Amos 4:7

And also I have withholden the rain from you,.... As he did for the space of three years successively in the days of Ahab, as predicted by Elijah, 1 Kings 17:1; the consequences of which are very bad

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. I also have given you.

I also have withholden the rain from you; your vanities could not, and because ye did so greatly sin against me I would not, give you rain; I forbade the clouds from above, and they, thus prohibited, did withhold their rain, as I threatened, ,24. When there were yet three months to the harvest; at a season when your country most usually had, and as then it ever did most need, rain: see . Three months drought then, as it was unusual in the course of nature, so it was an extraordinary curse and punishment on them. That you might see my hand in it and be instructed, I gave rain to one city, and withheld rain from the next neighbour city; nay, one part of a field, the same field, was watered and flourished, another part dry and withered. All this to convince and turn you.

Amos 4:7 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.Ver. 7. And also I have withholden the rain from you, &c.] And so have punished you with thirst and drought, as well as with dearth and famine: and because I have found you wells without the water of piety, 2 Peter 2:17, therefore I have refused to rain upon you, as I threatened, Deuteronomy 28:23-24. “ En quia iam vobis sunt ferrea pectora, reddit Coelum etiam vobis durius aere, Deus. ” When there were yet three months, &c.] When you could worst of all want it for the watering of the seed and opening of the earth. And I caused it to rain upon one city] It rains not then by haphazard; neither are the seasons of the year (whether barren or fruitful) ruled by the course of nature or influence of the stars, but by God, Acts 14:17. It is he that giveth rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons. He covereth the heaven with clouds, he prepareth rain for the earth, he maketh grass to grow upon the mountains, and standing corn in the fields, Psalms 147:8. He weighs these waters by measure; so that not a drop falls in vain, or in a wrong place, but by Divine decree, Job 28:26, for the fattening of the earth, allaying the heat, nourishing the herb and tree, Deuteronomy 32:2 Isaiah 63:14, producing unto us "the appointed weeks of harvest," Jeremiah 5:24, "that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater," Isaiah 55:10. This the poor Pagans ascribed to their god Jupiter, whom they therefore styled Nεφεληγερετης. Him they confessed the greatest of all, calling him υπατος, the overseer of their trading; hence αγαραιος, the keeper of their houses, hence Jupiter Herceus, from ερκος, a wall, or hedge. This they did, to the great shame of many atheists among us, who hold that all things come either by benign nature or blind chance. One piece] sc. Of the same field, was rained upon, and fructified (this was near to a miracle; as when Gideon’ s fleece was wet and no place else; and again, every place else, and not Gideon’ s fleece, Judges 6:37). And the piece whereupon it rained not] It, that is, the cloud, but by God’ s appointment; for he it is that filleth those bottles of the sky, and emptieth them again, where and when he pleaseth, either in mercy, as Joe 2:23 Zechariah 10:1 Leviticus 26:4, or for a judgment, as Joe 1:17 Genesis 17:11-12 1 Samuel 12:18-19. In the year of grace 1551 a great multitude of men and cattle in Germany were drowned and destroyed; decidentibus subito nubibus, ac effusis certatim aquis, saith Bartholinus; by excessive showers and immoderate waters, pouring down upon people as by spouts.

(7, 8) Three months to the harvest.—The withdrawal of rain at this period (February and March) is at the present day most calamitous to the crops in Palestine. Caused it to rain . . .—The tenses should be regarded as expressing repetition of the act, and might be, with advantage, rendered as present cause it to rain . . . is rained upon, &c. The inhabitants of the most suffering districts wander, distracted and weary, to a more favoured city, and find no sufficiency. Comp. the graphic description in Jeremiah 14:1-6. Moreover, the specialties of affliction, in particular localities. reveal the purpose of God rather than the operation of universal laws.

Verse 7. When there were yet three months to the harvest] St. Jerome says, from the end of April, when the latter rain falls, until harvest, there are three months, May, June, and July, in which no rain falls in Judea. The rain, therefore, that God had withheld from them, was that which was usual in the spring months, particularly in April. I caused it to rain upon one city] To prove to them that this rain did not come fortuitously or of necessity, God was pleased to make these most evident distinctions. One city had rain, and could fill all its tanks or cisterns, while a neighbouring city had none. One farm or field was well watered, and abundant in its crops, while one contiguous to it had not a shower. In these instances a particular providence was most evident. "And yet, they did not return to the Lord."

4–13. Here the people at large are addressed by the prophet, perhaps at some festal religious gathering.

And I, I too have withholden the rain - Jerome, dwelling in Palestine, says, that “this rain, when “three months yet remained until harvest,” was the “latter rain,” of the very greatest necessity for

7, 8. Drought. The rain — Hebrews geshem (see on Joe 2:23), here rain in general. When there were yet three months to the harvest — Since the harvest is in April and May, the drought must have set in during January or February.