CHAPTER VII _In this chapter God represents to Amos, by three several_ _visions, the judgments he is about to bring on Israel. The_ _first is a plague of locusts, threatening to cut of the hopes_ _of the harvest by attacking it in the time of the second_ _growth; the first luxuriances of the cr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:2. _BY WHOM SHALL JACOB ARISE?_] The _locusts_, the symbols of the many enemies that had impoverished Jerusalem, having devoured much of the produce of the land, were proceeding, till, at the intercession of the prophet, they were removed. Then, seeing in the light of prophecy the natio... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:3. _THE LORD REPENTED_] Changed his purpose of destroying them by the locusts. See Amos 7:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:4. _THE LORD GOD CALLED TO CONTEND BY FIRE_] Permitted _war_, both _civil_ and _foreign_, to harass the land, after the death of Jeroboam the second. These wars would have totally destroyed it, had not the prophet interceded. _IT DEVOURED THE GREAT DEEP, AND DID EAT UP A PART._] We are... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:7. _WITH A PLUMBLINE IN HIS HAND._] This appears to be intended as an emblem of strict justice, and intimated that God would now visit them according to their iniquities.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:8. _I WILL SET A PLUMBLINE_] I will visit them by _justice_ without any mixture of _mercy_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:9. _AND THE HIGH PLACES OF ISAAC SHALL BE DESOLATE_] Their total destruction is at hand. The _high place of Isaac_ was _Beer-sheba_, where Isaac had built an altar to the Lord, Genesis 26:25. This high place, which had been abused to idolatrous uses, was demolished by Josiah, king of Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:10. _AMAZIAH THE PRIEST OF BETH-EL_] The idolatrous priest who had been established by the king to maintain the worship of the golden calves which Jeroboam the elder had set up at this place. _AMOS HATH CONSPIRED AGAINST THEE_] This was truly a lying prophet; there is not one word of t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:12. _O THOU SEER_] He pretends kindness to the prophet, and counsels him to go into Judea, and prophesy there and be safe, even in the time that he had accused him of _high treason_ against Jeroboam. Hireling priests of this kind have ever been the great enemies of the true prophets of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:13. _BUT PROPHESY NOT - AT BETH-EL_] He must not speak against idolatry, because that was the king's religion; and he who speaks against the king's religion must be an enemy to the state. This was the doctrine held in England by popish James II. and his insidious Jesuit hireling priests... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:14. _I_ WAS _NO PROPHET_] I am an extraordinary messenger of God. I am not called to the prophetic office but for _this_ _occasion_. I have no message to _Judah_, and therefore need not go there. I have a message to _Israel_ alone, and I must faithfully deliver it. For the account whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:16. _NOW THEREFORE HEAR THOU THE WORD OF THE LORD_] While he was speaking in his own vindication, God seems to have inspired him with the awful prediction which he immediately delivers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 7:17. _THY WIFE SHALL BE A HARLOT_] As this was _the word of_ _the Lord_, so it was fulfilled; but as we have no farther account of this idolatrous priest, so we cannot tell in what circumstances these threatenings were executed. 1. His wife was to be a public prostitute; she was probabl... [ Continue Reading ]