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