Amos 5:19

As if a man did flee 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. AS IF A MAN DID FLEE FROM A LION, AND A BEAR MET HIM - trying to escape one calamity he falls into another. This perhaps implies that in their ironical desire for the day of the Lord was as if it would be an escape from existing calamities. The coming of the day of the Lord would be good news to us, if true, because we have served God (i:e., the golden calves). So do hypocrites flatter themselves as to death and judgment, as if these would be a relief from existing ills of life. The lion may from generosity spare the prostrate, but the bear spares none (cf. ; ). Or wen...

Here is expressed more clearly what the Prophet had said before, — that hypocrites can have no hope, that the various changes, which may take place, will bring them any alleviation. Hypocrites, while straying in circuitous courses, do indeed promise better things to themselves, when the condition of the times is changed: and as Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, so hypocrites imitate the true servants of God. But it is a false imitation; for these are only fading flowers, no fruit follows; and besides, they proceed not from a living root. When the children of God are at any time pressed down by adverse events, they sustain and patiently nourish their faith with this consolation, — that clouds soon pass away: so also when the Lord chastises them with temporal punishment, he will presently return into favor with them. Hypocrites present the same outward appearance; but they w...

18-27 Woe unto those that desire the day of the Lord's judgments, that wish for times of war and confusion; as some who long for changes, hoping to rise upon the ruins of their country! but this should be so great a desolation, that nobody could gain by it. The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners. When God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God, will be pursued by them; if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them. A pretence of piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found. The people of Israel copied the crimes of their forefathers. The law of worshipping the Lord our God, is, Him only we must serve. Professors thrive so little, because they have little or no communion with God in their duties. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them t...

Verse 19. _AS IF A MAN DID FLEE FROM A LION, AND A BEAR MET HIM_] They shall go from one evil to another. He who escapes from the _lion's_ mouth shall fall into the _bear's_ paws: - Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim. The Israelites, under their king _Menahem_, wishing to avoid a civil war, called in _Pul_, king of _Assyria_, to help them. This led to a series of evils inflicted by the Syrian and Assyrian kings, till at last Israel was ravaged by _Shalmaneser_, and carried into captivity. Thus, in avoiding one evil they fell into another still more grievous. _LEANED HIS HAND ON A WALL, AND A SERPENT BIT HIM._] Snakes and venomous animals are fond of taking up their lodging in _walls of_ _houses_, where they can either find or make _holes_; and it is dangerous to sit near them or lean against them. In the East Indies they keep the faithful mon

AS IF A MAN, DID FLEE FROM A LION - The Day of the Lord is a day of terror on every side. Before and behind, without and within, abroad under the roof of heaven, or under the shelter of his own, everywhere is terror and death. The Syrian bear is said to have been more fierce and savage than the lion. For its fierceness and voracity Daniel 7:5, God made it, in Daniel’s vision, a symbol of the empire of the Medes. From both lion and bear there might be escape by flight. When the man had “leaned his hand” trustfully “on the wall” of his own house, “and the serpent bit him,” there was no escape. He had fled from death to death, from peril to destruction....

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-CH. 6:14 § 8. _Third address_:_ the prophet utters a lamentation over the fall of Israel_. (Amos 6:1.) He calls her to repentance, while he shows wherein she has declined from the right way. To make this plain, he contrasts God's power and majesty with the people's iniquity, instances of which he gives (Amos 6:4). The only condition of safety is amendment (Amo 6:13 -15); and as they refuse to reform, they shall have cause to lament (verses 16, 17). This threat is enforced by the two emphatic "woes" that follow, the first of which demonstrates the baselessness of their trust in their covenant relation to God (verses 18-27); the second denounces the careless lives of the chiefs, who, revelling in luxury, believed not in the coming judgment ...

AS IF A MAN DID FLEE FROM A LION, AND A BEAR MET HIM,.... That is, should the day of the Lord come as they desired, they would not be the better for it; it would be only going from one trouble to another, like escaping Scylla, and falling into Charybdis: or as if a man, upon the sight of a lion, and at his yell, should take to his heels, and flee "from the face" of him, as the phrase is i, and a bear, a less generous, and more cruel and voracious creature, especially when: bereaved of its whelps, should meet him, and seize him: or should: he get clear of them both, OR WENT INTO THE HOUSE, AND LEANED HIS HAND ON THE WALL, AND A SERPENT BIT HIM; should he get into a house, and so escape the lion and the bear, and lean upon the wall of the house to support and ease him, being out of breath in running from these creatures; yet a serpent lurking in the wall of an old house bites him, and the...

Amos 5:4. _For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:_ And that it just the message of God to professing Christians now: «Seek ye me.» Get away from your mere ceremonies, from trusting in your outward performances, and get to God himself. Get beyond your fellow-worshippers and your ministers, beyond your sanctuaries and your supposed holy places, and get in spirit and in truth to God himself: «Seek ye me, and ye shall live.» Amos 5:5. _But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal and pass not to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought._ These were the places where the calves and other idols were set up for the worship of God by means of visible symbols. That was the Romanism of that day. Pure spiritual

CHAPTER 5 The Third Discourse _ 1. The lamentation (Amos 5:1) _ 2. Seek the Lord and ye shall live (Amos 5:4) 3. The wailing (Amos 5:16) 4. The captivity announced (Amos 5:21) Amos 5:1. This chapter begins with a lamentation over the fallen daughter of Israel. “She shall no more rise” has been used as an argument against the future and literal restoration of Israel. The prophet has only the present government of God over that generation in view and does not deny at all a future rising as so abundantly predicted in the prophetic Word. “The

ISRAEL'S DELUSIONS. The prophet resumes the subject of Israel's delusions, how she disregards the essential conditions of real welfare. In Amos 5:18 he deals with a peculiar example of this, the conception or rather misconception of the day of Yahweh. The current belief was that when the day of Yahweh dawned, He would surely vindicate His people and punish their foes. Amos urges that this belief is a serious and unfortunate mistake, and conceives the day of Yahweh as a day of reckoning for His own people. What good will it do you? Yahweh's day is a day of darkness and not light (Harper). The prudent course would be at once to seek God and live. Simply to long and pray for the day of Yahweh is to flee from one danger and fall into another which may be more deadly (Amos 5:19). After disposing of this peculiar delusion,