mh_parser/vol_split/30 - Amos/Chapter 4.xml

<div2 id="Amos.v" n="v" next="Amos.vi" prev="Amos.iv" progress="82.12%" title="Chapter IV">
<h2 id="Amos.v-p0.1">A M O S.</h2>
<h3 id="Amos.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Amos.v-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter, I. The oppressors in Israel are
threatened for their oppression of the poor, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.1-Amos.4.3" parsed="|Amos|4|1|4|3" passage="Am 4:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. The idolaters in Israel, being
joined to idols, are given up to their own heart's lusts, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.4-Amos.4.5" parsed="|Amos|4|4|4|5" passage="Am 4:4,5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>. III. All the sins of
Israel are aggravated from their incorrigibleness in them, and
their refusal to return and reform, notwithstanding the various
rebukes of Providence which they had been under, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.6-Amos.4.11" parsed="|Amos|4|6|4|11" passage="Am 4:6-11">ver. 6-11</scripRef>. IV. They are invited yet at
length to humble themselves before God, since it is impossible for
them to make their part good against him, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.12-Amos.4.13" parsed="|Amos|4|12|4|13" passage="Am 4:12,13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Amos.v-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4" parsed="|Amos|4|0|0|0" passage="Am 4" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Amos.v-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.1-Amos.4.5" parsed="|Amos|4|1|4|5" passage="Am 4:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.v-p1.7">
<h4 id="Amos.v-p1.8">Threatenings against Oppressors; Punishment
of Proud Oppressors. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p1.9">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.v-p2" shownumber="no">1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that
<i>are</i> in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor,
which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let
us drink.   2 The Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p2.1">God</span> hath
sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that
he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with
fish-hooks.   3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every
<i>cow at that which is</i> before her; and ye shall cast
<i>them</i> into the palace, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p2.2">Lord</span>.   4 Come to Bethel, and transgress;
at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every
morning, <i>and</i> your tithes after three years:   5 And
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim
<i>and</i> publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye
children of Israel, saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p2.3">God</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p3" shownumber="no">It is here foretold, in the name of God,
that oppressors shall be humbled and idolaters shall be
hardened.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p4" shownumber="no">I. That proud oppressors shall be humbled
for their oppressions: for <i>he that does wrong shall receive
according to the wrong that he has done.</i> Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p5" shownumber="no">1. How their sin is described, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.1" parsed="|Amos|4|1|0|0" passage="Am 4:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. They are compared to the
<i>kine of Bashan,</i> which were a breed of cattle very large and
strong, especially if, though bred there, they were fed upon <i>the
mountain of Samaria,</i> where the pastures were extraordinarily
fat. Amos had been a herdsman, and he speaks in a dialect of his
calling, comparing the rich and great men, that lived in luxury and
wantonness, to the <i>kine of Bashan,</i> which were wanton and
unruly, would not be kept within the bounds of their own pasture,
But broke through the hedges, broke down all the fences, and
trespassed upon the neighboring grounds; and not only so, but
pushed and gored the smaller cattle that were not a match for them.
Those that had their summer-houses upon the mountains of Samaria
when they went thither for fresh air were as mischievous as the
kine upon the mountains of Bashan and as injurious to those about
them. (1.) They oppress the poor and needy themselves; they
<i>crush</i> them, to squeeze something to themselves out of them.
They took advantage of their poverty, and necessity, and inability
to help themselves, to make them poorer and more necessitous than
they were. They made use of their power as judges and magistrates
for the invading of men's rights and properties, the poor not
excepted; for they made no conscience of robbing even the hospital.
(2.) They are in confederacy with those that do so. They <i>say to
their masters</i> (to the masters of the poor, that abuse them and
violently take from them what they have, when they ought to relieve
them), "<i>Bring, and let us drink;</i> let us feast with you upon
the gains of our oppression, and then we will protect you, and
stand by you in it, and reject the appeals of the poor against
you." Note, What is got by extortion is commonly made use of as
<i>provisions for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof;</i> and
<i>therefore</i> men are tyrants to the poor because they are
slaves to their appetites. <i>Bring, and let us drink,</i> is the
language of those that <i>crush the needy,</i> as if the <i>tears
of the oppressed,</i> mingled with their wine, made it drink the
better. And by their associations for drinking and reveling, and an
excess of riot, they strengthen their combinations for persecution
and oppression, and harden the hearts of one another in it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p6" shownumber="no">2. How their punishment is described,
<scripRef id="Amos.v-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.2-Amos.4.3" parsed="|Amos|4|2|4|3" passage="Am 4:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. God will
<i>take them away with hooks, and their posterity with
fish-hooks;</i> he will send the Assyrian army upon them, that
shall make a prey of them, shall not only enclose the body of the
nation in their net, but shall angle for particular persons, and
take them prisoners and captives as with hooks and fish-hooks,
shall draw them out of their own land as fish are drawn out of the
water, which is their element, them and their children with them,
or, They in their day shall be drawn out by one victorious enemy,
and their posterity in their day by another, so that by a
succession of destroying judgments they shall at length be wholly
extirpated. These <i>kine of Bashan</i> thought they could no more
be drawn out with a hook and a cord than the Leviathan can,
<scripRef id="Amos.v-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.41.1-Job.41.2" parsed="|Job|41|1|41|2" passage="Job 41:1,2">Job xli. 1, 2</scripRef>. But God
will make them know that he has a <i>hook for their nose</i> and a
<i>bridle for their jaws,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.v-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.29" parsed="|Isa|37|29|0|0" passage="Isa 37:29">Isa.
xxxvii. 29</scripRef>. The enemy shall take them away as easily as
the fisherman takes away the little fish, and shall make it their
sport and recreation. When the enemy has made himself master of
Samaria, then, (1.) Some shall attempt to escape by flight: <i>You
shall go out at the breaches</i> made in the wall of the city,
<i>every cow at that which is before her,</i> to shift for her own
safety, and make the best of her way; and now the unruly kine of
Bashan are tamed, and are themselves crushed, as they crushed the
poor and needy. Note, Those to whom God has given a good pasture,
if they are wanton in it, will justly be turned out of it; and
those who will not be kept within the hedge of God's precept
forfeit the benefit of the hedge of God's protection, and will be
forced in vain to flee through the breaches they have themselves
fearfully made in that hedge. (2.) Others shall think to shelter
themselves, or at least their best effects, in the palace, because
it is a castle well fortified and a garrison well manned: <i>You
shall throw yourselves</i> (so some read it), or <i>throw them</i>
(that is, your posterity, your children, or whatever is dear to
you), <i>into the palace,</i> where the enemy will find it ready to
be seized. Note, What is got by oppression cannot long be enjoyed
with satisfaction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p7" shownumber="no">3. How their sentence to this punishment is
ratified: <i>The Lord God has sworn it by his holiness.</i> He had
often said it, and they regarded it not; they thought God and his
prophets did but jest with them; therefore he <i>swears</i> it
<i>in his wrath,</i> and what he has sworn he will not revoke. He
swears by <i>his holiness,</i> that attribute of his which is so
much his glory, and which is so much glorified in the punishment of
wicked people; for, as sure as God is a holy God, those that
<i>plough iniquity and sow wickedness shall reap the same.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p8" shownumber="no">II. That obstinate idolaters shall be
hardened in their idolatries (<scripRef id="Amos.v-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.4-Amos.4.5" parsed="|Amos|4|4|4|5" passage="Am 4:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>): <i>Come to Bethel, and
transgress.</i> It is spoken ironically: "Do so; take your course;
<i>multiply</i> your <i>transgressions</i> by multiplying your
sacrifices, <i>for this liketh you;</i> but what will you do in the
end hereof?" Here we see, 1. How intent they were upon the service
of their idols, and how willing they were to be at cost upon them;
they <i>brought their sacrifices,</i> and their <i>tithes,</i> and
their <i>free-will offerings,</i> hoping that therein they should
be accepted of God, but it was all an abomination to him. The
profuseness of idolaters in the service of their false gods may
shame our strait-handedness in the service of the true and living
God. 2. How they mimicked God's institutions. They had their
<i>daily sacrifice</i> at the altar of Bethel, as God had at his
altar; they had their <i>thank-offerings</i> as God had, only they
allowed <i>leaven</i> in them, which God had forbidden, because
their priests did not like to have the bread to heavy and tasteless
as it would be if it had not leaven in it, for something to ferment
it. Holy bread would not serve them, unless it were pleasant bread.
3. How well pleased they were with these services themselves:
<i>This liketh you, O you children of Israel! So you love.</i> What
was their own invention they were fond of and wedded to, and
thought it must be pleasing to God because it was agreeable to
their own fancy. 4. How they upbraided with it: "<i>Come to Bethel,
to Gilgal; bring the sacrifices</i> and <i>tithes</i> yourselves;
<i>proclaim</i> and <i>publish</i> to the nation the
<i>free-offerings,</i> pressing them to bring in abundance of such;
<i>go on</i> in this way;" that is, (1.) "It is plain that you are
resolved to do it, whatever God and conscience say to the
contrary." (2.) "Your prophets shall let you alone in it, and not
admonish you as they have done, for it is to no purpose. <i>Let no
man strive nor rebuke his neighbour.</i>" (3.) "Your foolish hearts
shall be more and more darkened and besotted, and you shall be
quite <i>given up to</i> these <i>strong delusions, to believe a
lie.</i>" (4.) "What will you get by it? <i>Come to Bethel</i> and
<i>multiply your sacrifices,</i> and see what the better you will
be, what returns you will have to your sacrifices, what stead they
will stand you in in the day of distress. <i>You shall be ashamed
of Bethel your confidence,</i>" <scripRef id="Amos.v-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.48.13" parsed="|Jer|48|13|0|0" passage="Jer 48:13">Jer.
xlviii. 13</scripRef>. (5.) "<i>Come, and transgress,</i> come, and
<i>multiply your transgression,</i> that you may <i>fill up the
measure</i> of your iniquity and be ripened for ruin." Thus Christ
said to Judas, <i>What thou doest do quickly;</i> and to the Jews,
<i>Fill you up the measure of your fathers,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.v-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.32" parsed="|Matt|23|32|0|0" passage="Mt 23:32">Matt. xxiii. 32</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.v-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.6-Amos.4.13" parsed="|Amos|4|6|4|13" passage="Am 4:6-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.v-p8.5">
<h4 id="Amos.v-p8.6">Incorrigibleness of Israel; Judgments Called
to Remembrance; Greater Judgments Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p8.7">b.
c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.v-p9" shownumber="no">6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth
in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have
ye not returned unto me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p9.1">Lord</span>.   7 And also I have withholden the
rain from you, when <i>there were</i> yet three months to the
harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not
to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece
whereupon it rained not withered.   8 So two <i>or</i> three
cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not
satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p9.2">Lord</span>.   9 I have smitten you with blasting
and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees
and your olive trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured
<i>them:</i> yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p9.3">Lord</span>.   10 I have sent among you the
pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain
with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made
the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye
not returned unto me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p9.4">Lord</span>.   11 I have overthrown <i>some</i> of
you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a
firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p9.5">Lord</span>.   12
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: <i>and</i> because I
will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.  
13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind,
and declareth unto man what <i>is</i> his thought, that maketh the
morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth,
The <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.v-p9.6">Lord</span>, The God of hosts,
<i>is</i> his name.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p10" shownumber="no">Here, I. God complains of his people's
incorrigibleness under the judgments which he had brought upon them
in order to their humiliation and reformation. He had by several
tokens intimated to them his displeasure, with this design, that
they might by repentance make their peace with him; but it had not
that effect.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p11" shownumber="no">1. It is five times repeated in these
verses, as the burden of the charge, "<i>Yet have you not returned
unto me, saith the Lord;</i> you have been several times corrected,
but in vain; you are not reclaimed, there is no sign of amendment.
You have been sent for by one messenger after another, but you have
not come back, you have not come home." (1.) This intimates that
that which God designed in all his providential rebukes was to
reduce them to their allegiance, to influence them to return to
him. (2.) That, if they had returned to their God, they would have
been accepted, he would have bidden them welcome, and the troubles
they were in would have been removed. (3.) That the reason why God
sent further troubles was because former troubles had not done the
work, otherwise it is <i>no pleasure to the Almighty that he should
afflict.</i> (4.) That God was grieved at their obstinacy, and took
it unkindly that they should force him to do that which he did so
unwillingly: "<i>You have not returned to me</i> from whom you have
revolted, <i>to me</i> with whom you are in covenant, <i>to me</i>
who stands ready to receive you, <i>to me</i> who have so often
called you." Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p12" shownumber="no">2. To aggravate their incorrigibleness, and
to justify himself in inflicting greater judgments, he recounts the
less judgments with which he had tried to bring them to
repentance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p13" shownumber="no">(1.) There had sometimes been a scarcity of
provisions, though there was no visible cause of it (<scripRef id="Amos.v-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.6" parsed="|Amos|4|6|0|0" passage="Am 4:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>I have given you
cleanness of teeth in all your cities,</i> for you had no meat to
chew, whereby your teeth might be fouled," especially no flesh,
which dirties the teeth. Or, <i>I have given you emptiness of
teeth,</i> nothing to fill your mouths with. "<i>Bread,</i> the
staff of life, has been wanting, for you have <i>sown much</i> and
<i>brought in little,</i>" as <scripRef id="Amos.v-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.9" parsed="|Hag|1|9|0|0" passage="Hag 1:9">Hag. i.
9</scripRef>. Some think this refers to that <i>seven years'
famine</i> that was in Elisha's time, which we read of <scripRef id="Amos.v-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.8.1" parsed="|2Kgs|8|1|0|0" passage="2Ki 8:1">2 Kings viii. 1</scripRef>. Now when God thus
<i>took away their corn in the season thereof,</i> because they had
prepared it for Baal, they should have said, We will <i>go and
return to our first husband,</i> having paid dearly for leaving
him; but it had not that effect. <i>They have not returned to
me,</i> saith the Lord.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p14" shownumber="no">(2.) Sometimes they had wanted rain, and
then of course they wanted the fruits of the earth. This evil was
of the Lord: <i>I have withholden the rain from you.</i> God has
the key of the clouds, and, if he shut up, who can open? <scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.7" parsed="|Amos|4|7|0|0" passage="Am 4:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The rain was withheld
<i>when there were yet three months to the harvest,</i> at the time
when they used to have it, and therefore the withholding of it was
an extraordinary thing, and, if the course of nature was altered,
they must therein own the hand of the God of nature; and it was at
a time when they most needed it, and therefore the want of it was a
very sore judgment, and blasted their expectations of a crop at
harvest. And one circumstance which made this very remarkable was
that when there were some places that wanted rain, and withered for
want of it, there were other places near adjoining that had it in
abundance. God <i>caused it to rain upon one city, and not upon
another,</i> in the same country; nay, he caused it to rain <i>upon
one field,</i> one <i>piece</i> of a field, and it was thereby made
fruitful and flourishing, but on the next field, on the other side
of the hedge, nay, on another part of the same field, <i>it rained
not</i> at all, and it was so long without rain that all the
products of it <i>withered.</i> No doubt this was literally true,
and there were many instances of it which were generally taken
notice of. Now, [1.] By this it appeared that the withholding of
the rain was not casual, but by a divine direction and disposal,
and that the cloud which waters the earth is <i>turned round about
by the counsels of God, to do whatsoever he commands it, whether
for correction, or for his land, or for his mercy,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.12-Job.37.18" parsed="|Job|37|12|37|18" passage="Job 37:12-18">Job xxxvii. 12-18</scripRef>. Rain does not
go by planets (as common people speak), but as God sends it by his
winds. [2.] We have reason to think that those cities on which it
rained not were the most infamous for wickedness, such as Bethel
and Gilgal (<scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.4" parsed="|Amos|4|4|0|0" passage="Am 4:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and
that those on which it rained were such as retained something of
religion and virtue among them. And so in the town-fields it rained
or rained not, upon the piece, according as the owner was; for we
are sure <i>the curse of the Lord is in the house,</i> and upon the
ground, <i>of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the
just,</i> and his field is a <i>field that the Lord has
blessed.</i> [3.] It would be the greater grief and vexation to
those whose fields withered for want of rain to see their
neighbours' fields well watered and flourishing. <i>My servants
shall eat, but you shall be hungry,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.13" parsed="|Isa|65|13|0|0" passage="Isa 65:13">Isa. lxv. 13</scripRef>. The <i>wicked shall see it,
and be grieved.</i> Probably those that were oppressed were rained
upon, and so they recovered their losses, while the oppressors
withered, and so lost their gains. [4.] Yet, as to the nation in
general, it was a mixture of mercy with the judgment, and,
consequently, strengthened the call to repentance and reformation,
and encouraged them to hope for all mercy, in their returns to God,
since there was so much mercy even in God's rebukes of them. But,
because they did not make good use of this gracious allay to the
extremity of the judgment, they had not the benefit of it, which
otherwise they might have had, for (<scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.8" parsed="|Amos|4|8|0|0" passage="Am 4:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>) <i>two or three cities
wandered</i> at uncertainty, as beggars, <i>unto one city, to drink
water,</i> and, if possible, to have some to carry home with them,
but <i>they were not satisfied;</i> it was but here and there one
city that had water, while many wanted, and then it was not, as
usual, <i>Usus communis aquarum—Water is free to all.</i> Those
that had it had occasion for it, or knew not how soon they might,
and therefore could afford but little to those that wanted, saying,
<i>Lest there be not enough for us and you.</i> Those that came
<i>drank water,</i> but <i>they were not satisfied,</i> because
they drank it <i>by measure, and with astonishment;</i> and those
that <i>drink of this water shall thirst again,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:John.4.13" parsed="|John|4|13|0|0" passage="Joh 4:13">John iv. 13</scripRef>. They were not satisfied,
because their desires were greedy, and what they had God did not
bless to them, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.7" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.6" parsed="|Hag|1|6|0|0" passage="Hag 1:6">Hag. i. 6</scripRef>.
And now, one would think, when they met with all this
disappointment, they should have considered their ways and
repented; but it had not that effect: "<i>Yet have you not returned
to me,</i> no, not so much as to pray in a right manner for the
former and latter rain," <scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.8" osisRef="Bible:Zech.10.1" parsed="|Zech|10|1|0|0" passage="Zec 10:1">Zech. x.
1</scripRef>. See the folly of carnal hearts; they will wander from
city to city, from one creature to another, in pursuit of
satisfaction, and still they miss of it; they <i>labour for that
which satisfies not</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.v-p14.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.2" parsed="|Isa|55|2|0|0" passage="Isa 55:2">Isa. lv.
2</scripRef>), and yet, after all, they <i>will not return to
God,</i> will not incline their ear to him in whom they might have
satisfaction. The preaching of the gospel is as rain; God sometimes
blesses one place with it more than another; some countries, some
cities, are, like Gideon's fleece, wet with this dew, while the
ground about is dry; all withers where this rain is wanting. But it
were well if people were but as wise for their souls as they are
for their bodies, and, when they have not this rain near them,
would go and seek it where it is to be had; and, if they seek
aright, they shall not seek in vain.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p15" shownumber="no">(3.) Sometimes the fruits of their ground
were eaten up by caterpillars, or blasted with mildew, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.9" parsed="|Amos|4|9|0|0" passage="Am 4:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Heaven and earth are armed
against those who have made God their enemy. When God pleased, that
is, when he was displeased, [1.] They suffered by a malignant air,
the influence of which, either too hot or too cold, blasted their
fruits, with a force that could be neither discerned nor resisted,
and against which there was no defence. [2.] They suffered by
malignant animals. Their <i>vineyards</i> and <i>gardens</i>
yielded their increase in great abundance, so did their
<i>fig-trees</i> and <i>olive-trees;</i> but the <i>palmer-worm
devoured them</i> before the fruits were ripe, and fit to be
gathered in. This was either the same judgment with that which we
read of <scripRef id="Amos.v-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Joel.1.4-Joel.1.6" parsed="|Joel|1|4|1|6" passage="Joe 1:4-6">Joel i. 4-6</scripRef>, or a
less judgment of the same nature, sent before to give warning of
that. But they did not take warning: <i>Yet have you not returned
unto me.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p16" shownumber="no">(4.) Sometimes the plague had raged among
them, and the sword of war had cut off multitudes, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.10" parsed="|Amos|4|10|0|0" passage="Am 4:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. <i>The pestilence</i> is
God's messenger; this he <i>sent among</i> them, with directions
whom to strike dead, and it was done. It was a <i>pestilence after
the manner of Egypt;</i> deaths were scattered among them by the
hand of a <i>destroying angel at midnight.</i> And perhaps this
pestilence, as that of Egypt, fastened upon the first-born. <i>In
the way of Egypt</i> (so the margin); when they were making their
escape to Egypt, or going thither to seek for aid, the pestilence
seized them by the way and stopped their journey. The sword of war
is likewise <i>the sword of the Lord;</i> this was drawn among them
with commission; and then it <i>slew their young men,</i> the
strength of the present generation and the seed of the next. God
says, <i>I have slain them;</i> he avows the execution. <i>The
slain of the Lord are many.</i> The enemy <i>took away their
horses,</i> and converted them to their own use; and the dead
carcases of those that were slain either with sword or pestilence
were so many, and for want of surviving friends were left so long
unburied, that the <i>stench of their camps came up into their
nostrils,</i> and was both noisome and dangerous, and might put
them in mind of the offensiveness of their sin to God. And yet this
did not prevail to humble and reclaim them: <i>You have not
returned to</i> him that smites you. Such a rueful woeful sight as
this prevailed not to make them religious.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p17" shownumber="no">(5.) In these and other judgments some were
remarkably cut off, and made monuments of justice, others were
remarkably spared, and made monuments of mercy, the setting of
which the one over against the other one would have thought likely
to work upon them, but it had not its effect, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.11" parsed="|Amos|4|11|0|0" passage="Am 4:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. [1.] Some were quite ruined,
their families destroyed, and themselves in them: <i>I have
overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.</i>
Perhaps they were consumed with lightning, as Sodom was, or the
houses were, in some other way, burnt to the ground, and the
inhabitants in them. Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be <i>condemned
with an overthrow, and so made an example,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.v-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.6" parsed="|2Pet|2|6|0|0" passage="2Pe 2:6">2 Pet. ii. 6</scripRef>. God had threatened to destroy
the whole land with such an overthrow as that of Sodom, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.23" parsed="|Deut|29|23|0|0" passage="De 29:23">Deut. xxix. 23</scripRef>. But he began with
some particular places first, to give them warning, or perhaps with
some particular persons, whose <i>sins went beforehand to
judgment.</i> [2.] Others very narrowly escaped: "You <i>were</i>
many of you as a <i>firebrand plucked out of the burning,</i> like
Lot out of Sodom, when the fire had already kindled upon you; and
yet you hate sin never the more for the danger it has brought you
to, nor love God ever the more for the deliverance he wrought for
you. You that have been so signally delivered, and in such a
distinguishing way, <i>have not returned unto me.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p18" shownumber="no">II. God, in the close, calls upon his
people, now at length, in this their day, to understand the things
that belong to their peace, before they were hidden from their
eyes, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.12-Amos.4.13" parsed="|Amos|4|12|4|13" passage="Am 4:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>.
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p19" shownumber="no">1. How God threatens them with sorer
judgments than any they had yet been under: "Therefore, seeing you
have not been wrought upon by correction hitherto, <i>thus will I
do unto thee, O Israel!</i>" He does not say how he will do, but it
shall be something worse than had come yet, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:John.5.14" parsed="|John|5|14|0|0" passage="Joh 5:14">John v. 14</scripRef>. Or, "<i>Thus I will</i> go on to
<i>do unto thee,</i> following one judgment with another, like the
plagues of Egypt, till I have made a full end." Nothing but
reformation will prevent the ruin of a sinful people. If they turn
not to him, his anger is not <i>turned away,</i> but <i>his hand is
stretched out still. I will punish you yet seven times more, if you
will not be reformed;</i> so it was written in the law, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.23-Lev.26.24" parsed="|Lev|26|23|26|24" passage="Le 26:23,24">Lev. xxvi. 23, 24</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p20" shownumber="no">2. How he awakens them therefore to think
of making their peace with God: "<i>Seeing I will do this unto
thee,</i> and there is no remedy, <i>prepare to meet they God, O
Israel!</i>" that is, (1.) "Consider how unable thou art to meet
him as a combatant." Some make it to be spoken by way of irony or
challenge: "Prepare to meet God, who is coming forth to contend
with thee. What armour of proof canst thou put on? What courage
canst thou steel thyself with? Alas! it is but putting <i>briers
and thorns</i> before a consuming fire, <scripRef id="Amos.v-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.4-Isa.27.5" parsed="|Isa|27|4|27|5" passage="Isa 27:4,5">Isa. xxvii. 4, 5</scripRef>. Art thou able with less
than 10,000 to meet him that comes forth against thee with more
than 20,000?" <scripRef id="Amos.v-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.31" parsed="|Luke|14|31|0|0" passage="Lu 14:31">Luke xiv. 31</scripRef>.
(2.) "Resolve therefore to meet him as a penitent, as a humble
suppliant, to meet him as <i>thy God,</i> in covenant with thee, to
submit, and stand it out no longer." We must prepare to <i>meet God
in the way of his judgments</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.v-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.8" parsed="|Isa|26|8|0|0" passage="Isa 26:8">Isa.
xxvi. 8</scripRef>), to <i>take hold on his strength, that we may
make peace.</i> Note, Since we cannot flee from God we are
concerned to prepare to meet him; and therefore he gives us
warning, that we may prepare. When we are to meet him in his
ordinances we must prepare to meet him, prepare to seek him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.v-p21" shownumber="no">3. How he sets forth the greatness and
power of God as a reason why we should prepare to meet him,
<scripRef id="Amos.v-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.13" parsed="|Amos|4|13|0|0" passage="Am 4:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. If he be such
a God as he is here described to be, it is folly to contend with
him, and our duty and interest to make our peace with him; it is
good having him our friend and bad having him our enemy. (1.) He
<i>formed the mountains,</i> made the earth, the strongest
stateliest parts of it, and by the word of his power still upholds
it and them. Whatever are the products of the everlasting
mountains, he formed them; whatever <i>salvation</i> is <i>hoped
for from hills and mountains,</i> he is the founder of it,
<scripRef id="Amos.v-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.11-Ps.89.12" parsed="|Ps|89|11|89|12" passage="Ps 89:11,12">Ps. lxxxix. 11, 12</scripRef>. He
that formed the <i>great mountains</i> can <i>make them plain,</i>
when they stand in the way of his people's salvation. (2.) He
<i>creates the wind.</i> The power of the air is derived from him,
and directed by him; he brings the wind out of his treasures, and
orders from what point of the compass it shall blow; and he that
made it rules it; even <i>the winds and the seas obey him.</i> (3.)
He <i>declares unto man what is his thought.</i> He makes known his
counsel by his servants the prophets to the children of men, the
thought of his justice against impenitent sinners, and the thought
of good he thinks towards those that repent. He can also make
known, for he perfectly knows, the thought that is in man's heart;
he <i>understands it afar off,</i> and in the day of conviction
will set the evil thoughts among the other sins of sinners <i>in
order before them.</i> (4.) He often <i>makes the morning
darkness,</i> by thick clouds overspreading the sky immediately
after the sun rose bright and glorious; so when we look for
prosperity and joy he can dash our expectations with some
unlooked-for calamity. (5.) He <i>treads upon the high places of
the earth,</i> is not only higher than the highest, but has
dominion over all, tramples upon proud men, and upon the idols that
were worshipped in the highest places. (6.) <i>Jehovah the God of
hosts is his name,</i> for he has his being of himself, and is the
fountain of all being, and all the hosts of heaven and earth are at
his command. Let us humble ourselves before this God, prepare to
meet him, and give all diligence to make him our God, for happy are
the people whose God he is, who have all this power engaged for
them.</p>
</div></div2>