Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 6:3
Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
3. Ye that put far away the evil day ] Probably, with aversion: cf. the use of the word in Isa 66:5. They feel themselves secure against coming disaster (Amo 9:10), and will not hear of it, while at the same time they bring near the seat of violence, or, more literally, the sitting of violence: i.e. they prepare in their very midst a place where, instead of justice, violence may sit enthroned. “They put from them the judgement of God (Amo 2:6 f. &c.), that they may exercise violence over His creatures” (Pusey).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3 7. The luxury and indifference of the leaders of the nation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye that put far away – Probably with aversion. They bade that day as it were, be gone. The Hebrew idiom expresses, how they would put it off, if they could; as far as in them lay, they assigned a distance to it, , although they could not remove the day itself. The evil day is that same day of the Lord, which the scoffers or misbelievers professed to long for Amo 5:18. The thought that the Lord has a Day, in which to judge man, frets or frightens the irreligious, and they use different ways to get rid of it. The strong harden themselves against it, distort the belief in it, or disbelieve it. The weak and voluptuous shut their eyes to it, like the bird in the fable, as if what they dread would cease to be there, because they cease to see it.
And cause the seat – (literally, the session, sitting) of violence to come near They dismissed the thought of the Day of account, in order that they might sin with less fear. They put from them the judgment of God, that they might exercise violence over His creatures. People do not put away the thought of God, except to invite His Enemy into their souls. But therewith, they brought near another seat of violence, not their own, but upon them. They brought near what they wished to put away, the day, in which, through the violence of the Assyrians, God would avenge their own.
Rib.: Let them consider this, who put no bound to their sins. For the more they obey their own will, the more they hasten to destruction; and while they think they draw near to pleasures, they draw near to everlasting woes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 6:3-6
Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near.
Man s evil day
I. All men have an evil day in their future. Calamities and trials are common to all. There is one evil day, it is death; but it need not be evil.
II. Some men adjourn in thought this evil day.
1. Not because they have any doubt as to its advent.
2. Not because they lack reminders of its approach. Why then do they adjourn the thought? The reason is found–
(1) In the strength of our material attachments.
(2) In our lack of interest in the spiritual.
(3) In our dread of the mysterious.
(4) In our conscious unpreparation for the scenes of retribution.
III. None who adjourn this evil day in thought can delay it in fact. These men so ignored their coming calamities that by their conduct they hastened them on. A general truth is suggested here,–That a man who adjourns all thought of his end, will pursue such a course of conduct as will hasten its approach. (Homilist.)
The knowledge of sin
Only history can tell what sin is; nothing but Divine judgment can give you a definition of bad doing. We must watch the desolation if we would know the meaning of certain terms and the range of certain actions. We must study Divine judgment if we would know human sin. The difficulty of the teacher herein is that so many persons are unconscious of sin and are therefore mayhap the greater sinners. Some do not distinguish between crime and sin. They have not been criminals, and therefore they think they have not been sinners,–as if all the story of life did not lie in the disposition rather than in the action. The heart is the seat of evil. None knoweth the heart but God. The heart does not know itself; and if there were not a concurrent line called history, or providence, or judgment, we should never know the real state of the heart. We must go to the broader history, the larger experience of mankind, and find, not in it alone, but in it as interpreted by Divine providence, Gods meaning of the term sin. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Ye that put far away the evil day] Wo to you who will not consider the day of approaching vengeance; but continue in your iniquity, and harden your hearts. Ye bring your iniquities nearer, and still suppose your punishment to be at a greater distance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Woe to you that flatter yourselves that the day of darkness and misery foretold is far off! See Poole “Eze 12:27“. These were great ones too, that the prophet here threateneth, who thus postponed the day of Israels and Judahs calamities.
The evil day; not as if it should be a short calamity, as a day; but it speaks the determinate, fixed time, and the haste wherewith the execution shall be made.
The seat; the throne, or judgment-seat, which should relieve the oppressed, condemn the wicked, and acquit the innocent, this is made a seat of violence, where unjust judges condemn the just and take bribes.
To come near; thus you draw the judgments of God on yourselves, by acting violence against the poor, and contemning the threats of the prophets.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Ye persuade yourselves that”the evil day” foretold by the prophets is “far off,”though they declare it near (Eze 12:22;Eze 12:27). Ye in yourimagination put it far off, and therefore bring near violentoppression, suffering it to sit enthroned, as it were,among you (Ps 94:20). Thenotion of judgment being far off has always been an incentive to thesinner’s recklessness of living (Ecc 8:12;Ecc 8:13; Mat 24:48).Yet that very recklessness brings near the evil day which he puts faroff. “Ye bring on fever by your intemperance, and yet would putit far off” [CALVIN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye that put far away the evil day,…. The day of Israel’s captivity, threatened by, the Lord, and prophesied of by the prophets; by this prophet, and by Hoshea and others: this they endeavoured to put out of their minds and thoughts, and supposed it to be at a great distance, yea, hoped it never would be; and like the Jews, with respect to their captivity, and the destruction of their city, said it was not near, but prolonged, yea, would never come to pass, Eze 11:3; so some men put far from them the day of death; which though to a good man is better than the day of his birth, yet to a wicked man is an evil and terrible day; he do not care to hear or speak, or think of it, lest it should dampen his carnal joys and pleasures: as also the day of Christ’s coming to judgment; which though a good man hastens to in his affections, desires, and prayers, wicked men set at the greatest distance, yea, scoff at it, as believing it never will be, and to show that they are in no pain or uneasiness about it; see Isa 56:12. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, “who are separated to the evil day”; appointed to it; foreordained to this condemnation; destined to ruin and destruction for their sins; see
Pr 16:4;
and cause the seat of violence to come near; boldly venture upon the commission of acts of injustice, rapine, and violence, on a presumption the evil day threatened will never come; or place themselves on the bench in courts of judicature, and there, without any manner of concern, commit the greatest acts of unrighteousness, as believing they shall never be called to an account for them by God or man.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet here reproves the Jews and Israelites for another crime, — that they had often provoked God’s wrath, and ceased not by their sins to call forth new punishments, and in the meantime rejected, through their haughtiness and obstinacy, all his threatening, as if they were vain, and would never be executed on them. We must ever remember what I have said before, — that the Prophet speaks not here of the whole people, but of the chiefs; for the expression, that they drew nigh the throne of iniquity, could not have been applied to the common people. This discourse then was addressed particularly to the judges and counselors, and those who were in power in both kingdoms, in Judah as well as in Israel.
But it is a remarkable saying, that they drove far off the evil day, while they drew nigh the throne of iniquity, or of violence; as though he said, “Ye seek for yourselves a fever by your intemperance, and yet ye drive it far off, as drunken men are wont to do, who swallow down wine without any moderation; and when a physician comes or one more moderate, and warns them not to indulge in excess, they ridicule all their forebodings: ‘What! will a fever seize on me? I am wholly free from fever; I am indeed accustomed to drink wine.’” Such are ungodly men, when they provoke God’s wrath as it were designedly, and at the same time scorn all threatening, as though they were safe through some special privilege. We now then see what the Prophet had in view by saying, that they drove far the evil day, and yet drew nigh the throne of iniquity He means, that they drew nigh the throne of iniquity, when the judges strengthened themselves in their tyranny, and took the liberty to steal, to rob, to plunder, to oppress. When therefore they thus hardened themselves in all kinds of licentiousness, they then drew nigh the throne of iniquity. And they put away the evil day, because they were touched by no alarm; for when the Prophets denounced God’s vengeance, they regarded it as a fable.
In short, Amos charges here the principal men of the two kingdoms with two crimes, — that they ceased not to provoke continually the wrath of God by subverting and casting under foot all equity, and by ruling the people in a tyrannical and haughty manner — and that, in the mean time, they heedlessly despised all threatening, prolonged time, and promised impunity to themselves: even when God seriously and sharply addressed them, they still thought that the evil day was not nigh. Passages of this kind meet us everywhere in the Prophets, in which they show their indignation at this kind of heedlessness, when hypocrites putting off every feeling of grief, as though they had fascinated themselves, laughed to scorn all the Prophets, because they thought that the hand of God was far removed from them. Thus they are spoken of by Isaiah, as saying,
‘
Let us eat and drink, since we must die,’ (Isa 22:13)
They indeed thought that the Prophets did not seriously threaten them; but they regarded the mention of a near destruction as an empty bugbear. We now then understand what the Prophet meant. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Far away.They choose to think that the day of reckoning is far off, and cling yet closer to their habits of defrauding the poor at the seat of judgment. (Comp. Eze. 12:21-28.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 6:3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
Ver. 3. Ye that put far away the evil day ] Woe to you that would do so if you could; that fondly persuade yourselves there is no such danger in evil doing as the prophets pretend: but that all shall be hail and well with you, though ye walk in the imagination of your hearts, to add drunkenness to thirst, Deu 29:19 , and to heap up sin as high as heaven, Rev 18:5 . This cursed security and hope of impunity is the source of much wickedness in the world. See Pro 7:19-20 Mat 24:48 . See Trapp on “ Pro 7:19 “ See Trapp on “ Pro 7:20 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 24:48 “ Quae longinqua sunt, non metuuntur (Arist. Rhet. l. 2, c. 5). It is a sad thing when men shall say, as Eze 12:27 , “The vision that he seeth is for many day to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.” This atheistic conceit accelerates the judgment: Eze 12:28 , “Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.” Tarditatemque supplicii, gravitate compensabo (Val. Max.).
And cause the seat of violence to come near
“ Sed quam caecus inest vitiis amor? omne futurum,
Despicitur, suadentque brevem praesentia fructum. ”
put = thrust.
the evil day = the day of calamity. Hebrew. ra’a. App-44. Compare Amo 3:6; Amo 5:13; Amo 5:9. Amo 5:10
seat or throne
put: Amo 5:18, Amo 9:10, Ecc 8:11, Isa 47:7, Isa 56:12, Eze 12:22, Eze 12:27, Mat 24:48, 1Th 5:3, 2Pe 3:4, Rev 18:17
and cause: Amo 6:12, Amo 5:12, Psa 94:20
seat: or, habitation
Reciprocal: Jdg 9:27 – merry 1Sa 4:5 – all Israel Pro 19:10 – Delight Ecc 2:2 – It is Ecc 7:2 – better Isa 14:11 – pomp Isa 22:2 – that art Isa 22:13 – behold Isa 59:6 – their works Lam 4:5 – that did Eze 7:11 – Violence Eze 8:17 – for Eze 16:49 – fulness Eze 18:7 – hath spoiled Eze 21:10 – should Joe 1:5 – Awake Amo 2:6 – For three Mat 24:38 – they Luk 12:19 – take Luk 15:13 – wasted Eph 6:13 – in the
Amo 6:3, The false teachers denied that the nation was in any danger, or at least for the time being. Such as-surances of security misled the people because they believed their prophets. The result of it was to encourage further acts of injustice. This is along the same line as a statement of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 8; Ecclesiastes 11 : Because sentence against, an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil,
Amo 6:3-6. Ye that put far away the evil day Ye who persuade yourselves that Gods judgments will not overtake you so soon as the predictions of the prophet import. And cause the seat of violence to come near Who take every opportunity of perverting justice by pronouncing unrighteous decrees, and of turning the seat of justice into the seat of oppression. Or, this latter clause may be interpreted of the Israelites bringing the Assyrians, who were to be their destroyers, upon them, by continuing in their sins, and thereby provoking Gods wrath more and more; or by their imprudence, such as that of Menahem, who, having got possession of the throne by slaying Shallum, gave Pul, the king of Assyria, a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand, 2Ki 15:19. That lie upon beds of ivory This and the two following verses are an elegant description of the bad use men too often make of a plentiful fortune; so that it shuts out all serious consideration, and makes them void of compassion toward persons in want and misery, and to regard nothing but their present gratification; eat the lambs out of the flock The choicest and best of them. That chant to the sound of the viol, &c. Who, though but private persons, make use of all manner of musical instruments, the same as David did, when he was a king; and employ as great a variety of music for their own diversion as he did in the service of God. That drink wine in bowls Not in small, but in large vessels; that is, who drink to excess, and in all respects live very luxuriously. But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Do not humble themselves under Gods afflicting hand, nor lay to heart the calamities which the divine judgments have brought, and are still bringing more and more upon the kingdom of Israel, called by the name of Joseph. The words allude to the afflicted state of Joseph, when he was sold by his brethren into Egypt.
6:3 Ye that put far away the {d} evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
(d) You that continue still in your wickedness, and think that God’s plagues are not at hand, but give yourselves to all idleness, lustfulness, and disorder.
The leaders of Samaria dismissed the possibility that calamity would overtake their city. But they were really hastening the day of terror (or seat of violence) by refusing to acknowledge and repent of their sins. Amos raised the possibilities as questions, but the answers were obvious.
The 31 years following King Jeroboam II’s reign saw increasingly worse conditions for Israel (cf. 2Ki 15:8 to 2Ki 17:6). Six kings reigned, three of whom seized power by political coup and assassination. Fear and violence marked this period (cf. 2Ki 15:16).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)