mh_parser/vol_split/30 - Amos/Chapter 7.xml

<div2 id="Amos.viii" n="viii" next="Amos.ix" prev="Amos.vii" progress="83.22%" title="Chapter VII">
<h2 id="Amos.viii-p0.1">A M O S.</h2>
<h3 id="Amos.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Amos.viii-p1" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.1-Amos.7.6" parsed="|Amos|7|1|7|6" passage="Am 7:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. 2. God's patience is at length worn
out by their obstinacy, and they are rejected, and sentenced to
utter ruin, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.7-Amos.7.9" parsed="|Amos|7|7|7|9" passage="Am 7:7-9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. II.
Israel contending with God, by the opposition given to his prophet.
1. Amaziah informs against Amos (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.10-Amos.7.11" parsed="|Amos|7|10|7|11" passage="Am 7:10,11">ver. 10, 11</scripRef>) and does what he can to rid
the country of him as a public nuisance, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.12-Amos.7.13" parsed="|Amos|7|12|7|13" passage="Am 7:12,13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>. 2. Amos justifies himself in
what he did as a prophet (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.14-Amos.7.15" parsed="|Amos|7|14|7|15" passage="Am 7:14,15">ver. 14,
15</scripRef>) and denounces the judgments of God against Amaziah
his prosecutor (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.16-Amos.7.17" parsed="|Amos|7|16|7|17" passage="Am 7:16,17">ver. 16,
17</scripRef>); 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>
<scripCom id="Amos.viii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7" parsed="|Amos|7|0|0|0" passage="Am 7" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Amos.viii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.1-Amos.7.9" parsed="|Amos|7|1|7|9" passage="Am 7:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.viii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Amos.viii-p1.10">Intercession for Israel; Ruin of Israel
Foretold. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 785.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.viii-p2" shownumber="no">1 Thus hath the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.1">God</span> 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.   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
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.2">God</span>, forgive, I beseech thee: by
whom shall Jacob arise? for he <i>is</i> small.   3 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.3">Lord</span> repented for this: It shall not be,
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.4">Lord</span>.   4 Thus hath
the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.5">God</span> shewed unto me: and,
behold, the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.6">God</span> called to
contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a
part.   5 Then said I, O Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.7">God</span>, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob
arise? for he <i>is</i> small.   6 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.8">Lord</span> repented for this: This also shall not be,
saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.9">God</span>.   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.   8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p2.10">Lord</span> 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:   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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p3" shownumber="no">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>
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.1 Bible:Amos.7.4 Bible:Amos.7.7" parsed="|Amos|7|1|0|0;|Amos|7|4|0|0;|Amos|7|7|0|0" passage="Am 7:1,4,7"><i>v.</i> 1, 4, 7</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.7" parsed="|Amos|3|7|0|0" passage="Am 3:7"><i>ch.</i> iii.
7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p4" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p5" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.1" parsed="|Amos|7|1|0|0" passage="Am 7:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.11" parsed="|Jer|18|11|0|0" passage="Jer 18:11">Jer. xviii.
11</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.9" parsed="|Eccl|5|9|0|0" passage="Ec 5:9">Eccl. v.
9</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.26.10" parsed="|2Chr|26|10|0|0" passage="2Ch 26:10">2
Chron. xxvi. 10</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.25" parsed="|2Kgs|14|25|0|0" passage="2Ki 14:25">2 Kings xiv. 25</scripRef>); the latter growth
shot up, after the mowings of the kings of Syria, which we read of
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.13.3" parsed="|2Kgs|13|3|0|0" passage="2Ki 13:3">2 Kings xiii. 3</scripRef>. 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
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Amos.6.14" parsed="|Amos|6|14|0|0" passage="Am 6:14"><i>ch.</i> vi. 14</scripRef>, which
afflicted them <i>from the entering of Hamath to the river of the
wilderness,</i> which seems to refer to <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.25" parsed="|2Kgs|14|25|0|0" passage="2Ki 14:25">2 Kings xiv. 25</scripRef>, 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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.9" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.4" parsed="|Amos|7|4|0|0" passage="Am 7:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): <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
(<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.10" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.11" parsed="|Amos|4|11|0|0" passage="Am 4:11"><i>ch.</i> iv. 11</scripRef>), 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> (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p5.11" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1" parsed="|Num|11|1|0|0" passage="Nu 11:1">Num. xi. 1</scripRef>);
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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p6" shownumber="no">2. The prophet goes forth to meet him in
the way of his judgments, and by prayer seeks to turn away his
wrath, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.2" parsed="|Amos|7|2|0|0" passage="Am 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.2" parsed="|Amos|7|2|0|0" passage="Am 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>); <i>cease, I beseech thee,</i>
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.5" parsed="|Amos|7|5|0|0" passage="Am 7:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p7" shownumber="no">(1.) The prophet's prayer: <i>O Lord
God!</i> [1.] <i>Forgive, I beseech thee,</i> and take away the
sin, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.2" parsed="|Amos|7|2|0|0" passage="Am 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p8" shownumber="no">(2.) The prophet's plea to enforce this
prayer: <i>By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small?</i>
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.2" parsed="|Amos|7|2|0|0" passage="Am 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. And it is
repeated (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.5" parsed="|Amos|7|5|0|0" passage="Am 7:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) 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, if 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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.14" parsed="|Isa|41|14|0|0" passage="Isa 41:14">Isa. xli. 14</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p9" shownumber="no">3. God graciously lets fall his
controversy, in answer to the prophet's prayer, once and again
(<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.3" parsed="|Amos|7|3|0|0" passage="Am 7:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <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 his way, took another
course, and determined to deal in mercy and not in wrath. He said,
<i>It shall not be.</i> And again (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.6" parsed="|Amos|7|6|0|0" passage="Am 7:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), <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, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.16" parsed="|Isa|59|16|0|0" passage="Isa 59:16">Isa. lix. 16</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p10" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.7-Amos.7.8" parsed="|Amos|7|7|7|8" passage="Am 7:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>) and an express prediction of
utter ruin, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.9" parsed="|Amos|7|9|0|0" passage="Am 7:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p11" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Song.8.10" parsed="|Song|8|10|0|0" passage="So 8:10">Cant. viii. 10</scripRef>),
<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> (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.8.2" parsed="|2Sam|8|2|0|0" passage="2Sa 8:2">2 Sam. viii. 2</scripRef>) 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>" <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.1.3" parsed="|Amos|1|3|0|0" passage="Am 1:3"><i>ch.</i> i.
3</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p12" shownumber="no">2. The prediction is of utter ruin,
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.9" parsed="|Amos|7|9|0|0" passage="Am 7:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. (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> (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.16" parsed="|Amos|7|16|0|0" passage="Am 7:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.15.10" parsed="|2Kgs|15|10|0|0" passage="2Ki 15:10">2 Kings
xv. 10</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.viii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.10-Amos.7.17" parsed="|Amos|7|10|7|17" passage="Am 7:10-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.viii-p12.5">
<h4 id="Amos.viii-p12.6">Amaziah's Charge against Amos; Amaziah's
Doom. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p12.7">b. c.</span> 785.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.viii-p13" shownumber="no">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.   11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by
the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their
own land.   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:   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.   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:   15
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p13.1">Lord</span> took me as I followed
the flock, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p13.2">Lord</span> said unto
me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.   16 Now therefore
hear thou the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p13.3">Lord</span>: Thou
sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not <i>thy word</i>
against the house of Isaac.   17 Therefore thus saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.viii-p13.4">Lord</span>; 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p14" shownumber="no">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 they 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,
<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.35.13 Bible:Ps.109.4" parsed="|Ps|35|13|0|0;|Ps|109|4|0|0" passage="Ps 35:13,109:4">Ps. xxxv. 13, 15; cix.
4</scripRef>. We have here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p15" shownumber="no">I. The malicious information brought to the
king against the prophet Amos, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.10-Amos.7.11" parsed="|Amos|7|10|7|11" passage="Am 7:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.11" parsed="|Amos|7|11|0|0" passage="Am 7:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.28" parsed="|2Kgs|14|28|0|0" passage="2Ki 14:28">2 Kings xiv. 28</scripRef>), but that God would <i>rise
against the house of Jeroboam with the sword,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.9" parsed="|Amos|7|9|0|0" passage="Am 7:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. God's prophets and
ministers have often had occasion to make David's complaint
(<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.56.5" parsed="|Ps|56|5|0|0" passage="Ps 56:5">Ps. lvi. 5</scripRef>), <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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p16" shownumber="no">II. The method he used to persuade Amos to
withdraw and quit the country (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.12-Amos.7.13" parsed="|Amos|7|12|7|13" passage="Am 7:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p17" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p18" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.10" parsed="|Rev|11|10|0|0" passage="Re 11:10">Rev. xi. 10</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p19" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p20" shownumber="no">1. He justified himself in his constant
adherence to his work and to his place (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.14-Amos.7.15" parsed="|Amos|7|14|7|15" passage="Am 7:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>); 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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.13" parsed="|Acts|4|13|0|0" passage="Act 4:13">Acts iv. 13</scripRef>.
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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.7" parsed="|2Cor|4|7|0|0" passage="2Co 4:7">2 Cor. iv.
7</scripRef>. [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 (<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.12" parsed="|Amos|7|12|0|0" passage="Am 7:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.7" parsed="|Isa|50|7|0|0" passage="Isa 50:7">Isa. l. 7</scripRef>.
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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p21" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.16-Amos.7.17" parsed="|Amos|7|16|7|17" passage="Am 7:16,17"><i>v.</i>
16, 17</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p22" shownumber="no">(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> <scripRef id="Amos.viii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.11" parsed="|Lam|5|11|0|0" passage="La 5:11">Lam. v. 11</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Amos.viii-p23" shownumber="no">(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>
(<scripRef id="Amos.viii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.11" parsed="|Amos|7|11|0|0" passage="Am 7:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), 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>
</div></div2>