Amos 3:11

Therefore thus saith 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. AN ADVERSARY THERE SHALL BE EVEN ROUND ABOUT THE LAND. Translate, 'An adversary! (the abruptness produces a startling effect) and that, too, from every side of the land.' So in the fulfillment, , "The king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years." AND HE SHALL BRING DOWN THY STRENGTH FROM THEE - i:e., bring thee down from thy strength (the strength on which thou didst boast thyself: all thy resources). (.) THY PALACES SHALL BE SPOILED - a just retribution in kind ...

The Prophet here announces the punishment God would inflict on the Israelites. _An enemy, _he says, _and indeed one around you, etc. _Some think צר, _tsar, _to be a verb in the imperative mood; but this cannot be maintained. But Amos, here declares that an enemy was near the Israelites, who would besiege them on every side. The ungodly are ever wont to seek escapes, and if they see the smallest hole, they think that they can escape. Strange is the presumption of men with regard to God: when they see themselves hemmed in, they are really frightened, yea, they become wholly disheartened; but yet they seek subterfuges on the right hand and on the left, and never submit to God except when constrained. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, that _an enemy _was near, _and indeed around _them; as though he said, “You have no reason to think that there is any way of escape open to you; for...

9-15 That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times....

Verse Amos 3:11. _AN ADVERSARY, ROUND ABOUT THE LAND_] Ye shall not be able to escape, wherever ye turn, ye shall meet a foe....

THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD - There was no human redress. The oppressor was mighty, but mightier the Avenger of the poor. Man would not help; therefore God would. “An adversary” there shall be, “even round about the land;” literally, “An enemy, and around the land!” The prophets speaks, as seeing him. The abruptness tells how suddenly that enemy should come, and hem in the whole land on all sides. What an unity in their destruction! He sees one “enemy, and” him everywhere, all “around,” encircling, encompassing, as with a net, their whole land, narrowing in, as he advanced, until it closed around and upon them. The corruption was universal, so should be the requital. AND HE SHALL BRING DOWN THY STRENGTH FROM - (that is, away from) thee The word “bring down” implies a loftiness of pride which was to be brought low, as in Obadiah, “thence will I bring thee down”...

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-CH. 6:14 Part II. THREE ADDRESSES PARTICULARIZING THE SINS OF ISRAEL AND ANNOUNCING IMMINENT JUDGMENT. AMOS 3:1 _§ 1. First address: the prophet begins by showing Israel's ingratitude for past mercies _(Amos 3:1, Amos 3:2)_, and his own commission to announce the coming judgment _(Amos 3:3). They have drawn this upon themselves by iniquities which astonish even heathen

THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Because of these tumults and riots, oppression and injustice, violence and robbery: AN ADVERSARY THERE [SHALL BE] EVEN ROUND ABOUT THE LAND: not Tyre, as Theodoret renders the word; but the king of Assyria, who invaded the land of Israel in the days of Hoshea, took Samaria, and carried Israel captive, and placed them in foreign countries, 2 Kings 17:6; AND HE SHALL BRING DOWN THY STRENGTH FROM THEE; take away their riches, demolish their fortresses, and strip them of everything in which they put their confidence: AND THY PALACES SHALL BE SPOILED; plundered of the treasures laid up in them, and pulled down to the ground; and a just retaliation this for their being the repositories of ill gotten substance and wealth....

II. THE PROPHETIC MESSAGES UNCOVERING THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE CHAPTER 3 The First Discourse _ 1. There is cause for judgment (Amos 3:1) _ 2. The coming judgment visitation (Amos 3:9) Amos 3:1. “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, You have I only known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.” This is the solemn beginning of the special messages addressed to the nation by the humble herdman of Tekoa. The Lord had singled them out from the other nations. He had separated them unto Himself. With His mighty power and outstretched arm He had del

GUILT AND DOOM OF SAMARIA. The prophet proceeds to apply the lesson. The peoples are summoned to proclaim the fate that has befallen (Amos 3:9 *) the castles of Ashdod and those in the land of Egypt, and then to assemble and witness the sins of Samaria. From the mountains of Samaria, the city presents a spectacle of great turmoil and deep-rooted oppression. And the reason is (Amos 3:10) that the ruling classes have no proper sense of what is right or straightforward. Wrong thought brings wrong doing, and wrong doing inevitably brings punishment. Therefore an adversary will succeed in encompassing the land and will be the means of bringing low the proud and rich potentates. Amos knew by experience that when the lion attacks the sheep, often all that can be saved is two legs or the piece of an ear ...

THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD. The first of three occurrences of this formula in Amos. See note on Amos 1:3. AN ADVERSARY. An adversary [shall] come. Figure of speech _Ellipsis_. App-6. Compare 2 Kings 17:3 2 Kings 17:6. 2 Kings 18:9; 2 Kings 18:10; 2 Kings 18:11....