John Trapp on Amos 3:9

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

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

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

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