Amos 3

Am 3:1-15.

GOD'S

EXTRAORDINARY

LOVE,

BEING

REPAID BY

ISRAEL WITH

INGRATITUDE, OF

NECESSITY

CALLS FOR

JUDGMENTS,

WHICH THE

PROPHETS

ANNOUNCE,

NOT AT

RANDOM, BUT BY

GOD'S

COMMISSION,

WHICH

THEY

CANNOT BUT

FULFIL.

THE

OPPRESSION

PREVALENT IN

ISRAEL

WILL

BRING

DOWN

RUIN ON

ALL

SAVE A

SMALL

REMNANT.

1. children of Israel--not merely the ten tribes, but "the

whole family brought up from Egypt"; all the descendants of

Jacob, including Judah and Benjamin. Compare

Jer 8:3,

and Mic 2:3,

on "family" for the nation. However, as the prophecy following refers to

the ten tribes, they must be chiefly, if not solely, meant: they

were the majority of the nation; and so Amos concedes what they so

often boasted, that they were the elect people of God [CALVIN], but implies that this only heightens

their sins.

2. You only have I known--that is, acknowledged as My people, and

treated with peculiar favor

(Ex 19:5;

De 4:20).

Compare the use of "know,"

Ps 1:6; 144:3;

Joh 10:14;

2Ti 2:19.

therefore I will punish--the greater the privileges, the heavier the

punishment for the abuse of them; for to the other offenses there is

added, in this case, ingratitude. When God's people do not glorify Him,

He glorifies Himself by punishing them.

3-6. Here follow several questions of a parable-like kind, to awaken

conviction in the people.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?--Can God's prophets be

so unanimous in prophesying against you, if God's Spirit were not joined

with them, or if their prophecies were false? The Israelites were "at

ease," not believing that God was with the prophets in their denunciations

of coming ruin to the nation

(Am 6:1, 3;

compare

1Ki 22:18, 24, 27;

Jer 43:2).

This accords with

Am 3:7, 8.

So "I will be with thy mouth"

(Ex 4:12;

Jer 1:8;

Mt 10:20).

If the prophets and God were not agreed, the former could not predict

the future as they do. In

Am 2:12

He had said, the Israelites forbade the prophets prophesying;

therefore, in

Am 3:3, 8,

He asserts the agreement between the prophets and God who spake by them

against Israel [ROSENMULLER]. Rather, "I once

walked with you"

(Le 26:12)

as a Father and Husband

(Isa 54:5;

Jer 3:14);

but now your way and Mine are utterly diverse; there can therefore be

no fellowship between us such as there was

(Am 3:2);

I will walk with you only to "punish you"; as a "lion" walks with his

"prey"

(Am 3:4),

as a bird-catcher with a bird [TARNOVIUS]. The

prophets, and all servants of God, can have no fellowship with the

ungodly

(Ps 119:63;

2Co 6:16, 17;

Eph 5:11;

Jas 4:4).

4. The same idea as in

Mt 24:28.

Where a corrupt nation is, there God's instruments of punishment are

sure also to be. The lion roars loudly only when he has prey in sight.

Will a young lion cry out . . . if he--the "lion," not the "young

lion."

have taken nothing?--The young lion just weaned lies silent, until the

old lion brings the prey near; then the scent rouses him. So, the

prophet would not speak against Israel, if God did not reveal to him

Israel's sins as requiring punishment.

5. When a bird trying to fly upwards is made to fall upon the earth

snare, it is a plain proof that the snare is there; so, Israel, now that

thou art falling, infer thence, that it is in the snare of the divine

judgment that thou art entangled [LUDOVICUS

DE

DIEU].

shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing--The bird-catcher does not remove his snare off the ground till he has

caught some prey; so God will not withdraw the Assyrians, &c., the

instruments of punishment, until they have had the success against you

which God gives them. The foe corresponds to the "snare," suddenly

springing from the ground and enclosing the bird on the latter

touching it; the Hebrew is literally, "Shall the snare spring from the earth?" Israel entangled in judgments answers to the bird

"taken."

6. When the sound of alarm is trumpeted by the watchman in the city,

the people are sure to run to and fro in alarm (Hebrew, literally).

Yet Israel is not alarmed, though God threatens judgments.

shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?--This is

the explanation of the preceding similes: God is the Author of all the

calamities which come upon you, and which are foretold by His prophets.

The evil of sin is from ourselves; the evil of trouble is from God,

whoever be the instruments.

7. his secret--namely, His purpose hidden from all, until it is

revealed to His prophets (compare

Ge 18:17).

In a wider sense, God's will is revealed to all who love God, which it

is not to the world

(Ps 25:14;

Joh 15:15; 17:25, 26).

unto his servants--who being servants cannot but obey their Lord

in setting forth His purpose (namely, that of judgment against Israel)

(Jer 20:9;

Eze 9:11).

Therefore the fault which the ungodly find with them is groundless

(1Ki 18:17).

It aggravates Israel's sin, that God is not about to inflict judgment,

without having fully warned the people, if haply they might repent.

8. As when "the lion roars" (compare

Am 1:2;

Am 3:4),

none can help but "fear," so when Jehovah communicates His awful

message, the prophet cannot but prophesy. Find not fault with me for

prophesying; I must obey God. In a wider sense true of all believers

(Ac 4:20; 5:29).

9. Publish in . . . palaces--as being places of

greatest resort (compare

Mt 10:27);

and also as it is the sin of princes that he arraigns, he calls

on princes (the occupants of the "palaces") to be the witnesses.

Ashdod--put for all Philistia. Convene the Philistine and the Egyptian

magnates, from whom I have on various occasions rescued Israel. (The

opposite formula to "Tell it not in Gath," namely, lest the heathen

should glory over Israel). Even these idolaters, in looking on your

enormities, will condemn you; how much more will the holy God?

upon the mountains of Samaria--on the hills surrounding and commanding

the view of Samaria, the metropolis of the ten tribes, which was on a

lower hill

(Am 4:1;

1Ki 16:24).

The mountains are to be the tribunal on which the Philistines and

Egyptians are to sit aloft to have a view of your crimes, so as to

testify to the justice of your punishment

(Am 3:13).

tumults--caused by the violence of the princes of Israel in

"oppressions" of the poor

(Job 35:9;

Ec 4:1).

10. know not to do--Their moral corruption blinds their power of

discernment so that they cannot do right

(Jer 4:22).

Not simple intellectual ignorance; the defect lay in the heart and

will.

store up violence and robbery--that is, treasures obtained by "violence

and robbery"

(Pr 10:2).

11. Translate, "An adversary (the abruptness produces a startling

effect)! and that too, from every side of the land." So in the

fulfilment,

2Ki 17:5:

"The king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) came up throughout all the

land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years."

bring down thy strength from thee--that is, bring thee down from thy

strength (the strength on which thou didst boast thyself): all thy

resources

(Pr 10:15).

palaces shall be spoiled--a just retribution in kind

(Am 3:10).

The palaces in which spoils of robbery were stored

up, "shall be spoiled."

12. shepherd--a pastoral image, appropriately used by Amos, a shepherd

himself.

piece of . . . ear--brought by the shepherd to the owner of the sheep,

so as not to have to pay for the loss

(Ge 31:39;

Ex 22:13).

So if aught of Israel escapes, it shall be a miracle of God's goodness.

It shall be but a scanty remnant. There is a kind of goat in the East

the ears of which are a foot long, and proportionally broad. Perhaps

the reference is to this. Compare on the image

1Sa 17:34, 35;

2Ti 4:17.

that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed--that is, that live

luxuriously in Samaria (compare

Am 6:1, 4).

"A bed" means here the Oriental divan, a raised part of the room

covered with cushions.

in Damascus in a couch--Jeroboam II had lately restored Damascus to

Israel

(2Ki 14:25, 28).

So the Israelites are represented as not merely in "the corner of a

bed," as in Samaria, but "in a (whole) couch," at Damascus, living in

luxurious ease. Of these, now so luxurious, soon but a remnant shall be

left by the foe. The destruction of Damascus and that of Samaria shall

be conjoined; as here their luxurious lives, and subsequently under

Pekah and Rezin their inroads on Judah, were combined

(Isa 7:1-8; 8:4, 9; 17:3).

The parallelism of "Samaria" to "Damascus," and the Septuagint

favor English Version rather than GESENIUS:

"on a damask couch." The Hebrew pointing, though

generally expressing damask, may express the city "Damascus";

and many manuscripts point it so. Compare for Israel's overthrow,

2Ki 17:5, 6; 18:9-12.

13. testify in the house, &c.--that is, against the house of

Jacob. God calls on the same persons as in

Am 3:9,

namely, the heathen Philistines and the Egyptians to witness with their

own eyes Samaria's corruptions above described, so that none may be

able to deny the justice of Samaria's punishment [MAURER].

God of hosts--having all the powers of heaven and earth at His command,

and therefore One calculated to strike terror into the hearts of the

guilty whom He threatens.

14. That--rather, "since," or "for." This verse is not, as

English Version translates, the thing which the witnesses cited

are to "testify"

(Am 3:13),

but the reason why God calls on the heathen to witness Samaria's guilt;

namely, in order to justify the punishment which He declares He will

inflict.

I will also visit . . . Beth-el--the golden calves which were the

source of all "the transgressions of Israel"

(1Ki 12:32; 13:2;

2Ki 23:15, 16),

though Israel thought that by them their transgressions were atoned for

and God's favor secured.

horns of the altar--which used to be sprinkled with the blood of

victims. They were horn-like projecting points at the corners of ancient

altars. The singular, "altar," refers to the great altar erected by

Jeroboam to the calves. The "altars," plural, refer to the lesser

ones made in imitation of the great one

(2Ch 34:5,

compare with

1Ki 13:2;

Ho 8:11; 10:1).

15. winter . . . summer house--

(Jud 3:20;

Jer 36:22).

Winter houses of the great were in sheltered positions facing the south

to get all possible sunshine, summer houses in forests and on hills,

facing the east and north.

houses of ivory--having their walls, doors, and ceilings inlaid with

ivory. So Ahab's house

(1Ki 22:39;

Ps 45:8).