mh_parser/vol_split/30 - Amos/Chapter 3.xml

<div2 id="Amos.iv" n="iv" next="Amos.v" prev="Amos.iii" progress="81.84%" title="Chapter III">
<h2 id="Amos.iv-p0.1">A M O S.</h2>
<h3 id="Amos.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Amos.iv-p1" shownumber="no">A stupid, senseless, heedless people, are, in this
chapter, called upon to take notice, I. Of the judgments of God
denounced against them and the warnings he gave them of those
judgments, and to be hereby awakened out of their security,
<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.1-Amos.3.8" parsed="|Amos|3|1|3|8" passage="Am 3:1-8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. Of the sins
that were found among them, by which God was provoked thus to
threaten, thus to punish, that they might justify God in his
controversy with them, and, unless they repented and reformed,
might expect no other than that God should proceed in his
controversy, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.9-Amos.3.15" parsed="|Amos|3|9|3|15" passage="Am 3:9-15">ver.
9-15</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Amos.iv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3" parsed="|Amos|3|0|0|0" passage="Am 3" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Amos.iv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.1-Amos.3.8" parsed="|Amos|3|1|3|8" passage="Am 3:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.iv-p1.5">
<h4 id="Amos.iv-p1.6">God's Remonstrance with
Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p1.7">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.iv-p2" shownumber="no">1 Hear this word that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p2.1">Lord</span> hath spoken against you, O children of
Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land
of Egypt, saying,   2 You only have I known of all the
families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your
iniquities.   3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
  4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will
a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?   5
Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin <i>is</i>
for him? shall <i>one</i> take up a snare from the earth, and have
taken nothing at all?   6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the
city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city,
and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p2.2">Lord</span> hath not done
<i>it?</i>   7 Surely the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p2.3">God</span> will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret
unto his servants the prophets.   8 The lion hath roared, who
will not fear? the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p2.4">God</span> hath
spoken, who can but prophesy?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p3" shownumber="no">The scope of these verses is to convince
the people of Israel that God had a controversy with them. That
which the prophet has to say to them is to let them know that the
Lord has something to say against them, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.1" parsed="|Amos|3|1|0|0" passage="Am 3:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. They were his peculiar people
above others, knew his name, and were called by it; <i>nevertheless
he had something against them,</i> and they were called to hear
what it was, that they might consider what answer they should make,
as the prisoner at the bar is told to hearken to his indictment.
The <i>children of Israel</i> would not regard the words of counsel
and comfort that God had many a time spoken to them, and now they
shall be made to hear the word of reproof and threatening that the
Lord has spoken against them; for he will act as he has spoken.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p4" shownumber="no">I. Let them know that the gracious
cognizance God has taken of them, and the favours he has bestowed
upon them, should not exempt them from the punishment due to them
for their sins. Israel is a <i>family</i> that <i>God brought up
out of the land of Egypt,</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.1" parsed="|Amos|3|1|0|0" passage="Am 3:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>), and it was no more than a family when it went down
thither; thence God delivered it; thence he fetched it to be a
family to himself. It is not only the ten tribes, the kingdom of
Israel, that must take notice of this, but that of Judah also, for
it is spoken against the whole <i>family</i> that God <i>brought up
out of Egypt.</i> It is a family that God has bestowed
distinguishing favours upon, has owned in a peculiar manner. <i>You
only have I known of all the families of the earth.</i> Note, God's
church in the world is a family dignified above all the families of
the earth. Those that know God are known of him. <i>In Judah is God
known,</i> and therefore Judah is more than any people known of
God. God has <i>known</i> them, that is, he has chosen them,
covenanted with them, and conversed with them as his acquaintance.
Now, one would think, it should follow, "Therefore I will spare
you, will connive at your faults, and excuse you." No: <i>Therefore
I will punish you for all your iniquities.</i> Note, The
distinguishing favours of God to us, if they do not serve to
restrain us from sin, shall not serve to exempt us from punishment;
nay, the nearer any are to God in profession, and the kinder notice
he has taken of them, the more surely, the more quickly, and the
more severely will he reckon with them, if they by a course of
wilful sin profane their character, disgrace their relation to him,
violate their engagements, and put a slight upon the favours and
honours with which they have been distinguished. <i>Therefore</i>
they shall be punished, because their sins dishonour him, affront
him, and grieve him, more than the sins of others, and because it
is necessary that God should vindicate his own honour by making it
appear that he hates sin and hates it most in those that are
nearest to him; if they be but as bad as others, they shall be
punished worse than others, because it is justly expected that they
should be so much better than others. <i>Judgment begins at the
house of God,</i> begins at the sanctuary; for God will be
sanctified either by or upon those that <i>come nigh unto him,</i>
<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3" parsed="|Lev|10|3|0|0" passage="Le 10:3">Lev. x. 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p5" shownumber="no">II. Let them know that they could not
expect any comfortable communion with God unless they first made
their peace with him (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.3" parsed="|Amos|3|3|0|0" passage="Am 3:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): <i>Can two walk together except they be agreed?</i>
No; how should they? Where there is not friendship there can be no
fellowship; if two persons be at variance, they must first
accommodate the matters in difference between them before there can
be any interchanging of good offices. Israel has affronted God, had
broken their covenant with him, and ill-requited his favours to
them; and yet they expected that he should continue to walk with
them, should take their part, act for them, and give them
assurances of his presence with them, though they took no care by
repentance and reformation to <i>agree with their adversary</i> and
to turn away his wrath. "But how can that be?" says God. "While you
continue to <i>walk contrary to God</i> you can look for no other
than that he should <i>walk contrary to you,</i>" <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.23-Lev.26.24" parsed="|Lev|26|23|26|24" passage="Le 26:23,24">Lev. xxvi. 23, 24</scripRef>. Note, We cannot
expect that God should be present with us, or act for us, unless we
be reconciled to him. God and man cannot <i>walk together except
they be agreed.</i> Unless we agree with God in our end, which is
his glory, we cannot walk with him by the way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p6" shownumber="no">III. Let them know that the warnings God
gave them of judgments approaching were not causeless and
groundless, merely to amuse them, but certain declarations of the
wrath of God against them, which (if they did not speedily repent)
they would infallibly feel the effects of (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.4" parsed="|Amos|3|4|0|0" passage="Am 3:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "<i>Will a lion roar in the
forest when he has no prey</i> in view? No: he roars upon his prey.
Nor will a <i>young lion cry out of his den</i> if the old lion
<i>have taken nothing</i> to bring home to him; nor would God thus
give you warning both by the threatenings of his word, and by less
judgments, if you had not by your sins made yourselves a prey to
his wrath, nor if he were not really about to fall upon you with
desolating destroying judgments." Note, The threatenings of the
word and providence of God are not bugbears, to frighten children
and fools, but are certain inferences from the sin of man and
certain presages of the judgments of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p7" shownumber="no">IV. Let them know that, as their own
wickedness was the procuring cause of these judgments, so they
shall not be removed till they have done their work, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.5" parsed="|Amos|3|5|0|0" passage="Am 3:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. When God has come forth to
contend with a sinful people it is necessary that they should
understand, 1. That it is their own sin that has entangled them;
for <i>can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is
for him?</i> No, nature does not lay snares for the creatures, but
the art of men; a bird is not taken in a snare by chance, but with
the fowler's design; so the providence of God prepares trouble for
sinners, and it is <i>in the work of their own hands</i> that they
<i>are snared.</i> Affliction does not <i>spring out of the
dust,</i> but it is God's justice, and <i>our own wickedness,</i>
that <i>correct us.</i> 2. It is nothing but their own repentance
that can disentangle them; for <i>shall one take up a snare from
the earth,</i> which he laid with design, except he have <i>taken
something</i> as he designed? So neither will God remove the
affliction he has sent till it have done its work and accomplished
that for which he sent it. If our hearts be duly humbled, and we
are brought by our afflictions to confess and forsake our sins,
then the snare has taken something, then the point is gained, the
end is answered, and then, and not till then, the <i>snare is
broken,</i> is taken up from the earth, and <i>we are delivered</i>
in love and mercy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p8" shownumber="no">V. Let them know that all their troubles
came from the hand of God's providence and from the counsel of his
will (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.6" parsed="|Amos|3|6|0|0" passage="Am 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Shall
there be evil in a city,</i> in a family, in a nation, <i>and the
Lord has not done it,</i> appointed it, and performed what he
appointed? The evil of sin is from ourselves; it is our own doing.
But the evil of trouble, personal or public, is from God, and is
his doing; whoever are the instruments, God is the principal agent.
<i>Out of his mouth both evil and good proceed.</i> This
consideration, that, whatever evil is in the city, the Lord has
done it, should engage us patiently to bear our share in public
calamities and to study to answer God's intention in them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p9" shownumber="no">VI. Let them know that their prophets, who
give them warning of judgments approaching, deliver nothing to them
but what they have <i>received from the Lord</i> to be delivered to
his people. 1. God makes it known beforehand to the prophets
(<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.7" parsed="|Amos|3|7|0|0" passage="Am 3:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Surely the
Lord Jehovah will do nothing,</i> none of that evil in the city
spoken of (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.6" parsed="|Amos|3|6|0|0" passage="Am 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
<i>but he reveals it to his servants the prophets,</i> though to
others it is a secret. Therefore those know not what they do who
make light of the warnings which the prophets give them, in God's
name. Observe, God's prophets are <i>his servants,</i> whom he
employs to go on his errands to the children of men. The
<i>secret</i> of God is with them; it is in some sense with all
<i>the righteous</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.32" parsed="|Prov|3|32|0|0" passage="Pr 3:32">Prov. iii.
32</scripRef>), with <i>all that fear God</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.14" parsed="|Ps|25|14|0|0" passage="Ps 25:14">Ps. xxv. 14</scripRef>), but in a peculiar manner with
the prophets, to whom the Spirit of prophecy is a Spirit of
revelation. It would have put honour enough upon prophets if it had
been only said that sometimes God is pleased to reveal to his
prophets what he designs to do, but it speaks something very great
to say that he <i>does nothing</i> but what he <i>reveals to
them,</i> as if they were <i>the men of his counsel. Shall I hide
from Abraham,</i> who is a prophet, <i>the thing which I do?</i>
<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.17" parsed="|Gen|18|17|0|0" passage="Ge 18:17">Gen. xviii. 17</scripRef>. God will
therefore be sure to reckon with those that put contempt on the
prophets, whom he puts this honour upon. 2. The prophets cannot but
make that known to the people which God has made known to them
(<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.8" parsed="|Amos|3|8|0|0" passage="Am 3:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>The Lord
God has spoken; who can but prophesy?</i> His prophets, to whom he
has spoken in secret by dreams and visions, cannot but speak in
public to the people what they have heard from God. They are so
full of those things themselves, so well assured concerning them,
and so much affected with them, that they cannot but speak of them;
for <i>out of the abundance of the heart</i> the mouth will speak.
<i>I believed; therefore have I spoken,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.20" parsed="|Acts|4|20|0|0" passage="Ac 4:20">Acts iv. 20</scripRef>. Nay, and besides the prophetic
impulse which went along with the inspiration, and made the word
<i>like a fire in their bones</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.20.9" parsed="|Jer|20|9|0|0" passage="Jer 20:9">Jer. xx. 9</scripRef>), they received a command from God
to deliver what they had been charged with; and they would have
been false to their trust if they had not done it. <i>Necessity was
laid upon them,</i> as upon the preachers of the gospel, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.16" parsed="|1Cor|9|16|0|0" passage="1Co 9:16">1 Cor. ix. 16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p10" shownumber="no">VII. Let them know that they ought to
tremble before God upon the fair warning he had given them, as they
would, 1. Upon the sounding of a trumpet, to give notice of the
approach of the enemy, that all may stand upon their guard and
stand to their arms: <i>Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and
the people be not afraid,</i> or <i>run together?</i> so some read
it, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.6" parsed="|Amos|3|6|0|0" passage="Am 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Will they
not immediately come together in a fright, to consider what is best
to be done for the common safety? Yet when God by his prophets
gives them notice of their danger, and summons them to come and
enlist themselves under his banner, it makes no impression; they
will sooner give credit to a watchman on their walls than to a
prophet sent of God, will sooner obey the summons of the governor
of their city than the orders given them by the Governor of the
world. God says, <i>Hearken to the voice of the trumpet;</i> but
<i>they will not hearken,</i> nay, and they tell him plainly that
they will not, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.17" parsed="|Jer|6|17|0|0" passage="Jer 6:17">Jer. vi. 17</scripRef>.
2. Upon the roaring of a lion. God is sometimes <i>as a lion, and a
young lion, to the house of Judah,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.5.14" parsed="|Hos|5|14|0|0" passage="Ho 5:14">Hos. v. 14</scripRef>. The lion roars before he tears;
thus God warns before he wounds. If therefore the lion roars upon a
poor traveller (as he did against Samson, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.14.5" parsed="|Judg|14|5|0|0" passage="Jdg 14:5">Judg. xiv. 5</scripRef>), he cannot but be put into
great consternation; yet the <i>Lord roars out of Zion</i>
(<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.1.2" parsed="|Amos|1|2|0|0" passage="Am 1:2"><i>ch.</i> i. 2</scripRef>), and none
are afraid, but they go on securely as if they were in no danger.
Note, The fair warning given to a careless world, if it be not
taken, will aggravate its condemnation another day. The lion
roared, and they were not moved with fear to prepare an ark. O the
amazing stupidity of an unbelieving world, that will not be wrought
upon, no, not by the <i>terrors of the Lord!</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.iv-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.9-Amos.3.15" parsed="|Amos|3|9|3|15" passage="Am 3:9-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.iv-p10.7">
<h4 id="Amos.iv-p10.8">Israel Convicted and
Condemned. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p10.9">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.iv-p11" shownumber="no">9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the
palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the
mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst
thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.   10 For they
know not to do right, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p11.1">Lord</span>, who store up violence and robbery in their
palaces.   11 Therefore thus saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p11.2">God</span>; An adversary <i>there shall be</i> even
round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from
thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.   12 Thus saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p11.3">Lord</span>; As the shepherd taketh out of
the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the
children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner
of a bed, and in Damascus <i>in</i> a couch.   13 Hear ye, and
testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p11.4">God</span>, the God of hosts,   14 That in the day
that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will
also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall
be cut off, and fall to the ground.   15 And I will smite the
winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall
perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iv-p11.5">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p12" shownumber="no">The Israelites are here again convicted and
condemned, and particular notice given of the crimes they are
convicted of and the punishment they are condemned to.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p13" shownumber="no">1. Notice is given of it to their
neighbours. The prophet is ordered to <i>publish it in the palaces
of Ashdod,</i> one of the chief cities of the Philistines; nay, the
summons must go further, even to <i>the palaces in the land of
Egypt.</i> "The great men of both those nations, that dwell in the
palaces, that are inquisitive concerning the affairs of the
neighboring nations, and are conversant with the public
intelligence, let them <i>assemble themselves upon the mountains of
Samaria,</i>" <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.9" parsed="|Amos|3|9|0|0" passage="Am 3:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
There, upon <i>a throne high and lifted up,</i> the judgment is
set. Samaria is the criminal that is to be tried; let them be
present at the trial, for it shall be (as other trials are) public,
in the face of the country; let them make an appointment to meet
there from all parts, to judge between God and his vineyard. God
appeals to all impartial righteous men, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.23.45" parsed="|Ezek|23|45|0|0" passage="Eze 23:45">Ezek. xxiii. 45</scripRef>. They will all subscribe to
the equity of his proceedings when they see how the case stands.
Note, God's controversies with sinners do not fear a scrutiny; even
Philistines and Egyptians will be made to see, and say, that <i>the
ways of the Lord are equal,</i> but <i>our ways are unequal.</i>
They are likewise summoned to attend, not only that they may
justify God and be witness for him that he deals fairly, but that
they may themselves take warning; for, if <i>judgment begin at the
house of God,</i> as they see it does, what shall be the end of
those that are strangers to him? <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.17" parsed="|1Pet|4|17|0|0" passage="1Pe 4:17">1
Pet. iv. 17</scripRef>. <i>If this be done in a green tree, what
shall be done in a dry?</i> Or this intimates that the sin of
Israel had been so notorious that the neighboring nations could
come in witnesses against them, and therefore it was fit that their
punishment should be so. "If it could have been concealed, we would
have said, <i>Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of
Ashkelon;</i>" but why should their friends consult their
reputation, when they themselves do not consult it? If they have
grown impudent in sin, let them bear the shame: "<i>Publish</i> it
in <i>Ashdod,</i> in <i>Egypt.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p14" shownumber="no">1. Let them see how black the charge is,
and how well proved. Let them observe the behaviour of the
inhabitants of Samaria; let them look off from the adjacent hills,
and they may see how rude and boisterous they are, and hear how
loud they cry of their sin is, as was that of Sodom. (1.) Look into
their streets and you will see nothing but riot and disorder,
<i>great tumults in the midst thereof;</i> reason and justice are
upon all occasions run down by the noise and fury of an outrageous
mob, the dominion of which is the sin and shame of any people, and
is likely to be their ruin. (2.) Look into their prisons, and you
will see them filled with injured innocents: <i>The oppressed are
in the midst thereof,</i> thrown down and crushed by their
oppressors, overpowered and overwhelmed, and <i>they had no
comforter,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.1" parsed="|Eccl|4|1|0|0" passage="Ec 4:1">Eccl. iv. 1</scripRef>.
(3.) Look into their courts of justice, and you will see that those
who preside in those courts <i>know not to do right,</i> because
they have always been accustomed to do wrong; they act as if they
had no notion at all of the thing called justice, are in no care to
do justice themselves nor to see that others do justice. (4.) Look
into their treasures and stores, and you will see them replenished
with <i>violence and robbery,</i> with that which was unjustly got
and is still unjustly kept. Thus <i>they have heaped treasures
together for the last days,</i> but it will prove a <i>treasure of
wrath against the day of wrath.</i> It may well be said, Those
<i>know not to do right</i> who think to enrich themselves by doing
wrong.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p15" shownumber="no">2. Let them see how heavy the doom is, and
how well executed, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.11-Amos.3.12" parsed="|Amos|3|11|3|12" passage="Am 3:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11,
12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p16" shownumber="no">(1.) Their country shall be invaded and
ruined; and observe how the punishment answers to the sin. [1.]
<i>Great tumults</i> are <i>in the midst of the land,</i> and
therefore <i>an adversary shall be even round about the land;</i>
the Assyrian forces shall surround it and break in upon it on every
side. Note, When sin is harboured and indulged in the midst of a
people they can expect no other than that adversaries should be
round about them, so that, go which way they will, they go into the
mouth of danger, <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.43" parsed="|Luke|19|43|0|0" passage="Lu 19:43">Luke xix.
43</scripRef>. [2.] They strengthened themselves in their
wickedness, but the enemy shall <i>bring down their strength</i>
from them, that strength which they abused in oppressing the poor,
and doing violence to all about them. Note, That power which is
made an instrument of unrighteousness will justly be brought down
and broken. [3.] They <i>stored up robbery in their palaces,</i>
and therefore their <i>palaces shall be spoiled;</i> for what is
got and kept wrongfully will not be kept long. Even palaces will be
no protection to fraud and oppression; but the greatest of men, if
they have spoiled others, shall themselves be spoiled, for <i>the
Lord is the avenger of all such.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p17" shownumber="no">(2.) Their countrymen shall not escape,
<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.12" parsed="|Amos|3|12|0|0" passage="Am 3:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. They shall be
in the hands of the enemy, as a lamb in the mouth of a lion, all
devoured and eaten up, and they shall be utterly unable to make an
resistance; and if any do make their escape, so as neither to fall
by the sword or go into captivity, yet they shall be very few, and
those of the meanest and least considerable, like <i>two legs,</i>
or <i>shanks,</i> of a lamb, <i>or,</i> it may be, <i>a piece of an
ear,</i> which the lion drops, or <i>the shepherd</i> takes from
him, when he has eaten the whole body; so, perhaps, here and there
one may escape from Samaria and from Damascus, when the king of
Assyria shall fall upon them both, but none to make any account of;
and those that do escape shall do so with the utmost difficult and
hazard, by hiding themselves in the <i>corner of a bed</i> or under
the <i>bed's feet,</i> which intimates that their spirits shall
sneak shamefully in the time of danger. They shall not hide
themselves in dens and caves, but in the <i>corner of a bed,</i> or
the <i>piece of a bed,</i> such as poor people must be content
with. They shall very narrowly escape, as it is foretold concerning
the last destruction of Jerusalem that there shall be <i>two in a
bed together, one taken and the other left.</i> Note, When God's
judgments come forth against a people with commission it will be in
vain to think of escaping them. Some make their <i>dwelling in the
corner of a bed,</i> and <i>in a couch,</i> to denote their present
security and sensuality; they are at ease, as <i>in a bed,</i> or
<i>on a couch,</i> but, when God comes to contend with them, he
shall make them uneasy, shall take them away out of the bed of
their sloth and slumber. Those that stretch themselves lazily upon
their couches when God's judgments are abroad shall <i>go captive
with the first that go captive.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iv-p18" shownumber="no">II. Notice is given of it to themselves,
<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.13" parsed="|Amos|3|13|0|0" passage="Am 3:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Let this be
<i>testified,</i> and <i>heard, in the house of Jacob,</i> among
all the seed of Israel, for it is spoken by <i>the Lord God, the
God of hosts,</i> who has authority to pass this sentence and
ability to execute it; let them know from him that the day is at
hand when God will <i>visit the transgressions of Israel upon
him,</i> when he will enquire into them and reckon for them: there
will come <i>a day of visitation,</i> a day of punishment, and in
that day all those things they are proud of, and put confidence in,
shall fail them, and so they shall smart for the sins they have
been guilty of about them. 1. Woe to <i>their altars,</i> for God
will <i>visit</i> them. He will enquire into the sins they have
been guilty of at their altars, and bring into the account all
their superstition and idolatry, all their expenses on their false
gods, and all their expectations from them; and he will lay the
altars themselves under the marks of his displeasure, for <i>the
horns of the altar shall be cut off,</i> and <i>fall to the
ground,</i> and with them the altar itself demolished and broken to
pieces. We find the altar at Bethel prophesied against (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.13.2" parsed="|1Kgs|13|2|0|0" passage="1Ki 13:2">1 Kings xiii. 2</scripRef>), and immediately
<i>rent</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iv-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.3" parsed="|Amos|3|3|0|0" passage="Am 3:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
and that prophecy fulfilled with <i>Josiah burnt men's bones upon
it,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.15-2Kgs.23.16" parsed="|2Kgs|23|15|23|16" passage="2Ki 23:15,16">2 Kings xxiii. 15,
16</scripRef>. This seconds that prophecy, and seems to point at
the same event. Note, If men will not destroy idolatrous altars,
God will, and those with them that had them in veneration. Some
make <i>the horns of the altar</i> to signify all those things
which they flee to for refuge, and trust in, and which they make
their sanctuary: they shall all be cut off, so that they shall have
nothing to take hold of. 2. Woe to their houses, for God will visit
them too. He will enquire into the sins they have been guilty of in
their houses, the robbery that have stored up in their houses, and
the luxury in which they lived: <i>and I will smite the
winter-house with the summer-house,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iv-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.15" parsed="|Amos|3|15|0|0" passage="Am 3:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Their nobility, and gentry, and
rich merchants, had their winter-houses in the city and their
summer-houses in the country, so nice were they in guarding against
the inconveniences of the winter when the country was thought too
cold, and of the summer when the city was thought too hot, though
the climate of that good land was so temperate, like that of ours,
that neither the cold nor heat was ever in extremity. They indulged
a foolish affectation of change and variety; but God will, either
by war or by the earthquake, smite both the winter-house and the
summer-house; neither shall serve to shelter them from his
judgments. <i>The houses of ivory</i> (so called because the
ceiling, or wainscot, or some of the ornaments of them, were edged
or inlaid with ivory) <i>shall perish,</i> shall be burnt or pulled
down; <i>and the great houses shall have an end;</i> the most
splendid and spacious houses, the houses of their great men, shall
no longer be, or at least be no longer theirs. Note, The pomp or
pleasantness of men's houses will be so far from fortifying them
against God's judgments that it will make them the more grievous
and vexatious, as their extravagance about them will be put to the
score of their sins and follies.</p>
</div></div2>