AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N
S,
OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
A
M O S
THOUGH
this prophet appeared a little before Isaiah, yet he was not, as some have
mistaken, that Amos who was the father of Isaiah (Isa. i. 1), for in the
Hebrew their names are very different; their families too were of a different
character, for Isaiah was a courtier, Amos a country-farmer. Amos signifies a burden,
whence the Jews have a tradition that he was of a slow tongue and spoke with
stammering lips; we may rather, in allusion to his name, say that his speech
was weighty and his word the burden of the Lord. He was (as most
think) of
Judah
, yet prophesied chiefly against
Israel
, and at
Bethel
, ch. vii. 13. Some think his style savours of his extraction, and is
more plain and rustic than that of some other of the prophets; I do not see it
so; but it is plain that his matter agreed with that of his contemporary
Hosea, that out of the mouth of these two witnesses the word might be
established. It appears by his contest with Amaziah the priest of
Bethel
that he met with opposition in his work, but was a man of undaunted resolution
in it, faithful and bold in reproving sin and denouncing the judgments of God
for it, and pressing in his exhortations to repentance and reformation. He
begins with threatenings against the neighbouring nations that were enemies to
Israel
, ch. i. and ii. He then calls Israel to account, and judges them for
their idolatry, their unworthy walking under the favours God had bestowed upon
them, and their incorrigibleness under his judgments, ch. iii. and iv.
He calls them to repentance ( ch. v.), rejecting their hypocritical
sacrifices unless they did repent. He foretels the desolations that were
coming upon them notwithstanding their security (ch. vi.), some
particular judgments (ch. vii.), particularly on Amaziah; and, after
other reproofs and threatenings (ch. viii. and ix.), concludes with a
promise of the setting up of the Messiah's kingdom and the happiness of God's
spiritual Israel therein, just as the prophecy of Joel concluded. These
prophets, having opened the wound in their reproofs and threatenings, which
show all wrong, in the promises of gospel-grace open the remedy, which alone
will set all to rights.
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