Amos 2:11

And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. AND I RAISED UP OF YOUR SONS FOR PROPHETS, AND OF YOUR YOUNG MEN FOR NAZARITES. Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the prophets and Nazarites appointed by Him to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint. OF YOUR YOUNG MEN. It was a specimen of Israel's highly favoured state, that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine, and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite also was bound not to shave, nor to cut his hair; and he was to be "holy unto the Lord." His consecrated hair, which was woven into seven locks (the number of consecration), was called by the same name as the mitre of the priest ...

He now subjoins, _I have raised from your sons Prophets, and Nazarites from your young or strong men, _(for בחרים, _becharim_, as we have elsewhere said, are called by the Hebrews chosen men;) then from your youth or chosen men have I raised Nazarites. _Was it not so, O children of Israel? _or certainly it was so: for the particle אף, _aph, _sometimes is a simple affirmation, and sometimes an addition. _Is not then all this true, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah_. God first reminds them that he had raised up Prophets from their sons. It if a remarkable proof of God’s love, that he deigns to guide his people by Prophets: for if God were to speak himself from heaven, or to send his angels down, it would apparently be much more dignified; but when he so condescends as to employ mortal men and our own brethren, who are the agents of his Spirit, in whom he dwells, and by whose mouth he spe...

9-16 We need often to be reminded of the mercies we have received; which add much to the evil of the sins we have committed. They had helps for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their earthly enjoyments, and were therefore more valuable. Faithful ministers are great blessings to any people; but it is God that raises them up to be so. Sinners' own consciences will witness that he has not been wanting to them in the means of grace. They did what they could to lead believers aside. Satan and his agents are busy to corrupt the minds of young people who look heavenward; they overcome many by drawing them to the love of mirth and pleasure, and into drinking company. Multitudes of young men who bade fair as professors of religion, have erred through strong drink, and have been undone for ever. The Lord complains of sin, especially the sins of his professing people, as a bu...

AND I RAISED UP OF YOUR SONS FOR PROPHETS - Amos turns from outward mercies to inward, front past to present, from miracles of power to miracles of grace. God’s past mercies live on in those of today; the mercies of today are the assurance to us that we have a share in the past; His miracles of grace are a token that the miracles of His power are not our condemnation. God had, from the time of Moses, “raised up” prophets. Eldad and Medad Numbers 11:26 were images Of those, whom God would raise up beyond the bounds of His promise. Samuel was an Ephrathite 1 Samuel 1:1; Ahijah the Shilonite, that is, of Shiloh in Ephraim, lived on to old age in the kingdom of the ten tribes after their schism, the witness against the apostasy of Jeroboam...

EXPOSITION AMOS 2:1 Judgment on Moab. AMOS 2:1 MOAB. The prophet now denounces the other nation connected by ties of blood with Israel (see on Amos 1:13). Moab's hostility had been shown in the hiring of Balsam to curse the Israelites, and in seducing them to idolatry (Nu 22-25:3). He was their oppressor in the time of the Judges (Judges 3:12); and David had to take most stringent measures against him (2 Samuel 8:2). The Moabites joined in a league against Jehoshaphat ...

AND I RAISED UP OF YOUR SONS FOR PROPHETS,.... Such as Moses, Joshua, and the seventy elders, and others; not only to foretell things to come, but to teach and instruct the people in the doctrines and duties of religion, and to warn them of their sins, and the danger of them: AND OF YOUR YOUNG MEN FOR NAZARITES: as Samson, Samuel, and others; whose vow not only obliged them from shaving their hair, but to abstain from drinking wine, and eating grapes, which the youthful age is inclined unto; but such grace was given them, as enabled them to deny themselves sensual gratifications, and to be examples of piety and constant attendance on the service of God, and instructing the people. The Targum is, "of your young men for teachers;'' these were the spiritual mercies, as the former were the temporal ones, the Lord bestowed on these people, for the truth of which he appeals to them: [is it...

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. Moab (Amos 2:1) _ 2. Judah (Amos 2:4) 3. Israel (Amos 2:6) Amos 2:1. So fierce was the hatred of Moab that they dishonored the bones of the king of Edom. “Moab burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime” (see 2 Kings 3:26). The fire or judgment came upon Moab and her glory, too, departed like the glory of the other nations. Amos 2:4. While the measure was full of these nations, who had heaped transgressions upon transgressions, Judah and Israel were

THE SIN AND DOOM OF ISRAEL. Suddenly the prophet turns and confronts Israel. The benighted heathen nations have sinned and must be punished. What of Israel, God's chosen people? Why, just because they have been chosen and more privileged, failure to act up to their responsibilities and privileges deserves greater condemnation! Of this failure the prophet proceeds to give typical examples, and announces a punishment more severe even than that of Israel's neighbours. The Israelites (Amos 2:6) sell as slaves honest, unimpeachable men who refuse to bribe their judges, and poor men who incur trifling debts to the value of a pair of sandals. They trample to the dust of the earth the head of the poor (Amos 2:7 *). The rich and powerful callously crush the poor, and obstruct or divert from its natural course the simple path of the hum

I RAISED UP, &C. Not till the priests had failed in their duty to teach the law. See Leviticus 10:8; Leviticus 10:11.Deuteronomy 33:8; Deuteronomy 33:10. Prophets were not provided originally. for Nazarites. Ref to Pentateuch (Numbers 6:2). App-92. IT IS NOT... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. CHILDREN. sons. SAITH THE LORD. [is] Jehovah's oracle....

Amos 2:6. The sin of Israel, and its punishment 6 16. At last Amos comes to Israel. The Israelites might listen with equanimity, or even with satisfaction, whilst their neighbours" faults were being exposed: but they now find that precisely the same standard is to be applied to themselves. The stereotyped form is not preserved after the first verse; both the indictment and the punishment being developed at much greater length than in the case of any of the previous nations. The indictment (Amos 2:6) consists of four counts: 1. maladministration of justice; 2. oppression of the poor; 3. immorality; 4. inordinate self-indulgence, practised in the name of religion all, in view of the signal favours conferred by Jehovah upon Israel in the past, aggravated by ingratitude ...