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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Amos VII].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>A M O S.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. VII.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
In this chapter we have,
I. God contending with Israel, by the judgments, but are reprieved, and
the judgments turned away at the prayer of Amos,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:1-6">ver. 1-6</A>.
2. God's patience is at length worn out by their obstinacy, and they
are rejected, and sentenced to utter ruin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:7-9">ver. 7-9</A>.
II. Israel contending with God, by the opposition given to his prophet.
1. Amaziah informs against Amos
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:10,11">ver. 10, 11</A>)
and does what he can to rid the country of him as a public nuisance,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:12,13">ver. 12, 13</A>.
2. Amos justifies himself in what he did as a prophet
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:14,15">ver. 14, 15</A>)
and denounces the judgments of God against Amaziah his prosecutor
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>);
for, when the contest is between God and man, it is easy to foresee, it
is very easy to foretel, who will come off with the worst of it.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Am7_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Intercession for Israel; Ruin of Israel Foretold.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 785.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Thus hath the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed
grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter
growth; and, lo, <I>it was</I> the latter growth after the king's
mowings.
&nbsp; 2 And it came to pass, <I>that</I> when they had made an end of
eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, forgive, I
beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he <I>is</I> small.
&nbsp; 3 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> repented for this: It shall not be, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 4 Thus hath the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord
G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep,
and did eat up a part.
&nbsp; 5 Then said I, O Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall
Jacob arise? for he <I>is</I> small.
&nbsp; 6 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the
Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall
<I>made</I> by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand.
&nbsp; 8 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said,
A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line
in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them
any more:
&nbsp; 9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the
sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise
against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We here see that God bears long, but that he will not bear always, with
a provoking people, both these God here showed the prophet: <I>Thus
hath the Lord God showed me,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:1,4,7"><I>v.</I> 1, 4, 7</A>.
He showed him what was present, foreshowed him what was to come, gave
him the knowledge both of what he did and of what he designed; for the
<I>Lord God reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:7"><I>ch.</I> iii. 7</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. We have here two instances of God's sparing mercy, remembered in the
midst of judgment, the narratives of which are so much like one another
that they will be best considered together, and very considerable they
are.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. God is here coming forth against this sinful nation, first by one
judgment and then by another.
(1.) He begins with the judgment of famine. The prophet saw this in
vision. He saw God <I>forming grasshoppers,</I> or <I>locusts,</I> and
bringing them up upon the land, to eat up the fruits of it, and so to
strip it of its beauty and starve its inhabitants,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
God formed these grasshoppers, not only as they were his creatures (and
much of the wisdom and power of God appears in the formation of minute
animals, as much in the structure of an ant as of an elephant), but as
they were instruments of his wrath. God is said to <I>frame evil</I>
against a sinful people,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+18:11">Jer. xviii. 11</A>.
These grasshoppers were framed on purpose to <I>eat up the grass of the
land;</I> and vast numbers of them were prepared accordingly. They were
sent <I>in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, after
the king's mowings.</I> See here how the judgment was mitigated by the
mercy that went before it. God could have sent these insects to eat up
the grass at the beginning of the first growth, in the spring, when the
grass was most needed, was most plentiful, and was the best in its
kind; but God suffered that to grow, and suffered them to gather it in;
the king's mowings were safely housed, for <I>the king himself is
served from the field</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+5:9">Eccl. v. 9</A>),
and could as ill be without his mowings as without any other branch of
his revenues. Uzziah, who was now king of Judah, <I>loved
husbandry,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+26:10">2 Chron. xxvi. 10</A>.
But the grasshoppers were commissioned to eat up only the <I>latter
growth</I> (the edgrew we call it in the country), the after-grass,
which is of little value in comparison with the former. The mercies
which God give us, and continues to us, are more numerous and more
valuable than those he removes from us, which is a good reason why we
should be thankful and not complain. The remembrance of the mercies of
the former growth should make us submissive to the will of God when we
meet with disappointments in the latter growth. The prophet, in vision,
saw this judgment prevailing far. These grasshoppers <I>ate up the
grass of the land,</I> which should have been for the cattle, which the
owners must of course suffer by. Some understand this figuratively of a
wasting destroying army brought upon them. In the days of Jeroboam the
kingdom of Israel began to recover itself from the desolations it had
been under in the former reigns
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+14:25">2 Kings xiv. 25</A>);
the latter growth shot up, after the mowings of the kings of Syria,
which we read of
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+13:3">2 Kings xiii. 3</A>.
And then God commissioned the king of Assyria with an army of
caterpillars to come upon them and lay them waste, that nation spoken
of
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+6:14"><I>ch.</I> vi. 14</A>,
which afflicted them <I>from the entering of Hamath to the river of the
wilderness,</I> which seems to refer to
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+14:25">2 Kings xiv. 25</A>,
where Jeroboam is said to have restored their coast <I>from the
entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain.</I> God can bring all to
ruin when we think all is in some good measure repaired.
(2.) He proceeds to the judgment of fire, to show that he has many
arrows in his quiver, many ways of humbling a sinful nation
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
<I>The Lord God called to contend by fire.</I> He contended, for God's
judgment upon a people are his controversies with them; in them he
prosecutes his action against them; and his controversies are neither
causeless nor groundless. He <I>called to contend;</I> he did by his
prophets give them notice of his controversy, and drew up a
declaration, setting forth the meaning of it. Or he called for his
angels, or other ministers of his justice, that were to be employed in
it. A fire was kindled among them, by which perhaps is meant a great
drought (the heat of the sun, which should have warmed the earth,
scorched it, and burnt up the roots of the grass which the locusts had
eaten the spires of), or a raging fever, which was as a fire in their
bones, which devoured and ate up multitudes, or lightning, fire from
heaven, which consumed their houses, as Sodom and Gomorrah were
consumed
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+4:11"><I>ch.</I> iv. 11</A>),
or it was the burning of their cities, either by accident or by the
hand of the enemy, for fire and sword used to go together; thus were
the towns wasted, as the country was by the grasshoppers. This fire,
which God called for, did terrible execution; it <I>devoured the great
deep,</I> as the fire that fell from heaven on Elijah's altar licked up
the water that was in the trench. Though the water designed for the
stopping and quenching of this fire was as the water of the great deep,
yet it devoured it; for who, or what, can stand before a fire kindled
by the wrath of God! It did <I>eat up a part,</I> a great part, of the
cities where it was sent; or it was as the fire at Taberah, which
<I>consumed the outermost parts of the camp</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+11:1">Num. xi. 1</A>);
when some were overthrown others were <I>as brands plucked out of the
fire.</I> All deserved to be devoured, but it ate up only a part, for
God does not stir up all his wrath.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. The prophet goes forth to meet him in the way of his judgments, and
by prayer seeks to turn away his wrath,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
When he saw, in vision, what dreadful work these caterpillars made,
that they had eaten up in a manner <I>all the grass of the land</I> (he
foresaw they would do so, if suffered to go on), then he said, <I>O
Lord God! forgive, I beseech thee</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>);
<I>cease, I beseech thee,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
He that foretold the judgment in his preaching to the people, yet
deprecated it in his intercessions for them. <I>He is a prophet, and he
shall pray for thee.</I> It was the business of prophets to pray for
those to whom they prophesied, and so to make it appear that though
they denounced they did not <I>desire the woeful day. Therefore,</I>
God showed his prophets the evils coming, that they might befriend the
people, not only by warning them, but by praying for them, and
<I>standing in the gap,</I> to turn away God's wrath, as Moses, that
great prophet, often did. Now observe here,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) The prophet's prayer: <I>O Lord God!</I>
[1.] <I>Forgive, I beseech thee,</I> and take away the sin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
He sees sin at the bottom of the trouble, and therefore concludes that
the pardon of sin must be at the bottom of deliverance, and prays for
that in the first place. Note, Whatever calamity we are under, personal
or public, the forgiveness of sin is that which we should be most
earnest with God for.
[2.] <I>Cease, I beseech thee,</I> and take away the judgment; cease
the fire, cease the controversy; <I>cause they anger towards us to
cease.</I> This follows upon the forgiveness of sin. Take away the
cause and effect will cease. Note, Those whom God contends with will
soon find what need they have to cry for a cessation of arms; and there
are hopes that though God has begun, and proceeded far, in his
controversy, yet it may be obtained.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) The prophet's plea to enforce this prayer: <I>By whom shall Jacob
arise, for he is small?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
And it is repeated
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)
and yet no vain repetition. Christ, <I>in his agony,</I> prayed
earnestly, <I>saying the same words,</I> again and again.
[1.] It is Jacob that he is interceding for, the professing people of
God, called by his name, calling on his name, the seed of Jacob, his
chosen, and in covenant with him. It it Jacob's case that is in this
prayer spread before the God of Jacob.
[2.] <I>Jacob is small,</I> very small already, weakened and brought
low by former judgments; and therefore, it these come, he will be quite
ruined and brought to nothing. The people are few; <I>the dust of
Jacob,</I> which was once innumerable, is now soon counted. Those few
are feeble (it is <I>the worm Jacob,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+41:14">Isa. xli. 14</A>);
they are unable to help themselves or one another. Sin will soon make a
great people small, will diminish the numerous, impoverish the
plenteous, and weaken the courageous.
[3.] <I>By whom shall he arise?</I> He has fallen, and cannot help
himself up, and he has no friend to help him, none to raise him, unless
the hand of God do it; what will become of him, then, if the hand that
should raise him to stretched out against him? Note, When the state of
God's church is very low and very helpless it is proper to be
recommended by our prayers to God's pity.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. God graciously lets fall his controversy, in answer to the prophet's
prayer, once and again
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
<I>The Lord repented for this.</I> He did not change his mind, for he
is one mind and who can turn him? But he changed is way, took another
course, and determined to deal in mercy and not in wrath. He said,
<I>It shall not be.</I> And again
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
<I>This also shall not be.</I> The caterpillars were countermanded,
were remanded; a stop was put to the progress of the fire, and thus a
reprieve was granted. See the power of prayer, of <I>effectual
fervent</I> prayer, and how much it <I>avails,</I> what great things it
prevails for. A stop has many a time been put to a judgment by making
<I>supplication to the Judge.</I> This was not the first time that
Israel's life was begged, and so saved. See what a blessing praying
people, praying prophets, are to a land, and therefore how highly they
ought to be valued. Ruin would many a time have broken in if they had
not stood in the breach, and made good the pass. See how ready, how
swift, God is to show mercy, how he <I>waits to be gracious.</I> Amos
moves for a reprieve, and obtains it, because God inclines to grant it
and looks about to see if there be any that will intercede for it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+59:16">Isa. lix. 16</A>.
Nor are former reprieves objected against further instances of mercy,
but are rather encouragements to pray and hope for them. This also
shall not be, any more than that. It is the glory of God that he
<I>multiplies to pardon,</I> that he spares, and forgives, to more than
seventy times seven times.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. We have here the rejection of those at last who had been often
reprieved and yet never reclaimed, reduced to straits and yet never
reduced to their God and their duty. This is represented to the prophet
by a vision
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>)
and an express prediction of utter ruin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. The vision is of a <I>plumb-line,</I> a line with a plummet at the
end of it, such as masons and bricklayers use to run up a wall by, that
they may work it straight and true, and by rule.
(1.) Israel was a wall, a strong wall, which God himself had reared, as
a bulwark, or wall of defence, to his sanctuary, which he set up among
them. The Jewish church says of herself
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+8:10">Cant. viii. 10</A>),
<I>I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.</I> This wall was
<I>made by a plumb-line,</I> very exact and firm. So happy was its
constitution, so well compacted, and every thing so well ordered
according to the model; it had long stood fast as a wall of brass. But,
(2.) God now <I>stands upon</I> this wall, not to hold it up, but to
tread it down, or, rather, to consider what he should do with it. He
<I>stands upon it with a plumb-line in his hand,</I> to take measure of
it, that it may appear to be a bowing, bulging wall. <I>Recti est index
sui et oblique--This plumb-line would discover where it was
crooked.</I> Thus God would bring the people of Israel to the trial,
would discover their wickedness, and show wherein they erred; and he
would likewise bring his judgments upon them according to equity, would
set a <I>plumb-line in the midst of them,</I> to mark how far their
wall must be pulled down, as David measured the <I>Moabites with a
line</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+8:2">2 Sam. viii. 2</A>)
to <I>put them to death.</I> And, when God is coming to the ruin of a
people, he is said to <I>lay judgment to the line and righteousness to
the plummet;</I> for when he punishes it is with exactness. It is now
determined: "<I>I will not again pass by them any more;</I> they shall
not be spared and reprieved as they have been; their punishment shall
not be <I>turned away,</I>"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+1:3"><I>ch.</I> i. 3</A>.
Note, God's patience, which has long been sinned against, will at
length be sinned away; and the time will come when those that have been
spared often shall be no longer spared. <I>My spirit shall not always
strive.</I> After frequent reprieves, yet a day of execution will
come.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. The prediction is of utter ruin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
(1.) The body of the people shall be destroyed, with all those things
that were their ornament and defence. They are here called <I>Isaac</I>
as well as <I>Israel, the house of Isaac</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
some think in allusion to the signification of Isaac's name; it is
<I>laughter;</I> they shall become a jest among all their neighbours;
their neighbours shall <I>laugh at them.</I> The desolation shall
fasten upon their high places and their <I>sanctuaries,</I> either
their <I>castles</I> or their <I>temples,</I> both built on high
places. Their castles they thought safe, and their temples sacred as
sanctuaries. These shall be <I>laid waste,</I> to punish them for their
idolatry and to make them ashamed of their carnal confidences, which
were the two things for which God had a controversy with them. When
these were made desolate they might read their sin and folly in their
punishment.
(2.) The royal family shall sink first, as an earnest of the ruin of
the whole kingdom: <I>I will rise against the house of Jeroboam,</I>
Jeroboam the second, who was now king of the ten tribes; his family was
extirpated in his son Zecharias, who was <I>slain with the sword before
the people,</I> by Shallum who <I>conspired against him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+15:10">2 Kings xv. 10</A>.
How unrighteous soever the instruments were, God was righteous, and in
them God rose up against that idolatrous family. Even king's houses
will be no shelter against the sword of God's wrath.</P>
<A NAME="Am7_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Am7_17"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Amaziah's Charge against Amos; Amaziah's Doom.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 785.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of
Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of
the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
&nbsp; 11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and
Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
&nbsp; 12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away
into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
&nbsp; 13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it <I>is</I> the
king's chapel, and it <I>is</I> the king's court.
&nbsp; 14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I <I>was</I> no prophet,
neither <I>was</I> I a prophet's son; but I <I>was</I> a herdman, and a
gatherer of sycamore fruit:
&nbsp; 15 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> took me as I followed the flock, and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
&nbsp; 16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: Thou sayest,
Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not <I>thy word</I> against the
house of Isaac.
&nbsp; 17 Therefore thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; Thy wife shall be a harlot
in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the
sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die
in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity
forth of his land.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
One would have expected,
1. That what we met with in the former part of the chapter would awaken
the people to repentance, when they saw that they were reprieved in
order that they might have <I>space to repent</I> and that they could
not obtain a pardon unless the did repent.
2. That it would endear the prophet Amos to them, who had not only
shown his good-will to them in praying against the judgments that
invaded them, but had prevailed to turn away those judgments, which, if
they had had any sense of gratitude, would have gained him an interest
in their affections. But it fell out quite contrary; they continue
impenitent, and the next news we hear of Amos is that he is persecuted.
Note, As it is the praise of great saints that they pray for those that
are enemies to them, so it is the shame of many great sinners that they
are enemies to those who pray for them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:13,109:4">Ps. xxxv. 13, 15; cix. 4</A>.
We have here,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The malicious information brought to the king against the prophet
Amos,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>.
The informer was <I>Amaziah the priest of Bethel,</I> the chief of the
priests that ministered to the golden calf there, the <I>president of
Bethel</I> (so some read it), that had the principal hand in civil
affairs there. He complained against Amos, not only because he
prophesied without license from him, but because he prophesied against
his altars, which would soon be deserted and demolished if Amos's
preaching could but gain credit. Thus the shrine-makers at Ephesus
hated Paul, because his preaching tended to spoil their trade. Note,
Great pretenders to sanctity are commonly the worst enemies to those
who are really sanctified. Priests have been the most bitter
persecutors. Amaziah brings an information to Jeroboam against Amos.
Observe,
1. The crime he is charged with is no less than treason: "<I>Amos has
conspired against thee,</I> to depose and murder thee; he aims at
succeeding thee, and therefore is taking the most effectual way to
weaken thee. He sows the seeds of sedition in the hearts of the good
subjects of the king, and makes them disaffected to him and his
government, that he may draw them by degrees from their allegiance;
upon this account <I>the land is not able to bear his words.</I>" It is
slyly insinuated to the king that the country was exasperated against
him, and it is given in as their sense that his preaching was
intolerable, and such as nobody could be reconciled to, such as the
times would by no means bear, that is, the men of the times would not.
Both the impudence of his supposed treason, and the bad influence it
would have upon the country, are intimated in that part of the charge,
that he conspired against the king in the midst of the house of Israel.
Note, It is no new thing for the accusers of the brethren to
misrepresent them as enemies to the king and kingdom, as traitors to
their prince and troublers of the land, when really they are the best
friends to both. And it is common for designing men to assert that as
the sense of the country which is far from being so. And yet here, I
doubt, it was too true, that the people could not bear plain dealing
any more than the priests.
2. The words laid in the indictment for the support of this charge
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
<I>Amos says</I> (and they have witnesses ready to prove it)
<I>Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away
captive;</I> and hence they infer that he is an enemy to his king and
country, and not to be tolerated. See the malice of Amaziah; he does
not tell the king how Amos had interceded for Israel, and by his
intercession had turned away first one judgment and then another, and
did not let fall his intercession till he saw the decree had gone
forth; he does not tell him that these threatenings were conditional,
and that he had often assured them that if they would repent and reform
the ruin should be prevented. Nay, it was not true that he said,
<I>Jeroboam shall die by the sword,</I> nor did he so die
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+14:28">2 Kings xiv. 28</A>),
but that God would <I>rise against the house of Jeroboam with the
sword,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
God's prophets and ministers have often had occasion to make David's
complaint
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+56:5">Ps. lvi. 5</A>),
<I>Every day they wrest my words.</I> But shall it be made the
watchman's crime, when he sees the sword coming, to give warning to the
people, that they may get themselves secured? or the physician's crime
to tell his patient of the danger of his disease, that he may use means
for the cure of it? What enemies are foolish men to themselves, to
their own peace, to their best friends! It does not appear that
Jeroboam took any notice of this information; perhaps he reverenced a
prophet, and stood more in awe of the divine authority than Amaziah his
priest did.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The method he used to persuade Amos to withdraw and quit the
country
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>);
when he could not gain his point with the king to have Amos imprisoned,
banished, or put to death, or at least to have him frightened into
silence or flight, he tried what he could do by fair means to get rid
of him; he insinuated himself into his acquaintance, and with all the
arts of wheedling endeavored to persuade him to go and prophesy in the
<I>land of Judah,</I> and not at Bethel. He owns him to be a seer, and
does not pretend to enjoin him silence, but suggests to him,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. That Bethel was not a proper place for him to exercise his ministry
in, for it was <I>the king's chapel,</I> or <I>sanctuary,</I> where he
had his idols and their altars and priests; and it was <I>the king's
court,</I> or <I>the house of the kingdom,</I> where the royal family
resided and where were set the thrones of judgment; and therefore
<I>prophesy not any more</I> here. And why not?
(1.) Because Amos is too plain and blunt a preacher for the court and
the king's chapel. Those that <I>wear silk and fine clothing,</I> and
speak silken soft words, are fit for king's palaces.
(2.) Because the worship that is in the king's chapel will be a
continual vexation and trouble to Amos; let him therefore get far
enough from it, and what the eye sees not the heart grieves not for.
(3.) Because it was not fit that the king and his house should be
affronted in their own court and chapel by the reproofs and
threatenings which Amos was continually teazing them with in the name
of the Lord; as if it were the prerogative of the prince, and the
privilege of the peers, when they are running headlong upon a
precipice, not to be told of their danger.
(4.) Because he could not expect any countenance or encouragement
there, but, on the contrary, to be bantered and ridiculed by some and
to be threatened and brow-beaten by others; however, he could not think
to make any converts there, or to persuade any from that idolatry which
was supported by the authority and example of the king. To preach his
doctrine there was but (as we say) to run his head against a post; and
therefore <I>prophesy no more</I> there. But,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. He persuades him that the land of Judah was the fittest place for
him to set up in: <I>Flee thee away</I> thither with all speed, and
<I>there eat bread,</I> and <I>prophesy there.</I> There thou wilt be
safe; there thou wilt be welcome; the king's court and chapel there are
on thy side; the prophets there will second thee; the priests and
princes there will take notice of thee, and allow thee an honourable
maintenance. See here,
(1.) How willing wicked men are to get clear of their faithful
reprovers, and how ready to <I>say to the seers, See not,</I> or See
not for us; the two witnesses were a torment to those that dwelt on the
earth
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+11:10">Rev. xi. 10</A>),
and it were indeed a pity that men should be <I>tormented before the
time,</I> but that it is in order to the preventing of eternal torment.
(2.) How apt worldly men are to measure others by themselves. Amaziah,
as a priest, aimed at nothing but the profits of his place, and he
thought Amos, as a prophet, had the same views, and therefore advised
him to prophesy were he might <I>eat bread,</I> where he might be sure
to have as much as he chose; whereas Amos was to prophesy where God
appointed him, and where there was most need of him, not where he would
get most money. Note, Those that make gain their godliness, and are
governed by the hopes of wealth and preferment themselves, are ready to
think these the most powerful inducements with others also.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. The reply which Amos made to these suggestions of Amaziah's. He
did not <I>consult with flesh and blood,</I> nor was it his care to
enrich himself, but to <I>make full proof of his ministry,</I> and to
be found faithful in the discharge of it, not to sleep in a whole skin,
but to keep a good conscience; and therefore he resolved to abide by
his post, and, in answer to Amaziah,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. He justified himself in his constant adherence to his work and to
his place
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>);
and that which he was sure would not only bear him out, but bind him to
it, was that he had a divine warrant and commission for it: "<I>I was
no prophet, nor prophet's son,</I> neither born nor bred to the office,
not originally designed for a prophet, as Samuel and Jeremiah, not
educated in the schools of the prophets, as many others were; but <I>I
was a herdsman,</I> a keeper of cattle, and <I>a gatherer of
sycamore-fruit.</I>" Our sycamores bear no fruit, but, it seems, theirs
did, which Amos gathered either for his cattle or for himself and his
family, or to sell. He was a plain country-man, bred up and employed in
country work and used to country fare. He <I>followed the flocks</I> as
well as the herds, and thence God <I>took him,</I> and bade him
<I>go</I> and <I>prophesy to his people Israel,</I> deliver to them
such messages as he should from time to time <I>receive from the
Lord.</I> God made him a prophet, and a prophet to them, appointed him
his work and appointed him his post. Therefore he ought not to be
silenced, for,
(1.) He could produce a divine commission for what he did. He did not
run before he was sent, but pleads, as Paul, that he was <I>called to
be an apostle;</I> and men will find it is at their peril if they
contradict and oppose any that come in God's name, if they say to his
<I>seers, See not,</I> or silence those whom he has bidden to speak;
such <I>fight against God.</I> An affront done to an ambassador is an
affront to the prince that sends him. Those that have a warrant from
God ought not to <I>fear the face of man.</I>
(2.) The mean character he wore before he received that commission
strengthened his warrant, so far was it from weakening it.
[1.] He had no thoughts at all of ever being a prophet, and therefore
his prophesying could not be imputed to a raised expectation or a
heated imagination, but purely to a divine impulse.
[2.] He was not educated nor instructed in the art or mystery of
prophesying, and therefore he must have his abilities for it
immediately from God, which is an undeniable proof that he had his
mission from him. The apostles, being originally unlearned and ignorant
men, evidenced that they owed their knowledge to their having <I>been
with Jesus,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Act+4:13">Acts iv. 13</A>.
When the treasure is put into such earthen vessels, it is thereby made
to appear that the <I>excellency of the power is of God, and not of
man,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:7">2 Cor. iv. 7</A>.
[3.] He had an honest calling, by which he could comfortably maintain
himself and his family; and therefore did not need to prophesy for
bread, as Amaziah suggested
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
did not take it up as a trade to live by, but as a trust to honour God
and do good with.
[4.] He had all his days been accustomed to a plain homely way of
living among poor husbandmen, and never affected either gaieties or
dainties, and therefore would not have thrust himself so near the
king's court and chapel if the business God had called him to had not
called him thither.
[5.] Having been so meanly bred, he could not have the courage to speak
to kings and great men, especially to speak such bold and provoking
things to them, if he had not been animated by a greater spirit than
his own. If God, that sent him, had not strengthened him, he could not
thus have <I>set his face as a flint,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:7">Isa. l. 7</A>.
Note, God often chooses the <I>weak and foolish things of the world</I>
to confound the wise and mighty; and a herdman of Tekoa puts to shame a
priest of Bethel, when he receives from God authority and ability to
act for him.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. He condemns Amaziah for the opposition he gave them, and denounces
the judgments of God against him, not from any private resentment or
revenge, but in the name of the Lord and by authority from him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
Amaziah would not suffer Amos to preach at all, and therefore he is
particularly ordered to preach against him: <I>Now therefore hear thou
the word of the Lord,</I> hear it and tremble. Those that cannot bear
general woes may expect woes of their own. The sin he is charged with
is forbidding Amos to prophesy; we do not find that he beat him, or put
him in the stocks, only he enjoined him silence: <I>Prophesy not
against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac;</I>
he must not only thunder against them, but he must not so much as drop
a word against them; he cannot bear, no, not the most gentle distilling
of that rain, that small rain. Let him therefore hear his doom.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) For the opposition he gave to Amos God will bring ruin upon
himself and his family. This was the sin that filled the measure of his
iniquity.
[1.] He shall have no comfort in any of his relations, but be afflicted
in those that were nearest to him: <I>His wife shall be a harlot;</I>
either she shall be forcibly abused by the soldiers, as the Levite's
concubine by the men of Gibeah (they <I>ravish the women of Zion,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+5:11">Lam. v. 11</A>),
or she shall herself wickedly play the harlot, which, though her sin,
her great sin, would be his affliction, his great affliction and
reproach, and a just punishment upon him for promoting spiritual
whoredom. Sometimes the sins of our relations are to be looked upon as
judgments of God upon us. His children, though they keep honest, yet
shall not keep alive: <I>His sons and his daughters shall fall by the
sword</I> of war, and he himself shall live to see it. He has trained
them up in iniquity, and therefore God will cut them off in it.
[2.] He shall be stripped of all his estate; it shall fall into the
hand of the enemy, and be <I>divided by line,</I> by lot, among the
soldiers. What is ill begotten will not be long kept.
[3.] He shall himself perish in a strange country, not in the <I>land
of Israel,</I> which had been holiness to the Lord, but in a
<I>polluted land,</I> in a heathen country, the fittest place for such
a heathen to end his days in, that hated and silenced God's prophets
and contributed so much to the polluting of his own land with
idolatry.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) Notwithstanding the opposition he gave to Amos, God will bring
ruin upon the land and nation. He was accused for saying, <I>Israel
shall be led away captive</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
but he stands to it, and repeats it; for the unbelief of man shall not
make the word of God of no effect. The <I>burden of the word of the
Lord</I> may be striven with, but it cannot be shaken off. Let Amaziah
rage, and fret, and say what he will to the contrary, <I>Israel shall
surely go into captivity forth of his land.</I> Note, it is to no
purpose to contend with the judgments of God; for when God judges he
will overcome. Stopping the mouths of God's ministers will not stop the
progress of God's word, for it shall not return void.</P>
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