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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. VIII.</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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Sinful times are here attended with sorrowful times, so necessary is
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the connexion between them; it is threatened here again and again that
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the laughter shall be turned into mourning.
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I. By the vision of "basket of summer-fruit" is signified the hastening
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on of the ruin threatened
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>)
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and that shall change their note.
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II. Oppressors are here called to an account for their abusing the
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poor; and their destruction is foretold, which will set them a mourning,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:4-10">ver. 4-10</A>.
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III. A famine of the word of God is here made the punishment of a
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people that go a whoring after other gods
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:11-14">ver. 11-14</A>);
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yet for this, which is the most mournful judgment of all, they are not
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here brought in mourning.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Am8_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_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>The Vision of Summer Fruit.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 785.</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 Thus hath the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> shewed unto me: and behold a basket of
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summer fruit.
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2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of
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summer fruit. Then said the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> unto me, The end is come upon my
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people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
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3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day,
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saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>: <I>there shall be</I> many dead bodies in every
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place; they shall cast <I>them</I> forth with silence.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The great reason why sinners defer their repentance <I>de die in
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diem--from day to day,</I> is because they think God thus defers his
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judgments, and there is no song wherewith they so effectually sing
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themselves asleep as that, <I>My Lord delays his coming;</I> and
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therefore God, by his prophets, frequently represents to Israel the day
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of his wrath not only as just and certain, but as very near and
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hastening on apace; so he does in these verses.</P>
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<P>
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I. The approach of the threatened ruin is represented by <I>a basket of
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summer-fruit</I> which Amos saw in vision; for the Lord <I>showed
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it</I> to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
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and obliged him to take notice of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Amos, what seest thou?</I> Note, It concerns us to enquire whether
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we do indeed see that which God has been pleased to show us, and hear
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what he has been pleased to say to us; for many a thing God speaks, God
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shows <I>once, yea twice,</I> and men <I>perceive it not.</I> Are we in
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the midst of the visions of the Almighty? Let us consider what we see.
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He saw <I>a basket of summer-fruit</I> gathered and ready to be eaten,
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which signified,
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1. That they were ripe for destruction, rotten ripe, and it was time
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for God to put in the sickle of his judgments and to cut them off; nay,
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the thing was in effect done already, and they lay ready to be eaten
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up.
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2. That the year of God's patience was drawing towards a conclusion; it
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was autumn with them, and their year would quickly have its period in a
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dismal winter.
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3. Those we call <I>summer-fruits</I> that will not keep till winter,
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but must be used immediately, an emblem of this people, that had
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nothing solid or consistent in them.</P>
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<P>
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II. The intent and meaning of this vision is no more than this: It
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signifies that <I>the end has come upon my people Israel.</I> The word
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that signifies <I>the end</I> is <I>ketz,</I> which is of near affinity
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with <I>kitz,</I> the word used for <I>summer-fruit.</I> God has long
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spared them, and borne with them, but now his patience is tired out;
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they are indeed <I>his people Israel,</I> but their end, that <I>latter
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end</I> they have been so often reminded of, but have so long
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forgotten, has now come. Note, If sinners do not make an end of sin,
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God will make an end of them, yea though they be <I>his people
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Israel.</I> What was said
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:8"><I>ch.</I> vii. 8</A>
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is here repeated as God's determined resolution, <I>I will not again
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pass by them any more;</I> they shall not be connived at as they have
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been, nor the judgment coming turned away.</P>
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<P>
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III. The consequence of this shall be a universal desolation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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When <I>the end</I> shall come sorrow and death shall ride in triumph;
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they are accustomed to go together, and shall at length go away
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together, when in heaven <I>there shall be no more death, nor
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sorrow,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:4">Rev. xxi. 4</A>.
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But here in a sinful world, in a sinful nation,
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1. Sorrow reigns, reigns to such a degree that <I>the songs of the
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temple shall be howlings</I>--the songs of God's temple at Jerusalem, or
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rather of their idol-temples, where they used, when, in honour of the
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golden calves, they had <I>eaten and drunk,</I> to <I>rise up to
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play.</I> They were perhaps wanton profane songs; and it is certain
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that sooner or later those will be turned into howlings. Or, if they
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had a sound and show of piety and religion, yet, not coming from the
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heart, nor being sung to the glory of God, he valued them not, but
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would justly turn them into howlings. Note, Mourning will follow sinful
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mirth, yea, and sacred mirth too, it if be not sincere. And, when God's
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judgments are abroad, they will soon turn the greatest joy into the
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greatest heaviness, the temple-songs, which used to sound so
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pleasantly, not only into sighs and groans, but into loud howlings,
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which sound dismally. They shall come to the temple, and, finding that
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in ruins, there they shall howl most bitterly.
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2. Death reigns, reigns to such a degree that there shall be <I>dead
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bodies, many</I> dead bodies <I>in every place</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+110:6">Ps. cx. 6</A>),
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slain by sword or pestilence, so many that the survivors shall not bury
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them with the usual pomp and solemnity of funerals; they shall not so
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much as have the bell tolled, but they shall <I>cast them forth with
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silence,</I> shall bury them in the dead of the night, and charge all
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about them to be silent and to take notice of it, either because they
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have not wherewithal to bear the charges of a funeral, or because, the
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killing disease being infectious, none will come near them, or for fear
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the enemy should be provoked, if they should be known to lament their
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slain. Or they shall charge themselves and one another silently to
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submit to the hand of God in these desolating judgments, and not to
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repine and quarrel with him. Or it may be taken not for a patient, but
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a sullen silence; their hearts shall be hardened, and all these
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judgments shall not extort from them one word of acknowledgment either
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of God's righteousness or their own unrighteousness.</P>
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<A NAME="Am8_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am8_10"> </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>The Sin and Doom of Oppressors.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 785.</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 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the
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poor of the land to fail,
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5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell
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corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the
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ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by
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deceit?
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6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair
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of shoes; <I>yea,</I> and sell the refuse of the wheat?
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7 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will
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never forget any of their works.
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8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that
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dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it
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shall be cast out and drowned, as <I>by</I> the flood of Egypt.
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9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>,
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that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken
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the earth in the clear day:
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10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your
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songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all
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loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the
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mourning of an only <I>son,</I> and the end thereof as a bitter day.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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God is here contending with proud oppressors, and showing them,</P>
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<P>
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I. The heinousness of the sin they were guilty of; in short, they had
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the character of the unjust judge
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+18:2">Luke xviii. 2</A>)
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that neither <I>feared God</I> nor <I>regarded man.</I></P>
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<P>
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1. Observe them in their devotions, and you will say, "They had no
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reverence for God." Bad as they are, they do indeed keep up a show and
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form of godliness; they observe the <I>sabbath</I> and the <I>new
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moon;</I> they put some difference between those days and other days,
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but they were soon weary of them, and had no affection at all to them,
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for their hearts were wholly set upon the world and the things of it.
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It is a sad character which this gives of them, that they said, <I>When
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will the sabbath be gone, that we may sell corn?</I> Yet is still the
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character of many that are called Christians.
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(1.) They were weary of sabbath days. "When will they be <I>gone?</I>"
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They were weary of the restraints of the sabbaths and the new-moons,
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and wished them over because they might <I>do no servile work
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therein.</I> They were weary of the work or business of the sabbaths
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and new-moons, snuffed at it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+1:13">Mal. i. 13</A>),
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and were, as <I>Doeg, detained before the Lord</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+21:7">1 Sam. xxi. 7</A>);
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they would rather have been any where else than about God's altars.
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Note, Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that
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are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity. Can we spend
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our time better than in communication with God? And how much time do we
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spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be gone before we
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have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it? Why then should
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we be in such haste to part with it?
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(2.) They were fond of market-days: they longed to be <I>selling
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corn</I> and <I>setting forth wheat.</I> When they were employed in
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religious services they were thinking of their marketings; their hearts
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<I>went after their covetousness</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+33:31">Ezek. xxxiii. 31</A>),
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and thus made my Father's house a house of merchandise, nay, a den of
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thieves. They were weary of holy duties because their worldly business
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stood still the while; in this they were as in their element, but in
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God's sanctuary as a fish upon dry ground. Note, Those are strangers to
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God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than
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sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping
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God.</P>
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<P>
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2. Observe them in their conversations, and you will see they have no
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regard to man; and this commonly follows upon the former; those that
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have lost the savour of piety will not long retain the sense of common
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honesty. They neither <I>do justly</I> nor <I>love mercy.</I>
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(1.) They cheat those they deal with. When they <I>sell their corn</I>
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they impose upon the buyer, both in giving out the goods and in
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receiving the money for them. They measure him the corn by their own
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measure, and pretend to give him what he agreed for, but they <I>make
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the ephah small.</I> The measure is scanty, and not statute-measure,
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and so they wrong him that way. When they receive his money they must
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weigh fit in their own scales, by their own weights, and the
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<I>shekel</I> they weigh by is above standard: <I>They make the shekel
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great,</I> so that the money, being found too light, must have more
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added to it; and so they cheat that way too, and this under colour and
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pretence of exactness in doing justice. By such wicked practices as
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these men show such a greediness of the world, such a love of
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themselves, such a contempt of mankind in general, of the particular
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persons they deal with, and of the sacred laws of justice, as prove
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them to have in their hearts neither the fear nor the love of that God
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who has so plainly said that <I>false weights and balances are an
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abomination to him.</I> Another instance of their fraudulent dealing is
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that they <I>sell the refuse of the wheat,</I> and, taking advantage of
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their neighbour's ignorance or necessity, make them take it at the same
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price at which they sell the <I>finest of the wheat.</I>
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(2.) The are barbarous and unmerciful to the poor: <I>They swallow up
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the needy,</I> and <I>make the poor of the land to fail.</I>
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[1.] They valued themselves so much on their wealth that they looked
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upon all that were poor with the highest contempt imaginable; they
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hated them, could not endure them, but abandoned them, and therefore
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did what they could to make them cease, not by relieving them to make
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them cease to be poor, but by banishing and destroying them to make
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them cease to be, or at least to be in their land. But he who thus
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<I>reproaches the poor despises his Maker,</I> in whose hands <I>rich
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and poor meet together.</I>
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[2.] They were so eager to increase their wealth, and make it more,
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that they robbed the poor to enrich themselves; and they fastened upon
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the poor, to <I>make a prey</I> of them, because they were not able to
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obtain any redress nor to resist or revenge the violence of their
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oppressors. Those riches that are got by the ruin of the poor will
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bring ruin on those that get them. They swallowed up the poor by making
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them hard bargains, and cheating them in those bargains; for
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<I>therefore</I> they <I>falsify the balances by deceit,</I> not only
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that they <I>may enrich themselves,</I> may have money at command, and
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so may have every thing else (as they think) at command too, but that
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they may impoverish those about them, and bring them so low that they
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may force them to become slaves to them, and so, having drained them of
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every thing else, they may have their labour for nothing, or next to
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nothing. Thus <I>they buy the poor for silver;</I> they bring them and
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their <I>children into bondage,</I> because they have not wherewithal
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to pay for the corn they have bought; see
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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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And there were so many that they were reduced to this extremity that
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the price was very low; and the oppressors had beaten it down so that
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you might buy a poor man to be your slave <I>for a pair of shoes.</I>
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Property was first invaded and then liberty; it is the method of
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oppressors first to make men beggars and then to make them their
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vassals. Thus is the dignity of the human nature lost in the misery of
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those that are trampled on and the tenderness of it in the sin of those
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that trample on them.</P>
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<P>
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II. The grievousness of the punishment that shall be inflicted on them
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for this sin. When the poor are injured they will <I>cry unto God,</I>
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and he will hear their cry, and reckon with those that are injurious to
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them, for, they being his receivers, he takes the wrongs done to them
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as done to himself,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+22:23,24">Exod. xxii. 23, 24</A>.</P>
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<P>
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1. God will remember their sin against them: <I>He has sworn by the
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excellency of Jacob</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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by himself, for he can swear by no greater; and who but he is the glory
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and magnificence of Jacob? He has sworn by those tokens of his presence
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with them, and his favour to them, which they had profaned and abused,
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and had done what they could to make them detestable to him; for he is
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said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+6:8"><I>ch.</I> vi. 8</A>)
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to <I>abhor the excellency of Jacob.</I> He swears <I>in his wrath,</I>
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swears by his own name, that name which was so well known and was so
|
|
great in Israel. He swears, <I>Surely I will never forget any of their
|
|
works,</I> but upon all occasions they shall be remembered against
|
|
them, for more is implied than is expressed. <I>I will never forget
|
|
them</I> is as much as to say, <I>I will never forgive them;</I> and
|
|
then it proclaims the case of these unjust unmerciful men to be
|
|
miserable indeed, eternally miserable; woe, and a thousand woes, to
|
|
that man that is cut off by an oath of God from all benefit by
|
|
pardoning mercy; and those have reason to fear judgment without mercy
|
|
that have <I>shown no mercy.</I></P>
|
|
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<P>
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|
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|
2. He will bring utter ruin and confusion upon them. It is here
|
|
described largely, and in a great variety of emphatic expressions,
|
|
that, if possible, they might be frightened into a sincere repentance
|
|
and reformation.
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|
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|
(1.) There shall be a universal terror and consternation: <I>Shall not
|
|
the land tremble for this</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>this land,</I> out of which you thought to drive the poor? <I>Shall
|
|
not every one mourn that dwells therein?</I> Certainly he shall. Note,
|
|
Those that will not tremble and mourn as they ought for national sins
|
|
shall be made to tremble and mourn for national judgments; those that
|
|
look without concern upon the sins of the oppressors, which should make
|
|
them tremble, and upon the miseries of the oppressed, which should them
|
|
mourn, God will find out a way to make them tremble at the fury of
|
|
those that oppress them and mourn for their own losses and sufferings
|
|
by it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) There shall be a universal deluge and desolation. When God comes
|
|
forth against them the waters of trouble and calamity shall <I>rise up
|
|
wholly as a flood,</I> that swells, when it is dammed up, and soon
|
|
overflows its banks. Every thing shall make against them. That with
|
|
which they thought to check the progress of God's judgments shall but
|
|
make them rise the higher. Judgments shall force their way as the
|
|
<I>breaking forth of waters.</I> The whole land <I>shall be cast out,
|
|
and drowned,</I> and laid under water, as the land of Egypt is every
|
|
year by the overflowing of its river Nile. Or the expressions may
|
|
allude to some former judgments of God. Their ruin <I>shall rise up
|
|
wholly as a flood,</I> as Noah's flood, which overwhelmed the whole
|
|
world, so shall this the whole land; and the land shall be <I>cast out,
|
|
and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt,</I> as Pharaoh and his Egyptians
|
|
were buried in the Red Sea, which was to them the <I>flood of
|
|
Egypt,</I> both which judgments, as this which is here threatened, were
|
|
the punishment of violence and oppression, which the Lord is the
|
|
avenger of.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. It shall surprise them, and come upon them when they little think of
|
|
it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>I will cause the sun to go down at noon,</I> when it is in its full
|
|
strength and lustre, at their noon, when they promise themselves a long
|
|
afternoon, and think they have at least half a day good before them.
|
|
The <I>earth</I> shall be <I>darkened in the clear day,</I> when every
|
|
thing looks pleasant and hopeful." Thus uncertain are all our
|
|
creature-comforts and enjoyments, even life itself; the highest degree
|
|
of health and prosperity often proves the next degree to sickness and
|
|
adversity; Job's sun <I>went down at noon;</I> many are taken away in
|
|
the midst of their days, and their sun goes down at noon. In the midst
|
|
of life we are in death. Thus <I>terrible</I> are the judgments of God
|
|
to those that sleep in security; they are to them as the sun's <I>going
|
|
down at noon;</I> the less they are expected the more confounding they
|
|
are. When they <I>cry Peace and safety</I> then <I>sudden
|
|
destruction</I> comes, comes <I>as a snare,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+21:35">Luke xxi. 35</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. It shall change their note, and mar all their mirth
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I will turn your feasts into mourning,</I> as
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
|
|
|
|
the <I>songs of the temple into howlings.</I> Note, The end of the
|
|
sinner's mirth and jollity is heaviness. As <I>to the upright there
|
|
arises light in the darkness,</I> which gives them <I>the oil of joy
|
|
for mourning,</I> so on the wicked their falls darkness in the midst of
|
|
light, which turns their <I>laughter into mourning,</I> their <I>joy
|
|
into heaviness.</I> So great, so general, shall the desolation be, that
|
|
<I>sackcloth shall be brought upon all loins, and baldness upon every
|
|
head,</I> instead of the <I>well-set hair</I> and the rich garments
|
|
they used to wear. The mourning at that day shall be as <I>mourning for
|
|
an only son,</I> which denotes the most bitter and lasting lamentation.
|
|
But are there are no hopes that when things are at the worst they will
|
|
mend, and that at evening time it will yet be light? No, even <I>the
|
|
end thereof shall be as a bitter day,</I> a day of bitter mourning;
|
|
that state of impenitent sinners grows worse and worse, and the last of
|
|
all will be the worst of all. <I>This shall you have at my hand, you
|
|
shall lie down in sorrow.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Am8_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am8_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am8_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Am8_14"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Spiritual Famine Threatened; Judgments Threatened.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 785.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, that I will send
|
|
a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
|
|
water, but of hearing the words of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>:
|
|
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north
|
|
even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and shall not find <I>it.</I>
|
|
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for
|
|
thirst.
|
|
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O
|
|
Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall
|
|
fall, and never rise up again.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
In these verses is threatened,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. A general judgment of spiritual famine coming upon the whole land, a
|
|
<I>famine of the word of God,</I> the failing of oracles and the
|
|
scarcity of good preaching. This is spoken of as a thing at some
|
|
distance: <I>The days come,</I> they will come hereafter, when another
|
|
kind of darkness shall come upon that land of light. When Amos
|
|
prophesied, and for a considerable time after, they had great plenty of
|
|
prophets, abundant opportunities of <I>hearing the word of God,</I> in
|
|
season and out of season; they had precept upon precept and line upon
|
|
line; prophecy was their daily bread; and it is probable that they
|
|
surfeited upon it, as Israel on the manna, and therefore God threatens
|
|
that hereafter he will deprive them of this privilege. Probably in the
|
|
land of Israel there were not so many prophets, about the time that
|
|
their destruction came upon them, as there were in the land of Judah;
|
|
and when the ten tribes went into captivity they <I>saw not their
|
|
signs,</I> there were <I>no more any prophets,</I> none to <I>show them
|
|
how long,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:9">Ps. lxxiv. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Jewish church, after Malachi, had no prophets for many ages; and
|
|
some think this threatening looks further yet, to the blindness which
|
|
has in part happened to Israel in the days of the Messiah, and the veil
|
|
that is on the heart of the unbelieving Jews. They reject the gospel,
|
|
and the ministers of it that God sends to them, and covet to have
|
|
prophets of their own, as their fathers had, but they shall have none,
|
|
<I>the kingdom of God</I> being <I>taken from them</I> and <I>given to
|
|
another people.</I> Observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What the judgment itself is that is threatened. It is a famine, a
|
|
scarcity, not of bread and water (which are the necessary support of
|
|
the body, and the want of which is very grievous), but a much sorer
|
|
judgment than that, even a <I>famine of hearing the words of the
|
|
Lord.</I> There shall be no congregations for ministers to preach to,
|
|
nor any ministers to preach, nor any instructions and abilities given
|
|
to those that do set up for preachers, to fit them for their work. The
|
|
<I>word of the Lord</I> shall be <I>precious</I> and scarce; there
|
|
shall be no <I>vision,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+3:1">1 Sam. iii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
They shall have the written word, Bibles to read, but no ministers to
|
|
explain and apply it to them, the water in the well, but nothing to
|
|
draw with. It is a gracious promise
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:20">Isa. xxx. 20</A>)
|
|
|
|
that though they have a scarcity of bread they shall have plenty of the
|
|
means of grace. God will <I>give them the bread of adversity and the
|
|
water of affliction,</I> but their eyes shall see their teachers; and
|
|
it was a common saying among the Puritans that brown bread and the
|
|
gospel are good fare. But it is here a threatening that on the contrary
|
|
they should have plenty enough of bread and water, and yet their
|
|
teachers should be removed. Now,
|
|
|
|
(1.) This was the departure of a great part of their glory from their
|
|
land. This made their nation great and high, that <I>to them were
|
|
committed the oracles of God;</I> but, when these were taken from them,
|
|
their beauty was stained and their honour laid in the dust.
|
|
|
|
(2.) This was a token of God's highest displeasure against them. Surely
|
|
he was angry indeed with them when he would no more speak to them as he
|
|
had done, and had abandoned them to ruin when he would no more afford
|
|
them the means of bringing them to repentance.
|
|
|
|
(3.) This made all the other calamities that were upon them truly
|
|
melancholy, that they had no prophets to instruct and comfort them from
|
|
the word of God, nor to give them any hopeful prospect. We should say
|
|
at any time, and shall say in a time of trouble, that a famine of the
|
|
word of God is the sorest famine, the heaviest judgment.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What will be the effect of this
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall wander from sea to sea,</I> from the sea of Tiberias to
|
|
the Great Sea, from one border of the country to another, to see if God
|
|
will send them prophets, either by sea or land, from other countries;
|
|
since they have none among themselves, they shall go from the <I>north
|
|
to the east;</I> when they are disappointed in one place they shall try
|
|
another, and shall <I>run to and fro,</I> as men at a loss, and in a
|
|
hot pursuit to <I>seek the word of the Lord,</I> to enquire if there be
|
|
any prophets, any prophecy, any message from God, but they <I>shall not
|
|
find it.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Though to many this is no affliction at all, yet some will be very
|
|
sensible of it as a great grievance, and will gladly travel far to hear
|
|
a good sermon; but they shall sensibly feel the loss of those mercies
|
|
which others have foolishly sinned away.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Even those that slighted prophets when they had them shall wish
|
|
for them as Saul did for Samuel, when they are deprived of them. Many
|
|
never know the worth of mercies till they feel the want of them. Or it
|
|
may be meant thus, Though they should thus wander from sea to sea, in
|
|
quest of the word of God, yet shall they not find it. Note, The means
|
|
of grace are moveable things; and the candlestick, when we think it
|
|
stands most firmly, may be removed out of its place
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:5">Rev. ii. 5</A>);
|
|
|
|
and those that now slight the <I>days of the son of man</I> may wish in
|
|
vain to see them. And <I>in the day</I> of this famine <I>the fair
|
|
virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
those who, one would think, could well enough have borne the toil,
|
|
shall sink under it. The <I>Jewish churches,</I> and the <I>masters of
|
|
their synagogues,</I> some take to be meant by the <I>virgins</I> and
|
|
the <I>young men;</I> these shall lose the word of the Lord, and the
|
|
benefit of divine revelation, and shall faint away for want of it,
|
|
shall lose all their strength and beauty. Those that trust in their own
|
|
merit and righteousness, and think they have no need of Christ, others
|
|
take to be meant by the <I>fair virgins</I> and the <I>choice young
|
|
men;</I> they shall <I>faint for thirst,</I> when those that <I>hunger
|
|
and thirst after the righteousness</I> of Christ shall be abundantly
|
|
satisfied and filled.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The particular destruction of those that were ringleaders in
|
|
idolatry,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The sin they are charged with: They <I>swear by the sin of
|
|
Samaria,</I> that is, by the god of Samaria, the idol that was
|
|
worshipped at Bethel, not far off from Samaria. Thus did they glory in
|
|
their shame, and swear by them as their god which was their iniquity,
|
|
thinking that could help them which would certainly ruin them, and
|
|
giving the highest honour to that which they should have looked upon
|
|
with the utmost abhorrence and detestation. They say, <I>Thy god, O
|
|
Dan! liveth;</I> that was the other golden calf, a dumb deal idol, and
|
|
yet caressed and complimented as if it had been the living and true
|
|
God. They say, <I>The manner,</I> or way, of <I>Beer-sheba liveth;</I>
|
|
they swore by the <I>religion</I> of Beer-sheba, the way and manner of
|
|
worship used there, which they looked upon as sacred, and therefore
|
|
swore by and appealed to as a judge of controversy. Thus the papists
|
|
swear by the mass, as the <I>manner of Beer-sheba.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. The destruction they are threatened with. Those who thus give that
|
|
honour to idols which is due to God alone will find that the God they
|
|
affront is thereby made their enemy, so that <I>they shall fall,</I>
|
|
and the gods they serve cannot stand their friends, so that they shall
|
|
<I>never rise again.</I> They will find that God is jealous and will
|
|
resent the indignity done him, and that he will be victorious and it is
|
|
to no purpose to contend with him.</P>
|
|
|
|
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