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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>A M O S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter,
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I. God, by the prophet, proceeds in a like controversy with Moab as
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before with other nations,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. He shows what quarrel he had with Judah,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:4,5">ver. 4, 5</A>.
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III. He at length begins his charge against Israel, to which all that
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goes before is but an introduction. Observe,
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1. The sins they are charged with--injustice, oppression, whoredom,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:6-8">ver. 6-8</A>.
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2. The aggravations of those sins--the temporal and spiritual mercies
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God had bestowed upon them, for which they had made him such ungrateful
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returns,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:9-12">ver. 9-12</A>.
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3. God's complaint of them for their sins
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:13">ver. 13</A>)
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and his threatenings of their ruin, and their utter inability to
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prevent it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:14-16">ver. 14-16</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Am2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Judgment of Moab and of Judah; The Judgment of Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 790.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; For three transgressions of Moab, and
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for four, I will not turn away <I>the punishment</I> thereof; because
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he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
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2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the
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palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with
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shouting, <I>and</I> with the sound of the trumpet:
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3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will
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slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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4 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; For three transgressions of Judah, and
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for four, I will not turn away <I>the punishment</I> thereof; because
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they have despised the law of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and have not kept his
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commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which
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their fathers have walked:
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5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the
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palaces of Jerusalem.
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6 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; For three transgressions of Israel, and
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for four, I will not turn away <I>the punishment</I> thereof; because
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they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of
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shoes;
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7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the
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poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his
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father will go in unto the <I>same</I> maid, to profane my holy name:
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8 And they lay <I>themselves</I> down upon clothes laid to pledge by
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every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned <I>in</I> the
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house of their god.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. The judgment of Moab, another of the nations that bordered upon
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Israel. They are reckoned with and shall be punished <I>for three
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transgressions and for four,</I> as those before. Now,
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1. Moab's fourth transgression, as theirs who were before set to the
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bar, was cruelty. The instance given refers not to the people of God,
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but to a heathen like themselves: The king of Moab <I>burnt the bones
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of the king of Edom into lime.</I> We find there was war between the
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Edomites and the Moabites, in which the king of Moab, in distress and
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rage, offered his own son for a burnt-offering, to appease his deity,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+3:26,27">2 Kings iii. 26, 27</A>.
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And it should seem that afterwards he, or some of his successors, in
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revenge upon the Edomites for bringing him to that extremity, having an
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advantage against the <I>king of Edom,</I> seized him alive and burnt
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him to ashes, or slew him and burnt his body, or dug up the bones of
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their dead king, of that particularly who had so straitened him, and,
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in token of his rage and fury, <I>burnt them to lime.</I> and perhaps
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made use of the powder of his bones for the white-washing of the walls
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and ceilings of his palace, that he might please himself with the sight
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of that monument of his revenge. <I>Est vindicta bonum vita jucundius
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ipsa--Revenge is sweeter than life itself.</I> It is barbarous to abuse
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human bodies, for we ourselves also are <I>in the body;</I> it is
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senseless to abuse dead bodies, nay, it is impious, for we believe and
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look for their resurrection; and to abuse the dead bodies of kings
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(whose persons and names ought to be in a particular manner respected
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and had in veneration) is an affront to majesty; it is an argument of a
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base spirit for those to trample upon a dead lion who, were he alive,
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would tremble before him.
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2. Moab's doom for this transgression is,
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(1.) A judgment of death. Those that deal cruelly shall be cruelly
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dealt with
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Moab shall die;</I> the Moabites shall be cut off with the sword of
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war, which kills <I>with tumult, with shouting, and with sound of
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trumpet,</I> circumstances that make it so much the more terrible, as
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the lion's roaring aggravates his tearing. <I>Every battle of the
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warrior is with confused noise,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+9:5">Isa. ix. 5</A>.
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(2.) It is a judgment upon their judge, who had passed the sentence
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upon the bones of the king of Edom that they should be burnt to lime:
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<I>I will cut him off,</I> says God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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he shall know there is a judge that is higher than he. The king, the
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chief judge, and all the inferior judges and princes, shall be cut off
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together. If the people sometimes suffer for the sin of their princes,
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yet the princes themselves shall not escape,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+48:47">Jer. xlviii. 47</A>.
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<I>Thus far is the judgment of Moab.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. Judah also is a near neighbour to Israel, and therefore, now that
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justice is riding the circuit, that shall not be passed by; that nation
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has made itself like the heathen and mingled with them, and therefore
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the indictment here runs against them in the same form in which it had
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run against all the rest: <I>For these transgressions of Judah, and for
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four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;</I> their sins are
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as many as the sins of other nations, and we find them huddled up with
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them in the same character,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+9:26">Jer. ix. 26</A>,
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"As for <I>Egypt, and Judah, and Edom,</I> jumble them together; they
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are all alike;" the sentence here also is the same
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>I will send a fire upon Judah,</I> though it is the land where God
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is known, and it shall <I>devour the palaces of Jerusalem,</I> though
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it is the holy city, and God has formerly been <I>known in its palaces
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for a refuge,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+48:3">Ps. xlviii. 3</A>.
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But the sin here charged upon Judah is different from all the rest. The
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other nations were reckoned with for injuries done to men, but Judah is
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reckoned with for indignities done to God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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1. They put contempt upon his statutes and persisted in disobedience to
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them: <I>They have despised the law of the Lord,</I> as if it were not
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worth taking notice of, nor had any thing in it valuable; and herein
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they despised the wisdom, justice, and goodness, as well as the
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authority and sovereignty, of the Lawmaker; this they did, in effect,
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when they <I>kept not his commandments,</I> made no conscience of them,
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took no care about them.
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2. They put honour upon his rivals, their idols, here called <I>their
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lies</I> which caused <I>them to err;</I> for <I>an image is a teacher
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of lies,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:18">Hab. ii. 18</A>.
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And those that are led away into the error of idolatry are by that led
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into a multitude of other errors, <I>Uno dato absurdo mille
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sequuntur--One absurdity draws after it a thousand.</I> God is an
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infinite eternal Spirit; but, when the <I>truth of God</I> is by
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idolatry <I>changed into a lie,</I> all his other truths are in danger
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of being so changed likewise; thus their idols caused them to err, and
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God justly gave them up to strong delusions; nor was it any excuse for
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their sin that they were lies <I>after which their father walked,</I>
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for they should rather have taken warning than taken pattern by those
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that perished with these <I>lies in their right hand.</I></P>
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<P>
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III. We now at length come to <I>the words</I> which <I>Amos saw
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concerning Israel.</I> The reproofs and threatenings having walked the
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round, here they centre, here they settle. He begins with them as with
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the rest: <I>For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will
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not turn away the punishment thereof;</I> it all these nations must be
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punished for their iniquities, shall Israel go unpunished? Observe here
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what their sins were, for which God would reckon with them.
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1. Perverting justice. This was the sin of those who were entrusted
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with the administration of justice, the judges and magistrates, and all
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parties concerned. They made nothing of selling a righteous man, and
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his righteous cause when it came to be tried before them, for a piece
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of silver; sentence was passed, not according to the merits of the
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cause, but the bribe always turned the scale, and judgment was set to
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sale by auction to the highest bidder. They would sell the life and
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livelihood of a <I>poor</I> man <I>for a pair of shoes,</I> for the
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least advantage to themselves that could be proposed to them; give them
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but a <I>pair of shoes,</I> and the cause of a poor man, who could not
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give them as much as that, should be betrayed, and left at the mercy of
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those that will have no mercy. They will rather play at small game that
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sit out. <I>For a piece of bread such a man will transgress.</I> Note,
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Those who will wrong their consciences for any thing will come at
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length to do it for next to nothing; those who begin to sell justice
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for silver will in time be so sordid as to see it <I>for a pair of
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shoes,</I> for a pair of old shoes.
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2. Oppressing the poor, and seeking to benefit themselves by doing them
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a mischief: <I>They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the
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poor;</I> they swallow up the poor with the utmost greediness, and make
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a prey of those that are in sorrow with dust on their heads, poor
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orphans that are in mourning for their parents; they catch at them to
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get their estates into their hands; they never rest till they have got
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the heads of the poor in the dust, to be trodden on. Or, <I>They pant
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after the dust of the earth,</I> that is, silver and gold, white and
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yellow dust; they covet it earnestly, and levy it <I>upon the head of
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the poor</I> by their unjust exactions. Note, Men's seeking to enrich
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themselves by the impoverishing of others is a transgression which God
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will not long <I>turn away the punishment of.</I> This is <I>turning
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aside the way of the meek,</I> contriving to do injury to those who,
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they know, are mild and patient and will bear injury. They invade their
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rights, break their measures, and obstruct the course of justice in
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favour of them, not suffering them to go on with their righteous cause;
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this is <I>turning aside their way.</I> Note, The more patiently men
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bear injuries that are done them the greater is the sin of those that
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injure them, and the more occasion they have to expect that God will
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give them redress, and take vengeance for them. I, <I>as a deaf man,
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heard not,</I> and then <I>thou wilt hear.</I>
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3. Abominable uncleanness, even incest itself, such as it not named
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among the Gentiles, that <I>a man should have his father's wife</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+5:1">1 Cor. v. 1</A>),
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his father's concubine: <I>A man and his father will go in unto the
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same young woman,</I> as black an instance as any other of an unbounded
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promiscuous lust; and yet where the former iniquities of oppression and
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extortion are this also is found; for laws of modesty seldom hold those
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that have broken the bands of justice and <I>cast away its cords</I>
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from them. This wickedness is such a scandal to religion, and the
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profession of it, that those who are guilty of it are looked upon as
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designing thereby to <I>profane God's holy name,</I> and to render it
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odious among the heathen, as if he countenanced the villainies which
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those who pretend relation to him allow themselves in, and were
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altogether such a one as they.
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4. Regaling themselves and yet pretending to honour their God with that
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which they had got by oppression and extortion,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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They add idolatry to their injustice, and then think to atone for their
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injustice with their idolatry.
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(1.) They make merry with that which they have unjustly squeezed from
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the poor. They <I>lay themselves down</I> at ease, and in state, and
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stretch themselves upon <I>clothes laid to pledge,</I> which they ought
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to have restored the same night, according to the law,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+24:12,13">Deut. xxiv. 12, 13</A>.
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And they <I>drink the wine of the condemned,</I> of such as they have
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fined and laid heavy mulcts upon, spending that in sensuality which
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they have got by injustice.
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(2.) They think to make atonement for this by feasting on the gains of
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oppression <I>before their altars,</I> and <I>drinking this wine in the
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house of their God,</I> in the temples where they worshipped their
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calves, as if they would make God a <I>partner in their crimes</I> by
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making him a <I>partner of the profits</I> of them--service good enough
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for false gods; but the true God will not thus be mocked; he has
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declared that he <I>hates robbery for burnt-offerings,</I> and cannot
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be served acceptably but with that which is got honestly.</P>
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<A NAME="Am2_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Am2_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God's Remonstrance with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 790.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height <I>was</I>
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like the height of the cedars, and he <I>was</I> strong as the oaks;
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yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
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10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you
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forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the
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Amorite.
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11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young
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men for Nazarites. <I>Is it</I> not even thus, O ye children of
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Israel? saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the
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prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
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13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed <I>that
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is</I> full of sheaves.
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14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the
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strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty
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deliver himself:
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15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and <I>he that
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is</I> swift of foot shall not deliver <I>himself:</I> neither shall he
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that rideth the horse deliver himself.
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16 And <I>he that is</I> courageous among the mighty shall flee away
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naked in that day, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here,
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I. God puts his people Israel in mind of the great things he has done
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for them, in putting them into possession of the land of Canaan, the
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greatest part of which these ten tribes now enjoyed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>.
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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."
|
|
|
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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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:8,9">Ps. lxxx. 8, 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+43:4">Isa. xliii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
II. He likewise upbraids them with the spiritual privileges and
|
|
advantages they enjoyed as a holy nation,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+18:15">Deut. xviii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lam+4:7">Lam. iv. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+5:3,4">Isa. v. 3, 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+7:12"><I>ch.</I> vii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
IV. He complains of the wrong they did him by their sins
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:24">Isa. i. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+95:10">Ps. xcv. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>is broken with their whorish heart</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:9">Ezek. vi. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:14">Isa. i. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
No wonder the <I>creature groans being burdened</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:22">Rom. viii. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
when the Creator says, <I>I am pressed under them.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. He threatens them with unavoidable ruin. And so some read,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>,
|
|
|
|
"<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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:14-16">last three verses</A>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+2:18">2 Sam. ii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
yet, like him, they shall run the faster upon their own destruction:
|
|
<I>He that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or do they say (as those,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:16">Isa. xxx. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:24">Job xii. 24</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
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