Amos 5

Amos 5:1-3

The hope of this chapter is to preclude the exhortation given to Israel in the chief of the foregoing, to prepare to meet his God; he here

tells them, 1. What preparation they must make, they must find to the Lord, and not to their idols, ver. 4—8. they must find the good and love it, ver. 14, 15. 2. Why they must make this preparation. (1.) Because of the present deplorable condition they were in, ver. 1—3. (2.) Because it was for that brought them into this condition, ver. 7, 10, 11, 12. (3.) Because this would be their happiness, and God would be found of them, ver. 8, 9, 14. (4.) Because without it he would bring after ruin upon them, ver. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17. And (5.) All their confidence would fall them. (1.) Their preface contempt and defiance of God’s judgments would not secure them, ver. 8—20. (2.) Their external services would not avail to turn away the wrath of God, ver. 21—24. (3.) Their long defiance of church-proudness, and course of holy duties, would not be their protection, while they kept up their idolatrous coffees, ver. 25—27. They have therefore no way left to favor themselves, but by repentance and reformation.

1. HEAR ye this word which I take up against you, ‘com a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2. The virgin of Israel is fallen, the shall no more rise: ’the is forsaken upon her land, there is none to raise her up. 3. For thus faith the Lord GOD, The city that went out by a thousand, shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred, shall leave ten to the house of Israel.

The prophet cannot but be himself affected with the milers he foresees coming upon the people, whilst therefore he demands of them attention to the doleful tidings, he inawares in elegant strains of woe the virgin of Israel fallen, as if she was already a dead couple, since God had pronounced her doom.

1. Her ruin is irrecoverable. She is not only fallen, but fallen to rise no more, having never been a kingdom since the ten tribes were carried captive by Salmeteres. She is forsaken upon her land, both of God, her allies, and her own people; there is none to raise her up, either able or willing to help her, for those whom God will destroy, none can save.

2. The inhabitants shall be diminished, and brought very low. Before the final vengeance overtook them, a variety of calamities had reduced their numbers, so that the city which could formerly muster a thousand men, could on that invasion raise but an hundred; and the village that had an hundred inhabitants was reduced to ten: or these numbers only remained after the campaign, but one in ten escaping the ravages of war.

3. For thus faith the LORD unto the house of Israel, ‘Seek ye me, and ye shall live. 5. But seek not ‘Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and gain out to ‘Bert-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and ‘Beth-el shall come to nought. 6. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live, left he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 8. Seek from that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, ’the LORD is his name: 9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the throng; so that the spoiled shall come against the forrest. 10. They have him that re-buketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him fourteen of wheat; ‘ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them: ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink one of them. 12. For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. 13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time. 14. ‘Seek good and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD the God of hofts shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: ‘it may be that the LORD God of hofts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Amos 5:4-15

The blefings of obedience, and the milers of sin, are topics we should often dwell upon, that we may chuse the one and avoid the other.

1. The sins of Israel are brought to their remonstrance, that they might repent and amend the evil of their ways. In general, v. 12. God charges them with manifold transgressions and mighty sins, he knew them, however secretly committed, and

now produces them for their conviction. Note, The sinner that is brought to a true knowledge of his State, Stocks annexed at the multitude of his transgressions, by thought, word, and deed committed against the divine Majesty, and is checked at the flagrant enormities that cry for vengeance against him.

[1.] They were idolaters, flying to Beth-el and Gilgal, where their idols were, instead of having recourse to God at his temple.

[2.] They practised the most flagrant iniquities; ye turn judgment in command, acting in direct opposition thereto, and leave off righteousness in the earth, having not the least regard for it, but trampling it under foot.

[3.] They were oppressors of the poor, not only plundering them of burden of wheat, their very phrasing, or the fruit goats by hand labour, but also read them under foot, v. 11. Imperious, insolent, and cruel to them, they afflicted the pails, perhaps hand them, because they were to, and took every opportunity to harass and torment them. They take a bride, and they turn again the poor in the gate from their right, be the right of the cause never so clear, the bride carries it against law and equity; and they who cannot see them, may not expect redress of the most flagrant iniquities.

[4.] They were malicious persecutors of God’s faithful ministers and people. They have him that robureth in the gate, the ministers and prophets, who openly preached against their iniquities, and they abhor him that freaketh uprightly; the consternations, yea, the very perish of such is their abhorrence, as they are a constant and living reproof to their iniquities. And in those evil days, when the enmity of the wicked is so avowed, the prudent shall keep silence at that time, ver. 13. When a man will be made an offender for a word, it is an dangerous to complain, as troubles to reprove. Note, Good men are often driven to unwilling silence, though it is a pain and grief to them.

2. Their punishment is foretold, except they repent. The head quarters of their idolatry, Beth-el and Gilgal, shall come to mought, and the inhabitants go into captivity, v. 2. A few shall devour the house of Joseph, it shall consume the whole nation, and none of their idols at Beth-el shall be able to parach it, v. 6. So little protection can any creature afford us in the day of wrath. Though by the fruits of oppression they reared magnificent shades for themselves, they shall not be suffered to dwell in them, nor eat the fruits of the pleasant vineyards they had planted, v. 11. by death cut off, or by captivity removed for away. Note, What is not honestly got, is not likely to be long enjoyed.

3. To prevent this threatened vengeance, they are exhorted speedily to seek the Lord for pardon and grace, in order that their hearts and lives may be reformed and changed. Seek ye me, jail the Lord, my mercy and favour, and return to my worship and service, and ye shall live; notwithstanding all that is just, their guilt shall be forgiven, and their forfeited lives refused; they shall be suffered still to dwell in their own land, and what is far better, as partakers of God’s grace shall live farciously his people on earth, and eternally with him in heaven. But they must renounce their idolatries at Beth-el and Gilgal, for which their remained, no mercy could be hoped for: and what wretched vanities were these, compared with him, whom they were exhorted to seek, and to which favour they were invited? he made the seven flars, called the Pleiades, and Orion, another constellation, with all the heavenly hosts, and turmeth the freedom of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark until night, directing the constant revolutions of day and night; or as he pleases, able to turn the deepest night of dithesis into the day of exultation and joy; or the meridian brightness of prosperity into the darkness of most abject wretchedness; that called for the waters of the sea, and pourish them out upon the face of the earth, as in the deluge, to punish an ungodly world; or by exultations from the great abyss of waters, replenishes the clouds, that drop down the rain to water the earth; the Lord is his name, Jehovah, the self-sufficient, all-sufficient God. That presyriesteth the feast against the living, enabling them to stand against their oppressors; yea, though vanquished before, raising them above their conquerors, so that the feast shall come against the fairness, before and take it. However desperate therefore their national affairs might appear, if God became their friend, they might be easily-attracted: if then they would be delivered from danger, they must return to God, and the paths of duty. Seek good and not evil, putting away all your abominations, and defining henceforward to know God’s holy will, and walk in all his holy ways; that ye may live, as God had promised, v. 4. and ye the Lord do God of hosts shall be with you, as ye have before, at once they boasted he was, or as now they prayed he might be, and his gracious presence is better than life itself. False the end, not only because it is so fatal to your souls, but because it is so offensive and odious to the holy God; and love the good, God himself, his people, his ways, his worship, delighting in the Lord, and in every good word and work which may advance his glory: and, particularly, what they had hitherto so neglected, establish judgment in the gate, that justice may be administered to all impartiality, freely, speedily; it may be that the Lord will be precious unto the remnant of Joseph; though reduced to a few,

VOL. II.

this conduct would be the means of restoring their prosperity; at least the remnant of the truly faithful souls should find favour and grace in the eyes of the Lord. Note, The way of duty is the path of safety, and God hath never yet failed those who seek him.

Before Cloth 791.

16. Therefore the LORD the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus, Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall lay in all the high-ways, Alas, alas: and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation, to wailing. 17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. 18. We unto you that desire the day of the LORD: to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 19. As if a man did see from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Amos 5:16-20

This clause is connected not with the words immediately preceding, but with the foregoing part of the chapters, and declares what would be the case, if neither judgments, mercies, nor exhortations wrought upon them.

1. Such calamities were coming upon them, as would raise a bitter and universal mourning. Their streets should echo with wailing, and their highways rebound with lamentations; even the husbandman and the vine-dresser shall leave their employments, to join the general cry, Alas! alas! Whilst those, whose profession it had been to awaken the foremen of others, shall now with no fictitious notes of woe pour forth their anguish, and raise the melancholy found, for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord, with such fearful vengeance and desolation, as when of old the destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt.

2. The scoffers are particularly and severely rebuked. Many of the profane and ungodly mocked at the warnings given, and with daring insolence and hardened infidelity bid the day comes, so if they neither believed nor feared it. Therefore we unto you that desire the day of the Lord, it would come before me they were aware; to what end is it for you? it would make them with a thousand times their impious speeches unfold, for the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light, a terrible day for them. And it is repeated, v. 20. to affect them with a sense of their danger, even very dark, and no brightness in it, when the hopes with which these sinners, and all who are like them, flattered themselves, shall be lost in black unfathomable despair. No door of escape shall then be open, it shall be as if a man had from a lion, and a bear met him, such a multitude of dire calamities should surround them; ye went into a house, and found in the walls, and a serpent bit him, for no place in a day of wrath can afford the impenetrant sinner shelter or support. Perhaps some wished for these troublesome times that were threatened, hoping to make their own advantage of them; but, to their cost, they would find themselves dreadfully involved in the common calamity.

3. ¶ I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22. Though ye offer me burnt-offerings, and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts. 23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy long, for I will not hear the melody of thy vols. 24. But let judgment || run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26. But ye have both § the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Amos 5:21-27

Amist abounding ungodliness, they flattered themselves the form of godliness they observed would preserve them from ruin, but they are woefully mistaken.

1. Their sacrifices and services, in far from being pleasing to God, were his abomination, and their sacred songs grated harsh disored in his ears. Not only they were performed contrary to his institution, at Beth-el instead of Jerusalem, but also their allowed iniquity and barefaced hypocrisy made them doubly displeasing and loathsome in his fight. Note, (1.) Formality and hypocrisy are more odious to God than open profanement; these shall receive greater damnation. (2.) Many future themselves their duties and devotions will carry them to heaven, when their pride and vain confidence in these things only the more certainly lead them down to hell.

2. What God required of them was righteousness and judgment, without which no sacrifices could avail. Let judgment run down as waters, freely, copiously, without interruption; and righteousness as a mighty stream, bearing down before it ungodliness and wrong.

3. To idols, not to God, had their sacrifices been offered. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years? No. The greatest part of the time none were offered; and, of the few sacrifices they did bring, the golden calf had a chief share: so soon idolatry began, and had continued ever since among them. To have have the subsistence of Messiah, little shrines, or small images of this hated idol, probably the fan, in honour of whom they burnt their children in the face; and Chion, the same as Rompham, Acts vii. 43, probably the planet Saturn, your images; the star of your god, which ye made to purifesce; the worship of the heavenly lofty being the most ancient idolatry, which they seem to have adopted, worshipping and serving the creature instead of the Creator.

4. For these things they are doomed to an ignominious captivity. Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damoglos, into a more distant and strange land, even beyond Babylon, as Stephen quotes it, Acts vii. 43. As far as Halab and Habor, cities of the Medes; and the infallible certainty of the predilection is confirmed by thus faith the Lord, solely some is the God of lofts, almighty to execute, and true to accomplish, the threatnings of his word.