Amos 5 commentary

The convincing, awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; for whether we hear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect. The Lord still proclaims mercy to men, but they often expect deliverance from such self-invented forms as make their condemnation sure. While they refuse to come to Christ and to seek mercy in and by him, that they may live, the fire of Divine wrath breaks forth upon them. Men may make an idol of the world, but will find it cannot protect.

The same almighty power can, for repenting sinners, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, and as easily turn the prosperity of daring sinners into utter darkness. Evil times will not bear plain dealing; that is, evil men will not. And these men were evil men indeed, when wise and good men thought it in vain even to speak to them. Those who will seek and love that which is good, may help to save the land from ruin. It behoves us to plead God's spiritual promises, to beseech him to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us. The Lord is ever ready to be gracious to the souls that seek him; and then piety and every duty will be attended to. But as for sinful Israel, God's judgments had often passed by them, now they shall pass through them.

Woe unto those that desire the day of the Lord's judgments, that wish for times of war and confusion; as some who long for changes, hoping to rise upon the ruins of their country! but this should be so great a desolation, that nobody could gain by it. The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners. When God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God, will be pursued by them; if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them. A pretence of piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found. The people of Israel copied the crimes of their forefathers. The law of worshipping the Lord our God, is, Him only we must serve. Professors thrive so little, because they have little or no communion with God in their duties. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them to go into captivity among idolaters.

Some render the verse thus, “Hear ye this word, because upon you, or for you, I raise a lamentation:” but we shall hereafter speak more at large as to the proper rendering. Let us see what the subject is. The Prophet here denounces on the Israelites the punishment they had deserved; and yet they did not think that it was nigh; and they ferociously despised, I have no doubt, the denunciation itself, because no chance had as yet taken place, which might have pointed out such a destruction. Hence the Prophet and his threatenings were both despised.

He however threatens them here in severe terms with the judgment of God, which they feared not: and this is the reason why he says, Hear ye. It was not, indeed, without reason that he thus began and intimated that they greatly flattered themselves, nay, that they stopped their ears against wholesome counsels: the admonition would have been otherwise superfluous. The Prophet then indirectly reproves that supine indifference in which the Israelites indulged themselves.

But with regard to the words, some, as I have before mentioned, refer this lamentation to Amos himself, as though he had said, that he lamented the state of the people, finding that they were so stupid, and did not perceive how dreadful the wrath of God is. Since, then, they thus flattered themselves in their sins, those interpreters think that the Prophet here assumes the character of a mourner for that irreclaimable people. Hear, he says, this word even because I lament over you. For the more refractory the people were, the more touched with grief the prophet no doubt was: for he saw how horrible the judgment of God was, which was nigh them, on account of their stubbornness. No wonder then that the Prophet says here, that he undertook or raised lamentation for the people; and this mode of speaking is common in Scripture.

But yet I rather think that another sense is more suitable to this place, which becomes evident by putting in an exegetic particle, Hear ye then this word which I raise upon you, even a lamentation, etc. The word משא, mesha, rendered burden, is derived from the verb נשא, nusha, which means to raise up: and there is a striking allusion to the subject treated of here. For the Prophet does not here simply teach the people, nor comfort them, nor does he only warn them, but he denounces on them the last punishment. We hence see the import of the expression, to raise up a word; it was the same as though he said, “I lay on you this prophecy:” for a burden is laid on the shoulders of men when God’s wrath is denounced.

It afterwards follows, Even a lamentation, O house of Israel; which means, “I raise upon you a word, which will constrain you to mourn and lament: though now ye are so refractory against God, that ye spurn all warnings, and reject all threatening; yet this word shall at last prove mournful to you.” This seems to be the genuine sense of the Prophet: in the first place, he reproves the stupidity of the people of Israel, by demanding a hearing; then he reproves their contempt of God in despising all threatenings; and he shows also that this prophecy would prove mournful to them for having so long trifled with God, “The lament of the house of Israel shall be this word, which I now raise up upon you.” it follows —

Amos 5:2

2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

2. Cecidit nec adjiciet ut resurgat virgo Israel: relicta est super terram suam; non est qui attollat.

This was substantially the vengeance which was now nigh the Israelites, though they rested securely, and even scorned all the threatening of God. The virgin of Israel, he says, has fallen Expounders have too refinedly explained the word virgin; for they think that the people of Israel are here called a virgin, because God had espoused them to himself, and that though they ought to have observed spiritual chastity towards God, they yet abandoned themselves to all kinds of pollutions: but a virgin, we know, is a title given for the most part by the Prophets to this or that people on account of their delicacies; for Babylon, no less than Samaria or the people of Israel, is called a virgin. Certainly this refined interpretation cannot be applied to Babylon, to Egypt, to Tyre, and to other places. I have therefore no doubt but the Prophet here arraigns the Israelites, because they, relying on their strength, indulged themselves. They were quiet in their own retreats, and when all kinds of blessings abounded, they lived daintily and sumptuously. As then they were indulging themselves in such pleasures he calls them a virgin. The virgin of Israel then has fallen, and shall no more rise again.

A condition may be here included, as an exhortation to repentance immediately follows: we may then fitly regard this as being understood, “except they timely repent:” otherwise the Israelites must have fallen without hope of restoration. But we may also refer this to the body of the people: fallen then had the virgin of Israel, not so however that they were all destroyed, as we shall hereafter see; for the Prophet says that the tenth part would remain: but this is rightly said of the people generally; for we know that the kingdom had so fallen, that it never afterwards did rise. A remnant of the tribe of Judah did indeed return to Jerusalem; but the Israelites are at this day dispersed though various parts of the world; yea, they are hid either in the mountains of Armenia, or in other regions of the East. Since then what the Prophet here denounces has been really fulfilled as to the whole kingdom, we may take the place without supposing any thing understood, “Fallen has the virgin of Israel.” For as God showed mercy when the people as a body were destroyed, that some remained, is what does not militate with the prophecy, that the whole body had fallen. Fallen then has the virgin of Israel, nor will she any more rise again; that is, the kingdom shall not by way of recovery be restored; and this, we know, has never taken place.

Forsaken is she, he says, on her own land, and there is none to raise her up; which means, that she will continue fallen: though she may remain in her own place, she will not yet recover what she had lost. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning; and, at the same time, we see that that people had so fallen, as never to rise again, as it has been stated, into a kingdom. Let us now proceed —

Amos 5:3

3. For thus saith the Lord God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

3. Quia sic dicit Dominus Jehova, Urbs e qua egrediebantur mille, manebunt in ea centum; et e qua egrediebantur centum, manebunt (ad verbum, restabunt) decem domui Israel.

The Prophet now expresses more clearly what he had before said, — that the kingdom would perish and yet so that the Lord would preserve some remnants. Then as to the body of the people, Israel had fallen; but as to a few remnants they were saved; but they were a small numbers such as the Prophet mentions. We hence see that some hope of mercy was given to God’s chosen people, and that in the meantime destruction was denounced on the whole nation. We have already seen that their wickedness was past hope; it was therefore necessary to announce to them the sentence of final ruin; but it was so done, as not to drive to despair the faithful few, who remained hid among the multitude.

The city then, from which a thousand went forth, shall have a hundred remaining; and the city from which went forth a hundred, shall have ten. Armies were wont formerly to be decimated, when any sedition had been made: but God threatens the Israelites here with a much heavier judgment, that only the tenth part would be saved from ruin. We now then perceive the design of the Prophet. Now this could not alleviate the grief of the people; but the hypocrites were more exasperated, on hearing that few would be saved, and that all hope of deliverance was cut off from them. When, therefore, they saw that God dealt with them with so much severity, envy increased their griefs and more embittered their minds; and this was what the Prophet designed; for it was of no use to apply any solace to the despisers of God: but as God knew that there were some seed remaining among the people, he intended to provide for the miserable, who would have been a hundred times swallowed up with grief, had no mitigation been offered them. The Prophet then directs his discourse to the few, when he says, “In the city from which a thousand had gone forth there will be a hundred; and in that from which a hundred went forth, ten will remain alive.” It now follows —

Amos 5:4-6

4. For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

4. Quia sic dicit Jehova domui Israel, Querite me, et vivetis.

5. But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

5. Et ne quaeratis Bethel, et in Gilgal ne eatis, et ne transeatis in Berseba; quia Gilgal migrando migrabit, et Bethel erit in nih ilum (vel, in molestiam.)

6. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

6. Quaerite Jehovam et vivetis; ne transeat (vel, scindat) quasi ignis domum Joseph, et absorbeat, et non sit extinguens in Bethel.

Amos here again exhorts the Israelites to repentance; and it was an address common to all, though the greater part, as we have said, were altogether past recovery; but it was necessary, as long as they continued a chosen people, to call them to repentance; for they had not been as yet abdicated. We further know, that the Prophets preached in order to invite some to God, and to render others inexcusable. With regard to the end and design of public teaching, it is, that all should in common be called: but God’s purpose is different; for he intends, according to his own secret counsel, to draw to himself the elect, and he designs to take away all excuse from the reprobate, that their obstinacy may be more and more apparent. We must further bear in mind, that while the people of Israel continued, the doctrine of repentance and faith was preserved among them; and the reason was that to which I have alluded, because they remained as yet in the fold of God. It is no wonder then that the Prophet gives again to the Israelites the hope of pardon, provided they repented.

Thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live. This sentence has two clauses. In saying, Seek me, the Prophet exhorts the Israelites to return to a sane mind: and then he offers them the mercy of God, if only they sought from the heart to reconcile themselves to him. We have elsewhere said that men cannot be led to repentance, unless they believe that God will be propitious to them; for all who think him to be implacable, ever flee away from him, and dread the mention of his name. Hence, were any one through his whole life to proclaim repentance, he could effect nothing, except he were to connect with this the doctrine of faith, that is, except he were to show that God is ready to give pardon, if men only repent from the heart. These two parts, then, which ought not to be separated, the Prophet here connects together very wisely and for the best reason, when he says, Seek me, and ye shall live; intimating that the gate of mercy was still open, provided the Israelites did not persevere in their obstinacy. But, at the same time, he lays this to their charge, — that they willfully perished through their own fault; for he shows that in themselves was the only hindrance, that they were not saved; for God was not only ready to receive them into favor, but also anticipated and exhorted them, and of his own free will sought reconciliation. How then was it, that the Israelites despised the salvation offered to them? This was the madness which he now charges them with; for they preferred ruin to salvation, inasmuch as they returned not to God when he so kindly invited them, Seek me, and ye shall live The same thing is stated in another place, where it is said, that God seeketh not the death of a sinner, (Ezekiel 18:32)

But as we have already said, the Prophets spoke thus in common to all the people, but their doctrine was not to all efficacious; for the Lord inwardly attracted his elect, and others were rendered inexcusable. But still this is true, that the whole blame, that they perished, were in the children of Israel, for they refused the salvation offered to them. What indeed was the cause of their destruction, but their own obstinacy? And the root of the evil, was it not in their own hearts? Then none of them could evade the charge made against them by the Prophet, — that they were the authors of their own ruin, for each of them must have been conscious of his own perverseness.

But Amos afterwards defines the character of true repentance, when he says, Seek not Bethel, go not to Gilgal, pass not over to Beersheba Some think that the Prophet here repudiates all the disguises, which are usually pretended by hypocrites. We indeed know that when God calls such men to himself, that they seek indirect and tortuous courses; for none of them return sincerely and willingly to God. Men indeed see that they are justly reproved for having departed from God: but when they are called back to him they take a circuitous course, as I have said, and not the straight road. Thus, though they pretend to seek God, they seek subterfuges that they may not present themselves to him. All this is no doubt true; but the Prophet advances farther; for he shows here, that the Israelites by going to Bethel not only lost all their labor, but also grievously offended God; for superstition was in itself condemnable. If Amos had preached at Jerusalem, he might have said, “Go not into the temple, for in vain ye offer sacrifices;” as indeed he does say hereafter, “Come not with your flock.” For he there shows, that God is not to be pacified by ceremonies; nay, in that very chapter, he rejects feast-days and sacrifices; but in this place he ascends higher, and says that these two things are wholly contrary — to seek God, and to seek Bethel; as though he said, “If ye from the heart return to me, renounce all the superstitions to which you have been hitherto attached.”

It is indeed a proof of true conversion, when the sinner is displeased with himself on account of his sins and hates the things which before pleased him and with a changed mind devotes himself wholly to God. It is of this that the Prophet now treats; as though he said, “If there is in you a purpose to return to God, cast away all your superstitions; for these two things — true religion and idolatry, cannot be joined together. As long then as ye remain fixed in that false worship, to which you have accustomed yourselves, ye continue alienated from God. Then reconciliation with him demands that you bid adieu to all your corrupt forms of worship.” The import of the whole then is this, — that the Israelites could not be reconciled to God, except they departed from their superstitions. Let them turn away, he says, from Bethel, and Gilgal, and Beersheba

We indeed know that the calves were made at Bethel; and Gilgal, no doubt, became celebrated for the passing of the people over Jordan, and also, as it is well known, for the circumcising of the children of Abraham; and as to Beersheba, we know that Abraham dwelt there for a long time, and frequently offered sacrifices to God. Now, this vicious zeal (κακοζηλία — evil zeal or affectation) ever prevails in the world; without reason or judgment it lays hold on something special, when it undertakes to set up the worship of God, as we see to be the case under the Papacy. But God has prescribed to us a certain rule according to which he is to be worshipped; it is not then his will that there should be a mixture of our inventions. When therefore the posterity of Abraham presumptuously availed themselves of his example, and when they extolled the memorable event of the circumcision, God repudiated all contrivances of this kind; for as it was well known, it was expressly his will to be worshipped at Jerusalem; and by appointing one tabernacle and one altar, he designed to cherish unity and concord among the people. We now then understand that it was the intention of Amos to show, that the conversion of the people would be fictitious, until they turned away from all the superstitions and vicious modes of worship, in which they had habituated themselves: hence, Seek not Bethel, come not is Gilgal, pass not over to Beersheba.

The same thing may be said at this day to those who wish to blend the dregs of the Papacy with the pure and holy worship of God; for there are at this day many go-betweens, (mediatores) who, while they see that our doctrine cannot be disapproved of, yet wish to contrive some middle course; that is, they wish to reconcile Popery with the doctrine of the Gospel. But the Prophet shows that such a mixture cannot be endured by God. How so? Because light cannot agree with darkness. Hence, corruptions, except they be abolished, will always subvert the true worship of God. We now see, that the lesson conveyed by this doctrine is, that the pure worship of God cannot be restored while the corruptions of the world, which are contrary to his word, prevail.

Come not then to Gilgal, for by migrating it shall migrate There is an alliteration in the words of the Prophet, “Gilgal by rolling shall be rolled;” for Gilgal means rolling. Were such a phraseology allowable, it would be this, “Gilgal by gilling shall be gilled;” that is, it shall be rolled with quick rolling. God intimates that this place, under the protection of which the Israelites thought themselves safe, would be destroyed, as it had been already destined for destruction. Gilgal then be migrating shall migrate; not that the place could remove, but that it would be wholly demolished, so that nothing should remain there but dreadful tokens of God’s vengeance.

He then adds, Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live This repetition is not superfluous: the Prophet confirms what I have already stated, that such was the opposition between the true and legitimate worship of God, and idolatry and superstition, that the people of Israel, as long as they retained their corruptions, proved that they had nothing to do with God, whatever they may have pretended with their mouths and by their ceremonies. Seek God, he says, and ye shall live; and this repetition was very useful for this end, that hypocrites might know that they were justly condemned, inasmuch as they did not consecrate themselves wholly to God; for they were ever ready to contend with God whenever they could. “Why does God deal so strictly with us? why does he not concede to us at least something? for we do not deny him every thing. But if we do what we think to be right, why does he not indulge us at least on this account?” But when God not only urges hypocrites by his doctrine, but visits them also with punishments then they become angry, and even raise a clamor. Hence the Prophet, the second time, calls them to this duty, Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; as though he said, “Ye will gain nothing by evasion; for if any one seeks God truly and from the heart, God will not disappoint him; he will receive him into favor and will bless him. That ye then pine away in your calamities, impute this to your own obstinacy and stubbornness: it is so, because ye do not truly seek God; for while ye retain your corruptions, as I have said before, ye do not seek him.”

But he adds Lest he pass on like a fire. צלח, tselach, means to pass on, to advance; it means also to break out, and sometimes to prosper; but, in this place, the Prophet no doubt meant what I have said. Then it is, Lest he advance like fire upon the house of Joseph and consume it, and there be none to extinguish it in Bethel. The kind of vengeance which God threatened is not here expressed, but it may be easily understood. There is, therefore, in the meaning no obscurity; for he declares, that if the Israelites hardened their hearts against God, a burning was nigh at hand, which would seize on them, devour, and consume them. There shall come then or shall advance, a fire upon the house of Joseph; some say, shall burst out, which amounts to the same thing. By the house of Joseph is meant Ephraim; for he was, we know, the second son of Joseph; and, by taking a part for the whole, the Prophets usually include the ten tribes, as it is well known, when they mention Ephraim; and the kingdom of Israel is sometimes called the house of Joseph. Lest then he ascend as fire into the house of Joseph, and consume it, and there be none to extinguish it: this was said, because the Israelites never thought that they should be thus consumed by a sudden burning. The fire then shall devour the house of Joseph, and there will be none to quench it.

In the verse before I omitted one thing, to which I shall now advert. The Prophet said, that Bethel would be for a trouble, or be nothing. Bethel, we know, is called in another place Bethaven, the house of iniquity; and Aven means in Hebrew sometimes iniquity, sometimes grief or trouble, sometimes labor or difficulty, and sometimes nothing. It is not to be taken for iniquity in this place; this is certain: but Amos, on the contrary, speaks of punishment, which awaited that place, since it was abominable in the sight of God. As then he had said of Gilgal, that it would be rolled; so now he says of Bethel, that it would be for a trouble or grief, or be nothing. Either senses would be appropriate; — that Bethel, from which the Israelites hoped for a remedy to all their evils, would be to them a trouble, that is, the cause of their ruin, or that it would be nothing; as though he had said, that their hopes would be fallacious and empty in expecting any relief from Bethel. It afterwards follows —

Amos 5:7

7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.

7. Qui convertunt in absynthium judicium, et justitiam in terra dimittunt.

Here the Prophet, after having inveighed against superstitions, comes to the second table of the law. The Prophets are sometimes wont to shake off self-complacencies from hypocrites, when they spread before God their external veils, by saying that all their ceremonies are useless, except accompanied with integrity of heart: but in this place the Prophet expressly condemns in the Israelites two things; that is, that they had corrupted the true worship of God, departed from the doctrine of the law, and polluted themselves with ungodly superstitions; and he also reprehends them for their wicked and dishonest conduct towards men, — for their disregard of what was right and equitable, — for plunder, cruelty, and fraud. This second subject the Prophet handles, when he says, that they converted judgment into wormwood and allowed righteousness to fall on the ground. But the rest I must defer till tomorrow.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest us to be so entangled, not only by depraved lusts, but also by the allurements of Satan, and by our own ignorance and blindness, — O grant, that being roused by thy word we may at the same time learn to open our eyes to thy wholesome warnings by which thou callest us to thyself: and since we cannot do this without thy Spirit being our guide and leader, grant that he may enlighten our eyes, to the end that, being truly and from the heart tarried to thee, we may know that thou art propitious and ready to hear all who unfeignedly seek thee, and that, being reconciled to thee in Christ, we may also know that thou art to us a propitious Father, and that thou wilt bestow on us all kinds of blessings, until thou at length gatherest us to thy celestial kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture fifty-eighth

Ye who convert judgment into wormwood, and leave righteousness on the ground. We stated yesterday why the Prophet added this sentence: he wished in every way to prove the Israelites guilty. Having inveighed against their superstitions, he now adds, that they acted also falsely and iniquitously towards men. And he attacks the chiefs who ruled the people, not because they were alone culpable, but because they drew with them the whole community. We know that diseases descend from the head to the whole body: and this is the reason why the Prophet directs his address especially to the rulers. He says that they turned judgment to wormwood. This similitude often occurs. Nothing, we know, is sweeter than justice, when every one gains his own right; for this serves much to preserve peace. Hence nothing can be more gratifying to us, than when uprightness and equity prevail. This is the reason why the Prophet calls that iniquitous state of things bitterness, when no regard is had for justice and rectitude. He says also that righteousness was cast down on the ground, or thrown to the ground. Now the judges ought to have defended what was right among the people: for this, we know, is the duty enjoined them: and the Prophet now lays this to their charge that they left justice on the ground — that they suffered it to lie prostrate. We now perceive the Prophet’s design. It follows —

Amos 5:8

8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

8. Qui facit Pleiades et Orionem, qui convertit in lucem matutinam tenebras, et diem in noctem obtenebrescere facit: qui vocat aquas maris et effundit super superficiem terrae: Jehova nomen ejus.

Some interpreters connect this verse with the former, and think that what the Prophet had said before is here explained; but they are greatly mistaken, and misrepresent the meaning of the Prophet. We have indeed said, that the Prophet shows in that verse that the Israelites were not only perfidious and covenant-breakers with regard to God, having fallen away from his pure worship, but that they also acted iniquitously and dishonestly towards men: but these interpreters think that God is, by a metaphor, called righteousness and that religion is called judgment. This is in no way the mind of the Prophet; nay, it is, as I have already said, wholly different.

What, then, does the Prophet mean? I take this verse by itself; but yet we must see why the Prophet proclaims to us, in such sublime terms, the power of God. We know how heedlessly hypocrites trifle with Gods as though they had to do with a child: for they imagine a god according to their own fancy; yea, they transform him whenever they please, and think him to be delighted with frivolous trifles. Hence it is, that the way of pacifying God is with them so easy. When in various ways they provoke God’s wrath, there is in readiness some little expiation, and they think that it is a satisfaction to God. As then hypocrites imagine that God is similar to a dead idol, this is the reason why the Prophet, in order to banish these delusions, shows that the nature of God is far different. “What sort of being,” he says, “do you think God to be? for ye bring your worthless and frivolous expiations as though God would be satisfied with these trifles, as though he were a child or some silly woman: but God is He who makes the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into morning, who changes day into night, who pours forth on the earth the waters of the sea The verse, as evidently understood by Calvin, is to be thus rendered —

“He who made the Pleiades and Orion, Who turns darkness into morning, And darkens the day to night, Who calls the waters of the sea, And pours them on the face of the earth, — Jehovah is his name.”

This is the rendering of the Septuagint. It is not consonant with the character of Hebrew to borrow a word, as it is done in our version, from a preceding verse. Newcome has prefixed the words, “That have forsaken;” on what authority it does not appear. The obvious construction of the passage given above. — Ed. Go to now, and set forth your play-things, as though access to God were open to you, when ye labor to pacify him with your trifles.” We now perceive the Prophet’s object: we see how this verse ought to be taken separately, and yet to be connected with the main discourse of the Prophet; for after having inveighed against the gross vices of the people, seeing he had to contend with the headstrong, yea, with the mockers of God, he grows angry and sharply exclaims, “What do ye think or feign God to be?” Then the Prophet sets forth the character of God as being far different from what hypocrites imagine him to be in their own fancies. “What are your notions of him?” he says. “You indeed make God to be like a child; but he made the Pleiades and Orion.”

Some translate כימה, kime, Arcturus. There is no need of laboring much about such names; for the Jews, ignorant of the liberal sciences, cannot at this day certainly determine what stars are meant; and they show also their complete ignorance as to herbs. They are indeed bold enough; they define what every word means; but yet they betray, as I have said, their own want of knowledge. And our Prophet was a shepherd, and had never learnt astronomy in his youth, or in his manhood. He therefore speaks of the stars according to the common notions of his age: but he, no doubt, selected two stars of an opposite influence. The Pleiades (which are also called the seven Stars) are, we know, mild; for when they rise, they moderate the rigor of the cold, and also bring with them the vernal rain. But Orion is a fiercer star, and ever excites grievous and turbulent commotions both at its rising and setting. Commentators are not agreed as to the meaning of the words rendered here, Pleiades and Orion, כימה, and כסיל. They are found only in two other places, Job 9:9, and Job 38:31; and in the first of these in conjunction with עש, in our version, Arcturus, and also in the second with מזרות, Mazzaroth. Most think that all these were names given by the Hebrews to certain stars or constellations. It is evident, that with the exception of the last, Mazzaroth, the words, Pleiades, etc., are names borrowed from the Greek poets, and first introduced by the translators of the Septuagint: but they observe no consistency; for in Job 9:9, they render כימה, Αρκτουρος, and in Job 38:31; πλειας and in Amos the sentence is paraphrased and the word is left out. Again, כסיל is rendered ἕσπερος, the evening star, in Job 9:9 and Ωρίωνος in Job 38:31 while עש is translated ἕσπερος, and in Job 9:9, πλειας. This confusion proves that the translators exercised no discrimination. The Vulgate exhibits a similar inconsistency.

Parkhurst’s view is the most satisfactory, and corresponds with the terms used in connection with the words in Job 38:31, and with the context here. The genial heat, according to him, is כימה, and the cold is כסיל. The passage in Job is, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, כימה, or loose the bands of Orion? כסיל;” which influences מעדנות, the delights, the pleasures, the delicacies) of the genial heat, ,כימהor open contradictions of the cold? כסיל In the present passage what things God is continually doing are referred to, and not his past works, which would be the case where the constellations intended. Then the first line would run this: —

He who makes the genial heat and the cold.

Thus the whole passage would agree well together, as relating the various acts of God as the supreme agent in the material world. — Ed. This being the case, the Prophet names here those stars most commonly known. He says “Since the Lord changes the seasons, so that the mildness of the spring follows the rigor of winter, and since days succeed nights, and darkness comes after the light, and since it is God who renders a serene heaven suddenly cloudy by raising vapors from the veins of the earth, or from the sea, since all these changes manifest to us the wonderful power of God, how is it that men so presumptuously trifle with him? Whence is this so great a stupidity, unless they wholly overlook the works of God, and leave him a name only, and see not what is before their eyes?” We hence see how beautifully and how strikingly the Prophet does here set forth the power of God, and how opportunely he speaks of it. He then maketh the Pleiades and Orion

And he adds, He changeth darkness into the morning, he maketh the day to grow dark into night Here he brings before us the various changes of times. The night turns not into day by chance, nor does darkness come over the earth by chance when the sun has ceased to shine. Since then this variety ought to awaken even the unwilling, and to constrain them to adore God, how is it that his majesty is treated by men with such mockery, that they bring their frivolous expiations, and think him to be no more angry with them when they present to him what is worthless and childish, as when a nurse by a pleasing sound soothes an infant? I say again, whence is this so great a stupor, except that men willfully close their eyes to so bright a display, by which God shows himself to us, that he might constrain us all to adore his name? We now see why the Prophet describes the various changes which daily take place.

He speaks also of the waters of the sea, Who calleth, he says, the waters of the sea, and poureth them on the surface of the earth Some explain this of fountains; for they think that all waters proceed from the sea, and that fountains are nothing else but as it were the eyes of the sea: but this passage ought rather to be viewed as referring to rains; for the power of God is not so conspicuous in the waters which come from the earth, as when he suddenly darkens the heavens with vapors. For whence is it, that the heavens, a while ago clear, is now cloudy? We see clouds rising, — but at whose command? Philosophers indeed assign some natural causes; they say that vapors are drawn up both from the earth and the sea by the heat of the sun: but why is this done to-day rather than yesterday? Whence is this diversity, except that God shows that the element of water is under his control, and also the air itself, as veil as the vapors, which are formed as it were out of nothing? For what is vapor but gross air, or air condensed? and yet vapors arise from the hollow places of the earth as well as from the sea. Certainly the water could not of itself produce a new element: it is ponderous, and vapors rise up on high: how is it that water thus loses its own nature? But vapors are in a middle state between air and water, and yet they ascend above the air, and arise from the earth to the heavens. The Prophet therefore does not without reason say, that waters are called, that is, that these vapors are called, from the sea, and are afterwards poured on the surface of the earth. This may be understood of the clouds as well as of rain; for clouds extend over the earth and surround us; and rain is poured on the earth. This is doubtless the wonderful work of God.

Hence the Prophet concludes, Jehovah is his name It is not the idol which you have devised for yourselves; for your expiations might indeed draw a smile from a child but they cannot satisfy the judgment of God. Then think that you have to do with God himself, and let these fallacious delusions deceive you no longer.” It follows —

Amos 5:9

9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

9. Qui fortificat vastatorem super robustum, et vastator super munitiones ascendet. This version differs widely from ours, but is no doubt nearer the meaning of the original. Newcome’s translation is as follows —

Who scattereth desolation over the strong, And bringeth desolation over the fortress.

What comes nearest the original is the rendering proposed by Parkhurst, and is striking and poetical: the first line is this —

Who causeth the waster to laugh at strength.

The verb here used means primarily to laugh or to smile, and in a secondary sense, to be refreshed or made cheerful, or to be comforted. It is here in Hiphil, the causative mood. The whole verse may be thus rendered: —

Who causeth the waster to laugh at strength; And a waster on the fortress he will bring.

— Ed.

The Prophet speaks not now of the ordinary works of God, in which his majesty, inspiring the highest reverence, as well as his dread power, shines forth; but he more closely urges the Israelites, who had become so hardened in their vices, that they were wholly inflexible. Here then the Prophet charges them with contumacy and says, “What, think you, will take place? Ye are strong; but God will stir up robbers against you, who will prevail, and beat down and chatter in pieces that obduracy, through which you now resist God.” Thus after having filled them with dread by setting before them the course of nature, he now holds forth this threats that they would themselves have to feel the power of God: for however callous they were, and though in their ferocity they dared to rise up against God, he declares that it would avail them nothing; inasmuch as there was in God’s hand a waster, who would prevail against their obduracy.

And a waster, he says, shall ascend on the very fortresses, or shall enter the fortresses. The Prophet here, in an indirect way, laughs to scorn the vain confidence which filled the Israelites, on observing that they were inclosed in fortified cities and had defenses and a powerful army. All this, he says, will be wholly useless to them when God will raise up strong depredators, who will penetrate through well fortified gates, and leap over walls, and enter strongly defended cities. We now apprehend what the Prophet had in view in these words.

It will now be easy to apply this doctrine to our own instruction: Whenever we are not suitably moved, either by the truth, or by warnings, or by threatenings, let this come to our minds which the Prophet teaches here, namely, that God cannot be mocked, and that hypocrites gain nothing by their delusive ceremonies, when they sacrifice and present their expiations, which by no means please God, — how so? We may indeed easily learn the reason from the nature of God himself. Hence, that we may not transform God, let us learn to raise up our eyes to behold him, and also to look on all things around us; and this will constrain us to adore and fear his great power. It follows —

Amos 5:10

10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

10. Oderunt (odio habent) in porta corripientem, et loquentem rectum abominantur.

It is probable that in this verse also, the judges are reproved by the Prophet, though what is here said may be extended to the whole people: but as nearly the whole discourse is leveled against the judges, I readily subscribe to the opinion, that the Prophet now accuses the judges on this account, — because they could not bear to be reproved for the great license they allowed themselves, but, on the contrary, abhorred all those who reproved them. What then he says as to the reprover being hated in the gate, is to be thus explained: When judges sat in the gate and perverted justice and right, and when any one reminded them of their duty, they haughtily rejected all admonitions, and even hated them. In the gate then, that is, They who ought to rule others, and to correct whatever vice there may be among the people, cannot themselves bear any reprover, when their own vices require strong remedies.

And well would it be, if this disease were healed at this day. We indeed see that kings, and those in authority, wish to be deemed sacred, and they will allow no reproof. Instantly the majesty of God is violated in their person; for they complain and cry out, whenever teachers and God’s servants dare to denude their wicked conduct. This vice then, which the Prophet condemns, is not the vice of one time; for, even in the present day, those who occupy the seats of judgment wish to be exempt from all reproofs, and would claim for themselves a free liberty in sinning, inasmuch as they think not that they belong to the common class of men, and imagine themselves exempt from all reprehension; in short, they wish to rule without any equity, for power with them is nothing but unbridled licentiousness. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning. It now follows —

Amos 5:11

11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

11. Quia calcastis pauperem (vel, onus imposuistis,) et onus frumenti abstulistis ab eo, domos excisionis (hoc est, ex lapide quadrato) aedificabitis, et non habitabitis in illis; vineas desiderabiles plantabitis, et non bibetis vinum earum.

The Prophet here declares, that though the judges enriched themselves by plunder, yet God would not allow them to enjoy their booty, but that he would deprive them of the great wealth they had accumulated. This is the import of the whole. We hence see that the Prophet contends not here with the common people, but professedly attacks the chief men, inasmuch as from them did proceed all the prevailing evil.

The first thing is, they imposed burdens on the poor, and then, they took away corn from them He says first, “A burden have you laid”, or, “ye have trodden on the poor;” for the verb may be taken in either sense, and it matters not which as to the import of the passage. It is not indeed often that we meet with a verb of four letters; The verb is בושסכם, from בושם but in ten MSS. Of Kennicott, and in five of D’Rossi, the ו is left out: and then ש is supposed to be put for ס, as Amos in another place, Amos 7:14, puts ס for ש. The verb בס, and in its reduplicate form בסס, occurs in other places, and means to tread or trample under foot. The expression here literally is, “your trampling;” but such a form may often be expressed in our language, “ye trample.” The connection of the whole verse will be better seen by the following version: —

Therefore, as ye trample on the poor, And tribute of corn extort from him, — Houses of hewn stone you may build, But ye shall not dwell in them; Vineyards of delight ye may plant, But ye shall not drink their wine.

— Ed. but interpreters explain this as meaning to tread under foot or to lay a burden. The Prophet, I doubt not, accuses here the judges of not sparing miserable men, but of burdening them with tributes and exactions; for this is to burden the poor. Then he adds, “Ye have taken a load of corn”. The Prophet had doubtless fixed here on a species of cruelty in robbing others, the most detestable. When judges take money, or any other gift, it is less odious than when the poor are compelled to carry corn to them on their shoulders. It was the same as though they surrendered their very life to their plunderers; for when judges constrained loads of corn to be brought to them, it was as though they strangled the poor, or drew blood from their veins, inasmuch as they robbed them of their food and support. We now perceive what the Prophet meant: You have, he says, oppressed the poor, and taken from them a load of corn. Some render בר, ber, chosen, but improperly.

Ye shall therefore build, etc. He declares here that they would not realize their hope, though they plundered on all sides to build palaces, and though they got great possessions to enrich themselves and their heirs: “This self-love,” he says, “will deceive you; defraud, rob, plunder; but the Lord will at length strip you of all your robberies: for after having been venal, and prostituted not only your souls but your shame for gain, and after having spent much labor and expense in building, ye shall not dwell in your palaces; and when ye shall have planted vineyards with great expense and care, ye shall not drink their wine.” Isaiah also speaks in the same strain,

‘O plunderer, thou shalt be exposed to plunders’ (Isaiah 33:1)

Experience also teaches the same thing; for we see how the Lord transfers from one to another the possessions of this world: he who seems to provide riches after his death for his heirs for ever, passes his whole life, as we see, without enjoying his own property; for he is hungry in the midst of the greatest abundance, and even famishes himself. This is very frequently the case. And then when his abundance comes to his heirs, it falls into the hands of prodigals, who soon dissipate the whole. And sometimes the Lord allows not that such vast wealth should have heirs, and it is scattered here and there, and the very name is extinguished, though the name to such haughty and wealthy men is a great object, as they commonly wish it to be eminent in the world for some hundred ages after their death.

This passage of the Prophet ought therefore to be especially noticed. He tells us that unjust gains were laid up by these robbers and wicked plunderers, in order to amass great riches; but he adds, “The Lord will spoil them, and will not suffer them to enjoy their abundance, however anxiously they had collected it from all quarters.” Let us now proceed —

Amos 5:12

12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right

12. Quia cognosco magnas iniquitates vestras (vel, multas, רבים) et robusta scelera vestra; efflictores justi, sublatores redemptionis, et pauperes in porta declinare faciunt (hoc est, causa cadere faciunt.)

The Prophet introduces God here as the speaker, that the threatening might be more authoritative: for we know, at it has been before stated, that the Prophets were despised by haughty men; but when God himself appeared as it were before them, it was strange if no fear laid hold on them; they had at least no excuse for their presumption, if God’s name did not touch their hearts and humble them.

I know, he says, your iniquities; as though he said, “Ye do not think yourselves bound to render an account to men, as probably no such account; will be rendered by you; but how will you be able, think you, to escape my tribunal? for I am your judge, and mine is the government: however ferociously ye now tread on the poor, and evasively contend with me, your crimes must necessarily be judged by me; I know your crimes. And as the rich by their splendor covered every wickedness, particularly the magistrates, who were adorned with a public character, God says that their turpitude was fully known to him: as though he said “Contend as much as you please, still your iniquities are sufficiently apparent to me; ye will gain nothing by your subtle evasions.” Moreover, he reprehends them not merely for slight offenses, but says that they were wholly past being borne with. When something is done amiss by the highest power, indulgence is commonly granted; for nothing is more difficult than for one who sustains so great and heavy a burden, to retain so much integrity as to be free from every blame: but the Lord shows here that they were not lightly culpable, but that their crimes were so grievous and flagrant that they could not be endured. We now then understand what was the object of the Prophet.

When therefore their own greatness dazzles the eyes of proud men, let us know that they cannot deprive God of his right; for though he may not judge them to-day, he will yet shortly ascend his tribunal: and he reminds them, that those pompous displays by which they cover their many crimes, are only shadows which will vanish. This is what the Prophet means.

Then he calls them, The oppressors of the just He enumerates here some particulars, with regard to which, the iniquity of the judges whom he now addresses might be, as it were, felt to be gross and abominable. Ye oppress he says, the just; this was one thing: then follows another, They take כפר, capher, expiation, or, the price of redemption. The Prophet, I have no doubt, meant to point out here something different from the former crime. Though interpreters blend these two things, I yet think them to be wholly different; for these mercenary judges made an agreement with the wicked, whenever any homicide or other violence was perpetrated; in short, whenever any one implicated himself in any grievous sin, they saw that there was a prey taken, and anxiously gaped for it: they wished murders to be committed daily, that they might acquire gain. Since, then, these judges were thus intent on bribery, the Prophet accuses them as being takers of ransom. They ought to have punished crimes; this they did not; but they let go the wicked unpunished; they spared murderers, and adulterers, and robbers, and sorcerers not indeed without rewards, for they brought the price of redemption, and departed as if they were innocent.

We now perceive what the Prophet means here; and well would it be were this crime not so common: but at this day, the cruelty of many judges appears especially in this — that they hunt for crimes for the sake of gain, which seems to be as it were a ransom; for this is the proper meaning of the word כפר, capher. As then this evil commonly prevails it is no wonder that the Prophet, while reprehending the corruptions of his time, says, that judges took a ransom.

Then he adds, The poor they turn aside from judgment in the gate This is the third crime: the Prophet complains, that they deprived miserable men of their right, because they could not bring so large a bribe as the rich; though relying on the goodness of their cause, they thought themselves sure of victory. The Prophet complains, that they were disappointed of their hope, and their right was denied them in the gate, that is, in the court of justice; for we know that it was an ancient custom for judges to sit in the gates, and there to administer justice; And hence Amos mentions here gate twice: and what he complains of was the more disgraceful, inasmuch as the judicial court was, as it were, a sacred asylum, to which injured men resorted, that they might have their wrongs redressed. When this became the den of robbers, what any more remained for them? We now then see that the Prophet speaks not here of the common people, but that he mainly levels his reproofs against the rulers. Let us go on —

Amos 5:13

13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

13. Propterea prudens in tempore hoc silebit, quia tempus hoc malum est. This verse literally rendered from the Hebrew is as follows: —

Therefore, the prudent at that time will be silent; For a time of evil will that be.

It is a rule, which may be viewed as nearly if not wholly, universal, that the substantive verb, to be, whenever understood and not expressed in the original, is to be rendered in the same tense with the other verbs in the sentence. So here, “A time of evil will that be,” and not, “is;” for the previous verb is in the future tense.

There are many instances of the neglect of this rule in our version, as in Psalm 23:4, “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;” it ought to be, “for thou wilt be with me.” And then the line which follows ought be rendered in the same way, for the verb is in the future tense, — “Thy rod and thy staff, they will comfort me.” — Ed.

Some interpreters think that a punishment is here denounced on the people of Israel, and that is, that the Lord would deprive them of Prophets and teachers. We indeed know that nothing is more to be dreaded, than that the Lord should extinguish the light of sound doctrine, and suffer us to go astray in darkness, yea, to stumble, and to rush headlong to ruin, as they do who are destitute of wholesome counsels. But I think that the meaning is quite different. Another exposition may be deemed probable, which is this, that the prudent dared not to speak on account of the prevailing tyranny; for Amos had said before that the judges, who then ruled, would not bear reproof. Hence, the prudent were forced to be silent at that time, for that time was evil; and every liberty of teaching was taken away. And this meaning opens still wider; for the silent would have to bear the wrongs done to them, and to devour inwardly their own groans, for they dared not to complain; nay, the very teachers did not oppose the torrent, for they saw that it was not the time to resist haughty and violent men. But this view may be also fitly applied to God’s judgment, that the prudent would be silent, being put in fear: for silence is often connected with fear: and it is a dreadful judgment of God, when the prudent closes his mouth, or puts his hand, as it is said elsewhere, on his mouth.

As to the first exposition, I have already rejected it, and it has certainly nothing in its favor: but the second may be accommodated to the general meaning of the Prophet, that is, the prudent shall be silent at that time, because all liberty shall be taken away. I am, at the same time, unwilling thus to restrict it, as they do; for it became not a wise man to pass by in silence sins so grievous: though tyrants threatened hundred deaths, yet those on whom was laid the necessity of teaching ought not to have been silent. But the Prophet here speaks not of what the prudent would do or omit to do; on the contrary, he intimates, that whenever they began to speak, the arrogance of the judges would be so great as to repel all reproofs. The prudent then shall be silent, not willingly; for that, as I have said, would have been unworthy of wise men. And the Prophet here, by way of honor, calls those prudent who rightly discern things, who are not led away by corruptions, but remain upright; who, though they see the whole order of things collapsing, and though they see heaven and earth, as it were, mingled together, yet retain a sound judgment. Since the Prophet speaks of such men, he certainly does not mean that they would be willingly silent; for it would have been a base indolence in them thus to betray the truth and a good cause. What then does he mean? Even this — that the wickedness of tyrants would be so great, as not to allow one word to be declared by the prudent; when any one came forth to reprove their vices, he was not suffered.

When therefore he says, that the time would be evil, he means, that such audacity would prevail, that all liberty would be denied to wise men. They would then be forced to be silent, for they could effect nothing by speaking, nay, they would have no freedom of speech allowed them: and though they attempted to discharge their office, yet tyrannical violence would instantly impose silence on them. Similar was the case with Lot, of whom it is said that he groaned and vexed his own heart, (Genesis 16:1) He was constrained, I have no doubt, to be silent after having often used free reproofs; nay, he doubtless exposed himself to many dangers by his attempts to reprove the Sodomites. Such seems to me to be the meaning of the Prophet, when he says, that the prudent would be silent, because these tyrants would impose silence on all teachers, — now throwing them into prisons, then banishing them, — now denouncing death on them, then visiting them with some punishment, or loading them with reproaches, or treating them with ridicule as persons worthy of contempt. We now understand the Prophet’s, design. We may further observe, that men have then advanced to the extremity of evil, when reception is no more given to sound doctrine and salutary counsels, and when all liberty is sternly suppressed, so that prudent men dare not to reprove vices, however rampant they may be, which even children observe, and the blind feel. When licentiousness has arrived to this pitch, it is certain that the state of things is past recovery and that there is no hope of repentance or of a better condition: and this was the meaning of the Prophet.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as we cannot see with our eyes thy infinite and incomprehensible glory, which is hid from us, we may learn at least by thy works, what thy great power is, so as to be humbled under thy mighty hand, and never trifle with thee as hypocrites are wont to do; but to bring a heart really sincere, and also pure hands, that our whole life may testify that a true fear of thy name prevails, in our hearts: and grant, that whilst we devote ourselves wholly to thy service, we may courageously and with invincible hearts, fight against all these corruptions, by which we are on every side beset, until, having finished our warfare, we attain to that celestial rest, which has been prepared for us by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture Fifty-ninth

Amos 5:14

14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

14. Quaerite bonum et non malum, ut vivatis; et erit hoc modo Jehova, Deus exercituum, vobiscum, quemadmodum dixistis.

The Prophet again repeats, that it was only owing to the Israelites themselves that it was not well with them; for God was ready to grant them his blessing; but they designedly sought a curse for themselves. Inasmuch, then, the hypocrites are wont to put away from themselves the blame of every evil, and to complain of their miseries, as though the Lord afflicted them unjustly, the Prophet here shows, that no evil happened to the Israelites, but what they procured by their vices: and at the same time he exhorts them to repentance, and gives them the hope of pardon, provided they hardened not their hearts to the last. He therefore bids them to seek good; but by adding, seek not evil, his words are full of meaning, as though he had said, that they were so fixed in their own wickedness, that they could not be torn away from it. The import of the whole, then, is this — that the Israelites could not complain of being too severely treated by God, because they suffered not themselves to be kindly dealt with. And the Prophet assigns this as the reason — that they were not only alienated from what was good, but that they also with avidity and eager desire followed what was evil: in the meantime he exhorts them to repentance and adds a promise the more to encourage them.

Seek then good, he says, that ye may live; And then he adds, And thus God will be with you, as ye have said. Here the wickedness of the people is reproved who sought to bind God to themselves; for hypocrites are wont to misapply the promises: when they presumptuously reject God himself, they still wish him to be under an obligation to them. Thus they gloried that they were the children of Abraham, an elect people; circumcision was to them like a royal diadem; they sought to be superior to all other nations: and thus they abused the name of God, and at the same time they petulantly scorned both the word of God and his Prophets. As, then, they ever boasted that God was dwelling in the midst of them, the Prophet says, “Then and thus will God be with you if ye seek what is good or the doing of good;” for to seek good is nothing else than to endeavor to do good; as though he said “Change your nature and your manners; for hitherto iniquity has prevailed among you; you have been violent, and rapacious, and fraudulent: begin now to do good, then God will be with you.”

There is therefore a great emphasis to be laid on the particle כן, can, thus will God be with you: for the Prophet reminds them of what so often occurs in the law, “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” who dwell in the midst of you, (Leviticus 11:44) God shows, in these words, that it could not be that he would dwell with the Israelites except they sanctified themselves, that there might be a mutual agreement. But they had no regard for holiness, and yet wished God to be bound to them. This false confidence the Prophet derides, and says, that a certain condition is fixed in the law, according to which God would dwell in the midst of them. Thus then will God be in the midst of you; that is, when he sees that you strive after uprightness and the doing of good.

I have already explained what this means, as ye have said; for he proves that foolish vaunting to be false which was heard among the Israelites: “Has not the Lord chosen and adopted us as his people? Is not the ark of the covenant a sure pledge of his presence? How then could he depart from us? God would deny himself, were he not to keep his pledged faith; for he covenanted with our fathers, that we should be his flock even to the end of the world.” Since, then, they thus foolishly boasted, and were, at the same time, covenant breakers, the Prophet says, “Ye boast, indeed, by your mouth that God is in the midst of you, but see what he in his turn stipulates and requires from you. If, then, ye respond to his call, he will not surely be wanting to his pledged faith; but as ye willfully depart from him, he must necessarily become alienated from you.” We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet in these words. It follows —

Amos 5:15

15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

15. Odio habete malum et dilligite bonum; et statuite in porta judicium, si forte misereatur Jehova Deus exercituum reliquiarum Joseph.

The Prophet inculcates the same truth; and he did this designedly; for he saw that nothing was more difficult than to bring this people to repentance, who, in the first place, were by nature refractory; and, in the second place, were hardened by long habit in their vices. For Satan gains dominion by degrees in the hearts of men, until he renders them wholly stupid so that they discern not between right and wrong. Such, then, was the blindness which prevailed among the people of Israel: it was therefore necessary often to goad them as Amos does here.

Hence he bids them to hate evil and to love good. And this order ought to be preserved, when we desire really to turn to God and to repent. Amos here addresses perverse men, who were so immersed in their own wickedness, that they distinguished no longer between light and darkness: it was therefore not without reason that he begins with this sentence, that they should hate evil; as though he had said, that there had been hitherto a hostile disagreement between them and God, and that therefore a change was necessary, in order that they might return to him. For when any one has already wished to devote himself to God’s service, this exhortation to hate evil is superfluous: but when one is sunk still in his own vices, he has need of such a stimulant. The Prophet therefore does here reprove them; and though they flattered themselves, he yet shows that they were greatly addicted to their vices.

He afterwards adds, Love good. He intimates, that it would be a new thing for them to cultivate benevolence, and to apply themselves to what was right. The import of the whole is this, — that the Israelites would have no peace with God, until they were wholly changed and became new men; for they were now strangers to goodness, and given to wickedness and depravity. But Amos mentions here only a part of repentance: for טוב, thub, no doubt means the doing of good, as iniquity is properly called רע, ro [the doing of evil.] He speaks not here of faith, or of prayer to God, but describes repentance by its fruits; for our faith, as it has been stated in other places, is proved in this way; it manifests itself, when sincerity and uprightness towards one another flourish in us, when we spontaneously love one another and perform the duties of love. Thus then by stating a part for the whole, is repentance here described; that is, the whole, as they commonly say, is shown by a part.

But now the Prophet adds, And set up judgment in the gate He here glances at the public state of things, of which we have largely spoken in our yesterday’s lecture. A deluge of iniquity had so inundated the land, that in the very courts of justice, and in the passing of judgments, there was no longer any equity, any justice. Since then corruption had taken possession of the very gates, the Prophet exhorts them to set up judgment in the gate; it may be, he says, that God will show mercy to the remnants of Joseph. The Prophet shows here that it was hardly possible that the people should continue safe; nay, that this was altogether hopeless. But as the common degeneracy, like a violent tempest, carried away the good along with it, the Prophet here admonishes the faithful not to despond, though they were few in number, but to retake themselves to God, to suffer others to fall away and to run headlong to ruin, and at the same time to provide for their own safety, as those who flee away from the burning.

We now then understand the object of the Prophet: for when the whole multitude, given up to destruction, had laid aside every care for their safety, a few remained, who yet suffered themselves to be borne along, as though a tempest, as it has been said, had carried them away. The Prophet then does here give comfort to such good men as were still alive, and shows that though the people were sinking, there was no reason for them to despair, for the Lord still promised to be propitious to them. What this doctrine teaches is this, — that ten ought not to regard what a thousand may do; but they ought to hear God speaking, rather than to abandon themselves with the multitude; when they see men blindly and impetuously running headlong to their own ruin, they should not follow them, but rather listen to God, and not reject his offered salvation. However much then their small number may dishearten them, they ought not yet to suffer God’s promises to be forced or snatched away from them, but fully to embrace them.

The expression, it may be, is not one of doubt, as it has been stated in another place, (Joel 2:1) but the Prophet, on the contrary, intended sharply to stimulate the faithful, that he might, as it was needful, increase their alacrity. Whenever then פן, pen, lest perhaps or אולי, auli, it may be, is set down, let us know, that they are not intended to leave men’s minds in suspense or perplexity, that they may despond or come to God in doubt; but that a difficulty is thereby implied, in order to stir them up and to increase the ardor of their desire: and this is necessary in a mixed state of things, for we see how great is the indolence of our flesh. Even they who desire to return to God, do not hasten with that ardor which becomes them, but creep slowly, and hardly draw themselves along; and then when many obstacles meet them, they who would have been otherwise full of courage, almost despair at every step. It is therefore necessary to apply such goadings as these, “Take heed; for when any one is beset on every side by fire, he will not long delay, nor think with himself how he may escape without any hurt and without any inconvenience; but he will risk danger rather than that he should by delay or tardiness deprive himself of a way of escape. So also ye see, that iniquity surrounds you on every side; what then is to be done except that each of you must quickly flee away?”

We now then perceive the design of the Prophet in saying, It may be that he will show mercy. The sum of the whole is this, — That there was need of a great change, that they might become altogether new men, who had hitherto devoted themselves to wickedness, — and then, that the few should not wait until the whole multitude joined them; for though the people resolved to go astray, yet God ought to have been attended to, when recalling the few to himself and bidding them to escape, as it were, from the burning, — and, thirdly, that there is stated here a difficulty, that those still healable might not come tardily to God, but that they might strive against impediments and quickly run to him seeing that they could not without great effort extricate themselves; they were therefore to come to God, not slowly; but having overcome all difficulties, they were on the contrary, to flee to him. It now follows —

Amos 5:16

16. Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

16. Quapropter dicit Jehova Deus exercituum, Dominus, In omnibus compitis lamentum, et in omnibus viis dicent, Vae, vae; et vocabunt agricolam ad luctum, et lamentum erit super omnes peritos luctus.

The particle of inference, set down here, confirms what has been already said, — that the Israelites vainly flattered themselves, though they were in the worst condition. And as the Prophet knew that there would be no end to their evasions, being, as they were, perverse hypocrites, he cuts off all their subterfuges by saying, that God had now announced his purpose concerning them, and that however they might object this or that, God’s judgment could no longer be deferred by delay, for their iniquity was more than sufficiently proved.

Therefore Jehovah, he says, God of hosts, the Lord, saith. He again repeats the attributes of God, in order to set forth his supreme power; as though he had said, that the Israelites gained nothing by acting the part of sophisters with God; for that he is the supreme judge, against whom there is no appeal, and whose sentence cannot be revoked. Hence we see that what is here checked is that waywardness which deceived the Israelites, while they continued to clamor against God. Thus then saith Jehovah; this was said, that they might understand that they were depraved in their disposition, corrupt in morals, wholly given to wickedness, and without a particle of goodness in them.

Thus then saith God, In all the streets of concourse there shall be lamentation, and in all the highways they shall say, Woe! Woe! Henderson gives a better rendering of these two lines, —

In all the broad places there shall be wailing, And in all the streets, they shall say, Oh! Oh!

רחבות, from רחב, to be dilated, and to be made broad or wide, mean broad places or broad streets: and חוצות, from חצה, to divide, signify the common streets, by which the town is divided. The exclamations, הו, הו, are rendered by Calvin, Vae! Vae! Eheu, in Latin, and Woe, in our language come nearest to sound in the original. —Ed. The Prophet disputes not here with them, nor denounces their vices, but speaks only of punishment; as though he had said, that the litigation was decided, that there was no need of an accuser; for nothing now remained but that God should execute his vengeance on them, inasmuch as he had already contended more than enough with them. And this mode of teaching frequently occurs in the Prophets; and it ought to be observed, that we may not think that we can gain anything by our evasions, when the Lord regards us as guilty. Let us then dread the punishment, which is prepared for all the intractable and the obstinate. They shall say, he says, in all the highways, Woe! Woe! They now prattle and think to prevail by their loquacity: when they murmur against God, they think that a delay is thus attained, that he dares not to inflict punishment; but God nevertheless proceeds with his judgment; they shall cry, Woe! Woe! there will be no time then for devising shifts, but they will be wholly taken up with wailing.

They shall call, he says, the husbandman to mourning Some think אכר, acar, derived from נכר, nucar, which is to own, or, to make, one’s self a stranger: and they are induced to regard it so only for this reason, because the Prophet immediately mentions those who were skillful in mourning. But, as all the Hebrews agree as to the meaning of this word, I am unwilling, without authority to make any change: and it also harmonizes well with what the Prophet says. At the same time, those Hebrew interpreters are wrong, who think that the order is inverted, as though it ought to have been thus, “The skillful in lamentation shall call husband men to mourning.” But the Prophet, I doubt not, meant, that all were to be led together to mourning; for, though the manner was different, yet, in the first place, he appoints mourning to husbandmen, and then he shows that it would be common to all those who were wont to mourn.

Let us then consider what the Prophet says, Lamentation to all the skillful in mourning. Eastern nations we know, exercised themselves in acting grief, and so they do at this day. We find, indeed, that they practiced all manner of gesticulations: a greater moderation at least is seen among us, however heavy the grief may be. And this custom in former times came also into Europe; for we know that there were women hired to mourn at Rome; and we know that there were everywhere those who lamented. They therefore mourned for wages. This vicious custom the Prophet notices: but it is not discussed here whether this was done rightly or foolishly: for the Prophet here only refers to a common custom; ‘There will be lamentations’ he says, ‘to all the skillful in mourning;’ that is, all who are wont to employ their labor in weeping will now be fully occupied. This is the first, though the last in order, at least it is the middle between two other clauses. Now, the two others follow, which are these, — that the very husbandmen would be led to mourning, — and then that there would be lamentation in all the highways. But why does the Prophet say, that all the skillful in mourning were to be occupied in lamentation? Because the common calamity would thus constrain them. He further adds, that this grief would not be feigned; but that as destruction would prevail through the cities and fields none would be exempt. However much the husbandmen were unaccustomed to such rites, they would yet wail and learn this new art, says the Prophet. We now then see what these words mean: but the next verse must be joined to them —

Amos 5:17

17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord

17. Et in omnibus vineis lamentum, quia transibo in medio tui, inquit Jehova.

A reason is now added, why the whole country would be taken up with lamentation and mourning; for the Lord would pass through the whole land. Surely nothing was more to be desired, than that God should visit his own land; but he here declares that he would pass through as an enemy. As then an enemy runs through a country and spreads devastation wherever he comes, such would be the passing through, which the Prophet now threatens. “God, then, of whom ye boast, as dwelling in the midst of you, will come forth, lay waste, and consume the whole land, as when an enemy spreads ruin far and wide.”

But the Prophet seems to allude to the passing of God, described by Moses in Exodus 11. The Lord then passed through the middle of Egypt; that is, his wrath pervaded the whole land; no corner was safe or tranquil, for God’s vengeance penetrated through every part of it. So also now the Prophet intimates, that the land of Israel would be like that of Egypt; for the Lord, who then testified his love towards the children of Abraham, would now, on the contrary, show himself an enemy to them, while passing through the midst of them. And the Prophet again indirectly ridicules the vain confidence by which the Israelites were blinded, while they used God’s name as a pretext, as it will more clearly appear from what follows, for he says —

Amos 5:18

18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

18. Vae desiderantibus diem Jehovae! Ad quid hoc vobis? Dies Jehovae ipse tenebrae et non lux.

The Prophet expresses here more fully what he briefly and obscurely touched upon as to the passing of God through the land; for he shows that the Israelites acted strangely in setting up the name of God as their shield, as though they were under his protection, and in still entertaining a hope, though oppressed with many evils, because God had promised that they should be the objects of his care: he says that this was an extremely vain pretense. He yet more sharply reproves their presumption by saying, “Woe to those who desire the day of Jehovah!” This appears, even at the firstview, to be very severe; but we need not wonder that the Prophet burns with too much indignation towards hypocrites, from whom that security, through which they became ferocious against God, could hardly be shaken off. And we see that the holy Spirit treats hypocrites everywhere with much more severity than those who are openly impious and wicked: for the despisers of God, how stupid soever they may be, do not yet excuse their vices; but hypocrites seek ever to draw in God into the quarrel, and they have their veils to cover their turpitude: it was therefore necessary to treat them, as the Prophet does here, with sharpness and severity.

Woe, he says, to those who desire the day of Jehovah! Some expound this day of Jehovah of the day of death, and pervert the meaning of the Prophet; for they think that the Prophet speaks here of desperate men, who seek self-destruction, or lay violent hands on themselves. Woe, then, to those who desire the day of Jehovah, that is, who have recourse to hanging or to poison, as no other remedy appears to them. But the Prophet, as I have already reminded you, does here on the contrary rouse hypocrites. Others think that the contempt which Amos has before noticed, is here reproved; and this in part is true; but they do not sufficiently follow up the Prophet’s design; for they do not observe what is special in this place, — that hypocrites flattered themselves, falsely assuming this as a truth, that they were the people of God, and that God was bound to them. Though, then, the Israelites had been a hundred times perfidious, they yet continued arrogantly to boast of their circumcision; and then the law and the sacrifices, and all their ceremonies, were to them as banners, — “O! we are a holy nation, and God’s heritage; we are the children of Abraham, and the redeemed of the Lord; we are a priestly kingdom.” As then these things were ready in the mouth of all, the Prophet says, “Woe to those who desire the day of Jehovah!” And, indeed, when the Lord had begun to punish them for their sins, they still said, “The Lord, it may be, intends to try our constancy: but how can he destroy us? for he would then be false; his covenant cannot be made void: it is then certain that we shall be saved, and that he will be shortly reconciled to us.” They did not indeed expect that God would be propitious to them; but as they were overwhelmed with many evils, they sought to allay their sorrows by such a drug.

When therefore the Prophet saw, that the Israelites so waywardly flattered themselves, and so foolishly and wickedly laid claim to the name of God, he says, Woe to those who desire the day of Jehovah! What will this be, he says, to you? The day of Jehovah will be darkness and not light; as though he said, “God is an enemy to you, and the nearer he comes to you, the more grievously you must be afflicted: he will bring nothing to you but devastation, for he will come armed to destroy you. There is therefore no reason for you to boast that you are a chosen people, that you are a priestly kingdom, for ye are fallen away from the favor of God; and this is to be imputed to your own misconduct. God then is armed for your destruction; and whenever he will appear, he will at the same time pursue you with cruelty and violence; and it will be for your destruction that God will come thus armed to you. Whenever then the Lord will come, your evils must necessarily be increased. The day then of Jehovah will be darkness and not light.” He afterwards confirms this truth —

Amos 5:19

19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

19. Quemadmodum si quis fugiat coram leone, et occurrat ei ursus; et veniat domum suam, et nitatur manu sua super parietem, et eum mordeat coluber.

20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

20. Annon tenebrae dies Jehovae et non lux? et caligo et non splendor ei?

Here is expressed more clearly what the Prophet had said before, — that hypocrites can have no hope, that the various changes, which may take place, will bring them any alleviation. Hypocrites, while straying in circuitous courses, do indeed promise better things to themselves, when the condition of the times is changed: and as Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, so hypocrites imitate the true servants of God. But it is a false imitation; for these are only fading flowers, no fruit follows; and besides, they proceed not from a living root. When the children of God are at any time pressed down by adverse events, they sustain and patiently nourish their faith with this consolation, — that clouds soon pass away: so also when the Lord chastises them with temporal punishment, he will presently return into favor with them. Hypocrites present the same outward appearance; but they widely differ from the faithful: for when the faithful promise to themselves a prosperous issue, they are at the same time touched with a sense of their own evils, and study to reconcile themselves to God; but hypocrites continue immersed in their vices and boldly despise God; and at the same time they see here and there, and when any change happens they think that they have got rid of all evils. Inasmuch then as they deceived themselves with vain consolation, the Prophet now says, “You have no cause to think that it will be better with you, when one calamity shall pass away; for the same thing will happen to you, as when one flees away from a lion and meets with a bear, as when one escapes from a bear, and betakes himself to his own house, and there a serpent finds him: while he is leaning with his hand on the wall, a serpent bites him. Thus the Lord has in readiness various and many ways, by which he can punish you. When therefore ye shall have sustained one battle, when one enemy departs, the battle will be immediately renewed and that by another enemy: when a foreign power does not rage through the kingdom of Israel, the Lord will consume you either by famine, or by want, or by pestilence.” We then see how well the context of the Prophet harmonizes together.

“You have no reason,” he says, “to hope for any light from the day of Jehovah.” Why? “For Jehovah will not come, except when armed; for, as ye conduct yourselves in a hostile manner towards him, he must necessarily take vengeance. He will, therefore, bring with him no light, except it may be to fulminate against you: but his appearance will be dreadful, even darkness and thick darkness; and then, when he ceases to pursue you in one way, he will assail you in another; and, when foreign enemies spare you, God will find means by which he may destroy you in your own land without the agency of men; for ye have already found what the sterility of the land is, and what pestilence is: the Lord then has all such modes of vengeance in his own hand. Think not, therefore, that there will be any alleviation to you, were the world to change a hundred times, and were the condition of the country wholly different.”

But the Prophet did not intend here to drive all those indiscriminately into despair, who were guilty of grievous offenses, but his design was to shake off from hypocrites their self-flatteries, that by such proofs they might be led to know that God would be ever like himself. If, then, they wished to return into favor with him, he shows that a change was needful: when they put off their perverse conduct, God would be instantly ready to give them pardon; but, if they proceeded in their vices and obstinate wickedness, and always continued in that hardness, in which they had hitherto indulged, he declares, that the day of Jehovah would be ever to them dark and gloomy, and that, though the Lord does not always use the same kind of rod, he yet has means innumerable, by which he can destroy a perverse nation, such as the Israelites then were.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that seeing we are so sleepy, yea, so fascinated by our sins, that nothing is more difficult than to put off our own nature and to renounce that wickedness to which we have become habituated, — O grant, that we, being really awakened by thy scourgings, may truly return to thee, and that, having wholly changed our disposition and renounced all wickedness, we may sincerely, and from the heart, submit ourselves to thee, and so look forward to the coming of thy Son, that we may cheerfully and joyfully wait for him, by ever striving after such a renovations of life as may strip us of our flesh and all corruptions, until, being at length renewed after thine image, we become partakers of that glory, which has been obtained for us by the blood of the same, thy only-begotten Son. Amen.

Lecture Sixtieth

Amos 5:21-23

21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

21. Odi, reprobavi dies festos vestros, et non olfaciam in solennitatibus vestris (alii legunt, sacrificia vestra, et non olfaciam in congregationibus vestris; sed de vocibus postea dicam suo loco.)

22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

22. Certe si obtuleritis mihi holocausta et munera vestra, grata non habebo: et pacifica pinguium vestrorum non respiciam.

23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

23. Tolle a me multitudinem canticorum tuorum; et concertum lyrarum tuarum non audiam.

Here the Prophet, anticipating an objection, shows that the Israelites deceived themselves, for they believed that God was pacified by their sacrifices: he declares all these to be useless; not only, as I think, because they themselves were impure; but because all their sacrifices were mere profanations. We have said elsewhere that sacrifices are often reprehended by the Prophets, when not accompanied by godliness and sincerity: for why did God command sacrifices to be offered to him under the law, except as religious exercises? It was hence necessary that they should be accompanied with penitence and faith. But hypocrites thought, as we have seen, that they thereby discharged their whole duty: it was then a profanation of divine worship. Though the Jews, as to the external form, had not departed from the rule of the law, yet their sacrifices were vicious, and repudiated by God: “I cannot bear them — they are a weariness to me — I repudiate them — I loathe them,” — these are expressions we meet with every where in Isaiah. And yet hypocrites regarded their worship as conformable to the law; but impurity of heart vitiated all their works, and this was the reason that God rejected every thing which the Jews thought available for holiness. But different, as I think, was the design of our Prophet: for it was not only for this reason that he blamed the Israelites, — because they falsely pretended God’s name in their sacrifices, but because they were apostates; for they had departed from the teaching of the law, and built for themselves a spurious temple.

It is yet true that they were deluded with this false notion, that their sins were expiated by sacrifices: but God reproved the Israelites, not only for this gross error, with which the Jews were also infected but for having renounced his true and lawful worship. Hence the external form of their worship deserved to be condemned; for it was not right to offer sacrifices except on mount Zion: but they, without having the ark of the covenant, devised a worship else-where, and even there worshipped the calves. We now understand the design of the Prophet: and this ought to be carefully observed, for interpreters think that the Prophet had nothing else in view, but to condemn a false presumption in the Israelites, because they sought to satisfy God with external sacrifices, while they were yet continuing obstinately in their sins. But the other evil ought to be added, which was, that they had corrupted the true worship of God even in its outward form.

Having now pointed out the prophet’s object, I come to consider his words, I have hated, I have rejected, etc. The word חגג, chegig, means to leap and to dance: hence חג, cheg, signifies a sacrifice as well as a festal day. Some then render the words, “I have rejected your sacrifices,” and those which follow, thus, “I will not smell at your solemnities.” Others render the last word, “assemblies.” עצר, otser, means to restrain, and sometimes to gather: hence עצרה, ostare, means an assembly or a congregation. But עצרת, osteret, means a festal day, because the people, as it is well known, were then restrained from work, and also, because they were detained in the sanctuary. But with respect to the subject itself, it makes but little difference, whether we read assembly or a festal day: we see that what the Prophet meant was this, — that God rejected all the rites, by which the Israelites thought that he was pacified, as though they were the most effectual expiations. He does not simply declare that they were of no account before God; but he speaks much stronger and says, that God despised and abhorred them. I regard, he says, with hatred your festal days. He speaks also of burnt offerings,

When ye offer me sacrifices and your gift, etc. מנחה, meneche, properly means a gift of flour, which was an addition to the sacrifice; but it is often taken generally for any kind of offering. It is indeed certain that the Prophet meant, that however much the Israelites accumulated their ritual observances, they did nothing towards appeasing God, inasmuch as they observed not the law that was given them; and they turned also to a wrong purpose their sacrifices; for they did not exercise themselves in piety and in the spiritual worship of God, but, on the contrary, spread veils before God, that by presenting a fictitious form of worship, they might cover all their sins; for they thought themselves to be hidden from God.

This is the reason why the Prophet declares that these offerings would not be received by God, לא ארצה, la areste, I will not accept them. The Prophet no doubt alludes here to those promises, which are to be found everywhere in the law, as he did when he said in the last verse, לא אריח, la arich, I will not smell רוחה, ruch, means to smell; and Moses often uses the expression, that God is delighted with the odour of sacrifices, or with the smell of incense. But when the Lord declares that odour is pleasant to him, he means that it is so, provided the people sacrificed rightly, that is, when they brought not sacrifices as false veils to cover their sins, but as true and real evidences of their faith and repentance; God promised in that case that sacrifices would be a sweet odour to him. Now, on the contrary, he declares that the perfume would not be acceptable to him, nor sacrifices appeasing. But sacrifices not only were acceptable to God, but also pacified him. Since then the Lord had so often said, that he would be propitious to his people, when sacrifices were offered, it was necessary expressly to cut off this confidence from the Israelites, when they dealt not faithfully with God. God never disappointed his true worshipers, but ever received them into favor, provided they approached him in sincerity. But as these hypocrites dealt falsely with him, they were necessarily disappointed of their hope, as the Prophet here declares.

The peace-offerings of your fat things, he says, I will not regard God indeed promised in the law that he would regard their sacrifices provided they were lawful; but as the Israelites had in two ways departed from pure worship, God now justly says, I will not look on your sacrifices, nor on the peace-offerings of your fat things He calls them the peace-offerings of fat things, intimating, that though the beasts were the choicest, they would not yet be acceptable to him; for the Lord regards not fatness, as he needs neither meat nor drink. Then, in a word, the Prophet here sets this fatness in opposition to true godliness and obedience too. In both respects there was, as we have seen, a defect among the Israelites; for they obeyed not the law as to its outward requirements, and their hearts were impure and perverse: hence all their sacrifices were necessarily polluted and corrupt.

It follows, Take away from me the multitude of thy songs By speaking of multitude, he aims at hypocrites, who toil much in their devices without measure or end, as we see done at this day by those under the Papacy; for they accumulate endless forms of worship, and greatly weary themselves, morning and evening; in short, they spend days and nights in performing their ceremonies, and every one devises some new thing, and all these they heap together. Inasmuch, then, as men, when they have begun to turn aside from the pure word of God, continually invent various kinds of trifles, the Prophet here touches indirectly on this foolish laboriousness (stultan sedulitatem — foolish sedulity) when he says, Take away from me the multitude of thy songs. He might have simply said, “Thy songs please me not;” but he mentions their multitude, because hypocrites, as I have said, fix no limits to their outward ceremonies: and a vast heap especially follows, when once they take to themselves the liberty of devising this or that form of worship. Hence God testifies here, that they spend labor in vain, for he rejects what he does not command, and whatever is not rightly offered to him.

And the harmony of lyres, or of musical instruments. But נבל, nabel, was an instrument, which, as to its kind, is unknown to us now. Take away, then, from me the harmony of lyres; for the verb, take away, may refer to both clauses; though some join them to the last the verb “lo לא אשמע, la ashimo, I will not hear. The difference really is very little: but their view is the most probable, who join together the two clauses, ‘Take away from me the multitude of thy songs and the harmony of lyres;’ with which thou thinkest me to be delighted. They afterwards take לא אשמע “I will not hear,” by itself. But I contend not about such minute things: it is enough to know the design of the Prophet. It now follows —

Amos 5:24

24. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

24. Et decurret quasi aquae judicium, et justitia quasi torrens violentus.

Interpreters variously expound this verse. To some it seems an exhortation, as though the Prophet said, “Ye thrust on me victims of beasts and various ceremonies; but I regard not these things; for the interior purity of heart alone pleases me: take away then all these things, which are of no moment with me, and bring what I especially require and demands even a pure and sincere heart.”

Some also think that newness of life is here described by its fruits or its evidences: for the Prophet mentions not purity, speaks not of faith and repentance, but by the fruits sets forth that renovation, which God always chiefly regards, and for the sake of which he had required sacrifices under the law. The meaning then is, that hypocrites are here recalled to true worship, because they vainly and absurdly tormented themselves with their own fictions: and by requiring from them righteousness and judgment, he required a holy and pure life, or, in a word, uprightness.

Others think that the Prophet turns aside here to celebrate the grace of Christ, which was to be made known in the gospel: and the verb יגל, igel, is rendered by many “shall be revealed;” but others more correctly derive it from the root גל, igel, to roll. Let justice then as it were, roll. But I will return to the second exposition. Most think that there is here a prediction of that righteousness which God was to make known by the coming of Christ; and some retain also the proper meaning of the verb גל, gal, to roll. They then say that the gospel is here compared to an impetuous river and a violent stream, because the Lord would rush on and penetrate through all hindrances, how many soever Satan might attempt to throw in his way. But this meaning seems not to harmonize with the Prophet’s words and is in my judgment, too refined.

Some again regard the verse as a threatening, and think that God here reproves the Israelites, as though he had said, that since they were trifling with and mocking him, he would at length show what was true righteousness and what was true judgment: for hypocrites think that they come not short of a perfect state, when they are veiled by their ceremonies, inasmuch as they flee to these lurking holes, when they would cover all their flagitous deeds. Hence they think not that they are guilty, for they hide their sins under their ceremonies as under Ajax’s shield. Seeing then that they thus trifle with God, some interpreters think that God here sharply reproves them and says, that they were greatly deceived, for he would himself at length make known what was true righteousness. Righteousness then shall run down or be rolled; and by this verb he expresses impetuosity; but he sets it forth afterwards more clearly by איתן, aitan, “Judgment shall be a violent stream.” But hypocrites amuse themselves as children do with their puppets. Inasmuch then as they do nothing seriously, and yet desire to pacify God as with baubles, the Prophet here shakes off such delusions, as though he said, “Do you think that God is like a child? Why do you set up these trifles? Do you think that righteousness is a fictitious thing, or that judgment is a vain figment? The Lord will certainly show to you how precious righteousness is. It shall therefore run down as violent waters, as an impetuous stream. “Judgment,” he says “shall rush upon you and overwhelm you.” This is the third meaning.

But the verse may be again explained in a different way, as though God obviated an objection; for hypocrites, we know, always raise a clamor, and make no end of contending; “What! Have we then lost all our labor, while endeavoring to worship God? Is all this to go for nothing? And further, we have not only offered sacrifices, but sought also to testify that the glory of God is to us an object of concern. Since then we have had a care for religion, why should God now reject us?” The Prophet here shortly answers, — that if only they brought forth true righteousness, their course would be free; as though he said, “God will not put a check to your righteousness and rectitude:” and this must be referred to the fruit or remuneration; as though the Prophet said, “Only worship God in sincerity, and he will not disappoint you; for a reward will be laid up for you; your righteousness shall run down as a river.” As it is said in another place, ‘Your righteousness shall shine as the dawn,’ so it is also in this, ‘Your righteousness shall run down as violent waters.’ There was therefore no reason for hypocrites to expostulate and say that wrong was done them by God, or that their performances were lightly esteemed, since God openly testified, that he would provide for righteousness, that it might have a free course, like an impetuous river: and this seems to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet. While I do not wholly reject the other expositions, I do not yet follow them; but show what I mostly approve. There appears here a great candor in our Author: but the first view of the passage seems the most natural and obvious, as presented in our version, with which that of Newcome and Henderson agrees. Having before exhorted them to “take away” what they thought much of, the Prophet now exhorts them to attend to judgment and justice. The two verses, 23 and 24, may be thus rendered: —

23. Remove from me the multitude of thy songs, And the music of thy harps; I will not hear them.

24. And let judgment roll down like waters, And righteousness like a mighty stream.

I prefer rendering המון, “multitude,” with Calvin, rather than “noise,” with our version and Newcome, or “sound” with Henderson. It forms a variety as to the next clause. In idiomatic English the expressions would be—”thy many songs and thy harmonious harps.” The two verses ought to be read as connected; and the 24th should begin with “And,” ו, and not “But.” — Ed.

Then the Prophet, after having bidden them to throw aside all their fictitious and spurious forms of worship, does not now simply exhort the Israelites, as some think, to exhibit righteousness and rectitude, but expresses this in the form of a promise, “Run down shall your righteousness as impetuous waters, provided it be true, and not an empty name. Whenever God shall see in you sincere rectitude, there will certainly be prepared an ample reward for you.” It follows —

Amos 5:25-26

25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

25. An victimas et munus (est מנחה) obtulistis mihi in deserto quadraginta annis, domus Israel?

26. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

26. Et sustulistis Sicuth Regem vestrum, et Chion, imagines vestras, stellam deorum vestrorum (vel, deos vestros,) quae fecistis vobis.

The Prophet shows in this place, that he not only reproved hypocrisy in the Israelites in obtruding on God only external display of ceremonies without any true religion in the heart; but that he also condemned them for having departed from the rule of the law. He also shows that this was not a new disease among the people of Israel; for immediately at the beginning their fathers mixed such a leaven as vitiated the worship of God. He therefore proves that the Israelites had ever been given to superstitions, and could not by any means be retained in the true and pure worship of God.

Have ye then caused sacrifices, victims, or an oblation to come before me in the desert for forty years? He addresses them as though they had perverted God’s worship in the desert, and yet they were born many ages after; what does he mean? Even this, — the Prophet includes the whole body of the people from their first beginning, as though he said, “It is right to inclose you in the same bundle with your fathers; for you are the same with your fathers in your ways and dispositions.” We hence see that the Israelites were regarded guilty, not only because they vitiated God’s worship in one age by their superstitions, but also from the beginning. And he asks whether they offered victims to him: it is certain that such was their intention; for they at no time dared to deny God, by whom they had been not long before delivered; and we know that though they made for themselves many things condemned by the law, they ever adhered to this principle, “The God, who hath redeemed us, is to be worshipped by us:” yea, they always proudly boasted of their father Abraham. They had never then willingly alienated themselves from God, who had chosen Abraham their father and themselves to be his people: and indeed the Prophet shortly before had said, ‘Take away from me,’ etc.; and then, ‘when ye offer to me sacrifices and a gift of flour, I will not count them acceptable.’ There seems to be an inconsistency in this — that God should deny that victims been offered to him — and yet say that they were offered to him by the people of Israel, when, as we have stated, they had presumptuously built a profane and spurious altar. The solution is easy, and it is even this, — that the people had ever offered sacrifices to God, if we regard what they pretended to do: for good intention, as it is commonly called, so blinds the superstitious, that with great presumption they trifle with God. Hence with respect to them we may say that they sacrificed to God; but as to God, he denies that what was not purely offered was offered to him. We now then see why God says now that sacrifices were not offered to him in the wilderness: he says so, because the people blended with his worship the leaven of idolatry: and God abhorred this depravation. This is the meaning.

But another objection may be again proposed. This defection did not prevail long, and the whole people did not give their consent to idolatry; and still more, we know what the impostor Balaam said, that Jacob had no idol; and speaking in the twentieth chapter of Numbers, Calvin is perhaps referring to Numbers 23:21, wherein the Douay version is: —

21. There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. etc.

— fj. by the prophetic spirit, he testifies that the only true God reigned in Jacob, and that there were among them no false gods. How then does the Prophet say now that idolatry prevailed among them? The answer is ready: The greater part went astray: hence the whole people are justly condemned; and though this sin was reproved, yet they relapsed continually, as it is well known, into superstitions; and still more, they worshipped strange gods to please strumpets. Since it was so, it is no wonder that they are accused here by the Prophet of not having offered victims to God, inasmuch as they were contaminated with impure superstitions: it could not then be, that they brought anything to God. At the same time God’s worship, required by his law, was of such importance, that he declared that he was worshipped by Jacob, as also Christ says,

“We know what we worship,” (John 4:22;)

and yet not one in a hundred among the Jews cherished the hope of eternal life in his heart. They were all Epicureans or profane; nay, the Sadducees prevailed openly among them: the whole of religion was fallen, or was at least so decayed, that there was no holiness and no integrity among them; and yet Christ says, “We know what we worship;” and this was true with regard to the law.

Now then we see that the Prophets speak in various ways of Israel: when they regard the people, they say, that they were perfidious, that they were apostates, who had immediately from the beginning departed from the true and legitimate worship of God: but when they commend the grace of God, they say, that the true worship of God shone among them, that though the whole multitude had become perverted, yet the Lord approved of what he had commanded. So it is with Baptism; it is a sacred and immutable testimony of the grace of God, though it were administered by the devil, though all who may partake of it were ungodly and polluted as to their own persons. Baptism ever retains its own character, and is never contaminated by the vices of men. The same must be said of sacrifices.

I shall now return to the words of the Prophet: No commentator has given us a satisfactory rendering of these two verses. Perhaps that of Calvin, as a whole, comes nearest to the original. The question, Have ye, etc., is considered by many as not implying a negation but a concession, as though it had been said, “I grant this; ye did offer,” etc.; and then, what is said in verse 26 was what they did besides. It was this mixture of two worships, the worship of God and the worship of idols, that is here brought against the Israelites. I venture to present the following translation: —

Did you bring me sacrifices and oblation in the wilderness For forty years, O house of Israel? You did also bear Sacut, your king, And Kiun, which were your images; A star was your god, Which ye formed for yourselves.

That the hosts of heaven were the objects of their worship, is evident from Stephen’s Sermon in Acts 7:42, “Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven.” Stephen then refers to, and quotes this passage, not from the Hebrew, but almost literally from the Septuagint. Instead of, “their figures which ye have made for yourselves,” he has, “figures which ye made to worship them.” He gives the meaning, but not the words.

Between the words of Amos, in Hebrew, and those of Stephen, there is a material, though not verbal agreement. Two objects of idolatrous worship are mentioned, and also their images, but their names are different. The probability is, that those used by Amos were not current at the time the Greek version was made, and that the names by which those deities were then known were used. Moloch, indeed, means a king, but applied, like Baal, to several heathen gods; and Kiun is said to be Arabic, and Remphan is an Egyptic term, designating the same star or planet, which critics suppose to have been Saturn. Moloch, as Grotius suggests, had the figure of a king, and Kiun that of a star. Have you offered to me victims for forty years in the desert? He enhances their sin by the circumstance of their condition; for they were there shut up in a narrow and hard confinement, and yet they turned aside after their superstitions. And it was certainly a monstrous thing: God fed them daily with manna; they were therefore under the necessity, however unwilling, of looking up to heaven every day; for God constrained their unwillingness with no common favor. They knew, too, that water flowed for them miraculously from a rock. Seeing then that God constrained them thus to look up to him, how was it that they yet became vain through their own deceptions? It was, as I have said, a prodigious blindness. Hence the Prophet speaks of the forty years and of the desert, that the atrocity of their sin might more fully appear; for the Lord could not, by so many bonds, keep the people from such a madness.

It now follows, And ye have carried Sicuth your king. This place, we know, is quoted by Stephen in the seventh chapter of the Acts: but he followed the Greek version; and the Greek translator, whoever he was, was mistaken as to the word, Sicuth, and read, Sucoth, and thought the name an appellative of the plural number, and supposed it to be derived from סוך suk, which means a tabernacle; for he translated it σκήνην as if it was said, “Ye bore the tabernacle of your king instead of the ark.” But it was a manifest mistake; for the probability is, that Sicuth was the proper name of an idol. Ye bore then Sicuth your king. He called it their king by way of reproach; for they had violated that priestly kingdom, which God had instituted; for he, as a king, exercised dominion over them. Since then God would be deemed the king of Israel, as he had ascribed to himself that name, and since he promised to them a kingdom, as in due time he gave them, it was the basest ingratitude in them to seek an idol to be their king; it was indeed a denial of God which could not be borne, not to allow themselves to be governed by him. We hence see how sharply he upbraids them, for had refused to God his own kingdom, and created for themselves the fictitious Sleuth as their king.

Then it follows, And Kiun, your images Some think that כיון, Kiun, means a cake, and כוה, kue, is to burn, and from this they think the word is derived; but others more correctly regard it as a proper name; and the Prophet, I have no doubt, has named here some reigned god after Sleuth. Kiun then, your images; I read the words as being in apposition. Others say, “The cake of your images;” and some render the words literally, “Kiun your images;” but yet they do not sufficiently attend to the design of the Prophet; for he seems here to ridicule the madness of the people, because they dreamt that some deity was inclosed in statues and in such masks. “Ye carried,” he says, “both Sicuth and Kiun, your images. I am now deprived of honor, for ye could not bear me to govern you. Ye now enjoy your King Sicuth; but, in the meantime, let us see what is the power of Sicuth and Kiun; they are nothing more than images. Seeing then that there is neither strength nor even life in them, what madness is it to worship such fictitious things?”

But some think that Kiun was the image of Saturn. What the Hebrews indeed say, that this idolatry was derived from the Persians, is wholly groundless; for the Persians, we know, had no images nor statues, but worshipped only the sacred fire. As, then, the Persians had no images. the Jews fabled, in their usual way, when they said that Kiun was an image of Saturn. But all the Jews, I have no doubt, imagined that all the stars were gods, as they made images for them; for it immediately follows, A constellation, or a star, your gods These, he says, are your gods; even stars and images; and there is here a sarcasm (σαρκασμος;) used; for the Prophet derides the folly of the people of Israel, who, being not content with the Maker of heaven and earth, sought for themselves dead gods, or rather vain devices. “Your gods then,” he says, “are images and stars.”

But it must be observed, that he calls them images: he does not, as in other places, call them idols; and this, I say, ought to be observed, for here is refuted the foolish and refinement of the Papists, who at this day excuse all their superstitions, because they have no idols; for they deny that their devices are idols. What then? They are images. Thus they hide their own baseness under the name of images. But the Prophet does not say that they were idols; he does not use that hateful word which is derived from grief or sorrow; but he says that they were images. The name then in itself has nothing base or ominous; but, at the same time, as the Lord would not have himself represented by any visible figure, the Prophet here expressly and distinctly condemns Sicuth and Kiun. The Greek translator whom Stephen followed, put down the word, types or figures, that is, images. Now, when any one says to the Papists that their figures or images are sinful before God, they boldly deny this; but we see that their evasion avails nothing.

He adds in the last place, Which ye have made for yourselves I prefer rendering the relative אשר, asher, in the neuter gender, as including all their fictitious gods, and also their images, which things then ye have made for yourselves. To make these things is at all times vicious in sacred things; for we ought not to bring any thing of our own when we worship God, but we ought to depend always on the word of his mouth, and to obey what he has commanded. All our actions then in the worship of God ought to be, so to speak, passive; for they ought to be referred to his command, lest we attempt any thing but what he approves. Hence, when men dare to do this or that without God’s command, it is nothing else but abomination before him. And the Greeks call superstitions εθελοθρησκείας; and this word means voluntary acts of worship, such as are undertaken by men of their own accord. We now understand the whole design of the Prophet. It follows —

Amos 5:27

27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

27. Et migrare faciam vos ultra Damascum, dicit Jehova, Deus exercituum nomen ejus.

Here the Prophet at last denounces exile on the Israelites as though he had said that God would not suffer them any longer to contaminate the Holy Land, which had been given them as an heritage, on the condition that they acknowledged him as the only true God. God had now, for a long time, borne with the Israelites though they had never ceased to pollute his land with superstitions. He comes now to cleanse it. I will cause you, he says, to migrate beyond Damascus; for they thought that enemies were driven, by means of that fortress, from the whole country, and they took shelter there as in a quiet nest. The expression would have otherwise no meaning, and this is what interpreters have not noticed. They say, “I will cause you to migrate beyond Damascus” Here is another instance in which the meaning and not the words, is given by Stephen in Acts 7:43. In this instance, the Septuagint is the same with the Hebrew text, “beyond Damascus;” but Stephen says, “beyond Babylon.” The same quarter is meant, though the name of the place is different. — Ed. that is, to a far country; but why did the Prophet mention Damascus? This reason ought to be observed. It was because the Israelites thought that all the attacks of enemies would be prevented by having the city Damascus as their defense, which they supposed was impregnable. “That fortress,” the Lord says, “will not prevent me from taking you away, and removing you as far as the Assyrians.” We now see what the Prophet means, and why he expressly added the name of Damascus.

It follows, The God of hosts is his name There seems to be a peculiar propriety in introducing this sentence. The Israelites became the worshippers of the hosts of heaven; then the Prophet says, that Jehovah is the God of Hosts. What folly, then, it was to worship the hosts of heaven, and to forsake the God of them! — Ed. Here the Prophet confirms his threatening, lest hypocrites should think that he did not speak in earnest: for we know how readily they flattered themselves; and when the Lord fulminated, they remained secure. Hence the Prophet, that he might strike terror, says, that the speaker is the God of hosts, as though he said, “Ye cannot hope to escape the vengeance which God now denounces on you; for his power is infinite, he is the Lord of hosts. See then that he is prepared to destroy you except ye timely repent.” This is the meaning. I will not now proceed farther.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest us to be so prone to corrupt superstitions, and that we are with so much difficulty restrained by thy word, — O grant, that we being confirmed by thy Spirit, may never turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, but be ever attentive to thee alone, and not worship thee presumptuously, nor pollute thy worship with our outward pomps, but call on thee with a sincere heart, and, recumbing on thy aid, flee to thee in all our necessities, and never abuse thy holy name, which thou hast designed to be engraven on us, but be conformed to the image of thy Son, that thou mayest be to us truly a Father, and that we may be thy children, in the name of the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Chapter 6.

Lecture Sixty-first

Amos 6:1

1. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

1. Vae securis in Sion et confidentibus in monte Samaria, qui celebres fuerunt principio gentium, et ingressi sunt ad illos domus Israel.

CHAPTER 5

Am 5:1-27. Elegy over the Prostrate Kingdom: Renewed Exhortations to Repentance: God Declares that the Coming Day of Judgment Shall Be Terrible to the Scorners Who Despise It: Ceremonial Services Are Not Acceptable to Him Where True Piety Exists Not: Israel Shall Therefore Be Removed Far Eastward.

1. lamentation--an elegy for the destruction coming on you. Compare Eze 32:2, "take up," namely, as a mournful burden (Eze 19:1; 27:2).

2. virgin of Israel--the Israelite state heretofore unsubdued by foreigners. Compare Is 23:12; Jr 18:13; 31:4, 21; La 2:13; may be interpreted, Thou who wast once the "virgin daughter of Zion." Rather, "virgin" as applied to a state implies its beauty, and the delights on which it prides itself, its luxuries, power, and wealth [Calvin].

no more rise--in the existing order of things: in the Messianic dispensation it is to rise again, according to many prophecies. Compare 2Ki 6:23; 24:7, for the restricted sense of "no more."

forsaken upon her land--or, "prostrated upon," &c. (compare Eze 29:5; 32:4) [Maurer].

3. went out by a thousand--that is, "the city from which there used to go out a thousand" equipped for war. "City" is put for "the inhabitants of the city," as in Am 4:8.

shall leave ... hundred--shall have only a hundred left, the rest being destroyed by sword and pestilence (De 28:62).

4. Seek ye me, and ye shall live--literally, "Seek ... Me, and live." The second imperative expresses the certainty of "life" (escape from judgment) resulting from obedience to the precept in the first imperative. If they perish, it is their own fault; God would forgive, if they would repent (Is 55:3, 6).

5. seek not Beth-el--that is, the calves at Beth-el.

Gilgal--(See on Am 4:4).

Beer-sheba--in Judah on the southern frontier towards Edom. Once "the well of the oath" by Jehovah, ratifying Abraham's covenant with Abimelech, and the scene of his calling on "the Lord, the everlasting God" (Ge 21:31, 33), now a stronghold of idolatry (Am 8:14).

Gilgal shall surely go into captivity--a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew, Gilgal, galoh, yigleh: "Gilgal (the place of rolling) shall rolling be rolled away."

Beth-el shall come to naught--Beth-el (that is, the "house of God"), called because of its vain idols Beth-aven (that is, "the house of vanity," or "naught," Ho 4:15; 10:5, 8), shall indeed "come to naught."

6. break out like fire--bursting through everything in His way. God is "a consuming fire" (De 4:24; Is 10:17; La 2:3).

the house of Joseph--the kingdom of Israel, of which the tribe of Ephraim, Joseph's son, was the chief tribe (compare Eze 37:16).

none to quench it in Beth-el--that is, none in Beth-el to quench it; none of the Beth-el idols on which Israel so depended, able to remove the divine judgments.

7. turn judgment to wormwood--that is, pervert it to most bitter wrong. As justice is sweet, so injustice is bitter to the injured. "Wormwood" is from a Hebrew root, to "execrate," on account of its noxious and bitter qualities.

leave on righteousness in ... earth--Maurer translates, "cast righteousness to the ground," as in Is 28:2; Da 8:12.

8. the seven stars--literally, the heap or cluster of seven larger stars and others smaller (Job 9:9; 38:31). The former whole passage seems to have been in Amos' mind. He names the stars well known to shepherds (to which class Amos belonged), Orion as the precursor of the tempests which are here threatened, and the Pleiades as ushering in spring.

shadow of death--Hebraism for the densest darkness.

calleth for the waters of the sea--both to send deluges in judgment, and the ordinary rain in mercy (1Ki 18:44).

9. strengtheneth the spoiled--literally, "spoil" or "devastation": hence the "person spoiled." Winer, Maurer, and the best modern critics translate, "maketh devastation (or destruction) suddenly to arise," literally, "maketh it to gleam forth like the dawn." Ancient versions support English Version. The Hebrew is elsewhere used, to make, to shine, to make glad: and as English Version here (Psa 39:13), "recover strength."

the spoiled shall come--"devastation," or "destruction shall come upon" [Maurer]. English Version expresses that, strong as Israel fancies herself after the successes of Jeroboam II (2Ki 14:25), even the weakest can be made by God to prevail against the strong.

10. him that rebuketh in the gate--the judge who condemns their iniquity in the place of judgment (Is 29:21).

abhor him that speaketh uprightly--the prophet telling them the unwelcome truth: answering in the parallelism to the judge, "that rebuketh in the gate" (compare 1Ki 22:8; Pr 9:8; 12:1; Jr 36:23).

11. burdens of wheat--burdensome taxes levied in kind from the wheat of the needy, to pamper the lusts of the great [Henderson]. Or wheat advanced in time of scarcity, and exacted again at a burdensome interest [Rabbi Salomon].

built houses ... but not dwell in them ... vineyards, ... but not drink wine of them--according to the original prophecy of Moses (De 28:30, 38, 39). The converse shall be true in restored Israel (Am 9:14; Is 65:21, 22).

12. they afflict ... they take--rather, "(ye) who afflict ... take."

bribe--literally, a price with which one who has an unjust cause ransoms himself from your sentence (1Sa 12:3, Margin; Pr 6:35).

turn aside the poor in the gate--refuse them their right in the place of justice (Am 2:7; Is 29:21).

13. the prudent--the spiritually wise.

shall keep silence--not mere silence of tongue, but the prudent shall keep himself quiet from taking part in any public or private affairs which he can avoid: as it is "an evil time," and one in which all law is set at naught. Ep 5:16 refers to this. Instead of impatiently agitating against irremediable evils, the godly wise will not cast pearls before swine, who would trample these, and rend the offerers (Mt 7:6), but will patiently wait for God's time of deliverance in silent submission (Psa 39:9).

14. and so--on condition of your "seeking good."

shall be with you, as ye have spoken--as ye have boasted; namely, that God is with you, and that you are His people (Mi 3:11).

15. Hate ... evil ... love ... good--(Is 1:16, 17; Ro 12:9).

judgment in the gate--justice in the place where causes are tried.

it may be that the Lord ... will be gracious--so, "peradventure" (Ex 32:30). Not that men are to come to God with an uncertainty whether or no He will be gracious: the expression merely implies the difficulty in the way, because of the want of true repentance on man's part, so as to stimulate the zealous earnestness of believers in seeking God (compare Ge 16:2; Joe 2:14; Ac 8:22).

the remnant of Joseph--(see Am 5:6). Israel (represented by "Ephraim," the leading tribe, and descendant of Joseph) was, as compared to what it once was, now but a remnant, Hazael of Syria having smitten all the coasts from Jordan eastward, Gilead and Bashan, Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh (2Ki 10:32, 33) [Henderson]. Rather, "the remnant of Israel that shall have been left after the wicked have been destroyed" [Maurer].

16. Therefore--resumed from Am 5:13. God foresees they will not obey the exhortation (Am 5:14, 15), but will persevere in the unrighteousness stigmatized (Am 5:7, 10, 12).

the Lord--Jehovah.

the God of hosts, the Lord--an accumulation of titles, of which His lordship over all things is the climax, to mark that from His judgment there is no appeal.

streets ... highways--the broad open spaces and the narrow streets common in the East.

call the husbandman to mourning--The citizens shall call the inexperienced husbandmen to act the part usually performed by professional mourners, as there will not be enough of the latter for the universal mourning which prevails.

such as are skilful of lamentation--professional mourners hired to lead off the lamentations for the deceased; alluded to in Ec 12:5; generally women (Jr 9:17-19).

17. in all vineyards ... wailing--where usually songs of joy were heard.

pass through thee--taking vengeance (Ex 12:12, 23; Na 1:12). "Pass over" and "pass by," on the contrary, are used of God's forgiving (Ex 12:23; Mi 7:18; compare Am 7:8).

18. Woe unto you who do not scruple to say in irony, "We desire that the day of the Lord would come," that is, "Woe to you who treat it as if it were a mere dream of the prophets" (Is 5:19; Jr 17:15; Eze 12:22).

to what end is it for you!--Amos taking their ironical words in earnest: for God often takes the blasphemer at his own word, in righteous retribution making the scoffer's jest a terrible reality against himself. Ye have but little reason to desire the day of the Lord; for it will be to you calamity, and not joy.

19. As if a man did flee ... a lion, and a bear met him--Trying to escape one calamity, he falls into another. This perhaps implies that in Am 5:18 their ironical desire for the day of the Lord was as if it would be an escape from existing calamities. The coming of the day of the Lord would be good news to us, if true: for we have served God (that is, the golden calves). So do hypocrites flatter themselves as to death and judgment, as if these would be a relief from existing ills of life. The lion may from generosity spare the prostrate, but the bear spares none (compare Job 20:24; Is 24:18).

leaned ... on the wall--on the side wall of the house, to support himself from falling. Snakes often hid themselves in fissures in a wall. Those not reformed by God's judgments will be pursued by them: if they escape one, another is ready to seize them.

21. I hate, I despise--The two verbs joined without a conjunction express God's strong abhorrence.

your feast days--yours; not Mine; I do not acknowledge them: unlike those in Judah, yours are of human, not divine institution.

I will not smell--that is, I will take no delight in the sacrifices offered (Ge 8:21; Le 26:31).

in your solemn assemblies--literally, "days of restraint." Is 1:10-15 is parallel. Isaiah is fuller; Amos, more condensed. Amos condemns Israel not only on the ground of their thinking to satisfy God by sacrifices without obedience (the charge brought by Isaiah against the Jews), but also because even their external ritual was a mere corruption, and unsanctioned by God.

22. meat offerings--flour, &c. Unbloody offerings.

peace offerings--offerings for obtaining from God peace and prosperity. Hebrew, "thank offerings."

23. Take ... away from me--literally, "Take away, from upon Me"; the idea being that of a burden pressing upon the bearer. So Is 1:14, "They are a trouble unto Me (literally, 'a burden upon Me'): I am weary to bear them."

the noise of thy songs--The hymns and instrumental music on sacred occasions are to Me nothing but a disagreeable noise.

I will not hear--Isaiah substitutes "prayers" (Is 1:15) for the "songs" and "melody" here; but, like Amos, closes with "I will not hear."

24. judgment--justice.

run down--literally, "roll," that is, flow abundantly (Is 48:18). Without the desire to fulfil righteousness in the offerer, the sacrifice is hateful to God (1Sa 15:22; Psa 66:18; Ho 6:6; Mi 6:8).

25-26. Have ye offered? &c.--Yes: ye have. "But (all the time with strange inconsistency) ye have borne (aloft in solemn pomp) the tabernacle (that is, the portable shrine, or model tabernacle: small enough not to be detected by Moses; compare Ac 19:24) of your Molech" (that idol is "your" god; I am not, though ye go through the form of presenting offerings to Me). The question, "Have ye," is not a denial (for they did offer in the wilderness to Jehovah sacrifices of the cattle which they took with them in their nomad life there, Ex 24:4; Nu 7:1-89; 9:1, &c.), but a strong affirmation (compare 1Sa 2:27, 28; Jr 31:20; Eze 20:4). The sin of Israel in Amos' time is the very sin of their forefathers, mocking God with worship, while at the same time worshipping idols (compare Eze 20:39). It was clandestine in Moses' time, else he would have put it down; he was aware generally of their unfaithfulness, though not knowing the particulars (De 31:21, 27).

Molech ... Chiun--"Molech" means "king" answering to Mars [Bengel]; the Sun [Jablonski]; Saturn, the same as "Chiun" [Maurer]. The Septuagint translates "Chiun" into Remphan, as Stephen quotes it (Ac 7:42, 43). The same god often had different names. Molech is the Ammonite name; Chiun, the Arabic and Persian name, written also Chevan. In an Arabic lexicon Chiun means "austere"; so astrologers represented Saturn as a planet baleful in his influence. Hence the Phoenicians offered human sacrifices to him, children especially; so idolatrous Israel also. Rimmon was the Syrian name (2Ki 5:18); pronounced as Remvan, or "Remphan," just as Chiun was also Chevan. Molech had the form of a king; Chevan, or Chiun, of a star [Grotius]. Remphan was the Egyptian name for Saturn: hence the Septuagint translator of Amos gave the Egyptian name for the Hebrew, being an Egyptian. [Hodius II, De Bibliorum Textibus Originalibus. 4.115]. The same as the Nile, of which the Egyptians made the star Saturn the representative [Harenberg]. Bengel considers Remphan or Rephan akin to Teraphim and Remphis, the name of a king of Egypt. The Hebrews became infected with Sabeanism, the oldest form of idolatry, the worship of the Saba or starry hosts, in their stay in the Arabian desert, where Job notices its prevalence (Job 31:26); in opposition, in Am 5:27, Jehovah declares Himself "the God of hosts."

the star of your god--R. Isaac Caro says all the astrologers represented Saturn as the star of Israel. Probably there was a figure of a star on the head of the image of the idol, to represent the planet Saturn; hence "images" correspond to "star" in the parallel clause. A star in hieroglyphics represents God (Nu 24:17). "Images" are either a Hebraism for "image," or refer to the many images made to represent Chiun.

27. beyond Damascus--In Ac 7:43 it is "beyond Babylon," which includes beyond Damascus. In Amos' time, Damascus was the object of Israel's fear because of the Syrian wars. Babylon was not yet named as the place of their captivity. Stephen supplies this name. Their place of exile was in fact, as he states, "beyond Babylon," in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (2Ki 17:6; compare here Am 1:5; 4:3; 6:14). The road to Assyria lay through "Damascus." It is therefore specified, that not merely shall they be carried captives to Damascus, as they had been by Syrian kings (2Ki 10:32, 33; 13:7), but, beyond that, to a region whence a return was not so possible as from Damascus. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them to go captive among idolaters. Compare 2Ki 15:29; 16:9; Is 8:4, whence it appears Tiglath-pileser attacked Israel and Damascus at the same time at Ahaz' request (Am 3:11).

Hear ye this word - Attend to this doleful song which I make for the house of Israel.

The virgin of Israel - The kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, which were carried into captivity; and are now totally lost in the nations of the earth.

The city that went out by a thousand - The city that could easily have furnished, on any emergency, a thousand fighting men, can now produce scarcely one hundred - one in ten of the former number; and now of the hundred scarcely ten remain: so reduced was Israel when Shalmaneser besieged and took Samaria, and carried the residue into captivity.

Seek ye me, and ye shall live - Cease your rebellion against me; return to me with all your heart; and though consigned to death, ye shall be rescued and live. Deplorable as your case is, it is not utterly desperate.

But seek not Beth-el - There was one of Jeroboam's golden calves, and at Gilgal were carved images; both were places in which idolatry was triumphant. The prophet shows them that all hope from those quarters is utterly vain; for Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Beth-el be brought to naught. There is a play or paronomasia on the letters and words in this clause: הגלגל גלה יגלה ובית אל יהיה לאון haggilgal galoh yigleh, ubeith el yiheyeh leaven. "This Gilgal shall go captive into captivity; and Beth-el (the house of God) shall be for Beth-aven," (the house of iniquity.)

Seek the Lord, and ye shall live - Repeated from Amo 5:4.

In the house of Joseph - The Israelites of the ten tribes, of whom Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, were the chief.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood - Who pervert judgment; causing him who obtains his suit to mourn sorely over the expenses he has incurred in gaining his right.

That maketh the seven stars and Orion - Or, Hyades and Arcturus, Kimah and Kesil. See my notes on Job 9:9; Job 38:32, where the subject of this verse is largely considered.

Turneth the shadow of death into the morning - Who makes day and night, light and darkness.

Calleth for the waters of the sea - Raising them up by evaporation, and collecting them into clouds.

And poureth them out - Causing them to drop down in showers upon the face of the earth. Who has done this? Jehovah is his name.

That strengtheneth the spoiled - Who takes the part of the poor and oppressed against the oppressor; and, in the course of his providence, sets up the former, and depresses the latter.

They hate him that rebuketh in the gate - They cannot bear an upright magistrate, and will not have righteous laws executed.

Your treading is upon the poor - You tread them under your feet; they form the road on which ye walk; and yet it was by oppressing and impoverishing them that ye gained your riches.

Ye take from him burdens of wheat - Ye will have his bread for doing him justice.

I know your manifold transgressions - I have marked the multitude of your smaller crimes, as well as your mighty offenses. Among their greater offenses were,

1. Their afflicting the righteous.

2. Taking bribes to blind their eyes in judgment. And,

3. Refusing to hear the poor, who had no money to give them.

The prudent shall keep silence - A wise man will consider that it is useless to complain. He can have no justice without bribes; and he has no money to give: consequently, in such an evil time, it is best to keep silence.

Seek good, and not evil - Is there a greater mystery in the world, than that a mall, instead of seeking good, will seek evil, knowing that it is evil?

And so the Lord - As God is the Fountain of good, so they who seek the supreme good seek him: and they who seek shall find him; For the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with him.

Hate the evil, and love the good - What ruins you, avoid; what helps you, cleave to. And as a proof that you take this advice, purify the seats of justice, and then expect God to be gracious to the remnant of Joseph - to the posterity of the ten tribes.

They shall call the husbandman to mourning - Because the crops have failed, and the ground has been tilled in vain.

Such as are skillful of lamentation - See the note on Jer 9:17.

And in all vineyards shall be wailing - The places where festivity especially used to prevail.

I will pass through thee - As I passed, by the ministry of the destroying angel, through Egypt, not to spare, but to destroy.

Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord - The prophet had often denounced the coming of God's day, that is, of a time of judgment; and the unbelievers had said, "Let his day come, that we may see it." Now the prophet tells them that that day would be to them darkness - calamity, and not light - not prosperity.

As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him - They shall go from one evil to another. He who escapes from the lion's mouth shall fall into the bear's paws: -

Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim.

The Israelites, under their king Menahem, wishing to avoid a civil war, called in Pul, king of Assyria, to help them. This led to a series of evils inflicted by the Syrian and Assyrian kings, till at last Israel was ravaged by Shalmaneser, and carried into captivity. Thus, in avoiding one evil they fell into another still more grievous.

Leaned his hands on a wall, and a serpent bit him - Snakes and venomous animals are fond of taking up their lodging in walls of houses, where they can either find or make holes; and it is dangerous to sit near them or lean against them. In the East Indies they keep the faithful mongose, a species of ichneumon, in their houses, for the purpose of destroying the snakes that infest them.

I hate, I despise your feast days - I abominate those sacrificial festivals where there is no piety, and I despise them because they pretend to be what they are not. This may refer to the three annual festivals which were still observed in a certain way among the Israelites.

The peace-offerings of your fat beasts - מריאיכם merieychem probably means buffaloes; and so Bochart.

The noise of thy songs - the melody of thy viols - They had both vocal and instrumental music in those sacrificial festivals; and God hated the noise of the one and shut his ears against the melody of the other. In the first there was nothing but noise, because their hearts were not right with God; and in the latter there could be nothing but (זמרת zimrath) cutting and scraping, because there was no heart - no religious sense in the thing, and nearly as little in them that used it. See on Amo 6:5 (note).

Let judgment run down - Let the execution of justice be everywhere like the showers that fall upon the land to render it fertile; and let righteousness in heart and life be like a mighty river, or the Jordan, that shall wind its course through the whole nation, and carry every abomination into the Dead Sea. Let justice and righteousness prevail everywhere, and sweep their contraries out of the land.

Have ye offered unto me sacrifices - Some have been led to think that "during the forty years which the Israelites spent in the wilderness, between Egypt and the promised land, they did not offer any sacrifices, as in their circumstances it was impossible; they offered none because they had none." But such people must have forgotten that when the covenant was made at Sinai, there were burnt-offerings and peace-offerings of oxen sacrificed to the Lord, Exo 24:5; and at the setting up of the tabernacle the twelve princes of the twelve tribes offered each a young bullock, a ram, and a lamb, for a burnt-offering; a kid for a sin-offering; two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs, for a peace-offering, Num 7:12, etc.; which amounted to an immense number of victims offered in the course of the twelve days during which this feast of the dedication lasted. At the consecration of priests, bullocks and rams to a considerable number were offered, see Lev 8:1, etc.; but they were not offered so regularly, nor in such abundance, as they were after the settlement in the promised land. Learned men, therefore, have considered this verse as speaking thus: Did ye offer to me, during forty years in the wilderness, sacrifices in such a way as was pleasing to me? Ye did not; for your hearts were divided, and ye were generally in a spirit of insurrection or murmuring.

But ye have borne - The preceding verse spoke of their fathers; the present verse speaks of the Israelites then existing, who were so grievously addicted to idolatry, that they not only worshipped at stated public places the idols set up by public authority, but they carried their gods about with them everywhere.

The tabernacle of your Moloch - Probably a small portable shrine, with an image of their god in it, such as Moloch; and the star or representative of their god Chiun. For an ample exposition of this verse, see the note on Act 7:42; to which let me add, that from Picart's Religious Ceremonies, vol. 3 p. 199, we find that there was an idol named Choun worshipped among the Peruvians from the remotest antiquity.

Will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus - That is, into Assyria, the way to which, from Judea, was by Damascus.

But St. Stephen says, Act 7:43, beyond Babylon; because the Holy Spirit that was in him chose to extend the meaning of the original text to that great and final captivity of the Jews in general, when Zedekiah, their last king, and the people of Judea, were carried into Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Media; see 2Kgs 17:7, 2Kgs 17:24. This captivity happened after the time of Amos.

The virgin - So she was, when first espoused to God. Upon her land - Broken to pieces upon her own land, and so left as a broken vessel.

By a thousand - That sent out one thousand soldiers. An hundred - Shall lose nine parts of them.

Ye shall live - It shall be well with you.

Seek not - Consult not, worship not the idol at Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba.

The house of Joseph - The kingdom of the ten tribes, the chief whereof was Ephraim, the son of Joseph. In Beth - el - If once this fire breaks out, all your idols in Beth - el shall not be able to quench it.

The seven stars - A constellation, whose rising about September was usually accompanied with sweet showers. Orion - Which arising about November brings usually cold, rains and frosts intermixt very seasonable for the earth. The shadow of the earth - The greatest adversity into as great prosperity. Dark with might - Changes prosperity into adversity. That calleth - Commands the vapour to ascend, which he turns into rain; and then pours from the clouds to make the earth fruitful.

The strong - The mighty, victorious and insolent. Shall come - Shall rally and form a siege against their besiegers.

They - The judges and people. In the gate - Where judges sat, and where the prophets many times delivered their message.

Your treading - You utterly oppress the helpless. Ye take - Ye extort from the poor great quantities of wheat, on which he should live.

In the gate - In their courts of justice.

Shall keep silence - Be forced to it. Evil - Both for the sinfulness of it, and for the troubles, wars, and captivity now at hand.

With you - To bless and save you yet.

The evil - All evil among the people, and yourselves. Love - Commend, encourage, defend: let your heart be toward good things, and good men. Remnant - What the invasions of enemies, or the civil wars have spared, and left in Samaria and Israel.

Therefore - The prophet foreseeing their obstinacy, proceeds to denounce judgment against them. The husbandman - This sort of men are little used to such ceremonies of mourning, but now such also shall be called upon; leave your toil, betake yourselves to publick mourning.

Vineyards - In these places were usually the greatest joy. Pass through - To punish all every where.

That desire - Scoffingly, not believing any such day would come. To what end - What do you think to get by it? Is darkness - All adversity, black and doleful. Not light - No joy, or comfort an it.

And a bear - You may escape one, but shall fall in another calamity. Into the house - At home you may hope for safety, but there other kind of mischief shall meet you.

I hate - Impure and unholy as they are. Will not smell - A savour, of rest or delight, I will not accept and be pleased with.

Thy songs - Used in their sacrifices, and solemn feasts; herein they imitated the temple - worship, but all was unpleasing to the Lord. Will not hear - Not with delight and acceptance. Thy viols - This one kind of musical instrument is put for all the rest.

Let judgment - Let justice be administered constantly. Righteousness - Equity. Stream - Bearing down all that opposes it.

Have ye - Their fathers and they, tho' at so great a distance of time, are one people, and so the prophet considers them. Unto me - Was it to me, or to your idols, that you offered, even in the wilderness?

Ye have borne - Ye carried along with you in the wilderness; the shrine, or canopy in which the image was placed. Moloch - The great idol of the Ammonites. Chiun - Another idol.

Therefore - For all your idolatry and other sins, in which you have obstinately continued.

1 HEar ye this word which I take up against you , even a lamentation , O house of Israel.

This preface you have in the same words, chap. 3. ver. 1. let. a▪ b. c. d. and in part also chap. 4. ver, 1. let. a. b. to which I now add that the person here speaking may refer to the Prophet and to the Lord who sent him, both speak this word.

Which is very sad and mournful to all concerned in it, woful news to the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes.

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen , she shall no more rise : she is forsaken upon her land , there is none to raise her up .

This name is given to her not for her purity and integrity, for she was an Adulteress, but either ironically, or because her present Riches, Glory and Beauty seemed to be that of a Virgin that had her Portion, Strength, and Honour untoucht, or else by a figure as properly may it be applyed to Israel as to Babylon, Isa. 47.1. or to [illegible: 1 letter]gypt, Ier. 46.11. to Sidon, Isa. 23.12.

Or shall ere long fall, the thing put as done already because of the certainty of it. Or rather is already falling by civil Wars, and conspiracies which prepared way for the final ruine of Israel; it is possible this Sermon of the Prophet might be about the time that Sha[illegible: 2 letters]um, or Menahem usurpt the Throne. Or else it may refer to the times of Iohoa[illegible: 1 letter]az, when that of the third verse will appear to have been fulfilled, this seems most probable.

Though they might by Repentance have risen again, yet the Prophet considering their obstinacy speaks of it as a thing that should never be, as eventually it proved, also for Israel never recovered the fall by Salmaneser.

Broken to pieces upon her own Land and so left as a broken vessel, or she shall be by home divisions first broken and afterwards carried Captive.

None at home among all her Princes, Councellors, and Rulers, no[illegible: 1 letter] any Friend among her Allies, all leave her to sink.

3 For thus saith the LORD God , The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred , and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel.

This solemnly attesteth the certainty of the thing.

That sent out one thousand Souldiers as the quota they were assessed at to help against an invader.

Shall lose nine parts of Ten, so great shall the slaughter be which the prevailing Enemy shall make upon Israel, and here the Prophet useth a certain number to express an uncertain, or proverbially scarce a tenth man shall escape.

The Kingdom of the ten Tribes, and this perhaps may refer backward to Iehoa[illegible: 1 letter]az his time, 2 Kings 13. to be sure its fulfilled in the wars of Salmaneser and the taking Samaria.

4 ¶ For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel , Seek ye me, and ye shall live .

Or yet, truely.

Amidst all those threats there is still a reserve, a conditional proviso, and the Lord here does by his Prophet declare it.

Though Apostate both in sacred and civils, though polluted and defiled greatly, and this through many scores of years yet after all Repentance would help them.

Enquire for my Law and repent of your despising it, obey it in all things for future, enquire diligently what promises I have made and wait for them, believe, obey, and repent for this is to seek the Lord, when a people have turned from the Lord, as you have done O house of Israel.

It shall be well with you, your Persons, Families, and the whole Kingdom shall prosper as the Heb. phrase importeth.

5 But seek not Beth-el , nor enter into Gilgal , and passe not to Beersheba : for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and Beth-el shall come to nought .

Consult not, worship not, depend not on the Idol Calf at Bethel, or seek not God at Bethel but at Ierusalem where he will be found; cast off Idolatry, return to the true God and to his instituted Worship, so shall ye live.

A City of great Idolatry, a place where God will not be sought nor found by you, Vid. Hos. 4.15. and 9.15. and 12.11. where it is more fully explained.

Though God of old did, Gen. 26.24. appear there to Isaac, though Abraham dwelt there, Gen. 21.31, 32, 33. and Iacob sacrificed there with acceptance, Gen. 46.1, 2, 3. yet now God appointeth Ierusalem and the Temple the onely places of his solemn worship, and of your seeking him.

The Inhabitants of Gilgal, for the place could not go into Captivity, it is a Metonymie, the place put for the people.

Salmaneser and his Assyrians shall certainly carry them away Captives.

Both City and People.

Shall be vanity and disappointment to all that trust to the Idols of it.

Marginal references: chap. [illegible: 1 span]

6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live , lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph , and devour it , and there be none to quench it in Bethel .

The Prophet repeateth his Exhortation to Repentance with the repeated promise of a good issue hereon, vid. ver. 4. let. p. q.

This is a new argument to perswade with them to do their duty, for unless they do it Gods judgments will break out upon them.

Suddenly with strength, and prevalence, as the Heb. word here rendred, break forth, importeth.

The Kingdom of the Ten Tribes, the chief whereof was Ephraim, who was the younger Son of Ioseph, and the first erector of this Kingdom was an Ephraimite, 1 King. 11.26.

Utterly consume it as Fire useth to do, where it gets head and prevaileth.

If once this Fire break out from God all your Idols in Bethel shall not be able to quench it, no tears from your eyes there shed, no blood of sacrifice there offered shall quench it.

7 Ye who turn judgment to worm-wood , and leave off righteousness in the earth .

Rulers and Judges.

The righteous sentence of the Law, the equity of it which is sweet and pleasing to just men, and safe for all.

Proverbially understood bitterness, grief, injustice and oppression.

Make to cease in your Courts of Judicature and tread it under foot.

Or among men, in the Land, the latter part of this verse explains the former.

Marginal references: chap. [illegible: 1 span]

8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion , and turneth the shadow of death into the morning , and maketh the day dark with night , that calleth for the waters of the sea , and poureth them out upon the face of the earth , the LORD is his name .

Tho this be not in the Hebrew 'tis well supplyed by our interpreters.

A famous Constellation, and whose rising abount September was usually accompanied with Rains and sweet showers, which as chap. 4. ver. 7. had been withholden, whence want of Water and Bread, now the Prophet adviseth to seek the Lord who can give them Rain and corn, by the kindly influences of that watry constellation, which as he made so he guides and mamanageth, This I take to be the most natural meaning of the place.

Which arising about November brings usually Cold, Rains and Frosts intermixt with much uncertainty, but very seasonable for the Earth, to make it fruitful, this mentioned to perswade these people to repent, who were afflicted with such barrenness and unfruitfulness as brought famine with it.

Proverbially, that turneth greatest adversity (which is here called shadow of death) into as great prosperity, here called the Morning, Psalm 23.4.

Metaphorically this expresseth a change of prosperity into adversity; ye house of Israel think well of it, you are in a dangerous state advised to seek him, who can turn your Morning into Night, or your Night into Morning; who can on a sudden remove all evil from you, and bring all good upon you; seek him therefore, and seek not Idols.

Either to raise them to terrible swellings and rage, or rather calls up waters out of the Sea, by commanding the vapour to ascend, which he turneth into rain;

and then poureth out from the Clouds to make the Earth fruitful.

He only is God and the Lord, who doth thus seek him.

Marginal references: Job [illegible: 1 span] & 3[illegible: 1 letter].3[illegible: 1 letter].; chap. [illegible: 1 span]

9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong , so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress .

You have been exceedingly weakened and spoiled by your enemies; yet return, repent, seek God, for he can renew your strength, that you shall spoil your spoilers who are strong.

The mighty, victorious and insolent.

Those that had lost their strength, and were as conquered.

Shall rally, re-embody and form a siege against their besiegers, so God whom you should serve, will soon turn all from dark and dismal into light, and pleasing unto you, and yours; in your Apostacy all will be misery and darkness, but in your retur[illegible: 1 letter] all shall be well and prosperous with you.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]eb. [illegible: 1 word]

10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate , and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly .

Either this is the Prophets complaint of them without farther expecting their complyance with his advice, or he foretels what they will do, Judges and people.

They both hate them that rebuke; Judges hate the Prophets, who rebuke corrupt Judges, and the people hate impartial Judges, if any such be among them;

Where Judges sate, and where the Prophets did many times deliver their message.

They cannot brook any one that deals plainly and honestly with them, whether Judge, Prophet or private person.

11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor , and ye take from him burdens of wheat ; ye have built houses of hewen stone , but ye shall not dwell in them : ye have planted pleasant vineyards , but ye shall not drink wine of them .

Their oppression was more then ordinarily proud and tyrannous, exprest here by treading. It was very heavy on the poor, an effect of fraud, and executed with tyrannical insolence, as the word, and its Paraphrase imports.

Who have not power to withstand your violence, nor money to buy your friendship.

Receive when offered, and ye force them to offer, you extort from the poor.

Great quantities of best Wheat, on which the poor should live, either making bread of it to feed them, or else making money of it to serve other oc[illegible: 1 letter]asions. It is not said what burthen, but probably as much as the poor man was able to carry.

Perhaps these corrupt Judges had built for their children; so one greedy and ravenous Judge might build as many houses as he had Sons, or these Judges being many had built many houses.

Intimating the greatness, beauty and strength of them, and they flatter themselves, that they and their posterity shall long dwell at [illegible: 1 letter]ase, and multiply in these goodly houses.

You by oppression build, but God will by his just hand, and by the Assyrians violence, turn you out of those houses, and make you captives in a land where your enemies please to carry you, you shall find that Deut. 28.30. fulfilled on you,

Most desireable for scituation, for fruitfulness, for sweetness and goodness of the Grape; every way delightful.

Either they shall not bear, or the enemy shall devour, or you shall be carried away into captivity. The threat Deut. 28.39. shall be executed:

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 1.13. [illegible: 1 word] 1.6.; [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word] of des[illegible: 1 letter]r[illegible: 1 letter].

12 For I know your manifold transgressions , and your mighty sins: they afflict the just , they take a bribe , and they turn aside the poor in the gate , from their right .

Wonder not at the threatned severity, as if 'twere too rigorous; it is but proportioned to your sins.

The Lord whom you provoke, who have threatned you,

clearly, fully, and in all the circumstances of them, what moves you to do so, what pretences of Law you make, all your evasions are vain and foolish.

The increased number of your sins, and the greatness of them too, as the word importeth.

Which mightily wrong, and break the poor and needy.

Besiege, or with hostile minds watch against, and gladly take any occasion to wrong, and grieve the just.

Not absolutely and sinlesly just, but such as are comparatively just, or those whose cause is just, or those that live with regard to all the commands of God, and follow Righteousness: It was the mighty sin of the corrupt Rulers in Samaria and Israel at that day, that they were enemies to all righteousness.

In civil causes bribes carried it, Vid. chap. 2. verse 6. let. p. †. q. r. s. t. here bribes set criminals free, a ransom, as the word Hebr. buyes off the punishment appointed by the Law against Murtherers, Adulterers, &c.

The poor, who appear in their Courts for Justice, they turn them away, or delay to hear, or hear and judge unjustly, and so send them away wrong'd and crying.

These words fully express the Prophets meaning, and are therefore well supply'd in our Version.

Marginal references: 2 [illegible: 2 letters]nsom.

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time .

Because that men are so universally impatient of hearing reproof, and yet their sins so much abound, and so much deserve reproof; since they will sooner turn against the speaker, then turn from the sin spoken against.

The wise men, Prophets say some, but I rather think other private men are here meant, whose private capacity alloweth them to keep silence, when others must speak,

Be forced to it, (say some) they shall be silenced; this true, but rather here is a voluntary, chosen silence toward vile corrupters of Law and Justice, who will nothing mend though reproved, or a silence before God, owning his Justice in punishing such sinners.

Both for the sinfulness of it, which provoketh God to wrath, and for the sorrowes, troubles, wars and captivity of this people, by the Assyrians.

Marginal references: chap. 6.10.

14 Seek good and not evil , that ye may live : and so the LORD the God of hosts shall be with you , as ye have spoken .

Turn to the law of God, study it, that ye may do the good it requireth in works of Piety, Justice and Charity.

You have devised evil, and done it in works of impiety, injustice and cruelty. Or this may be the same with verse 4.5, 6. which see.

Vid. verse 4. let. q.

The Eternal Glorious God, who is Lord of all, and can help you, having all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth at his disposal; He will be with you to bless and save you yet, notwithstanding all your former sins.

You have boasted his being with you, you think he is bound to be with you, and own you, so he will indeed, but 'tis if you repent, cease from Idols and violence.

15 Hate the evil , and love the good , and establish judgment in the gate : it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph .

Slight dis[illegible: 1 letter]ikes will do little in this case, you Rulers and Judges must heartily hate, and shew that you hate,

both wayes, doings, contrivers and abettors of the evil among the people, and your selves.

Commend, encourage, defend and reward all good in others, and do it your selves, let your heart be toward good things, and good men.

By this its evident the Prophet speaks to Governours and Judges among them, what the import of the phrase is see, verse 10. let. b. c. and verse 12. let. y. Set up honest and upright Judges in every Gate, where Judges did sit in those dayes.

Possibly he will forgive, or abate, or respite the evil dayes, possibly he may give you his gracious presence, and yet save,

what the invasions of enemies, or the Civil Wars have spared, and le[illegible: 1 letter]t

in Samaria and Israel, the ten Tribes, Vid. chap. 5. verse 6. let. d.

Marginal references: Psal. 34.14. and 97.10. [illegible: 1 span] 9.; Exod. 32.30. Joel 2.14.

16 Therefore the LORD the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus , wailing shall be in all streets , and they shall say in all the high-ways , Alas, Alas: and they shall call the husbandman to mourning , and such as are skilful of lamentation , to wailing.

The Prophet foreseeing their obstinacy in their sins, and their refusing to obey his Counsel from the Lord, doth proceed to denounce Judgment against them.

That there might be no doubt made of the truth of the Prophets words, he doth in most solemn manner attest it to be from the Lord, and that he might awake them to Repentance and Humiliation, he proclaims the majesty and power of God who calls them to it.

Lamentations uttered in words and gestures, Eccl. 12.5. Ier. 4.8. Zech. 12.10. shall every where be seen and heard in the broad streets of your Cities, as when the Assyrians prevail'd and cut off the Forces of Israel, besieged and took their strong holds.

Of great Towns or Cities.

Abroad in the Country, and on the road all shall cry out as undone, dispirited and hopeless men, Alas! alas!

This sort of men are little used to such Ceremonies of mourning, but now such shall their state be, that they shall be called upon; Leave your toil, betake your selves to publick mourning.

And to make all sound doleful, call in those whose art lyeth in acting the part of mourners, and can move hardest hearts to lament and bewail. See these Ier. 9.17, 18. and Mat. 9.23.

17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee , saith the LORD.

In these places was usually the greatest jollity, and they gather'd their Vintage with joy, but now 'tis quite contrary, either Vines are blasted, or eaten up, or destroy'd of the enemy.

As an incensed God punishing all, every where, who have sinned against him, and therefore every place now shall be full of sorrow, because every place hath been full of sin.

Marginal references: Exod. 12.12▪

18 Wo unto you that desire the day of the LORD ; to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness , and not light .

Scoffingly, or not believing any such day would come, the Prophets had long threatned such a day, but these scoffers thought no such thing could overtake them, and if it did they would know the worst of it, alter their course they will not, whatever comes on it, and they are confident the Prophets fright them with bug-bears, but wo to such scoffers.

Vid. Joel 1.15. and 2.2. and Zeph. 1.15.

What do you think to get by it? What good can you expect when darkest calamities overwhelm you?

All adversi[illegible: 1 letter]y most black and doleful, therefore called in the abstract darkness.

No joy, hope or comfort in it.

Marginal references: Isa. 5.19. Jer. 17.15. and 30.7. 2 Pet. 3.4.

19 As if a man did flee from a lyon, and a bear met him ; or went into the house , and leaned his hand on the wall , and a serpent bit him .

Here Proverbially is exprest the continuance and succession of evils one after another; it will be a long calamity when your civil dissensions waste you first, next Gods Armies of Locusts and Palmer-worms, and the Assyrians too, until all ends in final Captivity; you may escape one, but shall fall into another calamity, and worse then that you escaped; abroad your miseries shall be like a Lyon or Bear.

At home you may hope for safety from such open dangers, but there other kind of mischief shall meet you.

Weary and faint shall think to ease and support himself.

Whose biting infuseth a deadly poyson, which suddenly corrupts the whole mass of blood, and kills the man. If Conspirators at home be Lyons, the Assyrians will be as [illegible: 1 letter]ears to you.

Marginal references: Jer. 48.44.

20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it ?

All these things considered, ye secure, profane and Atheistical scoffers, speak your selves, will not that day be as dark as I have described, and as little to your comfort?

21 ¶ I hate , I despise your feast-days , and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies .

Impure and unholy they are, whatever they seem to be, and therefore the Lord hateth them, they are abomination to him, Prov. 15.8. and Isa. 1.13, 14.

Worthless and contemptible they are, and as such God rejecteth them, Isa. 1.10, 11, 12. &c. There is no goodness that I should value in them, there is all that vileness in them which attends deep hypocrisie, for which I do hate them.

The Apostate Israelites imitated the Iewes in many things, amongst which they retained their Festivals, in which they multiplyed their Ceremonial Sacrifices, and yet God owns them not as His, but brands them with this, they are yours, therefore unwarrantable, will-worship, and displeasing to God.

A savour of rest or delight, I will not accept and be pleased with, Gen. 8.21.

Appointed, as you think, on very weighty reasons, and by sufficient Authority, and Celebrated with rich Sacrifices, in mighty crowds, and in excellent order, all is yours, not mine.

Marginal references: Jer. 6.20.; Or, [illegible: 1 letter]well your [illegible: 1 word] days.

22 Though ye offer me burnt-offerings , and your meat-offerings , I will not accept them : neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts .

That have departed from my Temple, Law and Institutions, you of the ten Tribes.

Which was wholly burnt on the Altar; no part due to any but God; of this these Hypocrites had a high esteem, Micah 6.6. because they accounted it an entire gift to God.

To your burnt-offering add the other, your meat-offering also, as Lev. 2.1, 2. Numb. 6.17. Vid. Ioel 1.13. and 2.14.

It may be a Meiosis, I will as ver. 21. hate them.

Your Thank-offerings too, of which Lev. 6.12. and 7.15 your praises for your prosperity is no better pleasing neither.

In these Peace-offerings, though you bring the best, the fattest, yet you bring nothing but a beast, for you leave your hearts with your sins, and you have no warrant from God to do this, nay, you are prohibited, for you are to offer only at Ierusalem, and at the Temple.

Marginal references: Or, thank-offe[illegible: 1 letter]ings.

23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs , for I will not hear the melody of thy viols .

By way of contempt and loathing, God calls their songs noise, how harmonious, delightful and ravishing soever they might be to their ears, they were not pleasing unto God.

Used in their Sacrifices, and their solemn Feasts, herein they imitated Temple-Worship, but all was unpleasing to the Lord.

This is not to be taken absolutely, for God heard the noise, but 'tis taken in a qualified sence, he did not hear with delight and acceptance.

This one kind of Musical instrument put for all the rest, in a word, your Hypocrisie, Idolatry and Injustice spoils all your services, and makes God weary of you and them.

The pleasing harmony, the sweet concents.

24 But let judgment run down as waters , and righteousness as a mighty stream .

And Hebr.

Some interpret this of Paenal Judgment, by God threatned against these Hypocrites, but 'tis better understood of Justice to be administred by Rulers, whose office 'twas to determine between party and party.

Freely, constantly, speedily, and for common benefit of all, as waters run.

Equity, relieving Justice, the want of which hath been notorious among you.

Which bears down all that opposeth it, be hindered by none from doing every one right, do this and you may yet be accepted.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word]

25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices , and offerings in the wilderness fourty years , O house of Israel ?

Their Fathers and they, though at so great distance of time are one people, and so the Prophet considers them in this place.

Did you not frequently omit to offer, and yet were not reproved or plagued for the omission, when your frequent removes, and many other difficulties made it unpracticable, so little is Sacrifice with your God! and yet when you did offer,

was it to me only, or did you not sacrifice to Idols and false Gods, and provoked me? Will worship and Idolatry have been hereditary diseases in your Generations; and it is well known too, that these Idolaters fell in the Wilderness, and are made admonitions to you.

Of beasts slain, as the word properly speaks.

Minchab in general [illegible: 1 letter]s any gift or present made, but particularly here it is a gift or present of fine flower, Oyl and Frankincense unto God with the Sacrifice.

It was a broken number of years in exact account, that is 38 An. and 11 Moneths, but as is common in such cases, the full and round number is taken, and so the account runs here, and in Acts 7.42. fourty years.

You of the ten Tribes.

Marginal references: Acts [illegible: 1 span]

26 But ye have born the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun , your images , the star of your God , which ye made to your selves .

The Idolatrous Children of Idolatrous Fathers.

Carried along with you in the Wilderness;

Or little Chappel, or shrine, or Canopy in which the Image of their Idol was placed. Though others conjecture this to be the proper name of an Idol, I conjecture 'tis the name of the Portable Temple or Chappel in which the supposed Deity was placed.

The great Idol of the Ammonites, as Iupiter was of the Greeks and Romans; Some antient King among them, who was a famous Founder, or Raiser, and Benefactour to their Nation, though we know not who this was.

Perhaps if we understand the whole apparatus, or storehouse of their Images, we shall not err. Their grand Idol was Moloch, whose Image they kept, and carried about in a Sacellum, or Consecrated portable Chappel, and with him the rest of their petite Deities, in their Images placed orderly, as they fancied, about their great Deity; others will have Chiun to be Saturn.

What ere these were 'tis plain God accounts them their Inventions, and their Gods.

What Star this was we need not enquire, the Idolaters appropriated the Stars to their Gods, and probably did in the roof of their Gods Tabernacles, frame the Star over the Image of their God, or the Star your God, or which you worship.

All which Deities you have found out and established to your selves.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span]

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus , saith the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

For all your Idolatry and other sins in which you have obstinately continued,

you shall certainly be subdued and captivated, and this shall be done, so that my hand shall appear evidently in it.

Into Assyria, and into parts beyond Damascus, but 'tis not certain into what corners of the World they were sent; but probably to those parts that lay about the Caspian Sea; more remote from their own Country, then ever to hope they may get back again: Or thus, you shall be carried into a Captivity more grievous, by Salmaneser, then was the captivity of those whom Tiglath Pil[illegible: 1 letter]eser led captive when he slew Resin, took Damascus, and wasted Israel in the dayes of Peka[illegible: 1 letter], when some Israelites were carried Captives, but this shall be a more grievous Captivity.

The Overthrow of the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes - Amos 5 and Amo 6:1-14

The elegy, which the prophet commences in Amo 5:2, upon the fall of the daughter of Israel, forms the theme of the admonitory addresses in these two chapters. These addresses, which are divided into four parts by the admonitions, “Seek Jehovah, and live,” in Amo 5:4 and Amo 5:6, “Seek good” in Amo 5:14, and the two woes (hōi) in Amo 5:18 and Amo 6:1, have no other purpose than this, to impress upon the people of God the impossibility of averting the threatened destruction, and to take away from the self-secure sinners the false foundations of their trust, by setting the demands of God before them once more. In every one of these sections, therefore, the proclamation of the judgment returns again, and that in a form of greater and greater intensity, till it reaches to the banishment of the whole nation, and the overthrow of Samaria and the kingdom (Amo 5:27; Amo 6:8.).

Amo 5:1-3

The Elegy. - Amo 5:1. “Hear ye this word, which I raise over you; a lamentation, O house of Israel. Amo 5:2. The virgin Israel is fallen; she does not rise up again; cast down upon her soil; no one sets her up. Amo 5:3. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes out by a thousand will retain a hundred, and that which goes out by a hundred will retain ten, for the house of Israel.” הדּבר הזּה is still further defined in the relative clause אשׁר וגו as קינה, a mournful song, lit., a lamentation or dirge for one who is dead (cf. 2Sa 1:17; 2Ch 35:25). אשׁר is a relative pronoun, not a conjunction (for); and qı̄nâh is an explanatory apposition: which I raise or commence as (or “namely”) a lamentation. “House of Israel” is synonymous with “house of Joseph” (Amo 5:6), hence Israel of the ten tribes. The lamentation follows in Amo 5:2, showing itself to be a song by the rhythm and by its poetical form. נפל, to fall, denotes a violent death (2Sa 1:19, 2Sa 1:25), and is here a figure used to denote the overthrow or destruction of the kingdom. The expression virgin Israel (an epexegetical genitive, not “of Israel”) rests upon a poetical personification of the population of a city or of a kingdom, as a daughter, and wherever the further idea of being unconquered is added, as a virgin (see at Isa 23:12). Here, too, the term “virgin” is used to indicate the contrast between the overthrow predicted and the original destination of Israel, as the people of God, to be unconquered by any heathen nation whatever. The second clause of the verse strengthens the first. נטּשׁ, to be stretched out or cast down, describes the fall as a violent overthrow. The third verse does not form part of the lamentation, but gives a brief, cursory vindication of it by the announcement that Israel will perish in war, even to a very small remnant. יצא refers to their marching out to war, and אלף, מאה is subordinated to it, as a more precise definition of the manner in which they marched out (cf. Ewald, §279, b).

Amo 5:4-9

The short, cursory explanation of the reason for the lamentation opened here, is followed in Amo 5:4. by the more elaborate proof, that Israel has deserved to be destroyed, because it has done the very opposite of what God demands of His people. God requires that they should seek Him, and forsake idolatry, in order to live (Amo 5:4-6); but Israel on the contrary, turns right into unrighteousness, without fearing the almighty God and His judgment (Amo 5:7-9). This unrighteousness God must punish (Amo 5:10-12). Amo 5:4. “For thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and live. Amo 5:5. And seek not Bethel, and come not to Gilgal, and go not over to Beersheba: for Gilgal repays it with captivity, and Bethel comes to nought. Amo 5:6. Seek Jehovah, and live; that He fall not upon the house of Joseph like fire, and it devour, and there be none to quench it for Bethel.” The kı̄ in Amo 5:4 is co-ordinate to that in Amo 5:3, “Seek me, and live,” for “Seek me, so shall ye live.” For this meaning of two imperatives, following directly the one upon the other, see Gesenius, §130, 2, and Ewald, §347, b. חיה, not merely to remain alive, not to perish, but to obtain possession of true life. God can only be sought, however, in His revelation, or in the manner in which He wishes to be sought and worshipped. This explains the antithesis, “Seek not Bethel,” etc. In addition to Bethel and Gilgal (see at Amo 4:4), Beersheba, which was in the southern part of Judah, is also mentioned here, being the place where Abraham had called upon the Lord (Gen 21:33), and where the Lord had appeared to Isaac and Jacob (Gen 26:24 and Gen 46:1; see also at Gen 21:31). These sacred reminiscences from the olden time had caused Beersheba to be made into a place of idolatrous worship, to which the Israelites went on pilgrimage beyond the border of their own kingdom (עבר). But visiting these idolatrous places of worship did no good, for the places themselves would be given up to destruction. Gilgal would wander into captivity (an expression used here on account of the similarity in the ring of גּלגּל and גּלה יגלה). Bethel would become 'âven, that is to say, not “an idol” here, but “nothingness,” though there is an allusion to the change of Beth - el (God’s house) into Beth-'âven (an idol-house; see at Hos 4:15). The Judaean Beersheba is passed over in the threat, because the primary intention of Amos is simply to predict the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes. After this warning the prophet repeats the exhortation to seek Jehovah, and adds this threatening, “that Jehovah come not like fire upon the house of Joseph” (tsâlach, generally construed with ‛al or 'el, cf. Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14; 1Sa 10:6; here with an accusative, to fall upon a person), “and it (the fire) devour, without there being any to extinguish it for Bethel.” Bethel, as the chief place of worship in Israel, is mentioned here for the kingdom itself, which is called the “house of Joseph,” from Joseph the father of Ephraim, the most powerful tribe in that kingdom.

To add force to this warning, Amos (Amo 5:7-9) exhibits the moral corruption of the Israelites, in contrast with the omnipotence of Jehovah as it manifests itself in terrible judgments. Amo 5:7. “They that change right into wormwood, and bring righteousness down to the earth. Amo 5:8. He that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into morning, and darkeneth day to night: that calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them over the surface of the earth; Jehovah is His name. Amo 5:9. Who causeth desolation to flash upon the strong, and desolation cometh upon the fortress.” The sentences in Amo 5:7 and Amo 5:8 are written without any connecting link. The participle in Amo 5:7 cannot be taken as an address, for it is carried on in the third person (hinnı̄chū), not in the second. And hahōphekhı̄m (who turn) cannot be in apposition to Beth-el, since the latter refers not to the inhabitants, but to the houses. As Amos is generally fond of a participial construction (cf. Amo 2:7; Amo 4:13), so in a spirited address he likes to utter the thoughts one after another without any logical link of connection. As a matter of fact, hahōphekhı̄m is connected with bēth-yōsēph (the house of Joseph), “Seek the Lord, ye of the house of Joseph, who turn right into wrong;” but instead of this connection, he proceeds with a simple description, They are turning,” etc. La‛ănâh, wormwood, a bitter plant, is a figurative term denoting bitter wrong (cf. Amo 6:12), the actions of men being regarded, according to Deu 29:17, as the fruits of their state of mind. Laying righteousness on the ground (hinnı̄ăch from nūăch) answers to our “trampling under feet.” Hitzig has correctly explained the train of thought in Amo 5:7 and Amo 5:8 : “They do this, whereas Jehovah is the Almighty, and can bring destruction suddenly upon them.” To show this antithesis, the article which takes the place of the relative is omitted from the participles ‛ōsēh and hōphēkh. The description of the divine omnipotence commences with the creation of the brightly shining stars; then follow manifestations of this omnipotence, which are repeated in the government of the world. Kı̄mâh, lit., the crowd, is the group of seven stars, the constellation of the Pleiades. Kesı̄l, the gate, according to the ancient versions the giant, is the constellation of Orion. The two are mentioned together in Job 9:9 and Job 38:31 (see Delitzsch on the latter). And He also turns the darkest night into morning, and darkens the day into night again. These words refer to the regular interchange of day and night; for tsalmâveth, the shadow of death, i.e., thick darkness, never denotes the regularly recurring gloominess of night, but the appalling gloom of night (Job 24:17), more especially of the night of death (Job 3:5; Job 10:21-22; Job 38:17; Psa 44:20), the unlighted depth of the heart of the earth (Job 28:3), the darkness of the prison (Psa 107:10, Psa 107:14), also of wickedness (Job 12:22; Job 34:22), of sufferings (Job 16:16; Jer 13:16; Psa 23:4), and of spiritual misery (Isa 9:1). Consequently the words point to the judicial rule of the Almighty in the world. As the Almighty turns the darkness of death into light, and the deepest misery into prosperity and health,Theodoret has given a correct explanation, though he does not quite exhaust the force of the words: “It is easy for Him to turn even the greatest dangers into happiness; for by the shadow of death he means great dangers. And it is also easy to bring calamity upon those who are in prosperity.” so He darkens the bright day of prosperity into the dark night of adversity, and calls to the waters of the sea to pour themselves over the earth like the flood, and to destroy the ungodly. The idea that by the waters of the sea, which pour themselves out at the call of God over the surface of the earth, we are to understand the moisture which rises from the sea and then falls upon the earth as rain, no more answers to the words themselves, than the idea expressed by Hitzig, that they refer to the water of the rivers and brooks, which flow out of the sea as well as into it (Ecc 1:7). The words suggest the thought of terrible inundations of the earth by the swelling of the sea, and the allusion to the judgment of the flood can hardly be overlooked. This judicial act of the Almighty, no strong man and no fortress can defy. With the swiftness of lightning He causes desolation to smite the strong man. Bâlag, lit., micare, used in the Arabic to denote the lighting up of the rays of the dawn, hiphil to cause to light up, is applied here to motion with the swiftness of lightning; it is also employed in a purely metaphorical sense for the lighting up of the countenance (Ps. 39:14; Job 9:27; Job 10:20). In Amo 5:9 the address is continued in a descriptive form; יבוא has not a causative meaning. The two clauses of this verse point to the fate which awaits the Israelites who trust in their strength and their fortifications (Amo 6:13). And yet they persist in unrighteousness.

Amo 5:10-12 “They hate the monitor in the gate, and abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Amo 5:11. Therefore, because ye tread upon the poor, and take the distribution of corn from him, ye have built houses of square stones, and will not dwell therein; planted pleasant vineyards, and will not drink their wine. Amo 5:12. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great your sins; oppressing the righteous, taking atonement money; and ye bow down the poor in the gate.” However natural it may seem to take מוכיח and דּבר תּמים in Amo 5:10 as referring to prophets, who charge the ungodly with their acts of unrighteousness, as Jerome does, this explanation is precluded not only by bassha‛ar (in the gate), since the gate was not the meeting-place of the people where the prophets were accustomed to stand, but the place where courts of judgment were held, and all the public affairs of the community discussed (see at Deu 21:19); but also by the first half of Amo 5:11, which presupposes judicial proceedings. Mōkhı̄ăch is not merely the judge who puts down unjust accusers, but any one who lifts up his voice in a court of justice against acts of injustice (as in Isa 29:21). דּבר תּמים, he who says what is blameless, i.e., what is right and true: this is to be taken generally, and not to be restricted to the accused who seeks to defend his innocence. תּעב is a stronger expression than שׂנא. The punishment for this unjust oppression of the poor will be the withdrawal of their possessions. The ἁπ. λεγ. bōshēs is a dialectically different form for בוסס, from בוּס, to trample down (Rashi, Kimchi), analogous to the interchange of שׁריון and סריון, a coat of mail, although as a rule שׁ passes into ס, and not ס into שׁ. For the derivation from בושׁ, according to which בושׁס would stand for בושׁשׁ (Hitzig and Tuch on Genesis p. 85), is opposed both to the construction with על, and also to the circumstance that בּושׁשׁ means to delay (Exo 32:1; Jdg 5:28); and the derivation suggested by Hitzig from an Arabic verb, signifying to carry one’s self haughtily towards others, is a mere loophole. Taking a gift of corn from the poor refers to unjust extortion on the part of the judge, who will only do justice to a poor man when he is paid for it. The main clause, which was introduced with lâkhēn, is continued with בּתּי גזית: “thus have ye built houses of square stones, and shall not dwell therein;” for “ye shall not dwell in the houses of square stones which ye have built.” The threat is taken from Deu 28:30, Deu 28:39, and sets before them the plundering of the land and the banishment of the people. Houses built of square stones are splendid buildings (see Isa 9:9). The reason for this threat is given in Amo 5:12, where reference is made to the multitude and magnitude of the sins, of which injustice in the administration of justice is again held up as the chief sin. The participles צררי and לקחי are attached to the suffixes of פּשׁעיכם and חטּאתיכם: your sins, who oppress the righteous, attack him, and take atonement money, contrary to the express command of the law in Num 35:31, to take no kōpher for the soul of a murderer. The judges allowed the rich murderer to purchase exemption from capital punishment by the payment of atonement money, whilst they bowed down the right of the poor. Observe the transition from the participle to the third person fem., by which the prophet turns away with disgust from these ungodly judges. Bowing down the poor is a concise expression for bowing down the right of the poor: compare Amo 2:7 and the warnings against this sin (Exo 23:6; Deu 16:19).

Amo 5:13

With the new turn that all talking is useless, Amos repeats the admonition to seek good and hate evil, if they would live and obtain favour with God  (Amo 5:13-15); and then appends the threat that deep mourning will arise on every hand, since God is drawing near to judgment. Amo 5:13. “Therefore, whoever has prudence at this time is silent, for it is an evil time.” As lâkhēn (therefore) always introduces the threatening of divine punishment after the exposure of the sins (cf. Amo 5:11, Amo 5:16; Amo 6:7; Amo 4:12; Amo 3:11), we might be disposed to connect Amo 5:13 with the preceding verse; but the contents of the verse require that it should be taken in connection with what follows, so that lâkhēn simply denote the close connection of the two turns of speech, i.e., indicates that the new command in Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15 is a consequence of the previous warnings. Hammaskı̄l, the prudent man, he who acts wisely, is silent. בּעת ההיא, at a time such as this is, because it is an evil time, not however “a dangerous time to speak, on account of the malignity of those in power,” but a time of moral corruption, in which all speaking and warning are of no avail. It is opposed to the context to refer בעת ההיא to the future, i.e., to the time when God will come to punish, in which case the silence would be equivalent to not murmuring against God (Rashi and others). At the same time, love to his people, and zeal for their deliverance, impel the prophet to repeat his call to them to return.

Amo 5:14-15 “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah the God of hosts may be with you, as ye say. Amo 5:15. Hate evil, and love good, and set up justice in the gate; perhaps Jehovah the God of hosts will show favour to the remnant of Joseph.” The command to seek and love good is practically the same as that to seek the Lord in Amo 5:4, Amo 5:6; and therefore the promise is the same, “that ye may live.” But it is only in fellowship with God that man has life. This truth the Israelites laid hold of in a perfectly outward sense, fancying that they stood in fellowship with God by virtue of their outward connection with the covenant nation as sons of Israel or Abraham (cf. Joh 8:39), and that the threatened judgment could not reach them, but that God would deliver them in every time of oppression by the heathen (cf. Mic 3:11; Jer 7:10). Amos meets this delusion with the remark, “that Jehovah may be so with you as ye say.” כּן neither means “in case ye do so” (Rashi, Baur), nor “in like manner as, i.e., if ye strive after good” (Hitzig). Neither of these meanings can be established, and here they are untenable, for the simple reason that כּן unmistakeably corresponds with the following כּאשׁר. It means nothing more than “so as ye say.” The thought is the following: “Seek good, and not evil: then will Jehovah the God of the heavenly hosts be with you as a helper in distress, so as ye say.” This implied that in their present condition, so long as they sought good, they ought not to comfort themselves with the certainty of Jehovah’s help. Seeking good is explained in v. 15 as loving good, and this is still further defined as setting up justice in the gate, i.e., maintaining a righteous administration of justice at the place of judgment; and to this the hope, so humiliating to carnal security, is attached: perhaps God will then show favour to the remnant of the people. The emphasis in these words is laid as much upon perhaps as upon the remnant of Joseph. The expression “perhaps He will show favour” indicates that the measure of Israel’s sins was full, and no deliverance could be hoped for if God were to proceed to act according to His righteousness. The “remnant of Joseph” does not refer to “the existing condition of the ten tribes” (Ros., Hitzig). For although Hazael and Benhadad had conquered the whole of the land of Gilead in the times of Jehu and Jehoahaz, and had annihilated the Israelitish army with the exception of a very small remnant (2Ki 10:32-33; 2Ki 13:3, 2Ki 13:7), Joash and Jeroboam II had recovered from the Syrians all the conquered territory, and restored the kingdom to its original bounds (2Ki 13:23., 2Ki 14:26-28). Consequently Amos could not possibly describe the state of the kingdom of the ten tribes in the time of Jeroboam II as “the remnant of Joseph.” As the Syrians had not attempted any deportation, the nation of the ten tribes during the reign of Jeroboam was still, or was once more, all Israel. If, therefore, Amos merely holds out the possibility of the favouring of the remnant of Joseph, he thereby gives distinctly to understand, that in the approaching judgment Israel will perish with the exception of a remnant, which may possibly be preserved after the great chastisement (cf. Amo 5:3), just as Joel (Joe 3:5) and Isaiah (Isa 6:13; Isa 10:21-23) promise only the salvation of a remnant to the kingdom of Judah.

Amo 5:16-17

This judgment is announced in Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17. Amo 5:16. “Therefore thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the Lord: In all roads lamentation! and in all streets will men say, Alas! alas! and they call the husbandman to mourning, and lamentation to those skilled in lamenting. Amo 5:17. And in all vineyards lamentation, because I go through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.” Lâkhēn (therefore) is not connected with the admonitions in Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15, nor can it point back to the reproaches in Amo 5:7, Amo 5:10-12, since they are too far off: it rather links on to the substance of Amo 5:13, which involves the thought that all admonition to return is fruitless, and the ungodly still persist in their unrighteousness, - a thought which also forms the background of Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15. The meaning of Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17 is, that mourning and lamentation for the dead will fill both city and land. On every hand will there be dead to weep for, because Jehovah will go judging through the land. The roads and streets are not merely those of the capital, although these are primarily to be thought of, but those of all the towns in the kingdom. Mispēd is the death-wail. This is evident from the parallel 'âmar hō hō, saying, Alas, alas! i.e., striking up the death-wail (cf. Jer 22:18). And this death-wail will not be heard in all the streets of the towns only, but the husbandman will also be called from the field to mourn, i.e., to seep for one who has died in his house. The verb קראוּ, they call, belongs to מספּד אל י, they call lamentation to those skilled in mourning: for they call out the word mispēd to the professional mourners; in other words, they send for them to strike up their wailing for the dead. ידעי נהי (those skilled in mourning) are the public wailing women, who were hired when a death occurred to sing mourning songs (compare Jer 9:16; Mat 9:23, and my Bibl. Archäologie, ii. p. 105). Even in all the vineyards, the places where rejoicing is generally looked for (Amo 5:11; Isa 16:10), the death-wail will be heard. Amo 5:17 mentions the event which occasions the lamentation everywhere. כּי, for (not “if”) I go through the midst of thee. These words are easily explained from Exo 12:12, from which Amos has taken them. Jehovah there says to Moses, “I pass through the land of Egypt, and smite all the first-born.” And just as the Lord once passed through Egypt, so will He now pass judicially through Israel, and slay the ungodly. For Israel is no longer the nation of the covenant, which He passes over and spares (Amo 7:8; Amo 8:2), but has become an Egypt, which He will pass through as a judge to punish it. This threat is carried out still further in the next two sections, commencing with hōi.

Amo 5:18-20

The first turn. - Amo 5:18. “Woe to those who desire the day of Jehovah! What good is the day of Jehovah to you? It is darkness, and not light. Amo 5:19. As if a man fleeth before the lion, and the bear meets him; and he comes into the house, and rests his hand upon the wall, and the snake bites him. Amo 5:20. Alas! is not the day of Jehovah darkness, and not light; and gloom, and no brightness in it?” As the Israelites rested their hope of deliverance from every kind of hostile oppression upon their outward connection with the covenant nation (Amo 5:14); many wished the day to come, on which Jehovah would judge all the heathen, and redeem Israel out of all distress, and exalt it to might and dominion above all nations, and bless it with honour and glory, applying the prophecy of Joel in ch. 3 without the least reserve to Israel as the nation of Jehovah, and without considering that, according to Joe 2:32, those only would be saved on the day of Jehovah who called upon the name of the Lord, and were called by the Lord, i.e., were acknowledged by the Lord as His own. These infatuated hopes, which confirmed the nation in the security of its life of sin, are met by Amos with an exclamation of woe upon those who long for the day of Jehovah to come, and with the declaration explanatory of the woe, that that day is darkness and not light, and will bring them nothing but harm and destruction, and not prosperity and salvation. He explains this in Amo 5:19 by a figure taken from life. To those who wish the day of Jehovah to come, the same thing will happen as to a man who, when fleeing from a lion, meets a bear, etc. The meaning is perfectly clear: whoever would escape one danger, falls into a second; and whoever escapes this, falls into a third, and perishes therein. The serpent’s bite in the hand is fatal. “In that day every place is full of danger and death; neither in-doors nor out-of-doors is any one safe: for out-of-doors lions and bears prowl about, and in-doors snakes lie hidden, even in the holes of the walls” (C. a. Lap.). After this figurative indication of the sufferings and calamities which the day of the Lord will bring, Amos once more repeats in v. 20, in a still more emphatic manner (הלא, nonne = assuredly), that it will be no day of salvation, sc. to those who seek evil and not good, and trample justice and righteousness under foot (Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15).

Amo 5:21-24

This threatening judgment will not be averted by the Israelites, even by their feasts and sacrifices (Amo 5:21, Amo 5:22). The Lord has no pleasure in the feasts which they celebrate. Their outward, heartless worship, does not make them into the people of God, who can count upon His grace. Amo 5:21. “I hate, I despise your feasts, and do not like to smell your holy days. Amo 5:22. For if ye offer me burnt-offerings, and your meat-offerings, I have no pleasure therein; and the thank-offering of your fatted calves I do not regard. Amo 5:23. Put away from me the noise of thy songs; and I do not like to hear the playing of thy harps. Amo 5:24. And let judgment roll like water, and righteousness like an inexhaustible stream.” By the rejection of the opus operatum of the feasts and sacrifices, the roots are cut away from the false reliance of the Israelites upon their connection with the people of God. The combination of the words שׂנאתי מאסתּי expresses in the strongest terms the dislike of God to the feasts of those who were at enmity with Him. Chaggı̄m are the great annual feasts; ‛ătsârōth, the meetings for worship at those feasts, inasmuch as a holy meeting took place at the ‛ătsereth of the feast of Passover and feast of Tabernacles (see at Lev 23:36). Rı̄ăch, to smell, is an expression of satisfaction, with an allusion to the ריח ניחוח, which ascended to God from the burning sacrifice (see Lev 26:31). Kı̄, in Amo 5:22, is explanatory: “for,” not “yea.” The observance of the feast culminated in the sacrificers. God did not like the feasts, because He had no pleasure in the sacrifices. In Amo 5:23 the two kinds of sacrifice, ‛ōlâh and minchâh, are divided between the protasis and apodosis, which gives rise to a certain incongruity. The sentences, if written fully, would read thus: When ye offer me burnt-offerings and meat-offerings, I have no pleasure in your burnt-offerings and meat-offerings. To these two kinds the shelem, the health-offering or peace-offering, is added as a third class in Amo 5:22. מריאים, fattened things, generally mentioned along with bâqâr as one particular species, for fattened calves (see Isa 1:11). In הסר (Amo 5:23) Israel is addressed as a whole. המון שׁריך, the noise of thy songs, answers to the strong expression הסר. The singing of their psalms is nothing more to God than a wearisome noise, which is to be brought to an end. Singing and playing upon harps formed part of the temple worship (vid., 1Ch 16:40; 1Ch 23:5, and 1Ch 23:25). Isaiah (Isa 1:11.) also refuses the heartless sacrifice and worship of the people, who have fallen away from God in their hearts. It is very clear from the sentence which Amos pronounces here, that the worship at Bethel was an imitation of the temple service at Jerusalem. If, therefore, with Amo 6:1 in view, where the careless upon Mount Zion and in Samaria are addressed, we are warranted in assuming that here also the prophet has the worship in Judah in his mind as well; the words apply primarily and chiefly to the worship of the kingdom of the ten tribes, and therefore even in that case they prove that, with regard to ritual, it was based upon the model of the temple service at Jerusalem. Because the Lord has no pleasure in this hypocritical worship, the judgment shall pour like a flood over the land. The meaning of Amo 5:24 is not, “Let justice and righteousness take the place of your sacrifices.” Mishpât is not the justice to be practised by men; for “although Jehovah might promise that He would create righteousness in the nation, so that it would fill the land as it were like a flood (Isa 11:9), He only demands righteousness generally, and not actually in floods” (Hitzig). Still less can mishpât ūtsedâqâh be understood as relating to the righteousness of the gospel which Christ has revealed. This thought is a very far-fetched one here, and is only founded upon the rendering given to ויגּל, et revelabitur (Targ., Jerome, = ויגּל), whereas יגּל comes from גּלל, to roll, to roll along. The verse is to be explained according to Isa 10:22, and threatens the flooding of the land with judgment and the punitive righteousness of God (Theod. Mops., Theodoret, Cyr., Kimchi, and others).

Amo 5:25-27

Their heartless worship would not arrest the flood of divine judgments, since Israel had from time immemorial been addicted to idolatry. Amo 5:25. “Have ye offered me sacrifices and gifts in the desert forty years, O house of Israel? Amo 5:26. But have ye borne the booth of your king and the pedestal of your images, the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves? Amo 5:27. Then I will carry you beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah; God of hosts is His name.” The connection between these verses and what precedes is explained by Hengstenberg thus: “All this (the acts of worship enumerated in Amo 5:21-23) can no more be called a true worship, than the open idolatry in the wilderness. Therefore (Amo 5:17) as in that instance the outwardly idolatrous people did not tread the holy land, so now will the inwardly idolatrous people be driven out of the holy land” (Dissertations on the Pentateuch, vol. i. p. 157 transl.). But if this were the train of thought, the prophet would not have omitted all reference to the punishment of the idolatrous people in the wilderness. And as there is no such allusion here, it is more natural to take Amo 5:25 and Amo 5:26, as Calvin does, and regard the reference to the idolatry of the people, which was practised even in the wilderness, as assigning a further reason for their exposure to punishment.“In this place,” says Calvin, “the prophet proves more clearly, that he is not merely reproving hypocrisy among the Israelites, or the fact that they only obtruded their external pomps upon the notice of God, without any true piety of heart, but he also condemns their departure from the precepts of the law. And he shows that this was not a new disease among the Israelitish people, since their fathers had mixed up such leaven as this with the worship of God from the very beginning, and had thereby corrupted that worship. He therefore shows that the Israelites had always been addicted to superstitions, and could not be kept in any way whatever to the true and innate worship of God.”

The question, “Have ye offered me sacrifices?” is equivalent to a denial, and the words apply to the nation as a whole, or the great mass of the people, individual exceptions being passed by. The forty years are used as a round number, to denote the time during which the people were sentenced to die in the wilderness after the rebellion at Kadesh, just as in Num 14:33-34, and Jos 5:6, where this time, which actually amounted to only thirty-eight years, is given, as it is here, as forty years. And “the prophet could speak all the more naturally of forty years, since the germ of apostasy already existed in the great mass of the people, even when they still continued outwardly to maintain their fidelity to the God of Israel” (Hengstenberg). During that time even the circumcision of the children born in the thirty-eight years was suspended (see at Jos 5:5-7), and the sacrificial worship prescribed by the law fell more and more into disuse, so that the generation that was sentenced to die out offered no more sacrifices. Zebhâchı̄m (slain-offerings) and minchâh (meat-offerings), i.e., bleeding and bloodless sacrifices, are mentioned here as the two principal kinds, to denote sacrifices of all kinds. We cannot infer from this that the daily sacrificial worship was entirely suspended: in Num 17:11, indeed, the altar-fire is actually mentioned, and the daily sacrifice assumed to be still in existence; at the same time, the event there referred to belonged to the time immediately succeeding the passing of the sentence upon the people. Amos mentions the omission of the sacrifices, however, not as an evidence that the blessings which the Lord had conferred upon the people were not to be attributed to the sacrifices they had offered to Him, As Ephraem Syrus supposes, nor to support the assertion that God does not need or wish for their worship, for which Hitzig appeals to Jer 7:22; but as a proof that from time immemorial Israel has acted faithlessly towards its God, in adducing which he comprehends all the different generations of the people in the unity of the house of Israel, because the existing generation resembled the contemporaries of Moses in character and conduct.

Invitations and Warnings. (b. c. 790.)

1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3 For thus saith the Lord God ; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

This chapter begins, as those two next foregoing began, with, Hear this word. Where God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear; it is our duty, it is our interest, yet so stupid are most men that they need to be again and again called upon to hear the word of the Lord, to give audience, to give attention. Hear this word. this convincing awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; the word that is taken up against us, as well as that which makes for us; for, whether we hear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it shall fall to the ground. It is the word which I take up—not the prophet only, but the God that sent him. It is the word that the Lord has spoken, ch. iii. 1. The word to be heard is a lamentation, a lamentable account of the present calamitous state of the kingdom of Israel, and a lamentable prediction of its utter destruction. Their condition is sad: The virgin of Israel has fallen (v. 2), has come down from what she was; that state, though not pure and chaste as a virgin, yet was beautiful and gay, and had its charms; she looked high herself, and was courted by many as a virgin; but she has fallen into contempt and poverty, and is universally slighted. Nay, and their condition is helpless: She shall no more rise, shall never recover her former dignity again. God had lately begun to cut Israel short (2 Kings x. 32), and, because they repented not, it was not long before he cut Israel down. 1. Their princes, that should have helped them up, were disabled: She is forsaken upon her land. Not only those she was in alliance with abroad failed her, but her friends at home deserted her; she would not have been carried captive into a strange land if she had not first been forsaken upon her own land and thrown to the ground there, and all her true interests abandoned by those that should have had them at heart. There is none to raise her up, none that can do it, not that cares to lend her a hand. 2. Their people, that should have helped them up, were diminished, v. 3. "The city that had a militia, 1000 strong, and, in the beginning of the war, had furnished out 1000 effective men, able-bodied and well-armed, when they come to review their troops after the battle, shall find but 100 left; and, in proportion, the city that sent out 100 shall have but ten come back, so great a slaughter shall be made, and so few left to the house of Israel for the public service and safety." Scarcely one in ten shall escape of the hands that should relieve this abject, this dejected, nation. Note, The lessening of the numbers of God's spiritual Israel, by death or desertion, is just a matter for lamentation; for by whom shall Jacob arise, by whom shall the decays of piety be repaired, when he is thus made small?

God's Message to Israel; The Aggravated Sins of Israel; Warnings and Exhortations; Exhortations and Encouragements. (b. c.  790.)

4 For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: 5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. 6 Seek the Lord , and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name: 9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. 10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. 13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord , the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

This is a message from God to the house of Israel, in which,

I. They are told of their faults, that they might see what occasion there was for them to repent and reform, and that, when they were called to return, they might not need to ask, Wherein shall we return?

1. God tells them, in general (v. 12), "I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins; and you shall be made to know them too." In our penitent reflections upon our sins we must consider, as God does in his judicial remarks upon them, and will do in the great day, (1.) That they are very numerous; they are our manifold transgressions, sins of various kinds and often repeated. Oh what a multitude of vain and vile thoughts lodge within us! What a multitude of idle, foolish, wicked words have been spoken by us! In what a multitude of instances have we gratified and indulged our corrupt appetites and passions! And how many our own omissions of duty and in duty! Who can understand his errors? Who can tell how often he offends? God knows how many, just how many, our transgressions are; none of them pass him unobserved; we know that they are to us innumerable; more than the hairs of our head; and we have reason to see what danger we have brought ourselves into, and what abundance of work we have made for repentance, by our manifold transgressions, by the numberless number of our sins of daily incursion. (2.) That some of them are very heinous; they are our mighty sins; sins that are more exceedingly sinful in their own nature and by being committed presumptuously and with a high hand, sins against the light of nature, flagrant crimes, that are mighty to overpower your convictions and to pull down judgments upon you.

2. He specifies some of these mighty sins. (1.) They corrupted the worship of God, and turned to idols; this is implied v. 5. They had sought to Bethel, where one of the golden calves was; they had frequented Gilgal, a place which they chose to set up idols in, because it had been made famous in the days of Joshua by God's wonderful appearances to and for his people. Beer-sheba likewise, a place that had been famous in the days of the patriarchs, was now another rendezvous of idols; as we find also, ch. viii. 14. And thither they passed, though it lay at a distance, in the land of Judah. Now, having thus shamefully gone a whoring from God, no doubt they should have felt themselves concerned to return to him. (2.) They perverted justice among themselves (v. 7): "You turn judgment to wormwood, that is, you make your administrations of justice bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing both to God and man." That fruit has become a weed, a weed in the garden; as nothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than justice duly administered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more abominable, than designedly doing wrong under colour and pretence of doing right. Corruptio optimi est pessima—The best, when corrupted, becomes the worst. "You leave off righteousness in the earth, as if those that do wrong were accountable to the God of heaven only, and not to the princes and judges of the earth." Thus it was as before the flood, when the earth was filled with violence. (3.) They were very oppressive to the poor, and made them poorer; they trod upon the poor (v. 11), trampled upon them, hectored over them, made them their footstool, and were most imperious and barbarous to those that were most obsequious and submissive; they care not what shame and slavery they put those to who were poor and such as they could get nothing by. The judges aimed at nothing but to enrich themselves; and therefore they took from the poor burdens of wheat, took it by extortion, either by way of bribe or by usury. The poor had no other way to save themselves from being trodden upon, and trodden to dirt, by them, than by presenting to them horse-loads of that corn which they and their families should have had to subsist upon, and they forced them to do it. They took from the poor debts of wheat, so some read it. It was legally due either for rent or for corn lent, but they exacted it with rigour from those who were disabled by the providence of God to pay it, as Neh. v. 2, 5. In demanding and recovering even a just debt we must take heed lest we act either unjustly or uncharitably. This sin of oppression by are again charged with (v. 12): They afflict the just, by turning the edge of the law and of the sword of justice against those that are the innocent and quiet in the land; they hated men because they were more righteous than themselves, and he that departed from evil thereby made himself a prey to them. They take a bribe from the rich to patronize and protect them in oppressing the poor, so that he who has money in his hand is sure to have the judgment on his side, be his cause ever so bad. Thus they turn aside the poor in the gate, in the courts of justice, from their right. If the poor sue for their right, who cannot bribe them, or are so honest that they will not, though they have it ever so clear in view and ever so near, yet they are turned away from it by their unrighteous sentence and cannot come at it. And therefore the prudent will keep silence, v. 13. Men will reckon it their prudence, when they are wronged and injured, to be silent, and make no complaints to the magistrates, for it will be to no purpose; they shall not have justice done them. (4.) They were malicious persecutors of God's faithful ministers and people, v. 10. Their hearts were so fully set in them to do evil that they could not bear to be reproved, [1.] By the ministry of the word, by the reading and expounding of the law, and the messages which prophets delivered to them in the name of the Lord. They hate him that rebukes in the gate, in the gate of the Lord's house, or in their courts of justice, or in the places of concourse, where Wisdom is lifting up her voice, Prov. i. 21. Reprovers in the gate are reprovers by office; these they hated, counting them their enemies because they told them the truth, as Ahab hated Micaiah. They not only despised them, but had an enmity to them, and sought to do them mischief. Those that hate reproof love ruin. [2.] By the conversation of their honest neighbours. Though things were generally very bad, yet there were some among them that spoke uprightly that made conscience of what they said, and, as it was their praise, so it was the shame of those that spoke deceitfully, and condemned them, as Noah's faith condemned the unbelief of the old world, and for that reason they abhorred them; they were such inveterate enemies to the thing called honesty that they could not endure the sight of an honest man. All that have any sense of the common interest of mankind will love and value such as speak uprightly, for veracity is the bond of human society; to what a pitch of folly and madness then have those arrived who, having banished all notions of justice out of their own hearts, would have them banished out of the world too, and so put mankind into a state of war, for they abhor him that speaks uprightly! And for this reason the prudent shall keep silence in that time, v. 13. Prophets cannot, dare not, keep silence; the impulse they are under will not allow them to act on prudential considerations; they must cry aloud, and not spare. But as for other wise and good men they shall keep silence, and shall reckon it is their prudence to do so, because it is an evil time. First, They shall think it dangerous to complain, and therefore shall keep silence; this was one way in which they afflicted the just, that by false suggestions and strained innuendos they made men offenders for a word (Isa. xix. 21); and therefore the prudent, who were wise as serpents, because they knew not how what they said might be misinterpreted and misrepresented, were so cautious as to say nothing, lest they should run themselves into a premunire, because it was an evil time. Note, Through the iniquity of the times, as good men are hidden, so good men are silent, and it is their wisdom to be so; little said soon amended. But it is their comfort that they may speak freely to God when they know not to whom else they can speak freely. Secondly, They shall think if fruitless to reprove. They see what wickedness is committed, and their spirits are stirred up, as Paul's at Athens; but they shall think it prudent not to bear an open testimony against it, because it is to no purpose. They are joined to their idols; let them alone. Let no man strive or rebuke another; for it is but casting pearls before swine. The cautious men will say to a bold reprover, as Erasmus to Luther, "Abi in cellam, et dic, Miserere mei, Domine—Away to thy cell, and cry, Have mercy on me, O Lord!" Let grave lessons and counsels be kept for better men and better times. And there is a time to keep silence as well as a time to speak, Eccl. iii. 7. Evil times will not bear plain dealing, that is evil men will not; and the men the prophet here speaks of had reason to think themselves evil men indeed, when wise and good men thought it in vain to speak to them and were afraid of having any thing to do with them.

II. They are told of their danger and what judgments they lay exposed to for their sins. 1. The places of their idolatry are in danger of being ruined in the first place, v. 5. Gilgal, the head-quarters of idolatry, shall go into captivity, not only its inhabitants, but its images, and Bethel, with its golden calf shall come to nought. The victorious enemy shall make nothing of it, so easily shall it be spoiled, and shall bring it to nothing, so effectually shall it be spoiled. Idols were always vanity, and things of nought, and so they shall prove when God appears to abolish them. 2. The body of the kingdom is in danger of being ruined with them, v. 6. There is danger lest, if you seek him not in time, he break out like a fire in the house of Joseph and devour it; for our God is a righteous Judge, is a consuming fire, and the men of Israel, as criminals, are stubble before him; woe to those that make themselves fuel to the fire of God's wrath. It follows, And there shall be none to quench it in Bethel. There their idols were, and their idolatrous priests; thither they brought their sacrifices, and there they offered up their prayers. But God tells them that when the fire of his judgments should kindle upon them all the gods they served at Bethel should not be able to quench it, should not turn away the judgment, nor be any relief to them under it. Thus those that make an idol of the world will find it insufficient to protect them when God comes to reckon with them for their spiritual idolatry. 3. What they have got by oppression and extortion shall be taken from them (v. 11): "You have built houses of hewn stone, which you thought would be lasting; but you shall not dwell in them, for your enemies shall burn them down, or possess them for themselves, or take you into captivity. You have planted pleasant vineyards, have contrived how to make them every way agreeable, and have promised yourselves many a pleasant walk in them; but you shall be forced to walk off, and shall never drink wine of them." The law had tenderly provided that if a man had built a house, or planted a vineyard, he should be at his liberty to return from the wars, Deut. xx. 5, 6. But now the necessity would be so urgent that it would not be allowed; all must go to the battle, and many of those who had lately been building and planting should fall in battle, and never enjoy what they had been labouring for. What is not honestly got is not likely to be long enjoyed.

III. They are told their duty, and have great encouragement to set about it in good earnest, and good reason. The duties here prescribed to them are godliness and honesty, seriousness in their applications to God and justice in their dealings with men; and each of these is here pressed upon them with proper arguments to enforce the exhortation.

1. They are here exhorted to be sincere and devout in their addresses to God, v. 4. God says to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and with good reason, for should not a people seek unto their God? Isa. viii. 19. Whither else should they go but to their protector? Israel was a prince with God; let his descendants seek the Lord, as he did, and they shall be so too. Now, in order to their doing this, they must abandon their idolatries. God is not sought truly if he be not sought exclusively, for he will endure no rivals: "Seek you the Lord, and seek not Bethel (v. 5), consult not your idol-oracles, nor ask at the mouth of the priests of Bethel; seek not to the golden calf there for protection, nor bring your prayers and sacrifices any longer thither, or to Gilgal, for you forsake your own mercies if you observe those lying vanities. But seek the Lord (v. 6, 8); enquire after him; enquire of him; seek to know his mind as your rule, to secure his favour as your felicity." To press this exhortation we are told to consider, (1.) What we shall get by seeking God; it will be our life; we shall find him, and shall be happy in him. So he tells them himself (v. 4): Seek you me, and you shall live. Those that seek perishing gods shall perish with them (v. 5), but those that seek the living God shall live with him: "You shall be delivered from the killing judgments which you are threatened with; your nation shall live, shall recover from its present languishings; your souls shall live; you shall be sanctified and comforted, and made for ever blessed. You shall live." (2.) What a God he is whom we are to seek, v. 8, 9. [1.] He is a God of almighty power himself. The idols were impotent things, could do neither good nor evil, and therefore it was folly either to fear or trust them; but the God of Israel does every thing, and can do any thing, and therefore we ought to seek him; he challenges our homage who has all power in his hand, and it is our interest to have him on our side. Divers proofs and instances are here given of God's power, as Creator, in the kingdom of nature, as both founding and governing that kingdom. Compare ch. iv. 13. First, The stars are the work of his hands; those stars which the heathens worshipped (v. 26), the stars of your god, those stars are God's creatures and servants. He makes the seven stars and Orion, two very remarkable constellations, which Amos, a herdsman, while he kept his cattle by night, had particularly observed the motions of. He made them at the first, he still makes them to be what they are to this earth and either binds or looses the sweet influences of Peliades and Orion, the two constellations here mentioned. See Job xxxviii. 31; ix. 9, to which passages Amos seems here to refer, putting them in mind of those ancient discoveries of the glory of God before he was called the God of Israel. Secondly, The constant succession of day and night is under his direction, and is kept up by his power and providence. It is he that turns the night (which is dark as the shadow of death) into the morning by the rising of the sun, and by the setting of the sun makes the day dark with night; and the same power can, for humble penitents, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, but can as easily turn the prosperity of presumptuous sinners into darkness, into utter darkness. Thirdly, The rain rises and falls as he appoints. He calls for the waters of the sea; out of them vapours are drawn up by the heat of the sun, which gather into clouds, and are poured out upon the face of the earth, to water it and make it fruitful. This was the mercy that had been withholden from them of late (ch. iv. 7); and therefore to whom should they apply but to him who had power to give it? For all the vanities of the heathen could not give rain, nor could the heavens themselves give showers Jer. xiv. 22. It is God that has made these things; Jehovah is his name, the name by which the God of nature, the God of the whole earth, has made himself known to his people Israel and covenanted with them. [2.] As he is God of almighty power himself, so he gives strength and power unto his people that seek him, and renews strength to those that had lost it, if they wait upon him for it; for (v. 9) he strengthens the spoiled against the strong to such a degree that the spoiled come against the fortress and make bold and brave attacks upon those that had spoiled them. This is an encouragement to the people to seek the Lord, that, if they do so, they shall find him above to retrieve their affairs, when they are brought to the lowest ebb; though they are the spoiled, and their enemies are the strong, if they can but engage God for them, they shall soon recruit so as the next time to be not only the aggressors, but the conquerors; they come against the fortress, to make reprisals and become masters of it.

2. They are here exhorted to be honest and just in their dealings with men, v. 14, 15, where observe, (1.) The duty required: Seek good, and not evil. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate; re-establish it there, whence it has been banished, v. 7. Note, Things are not so bad but that they may be amended if the right course be taken; we must not despair but that grievances may be redressed and abuses rectified; justice may yet triumph where injustice tyrannizes. In order to this, good must be loved and sought, evil must be hated and no longer sought. We must love good principles and adhere to them, love to do good and abound in doing it, love good people, and good converse, and good duties; and, whatever good we do, we must do it from a principle of love, do it of choice and with delight. Those who thus love good will seek it, will contrive to do all the good they can, enquire for opportunities of doing it, and endeavor to do it to the utmost of their power. They will also hate evil, will abhor the thought of doing an unjust thing, and abstain from all appearance of it. In vain do we pretend to seek God in our devotions if we do not seek good in our whole conversations. (2.) The reasons annexed. [1.] This is the sure way to be happy ourselves and to have the continual presence of God with us: "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, may escape the punishment of the evil you have sought and loved (righteousness delivereth from death), that you may have the favour of God, which is your life, which is better than life itself, that you may have comfort in yourselves and may live to some good purpose. You shall live, for so the Lord God of hosts shall be with you and be your life." Note, Those that keep in the way of duty have the presence of God with them, as the God of hosts, a God of almighty power. "He will be with you as you have spoken, that is, as you have gloried; you shall have that really which, while you went on in unrighteous ways, you only seemed to have and boasted of as if you had." Those that truly repent and reform enter into the enjoyment of that comfort which before they had only flattered themselves with the imagination of. Or, "As you have prayed when you sought the Lord. Live up to your prayers, and you shall have what you pray for." [2.] This is the likeliest way to make the nation happy: "If you seek and love that which is good, you may contribute to the saving of the land from ruin." It may be, the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph; though there is but a remnant left, yet, if God be gracious to that remnant, it will rise to a great nation again; and if some among them turn from sin, especially if judgment be established in the gate, though we cannot be certain, yet there is a great probability that public affairs will take a new and happy turn, and every thing will mend if men mend their lives. Temporary promises are made with an It may be; and our prayers must be made accordingly.

Threatenings and Reproofs. (b. c. 790.)

16 Therefore the Lord , the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord . 18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord ! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Here is, I. A very terrible threatening of destruction approaching, v. 16, 17. Since they would not take the right course to obtain the favour of God, God would take an effectual course to make them feel the weight of his displeasure. The threatening is introduced with more than ordinary solemnity, to strike an awe upon them; it is not the word of the prophet only (if so, it might be made light of) but it is the Lord Jehovah, who has an infinite eternal being; it is the God of hosts, who has a boundless irresistible power, and it is Adonai—the Lord, who has an absolute incontestable sovereignty, and a universal dominion; it is he who says it, who can and will make his words good, and he has said, 1. That the land of Israel shall be put in mourning, true mourning, that all places shall be filled with lamentation for the calamities coming upon them. Look into the cities, and wailing shall be in all streets, in the great streets, in the by-streets. Look into the country, and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! we are all undone! The lamentation shall be so great as not to be confined within doors, nor kept within the bounds of decency, but it shall be proclaimed in the streets and highways, and shall run wild. The husbandman shall be called from the plough by the calamities of his country to the natural expressions of mourning; and, because those who will come short of the merits of the cause, such as are skilful of lamentation shall be called to artificial mourning, to put accents upon the lamentations of the real mourners with their Ahone, ahone. Even in all vineyards, where there used to be nothing but mirth and pleasure, there shall be general wailing, when a foreign force invades the country, lays all waste, and there is no making any head against it, no weapons left but prayers and tears. 2. That the land of Israel shall be brought to ruin, and the advances of that ruin are the occasion of all this wailing: I will pass through thee, as the destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt to destroy the first-born, but then passed over the houses of the Israelites. God's judgments had often passed by them, but now they shall pass through them, shall run them through.

II. A just and severe reproof to those who made light of these threatenings, and impudently bade defiance to the justice of God and his judgments, v. 18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord, that really wish for times of war and confusion, as some do who have restless spirits, and long for changes, or who choose to fish in troubled waters, hoping to raise their families, as some had done, upon the ruins of their country; but the prophet tells them that this should be so great a desolation that nobody could get by it. Or it is spoken to those who, in their wailings and lamentations for the calamities they were in, wished they might die, and be delivered out of their misery, as Job did, with passion. The prophet shows them the folly of this. Do they know what death is to those who are unprepared for it, and how much more terrible it will be than any thing that can befal them in this life? Or, rather, it is spoken to those who speak jestingly of that day of the Lord which the prophet spoke so seriously of; they desired it, that is, they challenged it; they said, Let him do his worst; let him make speed, and hasten his work, Isa. v. 19. Where is the promise of his coming? 2 Pet. iii. 4. It intimates, 1. That they do not believe it. They say that they wish it would come because they do not believe it will ever come; nor will they believe it unless they see it. 2. That they do not fear it; though they may have some belief of it, yet they had so little consideration of it, and their mind is so intent upon other things, that they are under no apprehension at all of peril from it; instead of having the conscience to dread it, they have the curiosity to desire it. In answer to this, (1.) He shows the folly of those who impudently wished for any of God's judgments, and made a jest of any of the terrors of the Lord: "To what end is it for you that the day of the Lord should come? You will find it both certain and sad; not a thing to be bantered, for it is neither a thing to be questioned whether it will come or no nor a thing to be turned off with a slight when it does come. The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light, v. 18. Shall it not be so? v. 20. Do not your own consciences tell you that it will be so, that it will be very dark, and no brightness in it?" Note, The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners; the day of judgment will be so; and sometimes the day of their present trouble. And, when God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. (2.) He shows the folly of those who impatiently wished for a change of God's judgment, in hopes that the next would be better and more tolerable. They desire the day of the Lord, in hopes to better themselves (though their hearts and lives be not amended), or, at least, to know the worst. But the prophet tells them that they know not what they ask, v. 19. It is as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him, a beast of prey more cruel and ravenous than a lion, or as if a man, to escape all dangers abroad, went into the house for security, and leaned his hand on the wall to rest himself, and there a serpent bit him. Note, Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God will be pursued by them; and, if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them; fear and the pit and snare surround them, Isa. xxiv. 17, 18. It is madness therefore to defy the day of the Lord.

Hypocritical Services Rejected; Threatenings against Israel. (b. c. 790.)

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord , whose name is The God of hosts.

The scope of these verses is to show how little God valued their shows of devotion, nay, how much he detested them, while they went on in their sins. Observe,

I. How unpleasing, nay, how displeasing, their hypocritical services were to God. They had their feast-days at Bethel, in imitation of those at Jerusalem, in which they pretended to rejoice before God. They had their solemn assemblies for religious worship, in which they put on the gravity of those who come before God as his people come, and sit before him as his people sit. They offered to God burnt-offerings, to the honour of God, together with the meat-offerings which by the law were to be offered with them; they offered the peace-offerings, to implore the favour of God, and they offered them of the fat beasts that they had, v. 21, 22. In imitation likewise of the temple-music, they had the noise of their songs and the melody of their viols (v. 23), vocal and instrumental music, with which they praised God. With these services they hoped to make God amends for the sins they had committed, and to obtain leave to go on in sin; and therefore they were so far from being acceptable to God that they were abominable. He hated, he despised, their feast-days, not only despised them as no valuable services done to him, but hated them as an affront and provocation to him, as we hate to see men dissemble with us, pretend a respect for us when really they have none. Nothing more hateful, more despicable, than hypocrisy. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, it shall be counted a curse, when it appears that his heart is not with him. God will not smell in their solemn assemblies, for there is nothing in them that is grateful to him, but a great deal that is offensive. Their sacrifices are not to him of a sweet smelling savour, as Noah's was, Gen. viii. 21. He will not accept them; he will not regard them, will not take any notice of them; he will not hear the melody of their viols; for, when sin is a jar in the harmony, it grates in his ears: "Take it away," says God, "I cannot bear it." Now this intimates, 1. That sacrifice itself is of small account with God in comparison with moral duties; to love God and our neighbour is better than all burnt offering and sacrifice. 2. That the sacrifice of the wicked is really an abomination to him, Prov. xv. 8. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found when, if any place in hell be hotter than another, that will be the hypocrite's portion.

II. What it was that he required in order to the acceptableness of their sacrifices and without which no sacrifice would be acceptable (v. 24): Let judgment run down as waters, among you, and righteousness as a mighty stream, that is 1. "Let there be a general reformation of manners among you; let religion (God's judgment) and righteousness have their due influence upon you; let your land be watered with it, and let it bear down all the opposition of vice and profaneness; let it run wide as overflowing waters, and yet run strong as mighty stream." (2.) "In particular, let justice be duly administered by magistrates and rulers; let not the current of it be stopped by partiality and bribery, but let it come freely as waters do, in the natural course; let it be pure as running waters, not muddied with corruption or whatever may pervert justice; let it run like a mighty stream, and not suffer itself to be obstructed, or its course retarded, by the fear of man; let all have free access to it as a common stream, and have benefit by it as trees planted by the rivers of waters." The great thing laid to Israel's charge was turning judgment into wormwood (v. 7); in that matter therefore they must reform, Zech. vii. 9. This was what God desired more than sacrifices, Hos. vi. 6; 1 Sam. xv. 22.

III. What little stress God had laid upon the law of sacrifices, though it was his own law, in comparison with the moral precepts (v. 25): "Did you offer unto me sacrifices in the wilderness forty years? No, you did not." For the greatest part of that time sacrifice was very much neglected, because of the unsettledness of their state; after the second year, the passover was not kept till they came into Canaan, and other institutions were in like manner intermitted; and yet, because God will have mercy and not sacrifice, he never imputed the omission to them as their fault, but continued his care of them and kindness to them: it was not that, but their murmuring and unbelief, for which God was displeased with them. He that so owned his people, though they did not sacrifice, when in other things they kept close to him, will certainly disown them, though they do sacrifice, if in other things they depart from him. But, though ritual sacrifices may thus be dispensed with, spiritual sacrifices will not; even justice and honesty will not excuse for the want of prayer and praise, a broken heart and the love of God. Stephen quotes this passage (Acts vii. 42), to show the Jews that they ought not to think it strange that ceremonial law was repealed when from the beginning it was comparatively made light of. Compare Jer. vii. 22, 23.

IV. What little reason they had to expect that their sacrifices should be acceptable to God, when they and their fathers had been all along addicted to the worship of other gods. So some take v. 25, "Did you offer to me sacrifices, that is, to me only? No, and therefore not at all to me acceptably;" for the law of worshipping the Lord our God is, Him only we must serve. "But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch (v. 26), little shrines that you made to carry about with you, pocket-idols for your private superstition, when you durst not be seen to do it publicly. You have had the images of your Moloch—your king" (probably representing the sun, that sits king among the heavenly bodies), "and Chiun, or Remphan" (as Stephen calls it, Acts vii. 43, after the LXX.), which it is supposed, represented Saturn, the highest of the seven planets. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, was the most ancient, most general, and most plausible idolatry. They made to themselves the star of their God, some particular star which they took to be their god, or the name of which they gave to their god. This idolatry Israel was from the beginning prone to (Deut. iv. 19); and those that retain an affection for false gods cannot expect the favour of the true God.

V. What punishment God would inflict upon them for their persisting in idolatry (v. 27): I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, and therefore God caused them to go into captivity among idolaters, and hurried them into a strange land, since they were so fond of strange gods. They were carried beyond Damascus. Their captivity by the Assyrians was far beyond that by the Syrians; for, if less judgments do not work that for which they were sent, God will send greater. Or the captivity of Israel under Shalmaneser was far beyond that of Damascus under Tiglath-pileser, and much more grievous and destructive, which was foretold ch. i. 5. For, as the sins of God's professing people are greater than the sins of others, so it may be expected that their punishments will be proportionable. We find the spoil of Damascus and that of Samaria carried off together by the king of Assyria, Isa. viii. 4. Stephen reads it, I will carry you away beyond Babylon (Acts vii. 43), further than Judah shall be carried, so far further as not to return. And, to make this sentence appear both the more certain and the more dreadful, he that passes it calls himself the Lord, whose name is, The God of hosts, and who is therefore able to execute the sentence, having hosts at command.

CHAP. V.

Verſe 1. HEar ye this word] A new ſermon, as appeareth by this new Oyer: not unlike that of S. Paul, Act. 13.16. Men of Iſrael, and ye that fear God, give audience: or rather, that of Diogenes, who cried out at Athens, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Hear O ye men. And when as (thereupon) a great ſort of people reſorted to him, expecting ſome great matter, he looked about him, and ſaid, [non-Latin text not transcribed], I called men, and not varlets. They were no better ſurely that our Prophet had to deal with;Iſai. 1.4. Ah ſinfull nation, a people laden with iniquity, a ſeed of evil-doers, children that were corrupters: they had forſaken the Lord, provoked the Holy One of Iſrael, they had increaſed revolt. Hence this oneroſa prophetia, this word, this weighty word, this burdenſome prophecy.

which I take up againſt you,] [non-Latin text not transcribed], hinc [non-Latin text not transcribed] onus Heb. lift up, being ſcarce able to ſtand under the burden of it. See the Note on Mal. 1.1. And it is againſt you, not for you: but that's your own fault: for do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Mic. 2.7. Excellently Auſtin, Adverſarius eſt nobis, quandiu ſumus & ipſi nobis, &c. The word of God is adverſary to none, but ſuch as are adverſaries to themſelves: neither doth it condemne any, but thoſe that ſhall be aſſuredly condemned by the Lord, except they repent. But we have in a readineſſe to revenge all diſobedience, ſaith the Apoſtle, 2 Cor. 10.6. and if any man will hurt Gods faithfull witneſſes, for diſcharging their duties, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he muſt in this manner be killed, Rev 11.5. for Eliſha hath his ſword as well as Jehu and Hazael, 1 King. 19.17. And when Eliſha unſheatheth and brandiſheth his ſword, it is a fair warning that the ſword of Jehu and Hazael are at hand. See Hoſ. 6.5. Jer. 1.18.

even a lamentation.] Heb. a very bitter lamentation, Ezek. 19.14. like thoſe of Jeremy for Judah, or of the mourners in Jeruſalem, Ezech. 9.4. or of Chriſt weeping over that city, Luke 19.41, 42. Or of Paul bewailing his wretched countreymen, Rom. 9.3. and 10.1. or of the two witneſſes clothed in ſackloth, Rev. 11.3. the habit of mourners: or of Athanaſius, who by his tears (as by the bleeding of a chaſt vine) ſought to cure the leproſie, and prevent the miſery of that tainted age. Heu, heu, Domine Deus, was the cry of the ancient Chriſtians. Flete nefas magnum, nam toto flebitis orbe. Their books are like that in Ezekiel written on both ſides,Cardan. and there was written therein, lamentations, and mourning, and wo, Ezek. 2.10. This of Amos was a ſad ſong, a dolefull ditty, a lamentable propheſie of Iſraels utter deſtruction, as it followeth in the ſecond verſe, where (Prophet-like) hee ſpeaketh of it as already done, notwithſtanding their preſent proſperity and tranquillity. And have not Englands Turtles groaned out for a great while, the ſad and lamentable tunes of wo and miſery to this ſinfull nation: and plainly foretold what we have felt already, and have yet cauſe enough to fear. Ah! great be the plagues that hang over England, Act. & Mon. 1667. (ſaid Mr. Philpot Martyr long ſince) Happy ſhall that perſon be, whom the Lord ſhall take out of this world, not to ſee them, &c. And the like ſaid Rogers our pr[illegible: 1 letter]to-martyr Bradford, Ridley, Lever, &c. beſides the concurrent predictions of Gods faithfull ſervants a-late, whoſe hearts and tongues he hath ſo guided, as that they all as one man, have denounced heavie judgements, and taken up loud lamentations againſt us. Now, as before great ſtormes, cocks crow loud and thick: ſo is it here; and ſo it ſhould be, Exod. 32.31, 32. Jer. 18.20. Ioel 2.17. elſe God will be diſpleaſed, Ezech. 13.5. & 22.30, 31.

Verſe 2. The virgin of Iſrael is fallen,] i. e. Though of the ſpouſe of God, ſhe be become the devils adultereſſe, Jer. 3.1. Hoſ. 1.2. yet ſhee will needs be counted and called a virgin ſtill: as Sardis, ſhe hath a name to live, but is dead: as the Romiſh crew cry themſelves up the onely Church Catholike, and therein (like Oyſterwives) do much out-crie us.Rev. 3.1. But what ſaith the Lord by his Prophet Ieremy, chap. 18.13? Ask ye now among the Heathen; who hath heard ſuch things? The Virgin of Iſrael hath done a very horrible thing. And the Virgin of Rome may well ſay as Quartilla the ſtrumpet in Petronius doth, Iunonem meam iratam habeam, ſi unquam me meminerim virginem fuiſſe. Petron. Satyr. I can hardly remember my ſelf a maid. Iſrael may alſo be called a virgin, becauſe ſhe yet ſubſiſted and flouriſhed in her firſt liberty and ſplendour, till taken and defloured, as it were, by the Aſſyrian. And in this ſence we read of the virgin of Babylon, Eſay 47.1. of Egypt, Jer. 46.12. of Zidon, Eſay 23.12. and now of Venice, whoſe Motto is, Intacta maneo, I am ſtill a maid: as having never yet fallen into the enemies power. Tournay, a town in France, was ever counted ſo invincible, that this ſentence was engraven over one of the gates, Iannes ton me perdu ton pucellage, Thou haſt never loſt thy maidenhead. Yet was it yeelded up to our King Henry 8. with 10000. pound ſterling,Speed ſol. 1001. for the citizens redemption. The Virgin of Iſrael ſped not ſo well.

Shee is fallen,] That is, ſhee ſhall fall, ſurely, ſuddenly, utterly.

ſhe ſhall no more riſe,] i. e. return out of captivity, and be reſtored to her priſtine ſplendour: yet ſome think otherwiſe.

ſhe is forſaken upon her land,] Projecta eſt, proſtrata jacet, ſhe is thrown hard upon her ground, and as it were daſhed againſt it, like an earthen pot againſt a rock: and all this, becauſe ſhe had left off righteouſneſſe in the earth, Verſe 7. Thoſe that forſake God, ſhall be forſaken of him, 2 Chron. 15.2.

there is none to raiſe her up.] God will not; and then, man cannot. Behold, ſaith Bildad, God will not caſt away a perfect man; neither will he take the ungodly by the hand, Job 8.20. he will bring them into trouble, and there leave them, Ezek. 22.20. & 29.5. His own he will not leave: or if he do, yet forſake them he will not, Heb. 13.5. and if men do, he will relieve them the rather. Becauſe they called thee an out-caſt ſaying, This is Zion, whom no man ſeeketh after; therefore I will reſtore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, ſaith the Lord, Jer. 30.17.

Verſe 3. The city that went out by a thouſand,] i. e. that had a thouſand inhabitants paſſing to and fro thorow the gates (See Gen. 34.24. and 23.10. for men love not to bee cooped up, or confined to a place, as the Duke of Venice is, but to be travelling and trading) Or, that can ſend out a thouſand, fit to bear arms.

Shall leave an hundred,] Here's a wofull decimation, purporting a very great paucity of people: ſuch as was threatned, Deut. 28.62. a tenth man onely ſhall be left, if that. Behold the ſeverity of God, and betray not the lives of others, by an impenitent continuance in ſinne. Turn to God, if but for your poor brethrens ſake, that are in danger, or in durance. Hezekiab's reaſon to repent is very remarkable, 2 Chron. 30.9. For if ye turn again to the Lord, your brethren and your children ſhall finde compaſſion before them that lead them captive, ſo that they ſhall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and mercifull, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

Shall leave ten.] Not take ten in an hundred and leave the reſt, as the Roman Generals uſed to do in the Army, in caſe of a mutiny. This was fulfilled in that three yeers ſiege of Samaria, 2 King. 18.10. as afterwards the like fell out at Ieruſalem, which could hardly be repeopled in Nehemiah's time, and at this day is but thinly inhabited: there being not an hundred houſholds of Jews to be found there. In our Countries, of the abundance of people commeth dearth, which maketh many male-contents to mutter: but in many parts of Turkey, for want of men to manure the ground: moſt of the poor being enforced with victuals and other neceſſaries to follow their great Armies, in their long expeditions: of whom ſcarce one of ten (ſaith mine Authour) ever return home again, there by the way periſhing,Turk. hiſt. 1153. if not by the enemies ſword; yet by the wants, intemperateneſſe of the air, or immoderate pains-taking.

Verſe 4. For thus ſaith the Lord,] Or, Truly thus ſaith the Lord: Notwithſtanding the former terrible ſentence, which the Prophet could not denounce with dry eyes: but takes up a lamentation, though leſſe concerned in it, and might well ſay, as One did in another caſe: Tu quibus iſta legis, in[illegible: 1 letter]ertum eſt, lector ocellis,M. Fox of the L. Jane Gray. Ipſe quidem ſiccis dicere non potui. All Gods threatnings (for moſt part) are conditionall, Ier, 18.7. and 26.2 ſc. if men repent not. As if they do, they may live in his ſight, and be accounted worthy (ſuch is Gods great goodneſſe) to eſcape all thoſe things, that ſhall befall the impenitent, Luke 21.36. The Goſpel is poſt naufragium tabula, and hath its reward too,Heb. 11.6. Heb. 11.6. ſc. of grace and mercy. Do this and live, ſaith the Law. Seek the Lord, and live, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. ſaith the Goſpel. He is a rewarder of them that diligently ſeek him, (and that is the force of the Hebrew word here uſed, which ſignifieth to euquire, to make ſerious ſearch, and ſcrutiny, to ſeek him out, (as the Seventy have it) when he is with-drawn; to ſeek him as a Student doth ſciences, a worldling gold, a hungry man meat, &c. as a man ſtudiouſly turns over a Commentary, to finde out the ſence of a Text,1 Theſſ. 3.8. 1 Sam. 25.6. Eſay 34.16. Do this, ſaith God, and ye ſhall live: not onely have your lives for a prey, but live merrily, happily. Now we live, ſaith the Apoſtle: that is, we rejoyce; and Thus ſhall ye ſay to him that liveth: that is, hath a comfortable life, and a confluence of bleſſings. But beſides all this, yee ſhall live for ever: and aterna vita, vera vita, eternall life is the onely life properly ſo called. Life (in what ſence ſoever taken) is a ſweet mercy:Aug. A living dog is better then a dead Lion, ſaith Solomon: and Ioſeph is yet alive, ſaith Iacob, (he doth not ſay, Ioſeph is Lord of Egypt) I will get down,Eccleſ. 9.4. Gen. 46.28. Rom. 6. [illegible: 1 letter]lt. and ſee him before I die. But eternall life is (by a ſpecialty and with an accent) the gift of God through Ieſus Chriſt our Lord: and this gift he will freely beſtow on all that ſo ſeek him as not to be ſatisfied without him: as Moſes, who would not be put off with an Angel, but ſaid, If thy preſence go not with me, carry us not up hence, Exod. 33.15. and as Luther, who when great gifts were ſent him, refuſed them, and ſaid, Valde proteſtatus ſum, me nolle ſic ſatiari à D[illegible: 1 letter]o. I deeply proteſted, that I would not be ſatisfied with theſe low things;Melch. Ad. but that I would have God, or nothing. This was one of thoſe brave Apophthegmes of his, concerning which One well ſaith; A man would fetch them upon his knees from Rome, or Jeruſalem, rather then be without them.

Verſe 5. But ſeek not Bethel, &c.] Make not lies your refuge, idols your Oracles: they that obſerve lying vanities, do (by their own election) forſake their own mercies (Jon. 2.8.)Verſe 9. But I (ſaith the Prophet, who had now paid for his learning, and was yet under the laſh) will ſacrifice to thee alone, will ſeek thy face and favour, not at Bethel, or Gilgal, but in the place where thine honour dwelleth: not at Hull, Sichem, or Loretto, but in the true Reformed Churches, in the beauties of holineſſe, in the midſt of thoſe ſeven golden candleſticks, in the hearts and houſes of his faithfull people; concerning whom He hath ſaid, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, &c, 2 Cor. 6.16. and when they walk within their houſes with a perfect heart, I will come unto them, Pſal. 101.2. I will there command my bleſſing, even life for evermore, Pſal. 133.3. See chap. 4.4. and Hoſ. 4.15. with the Notes.

For Gilgal ſhall ſurely go into captivity,] An elegant agnomination in the Original,Hagilgal. galloh ijgleh. ſuch as the Prophets are full of, and this plain Prophet, among the reſt. See chap. 8.2. Miniſters may ſometimes rhetoricate: and it had need to be an elaborate ſpeech, that ſhall work upon the conſcience.

and Bethel ſhall come to nought.] Heb. ſhall be Aven, as elſewhere it is called Beth-aven, Hoſ. 4.11. and 10.5. Againſt Beerſheba he ſaith nothing: becauſe that name afforded him not the like elegancy, as Mercer thinketh: or becauſe that city belonged to Judah, 1 King 19.3. and ſo was not deſtroyed with the ten tribes, as Hier[illegible: 1 letter]m holdeth. Seek not theſe places ſaith the Prophet, for help and ſuccour in diſtreſſe: but ſay as Jer. 3.23. Truely in vain is ſalvation hoped for from theſe hills: truely in the Lord our God is the ſalvation of Iſrael.

Verſe 6 Seek ye the Lord, and ye ſhall live,]Mercer. See verſe 4. Sic eadem ſaepe ſurdis & obſtinatis inculcantur. The oft preſſing of a duty imports; 1. The excellency. 2. Ʋlpian. P. The neceſſity. 3. The difficulty of doing it: elſe what need ſo many words? Perquam durum eſt, ſed ita lex ſcripta eſt, ſaith the Civilian. Hard or not hard, it muſt be done, or men are undone. leſt he breake out like fire] Leſt he go through you and burn you together Eſay. 27.4. leſt ye be utterly burnt with fire in the ſame place 2 Sam. 23.7. that is in hell (as ſome expound it) which the Prophet calleth tormenting Tophet, Eſay. 30,33. and Plato calleth [non-Latin text not transcribed] a fierylake: ſo terrible, ſaith Bellarmine, that one glimpſe of it were enough to make a man not onely turn Chriſtian and ſober, but Anchorite and Monk: to live after the ſtricteſt rule that may be.

Verſe 7. Ye who turn judgement to wormwood] Ye Grandees and governours of the people, that turne the ſweeteſt thing into the ſowreſt, (as corruptie optimi peſſima) right into wrong-dealing; that follow the adminiſtration of Juſtice as a trade only, with an unquenchable, and unconſcionable deſire of gaine; not caring what becomes of righteouſneſſe, but leaving it off in the earth, or rather not leaving it at all upon earth (Terras Aſtraea reliquit) but chaſing it out of the world as much as in you lyeth: whiles you caſt it down to the ground, and tread it under foot Dan. 8.12. whileſt you oppreſſe the juſt, cruſh the needy &c. chap. 4.1. See the Note there. Some read the text by way of exclamation thus; O ye that turn judgement &c. q. d. What ſtrange creatures are you? what monſters of men? what publike ſcourges? what ſcabs? Eſay. 5.7. God looked for judgement, Judices inſtar ſcabrei m[illegible: 1 letter]leſti ſunt oppreſſis Piſcater in loc. but behold oppreſſion (In the Originall it is, behold a ſcab) for righteouſneſſe, but behold a cry: ſuch a cry, as entreth into the eares of the Lord of ſabbath.

Verſe 8. Seek him that maketh the ſeven ſtarres] Once againe, ſeek him: that is, Returne to him by true repentance: and by faith take hold of his ſtrength, that ye may make peace, and ye ſhall make peace with him Eſay. 27.5. To ſtand out it bootes not: ſith it is He that made Bootes and Orion &c. that is, of infinite power: and doth whatſoever he will in heaven and earth; who only doth wondrous things Pſal. 72.18. See chap. 4.12.13. Chimah and Cheſil, that is Pleiades and Orion are twice mentioned together in Iob. Noted ſtarrs they are, and known to ſhepheards and ſuch like; Am[illegible: 1 letter]s, likely, was but ſuch an Aſtronomer, as heardſmen uſe to be. Thoſe that writ of theſe ſtarrs tell us, that Chimah comes of Chamah, to love ardently; becauſe of the fellowſhip and working together that appeares in them. They be ſeven ſtarres that have all one name: becauſe they all help one another in their work, which is to bring the ſpring; and like ſeven ſiſters or lovers, ſo are they joyned together in one conſtellation, and in one company. We ſee (ſaith One) that God will have the ſweeteſt works in nature to be performed by mutuall help. The beſt time of the yeare commeth with theſe ſeven ſtarrs (hence we read of their ſweet influence Iob. 38.11.) and the beſt time of our life commeth, when we enter into true love and fellowſhip. As for Orion, it is the ſtarr (ſaith the ſame Author) that brings winter: and his bonds cannot be looſed. It binds the earth with froſt and cold, that the fruits thereof might be ſeaſoned and made kindly againſt the Spring: neither can the Spring come till Orion have prepared the way. God will have us ſuffer before we raigne. The word Cheſil here uſed ſignifies in the Chaldee, to perfect: becauſe by ſuffering and offering violence to our ſelves we enter into perfection. Luk. 13.32. If we would have a pleaſant Spring of graces in our hearts, we muſt firſt have a nipping winter: the ſpirit of mortification muſt be like the cold ſtarr Orion to nip our quick motions in the head, and to bind all our uncleane deſires, and burning luſts that they ſtirr not in us: and unleſſe we do thus, the ſeven ſtarrs of Comfort ſhall never appeare to us.

and turneth the ſhadow of death: tenebras ferales & letales. Pſal. 23.4. that is, the thickeſt, darkneſſe, into the morning] into the ſhining light, that ſhineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 14.18. This ſevering of night from day, and day from night, this mutuall and orderly ſucceſſion and courſe of the night after the day, and the day after the night, the lengthening and ſhortening of the dayes in ſummer and winter, the wonderfull eclipſes, and other occurrents of that nature, are works of Gods power, and providence, not to be ſlighted but improved to true repentance. We are to mark the countenance of the skie, and to diſcerne the face of heaven: that every day and night winketh at us, and beckneth to us, to remember the wiſdome, power, juſtice, and mercy of God lined out unto us in the browes of the firmament. The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament ſheweth his handy-work. Pſal. 19.1. The creatures are Regij profeſſores, ſaith One, Catholike preachers ſaith Another, real Poſtills of the Divinity, ſaith a third. Clemens Alexandrinus ſaith, that the World is Dei ſcriptura, the firſt Bible that God made for the inſtruction of man. Antonius Eremita told a Philoſopher (who objected to him his want of bookes) that the Univerſe was to him inſtead of a well-furniſht library,Aug. de doct. chriſt. l. 1. Niceph. l. 8. cap. 40. Lib. 2. de Arca cap. 3. every where ready at hand. Hugo affirmeth, that every thing uttereth theſe three words, Accipe, Redde, Fuge, Receive mercy, Return duty, Shun ſin, together with that hell that it hales at the heeles of it. Much a man may learn out of the book of Nature, with its three leaves Heaven, Earth, and Sea: but there he muſt not reſt. For, as where the Naturaliſt ends, the Phyſician begins: ſo where Nature failes and can go no further, there Scripture ſucceeds and gives more grace Iam. 4.6. Pſal. 19.1, 2, 7, 8. The Caldee Paraphraſt takes this text allegorically: as if the ſenſe were; God changeth his hand towards the ſons of men at his pleaſure, proſpering them one while, croſſing them another: ſo that they walk in darkneſſe and have no light Eſay. 50.10. yea they walk through the vale of the ſhadow of death Pſal. 23.4. Not through a dark entry or church-yard in the night time, but a vally, a large, long vaſt place: not of darkneſſe onely but of death; and not bare death, but the ſhadow of death, that is the darkeſt and moſt diſmall ſide of death, in its moſt hideous and horrid repreſentations. And yet if God be with his Davids in this ſad condition, no hurt ſhall befall them, butmuch good.

Flebile principium melior fortuna ſequetur.

That calleth for the waters of the ſea] that is, for great armyes, ſaith the Chaldee. But better take it litterally, of the generation of raine, the chief author whereof is God: the materiall cauſe is the ſea ſending up vapours: The Inſtrumentall cauſe is the Sun, by the beames whereof God drawes the vapours upwards, ſends for them, as it were, into the middle region of the ayre, there thickeneth them into clouds, and then reſolveth them into raine This Kimchi illuſtrateth by the ſimile of a boyling pot whereout vapours and fumes aſcending to the colder potlid are turned into drops of water. See Gen. 2.6.

The waters of the ſea] 1 King. 18.44. A little cloud aroſe out of the ſea like a mans hand. And preſently the Prophet ſaid to Ahab, Prepare thy charet and get thee down, that the raine ſtop thee not. And it came to paſſe in the meane while that the heaven was black with cloudes &c. Humorem magn[illegible: 1 letter] tollunt & aequore ponti Nubes, qui in toto terrarum ſpargitur orbe,Lucret. lib. 6. Cum pluit in terris— The Naturaliſts obſerve that it ſnowes not in the ſea, becauſe it ſends up hot vapours, which preſently diſſolve the ſnow.

the Lord is his name] His memoriall Hoſ. 12.5. See the Note there: He is not an idol to be dallied with and deluded.

Verſe 9. That ſtrengtheneth the ſpoyled againſt the ſtrong] Victorem à victo ſuperari ſaepe videmus. God can quickly change the ſcene, turn the ſcales Ier. 37.10. though ye had ſmitten the whole army of the Chaldeans, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet ſhould they riſe up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. In a bloody fight between Amurath the third King of Turks, and Lazarus Deſpot of Servia many thouſands fell on both ſides. In concluſion the Turks had the victory, and Lazarus was ſlaine. Amurath, after that great victory with ſome few of his chief captaines, taking view of the dead bodyes, which without number lay on heapes in the field like mountaines, a Chriſtian ſouldier ſore wounded and all blood ſeeing him, in ſtaggering manner aroſe (as if it had been from death) out of an heape of ſlaine men, and making toward him, for want of ſtrength fell down diverſe times by the way as he came, as if he had been a drunken man. At length drawing nigh unto him, when they which guarded the kings perſon would have ſtayed him, he was by Amurath himſelf commanded to come neerer, ſuppoſing that he would have craved his life of him. Thus this half-dead Chriſtian preſſing neerer unto him, as if he would, for honour ſake, have kiſſed his feet, ſuddenly ſtabbed him in the bottome of his belly with a ſhort dagger which he had under his coat; of which wound that great king and conqueror preſently died. The name of this man was Miles Cobelite, who,Turk. hiſt. fol. 200. before ſore wounded, was ſhortly after in the preſence of Bajazet (Amuraths ſon) cut into ſmall peeces: So in that memorable fight between the Swiſſers and the Dolph[illegible: 1 letter]n neare to Baſile, when Burcardus monk a noble-man and a great ſouldier,Lavat. in Prov. 27.14 grew proud of the victory, and put up his helmet that he might behold what a [illegible: 1 letter]laughter they had made: one of the half-dead Swiſſers riſing up upon his knees, threw a ſtone at him, which hitting right gave him his deaths-wound. At the battle of Agincourt, where our Henry 5. won the day,Speed 795. ex hypod. Nerſtr. the French were ſo confident of a victory, that they ſent to king. Henry, to know what ranſome he would give, and &c. Henry comforting his army with a ſpeech, reſolved to open his way over the enemies boſome, or elſe to die. After which, ſuch was the courage of the Engliſh, notwithſtanding their great wants, as he that ere while could ſcarcely bend his bow, is able now to draw his yard-long arrow to the very head.

ſo that the ſpoyled (or ſpoyle) ſhall come againſt the fortreſſe] And take it by aſſault. Deus loca, quantumvis valida, vaſta facit. Prov. 21.30. There is no ſtrength againſt the Lord.

Verſe 10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate] In domo judicij, ſaith the Chalde: for the gate was the place of judgement, verſe 12.15. Deut. 17.5, 12, 15. Thoſe then that did not approve and applaud the oppreſſions and wrong-dealings of the Judges, and rich bribers, but cryed out againſt ſuch, and took the ſame liberty to rebuke them that they did to commit them, theſe were hated cane pejus & angue, worſe then any toad. Thus Ahab hated Micaiah, the Sodomites Lot, the Jewes Jeremy, their ſucceſſors Chriſt, the Baptiſt Steven, Paul, &c.Melch. Adam. thus thoſe of Geneva hated Farellus their faithfull miniſter, tryed him for his life, baniſhed him out of their territories: Thus afterwards ſome of them hated Calvin, calling him Cain: yea calling their dogs Calvin, in deriſion and deteſtation of him. And thus Biſhop Ridly lamenting the ſtate of England, even of thy greateſt Magiſtrates ſaith He, ſome (the Kings highneſſe excepted) evermore unkindly and ungently againſt thoſe that went about moſt buſily and wholeſomely to cure their ſore backs, ſpurned privily, and would not ſpare to ſpeak evill of them, even to the Prince himſelf: and yet would they toward the ſame preachers outwardly beare a jolly countenance, and faire face. As for Latimer, Lever, Bradford, Knox, their tongues were ſo ſharp, they ripped in ſo deep in their galled backs to have purged them, no doubt, of their filthy matter,Act & Man. fol. 1616. that was feſtered in their hearts, of inſatiable covetouſneſſe, of filthy carnallity and voluptuouſneſſe, of intollerable ambition and pride, of ungodly lothſomeneſſe to heare poore mens caſes, and to heare Gods word. And theſe men, of all others, theſe Magiſtrates then could never abide &c. Thus He, and much more to the ſame purpoſe. They were then ſick of a Noli me tangere, and ſo (alaſſe) they are ſtill. How few Veſpaſians to be found, of whom Quintilian teſtifieth that he was patientiſſimus veri, One that would patiently heare the naked truth of things: not toothleſſe truths onely, but ſuch as touched to the quick? How few Davids that loved Nathan the better ever after (for dealing ſo plainly and faithfull with him) and made him of his cabbinet-councell? How few Q. Eliſabeths, who called oft for her Deering by whom ſhe was barely told of her faults: though the Biſhops (thoſe Court-paraſites) would never ſuffer him to preach more before her? The Q. of Navarre would not harken to ſuch miniſters as diſliked that fatall French match (that gave opportunity afterwards to the Pariſian Maſſacre) in regard of the diverſity of religions:Epitom. hiſt. Gallic. but inclined rather to thoſe that ſmoothed her up, and told her that it would lay the foundation of a laſting and moſt happy peace. And generally of thoſe French Reformed churches it was obſerved, that for ſome yeares before that bloody maſſacre, they affected a frothy flaſhy kind of Preaching: and cared not for that that came home to the conſcience. See my common place of Admonition.

and they abhorr him that ſpeaketh uprightly] Auget orationem, ſaith Druſius: The Prophet groweth in his expreſſion of their wickedneſſe: for to abhorr is more then to hate; See Prov. 6.16.Serpens ſi ſerpentem comederit fit draco. Hatred (as they ſay of the Crocodile) groweth as long as it liveth: Sin is of an encroaching nature. If a Serpent devoure a Serpent (ſaith the Proverbe) he becommeth a Dragon. Hatred of the truth, as runner the elder it is the ſtronger: the Phariſees for inſtance; who did not onely inwardly ſwell and boil with helliſh hatred of Chriſt, his works, and doctrine: but alſo outwardly belched out againſt him the baſeſt blaſphemies: and in their pertinacious working, conſtantly perſecuted him, even to the moſt reproachfull death of the croſſe. This is merces mundi, the worlds wages to Gods faithfull witneſſes. They make a man an offender for a word, (yea for ſpeaking uprightly) and lay a ſnare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aſide the juſt for a thing of nought, Eſay 29.21. An expectas ut Quintilianus ametur? ſaid He: Doſt thou think that plain-dealing Quintilian ſhould be loved? It is not likely. To preach, ſaith Luther, the truth, which is according to godlineſſe, is nothing elſe but to derive the rage of the whole world upon a mans ſelf.

Verſe 11. Foraſmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor,] Panting after the duſt of the earth on the head of the poor, Chap. 2.7. See there, and Pſal. 109.16. Some render,, Ye fire the poor; others, ye plunder them: ſo the Chaldee, and Hierom. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. The Seventy have it, Ye ſmite them with fiſts. But better, Ye foot it upon them, and make them ſell their commodities under-foot (as we phraſe it) to pay your heavy taxes, and ſatisfie your greedy covetouſneſſe.

and ye take from him burdens of wheat,] Heb. the fineſt wheat, and beſt winnowed: theſe ye force him to make money of, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. for your uſe; glad to feed upon the offall-wheat himſelf.

Ye have built houſes of h[illegible: 1 letter]wen ſtone,] ſquared and poliſhed,Domos raſiles & politas. Sept thinking to flouriſh, and frollick: but the ſcreech-owls of wo crying aloud from the ſtones, out of thoſe walls, ſhall marre your mirth, Hab. 2.11.

but ye ſhall not dwell in them,] For either ye ſhall be prevented by death, and ſent to dwell with devils: or be carried away captive, and a ſtranger poſſeſſe your new-buildings, Deut. 28.30.

Ye have planted pleaſant vineyards,] As He in the Hiſtory, that having a cup of new-wine in his hand, expreſſed out of the grapes of his new-planted vineyard, was ſet upon and ſlaine by a wild-boar, before he could drink it, and gave occaſion to that proverb,Eraſm. Adag. Multa cadunt inter caelicem ſupremaque labra; Many things fall betwixt the cup and the lip, betwixt the chin and the chalice. Hereunto agreeth that ſtory in Mr. Burroughs upon Hoſea. Burr. on Hoſ. 1. pag. 379. I had, ſaith he, certain information, from a reverend Miniſter, that in his own town there was a wretched worldling, who had a great crop of corn. A good honeſt neighbour of his walking by his field, ſaith, Neighbour you have a very fine crop of corn if God bleſſe it: yea, ſaith he, I will have a good crop, ſpeaking contemptuouſly: and before he could come to get it into the barn, it was ſo blaſted, that the corn of the whole crop was not worth ſixe pence. God hath many wayes to defeat the wicked mans expectation, and the hope of unjuſt men periſheth, Prov. 11.7. Etiam ſpes valentiſſima perit, ſo ſome render that text, he ſhall die or miſcarry, in the very height of his hopes and expectations.

Verſe 12. For I know your manifold tranſgreſſions, and your mighty ſinnes,] I know them, and can eaſily ſet them in an order before your eyes, Pſal. 50.21. bring them out (as they did the veſſells of the Sanctuary) by number and by weight: Ezra 8.34. make you anſwer for all with flames about your ears, lay open your many tranſgreſſions, and mighty ſinnes; Fortia peccata. The Hebrew hath it, your bony, or big-boned ſinnes: huge, hainous, and monſtrous, capable of all manner of aggravations. All theſe I know, ſaith God, they are all in Print in heaven, and I will one day read them aloud in the ears of all the world. Fac ergo confitendo propitium, quem taeciendo non facis neſcium, ſaith Auſtin. Make therefore God thy friend, by confeſſing thy ſins to him, which thou cauſt not by any means conceal from him.

they afflict the juſt,] they pinch and diſtreſſe him by their oppreſſions, which are often here laid in their diſh, as an abomination to the Lord; for he is mercifull. See Chap. 2.6.

they take a bribe,]Cophe[illegible: 1 letter]. A ranſome to blinde their eyes, as 1 Sam. 12.3. or a pacification of their pretended diſpleaſure againſt heinous crimes brought before them. Olim didici quid ſint munera, ſaid a worthy man, Once I have learned long ſince, how dangerous a thing it is for men in place to meddle with gifts. A publike perſon as he ſhould have nothing to loſe, ſo nothing to get: he ſhould be above all price, or ſale, &c.

they turn aſide the poor in the gate.] that is, in the place of Judicature: This makes many that go to law, to be at length of Themiſtocles his minde; who profeſſed that if two wayes were ſhewed him, one to hell, and the other to the barre, he would chuſe that which went to hell, and forſake the other. Another ſaid, that hee wondered much at two ſorts of men: viz. thoſe that go to ſea, and thoſe that go to law: not ſo much that they did ſo at firſt, but that, after triall, they would ever go a ſecond time.

Verſe 13. Therefore the prudent ſhall keep ſilence,] [non-Latin text not transcribed]. According to that old and good rule, Either keep ſilence, or ſpeak that which is better then ſilence. There is a time to keep ſilence, and a time to ſpeak, Eccleſ. 3.7. and it is a ſingular skill to time a word, Eſay 50.4. to ſet it upon its circumferences, Prov. 25.11. ſo to ſpeak, and ſo to do, as thoſe that ſhall be judged by the law of liberty, Iam. 2.12. He that would be able to ſpeak right and forcible words, muſt firſt learn how and when to keep ſilence. It is not good caſting pearls before ſwine: nor pulling a Bear, or mad dog by the ear. 'Tis the true ambition of a Chriſtian, to ſtudy to be quiet, 1 Theſſ. 4.11. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. to meddle with his own buſineſſe, to affect rather quietneſſe from the wicked world, then acquaintance with it, and to paſſe thorow it with as little noiſe and notice as he can. Not but that Gods faithfull ſervants muſt cry aloud, and not ſpare; lifting up their voyces like a trumpet, &c. Eſay 58.1. and caſting away the inverſe trumpets of Furius Fulvus, which ſounded a retrait, when they ſhould have ſounded an alarme. But this muſt be done with godly diſcretion. Zeal ſhould eat us up, but not eat up our widome, (ſaith One) nor ſhould policie eat up our zeal. The Apoſtles profeſſed that they could not but ſpeak the things that they had heard and ſeen: they muſt either vent or burſt. And yet holy Paul, (who was full of the ſpirit of judgement and of burning, Eſay 4.4. (though he preached at Epheſus (where hee lived two yeers and more together) that they be no gods that are made with hands: yet he made no particular invective againſt their great goddeſſe Diana, whereon they ſo impotently doated, Act. 19.26, 37. He that hath a good mixture of zeal and prudence, is like a ſhip well ballaſted, that ſails with a proſperous gale: but zeal without diſcretion, is like fire on the chimney-top; or like mettle in a blinde horſe; or the devil in the demoniack, that caſt him ſometimes into the fire, and ſometimes into the water. What a ſtorm of perſecution raiſed Biſhop Abdias in Perſepolis, by his intemperate zeal, not bridled with diſcretion; as the Poets fable that Minerva put a golden bridle upon Pegaſus, leſt he ſhould flie too faſt? And it was ſome diſadvantage to Paul, when in the Councel (though provoked and unjuſtly ſmitten) he called the high-prieſt whited wall: he was glad to excuſe it by his ignorance. We may not be too bold, or too forward to ſpeak in a good matter, to ſuch as hate him that rebuketh in the gate: and abhor him that ſpeaketh uprightly, verſe 10.

for it is an evil time.] by reaſon of an evil and adulterous generation, that make it ſo. It is a day of evil, as Pſal. 41.1. that is, of difficulty and danger, to thoſe that dare ſpeak out: Such as were Tiberius his times. That Tyger laid hold with his teeth on all the brave ſpirits that could ſpeak their minds fitly, and durſt do it freely. He put to death a certain Poet, which in a Tragedie had inveighed againſt Agamemnon; ſuſpecting himſelf to be intended.Senec. Freedom of ſpeech uſed by the Waldenſes in blaming and reproving the vices, diſſolute manners, life, and actions of great ones, made them looked upon and perſecuted as hereticks, Girardus. and enemies to the Sea Apoſtolike, as Manichees, Cathariſts, what not?

Verſe 14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live,] See verſe 4. and 6. Oh Seek, ſeek, ſeek, ſaith our Prphet: as ſome of the Martyrs cryed out, Pray, pray, pray; Mr. Sanders, and Mrs. Askew, repeated thoſe words two ſeverall times together, Mr. Marſh once, adding, Never more need. To ſeek God, is to ſeek good, and to finde life: for with him is the fountain of life, Pſal. 36.9. To ſeek evil, is to ſeek the devil, who is that evil one: it is as Solomon ſaith in a like caſe, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. a vanity toſſed to and fro of them that ſeek death, Prov. 21.6.

and ſo the Lord the God of Hoſts ſhall be with you,] to aſſiſt and accept you in ſeeking good: to protect and provide for you in ſhunning evil. Deal couragiouſly therefore, and God ſhall be with the good, 2 Chron. 19. ult. as your ſeven-fold ſhield, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and exceeding great reward, Gen. 15.1. See the note there.

as ye have ſpoken,] Ʋt praedicatis & jactitatis, as ye boaſt and bear your ſelves bold upon: ſaying as Mic. 2.11. Is not the Lord amongst us? none evil can come upon us. But that's as you make it: for ye are upon your behaviour. The fault is not in God, but wholly in your ſelves, if ye live not happily, reigne not everlaſtingly. —at Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Cogi poſſe negat.—Horat. ep. 2. God is far from mens hearts; and therefore far from their help: for can two walk together, except they be agreed? Chap. 3.3.

Verſe 15. Hate the evil, and love the good,] God doth ſo: you muſt alſo, or elſe never look for his gracious preſence with you: for idem velle, atque idem nolle, ea demum vera eſt Amicitia; Cicer[illegible: 1 letter]. True friends do both will and nill the ſame things. Minutius Foelix ſaith, that he and his friend Octavius did ſo. The like did Baſil and Nazianzen, Jonathan and David: Corporibus geminis ſpiritus unus erat. All Gods people, as they partake of the Divine nature, ſo they live the life of God, Epheſ 4. and have the ſame both ſympathies and antipathies (as I may ſo ſpeak) abhorring that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good, Rom. 12.9. God, they know, hateth evil worſe then he hateth the devil: for he hateth the devil for ſinnes ſake, and not ſinne for the devils ſake: ſo do they, looking upon ſinne as the moſt loathſome thing in the world, the very vomit of the devil, which (ſo farre as they are regenerate) they do infinitely loath to lick up. And for that which is good, whether things or perſons, theſe they heartily love: not onely with a love of Deſire, as Pſal. 42.1, 2. but alſo of Complacencie, as Pſal. 73.25, 26. herein reſembling Almighty God; not as an image doth a man, in outward lineaments onely, but as a ſonne doth his father, in nature and diſpoſition; being daily more and more conformed to the heavenly pattern, and transformed into the ſame image from glory, to glory, by his Spirit.

and eſtabliſh judgement in the gate.] which hitherto ye have not done, verſ. 10, 12. Perform the duties of your own particular places: be good Juſticers as well as good men. It is ſaid of Galba and of our Rich. 3. that they were bad men, but good Princes: but I hardly think it. Some good parts they might have, and ſome good acts they might do; but good Princes they could not be, unleſſe they did hate the evil and love the good: but ſo doth not any bad man, for want of better principles. Make the tree good and the fruits will be good: and the contrary; Evil men may be ſome way uſefull to the Publike, and do good offices for the Church, and yet periſh, becauſe not in a good manner, upon a good motive, and for a good end, Rev. 12.16. the earth helped the Woman: and yet, chap. 16.1. the vials of Gods wrath were poured out upon the earth. A good Magiſtrate, as he ſits in Gods place, (the judgement-ſeat is called the Holy place, Eccleſ. 8.10.) ſo hee loving what God loveth, and hating where God hateth, can boldly write over it, that Diſtich, that is ſaid to bee written over the Tribunall in Zant, in letters of gold; Hic locus odit, amat, punit, conſervat, honorat, Nequitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos.

It may be that the Lord.] Or, out of doubt, the Lord God of Hoſts will be gracious, &c. He is ſurely ready, were men but ripe, and right for mercy: it ſticks onely on their part, and not on his: he waiteth to be gracious, Eſay 30.18. Oh unworthy we, that cauſe him ſo to do. Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat ſententia. They are but a remnant that ſhall have mercy:Chryſolog. a few that ſhall finde favour: Oh labour to be of thoſe few that ſhall enter into life, Luke 13.24.

Verſe 16. Therefore the Lord God of Hoſts, the Lord, ſaith thus,] Therefore? wherefore? becauſe neither promiſes of mercy, nor menaces of miſery, will work upon you, ſtand forth, and hear your doom, your ſentence of condemnation, and it beginneth,Acts & Mon. as is uſuall, In nomine Dei: neither can you ſay, as that Martyr did, when wrongfully ſentenced, ye begin in a wrong name. To aſſure the matter, the Prophet here heapeth up three Majeſticall names of God: that they might tremble and turn, conſidering the greatneſſe of Him with whom they here have to do, being glorious in holineſſe, fearefull in prayſes, doing wonders Exod. 15.11.

wailing ſhall be in all ſtreets &c.] A generall outcry, as once in Egypt, when in every houſe there was a dead corps: or, as at the taking and ſacking of Troy there was Luctus ubique, pavor, & plurima mortis imago.Virg.

And they ſhall ſay in all the high-wayes, Alas, Alas,] Man is a creature apt to overgrieve for croſſes: and to fill the ayre with moanes and complaints of his miſery. The latine word Aeger for a ſick perſon, is judged to come from [non-Latin text not transcribed] the dolefull expreſſion of his grief. The Greek word [non-Latin text not transcribed] is as much as [non-Latin text not transcribed], Not ever. We are ſoon weary of ſuffering, and would faine ſee an end of it: and therefore cry out for help. The Hebrew word here uſed Ho, Ho, is the ſame with our Oh, Oh; it is dolentis particula, it is ejulantis, the broken ſpeech of one in great dolour and durance. Nature need not to be taught to tell her own tale, when in diſtreſſe, then men are apt to be eloquent, even beyond truth: they add, they multiply, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Ariſtoph. 1 Cor. 10.13. they riſe in their diſcourſe, like him in the Poet, I am thrice miſerable, nay ten times, nay an hundred, ten hundred times: whereas they ſhould correct their exceſſive complaint; with that other [non-Latin text not transcribed], Alas, Alas: but why Alas? Nothing hath befaln us but what is humane, common to men, and our betters.

and they ſhall call the huſbandman to mourning] For the marring of his corn by the enemy, or by the vermine. Others read it thus,Jarchi Livelejus. The huſbandmen ſhall ſend for thoſe that are skilfull in lamentation, to mourning, and wayling.

and ſuch as are skilfull of lamentation] An ordinary practiſe in thoſe Eaſterne parts (as now alſo in Jreland) to hire artificiall mourners at funerals to ſing dolefull ditties. Ʋt qui conducti plorant in funere. See Jer. 9.17. Mat. 9.23.Horat. de arte Poet. Sic Homer. de Hectore ſepulte Gellius lib. 2. cap. 20. with the Note. Of the lawfulneſſe of this cuſtome the Prophet ſpeaketh not. Many things are mentioned in ſcripture and made uſe of, but not approved, as Uſury Mat. 25.27. dancing Mat. 11.17. Theft, 1 Theſſ. 5.2. injuſtice Luk. 16.1. the Iſthmian games, 1 Cor. 9.24. &c.

Verſe 17. And in all vineyards ſhall be wayling] where uſed to be great jollity and revell-riot in time of vintage Pſal. 4.8. The calamity ſhall be common, the ſcourge over-flowing: and all ſorts ſhall have their ſhare See Ioel. 1.5, 11, 13.

for I will paſs through thee ſaith the Lord] as a fire in a thick wood Iam. 3.5. or dry ſtubble Ioel. 2.5. Nah. 1.10. I will go thorough them, I will burn them together Eſay. 27.4. make a ſhort work with them Rom. 9.28. So fearefull a thing it is to fall into the puniſhing hands of the living God Heb. 10.31. to ſtand in his way, when his ſword is in commiſſion, and He ſaith to it, Sword go thorough the land, cut off man and beaſt from it Ezek. 14.17. Let this be thought on by thoſe ſecure ones that live, as if they were out of the reach of Gods rod:Ezech. 21.13. for what if the ſword contemne even the rod? and be drenched in the gall of theſe ſturdy rebels? what then?

Verſe 18. Woe unto you that deſire the day of the Lord] The day of his viſitation when he will go thorough us, as you Prophets would make beleeve. Where is the promiſe of his comming? Let him make ſpeed and haſten his work,Eſay. 5.19. Jer. 17.15. that we may ſee it. Let him increaſe his army and come down Judg. 9.29. Such jearing and daring ſpirits there are ſtill abroad. But do they provoke the Lord to anger? are they ſtronger then he? The great and terrible day of the Lord will come time enough to their coſt; they need not accelerate it. Can they ſtand to his triall?Job. 26.14 or abide the thunder of his power?

to what end is it for you] when God ſhall anſwer you, as he did a far better man, out of the whirlewind and ſay,Job. 38.2, 3. 1 Pet. 4.18. Who is this that darkneth counſel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loynes like a man &c. Where then ſhall the ungodly and the wicked appeare? what hils will they call upon to fall on them, when the elements ſhall fall upon them like ſcalding lead, or burning bell-mettall; and yet all this be but the beginning of their ſorrowes? Now therefore be not ye mockers, leſt your bands be made ſtrong, Eſay. 28.22. God can eaſily hamper you, if he once take you in hand.

the day of the Lord is darkneſſe and not light] No interchange of light: an evill, an onely evill, without mixture of mercy Ezech. 7.5. a black and diſmal day of one miſchief upon another, in a continued ſeries. Affliction ſhall not riſe up the ſecond time Nah. 1.9. but ye ſhall totally and finally be deſtroyed: wrath ſhall come upon you to the utmoſt, 2 Theſ. 2. This is illuſtrated in the next verſe by an apt Similitude.

Verſe 19. As if a man did ſly from a lion &c.] And ſo by running from his death, ſhould run to it: by ſeeking to ſhun the ſhelves ſhould ſplit againſt a rock, Incidit in Scyllam &c.Alſted. Chronol. pag. 480. as Nicodemus Friſchline (that famous Poet, Orator, and Philoſopher) endevouring to eſcape out of cloſe priſon, by caſting himſelf out at a window, the rope broke, and he periſhed by falling headlong upon a rock: So fareth it with thoſe that feare not God. Aliud ex alio malum, One miſchief treadeth on the heeles of another, as Iobs meſſengers. The clouds returne after the raine Eccle. 12.2. as in April-weather, one ſhowre is unburthened, another is brewed: and deep calleth upon deep at the noiſe of the water-ſpouts Pſal. 42.7. Evill ſhall hunt the violent man to deſtroy him Pſal. 140.11. your ſins ſhall find out, out as a blood-hound, Num. 32.23. as it did that Popiſh Prieſt in London, who having eſcaped the fall of Black-friers Anno. 1623. (where Drury had his braines knockt out of his head, together with his ſermon) and taking water, with a purpoſe to ſaile into Flanders, was caſt away (together with ſome others) under London-bridge;Jac. Revius de vit. Pontif. 312. the boat being overturned. And as Philip the ſecond King of Spaine, who going from the Low-countries into Spaine by ſea, fell into a ſtorme in which almoſt all the Fleet was wracked, his houſholdſtuff of very great valve loſt, and himſelf hardly eſcaped:Hiſt. of Counc. of Trent. 417. He ſaid he was delivered by the ſingular providence of God to root out Lutheraniſme, which he preſently began to do. But the hand of God was upon him in an extraordinary manner:Caroſ. Scribonde inflit. Princ. cap. 20. for beſide the invincible Armado here defeated, to his great heart-break (for his pretended patience was but as the fever called Epialis wherein men are cold without, but hot as fire within) he fell into that moſt lothſome lowſy diſeaſe, called Phthiriaſis, whereof at length he dyed.

and a Beare met him] A Beare robbed of her whelpes (which ſhe licketh into forme, and loveth above meaſure) is a very fierce and fell creature. To meet her in ſuch a rage is to meet death in the very face: and yet that danger may be ſooner ſhifted and ſhunned, then the heavy wrath of God avoyded or averted, without true and timely repentance: there is no way to run from him but by running penitently to him: as in a tempeſt at Sea, it is very dangerous to ſtrike to the ſhore: the ſafeſt way is to have ſea-room, and to keep in the Maine ſtill.

or went into the houſe] To ſhelter himſelf from the Beare: as every creature in danger runneth to its harbour Prov. 30.26. Pſal. 104.18.

and leaned his hand on the walles] As being breathleſſe in running, and glad to ſtay himſelf on what he can next lay hold on. Man, like the vine, muſt have ſomewhat to leane on: if it be but a broken reed, or bulging wall Pſal. 62.3. he ſhifts and ſharks in every by-corner for comfort, as the Papiſts (ſtung by the Friers ſermons) do by pardons and pennances,Prov. 23.32. which are but palliate cures.

for a ſerpent bites them] the guilt of ſin abiding, biteth like a ſerpent, and ſtingeth like an adder.

Verſe 20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkneſſe &c.] q. d. How ſay ye now: when thus beſet with miſchief on all hands, ſuch as ye can neither avoyd nor abide, muſt ye not needes ſubſcribe to the truth of what I ſaid verſe 18. and do here againe repeate (that you may the better obſerve it) with greater emphaſis, and earneſtneſſe? you ſhall not have the leaſt glimmering of comfort, eaſe, direction or good counſel. To what end then ſhould you deſire this dreadfull day of the Lord? Are you in haſt to be undone.

Verſe 21. I hate, I deſpiſe your feaſt-dayes] wherewith ye think to ſtop my mouth, and to make me your debter: ſaying as that Romane Emperour when his enemy came againſt him, Non ſic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, we have not ſo ſerved the Gods, that they ſhould ſerve us no better, then to give the enemy the better of us. The feaſt-dayes,Antonin. Philoſoph refer. Vulcat. Gallic. in Avidio Caſſio. Jer. 32.35. and ſolemne aſſemblies you ſo much bind upon are yours and not mine: I never commanded them (viz as you now uſe them) neither came they ever into my mind. So farr am I therefore from accepting your ſacrifices, as that I hate, I deſpiſe, I will not ſmell: an elegant Aſyndeton, importing Gods utter diſtaſte of what they did (The ſacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? Prov. 21.27.) and aſſuring a ſudden vengeance, as in that quick and ſmart paſſage, Go, preach, baptiſe, He that beleeveth not ſhall be damned, Mark. 16.16. Willworſhip and out-ſideneſſe in religion is very odious to the Almighty: and ſtinks worſe in his noſtrils, then any ill vapour from the vileſt dunghill doth in ours: or as thoſe poiſonous ſmels that aſcended up once from the five cities of the plaine, and brought down from him a counterpoyſon of fire and brimſtone. Rome alſo (that ſpirituall Sodom) ſhall be deſtroyed in like ſort, with a terrible fire Rev. 17.16. and 18, 8, 9. for her deteſtable will-worſhips, ſuperſtitions and Idolatries, which no other nitre can poſſibly purge. Rev. 13.18. the whole number of the Beaſt, whatſoever is numbred to belong unto him, is but the number of a man, humane inventions and will-wiſdome; men will have it ſo: and this is the ſumm of all Popiſh religion. When the wit of man will be over-pleaſing God with better deviſes then his own, will needes deſpite him with ſeeming honours, it turnes to madneſſe, and ends in miſchief.

Verſe 22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings &c.] So long as ye ſtick in the bark, pleaſe your ſelves in the externall performance, reſt in the work done, think to expiate your ſins by your duties, and to ſett off with God for your bad deedes by your good, and to get a licenſe thereby to live as you liſt: though ye offer me burnt-offerings (which were wholy burnt in ſacrifice to God, and ſo were ordinarily moſt acceptable.)

I will not accept them] Nor ſhall you be a button the better for them, but the worſe. Eſay. 66.3. yea though ye added wine, oyle, and incenſe, that there might be a ſavour of reſt in it. The very Heathens could ſay, that Gods favour is not to be gained by multitude of ſacrifices, but by the integrity of thoſe that offer them.

neither will I regard (or look at) the peace-offerings of your fat beaſts] whether ſheep or oxen, or another diſtinct creature, bigger then an oxe called in the Arabick dialect gamus, as Aben-Ezra affirmeth, the French call it Buffle, and we the Buffe or wild-Oxe: All would not do; God would neither ſee nor heare, as it followeth.

Verſe 23. Take thou away from me the noiſe of thy ſongs] No more pleaſing to me then the grunting of an hog, or the braying of an aſſe, becauſe hateleſſe, heartleſſe: for as every ſound is not muſick, ſo neither is ever muſicall ſound melodious to God. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing ſo ſweet to our eares, as that which comes from the depth of the breſt. Sing with grace in your hearts, is the beſt tune to all the Pſalmes: which are therefore called ſpirituall ſongs Col. 3.16. both becauſe they are indited by the Spirit, that are to be ſung with the Spirit, 1 Cor. 14.15. and becauſe they being ſo ſung, do mak us more ſpirituall in the uſe of them: whileſt we ſing Davids Pſalmes with Davids heart.

for I will not heare the melody of thy viol] Or of thine organe, harp, citterne, Inte, bag-pipe, for ſo ſome render it, with reſpect to the Etymologie of the word Nebel. The Greek rendereth it Of the Pſalteries: what need we trouble our ſelves much about thoſe things whereof we can neither have proof nor profit: at leaſt not profit enough to pay for the paines? God will not heare either their voyce or inſtrument-muſick, becauſe the heart was wanting. Non vox ſed votum, non Muſica chordula, ſed Cor. The deeper and hollower the belly of the lute or violl is, the pleaſanter is the ſound: the fleeter, the more grating and harſh in our eares: think the ſame of God: and ſee how exceeding offenſive to all his ſenſes, yea to his very ſoule hypocriſy is Eſay. 1.11, 12, 13. &c.

Verſe 24. But let judgement run down] Heb. roule down freely, plentifully, and plainely, ut devolutus monte praecipiti torrens, as the great billowes of the ſea,Livius. Columella. or as waves rowling over rocks, ſo let judgement and equity be conſtantly and vigorouſly adminiſtred and executed.

and righteouſneſſe as a mighty ſtreame] that comes with a force, and beares down all before it. Fiat juſtitia, ruat orbis, Let juſtice be done what ever come of it. The Sun might as ſoon be turned out of his courſe, as Fabricius out of the track of Truth and Juſtice, ſaith the Hiſtorian. How much better might this have been ſaid of Job, Moſes, Phineas, Nehemias, &c. famous in their generations for brandiſhing the ſword of juſtice againſt the friends of Baal, Balaam, and Batchus, for turning the wheel over all ſuch roaring monſters, ſuch lewd and lawleſſe Belialiſts, as, hardened with impunity, dare oppoſe with creſt and breſt whoſoever or whatſoever ſtandeth in the way of their wicked luſts and practiſes. Oh this was better then burnt-offerings without this: this was that Actuall, Magiſteriall, and Majeſticall kind of devotion, that pleaſed God farr better then an oxe that hath hornes and hoofes.

Verſe 25. Have ye offered unto me ſacrifices &c.] i. e. To me only, and not to other Gods alſo? did ye not begin betime to play the idolaters? and do ye not fill up the meaſure of your fathers? Mat. 23.32. They ſojourned in Egypt, and brought thence a golden calfe: Jeroboam ſojourned there, and brought home two; which were no ſooner up but you were down upon your knees, where ſtill you continue at your mawmet-worſhip. Is it not even ſo, o houſe of Iſrael? And was it not even ſo in the wilderneſſe, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. where and when I bore with your evill manners about the time of forty yeares Act. 13.18. (for full forty it was not, but 38. onely and ſome few moneths) and was provoked by you ten times Num. 14.22. when I had but newly brought you out of Egypt chap. 3.1, 2. So that your Idolatry is hereditary; and therefore the more ingrained and to be abhorred. God alone is to be worſhipped Exod. 20.2, 3. 1 King. 18.21. truely that there be no halting, and totally that there be no halving. Be the Gods of the heathen good-fellowes, ſaith One: the true God is a jealous God, and will not ſhare his glory with another. For indeed he is the One Deut. 6.4. and Onely God, Pſal. 86.10. beſides whom Pſal. 18.32. without whom 1 Sam. 2.2. and beyond whom 1 King 8.6. there is none other Deut. 4.39. nor any like him 2 Sam. 7.22. nor any with him Eſay. 44.24. he is the onely Lord, and beſides Him there is none other Joel. 2.27.

Verſe 26. But ye have born the tabernacle of your Moloch] That Idols were wont to be carried upon mens ſhoulders we may ſee Eſay. 46.7. Baruc. 6.3. and 2.5. That Moloch or Malcom was the abomination of the Ammonites, (who called him their king, as the Iſraelites called the true God Eſ. 44.6. and 33, 22.) See 1 King. 11.5. that the Iſraelites ſhould do thus in the wilderneſſe (where they had Gods tabernacle erected) carrying about them privily ſome portable chappels or pictures of theſe Idols (as ſome hold they did,Rom. 1.23. 2 Theſſ. 2.10, 11. and Joſephus ſeemes to ſay as much) was monſtrous wickedneſſe, and the guiſe of men given up to a reprobate ſenſe.

and Chiun your images] that is, your notable image, the plurall for the ſingular, as oft; eſpecially in names of dignity. Hierom here for Chiun hath Rephan; confer Act. 7.43. and the Commentatours thereon. Aben-Ezra thinks that by Chiun is meant the planet Saturn, called chivan in the Arabick. And other Hebrews by the ſtarr of your God (that is, the ſtarr which is your God. See Eſay. 21.9.) underſtand Mereury.

Verſe 17. Therefore will cauſe you] Idolatry is a land-deſolating ſin.

beyond Damaſcus] and not only ſo, but alſo beyond Babylon Act. 7 by the way of Damaſcus, by Tiglath Pileſer ſent for by Ahaz, for that purpoſe Eſ. 8.4. King. 15.29.