John Trapp on Amos 9:7

Verſe 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me,] The emphaſis lieth in this laſt word, Ʋnto me, who am no reſpecter of perſons, but in every nation, Act. 10.3.4. he that feareth God, and worketh righteouſneſſe, is accepted with him.) Unto your ſelves indeed you ſeem ſome great buſineſſe, becauſe Iſraelites; to whom pertaineth the Adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, &c. Rom, 9.4. To others alſo you ſeem a great nation, yea a wiſe and underſtanding people, as having God ſo nigh unto you, and ſo ſet for you, Deut. 4.6, 7. and 33.29. But tell me, Quis te diſcrevit? Who made you to differ? and what have ye more then others, that ye have not me to thank for? You look upon the Ethiopians with ſcorn, as an ignoble and ſervile people: as likewiſe upon the uncircumciſed Philiſtines, and unhallowed Syrians. But wherein are you beyond them, if you look back to your Original, and conſider my dealings with them and you? It is nothing elſe but ſelf-love that maketh you thus inſolent; and teacheth you to turn the glaſſe to ſee your ſelves bigger, Others leſſer then they are. You fooliſhly ſet up your Counter for a thouſand pound; and are in ſome ſence like thoſe Ethiopians, or Negroes, Heyl. Geogr. ſo much ſlighted by you; of whom it is ſaid that they paint the devill white, as being a colour contrary to their own. But much more to blame are you, that being Gods peculiar people, and partakers of ſo great priviledges, you do no more change your evill manners, then the Ethiopians do their black-hue Jer. 13.23. you are no where white but in your teeth, as they: good a little from the teeth outward. I am neer in your mouthes, but farr from your reines, Jer. 12.2. Such an one was that ſtigmaticall Cuſh the ſon of Iemini mentioned in the title of the ſeventh Pſalme, (perhaps Saul the ſon of Kiſh the Beniamite is intended) non tam cute quàm corde Aethiopicus, of black and ill conditions: and therefore to God no better then an Ethiopian, or any other Pagan people.

have not I brought up Iſrael out of the land of Egypt] q. d. I grant I have; and you glory very much in it: whereas you ſhould rather glorify me much for it, and walk worthy of ſuch a deliverance; for every bleſſing is a binder, and every new deliverance a new tie to obedience. But what ſingular thing have I herein done for you more then for Philiſtines and Syrians, whom yet you look upon as dogs and outcaſts?

have not I alſo brought up the Philiſtines from Caphtor,] i. e. from Cappadocia (called an Iſland Ier. 47. becauſe it bordered upon the ſea) or,Turk. hiſt. 843. as ſome will have it from Cyprus, a rich Iſland, called therefore Macariah, that is, Bleſſed.

and the Syrians from Kir] Syros è Kiro, from Cyrene a countrey of Aſia, as Beroaldus thinketh. It is mentioned Eſa. 22.6.Chron. lib. 4. cap. 6. as ſubject to the king of Aſſyria: and thither the Syrians were tranſlated by Tiglath-Pileſer 2 King. 16.9. but when either theſe or the Philiſtines were brought back againe to their own countreys, we read not in ſcripture, or elſewhere at this day.1 Chron 4.22. Theſe are ancient things, (as it is ſaid in another caſe) and are here alledged as well known to the Iſraelites, who are nipt on the crown as they ſay, and pulled from that perilous pinacle of ſelf-exaltation, whereupon they had unhappily peirked themſelves.