Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 4:13
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, [is] his name.
13. A verse describing the majesty and omnipotence of the Judge, and suggesting consequently a motive why His will should be obeyed, and His anger averted. He is the Maker both of the solid mountains, and of the invisible yet sometimes formidable and destructive wind: He knows the secrets of man’s heart, and can, if He pleases, declare them to him; He can darken with the storm the brightness of heaven, and march in the thunder-cloud over the high places of the earth: Yahweh of Hosts is His name!
formeth the mountains ] or fashioneth, the word used ( yar) denoting properly the work of the potter. It is often used figuratively of the Divine operation; e.g. Gen 2:7-8; Gen 2:19 (animals and man); Isa 45:18 (the earth); Isa 43:1; Isa 43:21; Isa 44:2; Isa 44:21; Isa 44:24 (the people of Israel); Isa 43:7, Jer 1:5 (an individual man); Jer 10:16 (the universe): and even of framing or planning in the Divine purpose, Isa 22:21; Isa 37:26; Isa 46:11; Jer 18:11; Jer 33:2.
createth ] br means properly to cut (see Jos 17:15; Jos 17:18), and hence to fashion by cutting, to shape; but, in the conjugation here used, it is employed exclusively of God, to denote, viz., the production, in virtue of powers possessed by God alone, of something fundamentally new. The verb does not in itself express the idea of creatio ex nihilo (though it was probably in usage often felt to denote this); but it implies the possession of a sovereign transforming, or productive, energy, altogether transcending what is at the disposal of man. It is used chiefly of the formation of the material cosmos (or of parts of it), as Gen 1:1, Isa 40:28; Isa 45:12; Isa 45:18, and here; but it may also be applied to a nation, as Israel (Isa 43:1; Isa 43:15), or to an individual man (Isa 54:16), and figuratively to new conditions or circumstances, &c. beyond the power of man to bring about (Exo 34:10; Num 16:30; Jer 31:22; Isa 45:8; Isa 48:7; Isa 65:17). The idea expressed by the word was more frequently dwelt upon in the later stages of Israel’s religion; it is accordingly particularly frequent (in various applications) in Deutero-Isaiah. See further Schultz, O. T. Theol. ii. 180 ff. It is parallel, as here, to yar, to form, in Isa 43:1; Isa 43:7; Isa 45:18.
and declareth unto man what is his thought ] his musing, meditation. The word occurs only here: but one hardly different is found 1Sa 1:16 (“complaint,” lit. musing), 1Ki 18:27, Psa 104:34 al. The agency employed may be the prophet, declaring to man his secret purposes (cf. Act 5:3 f., 9), or conscience, suddenly revealing to him the true gist and nature of his designs. The pron. his might in the abstract refer to God (cf. Amo 3:7); but the word rendered musing does not seem one that would be used very naturally of the Divine purpose.
that maketh the morning darkness ] viz. suddenly blackening the clear sky with the dark masses of storm-cloud. In the thunderstorm, the Hebrews conceived Jehovah to be borne along within the clouds (Psa 18:9-13; cf. on ch. Amo 1:2): the picture of Jehovah darkening the heavens with the gathering storm thus leads on naturally to the clause which follows.
and treadeth or marcheth upon the high places of the earth ] viz. in the thunder-cloud, as it sweeps along the hills. For the expression, comp. (of Israel) Deu 32:13; Isa 58:14; (of Jehovah) Mic 1:3: also Job 9:8 (“who marcheth upon the high places of the sea”).
Jehovah of hosts, is his name ] The title is expressive of majesty and omnipotence: see on Amo 3:13. It stands in the same emphatic formula as here, Amo 5:27 (‘ God of hosts’); Isa 47:4; Isa 48:2; Isa 51:15; Isa 54:5; Jer 10:16 (= Jer 51:19), Jer 31:35, Jer 32:18, Jer 46:18, Jer 48:15, Jer 50:34, Jer 51:57.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For lo, He that formeth the mountains – Their God whom they worshiped was but nature. Amos tells them, who their God is, whom they were to prepare to meet. He describes Him as the Creator of that, which to man seems most solid, to go furthest back in times past. Before the everlasting mountains were, God is, for He made them. Yet God is not a Creator in the past alone. He is a continual Worker. And formeth the wind, that finest subtlest creature, alone invisible in this visible world; the most immaterial of things material, the breath of our life, the image of mans created immaterial spirit, or even of Gods uncreated presence, the mildest and the most terrific of the agents around us. But the thought of God, as a Creator or Preserver without, affects man but little. To man, a sinner, far more impressive than all majesty of Creative power, is the thought that God knows his inmost soul. So he adds; and declareth unto man what is his thought, that is, his meditation, before he puts it into words. God knows our thoughts more truly than we ourselves. We disguise them to ourselves, know not our own hearts, wish not to know them. God reveals us to ourselves. As He says, The heart is deceitful above all things; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart; I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Jer 17:9-10. Mans own conscience tells him that Gods knowledge of His inmost self is no idle knowledge. If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things 1Jo 3:20.
That maketh the morning darkness – If the light become darkness, how great that darkness! From the knowledge of mans heart, the prophet goes on to retribution. Morning is the symbol of all which is beautiful, cheering, radiant, joyous to man; darkness effaces all these. Their God, he tells them, can do all this. He can quench in gloom all the magnificent beauty of His own creation and make all which gladdened the eyes of man, one universal blot. And treadeth upon the high places of the earth. He treadeth them, to tread them under. He humbleth all which exalteth itself. God walketh, when He worketh. He is without all, within all, containeth all, worketh all in all. Hence, it is said, He walketh on the wings of the wind Psa 104:3; He walketh on the heights of the sea Job 9:8; He walketh on the circuit of heaven Job 22:14.
Such was He, who made Himself their God, The Author of all, the Upholder of all, the Subduer of all which exalted itself, who stood in a special relation to mans thoughts, and who punished. At His command stand all the hosts of heaven. Would they have Him for them, or against them? Would they be at peace with Him, before they met Him, face to face?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 4:13
He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind.
Backgrounds and foregrounds
The mountains made, for the Hebrew, the background of every landscape in which they stand. The foreground of the plain-land rests upon the background of the hills. From them it gains its lights and shadows. The two depend on one another. The background and the foreground together make the complete landscape in the midst of which a human life is set. And this is also true in the world of inner life. There is a foreground and a background to every mans career. There are things that press themselves immediately upon our attention;–the details of life; these are the foreground of our living. And then, beyond them, there are the great truths which we believe, the broad and general consecrations of our life which we have made, the large objects of our desire, the great hopes and impulses which keep us at our work. These are the mountain backgrounds of our life. They are our reservoirs of power; out of them come down our streams of strength. In the perfect picture you cannot leave out the foreground of immediate detail, nor the background of established principle and truth. The danger of our life is not, ordinarily, lest the foreground be forgotten or ignored. The details of life command us and attract us. The backgrounds of life we are most likely to forget. To most men the actual immediate circumstances of life are so pressing that they forget the everlasting truths and forces by which those circumstances must be made dignified and strong. We are troubled by the superficialness and immediateness of living. There is a need of distance and of depth. And the distance and the depth are there, if men would only feel them.
1. Behind every foreground of action lies the background of character, on which the action rests, and from which it gets its life and meaning. It matters not whether it be an age, a nation, a Church, a man; anything which is capable both of being and of acting must feel its being behind its acting, must make its acting the expression of its being, or its existence is very unsatisfactory and thin. What is all your activity without you? How instantly the impression of a character creates itself, springs into shape behind a deed. If this were not so, life would grow very tame and dull. An engine has no background of character. Its deeds are simple deeds. Man, being character, will care for nothing which has not character behind it, finding expression through its life. Here is the value of reality, sincerity, which is nothing but the true relation between action and character. Expressed artistically, it is the harmony between the foreground and background of a life. What will be the rule of life which such a harmony involves? Will it not include both the watchfulness over character and the watchfulness over action, either of which alone is woefully imperfect? When will men learn that to feed the fountain of character, and yet never neglect the guiding of the streams of action, is the law of life? All the perplexing questions about the contemplative and active life, about faith and practice, about self-discipline and service of our fellow-men, have their key and solution hidden somewhere within this truth of the background and foreground. What culture is there by which the human life can be at once trained into character, and at the same time kept true in active duty? Only the culture of personal loyalty, admiration for a nature and obedience to a will opening together into a resemblance to Him whom we ardently desire, and enthusiastically obey. I recall what Jesus said, You must be born again,–that is His inexorable demand for the background of character. If ye love Me, keep My commandments,–that is His absolute insistence on the foreground of action. And the power of both of them–the power by which they both unite into one life–lies in the personal love and service of Himself. Closely related to the background of character, yet distinguishable from it is what I may call the background of the greater purpose. A mans purpose in life lies behind, and gives dignity and meaning to everything that the man does or says. The greater purpose may be bad or good, horrible or splendid. In the smaller world, it is a mans profession which makes the most palpable background of his life. But the great purpose is ruled by the man, as well as the man by the great purpose, and it is the complicated result of the mutual ruling that makes the life. Both the great purpose, and its immediate activities, are provided with their safeguards, that they may not be lost. A closing word upon another of the backgrounds of life. Prayer. The foreground of prayer is the intense, immediate desire for a certain blessing; the background of prayer is the quiet, earnest desire that the will of God, whatever it may be, should be done. What Christs prayer was, all true prayer must be. Remember that it is only in personal love and loyalty that life completes itself. Only when man loves and enthusiastically obeys God does the background of the universal and the eternal rise around the special and temporary, and the scenery of life become complete. Therefore it is that Christ, who brings God to us, and brings us to God, is the great background-builder. (Phillips Brooks.)
He declareth unto man what is his thought.
The Lord showing to man his thought
Our first inference from these words naturally is, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man. How little do we realise this truth, and, in consequence, how little restraint do we exercise over our thoughts! We may be careful in our doings, we may even try, by Gods help, to watch over our words, but our thoughts, the action of the highest part of man, the workings of the immortal soul, how often do we suffer them to wander ungoverned, to indulge in vanity, to exercise themselves in sin! What would our neighbours think of us could they read our thoughts, all our thoughts? All our thoughts are known to God. Many of us are earnestly trying, by the grace of God, to rule and govern our thoughts. The Christian may dare to lay open his thoughts before God, to call Gods attention to them, to sanctify them. The text reminds us that He who knows the thoughts of man also declares to man what they are. He teaches him to discern between good and evil thoughts, between those that are the fruits of the Spirit and such as proceed from the corrupt fountain of the human heart. And this He is pleased to do in different ways and for different purposes. God declares unto man his thought by His Holy Word, to produce conviction of sin, or to speak peace and comfort, according to his need. And God will declare unto man what are his thoughts at the last day. (F. J. Scott, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. He that formeth the mountains] Here is a powerful description of the majesty of God. He formed the earth; he created the wind; he knows the inmost thoughts of the heart; he is the Creator of darkness and light; he steps from mountain to mountain, and has all things under his feet! Who is he who hath done and can do all these things? JEHOVAH ELOHIM TSEBAOTH, that is his name.
1. The self-existing, eternal, and independent Being.
2. The God who is in covenant with mankind.
3. The universal Commander of all the hosts of earth and heaven. This name is farther illustrated in the following chapter. These words are full of instruction, and may be a subject of profitable meditation to every serious mind.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To move them to act for their safety, the prophet tells them how great and dreadful God is, the most dreadful and terrible enemy, but the most desirable friend.
He that formeth the mountains; when there was not a mountain or hill, or the least dust of either, thy God, O Israel, formed them; and it is wisdom to return to him, for he can remove difficulties and pressures were they as heavy as mountains, and so he can mend all with you quickly; and if your confidences in sinful ways were as strong as mountains, he can overthrow them: return therefore and repent.
Createth; giveth being by an almighty will.
The wind; which for its instability seems of contrary nature to mountains, which doth shake them and overturn foundations; that wind which we feel and hear, though we see it not, that makes hideous noises, and works dreadful effects. The storms you are threatened with, O Israel, are like the wind, dreadful, irresistible; but, as the wind, raised and ruled by God, who can soon with one word lay them all asleep: return therefore to him.
And declareth unto man what is his thought: think not by any counsels to prevent what God determines against an impenitent and sinful nation, as his power is infinite in creating, his wisdom is infinite too and unsearchable, and he can and will take sinners in their incorrigible wickednesses and punish them: be wise, therefore, and return to him by repentance.
That maketh the morning darkness; can as easily turn outward prosperity into extreme adversity as he can turn a glorious morning into a dark, dismal, and overclouded day, and so will do against you if you repent not; and can turn a cloudy morning into brightness, and misery into happiness, if you repent.
And treadeth upon the high places of the earth; can tread under foot the idols that are worshipped on high places of the earth, and trample on high and mighty potentates, exalted above ordinary men as highest hills are above lowest valleys.
The Lord; who alone am the Lord, the eternal and mighty God.
The God of hosts is his name; whose sovereign power and command all creatures obey, and act for or against us as he willeth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. The God whom Israel is to”prepare to meet” (Am4:12) is here described in sublime terms.
windnot as the Margin,“spirit.” The God with whom thou hast to do is theOmnipotent Maker of things seen, such as the stupendousmountains, and of things too subtle to be seen, though ofpowerful agency, as the “wind.”
declareth unto man . . . histhought (Ps 139:2). Yethink that your secret thoughts escape My cognizance, but I am thesearcher of hearts.
maketh . . . morningdarkness (Amo 5:8;Amo 8:9). Both literally turningthe sunshine into darkness, and figuratively turning the prosperityof the ungodly into sudden adversity (Psa 73:12;Psa 73:18; Psa 73:19;compare Jer 13:16).
treadeth upon . . . highplacesGod treadeth down the proud of the earth. He subjects toHim all things however high they be (Mic1:3). Compare Deu 32:13;Deu 33:29, where the same phraseis used of God’s people, elevated by God above every other humanheight.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains,…. These words are a description of the glorious Person, “thy God” and Saviour, to be met; he is the Creator of all things, that formed the mountains, and so was before them, as in Pr 8:25; and able to surmount and remove all mountains of difficulties that lay in his way of working out salvation for his people:
and createth the wind; or “spirit”; not the Holy Spirit, which is uncreated; but either angels, whom he makes spirits; or the spirit and soul of man he is the Creator of; or rather the natural wind is meant, which is his creature, he holds in his fists, restrains and commands, at his pleasure, Mt 8:26;
and declareth unto man what [is] his thought; not what is man’s thought, though he knows what is in man without any information, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and can reveal them to men, and convince them that he knows them, Mt 9:4; but rather the thought of God, the meditation of his heart, concerning the salvation of men; his thoughts of peace, which are the deep things of God, and which Christ, lying in the bosom of his Father, was privy to, and has declared, Joh 1:18. The Septuagint and Arabic versions, reading the words wrong, render them, “declaring to men his Christ”; which, though true of God, is not the sense of this clause. The Targum is,
“what are his works x?”
his works of creation, providence, redemption, and grace:
that maketh the morning darkness; or “darkness morning”, or “the morning [out of] darkness” y; being the dayspring from on high, the morning star, the sun of righteousness, that, rising, made the Gospel day, after a long night of Jewish and Gentile darkness; and who made the same dispensation a morning to one, and darkness to another, Joh 9:39. The Septuagint version is, “making the morning and the cloud”; the Vulgate Latin version, “making the morning cloud”; his coming was as the morning, Ho 6:3;
and treadeth upon the high places of the earth; the land of Israel, which is Immanuel’s land, is said by the Jews to be higher than other lands; Jerusalem higher than any part of Judea, and the mountain the temple was built on higher than Jerusalem: here Christ trod in the days of his flesh, and from the mount of Olives ascended to heaven, after he had trampled upon and spoiled principalities and powers, spiritual wickednesses in high places, and when he led captivity captive. Jarchi interprets it of humbling the mighty and proud, who are compared to the high places of the earth. The Targum is,
“to declared to men what are his works, to prepare light for the righteous as the morning light, who goes and prepares darkness for earth;”
the Lord, the God of hosts, [is] his name; he is the Jehovah, the Lord our righteousness, the God and Governor of the armies of heaven the hosts of angels, and to whom all creatures on earth are subject; all power in heaven and earth belongs unto him; this is Israel’s God, his Redeemer and Saviour he is called upon to prepare to meet.
x So Kimchi and R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 4. 5. y “faciens obscuritatem auroram”, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We have explained the last verse of the fourth chapter, except that there remains something to be said of the glorious representation given of God by the Prophet. He says first, that he had formed the mountains then that he had created the spirits, afterwards that he declares to man what is his thoughts, makes the morning and the darkness, and walks on the high places of the earth Such an accumulation of words might seem superfluous, only this main thing must be borne in mind, that it was necessary for men, whose minds were exceedingly torpid to be aroused that they might seriously consider what we have seen had been denounced on them. Hence the Prophet sought to shake off from the Israelites their thoughtlessness, by setting God before them in his greatness; for when his name only is announced, he is wholly neglected by the greatest part of men. It was therefore necessary that something should be added, that they who were asleep might be awakened, and understand how great and how fearful the power of God is. This is the design of all that we read here.
The word רוח, ruch, is interpreted in two ways. Some refer it to the wind, and others to the soul of man. If we take it for the wind, it will join suitably with the creation of mountains, for the winds emerge from them on account of their cavity. If you understand it of man’s soul, it will agree with the following clause. It appears to me more probable that the Prophet speaks of man’s soul; though one may possibly choose to connect both, so that there is an allusion to wind, and that yet Amos, about to speak of thought, first mentions the spirit.
But what the Prophet says, that God announces to men what their thought is — this is done in various ways. We indeed know that the end of teaching is, that men may confess their guilt, who before flattered themselves; we know also that the word of God is like a two-edged sword, which penetrates into the bones and marrow, and distinguishes between thoughts and feelings, (Heb 4:12) God then thus draws men out of their recesses into the light; and he also convinces them without the word; for we know how powerful are the secret movements ( instinctus — influences) of the Spirit. But the Prophet meant only here, that the Israelites had to do with God, who is the searcher of hearts, and from whom nothing is hid, however concealed it may be. Each one is to himself the best witness of his own thoughts; but the Prophet ascribes to God a higher degree, for he understands whatever any one conceives in his mind, better than he who seems to have all his own thoughts well understood. (30) Since men therefore craftily hide themselves, the Prophet here reminds them that they cannot succeed, for God understands what they inwardly think better than they themselves. We now then perceive what he substantially means.
Some explain the words, that God makes the morning darkness, as if Amos had said, that he converts light into darkness; but we ought rather to consider a copulative to be understood; for he here declares the power of God, not only as displayed in once creating the world, but also in preserving the order of nature, and in minutely regulating the changes of times and seasons. Let us now proceed to the fifth chapter.
(30) This conjecture is fully borne out by the fact, that the copulative ו, vau, is found in more than twenty MSS., as given by Kennicott: it is also found in the Septuagint. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) God of hosts.The Lord whom they have to meet is no mere national deity, but the supreme Creator.
Createth the wind.Not spirit (as margin). But the two ideas wind and spirit were closely associated in Heb. (as in Greek), being designated by the same word ruach (in Greek , comp. Joh. 3:8). Hence the transition in thought to the next clause is natural. This is curiously rendered in LXX. and declareth to man his Christ through a misunderstanding of the original.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, [is] his name.
Ver. 13. For lo, he that formeth the mountains, &c. ] q.d. If my mercy move thee not to a humble submission, let my majesty; and for that end consider and tremble at my Nomen Maiestativum, my transcendent excellencies as they are here displayed, descried, and described, for thy learning, with a great deal of solemnity and state; to the end that thou mayest not expect evils, but prevent them, as Demosthenes counselled his countrymen.
He that formeth the mountains
And createth the wind
And declareth unto man what is his thought
That maketh the morning darkness
And treadeth upon the high places of the earth
The Lord, the God of hosts is his name
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
createth. Some modern critics allege that this word (Hebrew. bara, Genesis 1 Amo 1:1) was not used before the time of Jeremiah; but it is used, besides the Pentateuch, in Psa 51:10; Psa 89:12, Psa 89:47; Psa 102:18; Psa 104:30; Psa 148:5. Ecc 12:1; and in Isaiah frequently.
wind. Hebrew ruach. App-9.
declareth unto man, &c. Compare Psa 189:2. Dan 2:28.
man. Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.
That maketh, &c. Compare Amo 5:8; Amo 8:9.
and treadeth, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 32:13; Deu 33:29). App-92. Compare Mic 1:3.
is His name. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 15:3). App-92. Compare Amo 5:8; Amo 9:6. Isa 47:4. Jer 10:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he that: This is a most powerful description of the majesty of Jehovah, the God of hosts. Job 38:4-11, Psa 65:6, Isa 40:12, Zec 12:1
and createth: Psa 135:7, Psa 147:18, Jer 10:13, Jer 51:16
wind: or, spirit, Joh 3:8
and declareth: Psa 139:2, Dan 2:28, Mat 9:4, Luk 7:39, Luk 7:40, Joh 2:25
that maketh: Amo 5:8, Amo 8:9, Exo 10:22, Exo 14:20, Isa 5:30, Jer 13:16
and treadeth: Deu 32:13, Deu 33:29, Mic 1:3, Hab 3:19
The Lord: Amo 3:13, Amo 5:8, Amo 6:8, Amo 9:6, Isa 47:4, Isa 48:2, Jer 10:16, Jer 51:19
Reciprocal: Exo 15:10 – blow Job 9:7 – commandeth Job 38:19 – darkness Psa 135:6 – Whatsoever Psa 148:8 – stormy Isa 45:7 – create darkness Eze 7:7 – morning Dan 2:29 – he that Joe 2:2 – as Amo 5:27 – whose Jon 1:4 – the Lord Mat 12:25 – Jesus
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 4:13. As proof that God is able to bring this great encounter upon the nation, mention is made of the other vast works that He has already done in creation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Their enemy was the most formidable one imaginable. It was not another nation or army but sovereign Yahweh of armies. It was He who forms tangible and stable mountains, creates the intangible and transitory wind, knows people’s thoughts, turns dawn into darkness, and steps on the hills of Israel like a giant approaching Samaria. They could not escape His judgment, so they better prepare for it (cf. Mic 1:3-4).
"In one bold sweep, this hymn shows the sovereignty of God-from his creation of the world to his daily summoning of the dawn, from his intervention in history to his revelation of mankind’s thoughts. Every believer can take comfort in the fact that, while sometimes it seems that God does not interfere in human affairs, the world is never out of his control. His sovereignty extends to every aspect of human experience." [Note: McComiskey, p. 308.]
The description of God here (and in Amo 5:8 and Amo 9:5-6) is a divine royal titulary. This is a genre that was common in the ancient Near East, and it appears occasionally in the writing prophets. [Note: Niehaus, p. 323.] A titulary combines the name of the god or king with epithets that describe him.