Amos 2 commentary

The evil passions of the heart break out in various forms; but the Lord looks to our motives, as well as our conduct. Those that deal cruelly, shall be cruelly dealt with. Other nations were reckoned with for injuries done to men; Judah is reckoned with for dishonour done to God. Judah despised the law of the Lord; and he justly gave them up to strong delusion; nor was it any excuse for their sin, that they were the lies, the idols, after which their fathers walked. The worst abominations and most grievous oppressions have been committed by some of the professed worshippers of the Lord. Such conduct leads many to unbelief and vile idolatry.

We need often to be reminded of the mercies we have received; which add much to the evil of the sins we have committed. They had helps for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their earthly enjoyments, and were therefore more valuable. Faithful ministers are great blessings to any people; but it is God that raises them up to be so. Sinners' own consciences will witness that he has not been wanting to them in the means of grace. They did what they could to lead believers aside. Satan and his agents are busy to corrupt the minds of young people who look heavenward; they overcome many by drawing them to the love of mirth and pleasure, and into drinking company. Multitudes of young men who bade fair as professors of religion, have erred through strong drink, and have been undone for ever. The Lord complains of sin, especially the sins of his professing people, as a burden to him. And though his long-suffering be tired, his power is not, and so the sinner will find to his cost. When men reject God's word, adding obstinacy to sin, and this becomes the general character of a people, they will be given up to misery, notwithstanding all their boasted power and resources. May we then humble ourselves before the Lord, for all our ingratitude and unfaithfulness.

Now Amos prophesies here against the Moabites, and proclaims respecting them what we have noticed respecting the other nations, — that the Moabites were wholly perverse, that no repentance would be hoped for, as they had added crimes to crimes, and reached the highest pitch of wickedness; for, as we have said, the number, seven, imports this. The Prophet then charges the Moabites here with perverseness: and hence we learn that God’s vengeance did not come hastily upon them, for their wickedness was intolerable since they thus followed their crimes. But he mentions one thing in particular, — that they had burnt the bones of the king of Edom.

Some take bones here for courage, as though the Prophet had said, that the whole strength of Edom had been reduced into ashes: but this is a strained exposition; and its authors themselves confess that they are forced to it by necessity, when yet there is none. The comment given by the Rabbis does not please them, — that the body of a certain king had been burnt, and then that the Moabites had strangely applied the ashes for making a cement instead of lime. Thus the Rabbis trifle in their usual way; for when an obscure place occurs, they immediately invent some fable; though there be no history, yet they exercise their wit in fabulous glosses; and this I wholly dislike: but what need there is of running to allegory, when we may simply take what the Prophet says, that the body of the king of Edom had been burnt: for the Prophet, I doubt not, charges the Moabites with barbarous cruelty. To dig up the bodies of enemies, and to burn their bones, — this is an inhuman deed, and wholly barbarous. But it was more detestable in the Moabites, who had some connection with the people of Edom; for they descended from the same family; and the memory of that relationship ought to have continued, since Abraham brought up Lot, the father of the Moabites; and thus the Moabites were under an obligation to the Idumeans. If then any humanity existed in them, they ought to have restrained their passions, so as not to treat so cruelly their brethren. Now, when they exceeded all moderation in war, and raged against dead bodies, and burnt the bones of the dead, it was, as I have said, an extremely barbarous conduct. The meaning then is, that the Moabites could no longer be borne with; for in this one instance, they gave an example of savage cruelty. Had there been a drop of humanity in them, they would have treated more kindly their brethren, the Idumeans; but they burnt into lime, that is, into ashes, the bones of the king of Edom, and thereby proved that they had forgotten all humanity and justice. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning.

He therefore adds a threatening, I will send a fire on Moab, which shall devour the palaces of קריות, Koriut We have stated that what the Prophet means by these modes of speaking is that God would consume the Moabites by a violent punishment as by a burning fire, that fortified places could not hinder him from executing his vengeance, and that though they were proud of their palaces, yet these would avail them nothing.

And he subjoins, Moab shall die with tumult, with noise, with the sound of the trumpet; that is, I will send strong enemies, who will come and make no peace with the Moabites, but will take possession of every place, and of fortified cities, by force and by the sword. For what the Prophet means by tumult, by shouting, by the sound of the trumpet, is, that the Moabites would not come under the power of their enemies by certain agreements and compacts, as when a voluntary surrender is made, which usually mitigates the hostile rage of enemies; no, he says, it shall not be so; for their enemies shall have not only their wealth but their lives also.

He finally adds, And I will cut off the judge from the midst of her, and will slay her princes, saith Jehovah. God here declares, that the kingdom of the Moabites and the people shall be no more; for we know that men cannot exist as a body without some civil government. Wherever then there is an assemblage of men, there must be princes to rule and govern them. Hence, when God declares that there would be no more a judge among the Moabites, it is the same thing as if he had said, that their name would be blotted out; for had the people of Moab continued, some princes must have necessarily, as we have said, remained among them. When princes then are destroyed, the people must also perish, for there is no security for them. The Prophet then denounces not here a temporary punishment on the Moabites, but utter ruin, from which they were never to rise. This is the meaning. Let us now proceed —

Amos 2:4-5

4. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

4. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus Jehudah, et super quatuor non convertam cum; quia spreverunt (vel, abjecerunt) legem Jehovae, et statuta ejus non custodierunt; et errare eos fecerunt mendacia sua, post quae ambulaverunt patres ipsorum:

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

5. Et mittam ignem in Jehudah, qui devorabit palatia Jerusalem.

Amos turns now his discourse to the tribe of Judah, and to that kingdom, which still continued in the family of David. He has hitherto spoken of heathen and uncircumcised nations: what he said of them was a prelude of the destruction which was nigh the chosen people; for when God spared not others who had through ignorance sinned, what was to become of the people of Israel, who had been taught in the law? For a servant, knowing his master’s will, and doing it not, is worthy of many stripes, (Luke 12:47) God could not, then, forgive the children of Abraham, whom he had adopted as his peculiar people, when he inflicted each grievous punishments on heathen nations, whose ignorance, as it is commonly thought by men, was excusable. It is indeed true, that all who sin without law will justly perish, as Paul says in Romans 2, but when a comparison is made between the children of Israel and the wretched heathens, who were immersed in errors, the latter were doubtless worthy of being pardoned, when compared with that people who had betrayed their perverseness, and, as it were, designedly resolved to bring on themselves the vengeance of God.

The Prophet then having hitherto spoken of the Gentiles, turns his discourse now to the chosen people, the children of Abraham. But he speaks of the tribe of Judah, from which he sprang, as I said at the beginning; and he did this, lest any one should charge him with favoring his own countrymen: he had, indeed, migrated into the kingdom of Israel; but he was there a stranger. We shall now see how severely he reproved them. Had he, then, been silent as to the tribe of Judah, he might have been subject to calumny; for many might have said, that there was a collusion between him and his own countrymen and that he concealed their vices, and that he fiercely inveighed against their neighbors, through a wicked emulation, in order to transfer the kingdom again into the family of David. Hence, that no such suspicion might tarnish his doctrine, the Prophet here summons to judgment the tribe of Judah, and speaks in no milder language of the Jews than of other nations: for he says, that they, through their stubbornness, had so provoked God’s wrath, that there was no hope of pardon; for such was the mass of their vices, that God would now justly execute extreme vengeance, as a moderate chastisement would not be sufficient. We now then understand the Prophet’s design.

I come now to the words: For they have despised, he says, the law of Jehovah. Here he charges the Jews with apostasy; for they had cast aside the worship of God, and the pure doctrine of religion. This was a crime the most grievous. We hence see, that the Prophet condemns here freely and honestly as it became him, the vices of his own people, so that there was no room for calumny, when he afterwards became a severe censor and reprover of the Israelites; for he does not lightly touch on something wrong in the tribe of Judah, but says that they were apostates and perfidious, having cast aside the law of God. But it may be asked, why the Prophet charges the Jews with a crime so atrocious, since religion, as we have seen in the Prophecies of Hosea, still existed among them? But to this there is a ready answer: the worship of God was become corrupt among them, though they had not so openly departed from it as the Israelites. There remained, indeed, circumcision among the Israelites; but their sacrifices were pollutions, their temples were brothels: they thought that they worshipped God; but as a temple had been built at Bethel contrary to God’s command, the whole worship was a profanation. The Jews were somewhat purer; but they, we know, had also degenerated from the genuine worship of God. Hence the Prophet does not unjustly say here, that they had despised the law of God.

But we must notice the explanation which immediately follows, — that they kept not his statutes. The way then by which Amos proves that the Jews were covenant-breakers, and that having repudiated God’s law, they had fallen into wicked superstitions, is by saying, that they kept not the precepts of God. It may, however, appear that he treats them here with too much severity; for one might not altogether keep God’s commands either through ignorance or carelessness, or some other fault, and yet be not a covenant-breaker or an apostate. I answer, — That in these words of the Prophet, not mere negligence is blamed in the Jews; but they are condemned for designedly, that is, knowingly and willfully departing from the commandments of God, and devising for themselves various modes of worship. It is not then to keep the precepts of God, when men continue not under his law, but audaciously contrive for themselves new forms of worship; they regard not what God commands, but lay hold on anything pleasing that comes to their minds. This crime the Prophet now condemns in the Jews: and hence it was that they had despised the law of God. For men should never assume so much as to change any thing in the worship of God; but due reverence for God ought to influence them: were they persuaded of this — that there is no wisdom but what comes from God — they would surely confine themselves within his commands. Whenever then they invent new and fictitious forms of worship, they sufficiently show that they regard not what the Lord wills, what he enjoins, what he forbids. Thus, then, they despise his law, and even cast it away.

This is a remarkable passage; for we see, first, that a most grievous sin is condemned by the Prophet, and that sin is, that the Jews confined not themselves to God’s law, but took the liberty of innovating; this is one thing: and we also learn how much God values obedience, which is better, as it is said in another place, than all sacrifices, (1 Samuel 15:22) And that we may not think this a light or a trifling sin, let us notice the expression — that they despised the law of God. Every one ought to dread this as the most monstrous thing; for we cannot despise the law of God without insulting his majesty. And yet the Holy Spirit declares here, that we repudiate and reject the law of God, except we wholly follow what it commands, and continue within the limits prescribed by it. We now perceive what the Prophet means.

But he also adds, that their own lies deceived or caused them to go astray. He here confirms his preceding doctrine; for the Jews had ever a defense ready at hand, that they did with good intent what the Prophet condemned in them. They, forsooth! sedulously worshipped God, though they mixed their own leaven, by which their sacrifices were corrupted: it was not their purpose to spend their substance in vain, to undergo great expenses in sacrifices, and to undertake much labor, had they not thought that it was service acceptable to God! As then the pretense of good intention, (as they say,) ever deceives the unbelieving, the Prophet condemns this pretense, and shows it to be wholly fallacious, and of no avail. “It is nothing,” he says, “that they pretend before God some good intention; their own lies deceive them.” And Amos, no doubt, mentions here these lies, in opposition to the commands of God. As soon then as men swerve from God’s word, they involve themselves in many delusions, and cannot but go astray; and this is deserving of special notice. We indeed see how much wisdom the world claims for itself: for as soon as we invent anything we are greatly delighted with it; and the ape, according to the old proverb, is ever pleased with its own offspring. But this vice especially prevails, when by our devices we corrupt and adulterate the worship of God. Hence the Prophet here declares, that whatever is added to God’s word, and whatever men invent in their own brains is a lie: “All this,” he says, “is nothing but imposture.” We now see of what avail is good intention: by this indeed men harden themselves; but they cannot make the Lord to retract what he has once declared by the mouth of his Prophet. Let us then take heed to continue within the boundaries of God’s word, and never to leap over either on this or on that side; for when we turn aside ever so little from the pure word of God, we become immediately involved in many deceptions.

It then follows, After which have walked their fathers; literally it is, Which their fathers have walked after them: This is one of the peculiarities of the Hebrew language — the use of two pronouns, the one before, and the other after the verb; and the preposition, when necessary, is given with the latter, and not the former. There is a similar peculiarity in the Welsh, exactly the same and of common occurrence. There are several instances of likeness between the two languages, and even an identity of idiom, and that in those things in which they differ from other languages. In the present instance the Welsh is literally, word for word, the Hebrew — y shai yr aeth eich tadau ar eu hol — which your fathers have gone after them. — Ed. but we have given the sense. The Prophet here exaggerates their sin, the insatiable rage of the people; for the children now followed their fathers. This vice, we know, prevailed in all ages among the Jews; leaving the word of God, they ever followed their own dreams, and the delusions of Satan. Since God had now often tried to correct this vice by his Prophets, and no fruit followed, the Prophet charges them here with hardness, and by this circumstance enhances the sin of the Jews: “It is nothing new,” he says, “for children to imitate their fathers, and to be wholly like them: they are then the bad eggs of bad ravens.” So also said Stephen,

‘Ye are hard and uncircumcised in heart, and resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers also did formerly,’ (Acts 7:51.)

We now understand the intention of the Prophet.

But we hence learn of what avail is the subterfuge resorted to by the Papists, when they boast of antiquity. For they set up against the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel, this shield, — that theirs is the old religion, that they have not been the first founders, but that they follow what has been handed down to them from early times, and observed for many ages. When the Papists boastingly declare all this, they think that they say enough to put God to silence, and wholly to reject his Word. But we see how frivolous is this sort of caviling, and how worthless before God: for the Prophet does not concede to the Jews the example of the fathers as an excuse, but sets forth their sin as being greater because they followed their perfidious fathers, who had forsaken the Law of the Lord. The same thing is also said by Ezekiel,

‘After the precepts of your fathers walk not,’ (Ezekiel 20:18.)

We now see what sort of crime is that of which the Prophet speaks. At last a threatening follows, “The Lord saith, Fire will I send on Judah, which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.’ But all this we have already explained. Let us now proceed —

Amos 2:6

6. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

6. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus Israel et super quatuor non convertam cum (vel, ad eum,) quia emerunt (vel, vendiderunt: quidam enim deducunt a כרת, et putant מ esse literam formalem nominis: alii autem deducunt a מכר quod est vendere vel mercari; sed sensus Prophetae eodem redit, quia intelligit quasi ad nundinationem expositos fuisse justos; ideoque proestabit vertere, pretium ipsorum; quasi diceret, commercium non secus ac de merce voenale fuisse habitum; quoniam ergo emerunt) justum pro argento, et miserum pro calceamentis.

The Prophet here assails the Israelites, to whom he had been sent, as we have said at the beginning. He now omits every reference to other nations; for his business was with the Israelites to whom he was especially appointed a teacher. But he wished to set before them, as in various mirrors, the judgment of God, which awaited them, that he might the more effectually awaken them: and he wished also to exhibit in the Jews themselves an example of the extreme vengeance of God, though there was greater purity among them, at least a purer religion, and more reverence for God prevailed as yet among them. He in this way prepared the Israelites, that they might not obstinately and proudly reject his doctrine. He now then addresses them, and says that they continued unmoved in their many sins. The import of the whole is, that if the Moabites, the Idumeans, the Tyrians, the Sidonians, and other nations, and that if the Jews as well as these were irreclaimable in their obstinacy, so that their diseases were incurable, and their wickedness such as God could no longer endure, the Israelites were also in the same condition; for they also continued perverse in their wickedness, and provoked God, and repented not, though God had waited long, and exhorted them to repent.

It is now meet for us to bear in mind what we have before said, — that if impiety was so rampant in that age, and the contempt of God so prevailed, that men could not be restored to a sane mind, and if iniquity everywhere overflowed, (for Amos accuses not a few people, but many nations,) let us at this day beware, lest such corruptions prevail among us; for, certainly, the world is now much worse than it was then: nay, since the Prophet says here, that both the Israelites and the Jews were wholly irreclaimable in their obstinacy, there is no excuse for us at this day for deceiving ourselves with an empty name, because we have the symbol of faith, having been baptized; and in case we have other marks, which seem to belong to the Church of God, let us not think that we are therefore free from guilt, if we allow ourselves that unruliness condemned here by the Prophet both in the Israelites and in the Jews; for they had become hardened against all instructions, against all warnings. Let, then, these examples rouse our attention, lest we, like them, harden ourselves so much as to constrain the Lord to execute on us extreme vengeance.

Let us now especially observe what the Prophet lays to the charge of Israel. He begins with their cruel deeds; but the whole book is taken up with reproofs; there is to the very end a continued accusation as to those crimes which then prevailed among the people of Israel. He does not then point out only one particular crime, as with respect to the other nations; but he scrutinizes all the vices of which the people were guilty, as though he would thoroughly anatomize them. But these we shall notice in their proper order.

Now as to the first thing, the Prophet says, that the just among the Israelites was sold for silver, yea, for shoes. It may be asked, Why is it that he does not begin with those superstitions, in which they surpassed the Jews? for if God had resolved to destroy Jerusalem and his own temple, because they had fallen away into superstitious and spurious modes of worship, how much more ought such a judgment to have been executed on the Israelites, as they had perverted the whole law, and had become wholly degenerate; and even circumcision was nothing but a profanation of God’s covenant? Why, then, does not the Prophet touch on this point? To this I answer, — That as superstition had now for many years prevailed among them, the Prophet does not make this now his subject; but we shall hereafter see, that he has not spared these ungodly deprivations which had grown rampant among the Israelites. He indeed sharply arraigns all their superstitions; but he does this in its suitable place. It was now necessary to begin with common evils; and this was far more opportune than if he had at first spoken of superstitions; for they might have said, that they did indeed worship God. He therefore preferred condemning the Jews for alienating themselves from the pure commandments of God; and as to the Israelites, he reproves here their gross vices. But after having charged them with cruelty, shameless rapacity, and many lusts, after having exposed their filthy abominations, he then takes the occasion, as being then more suitable of exclaiming against superstitions. This order our Prophet designedly observed, as we shall see more fully from the connection of his discourse.

I now return to the words, that they sold the just for silver, and the poor for shoes. He means that there was no justice nor equity among the Israelites, for they made a sale of the children of God: and it was a most shameful thing, that there was no remedy for injuries. For we hence, no doubt, learn, that the Prophet levels his reproof against the judges who then exercised authority. The just, he says, is sold for silver: this could not apply to private individuals, but to judges, to whom it belonged to extend a helping hand to the miserable and the poor, to avenge wrongs, and to give to every one his right. It is then the same as though the Prophet had said, that unbridled licentiousness reigned triumphant among the Israelites, so that just men were exposed as a prey, and were set, as it were, on sale. He says, first, that they were sold for silver, and then he adds for shoes: and this ought to be carefully observed; for when once men begin to turn aside from the right course, they abandon themselves to evil without any shame. When an attempt is first made to draw aside a man that is just and upright and free from what is corrupt, he is not immediately overcome; though a great price may be offered to him, he will yet stand firm: but when he has sold his integrity for ten pieces of gold, he may afterwards be easily bought, as the case is usually will women. A woman, while she is pure, cannot be easily drawn away from her conjugal fidelity: she may yet be corrupted by a great price; and when once corrupted, she will afterwards prostitute herself, so that she may be bought for a crust of bread. The same is the case with judges. They, then, who at first covet silver, that is, who cannot be corrupted except by a rich and fat bribe, will afterwards barter their integrity for the meanest reward; for there is no shame any more remaining in them. This is what the Prophet points out in these words, — That they sold the just for silver; that is, that they sold him for a high price, and then that they were corrupted by the meanest gift, that if one offered them a pair of shoes, they would be ready without any blush of shame to receive such a bribe.

We now then see the crime of which Amos accused the Israelites. They could not raise an objection here, which they might have done, if he touched their superstitions. He wished therefore to acquire authority by reprobating first their manifest and obvious crimes. He afterwards, as it has been stated, speaks in its proper place, of that fictitious worship, which they, after having rejected the Law of God, embraced. It follows —

Amos 2:7

7. That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

7. Anhelantes super pulverem terrae ad caput inopum, viam miserorum (vel, pauperum) deflectere facient: vir et pater ejus ingredientur ad puellam ut profanent nomen sanctum meam (vel, nomen sanctitatis meae.)

Here Amos charges them first with insatiable avarice; they panted for the heads of the poor on the dust of the earth. This place is in my judgment not well understood. שאף, shaph, means to pant and to breathe, and is taken often metaphorically as signifying to desire: hence some render the words, “They desire the heads of the poor to be in the dust of the earth;” that is, they are anxious to see the innocent cast down and prostrate on the ground. But there is no need of many words to refute this comment; for ye see that it is strained. Others say, that in their cupidity they cast down the miserable into the dust; they therefore think that a depraved cupidity is connected with violence, and they put the lust for the deed itself.

But what need there is of having recourse to these extraneous meanings, when the words of the Prophet are in themselves plain and clear enough? He says that they panted for the heads of the poor on the ground; as though he had said, that they were not content with casting down the miserable, but that they gaped anxiously, until they wholly destroyed them. There is then nothing to be changed or added in the Prophet’s words, which harmonize well together, and mean, that through cupidity they panted for the heads of the poor, after the poor had been cast down, and were laid prostrate in the dust. The very misery of the poor, whom they saw to be in their power, and lying at their feet, ought to have satisfied them: but when such an insatiable cupidity still inflamed them, that they panted for more punishment on the poor and the miserable, was it not a fury wholly outrageous? We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning: He points out again what he has said in the former verse, — that the Israelites were given to rapacity, avarice, and cruelty of every kind.

He adds at last, and the way of the miserable they pervert. He still inveighs against the judges; for it can hardly comport with what belongs to private individuals, but it properly appertains to judges to pervert justice, and to violate equity for bribery; so that he who had the best cause became the loser, because he brought no bribe sufficiently ample. We now see what was the accusation he alleged against the Israelites. But there follows another charge, that of indulgence in lusts.

Prayer.

Grant, almighty God, that since we see so grievous punishments formerly executed on unbelievers who had never tasted of the pure knowledge of thy word, we may be warned by their example, so as to abstain from all wickedness, and to continue in pure obedience to thy word; and that, as thou hast made known to us that thou hatest all those superstitions and depravations by which we turn aside from thy word, — O grant, that we may ever be attentive to that role which has been prescribed to us by thee in the Law, as well as in the Prophets and in the Gospel, so that we may constantly abide in thy precepts, and be wholly dependent on the words of thy month, and never turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, but glorify thy name, as thou has commanded us, by offering to thee a true, sincere, and spiritual worship, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture Fifty-second

It follows, in the seventh verse, that the son and the father entered in into the same maid. The Prophet here charges the people of Israel with the unbridled lusts which prevailed then among them; which were promiscuous and even incestuous. It is, we know, a detestable monstrosity when a father and a son have connection with the same woman; for the common feeling of mankind abhors such flagitousness. But the Israelites were so much addicted to their own lusts, that the father and the son had the same woman in common; as indeed it must happen when men allow themselves excessive indulgences. A strumpet will, indeed, readily admit a son and a father without any difference, for she has no shame; and no fear of God restrains abandoned women given up to filthiness. It hence becomes a common thing for a father and a son to pollute themselves by an incestuous concubinage. But it is no diminution of guilt before God, when men, blinded by their lusts, make no difference, and without any discrimination, and without any shame, follow their own sinful propensities. Whenever this happens, it certainly proves that there is no fear of God, and that even the common feeling of nature is extinct. Hence the Prophet now justly condemns in the Israelites this crime, that the father and the son entered in into the same woman.

An amplification of this crime is also added, — that they thus polluted the holy name of God. We indeed know that the people of Israel were chosen for this end — that the name of God might be supplicated by them; and well known is that declaration, often repeated by Moses,

‘Be ye holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:44)

Hence the children of Israel could not defile themselves without polluting at the same time the name of God, which was engraven on them. God then complains here of this profanation; for the children of Israel not only contaminated themselves, but also profaned whatever was sacred among them, inasmuch as the name of God was exposed to reproach, when the people thus gave way to their filthy lusts. We now understand what the Prophet means. It follows —

Amos 2:8

8. And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

8. Et super vestes oppignoratas accubuerunt prope omne altare, et vinum damnatorum biberunt in domo Dei sui.

Here the Prophet again inveighs against the people’s avariciousness, and addresses his discourse especially to the chief men; for what he mentions could not have been done by the common people, as the lower and humbler classes could not make feasts by means of spoils gained by judicial proceedings. The Prophet then condemns here, no doubt, the luxury and rapacity of men in high stations. They lie down, he says, on pledged clothes nigh every altar. God had forbidden, in his law, to take from a poor man a pledge, the need of which he had for the support of life and daily use, (Exodus 22:26) For instance, it was prohibited by the law to take from a poor man his cloak or his coat, or to take the covering of his bed, or any thing else of which he had need. But the Prophet now accuses the Israelites, that they took away pledges and clothes without any distinction, and lay down on them nigh their altars. This belonged to the rich.

Then follows another clause, which, strictly speaking, must be restricted to the judges and governors, They have drunk the wine of the condemned in the house, or in the temple, of their God This may also be understood of the rich, who were wont to indulge in luxury by means of ill-gotten spoils: for they litigated without cause; and when they gained judgment in their favor, they thought it lawful to fare more sumptuously. This expression of the Prophet may therefore be extended to any of the rich. But he seems here to condemn more specifically the cruelty and rapaciousness of the judges. We now then perceive what the Prophet had in view by saying, that they lay down on pledged garments.

He then says that they drank wine derived from fines, which had been laid on the condemned. But this circumstance, that is added, ought to be observed, — that they lay down near altars and drank in the very temple: for the Prophet here laughs to scorn the gross superstition of the Israelites, that they thought that they were discharging their duty towards God, provided they came to the temple and offered sacrifices at the altar. Thus, indeed, are hypocrites wont to appease God, as if one by puppets played with a child. This has been a wickedness very common in all ages, and is here laid to the charge of the Israelites by the Prophet: they dared with an open front to enter the temple, and there to bring the pledged garments, and to feast on their spoils. Hypocrites do ever make a den of thieves of God’s temple, (Matthew 21:13) for they think that all things are lawful for them, provided they put on the appearance, by external worship, of being devoted to God. Since, then, the Israelites promised themselves impunity and took liberty to sin, because they performed religious ceremonies, the Prophet here sharply reproves them: they even dared to make God a witness of their cruelty by bringing pledged garments and by blending their spoils with their sacrifices, as though God had a participation with robbers.

We hence see that rapaciousness and avarice are not alone condemned here by the Prophet, but that the gross superstition of the Israelites is also reprobated, because they thought that there would be no punishment for them, though they plundered and robbed the poor, provided they reserved a part of the spoil for God, as though a sacrifice from what had been unjustly got were not an abomination to him.

But it may be asked, Why does the Prophet thus condemn the Israelites for they had no sacred temple; and we also know (as it has been elsewhere stated) that the temples, in which they thought that they worshipped God, were filthy brothels, and full of all obscenity. How is it, then, that the Prophet now so sharply inveighs against them, because they mingled their spoils with their impure sacrifices? To this the answer is, That he had regard to their views, and derided the grossness of their minds, that they thus childishly trifled with the God whom they imagined for themselves. We say the same at this day to the Papists, — that they blend profane with sacred things, when they prostitute their masses, and also when they trifle with God in their ceremonies. It is certain that whatever the Papists do is an abomination; for the whole of religion is with them adulterated: but they yet cease not to wrong God, whose name they pretend to profess. Such also were then the Israelites: though they professed still to worship God, they were yet sacrilegious; though they offered sacrifices to the calves in Dan and in Bethel, they yet reproached God, for they ever abused his name. This, then, is the crime the Prophet now condemns in them. But what I have said must be remembered, — that this blind assurance is reprehended in the Israelites, that they thought spoils to be lawful provided they professed to worship God: but they thus rendered double their crime, as we have said; for they tried to make God the associate of robbers, mingling as they did their pollutions with their sacrifices. Let us proceed —

Amos 2:9-12

9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

9. Et ego exterminavi Amorrhaeum a facie ipsorum, cujus proceritas erat sicut proceritas cedrorum, et qui fortis erat sicut quercus; et perdidi fructum ejus superne et radicem ejus subtus.

10. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

10. Et ego eduxi vos e terra Egypti, et deduxi vos (ambulare feci vos ad verbum) in deserto per quadraginta annos ad possidendam terram Amorrhaei.

11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord

11. Et suscitavi ex filiis vestris prophetas, et ex juvenibus vestris Nazaraeos: annon etiam hoc, filii Israel? dicit Jehovah.

12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

12. Et propinastis Nazaraeis vinum, et super prophetis mandastis, dicendo, Non prophetabitis.

God expostulates here with the Israelites for their ingratitude. He records the benefits he had before conferred on that people; and then shows how unworthily and disgracefully they had conducted themselves; for they forgot their many blessings and proudly despised God, and acted as if they were like other nations, and not bound to God for the singular benefit of adoption. The sum then is that God here complains that he had ill bestowed his blessings; and he reproves the people for their impiety, inasmuch as they did not lead a holier life after having been freely redeemed.

He says first, I have exterminated the Amorite before their face. God shows here that he was disgracefully defrauded by the Israelites, for whose sake he had previously destroyed the Amorites. For why were the Amorites exterminated, but that God would cleanse the land, and also, that he might give there a dwelling to his own people, that he might be purely worshipped? Then the people of Israel ought to have given up themselves wholly to the service of God; but as they neglected to do this, they frustrated the purpose of God, who had expelled the Amorites from that land, yea, and entirely destroyed them. The first complaint then is, that the children of Israel were nothing better than the Amorites, though God had given them the land, which was taken from its natives, that they might dwell in it, and on the condition, that his name should be there worshipped. Hence the Prophets say elsewhere, that they were Amorites. They ought to have been a new people; but as they followed the examples of others, in what did they differ from them? They are therefore called their posterity. But the Prophet speaks not here so severely; he only reproves the Israelites, because they differed in nothing from the Amorites, whom they knew to have been destroyed that they might be introduced into their place, and succeed to their inheritance.

It is then added, that the Amorites were tall in stature, and also that they were strong men. By these words the Prophet intimates that the Amorites were not conquered by the people’s valor, but by the wonderful power of God. We indeed know that they were dreaded by the people of Israel, for they were like giants. Then the Prophet speaks here of their height and strength, that the Israelites might consider that they overcame them not by their own valor, but that the land was given them by a miracle, for they had to do with giants, on whom they could hardly dare to look. It was then God who prostrated the cedars and the oaks before his people. We hence learn, that the Israelites could not boast of their own strengths as though they took possession of the land, because by means of war they ejected their enemies; for this was done by the singular kindness of God. They could not indeed have contended with their enemies, had not that been fulfilled which the Lord had so often foretold, ‘For you, while still, I will fight,’ (Exodus 14:14) We now perceive the Prophet’s intention. But we may hence farther learn, that the Israelites had not possessed the land, because they were more excellent than the Amorites, its ancient inhabitants; but because it so pleased God. There was therefore no reason for the people of Israel to be proud on account of any excellency. It hence appears that they, who did not consider this remarkable kindness done to them, were more than doubly ungrateful to God.

He says that their fruit above and root below were destroyed. By this metaphor God enlarges on what he said before, that the Amorites had been exterminated, so that none of them remained. “I have demolished,” he says, or, “I have entirely destroyed the root beneath and the fruit above; I have extinguished the very name of the nation.” And yet the Israelites were not better, though the Amorites were thus destroyed; but having succeeded in their place, they became like them: this was utterly inexcusable. The more severe God’s vengeance had been towards the Amorites, the more ought the Israelites to have extolled his favor: but when with closed eyes they passed by so remarkable a testimony of God’s paternal love, it appears that they were extremely wicked and ungrateful.

He afterwards subjoins, I have made you to ascend from the land of Egypt; I have made you to walk in the desert for forty years, in order to possess the land of the Amorite. The circumstances here specified are intended to confirm the same thing, that God had miraculously redeemed his people. Men, we know, for the most part extenuate the favors of God; nay, this evil is innate in us. This is the reason why the Prophet so largely describes and extols the redemption of the people. Hence he says now that they had been led out of the land of Egypt. And they ought to have remembered what had been their condition in Egypt; for there they were most miserably oppressed. When therefore that coming out was set before them, it was the same as if God had reminded them how shamefully they had been treated, and how hard had been their bondage in Egypt. That beginning ought to have humbled them, and also to have stimulated them to the cultivation of piety. When now they proudly exulted against God, when no recollection of their deliverance laid hold on them, this vice is justly laid to their charge by the Prophet: “See,” he says, “I have brought you forth from the land of Egypt; what were ye then? what was your nobility? what was your wealth or riches? what was your power? For the Egyptians treated you as the vilest slaves; your condition then was extremely ignominious; ye were as lost, and I redeemed you: and now buried is the recollection of so illustrious a kindness, which deserved to be for ever remembered.”

He afterwards adds, I have made you to walk, etc. The Prophet here reminds them of the desert, that the Israelites might know that God might have justly closed up against them an entrance into the land, though he had promised it for an inheritance to Abraham. For how was it that the Lord led them about for so long a time, except that they, as far as they could, had denied God, and rendered themselves unworthy of enjoying the promised land? Then the Prophet indirectly blames the Israelites here for having been the cause why God detained them for forty years without introducing them immediately into the promised land; which might have easily been done, had they not closed the door against themselves by their ingratitude. This is one reason why the Prophet now speaks of the forty years. And then, as God had in various ways testified his kindness towards the Israelites, he had thus bound them the more to himself; but an ungodly forgetfulness had buried all his favors. God daily rained manna on them from heaven; he also gave them drink from a dry rock; he guided them during the day by a pillar of cloud, and in the night by fire: and we also know how often God bore with them, and how many proofs he gave them of his forbearance. The Prophet, then, by speaking here of the forty years, meant to counsel the Israelites to call to mind the many favors, by which they were bound to God, while they were miraculously led by him for forty years in the desert.

He now subjoins, I have raised from your sons Prophets, and Nazarites from your young or strong men, (for בחרים, becharim, as we have elsewhere said, are called by the Hebrews chosen men;) then from your youth or chosen men have I raised Nazarites. Was it not so, O children of Israel? or certainly it was so: for the particle אף, aph, sometimes is a simple affirmation, and sometimes an addition. Is not then all this true, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah. God first reminds them that he had raised up Prophets from their sons. It if a remarkable proof of God’s love, that he deigns to guide his people by Prophets: for if God were to speak himself from heaven, or to send his angels down, it would apparently be much more dignified; but when he so condescends as to employ mortal men and our own brethren, who are the agents of his Spirit, in whom he dwells, and by whose mouth he speaks, it cannot indeed be esteemed as highly as it deserves, that the Lord should thus accommodate himself to us in so familiar a manner. This is the reason why he now says, that he had raised up Prophets from their sons. They might have objected and said, that he had introduced the Law, and that then the heaven was moved, and that the earth shook: but he speaks of his daily favor in having been pleased to speak continually to his people, as it were, from mouth to mouth, and this by men: I have raised up, he says, Prophets from your sons; that is, “I have chosen angels from the midst of you.” The Prophets are indeed, as it were, celestial ambassadors, and God commands them to be heard, the same as if he himself appeared in a visible form. Since then he choose angels from the midst of us, is not this an invaluable favor? We hence see how much force is contained in this reproof, when the Lord says, that Prophets had been chosen from his own people.

And he mentions also the Nazarites. It appears sufficiently evident from Numbers 6:1-8, why God appointed Nazarites. Nothing is more difficult, we know, than to induce men to follow a common rule; for they ever seek something new; and hence have arisen so many devices, so many additions, in short, so many leavenings by which God’s worship is corrupted; for each wishes to be more holy than another, and affects some singularity. In case then any one had a wish to consecrate himself to God beyond what was commonly required, the Lord instituted a peculiar observance, that the people might not attempt any thing without at least his permission. Hence, when any one wished to consecrate himself to God, though they were all holy, he yet observed certain regulations: he abstained from wine; he allowed his hair to grow; in a word, he observed those ceremonial rites which we find in the chapter already referred to. God now reminds the Israelites that he had omitted nothing calculated to preserve them pure and holy, and entire in his worship.

After having related these two things, he asks them, Is not all this true? The facts were indeed well known: then the question, it may be said, was superfluous. But the Prophet designedly asked the Israelites the question here — Is it not so? that he might more deeply touch their hearts. We indeed often despise things well known, and we see how many heedlessly allow what they hear, and pass by things without any thought. Such must have been the torpidity of the Israelites; they might have confessed without disputing that all this was true, — that the Lord had raised up Prophets from their children, and that he had given to them that peculiar service of which we have spoken; but they mighty at the same time, have contemptuously overlooked the whole, had not this been added: “What do ye mean, O Israelites? ye do indeed see that nothing has been left undone by me to retain you in my service: how then is it now, that your lust leads you away from me, and that having shaken off the yoke, ye grow thus wanton against me?” We now perceive why the Prophet inserted this clause, for it was necessary that the Israelites should be more sharply roused, that being convicted, they might acknowledge their guilt.

But it now follows, Ye have to the Nazarites quaffed wine, and on the Prophets ye have laid a command, that they should not prophesy God complains here that the service which he had instituted had been violated by the people. It seems indeed a light offense, that wine had been given to the Nazarites; for the kingdom of God, we know, is not meat and drink, (1 Corinthians 8:8) though this saying of Paul was not yet made known, it was yet true in all ages. It was then lawful for the Nazarites to drink wine, provided they used moderation. To this the simple answer is that it was lawful to drink wine, for they of their own accord undertook to abstain from it. In similar manner God forbade the priests to drink wine or strong drink whenever they entered the temple. God indeed did not wish to be served with this kind of ceremony; but his intention was to show, by such a rite, that a greater temperance is required in priests than in the people in general. His purpose then to withdraw them from the common mode of living, when they entered the temple; for they were as mediators between God and his people: they ought then to have consecrated themselves in a special manner. We now see that the priests were reminded by this external symbol, that greater holiness was required in them than in the people. The same thing must be also said of the Nazarites. The Nazarites might drink wine; but during the time they consecrated themselves to God, they were not allowed to drink wine, that they might thereby acknowledge that they were in a manner separated from the common habits of men, and were come nearer to God. We now understand why it was not lawful for the Nazarites to drink wine.

But it is frivolous for the Papists to pretend this example, and to introduce it in defense of their superstitions, and of their foolish and rash vows, which they undertake without any regard to God: for God expressly sanctioned and confirmed whatever the Nazarites did under the law. Let the Papists show a proof for their monastic vows, and foolish rites, by which they now trifle with God. We also know that there is a great difference between the Nazarites and the Papal monks; for the monks vow perpetual celibacy; others vow abstinence from flesh during life; and these things are done foolishly and rashly. They indeed think that the worship of God consists in these trifles. They promise what is not in their own power; for they renounce marriage, when they know not whether they are endued with the gift of chastity. And to abstain from flesh all their life is more foolish still, because they make this to be a part of God’s service. I do, at the same time, wonder that they bring forward this example, since there are none so holy under the Papacy as to abstain from wine. As for the Carthusians and other monks of the holier sort, they seem determined to take revenge on abstinence from flesh, for they choose the sweetest and the liveliest wine; as though they intended to get a compensation for the loss and deprivation they undergo, when they pledge to God their abstinence from flesh, by reserving the best wine for themselves. These things are extremely ludicrous. Besides it is a sufficient reply if we adduce what I have already said, that the Nazarites did nothing under the law but what God in his word approved and sanctioned.

Since God then so sharply and severely reproved the Israelites for giving wine to the Nazarites, what must be expected now, when we transgress the chief commandments of God, when we corrupt his whole spiritual worship? It seemed apparently but a venial sin, so to speak, in the Nazarites to drink wine. Had they become wanton or robbed, or had they done wrong to their brethren, or committed forgery, the charge against them would have doubtless been much more atrocious. Yet the Prophet does not now abstain from bitterly complaining that they drank wine. Then, since God would have us to worship him in a spiritual manner, a much heavier charge lies against us, if we violate his spiritual worship. As, for instance, if we now pollute the sacraments, if we corrupt the purity of divine worship, if we treat his word with scorn, yea, if we transgress as to these main points of religion, much less is our excuse. Let us then remember that the Prophet here reproves the Israelites for giving wine to the Nazarites.

He then adds, that they commanded the Prophets not to prophesy. It is certain that the Prophets were not forbidden to speak, at least expressly forbidden: but when the liberty of teaching faithfully as they ought to do is taken away from God’s servants, and a command to this effect is given them, it is the same thing as to reject wholly their doctrine. The Israelites wished Prophets to be among them; and yet they could not endure their plain reproofs. But when they had polluted the worship of God, when their whole conduct became dissolute, the Prophets sharply inveighed against them: this freedom could not be endured by the Israelites; they wished to be spared and flattered. What then the Prophet now lays to their charge is that they forbade God’s servants to declare the word freely and honestly as God had commanded them. Hence he says, On the Prophets they have laid a charge, that they should not prophesy.

This evil reigns in the world at this day. It would indeed be an execrable audacity wholly to reject the Lord’s word; this is what even ungodly men dare not openly to do: but they wish at the same time some middle course to be adopted, that God might not fully exercise authority over them. They then would gladly put restraint on the Holy Spirit, so as not to allow him to speak but within certain limitations: “See, we willingly allow thee some things, but this we cannot bear: so much asperity is extremely odious.” And under the Papacy at this day the liberty of prophesying is wholly suppressed: and among us how many there are who wish to impose laws on God’s servants beyond which they are not to pass? But we see what the Prophet says here, — that the word of God is repudiated when the freedom of teaching is restrained, and men wish to be flattered, and desire their sins to be covered, and cannot bear free admonitions.

Let us also notice the word command, which the Prophet uses. צוה, tsue, means to order, to command, or to determine, in an authoritative manner. The Prophet then does not expostulate with them, because there were many who clamored, who murmured against the Prophets, as it is always the case; but he rather condemns the audacity of the chief men for daring to consult how they might silence the Prophets, and not allow them the free liberty of teaching, as we find it to be done even now. For not only in taverns and lurking-places do the ungodly clamor when their sins are severely reproved, but they also go forth publicly and complain that too much liberty is allowed the ministers of the word, and that some course ought to be adopted to make them speak more moderately. It is then this sacrilege that the Prophet now rebukes, when he says, that the ungodly commanded the Prophets, that they should not prophecy, as though they made a law, as though they wished to proclaim a decree, that the Prophets should not speak so boldly and so freely. It now follows —

Amos 2:13

13. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

13. Ecce ego angustians (vel, angustiatus, constrictus, vel, constringens) in loco vestro (vel, sub vobis,) sicuti constringitur plaustrum quod plenum est manipulo (id est, manipulis.)

The verb עיק, oik, in Hebrew is often transitive, and it is also a neuter. This place then may admit of two interpretations. The first is, that God was pressed under the Israelites, as a wagon groans under too much weight; and so God expostulates by Isaiah, that he was weighed down by the Israelites, ‘Ye constrain me,’ he says, ‘to labor under your sins’ (Isaiah 1:14) The sense then, that God was pressed down under them, may be viewed as not unsuitable: and yet the more received interpretation is this, “Behold, I will bind you fast as a wagon is bound.” I am, however, more inclined to take the first meaning, — that God here reprehends the Israelites, because he had been pressed down by them: for תחתיכם, tacheticam, properly signifies, “Under you,” which some render, but strainedly, “Is your place:” for when the verb is transitive, they say, that תחתיכם, tacheticam, must be rendered “In your place:” but this is frigid and forced; and the whole passage will run better, if we say, “I am bound fast under you, as though ye were a wagon full of sheaves; This verse has caused great labor to commentators; and many have been the views given. The first difficulty is in the words rendered in our version, “under you.” תחת and with the Iod commonly added when there is a suffix, often occurs, and means on doubt, an place, a spot, a standing, as in the following passages: Exodus 10:23; 16:29; 1 Samuel 14:9; Habakkuk 3:16; and this seems to be its meaning here. Then the second difficulty is about “the cart” or wagon. Some consider it to be the vehicle to carry corn; and others, the machine to thresh it as Newcome and others do: but this view is not consistent with the other expressions used in this clause.

A critic, quoted by Poole, evidently gives the meaning in these words, Sensus est, q.d. Ego vos in eas angustas adducam, unde vos ipsos mimime expedire valeatis — “The sense is, as though he said, I will bring you to those straits, from which ye will by no means be able to deliver yourselves.” I would then translate the verse thus: —

Behold, I will confine you in your place, As a wagon confines its load—the sheaves; or word for word, As a wagon confines the filling of it — the sheaf.

The rendering of the last line by Newcome is certainly not what the original will bear; his translation of the whole verse is this: —

Therefore, behold I will press your place, As a loaded corn-wain presseth its sheaves.

It is not pressing or crushing that corresponds with the contents of the following verses, but confining and reducing to straits from which they could not escape. — Ed. ” that is, “Ye are to me intolerable.” For God carried that people on his shoulders; and when they loaded him with the burden of iniquities, it is no wonder that he said that they were like a wagon — a wagon filled with many sheaves: “Ye are light as wind, but ye are also to me very burdensome, and I am forced at length to shake you off:” and this he afterwards shows.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast not only redeemed us by the blood of thy only begotten Son, but also guides us during our earthly pilgrimage, and suppliest us with whatever is needful, — O grant, that we may not be unmindful of so many favors, and turn away from thee and follow our sinful desires, but that we may continue bound to thy service, and never burden thee with our sins, but submit ourselves willingly to thee in true obedience, that by glorifying thy name we may carry thee both in body and soul, until thou at length gatherest us into that blessed kingdom which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy Son. Amen.

Lecture Fifty-third

Amos 2:14-16

14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

14. Peribit fuga a veloce, et fortis non roborabit vires suas, et robustus non servabit (non liberabit) animam suam:

15. Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

15. Et tenens arcum non stabit, et velox pedibus suis non liberabit, neque ascensor equi liberabit animam suam.

16. And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord

16. Et qui robustus est corde suo inter fortes nudus fugiet die illa, dicit Jehova.

I explained yesterday the verse, in which the Prophet says, in the name of God, that the people were like a grievous and heavy burden, as though they were a wagon laden with many sheaves. I stated that the Prophet’s words are differently explained by many interpreters, who give this view, — that God compares himself to a loaded wagon, under which the people were to be crushed. But no necessity constrains us to take the same verb in two senses, active and neuter, as they do; and then the comparison seems not quite suitable; and farther, it is better, as I have said, to say, that God complains, that he was loaded and pressed down under the people, than to render תחתיכם, tacheticm, “In your place;” for this is wholly a strained rendering. But most suitable is the Prophet’s meaning, when understood as the complaint of God, that it was a grievous thing to bear the burdens of the people, when he saw that they were men of levity, and, at the same time, burdensome.

Hence the Prophet now denounces vengeance such as they deserved; and he says first, Perish shall flight from the swift, etc., that is, no one will be so swift as to escape by fleeing; and the valiant shall do nothing by fighting; for it is to confirm strength when one resists an adversary and repels assaults. The valiant, therefore, shall fight with no advantage; and then, The strong shall not deliver his own life: he who holds the bow shall not stand; that is, he who is equipped with a bow, and repels his enemy at a distance, shall not be able to stand in his place. He who is swift on foot shall not be able to flee, nor he who mounts a horse; which means that whether footmen or horsemen, they shall not, by their celerity, be able to escape death. And, lastly, he who is stout and intrepid in heart among the valiant shall flee away naked, being content with life alone, and only anxious to provide for his own safety.

The Prophet intimates by all these words, that so grievous would be the slaughter of the people, that it would be a miracle if any should escape.

We now then see how severely the prophet at the very beginning handled this people. He no doubt observed their great obduracy: for he would not have assailed them so sharply at first, had they not been for a long time rebellious and had despised all warnings and threatening. Amos was not the first who addressed them; but the Israelites had hardened themselves against all threatenings before he came to them. It therefore behaved him sharply to reprove them, as God treats men according to their disposition. I come now to the third chapter.

Chapter 3.

Amos 3:1-2

1. Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

1. Audite verbum hoc quod pronunciat Jehova super vos, filii Israel, super totam familiam eduxi (vel, ascendere feci) e terra Aegypti, dicendo,

2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

2. Tantummodo vos cognovi ex omnibus familiis terrae: propterea visitabo super vos omnes iniquitates vestras.

CHAPTER 2

Am 2:1-16. Charges against Moab, Judah, and Lastly Israel, the Chief Subject of Amos' Prophecies.

1. burned ... bones of ... king of Edom into lime--When Jehoram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah, and the king of Edom, combined against Mesha king of Moab, the latter failing in battle to break through to the king of Edom, took the oldest son of the latter and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall (2Ki 3:27) [Michaelis]. Thus, "king of Edom" is taken as the heir to the throne of Edom. But "his son" is rather the king of Moab's own son, whom the father offered to Molech [Josephus, Antiquities, 9.3]. Thus the reference here in Amos is not to that fact, but to the revenge which probably the king of Moab took on the king of Edom, when the forces of Israel and Judah had retired after their successful campaign against Moab, leaving Edom without allies. The Hebrew tradition is that Moab in revenge tore from their grave and burned the bones of the king of Edom, the ally of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, who was already buried. Probably the "burning of the bones" means, "he burned the king of Edom alive, reducing his very bones to lime" [Maurer].

2. Kirioth--the chief city of Moab, called also Kir-Moab (Is 15:1). The form is plural here, as including both the acropolis and town itself (see Jr 48:24, 41, Margin).

die with tumult--that is, amid the tumult of battle (Ho 10:14).

3. the judge--the chief magistrate, the supreme source of justice. "King" not being used, it seems likely a change of government had before this time substituted for kings, supreme judges.

4. From foreign kingdoms he passes to Judah and Israel, lest it should be said, he was strenuous in denouncing sins abroad, but connived at those of his own nation. Judah's guilt differs from that of all the others, in that it was directly against God, not merely against man. Also because Judah's sin was wilful and wittingly against light and knowledge.

law--the Mosaic code in general.

commandments--or statutes, the ceremonies and civil laws.

their lies--their lying idols (Psa 40:4; Jr 16:19), from which they drew false hopes. The order is to be observed. The Jews first cast off the divine law, then fall into lying errors; God thus visiting them with a righteous retribution (Ro 1:25, 26, 28; 2Th 2:11, 12). The pretext of a good intention is hereby refuted: the "lies" that mislead them are "their (own) lies" [Calvin].

after ... which their fathers ... walked--We are not to follow the fathers in error, but must follow the word of God alone. It was an aggravation of the Jews' sin that it was not confined to preceding generations; the sins of the sons rivalled those of their fathers (Mt 23:32; Ac 7:51) [Calvin].

5. a fire--Nebuchadnezzar.

6. Israel--the ten tribes, the main subject of Amos' prophecies.

sold the righteous--Israel's judges for a bribe are induced to condemn in judgment him who has a righteous cause; in violation of De 16:19.

the poor for a pair of shoes--literally, "sandals" of wood, secured on the foot by leather straps; less valuable than shoes. Compare the same phrase, for "the most paltry bribe," Am 8:6; Eze 13:19; Joe 3:3. They were not driven by poverty to such a sin; beginning with suffering themselves to be tempted by a large bribe, they at last are so reckless of all shame as to prostitute justice for the merest trifle. Amos convicts them of injustice, incestuous unchastity, and oppression first, as these were so notorious that they could not deny them, before he proceeds to reprove their contempt of God, which they would have denied on the ground that they worshipped God in the form of the calves.

7. pant after ... dust of ... earth on ... head of ... poor--that is, eagerly thirst for this object, by their oppression to prostrate the poor so as to cast the dust on their heads in mourning on the earth (compare 2Sa 1:2; Job 2:12; Eze 27:30).

turn aside ... way of ... meek--pervert their cause (Am 5:12; Job 24:4 [Grotius]; Is 10:2).

a man and his father--a crime "not so much as named among the Gentiles" (1Co 5:1). When God's people sin in the face of light, they often fall lower than even those who know not God.

go in unto the same maid--from Am 2:8 it seems likely "the damsel" meant is one of the prostitutes attached to the idol Astarte's temple: prostitution being part of her filthy worship.

to profane my ... name--Israel in such abominations, as it were, designedly seeks to insult God.

8. lay themselves ... upon clothes laid to pledge--the outer garment, which Ex 22:25-27 ordered to be restored to the poor man before sunset, as being his only covering. It aggravated the crime that they lay on these clothes in an idol temple.

by every altar--They partook in a recumbent posture of their idolatrous feasts; the ancients being in the habit of reclining at full length in eating, the upper part of the body resting on the left elbow, not sitting as we do.

drink ... wine of the condemned--that is, wine bought with the money of those whom they unjustly fined.

9. Yet--My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude.

the Amorite--the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and therefore put for them all (Ge 15:16; 48:22; De 1:20; Jos 7:7).

height ... like ... cedars--(Nu 13:32, 33).

destroyed his fruit ... above ... roots ... beneath--that is, destroyed him utterly (Job 18:16; Eze 17:9; Mal 4:1).

10. brought you up from ... Egypt--"brought up" is the phrase, as Egypt was low and flat, and Canaan hilly.

to possess the land of the Amorite--The Amorites strictly occupied both sides of the Jordan and the mountains afterward possessed by Judah; but they here, as in Am 2:9, stand for all the Canaanites. God kept Israel forty years in the wilderness, which tended to discipline them in His statutes, so as to be the better fitted for entering on the possession of Canaan.

11. Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the prophets and Nazarites, appointed by Him, to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint.

of your young men--It was a specimen of Israel's highly favored state, that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine, and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite was not to shave (Nu 6:2, &c.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity of their worship and their faithfulness to it (La 4:7). The same comes from a Hebrew root, nazar, "to set apart." Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazarites.

Is it not even thus--Will any of you dare to deny it is so?

12. Ye so despised these My favors, as to tempt the Nazarite to break his vow; and forbade the prophets prophesying (Is 30:10). So Amaziah forbade Amos (Am 7:12, 13, 14).

13. I am pressed under you--so Calvin (Compare Is 1:14). The Margin translates actively, "I will depress your place," that is, "I will make it narrow," a metaphor for afflicting a people; the opposite of enlarging, that is, relieving (Psa 4:1; Pr 4:12). Maurer translates, "I will press you down" (not as Margin, "your place"; so the Hebrew, Job 40:12; or Am 2:7 in Hebrew text). Amos, as a shepherd, appropriately draws his similes from rustic scenes.

14. flight shall perish from ... swift--Even the swift shall not be able to escape.

strong shall not strengthen his force--that is, shall not be able to use his strength.

himself--literally, "his life."

16. flee ... naked--If any escape, it must be with the loss of accoutrements, and all that would impede rapid flight. They must be content with saving their life alone.

For three transgressions of Moab and for four - See an explanation of this form Amo 1:2. The land of the Moabites lay to the east of the Dead Sea. For the origin of this people, see Gen 19:37.

He burned the bones on the king of Edom into lime - Possibly referring to some brutality; such as opening the grave of one of the Idumean kings, and calcining his bones. It is supposed by some to refer to the fact mentioned 2Kgs 3:26, when the kings of Judah, Israel, and Idumea, joined together to destroy Moab. The king of it, despairing to save his city, took seven hundred men, and made a desperate sortie on the quarter where the king of Edom was; and, though not successful, took prisoner the son of the king of Edom; and, on their return into the city, offered him as a burnt-offering upon the wall, so as to terrify the besieging armies, and cause them to raise the siege. Others understand the son that was sacrificed to be the king of Moab's own son.

The palaces of Kirioth - This was one of the principal cities of the Moabites.

Moab shall die with tumult - All these expressions seem to refer to this city's being taken by storm, which was followed by a total slaughter of its inhabitants.

I will cut off the judge - It shall be so destroyed, that it shall never more have any form of government. The judge here, שופט shophet, may signify the chief magistrate. The chief magistrates of the Carthaginians were called suffetes; probably taken from the Hebrew Judges, שופטים shophetim.

For three transgressions of Judah - We may take the three and four here to any latitude; for this people lived in continual hostility to their God, from the days of David to the time of Uzziah, under whom Amos prophesied. Their iniquities are summed up under three general heads:

1. They despised, or rejected the law of the Lord.

2. They kept not his statutes.

3. They followed lies, were idolaters, and followed false prophets rather than those sent by Jehovah.

I will send a fire upon Judah - This fire was the war made upon the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar, which terminated with the sackage and burning of Jerusalem and its palace the temple.

For three transgressions of Israel, etc. - To be satisfied of the exceeding delinquency of this people, we have only to open the historical and prophetic books in any part; for the whole history of the Israelites is one tissue of transgression against God. Their crimes are enumerated under the following heads: -

1. Their judges were mercenary and corrupt. They took bribes to condemn the righteous; and even for articles of clothing, such as a pair of shoes, they condemned the poor man, and delivered him into the hands of his adversary.

2. They were unmerciful to the poor generally. They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor; or, to put it on the head of the poor; or, they bruise the head of the poor against the dust of the earth. Howsoever the clause is understood, it shows them to have been general oppressors of the poor, showing them neither justice nor mercy.

3. They turn aside the way of the meek. They are peculiarly oppressive to the weak and afflicted.

4. They were licentious to the uttermost abomination; for in their idol feasts, where young women prostituted themselves publicly in honor of Astarte, the father and son entered into impure connections with the same female.

5. They were cruel in their oppressions of the poor; for the garments or beds which the poor had pledged they retained contrary to the law, Exodus 22:7-26, which required that such things should be restored before the setting of the sun.

6. They punished the people by unjust and oppressive fines, and served their tables with wine bought by such fines. Or it may be understood of their appropriating to themselves that wine which was allowed to criminals to mitigate their sufferings in the article of death; which was the excess of inhumanity and cruelty.

Yet destroyed I the Amorite - Here follow general heads of God's mercies to them, and the great things he had done for them.

1. Bringing them out of Egypt.

2. Miraculously sustaining them in the wilderness forty years.

3. Driving out the Canaanites before them, and giving them possession of the promised land.

4. Raising up prophets among them to declare the Divine will.

5. And forming the holy institution of the Nazarites among them, to show the spiritual nature of his holy religion, Amo 2:9-11.

But ye gave the Nazarites wine - This was expressly forbidden in the laws of their institution. See Num 6:1-3.

Prophesy not - They would not worship God, and they would not hear the voice of his prophets.

Behold, I am pressed under you - The marginal reading is better: "Behold, I will press your place, as a cart full of sheaves presseth." I will bring over you the wheel of destruction; and it shall grind your place - your city and temple, as the wheel of a cart laden with sheaves presses down the ground, gravel, and stones over which it rolls.

The flight shall perish from the swift - The swiftest shall not be able to save himself from a swifter destruction. None, by might, by counsel, or by fleetness, shall be able to escape from the impending ruin. In a word, God has so fully determined to avenge the quarrel of his broken covenant, that all attempts to escape from his judgments shall be useless.

Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself - I believe all these sayings, Amo 2:13-16, are proverbs, to show the inutility of all attempts, even in the best circumstances, to escape the doom now decreed, because the cup of their iniquity was full.

Shall flee away naked - In some cases the alarm shall be in the night; and even the most heroic shall start from his bed, and through terror not wait to put on his clothes.

The bones - Or ashes, reduced them by fire into fine dust, and used these ashes instead of lime to plaister the walls and roofs of his palace, and this in hatred and contempt of the king of Edom.

Kirioth - A principal city of this country. Moab - The Moabites. Shall die - Be destroyed. With tumult - Such as soldiers in fight or assaults make, when they carry all by force.

The judge - The governor that is, every one of them.

Lies - Idols. To err - Their idolatry blinded them, partly from the natural tendency of this sin, and partly from the just judgment of God. After which - Idols. Walked - Successively, one generation after another.

Shoes - The smallest bribe, exprest here proverbially.

The people - That make a prey even of the poor afflicted ones, who walk with dust on their heads. Turn aside - Maliciously interpret the actions, words, and designs of the humble and meek. Will go in - These corrupt judges commit also that lewdness which the Heathens abhor.

Lay down - The Jews of old did not sit upright at their meals, but leaned on one side. Upon clothes - Of which the law had expressly said, none should detain them all night, Deut 24:12,13. Every altar - Of their idols. Drink the wine - They offer their drink - offerings in wine, which they bought with the fines laid on the innocent.

The Ammorite - The mightiest nation of all the Canaanites. As the oaks - Another proverbial speech denoting their great strength. His fruit - Their children. His roots - The old standards; that present generation.

Nazarites - Persons who bound themselves to a very sober and holy life; either for some certain time, or for their whole life.

Ye gave - Importuned them to drink wine, to violate their vow, and contemn God's law.

Under you - Under the load of your sins.

The swift - For their enemies shall be swifter than they. The strong - Natural strength of body shall not deliver. The mighty - The valiant man, the man of the greatest courage.

1 THus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof : because he burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime .

In this form the Prophet began, chap. 1. verse 4. which see. Here he doth threaten a Nation of some Kin to Israel, &c. as was Ammon, and almost as much an enemy; they appeared early enemies to Israel, and took most wicked wayes to ruin Israel, first hired Balaam to curse them, Numb. 22.23. when this did not succeed, he next acts a vile part, and by lewd harlots draws Israel to sin, Numb. 25.1, 2. &c. that so he might do against sinful Israel, what could not be done against innocent Israel. Moab also was the second oppressour of Israel, who for their sins were delivered into the hands of Eglon King of Moab, who opprest them eighteen years, Iudg. 3.14. for which, and other hostile carriages they are here threatned, yet their inhumane cruelty to Edom's King is only ezprest, the other hostilities to Israel are implyed.

The King of Moab who particularly this was, is not here, nor elsewhere mentioned, though some say 'twas Mesha, and refer this to 2 Kings 3.4. yet 'tis not very likely that this was the King, who acted such cruelty.

It had been barbarous to have burnt the Flesh and Nerves of an enemy, but to make the fire so hot, and continue it so long as to burn bones into ashes, is much more barbarous.

This somewhat aggravates the cruelty, he was no common man, but a King, who was so used, his name, the time when 'twas done, whether 'twere some King alive or dead, and his bones dig'd up, is not mentioned, but every way 'twas barbarous, though 'twere done to bones dig'd out of the Grave, as some conjecture.

Or ashes, calcin'd the bones, reduced them by fire into fine dust, and (as others conjecture) used these ashes instead of lime to plaister the walls and roofs of his Palace, and this was done in hatred and contempt of the King of Edom.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 15.1. [illegible: 1 word] 48.1. [illegible: 1 word]. 25.8. [illegible: 1 word] 2.8.

2 But I will send a fire f upon Moab , and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth , and Moab shall dye with tumult , with shouting , and with the sound of the trumpet .

Some think, but I know not on what ground, that there was a City of this name, and meant here, but on better reason we conclude it to be the whole Country, or by a Metonymie the people, who were the posterity of Lot by his elder Daughter.

Vid. verse 4. let. l. m.

A strong and principal City of this Country, or the Cities, so the word will bear, and then the threat is against all their Cities.

The Moabites, all sorts and ranks of them.

Be destroyed, and perish utterly.

Such as Souldiers in fight or assaults make, when they carry all by force, bearing down all opposition, and sla[illegible: 1 letter]ing all opposers, with that rigour which in such cases is very usual.

As Conquerours shout to the end they may dishearten the enemy, and animate their fellow Souldiers.

This added partly to explain, and partly to confirm what the Prophet had foretold.

Vid. chap. 1. verse 4. let. h. i.

3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof , and will slay all the princes thereof with him , saith the LORD .

By the sword of the enemy.

The Governour, i. e. every one of them; the singular being put for the plural, to intimate the destruction of all of them.

Either of Kirioth the Metropolis, or of every City in which were Judges appointed to govern, and minister Justice to the people; and these should be cut off in these Cities, and in the midst of their Government.

Either by Birth, or by Office, or by excellent endowments, the chief among the Moabitish people.

With the supream Governour before threatned, let. p.

Noting to us the certainty of the thing, the irrevocable sentence past upon Moab, its King, Princes and Judges, who being cut off, the people must needs perish, and come to nothing.

Marginal references: Num. 24.17.

4 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof , because they have despised the law of the LORD , and have not kept his commandments , and their lies caused them to err , after the which their fathers have walked .

God hath in the former verses threatned the enemies of his people, for their outrages against his people; now he does threaten his people for their obstinacy in reiterated sins, vid. chap. 4. verse 3. let. z. a. c.

First slighted it as if no excellency were in it, and next rejected it, as if 'twere not worthy of their observance; thus they refused with an abhorrence and detestation,

the whole Law, partly by their immoralities and transgressions against the just commands of it, and partly by their false Worship and Idolatry: That Law which was given with so much majesty and terrour on Mount Sinai; from which they should not have departed either to the Right-hand, or to the Left; that Law which was perfect, holy and useful, with which no fault could be justly found. So much the greater were their sins, because committed against so clear, full, and pure a Law;

i. e. They have greatly violated, as the Hebr. phrase importeth, Neh. 9.34. Dan. 9.5, 10, 11.

Idols which are a lye, whether commended to them by their false Prophets, or chosen according to their own humour and phansie; all their false Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship.

Their Idolatry was first their errour, and this blinded them, made them more sottish and brutish, which was partly from the natural tendency of this sin, and partly from the just judgment of God, Rom. 1.24. and 2 Thes. 2.10.11, 12.

Idols or lies.

First in Vz of the Chaldees, before Abraham was called, afterwards in Egypt, the Wilderness, and in the land of Canaan it self.

Successively, one Generation after another, Idolatry and Superstition, and will-worship have been old hereditary sins, and now shall be punisht.

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

Vid. chap. 1. verse 4. let. h. i.

In the Kingdom of the two Tribes, Benjamin is to be included with Iudah, as elsewhere hath been already often observed.

Vid. chap. 1. ver. 4. let. l. m.

The chief City of Iudahs Kingdom, the City of God, where was the Temple of God, and where were the seats of Judicature; the Holy City, but now to be destroy'd for its sins, as well as other incorrigible Nations. Now this was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar, about 200 years after this Prophesie of Amos.

6 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of Israel , and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they sold the righteous for silver , and the poor for a pair of shoes .

Vid. chap. 1. ver. 3. let. z, a.

The Kingdom of the Ten Tribes under the Government of Ieroboam the second at this time, against which the Prophet was chiefly sent, though he began with Syria and others, by the threats against which Nations he prepared both Iudah and Israel to hearken and consider.

Vid. chap. 1. ver. 3. let. c.

Those who by the appointment of the Law had power to hear, and decide causes between man and man; Judges and Witnesses like the corrupt Judges;

for bribes were their aim, and they would at any time sell Justice to the highest bidder.

The Innocent, or those who had a just and righteous cause, for the Prophet here speaks of the justness of the cause, not of the exact justice, or absolute righteousness of the person.

Money was the most current and prevailing commodity with these Judges, but moneys-worth would do the seat too, if money were out of the way.

When poor men went to law with poor men before these Judges, and the thing they contended for was of small value, the contenders too had light purses, and could not give a considerable bribe;

a very poor bribe exprest here proverbially, would sway with these Judges, who gaped still after somewhat of Gain from all.

Marginal references: chap. 8.6.

7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor , and turn aside the way of the meek : and a man, and his father, will go in unto the same maid to profane my holy name .

Or swallow up, as the word is most frequently turned by our Interpreters, and so perhaps more plainly is their cruelty and violence set forth, in that they make a prey of the poor who walk with dust on their heads by reason of distresses that are upon them, and without any compassion towards them greedily, and as at once swallow up and devour the poor whom by the Law of God, and the Office they bear (as Judges) they should deliver out of the hand of the oppressor.

Perver[illegible: 1 letter]ely, and maliciously misinterpret the Actions, Words, and Designs of the humble and meek; of the compassionate and merciful who pity the poor in these streights and dangers.

These corrupt Judges, and violent oppressours are also shameless Adulterers and Fornicators; they commit that lewdness which the better tutor'd Heathens abhor and forbear; a kind of incestuous pollution; the Father and Son keep the same Harlot, and go in unto her.

Thus they profanely dishonour me by casting off my Law, and doing that which is so shamefully undecent, and unlawful; and giving Heathens occasion to blaspheme my Name, and either think, or say, like people, like God.

Marginal references: Or, young women.

8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge , by every altar , and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God .

The Iews of old did not, as we, sit upright at the feasts, and meals, but in a posture of greater ease did lean, or ly on one side, so here they lay themselves down, i. e. put themselves in a feasting posture,

of which the Law had expresly said, none should detain them all night, Deut. 24.12, 13.

Impudent sinners, who dare thus before the Altar where they suppose that God is present, bring their crying inexcusable oppressions; and feast in sacred places, on sacred viands with bloody minds and oppressive practices; and seek mercy from God when they shew no mercy to the poor.

To compleat their wickedness, they offer their drink offerings in Wine which they bought with the fines and pecuniary mulcts laid on the innocent and guiltless, and thus rejoyce in their violence whilest God hates robbery for a burnt-offering.

Marginal references: Exod. 22.26.; Or, such as have fi[illegible: 1 letter]ed, or, [illegible: 2 letters]lcted.

9 ¶ Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them , whose height was like the height of the cedars , and he was strong as the oaks , yet I destroy'd his fruit from above , and his roots from beneath .

Whom they have ungratefully forgotten and forsaken, and set up Idols in competition with me; nay cast off my Law and Worship, and embrac'd Idolatry, worshipt Idols that never could do them good, nor destroy their Enemies, this they did after I had destroyed their Enemies.

The mightiest Nation of all the Canaanites, and therefore expresly mentioned as instance of God's great mercy, and Israels great ingratitude; by this Nation mention'd all the rest of Canaanitish Nations are to be understood. These Amorites dwelt beyond Iordan, between that and Moab and their Land fell by lot unto Reuben, Gad, and half Tribe of Manasseh.

The Children of Israel under the conduct of Moses, Deut. 2.24. &c. and 3.1. to ver. 14. at the very sight of whom these mighty men fled, for God had struck them with-a terrour that they might not stand before Israel.

This is a proverbial speech, and sets out the Amorites, exceeding ordinary men in statute as much as the Cedar exceeds ordinary trees in height.

Another proverbial speech denoting their great strength above the strength of other men,

utterly rooted them out,

trees propagated by Fruit are diminisht, by destroying the Fruit which is the seed of them, so God cut off the children of the Amorites, and thereby prevented all succession.

This refers to the destroying the old standards, that present generation; this last clause refers to the command God gave, Deut. 7.2.

The Amorites were men of largest size, they were of the race of the Giants, Numb. 13.32, 33.

Marginal references: Num. 21.24. Deut. 2.31. Iosh. 24.8.; Num. 13.28, 32, 33.

10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt , and led you fourty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite .

You did not rescue your selves out of the hands of your Enemies I did in meer mercy with a mighty arm save, and rescue you, and brought you out

where you were oppressed servants, and exposed to ruin

As a shepherd leads his flock, nay, miraculously conducting by the Pillar of a Cloud, and Fire, and feeding with Manna from Heaven.

Reckoning from their coming out of Egypt,

they passed through many Wildernesses named in Scripture according as they were then called, but all these lay so contiguous each to other, that they all made up one great Wilderness, as the many names given to parts of the Sea make us know what particular part is spoken of, but all make one Sea.

As an Heir possesseth that he hath an hereditary right to,

including all the rest of the accursed, and dispossessed Nations.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets , and of your young men for Nazarites . Is it not even thus , O! ye children of Israel ? saith the LORD .

Gave prophetick endowments, stirred up their minds, commissioned them to prophesie, and carried them through by an undaunted courage given to them that they should not fear to set upon, or faint in attending to their office.

Did not employ strangers whose Affections you might with some colour of reason suspect, but your own Sons, whose affections to you and to their own Countrey are unquestionable, were sent Prophets to tell you of your sins, to foretel your dangers, and to importune you to repent of your sins, and to prevent your dangers.

Though that Age be generally inclin'd to please their own fancies, to walk after the sight of their Eyes, Eccles. 11.9. yet did God change the mind of some of them in their youth, and inclin'd them to eminency in Religion, to be examples to others;

which were religious persons under vow bound to a very sober, abstemious, and holy life; either for some certain limited time, or for their whole Life; see Numb. 6.1, 2, &c. These were hot to drink any strong or intoxicating Liquors.

God appeals to them in this matter whether he had not done this for them, given Prophets to teach them, and Nazarites to be examples to them, in both which God shewed his love and care of them.

Apostatised Israel, you of the ten Tribes.

This added to excite them to serious pondering what is said to them.

12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets , saying, Prophesie not .

For whose benefit both Nazarites and Prophets were raised, you who should have heard their word, and imitated their Example.

Importun'd, urged, or it may be (as is custom of excessive drinkers) forced them to drink Wine, to violate their vow, and contemn Gods Law too, Numb. 6.3, 4.

By this passage it appears that they were men in Authority who did this; it is not probable that mean persons who had no Authority would enjoin silence on the Prophets, Isa. 30.10. cap. 7.13. Mic. 2.6. it is evident Amaziab was chief Priest in Bethel, and by vertue of his jurisdiction there silenceth the Prophet.

The true, faithful, and plain-dealing Prophets, who rebuked their sins, required them to repent, and threatned judgments if they did not repent.

Vid. Isa. 30.10. Mit. 2.6, 11. and cap. 7.13.

13 Behold , I am pressed under you as a card is pressed that is full of sheaves .

Hitherto the Lord by the Prophet had declared the sins of the Kingdom of the ten Tribes, now he is about to pronounce judgment against them; he calls for their attention, and diligent weighing what he is about to speak.

The Lord who have so multiplyed mercies to this people;

some read this passage actively, and make this the sense, I will load you with these judgments as a Cart is loaded, and you shall cry and groan under these judgments, as a Cart heavy-loaded makes a noise in its motion under such pressures.

Perhaps sheaves, the loading of a Harvest season, are mentioned to intimate the ripeness of their sins, and Gods reaping them, or cutting them down by his judgments, and carrying them together to be threshed by further judgments.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span]

14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift o, and the strong shall not strengthen his force , neither shall the mighty deliver himself.

Because they first loaded God with their sins, and now he loads them with punishments, no way of escape shall be left:

Natural strength of body shall not deliver.

Such, though they might do more than weaker men, yet shall not save themselves, for they shall not know how to use their strength, they shall want courage to do it;

the valiant, and man of greatest courage shall not be able to deliver himself, his courage shall fail.

Not by swiftness of Foot flying from the Judgments, for their Enemies shall be swifter than they, Isa. 30.16.

Marginal references: Heb. his soul, [illegible: 1 letter]ife.

15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow , and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself , neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

Though at distance from the Enemies, yet shall not dare to keep his place.

Much used in the Wars of those times, and used by strong and valiant men, but now both strength and valour should fail, Israels bow-men.

This is the same, and explains that in the 14th verse let. o.

Here the Prophet foretels that the swiftness of the Horse which some will make use of shall as little avail, nor his strength joyn'd with his speed shall deliver the Rider; Neither the strength of the Horse shall carry him through, nor his swiftness carry him away from the hand of the pursuer.

16 And he that is couragious among the mighty , shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD .

A description of the most famous Warriours amongst Israel, such as were known for valour among the mighty and valiant ones, like David's Worthies, such as had the heart of a Lion.

Either without his clothes and furniture, or without his Weapons and Arms which were cast away to expedite his flight.

When God will by the Assyrians under the conduct of Tiglath-Pilneser first, and finally under the conduct of Salmaneser, straiten these sinners, and besiege them in their Cities.

All confirm'd under the seal of Heaven.

This verse is not a bare repetition of what he had said before, to confirm it, but he doth foretel an inevitable ruin to those who were the most likely to escape, and a most shameful manner of flight.

Marginal references: Heb. strong of [illegible: 1 letter]eart.

Amo 2:1-3

Moab. - Amo 2:1. “Thus saith Jehovah: for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because it has burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime, Amo 2:2. I send fire into Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kirioth, and Moab will perish in the tumult, in the war-cry, in the trumpet-blast. Amo 2:3. And I cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and all its princes do I strangle with it, saith Jehovah.” The burning of the bones of the king of Edom is not burning while he was still alive, but the burning of the corpse into lime, i.e., so completely that the bones turned into powder like lime (D. Kimchi), to cool his wrath still further upon the dead man (cf. 2Ki 23:16). This is the only thing blamed, not his having put him to death. No record has been preserved of this event in the historical books of the Old Testament; but it was no doubt connected with the war referred to in 2 Kings 3, which Joram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah waged against the Moabites in company with the king of Edom; so that the Jewish tradition found in Jerome, viz., that after this war the Moabites dug up the bones of the king of Edom from the grace, and heaped insults upon them by burning them to ashes, is apparently not without foundation. As Amos in the case of all the other nations has mentioned only crimes that were committed against the covenant nation, the one with which the Moabites are charged must have been in some way associated with either Israel or Judah, that is to say, it must have been committed upon a king of Edom, who was a vassal of Judah, and therefore not very long after this war, since the Edomites shook off their dependence upon Judah in less than ten years from that time (2Ki 8:20). As a punishment for this, Moab was to be laid waste by the fire of war, and Keriyoth with its palaces to be burned down. הקּריּות is not an appellative noun (τῶν πόλεων αὐτῆς, lxx), but a proper name of one of the chief cities of Moab (cf. Jer 48:24, Jer 48:41), the ruins of which have been discovered by Burckhardt (Syr. p. 630) and Seetzen (ii. p. 342, cf. iv. p. 384) in the decayed town of Kereyat or Körriât. The application of the term מת to Moab is to be explained on the supposition that the nation is personified. שׁאון signifies war tumult, and  בּתרוּעה  is explained as in Amo 1:14 by  בּקול שׁופר,  blast of the trumpets, the signal for the assault or for the commencement of the battle. The judge with all the princes shall be cut off miqqirbâh, i.e., out of the land of Moab. The feminine suffix refers to Moab as a land or kingdom, and not to Keriyoth. From the fact that the shōphēt is mentioned instead of the king, it has been concluded by some that Moab had no king at that time, but had only a shōphēt as its ruler; and they have sought to account for this on the ground that Moab was at that time subject to the kingdom of the ten tribes (Hitzig and Ewald). But there is no notice in the history of anything of the kind, and it cannot possibly be inferred from the fact that Jeroboam restored the ancient boundaries of the kingdom as far as the Dead Sea (2Ki 14:25). Shōphēt is analogous to tōmēkh shēbhet in Amo 1:5, and is probably nothing more than a rhetorical expression applied to the מלך, who is so called in the threat against Ammon, and simply used for the sake of variety. The threatening prophecies concerning all the nations and kingdoms mentioned from Amo 1:6 onwards were fulfilled by the Chaldeans, who conquered all these kingdoms, and carried the people themselves into captivity. For fuller remarks upon this point, see at Jeremiah 48 and Eze 25:8.

Amo 2:4-5

Judah. - Amo 2:4. “Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because they have despised the law of Jehovah, and have not kept His ordinances, and their lies led them astray, after which their fathers walked, Amo 2:5. I send fire into Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” With the announcement that the storm of the wrath of God will also burst upon Judah, Amos prepares the way for passing on to Israel, the principal object of his prophecies. In the case of Judah, he condemns its contempt of the law of its God, and also its idolatry. Toorâh is the sum and substance of all the instructions and all the commandments which Jehovah had given to His people as the rule of life. Chuqqı̄m are the separate precepts contained in the thōrâh, including not only the ceremonial commands, but the moral commandments also; for the two clauses are not only parallel, but synonymous. כּזביהם, their lies, are their idols, as we may see from the relative clause, since “walking after” (bâlakh 'achărē) is the standing expression for idolatry. Amos calls the idols lies, not only as res quae fallunt (Ges.), but as fabrications and nonentities ('ĕlı̄hı̄m and hăbhâlı̄m), having no reality in themselves, and therefore quite unable to perform what was expected of them. The “fathers” who walked after these lies were their forefathers generally, since the nation of Israel practised idolatry even in the desert (cf. Amo 5:26), and was more or less addicted to it ever afterwards, with the sole exception of the times of Joshua, Samuel, David, and part of the reign of Solomon, so that even the most godly kings of Judah were unable to eradicate the worship upon the high places. The punishment threatened in consequence, namely, that Jerusalem should be reduced to ashes, was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar.

Amo 2:6-8

After this introduction, the prophet’s address turns to Israel of the ten tribes, and in precisely the same form as in the case of the nations already mentioned, announces the judgment as irrevocable. At the same time, he gives a fuller description of the sins of Israel, condemning first of all the prevailing crimes of injustice and oppression, of shameless immorality and daring contempt of God (Amo 2:6-8); and secondly, its scornful contempt of the benefits conferred by the Lord (Amo 2:9-12), and threatening inevitable trouble in consequence (Amo 2:13-16). Amo 2:6. “Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because they sell the righteous for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes. Amo 2:7. They who pant after dust of the earth upon the head of the poor, and bend the way of the meek: and a man and his father go to the same girl, to desecrate my holy name. Amo 2:8. And they stretch themselves upon pawned clothes by every altar, and they drink the wine of the punished in the house of their God.” The prophet condemns four kinds of crimes. The first is unjust treatment, or condemnation of the innocent in their administration of justice. Selling the righteous for silver, i.e., for money, refers to the judges, who were bribed to punish a man as guilty of the crime of which he was accused, when he was really tsaddı̄q, i.e., righteous in a judicial, not in a moral sense, or innocent of any punishable crime. Bakkeseph, for money, i.e., either to obtain money, or for the money which they had already received, viz., from the accuser, for condemning the innocent. בּעבוּר, on account of, is not synonymous with ב pretii; for they did not sell the poor man merely to get a pair of sandals for him, as the worst possible slave was certainly worth much more than this (cf. Exo 21:32); but the poor debtor who could not pay for a pair of shoes, i.e., for the merest trifle, the judge would give up to the creditor for a salve, on the strength of the law in Lev 25:39 (cf. 2Ki 4:1).

As a second crime, Amos reproves in v. 7 a their thirst for the oppression of the quiet in the land. דּלּים, ταπεινοί, and ענוים, πραεῖς. The address is carried on in participles, in the form of lively appeal, instead of quiet description, as is frequently the case in Amos (cf. Amo 5:7; Amo 6:3., 13, Amo 8:14), and also in other books (cf. Isa 40:22, Isa 40:26; Psa 19:11). In the present instance, the article before the participle points back to the suffix in מכרם, and the finite verb is not introduced till the second clause. שׁאף, to gasp, to pant, to long eagerly for earth-dust upon the head of the poor, i.e., to long to see the head of the poor covered with earth or dust, or to bring them into such a state of misery, that they scatter dust upon their head (cf. Job 2:12; 2Sa 1:2). The explanation given by Hitzig is too far-fetched and unnatural, viz., that they grudge the man in distress even the handful of dust that he has strewn upon his head, and avariciously long for it themselves. To bend the way of the meek, i.e., to bring them into a trap, or cast them headlong into destruction by impediments and stumblingblocks laid in their path. The way is the way of life, their outward course. The idea that the way refers to the judgment or legal process is too contracted. The third crime is their profanation of the name of God by shameless immorality (Amo 2:7); and the fourth, desecration of the sanctuary by drinking carousals (Amo 2:8). A man and his father, i.e., both son and father, go to the girl, i.e., to the prostitute. The meaning is, to one and the same girl; but 'achath is omitted, to preclude all possible misunderstanding, as though going to different prostitutes was allowed. This sin was tantamount to incest, which, according to the law, was to be punished with death (cf. Lev 18:7, Lev 18:15, and Lev 20:11). Temple girls (qedēshōth) are not to be thought of here. The profanation of the name of God by such conduct as this does not indicate prostitution in the temple itself, such as was required by the licentious worship of Baal and Asherah (Ewald, Maurer, etc.), but consisted in a daring contempt of the commandments of God, as the original passage (Lev 22:32) from which Amos took the words clearly shows (cf. Jer 34:16). By lema‛an, in order that (not “so that”), the profanation of the holy name of God is represented as intentional, to bring out the daring character of the sin, and to show that it did not arise from weakness or ignorance, but was practised with studious contempt of the holy God. Begâdı̄m chăbhulı̄m, pawned clothes, i.e., upper garments, consisting of a large square piece of cloth, which was wrapt all around, and served the poor for a counterpane as well. If a poor man was obliged to pawn his upper garment, it was to be returned to him before night came on (Exo 22:25), and a garment so pawned was not to be slept upon (Deu 24:12-13). But godless usurers kept such pledges, and used them as cloths upon which they stretched their limbs at feasts (yattū, hiphil, to stretch out, sc. the body or its limbs); and this they did by every altar, at sacrificial meals, without standing in awe of God. It is very evident that Amos is speaking of sacrificial feasting, from the reference in the second clause of the verse to the drinking of wine in the house of God. עמוּשׁים, punished in money, i.e., fined. Wine of the punished is wine purchased by the produce of the fines. Here again the emphasis rests upon the fact, that such drinking carousals were held in the house of God. 'Elōhēhem, not their gods (idols), but their God; for Amos had in his mind the sacred places at Bethel and Dan, in which the Israelites worshipped Jehovah as their God under the symbol of an ox (calf). The expression col-mizbēăch (every altar) is not at variance with this; for even if col pointed to a plurality of altars, these altars were still bāmōth, dedicated to Jehovah. If the prophet had also meant to condemn actual idolatry, i.e., the worship of heathen deities, he would have expressed this more clearly; to say nothing of the fact, that in the time of Jeroboam II there was no heathenish idolatry in the kingdom of the ten tribes, or, at any rate, it was not publicly maintained.

Amo 2:9-10

And if this daring contempt of the commandments of God was highly reprehensible even in itself, it became perfectly inexcusable if we bear in mind that Israel was indebted to the Lord its God for its elevation into an independent nation, and also for its sacred calling. For this reason, the prophet reminds the people of the manifestations of grace which it had received from its God (Amo 2:9-11). Amo 2:9. “And yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was strong as the oaks; and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Amo 2:10. And yet I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the desert, to take possession of the land of the Amorite.” The repeated ואנכי is used with peculiar emphasis, and serves to bring out the contrast between the conduct of the Israelites towards the Lord, and the fidelity of the Lord towards Israel. Of the two manifestations of divine grace to which Israel owed its existence as an independent nation, Amos mentions first of all the destruction of the former inhabitants of Canaan (Exo 23:27., Exo 34:11); and secondly, what was earlier in point of time, namely, the deliverance out of Egypt and guidance through the Arabian desert; not because the former act of God was greater than the latter, but in order to place first what the Lord had done for the nation, that he may be able to append to this what He still continues to do (Amo 2:11). The nations destroyed before Israel are called Amorites, from the most powerful of the Canaanitish tribes, as in Gen 15:16; Jos 24:15, etc. To show, however, that Israel was not able to destroy this people by its own strength, but that Jehovah the Almighty God alone could accomplish this, he proceeds to transfer to the whole nation what the Israelitish spies reported as to their size, more especially as to the size of particular giants (Num 13:32-33), and describes the Amorites as giants as lofty as trees and as strong as trees, and, continuing the same figure, depicts their utter destruction or extermination as the destruction of their fruit and of their roots. For this figure of speech, in which the posterity of a nation is regarded as its fruit, and the kernel of the nation out of which it springs as the root, see Eze 17:9; Hos 9:16; Job 18:16. These two manifestations of divine mercy Moses impressed more than once upon the hearts of the people in his last addresses, to urge them in consequence to hold fast to the divine commandments and to the love of God (cf. Deu 8:2., Deu 9:1-6; Deu 29:1-8).

Amo 2:11-12

But Jehovah had not only put Israel into possession of Canaan; He had also continually manifested Himself to it as the founder and promoter of its spiritual prosperity. Amo 2:11. “And I raised up some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as dedicated ones (Naziraeans). Ah, is it not so, ye sons of Israel? is the saying of Jehovah. Amo 2:12. But ye made the dedicated drink wine, and ye commanded the prophets, saying, Ye shall not prophesy.” The institution of prophecy and the law of the Nazarite were gifts of grace, in which Israel had an advantage over every other nation, and by which it was distinguished above the heathen as the nation of God and the medium of salvation. Amos simply reminds the people of these, and not of earthly blessings, which the heathen also enjoyed, since the former alone were real pledges of the covenant of grace made by Jehovah with Israel; and it was in the contempt and abuse of these gifts of grace that the ingratitude of the nation was displayed in the most glaring light. The Nazarites are placed by the side of the prophets, who proclaimed to the nation the counsel and will of the Lord, because, although as a rule the condition of a Nazarite was merely the consequence of his own free will and the fulfilment of a particular vow, it was nevertheless so far a gift of grace from the Lord, that the resolution to perform such a vow proceeded from the inward impulse of the Spirit of God, and the performance itself was rendered possible through the power of this Spirit alone. (For a general discussion of the law of the Nazarite, see the commentary on Num 6:2-12, and my biblical Antiquities, §67.) The raising up of Nazarites was not only intended to set before the eyes of the people the object of their divine calling, or their appointment to be a holy nation of God, but also to show them how the Lord bestowed the power to carry out this object. But instead of suffering themselves to be spurred on by these types to strive earnestly after sanctification of life, they tempted the Nazarites to break their vow by drinking wine, from which they were commanded to abstain, as being irreconcilable with the seriousness of their sanctification (see my Bibl. Ant. §67); and the prophets they prohibited from prophesying, because the word of God was burdensome to them (cf. Amo 7:10.; Mic 2:6).

Amo 2:13-16

This base contempt of their covenant mercies the Lord would visit with a severe punishment. Amo 2:13. “Behold, I will press you down, as the cart presses that is filled with sheaves. Amo 2:14. And the flight will be lost to the swift, and the strong one will not fortify his strength, and the hero will not deliver his soul. Amo 2:15. And the carrier of the bow will not stand, and the swift-footed will not deliver, and the rider of the horse will not save his soul. Amo 2:16. And the courageous one among the heroes will flee away naked in that day, is the saying of Jehovah.” The Lord threatens as a punishment a severe oppression, which no one will be able to escape. The allusion is to the force of war, under which even the bravest and most able heroes will succumb. העיק, from עוּק, Aramaean for צוּק, to press, construed with tachath, in the sense of κατὰ, downwards, to press down upon a person, i.e., to press him down (Winer, Ges., Ewald). This meaning is established by עקה in Psa 55:4, and by מוּעקה in Psa 66:11; so that there is no necessity to resort to the Arabic, as Hitzig does, or to alterations of the text, or to follow Baur, who gives the word the meaning, “to feel one’s self pressed under another,” for which there is no foundation in the language, and which does not even yield a suitable sense. The comparison instituted here to the pressure of a cart filled with sheaves, does not warrant the conclusion that Jehovah must answer to the cart; the simile is not to be carried out to this extent. The object to תּעיק is wanting, but may easily be supplied from the thought, namely, the ground over which the cart is driven. The להּ attached to המלאה belongs to the latitude allowed in ordinary speech, and gives to מלאה the reflective meaning, which is full in itself, has quite filled itself (cf. Ewald, §315, a). In Amo 2:14-16 the effects of this pressure are individualized. No one will escape from it. אבד מנוס, flight is lost to the swift, i.e., the swift will not find time enough to flee. The allusion to heroes and bearers of the bow shows that the pressure is caused by war. קל בּרגליו belong together: “He who is light in his feet.” The swift-footed will no more save his life than the rider upon a horse. נפשׁו .esroh  in Amo 2:15 belongs to both clauses. אמּץ לבּו, the strong in his heart, i.e., the hearty, courageous. ערום, naked, i.e., so as to leave behind him his garment, by which the enemy seizes him, like the young man in Mar 14:52. This threat, which implies that the kingdom will be destroyed, is carried out still further in the prophet’s following addresses.

The Judgment of Moab and of Judah; The Judgment of Israel. (b. c. 790.)

1 Thus saith the Lord ; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord . 4 Thus saith the Lord ; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord , and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: 5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. 6 Thus saith the Lord ; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; 7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

Here is, I. The judgment of Moab, another of the nations that bordered upon Israel. They are reckoned with and shall be punished for three transgressions and for four, as those before. Now, 1. Moab's fourth transgression, as theirs who were before set to the bar, was cruelty. The instance given refers not to the people of God, but to a heathen like themselves: The king of Moab burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime. We find there was war between the Edomites and the Moabites, in which the king of Moab, in distress and rage, offered his own son for a burnt-offering, to appease his deity, 2 Kings iii. 26, 27. And it should seem that afterwards he, or some of his successors, in revenge upon the Edomites for bringing him to that extremity, having an advantage against the king of Edom, seized him alive and burnt him to ashes, or slew him and burnt his body, or dug up the bones of their dead king, of that particularly who had so straitened him, and, in token of his rage and fury, burnt them to lime. and perhaps made use of the powder of his bones for the white-washing of the walls and ceilings of his palace, that he might please himself with the sight of that monument of his revenge. Est vindicta bonum vita jucundius ipsa—Revenge is sweeter than life itself. It is barbarous to abuse human bodies, for we ourselves also are in the body; it is senseless to abuse dead bodies, nay, it is impious, for we believe and look for their resurrection; and to abuse the dead bodies of kings (whose persons and names ought to be in a particular manner respected and had in veneration) is an affront to majesty; it is an argument of a base spirit for those to trample upon a dead lion who, were he alive, would tremble before him. 2. Moab's doom for this transgression is, (1.) A judgment of death. Those that deal cruelly shall be cruelly dealt with (v. 2): Moab shall die; the Moabites shall be cut off with the sword of war, which kills with tumult, with shouting, and with sound of trumpet, circumstances that make it so much the more terrible, as the lion's roaring aggravates his tearing. Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, Isa. ix. 5. (2.) It is a judgment upon their judge, who had passed the sentence upon the bones of the king of Edom that they should be burnt to lime: I will cut him off, says God (v. 3); he shall know there is a judge that is higher than he. The king, the chief judge, and all the inferior judges and princes, shall be cut off together. If the people sometimes suffer for the sin of their princes, yet the princes themselves shall not escape, Jer. xlviii. 47. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

II. Judah also is a near neighbour to Israel, and therefore, now that justice is riding the circuit, that shall not be passed by; that nation has made itself like the heathen and mingled with them, and therefore the indictment here runs against them in the same form in which it had run against all the rest: For these transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; their sins are as many as the sins of other nations, and we find them huddled up with them in the same character, Jer. ix. 26, "As for Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, jumble them together; they are all alike;" the sentence here also is the same (v. 5): "I will send a fire upon Judah, though it is the land where God is known, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, though it is the holy city, and God has formerly been known in its palaces for a refuge," Ps. xlviii. 3. But the sin here charged upon Judah is different from all the rest. The other nations were reckoned with for injuries done to men, but Judah is reckoned with for indignities done to God, v. 4. 1. They put contempt upon his statutes and persisted in disobedience to them: They have despised the law of the Lord, as if it were not worth taking notice of, nor had any thing in it valuable; and herein they despised the wisdom, justice, and goodness, as well as the authority and sovereignty, of the Lawmaker; this they did, in effect, when they kept not his commandments, made no conscience of them, took no care about them. 2. They put honour upon his rivals, their idols, here called their lies which caused them to err; for an image is a teacher of lies, Hab. ii. 18. And those that are led away into the error of idolatry are by that led into a multitude of other errors, Uno dato absurdo mille sequuntur—One absurdity draws after it a thousand. God is an infinite eternal Spirit; but, when the truth of God is by idolatry changed into a lie, all his other truths are in danger of being so changed likewise; thus their idols caused them to err, and God justly gave them up to strong delusions; nor was it any excuse for their sin that they were lies after which their father walked, for they should rather have taken warning than taken pattern by those that perished with these lies in their right hand.

III. We now at length come to the words which Amos saw concerning Israel. The reproofs and threatenings having walked the round, here they centre, here they settle. He begins with them as with the rest: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; if all these nations must be punished for their iniquities, shall Israel go unpunished? Observe here what their sins were, for which God would reckon with them. 1. Perverting justice. This was the sin of those who were entrusted with the administration of justice, the judges and magistrates, and all parties concerned. They made nothing of selling a righteous man, and his righteous cause when it came to be tried before them, for a piece of silver; sentence was passed, not according to the merits of the cause, but the bribe always turned the scale, and judgment was set to sale by auction to the highest bidder. They would sell the life and livelihood of a poor man for a pair of shoes, for the least advantage to themselves that could be proposed to them; give them but a pair of shoes, and the cause of a poor man, who could not give them as much as that, should be betrayed, and left at the mercy of those that will have no mercy. They will rather play at small game that sit out. For a piece of bread such a man will transgress. Note, Those who will wrong their consciences for any thing will come at length to do it for next to nothing; those who begin to sell justice for silver will in time be so sordid as to see it for a pair of shoes, for a pair of old shoes. 2. Oppressing the poor, and seeking to benefit themselves by doing them a mischief: They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor; they swallow up the poor with the utmost greediness, and make a prey of those that are in sorrow with dust on their heads, poor orphans that are in mourning for their parents; they catch at them to get their estates into their hands; they never rest till they have got the heads of the poor in the dust, to be trodden on. Or, They pant after the dust of the earth, that is, silver and gold, white and yellow dust; they covet it earnestly, and levy it upon the head of the poor by their unjust exactions. Note, Men's seeking to enrich themselves by the impoverishing of others is a transgression which God will not long turn away the punishment of. This is turning aside the way of the meek, contriving to do injury to those who, they know, are mild and patient and will bear injury. They invade their rights, break their measures, and obstruct the course of justice in favour of them, not suffering them to go on with their righteous cause; this is turning aside their way. Note, The more patiently men bear injuries that are done them the greater is the sin of those that injure them, and the more occasion they have to expect that God will give them redress, and take vengeance for them. I, as a deaf man, heard not, and then thou wilt hear. 3. Abominable uncleanness, even incest itself, such as it not named among the Gentiles, that a man should have his father's wife (1 Cor. v. 1), his father's concubine: A man and his father will go in unto the same young woman, as black an instance as any other of an unbounded promiscuous lust; and yet where the former iniquities of oppression and extortion are this also is found; for laws of modesty seldom hold those that have broken the bands of justice and cast away its cords from them. This wickedness is such a scandal to religion, and the profession of it, that those who are guilty of it are looked upon as designing thereby to profane God's holy name, and to render it odious among the heathen, as if he countenanced the villainies which those who pretend relation to him allow themselves in, and were altogether such a one as they. 4. Regaling themselves and yet pretending to honour their God with that which they had got by oppression and extortion, v. 8. They add idolatry to their injustice, and then think to atone for their injustice with their idolatry. (1.) They make merry with that which they have unjustly squeezed from the poor. They lay themselves down at ease, and in state, and stretch themselves upon clothes laid to pledge, which they ought to have restored the same night, according to the law, Deut. xxiv. 12, 13. And they drink the wine of the condemned, of such as they have fined and laid heavy mulcts upon, spending that in sensuality which they have got by injustice. (2.) They think to make atonement for this by feasting on the gains of oppression before their altars, and drinking this wine in the house of their God, in the temples where they worshipped their calves, as if they would make God a partner in their crimes by making him a partner of the profits of them—service good enough for false gods; but the true God will not thus be mocked; he has declared that he hates robbery for burnt-offerings, and cannot be served acceptably but with that which is got honestly.

God's Remonstrance with Israel. (b. c. 790.)

9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord . 12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. 13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. 16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord .

Here, I. God puts his people Israel in mind of the great things he has done for them, in putting them into possession of the land of Canaan, the greatest part of which these ten tribes now enjoyed, v. 9, 10. Note, We need often to be reminded of the mercies we have received, which are the heaviest aggravations of the sins we have committed. God gives liberally, and upbraids us not with our meanness and unworthiness, and the disproportion between his gifts and our merits; but he justly upbraids us with our ingratitude, and ill requital of his favours, and tells us what he has done for us, to shame us for not rendering again according to the benefit done to us. "Son, remember; Israel, remember, 1. That God brought thee out of a house of bondage, rescued thee out of the land of Egypt, where thou wouldst otherwise have perished in slavery." 2. That he led thee forty years through a desert land, and fed thee in a wilderness, where thou wouldst otherwise have perished with hunger. Mercies to our ancestors were mercies to us, for, if they had been cut off, we should not have been. 3. That he made room for them in Canaan, by extirpating the natives by a series of wonders little inferior to those by which they were redeemed out of Egypt: I destroyed the Amorite before them, here put for all the devoted nations. Observe the magnificence of the enemies that stood in their way, which is taken notice of, that God may be the more magnified in the subduing of them. They were of great stature (whose height was like the height of the cedars) and the people of Israel were as shrubs to them; and they were also of great strength, not only tall, but well-set: He was strong as the oaks. Their kingdom was eminent among the nations, and over-topped all its neighbours. The supports and defences of it seemed impregnable; it was as fine as the stately cedar; it was as firm as the sturdy oak; yet, when God had a vine to plant there (Ps. lxxx. 8, 9), this Amorite was not only cut down, but plucked up: I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath, so that the Amorites were no more a nation, nor ever read of any more. Thus highly did God value Israel. He gave men for them and people for their life, Isa. xliii. 4. How ungrateful then were those who put such contempt upon him! 4. That he made them possess the land of the Amorite, not only put it into their hands, so that they became masters of it jure belli—by right of conquest, but gave them a better title to it, so that it became theirs by promise.

II. He likewise upbraids them with the spiritual privileges and advantages they enjoyed as a holy nation, v. 11. They had helps for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their temporal enjoyments and were therefore more valuable. It is true the ten tribes had not God's temple, altar, and priesthood, and it was their own fault that they deserted them, and for that they might justly have been left in utter darkness; but God left not himself without witness, nor them without guides to show them the way. 1. They had prophets that were powerful instructors in piety, divinely inspired, and commissioned to make known the mind of God to them, to show them what is pleasing to God and what displeasing, to reprove them for their faults and warn them of their dangers, to direct them in their difficulties and comfort them in their troubles. God raised them up prophets, animated them for that work and employed them in it. He raised them up of their sons, from among themselves, as Moses and Christ were raised up from among their brethren, Deut. xviii. 15. It was an honour put upon their nation, and upon their families, that they had children of their own to be God's messengers to them, of their own language, not strangers sent from another country, whom they might suspect to be prejudiced against them and their land, but those who, they knew, wished well to them. Note, Faithful ministers are great blessings to any people, and it is God that raises them up to be so, that they may justly be reckoned an honour to the families they are of. 2. They had Nazarites that were bright examples of piety: I raised up of your young men for Nazarites, men that bound themselves by a vow to God and his service, and, in pursuance of that, denied themselves many of the lawful delights of sense, as drinking wine and eating grapes. There were some of their young men that were in their prime for the enjoyment of the pleasures of this life and yet voluntarily abridged themselves of them; these God raised up by the power of his grace, to be monuments of his grace, to his glory, and to be his witnesses against the impieties of that degenerate age. Note, It is as great a blessing to any place to have eminent good Christians in it as to have eminent good ministers in it; for so they have examples to their rules. We must acknowledge that it bodes well to any people when God raises up numbers of hopeful young people among them, when he makes their young men Nazarites, devout, and conscientious, and mortified to the pleasures of sense; and those that are such Nazarites are purer than snow, whiter than milk; they are indeed the polite young men, for their polishing is of sapphires, Lam. iv. 7. Those that have such men, such young men, among them, have therein such an advantage, both for direction and encouragement, to be religious, as they will be called to an account for another day if they do not improve. Israel is here reckoned with, not only for the prophets, but for the Nazarites, raised up among them. Concerning the truth of this, he appeals to themselves: "Is it not even thus, O you children of Israel? Can you deny it? Have not you yourselves been sensible of the advantage you had by the prophets and Nazarites raised up among you?" Note, Sinners' own consciences will be witnesses for God that he has not been wanting to them in the means of grace, so that, if they perish, it is because they have been wanting to themselves in not improving those means. The men of Judah shall themselves judge between God and his vineyard, whether he could have done more for it, Isa. v. 3, 4.

III. He charges them with the abuse of the means of grace they enjoyed, and the opposition they gave to God's designs in affording them those means, v. 12. They were so far from walking in the light that they rebelled against it, and did what they could to extinguish it, that it might not shine in their faces, to their conviction. 1. They did what they could to debauch good people, to draw them off from their seriousness in devotion and their strictness in conversation: You gave the Nazarites wine to drink, contrary to their vow, that, having broken it in that instance, they might not pretend to keep it in any other. Some they surprised, or allured into it, and with their much fair speech caused them to yield; others they forced and frightened into it, reproached and threatened them if they were more precise than their neighbours; and, by drawing them in to drink wine, they spoiled them for Nazarites. Note, Satan and his agents are very busy to corrupt the minds of young people that look heavenward; and many that we thought would have been Nazarites they have overcome by giving them wine to drink, by drawing them in to the love of mirth and pleasure, and drinking company. Multitudes of young men that bade fair for eminent professors of religion have erred through wine, and been undone for ever. And how do the factors for hell triumph in the debauching of a Nazarite! 2. They did what they could to silence good ministers, and to stop their mouths: "You commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not, and threatened them if they did prophesy (ch. vii. 12), as if God's messengers were bound to observe your orders, and might not deliver their errand unless you gave them leave, and so you not only received the grace of God, in raising up those prophets, in vain, but put the highest affront imaginable upon that God in whose name the prophets spoke." Note, Those have a great deal to answer for that cannot bear faithful preaching, and those much more that suppress it.

IV. He complains of the wrong they did him by their sins (v. 13): "I am pressed under you, I am straitened by you, and can no longer bear it, and therefore I will ease myself of my adversaries, Isa. i. 24. I am pressed under you and the load of your sins as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves, is loaded with corn, in the midst of the joy of harvest, as long as any will lie on." Note, The great God complains of sin, especially the sins of his professing people, as a burden to him. He is grieved with this generation (Ps. xcv. 10), is broken with their whorish heart (Ezek. vi. 9), a consideration which, if it make not the sinner's repentance very deep, will make his ruin very great. The great God that upholds the world, and never complains that his is pressed under the weight of it (he fainteth not, neither is weary), yet complains of the sins of Israel, yea, and of their hypocritical services too, that he is weary of bearing them, Isa. i. 14. No wonder the creature groans being burdened (Rom. viii. 22), when the Creator says, I am pressed under them.

V. He threatens them with unavoidable ruin. And so some read, v. 13, "Behold I will press, or straiten, your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses; they shall be loaded with judgments till they shall sink under them, and shall make a noise, as a cart overloaded does." Those that will not submit to the convictions of the word, that will neither be won by that nor by the conversation of those about them, shall be made to sink under the weight of God's judgments. If God load us daily with his benefits, and we, notwithstanding that, load him with our sins, how can we expect any other than that he should load us with his judgments? And it is here threatened in the last three verses that, when God comes forth to contend with this provoking people, they shall not be able to stand before him, to flee from him, nor to make their part good with him; for when God judges he will overcome. Though his patience be tired out, his power is not, and so the sinner shall find, to his cost. When the Assyrian army comes to lay the country waste by sword and captivity none shall escape, but every one shall have his share in the common desolation. 1. It will be in vain to think of fleeing from the enemy that comes armed with a commission to make all desolate: The flight shall perish from the swift; those that have been famed for happy escapes and happy retreats shall now find their arts fail them; they shall have no time to flee, or shall find no way to take, or they shall have no strength or spirit to attempt it; they shall be at their wits' end, and then they are soon at their flight's end. Are they, as Asahel, as swift of foot as a wild roe? (2 Sam. ii. 18), yet, like him, they shall run the faster upon their own destruction: He that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself, v. 15. Or do they say (as those, Isa. xxx. 16), We will flee upon horses, and we will ride upon the swift? Yet they shall be overtaken: Neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself from his pursuers. A horse is a vain thing for safety. 2. It will be in vain to think of fighting it out. God is at war with them; and are they stronger than he? Is there any military force that can pretend to be a match for Omnipotence? No: The strong shall not strengthen his force. He that has a habit of strength shall not be able to exert it when he has occasion for it. And the mighty, whose should protect and deliver others, shall not be able to deliver himself, to deliver his soul (so the word is), shall not save his life. Let not the strong man then glory in his strength, nor trust in it, but strengthen himself in the Lord his God, for in him is everlasting strength. And, as the bodily strength shall fail, so shall the weapons of war. The armour as well as the arm shall become insufficient: Neither shall he stand that handles the bow, though he stand at a distance, but shall betake himself to flight, and not trust to his own bow to save him. Though the arm be ever so strong, and the armour ever so well fixed, neither will avail when the spirit fails (v. 16): He that is courageous among the mighty, that used to look danger in the face, and not be dismayed at it, shall flee away naked in that day, not only disarmed, having thrown away his weapons both offensive and defensive, but plundered of his treasure, which he thought to carry away with him, and he shall think it as much as he could expect that he has his life for a prey. Thus when God pleases he takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes those who used to boast of their courage, and their daring enterprises in the field, to wander and sneak in a wilderness where there is no way, Job xii. 24.

CHAP. II.

Verſe 1. FOr three tranſgreſſions &c.] Or Malicious wickedneſſes with an high hand committed, and heaped up to that height. See chap. 1.3.

becauſe he burnt the bones of the king if Edom] A wicked man, but yet a man: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and God (who is a lover of mankind) ſhewes himſelf ſenſible of the injuries and indignities done but to his dead body: ſuch an enemy he is to cruelty to his creatures. That Meſa king of Moab bore a ſpeciall edge againſt the king of Edom, ſought to break thorough the army to him but could not, and afterwards ſacrificed his ſon and heir whom he had taken in that ſally made upon the king of Edoms quarters, we read 2 King. 3.26, 27. There are ſome that think that at another time, overcomming the Edomites, he dig'd up the bones of that king out of his ſepulcher, he burnt them to lime, that is prorſus, perfectiſſimè & abſolutiſſimè as ſome ſenſe it, to aſhes and cinders as Eſay. 33.12. or (for greater revenge, and contempt,)Targnm. be whitelimed the walles of his pallace therewith, as Gen. 11.3. Pſal. 69.23. Eſay. 22.21. Thus, in that horrid maſſacre of Paris, they cut of the Admirall's head (whom before they had murthered) and preſented it to the Q. mother;Speed. 1161. who, balming it, ſent it for a preſent to the Pope, who thereupon cauſed the Maſſacre to be pictured in the Vatican hall: under one ſide is Colignij & ſociorum caedes, On the other, Rex Colignij caedem probat. Il Mercuri[illegible: 1 letter] Italico 92. The king himſelf (viz Charles 9.) beholding the bloody bodyes of thoſe then maſſacred: and feeding his eye on ſo wofull a ſpectacle, breathed out this bloody ſpeech Quam bonus eſt odor hoſtis mortui. How ſweet is the ſmell of a ſlain enemy:Spec: belli ſacri. another hel-hag ſaid upon a like occaſion, that ſhe never beheld ſo goodly a peece of tapeſſtry, as the faces of thoſe butchered Saints. This inſulting over the dead is, that peece of cruelty which the church complaineth of Pſal. 79.2. Cornelius a Lapide upon this text cryes out of it as an inhumane and ſhamefull thing both becauſe the honour of ſepulture is the laſt dues of the dead; and alſo becauſe this is to fight with dead carcaſſes. [non-Latin text not transcribed], Juſta de functorum. Yet this hath been practiſed by one Pope againſt another, and by many of the Popes Champions here in England, who unburied and burnt the bodies of Paulus Phagius, Peter Martyrs wife, and many others: Cardinal Wolſey had a purpoſe (had he not been prevented by death) to have taken up King Henries body at Windſor, Act. & Mon. 1905. and to have burnt it. How much better Charles the fifth (yet no friend to the Reformation, but a prudent Prince) who entring Wittenberg as a Conquerour, and being importuned to dig up the dead bodies of Luther, and other Reformers, refuſed to violate their graves, and ſent away Melancthon, Pomeran, and ſome other eminent Preachers unhurt, not ſo much as once forbidding them to publiſh openly the doctrine that they profeſſed?Act. & Mon. 1784. Cambyſes heareth ill among all men for his digging up the dead body of Amaſis King of Egypt, and cauſing it to be whipt and brickt; and Sylla for the like cruelty to C. Marius. Of all fowl we moſt hate and deteſt the Crowes;Herodot. lib. 3. Plin. l. 7. c. 50. and of all beaſts, the Jackal's (a kinde of [illegible: 1 letter]oxes in Barbarie) becauſe the one digs up the graves, and devours the fleſh, and the other picks out the eyes of the dead. Hinc moraliter diſce, ſaith a Lapide, Learn hence alſo what a baſeneſſe it is to tear and deface the good names of thoſe that are dead: to fly-blow their names is worſe then to burn their bones to lime. And yet among many other men of mark that might bee inſtanced, Melancthon mortuus tantùm non ut blaſphemus in Deum cruci a[illegible: 2 letters]igitur, ſaith Zanchius: not Papiſts, but Lutherans laid blaſphemy to his charge after his death, whom all Chriſtendome worthily honoured for his learning and piety.Zanch. Miſcell.

Verſe 2. But I will ſend a fire,] See Chap. 1.4.

and it ſhall devour the palaces of Kerioth,] A city ſo fair and large that it hath a plural name, which ſignifieth cities, by way of excellencie: as Athens was called the Greece of Greece; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Rome, the Epitome of the world, &c.

and Moab ſhall die with tumult,] with all theſe together, on an huddle, as it were: they are here ſet down by an elegant Aſyndeton, to ſet forth the ſuddenneſſe and terrour of the judgement threatned. They ſhall be ſtormed, and have no quarter given them. Here Oſiander noteth, that it is one of the many puniſhments of ſin, for a man not to die in his bed, but in battel. It was promiſed to Ioſiah, 2 Chro. 34.28 he ſhould die in peace. True it is, he died in battel: but he died before that generall deſolation that followed ſhortly after. (for indeed, with him died all the proſperity of that people) And beſides, his weeping and humiliation had altered the very nature of the trouble, and made warre to be peace to him.

Verſe 3. And I will cut off the Iudge,] i. e. the king, who ſometimes ſits himſelf in Judgement,Acts & Mon. as K. Hen. 8. did here, at the condemnation of Lambert Martyr: as the King of Perſia doth oft at this day.The Preachers Travels. 63. I have ſeen him (ſaith a traveller) many times to alight from his horſe, onely to do juſtice to a poor body. The Grand Signior himſelf ſits one day in the week to receive the poors petitions, and puniſh the faulty Grandees about him. For as he ſtiles himſelf, Awlem Pe[illegible: 1 letter]awh, that is, the worlds refuge: ſo he would have the world to take notice, that ſuch as lament unto him,The Grand Sign. Serag. pag. 148. ſhall be ſure to have redreſſe and ſuccour from him, although his Miniſters fail them, or abuſe them, through their injuſtice: Hence, few Viſiers die in their beds.

from the middeſt thereof.] i. e. of Kerioth, the chief city where the Court was kept, as Kimch[illegible: 1 letter] ſaith, with a great deal of pomp and pride. We have heard of the pride of Moab. See Ier. 48.7, 11, 14, 18. Zeph. 2.8, 10. It was their nationall ſin, and fore-runner of their fall.

Verſe 4.Ideò deteriores quia meliores eſſe debebant. Zach. 1.19. For three tranſgreſſions of Judah,] who were therefore worſe then the above-mentioned Nations, becauſe they ought to have been better. Beſet they were with enemies round about, who dealt cruelly with them: and this ſhould have made them to cleave more cloſe to God: theſe hornes puſhing and ſcattering them, ſhould have puſhed them home to him: but it proved otherwiſe. For Judah alſo is found to to be incorrigibly flagitious, guilty, as the former, of three transgreſſions and of four, &c. worſe in them then in others, becauſe in Judah was God known, and to them were committed the Oracles of God, whom they might hear eftſoons ſcreeking out unto them, when they were putting forth their hands to wickedneſſe, Oh do not this abominable thing. But they tanquam monſtra marina, as One ſaith,Jer. 44.4. like ſo many Sea-Monſters paſſed by Gods words with a deaf ear.

They deſpiſed the law of the Lord,] They would none of his counſell: they liked well to live in Gods good land, but not to live by Gods good lawes: like thoſe in the Goſpel, they rejected the counſel of God within themſelves, Luk. 7.30. and that with ſcorne and disdain, as the word here uſed ſignifieth. See the Note on Hoſ. 6.6.

and have not kept his commandements,] though holie, juſt, and good, though ſuch, as if a man keep them, (be it but Evangelically, ſi faciat, etia[illegible: 1 letter]ſi non perficiat) he ſhall live in them, by a life of grace, as the flame lives in the oyle, or the creature by his food: Though in keeping thereof (how much more for keeping thereof?)Liv. 18.5. there is great reward, Pſal. 19.11.

and their lies cauſed them,] that is, their idols (as the Vulgar well rendreth it) and their will-worſhips: their new inventions, and good intentions, thereby to ſerve and pleaſe God. Theſe are properly called lies: becauſe contrary to the law of truth (whereto they are here oppoſed) and to Davids practiſe, who did the truth, 1 Ioh. 1.6. and could ſafely ſay, I hate and abhorre lying: but thy law do I love, Pſal. 119.163. and ver. 104. Through thy precepts I get underſtanding: therefore I hate every falſe way.

after the which their fathers have walked.] So that they are a race of Rebels, a ſeed of evil-doers, and do fill up the meaſure of their fathers ſins, till wrath come upon them to the utmoſt. This is no ſmall aggravation, Ezek. 20.30. Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations. See Acts 7.51. Muſt I bee provoked by you from one generation to another.

Verſ. 5. But I will ſend a fire upon Judah.] They ſhall alſo bear the puniſhment of their iniquities, yet is it not ſaid as ver. 2. that Judah ſhall die with tumult, &c. God will make a difference in his dealings with his own and others, his ſonnes and his ſlaves, theſe ſhall totally and finally be conſumed at once, Nah. 1.9. not ſo the Saints. The remnant of the Philiſtins ſhall periſh, Am. 1.8. But of Judah a remnant ſhall be ſtill reſerved, for royall uſe, Iſai. 11.11, 16.

Ver. 6. For three transgreſſions of Iſrael, &c,] The ten Tribes come in laſt: leſt they (with whom his main buſineſſe lay, and to whom he will hence-forth apply himſelf) ſhould conceit themſelves priviledged, becauſe for preſent proſpered: leſt they ſhould read, or hear the menaces of Gods mouth, as men do the old ſtories of forrein wars, that nothing concern them.

becauſe they ſold the righteous for ſilver,] Even Gods own paſture-ſheep, that had golden-fleeces, precious ſouls: theſe they made ſale of for a little money, which ever was, and ſtill is a common medler; and drives the bargain, and buſineſſe to an upſhot. Money, ſaith One, is the worlds great Monarch, and bears moſt Maſtery: whence it is, that the Hebrew word Adarcon, uſed for money, 1 Chron. 29.7. Eſay 8.27. comes of Adar, ſtrong, or mighty, and Con, to prepare: to ſhew that a moneyed man is a mighty man, as this world goes. Unleſſe we may ſay of money, as one doth wittily of Sardanapalus, the laſt of the Aſſyrian. Monarchs: Sardanapalus, ſaith He, had a terrible name. Sar noteth a Prince, Dan a Judge, Niphal an overthrower, or Conquerour: no otherwiſe appliable to him, but that his Luxury was the overthrow of both Soveraignty and Judgement. So is money mighty and well prepared, but it is to blind the eyes of the wiſe, and to pervert the matters of the righteous, Deut. 16.10. who becauſe not ſo well underlaid as his adverſary, lies long languiſhing many times at Hopes hoſpital; as that lame man did at the pool of Betheſda, but might not be ſped, becauſe (for want, belike, of ſtirring Angels) he could get none to put him into the Pool immediatly after the Angel had ſtirred it. That was a ſad complaint made by the Prophet Habakkuk, chap. 1.4. Behold the law is ſlacked, and judgement doth never go forth: for the wicked doth circumvent the righteous, viz. by his bribery and baſeneſſe, therefore wrong judgement proceedeth. A Judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the Law; yea of the Law-maker, with whom their is none iniquity, nor reſpect of perſons, nor taking of gifts, 2 Chron. 19.7. Nec prece, nec precio, ſhould be the Magiſtrates Motto: he ſhould be above all price or ſale.

and the poor for a pair of ſhooes,] For a cup of wine, Joel 3.3. for handfulls of barley, or peeces of bread, Ezek. 13.19. for a thing of nothing, ſo baſe they were grown at length: a very ſmall deal of gain would win them over. See chap. 8.6. At firſt, a little matter would not hire them: it muſt bee ſilver, and a conſiderable ſumme too; as an harlot, that requires at firſt no ſmall reward: but afterwards proſtituteth her ſelf light-cheap to all commers. Sinne ſeemeth modeſt and maidenly at firſt: but meddle not, for it ſooneth woadeth an impudency in mens foreheads, and debaucheth them.

Verſ. 7. That pant after the duſt of the earth on the head of the poor:] Covetouſneſſe is craving, and cruel: it rides without reins, as Balaam did after the wages of wickedneſſe; and cares not whoſe head it rides over, to compaſſe commodity. Yea it panteth after the duſt of the earth, on the head of the poor, as deſirous not onely to lay them in the duſt,Anhelant. but to lay them a-bleeding, and a-dying there. They gape over the head (or life) of the poor, in the duſt of the earth (ſo ſome read the words) as deviſing to deſtroy them. A poor mans lively hood is his life, Mar. 12. ult. Luke 8.43. for a poor man in his houſe is like a ſnail in a ſhell; cruſh that and you kill him. Theſe cormorants earneſtly deſired, and indeavoured to bring duſt upon poor mens heads (the garb of thoſe that were in heavineſſe, Iob 2.12. Ezech. 27.30. Lam. 2.20.) by their oppreſſions and injuſtice; yea to bring them down to the duſt of death, to ſet them as farre under ground, as now they were above. Lo this they do as greedily, and as greatly deſire, as ſerpents and other hot creatures covet the freſh air, to cool their ſcorched entrails. See Ier. 14.6. Job 5.5. and 7.2. It is ſaid of Saul the perſecutour, that he breathed out threatnings againſt the Church, Acts 9.1. as a tired Wolf, that wearied with worrying the flock, lieth panting for breath. So Bonner whipt the poor Martyrs, till he was breathleſſe. Some Interpreters note out of Joſeph Ben Gorion, Gorionides hiſt. c. 44. that there was an old cuſtom, that thoſe that were accuſed before the Judges, ſhould be arrayed in black, and have their heads covered with duſt. And hence they conceive the ſence to be this. That pant, i. e. that earneſtly deſire that ſuch poor men may be accuſed by the rich,Druſius. Mercer. of whom they may receive gifts to pervert judgement. And this they think to be confirmed by the following words.

they turn aſide (or pervent) the way of the meeke,] that is, the cauſe, buſineſſe, judgement of the modeſt, and ſelf-denying poor, the ſubject of rich mens injuries, (for moſt part) and unreaſonable oppreſſions, Jam. 2.6. A crow will ſtand upon a ſheeps back, pulling off wool from her ſide: ſhe durſt not do ſo to a wolf, or a maſtiffe. Even reaſonleſſe creatures know whom they may bee bold with: ſo do wicked oppreſſours.Veterem ferendo injuriam invitas novam. The meek by pocketting up one wrong, invite another. Ye have condemned and killed the juſt: and he doth not reſiſt you, Jam. 5.6. Ye not onely rob, but raviſh the poor, that are faln into your nets, Pſal. 10.9. ye do even whatſoever you pleaſe to them, as One Martyr ſaid of John Baptiſt, that he was put to death,Acts and Mon. as if God had been nothing aware of him.

and a man and his father will go in, &c.] by an horrible (if not inceſtuous) filthineſſe; ſuch as Heathens by the light of nature condemned and execrated, 1 Cor. 5.1. The Indians abhor it; ſhewing themſelves in reſpect of the inceſtuous Spaniards amongſt them, as the Scythians in reſpect of the Grecians, whom they ſo far excelled in life, as they were ſhort of them in learning. Am I a dog, ſaid Abner to Iſbboſheth, 2 Sam. 3. that is, ſo impudently and exceſſively luſtfull as a dog is, ſo ſcalded in his own greaſe, Rom. 1.27. Some libidinous ſenſualiſts put off all manhood, become dogs, worſe then dogs: following their harlots, ſtiled in Scripture, ſaltbitches, Deut. 23.18. ſuch as having abandoned both the fear of God, and ſhame of the world, care not whom they admit, father, ſon, any one, every one.

to profane my holy name.] As if I were Authour, or Fautour of ſuch cruelties and villanies. This is to take Gods name in vain, Prov. 30.9. yea this is to blaſpheme, 1 Tim. 1.20. by breaking down the banks of blaſphemy, and cauſing the enemies of the truth to ſpeak evil with open mouth, as they did in Davids dayes 2 Sam. 12.14. And in Pauls dayes, Rom. 2.24. And in Origens dayes, Nunc male audiunt caſtiganturque vulgo Chriſtiani; De opiſicio. Dei prooem. quòd vitia ſub obtentu nominis Dei celent, &c. ſaith He, Chriſtians and their religion heareth ill among Heathens, by reaſon of their impious and impure lives, and their converſation not becoming the Goſpel of Chriſt, Philip. 1.27. Of ſuch carnall Goſpellers it may be truly ſaid, as Diogenes ſaid to Antipater (who being vitious wore a white cloke, the enſigne of innocency) that they do virtut is ſtragulam pudefacere put honeſty to an open ſhame, bring contempt upon God and his wayes &c.

Verſe 8. And they lay themſelves down upon clothes] i. e. table-carpets, or bedcoverlets layd under thoſe that ſit at meat: whether on the ground, with their legs gathered under them (as the Turkiſh Baſhawes do to this day, and the Trojans of old-ſtratoque ſuper diſcumbitur oſtro) or at beds or tables,Turk. hiſt. fol. 231. Virg. Enead. lib. 1. Horat. 1. Car. od. 27. Vide Lambin. ad loc & Lipſ. lib. 3. Antiq. lection. leaning on the left elbow Eſth. 1.6. and 7, 8. Ioh. 13.28. Et cubito remanete preſſo.

laid to pledge] Theſe ſhould have been reſtored and not detayned beyond the time preſcribed Deut. 24.12, 13. Exod. 22.26, 27.

by every altar] It was their faſhion to feaſt in their Idol-temples 1. Cor. 8.10. and 10.21. See Horat. Oda. 37. lib. 1. And this in imitation, belike of Gods people, who were commanded to feaſt before the Lord, in the place that he ſhould chuſe to place his name in. See Deut. 14.23.26. 1 Sam. 1.3, 4. &c. And here Paucis verbis multiplex ſcelus arguit, ſaith Gualther, in few words he accuſeth them of much wickedneſſe.

and they drink the wine of the condemned in the houſe of their God] A God they have of their own deviſing, a wodden God, and ſuch as if he had but a paire of hornes clapt on his head, might make an excellent devill, (as the Major of Dancaſter told the wiſe men of Cockram in Q. Maries dayes, that came to complaine of the Carver for making them an ugly Crucifix) Next they drink wine in the houſe of their God,Act. and Mon. beſides their drink-offerings (which Davids ſoule hated Pſal. 16.4.) they had their drunken compotations in their Idoll-temples,Heyl. Geog. 449. as now they ſay in the Iſle of Sardinia after maſſe done, they fall to drinking and dancing in the middeſt of the Church: ſinging in the mean time ſongs too immodeſt for an Alehouſe. Laſtly,

they drink the wine of the condemned] or of ſuch as they have fined or mulcted, for not comming along with them to the Idol-temples. Diodate rendreth it, the wine of the amercements, that is bought with ſuch mony as they have unjuſtly amerced and condemned the innocent in. There are that here underſtood that wine that was wont to be given to malefactors led to execution Prov. 31.6. to cheer them up: but theſe wretches drank it off from them. The former ſenſe is the better.

Verſe 9. Yet deſtroyed I the Amorite before them] It is not uſuall with God to hit men in the teeth with what he hath done for them Jam. 1.5. unleſſe in caſe of unthankfulneſſe, as here. Then indeed people ſhall hear of what they have had; and be taught the worth of good turns by the want of them. Good turns aggravate unkindneſſes: and our offences are not a little increaſed by our obligations. Hence this approbation; and it is as if God ſhould ſay: This people hath not only done the evills afore-mentioned, but alſo after the receipt of mercies without meaſure and many miraculous deliverances; as if I had even hired them to be wicked: and as if that were to paſs for truth which the ſnake in the fable ſaid to the country man, that had ſhewed it kindneſs, Summum praemium pro ſummo beneficio eſt Ingratitudo. Speed 622. ex Pariſien. In the yeere 1245. the Pope was denied entrance into England: it being ſaid that the Pope was but like a mouſe in a fachell, or a ſnake in ones boſome, who did but ill repay their hoſteſs for their lodging. God had done exceeding much for this perverſe people: and this they now heare of with ſtomack enough, as well they deſerved. At Athens, if a ſervant proved ungratefull, for his manumiſſion, his maſter had an action [non-Latin text not transcribed] againſt him:Val. Max. lib. 2. cap. 1, and might recover him again into bondage. Lycurgus the Lacedemonian law-giver would not make a law againſt Ingratitude: as holding it monſtrous not to requite a kindneſs, not to acknowledge a good turn. The old Romanes decreed that ſuch as were found guilty of this fault, ſhould be caſt: alive to the Cormorant, to be pulled in peeces and devoured. Our Saviour f[illegible: 2 letters]ly yokes together the evill, and the unthankfull Luk. 6.35. and God here ſumms up all this peoples ſins in this One, as the Epitome of all the reſt.

yet I deſtroyed the Amorite] when once his iniquity was full Gen. 15. when he had filled the land from corner to corner with his uncleanneſſe Ezrh. 9.11. then ſent I my hornets before them, which drove them out before them. But not with their ſword nor with their bow. Ioſh. 24.12. See this thankfully acknowledged by this Church, after ſhe had payed for her learning, Pſal. 44.2, 3. with 9.10.

whoſe height was like the height of the Cedars &c.] For ſtature and ſtrength they ſeemed inſuperable, Num. 13.28. &c. But God ſoon topt them and tamed them, he took them a link lower, and made them know themſelves to bee but men. Pſal. 9.20. or if trees, cedars, oakes (as Plato ſaith of man, that he is but arbor inverſa) yet,

I deſtroyed his fruit from above, and his root from beneath] I left him little enough to be proud of: leſſe then Nebuchadnezzar, who had a ſtump left, and was reſerved for royall State againe Dan. 4.15. God cut off theſe Amorites, that is, all the ſeven nations, head and tayle, root and branch, old and young together Deut. 7.2. Ioſh. 6.21. (Behold the ſeverity of God,) as if he had forgotten that forepart of his back-parts Jehovah, Jehovah, gracious, mercifull &c. and had taken up that Emperours Motto, Fiat juſtitia, pereat mundus, Let Juſtice be done, though never ſo many be undone.

Verſe 10. Alſo I brought you up from the land of Egypt] which lies lower then Judaea: as doth alſo myſticall Egypt then Ieruſalem, which is above, which is the mother of us all. To what great preferments and priviledges Gods people are now brought up by Chriſt, See Heb. 12.22, 23, 24. and cry out with that noble Athenian [non-Latin text not transcribed] from how great miſeries to what great mercies are we advanced? Act. 26.18. Even from darkneſſe to light, from the power of Satan to God: that we may receive forgiveneſſe of ſins and inheritance among the Saints &c. And ſhall we then againe break Gods commandements? Ezra, 9.14. Or ſay, We are delivered to do all theſe abominations Ier. 7.10. Would not the heaven ſweat over us, and the earth cleave under us, yea hell gape for us upon ſuch an entertainement of divine bounty.

and led you forty yeares through the wilderneſſe] led you all along in my hand as an horſe in the wilderneſſe, that ye ſhould not ſtumble Iſay. 63.13. Led you, and fed you, dayly and daintily, ſending you in Angels food, and then ſetting the flint abroach that you might not pine and periſh in that vaſt howling wilderneſſe Deut. 32.10. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Beſides that, I there bore with your evill manners, Act. 13.18. as a mother beares with her childs frowardneſs, or as an husband beares with his wives croſſeneſſe, which he knowes he muſt either tollere, or tolerare, cure or cover.

to poſſeſſe the land of the Amorite] to fit you for ſuch a mercy, to humble you, to prove you, and to do you good at the latter end, Deut. 8.16. God knowes the height of our ſpirits, and the naughtineſſe of our natures &c. how ill able mens braines are to beare a cup of proſperity: and how ſoon their hearts are lifted up with their eſtates, as a boat that riſeth with the riſing of the water. God therefore uſually brings his people into the wilderneſſe, and there ſpeaketh to their hearts: he holds them firſt to hard meate,Hoſ. 2.14. and then puts them into full poſſeſſion.

Verſe 11. And I raiſed up your ſons for Prophets] The Miniſtery is worthily inſtanced, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as a ſingular mercy Pſal. 147.19, 20. Other nations had their Prophets ſuch as they were Tit. 1.12. Tragedians and Comedians were ſaid [non-Latin text not transcribed] to labour in teaching the people, and were highly eſteemed of the Athenians: inſomuch as that after their diſcomfit in Sicily, they were relieved out of the publike ſtock,Rous his Archaen. 90. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 2 Pet. 1.21. who could repeate ſomewhat of Euripides. But what were theſe to Iſraels Prophets, thoſe holy men of God who ſpake as they were moved, acted, and as it were carried out of themſelves by the holy Ghoſt, to ſay and to do what God would have them? yea thoſe holy children, ſuch as Samuel and Jeremy (for of them eſpecially the Rabbines underſtand this text) who devoted themſelves to the work betimes, being more forwardly then either Athanaſius the boybiſhop, or Cornelius Mus, who (if we may beleeve Sixtus Senenſis) was a Preacher at twelve yeare old: and ſuch one an as with whome all Italy was in admiration.

and of your young men for Nazarites] The Chalde hath it Doctours or Teachers; it being the office of theſe holy Votaries, to teach the people. Heathens alſo had a kind of Nazarites, as Lucian ſetteth forth in his Dea Syria (Habent & veſpae favos, ſimiae imita[illegible: 1 letter]tur homines) and the Turks at this day have their Dermiſlars, Turk. hiſt. fol. 473. and their Imailers, whom they call the religious brothers of love: Epicurus his hoggs they might better tearme them, ſaith the Hiſtorian.Bellarm. lib. 2. de Monach. cap. 5. The Papiſts would prove their Monkes to be Chriſtian Nazarites: but the aboliſhing of that order is declared Act. 21.25. and Monks are ſo farr from the abſtinence of the Nazarites, that they eat of the beſt, and drink of the ſweeteſt that Sea and Land can afford. So farr alſo from the ſingular ſanctimony of the Nazarites, whereof ſee Lam. 4.7. that the Poet ſung truly of them, Non audet Stygius Pluto tentare quod audet Effraenis Monachus.— They may better profeſſe themſelves ſucceſſors to the Scribes & Phariſees; who may ſeem (ſaith One) to have fled and hid themſelves in the Monks and friers.Vitae ſanctimonia & vo[illegible: 1 letter]o ſingulari ab aliis Separati. Now the Phariſees pretended to ſucceed the ancient Nazarites, as their very name imports, but they were (as likewiſe the Popiſh Monks) a generation never inſtituted by God nor brought in by the Prophets, but only a humane invention, and through their own boldneſſe: whence Chemnitius upon the tenth of Iohn takes theeves there to be the Phariſees. An Interpreter here ſheweth, how God hath now made all his people Nazarites i. e. ſeparated and ſanctified unto himſelf by making them paterns of piety, as the Rechabites holy, harmeleſſe, undeſiled of dead works, and evill works,Eph. 5.18 1 Theſſ. 5.22. Jude 23. from whom they are bid to ſtand off, 1 Tim. 6.5. as alſo not to be drunk with wine wherein is exceſſe, but to be filled with the Spirit: abſtaining from all appearance of evill, hating the garment ſpotted with the fleſh &c. See the Notes on Numb. 6.

Is it not even thus, O ye children of Iſrael?] If it be not teſtified againſt me, as Mic 6.3. and if ye cannot, then read the ſentence againſt your ſelves,Mat. 27.4. as Judas did, that ye may appear to be ſubverted and ſelf-condemned Tit. 3.11. God loveth to fetch witneſſe from mens own conſciences for the juſtifying his proceedings: and to convince them cleerly, that he is no way wanting to them, but they to themſelves. A cunning carver can cut the ſimilitude of any creature, but not on a rotten ſtick. What could god do more to his Vineyard then he had done (Eſ. 5. How oft would I have gathered thy children, as an hen her chickens &c. Mat. 23.27. How long ſhall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? Ier. 4.14. God is ſo farr from being guilty of Iſraels miſery as that (beſides other undeniable arguments of his love, as bringing them out of Egypt, deſtroying the Amorite &c.) he had raiſed them up Prophets and Nazarites, given them his word, Sacraments, all good helps to mollify their hearts; and then appealeth to their conſciences by this Rhetoricall interrogation, Is it not even thus? ſo to wring from them a confeſſion of the truth, in ſpite of their teeth.

Verſe 12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink] Opponit jam Propheta peſſimam gratiam &c. ſaith Gualther. Here was the ill requitall they made the Lord for all his benefits; they corrupted his young Nazarites (as Buzzards ſnatch up yong lapwings) and ſilenced his Prophets, or enjoyned them at leaſt to meddle with toothleſſe truths only, to preach placentia: threatening them if they did otherwiſe (for ſo the Original importeth) that ſo they might ſin without controule, and go to hell without hinderance. This God heavily here complaines of, as an horrible Ingratitude. To render good for evill is divine, good for good is humane: evill for evill is brutiſh, but evill for good is diveliſh.

Verſe 13. Behold I am preſſed under you &c.] A countrey compariſon (ſuch as this Prophet is full of) plaine but pithy; to ſhew how God is preſſed and oppreſſed with peoples ſins, wearied as it were Eſay. 43.24. and his patience even worn out; ſo that he can forbeare them no longer, Iſay. 42.14. but like a travelling woman, that bites in her paine, as long as ſhe is able, at length cryes out; ſo here, God hath much adoe to forbeare killing men in their ſins: as he was ready to have a blow at Moſes, when he met him in the Inne, and could hardly hold his hands; he even grones under the preſſure as a cart ſeemes to do under an extraordinary loade laid on it, till it creake and crack againe: He ſeemes to ſcreeke out to ſinners as Jer. 44.4. Oh doe not this abominable thing? And (when he cannot be heard) to ſigh out, Ah ſinfull nation, a people laden with iniquity &c. Eſay. 1.4. as Faſciculus temporum Anno. 884. bitterly bewailing the iniquities of thoſe times cries out, Heu, heu, Domine Deus &c. That ninth age is much complained of by many Waters. God hath as much, nay more cauſe to complaine of ours, conſidering his paines with us and patience towards us, to ſo little purpoſe and profit. See the Note on Mal. 1.1. many Interpreters make theſe words not a complaint, but a communication; rendring it thus, I will preſſe or ſtraighten your place as a cart full of ſheaves preſſeth, ſc. either the ground whereon it goeth, or the corn which it threſheth out of the husk Eſa. 28.27, 28. or as the creature that lieth under the wheeles of it is cruſht in pieces. It was a memorable ſaying of Mr. Bradford Martyr, He that will not tremble in threatening, ſhall be cruſht in peeces in feeling. Theſe perverſe Iſraelites would not be warned by any threatening, therefore they were preſſed to ſome purpoſe in that ſore famine, and ſtraight ſiege of Samaria. Obſidione vos premam ſaith the Chalde here,Samariana. I will ſo beleaguer your city, that there ſhall be no eſcaping. Look how a laden cart onuſtum ſibi, ſo laden that another ſheaf can hardly be laid on, ſo ſticks in ſtraight places, that it can neither go forward nor backward: ſo will I bring you into thoſe diſtreſſes, that you ſhall not know how to avoid or abide them. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. (Confer Pſal. 4.2. Prov. 4.12. 2 Cor. 4.8.) I will diſtreſſe my diſtreſſers: and preſſe with ſuch piercing afflictions, as ſhall make you ſigh and ſcreech out another while, Oh it is an evil thing and a bitter to forſake the Lord &c. Jer. 2.19. Oh he is worſe then mad, that would buy the ſweeteſt ſin, at ſo deare a rate.

Verſe 14. Therefore the flight ſhall periſh from the ſwift] men are apt to bleſſe themſelves when God curſeth Deut. 29.19. and to bind upon impurity in a common calamity; to make faire weather when ſuch a tempeſt is up, as ſhall never be blown over. Or, if worſe come, then, as all creatures run to their refuges Prov. 30.25. Pſal. 104.18. Prov. 18.11. Dan. 4.14.11. Judg. 9.50, 51. (the hunted hare runns to the forme, to the buſhes that ſhe formerly haunted, but now thoſe cannot ſave her) ſo men in miſery bethink themſelves of and betake themſelves to creature-comforts, and refuges, either naturall or artificiall as here, but theſe all ſerve them as Abſoloms mule did her maſter, hanging betwixt heaven and earth, but rejected of both. Let a man be as ſwift as Aſahel, God can eaſily overtake him;Life of Edw. 6. by St. Ioh. Heyw. his ſin will find him out, and he ſhall but in running from his de[illegible: 3 letters] run to it: as the Hiſtorian ſpeaketh of thoſe Scots defeated by the Engliſh at Muſcleburough fled, that they ſo ſtrained themſelves in running for their lives, that, they fell down breathleſſe and dead. Surely as the coney that flies to the holes in the rocks doth eaſily avoyd the dogs that perſue her: when the hare that truſts in the ſwiftneſſe of her legs is at length overtaken and torne in peeces: So thoſe that truſt in God ſhall be ſecured: whereas thoſe that confide in themſelves or the creature, ſhall be ſurprized, and come to an ill end. David ran to God in diſtreſſe and was releeved. Saul goes to the witch, and from thence to the ſwords-point, Judas to the Phariſees, and thence to the halter.

the ſtrong ſhall not ſtrengthen his force] but be made weake as water. None of the men of might have found their hands Pſal. 76.5. their hands are palſied, their ſinews crackt and cripled. It is God that both ſtrengtheneth and weakneth the armes in the day of battle Ezek. 30.24.

Verſe 15. Neither ſhall he ſtand that handleth the bow] Arcitenens, though he can do it never ſo dexterouſly: yet if he truſt in his bow Pſal. 44 6. God will break it Ier. 49 35.Herodot. Aug. de civ. Dei l. 5. c. 26. or otherwiſe render it unuſefull: as it befell the army of Senacherib in Egypt, of Maximus againſt Theodoſius, and the French in the battle between our Edward the third, and their king Philip: who being enraged with a defeat,Daniels hiſt. 237. reſolved preſently to revenge it: being elevated with an aſſured hope of triumphant victory. But it fell out otherwiſe: for there fell at the inſtant of the battle a piercing ſhowre of raine which diſſolved their ſtrings, and made their bowes unuſefull &c.

neither ſhall he that rideth the horſe] though it be as good an one, as Cain is fained by Dubertas to have mannaged, or as Alexanders Bucephalus, or Julius Caeſars great horſe, ſerviceable, and full of terrour. A horſe is ſo ſwift, that Iob ſaith he eateth up the ground: [non-Latin text not transcribed] Panſan. and the Perſians dedicated him to their God the Sun, as the ſwifteſt creature to the ſwifteſt power-divine. But as the ſun in heaven can neither be out-run, nor ſtopt in his race: ſo neither by men nor meanes can God be fruſtrated, or his anger avoyded. the Canaanites had both horſes and charrets, the Iſraelites had neither: and yet they found an horſe a vaine thing for victory &c. Pſal. 33.17. and 147.10.

Verſe 16. And he that is couragious] Heb. ſtrong of his heart, a Cucurdelion, as one of our kings was called, Egregie cordatus homo, one of a Roman reſolution to vanquiſh, or die: they were wont to ſay of cowards in Rome, that there was nothing Romane in them. But let a man be as bold as Brutus, whom One pronounced, Romanorum ultimum, the laſt of the Romanes, as if after, Rome had brought forth no couragious man and worthy of her ſelf. Let him be couragious among the mighty, ſuch as were thoſe Lion-like chieftaines among Davids worthies, Scanderbeg, Ziſca, Huniades, who was in that unhappy battle at Varna (by a juſt hand of God upon him for joyning with that perjured Popiſh king Ladiſ[illegible: 1 letter]aus) beaten out of the field.

and forced to flee away naked in that day] eſcaped narrowly with his life: as he did alſo another time, when after a ſlaughter of 34000. Turks, he was compelled to ſave himſelf by flight: and all alone by uncouth wayes to travell three dayes and nights, without meat or drink: and afterwards being on foot and diſarmed (which is here meant by naked: confer Eſay. 20.3. Mich. 1.8. 1 Sam. 19.14.Turk. hiſt. 310. Mr. Clarks Life of Hunniad. pag. 98. he fell into the hands of two notable theeves, who deſpoiled him of his apparrel &c. and on the next day he light upon a ſhephard of whom he for Gods ſake craved ſomething to eat, and obtained bread and water and a few onions, as the Turkiſh hiſtory hath it.