The Prophet wished doubtless by these words to confirm his own authority, for he saw that his doctrine was regarded with contempt: and it is probable that the words recited here were not only once delivered by him, but had been often repeated. We know how great was the pride and confidence of that p... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet afterwards declares what he had in charge, _Only you have I known of all the families of the earth: I will therefore visit you for your iniquities. _Many think that he still concedes to the Israelites what they were wont to boast of, — that they were separated from the common class of me... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet here accumulates similitudes which may, however, be reduced to five particulars. He first shows that he uttered no empty words, but had God’s authority for what he said; and he appeals to him as his witness and approver: this is one thing. Then he shows that God designedly announces the... [ Continue Reading ]
The second similitude follows, _Will a lion roar in the forest without a prey? Will a lion send forth his voice from his den when he has caught nothing? _By this verse he intimates that God does not cry out for nothing by his Prophets; for ungodly men supposed that the air was only made to reverbera... [ Continue Reading ]
The third similitude now follows, _Will a bird fall on the earth, he says, without a fowler? _The Prophet means here that nothing happens without being foreseen by God; for as nets are laid for birds, so God ensnares men by his hidden punishments. Unexpectedly indeed calamity comes, and it is common... [ Continue Reading ]
He adds, in the last place, _Shall a trumpet sound and the people tremble not? _Here he reprehends, as I have said, the torpidity of the people, to whom all threatening were a sport: “When a trumpet sounds,” he says, “all tremble; for it is a signal of danger. All then either fly for aid or stand am... [ Continue Reading ]
But he had before spoken of the sound of the trumpet; for every excuse was thereby taken away from the Israelites, as God had not only recalled them to the right way by his scourges but also preceded these by his word: and he shows how justly he was displeased with them; hence the Prophet adds anoth... [ Continue Reading ]
It now follows, _The lion roars who would not fear? The Lord Jehovah speaks, who would not prophesy? _In this verse the Prophet reproved the Israelites for their usual contentions with the Prophets when their sins were sharply reprehended. Thus indeed are men wont to do; they consider not that Proph... [ Continue Reading ]
Amos begins here to set judges over the Israelites; for they would not patiently submit to God’s judgment: and he constitutes and sets over them as judges the Egyptians and Idumeans. This prophecy no doubt increasingly exasperated the minds of the people, who were already very refractory and rebelli... [ Continue Reading ]
In this verse he confirms what I have already said of oppressions: he says that they despised every thing right. But not to know this lessens not their guilt, as though they ignorantly offended; but the Prophet means, on the contrary, that they had cast away far from them everything that was just an... [ Continue Reading ]
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 be... [ Continue Reading ]
In the next verse he leaves some hope, though this is not avowedly done. For when he says that some would be saved, as when a shepherd snatches from the jaws of a lion the ear of a sheep or two legs, it is not the Prophet’s design to mitigate the severe judgment of which he had before spoken; but sh... [ Continue Reading ]
Amos, I have no doubt, added this passage, to show that the superstitions, in which he knew the Israelites falsely trusted, would be so far from being of any help to them, that they would, on the contrary, lead them to ruin, because the people were by them provoking God’s wrath the more against them... [ Continue Reading ]
Amos shows again that in vain the great people trusted in their wealth and fortified places; for these could not hinder God from drawing them forth to punishment. As then abundance blinds men, and as they imagine themselves to be as it were inaccessible, especially when dwelling in great palaces, th... [ Continue Reading ]