mh_parser/vol_split/30 - Amos/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Amos.iii" n="iii" next="Amos.iv" prev="Amos.ii" progress="81.53%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Amos.iii-p0.1">A M O S.</h2>
<h3 id="Amos.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Amos.iii-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter, I. God, by the prophet, proceeds
in a like controversy with Moab as before with other nations,
<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.1-Amos.2.3" parsed="|Amos|2|1|2|3" passage="Am 2:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. He shows what
quarrel he had with Judah, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.4-Amos.2.5" parsed="|Amos|2|4|2|5" passage="Am 2:4,5">ver. 4,
5</scripRef>. III. He at length begins his charge against Israel,
to which all that goes before is but an introduction. Observe, 1.
The sins they are charged with—injustice, oppression, whoredom,
<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.6-Amos.2.8" parsed="|Amos|2|6|2|8" passage="Am 2:6-8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>. 2. The
aggravations of those sins—the temporal and spiritual mercies God
had bestowed upon them, for which they had made him such ungrateful
returns, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.9-Amos.2.12" parsed="|Amos|2|9|2|12" passage="Am 2:9-12">ver. 9-12</scripRef>. 3.
God's complaint of them for their sins (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.13" parsed="|Amos|2|13|0|0" passage="Am 2:13">ver. 13</scripRef>) and his threatenings of their ruin,
and their utter inability to prevent it, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.14-Amos.2.16" parsed="|Amos|2|14|2|16" passage="Am 2:14-16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Amos.iii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2" parsed="|Amos|2|0|0|0" passage="Am 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Amos.iii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.1-Amos.2.8" parsed="|Amos|2|1|2|8" passage="Am 2:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.iii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Amos.iii-p1.10">The Judgment of Moab and of Judah; The
Judgment of Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.iii-p2" shownumber="no">1 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p2.1">Lord</span>; For three transgressions of Moab, and for
four, I will not turn away <i>the punishment</i> thereof; because
he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:   2 But I
will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of
Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, <i>and</i>
with the sound of the trumpet:   3 And I will cut off the
judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof
with him, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p2.2">Lord</span>.   4
Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p2.3">Lord</span>; For three
transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away <i>the
punishment</i> thereof; because they have despised the law of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p2.4">Lord</span>, and have not kept his
commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which
their fathers have walked:   5 But I will send a fire upon
Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.   6 Thus
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p2.5">Lord</span>; For three
transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away <i>the
punishment</i> thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver,
and the poor for a pair of shoes;   7 That pant after the dust
of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the
meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the <i>same</i>
maid, to profane my holy name:   8 And they lay
<i>themselves</i> down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar,
and they drink the wine of the condemned <i>in</i> the house of
their god.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p3" shownumber="no">Here is, I. The judgment of Moab, another
of the nations that bordered upon Israel. They are reckoned with
and shall be punished <i>for three transgressions and for four,</i>
as those before. Now, 1. Moab's fourth transgression, as theirs who
were before set to the bar, was cruelty. The instance given refers
not to the people of God, but to a heathen like themselves: The
king of Moab <i>burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime.</i>
We find there was war between the Edomites and the Moabites, in
which the king of Moab, in distress and rage, offered his own son
for a burnt-offering, to appease his deity, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.3.26-2Kgs.3.27" parsed="|2Kgs|3|26|3|27" passage="2Ki 3:26,27">2 Kings iii. 26, 27</scripRef>. And it should seem
that afterwards he, or some of his successors, in revenge upon the
Edomites for bringing him to that extremity, having an advantage
against the <i>king of Edom,</i> seized him alive and burnt him to
ashes, or slew him and burnt his body, or dug up the bones of their
dead king, of that particularly who had so straitened him, and, in
token of his rage and fury, <i>burnt them to lime.</i> and perhaps
made use of the powder of his bones for the white-washing of the
walls and ceilings of his palace, that he might please himself with
the sight of that monument of his revenge. <i>Est vindicta bonum
vita jucundius ipsa—Revenge is sweeter than life itself.</i> It is
barbarous to abuse human bodies, for we ourselves also are <i>in
the body;</i> it is senseless to abuse dead bodies, nay, it is
impious, for we believe and look for their resurrection; and to
abuse the dead bodies of kings (whose persons and names ought to be
in a particular manner respected and had in veneration) is an
affront to majesty; it is an argument of a base spirit for those to
trample upon a dead lion who, were he alive, would tremble before
him. 2. Moab's doom for this transgression is, (1.) A judgment of
death. Those that deal cruelly shall be cruelly dealt with
(<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.2" parsed="|Amos|2|2|0|0" passage="Am 2:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Moab shall
die;</i> the Moabites shall be cut off with the sword of war, which
kills <i>with tumult, with shouting, and with sound of trumpet,</i>
circumstances that make it so much the more terrible, as the lion's
roaring aggravates his tearing. <i>Every battle of the warrior is
with confused noise,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.5" parsed="|Isa|9|5|0|0" passage="Isa 9:5">Isa. ix.
5</scripRef>. (2.) It is a judgment upon their judge, who had
passed the sentence upon the bones of the king of Edom that they
should be burnt to lime: <i>I will cut him off,</i> says God
(<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.3" parsed="|Amos|2|3|0|0" passage="Am 2:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); he shall know
there is a judge that is higher than he. The king, the chief judge,
and all the inferior judges and princes, shall be cut off together.
If the people sometimes suffer for the sin of their princes, yet
the princes themselves shall not escape, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.48.47" parsed="|Jer|48|47|0|0" passage="Jer 48:47">Jer. xlviii. 47</scripRef>. <i>Thus far is the judgment
of Moab.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p4" shownumber="no">II. Judah also is a near neighbour to
Israel, and therefore, now that justice is riding the circuit, that
shall not be passed by; that nation has made itself like the
heathen and mingled with them, and therefore the indictment here
runs against them in the same form in which it had run against all
the rest: <i>For these transgressions of Judah, and for four, I
will not turn away the punishment thereof;</i> their sins are as
many as the sins of other nations, and we find them huddled up with
them in the same character, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.26" parsed="|Jer|9|26|0|0" passage="Jer 9:26">Jer. ix.
26</scripRef>, "As for <i>Egypt, and Judah, and Edom,</i> jumble
them together; they are all alike;" the sentence here also is the
same (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.5" parsed="|Amos|2|5|0|0" passage="Am 2:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>I
will send a fire upon Judah,</i> though it is the land where God is
known, and it shall <i>devour the palaces of Jerusalem,</i> though
it is the holy city, and God has formerly been <i>known in its
palaces for a refuge,</i>" <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.48.3" parsed="|Ps|48|3|0|0" passage="Ps 48:3">Ps. xlviii.
3</scripRef>. But the sin here charged upon Judah is different from
all the rest. The other nations were reckoned with for injuries
done to men, but Judah is reckoned with for indignities done to
God, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.4" parsed="|Amos|2|4|0|0" passage="Am 2:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. 1. They put
contempt upon his statutes and persisted in disobedience to them:
<i>They have despised the law of the Lord,</i> as if it were not
worth taking notice of, nor had any thing in it valuable; and
herein they despised the wisdom, justice, and goodness, as well as
the authority and sovereignty, of the Lawmaker; this they did, in
effect, when they <i>kept not his commandments,</i> made no
conscience of them, took no care about them. 2. They put honour
upon his rivals, their idols, here called <i>their lies</i> which
caused <i>them to err;</i> for <i>an image is a teacher of
lies,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.18" parsed="|Hab|2|18|0|0" passage="Hab 2:18">Hab. ii. 18</scripRef>. And
those that are led away into the error of idolatry are by that led
into a multitude of other errors, <i>Uno dato absurdo mille
sequuntur—One absurdity draws after it a thousand.</i> God is an
infinite eternal Spirit; but, when the <i>truth of God</i> is by
idolatry <i>changed into a lie,</i> all his other truths are in
danger of being so changed likewise; thus their idols caused them
to err, and God justly gave them up to strong delusions; nor was it
any excuse for their sin that they were lies <i>after which their
father walked,</i> for they should rather have taken warning than
taken pattern by those that perished with these <i>lies in their
right hand.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p5" shownumber="no">III. We now at length come to <i>the
words</i> which <i>Amos saw concerning Israel.</i> The reproofs and
threatenings having walked the round, here they centre, here they
settle. He begins with them as with the rest: <i>For three
transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof;</i> if all these nations must be punished for
their iniquities, shall Israel go unpunished? Observe here what
their sins were, for which God would reckon with them. 1.
Perverting justice. This was the sin of those who were entrusted
with the administration of justice, the judges and magistrates, and
all parties concerned. They made nothing of selling a righteous
man, and his righteous cause when it came to be tried before them,
for a piece of silver; sentence was passed, not according to the
merits of the cause, but the bribe always turned the scale, and
judgment was set to sale by auction to the highest bidder. They
would sell the life and livelihood of a <i>poor</i> man <i>for a
pair of shoes,</i> for the least advantage to themselves that could
be proposed to them; give them but a <i>pair of shoes,</i> and the
cause of a poor man, who could not give them as much as that,
should be betrayed, and left at the mercy of those that will have
no mercy. They will rather play at small game that sit out. <i>For
a piece of bread such a man will transgress.</i> Note, Those who
will wrong their consciences for any thing will come at length to
do it for next to nothing; those who begin to sell justice for
silver will in time be so sordid as to see it <i>for a pair of
shoes,</i> for a pair of old shoes. 2. Oppressing the poor, and
seeking to benefit themselves by doing them a mischief: <i>They
pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor;</i> they
swallow up the poor with the utmost greediness, and make a prey of
those that are in sorrow with dust on their heads, poor orphans
that are in mourning for their parents; they catch at them to get
their estates into their hands; they never rest till they have got
the heads of the poor in the dust, to be trodden on. Or, <i>They
pant after the dust of the earth,</i> that is, silver and gold,
white and yellow dust; they covet it earnestly, and levy it <i>upon
the head of the poor</i> by their unjust exactions. Note, Men's
seeking to enrich themselves by the impoverishing of others is a
transgression which God will not long <i>turn away the punishment
of.</i> This is <i>turning aside the way of the meek,</i>
contriving to do injury to those who, they know, are mild and
patient and will bear injury. They invade their rights, break their
measures, and obstruct the course of justice in favour of them, not
suffering them to go on with their righteous cause; this is
<i>turning aside their way.</i> Note, The more patiently men bear
injuries that are done them the greater is the sin of those that
injure them, and the more occasion they have to expect that God
will give them redress, and take vengeance for them. I, <i>as a
deaf man, heard not,</i> and then <i>thou wilt hear.</i> 3.
Abominable uncleanness, even incest itself, such as it not named
among the Gentiles, that <i>a man should have his father's wife</i>
(<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0" passage="1Co 5:1">1 Cor. v. 1</scripRef>), his father's
concubine: <i>A man and his father will go in unto the same young
woman,</i> as black an instance as any other of an unbounded
promiscuous lust; and yet where the former iniquities of oppression
and extortion are this also is found; for laws of modesty seldom
hold those that have broken the bands of justice and <i>cast away
its cords</i> from them. This wickedness is such a scandal to
religion, and the profession of it, that those who are guilty of it
are looked upon as designing thereby to <i>profane God's holy
name,</i> and to render it odious among the heathen, as if he
countenanced the villainies which those who pretend relation to him
allow themselves in, and were altogether such a one as they. 4.
Regaling themselves and yet pretending to honour their God with
that which they had got by oppression and extortion, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.8" parsed="|Amos|2|8|0|0" passage="Am 2:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They add idolatry to their
injustice, and then think to atone for their injustice with their
idolatry. (1.) They make merry with that which they have unjustly
squeezed from the poor. They <i>lay themselves down</i> at ease,
and in state, and stretch themselves upon <i>clothes laid to
pledge,</i> which they ought to have restored the same night,
according to the law, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.12-Deut.24.13" parsed="|Deut|24|12|24|13" passage="De 24:12,13">Deut. xxiv.
12, 13</scripRef>. And they <i>drink the wine of the condemned,</i>
of such as they have fined and laid heavy mulcts upon, spending
that in sensuality which they have got by injustice. (2.) They
think to make atonement for this by feasting on the gains of
oppression <i>before their altars,</i> and <i>drinking this wine in
the house of their God,</i> in the temples where they worshipped
their calves, as if they would make God a <i>partner in their
crimes</i> by making him a <i>partner of the profits</i> of
them—service good enough for false gods; but the true God will not
thus be mocked; he has declared that he <i>hates robbery for
burnt-offerings,</i> and cannot be served acceptably but with that
which is got honestly.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Amos.iii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.9-Amos.2.16" parsed="|Amos|2|9|2|16" passage="Am 2:9-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Amos.iii-p5.5">
<h4 id="Amos.iii-p5.6">God's Remonstrance with
Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p5.7">b. c.</span> 790.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Amos.iii-p6" shownumber="no">9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose
height <i>was</i> like the height of the cedars, and he <i>was</i>
strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his
roots from beneath.   10 Also I brought you up from the land
of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to
possess the land of the Amorite.   11 And I raised up of your
sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. <i>Is
it</i> not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p6.1">Lord</span>.   12 But ye gave the Nazarites
wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
  13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed
<i>that is</i> full of sheaves.   14 Therefore the flight
shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen
his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:   15
Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and <i>he that is</i>
swift of foot shall not deliver <i>himself:</i> neither shall he
that rideth the horse deliver himself.   16 And <i>he that
is</i> courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that
day, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Amos.iii-p6.2">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p7" shownumber="no">Here, I. God puts his people Israel in mind
of the great things he has done for them, in putting them into
possession of the land of Canaan, the greatest part of which these
ten tribes now enjoyed, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.9-Amos.2.10" parsed="|Amos|2|9|2|10" passage="Am 2:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9,
10</scripRef>. Note, We need often to be reminded of the mercies we
have received, which are the heaviest aggravations of the sins we
have committed. God gives liberally, and upbraids us not with our
meanness and unworthiness, and the disproportion between his gifts
and our merits; but he justly upbraids us with our ingratitude, and
ill requital of his favours, and tells us what he has done for us,
to shame us for not rendering again according to the benefit done
to us. "<i>Son, remember;</i> Israel, remember, 1. That God brought
thee out of a house of bondage, rescued thee out of the <i>land of
Egypt,</i> where thou wouldst otherwise have perished in slavery."
2. That he <i>led thee forty years</i> through a desert land, and
fed thee in a <i>wilderness,</i> where thou wouldst otherwise have
perished with hunger. Mercies to our ancestors were mercies to us,
for, if they had been cut off, we should not have been. 3. That he
made room for them in Canaan, by extirpating the natives by a
series of wonders little inferior to those by which they were
redeemed out of Egypt: <i>I destroyed the Amorite before them,</i>
here put for all the devoted nations. Observe the magnificence of
the enemies that stood in their way, which is taken notice of, that
God may be the more magnified in the subduing of them. They were of
great stature (<i>whose height was like the height of the
cedars</i>) and the people of Israel were as shrubs to them; and
they were also of great strength, not only tall, but well-set:
<i>He was strong as the oaks.</i> Their kingdom was eminent among
the nations, and over-topped all its neighbours. The supports and
defences of it seemed impregnable; it was as fine as the stately
cedar; it was as firm as the sturdy oak; yet, when God had a vine
to plant there (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.8-Ps.80.9" parsed="|Ps|80|8|80|9" passage="Ps 80:8,9">Ps. lxxx. 8,
9</scripRef>), this Amorite was not only cut down, but plucked up:
<i>I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath,</i>
so that the Amorites were no more a nation, nor ever read of any
more. Thus highly did God value Israel. He gave men <i>for them and
people for their life,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.4" parsed="|Isa|43|4|0|0" passage="Isa 43:4">Isa. xliii.
4</scripRef>. How ungrateful then were those who put such contempt
upon him! 4. That he made them <i>possess the land of the
Amorite,</i> not only put it into their hands, so that they became
masters of it <i>jure belli—by right of conquest,</i> but gave
them a better title to it, so that it became theirs by promise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p8" shownumber="no">II. He likewise upbraids them with the
spiritual privileges and advantages they enjoyed as a holy nation,
<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.11" parsed="|Amos|2|11|0|0" passage="Am 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. They had helps
for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their
temporal enjoyments and were therefore more valuable. It is true
the <i>ten tribes</i> had not God's temple, altar, and priesthood,
and it was their own fault that they deserted them, and for that
they might justly have been left in utter darkness; but God <i>left
not himself without witness,</i> nor them without guides to show
them the way. 1. They had prophets that were powerful instructors
in piety, divinely inspired, and commissioned to make known the
mind of God to them, to show them what is pleasing to God and what
displeasing, to reprove them for their faults and warn them of
their dangers, to direct them in their difficulties and comfort
them in their troubles. God raised them up prophets, animated them
for that work and employed them in it. He <i>raised</i> them <i>up
of their sons,</i> from among themselves, as Moses and Christ were
raised up <i>from among their brethren,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.15" parsed="|Deut|18|15|0|0" passage="De 18:15">Deut. xviii. 15</scripRef>. It was an honour put upon
their nation, and upon their families, that they had children of
their own to be God's messengers to them, of their own language,
not strangers sent from another country, whom they might suspect to
be prejudiced against them and their land, but those who, they
knew, wished well to them. Note, Faithful ministers are great
blessings to any people, and it is God that raises them up to be
so, that they may justly be reckoned an honour to the families they
are of. 2. They had Nazarites that were bright examples of piety:
<i>I raised up of your young men for Nazarites,</i> men that bound
themselves by a vow to God and his service, and, in pursuance of
that, denied themselves many of the lawful delights of sense, as
drinking wine and eating grapes. There were some of their young men
that were in their prime for the enjoyment of the pleasures of this
life and yet voluntarily abridged themselves of them; these God
raised up by the power of his grace, to be <i>monuments of his
grace,</i> to his glory, and to be his witnesses against the
impieties of that degenerate age. Note, It is as great a blessing
to any place to have eminent good Christians in it as to have
eminent good ministers in it; for so they have examples to their
rules. We must acknowledge that it bodes well to any people when
God raises up numbers of hopeful young people among them, when he
makes their young men Nazarites, devout, and conscientious, and
mortified to the pleasures of sense; and those that are such
Nazarites are <i>purer than snow, whiter than milk;</i> they are
indeed the polite young men, for their <i>polishing is of
sapphires,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.7" parsed="|Lam|4|7|0|0" passage="Lam 4:7">Lam. iv. 7</scripRef>.
Those that have such men, such young men, among them, have therein
such an advantage, both for direction and encouragement, to be
religious, as they will be called to an account for another day if
they do not improve. Israel is here reckoned with, not only for the
prophets, but for the Nazarites, raised up among them. Concerning
the truth of this, he appeals to themselves: "<i>Is it not even
thus, O you children of Israel?</i> Can you deny it? Have not you
yourselves been sensible of the advantage you had by the prophets
and Nazarites raised up among you?" Note, Sinners' own consciences
will be witnesses for God that he has not been wanting to them in
the means of grace, so that, if they perish, it is because they
have been wanting to themselves in not improving those means. The
men of Judah shall themselves <i>judge between God and his
vineyard,</i> whether he could have done more for it, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.3-Isa.5.4" parsed="|Isa|5|3|5|4" passage="Isa 5:3,4">Isa. v. 3, 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p9" shownumber="no">III. He charges them with the abuse of the
means of grace they enjoyed, and the opposition they gave to God's
designs in affording them those means, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.12" parsed="|Amos|2|12|0|0" passage="Am 2:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. They were so far from walking in
the light that they rebelled against it, and did what they could to
extinguish it, that it might not shine in their faces, to their
conviction. 1. They did what they could to debauch good people, to
draw them off from their seriousness in devotion and their
strictness in conversation: <i>You gave the Nazarites wine to
drink,</i> contrary to their vow, that, having broken it in that
instance, they might not pretend to keep it in any other. Some they
surprised, or allured into it, and <i>with their much fair speech
caused them to yield;</i> others they forced and frightened into
it, reproached and threatened them if they were more precise than
their neighbours; and, by drawing them in to drink wine, they
spoiled them for Nazarites. Note, Satan and his agents are very
busy to corrupt the minds of young people that look heavenward; and
many that we thought would have been Nazarites they have overcome
by giving them wine to drink, by drawing them in to the love of
mirth and pleasure, and drinking company. Multitudes of young men
that bade fair for eminent professors of religion have <i>erred
through wine,</i> and been undone for ever. And how do the factors
for hell triumph in the debauching of a Nazarite! 2. They did what
they could to silence good ministers, and to stop their mouths:
"<i>You commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not,</i> and
threatened them if they did prophesy (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.12" parsed="|Amos|7|12|0|0" passage="Am 7:12"><i>ch.</i> vii. 12</scripRef>), as if God's messengers
were bound to observe your orders, and might not deliver their
errand unless you gave them leave, and so you not only <i>received
the grace of God,</i> in raising up those prophets, <i>in vain,</i>
but put the highest affront imaginable upon that God in whose name
the prophets spoke." Note, Those have a great deal to answer for
that cannot bear faithful preaching, and those much more that
suppress it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p10" shownumber="no">IV. He complains of the wrong they did him
by their sins (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.13" parsed="|Amos|2|13|0|0" passage="Am 2:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): "<i>I am pressed under you,</i> I am
<i>straitened</i> by you, and can no longer bear it, and therefore
<i>I will ease myself of my adversaries,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" passage="Isa 1:24">Isa. i. 24</scripRef>. <i>I am pressed under you</i> and
the load of your sins <i>as a cart is pressed that is full of
sheaves,</i> is loaded with corn, in the midst of the <i>joy of
harvest,</i> as long as any will lie on." Note, The great God
complains of sin, especially the sins of his professing people, as
a burden to him. He is <i>grieved with this generation</i>
(<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.10" parsed="|Ps|95|10|0|0" passage="Ps 95:10">Ps. xcv. 10</scripRef>), <i>is broken
with their whorish heart</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.9" parsed="|Ezek|6|9|0|0" passage="Eze 6:9">Ezek. vi.
9</scripRef>), a consideration which, if it make not the sinner's
repentance very deep, will make his ruin very great. The great God
that upholds the world, and never complains that his is pressed
under the weight of it (he <i>fainteth not, neither is weary</i>),
yet complains of the sins of Israel, yea, and of their hypocritical
services too, that he is <i>weary of bearing them,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.14" parsed="|Isa|1|14|0|0" passage="Isa 1:14">Isa. i. 14</scripRef>. No wonder the <i>creature
groans being burdened</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.22" parsed="|Rom|8|22|0|0" passage="Ro 8:22">Rom. viii.
22</scripRef>), when the Creator says, <i>I am pressed under
them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Amos.iii-p11" shownumber="no">V. He threatens them with unavoidable ruin.
And so some read, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.13" parsed="|Amos|2|13|0|0" passage="Am 2:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>, "<i>Behold I will press,</i> or straiten, <i>your
place, as a cart full of sheaves presses;</i> they shall be loaded
with judgments till they shall sink under them, and shall make a
noise, as a cart overloaded does." Those that will not submit to
the convictions of the word, that will neither be won by that nor
by the conversation of those about them, shall be made to sink
under the weight of God's judgments. If God load us daily with his
benefits, and we, notwithstanding that, load him with our sins, how
can we expect any other than that he should load us with his
judgments? And it is here threatened in the <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.14-Amos.2.16" parsed="|Amos|2|14|2|16" passage="Am 2:14-16">last three verses</scripRef> that, when God comes
forth to contend with this provoking people, they shall not be able
to stand before him, to flee from him, nor to make their part good
with him; for when God judges he will overcome. Though his patience
be tired out, his power is not, and so the sinner shall find, to
his cost. When the Assyrian army comes to lay the country waste by
sword and captivity none shall escape, but every one shall have his
share in the common desolation. 1. It will be in vain to think of
fleeing from the enemy that comes armed with a commission to make
all desolate: <i>The flight shall perish from the swift;</i> those
that have been famed for happy escapes and happy retreats shall now
find their arts fail them; they shall have no time to flee, or
shall find no way to take, or they shall have no strength or spirit
to attempt it; they shall be at their wits' end, and then they are
soon at their flight's end. Are they, as Asahel, as <i>swift of
foot as a wild roe?</i> (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.2.18" parsed="|2Sam|2|18|0|0" passage="2Sa 2:18">2 Sam. ii.
18</scripRef>), yet, like him, they shall run the faster upon their
own destruction: <i>He that is swift of foot shall not deliver
himself,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.15" parsed="|Amos|2|15|0|0" passage="Am 2:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
Or do they say (as those, <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.16" parsed="|Isa|30|16|0|0" passage="Isa 30:16">Isa. xxx.
16</scripRef>), <i>We will flee upon horses,</i> and <i>we will
ride upon the swift?</i> Yet they shall be overtaken: <i>Neither
shall he that rides the horse deliver himself</i> from his
pursuers. <i>A horse is a vain thing for safety.</i> 2. It will be
in vain to think of fighting it out. God is at war with them; and
<i>are they stronger than he?</i> Is there any military force that
can pretend to be a match for Omnipotence? No: <i>The strong shall
not strengthen his force.</i> He that has a habit of strength shall
not be able to exert it when he has occasion for it. And <i>the
mighty,</i> whose should protect and deliver others, shall not be
able to <i>deliver himself,</i> to deliver <i>his soul</i> (so the
word is), shall not save his life. Let not the <i>strong man</i>
then <i>glory in his strength,</i> nor trust in it, but
<i>strengthen himself in the Lord his God,</i> for in him is
<i>everlasting strength.</i> And, as the bodily strength shall
fail, so shall the weapons of war. The armour as well as the arm
shall become insufficient: <i>Neither shall he stand that handles
the bow,</i> though he stand at a distance, but shall betake
himself to flight, and not trust to his own bow to save him. Though
the arm be ever so strong, and the armour ever so well fixed,
neither will avail when the spirit fails (<scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.16" parsed="|Amos|2|16|0|0" passage="Am 2:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>He that is courageous among
the mighty,</i> that used to look danger in the face, and not be
dismayed at it, shall <i>flee away naked in that day,</i> not only
disarmed, having thrown away his weapons both offensive and
defensive, but plundered of his treasure, which he thought to carry
away with him, and he shall think it as much as he could expect
that he has <i>his life for a prey.</i> Thus when God pleases <i>he
takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth,</i>
and causes those who used to boast of their courage, and their
daring enterprises in the field, to <i>wander</i> and sneak <i>in a
wilderness where there is no way,</i> <scripRef id="Amos.iii-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.24" parsed="|Job|12|24|0|0" passage="Job 12:24">Job xii. 24</scripRef>.</p>
</div></div2>