Amos 6
This sixth chapter denounces:
o
the careless lives of
the chiefs of
believed not in the coming
judgment (vs.1-6).
o
therefore they shall
go into captivity, and the kingdom shall be utterly
overthrown (vs. 7-11),
because:
o
they act iniquitously and are self-confident
(vs. 12-14).
Vs. 1-6. With a
second woe the prophet denounces the chiefs of the whole nation,
who were quite satisfied
with the present state of things, and,
reveling in luxury,
feared no coming judgment.
1 “Woe to
them that are at ease in
Samaria, which are named chief of the
nations, to whom the house
of
self-pleasing (Isaiah 32:9,11; Zephaniah 1:12).
because she is equally guilty; the whole covenant nation is sunk in the same
dangerous apathy. Septuagint, τοῖς ἐξουθενοῦσι
Σιών – tois exouthenousi
Syriac, and can be supported by a small change in the Hebrew. It
may have
been intended thus to confine the announcement to
with the prophet’s chief scope. But he has introduced
mention of
as ch.2:4; 6:5; 9:11, and his sense of his own people’s
careless ease may well
lead him to include them in his warning. Trust
in the
The city was deemed impregnable, and it kept the Assyrians
at bay for three years
before it was finally taken (II Kings 18:9, etc.; see notes
on ch.3:9 and 4:1). Another
rendering, not so suitable, is, the careless ones upon
the mountain of
which occasioned a feeling of perfect security. Which
are
named chief of
the nations; rather, to the
notable men of the chief of nations; i.e. the
principal men of
because it was beloved and elected of God, and was designed
to keep alive
true religion, and to set an example to the rest of the
world (Exodus19:5;
Numbers 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:20; II Samuel 7:23). Septuagint, ἀπετρόγησαν
ἀρχὰς ἐθνῶν,– apetrogaesan archas ethnon - “they plucked the chiefs of the
nations,” where the verb is a mistaken rendering. To whom the house of
15:4), and who ought therefore to be patterns of
righteousness and equity.
The rendering of the Vulgate, ingredientes
pompatice domum
“entering with pomp into the house of
the present Hebrew text), implies that these chieftains
carried themselves
haughtily in the congregation of
The Danger of Prosperity (v. 1)
When there is unvarying prosperity and people experience no
change in their
situation, there is a tendency to forget God. People calculate on uniformity. As life
has been, so they easily assume it will be. A smiling world
is a
dangerous tranquillizer.
Even the godly experience this (Psalm 119:67), and the
direct purpose of adversity is
to prevent it (II Corinthians 4:17-18). An unbroken run of
prosperity is most unfavorable
to spiritual life and liveliness.
wise,” etc. Character propagates
itself — begets character in its own
likeness. Familiarity with sin
breeds tolerance of it. A sinful example is a
temptation to sin. So long as
men not impeccable instinctively imitate each
other, association with the
wicked must, to a certain extent, corrupt. The
more corrupt any society is, the
lower will be the spiritual tone of the Church
in it. All
no doubt, of the special
national sins; and there is no reason to suppose
that they all were recklessly at
ease in
security of many was due to the
hardening influence of the sins become
familiar to his mind.
cause of all. Sin both blinds
and hardens. The more sin we commit the less
do we see of its consequences,
the less do we fear what we can see, and
the further are we from an
appreciative knowledge of God in those
characters which lead inevitably
to the punishment of it. The climax of
security is more than likely to
correspond to the extreme of wickedness. It
was so with
recklessly at ease, than when
these words were spoken.
Characteristics of Evil Men
continuous attention (Matthew
6:33; 26:41; Luke 13:24). But they do not.
The CARELESS
“eats and drink, and marry, and are given in
marriage”
(Luke 17:27), and so events come
on them unawares. The householder
relaxes his vigilance, and as a
result his house is broken into (Matthew 24:43).
The wise virgins as well as the
foolish sleep (Matthew 25:5), and the bridegroom
comes on them unawares. The
security is foolish in proportion to the interests
involved, and criminal in
proportion to the number and
plainness of
AROUSING
CIRCUMSTANCES.
2:14). He does not see:
Ø
the beauty of spiritual qualities (Isaiah 53:2), nor
Ø
the SELF-EVIDENTNESS
of spiritual principles, nor
Ø
the inviolability of spiritual deliverances, nor
Ø
the grounds of spiritual assurance, nor
Ø
the EVIDENCES OF APPROACHING DIVINE ACTION.
He sees neither what has been, nor what is,
nor what is coming. Accordingly,
he is secure and
at ease in THE VERY TEETH OF DANGER!
its guilt or danger. They
live in it equably and calmly, as if it were the normal
thing. They anticipate no
evil and no disturbance. They reckon on being
spiritual fixtures, and on
the perpetual maintenance of the STATUS
QUO. They do not mean to turn, nor take account of being
disturbed;
but assume that there will be “NO CHANGES” forevermore.
Character is become
stereotyped, conscience is silent, and the quiet of
strong delusion is within
them and all around. (II Thessalonians
2:10-12)
Sorrow
Dogging the Secure (v. 1)
Human life is proverbially uncertain. “We know not what shall be on the
morrow ” (James
4:14) whether we ourselves shall be. “The unexpected” is always
happening; and the lesson of this is — take nothing for
granted that is still
future. In the religious sphere the application of this
principle would put an
end to carnal security, and at this object our text aims.
As to the security
denounced here, notice:
·
THE SPHERE OF IT. “In
the Church on earth (Romans
9:33; see here ch. 1:2). The
membership of this is mixed
(Matthew 13:30, 41). There are cold and
hot and lukewarm among them.
Some love God, some hate Him; some are
in equilibrio
(a state of
balance and stillness) having neither declared for
Him nor against Him. Of the last
two classes many are at ease. The ideal of
spiritual life is watchfulness,
activity, and self-suspicion; but these qualities
need not be looked for in
unspiritual men. Their fitness is not seen, nor
the motives to them felt. Though
in the Church, they are not of it; and the
characters of their life are not
those proper to the sincere believer.
·
THE MEANING OF IT.
There are principles at hand on which to
account for it without
difficulty.
1. Preoccupation. Spiritual things ought to get our first and best and
continuous attention (Matthew
6:33; 26:41; Luke 13:24). But they
do not. The careless “eats
and drink, and marry, and are given in marriage”
(Luke 17:27), and so events come
on them unawares. The householder
relaxes his vigilance, and as a
result his house is broken into (Matthew
24:43). The wise virgins as well
as the foolish sleep (ibid. ch. 25:5),
and the bridegroom comes on them
unawares. The security is foolish in
proportion to the interests
involved, and criminal in proportion to the
number and plainness of arousing
circumstances.
2. Blindness. The natural man is blind in spiritual things (1 Corinthians
2:14). He does not see the beauty
of spiritual qualities (Isaiah 53:2),
nor the self-evidentness
of spiritual principles, nor the
inviolability of
spiritual deliverances, nor the
grounds of spiritual assurance, nor the
evidences of approaching Divine
action, He sees neither what has been, nor
what is, nor what is
coming. Accordingly,
he is secure and at ease in the
very teeth of danger.
3. Presumption. Men do not
adequately realize sin as to either its guilt or
danger. They live in it equably and calmly, as if it were the
normal thing.
They anticipate no evil and no
disturbance. They reckon on being spiritual
fixtures, and on the perpetual
maintenance of the status quo. They do not
mean to turn, nor take account
of being disturbed; but assume that there
will be “no changes” forevermore. Character is
become stereotyped,
conscience is silent, and the
quiet of strong delusion is within them and
around.
·
THE VARIETIES OF IT.
The secure in
same degree or sense.
1. Some are secure
in sin. They expect to sin on and suffer no evil. Either
they do not recognize the
inseparable connection between the two, or they
trust to the chapter of
accidents for something to intervene and stay
proceedings before evil actually
falls (Isaiah 28:15).
2. Some are secure in
morality. They trust in the arm of
flesh. They
persuade themselves that they
are but little to blame. They view the coming
judgments as provoked by, and
meant for, others. They see nothing in their
own life to provoke them; and they build on
this as a ground of immunity
from evil when the
day of it shall come. And so they are secure; less
guiltily, it may be, but no more
reasonably than the secure in sin
(Jeremiah 17:5; Romans 3:20).
3. Some are secure in
ordinances. They locate spiritual
power in Church
forms. The sacraments, they say,
contain and convey the grace they signify.
Regeneration with them means a
sprinkled face, and justification an
elevated host, and
sanctification an exhaustive observance of ordinances.
Many are secure in the
persuasion of these things. They put a hollow
form
of godliness for
its spirit and power, and lull their souls to rest in its deep
recesses.
·
THE OCCASIONS OF IT.
There is an incongruity about it that seems
to call for explanation. In the
case of
was:
1. Unvarying prosperity. “Because they have no
changes they forget God.”
People calculate on uniformity. As life has been, so they easily assume it
will be. A smiling world is a
dangerous tranquillizer. Even the godly
experience this (Psalm 119:67),
and the direct tendency of adversity is
to prevent it (II Corinthians
4:17-18). An unbroken run of prosperity is
most unfavorable to spiritual life and liveliness.
2. Luxurious living. (v. 4.) The course of
religion in the soul is just the
progress of a warfare between
flesh and spirit (Romans 7:23). To this
warfare there is one uniform
issue — the triumph of the spiritual principle.
But victory
is not won without a struggle. The
spiritual principle waxes
strong only under culture. The flesh gets weak only by being crucified. If it
be let alone it will grow
strong, much more if it is indulged and fed. Hence
“fullness of bread
and abundance of idleness” (Ezekiel
16:49) are a
revealed occasion of spiritual declension; and God was lightly esteemed
and forsaken when Jeshurun “waxed fat, and grew thick” (Deuteronomy 32:15).
Luxury is leaving its mark on all the Churches in
indolence and
self-indulgence and a lowered
spiritual tone.
3. Companionship of the ungodly. “He that walketh with wise men shall be
wise,” (Proverbs
13:20) Character propagates itself —
begets character in its
own likeness. Familiarity with sin breeds tolerance
of it. A sinful example is
a temptation to sin. So long as
men not impeccable instinctively imitate each
other, association with the wicked must, to a certain extent,
corrupt. The
corrupter any society is, the
lower will be the spiritual tone of the Church
in it. All
no doubt, of the special
national sins; and there is no reason to suppose
that they all were recklessly at
ease in
security of many was due to the
hardening influence of the sins that
become familiar to his mind.
4. Sin.
This is not an occasion merely, but a cause, and the most fruitful
cause of all. Sin both blinds and hardens. The more
sin we commit the less
do we see of its consequences,
the less do we fear what we can see, and
the further are we from an
appreciative knowledge of God in those
characters which lead inevitably
to the punishment of it. The climax of
security is more than likely to
correspond to the extreme of wickedness. It
was so with
recklessly at ease, than when these words were spoken.
·
THE EVIL OF IT. “Woe
to them,” etc.! Wherever the security is the
woe is denounced.
1. With the godly
it comes before a fall. They stand by faith. That faith is
not an act merely; it is a habit
of soul It is not maintained at normal
strength without an effort. And
the frame most favorable to its
maintenance at par is evident
from the injunction, “Be not high-minded, but
fear” (Romans 11:20). In the perfect realization of our
dependence on
God is the condition of abiding
faith, and in the maintenance of such faith is
the condition of escaping a fall
From the moment Peter soared in his own
imagination, his fall was a
foregone conclusion (Matthew 26:33-34).
2. With the ungodly
it comes before destruction. Carnal security is in
proportion to blindness, and blindness is in proportion
to corruption. When
a sinner is most secure he most
of all deserves his doom, and is least of all
on his guard against
it. Hence, as the height of imagined
safety is the depth
of real danger (1 Thessalonians
5:3). No surer sign of destruction is near
than the cry, “Peace,
peace!”
Religious Indifference
and False Security (v. 1)
Amos was a native of the southern kingdom, but his ministry
was mainly to
addresses, as in this passage, to both
description applies to professing Christians today as
accurately as if it had
just then been written, and had been explicitly applied to
such. How many
who are called to devotion and diligence are “at ease,” are
“confident,” or
“secure”!
·
THE DISPOSITION AND HABIT HERE CONDEMNED. The
following elements are to be
recognized.
1. Self-satisfaction.
2. Self-indulgence.
3. Indifference.
4. Carelessness.
5. Negligence.
·
THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH AGGRAVATE THE SIN OF
INDIFFERENCE AND SECURITY. In the case of those here addressed
we observe:
1. That they resided in places which were themselves a
reminder of the
character of Jehovah and of His
past “dealings” with the chosen people.
2. That they occupied positions fitted to inspire them with
a sense of
personal responsibility. They were the distinguished
chiefs of the nations —
the men to whom the people looked as their leaders, and
in whom they
might reasonably expect to find an example of piety,
unselfishness, and zeal
3. That they lived in times when the judgments of God were
abroad, and
when insensibility to duty and
religion were all the more inexcusably
culpable.
·
THE EVIL FOLLOWING UPON THE DISPOSITION AND HABIT
HERE CONDEMNED.
1. Divine displeasure is prophetically declared against
those who are at
ease when they should be at work,
against those who are secure and
confident when they should be
examining and judging themselves, and
beginning a new and better life.
2. Moral deterioration cannot but follow upon such a state
of mind as is
here depicted. The slothful are
the first to feel the ill effects of their sloth;
the habit grows, and a
religious, not to say an heroic, life becomes an
impossibility.
3. National disaster and punishment are entailed by the
indifference and
unfaithfulness of those who are called to be a nation’s
guides and rulers.
2 “Pass ye
unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the
great: then go down to
these kingdoms? or their border greater
than your border?”
Pass ye. Go and compare your condition
with that of other countries, from the
furthest east to the north, to your own neighbors — has not
God done more for
you than for them? Nothing is said about the destruction of
the three capitals,
nor is
still flourishing and prosperous (though by this time they
had suffered at their
enemies’ hands), and
they. Calneh, one of
the five great Babylonian cities, is probably the Kul-unu
of the inscriptions, a town in
Genesis 10:10 and Isaiah 10:9 the Septuagint calls it Chalanne or Chalane;
in the
present passage they mistake the Hebrew, and render, διάβητε πάντες,–
diabaete pantes - “pass ye all by.”
the east bank of the
some sixty miles southeast of
ranking with
Hamath the great; Septuagint, Ἐματραββά. - Ematrabba
- This was the
principal city of
was called Epiphania, after
Antiochus Epiphanes
(Genesis 10:18; Numbers 34:8;
Isaiah 10:9). It fell in Sargon’s reign, B.C. 720;
afterwards it lost its independence,
and was incorporated in the Assyrian empire.
their five chief cities, and at one time the principal (I Chronicles 18:1).
The site is
placed by Porter at Tell-es-
many hundred feet.” Dr. Thomson (‘The Land and the Book,’
p. 215, etc.)
considers
modern Beit Jibrin, which is some few miles south of Tell Safi. He thinks
the site of Tell Safi is not
adapted for the seat of a large city, and he saw
few indications of ancient ruins there; whereas Beit Jibrin has in and around
it the most wonderful remains of antiquity to be found in
all
probably declined in importance at this time (see note on ch. 1:6), but its
old reputation was still remembered. It was taken by Uzziah, but seems not
to have remained long in his possession (II Chronicles
26:6). In the year
B.C. 711 Sargon reduced
Asdudim, i.e.
more earthly prosperity at God’s hands than you? Is their
territory greater
than yours? No. How ungrateful, then, are you for all my
favors (compare
Jeremiah 2:5-11)!
3 “Ye that
put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to
come near;” Ye that put far
away the evil day. They assigned a distant
date to the time of punishment and calamity; they would not
look it in the
face or contemplate it as approaching and ready to come
upon them.
Septuagint, ἐρχόμενοι εἰς ἡμέραν
κάκην– hoi erchomenoi eis
Haemeran kakaen - “Ye who are coming
unto the evil day.” The
Alexandrian manuscript has οἱ εὐχόμενοι,– hoi euchomenoi - “ye who
pray for” (ch.5:18), with which the Syriac
seems to agree. The
Vulgate (as
passively, renders, qui separati
estis in diem malum. But
it is best to
translate it as above, in the sense of “repelling,”
“putting away with
aversion,” as in Isaiah 66:5. And cause the seat of violence to
come
near. They erected
the throne (shebheth, “the sitting,” or
“enthroning”) of
violence in their midst, made themselves the subjects and
slaves of
wickedness and oppression. The Septuagint, mistaking shebheth for shabbath
translates, Οἱ ἐγγίζοντες
καὶ ἐφαπτόμενοι
σαββάτων ψευδῶν. –
hoi eggizontes kai ephaptomenoi sabbaton pseudon - “Ye who are
drawing near and clinging to false sabbaths.”
The Procrastinator (v.3)
Men will try to use a foolish device to accomplish the impossible, but to
the wise, a foolish thing is never attempted for a wise reason or in a wise
way.
(I once saw on a church marquee in
There is no right way to do the wrong thing! - CY – 2013)
Some do not practically believe that the evil day is coming
at all.
They minimize their own guilt, which is the provoking cause. They magnify the
considerations
which bear in the direction of postponement. They
ignore
THE SURE WORD OF GOD which denounces inevitable suffering on sin. The
result is an amount of ignorance or skepticism about the matter sufficient
to prevent its exercising any practical effect. It is believed in a vague and
heedless way, but not so as to lead to appropriate, nor in fact to any, action.
They know the evil day is coming. They know that, when
it comes,
IT
WILL INVOLVE THEM in its calamities. But they hope events will take
some happy turn. and something indefinite, but highly
convenient, will occur, which
will change the issue, and prevent the crisis from touching
them (Isaiah 28:15). All
sinners persist in the life of sin, yet HOPE somehow or other, to ESCAPE
HELL! Some endeavour
not to think about it at all. They purposely divert
their attention from the subject. They refuse to “consider
their latter end.”
They busy themselves about other things. They insanely act
as if the danger
would be annihilated by being ignored. Into this snare of the devil many
fall. They cannot
see the nearness of the evil day who refuse to look at the
matter. Blinder and more stupid than the ox or the ass is
the people that
will not consider (Isaiah 1:3).
By sticking his head in the ground, like the proverbial ostrich, all that the
procrastinator gains is A HERITAGE OF WOE! (v. 1) - It is evident:
them. We cannot resist His power. We cannot change His purpose. His
word on any matter is the last word, and fixes it once for all. What He has
spoken, and as He has spoken, must come to pass. (Matthew 24:35)
combine in fixing an event enter also into the timing of it. All possible
considerations are taken into account, and infinite power no more surely
does the thing He means than at the time He means. It would be as
wise to attempt and as easy to accomplish the defeat of God’s purposes
as their postponement. Our mental and active attitude are alike inoperative
as to both.
He disqualifies
himself for facing it. “Be ye also ready” is
THE
DIVINE PRESCRIPTION in reference to the unrevealed date of the
day of God. (Matthew 24:44). PREPARE and WATCH are
equally essential conditions of meeting the day of God in
safety. Willful
delusion about the event means woeful injury by it. Men ought to be
prepared for what is sure to come, and when it comes be in expectation of
it. “BE YE ALSO READY!”
The
Procrastinator Family (v. 3)
The fear of suffering is universal and instinctive. All the
lower animals
exhibit it. So do men in different ways. It is not joyous,
but grievous.
Human life and happiness are shaped largely by this
feeling. Men make
their relations to it a chief concern. If it be past, they
seek compensations
for it. If it be present, they seek relief. If it be
coming, they try to prevent
it; or, failing that, to postpone it; or, failing both, to
mitigate it. And as a
certain proportion
of the pain is altogether mental, and due to our thoughts
about it, one of the
commonest palliatives for it is the endeavor to ignore
it altogether. Among her other follies and sins, the attempt to do so on
the
part of
·
THE EVIL DAY WHICH MEN WOULD PUT OFF. This will be:
1. The day of actual
evil. To the wicked there
are many such days, with
almost as many individual
characteristics. Such a day pre-eminently is:
(a) The day of
death. This is the king of terrors. To the wicked it means
the end of all the good they know of, and the beginning of
sufferings of
every possible kind and a magnitude inconceivable. It is, therefore, the day
of evil in a sense peculiar to
itself.
(b) The day of
visitation for sin. Such days are sure and frequent.
had experienced many of them,
and the reminiscence was not agreeable.
They had brought, and might again
bring, every calamity for body, mind,
and estate short of utter
destruction. They were evil days in a very
emphatic sense, and as such were
specially feared.
2. The day of
imagined evil. Such days would be:
(a) The day of submission to God, which is an evil day in the estimation of
pride.
(b) The day of forsaking sin, which is disagreeable to lust.
(c) The day of coming into relation to spiritual things, against all which the
carnal mind is enmity. For such
things the “more convenient season”
(Acts
24:25) is convenient in
proportion as it is or can be regarded as distant.
·
THE FOOLISH DEVICES BY WHICH MEN TRY TO
ACCOMPLISH THE IMPOSSIBLE. A foolish thing is never attempted
for a wise reason or in a wise
way. As to the evil day:
1. Some do not practically believe that it is coming at all. They minimize
their own guilt, which is the provoking cause. They magnify the
considerations which bear in the direction of postponement. They ignore
the sure Word of God,
which denounces inevitable suffering on sin. The
result is an amount of ignorance or skepticism about the matter sufficient
to prevent its exercising any practical effect. It is believed in a vague and
heedless way, but not so as to
lead to appropriate, nor in fact to any,
action.
2. Some trust to the
chapter of accidents. They know the
evil day is
denounced. They know it is
coming. They know that, if it comes, it will
involve them in its calamities.
But they hope events will take some happy
turn. and something indefinite,
but highly convenient, will occur, which will
change the issue, and prevent the
crisis from touching them (Isaiah 28:15).
All sinners persist in the life of sin, yet hope, somehow or other, to
escape hell.
3. Some endeavor
not to think about it at all. They, of set purpose, divert
their attention from the
subject. They
refuse to “consider their latter end.”
They busy themselves about other
things. They
insanely act as if the danger
would be annihilated by being ignored. Into this snare of the devil many
fall. They cannot see the
nearness of the evil day who refuse to look at the
matter. Blinder and more stupid than the ox or the ass is the
people that
will not consider (Isaiah 1:3).
·
THE
WORSE THAN THE FIRST. What he gains is a heritage of woe (v. 1).
As to the coming of this, it is
evident:
1. He cannot prevent it. God makes His own arrangements and keeps to
them. We cannot resist His
power. We cannot change His purpose. His
word on any matter is the last word,
and fixes it once for all. What He has
spoken, and as He has spoken,
must come to pass.
2. He cannot postpone it. The justice, goodness, and wisdom that combine
in fixing an event enter also
into the timing of it. All possible considerations
are taken into account, and infinite power no more surely does the thing it
means than at the time
it means. It would be as wise to attempt
and as easy
to accomplish the defeat of
God’s purposes as their postponement. Our
mental and active attitude are
alike inoperative as to both.
3. He disqualifies himself for
facing it. “Be ye also ready”
is the Divine
prescription in
reference to the unrevealed date of the day of God. To be
unready is to face it at tremendous
disadvantage. To be unexpectant besides
is to aggravate the disadvantage
to the very utmost. Prepare and
watch are
equally essential conditions of meeting the day of God in
safety. Willful
delusion about the event means woeful injury by it. Men ought to be
prepared for what is sure to
come, and when it comes be in expectation of
it. “Be ye also ready;” “Watch
therefore.” By the confluence of these
streams of action is made the
river of a life “throughly furnished.”
Man’s Evil Day (v. 3)
“Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause
the seat of violence to come
near.” This is
another denunciation addressed to the great men in
seat of violence near. Three remarks are suggested by these
words:
holiest men, men whose path
through life has been most calm and
prosperous, have to expect
certain calamities that befall all. There are trials
common to all men, whatever
their condition or character — afflictions,
bereavements, infirmities; these
await most men (Ecclesiastes 9:11).
There is one evil day, however,
for us all. Death is in many respects an
“evil day,” but for the
Christian, Jesus said it was “the passing from
death unto
life” (John 5:24). For the sinner,
what mysterious sufferings
it involves! What privileges and
pleasures it terminates! What disruptions
it produces! Sinner,
thy death will be an evil day; and it is before thee,
and it is nearer
now than ever.
“put far away the
evil day.” Ungodly men put this evil
day so far on in the
course of time that they seldom
discern it and never realize it. It is a mere
speck, seldom visible on the
horizon of many years of unclouded sunshine.
Why do men adjourn in thought this
evil day?
Ø
Not because they have any doubt as to its advent. No day is
more certain. Sooner shall
all the wheels of nature be stopped than
the sun of this day fail to
break on every eye. “It is appointed
to
men once to die, but after this THE
JUDGMENT.”
(Hebrews 9:27)
Ø
Not because they lack reminders of its approach. Every physical
pain, every tolling knell,
every funeral procession (I attended one
yesterday, the burial of
Agnes Haskins, 97 – Jan. 19,2013 – CY),
every graveyard — all
remind us almost every moment that our evil
day is coming. Why, then, adjourn the thought? The reason is found:
o
In the strength of
our material attachments.
o
In our dread of the
mysterious.
o
In our lack of
interest in the spiritual and material.
o In our conscious want of preparation for the scenes of
retribution.
DELAY IT IN FACT. “And cause the seat of violence to come near.”
Perhaps what is meant here is
that these men so ignored their coming
calamities that by their conduct
they hastened them on. Ignoring the evil
day, they pursued such a course
of:
Ø
injustice,
Ø
falsehood,
Ø
dishonesty,
Ø
sinful indulgence, and
Ø
impiety as served to
bring it nearer.
Thus the more they put
it off in thought THE NEARER IT DREW
because they became more self-destructive in their conduct. A general
truth is suggested here, viz.
that a man who adjourns all thought of his
end will pursue such a course of conduct as will hasten its approach.
Some men imagine that by
thinking upon death they will hasten its advent;
hence their dread of making
wills. But such is not the fact. He who
keeps the
evil day in view:
Ø
rightly regards it,
Ø
prepares for it,
Ø
will render such a
practical obedience to the laws of health as
to delay rather than hasten
it. “
Lord, “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
hearts
unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
Putting Away the Evil
Day (v. 3)
By the “evil day” must be meant the day of account and reckoning which
comes to all men and to all communities. As surely as there is a moral
government and a moral Governor in the universe, so surely must
all
reasonable and
intelligent natures be held responsible for their conduct and
for their
influence. Yet it is no unusual thing for
men to follow the example
of those who are censured in this verse.
·
THE THOUGHT OF A DAY OF ACCOUNT IS UNWELCOME TO
THE UNFAITHFUL AND THE IRRELIGIOUS. Such persons need not
be disbelievers in judgment, in
accountability; they may accept the
assurance of their own reason
and conscience that an account must be
rendered to the JUDGE OF
ALL. Yet, as the thought of a reckoning is one
altogether repugnant to them, they persuade themselves
that it may be
indefinitely deferred. It must come, but it may not come
yet; it may not
come for a very long time; indeed, may be so remote that
it need not be
taken into consideration in arranging the plans of life. “....saying, Where
is the promise of
His coming? for since the fathers fell
asleep, all things
continue as they
were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they
are willingly
ignorant...” (II Peter 3:4-5) “Because
sentence
against an evil
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the
sons of men is
fully set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11)
·
THE DEFERRING OF THE THOUGHT OF THE DAY OF
ACCOUNT WILL NOT DEFER THE DAY ITSELF. Moral law is never
inoperative, is never
suspended. Judgment lingereth
not. The history alike
of nations and of individuals
proves that there is a Ruler on high, who is
not remiss in carrying out His
purposes. There is a reckoning in time; there
will be a reckoning in eternity.
“Though
the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though
with patience He stands waiting, He exactly judgeth all.”
It is irrational and futile to
imagine that by forgetting responsibility men can
efface it. Such a supposition
reminds of the action of the foolish ostrich
who thrusts his head into a hole
in the ground, and, because he loses sight of
his pursuers, supposes that he
has eluded them. “There is no discharge in this
war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to
it.”
(ibid. v. 8)
·
NEGLIGENCE CONCERNING RESPONSIBILITY MAY EVEN
HASTEN THE APPROACH OF THE INEVITABLE DAY OF
ACCOUNT. They who forget
their accountability to God for their
unfaithfulness are likely to be
confirmed in their sinful courses; and, as
iniquity abounds, judgment approaches.
Thus the dreaded retribution is
hastened rather than postponed;
and the evil day which men would fain put
far from them is brought near,
and the tempest, which they dread and
would avoid and escape, breaks
upon them in all its force and fury.
Man’s Evil
Day (v. 3)
“Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of
violence to come
near.” This is another denunciation addressed to the great men in
seat of violence near” (Delitzsch).
Three remarks are suggested by these
words.
·
ALL MEN HAVE AN “EVIL DAY” IN THEIR FUTURE. Even the
holiest men, men whose path
through life has been most calm and
prosperous, have to expect
certain calamities that befall all. There are trials
common to all men, whatever
their condition or character:
Ø
afflictions,
Ø
bereavements,
Ø
infirmities;
these await most men. There is
one evil day, however, for us all. Death is in
many respects an “evil
day.” What mysterious sufferings it generally involves!
What privileges and pleasures it
terminates! What disruptions it produces!
Sinner, thy death will be an evil day; and it is before thee, and it is
nearer
now than ever.
·
SOME MEN ADJOURN IN
THOUGHT THIS “EVIL DAY.” They
“put far away the
evil day.” Ungodly men put this evil day so far on in
the
course of time that they seldom discern it and never
realize it. It is a mere
speck, seldom visible on the
horizon of many years of unclouded sunshine.
Why do men adjourn in thought
this evil day?
1. Not because they have any doubt as to its advent. No
day is more
certain. Sooner shall all the wheels of nature be stopped than the
sun of this
day fail to break on every eye. “It
is appointed to men once to die.” (And
remember “but, after this the judgment.” - Hebrews 9:27 - CY - 2022)
2. Not because they lack reminders of its approach. Every physical
pain,
every tolling knell, every funeral procession, every
graveyard — all remind
us almost every moment that our evil day is coming. Jesus Christ came
to deliver us who “who
through fear of death,were all their lifetime
subject to
bondage.” (Hebrews 2:15)Why, then, adjourn
the thought? The reason is
found:
1. In the strength of our material attachments.
2. In our dread of
the mysterious.
3. In our lack of interest in the spiritual and material.
4. In our conscious lack of preparation for the scenes of
retribution.
·
NONE WHO ADJOURN THIS “EVIL DAY” IN THOUGHT CAN
DELAY IT IN FACT. “And
cause the seat of violence to come near.”
Perhaps what is meant here is that these men so ignored their coming
calamities that by their conduct they hastened them on. Ignoring the evil
day, they pursued such a
course of:
Ø
injustice,
Ø
falsehood,
Ø
dishonesty,
Ø
sinful indulgence, and
Ø
impiety
which served to bring it nearer.
Thus the
more they put it off in thought
the nearer it drew because
they became more self-destructive
in their conduct. A general
truth is suggested here, viz. that
a
man who adjourns
all thought of his end will pursue such a course of
conduct as will
hasten its approach. Some men imagine that by thinking
upon death they will hasten its
advent; hence their dread of making wills.
(This is me as I have turned 79
years old and have not a will - CY - 2022)
But such is not the fact. He who keeps the evil day in view, rightly regards
it, prepares for it, will render
such a practical obedience to the laws of
health as to delay rather than
hasten it. “Teach us to number our days,
that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
4 “That
lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their
couches, and eat the lambs out of the
flock, and the calves out of
the midst of the stall;” That lie upon beds of ivory; couches inlaid
with
ivory (see note on ch.3:15) at meals. The prophet substantiates his
denunciation by describing their selfish luxury and
debauchery. Stretch
themselves literally, are poured out; Septuagint, κατασπαταλῶντες
–
- kataspatalontes - “wantoning.” Out of the midst of the stall. Calves
put
up to be fattened. They do
this presumably not on festivals, when it would have
been proper and excusable, but every day.
Luxury is perhaps a temptation to many, if not to us all.
The course of religion in
the soul is just the progress of a warfare between flesh
and spirit (Romans 7:23).
To this warfare there is one uniform issue — the triumph of the spiritual principle.
(God has made man a trinity – a body, soul and spirit and
He meant for the spirit to
rule the flesh! – CY – 2013). But victory is not won without a struggle.
The spiritual
principle waxes strong only under culture. The flesh gets
weak only by being crucified.
If it be let alone it will grow strong, much more if it is indulged and fed. Hence
“fullness of bread and abundance of idleness” (Ezekiel 16:49) are a revealed
occasion of spiritual declension; and God was lightly
esteemed and forsaken when
Jeshurun “waxed fat, and grew thick”
(Deuteronomy 32:15). Luxury will leave
its mark on all the Churches in indolence and self-indulgence
and A LOWERED
SPIRITUAL TONE. (The Church at Laodecia, a case
in point -Revelation 3:14-22)
Familiarity with sin breeds tolerance of it. A sinful example is a temptation to sin.
(Think of the role of x-rated movies, HBO, MTV, pornography, etc., plays in
the lives of the ungodly. If allowed into one’s life, it will even permeate the godly! –
CY – 2013). So long as men not impeccable instinctively imitate each
other,
association with the wicked must, to a certain extent, corrupt. The more
corrupt any
society is, the lower will be the
spiritual tone of the Church
in it.
All
no doubt, of the special national sins; and there is no reason to suppose
that
they all were recklessly at ease in
security of many was due to HARDENING INFLUENCE OF SIN becoming
familiar to his mind. Sin both blinds and hardens. The more sin we commit the less
do we see of its consequences, the less do we fear what we can see, and
the further are we from an appreciative knowledge of God in those
characters which lead inevitably to the punishment of it. The climax of
security is more than likely to correspond to the extreme of wickedness. It
was
so with
she more RECKLESSLY AT EASE than when these words were spoken.
5 “That
chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves
instruments of music, like David;” That chant.
The word parat
(ἅπαξ λεγόμενον– hapax legomenon - one time saying; said once)
means rather “to prattle,” “to
sing idle songs,” as the Revised Version
translates it.
The reading of the Septuagint varies between ἐπικρατοῦντες – epikratountes
-
“excelling,” and ἐπικροτοῦντες – epikrotountes - the latter of which words might
mean “applauding.”
Viol (see note on ch.5:23). Invent to themselves instruments
of music,
like David. As David devised stringed instruments and modes of
singing to do honor to God and for the service of his
sanctuary (see I Chronicles
15:16; 23:5; II Chronicles 29:26-27; and the supernumerary
psalm at the end
of the Psalter in the Septuagint), so these debauchees
invented new singing and
playing to grace their luxurious feasts. The Septuagint
rendering, which Jerome calls
“sensus pulcherrimus,”
is not to be explained by the present Hebrew text, however
true to fact it may be considered, Ὡς ἑστηκότα
ἐλογίσαντο
καὶ οὐχ
ὡς φεύγοντα –
Hos hestaekota elogisanto
kai ouch hos pheugonta - “Regarded
them as abiding and not as fleeting things.”
6 “That
drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief
ointments: but they are not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph.”
Wine in bowls (misraqim);
sacrificial bowls; used in libations
of wine and in the sprinkling of blood (compare Exodus
38:3;
Numbers 7:13; I Chronicles 28:17; II Chronicles 4:8,22;
Zechariah 9:15;
14:20). These vessels the luxurious and sacrilegious
princes employed in their
feasts, proving thus
their impiety and their excess (compare
Daniel 5:2-6).
Septuagint, οἱ πίνοντες τὸν διυλισμένον
οϊνον – hoi pinontes ton
Diulismenon onion - “who drink strained wine.” The chief ointments.
Such as were used in Divine service (Exodus 30:22-25), and
nowhere
else. If they had felt as
they ought to feel in this time of rebuke and sorrow,
they would, like mourners, have refrained from anointing themselves
(Ruth 3:3;
II Samuel 14:2); but, on the contrary, they are not grieved for the affliction
of Joseph. The coming ruin of the ten tribes affects them not; in
their selfish voluptuousness they have no sympathy with calamity and
suffering, and SHUT THEIR EYES TO THE COMING EVIL!
“The affliction of Joseph” is probably a proverbial expression derived from
the narratives in
Genesis 37:25, and 40:14, 23; compare 42:21).
Woeful Ease
(vs. 1-6)
“Woe to them that are at ease in
Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the
house of Israel
came!” etc. “This
chapter embraces the character and punishment of the
whole Hebrew nation. The inhabitants of the two capitals
are directly
addressed in the language of denunciation, and charged to take
warning
from the fate of other nations (vs. 1-2). Their carnal
security, injustice,
self-indulgence, sensuality, and total
disregard of the Divine threatenings
are next described (vs. 3-6). After which the prophet
announces the
Captivity and the calamitous circumstances connected with
the siege of
absurdity of their conduct, and threatens them with the
irruption of an
enemy that should pervade the whole country (vs. 12-14)”
(Henderson).
The words of our text (v. 1) denounce a state of mind which
most men
desiderate (a keen desire) — “ease.” Amidst the
harassing cares, turmoil,
and agitating events of life, men on all hands are crying
out for ease. Like
mariners that have long battled with tempests, they long
for a calm sea in
which to drop anchor and be at rest. But here there is a
fearful “woe”
denounced against ease. What is this ease?
·
IT IS THE EASE OF PRIDE. These great nations,
one having its seat in
imaginary superiority as the
chief of the nations, settled down in carnal
security. Those that dwelt in
because of its historic
grandeur, its temple, the dwelling place of the
Almighty, and its mountain
fortifications. Those that dwelt in
the ten tribes — had the same
false confidence in their safety. The
mountains of
strong people, they relied upon,
free from all apprehension of dangers. It
was the ease of pride and overrated power.
·
IT IS THE EASE OF RUIN.
“Pass
ye unto Calneh [this was an ancient
city built by Nimrod] and
see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great
[one of the chief cities of
[the great city in
these kingdoms? Are you who live
at
they were, more strong and
invincible? Yet they are gone. Calneh gone,
Hamath gone,
should you feel yourselves safe
and be at ease in
example condemns your false
security and predicts your ruin. The ease
here denounced is like the ease
of stolid indifference or the ease of an inactive
conscience, terribly
general, fearfully criminal, and awfully dangerous. It
must sooner or later be broken.
The hurricanes of retribution must sooner
or later lash the sleeping ocean
into foaming fury. Souls are everywhere
sleeping on the bosom
of volcanoes (like
some voice from the heavens
above or the earth beneath, to startle the men
of this generation!
·
CONCLUSION. Learn from this subject:
1. That the mere feeling of security is no infallible proof of
safety. Men
are prone to deceive
themselves. “The heart is deceitful above all
things,
and desperately
wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9) Some men, like the drunkard
whose
vessel is going down, feel themselves
safe because they are unconscious of the
danger. Some men feel themselves
safe because of the confidence they
have in objects that are utterly
unable to sustain them. The only feeling of
security that warrants safety
is that which springs from a conscious trust in
God. Such as have this can say, “God is our Refuge and Strength,
a very
present help in
trouble.” (Psalm
46:1)
2. That great
advantages may prove great curses. It was a great advantage
for
respects, national and
religious. But these
advantages, because they were
overrated,
trusted in, put in the place of God himself, proved to them most
disastrous. So it ever is. Our
civilization, our literature, our Churches, our
Bibles, have proved curses to
millions, and will perhaps to millions more.
The Pharisee in the temple is an
illustration of this.
3. That retributions which have overtaken others should be a
warning to
us. The prophet calls upon these men of
Calneh, Hamath, Garb. “All
these things,” says Paul, “happened unto them
for
ensamples.” (I Corinthians 10:11)
Learn to read our fate in history.
Ungodly nations, where are
Churches, where are the Churches
of Asia Minor?
The Dry Eye
of the Destroyer (v. 6)
“But they are not grieved for the hurt of
Joseph.” Of the many aspects of
our brother, and by our wrong doing to blight his life; but
it makes the
crime hideous to look, uncaring and callous, on the
desolation we
ourselves have wrought. (Compare Ezekiel 9:4 - CY - 2022)
·
ONE MAN’S SUFFERING IS A FIT OCCASION OF ANOTHER
MAN’S SORROW. Men are
brothers (Acts 17:26), and owe a mutual
regard for each other’s
concerns (Philippians 2:4). Suffering is evil,
and
the proper
relation toward those enduring it is sympathy (1 John 3:17).
God pities the afflicted, and
compassion in HHim is the reason and measure
of its dutifulness in us (Matthew
9:36; Luke 10:33-37). We cannot
disregard the sufferings of men without sinning against God and against
our own humanity.
·
THE GREAT OBSTACLE TO SYMPATHY IS THE SELFISHNESS
OF SIN. This leads to
atheism on the one hand, and misanthropy (hatred
of humanity and anti-social
behavior) on the other. The first man showed this
tendency, the second that. Adam
failed in regard for God, Cain in regard for
his brother. But both
transgressions arose out of the one sinful character
of selfishness. Adam
violated God’s command because he preferred his
own way; Cain destroyed Abel’s
life because he thought less of it than
of his
own wounded self-love. And all men, in
proportion as they are sinful,
are selfish, inconsiderate, and
misanthropic. Love is of God, and rules
where God dwells. Where God
dwells not we have men “hateful
and
hating one
another.” Selfishness and disregard of
others’ happiness is
the very mark and token of a
corrupt nature (and apparently symptomatic
of our culture. CY - 2022).
·
SELFISHNESS IS WORST IN KIND WHEN MANIFESTED
TOWARD OUR OWN KINDRED.
In addition to the philanthropy which
has its basis in the brotherhood
of the race, is the stronger affection which
arises out of nearer ties. “Our
neighbor,” “our own,” “those of our own
household,” are, in an ascending scale, the prescribed and natural
objects of
our love and care (Matthew
19:19; 1 Timothy 5:8). In proportion
to the closeness of our relation
to an individual is the normal strength of
THE TIE BETWEEN US and
so the guilt of disregarding it. The disregard
of
sin of brother against brethren,
and involved the violation of blood ties
sacred by every law.
·
THE GREATEST DEGREE OF SELFISHNESS IS THAT IN
REGARD TO THE SUFFERINGS OF OTHERS, INFLICTED OR
BROUGHT ABOUT BY OURSELVES. In
disregarded the judgments decimating the nation were the men
whose
wickedness had brought them on. They were indifferent, in fact, about
sufferings of which they were
themselves the authors. And they have their
counterparts in the world still.
The drunkard who ruins his own family, the
libertine who ruins the family
of his neighbor, are the only men in the
community who “care for none of
these things.” The explanation is that
SPECIAL SIN
PRODUCES A SPECIAL HARDNESS OF HEART
and
the man whose wickedness
involves society in misery is the man who, by the
very fact, is constituted most
incapable of feeling it.
In vs. 7-11 follows the announcement of punishment for the
crimes mentioned above:
o
the people shall go
into captivity;
o
they shall be rejected
of God, and
o
given over to utter
ruin.
7 “Therefore
now shall they go captive with the first that go captive,
and the banquet of them that stretched
themselves shall be removed.”
With the first. They shall have a
preeminence indeed, being the first to
go into
captivity.
jugum, secundum illud
quod in Ezechiele scriptum est: ‘a sanctuario meo incipite’”
(Ezekiel 9:6). With the first; literally, at the
head, with reference doubtless to
v. 1. The banquet
(mirzakh); the screech of revelers.
The word is used of the
scream of mourners in Jeremiah 16:5; here of the cries and
shouts of feasters at
a banquet. Them that stretched themselves on couches,
as v. 4. The
Septuagint, reading differently, has. “They shall depart
into captivity from the
dominion of princes, and the neighing of horses shall be
taken away from Ephraim.”
From this passage of Amos
most untrained of the prophets possessed eloquence and
literary skill (‘De
Doctr. Christ.,’ 4:7).
Wantonness the Way to Woe (vs. 1-7)
God’s thoughts are not as ours. He sees things all round;
we see but one
side of them. He sees the inner reality of things; we see
but their outward
semblance. He sees the tendency and ultimate result of
things; we but guess
their probable tendency, knowing nothing of distant results
whatever.
Hence, in their estimates of life and of good, “the wisdom of men is
foolishness with God” (I Corinthians 3:19).
The passage before us is an
illustration of this The conditions of being desiderated by
carnal wisdom are here
declared utterly baneful, its calculations fallacious, and
its canons of judgment false.
We see here:
(Psalm 37:35), nor one whose
lesson is hard to read (Psalm 92:7).
Ø
now, it would have compared
favorably with the neighboring heathen
states (v. 2). It had the
power of unique knowledge. It had the greatness
of a unique culture. It had
the glory of a unique Divine connection
(Exodus 19:5; II Samuel
7:23). With an equal numerical, financial, and
Territorial strength, it
held, in virtue of these advantages, a preeminence
above any other people. Its
wealth and magnificence were the admiration
of even Oriental sovereigns
(I Kings 10.); its armies, under normal
circumstances, could hold
their own with any of the time (I Samuel 15:
1-8); and the white wings
of its commerce gleamed on every sea. In
spite of national
unfaithfulness and rebellion and wickedness, God’s
promise to Abraham to make
of him “a great nation” had been,
in the fullest sense,
accomplished. (Genesis 12:2)
Ø
These were the chiefs of
and judges of the people. They
occupied the position of princes, and the
house of
the descendants of those
tribe princes who had once been honored to
conduct the affairs of the
chosen family along with Moses and Aaron,
and whose light shone forth from that better age as brilliant
examples of what
a truly theocratical character was.” This
was a proud position,
and it had brought the usual amount of
arrogance with it.
strength makes men and nations
feel secure. As to
Ø
They were secure in religious privilege. “In
on their covenant relation.
They ignored its sanctions, disregarded its
responsibilities, and took it
as a guarantee of immunity, even in sin.
Religion is only good as a
whole. To have its privileges without its
spiritual character leads through carnal security to carnal
indulgence, and so to a condition worse than to be destitute of both.
Ø
They were secure in strategic strength. “And to the careless upon
the
fortress, situated in a rich valley. It held out against Benhadad, King
of
(II Kings 7.). To Shalmaneser, long afterwards, it only yielded after
a three years’ siege (II Kings
17:5-6). Man naturally looks for
victory to “the big battalion.”
This is reasonable in the case of a
human enemy, but mere fatuity if the enemy be God.
Ø
They were secure in self-deception. “Put far away the evil day.”
Security, beaten out of one
retreat, betakes itself to another. Trust in
our earthly resources will
ultimately fail. Security in external religious
advantages will some day be
broken also by a rude awaking. But the
Fabian policy still
prevails, and proves an almost impregnable last resort.
“It cannot be for a long
while yet” is an argumentative device that
seldom fails to reassure.
encouragement to
sin. Among
Ø
Indolence. “Stretch themselves upon their couches.” This is the
first temptation of wealth.
Work has ceased to be necessary, and
the easily acquired habit of idleness very soon develops indolence
of disposition. HAVING NOTHING TO DO LEADS TO
DOING NOTHING and when a man does nothing for a while
he wants to go on with
it. (One of the bad characteristics of
Ø
Luxury. “Lie upon beds of ivory;” “Eat lambs,” etc. Luxury is
a direct result of
indolence. Having nothing else to occupy their
attention, men concentrate it on themselves. They make it the
business of their life to
coddle themselves, with the inevitable result
of becoming harder to
please. As the appetite is pampered
it becomes more dainty, and must be tempted with luxury after
luxury, if any measure of
relish would be retained.
Ø
EFFEMINACY. “Who trill to the sound of the harp” (v.5). The
tendency of luxury
is to UNMAN!
On the
discontinuance of
manly exercises follows
closely THE LOSS OF MANLY
QUALITIES.
Pampering the body weakens body and
mind both, and prepares the
way for occupations that will be in
character. Effeminacy grows
fastest when NURSED IN
THE LAP OF
LUXURY. The
to lie on anything but an
ivory couch, or too dainty to touch
coarser fare than “the fatted calf,” was too enervated in
a
little while for any
manlier pastime than trilling to a harp.
Ø
Profanity. “Drink wine out of sacrificial bowls.” “The
pleasures of
sin” are only “for a season.” They quickly wear
out. Zest and relish fail, and SATIETY and DISGUST
follow! Hence the tendency of indulgence to become
more and more extravagant
and eccentric. IT IS AN
ATTEMPT TO
STIMULATE FAILING POWERS OF
ENJOYMENT BY
PRESENTING NEW SENSATIONS.
THEN the natural heart is essential ENMITY
AGAINST
GOD! Accordingly, in the case of a thoroughly
perverted nature,
when a sinful indulgence
has ceased to give pleasure
as indulgence,
it will continue to do so
as sin.
AS LOW AS THIS! Sensual indulgence began to pall, and it
took a fresh lease of enjoyableness by becoming sacrilegious.
(Note the experience of the
modern sensualist and the drug
user – CY – 2013)
Ø
Heartless egotism. “And do not grieve
for the hurt of Joseph.”
SIN IS ESSENTIALLY
SELFISH and THE SIN
OF
SELF-INDULGENCE
SUPREMELY SO! The happiness,
and even the lives, of
others are as nothing in the balance
against lust. Let who may suffer, let what may happen, THE
SENSUALIST WILL
INDULGE! To
such a person
PHILANTHROPY
and PATRIOTISM are
alike
IMPOSSIBLE! He
will “not
grieve for the hurt of Joseph”
even when HE IS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOR IT!
He could play
comfortably “WHILE THE UNITED
STATES BURNS!
Ø
Increasing violence. “And bring near the seat of
violence.”
(Notice what
role violence is now playing in
the
imminent, the violence that provokes it becomes more extreme.
This is sometimes due to:
o
the blindness that
will not see; sometimes
o
to the
recklessness that does not care;
sometimes
o
to the malignity that,
forecasting overthrow, would do
all the evil possible
before it comes.
In any case it is aggravated and judgment-hastening sin.
answers to crime, both as to
degree and kind.
Ø
Cherished indulgence should be interrupted. “The shouting
of the revelers will depart” (v. 7). This is about the first step in
retributive punishment. The criminal’s
enjoyment comes to be
centered in his
sin, and TO INTERUPT IT IS A SHARP
BLOW! The retributive measure to which lust is most
of all amenable is to put a
stop to indulgence. (Think how
syphilis, gonorrhea and
AIDS incapacitate the instruments
used in such behavior –
compare Romans 1:27; Proverbs 5:11 –
CY – 2013). Deprive the oppressor of his power, the extortioner
of his opportunity, the
drunkard of his drink, and already the work
of taking vengeance on him
is well begun.
Ø
Apposite hardship should be inflicted. “Shall go captive.” As
Captives they should endure
oppression, not inflict it. For
indulgence
would be substituted privation in
every form. They would make a more
just acquaintance with
luxury by having the means of it WRUNG
OUT of their own helplessness and misery. It is no doubt along
these lines that ETERNAL
REWARD and
PUNISHMENT are
arranged. Heaven will be the perfect exercise and enjoyment of all
that is pure and spiritual
in desire and taste. HELL among other things,
will be the
cutting off forever of sinful sources of enjoyment, for
THE WICKED HAD LEARNED TO
LIVE!
Ø Those who had
been first among the nations should be first
among the captives. This is only fitting.
The guilt of any evil movement
culminates in its ringleaders, and “first in
transgression, first in
punishment,” is a maxim of natural
justice. Those who ORGANIZE
AND OFFICER A WICKED MOVEMENT are THOSE ON
WHOM JUSTICE WILL
LAY THE EARLIEST AND
HEAVIEST HAND.
God does not hate men, God loves men but hates men’s
sins! THE
SQUARING
OF A SINNER’S ACCOUNT WITH GOD IS OF NECESSITY A BITTER
EXPERIENCE! God can
neither err, nor lie! HE DOES WHAT AND
WHEN HE PROMISES! (Numbers
23:19) - In
default of a greater, God swears
by Himself (Hebrews 6:13). He is “the true God,”
and a “God of truth.” He is
“ABUNDANT IN TRUTH” (Exodus 34:6). An oath in His name has the highest
sanction possible, and assumes its most solemn form. GOD’S
OATH IN HIS OWN
NAME IS AS SURE AS HIS EXISTENCE — is, in fact, a putting of His
existence in pledge for the word of His mouth.
The Sin of a Dissolute Life (vs. 4-7)
A herdsman and
gatherer of wild figs like Amos, brought into contact with
the nobility and the
courtiers of a wealthy and luxurious city like
was likely enough to
be shocked and scandalized. The judgments he
formed were naturally severe, but they were not unjust or
passionate. His
language remains a merited and everlasting rebuke to those
in high station
who live for
their own gratification and indulgence.
·
A LUXURIOUS AND DISSOLUTE LIFE IS A SHAMEFUL MISUSE
OF PRECIOUS OPPORTUNITIES.
It is sometimes judged that those who
are “born in the purple,” those
who inherit great estates, great wealth, are
to be excused if they form in
youth, and retain in manhood, habits of
expensive self-indulgence. But
as all
men are,
above all, the children of
God, endowed with a spiritual nature and entrusted with sacred
opportunities, it
is not to be for a moment admitted that the advantages of
high station absolve them from
the obligations involved in human nature
and human life. A man has no right to pamper the body and exalt it to a
lordship over the spirit;
he has no right to gratify his tastes
as though
self-gratification were the great end of existence.
·
A LUXURIOUS AND DISSOLUTE LIFE IS MORALLY
DEBASING AND DEGRADING. No one can live below the appointed
level of humanity:
Ø
without paying the inevitable penalty,
Ø
without incurring the inevitable deterioration.
The light burns dim; the fine gold
turns to clay. The couch of indolence,
the feast of gluttony, the
voluptuous music, the brimming bowls of wine,
the costly unguents, — these are dangerous
indulgences. Men may give
them fine names, and call them
the bounties of Divine providence. And it is
quite true that the evil is not
in the instruments of self-indulgence, but in the
bad uses to which they are put. But none can live merely for bodily, for
aesthetic, for social, enjoyment:
Ø
without injuring his own character,
Ø
without losing
self-respect and
Ø
the esteem of
those whose esteem is worth having.
·
A LUXURIOUS AND DISSOLUTE LIFE ON THE PART OF THE
GREAT IS A BAD EXAMPLE TO THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE.
Bad habits penetrate from the so
called upper to the so called lower class.
When the nobility and gentry are
self-indulgent, the trades-people who
grow wealthy are likely to
follow their example, and the poor are likely
enough to grow envious and
discontented. The Samaritan chiefs were
reproached for misleading the
people, and justly. The ignorant and the
thoughtless are naturally
influenced by an example of selfishness, and
none
can altogether
escape receiving some measure of harm.
·
A LUXURIOUS AND DISSOLUTE LIFE RENDERS THE GREAT
INSENSIBLE TO THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE POOR AND
OPPRESSED. The
language of the prophet is very touching: the self
indulgent “are not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph.” Wrapped up in their
own enjoyments, comforts, and luxuries,
the
great fail to sympathize with
those whom we call “the masses.” A self-denying and benevolent and
public-spirited course of
conduct would have precisely an opposite effect.
There is no reason m the nature
of things why nobles should not feel with
and for the poor and
unfortunate; as a matter of fact, they often do so. But
those whose absorbing thought is
of self have neither heart nor time to give
to their less-favored neighbours.
·
A LUXURIOUS AND DISSOLUTE LIFE OFTEN INVOLVES A
SPEEDY AND FEARFUL RETRIBUTION. The table of the epicure is
overthrown. The sybarite (sensualist)
is dragged from his palace, and sent
away into exile. Those who have
been worthless members of their own
state become banished mourners in a strange land. And the song of
pleasure is exchanged for the
wail of woe.
Carnal
Indulgence. (vs. 4-7)
“That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch
themselves upon their couches,
and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of
the midst of the
stall,” etc. Here
is a sketch of the way in which these leading men of the
chief nations luxuriated in carnal pleasures and sensual
indulgences.
Observe two things.
I. THE MORAL TORPOR OF CARNAL INDULGENCE. Observe two
things.
1. These people
wrought entirely for the senses. See how they slept!
They
provided themselves with “beds of ivory.” They did
not require rest for
their weary limbs, otherwise beds of straw would have done.
They wanted
to be grand, they loved glitter, hence “beds of ivory.” Here is the lust of the
eye. See how they ate! “And stretch themselves upon
their couches, and
eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the
midst of the stall.”
They abounded in superfluities; they partook of the
choicest dainties of
nature, and that in a recumbent position. Here is the lust
of the palate. See
how they sang! “That chant to the sound of the viol,
and invent to
themselves instruments of music, like David.” Musical
sounds gratified
their auricular sensibilities, and they chanted to the “viol.”
Here is the lust
of the ear. See how they drank! They “drink
wine in bowls.” Small vessels
would not do; they must take long, deep draughts of the
pleasing beverage.
Here again is the lust of the palate. See how they anointed
themselves!
With the chief ointments.” They regaled their olfactory
nerves with the
choicest perfumes of nature. Here is the lust of the smell.
See how
indifferent they were to the suffering
of the true
not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” What a description this of a
people that lived and wrought entirely for the senses! They
were practical
materialists. They had no spiritual vision, sensibilities, or
experience. Their
imperishable souls were submerged in the deep flowing sea
of mere animal
pleasures. Are there no such men now? For what do our
prosperous
tradesmen and the upper ten thousand live? For the most
part, we fear, for
the senses. Grand furniture — “beds of ivory;” choicest
viands — “lambs
out of the flock, and calves out of the midst of the
stall;” ravishing music
— “chants to the sound of the viol;”
delectable beverages — the choicest
wines in “bowls;” the most delicious aromas —
“the
chief ointments.” Has
carnal indulgence been more rife in any land or age than
this? Matter
everywhere governs spirit; the body everywhere is the despot, men are
“carnal, sold under sin.”
(Romans 7:14)
2. These people
wrought without conscience. In all this there is
no effort of
conscience recorded, no word uttered. There is, indeed, a
reference to
intellectual effort, for it is said “they invented to themselves
instruments of
music.” Carnal
indulgence has ever been and is now as much, if not more
than ever, the great employer of man’s inventive faculties.
Luxury in
conscience here. When conscience is touched in such a state
of things, and
startled by the
sense of its guilt, it exclaims, “O
wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this sin and death?” (Romans 7:24)
II. THE RETRIBUTIVE RESULT OF CARNAL INDULGENCE. The
threat in the text is:
1. The loss of liberty. “Therefore now
shall they go captive with the first
that go captive.”
Those who had taken the lead in revelry and all manner of
wickedness were to be the first in the procession of
captives. In such a
position their disgrace would be more conspicuous. Luxury always leads to
slavery: it is the eternal law of justice, that those who live
to the flesh shall
lose their
freedom and be exiled into the region of tyranny. “Lust, when it
hath conceived, bringeth forth
sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth
forth death” (James
1:15).
2. The loss of provisions.
“And
the banquet of them that stretched
themselves shall be removed.” They shall have
scarcity, perhaps starvation,
instead of the profusion of dainties
with which their tables have been
spread. All this carnal
indulgence and voluptuousness, this luxury in ease,
and diet, and music, and aroma will not go on
forever. They are abnormal
conditions of human nature; retribution will one day put an
end to them.
“O luxury,
Bane of
elated life, of affluent states,
What ruin
is not thine?… Behind thee gapes
Th’ unfathomable gulf where Ashur lies
O’erwhelmed, forgotten; and high boasting Cham:
And
And the
great queen of earth, imperial
(Dyer.)
8 “The
Lord GOD hath sworn by Himself, saith the LORD the
God of
hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and
hate his palaces: therefore
will I deliver up the city with all that is
therein.” Hath sworn by Himself
(nephesh); in anima sua (Vulgate), “by His soul;” a concession to human
language
(compare ch. 4:2; Jeremiah
51:14; Hebrews 6:13, 17-18). God thus shows that the
threat proceeds from Him, and is immutable. The excellency; the pride
(ὕβριν – hubrin - excessive
pride - Septuagint; superbiam, Vulgate);
that of which
Jacob is proud (Hosea 5:5), as, for instance, his palaces, built by exaction,
maintained in voluptuous luxury. Will deliver up to the enemy for destruction
(Deuteronomy 32:30; Obadiah 1:14).
National
Depravity (v. 8)
“The Lord God
hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord the God of
hosts, I
abhor the excellency
of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver
up the city with
all that is therein.” In order to show the
voluptuous
debauchees referred to in the preceding verses the terrible
judgments that
would overtake them, Jehovah is here represented as making a
solemn
oath. Whether the city here refers to
little moment. The subject is national
depravity, and we infer from the
words:
·
THAT DEPRAVITY MAY EXIST IN A NATION WHERE THERE
IS MUCH THAT IS MAGNIFICENT. Here is a reference to the
“excellency” — or, as some render it, the splendor — “of
Jacob;” and
here is a reference to “palaces,”
the homes of princes, There was much that
was magnificent amongst the
Jewish people of old in their own land. Great
cities and their palaces, and,
above all, the temple at
architecture and situation, with
an organized priesthood and gorgeous
ceremonies. Still, its depravity at this time was wide and deep and hideous.
A nation may have much that is
magnificent, and yet be deeply sunk in
moral corruption.
Witness ancient
States today. The arts,
sculpture, painting, architecture, music, have reached
their perfection, and abound. On
all hands our eyes are attracted by grand
churches, splendid mansions,
marts, banks, museums, colleges, and
galleries of art. Albeit was
depravity ever more rife in any age or country
than this? Greed,
ambition, selfishness, sensuality, fraud, falsehood, and
self-indulgence, — these, the elements
of depravity and the fountains of
crime, abound in all directions. It is true they do not appear in
their naked
deformity, as in barbaric lands.
Our civilization not only spreads a veil over
them, but paints and decorates
them, and thus conceals their native
hideousness. Still, though the
devil robes himself in the garb of an angel, he
is yet the devil. Poison is
poison, however much you may flavor it.
·
THAT DEPRAVITY UNDER THE MOST MAGNIFICENT FORM
IS UTTERLY ABHORRENT TO THE
GREAT GOD. “I abhor the
excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces.” No veil can cover it from His
eye; His glance pierces through
all its decorations; to His view its
ornamentations add to its
ugliness. The same vices displayed in the hut of a
savage chief, are more hideous
to him when developed in the gorgeous
palaces of Christian sovereigns.
“I
abhor the excellency [splendor] of
Jacob.” God has moral sensibility. He has not only a sensibility
for the
beautiful in form and the
perfect in arrangement, but for the moral. He
loves the true, the beautiful, and the good; He loathes the
false, the selfish,
and the corrupt. “Oh, do not this abominable thing, which I
hate”
(Jeremiah 44:4).
·
THAT DEPRAVITY, WHICH IS EVER ABHORRENT TO GOD,
MUST BRING RUIN ON ITS SUBJECTS. “Therefore will I deliver up
the city with all
that is therein.” Observe:
1. The completeness
of the ruin. “All that is therein” — utter destruction.
2. The certainty of the ruin. “The Lord God hath sworn by Himself.”
·
CONCLUSION. What an argument does this subject furnish for national
seriousness and investigation!
The progress of civilization is not the true
progress of humanity. A nation may
advance in the arts, and go back in
morals; may be robed in artistic beauty, and yet be loathsome in moral
corruption. Heaven will
not smile on a nation because it is externally grand,
but only
when it is internally good.
9 “And it
shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house,
that they shall die.” If there remain ten
men in one house. If these escape
death in war, they shall die of famine and pestilence in the three
years’ siege of
would be only a poor remnant of the inhabitants of their palaces.
The Septuagint
adds, very unnecesarily, Καὶ ὑπολειφθήσονται
οἱ κατάλοιποι
– Kai
hupoleiphthaesontai hoi kataloipoi - “And those remaining
shall be left behind.”
10 “And a
man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth
him, to
bring out the bones out of the house, and
shall say unto him that is
by the sides of the house, Is there yet any
with thee? and he shall
say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy
tongue: for we may not make
mention of the name of the LORD.” The prophet
gives an instance of the
terror and misery in that common calamity. He depicts a scene where
the nearest surviving kinsman comes into the house to perform the
funeral rites
for a dead man. And
a man’s uncle; better, and when a man’s kinsman;
the apodosis being at the end
of the verse, “Then shall he say.” Dod is sometimes
rendered “beloved,”
but usually “father’s brother,” but it may mean any near
relation upon
whom, in default of father and brethren, would devolve the duty of
burying the corpse. Septuagint, οἱ οἰκεῖοι αὐτῶν – hoi oikeioi auton – his
relative - propinquus suus (Vulgate). And he
that burneth him; literally,
and his burner. This
is the same person as the kinsman. the butler; but for
some reason, either from the number of deaths, or
from the pestilence, or
from the distance of the burying place, which would
be out of the city and
inaccessible in the blockade, he cannot lay the body
in the grave, and is
forced to take and burn it. Though the Jews
generally buried dead bodies,
cremation was sometimes used, both in honor or
emergency (I Samuel 31:12)
and in punishment (Leviticus 20:14; 21:9). The bones; i.e. the corpse,
as in
Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32; and II Kings 13:21; Keil. The kinsman takes it up
to bring it out of the house to burn it. Him that is by the sides of the house;
him that is in the innermost parts of the house; qui in penetralibus domus est
(Vulgate). This is the last
living person, who had hidden himself
in the most remote
chambers (see I Kings
22:25); or it may be a messenger whom the kinsman had
sent to search the house.
He asks him — Is there yet any with thee? Is there
any
one left alive to succor, or dead to bury? And he shall say, No; Vulgate, et
respondebit,
Finis est. Then he (the kinsman) shall
say, Hold thy tongue (Has!);
Hush! He stays the man
in the inner chamber from speaking; and why? For we may
not make mention of the name of the Lord; Vulgate, et non recorderis nominis
Domini. Some, as Pussy, Schegg, and Gandell, see here the voice of
despair. It is too late to call upon God now; it is the time of vengeance. We
rejected him in life; we may not cry to him in death.
prohibition to the hardness of heart and unbelief of the
people, who even in
all this misery will not confess the name of the Lord. Keil says, “It indicates
a fear lest, by the invocation of the name of God, his eye
should be drawn
towards this last remaining one, and he also should fall a
victim to the
judgment of death.” Others again think that the notion in
the mind of the
impious speaker is that Jehovah is the Author of all their
calamities, and
that he is impatient
at the very mention of his name. The
simplest
explanation is the first, or a modification of it The
person addressed is
about to pray or to call on God in his distress. “Be
silent,” says the
speaker; “we can no longer appeal to Jehovah as the
covenant God; by
naming Him we call to His remembrance how we have broken the
covenant,
violated our relation to Him; therefore provoke Him not
further by making
mention of His name.”
Notice that the solitary
survivor is no nearer faith in God than those who have
been destroyed. He does not cast himself on God’s mercy. He does not
even in that
dreadful hour seek God’s face. His stupid but thoroughly
characteristic impulse is to
hide away from His presence (Revelation 6:12-17). Apart from Divine grace,
SIN COMMITTED DRIVES MEN AWAY FROM GOD (Genesis 3:8),
and
punishment approaching DRIVES FURTHER STILL
(Revelation 6:16).
In prosperity the wicked will not even fear God; in
adversity, if they fear, THEY
STILL REFUSE TO TRUST HIM!
11 “For,
behold, the LORD commandeth, and He will smite the
great
house with breaches, and the little house
with clefts.” The Lord
commandeth, and He
will smite. The expression, thus taken,
implies that God executes His commands through the
ministers of His
judgment; but it may well be rendered, “and men shall
smite” (compare
ch.
9:9). Breaches… clefts. The
great palace requires a breach to
bring it to the ground; the little hut is ruined by a small
rent or cleft. All
houses, great and small, shall be smitten. Possibly
signified respectively by “the great house” and “the little
house” (compare
ch.9:11); and their treatment by the Assyrians may be thus
symbolized.
Wrath Revealing Itself in Judgment
(vs. 8-11)
The squaring of a sinner’s account with God is of necessity
a bitter
experience. It is the last fact in a wide induction, and completes our
knowledge of what sin really is. The best and only adequate
view of this is
reached when a man
reads it in the light of its punishment. We
are enabled
to perform this office for
·
THE WORD THAT CANNOT BE BROKEN. Accommodating Himself
to our mode of conceiving things,
God condescends to give assurance of
His faithfulness in three
degrees of assertion. The word that cannot be
broken is:
1. What God says. “Thy
Word is truth.” God can neither err nor lie.
He
does what He promises (Numbers
23:19). He does as much as He
promises. He does exactly the
thing He promises, The fact of His truth lies
at the foundation of all
religion and all knowledge. Because He is true, we
not only believe His testimony
absolutely, but we believe absolutely the
testimony of our own consciousness
as being His gift.
2. What God swears. In itself His word
is as good as His oath. But to our
apprehension there may be a
difference. For God to swear is an act of
special condescension. It is making a
great concession to our unbelief, and
the limitation of our faculties, that God conforms to our human modes of
making solemn affirmation, in order if possible to win our
implicit credence
for his words
(Hebrews 6:17). His oath, added to His word in any
matter, is for fullness of
confirmation and assurance, and is a specially
gracious act. What
He swears by Himself. In default of a greater, God
swears by Himself (Hebrews ibid. v.
13). He is “the true God,”
and a “God of
truth.” An oath in His name has the highest sanction possible, and
assumes
its most solemn form. God’s oath in His own name is as
sure as His own
existence — is, in fact, a putting of His existence in
pledge for the word of
His mouth.
·
THE ESSENTIAL ANTAGONISM BETWEEN DIVINE HOLINESS
AND HUMAN SIN. This
is extreme, utter, and necessary.
1. God does not hate
men, but their sin. He is not said to
do so here. The
statements elsewhere, that He
hates the wicked (Psalm 5:5; Romans
9:13), must be taken in
connection with the clearly revealed fact that He
also loves them (John
3:16), and loved His people while they were of
them. It cannot be that He loves
the wicked and hates them in the same
sense. His love has reference to
their humanity, His hatred to their
sinfulness (Romans 1:18). He
hates them as sinners, yet loves them as
men; forgives them often, yet
takes vengeance on their inventions
(Psalm 99:8).
2. God’s hatred of sin extends to the occasions of it. “I
abhor the pride of
Jacob.” God’s abhorrence of sin extends to everything that tends
to
produce it. Pride or loftiness, being
in itself sinful, and a fruitful occasion of
sin, He must hate. Excellence or
greatness, whether imaginary or real, is, in
so far as it leads to pride,
included in the reach of the Divine abhorrence.
Sin, like a cesspool, fouls all approaches to it. It is spiritual treason,
and
attaints its nearest of kin.
3. It includes even the scenes of it.
“And
I hate his palaces.” The palaces
were closely connected with the
sin. They were built with the wages of
unrighteousness, for luxurious
gratification, and as a means to further
exaction. Accordingly, as at
once an expression of sin and an accessory of
it, they were hateful in God’s
sight. God’s attitude in the matter is the
model for ours. If we are
baptized into His Spirit we shall “hate even the
garments spotted
by the flesh.” Not only is sin
hateful, but all that leads to
it, all that borders on it, all
that has any connection with it. Even the
remotest contact with it will be
hateful to the spiritually minded.
·
THE SWEEPING JUDGMENTS THAT EXPRESS A HOLY
WRATH. These are set
forth in various forms and degrees of severity.
1. The capital would be delivered up.
“And
give up the city and the fullness
thereof.”
the impregnable metropolis, the
great storehouse of national wealth, the
seat of government, the home of
luxury, the social, political, economical,
and military center of the
kingdom. To destroy it was like taking the heart
out of their kingdom at one fell
stroke. Notwithstanding this, or rather
perhaps because of this, it
would be captured and pillaged. In sin it had set
the example, and taken the lead,
and in punishment its leading position
would be retained.
2. Not even one out of ten should escape. (v. 9.) Such sweeping
destruction as this was almost
unheard of. Even
were not more utterly destroyed.
This was due ultimately to the almost
universal impenitence, and proximately to the length and
stubbornness of
the fighting. God
would not allow the persistently impenitent to escape,
and the Assyrian armies, his
instruments, would not spare the obstinate
defenders of
3. The straggling
survivors should be in abject fear of the almost
universal fate.
(v. 10.) The solitary survivor is no
nearer faith in God
than those who have been
destroyed. He does not cast himself on His
mercy. He does not even in that dreadful hour seek His face. His
stupid but
thoroughly characteristic impulse is to hide
away from His presence. Apart
from Divine grace, sin committed drives away from God (Genesis 3:8),
and punishment
approaching drives further still
(Revelation 6:16). In
prosperity the wicked will not even fear God; in
adversity, if they fear, they
still refuse to trust him.
4. The work of
destruction would be carried out systematically and in
detail. (v. 11.) Neither palace nor cabin should escape. The great
house
would be broken into great
pieces, and the small house into small pieces.
God’s judgments are nothing if
not effective. The greatest cannot defy, nor
can the smallest elude them. The
destruction of each shall be elaborately
and circumstantially complete.
·
GOD THE AUTHOR OF THE PUNISHMENT PROCURES. “The
Lord commandeth,” etc.
1. The sin of man is
often a factor in the accomplishment of God’s
purpose. It was so with the transportation of Joseph (Genesis 45:5,
8;
50:20), with the death of Christ
(Acts 2:23; 4:28), and with the affliction
of
impelled by their own evil
motives, aim at their own evil ends, use their
own evil means, and act
altogether of their own free will; and yet, when
they succeed, the result is
found to serve some important collateral interest
they think nothing of, and so to
be part of the infinitely good purpose of
God. It is thus that God
accomplishes His wilt by the instrumentality of
men, without infringing on their
perfect freedom, or being implicated in the
sin which, in unconscious
furtherance of it, they commit. The Assyrian
destroying
purpose and sinning against Him.
2. God destroys
the chosen people, not as “
“
covenant treatment. God blesses
them as “
“
gracious discipline. But
destruction is not so. It is the penalty of a covenant
already broken, and God marks
them out for this by the uncovenanted
name of “Jacob.”
The Lord Commandeth (v. 11)
It was the office and function of a prophet to lose himself
in becoming the
vehicle of Divine communications, the organ of Divine
decisions. His
prefatory words were these: “Thus saith
the Lord.” He saw and felt the
Lord’s presence, not only in his own ministry, but in all
the events that
occurred in the range of his observation, whether affecting
individuals or
nations.
·
THERE IS AN ELEMENT OF AUTHORITY IN EVERY WORD OF
THE LORD. Whether God
addresses to men language of rebuke or
reproach, of entreaty or of
threatening, He speaks with authority. His
invitation is that of a King; it
is a command When our Lord Christ spoke in
the course of His
ministry, He spoke with authority. The Divine
judgment is
always correct, the Divine will is always obligatory.
·
ALL AGENCIES AND INSTRUMENTALITIES ARE OBEDIENT
TO THE LORD’S BEHESTS.
It is so with the forces of nature. “The
stormy wind fulfilleth His word;” “His ministers are a flaming fire.” It is so
with the institutions of human
society, with the purposes and the activities
of men. The hand which is
visible in a work may be that of a creature; the
power that directs that hand
may, nevertheless, be creative wisdom and
creative might. God gives the
word; it is executed by ten thousand
ministers of His holy will. He maketh even the wrath of man to praise Him.
(Psalm 76:10)
·
THE POWER OF THE GREATEST AMONG MEN IS
INCAPABLE OF RESISTING THE DIVINE COMMANDS. The “great
house” and the “little house”
alike are smitten when the Lord makes bare
His arm.
nothing can protect them from
the might of the Eternal when His decree of
judgment has gone out against
them. Well
may the people that rebel
against God tremble and fear, and
remember that they are but men.
In vs. 12-14, the prophet shows the folly of these evil
doers who think in their own
strength to defy judgment and to resist the enemy whom God
is sending against them.
Sin often brings present gain, but it IT
NEVER PAYS AT THE END!
“Cursed is he that maketh flesh
his arm” (Jeremiah 17:5) SIN IS AT
THE BOTTOM OF SELF-DEIFICATION!
12 “Shall
horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for
ye have turned judgment into gall, and the
fruit of righteousness
into hemlock:” Shall horses run
upon the rock? Can horses gallop safely
over places covered with rocks and stones? Will one plough there with
oxen? Do men plough the rock with their oxen? The answer, of
course, is
“No.” Yet your conduct is equally foolish, your labor is
equally lost.
Some, dividing the words differently, translate, “Does one
plough the sea
with oxen?” which reminds one of the Latin proverb, “Litus arare bubus.”
Thus Ovid, ‘Ep. Heroid,’ 5:115 —
“Quid facis OEnone? Quid arenae semina mandas?
Non protecturis litora bubus aras.”
The husbandman does not attempt impracticable things. He knows there is no fertility
in a bare rock — no soil for crop, no bed for seed, no furrow for plough; and so he
cultivates
the good soil, and leaves the rock alone. To till the rock is utter futility!
It is lost time, lost labor and broken implements. One cannot seek safety by
wrongdoing.
GOOD CANNOT COME OUT OF EVIL
BY NATURAL
GENERATION!
For ye have
turned; or, that ye have turned. Judgment
into gall (see
note on ch.5:7). Hemlock. Some plant with an acrid juice. Ye
turn
the administration of justice, which is “the fruit of
righteousness,” into the
bitterest injustice and wrong. It were “more easy,” says Pusey, “to change
the course of nature or the use of things of nature, than
the course of
GOD’S
Man’s
Perverting Power (v. 12)
“For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of
righteousness into
hemlock.” The meaning of this is that they had turned the best things into
bad use. Judgment and righteousness, the laws of right, they had
made as
nauseous and noxious as “gall” and
“hemlock.” Our subject is man’s
perverting power. Our
blessed Maker in our constitution has endowed us
with a force which no other creature under heaven seems to
have, of
turning things to wrong uses, and making those things which
he intended
to bless us the means of misery and ruin. You can see man
exercising this
power in many departments of action.
·
IN PHYSICAL OPERATIONS.
Ø
What does he do with
the iron which he discovers in the depths of the
earth? Forges it into implements of human destruction.
Ø
What does he do with
the vineyards and the corn fields? He turns them
into inebriating liquids, and rolls them like rivers of
poison
through every district of society.
Ø
What does he do with
his own physical appetites? Instead
of attending
to them as means of
relief, he makes their gratification the chief
sources of his pleasure, and thus degrades his mental
and moral nature. Everywhere you see man perverting nature —
perverting the metals, the rivers, the fruits,
and the chemical
elements of the world.
·
IN CIVIC LIFE. The principle
of human government is A DIVINE
ORDIANCE intended to secure equal justice and protection. But how has
man perverted it! He has turned
it into an instrument to benefit the few at
the expense of the many, an
instrument of tyranny and oppression. The
principle of judicature, intended
to secure for all a just administration of
law, man notoriously perverts. Men are
appointed to occupy the throne of
judgment who are not always, or generally, known as
incorruptibly just and
morally pure. Hence often
in the name of justice iniquities are enacted.
Man’s perversion of the law is proverbial as a hideous
enormity. The
principle of merchandise, intended
to band man together by the exchange
of commodities in mutual
obligation and fellowship, man has awfully
perverted. He has made it the
instrument of cupidity, monopoly, and
nameless frauds. Thus, in every part of social life you see this perverting
power in action — man turning “judgment into gall, and the fruits of
righteousness into
hemlock.”
·
IN THE RELIGIOUS SPHERE. In spiritual matters and in scenes
that should be the most sacred,
its action is perhaps more flagrant and
formidable than anywhere else.
Without going into the great world of
heathenism, or even to remote
parts of Christendom, look into our own
religious
which is essentially
self-denying, humble, devout, turned into an arrogant
and plethoric priesthood. You
see gospel ceremonies, intended to
outline spiritual truths,
employed as mystic channels of saving grace.
You see a system of universal
philanthropy made an instrument of
miserable
sectarianism and intolerable bigotry.
·
CONCLUSION. Do not let man say he has no power. His moral power is
something stupendous. He has
power to turn the things of God to the use
of Satan, heavenly blessings into hellish curses. This he is doing
everywhere. “Ye have turned judgment into
gall, and the fruit of
righteousness into
hemlock.”
The Vanity of the Sinner’s
Principles and Hopes (v. 12)
The perfect naturalness and genuineness of Amos must be
apparent to
every reader. The sources from which he drew his graphic
imagery were
his own life and experiences. As a husbandman employed upon
the land, he
was brought into contact both with the phenomena of nature
and with the
processes of agriculture; and from these sources his mind
was supplied
with the bold similitudes which
occur in his prophecies. Wishing to depict
the irrational and absurd suppositions and expectations of
the sinful and
rebellious, he compared them to husbandmen who should
attempt to drive
horses up a steep cliff, or to plough the hard, barren rock
by oxen.
·
JUSTICE IS THE ETERNAL LAW OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE.
Here is the true and Divine bond of human society; here is
the principle
which should govern earthly rulers, judges, and princes.
The higher men’s
station, the greater men’s power, the more important is it
that justice
should guide and inspire their conduct.
·
IN A CORRUPT STATE OF
VIOLENCE ARE SUBSTITUTED FOR JUSTICE. Amos complained
that the kings and nobles of
degrading conduct; they exchanged
the sweet and wholesome fruit of
righteousness for the bitterness of gall and wormwood and
the poison of
hemlock, i.e.
Ø
for bribery,
Ø
for violence,
Ø
for oppressiveness.
History is full of such
instances. The noble institutions of society are perverted
into instruments of personal ambition, aggrandizement, and
wrong.
Ø
Cruel kings,
Ø
luxurious nobles,
Ø
corrupt judges,
are morally disastrous to the state; their example spreads through all classes,
and faith, honor, and purity
decay and perish.
·
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE THAT TRUE PROSPERITY SHOULD
PREVAIL WHERE THE FOUNTAIN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS
POISONED. The great
men of
strength, in their military
power, and, like so many in high estate, thought
that physical force was sufficient
to secure a nation’s greatness. The
prophet justly characterizes
such a doctrine as “a thing of naught,” a
nonentity, an absurdity!
As well may horses climb the scaur, as well may
oxen plough the bare, hard rock,
as a nation prosper which has renounced
the Law of God, and
is attempting to base its success upon physical force,
military prestige,
ostentations luxury, judicial corruption.
We in our own
days need not look far for an
exemplification of the folly of such
confidence. “Be wise now therefore, O ye
kings: be instructed, ye judges of
the
earth.” (Psalm 2:10)
Trying the
Impossible (v. 12)
“Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough there with
oxen?” The
folly of expecting real prosperity by committing acts of
injustice or
pursuing courses of sin is here forcibly represented by comparing it to the
absurdity of attempting to run horses upon a rock or to
plough the rock
with oxen. The strength of the representation is increased by its
interrogative form. Our subject is — Trying the
impossible. Men are
constantly doing this. Let
us furnish a few examples.
·
WHEN THEY ATTEMPT TO DESTROY AN ENEMY BY
PHYSICAL FORCE. An
individual has an enemy, a man who hates him
with an inveterate antipathy. In
order to overcome him, what does he do?
He disables or perhaps kills
him. Or a nation has an enemy, strong and
malignant. How does it seek to
overcome it? In the same way, by brute
force — swords, cannons,
bayonets, these are employed. Now, the attempt
to destroy an enemy by brute
force is as absurd as to make horses run on
the peaks of craggy rocks, or to
put oxen to plough them. To destroy the
enemy’s body is not to destroy
either him or his enmity. Philosophy and the
Bible teach that the body is not the man; it is his, not himself. All the men
that have fallen in duels,
campaigns, or private assassinations are living,
thinking, acting still, and
await their murderers in another state. No bullet
or sword can touch the man.
·
WHEN THEY ATTEMPT TO MAKE SOCIETY MORALLY GOOD
BY MERE SECULAR INSTRUCTION. There are men who imagine that
by teaching children the arts of
reading, writing, ciphering, and the
rudiments of science they will
improve the morality of the nation. When
you Remember that the moral
character grows out of the heart and not out
of the brain, out of the likings
and dislikings, not out of the ideas or
intelligence, all this seems as
absurd as the attempt to make horses run on
rocks. Secular knowledge cannot
change the heart, cannot alter a man’s
likes or dislikes. It may
strengthen them, but not alter them. Dishonesty,
uneducated, may commit petty
thefts; but educated, it will legally swindle a
nation. Knowledge, alas! is all
in vain.
·
WHEN THEY ATTEMPT TO GET HAPPINESS FROM
WITHOUT. All mankind are
in search of happiness. “Who will show us
any good?” Psslm 4:6) - this is the universal cry. The great bulk
seek
happiness from without, from what they can see, and
taste, and hear,
and handle. They look for happiness in the titillation
of the nerves and the
gratification of
the senses. Now, were man nothing but
body, this would do.
This does for the brute and the
bird. But
man is spirit; and matter in no
form or combination can satisfy spirit. A man’s life, or happiness, consisteth
not in the abundance of material things. (Luke 12:15)
True
happiness springs
from within, not from without; arises from holy loves. hopes, aspirations,
and aims. In one word, LOVE is the well of water that
springs up unto
EVERLASTING LIFE!
·
WHEN THEY ATTEMPT TO SAVE SOULS BY MINISTERING
TO THEIR SELFISHNESS.
There are men in all Churches who give
themselves to saving souls, as
they say. Salvation is the burden of all their
thought and talk. But how do
they endeavor to accomplish their object?
By everlasting appeals to the
selfish fears and hopes of men.
Ø
Tragic
descriptions are given of hell in order to frighten men, and
Ø
sensuous
descriptions of heaven in order to attract them.
But can this save the soul? Impossible. It will only
aggravate its damnation.
Salvation consists in the
extinction of all that is selfish in human nature, and
in the generating, fostering,
and perfecting disinterested, self-oblivious love.
“He that seeketh his life shall lose it: he that loseth
his life shall find it.”
A preacher may increase his
congregation by appealing to the selfishness
of his hearers, but he does not
add one to the family of the good. The man
who tries to save souls by
constant appeals to the selfishness of human nature
acts more absurdly than he who
attempts to gallop horses upon the sharp peaks
of rugged rocks.
·
WHEN THEY ATTEMPT TO CONVERT HEATHENS ABROAD
BEFORE CONVERTING THE HEATHENS AT HOME.
abounds with heathens. All the
heathens of the heathen world have their
representatives in
population are heathens; they are without
God and without hope in the
world. The influence of
a thousand times as great as
that of all the missionaries from
peoples, who are ignorant of our
language, modes of thought, and habits,
with the idea of converting the
world, is more absurd than to put horses to
run on the rock, and oxen to plough
thereon. Are we not bound to go into
all the world to spread the
gospel? Yes, but is there a greater world than
emigrants be the missionaries to
foreign lands? Whilst your missionaries
carry teaspoonfuls of the gospel
here and there, your
floods of depravity on every
zone.
·
CONCLUSION. Alas! how much human effort and sacrifice are lost for
the want of practical wisdom and
common sense! “Shall horses run upon
the rock? will one
plough there with oxen?” Yes, more
successfully than
we poor fools can accomplish
some things that we labor to attain.
13 “Ye
which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have
we not
taken to us horns by our own strength?” In a thing of nought; a nothing —
a thing which does not really exist, viz. your prosperity and
power. Horns; symbols
of strength (Deuteronomy 33:17; I
Kings 22:11); the idea being derived from
the wild bull, the strongest animal of their fauna. Their boast
was a consequence of
the successful wars with the Syrians (II Kings 14:25- 28).
The prophet proceeds to
demolish their proud vaunt.
Human life is a vapor on the hill, a bubble on the stream,
a ripple on the wave,
a meteor in the sky, an unsubstantial thing that passes and
leaves no trace.
God, the “I Am,” is essential Existence. He alone hath immortality, exists
of Himself and from Himself. The
existence of creatures is derived, AN
EXISTENCE FROM GOD AND IN HIM! “In Him we
live and move
and have our being”
(Acts 17:28).
Of human pride, well says the poet:
“What
the weak head with strangest bias rules
Is
pride, the never-failing vice of fools.”
(Alexander
Pope)
Our pride misreads
altogether the proportions of things. It has an overwhelming
estimate of self. “Thinking
of ourselves more highly than we ought to
think” (Romans
12:3), and “thinking God to be altogether such a one as
ourselves,”
(Psalm 50:21), and the transfer of trust from heaven to earth, is not
alone natural, but inevitable. Mistaken opinion
associates itself with
mistaken action, and this in turn will produce UNDESIRED RESULTS!
The
soul makes SHIPWRECK of itself. God’s help is despised and God’s
right is spurned!
“Beware
of too sublime a sense
Of your
own worth and consequence.
The
man who deems himself so great,
And
his importance of such weight,
That
all around, in all that’s done,
Must
move and act for him alone,
Will
learn in school of tribulation
The
folly of his expectation.”
(William
Cowper)
Joy in the Unreal is
Always Precarious (v.13)
It is quite unaccountable. It is almost incredible. But it
is unquestionably
true. Men reject the staff, and lean upon the broken reed. Whatever is
worthy of trust
they
doubt, whatever
is utterly unreliable they confide in.
This was the way of
the reality of things. They attribute to them qualities
they do not possess,
qualities sometimes the very opposite of the actual ones.
Then they act on
their theory of things, and rejoice in a figment, the
creation of their own
fancy, whilst repudiating or disregarding real and reliable
objects of trust.
·
THE THINGS THAT ARE “THINGS OF NAUGHT.” The arm of
flesh, or human help, as against
God’s strength, is the “non-thing” or
nonentity referred to primarily.
But the expression is capable of wider
application. Among the
nonentities are:
1. All things
sinful. This is an extreme case. Sin is an ephemera (things
that are used or enjoyed for a
short time) , offering only
what fleets away.
It is a negation, the privation
of all good. It is a phantasm, having an
appearance of good with no
reality below it. It is a deception, having
a lie at the bottom
of it. It is a non-thing in a unique
sense.
2. All things material. The positivist only believes in material phenomena,
as those of which alone he has positive knowledge. But these are really the
most uncertain phenomena there are. The bodily sense that notes them is
more certain, and the thinking
mind that has cognizance of the bodily sense
is more certain than either, and
the ultimate test of the existence of both.
What we know most surely and directly is spirit. Observation may be
incorrect, and lead us astray,
but consciousness speaks only truth. If there
are things which “are not as
they seem,” they are physical, as distinguished
from psychical things. “...while we look not at things which are
seen
but on things
which are not seen, for the things which are seen are
temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal.” (II Corinthians
4:18)
3. All things temporal. These are evanescent
in their nature. “The world
passeth away.” They are
still more evanescent in their form: “The fashion
of this world passeth away.” (I
Corinthians 7:31) They are doubly
evanescent
in their character as a means of happiness; for not alone
the world, but the
“lust thereof,”
passeth away. (I
John 2:17) This
evanescence means unreality.
The thing that perishes in the using is conspicuously a thing of naught. Such a
thing is human nature, and each of its temporal blessings and relations — in
other words, human life. It is a vapor on
the hill, a bubble on the stream,
a ripple on the
wave, a meteor in the sky, an unsubstantial thing that passes
and leaves no
trace.
4. All things
created. God, the “I Am,” is essential Existence. He alone
hath immortality,
exists of himself and from himself.
The existence of
creatures is derived, an
existence from God and in Him, “For it is of Him,
and through Him and
to Him are all things to whom be glory for ever.”
. (Romans 11:36) It is not, therefore, real as God’s is. We are phantoms,
He is reality. We are shadows, He is substance.
Creation as contrasted
with the Creator is a
“non-thing,” a thing of naught.
·
THE CHARACTER THAT FINDS ITS JOY IN UNREALITY. This
character is one with a wide
geographical range. It might almost be said to
belong to sinful man as such. As
to its qualities, it is:
1. Blind. Such a man “cannot
see afar off.” (II Peter 1:9) He does not see
things through and through. He
does not see things as they are. He sees things
through rose colored glasses. He dwells in the superficies (surface or outward
appearance) of things. He is
deceived by appearances. He confounds the
qualities of things.
He cannot, in fact, be said to “know
anything as he ought.”
The blindness of our heart is a
universal infirmity. Sin blinds, and prejudice
blinds, and infirmity blinds us all; and the most convincing proof of the fact
is that we choose the worst and poorest in the universe, and often and long
reject the true riches.
2. Prejudiced.
The blindness that permits us to rejoice in the flesh must
have prejudice behind it. It involves a
wrong condition of heart. “The
carnal mind is
enmity against God” (Romans 8:6) is a
maxim which explains
the rejection of Him by the
sinner. “They that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the
flesh” is one which explains his
choice of sin. In the spiritual,
as in other departments, things
follow their affinities.
3. Proud.
Well says the poet —
“Of all
the causes which conspire to blind
Man’s
erring judgment and misguide his mind,
What the
weak head with strangest bias rules
Is pride,
the never-failing vice of fools.”
It misreads altogether the
proportions of things. It has an overweening
estimate of self. “Thinking
of ourselves more highly than we ought to
think” (Romans 12:3) and “thinking God to be altogether such a one as
ourselves,” (Psalm 50:21)the
transfer of trust from heaven to earth, is not
alone natural, but inevitable.
·
THE JOY WHAT FLAMES WITHOUT FUEL. That there should be
such joy at all is an abnormal
thing. A priori (theoretical
reasoning) it is not
what we should expect. And we
are prepared to find something abnormal
about a joy that could exist in
such circumstances. This we do.
1. It is a passing joy. It cannot last. The
meteor irradiating the sky, the
thorns crackling under the pot,
both blaze and both burn quickly out. The
fire has too little to feed on. It is only a puff,
and done with. So with joy in
the earthly. It has
an unsubstantial and unenduring basis. The thing it rests
on perishes, and it cannot itself endure.
2. It is an unreal joy.
It is not alone that it has reference to
an ephemeral
thing, but to an unsubstantial
thing. It is a mere figment of the mind; an
appearance rather than an
existence; not a fire in the proper sense, but a
phosphorescence.
3. Its unreality
is the parent of real woe. To rejoice
in a nonentity is a
course on which disappointment
clearly waits. It also involves distrust, and
so incurs the wrath of God. No man can deceive himself with impunity.
The line of action into which
his false notion wilt lead him mast end in
calamity. Mistaken opinion associates
itself with unfitting action, and this
in turn with undesired results. He who follows the fen fire lands in the fen.
4. Of all who
rejoice in a thing of naught the most hopelessly deceived are
the self-righteous. With others the trust
is something apart from religion,
and adopted in preference to it.
But with
the self-righteous it masquerades
in the name of religion itself. There is an idea, either that nothing is wrong,
or that the man can help himself. In
either case DIVINE HELP IS DISPISED!
God’s right is spurned. The one only way is
refused. And on the moral
impossibility of escaping if
they neglect so great salvation, the self-deluded
soul makes shipwreck. “Behold,
all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
yourselves about
with sparks: walk in the light of your
fire, and in the
sparks that ye
have kindled. This shall ye have of mine
hand; ye shall
lie down in
sorrow.” (Isaiah 5:11)
“My candle burns at both ends,
it
will not last the night,
But Ah my foes, and Oh
my friends,
It give a lovely light.”
(Edna
14 “But,
behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of
saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall
afflict you from
the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.”
I will raise up (compare I Kings
11:14, 23; Habakkuk 1:6, where see note).
A nation. The
Assyrians. From the entering in of Hamath.
A district in the
upper part of Coele-Syria, hod. El-Bukaa, the northern boundary of the
of
the torrent of the Arabah, which is the
curious depression in which the
flows, and which continues. though now on a higher level, south of the
towards the
of the
(II Kings 14:25). The Septuagint gives, τοῦ χειμάῥῤου
τῶν δυσμῶν
– tou
Cheimarrou ton dusmon - “the torrent of the
west.”
The Doomed People Who Will Not Turn
(12-14)
Sin brings often present gain, but it never pays in the
end. When the
balance is struck, the wrong doer always finds it on the
wrong side of the
book. A sinner is one who sets himself against God, and in the
nature of
things ignorance cannot overreach knowledge, nor
weakness overcome
omnipotence.
would see it one day when the knowledge would be too late.
Many
Scripture maxims are illustrated here.
·
“BEHOLD, YE ARE OF NOTHING, AND YOUR WORK OF
NAUGHT.” (v. 13.) “In a
thing of naught;” literally, a “non-thing,” a
phantasm, what has an appearance
of being, and yet is not.
1. Human strength is nothing.
a.
It is nothing in
comparison with God’s.
b.
It is nothing
apart from God’s.
Being derived wholly from God,
it has no existence independent of Him.
It is, therefore, virtually and
practically “a thing of naught;” incapable
of being used for any purpose
either against Him or irrespective of Him.
Find
a thing which has created itself?
If you had no
existence,
How could you
create yourself?
Nothing cannot
produce anything!
How can a man
recreate himself?
A man cannot
create himself into a new condition,
When he, himself has no being in that
condition.
Charles H. Spurgeon
2. Out of nothing nothing comes. Human power being a
nonentity, belief in
it is delusion, trust in it is
baseless, and expectation from it must be
disappointed. Doubly, therefore,
and trebly “cursed is he that maketh flesh
his arm.”
3. Yet it is in this nonentity that
men rejoice. Sin is at bottom a
deification
of self. We believe in
ourselves — in our own power and knowledge and
excellence. We are satisfied
with ourselves, expect great things from
ourselves, and rejoice in
ourselves (Psalm 10:6; 52:7). Only by a work
of grace are we disabused of our
carnal confidence and won to a higher
trust. It is as complementary of
our “trusting in the Lord” that we “lean not
to our own
understanding.”
·
“WHO CAN BRING A CLEAN THING OUT OF AN UNCLEAN?
NOT ONE.” (v. 12.)
out of this endeavoued
to bring themselves lasting gain. This is likened to
an attempt by the husbandman to
cultivate the rock. It implies:
1. Utter futility.
The husbandman does not attempt
impracticable things.
He knows there is no fertility
in a bare rock — no soil for crop, no bed for
seed, no furrow for plough; and
so he cultivates the good soil, and leaves
the rock alone. And no more than till
the rock for a harvest need men seek
safety by wrongdoing. They
cannot find it so. It is not where they seek it.
Good cannot come out of evil by natural generation, for it is not in it.
2. Loss instead of
gain. An attempt to plough the rock,
like every other
offence against the nature of
things, must be worse than futile. It means
lost time, lost labor, and broken implements. So with the perversion of
justice, and the corruption of
the fruit of righteousness. It is evil, and can
only lead to evil. It increases
the sum total of the wickedness that provokes
Divine wrath, and itself creates a NEW SOURCE OF DANGER!
·
“THEREFORE LET NO MAN GLORY IN MEN.” (v. 13.) It is
the very essence of unreason.
1. It is a crime.
It
involves departure from God. The soul is
capable of
sustaining but one great
attachment at a time. We cannot love both the
Father and the world, or “serve
God and mammon,” or “make flesh our
arm,” without our heart departing from the Lord. And it is not only that the
two trusts are one too many; they are incompatible and mutually
destructive. To deify serf, and defy Jehovah, are acts of the same
moral
quality. The blindness, and only the blindness, that is
capable of the one is
capable of the other.
2. It is a blunder.
a.
It is putting
faith in the faithless.
b.
It is attributing
power to the impotent.
c.
It is pitting the
creature against the Creator,
d.
the vessel against
the potter,
e.
the thing formed
against him that formed it.
Only disappointment can come out of this. A pierced hand is the natural and
inevitable penalty of leaning on
a broken reed. “Hast thou an arm like
God,” etc.?
·
“O ASSYRIAN, THE ROD OF MINE ANGER.”
was decided on, and the
instrument of it prepared.
1. War the minister of God. He does not command, nor
authorize, nor
sanction it. He forbids the
lusts of ambition and greed and revenge that
lead to it. He inculcates a
love of others which, carried out, would make it
impossible. The
progress of his religion leads to the curtailing of war, and
its final establishment will
coordinate itself with the turning of war into
peace to the ends of the earth.
Yet, as with other evil things, He permits it
to happen, controls its operation, utilizes its results,
and makes it a means
of good, and the minister of His holy will. War has always been a prominent
agency in the judgments that
fall on nations. And a terrible agency it is,
more ruthlessly destructive than
any other. It expresses all the evil qualities
of corrupt humanity,
deserving the poet’s scathing words —
“O war,
thou son of hell,
Whom angry
Heavens do make their minister.”
And war, apart from its severity as a scourge, is well calculated to be
disciplinary. As a revelation of human wickedness, it indirectly lays
bare to
us the plagues of our own heart. Linked hand in hand as it
is, moreover,
with deceit and treachery, it
exhibits carnal human nature as “a thing of
naught,” and
so is an effective antidote to confidence in the flesh.
2. The heathen the
rod in His hand. God is not scrupulous in the matter of
instruments. He uses every man,
however vile, for some purpose or other.
worship and ways — that to know
them in the character of enemies and
conquerors and
masters would be a great advantage. It
would be in these
capacities that the worst effects
of idolatry on the human character would
show themselves, and closer acquaintance
with them might help to
disenchant the idol loving
3. Victory
is always on God’s
side. God, for the time being, would be on the
Assyrian’s side. Without
reference to the intrinsic merits of the struggle, as
between parties almost equally wicked, He would help the heathen to
overcome the apostates.
their own valor or strength, but to God’s assisting arm (Psalm 44:2-3).
Left to themselves, they would
be utterly beaten now. The difference
between defeat and victory is the difference between the God-forsaken
and the God-defended.
4. God-sent affliction covers all
the ground covered by the provoking sin.
“And it shall
oppress you from the entrance of Hamath” — the extreme
northern boundary (Numbers 34:8)
— “to
the brook of the desert,” the
southern boundary, whether “the
brook of the willows,” Isaiah 15:7
(Pusey),
or the present “El Ahsy” (Keil).
This territory they had recovered
under Jeroboam II., and lost
soon to Tiglath-Pileser, defeat and loss
retracing to the last inch the
steps of conquest. Not only was “the whole
scene of their triumphs one scene of affliction and woe” (Pusey), but the
very thing, and the whole thing, which they had made an occasion of
pride
and carnal confidence, vainly deeming that they had conquered it in
their
own strength, is made an occasion of humiliation and distress. The only
way to put us out of conceit
with our idol is to destroy it all, and destroy it
utterly.
The Hand of God Seen in National Retribution
(v. 14)
Coming when it did, this prophecy was an unmistakable proof
of Divine
foresight.
victory obtained by her arms. The
by its own strength had pushed back the foe from the
borders. This was the
moment appointed for Amos to utter the faithful warning
contained in this
verse. Subsequent events proved the predictive authority
from which this
language proceeded. The advance of
the unbelieving and impenitent of the warning to which they
had been
indifferent. But we are chiefly concerned to trace the
truths and to draw
the lessons regarding Divine government upon earth, which
this prediction
so strikingly unfolds.
·
THE FACT THAT A NATION IS CHOSEN BY GOD FOR A
SPECIAL PURPOSE DOES NOT EXEMPT THAT NATION FROM
THE OPERATION OF THE LAWS OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT.
It is sometimes represented that
the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob were treated by the Ruler
of all with an especial favoritism. But
such a view cannot be justified
from the sacred records. Undoubtedly, this
nation was selected for high purposes, and appointed to
occupy a position
of enlightenment and eminence; but this was in order that:
Ø
the Jews might fulfill
the purposes of God’s wisdom,
Ø
might in the fullness
of the time produce the Messiah, and
Ø
might become a
blessing to all the nations of the earth.
But never was a nation subjected to more stringent
discipline than
the Hebrew theocracy endured. No transgression was unnoticed or
unchastised. Such afflictions have indeed seldom been endured as
known, both in ancient and in
modern times.
·
GOD, WHO IS NOT CONFINED TO ANY SPECIAL AGENCIES,
HAS OFTEN EMPLOYED ONE NATION AS THE SCOURGE BY
WHICH ANOTHER NATION HAS BEEN CHASTISED. It may be
asked why
transgressions of
may point out that the moral
qualities of the chastising instrument have no
bearing upon the purposes of
punishment. God raiseth up one and setteth
down another. History
is full of examples of this principle. Amidst very
much that is mysterious, there
is not a little that is plain. Only in the most
general way is it permitted us
to interpret the methods of the Divine
government. But the
authoritative language of this and other passages of
Scripture assure us that He who doeth according to His will among the
inhabitants of the earth
is impressing His own great lessons and fulfilling
His own great designs by the changes which occur among the nations. Even
wars, conquests, and captivities
are the means by which God’s Law is
vindicated and God’s kingdom is
advanced.
·
NATIONAL TRIBULATION MAY BE THE MEANS OF
NATIONAL PURIFICATION AND PROGRESS. Punishment is not an
end in itself; however deserved
and just, it is inflicted with a view to the
good of the
community or individual punished, or the good of human
society at large. We can to some extent trace, in the subsequent history of
the Hebrew people, the beneficial
results of the conquest and captivity here
foretold.
Ø
Idolatry, at all events, came to an end;
Ø
more spiritual
views of religion became general;
Ø
the nation, or that
portion of it which returned to
the land of promise, was prepared for giving birth to the
Messiah, and
Ø
for furnishing
the elements which were to constitute the primitive
Church.
Thus God brought the
light of morning out of the darkness, and a spiritual
spring from the long winter of
affliction.
God Chastising Nations
by Nations (v. 14)
“But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house
of
the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from
the entering in of
Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.” What “nation”
is here referred to
as about to be raised up by God against
Assyrian nation is here represented as overspreading the
country “from the
entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.” Hamath was a
point of entrance for an invading army into
had just been subjugated by Jeroboam II. The boundaries are
virtually the
same as those mentioned (II Kings 14:25) as restored to
Jeroboam II., “from
the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain,”
i.e.
the
Do not glory in your recently acquired city, for it shall
be the starting point
for the foe to afflict you. How sad the contrast to the
feast of Solomon,
attended by a congregation from the same Hamath, the most northern
boundary of
boundary! “Unto the
river of the wilderness,” i.e. to Kedron,
or that part of
it which empties itself into the northern bay of the Dead
Sea below
(II Chronicles 28:15), which city was at the southern
boundary of the
ten tribes (Maurer). To the river
and separates
well as
8:65, “Solomon held a
feast, and all
Hamath unto the
words is this — God chastising nations by nations. He now threatens to
chastise the kingdoms of
how the Almighty has acted from the beginning. He has
chastised nations
by nations. The history of the world is little else than a
history of civil wars.
Let us for a moment notice the how and the why of this.
·
THE HOW. How does the Almighty bring about wars?
1. Not by His inspiration. The God of peace does not breathe into any
people greed,
ambition, revenge. These principles,
from which all war
emanates, are repugnant to His
nature. He
denounces them. His grand aim
in the world is to annihilate them, and in their
place propagate
disinterestedness,
humility, and magnanimous love.
2. Not by His authority. All war is directly
against His command; whilst
everywhere He
prohibits covetousness, pride, and revenge, He inculcates, in
almost every page of inspiration and every form of
utterance, love to our
neighbors. The God of peace works
everywhere in the world through
peace, works by the peaceful
influences of nature and the love of the
gospel to produce “peace
on earth, and good will towards men.” How,
then, can He be said to raise a
nation to war? Simply by permission. He
allows human nature freedom to
work out the evil principles that are
operating in it. The power of
free action with which He endowed men at
first He does not crush, He does
not restrict; He treats it with respect, and
leaves men free to do evil as
well as good. He who permits the river at
times to overflow its
boundaries, and the subterranean fires to break forth,
permits the passions of men to
issue in war and bloodshed. Permission is
not authorship.
·
THE WHY. Why does the
Almighty chastise nations by nations? Why
not employ the elements of
nature or angelic intelligences? or why not do it
by His own direct volition,
without any instrumentality whatever? He may,
for aught we know, chastise men
in all these ways; but we can see reasons
for His employing nations to chastise
nations by wars. In acting thus:
1. Man has revealed to him in the most impressive way the wickedness
of
the human heart. It has been well said that war is the effect, the
embodiment, and
manifestation of every conceivable sin. In
every war hell
is revealed; its fires flash,
its thunders roll, its fiends revel and shriek. For
man to get rid of sin, he must
be impressed with its enormity; and does not
war make that impression? Does not every
crimson chapter in its history
reveal to the human heart the stupendous enormity of sin?
2. Man has revealed
to him the utter folly of putting confidence his fellow
man. War reveals falsehood, treachery, cunning, fraud, cruelty;
and who
can trust these? Does not war
say to every man, “Cursed is the man that
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm”? To day a man may fondle you
as a friend, tomorrow foam at
you as a fiend. “Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the son of
man, in whom there is no hope.” (Psalm 146:3)
3. Man has revealed to him the supreme importance of cultivating the true
friendship of his fellow men. What thoughtful men
have not groaned and
wept over the utter failure of
all means to produce the results for which
they were ostensibly commenced —
to vindicate national honor, to
establish peace? Such ends are
never realized. What, then, is the lesson?
Cultivate friendship with your fellow men, the friendship
of man with man,
family with family, tribe with tribe, nation with nation. Wars are God’s
moral lessons to man
in tragedy
.
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Human Joy in
the Unsubstantial (v. 13)
“Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught, which say, Have we
not taken to us
horns by our own strength?” “Horns” are signs and symbols of
power; here
they stand for the military resources with which they
fancied that they
could conquer every foe. “These delusions of God-forgetting
pride the
prophet casts down, by saying that Jehovah, the God of
hosts, will raise up
a nation against them, which will crush them down in the
whole length and
breadth of the kingdom. This nation was Assyria” (Delitzsch). What these
ancient Hebrews did is an evil prevalent in all times and
lands — rejoicing
in the things of
naught, taking pleasure in the unreal, the empty, and the
fleeting.
·
TO REJOICE IN WORLDLY WEALTH is to “rejoice
in a thing of
nought.” Rich men
everywhere are always disposed to rejoice in their
wealth. Houses, lands, and
funded treasures, of these worldly men are ever
boasting, in these they proudly
exult. But what is earthly wealth? It is, in
truth, so far as the possessor
is concerned, “a thing of naught.” It was not
his a few years ago, and may not
be his tomorrow. “Wilt thou set thine
eyes upon that
which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away as
an eagle towards heaven” (Proverbs
23:5). Wealth, at
best, is a most unsubstantial
thing; it is a mere air bubble rising on the
stream of life, glittering for a
moment, and then departing forever. Great
fortunes are but bubbles; they
vanish before a ripple on the stream or a gust
in the atmosphere. “Wealth,”
says old
from man to man as the bird from tree to tree, and none
can say where it
will roost or rest at night.”
“Go, enter
the mart where the merchantmen meet,
Get rich,
and retire to some rural retreat:
Ere
happiness comes, comes the season to die;
Quickly.
then will thy riches all vanish and fly.
Go, sit
with the mighty in purple and gold;
Thy
mansions be stately, thy treasures untold;
But soon shalt thou dwell in the damp house of clay,
While thy
riches make wings to themselves and away.”
·
TO REJOICE IN PERSONAL BEAUTY is to “rejoice in a thing of
naught.” Nature has endowed some with personal charms which it has
denied to others — finely
chiseled features, a radiant countenance,
commanding brow, symmetrical
form, majestic presence. He who is thus
blest has many advantages; he
commands admiration and exerts an
influence upon human hearts. But is this
beauty a thing to rejoice in? Those
who possess it do rejoice in it;
many pride themselves on their good looks
and fine figures. But what is
beauty? It is “a thing of naught.” Why rejoice
in that for which we can take no
credit? Does the moss rose deserve praise
for unfolding more beauty and
emitting more fragrance than the nettle?
Who can make one
hair white or black, or add one cubit to his stature?
Why rejoice, too, in that which
is so evanescent? Socrates called beauty “a
short-lived tyranny;” and Theophrastus, “a silent cheat.” One old divine
says it is like an almanac — it
“lasts for one year, as it were.” Men are like
the productions of the fields
and the meadows. In the summer the variety is
striking, some herbs and flowers
appear in more stately form and attractive
hues than others; but when old
winter comes round, who sees the
distinctions? Where are the
plants of beauty? They are faded and gone. “All
flesh is grass,
and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field.”
(Zechariah 40:6)
“Beauty is
but a vain and doubtful good,
A shining
gloss, that fadeth suddenly;
A flower
that dies, when first it ‘gins to bud;
A brittle
glass, that’s broken presently:
A doubtful
good, a gloss, a glass, a flower,
Lost,
faded, broken, dead within an hour.
“And as
good lost is seldom or never found,
As fading
gloss no rubbing will refresh,
As flowers
dead lie withered on the ground,
As broken
glass no cement can redress,
So beauty,
blemished once, forever’s lost,
In spite
of physic, painting, pain, and cost.”
(Shakespeare.)
·
TO REJOICE IN ANCESTRAL DISTINCTION is to “rejoice
in a
thing of naught.” There are those who are constantly exulting in their
pedigree. Some who in
this country can go back to the days of William the
Conqueror, how delighted they
are! But who were the men that William
brought over with him, and
between whom he divided this England of
ours? Cobblers, tailors, smiths,
plunderers, men of rapine and blood, most
of them destitute alike of intellectual
culture and morality. But even had we
come from the loins of the
intellectual and moral peers of the race, what
cause in this is there for
rejoicing? it is truly “a thing of
naught.” Our
ancestry is independent of us; we are not responsible for it. It is
not a
matter either of blame or praise. Each man is complete in himself — an
accountable unity, a moral
cause. A prime minister has a number of earnest
servile lackeys — they are
printers, jewelers, cloth makers, tailors, and
such-like; in the zenith of his
power he rewards them by causing them to be
titled “sir,” “lord,” “baron,”
etc. In this their children rejoice. But is it not
“a thing of naught”? What is
there in it? Nothing.
“Knighthoods
and honors borne
Without
desert, are titles but of scorn.”
(Shakespeare.)
·
TO REJOICE IN MORAL MERITORIOUSNESS is to “rejoice in a
thing of naught.” There are many who rejoice in their morality. Like the
Pharisee in the temple, they
thank God they are not as “other men,”
They
consider they are “rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing,” whereas they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind,
and naked.” (Revelation 3:17)
Moral merit in a sinner is a baseless vision,
a phantom of a proud heart. The man exulting in his own
self-righteousness
acts as foolishly as the man who endeavors to secure himself from the
scorching rays of the sun under his own shadow. He seeks to bring his
shadow between him and the sun,
but cannot. If he runs, the shadow is
before or behind him; if he falls
down, the shadow falls with him, and
leaves him in contact with the
burning beam. No; our righteousness is
“a thing of
naught;” it is “filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6)
“Beware of
too sublime a sense
Of your
own worth and consequence.
The man who
deems himself so great,
And his
importance of such weight,
That all
around, in all that’s done,
Must move
and act for him alone,
Will learn
in school of tribulation
The folly
of his expectation.”
(Cowper.)
·
CONCLUSION. Ah me! how many on all hands are rejoicing in “a thing
of nought”!
Wealth, beauty, ancestry, self-righteousness, — what are
these? Fleeting shadows, dying
echoes. They are clouds without water; to
the eye they may for a minute or
two appear in gorgeous forms, but before
a breeze they melt into thin air
and are lost. Rejoice in the real, the
spiritual, the eternal, the
Divine. — D.T.
.