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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>A M O S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. V.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation given to
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Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter to prepare to meet their
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God; the prophet here tells them,
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I. What preparation they must make; they must "seek the Lord," and not
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seek any more to idols
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:4-8">ver. 4-8</A>);
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they must seek good, and love it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:14,15">ver. 14, 15</A>.
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II. Why they must make this preparation to meet their God,
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1. Because of the present deplorable condition they were in,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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2. Because it was by sin that they were brought into such a condition,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:7,10-12">ver. 7, 10-12</A>.
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3. Because it would be their happiness to seek God, and he was ready to
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be found of them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:8,9,14">ver. 8, 9, 14</A>.
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4. Because he would proceed, in his wrath, to their utter ruin, if they
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did not seek him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:5,6,13,16,17">ver. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17</A>.
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5. Because all their confidences would fail them if they did not seek
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unto God, and make him their friend.
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(1.) Their profane contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at
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defiance, would not secure them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>.
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(2.) Their external services in religion, and the shows of devotion,
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would not avail to turn away the wrath of God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:21-24">ver. 21-24</A>.
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(3.) Their having been long in possession of church-privileges, and in
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a course of holy duties, would not be their protection, while all along
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they had kept up their idolatrous customs,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:25-27">ver. 25-27</A>.
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They have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but by
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repentance and reformation.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Am5_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Invitations and Warnings.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 790.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, <I>even</I> a
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lamentation, O house of Israel.
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2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she
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is forsaken upon her land; <I>there is</I> none to raise her up.
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3 For thus saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; The city that went out <I>by</I> a
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thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went forth <I>by</I>
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a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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This chapter begins, as those two next foregoing began, with, <I>Hear
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this word.</I> Where God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to
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hear; it is our duty, it is our interest, yet so stupid are most men
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that they need to be again and again called upon to <I>hear the word of
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the Lord,</I> to give audience, to give attention. <I>Hear this
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word.</I> this convincing awakening word must be heard and heeded, as
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well as words of comfort and peace; the word that is taken up against
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us, as well as that which makes for us; for, whether we hear or
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forbear, the word of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it
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shall fall to the ground. It is the <I>word which I take up</I>--not the
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prophet only, but the God that sent him. It is <I>the word that the
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Lord has spoken,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:1"><I>ch.</I> iii. 1</A>.
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The word to be heard is <I>a lamentation,</I> a lamentable account of
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the present calamitous state of the kingdom of Israel, and a lamentable
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prediction of its utter destruction. Their condition is sad: <I>The
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virgin of Israel has fallen</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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has come down from what she was; that state, though not pure and chaste
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as a virgin, yet was beautiful and gay, and had its charms; she looked
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high herself, and was courted by many as a virgin; but <I>she has
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fallen</I> into contempt and poverty, and is universally slighted. Nay,
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and their condition is helpless: <I>She shall no more rise,</I> shall
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never recover her former dignity again. God had lately begun to <I>cut
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Israel short</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+10:32">2 Kings x. 32</A>),
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and, because they repented not, it was not long before he <I>cut Israel
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down.</I>
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1. Their princes, that should have helped them up, were disabled:
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<I>She is forsaken upon her land.</I> Not only those she was in
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alliance with abroad failed her, but her friends at home deserted her;
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she would not have been carried captive into a strange land if she had
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not first been <I>forsaken upon her own land</I> and <I>thrown to the
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ground</I> there, and all her true interests abandoned by those that
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should have had them at heart. <I>There is none to raise her up,</I>
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none that can do it, not that cares to lend her a hand.
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2. Their people, that should have helped them up, were diminished,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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"The city that had a militia, 1000 strong, and, in the beginning of the
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war, had furnished out 1000 effective men, able-bodied and well-armed,
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when they come to review their troops after the battle, shall find but
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100 <I>left;</I> and, in proportion, the city that sent out 100 shall
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have but <I>ten</I> come back, so great a slaughter shall be made, and
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so few left to the house of Israel for the public service and safety."
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Scarcely one in ten shall escape of the hands that should relieve this
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abject, this dejected, nation. Note, The lessening of the numbers of
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God's spiritual Israel, by death or desertion, is just a matter for
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lamentation; for <I>by whom shall Jacob arise,</I> by whom shall the
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decays of piety be repaired, when he is thus <I>made small?</I></P>
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<A NAME="Am5_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am5_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God's Message to Israel; The Aggravated Sins of Israel; Warnings and Exhortations; Exhortations and Encouragements.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN="BOTTOM"><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 790.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>4 For thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me,
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and ye shall live:
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5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to
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Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel
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shall come to nought.
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6 Seek the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire
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in the house of Joseph, and devour <I>it,</I> and <I>there be</I> none to
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quench <I>it</I> in Bethel.
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7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness
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in the earth,
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8 <I>Seek him</I> that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth
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the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark
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with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth
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them out upon the face of the earth: The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> his name:
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9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that
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the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
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10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him
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that speaketh uprightly.
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11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading <I>is</I> upon the poor, and
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ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn
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stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant
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vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
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12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty
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sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn
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aside the poor in the gate <I>from their right.</I>
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13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for
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it <I>is</I> an evil time.
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14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
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the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
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15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in
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the gate: it may be that the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of hosts will be gracious
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unto the remnant of Joseph.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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This is a message from God to the house of Israel, in which,</P>
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<P>
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I. They are told of their faults, that they might see what occasion
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there was for them to repent and reform, and that, when they were
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called to return, they might not need to ask, <I>Wherein shall we
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return?</I></P>
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<P>
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1. God tells them, in general
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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"<I>I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins;</I> and
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you shall be made to know them too." In our penitent reflections upon
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our sins we must consider, as God does in his judicial remarks upon
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them, and will do in the great day,
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(1.) That they are very numerous; they are our <I>manifold
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transgressions,</I> sins of various kinds and often repeated. Oh what a
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multitude of vain and vile thoughts lodge within us! What a multitude
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of idle, foolish, wicked words have been spoken by us! In what a
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multitude of instances have we gratified and indulged our corrupt
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appetites and passions! And how many our own omissions of duty and in
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duty! Who can understand his errors? Who can tell how often he offends?
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God knows how many, just how many, our transgressions are; none of them
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pass him unobserved; we know that they are to us innumerable; <I>more
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than the hairs of our head;</I> and we have reason to see what danger
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we have brought ourselves into, and what abundance of work we have made
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for repentance, by our <I>manifold transgressions,</I> by the
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numberless number of our sins of daily incursion.
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(2.) That some of them are very heinous; they are <I>our mighty</I>
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sins; sins that are more exceedingly sinful in their own nature and by
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being committed presumptuously and with a high hand, sins against the
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light of nature, flagrant crimes, that are mighty to overpower your
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convictions and to pull down judgments upon you.</P>
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<P>
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2. He specifies some of these mighty sins.
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(1.) They corrupted the worship of God, and turned to idols; this is
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implied
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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They had <I>sought to Bethel,</I> where one of the golden calves was;
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they had frequented Gilgal, a place which they chose to set up idols
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in, because it had been made famous in the days of Joshua by God's
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wonderful appearances to and for his people. Beer-sheba likewise, a
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place that had been famous in the days of the patriarchs, was now
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another rendezvous of idols; as we find also,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:14"><I>ch.</I> viii. 14</A>.
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And thither <I>they passed,</I> though it lay at a distance, in the
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land of Judah. Now, having thus shamefully gone a whoring from God, no
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doubt they should have felt themselves concerned to return to him.
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(2.) They perverted justice among themselves
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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"<I>You turn judgment to wormwood,</I> that is, you make your
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administrations of justice bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing
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both to God and man." That fruit has become a <I>weed,</I> a weed in
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the garden; as nothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than
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justice duly administered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more
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abominable, than designedly doing wrong under colour and pretence of
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doing right. <I>Corruptio optimi est pessima</I>--<I>The best, when
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corrupted, becomes the worst. "You leave off righteousness in the
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earth,</I> as if those that do wrong were accountable to the God of
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heaven only, and not to the princes and <I>judges of the earth.</I>"
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Thus it was as before the flood, when the <I>earth was filled with
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violence.</I>
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(3.) They were very oppressive to the poor, and made them poorer; they
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trod upon the poor
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
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trampled upon them, hectored over them, made them their footstool, and
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were most imperious and barbarous to those that were most obsequious
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and submissive; they care not what shame and slavery they put those to
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who were poor and such as they could get nothing by. The judges aimed
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at nothing but to enrich themselves; and therefore they <I>took
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from</I> the poor <I>burdens of wheat,</I> took it by extortion, either
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by way of bribe or by usury. The poor had no other way to save
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themselves from being trodden upon, and trodden to dirt, by them, than
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by presenting to them horse-loads of that corn which they and their
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families should have had to subsist upon, and they forced them to do
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it. They took from the poor <I>debts of wheat,</I> so some read it. It
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was legally due either for rent or for corn lent, but they exacted it
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with rigour from those who were disabled by the providence of God to
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pay it, as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+5:2,5">Neh. v. 2, 5</A>.
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In demanding and recovering even a just debt we must take heed left we
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act either unjustly or uncharitably. This sin of oppression by are
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again charged with
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
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<I>They afflict the just,</I> by turning the edge of the law and of the
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sword of justice against those that are the innocent and <I>quiet in
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the land;</I> they hated men because they were more righteous than
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themselves, and he that <I>departed from evil</I> thereby <I>made
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himself a prey</I> to them. They take a bribe from the rich to
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patronize and protect them in oppressing the poor, so that he who has
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money in his hand is sure to have the judgment on his side, be his
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cause ever so bad. Thus they <I>turn aside the poor in the gate,</I> in
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the courts of justice, <I>from their right.</I> If the poor sue for
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their right, who cannot bribe them, or are so honest that they will
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not, though they have it ever so clear in view and ever so <I>near,</I>
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yet they are turned away from it by their unrighteous sentence and
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cannot come at it. And <I>therefore the prudent will keep silence,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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Men will reckon it their prudence, when they are wronged and injured,
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to be silent, and make no complaints to the magistrates, for it will be
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to no purpose; they shall not have justice done them.
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(4.) They were malicious persecutors of God's faithful ministers and
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people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
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Their hearts were so fully set in them to do evil that they could not
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bear to be reproved,
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[1.] By the ministry of the word, by the reading and expounding of the
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law, and the messages which prophets delivered to them in the name of
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the Lord. <I>They hate him that rebukes in the gate,</I> in the gate of
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the Lord's house, or in their courts of justice, or in the places of
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concourse, where Wisdom is lifting up her voice,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:21">Prov. i. 21</A>.
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Reprovers in the gate are reprovers by office; these they hated,
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counting them their <I>enemies because they told them the truth,</I> as
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Ahab hated Micaiah. They not only despised them, but had an enmity to
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them, and sought to do them mischief. Those that hate reproof love
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ruin.
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[2.] By the conversation of their honest neighbours. Though things
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were generally very bad, yet there were some among them that <I>spoke
|
|
uprightly</I> that made conscience of what they said, and, as it was
|
|
their praise, so it was the shame of those that spoke deceitfully, and
|
|
condemned them, as Noah's faith condemned the unbelief of the old
|
|
world, and for that reason <I>they abhorred them;</I> they were such
|
|
inveterate enemies to the thing called honesty that they could not
|
|
endure the sight of an honest man. All that have any sense of the
|
|
common interest of mankind will love and value such as speak uprightly,
|
|
for veracity is the bond of human society; to what a pitch of folly and
|
|
madness then have those arrived who, having banished all notions of
|
|
justice out of their own hearts, would have them banished out of the
|
|
world too, and so put mankind into a state of war, for the <I>abhor him
|
|
that speaks uprightly!</I> And for this reason <I>the prudent shall
|
|
keep silence in that time,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Prophets cannot, dare not, keep silence; the impulse they are under
|
|
will not allow them to act on prudential considerations; they must
|
|
<I>cry aloud, and not spare.</I> But as for other wise and good men
|
|
they shall keep silence, and shall reckon it is their prudence to do
|
|
so, because it is an evil time. <I>First,</I> They shall think it
|
|
dangerous to complain, and therefore shall keep silence; this was one
|
|
way in which they afflicted the just, that by false suggestions and
|
|
strained innuendos they made men <I>offenders for a word</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+19:21">Isa. xix. 21</A>);
|
|
|
|
and therefore the <I>prudent,</I> who were <I>wise as serpents,</I>
|
|
because they knew not how what they said might be misinterpreted and
|
|
misrepresented, were so cautious as to say nothing, lest they should
|
|
run themselves into a premunire, because it was an evil time. Note,
|
|
Through the iniquity of the times, as good men are hidden, so good men
|
|
are silent, and it is their wisdom to be so; <I>little said soon
|
|
amended.</I> But it is their comfort that they may speak freely to God
|
|
when they know not to whom else they can speak freely. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
They shall think if fruitless to reprove. They see what wickedness is
|
|
committed, and their spirits are stirred up, as Paul's at Athens; but
|
|
they shall think it prudent not to bear an open testimony against it,
|
|
because it is to no purpose. They are <I>joined to their idols; let
|
|
them alone. Let no man strive or rebuke another;</I> for it is but
|
|
<I>casting pearls before swine.</I> The cautious men will say to a bold
|
|
reprover, as Erasmus to Luther, "<I>Abi in cellam, et dic, Miserere
|
|
mei, Domine</I>--<I>Away to thy cell, and cry, Have mercy on me, O
|
|
Lord!</I>" Let grave lessons and counsels be kept for better men and
|
|
better times. And there is <I>a time to keep silence</I> as well as
|
|
<I>a time to speak,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:7">Eccl. iii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Evil times</I> will not bear plain dealing, that is <I>evil men</I>
|
|
will not; and the men the prophet here speaks of had reason to think
|
|
themselves evil men indeed, when wise and good them thought it in vain
|
|
to speak to them and were afraid of having any thing to do with
|
|
them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. They are told of their danger and what judgments they lay exposed
|
|
to for their sins.
|
|
|
|
1. The places of their idolatry are in danger of being ruined in the
|
|
first place,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Gilgal,</I> the head-quarters of idolatry, <I>shall go into
|
|
captivity,</I> not only its inhabitants, but its images, <I>and
|
|
Bethel,</I> with its golden calf <I>shall come to nought.</I> The
|
|
victorious enemy shall make nothing of it, so easily shall it be
|
|
spoiled, and shall bring it to nothing, so effectually shall it be
|
|
spoiled. Idols were always vanity, and <I>things of nought,</I> and so
|
|
they shall prove when God appears to abolish them.
|
|
|
|
2. The body of the kingdom is in danger of being ruined with them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
There is danger lest, if you seek him not in time, he <I>break out like
|
|
a fire in the house of Joseph and devour it;</I> for our God is a
|
|
righteous Judge, is a <I>consuming fire,</I> and the men of Israel, as
|
|
criminals, are stubble before him; woe to those that make themselves
|
|
fuel to the fire of God's wrath. It follows, <I>And there shall be none
|
|
to quench it in Bethel.</I> There their idols were, and their
|
|
idolatrous priests; thither they brought their sacrifices, and there
|
|
they offered up their prayers. But God tells them that when the fire of
|
|
his judgments should kindle upon them all the gods they served at
|
|
Bethel should not be able to quench it, should not turn away the
|
|
judgment, nor be any relief to them under it. Thus those that make an
|
|
idol of the world will find it insufficient to protect them when God
|
|
comes to reckon with them for their spiritual idolatry.
|
|
|
|
3. What they have got by oppression and extortion shall be taken from
|
|
them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>You have built houses of hewn stone,</I> which you thought would be
|
|
lasting; <I>but you shall not dwell in them,</I> for your enemies shall
|
|
burn them down, or possess them for themselves, or take you into
|
|
captivity. <I>You have planted pleasant vineyards,</I> have contrived
|
|
how to make them every way agreeable, and have promised yourselves many
|
|
a pleasant walk in them; but you shall be forced to walk off, and shall
|
|
never <I>drink wine of them.</I>" The law had tenderly provided that if
|
|
a man had <I>built a house,</I> or <I>planted a vineyard,</I> he should
|
|
be at his liberty to return from the wars,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+20:5,6">Deut. xx. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
But now the necessity would be so urgent that it would not be allowed;
|
|
all must go to the battle, and many of those who had lately been
|
|
building and planting should fall in battle, and never enjoy what they
|
|
had been labouring for. What is not honestly got is not likely to be
|
|
long enjoyed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. They are told their duty, and have great encouragement to set
|
|
about it in good earnest, and good reason. The duties here prescribed
|
|
to them are godliness and honesty, seriousness in their applications to
|
|
God and justice in their dealings with men; and each of these is here
|
|
pressed upon them with proper arguments to enforce the exhortation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They are here exhorted to be sincere and devout in their addresses
|
|
to God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
God says to the <I>house of Israel, Seek you me,</I> and with good
|
|
reason, for <I>should not a people seek unto their God?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+8:19">Isa. viii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Whither else should they go but to their protector? Israel was a
|
|
<I>prince with God;</I> let his descendants <I>seek the Lord,</I> as he
|
|
did, and they shall be so too. Now, in order to their doing this, they
|
|
must abandon their idolatries. God is not sought truly if he be not
|
|
sought exclusively, for he will endure no rivals: "<I>Seek you the
|
|
Lord, and seek not Bethel</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
consult not your idol-oracles, nor ask at the mouth of the priests of
|
|
Bethel; seek not to the golden calf there for protection, nor bring
|
|
your prayers and sacrifices any longer thither, or to Gilgal, for you
|
|
<I>forsake your own mercies</I> if you observe those <I>lying
|
|
vanities.</I> But <I>seek the Lord</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:6,8"><I>v.</I> 6, 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
enquire after him; enquire of him; seek to know his mind as your rule,
|
|
to secure his favour as your felicity." To press this exhortation we
|
|
are told to consider,
|
|
|
|
(1.) What we shall get by seeking God; it will be <I>our life;</I> we
|
|
shall find him, and shall be happy in him. So he tells them himself
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Seek you me, and you shall live.</I> Those that seek perishing gods
|
|
shall perish with them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
but those that seek the living God shall live with him: "You shall be
|
|
delivered from the killing judgments which you are threatened with;
|
|
your nation shall live, shall recover from its present languishings;
|
|
your souls shall live; you shall be sanctified and comforted, and made
|
|
for ever blessed. <I>You shall live.</I>"
|
|
|
|
(2.) What a God he is whom we are to <I>seek,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He is a God of almighty power himself. The idols were impotent
|
|
things, could do neither good nor evil, and therefore it was folly
|
|
either to fear or trust them; but the God of Israel does every thing,
|
|
and can do any thing, and therefore we ought to seek him; he challenges
|
|
our homage who has all power in his hand, and it is our interest to
|
|
have him on our side. Divers proofs and instances are here given of
|
|
God's power, as Creator, in the kingdom of nature, as both founding and
|
|
governing that kingdom. Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+4:13"><I>ch.</I> iv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> The stars are the work of his hands; those stars which
|
|
the heathens worshipped
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>stars of your god,</I> those stars are God's creatures and
|
|
servants. He <I>makes the seven stars and Orion,</I> two very
|
|
remarkable constellations, which Amos, a herdsman, while he kept his
|
|
cattle by night, had particularly observed the motions of. He made them
|
|
at the first, he still makes them to be what they are to this earth and
|
|
either <I>binds</I> or <I>looses</I> the <I>sweet influences of
|
|
Peliades</I> and <I>Orion,</I> the two constellations here mentioned.
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:31,Job+9:9">Job xxxviii. 31; ix. 9</A>,
|
|
|
|
to which passages Amos seems here to refer, putting them in mind of
|
|
those ancient discoveries of the glory of God before he was called the
|
|
<I>God of Israel. Secondly,</I> The constant succession of day and
|
|
night is under his direction, and is kept up by his power and
|
|
providence. It is he that <I>turns</I> the night (which is dark as
|
|
<I>the shadow of death</I>) <I>into the morning</I> by the rising of
|
|
the sun, and by the setting of the sun <I>makes the day dark with
|
|
night;</I> and the same power can, for humble penitents, easily turn
|
|
affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, but can as easily turn
|
|
the prosperity of presumptuous sinners into darkness, into utter
|
|
darkness. <I>Thirdly,</I> The rain rises and falls as he appoints. He
|
|
<I>calls for the waters of the sea;</I> out of them vapours are drawn
|
|
up by the heat of the sun, which gather into clouds, and are <I>poured
|
|
out upon the face of the earth,</I> to water it and make it fruitful.
|
|
This was the mercy that had been <I>withholden from them</I> of late
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+4:7"><I>ch.</I> iv. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
and therefore to whom should they apply but to him who had power to
|
|
give it? For all the <I>vanities of the heathen</I> could not <I>give
|
|
rain,</I> nor could the <I>heavens</I> themselves <I>give showers</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+14:22">Jer. xiv. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is God that has <I>made these things; Jehovah is his name,</I> the
|
|
name by which the God of nature, the God of the whole earth, has made
|
|
himself known to his people Israel and covenanted with them.
|
|
|
|
[2.] As he is God of almighty power himself, so he <I>gives strength
|
|
and power unto his people</I> that seek him, and <I>renews strength</I>
|
|
to those that had lost it, if they <I>wait upon him</I> for it; for
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
|
|
|
|
he <I>strengthens the spoiled against the strong</I> to such a degree
|
|
that the spoiled come <I>against the fortress</I> and make bold and
|
|
brave attacks upon those that had spoiled them. This is an
|
|
encouragement to the people to <I>seek the Lord,</I> that, if they do
|
|
so, they shall find him above to retrieve their affairs, when they are
|
|
brought to the lowest ebb; though they are the spoiled, and their
|
|
enemies are the strong, if they can but engage God for them, they shall
|
|
soon recruit so as the next time to be not only the aggressors, but the
|
|
conquerors; they <I>come against the fortress,</I> to make reprisals
|
|
and become masters of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They are here exhorted to be honest and just in their dealings with
|
|
men,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>,
|
|
|
|
where observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The duty required: <I>Seek good, and not evil. Hate the evil, and
|
|
love the good, and establish judgment in the gate;</I> re-establish it
|
|
there, whence it has been banished,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Things are not so bad but that they may be amended if the right
|
|
course be taken; we must not despair but that grievances may be
|
|
redressed and abuses rectified; justice may yet triumph where injustice
|
|
tyrannizes. In order to this, good must be loved and sought, evil must
|
|
be hated and no longer sought. We must love good principles and adhere
|
|
to them, love to do good and abound in doing it, love good people, and
|
|
good converse, and good duties; and, whatever good we do, we must do it
|
|
from a principle of love, do it of choice and with delight. Those who
|
|
thus <I>love good</I> will <I>seek it,</I> will contrive to do all the
|
|
good they can, enquire for opportunities of doing it, and endeavor to
|
|
do it to the utmost of their power. They will also <I>hate evil,</I>
|
|
will abhor the thought of doing an unjust thing, and abstain from all
|
|
appearance of it. In vain do we pretend to seek God in our devotions if
|
|
we do not seek good in our whole conversations.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The reasons annexed.
|
|
|
|
[1.] This is the sure way to be happy ourselves and to have the
|
|
continual presence of God with us: "<I>Seek good, and not evil, that
|
|
you may live,</I> may escape the punishment of the evil you have sought
|
|
and loved (<I>righteousness delivereth from death</I>), that you may
|
|
have the favour of God, which is your life, which is better than life
|
|
itself, that you may have comfort in yourselves and may live to some
|
|
good purpose. You shall live, for <I>so the Lord God of hosts shall be
|
|
with you</I> and be your life." Note, Those that keep in the way of
|
|
duty have the presence of God with them, as the <I>God of hosts,</I> a
|
|
God of almighty power. "He will be with you <I>as you have spoken,</I>
|
|
that is, as you have <I>gloried;</I> you shall have that really which,
|
|
while you went on in unrighteous ways, you only seemed to have and
|
|
boasted of as if you had." Those that truly repent and reform enter
|
|
into the enjoyment of that comfort which before they had only flattered
|
|
themselves with the imagination of. Or, "As you have prayed when <I>you
|
|
sought the Lord.</I> Live up to your prayers, and you shall have what
|
|
you pray for."
|
|
|
|
[2.] This is the likeliest way to make the nation happy: "If you seek
|
|
and love that which is good, you may contribute to the saving of the
|
|
land from ruin." <I>It may be, the Lord God of hosts will be gracious
|
|
to the remnant of Joseph;</I> though there is but a remnant left, yet,
|
|
if God be gracious to that remnant, it will rise to a great nation
|
|
again; and if some among them turn from sin, especially if
|
|
<I>judgment</I> be <I>established in the gate,</I> though we cannot be
|
|
certain, yet there is a great probability that public affairs will take
|
|
a new and happy turn, and every thing will mend if men mend their
|
|
lives. Temporary promises are made with an <I>It may be;</I> and our
|
|
prayers must be made accordingly.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Threatenings and Reproofs.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 790.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>16 Therefore the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus;
|
|
Wailing <I>shall be</I> in all streets; and they shall say in all the
|
|
highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to
|
|
mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
|
|
17 And in all vineyards <I>shall be</I> wailing: for I will pass
|
|
through thee, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>! to what end
|
|
<I>is</I> it for you? the day of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> darkness, and not
|
|
light.
|
|
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or
|
|
went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a
|
|
serpent bit him.
|
|
20 <I>Shall</I> not the day of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>be</I> darkness, and not
|
|
light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. A very terrible threatening of destruction approaching,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Since they would not take the right course to obtain the favour of God,
|
|
God would take an effectual course to make them feel the weight of his
|
|
displeasure. The threatening is introduced with more than ordinary
|
|
solemnity, to strike an awe upon them; it is not the word of the
|
|
prophet only (if so, it might be made light of) but it is the <I>Lord
|
|
Jehovah,</I> who has an infinite eternal being; it is the <I>God of
|
|
hosts,</I> who has a boundless irresistible power, and it is
|
|
<I>Adonai--the Lord,</I> who has an absolute incontestable sovereignty,
|
|
and a universal dominion; it is he who says it, who can and will make
|
|
his words good, and he has said,
|
|
|
|
1. That the land of Israel shall be put in mourning, true mourning,
|
|
that all places shall be filled with lamentation for the calamities
|
|
coming upon them. Look into the cities, and <I>wailing shall be in all
|
|
streets,</I> in the great streets, in the by-streets. Look into the
|
|
country, and <I>they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas!</I> we
|
|
are all undone! The lamentation shall be so great as not to be confined
|
|
within doors, nor kept within the bounds of decency, but it shall be
|
|
proclaimed in the streets and highways, and shall run wild. The
|
|
husbandman shall be called from the plough by the calamities of his
|
|
country to the natural expressions of mourning; and, because those who
|
|
will come short of the merits of the cause, such as are skilful of
|
|
lamentation shall be called to artificial mourning, to put accents upon
|
|
the lamentations of the real mourners with their <I>Ahone, ahone.</I>
|
|
Even in all vineyards, where there used to be nothing but mirth and
|
|
pleasure, there shall be general wailing, when a foreign force invades
|
|
the country, lays all waste, and there is no making any head against
|
|
it, no weapons left but prayers and tears.
|
|
|
|
2. That the land of Israel shall be brought to ruin, and the advances
|
|
of that ruin are the occasion of all this wailing: <I>I will pass
|
|
through thee,</I> as the destroying angel passed through the land of
|
|
Egypt to destroy the first-born, but then passed over the houses of the
|
|
Israelites. God's judgments had often passed by them, but now they
|
|
shall pass through them, shall run them through.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. A just and severe reproof to those who made light of these
|
|
threatenings, and impudently bade defiance to the justice of God and
|
|
his judgments,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Woe unto you that <I>desire the day of the Lord,</I> that really wish
|
|
for times of war and confusion, as some do who have restless spirits,
|
|
and long for changes, or who choose to <I>fish in troubled waters,</I>
|
|
hoping to raise their families, as some had done, upon the ruins of
|
|
their country; but the prophet tells them that this should be so great
|
|
a desolation that nobody could get by it. Or it is spoken to those
|
|
who, in their wailings and lamentations for the calamities they were
|
|
in, wished they might die, and be delivered out of their misery, as Job
|
|
did, with passion. The prophet shows them the folly of this. Do they
|
|
know what death is to those who are unprepared for it, and how much
|
|
more terrible it will be than any thing that can befal them in this
|
|
life? Or, rather, it is spoken to those who speak jestingly of that day
|
|
of the Lord which the prophet spoke so seriously of; they desired it,
|
|
that is, they challenged it; they said, Let him do his worst; <I>let
|
|
him make speed,</I> and <I>hasten his work,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+5:19">Isa. v. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Where is the promise of his coming?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+3:4">2 Pet. iii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
It intimates,
|
|
|
|
1. That they do not believe it. They say that they wish it would come
|
|
because they do not believe it will ever come; nor will they believe it
|
|
unless they see it.
|
|
|
|
2. That they do not fear it; though they may have some belief of it,
|
|
yet they had so little consideration of it, and their mind is so intent
|
|
upon other things, that they are under no apprehension at all of peril
|
|
from it; instead of having the conscience to dread it, they have the
|
|
curiosity to desire it. In answer to this,
|
|
|
|
(1.) He shows the folly of those who impudently wished for any of God's
|
|
judgments, and made a jest of any of the terrors of the Lord: "<I>To
|
|
what end is it for you</I> that the day of the Lord should come? You
|
|
will find it both certain and sad; not a thing to be bantered, for it
|
|
is neither a thing to be questioned whether it will come or no nor a
|
|
thing to be turned off with a slight when it does come. <I>The day of
|
|
the Lord is darkness, and not light,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Shall it not be so?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Do not your own consciences tell you that it will be so, that it will
|
|
be <I>very dark,</I> and <I>no brightness in it?</I>" Note, The <I>day
|
|
of the Lord</I> will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent
|
|
sinners; the <I>day of judgment</I> will be so; and sometimes the day
|
|
of their present trouble. And, when God makes a day dark, all the world
|
|
cannot make it light.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He shows the folly of those who impatiently wished for a change of
|
|
God's judgment, in hopes that the next would be better and more
|
|
tolerable. They desire <I>the day of the Lord,</I> in hopes to better
|
|
themselves (though their hearts and lives be not amended), or, at
|
|
least, to know the worst. But the prophet tells them that they know not
|
|
what they ask,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is <I>as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him,</I> a
|
|
beast of prey more cruel and ravenous than a lion, or as if a man, to
|
|
escape all dangers abroad, <I>went into the house for security,</I> and
|
|
<I>leaned his hand on the wall</I> to rest himself, and there a
|
|
<I>serpent bit him.</I> Note, Those who are not reformed by the
|
|
judgments of God will be pursued by them; and, if they escape one,
|
|
another stands ready to seize them; <I>fear and the pit and snare</I>
|
|
surround them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:17,18">Isa. xxiv. 17, 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is madness therefore to <I>defy the day of the Lord.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am5_27"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hypocritical Services Rejected; Threatenings against Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 790.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in
|
|
your solemn assemblies.
|
|
22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings,
|
|
I will not accept <I>them:</I> neither will I regard the peace
|
|
offerings of your fat beasts.
|
|
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will
|
|
not hear the melody of thy viols.
|
|
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a
|
|
mighty stream.
|
|
25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the
|
|
wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
|
|
26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun
|
|
your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
|
|
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond
|
|
Damascus, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, whose name <I>is</I> The God of hosts.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The scope of these verses is to show how little God valued their shows
|
|
of devotion, nay, how much he detested them, while they went on in
|
|
their sins. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. How unpleasing, nay, how displeasing, their hypocritical services
|
|
were to God. They had their <I>feast-days</I> at Bethel, in imitation
|
|
of those at Jerusalem, in which they pretended to rejoice before God.
|
|
They had their <I>solemn assemblies</I> for religious worship, in which
|
|
they put on the gravity of those who <I>come before God as his people
|
|
come, and sit before him as his people sit.</I> They offered to God
|
|
<I>burnt-offerings,</I> to the honour of God, together with the
|
|
<I>meat-offerings</I> which by the law were to be offered with them;
|
|
they offered the <I>peace-offerings,</I> to implore the favour of God,
|
|
and they offered them of the <I>fat beasts</I> that they had,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
In imitation likewise of the temple-music, they had the <I>noise of
|
|
their songs</I> and the <I>melody of their viols</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
vocal and instrumental music, with which they praised God. With these
|
|
services they hoped to make God amends for the sins they had committed,
|
|
and to obtain leave to go on in sin; and therefore they were so far
|
|
from being acceptable to God that they were abominable. He
|
|
<I>hated,</I> he <I>despised,</I> their <I>feast-days,</I> not only
|
|
despised them as no valuable services done to him, but hated them as an
|
|
affront and provocation to him, as we hate to see men dissemble with
|
|
us, pretend a respect for us when really they have none. Nothing more
|
|
hateful, more despicable, than hypocrisy. <I>He that blesseth his
|
|
friend with a loud voice, it shall be counted a curse,</I> when it
|
|
appears that his heart is not with him. God will not <I>smell</I> in
|
|
<I>their solemn assemblies,</I> for there is nothing in them that is
|
|
grateful to him, but a great deal that is offensive. Their sacrifices
|
|
are not to him <I>of a sweet smelling savour,</I> as Noah's was,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+8:21">Gen. viii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
He will not accept them; he will not regard them, will not take any
|
|
notice of them; he will not hear the melody of their viols; for, when
|
|
sin is a jar in the harmony, it grates in his ears: "<I>Take it
|
|
away,</I>" says God, "I cannot bear it." Now this intimates,
|
|
|
|
1. That sacrifice itself is of small account with God in comparison
|
|
with moral duties; to love God and our neighbour is <I>better than all
|
|
burnt offering and sacrifice.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. That the sacrifice of the wicked is really an abomination to him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+15:8">Prov. xv. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found when, if
|
|
any place in hell be hotter than another, that will be the hypocrite's
|
|
portion.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. What it was that he required in order to the acceptableness of
|
|
their sacrifices and without which no sacrifice would be acceptable
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Let judgment run down as waters,</I> among you, <I>and righteousness
|
|
as a mighty stream,</I> that is
|
|
|
|
1. "Let there be a general reformation of manners among you; let
|
|
religion (God's <I>judgment</I>) and <I>righteousness</I> have their
|
|
due influence upon you; let your land be watered with it, and let it
|
|
bear down all the opposition of vice and profaneness; let it run wide
|
|
as overflowing waters, and yet run strong as might stream."
|
|
|
|
(2.) "In particular, let justice be duly administered by magistrates
|
|
and rulers; let not the current of it be stopped by partiality and
|
|
bribery, but let it come freely as waters do, in the natural course;
|
|
let it be pure as running waters, not muddied with corruption or
|
|
whatever may pervert justice; let it run <I>like a might stream,</I>
|
|
and not suffer itself to be obstructed, or its course retarded, by the
|
|
fear of man; let all have free access to it as a common stream, and
|
|
have benefit by it as <I>trees planted by the rivers of waters.</I>"
|
|
The great thing laid to Israel's charge was <I>turning judgment into
|
|
wormwood</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
in that matter therefore they must reform,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+7:9">Zech. vii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was what God desired <I>more than sacrifices,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+6:6,1Sa+15:22">Hos. vi. 6; 1 Sam. xv. 22</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. What little stress God had laid upon the law of sacrifices, though
|
|
it was his own law, in comparison with the moral precepts
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Did you offer unto me sacrifices in the wilderness forty years?</I>
|
|
No, you did not." For the greatest part of that time sacrifice was very
|
|
much neglected, because of the unsettledness of their state; after the
|
|
second year, the passover was not kept till they came into Canaan, and
|
|
other institutions were in like manner intermitted; and yet, because
|
|
God will have mercy and not sacrifice, he never imputed the omission to
|
|
them as their fault, but continued his care of them and kindness to
|
|
them: it was not that, but their murmuring and unbelief, for which God
|
|
was displeased with them. He that so owned his people, though they did
|
|
not sacrifice, when in other things they kept close to him, will
|
|
certainly disown them, though they do sacrifice, if in other things
|
|
they depart from him. But, though ritual sacrifices may thus be
|
|
dispensed with, spiritual sacrifices will not; even justice and honesty
|
|
will not excuse for the want of prayer and praise, a broken heart and
|
|
the love of God. Stephen quotes this passage
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:42">Acts vii. 42</A>),
|
|
|
|
to show the Jews that they ought not to think it strange that
|
|
ceremonial law was repealed when from the beginning it was
|
|
comparatively made light of. Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:22,23">Jer. vii. 22, 23</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. What little reason they had to expect that their sacrifices should
|
|
be acceptable to God, when they and their fathers had been all along
|
|
addicted to the worship of other gods. So some take
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>,
|
|
|
|
"<I>Did you offer to me sacrifices,</I> that is, to me only? No, and
|
|
therefore not at all to me acceptably;" for the law of worshipping the
|
|
Lord our God is, <I>Him only we must serve.</I> "<I>But you have borne
|
|
the tabernacle of your Moloch</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
little shrines that you made to carry about with you, pocket-idols for
|
|
your private superstition, when you durst not be seen to do it
|
|
publicly. You have had the images of your <I>Moloch--your king</I>"
|
|
(probably representing <I>the sun,</I> that sits king among the
|
|
heavenly bodies), "and <I>Chiun,</I> or <I>Remphan</I>" (as Stephen
|
|
calls it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:43">Acts vii. 43</A>,
|
|
|
|
after the LXX.), which it is supposed, represented Saturn, the highest
|
|
of the seven planets. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, was the
|
|
most ancient, most general, and most plausible idolatry. They <I>made
|
|
to themselves</I> the <I>star of their God,</I> some particular star
|
|
which they took to be their god, or the name of which they gave to
|
|
their god. This idolatry Israel was from the beginning prone to
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:19">Deut. iv. 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
and those that retain an affection for false gods cannot expect the
|
|
favour of the true God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. What punishment God would inflict upon them for their persisting in
|
|
idolatry
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+5:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus.</I> They were
|
|
led captive by Satan into idolatry, and therefore God caused them to go
|
|
into captivity among idolaters, and hurried them into a strange land,
|
|
since they were so fond of strange gods. They were carried <I>beyond
|
|
Damascus.</I> Their captivity by the Assyrians was far beyond that by
|
|
the Syrians; for, if less judgments do not work that for which they
|
|
were sent, God will send greater. Or the captivity of Israel under
|
|
Shalmaneser was far beyond that of Damascus under Tiglath-pileser, and
|
|
much more grievous and destructive, which was foretold
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+1:5"><I>ch.</I> i. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
For, as the sins of God's professing people are greater than the sins
|
|
of others, so it may be expected that their punishments will be
|
|
proportionable. We find the spoil of Damascus and that of Samaria
|
|
carried off together by the king of Assyria,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+8:4">Isa. viii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
Stephen reads it, <I>I will carry you away beyond Babylon</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:43">Acts vii. 43</A>),
|
|
|
|
further than Judah shall be carried, so far further as not to return.
|
|
And, to make this sentence appear both the more certain and the more
|
|
dreadful, he that passes it calls himself <I>the Lord, whose name is,
|
|
The God of hosts,</I> and who is therefore able to execute the
|
|
sentence, having hosts at command.</P>
|
|
|
|
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