Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 4:6
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
6. Famine.
And I also ] i.e. And I on my part [153] in return for your zeal in the observance of a merely external formalism.
[153] For this use of also comp. Gen 20:6; Jdg 2:3; Jdg 2:21 ; 2Sa 12:13; Psa 52:5. &c.; and see the Heb. Lexicon published by the Clarendon Press, s.v. , 4.
cleanness of teeth ] An expressive description of a famine. Famines are often mentioned as a dreaded occurrence, or contingency, in Palestine: Gen 12:10; Gen 26:1 ; 2Sa 21:1; 2Sa 24:13; 1Ki 8:37 ; 1Ki 18:2; 2Ki 4:38 ; 2Ki 8:1; Rth 1:1.
in all your cities ] The famine had been felt in every part of the land.
returned unto me ] The idea of ‘returning to God’ is very common in the Old Testament. Man has alienated himself from God: and the aim of God’s visitations, whether of mercy or judgement, as well as of the exhortations and admonitions of His prophets, is to effect his return to Him who is the source of his true good. See e.g. Hos 6:1; Hos 14:1-2; Isa 10:21; Isa 31:6; Deu 4:30; Deu 30:2; Isa 55:7. In the N.T. , Act 3:19; Act 9:35; Act 11:21; Act 14:15; Act 15:19; 1Th 1:9; and elsewhere. These and similar passages, in a later stage of theological thought, gave rise to the idea of “conversion.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6 11. The five unheeded chastisements which have passed over Israel. The description of each ends with the pathetic refrain, indicating its failure to produce the desired effect, “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah” (cf. the refrain of Isa 9:12; Isa 9:17; Isa 9:21; Isa 10:4).
“In the ancient world it was a settled belief that natural calamities like those here alluded to were the effects of the deity’s wrath. When Israel suffers from them the prophets take for granted that they are for the people’s punishment And although some, perhaps rightly, have scoffed at the exaggerated form of the belief, that God is angry with the sons of men every time drought or floods happen, yet the instinct is sound which in all ages has led religious people to feel that such things are inflicted for moral purposes. In the economy of the universe there may be ends of a purely physical kind served by such disasters apart altogether from their meaning to man. But man at least learns from them that nature does not exist solely for feeding, clothing, and keeping him wealthy Amos had the more need to explain those disasters as the work of God and His righteousness, because his contemporaries, while willing to grant Jehovah leadership in war, were tempted to attribute to the Canaanite gods of the land all power over the seasons [Hos 2:5; Hos 2:8 ]” (G. A. Smith, p. 162 f.; cf. Geogr. pp. 73 76).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I, I too have given you – Such had been their gifts to God, worthless, because destitute of that which alone God requires of His creatures, a loving, simple, single-hearted, loyal obedience. So then God had but one gift which He could bestow, one only out of the rich storehouse of His mercies, since all besides were abused – chastisement. Yet this too is a great gift of God, a pledge of His love, who willed not that they should perish; an earnest of greater favors, had they used it. It is a great gift of God, that He should care for us, so as to chasten us. The chastisements too were no ordinary chastisements, but those which God forewarned in the law, that He would send, and, if they repented, He would, amid the chastisements, forgive. This famine God had sent everywhere, in all their cities, and in all their places, great and small. Israel thought that its calves, that is, nature, gave them these things. She did not know, God saith, that I gave her corn and wine and oil; but said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me Hos 2:8, Hos 2:12. In the powers and operations of nature, they forgat the God and Author of nature. It was then the direct corrective of this delusion, that God withheld those powers and functions of nature. So might israel learn, if it would, the vanity of its worship, from its fruitlessness. Some such great famines in the time of Elijah and Elisha 1 Kings 17; 18; 2Ki 8:1-6 Scripture records; but it relates them, only when God visibly interposed to bring, or to remove, or to mitigate them. Amos here speaks of other famines, which God sent, as He foretold in the law, but which produced no genuine fruits of repentance.
And ye returned not unto Me – He says not, that they returned not at all, but that they returned not wholly, quite back to God . Nay the emphatic saying, ye did not return quite to Me, so as to reach Me, implies that they did, after a fashion, return. Israels worship was a half, halting 1Ki 18:21, worship. But a half-worship is no worship; a half-repentance is no repentance; repentance for one sin or one set of sins is no repentance, unless the soul repent of all which it can recall wherein it displeased its God. God does not half-forgive; so neither must man half-repent. Yet of its one fundamental sin, the worship of nature for God, Israel would not repent. And so, whatever they did was not that entire repentance, upon which God, in the law, had promised forgiveness; repentance which stopped short of nothing but God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 4:6-11
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities.
Afflictions providential
There is a material difference between what may be called permissive and active providences; and between such as are disciplinary, and such as are strictly punitive. The afflictions enumerated here were sent by the direct visitation of God for disciplinary purposes. Hence the people were responsible to God for the moral effect of His providential visitations upon them. Just so with every man under Gods government. A thousand evils may come on me, and I may be personally innocent in relation to them; but God will judge me as to the uses I make of these visitations–the moral effects they produce upon me in the way of chastening and reformation.
1. Consider, then, that Gods hand or purpose is in every providential visitation.
2. That God has a specific moral end in every visitation that He lays upon us.
3. That these providences are sure to accomplish their mission upon us, namely, to chasten, soften, reclaim, or else to harden, render obdurate, and ripen for final destruction, as in the case of Pharaoh, ancient Israel, and a multitude of others.
4. Afflictions of every kind should humble us, awaken us to serious reflection and earnest inquiry as to their meaning. They are never sent in vain. A gracious purpose is behind them, or a fatherly rebuke is in them, or the dark cloud is ominous of coming wrath if we haste not to repent. (J. M. Sherwood.)
Gods government of the world a chastising government
In these verses the Almighty describes the various corrective measures which He had employed for effecting a moral reformation in the character of the Israelites.
I. The chastisements are often overwhelmingly terrific.
1. He sometimes employs blind nature, famine, drought, blight, pestilence, sword.
2. He sometimes employs human wickedness.
II. They are designed for moral restoration.
1. Men are alienated from God.
2. Their alienation is the cause of all their misery. See the benevolence of all these chastisements. They are to restore souls.
III. The chastisements often fail in their grand design. Yet have ye not returned unto Me. This shows–
1. The force of human depravity.
2. The force of human freedom. Almighty goodness does not force us into goodness. He treats us as free agents and responsible beings. (Homilist.)
Chastisement–its purpose and failure
I. The character of the chastisement.
1. It touched them in their temporal comfort, Nothing else would reach such obstinate sinners. To a good man the Divine love and favour is the highest of all blessings: Israel could only be reached by loss of temporal comfort.
2. The chastisement took various forms in order to reach them all.
3. Stroke after stroke fell upon them, that if their hearts were at all softened by the troubles they had just known, the new trouble might lead them to true repentance; and so that every class of the community might be reached and won for God. A glance at the five forms which the visitation took will show how it reached every circle.
II. The purpose of their sorrows. God wanted to bring them home to Himself.
III. The failure of this chastisement. God had done all that even He could do to make it impressive. Chastisement may fail. Many meet the gods, but few salute them. Sorrows which might purify are lost upon us because they do not make us acknowledge Him. God can do nothing more, He must leave men to their sin till the blow fall and the ruin irretrievable has come. (J. Telford, B. A.)
Unavailing chastisements
I. The design of God, in all his dispensations, is to bring men from their wanderings back again to himself. No truth can be clearer than that we have departed from Him. Being anxious for our restoration, God is pleased to chastise us. He does not afflict willingly, as is evident from–
1. His nature. He is a Being of boundless compassion.
2. The patience He exercises.
3. The warnings He gives.
II. That these dispensations frequently fail to answer the end for which they were intended. Happily it is not so in all cases. It is in very many. They are chastised in vain, and the complaint from heaven is heard. Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. In the visitations here referred to, three things appear.
1. They are fearful in their character. Some light stroke might be unheeded.
2. Frequent in their infliction. If a single trial is unavailing, surely one coming after another would bring them to consider their ways, and turn to Him that smote them.
3. Marked by certain features which showed the hand of God in the clearest manner. Rained on one city, and not on another.
III. When such dispensations are disregarded the most disastrous consequences are likely to ensue. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee. (Expository Outlines.)
God varies His instruments of punishment
One day, seeing some men in a field, I went up to them, and found they were cutting up the trunk of an old tree. I said, That is slow work, why not spilt it asunder with the beetle and wedges? Ah, this wood is so cross-grained and stubborn that it requires something sharper than wedges to get it to pieces. Yes, I replied, and that is the way God is obliged to deal with obstinate, cross-grained sinners; if they will not yield to one of His instruments, you may depend on it He will make use of another. (G. Grigg.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Cleanness of teeth] Scarcity of bread, as immediately explained. Ye shall have no trouble in cleaning your teeth, for ye shall have nothing to eat.
Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.] This reprehension is repeated five times in this chapter; and in it are strongly implied God’s longsuffering, his various modes of fatherly chastisement, the ingratitude of the people, and their obstinate wickedness. The famine mentioned here is supposed to be that which is spoken of 2Kg 8:1; but it is most likely to have been that mentioned by Joel, Joe 1:1-2:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I, the Lord, who gave many blessings to win you to repentance, hath also tried what might be done by judgments.
Cleanness of teeth: this is a description of famine by one effect of it; where meat fails the teeth are not fouled, as where it is eaten.
In all your cities; it was a general famine, and probably it was that long famine, 2Ki 8:1.
Want of bread in all your places; if there were some bread, yet it was very scarce every where: this passage explains the former.
Yet have ye not returned unto me; yet this starving people repented not of their idolatries, nor cast off their idols; left not their sins of oppression and cruelty, &c.; see Joe 2:12,13; what you did like returning was partial and hypocritical, and not lasting.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6-11. Jehovah details Hisseveral chastisements inflicted with a view to reclaiming them: butadds to each the same sad result, “yet have ye not returned untoMe” (Isa 9:13; Jer 5:3;Hos 7:10); the monotonousrepetition of the same burden marking their pitiable obstinacy.
cleanness of teethexplainedby the parallel, “want of bread.” The famine alluded to isthat mentioned in 2Ki 8:1[GROTIUS]. Where there isno food to masticate, the teeth are free from uncleanness, but it isthe cleanness of want. Compare Pr14:4, “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean.” Sospiritually, where all is outwardly smooth and clean, it is oftenbecause there is no solid religion. Better fighting and fears withreal piety, than peace and respectable decorum without spirituallife.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,…. Meaning a famine, having no food to foul them with, or to stick in them. This was not the famine in Samaria, 2Ki 6:25; for that was only in that city, and for a short time, while besieged; whereas this was in all the cities in Israel; rather therefore it designs the famine predicted by Elisha, which should be upon the land for seven years, 2Ki 8:1;
and want of bread in all your places: this is the same with the former clause, and explains it, and still makes the famine more general, not only in their cities, but in all their places of abode, their towns and villages:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord; this judgment had no influence upon them, to bring them to a sense of their evils, particularly their idolatry, and to repentance them, and to reclaim them from them, and return them to the Lord, and to his worship, as the Targum paraphrases it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But as Israel would not desist from its idolatrous worship, Jehovah would also continue to visit the people with judgments, as He had already done, though without effecting any conversion to their God. This last thought is explained in Amo 4:6-11 in a series of instances, in which the expression (and ye have not returned to me), which is repeated five times, depicts in the most thorough manner the unwearied love of the Lord to His rebellious children.
Amo 4:6 “And I have also given you cleanness of teeth in all your towns, and want of bread in all your places: and ye have not returned to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” The strongly adversative forms the antithesis to : Ye love to persist in your idolatry, and yet I have tried all means of turning you to me. Cleanness of teeth is explained by the parallel “want of bread.” The first chastisement, therefore, consisted in famine, with which God visited the nation, as He had threatened the transgressors that He would do in the law (Deu 28:48, Deu 28:57). For , compare Hos 14:2.
Amo 4:7-8 “And I have also withholden the rain from you, in yet three months to the harvest; and have caused it to rain upon one city, and I do not cause it to rain upon another. One field is rained upon, and the field upon which it does not rain withers. Amo 4:8. And two, three towns stagger to one town to drink water, and are not satisfied: and ye have not returned to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” The second punishment mentioned is the withholding of rain, or drought, which was followed by the failure of the harvest and the scarcity of water (cf. Lev 26:19-20; Deu 28:23). The rain “in yet (i.e., at the time when there were yet) three months to the harvest” is the so-called latter rain, which falls in the latter half of February and the first half of March, and is of the greatest importance to the vigorous development of the ears of corn and also of the grains. In southern Palestine the harvest commences in the latter half of April (Nisan), and falls for the most part in May and June; but in the northern part of the land it is from two to four weeks later (see my Archologie, i. pp. 33, 34, ii. pp. 113, 114), so that in round numbers we may reckon three months from the latter rain to the harvest. But in order to show the people more clearly that the sending and withholding of rain belonged to Him, God caused it to rain here and there, upon one town and one field, and not upon others (the imperfects from ‘amtr onwards express the repetition of a thing, what generally happens, and timmater , third pers. fem., is used impersonally). This occasioned such distress, that the inhabitants of the places in which it had not rained were obliged to go to a great distance for the necessary supply of water to drink, and yet could not get enough to satisfy them. , to stagger, to totter, expresses the insecure and trembling walk of a man almost fainting with thirst.
Amo 4:9 “I have smitten you with blight and yellowness; many of your gardens, and of your vineyards, and of your fig-trees, and of your olive-trees, the locust devoured; and ye have not returned to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” The third chastisement consisted in the perishing of the corn by blight, and by the ears turning yellow, and also in the destruction of the produce of the gardens and the fruits of the trees by locusts. The first is threatened in Deu 28:22, against despisers of the commandments of God; the second points to the threatenings in Deu 28:39-40, Deu 28:42. The infin. constr. harboth is used as a substantive, and stands as a noun in the construct state before the following words; so that it is not to be taken adverbially in the sense of many times, or often, as though used instead of harbeh (cf. Ewald, 280, c). On gazam , see at Joe 1:4. The juxtaposition of these two plagues is not to be understood as implying that they occurred simultaneously, or that the second was the consequence of the first; still less are the two to be placed in causal connection with the drought mentioned in Amo 4:7, Amo 4:8. For although such combinations do take place in the course of nature, there is no allusion to this in the present instance, where Amos is simply enumerating a series of judgments, through which Jehovah had already endeavoured to bring the people to repentance, without any regard to the time when they occurred.
Amo 4:10 The same thing may be said of the fourth chastisement mentioned in Amo 4:10, “I have sent pestilence among you in the manner of Egypt, have slain your young men with the sword, together with the booty of your horses, and caused the stench of your camps to ascend, and that into your nose; and ye have not returned to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” In the combination of pestilence and sword (war), the allusion to Lev 26:25 is unmistakeable (compare Deu 28:60, where the rebellious are threatened with all the diseases of Egypt). , in the manner (not in the road) of Egypt (compare Isa 10:24, Isa 10:26; Eze 20:30), because pestilence is epidemic in Egypt. The idea that there is any allusion to the pestilence with which God visited Egypt (Exo 9:3.), is overthrown by the circumstance that it is only a dreadful murrain that is mentioned there. The slaying of the youths or young men points to overthrow in war, which the Israelites endured most grievously in the wars with the Syrians (compare 2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 13:3, 2Ki 13:7). does not mean together with, or by the side of, the carrying away of your horses, i.e., along with the fact that your horses were carried away; for does not mean carrying away captive, but the captivity, or the whole body of captives. The words are still dependent upon , and affirm that even the horses that had been taken perished, – a fact which is also referred to in 2Ki 13:7. From the slain men and animals forming the camp the stench ascended, and that into their noses, “as it were, as an ‘azkarah of their sins” (Hitzig), but without their turning to their God.
Amo 4:11 “I have destroyed among you, like the destruction of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were like a brand plucked out of the fire; and ye have not returned to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” Proceeding from the smaller to the greater chastisements, Amos mentions last of all the destruction similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, i.e., the utter confusion of the state, by which Israel was brought to the verge of ruin, so that it had only been saved like a firebrand out of the fire. does not refer to an earthquake, which had laid waste cities and hamlets, or a part of the land, say that mentioned in Amo 1:1, as Kimchi and others suppose; but it denotes the desolation of the whole land in consequence of devastating wars, more especially the Syrian (2Ki 13:4, 2Ki 13:7), and other calamities, which had undermined the stability of the kingdom, as in Isa 1:9. The words are taken from Deu 29:22, where the complete desolation of the land, after the driving away of the people into exile on account of their obstinate apostasy, is compared to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. By thus playing upon this terrible threat uttered by Moses, the prophet seeks to show to the people what has already happened to them, and what still awaits them if they do not eventually turn to their God. They have again been rescued from the threatening destruction like a firebrand out of the fire (Zec 3:2) by the deliverer whom the Lord gave to them, so that they escaped from the power of the Syrians (2Ki 13:5). But inasmuch as all these chastisements have produced no fruit of repentance, the Lord will now proceed to judgment with His people.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Incorrigibleness of Israel; Judgments Called to Remembrance; Greater Judgments Threatened. | B. C. 790. |
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 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. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 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.
Here, I. God complains of his people’s incorrigibleness under the judgments which he had brought upon them in order to their humiliation and reformation. He had by several tokens intimated to them his displeasure, with this design, that they might by repentance make their peace with him; but it had not that effect.
1. It is five times repeated in these verses, as the burden of the charge, “Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord; you have been several times corrected, but in vain; you are not reclaimed, there is no sign of amendment. You have been sent for by one messenger after another, but you have not come back, you have not come home.” (1.) This intimates that that which God designed in all his providential rebukes was to reduce them to their allegiance, to influence them to return to him. (2.) That, if they had returned to their God, they would have been accepted, he would have bidden them welcome, and the troubles they were in would have been removed. (3.) That the reason why God sent further troubles was because former troubles had not done the work, otherwise it is no pleasure to the Almighty that he should afflict. (4.) That God was grieved at their obstinacy, and took it unkindly that they should force him to do that which he did so unwillingly: “You have not returned to me from whom you have revolted, to me with whom you are in covenant, to me who stands ready to receive you, to me who have so often called you.” Now,
2. To aggravate their incorrigibleness, and to justify himself in inflicting greater judgments, he recounts the less judgments with which he had tried to bring them to repentance.
(1.) There had sometimes been a scarcity of provisions, though there was no visible cause of it (v. 6): “I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, for you had no meat to chew, whereby your teeth might be fouled,” especially no flesh, which dirties the teeth. Or, I have given you emptiness of teeth, nothing to fill your mouths with. “Bread, the staff of life, has been wanting, for you have sown much and brought in little,” as Hag. i. 9. Some think this refers to that seven years’ famine that was in Elisha’s time, which we read of 2 Kings viii. 1. Now when God thus took away their corn in the season thereof, because they had prepared it for Baal, they should have said, We will go and return to our first husband, having paid dearly for leaving him; but it had not that effect. They have not returned to me, saith the Lord.
(2.) Sometimes they had wanted rain, and then of course they wanted the fruits of the earth. This evil was of the Lord: I have withholden the rain from you. God has the key of the clouds, and, if he shut up, who can open? v. 7. The rain was withheld when there were yet three months to the harvest, at the time when they used to have it, and therefore the withholding of it was an extraordinary thing, and, if the course of nature was altered, they must therein own the hand of the God of nature; and it was at a time when they most needed it, and therefore the want of it was a very sore judgment, and blasted their expectations of a crop at harvest. And one circumstance which made this very remarkable was that when there were some places that wanted rain, and withered for want of it, there were other places near adjoining that had it in abundance. God caused it to rain upon one city, and not upon another, in the same country; nay, he caused it to rain upon one field, one piece of a field, and it was thereby made fruitful and flourishing, but on the next field, on the other side of the hedge, nay, on another part of the same field, it rained not at all, and it was so long without rain that all the products of it withered. No doubt this was literally true, and there were many instances of it which were generally taken notice of. Now, [1.] By this it appeared that the withholding of the rain was not casual, but by a divine direction and disposal, and that the cloud which waters the earth is turned round about by the counsels of God, to do whatsoever he commands it, whether for correction, or for his land, or for his mercy, Job xxxvii. 12-18. Rain does not go by planets (as common people speak), but as God sends it by his winds. [2.] We have reason to think that those cities on which it rained not were the most infamous for wickedness, such as Bethel and Gilgal (v. 4), and that those on which it rained were such as retained something of religion and virtue among them. And so in the town-fields it rained or rained not, upon the piece, according as the owner was; for we are sure the curse of the Lord is in the house, and upon the ground, of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the just, and his field is a field that the Lord has blessed. [3.] It would be the greater grief and vexation to those whose fields withered for want of rain to see their neighbours’ fields well watered and flourishing. My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry, Isa. lxv. 13. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved. Probably those that were oppressed were rained upon, and so they recovered their losses, while the oppressors withered, and so lost their gains. [4.] Yet, as to the nation in general, it was a mixture of mercy with the judgment, and, consequently, strengthened the call to repentance and reformation, and encouraged them to hope for all mercy, in their returns to God, since there was so much mercy even in God’s rebukes of them. But, because they did not make good use of this gracious allay to the extremity of the judgment, they had not the benefit of it, which otherwise they might have had, for (v. 8) two or three cities wandered at uncertainty, as beggars, unto one city, to drink water, and, if possible, to have some to carry home with them, but they were not satisfied; it was but here and there one city that had water, while many wanted, and then it was not, as usual, Usus communis aquarum–Water is free to all. Those that had it had occasion for it, or knew not how soon they might, and therefore could afford but little to those that wanted, saying, Lest there be not enough for us and you. Those that came drank water, but they were not satisfied, because they drank it by measure, and with astonishment; and those that drink of this water shall thirst again, John iv. 13. They were not satisfied, because their desires were greedy, and what they had God did not bless to them, Hag. i. 6. And now, one would think, when they met with all this disappointment, they should have considered their ways and repented; but it had not that effect: “Yet have you not returned to me, no, not so much as to pray in a right manner for the former and latter rain,” Zech. x. 1. See the folly of carnal hearts; they will wander from city to city, from one creature to another, in pursuit of satisfaction, and still they miss of it; they labour for that which satisfies not (Isa. lv. 2), and yet, after all, they will not return to God, will not incline their ear to him in whom they might have satisfaction. The preaching of the gospel is as rain; God sometimes blesses one place with it more than another; some countries, some cities, are, like Gideon’s fleece, wet with this dew, while the ground about is dry; all withers where this rain is wanting. But it were well if people were but as wise for their souls as they are for their bodies, and, when they have not this rain near them, would go and seek it where it is to be had; and, if they seek aright, they shall not seek in vain.
(3.) Sometimes the fruits of their ground were eaten up by caterpillars, or blasted with mildew, v. 9. Heaven and earth are armed against those who have made God their enemy. When God pleased, that is, when he was displeased, [1.] They suffered by a malignant air, the influence of which, either too hot or too cold, blasted their fruits, with a force that could be neither discerned nor resisted, and against which there was no defence. [2.] They suffered by malignant animals. Their vineyards and gardens yielded their increase in great abundance, so did their fig-trees and olive-trees; but the palmer-worm devoured them before the fruits were ripe, and fit to be gathered in. This was either the same judgment with that which we read of Joel i. 4-6, or a less judgment of the same nature, sent before to give warning of that. But they did not take warning: Yet have you not returned unto me.
(4.) Sometimes the plague had raged among them, and the sword of war had cut off multitudes, v. 10. The pestilence is God’s messenger; this he sent among them, with directions whom to strike dead, and it was done. It was a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; deaths were scattered among them by the hand of a destroying angel at midnight. And perhaps this pestilence, as that of Egypt, fastened upon the first-born. In the way of Egypt (so the margin); when they were making their escape to Egypt, or going thither to seek for aid, the pestilence seized them by the way and stopped their journey. The sword of war is likewise the sword of the Lord; this was drawn among them with commission; and then it slew their young men, the strength of the present generation and the seed of the next. God says, I have slain them; he avows the execution. The slain of the Lord are many. The enemy took away their horses, and converted them to their own use; and the dead carcases of those that were slain either with sword or pestilence were so many, and for want of surviving friends were left so long unburied, that the stench of their camps came up into their nostrils, and was both noisome and dangerous, and might put them in mind of the offensiveness of their sin to God. And yet this did not prevail to humble and reclaim them: You have not returned to him that smites you. Such a rueful woeful sight as this prevailed not to make them religious.
(5.) In these and other judgments some were remarkably cut off, and made monuments of justice, others were remarkably spared, and made monuments of mercy, the setting of which the one over against the other one would have thought likely to work upon them, but it had not its effect, v. 11. [1.] Some were quite ruined, their families destroyed, and themselves in them: I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps they were consumed with lightning, as Sodom was, or the houses were, in some other way, burnt to the ground, and the inhabitants in them. Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be condemned with an overthrow, and so made an example, 2 Pet. ii. 6. God had threatened to destroy the whole land with such an overthrow as that of Sodom, Deut. xxix. 23. But he began with some particular places first, to give them warning, or perhaps with some particular persons, whose sins went beforehand to judgment. [2.] Others very narrowly escaped: “You were many of you as a firebrand plucked out of the burning, like Lot out of Sodom, when the fire had already kindled upon you; and yet you hate sin never the more for the danger it has brought you to, nor love God ever the more for the deliverance he wrought for you. You that have been so signally delivered, and in such a distinguishing way, have not returned unto me.“
II. God, in the close, calls upon his people, now at length, in this their day, to understand the things that belong to their peace, before they were hidden from their eyes, Amo 4:12; Amo 4:13. Observe here,
1. How God threatens them with sorer judgments than any they had yet been under: “Therefore, seeing you have not been wrought upon by correction hitherto, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel!” He does not say how he will do, but it shall be something worse than had come yet, John v. 14. Or, “Thus I will go on to do unto thee, following one judgment with another, like the plagues of Egypt, till I have made a full end.” Nothing but reformation will prevent the ruin of a sinful people. If they turn not to him, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. I will punish you yet seven times more, if you will not be reformed; so it was written in the law, Lev 26:23; Lev 26:24.
2. How he awakens them therefore to think of making their peace with God: “Seeing I will do this unto thee, and there is no remedy, prepare to meet they God, O Israel!” that is, (1.) “Consider how unable thou art to meet him as a combatant.” Some make it to be spoken by way of irony or challenge: “Prepare to meet God, who is coming forth to contend with thee. What armour of proof canst thou put on? What courage canst thou steel thyself with? Alas! it is but putting briers and thorns before a consuming fire, Isa 27:4; Isa 27:5. Art thou able with less than 10,000 to meet him that comes forth against thee with more than 20,000?” Luke xiv. 31. (2.) “Resolve therefore to meet him as a penitent, as a humble suppliant, to meet him as thy God, in covenant with thee, to submit, and stand it out no longer.” We must prepare to meet God in the way of his judgments (Isa. xxvi. 8), to take hold on his strength, that we may make peace. Note, Since we cannot flee from God we are concerned to prepare to meet him; and therefore he gives us warning, that we may prepare. When we are to meet him in his ordinances we must prepare to meet him, prepare to seek him.
3. How he sets forth the greatness and power of God as a reason why we should prepare to meet him, v. 13. If he be such a God as he is here described to be, it is folly to contend with him, and our duty and interest to make our peace with him; it is good having him our friend and bad having him our enemy. (1.) He formed the mountains, made the earth, the strongest stateliest parts of it, and by the word of his power still upholds it and them. Whatever are the products of the everlasting mountains, he formed them; whatever salvation is hoped for from hills and mountains, he is the founder of it, Psa 89:11; Psa 89:12. He that formed the great mountains can make them plain, when they stand in the way of his people’s salvation. (2.) He creates the wind. The power of the air is derived from him, and directed by him; he brings the wind out of his treasures, and orders from what point of the compass it shall blow; and he that made it rules it; even the winds and the seas obey him. (3.) He declares unto man what is his thought. He makes known his counsel by his servants the prophets to the children of men, the thought of his justice against impenitent sinners, and the thought of good he thinks towards those that repent. He can also make known, for he perfectly knows, the thought that is in man’s heart; he understands it afar off, and in the day of conviction will set the evil thoughts among the other sins of sinners in order before them. (4.) He often makes the morning darkness, by thick clouds overspreading the sky immediately after the sun rose bright and glorious; so when we look for prosperity and joy he can dash our expectations with some unlooked-for calamity. (5.) He treads upon the high places of the earth, is not only higher than the highest, but has dominion over all, tramples upon proud men, and upon the idols that were worshipped in the highest places. (6.) Jehovah the God of hosts is his name, for he has his being of himself, and is the fountain of all being, and all the hosts of heaven and earth are at his command. Let us humble ourselves before this God, prepare to meet him, and give all diligence to make him our God, for happy are the people whose God he is, who have all this power engaged for them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Corrective Measures Of Chastisement On Israel
Verses 6-13:
Five Means Of Correction
Verse 6. First, famine is used as a means of calling Israel to repentance. The famine is expressed by cleanness of teeth and want of bread in all their cities and places. Yet for all this they “returned not” to the Lord, v. 8, 9; Isa 26:11; Jer 5:3; Hos 7:10; Hag 2:17.
Verse 7 describes dearth and scarcity of water as the second corrective chastisement from the Lord, designed to call His people back to repentance, and an holy way of life. It is God who gives rain and fruitful seasons, but they would not acknowledge it, Act 14:17; Pro 14:4; Hos 6:3; Joe 2:23; 1Ki 17:1 is the drought meant.
Verse 8 describes Israel’s aimless and vain wandering, like starving sheep from city to city, to find water to satisfy, Psa 59:15. The Prophet concludes that yet they had not turned back to God, Psa 109:10; Jer 14:1-6.
Verse 9 describes a third measure of chastening, designed correction to turn Israel back to the Lord. It was blasting, exceeding heat, and mildew on what little plant and fruit the land did produce, as described Gen 41:6; Deu 28:22; 1Ki 8:37. Mildew and blight turn the ears yellow without grain. This blast and mildew struck the gardens, as well as the fields, to destroy the orchards, herbs, and flowers, accompanied by plagues of palmerworms upon their vineyards, fig, and olive trees. In vain they planted and cultivated their gardens, without a right relation with their maker and sustainer of life, Job 8:16; Son 4:13-14; Son 6:11; Exo 10:13.
Verse 10 introduces the fourth instrument of corrective chastisement sent on Israel, as pestilence and the sword. He punished them with pestilences similar to those sent upon Egypt Exo 9:3; Exo 12:29; Deu 28:27; Deu 28:60. Their young men were slain in battle and their horses were carried away by victorious armies. The hosts of Israel assembled, rotted on the battlefields, while their stench polluted the air and the land, Isa 34:3; Joe 2:20. Yet with repetition it is announced “they returned not unto the Lord,” Psa 78:50.
Verse 11 asserts that God has already overthrown some of them, like He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and those yet living existed from the burning, Isa 7:4; Zec 3:2. Yet they had not repented or returned to the Lord, Deu 29:23; Gen 19:24-25; Isa 13:19; Jer 49:18; 2Pe 2:6; Jud 1:7.
Verse 12 pronounces the fifth Divine act of corrective chastisement on Israel, in the form of overthrow by an earthquake, on which basis He appeals to them, “prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,” Eze 13:5; Eze 22:30; Luk 14:31-32. The earthquake perhaps refers to a narrow escape under Jeroboam II, 2Ki 14:26.
Verse 13 describes the Almighty God who has sent this five point message of corrective chastening warning, as the God of all creation who knows the thoughts of man, who controls the darkness and the light, Deu 32:13; Mic 1:3. He is ever giving and withholding prosperity, with all things continually under His caring control; He rules as the Lord of hosts, of the armies of heaven, Psa 139:2; Dan 2:28. Why should not wise men seek to be at peace with Him, lest His judgment fall because of man’s ingratitude toward Him, Pro 22:3; Lam 2:22; Lam 3:21-22; Act 17:28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
But I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your borders; and ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah. God here expostulates with the people on account of their incurable perverseness; for he had tried to restore them to the right way, not only by his word, but also by heavy punishments; but he effected nothing. This hardness doubled the guilt of that people, as they could not be subdued by God’s chastisements.
The Prophet now says, that the people had been chastised with famine, I gave them, he says, cleanness of teeth. It is a figurative expression, by which Amos means want, and he explains it himself by want of bread The whole country then labored under want and deficiency of provisions, though the land, as it is well known, was very fruitful. Now since the end of punishment is to turn men to God and his service, it is evident, when no fruit follows, that the mind is hardened in evil. Hence the Prophet shows here, that the Israelites were not only guilty, but had also pertinaciously resisted God, for their vices could be corrected by no punishment. We have just mentioned famine, another kind of punishment follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo. 4:6. Teeth] Famine, as threatened in the law (Deu. 28:48; Deu. 28:57; cf. 2Ki. 8:1).
Amo. 4:7. Yet three] The latter rain, which fell in latter part of February and beginning of March, when most required (1Ki. 17:1). One city] Distress so great that people from one place had to go a great distance for supply, yet could not get enough to satisfy.
Amo. 4:8. Wandered] Heb. indicates the trembling, unsteady gait of those exhausted in quest of food (Psa. 59:15; Psa. 109:10; Jer. 14:1-6).
Amo. 4:9. Blasting] Lit. an exceeding scorching. Mildew] Heb. intensive. The mention of these would remind them of other judgments (Deu. 28:22).
Amo. 4:10. Manner] i.e. the way in which God punished Egypt (Exo. 9:3). Palestine was by nature healthy. Hence on account of the terribleness of the scourge, God often speaks of it as of his own special sending [Pusey].
Amo. 4:11. Firebrand] Proverbial for escape from imminent danger. Yet] after all corrective measures, obstinately impenitent, and determined to persist in wicked courses!
THE CORRECTIVE MEASURES OF GODS PROVIDENCE.Amo. 4:6-11
In these verses God describes the different corrective measures which he employed for the purpose of effecting a change in the Israelites, and at the close of each mentioned in the series, the obstinate impenitence, under the influence of which they persisted in their wicked courses, is emphatically marked by the declaration, Yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord; such repetition gives great force to the reprehension [Elzas]. The verses naturally suggest the divisions of the outline.
I. Famine. Cleanness of teeth and want of bread indicate scarcity of flesh and dearth of corn. The famine was everywhere, in all your places. This was no accidental failure of crops, nor owing to a combination of second causes. It was the work of God himself, who gives daily bread. Mans life, says Calvin, is not shut up in bread, but hangs on the sovereign will and good pleasure of God.
II. Dearth and scarcity of water. They would remember times of plenty, when they had water every man from his own well and from his own cistern. How minute the circumstances of the calamity.
1. The time is specified. Three months to the harvest. A time when most needed to ripen corn and grain. This is utterly ruinous to the hopes of the farmer. A little earlier or a little later would not be so fatal, but drought three months before harvest is entirely destructive [The Land and the Book].
2. The inequality is given. In one city and not in another; upon one field to fertilize it; not upon another, which remained unproductive. Thus were they urged to reflect upon God. In sovereign mercy he holds the key of the clouds, to open and shut at pleasure. Every drop of rain is measured and sent by Divine direction to its destination. He gives rain from heaven and fruitful seasons (Act. 14:17).
3. The distress is noticed. Inhabitants in some places were frustrated in their hopes; necessitated to go far away to seek for water, and found only a scanty and insufficient supply. Water, free to all now, was withheld from them. In trembling fear, and weak through toil, they begged from city to city. God can wither our harvests, withhold Divine influence from our schools and churches, and create natural and spiritual distress throughout the nation. Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
III. Blasting and mildew. Blight would follow from scarcity of rain.
1. Vegetation suffered. The gardens which they cultivated in neglect of God, the fruit which was appearing to reward their toil, and the olive trees which they watched with care, were smitten by the blast.
2. Insects abounded. The palmer-worm and putrefaction devoured the fruits of the ground. Malignant air and voracious animals destroyed fruitful fields and prosperous vineyards. The Lord shall smite thee with blasting and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish (Deu. 28:22).
IV. Pestilence and sword. Pestilence such as visited Egypt fell upon them. Young men, the hope of the country, were slain in war. Horses on which they depended were taken from them by a victorious foe. The mighty hosts which they assembled in pride were like sheep for the slaughter. The stench of men and horses, unburied on the field, poisoned the air and polluted the land. Yet this did not humble nor reclaim them. He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence (Psa. 78:50).
V. Total overthrow by earthquake. They seemed insensible, but the solid ground beneath them trembled with unwonted motion. The houses above their heads fell in utter confusion. Some of the inhabitants were buried in the ruins or smitten by the lightning. Others who narrowly escaped were like brands plucked out of the fire. Some were overthrown like the people in Sodom; but few, like Lot, were rescued from the danger. Yet notwithstanding these terrible judgments and displays of Divine anger Israel did not return to God. These last chastisements, which typify more than anything else the great judgment day, have failed. Therefore they must prepare to meet God as the Judge and Ruler of the Universe.
Not thou, O Lord, from us, but we
Withdraw ourselves from thee [French].
CHASTISEMENTS WITHOUT REFORMATION.Amo. 4:11
Yet have ye not returned unto me, is the cry full of grief and tenderness repeatedly uttered. God designed to bring them to repentance, but they were incorrigible and chastised in vain.
I. Man is distant from God. This is not a natural fact merely. Estrangement from God is a state of mind. The miser loving gold, the worldling drinking pleasure, and the atheist denying Godeach has a specific state of mind characterized by the distinct evil. In the heart is fixed opposition to God. The will and the word of God are distasteful to the sinner. The lower sentiments and nobler faculties are influenced by his apostasy. The mind is ingrossed with things like our nature. Men talk of fancied reverence and adoration for God; but spiritually they live having no hope, and without God in the world.
II. God seeks to bring man to himself. The Scriptures abound with facts and figures to illustrate this truth. God seeks to recover the fallen and save the lost.
1. By mercy. Mercies given in Christ and multiplied day by day. Good beyond desert and degree to bring to God. The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
2. By judgment. Judgments national and personal, severe, many and long-continued. God chastens in body and mind, in social and family circumstances, that we may not go astray. Mans wisdom consists in observing Gods unalterable appointments and suiting himself to them, says Scott. In the day of adversity consider.
III. Man is often chastised without returning to God. The innumerable judgments of Israel begot no repentance. Nothing external will make us wise without due improvement of it. Sensibility to bodily pain is one thing, sorrow of heart another. I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart. God visits us in many ways, sends bereavement in the family and disappointment in business. And perhaps there is room for repetition day by day. The same judgments have continue I and new ones been inflicted, but we have not returned to God. This proves
1. Great guilt.
2. Great provocation.
3. Great danger. The voice resounds still in Scripture and providence. Yet ye have not returned unto me.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo. 4:1-11. The three charges. I. Oppression of the poor (Amo. 4:1-3). II. Corruption of worship (Amo. 4:4-5). III. Incorrigibleness under Divine judgments (Amo. 4:6-11). Learn
1. That God has various judgments to exercise a sinful nation.
2. That judgments are changed, not removed, until a return to God.
3. That God is earnest in bringing men to repentance. A course of sin will not prove a thriving way in the end to any, but especially to the Church, which the Lord will either make a theatre of mercy, or a field of blood, and he hath many rods for that end; for as they liked their way of sin (Amo. 4:5), so he also chooseth their judgments and pours out a quiver-full of them upon them [Hutcheson].
Amo. 4:7. Withered. So will it ever be in the Church, which is Gods vineyard, if ministers give no doctrine and God no blessing, fitly resembled to rain on regard,
1. of cooling heat;
2. quenching thirst;
3. cleansing the air;
4. allaying the winds;
5. mollifying and mellowing the parched earth;
6. causing all things to grow and fructify. This rain of righteousness goes sometimes by coasts as here; God withholding showers, though clouds be full and likely enough to drop down in abundance (see Eze. 3:26; Hos. 9:7; Pro. 16:1) [Trapp].
Amo. 4:10. After the manner of Egypt.
1. Slaughter of young men.
2. The land filled with pestilence and locusts.
3. Harassed in this defenceless condition by the incursions from Assyria.
Amo. 4:11. A firebrand plucked.
1. A scene of dangerburning.
2. An act of mercyplucked.
3. A present uncertainty. Once in danger, now rescued. Will you continue where you are, or escape entirely to refuge?
The words will apply
1. Temporally. They may recall a striking deliverance in Gods providence, when others were taken and they were left. A shipwrecka battlean awful accident involving loss of human lifea sickness from which many others around them died [Ryan].
2. Spiritually. Every sinner saved is a firebrand plucked from the burning. This should prompt
1. To gratitude.
2. To earnestness in rescuing others from the wrath of God, which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
HOMILETICS
THE FIREMEN OF GOD, OR THE STRANGE PARALLEL BETWEEN FIRE AND SIN.
Firewhat is there in the moral world to which it answers? But one thing, that is, wickednesssin against Godsin in a mans life. Against this evil God calls all his servants to be firemen. Put out the fires of sin, is a nobler motto than any blazoned on the symbols of commerce and art.
I. Consider the analogy between fire and sin.
1. You cannot weigh fire in the scales. You cannot grasp it, yet it existsyou can feel and see it work. You cannot rate sin by horse power, but you feel its withering, burning influence in the soul.
2. Fire becomes sometimes almost invisible. So with sin. In the glare and noon-day of busy life some fail to see it. The dimness of religious truth to the mind is a terrible monitor of what sin is doing in the heart.
3. Sin is like fire in its attractions. A child loves to play with fire, unconscious of danger. Men toy with sin, which has indulgence for appetite, mirth to amuse, feasts for gluttons, and revelry for the reckless.
4. Sin consumes like fire. It burns down men instead of houses; the man vanishes, and only the animal, the brute, the sensualist is left.
5. Sin spreads like a fire. Wicked thoughts, evil suggestions, are the sparks that kindle the fires of sin in the soul and set communities in a blaze.
6. Sin inflicts pain like a fire. It burns, stings, and agonizes its victim. Here, in the naked conscience and despairing death, is the germ of the fire that is never quenched.
7. Sin, like fire, defaces what it touches.
8. Sin must be resisted like fire. It is an evil to be put out in heart and life.
9. Sin, like fire, if you wait too long to put it out, will render attempts useless. The soul should not be left till sin has mastery. In this world men are often beyond reasonable prospect of repentance.
II. Sin is the fire, but the sinner is the fuel. Ye were as a firebrand.
1. A firebrand is combustible, or it never would have been a firebrand. So with the sinners heart.
2. A firebrand has been already exposed to the fire. It is charred and blackened, and bears the marks of sin. So the sinner.
3. A firebrand has offered no effectual resistance to the flames. The sinner has not resisted sin. He is bound, and by the grace of God can resist.
4. A firebrand is ready to be kindled anew, after it has been once quenched. A spark may kindle the soul.
5. A firebrand is in the process of being consumed, and a little longer will finish it. So with the sinful heart.
6. A firebrand only needs to be let alone, and it will burn to ashes. Leave the soul to sinthe ruinous power of its own lustsand its ruin will be complete.
7. A firebrand is a dangerous thing, if its sparks and coals come in contact with anything else. The sinner destroyeth much good.
III. But even firebrands may be saved. Sinners are sometimes plucked out of a desperate conditionMary Magdalen, the thief on the cross, Saul of Tarsusbut the work is Gods. A converted soul is a miracle of grace. Firemen! guardians of our dwellings against a subtle and dangerous foe, be ready to rush to the scene of conflagration, when the alarm is given, night or day! The fires of sin burn all around, and perhaps within you unchecked. Be Gods firemen, and help to quench it. Nothing but the blood of Christ can put out the fires. Repent and believe, and you shall be saved. [From The Preachers Treasury.]
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo. 4:12. Therefore] punishments must be continued. This] not expressed, but discerned from what followsall kinds of things imagined in the uncertainty; but the last the greatest calamity. Prepare] When thou seest that thou hast resorted in vain to all kinds of subterfuges, since thou never wilt be able to escape from the hand of thy judge; see now at length that thou dost avert this last destruction which is hanging over thee [Calvin].
Amo. 4:13] To give greater emphasis to the command, God is described as Almighty, reading the thoughts of men, creating prosperity and adversity as he changes light and darkness, subjecting all things to his control, and ruling as the Lord of Hosts. What an argument for being at peace with him.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Amo. 4:6-10. We look to second causes and impute our years of dearth to wet and cold, to hot and parching seasons, to cycles of weather, to comets, and many other accidents, some real and others imaginary, and thus wilfully conceal from our view the power of God, who blesseth a land and maketh it to bring forth fruit abundantly, and who turneth a fruitful field into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. The acts of Gods providence are as certainly a part of his administration now as in former ages, and as directly affect each individual of the race as they did the children of Abraham. It is to those who are subdued under his rebukes that he sends his word to heal them. They who watch the ruling hand of God shall become wiser in reading his purposes and their own necessities [Duncan].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
REASON CALLS FOR REPENTANCECHASTENING IN THE PAST SHOULD MAKE THEM THINK
TEXT: Amo. 4:6-11
6
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
7
And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
8
So two or three cities wandered into one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
9
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmerworm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
10
I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
11
I have overthrone cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
QUERIES
a.
What is cleanness of teeth?
b.
Is God still responsible for famine, drought, war, as in Amos day?
c.
What does Amos mean that Israel was a brand plucked out of the burning?
PARAPHRASE
I have tried all means of turning you to me, yet you love to persist in your wickedness. I have brought famine and starvation upon this nation and yet you have not returned unto me, says the Lord. I have caused drought; I have withheld the latter rain (three months before the harvest) which is sorely needed for the proper maturing of the crops. On the other hand, in order to show you even more clearly that the sending and withholding of rain belongs to Me, I have caused it to rain here and there, upon one town and one field, and not upon others. This caused such drought that the people of the areas where it had not rained were forced fainting of thirst to stagger great distances for their supplies of water, and then couldnt get enough to supply their needs; yet you did not return unto me, says the Lord. I smote your grain crops with blight and dry-rot; I sent locusts to strip and devour your orchards; yet you have not returned unto Me, says the Lord. I have sent among you all the diseases of Egypt; I have caused your young men to be slain in wars; I have caused your war horses to be slain; I have caused the stench of the slain to come into your nostrils as a reminder of your sins; yet you have not returned unto me, says the Lord. I have brought you to the verge of complete destruction as when I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and you were left destitute of everything like brands plucked out of the fire; yet you did not return unto me, says the Lord.
SUMMARY
The prophet calls Israels attention to past judgments of God in an attempt to get them to repent. These judgments took place at different times all during Israels history. Amos has arranged them in climactic form.
COMMENT
Amo. 4:6 . . . I . . . HAVE GIVEN YOU CLEANNESS OF TEETH . . . AND WANT OF BREAD . . . The phrase cleanness of teeth, means lack of food as is evident from the parallel want of bread. This is what God told the people through Moses in Deu. 28:47-57. This is fulfilled in 2Ki. 6:24-31. A mother eating the flesh of her own child is recorded also by Josephus in his account of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Gods judgments are sure! Not one word of His will fall to the ground unfulfilled! Yet Israel did not repent!
Amo. 4:7-8 . . . I . . . HAVE WITHHOLDEN RAIN FROM YOU . . . AND CAUSED IT TO RAIN UPON ONE CITY . . . AND . . . NOT UPON ANOTHER . . . TWO OR THREE CITIES WANDERED UNTO ONE CITY TO DRINK . . . AND WERE NOT SATISFIED . . . At times God withheld rain as a call for the people of Israel to repent (cf. Lev. 26:19-20; Deu. 28:23). The rains which were withheld in this particular case were the so-called latter rains (three months before harvest). These rains fall in the latter half of February and the first half of March and are of the greatest importance to the development of the grain crops. Thus when the drought came, the crops failed. This is a matter of record in 1Ki. 8:35-36; 2 Kings 17-18; Isaiah 5-6; Jeremiah 14, etc. But in order to show man even more clearly that He uses natural forces and that their sending and withholding belong to Him, God caused it to rain on one village and another village, while at the same time other villages received no rain at all. Rivers and wells dried up in these latter areas and the people had to travel long distances for their water supply and even then could not get enough to satisfy their needs. The word wander comes from an original word which means literally to stagger, to totter, and pictures the people staggering, almost fainting with thirst, as they go from village to village in search of water! Yet Israel did not see the hand of God in these tribulationsthey felt no chasteningthey heard no call to repentance!
Amo. 4:9 . . . SMITTEN YOU WITH BLASTING AND MILDEW . . . YOUR . . . VINEYARDS . . . HATH THE PALMERWORM DEVOURED . . . Their grain fields were either burned up by the blasting hot and dry winds or they were rotted by mildew (cf. Gen. 41:6; Gen. 41:27; Deu. 28:22). Their gardens and orchards were gnawed and stripped bare by the locusts (cf. Joe. 1:4; Joe. 2:25; Deu. 28:39).
Amo. 4:10 . . . SENT AMONG YOU THE PESTILENCE AFTER THE MANNER OF EGYPT . . . I HAVE MADE THE STENCH OF YOUR CAMP TO COME UP . . . INTO YOUR NOSTRILS . . . God sent among the people of Israel many diseases in epidemic form after the manner that He had done in the days of Moses to Egypt (cf. Lev. 26:25; Deu. 28:60; Isa. 10:24; Eze. 20:30). The Roman historian Pliny has called Egypt, the mother of contagious diseases, because of the many epidemics arising there even in his day. God sent wars upon Israel. Often times, in crowded, unsanitary military camps epidemics took their toll along with the slain of the battlefields so that sword and sickness decimated the ranks of Israels young, virile men who were the hope of the nation. The slain warriors and the slain battle-horses sometimes filled the air with that sickening stench of rotting flesh which is at times unbearable. But even this horrible stench did not remind them of their sins! For a record of Israels decimation in war see 2Ki. 8:12; 2Ki. 13:3; 2Ki. 13:7.
Amo. 4:11 I HAVE OVERTHROWN CITIES AMONG YOU, AS . . . SODOM AND GOMORRAH . . . YE WERE AS A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE BURNING . . . Amos mentions this last judgment of God, not because it is last chronologically, but because it furnishes the prophet with a literary vehicle called climax, Amos list of five judgments of the Lord are given in an emotional ascension whereby a climax is reached at the last, The Lord has also called Israel to repentance by sending destructions upon her cities similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Israel was brought to the verge of utter ruin and overthrow more than once and was only saved like a firebrand snatched at the last moment from the consuming flames of the fire (cf. Zec. 3:2). See 2Ki. 13:4; 2Ki. 13:7 for the devastation of the land (cf. Isa. 1:9 also).
Predicting the future was not, as many suppose it to have been, the primary function of the prophet. The supreme task of the prophet was to interpret the events of history in the light of the will and purpose of God. The prophets saw the hand of God in the events of daily life and this they saw by the divine leading of the Holy Spirit within them (1Pe. 1:10-12; 2Pe. 1:16-21). They sought to answer the pressing questions confronted in mans struggle with the totality of life. How was God related to the turbulent events of the world in the time of Amos? What was the relationship between the calamities, the crises, and the disappointments in life to the will of God? These same questions are asked today and may be answered by the same principles proclaimed by these Spirit-filled prophets! A correlation of history and the divine will is a crying, personal problem in every age. How does one relate the divine will and the wars, epidemics, tragedies, famines and other like calamities in the twentieth century? The prophets of Israel would give little support to the modern protest that the church ought to preach the gospel and leave everything else alone. For the prophets, the message of God was so interwoven into the fabric of daily life that the two could not be separated.
The underlying principle of all prophetic literature is the fact that judgment in history has a redemptive purpose. It is intended to cause man to see his desperate need for God, and subsequently to turn to His fellowship and communion. In the use of these disasters as a form of judgment, one is confronted with the most important aspect of the entire problem of Gods will and natural calamity. The most significant point to consider is not the ultimate or secondary source, a full explanation of the justice of such deeds, or even an attempt to exonerate God. The most important consideration is that of mans response to such catastrophe. Do acts of this kind lead to a new awareness of Gods sovereignty? Do they result in a new committal on the part of man to God. This is the significant element! Such calamities serve to cause man to recognize his finitude in the face of an overwhelming disaster, thereby opening the way for repentance and communion with God. Let all men know that the point of emphasis should be placed ultimately, not upon reason, but upon response. As Amos did, so must modern man consider as of primary significance the nature of his response to catastrophe. The moral reason behind such events, while important, must remain inexplicable. We cannot explain them perfectly but we can act in the light of them.
In view of this, history should serve to make man aware of his own dependence. Catastrophe should draw man near to the heart of God in an ever deepening communion. May it never be said that the catastrophes of history failed to draw this generation nearer to God. May it never be said, Yet you did not return to me.
For further study on this subject we refer you to our Special Study, The Prophetic Philosophy of History, and comments on similar passages from the five prophetic books treated in this commentary. See also our notes on Joe. 2:1-11 in this commentary.
Naturally, the question will be asked, what of the righteous who must suffer at the same time Gods catastrophic natural disasters are occurring? There are at least three biblical principles by which we may understand the so-called suffering of the righteous. In the first place, all the righteousness of the righteous is purely relative. That is, all our righteousness is as filthy rags relative to Gods perfect righteousness, therefore we deserve more suffering than we endure here on earth no matter how good we are. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we are only accounted as righteous by the grace of God which we appreciate by faith. If God were only justif He paid us in kind for our behaviorwe would suffer worse than we do! Secondly, for the true saint of God, in both O.T. and New Testament times, suffering, trial, tribulation all serve to strengthen and purify. The Hebrew epistle has a great deal to say about this second principle. One of the most significant passages is: For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised Heb. 10:36. Then, there is the passage in Heb. 12:3-11, of course. (Consider also these passages: 2Co. 1:3-11; 2Co. 12:7; Jas. 1:2-4; 1Pe. 4:12-19, etc). Thirdly, if the innocent be caused to suffer and die with the guilty remember these words, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them Rev. 14:13; and, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Psa. 116:15. Compare also 2Co. 4:16-18; 2Co. 5:1-10; Php. 1:21-24. We cannot understand, perhaps, but God has revealed enough of His governing principles that we should be able by faith to accept His sovereign will and look forward in hope to the consummation of all things. Why should the innocent baby of David and Bathsheba die because of their sin? Why should the man be born blind in order that the glory of God might be shown through him (John 9)? Why should the faithful Jews be taken into captivity with the unfaithful ones? God has not told us all the whys but He has told us some of themenough for us to make a response, a commitment in faith.
QUIZ
1.
When did Israel suffer from famine and to what extent did they suffer?
2.
When did Israel suffer from drought?
3.
Why did God, even in drought times, cause it to rain in some places?
4.
Why send pestilences after the manner of Egypt?
5.
How was Israel plucked out of the burning . . .?
6.
How did Amos interpret or relate these disasters to the will of God?
7.
What three principles explain, in part, the suffering of the righteous along with the wicked?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(6) Cleanness of teeth is, by the poetic parallelism, identified with the want of bread, the former phrase being a graphic representation of one of the ghastly aspects of famine; clean, sharp, prominent teeth projecting from the thin lips. Notwithstanding their chastisement, God says, Ye have not returned even up to me. Jehovah is here introduced as grieving over the failure of his disciplinary treatment of Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6-11. Seven unheeded chastisements. Through various acts of providence Jehovah attempted to win back the rebellious people, but without success.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6. Famine.
And I also The contrast is brought out more clearly by rendering, “But I on my part” (Amo 2:9).
Have given See on Amo 3:6.
Cleanness of teeth That is, famine, identical in meaning with “want of bread.”
All your cities, all your places Throughout the whole land. Several famines are recorded in the Old Testament. The two most recent preceding the time of Amos are those mentioned in 1Ki 17:12; 2Ki 4:38. These, severe enough to be remembered for a long while as special divine judgments, or other famines, unrecorded in the Old Testament, may be alluded to by Amos. The judgment was sent for a purpose, to bring the people to their senses and to lead them back to Jehovah in obedience and love; but the purpose was not accomplished.
Returned See on Hos 14:1. The fivefold repetition of the phrase, “yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah,” emphasizes both the love of Jehovah, who wearied not in his efforts to win back Israel, and the stubbornness of the people who would not yield to his pleas.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH Five Times Expresses His Concern That In Spite of His Judgments Israel Have Not Returned To Him ( Amo 4:6-11 ).
Having made clear His indictment of the women and men of Israel, both because of social injustice and because of false religious practises, YHWH now five times expresses His concern that this is evidence that Israel have not heeded His judgments in the past and returned to Him. In spite of all they have continued on in their own way. Thus they are ignoring the warnings of Lev 26:21; Lev 26:23; Lev 26:27 that if they did not respond to His judgments with repentance worse judgments would come upon them which would eventually result in exile. Notice His stress throughout on His continual attempts in the past to bring them to repentance, to persuade them to ‘turn to Him’. Up to now that had been the purpose of His judgments, but they had not succeeded in their purpose. That is why He has now come to the verge of bringing the final judgment on them mentioned by Leviticus, although still offering a glimmer of hope (Amo 5:4; Amo 5:14-15). The verbs are mainly imperfects or perfects with waw consecutive and we could therefore in our minds add ‘continually’ to each one.
It is open to question whether Amos saw these judgments as past judgments (Israel had certainly experienced such judgments in the past) or as judgments coming in the near future (Hebrew tenses, unlike those in Greek and English, were not specific as to time). In fact he possibly had both in mind.
Five judgments are mentioned and five is the number of covenant. Thus the five judgments are to be seen as related to their responsibility under the covenant. Indeed all five are judgments which are clearly in view, among many others, in Lev 26:14-38; Deuteronomy 28-29. The five judgments are:
1) Famine (Lev 26:26; compare 2Sa 21:1; 1Ki 18:2; 2Ki 4:32; 2Ki 8:1).
2) Drought (Lev 26:19; Deu 11:17; Deu 28:23; compare 1Ki 8:35; 1Ki 17:1; 1Ki 17:7; 1Ki 18:2).
3) Plant disease and insect infestation (Deu 28:22; Deu 28:42; 1Ki 8:37).
4) Pestilence (Lev 26:25; Deu 28:21; compare 2Sa 24:15) and the slaying of men with the sword (Lev 26:25; Lev 26:33; Deu 28:22).
5) The Overthrowing Of Their Cities (Lev 26:31; Deu 29:23; and often experienced in Kings).
We can compare these ‘plagues’ coming on Israel with the ten plagues of Egypt which failed to soften Pharaoh’s heart, even though they did soften the hearts of many of his subjects. Here the plagues had failed to soften Israel’s hearts. Israel could thus be equated with Pharaoh for hardness of heart.
Amo 4:6
“And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have you not returned to me, says YHWH.”
The idea of ‘wanting bread’ reflects Lev 26:26. The idea of ‘cleanness of teeth’ occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament, but is a vivid picture, and the idea behind it undoubtedly does. Both express the idea of lack of food resulting from famine and drought (compare 2Sa 21:1; 1Ki 18:2 ; 2Ki 4:32; 2Ki 8:1). Famine was in fact a fairly common occurrence in Canaan in its mild form, but it was when it occurred year after year that it caused real hardship. However, all these famines, both light and severe, failed to cause Israel to turn to YHWH. They should have recognised that the lack of rain was the chastisement of YHWH, and have ‘returned to Him’, but instead they had probably blamed Baal (the Canaanite god of rain and storm) and sought to him. For the idea of ‘returning to YHWH’ see Deu 1:45; Deu 30:2; Deu 30:8; 1Sa 7:3.
‘Says YHWH.’ Neum YHWH, ‘oracle of YHWH’, indicating the giving by YHWH of a powerful prophetic word.
Amo 4:7-8
“And I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city, one piece was rained on, and the piece on which it did not rain withered. So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied. Yet have you not returned unto me, says YHWH.”
The thought of YHWH withholding rain is made clear in Deu 11:17; 1Ki 8:35 ; 1Ki 17:1. But see also the more indirect references in Lev 26:19; Deu 28:23. The implication is that the falling of rain is dependent on YHWH (compare Mat 5:45). It was a direct and deliberate ‘making redundant’ of Baal who was supposed to be the god of storm and rain. Rain withheld before the barley and wheat harvests (when there were yet three months to harvest) could have a dreadful effect on the harvest. Random and spasmodic rain was nearly as bad, certainly for those who did not receive it, for their crops and fruit would eventually wither. Lack of rain could also hit the city water supplies, especially in the mountain cities where the reliance was often on cistern water collected when it rained. The city fortunate enough to have had rain would be approached by those which had not. They would, however, often be in no position to give them as much water as they wanted. And yet even this shortage of rain and water did not cause them to return to YHWH. Oracle of YHWH.
Amo 4:9
“I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees has the palmer-worm devoured. Yet have you not returned to me, says YHWH.”
For ‘blasting and mildew’ compare Deu 28:22; 1Ki 8:37. For the palmer-worm compare Joe 1:4; Joe 2:25. Which ‘worm’ was in the end being identified we cannot be certain as species of insects were not strictly differentiated (even though Amos was an expert on sycamore-mulberry trees), but the point was that the ravages of insects among their fruitful tress was also to be seen as the work of YHWH. Note the implication that in the final analysis YHWH controls all the ravages of nature. Their vineyards were their main source of joy and pleasure, their fig trees their source of sustenance, while their olive trees provided their main export potential. But all had at times been affected, making life continually dull and hard (contrast Deu 8:8 which presents the opposite picture which would have been their lot in the land that YHWH had given them if only they had been obedient). So God’s judgments were in the earth (see Isa 26:9), but none of these things had caused them to return to YHWH. When God’s judgments fail to turn men to God, then their hearts are hard indeed.
Amo 4:10
“I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, your young men have I slain with the sword, and I have carried away your horses, and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils. Yet have you not returned to me, says YHWH.”
Up to this point the judgments had only smitten men indirectly, but like the plagues in Egypt they had now begun to strike harder. Pestilence (Lev 26:25; Deu 28:21; compare 2Sa 24:15) regularly resulting from poor food, disease ridden water, and bad sanitation, directly affected the bodies of men, while death by the sword (Lev 26:25; Lev 26:33; Deu 28:22) inflicted on the finest of their young men who were the very bastion of the kingdom, was irreversible. Added to this was the removal of their war horses and the stench of death and disease in their war camp, especially as men suffered and died from their injuries, and the picture is one of total defeat, all resulting from the fact that YHWH, the God of Hosts and Battle, had no longer been with them. Thus they had no longer been successful in war. And yet they had still failed to return to YHWH.
Amo 4:11
“I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning. Yet have you not returned to me, says YHWH.”
The final consequence of the defeat of their armies and the death of their finest young men had been that their cities had been overthrown in a similar way to Sodom and Gomorrah (compare Deu 29:23 and see Genesis 19). And yet it had not been the end, for in His goodness YHWH had delivered them like a piece of flammable wood snatched from the flames (which would have had no chance had it not been so). Up to this point He had always intervened on their behalf. And yet still they had not returned to Him. There could therefore only be one final result. They would have to meet God’s final judgment on them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Various Punishments Leading up to the Last Judgment
v. 6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, v. 7. And also I have withholden the rain from you, v. 8. So two or three cities, v. 9. I have smitten you, v. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, v. 11. I have overthrown some of you, v. 12. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, v. 13. For, lo, He that formeth the mountains,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Amo 4:6. And I also have given For this cause have I given, &c. “The famine which I have sent upon the cities and territories of Israel, has not brought you to a sense of your sins, or any sincere purposes of amendment.” The famine alluded to is recorded 2Ki 8:1. See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here we have an account of the Lord’s sore judgments upon Israel; by famine, by withholding the fruits of the earth, and by marking his judgments in a distinguishing manner, causing it to rain upon one city and not upon another; by pestilence, blasting, and mildew; by the destruction of the sword; and by particular marked providences to some, not unlike the overthrow of Sodom; these were among the methods the Lord was pleased to take to rouse Israel to a sense of sin, and to an awakening concern for his pardoning love and mercy. But the Lord adds, and repeats it many times, as if feeling for his people, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord! Reader! how sure and certain it is, as the gospel of Christ teacheth, and this scripture fully confirms, there can be no return to the Lord in a way of repentance and faith, until the Lord first comes to the sinner in a way of grace and mercy. Grace must first enter the heart, before the heart will cry out, Lord! save, or I perish! Oh! how blessed is it to have such provisions of grace preserved for the recovery of his people in the person of Jesus, when the enemy hath at any time been thus triumphing over the Lord’s redeemed with an high hand! When thus the Lord gives grace, then, and not before, Israel is prepared to meet his God as a covenant God in Christ.
REFLECTIONS
READER! the continuance of the Lord’s expostulations with his ancient Church, Chapter after Chapter, will not fail I hope, to operate both upon your heart and mine, to the same conclusion as it did in the Apostle’s mind; that sin will then indeed appear to be sin, when by the holiness of the commandment it is discovered to be exceeding sinful. Depend upon it, until by the sovereign grace of God in the heart, the proper nature and malignity of sin is brought home in its proper colors, the children of God, as well as others, have but too slight views of sin. It is only when God the Holy Ghost lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, that the sinner lays low in the dust before God, and never presumes to open his mouth anymore in a way of justification, or in softening transgression. And the same solemn considerations will serve to teach, why it is among the Lord’s redeemed that the nations of sin, from the remains of indwelling corruption, do sometimes rise up with such violence afresh, and distress so exceedingly the soul. It is to shew the believer, after all his attainments, what a poor creature he is in himself; and what he would be if not kept by the Almighty power of God, through faith unto salvation. And what can tend to endear Jesus equal to a daily, hourly sense of our need of him? What can so effectually operate, under the Lord’s grace, to hide pride from our eyes, and to keep open a perpetual spring of humbleness, and faith, and godly sorrow for sin; as such motions from within, that we are still in the body? Precious Lord Jesus! be thou increasingly precious every hour, and then those workings of a corrupt nature, kept under and restrained by thee, will be overruled to thy glory, and our soul’s welfare. Blessed be that glorious covenant, which shews the ruin, and brings the remedy! Though sin hath reigned, and doth reign, unto death; yet shall grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 4:6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Ver. 6. And I have also given you cleanness of teeth ] So that you need not spend time in picking them, as those that are fully fed; for I have cut you short enough, and held you to hard allowance; as those that would tame wild creatures keep them empty and waking; but you have been, and so continue, untamed and untractable, incorrigibly flagitious, uncapable of repentance. Your diseases are complicated, yea, they are so ingrained, that they are not easily stirred, much less destroyed by any potion I have yet given you. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction, Jer 2:30 .
In all your cities
And want of bread in all your places
Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Amo 4:6-13
6But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities
And lack of bread in all your places,
Yet you have not returned to Me, declares the LORD.
7Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you
While there were still three months until harvest.
Then I would send rain on one city
And on another city I would not send rain;
One part would be rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
8So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water,
But would not be satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me, declares the LORD.
9I smote you with scorching wind and mildew;
And the caterpillar was devouring
Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees;
Yet you have not returned to Me, declares the LORD.
10I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt;
I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses,
And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me, declares the LORD.
11I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze;
Yet you have not returned to Me, declares the LORD.
12Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
13For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind
And declares to man what are His thoughts,
He who makes dawn into darkness
And treads on the high places of the earth,
The LORD God of hosts is His name.
Amo 4:6-11 These verses describe a series of calamities (curses) that will befall Israel because of her rejection of God’s covenant (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29). These God-sent judgments include
1. no food, Amo 4:6 (cf. Deu 28:16-17)
2. no rain, Amo 4:7-8 (cf. Deu 28:23-24)
3. dry wind, Amo 4:9
4. dry rot, Amo 4:9 (cf. Deu 28:22)
5. insects, Amo 4:9 (cf. Deu 28:21; Deu 28:38-39)
6. plague, Amo 4:10
7. war, Amo 4:10 (cf. Deu 28:22; Deu 28:49-52)
Amo 4:6 The first two lines of poetry are parallel. Cleanness of teeth is not a dental problem, but a result of no food to eat!
The pronoun I is emphasized. It is YHWH Himself who sends (BDB 678, KB 733, Qal PERFECT) these covenant curses (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29).
I gave you The I is emphatic. God sent these disasters to bring His people back to the covenant.
Yet you have not returned to Me The purpose of these calamities was redemptive (cf. Amo 4:6; Amo 4:8-9; Amo 4:11), not just punitive. The essence of repentance is both a change of mind (Greek term) followed by a change of action (Hebrew term, e.g., Jer 3:22 to Jer 4:2). See Special Topic: Repentance in the Old Testament .
Amo 4:7 I withheld the rain The first two lines refer to the later rains just before the maturing of the crops in March and April. Fertility is controlled by YHWH, not Ba’al!
Lines 3-6 are a theological way of asserting God’s control over nature (cf. Amo 4:8). He is able to direct the curses (cf. Lev 26:19; Deu 28:12; Deu 28:23-24) to certain cities and/or localities. This is similar to the Egyptian plagues. The first nine fell on the land of Egypt, but not where the Hebrews lived in Goshen.
Amo 4:8 This verse continues the emphasis of Amo 4:7. Cities are personified as seeking water, but they cannot find enough to sustain life.
The term stagger (BDB 631, KB 681, Qal PERFECT) has the connotation of staggering or wandering as a result of God’s judgment (cf. Amo 8:12; Gen 4:12; Gen 4:14; Num 32:13; Jer 14:10; Lam 4:15).
Yet you have not returned to Me This is a repeated call for repentance (cf. Amo 4:6; Amo 4:8-11).
Notice the personal emphasis, they are to return to God, their God. He had made a covenant uniquely with them (cf. Amo 4:2). Their part was devotion and obedience. The purpose of creation was fellowship. God wanted a personal being like Himself (cf. Gen 1:26-27) to have a relationship with. This fellowship/relationship must conform to the nature and character of God. The fracture of this intimate fellowship is the essence of the Fall (cf. Genesis 3) and the goal of redemption (i.e., the restoration of the image of God damaged in human rebellion).
Amo 4:9
NASBscorching wind
NKJV, NRSV,
NJBblight
TEVscorching wind
BDB (995) defines this as smut on crops and gives Deu 28:22; 1Ki 8:37; 2Ch 6:28; and Hag 2:17 as examples. However, Holladay’s Lexicon (361) defines it as scorching and gives the same examples. The NASB and TEV understand this as referring to the hot desert wind known as the sirocco (e.g., Gen 41:6; Gen 41:23; Gen 41:27).
mildew This word (BDB 439) is paired with the above word in all examples. BDB translated it rust. The term also means paleness (cf. Jer 30:6). This is not the mildew caused by too much humidity, but the whitish powdery kind caused by lack of humidity.
the caterpillar Insect infestation (i.e., locusts [BDB 160], cf. Joe 1:4; Joe 2:25) as a judgment from YHWH for breaking the covenant can be seen in Deu 28:38-40; Deu 28:42. The infestation could be (1) the locusts themselves or (2) their larvae.
Amo 4:10 I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt The term plague (BDB 184) is used of:
1. one of the Egyptian plagues in Exo 9:3; Exo 9:15
2. a threat of God’s judgment on His own peope in Exo 5:3; Lev 26:23-25; Num 14:12; Deu 28:21.
It is interesting that the Hebrew consonants for plague are the same for God’s word. There may be an intentional word play. The Israelites neglected God’s word and thereby reaped God’s plague. A return to Him and His word would abundantly restore and multiply!
along with your captured horses This would refer to military equipment, but it can be understood in two ways: (1) they thought their victories, which resulted in the capture of horses and chariots would give them greater strength, but God took all of it away (NEB) or (2) the enemy captured their horses and left them without military might (cf. NRSV, TEV, NJB). Most English translations use option #2.
the stench of your camp This refers to the unburied bodies (cf. Isa 34:3) of the young Israeli men who died in battle.
rise up in your nostrils This may simply be a description of the rotting corpses of the dead or it is just possible it is another allusion to the Mosaic covenant. One metaphor used of YHWH favorably receiving an offering was a soothing aroma (cf. Gen 8:21; Exo 29:18; Exo 29:25; Exo 29:41; and many times in Leviticus and Numbers). A good example of a negative use is Exo 5:21.
Amo 4:11 I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah The VERB (BDB 245, KB 253, Qal PERFECT) is used of God’s judgment, both temporal (cf. Gen 19:25; 2Ki 21:13; Jer 20:16) and eschatological (cf. Hag 2:21-22). It speaks of the total destruction of two entire cities by natural or supernatural means. To refer to Israel in the same way as the immoral cities of the Plain would have been a shocking insult to these Covenant People. It is another allusion to Deuteronomy 27-29 (cf. Deu 29:23).
And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze In context the TEV translation seems correct in seeing this as an additional message to the few survivors of God’s fiery judgment (cf. Zech. 3:20), but even after all of these covenantal curses (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29) they would not return (i.e., repent) to Him. God had tried and tried again to reach them through disasters, but they would not. Only complete judgment is left! This verse, like Amo 3:12, denotes total destruction. Only in Amo 9:8-15 is there a future hope!
firebrand The root (BDB 15) originally meant to be bent or curved. It came to be used of a stick used to stir a fire (cf. Isa 7:4; Zec 3:2).
Yet you have not returned to Me, declares the LORD See note at Amo 4:6.
Amo 4:12 Prepare to meet your God, O Israel The VERB (BDB 465, KB 464) is a Niphal IMPERATIVE plus a Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT. It often is used of spiritual preparation to meet God (cf. 1Sa 7:3; 2Ch 12:14; 2Ch 27:6; Ezr 7:10). This meeting could have been positive (cf. Exo 19:11-17), but their sin had turned God’s visit into covenant judgment (cf. Amo 5:18-20).
There is an interesting alternate understanding of this verse which sees Elohim, not as referring to YHWH the covenant name or Elohim as the Genesis 1 name for God as creator, but as referring to the gods (i.e., false fertility gods) of Israel (cf. Amo 5:26; Amo 8:14; also esp. 1Ki 12:28). The term Elohim is not used by itself to refer to Israel’s God in Amos. Only the combined name YHWH Elohim (cf. Gen 2:4) is used. Joel and Amos (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries), by David Allan Hubbard, mentions a possible alternate translation which does not change the Hebrew consonants (i.e., prepare to call your gods, O Israel, cf. G. W. Ramsey, JBL, 89, pp. 187-191) p. 162.
If so then the doxology of Amo 4:13 is a sharp contrast to the claims of the false gods which Israel was worshiping in YHWH’s name (cf. cultic partners of Amo 4:1-3, along with Amo 5:26; Amo 8:14, and the book of Hosea).
Amo 4:13 This verse seems to be poetic liturgy, doxology, or an early hymn to God as Creator, and thereby, Judge. Amos has several of these powerful doxological praises (cf. Amo 5:8; Amo 5:8; Amo 9:5-6).
forms This VERB (BDB 427, KB 428, Qal PARTICIPLE) is from the concept of a potter forming clay (e.g., Gen 2:7; Gen 2:19; Isa 29:19; Isa 45:15; Jer 33:2).
mountains Mountains were a symbol of strength and permanency.
creates This VERB (BDB 135, KB 153, Qal PARTICIPLE) is parallel to forms. This VERB is used exclusively of God’s creative activity. Its basic meaning is to form or shape by cutting.
wind This Hebrew term (BDB 924) can mean wind, breath, or spirit. Here the context implies a contrast between the physical and the spiritual realms (mountains versus spirit).
And declares to man what are His thoughts The Hebrew text is singular, His thought, which refers to God’s will. This seems to refer to:
1. God’s special covenant relationship to the Patriarchs and their descendants (cf. Amo 3:2)
2. God’s desire to communicate with His highest creation, mankind (cf. Gen 1:26-27; Gen 12:3).
3. It is possible that the PRONOUN his refers to mankind. Several OT texts speak of God as knowing individual human thoughts (e.g., Job 34:21-23; Psa 94:11;[1Ch 3:20]; Jer 11:20; Jer 17:10).
Even rebellious, fallen mankind can know God, not exhaustively, but adequately for fellowship. Sin is that which destroys this desire for God (i.e., human independence)! God is not just creator, He is friend and companion!
He who makes dawn into darkness This can be understood in several ways.
1. another allusion to Genesis 1-2 (i.e., (1) God as creator [cf. LXX] or (2) the natural order of nature, cf. Amo 5:9)
2. contextually related to the previous line of poetry and thereby refers to God’s revelation. Spiritual truth is not a human discovery, but a divine revelation.
3. a way of asserting God’s judgment on Israel (cf. Amo 5:8; Amo 5:20; Jer 13:16; Joe 2:2)
4. the parallel of Amo 5:8 (another doxology of YHWH as creator) shows the power of God over His creation.
treads on the high places of the earth This may be another connection with Deuteronomy (i.e., Mosaic Covenant, cf. Deu 32:13). It is a metaphor for asserting God as creator (cf. Job 9:8). In Isa 58:4 and Hab 3:19 it was a way of referring to the blessings of God on His people.
This term bamah was associated with the worship of Ba’al (cf. Amo 2:7-8) on the top of hills (e.g., Hos 4:13; see Roland deVaux, Ancient Israel, vol. 1, pp. 284-288). This may be another way of rejecting the worship of Canaanite fertility gods and asserting YHWH’s care and provision.
the LORD God of hosts is His name This is similar to Amo 3:13. Amos has spoken of the God of creation, fertility, and judgment based on the Covenant. He now states specifically and unambiguously who that deity is, YHWH of Israel (cf. Amo 5:8 b). See Special Topic: Lord of Hosts .
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. What is the emphasis of Amo 3:2-8?
2. Why are the prophets so upset over the cultic activity at Bethel and Gilgal?
3. Why is the religiosity of Amo 4:4-5 condemned?
4. What is the purpose of God sending calamities on His people?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
cleanness of teeth. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for famine.
yet have ye not. &c. Note the Structure above, showing the Figure fo Speech Amoeboeon (App-6). Compare Isa 26:11. Jer 5:3. Hag 2:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Amo 4:6-11
REASON CALLS FOR REPENTANCE-CHASTENING
IN THE PAST SHOULD MAKE THEM THINK
TEXT: Amo 4:6-11
The prophet calls Israels attention to past judgments of God in an attempt to get them to repent. These judgments took place at different times all during Israels history. Amos has arranged them in climactic form.
Amo 4:6 . . . I . . . HAVE GIVEN YOU CLEANNESS OF TEETH . . . AND WANT OF BREAD . . . The phrase cleanness of teeth, means lack of food as is evident from the parallel want of bread. This is what God told the people through Moses in Deu 28:47-57. This is fulfilled in 2Ki 6:24-31. A mother eating the flesh of her own child is recorded also by Josephus in his account of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Gods judgments are sure! Not one word of His will fall to the ground unfulfilled! Yet Israel did not repent!
Zerr: Amo 4:6. Have given you is present and past tense in form, hut it is one of the styles of prophetic speech. However, there was also such a condition referred to as a matter of the past, for God had before punished his people with some of these temporal shortages. Cleanness of teeth is a figurative designation for the results of famine. The phrase is followed immediately with the words want of bread, which would be a cause for the cleanness of teeth; no food to cause them to be unclean.
Amo 4:7-8 . . . I . . . HAVE WITHHOLDEN RAIN FROM YOU . . . AND CAUSED IT TO RAIN UPON ONE CITY . . . AND . . . NOT UPON ANOTHER . . . TWO OR THREE CITIES WANDERED UNTO ONE CITY TO DRINK . . . AND WERE NOT SATISFIED . . . At times God withheld rain as a call for the people of Israel to repent (cf. Lev 26:19-20; Deu 28:23). The rains which were withheld in this particular case were the so-called latter rains (three months before harvest). These rains fall in the latter half of February and the first half of March and are of the greatest importance to the development of the grain crops. Thus when the drought came, the crops failed. This is a matter of record in 1Ki 8:35-36; 2 Kings 17-18; Isaiah 5-6; Jeremiah 14, etc. But in order to show man even more clearly that He uses natural forces and that their sending and withholding belong to Him, God caused it to rain on one village and another village, while at the same time other villages received no rain at all. Rivers and wells dried up in these latter areas and the people had to travel long distances for their water supply and even then could not get enough to satisfy their needs. The word wander comes from an original word which means literally to stagger, to totter, and pictures the people staggering, almost fainting with thirst, as they go from village to village in search of water! Yet Israel did not see the hand of God in these tribulations-they felt no chastening-they heard no call to repentance!
Zerr: Amo 4:7. This verse gives some more of the punishment that God imposed on the land because of the iniquity of the people. He is the creator of the rain and the seasons, and therefore would have the ability to control them as He sees fit. Amo 4:8. The scarcity of drinking water is indicated by the fact that the citizens of several cities would consume all the supply in one of the more favored ones, and even then their thirst was not satisfied. What made the condition more deplorable was the fact that none of these chastisements brought the rebellious people to repentance.
Amo 4:9 . . . SMITTEN YOU WITH BLASTING AND MILDEW . . . YOUR . . . VINEYARDS . . . HATH THE PALMERWORM DEVOURED . . . Their grain fields were either burned up by the blasting hot and dry winds or they were rotted by mildew (cf. Gen 41:6; Gen 41:27; Deu 28:22). Their gardens and orchards were gnawed and stripped bare by the locusts (cf. Joe 1:4; Joe 2:25; Deu 28:39).
Zerr: Amo 4:9. The reader may still be wondering why the Lord brought all these misfortunes upon the land of Israel. It, was just what he had warned them of in more than one place. It may help some to quote a statement written by Moses as follows: But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his com-mandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt. thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou he in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store (Deu 28:15 to Deu 1:7). With all these threatenings recorded in the Sacred Text, the people of Israel should have been induced to observe the divine laws. They were not, for the passage complains, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
Amo 4:10 . . . SENT AMONG YOU THE PESTILENCE AFTER THE MANNER OF EGYPT . . . I HAVE MADE THE STENCH OF YOUR CAMP TO COME UP . . . INTO YOUR NOSTRILS . . . God sent among the people of Israel many diseases in epidemic form after the manner that He had done in the days of Moses to Egypt (cf. Lev 26:25; Deu 28:60; Isa 10:24; Eze 20:30). The Roman historian Pliny has called Egypt, the mother of contagious diseases, because of the many epidemics arising there even in his day. God sent wars upon Israel. Often times, in crowded, unsanitary military camps epidemics took their toll along with the slain of the battlefields so that sword and sickness decimated the ranks of Israels young, virile men who were the hope of the nation. The slain warriors and the slain battle-horses sometimes filled the air with that sickening stench of rotting flesh which is at times unbearable. But even this horrible stench did not remind them of their sins! For a record of Israels decimation in war see 2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 13:3; 2Ki 13:7.
Zerr: Amo 4:10. Pestilence of Egypt means a pestilence like that sent upon the land of Egypt. (See Exo 9:3, S; 12; 29.) The losses cited in this verse would be suffered when a foreign force came against the land, which God would cause to happen for a punishment upon them. The stink of your camps would be a natural result of the death of so many living creatures, both human and brute.
Amo 4:11 I HAVE OVERTHROWN CITIES AMONG YOU, AS . . . SODOM AND GOMORRAH . . . YE WERE AS A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE BURNING . . . Amos mentions this last judgment of God, not because it is last chronologically, but because it furnishes the prophet with a literary vehicle called climax, Amos list of five judgments of the Lord are given in an emotional ascension whereby a climax is reached at the last, The Lord has also called Israel to repentance by sending destructions upon her cities similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Israel was brought to the verge of utter ruin and overthrow more than once and was only saved like a firebrand snatched at the last moment from the consuming flames of the fire (cf. Zec 3:2). See 2Ki 13:4; 2Ki 13:7 for the devastation of the land (cf. Isa 1:9 also).
Zerr: 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.
Predicting the future was not, as many suppose it to have been, the primary function of the prophet. The supreme task of the prophet was to interpret the events of history in the light of the will and purpose of God. The prophets saw the hand of God in the events of daily life and this they saw by the divine leading of the Holy Spirit within them (1Pe 1:10-12; 2Pe 1:16-21). They sought to answer the pressing questions confronted in mans struggle with the totality of life. How was God related to the turbulent events of the world in the time of Amos? What was the relationship between the calamities, the crises, and the disappointments in life to the will of God? These same questions are asked today and may be answered by the same principles proclaimed by these Spirit-filled prophets! A correlation of history and the divine will is a crying, personal problem in every age. How does one relate the divine will and the wars, epidemics, tragedies, famines and other like calamities in the twentieth century? The prophets of Israel would give little support to the modern protest that the church ought to preach the gospel and leave everything else alone. For the prophets, the message of God was so interwoven into the fabric of daily life that the two could not be separated.
The underlying principle of all prophetic literature is the fact that judgment in history has a redemptive purpose. It is intended to cause man to see his desperate need for God, and subsequently to turn to His fellowship and communion. In the use of these disasters as a form of judgment, one is confronted with the most important aspect of the entire problem of Gods will and natural calamity. The most significant point to consider is not the ultimate or secondary source, a full explanation of the justice of such deeds, or even an attempt to exonerate God. The most important consideration is that of mans response to such catastrophe. Do acts of this kind lead to a new awareness of Gods sovereignty? Do they result in a new committal on the part of man to God. This is the significant element! Such calamities serve to cause man to recognize his finitude in the face of an overwhelming disaster, thereby opening the way for repentance and communion with God. Let all men know that the point of emphasis should be placed ultimately, not upon reason, but upon response. As Amos did, so must modern man consider as of primary significance the nature of his response to catastrophe. The moral reason behind such events, while important, must remain inexplicable. We cannot explain them perfectly but we can act in the light of them.
In view of this, history should serve to make man aware of his own dependence. Catastrophe should draw man near to the heart of God in an ever deepening communion. May it never be said that the catastrophes of history failed to draw this generation nearer to God. May it never be said, Yet you did not return to me.
For further study on this subject we refer you to our Special Study, The Prophetic Philosophy of History, and comments on similar passages from the five prophetic books treated in this commentary. See also our notes on Joe 2:1-11 in this commentary.
Naturally, the question will be asked, what of the righteous who must suffer at the same time Gods catastrophic natural disasters are occurring? There are at least three biblical principles by which we may understand the so-called suffering of the righteous. In the first place, all the righteousness of the righteous is purely relative. That is, all our righteousness is as filthy rags relative to Gods perfect righteousness, therefore we deserve more suffering than we endure here on earth no matter how good we are. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we are only accounted as righteous by the grace of God which we appreciate by faith. If God were only just-if He paid us in kind for our behavior-we would suffer worse than we do! Secondly, for the true saint of God, in both O.T. and New Testament times, suffering, trial, tribulation all serve to strengthen and purify. The Hebrew epistle has a great deal to say about this second principle. One of the most significant passages is: For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised Heb 10:36. Then, there is the passage in Heb 12:3-11, of course. (Consider also these passages: 2Co 1:3-11; 2Co 12:7; Jas 1:2-4; 1Pe 4:12-19, etc). Thirdly, if the innocent be caused to suffer and die with the guilty remember these words, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them Rev 14:13; and, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Psa 116:15. Compare also 2Co 4:16-18; 2Co 5:1-10; Php 1:21-24. We cannot understand, perhaps, but God has revealed enough of His governing principles that we should be able by faith to accept His sovereign will and look forward in hope to the consummation of all things. Why should the innocent baby of David and Bathsheba die because of their sin? Why should the man be born blind in order that the glory of God might be shown through him (John 9)? Why should the faithful Jews be taken into captivity with the unfaithful ones? God has not told us all the whys but He has told us some of them-enough for us to make a response, a commitment in faith.
Questions
1. When did Israel suffer from famine and to what extent did they suffer?
2. When did Israel suffer from drought?
3. Why did God, even in drought times, cause it to rain in some places?
4. Why send pestilences after the manner of Egypt?
5. How was Israel plucked out of the burning . . .?
6. How did Amos interpret or relate these disasters to the will of God?
7. What three principles explain, in part, the suffering of the righteous along with the wicked?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
cleanness: From want of food, occasioned by severe famine.
and want: Lev 26:26, Deu 28:38, 1Ki 17:1, 1Ki 18:2, 2Ki 4:38, 2Ki 6:25-29, 2Ki 8:1, Eze 16:27
yet: Amo 4:8, Amo 4:9, 2Ch 28:22, Isa 9:13, Isa 26:11, Jer 5:3, Jer 8:5-7, Hos 5:15, Hos 6:1, Hos 7:14-16, Joe 2:12-14, Hag 2:17, Zec 1:3-6, Rev 2:21, Rev 9:20, Rev 9:21, Rev 16:10, Rev 16:11
Reciprocal: Lev 26:23 – General Deu 28:16 – in the field Rth 1:1 – a famine Job 1:18 – there came Pro 14:4 – clean Isa 19:22 – they shall Eze 14:21 – my four Eze 24:13 – because Hos 5:2 – a rebuker Hos 7:10 – and they Hos 9:2 – floor Hos 11:5 – because Joe 1:16 – the meat Amo 4:10 – yet Amo 4:11 – yet Mic 6:9 – hear Hab 3:17 – the fig tree Hag 1:6 – have Act 12:20 – because Rev 16:9 – to give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 4:6. Have given you is present and past tense in form, hut it is one of the styles of prophetic speech. However, there was also such a condition referred to as a matter of the past, for God had before punished his people with some of these temporal shortages, Cleanness of teeth is a figurative designation for the results of famine. The phrase is followed immediately with the words want of bread, which would be a cause for the cleanness of teeth; no food to cause them to be unclean.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 4:6-8. And I also have given you Or, for this cause I have given you, cleanness of teeth An expression signifying a scarcity of food, or a famine. The famine which we read of 2Ki 8:1, seems to be that which is here referred to. Yet have ye not returned unto me Nevertheless ye have not been brought to a sense of your sins, to any sorrow for them, or to any sincere purpose of amendment. Also I have withholden the rain, when there were yet three months to the harvest At a season when your country most needed it, and when it had been wont to fall most plentifully. And I caused it to rain upon one city, and not upon another And, to make it more remarkable, I caused it to rain upon cities or places adjoining to yours, at the same time that the drought was so great on all your territories. This may import that God punished them with drought at the same time when he sent rain upon the cities of Judah; making a remarkable difference between Israel and Judah, like that which he formerly made between Egypt and the land of Goshen. One piece was rained upon, &c. This seems to be spoken of those parts which lay quite contiguous to the lands of other nations, of which parts, though they touched each other, yet rain fell upon the one and not upon the other; the consequence of which was, that the one piece of land was withered, or scorched up for want of moisture, while the adjoining one was green and flourishing. So two or three cities wandered, &c. So the inhabitants of several of your cities went to some city or other without your territories for the sake of getting water to quench their thirst. But they were not satisfied They could not obtain a sufficient quantity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:6 And I also have given you {h} cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
(h) That is, lack of bread and meat.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Refusal to repent 4:6-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord had brought famine throughout the land to warn His people about their disobedience and His displeasure, but this judgment did not move them to repent (cf. 1Ki 8:37-39). They had made an idol of the sacrificial system. Famine was one of the curses that God said He might bring if His people proved unfaithful to His covenant (Lev 26:26; Lev 26:29; Deu 28:17; Deu 28:48).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
COMMON SENSE AND THE REIGN OF LAW
Amo 3:3-8; Amo 4:6-13; Amo 5:8-9; Amo 6:12; Amo 8:8; Amo 9:5; Amo 8:4-6
FOOLS, when they face facts, which is seldom, face them one by one, and, as a consequence, either in ignorant contempt or in panic. With this inordinate folly Amos charged the religion of his day. The superstitious people, careful of every point of ritual and very greedy of omens, would not ponder real facts nor set cause-to effect. Amos recalled them to common life. “Does a bird fall upon a snare, except there be a loop on her? Does the trap itself rise from the ground, except it be catching something”-something alive in it that struggles, and so lifts the trap? “Shall the alarum be blown in a city, and the people not tremble?” Daily life is impossible without putting two and two together. But this is just what Israel will not do with the sacred events of their time. To religion they will not add common-sense.
For Amos himself, all things which happen are in sequence and in sympathy. He has seen this in the simple life of the desert; he is sure of it throughout the tangle and hubbub of history. One thing explains another; one makes another inevitable. When he has illustrated the truth in common life, Amos claims it for especially four of the great facts of the time. The sins of society, of which society is careless; the physical calamities, which they survive and forget; the approach of Assyria, which they ignore; the word of the prophet, which they silence, -all these belong to each other. Drought, Pestilence, Earthquake, Invasion conspire-and the Prophet holds their secret.
Now it is true that for the most part Amos describes this sequence of events as the personal action of Jehovah. “Shall evil befall, and Jehovah not have done it? I have smitten you. I will raise up against you a Nation Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel!” {Amo 3:6; Amo 4:9; Amo 6:14; Amo 4:12} Yet even where the personal impulse of the Deity is thus emphasized, we feel equal stress laid upon the order and the inevitable certainty of the process Amos nowhere uses Isaiahs great phrase: “a God of Mishpat,” a “God of Order” or “Law.” But he means almost the same thing: God works by methods which irresistibly fulfill themselves. Nay more. Sometimes this sequence sweeps upon the prophets mind with such force as to overwhelm all his sense of the Personal within it. The Will and the Word of the God who causes the thing are crushed out by the “Must Be” of the thing itself. Take even the descriptions of those historical crises, which the prophet most explicitly proclaims as the visitations of the Almighty. In some of the verses all thought of God Himself is lost in the roar and foam with which that tide of necessity bursts up through Chem. The fountains of the great deep break loose, and while the universe trembles to the shock, it seems that even the voice of the Deity is overwhelmed. In one passage, immediately after describing Israels ruin as due to Jehovahs word, Amos asks how could it “have happened otherwise”:-
“Shall horses run up a cliff, or oxen plough the sea? that ye turn justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.” {Amo 6:12} A moral order exists, which it is as impossible to break without disaster as it would be to break the natural order by driving horses upon a precipice. There is an inherent necessity in the sinners doom. Again, he says of Israels sin: “Shall not the Land tremble for this? Yea, it shall rise up together like the Nile, and heave and sink like the Nile of Egypt.” {Amo 8:8} The crimes of Israel are so intolerable, that in its own might the natural frame of things revolts against them. In these great crises, therefore, as in the simple instances adduced from everyday life, Amos had a sense of what we call law, distinct from, and for moments even overwhelming, that sense of the personal purpose of God, admission to the secrets of which had marked his call to be a prophet.
These instincts we must not exaggerate into a system. There is no philosophy in Amos, nor need we wish there were. Far more instructive is what we do find-a virgin sense of the sympathy of all things, the thrill rather than the theory of a universe. And this faith, which is not a philosophy, is especially instructive on these two points: that it springs from the moral sense; and that it embraces, not history only, but nature.
It springs from the moral sense. Other races have arrived at a conception of the universe along other lines: some by the observation of physical laws valid to the recesses of space; some by logic and the unity of Reason. But Israel found the universe through the conscience. It is a historical fact that the Unity of God, the Unity of History, and the Unity of the World, did, in this order, break upon Israel, through conviction and experience of the universal sovereignty of righteousness. We see the beginnings of the process in Amos. To him the sequences which work themselves out through history and across nature are moral. Righteousness is the hinge on which the world hangs; loosen it, and history and nature feel the shock. History punishes the sinful nation. But nature, too, groans beneath the guilt of man; and in the Drought, the Pestilence, and the Earthquake provides his scourges. It is a belief which has stamped itself upon the language of mankind. What else is “plague” than “blow” or “Scourge?”
This brings us to the second point-our prophets treatment of Nature.
Apart from the disputed passages (which we shall take afterwards by themselves) we have in the Book of Amos few glimpses of nature, and these always under a moral light. There is not in any chapter a landscape visible in its own beauty. Like all desert-dwellers, who when they would praise the works of God lift their eyes to the heavens, Amos gives us but the outlines of the earth-a mountain range, {Amo 1:2; Amo 3:9; Amo 9:3} or the crest of a forest, {Amo 2:9} or the bare back of the land, bent from sea to sea. {Amo 8:12} Nearly all, his figures are drawn from the desert-the torrent, the wild beasts, the wormwood (Amo 5:24; Amo 5:19-20; etc.; Amo 7:12). If he visits the meadows of the shepherds, it is with the terror of the peoples doom; {Amo 1:2} if the vineyards or orchards, it is with the mildew and the locust; {Amo 4:9 ff.} if the towns, it is with drought, eclipse, and earthquake. {Amo 4:6-11; Amo 6:11; Amo 8:8 ff.} To him, unlike his fellows, unlike especially Hosea, the whole land is one theatre of judgment; but it is a theatre trembling to its foundations with the drama enacted upon it. Nay, land and nature are themselves actors in the drama. Physical forces are inspired with moral purpose, and become the ministers of righteousness. This is the converse of Elijahs vision. To the older prophet the message came that God was not in the fire nor in the earthquake nor in the tempest, but only in the still small voice. But to Amos the fire, the earthquake, and the tempest are all in alliance with the Voice, and execute the doom which it utters. The difference will be appreciated by us, if we remember the respective problems set to prophecy in those two periods. To Elijah, prophet of the elements, wild worker by fire and water, by life and death, the spiritual had to be asserted and enforced by itself. Ecstatic as he was, Elijah had to learn that the Word is more Divine than all physical violence and terror. But Amos understood that for his age the question was very different. Not only was the God of Israel dissociated from the powers of nature, which were assigned by the popular mind to the various Baalim of the land, so that there was a divorce between His government of the people and the influences that fed the peoples life; but morality itself was conceived as provincial. It was narrowed to the national interests; it was summed up in mere rules of police, and these were looked upon as not so important as the observances of the ritual. Therefore Amos was driven to show that nature and morality are one. Morality is not a set of conventions. “Morality is the order of things.” Righteousness is on the scale of the universe. All things tremble to the shock of sin; all things work together for good to them that fear God.
With this sense of law, of moral necessity, in Amos we must not fail to connect that absence of all appeal to miracle, which is also conspicuous in his book.
We come now to the three disputed passages:-
Amo 4:13 :-“For, lo! He Who formed the hills, and createth the wind, and declareth to man what His mind is; Who maketh the dawn into darkness, and marcheth on the heights of the land-Jehovah, God of Hosts, is His Name.”
Amo 5:8-9 :-“Maker of the Pleiades and Orion, turning to morning the murk, and day into night He darkeneth; Who calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them forth on the face of the earth-Jehovah His Name; Who flasheth ruin on the strong, and destruction cometh down on the fortress.”
Amo 9:5-6 :-“And the Lord Jehovah of the Hosts, Who toucheth the earth and it rocketh, and all mourn that dwell on it, and it riseth like the Nile together, and sinketh like the Nile of Egypt; Who hath builded in the heavens His ascents, and founded His vault upon the earth; Who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them on the face of the earth-Jehovah His Name.”
These sublime passages it is natural to take as the triple climax of the doctrine we have traced through the Book of Amos. Are they not the natural leap of the soul to the stars? The same shepherds eye which has marked sequence and effect unfailing on the desert soil, does it not now sweep the clear heavens above the desert, and find there also all things ordered and arrayed? The same mind which traced the Divine processes down history, which foresaw the hosts of Assyria marshaled for Israels punishment, which felt the overthrow of justice shock the nation to their ruin, and read the disasters of the husbandmans year as the vindication of a law higher than the physical-does it not now naturally rise beyond such instances of the Divine order, round which the dust of history rolls, to the lofty, undimmed outlines of the Universe as a Whole, and, in consummation of its message, declare that “all is Law,” and Law intelligible to man? But in the way of so attractive a conclusion the literary criticism of the book has interposed. It is maintained that, while none of these sublime verses are indispensable to the argument of Amos, some of them actually interrupt it, so that when they are removed it becomes consistent; that such ejaculations in praise of Jehovahs creative power are not elsewhere met with in Hebrew prophecy before the time of the Exile; that they sound very like echoes of the Book of Job; and that in the Septuagint version of Hosea we actually find a similar doxology, wedged into the middle of an authentic verse of the prophet. {Hos 13:4} To these arguments against the genuineness of the three famous passages, other critics, not less able and not less free, like Robertson Smith and Kuenen, have replied that such ejaculations at critical points of the prophets discourse “are not surprising under the general conditions of prophetic oratory”; and that, while one of the doxologies does appear to break the argument {Amo 5:8-9} of the context, they are all of them thoroughly in the spirit and the style of Amos. To this point the discussion has been carried; it seems to need a closer examination. We may at once dismiss the argument which has been drawn from that obvious intrusion into the Greek of Hos 13:4. Not only is this verse not so suited to the doctrine of Hosea as the doxologies are to the doctrine of Amos; but while they are definite and sublime, it is formal and flat-“Who made firm the heavens and founded the earth, Whose hands founded all the host of heaven, and He did not display them that thou shouldest walk after them.” The passages in Amos are vision; this is a piece of catechism crumbling into homily. Again-an argument in favor of the authenticity, of these passages may be drawn from the character of their subjects. We have seen the part which the desert played in shaping the temper and the style of Amos. But the works of the Creator, to which these passages lift their praise, are just those most fondly dwelt upon by all the poetry, of the desert. The Arabian nomad, when he magnifies the power of God, finds his subjects not on the bare earth about him, but in the brilliant heavens and the heavenly processes.
Again, the critic who affirms that the passages in Amos “in every case sensibly disturb the connection,” exaggerates. In the case of the first of Amo 4:13, the disturbance is not at all “sensible”: though it must be admitted that the oracle closes impressively enough without it. The last of them, Amo 9:5-6 -which repeats a clause already found in the book {Cf. Amo 8:8} -is as much in sympathy with its context as most of the oracles in the somewhat scattered discourse of that last section of the book. The real difficulty is the second doxology, Amo 5:8-9, which does break the connection, and in a sudden and violent way. Remove it, and the argument is consistent. We cannot read chapter 5 without feeling that, whether Amos wrote these verses or not, they did not originally stand where they stand at present. Now, taken with this dispensableness of two of the passages and this obvious intrusion of one of them, the following additional fact becomes ominous. “Jehovah is His Name” (which occurs in two of the passages), or “Jehovah of Hosts is His Name” (Which occurs at least in one), is a construction which does not happen elsewhere in the book, except in a verse where it is awkward and where we have already seen reason to doubt its genuineness. But still more, the phrase does not occur in any other prophet, till we come down to the oracles which compose Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12. Here it happens thrice-twice in passages dating from the Exile, {Isa 47:4 and Isa 54:5} and once in a passage suspected by some to be of still later date. In the Book of Jeremiah the phrase is found eight times; but either in passages already on other grounds judged by many critics to be later than Jeremiah, or where by itself it is probably an intrusion into the text. Now is it a mere coincidence that a phrase, which, outside the Book of Amos, occurs only in writing of the time of the Exile and in passages considered for other reasons to be post-exilic insertions-is it a mere coincidence that within the Book of Amos it should again be found only in suspected verses? There appears to be in this more than a coincidence; and the present writer cannot but feel a very strong case against the traditional belief that these doxologies are original and integral portions of the Book of Amos. At the same time a case which has failed to convince critics like Robertson Smith and Kuenen cannot be considered conclusive, and we are so ignorant of many of the conditions of prophetic oratory at this period that dogmatism is impossible. For instance, the use by Amos of the Divine titles is a matter over which uncertainty still lingers; and any further argument on the subject must include a fuller discussion than space here allows of the remarkable distribution of those titles throughout the various sections of the book.
But if it be not given to us to prove this kind of authenticity-a question whose data are so obscure, yet whose answer frequently is of so little significance-let us gladly welcome that greater Authenticity whose undeniable proofs these verses so splendidly exhibit. No one questions their right to the place which some great spirit gave them in this book-their suitableness to its grand and ordered theme, their pure vision and their eternal truth. That common-sense, and that conscience, which, moving among the events of earth and all the tangled processes of history, find everywhere reason and righteousness at work, in these verses claim the Universe for the same powers, and see in stars and clouds and the procession of day and night the One Eternal God Who “declareth to man what His mind is.”