AMOS – CHAPTER 5

A FUNERAL DIRGE OVER ISRAEL

Verses 1-3:

A Mournful Lamentation, v. 1-3.

Verse 1 calls upon all the house of Israel, in a mournful song, to give heed, attention, or obedience to what the Lord God has to say. This mournful song or word of mournful nature, this elegy, that God took up and laid upon Israel, was an emotional burden to God because of their sins, 2Sa 1:17-27; Eze 32:1; Eze 19:1; Eze 27:2.

Verse 2 expressed a Divine lament over Israel as God’s fallen virgin, meaning a land and people of former luxury, power, wealth, and beauty, who by her idolatrous sins had, like a virgin, lost it all. She is warned that she shall no more rise to her virgin state, in her former existing state. She has fallen a prostrate prey upon her own land, 2Sa 1:19-25. In the midst of her own wealth she is destroyed, overcome by the consequence of her own sins, Eze 29:5; Eze 32:4.

Verse 3 gives a touching description of the effect of war on the cities and people of Israel. Where a thousand had gone to war, only a hundred of them escaped or survived. And where an hundred went out, only ten shall be left alive to the house of Israel. It was a judgment for their sins, of which they were as surely forewarned as Adam and Eve were of theirs in the garden of Eden, and as children of God are today, Gen 2:15-17; Deu 28:62; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 6:23.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Some render the verse thus, “Hear ye this word, because upon you, or for you, I raise a lamentation:” but we shall hereafter speak more at large as to the proper rendering. Let us see what the subject is. The Prophet here denounces on the Israelites the punishment they had deserved; and yet they did not think that it was nigh; and they ferociously despised, I have no doubt, the denunciation itself, because no chance had as yet taken place, which might have pointed out such a destruction. Hence the Prophet and his threatenings were both despised.

He however threatens them here in severe terms with the judgment of God, which they feared not: and this is the reason why he says, Hear ye. It was not, indeed, without reason that he thus began and intimated that they greatly flattered themselves, nay, that they stopped their ears against wholesome counsels: the admonition would have been otherwise superfluous. The Prophet then indirectly reproves that supine indifference in which the Israelites indulged themselves.

But with regard to the words, some, as I have before mentioned, refer this lamentation to Amos himself, as though he had said, that he lamented the state of the people, finding that they were so stupid, and did not perceive how dreadful the wrath of God is. Since, then, they thus flattered themselves in their sins, those interpreters think that the Prophet here assumes the character of a mourner for that irreclaimable people. Hear, he says, this word even because I lament over you. For the more refractory the people were, the more touched with grief the prophet no doubt was: for he saw how horrible the judgment of God was, which was nigh them, on account of their stubbornness. No wonder then that the Prophet says here, that he undertook or raised lamentation for the people; and this mode of speaking is common in Scripture.

But yet I rather think that another sense is more suitable to this place, which becomes evident by putting in an exegetic particle, Hear ye then this word which I raise upon you, even a lamentation, etc. The word משא, mesha, rendered burden, is derived from the verb נשא, nusha, which means to raise up: and there is a striking allusion to the subject treated of here. For the Prophet does not here simply teach the people, nor comfort them, nor does he only warn them, but he denounces on them the last punishment. We hence see the import of the expression, to raise up a word; it was the same as though he said, “I lay on you this prophecy:” for a burden is laid on the shoulders of men when God’s wrath is denounced.

It afterwards follows, Even a lamentation, O house of Israel; which means, “I raise upon you a word, which will constrain you to mourn and lament: though now ye are so refractory against God, that ye spurn all warnings, and reject all threatening; yet this word shall at last prove mournful to you.” This seems to be the genuine sense of the Prophet: in the first place, he reproves the stupidity of the people of Israel, by demanding a hearing; then he reproves their contempt of God in despising all threatenings; and he shows also that this prophecy would prove mournful to them for having so long trifled with God, “The lament of the house of Israel shall be this word, which I now raise up upon you.” it follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

AMOSOR HEATHENISMANCIENT AND MODERN

Amo 1:1 to Amo 9:15

THE opening sentences of this Book give us briefly, and yet somewhat fully, the history of the Prophet whose name it wears. He belonged to the herdmen of Tekoa, and prophesied in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah, and Jeroboam, Son of Joash, sat upon the throne of Israel, and two years before the earthquake.

There are few Prophets the date of whose living is so definitely fixed. It is known that Uzziah and Jeroboam were contemporary kings in the period 809 to 784 B. C. It is certain, therefore, that sometime in these twenty-five seasons, Amos spoke. Some have thought to fix it accurately by referring to the history of this earthquake, which was one of the most terrible visitations the country had ever known of its kind. Josephus assigned, as the immediate occasion of this earthquake, the act of pride on the part of Uzziah in offering incense, for which God smote him with leprosy, and says, Meanwhile a great earthquake shook the ground and the Temple parting, a bright ray of the sun shone forth and fell upon the kings face, so that forthwith the leprosy came over him. And above the city, at the place called Eroge, the western half of a hill was broken off and rolled half a mile to the mountain Eastward, and there stayed, blocking up the ways, and the kings garden.

But it ought to be said, in all candor, that those people who swear by Josephus, but doubt the inspiration of the biblical writers, have poor occasion for their conduct. This ancient Jewish historian is so often writing down legend, tradition, and even his own imagination, for history, that one dare not receive his statement concerning this earthquake as authentic, and the very year of Amos writing remains undetermined.

The place of his residence is put past dispute, however. It was at Tekoa, a little village twelve to fourteen miles from Jerusalem, and six miles south of old Bethlehem, the very one whence Joab brought the wise woman to intercede for Absalom, and which the king Rehoboam made a fortified town.

His humble station was also affirmed; not even the owner of sheep, but a hireling, who as opportunity offered, followed the herds; and when there was no employment in that avocation, turned to the gathering and selling of sycamore fruit or figs.

The most of the Old Testament Prophets are the sons of honored fathers, descendants from famed families; but already God is beginning to manifest forth the fact, which finds so many illustrations in New Testament teachers, namely,

How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

That no flesh should glory in His presence? (1Co 1:27-29).

But in keeping with the humble station of this man, and his equally humble estimate of self, he spent only a single verse upon his personal history,

as if the man were of little moment; while Gods message to the people was the subject of supreme concern.

With what a sentence did he smite the ears of his auditorsThe Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

It is not difficult to imagine him a successful street preacher, for these words were doubtless uttered in the alley-like avenues of Jerusalem. When he had finished that first sentence, every Jew within hearing of it would be riveted in attention, and ready to give eager ear to all that followed. It is interesting now to note, either the consummate genius of the speaker, or else Gods evident inspiration for both arrangement and expression of his thought.

It seems to me that this Book, upon close study, falls naturally into four parts and considered as a sermon or discourse, is ideal in its arrangement.

The first of these divisions has to do with

THE PROPHETS NEIGHBORS

Amo 1:3 to Amo 2:3

From Amo 1:3 to Amo 2:3 Amos speaks solely concerning the heathen round about. He denounces Damascus; he condemns Gaza; he excoriates Tyrus; he reproves Edom, he censures Ammon; and delivers sentence against Moab. What an introduction for a street discourse in Jerusalem! Every Jewish auditor would be delighted, for these were their hated enemies, and to have a man whose very mien and tongue told of his Divine appointment to the order of Prophet, utter such excoriations, would arouse the smouldering hatred which the Jews held against these into a flame of enthusiasm for the man speaking such words.

Now, before passing from this subject, let us see some essential truths suggested in these sentences.

First of all, The Prophets ministry is predetermined. His speech was no trick of the elocutionist to catch his auditors by condemning their enemies. Amos disclaims all originality and responsibility for these words, introducing his deliverance by the sentence, Thus saith the Lord. There are people who seem to entertain an impression that a prophet has no right to interfere in any affairs of another, and no occasion to condemn even the bad doings of his neighbors. It is not unusual to hear it said, You belong in the Church; and at the most your ministry should spend itself within the circle of her membership. You may have a right to instruct her youth, and even admonish her adults, but what have you to do with others? Those politicians who live and move in another realm; those science Professors who instruct Truth in skepticism, those liquor sellers who lure you to debauch, that realm of commerce, created for barter, not to speak of other confessedly unchristian circleswhat business have you with them?

They recognize no allegiance to your views, no obligation to your opinions; they regard your speech, concerning their conduct, a presumption. Why, therefore, persist in taking upon yourself a service which is despised by the very ones of whom you speak?

Amos answer to all of this is sufficient! Thus saith the Lord.

That is the answer of every true prophet. He is not spying out his neighbors sins, and speaking against them because the sermon brings him either pleasure or profit, but because God has said,

Preach the Word; he instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

* * But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry? (2Ti 4:2-5).

Only a few years ago some nominal Christians all over this country were voicing a certain amount of sympathy with the Boxer movement; and taking their cue from the cry of these murderers Down with the foreign devils, asked, What right have we to force our views upon these people when they do not want them?a question which can be answered in two sentences. Christians never force their views upon any, only preach them; and their warrant for doing that is in His Word. He who created China and has never signed a quitclaim to His right in that land and that people, namely, Jesus Himself, says, Go ye therefore, and teach ail nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Gods Prophets who call the Chinese to repentance, are there, commissioned of God Himself. Who will object to His conduct? Shall the creature take issue with the Creator?

The Prophets message also is God-given. When Amos uttered these words concerning Damascus, and Gaza, and Tyrus, and Edom, and Ammon, and Moab, he was not speaking of himself, But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael and I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus and I will send a fire upon Teman, etc., etc. Such would have been utterly meaningless had it originated at the mouth of the Prophet.

There are many people who object to Gods fire, kindled against His enemies, consuming the wicked. But let us not quarrel with Gods Prophet. This blaze was not born of his breath. When the minister reads from Revelation, The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death, dont quarrel with John for the speech. Like Amos of old, his authority for the utterance is in the sentence Thus saith the Lord.

When Hugh Latimer, one New Years day, went along with the bishop and nobles, who were carrying their presents to the king, with a Bible in his hand, and presented that as His gift, and the king opening it read, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge he was angry with Latimer; and, Herrick says, It is a wonder that bluff and fiery King Hall did not take off Hughs head.

Possibly the reason is found in the fact that even that fiery king knew that these were not Latimers words, and whatever quarrel he had was with God. The man who delivers Gods message is not to be blamed; and the man who does not present it is not Gods Prophet! How shall they preach except they be sent?

When Moses was called to be a Prophet for God he poorly apprehended the Prophets part. His answer was O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord answered him, Who hath made mans mouth * * Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. The man, who, like Amos, gets his message from God is Gods minister.

This Prophets judgment represents Divine justice. When he says For three transgressions, and for four, of Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon, Moab, I will send a fire, there is absolute justice in the sentence declared. Damascus must suffer because they have Threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron; Gaza because they have carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom; Tyrus, for participating in the same, and forgetting the brotherly covenant; Edom because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever; Ammon because he ripped up the women with child * * that they might enlarge their border: and Moab because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Men did not object when houses, infected with the black plague, were burned. There are some infections that can only be consumed in the flame. And there are some sins which can never be removed away save by the fire of Divine judgment; and that judgment always represents Divine justice also.

Not a few people have spoken to me concerning a sermon once delivered by my colleague, Dr. Frost, expressing their gratitude in that he made it clear that the innocent were never punished on account of the guilty; and that the guilty never suffered above their deserts; and that judgment was always tempered with mercy.

I confess to surprise that these things should strike any as new truths; they are as old as Revelation itself. Aye, they are inseparable from the very character of God.

John Watson, in his Mind of the Master tells us that what has filled many honorable minds with resentment and rebellion is not the fact of separation, but the principle of execution; not the dislike of an assortment, but the fear that it will not be into good and bad. And he continues, But Jesus rested judgment on the firm foundation of what each man is in the sight of the Eternal. He anticipated no protest in His parables against the justice of this evidence; none has ever been made from any quarter. The wheat is gathered into the garner. What else could one do with wheat? The tares are burned in the fire. What else could one do with tares? When the net comes to the shore, the good fish are gathered into vessels; no one would throw them away. The bad are cast aside; no one would leave them to contaminate the good. The supercilious guests who did not value the great supper were left severely alone. If men do not care for Heaven, they will not be forced into it. The outcasts, who had never dared to dream of such a supper, were compelled to come. If men hunger for the best, the best shall be theirs.

That is the truth of Gods judgment everywhere. And when He consumed these nations with the besom of destruction it was only because to continue them would be to condone sin by reproducing sinners, and stain the earth, calling into question His own wisdom by letting iniquity go unpunished. Say what you will of these judgments, you must commend their justice. Who art thou that repliest against God?

But from the Prophets neighbors we turn to

THE PROPHETS NATIONS

Amo 2:4 to Amo 6:14

To be sure Amos belonged by birth to Judah, but both these nations were his, by kinship, and by Divine appointment of Prophet to them. He came out of Judah, but he spake to Judah and to Israel. What a change must have come over the audience when this man, with eloquent speech, flaming with the evident enthusiasm of a Divine commission, turned suddenly from his denouncement of neighbors, to a kindred condemnation of the favored nations.

For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the Law of the Lord, and have not kept His Commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes (Amo 2:4-6).

Heathenism is not all with the heathen. You read the words of this Prophet from Amo 2:4 to Amo 6:14 and you will find the elect backsliders, and indulging in the abominations of their neighbors. It is a phrase employed too often, I fear, by those unwilling to go, or through their gold and silver to send, Why be interested in the heathen or foreign lands when there are so many heathen at home?

Such speak better than they desire. The heathen are at home; aye, the heathen, here, were the very company who called themselves saints. And this Prophets descriptions are not ancient; they are up to date!

No single discourse upon which my hand has fallen has been comparable in clearness of expression, and vigor of thought, to one, once delivered by my late loved friend, Dr. John O. Rust, on The New Heathenism, and printed in the Presbyterian Quarterly, October, 1902, and reprinted in pamphlet form by Whittet and Shepperson, of Richmond, Va. Rusts opening sentence is, We are prone to think that we have left heathenism far behind us in the centuries of the past; or that it is banished from our shores to hide its shame in the remote and darkened corners of the earth; and one is almost stung into a feeling of resentment when the charge is made that there is a lively revival of heathenism at our very doors, here in enlightened America, in this blessed day of grace.

Then Rust continues to show that commercialism has carried many a so-called Christian into heathen practices. The poet has written:

It is success that colors all in life;Success makes fools admired, makes villains honest;All the proud virtues of this vaunting world Fawns on success and power, howeer acquired.

Rust thinks stheticism also has been chosen as a term with which to clothe our cultured heathenism. He says, When the people get rich suddenly they wish to acquire culture quickly. The consequence is that elegant ladies and gentlemen, strong in the languor of luxury, lounge in dainty drawing-rooms, and cultivate an Attic difference to virtue, and a Roman contempt for enthusiasm of robust manhood.

Occultism has, within the last ten years, enjoyed a ridiculous revival. Teachers whose chief qualifications are long hair and soiled linen, profess an acquaintance with the mysteries of philosophy which would appall the real learning of the world. Hypnotists reveal the deep secrets of psychology on a months tuition which has been hidden from the wisdom of the world for ages. And the amazing thing about it is that thousands of people listen to the babble of these fellows who will not heed the oracles of God. A certain statistician has computed that there has been an increase of 300 per cent in fools in this country in the last fifty years, and one is half inclined to believe the estimate.

Socialism represents an extreme reaction against the proud, arrogant and esoteric tendencies, and by its very consciousness of wrong, it is attempting to get its rights by an attack upon all society.

Now I confess it was most interesting to me to take that address of Rusts, and compare his words with those of the Prophet Amos. Commercialism cursed Gods people in the times of Amos also, and they were called to judgment because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.

stheticism found then the same sensual expression which it is receiving today, They [stretched] themselves upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar. They [drank] the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. By their increased riches, through the oppression of the poor, they bought unto themselves beds of ivory, and stretched themselves upon their couches, and ate the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, and chanted to the sound of the viol, and invented to themselves instruments of music, defaming David, by saying they were the same as his; and setting aside the little glasses, emptied great bowls of wine.

And, by anointing themselves with the chief ointment imagined that they were a sweet incense to God, forgetting to grieve for the affliction of Joseph, until the drunkards of Ephraim came to be a byword in the streets of Jerusalem.

As to Occultism, they turned from the worship of the True God to such false shrines and sorcerers that a temple to Asherah was restored in Samaria; the gold and silver images to Baal were set up; the smoke of sacrifice to idols could be seen upon their mountain tops, and incense smelt in the shade of every grove until the word was Gilead was given to idols. They transgressed at Bethel, and multiplied transgressions at Gilgal.

And then the socialism that always attends oppression! Selfish and sensual living stirred in the breasts of the unsuccessful, and made it easy to bring against their divided forces nations that should afflict them from the entering of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.

Beloved, what greater danger to the land in which we live than these same, before which the ancient people of God sadly fell? Is not the Church itself threatened by commercialism in which, as Rust puts it, The evangelist has become the finangelist? The denominations which twenty-five years ago existed on a creedal basis, today continue on a commercial basis. Are not our missionary treasuries pauper-stricken too often because even the people who wear the Name of God, have learned to love palatial residences, and expend upon person and pleasure the whole of their income. And, are not many being brought to the bar of judgment and condemned with the charge having been substantiated against them, by the Lord God Himself, In tithes and offerings ye have robbed Me?

Let us see another thing to be inferred from the language of the Prophet Amos. Sonship does not insure against chastisement. The true father may witness the most evil deeds upon the part of his neighbors child without speaking a word of correction, or claiming the right of chastisement. But not so when his own children go into sin. His very love of them compels their correction; while his past favors give him that paternal prerogative, God makes that the basis of Israels chastisement. He reminds the Children of Israel that He alone had brought them up from Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

It is an Old Testament illustration of the New Testament assertion, Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. For those who have been the recipients of Divine favor in our day, the poets sentences speak this same truth.

But if your ears refuse The language of His grace,Your hearts grow hard, like stubborn Jews,That unbelieving race.

The Lord with vengeance drest,Shall lift His hand and swear,You that despised My promised restShall have no portion there.

Beastly conduct necessitates bitter correction. Sometime when you have looked upon people whose moral filth and sensual living was such that your whole nature reacted from the sight, you have been tempted to adopt the language of the street and call them cattle. Perhaps you did not know that it was also the language of Scripture, and that it is possible for men to go so deeply into sin that God looks upon their condition as that of a beast in an unclean stall.

To these ancient Israelites He said,

Hear this Word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that He will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord (Amo 4:1-3).

These are rude words of the Prophet; but let us remember that they were not his words, but Gods instead. It is an awful thing for one to come to that moral condition where his conduct reminds God of the cattle of the field!

Such a condition cannot be covered over by feasts, offerings and ceremonies. It is in vain for such to come to Bethel, which means the House of God, and to Gilgal to bring sacrifice every morning, and tithes after three years, and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish a free offering. As Joseph Parker says, There is one thing wanting in all that elegant program, and for want of that one thing the whole arrangement dies in the air like a gilded bubble. What is omitted from this rehearsal? The sin offering, the trespass offering. They will come with sacrifices every morning as donor to God; they will come with service and sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven; they will throw money into the treasury, and announce the sum in plain figures. But where is penitence? Where is contrition? Where is heart-wringing? Where is the tearing conscience, the presence of tormenting agony in the innermost life? Most worship is partial; many will have a little partial religion. Some attention has to be paid to custom, to the habit, wont, and use of life; some mean coin must at least be thrown into the treasury, and thrown in with some ostentation; hymns must be sung, and fault must be found with the music, and judgment must be pronounced upon the rabbi, the priest, the teacher for the time being, and for a certain period there must be an odor of sanctity about what we say and do. All this trickery is possible; but it never reaches the Heaven of God. And God only answers it all by saying,

Seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba * *.

Seek the Lord, and ye shall live * *.

Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His Name (Amo 5:5-6; Amo 5:8).

But to pass on in our study of this Book, we come upon

THE PROPHETS OPPONENTS

Amo 7:1 to Amo 9:10

It would be a marvel indeed if such a man as this went on without opposition. They beheaded Paul; they killed James, the Just; they crucified Jesus, and Amos reveals no spirit of compromise. How then can he hope to pass on in peace?

The Prophet cannot escape the opponent. There is an Amaziah for every Amos. He will send to Jeroboam, the king, saying,

Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the House of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land (Amo 7:10-11).

It is not pleasant to be pricked by the truth; to be irritated by an inspired word; to feel the lash upon the conscience, quickened by Sacred Scripture; and men always have opposed it, and they always will.

Perhaps in modern times we have had no more faithful minister of the Gospel than was Charles Spurgeon. But he had to learn how to be slandered, he says, in order that he might be made useful to God. His statement is, Down on my knees I have often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow, under some fresh slander poured upon me; in an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken; till at last I learned the art of bearing all and caring for none. * * If to be made as the mire of the streets again, if to be the laughing-stock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to His cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give.

That was exactly Amos answer when told to prophesy no more at Beth-el, since it was the kings chapel, and the kings court. He replied, confessing his humble estimate of himself,

I was no Prophet, neither was I a Prophets son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit:

And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord send unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel.

Now therefore hear thou the Word of the Lord.

It is the only answer one needs to make to his opponent; and it is the only answer one can make that carries with it any assurance of success. Do you remember that when David, the lad, after being scoffed by his elder brother, and scorned by Goliath, the giant, said to that Philistine, Thou contest to me with a sword, and with a spear and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of Hosts. Oh, beloved, whoever our opponents are, and whatever our opposition, that is the only Name in which we can stand; and that Name is sufficient!

Speaking in that Name we cannot be silenced by secular powers. Amaziah, in his inability to meet Amos single-handed, tried the trick of the pious politician, namely, arraying the secular powers against this servant of the Lord. It is an old trick; it was done in the days of Elisha; and repeated in the days of the Son of Man. He was charged with opposition to Caesar; as were His Apostles with rebellion against the civil government. It is most amazing how patriotic some men become, once the preaching of the truth reveals their personal sins, and those which they have in common with so-called statesmen, at one and the same time.

They are not welcomed by the fallen, and sometimes are most bitterly opposed by men who have proclaimed themselves children of the King. Be it remembered, however, that the same Amaziahs who rise to charge Gods Prophets with treason will be compelled to listen, eventually, to the Divine sentence of the Lord,

Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the House of Isaac.

Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land (Amo 7:16-17).

And yetThe Christians courage will accord with the Divine commission. Amos only needs to answer, The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and * * said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. When you have spoken in the language of Scripture, and are conscious that your purpose was to help and not hinder; to reform and not deform; to convert and not divert, then fear will flee away, and like Peter and the other Apostles of Jesus, you can answer the command of silence, We ought to obey God rather than man, and We are His witnesses of these things.

S. E. Herrick, speaking of Savonarola, in the times when all Florence was ablaze, having been basely betrayed by their ruler, says that Savonarola remained the one calm spirit, and assigns as the reason, He is the man who dwells unmoved in (The secret place of the Most High, and under the shadow of the Almighty

Every man ought to dwell there who is consciously seeking the glory of God, and faithfully presenting the Truth of God. Paul seems to have entertained that opinion of the whole Christian life, when he wrote the Ephesians,

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with Truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (Eph 6:10-16).

This Book concludes with the

PROPHETS PREDICTION

Amo 9:11-15

I want to make that also the conclusion of this chapter. This prediction is brief, but how blessed!

In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the Lord that doeth this.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

And I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God (Amo 9:11-15).

Take the three points of this prediction and delight thyself in them.

The restitution of the House of David is pledged.

That day will I raise up the Tabernacle.

That promise is found in a hundred forms in this Old Testament, and was made the occasion of James appeal to missionary endeavor, when, at the council of Jerusalem, he stood before the people saying,

Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name.

And to this agree the Words of the Prophets; as it is written,

After this I will return, and will build again the Tabernacle of David, which is fallen dawn.

Simeon did not see that Tabernacle rebuilt; James was not privileged to witness it; nor have we; and yet the Word of the Lord will not fail. The House of David is yet to be exalted in the earth.

Dr. Gordon tells us, There is a fragment of Jewish legend that has floated down to us, which represents two venerable rabbis as musing among the ruins of Jerusalem after its destruction. One is giving way to unrestrained lamentation, saying, Alas! alas! this is the end of all. Our beautiful city is no more; our Temple is laid waste, our brethren are driven away into captivity. The other, with greater cheerfulness, replies: True; but let us learn from the verity of Gods judgments, which we behold about us, the certainty of His mercies. He hath said, I will destroy Jerusalem, and we see that He hath done it. But hath He not also said, I will rebuild Jerusalem, and shall we not believe Him? The latter rabbi was right! The same God who, by His might, said to His people, I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve; and speedily fulfilled the threat, also declared of one day in the future, In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen. He will fulfil His promise. And I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the Lord that doeth this (Amo 9:11-12).

There is your pledge of the gathering out of the Gentiles. The heathen which are called by Gods Name. Isaiah had long ago said, The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Jesus once reminded the multitudes of the promises of God concerning His SonIn His Name shall the Gentiles trust. But more explicit still is that other statement of His concerning the destiny of JerusalemJerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Beloved, this is your age and mine; the period in which we who were aliens, by nature, are being grafted into the True Vine. Arthur T. Pierson has at some time expressed the thought that he never succeeds in winning a soul to the Saviour without entertaining the hope that this may be the last man needful to the filling up of the time of the Gentiles. But, oh, how such a suggestion ought to stir apprehension in the breasts of all Gentile-unbelievers, lest we approach the day of the Lord, and the time of our opportunity will be past!

Finally:The Prophet also predicts the return of the Jews to their own land.

I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God (Amo 9:14-15).

My brethren sometimes ask whether I see what appears clear evidences of the signs of the times; and if I do, there is something marvelous in this Zionist movement. Only a short time ago a clipping from your own paper here says that in the city of Milwaukee alone thousands of Jews have given their most ardent support to this Zionist movement to buy back again their own land, and make it the place of refuge to their persecuted people. So the movement has enlisted the Jews of St. Paul and Minneapolis. They do not see the significance of such a barter, but who knows but God is already beginning to fulfil literally those promises of His Word,

Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far * *.

And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had mercy on thee (Isa 60:9-10).

And again,

I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion (Jer 3:14).

The first-fruits of that final restoration which is fully pledged, and made emphatic by a hundred repetitions, and when, according to Jeremiah, God will gather the remnant of His scattered flock out of all countries into which He has driven them, and bring them again into their fold. And they shall be fruitful and increase, for in those days He will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:3; Jer 23:5).

O then that I

Might live, and see the olive bear

Her proper branches, which now lie

Scattered each where,

And without root and sap decay,

Cast by the husbandman away,

And sure it is not far!

For surely He

Who loved the world so as to give

His only Son to make us free,

Whose Spirit, too, doth mourn and grieve

To see man lost, will, for old love,

From your dark hearts this veil remove.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.] This word] A mournful song (2Sa. 1:17-27). Take up] Lit. lift up as if to cast down upon them.

Amo. 5:2. Virgin] The Israelite state unsubdued by foreigners. Fallen] Violent death (2Sa. 1:19-25), a figure of the overthrow of the kingdom. Rise] in the existing order.

Amo. 5:3. Went] to war. The depopulated city is touchingly described (Deu. 28:62).

HOMILETICS

THE FUNERAL DIRGE.Amo. 5:1-3

In order to impress Israel the more, Amos begins this his third appeal by a dirge over its destruction, mourning over those who were full of life and thought themselves safe. A dirge like that of David over Saul and Jonathan, over what once was lovely and mighty, but which had perished [Pusey].

I. The death of the nation. Israel was spiritually dead and debased. Like a virgin, she had lost her purity and fealty to God.

1. The state was destroyed. She hath fallen. Fallen by her sins and from her dignity.

(1) Inwardly destroyed. She is forsaken upon her land. Her true interests were neglected by her friends. She was forsaken by her own rulers and guides. With all her strength and resources she was morally helpless and none could defend her.

(2) Violently destroyed. Cast down upon her soil. She was prostrated by inward tendency and outward force. Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field (Eze. 29:5; Eze. 32:4).

(3) Hopelessly destroyed. There is none to raise her up. Weakened by moral corruption and intestine strife; despised by men and forsaken by God, she could rise no more. Nothing can prop up a rotten nation, nor save a doomed people. Ichabod may be written when God has departed from us.

2. The people were decimated. The city from which thousands went equipped for war could scarcely muster one hundred. The people, cut off by sword and pestilence, could not furnish more than a tithe of their population. One common doom befell larger and smaller cities. The whole kingdom was helpless and ruined. And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God.

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

II. The mourning for the nation. God is gracious in showing to us our sins, and if we heed the accusation we may escape the lamentation. But people are obstinate and opposed to God.

1. The prophet mourned. This word which I take up against you. He views the nation as dead, and he attends the funeral. He mourns not in poetic words, but in deep feeling. Every faithful minister at some time or other does the same. Samuel mourned over Saul; David wept because men kept not the law of God; Jeremiah grieved, and Paul had great heaviness and continual sorrow. Lamentations over fallen churches and wails over lost souls are most touching and too common! I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

2. The people mourned. Sad was the change and most distressing the condition of Israel. Sorrow entered every family; the state was deprived of its subjects; and there was none to help in her degraded condition. If, says a writer on this book, an enemy who had depopulated our towns, and killed our fathers and mothers, were to come to our abodes, how would all rise to ruin such an enemy. We should do as the Jews did by Paul when they looked on him as an enemy (Act. 21:27-28), they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! So should we encourage each other against sin and suppress it, saying:Magistrates, ministers, men and brethren, help; sin is what destroys our people, wastes our cities, unpeoples our towns, opposeth the laws, and brings confusion everywhere.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5

Amo. 5:1-3. In a piteous lamentation of the miserable state of the Church of Christ in England in the reign of Queen Mary, written by that worthy martyr of God Nicholas Ridley (Works, Parker Society), we meet with most affecting reasons for sorrow and tears [Ryan].

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. [Shakespeare.]

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

REVELATION CALLS FOR REPENTANCEGODS WORD AGAINST ISRAEL

TEXT: Amo. 5:1-5

1

Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

2

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.

4

For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;

5

but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the virgin of Israel?

b.

Why only 1/10th left in each city?

c.

Why is Beer-sheba mentioned in company with Bethel and Gilgal?

PARAPHRASE

Listen, O house of Israel, to this mournful funeral dirge which I have begun to chant over you! You were destined from the beginning to be kept inviolate from heathen invaders like a virgin is kept chaste, but you shall be ravaged and die a violent death and there will be none to save you. For the Lord God says, Every city of Israel which marches out to war will be so utterly destroyed that only a small remnant of people will survive in each city. Again, the Lord says unto Israel, There is still timeSeek Me and live; seek the idolatrous places and ways of Bethel and Gilgal, or make a pilgrimage to the idols at Beersheba, and you will go into captivity and become nothingness just as these idolatrous cities are to become!

SUMMARY

Amos wants to impress even more dramatically before Israel her headlong rush into ruin, destruction and captivity. He does so by setting before Israel Jehovah God as the Fountain head of life and the destiny of the centers of idolatry.

COMMENT

Amo. 5:1-2 . . . A LAMENTATION OVER YOU . . . THE VIRGIN OF ISRAEL IS FALLEN . . . Amos the prophet, on behalf of God, begins chanting Israels funeral dirge. And this at the very apex of her prosperity! One can surely visualize with what unpopularity Amos preaching would be greeted in Israel! He is mocked, ridiculed and slandered as a preacher of doom and a pessimist, The phrase virgin of Israel, is a poetical personification of the population of a city or of a kingdom, as a daughter, with a further idea of being unconquerable expressed by the term virgin. God had intended Israels destiny to be one of separateness from the heathen world and as a result He would keep her inviolate from foreign invaders. Israel was to be pure, chaste, protected, untouchedbut now she has played the harlot and she will be attacked, ravaged and brought to a violent end! For other figurative uses of virgin in this same sense see Isa. 47:1-2, etc. When God gives her up to be spoiled by foreign invaders there will be none to help her!

Amo. 5:3-5 . . . THE CITY THAT WENT FORTH A THOUSAND SHALL HAVE A HUNDRED LEFT . . . SEEK YE ME, AND YE SHALL LIVE . . . BUT SEEK NOT BETH-EL, NOR . . . GILGAL . . . BEER-SHEBA . . . Amos is not attempting to be mathematically precise when he predicts that only ten per cent of each city will be saved from total destruction, he is merely speaking figuratively (cf. Isa. 6:13) to say that only a very small remnant of the whole nation will be saved from utterly perishing. This was fulfilled exactly (cf. 2 Kings 17). Such total ruin would, of course, be the fartherest thing from the minds of most of the people of Israel in these days of peace, luxury, prosperity and influence. Much like the people of the Roman empire just before its fall was the attitude of the people of Israel. We are fearful that there are many Americans who cannot see the danger signs in our generationcrime, government corruption, lewdness, selfishness, anarchy, and perversion of standards in almost every avenue of life from sex to art and music to law and order!

Yet God pleads with Israel once more. Seek Me, and live! Jehovah is the Spring of Life (cf. Jer. 2:13; Psa. 36:10); He is longsuffering and does not take pleasure in the death of any of His creatures (cf. Eze. 18:31-32; 2Pe. 3:9). But Jehovah can only be sought and found through His revelation! They will not find Him at Bethel or Gilgal or Beersheba. These are centers of idolatry, false teaching, false worship; they will find there only ruin, destruction and captivity for that is what God has planned for these places! Beersheba, although in Judah the southern kingdom, is mentioned evidently because, being sacred to Jewish history (Gen. 21:33; Gen. 26:24; Gen. 46:1) it had been made into a place of idolatrous worship, to which people of the northern kingdom went on pilgrimages frequently.

Irresponsible conduct, whether within or without the religious structures of the day, cannot continue unabated without experiencing inevitable retribution. This is a moral law of the universe just as inevitable as any physical law of nature! If man will not hear the word of God warning of judgment in His revelation, it is only left for man to experience that judgment in history. Amos proclaimed that Israel was dead! The people did not know it, nor did they want to know it (Amo. 7:10 ff)! Although Israel continued to flourish for almost forty years after Amos prophecy before national extinction came, yet, for all practical purposes, she was dead when Amos was preaching; thus he speaks of her future as if it were already present. Is it only extreme pessimism to say, America is dead? Could there be any parallel between Israels condition and Americas? If so, there must be a parallel looked for in their destinies! Perhaps it is not yet too late for America, even as it was not too late for Israel. Perhaps if America will seek Jehovah in His revelationHis wordshe will find Him and live. Only let her not seek life in the many idols her people have made for there she will find only false teaching, false worship and death!

QUIZ

1.

What is a lamentation and why did Amos begin one over Israel?

2.

Why did he refer to Israel as a fallen virgin?

3.

Why make a contrast between seeking Jehovah and Bethel, Gilgal or Beersheba?

4.

Could there be a parallel between Israels condition and Americas?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

1-3. A dirge.

Hear ye this word Compare Amo 3:1; Amo 4:1.

Lamentation Hebrews kinah. A technical term for a dirge in memory of a departed friend. It is not a spontaneous expression of grief, but a formal composition, long or short, artificially constructed. These dirges are composed in a peculiar meter, the so-called kinah verse, in which the lines are longer than ordinarily in Hebrew poetry, each consisting of two parts, of which the second is a little shorter than the first, the ratio being about 3 to 2. The lament is contained in Amo 5:2-3; Amo 5:3 giving the explanation of Amo 5:2. The kinah meter is observed only in Amo 5:2; it may be restored approximately in Amo 5:3 by omitting the introductory words and “to the house of Israel” at the close. While it is not possible to reproduce exactly the meter of the Hebrew, the following rendering of Amo 5:2-3 (with the omissions suggested) indicates approximately the character of the kinah compositions: (a) Fallen, no more shall she rise, (b) virgin Israel, (a) Flung down on her own ground (b) no one to raise her.

(a) The city that goeth forth a thousand (b) shall have left a hundred, (a) And she that goeth forth a hundred (b) shall have left ten.

Virgin of Israel “The earliest extant example of the personification of a nation or community as a woman.” Later such personifications became quite common (Jer 18:13; Jer 31:4; Jer 31:21; compare Isa 10:32; Isa 37:22, etc.; see on Hos 2:2).

Is fallen The prophetic perfect. The calamity is still future, but the prophet is so certain of its coming that he sings the dirge as if the nation had already died. The wounds inflicted are so grievous that she cannot rise, nor is there anyone to help her up.

Forsaken R.V., “cast down.” The verb implies the use of force flung down and the abandonment to destruction (Eze 29:5; Eze 32:4). Amo 5:3 indicates the nature of the calamity that will reduce Israel to such sore straits; her fighting force is to be reduced to one tenth of its present numbers.

Went out To battle.

A thousand A city that can furnish a thousand fighting men must be of considerable size.

An hundred A smaller town. Great and small cities shall suffer alike.

Justification of the judgment, and exhortation to repentance, 4-10. That Amos believed in the possibility of a universal “return” of Israel is nowhere stated or implied; that he hoped for some salutary effects of his preaching cannot be doubted; it is implied in Amo 5:15, and in the fact that he continues his exhortation to “seek Jehovah.” Who of the people would repent and who would persist in rebellion he could not know; therefore he must exhort all that he may “save some.” This he does in Amo 5:4 ff. At the same time his exhortation supplies the justification for the divine judgment; they have done the things that are not acceptable to God, and have left undone the things in which he takes delight. Notwithstanding the abruptness of transition from 1-3 to 4 the logical connection between the two parts is not difficult to see. In 1-3 the prophet bemoans the humiliation of Israel. He would have been unfit to act as a messenger of Jehovah had not the contemplation of this fate moved him to compassion and aroused a longing that the terrible calamity might be averted. In the anxiety of his heart he bursts forth in a new exhortation, hoping that, perchance, he may yet succeed in bringing at least some to repentance, and thus avert the doom. Harper interprets Amo 5:4-5 as injunctions given in the past, disobedience to which furnishes the reasons for the disaster described in Amo 5:2-3; and he makes Amo 5:6 the beginning of Amos’s exhortation. This interpretation is less natural; it certainly is no improvement over the one commonly accepted.

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

Opening Lamentation. Amos Pronounces A Funeral Dirge Over Israel ( Amo 5:1-3 ).

Amos now looks ahead into the future and proclaims a funeral dirge over Israel because her hope has gone (unless she repents). He looks ahead and sees her as having received her deathblow.

Amo 5:1

‘Hear you this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.’

‘Hear you this word’ is indicative of a break in the narrative (compare Amo 3:1; Amo 4:1). He is taking up a new theme. For having warned of what is coming Amos now sees it as having already come, and mourns for Israel in her passing (he has no joy in what will happen to them).

Amo 5:2

“The virgin of Israel is fallen,

She shall no more rise,

She is cast down upon her land,

There is none to raise her up.”

The fall of a virgin was seen as a disaster in Israel. Here Israel is seen as lying in misery on the ground having lost her virginity as a result of war and of her own misbehaviour and thus having lost all hope because any who could have sustained her have gone. She will not rise for she is in despair and has nothing to rise for. She has cast herself inconsolably down on the ground recognising her ruin, and will be left there to suffer in her misery because there is no one who will raise her up. The only One Who could do so is the One Whom she has spurned. Compare the vivid description of Jerusalem in Isa 51:17-23 and of Babylon in Isa 47:1-15.

There is something especially poignant about her having been ‘cast down on her land’. That land was Israel’s inheritance from YHWH, but instead it has become their graveyard.

Amo 5:3

“For thus says the Lord YHWH,

The city which went forth a regiment (a thousand),

Will have a company (a hundred) left,

And that which went forth a company (hundred),

Will have a platoon (a ten) left, to the house of Israel.”

And the reason for the virgin’s distress will be because of what has happened to her. This is pictured in terms of Israel’s inability to defend herself. The city who watched their proud regiments march forth with ram’s horns blaring, will have watched them return decimated, having been reduced to a mere company, while the smaller cities who sent a company will only have seen part of a platoon returning. That is all that would be left to the house of Israel. And it found its fulfilment, firstly in the rape of Israel which resulted in only Samaria being left (2Ki 15:29), and then in the rape of Samaria, when the cream of the nation were transported (2Ki 17:6) leaving only a straggled remnant, truly a despoiled virgin. Compare Deu 28:68.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

A Lamentation Over Israel ( Amo 5:1-17 ).

While speaking powerfully Amos had no joy in what was to happen to Israel, and having pronounced judgment on them, he now laments what must necessarily be their end if they do not repent. It demonstrates that underneath his iron words he had a tender heart. That there was opportunity to repent comes out in the continual repetition of the call to ‘seek YHWH’ and to ‘seek goodness’, and ‘live’, which is a theme of the passage (Amo 5:4; Amo 5:6; Amo 5:14). But Amos has little hope of it happening, which is why he pronounces this dual funeral dirge, although combining it with a call to repentance, over them. The passage is in the form of a chiasmus, further emphasising its unity.

a Opening lamentation (1-3).

b A first call to repentance (4-6).

c A first indictment on Israel (Amo 5:7).

d A call to consider YHWH’s glory and power (Amo 5:8-9).

c A further indictment on Israel (Amo 5:10-13).

b A further call to repentance (Amo 5:14-15).

a A further lamentation ( Amo 5:16-17).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Amo 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

Amo 5:8 Word Study on “the seven stars” – Gesenius says the Hebrew word “the seven stars” “kiymah” ( ) (H3598) means, “a heap, a cluster.” Strong defines this word as “Pleiades, seven stars,” and says it is derived from an unused primitive root ( ) (H3558) that means, “to store away.” The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word “cimah” is found three times in the Old Testament, being translated “Pleiades 2, seven stars 1.”

Job 38:31, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades , or loose the bands of Orion?”

Amo 5:8, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:”

Webster tells us that the name “Pleiades” is derived from Greek mythology, referring to “the seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.” As a constellation, it is “a group of small stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus.” Since there are only six of these pleiads that are “distinctly visible to the naked eye,” the ancient Greeks supposed that “a sister had concealed herself out of shame for having loved a mortal, Sisyphus.” Hence, we get the rendering “the seven stars” in Amo 5:8 ( KJV).

Amo 5:8 Word Study on “Orion” – Gesenius says the Hebrew word “Orion” “kes-eel” ( ) (H3685) means, “a fool.” Strong says it is derived from the primitive root ( ) (H3684), which literally means, “to be fat,” and figuratively, “to be silly.” Thus, this constellation is also called “the Fool.”

The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word is used only 4 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “Orion 3, constellation 1.” This word is used in Job 38:31 and Amo 5:8 as the name of one of several constellations. Isa 13:10 uses this word in its plural form in a wider sense to mean all of the constellations in the heavens.

Job 38:31, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ?”

Amo 5:8, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion , and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:”

Isa 13:10, “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.”

Webster says that Orion is “a large and bright constellation on the equator between the stars Aldebaran and Siriusit contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.” In addition, John Gill tells us that the Hebrew name “Cesil” ( ) is a derivative of the name of the Hebrew month “Cisleu,” which corresponds to the Roman calendar of November and December at which time this constellation is visible in the Middle East. He says because this constellation appears during the stormy, winter season, Virgil referred to it as “nimbosus Orion,” or “stormy Orion.” [27]

[27] John Gill, Job, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Job 9:9.

The legend of this constellation is of a celebrated mythological hero who was bound in the heavens for an unsuccessful war against the gods. Thus, Job 38:31 describes Orion as being bound with cords. Among the Eastern tradition this individual was identified as Nemrod, who rebelled against the Lord in Genesis. [28] However, the Greeks identified this person as Orion, a celebrated hunter in the oldest Greek mythology of a gigantic stature. [29]

[28] Albert Barnes, Job, in Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1997), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), comments on Job 9:9.

[29] David H. Levy, “Orion,” in The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 14 (Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1994), 856.

Amo 5:21-23 God Rejects Israel’s Religious Worship In Amo 5:21-23 God lists seven aspects of Israel’s worship, which He rejects: their feast days, solemn assemblies, burnt offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, the noise of their songs, the melodies of their viols.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Israel’s only Safety in Seeking the Lord

v. 1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel, an elegy, dirge, or mournful song sung over the downfall of Israel.

v. 2. The virgin of Israel, the people called thus because they were to be the Lord’s congregation, His chaste bride, is fallen; she shall no more rise, not return to her former powerful and prosperous state; she is forsaken upon her land, stretched out upon her soil, by a violent overthrow; there is none to raise her up.

v. 3. For thus saith the Lord God, The city that went out by a thousand, sending so many soldiers into war, shall leave an hundred, the rest being destroyed by war and pestilence, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel, all the rest being devoured by the punishment of the Lord.

v. 4. For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, in a last attempt to save its people from themselves, Seek ye Me, in sincere worship of the one true God, and ye shall live;

v. 5. but seek not Bethel, where idolatry was so openly and blasphemously practiced, nor enter into Gilgal, another center of idol-worship, and pass not to Beersheba, in the extreme southern part of Canaan, where evidently another altar had been erected to idols; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, its idols unable to save it, and Bethel shall come to naught, its heathenish worship unable to save it.

v. 6. Seek the Lord, to serve and worship the God of the covenant only, and ye shall live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, a name for Ephraim, the son of Joseph and the ancestor of the mightiest tribe of the northern kingdom, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel, even their mightiest idols being powerless before the might of Jehovah.

v. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, by perverting justice into a bitter wrong, and leave off righteousness in the earth, casting it down, trampling it under foot,

v. 8. (seek Him) that maketh the seven stars, one of the constellation of the sky, and Orion, Cf Job 9, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, the darkest hour being just before dawn, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, in fearful tidal waves and floods:. the Lord is His name, the one true God;

v. 9. that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, literally, “who makes desolation to flash upon the strong,” as the catastrophes caused by Him suddenly take hold of men, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress, rather, “and desolation comes upon the fortress,” for none can withstand the power of the Almighty.

v. 10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, him who raises his voice against the universal unrighteousness, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly, for the very fact that some one is honest and true is a rebuke to the hypocrisy of the wicked.

v. 11. Forasmuch, therefore, as your treading is upon the poor, in the oppression which was then so generally practiced, and ye take from him. burdens of wheat, exacting such gifts by methods of violence:. ye have built houses of hewn stone, costly dwellings, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, with their unlawful gains, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

v. 12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, outstanding even in the midst of a nation steeped in wickedness; they afflict the just, making life a burden for him, they take a bribe, causing such bribe money to be paid, in order that men might buy their freedom from the oppression of these same rulers, and they turn aside the poor in the gate, where the courts of justice were held, from their right. Thus the poor were without champions of their right and were obliged to bow to the mighty, a condition which still prevails almost universally.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Verse 1-ch. 6:14

8. Third address: the prophet utters a lamentation over the fall of Israel. (Amo 6:1-3.) He calls her to repentance, while he shows wherein she has declined from the right way. To make this plain, he contrasts God’s power and majesty with the people’s iniquity, instances of which he gives (Amo 6:4-12). The only condition of safety is amendment (Amo 6:13 -15); and as they refuse to reform, they shall have cause to lament (verses 16, 17). This threat is enforced by the two emphatic “woes” that follow, the first of which demonstrates the baselessness of their trust in their covenant relation to God (verses 18-27); the second denounces the careless lives of the chiefs, who, revelling in luxury, believed not in the coming judgment (Amo 6:1-6). Therefore they shall go into captivity, and the kingdom shall be utterly overthrown (Amo 6:7-11), because they act iniquitously and are self-confident (Amo 6:12-14).

Amo 5:1

Hear ye this word. To show the certainty of the judgment and his own feeling about it, the prophet utters his prophecy in the form of a dirge (kinah, 2Sa 1:17; 2Ch 35:25). Which I take up against you; or, which I raise over you, as if the end had come. O house of Israel; in the vocative. The Vulgate has, Domus Israel cecidit; so the LXX. But the present Hebrew text is most suitable, making the dirge begin at Amo 5:2. The ten tribes are addressed as in Amo 5:6.

Amo 5:2

The virgin of Israel; i.e. the virgin Israel; so called, not as having been pure and faithful to God, but as tenderly treated and guarded from enemies (comp. Isa 23:12; Isa 47:1; Jer 14:17). Is fallen; she shall no more rise. This is apparently a contradiction to the promise of restoration elsewhere expressed, but is to be explained either as referring exclusively to the ten tribes, very few of whom returned from exile, and to the kingdom of Israel which was never reestablished; or, as Pseudo-Rufinus says, “Ita debemus accipere quod lugentis affectu cumulatius aetimavit illata discrimina sicque funditus appellasse deletos, quos ex majore videret parte contritos.” Forsaken upon her land; better, she shall be dashed upon her own land; her own soil shall witness her ruinthat soil which was “virgin,” unconquered, and her own possession.

Amo 5:3

The vindication of the prophet’s lament. The city that went out by a thousand. Septuagint and Vulgate, “from which went forth thousands,” or, “a thousand;” i.e. which could send out a thousand warriors to the fight, in such a city only a tenth of the inhabitants shall remain; and this shall happen to small cities as well as great.

Amo 5:4

The more formal proof that Israel has merited her punishment here begins. In calling her to repentance the prophet contrasts God’s requirements with her actual conduct. Seek ye me, and ye shall live. Two imperatives: “Seek me, and (so) live;” duty and its reward. “Seek me in the appointed way, and ye shall be saved from destruction” (comp. Gen 42:18).

Amo 5:5

Bethel Gilgal. The scenes of idolatrous worship, where was no true seeking of God (see note on Amo 4:4). Beersheba. A spot about fifty miles southsouthwest of Jerusalem, the site of which has never been lost, and is marked to this day by seven much-frequented wells. As being one of the holy places celebrated in the history of the patriarchs (Gen 21:31, Gen 21:33; Gen 26:23, etc.; Gen 46:1), it had become a shrine of idolatrous worship, to which the Israelites resorted, though it lay far out of their territory (comp. Amo 8:14). Gilgal shall surely go into captivity. There is in the Hebrew a play on the words here and in the following clause (Hag-gilgal galoh yigleh), which commentators have paralleled with such expressions as, Capua capietur, Cremona cremabitur, Paris perira, “London is undone.” Or, taking Joshua’s explanation of the name, we may say, “Roll-town shall be rolled away.” Bethel shall some to nought. As Bethel, “House of God,” had become Bethaven, “House of vanity” (see Hos 4:15), as being the temple of an idol, so the prophet, with allusion to this, says that “Bethel shall become aven“vanity, nothingness, itself. No mention is made of the fate of Beersheba, because Amos has in view only the ten tribes, and the destiny of places beyond their territory is not here the object of his prediction; and indeed, when Israel was ruined, Beersheba escaped unharmed.

Amo 5:6

Break out like fire. God is called “a consuming fire” (Deu 4:24; Heb 12:29; comp. Jer 4:4). And devour it; Septuagint, , “Lest the house of Joseph blaze as fire, and he devour him;” Vulgate, Ne forte comburatur ut ignis domus Joseph, et devorabit. But it is best to take the last member of the sentence thus: “and it (the fire) devour.” The house of Joseph. Ephraim, i.e. the kingdom of Israel, of which Ephraim was the distinguishing tribe. In Bethel; or, for Bethel. The LXX; paraphrasing, has, , “for the house of Israel.”

Amo 5:7

The prophet brings out the con-trust between Israel’s moral corruption and God’s omnipotence. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood. As Jerome puts it,” Converterunt dulcedinem judicii in absinthii amaritudinem,” “They turned the sweetness of judgment into the bitterness of absinth” (comp. Amo 6:12). Who make judgment the occasion of the bitterest injustice. There is no syntactical connection between this verse and the last, but virtually we may append it to “seek the Lord.” It would sound in people’s ears as a reminiscence of Deu 29:18, Deu 29:20. The LXX. reads, . “that executeth judgment in the height,” referring the sentence to the Lord, or else taking laanah, “wormwood,” in a metaphorical sense, as elsewhere they translate it by , (Deu 29:18; Pro 5:4; Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15). The name “wormwood” is applied to all the plants of the genus that grow in Palestine the taste of which was proverbially bitter. And leave off righteousness in the earth; rather, cast down righteousness to the earth (as Isa 28:2), despise it and trample it underfoot (comp. Dan 8:12). This is Israel’s practice; and yet God, as the next verse shows, is almighty, and has power to punish. Righteousness includes all transactions between man and man. The LXX. (still referring the subject to the Lord), , “and he established righteousness on earth.”

Amo 5:8

Striking instances are given of God’s creative power and omnipotence. Seek him that maketh the seven stars. “Seek him” is not in the Hebrew. “He that maketh,” etc; is in direct antithesis to “ye who turn,” etc. (Amo 5:7). The seven stars; Hebrew, kimah, “the heap,” the constellation of the Pleiades (Job 9:9; Job 38:31). The Septuagint here has, , but in Job has . The Vulgate gives, facientem Arcturum. Symmachus and Theodotion give in the present passage. The identification of this term is discussed in the ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ 2:891. The observation of this most remarkable cluster among the heavenly bodies would be natural to the pastoral life of Amos. And Orion; Hebrew, kesil, “foolish,” a rebel, the name being applied to Nimrod, whose representation was found by the Easterns in this constellation. Some render kesil, “gate;” others connect it with the Arabia sohail, equivalent to Sirius, or Canopus. The Septuagint here has, , “and changing,” which looks as if the translator was not familiar with the Hebrew word, and substituted something in its place. It reads in Job 38:31. Turneth the shadow of death into the morning. “The shadow of death,” the depth of darkness. This and the following clause do not simply state that the regular interchange of day and night is in God’s hands, but rather notify that God is a moral Governor of the world. He saves men from the utmost dangers, from the darkness of sin and from the night of ignorance; and, on the other hand, he sends calamity on those that offend his Law (comp. Amo 4:13). Maketh the day dark with night; literally, as the Septuagint , “darkeneth day into night.” That calleth for the waters of the sea, etc. As judgments are the prophet’s theme, this expression cannot be an intimation of the working of the natural law by which the moisture taken up from the sea as cloud returns upon the earth as rain (comp. Amo 9:6). Rather it is an allusion to the Flood and similar catastrophes, which are proofs of God’s judicial government of the universe, when “he maketh the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies” (Wis. 5:17). The Lord is his Name. Jehovah, the self-existent God, doeth all these marvellous things, and men presume to scout his Law and think to be unpunished (Amo 4:13).

Amo 5:9

That strengtheneth, etc. Translate, That causeth destruction to flash forth upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress. The idea is that God, as with a lightning flash, smites the strongest man, and no fortress is a refuge from him. Septuagint, , “Who divideth destruction unto strength.” The Vulgate, taking the Hebrew verb balag in the sense of lighting up the countenance, renders, Qui subridet vastitatem super robustum, which means that the Lord smiles while he brings desolation on the mightya figurative expression denoting his anger at man’s pride, and the ease with which he punishes. We may add that Rosenmuller agrees with the Authorized Version in the first clause: “Who strengtheneth the weak against the strong, and giveth the plunderers power over the fortresses of the strong.”

Amo 5:10-12

The prophet gives further instances of the people’s corruption.

Amo 5:10

Him that rebuketh in the gate (Isa 29:21). The gate of Eastern cities was the place of public resort (Pro 1:21), either for business (Deu 25:7), or the administration of justice (2Sa 15:2), or for gossip. So “he that rebuketh in the gate” may be a judge, or a chief, or a prophet (Jer 17:19; Jer 19:2). It seems better to take the words thus than to join “in the gate” to “they hate,” with the meaning that those who resort to the gatekings, chiefs, judgeshate the prophet’s reproof, for the following verses show that Amos is referring chiefly to judicial proceedings, and not to his own mission. Uprightly; literally, perfectly; Vulgate, perfecte; i.e. without reserve, keeping nothing back.

Amo 5:11

Therefore. Because ye refuse reproof, and oppress the poor. Your treading is upon the poor; ye trample upon. The Hebrew word boshes is found nowhere else, and is variously explained. Septuagint, , “smote with the fists;” so the Syriac; Vulgate, diripiebatis, with which the Chaldee agrees. Keil, Schegg, and most modern commentators explain the word, by a slight dialectical variation, as equivalent to conculcare. Burdens of wheat; rather, tribute, exactions of wheat, or presents like enforced “benevolences.” They exacted such gifts before they would do justice to the poor. Or it may refer to interest for money or victuals lent, which took the form of presents in order to evade the Law (Exo 22:25; Le Exo 25:37; Deu 23:19). Septuagint, : Vulgate, praedam electam, the Hebrew word bar meaning either “wheat” or “elect.” Hewn stone. Houses thus built were a mark of luxury and wealth, sun-dried brick being the usual material employed (comp. Isa 9:10; Eze 12:5, Eze 12:7). Ye shall not dwell in them. This is the punishment of their evil doings, according to the threat in Deu 28:30, Deu 28:39. The people shall be banished and the land desolated (Mic 6:15; Zep 1:13).

Amo 5:12

Your punishment is richly deserved, for “I know how many are your transgressions and how mighty are your sins,” especially, as it follows, your sins of oppression and injustice. They afflict the just. The construction is continuous: “afflicters of the just.” Hostes justi (Vulgate); , “trampling down the just”; comp. Wis. 2:12-15. They take a bribe. The translation of kopher as “bribe” is justified, perhaps, by 1Sa 12:3; but the word is elsewhere used for “ransom,” redemption money paid to escape the consequences of crime (Pro 6:35), in direct opposition to the Law in Num 35:31, which forbade any ransom to be taken for the life of a murderer. The Septuagint has, “taking wares;” the Vulgate (with which the Syriac agrees), accipientes munus. Turn aside the poor in the gate from their right; or, bow down the needy in the gate, i.e. in the place of judgment (see note on Num 35:10). Vulgate, pauperes deprimentes in porta; Septuagint, , “turning aside the poor in the gates.” The crime specified is that of wresting judgment in the case of the poor, or not giving the poor man justice unless he could pay for it (comp. Exo 23:6; Deu 16:19).

Amo 5:13

Even while he speaks, the prophet feels that his reproof is useless (comp. Jer 7:27, etc.; Hos 4:1, Hos 4:17). In that time; at such a time as this, the man who acts wisely holds his peace, because it is a time of moral corruption and of personal danger. But the prophet cannot restrain his call (comp. Eze 33:3, etc.). In Mic 2:3 the “evil time” is one of calamity.

Amo 5:14

He repeats his loving summons to repentance, as in Amo 5:4, Amo 5:6, showing that their only hope of safety lay in amendment of life (comp Zep 2:3). Seek good, and not evil. Use that diligence and zeal in pursuing what is good which you have hitherto shown in the pursuit of evil. The Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken; or, as ye say. The Israelites fancied that, owing to their covenant relation to God, he would be always with them and ready to help them under any circumstances. Their prosperity under Jeroboam II, as Calmet remarks seemed an argument in their favour, proving that God blessed them, and that they had no cause for fear (comp. Jer 7:4, etc.; Mic 3:11; Mat 3:9; Joh 8:39). But really God’s help and favour were conditioned by their obedience.

Amo 5:15

Reverse your former conduct, undo what ye have done (Amo 5:10). This verse emphasizes the preceding; hating and loving are more real and hearty than mere seeking. The LXX. makes this clause to be what the people said, , , “As ye said, We have hated evil, and loved good.” Establish judgment. Maintain justice in your tribunals (in contrast to Amo 5:7); then it may be that the Lord will have mercy on you or some of you. The remnant of Joseph; implying that only a few of them will be saved after this heavy chastisement, which points to the final ruin of their city and nation. The prophet speaks of the “remnant of Joseph” instead of Ephraim, to remind them of their forefather, who received the patriarchal blessing of Jacob, for whose sake this remnant should be spared (comp. Isa 6:13; Isa 10:21, etc.; Joe 2:32; Rom 11:4, etc.).

Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17

The retribution for their incorrigible iniquity is here announced. For “they that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God” (Wis. 12:26).

Amo 5:16

Therefore. The prophet returns to what was said in Amo 5:13 about the uselessness of reproof; yore. 14 and 15 being a kind of parenthetical exhortation which his love for his nation forced from him. “Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord,” Adonai, saith what follows, these solemn titles being used to add solemnity, certainty, and weight to the announcement. Wailing; misped, “the death wail.” Streets; broad places; ; plateis (Vulgate). Highways; the narrower streets; ; in cunctis quae foris sunt (Vulgate). Everywhere in town and country shall the wail be heard. Alas! alas! ho! ho! This is the death wail (comp. Jer 22:18), which should sound abroad when Samaria was besieged and taken. They shall call the husbandman to mourning. The husbandman shall be called from his labour in the fields to mourn for a calamity in his house. Pusey thinks the mourning is for his occupation gone, his tillage now only furnishing food for the enemy; but the context involves the notion of death. And such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing; literally, proclaim wailing to such, etc. These are the hired mourners, both male and female, who sang mournful songs at deaths.

Amo 5:17

Vineyards. The place of mirth and gladness, that, says St. Jerome, “ubi quondam fuit materia laetitiae, sit origo lacrymarum” (Isa 16:10). I will pass through thee. A terrible echo of the last plague of Egypt (Exo 12:12), when God will not “pass over” thee as he did then, but treat thee as Egypt, and “pass through” to smite and punish (Nah 1:12).

Amo 5:18-27

The prophet enforces the threat by denouncing woe on those that trust to their covenant relation to God, expecting the day when he would punish the heathen for their sakes, and thinking that external, heartless worship was acceptable to him.

Amo 5:18

The day of the Lord. Anycrisis in the nation’s history is so called, when God interposes to punish and correct. To our minds it looks forward to the final judgment. It is often mentioned by the prophets (e.g. Isa 2:12; Isa 13:6, Isa 13:9; Joe 2:1, Joe 2:11; Joe 3:18; Zep 1:7, Zep 1:14) as a time when the heathen should be judged, all the enemies of Israel defeated, and when Israel herself was exalted to the highest pitch of prosperity and dominion. Without any regard to the moral condition affixed to the realization of these expectations (see Joe 2:32), the people “desired” the appearance of this day, thus foolishly confirming themselves in their sinful life and false security. Some think scoffers are intended, but the context shows that the persons signified are sincere but mistaken believers in the safety of Israel’s covenant position. To what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness; Why would ye have the day of the Lord? It is darkness. Why do ye, such as ye are, want this day to come? Ye know not what ye ask. It will be the very contrary to your expectations; it will be darkness, and not light, tribulation and misery, not joy and triumph for you (comp. Mic 7:8).

Amo 5:19

Amos explains the dangers of this judgment day by illustrations drawn from pastoral life, equivalent to the rushing from Charybdis into Scylla. Every place is full of dangerthe open country, the shelter of the house. Jerome applies the passage to the fate of the kingdom in general: “Fugientibus vobis a facie Nabuchodonosor leonis occurrent Medi, Persae, demum Antiochus Epiphanes, qui moretur in templo et vos instar colubri mordeat, nequaquam foris in Babylone, sed intra terminos terrae sanctae.”

Amo 5:20

The character of the day of the Lord is enforced with reiterated earnestness (Amo 5:18) by an appeal to the conscience of e hearers. Do you not feel in your inmost hearts that in the case of such guilt as yours the Lord can visit but to punish?

Amo 5:21

Outward, formal worship will not avert the threatened danger or secure the favour of God in the day of visitation. Your feast days (chaggim); your feasts; your counterfeit worship, the worship of the true God under an idol symbol (compare God’s repudiation of merely formal worship in Isa 1:11-15). I will not smell; . No sweet savour ascends to God from such sacrifices; so the phrase is equivalent to “I will not accept,” “I will take no delight in” (comp.. Gen 8:21; Exo 29:18; Le Exo 26:31). Solemn assemblies; ; atsaroth; the convocations for the keeping of the great festivals.

Amo 5:22

They maintained the formal ritual of the Mosaic worship in their idolatry. The various offerings are here enumerated. Burnt offerings; (Exo 29:38, Exo 29:42; Num 28:9-11). Meat offerings; ; munera (Vulgate); Exo 29:40, Exo 29:41; Le Exo 2:1. Peace offerings of your fat beasts; , “your grand peace offerings”; vota pinguium vestrorum (Vulgate); Le Exo 3:1, etc.

Amo 5:23

The noise of thy songs. Their psalms and hymns of praise were mere noise in God’s ear, and wearied him (Isa 1:14; Isa 24:8; Eze 26:13). Viols (Amo 6:5); . The nebel, usually translated “psaltery,” was a kind of harp. Josephus (‘Ant.,’ 7.12. 3) describes it as having twelve strings, played by the fingers. Music, both instrumental and vocal, was used in the temple worship (see 1Ch 16:42; 1Ch 23:5; and 25.).

Amo 5:24

But let judgment run down as waters; let judgment roll on; Septuagint, , “and judgment shall roll along as water.” Et revelabitur quasi aqua judicium (Vulgate). This verse has been explained in different ways. Hitzig, Keil, with many ancient commentators, find in it a threat of chastisement, “the flooding of the land with judgment and the punitive righteousness of God.” Pusey, Professor Gandell, and others consider it to be a call to amendment. “He bids them let judgment, which had hitherto been perverted in its course, roll on like a mighty tide of waters, sweeping before it all hindrances,” filling the whole land with righteousness. Schegg makes it to be a promise of the coming of the day of the Lord, that is, the revelation of Messiah. But such a promise in this position is very forced and unnatural. The second interpretation seems most suitable. In the midst of the denunciation of men’s formal worship, the prophet announces their duty in the present crisis, attention to which could alone win God’s favour. Judgment and righteousness, long neglected and forgotten, should permeate the land like refreshing streams of watera simile of special signification to an inhabitant of an Eastern country, where the neighbourhood of a perennial stream was as delightful as it was unusual. Mighty (ethan); , “impassable”; fortis (Vulgate). The word may mean “strong,” or “perennial.” “Whence the seventh month, just before the early rain, was called the month Ethanim, i.e. the month of the perennial streams, when they alone flowed” (Pusey).

Amo 5:25

Ye have always been idolaters, corrupters of pure worship. Your service in the wilderness, when you were little exposed to external influence, was no more true and faithful than that which you offer now; that was as unacceptable as this. Have ye offered unto me? Did ye offer unto me? The answer expected is “No;” i.e. you did not so really, because your worship was mixed with falsehood, and was not offered simply and genuinely to me. It is certain, too, that during the sojourn in the wilderness sacrificial worship fell greatly into desuetude, as we know that the rite of circumcision was suspended (Jos 5:5-7), the Passover was not duly celebrated, and Joshua urged the people to put away the strange gods from among them (Jos 24:23). Moses, too, doubtless with a view to existing practices, warns them against worshipping the heavenly bodies (Deu 4:19), and offering sacrifice unto devils (seirim), “after whom they had gone a-whoring” (Le Jos 17:7). The prophets, too, allude to the idolatry practised in the desert (see Eze 20:7-26; Hos 9:10). But to argue (as some neologians do) from this passage of Amos that the Israelites during those forty years knew nothing of Jehovah, or that Amos himself denies that they offered him any worship, is absurd, seeing that the prophet presupposes the fact, and blames them for corrupting the Divine service and mingling the prescribed and enacted ritual with idolatrous accretions. Sacrifices; slain, bloody sacrifices. Offerings; bloodless sacrifices, meal offerings.

Amo 5:26

This verse has occasioned great perplexity to commentators. The connection with the context, the meaning of some of the terms, and whether the reference is to past, present, or future, are questions which have roused much controversy. We need not here recapitulate the various opinions which have been held. It will be sufficient to state what seems to be the simplest and most probable explanation of the passage. But we must not omit to mention first the explanation adopted by Ewald, Schrader, Farrar, Konig, and others, viz. that this verse refers to the punitive deportation which was to be the people’s lot, when they should take their shrines and images with them into captivity. “So shall ye take (into exile) Sakkuth your king,” etc. But the punishment is foretold in Amo 5:27; and this verse contrasts their idol worship with the neglected worship of Jehovah (Amo 5:25). But ye have borne; and ye bare; ; et portastis (Vulgate). Ye offered me no pure worship in the wilderness, seeing that ye took false gods with you, and joined their worship with, or substuted it for, mine. The tabernacle of your Moloch; ; tabernaculum Moloch vestro (Vulgate). The Hebrew word rendered “tabernacle” (sikkuth). which is found nowhere else, has been variously explained. Aquila gives : Theodotion, “vision,” reading the whole sentence thus: . Many moderns render, “stake,” “column,” or “shrine.” Others suppose it to be equivalent to Sakkuth, an Assyrian name for Molech (or Adar); but this is very uncertain, sad the parallelism requires the word to be an appellative and not a proper name. It most probably means “shrine,” a portable shrine, like those spoken of in Act 19:24 in connection with the worship of Diana. The Syriac and Arabic versions call it “tent,” and thus the reproach stands forth emphatically that, instead of, or in conjunction with, the true tabernacle, they bore aloft, as if proud of their apostasy, the tabernacle of a false god. Such shrines were used by the Egyptians, according to Herodotus (2:63, where see Rawlinson’s note) and Diod. Sic. (1.97). Many such may be seen in the Egyptian room of the British Museum. Keil quotes Drumann, ‘On the Rosetta Inscription,’ p. 211, “These were small chapels, generally gilded and ornamented with flowers and in other ways, intended to hold a small idol when processions were made, and to be carried or driven about with it.” Hence we must look to Egypt as the source of this idolatry. Moloch, though sanctioned by the LXX. and St. Stephen (Act 7:43), is a mistranslation. De Rossi, indeed, mentions that one Hebrew manuscript gives Moloch, but the received reading is Melkekem, which is confirmed by Symmachus and Theodotion, who have , and by the Syriac. The translation, therefore, should run, “Ye took up the shrine of your king,” i.e. of him whom ye made your king in the place of Jehovah, meaning some stellar divinity. And Chiun your images; , “and the star of your god Raephan “; et imaginem idolorum vestrorum; literally, the kiyyun of your images. The parallelism again requires us to take this unknown word as an appellative; and according to its probable derivation, its meaning is “pedestal,” or “framework,” that on which the image stood. The Greek rendering is, as Keil thinks, owing to a false reading of the unpointed text, in old Hebrew kaph and resh being easily confounded, and vau and pe. Theodotion considered the word a common noun, translating it by . It is probably a mere coincidence that in some Assyrian inscriptions the name Kairan occurs as that of a deity, who is identified with Saturn; that the Egyptians (from whom the Israelites must have derived the notion) ever acknowledged such a deity is quite unproved. St. Stephen merely quotes the Textus Receptus of his day, which was close enough to the original for his argument. The star of your god. These words are in loose apposition with the preceding, and are equivalent to “your star god,” or the star whom ye worship as god. Whether some particular star is meant, or whether the sun is the deity signified, cannot be determined, although the universal prevalence of the worship of sun gods in Egypt makes the latter supposition very probable. St. Stephen puts the sin in a general form: “God gave them up to serve the host of heaven” (Act 7:42; comp. Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3). Which ye made to yourselves. This was the crime, self-will, desertion of the appointed way for devices of their own invention.

Amo 5:27

Therefore. The consequence of their continued alienation from God should be deportation to a foreign land, beyond Damascus, far away from the confines of the country once their own possession (2Sa 8:6), thus dimly denoting As. syria, at that time not hostile, but known in the time of Tiglath-Pileser I. (see the accomplishment, 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:6). St. Stephen says (Act 7:43), “beyond Babylon;” “Magis enim,” observes Jerome, “intelligentiam quam verbum posuit;” and he is probably blending other prophecies with that of Amos, e.g. Jer 20:4.

HOMILETICS

Amo 5:1-3

Israel’s elegy.

It is poor work singing the things that might have been. It means sweet dreams dispelled, fair hopes blighted, and human lives in ruins. Yet such is the prophet’s task in this passagewriting Israel’s elegy among the graves of her dead millions. He had been denouncing nameless woes against the rebellious people, Here he changes his tone to that of a mournful spectator of accomplished ills. In imagination he throws himself forward out of the sinful present into the calamitous future, and in accommodation to the change of scene his denunciation becomes a dirge. It is a natural transition, and at the same time a new form of appeal. When ears become inattentive, the skilled musician will vary his tune. We have here

I. A BROKEN IDEAL. The things that might have been with Israel were far enough from existing facts. The Israel of God’s ideal was:

1. A holy people. (Exo 19:6; Deu 28:9.) Theoretically they were, as the word “holy” means (Deu 7:6), a people separated from men, and sin and sot apart to God. But the fair ideal of their national life remained an ideal and nothing more. The reality never reached it, never approached it. They connected themselves freely with heathen men and heathenish sin. They at times outdid the nations (Amo 2:6-9) in avarice, injustice, spoiling the poor, abominable rites, and every nameless infamy.

2. An unconquered people. This is the force of the expression “virgin (of) Israel.” God was to champion their cause, and to fight for them as his loyal people (Deu 1:30, etc.). If, and so long as he did so, they would be invincible. But they never claimed his help on the appointed terms. His promise was doubted (Deu 1:32) and its conditions disregarded, with the inevitable result that it failed of fulfilment in many a critical time. Israel, theoretically “the unconquered,” was practically the often vanquished, the twice carried captive, the soon-to-be-destroyed. God’s help comes surely, but comes only where there is attention to the conditions on which it is offered and given.

3. A prosperous people. Palestine, their national inheritance, was the very garden of the earth; unique in the combination of the highest agricultural capacities, with the finest commercial situation. The prosperity of an industrious, peaceful nation in it was, so far as favourable circumstances went, a foregone conclusion. But war had devastated, and mildew blighted, and drought laid bare its fertile fields. God saw his gifts abused and made the ministers of sin, and he was driven to destroy these in their hands. When temporal good begins to be made the occasion of moral evil, our tenure of it will soon end.

4. A happy people. A people prosperous, strong, and pure, could not but be happy as well (Psa 144:15). And such was Israel in the Divine ideal (Deu 33:29). But the actual misery experienced was as complete as the theoretical happiness revealed. Happiness is nowhere so impossible, misery nowhere so intense, as with a people who have fallen beneath themselves. In proportion as the former might have been, will the latter be.

II. AN ANTICIPATIVE DIRGE. Prescient of coming evil, the prophet’s lamentation becomes a funeral song.

1. A nation made shipwreck is a sight for tears. It is the destruction of magnificent possibilities of good. It is the failing of a tremendous reality of evil It is the ruin of most precious interests on a gigantic scale. If one soul lost is the occasion of grief to pure spirits and a travailing Saviour, what must the calamity be when multiplied a millionfold?

2. When the wicked fall the trust mourners are the righteous. Not the heathen who had seduced them, not the remnant of apostate Israel that might escape, but the prophet of God, who had kept himself unspotted in the midst of national corruption, was the tearful mourner by the ruined nation’s grave. The wicked are too selfish to care for any sorrows but their own. They are as the wolves, which would make a prey of the dead one’s remains, rather than any mourning for his fall. God and the God-like alone truly mourn when the wicked perish.

3. A prophetic sight of his own epitaph ought to stay the hand of the suicide. Men supposed to be dead have lived to read their own obituary notice. It has enabled them to see themselves for once as others see them. And it ought to have a practical influence for good. Israel, reading beforehand the inscription on their own tomb, might have been warned away, if anything could have warned them, from the course in which they were rushing on. It showed them what was coming, and how it was being brought on, and how it looked, whether as a morality or a policy, in enlightened eyes. An adequate idea of sin must include its end and issues and place in history, and this it was in Israel’s power to learn from Amos’s prophetic wail.

III. AN INSPIRED COMMENTARY. An act of God is an expression of his way. The way of God is a revelation of his purpose. All three are along the lines of the just and fitting. Now:

1. Adequate punishment means practical extermination. Sin is an infinite crime, merits an infinite punishment, and failing this will receive a punishment exhaustive of the criminal’s good. The proverbial question, “Wherefore doth a living man complain?” (Lam 3:39), is an understatement of the case. While a field, or a blessing, or a living man remained, Israel had not been punished as it deserved. When body and soul have been both destroyed, there will still be no more than justice done. If our sin have not its punishment in Christ, then that punishment must be utter destruction.

2. When wrath smites many, mercy spares a remnant. Nine-tenths were to be destroyed. The thousand should become a hundred, and the hundred ten. Neither the strength of the great nor the insignificance of the small should avail them for escape. With perfect impartiality, all should be made to suffer proportionally. Yet decimation was to stop short of utter extinction. A tenth part (see Isa 1:9; Isa 6:13) should be spared. This less guilty remnant, taught and chastened by the judgments which swept away the bulk of the nation, might form the nucleus of a new and better Israel. When judgment has destroyed the “bread to the eater,” mercy often steps in and saves a “seed to the sower.” There is seldom a deluge without its ark and its Noah family, the conditions and materials of a fresh start for the reduced.

3. Israel decimated is Israel still. The remnant would retain the national name, and with it the covenant relation and privileges to which the name referred (Gen 32:28). Toward the Gentile Church, for its sin “cast down but not destroyed,” the same gracious policy was announced (Isa 54:7-10). While a Mephibosheth remains the royal line of God’s anointed is not extinct. Chastisement makes a chaos only to bring out of it the young world of a new life and a new hope (Psa 89:30-33).

Amo 5:4-6

The seeking that is life.

This passage contains at once a vindication of the coming destruction on Israel, and a last offer of escape. All past evil had been justly incurred by departure from God. All coming evil might yet be avoided by return to him. “Seek ye me” was the direction on their treatment of which the whole issue turned.

I. EVEN THE FOREDOOMED ARE NOT ABANDONED OF GOD. The antediluvians were preached to for a century after their destruction was denounced. So Jerusalem got a Pentecost, and the ordinances of a Christian Church for forty years after Christ had pronounced her doom (Mat 23:37-39).

1. God‘s threatenings are in a certain sense conditional on men‘s conduct. They are addressed to men in their character or circumstances at the time they are uttered. If and when the character or circumstances cease to exist, the threatenings cease to apply. It was so in the case of Hezekiah (Isa 38:1, Isa 38:5), and also of Nineveh (Jon 3:4, Jon 3:10). God in such cases does not change, but the circumstances do, and his modes of treatment change accordingly.

2. They am desinged to turn men, not to plunge them in despair. All life is disciplinary. Each event and experience is fitted, and meant, to exercise a moral influence. Being, moreover, controlled by a holy God, the moral influence of each must be in the direction of right, It is so with blessings and the promise of them (Rom 2:4; Isa 1:19). It is so also with judgments and the threat of them (Isa 26:9; Luk 13:3, Luk 13:5). God takes pleasure in the soul’s turning (Eze 18:23, Eze 18:32), and all his dealings with it aim at and tend to this result. Therefore, until judgment actually falls, the threat of it is kept as a deterrent before the sinner’s eyes.

3. Individuals may turn after national repentance has become hopeless. Language addressed to a nation is really meant for the individuals composing it; and as individuals they would be influenced by it. No general forsaking of sin was probable in Israel. Still, some might turn, as many did in Jerusalem, and were saved after the destruction of the city as a whole was foretold; and, so long as this was possible, the means fitted to turn would not be withdrawn. God’s expostulations will go forth to glean in comers even when the prospects of a harvest are blighted.

II. THERE IS A SEEKING IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH IT IS LIFE TO FIND. To Israel here and to all men everywhere the great object of search is God, not mere good (Psa 42:2); and God for himself, not for his gifts.

1. This seeking implies previous non-possession. God is neither the property of the wicked nor his possession. Sin made separation between them, and a severing of all previously existing ties. Man abandoned God, and God drove out man. Now he is “without God,” is “enmity against God,” bids God depart from him, says in his heart, “No God.” It is only by the saint, and after seeking, that it can be said, “I have found him whom my soul loveth.” “This God is our God forever and ever.” Grace it is that knits again the ties broken by sin, and restores man and God to a condition of mutual love and possession and indwelling.

2. It is a quest with the whole heart and strength. The essence of seeking God is to desire him. And to desire him really is to desire him heartily. Not to desire him with other things. Not to desire him more than other things. Not to desire him weakly. Not even to desire him strongly. But to desire him wholly, supremely, and intensely. Seeking God is heart seeking, or it is nothing. Heart seeking is truly such when it is seeking with the whole heart. Therefore only to such seeking is there a promise of finding (Jer 29:13; Jer 24:7). God cannot be had till he is adequately wanted, and to be wanted adequately is to be wanted supremely.

3. It is synonymous with finding. In God’s world everywhere supply meets and measures demand. Plant, animal, and man, each finds on earth, in climate, habitat, covering, and food, exactly the thing it needs. There is no want for which there is not full and fitting provision. So in the spiritual sphere. “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst,” etc. Over against every need of the soul is a Divine supply. That need become conscious, means help waiting; that need expressed, means help already on the way. Spiritual good is obtained on the simple condition of its being truly desired.

4. To find God is to find all good which inheres in him. God is himself the greatest Good; he is, moreover, the Sum, and therefore the Source, of all good. There is certain good which he unconditionally bestows on all, even the ungodly. But it is good of the lower kinds, and which ministers to the lower needs. All spiritual good, and all temporal good that has any spiritual aspect, God gives only with and in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:32; Mat 6:33). The planets attend the sun and follow where he leads. So on Christ, as God’s unspeakable Gift, the other lesser gifts wait. We have them when we grasp him.

5. This good, summed up in one word, is life. Life is a general term for the highest good (Psa 30:5; Psa 133:3). It is physical life, the prevention or withdrawal of destroying judgments. It is judicial life, or the reversal of the death sentence on the soul, and the privilege for it of living. It is spiritual life, being quickened once for all out of the death in sin, being made alive and kept alive. It is everlasting life, the out blooming in eternity of the flower of soul life planted on earth.

III. THIS IS NOT THE SEEKING TO WHICH MEN NATURALLY TURN. It was under pretence of greater convenience that Jeroboam’s calves were set up in Dan and Bethel. But Beersheba was fifty miles south of Jerusalem, and Gilgal was on the other side of Jordan, and so most inconvenient of access. That Israel preferred them to Jerusalem was proof that they preferred idolatrous rites to the worship of God (see Pusey).

1. Idols are man‘s own invention, and therefore the egoist‘s choice. There is self-sufficiency verging on self-worship in all sin. Man puts his own opinion and will and work above God’s. An idol is his own creation, and for that reason, if for no other, is preferred to God. It is a subtle form of self-worship, and so inevitably preferred to any other.

2. They are credited with qualities congenial to his nature. A man impresses himself on his work, virtually puts himself into it. It reflects his genius and his moral character. The idol a man makes is thus substantially a repetition of himself, and therefore congenial to him all round. Made by his hand, it is after his heart, which the God of heaven is very far from being.

3. The fall into idol worship is broken by the retention in it of a flavouring of the worship of God. Bethel and Beersheba, its shrines, were spots where the Divine presence had of old been richly manifested, its rites mimicked, to some extent, the national worship of God. It was added on at first to Divine worship, not substituted for it. Satan lets men down into idolatry by easy stages. It begins in the sanctuary. It appears at first in the likeness of a better thing. Then, when men have become sufficiently familiar with it and degraded by it to bear the sight, it puts on its natural shape, and is idol worship pure and simple.

IV. IN THE SEEKING OF THE NATURAL HEART SUCCESS MUST MEAN DISASTER. By a play upon words, Gilgal, “the Great Rolling,” is to be rolled away; and Bethel, styled elsewhere “Bethaven,” shall become “aven,” or vanity.

1. An idol is a figment, and the worship of it can only result in deception and loss. It is not a thing, but only the image of a thing, It is the image, moreover, not of a real, but of an imaginary thing. It is, therefore, “nothing,” and “a thing of nought” (1Co 8:4), and out of nothing nothing can come. To worship it is delusion, to trust it inevitable disappointment.

2. God‘s infinite power and his wrath are against them that forsake him. The idolater pits idol impotence against Divine omnipotence, with the inevitable result of discomfiture and destruction. There are idols of the heart the service of which is no less ruinous. They group themselves under the heading “world,” and the love of them is incompatible with the love of God, and so “Anathema” (1Jn 2:15; 1Co 16:22).

Amo 5:7-13

The contrast presaging the conflict.

Judgment is coming. Warning has been given. Duty, and the prevailing derelictions of it, have been pointed out. Here God’s perfections and Israel’s iniquities are set in juxtaposition, and the co]location is suggestive. Such incompatibility must lead to collision. It is by God’s character and ours that our mutual relations and attitudes are shaped. We see here

I. GOD REVEALING HIMSELF. (Amo 5:8, Amo 5:9.) God’s work is an important revelation of himself. He has written all over it the glorious lineaments of his character. Each part of it reflects some feature, and in the whole we see his face. Here he shows himself:

1. In the sphere of creation. “He maketh the seven stars and Orion.” This is a pregnant thought. Alcyone, one of the seven stars, or Pleiades, is the central orb of the heavens, round which the others move. It is as it were the heart of the material universe; and the Creator of it is by implication the Creator of all. In this fact speak the power and wisdom of the Great Uncaused, who is the Cause not only of all effects, but of all causes as well.

2. In the sphere of providence. “And turneth the shadow,” etc. (Amo 5:8, Amo 5:9). We have here three classes of operations. The first was illustrated in the miraculous light that shone around Paul at his conversion, is seen daily in the rise of the morning sun, and appears in the turning of the night of adversity into the day of prosperity. The second was seen in the three hours’ miraculous darkness at the Crucifixion, is seen in the gathering shades of every night, and in the darkening down into adverse circumstances of many a life day. The third was seen in the Deluge, is seen in every shower of rain, and will be seen in future widespread judgments on the wicked. Amo 5:9, “Who causeth desolations to flash on the strong,” etc. God’s judgments are bold, as singling out the strong and the fortress; swift, as coming on them like the lightning’s flash; sweeping, as involving them in utter destruction.

3. In the sphere of redemption. God scatters spiritual night. He illuminates the darkness of the soul. He makes men light in the Lord. He gives them the inheritance of the saints in light. He also judicially blinds, by leaving impenitent souls to the natural effects of wrongdoing; and he casts into outer darkness at last. In all these things we behold powerpower here as goodness, power there as severity; but power everywhere as resistless and Divine.

II. ISRAEL REVEALING HERSELF. (Amo 5:12.) This is a sad apocalypse. In many transgressions and great sins Israel’s many-sided and deep corruption comes out. Particulars am:

1. As unjust. Injustice is a natural form for the sin, which is at bottom selfishness, to take. It was a specially prevalent form, moreover, among the Hebrew people. From Jacob down the sordid race has cheated the strong and imposed on the weak. Action is in a sense the fruit of character, and answers to the tree. God’s grace is to convert the thorn into the fir tree, and the briar into the myrtle tree; but man’s sin works the converse process, and changes the sweet “tree of righteousness” into bitter wormwood. Casting “righteousness down to earth” is another aspect of the same charge. Righteousness ought to rule. Its proper place is the throne of human life. But Israel had dethroned and cast it down to the earth, and set injustice, a usurper, in its place.

2. As oppressive. (Amo 5:11, Amo 5:12.) The oppression suffered by Israel had done nothing to produce detestation of the thing. What other nations had inflicted on them in this way, they were only too ready to inflict, with interest, on each other as they had opportunity. Humiliation does not always prepare for exaltation, nor poverty for wealth, nor the endurance of injustice for power. The freed slave will often make the very worst master, and the erewhile victim of wrong the most outrageous inflictor of it (Pro 19:10; Pro 30:2, Pro 30:23).

3. As venal. “Who take a bribe.” They did injustice, not only in their private, but in their public, capacity. They not only plundered the public themselves, but made a profit by helping others to do the same. A dishonest man will make a corrupt magistrate. He will use for his own aggrandizement whatever power he gains.

4. As impious. (Amo 5:10, Amo 5:12.) As cowardice appeared in oppressing the poor, so did impiety in oppressing the righteous. Much of what the righteous suffer is due to the hatred of righteousness by the wicked. They hate the thing itself, they hate it as a standing rebuke to their own ways, and their antipathy invariably exhibits itself as it has occasion.

III. THEIR FUTURE RELATIONS CLEAR IN THE LIGHT OF BOTH. Given what God is and what Israel is, and the Divine course of treatment may easily be anticipated.

1. God will disappoint their schemes of self-aggrandizement. (Amo 5:11.) Their labour and pains and sin would prove in the end to have been thrown away. Their ill-gotten gains would never be enjoyed. The vineyards and houses, in which they had invested them, would, after having been acquired at great pains, be lost again before they had even begun to be used. Gain gotten by injustice is seldom abiding, and never remunerative. The one condition of getting satisfaction out of earthly good is to acquire it according to the will of God.

2. He will leave them unrebuked. (Amo 5:18.) The prophets and the wise would both be silent. This would be a great calamity. It would be followed by an increase of sin, involving in turn an aggravation of punishment. It would mean abandonment to fate; for when God ceases to strive, a man’s doom is sealed. It is the Physician discontinuing his treatment because the hand of death is on the patient. The sinner sins conviction away, and then congratulates himself on the discovery of peace. But it is only God saying, “Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone.” It is the one spiritual case that is utterly desperate.

Amo 5:13

A time to be silent.

“Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.” These words describe an evil time, and specify one of its most evil features. It is a time of culminating wickedness, of imminent destruction, and, as related to both, of Divine non-intervention. “There is a time to keep silence” (Ecc 3:7) as well as “a time to speak.” And that time, as pointed out by characteristic features, was at hand in this case. Israel, which in vain had been pled with and plagued, would then be severely left alone. Her victims would suffer in silence. Her prophets would cease to expostulate. God, in judgment, would cease to strive for her restraint or turning. In an awful and unnatural calm she would pass the moments before there broke on her the storm of doom. And the dawning of this “dies irae” was almost come. As to the particular charactsristic of this day, note that God’s servants are silent

I. WHEN THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE SAID TO THE PURPOSE. This will often happen. Seasonable speech is a valuable thing. But men are not infallible, and occasions are often puzzling, and the right thing to say is hard to find.

1. Silence is sometimes the resource of feeling too deep for words. There are unspeakable things. “Speech is but broken light on the depth of the unspoken.” The finest thoughts, the deepest feelings, are unuttered often because they cannot be expressed in words. As a noted Shakespearian character says

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy:
I were but little happy if I could say how much.”

And the sentiment is not uncommon. “Does the wind write what it sings in those sounding leaves above our heads? Does the sea write the moaning of its surge? Nothing is fine that is written; the divinest in man’s heart never issues forth. The instrument is flesh, the note is fire. What would you have? Between what one feels and what one expresses, there is the same space as between the soul and the twenty-four letters of the alphabet; that is to say, the Infinite. Can you on a rosewood flute give forth the harmony of the spheres?” (Raffaelle).

2. Silence is often more impressive than any speech.

“The silence of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.”

So also do the silence of deep feeling and of strong passion, uttering “speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture.” Christ but looked on the recreant Peter after his miserable desertion and denial. Yet that silent look, as the denied One passed him in the hall, was eloquent of wounded love, and cut the denier more keenly than any words. No word was uttered on the cross where the dying thief was brought to faith. The God-like fortitude, the ineffable meekness of the Saviour, suffering silently the devilish malice of sin,it was that broke his heart and won his free allegiance. In this dumbness was speech to the power of which articulate speech admits of no comparison. The gift of being “eloquently silent” is one that is not unworthy of more general cultivation. To Israel the sudden silence of the prophets, after centuries of expostulation, would tell its own startling tale. It would indicate discouragement and disgust, and duplicate to their minds the “let him alone” (Hos 4:17) of Divine desertion at a similar crisis. And this unequivocal proof that they are given up might bring the tardy repentance which all else had failed to stir. When communications are broken off, the dream of a lasting peace is over. The patient will believe that death is at hand when the physician turns away and refuses to prescribe.

3. Silence is always better than haphazard speech. When a man knows not what to say he should guard against saying he knows not what. “Silence, when nothing need be said, is the eloquence of discretion.” Peter would have escaped some blunders and rebukes if he had followed this rule. But it was when “he wist not what to say” (Mar 9:6) that he was given to saying most. Such speech is more likely to be inappropriate than silence, and being inappropriate there are many more ways in which it can work evil. Hence the numerous Scripture references to the tongue, the power of it, the difficulty of governing it, and the danger of it if unruly. Indeed, so liable are men to err and so specially liable to err in speech as compared with overt act, that the proper government of the tongue is made the highest religious act (Jas 3:2).

II. WHEN IT IS EVIDENT THAT SPEECH MUST BE UNAVAILING. There are many such cases.

1. Sometimes men will refuse to listen. The Jews did in the beginning of the gospel. Faithfully and firmly Stephen pressed the truth home; but they “stopped their ears, and ran upon him” (Act 7:57). Here was a ease for silence. Speech, had it been possible, would have been unheeded. Those men, with murder in their hearts, and their fingers in their ears, would listen to no words. With Israel now things had come to a like pass. Their ears were stopped, and their hearts within them were set to do iniquity. For such a state of matters the appropriate measure is the silence which the prophet predicts. And all God’s servants, in the exercise of their enlightened judgment, will do likewise in a like case. When men will not hear, they will refuse to waste on them unregarded speech. Bawling into an ear that is deaf or stopped is effort thrown away, and unworthy of common sense.

2. Sometimes evil has gone so far that words can be of no avail. God’s Spirit will not always strive. With the antediluvians by Noah’s preaching he strove above a century, but when iniquity reached a certain stage he ceased, and his ultima ratio was the Deluge. He strove with Saul for years, but when insensibility and hardness became confirmed, communications were broken off; and whether by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets, God spoke no more (1Sa 28:6). He strove with Israel during the ministry of our Lord, but they would not listen to his word, and at last he was silent, sad the doomed people were left to die (Luk 19:42). God ceases to speak when he is ready to strike. Expostulation would be an anachronism when execution is imminent. The point at which he will give up the persistent wrong doer and withdraw all deterrent measures none can fix. But there is such a point, and, to each of the ungodly, the danger of passing it (Pro 1:26). Every hour we continue in rebellion is cutting down our chance of being longer striven with. Those who speak for God to men are sometimes conscious that the time to be silent has come. The sinner seems to have reached a final fixity. In the nature of things he cannot be expected now to change. Paul at a certain stage concluded the Jew to be incorrigible, and turned deliberately to the Gentile (Act 13:46). And like Paul, when it becomes clear that further dealing with men must be barren of result, the servant of Christ will transfer his strength from the hopeless to some hopeful form of effort.

III. WHEN IT IS JUST AS LIKELY TO DO HARM AS GOOD. This is no remote contingency. Such times are cropping up continually. Under certain circumstances speech:

1. May do harm to men. The truth of God and the sinful heart are uncongenial. Men love the darkness and hate the light. The truth forbidding all lust is actually through the corruption of our nature the occasion of stirring it up (Rom 7:7-9). This, of course, is no reason for withholding it or suppressing our testimony to it. But there are circumstances and moods in which this tendency attains its maximum of strength, and it will then be prudent to keep silence “even from good.” It is as “fishers of men” that we speak the truth, and we must justify our claim to the title by presenting the truth in the time and way in which it is most likely to tell. If we “testify” at random, and uniformly, in all companies and on all occasions, we shall oftener harm than help the people whom we wish to serve.

2. It may do harm to the truth. There is such a thing as “casting pearls before swine” (Mat 7:6) to no better purpose than the prostitution of sacred things The difference between truth profaned and necessarily inoperative, and the same truth listened to and the power of God, is often the difference between the untimely presentation of it and the timely. To force it on men when they are out of humour and will not give it a fair hearing is only to bring it into contemptto lessen its dignity in the eyes of others, and diminish its chance of winning their acceptance. The truth is meant to sanctify and save, and we must be careful to do nothing that would place it at a disadvantage in the work.

3. It may do harm to ourselves without any compensating advantage. “He that reproveth a scorner getteth himself shame”the shame of aggravating the ease and bringing needless evil on himself. No Scottish Covenanter was called on to enter the camp and preach the gospel of good will and peace to the bloodthirsty troopers of Claverhouse or Dalziel. The thing would have been good in itself, and was deeply needed, but to attempt it meant not merely failure, but death. If there was no one else to do it, this work must be left undone. There is room for judgment and discretion in timing and planning the work of winning souls. The most acceptable service and the most useful we can give to God is our “reasonable service.” We are not to “count our lives dear to us” in comparison with his work; but it must appear that the work demands the sacrifice, and will benefit by it, before we are at liberty to give up the life which we hold in trust for God. Pearls are to be withheld from swine for this among other reasons, “lest they turn again and rend you.” The characters of the “time to keep silence” deserve attention no less than those of the “time to speak,” and he has mastered both who rightly divides the Word of life.

1. Silence is sometimes a Divine form of appeal.

2. In that case it is probably the last appeal.

3. Disregarded, it is the lull before the storm.

Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15

The nation with which God will dwell.

The opening words of this presage imply a history. Israel “not only did evil, but they sought it out and the occasions of it” (Pusey). They gave evil their special attention, never failing to do it when they had opportunity, and seeking opportunities when none presented themselves. In fact, they did it with an amount of method and pains which they are now called upon to direct into a new channel, and apply to the doing of good.

I. THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITH MEN IS THE CHIEFEST EXPRESSION OF HIS FAVOUR. It was the original, and remains the normal condition of human life.

1. It is the restoration of acceptance. Separation from God is penal. God “drove out the man” and we remain “afar off” because of sin committed. He will dwell with us again only when our sin is put away. The king will not consort with rebels as such. He will meet them only as subjects and friends. The condition of access to his presence is the equitable recovery of his forfeited favour. In the promise to dwell with Israel was the implied promise to restore them to his favour.

2. It is the restoration of God-likened. “What communion hath light with darkness?” None. The two things are essentially antagonistic, and fellowship between them is impossible. Accordingly, Adam left God’s presence and hid even before he was driven out of the garden. In losing the Divine likeness he had lost all relish or fitness for the Divine presence. The one could be recovered only with the other. Born from above, and made partakers of the Divine nature, we are in affinity with God, and come with relish to his presence.

3. It is the restoration of happiness. “In thy presence is fulness of joy.” Sin means loss on the one side and infliction on the other. Its guilt separates from God, with the result that our being is incomplete. Its corruption introduces disorder among our own powers, and disease in each, and so unrest and misery become inevitable (Isa 48:22; Isa 57:20). In reunion with God these two occasions of unhappiness are removed. By regeneration the old nature is crucified, and the new one is set by faith in union with God, where it has spiritual completeness, and so its ideal of a happy state. Hence the Christian’s aspiration is summed up in one ideato “be with Christ, which is far better.”

II. ISRAEL HAD A THEORETICAL DIVINE PRESENCE WITH THEM WHICH WAS NOT NOW IN FACT ENJOYED. (Exo 29:45, Exo 29:46.) It is implied in God’s offer to be with them under certain circumstances, that he was not with them then.

1. He was not with them in worship. God’s presence at the Jewish national worship was pledged (Exo 20:24). But the worship must be his worship, conducted according to his appointment. This it now was not. Where not positively idolatrous or profane, the worship of Israel was utterly formal and hollow. In such worship the Divine presence is not desired and is not enjoyed (Isa 1:13-15). The worship must be real, the heart contrite, in which God promises to be present. Israel failed of God’s promised presence by tailing to claim it on the appointed terms.

2. He was not with them in war. For centuries he had been (Jdg 6:16), and victory attended their arms (Jos 24:12, Jos 24:18; 1Ch 17:21). Nothing could withstand them. The nations of Canaan, in whose sight they had felt as grasshoppers, were subdued before them. And God had explicitly connected their victories with his presence and help (Exo 17:11, Exo 17:14; Psa 44:1-3). But there came a time of which the psalmist had to say, “Thou hast cast off and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies” (Psa 44:9). The conditions on which the Divine promise of help in the field was suspended were violated or ignored, and God left them to fight with the arm they preferred to his.

3. He was not with them in their daily walk. They did not seek him nor want him, nor were they fit to be near him. The graces to which his presence is congruous, the means by which his presence is secured, were all absent, and so they were a nation given up of God and forsaken (Isa 2:6; Jer 7:29). He no longer dwelt with them, nor met them, nor directed them, nor spoke to them. He became, as he does to all under like conditions, “a God afar off, and not a God near at hand;” and the journey of their national existence, begun in such goodly company, was left to be finished alone.

III. TO MAKE THE THEORY OF GOD‘S PRESENCE FACT, THE THEORY OF ISRAEL‘S SEPARATION MUST ALSO BE FACT. God’s withdrawal was the natural reply to Israel’s forsaking. His resumption of relations would synchronize with their return to righteousness.

1. Evil must be rejected. This duty is laid down in three degrees. It is not to be sought, nor done, nor loved. It had been all three. It could cease to be the one only by ceasing to be the others also. The seeking implies that the love and the doing have gone before. The love guarantees that the doing and seeking shall follow in due course. The way to break off’ from evil is to be utterly separate. The least link of connection will develop into a mighty chain.

2. Good must be chosen. This is dutiful. Duty has a positive side still more important than its negative one. Mere avoidance of what is wrong would be a colourless thing. God’s Law is not merely a system of restrictions, but a system of commands. There must be actual doing of what is right, with a knowledge that it is right, and because it is right. And this is no more dutiful than natural The qualities that turn away from evil turn instinctively to good. Indeed, the two things are so antagonistic that the love of the one and the hatred of the other are only different aspects of the same feeling. And in this choosing of God, again, there are three phases or degrees answering to those in the avoidance of sin. It is to be loved, as the fairest and most amiable thing on earth. It is to be done, as the only thing that is fitting and right. It is to be sought, as a thing important and desirable in the highest possible degree.

3. Justice must be done. “Established in the gate.” Unjust judgment was a prevalent and crying evil. The Jewish character was prone to it, and the experience of it at the hands of strangers only strengthened the tendency. Perversion of justice is one of the most constant elements in natural corruption everywhere. A corrupt man makes a dishonest trader, an unjust judge, and an oppressive master. Fair and upright dealing between man and man has no natural basis, unless in the fear of God. The fear of God, on the other hand, will naturally coordinate itself with regard for man. The man who “does justly and loves mercy” is one who “walks humbly with God.”

IV. WHAT GOD DOES FOR ISRAEL HE DOES FOR THEM AS BEING “THE REMNANT OF JOSEPH.” This form of expression is significant.

1. The remnant. This implies weeding out by previous judgment. Israel had sinned long, and in punishment had been almost decimated. This was necessary as a matter of justice. Until it had been done they could not be saved. Sinners, individually and collectively, must receive for the wrong they have done. God’s original promises were made to Israel as a nation, and not to individuals, and the nation in his eye was the remnant left after his judgments had run their course. To this remnant hope of deliverance is here held out as a Brand plucked from the fire; a thing on which, justice having been vindicated, mercy may now, and not till now, be shown.

2. The remnant of Joseph. This means Israel as the covenant people. Joseph was Israel’s favourite, “the man that was separate from his brethren,” and the recipient of the promise (Gen 48:4) given to Abraham (Gen 17:8) and repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Accordingly, the “remnant of Joseph” is equivalent to the “remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom 11:5). God never forgets his covenant, never fails to give its promised blessings, never gives them to the covenant people, but as covenanted mercies. On the broad ground of creaturehood his general mercies are distributed, but special mercies are on the narrower basis of a spiritual relation. All wherein we are made to differ from others is the gift of a God in covenant, and the story of providence is at bottom the story of grace (Rom 8:32, Rom 8:28).

Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17

The track of the destroyer.

Each name of God is a guarantor of his action. It expresses a character, or relation, or operation, in which he thereby reveals himself. The multiplication of his names and titles here is a cumulative argument for the sureness of the matter revealed. He who is God of hosts or the Omnipotent One, Lord or the Absolute One, and Jehovah or the Self-existent One, is the Being with whom to decide is to act, and to will is to accomplish. Of the deliverance so emphasized observe

I. THE MORAL CERTAINTY THAT THE WARNING TO AN APOSTATE WILL BE VAIN. The possibility of a happy end, by the grace of God, to Israel’s sin and troubles is held out in the previous verse. Yet here the falling of the judgments denounced is assumed to be inevitable. Paul declares that it is impossible to restore to repentance those who might fall away from a high degree of spiritual attainment. The apostate is a hopeless case:

1. Because he loves sin more than other men. They love it knowing nothing better, but he does so with experimental knowledge of the way of peace. He loves it under a less impulse than they, and in the face of stronger deterrents than they, and must therefore love it more than they. The fuel that kindles with the least fire, and burns in spite of most water, is clearly the most inflammable.

2. Because he is harder than other men. The strain is proportioned to the wrench. All sin hantens, and hardens in proportion as we are active and resolute in it. Sinning against more light, and more deterrent influence than others, the apostate’s sin involves a more decided act of will, and so a more violently hardening effect. The more firmly the branding-iron is applied, the more deeply it scars. The more violently the moral sense is sinned against, the more the organ is indurated and injured.

3. Because his day of grace will be shorter than that of other men. The only chance of men’s turning at all is God’s striving with them. This he does with all men during a longer or shorter period. In the case of the antediluvians the striving was for a hundred and twenty years (Gen 6:3). In the case of Jerusalem it was three years (Mat 23:39). In the case of Saul, King of Israel, it was till within about seven years of his death (1Sa 18:12). In the case of many it is during the entire life (Mat 20:6-9). Thus each man has his day of grace, during which God strives with him to bring him to repentance. In the nature of the case the day of grace for the apostate must be far advanced. He has been more and longer striven with than other men, and so is presumably nearer the limit beyond which the process does not go.

II. A THREAT THE OBVERSE OF A CONDITIONAL PROMISE. “For I will pass through the midst of thee;” i.e. as elsewhere (Exo 12:12) in judgment. The language is a threat. God, so far from dwelling with them, as under other circumstances he was ready to do (Amo 5:14), would pass through them in wrath and destroying power. Underlying the announcement of this alternative is the fact:

1. That compromise is impossible with God. He will save or he will destroy. There is no half-way house between the good of his promise and the evil of his threat. He can yield nothing and abate nothing of either. He will come as a Friend to abide and bless unspeakably, or he will pass through as an invading Foe, making desolation in his track.

2. That the incentive to repentance must be double-edged. There are people who must be led, and others who must be driven. “The mercies of God” are the strongest motive power with some minds, whilst “the terrors of the Lord” are most potent with others. The Divine machinery of impulsion, to be perfect in itself and for its purpose, must include both. Hence men are plied with each in turn and often with both together (Joh 3:36) in connection with the salvation which they ultimately embrace. Israel’s case would not be abandoned as hopeless until both menace and promise had made their contribution to the work of its persuasion.

III. CREATION LANGUISHING WHEN THE CREATOR FROWNS. The connection between man and the creation is very close. The judgment on Israel would mean evil:

1. In the fields. They would not be fertile as heretofore. Their crops would fail to grow, or be blighted before they could he gathered (Amo 4:7). Enemies would devastate the country and destroy the fruit of the ground. Rapacious officials would confiscate the earnings of honest industry. In each calamity, much more in all together, was enough to quench the joy of harvest, and cause the husbandman to mourn.

2. In the vineyards. The whole food of the people, the corn, the wine together, would be swept away. The grape gathering was a proverbial occasion of joy (Isa 16:10). But with no vintage to gather, or no chance to gather it for the lawful owner, the “vintage shouting” would cease, and for the usual singing in the vineyards would be substituted a universal wail.

3. In the streets. “God made the country, and man made the town.” And the human depends on the Divine. Trade and commerce draw from agriculture their chief materials, and so when it fails they fail with it. When the husbandman has cause to weep there can be no dry eye in the community. The wail that begins in the fields, and spreads through the vineyards, will rise to a mighty roar when it reaches the streets, where the sufferers herd and lament together.

IV. THE LAMENTATION SYMPTOMATIC OF A GREAT DISASTER.

1. This is universal. In all “streets and vineyards; etc. The judgment affecting all classes in the community, all should mourn.

2. It is in concert. Men would call their fellows to lamentation. Not as individuals merely, but as a community, they sinned and suffer, and so as a community they should wail

3. It is worked up. “And lamentation to those skilled in lamenting.” The mourning would not be left to take any form that happened. It would be appointed and organized, and then observed according to programme. All this implies an intelligent and vivid idea of the significance of the occasion. God’s judgments, however long despised, will make themselves to be understood and respected at last. In hell there is no misappreciation of the nature and strength of Divine retribution; and on earth appreciation comes infallibly with experience.

Amo 5:18-20

The day of the Lord the night of the impenitent.

Divine judgments will be as sharp as they are sure. Sent in wrath, proportioned to guilt, falling on the vulnerable points, they are the least desirable of all imaginable things. The very thought of them should be sobering, and the sure prospect of them overwhelming. Now, the scoffer is the worst type of sinner, and will, in the nature of the case, be the greatest sufferer when judgment comes. He is at the same time the most utterly blinded character, and therefore likely to be taken most violently by surprise. How he shall be so, and to what extent, is made in these verses to appear.

I. “THE DAY OF THE LORD.” This is a common expression in the prophets, and its meaning is well defined. It is applied:

1. To the day of active Divine intervention on earth. (Job 1:15; Job 2:1; Isa 2:12; Jer 46:10; Oba 1:15.) There are periods which God signalizes by special doings. Long quiescent, he becomes conspicuously active. He intervenes in human affairs with unusual emphasis. Judgments often menaced are sent. Sinners long berne with are punished. The godly, for a time imposed on, are delivered. Abuses, the growth of centuries, are dealt with on their merits, and swept away. Such a period is called “the day of the Lord” because it is the time of obvious and special Divine activity. God not only strikes, but shows his hand.

2. To the day of final judgment. All others foreshadow, lead up to, culminate and lose themselves in this. “The day of the Lord had already become the name forevery day of judgment, leading on to the last day” (Pusey). This is the day of the Lord in a unique sense. It is unique as regards universality. It will see dealt with, not individuals merely, or nations even, but the entire race (Mat 25:31). It is unique in the matter of thoroughness. There will be inquisition as to each person, and as to every act of each (2Co 5:10). It is unique also in the matter of finality. Questions already dealt with by temporal judgments will be reopened to be settled once for all. Its sentence will be final, and its adjudication of rewards and punishments for all eternity (Mat 25:46).

II. ITS SIGNIFICANCE TO THE WICKED. This is explicitly and minutely defined as:

1. Evil. “Darkness, and not light.” It could not be otherwise. Sin means wrath, and wrath means infliction. Between a righteous God and all unrighteousness there must exist an infinite antagonism. Between his Law and such there is an essential incompatibility. Therefore his action towards them must be adverse, his judgment on them that of condemnation. It is a result of God’s purity, of the majesty of law, of the needs of moral government, that “with the froward he shall show himself froward.”

2. Only evil. “And no brightness in it.” The dispensation of forbearance, the time for any measure or kind of good, is over. While any hope of reformation remained, judgment was mingled with mercy. But when this is hopeless, and the question is only one of punishing the reprobate, the exercise of goodness would be an anachronism, and only severity can be meted out.

3. Evil playing into the hands of evil. “As if a man fleeth before the lion, and the bear meets him.” Divine punitive measures are various and complete. They surround us. They hem us in on every side. They form as it were a circle of fire round us. They are not to be evaded or escaped (Jer 11:11; Rom 2:3; Heb 2:3). In running away from one, we only run into the jaws of another. If it is not the lion’s tooth, then in any case it will be the bear’s claws. If health escape, property will suffer. If both escape, the good name will be tarnished. If all three escape, conscience will be wounded and happiness destroyed. If earthly evil consequences do not reach us, there are eternal fires kindled against which there will be no appeal.

4. Evil in the arms of good. “And rests his hand upon the wall, and the snake bite him.” The wall, a ready support for the feeble or weary to lean on, may furnish in its chinks a hiding place for the venomous snake. So with all human refuges in God’s day of visitation. They will fail us. Their help will not be available, or it will not be sufficient, or it will involve some other evil as great as the one it will relieve. “The staff of bruised reed” (Isa 36:6) is the fitting emblem of all fancied helps in the day of God’s wrath. Even the likeliest will be found wanting in the very matter in which it promises most.

III. THEIR FOOLISH DESIRE FOR IT. “Woe to those who desire the day of Jehovah!” The sinner’s desiring the day of vengeance on his sins may mean:

1. Misapprehension. Israel did not realize the enormity of their sin. They did not see that the threatened judgments were for themselves and on account of it. They trusted to their position as “Israel after the flesh” to secure them the immunity that only belonged to Israel after the Spirit, And so their idea of the day of God was a time when their enemies would be destroyed, and they themselves delivered and exalted. With all the wicked, the eye for the sins of others is so much keener than the eye for their own, that coming good is unconsciously allocated to themselves and coming evil to others, and so Divine judgments desired which can only destroy them when they come.

2. Bravado. The prophets who foretold the coming of God’s day rebuked the people’s sin on account of which it was to come. Put on their mettle by the rebuke, many would affect to ridicule the prophecy. Like others (Jer 17:15; 2Pe 3:3, 2Pe 3:4), they would say, with an affectation of unbelief, “You are trying to frighten us with a bugbear. Let your talked of judgment fall, and then we will believe it.” The delay of God’s judgment, which means that when it comes it shall be the more terrible, is often taken as meaning that it is not coming at all (Eze 12:22, Eze 12:27).

3. Vindictiveness. Some would deem themselves less criminal than otherstheir enemies, it may be, and oppressors. On these they would expect the heaviest strokes to fall, and to bring this about they would suffer more or less themselves. There are Samsons among sinners who would run the risk of perishing themselves in order to secure the destruction of others. To all three classes “the day of the Lord is darkness, and no brightness in it.” Evil will come none the less surely because it is good that is expected, and it will come all the more sharply on those who to their other sin have added malice against men and mockery of God.

Amo 5:21-23

The autograph of the unreal.

Wicked Israel, strange to say, was worshipping Israel still. Theirs was sanctimonious sinning. It was done more or less in a religious connection. It was accompanied, and attempted to be covered, by an unstinted dressing of pietistic cant. But it only smelled the more rank to Heaven. Unreal worship is no mitigation, but only an aggravation, of the guilt of unholy living.

I. INSINCERITY IS OFTEN SCRUPULOUS ABOUT ALL THE CIRCUMSTANTIALS OF WORSHIP. This is natural. It builds on the form as a substitute for the spirit, and on the observance of the ordinance thus as a substitute for a godly life. Going through religious forms costs nothing in the way of crucifying the flesh. Accordingly, the scrupulosity of Israel seemed to be great in proportion to their hypocrisy.

1. They kept the feasts. “Feasts” (Amo 5:21) means the annual feasts. There is no hint that these, or any of them, were neglected or overlooked. The routine of celebration went mechanically on. They were observed without purpose and without heart, but they were observed.

2. They performed the acts of worship. “The assemblies” (Amo 5:21) were probably the meetings for worship (Le 23:36) appointed to be held at the feasts. These as a class, no exception to which is indicated, are spoken of as having been held. “Then ‘songs,’ no doubt of Zion, and inspired by God, were duly sung, and the accompaniment played on harpsinstruments almost exclusively consecrated to the service of God” (Pusey).

3. They offered the usual gifts. The “burnt offering,” the “meat offering,” and the “peace offering,” which are all voluntary offerings, were regularly made, so far as appears. They were made, moreover, with fatlingsbeasts the best of their kind, and such as the Law prescribed. So far, therefore, as form went, their worship was scrupulously correct. And the same is generally true of hollow and unspiritual worship. Being purely formal, it will seem excellent in proportion as it is elaborate. The absence of the spirit is attempted to be compensated for by the exaltation of the letter. Worship can no more be appraised by its fulness, and fairness of outward form, than the dietary value of a fruit by its size and colour.

II. INSINCERITY IS CHARACTERISTIC NO LESS IN WHAT IT OMITS THAN IN WHAT IT OBSERVES. No mention is made of the “sin offering” or the “trespass offering.” Yet these were both compulsory, whereas the three observed were optional. Hence it appears that:

1. To the formalist that is least acceptable which is most Divine. He has no true respect for God’s authority. He is a self-pleaser first of all and most of all, and will find the ordinance most acceptable into the observance of which there enters most of his own will and least of God’s. On this principle the optional in worship will be preferred to the prescribed (Isa 1:12), and the unauthorized to either (Mar 7:9). The illustration of this in the countless vagaries of the Romanist and Ritualist is easy to trace. Practical attention to the various details of worship by the unspiritual almost seems to be inversely as their Divine authority.

2. To the formalist that is most distasteful which most closely connects him with his sin. The sin offering was an acknowledgment, and involved a remembrance, of guilt. This is distasteful to the natural heart. Give a sinful man his way, and the last matter he will face will be his own sinfulness. Allow a formalist discretion in worship, and the ordinance that most articulately speaks of sin will be the one least observed. Singing will be preferred to praying, a form of prayer will be preferred to the directness of spontaneous utterance, and preaching, which most distinctly brings face to face with personal responsibility and duty, will be almost crowded out. Worship, in fact, in proportion as it becomes formal, becomes impersonal and indirect.

III. SUCH HOLLOW WORSHIP IS UTTERLY OFFENSIVE TO GOD. The degrees of Divine disapprobation run up a graduated scale. “I will not accept;” “I will not take pleasure in;” “I will not regard;” “I hate;” “I despise.” In all such worship the moral element, the first element of acceptability, is altogether wanting. The thing is not meant for worship, and cannot be treated as such. It is not observed according to God’s will, nor as God’s appointment at all, but as our own invention or choice. It is not aimed at the God-glorifying, soul saving objects prescribed in Scripture. Gone through without interest or heart, done for fashion, or freak, or gain, it honours neither God nor his command, whilst it calls into play no grace of the religious life whatever. It is a mere performance, not only destitute of moral value, but distasteful to God, and in gratuitous violation of his Law. Hence the vocabulary of condemnation is exhausted on it (Isa 1:11-15) as the meanest and most hateful thing in the whole spiritual connection.

Amo 5:24

Real calamity waiting upon unreal service.

“The meaning of this verse is not, ‘Let justice and righteousness take the place of your sacrifices.’ The verse threatens the flooding of the land with judgment and the punitive righteousness of God” (Keil). Adopting this interpretation, we observe

I. THAT WHICH IS REJECTED “IS NIGH UNTO CURSING.” Hollow service has been sitting for its portrait, and the picture is striking. Now we have the Divine appraisement revealed in the action to be taken forthwith. Instead of approval there is condemnation. Instead of reward there is punishment. Instead of profit resulting there is loss on every issue.

1. It deserves this. Want of conformity to law is a sufficient ground of condemnation. Positive transgression of law is ground more decided still Wilful mockery of the Lawgiver is most deeply criminal of all. All these elements pertained to Israel’s sham observances, and, together, they constitute an indictment on which the criminal’s conviction is inevitable.

2. It requires it. God’s moral government must show itself strong and just, and in order to this, sin, and all sin, must be visited with his avenging stroke. Especially must this be done in the sphere of “things whereby God maketh himself known.” The thing whose function it is to make him known must do so in the glorious character he bears.

II. THE JUDGMENTS THAT ENGULF ARE RIGHTEOUSNESS. This could be argued, and is here affirmed.

1. They express righteousness. They are deserved. They are all deserved. They are deserved in the proportions in which they come. If they did not come, the moral balance of things would be disturbed. If they came in less decided form, this balance would be only half adjusted. They are “righteous judgments” in the fullest and highest sense.

2. They accomplish righteousness. They are sent in the interests of it. They fall on the unrighteous. They are designed and fitted to lead to their reformation (Isa 26:9). Sometimes the righteous suffer from them also. In that case their tendency is on the one hand to promote the righteousness of the sufferer, and on the other to emphasize the evil of unrighteousness in any section of a community, and so prevent, it. As a matter of fact, Divine judgments have often wrought righteousness both in individuals (2Ch 33:11-16) and communities (Isa 43:21). Even in eternity they bulk largely, in the thought of the redeemed, among the helpful experiences of earth (Rev 7:14).

III. WHEN JUDGMENT IN RIGHTEOUSNESS COMES, IT COMES LIKE A FLOOD. There are two ideas here. The first is:

1. Let judgment roll on like water. In this:

(1) It will be deep (Psa 36:6), swallowing up all its victims.

(2) It will be sudden, taking the evil doers by surprise (Luk 17:20-31).

(3) It will be irresistible, sweeping before it every opposing object (Psa 90:5).

(4) It will be destroying, leaving no living thing in its track.

(5) It will be ultimately fertilizing, leaving behind it the rich ooze of an abiding lesson.

2. And righteousness like on inexhaustible stream. Judgment is the act of which righteousness is the principle. God’s righteousness, whether in himself or in his judgments, is like an inexhaustible stream.

(1) It is perennial. The righteousness of God’s judgments is a constant quantity. It never intermits. Each is righteous and all are righteousness.

(3) It is pure. Righteousness in God is necessarily so. There is no foreign ingredient, no cloud of mixture in it whatever. It is righteous through and through. “There is,” there can be, “no unrighteousness in him.”

(3) It is cleansing. It purifies all it touches; the person it is laved on, the city it passes through.

(4) It is irrigating. It waters the fields of human life. It makes the graces, like the grass, to grow in the desert, and withering things revive. The righteousness of God, like water streams, is rich in every element of blessing for timer and is a benefactor for eternity as well.

Amo 5:25-27

Trusting in idols that cannot save.

In these words, God’s case against Israel just announced is strengthened. Their services now were hollow and insincere; their sacrifices formal acts in which the heart had no part. This, in itself, was ground of punishment even to destruction. But it is only a portion of the iniquity chargeable against them. In the wilderness the course had been already entered on. Appointed ordinances had been neglected. Idolatrous ordinances had been introduced. As now they were going on, so they had long ago begun. There was a diuturnity in their wrong doing which made the fall of destroying judgments a foregone conclusion. We see here

I. ISRAEL‘S PRESENT JUDGED IN THE LIGHT OF ITS PAST. What Israel in Amos’s time was and should receive was affected by what Israel had been and done in the desert of sin. This is according to principles universally received.

1. Every nation is held responsible for its own entire past. The England of today not only owns responsibility for, but is striving nobly to make compensation for, errors of the England of thrice hundred years ago. The prophet-killing Israel of our Lord’s time are declared responsible for all the martyr blood shed from that of Abel down (Mat 23:35). The logic of this is unassailable. The national identity remains unbroken. The national policy remains unchanged. The national life maintains its continuity. And so among its heirlooms is the inherited responsibility for the sins of other days.

2. A nation is further responsible for its past, in that the present takes its tone from it. A certain proportion of almost every evil is hereditary. From the past generations we inherit evil qualities and learn evil ways. The father’s vices reappear in the child. The present is the child of the past, begotten in its likeness, and liable as such for the evil it has taken up and perpetuates.

3. The life of a nation, like that of an individual, can be judged of only as a whole. If a nation from its birth to its death be one thing, so is a nation’s life. Now, the glory of God’s dealing is its perfect equity, arising out of its exhaustive induction of facts. He leaves nothing out of account, no smallest word, no slightest desire, no most trifling act. His verdict in each case is based on the entire life of the party in court. The method is fair. No other method would be fair. Each part is modified by its relation to all the others, and cannot be fairly judged unless in connection with them.

II. THAT PAST PERSISTENTLY UNFAITHFUL. The interrogative form of verse 25 is equivalent to a strong negation.

1. They had neglected sacrifice in the wilderness. “Have ye offered me sacrifices and gifts in the desert forty years?” Typifying the atonement of Christ, through which men draw near to God, sacrifice was the fundamental exercise of Old Testament worship. This was not abandoned by the priests (Num 16:46), but it was, like circumcision (Jos 5:5), neglected by the people, and superseded by sacrifices to idols (Deu 32:17; Eze 20:16). In this neglect or perversion were included the voluntary gifts (offerings) as well as the prescribed sacrifices. Thus early adopted, and long persisted in, was Israel’s rebellions way. Emphasizing the pronoun, God says in effect of the whole run of Jewish national history, “Ye either offered no sacrifice at all, or none to me.”

2. They were at palm to make, and carry, idolatrous appliances with them. “But ye have berne the tabernacle of your Moloch.” Divinely appointed sacrifice they found too burdensome to be followed. Of Divine worship in each of its ordinances they said, “What a weariness is it!” But they thought it no trouble to make and carry about portable shrines and pedestals for use in the worship of heathen idols. A man will do for his idol what he will not do for God. Be it idol lust, or habit, or opinion, he loves it more, and is more like it, and so finds its service more congenial. The God of the legalist is not the God of Scripture, but a God of his own devising, and so he serves him laboriously in works of self-righteousness, whilst stubbornly declining the far easier call of the true God to simple faith in Jesus Christ. It was in following his affinities thus that Israel was ever found joined to his idols, and alien to the God of heaven.

3. This idolatry they had derived from Egypt. “It was no doubt to these Egyptian sun gods that the star god which the Israelites carried about with them belonged” (Keil). They were not seduced into idolatry merely by the nations among whom they passed. They did not wait for that. They tired of Jehovah’s service, and sought out false gods for themselves. They were bent on having idols, come whence they would. Failing others, they adopted, in their blind and besotted perverseness, those of Egypt itself Their return to Jehovah for deliverance was desertion, and the lesson learned under idolatrous Egypt’s savage oppression was to adopt the idol worship that produced it. This is eloquent of the godlessness of the corrupt heart. Nothing can disgust it with idols, nothing can attach it to God. It hates him always, and embraces, or seeks, or makes occasions of abandoning his worship.

4. Israel‘s worship of idols involved the serving of them. “The booth of your king.” Every man’s god is his king. Worship is the highest act of service. When it is rendered, the other and lower acts necessarily follow; when it is abandoned, they logically and actually cease. A new idol in the heart means a new sovereign over the life.

III. THE DIVINE PUNISHMENT TO BE ADJUSTED TO THE SIN. This it always is, but in the present case the correspondence is specially obvious.

1. They should go into captivity. God often punishes sins against himself by human instrumentality, generally that of the wicked (2Sa 24:13; Psa 109:6). The severity of such punishment is guaranteed by the native cruelty of the human heart. As the conqueror and owner of the vanquished and enslaved, the wicked puts on his worst character, and his treatment becomes punishment corresponding to the worst sin of idolatry.

2. Their captivity should be among idolaters. The rod of God’s anger in this case was to be the Assyrian (Isa 10:5). In captivity with him, Israel would find out what kind of masters idolatry makes of its votaries. This would disenchant them, if anything could. The test of the god we worship is the practical one of the character of his service. When our idol lusts become our masters, we know them as they really are. The drunkard has attained to a knowledge of the drink appetite that would be a wholesome revelation to those who are just beginning to indulge.

3. They should die as slaves in the land out of which their progenitor had at first been called. “I will carry you beyond Damascus.” Stephen (Act 7:42, Act 7:43) quotes this “beyond Babylon.” In either case the neighbourhood of Ur of the Chaldees would be referred to. This, which had been the cradle of the nation, would be its grave. There, where their godly ancestor had been a prince, the idolatrous nation would be slaves (Jos 24:14, Jos 24:3); his faith, and the promises to it, having been lost together.

IV. GOD‘S THREATS EMPHASIZED BY HIS NAME. This says what he is, and so indicates how he will act.

1. He is Jehovah, the Self-existent One. “He cannot but be, and he is, the Source of all being; the unchangeable, infinite, eternal Essence.” As Jehovah, he originates all things (verse 8; Amo 9:6; Jer 33:2), controls all things (Psa 10:16; Psa 99:1), fills and possesses all things, and “nothing is too hard for him “(Jer 32:27).

2. He is Lord of hosts. “The Lord of the heavenly hosts, for whose worship they forsook God; the Lord of the hosts on earth, whose ministry he employs to punish those who rebel against him. All creatures in heaven and earth are, as he says of the holy angels, ‘ministers of his that do his pleasure'” (Pusey). “Jehovah,” the great First Cause, “God of hosts,” the Controller of all second causes whatever, there is that in the Name of God which guarantees the execution, literal and exhaustive, of all his threats.

HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON

Amo 5:4

Seek the Lord.

Man is by nature a seeker. He desires good, of one kind or another, and what he desires he makes the object of his quest, more or less diligent and persevering. Hence the restlessness, the energy, the effort, so distinctive of human life. Religion does not destroy or repress natural characteristics; it hallows and dignifies them. Religion gives to human search a just direction and noble aim.

I. THE REASONS IN MAN‘S NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH SHOULD LEAD HIM TO SEEK THE LORD.

1. Man is so constituted that he cannot find a full satisfaction in any earthly and created good. He returns from every such endeavour with the complaint, “All is vanity.” “Our heart,” said St. Augustine”our heart is restless till it rests in thee.”

2. Especially do all human religions prove their insufficiency. Israel was learning this by bitter experience. “Seek not Bethel,” etc; was the admonition of the prophet to those who had been in the habit of resorting to idol shrines. The gods of the heathen were known to the Jews as “vanities.”

II. THE REASONS TO BE FOUND IN GOD WHY HE SHOULD ENGAGE THE SEEKING POWERS OF MAN.

1. His own proper excellence is such that the soul that gains even a glimpse of it may well devote to the pursuit of Divine knowledge and favour all powers and all opportunities.

2. God alone is able to succour and to save those who set their affection and desire upon him.

3. God condescends to invite the children of men to seek him. By the mouth of the prophet he gives an express command and invitation. We may be assured that this language is sincere and trustworthy.

4. There is an express promise of incomparable preciousness addressed to such as are ready to respond to the heavenly call. “Ye shall live,” is the authoritative assurance. By this we may understand that seekers after God shall be delivered from destruction, that they shall be made partakers of the Divine life, in all its spiritual energy and happiness.

III. THE METHODS IN WHICH GOD MAY BE SOUGHT AND FOUND.

1. Observe where he is to be found: i.e. in his holy Word; in his blessed Son, by whom in this Christian dispensation he has revealed himself unto us, and who has said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

2. Consider how he is to be found: i.e. by penitence, in humility, through faith, with prayer; in a word, by the exercises special to the spiritual nature.

3. Notice when he is to be found: i.e. now. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”T.

Amo 5:7-9

The Lord of the universe.

The herdsman of Tekoah was a true poet. His eyes were open to the beauty and to the splendour of nature; and his heart felt the presence of the Unseen and Eternal in all the works of his hands, in all his providential arrangements. More than this, the moral character and rule of the Omnipotent were very present and very real to him; he felt the force of the appeal made to the spiritual nature of man, and calling for a life of religious faith, of practical obedience. There is nothing strained or unnatural in the striking conjunction in this passage of poetic sensibility with ethical and religious exhortation.

I. A REPRESENTATION OF DIVINE GREATNESS AND GLORY.

1. Seen in the creation of the starry host. The Pleiades and Orion are mentioned as two of the most noticeable and most splendid of the constellations of the midnight sky.

2. In the alternations of day and night, in sunrise and sunset, in storm and in eclipse.

3. In the grandeur of the sea, in the torrents of rain, in the floods which pour their waters over the earth; in a word, in all the processes of nature.

4. In the providential interpositions and the righteous rule of the Most High, who does according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth.

II. AN INFERENCE AS TO HUMAN CONDUCT. The poet-prophet is more than a mirror to reflect the visible splendour, the awful forces of the universe. To him nature has a voice of authority, appealing to the understanding and to the conscience of the sons of men. There is a summons to the unrighteous and the irreligious to forsake their ways and to choose a better path. This summons will take a different form according to the character, the moral development, of those addressed.

1. There is what may be called the lower viewa God so great will not suffer iniquity to triumph, or injustice and disobedience to go unpunished. All are in the hands of the Almighty; and he whose power is so evidently revealed in the heavens above and on the earth beneath will not fail to assert his authority over all the creatures of his power. Although wickedness may prosper for a season, the law of righteousness shall be maintained and vindicated.

2. There is a higher viewnot inconsistent with the other, but presenting itself to natures more morally cultivated and advanced. Great as God appears in nature, our conceptions of his excellence are enhanced when we reflect upon his glorious attributes and his righteous reign. The eternal law of righteousness administered by Omnipotence demands our lowly reverence, deserves our grateful obedience.T.

Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15

The great alternative.

The coincidence between religion and morality is brought very strikingly before us in such passages as these. How different are such appeals as these, made by the prophet in the name of the Lord, from the requirements of merely formal religion! The highest conception of good is revealed, the noblest standard of right is exhibited; and all the sanctions furnished by the authority and the loving kindness of the Eternal are brought to bear upon human nature to induce to consecration and obedience.

I. MAN‘S NATURE AND POSITION RENDER NECESSARY A MORAL CHOICE.

1. Man’s emotional nature impels him to adopt an object of supreme love. Human affection may be diffused or it may be concentrated, it may be languid or it may be intense. But in any case it exists and acts as a principle of the moral life.

2. Man’s voluntary and practical nature requires an object of supreme quest and endeavour. We seek what we love, we avoid what we hate.

II. THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE WHICH PRESENTS ITSELF TO MAN IS THE CHOICE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. This is a real and not a fictitious or conventional distinction. It would be as reasonable to deny the distinction between straight and crooked, between light and darkness, as that between moral good and moral evil. The distinction is vital and eternal, connected with the “nature of things,” with the attributes and character of God, with the constitution of man. The choice between pleasure and pain, between worldly prosperity and adversity, is as nothing compared with this choice. The appeals of revelation, from the beginning to the end of the Bible, urge men to choose the good in preference to the evil. There are doubtless inducements to another choice; but this remains the choice enforced by reason, by conscience, by God.

III. HOWEVER IT MAY BE REPRESENTED OTHERWISE, THE FACT IS THAT THE PRACTICAL PREFERENCE OF GOOD CONDUCES TO MAN‘S WELFARE. The inducements offered to adopt a life of selfishness and of pleasure are many and powerful; there are “pleasures of sin for a season.” The way of virtue and religion is a steep and rugged path. Yet it yields a deep and pure satisfaction not to be found in the ways, the broad and primrose paths, of sin. We are not called upon to balance pleasures. The voice of right, of God, is authoritative, and demands obedience without hesitation or calculation. Yet God promises such as listen to and obey his voice that he will “be with” them, that he will be “gracious unto” them, and that they shall “live.”T.

Amo 5:21-23

Ceremonialism disdained.

Although the Jewish religion prescribed, as is evident especially from the Book of Leviticus, innumerable observances, elaborate ritual, frequent and costly sacrifices, still nowhere are there to be found more disclaimers, more denunciations, of a merely ritual and ceremonial piety than in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. This is but one of many declarations that the true and living God will not accept any tribute of the hands which may be offered in lieu of the homage of the heart.

I. THE OUTWARD MANIFESTATIONS OF RELIGION WHICH GOD REJECTS.

1. Sacred assemblies are displeasing to him. He does, indeed, love the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; yet the prophet is inspired to declare that God hates and despises the gatherings of his own people.

2. Solemn festivals are equally distasteful. These, indeed, have been prescribed in the Law; they are commemorative of great mercies, great deliverances; their neglect or omission is viewed with displeasure. Yet here God is indignant that these feasts should be celebrated.

3. The same detestation is extended to the burnt offerings, meat offerings, and peace offerings, which the Hebrews were instructed on proper occasions to present to their Divine King.

4. More remarkable still, sacred songs and strains of music are as discord in the ear of God. The very psalms in which the Divine attributes are celebrated and the Divine gifts acknowledged are no longer acceptable to him who inhabiteth the praises of Israel.

II. THE GROUNDS UPON WHICH GOD REJECTS THE OUTWARD MANIFESTATIONS OF RELIGION.

1. Not because they are themselves an inappropriate tribute of religious emotion and religious consecration.

2. But because they are not expressive of sincere worship, gratitude, confidence, and love. “This people,” saith the Searcher of hearts, “draweth nigh unto me with their lips, but their hearth far from me.” And our Lord Christ has taught us that “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

3. And because ceremonial observances may be, and in the cases in question are, consistent with an idolatrous and wicked life. The very men who were punctilious in these ceremonies and sacrifices were tampering with the idolatry of surrounding peoples, and were acting with injustice and selfishness in the ordinary relationships of life.

4. Because, further, these manifestations are as a matter of fact substituted for those feelings and purposes which they are intended to promote. In fact, seeming religiousness hides the absence of real religion, so that this absence is sometimes unnoticed by the apparent but heartless and formal worshipper.T.

Amo 5:24

The river of righteousness.

Whilst the holy King and Judge rejects the mere service of the lip and of the hand, when unaccompanied by genuine piety, he desires above all things the prevalence of those practical principles of rectitude which are the secret, hidden power of an upright and acceptable life. In a very bold and beautiful metaphor the Divine wish and pleasure are declared. Let the hypocritical festivals, the unmeaning sacrifices, the hollow songs, be swept away, and let the river of righteousness roll through the land, and God shall be pleased, and his people shall be blessed.

I. ITS DIVINE SOURCE. The fountain of rectitude is not to be found in the arrangements of human society, in the laws of human device, in the expediency which aims at human pleasures. We are to look up to the hills, to the heavens, for its source. It wells from the eternal constitution of the moral universe, from the very nature, from the glorious government, of the Eternal.

II. ITS VAST VOLUME. There is no community of men, there is no social relationship, in which righteousness may not be exemplified. Even the heathen philosophers could say great things of justice.

“Nor morning star, nor evening star, so fair!”

Ardent religionists sometimes lose sight of this principle and its necessity, thinking justice too sublunary and commonplace to be deserving of their attention. Such a practice is not sanctioned by Scripture, which from beginning to end lays stress upon the faithful and honourable discharge of human duty, as between man and man, in all the varied relationships of life.

III. ITS MIGHTY CURRENT. There is a power in righteousness which only the morally blind can overlook, which commands the homage of the observant and the thoughtful. For whilst it is not the kind of power that the worldly cannot but see, and the vulgar cannot but admire, it is nevertheless powerenduring, effective, undoubted power. The state is strong in which justice is administered, in which a high standard of uprightness is maintained in social and public life; whilst injustice, insincerity, oppression, corruption, and deceit are detrimental to the true interests of any community.

IV. ITS PERENNIAL FLOW. A river differs from a cistern, a reservoir, in thisthat it does not run dry, that it is not exhausted, that it flows on from age to age. And the righteousness that the eternal King desires to see prevail in human society is an ever-flowing stream. Not like the mountain torrent, which is dried up in summer heat; but like the vast river, which is fed from the everlasting hills, and is replenished by many a tributary stream, is the course of Divine righteousness upon earth. Not in one nation, in one age, in one dispensation only, but in every time and place does this river of righteousness flow for the welfare of mankind.

V. ITS BENEFICENT RESULTS. From insincere religious observances no good can come; but from justice, from a proper discharge of duty, from right principles, we may look forevery good. God is pleased that his attribute becomes his creature’s law. And righteousness exalts nations and establishes thrones.T.

Amo 5:25, Amo 5:26

A divided homage rejected.

The continuity of Israel’s national life is here assumed. Amos addressed the same people that was brought by Moses out of Egypt, that was led by Joshua into Canaan. The same temptations were followed by the same falls; in fact, until after the Captivity, the chosen nation was ever liable to relapse into partial and temporary idolatry. This was especially the case with the northern kingdom, which had not the benefit of the temple services, sacrifices, and priesthood. The peculiarity of the case was the attempt to combine two systems of religion so inconsistent as the worship of Jehovah and the worship of the false deities of the neighbouring nations. Yet this attempt is substantially one which is renewed by some in every generation, even under this spiritual and Christian dispensation. Displeasing as was the conduct of Israel in the view of a holy and “jealous” God, equally offensive is every endeavour to serve two masters, to divide the allegiance and devotion of the heart.

I. THE FACT THAT MEN DO ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE THEIR HOMAGE AND WORSHIP. This is no doubt an evidence of human inconsistency and instability; but it is not to be denied that our nature frequently exhibits these qualities. On the one hand, education, the voice of conscience, the aspirations of better moments, the influence of pious friends, tend to retain the heart beneath the sway of true religion. On the other nd, the example of the pleasure seeking and the worldly, the baser impulses of our nature, the suggestions of our spiritual adversary, all draw our hearts towards an inferior good, towards an ignoble choice. Hence many are found neither renouncing God nor rejecting the allurements of a sinful world.

II. THE GROUNDS UPON WHICH THE SUPREME REJECTS THE DIVIDED HOMAGE AND WORSHIP WHICH ARE SOMETIMES OFFERED.

1. God’s just claim is to the whole nature and the whole life of his intelligent creatures. The Father of the spirits of all flesh cannot consent to share his rightful possession with any rival, any pretender, be he who he may.

2. The nature of man is such that he can only give religious reverence and service that shall be worthy of the name to one Lord. Christ has emphatically pronounced upon the case in his words, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

3. The moral degradation and disaster involved in the endeavour are palpable. There is inconsistency, nay, there is opposition, between the two services. A riven heart is a wretched heart. Hypocrisy is a sandy foundation upon which to build the character and life; upon this no secure and stable edifice can possibly be reared.

III. THE URGENCY OF THE ALTERNATIVE CONSEQUENTLY PRESENTED TO EVERY MORAL NATURE. It is the alternative which Joshua urged upon the Israelites: “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” It is the alternative which Elijah urged upon a later generation: “How long halt ye between two opinions [between the two sides]? If Jehovah be God, serve him; but if Baal, then serve him.”T.

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND

Amo 5:4

Seeking the Lord.

“For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.” It is impossible to read this chapter without noticing the tenderness of the prophet, his compassion and pitifulness, his yearning wish to help and save. This feeling is the more remarkable because Amos belonged to the tribe of Judah, and felt thus towards the neighbouring and hostile kingdom of Israel. Such pity is ever a sign of Divine inspiration. Thus Isaiah (Isa 22:4) says, “Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people,” etc. Samuel, too, after Saul the king had proved himself so headstrong and wilful that nothing could save him, although he went down to his own house and, in accordance with Divine command, saw him no more, nevertheless mourned for Saul to the day of his death. And, loftiest of all, Christ Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives, and as he beheld the city which had rejected him, he wept over it, saying, “O Jerusalem,” etc.! It was in this spirit that Amos wrote the passage before us, and thrice repeated the message in our text. Meditation on this subject gives us some thoughts:

1. On the loss of God.

2. On the search for God.

3. On life in God.

I. THE LOSS OF GOD. The exhortation to “seek” him implies that he has been lost sight of by his creatures. This is brought about by various influences.

1. By intellectual temptations. These vary in different ages. In the time of Amos the study of God’s works led to superstition, while in these days it leads many to scepticism. Then the stars were believed to affect human destiny (verse 8); each season had its own deity; every element obeyed some unseen being. The polytheist would have joined heartily with the Jew in saying, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” In our day, on the contrary, folly is supposed to lie in the other direction, namely, in the heart of him who believes in that which is beyond sensuous perception and purely intellectual research. Science, which has driven fairies from the woods, elves from the mountains, and nymphs from the sea, is now supposed to be almost prepared to drive God from his universe. Articles in our magazines, addresses in our halls, speak with such ill-disguised contempt of religious men that their language is, “The fool bath said in his heart, There is a God.” But the world never wanted God more. Men are not satisfied with knowing, and some who see no evidence for a future heaven are bitterly askingIs life worth living? Amidst the miseries of civilized society, and the wrangling of sects, many a one secretly says, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God!” In an age when men believed in gods who had no personal love or righteousness, they wanted to know the heavenly Father; and in this age, when scepticism has swept the world bare of some of its old creeds, we do well to hearken to the message of God, “Seek ye me, and ye shall live.”

2. By prevailing idolatries. Show how places of sacred memory had become sources of idolatry and pollution (verse 5). Bethel, where Jacob saw the heavenly ladder, and vowed that he and his would be the Lord’s; Gilgal, where the people reconsecrated themselves on entering Canaan; Beersheba, where Abraham called on the Lord, and Isaac built his altar, and Israel offered sacrifice when going with his sons into Egypt;were all transformed into idolatrous resorts. From this, point out how easily creeds, forms of worship, holy places and relics, nominal profession of Christianity, etc; may hide God, instead of bearing witness to him. Suggest also certain modern idolatries.

3. By practical unrighteousness. Amos addressed his hearers as “Ye who turn judgement to wormwood [that is, who, instead of rendering justice, commit bitter wrong], and leave off righteousness in the earth [or, rather, ‘dethrone it from rule’].” Trace these sins in some trades and professions, and in some social customs and ecclesiastical movements, of our own day. Yet, in spite of such sins, which will incur the penalties here foretold, the message comes to every sinner from him who is not willing that any should perish, “Seek ye me, and ye shall live.”

II. THE SEARCH FOR GOD. Let us rightly estimate the privilege offered to us. God is great beyond our conceptions. “He maketh the seven stars and Orion,” etc; yet says, “To that man will I look who is of a humble and contrite heart.”

1. There is necessity for seeking him. He will not force himself on our notice, nor blazen his name in the sky. Any man, if he chooses, is free to live as if God were not. It is “he who seeketh findeth.”

2. There are advantages in seeking him. These are additional to the advantages of finding him. The most precious things (jewels, corn, knowledge, etc.) are not the most easily obtained. The self-discipline, the steadfast effort, the trials of faith and hope, etc; cultivate character. So, in seeking God, we find that the pains and difficulties resulting from doubts, indolence, sins, etc; are part of our Heaven-appointed discipline. If God were visible as the sun is visible, there would be no moral advantage in “seeking” him; but as he is visible only through faith and prayer, we rise heavenward in our very seeking after him.

3. There is a right way of seeking him. Hence verse 5, “Seek not Bethel,” etc. Some hoped to get help in other directions rather than in the path of penitential prayer. Multitudes now, instead of turning to him who is the Light of the world, pursue false lights, which, like the will-o’-the-wisp, will lead to destruction. Hear the words of Jesus Christ: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;” “I and the Father are one.”

III. THE LIFE IN GOD. “And ye shall live.“ This does not allude to national life. That was irrevocably doomed. But in the doomed nation any sinner turning to God would live. Nor is the allusion to natural life, but to that spiritual life which is referred to in the verse, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee,” etc, This life in its nature and source is more fully revealed to us than to Amos himself.

1. The source of this life is found in God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. No man can create life where it is not, nor restore it where it once was. Christ, by the raising of the dead, showed in a visible sphere what he alone can do in the invisible. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

2. The nature of this life. It is Divine, and constitutes us “partakers of the Divine nature.” Its germ is faith, its inspiration is love, its breath is prayer, its manifestation the likeness of Christ.

3. The vigour of this life. It will live amid the influences of an evil atmosphere, as a hale man walks unhurt through a tainted hospital It will assert itself in streams of benediction to the world around, and it will finally prove itself victorious over death; for the Lord has said, “He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die;” text.A.R.

Amo 5:8

The message of the stars.

“Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his Name,” This recognition of God amidst the phenomena of nature is characteristic of Amos. He looked on the Pleiades and Orion, as they shone radiantly in the heavens, changeless in their relations, calm amidst human vicissitudes, and constant in diffusing their light upon a troubled world, and bade men seek him who created them. He speaks of night, that “shadow of death,” and reminds his hearers that, though it be long and fearsome, the light of dawn comes at last, and God turns it into morning; and again, after the work of the day is done, and tired men want rest, God draws the curtains, and “makes the day dark with night.” The last clause is more obscure. Sometimes the waters have been “poured out upon the earth” in destructive deluge, and this has occurred at the command of God; but we prefer the application of the prophet’s words to that familiar and constant display of the Divine power by means of which the waters are secretly gathered up into the sky, that they may be poured out in showers of blessing upon the earth. Our text is true of nature; but it is also true of that of which nature is the symbol and shadow, as we shall endeavour to show. It reminds us

I. THAT GOD OVERRULES THE OUTWARD CONDITIONS OF HUMAN LIFE. “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion.” The words are literally true. Philosophy teaches us to find an adequate cause for all effects, and science acknowledges that the First Cause eludes its search, and is beyond its sphere. Revelation declares, “God made the sun to rule by day, and the moon to rule by night: he made the stars also.” More than this primal fact is, however, asserted here. Amos was speaking to those who saw in the stars more than material lights. His hearers believed in astrology, which has been prevalent in all ages, from the very dawn of history. This superstition, which has left its mark on the earliest records of our race, in the literature of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hindus, and Chinese, was not without effect on the people of Israel, as many passages in Scripture show. Indeed, it only received its deathblow when the Copernican system was finally established; for even Kepler would not deny that there was a connection between the movements of the stars and the fortunes of men. Now, two constellations so peculiar and brilliant as Pleiades and Orion naturally had special powers ascribed to them. Thus Rabbi Isaac Israel, in his remarks on Job 38:31, says, “Some of the stars have operations in the ripening of fruits, and such is the opening of the Pleiades; and some of the stars retard and delay the fruits from ripening, and this is the opening of Orion.” In other words, the Pleiades were associated with the spring, when Nature was bursting into new life, when she was emitting the sweetest influences from every blade and flower, when ships which had been shut up through stress of weather could put out once more to sea. Hence the question, “Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades?”Canst thou prevent the outpouring of vernal life? Whether you will or not, the change comes; for it is of God. Similarly, Orion was associated with autumn, when the earth was throwing off her beauty, and the voyages of the ancient times came to an end, and frost bound the streams as in fetters of iron. “Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?”Canst thou check the storms, and break up the reign of frost? Now, says Amen, look beyond these constellations to him who made them; and when you rejoice in the spring, or dread the approaching winter, when you are glad over the pleasantness of life, or faint under its adversity;think of him who is above and beyond all material forces and all visible influences. There is a spring and autumn known in human experience which have their sources beyond ourselves and beyond all visible agency; and our hearts rest in the assurance of this. Compare the lot of two children in dissimilar circumstancesthe one with every comfort and care, as if “born under a lucky star,” and sharing “the sweet influences of Pleiades;” the other in the drunken home, with curses temporal and moral on every side. These children do not choose their lot, they do not appear to deserve treatment so different; yet their circumstances are not the result of chance nor the decree of blind fate, but are to be ascribed to him “who made the seven stars and Orion,” and, as the Judge of all the earth, he will do right. (Suggest other examples of seeming unfairness in men’s circumstances.) This Divine revelation in Scripture affirms of God that he appoints the lot of each, and this with a view to the training of character, which far outweighs the pleasantness or the painfulness found in mere circumstances. Adversity will by and by appear to be but a small thing to him who amidst it proved himself faithful, and prosperity will seem in the retrospect of little worth to him who, through his thanklessness and prayerlessness, has failed to “lay hold on eternal life.” Whatever influences surround us, we are, for our own sakes, called on to recognize God as overruling them. If we are prosperous, it is “the Lord who gives power to get wealth;” if we are in adversity, we are not to blame our luck or our friends, but to seek the comfort and help of him “who maketh the seven stars and Orion.”

II. THAT GOD OVERRULES THE INWARD EXPERIENCE OF MEN. “He turneth the shadow of death into the morning,” etc. The Hebrew word translated “shadow of death” almost always means more than natural night, however black that may be (see references in Job and Psalms). Admitting this figurative use of the word here, the reference of the prophet would seem to be to the changes from sorrowfulness to joyfulness, and from joyfulness to sorrowfulness, which we frequently experience. These are not dependent on circumstances. The wealthiest men have often said of their surroundings, “I have no pleasure in them;” while the poor and persecuted have sometimes made their miserable abodes resound with praise. We may illustrate this from the life of our Lord. At one time “he rejoiced in spirit” at another time he was “exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;” yet the Father’s hand was recognized in both experiences. God inspires the children’s songs, and he gives the cup of agony. What abundant reason we have to praise God for certain inward changesthe carelessness turned into serious and sad penitence, and this again into the joyfulness of pardon! To many a weeping penitent, sitting in darkness, he has come and “turned the shadow of death into morning.” Others have been in the darkness of doubt. They have cried, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” They have felt around them for some hand to help in their dire extremity; At last the sense of Christ’s love has come home to them, and though their questions are not all answered, they believe in him, and enter into rest, and soon they find that “he that believeth does not walk in darkness, but has the light of life.” God turns for them the shadow of death into morning. Soon “the shadow feared of man” will come. Yet even the darkness of death shall be transformed into the brightness of heaven; and in the place where “there is no need of the sun or moon to shine,” because God himself is the Light thereof, we shall see how God has forevermore turned the shadow of death into morning.

III. THAT GOD TRANSFORMS CURSES INTO BLESSINGS. God “calls for the waters of the sea.” They secretly ascend to heaven, and then descend in refreshing showers. The transformation effected in that phenomenon is noteworthy. If we pour sea water on flowers, they will die; but when it is called up into the heavens the pernicious salt is left behind, the water is purged from its destructiveness, and the curse is made a blessing. A transforming influence passes over all that comes to us, if it is caught up to heaven. Suppose prosperity comes to you. It may enervate and destroy your spiritual life, but if praise to God is associated with it, and habitual prayer that you may use this for God, you may become by your very prosperity a more generous, tender-hearted, and Christ-like man. If adversity is yours, and you take all your troubles before the Lord, they will be transfigured before you in the light of God’s love and Christ’s sufferings, and through your valley of Achor you will enter into deeper rest and nobler hope.- If doubts or temptations try you, they will not curse, but bless you, if they arouse the earnest prayer, “Lord, help me!” Christ was never more precious to Thomas than when, after his doubts, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” But his doubts would have ruined him had they kept him from the presence of the Lord. Let all your troubles and joys be wafted, by prayer and praise, into the heaven of God’s presence, and they shall be poured down upon you in showers of spiritual blessings.

CONCLUSION. If you would know the comfort of the text, you will only find it in obedience to its first Clause, “Seek him!” “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found,” etc.; “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” Then, under the quiet light of the stars, or in the splendours of sunset and dawn, or watching the fall of the heaven-sent showers, you will have thoughts of him who rules over all, as of one who through Jesus Christ is your Father and your Friend.A.R.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS

Amo 5:8, Amo 5:9

The glory of religion.

“Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning,” etc. The word reveals two things.

I. THE CONNECTION WHICH GOD HAS WITH HIS UNIVERSE. His connection is that:

1. Of a Creator. “He maketh the seven stars and Orion.” These constellations are only given as specimens of all the things he has created in different parts of the universe. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

2. Of a Governor. “He turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.” The truth taught is thisthat he presides over the revolution of day and night, and the changes of the seasons, and the fortunes of men. All nature is under his control. “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

3. Of a Redeemer. “That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.” The reference is here undoubtedly to his redemptive work in human history.

II. THE CONNECTION WHICH MAN SHOULD HAVE WITH GOD. “Seek him.” A phrase of frequent use in the Bible, denoting the duty of man to attain to the knowledge, the friendship, and the fellowship of the Eternal. And in this all true religion consists. The pursuit implies:

1. Faith in God’s personal existence. A belief that he is.

2. A consciousness of moral distance from God. We do not seek what we possess.

3. A felt necessity of friendly connection with God.

4. An assurance that such a connection can be obtained.

CONCLUSION. What a grand thing is religion I It is not a thing of mere doctrine, or ritual, or sect, or party. It is a moral pursuit of “him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,” etc.D.T.

Amo 5:14

Religion.

“Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.” From these words two things may be inferred concerning religion.

I. IT IMPLIES A SPECIFIC PURSUIT. “Seek good, and not evil.” Good and evil are both in the world; they work in all human souls; they explain all history.

1. They imply a standard of right. By what do we determine the good and evil in human life? The revealed will of God. What accords with that will is good, what disagrees with it is evil.

2. Their object is a human pursuit. There are those who pursue evil; they follow it for worldly wealth, animal pleasure, secular aggrandizement. There are those who pursue good; and their grand question is, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

3. The pursuit of good is the specific effort of religion. Good in thought, spirit, aim, habit, as embodied in the life of Christ. To get good requires strenuous, persistent, devout, prayerful effort.

II. IT INVOLVES THE HIGHEST BENEDICTION.

1. The enjoyment of true life. “That ye may live.” Without goodness you cannot really live: goodness is life. Everlasting goodness is everlasting life. “This is life eternal, to know thee,” etc. (Joh 17:3).

2. The enjoyment of the Divine friendship. “So the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you.” What a benediction is this! “The Lord God of hosts,” the Almighty Creator, Proprietor, and Governor of the universe to be with us, to guide, guard, beautify existence! “I will walk among you,” says he; “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people.”D.T.

Amo 5:19

Selfishness in terror.

“As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.” The Israelites rested their hope of deliverance from every kind of foreign danger upon their outward connection with the covenant made with their forefathers; hence many put their trust in the days spoken of in the context, when Jehovah would judge all the heathen, expecting that he would then in all probability raise Israel to might and dominion. All this was simple delusion, the delusion of selfishness; for when Jehovah would appear to punish the nations, Amos says they would be so panic-struck as to be confounded in their efforts to escape. Running from the lion, they would fall into the jaws of the bear; or fleeing into a house, they would be met by a serpent that would bite them. The passage illustrates selfishness in terror. Its characteristic is that in seeking protection from one danger it rushes into another. This is often seen

I. IN COMMERCIAL LIFE. A selfish man in trade often finds himself running down the hill of insolvency, and ruthless bankruptcy appears before him as a lion ready to destroy him. What does he do? Where does he seek protection? Perhaps in absconscion. But he is apprehended, and he finds he has fled from “a lion” to “a hear,” enters the house where the “serpent” of enraged justice fastens on him. Or perhaps he resorts to forgery. Here he is detected, and the same result is experienced. He has fled from the lion only to rush into the jaws of the bear.

II. IN SOCIAL LIFE. In few social circles are men not to be found who in some way or other commit a wrong against their members. Indeed, in family life it is so. Children do some injury to their parents, and parents to their children, husbands to their wives, and wives to their husbands. After the commission of the deed, selfish terror is awakened, and they fabricate falsehoods in order to escape the danger. The falsehood is detected, and then it is felt that the man has only fled from the lion to the bear. He has run for protection where he has found the “serpent.”

III. IN RELIGIOUS LIFE. Men get convinced of sin, their consciences are roused, and hell appears before them as a ravenous lion, which they endeavour to escape; and they fly for protection to what? To selfish prayers, selfish sacrifices, selfish performances; but to attempt to escape from hell by selfish efforts is only running from the lion to the bear. “He that seeketh his life shall lose it.”

CONCLUSION. This subject is capable of endless illustrations. It is an eternal truth that he who seeks protection from selfish fear only rushes from one danger into another. There is no protection for a soul but in self-renunciation, in the entire consecration of self to the worship and service of the great God.D.T.

Amo 5:21-24

The divinely abhorrer and the divinely demanded.

“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies,” etc. Notice –

I. THE DIVINELY ABHORRENT. What is that? Mere ceremonial religion; empty ritual. “I hate, I despise your feast days, and 1 will not smell in your solemn assemblies,” etc. “The same aversion from the ceremonial observances of the insincere and rebellious Israelites which Jehovah here expresses he afterwards employed Isaiah to declare to the Jews (Isa 1:10, etc.). The two passages are strikingly parallel, only the latter prophet amplifies what is set forth in a more condensed form by Amos. It is also to be observed that where Amos introduces the musical accompaniments of the sacrifices, Isaiah substitutes the prayers; both concluding with the Divine words, ‘I will not hear.’ ‘Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.’ The singing of their psalms was nothing more to God than a wearisome round which was to be brought to an end. Singing and playing on harps was a part of the worship of the temple (1Ch 16:41; 1Ch 23:5; 1Ch 25:1-31.). Nothing seems more abhorrent to the holy eye and heart of Omniscience than empty ceremony in religion. No sacrifices are acceptable to him, however costly, unless the offerer has presented himself. I go psalmody is acceptable to his ear but the psalmody of self-oblivious devotion.” “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

II. THE DIVINELY DEMANDED. “Let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” While no direction is given respecting the regulation of the sacrifices in order that they may be rendered acceptable, here is a special demand for morality in life, moral rectitude in conduct. Thus God once more expresses the idea that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,” The way to worship God acceptably is not by ceremonial observances, not by religious contributions, not in singing psalms, but in doing the right and loving thing towards our fellow men. The true practical expression of our love to God is that of a virtuous and generous conduct towards mankind. Stud your country with fine churches if you like, fill them with aesthetic worshippers and enthusiastic devotees. But all that is abhorrent to God unless you feel and act rightly towards your fellow men in your daily life. We had rather see justice rolling on like mighty waters, and righteousness as a swelling and ever-flowing stream, than crowded churches. “Show me your faith… by your works.” Show me your worship by your morality; show me your love to God by your devotion to your fellow men. “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us.” “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for if he loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”D.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Amo 5:1. Even a lamentation This and the following chapter contain a kind of mournful song upon the misfortunes of Israel. See Jer 9:17 and the introduction to the book of Lamentations.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Amos 5

3. Lament for Israel. The only Safety is in seeking the Lord. Woe to the Fools who desire the Day of the Lord

1 Hear this word,

Which I raise over you as a lamentation,1O house of Israel.

2 Fallen is the virgin2Israel, she does not rise again,

She is stretched out upon her soil, no one raises her up.

3 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah,

The city which goes out by a thousand3

Shall retain a hundred,
And that which goes out by a hundred
Shall retain ten, for the house of Israel.

4 For thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel,

Seek ye me, and ye shall live.4

5 And seek not Bethel,

And go not to Gilgal,
And pass not over to Beersheba.
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,5

And Bethel shall come to naught.

6 Seek ye Jehovah, and ye shall live,

Lest he break forth like fire upon the house of Joseph,
And it devour,6 and there be none to quench it for Bethel.

7 They who turn justice into wormwood,

And cast righteousness down to the earth!

8 He who makes the Seven Stars7and Orion,

And turns the shadow of death into morning,
And darkens day into night;
Who calls to the waters of the sea,
And pours them over the face of the earth,
Jehovah is his name!

9 Who makes desolation to flash8 upon the strong,

And desolation comes upon the fortress.

10 They hate the reprover9 in the gate,

And him that speaketh uprightly they abhor.

11 Therefore, because ye trample10upon the poor,

And take from him a gift of wheat;
Houses of hewn stone ye have built
But ye shall not dwell in them,
Pleasant vineyards ye have planted,
But ye shall not drink their wine.

12 For I know that many are your transgressions,

And your sins are great,
Ye who oppress11 the righteous,

Who take a bribe,
And they push aside the poor in the gate from their right.

13 Therefore, the prudent at this time is silent,

For it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil that ye may live,

And that so Jehovah, God of hosts, may be with you, as ye say.

15 Hate evil and love good,

And set up justice in the gate;
Perhaps Jehovah, God of hosts, will favor the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, God of hosts, the Lord,

In all streets wailing!
And in all the highways shall men say, Alas, alas,
And they call12 the husbandman to mourning,

And lamentation to those skilled in lamenting.

17 And in all vineyards shall be lamentation,

For I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.

18 Woe to those who desire the day of Jehovah!

What good is it to you?
The day of Jehovah! it is darkness and not light.

19 As if a man fleeth before the lion,

And the bear meets him;
Or he goes into the house
And rests his hand upon the wall,
And the snake bites him.

20 Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light,

And gloom without any brightness?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts,13

And take no delight in your assemblies.

22 For if ye offer me burnt offerings,

Your food-offerings I will not accept,
And the thank-offering of your fatlings I will not regard.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs,

And the playing of your harps I will not hear.

24 And let judgment roll on like water,

And righteousness like an inexhaustible stream.14

25 Did ye offer me sacrifices and food offerings

In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
(No) but ye bore the tent of your king[15]

And the pedestal of your images,
The star of your God,
Which ye made for yourselves.

27 Therefore will I carry you away captive beyond Damascus,16

Saith Jehovah, whose name is God of hosts.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Amo 5:1-3. Lament over the fall of Israel. This word is further defined as a mournful song or dirge. The song follows in Amo 5:2. The virgin expresses the fact that the daughter of Israel had hitherto been unconquered (Isa 23:12). This now should have an end. Amo 5:3 briefly explains the dirge. Israel will perish in war even to a very small remnant.

2. Amo 5:4-17. The deeper ground of the dirge; For Israel might easily be saved if they would seek the Lord, but this they will not do.

(a.) Amo 5:4-6. What God desires is that they should seek Him and forsake idolatry. To live means in the first instance to remain in life, but naturally includes the whole welfare of the state, its independence, etc. Gilgal and Bethel, so far from helping those who resorted to them, should themselves perish. Beersheba, in Southern Jud, must have been a place of idolatrous worship, to which people from the ten tribes resorted, and in so doing passed over the boundaries of their kingdom.

Amo 5:6. Once more is the seeking of Jehovah declared to be the means of life, and more strictly, the means of averting the judgment. The house of Joseph = Ephraim, the whole kingdom being named from the principal tribe. Bethel, as the chief seat of worship, was the central point of the kingdom.

(b.) Amo 5:7-9. By a peculiar asyndeton the two parties are placed in vivid contrast with each other; the people in their ungodly course, and Jehovah in his omnipotence, naturally with the implied thought, such a God can punishought to be feared.

Amo 5:7. Wormwood as a bitter plant is an image of bitter wrong, as in Amo 6:12; righteousness therefore is conceived as a sweet fragrant plant (cf. Deu 29:19). Casting down to the earth = trampling under foot.

Amo 5:8. Turns the shadow of death, etc. As these words are preceded by a reference to the stars and followed by a mention of natural phenomena, they are certainly to be understood in the same way, the aim of the entire passage being to cite the obvious manifestations God thus makes of himself, in support of the foregoing threatening. The tropical explanationhe changes the deepest misery into prosperity, does not suit here, but only the natural, literal meaning; although the shadow of death does not in itself signify the regularly recurring shades of night, but as, e.g. in Job 24:17, the appalling gloom of night. Here night in general is set forth under this point of view, and is compared with the shadow of death. For its gloom is conceived of as an image of the divine judgment, of the hiding of Gods face. But in any case the energy of the divine power in turning darkness into light is rendered so much the more prominent. [Keil and Pusey prefer the figurative meaning, which indeed is more in accordance with the constant usage of , but is certainly unnatural in this place in view of the literal references before and after.]Who calls to the waters, etc., can refer only to fearful inundations by waves of the sea. [The allusion to the judgment of the Flood can hardly be overlooked. Keil.]

Amo 5:9. Whether the evil mentioned here is to be viewed as caused like the foregoing by manifestations of Gods power in the natural world, is doubtful, but not improbable. The reference might be to an earthquake or a storm.

(c.) Amo 5:10-13. They hate the reprover etc. The prophet returns to the conduct of Israel, which must be punished.

Amo 5:10. In the gate, shows that the reference is to judicial proceedings. The reprover, therefore, and the one speaking uprightly cannot be understood of the prophets, however natural such reference would be on other grounds.

Amo 5:11. Take a gift = do him justice only when they are paid for it. Houses of hewn stone are costly dwellings, Isa 9:10. The threat is borrowed from Deu 28:30.

Amo 5:12. Who take a bribe, may either indicate a fresh sin, i. e., taking atonement money in satisfaction for a murder, against the law in Num 35:31, or may belong to the foregoing, thus, ye who oppress (imprison) the righteous and then take a ransom, i. e., will release him only for a ransom. The former is more consistent with the prevailing use of the Hebrew term. [So Pusey and Keil; but certainly the word in one instance at least, 1Sa 12:3, is used to denote any sort of bribe.]

Amo 5:13. Manifestly belongs to what precedes, since it further describes the period of corruption. He who has prudence = whose counsel is wholesome, will be compelled to silence (cf. Amo 5:10, the upright speaker is abhorred); instead of attentive hearing he has only violence to expect.

(d.) Amo 5:14-17. Once more the way of deliverance is pointed out, at least for a remnant. But for the mass, nothing is to be expected but deep sorrow on all sides.

Amo 5:14. And that so with you as ye say. That is, Then will that be really the case which ye now vainly imagine,that God is with you.

Amo 5:15. Set up justice, etc.=maintain a righteous administration of justice. Then possibly there may be favor for a remnant. This does not refer to the existing condition of the ten tribes as reduced by Syrian conquests, for the kingdom under Jeroboam II. had recovered its former territorial limits. The remnant refers to that which would be left in future after the great chastisement, impending. See a similar allusion in reference to Judah in Joe 3:5, and Isa 6:13; Isa 10:21; Isa 10:23.

Amo 5:16. Therefore, introducing the threat, presupposes a denunciation of sins. The entire chapter is full of this, and therefore naturally, Amo 5:16-17 do not refer simply to Amo 5:14-15. Yet these latter do, indirectly at least, contain a reproof. The warning implies that the warned are not seeking good, etc. But only such seeking can save, and it is only too certain that these are not doing it; therefore, etc.,general mourning. The sense is, on every hand there will be dead to weep for. There will be repeated what happened in Egypt at the smiting of the first born; as the words I will pass through the midst of thee, allude to Exo 12:12. As in the cities, so in the land, there will be such a death wail. And they call is to be supplied before the last clause. The skilled in lamenting, are the professional wailing women who were employed at funerals.

Amo 5:17. Even in the vineyards, usually the places of liveliest joy, wailing should resound. [A vintage not of wine but of woe.Pusey.]

3. Amo 5:18-27. Woe to the confident who deceive themselves with false hopes.

(a.) Amo 5:18-20. Woe to those, etc. It would be foolish to expect help from the day of the Lord.

Amo 5:18. Who desire the day of the Lord. Since they fancied that the carnal Israel and the true people of God were identical, this day must of course bring to them deliverance from all distress, and also power and glory. But it is made clear that this day to them can only bring harm, can only be a day of destruction (Joe 2:2). Therefore, should they escape one danger (from a foe), they would only the more certainly fall into another. This in Amo 5:19 is set forth by a figure taken from common life, the meaning of which is clear.

Amo 5:20. Once more is the threatening character of the day of the Lord affirmed and repeated.

(b.) Amo 5:21-27. Even with festivals and sacrifices the people do not avert the judgment. For worship, rendered as a mere opus operatum, as it is by Israel, is worthless before God, and even offensive to Him. Since the question concerns the ten tribes, we may assume from the following representation that the worship they rendered was as to ritual substantially conformed to that at Jerusalem.

Amo 5:22. For. Gods displeasure at the feasts, etc., arise from his dislike of the sacrifices. The construction is interrupted, the first clause having no apodosis; but this is easily supplied from the second; and the sense is, I will accept neither your burnt offerings nor your meat offerings.

Amo 5:23. The singing is contemptuously called a noise of songs.

Amo 5:24. Such worship, instead of averting the judgment, rather provokes its full execution. It should pour over the land, like a flowing stream. It is wrong to interpret the verse [with Pusey, et al.] as an exhortation to the people to practice judgment and righteousness. The image of a flood of waters is much too strong for such a thought; it points rather to an act of God. [Yet, one may ask, is the expression any stronger here than in the cognate passage in Isa 48:18, then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea? But the connection manifestly favors the authors view.]

(c.) Amo 5:25-27. Did ye offer, etc. No wonder that such a judgment impends over Israel. From of old they had been recreant to their God. Their present offensive worship was in reality only a continuation of the idolatry practiced in the wilderness.

Amo 5:25. Did ye offer to me sacrifices and food-offerings (=bloody and unbloody oblations)? The question implies a negative answer. The people therefore are described as having omitted the sacrifices to Jehovah for forty years, which certainly could be affirmed of the race as a whole, even if there were no express statements to that effect in the Pentateuch. Still, see e. g.Jos 5:5-7, for the neglect of circumcision. While the people thus omitted the service of Jehovah, they carried on in place of it, idol worship.

Amo 5:26. Andnamely, in place of bringing me the appointed offeringsye bore the tent of, etc. (see Text, and Gram.). The idolatry censured by the prophet here is of Egyptian origin. Certainly the worship of the sun was widely diffused there, but we cannot affirm its nature more precisely. The existence of a literal god of the stars cannot be historically sustained.

Amo 5:27. After Israels apostasy had been established from the history of their forefathers, the judgment (cf. Amo 5:24) is briefly described as a literal carrying away. Even more plainly does it appear that the prophet in his threatenings is thinking of Assyria as the power from which the downfall of Israel is to come. Far beyond Damascus, is only a sort of euphemism for Assyria. The conclusion is, as in the case of the preceding chapter, the phrase, Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts, a token that here-another division ends.

[The Quotation by Stephen. In Act 7:42-43, the proto-martyr is represented as quoting Amo 5:26-27, in terms which vary considerably from our text. The explanation is as old as Jerome. This is to be observed in all Holy Scripture, that Apostles and apostolic men, in citing testimonies from the Old Testament, regard not the words but the meaning, nor do they follow the words, step by step, provided they do not depart from the meaning. (Quoted by Pusey in loc.) Stephen quoted from the Septuagint, because its variations, whether real or seeming, made no difference as to the force of the passage in establishing the fact that Israel in the wilderness worshipped false gods. Stephen also substitutes Babylon for Damascus in the closing clause of the quotation; but the idea is the same; for the prediction turned not upon the name, but the fact, namely, that God would scatter them into distant lands. Stephen was not guilty of an error or an inadvertence, but simply brought the prophecy, without any real change of meaning, into agreement with the historical associations of the people in relation to the Babylonish exile.]

DOCTRINAL AND MORAL

1. The prophet himself calls this chapter a wail over the house of Israel. Now as in such a wail the existing sorrow is touchingly expanded, but with it whatever can serve for its present and future amelioration, so in this lament the terribleness of sin and of the destruction to which it leads is sadly depicted, but at the same time are interwoven warnings to seek God so that in some measure the evil may be abated. (Rieger.) It is indeed remarkable; from what has gone before one would think Israels fate decided, that all admonition and warning were vain and nothing but punishment remained; and yet this chapter, far more than those which precede, gives admonition with a promise annexed. The sharper the threatening, the more the way of escape is pointed out, for God desires not that any should perish. Certainly it is the only way; therefore the admonition only states more emphatically the complaint; this only can save you, but you will none of it.

2. Seek the Lord that ye may live. Equally simple and definite are the monition and the promise. Man knows what he has to do, and what to expect. Not merely is warning given, but also promise and the reverse. The gain is certain if one fulfills the condition, but the condition is indispensable. Yet how little is askedonly to seek the Lord,and at the same time how much! And on the other hand, how little apparently is promisedto liveand yet how much! Warning and promise therefore are connected together not merely by an outward, casual juxtaposition, but by an inward coherence. The result always follows upon the performance of the conditions; for it is the Lord from whom life and death proceed. Hence no other condition for the attainment of life can be imposed than just this, Seek the Lord; and no smaller gain can be promised to the fulfillment of that condition than this,Life. How strong a testimony for the truth of religion is contained in a single maxim of this kind, and that one recorded in the Scriptures, even in the Old Testament! The condition imposed is in the first instance religiousSeek the Lord, and cleave not to idols(Amo 5:5, also Amo 5:25-26), but this naturally involves also one of an ethical character. This is expressly stated, in accordance with the rigidly ethical character of the Old Testament, when afterwards (Amo 5:14) the demand is changed into, Seek good and not evil, with the same promise attachedthat ye may live. Only he therefore seeks the Lord in truth, who seeks good, and vice versa. And this seeking of good is more closely defined as hating evil and loving good. Both must concur; then only is there a real seeking of good; for God does the one as well as the other. Evil must be earnestly repelled and shunned, otherwise the seeking of good lacks truth and energy; in like manner must good be grasped at, otherwise the attempt misses its aim and soon becomes fruitless. Piety must have an ethical element, must show itself by hating evil and loving good. A mere outward religiousness, however zealous in ceremonies, is worthless in the eyes of God. Amos pronounces most decidedly against a sacrificial service destitute of a corresponding disposition of heart, where the offerings and gifts are not the expression of inward devotion and obedience to God.

3. The good which men are to love and to do, appears here continually as rectitude, in opposition to the prevailing unrighteousness, the turning justice into wormwood, and casting righteousness down to the earth. This is the least that can be expected, yet in another sense it is the most important, for in vain do we look for the other, and, so to speak, rarer duties from the neglecter of justice, whereas he who sincerely observes this will soon reach something farther. Justice is the foundation of social order; when it is wanting, all in the end comes to ruin.

4. What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (Rom 8:3), appears clearly here as it does in the other prophets. Clearly and frankly the law declares Gods will, and tells man what he ought to do; notwithstanding, sin only increases, and apostasy becomes worse. For the law cannot along with its Thou shalt give to man the I will. Rather on account of his inborn depravity, its commands and prohibitions stir up the motions of sin, and lead them to a bolder outbreak. Then surely the whole curse of the law must at last light upon the transgressor; and the prophets announce this through the judgments with which they threaten the disobedient people. Thus the insufficiency of a legal position is ever more plainly set forth. The law cannot give a new heartand this is really the question if sin is to be checked and perfect obedience secured,but grace alone can, full and free grace. Israel had already, from the time of the Exodus, experienced many acts of grace from God, among which very properly the giving of the law itself may be ranked. But these were only benefits which address men from the outside, real benefits indeed, in which God expressed his love, but only in order thus to render his commands more acceptable. But there was wanting the peculiar, unparalleled manifestation of love which is made in Christ. He bore and suffered the full curse of the law; He took upon Himself the entire condemnation pronounced upon the transgressor. But this resulted in the largest grace to men, since He without sin took upon Himself that curse, and thus freed us from it; and through the Holy Spirit streaming into men united by faith in Him, there is created a new heart which wills what it should, which hates evil and loves good, and in which the power of the is broken, so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

5. Upon the day of the Lord, see Joel 2 Doctrinal and Moral, 1. The reproof which Amos utters, stands, as we may confidently assume, in close relation to Joel, i. e., refers to an abuse which had been made of Joels announcement of the day of the Lord. It appears here again that this day is essentially one of judgment. It certainly brings to Israel as Gods people deliverance from their foes, but still only in so far as they are really Gods people. So far as they are unfaithful and put, themselves on a level with the heathen, that day is for them one of judgment, since it brings destruction upon all that is ungodly and anti-godly. The name, Israel, therefore, gives no license. Only in this sense is the announcement made. The people saw in this desired period one that would overthrow their foes and deliver them from their present distresses, without remembering that their guilt caused these distresses, and that they deserved punishment rather than deliverance. In this view, the announcement of the last day is still gladly welcomed. Men assign the evil, the punishment, to others, especially to those by whom they suffer, but claim the good for themselves, and anticipate the end of all sorrows and the dawn of cloudless prosperity. Hence results the security which is directly opposite to the watching and praying so earnestly enjoined by our Lord. Men then may long for the day of the Lord as a day of deliverance, but let them look well to the way in which they regard it, and see that this day finds them prepared and true to the Lord, so that He may recognize them as his own. Certainly it is not to be longed for in a spirit of revenge, i. e., in the view that the quicker it comes the sooner will Gods judgments fall upon a godless world. The true Christian rather appreciates the wisdom and long suffering with which God forbears to judge, and rejoices that room is left for the conversion of Gods foes, even if meanwhile he is to suffer by them. He who with carnal impatience wishes for Gods judgments upon others, will experience them himself, and truly in a different way from that of Gods people. Empty forms and lip-service, however zealously pursued, are no defense against the divine judgments, and no earnest of the salvation which proceeds thence for the true people of God. (See also under Homiletical and Practical.)

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Amo 5:1. As a lamentation. God is so gracious that He not only shows us our sins, but even mourns when. He must punish us for them (Luk 19:41). The accusation before punishment becomes a lament afterwards. Did we heed Gods charges, we should not need to hear his lament. [The bewailed who know not why they are bewailed, are the more miserable because they know not their own misery. Dion.]

Amo 5:2-3. Gods judgments increase in severity as they go on; if the earlier and milder are fruitless, at last comes total destruction. (Pf. B. W.) [Fallen. A dirge like that of David over Saul and Jonathan, over what was once lovely and mighty but had perished. (Pusey.) God had said, How should one chase a thousand! but the blessings of obedience are turned into the curses of disobedience. As the ancient Christian poet says, If the Lord is against us, our walls become cobwebs; but if the Lord is with us, our cobwebs become walls. (Wordsworth.)

Amo 5:4. Seek me and live. Four times repeated (Amo 5:6; Amo 5:8; Amo 5:14). Wonderful conciseness of the Word of God, which in two words comprises the whole of the creatures duty and his hopes, his time and his eternity The object of the search is God himself. Seek me, i. e., seek God for himself, not for anything out of Him, not for his gifts, not for anything to be loved with Him. This is not to seek Him purely. All is found in Him, but by seeking Him first, and then loving Him in all, and all in Him. (Pusey.)

Amo 5:5. Seek not Bethel. Israel pretended to seek God in Bethel. Amos sets the two seekings as incompatible. The god worshipped at Bethel was not the one God. To seek God there was to lose Him. Pass not to Beersheba. Jeroboam 1. pretended that it was to much for Israel to go to Jerusalem. And yet Israel thought it not too much to go to Beersheba, perhaps four times farther off. So much pains will men take in self-willed service, and yet not see that it takes away the excuse for neglecting the true.Pusey. Gilgal shall surely, etc. Literally, the place of rolling away, so called because there God rolled away the reproach of Egypt from Israel (Jos 5:9). Shall be clean rolled away. This is the law of Gods dealings with man. He curses our blessings if we do not use them aright. Our holiest Gilgalsour sacraments, our Scriptures, our sermons, our Sundays,which were designed by God to roll away from us the reproach of Egypt, will be rolled away from us if we do not use them aright; aud will roll us downward unto our destruction. Wordsworth.]

Amo 5:6. The same promise and the same warning,a proof that there is no other way to life, and also that the warning cannot be given too often, alas, is so often in vain. Ye shall live. Gods gracious promises must be held before sinners, lest in despair they go from sin to sin. For how can one feel genuine repentance, if he has no hope? [None to quench for Bethel. Bethel, the centre of their idol hopes, so far from aiding them then, shall not be able to help itself, nor shall there be any to help it. Pusey.] Gods wrath is a consuming fire; only true repentance can extinguish it.

[Amo 5:8. Seek him that maketh, etc. Misbelief retains the name God, but means something quite different from the one true God. Men speak of the Deity as a sort of first cause of all things, but lose sight of the personal God who has made known his will. The Deity is no object of love or fear. For a First Cause who is conceived of as no more, is an abstraction, not God. God is the cause of all causes. All things are, and have their relations to each other as cause and effect, because He so created them. A great first cause who is thought of only as a cause, is a mere fiction of mans imagining, an attempt to appear to account for the mysteries of being, without owning that since our being is from God, we are responsible creatures who are to yield to Him an account of the use of our being which He gave us. In like way probably Israel had so mixed up the thought of God with nature that it had lost sight of God as distinct from the creation. And so Amos, after appealing to their consciences, sets forth God to them as the creator, disposer of all things, and the just God who redresseth mans violence and injustice. (Pusey.) Ye who worship the stars are rebelling against Him who made them. (Wordsworth.)]

Amo 5:10. Impatience at a well-meant and friendly rebuke is the mark of an evil and perverse spirit. Such rebuke should be esteemed a kindness, even a balsam upon the head. On the other hand, reproof is to be administered with discretion. (Pf. B. W.)

Amo 5:11-12. Because ye trample, etc. Men should shun the oppression of the poor. Whence comes the swift ruin of entire families? It is because the sighing of the poor before God testifies against them, (ibid.)

[Amo 5:13. The prudent is silent. So our Lord was silent before his judges, for since they would not hear, his speaking would only increase their condemnation. So Solomon said, He that re-proveth a scorner getteth himself shame. When the wicked rise, then men hide themselves. (Pusey.)

Amo 5:15. Hate evil, etc. He hateth evil who not only is not overcome by pleasure, but hates its deeds; and he loveth good who, not unwillingly nor of necessity nor from fear, doeth what is good, but because it is good. (Jerome.)] To hate evil and to love good belong together. (Rieger.) And set up justice, etc. Justice is a pillar of the state. To set it up when fallen is the duty of all men, but especially of those in posts of honor or profit.Perhaps, etc. Temporal promises are made with an It may be, and our prayers must be made accordingly. (M. Henry.)

[Amo 5:16. Therefore saith Jehovah, etc. For the third time here as in the two preceding verses, Amos reminds them of Him in whose name He speaks, namely, the I Am, the self-existent God, the God of all things in heaven and earth, He who has absolute power over his creatures to dispose of them as He will. (Pusey.) Alas, alas! The terribleness of the prophecy lies in its truth. When war pressed without on the walls of Samaria, and within was famine and pestilence, woe, woe, woe must have echoed in every street; for in every street was death and the fear of worse. Yet imagine every sound of joy or din or hum of men, or mirth of children, hushed in the streets, and woe, woe, going up in one unmitigated, unchanging, ever-repeated monotony of grief. Such were the present fruits of sin. Yet what a mere shadow of the inward grief is its outward utterance! (Ibid.) Call the skilled in lamenting. The same feeling makes the rich now clothe their households in mourning, which made those of old hire mourners, that all might be in harmony with their grief. (Ibid.)

Amo 5:18. Woe to those who desire, etc. A similar spirit manifested itself in those who said in Jeremiahs days, The Temple of the Lord are these (Amo 7:4), and who prided themselves on their national religious principles, but did not obey the Lord of the temple, and were therefore condemned by the Prophet. A like temper was manifested after the Captivity. The Hebrew nation was eager for the Messiahs coming to the new built temple, but the prophets reminded them that his coming would be a day of fear and woe for the ungodly. Mal 3:2. (Wordsworth.)

Amo 5:19. As if a man fleeth before the lion, etc. The day of the Lord is a day of terror on every side. Before and behind, within and without, abroad under the roof of heaven or under the shelter of ones own, everywhere is terror and death. (Pusey.)

Amo 5:20. Is not the day, etc. An appeal to men themselves, Is it not so? Mens consciences are truer than their intellect. Intellect carries the question out of itself into the region of surmising and disputings. Conscience is compelled to receive it back into its own court and to give the sentence. Like the God of the heathen fable who changed himself into all sorts of forms, but when he was still held fast, gave at last the true answer, conscience shrinks back, twists, writhes, evades, turns away, but in the end will answer truly when it must. The prophet then turns round upon the conscience, and says, Tell me, for you know. (Ibid)

Amo 5:21-22. I hate, I despise, etc. Israel would fain be conscientious and scrupulous. What they offered was the best of its kind; whole burnt offerings, fatted beasts, full-toned chorus, instrumental music. What was wanting to secure the favor of God? Love and obedience. And so those things by which they hoped to propitiate God became the object of his displeasure. (Ibid.)

Amo 5:23. Take away the noise, etc. Here is a warning to all who think to please God by elaborate musical services in his house; while they do not take heed to worship Him with their hearts and to obey Him in their daily life. (Wordsw.)

Amo 5:24. Did ye offer unto me, etc. The ten tribes,) by approving and copying the false worship of their forefathers, made that sin their own. As the Church of God is at all times one and the same, so that great opposite camp, the city of the devil, has a continuous existence through all time. These idolaters were filling up the measure of their forefathers, and in the end of those who perished in the wilderness they might behold their own. As God rejected the divided service of their forefathers, so He would theirs. (Pusey.)Unto me. This is emphatic. If God is not served wholly and alone, He is not served at all. As Jerome says, He regardeth not the offering, but the will of the offerer. (Ibid.)

Amo 5:25. Which ye made for yourselves. This was the fundamental fault. Whereas God made them for Himself, they made for themselves gods out of their own mind. All idolatry is self-will, first choosing a god and then enslaved to it. (Ibid.)

Amo 5:27. To break the force of the prophecy contained in this verse, De Wette says, Although the kingdom of Israel had through Jeroboam recovered its old borders, yet careless insolence, luxury, unrighteousness must bring the destruction which the prophet foretells. He does but dimly forebode the superior power of Assyria. To which Pusey justly answers, that decay does not involve the transportation of a people, but rather the contrary. A mere luxurious people rots on its own soil and would be left to rot there. It was the little remnant of energy and warlike spirit in Israel that brought its ruin from man. In the faults referred to, they were no worse than their neighbors, nor so bad; not so bad as the Assyrians themselves, except that, God having revealed Himself to them, they had more light. God has annexed no such visible laws of punishment to a nations sins that man could of his own wisdom or observation of Gods ways foresee it. They through whom He willed to inflict it in this case, and whom Amos pointed out, were not provoked by the sins De Wette specifies. There was no connection between Israels present sins and Assyrias future vengeance. No eastern despot cares for the oppressions of his subjects so that his own tribute is collected. As far too as we know, neither Assyria nor any other power had hitherto punished rebellious nations by transporting them. Only He who controls the rebellious wills of men, and through their self-will works out his own all-wise will and mans punishment, could know the future of Israel and Assyria, and how through the pride of Assyria, He would bring down the pride of Samaria.]

Footnotes:

[1]Amo 5:1. is the word used to denote Davids dirge over Saul and Jonathan, 2Sa 1:17. It is here in apposition with .]

[2]Amo 5:2., E. V. forsaken is quite inadequate. Targum and Vulgate have cast down, but better is the literal meaning given abovestretched out, and therefore prostrate and helpless.

[3]Amo 5:3.The numerals define more closely the manner of the going forth, i. e, to war.

[4]Amo 5:4.The two imperatives, by a usage common in all languages, express command and result; e. g., Latin, divide et impera.

[5]Amo 5:5.There is in , a play upon words which cannot be expressed in English. A similar paronomasia is suggested in the last clause, cf. Hos 4:15. [Pusey offers, as illustrative parallels, Paris prira, or London is undone.].

[6]Amo 5:6. cannot be rendered as in E. V. and devour, as if Jehovah were the subject.

[7]Amo 5:8., the crowd, is the Seven Stars or Pleiades. , the fool, but according to the old interpreters, [whom Frst follows] the giant, is Orion. Both constellations are mentioned together in Job 9:9; Job 38:31. The connection between Amo 5:7-8 is, They are acting in this atrocious way, whereas Jehovah is the Almighty and can bring sudden destruction upon them.

[8]Amo 5:9., causes to break in. [Following an Arabic analogy, Keil and Wordsworth suppose an allusion to the swiftness of lightning, expressed in the version by flash. Pusey follows Aquila and Jerome, and renders maketh to smile. The E. V. followed a conjecture of Kimchi, and is clearly wrong, besides quite needlessly turning in both members from an abstract into a concrete noun.]

[9]Amo 5:10.. Not merely a judge acting officially, but any one who before a tribunal lifts up his voice against acts of injustice. Cf. Isa 29:21.

[10]Amo 5:11.. . ., a variant orthography for . Frst derives it from , i. q. , to be loathsome, h. bad. Hiph., to bring evil upon.

[11]Amo 5:12.. This and the following participle belong to the suffixes in the nouns preceding.

[12]Amo 5:16.To proclaim mourning to the husbandman=to call him to mourning.

[13]Amo 5:21. are the great yearly festivals. is of uncertain meaning, commonly explained, festive assemblies. Cf. Joe 1:14. [All agree that it denotes convocations in connection with religious observances, whether penitential or otherwise.] , lit. to smell, is an expression of satisfaction, in allusion to the odour of delight which ascended to God from the burning sacrifice. Cf. Lev 26:31; Gen 8:21; Eph 5:2.

[14]Amo 5:24.. The later critics give the primary meaning as constant, abiding, and hence when applied to streams, inexhaustible.

[15] Amo 5:26.The words here are difficult, since and are . . Perhaps they are proper names of idols, so that the adjoining words are in apposition, and we should renderSikkuth, your king, and Chiun, your image. So Luther, and of later critics, Frst. The name Sikkuth (in Syriac with another pointing , Chevan) has been explained to mean Saturn, who indeed in Arabic is called Kaiman, but it is not certain that this did not originate from the passage before us, and therefore it has no more worth than that of an exegetical conjecture (Keil.) The LXX., changing the word, make out of an idol (Act 7:43, ), the meaning of which is equally uncertain, since the name does not occur elsewhere in the LXX., or in the writings founded upon that version. Keil therefore conjectures an exchange of letters; instead of they read . Then the plural becomes difficult, for although Frst says that is, like ,, used here as a singular for an idol, that is a mere assertion Naturally then the appellative would belong to both the proper names. But that is not to be cordinated with the two preceding phrases, is plain from the omission, first of the which stands before each of those clauses, and then, of the by which they are closely bound together.

More probable then is the appellative view of Sikkuth and Chiun. The former from , hence a covering, a booth. So the LXX., . (But they improperly take as a proper name, .) Therefore, tent of your king, meaning doubtless a movable shrine in which the image of the god was kept; such as, according to Herod. ii. 63, and Diod. Sic. i. 97. were used by the Egyptians. Chiun is correspondingly explained as pedestal, from , and allied to and , therefore, the pedestal or framework of your images, that by which they were carried about. What follows is to be considered as in explanatory apposition, viz. the star of your god = the star who was your god. Undoubtedly even this explanation has great difficulties. [But still it is easier than the others which have been proposed, and is sustained by the sanction of Ribera, Junius, Gesenius, Hengstenberg, Keil, and Wordsworth.] In any case we must understand by the image of a star, for the carrying it about is inconsistent with its being an actual star,which ye have made refers either to this star-image or to your god.

[16]Amo 5:27. . From a distance in respect to Damascus=far beyond Damascus.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

We have here the same subject continued, and in which the Lord is taking up a lamentation for the land of Israel. The close of the Chapter brings forward an additional charge against them for hypocritical worship.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

We have here some sweet tokens that the Lord is coming forth in mercy as well as judgment. When the Lord laments over his people, this is a sign of grace. And I beg the Reader to remark with me, that like our Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem, the beloved city, it is the city, and not the people of the city, that is said, she is fallen, and shall no more rise. The temporal judgments of the Lord are always to be carefully distinguished from spiritual visitations. See the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem, and read it in this view, and both places will he found to correspond. And I beg, both upon these and every other portion of the divine word of a similar kind, to observe, that if these things were attended to, it would prevent those misconstructions of scripture which weak minds interpret, as though they intimated the counsel and purposes of God were changeable, and the Lord’s people might fail from grace and be cast away. Here the Prophet is pointing to the Babylonish captivity, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, which we know took places And the Lord Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, referred to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, which also followed by the Roman army. But in both instances, the Church of believers was still safe, and as the Apostle saith, God did not cast away his people which he foreknew. Rom 11:2 ; Luk 13:34-35 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Works of God

Amo 5:8

The text brings the works of God and the name of God into one focus, and makes use of both as an argument with man to raise himself from the low and unworthy pretences of religion to Him Who sits high above the magnificence of all material forms, yet deigns to listen to the whisper of a kneeling child.

I. Seek Him because He is Immutable. This is declared by ‘the seven stars and Orion,’ and by all the constellations among which the Pleiades are set. It is a wonderful thought that when we look up to the mighty heavens we see precisely what Adam and Eve saw when, through the openings among the trees of Eden, they looked on the same heavens. They beheld the Pleiades, that group of stars so beautifully likened to ‘a knot of fireflies tangled in a silver braid’. They beheld those shining orbs in which we detect the appearance of an armed warrior, and call Orion. Through all the changes of human history those celestial bodies have shone with like brilliancy, and moved with like pomp in the great spaces overhead. The continuance of those material forms may be for millenniums multiplied by millenniums, but eventually they will fade. Yet ‘Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end’. He was before them, and when they have vanished He will be, in all the grandeur of His being, what He is at the present moment

II. Seek Him because He is All-powerful. This also is declared by ‘the seven stars and Orion’. Many have looked on the Pleiades as but an insignificant group in the heavens; but that constellation has depths of glory which the unaided eye cannot reach. We count seven stars, but the telescope announces fourteen magnificent sun-like bodies clustered comparatively near to one of the seven. An astonishing universe; and yet we can stand beneath all that pomp of worlds; we can look on the constellations, which are but as the index of wonders far withdrawn into the depths of space, and we can say, ‘My Father made them all’.

III. Seek Him because of His Beneficent Activities. ‘ And turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waves of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.’ How beautiful is morning as it comes with golden sandals and rosy veil through the gates of the east! How beautiful is night! How soft and soothing the shadows with which it enwraps the earth! How beautiful the silent processes by which the rain is distilled on the thirsty ground! Think of the oceans those mighty reservoirs of the Most High. Think of the clouds drawn from them; now white as the snows which crown a mountain’s forehead; now gorgeous, as if woven of a thousand rainbows; now black as a funeral pall. Think of the rain, how it falls; not in a sudden and overpowering splash; not in a flood, tearing the leaves from the trees and the young shoots from the soil, but in a succession of gentle drops. Is not this gracious Being, Whose hand is in the pleasing changes of day and night, and in ‘rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness,’ One with Whom it is desirable to live in filial relationship? If we seek Him, He will turn the shadow of every trouble that may hang over us into the beautiful morning of His love; and when He makes the day of life dark with night, He will be so near us, and speak in such a strain of tender, helpful promise, that we shall not be afraid of the darkness; nor will He fail, while we stay below, to make our souls as a fruitful field with the genial, gentle rain of His Holy Spirit.

IV. Seek Him because of His name. ‘The Lord is His Name.’ It is not simply that He is as Jehovah, or the Self-Existent; for with the announcement of that awful name there is also the announcement of gracious qualities, which embolden us to call Him, not only Lord, but also our Father. Glance at some of those ideas which the ancient saints attached to the Divine name. Jehovah-jireh the Lord will provide. Jehovah-nissi Jehovah my banner. This was the name which Moses gave to the altar he built as a memorial of Israel’s victory over Amalek. What a banner! Jehovah-shalom the Lord is my peace. Jehovah-Tsidkenu the Lord our righteousness. This title is specially connected with the manifestation of God in Christ Jesus. What honour, what safety, in being able to appropriate this name as the confidence of our souls! ‘And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.’

References. V. 8. B. W. Jackson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxix. 1891, p. 125. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. liii. No. 3034. V. 18. E. C. S. Gibson, Messages from the Old Testament, p. 215. V. 24. J. Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlii. 1892, p. 388. V. 25, 26. T. G. Rooke, The Church in the Wilderness, p. 265.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Moral Discipline

Amo 5

“Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel” ( Amo 5:1 ).

This is a dirge. It is as if a man were present at his own burial, hearing the solemn words, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust;” the whole lot over, the whole tale run off, its very last syllable uttered, whispered, and all this poor little cloud-life behind; a dirge, a lamentation, a wail as of the heart. That may be beautiful, or it may be lacking in every line of beauty and every tone of music. There is nothing to regret about vanished life. Some men are longing to see the other side, the completing time, the perfect place, the city that hath foundations. They have had enough of it at present; they are wearied with its monotony; it is to-day and tomorrow and the third day all a repetition of yesterday; a coming and going of clouds, a rising and falling of prospects, promises, hopes, a stinging of disappointment, a gratification that becomes sour in the mouth: they want to see the other side.

But this is a dirge over a fallen house, the more fallen that it is spoken of in the feminine gender: “The virgin of Israel,” beauty withered, promise come to nothing but fruits of darkness, and all the favour, all the grace of God lost in an ineffable disappointment of the divine heart. Then the dirge is not beautiful; its plaintiveness is like the sigh of a great sorrow that cannot rise to the relief of words. How is it to be with our life? We too live, we also must die; what shall be said of us? Shall it be a broken column that is put on our last resting-place? Not necessarily and poetically indicating youth, but meaning that the life was broken, its noblest purposes thwarted, all that looked loveliest about it in childhood lost. How fair the morning was in some cases, how tender the dawning light! Parental eyes looked upon it, and filled with tears as they saw all the beauty come and go; and then the clouds gathered, and the noonday was premature night. Every man must answer the question himself. It lies in the power of every man to insult and dishonour God; it lies in the power of every man to increase the song that swells the fame of Jesus.

Now the Lord will be gracious. He adopts a word, and repeats it a word full of evangelical importunity, and also full of the spirit of evangelical monition and warning. How did Amos come by this word “Seek”? It is Isaiah’s word; it suited his mouth well; his were evangelical lips, they were full of the gospel of reconciliation and peace and offered pardon. Here comes a rough blunt speaker, a cowherd rather than a shepherd. Some have tried to make Amos a shepherd which indeed he was in some partial degree, but he was in reality and fully a cowherd. Yet he takes up Isaiah’s word, and represents the Lord as saying, “Seek ye me, and ye shall live; … seek not Beth-el…. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live.” Isaiah said, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.” The blessed Saviour said, “Seek and ye shall find.” He represented himself as a seeker; he said, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Does this word seeking indicate something that is perfunctory, easily done; that may be accomplished in some offhand or careless way? The word itself is full of burning energy. “What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?” She seeks for the piece that was lost, not leisurely, easily, occasionally, now and again as the mood may change, but she makes it the one business of the moment; she has time for nothing else, she is sensible of incompleteness and loss and indignity, and she must find the piece, though it be but the tenth, that was lost. We have to seek wisdom as men seek for silver and for hidden treasure, for gold far down in the earth. That is the true seeking. Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able, because they may not seek in the right spirit, or they may seek at an hour too late; the seeking is lost, either for want of energy, or because the Lord hath arisen and hath shut to the door. How have we sought the Lord? Intellectually, speculatively, metaphysically? Have we asked many questions concerning him to which intellectual answers might be given? or have we gone to his door and said, Never more do we leave this door until it be opened from the inside? Then we did not wait too long. On the door is written, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you,” and on the pathway that leads up to the door is written, “Seek, and ye shall find.”

Observe the element ox energy that alone distinguishes this word. It is the energy that has been wanting in our quest. We have not been wholly irreligious, we resent the suspicion or suggestion of being irreligious that never occurred to our mind; we were only too willing to acknowledge the existence of God, if by intellectual assent we could escape moral responsibility. No man can have much objection to a metaphysical deity; it is when God comes down to search the heart and hold inquest in the life, it is when he tries the reins of the conscience, that we hate him. How have we sought the Lord? With one hand have we knocked at his door when we ought to have thundered upon it with both, like men who have made up their minds not to be refused. How long have we tarried at his altar? Have we said our prayer, or prayed it? That is the difference. Have we mumbled words, or have they gone out of us, carrying with them virtue, energy, passion, vehement yet loyal determination? The Lord will not be found by those who seek him otherwise than with their whole heart He does not stand for cross-examination by the intellect; he is not to be victimised by clever interrogators; he does not offer himself to be analysed or criticised by the mere intellectual faculty; he will halt nowhere but at the door of the broken heart; he will answer no question that is not marked by the modesty and trembling of the contrite spirit. In all this sanctuary life, study, service, spirit goes for everything. Not the much speaking, but the great speaking, brings God to our aid.

There is a seeking that is condemned in this very connection. To the indication of that seeking these remarks have led us:

“Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion” ( Amo 5:7-8 ).

This is a vice and this the iniquity of to-day. The people were not atheists, but they turned God into a deity. It is that word “deity” that shocks him; it is too fine, too remote from the heart’s need; one of those dainty words that men cannot use when they are in earnest Israel did not regard the universe as self-made, but Israel was content to worship nature. Israel said, Show me the Pleiades, the seven stars, the angel lights of spring; how lovely, oh, how diamond-like; how beauteous in their white loveliness! Yea, Israel said, I will look upon belted Orion, star of the winter solstice. How grand, how noble! I could worship that rough austere Orion.

Degenerate Israel has many successors. There be those who want to hug the house and neglect the Builder; and the Builder will not have it so. This is a condemnation of nature-worship. If men might be pardoned in any idolatry, surely it would be in the idolatry of the stars. The poets have taken the Pleiades under their patronage. Children early ask, when they begin to read the open heavens, Where are the Pleiades? Which is the Milky Way? Show us the evening or the morning star. There is a kind of religiousness about that. So to-day men have left the Church to go and worship the open primrose, the flowing stream, the trilling, singing bird; and they have gone into raving over the noonday sun; as for night, they have made her blush by their praises. The Lord will not have these compliments. He says, introductorily, All these little eulogiums come out of a rotten heart; ye who have turned judgment to wormwood, and left off righteousness in the earth, ye have become mere star-worshippers. What easier, what cheaper, what less disciplinary? Having killed judgment, and stabbed righteousness, let us go out and look at the Pleiades, and wonder at the majesty of Orion. Even nature cannot be worshipped by the iniquitous spirit. Where the moral self is dead the worshipping self is dead also. Even though that worship be offered to a stone, the stone coldly rejects the adoration. For the stones are God’s; all the pebbles belong to him, all the tiny shells on the seashore, that try in their impotent way to mimic the roar of the ocean, are all in God’s bottle, they belong to the One Proprietor. Yet how noble it looks, and specially how intellectual, how consistent with dandyism and worldliness, selfishness, and all manner of littleness it is to be fond of the Pleiades. All this, observe, has been anticipated, discounted, set down at its value in the inventory which God takes of all the universe. We are tempted to leave men who preach to us and pray for us, that we may go out and look at nature. We then go from the greater to the less. There is no little child that babbles its first half-music of words that is not greater than the biggest Orion that ever flamed in the heavens; there is no man, be he deaf, dumb, blind, poor, almost neglected by death, as if it could not condescend to his sepulture, that is not of more worth than all the worlds that glitter in the crown of night. This is the view which Jesus Christ takes of human nature. Surely the man is not a great man, a great speaker, a mighty suppliant; surely there are men who are greater than he is in intellectual capacity and in various quality of mind and soul; and yet somehow by a call not earthly he has to say to the world what nobody else can say; he is the minister of the Cross. We contemn his speech, we criticise his manner, and we say, Come, let us climb the mountain, and blow kisses to the Pleiades, and say, O sweet stars, we hail you, and let us leave this word-beggar (as they called the Apostle Paul in Athens) to rave about Jesus and the resurrection. But the preacher will outlive them all. The preacher cannot be killed. So long as he is faithful to the Cross, so long as he yields himself not to his own invention, but to God’s inspiration, he abides evermore, and will be most a man when most needed.

It will be profitable still further to dwell upon the cause of this worship of nature.

“Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth” ( Amo 5:7 ).

This is the reason why men leave the Church. It is not the reason upon the surface; it is never pleaded as the reason. A man has perverted righteousness, and then he leaves the sanctuary that he may escape upbraiding. When you find a man so intellectual that he cannot sing the old hymns and listen to the old discourses, know that that man has somewhere broken down morally. Not in any vulgar sense of crime; he may be outwardly as respectable as ever, he may himself be hardly conscious of the break-down; but he has gone down in moral quality at some point. A man who loves judgment and upholds righteousness cannot dine upon the Pleiades, or fill his soul when Orion; he must have moral satisfaction, spiritual impulse and inspiration; he must put aside every intervening star that he may get at the central sorrow of the universe, the Cross of the ever-slain Lamb. Were we not supported by history we should accuse ourselves of severity in this judgment. But we are supported by experience. We know human nature. Throughout this chapter the Lord insists upon moral discipline. If any one had an interest in the worship of the Pleiades it would be the Maker of them; he set those seven stars in their places, and it might delight him that any one of his creatures lifted up wondering eyes from the earth, and fixed them upon the glowing cluster, and said, How lovely! But the Lord let us renew the affirmation will not have it so. What will he have? “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live…. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate.” The Lord will have righteousness, judgment, equity, good conduct. When he sees men treading down the poor for verse eleven represents a continuous action: “Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat” he says, I will not hear you. No worshipper must walk over dead bodies that he may say his prayers at some altar; no man must come to sing a psalm with mechanical exactness while he has left a man outside whose wounds he might have healed. But is it not enough that we say, O Pleiades, how lovely! O stars of the Milky Way, how bright and gleaming? The Lord says, Whilst your heads are lifted up to the stars your feet are set upon the necks of the poor, and I will not have you in my sanctuary. The Lord will not allow us to take holy sacrament until we have been away to see the man whom we have wronged; when our hands are put out towards the symbolic flesh, he says, Touch it not; go out and do that which is right, then come back and eat this bread from heaven. When Israel leaves the trespass offering, and the sin offering, and the very spirit of sacrifice, and begins to rave about the beauties of rainbow and star and dawning morning, the Lord says, Go out and do that which is right, then come back, for otherwise you insult the heavens that you attempt to praise. The wonder is that all men do not instantly yield themselves to the spirits of the Bible, because it insists upon judgment and righteousness, equity, fairness, generosity, purity, nobleness.

In the midst of all this entreaty and expostulation there occurs an admonition significant in all times: “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord!” What is the meaning of such a woe? The meaning is that the people supposed the day of the Lord would avenge them. Their notion was that the day of the Lord would be a dark outlook for their enemies; they were going up and down the land, saying, When the day of the Lord comes, then we shall get our rights, then we shall be vindicated; when the day of the Lord comes, then our respectability will be established, and we shall be promoted to high places in the universe. The prophet says, Do not tempt the day of the Lord: it will be an awful day for everybody a day of searching, of penetrating inquest; it will leave nothing unturned or unexamined. Do not suppose that the day of the Lord will all be in your favour; whilst you are criticising other people, the Lord himself is criticising you, and every arrow he sends falls into your heart, and will rankle there until his own hand shall extract it. Yet there are people who suppose that all the arrangements of providence have been made more or less in their favour and in favour of their family; they regard the day of judgment as the day on which all their ancestry will be brought up to their proper places, and all their respectability will be not only vindicated, but enlarged and glorified, and then people will see what wonderful excellence has been despised. Amos says, Let me hear no such partial criticism. Amos does not speak his own word, but the word of the Lord; he says, Many shall be last who are first, and many shall be first who are last, and the adjustment and classification must be left in God’s hands. Wondrous Book! Holy Bible! When the poor man has no counsel it stands up and says, I will be his advocate. When the dumb man cannot speak for himself, the angel of the book comes forth and says, I will open my lips for the dumb. When oppressed men stoop because their lives are crushed out of them, the Lord takes up their defence, and he sends a fire upon the palaces of the wicked.

Now the Lord by the mouth of his prophet resorts once more to parables in the form of questions: “Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?” This is an appeal to conscience. The Lord never allows judgment to go until conscience has spoken. What will the day of the Lord be to you? What have you done in advance with regard to the day of the Lord? How have you prepared yourselves for it? What has been all your previous life? When you awaken on the morning of inquest, how will you stand before the universe? But Israel had not neglected the outer services; Israel had preserved a certain religious semblance. The Lord knew that, and remarked upon it in words that are blunt, definite, unmistakable in their moral severity: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs”: literally, Take them from me. The figure is that of burdening the Lord, laying all the sacrifices upon him again and again, and he says, Take them off, unburden me. The Lord will carry no weight; but in his heart you may hide all your sin and all your grief. He will not have anything superimposed upon him, but if you approach him contritely, penitently, lovingly, he will take all your sorrow, and carry all your sicknesses, “Casting all your care upon him: for he careth for you.” A mechanical piety loads and distresses God; a spiritual worship satisfies the soul of Christ. What wilt thou have, then, thou Judge of all the earth? what shall it be? Thou wilt not have our worship of the Pleiades and of Orion; thou wilt not have our offerings and our sacrifices wherewith we load thee. What wilt thou? The answer is here: “Let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Then the Lord will come near. He will have nothing to do with our wrongdoing, our upbuilding of iniquity, our vindication of oppression. Our vindication may be eloquent; it may excite the applause of listening senates, people all over the world may cheer it with acclamation; but the Lord will not have anything that has wrong at the heart of it. Take out that worm, heal that interior iniquity: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” An evangelical word, charged with all the mystery of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; charged with the eternal mystery of salvation by the blood of Christ. If you ask the question, What is it to be born again? you will have the answer. God can answer in many ways and in many tones. He can fill the very air with replies to the inquiries of the heart.

Prayer

Almighty God, thou art every day showing us thy goodness; therefore thou wilt one day show us what we may be able to bear of thy glory. Goodness and mercy have accompanied us all the days of our life; we cannot remember one day of orphanage, forsakenness, and cloud without a break. Every morning thou dost give us a new song; every eventide thou dost rewrite the covenant of thy faithfulness. Thy mercies bedew all the hours. How good is the Lord, yea, how great in love and great in pity; how thou dost stoop over the children of men, how thou dost gather the lambs in thy bosom. Thou art Father, Shepherd, Redeemer; thou art the Physician of the sick, and thou findest balm for those who are in utterest despair. Thou dost not withhold thy Son, and he is the pledge of all other gifts; in the Cross all gifts are little, yea, heaven itself is nothing after Calvary; because thou hast freely given thy Son to us, thou wilt also with him give immortality and heaven and all glory. But herein is love; this is the noonday of thy pity and mercy, thy compassion and love; we see it all on Calvary. He was wounded, was our Saviour, for our transgressions; he was bruised, was this Son of man, for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon our Kinsman, and by his stripes we are healed. We know not the mystery of all this love and righteousness, this law and mercy; it is enough that thou dost know, living, loving, eternal Father. Thou hast sent a voice of judgment amongst the children of men; thou hast never been complacent with unrighteousness, injustice, cruelty, wrong, darkness, oppression; thou hast thundered against them in great blasts and tempests from Zion; the Lord hath roared through the ages, and his voice has ever been against the children of wickedness. And thou dost smile upon those who endeavour to serve thee, who put their hands in thine, and say, with childlike tenderness and perfectness of trust, Lord, lead me: I am little, I am ignorant, I am blind, lead me day by day, and tell me when to open my eyes, for when thou dost say, Open thine eyes, behold we shall see God and heaven. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

VI

THE BOOK OF AMOS PART 2

Amo 3:1-9:15

Helps commended: (1) “Bible Commentary,” (2) “Pulpit Commentary,” (3) Pusey’s Minor Prophets, (4) “Benson’s Commentary.”

The section, Amo 3:1-6:14 , consists of three parts, or three distinct addresses, each commencing with the words, “Hear this word.”

The first address consists, in particular, of the verdict and sentence of Jehovah against all Israel, and is divided as follows: (1) a principle stated (Amo 3:1-8 ); (2) a reason assigned (Amo 3:9-12 ); (3) a sentence announced (Amo 3:13-15 ).

The principle stated in Amo 3:1-8 is that an effect proves a cause. This principle is enforced by seven illustrative questions, viz: (1) communion proves agreement; (2) the lion’s roar proves the prey; (3) the cry of the young lion proves the prey possessed; (4) the fall of the bird proves the bait; (5) the springing of the snare proves the bird to be taken; (6) the sounding of the trumpet proves the alarm; (7) calamity in the city proves Jehovah. The application of all this is made by the prophet) bringing in his text, as follows: “The lion [Jehovah] hath roared; therefore I fear. The Lord hath spoken, therefore I prophesy.”

In Amo 3:9-12 we hear the prophet giving a special invitation to the Philistines and Egyptians, Israel’s inveterate enemies, to assemble in Samaria to witness the great wickedness and destruction of Israel because they did not do right, storing up violence and robbery in their palaces, and whose tumults and oppressions abounded toward the people. The judgment to follow was to be like the work of the lion devouring his prey.

The sentence announced (Amo 3:13-15 ) is the complete destruction of Israel, and the thoroughness of its execution is indicated by the sentence of destruction against its objects and places of worship and the smiting of the habitations of the rulers, showing the complete desolation of their city, Samaria.

The second address consists, in particular, of an indictment and a summons of Jehovah, and its parts are as follows: (1) the king of Bashan threatened (Amo 4:1-3 ); (2) a sarcastic command (Amo 4:4-5 ) ; (3) a list of providences (Amo 4:6-11 ); (4) a summons to an account (Amo 4:12-13 ).

In Amo 4:1-3 we have Jehovah’s threat against the carousing and oppressive women. Bashan was famous for its flocks and herds. The proud and luxurious matrons of Israel are here described as like the cattle of Bashan, because the cattle of the pastures of Bashan were uncommonly large, wanton, and headstrong by reason of their full feeding. These women because of their luxuries were oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. How perverted their natures must have been from the true instincts of womanhood! But such is the effect of luxury without grace. How depraved and animal-like to say, “Bring and let us drink,” but such are the marks of a well-developed animal nature. No wonder that just here we should hear Jehovah’s oath and threat announced: “they shall take you away with hooks,” indicating their humiliation in contrast with their present luxury and pride. How true the proverb: “Pride goeth before a fall.”

In Amo 4:4-5 we have a sample of the prophet’s sarcasm, commanding the people to multiply their offerings in their transgression at Gilgal and Bethel, the two most prominent places of worship in Israel. At these places they worshiped the calf after the pattern of Jeroboam 1.

In Amo 4:6-11 there are mentioned five distinct providences of the Lord as follows: (2) a scarcity of food, or a famine, per- haps the famine of 2Ki 8:1 ; (2) a severe drought; (3) a blasting with mildew; (4) a pestilence; (5) a destruction of cities. The express purpose of all these was to turn the people unto Jehovah. This is an everlasting refutation of the contention that God’s providences do not come into the realm of the temporal. He sent the famine, he sent the drought, he sent the blasting and mildew, he sent the pestilence, and he overthrew the cities, and why not believe that he “is the same yesterday and today, yea and for ever” (Heb 13:8 )? A great text is found in Amo 4:11 , and also in Amo 4:12 .

In Amo 4:12-13 we have the summons to get ready to meet a powerful and angry God. He had exhausted his mercy and chastisements to bring them back but all these things had failed, after which he calls them to meet him in judgment. So we may say that God is now in Christ exhausting his mercy and visiting the world with chastisements and when all has failed, he says to the one who has rejected his mercy and treated lightly his visitation, “Prepare to meet thy God,” and it is appropriate to say that we may prepare to meet God in Christ, or we must meet him in judgment out of Christ, and out of Christ, “God is a consuming fire.”

The third address consists of repeated announcements of judgments, with appeals to turn and do good, and its parts are as follows: (1) a lamentation, an exhortation, and a hope for the remnant (Amo 5:1-15 ) ; (2) another lamentation, a woe, a disgust, and a judgment (Amo 5:16-27 ); (3) another woe, an abhorrence, and a certain judgment (Amo 8:1-14 ).

In Amo 5:1-15 we have a lamentation, an exhortation, and a hope expressed. The lamentation is that of the prophet himself, over the condition of Israel and the judgment already decreed. The exhortation is to repentance and to seek the true God. The hope is, that through repentance, a remnant of Israel may be saved. In Amo 5:16-27 we have another lamentation, a woe, a disgust, and a judgment. The lamentation in this instance is that of the people when Jehovah comes in judgment upon the land; the woe is pronounced upon the hypocrite who wishes for the day of Jehovah, for it will be to him an awful day; the disgust here is that of Jehovah at their feasts, offerings, and music, because of their sins, and the judgment denounced is their captivity, beyond Damascus, or their captivity by the Assyrians. In Amo 6:1-14 we have another woe, an abhorrence and a certain judgment. The woe in this passage is to the rich, luxurious oppressors who feel secure; the abhorrence is that of Jehovah for the excellency, or pride, of Jacob. As a result of it all there is denounced against Israel again her certain doom and the extent of it particularly noted.

Amo 7:1-9:10 consists of revelations for all Israel, conveyed by means of visions. The several parts of this section are as follows: (1) the locusts, (2) the fire, (3) the plumb line, (4) the basket of fruit, (5) Jehovah himself. In Amo 7:1-3 we have the prophet’s vision of the locusts which are represented as eating the grass of the land, the latter growth after the king’s mowing. This signified a threatened judgment, which is the threatened invasion of Pul (Tiglathpileser II) (2Ki 15:1-17 ff.), but it was restrained by the intercession of the prophet, at which Jehovah repented and judgment was arrested.

In Amo 7:4-6 we have the prophet’s vision of fire which is represented as devouring the deep and was making for the land. This signified a threatened judgment more severe than the other, which is the second invasion of Tiglath-pileser II, who conquered Gilead and the northern part of the kingdom and carried some of the people captive to Assyria (2Ki 15:29 ). This, too, was restrained by the intercession of the prophet, at which God repented and arrested the judgment.

In Amo 7:7-9 we have the prophet’s vision of the plumb line in the hand of Jehovah by which he signified that justice was to be meted out to Israel and that judgment was determined. So the prophet holds his peace and makes no more intercession. This judgment was irremediable and typified the final conquest by Shalmaneser.

Just after the vision of the plumb line there follows the incident of the interference of Amaziah, the priest of Bethel. This Amaziah was an imposter, and yet held the position of priest. He reported to Jeroboam what Amos was saying, advising his exile. He, moreover, attempted to appeal to the fear of Amos, and advised him to flee to Judah. The answer of Amos was full of dignity, born of the consciousness of the divine authority of his mission. He declared that he was no prophet, but that Jehovah had taken him and spoken to him; thus he had become a prophet in very deed. Then he prophesied against Amaziah declaring that God’s judgment would overtake him and Israel.

In Amo 8:1-14 we have the vision of a basket of ripe, summer fruit which indicates that the people were ripe for judgment and that judgment was imminent. Jehovah declared that the end had come; that he would not pass by them any more. This announcement was followed, on the part of the prophet, by an impassioned address to the money-makers, in which he declared the effect of their lust for gain, viz: they swallowed the needy and caused the poor to fail. He described the intensity of that lust, thus: the new moon and sabbath were irksome. Then follows a figurative description of judgment, which declared Jehovah’s perpetual consciousness of these things and his consequent retribution. The final issue of judgment the prophet declared to be a famine of the words of the Lord, as a result of which there would come eager and fruitless search, followed by the fainting of youth because of their thirst for a knowledge of God. All this finds fulfilment in the events which followed in the history of Israel. They were deprived of prophets and revelations after Amos and Hosea, and the captivity came according to this prophecy, during which they had no prophets in the strange land of their captivity. This is a foreshadowing of Israel’s condition today. She rejected the Messiah and for these two thousand years she has been without a prophet, priest or Urim and Thummim, no revelation from God to cheer their dark and gloomy hearts.

In Amo 9:1-10 we have the vision of God himself standing beside the altar which symbolizes judgment executed, though there was no symbol, or sign. We hear the manifesto of Jehovah himself. It is one of the most awe-inspiring visions of the whole Bible. The message proceeded in two phases: First, an announcement of judgment irrevocable and irresistible; secondly, a declaration of the procedure so reasonable and discriminative. Jehovah is seen standing by the altar, declaring the stroke of destruction to be inevitable, and all attempts at escape futile, because he has proceeded to action. While the judgment is to be reasonable and discriminative, the claims in which Israel had trusted were nothing. They became as the children of the Ethiopians. The Philistines and the Syrians had also been led by God. The eyes of Jehovah were on the sinful kingdom and the sifting process must go forward but no grain of wheat should perish.

In Amo 9:11-15 , we have a most consoling conclusion of this prophecy in sundry evangelical promises, after so many very severe and sharp menaces.

The phrase, “In that day,” refers to the time after the events previously mentioned had been fulfilled and extends into the messianic age. See Act 15:16 . But what does the prophet mean by raising up the tabernacle of David? The promise, doubtless, at least in the first place, was intended of the return of the Jews from the land of their captivity, their resettlement in Judea, rebuilding Jerusalem, and attaining to the height of power and glory which they enjoyed under the Maccabees. This restoration was an event so extraordinary, and the hope of it so necessary to be maintained in the minds of the Jewish people, in order to their support under the calamity of their seventy years of captivity, that God was pleased to foretell it by the mouth of all his prophets. This prophecy however must be extended to the days of the Messiah, and to the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God, according to Act 15:16 . They did not possess the remnant of Edom until after their restoration in the days of Hyrcanus, when they made an entire conquest of Edom, but the statement which follows, viz: “and all the nations that are called by my name,” goes farther into the future and, at least, intimates the salvation of the Gentiles.

In Amo 9:13 we have the promise of the blessings of grace to come in the messianic age in which the reaping shall be so great that the reapers cannot get out of the way of the sowers. This we see fulfilled now sometimes in a small way but these times of harvest are but the firstfruits of the harvest which is to follow, especially, the harvest that is to follow in the millennium. The promise of Amo 9:14-15 will find its complete fulfilment at the return of the Jews to their own land and their conversion which will usher in the millennium and extend the glorious kingdom of our Lord.

QUESTIONS

1. Of what in general, does the section, Amo 3:1-6:14 consist and how does each part commence?

2. Of what, in particular, does the first address consist and what its parts?

3. What is the principle stated in Amo 3:13 , how illustrated and what the application?

4. In Amo 3:9-12 who were invited to witness Israel’s doom, what the reason assigned and what was to be the character of the judgment to come upon Israel?

5. What the sentence announced in Amo 3:13-15 , and how is the thoroughness of its execution indicated?

6. Of what, in particular, does the second address consist and what its parts?

7. What the force and application of “ye kine of Bashan” and what the threat against them?

8. What of the sarcastic command of Amo 4:4-5 ?

9. What the items of providence cited and what their purpose as expressed by the prophet in Amo 4:6-11 ?

10. What the summons of Amo 4:12-13 , and what application may be made of such texts in preaching?

11. Of what, in particular, does the third address consist, and what its

12. What the lamentation, what the exhortation and what the hope, of Amo 5:1-15 ?

13. What the lamentation, what the woe, what the disgust, and what. The judgment of Amo 5:16-27 ?

14. What the woe, what the abhorrence and what the certain judgment of Amo 6:1-14 ?

15. Of what, in general, does the section, Amo 7:1-9:10 , consist, and what are its several parts?

16. What is the vision of locusts and what its interpretation?

17. What the vision of fire and what its interpretation?

18. What the vision of the plumb line and what its interpretation?

19. What historical incident follows the vision of the plumb line and what the several points of the story in detail?

20. What the vision of the basket of fruit, what its interpretation and what the prophet’s explanation following?

21. What the vision of God himself and what its interpretation?

22. What, in general, the prophecy of Amo 9:11-15 ?

23. What the meaning of the phrase, “In that day”?

24. What does the prophet mean by raising up the tabernacle of David?

25. When did they possess the remnant of Edom?

26. What the meaning of Amo 9:13 ?

27. What the fulfilment of Amo 9:14-15 ?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Amo 5:1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel.

Ver. 1. Hear ye this word ] A new sermon, as appeareth by this new O yes; not unlike that of St Paul, Act 13:16 , “Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience”: or rather, that of Diogenes, who cried out at Athens, A , Hear, O ye men. And when as (thereupon) a great sort of people resorted to him, expecting some great matter, he looked about him, and said, , , I called men, and not slaves. They were no better surely that our prophet had to deal with; “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,” Isa 1:4 , children that were corrupters; they had forsaken the Lord, provoked the Holy One of Israel, they had increased revolt. Hence this onerosa prophetia, this word, this weighty word, this burdensome prophecy.

Which I take up against you ] Heb. lift up, being scarce able to stand under the burden of it, , from this , onus. burden. See Trapp on “ Mal 1:1 “ And it is against you, not for you; but that is your own fault; for “do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” Mic 2:7 . Excellently Austin, Adversarius est nobis quandiu sumus et ipsi nobis. The word of God is adversary to none but such as are adversaries to themselves; neither doth it condemn any but those that shall be assuredly condemned by the Lord except they repent. But we have in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, saith the apostle, 2Co 10:6 , and if any man will hurt God’s faithful witnesses, for discharging their duties, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed, Rev 11:5 , for Elisha had his sword as well as Jehu and Hazael, 1Ki 19:17 . And when Elisha unsheatheth and brandisheth his sword, it is a fair warning that the sword of Jehu and Hazael are at hand, See Hos 6:5 Jer 1:18 .

Even a lamentation ] Heb. a very bitter lamentation, Eze 19:14 , like those of Jeremiah for Judah, or of the mourners in Jerusalem, Eze 9:4 , or of Christ weeping over that city, Luk 19:41-42 . Or of Paul bewailing his wretched countrymen, Rom 9:3 ; Rom 10:1 : or of the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth, Rev 11:3 , the habit of mourners: or of Athanasius, who by his tears (as by the bleeding of a chaste vine) sought to cure the leprosy, and prevent the misery of that tainted age. Heu, heu, Domine Deus, Alas alas, Oh God, God, was the cry of the ancient Christians. Flete nefas magnum, nam toto flebitis orbe (Cardan.). Their books are like that in Ezekiel, written on both sides, and there was written therein, “lamentations, and mourning, and woe,” Eze 2:10 . This of Amos was a sad song, a doleful ditty, a lamentable prophecy of Israel’s utter destruction, as it followeth in the second verse, where (prophet-like) he speaketh of it as already done, notwithstanding their present prosperity and tranquillity. And have not England’s turtledoves groaned out for a great while the sad and lamentable tunes of woe and misery to this sinful nation; and plainly foretold what we have felt already, and have yet cause enough to fear. Ah! great be the plagues that hang over England (said Mr Philpot, martyr, long since). Happy shall that person be whom the Lord shall take out of this world, not to see them, &c. And the like said Rogers, our proto-martyr, Bradford, Ridley, Lever, &c., besides the concurrent predictions of God’s faithful servants lately, whose hearts and tongues he hath so guided, as that they all, as one man, have denounced heavy judgments, and taken up loud lamentations against us. Now, as before great storms cocks crow loud and thick: so is it here; and so it should be, Exo 32:31-32 Jer 18:20 Joe 2:17 ; else God will be displeased, Eze 13:5 ; Eze 22:30-31 .

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

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Amo 5:1-3

1Hear this word which I take up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel:

2She has fallen, she will not rise again

The virgin Israel.

She lies neglected on her land;

There is none to raise her up.

3For thus says the Lord GOD,

The city which goes forth a thousand strong

Will have a hundred left,

And the one which goes forth a hundred strong

Will have ten left to the house of Israel.

Amo 5:1 Hear See note at Amo 3:1.

dirge This is a specialized poetic structure that is found in Amo 5:2-6 and Amo 5:16-17. This Hebrew word dirge (BDB 884) refers to a particular poetic beat pattern of 3-2, 3-2 (e.g., 2Sa 1:19-27; 2Sa 3:33-34). It is used quite extensively in the book of Lamentations. This form characterized funeral songs or chants (cf. Amo 5:16-20). These songs were an expected part of the funeral service.

O house of Israel The term house (BDB 108) is used in the sense of family or descendants (cf. Amo 1:4-5; Amo 7:9). The phrase house of Israel is used several times by Amos (cf. Amo 5:1; Amo 5:3-4; Amo 5:25; Amo 6:1; Amo 6:14; Amo 7:10; Amo 7:16; Amo 9:9) to refer to the Northern Ten Tribes that split off from Judah in 922 B.C. in the reign of Rehoboam. These tribes took for themselves the name of the father of the Hebrew tribes Israel (Jacob).

Twice in Amos the phrase house of Jacob is used (cf. Amo 3:13; Amo 9:8). It if often difficult to know if Amos is referring only to the northern tribes or if he is addressing all the descendants of Jacob/Israel.

Amo 5:2 she has fallen This (BDB 656, KB 709, Qal PERFECT) is a prophetic PERFECT that describes something that will happen in the future as if it has already occurred. The term was used of death in battle (e.g., Jer 9:22; Jer 46:12; Lam 2:21; Hos 7:7).

she will not rise again There are two VERBS: (1) no more (BDB 414, KB 418 is a Hiphil IMPERFECT) and (2) to rise (BDB 877, KB 1086, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT). YHWH’s judgment on Israel’s eclectic religion is total, complete, once-and-for-all judgment (cf. Amo 7:9).

However, this very same VERB is used in Amo 9:11(twice) to promise a restoration of the royal house of Judah (i.e., the fallen booth of David). So again, the theological issue is:

1. God’s message presented in contrasting black and white truths (dialectic paradoxes)

2. chapter 9 refers only to Judah, not Israel.

the virgin Israel This term is parallel with house of Israel. God took special care and provided protection for them, like an unmarried daughter or bride to be (cf. Jer 18:13; Jer 31:4; Jer 31:21). This reflects the marriage metaphor of God as husband and His covenant people as wife (e.g., Isa 54:5; Hos 2:19; Eph 5:22-33). The later rabbis saw the wilderness wandering period as the honeymoon (cf. Jer 2:2-3; Hos 2:16). But now the context is of the rape and death of Israel by the Assyrian invasion. For more information on th is idiom, see Jer 46:11 online at www.freebiblecommentary.org .

She lies neglected on her land The VERB (BDB 643, KB 695) means forsaken, abandoned to plunder. The land of promise is now the place of judgment.

There is a very interesting article in NIDOTTE, vol. 1, pp. 522-524, on the theological aspect of the land as YHWH’s gift to the descendants of Abraham (cf. Gen 12:3). Many of the Mosaic statutes are based on this concept. This is the reason why cheating fellow covenant brothers out of their family/tribal inheritance was so offensive to God. God’s concern for the land can be seen in the Sabbath Year and Jubilee Year regulations. These wealthy land grabbers had totally ignored or willfully rejected the theological basis of YHWH’s ownership and division of the Promised Land.

There is none to raise her up This is the same VERB (BDB 877, KB 1086) used earlier in the verse. Here it is a Hiphil PARTICIPLE. It seems to be a sarcastic allusion to the inability of the Canaanite gods (whom Israel worshiped) to rescue her from YHWH’s judgment (cf. Amo 5:6). The powerlessness, the non-existence of Canaanite deities is ridiculed!

Amo 5:3 This was one of the covenant curses (the terms thousands [BDB 48] and hundreds [BDB 547] were military units, cf. Deu 28:62). The emphasis in this verse is not on a remnant returning (cf. Isa 6:13), but on the extreme military devastation that will occur. National Israel will permanently cease to exist. See Special Topic: Thousand (eleph) .

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

take up = lift up as a burden.

lamentation = dirge.

house of Israel. See note on Amo 8:1.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 5

Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation ( Amo 5:1 ),

Weeping over the house of Israel now.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up ( Amo 5:2 ).

Now some people use this verse and interpret it as though God has now cast off Israel forever and that there is to be no restoration by God of divine favor in the last days. This is to deny the whole body of scripture. This is speaking of Israel at that time to be cut off. They were going into captivity to Syria; they were to be dispersed throughout the world. But yet, all of the prophets, and even Amos here in the last chapter, speaks about God’s dealing and working with His people in His restoring of His love and favor in the last days. There was none to raise her up, she could not raise up herself, others would not raise her, but the Bible tells us that in the last days God is going to raise her once again to a position of glory and honor, as He takes her once more as a bride that has been disobedient, but yet now returned to her husband.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred ( Amo 5:3 ),

They will be decimated.

a hundred will leave ten of the house of Israel ( Amo 5:3 ).

So the great decimation that would take place, and did take place in Israel.

For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live ( Amo 5:4 ):

Even still God is holding out an offer of help, an offer of hope to them, “If you’ll just seek Me it can be changed. You don’t have to go into judgment, you don’t have to go into captivity. If you’ll just seek Me things will be different.” But yet they would not seek Him. But God is saying,

Don’t seek Bethel ( Amo 5:5 ),

Don’t seek the calf and the pagan worship in Bethel.

nor in Gilgal, pass not over to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel will come to nothing. Seek the LORD ( Amo 5:5-6 ),

Again it is repeated.

and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel ( Amo 5:6 ).

The house of Joseph referring to Ephraim who was the biggest tribe of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion ( Amo 5:7-8 ),

The seven stars are the seven sisters, also known as the constellation of the Pleiades. Unfortunately, living here in this megapolis with all of the lights and all, it’s difficult for us to really appreciate much of astronomy and of the stars, and of the constellations. But if you go out, no tonight it’s cloudy, and even on a clear night in this area, it’s, unfortunately, hard to see. But the Pleiades is that little cluster of stars in the… well, it is out in the center of the heavens, a winter constellation that is often called by novices and those who do not know the constellations, it’s often called the Little Dipper. People so often look up at the Pleiades, and it is shaped like a little dipper, they say, “Oh, well there’s the little dipper.” No, the Pleiades is not the Little Dipper though it may look like a little dipper, it is not the constellation known as the Little Dipper. The constellation of the Little Dipper is actually up in the north, and the North Star comprises a part of the Little Dipper constellation. But the Pleiades is that little cluster that looks like a dipper in the center of the winter skies. So when you’re up at the conference center and all in the wintertime, you can look up and you can see. Or, you’re out in the desert, you can look up and see the Pleiades, a very attractive constellation, and one of the easiest of the constellations to identify, along with Orion another winter constellation.

Orion is in the southern sky and it is shaped sort of like a square. You have to use your imagination a little bit, but you can see the shoulders of Orion, and you can see the bow that he is holding out in front of himself. As you look at… well, he’s not taking a good aim, he’s ready to draw a bead down I guess, because the bull that he is getting ready to shoot is below him, and you can see the horns of the bull. And then if you look carefully, you can see his dogs chasing him through the winter sky as each evening Orion goes across the south, his dog’s chasing him, and he’s pulling down his bead on the bull down here on the southern skies of the northern hemisphere. But, again, Orion is a very fascinating constellation, and an easy one to spot among the winter constellations.

Now here’s a guy who’s a shepherd, and you know he just, he lives close to nature, out of doors so much of the time, living close to nature he speaks of the seven stars, the seven sisters, the constellations of the Pleiades and also of Orion. “Seek Him who made these constellations, seek Him who made these stars.” In the constellation of Orion, the left shoulder of Orion is the star Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse four hundred and fifteen million miles in diameter. If you could carve out the center of Betelgeuse, leaving a crust a hundred million miles thick, you could put the sun inside of Betelgeuse and let the Earth rotate around it and you’d have a few million miles to spare. The Lord who made Orion, Betelgeuse, is just the left shoulder of Orion, the Lord who made the Pleiades and Orion, seek Him. There are no help in these little golden calves that you have made. There’s no help in your pagan worship in the idols that you’ve formed, in the gods that you’ve created in your own imagination. But there is help in the true and the living God, the Creator of the heaven and earth, seek Him. “Seek Him that made the seven stars and Orion.”

and turns the shadow of death into morning, and makes the day dark with night: and calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: Yahweh is his name: That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come out against a fortress. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and you’ve taken from him the burdens ( Amo 5:8-11 ):

They were ripping off the poor people. The rich were ripping off the poor. What a terrible thing. And because you’re doing this, the Lord said,

you have built your houses of hewn stone ( Amo 5:11 ),

You’ve built your own glorious houses by robbing the poor, so God declares,

because of this you will not dwell in your houses; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you will not drink the wine of them ( Amo 5:11 ).

They had come to the zenith of their glory and power in the Northern Kingdom, but they weren’t to enjoy its benefits.

For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: for you afflict the just, and you take bribes, and you turn aside the poor in the place of judgment. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. [God said,] Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: so the LORD, the God of hosts shall be with you, as you have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good ( Amo 5:12-15 ),

So here we are exhorted to seek the good and not evil, and then hate the evil and love the good. You remember again when Satan came before God with the sons of God in the book of Job? God said unto Satan, “Where have you been?” He said, “Going up and down throughout the earth, to and fro through it.” God said, “Have you considered My servant Job, a righteous man, perfect and upright in all his ways, a man who loves good, and hates evil?” ( Job 1:7-8 ) The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Then it declares, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.”

Now we are living in an age where there’s all kinds of liberal pressure to not hate evil, but to tolerate evil. You’re put down as some kind of an Archie Bunker type if you hate evil. You’re made to look like some kind of a fool, a bigot if you hate evil. Yet God’s Word declares that that’s the beginning of wisdom. But we’re living in an age of fools. People who love evil, people who flirt with evil, people who tolerate evil. But to hate evil is really what the fear of the Lord is all about. Because I fear the Lord, I hate evil. So, “Hate evil and love the good.”

and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph ( Amo 5:15 ).

Who knows, it may be God will be gracious. If you’ll turn around, if you’ll change, it could be that God will be gracious. But boy, you’re about ready to go down the tubes. Turn, change, seek justice.

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord says this, Wailing shall be in all the streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! Alas! ( Amo 5:16 )

Now that is a term that is one of just total despair. You say, “Alas, alas,” that means, “We’ve had it.” That’s just total despair. We don’t use that term anymore, but it’s one that just signifies, really, the end of the world.

and they shall call the husbandman to mourning [that is the farmer], and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing ( Amo 5:16 ).

Now they had people who were professional wailers. They were very skillful in wailing. So if you had a funeral service, you would hire these professional wailers who would come and just wail like everything. So people would say, “Oh my, he must have been a very loved person, because listen to how they’re wailing.” So those that were skillful in wailing.

Now my wife used to be skillful in screaming. It worked for some advantage. Whenever we would… in the days of the Long Beach Pike, we’d go over and ride the roller coaster. From the moment that thing would start down the first decline, she’d start screaming, and she wouldn’t quit until we pulled up to a stop at the, you know, at the gate there. And always they’d say, “You kids go again.” We got three or four free rides because she’d attract the attention of everyone on the Pike to the roller coaster. So, man, I’ve ridden that thing so many times. Finally it almost lost its thrill because you go on it so many times you get used to it. But she used to get us more free rides by her skillfulness at wailing.

And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. Woe unto you that are desiring the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? for the day of the LORD will be darkness, and not light ( Amo 5:17-18 ).

Here they were longing for the day of the Lord, but because of their lives, their sin, the day of the Lord wasn’t gonna be glory for them. It was gonna be for them the day of judgment and the day of darkness. And so is the day of the Lord. For those who are the servants of the Lord, it’s a glorious day that we anticipate, the establishing of His glorious kingdom. And so there is this dichotomy involved with the day of the Lord. There are those that, there are those scriptures that speak about a day of judgment and wrath and so forth, which it will be to those who love evil, to the wicked. But unto the righteous, a glorious day of glory, the day of the Lord. It’s something that we do look forward to. But unto them, because of their sins, a woe to them when the day of the Lord will come.

Now it will be as though a man was going down the road and a lion attacked him, and he escaped from the lion. And he didn’t go very much further until a bear attacked him. And he escaped from the bear and he finally gets home exhausted, having run from the lion and run from the bear, and he gets home and he just is exhausted. He leans up against the wall of his house, and a snake bites him and he dies. I mean, you’re going from the frying pan into the fire. That’s the figure that Amos uses here.

As if a man did flee from a lion, and then a bear met him; and then when he came to his house, he leaned his hand on the wall, and the serpent bit him ( Amo 5:19 ).

I mean, you can’t escape it. Just when you think that you’ve escaped, whammo, you get wiped out.

Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, no brightness in it? ( Amo 5:20 )

Now God declares,

I hate, I despise your feast days ( Amo 5:21 ),

Now the feast days were the times when they were supposed to come and fellowship with God. That was the whole idea. You see, during the feast days they were days of great fellowship with God. You would bring your sacrifice, and the priest would offer the fat of the lamb as a burnt offering unto the Lord. But then the rest of it was barbequed and you’d sit there, and you would eat with the Lord. The whole idea was feasting with the Lord as you ate the shish kabob. Just the whole idea was fellowshipping with God and feasting with Him. The people would assemble before the Lord, but God came to the place where He said, “Look, I hate, I despise your feast days.” They would burn the fat of the lamb and the smoke ascending is just, oh man, it smells so good. The idea was to be a sweet smelling savor unto the Lord, that God might smell the marvelous smell of the lamb fat as it is being burned or roasted.

God says,

I will not even smell it. Though you offer me the burnt offerings and your meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of the songs; for I will not hear the melody of the viols ( Amo 5:21-23 ).

God is not interested in the outward observation, or the outward observances. God is interested in a heart that is repentant towards Him. Notice that in the offerings that they were offering God, they did… He didn’t make any mention of sin offerings. Still offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, and the meal offerings, but no mention of sin offering. That’s the thing that God was interested in, that they be repentant for their sins; that they turn from their iniquity. “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” Can a man really have fellowship with God while he’s still walking in sin? The answer has to be, no! So all of the rest of the religious trappings are just so much wasted effort if your heart isn’t truly repentant towards God.

There are too many people who are going through the motions of religion. As Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, “I know thy works and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou hast borne, and how you’ve been able to discover those that said they were prophets, and were not. You’ve put them out, and your labor,” again He mentions it, but He said, “I have this against you, because you’ve left your first love.” They had all the motions but they had lost the emotion. God was more interested in the emotional aspects than He was just the pure motion aspects of religion. Many people today are going through the motions of religion, but there is no real heartfelt emotion towards God. God is looking for that heart that is filled with love, love towards Him, love towards good, love towards the people of God. He wants that emotional aspect. He doesn’t want just religious trappings, and religious surroundings, and religious works, and religious forms, but He wants a heart that’s on fire for Him. So God says, “I won’t listen to your music. I won’t smell your offerings. I won’t accept your offerings.”

But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream ( Amo 5:24 ).

That’s what I want. I want you to start living right. I want you to start being just; start being honest and just, and righteous, that’s what I desire.

Have ye offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch [these false gods] Chiun and your images, and the star of your god, which you have made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus ( Amo 5:25-27 ),

And they did go into captivity beyond Damascus; they went into captivity all the way to Assyria.

saith the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts ( Amo 5:27 ).

Now at this time Assyria was no threat to them. Syria was the threat; Damascus was the threat at this time. Hazael the king was the big threat to them now, but yet God says, “Look, they’re not gonna be the ones. You’re gonna go into captivity beyond, even to Assyria.” Again, the marvelous Word of God so true, you can count on it.

Shall we pray.

Father, help us that we will be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. Help us, Lord, to learn from the past, from the history of Your people. Oh God, may we indeed come before You in truth, in righteousness, and in true judgment. God, give us a love for good and a hatred towards evil. May we seek You, Lord, with all of our hearts, knowing that in the day that we seek You with all of our hearts, that we will find You. O Lord, let Thy Word like a fire burn in our hearts, and as a sword let it divide between that which is soulish and that which is spiritual so that we will not be caught up in a soulish relationship, but in a true relationship after the Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Shall we stand.

May the Lord be with you, bless you, keep you, fill you with His love and with His Spirit, and guide you according to His good pleasure. In Jesus’ name. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Amo 5:1-5

REVELATION CALLS FOR REPENTANCE-

GODS WORD AGAINST ISRAEL

TEXT: Amo 5:1-5

Amos wants to impress even more dramatically before Israel her headlong rush into ruin, destruction and captivity. He does so by setting before Israel Jehovah God as the Fountain head of life and the destiny of the centers of idolatry.

Amo 5:1-2 . . . A LAMENTATION OVER YOU . . . THE VIRGIN OF ISRAEL IS FALLEN . . . Amos the prophet, on behalf of God, begins chanting Israels funeral dirge. And this at the very apex of her prosperity! One can surely visualize with what unpopularity Amos preaching would be greeted in Israel! He is mocked, ridiculed and slandered as a preacher of doom and a pessimist, The phrase virgin of Israel, is a poetical personification of the population of a city or of a kingdom, as a daughter, with a further idea of being unconquerable expressed by the term virgin. God had intended Israels destiny to be one of separateness from the heathen world and as a result He would keep her inviolate from foreign invaders. Israel was to be pure, chaste, protected, untouched-but now she has played the harlot and she will be attacked, ravaged and brought to a violent end! For other figurative uses of virgin in this same sense see Isa 47:1-2, etc. When God gives her up to be spoiled by foreign invaders there will be none to help her!

Zerr: Amo 5:1. The severe denunciations which the Lord expresses against the people from time to time should not be interpreted as an indication of bit-terness. He is grieved at the wrongs of the nation (hat has always been favored with divine assistance, and these strong declarations are prompted by the spirit of sorrow, hence are said to be in the form of a lamentation. Amo 5:2. The word virgin Is often applied to Gods people because the first definition of the original is, “to separate.” Israel had been separated from the other nations of the world to be the Lord’s own special people (Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2), hence the term virgin is an appropriate one. Shall no more rise denotes that Israel had sunk so low as a nation that it would not be able to rise above the fate of the siege and captivity threatened.

Amo 5:3-5 . . . THE CITY THAT WENT FORTH A THOUSAND SHALL HAVE A HUNDRED LEFT . . . SEEK YE ME, AND YE SHALL LIVE . . . BUT SEEK NOT BETH-EL, NOR . . . GILGAL . . . BEER-SHEBA . . . Amos is not attempting to be mathematically precise when he predicts that only ten per cent of each city will be saved from total destruction, he is merely speaking figuratively (cf. Isa 6:13) to say that only a very small remnant of the whole nation will be saved from utterly perishing. This was fulfilled exactly (cf. 2 Kings 17). Such total ruin would, of course, be the fartherest thing from the minds of most of the people of Israel in these days of peace, luxury, prosperity and influence. Much like the people of the Roman empire just before its fall was the attitude of the people of Israel. We are fearful that there are many Americans who cannot see the danger signs in our generation-crime, government corruption, lewdness, selfishness, anarchy, and perversion of standards in almost every avenue of life from sex to art and music to law and order!

Zerr: Amo 5:3, The nation was destined to be greatly reduced by the exile as Indicated by the contrasting terms thousand and hundred. It is a prediction of the remnant that was salvaged from the captivity, and the fulfillment is in Ezr 2:1 ff. Amo 5:4. Seek ye me and ye shall live presents the same apparent contradiction that has been mentioned several times. The explanation lies in the distinction between the nation as a whole, and certain individuals in it. See the long note on the subject, offered with comments on 2Ki 22:17. Amo 5:5. The significance of Bethel is in the fact that It was one of the places where the first king of the 10- tribe kingdom of Israel erected an idol calf, and the nation had practiced idolatry ever since. Gilgal is the place where the first king of Judah committed his first great sin after entering upon the throne (1Sa 10:8; 1Sa 13:5-14). Beer-sheba was once a stronghold of idolatry and hence not a proper place to receive a favorable impression on the subject of service to God.

Yet God pleads with Israel once more. Seek Me, and live! Jehovah is the Spring of Life (cf. Jer 2:13; Psa 36:10); He is longsuffering and does not take pleasure in the death of any of His creatures (cf. Eze 18:31-32; 2Pe 3:9). But Jehovah can only be sought and found through His revelation! They will not find Him at Bethel or Gilgal or Beersheba. These are centers of idolatry, false teaching, false worship; they will find there only ruin, destruction and captivity for that is what God has planned for these places! Beersheba, although in Judah the southern kingdom, is mentioned evidently because, being sacred to Jewish history (Gen 21:33; Gen 26:24; Gen 46:1) it had been made into a place of idolatrous worship, to which people of the northern kingdom went on pilgrimages frequently.

Irresponsible conduct, whether within or without the religious structures of the day, cannot continue unabated without experiencing inevitable retribution. This is a moral law of the universe just as inevitable as any physical law of nature! If man will not hear the word of God warning of judgment in His revelation, it is only left for man to experience that judgment in history. Amos proclaimed that Israel was dead! The people did not know it, nor did they want to know it (Amo 7:10 ff)! Although Israel continued to flourish for almost forty years after Amos prophecy before national extinction came, yet, for all practical purposes, she was dead when Amos was preaching; thus he speaks of her future as if it were already present. Is it only extreme pessimism to say, America is dead? Could there be any parallel between Israels condition and Americas? If so, there must be a parallel looked for in their destinies! Perhaps it is not yet too late for America, even as it was not too late for Israel. Perhaps if America will seek Jehovah in His revelation-His word-she will find Him and live. Only let her not seek life in the many idols her people have made for there she will find only false teaching, false worship and death!

Questions

1. What is a lamentation and why did Amos begin one over Israel?

2. Why did he refer to Israel as a fallen virgin?

3. Why make a contrast between seeking Jehovah and Bethel, Gilgal or Beersheba?

4. Could there be a parallel between Israels condition and Americas?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The third discourse was a description of Jehovah’s judgment. This opened with a lamentation for the virgin of Israel, “The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise, she is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.” This lamentation the prophet followed with a sequence of explanations, each introduced by the formula, “Thus saith the Lord.”

The first declared the coming decrease in population. Only a tithe of them would be spared.

The second recounted the history of God’s past calls to the people. He had appealed to them to seek Him, and live. They had refused, hating the reprover in the gate, and abhorring him that spoke uprightly. The results had been that they oppressed the poor, and judgment was determined against them in consequence. Yqt another call came to them to hate the evil and love the good. The last announced the doom the people would suffer if they refused to answer the calls of God’s patience, the whole procedwe of judgment being graphically summarized in the declaration, “I will pass through the midst of them.’

Finally, he pronounced the double woe. Two classes of the sinning people were addressed. First, those who desired “the day of the Lord,” most evidently the hypocrites, according to the description. They were religionists who kept feasts, observed solemn assemblies, brought burnt meal, and peace offerings, sang songs and made melody with viols; but who, nevertheless, were living a life of sin. With tremendous force the prophet described God’s attitude toward such, “I hate, I despise . . . I will take no delight . . . I will not accept . . . neither will I regard . . . I will not hear.” Jehovah’s call was for righteousness and judgment. “The day of the Lord” for the hypocrites would be a day of darkness and destruction.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Prepare to Meet Thy God

Amo 4:12-13; Amo 5:1-15

Worse judgments than those mentioned in the previous verses were in store but before they are inflicted, the entire nation is summoned to the divine bar. Whether we choose or not, we must all appear before the judgment seat of God. Prepare, my soul, to meet Him! Note the sublimity of that last verse of Amo 4:1-13. How great is God, who made the mountains! How mysterious, who made the wind! How sublime, who calls to the dawn! How mighty, to whom mountains and peaks are stepping-stones!

But great and holy though God is, we are invited to seek Him. He desires to bless, but He must be sought. Were we more diligent in seeking, as the miner for gold, or the scientific man for natures secrets, we should be marvelously repaid. Eye hath not seen, etc. Amos speaks as natures child. Often as he had tended his flocks, he had watched the Pleiades with their gentle radiance, and Orion, the herald of storm. He had listened to God calling across the waters, and had drawn life from Him. Seek and live! O soul, what a God is thine! Thy springs and storms await His word of command. He can turn thy darkness into the morning. Be of good cheer!

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

A Lamentation For Israel

Sad and solemn are the dirge-like measures of the prophets lamentation over the fallen nation that he loved so well. They had utterly broken down as a people in their allegiance and fidelity to God, and on the ground of responsibility could claim no blessing whatever. If God take them up at all, it must be in pure grace; otherwise naught but judgment could be their portion.

Thus has everything failed that God has committed to man, not excepting the testimony entrusted to the Church. But God has infinite resources in Himself, only to be displayed upon the failure of the objects of His grace. This may well cheer and uplift the spirits of all who sigh and cry for the unhappy divisions and utter breakdown of what should have been for testimony to Christ and the glory of God in these last days. Still, despondency and gloom need not overwhelm the soul. God may yet be entreated of His people. If there be brokenness and repentance manifested, He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.

The virgin of Israel had fallen so low that she could never rise again-that is, so far as her own volition was concerned; nor were there any of her leaders who could raise her up. But God still entreated, crying in the ears of any who might heed, Seek ye Me, and ye shall live! None could deliver but He from whom they had grievously departed. To seek to Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba, where the high places that told of idolatrous self-will were set up, would be all in vain, as ironically declared in ch. 4:4. The fact that a certain sacredness of association was connected with each of the places named would not prevent their going into captivity. Bethel was no longer the house of God, nor did Gilgal now speak of reproach rolled away. Rather had Bethel become a hold of demons, and Gilgal was itself a reproach (vers. 1-5).

There is nothing in succession, whether it be the dream of apostolicity, or the modern notion prevailing in some quarters as to the original ground of gathering, and the continuity of the Lords table. What was once clearly of God becomes readily corrupted where pride and self-will are at work, and may have to be turned from and refused, in faithfulness to the Lord, despite all former associations of blessedness and the manifest acknowledgment of God in the past.

Scripture must ever be the guide-not human rules and assumption of authority. That which was from the beginning is the original ground- and only that!

So Israel are exhorted to seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel (ver. 6). Alas, the warning was unheeded; so in a very few years the threatened judgment was carried out, and the house of Joseph was dispossessed of their land-never to be re-gathered till the day of the coming glory.

The herdman of Tekoa soars to loftiest flights of inspired poetry in verses 7 to 9. The stars in their courses had, no doubt, often been his contemplation as he watched his flocks on the hillside at night. The book of Job too had evidently been studied, for ver. 8 is closely linked with Job 9:9 and 38:31.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, he cries, and cast down righteousness to the ground, consider the Maker of Kimah and Kesil (the Pleiades and Orion), even turning the shadow of death into morning, and who maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah His name; that strengthened the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress (7-9). Kimah and Kesil cannot be identified with certainty. That they refer to some of the more important constellations is clear. Both in the two places in Job where the words occur, and in this passage, they are generally translated as the seven stars, i. e., the Pleiades, and Orion. The Hebrews generally understood them to refer to these brilliant star-groups, which display the majesty and glory of their Creator. The prophet calls the workers of iniquity to contemplate Him who guides the heavenly bodies, and who brought them into being; who causes the sun to rise in his glory, dispelling the darkness; and whose hand likewise controls the planetary movements that bring the night again; and who gives rain to the thirsty ground. With Him men have to do, whether they desire it or not. His eyes beheld all the unholy ways of the people who were called by His name.

Wilfully rejecting light, they hated him who rebuked in the gate, and abhorred him who spake uprightly (ver. 10). Many are their successors. It is a most common thing to find those walking carelessly, or sinfully, filled with indignation against any who faithfully rebuke their unholy ways. Easy-going, man-pleasing preachers and teachers are delighted in; but faithful, God-fearing men are abhorred and despised. But he who would stand for God must expect the opposition and evil-speaking of the unspiritual and worldly-minded.

Knowing that he would be hated for rebuking in the gate, Amos nevertheless proclaims his solemn message without excuse or hesitation. He presses home upon their consciences the sins that were about to draw down coming judgment on the guilty nation. They oppressed the poor, thought only of their own comfort, afflicted the just, were bribe-takers, dealt unjustly with the needy in the place of judgment-the gate-and withal were so overbearing and insolent that it seemed the part of prudence to refrain from exposing their wickedness, so evil was the time (vers. 11-13). But Gods faithful servant covers nothing, using no flattering words. He manifests their hypocrisy, and then calls on them to seek good, and not evil, that they might live, and that the Lord of hosts might be with them. If the word was heeded, God might yet be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph (vers. 14, 15).

Men like Amos are never popular with the mass. Better far, however, to have the approbation of One than of the many. Like Paul, he spoke not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth the hearts. Yet there is no railing, no cutting or abusive language; simply the solemn, earnest recital of their guilt, and a tender, loving call to repentance.

If this call be unheeded, then wailing must supersede their empty songs, as it did very soon, when all joy was darkened, and even in the vineyards of gladness the lamentations of the desolate were heard (vers. 16, 17).

It is remarkable how low people can fall, and yet how religiously and piously they can talk. Wretchedly vile as was Israels condition, there were still to be found among them those who professed to desire the day of the Lord, hoping thereby to be delivered from their troubles-the fruit of their own waywardness. A woe is pronounced on such. What profit would there be for them in the day of the Lord? It would be as if a man fled from a lion, and was met by a bear. Seeking to escape this second danger, he flees to his house; but as he leans his hand against the wall, a poisonous serpent, concealed in some corner, or behind some drapery, strikes him with its venomed fangs. There could be no escape from judgment. The day of the Lord is to be the day of manifestation, and therefore, for the wicked, a day of darkness, and not of light; even very dark, and no brightness in it (vers. 18-20).

Quite in harmony with this pretended desire for the day of the Lord was the unreality of the feasts and solemn assemblies. Outwardly, there seems to have been some pretence to honor Jehovah in the reign of the second Jeroboam, but actually He was dishonored by the unholy practices indulged in. Therefore He hated the feast-days, and would not accept their offerings. He looked for righteousness to roll on as a mighty stream in the land, not for outward forms and ceremonies (vers. 21-24). But, alas, their present unreal course had been characteristic from their beginning. Even in the days of the wilderness they had set up the tabernacle of their false gods beside the sanctuary of Jehovah, and had offered sacrifices and offerings to them throughout those memorable forty years. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts (vers. 25-27). This is intensely important, and worthy our most serious consideration. Here the Lord declares that the Assyrian captivity was the result of their sinful idolatry in the wilderness! Over seven hundred years had rolled by since that first apostasy; but as it had never been really judged, they must be judged for it! How this passage rebukes those who refuse to face the fact that unjudged evil is ever at work, like leaven, leavening the whole lump! Again we have the same lesson enforced which we noted at length in our study of Hos 7:4-7. Oh, for hearts to bow to the truth so frequently pressed in Scripture, and thus to be kept from the defilement of unjudged evil!

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

CHAPTER 5

The Third Discourse

1. The lamentation (Amo 5:1-3)

2. Seek the Lord and ye shall live (Amo 5:4-15)

3. The wailing (Amo 5:16-20)

4. The captivity announced (Amo 5:21-27)

Amo 5:1-3. This chapter begins with a lamentation over the fallen daughter of Israel. She shall no more rise has been used as an argument against the future and literal restoration of Israel. The prophet has only the present government of God over that generation in view and does not deny at all a future rising as so abundantly predicted in the prophetic Word. There is none to raise her up, nor could she raise herself up. But the day will come when the Lord in grace will raise her.

Amo 5:4-15. Here the Lord entreats Israel once more to desist from her idolatrous way and to seek Him instead of the worship at Bethel and Gilgal, for judgment would surely be executed there. Seek ye Me and ye shall live. Then again, Seek the LORD and ye shall live, and in case of disobedience, He, whom they refused, would fall like fire upon the house of Joseph. The house of Joseph is mentioned because the tribe of Ephraim was the most powerful tribe in the kingdom of Israel, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim. Again they are told to seek Him Who maketh the seven stars (the Pleiades) and Orion. These two great constellations were well known to the ancients Job 9:9; Job 38:31. And He also turneth the shadow of death into morning and darkeneth day to night. This is an illustration of the judicial actions of the Lord. As in nature He turns night into day, and the day into dark night, so He turns the deepest misery and sorrow into joy and happiness, and changes the bright day of prosperity into the night of woe and disaster. He is the Lord of judgment, who controls the waters of tribulation and wrath, the floods of judgment, and makes them pass over the earth.

Amo 5:10-13 give a description of the moral condition of Israel. They were unrighteous and loved the ways of unrighteousness; if the judge in the gate judged righteously they hated him for it, those who spoke uprightly they abhorred. The poor they trampled into the dust and extorted the distribution of corn from them. They had built fine houses of hewn stone, but they were not to enjoy them nor the wine from their pleasant vineyards Deu 28:30; Deu 28:39. The Lord knew their transgressions and the greatness of their sins.

Still there was hope, for the Lord is merciful and slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work. Therefore once more we hear His pleadings, Seek good and not evil that ye may live, and so the LORD God of hosts shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate evil and love good!

Amo 5:16-20. As judgment comes there shall be wailing in the streets, wailing with the husbandman, and there will be wailing in all vineyards as the Lord passes through in His judgment. For I will pass through thee reminds us of Egypt in the passover night when the Lord passed through Egypt to smite. And now the death wail was soon to be heard in the midst of His people.

And still another evil was in their midst. Some of them brazenly desired the announced day of the Lord, the day of His manifestation to come. It originated in their false boast that they are the covenant people. They knew from the former prophets that the day of the Lord would rid them of their enemies, then Israel would be fully redeemed and blest and the Lords glory would be manifested in the sight of the nations. Such was Joels vision concerning that day. Such was their false hope while they lived on in sin. But the herdman, Amos, pronounced a woe upon them for desiring that day. What good will that day be to the impenitent nation? It is a day of darkness and not light. Then follows a parable such as a child of nature, as Amos was, would make. He describes a man who flees from a lion and fortunately escapes; but then he meets a bear, him he escapes likewise. Exhausted he reaches his house, and like one about to faint, he leans his hand on the wall; a small serpent out of the crevice bites him and he perishes miserably. So would the day of the Lord overtake them. How different it is with the true believer. He desires, not the Day of the Lord, but the coming of Him, who has promised His own, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am ye may be also.

Amo 5:21-27. The Lord despised their outward worship; their feast days and different offerings were not well pleasing in His sight. It was all a hollow pretense of honoring Him, and all their songs were hateful to Him.

But this departure from Him was not a new thing in their history. They were always a stiffnecked people. Even in the wilderness did they not bring Him sacrifices and offerings, but instead they bore the tabernacle of Moloch and Chiun (or the booth of your king and the pedestal of your images, the star of your gods). Then follows the verdict, Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Hear: Amo 3:1, Amo 4:1

I take: Amo 5:16, Jer 7:29, Jer 9:10, Jer 9:17, Jer 9:20, Eze 19:1, Eze 19:14, Eze 26:17, Eze 27:2, Eze 27:27-32, Eze 28:12, Eze 32:2, Eze 32:16, Mic 2:4

Reciprocal: 2Ki 18:11 – the king Joe 1:2 – Hear Zep 2:5 – the word

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Amo 5:1. The severe denunciations which the Lord expresses against the people from time to time should not be interpreted as an indication of bit-terness. He is grieved at the wrongs of the nation (hat has always been favored with divine assistance, and these strong declarations are prompted by the spirit of sorrow, hence are said to be In the form of a lamentation

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Amo 5:1-3. Hear ye, &c. It is justly observed by Grotius, that this verse would be translated more according to the Hebrew thus; Hear ye this word, even a lamentation, which I take up over you It alludes to the lamentations made at funerals: so here the prophet bemoans the state of the kingdom of Israel as dead. The virgin of Israel Such she was when first espoused to God, a chaste virgin to a husband: she was then peculiarly beloved and delighted in, and was under the peculiar protection and care of her heavenly Lord; but she is now fallen from her glory and felicity, and for her idolatries and other sins delivered up to the will of her enemies. She shall no more rise That is, says Grotius, non iterum surget; she shall not rise again, namely, if she so goes on in the wicked way in which she now walks: for it was always understood in Gods threatenings against the Jewish people, that if they turned to him in true repentance they might, by that means, avert the judgments threatened. And there are repeated promises of the restoration of Israel as well as Judah; but these were all made on the condition of their repentance and reformation, which as they never performed in general, so they have not been restored in general, as the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin were. She is forsaken upon her land She is abandoned of all, and there is none to assist her to rise up again: like an infant that is fallen upon the ground and hath none to take it up; or, broken to pieces upon her own land; and so left, as a broken vessel. The city that went out by a thousand, &c. A city which was able to send out a thousand men fit for war, shall have but a hundred of them left. And so it shall be in proportion for any less number; only one in ten of them shall escape the sword and other chances of war.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Amo 5:2. The virgin of Israel is fallen. Babylon, which had never been stormed by a besieging army, is called a virgin. Isa 47:1. Thus Israel, whose kingdom had never yet been wholly subdued, is called a virgin. Jer 18:13. Referring to her vile idolatries, the prophet says, The virgin daughter of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Alas, the virgin of Samaria is fallen; the Assyrians have overleaped her walls, and she is fallen to rise no more.

Amo 5:5. Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal. That would be to roll back the reproach which was once taken away by circumcision, as stated by Jos 5:2. Pass not to Beersheba, the favoured abode of Abraham, where he had planted a grove. Idolatry was crafty in establishing its haunts and altars in these three places, once so highly favoured with the divine presence. All this was recession and apostasy from the only altar of the Lord.

Amo 5:7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, or baneful hemlock, for favour or reward, and abandon the cause of righteousness to be trampled down upon the earth; a double corruption in the elders who filled the bench of justice. They hated him that rebuked in the gate. O tempora! O mores!

Amo 5:8. The seven stars and Orion. See the note on Job 9:9, and Schultens remarks on these terms. Amos was among the shepherds learned in practical astronomy. The seven stars are called the Hiadees by the Vulgate, and the Pleiades in modern versions. Some think that they refer to the warmth of the spring, and Orion or Arcturus to the tempestuous seasons.

Amo 5:17. In all vineyards shall be wailing. In these places they indulged in gambols and in feasting, when the fruits were gathered: but soon alas they shall be burned and destroyed by the insolent and wanton invaders.

Amo 5:26. Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch. Literally, ye have borne Siccuth your king. Dr. Lightfoot reads it so, and also Kimchi. Hence Siccuth was an idol, sometimes written moloch, molech, milchom, and malcham. It is expressly the same with Baal, unless two idols stood in one place. So Jer 32:35. They built the high places of Baal to offer their sons to Moloch. So also 2Ch 28:2-3. See the note in that chapter. Ahab, it would seem, from the bloody worship of Baals prophets, had introduced this idol, or rather revived its worship after Solomon. 1 Kings 11 :2 Kings 18.

Moloch and Chiun. Ham is the Cronus of the Greeks. His wife was Ashteroth or Astarte. karen is the etymology of his name. The LXX read which in the new testament is altered to . Act 7:43. The name Rephas was Hams title; and being father of the Rephaim, smitten by Chedorlaomer in Ashteroth-karnaim, is so called because Astarte was worshipped there. Gen 14:5. They chose therefore to call themselves by his more honourable appellation. The Coptics gave his name to a star, which was worshipped at large in the east. Cicero admits that Venus was the Astarte of Syria. Moloch, Melech, or Malchus is a title given to Ham, who offered his son Jeoud, a , an expiatory sacrifice in the time of a plague. Hence the cruel influence it had on his posterity, in making their children pass through the fire to his statue. See Euseb. Prparat. Also the note on Lev 18:21.

Amo 5:27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus. The empire of the Assyrians beyond the Euphrates is understood; but the districts adjacent to the Caspian sea were then but little known to the jews.

REFLECTIONS.

The holy prophets spake from the mouth of the Lord. Their mission was clothed with the glory of divine majesty. This elevation of thought and purity of character inspired them to reprove sin, and preach righteousness in a manner that no other men could do. How grand are the arguments in calling a backsliding nation from dumb idols to worship the true and living God, who made the constellations of heaven, who sends a morning sun to chase away the shades of night, who raises vapours from the sea in the ever-changing scenes of beauteous clouds.

On sincerely returning to the Lord, the worst of sinners need not despair of mercy, even they who have hated rebuke, and abhorred the upright; while on the other hand, incorrigible wickedness will disinherit the oppressor; and though he build his house with hewn stones, it shall not be able to protect him.

A woe is denounced against those who desire the day of the Lord, in which Israel should be overthrown, hoping that the Assyrian tyrants would be milder than the oppressors in Samaria, who turned judgment to wormwood. Ah no: it is all a delusion. It is like avoiding the lion, and meeting the bear. We had better pray for our rulers and governors than wish for a change of masters. Sinners seldom get advantage by a change, unless they exchange the yoke of Satan for that of Christ.

The devotion of wicked men is peculiarly abhorrent to God. He hates, he despises their festivals, and turns away his nostrils from the incense of their prayers; their devotion is as carnal as their worldly wishes. Hence he informs Israel, if we may read the text in the future tense after Rabbi Solomon, that instead of receiving protection from their idols, they should carry them on their shoulders, or by some means beyond Damascus. Ah, most intolerable load, when mortals carry their mortal gods! Yet so it is still; when men make gods of their gold, they have to carry their cares, nor can their riches protect them in the day of the Lord. Let us abide in covenant with our Lord and Saviour, for he only is a sure defence.

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

Amo 5:1-17. The Impending Punishment.The prophet gives his next few words the form of a dirge (knah, Amo 5:1). This (Amo 5:2) is characterised by the peculiar knah-metre, consisting of three beats or stresses followed by two. In the prophetic vision Israel appears as already overthrown irretrievably. She lies forsaken on the ground, and nothing can raise her. How she has come to this pass is explained in the following verse (Amo 5:3). Her army is almost annihilated in war. This must inevitably happen if Israel will not take warning, but there is still time to seek Yahweh and live (Amo 5:4). Let the corrupt worship at Bethel and Beersheba be forsaken (Amo 5:5), for Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile (G. A. Smith), and Bethel (the house of God) shall become (Beth) aven (the house of idols, Harper). If Yahweh is still forsaken (Amo 5:6), He will burst forth like an unquenchable fire against Israel (represented here as the House of Joseph and as Bethel). The prophet then seems to add a description of the House of Joseph. But it is better to place Amo 5:7 after Amo 5:9, prefixing the words Alas for! Amo 5:8 f. then comes in more suitably as a description of Yahweh, who is mentioned in Amo 5:6. He it is (Amo 5:8) who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth deep darkness into morning and darkeneth day into night, etc. Warning is next given to those who pervert or dethrone justice and righteousness, and (Amo 5:10) hate and abominate anyone who reproves them. The prophet then reverts to Israels oppression of the poor. Those who trample down and rob the poor (Amo 5:11) will never inhabit the luxurious houses they build for themselves; they will never enjoy the wine of the delightful vineyards they plant. Their crimes are manifest to Yahweh (Amo 5:12). They afflict the righteous, take bribes, and thrust aside the poor when these present themselves at the place of justice (Job 5:4*, Psa 127:5*). One who has an insight into the days of calamity that are coming would prefer to keep silent (this is preferable to the usual interpretation that in times so evil the prudent will keep silent). The prophet pauses, hesitating to describe the catastrophe, and before he proceeds to do so, he utters another call to repentance (Amo 5:14 f.). The description follows in Amo 5:16 f. On all sides shall be heard the sounds of wailing and lamentation for the dead.

Amo 5:3. to the house of Israel: omit, as mistaken insertion from Amo 5:4.

Amo 5:5. Harper thinks that by ven (see mg.) we are to understand Beth-aven.

Amo 5:8. the Pleiades (Heb. kmah) and Orion (Heb. kesl). In Arabic kmat means a heap. This suggests that Heb. kmah denotes a cluster of stars. This cluster is usually understood to be the Pleiades. M. A. Stern and others, however, think that another term, ayish (cf. Job 38:32), denotes the Pleiades (see EBi., s.v. Stars). In that case kmah may, as Stern suggests, denote Canis major with its bright star Sirius. The root of the word translated Orion perhaps denotes primarily, to be thick, fat. Orion seems to be thought of as a dull-witted, obstinate giant. Since the word kesl means also fool, it is thought that there is some allusion to a myth in which a giant strove with God and was chained to the sky for his impiety.

Amo 5:9. Render perhaps, Who causeth (LXX distributeth) destruction (reading shebher for shodh) to burst forth upon the strong, and brings (reading ybh; cf. LXX) ruin upon the fortress.

Amo 5:16. Or and the husbandmen shall summon to mourning (so Harper).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

3. The third message on injustice 5:1-17

The structure of this message is chiastic, which focuses attention and emphasis on the middle part.

A    A description of certain judgment Amo 5:1-3

B    A call for individual repentance Amo 5:4-6

C    An accusation of legal injustice Amo 5:7

D    A portrayal of sovereign Yahweh Amo 5:8-9

C’    An accusation of legal injustice Amo 5:10-13

B’    A call for individual repentance Amo 5:14-15

A’    A description of certain judgment Amo 5:16-17

Another structural feature stresses the solidarity between Yahweh and His prophet, namely, the alternation between of the words of Amos (Amo 5:1-2; Amo 5:6-9; Amo 5:14-15) and the words of God (Amo 5:3-5; Amo 5:10-13; Amo 5:16-17).

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

A description of certain judgment 5:1-3

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

This message begins as the previous two did, with a call to hear the Lord’s word. However here Amos announced that what follows is a dirge (Heb. qinah) against the house of Israel. A dirge was a lament that was sung at the funeral of a friend, relative, or prominent person (e.g., 2Sa 1:17-27; 2Sa 3:33-34; 2Ch 35:25). The prophets used the dirge genre to prophesy the death of a city, people, or nation (cf. Jer 7:29; Jer 9:10-11; Jer 9:17-22; Lam.; Ezekiel 19; Eze 26:17-18; Eze 27:2-32; Eze 28:12-19; Eze 32:2). Amos announced Israel’s death, the fall of the Northern Kingdom, at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.

"To his listeners, hearing this lament would be as jarring as reading one’s own obituary in the newspaper." [Note: Sunukjian, p. 1438.]

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

2. FOR WORSHIP, JUSTICE

Amo 5:1-27

In the next of these groups of oracles Amos continues his attack on the national ritual, and now contrasts it with the service of God in public life-the relief of the poor, the discharge of justice. But he does not begin with this. The group opens with an elegy, which bewails the nation as already fallen. It is always difficult to mark where the style of a prophet passes from rhythmical prose into what we may justly call a metrical form. But in this short wail, we catch the well-known measure of the Hebrew dirge; not so artistic as in later poems, yet with at least the characteristic couplet of a long and a short line.

“Hear this word which I lift up against you-a Dirge, O house of Israel”:-

“Fallen, no more shall she rise, Virgin of Israel! Flung down on her own ground, No one to raise her!”

The “Virgin,” which with Isaiah is a standing title for Jerusalem and occasionally used of other cities, is here probably the whole nation of Northern Israel. The explanation follows. It is War. “For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that goeth forth a thousand shall have a hundred left; and she that goeth forth a hundred shall have left ten for the house of Israel.”

But judgment is not yet irrevocable. There break forthwith the only two promises which lighten the lowering darkness of the book. Let the people turn to Jehovah Himself-and that means let them turn from the ritual, and instead of it purge their civic life, restore justice in their courts, and help the poor. For God and moral good are one. It is “seek Me and ye shall live,” and “seek good and ye shall live.” Omitting for the present all argument as to whether the interruption of praise to the power of Jehovah be from Amos or another, we read the whole oracle as follows.

“Thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek Me and live. But seek not Bethel, and come not to Gilgal, and to Beersheba pass not over”-to come to Beersheba one had to cross all Judah. “For Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile”-it is not possible except in this clumsy way to echo the prophets play upon words, “Ha-Gilgal galoh yigleh”-“and Bethel,” Gods house, “shall become an idolatry.” This rendering, however, scarcely gives the rude force of the original; for the word rendered idolatry, Aven, means also falsehood and perdition, so that we should not exaggerate the antithesis if we employed a phrase which once was not vulgar: “And Bethel, house of God, shall go to the devil!” The epigram was the more natural that near Bethel, on a site now uncertain, but close to the edge of the desert to which it gave its name, there lay from ancient times a village actually called Beth-Aven, however the form may have risen. And we shall find Hosea stereotyping this epigram of Amos, and calling the sanctuary Beth-Aven oftener than he calls it Beth-el. “Seek ye Jehovah and live,” he begins again, “lest He break forth like fire, O house of Joseph, and it consume and there be none to quench at Bethel. He that made the Seven Stars and Orion, that turneth the murk, into morning, and day He darkeneth to night, that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out on the face of the earth-Jehovah His Name. He it is that flasheth out ruin on strength, and bringeth down destruction on the fortified.” This rendering of the last verse is uncertain, and rightly suspected, but there is no alternative so probable, and it returns to the keynote from which the passage started, that God should break forth like fire.

Ah, “they that turn justice to wormwood, and abase righteousness to the earth! They hate him that reproveth in the gate”-in an Eastern city both the law-court and place of the popular council-“and him that speaketh sincerely they abhor.” So in the English mystics Vision Peace complains of Wrong:-

“I dar noughte for fere of hym fyghte ne ehyde.”

“Wherefore, because ye trample on the weak and take from him a present of corn, ye have built houses of ashlar, but ye shall not dwell in them; vineyards for pleasure have ye planted, but ye shall not drink of their wine. For I know how many are your crimes, and how forceful your sins-ye that browbeat the righteous, take bribes, and bring down the poor in the gate. Therefore the prudent in such a time is dumb, for an evil time is it” indeed.

“Seek good and not evil, that ye may live, and Jehovah God of Hosts be with you, as ye say” He is. “Hate evil and love good; and in the gate set justice on her feet again-peradventure Jehovah God of Hosts may have pity on the remnant of Joseph.” If in the Book of Amos there be any passages, which, to say the least, do not now lie in their proper places, this is one of them. For, firstly, while it regards the nation as still responsible for the duties of government, it recognizes them as reduced to a remnant. To find such a state of affairs we have to come down to the years subsequent to 734, when Tiglath-Pileser swept into captivity all Gilead and Galilee-that is, two-thirds, in bulk, of the territory of Northern Israel-but left Ephraim untouched. In answer to this, it may of course, be pointed out that in thus calling the people to repentance, so that a remnant might be saved, Amos may have been contemplating a disaster still future, from which, though it was inevitable, God might be moved to spare a remnant. That is very true. But it does not meet this further difficulty, that the verses (Amo 5:14-15) plainly make interruption between the end of Amo 5:13 and the beginning of Amo 5:16; and that the initial “therefore” of the latter verse, while it has no meaning in its present sequence, becomes natural and appropriate when made to follow immediately on Amo 5:13. For all these reasons, then, I take Amo 5:14-15 as a parenthesis, whether from Amos himself or from a later writer who can tell? But it ought to be kept in mind that in other prophetic writings where judgment is very severe, we have some proof of the later insertion of calls to repentance, by way of mitigation.

Amo 5:13 had said the time was so evil that the prudent man kept silence. All the more must the Lord Himself speak, as Amo 5:16 now proclaims. “Therefore thus saith Jehovah, God of Hosts, Lord: On all open ways. lamentation, and in all streets they shall be saying, Ah woe! Ah woe! And in all vineyards lamentation, and they shall call the ploughman to wailing and to lamentation them that are skillful in dirges”-town and country, rustic and artist alike-“for I shall pass through thy midst, saith Jehovah.” It is the solemn formula of the Great Passover, when Egypt was filled with wailing and there were dead in every house.

The next verse starts another, but a kindred, theme. As blind as was Israels confidence in ritual, so blind was their confidence in dogma, and the popular dogma was that of the “Day of Jehovah.”

All popular hopes expect their victory to come in a single sharp crisis-a day. And again, the day of any one means either the day he has appointed, or the day of his display and triumph. So Jehovahs day meant to the people the day of His judgment, or of His triumph: His triumph in war over their enemies, His judgment upon the heathen. But Amos, whose keynote has been that judgment begins at home, cries woe upon such hopes, and tells his people that for them the day of Jehovah is not victory, but rather insidious, importunate, inevitable death. And this he describes as a man who has lived, alone with wild beasts, from the jungles of the Jordan, where the lions lurk, to the huts of the desert infested by snakes.

“Woe unto them that long for the day of Jehovah! What have you to do with the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. As when a man fleeth from the face of a lion, and a bear falls upon him; and he comes into his home, and, breathless, leans his hand upon the wall, and a serpent bites him. And then, as if appealing to Heaven for confirmation: Is it not so? Is it not darkness, the day of Jehovah, and not light? storm darkness, and not a ray of light Upon it?”

Then Amos returns to the worship, that nurse of their vain hopes, that false prophet of peace, and he hears God speak more strongly than ever of its futility and hatefulness.

“I hate, I loathe your feasts, and I will not smell the savor of your gatherings to sacrifice.” For with pagan folly they still believed that the smoke of their burnt-offerings went up to heaven and flattered the nostrils of Deity. How ingrained was this belief may be judged by us from the fact that the terms of it had to be adopted by the apostles of a spiritual religion, if they would make themselves understood, and are now the metaphors of the sacrifices of the Christian heart. {Eph 5:2 etc.} “Though ye bring to Me burnt-offerings and your meal-offerings I will not be pleased, or your thank-offerings of fatted calves, I will not look at them. Let cease from Me the noise of thy songs; to the playing of thy viols I will not listen. But let justice roll on like water, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.”

Then follows the remarkable appeal from the habits of this age to those of the times of Israels simplicity. “Was it flesh or meat offerings that ye brought Me in the wilderness, forty years, O house of Israel. That is to say, at the very time when God made Israel His people, and led them safely to the promised land-the time When of all others He did most for them-He was not moved to such love and deliverance by the propitiatory bribes, which this generation imagine to be so availing and indispensable. Nay, those still shall not avail, for exile from the land shall now as surely come in spite of them, as the possession of the land in old times came without them. This at least seems to be the drift of the very obscure verse which follows, and is the unmistakable statement of the close of the oracle. But ye shall lift up your king and your god, images which you have made for yourselves; and I will carry you away into exile far beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah-God of Hosts is His Name!” So this chapter closes like the previous, with the marshaling of Gods armies. But as there His hosts were the movements of Nature and the Great Stars, so here they are the nations of the world. By His rule of both He is the God of Hosts.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary