Amos 3 commentary

The distinguishing favours of God to us, if they do not restrain from sin, shall not exempt from punishment. They could not expect communion with God, unless they first sought peace with him. Where there is not friendship, there can be no fellowship. God and man cannot walk together, except they are agreed. Unless we seek his glory, we cannot walk with him. Let us not presume on outward privileges, without special, sanctifying grace. The threatenings of the word and providence of God against the sin of man are certain, and certainly show that the judgments of God are at hand. Nor will God remove the affliction he has sent, till it has done its work. The evil of sin is from ourselves, it is our own doing; but the evil of trouble is from God, and is his doing, whoever are the instruments. This should engage us patiently to bear public troubles, and to study to answer God's meaning in them. The whole of the passage shows that natural evil, or troubles, and not moral evil, or sin, is here meant. The warning given to a careless world will increase its condemnation another day. Oh the amazing stupidity of an unbelieving world, that will not be wrought upon by the terrors of the Lord, and that despise his mercies!

That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times.

The Prophet wished doubtless by these words to confirm his own authority, for he saw that his doctrine was regarded with contempt: and it is probable that the words recited here were not only once delivered by him, but had been often repeated. We know how great was the pride and confidence of that people: it was therefore needful to beat it down, that they might be habituated to dread and fear, when God reproved them by his Prophets.

It was then the common mode of speaking, when he said, Hear the word which God has spoken concerning your, O children of Israel. He brings forward here the name of God, that they might know that they had not to do with a mortal man, or with a shepherd, such as he was. We then observe here, what I have just referred to, and that is, that the Prophet seeks to strengthen his authority as a teacher, that he might gain more respect among the people. But he adds, concerning the whole family which I brought up out of Egypt It is certain that this discourse was not addressed except to the ten tribes; why, then, does the Prophet speak here so generally? Even because the kingdom of Israel formed the greater portion of the race of Abraham, and on this account they boasted that the adoption continued to be possessed by them. Since, then, they despised the tribe of Judah, and the half-tribe of Benjamin, which was connected with it, and had ever boasted of their great number, the Prophet says here, by way of concession, that they were indeed the blessed seed, the posterity of Abraham; in a word, the elect people, whom God had redeemed from Egypt. Then the Prophet includes not here the kingdom of Judah, but concedes to the Israelites what they boasted, — that they were the elect people, the holy race of Abraham, the very nation which had been miraculously delivered. “Let, then,” he says, “all these boastings be granted, yet God will not, on this account, desist from executing his judgment upon them.”

We now apprehend the design of the Prophet: he first seeks to gain respect for his doctrine, and takes occasion to speak of his own vocation, that he brought nothing of his own, but only discharged faithfully the office committed to him; yea, that he was the organ of the Holy Spirit, and adduced nothing from his own mind, but only spoke what the Lord had commanded him. And then, as the Israelites, relying on their large number, thought that wrong was done them, when they were severely reprehended by the Prophets, and as there was an absurd rivalship between them and the kingdom of Judah, the Prophet concedes to them that for which they were foolishly proud; but, at the same time, he shows that they in vain confided in their number, inasmuch as God summoned them to judgment, though they were the elect people, and the holy seed, and the redeemed nation. These are the main points.

The Prophet afterwards declares what he had in charge, Only you have I known of all the families of the earth: I will therefore visit you for your iniquities. Many think that he still concedes to the Israelites what they were wont to boast of, — that they were separated from the common class of men, because the Lord had adopted them: but it seems rather to be a reproach cast on them. God then brings forward here his benefits, of which we noticed yesterday a similar instance, that he might enhance the more the sin of the people, in returning the worst recompense to God, by whom they had been so liberally and so kindly treated: “I,” he says, “have loved you only.” It is indeed true, that the Israelites, as we have in other places often observed, gloried in their privileges; but the Prophet seems not to have this in view. God then expostulates with them for being so ungrateful: You only, he says, have I known. It is indeed certain that God’s care is extended to the whole human race, yea even to oxen and asses, and to the very sparrows. Even the young of ravens cry to him, and the smallest bird is fed by him. We hence see that God’s providence extends to all mortal beings; but yet not in an equal degree. God has ever known all men so as to give what is needful to preserve life. God has, therefore, made his sun to rise on all the human race, and has also made the earth to produce food. Then as to the necessaries of life, he performs the office of a Father towards all men. But he has known his chosen people, because he has separated them from other nations, that they might be like his own family. Israel, then, is said to be known, because God favored them alone with a gratuitous adoption, and designed them to be a peculiar people to himself. This is the knowledge of which the Prophet now speaks.

But by saying that they only, רק, rek, had been known, he shows that they had been chosen through God’s singular favor, for there was no difference between the seed of Abraham and other nations, when regarded in themselves, otherwise this exception would have been superfluous. For if there had been any superiority or merit in the people of Israel, this objection might have readily been made, “We have indeed been chosen, but not without cause, for God had respect to our worthiness.” But as they in nothing differed from other nations, and as the condition of all was alike by nature, the Lord upbraids them with this, that he had known them only; as though he said “How has it happened, that ye are my peculiar possession and heritage? Has it been by your merit? Has it been because I was more bound to you than to other nations? Ye cannot allege these things. It has therefore been my gratuitous adoption. Ye are then the more bound to me, and less excusable is your ingratitude for rendering to me so unjust a recompense.” So also Paul says, ‘Who makes thee to differ?’ (1 Corinthians 4:7) He wished to show that every excellency in men ought to be ascribed to God. For the same purpose it is said here, you only have I loved and known of all the families of the earth: “What were you? Ye were even the children of Adam, as all other nations; the same has been the beginning of all. There is then no reason for you to say, that I was attached to you by any prepossession; I freely chose you and chose you alone.” All this tends to amplify grace; and ingratitude on their part does hereby appear more evident. For had God spoken these words of his general benefits, the guilt of his chosen people would not have been so great: but when he says that they only had been chosen, when others were passed by, their impiety seemed doubtless more base and wicked in not acknowledging God in their turn, so as to devote themselves wholly to Him, to whom they owed every thing.

And the bounty of God shines forth also in this respect, that he had known the Israelites alone, though there were many other nations. Had God owed any thing to men, he would not have kept it from them; this is certain. But since he repudiated all other nations, it follows, that they were justly rejected, when he made no account of them. Whence then was it that he chose the Israelites? We here see how highly is God’s grace exalted by this comparison of one people with all other nations. And the same thing also appears from these words, of all the families of the earth; as though God had said, “There were many nations in the world, the number of men was very great; but I regarded them all as nothing, that I might take you under my protection; and thus I was content with a small number, when all men were mine; and this I have done through mere favor, for there was nothing in you by which ye excelled others, nor could they allege that they were unjustly rejected. Since then I preferred you of my own will, it is evident that I was under no obligation to you.” We now then understand the design of the Prophet’s words.

He then subjoins, I will therefore visit upon you your iniquities. God declares here, that the Israelites would have to suffer a heavier judgment, because they acknowledged not their obligations to God, but seemed willfully to despise his favor and to scorn him, the author of so many blessings. Since then the Israelites were bound by so many and so singular benefits, and they at the same time were as wicked as other nations the Prophet shows, that they deserved a heavier punishment, and that God’s judgment, such as they deserved, was nigh at hand. This is the substance of the whole. It now follows —

Amos 3:3-8

3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

3. An duo ambulabunt simul nisi inter ipsos conveniat?

4. Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

4. An rugiet leo in sylva et praeda non erit ei? an dabit leo (vel, leunculus edet, vel, emittet) vocem suam e cubili suo (vel, lustro) quum nihil ceperit?

5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

5. An cadet avis super laqueum ad terram absque aucupe (et auceps non erit ei? Ad verbum;) an tollet auceps laqueum ex terra priusquam capturam ceperit? (ad verbum, et capiendo non capiet: sed ego redidi sensum Prophetae.)

6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?

6. An clanget tuba in urbe et populus non contremiscet? An erit malum in urbe quod Jehova non fecerit?

7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

7. Quia (vel, certe) non faciet Dominator Jehova quidquam nisi revelaverit secretum suum servis suis Prophetis.

8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

8. Leo rugivit, quis non timeat? Dominator Jehova locutus est, quis non prophetet?

The Prophet here accumulates similitudes which may, however, be reduced to five particulars. He first shows that he uttered no empty words, but had God’s authority for what he said; and he appeals to him as his witness and approver: this is one thing. Then he shows that God designedly announces the punishment he would inflict on transgressors, that they might in time repent, and that he does not cry out for no reason, as unreflecting men grow angry for nothing, but that he is driven to anger by just causes, and therefore terrifies them by his Prophets. He teaches, thirdly, that nothing happens by chance, that the Israelites might thereby be made to consider more attentively the judgments of God. In the fourth place, he declares that men are extremely stupid, when they are not moved by the threats which they hear proceed from God. He intimates, in the fifth place, that the execution of them was ready to take place, and that when God has denounced anything, his threatenings are not vain, such as those by which children are terrified.

These, then, are the five points, which we shall hereafter notice in their due order. He at the same time confirms what he said at the beginning of the chapter, — that God did not suddenly take vengeance on the Israelites, but called them to repentance, provided they were healable. He had indeed spoken before more distinctly, ‘For three transgressions, and for four, I will not be propitious to them:’ but now he demands attention from the people of Israel, “Hear this ye children of Israel, Will two men walk together, except they agree among themselves?” By these words he teaches, that though God might have immediately and unexpectedly brought punishment on them, he yet spared them and suspended his judgment, until they repented, provided they were not wholly irreclaimable. Amos now then confirms the truth, that God would not punish the Israelites, as he might justly, but would first try whether there was any hope of repentance.

Let us now come to the first similitude; he asks Will two walk together without agreeing? Some forcibly misapply the Prophet’s words, as though the meaning was, that God was constrained to depart from that people, because he saw that they were going astray so perversely after their lusts. The sense, according to these, would be, “Do you wish me to walk with you?” that is “Do you wish that my blessing should dwell among you, that I should show to you, as usual, my paternal love, and bountifully support you? Why then do ye not walk with me, or, why should there not be a mutual consent? Why do ye not respond to me? for I am ready to walk with you.” But this exposition, as ye see, is too strained. There are other two, which are these, — either that the Prophet intimates here that so many of God’s servants did not, as it were with one mouth, threaten the Israelites in vain, — or, that the consent of which he speaks was that of God with his Prophets. This last exposition being rather obscure, requires to be more clearly explained. Some, then, take the sense of this verse to be the following, — “I am not alone in denouncing punishment on you; for God has before warned you by other Prophets; many of them still live; and ye see how well we agree together: we have not conspired after the manner of men, and it has not happened by any agreements that Isaiah and Micah denounce on you what ye hear from my mouth. It is then a hidden accordance, which proceeds from the Holy Spirit.” This sense is not unsuitable.

But there is a third equally befitting, to which I have briefly referred, and that is, that the Prophet here affirms that he speaks by God’s command, as when two agree together, when they follow the same road; as when one meets with a chance companion, he asks him where he goes, and when he answers that he is going to a certain place, he says I am going on the same road with you. Then Amos by this similitude very fitly sets forth the accordance between God and his Prophets; for they did not rashly obtrude themselves so as to announce anything according to their own will, but waited for the call of God, and were fully persuaded that they did not by any chance go astray, but kept the road which the Lord had pointed out. This could not itself have been a sufficiently satisfactory proof of his call; but the Prophet had already entered on his course of teaching; and though nearly the whole people clamored against him, he yet had given no obscure proofs of his call. He does not then here mention the whole evidence, as though he intended to show that he was from the beginning the Prophet of God; but he only confirms, by way of reproof, what his teaching had before sufficiently attested. Hence he asks, Will two walk together except they agree among themselves? as though he said, “Ye are mistaken in judging of me, as though I were alone, and in making no account of God: ye think me to be a shepherd, and this is true; but it ought to be added, that I am sent by God and endued with the gift of prophecy. Since then I speak by God’s Spirit, I do not walk alone; for God goes before, and I am his companion. Know then that whatever I bring forward proceeds not from me, but God is the author of what I teach.”

This seems to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet: by this similitude he affirms that he faithfully discharged his office, for he had not separated himself from God, but was his companion: as when two agree together to travel the same road; so also he shows that he and God were agreed. If, however, the former interpretation be more approved, I will not dispute the point; that is, that the Prophet here confirms his own doctrine by alleging that he was not alone, but had other colleagues; for it was no common confirmation, when it appeared evident that the other Prophets added their testimony to what he taught. As, however, he does not apply this similitude in this way, I know not whether such was his design: I have therefore brought forward what seems to me to be a simpler view.

The second similitude follows, Will a lion roar in the forest without a prey? Will a lion send forth his voice from his den when he has caught nothing? By this verse he intimates that God does not cry out for nothing by his Prophets; for ungodly men supposed that the air was only made to reverberate by an empty sound, when the Prophets threatened, “These,” they said, “are mere words;” as though indeed they could not find that the necessity of crying arose from themselves, because they had provoked God by their vices. Hence the Prophet, meeting their objection, says, “If lions roar not, except when they have obtained a prey, shall God cry from heaven and send forth his voice as far as the earth, when there is no prey?” The meaning is, that the word of God was very shamefully despised by the Israelites, as though there was no reason for crying, as though God was trifling with them. His word is indeed precious, and is not thrown heedlessly into the air, as if it were a mere refuse; but it is an invaluable seed. Since the Lord cries, it is not, says Amos, without a lawful cause. How so? The lions do not indeed roar without prey; God then does not cry by his Prophets, except for the best reason. It hence follows that the Israelites were hitherto extremely stupid inasmuch as they did not listen with more earnestness and attention to the teaching of the Prophets, as though God had uttered only an empty sound.

The third similitude now follows, Will a bird fall on the earth, he says, without a fowler? The Prophet means here that nothing happens without being foreseen by God; for as nets are laid for birds, so God ensnares men by his hidden punishments. Unexpectedly indeed calamity comes, and it is commonly ascribed to chance; but the Prophet here reminds us that God stretches his nets, in which men are caught, though they think that chance rules, and observe not the hand of God. They are deceived, he says; for the bird foresees not the ensnaring prepared for him; but yet he falls not on the earth without the fowler: for nets weave not themselves by chance, but they are made by the industry of the man who catches birds. So also calamities do not happen by chance, but proceed from the secret purpose of God. But we must observe, that similitudes ought not to be too strictly applied to the subject in hand. Were one to asks how God could compare himself here to a fowler, as there is craft and artifice employed in catching innocent birds, when nets are laid for them, it would be a frivolous question; for it is evident enough what the Prophet meant, and that the design of his words was to show, that punishments fall on men, and that they are ensnared through the secret purpose of God; for God has long ago foreseen what he will do, though men act heedlessly, as the birds who foresee nothing.

Then it follows in the fourth place, Will the fowler remove his snare before he has made a capture? In this second clause the Prophet intimates that the threatening of God would not be without effect; for he will execute whatever he declares. It is indeed certain, that fowlers often return home empty, and gather their nets though they have taken nothing; but the Prophet, as I have said, in using these similitudes, only states what fowlers usually do, when they are in hope of some prey. As for instance, when one spreads his nets, he will wait, and will not gather his nets until he takes some prey, if so be that a prey should come; he may indeed wait in vain all night. Then as fowlers are not wearied, and wish not to lose their labor after they have spread their nets, so also the Prophet says that God does not in vain proclaim his threatenings to serve as empty bugbears, but that his nets remain until he has taken his prey; which means, that God will really execute what he has threatened by his Prophets. The meaning then is, that God’s word is not ineffectual, but when God declares any thing, it is sure to be accomplished: and hence he reproves the Israelites for receiving so heedlessly and with deaf ears all God’s threatening, as though he was only trifling with them. “It will not be,” he says, “as you expect; for God will take his prey before he takes up his nets.”

He adds, in the last place, Shall a trumpet sound and the people tremble not? Here he reprehends, as I have said, the torpidity of the people, to whom all threatening were a sport: “When a trumpet sounds,” he says, “all tremble; for it is a signal of danger. All then either fly for aid or stand amazed, when the trumpet sounds. God himself cries, his voice deserves much more attention than the trumpet which fills men’s minds with dread; and yet it is a sound uttered to the deaf. What then does this prove, but that madness possesses the minds of men? Are they not destitute of all judgment and of every power of reason?” We hence see that the Prophet in these words intended to show, that the Israelites were in a manner fascinated by the devil, for they had no thought of evils; and though they knew that God sounded the trumpet and denounced ruin, they yet remained heedless, and were no more moved than if all things were in a quiet state. What remains I cannot now finish.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou art pleased daily to exhort us to repentance, and dost not suddenly execute thy judgment by which we might be in an instant overwhelmed, but givest us time to seek reconciliation, — O grant, that we may now attend to thy teaching, and all thy admonitions and threatenings, and become teachable and obedient to thee, lest thou be constrained on finding us hardened against thy threatening, and wholly irreclaimable, to bring on us extreme vengeance: make us then so to submit ourselves to thee in the spirit of teachableness and obedience, that being placed under the protection of thy Son, we may truly call on thee as our Father, and find thee to be so in reality, when thou shalt show to us that paternal love, which thou hast promised, and which we have all experienced from the beginning, who have truly and from the heart called on thy name, through the same, even Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture Fifty-fourth

In our last Lecture were noticed these words of Amos — that a whole people tremble at the sound of a trumpet; he now seems to add a sentence wholly different, and says, No calamity happens, except through God. But he had before said what we already noticed respecting the sound of the trumpet, that the people might understand that nothing happens by accident, and that punishments are, for just reasons, inflicted by the Lord; and this he soon after confirms by saying, that God did nothing, without having first revealed his secret to his Prophets. The meaning then is that the people at Israel were extremely stupid for not having repented after so many warnings; nay, they remained still in their perverseness, though they had been constrained by the most powerful means.

We now then comprehend what the Prophet means; but that the whole subject may be made more clear, let us notice this intervening sentence, there is no evil in the city which God has not done. By these words the Prophet reminds us, that calamities happen not by chance, as the vulgar of mankind believe; for the words, “Prosperous or adverse fortunes” are, we know, in the mouths of all, as though God was idle in heaven, and took no care of human affairs. Hence, whatever happens, the world usually ascribes it to fortune. But the Prophet here shows that the government of this world is administered by God, and that nothing happens except through his power. He does not, indeed, treat here of sin: but the Prophet, according to the usual practice, calls whatever is adverse to us, רעה, roe, evil. Whatever, then, we naturally shun, is usually called an evil; and this mode of speaking Amos follows here, as God is said by Isaiah to have in his power night and day, light and darkness, good and evil, (Isaiah 45:7) When good and evil are spoken of there, it is certain that what is referred to is prosperity and adversity. So also here, the Prophet teaches that men are chastised by God whenever anything adverse happens to them, as though he said that fortune rules not, as the world imagines, and that things do not take place at random; but that God is at all times the judge of the world. In short, Amos wished to recall the people to an examination of their lives, as though he summoned them to the tribunal of God; and he showed by evident external tokens that God was justly offended with the Israelites: “Ye see that you are severely dealt with, do you think that God sleeps idly in heaven? Since nothing happens but by the will of God, he now designs to awaken you by treating you with so much sharpness and severity, so that you may know your vices.” We now then perceive the design of the Prophet in saying, that there was no evil in the city which God had not done.

In a similar manner, also, does God by Jeremiah sharply expostulate with the people, because they imputed slaughters in war, famine, and other evils, to fortune. When, therefore, any calamity happened, the Jews complained of bad fortune, as the world are wont to do. God was displeased and severely reproved this profane notion; for the government of the world was thus taken away from him: for, were any thing to take place against his will, so much would be abstracted from his power; and farther men would grow hardened in their sins; for however grievously he might punish them, they would not yet acknowledge his hand: they might indeed cry out under the strokes, and feel how severe his scourges were; but they would not regard the hand of the striker, which is the principal thing, as it is stated elsewhere, (Isaiah 9:13) Then the Prophet takes this as granted, that, whenever any calamity happens, men are extremely stupid, if they are not roused and reflect on their sins, and consider the tokens of God’s wrath, so as to flee to him, and confess themselves guilty and implore his mercy.

But he had before spoken of the sound of the trumpet; for every excuse was thereby taken away from the Israelites, as God had not only recalled them to the right way by his scourges but also preceded these by his word: and he shows how justly he was displeased with them; hence the Prophet adds another sentence, For the Lord Jehovah will do nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the Prophets. The Prophet declares in this verse, that God dealt not with the Israelites as with heathen nations; for God punished other people without warning them by his word; he summoned to judgment neither the Idumeans, nor the Ammonites, nor the Egyptians, but executed his vengeance, though he never addressed them. Different was his dealing with the Israelites; for God not only brought on them such punishment as they deserved, but he preceded it by His word, and showed beforehand what evil was nigh them, that they might anticipate it; he indeed gave them time to repent, and was ready to pardon them, had they been capable of being restored. Now then the Prophet aggravates the guilt of the people, because they had not only been chastised by the Lord, but they might, if they chose, have turned aside their punishment; instead of doing so they hardened themselves in their wickedness.

God then will do nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the Prophets. This ought to be confined to that people, and it ought also to be confined to the punishments of which the Prophet speaks. It is certain that God executes many judgments which are hid both from men and angels; and Amos did not intend to impose a necessity on God, as if he was not free to do any thing without previously revealing it; such was not the Prophet’s design; but his object was simply to condemn the Israelites for their irreclaimable perverseness and obstinacy, that, having been warned, they did not seriously think of repenting, but despised all God’s threatening, and even scorned them. God then will do nothing, that is, “God will not treat you in an ordinary way, as he does with other nations, whom he chastises without speaking to them. They, for the most part, understand not what is done; but God in a paternal manner kindly reminds you of your sins, shows why he resolves to chastise you and forewarns you, that you may have time to seek and ask forgiveness.”

God therefore reveals his secret to his Prophets; that is, “He does not suddenly or unexpectedly punish you, as he might do, and as ye see that he does with respect to others; but he proclaims what he will do, and sends his messengers, as though they were heralds sent to denounce war on you; and at the same time they open a way for reconciliation, provided ye are not wholly past recovery, and perverse in your wickedness. Ye are then doubly inexcusable, if God can do nothing by his word and by the punishment which he afterwards subjoins to his word.” We now comprehend the object of the Prophet. Then foolish is the question, at least unreasonable, “Does God here bind himself by a certain law, that he will do nothing, but what he previously reveals to his Prophets?” For Amos means not this, but only affirms that it was the common method which the Lord adopted in chastising that people. It is certain, that the Prophets did not know many things; for God distributed his Spirit to them by measure: all things then were not revealed to the Prophets. But Amos here only intimates that God did not deal with his chosen people as he did with heathen nations; for these often found God unexpectedly displeased with them, and had no time to reflect, that they might repent. Much more kindly and mercifully has God acted, says Amos, with that people; for God was unwilling suddenly to overwhelm or to surprise them, but has warned them by his Prophets. We see how widely this doctrine opens; but it is enough to understand the Prophet’s design, and to know the purpose to which his discourse ought to be applied.

God then will do nothing without revealing first his secret to the Prophets. He calls it a secret, because men are perplexed when God executes vengeance on them, and stand amazed: but when they are in time warned, then what God designs becomes evident to them, and they know the cause and the source of punishment. Thus then the secret is revealed which was hid from miserable men: and the guilt of the people is doubled, when, after these threatening, they do not repent.

It now follows, The lion roars who would not fear? The Lord Jehovah speaks, who would not prophesy? In this verse the Prophet reproved the Israelites for their usual contentions with the Prophets when their sins were sharply reprehended. Thus indeed are men wont to do; they consider not that Prophets are sent from above, and that there is a charge committed to them. Hence, when Prophets are severe in their words, the world clamors and wrangles: “What do these men intend? Why do they urge us so much? Why do they not allow us to rest quietly? for they provoke against us the wrath of God.” Whenever then men are roused, they immediately menace God’s Prophets with strife and contention, and regard not threatening as coming from God himself. This vice the Prophet now condemns: The lion roars, he says, who would not fear? God speaks, who would not prophesy? “Ye think that I am your adversary; but ye can gain nothing by quarreling with me: were I silent, the voice of God would of itself be formidable enough. The evil then proceeds not from my mouth, but from God’s command; for I am constrained, willing or unwilling, to obey God: he has chosen me to be a Prophet, and has showed what he intends that I should proclaim. What can I do, he says? I am not at liberty to invent revelations; but I faithfully bring forth to you what has been delivered to me by the Lord. How great then is your madness, that ye contend with me, and consider not that your strife and contention is with God himself?” We now see what the Prophet meant, and also understand, why he adduced the four similitudes, of which we have already spoken. I now proceed with the remaining context.

Amos 3:9

9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

9. Promulgate in palatiis Asdod, et in palatiis terrae Aegypti, et dicite, Congregamini super montes Samaria, et videte tumultus multos (vel, concussiones multas) in medio ejus, et oppressiones in medio ejus.

Amos begins here to set judges over the Israelites; for they would not patiently submit to God’s judgment: and he constitutes and sets over them as judges the Egyptians and Idumeans. This prophecy no doubt increasingly exasperated the minds of the people, who were already very refractory and rebellious; but yet this was necessary. God, indeed, had cited them to his tribunal, as long as a hope of reconciliation remained: when they became angry on account of God’s threatening, clamored against his servants, yea, and obstinately disputed, as though they were guilty of no fault, what remained, but that God should constitute judges over them, whom the Prophet names, even the Egyptians and Idumeans? “Ye cannot bear my judgment; unbelievers, who are already condemned, shall pronounce sentence upon you. I am indeed your legitimate judge; but as ye have repudiated me, I will prove to you how true my judgment is; I will be silent, the Egyptians shall speak.” And who were these Egyptians? Even those who were equally guilty with the Israelites, and labored under the same charges, or were at least not far from deserving a similar punishment; and yet God would compel the Israelites to hear the sentence that was to be pronounced on them by the Egyptians and Idumeans. We know how proudly the Israelites gloried in their primogeniture; but the Lord here exposes to scorn this arrogance, because they made such bad use of his benefits. We now then perceive the Prophet’s intention.

Publish, he says, in the palaces of Ashdod, in the palaces of the land of Egypt, and say — what? “Assemble on the mountains of Samaria.” He would have the Egyptians and the Idumeans to meet together, and the mountains of Samaria to be as it were the theater, though the idea of a tribunal is more suitable to the similitude that is used. It was then, as though the Egyptians and Idumeans were to be seated on an elevated place; and God were to set before them the oppressions, the robberies and iniquitous pillages, which prevailed in the kingdom of Israel. Assemble then on the mountains of Samaria. The Prophet alludes to the situation of the country: for though Samaria was situated on a plain, This is a mistake: Samaria was situated on a hill, and not on a plain: but there were hills or mountains surrounding it; so that what is said here equally applies to the place. — Ed. there were yet mountains around it; and they thought themselves hid there, and were as wine settled on its lees. God says now, “Let the Egyptians and Idumeans meet and view the scene; I will allot them a place, from which they can see how greatly all kinds of iniquity prevail in the kingdom of Israel. They indeed dwell in their plain, and think themselves sufficiently defended by the mountains around; but from these mountains even the very blind will be able to see how abominable and shameful is their condition.”

Let them come and see, he says, the oppressions in the midst of her. The word he uses is מהומת, meumet, tumults; but he means oppressions, committed without any regard to reason or justice, when all things are done with glamour and violence. “Let them see then the oppressions, let them see the distresses.” He speaks of their deeds; he afterwards mentions the persons; but the Prophet means the same thing, though he uses different forms of expression, that is, that the kingdom of Israel was filled with many crimes; for plunder of every kind prevailed there and men kept within no bounds of moderation, but by tumult and clamor pillaged the poor and the miserable. It now follows —

Amos 3:10

10. For they know not to do right, saith the Lord, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

10. Et non noverunt facere rectum, dicit Jehova, thesaurizantes rapinam et praedam in palatiis suis.

In this verse he confirms what I have already said of oppressions: he says that they despised every thing right. But not to know this lessens not their guilt, as though they ignorantly offended; but the Prophet means, on the contrary, that they had cast away far from them everything that was just and allowed themselves all liberty in sinning, without any discrimination, without any shame; as though he said, “They are brute animals, who are void of all judgments of all reason, and of all shame; for they seek not to have a light understanding any more.” here then he accuses the Israelites of wilful blindness; for they hardened themselves in every evil, and extinguished all judgments shame and reasons so that they no longer distinguished between what was just and unjust: and he mentions one thing in particular — that they accumulated much wealth by plunder and robbery. The Israelites were no doubt guilty of many other crimes; but by stating a part for the whole, he mentions one thing which includes other things, and intimates, that the people were wholly given to all kinds of crimes, and that as they had cast aside every shame, obliterated every distinction, and repudiated every regard for justice, they abandoned themselves to every kind of wickedness. This, is the import of the Prophet’s words.

But our Prophet points out here the gross sins of the Israelites, because he had previously constituted the blind as their judges. Hence it was the same as though he had said, “Though the Egyptians and the Idumeans are void of light, yet your iniquity is so palpable, that they will be able to perceive it. There is indeed no necessity of any subtle disputation, since plunders and pillages are carried on with so much violence, since no moderation or equity is any longer observed, and no shame exists; but men rush headlong with blind impetuosity into every kind of evil; so that the very blind, though without eyes, can know what your state is. Then the Egyptians and Idumeans will perceive your vices, when located on the neighboring mountains.” This is the meaning. It now follows —

Amos 3:11-12

11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

11. Propterea sic dicit Dominus Jehova, Adversarius et quidem in circuitu terrae, et tollet abs te robur tuum et diripientur palatia tua.

12. Thus saith the Lord; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

12. Sic dicit Jehova, Quemadmodum eripit pastor ex ore leonis duo crura vel externam partem auris, sic eripientur filii Israel qui habitant in Samaria in angulo lecti, et in Damasco tanquam in grabato.

The Prophet here announces the punishment God would inflict on the Israelites. An enemy, he says, and indeed one around you, etc. Some think צר, tsar, to be a verb in the imperative mood; but this cannot be maintained. But Amos, here declares that an enemy was near the Israelites, who would besiege them on every side. The ungodly are ever wont to seek escapes, and if they see the smallest hole, they think that they can escape. Strange is the presumption of men with regard to God: when they see themselves hemmed in, they are really frightened, yea, they become wholly disheartened; but yet they seek subterfuges on the right hand and on the left, and never submit to God except when constrained. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, that an enemy was near, and indeed around them; as though he said, “You have no reason to think that there is any way of escape open to you; for God has hemmed you in on every side; there is therefore a siege which so confines you, that you in vain hope to escape.” An enemy, he says, is indeed around — around the whole land, who will take away from thee thy strength. Here the Prophet removes from the Israelites their vain confidence; for they could not think of God’s vengeance, while looking on their own power. They indeed thought that they had sufficient protection in their own large number, riches, and arms, as men are wont to set up against God what proceeds from himself, as though creatures could do anything against him, and as though God could not take away, when he pleases, what he has given: and yet such is the blindness of men. Hence the Prophet says, that all the wealth and all the strength in which the Israelites excelled would be useless, inasmuch as an enemy, he says, armed by God, shall take from thee thy strength; and thy palaces shall be plundered.

In the next verse he leaves some hope, though this is not avowedly done. For when he says that some would be saved, as when a shepherd snatches from the jaws of a lion the ear of a sheep or two legs, it is not the Prophet’s design to mitigate the severe judgment of which he had before spoken; but shows, on the contrary, that when any should be saved, it would not be because the people would defend themselves, or were able to resist; but that it would be as when a trembling shepherd snatches some small portion of a spoil from the lion’s mouth. We must bear in mind what I have just said of the proud confidence of the people; for the Israelites thought that they were safe enough from danger; and therefore despised all threatenings. But what does Amos say? “Think not,” he says, “that there will be any defense for you, for your enemies will be like lions, and there will be no more strength in you to resist them than in sheep when not only wolves but lions, seize them and take them as their prey.” When any thing is then saved, it is as it were by a miracle; the shepherd may perhaps take a part of the ear or two legs from the lion’s mouth when he is satisfied. The shepherd dares not to contend with the lion; he always runs away from him, but the lion will have his prey and devour it at his pleasure; when he leaves a part of the ear or two legs, the shepherd will then seize on them, and say, “See, how many sheep have been devoured by lions:” and these will be the proof’s of his loss. So now the Prophet says, “The Lord will expose you as a prey to your enemies, and their rapacity will not be less dreaded by you than that of a lion: in vain then ye think yourselves defended by your forces; for what is a sheep to a lion? But if any part of you should remain, it will be like an ear or a leg: and still more, — as when a lion devours a sheep, and leaves nothing after having taken his prey until he is satisfied, so shall it happen to you”.

They are then mistaken who think that the preceding commination is here designedly mitigated; for the Prophet does not do this, but continues the same subject, and shows that the whole people would become a prey, that their enemies would be like lions, and that they would have no strength to resist. Some hope, I indeed allow, is here given to the people; for, as it has been before seen, God intended that there should ever be some remnant as a seed among that chosen people. This, I admit, is true: but we must yet regard what the Prophet treats of; and what he had in view. He then did not intend here expressly to console the Israelites; though incidentally he says, that some would remain, yet his object was to show that the whole kingdom was now given up as a prey to lions, and that nothing would be saved except a very small portion, as when a shepherd carries away an ear when the wolves and lions had been satiated. For further commentary on the end of this verse, see this selection in Lecture 55. — fj. It follows —

Amos 3:13-14

13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

13. Audite et testificamini in domo Jacob, dicit Dominus Jehova, Deus exercituum,

14. That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

14. Quia die quo visitabo scelera Israel super ipsum, etiam visitabo super altaria Bethel: et scindentur cornua altaris et cadent ad terram.

Amos, I have no doubt, added this passage, to show that the superstitions, in which he knew the Israelites falsely trusted, would be so far from being of any help to them, that they would, on the contrary, lead them to ruin, because the people were by them provoking God’s wrath the more against themselves. When the Israelites heard that God was offended with them, they looked on their sacrifices and other superstitions, as their shield and cover: for thus do hypocrites mock God. But we know that the sacrifices offered at Bethel were mere profanations; for the whole worship was spurious. God had indeed chosen to himself a place where he designed sacrifices to be offered. The Israelites built a temple without any command, nay, against the manifest prohibition of God. Since then they had thus violated and corrupted the whole worship of God, strange was their madness to dare to obtrude on God their superstitions, as though they could thus pacify his displeasure! The Prophet then rebukes now this stupidity and says, In the day when God shall visit the sins of Israel, he will inflict punishment on the altars of Bethel By the sins, which the Prophet mentions, he means plunder, unjust exactions, robbery, and similar crimes; for there prevailed then, as we have seen, among the people, an unbridled cruelty, avarice, and perfidiousness.

Hence he says now, When God shall visit the sins of Israel; that is, when he shall punish avarice, pride, and cruelty; when he shall execute vengeance on pillages and robberies, he shall then visit also the altars of Bethel. The Israelites thought that God would be propitious to them while they sacrificed though they were wholly abandoned in their lives: they indeed thought that every uncleanness was purified by their expiations; and they thought that God was satisfied while they performed an external worship. Hence, when they offered sacrifices, they imagined that they thus made a compact with God, and presented such a compensation, that he dared not to punish their sins. Their own fancy greatly deceives them,” says Amos. For, as we know, this was, at the same time, their principal sin, — that they rashly dared to change the worship of God, that they dared to build a temple without his command; in short, that they had violated the whole law. God then will begin with superstitions in executing judgment for the sins of the people. We now then understand the Prophet’s design in saying, that God would visit the altars of Bethel when inflicting punishment on the sins of Israel.

But as it was difficult to produce conviction on this subject, the Prophet here invites attention, Hear ye, and testify, he says, in the house of Jacob. Having bidden them to hear, he introduces God as the speaker: for the Israelites, as we know they were wont to do, might have pretended that Amos had, without authority, threatened such a punishment. “Nothing is mine,” he says. We then see the design of this address, when he says, Hear: he shows God to be the author of this prophecy, and that nothing was his own but the ministration. Hear ye, then, and testify in the house of Jacob By the word testify, he seals his prophecy that it might have more weight, that they might not think that it was a mere mockery, but might know that God was dealing seriously with them, Then testify ye in the house of Jacob. And for the same purpose are the titles which he ascribes to God, The Lord Jehovah, he says, the God of hosts He might have used only one word, “Thus saith Jehovah,” as the prophets mostly do; but he ascribes dominion to him, and he also brings before them his power, — for what end? To strike the Israelites with terror, that vain flatteries might no longer, as heretofore, take possession of them; but that they might understand, that so far were they from doing anything towards pacifying God’s wrath by their superstitions, that they thereby the more provoked him.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as we so provoke thee daily by our sins, that we are worthy of eternal destruction, and no good remains in us, and though we are severely chastised with temporal punishments, thou dost not yet take from us the hope of that mercy, which thou hast promised in thy Son to those who truly and from the heart repent and call on thee as their Father, — O grant, that being touched with the sense of our evils, we may, in true humility, and with the genuine feeling of penitence, offer ourselves as a sacrifice to thee, and seek pardon with such groaning, that having undergone temporal punishments, we may finally enjoy that grace which is laid up for all sinners, who truly and from the heart turn to thee and implore that mercy which has been prepared for all those who really prove themselves to be the members of thine only begotten Son. Amen.

Lecture Fifty-fifth

One thing escaped me yesterday: pain in my head prevented me to look on the book. The Prophet says in the twelfth verse, that the children of Israel would be so delivered as when a shepherd rescues only an ear, or some part of a sheep: he adds, “So the children of Israel shall be rescued who dwell in Samaria in a corner of a bed, and at Damascus on a couch This similitude I did not explain. Some think that Damascus is here compared with Samaria, as the more opulent city; for Jeroboam the Second had extended the limits of his kingdom to that city, and subdued some portion of the kingdom of Syria: they then suppose, that Samaria is called a corner of a bed on account of its confined state, and Damascus a couch; but there is no reason for this. He might have better called Damascus a bed. Others give this exposition, “They who shall escape among the people of Israeli shall not be the valiant and the brave, who will oppose the attack of the enemy, or with arms in hand defend themselves; but those shall be safe who will hide themselves and flee to their beds.” But the Prophet seems here to compare Damascus and Samaria to beds for this reason, because the Israelites thought that they would find in them a safe receptacle: “Thought then ye dwell at Samaria and Damascus as in a safe nest, it will yet be a miracle if a few of you will escape; it will be as when a shepherd carries away the ear of a sheep, after the lion has satiated himself.” This seems to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet; for I doubt not but that he derides the foolish confidence in which the Israelites indulged themselves, thinking that they were secure from all danger when shut up within the gates of Samaria or of Damascus. “Ye think that these nests will be safe for you; but lions, shall break through, and hardly one in a hundred, or in a thousand, shall in a corner of a bed escape; it will be as when a lion leaves an ear or part of a leg.” Let us now proceed —

Amos 3:15

15. And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord.

15. Et percutiam domum hyemalem cum domo aestiva, et peribunt domus eburneae et deficient domus magnae, dicit Jehova.

Amos shows again that in vain the great people trusted in their wealth and fortified places; for these could not hinder God from drawing them forth to punishment. As then abundance blinds men, and as they imagine themselves to be as it were inaccessible, especially when dwelling in great palaces, the Prophet here declares, that these houses would be no impediment to prevent God’s vengeance to break through; I will then destroy the winter-house together with the summer-house. Amos no doubt intended by this paraphrase to designate the palaces. The poor deem it enough to have a cottage both for winter and summer; for they change not the parts of their buildings, so as to inhabit the hotter in winter, and to refresh themselves in the colder during summer: no such advantage is possessed by the poor, for they are content with the same dwelling through life. But as the rich sought warmth in winter, and had their summer compartments, the Prophet says, that their large and magnificent buildings would be no protection to the rich, for God’s vengeance would penetrate through them; I will destroy then the winter with the summer house

And then he says, Fail shall the houses of ivory. We now see more clearly that the Prophet speaks here against the rich and the wealthy, who inhabited splendid and magnificent palaces. Perish then shall the houses of ivory and fail shall the great houses; some say, many houses, but improperly; for the Prophet continues the same idea; and as he had before mentioned houses of ivory so he now calls them great houses; for they were not only built for use and convenience, like common and plebeian houses, but also for show and display; for the rich, we know, are ever lavish and profuse, not only in their table and dress, but also in their palaces. This is the meaning. Now follows —

Chapter 4.

Amos 4:1

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

1. Audite verbum hoc vaccae Basan, qui estis in monte Samariae, quae opprimitis pauperes, quae conteritis egenos, quae dicitis dominis eorum, Affer et bibemus.

CHAPTER 3

Am 3:1-15. God's Extraordinary Love, Being Repaid by Israel with Ingratitude, of Necessity Calls for Judgments, Which the Prophets Announce, Not at Random, but by God's Commission, Which They Cannot but Fulfil. The Oppression Prevalent in Israel Will Bring Down Ruin on All Save a Small Remnant.

1. children of Israel--not merely the ten tribes, but "the whole family brought up from Egypt"; all the descendants of Jacob, including Judah and Benjamin. Compare Jr 8:3, and Mi 2:3, on "family" for the nation. However, as the prophecy following refers to the ten tribes, they must be chiefly, if not solely, meant: they were the majority of the nation; and so Amos concedes what they so often boasted, that they were the elect people of God [Calvin], but implies that this only heightens their sins.

2. You only have I known--that is, acknowledged as My people, and treated with peculiar favor (Ex 19:5; De 4:20). Compare the use of "know," Psa 1:6; 144:3; Joh 10:14; 2Ti 2:19.

therefore I will punish--the greater the privileges, the heavier the punishment for the abuse of them; for to the other offenses there is added, in this case, ingratitude. When God's people do not glorify Him, He glorifies Himself by punishing them.

3-6. Here follow several questions of a parable-like kind, to awaken conviction in the people.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?--Can God's prophets be so unanimous in prophesying against you, if God's Spirit were not joined with them, or if their prophecies were false? The Israelites were "at ease," not believing that God was with the prophets in their denunciations of coming ruin to the nation (Am 6:1, 3; compare 1Ki 22:18, 24, 27; Jr 43:2). This accords with Am 3:7, 8. So "I will be with thy mouth" (Ex 4:12; Jr 1:8; Mt 10:20). If the prophets and God were not agreed, the former could not predict the future as they do. In Am 2:12 He had said, the Israelites forbade the prophets prophesying; therefore, in Am 3:3, 8, He asserts the agreement between the prophets and God who spake by them against Israel [Rosenmuller]. Rather, "I once walked with you" (Le 26:12) as a Father and Husband (Is 54:5; Jr 3:14); but now your way and Mine are utterly diverse; there can therefore be no fellowship between us such as there was (Am 3:2); I will walk with you only to "punish you"; as a "lion" walks with his "prey" (Am 3:4), as a bird-catcher with a bird [Tarnovius]. The prophets, and all servants of God, can have no fellowship with the ungodly (Psa 119:63; 2Co 6:16, 17; Ep 5:11; Jas 4:4).

7. his secret--namely, His purpose hidden from all, until it is revealed to His prophets (compare Ge 18:17). In a wider sense, God's will is revealed to all who love God, which it is not to the world (Psa 25:14; Joh 15:15; 17:25, 26).

unto his servants--who being servants cannot but obey their Lord in setting forth His purpose (namely, that of judgment against Israel) (Jr 20:9; Eze 9:11). Therefore the fault which the ungodly find with them is groundless (1Ki 18:17). It aggravates Israel's sin, that God is not about to inflict judgment, without having fully warned the people, if haply they might repent.

8. As when "the lion roars" (compare Am 1:2; Am 3:4), none can help but "fear," so when Jehovah communicates His awful message, the prophet cannot but prophesy. Find not fault with me for prophesying; I must obey God. In a wider sense true of all believers (Ac 4:20; 5:29).

9. Publish in ... palaces--as being places of greatest resort (compare Mt 10:27); and also as it is the sin of princes that he arraigns, he calls on princes (the occupants of the "palaces") to be the witnesses.

Ashdod--put for all Philistia. Convene the Philistine and the Egyptian magnates, from whom I have on various occasions rescued Israel. (The opposite formula to "Tell it not in Gath," namely, lest the heathen should glory over Israel). Even these idolaters, in looking on your enormities, will condemn you; how much more will the holy God?

upon the mountains of Samaria--on the hills surrounding and commanding the view of Samaria, the metropolis of the ten tribes, which was on a lower hill (Am 4:1; 1Ki 16:24). The mountains are to be the tribunal on which the Philistines and Egyptians are to sit aloft to have a view of your crimes, so as to testify to the justice of your punishment (Am 3:13).

tumults--caused by the violence of the princes of Israel in "oppressions" of the poor (Job 35:9; Ec 4:1).

10. know not to do--Their moral corruption blinds their power of discernment so that they cannot do right (Jr 4:22). Not simple intellectual ignorance; the defect lay in the heart and will.

store up violence and robbery--that is, treasures obtained by "violence and robbery" (Pr 10:2).

11. Translate, "An adversary (the abruptness produces a startling effect)! and that too, from every side of the land." So in the fulfilment, 2Ki 17:5: "The king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years."

bring down thy strength from thee--that is, bring thee down from thy strength (the strength on which thou didst boast thyself): all thy resources (Pr 10:15).

palaces shall be spoiled--a just retribution in kind (Am 3:10). The palaces in which spoils of robbery were stored up, "shall be spoiled."

12. shepherd--a pastoral image, appropriately used by Amos, a shepherd himself.

piece of ... ear--brought by the shepherd to the owner of the sheep, so as not to have to pay for the loss (Ge 31:39; Ex 22:13). So if aught of Israel escapes, it shall be a miracle of God's goodness. It shall be but a scanty remnant. There is a kind of goat in the East the ears of which are a foot long, and proportionally broad. Perhaps the reference is to this. Compare on the image 1Sa 17:34, 35; 2Ti 4:17.

that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed--that is, that live luxuriously in Samaria (compare Am 6:1, 4). "A bed" means here the Oriental divan, a raised part of the room covered with cushions.

in Damascus in a couch--Jeroboam II had lately restored Damascus to Israel (2Ki 14:25, 28). So the Israelites are represented as not merely in "the corner of a bed," as in Samaria, but "in a (whole) couch," at Damascus, living in luxurious ease. Of these, now so luxurious, soon but a remnant shall be left by the foe. The destruction of Damascus and that of Samaria shall be conjoined; as here their luxurious lives, and subsequently under Pekah and Rezin their inroads on Judah, were combined (Is 7:1-8; 8:4, 9; 17:3). The parallelism of "Samaria" to "Damascus," and the Septuagint favor English Version rather than Gesenius: "on a damask couch." The Hebrew pointing, though generally expressing damask, may express the city "Damascus"; and many manuscripts point it so. Compare for Israel's overthrow, 2Ki 17:5, 6; 18:9-12.

13. testify in the house, &c.--that is, against the house of Jacob. God calls on the same persons as in Am 3:9, namely, the heathen Philistines and the Egyptians to witness with their own eyes Samaria's corruptions above described, so that none may be able to deny the justice of Samaria's punishment [Maurer].

God of hosts--having all the powers of heaven and earth at His command, and therefore One calculated to strike terror into the hearts of the guilty whom He threatens.

14. That--rather, "since," or "for." This verse is not, as English Version translates, the thing which the witnesses cited are to "testify" (Am 3:13), but the reason why God calls on the heathen to witness Samaria's guilt; namely, in order to justify the punishment which He declares He will inflict.

I will also visit ... Beth-el--the golden calves which were the source of all "the transgressions of Israel" (1Ki 12:32; 13:2; 2Ki 23:15, 16), though Israel thought that by them their transgressions were atoned for and God's favor secured.

horns of the altar--which used to be sprinkled with the blood of victims. They were horn-like projecting points at the corners of ancient altars. The singular, "altar," refers to the great altar erected by Jeroboam to the calves. The "altars," plural, refer to the lesser ones made in imitation of the great one (2Ch 34:5, compare with 1Ki 13:2; Ho 8:11; 10:1).

15. winter ... summer house--(Jud 3:20; Jr 36:22). Winter houses of the great were in sheltered positions facing the south to get all possible sunshine, summer houses in forests and on hills, facing the east and north.

houses of ivory--having their walls, doors, and ceilings inlaid with ivory. So Ahab's house (1Ki 22:39; Psa 45:8).

Against the whole family - That is, all, both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In this all the twelve tribes are included.

You only have I known - I have taken no other people to be my own people. I have approved of you, loved you, fed, sustained, and defended you; but because you have forsaken me, have become idolatrous and polluted, therefore will I punish you. And the punishment shall be in proportion to the privileges you have enjoyed, and the grace you have abused.

Can two walk together - While ye loved and served me, I dwelt in you and walked among you. Now ye are become alienated from me, your nature and mine are totally opposite. I am holy, ye are unholy. We are no longer agreed, and can no longer walk together. I can no longer hold communion with you. I must cast you out. The similes in this and the three following verses are all chosen to express the same thing, viz., that no calamities or judgments can fall upon any people but by the express will of God, on account of their iniquities; and that whatever his prophets have foretold, they have done it by direct revelation from their Maker; and that God has the highest and most cogent reason for inflicting the threatened calamities. This correctness of the prophets' predictions shows that they and I are in communion.

Will a lion roar - Should I threaten such a judgment without cause?

Can a bird fall in a snare - Can ye, as a sinful people, fall into calamities which I have not appointed?

Shall one take up a snare - and have taken nothing - Will the snare be removed before it has caught the expected prey? - shall I remove my judgments till they are fully accomplished? This is a curious passage, and deserves farther consideration. The original, literally translated, is nearly as follows: "Shall the trap arise from the ground; and catching, shall it not catch?" Here is a plain allusion to such traps as we employ to catch rats, foxes, etc. The jaws of the trap opening backward, press strongly upon a spring so as to keep it down; and a key passing over one jaw, and hooking on a table in the center, the trap continues with expanded jaws, till any thing touch the table, when the key, by the motion of the table, being loosened, the spring recovers all its elastic power, and throws up the jaws of the trap, and their serrated edges either close in each other, or on the prey that has moved the table of the trap. Will then the jaws of such a trap suddenly spring up from the ground, on which before they were lying flat, and catch nothing? Shall they let the prey that was within them escape? Certainly not. So my trap is laid for these offenders; and when it springs up, (and they themselves will soon by their transgressions free the key), shall not the whole family of Israel be inclosed in it? Most certainly they shall. This is a singular and very remarkable passage, and, when properly understood, is beautifully expressive.

Shall a trumpet be blown - The sign of alarm and invasion.

And the people not be afraid? - Not take the alarm, and provide for their defense and safety?

Shall there be evil in a city - Shall there be any public calamity on the wicked, that is not an effect of my displeasure? The word does not mean moral evil, but punishment for sin; calamities falling on the workers of iniquity. Natural evil is the punishment of moral evil: God sends the former when the latter is persisted in.

Surely the Lord God will do nothing - In reference to the punishment, correction, or blessing of his people: -

But he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets - They are in strict correspondence with him, and he shows them things to come. Such secrets of God are revealed to them, that they may inform the people; that, by repentance and conversion, they may avoid the evil, and, by walking closely with God, secure the continuance of his favor.

The lion hath roared - God hath sent forth a terrible alarm, Who will not fear? Can any hear such denunciations of Divine wrath and not tremble?

The Lord God hath spoken - And those only who are in communion with him have heard the speech. Who can but prophesy? Who can help proclaiming at large the judgment threatened against the nation?

But I think נבא naba, here, is to be taken in its natural and ideal signification, to pray, supplicate, or deprecate vengeance. The Lord hath spoken of punishment - who can help supplicating his mercy, that his judgments may be averted?

Publish in the palaces - The housetops or flat roofs were the places from which public declarations were made. See on Isa 21:1 (note), and on Mat 10:27 (note). See whether in those places there be not tumults, oppressions, and rapine sufficient to excite my wrath against them.

For they know not to do right - So we may naturally say that they who are doing wrong, and to their own prejudice and ruin, must certainly be ignorant of what is right, and what is their own interest. But we say again "There are none so blind as those who will not see." Their eyes, saith the Lord, they have closed.

An adversary, round about the land - Ye shall not be able to escape, wherever ye turn, ye shall meet a foe.

As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion - Scarcely any of you shall escape; and those that do shall do so with extreme difficulty, just as a shepherd, of a whole sheep carried away by a lion, can recover no more than two of its legs, or a piece of its ear, just enough to prove by the marks on those parts, that they belonged to a sheep which was his own.

So shall the children of Israel be taken out - Those of them that escape these judgments shall escape with as great difficulty, and be of as little worth, as the two legs and piece of an ear that shall be snatched out of the lion's mouth. We know that when the Babylonians carried away the people into Chaldea they left behind only a few, and those the refuse of the land.

In the corner of a bed - As the corner is the most honorable place in the East, and a couch in the corner of a room is the place of the greatest distinction; so the words in the text may mean, that even the metropolitan cities, which are in the corner - in the most honorable place - of the land, whether Samaria in Israel, or Damascus in Syria, shall not escape these judgments; and if any of the distinguished persons who dwell in them escape, it must be with as great difficulty as the fragments above-mentioned have been recovered from a lion. The passage is obscure. Mr. Harmer has taken great pains to illustrate it; but I fear with but little success. A general sense is all we can arrive at.

Hear ye - This is an address to the prophet.

In the day that I shall visit - When Josiah made a reformation in the land he destroyed idolatry, pulled down the temples and altars that had been consecrated to idol worship, and even burnt the bones of the priests of Baal and the golden calves upon their own altars. See 2Kgs 23:15, 2Kgs 23:16, etc.

I will smite the winter house with the summer house - I will not only destroy the poor habitations and villages in the country, but I will destroy those of the nobility and gentry as well as the lofty palaces in the fortified cities in which they dwell in the winter season, as those light and elegant seats in which they spend the summer season. Dr. Shaw observes that "the hills and valleys round about Algiers are all over beautified with gardens and country seats, whither the inhabitants of better fashion retire during the heats of the summer season. They are little white houses, shaded with a variety of fruit trees and evergreens, which beside shade and retirement, afford a gay and delightful prospect toward the sea. The gardens are all well stocked with melons, fruits, and pot herbs of all kinds; and (which is chiefly regarded in these hot countries) each of them enjoys a great command of water."

And the houses of ivory - Those remarkable for their magnificence and their ornaments, not built of ivory, but in which ivory vessels, ornaments, and inlaying abounded. Thus, then, the winter houses and the summer houses, the great houses and the houses of uncommon splendor, shall all perish. There should be a total desolation in the land. No kind of house should be a refuge, and no kind of habitation should be spared. Ahab had at Samaria a house that was called the ivory house, 1Kgs 22:39. This may be particularly referred to in this place. We cannot suppose that a house constructed entirely of ivory can be intended.

Know - Chosen, adopted to be my peculiar ones. Therefore - Because you have all these obligations and abused all these mercies.

Agreed - Can you have God's presence while you walk so contrary to him?

Can a bird fall - So here for your sins, God will cast the net over you. Shall one take up a snare - The fowler will not take up the snare, before the prey be taken in it.

Afraid - Affected with the danger. Evil - Such as plague or famine. Done it - Either immediately by his own hand, or by the hands of those he employs. Whoever are the instruments, God is the principal agent. Out of his mouth both good and evil proceed.

Will do nothing - Usually the Lord doth no great thing for or against his people, without giving warning of it before it comes.

Hath roared - As a lion roareth when near his prey: so God hath terribly threatened what is near to be done. Prophesy - Amos can not but speak what he had heard.

Publish - Ye prophets invite strangers to come and observe what cause I have to do what I threaten. Tumults - The seditious counsels, and rebellious conspiracies among them. The oppressed - Multitudes of oppressed ones, as the usurpers took it to be their interest to crush all they feared or suspected. In the midst - Yea, throughout the whole kingdom of Samaria.

Store up - As men lay up wealth in their treasures, perverting judgment, first condemning the innocent, next seizing all his substance.

Therefore - Because of all the violence and rapine with other crying sins. An adversary - The Assyrian. Round about - Shall beset the whole land as one besieged city.

As the shepherd - As the shepherd doth hardly rescue a small part of a sheep or lamb from the lion, so a small part of the children of Israel, shall escape when Samaria is taken. The corner of a bed - Lying in some dark corner. Damascus - The chief city of Syria taken by Tiglath - Pilneser about the time when he wasted Israel. In a couch - Some few of the poor, shall escape, pitied by the enemy, when he finds them sick upon their couch.

Hear ye - Prophets. The God of hosts - Who is Lord of all, and hath all power in his hand.

Of Israel - The many and great transgressions of the ten tribes.

The winter - house - Which probably was in the chief city, whither the great men retired in the winter. The summer - house - The houses of pleasure, where the nobles and rich men spent the summer time. Of ivory - Beautified with ivory.

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.

With ear, and mind, consider it well, for this is to hear indeed,

which is spoken, and the thing decreed too of God.

The Lord who did shew you greatest kindness, and whom you have repaid with greatest ingratitude, the Everlasting God, who changeth not, hath determin'd and declared his determinate purpose;

or to, or concerning, for if menaces are words against them, yet Advice, Exhortations, and Promises are to, and concerning those to whom they are spoken.

Subjects of Ieroboam ad now King of the Ten Tribes.

And let the two Tribes consider too how far they are concern'd in the Prophets reproving for sin, calling to repent of sin, and threatning if they do not repent.

Vid. cap. 2. ver. 10. let. o. p.

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

This possibly may intimate Gods choosing them when they were but a small Family as in Abraham's day, and when other Families were as considerable as that of Abraham was; the growth of which into a mighty Nation was from the favour and blessing of God performing his promises to their fore-fathers; and this will aggravate their Apostacy from God, which in the next words he threatens to punish.

Here is an ellyptick speech, for God doth not punish his peculiar people, because they are so near and dear to him, but for that being so, they had forgotten their duty and obligations to God, and had abus'd all these his mercies.

My hand shall punish certainly whoever are the means, and whatever is the manner, of which you shall hear more, but I will certainly visit for it

All your Idolatries, and sins against the precepts of the first Table, and all your injustices and sins against the second Table; all your desertings of the Law of Piety and justice; None of their works shall ever be forgotten, Amos 8.7.

Chosen, made near to my self, adopted to be my peculiar ones, to be Sons and Daughters to me; to you only have I revealed my whole will, and given you my Law for your Rule and Direction, and my promises for your encouragement, and requir'd you have no other Gods before you.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] Math. [illegible: 1 letter] 22. Luke [illegible: 1 letter] 47. Rom. [illegible: 1 letter] 1 Pet. 1.; [illegible: 1 letter]eb. visit up.

3 Can two walk together except they be agreed?

Here the Prophet threatens this people, that God would begin his visitations, and their punishments in his forsaking them, and doth by this interrogatory endeavour to convince them that they could not with any reason except better from him; It could not be they should long have Gods presence with them, or that he should walk among them, and bless them while they walk so contrary to him; They could not in reason hope that there should be any friendly commerce, where was so little agreement and friendship; a retaliation they must expect from the Lord; he will forsake them who have forsaken him.

4 Will a lyon rore in the forrest when he hath no prey? will a young lyon cry out of his den if he have taken nothing?

In this verse by a double similitude Amos certifieth the Iews of near, and inevitable punishment; first by similitude of a Lyon roaring at sight of his prey, which seldom escapes when the Lyon roareth against it: The Lyon usually is so nigh to his prey when he roareth, that he leapeth on it presently, and teareth it. So here God would have sinning Israel know that their sins had provok't him to wrath, and that his judgments were near at hand: Nay nearer yet, like a prey drag'd by the old Lion into the Den for the young Lyons to feed on, so was their case, their Enemies, the Assyrians should as certainly devour them as the young Lyons in the Den do devour the prey which is brought to them. If the departure of God from them affect them not, perhaps the fierceness of Lyon-like Enemies may affect them.

Marginal references: Heb. give [illegible: 1 span].

5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is for him ? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all ?

A Sparrow properly, one kind put for all sorts.

These are taken by nets spread on the earth for that end, and these nets are watched by the Fowler, attending till the Birds are within the shrape, then he draws the Net over them: So here, for your sins, O Israel! God will spread his Net, he will as a watchful Fowler attend and keep his eye upon you, and cast the Net over you.

These are taken by nets spread on the earth for that end, and these nets are watched by the Fowler, attending till the Birds are within the shrape, then he draws the Net over them: So here, for your sins, O Israel! God will spread his Net, he will as a watchful Fowler attend and keep his eye upon you, and cast the Net over you.

Flatter not your selves as if you should finally escape because you have so long been safe and prosperous; though the Fowler doth long wai[illegible: 1 letter], he will not take up the snare before all the prey, or some of it at least be taken in it, so the Lord against whom you have sinned, and who hath spread his Net for you, will certainly let it lye till you are taken in it.

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid ? shall there be evil in a city , and the LORD hath not done it?

When an alarm is sounded, by which notice is given of danger approaching, of an Enemy invading the Land.

Any City, but particularly in a frontier City, in which were Watchmen on the Walls and Towers to give notice of an Enemy, Isa. 52.8. Ezek. 3.17. and 33.7.

Affected with the danger, to weigh how great 'tis, how near 'tis; whether it be best to prepare to resist it, or to fly from it, such like Affections doth the Alarm of War work in the minds of men ordinarily, and there is good reason for it. But though God hath sounded the alarm, yet brutish, stupid, and sinful Israel; fear not, neither consult what the best course to prevent the danger

of affliction and sorrow, such as plague, famine, &c.

Or any where else.

The Eternal, holy, and righteous Governour of all in Heaven and on earth.

Either immediately by his own hand, or mediately by the hands of those he imploys; the evil of punishment he will execute and bring upon Israel; he will by the hands of the Assyrians in due time execute.

Marginal references: Or, run together.; Isa. 5.7.; Or, And shall not the LORD do somewhat.

7 Surely the LORD God will do nothing , but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets .

Since that, or, for as much as,

Usually the Lord doth no great thing for or against his people, neither brings great Judgments upon them for sin, nor bestows great good upon them for their encouragement to duty.

But he foretelleth the one and the other by his prophets to his people, that they may by repentance prevent the evil threatned, and by constancy in obedience attain the good promised.

His purpose and determinate Counsel which would never be known aforehand if he did not reveal it.

Who fear the Lord, and do his Will in the midst of worst of times; they are holy men of God to whom the Lord revealeth his will.

By office called of God to this, and by gifts fitted for this, and by extraordinary assistance carried through this work.

Marginal references: Gen. 6.13. and 18.17. Psal. 25.14. Joh. 15.15.

8 The lion hath roared , who will not fear ? the Lord GOD hath spoken , who can but prophesie .

God hath threatned, and as a Lion roareth when near his prey; so God hath terribly threatned what is near to be done; Amos lived and prophesied in Ieroboams time about the 3150th year of the World, and these threatned judgments began to come upon Israel, when the conspiracies and usurpations of Shallum, Menahem, &c. filled all with blood and confusions about 3177th year of the world.

What wise man, who that is solicitous for his own good and safety, or that hath any affections for the good of others, will do less than reverence and fear, and prevent by a speedy repentance.

This is plainly what was before figuratively set forth, God had spoken to his Prophets but dreadful things against Israel.

They dare not conceal them, Amos cannot but speak what he had heard. Ier. 1.17. Acts 4.19. and 5.25.

9 ¶ Publish in the palaces at Ashdod , and in the palaces in the land of Egypt , and say, Assemble your selves upon the mountains of Samaria : and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof .

You Prophets whom I have sent to threaten the sins of my people Israel, now invite strangers to come and observe what just cause I have to do what I threaten.

One of the principal Cities of the Philistines, cap. 1. ver. 8. let. l. and Zeph. 2.4. let those that are in the Court at Ashdod, and have a mind to travel a while out of their own land, let them know what strange sights they may see in their neighbour land.

Let the young Noble-men of Egypt come too, yea let as many as will come;

by an appointment (if it may be) let them meet together, and make their observations, and then judge between their doings and their sufferings. My Judgments and the causes of them.

Either the whole Kingdom of Samaria, or the Ten Tribes, or else it may denote the great men and Cities of Samaria; let Egyptians and Philistines in their Travels up and down over the Kingdom of Israel associate themselves with the great men, and converse in the Cities.

Take an exact view of all done by them and in them.

The seditious counsels, and rebellious conspiracies begun amongst them on the Death of Ieroboam 2d, and continued one after another for many years like mad men, bent on ruining one another to the undoing of all; besides all former violences of Baashi, Zimri, Omri and Iehu, who took the Kingdom out of the hands of their Masters; Those of Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea acted in the times Amos pointeth at.

Multitudes of oppressed ones in those times, when the Usurpers took it to be their interest to crush all they fear'd or suspected.

Samaria the chief City of the Kingdom, and in other Cities; yea, rather through the whole Kingdom of Samaria.

Marginal references: Or, oppressions.

10 For they know not to do right , saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces .

Who oppress others, do it as unlearn'd Lawyers and Judges do, they are shamefully ignorant of the Law of God.

What is equal between man and man they will not consider, nor do they care whether it be done or not.

As men lay up wealth in their treasures, they fill their houses.

Perverting judgment, first condemning the innocent, next seising all as forfeited by Law; so they did no doubt in those times of Rebellion and usurpations, sequestrations and decimations, &c. were then too.

The true name of all their proceedings however palliated.

This intimates to us that the greatest among them were chief Actors herein, vid. Zeph. 1.9. but as they stored up violence, they also treasured up misery and desolation too, as the Heb. elegantly imports.

Marginal references: Or, spoil.

11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, An adversary there shall be even round about the land : and he shall bring down thy strength from thee , and thy palaces shall be spoiled .

Because of all the violence and rapine with other crying sins multiplyed against God in the midst of them.

The Assyrian with united Forces

on all sides shall beset thee, the whole Land shall be but as one besieged City, out of which none or so few as next to none shall escape,

Lay low all thy fortresses, break all thy power, kill thy valiant men, destroy thy Armies, and by force take thy strong holds.

Where thou laidst up thy spoils gotten by violence and oppression; there thy Enemy shall find them, and take them away as lawful plunder, and when thy riches are carried out, they shall burn the palaces themselves too.

12 Thus saith the LORD, As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs , or a piece of an ear : so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria , in the corner of a bed , and in Damascus in a couch .

As the Shepherd doth hardly res[illegible: 1 letter]ue a small part of a sheep or Lamb, when the Lion hath seised and torn it.

The fiercest, strongest, and boldest Creature, not a Bear or Wolf,

which are parts the ravening Lyon less regardeth, and last eateth.

Less considerable than the Legs,

Some of the Children of Israel, or some of the Ten Tribes, but the poorer, meaner, and more worthless of them

shall escape when Samaria is taken.

Lying in some dark corner, and on a piece of a bed as the poor do in most places.

The chiefest City of Syria taken by Tiglath-Pilneser much about the time when he wasted Israel in aid of Abaz against Resin and Pekah.

Some few of the poorer among them also shall escape, pitied by the Enemy when he findeth them weakly and sick upon their Couch.

In brief, this verse foretels how few, and with what difficulty they shall escape, who are not swallowed up of the approaching Judgments, and it is elegantly expressed in the following similitude.

Marginal references: Heb. delivereth.; Or, on the beds feet.

13 Hear ye , and testify in the house of Jacob , saith the Lord GOD , the God of hosts .

Prophets.

Publickly declare, and witness, make what proof you can of this thing.

To the Ten Tribes as first and most nearly concerned herein, and to the two Tribes also, who as guilty of many and great sins, so are in danger of many and great judgments, and these hastning on them▪

Assure them the message comes from the Lord God.

Who is Lord of all, and hath all Power in his hand, when he commands all the hosts of Creatures attend to execute his commands, so that what he threatneth, he will surely execute.

14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him , I will also visit the altars of Beth-el , and the horns of the altar shall be cut off , and fall to the ground .

In the appointed time, and within compass of a little time too, God will in his set time make quick work with them;

The many and great transgressions of the Ten Tribes, these God will as he hath foretold by his Prophets severely punish and in particular their Idolatry

erected unto the Calves, and on which they offered Sacrifices to those Idols by Iereboams appointment at first, and by the continued commands of their Idolatrous Governours. It is possible there might be: Altars to other Idols too, see 2 Chron. 34.4. and Hos. 8.11. and 10. ver. 1. which see.

Antiently called Luz, but after Iacob on his comfortable vision did change its name into Bethel, 'twas in the Tribe of Benjamin, and one of the two places Ieroboam first set up his Idolatrie in.

Whether more sacred part in their account I know not, but who fled to the Altar and laid hold on the horns of it, found them a Sanctuary 1 Kings 2.28. but these now should not be safety to themselves.

The Altars shall be pulled down,

be cast out as common, and trodden under foot with contempt.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span].

15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house , and the houses of ivory shall perish , and the great houses shall have an end , saith the LORD.

By the greatness of the desolation it shall appear that God did smite though by the Assyrian; or perhaps it may refer to the Earthquake foretold two years before it came, cap. 1. ver. 1. let. m.

Which probably was in the chief City, where the rich and great men retired in the Winter time as more for their delight than the Country horrid and cold, and stript of its Glory.

The houses of pleasure, where the Nobles and rich men of Israel spent the summer time.

Not built with, but beautifyed with Ivory, or the Elephants Tooth called here, and elsewhere by way of eminency the Tooth.

By the violence of the Enemies, these stately houses shall be ransackt first, and pull'd down next, and left in rubbish:

Or many, for the word includes both. The Magnificent Palaces of Princes, and the Nobles of Israel

shall cease for ever either be utterly wasted, or cease to be theirs whose once they were.

All this shall infallibly come to pass, and be fulfilled in due time.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span] Jer. [illegible: 1 span]; 1 [illegible: 1 span]

II. Prophecies Concerning Israel - Amos 3-6

Although the expression “Hear this word,” which is repeated at the commencement of Amo 3:1-15, Amo 4:1-13 and 5, suggests the idea of three addresses, the contents of these chapters show that they do not contain three separate addresses delivered to the people by Amos at different times, but that they group together the leading thoughts of appeals delivered by word of mouth, so as to form one long admonition to repentance. Commencing with the proofs of his right to predict judgment to the nation on account of its sins (Amo 3:1-8), the prophet exposes the wickedness of Israel in general (ch. 3:9-4:3), and then shows the worthlessness of the nation’s trust in idolatry (Amo 4:4-13), and lastly announces the destruction of the kingdom as the inevitable consequence of the prevailing injustice and ungodliness (ch. 5 and Amo 6:1-14).

Announcement of the Judgment - Hos 3:1-5

Because the Lord has chosen Israel to be His people, He must visit all its sins (Amo 3:2), and has commissioned the prophet to announce this punishment (Amo 3:3-8). As Israel has heaped up oppression, violence, and wickedness, an enemy will come upon the land and plunder Samaria, and cause its inhabitants to perish, and demolish the altars of Bethel, and destroy the capital (Amo 3:9-15).

Amo 3:1-2

Amo 3:1 and Amo 3:2 contain the introduction and the leading thought of the whole of the prophetic proclamation. Amo 3:1. “Hear this word which Jehovah speaketh concerning you, O sons of Israel, concerning the whole family which I have brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: Amo 3:2. You only have I acknowledge of all the families of the earth; therefore will I visit all your iniquities upon you.” The word of the Lord is addressed to all the family of Israel, which God had brought up out of Egypt, that is to say, to all the twelve tribes of the covenant nation, although in what follows it is the ten tribes of Israel alone who are primarily threatened with the destruction of the kingdom, to indicate at the very outset that Judah might anticipate a similar fate if it did not turn to its God with sincerity. The threat is introduced by the thought that its divine election would not secure the sinful nation against punishment, but that, on the contrary, the relation of grace into which the Lord had entered with Israel demanded the punishment of all evil deeds. This cuts off the root of all false confidence in divine election. “To whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. The greater the measure of grace, the greater also is the punishment if it is neglected or despised.” This is the fundamental law of the kingdom of God. ידע does not mean to know, to become acquainted with, or to take knowledge of a person (Hitzig), but acknowledge. Acknowledgment on the part of God is not merely taking notice, but is energetic, embracing man in his inmost being, embracing and penetrating with divine love; so that ידע not only includes the idea of love and care, as in Hos 13:5, but expresses generally the gracious fellowship of the Lord with Israel, as in Gen 18:19, and is practically equivalent to electing, including both the motive and the result of election. And because Jehovah had acknowledged, i.e., had singled out and chosen Israel as the nation best fitted to be the vehicle of His salvation, He must of necessity punish all its misdeeds, in order to purify it from the dross of sin, and make it a holy vessel of His saving grace.

Amo 3:3-8

But this truth met with contradiction in the nation itself. The proud self-secure sinners would not hear such prophesying as this (compare Amo 2:4; Amo 7:10.). Amos therefore endeavours, before making any further announcement of the judgment of God, to establish his right and duty to prophesy, by a chain-like series of similes drawn from life. V. 3. “Do two walk together without having agreed? Amo 3:4. Does the lion roar in the forest, and he has no prey? does the young lion utter his cry out of his den, without having taken anything? Amo 3:5. Does the bird fall into the trap on the ground, when there is no snare for him? does the trap rise up from the earth without making a capture? Amo 3:6. Or is the trumpet blown in the city, and the people are not alarmed? or does misfortune happen in the city, and Jehovah has not done it? Amo 3:7. For the Lord Jehovah does nothing at all, without having revealed His secret to His servants the prophets. Amo 3:8. The lion has roared; who does not fear? the Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who must not prophesy?” The contents of these verses are not to be reduced to the general thought, that a prophet could no more speak without a divine impulse than any other effect could take place without a cause. There was certainly no need for a long series of examples, such as we have in Amo 3:3-6, to substantiate or illustrate the thought, which a reflecting hearer would hardly have disputed, that there was a connection between cause and effect. The examples are evidently selected with the view of showing that the utterances of the prophet originate with God. This is obvious enough in Amo 3:7, Amo 3:8. The first clause, “Do two men walk together, without having agreed as to their meeting?” (nō‛Ad, to betake one’s self to a place, to meet together at an appointed place or an appointed time; compare Job 2:11; Jos 11:5; Neh 6:2; not merely to agree together), contains something more than the trivial truth, that two persons do not take a walk together without a previous arrangement. The two who walk together are Jehovah and the prophet (Cyril); not Jehovah and the nation, to which the judgment is predicted (Cocceius, Marck, and others). Amos went as prophet to Samaria or Bethel, because the Lord had sent him thither to preach judgment to the sinful kingdom. But God would not threaten judgment if He had not a nation ripe for judgment before Him. The lion which roars when it has the prey before it is Jehovah (cf. Amo 1:2; Hos 11:10, etc.). טרף אין לו is not to be interpreted according to the second clause, as signifying “without having got possession of its prey” (Hitzig), for the lion is accustomed to roar when it has the prey before it and there is no possibility of its escape, and before it actually seizes it (cf. Isa 5:29).The most terrible feature in the roaring of a lion is that with this clarigatio, or, if you prefer it, with this classicum, it declares war. And after the roar there immediately follows both slaughter and laceration. For, as a rule, it only roars with that sharp roar when it has the prey in sight, upon which it immediately springs (Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 25ff., ed. Ros.).

On the contrary, the perfect lâkjad in the second clause is to be interpreted according to the first clause, not as relating to the roar of satisfaction with which the lion devours the prey in its den (Baur), but as a perfect used to describe a thing which was as certain as if it had already occurred. A lion has made a capture not merely when it has actually seized the prey and torn it in pieces, but when the prey has approached so near that it cannot possibly escape. Kephı̄r is the young lion which already goes in pursuit of prey, and is to be distinguished from the young of the lion, gūr (catulus leonis), which cannot yet go in search of prey (cf. Eze 19:2-3). The two similes have the same meaning. The second strengthens the first by the assertion that God not only has before Him the nation that is ripe for judgment, but that He has it in His power.

The similes in Amo 3:5 do not affirm the same as those in Amo 3:4, but contain the new thought, that Israel has deserved the destruction which threatens it. Pach, a snare, and mōqēsh, a trap, are frequently used synonymously; but here they are distinguished, pach denoting a bird-net, and mōqēsh a springe, a snare which holds the bird fast. The earlier translators have taken mōqēsh in the sense of yōqēsh, and understand it as referring to the bird-catcher; and Baur proposes to alter the text accordingly. But there is no necessity for this; and it is evidently unsuitable, since it is not requisite for a bird-catcher to be at hand, in order that the bird should be taken in a snare. The suffix lâh refers to tsippōr, and the thought is this: in order to catch a bird in the net, a springe (gin) must be laid for it. So far as the fact itself is concerned, mōqēsh is “evidently that which is necessarily followed by falling into the net; and in this instance it is sinfulness” (Hitzig); so that the meaning of the figure would be this: “Can destruction possibly overtake you, unless your sin draws you into it?” (cf. Jer 2:35). In the second clause pach is the subject, and ועלה is used for the ascent or springing up of the net. Hitzig has given the meaning of the words correctly: “As the net does not spring up without catching the bird, that has sent it up by flying upon it, can ye imagine that when the destruction passes by, ye will not be seized by it, but will escape without injury?” (cf. Isa 28:15). Jehovah, however, causes the evil to be foretold. As the trumpet, when blown in the city, frightens the people out of their self-security, so will the voice of the prophet, who proclaims the coming evil, excite a salutary alarm in the nation (cf. Eze 33:1-5). For the calamity which is bursting upon the city comes from Jehovah, is sent by Him as a punishment. This thought is explained in Amo 3:7, Amo 3:8, and with this explanation the whole series of figurative sentences is made perfectly clear. The approaching evil, which comes from the Lord, is predicted by the prophet, because Jehovah does not carry out His purpose without having (כּי אם, for when, except when he has, as in Gen 32:27) first of all revealed it to the prophets, that they may warn the people to repent and to reform. Sōd receives a more precise definition from the first clause of the verse, or a limitation to the purposes which God is about to fulfil upon His people. And since (this is the connection of Amo 3:8) the judgment with which the Lord is drawing near fills every one with fear, and Jehovah has spoken, i.e., has made known His counsel to the prophets, they cannot but prophesy.

Amo 3:9-10

Amos has thus vindicated his own calling, and the right of all the prophets, to announce to the people the judgments of God; and now (Amo 3:9-15) he is able to proclaim without reserve what the Lord has resolved to do upon sinful Israel. Amo 3:9. “Make it heard over the palaces in Ashdod, and over the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumult in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the heart thereof. Amo 3:10. And they know not to do the right, is the saying of Jehovah, who heap up violence and devastation in their palaces.” The speaker is Jehovah (Amo 3:10), and the prophets are addressed. Jehovah summons them to send out the cry over the palaces in Ashdod and Egypt (על as in Hos 8:1), and to call the inhabitants of these palaces to hear, (1) that they may see the acts of violence, and the abominations in the palaces of Samaria; and (2) that they may be able to bear witness against Israel (Amo 3:13). This turn in the prophecy brings out to view the overflowing excess of the sins and abominations of Israel. The call of the prophets, however, is not to be uttered upon the palaces, so as to be heard far and wide (Baur and others), but over the palaces, to cause the inhabitants of them to draw near. It is they alone, and not the whole population of Ashdod and Egypt, who are to be called nigh; because only the inhabitants of the palace could pronounce a correct sentence as to the mode of life commonly adopted in the palaces of Samaria. Ashdod, one of the Philistian capitals, is mentioned by way of example, as a chief city of the uncircumcised, who were regarded by Israel as godless heathen; and Egypt is mentioned along with it, as the nation whose unrighteousness and ungodliness had once been experienced by Israel to satiety. If therefore such heathen as these are called to behold the unrighteous and dissolute conduct to be seen in the palaces, it must have been great indeed. The mountains of Samaria are not the mountains of the kingdom of Samaria, or the mountains upon which the city of Samaria was situated - for Samaria was not built upon a plurality of mountains, but upon one only (Amo 4:1; Amo 6:1) - but the mountains round about Samaria, from which you could look into the city, built upon one isolated hill. The city, built upon the hill of Semer, was situated in a mountain caldron or basin, about two yours in diameter, which was surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains (see at 1Ki 16:24).“As the mountains round the hill of Semer are loftier than this hill itself, the enemy might easily discover the internal state of besieged Samaria.” V. de Velde, R. i. p. 282.Mehūmâh, noise, tumult, denotes a state of confusion, in which everything is topsy-turvy, and all justice and order are overthrown by open violence (Maurer, Baur). ‛Ashūqı̄m, either the oppressed, or, taken as an abstract, the oppression of the poor (cf. Amo 2:6). In Amo 3:10 the description is continued in the finite verb: they do not know how to do right; that is to say, injustice has become their nature; and they who heap up sins and violence in their palaces like treasures.

Amo 3:11-12

Thus do they bring about the ruin of the kingdom. Amo 3:11. “Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, An enemy, and that round about the land; and he will hurl down thy glory from thee, and thy palaces are plundered. Amo 3:12. Thus saith Jehovah, As the shepherd delivers out of the mouth of the lion two shin-bones or an ear-lappet, so will the sons of Israel deliver themselves; they who sit on the corner of the couch and on the damask of the bed.” The threat is introduced in the form of an aposiopesis. צר, enemy, וּסביב הארץ, and indeed round about the land (  ו explic. as in Amo 4:10, etc.; and סביב in the construct state construed as a preposition), i.e., will come, attack the land on all sides, and take possession of it. Others regard צר as an abstract: oppression (from the Chaldee); but in this case we should have to supply Jehovah as the subject to והוריד; and although this is probable, it is by no means natural, as Jehovah is speaking. There is no foundation, on the other hand, for the remark, that if tsar signified the enemy, we should either find the plural צרים, or הצּר with the article (Baumgarten). The very indefiniteness of tsar suits the sententious brevity of the clause. This enemy will hurl down the splendour of Samaria, “which ornaments the top of the mountain like a crown, Isa 28:1-3” (Hitzig: עז, might, with the subordinate idea of glory), and plunder the palaces in which violence, i.e., property unrighteously acquired, is heaped up (Amo 3:10). The words are addressed to the city of Samaria, to which the feminine suffixes refer. On the fall of Samaria, and the plundering thereof, the luxurious grandees, who rest upon costly pillows, will only be able to save their life to the very smallest extent, and that with great difficulty. In the simile used in Amo 3:12 there is a slight want of proportion in the two halves, the object of the deliverance being thrown into the background in the second clause by the passive construction, and only indicated in the verb, to deliver themselves, i.e., to save their life. “A pair of shin-bones and a piece (בּדל ἁταξ λεγ.), i.e., a lappet, of the earth,” are most insignificant remnants. The grandees of Samaria, of whom only a few were to escape with their life, are depicted by Amos as those who sit on costly divans, without the least anxiety. פּאת מטּה, the corner of the divan, the most convenient for repose. According to Amo 6:4, these divans were ornamented with ivory, and according to the verse before us, they were ornamented with costly stuffs. דּמשׂק comes from דמּשׂק, Damascus, and signifies damask, an artistically woven material (see Ges. Thes. p. 346). This brings the visitation of God to an end. Even the altars and palaces are to be laid in ruins, and consequently Samaria will be destroyed.

Amo 3:13-15

This feature in the threat is brought out into peculiar prominence by a fresh introduction. Amo 3:13. “Hear ye, and testify it to the house of Jacob, is the utterance of the Lord, Jehovah, the God of hosts: Amo 3:14. That in the day when I visit the transgressions of the house of Israel upon it, I shall visit it upon the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. Amo 3:15. And I smite the winter-house over the summer-house, and the houses of ivory perish, and many houses vanish, is the saying of Jehovah.” The words “Hear ye” cannot be addressed to the Israelites, fore they could not bear witness against the house of Israel, but must either refer to the prophets, as in Amo 3:9 (“publish ye”), or to the heathen, in which case they correspond to “assemble yourselves and behold” in Amo 3:9. The latter assumption is the only correct one, for the context does not assign a sufficient motive for an address to the prophets. On the other hand, as the heathen have been summoned to convince themselves by actual observation of the sins that prevail in Samaria, it is perfectly in keeping that they should now hear what is the punishment that God is about to inflict upon Israel in consequence, and that they should bear witness against Israel from what they have heard. העיד ב, to bear witness towards or against (not “in,” as Baur supposes). The house of Jacob is the whole of Israel, of the twelve tribes, as in Amo 3:1; for Judah was also to learn a lesson from the destruction of Samaria. As the appeal to the heathen to bear witness against Israel indicates the greatness of the sins of the Israelites, so, on the other hand, does the accumulation of the names of God in Amo 3:13 serve to strengthen the declaration made by the Lord, who possesses as God of hosts the power to execute His threats. כּי introduces the substance of what is to be heard. The punishment of the sins of Israel is to extend even to the altars of Bethel, the seat of the idolatrous image-worship, the hearth and home of the religious and moral corruption of the ten tribes. The smiting off of the horns of the altar is the destruction of the altars themselves, the significance of which culminated in the horns (see at Exo 27:2). The singular hammizbēăch (the altar) preceded by a plural is the singular of species (cf. Ges. §108, 1), and does not refer to any particular one - say, for example, to the principal altar. The destruction of the palaces and houses (Amo 3:15) takes place in the capital. In the reference to the winter-house and summer-house, we have to think primarily of the royal palace (cf. Jer 36:22); at the same time, wealthy noblemen may also have had them. על, lit., over, so that the ruins of one house fall upon the top of another; then “together with,” as in Gen 32:12. בּתּי שׁן, ivory houses, houses the rooms of which are decorated by inlaid ivory. Ahab had a palace of this kind (1Ki 22:39, compare Psa 45:9). בּתּים רבּים, not the large houses, but many houses; for the description is rounded off with these words. Along with the palaces, many houses will also fall to the ground. The fulfilment took place when Samaria was taken by Shalmanezer (2Ki 17:5-6). The Impenitence of Israel - Amo 4:1-13

The voluptuous and wanton women of Samaria will be overtaken by a shameful captivity (Amo 4:1-3). Let the Israelites only continue their idolatry with zeal (Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5), the Lord has already visited them with many punishments without their having turned to Him (Amo 4:6-11); and therefore He must inflict still further chastisements, to see whether they will not at length learn to fear Him as their God (Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13).

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

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, 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. 3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? 6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? 7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

The scope of these verses is to convince the people of Israel that God had a controversy with them. That which the prophet has to say to them is to let them know that the Lord has something to say against them, v. 1. They were his peculiar people above others, knew his name, and were called by it; nevertheless he had something against them, and they were called to hear what it was, that they might consider what answer they should make, as the prisoner at the bar is told to hearken to his indictment. The children of Israel would not regard the words of counsel and comfort that God had many a time spoken to them, and now they shall be made to hear the word of reproof and threatening that the Lord has spoken against them; for he will act as he has spoken.

I. Let them know that the gracious cognizance God has taken of them, and the favours he has bestowed upon them, should not exempt them from the punishment due to them for their sins. Israel is a family that God brought up out of the land of Egypt, (v. 1), and it was no more than a family when it went down thither; thence God delivered it; thence he fetched it to be a family to himself. It is not only the ten tribes, the kingdom of Israel, that must take notice of this, but that of Judah also, for it is spoken against the whole family that God brought up out of Egypt. It is a family that God has bestowed distinguishing favours upon, has owned in a peculiar manner. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Note, God's church in the world is a family dignified above all the families of the earth. Those that know God are known of him. In Judah is God known, and therefore Judah is more than any people known of God. God has known them, that is, he has chosen them, covenanted with them, and conversed with them as his acquaintance. Now, one would think, it should follow, "Therefore I will spare you, will connive at your faults, and excuse you." No: Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Note, The distinguishing favours of God to us, if they do not serve to restrain us from sin, shall not serve to exempt us from punishment; nay, the nearer any are to God in profession, and the kinder notice he has taken of them, the more surely, the more quickly, and the more severely will he reckon with them, if they by a course of wilful sin profane their character, disgrace their relation to him, violate their engagements, and put a slight upon the favours and honours with which they have been distinguished. Therefore they shall be punished, because their sins dishonour him, affront him, and grieve him, more than the sins of others, and because it is necessary that God should vindicate his own honour by making it appear that he hates sin and hates it most in those that are nearest to him; if they be but as bad as others, they shall be punished worse than others, because it is justly expected that they should be so much better than others. Judgment begins at the house of God, begins at the sanctuary; for God will be sanctified either by or upon those that come nigh unto him, Lev. x. 3.

II. Let them know that they could not expect any comfortable communion with God unless they first made their peace with him (v. 3): Can two walk together except they be agreed? No; how should they? Where there is not friendship there can be no fellowship; if two persons be at variance, they must first accommodate the matters in difference between them before there can be any interchanging of good offices. Israel has affronted God, had broken their covenant with him, and ill-requited his favours to them; and yet they expected that he should continue to walk with them, should take their part, act for them, and give them assurances of his presence with them, though they took no care by repentance and reformation to agree with their adversary and to turn away his wrath. "But how can that be?" says God. "While you continue to walk contrary to God you can look for no other than that he should walk contrary to you," Lev. xxvi. 23, 24. Note, We cannot expect that God should be present with us, or act for us, unless we be reconciled to him. God and man cannot walk together except they be agreed. Unless we agree with God in our end, which is his glory, we cannot walk with him by the way.

III. Let them know that the warnings God gave them of judgments approaching were not causeless and groundless, merely to amuse them, but certain declarations of the wrath of God against them, which (if they did not speedily repent) they would infallibly feel the effects of (v. 4): "Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey in view? No: he roars upon his prey. Nor will a young lion cry out of his den if the old lion have taken nothing to bring home to him; nor would God thus give you warning both by the threatenings of his word, and by less judgments, if you had not by your sins made yourselves a prey to his wrath, nor if he were not really about to fall upon you with desolating destroying judgments." Note, The threatenings of the word and providence of God are not bugbears, to frighten children and fools, but are certain inferences from the sin of man and certain presages of the judgments of God.

IV. Let them know that, as their own wickedness was the procuring cause of these judgments, so they shall not be removed till they have done their work, v. 5. When God has come forth to contend with a sinful people it is necessary that they should understand, 1. That it is their own sin that has entangled them; for can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is for him? No, nature does not lay snares for the creatures, but the art of men; a bird is not taken in a snare by chance, but with the fowler's design; so the providence of God prepares trouble for sinners, and it is in the work of their own hands that they are snared. Affliction does not spring out of the dust, but it is God's justice, and our own wickedness, that correct us. 2. It is nothing but their own repentance that can disentangle them; for shall one take up a snare from the earth, which he laid with design, except he have taken something as he designed? So neither will God remove the affliction he has sent till it have done its work and accomplished that for which he sent it. If our hearts be duly humbled, and we are brought by our afflictions to confess and forsake our sins, then the snare has taken something, then the point is gained, the end is answered, and then, and not till then, the snare is broken, is taken up from the earth, and we are delivered in love and mercy.

V. Let them know that all their troubles came from the hand of God's providence and from the counsel of his will (v. 6): Shall there be evil in a city, in a family, in a nation, and the Lord has not done it, appointed it, and performed what he appointed? The evil of sin is from ourselves; it is our own doing. But the evil of trouble, personal or public, is from God, and is his doing; whoever are the instruments, God is the principal agent. Out of his mouth both evil and good proceed. This consideration, that, whatever evil is in the city, the Lord has done it, should engage us patiently to bear our share in public calamities and to study to answer God's intention in them.

VI. Let them know that their prophets, who give them warning of judgments approaching, deliver nothing to them but what they have received from the Lord to be delivered to his people. 1. God makes it known beforehand to the prophets (v. 7): Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, none of that evil in the city spoken of (v. 6), but he reveals it to his servants the prophets, though to others it is a secret. Therefore those know not what they do who make light of the warnings which the prophets give them, in God's name. Observe, God's prophets are his servants, whom he employs to go on his errands to the children of men. The secret of God is with them; it is in some sense with all the righteous (Prov. iii. 32), with all that fear God (Ps. xxv. 14), but in a peculiar manner with the prophets, to whom the Spirit of prophecy is a Spirit of revelation. It would have put honour enough upon prophets if it had been only said that sometimes God is pleased to reveal to his prophets what he designs to do, but it speaks something very great to say that he does nothing but what he reveals to them, as if they were the men of his counsel. Shall I hide from Abraham, who is a prophet, the thing which I do? Gen. xviii. 17. God will therefore be sure to reckon with those that put contempt on the prophets, whom he puts this honour upon. 2. The prophets cannot but make that known to the people which God has made known to them (v. 8): The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy? His prophets, to whom he has spoken in secret by dreams and visions, cannot but speak in public to the people what they have heard from God. They are so full of those things themselves, so well assured concerning them, and so much affected with them, that they cannot but speak of them; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. I believed; therefore have I spoken, Acts iv. 20. Nay, and besides the prophetic impulse which went along with the inspiration, and made the word like a fire in their bones (Jer. xx. 9), they received a command from God to deliver what they had been charged with; and they would have been false to their trust if they had not done it. Necessity was laid upon them, as upon the preachers of the gospel, 1 Cor. ix. 16.

VII. Let them know that they ought to tremble before God upon the fair warning he had given them, as they would, 1. Upon the sounding of a trumpet, to give notice of the approach of the enemy, that all may stand upon their guard and stand to their arms: Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people be not afraid, or run together? so some read it, v. 6. Will they not immediately come together in a fright, to consider what is best to be done for the common safety? Yet when God by his prophets gives them notice of their danger, and summons them to come and enlist themselves under his banner, it makes no impression; they will sooner give credit to a watchman on their walls than to a prophet sent of God, will sooner obey the summons of the governor of their city than the orders given them by the Governor of the world. God says, Hearken to the voice of the trumpet; but they will not hearken, nay, and they tell him plainly that they will not, Jer. vi. 17. 2. Upon the roaring of a lion. God is sometimes as a lion, and a young lion, to the house of Judah, Hos. v. 14. The lion roars before he tears; thus God warns before he wounds. If therefore the lion roars upon a poor traveller (as he did against Samson, Judg. xiv. 5), he cannot but be put into great consternation; yet the Lord roars out of Zion (ch. i. 2), and none are afraid, but they go on securely as if they were in no danger. Note, The fair warning given to a careless world, if it be not taken, will aggravate its condemnation another day. The lion roared, and they were not moved with fear to prepare an ark. O the amazing stupidity of an unbelieving world, that will not be wrought upon, no, not by the terrors of the Lord!

Israel Convicted and Condemned. (b. c. 790.)

9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. 10 For they know not to do right, saith the Lord , who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. 11 Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled. 12 Thus saith the Lord ; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch. 13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord God , the God of hosts, 14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord .

The Israelites are here again convicted and condemned, and particular notice given of the crimes they are convicted of and the punishment they are condemned to.

1. Notice is given of it to their neighbours. The prophet is ordered to publish it in the palaces of Ashdod, one of the chief cities of the Philistines; nay, the summons must go further, even to the palaces in the land of Egypt. "The great men of both those nations, that dwell in the palaces, that are inquisitive concerning the affairs of the neighboring nations, and are conversant with the public intelligence, let them assemble themselves upon the mountains of Samaria," v. 9. There, upon a throne high and lifted up, the judgment is set. Samaria is the criminal that is to be tried; let them be present at the trial, for it shall be (as other trials are) public, in the face of the country; let them make an appointment to meet there from all parts, to judge between God and his vineyard. God appeals to all impartial righteous men, Ezek. xxiii. 45. They will all subscribe to the equity of his proceedings when they see how the case stands. Note, God's controversies with sinners do not fear a scrutiny; even Philistines and Egyptians will be made to see, and say, that the ways of the Lord are equal, but our ways are unequal. They are likewise summoned to attend, not only that they may justify God and be witness for him that he deals fairly, but that they may themselves take warning; for, if judgment begin at the house of God, as they see it does, what shall be the end of those that are strangers to him? 1 Pet. iv. 17. If this be done in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry? Or this intimates that the sin of Israel had been so notorious that the neighboring nations could come in witnesses against them, and therefore it was fit that their punishment should be so. "If it could have been concealed, we would have said, Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon;" but why should their friends consult their reputation, when they themselves do not consult it? If they have grown impudent in sin, let them bear the shame: "Publish it in Ashdod, in Egypt."

1. Let them see how black the charge is, and how well proved. Let them observe the behaviour of the inhabitants of Samaria; let them look off from the adjacent hills, and they may see how rude and boisterous they are, and hear how loud they cry of their sin is, as was that of Sodom. (1.) Look into their streets and you will see nothing but riot and disorder, great tumults in the midst thereof; reason and justice are upon all occasions run down by the noise and fury of an outrageous mob, the dominion of which is the sin and shame of any people, and is likely to be their ruin. (2.) Look into their prisons, and you will see them filled with injured innocents: The oppressed are in the midst thereof, thrown down and crushed by their oppressors, overpowered and overwhelmed, and they had no comforter, Eccl. iv. 1. (3.) Look into their courts of justice, and you will see that those who preside in those courts know not to do right, because they have always been accustomed to do wrong; they act as if they had no notion at all of the thing called justice, are in no care to do justice themselves nor to see that others do justice. (4.) Look into their treasures and stores, and you will see them replenished with violence and robbery, with that which was unjustly got and is still unjustly kept. Thus they have heaped treasures together for the last days, but it will prove a treasure of wrath against the day of wrath. It may well be said, Those know not to do right who think to enrich themselves by doing wrong.

2. Let them see how heavy the doom is, and how well executed, v. 11, 12.

(1.) Their country shall be invaded and ruined; and observe how the punishment answers to the sin. [1.] Great tumults are in the midst of the land, and therefore an adversary shall be even round about the land; the Assyrian forces shall surround it and break in upon it on every side. Note, When sin is harboured and indulged in the midst of a people they can expect no other than that adversaries should be round about them, so that, go which way they will, they go into the mouth of danger, Luke xix. 43. [2.] They strengthened themselves in their wickedness, but the enemy shall bring down their strength from them, that strength which they abused in oppressing the poor, and doing violence to all about them. Note, That power which is made an instrument of unrighteousness will justly be brought down and broken. [3.] They stored up robbery in their palaces, and therefore their palaces shall be spoiled; for what is got and kept wrongfully will not be kept long. Even palaces will be no protection to fraud and oppression; but the greatest of men, if they have spoiled others, shall themselves be spoiled, for the Lord is the avenger of all such.

(2.) Their countrymen shall not escape, v. 12. They shall be in the hands of the enemy, as a lamb in the mouth of a lion, all devoured and eaten up, and they shall be utterly unable to make an resistance; and if any do make their escape, so as neither to fall by the sword or go into captivity, yet they shall be very few, and those of the meanest and least considerable, like two legs, or shanks, of a lamb, or, it may be, a piece of an ear, which the lion drops, or the shepherd takes from him, when he has eaten the whole body; so, perhaps, here and there one may escape from Samaria and from Damascus, when the king of Assyria shall fall upon them both, but none to make any account of; and those that do escape shall do so with the utmost difficult and hazard, by hiding themselves in the corner of a bed or under the bed's feet, which intimates that their spirits shall sneak shamefully in the time of danger. They shall not hide themselves in dens and caves, but in the corner of a bed, or the piece of a bed, such as poor people must be content with. They shall very narrowly escape, as it is foretold concerning the last destruction of Jerusalem that there shall be two in a bed together, one taken and the other left. Note, When God's judgments come forth against a people with commission it will be in vain to think of escaping them. Some make their dwelling in the corner of a bed, and in a couch, to denote their present security and sensuality; they are at ease, as in a bed, or on a couch, but, when God comes to contend with them, he shall make them uneasy, shall take them away out of the bed of their sloth and slumber. Those that stretch themselves lazily upon their couches when God's judgments are abroad shall go captive with the first that go captive.

II. Notice is given of it to themselves, v. 13. Let this be testified, and heard, in the house of Jacob, among all the seed of Israel, for it is spoken by the Lord God, the God of hosts, who has authority to pass this sentence and ability to execute it; let them know from him that the day is at hand when God will visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, when he will enquire into them and reckon for them: there will come a day of visitation, a day of punishment, and in that day all those things they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them, and so they shall smart for the sins they have been guilty of about them. 1. Woe to their altars, for God will visit them. He will enquire into the sins they have been guilty of at their altars, and bring into the account all their superstition and idolatry, all their expenses on their false gods, and all their expectations from them; and he will lay the altars themselves under the marks of his displeasure, for the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground, and with them the altar itself demolished and broken to pieces. We find the altar at Bethel prophesied against (1 Kings xiii. 2), and immediately rent (v. 3), and that prophecy fulfilled with Josiah burnt men's bones upon it, 2 Kings xxiii. 15, 16. This seconds that prophecy, and seems to point at the same event. Note, If men will not destroy idolatrous altars, God will, and those with them that had them in veneration. Some make the horns of the altar to signify all those things which they flee to for refuge, and trust in, and which they make their sanctuary: they shall all be cut off, so that they shall have nothing to take hold of. 2. Woe to their houses, for God will visit them too. He will enquire into the sins they have been guilty of in their houses, the robbery that have stored up in their houses, and the luxury in which they lived: and I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house, v. 15. Their nobility, and gentry, and rich merchants, had their winter-houses in the city and their summer-houses in the country, so nice were they in guarding against the inconveniences of the winter when the country was thought too cold, and of the summer when the city was thought too hot, though the climate of that good land was so temperate, like that of ours, that neither the cold nor heat was ever in extremity. They indulged a foolish affectation of change and variety; but God will, either by war or by the earthquake, smite both the winter-house and the summer-house; neither shall serve to shelter them from his judgments. The houses of ivory (so called because the ceiling, or wainscot, or some of the ornaments of them, were edged or inlaid with ivory) shall perish, shall be burnt or pulled down; and the great houses shall have an end; the most splendid and spacious houses, the houses of their great men, shall no longer be, or at least be no longer theirs. Note, The pomp or pleasantness of men's houses will be so far from fortifying them against God's judgments that it will make them the more grievous and vexatious, as their extravagance about them will be put to the score of their sins and follies.

CHAP. III.

Verſe 1. HEare this word that the Lord hath ſpoken &c.] Here beginneth the ſecond ſermon tending to confirme what had been affirmed in the former, and evincing the equity of the judgements there threatened for their hatefull ingratitude, and other horrible offences, condemned and cryed out upon by the very Heathens.

heare this word] Verbum hoc decretorium this notable word; [non-Latin text not transcribed] So Mat. 22.21. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. there are three articles in the Originall: and there is not the leaſt tittle in the text upon which there hangeth not a mountaine of ſenſe, ſay the Rabbies; this neck-verſe. that the Lord hath ſpoken] And ſhall he not do it? who ever waxed fierce againſt God, and proſpered? Ioh. 9.4.

againſt you O children of Iſrael] By his word, Chriſt many times ſecretly ſmites the earth Eſ. 11.4. that is, the conſciences of carnall men glued to the earth: He ſets a continuall edge upon the word, and conſumes them by his rebukes, till he have wearied them with his ſecret buffets and terrours: and then in the end caſts them into a reprobate ſenſe, as he did the Phariſees, who were toties puncti & repuncti, minime tamen ad reſipiſcentiam compuncti.

againſt the whole family] The Dodecaphylon, all the twelve tribes,Malcol[illegible: 1 letter]n. in Act. Apoſt. the whole houſe of Jacob, which are called by the name of Iſrael, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah Iſay. 48.1. God ſtands not upon multitudes Pſal. 9.17. nor matters, whether it be againſt a nation that he ſpeaketh and acteth, or againſt a man only, Iob 34.29.

which I brought up from the land of Egypt] This they oft heare of by way of exprobation, as chap. 2.10. God ſeeming to repent him for their deteſtable unthankfulneſſe, as David did of the kindneſſe he had ſhewed unworthy Nabal, in ſafegarding his ſubſtance 1 Sam. 25. and to complaine as Frederick the third Emperour of Germany did, that of thoſe courtiers whom he had advanced,Valer. Max. Chriſtian. Camd. Eliſ. he found ſcarce any that proved faithfull to him, but the worſe for his courteſy: or as Q. Eliſabeth, that in truſt ſhe had found treaſon.

Verſe 2. You only have I known] That is, owned and honoured, culled and called, choſen and accepted to be my people, when I had all the world afore me to chuſe in Deut. 10.14, 15. and nothing to move me thereto but mine own meer grace, even the good pleaſure of my will. [non-Latin text not transcribed].

therefore I will puniſh you for all your iniquities] Not paſſing by the leaſt without a ſenſible check: the leaſt, I ſay, that is allowed and wallowed in: and that becauſe of the diſloyalty and treachery that is therein. Other mens ſinnes are rebellions againſt God: but the ſaints ſins are treacheries, becauſe againſt the covenant. Let ſuch therefore look to themſelves, and walk accurately, or they ſhall be ſure to rue it. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Epheſ. 5.15. God will be ſure to plow his own ground, whatſoever becomes of the waſt: and to weed his own garden, though the reſt of the world ſhould bee let alone to grow wild. His own he will not fail to puniſh. 1. In caſe of ſcandall, as David. 2. For ſins unrepented of, though not ſcandalous. Oh the bloody wails that God hath left upon the backs of his own dear children for ſuch ſins! Baſtards may ſcape ſcot-free: but ſonnes ſhall pay for it. Ingentia beneſicio, ſlagitia, ſupplicia. The puniſhing Angel is bidden begin at Gods Sanctuary,Magdeb. Praefat. ad Cent. 5. Ezek. 9. He will be ſanctified in all that draw neer unto him, Levit. 10.3. Sanctified I ſay, either actively, or paſſively: either in the ſincerity of mens converſation, or in the ſeverity of their viſitation: at which time, his Articles of enquiry will be very ſtrict and criticall againſt his own profeſſed people, who are therefore worſe then others, (and ſhall therefore ſpeed worſe) becauſe they ought to be better.

Verſe 3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?] God permits his people to walk together with him in an humble familiarity: but then they muſt take care that familiarity breed not contempt: and that they conceit not that hee will connive at their iniquities, or that their holy ſervices will bear them out i[illegible: 1 letter] any known ſinne. He is juſt and jealous of his glory, wherein he ſhould be no ſmall loſer, if he did wink at any beſides involuntary ſailings, and unavoydable infirmities; for which there is a pardon of courſe, if ſued out. If I ſhall walk with you, ſaith God, as a father, friend, husband, you muſt agree with me, conſent, and conform to me, idem velle, & idem nolle, will and nill the ſame that I do: or elſe I ſhall walk with you no otherwiſe then as a ſevere judge, or cruel enemy, Levit. 26.24. as a lion, with the prey that he hath taken, as the fowler with the bird hee hath caught, or the hunter with the wild beaſt he hath gotten into his ſnare.

Verſe 4. Will a lion roar in the forreſt, when, &c.] It is ſaid of the Lion, that he ſets up a double roar:P[illegible: 1 letter]ut. lib. de induſt. anima. firſt, when he deſcrieth his prey, next when he ſeizeth it, Then, ſaith Plutarch, he roareth, or rather belloweth like a bull, that other beaſts may come to him, and take part with him. It is not for nothing that the lion uttereth his voice: much leſſe that Almighty God thundereth, and threatneth by his Prophets, your ſins without repentance will be your ruine, according to thoſe threatnings: though you are ſo ſturdy, or at leaſt ſo ſtupid, as to fear them no more, then Behemoth doth the iron weapons,Jeb 40. which are eſteemed by him as ſtrawes, or bull-ruſhes. Shall the wrath of a King be as the roaring of a lion, Prov. 19.12. and as the meſſengers of death, Prov. 16.14. and ſhall Gods menaces be ſlighted? will vile men imagine him a God of clouts? One that howſoever he ſpeaketh heavie words, will not do as he ſaith? intends them no otherwiſe, then in terrorem, for fray-bugs? Surely they will finde it far otherwiſe: and it muſt be concluded, that being already ſentenced, either their beds are very ſoft, or their hearts very hard, that can ſleep ſecurely in ſo deplorable a condition: Surely Gods predictions ſhall have their accompliſhment, 1 Sam. 3.19. & 15.29. Beleeve them therefore: Stand in awe and ſin not, ſith he that deſpiſeth the word, ſhall be deſtroyed: but hee that feareth the commandement, ſhall be rewarded, Prov. 13.13. See the Note there.

Will a youg lion cry out of his den?] q. d. Is it for nothing that God ſo terribly threatneth? Is there not a cauſe? as David ſaid in another caſe, 1 Sam. 17.29. Surely, as in the Revelation we never read that heaven opened, but ſome great matter followed: ſo here; Hath the Lord ſpoken it, and ſhall he not do it? Never think it. Oh think of God as of one not to be thought of: as One, whoſe wiſdom is his juſtice, whoſe juſtice is his power, whoſe power is his Truth, and all himſelf. He is the God of Amen, Pſal. 31.6. faithfull, and true: he can as ſoon die as lie: neither can he be hindered or reſiſted, as Angels, men, and devils may. In the creature there is an eſſence, and a faculty, whereby they work: as in fire is the ſubſtance and the quality of heat. Now between theſe, God can ſeparate, and ſo hinder their working; as in the Babyloniſh fire. In the Angels there is an eſſence, and an executive power: God comes between theſe oft, and hinders them from doing what they would. Not ſo in God; who is moſt ſimple, and entire, armed with power irreſiſtible to tame his rebels: Every morning doth he bring his judgement to light, he faileth not: but the unjuſt knoweth no ſhame, Zeph. 3.5. the fool paſſeth on and is puniſhed, Prov. 22.3.

Verſe 5. Can a bird fall in a ſnare upon the earth, &c? Think you, that all things are carried here by blind fortune, and not by a particular providence, as if —mundo nullus ineſſet, Rector, & incert[illegible: 1 letter] fluerent mortalia caſu? Will you ſay of the evils you have ſuffered, in the language of Aſhdod;1 Sam. 6.9. 1 Cor. 10. It is a chance? Is that Heathen-Idol Fortune any thing in the world, more then a blaſphemie, ſpued out by the devil againſt the divine providence? Can a ſparrow fall to the ground, or any the leaſt bird into a ſnare upon the earth, without your heavenly Father, Matth. 10.29. Birds flying ſeeme to be at liberty; yet are guided by an over-ruling hand. They fall ſometimes into a gin: and do not you thereupon conclude, that ſome fowlers hand is in it? Lo you are inſnared, and inſnarled by your enemies: and can you not diſcern that it is the Lord who hath done it? Lam. 3.37, 38. Act. 17.25, 28. Eccleſ. 9.12. For man knoweth not his time (nor his chance, ver. 11.) as the fiſhes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the ſnare, ſo are the ſons of men ſnared in an evil time, when it falleth ſuddenly (but providentially) upon them.

Or ſhall one take up a ſnare from the earth, &c.] No wiſe fowler will take up his nets, till he have gotten his prey: No more will God withdraw his hand, or call off the enemy and the avenger, till he have his deſigne: till he hath either reformed or ruined you.

Verſe 6. Shall a trumpet be blowen,] ſc. out of a watch-tower in time of war, to ſound an alarme, and to ſay, Hannibal ad portas, the enemy is at hand, the Philiſtines are upon you.

and the people not be afraid,] or run together to make reſiſtance?Jer. 5.22. Pſal 114.7. Will ye not then tremble at my threats, ſaith the Lord? Tremble thou earth at the preſence of the Lord, at the preſence of the God of Jacob. Fear is an affection of the ſoul, ſhrinking in it ſelf from ſome imminent evil. God is the proper object of it, whence hee is called Fear in the abſtract, Pſal. 76.11. and thoſe that come on his errand ſhould bee received with reverence, yea with fear [illegible: 1 letter]and trembling, as was Titus, 2 Cor. 7.15. and before him Samuel, by thoſe Elders of Bethlehem, 1 Sam. 16.4. as ſuſpecting it was the purpoſe of ſome judgement that brought him thither. Commeſt thou peaceably? ſaid they. It is a good thing to ſtand in awe of Gods Meſſengers, and to tremble at his judgements, whileſt they yet hang in the threatnings. It appeareth by this Prophet, that carnall ſecurity was grown epid emicall, and had over-ſpread the land, chap. 6.2, 3. Some there were that ſaid, God had not ſent the Prophets to denounce thoſe evils, but that they had done it of their own heads, as we ſay. Others doubted of the certainty of thoſe evils denounced, chap. 6.3. againſt whom He here diſputeth by theſe fore-going ſimilitudes; and in the next words plainly aſſerteth the Divine providence, and the authority of the Prophets, Gods privy-Counſellours.

Shall there be evil in a city,] Underſtand it of the evil of puniſhment. See Lam. 3.37. Eſay 45.7 Mic. 1.12. Eccleſ. 7.14. 1 King. 9.9. and 21.29. See my Treatiſe called, Gods love-tokens, pag. 3, 4. &c.

and the Lord hath not done it?] Although God doth it not but onely as it is bonum Juſtitiae, good in order to his glory. That which we are here advertiſed is, that it is not Luck and Fortune that doth toſſe and tumble things here below: but that God ſits at the ſtern, and ſteers the affairs of the world. The Gentiles indeed, held Fortune as a goddeſſe: repreſenting her by a Woman ſitting upon a Ball, as if the whole world were at her command; having with her a razor, as if ſhe could at her pleaſure cut off and end mans happineſſe; bearing in her right hand the ſtern of a ſhip, as if ſhe could turn about all things at her pleaſure, and in her left hand the horn of abundance, as though all plenty came from her. This was abominable idolatry, to be ſhunned by Chriſtians: yea the very name of Luck or Fortune, is to be ſpet out of their mouthes with utmoſt deteſtation. It repented Auſtin that ever he had uſed that wicked word, Fortuna. Aug. Retract.

Verſe 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing,] i. e. Hardly any thing. He lo-veth to foreſignifie, to warn before he wound: and this meerly out of his Philanthropie. Howbeit ſometimes, and in ſome caſes, he is more ſudden and ſtill in his revenges: that he may thereby, Firſt maintain his honour and glory, the eyes whereof are by ſome ſinnes extraordinarily provoked, as Acts 12.23. And ſecondly, to teach men not to continue in ſinne, no not for a moment: ſith they may bee preſently cut off from all further time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever: This made Auſtin ſay, that he would not be an Atheiſt, no not one half hour, to gain all the world. See Luke 17.32. and 12.20. Pharaoh had warning of the firſt and ſecond plagues, not ſo of the third: and again, of the fourth and fifth, but not of the ſixth: and yet again, of the ſeventh and eight, but not of the ninth. And when neither warning, nor no-warning would do good, then came that ſweeping plague; Tandem prototocos ultima plaga necat.

But he revealeth his ſecret to his ſervants the Prophets.] Gods Prophets then are his meniall ſervants: not his underlings, or inferiour hinds, but of nobleſt employment about him. Every faithfull Miniſter is ſervant to the king of heaven (Act. 27.23. whoſe I am, and whom I ſerve: this the Devil denied not, Act. 16.16, 17.) yea his Steward Embaſſadour, Herald (as here) by whom he proclaims warre, but firſt proffers pardon, and propoſes conditions of peace. A practiſe uſuall, not onely among the people of God, by his appointment, Deut. 20.10. but alſo among the Heathens, as Hiſtories informe us. The Romans had their Lex Facialis: by their Heralds they ſent to ſuch as had wronged them, Caduceum & Haſtam, as Enſignes of peace and warre, that within thirty dayes they might take their choice: within which time, if they did them not right, the Herald preſently denounced warre againſt them, caſting forth a dart in token thereof. Alexanders courſe was; when he ſat down before a city, to ſet up a torch: to ſhew that if they would come in, and ſubmit before that torch were burnt out, they ſhould have hearing. Tamerlan hang'd out firſt a white flag, then a red, and laſtly a black. And the Turks at this day,Turk. hist. 344. firſt make to their enemies ſome offer of peace; how unreaſonable ſoever it matters not. Gods offers in this kinde are all of grace, and for our good. If it were otherwiſe, what need he give warning? and why doth he not as Abſalom did; when, intending to murther Amnon, hee ſpake neither good nor evil to him? Well might the Lord ſay, Fury is not in me, O Iſrael, thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf. As I live, I deſire not the death of a ſinner, &c. If he did, why might he not ruſh ſuddenly upon ſuch and confound them at once, as he did the reprobate Angels, even in the very act and firſt moment of their ſinne? Why comes he firſt in a ſoft ſtill voyce, when he might juſtly thunder-ſtrike us? and why ſendeth hee his Heralds to proclaime warre, but yet with articles of peace and reconciliation open in their hands?Chryſoſt. Why was He but ſix dayes in making the world, and yet ſeven dayes in unmaking and deſtroying one city, Jericho? Was it not to ſhew that the Lord is mercifull and gracious, ſlow to anger, and of great kindneſſe? And this he hath commanded his Prophets to make known,Pſal. 103.8. that the goodneſſe of God may lead men to repentance. As, if they turn his grace into wantonneſſe, and pervert his patience to preſumption,Rom. 2.4. their commiſſion is to declaim againſt ſuch practiſes with all authority, Tit. 2.15. and to proclaim hell-fire, in caſe men amend not. Neceſſity is laid upon them ſo to do, and wo be to them if they preach not law as well as Goſpel; that when they return up their commiſſion, they may report the matter, ſaying, Behold we have done as thou haſt commanded us, Ezek. 9.11. True it is, that perverſe people queſtion the Prophets, and quarrell them for this plaindealing: as Ahab did Eliah for a troubler of Iſrael, and Amaziah our Prophet Amos, for a trumpetter of rebellion. But this is as great folly, as if ſome fond people ſhould accuſe the herald, or the trumpet as the cauſe of their warre: or as, if ſome ignorant peſant, when he ſeeth his fowls bathing in his pond, ſhould cry out of them, as the cauſes of foul weather.

Verſe 8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath ſpoken, who can but propheſie?] Who that knoweth the terrour of the Lord, can dare to do otherwiſe, when he commandeth it? Shall men fear fire, water, bears, lions, &c. and not the great and terrible God? If he roar upon his ſervants, and ſay as to Jeremy he once did. Thou therefore, gird up the loynes of thy minde, and ariſe, and ſpeak unto them all that I command thee; be not diſmayed at their faces, leſt I confound thee before them: We muſt roar againſt mens ſinnes, and bee inſtant,Jer. 1.17. though they roar againſt us for ſo doing, and threaten never ſo much. Micaiah will not budge for a Kings authority, when once he had ſeen the Lord in his Majeſtie; nor Paul for an Angels, Gal. 1. the reſt of the Apoſtles for the Sanhedrims, Acts 4.19. & 5.25, &c. When the Emperour threatned Baſil with impriſonment, baniſhment, death, he anſwered; Let him threaten boyes with ſuch fray-bugs: I am reſolved: neither menaces nor flatteries ſhall ſilence me, or draw me to betray a good cauſe or conſcience. If I deal not plainly and faithfully with your ſouls, ſaid Bernard, Bern. de tempore. 99. Vobis erit damnoſum, mihi periculoſum. Timeo itaque damnum veſtrum, timeo damnationem ineam ſi tacuero. i. e. it will be ill for you, and worſe for mee. The truth is, you would be betrayed, and I ſhould be damned, if I ſhould hold my peace. Let me be accounted proud, pragmaticall, any thing,Luth. ep. ad Staple. rather then found guilty of ſinfull ſilence, when the Lord calleth me to ſpeak, ſaith Luther. Theſe were men whoſe hearts were fraught with the reverentiall fear of God; and therefore found themſelves neceſſitated to bee faithfull: beſides the love of Chriſt conſtraineth them, 2 Cor. 5.14. ſo that they could do no leſſe, they could not but ſpeak, &c. Act. 4.19.

Verſe 9. Publiſh in the palaces at Aſhdod, &c.] that is, in the courts of the Philiſtin-princes, and of the Egyptian kings, who are here atteſted and invited, to judge betwixt God and his vineyard, to paſſe an impartiall ſentence, and to ſay whether Iſraels ſinnes deſerved not all the judgements that God by his Prophets had denounced, yea and greater too. Holy Ezra acknowledgeth as much, chap. 9.13. But becauſe that many were ready to ſay, as thoſe in Jeremy, Jer. 2.35. Becauſe I am innocent, ſurely his anger ſhall turn from me: behold I will plead with thee, (ſaith the Lord) becauſe thou ſayeſt, I have not ſinned. Yea thy ſworn-enemies ſhall give true evidence againſt thee, and judge of the juſtice of my proceedings with thee, that I may be juſtified, and every mouth ſtopped.

Aſſemble your ſelves upon the mountains of Samaria,] that there-hence ye may be eye-witneſſes, and have a full proſpect of their leudneſſe; which will be to you a pleaſant ſpectacle; that out of their tragedies you may frame comedies. Samaria was a city ſet upon an hill: and as it ſelf, ſo its wickedneſſe could not be hid. Carnall people are very inquiſitive into the miſcarriages of profeſſours: and ready to ſearch more narrowly thereinto then Laban did into Jacobs ſtuff. What a jear made Ammianus Marcellinus of the pride and luxury of ſome of the primitive Biſhops? Averroes, of the Papiſts Breaden-god? the Turks, of the Papiſts Aſinus palmaris? the Jews, of their clipping the crucifix, and weeping over it in the Pulpit? as alſo the ſwearing that is ſo common amongſt Proteſtants; together with that mad conceit of ſome, that he that cannot ſwear with a grace,Profectò aut hoc non eſt Evangelium: aut nos non ſumus Evangelici. wanteth his tropes and figures befitting a Gentleman? This and ſuch like unchriſtian practiſes, made learned Lineker when he read Chriſts Sermon in the Mount, cry out; Certainly, either this is not Goſpel, or we are but bad Goſpellers: It is a lamentable thing, that it ſhould be commonly reported that there be ſuch abominations found in the Church as are hardly heard of among the Heathen, 1 Cor. 5.1. —pudet haec opprobria nobis, Et dici potuiſſe, & non potuiſſe refelli. Why ſhould it be told in Gath, or publiſhed in the palaces of Aſhdod? 2 Sam. 1.20. why ſhould Egyptians condemn Iſraelites, as the Scythians once did the Greeks, and the heathen Indians now do the beaſtly Spaniards that tyrannize over them? Why ſhould there be any ſucceſſours to thoſe Hereticks mentioned by Bellarmine, and called, Chriſtianocategori, Accuſers of Chriſtians; becauſe by their unchriſtian converſation they delivered up Chriſt and his people to bee buffetted,De Eccleſ. triumph. l. 2. c. 11. and ſpitted on by their enemies? See the Note on Hoſ. 7.16. This ſhall be their deriſion in the land of Egypt.

and behold the great tumults] Or the humming-noiſes, the garboiles, the violent irruptions upon the poor oppreſſed, cauſing them to cry out as thoſe that are cruſhed or broken in peeces.

and the oppreſſed in the middeſt thereof] whether by force or fraud oppreſſed: whether it were [non-Latin text not transcribed] or [non-Latin text not transcribed] The Lord is the avenger of all ſuch, 1 Theſ. 4.6. This the Heathen ſhall take ſpeciall notice of, and ſay with Calocerius the Conful Verè magnus eſt Deus Chriſtianorum, The Chriſtians God is a righteous God indeed.

Verſe 10. For they know not to do right] They have done wrong ſo long together, againſt knowledge and conſcience, that now they are given up to a reprobate ſenſe, to an injudicious minde, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Rom. 1. having ſinned away that light they had, and loſt that little knowledge they had learned out of the law of Moſes concerning good works: this they have wickedly blotted out of their own minds; as alſo thoſe common notions of good and evill, that glimmering of divine light left in the naturall man; this in a defiled conſcience is wholy extinct. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? No, not they, as appeares by what followes, they eat up my people as they eat bread Pſal. 14.4. Theſe Cannibals, like pickrels in a pond, or ſherkes in the ſea, devoure the poorer as they the leſſer fiſhes. And though they cannot but know this to be evill, condemned by the light of nature, and much more of ſcripture, yet they do it, and will do it: their eyes being put out with the duſt of covetouſneſſe, and their hearts ſo exerciſed therewith 2 Pet. 2.14. that they can ſay as that wretched fellow did, We are maſters of our conſciences, we can do what we will, for all them: and as Balaam reſolved at length, to curſe, whatever came of it.

who ſtore up violence and robbery in their palaces] Till the ſcreech-owles of woe cry aloud from the wals, and the beames out of the timber make anſwer Hab. 2.11.12. till their curſed boards of evill-gotten goods witneſſe againſt them, and eat their fleſh as it were fire Jam. 5.3. till very Philiſtines and Egyptians cry ſhame on them, and ſay as the Indians did of the cruel Spaniards, that they carried themſelves neither like Chriſtians nor men, but like devils; that it had been better the Indies had been given to the devils of hell, then to them; and that if the Spaniards went to heaven when they were dead, they would never come there. Let no man think to thrive violentiâ & vaſtitate, by rapine and robery: to treaſure up ſin is to treaſure up wrath Rom. 2.5. which, as a fire, will devoure their palaces, and it ſhall not be quenched, Ier. 17.27.

Verſe 11. Therefore thus ſaith the Lord] And he ſaith it in great haſt and heat; as appeareth by that conciſe kind of expreſſion that he here uſeth after the manner of thoſe that are through-angry,Apoſiopeſis, ut Ques ego &c. and therefore ſay not much, but meane to do the more.

an adverſary round about the land] A diſtreſſer at every corner: that as all the borderers have beheld thy wickedneſſe, ſo ſhall they thy wretchedneſſe, by reaſon of the enemy and the avenger, who ſhall meet thee at every turne: and leave thee neither hope of better, nor place of worſe.

and he ſhall bring down thy ſtrength from thee] Thee in the feminine gender:At for Atta ex [illegible: 2 letters]agna perturbatione. Chiskuni. haply becauſe they ſhould be ſo infeebled, and impoveriſhed: Or elſe, to expreſſe the heat of Gods anger againſt them, as Num. 11.15. where meek Moſes being in a great paſſion of anger and grief together, ſaith to God, If Thou (in the feminine) deale thus with me, kill me I pray thee, out of hand &c. he was ſo out of meaſure moved, that he could not fill up his ſpeech, nor utter the laſt ſyllable.

thy ſtrength] Thy ſtrong-holds, or thy riches, thoſe treaſures of wickedneſſe wherein thou truſteſt Prov. 10.2. and verſe 15. The rich mans wealth is his ſtrong city. It is called his ſtrength becauſe he confideth in it, 1 Tim. 6.17. and becauſe he is enabled by it, to bring about his deſignes.

and thy palaces ſhall be ſpoyled] They ſhall be blown up, becauſe their foundation was laid upon fire-works, their morter mixt with blood, their materials raked together by rapine and robbery, their furniture, and thoſe ill-gotten goods therein hid and hoarded, ſhall be given hoſti non haeredi, not to thine heire but to thine enemy for a booty. An inheritance may be haſtily gotten at the beginning: but the end thereof ſhall not be bleſſed Prov. 20.21. As the partridge ſitteth on egges and hat[illegible: 2 letters]eth them not: ſo he that getteth riches and not by right, ſhall leave them in the middeſt of his daies and at his end be a foole Jer. 17.11. A poor foole God will make of him, ere he hath done with him, as he did of Balaam, Achan, Ahab, Gehezi, the rich man Luk. 12. and 16.

Verſe 12. As the Shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the Lion] by a countrey-compariſon (as before oft) the Prophet ſets forth the fewneſſe of ſuch as ſhall eſcape the enemies hands.1 Sam. 17.35. Is it but a little that a ſhepherd dare pull out of the jawes of a Lion. Few Davids or Lyſimachuſſes, that dare look ſuch fierce creatures in the face. Something a ſhepheard in this caſe may adventure to do, that he may not be made to ſtand to the loſs Exod. 22.13. Gen 31.39. But it is not much:quibus non est lectus integer, Tarnou. Kimchi. neither are they many, that ſhall make eſcape, and thoſe few ſhall be of the poorer ſort too, that have ſcarce a corner of a bed to lye on: or ſuch as are ſick-abed and not cared for by the enemy, not counted worth the killing. Or ſuch as are in good health, but glad to hide themſelves for feare of the enemy under any bed or bench-hole, as is uſuall in the ſack of a city.

and in Damaſcus in a couch] Or in the corner of a couch. Now Samaria and Damaſcus are joyned together; becauſe they were both deſolated about the ſame time, by the ſame enemy, and for the ſame cauſe, viz. their invading Judaea in an hoſtile manner 2 King. 16.7.9. Eſay. 7.4. See the like Eſay. 8.4. and 17.3.

Verſe 13. Heare ye and teſtiſie &c.] ye my Prophets and all true beleevers. The Septuagint add ô ye Prieſts, whoſe lips were to preſerve knowledge, and to preſent it to the People. All that were thereunto commiſſionated by the Lord God the God of Hoſts, are here ſtraightly charged to heare and to charge, teſtify, or conteſt (See 2 Tim. 4.1.) and what they have received of the Lord to deliver the ſame to the whole houſe of Jacob: not ſtealing away the word from them Jer. 23.30. or ſhunning to declare unto them his whole counſell Act. 20.27. but faithfully handling the law Ier. 2.8.

Verſe 14. That in the day that I ſhall viſit &c.] Tell them ſo from me, ſaith God: ſay to theſe wicked, Wo be unto them, it ſhall be ill with them Eſay. 3.11. The jelous Lord of Hoſts will ſurely viſit the iniquity of Idolatrous fathers upon their children, to the third and fourth generation Exod. 20.5. See Ier. 3. Ezek. 16. Hoſ. 2. As they have their day of defection, ſo hath He of Viſitation; his ſeaſon, his harveſt for judgment, Mat. 13.30. What then will they do when God riſeth up: and when he viſiteth, what will they anſwer him? Iob. 31.14.

I will alſo viſit the altars of Bethel] At firſt there was but one altar 1 King. 12.32, 33. and 13.2. but afterwards they multiplied, as in Peters at Rome, there are ſaid to be now above an hundred altars Hoſ. 8.11. and 10.1. there is no end of will-worſhip: but, like the Ieruſalem-Artichoke, plant it where you will, it overruns the ground and choakes the Heart. Now as God loved the gates of Zion where he was ſolemnly worſhipped, more then all the dwellings of Jacob Pſal. 87.2. and as the walls of good people (whoſe houſes are little churches) are continuall before him, Eſay. 49.16. So he heartily hateth places and monuments of Idolatry: and layeth them waſt as he hath done our Abbeys and Monaſteries Ziſca overthrew three hundred of them in Bohemia: and among the reſt the famous Monaſtery called the Kings-Court, a mile from Prague: Ziſca's life by Mr. Clark. in the walles whereof the whole Bible was moſt exquiſitely written in letters of gold; but little read or regarded by thoſe filthy Abbey-lubbers, of whom Luther teſtifieth that they were tam deſperatae malitiae &c. ſo deſperately debauched that they durſt adventure upon any villany whatſoever.

and the hornes of the altar &c.] which were held the holier parts thereof. This was fulfilled by good Ioſiah many yeares after 2 King. 23.15. 2 Chron. 34.4.6. Nullum tempus occurrit Regi. Time can be no prejudice to Gods proceedings: neither is his forberance any quittance.

Verſe 15. And I will ſmite the winter-houſe with the ſummer-houſe] Heb. upon the ſummer-houſe, I will lay them both upon one heape: they ſhall one daſh againſt the other. To have change of houſes or of roomes in one houſe fit for the ſeverall ſeaſons is not unlawful, ſo we ſet them not up by wrong-dealing, nor ſet our hearts upon them:Haec ſunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori. for ſo we are apt to do (as Charles 5. Emp. told the Duke of Venice who had ſhewed him his ſtately palace) and this brings a curſe.

and the houſes of Jvory] i. e. decked and enameled, checkered and entrayled with Jvory,Eboratas. Lively. as ſome ſenſe it. Ahab had made him an Jvory houſe. Heb. an houſe of tooth, i. e. of Elephants-tooth: ſo did other kings (likely) after him. The Porphyrogenity in Conſtantinople were borne in a room made of Porphyry, a precious ſtone &c. All muſt down together.