Amos 6:13

Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? YE WHICH REJOICE IN A THING OF NOUGHT - i:e., in your vain power, decaying empire, and fleeting riches. WHICH SAY, HAVE WE NOT TAKEN TO US HORNS? - i:e., acquired power, so as to conquer our neighbours-namely, under Jeroboam lI, "who restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain" (). Horns are the Hebrew symbol of power, being the instrument of strength in many animals (, "All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off: but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted"). So Zedekiah the false prophet, in allusion to ("His (Ephraim's) horns are...

This verse will seem better connected with the last, if we bear in mind the view to which I have referred: for the Prophet inveighs again against the careless contempt with which the Israelites were filled. _Ye rejoice, _he says, _in a thing of nought _A thing of nought he calls those fallacies, by which they were wont to deceive, not only others, but also their own selves. For hypocrites not only falsely pretend the name of God, but also deceive themselves by self flatteries, when they arrogate to themselves the name of Church, and the empty title of adoption and other things. We see this to be the case at this day with the Papists, who are puffed up with nothing; who not only with sacrilegious audacity twist the Word of God against us, that they may appear to be the true Church, but also harden themselves: and though they are ill at ease with themselves, they yet lull themselves asleep...

8-14 How dreadful, how miserable, is the case of those whose eternal ruin the Lord himself has sworn; for he can execute his purpose, and none can alter it! Those hearts are wretchedly hardened that will not be brought to mention God's name, and to worship him, when the hand of God is gone out against them, when sickness and death are in their families. Those that will not be tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks. When our services of God are soured with sin, his providences will justly be made bitter to us. Men should take warning not to harden their hearts, for those who walk in pride, God will destroy....

Verse Amos 6:13. _YE WHICH REJOICE IN A THING OF NAUGHT_] In your idols: for an idol is nothing in the world. _HAVE WE NOT TAKEN TO US HORNS_] We have arrived to power and dignity by our strength. _Horns_ were the symbols of _power_ and _authority_. So _Horace_: - Vina parant animos: tum pauper cornua sumet. "Wine repairs our strength, and furnishes the poor with horns." At such times they think themselves as great as the greatest....

WHO REJOICE - (Literally, “the rejoicers!” Amos, as is his wont, speaks of them with contempt and wonder at their folly, “the rejoicers!” much as we say, the cowards! the renegades!) “in a thing of nought,” literally, “a non-thing,” (“no-whit, nought”) not merely in a thing valueless, but in a “non-thing,” that has no existence at all, as nothing has any substantial existence out of God. This “non-thing” was their power, strength, empire, which they thought they had, but which was soon to shrivel away as a scroll. WHICH SAY - , (as before, “the sayers!” they who have this saying habitually in their month) have we not taken to ourselves horn? The horn is the well-known symbol of strength which repels and tosses away what opposes it, as the bull doth its assailant. Moses, in his blessing, had used this symbol, of the strength of the tribe of Joseph, and as being a blessing, he spoke of it,...

EXPOSITION AMOS 6:1 With a second woe the prophet denounces the chiefs of the whole nation, who were quite satisfied with the present state of things, and, revelling in luxury, feared no coming judgment. AMOS 6:1 THEM THAT ARE AT EASE IN ZION; living in fancied security and self-pleasing (Isaiah 32:9, Isaiah 32:11; Zephaniah 1:12). Judah is included in the denunciation, because she is equally guilty; the whole covenant nation is sunk in the same dangerous apathy. Septuagint, τοῖς ἐξουθ

YE WHICH REJOICE IN A THING OF NOUGHT,.... In their wealth and riches, which are things that are not, because of the uncertainty of them; and, in comparison of true riches, have no solidity and substance in them, Proverbs 23:5; or in any of the things of this world, the lusts of it, the honours of it, human wisdom or strength; all are things of nought, of no worth, give no satisfaction, and are of no continuance, and not to be gloried in, Jeremiah 9:23; or in their idols, for an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4; and yet they rejoiced in them, Acts 7:41; or in their own works of righteousness, as men of a pharisaical temp

CHAPTER 6 The Fourth Discourse _ 1. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion (Amos 6:1) _ 2. The punishment announced (Amos 6:7) Amos 6:1. This woe concerns the great men, the chiefs of the nation, who were sunk into a godless self-security, and dreamt on in their darkness, while the clouds of judgment were gathering above them. They were to go from Calneh to Hamath and then down to Gath of the Philistines. Calneh was built by Nimrod in the land of Shinar Genesis 10:10; Hamath was the capital of a Syrian kingdom, and Gath the center of Philistia. These places were the places of vileness and corruption. But were the kingdoms of both J

THE MISERABLE FATE OF THESE RULERS. Yahweh solemnly declares (Amos 6:8) that the pride (_mg.)_ of Jacob, the vainglory which has displaced true glory, has become an abomination to Him. There follows a difficult section, Amos 6:9 f., which does not suit the context very well and may have been added by a scribe. It seems to describe the horrors of a siege or plague. So terrible is the scourge that in a house where there are ten men none may escape (Amos 6:9). A kinsman (_mg._), whose privilege it is to burn sacred spices in honour of the dead (_cf._ Jeremiah 34:5;...

HORNS =. powers. "Horns" put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for the power put forth by them....