought, or evil suggestion or temptation, has been the spark that has kindled the fires of sin in the soul till it glowed like a furnace, or has set the whole community in a blaze of passion. A bad man is always going on from bad to worse.
6. Sin is like fire in the pain it inflicts. What bodily smart or anguish is like that of fire? It is the most perfect of all kinds of torture. Lay a wicked deed on a mans conscience, and how it blisters it! It burns, and stings, and agonises its victim. It overwhelms him with anguish and remorse. Nothing can make a man so unhappy as his sin.
7. Sin is like fire, because it defaces whatever it touches. Everything fair and beautiful withers before fire. So sin blights the fairest landscapes.
8. Sin is like fire, because it must be resisted. Sin is an evil to be contended with in heart and in life. It must be resisted, or it will consume the soul.
9. Sin is like fire, because if you wait too long before you attempt to bring it under, the attempt is useless. The time comes when fire gets the upper hand. So the soul may be left till sin has got the mastery.
II. It is the sinner that is the fuel
1. A firebrand is a combustible material. It could be burned. So it is with the sinners heart. It can burn with unhallowed passions.
2. A firebrand has been already exposed to the fire. So is the sinners heart. Unruly desires and unhallowed aims have burned into it, and you can find no one who has not sinned.
3. A firebrand has offered no effectual resistance to the flames. And the sinner has not resisted the fires of sin as he should have done.
4. A firebrand is ready to be kindled anew, even after it has been once quenched. And a spark of temptation may set the sinner ablaze again. It needs to be kept and guarded well.
5. A firebrand is already in the process of being consumed, and a little longer time will finish it. So with the sinful heart; the progress of the fire has been rapid, and its work will soon be done.
6. A firebrand needs only to be let alone, and it will burn to ashes. Leave the soul in its sin–leave it to the ruinous, consuming power of its own lusts, and its ruin will be complete.
7. A firebrand is a dangerous thing if its sparks and coals come in contact with anything else; and so Scripture declares that one sinner destroyeth much good.
III. But even firebrands may be saved. Desperate as their condition is, they are sometimes plucked from the burning, and their flames are quenched. So it is with sinners. How were they delivered? Did they save themselves? As well might the firebrand put out its own fires. The work is Gods. The converted soul is a miracle of grace. He interposes. It is by His Word enlightening the mind, His Spirit convincing of sin, and His grace renewing the soul that the work is accomplished. (E. A. Gillett.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. I have overthrown some of you] In the destruction of your cities I have shown my judgments as signally as I did in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and those of you that did escape were as “brands plucked out of the fire;” if not consumed, yet much scorched. And as the judgment was evidently from my hand, so was the deliverance; “and yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Overthrown; utterly consumed and destroyed your houses and goods.
Some of you; though it was a total consumption to those it fell on, yet it was but on some, who might be wantings to others, and by which others might see how easy it was for God to destroy them all.
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: we no where else read of such fire from heaven, yet it is possible some such judgment might fall on some of their cities, and not be recorded; but I do rather understand it proverbially spoken, denoting most grievous and desolating fires, or judgments.
Ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning; such of you as escaped were yet in very great danger, and as firebrands in midst of the fire, where you were with others burning till infinite mercy saved a remnant, and plucked you out.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. some of yousome parts ofyour territory.
as God overthrew Sodom(Deu 29:23; Isa 13:19;Jer 49:18; Jer 50:40;2Pe 2:6; Jdg 1:7).”God” is often repeated in Hebrew instead of “I.“The earthquake here apparently alluded to is not that in the reign ofUzziah, which occurred “two years” later (Am1:1). Traces of earthquakes and volcanic agency abound inPalestine. The allusion here is to some of the effects of these inprevious times. Compare the prophecy, Deu 28:15-68;Amo 4:6-11 here.
as a firebrand plucked out of. . . burning(Compare Isa 7:4;Zec 3:2). The phrase isproverbial for a narrow escape from utter extinction. Though Israelrevived as a nation under Jeroboam II, it was but for a time, andthat after an almost utter destruction previously (2Ki14:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,…. Either their houses were burnt, or their bodies consumed by fire from heaven, with lightning; not whole cities, but the habitations of some particular persons, or they themselves:
and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning; some escaped such an awful calamity, their houses were not consumed, while others were; and their persons were safe, while others, just by them, were struck dead at once:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord; neither the judgments of God on themselves and others had any effect upon them to humble and reclaim them: such dispensations, without the grace of God is exerted, rather harden than soften; and, instead of bringing men to repentance, cause them to blaspheme; see Re 16:8; nor will the mercy and goodness of God, which should lead persons to repentance, attain that end, unless accompanied with the Spirit and grace of God; who, notwithstanding such mercies and deliverances, will remain senseless, stupid obdurate, and impenitent; see Re 9:20.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Amos proceeds further, and says, that God had used a severity towards his chosen people similar to that which formerly he showed towards Sodom and Gomorrah. That, we know, was a memorable evidence of God’s wrath, which ought to have filled all ages with dread, as it ought also at this day: and Scripture, whenever it graphically paints the wrath of God, sets Sodom and Gomorrah before our eyes. It was indeed a dreadful judgment, when God destroyed those cities with fire from heaven, when they were consumed, and when the earth, cleaving asunder, swallowed up the five cities. But he says that nearly the same ruin had taken place among the people of Israel, only that a few escaped, as when any one snatches a brand from the burning; for the second clause of the verse ought no doubt to be taken as a modification; for had Amos only said, that they had been overthrown as Sodom and Gomorrah, he would have said too much. The Prophet then corrects or modifies his expression by saying, that a few had remained, as when one snatches a brand from the burning. But in the meantime, they ought to have been at least moved by punishments so grievous and dreadful, since God had manifested his displeasure to them, as he did formerly to Sodom and Gomorrah.
History seems, at the same time, to militate against this narrative of Amos; for he prophesied under Jeroboam the second, the son of Joash; and the state of the people was then prosperous, as sacred history records. How then could it be, that the Israelites had been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah? This difficulty may be easily solved, if we attend to what sacred history relates; for it says that God had pity on the Israelites, because all had been before consumed, the free man as well as the captive, (2Kg 14:25) When, therefore, there was so deplorable a devastation among the people, it was God’s purpose to give them some relief for a time. Hence he made king Jeroboam successful, so that he recovered many cities; and the people flourished again: but it was a short prosperity. Now Amos reminds them of what they had suffered, and of the various means by which God had stimulated them to repentance though they proved wholly untamable.
Then these two things are in no way inconsistent, — that the Israelites had been consumed before God spared them under Jeroboam, — and that they had yet been for a time relieved from those calamities, which proved ruinous both to the captive and to the free, as it is expressly declared. We must, at the same time, remember, that there was some residue among the people; for it was God’s design to show mercy on account of his covenant. The people were indeed worthy of complete destruction; but it was God’s will that some remnant should continue, lest any one should think that he had forgotten his covenant. We hence see why God had preserved some; it was, that he might contend with the wickedness of the people, and show that his covenant was not wholly void. So the Lord observed a middle course, that he might not spare hypocrites, and that he might not abolish his covenant; for it was necessary for that to stand perpetually, however ungodly and perfidious the Israelites may have been. The Prophet then shows, that God had been faithful even in this case, and constantly kept his covenant, though all the Israelites had fallen away from him. He at length concludes —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Overthrown.Another awful calamity, an earthquake, is referred to, and perhaps a volcanic eruption. Dr. Pusey enumerates a long series of earthquakes, which distressed Palestine, though not the central parts of the country, from the time of Julian to the twelfth century. The allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah gives a hint of the fierce licence and vice which had prevailed in some parts of the Northern kingdom, and called for chastisement.
Some of you.More accurately among you.
Brand plucked . . .Men would cast such a brand back into the fire. Behold the goodness and severity of God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Earthquake. Some consider Amo 4:11 a summary of all preceding judgments, not a description of a new calamity; others, a figure of devastating wars (2Ki 13:4; 2Ki 13:7); but it is more natural to interpret it as a description of an earthquake causing serious havoc in Israel. Palestine has suffered frequently from earthquakes, especially in the border districts. During the past ten years four earthquakes are said to have visited the country. The most disastrous of which more or less complete accounts have been preserved were those of 31 B.C., in which, according to Josephus, some thirty thousand persons perished, and of January 1, 1837. A vivid account of the horrors of the latter is given in Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, 2:529-531, note 41. The only earthquake mentioned in the Old Testament is that mentioned in the days of Uzziah (Amo 1:1; compare Zec 14:5), unless we class in the same category the destruction of the cities of the Plain (compare G.A. Smith, Historical Geography, p. 508f.). The allusion cannot be to the one mentioned in Amo 1:1, unless we suppose that Amos retouched his prophecies when he collected them subsequent to the earthquake (see p. 195). He may have in mind any similar catastrophe.
Some of you R.V., “cities among you”; literally, among you. Not the whole country suffered; nevertheless, all should heed the warning.
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah The point of comparison is the completeness of the ruin. As an illustration of this the destruction of these cities (Genesis 19) is mentioned several times in the Old Testament (Deu 29:23; Jer 49:18; Isa 1:7, etc.).
Ye Those that escaped.
A fire brand plucked out of the burning A picture of narrow escape. They were almost consumed, only the divine mercy saved them (Isa 1:9; compare Zec 3:2). But even in the face of ruin and with this overwhelming evidence of the divine love the people hardened their hearts. The divine love and mercy (Amo 2:9 ff.), as well as the divine judgments (Amo 4:6 ff.) failed to accomplish the divine purpose. Nothing more can be done. Destruction is inevitable.
On the philosophy underlying Amo 4:6-11, see in part comment on Amo 3:6. To it may be added that in the ancient world it was customary to ascribe all calamities to the wrath of the deity, manifesting itself either arbitrarily or on account of sins committed by the devotees. The Hebrew prophets believed that Jehovah’s wrath was aroused by sin, that his righteousness demanded the punishment of sin, and that the punishment would take the form of some calamity to be experienced in this present life. They believed also that these calamities had a corrective purpose. These two beliefs underlie the prophetic explanation of calamities. Since secondary causes and the working of natural laws were entirely disregarded, it never occurred to the prophets that any calamity could come without Jehovah’s direct interference, and without a punitive or corrective purpose. With a clearer conception of the character of God we may hesitate to believe that every time a famine or drought or earthquake occurs, God is especially angry with those who have to suffer, and yet there can be no doubt that “the instinct is sound which in all ages has led religious people to feel that such things are inflicted for moral purposes.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Amo 4:11. Ye were as a fire-brand, &c. A proverbial expression, used both by sacred and prophane writers to signify a narrow escape out of imminent danger. The comparison expresses perfectly well the state to which the Syrians reduced the Israelites in the war here referred to. “They shall see one part of their kingdom seized upon by the Syrians, their cities taken, their fields plundered, their troops defeated. That which shall be saved, shall escape with difficulty, and as it were half burned: a fire-brand “plucked out of the burning.” See Isa 7:4. Zec 3:2. 1Co 3:15 and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1189
INCORRIGIBLENESS REPROVED
Amo 4:11-12. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
THE various dispensations of providence are intended to awaken our concern for our best interests, and to bring us back to God. But the generality of mankind, satisfied with tracing events to second causes, neglect to make the improvement of them which God designs. Judgments and mercies in constant succession pass unheeded; and, instead of promoting our spiritual welfare, too frequently enhance rather our eternal condemnation. It is certain that God notices the effects which his dealings produce upon us: and, if we continue incorrigible under all the means which he uses for our good, he will sooner or later call us to a severe account. To this effect he speaks in the passage before us; where, having recapitulated the various methods by which he had sought to reclaim his people, he complains, after each, that they had not returned unto him; and then he bids them prepare to answer for it at his tribunal.
We may with too much reason apply to ourselves the words originally addressed to Israel, and consider from them,
I.
The complaint alleged against us
God has used various means to bring us to repentance
[In the context he specifies several judgments which he had inflicted on his people Israel, intimating, at the same time, that in the midst of judgment he had remembered mercy. His judgments had been successive, and partial, not universal, or combined. We too must confess that he has visited us with heavy calamities [Note: Here may be mentioned any that have recently happened; especially if among them can be enumerated scarcity, or drought, or mildew, or pestilence, or prejudicial lightnings.] But yet he has staid his rough wind in the day of his east wind, insomuch that we have been like a brand plucked out of the fire! War, famine, and pestilence have raged in different parts of the continent; but we, though slightly affected by them all, have escaped without any material injury [Note: Written Feb. 1805.].
For a long time also has God spared us from that awful pestilence which has raged both in Asia and Europe: but now has it reached our shores, and is spreading widely both in Britain and Ireland [Note: July, 1832.], and carrying off multitudes with fearful rapidity into the eternal world.]
But in the midst of all we have continued impenitent
[We can see nothing of national reformation. Fasts indeed have been appointed from time to time during the late war, and even on the present occasion: but it will be well if these be not numbered amongst our greatest sins; seeing that they have been little else than an empty form, a hypocritical service, a solemn mockery. As for national repentance, what evidence can be adduced to warrant the hope that it has ever taken place? What national sin has been put away? Have we less pride and arrogance, when speaking of our fleets and armies? Have we ceased from traffic in human blood? Does not the land groan as much as ever under the load of sabbaths wasted, oaths violated, and sacraments profaned; or, if any slight alteration in relation to oaths and sacraments have taken place, has it not been through a political concession to popular clamour, rather than from any regard for the honour and authority of God?
Nor can we boast much more of personal improvement. Are not the young as gay and dissipated, as if they had no occasion for mourning and weeping? Are not the worldly as intent upon their gains as if this world were their all? Do not the formal still continue as regardless of the life and power of godliness, as if the service of the heart were not required? Is there any considerable change even in the people of God? Is there much of a spirit of prayer and intercession found among them? Are they pleading, like Abraham for Sodom, or like Moses for the worshippers of the golden calf? In truth, there are few, if any, who lay to heart the iniquities of the nation, or inquire, What have I done to increase the sum of our national guilt?]
Surely then, since we must plead guilty to the charge, we may fitly also apply to ourselves,
II.
The admonition founded upon it
God threatened the utter extinction of the Jewish nation [Note: ver. 2, 3. It is in reference to this that God says in the text, Thus will I do.]: and he bids us also to prepare to meet him,
1.
In increased calamities
[What God has already inflicted on us, is nothing in comparison of what we may expect at his hands, if we continue to provoke him. Go to Shiloh, and see what he did to it for the wickedness of his people Israel [Note: Jer 7:12.] Look at the Jews at this day, whom he has dealt with as a man who wipeth a dish, and turneth it upside down [Note: 2Ki 21:12-13. with 1Ki 14:10.]. He hath only smitten us with rods at present; but, if we repent not, he will chastise us with scorpions: yea, he will continue to punish us seven times more for our sins. O that we might cease from our wickedness, before we oblige him to come forth against us as a man of war, and his fury burn to the lowest hell. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.]
2.
In the day of future retribution
[In this world God calls men into judgment in their national capacity. It is in the eternal world only that he will reward and punish the different individuals. Then all of us must appear before his judgment-seat. And if we die impenitent, every dispensation which God had appointed for our good, shall be brought forth to aggravate our guilt and condemnation. I sent you affliction; yet you returned not unto me: I sent you mercies; yet you returned not unto me: I gave you my Gospel to enlighten your mind, and my Spirit to affect your heart; yet you returned not unto me: I continued these mercies to you for so many years; yet you returned not unto me. Alas! how unanswerable will be his accusations, how just his sentence, how terrible his award!
For this account we must prepare: we must be ready to meet him whensoever he shall summon us: and if he call us unprepared, it were better for us that we had never been born.]
There are yet two or three considerations, which we would impress upon your minds, to strengthen those which have been already proposed:
1.
If you return not to God, there is no hope for you
[From one end of the Bible to the other we cannot find one word which countenances the idea of any person being saved, who dies impenitent. And should not this thought lead us to repentance? O let it have due influence on our minds! and let us be sufficiently on our guard against self-deception. Let us remember, that it is not a sigh, a tear, an acknowledgment, that will suffice: we must return unto God; we must return to him with our whole hearts: we must return in deep contrition, in lively faith, in unreserved obedience.]
2.
If you return to God, you will find him ever ready to receive you
[As, on the one hand, no one ever found mercy without repentance, so neither, on the other hand, was any true penitent ever rejected. Search the Scriptures; not a syllable will be found to discourage a sinners return to God. Nations have always found mercy when they sought it earnestly; and of individuals, not one was ever rejected who turned unto God in sincerity and truth. What greater encouragement then can any man desire? There is the word, yea the oath, of Jehovah pledged, that none shall seek his face in vain. Beloved brethren, only seek him with your whole hearts, and he will assuredly be found of you.]
3.
Inconceivable will be the difference between those who are prepared to meet their God, and those who meet him unprepared
[Think of an impenitent sinner, when summoned into the presence of his God: how glad would he be that the rocks should fall upon him, and the hills should cover him from his sight! But this cannot be. He must appear; he must answer for himself; he must receive his doom; he must take his portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. View, on the contrary, the true penitent, the humble believer: behold him coming forth with joy to meet his reconciled God and Saviour: he stands before his tribunal with unshaken confidence: he knows in whom he has believed. While the other anticipates in the frowns of his Judge the miseries of hell, he receives in Emmanuels smiles an earnest and foretaste of the heavenly felicity. This alone is sufficient to shew the importance of being prepared. We need not follow them to their different abodes: their comparative happiness at the first meeting of their God is abundantly sufficient to enforce this exhortation upon all, Return unto the Lord, from whom ye have deeply revolted!]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 4:11 I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Ver. 11. I have overthrown some of you ] Some and not all: thus, in the midst of judgment he remembered mercy, he did not stir up all his wrath, Psa 78:38 , he let fall some drops, but would not shed the whole shower of it; for he remembered that they were but flesh. Some he hanged up in gibbets, as it were, for example to the rest: as St Jude saith he dealt by Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, thrown forth for an instance of Divine vengeance to all succeeding ages, Jdg 1:7 ( ); and as Herodotus telleth us, that the sparks and ashes of burnt Troy served for a lasting monument of God’s great displeaure against great sinners. See the like threatened to Babylon, Isa 13:19-20 .
As God overthrew Sodem
And ye were as a firebrand
And yet ye have not returned, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as God overthrew, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 19:24, Gen 19:25. Deu 29:23). App-92. Compare Isa 13:19. Jer 49:18. God. Hebrew Elobim. App-4.
ye were as a firebrand, &c. Compare Zec 3:2. Jud 1:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
as God: Gen 19:24, Gen 19:25, Isa 13:19, Jer 49:18, Hos 11:8, 2Pe 2:6, Jud 1:7
as a: Zec 3:2, 1Co 3:15, Jud 1:23
yet: Amo 4:6, Jer 6:28-30, Eze 22:17-22, Eze 24:13, Rev 9:20
Reciprocal: Deu 21:18 – will not Deu 28:24 – make the rain Deu 29:23 – like the Psa 18:8 – fire Pro 21:12 – overthroweth Isa 1:9 – we should Isa 7:4 – the two tails Jer 20:16 – as Jer 50:40 – General Eze 15:4 – the fire Eze 16:50 – therefore Amo 7:4 – called Luk 17:29 – General Rom 9:29 – we had been Rev 11:8 – Sodom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 4:11. They were not destroyed literally In the same manner as was Sodom, but their destruction was just as sure. Firebrand plucked cut of the burning denotes the near complete ruin that the Lord suffered to come upon His unfaithful people. But God still loved the nation and saw to it that the enemy could not put the nation entirely out of existence as a distinct people.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
4:11 I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a {m} firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
(m) You were almost all consumed, and a few of you were wonderfully preserved; 2Ki 14:26 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Even the overthrow of some Israelite cities did not move the Israelites to repent (cf. Deu 28:62). Comparing these overthrown cities to Sodom and Gomorrah indicates their proverbial complete destruction (cf. Isa 1:9; Isa 13:19; Jer 50:40; Zep 2:9), not necessarily the method of their destruction. God had rescued His people like burning sticks from a conflagration, as He had formerly extracted Lot and his daughters from Sodom (Genesis 19). The Assyrian kings customarily sowed the ground of a conquered area with salt so nothing would grow there. [Note: Niehaus, p. 402.]
In all, Amos mentioned seven disciplinary judgments that God had brought on the Israelites: famine (Amo 4:6), drought, (Amo 4:7-8), plant diseases (Amo 4:9), insects (Amo 4:9), plague (Amo 4:10), warfare (Amo 4:10), and military defeat (Amo 4:11). God sometimes permits His people to suffer so they will turn back to Him (cf. Heb 12:6), but the Israelites had not done that.