INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 3 In this chapter the prophet goes on with his prophecy against Israel, whom God had highly favoured, and yet sinned against him, and therefore must expect to be punished by him; and the rather, since he and they were not agreed; and therefore there could be no communion betwee... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR THIS WORD THAT THE LORD HATH SPOKEN AGAINST YOU, O CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... The prophecy against Israel begins in the preceding chapter, where notice is taken of their sins, at least some of them, and of their aggravated circumstances, and sure destruction; and here they are called upon to heark... [ Continue Reading ]
YOU ONLY HAVE I KNOWN OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH,.... All the families or nations of the earth, and all the inhabitants of it, are known by the Lord, as he is the omniscient God; but none had been known by him as a family, or a nation, with that love and affection as this family had been, or d... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN TWO WALK TOGETHER EXCEPT THEY BE AGREED?] Unless they meet together, and appoint time and place, when and where they shall set out, what road they will take, and whither they will go; without such consultation and agreement, it cannot be thought they should walk together; and not amicably, unles... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL A LION ROAR IN THE FOREST WHEN HE HATH NO PREY?.... He will not, unless he has it in his sight, or in his paws; he roars when he first sees it, whereby he terrifies the creature, that it cannot move till he comes up to it; and when he has got it in his paws, he roars over it, to invite others t... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN A BIRD FALL IN A SNARE UPON THE EARTH, WHERE NO GIN [IS] FOR HIM?.... No, there must be a snare set, or a bird can never be taken in it; and that is done, not by chance, but with the design of the fowler; yea, with the knowledge and will of God himself, Matthew 10:29; the design of this is to sh... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL A TRUMPET BE BLOWN IN THE CITY,.... Meaning not any trumpet blown, as the silver trumpet for the gathering of the people to worship, or the jubilee trumpet, which proclaimed liberty to them, or any other, expressive of joy and gladness; but the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, or what i... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY THE LORD GOD WILL DO NOTHING,.... In the world, in a nation or city; no remarkable event has happened, or shall happen, to the sons of men: BUT HE REVEALETH HIS SECRET UNTO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS; what he willed and determined to do, which was a secret in his own breast, till revealed; an... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LION HATH ROARED, WHO WILL NOT FEAR?.... Amos said this from his own experience, who, having been a herdsman in the wilderness of Tekoa, had often heard a lion roar, which had put him into a panic, both for himself, and the cattle he kept; the figure is explained in the next clause: THE LORD GO... [ Continue Reading ]
PUBLISH IN THE PALACES AT ASHDOD, AND IN THE PALACES IN THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... This is spoken to the prophets, to publish and declare in all the courts of the Philistines and Egyptians, and among all the princes and great men therein, the sins of the people of Israel, and the punishment God threaten... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY KNOW NOT TO DO RIGHT, SAITH THE LORD,.... What is just and fight between man and man, no, not in one single instance; they did not regard it, or advert to it; they were under no concern about it; and were so much under the power of their lusts, that they knew not how to do it; and had used... [ Continue Reading ]
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,... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, AS THE SHEPHERD TAKETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LION,.... Or what the lion has left, to show to his master that it had been seized and torn by a beast of prey; for otherwise it is a most daring thing, and not usual, for a shepherd to take anything out of a lion's mouth, though Da... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR YE, AND TESTIFY IN THE HOUSE OF JACOB,.... The prophets and priests, whose business it was to speak to the people from the Lord, and declare his will to them, and to admonish them of their sin and danger, are here called upon to hearken to what the Lord was about to say, and to testify and publ... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IN THE DAY THAT I SHALL VISIT THE TRANSGRESSIONS OF ISRAEL UPON HIM,.... The three or four mentioned in the preceding chapter, the great multitude of them, their profaneness, uncleanness, and luxury, their injustice and oppression of the poor; when he should visit and punish for these sins, as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SMITE THE WINTER HOUSE WITH THE SUMMER HOUSE,.... Both the one and, the other shall fall to the ground, being beat down by the enemy, or shook and made to fall by the earthquake predicted, Amos 1:1; as Kimchi thinks: kings and great personages had houses in the city in the winter season,... [ Continue Reading ]