Amos
Amos 6
Chapter VI · Vol. III, p. 1439
1 The voluptuousness of Israel, 7 shall be punished with desolation, 12 and their incorrigibleness.
1 Woe toa them that are at ease1 in Zion, and trust in the bmountain of Samaria, which are named chief2 of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Passc ye unto dCalneh,3 and see; and from thence go ye to eHamath the great: then go down to gGath of the Philistines: hbe they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
c Je.2.10,11;7.12,14. Na.3.8.
3 Three of the greatest heathen cities known to the Israelites are here named; the Jews are asked to compare their power and the extent of their territories with those of Samaria and Jerusalem. Yet those great cities had been conquered, and their power taken from them, whilst the Israelites were still preserved. This fact is urged as a reason for gratitude and thankfulness to God. Calneh was one of the four cities founded by Nimrod in the plain of Shinar.—P.
e 1 Ki.8.65. 2 Ki.14.25.
4 Thatk lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches,5 and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
k Is.22.12-14;5.12. Lu.16.19. ver.7;ch.2.8;3.15. Ro.13.13,14. Ja.5.5.
5 Or, abound with superfluities.
5 Thatl chant6 to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, nlike David;
6 That drink wine in bowls,7 and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction8 of Joseph.
7 Or, in bowls of wine.
8 Heb. breach, ch.5.6,15. 2 Ki.15.19,29;17.3-6. Je.4.6;30.7. Ro.12.15. Ge.37.25,28;49.23.
7 Therefore now oshall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
o ch.5.27. 2 Ki.15.29;17.6.
8 Thep Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD, the God of hosts, qI abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: rtherefore will I deliver up the city, with all that is therein.9
p Je.51.14. See ch.4.2. He.6.13,17.
q Zec.11.8. Na.2.2. Ps.78.58,59;47.4;106.40. Eze.24.21. Ro.3.1,2;9.4,5.
r Ho.13.10. Mi.1.6,7,9.
9 Heb. the fulness thereof.
9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain sten men in one house, that they shall tdie.
s 2 Ki.13.3,7. Zec.8.23.
t ch.5.19. Eze.5.12.
10 And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that uburneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house,1 Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, vHold thy tongue; for we may not make2 mention of the name of the LORD.3
u 1 Sa.31.12. Je.34.5. 2 Ch.16.14.
1 Sides of the house—'Innermost chambers.'—Newcome.
v 2 Ki.6.33. Eze.37.11. Je.2.25, with ch.5.13. Zep.1.7.
2 Or, they will not make, or have not made.
3 The meaning of this passage may be, Invoke not the name of Jehovah, lest his eye should be drawn to you, the only remaining one, and you should also fall a victim to his wrath. This view appears to be corroborated by the verse which follows.—P.
11 For, behold, the LORD xcommandeth, and he will smite the great house with 4breaches, and the little house with clefts.
x ch.3.6,7. Na.1.14. ch.3.15;ver.8.
4 Or, droppings.
12 Shally horses run upon the rock?5 will one plow there with oxen? for zye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
y Is.1.5;48.4. Je.5.3;6.28,29. Zec.7.11,12.
5 Such labour is either impossible or useless—so hopeless and fruitless is all instruction or rebuke to Israel.—C.
13 Ye which rejoice ain a thing of nought, which say, Have we not btaken to us horns by our own strength?
14 But, behold, cI will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you dfrom the entering in of Hemath unto the river6 of the wilderness.7
6 Or, valley.
7 'The entering in of Hamath' is the passage from the Mediterranean past the northern end of the chain of Lebanon into the plain of Hamath. It is several times mentioned as the northern border of Palestine. 'The river of the wilderness' is the mark of the southern border, but it cannot be satisfactorily identified. It may be the same as that elsewhere called 'the river of Egypt;' i.e. Wady el-Arish, which runs through the desert of Tih.—P.
c Je.5.15. Is.7.17,20;8.4;10.5,6;5.26-30. 2 Ki.15.29;17.6-28.
Notes
Ver. 1. Woe to those wealthy Jews and Israelites who live in carnal security, as if Jerusalem and Samaria, their capital cities, could protect them from my judgments. 2. Behold how those once famed cities, Calneh in Chaldea, Hamath in Syria, and Gath in the country of the Philistines, lie in ruins, though they never sinned against such abundant favours as ye have done! 3-6. Ye keep the thoughts of approaching judgments out of your minds, or flatter yourselves that they will never come; and take all opportunities to commit injustice and oppression; and abandon yourselves to sloth, luxury, sensuality, carnal mirth, drunkenness, and pride; in nowise affected with the miseries inflicted on or impending over the ten tribes: 7-11. Therefore shall ye be quickly carried captive into Assyria, and miserably in want of necessary provision. With unrelenting detestation God will give up your palaces and cities to the ravaging enemies to be destroyed. And meanwhile, the pestilence or famine shall cut off whole families, which their few surviving relations shall bury in astonishment, despairing of pity from God: and all ranks, great and small, shall be equally involved in the desolating calamity. 12-14. To no purpose do the prophets plead with you, hardened sinners, for your conversion and reformation. Ye have even rendered the civil administrations altogether unjust and oppressive. Ye rejoice in your idols, wealth, and power; and boast of your self-advancement, and your ability to defend yourselves: but, lo, as executioners of my just judgment, the Assyrians, and afterwards the Chaldeans, shall ravage your whole country, and murder or take you captive, from one end of your land to the other.
Ver. 1. Chief of the nations. Not so named of the Gentiles, for they despised the Jews: but either so named of God, when he called them 'my people,' and constituted them the depositaries of his holy oracles, and gathered them to his garner as 'the first-fruits' (so the word translated 'chief' signifies) of his harvest; or so named of themselves when, looking to their religious privileges, and overlooking their neglect of them, they proudly arrogated to themselves a title of indefeasible pre-eminence among the kingdoms of the world. C.
Ver. 5. Who imitate David's instruments of music, and affect to follow his example, but who dedicate to revelry what he dedicated to piety. The whole description presents us with a refined, indolent, and luxurious people—an evidence how easily, and how far, fine taste and true religion may be separated among any people—of which Italy, the land of painting and music, affords a sad example, while it proves a deceitful snare to all the nations of Europe. C.
Ver. 10. Uncle. The whole ten brethren, ver. 9, having died, the burial devolves upon the uncle as next of kin.—For we may not, &c. Either on account of the idolaters, who had forbidden all reference to Jehovah; or on account of a superstitious fear of mentioning the name; or, perhaps, a pious acknowledgment that silence best becomes sinners suffering under his righteous displeasure. C.
Ver. 11. Clefts. Either a prophecy of, or allusion to, the earthquake; or an allusion to the clefts that are frequent in the mud walls of cottages in warm climates. C.
Reflections.—External privileges are very apt to puff up pride. And if we be once abandoned to carnal security, the examples of God's judgments all around us will scarcely affect us. A round of dissipation and luxury effectually alienates the mind from God, and shuts out every serious consideration, and every degree of sympathy with afflicted churches and nations! Pitiful are the darling pleasures of those who are abandoned of God. But fearful is their case when his wrath begins to burn against them. No external relations, church privileges, or temples can prevent his judgments. He abhors the form of godliness which is separated from its power. Dreadful is the situation, when luxurious dissipation is exchanged for sword, pestilence, famine, captivity, and hell!—when terrible calamities but plunge men into diabolical astonishment and eternal despair!—when all are generally miserable, and none left to comfort another! and when obstinate perverters of justice and proud boasters, are sadly abandoned to their own fate.