Amos 1
The nations bordering on the
ch.1 through ch.2:3.
1 “The words
of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which
he saw concerning
in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of
before the earthquake.” “The words” - So Jeremiah begins his prophecy
(Jeremiah 1:1), and the
writer of Ecclesiastes
(1:1). That the words are not
those of Amos, but of Jehovah, is shown by the succeeding clause, “which
he
saw.” Herdmen.
The Hebrew word noked used here is found in II
Kings 3:4,
applied to Mesha King of
considered that Amos was not a mere mercenary, but a rich
possessor of flocks.
His own words, however (ch.7:14-15), decide his position as
that of a poor laboring
man. Tekoah. A small town of
“words” were inspired (compare Isaiah 2:1; Habakkuk 1:1). Concerning
connected with the destinies of Israel The Septuagint
reads, by some
mistake,
“concerning
King of
monuments)
lasted from B.C. 792 to 740, and Jeroboam’s from B.C. 790
to
749. The time specified above probably refers to the period during
which
the two monarchs were contemporaneous, viz. from B.C. 790 to
749,
a period of forty-one years. Another computation assigns Jeroboam’s
reign
to B.C. 816-775; but there is still some uncertainty about the exact
date.
Hence we cannot determine the time of our prophecy with perfect
satisfaction.
Earthquake. No mention is made of
this event in the historical
books.
It was remembered in after years (see
Zechariah 14:5), and Amos alludes
to
it as a token of the judgment which he
foretold, such catastrophes being regarded
as
signs of the majesty of God and His vengeance
on sinners (compare Exodus 19:18:
Psalm
68:8; Micah 1:4; Habakkuk 3:6, 10), Josephus (‘
earthquake
to God’s displeasure at Uzziah’s usurpation of
the priest’s office
(II
Chronicles 26:16).
A Voice from the Sheepcotes (v. 1)
The Jewish nation is almost seven centuries old. A wayward
nonage had passed
into a maturity
INCORRIGIBLY PERVERSE! Alarmed by prophetic
thunders, and riven by the
lightning bolts of judgment (ch. 4:6-11),
Yet God had not cast off His people whom He foreknew
(Romans 11:2). There
were other arrows in His quiver still, and He would shoot
them against national
obduracy with a stronger bow. Amos shall take up his controversy against
Famine and the sword and captivity shall maintain and
strengthen his expostulation
(ch.2:14 16). The argument shall at length prevail, and,
the irreconcilables
destroyed, a remnant shall enjoy His grace and choose His way (ch.9:11-15).
In this prefatory word consider:
suitable and endures. A prophet
sees, where other men are blind, the
meaning of what is and the
nature of what shall be.
Ø
His name. Amos signifies “Bearer,” or “Burden,” or “Heavy.” And it
was prophetically
significant of the owner’s work. His words were
weighty (ch.7:10), the
burden of them was weightier still (ch.6:1),
and WEIGHTIEST OF ALL WAS THE DIVINE AUTHORITY
WITH WHICH THEY
CAME! (v. 3).
Ø
His extraction.
“From
among the shepherds.” These were probably
small sheep owners, who
tended their own flocks (Keil, Lange, etc.).
They were in the lower
ranks of life, the rank from which God has called,
and calls the majority of
His servants (I Corinthians 1:27-28). The
poor
man depends for
all his well being on spiritual good
(Luke 6:24).
He therefore chooses it
more readily (Mark 12:37), advances in it more
easily (Matthew 13:22),
rejoices in it more entirely (Isaiah 29:19),
and is chosen to it rather
than the rich (James 2:5). “Poverty is the
sister of a sound mind,”
was a heathen maxim embodying a kindred truth.
Ø
His calling. “A herdsman and
gatherer of sycamores.” This
occupation would be no mean
preparation for his prophetic office.
A true prophet must be a tender of human life, even when he
denounces death; and if
from the love of man we may rise to the
love of God (I John 4:20),
why not from the love of plant and
animal to the love of man?
“He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For
the dear God who loveth us
Hath made and loveth
all.”
Ø
His home. Tekoah, a city south of
Thence he went to
may not be “without honour,” and corresponding influence, he goes
from his own to a
neighboring country (Matthew 13:57). Then, like
Elijah and John the
Baptist, he goes to the pampered and dissolute
town dwellers, that with
the healthy tastes and simple habits and strong
pure life of a dweller in
the fields, he might put their laxity and luxury to
shame (ch.
6:1-6).
it does, and it is common
elsewhere in Scripture (Isaiah 1:1; Habakkuk 2:2).
Ø
It was what “he saw.” Of the way in which God revealed truth to
inspired men we know
nothing. It is above reason and outside revelation.
It was not with the bodily
eye, nor in the natural sense, that the vision
was seen; but the
revelation was adequate, and the result was
knowledge (Acts 4:20).
Their cognizance of matters was at once sure
and clear (I John 1:1), and
comparable in both respects to that of Christ
Himself (John 3:11).
Ø
It was “words.” A word is the body of a thought. A thought is the spirit
of a word. It is only by
words, or something answering to words, that
thoughts can be conveyed
from man to man. Analogy would suggest that
the same method is employed
by God. If, as some hold, we think in
words, the hypothesis would
be greatly strengthened. In any case, what
Amos got was not simply
thoughts, but words, and the words of Scripture
are, in some real and
important sense, “words which the
Holy Ghost
teacheth” (I Corinthians
2:13; II Samuel 23:2).
shepherd life into a luxurious
city, and with the burden of his heavy tidings
on his heart, the prophet’s
speech is:
Ø
Deeply serious.
A grave character and a grave message make
a
prophetic utterance a
solemn thing. Amos had to tell of A CUP
OF INIQUITY FULL,
of a Divine patience exhausted,
of a dispensation of forbearance
EXPIRED, and of
A NATIONAL RUIN
ready to fall; and he tells it as one
weighted down with the
piteous tiding, which yet he cannot
choose but speak (ch.3:1; 4:1;
5:1; 6:1).
Ø
Blunt. Amos is outspoken and honest, names the condemned, and
unequivocally denounces
their impending doom. He may not mince his
tidings who is the
messenger of death (Matthew 3:10; Luke 13:3;
Romans 1:18). Suppression
would be murder, and even euphemy
would be cruel. Life and
death hang on his lips, and all sentiment apart
he must speak out.
“The
power to bind and loose to truth is given;
The
mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven.”
Ø
Characteristic.
His style is bold and clear and tender,
like his own
nature (ch.4:4,12-13;
9:5-6; 6:9-10); and his imagery is racy of the
mountains and fields in
which his character was formed (v. 2;
ch. 2:9,13; 3:4-5; 5:19). The word of God in one sense, it is
in
another, and no less
really, the word of Amos. The Divine Spirit
supplies the breath and the
fingering, and determines and directs
the time, but the human
instrument gives forth its own characteristic
sound.
were written at the Divine
dictation, and first promulgated in their written
form. But it also contains much
that was spoken first and written afterwards,
for preservation. Such is the
Book of Amos. The writing of it was:
Ø
Some years after the speaking. He spoke years before
an earthquake,
after which he wrote his
book. This earthquake he had foretold in his oral
prophecy (ch. 8:8; 9:5), and he thus puts on record the fulfillment
of
his own prediction. “After
fulfilling his mission, he probably returned to
committed to writing” (Keil).
Ø
In a different form from the speaking. Amaziah (ch.7:10-11)
refers to, and gives a
summary of “words” that are not
recorded.
The book is a resume of
the essential contents of the oral prophecies
(Keil,
Lange). Accordingly, it does not contain
them in the very
form, nor necessarily in
the exact order, in which they were spoken.
Ø
With a widened purpose. The oral prophecies
were for those whom
they directly concerned.
The written prophecies were for the sages and
the ages that were to
follow. They were the flower of the prophecies that
went before (Joel 3:16,18),
and the bud of those that came after (Hosea
8:14; 9:3; Jeremiah
49:3,13-27; 46:6; 25:30). They also
contain truths
essentially
important and requisite for the perfecting of THE MAN
OF GOD IN ALL
AGES! (ch. 3:3,6-7; 5:4-6,14-15;
7:2-3).
Ø
Under the same Divine guidance. The contents of the
book lie
between the expressions, “thus saith the Lord” (v.3),
and “saith the
Lord thy God”
(ch.9:15). These formulae cover both the oral and the
written prophecy, each being the subject of a distinct inspiration
for its
own special purpose. So Paul takes an inspired utterance of David, and,
under inspiration, charges it with a new lesson (compare Psalm
40:6 with
Hebrews 10:5; also Isaiah
60:1 with Ephesians 5:14).
Ø
The Jews.
distinct kingdoms for above
a century (ch.2:4, 6). The entire Hebrew
people are also grouped
together as forming the family of
which God redeemed from
that destruction is
denounced on both (ch.2:4, 6), but it is as one
covenant people that they
survive in a remnant, and are restored
(ch.
9:11-15).
Ø
Their oppressors.
God had made the neighboring nations “the rod of
His anger” (ch. 3:11; 5:27; Isaiah 10:4) to smite
accomplished His purpose
unconsciously, and impelled by evil motives
of their own (vs. 3, 6, 9,
13; Isaiah 10:7). Accordingly, their wars and
oppressions, inflicted on
punishment in turn. It is
thus that the wrath of man, which He punishes
at last, God makes
meanwhile to praise Him by the unwitting execution
of His will. (Psalm 76:10)
Ø
Those who resemble either. God
acts on the same principles in
all ages. (“For I am the Lord, I change not” – Malachi 3:6;
“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day and for ever” –
Hebrews 13:8). He afflicts
the Church for the sins of its members.
To the insincere His
judgments mean punishment only (Romans 1:18).
To the sincere but faulty they mean discipline also (II Corinthians 4:17).
To the Church as a whole they mean separation between tares and
wheat (Matthew 13:29-30). To the outside wicked, through whom
they often come, they
mean more sin now, and A HEAVIER
PUNISHMENT AT THE
LAST! (Luke 16:25).
most explicit.
Ø
Generally it was in the days of Uzziah
and Jeroboam. During those
reigns
therefore, a vision of
adversity when prosperity was at its height, of
disastrous war when peace
by conquest had been obtained with
neighboring powers, of both
these as punishment when idolatry and
corruption were at
their worst. This proves its genuineness, as it
could not have been
suggested by the observed shadows of coming
events. At the same time,
it accounts for its comparative failure as a
warning, THE FUTURE BEING SO UNLIKE THE
PRESENT!
Ø
Specially it was “before the
earthquake.” The presumption is
natural
that these words indicate
not only the period but the motive of the
composition. The approach
of the earthquake was the occasion
of the oral prophecy, and
the occurrence of it the occasion of the written
one. That the latter should
contain a record of the fulfillment of the former
(ch.
8:8; 9:5) is proof that in addition to being genuine the vision is
authentic.
Amos the
Herdsman (v. 1)
There must be some special reason why this prophet puts
upon record the
employments in which he spent his earlier years, and from
which he was
called to assume the office of the Lord’s messenger to
hills to the south of
population must always have been scanty, Amos tended flocks
of sheep or
of goats, and at certain seasons of the year gathered the
fruit from the wild
sycamore trees.
·
RURAL AND MENIAL OCCUPATIONS WERE NO BARRIER TO
THE ENJOYMENT OF DIVINE FAVOR OR TO ELECTION TO
SPECIAL AND HONORABLE SERVICE. This lesson, taught by the
career of Amos, was taught again
by the election of the apostles of the
Lord Christ. The great of this
world are often apt to regard men of lowly
station with disdain, but God takes no
heed of social and artificial
distinctions.
·
THE SECLUSION OF A PASTORAL LIFE WAS A SUITABLE
TRAINING FOR THE PROPHETIC VOCATION. As David, when
guarding the sheepfolds and
leading the flocks to water, enjoyed many
opportunities for solitary
meditation and for devout communion with God,
so Amos in the lonely pastures
of Tekoah must have listened to the voice
that speaks especially to the
quiet and the contemplative, the voice of
inspiration and
of grace.
·
THE RURAL SURROUNDINGS OF THE PROPHET AFFORDED
HIM MUCH APPROPRIATE AND STRIKING IMAGERY. The rain and
the harvest, the sheep and the
lion, the bird and the snare, the fish and the
hook, the cart and the sheaf,
the earthquake, the fire, and the flood, etc.,
are all pressed into the service
of this poetic prophecy. God taught his
servant lessons which stood him
in good stead in after years.
·
BY RAISING AMOS FROM THE HERDSMAN’S TO THE
PROPHET’S LIFE GOD MAGNIFIED HIS OWN GRACE. The
cultivated and the polished are
liable to take credit to themselves for the
efficiency of their ministry.
But when the comparatively untaught and those
who have enjoyed but few
advantages are raised to a position in which they
do a great work for God, “the excellency of the power is seen to be of God
Himself.”
The True Teacher
(v. 1)
“The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen
of Tekoa.”
In the little
lived. He was a lad of humble birth and lowly occupation.
Sometimes he
trimmed the sycamore trees, and sometimes drove the cattle
to and from
their pasture. But he heard the voice of God everywhere, and saw His
works in all the
scenes around him; for he was devout, and feared the Lord
exceedingly. Although he lived in
thought of the sins committed in the neighboring
of the judgments which would ultimately ensue. It was a
time when
had every sign of prosperity. The warlike Jeroboam II was
on the throne,
and his frequent victories gave his kingdom power, wealth,
and security
greater than it had before, or would ever have again. Amos, however, as a
true “seer,”
saw under the surface of society. He was not
to be diverted
from sins and woes at home by dashing enterprises abroad.
He knew that:
Ø
the poor were
oppressed,
Ø
that other classes
were sinking into luxurious effeminacy,
Ø
that the worship of
Jehovah was ignored; and
Ø
these and otherevils he rightly traced to the idolatry which
had its seat in
Inspired by God to
denounce these sins, he visited the towns and villages of
boldly denounced idolatry in its chosen seat. He was
expelled from the kingdom
by force, in obedience to the order of Jeroboam, who was
instigated by
Amaziah the high priest. But (as Church history has often shown) the
attempt to silence
a voice from God made its echoes reverberate through
all the ages. Secluded in his little native village, Amos recorded the
words
which God had given him as a message to his contemporaries,
and hence
they have come down to us for our instruction. The history
of the man and
the style of his teaching in themselves teach us important
lessons. We are
reminded first:
·
THAT GOD OFTEN CHOOSES HIS SERVANTS FROM AMONGST
MEN OF LOW ESTATE. We
often quote the words (1 Corinthians
1:27-28), “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.” But we glide over the
surface of that
assurance without noting, as we
should do, its deep significance and
profound truth. As a matter of
history, however, it is true that the world is
most indebted, not to its kings,
but to its shepherds, fishermen, and
tentmakers. In the stress of
poverty and toil, not in the indulgences of
luxury, the noblest characters
have been formed. It is what a man is, and
not what a man has, that fits
him for the service of God. The
Church has
lost much moral power by ignoring that. No
one can visit our places of
worship without noticing that
members of the artisan class are conspicuous
by their absence. Their energy
and activity are too often antagonistic to
religion. And since they form
the basis of society, and it is ultimately their
work which makes our wealth, the
outlook is sufficiently serious.
Doubtless they are to blame, but
the Church is to blame also. Abstention
from places of worship is often due, in its initial stage, to absence
of
welcome; to the unexpressed desire, on the part of Christians, to treat
certain of their fellow men as a separate class, which is “to be done good
to” with effusive benevolence.
Once more let it be true that “the rich and
the poor meet
together, and the Lord is the Maker of them all” (Proverbs
22:2), that “the poor have the gospel
preached to them” (Matthew 11:5)
and we shall see a marvelous change.
Those who now, while intelligent, are too often cynically
skeptical, or, when degraded, are too often sunk low in drunkenness,
will become as of yore — amongst the noblest upholders of love,
righteousness, and truth.
·
THAT GOD DESIRES HIS SERVANTS TO DO THEIR WORK
NATURALLY. Amos drew
almost all his illustrations from the natural
objects and scenes with which he
was familiar in his calling among the
herdmen. Perfect naturalness is a source of moral power to any
teacher,
especially to a teacher of
religious truth. Nothing is more offensive in him
than pretence, unreality, and
affectation. To ape the style of another man,
to speak confidently on subjects
which have not been personally studied,
etc., brings nothing but
contempt. Be real and genuine, and thoroughly
yourself,
wherever you are, but most of all in speaking for God. Amos the
herdman would not put on the style of Solomon the king. He was as
wise
as David was when he put off the
armor of Saul because it was untried
and therefore unsuitable. The
shepherd lad was mightiest with the
shepherd’s sling and stone.
·
THAT GOD MAKES HIS WORLD TO BE VOCAL WITH
TEACHING. The
prophecy of Amos is crowded with scenes which the
herdman had witnessed. It is worthy of study, if only as a bold
picture of
the incidents of village life in
the East in olden days. Let us trust ourselves
to his guidance in imagination.
We see the gin set for the bird, and the
snare spread for the game. We
hear the roar of the lion in the thicket when
he has caught his prey, and
stand by the fisherman with his hooks, as with
skill and patience he plies his
craft. We watch the man fleeing from the lion
only to meet the bear, and the
fugitive bandit hoping for refuge in the
caverns of
ploughman and vinedresser are
busy at work; and there the gardens, cursed
with mildew and blasting, bear
no fruit. Now we hear the chirp of the
grasshopper in the meadow, and
now the patter of the rain as it falls after
the king’s mowings.
In harvest time, as we walk with Amos, we see the
laden cart pressed down with the
weight of the sheaves, and hear the thud
of the flail as it falls on the
threshing floor, and watch the corn beaten out
flung into the sieve, and note
that while the chaff is scattered “not the least
grain fails upon
the earth.” Then in the evening, when
the land is quiet, and
the heavens are glorious with
stars, we hear Amos speak of Him who
“made the Pleiades and Orion,”
who makes the day dark with night, and
then, in all the splendor of the
Oriental dawn, turns the shadow of death
into morning. What an example is
he to us! Let us re-echo the prayer of
Keble:
“Thou, who
hast given me eyes to see
And love
this sight so fair,
Give me a
heart to find out thee,
And see
thee everywhere.”
·
THAT GOD WOULD HAVE HOLY THOUGHTS ASSOCIATED
WITH ORDINARY THINGS.
We all know the power of association.
Sometimes we hear a riddle or a
joke which presents a text or hymn in a
ludicrous aspect. We never hear
the text or the hymn afterwards without
being reminded of the grotesque
thought. Hence such “jesting which is not
convenient” (Ephesians 5:4) and which is unhappily a staple ingredient
of American burnout, should be repressed by thoughtful men. Our endeavor
should be in the opposite
direction. Instead of making sacred things profane,
let us rather make profane
things sacred (Spurgeon said the main purpose
of Christianity is to sanctify thee secular
- CY - 2022), so that the prophecy of
Zechariah shall be fulfilled, “In that day there shall be upon the bells
of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall
be
like the bowls before
the altar.” (Zechariah 14:20) All things belong to God.
He is present in the fields as well
as in His house. He is near us in our homes
as well as in our temples; and
the life we live as Christian men has sanctity, whether it be spent in the engagements
of business or in the services of the sanctuary. Let us seek grace
to follow in the footsteps of Amos, or rather in
the footsteps of One
infinitely greater than he; and then
when we see
the sower
in the field, or the merchant in his business, when we gaze on the
lilies in the garden, or on
the tares amid the corn, we shall have sweet thoughts
of those higher truths
which our Lord has associated with them. The voice
from heaven still says, “What
God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”
(Acts 11:9)
2 “And he
said, The LORD will roar from
from
and the top of
of “the words” of Amos (v. 1);
and herein the prophet gives a short summary of the
judgment which he has to pronounce. The following clause is
a repetition
of Joel 3:16; and Amos thus connects his prophecy with that
of his
predscessor, to show the unity of prophetic mission, and to warn the
Jews
that God’s punishments are not directed exclusively on
heathen nations. To
the nations denounced by Joel, Amos adds others of
announcing His coming to judge. From
the seats of idolatrous worship, but from
presence. The
habitations; better, the pastures. It is only natural that
Amos, the shepherd, should use such terms to express the idea
that the
whole land, from
feel the vengeance of the Lord. Shall mourn; explained by the following
term, shall
wither; i.e. shall lose their verdure (compare Jeremiah 12:11;
Hosea 4:3). The
top of
stretches boldly into the sea on the south of the
remarkable for its extreme fertility, its rich pastures,
its vines, olives, fruits,
and flowers. Thomson, ‘The Land and the Book;’ writes thus
about it:
“The celebrated ridge, called in the Bible Mount Carmel,
and by the Arabs
Jebel Kurmul, or Mar Elyas, in honor of Elijah, is an extension of the hills
of
miles, terminating in the bold promontory of
almost literally into the sea. It is steep and lofty where
it overhangs the
Mediterranean above
no special excellency in
its vineyards have all disappeared. It was a glorious
mountain, however,
and a prominent landmark; according to Jeremiah 46:18,
of herdsmen. Amos says, ‘The
habitations of the shepherds shall mourn,
and the top of
and this implies that its pastures were not ordinarily liable to wither. This may,
in part, have been occasioned by the heavy dews which its lofty elevation,
so near the sea, causes to distil nightly upon its thirsty head. I found it quite
green and flowery in midsummer.
It was a noble pasture field, and, in reference
to that characteristic,
Micah utters his sweet prayer, ‘Feed thy
people with thy
rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the
midst of
old.’” (Micah 7:14)
The Thunder that Both Frights and Smites (v.
2)
These words are an echo of Joel 3:16. We hence infer the
continuity of
the two prophetic messages. The one strikes the keynote,
and the other
takes up and continues the strain.
Ø
Intervention. “Utters his voice.” The silence of God is often treated
as equivalent to inaction
(Psalm 28:1; 50:21). So His speech would
mean His becoming active,
whether for good or for evil. Here the
breaking silence is for
evil. God bears long with His open enemies,
and longer still with His
seeming friends. But inactivity does
not
show INDIFFERENCE
nor INATTENTION. It is simply
forbearance, that will not
strike till it must. Action delayed is
no less certain, and will
be no less vigorous for the delay.
Ø
Angry intervention.
Shall “roar,”
like a lion ready to devour.
Not till His anger burneth sore does God break the silence. But
when He breaks it He does
so emphatically. He thunders with His
voice. His roar expresses
wrath, and preludes a stroke; and is thus
power and light in one (Job
37:5; 40:9).
Ø
Forcible intervention. God’s speech is
followed by action. It is more;
it is accompanied by action.
It is more still; it is itself action. Creative
power, preserving power,
redeeming power, each goes forth in a word
(Psalm 33:6, 9; Matthew
9:2). Christ says, “Be clean,” “Come forth;”
and the sick are whole, and
the dead live at His word. In speaking,
God acts. The thunder of
His voice is loaded with the electricity of
His power. The vehicle of
the Divine active energy is, in fact,
a word. (“Let there be light, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3);
“For He spake, and it was done” (Psalm 33:9)
along established lines. He
operates:
Ø
From
own city, the metropolis of
His earthly kingdom. Nothing could be
more appropriate. Going
forth to war, the king marches from His
capital. There He has His
magazine, His arsenal, and His
headquarters. From thence
He can bear down resistlessly on foes
from whatever side, with
all the resources of His kingdom.
Ø
From
He loves and chooses and
honors above all others (Psalm 87:2;
132:13; 48:12-13). Here He
has made His dwelling place
(Psalm 68:16; 132:14). The
place out of which go forth salvation
and destruction. The place
out of which the things that come are
perfect after their kind.
If they be blessings, there are no others
so sweet; if curses, no
others so stern.
of the spiritual world,
which sends forth pure or poisoned
blood to each greatest and
least extremity.
Ø
From the temple.
This is not mentioned, but it is
necessarily
implied. The glory of
(using the word in its
broad sense) was God’s house. This was
His sanctuary. There He
dwelt in symbolic presence. There He
revealed Himself in
symbolic portraiture. There He operated
in
unparalleled energy. Thence accordingly we
might
expect His activity to
issue (Psalm 20:2). There, too, was His
mercy seat, from which judgment never came till every
merciful expedient
had been tried, but would come then
with the fury of outraged goodness. Now,
and God’s house are each a
type, and their common anti-type
is the
operations through all time
(Isaiah 2:3; Luke 24:47). He dwells
in it, speaks by it
(Ephesians 3:10), operates through it
(Daniel 2:44), and conquers
in it (Ibid. 7:13, 22).
armies of his judgments leave desolation
in their track.
Ø
The pastures wither. God’s voice, as a A FIGURE FOR
METEOROLICAL PHENOMENA (Were Katrina and Sandy
wasted
merciful attempts to get
Indonesian
and Japaneses tsunamis? Luke 21:25-26 – CY –
2013) is often spoken of as changing the surface of the earth
(Psalm 29:3-9). Here it
stands for many agencies, including these,
and especially drought.
Nature is one, and if any part suffers the
other parts suffer with it
(Jeremiah 25:36). Amos, as a herdsman,
thinks naturally first of
the calamity as it would affect the pastures
by which he made his
living. God’s judgments strike each man in
his special
interest. It is as menacing this
interest chiefly that they
are feared.
Ø
The head of
pastures in the prophet’s
mind were in the south. The enumeration,
therefore, points to the
withering as prevailing over the entire land.
When it was withered, all
other places must have been scorched.
God’s judgments come
seldom, and with tardy foot; but they are
thorough, and make an end of their work (I Samuel 3:12;
Isaiah 60:12). Nor was this
a passing visitation. It remains in its
leading characteristics
till the present day.
implies, was rich in
vineyards. Now there is only scrub,
and the debris of ruined walls. The “head” is dried up, that
might once have been said to “drop down new wine.”
The Voice of
Terror (v. 2)
This imagery is evidently derived from the prophet’s own
experience. In
the southeast of
which every herdsman had reason to dread. The majestic roar
of the king
of beasts is here employed to denote the judgments of the
Lord upon the
disobedient and rebellious, especially of
·
OBSERVE WHENCE THE VOICE OF THREATENING PROCEEDS.
Ø
It is the voice of the
Lord — that voice which assumes now the accents
of compassion and
mercy, and again the tones of wrath, but which is
always authoritative.
Ø
It proceeds from the
sacred city, which was the favored abode of
Jehovah.
·
AND WHITHER THE VOICE OF THREATENING PENETRATES.
From the habitations of the
shepherds in the south, to the flowery
in the north, this roar makes itself heard. That is to say, it fills the
land.
Judah and Israel alike have by disobedience and rebellion
incurred Divine
displeasure, and against both alike the denunciations of the prophet go
forth.
·
CONSIDER THE EFFECT WHICH THE VOICE OF
THREATENING SHOULD PRODUCE.
1. Reverent attention.
2. Deep humiliation and contrition.
3. Repentance and prayer.
4. Such reformation as the heavenly summons imperatively
demands.
A Hexade of Woes
The heathen in judgment: general features
(vs. 3 - ch. 2:3)
From v.
3 to ch.2:3, we have a hexade of woes. In these verses is denounced
a series of six woes, on six of the oppressing nations, round about the land of
common to them all to which it will be well to make
preliminary reference.
send;” “I will
kindle” (vs. 4,7,10,12). It is not
fate, whose “winged shaft”
is but a fantasy.
It is not chance, which is but another name for inscrutable
direction. It is not idols, the
guesswork likenesses of imaginary things. It
is not natural laws, which am
simply forces put into things by their Maker.
IT IS GOD — God in intelligence of device and energy of execution,
who
“creates evil” (Isaiah
45:7) — the evil of calamitous events.
MAN’S SIN. “Because
they have threshed;” “Because they carried away”
(vs. 3,6). The connection between human sin and human
suffering is original,
constant, and necessary. They came together, dwell together, and will die
together. And just as our common
suffering is the abiding result of our
common sinfulness, so SPECIAL
SUFFERING connects itself somewhere
with SPECIAL
SIN! Its relation to the sin, whether as a punishment, a
deterrent, or a chastisement, is
often obscure. The particular sin, or even the particular sinner, can seldom
be pointed to with certainty. There is a
warning against judging harshly of
the specially afflicted (Luke 13:4-5).
Yet the plain teaching of
Scripture and experience and reason is that sin
has “brought death into the world, and
all our woe” (Romans 5:12;
Job 4:7-8).
THAT COMMITTED AGAINST GOD’S PEOPLE. In five cases out
of the six the sin was committed
directly against
case it was committed against
their ally. God loves the world as a whole,
but He loves His people best
(John 3:16; 14:23). He gives to the wicked
“life and breath and all things”
(Genesis 6:17; Acts 17:25), but He gives
to His saints the wicked, and
all they have (I Corinthians 3:21-22;
Ephesians 1:22). He avenges the
ill done even to the sinner, but He avenges
more sternly, because He
personally feels, the ill done to His people
(Zechariah 2:8-9). Their persons
are more sacred than those of others
(Matthew 10:30), and their lives
more precious in His sight (Psalm 72:14; 116:15). Accordingly, the worst form
of murder is martyrdom (Luke 18:7-8),
and the worst form of theft is
sacrilege (Malachi 3:8).
“For three,
transgressions and for four” is the
invariable formula. The
expression means for many
transgressions, culminating in a FINAL
ONE! Persistent sin means
cumulative guilt. Drop is added to drop
till at last the cup is full.
The tendency toward sin God warns; the
first sin He rebukes; the second
He threatens; the third He menaces
with uplifted hand; the fourth
He smites. God bears long with the
wicked, but they may sin once too often. Your past
offences have
escaped, your next one may
endanger the Divine forbearance,
“Sin no more, lest
a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5:14)
EXTREME OF PUNISHMENT OR
ENTIRE DESTRUCTION.
This is inflicted by FIRE, the most destructive element in each case.
God employed fire in many of His
most startling miracles (Genesis 19:24;
Exodus 9:23; Numbers 11:1;
16:35; Leviticus 10:2; II Kings 1:10,12).
In the language of figure it is
the ideal destructive agent (Isaiah 4:4;
9:5; note this last reference is
one verse before God’s revelation
of the Messiah, whose government
shall be eternal – vs. 6-7 – CY –
2013). In prophecy, too, fire is
or symbolizes the agent that destroys the
beast, the false prophet, and
all the wicked (Daniel 7:11; Revelation
19:20; 20:10,15). To
the impenitent, fire will be a
destroying, not a
cleansing power. It points onward to THE VENGEANCE OF
ETERNAL FIRE, which will be THE FITTING RETRIBUTION
OF SIN AT
LAST! (To the advocates and practitioners of
homosexuality, God has not left Himself without witness,
since
fire and are an example to what shall
be the end of ALL SUCH
PERVERSION – Jude 1:7 – I highly recommend arkdiscovery.com
and search the section on
Before announcing the judgment on
thus showing God’s care for His elect, and leading them to
fear vengeance for
their own greater sins towards Him. The order observed in
denouncing these
nations is not geographical, but is regulated by the nature
of each people’s
relation to
The denunciation begins with
and the least akin.
3 “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof; because they
have threshed
For three
transgressions of
form of expression is repeated in each of the following
strophes, and some
critics have taken the terms literally, and have tried to
identify that
particular number of transgressions in each case; but this
is trifling. The
phrase and others similar to it are not uncommon, and are
used to signify a
great number, the last mentioned
being supposed to fill up the measure and
make it overflow (compare
Genesis 15:16). Thus
Job 5:19, “He shall deliver
thee in six
troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee” (compare
Proverbs 30:15, 18, 21; Ecclesiastes 11:2).
of
wars carried on by
I Kings 15:19; chps. 20 and 22;
II Chronicles 16:2; 24:23; II Kings ch.7; 9:14,
10:32, etc.;12:18; 13:5, 25; 14:28). I will not turn away the punishment
thereof. So in the following strophes. Literally, I will not
reverse it. Amos
does not expressly say what; but he means the
sentence or judgment (compare
Numbers 23:20, “I
cannot reverse it,” where the same word is used). The
Latin Vulgate gives, Non convertam eum, i.e. Damascum,
which Knabenbauer
explains, “I will not
avert its destruction, will not turn it aside from its downward
course.” The
Septuagint renders, Οὐκ ἀποστραφήσομαι
αὐτόν,– ouk
apostraphaesomai auton - “I will
not turn away from it,” i.e., as explained
by Theodoret, “I will no longer
disregard its sins.” Because they have threshed
“threshing instrument” (charutz) signifies
a kind of corn drag made of
heavy planks fastened together and armed beneath with sharp stones or iron
points. This machine, weighted with the driver who sat or stood upon it, was
drawn by oxen over the corn (compare Isaiah 28:27; 41:15).
Such an instrument,
set with sharp flints in rows, was to be seen in the Indian
and Colonial
Exhibition of the year 1886, in the
used in the infliction of capital punishment by David (II
Samuel 12:31; compare
Proverbs 20:26).
The cruel treatment referred to in the text occurred in the
time of Hazael during
the reign of Jehu (II Kings 10:32; compare 13:7). The
Septuagint has, “Because
with iron saws they sawed asunder women with child.” This
is doubtless a
reminiscence of Elisha’s words to Hazael
(II Kings 8:12).
4 “But I
will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which
shall devour
the palaces of Benhadad.” Fire. Material fire, though elsewhere the term is
used metaphorically for war and its evils (compare Numbers
21:28; Psalm 78:63;
Jeremiah 48:45). This passage of Amos, combined with v. 14, is quoted by
Jeremiah
(49:27), where he is pronouncing the doom of
palaces of Benhadad. The two expressions
are parallel, or they may signify the
family of Hazael, and
were three kings
of
with Asa, and fought
successfully against Baasha (I Kings 15:20); Benhadad II.
was the contemporary of Ahab, and carried on war for many
years with the
northern kingdom (1 Kings 20). He was murdered either by Hazael or his
servants (II Kings 8:15). Benhadad
III., the son of Hazael, was a
monarch of small ability, and
(II Kings 13:4; 14:27; 15:17). All this happened before the
time of
Amos, who probably refers to all the kings of that name, Benhadad, “Son
of the Sun,” being the title of the dynasty.
5 “I will
break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant
from the plain of Aven,
and him that holdeth the sceptre
from the
house of
Kir, saith the
LORD.” The bar which secured the gate of the city (I Kings
4:13; Jeremiah 51:30; Nahum 3:13). Breaking the bar is equivalent
to
laying the place open to the enemy. From the plain of Aven; Vulgate, de
campo idoli; Hebrew, bikath-Aven;
Septuagint, ἐκ πεδίου Ων;– ek
pediou On - better, from
the valley of Aven, or vanity, perhaps so called
analogously with Hosea’s naming
“House of vanity” (Hosea 5:8).
Robinson (‘Bibl. Res.,’ 677) and Pusey
refer the name to a valley between
of the Arabah, still called Bukaa, in
the middle of which stood Baalbec, “the
writers. The Septuagint Renders “On” in Genesis 41:45 by “
and Baal being both titles of the sun, and indeed synonymous, the introduction
of “On” into this passage may be accounted for. Him that holdeth the sceptre.
The king and princes, as v. 8. From the house of
“House of delight;” Vulgate, de domo voluptatis; Septuagint, ἐξ ἀνδρῶν Ξαῥῤάν,,
- ex andron Charran - “out of the men of Charran.” This last
rendering arises from
considering that the reference was to the Eden of Genesis 2., which the translators
placed in the region of
of the Greeks, which
Ptolemy (5:15, 20) locates southeast of
suggests a place on the banks of the middle
Biredschich called Bit-Adini
in inscriptions of Asurnasirhabal and
Salmanassur II. But this seems to be a wrong locality (see ‘Die
Keilinschriften,’ p. 327). The passage means that all the inhabitants of
valley and city, king and peasant, shall be cut off. Shall
go into captivity.
The word implies that the land shall be “stripped” or
“bared” of its
inhabitants. Wholesale deportation had not hitherto been common in these
regions. Kir has been identified
with the country on the banks of the river
Kar, which flows into the Araxes on the southwest of the
forms part of the territory known as
Syrians originally emigrated (ch.9:7), and back to this
land a large
body were carried when Tiglath-Pileser,
some fifty years later, killed Rezin
and sacked
is the solemn confirmation of the prophet’s announcement,
and recurs in
vs. 8, 15 and ch.2:3.
The Woe against
The
against it had been foretold by Elisha to Hazael, and by him indignantly
repudiated (II Kings 8:12-13). But a man in one set of
circumstances
little knows what he would do under an entirely different
set; especially a
man beginning a sinful life, the magnitude of the crimes of
which he may
yet be capable. Accordingly, Hazael
fulfilled one prophecy, and supplied
the materials of another, by smiting
(Ibid. ch.10:32-33).
whom by her representative we
see that:
Ø
Riches do not prevent rapacity. (Take
note
reason than
the 55,000,000 abortions since 1973 – see under
the next head – THE CRIME - Using instrument for which they
were not designed –
threshing instruments were agricultural
implements, neither
were scapels, forceps, saline solutions
designed to kill
babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - I last taught
this lesson
on June 3, 2001 –
following is an excerpt from my notes:
Who is doing the threshing and ripping today?
Heard this week of Planned Parenthood’s
recruitment on colleges campuses for abortionist
doctors. CY –
2001 and 2013
We studied recently
in Hosea 11:10 that God shall “roar
like
a lion: when He shall roar, then the
children shall
tremble
from the west.” When studying this I
did not
notice
the word west. Whether it means us or
not then,
everything
is in order for US NOW! This next line was
in
the 2001 notes immediately following the other above
references
– CY - 2013)
God
is against thee and you will know when He
roars as in days of old! (I highly recommend
Ezekiel – Study of God’s Use of
the Word Know –
this web site – This
is timely since I saw on the internet
a few minutes ago,
this being January 2 – Will
2013?
continually inhabited
city in the world is in the news – CY – 2013)
irrigated by numerous
canals, and the city itself lying in the
highway of commerce. Yet
greed instigated the barbarous
treatment described. The
wars waged against
of rapine and annexation. “The
eye that loveth silver shall not
be satisfied with
silver” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Rather does the
lust of gain grow by what
it feeds on. Whether it be culture, or
power, or pleasure, or
wealth, men tend to make a god of the
thing they abound in. It
was when
oppression of the poor was
most extreme. It was by her richest
neighbours that she herself was most rapaciously despoiled.
It is thus that the conditions leading men to sin are the
guarantee of its punishment in kind.
Ø
Beautiful surroundings do not humanize. Writers speak in
Glowing terms of the
unrivalled beauty of this ancient city.
“Its white buildings, embedded
in the deep green of its engirdling orchards, were like diamonds encircled by
emeralds” (Pusey).
Yet here,
in scenes of ideal beauty, GREW UP THE
MONSTERS OF
BARBARITY who took the women and children
of
savagely threshed
them out like ears of corn with saw-armed
wheels” (see II Kings
13:7). Physical scenery and
moral
character have no necessary
connection. The fairest lands have
often produced
the coarsest and most cruel men. The
determining element is the presence or absence of the
gospel
of Christ. (Thus, the great
folly of
Christianity through the Courts, the Halls of Congress
and leadership in the
White House!!!!!! Jeremiah asked the
right question - “For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see;
and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if
there be such a
thing. Hath a nation changed their
gods, which are
yet not gods? But my people have
changed their
glory for that which doth not profit. Be
astonished…….and
be horribly afraid….saith the Lord” –
Jeremiah 2:10-12). It is not aesthetics, but TO CHRIST
we must look to
for the moral elevation of men.
Ø
The
possession of strength is a temptation to violence. The beauty
of
orchards in which it was
set formed an admirable defense against
an advancing enemy, and,
thus entrenched, the legions of
were strong beyond their
seeming. Now, just as the subtle choose diplomacy and the rich subsidy in the
settlement of disputed matters,
so do the strong choose force.
It is the readiest and most effective
weapon within their reach. How
many wars, how much bloodshed
and desolation and misery, are directly traceable to “the strong man glorying in his strength”! (Jeremiah 9:23)
and a half is here put by
metonymy for the inhabitants. The horrible and
atrocious outrages on the people
described by Amos suggest that:
Ø
The obverse (other side of the coin) of ungodliness is
INHUMANITY! (Exhibit A – Abortion on Demand in
one. If it be wrong, all others are awry. MORALITY has its basis
in RELIGION. (Thus, the purging of Christianity from the
United
States in the last half century by the ACLU is showing up in
the Connecticut School Shooting [“Thou shalt not kill” is the
issue: Satan and his cronies blame it on guns]. A nation that
will not allow the Ten Commandments as a part of its vocabulary
or daily life, can only expect more
of the same violence! Our
freedom of expression at
the expense of self-control is manifested by
of denied, but camouflaged
“death panels” in the in the Health
Care law is unnerving –
Only to God can one look when it
gets to this stage - CY -
2013) There
is no duty to men
apart from a God and
a revelation of His will. There is no good will toward men apart from His gracious
influence (Titus 3:3). The mere animal nature is selfish, and regardless of all
life but its own. It will
kill for the most trifling
advantage, and sometimes in the lust of blood for no advantage at all. Heathen
hearts are “hateful and hating one another,” and a heathen home is “a
habitation of cruelty.”
Ø
Bloodthirsty men make war even with the implements of peace. There
Is a time coming when warlike
weapons will be converted into farming
implements (Isaiah 2:4;
Micah 4:3). This will be when the gospel
shall universally prevail.
Meanwhile a readier ear is leant to Joel
“Beat your
plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks
into spears: let the weak say I am strong.” (Joel 3:10) than to
Micah, and the converse process
goes on instead. The
threshing instrument was
not made, but only pressed into service,
for the occasion. FALLEN MAN IS AT HEART A SAVAGE
and, under excitation, his inner nature will
break out through
THE ARTIFICIAL
HABITS OF PEACE! (“There
is no
peace, saith my
God, to the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22; 57:21).
So little is there between
work and war, between lawful industry
and lawless murder, in the
godless life.
Ø
Ideal cruelty is utterly indiscriminate. Elisha’s prophecy to Hazael
(II Kings 8:12), of which
this horrid butchery was the fulfillment,
mentions women and children
as the chief victims of the outrage.
There is a bloodhound
instinct in wicked men which is aroused to
fury by the taste of blood.
The horrors of the French Revolution and
of the Spanish Inquisition
reveal it in the infidel and the fanatic respectively. (The Enlightenment
brought about a blood bath and
CY – 2013) It knows no distinction of age, or condition,
or sex.
It simply wants to “slay, and
slay, and slay.” It is a humiliating
thought about our species, but
it is a fact that must be faced by all
who would humanize the race (humanism
is taught in public
schools and of which children
are fed a steady diet – CY –
2013) Secular Humanism is “a
doctrine, an
attitude, a way
of life,
centered upon human interests or values; a philosophy
that asserts the dignity and self-worth of man and his capacity
for self-realization through reason and that usually rejects supernaturalism [religion]” – Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary –
CY – 2013). The tie of blood is perhaps a natural one,
and respected
more or less by even heathen
peoples, as it is by the very beasts that perish. But even this scarcely
operates beyond the filial relation
and the period of childhood. And
then, as for friendship and
philanthropy, they have no
place in the sphere of mere nature. The
question, “Is man utterly
selfish?” is rather a nice one than practical.
He has shown himself
sufficiently selfish to make unsafe the life of
any human being whom he
could gain by killing.
Ø
It falls on the things in which the nation
was preeminent.
“I will break also
the bar of Damascus.” The bar or bolt
which
secured the gate was an essential part of
the city defense. To break
it would be to throw open
the city
to the enemy. By this figure is
meant the breaking of the national strength and means of
resistance, and leaving the nation helpless
before its enemies.
(How on earth can one not see what is happening in
Being overrun by immigrants, attacks on our own soil by
our enemies – 9/11 – and just today, January 3, 2013, the
news comes that Famously liberal Al Gore is poised
to sell his
struggling TV network to conservative
Al Jazeera – I am so lazy that I copied this from
Yahoo as it is
in a different font – really I couldn’t spell Al Jazeera - our
enemy
not only is building a mosque in tribute to their success
near “Ground Zero” but now
is getting a foothold for propaganda
purposes – One would have
to be blind to not see this – II Peter 3:5
calls such, “willingly
ignorant.” I had a dear friend of 85 years
pass on New Years Day. Her name was Augusta Freeman and
she had been blind for a
half century. I used to read to her
weekly – we both especially
liked Charles Haddon Spurgeon –
Blind as Miss Augusta was,
the blindness and ignorance of
a majority of American
citizens in our time puts Miss Augusta
in a league by herself
because “she being blind could see!”
I mourn for her and I MOURN
MUCH MORE GREATLY
for the passing of the
unto life as Jesus said – John 5:24, but from
LIFE UNTO
DEATH! – And while on this roll, may I say that I think it is
wonderful in a secular society that I can still type in my browser
“passing from death unto life” and it immediately refers me to
John 5:24, however, to show us where the heart of secularism
is, a millisecond prior to giving me John 5:24, it wanted to
refer me to “passing gallstones”
- The moral is –
is more concerned for her physical well being than her
spiritual. I remember one time in teaching high school
that I was in the middle of a very important point and a
student had his hand raised and when I recognized him,
he said, “Mr. Yahnig, there is a roach crawling up the
wall” – basically, to me, this is an illustration of the
lack of mental toughness or concentration of Americans
when it comes to spiritual things – also, back in the
days where we had a public dumpster at Herndon, a
short distance from my home, when taking garbage,
often I would look to see what other men’s trash was,
because it might be my treasure. Well, on one such
occasion, I retrieved numerous Open Windows type
quarterly devotional books which I kept in my truch
and from time to time would read the lesson of the day.
One time, there was one which I will relate. It told of
a preacher, I think in
about the spiritual welfare of a man in his parish, who
was well-known as a pick-pocket. Try, with God’s help,
as he may, he never could reach the heart of his friend.
Then one day, the friend was taken to the hospital seriously
ill and the preacher was called for – The preacher, told
him about Jesus and that by confessing his sins, he could have
eternal life with God for ever – suddenly, the man sat up
in his bed, had a beautiful glow and smile on his face and
then keeled over dead – the first thought of the preacher
was that the man had received Jesus at last until he looked
down and the man had the preacher’s gold watch in his
hand! Both stories make the same point – Americans
often have their minds in the wrong places when such
important issues as men’s souls are at stake - CY – 2013)
Thus God declares Himself
omnipotent. Those who glory in their
strength are broken, and
those who trust in their riches are
impoverished (Isaiah 2:11;
13:11; Psalm 52:7). Punishment
adjusted so is more
effectual for its purpose, whether of mercy
or of judgment, for it brings the criminal to his knees at once.
The niceness of the
adjustment is, moreover, a revelation of the
Divine directing hand in
the whole event, and so a lesson in itself.
Ø
It strikes at the national sin. The “vale of Aven,” whose inhabitant
was to be cut off, was
remarkable as containing Baalbec, or
the seat and center of the
Syrian sun worship. There were
observed idolatrous orgies, in which men and women abandoned themselves to
shameless profligacy; and there, where their “offence smells rank to Heaven,” the hottest bolts of
Heaven’s vengeance fall. Others would
be carried into captivity, but
the inhabitants of Aven would be utterly
cut off. The flies of God’s
judgment alight upon the sores of our idol
sins. He strikes the covetous in
his pocket, and the self-indulgent in
his power of enjoyment. (syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS, etc – a basic
incapacitation – Proverbs 5:11;
Romans 1:27). And so in every other
case. The practice that provokes
His judgment is the one on which its
first and heaviest effects fall.
Ø
It includes the royal house. The king is in a
sense the figurehead of
the nation. His policy embodies
the national sentiment, if it does not inspire it. Accordingly, national guilt
culminates in him. It would be
an anomaly if the people were to
perish and he escape. Then the destruction that includes king and people is utter and irretrievable.
(“The
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved.” Jeremiah 8:20) There could be no
restoration, no
resurrection. When only
ashes remain, the rekindling of
the fire of
national existence
has become impossible.
Ø
It denounces on all poetic justice. “Shall go into captivity to Kir.”
From Kir
the forefathers of the Syrians had, of their own will, been
brought by the good
all-disposing providence of God. Now,
SOFTENED AS THEY
WERE BY LUXURY, they were to be transported back to the
austere though healthy climate whence they
had come” (Think of the whining
about the economic situation in
our country today, AS IF THAT WAS ALL THAT MATTERED!
- CY – 2013). The family of
Ne’er-do-well fall into the mud out
of which they were raised at
first, and find it has got deeper in the
interval. The last state of the
abuser of good, in the nature of the
case, is worse than the first.
Tiglath-Pileser, who slew Rezin the king, and
carried the Syrians away
captive. Thus the event was
fifty years after the prediction. Prophecy by
the Spirit of God is as easy to the
prophet a millennium before the event as
n hour. But if it has not been
forgotten in the mean time, it is the more
impressive and striking, the
longer the interval between the utterance and
the fulfillment. Then the
evil prophesied was one previously unheard of,
and antecedently most
unlikely. (i.e. – it had never rained
before the
Flood). The
transportation of whole populations was not, so far as we
know, any part of Eastern policy
at the time of the prophet. There are
unfulfilled predictions, loaded
with the world’s weal or ill, whose
fulfillment is even more distant
and more unlikely. But the “sure Word
of prophecy” (II Peter 1:19) overrides both time and chance, and lifts
remotest events above the
horizon, and into the light of decisive certitude.
For all we fear and hope this is
the guarantee, “Hath he said it,
and
shall He not do
it? Hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good!”
(Numbers 23:19)
The Judgment
on
The beauty of
praise of poets. It is a mournful reflection that a city so
magnificently
situated, and with associations so romantic, should so often have been the
scene of human injustice, cruelty, and bloodshed. The “pearl girdled with
emeralds” — as
without, but, as the text reminds us, has often contained a
lawless and
godless population.
·
THE OFFENCE OF
Ø
In itself this
consisted of atrocious cruelty. The records inform us that
war frequently prevailed between
passage we understand the land
possessed by the Israelites on the east side
of
Syrians in a way fitted to
awaken the indignation even of those who lived
in times when savage cruelty was
but the too common accompaniment of
war. The unfortunate Israelites
who were conquered in war seem to have
been literally torn to pieces
and mangled by the threshing implements fitted with wheels and armed with teeth
of iron. Thus
was God’s
image defaced and God’s Law defied.
Ø
The offence was
aggravated by repetition. Thrice, nay, four times, had
the Damascenes offended the
Divine Ruler of men by their violence and
inhumanity. The sin was thus
shown to be no mere outbreak of passion, but a habit, evincing a corrupt and
degraded nature.
·
THE PUNISHMENT OF
Ø
Observe upon whom it
came.
o
Upon the king, the rulers and princes of
the land. These were the
leaders in the
wicked practices here censured. Their ambition and
unfeeling
selfishness accounted for the sin; and upon them came down the righteous
penalty. The annals of many a nation may prove to the reflective student of
history that a righteous retribution
visits those
royal
houses which have been infamous for selfish ambition, for perfidy, for tyranny,
for serf-indulgence. The King of kings asserts
His authority, and brings down the lofty from the throne.
o
The
people of
national. They
may have been misled by their rulers, but it seems
rather to have
been the case that there was sympathy between kings
and subjects
(compare Jeremiah 5:31 - CY - 2022), and that the
soldiers in the
Syrian army delighted in the opportunity of venting
their evil
passions upon their prostrate foes.
Ø
Observe in what the
punishment consisted.
o
Destruction
(“a
fire”) came upon the royal house.
o
The
splendid and powerful city was laid open to the incursion of the
enemy. The brazen “bar” which secured the
city gate was broken.
o
The
people were carried into captivity, the worst misfortune
which could
humiliate and distress a nation.
Vs. 6-8 deal with the judgment on
6 “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they
carried away captive the whole captivity,
to deliver them up to
Philistines. Three others are mentioned in v. 8,
having long lost its importance, if not already destroyed
(compare II
Chronicles 26:6; Jeremiah 25:20; Zephaniah 2:4, where see
note;
Zechariah 9:5-6).
Hebrew, “an entire captivity,” the whole people, so that
neither age nor sex
was spared. A similar complaint is made in Joel 3:4, 6.
What the Septuagint
meant by their rendering here and v. 9, αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ Σαλωμὼν
–
aichmalosian tou Salomon - it is
very hard to say. Probably they punctuated
the word translated “perfect” (shelemah)
shelomoh, making “Solomon” stand
for his people
established among neighboring nations; these had now been
destroyed or seized.
The event referred to may be the invasion of
the time of Jehoram, mentioned in
II Chronicles 21:16, and in which it is
possible that a compact was made that the captive Judaeans should be
delivered to their bitterest enemies, the Edomites. One would rather have
expected a reference to some evil inflicted on
an injury done to
7 “But I
will send a fire on the wall of
palaces thereof:” A fire. Each guilty city is to have its own special punishment,
though probably the calamity of each is common to all.
conquered by Sennacherib when he invaded
by Pharaoh-Necho (Jeremiah 47:1),
and by Alexander the Great, who
spent more than two months in its siege (Josephus, ‘
2:27; see note on Zephaniah 2:4).
8 “And I
will cut off the inhabitant from
holdeth the sceptre from
against Ekron:
and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith
the Lord GOD.”
Azotus in Acts 8:40), and still a large
village, lay about thirty-five miles north
of
“Askelon differs from the other
celebrated cities of the Philistines, being
seated on the sea, while Ekron,
interior. It never could have had a harbor of any
considerable size,
however.... The topography of the place is peculiar. An
abrupt ridge begins
near the shore, runs up eastward, bends round to the south,
then to the
west, and finally northwest to the sea again, forming an
irregular
amphitheater. On the top of this ridge ran the wall, which
was defended at
its salient angles by strong towers. The specimens which
still exist show
that it was very high and thick, built, however, of small
stones, and bound
together by broken columns of granite and marble. This
clearly proves that
it is patchwork, and not Askelon’s
original rampart....The position is one of
the fairest along this part of the Mediterranean coast; and
when the interior
of the amphitheater was adorned with splendid temples and
palaces,
ascending, rank above rank, from the shore to the summit,
the appearance
from the sea must have been very imposing. Now the whole
area is planted
over with orchards of the various kinds of fruit which
flourish in this
region” (Thomson, ‘The Land and the Book,’ Southern
Palestine, p. 171).
In spite of its bad harbor, it carried on a lucrative
foreign commerce,
which was the chief cause of its power and importance (Ewald, ‘Hist. of
the coast (Jeremiah 47:7), the same as Herod’s Ascalon, and one
inland. In its palmiest days the
former could never have had a real harbor
(‘Survey Memoirs,’ 3, pp. 245, 246). Ekron, hod. Akir,
was twelve miles
northeast of
Uzziah (II Chronicles 26:6), by the tartan, or
commander-in-chief, of
Sargon (Isaiah 20:1), and by Psammetichus
King of
when it sustained a siege of twenty-nine years (Herod.,
2:157).
Sennacherib, in a cuneiform inscription, records how he
treated the two
other cities: “Zedekiah King of Ashkelon,” he says, “who had
not
submitted himself to my yoke, himself, the gods of the
house of his fathers,
his wife, his sons, his daughters, and his brothers, the
seed of the house of
his fathers, I removed, and I sent him to
upon him the payment of tribute, and the homage due to my
majesty, and
he became a vassal.… I marched against the city of
death the priests and the chief men who had committed the
sin (of
rebellion), and I hung up their bodies on stakes all round
the city. The
citizens who had done wrong and wickedness I counted as a
spoil”
(Professor Sayce, ‘Fresh Light
from the Monuments,’ pp. 120, 121). I
will
turn mine hand; literally, will
bring back my hand; visit again with
punishment, or repeat the blow (Isaiah 1:25; Jeremiah 6:9).
The remnant.
All the Philistines who had as yet escaped destruction
(compare ch. 9:12;
Jeremiah 6:9).
The Woe against
whole. Its wealth and strength and special activity against
be the representative of all the other capitals which are
afterwards (v. 8)
enumerated as sharing its punishment. The outrage charged
against
probably that recorded in II Chronicles 21:16 and Joel 3:6,
and
which occurred in the time of Jehoram.
The crime denounced was:
were hereditary foes. In the
history of their feud were many bloody acts,
which culminated in this
wholesale deportation. In the judgment provoked
by it, however, these acts would
all be punished. So the murders of the
prophets, throughout a series of
ages, remained unavenged till they
culminated in the death of
Christ, and then it and they were all avenged
together (Luke 11:49-51). Thus
vicarious is much of human suffering.
God visits the iniquities of the
fathers upon the children generally
(Exodus 20:5), and specially on
those like minded with the fathers
(Matthew 23:34-36) (I once was sympathetic to the teenagers
who were slain by two she bears
in II Kings 2:23-24, but when I
understood they would only grow
up to be like their fathers, then
I understood the gravity of
their sin! CY – 2013). The sufferings
of each age are largely an
inheritance from the ages before.
away captives in
full number.” This cruelty was
gratuitous, as many
captives could have given their captors
no offence; and it was senseless as
well, for many would be utterly
worthless as slaves. It indicated deep and
indiscriminating hate of the
entire people, and a fixed purpose to root out
and utterly exterminate them. Such hatred, directed doubtless against
in their character as the people
of God, is specially criminal, and calls for
special punishment.
suffering they could inflict
themselves, they called in the help of
bitterest foe. They sold the
people to the Edomites, and so became
responsible for the intolerable
cruelties to which they were handed over.
We are in God’s sight as guilty
of the crime we procure as of the crime we
commit. The Church’s mediaeval device of condemning heretics, and
handing them over to the civil
power to be executed, was as vain as the
washing of Pilate’s hands. The
blood shed at our instigation, and with our
connivance or through our
indifference, is blood that will be required of us
in the great day (Ezekiel
3:18-20).
SPECIALLY PROMINENT.
Of the five capitals of
mentioned by name, and the fifth
is included under the word “remnant”
Capitals are centers of opinion,
and are largely responsible for the
molding of the
national sentiment. They are centers
of power, and take
the lead in determining the
national policy. They were in this case centers
of commerce, and so took a
prominent part in the work of bartering
to the Edomites.
Moreover
through its character and
position the chief sinner in this business, and so is
the chief
sufferer. They were also the seats of
as many different idols —
Marua — and therefore CENTERS OF NATIONAL SIN. (So also many
our major cities who vie to
outstrip
Add to this that they were the
national depots and strongholds, and
THEREFORE THE PLACES
WHICH WOULD MOST WEAKEN
THE NATION!
THE CRIME. “The remnant of the Philistines shall perish.” As they
had spared none, so none of them would
be spared. This is God’s way
often. That it may be adequate, and all may be able
to recognize it,
punishment often comes in the
likeness of the crime. The rule, “Whoso
sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed ” (Genesis 9:6).
(This is a tremendous albatross
around the neck of the
Judicial system and the American
citizenry who tolerate it! And it
is not just criminals that I am
talking about – we have the blood of
55,000,000 infants on our hands
– May God be merciful to those of
us who suffer because of the
proverb “If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3 – CY – 20-13) -
embodies the principle that like will be the
punishment of like. It
reappears in the gospel dictum, “With what measure ye mete, it shall
be measured to you again.” (Matthew 7:2). (I
recommend Proverbs
ch 14 v14 – Spurgeon Sermon – How a Man’s Conduct Comes Home
to Him – this web
site – CY – 2013) Not only will sin be punished,
it will all be punished, and
punished fully. When God’s last word
has been spoken, the criminal
shall be even as his victim, and be God’s
enemy besides.
The Judgment
on
The great religious truth which is conveyed in this
prophetic warning
addressed to
·
NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY WEALTH
AND PROSPERITY.
riches. The people not only
possessed the produce of a fruitful soil; they
were versed in the arts of life,
being famous as artificers and craftsmen; and
they enjoyed the fruits of
commerce both by sea and land. There is danger
lest., prosperous nation should
trust in its riches. Yet history tells
us that
the wealthiest
communities have been overtaken by the righteous
judgments of God.
·
NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY
CONFEDERACY. The five
cities of the Philistines were leagued together;
each supported the other, and
every one furnished a contingent to the
national armies. Union is
strength. But the united strength of the Philistines
could not avail them in the day of the Lord. “Though hand join in hand, the
wicked shall not
be unpunished.” (Proverbs 11:21)
·
NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY POWERFUL
ALLIANCES. The
Philistines on the west of
Edomites on the east. And when the Philistines gained an advantage
over
the Jews, they delivered their
foes into the hands of their allies of Mount
Seir. But
and of retribution.
·
NATIONAL RETRIBUTION IS NOT AVERTED BY CRUELTY
TO A FOE. Human policy
sometimes urges that the complete destruction
of an enemy by the sword or by
captivity is the surest protection against
revenge. But Divine government
dominates human policy. The crafty and
the cruel must submit to
the decrees of the JUDGE OF THE WHOLE
EARTH!
Verses 9-10 give the account of the Judgment on
9 “Thus saith
the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for
four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they
delivered up the whole captivity to
brotherly covenant:” They delivered up the whole
captivity (see note on
v. 6). The sin of
concert with the Philistines (compare Psalm 83:7), and was
of the same
character, except that she is not accused of carrying away
the captives, but
only of handing them over to the Edomites.
It is probable that the
Phoenicians had gotten into their hands, by purchase or some
other means,
Israelitish prisoners, whom they delivered over to the Edomites, forgetting
the brotherly covenant made by their forefathers with David
and Solomon
(II Samuel 5:11; I
Kings 5:1,7-11; 9:11-14; II Chronicles 2:11). The cruel
conduct of
against
10 “But I
will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall
devour the
palaces thereof.” A fire, as v. 7: see Ezekiel’s prophecy against
She had long been tributary to
and later was attacked by Nebuchadnezzar, who besieged it
for thirteen
years, with what success is not known. The Assyrian
monuments afford no
account of its capture by this monarch (compare Isaiah
ch.23.; Jeremiah
47:4 - For its
capture and destruction by Alexander the Great, see notes
on Zechariah 9:2, 4.)
The woe against
and very ancient city. Greatest, richest, proudest, and
most luxurious,
perhaps, of all the cities of its time, it passed through
vicissitudes which
were equally beyond the common lot. As with most ancient
capitals, there
were points at which its path and that of
should be corresponding points where they would recross, and on these the
prophet has intently fixed his eye. Of the denunciation
against it observe:
people, and theirs was a
commercial sin. “They delivered up the whole
captivity to
traded in them as slaves —
bought them probably from the Syrians and
sold them to the Ionians
(“Grecians,” Joel 3:6). For this their woe is
denounced; and thus early was
branded with condemnation “the wild and
guilty fantasy that man can hold a property in man.” (A historical
mistake made by the people of the
aware. I think of how ironical it is, that the people in American
slavery were very religious and how just for them, when they trusted
God, to be heirs of Heaven and Eternal Life THROUGH JESUS
CHRIST and now their descendants, deep in unforgiveness and
racism, many of which has taken the bait which Satan has dangled, the
fast track to riches through the drug culture, with all its gangs and
violence, and to be set up and expedited, again misused and abused,
along the road to the Devil’s Hell, which was not meant for man,
but for the Devil and his angels - CY – 2013) THE IMAGE OF GOD
IS NOT TO BE
TRAFFICKED IN “The law” is
against men stealers
(I Timothy 1:10) among other
criminals. A man’s liberty is precious to him
next to life itself. Slavery is the intolerable theft of his manhood and moral
agency, and is CONTRARY TO THE
SPIRIT OF THE BIBLE!
covenant between Hiram and
Solomon (I Kings 5:12). It was a
covenant of peace, of which the
trading in Hebrew captives was a flagrant
violation. This circumstance
made the detestable traffic doubly guilty. It
was two sins in one — perjury
added on to oppression. (So was perjury
added to murder in
Roe v. Wade – when the plaintiff lied as to her
condition, saying
she was raped – CY – 2013). And all Christian
sin is in this respect, its counterpart. The believer is in covenant
with God.
He has said, “This
God is my God forever and ever: He will
be our
guide even unto
death.” (Psalm 48:14). Any after sin is,
therefore, a breach both of
God’s Law and his own vow. The believing
sinner has broken through more
restraints and violated more laws than the
unbelieving, and so is double
dyed in guilt. The difficulty of bringing such
to repentance again (Hebrews
6:4-6) is no doubt closely connected with
this fact.
COVENANT. This
circumstance aggravated the guilt of the violation.
Ties are strong in proportion as
they are amicable. The electric core of
friendship in the cable of a
mutual tie gives it a character all its own. The
breaking of it means to both
parties more of change and loss in proportion
as this core is relatively
large. The Phoenicio-Israelitish covenant was
brotherly:
Ø
In its origin. It was the outcome of brotherly feeling and affection
previously existing. “Hiram,” we read, “was ever a lover of
David”
(I Kings 5:1), and in token
of it he had voluntarily sent materials and
workmen, and had built him
a house (II Samuel 5:11). And the
feeling was evidently transferred
to Solomon. Hiram and he were
on such cordial terms that
he asked for, and Hiram readily sent him,
skilful Sidonian
woodmen to hew trees, and an accomplished
Tyrian graver to act as foreman over his own workmen in carving,
engraving, embroidery, and doing other cunning work for the temple
(II Chronicles 2:3-16). Solomon
in turn gave Hiram wheat and oil in liberal measure for provisioning his house,
and the outcome of these cordial relations was that “they two made a league together”
(I Kings 5:11-12), the brotherly
covenant referred to. The covenant
was brotherly also:
Ø
In its working.
It was renewed from time to time with
various
additions, and was long kept by
both parties.
The heartless sin of
it both expressed and fostered.
It was a sin against both vows and
close relations, and put on thus
an aspect of double criminality.
Ø
The covenant had even a religious aspect. Hiram grounds the
good
will and help, extended to
Solomon, on the facts that the people he
ruled and the house he was
going to build were God’s, as well as on
the fact that he had a special
gift of wisdom from above (II Chronicles 2:11-12). His covenant was thus made
with
and in testimony of his belief
in Jehovah as the true God, and his
desire to advance His
glory. This fact adds much to the
significance
and solemnity of the covenant,
and so of the breach of it. What is
done in God’s name and as an act
of homage to Him is done under
the highest sanctions possible. The
commonest act is glorified, the smallest act becomes great in the greatness of
its underlying
principle. And as is the
doing so is the undoing. The higher the
promiser has risen, the lower has the violator fallen.
implied and sealed a large
amount of previous deterioration, and
so the more emphatically
sealed her doom.
The Violation of a
Brotherly Covenant (vs. 9-10)
The reproach addressed to
against the Israelites, is peculiarly severe. This is to be
explained by the
previous history of the two nations. Hiram, King of Tyre, had been a warm
friend both of David and of Solomon. A close and intimate
connection had
thus been formed. And when
Philistia, gave
peculiarly distressing. In fact, it was recognized as such
by the inspired
prophet of Jehovah.
·
THE DEEPEST FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS IS
THEIR COMMON BROTHERHOOD IN THE FAMILY OF GOD. The
Creator has:
Ø
made them of one
blood,
Ø
appointed the bounds
of their habitation,
Ø
given to each nation
its own advantages, its own opportunities,
and its own responsibilities.
Each has thus a service to render to the Lord and Father
of all; and consequently each has a claim
to the respect and good will of neighboring
nations.
·
NATIONAL FRIENDSHIP IS RECOMMENDED AND
PROMOTED BY MUTUAL INTEREST. The exchange of commodities
which had taken place between
example of the use which one
country may be to another — a use in some
way or other always to be
reciprocated. In peace every nation may supply
the lack of others; whilst
in war both nations so engaged inflict loss and
injury. No doubt, when excited
by passion, nations lose sight of their
welfare; yet it is well to
cultivate in men’s minds the conviction that unity
and concord are of the highest material as well as moral
advantage.
·
NATIONAL FRIENDSHIP MAY BE CEMENTED BY SOLEMN
COVENANTS AND ALLIANCES.
Human nature is such that it is
contributive to many desirable
ends that men should enter into solemn
compact and should ratify
covenants with one another. When nations enter
into friendly alliance, it is
always regarded as peculiarly base when one
nation, without overpowering
reason for doing so, turns against the other,
and betrays or attacks it. Such
seems to have been the action of
·
BROTHERLY COVENANTS BETWEEN NATIONS
CANNOT BE
VIOLATED WITH IMPUNITY.
antiquity, especially famous for
maritime and commercial prosperity.
Proud and confident in its
greatness,
of
this passage so justly blamed. The Lord who
rules in the whole earth is a
Judge righteous and supreme, whose sentences will surely
be executed.
Verses 11-12 deal with the judgment on
11 “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; 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:”
His brother. The prophet proceeds to denounce the three
nations cognate to
most inimical. From the time of Esau until now they had
been consistent in
enmity, and it is this unbrotherly
conduct rather than any specific
outrages
which Amos here condemns.
inhumanity, savage fury, and persistent anger. (For the brotherhood of
25:11-12; 28:17.) The prophecy of Obadiah is directed
against
also Ezekiel 25:12; 35:5,15; Joel 3:19). Did cast off all pity; literally, corrupted
his compassions; i.e. did violence to his natural feelings. So
Ezekiel 28:17, “Thou
hast corrupted thy wisdom,” perverted it from its proper
end. The Septuagint
gives, ἐλυμήνατο μητέρα – elumaenato maetera epigaes - “did violence to
the mother that bare them.” Did tear, as a wild beast tears
his prey. So in
Job 16:9, where the same word is used, “He hath torn me in His wrath”
(compare Hosea 6:1). And
he kept his wrath forever; more literally,
and its fury it (
proverbially bitter.
12 “But I
will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the
palaces
of Bozrah.” Teman is the region of Idumaea, of
which Bozrah is the
capital. Both Jerome and Eusebius (‘Onomast.’)
speak of a city so called
not far from
district; and as the word in Hebrew means “south,” it is
probably the
southern portion of the
capital of
Isaiah 34:6). Jeremiah in ch.49:17 predicts the punishment
of
Ezekiel in ch.25:12-14 does likewise. The monologue of
Obadiah has been
already referred to. The instrument of vengeance in the
present case was
Nebuchadnezzar, though it suffered much at the hands of other
enemies,
as the Nabathaeans and Maccabees.
The Woe against
We have here an inspired description of an ideal hate. It
is loaded with
every quality, and emphasized by every circumstance, and
stained by every
act, which could conspire to establish for it an
“unparalleled record” in the
emulation of evil passions.
out of their common humanity
(Acts 17:26; Genesis 9:5),
common ancestor Isaac. And on
the basis of this relation they are spoken
of as brothers in a special
sense (Deuteronomy 23:5). To the relation of
brotherhood belongs the duty of
love (I John 2:10), which must be
distinctive in proportion as the
relation is close (I Peter 2:17). And the
breach of this law of love is
great in proportion to its normal strength. It is
bad to hate an enemy, but it is
worse to hate a friend, and worse still to
hate a brother. It is against
nature, for “no man hateth his own flesh”
(Ephesians 5:29). It is against
our innate tendency to love them that
love us. And it is against the
popular sentiment which expects us to “love
as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous” (I Peter 3:8). Hatred of a brother
is the grossest hate
there is.
hard for hatred to be still. It is a restless devil in the heart. It wants to
inflict injury. It actually
inflicts it the first opportunity. If opportunity does
not come, it seeks it and makes
it. In the presence of the hated one it can
no more be quiescent than fire
in contact with fuel.
did not fail thus to express its
intensity. On every opportunity it broke out
into offensive and cruel action
(II Chronicles 28:17; Psalm 137:7;
Ezekiel 25:12). Rapine, outrage,
and murder, and the incitement of
others to these, are fitting
credentials to an ideal hate.
deadly injury. It must have blood. And it not only kills, but murders.
Unable to fight
and spoiled the dead, and
murdered the wounded, after some stronger
enemy had defeated them (Psalm
137:7). Then it murdered with an
excess of truculence and savage
cruelty that were natural to
weakness
rather than to strength. Hatred
is a passion “blood alone can quell.”
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer” (I John 3:15), a murderer
in fact if opportunity offers,
in any case a murderer in heart. Let hatred
enter your heart, and from the
moment it settles you wear the brand of
Cain.
mentioned, because the
thing was habitual. A traditional and inordinate
hate of
creed, and was gratified till it
ate
all his humanity out. Too weak to be
a
soldier, he
became a murderous looter, and when the
Assyrian or Philistine
had vanquished
to butcher the living, and
pillage and mangle the dead Obadiah 1:10-14).
There is a pity proper to the
human heart on the platform of mere
nature. Of the “flowers of
from murder in cold blood. Where
the crime is committed, this feeling has
previously been choked out. The power to do
this, to harden and deaden
his own nature, is one
of man’s most fatal gifts. He
disregards the voice of
pity till it becomes dumb. He
fights against the moving of passion till at
last they are felt no more.
it was precisely what one might
expect. There is an infinity that belongs to
the human soul, and which
imparts itself to all its affections. Love is not
exhausted by indulgence, but
strengthened. It goes on and grows forever,
and so with hate. One who knew
well has said:
“Now
hatred is by far the longest pleasure;
Men
love in haste, but they detest at leisure.”
(Byron.)
Hate is fed by indulgence as a
fire is fed by fuel. Do not think your hatred
will be appeased when you have
got what you consider a just revenge. It
will only then begin
to burn with normal fierceness. Such
feelings grow
by what they feed on. THE ONLY WAY TO BANISH THEM IS TO
CUT OF THE
SUPPLIES. Starve a hungry hate, by giving it neither
outlet nor
audience, and
it will soon atrophy and die.
considerate, and disinterested,
was laid down in explicit terms
(Deuteronomy 23:7; 2:4-5),
whilst the brotherhood of the two nations
was emphasized (Numbers 20:14;
Deuteronomy 2:8). Cruel things
were done in spite of this (I
Samuel 14:47; II Samuel 8:14; I Kings
1:15-16), but they were done in
defensive wars, and after
enmity had proved itself
incurable. It is a robust and thoroughly
MALIGNANT HATE that beats down and
burns in spite of others’
friendly attitude and feeling.
Such hate belongs to a nature utterly
inverted, and no longer human
but devilish. And in proportion as it
is such it becomes impossible of cure.
The fire that burns without fuel,
and in spite of water, has the elements of perpetuity in it. It is the
beginning of THE FIRE THAT SHALL NEVER BE
QUENCHED!
(Mark 9:43, 48)
A Brother’s Faithlessness and
Injustice (vs. 11-12)
If
near akin to
passage.
·
KINDRED INVOLVES SACRED OBLIGATIONS TO MUTUAL
REGARD AND SUCCOR.
Moses had addressed
unneighborly, unbrotherly conduct. The proper
response to such conduct
would have been something very
different from what is here recorded.
Amongst all nations, and in every stage of society, common descent from
one ancestor is accepted as a bond of brotherhood and a pledge of
friendliness.
·
THERE ARE INSTANCES IN WHICH THESE OBLIGATIONS
ARE UTTERLY DISREGARDED.
Such was the case with the Edomites.
We trace in their conduct
towards their kinsmen of
iniquity.
1. Aggression.
2. Pitiless anger.
3. Implacability.
Such treatment would have been
unjustifiable from any nation towards another; but the relation and
circumstances made it flagrantly and atrociously wicked in the instance under
consideration.
·
VIOLATION OF OBLIGATIONS SO SACRED INCURS DIVINE
DISPLEASURE AND MERITED PUNISHMENT. A nation sins and a
nation suffers. Doubtless
innocent persons endure in many cases the
sufferings which the guilty
deserve. This is a mystery of Divine providence.
Yet it is evident that cities, tribes,
nations, may be, and often have been,
chastised, as a proof of the Divine rule, as a correction for
human
disobedience, and as an
inducement to repentance.
Verses 13-15 tell of the judgment on Ammon.
13 “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of
Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof;
because they have ripped up the women with
child of
they might enlarge their border:” Ammon was connected with
being sprung from Lot, and together with
retained the stamp of its incestuous birth in habits,
character, and worship
(Genesis 19:30-38). The Ammonites seem to have been a
predatory and roving
nation, though the abundance of rains in the district shows that
they possessed
fixed abodes; but Rabbah was the
only city of importance in their territory
(II Samuel 11:1). Their hostility to
participation with
Other instances are seen in their treatment of Jabesh-Gilead (I Samuel
11:1-3) and of David’s messengers, and in hiring the
Syrians to make war
on David (II Samuel 10:1-6). We have no historical account
of the
atrocious outrage on the Gileadites
mentioned in the text, but it is quite in
character with the ferocity of their disposition, and was
doubtless intended
to depopulate the territory which they wished to acquire.
This barbarity is
spoken of in connection with Hazael
(II Kings 8:12), in concert with
whom probably the Ammonites acted (compae
Ibid. ch.15:16; Hosea 13:16).
Another rendering would refer the clause to the removing of
landmarks, and
yet a third to the storming of lofty fortresses. But the
Authorized Version is
undoubtedly correct. That they might enlarge their border.
The Ammonites
laid claim to the territory which the Israelites had wrested
from Sihon, lying
between the Arnon and Jabbok, and made an attempt upon it in the time of
Jephthah (Judges 11.), and in later years seized on the
possessions of Gad —
a proceeding which brought upon them the denunciation of
Jeremiah in ch.49:2-6).
14 “But I
will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it
shall devour
the palaces thereof, with shouting in the
day of battle, with a
tempest in the day of the whirlwind:” Rabbah, “the Great,” or
Rabbath-Ammon, the capital of Ammon, was situated
on the southern arm
of the Jabbok, and was a place of
remarkable strength (see Deuteronomy 3:11;
II Samuel 11:1;
12:26; I Chronicles 20:1-3). “For picturesqueness of situation, I
know of no ruins to compare with Ammon.
The most striking feature is the
citadel, which formerly contained not merely the garrison,
but an upper
town, and covered an extensive area. The lofty plateau on
which it was
situated is triangular in shape; two sides are formed by
the valleys which
diverge from the apex, where they are divided by a low
neck, and thence
separating, fall into the valley of the Jabbok,
which forms the base of the
triangle, and contained the lower town. Climbing up the
citadel, we can
trace the remains of the moat, and, crossing it, find
ourselves in a maze of
ruins. The massive walls — the lower parts of which still
remain, and
which, rising from the precipitous sides of the cliff,
rendered any attempt at
scaling impossible — were evidently Ammonite. As I leaned
over them and
looked sheer down about three hundred feet into one wady, and four
hundred feet into the other, I did not wonder at its having
occurred to King
David that the leader of a forlorn hope against these
ramparts would meet
with certain death, and consequently assigning the position
to Uriah.…
(II Samuel 11:14-17).
Joab afterwards took the lower city, which he
called
‘the city of waters,’ indicating very probably that the Jabbok was dammed
into a lake near the lower city, to which the conformation
of the valley would
lend itself” (Oliphant, ‘Land of Gilead,’ p. 259, etc.).
The city was taken by
Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:3, 6; 49:2-3), either at the
time of the
destruction of
(Josephus, ‘
“send,” as elsewhere), possibly implies, as Pusey suggests,
a conflagration
from within. The shouting is the battle
cry of the opposing host, which
adds to the horror of the scene (Job 39:25). With a tempest. The idea
is that the walls should fall before the invaders, as if
they were tents swept
away in a whirlwind.
15 “And
their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together,
saith the LORD.”
Their king; Septuagint, βασιλεῖς αὐτῆς–
basileis autaes – their
king. So Keil, Trochon, and others consider that the
King of the Ammonites is meant. The Vulgate,
with
Syriac, and Jerome, retains the word Melchous,
or Melcham, which is the same
as Molech,
their god. This interpretation is favoured by
passages in Jeremiah,
of which one is evidently
quoted from Amos, “For Malcam shall go into
captivity,
his priests and his princes together”
(Jeremiah 49:3); and the other
(Jeremiah 48:7) is similar, with the substitution of “Chemosh,” the god
of
of his worshippers is quite in accordance with the ideas of
the time (comp.
Isaiah 46:1-2). Probably Amos meant to include both notions
— their
“Malcam,” whether king or god.
should be carried into captivity,
accompanied by the princes, all the chiefs, military and
sacerdotal, so that
no one should be left to head a
future revolt.
The Woe against Ammon:
Brutality in its Element (vs. 13-15)
There is a climax in these woes as we advance. Each seems
to outdo in
horror the one before. This one in which Ammon figures has circumstances
of wanton atrocity and senseless savagery in it
unparalleled in any other.
UNNATURAL MONSTERS. Ammon and
unnatural and shameful lust
(Genesis 19:30-38). Begotten in
drunkenness, and conceived in a
paroxysm of lewdness, their chance of
inheriting a healthy
physical, mental, or moral organization was very
small (A word to the wise – CY –
2013). The
almost inevitable moral
twist with which they entered
the world, their education by dissolute
mothers would only strengthen and confirm. And the passionate and
sensual nature he inherited, Ammon transmitted to the nation
of which
he became the father. An
illustration of this inherited coarse
corruption
in the Ammonites was their gross
and indecent treatment of David’s
servants, sent on a friendly
errand (II Samuel 10:4-5). The other
occasion, recorded in our text, is an example of savage and senseless
atrocity unparalleled in the
annals of human violence. As to the women,
it was from their
number that Solomon’s harem was largely recruited
(I Kings 11:1, 7), and they took
to harlotry as easily as their ancestress
herself (Numbers 25:1; 31:16).
Our besetting sins are likely to be those
of our forefathers, and
therefore against these we should be specially on
our guard. They are likely also
to beset our children after us, and should be
all the more vigorously rooted
out, lest we transmit to posterity the
heritage of our sin
and shame. That the thing can be done, let the
virtuous simplicity of Ruth the Moabitess prove. Trained and molded in
a godly Hebrew family, she
responds to religious influence, and exhibits a character that has been the
admiration of all the ages.
FOR WHICH THERE IS THE LEAST OCCASION. He who has
committed injustice for a less
advantage has done it under the impulse of a
less temptation The more paltry
it is in respect of profit, the more profane
it may be in respect of
principle. In the case of Ammon there was the
extreme of disproportion between
the crime and the incentive to it.
The object was to enlarge their
border, an object:
Ø
unnecessary,
Ø
under the
circumstances unjust,
Ø
in itself supplying no
occasion for the horrid outrage, and
Ø
to the attainment of
which the atrocity was in no wise essential.
The act was simply one of
stolid barbarism, unsoftened by any extenuating
circumstance, and unaccounted
for by any consideration of need or fitness.
had put the inhabitants of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon to a
death as
dreadful as that inflicted on
the women in
The present act of Ammon might look like a just retaliation. But, whatever
may be thought of David’s
conduct, it is clear that sin does not justify
more sin. Then David’s siege and destruction of Rabbah
was a natural and
suitable act of defensive
warfare against persistent attacks by Ammon in
league with
bloodshed on both sides. Man has
a natural right to kill in self-defense, and
he whose action necessitates
such bloodshed is the party on whose head
the guilt of it must lie.
AS WELL AS THE DOERS OF IT. “The king and his
princes,”
These ancient kings were
absolute monarchs. Every national act
was an expression of their will.
With them, therefore, the responsibility for
it ultimately rested. It was
done by their direction and under their
superintendence, done often in
part by their own hand, and so was in every
case their own act. And the princes, as the king’s advisers, were parties to
it. Therefore kings
and princes alike must suffer. To
strike them was to
strike the criminal on the head.
Thus far and wide do the consequences of
sin reach,
DEVOURING ON EVERY SIDE. The committer of sin, the suggester
of sin, the deviser of sin, the tempter to sin, the procurer of sin,
the knowing occasion of sin, the
person privy to sin, all are sinners, and
as such are written down for the
sword. Some are nearer the center than
others,
but all are in the vortex, and all must be swallowed up together.
Additonal comments on this section will be included in notes on ch.2
which
in the early verses are connected.
Greed of
Territory (vs. 13-15)
The history of the Ammonites is full of indications of their
natural qualities
and of their conduct towards
people, and were
continually at war with their neighbors. Their
settlement
on the east of the
and from the Book of Deuteronomy down to that of Nehemiah
references
to Ammon occur from which we
gather that they were an idolatrous,
restless,
pitiless, lustful, and treacherous tribe.
The incident upon which
Amos founds this prediction was an incursion which the
Ammonites made
into
·
GREED OF TERRITORY IS A NATIONAL SIN. How many a nation
has been possessed with a
selfish desire to “enlarge its border”! When
population increases, emigration
and colonization may become necessary,
and may be for good. What is blamed is
the desire for a neighbor’s land,
the extirpation or subjugation
of friendly neighbors, in order to obtain
room for expansion or increase
of luxury or of power.
·
GREED OF TERRITORY LEADS TO EVIL CRUELTY.
The instance here mentioned is
no doubt an extreme one; it shows
convincingly that Ammon had no sense of
humanity, compassion, or
decency. Alas! the
annals of our race afford too many an instance of the
cruelty to which ambition leads. The
history of the Spaniards in
a sufficient proof of the awful
lengths to which conquerors will go when
urged by greed of power or of
gold. And settlers even from our own land
have not seldom been guilty of
most indefensible cruelty and oppression
towards the natives of the
territories they have acquired. For the protection
of aborigines it has been
necessary to awaken public opinion, to institute
special laws; Men plead
necessity or expediency in defense or in
extenuation of conduct which is a
reproach to any people.
·
GREED OF
TERRITORY AND ITS FRUITS ARE NOT
UNNOTICED BY HIM WHO RULES OVER
ALL. “The
earth is the
Lord’s and the
fullness thereof.” (Psalm 24:1) He has “given
it to the
children of men.” But when He beholds
sordid greed animate men to robbery, and not to robbery only but to inhumanity
and vile cruelty, his indignation is aroused. Amos makes use of the fire, the tempest, and the
whirlwind, to set forth the
retribution which must overtake the capital of
Ammon, its king and princes. But the Lord reigneth over all lands.
The violent shall not always
prosper. The day shall come when their
schemes
shall be defeated, and they themselves be laid low in the dust.
Great Sufferings
Following Great Sins
(vs. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13; ch. 2:1, 4, 6)
“For three transgressions of
the punishment,”
etc. Amos, we are informed, was a native of Tekoah, a
small region in the tribe of
humbler class of life, and pursued the occupation of the
humble shepherd
and dresser of sycamore trees. From his flock he was divinely
called to the
high office of
prophet; and though himself of the tribe of Judah, his mission
was to
commenced his ministry in the reign of Uzziah,
between B.C. 772 and 746,
and therefore labored about the same time as Hosea. In his
time idolatry,
with its concomitant evils and immoralities of every
description, reigned
with uncontrolled sway amongst the Israelites, and against
these evils he
hurls his denunciations. The book has been divided into
three or four parts:
First, sentences pronounced against the Syrians, the
Philistines, the
Phoenicians, the Edomites, the
Ammonites, the Moabites, the Jews, and
the Israelites (ch. 1 and 2).
Second, special discourses delivered against
threatening nature, in which reference is had both to the
times that were
to pass over the ten tribes previous to the coming of the
Messiah, and
finally to what was to take place under His reign (ch. 7 to 9). His style is
marked by plainness, elegance, energy, and fullness. His
images are
mostly original, and taken from the natural scenery with
which he was
familiar. We may say that the whole passage, extending from
ch. 1:13 to
ch.
2:8, illustrates the three following great truths:
1. The sins of all the people on the earth,
whatever the peculiarities of their
character or conduct, are under the
cognizance of God.
2. That of all the
sins of the people, that of persecution is peculiarly
abhorrent to the
Divine nature.
3. That these sins
expose to suffering not only the actual offenders, but
others also.
The first and second of these truths we will not here
notice; but
to the third we must now give a moment’s attention. In all
the passages to
which we have referred at the head of this sketch punishment is
the,
subject. We offer two remarks on this subject.
·
GREAT SINS ENTAIL GREAT SUFFERINGS. The calamities
threatened to these different
tribes of different lands are of the most terrible
description. But they are all
such as to match their crimes.
Ø The connection between great sins and
great sufferings is inevitable. The
moral Governor of the world has so
arranged matters that
every sin
brings
with it its own punishment, and it is only when the sin is destroyed
the suffering ceases. Thank God, this sin can be
destroyed through faith in
the
mediation of Him who came to put away sin by faith in the sacrifice of
Himself.
Ø The
connection between great sins and great sufferings is universal. All
these sinful peoples had to realize it from
their own bitter experience.
It does not matter where, when, or how a
man lives, his
sins will find
him
out. (Numbers 32:23; Ezekiel 18:2-4)
·
GREAT SINS OFTEN ENTAIL GREAT SUFFERINGS UPON
PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT THE ACTUAL OFFENDERS. “The fire,”
which is here the instrument of
God’s retribution to us sinners, would not
only scathe the persons and
consume the property of the actual offenders,
but others. The fact is patent in all
history and in all experience, that men
here suffer for the sins of others. We are so rooted together in the great
field of life, that if the tares
are pulled up the wheat will be injured if not
destroyed. The cry of men in all ages has been, “Our fathers have
sinned,
and we have borne their
iniquities.” Two facts may reconcile our
consciences to this.
1. That few, if
any, suffer more than their consciences tell them they
deserve.
2. That there is to come a period when the whole will appear to be in
accord
with the justice and goodness of God. (Ezekiel 18:1-32)
The Enormity of the Sin
of Persecution
(vs. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13; ch. 2:1, 4, 6)
“For three transgressions of
charged in general,” says an old expositor, “with three
transgressions, yea,
with four; that is, with many transgressions, as by ‘one or
two’ we mean
many; as, in Latin, a man that is very happy is said to be terque quaterque
beatus — ‘three and four
times happy;’ or, ‘with three and four,’ that is,
with seven transgressions — a number of perfection, intimating that they
have filled up
the measure of their iniquities, and are, ripe for ruin; or,
‘with three’ (that is, a variety of sins), and with a fourth
especially, which is
specified concerning each of them, though the other three
are not, as
Proverbs 30:15, 18, 21, 29. Where we read of ‘three things,
yea, four,’
generally one seems to be more especially intended” (Matthew
Henry). Now,
the sin especially referred to here as the “fourth” is
taken to be that of
persecution, that is, the sin of
inflicting suffering upon others because of
their peculiar religious convictions and doings. Other sins
innumerable,
varied and heinous, they had committed, but this fourth
seems to be the
crowning of their evil. Persecution has been called the measure filling sin of
any people, the sin that will be taken into account on the
last great day. “I
was hungry, and ye gave me no meat,” etc.
·
PERSECUTION IS A MOST ARROGANT CRIME. The religious
persecutor acts upon the
assumption that his ideas of religion are
absolutely true, that his
theological knowledge is the test by which all other
opinions are to be tried. Such a
man is represented by the apostle as one
that “sitteth
in the
(II Thessalonians 2:4).
Presumptuous mortal! The proud tyrant who has won
his way through seas of blood to
the throne, and claims authority over
men’s bodily movements, shows an
arrogance before which servile spirits
bow, but from which all thoughtful and noble men
recoil with disgust and
indignation. But his
arrogance is shadowy and harmless compared with the
arrogance of him who enters the
temple of human conscience, and claims
dominion over the moral workings
of the soul. Yes, such arrogant men
abound in all ages, and are by
no means rare even in this age and land of
what is called civil and
religious liberty. The most arrogant title
that mortal
man can wear is “Vicar of Christ.”
·
PERSECUTION IS A MOST ABSURD CRIME. Far wiser is the fool
who would legislate for the
winds or the waves, and, like Canute, give
commands to the billows than he
who attempts to legislate for human
thoughts and moral convictions.
Still more foolish to attempt to crush
men’s religious beliefs by
inflicting civil disabilities or corporeal suffering.
In truth, the way to give life,
power, and influence to religious errors is to
persecute. And truth never seems
to rise in greater power and majesty than
under the bloody hand of cruel
persecution. It has been well said that “the
blood of the martyrs is the seed
of the Church.”
“A
blameless faith was all the crime the Christian martyr knew;
And where
the crimson current flowed upon that barren sand,
Up sprang
a tree, whose vigorous boughs soon overspread the land;
O’er
distant isles its shadow fell, nor knew its roots decay,
E’en when the Roman Caesar’s throne and empire passed away.”
·
PERSECUTION IS A MOST CRUEL CRIME. What ruthless
inhumanities are in these verses
charged against the various peoples
mentioned — those of
observed that no anger is so
savage as the auger which springs up between
relations of blood. A brotherly
hate is the chief of hates; and it may be truly
said that there is no animosity
that burns with a more hellish heat than that
connected with religion. Gibbon,
referring to the cruelties inflicted upon
the early Christians, says, “They died in
torments, and their torments were
embittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on
crosses, others
sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and exposed to the
fury of dogs; others,
again, smeared over with combustible material, were used
as torches to
illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero
were destined for
the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied by a horse
race and
honoured with the presence of the emperor, who
mingled with the
populace in the dress and attitude of a
charioteer.”
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