mh_parser/vol_split/30 - Amos/Chapter 8.xml

<div2 id="Amos.ix" n="ix" next="Amos.x" prev="Amos.viii" progress="83.61%" title="Chapter VIII">
<h2 id="Amos.ix-p0.1">A M O S.</h2>
<h3 id="Amos.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Amos.ix-p1" shownumber="no">Sinful times are here attended with sorrowful
times, so necessary is the connexion between them; it is threatened
here again and again that the laughter shall be turned into
mourning. I. By the vision of "basket of summer-fruit" is signified
the hastening on of the ruin threatened (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.1-Amos.8.3" parsed="|Amos|8|1|8|3" passage="Am 8:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>) and that shall change their note.
II. Oppressors are here called to an account for their abusing the
poor; and their destruction is foretold, which will set them a
mourning, <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.4-Amos.8.10" parsed="|Amos|8|4|8|10" passage="Am 8:4-10">ver. 4-10</scripRef>. III.
A famine of the word of God is here made the punishment of a people
that go a whoring after other gods (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.11-Amos.8.14" parsed="|Amos|8|11|8|14" passage="Am 8:11-14">ver. 11-14</scripRef>); yet for this, which is the
most mournful judgment of all, they are not here brought in
mourning.</p>
<scripCom id="Amos.ix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8" parsed="|Amos|8|0|0|0" passage="Am 8" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Amos.ix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.1-Amos.8.3" parsed="|Amos|8|1|8|3" passage="Am 8:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.ix-p1.6">
<h4 id="Amos.ix-p1.7">The Vision of Summer Fruit. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p1.8">b. c.</span> 785.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.ix-p2" shownumber="no">1 Thus hath the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p2.1">God</span> shewed unto me: and behold a basket of
summer fruit.   2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p2.2">Lord</span> unto me, The end is come upon my people of
Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.   3 And the
songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p2.3">God</span>: <i>there shall be</i> many dead
bodies in every place; they shall cast <i>them</i> forth with
silence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p3" shownumber="no">The great reason why sinners defer their
repentance <i>de die in diem—from day to day,</i> is because they
think God thus defers his judgments, and there is no song wherewith
they so effectually sing themselves asleep as that, <i>My Lord
delays his coming;</i> and therefore God, by his prophets,
frequently represents to Israel the day of his wrath not only as
just and certain, but as very near and hastening on apace; so he
does in these verses.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p4" shownumber="no">I. The approach of the threatened ruin is
represented by <i>a basket of summer-fruit</i> which Amos saw in
vision; for the Lord <i>showed it</i> to him (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.1" parsed="|Amos|8|1|0|0" passage="Am 8:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) and obliged him to take notice of
it (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.2" parsed="|Amos|8|2|0|0" passage="Am 8:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Amos,
what seest thou?</i> Note, It concerns us to enquire whether we do
indeed see that which God has been pleased to show us, and hear
what he has been pleased to say to us; for many a thing God speaks,
God shows <i>once, yea twice,</i> and men <i>perceive it not.</i>
Are we in the midst of the visions of the Almighty? Let us consider
what we see. He saw <i>a basket of summer-fruit</i> gathered and
ready to be eaten, which signified, 1. That they were ripe for
destruction, rotten ripe, and it was time for God to put in the
sickle of his judgments and to cut them off; nay, the thing was in
effect done already, and they lay ready to be eaten up. 2. That the
year of God's patience was drawing towards a conclusion; it was
autumn with them, and their year would quickly have its period in a
dismal winter. 3. Those we call <i>summer-fruits</i> that will not
keep till winter, but must be used immediately, an emblem of this
people, that had nothing solid or consistent in them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p5" shownumber="no">II. The intent and meaning of this vision
is no more than this: It signifies that <i>the end has come upon my
people Israel.</i> The word that signifies <i>the end</i> is
<i>ketz,</i> which is of near affinity with <i>kitz,</i> the word
used for <i>summer-fruit.</i> God has long spared them, and borne
with them, but now his patience is tired out; they are indeed
<i>his people Israel,</i> but their end, that <i>latter end</i>
they have been so often reminded of, but have so long forgotten,
has now come. Note, If sinners do not make an end of sin, God will
make an end of them, yea though they be <i>his people Israel.</i>
What was said <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.8" parsed="|Amos|7|8|0|0" passage="Am 7:8"><i>ch.</i> vii.
8</scripRef> is here repeated as God's determined resolution, <i>I
will not again pass by them any more;</i> they shall not be
connived at as they have been, nor the judgment coming turned
away.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p6" shownumber="no">III. The consequence of this shall be a
universal desolation (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.3" parsed="|Amos|8|3|0|0" passage="Am 8:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): When <i>the end</i> shall come sorrow and death
shall ride in triumph; they are accustomed to go together, and
shall at length go away together, when in heaven <i>there shall be
no more death, nor sorrow,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.4" parsed="|Rev|21|4|0|0" passage="Re 21:4">Rev.
xxi. 4</scripRef>. But here in a sinful world, in a sinful nation,
1. Sorrow reigns, reigns to such a degree that <i>the songs of the
temple shall be howlings</i>—the songs of God's temple at
Jerusalem, or rather of their idol-temples, where they used, when,
in honour of the golden calves, they had <i>eaten and drunk,</i> to
<i>rise up to play.</i> They were perhaps wanton profane songs; and
it is certain that sooner or later those will be turned into
howlings. Or, if they had a sound and show of piety and religion,
yet, not coming from the heart, nor being sung to the glory of God,
he valued them not, but would justly turn them into howlings. Note,
Mourning will follow sinful mirth, yea, and sacred mirth too, it if
be not sincere. And, when God's judgments are abroad, they will
soon turn the greatest joy into the greatest heaviness, the
temple-songs, which used to sound so pleasantly, not only into
sighs and groans, but into loud howlings, which sound dismally.
They shall come to the temple, and, finding that in ruins, there
they shall howl most bitterly. 2. Death reigns, reigns to such a
degree that there shall be <i>dead bodies, many</i> dead bodies
<i>in every place</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.6" parsed="|Ps|110|6|0|0" passage="Ps 110:6">Ps. cx.
6</scripRef>), slain by sword or pestilence, so many that the
survivors shall not bury them with the usual pomp and solemnity of
funerals; they shall not so much as have the bell tolled, but they
shall <i>cast them forth with silence,</i> shall bury them in the
dead of the night, and charge all about them to be silent and to
take notice of it, either because they have not wherewithal to bear
the charges of a funeral, or because, the killing disease being
infectious, none will come near them, or for fear the enemy should
be provoked, if they should be known to lament their slain. Or they
shall charge themselves and one another silently to submit to the
hand of God in these desolating judgments, and not to repine and
quarrel with him. Or it may be taken not for a patient, but a
sullen silence; their hearts shall be hardened, and all these
judgments shall not extort from them one word of acknowledgment
either of God's righteousness or their own unrighteousness.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.ix-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.4-Amos.8.10" parsed="|Amos|8|4|8|10" passage="Am 8:4-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.ix-p6.5">
<h4 id="Amos.ix-p6.6">The Sin and Doom of
Oppressors. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p6.7">b. c.</span> 785.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.ix-p7" shownumber="no">4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy,
even to make the poor of the land to fail,   5 Saying, When
will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath,
that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel
great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?   6 That we may
buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
<i>yea,</i> and sell the refuse of the wheat?   7 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p7.1">Lord</span> hath sworn by the excellency of
Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.   8
Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that
dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it
shall be cast out and drowned, as <i>by</i> the flood of Egypt.
  9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p7.2">God</span>, that I will cause the sun to go
down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:  
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs
into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and
baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an
only <i>son,</i> and the end thereof as a bitter day.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p8" shownumber="no">God is here contending with proud
oppressors, and showing them,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p9" shownumber="no">I. The heinousness of the sin they were
guilty of; in short, they had the character of the unjust judge
(<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.2" parsed="|Luke|18|2|0|0" passage="Lu 18:2">Luke xviii. 2</scripRef>) that neither
<i>feared God</i> nor <i>regarded man.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p10" shownumber="no">1. Observe them in their devotions, and you
will say, "They had no reverence for God." Bad as they are, they do
indeed keep up a show and form of godliness; they observe the
<i>sabbath</i> and the <i>new moon;</i> they put some difference
between those days and other days, but they were soon weary of
them, and had no affection at all to them, for their hearts were
wholly set upon the world and the things of it. It is a sad
character which this gives of them, that they said, <i>When will
the sabbath be gone, that we may sell corn?</i> Yet is still the
character of many that are called Christians. (1.) They were weary
of sabbath days. "When will they be <i>gone?</i>" They were weary
of the restraints of the sabbaths and the new-moons, and wished
them over because they might <i>do no servile work therein.</i>
They were weary of the work or business of the sabbaths and
new-moons, snuffed at it (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.13" parsed="|Mal|1|13|0|0" passage="Mal 1:13">Mal. i.
13</scripRef>), and were, as <i>Doeg, detained before the Lord</i>
(<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.21.7" parsed="|1Sam|21|7|0|0" passage="1Sa 21:7">1 Sam. xxi. 7</scripRef>); they would
rather have been any where else than about God's altars. Note,
Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that
are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity. Can we
spend our time better than in communication with God? And how much
time do we spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be
gone before we have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it?
Why then should we be in such haste to part with it? (2.) They were
fond of market-days: they longed to be <i>selling corn</i> and
<i>setting forth wheat.</i> When they were employed in religious
services they were thinking of their marketings; their hearts
<i>went after their covetousness</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.33.31" parsed="|Ezek|33|31|0|0" passage="Eze 33:31">Ezek. xxxiii. 31</scripRef>), and thus made my Father's
house a house of merchandise, nay, a den of thieves. They were
weary of holy duties because their worldly business stood still the
while; in this they were as in their element, but in God's
sanctuary as a fish upon dry ground. Note, Those are strangers to
God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than
sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping
God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p11" shownumber="no">2. Observe them in their conversations, and
you will see they have no regard to man; and this commonly follows
upon the former; those that have lost the savour of piety will not
long retain the sense of common honesty. They neither <i>do
justly</i> nor <i>love mercy.</i> (1.) They cheat those they deal
with. When they <i>sell their corn</i> they impose upon the buyer,
both in giving out the goods and in receiving the money for them.
They measure him the corn by their own measure, and pretend to give
him what he agreed for, but they <i>make the ephah small.</i> The
measure is scanty, and not statute-measure, and so they wrong him
that way. When they receive his money they must weigh fit in their
own scales, by their own weights, and the <i>shekel</i> they weigh
by is above standard: <i>They make the shekel great,</i> so that
the money, being found too light, must have more added to it; and
so they cheat that way too, and this under colour and pretence of
exactness in doing justice. By such wicked practices as these men
show such a greediness of the world, such a love of themselves,
such a contempt of mankind in general, of the particular persons
they deal with, and of the sacred laws of justice, as prove them to
have in their hearts neither the fear nor the love of that God who
has so plainly said that <i>false weights and balances are an
abomination to him.</i> Another instance of their fraudulent
dealing is that they <i>sell the refuse of the wheat,</i> and,
taking advantage of their neighbour's ignorance or necessity, make
them take it at the same price at which they sell the <i>finest of
the wheat.</i> (2.) They are barbarous and unmerciful to the poor:
<i>They swallow up the needy,</i> and <i>make the poor of the land
to fail.</i> [1.] They valued themselves so much on their wealth
that they looked upon all that were poor with the highest contempt
imaginable; they hated them, could not endure them, but abandoned
them, and therefore did what they could to make them cease, not by
relieving them to make them cease to be poor, but by banishing and
destroying them to make them cease to be, or at least to be in
their land. But he who thus <i>reproaches the poor despises his
Maker,</i> in whose hands <i>rich and poor meet together.</i> [2.]
They were so eager to increase their wealth, and make it more, that
they robbed the poor to enrich themselves; and they fastened upon
the poor, to <i>make a prey</i> of them, because they were not able
to obtain any redress nor to resist or revenge the violence of
their oppressors. Those riches that are got by the ruin of the poor
will bring ruin on those that get them. They swallowed up the poor
by making them hard bargains, and cheating them in those bargains;
for <i>therefore</i> they <i>falsify the balances by deceit,</i>
not only that they <i>may enrich themselves,</i> may have money at
command, and so may have every thing else (as they think) at
command too, but that they may impoverish those about them, and
bring them so low that they may force them to become slaves to
them, and so, having drained them of every thing else, they may
have their labour for nothing, or next to nothing. Thus <i>they buy
the poor for silver;</i> they bring them and their <i>children into
bondage,</i> because they have not wherewithal to pay for the corn
they have bought; see <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.2-Neh.5.5" parsed="|Neh|5|2|5|5" passage="Ne 5:2-5">Neh. v.
2-5</scripRef>. And there were so many that they were reduced to
this extremity that the price was very low; and the oppressors had
beaten it down so that you might buy a poor man to be your slave
<i>for a pair of shoes.</i> Property was first invaded and then
liberty; it is the method of oppressors first to make men beggars
and then to make them their vassals. Thus is the dignity of the
human nature lost in the misery of those that are trampled on and
the tenderness of it in the sin of those that trample on them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p12" shownumber="no">II. The grievousness of the punishment that
shall be inflicted on them for this sin. When the poor are injured
they will <i>cry unto God,</i> and he will hear their cry, and
reckon with those that are injurious to them, for, they being his
receivers, he takes the wrongs done to them as done to himself,
<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.23-Exod.22.24" parsed="|Exod|22|23|22|24" passage="Ex 22:23,24">Exod. xxii. 23, 24</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p13" shownumber="no">1. God will remember their sin against
them: <i>He has sworn by the excellency of Jacob</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.7" parsed="|Amos|8|7|0|0" passage="Am 8:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), by himself, for he can
swear by no greater; and who but he is the glory and magnificence
of Jacob? He has sworn by those tokens of his presence with them,
and his favour to them, which they had profaned and abused, and had
done what they could to make them detestable to him; for he is said
(<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.6.8" parsed="|Amos|6|8|0|0" passage="Am 6:8"><i>ch.</i> vi. 8</scripRef>) to
<i>abhor the excellency of Jacob.</i> He swears <i>in his
wrath,</i> swears by his own name, that name which was so well
known and was so great in Israel. He swears, <i>Surely I will never
forget any of their works,</i> but upon all occasions they shall be
remembered against them, for more is implied than is expressed.
<i>I will never forget them</i> is as much as to say, <i>I will
never forgive them;</i> and then it proclaims the case of these
unjust unmerciful men to be miserable indeed, eternally miserable;
woe, and a thousand woes, to that man that is cut off by an oath of
God from all benefit by pardoning mercy; and those have reason to
fear judgment without mercy that have <i>shown no mercy.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p14" shownumber="no">2. He will bring utter ruin and confusion
upon them. It is here described largely, and in a great variety of
emphatic expressions, that, if possible, they might be frightened
into a sincere repentance and reformation. (1.) There shall be a
universal terror and consternation: <i>Shall not the land tremble
for this</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.8" parsed="|Amos|8|8|0|0" passage="Am 8:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
<i>this land,</i> out of which you thought to drive the poor?
<i>Shall not every one mourn that dwells therein?</i> Certainly he
shall. Note, Those that will not tremble and mourn as they ought
for national sins shall be made to tremble and mourn for national
judgments; those that look without concern upon the sins of the
oppressors, which should make them tremble, and upon the miseries
of the oppressed, which should them mourn, God will find out a way
to make them tremble at the fury of those that oppress them and
mourn for their own losses and sufferings by it. (2.) There shall
be a universal deluge and desolation. When God comes forth against
them the waters of trouble and calamity shall <i>rise up wholly as
a flood,</i> that swells, when it is dammed up, and soon overflows
its banks. Every thing shall make against them. That with which
they thought to check the progress of God's judgments shall but
make them rise the higher. Judgments shall force their way as the
<i>breaking forth of waters.</i> The whole land <i>shall be cast
out, and drowned,</i> and laid under water, as the land of Egypt is
every year by the overflowing of its river Nile. Or the expressions
may allude to some former judgments of God. Their ruin <i>shall
rise up wholly as a flood,</i> as Noah's flood, which overwhelmed
the whole world, so shall this the whole land; and the land shall
be <i>cast out, and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt,</i> as
Pharaoh and his Egyptians were buried in the Red Sea, which was to
them the <i>flood of Egypt,</i> both which judgments, as this which
is here threatened, were the punishment of violence and oppression,
which the Lord is the avenger of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p15" shownumber="no">3. It shall surprise them, and come upon
them when they little think of it (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.9" parsed="|Amos|8|9|0|0" passage="Am 8:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>I will cause the sun to go
down at noon,</i> when it is in its full strength and lustre, at
their noon, when they promise themselves a long afternoon, and
think they have at least half a day good before them. The
<i>earth</i> shall be <i>darkened in the clear day,</i> when every
thing looks pleasant and hopeful." Thus uncertain are all our
creature-comforts and enjoyments, even life itself; the highest
degree of health and prosperity often proves the next degree to
sickness and adversity; Job's sun <i>went down at noon;</i> many
are taken away in the midst of their days, and their sun goes down
at noon. In the midst of life we are in death. Thus <i>terrible</i>
are the judgments of God to those that sleep in security; they are
to them as the sun's <i>going down at noon;</i> the less they are
expected the more confounding they are. When they <i>cry Peace and
safety</i> then <i>sudden destruction</i> comes, comes <i>as a
snare,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.35" parsed="|Luke|21|35|0|0" passage="Lu 21:35">Luke xxi.
35</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p16" shownumber="no">4. It shall change their note, and mar all
their mirth (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.10" parsed="|Amos|8|10|0|0" passage="Am 8:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
<i>I will turn your feasts into mourning,</i> as (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.3" parsed="|Amos|8|3|0|0" passage="Am 8:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) the <i>songs of the temple
into howlings.</i> Note, The end of the sinner's mirth and jollity
is heaviness. As <i>to the upright there arises light in the
darkness,</i> which gives them <i>the oil of joy for mourning,</i>
so on the wicked there falls darkness in the midst of light, which
turns their <i>laughter into mourning,</i> their <i>joy into
heaviness.</i> So great, so general, shall the desolation be, that
<i>sackcloth shall be brought upon all loins, and baldness upon
every head,</i> instead of the <i>well-set hair</i> and the rich
garments they used to wear. The mourning at that day shall be as
<i>mourning for an only son,</i> which denotes the most bitter and
lasting lamentation. But are there then no hopes that when things
are at the worst they will mend, and that at evening time it will
yet be light? No, even <i>the end thereof shall be as a bitter
day,</i> a day of bitter mourning; that state of impenitent sinners
grows worse and worse, and the last of all will be the worst of
all. <i>This shall you have at my hand, you shall lie down in
sorrow.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.ix-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.11-Amos.8.14" parsed="|Amos|8|11|8|14" passage="Am 8:11-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.ix-p16.4">
<h4 id="Amos.ix-p16.5">Spiritual Famine Threatened; Judgments
Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p16.6">b. c.</span> 785.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.ix-p17" shownumber="no">11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p17.1">God</span>, that I will send a famine in the
land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing
the words of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p17.2">Lord</span>:   12 And
they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the
east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.ix-p17.3">Lord</span>, and shall not find <i>it.</i>  
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for
thirst.   14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say,
Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even
they shall fall, and never rise up again.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p18" shownumber="no">In these verses is threatened,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p19" shownumber="no">I. A general judgment of spiritual famine
coming upon the whole land, a <i>famine of the word of God,</i> the
failing of oracles and the scarcity of good preaching. This is
spoken of as a thing at some distance: <i>The days come,</i> they
will come hereafter, when another kind of darkness shall come upon
that land of light. When Amos prophesied, and for a considerable
time after, they had great plenty of prophets, abundant
opportunities of <i>hearing the word of God,</i> in season and out
of season; they had precept upon precept and line upon line;
prophecy was their daily bread; and it is probable that they
surfeited upon it, as Israel on the manna, and therefore God
threatens that hereafter he will deprive them of this privilege.
Probably in the land of Israel there were not so many prophets,
about the time that their destruction came upon them, as there were
in the land of Judah; and when the ten tribes went into captivity
they <i>saw not their signs,</i> there were <i>no more any
prophets,</i> none to <i>show them how long,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.9" parsed="|Ps|74|9|0|0" passage="Ps 74:9">Ps. lxxiv. 9</scripRef>. The Jewish church, after
Malachi, had no prophets for many ages; and some think this
threatening looks further yet, to the blindness which has in part
happened to Israel in the days of the Messiah, and the veil that is
on the heart of the unbelieving Jews. They reject the gospel, and
the ministers of it that God sends to them, and covet to have
prophets of their own, as their fathers had, but they shall have
none, <i>the kingdom of God</i> being <i>taken from them</i> and
<i>given to another people.</i> Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p20" shownumber="no">1. What the judgment itself is that is
threatened. It is a famine, a scarcity, not of bread and water
(which are the necessary support of the body, and the want of which
is very grievous), but a much sorer judgment than that, even a
<i>famine of hearing the words of the Lord.</i> There shall be no
congregations for ministers to preach to, nor any ministers to
preach, nor any instructions and abilities given to those that do
set up for preachers, to fit them for their work. The <i>word of
the Lord</i> shall be <i>precious</i> and scarce; there shall be no
<i>vision,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.1" parsed="|1Sam|3|1|0|0" passage="1Sa 3:1">1 Sam. iii.
1</scripRef>. They shall have the written word, Bibles to read, but
no ministers to explain and apply it to them, the water in the
well, but nothing to draw with. It is a gracious promise (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.20" parsed="|Isa|30|20|0|0" passage="Isa 30:20">Isa. xxx. 20</scripRef>) that though they have
a scarcity of bread they shall have plenty of the means of grace.
God will <i>give them the bread of adversity and the water of
affliction,</i> but their eyes shall see their teachers; and it was
a common saying among the Puritans that brown bread and the gospel
are good fare. But it is here a threatening that on the contrary
they should have plenty enough of bread and water, and yet their
teachers should be removed. Now, (1.) This was the departure of a
great part of their glory from their land. This made their nation
great and high, that <i>to them were committed the oracles of
God;</i> but, when these were taken from them, their beauty was
stained and their honour laid in the dust. (2.) This was a token of
God's highest displeasure against them. Surely he was angry indeed
with them when he would no more speak to them as he had done, and
had abandoned them to ruin when he would no more afford them the
means of bringing them to repentance. (3.) This made all the other
calamities that were upon them truly melancholy, that they had no
prophets to instruct and comfort them from the word of God, nor to
give them any hopeful prospect. We should say at any time, and
shall say in a time of trouble, that a famine of the word of God is
the sorest famine, the heaviest judgment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p21" shownumber="no">2. What will be the effect of this
(<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.12" parsed="|Amos|8|12|0|0" passage="Am 8:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>They
shall wander from sea to sea,</i> from the sea of Tiberias to the
Great Sea, from one border of the country to another, to see if God
will send them prophets, either by sea or land, from other
countries; since they have none among themselves, they shall go
from the <i>north to the east;</i> when they are disappointed in
one place they shall try another, and shall <i>run to and fro,</i>
as men at a loss, and in a hot pursuit to <i>seek the word of the
Lord,</i> to enquire if there be any prophets, any prophecy, any
message from God, but they <i>shall not find it.</i> (1.) Though to
many this is no affliction at all, yet some will be very sensible
of it as a great grievance, and will gladly travel far to hear a
good sermon; but they shall sensibly feel the loss of those mercies
which others have foolishly sinned away. (2.) Even those that
slighted prophets when they had them shall wish for them as Saul
did for Samuel, when they are deprived of them. Many never know the
worth of mercies till they feel the want of them. Or it may be
meant thus, Though they should thus wander from sea to sea, in
quest of the word of God, yet shall they not find it. Note, The
means of grace are moveable things; and the candlestick, when we
think it stands most firmly, may be removed out of its place
(<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.5" parsed="|Rev|2|5|0|0" passage="Re 2:5">Rev. ii. 5</scripRef>); and those that
now slight the <i>days of the son of man</i> may wish in vain to
see them. And <i>in the day</i> of this famine <i>the fair virgins
and the young men shall faint for thirst</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.ix-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.13" parsed="|Amos|8|13|0|0" passage="Am 8:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); those who, one would think,
could well enough have borne the toil, shall sink under it. The
<i>Jewish churches,</i> and the <i>masters of their synagogues,</i>
some take to be meant by the <i>virgins</i> and the <i>young
men;</i> these shall lose the word of the Lord, and the benefit of
divine revelation, and shall faint away for want of it, shall lose
all their strength and beauty. Those that trust in their own merit
and righteousness, and think they have no need of Christ, others
take to be meant by the <i>fair virgins</i> and the <i>choice young
men;</i> they shall <i>faint for thirst,</i> when those that
<i>hunger and thirst after the righteousness</i> of Christ shall be
abundantly satisfied and filled.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.ix-p22" shownumber="no">II. The particular destruction of those
that were ringleaders in idolatry, <scripRef id="Amos.ix-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.14" parsed="|Amos|8|14|0|0" passage="Am 8:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Observe, 1. The sin they are
charged with: They <i>swear by the sin of Samaria,</i> that is, by
the god of Samaria, the idol that was worshipped at Bethel, not far
off from Samaria. Thus did they glory in their shame, and swear by
them as their god which was their iniquity, thinking that could
help them which would certainly ruin them, and giving the highest
honour to that which they should have looked upon with the utmost
abhorrence and detestation. They say, <i>Thy god, O Dan!
liveth;</i> that was the other golden calf, a dumb deal idol, and
yet caressed and complimented as if it had been the living and true
God. They say, <i>The manner,</i> or way, of <i>Beer-sheba
liveth;</i> they swore by the <i>religion</i> of Beer-sheba, the
way and manner of worship used there, which they looked upon as
sacred, and therefore swore by and appealed to as a judge of
controversy. Thus the papists swear by the mass, as the <i>manner
of Beer-sheba.</i> 2. The destruction they are threatened with.
Those who thus give that honour to idols which is due to God alone
will find that the God they affront is thereby made their enemy, so
that <i>they shall fall,</i> and the gods they serve cannot stand
their friends, so that they shall <i>never rise again.</i> They
will find that God is jealous and will resent the indignity done
him, and that he will be victorious and it is to no purpose to
contend with him.</p>
</div></div2>