Amos 3

Amos 3:1-8

The Israelites are warned, 1. Of the judgments of God denounced against them, that they might be barely awakened out of their security, ver. 1—8. 2. Of the five men were found among them, for which God must provoked that to threaten, thus to punish, that they might justify God in his controversy with them, and unless they reported and reformed, might expect no other but that God should proceed in his controversy, ver. 9—11.

1. HEAR this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 2. ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. 3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 4. Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion + cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? 6. shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people I not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? 7. Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 8. ‘The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken,’ who can but prophesy?

The prophet solemnly awakens the attention of this stupid people, and calls on them to hear and tremble at the word which the Lord hath spoken against them.

1. Their ingratitude will provoke him to punish them. Of all families of the earth, they had been distinguished by his peculiar favour; though so few when they went into Egypt, yet he had multiplied them exceedingly, and brought them up from thence with a high hand; and therefore their rebellion against him was the more criminal, and would bring a heavier judgment on their heads. Note, None perish under deeper guilt, than those who have abused distinguishing means and mercies.

2. In their state of apathy, no communion can subsist between him and them. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? There must be reconciliation before there could be any renewed fellowship; and as they obstinately rejected every call to repent, the enmity must subsist, and their ruin be the consequence. Note, God is ready to be reconciled to sinners, but if they reject his mercy, they may expect his wrath.

3. The judgments God threatened were not pretended, but real; nor should they be removed from them till they were effectually humbled by them. Will the lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? See. No: they only roar in sight of their prey, or when they have seized it. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is for him? No: God had really spread the snare of affliction for them, nor would take it up fruitless, they would assuredly be snared and taken; nor would the visitation be removed, till the end for which it was lost should be answered, v. 5. Note, (1.) The terrors of the Lord are not phantoms raised to frighten the weak, the ignorant, or superstitious, but awful realities that must shortly come to pass. (2.) The sinner’s transgression will assuredly bring him into the snare of guilt and misery, and nothing but God’s rich grace, bringing him to real repentance, can deliver him out of it.

4. The warnings they received ought justly to alarm them, and in the sufferings they were about to feel, God’s hand would visibly appear. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? of the approaching foe, or run together, to consider how to avert the storm. Thus God, by his prophets, had spread the alarm, and it was at their peril if they disregarded them. Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? No: all affliction comes from him, and without him not a hair of our head falls. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he re-evaleth his secret unto his servants the prophets, that before he strikes, they may give fair warning to the guilty, and exhort them by a speedy humiliation to avert the impending wrath. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord hath denounced his vengeance against the impenitents, and abundant cause there is they should tremble before him. The Lord hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Who, that hath the glory of God and the good of men’s souls at heart, can refrain from speaking, when God stirs up his mind with holy zeal, and shews him the dreadful danger about which sinners appear to fearfully unconcerned. Note, (1.) In all our trials and troubles, God’s hand is to be acknowledged: it must silence every murmur, when we know he hath done it. (2.) God is very gracious; he never strikes, till having warned in vain the sinner proves incorrigible. (3.) Necessity is laid upon those, whose spirit God inwardly

moves with affecting views of the miteries of a world that lieth in wickedness, to labour, if possible, to pluck these brands from the burning.

9. Or opperfeion 9. Jer. 11. 12. 2. Or Spud 1. 1 Knap over, 2. 2. Hoh. Surrender. 3. Or on the land of the 4. Or perish shall be. 5. Judy ill. all. Jer. over. 11. 1. 1 Knap over. 33.

10. ¶ Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Afirmile yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria: and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. 10. For they know not to do light, faith the LORD; who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. 11. Therefore thus faith the Lord GOD, An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled. 12. Thus faith the LORD, As the Shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and § in Damascus as a couch. 13. Hear ye and testify in the house of Jacob, faith the Lord GOD, the God of hofts. 14. That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 15. And I will think the winter house with the summer-house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, faith the LORD.

Amos 3:9-15

The neighbouring nations, the princes of Philistia and Egypt, are summoned to hear the trial of Israel, that they may bear witness to the righteousness of the Lord, and in their punishments be themselves admonished, v. 9. We have,

1. The crimes of which Israel is found guilty. (1.) Behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, the outrages committed in lawless riot, and passed off with impunity. (2.) Behold the oppressed in the midst thereof: injustice, oppression, rapine, and violence fill every street, and the injured groan without redress, for they know not to do right; they had no desire to do it, or by so long a course of wickedness their very judgment was perverted, and their reason blinded: they store up violence and robbery in their palaces, thus heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. Note, Sin is of that bewitching nature, that by long practice it gains, as it were, a sanction in the mind, and the conscience utterly defiled yields consent and approbation.

2. The sentence pronounced upon Israel is terrible. An adversary, the Affyrian king, shall be raised up, that shall demolish their fortsettes, and plunder their palaces of their ill gotten wealth, v. 11. The inhabitants shall be malfaced and devoured as a helpless sheep in a lion’s mouth; a wretched remnant only shall escape, like the two legs, or piece of an ear, which the Shepherd refuses from his confining jaws: a few out of Samaria, in the corner of a bed, so poor that they have only part of a bed to lie on, or who ran thither to hide themselves; and in Damascus in a couch, a mere handful, who find thither when Samaria was taken; or when this city fell likewise, some few of them narrowly escaped, v. 12. This sentence God’s prophets and priests are called upon faithfully to deliver to the house of Jacob, ver. 13. and to assure them the day will come, which he will wish their transgressions with deserved vengeance; when their idolatrous altars at Beth-el should fall, and the horns of them be cut off, nor afford the least refuge to those who find thither, their idol confidences utterly failing them. Their houses filled with oppression shall also be laid in the dust; their winter and summer-house, many of them curiously adorned with ivory, and the structure superb and magnificent, shall be plundered and demolished by the invading foe. Note, (1.) Great houses afford no protection against God’s judgments, rather when built by unrighteousness, maintained by oppression, or abused by pride and luxury, they provoke them more speedily and fearfully. (2.) They who make any creature their idol, will sooner or later be convinced of the folly and misery of their dependance thereon.