mh_parser/vol_split/30 - Amos/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Amos.vi" n="vi" next="Amos.vii" prev="Amos.v" progress="82.44%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Amos.vi-p0.1">A M O S.</h2>
<h3 id="Amos.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Amos.vi-p1" shownumber="no">The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the
exhortation given to Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter
to prepare to meet their God; the prophet here tells them, I. What
preparation they must make; they must "seek the Lord," and not seek
any more to idols (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.4-Amos.5.8" parsed="|Amos|5|4|5|8" passage="Am 5:4-8">ver.
4-8</scripRef>); they must seek good, and love it, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.14-Amos.5.15" parsed="|Amos|5|14|5|15" passage="Am 5:14,15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>. II. Why they must make
this preparation to meet their God, 1. Because of the present
deplorable condition they were in, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.1-Amos.5.3" parsed="|Amos|5|1|5|3" passage="Am 5:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. 2. Because it was by sin that they
were brought into such a condition, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.7 Bible:Amos.5.10-Amos.5.12" parsed="|Amos|5|7|0|0;|Amos|5|10|5|12" passage="Am 5:7,10-12">ver. 7, 10-12</scripRef>. 3. Because it would be
their happiness to seek God, and he was ready to be found of them,
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.8-Amos.5.9 Bible:Amos.5.14" parsed="|Amos|5|8|5|9;|Amos|5|14|0|0" passage="Am 5:8,9,14">ver. 8, 9, 14</scripRef>. 4.
Because he would proceed, in his wrath, to their utter ruin, if
they did not seek him, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.5-Amos.5.6 Bible:Amos.5.13 Bible:Amos.5.16 Bible:Amos.5.17" parsed="|Amos|5|5|5|6;|Amos|5|13|0|0;|Amos|5|16|0|0;|Amos|5|17|0|0" passage="Am 5:5,6,13,16,17">ver.
5, 6, 13, 16, 17</scripRef>. 5. Because all their confidences would
fail them if they did not seek unto God, and make him their friend.
(1.) Their profane contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at
defiance, would not secure them, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.18-Amos.5.20" parsed="|Amos|5|18|5|20" passage="Am 5:18-20">ver. 18-20</scripRef>. (2.) Their external services in
religion, and the shows of devotion, would not avail to turn away
the wrath of God, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.21-Amos.5.24" parsed="|Amos|5|21|5|24" passage="Am 5:21-24">ver.
21-24</scripRef>. (3.) Their having been long in possession of
church-privileges, and in a course of holy duties, would not be
their protection, while all along they had kept up their idolatrous
customs, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.25-Amos.5.27" parsed="|Amos|5|25|5|27" passage="Am 5:25-27">ver. 25-27</scripRef>. They
have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but by
repentance and reformation.</p>
<scripCom id="Amos.vi-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5" parsed="|Amos|5|0|0|0" passage="Am 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Amos.vi-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.1-Amos.5.3" parsed="|Amos|5|1|5|3" passage="Am 5:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.vi-p1.12">
<h4 id="Amos.vi-p1.13">Invitations and Warnings. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p1.14">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.vi-p2" shownumber="no">1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you,
<i>even</i> a lamentation, O house of Israel.   2 The virgin
of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon
her land; <i>there is</i> none to raise her up.   3 For thus
saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p2.1">God</span>; The city that
went out <i>by</i> a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which
went forth <i>by</i> a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of
Israel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p3" shownumber="no">This chapter begins, as those two next
foregoing began, with, <i>Hear this word.</i> Where God has a mouth
to speak we must have an ear to hear; it is our duty, it is our
interest, yet so stupid are most men that they need to be again and
again called upon to <i>hear the word of the Lord,</i> to give
audience, to give attention. <i>Hear this word.</i> this convincing
awakening word must be heard and heeded, as well as words of
comfort and peace; the word that is taken up against us, as well as
that which makes for us; for, whether we hear or forbear, the word
of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it shall fall to the
ground. It is the <i>word which I take up</i>—not the prophet
only, but the God that sent him. It is <i>the word that the Lord
has spoken,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.1" parsed="|Amos|3|1|0|0" passage="Am 3:1"><i>ch.</i> iii.
1</scripRef>. The word to be heard is <i>a lamentation,</i> a
lamentable account of the present calamitous state of the kingdom
of Israel, and a lamentable prediction of its utter destruction.
Their condition is sad: <i>The virgin of Israel has fallen</i>
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.2" parsed="|Amos|5|2|0|0" passage="Am 5:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), has come down
from what she was; that state, though not pure and chaste as a
virgin, yet was beautiful and gay, and had its charms; she looked
high herself, and was courted by many as a virgin; but <i>she has
fallen</i> into contempt and poverty, and is universally slighted.
Nay, and their condition is helpless: <i>She shall no more
rise,</i> shall never recover her former dignity again. God had
lately begun to <i>cut Israel short</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.10.32" parsed="|2Kgs|10|32|0|0" passage="2Ki 10:32">2 Kings x. 32</scripRef>), and, because they repented
not, it was not long before he <i>cut Israel down.</i> 1. Their
princes, that should have helped them up, were disabled: <i>She is
forsaken upon her land.</i> Not only those she was in alliance with
abroad failed her, but her friends at home deserted her; she would
not have been carried captive into a strange land if she had not
first been <i>forsaken upon her own land</i> and <i>thrown to the
ground</i> there, and all her true interests abandoned by those
that should have had them at heart. <i>There is none to raise her
up,</i> none that can do it, not that cares to lend her a hand. 2.
Their people, that should have helped them up, were diminished,
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.3" parsed="|Amos|5|3|0|0" passage="Am 5:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. "The city that
had a militia, 1000 strong, and, in the beginning of the war, had
furnished out 1000 effective men, able-bodied and well-armed, when
they come to review their troops after the battle, shall find but
100 <i>left;</i> and, in proportion, the city that sent out 100
shall have but <i>ten</i> come back, so great a slaughter shall be
made, and so few left to the house of Israel for the public service
and safety." Scarcely one in ten shall escape of the hands that
should relieve this abject, this dejected, nation. Note, The
lessening of the numbers of God's spiritual Israel, by death or
desertion, is just a matter for lamentation; for <i>by whom shall
Jacob arise,</i> by whom shall the decays of piety be repaired,
when he is thus <i>made small?</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.vi-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.4-Amos.5.15" parsed="|Amos|5|4|5|15" passage="Am 5:4-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.vi-p3.6">
<h4 id="Amos.vi-p3.7">God's Message to Israel; The Aggravated Sins
of Israel; Warnings and Exhortations; Exhortations and
Encouragements. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p3.8">b.
c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.vi-p4" shownumber="no">4 For thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p4.1">Lord</span> unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and
ye shall live:   5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal,
and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into
captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.   6 Seek the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p4.2">Lord</span>, and ye shall live; lest he break out
like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour <i>it,</i> and
<i>there be</i> none to quench <i>it</i> in Bethel.   7 Ye who
turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the
earth,   8 <i>Seek him</i> that maketh the seven stars and
Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh
the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea,
and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p4.3">Lord</span> <i>is</i> his name:   9 That
strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled
shall come against the fortress.   10 They hate him that
rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
  11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading <i>is</i> upon the
poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses
of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted
pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.   12
For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they
afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor
in the gate <i>from their right.</i>   13 Therefore the
prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it <i>is</i> an evil
time.   14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p4.4">Lord</span>, the God of hosts, shall be
with you, as ye have spoken.   15 Hate the evil, and love the
good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p4.5">Lord</span> God of hosts will be gracious unto
the remnant of Joseph.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p5" shownumber="no">This is a message from God to the house of
Israel, in which,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p6" shownumber="no">I. They are told of their faults, that they
might see what occasion there was for them to repent and reform,
and that, when they were called to return, they might not need to
ask, <i>Wherein shall we return?</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p7" shownumber="no">1. God tells them, in general (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.12" parsed="|Amos|5|12|0|0" passage="Am 5:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), "<i>I know your
manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins;</i> and you shall be
made to know them too." In our penitent reflections upon our sins
we must consider, as God does in his judicial remarks upon them,
and will do in the great day, (1.) That they are very numerous;
they are our <i>manifold transgressions,</i> sins of various kinds
and often repeated. Oh what a multitude of vain and vile thoughts
lodge within us! What a multitude of idle, foolish, wicked words
have been spoken by us! In what a multitude of instances have we
gratified and indulged our corrupt appetites and passions! And how
many our own omissions of duty and in duty! Who can understand his
errors? Who can tell how often he offends? God knows how many, just
how many, our transgressions are; none of them pass him unobserved;
we know that they are to us innumerable; <i>more than the hairs of
our head;</i> and we have reason to see what danger we have brought
ourselves into, and what abundance of work we have made for
repentance, by our <i>manifold transgressions,</i> by the
numberless number of our sins of daily incursion. (2.) That some of
them are very heinous; they are <i>our mighty</i> sins; sins that
are more exceedingly sinful in their own nature and by being
committed presumptuously and with a high hand, sins against the
light of nature, flagrant crimes, that are mighty to overpower your
convictions and to pull down judgments upon you.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p8" shownumber="no">2. He specifies some of these mighty sins.
(1.) They corrupted the worship of God, and turned to idols; this
is implied <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.5" parsed="|Amos|5|5|0|0" passage="Am 5:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. They
had <i>sought to Bethel,</i> where one of the golden calves was;
they had frequented Gilgal, a place which they chose to set up
idols in, because it had been made famous in the days of Joshua by
God's wonderful appearances to and for his people. Beer-sheba
likewise, a place that had been famous in the days of the
patriarchs, was now another rendezvous of idols; as we find also,
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.14" parsed="|Amos|8|14|0|0" passage="Am 8:14"><i>ch.</i> viii. 14</scripRef>. And
thither <i>they passed,</i> though it lay at a distance, in the
land of Judah. Now, having thus shamefully gone a whoring from God,
no doubt they should have felt themselves concerned to return to
him. (2.) They perverted justice among themselves (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.7" parsed="|Amos|5|7|0|0" passage="Am 5:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): "<i>You turn judgment to
wormwood,</i> that is, you make your administrations of justice
bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing both to God and man."
That fruit has become a <i>weed,</i> a weed in the garden; as
nothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than justice duly
administered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more abominable,
than designedly doing wrong under colour and pretence of doing
right. <i>Corruptio optimi est pessima</i>—<i>The best, when
corrupted, becomes the worst. "You leave off righteousness in the
earth,</i> as if those that do wrong were accountable to the God of
heaven only, and not to the princes and <i>judges of the
earth.</i>" Thus it was as before the flood, when the <i>earth was
filled with violence.</i> (3.) They were very oppressive to the
poor, and made them poorer; they trod upon the poor (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.11" parsed="|Amos|5|11|0|0" passage="Am 5:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), trampled upon them,
hectored over them, made them their footstool, and were most
imperious and barbarous to those that were most obsequious and
submissive; they care not what shame and slavery they put those to
who were poor and such as they could get nothing by. The judges
aimed at nothing but to enrich themselves; and therefore they
<i>took from</i> the poor <i>burdens of wheat,</i> took it by
extortion, either by way of bribe or by usury. The poor had no
other way to save themselves from being trodden upon, and trodden
to dirt, by them, than by presenting to them horse-loads of that
corn which they and their families should have had to subsist upon,
and they forced them to do it. They took from the poor <i>debts of
wheat,</i> so some read it. It was legally due either for rent or
for corn lent, but they exacted it with rigour from those who were
disabled by the providence of God to pay it, as <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.2 Bible:Neh.5.5" parsed="|Neh|5|2|0|0;|Neh|5|5|0|0" passage="Ne 5:2,5">Neh. v. 2, 5</scripRef>. In demanding and recovering
even a just debt we must take heed lest we act either unjustly or
uncharitably. This sin of oppression by are again charged with
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.12" parsed="|Amos|5|12|0|0" passage="Am 5:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>They
afflict the just,</i> by turning the edge of the law and of the
sword of justice against those that are the innocent and <i>quiet
in the land;</i> they hated men because they were more righteous
than themselves, and he that <i>departed from evil</i> thereby
<i>made himself a prey</i> to them. They take a bribe from the rich
to patronize and protect them in oppressing the poor, so that he
who has money in his hand is sure to have the judgment on his side,
be his cause ever so bad. Thus they <i>turn aside the poor in the
gate,</i> in the courts of justice, <i>from their right.</i> If the
poor sue for their right, who cannot bribe them, or are so honest
that they will not, though they have it ever so clear in view and
ever so <i>near,</i> yet they are turned away from it by their
unrighteous sentence and cannot come at it. And <i>therefore the
prudent will keep silence,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.13" parsed="|Amos|5|13|0|0" passage="Am 5:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Men will reckon it their
prudence, when they are wronged and injured, to be silent, and make
no complaints to the magistrates, for it will be to no purpose;
they shall not have justice done them. (4.) They were malicious
persecutors of God's faithful ministers and people, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.10" parsed="|Amos|5|10|0|0" passage="Am 5:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Their hearts were so
fully set in them to do evil that they could not bear to be
reproved, [1.] By the ministry of the word, by the reading and
expounding of the law, and the messages which prophets delivered to
them in the name of the Lord. <i>They hate him that rebukes in the
gate,</i> in the gate of the Lord's house, or in their courts of
justice, or in the places of concourse, where Wisdom is lifting up
her voice, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.9" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.21" parsed="|Prov|1|21|0|0" passage="Pr 1:21">Prov. i. 21</scripRef>.
Reprovers in the gate are reprovers by office; these they hated,
counting them their <i>enemies because they told them the
truth,</i> as Ahab hated Micaiah. They not only despised them, but
had an enmity to them, and sought to do them mischief. Those that
hate reproof love ruin. [2.] By the conversation of their honest
neighbours. Though things 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 they <i>abhor him
that speaks uprightly!</i> And for this reason <i>the prudent shall
keep silence in that time,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.10" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.13" parsed="|Amos|5|13|0|0" passage="Am 5:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. 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>
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.21" parsed="|Isa|19|21|0|0" passage="Isa 19:21">Isa. xix. 21</scripRef>); 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> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p8.12" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.7" parsed="|Eccl|3|7|0|0" passage="Ec 3:7">Eccl.
iii. 7</scripRef>. <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 men thought it in vain to speak to them and were afraid
of having any thing to do with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p9" shownumber="no">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,
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.5" parsed="|Amos|5|5|0|0" passage="Am 5:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. <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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.6" parsed="|Amos|5|6|0|0" passage="Am 5:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.11" parsed="|Amos|5|11|0|0" passage="Am 5:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>): "<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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.5-Deut.20.6" parsed="|Deut|20|5|20|6" passage="De 20:5,6">Deut. xx. 5, 6</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p10" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p11" shownumber="no">1. They are here exhorted to be sincere and
devout in their addresses to God, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.4" parsed="|Amos|5|4|0|0" passage="Am 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.19" parsed="|Isa|8|19|0|0" passage="Isa 8:19">Isa.
viii. 19</scripRef>. 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>
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.5" parsed="|Amos|5|5|0|0" passage="Am 5:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), 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> (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.6 Bible:Amos.5.8" parsed="|Amos|5|6|0|0;|Amos|5|8|0|0" passage="Am 5:6,8"><i>v.</i> 6, 8</scripRef>); 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 (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.4" parsed="|Amos|5|4|0|0" passage="Am 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
<i>Seek you me, and you shall live.</i> Those that seek perishing
gods shall perish with them (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.5" parsed="|Amos|5|5|0|0" passage="Am 5:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), 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>
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.8-Amos.5.9" parsed="|Amos|5|8|5|9" passage="Am 5:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. [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 <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.13" parsed="|Amos|4|13|0|0" passage="Am 4:13"><i>ch.</i> iv. 13</scripRef>. <i>First,</i> The stars are
the work of his hands; those stars which the heathens worshipped
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.26" parsed="|Amos|5|26|0|0" passage="Am 5:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), 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 <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.31 Bible:Job.9.9" parsed="|Job|38|31|0|0;|Job|9|9|0|0" passage="Job 38:31,Job 9:9">Job xxxviii.
31; ix. 9</scripRef>, 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 (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.11" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.7" parsed="|Amos|4|7|0|0" passage="Am 4:7"><i>ch.</i> iv. 7</scripRef>); 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> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.12" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.22" parsed="|Jer|14|22|0|0" passage="Jer 14:22">Jer. xiv. 22</scripRef>. 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
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p11.13" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.9" parsed="|Amos|5|9|0|0" passage="Am 5:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>) 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 class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p12" shownumber="no">2. They are here exhorted to be honest and
just in their dealings with men, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.14-Amos.5.15" parsed="|Amos|5|14|5|15" passage="Am 5:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>, 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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.7" parsed="|Amos|5|7|0|0" passage="Am 5:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.vi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.16-Amos.5.20" parsed="|Amos|5|16|5|20" passage="Am 5:16-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.vi-p12.4">
<h4 id="Amos.vi-p12.5">Threatenings and Reproofs. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p12.6">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.vi-p13" shownumber="no">16 Therefore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p13.1">Lord</span>, 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p13.2">Lord</span>.  
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p13.3">Lord</span>! to what end <i>is</i> it for you? the day
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p13.4">Lord</span> <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
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p13.5">Lord</span> <i>be</i> darkness, and not
light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p14" shownumber="no">Here is, I. A very terrible threatening of
destruction approaching, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.16-Amos.5.17" parsed="|Amos|5|16|5|17" passage="Am 5:16,17"><i>v.</i>
16, 17</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p15" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.18" parsed="|Amos|5|18|0|0" passage="Am 5:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.19" parsed="|Isa|5|19|0|0" passage="Isa 5:19">Isa. v.
19</scripRef>. <i>Where is the promise of his coming?</i> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.4" parsed="|2Pet|3|4|0|0" passage="2Pe 3:4">2 Pet. iii. 4</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.18" parsed="|Amos|5|18|0|0" passage="Am 5:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. <i>Shall it not be so?</i>
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.20" parsed="|Amos|5|20|0|0" passage="Am 5:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.19" parsed="|Amos|5|19|0|0" passage="Am 5:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.24.17-Isa.24.18" parsed="|Isa|24|17|24|18" passage="Isa 24:17,18">Isa. xxiv. 17, 18</scripRef>. It is madness
therefore to <i>defy the day of the Lord.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.vi-p15.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.21-Amos.5.27" parsed="|Amos|5|21|5|27" passage="Am 5:21-27" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.vi-p15.9">
<h4 id="Amos.vi-p15.10">Hypocritical Services Rejected; Threatenings
against Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p15.11">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.vi-p16" shownumber="no">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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.vi-p16.1">Lord</span>, whose name <i>is</i> The God of
hosts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p17" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p18" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.21-Amos.5.22" parsed="|Amos|5|21|5|22" passage="Am 5:21,22"><i>v.</i> 21,
22</scripRef>. In imitation likewise of the temple-music, they had
the <i>noise of their songs</i> and the <i>melody of their
viols</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.23" parsed="|Amos|5|23|0|0" passage="Am 5:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>),
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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.21" parsed="|Gen|8|21|0|0" passage="Ge 8:21">Gen. viii.
21</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" passage="Pr 15:8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p19" shownumber="no">II. What it was that he required in order
to the acceptableness of their sacrifices and without which no
sacrifice would be acceptable (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.24" parsed="|Amos|5|24|0|0" passage="Am 5:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <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 mighty 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 mighty 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>
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.7" parsed="|Amos|5|7|0|0" passage="Am 5:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); in that matter
therefore they must reform, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.7.9" parsed="|Zech|7|9|0|0" passage="Zec 7:9">Zech. vii.
9</scripRef>. This was what God desired <i>more than
sacrifices,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.6 Bible:1Sam.15.22" parsed="|Hos|6|6|0|0;|1Sam|15|22|0|0" passage="Ho 6:6,1Sa 15:22">Hos. vi. 6; 1
Sam. xv. 22</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p20" shownumber="no">III. What little stress God had laid upon
the law of sacrifices, though it was his own law, in comparison
with the moral precepts (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.25" parsed="|Amos|5|25|0|0" passage="Am 5:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>): "<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 (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.42" parsed="|Acts|7|42|0|0" passage="Ac 7:42">Acts vii. 42</scripRef>), 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
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.22-Jer.7.23" parsed="|Jer|7|22|7|23" passage="Jer 7:22,23">Jer. vii. 22, 23</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p21" shownumber="no">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 <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.25" parsed="|Amos|5|25|0|0" passage="Am 5:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>, "<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>
(<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.26" parsed="|Amos|5|26|0|0" passage="Am 5:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), 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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.43" parsed="|Acts|7|43|0|0" passage="Ac 7:43">Acts vii. 43</scripRef>,
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 (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.19" parsed="|Deut|4|19|0|0" passage="De 4:19">Deut. iv.
19</scripRef>); and those that retain an affection for false gods
cannot expect the favour of the true God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.vi-p22" shownumber="no">V. What punishment God would inflict upon
them for their persisting in idolatry (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.27" parsed="|Amos|5|27|0|0" passage="Am 5:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <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
<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.1.5" parsed="|Amos|1|5|0|0" passage="Am 1:5"><i>ch.</i> i. 5</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Amos.vi-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.4" parsed="|Isa|8|4|0|0" passage="Isa 8:4">Isa. viii. 4</scripRef>. Stephen reads it, <i>I will
carry you away beyond Babylon</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.vi-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.43" parsed="|Acts|7|43|0|0" passage="Ac 7:43">Acts
vii. 43</scripRef>), 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>
</div></div2>