Matthew Poole and continuators on Amos 2:4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Idols or lies.

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

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