A
M O S
CHAP. IX.
In
this chapter we have, I. Judgment threatened, which the sinners shall not
escape (ver. 1-4), which an almighty power shall inflict (ver. 5, 6), which
the people of Israel have deserved as a sinful people (ver. 7, 8); and yet it
shall not be the utter ruin of their nation (ver. 8), for a remnant of good
people shall escape, ver. 9. But the wicked ones shall perish, ver. 10. II.
Mercy promised, which was to be bestowed in the latter days (ver. 11-15), as
appears by the application of it to the days of the Messiah, Acts xv. 16. And
with those comfortable promises, after all the foregoing rebukes and
threatenings, the book concludes.
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The
Certainty of the Sinner's Doom.
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B.
C. 784.
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1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and
he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them
in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he
that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall
not be delivered. 2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine
hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them
down: 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I
will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in
the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite
them: 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine
eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. 5 And the Lord GOD
of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that
dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall
be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he
that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the
earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon
the face of the earth: The LORD
is his name. 7 Are ye not as children of the
Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD.
Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines
from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the
Lord GOD
are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of
the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith
the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all
nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least
grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall
die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
We have here the justice of God passing sentence upon a provoking people; and
observe,
I. With what solemnity the sentence is passed. The prophet saw in vision the
Lord standing upon the altar (v. 1), the altar of burnt-offerings;
for the Lord has a sacrifice, and multitudes must fall as victims to
his justice. He is removed from the mercy-seat between the cherubim,
and stands upon the altar, the judgment-seat, on which the fire
of God used to fall, to devour the sacrifices. He stands upon the altar,
to show that the ground of his controversy with this people was their
profanation of his holy things; here he stands to avenge the quarrel of his
altar, as also to signify that the sin of the house of Israel, like that of
the house of Eli, shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever,
1 Sam. iii. 14. He stands on the altar, to prohibit sacrifice. Now the order
given is, Smite the lintel of the door of the temple, the chapiter,
smite it with such a blow that the posts may shake, and cut them,
wound them in the head, all of them; break down the doors of God's
house, or of the courts of his house, in token of this, that he is going out
from it, and forsaking it, and then all judgments are breaking in upon it. Or
it signifies the destruction of those in the first place that should be as the
door-posts to the nation for its defence, so that, they being broken down, it
becomes as a city without gates and bars. "Smite the king, who is
as the lintel of the door, that the princes, who are as the posts, may shake;
cut them in the head, cleave them down, all of them, as wood for
the fire; and I will slay the last of them, the posterity of them, them
and their families, or the least of them, them and all that are
employed under them; or, I will slay them all, them and all that remain
of them, till it comes to the last man; the slaughter shall be general."
There is no living for those on whom God has said, I will slay them, no
standing before his sword.
II. What effectual care is taken that none shall escape the execution of this
sentence. This is enlarged upon here, and is intended for warning to all that provoke
the Lord to jealousy. Let sinners read it, and tremble; as there is no
fighting it out with God, so there is no fleeing from him. His judgments, when
they come with commission, as they will overpower the strongest that think to
outface them, so they will overtake the swiftest that think to out-run them, v.
2. Those of them that flee, and take to their heels, shall soon be out of
breath, and shall not flee away out of the reach of danger; for, as sometimes the
wicked flee when none pursues, so he cannot flee away when God pursues,
though he would fain flee out of his hand. Nay, he that escapes of
them, that thinks he has gained his point, shall not be delivered. Evil
pursues sinners, and will arrest them. This is here enlarged upon by
showing that wherever sinners flee for shelter from God's justice, it will
overtake them, and the shelter will prove but a refuge of lies. What
David says of the ubiquity of God's presence ( Ps. cxxxix. 7-10) is here said
of the extent of God's power and justice. (1.) Hell itself, though it has its
name in English from its being hilled, or covered over, or hidden,
cannot hide them (v. 2): "Though they dig into hell, into
the centre of the earth, or the darkest recesses of it, yet thence shall my
hand take them, and bring them forth to be made public monuments of divine
justice." The grave is a hiding-place to the righteous from the malice of
the world (Job iii. 17), but it shall be no hiding-place to the righteous from
the justice of God; thence God's hands shall take them, when they shall rise
in the great day to everlasting shame and contempt. (2.) Heaven, though
it has its name from being heaved, or lifted up, shall not put them out
of reach of God's judgments; as hell cannot hide them, so heaven will not.
Though they climb up to heaven in their conceit, yet thence will I
bring them down. Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace shall never
be brought down; but those who climb thither themselves, by their own
presumption, and confidence in themselves, will be brought down and filled
with shame. (3.) The top of Carmel, one of the highest parts of the
dust of the world in that country, shall not protect them: "Though
they hide themselves there, where they imagine nobody will look for them, I
will search, and take them out thence; neither the thickest bushes, nor
the darkest caves, in the top of Carmel, will serve to hide them."
(4.) The bottom of the sea shall not serve to conceal them; though they
think to hide themselves there, even there the judgments of God shall find
them out, and lay hold on them: Thence will I command the serpent, and he
shall bite them, the crooked serpent, even the dragon that is in
the sea, Isa. xxvii. 1. They shall find their plague and death where they
hope to find shelter and protection; diving will stand them in no more stead
than climbing. (5.) Remote countries will not befriend them, nor shall less
judgments excuse them from greater (v. 4): Thought they go into
captivity before their enemies, who carry them to places at a great
distance, and mingle them with their own people, among whom they seem to be
lost, yet that shall not serve their turn: Thence will I command the sword,
and it shall slay them, the sword of the enemy, or one another's sword.
When God judges he will overcome. That which binds on all this, makes their
escape impossible and their ruin inevitable, is that God will set his eyes
upon them for evil, and not for good. His eyes are in every place, are
upon all men and upon all the ways of men, upon some for good, to show
himself strong on their behalf, but upon others for evil, to take notice
of their sins (Job xiii. 27) and take all opportunities of punishing them for
their sins. Their case is truly miserable who have the providence of
God: and all the dispensations of it, against them, working for their hurt.
3. What a great and mighty God he is that passes this sentence upon them, and
will take the executing of it into his own hands. Threatenings are more or
less formidable according to the power of him that threatens. We laugh at
impotent wrath; but the wrath of God is not so; it is omnipotent wrath. Who
knows the power of it? What he had before said he would do (ch.
viii. 8) is here repeated, that he would make the land melt and
tremble, and all that dwell therein mourn, that the judgment should rise
up wholly like a flood, and the country should be drowned, and laid
under water, as by the flood of Egypt, v. 5. But is he able to
make his words good? Yes, certainly he is; he does but touch the land
and it melts, touch the mountains and they smoke; he can do it with the
greatest ease, for, (1.) He is the Lord God of hosts, who undertakes to
do it, the God who has all the power in his hand, and all creatures at his
beck and call, who having made them all, and given them their several
capacities, makes what use he pleases of them and all their powers. Very
miserable is the case of those who have the Lord of hosts against them, for
they have hosts against them, the whole creation at war with them. (2.) He is
the Creator and governor of the upper world: It is he that builds his
stories in the heavens, the celestial orbs, or spheres, one over another,
as so many stories in a high and stately palace. They are his, for he built
them at first, when he said, Let there be a firmament, and he made the
firmament; and he builds them still, is continually building them, not
that they need repair, but by his providence he still upholds them; his power
is the pillars of heaven, by which it is borne up. Now he that has the command
of those stories is certainly to be feared, for thence, as from a castle, he
can fire upon his enemies, or cast upon them great hailstones, as on the
Canaanites, or make the stars in their courses, the furniture of those
stories, to fight against them, as against Sisera. (3.) He has the management
and command of this lower world too, in which we dwell, the terraqueous globe,
both earth and sea, so that, which way soever his enemies think
to make their escape, he will meet them, or to make opposition, he will match
them. Do they think to make a land-fight of it? He has founded his troop in
the earth, his troop of guards, which he has at command, and makes use of
for the protection of his subjects and the punishment of his enemies. All the
creatures on earth make one bundle (as the margin reads it), one bundle of
arrows, out of which he takes what he pleases to discharge against the
persecutors, Ps. vii. 13. They are all one army, one body, so
closely are they connected, and so harmoniously and so much in concert do they
act for the accomplishing of their Creator's purposes. Do they think to make a
sea-fight of it? He will be too hard for them there, for he has the waters of
the sea at command; even its waves, the most tumultuous rebellious waters, do
obey him. He calls for the waters of the sea in the course of his
common providence, causes vapours to ascend out of it, and pours
them out in showers, the small rain and the great rain of his strength, upon
the face of the earth; this was mentioned before as a reason why we should
seek the Lord (ch. v. 8) and make him our friend, as it is here
made a reason why we should fear him and dread having him for our enemy.
4. How justly God passes this sentence upon the people of Israel. He does not
destroy them by an act of sovereignty, but by an act of righteousness; for (v.
8), it is a sinful kingdom, and the eyes of the Lord are upon
it, discovering it to be so; he sees the great sinfulness of it, and therefore
he will destroy it from off the face of the earth. Note, When those
kingdoms that in name and profession were holy kingdoms, and kingdoms of
priests, as Israel was, become sinful kingdoms, no other can be expected than
that they should be cut off and abandoned. Let sinful kingdoms, and sinful
families, and sinful persons too, see the eyes of the Lord upon them,
observing all their wickedness, and reserving the notice of it for the day of
reckoning and recompence. This being a sinful kingdom, see how light God makes
of it, v. 7.
(1.) Of the relation wherein he stood to it: Are you not as children of
Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? A sad change! Children of Israel
become as children of the Ethiopians! [1.] They were so in themselves; that
was their sin. It is a thing to be greatly lamented that the children of
Israel often become as children of the Ethiopians; this children of godly
parents degenerate, and become the reverse of those that went before them.
Those that were well-educated, and trained up in the knowledge and fear of
God, and set out well, and promised fair, throw off their profession and
become as bad as the worst. How has the gold become dim! [2.] The were
so in God's account, and that was their punishment. He valued them no more,
though they were children of Israel, than if they had been children of the
Ethiopians. We read of one in the title of Ps. vii. that was Cush
(an Ethiopian, as some understand it) and yet a Benjamite. Those that
by birth and profession are children of Israel, if they degenerate, and become
wicked and vile, are to God no more than children of the Ethiopians. This is
an intimation of the rejection of the unbelieving Jews in the days of the
Messiah; because they embraced not the doctrine of Christ, the kingdom of God
was taken from them, they were unchurched, and cast out of covenant, became as
children of the Ethiopians, and are so to this day. And it is true of those
that are called Christians, but do no live up to their name and profession,
that rest in the form of piety, but live under the power of reigning iniquity,
that they are to God as children of the Ethiopians; he rejects them, and their
services.
(2.) See how light he makes of the favours he had conferred upon them; they
thought he would not, he could not, cast them off, and put them upon a level
with other nations, because he had done that for them which he had not done
for other nations, whereby they thought he was bound to them, so as never to
leave them. "No," says he, "The favours shown to you are not so
distinguishing as you think they are: Have I not brought up Israel out of
the land of Egypt?" It is true I have; but I have also brought the Philistines
from Caphtor, or Cappadocia, where they were natives, or captives,
or both; they are called the remnant of the country of Caphtor (Jer.
xlvii. 4), and the Philistim are joined with the Caphtorim, Gen. x. 14. In
like manner the Syrians were brought up from Kir when they had been carried
away thither, 2 Kings xvi. 9. Note, If God's Israel lose the peculiarity of
their holiness, they lose the peculiarity of their privileges; and what was
designed as a favour of special grace shall be set in another light, shall
have its property altered, and shall become an act of common providence;
if professors liken themselves to the world, God will level them with the
world. And, if we live not up to the obligation of God's mercies, we forfeit
the honour and comfort of them.
5. How graciously God will separate between the precious and the vile in the
day of retribution. Though the wicked Israelites shall be as the wicked
Ethiopians, and their being called Israelites shall stand them in no stead,
yet the pious Israelites shall not be as the wicked ones; no, the Judge
of all the earth will do right, more right than to slay the righteous
with the wicked, Gen. xviii. 25. His eyes are upon the sinful kingdom,
to spy out those in it who preserve their integrity and swim against the
stream, who sigh and cry for the abominations of their land, and they shall be
marked for preservation, so that the destruction shall not be total: I will
not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, not ruin them by wholesale and in
the gross, good and bad together, but I will distinguish, as becomes a
righteous judge. The house of Israel shall be sifted as corn is sifted;
they shall be greatly hurried, and shaken, and tossed, but still in the hands
of God, in both his hands, as the sieve in the hands of him that sifts (v.
9): I will sift the house of Israel among all nations. Wherever they
are shaken and scattered, God will have his eye upon them, and will take care
to separate between the corn and chaff, which was the thing he designed in
sifting them. (1.) The righteous ones among them, that are as the solid wheat,
shall none of them perish; they shall be delivered either from or through the
common calamities of the kingdom; not the least grain shall fall on the
earth, so as to be lost and forgotten--not the least stone (so the
word is), for the good corn is weighty as a stone in comparison with that
which we call light corn. Note, Whatever shakings there may be in the
world, God does and will effectually provide that none who are truly his shall
be truly miserable. (2.) The wicked ones among them who are hardened in their
sins shall all of them perish, v. 10. See what a height of impiety they
have come to: They say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
They think they are innocent, and do not deserve punishment, or that the
profession they make of relation to God will be their exemption and security
from punishment, or that they shall be able to make their part good against
the judgments of God, that they shall flee so swiftly from them that they
shall not overtake them, or guard so carefully against them that they shall
not prevent or surprise them. Note, Hope of impunity is the deceitful refuge
of the impenitent. But see what it will come to at last: All the sinners
that thus flatter themselves, and affront God, shall die by the sword,
the sword of war, which to them shall be the sword of divine vengeance; yea,
though they be the sinners of my people, for their profession shall not
be their protection. Note, Evil is often nearest those that put it at the
greatest distance from them.
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Promises
of Mercy.
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B.
C. 784.
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11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle
of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise
up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12 That
they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called
by my name, saith the LORD
that doeth this. 13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that
soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall
melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of
Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and
they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make
gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon
their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have
given them, saith the LORD
thy God.
To him to whom all the prophets bear witness this prophet, here in the close,
bears his testimony, and speaks of that day, those days that shall
come, in which God will do great things for his church, by the setting up of
the kingdom of the Messiah, for the rejecting of which the rejection of the
Jews was foretold in the foregoing verses. The promise here is said to agree
to the planting of the Christian church, and in that to be fulfilled, Acts xv.
15-17. It is promised,
I. That in the Messiah the kingdom of David shall be restored (v. 11);
the tabernacle of David it is called, that is, his house and family,
which, though great and fixed, yet, in comparison with the kingdom of heaven,
was mean and movable as a tabernacle. The church militant, in its present
state, dwelling as in shepherds' tents to feed, as in soldiers' tents to
fight, is the tabernacle of David. God's tabernacle is called the
tabernacle of David because David desired and chose to dwell in God's
tabernacle for ever, Ps. lxi. 4. Now, 1. These tabernacles had fallen an
gone to decay, the royal family was so impoverished, its power abridged, its
honour stained, and laid in the dust; for many of that race degenerated, and
in the captivity it lost the imperial dignity. Sore breaches were made upon
it, and at length it was laid in ruins. So it was with the church of the Jews;
in the latter days of it its glory departed; it was like a tabernacle broken
down and brought to ruin, in respect both of purity and of prosperity. 2. By
Jesus Christ these tabernacles were raised and rebuilt. In him God's covenant
with David had its accomplishment; and the glory of that house, which was not
only sullied, but quite sunk, revived again; the breaches of it were closed
and its ruins raised up, as in the days of old; nay, the spiritual
glory of the family of Christ far exceeded the temporal glory of the family of
David when it was at its height. In him also God's covenant with Israel had
its accomplishment, and in the gospel-church the tabernacle of God was set up
among men again, and raised up out of the ruins of the Jewish state. This is
quoted in the first council at Jerusalem as referring to the calling in of the
Gentiles and God's taking out of them a people for his name. Note,
While the world stands God will have a church in it, and, if it be fallen down
in one place and among one people, it shall be raised up elsewhere.
II. That that kingdom shall be enlarged, and the territories of it shall
extend far, by the accession of many countries to it (v. 12), that the
house of David may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen,
that is, that Christ may have them given him for his inheritance, even
the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, Ps. ii. 8. Those
that had been strangers and enemies shall become willing faithful subjects to
the Son of David, shall be added to the church, or those of them that
are called by my name, saith the Lord, that is, that belong to the
election of grace and are ordained to eternal life (Acts xiii. 48), for it is
true of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews that the election hath obtained
and the rest were blinded, Rom. xi. 7. Christ died to gather
together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad, here said
to be those that were called by his name. The promise is to all that
are afar off, even as many of them as the Lord our God shall
call, Acts ii. 39. St. James expounds this as a promise that the
residue of men should seek after the Lord, even all the Gentiles upon whom my
name is called. But may the promise be depended upon? Yes, the Lord says
this, who does this, who can do it, who has determined to do it, the power of
whose grace is engaged for the doing of it, and with whom saying and doing are
not two things, as they are with us.
III. That in the kingdom of the Messiah there shall be great plenty, an
abundance of all good things that the country produces (v. 13): The
ploughman shall overtake the reaper, that is, there shall be such a
plentiful harvest every year, and so much corn to be gathered in, that it
shall last all summer, even till autumn, when it is time to begin to plough
again; and in like manner the vintage shall continue till seed-time, and there
shall be such abundance of grapes that even the mountains shall drop new
wine into the vessels of the grape-gatherers, and the hills that were dry
and barren shall be moistened and shall melt with the fatness or mellowness
(as we call it) of the soil. Compare this with Joel ii. 24, and iii.
18. This must certainly be understood of the abundance of spiritual blessings
in heavenly things, which all those are, and shall be, blessed with, who are
in sincerity added to Christ and his church; they shall be abundantly
replenished with the goodness of God's house, with the graces and comforts of
his Spirit; they shall have bread, the bread of life, to strengthen their
hearts, and the wine of divine consolations to make them glad-meat
indeed and drink indeed--all the benefit that comes to the souls of
men from the word and Spirit of God. These had been long confined to the
vineyard of the Jewish church; divine revelation, and the power that attended
it, were to be found only within that enclosure; but in gospel-times the
mountains and hills of the Gentile world shall be enriched with these
privileges by the gospel of Christ preached, and professed, and received in
the power of it. When great multitudes were converted to the faith of Christ,
and nations were born at once, when the preachers of the gospel were always
caused to triumph in the success of their preaching, then the ploughman
overtook the reaper; and when, the Gentile churches were enriched in
all utterance, and in all knowledge, and all manner of spiritual gifts
(1 Cor. i. 5), then the mountains dropped sweet wine.
IV. That the kingdom of the Messiah shall be well peopled; as the country
shall be replenished, so shall the cities be; there shall be mouths for this
meat, v. 14. Those that were carried captives shall be brought back out
of their captivity; their enemies shall not be able to detain them in the land
of their captivity, nor shall they themselves incline to settle in it, but the
remnant shall return, and shall build the waste cities and inhabit them,
shall form themselves into Christian churches and set up pure doctrine,
worship, and discipline among them, according to the gospel charter, by which
Christ's cities are incorporated; and they shall enjoy the benefit and comfort
thereof; they shall plant vineyards, and make gardens. Though
the mountains and hills drop wine, and the privileges of the gospel-church are
laid in common, yet they shall enclose for themselves, not to monopolize these
privileges, to the exclusion of others, but to appropriate and improve these
privileges, in communion with others, and they shall drink the wine,
and eat the fruit, of their own vineyards and gardens; for those
that take pains in religion, as men must do about their vineyards and gardens,
shall have both the pleasure and profit of it. The bringing again of
the captivity of God's Israel, which is here promised, may refer to the
cancelling of the ceremonial law, which had been long to God's Israel as a yoke
of bondage, and the investing of them in the liberty wherewith Christ came
to make his church free, Gal. v. 1.
V. That the kingdom of the Messiah shall take such deep rooting in the world
as never to be rooted out of it (v. 15): I will plant them upon
their land. God's spiritual Israel shall be planted by the right hand of
God himself upon the land assigned them, and they shall no more be pulled
up out of it, as the old Jewish church was. God will preserve them from
throwing themselves out of it by a total apostasy, and will preserve them from
being thrown out of it by malice of their enemies; the church may be
corrupted, but shall not quite forsake God, may be persecuted, but shall not
quite be forsaken of God, so that the gates of hell, neither with their
temptations nor with their terrors, shall prevail against it. Two things
secure the perpetuity of the church:-- 1. God's grants to it: It is the
land which I have given them; and God will confirm and maintain his own
grants. The part he has given to his people is that good part which shall
never be taken from them; he will not revoke his grant, and all the powers of
earth and hell shall not invalidate it. 2. Its interest in him: He is the
Lord thy God, who has said it, and will make it good, thine, O Israel!
who shall reign for ever as thine unto all generations. And
because he lives the church shall live also.
Contents
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