COMMENTARIES
ON
THE
TWELVE MINOR
PROPHETS
BY JOHN
CALVIN
NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM
THE ORIGINAL
LATIN,
BY THE REV. JOHN
OWEN
VICAR OF THRUSSINGTON,
LEICESTERSHIRE
VOLUME
SECOND
JOEL, AMOS,
MICAH
TRANSLATOR’S
PREFACE
THIS VOLUME contains the Writings of three Prophets.
Joel exercised his office among the Jews; Amos, though a native of Judea, was
yet appointed a Prophet of The Ten Tribes; and OBADIAH’S prophecy refers
only to Edom.
The great master of Hebrew criticism, Bishop Lowth,
speaking, in his twenty-first Prelection, of Joel, says, that though he differs
much in style from Hosea, he is yet “equally poetical.” He
represents him as “elegant, clear, diffuse, and flowing, and also very
sublime, severe, and fervid.” Admitting the perspicuity of his
diction, and the clearness of his arrangements, he yet confesses that the matter
which he handles is sometimes obscure, especially towards the end of his
Prophecy.
With regard to the style of Amos, the Bishop differs
widely from Jerome, who has characterized the Prophet as “unskillful in
speech, but not in knowledge,” (imperitum sermone, set non in
scientia.) Lowth, on the contrary, regarded him as “not a whit behind
the very chiefest Prophets, being in elevation of sentiment and nobleness of
mind almost equal to the very firsts and hardly inferior to any of them in
splendor of diction and elegance of
composition.”Fb1
OF OBADIAH, nothing more is said by the Bishop than
that he left but a small monument of his genius, and that a considerable portion
of that is contained in the prophecy of Jeremiah. Of his composition Dr.
Henderson says, “Its principal features are animation, regularity, and
perspicuity.”
There is especially one subject in connection with
the present Volume, which seems to require particular notice — THE
INTERPRETATION OF THOSE PROPHECIES WHICH SPEAK OF THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF THE
JEWS TO THEIR OWN LAND. CALVIN viewed some passages, as having been already
accomplished in their return from Babylon, which in the estimation of others are
yet to be fulfilled; while he interpreted those which evidently refer to what is
future, in such a way as clearly shows that he did not consider that the Jews
are to be restored again to their own country. That justice may be done to him,
we must know and bear in mind the principles by which he was guided: for it is
not to be supposed, that one so versed in Scripture, who had studied it with so
much labor, and manifested, as it is commonly admitted, so much penetration and
discernment as an expounder, would have taken such a view of this subject on
slight grounds, without adopting a rule of interpretation, which, according to
what he thought, was countenanced by Scriptural examples.
It must first be observed, that CALVIN, in common
with others, regarded the history as well erg the institutions of the people of
Israel, as in great measure typical of things under the Gospel. Their temporal
evils and blessings, their temporal oppressions and deliverances, were intended
to set forth the spiritual state and condition of the Christian Church. The free
choice of the people by God, their Egyptian bondage, their passage through the
wilderness and their possession of the land of Canaan, were events symbolical of
things connected with that spiritual community afterwards formed by the
preaching of the Gospel; and of the same character was the subsequent captivity
of that people in Babylon, and their restoration afterwards to their own
land.
The next thing to be noticed is, that Promises of
Blessings made to the people of Israel had in some instances a twofold meaning,
and had reference to two things — the one temporal and the other
spiritual. The restoration, for instance, from Babylon, was a prelude of the
restoration or redemption by Christ. It was not only typical, but a kind of an
initiative process, which was to be completed, though in a sublimer sense, by
the Savior of man. The first was a restoration from temporal evils; the second
was still a restoration, but from evils of a spiritual kind. The performance of
the promise, in one case, was the commencement of a restorative work, which was
to be completed in the other: the temporal restoration was eventually succeeded
by that which is spiritual.
But the most material point in interpreting the
Prophecies is The Language which is Used: rightly to understand this language
forms the main difficulty. There are Promises which, as admitted by Calvin, look
beyond the restoration from Babylon; and they are couched in terms, which, if
taken literally, most evidently show that there is to be a second restoration.
What is there, it may be asked, which can justify a departure from the letter of
the promises? This is the chief question, on which the whole matter depends.
Calvin evidently thought that the literal sense cannot be taken, as that would
be inconsistent with the general character of the ancient prophecies; for he
considered that many of the prophecies, which relate to the Church of the New
Testament, were conveyed in a language suitable to the institutions then
existing, and in consistency with the notions which then prevailed, as to
religion and divine worship. Hence the Temple, Mount Sion, sacrifices,
offerings, the priests, as well as the restoration of the people to their own
land, and their perpetual establishment in it, are often spoken of in those very
promises which incontestably refer to the Gospel dispensation. Now, if in some
cases, as confessed by most, if not by all, the language is not to be taken
literally, but as representing the success, the extension and the blessings of
the Gospel, why should it be taken literally in other similar cases? The
possession of the land of Canaan was to the people of Israel one of their chief
blessings, and was a signal token of the divine favor. Banishment from it was
not only a temporal loss, but involved also the loss of all their religious
privileges. Nothing, therefore, could have conveyed to their minds a higher idea
of redemption than the promise of restoration to their own land, and a perpetual
possession of it.
The foregoing seem to have been the views by which
CALVIN was guided in his interpretation: and the Editor must be allowed to
express his concurrence, though he is fully aware, that there have been, and
that there are still, many celebrated men of a contrary
opinion.
There is another idea which CALVIN suggests, in
connection with this subject. He regarded THE PROMISES made in some instances by
the Prophets as to the future prosperity of the people of Israel, and the
perpetuity of their institutions and privileges, as CONDITIONAL, even when no
condition is expressed. Instances of the same kind are to be found in the
writings of Moses and of the earlier Prophets. Promises of perpetuity are made,
(as for instance, respecting the priesthood,) and often unaccompanied by any
conditions; and yet they were conditional, as the event proved, and in
accordance with the tenor of the covenant under which the Israelites lived. The
same view may also be taken of such promises as are found in the later Prophets,
that is, such as bear on them a national stamp: they were announced
unconditionally; but as they included blessings which belonged to the people as
subjects of the Mosaic covenant, they were necessarily conditional, dependent as
to their accomplishment on their obedience. Hence Jeremiah, who had himself
announced promises of this kind, says, that the time would come when God would
establish another covenant; and for this reason, because the people of Israel
had broken the former covenant.
The Editor feels it to be his duty to say generally
of CALVIN’S EXPOSITIONS that the more maturely he considers them, after
having compared them with those of others, both modern and ancient, the more
satisfied he is with them, and the more he admires the acuteness and solid
judgment they display. Perhaps no individual, possessing his high
qualifications, natural, acquired, and spiritual, has ever, either in ancient or
modern times, exercised himself so much in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and
produced Comments so original and so valuable.
What is remarkable in CALVIN as an Expositor is his
unvarying attention to the context. This was his polar star, which enabled him
to steer clear and safe through many intricacies and ambiguities no to the
meaning of particular words, and even of sentences. His first object seems to
have been to ascertain the general drift of a passage or of a chapter; and his
next, to harmonize its several parts. There are many words which have various
meanings, and the surest way of ascertaining their meaning in any given
sentence, is to inquire what comports with the context. There is indeed no other
way by which we can make a choice, when a word admits of different senses.
Probably no Commentator has ever paid so much attention to this canon of
interpretation as CALVIN did. The ground on which he almost at all times rejects
a sense given by others to words or to sentences is, that it does not suit the
place, or, to adopt an expression he frequently uses, that it does not square
(non quadrat) with the passage.
It has been often thought that more difficulty
attends the Hebrew language than other languages, owing to the variety of
meaning which belongs to some of its words. But this variety exists quite as
much, and indeed much more, in many other languages, and even in our own. What
enables us in numberless instances to ascertain the meaning of a word, and even
often of a sentence, is what stands connected with it, that is, the context. It
is what goes before and comes after, not only in a sentence, but often in a long
passage, that explains the precise meaning of many words. To transfer the
meaning of a word from one passage to another, and to say that because it has a
certain meaning in one place, it must have the same in another, (except the word
has but one meaning,) is certainly not the way to explain Scripture or any other
writing. The best expositor in this respect is no doubt the
context.
It is well known that these LECTURES were delivered
extempore, and were taken down by some of those who heard them; and we have them
now as thus taken down, and afterwards corrected by CALVIN. This circumstance
accounts for the occasional defect of order and for occasional repetitions. But
these drawbacks seem to have been more than compensated by the freshness and
vigor, the life and animation which these spontaneous effusion of his mind
exhibit. In none of his other writings, as it appears to the Editor, has CALVIN
shone forth with so much lustre as an able, clear, plain, and animated an
Expounder, as in these LECTURES. There is a flow and energy to be found in them
not equaled in those productions which he composed in private, and finished with
more careful attention to order and style. When the mind is well stored and the
memory retentive, as was the case in no ordinary degree with CALVIN, a public
auditory has usually the effect of calling into action all the powers of the
mind; and, as frequently in the present instance, the consequence is, that the
finest and the most striking thoughts are elicited, and are expressed in a
language the most energetic, calculated to produce the deepest
impressions.
J.O.
Thrussington
November, 1846.
CALVIN’S PREFACE TO
JOEL
I PROCEED now to explain THE PROPHET JOEL. The time
in which he prophesied is uncertain. Some of the Jews imagine that he exercised
his office in the time of Joram, king of Israel, because a dreadful famine then
prevailed through the whole land, as it appears evident from sacred history; and
as the Prophet record a famine, they suppose that his ministry must be referred
to that time. Some think, that he taught under Manasseh, but they bring no
reason for this opinion; it is, therefore, a mere conjecture. Others think that
he performed his office as a teacher not only under one king, but that he
taught, at the same time with Isaiah, under several kings.
But as there is no certainty, it is better to leave
the time in which he taught undecided; and, as we shall see, this is of no great
importance. Not to know the time of HOSEA would be to readers a great loss for
there are many parts which could not be explained without a knowledge of
history; but as to JOEL there is, as I have said, less need of this; for the
import of his doctrine is evident, though his time be obscure and uncertain. But
we may conclude that he taught at Jerusalem, or at least in the kingdom of
Judah. As Hosea was appointed a Prophet to the kingdom of Israel, so Joel had
another appointment; for he was to labor especially among the Jews and not among
the Ten Tribes: this deserves to be particularly noticed.
Now the sum of the Book is this: At the beginning, he
reproves the stupidity of the people, who, when severely smitten by God, did not
feel their evils, but on the contrary grew hardened under them: this is one
thing. Then he threatens far more grievous evils; as the people became so
insensible under all their punishments, that they were not humbled, the Prophet
declares that there were evils at hand much worse than those they had hitherto
experienced: this is the second thing. Thirdly, he exhorts the people to
repentance, and shows that there was required no common evidence of repentance;
for they had not lightly offended God, but by their perverseness provoked him to
bring on them utter ruin: since, then, their obstinacy had been so great, he
bids them to come as suppliants with tears, with sackcloth, with mourning, with
ashes, that they might obtain mercy; for they were unworthy of being regarded by
the Lord, except they thus submissively humbled themselves: this is the third
subject. The fourth part of the Book is taken up with promises; for he
prophesies of the Kingdom of Christ, and shows, that though now all things
seemed full of despair, yet God had not forgotten the covenant he made with the
fathers; and that therefore Christ would come to gather the scattered remnants,
yea, and to restore to life his people, though they were now lost and
dead.
This is the sum and substance. But we shall see, as
we proceed, that THE CHAPTERS have been absurdly and foolishly divided. He thus
begins —
CHAPTER 1
LECTURE
THIRTY-EIGHTH
|
JOEL
1:1-4
|
|
1. The word of the LORD that came to Joel the
son of Pethuel.
|
1. Verbum Jehovae quod fuit ad Joel, filium
Pethuel.
|
|
2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye
inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of
your fathers?
|
2. Audite hoc senes, et auscultate omnes
incolae terrae, an fuerit hoc diebus vestris, et si diebus patrum
vestrorum.
|
|
3. Tell ye your children of it, and let your
children tell their children, and their children another
generation.
|
3. Super hoc filiis vestris narrate, et filii
vestri filiis suis, et filii ipsorum generationi posterae.
|
|
4. That which the palmerworm hath left hath
the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten;
and that which the cankerworm hath
|
4. Residuum locustae comedit (est alia
species) bruchus (ita ponamus, quoniam non possumus certo scire quaenam fuerint
istae species) et residuum bruchi comedit locusta et residuum locustae comedit
eruca (alii primo loco ponunt Erucam, est proprie chenille, et puto potius esse
hoc posterius. Picardi vocant casee, quasi
lysj:
verisimile est deductum fuisse nomen illud vulgare ab Hebraeis, quia est fere
idem: sed tamen ego non anxie sudo in istis nominibus, quia de sensu Prophetae
satis constabit. Nunc venio ad inscriptionem libri.)
|
The word of Jehovah which came to
Joel, the son of Pethuel. He names here his
father; it is hence probable that he was a man well known and of some celebrity.
But who this Pethuel was, all now are ignorant. And what the Hebrews hold as a
general rule, that a prophet is designated, whenever his father’s name is
added, appears to me frivolous; and we see how bold they are in devising such
comments. When no reason for any thing appears to them, they invent some fable,
and allege it as a divine truth. When, therefore, they are wont thus to trifle,
I have no regard for what is held by them as a rule. But yet it is probable,
that when the Prophets are mentioned as having sprung from this or that father,
their fathers were men of some note.
Now what he declared by saying, that he delivered the
word of the Lord, is worthy of being observed; for he shows that he claimed
nothing for himself, as an individual, as though he wished to rule by his own
judgment, and to subject others to his own fancies; but that he relates only
what he had received from the Lord. And since the Prophets claimed no authority
for themselves, except as far as they faithfully executed the office divinely
committed to them, and delivered, as it were from hand to hand, what the Lord
commanded, we may hence feel assured that no human doctrines ought to be
admitted into the Church. Why? Because as much as men trust in themselves, so
much they take away from the authority of God. This preface then ought to be
noticed, which almost all the Prophets use, namely, that they brought nothing of
their own or according to their own judgment, but that they were faithful
dispensers of the truth intrusted to them by God.
And the word is said to have been to Joel; not that
God intended that he alone should be his disciple, but because he deposited this
treasure with him, that he might be his minister to the whole people. Paul also
says the same thing, — that to the ministers of the Gospel was committed a
message for Christ, or in Christ’s name, to reconcile men to God,
(<470520>2
Corinthians 5:20;) and in another place he says, ‘He has deposited with us
this treasure as in earthen vessels,’
(<470407>2
Corinthians 4:7.) We now understand why Joel says, that the word of the Lord was
delivered to him, it was not that he might be the only disciple; but as some
teacher was necessary, Joel was chosen to whom the Lord committed this office.
Then the word of God belongs indeed indiscriminately to all; and yet it is
committed to Prophets and other teachers; for they are, so to speak, as it were
trustees (depositarii — depositories.)
As to the verb
hyh
eie, there is no need of philosophizing so
acutely as Jerome does: “How was the word of the Lord made?” For he
feared lest Christ should be said to be made, as he is the word of the Lord.
These are trifles, the most puerile. He could not, however, in any other way get
rid of the difficulty but by saying that the word is said to be made with
respect to man whom God addresses, and not with respect to God himself. All
this, as ye must see, is childish; for the Prophet says here only, that the word
of the Lord was sent to him, that is, that the Lord employed him as his
messenger to the whole people. But after having shown that he was a fit minister
of God, being furnished with his word, he speaks authoritatively, for he
represented the person of God.
We now see what is the lawful authority which ought
to be in force in the Church, and which we ought to obey without dispute, and to
which all ought to submit. It is then only that this authority exists, when God
himself speaks by men, and the Holy Spirit employs them as his instruments. For
the Prophet brings not forward any empty title; he does not say that he is a
high priest of the tribe of Levi, or of the first order, or of the family of
Aaron. He alleges no such thing, but says that the word of God was deposited
with him. Whosoever then demands to be heard in the Church, must of necessity
really prove that he is a preacher of God’s word; and he must not bring
his own devices, nor blend with the word any thing that proceeds from the
judgment of his own flesh.
But first the Prophet reproves the Jews for being so
stupid as not to consider that they were chastised by the hand of God, though
this was quite evident. Hence they pervert, in my judgment, the meaning of the
Prophet, who think that punishments are here denounced which were as yet
suspended; for they transfer all these things to a future time. But I
distinguish between this reproof and the denunciations which afterwards follow.
Here then the Prophet reproaches the Jews, that having been so severely smitten,
they did not gain wisdom; and yet even fools, when the rod is applied to their
backs, know that they are punished. Since then the Jews were so stupid, that
when even chastised they did not understand that they had to do with God, the
Prophet justly reproves this madness.
“Hear”,
he says, “ye old men; give
ear, all ye inhabitants of the land, and declare this to your
children”. But the consideration of this
passage I shall put off till tomorrow.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God that as almost the
whole world give such loose reins to their licentiousness, that they hesitate
not either to despise or to regard as of no value thy sacred word — Grant,
O Lord that we may always retain such reverence as is justly due to it and to
thy holy oracles and be so moved whenever thou deignest to address us that being
truly humbled, we may be raised up by faith to heaven, and by hope gradually
attain that glory which is as yet hid from us. And may we at the same time so
submissively restrain ourselves, as to make it our whole wisdom to obey thee and
to do thee service, until thou gatherest us into thy kingdom, where we shall be
partakers of thy glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
THIRTY-NINTH.
Hear this, ye old men; and give
ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land: has this been in your days,
and in the days of your fathers?
This declare to your children and
your children to their children,
and their children to the next
generation: the residue of the locust
has the chafer eaten, and the
residue of the chafer has the
cankerworm eaten, and the residue
of the cankerworm has the
caterpillar
eaten
fb2.
I have in the last Lecture already mentioned what I think of this passage of the
Prophet. Some think that a future punishment is denounced; but the context
sufficiently proves that they mistake and pervert the real meaning of the
Prophet; for, on the contrary, he reproves here the hardness of the people,
— that they fell not their plagues. And as men are not easily moved by
God’s judgments, the Prophet here declares that God had executed such a
vengeance as could not be regarded otherwise than miraculous; as though he said,
“God often punishes men, and it behaves them to be attentive as soon as he
raises up his finger. But common punishments are wont to be unheeded; men soon
forget those punishments to which they have been accustomed. God has, however,
treated you in an unusual manner, having openly as it were put forth his hand
from heaven, and brought on you punishments nothing less than miraculous. Ye
must then be more than stupid, if ye perceive not that you are smitten by
God’s hand.” This is the true meaning of the Prophet, and may be
easily gathered from the words.
Hear, ye old
men, he says. He expressly addresses the old,
because experience teaches men much; and the old, when they see any thing new or
unusual, must know, that it is not according to the ordinary course of things.
He who has past his fiftieth or sixtieth year, and sees something new happening
which he had never thought of, doubtless acknowledges it as the unusual work of
God. This is the reason why the Prophet directs here his discourse to the old;
as though he said, “I will not terrify you about nothing; but let the old
hear, who have been accustomed for many years to many revolutions; let them now
answer me, whether in their whole life, which has been an age on the earth, have
they seen any such thing.” We now perceive the design of the
Prophet; for he intended to awaken the Jews that they might understand that God
had put forth his hand from heaven, and that it was impossible to ascribe what
they had seen with their eyes to chance or to earthly causes, but that it was a
miracle. And his object was to make the Jews at length ashamed of their folly in
not having hitherto been attentive to God’s punishments, and in having
always flattered themselves, as though God slept in heaven, when yet he so
violently thundered against them, and intended by an extraordinary course to
move them, that they might at last perceive that they were summoned to
judgment.
He afterwards adds,
And all ye inhabitants of the
land. Had the Prophet addressed only the old,
some might seize on some pretext for their ignorance; hence he addressed and
from the least to the greatest; and this he did, that the young might not exempt
themselves from blame in proceeding in their obstinacy and in thus mocking God,
when he called them to repentance.
Hear,
he says, all ye inhabitants of
the land; has this been in your days or in the days of your
fathers? He says first, has such a thing been
in your days, for doubtless what happens rarely deserves a greater
consideration. It is indeed true that foolish men are blind to the daily works
of God; as the favor of God in making his sun to rise daily is but little
thought of by us. This happens through our ingratitude; but our ingratitude is
doubled, and is much more base and less excusable, when the Lord works in an
unwonted manner, and we yet with closed eves overlook what ought to be deemed a
miracle. This dullness the Prophet now reproves, Has such a thing, he says,
“happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Ye can recall to
mind what your fathers have told you. It is certain that for two ages no such
thing has happened. Your torpidity then is extreme, since ye neglect this
judgment of God, which from its very rareness ought to have awakened your
minds.”
He then adds,
Tell it to your children, your
children to their children, their children to the next
generation. In this verse the Prophet shows
that the matter deserved to be remembered, and was not to be despised by
posterity, even for many generations. It appears now quite clear that the
Prophet threatens not what was to be, as some interpreters think; it would have
been puerile: but, on the contrary, he expostulates here with the Jews, because
they were so slothful and tardy in considering God’s judgments; and
especially as it was a remarkable instance, when God employed not usual means,
but roused, and, as it were, terrified men by prodigies. Of this then
tell: for
hyl[
olie means no other thing than ‘tell or declare this thing to your
children;’ and further,
your children to their
children. When any thing new happens, it may
be, that we are at first moved with some wonder; but our feeling soon vanishes
with the novelty, and we disregard what at first caused great astonishment. But
the Prophet here showed, that such was the judgment of God of which he speaks,
that it ought not to have been overlooked, no, not even by posterity.
Let your
children, he says, declare it to those
after them, and their children to the fourth generation: it was to be always
remembered.
He adds what that judgment was, — that the hope
of food had for many years disappointed them. It often happened, we know, that
locusts devoured the standing corn; and then the chafers and the palmer worms
did the same: these were ordinary events. But when one devastation happened, and
another followed, and there was no end; when there had been four barren years,
suddenly produced by insects, which devoured the growth of the earth; —
this was certainly unusual. Hence the Prophet says, that this could not have
been chance; for God intended to show to the Jews some extraordinary portent,
that even against their will they might observe his hand. When any thing
trifling happens, if it be rare, it will strike the attention of men; for we
often see that the world makes a great noise about frivolous things. But this
wonder, says the Prophet, “ought to have produced effect on you. What then
will ye do, since ye are starving, and the causes are evident; for God has
cursed your land, and brought these insects, which have consumed your food
before your eyes. Since it is so, it is surely the time for you to repent; and
you have been hitherto very regardless having overlooked God’s judgments,
which have been so remarkable and so memorable.” Let us now
proceed.
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JOEL
1:5
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5. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl,
all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your
mouth.
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5. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl,
all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your
mouth.
|
The Prophet adds this verse for the sake of
amplifying; for when God sees men either contemptuously laughing at or
disregarding his judgments, he derides them; and this mode the Prophet now
adopts. ‘Ye drunkards,’ he says, ‘awake, and weep and
howl.’ In these words he addresses, on the subject in hand, those who had
willfully closed their eyes to judgments so manifest. The Jews had become
torpid, and had covered themselves over as it were with hardness; it was then
necessary to draw them forth as by force into the light. But the Prophet accosts
the drunkards by name; and it is probable that this vice was then very common
among the people. However that might be, the Prophet by mentioning this instance
shows more convincingly, that there was no pretense for passing by things, and
that the Jews could not excuse their indifference if they took no notice; for
the very drunkards, who had degenerated from the state of men, did themselves
feel the calamity, for the wine had been cut off from their mouth. And this
expression of the Prophet, “Awake”, ought to be noticed; for
the drunkards, even while awake, are asleep, and also spend a great portion of
time in sleep. The Prophet had this in view, that men, though not endued with
great knowledge, but even void of common sense, could no longer flatter
themselves; for the very drunkards, who had wholly suffocated their senses, and
had become thus estranged in their minds, did yet perceive the judgment of God;
though drowsiness held them bound, they were yet constrained to awake at such a
manifest punishment. What then does this ignorance mean, when ye see not that
you are smitten by God’s hand?
To the same purpose are the words,
Weep and
howl. Drunkards, on the contrary, give
themselves up to mirth, and intemperately indulge themselves; and there is
nothing more difficult than to make them to feel sorrow; for wine so infatuates
their senses, that they continue to laugh in the greatest calamities. But the
Prophet says, Weep and
howl, ye drunkards! What then ought sober men
to do? He then adds, Cut off is
the wine from your mouth. He says not,
“The use of wine is taken away from you;” but he says,
from your mouth. Though no one should think of vineyards or of
winecellars or of cups, yet they shall be forced, willing or unwilling, to feel
the judgment of God in their mouth and in their lips. This is what the Prophet
means. We then see how much he aggravates what he had said before: and we must
remember that his object was to strike shame into the people, who had become
thus torpid with regard to God’s judgments.
As to the word
sys[
osis, some render it new wine.
Ss[
osas is to press; and hence
sys[
osis is properly the wine that is pressed in the wine-vat. New wine is
not what is drawn out of the bottle, but what is pressed out as it were by
force. But the Prophet, I have no doubt, includes here under one kind every sort
of wine. Let us go on.
|
JOEL
1:6-7
|
|
6. For a nation is come up upon my land,
strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the
cheek teeth of a great lion.
|
6. Quia gens ascendit super terram meam,
robusta et absque numero, dentes ejus dentes leonis, et maxillae (alii vertunt,
molares) leonis illis (quanquam aliud est nomen: alii vertunt,
leunculum.)
|
|
7. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my
fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are
made white.
|
7. Posuit vineam meam in vastitatem (vel,
desolationem) et ficulneam meam in decorticationem: nudando nudavit eam et
disjecit, albi facti sunt rami ejus.
|
Of what some think, that punishment, not yet
inflicted, is denounced here on the people, I again repeat, I do not approve;
but, on the contrary, the Prophet, according to my view, records another
judgment of God, in order to show that God had not only in one way warned the
Jews of their sins, that he might restore them to a right mind; but that he had
tried all means to bring them to the right way, though they proved to have been
irreclaimable. After having then spoke of the sterility of the fields and of
other calamities, he now adds that the Jews had been visited with
war.fb3
Surely famine ought to have touched them, especially when they saw that evils,
succeeding evils, had happened for several years contrary to the usual course of
things, so that they could not be imputed to chance. But when God brought war
upon them, when they were already worn out with famine, must they not have been
more than insane in mind, to have continued astonied at God’s judgments
and not to repent? Then the meaning of the Prophet is, that God had tried, by
every means possible, to find out whether the Jews were healable, and had given
them every opportunity to repent, but that they were wholly perverse and
untamable.
Then he says,
Verily a nation came
up. The particle
yk
ki is not to be taken as a causative, but only as explanatory,
Verily, or surely, he says, a
nation came up; though an inference also is not
amiss, if it be drawn from the beginning of the verse: ‘Hear, ye old men,
and tell your children;’ what shall we tell? even this, that a nation,
etc. But in this form also
yk
ki would be exegetical, and the sense would be the same. This much as to the
meaning of the passage.
A
nation, then,
came up over my land.
God here justly claims the land of Canaan as
his own heritage, and does so designedly, that the Jews might more clearly know
that he was angry with them; for their condition would not have been worse than
that of other nations, had not God resolved to punish them for their sins. There
is here then an implied comparison between Judea and other countries, as though
the Prophet said, “How comes it, that your land is wasted by wars and many
other calamities, while other countries are at rest? This land is no doubt
sacred to God, for he has chosen it for himself, that he might rule in it; he
has here his own habitation: it then must be that there is some cause for
God’s wrath, as your land is so miserably wasted, when other lands enjoy
tranquillity.” We now perceive what the Prophet means.
A
nation, he says,
came up upon my
land, and what then? God could surely have
prevented this; he could have defended his own land, of which he was the keeper,
and which was under his protection: how then had it happened that enemies with
impunity inundated this land, having marched into it and utterly laid it waste,
except that it had been forsaken by the Lord himself?
A
nation, he says,
came up upon my land, strong and
without number; and further,
who had the teeth of a lion, the
jaw-bones of a young lion. The nations had no
strength which God could not in an instant have broken down, nor had he need of
mighty auxiliaries, for he could by a nod only have reduced to nothing whatever
men might have attempted: when, therefore, the Assyrians so impetuously assailed
the Jews they were necessarily exposed to the wantonness of their enemies, for
they were unworthy of being protected, as hitherto, by the hand of
God.
He afterwards adds, that
his vine had been exposed to
desolation and waste, his fig-tree to the stripping of the
bark. God speaks not here of his own vine, as
in some other places, in which he designates his Church by this term; but he
calls everything on earth his own, as he calls the whole race of Abraham his
children: and he thus reproaches the Jews for having reduced themselves to such
wretchedness through their own fault; for they would have never been spoiled by
their enemies, had not God, who was wont to defend then, previously rejected
them; for there was nothing in their land which he did not claim as his own; as
he had chosen the people, so he had consecrated the land to himself. Whatsoever,
then, enlisted in Judea, was, as it were, sacred to God. Now when both the vines
and the fig-trees were exposed to the depredations of the unbelieving, it was
certain that God no longer ruled there. How so? Even because the Jews had
expelled him. He afterwards enlarges on the same subject; for what
follows, By denuding he has
denuded it and cast it away, is not a mere
narrative; the Prophet here declares not simply what had taken place; but as we
have already said, adduces more proof, and tries to awaken the drowsy senses of
the people, yea, to arouse them from that lethargy by which the minds of all had
been seized; hence it is that he uses in his teaching so many expressions. This
is the reason why he says that the vine and the fig-tree had been denuded, and
also that the leaves had been taken away, that the branches had been made bare
and white; so that there remained neither produce nor growth.
Many interpreters join these three verses with the
former, as if the Prophet now expressed what he had said before of the palmer
worm, the chafer, and the locust; for they think that he spake allegorically
when he said that all the fruits of the land had been consumed by the locusts
and the chafers. They therefore add, that these locusts, or chafers, or the
palmer worms, were the Assyrians, as well as the Persian and the Greeks, that
is, Alexander of Macedon and the Romans: but this is wholly a strained views so
that there is no need of a long argument; for any one may easily perceive that
the Prophet mentions another kind of punishments that he might in every way
render the Jews inexcusable who were not roused by judgments so multiplied, but
remained still obstinate in their vices. Let us now proceed.
|
JOEL
1:8
|
|
8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
for the husband of her youth.
|
8. Plange tanquam puella, accincta sacco,
super marito adolescentiae suae.
|
The Prophet now addresses the whole land.
Lament,
he says; not in an ordinary way, but like a widow, whose husband is dead, whom
she had married when young. The love, we know, of a young man towards a young
woman, and so of a young woman towards a young man, is more tender than when a
person in years marries an elderly woman. This is the reason that the Prophet
here mentions the husband of her youth; he wished to set forth the heaviest
lamentation, and hence he says “The Jews ought not surely to be otherwise
affected by so many calamities, than a widow who has lost her husband while
young, and not arrived at maturity, but in the flower of his age.” As then
such widows feel bitterly their loss, so the Prophet has adduced their
case.
The Hebrews often call a husband
l[b
bol, because he is the lord of his wife and has her under his protection.
Literally it is, “For the lord of her youth;” and hence it is, that
they also called their idols
µyl[b
bolim, as though they were as we have often said in our comment on the
Prophet Hosea, their patrons.
The sum of the whole is, That the Jews could not have
continued in an unconcerned state, without being void of all reason and
discernment; for they were forced, willing or unwilling, to feel a most grievous
calamity. It is a monstrous thing, when a widow, losing her husband when yet
young, refrains from mourning. Now then, since God had afflicted his land with
so many evils, he wished to bring on them, as it were, the grief of widowhood.
It follows —
|
JOEL
1:9
|
|
9. The meat offering and the drink offering is
cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers,
mourn.
|
9. Succisa est oblatio et libamen e domo
Jehovae: luxerunt sacerdotes, ministri Jehovae.
|
Here, in other words, the Prophet paints the
calamity; for, as it has been said, we see how great is the slowness of men to
discern God’s judgments; and the Jews, we know, were not more attentive to
them than we are now. It was, therefore, needful to prick them with various
goads, as the Prophet now does, as though he said, “If ye are not now
concerned for want of food, if ye consider not even what the very drunkards are
constrained to feel, who perceive not the evil at a distance, but taste it in
their lips — if all these things are of no account with you, do at least
look on the temple of God, which is now destitute of its ordinary services; for
through the sterility of your fields, through so great a scarcity, neither bread
nor wine is offered. Since then ye see that the worship of God has ceased, how
is it ye yourselves still remain? Why is it that ye perceive not that
God’s fury is kindled against you? For surely except God had been most
grievously offended, he would at least have had some regard for his own worship;
he would not have suffered his temple to remain without
sacrifices.”
The Jews, we know, daily poured their libations, and
offered meat-offerings. When, therefore, Joel mentions
hjnm
meneche and libation, he doubtless meant to show that the worship of God
was nearly abolished. But God would have never permitted such a thing, had he
not been grievously offended by the sins of men. Hence the indifference, or
rather the stupidity of the people, is more clearly proved, inasmuch as they
perceived not the signs of God’s wrath made evident even in the very
temple. It follows —
|
JOEL
1:10
|
|
10. The field is wasted, the land mourneth;
for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil
languisheth.
|
10. Vastatus est ager, luxit terra (hoc est,
luxerunt terrae incolae;) quia vastatum est (idem est verbum vel, quia periit)
frumentum, aruit (est a verbo
çby,
non a
çwb,
quod significat pudefacere: quanquam utraque radix significationem hanc admittit
apud Hebraeos: quia ergo aruit) mustum et exterminatum est (infirmatum ad
verbum, ab
lma;
sed significat debilitatum esse) oleum.
|
The Prophet goes on here with the same subject, and
uses these many words to give more effect to what he said; for he knew that he
addressed the deaf, who, by long habit, had so hardened themselves that God
could effect nothing, at least very little, by his word. This is the reason why
the Prophet so earnestly presses a subject so evident. Should any one ask what
need there was of so many expressions, as it seems to be a needless use of
words; I do indeed allow that all that the Prophet wished to say might have been
expressed in one sentence, as there is here nothing intricate: but it was not
enough that what he said should be understood, except the Jews applied it to
themselves, and perceived that they had to do with God; and to make this
application they were not disposed. It is not then without reason that the
Prophet labors here, and enforces the same thing in many words.
Hence he says,
The field is wasted, and the land
mourns; for the corn has perished, for dried up has the wine, for destroyed has
been the oil. And by these words he intimates
that they seeing saw nothing; as though he said, “Let necessity extort
mourning from you; ye are indeed starving, all complain of want, all deplore the
need of bread and wine; and yet no one of you thinks whence this want is, that
it is from the hand of God. Ye feel it in your mouth, ye feel it in your palate,
ye feel it in your throat, ye feel it in your stomach; but ye feel it not in
your heart.” In short, the Prophet intimates that the Jews were void of
right understanding; they indeed deplored their famine, but they were like brute
beasts, who, when hungry, show signs of impatience. So the Jews mourned, because
their stomach disquieted them; but they knew not that the cause of their want
and famine was their sins. It afterwards follows —
|
JOEL
1:11
|
|
11. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye
vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field
is perished.
|
11. Erubescite agricolae, ululate vinitores
super tritico et hordeo; quia periit messis agri.
|
The Prophet says nothing new here, but only
strengthens what he had said before, and is not wordy without reason; for he
intends here not merely to teach, but also to produce an effect: And this is the
design of heavenly teaching; for God not only wishes that what he says may be
understood, but intends also to penetrate into our hearts: and the word of God,
we know, consists not of doctrine only, but also of exhortations, and
threatenings, and reproofs. This plan then the Prophet now pursues:
Ye husband
men, he says,
be ashamed, and ye vinedressers,
howl; for perished has the harvest of the
field. The sum of the whole is, that the Jews,
as we have already said, could by no excuse cover their indifference; for their
clamor was everywhere heard, their complaints everywhere resounded, that the
land had become a waste, that they were themselves famished that they were
afflicted with many calamities; and yet no one acknowledged that God, who
visited them for their sins, was the author. But what remains I shall put off
until to-morrow.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou
invites us daily by various means to repentance, and continues also to urge us,
because thou sees our extreme tardiness, — O grant that we may at length
be awakened from our indifference, and suffer us not to be inebriated by the
charms of Satan and the world; but by thy Spirit rouse us to real groaning,
that, being ashamed of ourselves, we may flee to thy mercy, and doubt not but
that thou wilt be propitious to us, provided with a sincere heart we call on
thee, and seek that reconciliation which thou daily offerest to us by thy Gospel
in the name of thy only begotten Son. Amen.
|
JOEL
1:12
|
|
12. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree
languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even
all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the
sons of men.
|
12. Vitis exaruit, et ficulnea infirmata est
(vel, periit;) malogranatum, etiam palma et malus, omnes arbores exaruerunt:
certe exaruit gaudium a filiis hominum.
|
LECTURE
FORTIETH
The Prophet now concludes his subjects which was,
that as God executed judgments so severe on the people, it was a wonder that
they remained stupefied, when thus reduces to extremities.
The
vine, he says,
has dried
up, and every kind of fruit; he adds the
fig-tree,
afterwards the
ˆwmr
remun, the pomegranate, (for so they render it,)
the palm, the
apple-tree,fb4
and all trees. And this sterility was a clear sign of God’s wrath; and it
would have been so regarded, had not men either wholly deceived themselves, or
had become hardened against all punishments. Now this
anai<sqhsi<a
(insensibility) is as it were the very summit of evils; that is, when men feel
not their own calamities, or at least understand not that they are inflicted by
the hand of God. Let us now proceed —
|
JOEL
1:13-15
|
|
13. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests:
howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers
of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the
house of your God.
|
13. Accingimini et plangete sacerdotes;
ululate, ministri altaris; venite, pernoctate cum saccis, ministri Dei mei: quia
prohibita est a domo Dei vestri oblatio et libamen.
|
|
14. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn
assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house
of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
|
14. Sactificate jejunium, vocate coetum,
congregate senes, omnes incoles terrae, in domum Jehovae Dei vestri, et clamate
ad Jehovam,
|
|
15. Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD
is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it
come.
|
15. Heus Diem! Quia propinquus est dies
Jehovae, et tanquam vastitas ab Omnipotente veniet.
|
Now the Prophet begins to exhort the people to
repentance. Having represented them as grievously afflicted by the hand of God,
he now adds that a remedy was at hand, provided they solicited the favor of God;
and at the same tine he denounces a more grievous punishment in future; for it
would not have been enough that they had been reminded of their calamities and
evils, except they also feared in time to come. Hence the Prophet, that he might
the more move them, says, that the hand of God was still stretched out, and that
there was something worse nigh at hand, except they of themselves anticipated
it. This is the purport of the whole. I now come to the words.
Be girded, lament and
howl, he
says, ye priests, the ministers
of the altar. The verb
wrgj
chegeru may be explained in two ways. Some understand it thus “Gird
yourselves with sackcloth;” for shortly after he says
with
sackcloth, or in sackcloth. But we may
take it as simply meaning, gird
yourselves, that is, Hasten; for this
metaphorical expression often occurs. As to the drift of the passage, there is
but little difference, whether we read, “Gird yourselves with
sackcloth,” or, “Hasten.” And he addresses the priests, though
a common and general exhortation to the whole people afterwards follows. But as
God made them the leaders of his people, it behaved them to afford others an
example. It is the common duty of all the godly to pray for and to further the
salvation of their brethren; but it is a duty especially enjoined on the
ministers of the word and on pastors. So also, when God calls those to
repentance who preside over others, they ought to lead the way, and for two
reasons; — first, because they have not been in vain chosen by the Lord
for this end, that they might outshine others, and be as luminaries; —
secondly, because they who bear any public office ought to feel a double guilty
when the Lord visits public sins with judgment. Private men indeed sin; but in
pastors there is the blame of negligence, and still more, When they deviate even
the least from the right way, a greater offense is given. Rightly then does the
Prophet begin with the priests, when he bids the whole people to repent. And he
not only bids them to put on sackcloth, but commands them also, as we shall see,
to proclaim a fast, and then to call an assembly: ye priests, he says,
be girded, and put on sackcloth,
wail, howl, and pass the night in sackcloth;
and then he calls them the
ministers of the altar and the
ministers of
God, but in a different sense; for the Prophet
does not substitute the altar for God, as he would thus have formed an idol; but
they are called the ministers of the altar, because they offered there
sacrifices to God. They are indeed with strict propriety the ministers of God;
but as the priests, when they sacrificed, stood in the presence of God, and as
the altar was to them as it were the way of access to him, they are called the
ministers of the altar. He calls them, at the same time, the ministers of God,
and, as it has been stated, they are properly so called.
But he says here
yhla
alei (my God.) The iod, my, is by some omitted, as if it were a
servile letter, but redundant. I, however, doubt not but that the Prophet here
mentions Him as his God; for he thus intended to claim more authority for his
doctrine. His concern or his contest was with the whole people; and they, no
doubt, in their usual ways proudly opposed against him the name of God as their
shield. “What! are we not the very people of God?” Hence the
Prophet, in order to prove this presumption false, sets forth God as being on
his side. He therefore says, ‘The ministers of my God.’ Had
any one objected and said, that he was in common the God of the whole people,
the Prophet had a ready answer, — “I am specially sent by Him, and
sustain his person, and plead the cause which he has committed to me: He is then
my God and not yours.” We now then see the Prophet’s meaning in this
expression. He now adds, for cut
off is offering and libation from the house of our
God. He confesses Him at the same time to be
their God with reference to the priesthood; for nothing, we know, was
presumptuously invented by the Jews, as the temple was built by Godly command,
and sacrifices were offered according to the rule of the law. He then ascribes
to the priesthood this honor, that God ruled in the temple; for God, as we have
already said, approved of that worship as having proceeded from his word: and to
this purpose is that saying of Christ, ‘We know what we worship.’
But yet the priests did not rightly worship God; for though their external rites
were according to the command of God, yet as their hearts were polluted, it is
certain that whatever they did was repudiated by God, until, being touched with
the fear of his judgment, they fled to his mercy, as the Prophet now exhorts
them to do.
He afterwards adds,
sanctify a fast, call an
assembly, gather the old, all the inhabitants of the
land.
çdq
kodash means to sanctify and to prepare; but I have retained its proper
meaning, sanctify a fast; for the command had regard to the end, that is,
sanctification. Then a fast proclaim — for what purpose? That the
people might purge themselves from all their pollutions, and present themselves
pure and clean before God. Call
an assembly. It appears that there was a solemn
convocation whenever a fast was proclaimed among the people: for it was not
enough for each one privately at home to abstain from food, except all confessed
openly, with one mouth and one consent, that they were guilty before God. Hence
with a fast was connected a solemn profession of repentance. The uses and ends
of a fast, we know, are various: but when the Prophet here speaks of a solemn
fast, he doubtless bids the people to come to it suppliantly, as the guilty are
wont to do, who would deprecate punishment before a judge, that they may obtain
mercy from him. In the second chapter there will be much to say on fasting: I
only wish now briefly to touch on the subject.
He afterwards bids
the old to be
gathered, and then
adds, All the inhabitants
of the land. But he begins with the old, and
justly so, for the guilt of the old is always the heaviest. But this word
relates not to age as in a former instance. When he said yesterday, ‘Hear
ye, the aged,’ he addressed those who by long experience had learnt in the
world many things unknown to the young or to men of middle age. But now the
Prophet means by the old those to whom was intrusted the public government; and
as through their slothfulness they had suffered the worship of God and all
integrity to fall into decay, rightly does the Prophet wish them to be leaders
and precursors to the people in their confession of repentance; and further, it
behaved them, on account of their office, as we have said of the priests, to
lead the way. Joel at the same time shows that the whole people were implicated
in guilt, so that none could be excepted, for he bids them all to come with the
elders.
Call them, he
says, to the house of Jehovah
your God, and cry ye to Jehovah. We hence learn
why he had spoken of fasting and of sackcloth, even that they might humbly
deprecate God’s wrath; for fasting of itself would have been useless, and
to put on sackcloth, we know, is in itself but an empty sign: but prayer is what
the Prophet sets here in the highest rank, and fasting is only an appendage, and
so is sackcloth. Whosoever then puts on sackcloth and withholds prayer, is
guilty of mockery; and no one can derive any good from mere fasting; but when
fasting and sackcloth are added to prayer, and are as it were handmaids, then
they are not uselessly practiced. We may then observe, that the end of fasting
and sackcloth was no other, than that the priests together with the whole
people, might present themselves suppliantly before God, and confess themselves
worthy of destruction, and that they had no hope except from his gratuitous
mercy. This is the meaning.
It now follows,
Alas the day! for nigh is the day
of Jehovah. Here the Prophet, as it was at
first stated, threatens something worse in future than what they had
experienced. He has hitherto been showing their torpidity; now he declares that
they had not yet suffered all their punishments, but that there was something
worse to be feared, except they turned seasonably to God. And he now exclaims,
as though the day of Jehovah was before his eyes, and he calls it the day of
Jehovah, because in that day God would stretch-forth his hand to execute
judgment; for while he tolerates men or bears with their sins, he seems not to
rule in the world. And though this mode of speaking is common enough in
Scripture, it ought yet to be carefully noticed; for all seem not to understand
that God calls that his own day, when he will openly shine forth and appear as
the judge of the world: but as long as he spares us, his face seems to be hidden
from us; yea, he seems not to govern the world. The Prophet therefore declares
here that the day of the Lord was at hand; for it cannot be, but that the Lord
must at length rise up and ascend his throne to punish men, though for a time he
may connive at them. But the interjection, expressive of grief, intimates that
the judgment, of which the Prophet speaks, was not to be despised, for it would
be dreadful; and he wished to strike terror into the Jews, for they were too
secure. And he says, The day is
nigh, that they might not procrastinate, as
they were wont to do, from day to day: for though men be touched by God’s
judgments they yet even desire time to be prolonged to them, and they come very
tardily to God. Hence the Prophet, that he might correct this their great
slothfulness, says that the day was nigh.
He adds,
awby ydçm dçk
kashed meshadi ibu ‘as
a desolation from the Almighty will it come.’ The word
ydç
shadi signifies a conqueror; but it proceeds from the verb
ddç
shadad; and this in Hebrew means “to desolate,” or “to
destroy.” The powerful and the conqueror is called
ydç
shadi; and hence they call God
ydç
shadi, on account of his power. Some derive it from udder: then they call
God
ydç
shadi as though Scripture gave him this name, because from him flows all
abundance of good things as from a fountain. But I rather refer this name to his
strength and power, for the Jews, we know, gloried in the name of God as one
armed to defend their safety. Whenever then the Prophets said that God was
ydç
shadi, the people laid hold on this as a ground for false confidence,
“God is almighty, we are then secure from all evils.” But yet this
confidence was not founded on the promises: and it was, we know, an absurd and
profane presumption to have thus abused the name of God. Since then the Jews
foolishly pricked themselves on this, that God had adopted them for his people,
the prophet says here, “There will come a desolation from the
Almighty;” that is, “God is Almighty, but ye are greatly deceived in
thinking that your safety is secured by his power; for he will, on the contrary,
be opposed to you, inasmuch as ye have provoked his wrath.” It follows
—
|
JOEL
1:16-17
|
|
16. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes,
yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
|
16. An non coram oculis nostris cibus excisus
est? e domo Dei nostri gaudium et exultatio?
|
|
17. The seed is rotten under their clods, the
garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is
withered.
|
17. Putrefacta sunt grana subtus sulcos suos,
desolata sunt reconditoria (vel, apothecae desolatae sunt,) diruta sunt horrea,
quia exaruit frumentum.
|
He repeats the same thing as before, for he
reproaches the Jews for being so slow to consider that the hand of God was
against them. Has not the
meat, he says,
been cut off before our eyes?
joy and exultation from the house of our God?
Here he chides the madness of the Jews, that they perceived not things set
before their eyes. He therefore says that they were blind in the midst of light,
and that their sight was such, that seeing they saw nothing: they surely ought
to have felt distressed, when want reached the temple. For since God had
commanded the first-fruits to be offered to him, the temple ought not by any
means to have been without its sacrifices; and though mortals perish a hundred
times through famine and want, yet God ought not to be defrauded of his right.
When, therefore, there was now no offering nor libation, how great was the
stupidity of the people not to feel this curse, which ought to have wounded them
more than if they had been consumed a hundred times by famine? We see then the
design of the Prophet’s words, that is, to condemn the Jews for their
stupidity; for they considered not that a most grievous judgment was brought on
them, when the temple was deprived of its usual sacrifices.
He afterwards adds, that joy and gladness were
taken away: for God commanded the Jews to come to the temple to give thanks and
to acknowledge themselves blessed, because he had chosen his habitation among
them. Hence this expression is so often repeated by Moses, ‘Thou shalt
rejoice before thy God;’ for by saying this, God intended to encourage the
people the more to come cheerfully to the temple; as though he said, “I
certainly want not your presence, but I wish by my presence to make you
glad.” But now when the worship of God ceased, the Prophet says, that joy
had been also abolished; for the Jews could not cheerfully give thanks to God
when his curse was before their eyes, when they saw that he was their adversary,
and also when they were deprived of the ordinances of religion. We now then
perceive why the Prophet joins joy and gladness with oblations: they were the
symbols of thanksgiving.
He shows the cause of the evil,
Rotted have the grains in the
very furrows. For they call seeds
twdrp
peredut from the act of scattering. He then calls grains by this name,
because they are scattered; and he says that they rotted in the fields when they
ought to have germinated. He then adds,
The granaries halve become
desolated and the barns have been pulled down;
for there was no use for them. Hence we conclude, that sterility had become most
grievousand perpetual; for if the people had been only afflicted by famine for a
few harvests or for one year, the Prophet would not have spoken thus. The famine
must then have been, as it has been already stated for a long time. Let us now
proceed —
|
JOEL
1:18
|
|
18. How do the beasts groan! the herds of
cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are
made desolate.
|
18. Quomodo ingemuit bestia? Confusa sunt
armenta boum? Quia desunt illis pascua: etiam greges ovium desolati
sunt.
|
The Prophet amplifies his reproof, that even oxen as
well as other animals felt the judgment of God. There is then here an implied
comparison between the feeling of brute animals and the insensibility of the
people, as though he said, “There is certainly more intelligence and
reason in oxen and other brute animals than in you; for the herds groan, the
flocks groan, but ye remain stupid and confounded. What does this mean?”
We then see that the Prophet here compares the stupidity of the people with the
feeling of animals, to make them more ashamed.
How,
he says, has the beast
groaned? The question serves to show vehemence;
for if he had said in the form of a narrative, that the animals groaned, that
the cattle were confounded, and that the flocks perished, the Jews would have
been less affected; but when he exclaims and, moved with astonishment, speaks
interrogatively, How does the beast groan? he, no doubt, wished to produce an
effect on the Jews, that they might perceive the judgment of God, which they had
before passed by with their eyes closed, though it was quite manifest. It
follows —
|
JOEL
1:19-20
|
|
19. O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire
hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the
trees of the field.
|
19. Ad te Jehovam clamabo, quia ignis
consumpsit pascua (vel, habitacula) deserti: et flamma accendit omnes arbores
agri.
|
|
20. And the beasts of the field cry also unto
thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the
pastures of the wilderness.
|
20. Etiam bestiae agri clamabunt ad te
(quanquam
gr[
proprium est cervi, ut dicunt grammatici, sicuti etiam Psalmo 42 habetur: est
illic idem verbum: clamabunt igitur bestiae ad te,) quia aruerunt decursus
aquarum, quia ignis consumpsit habitacula (vel, pascua)
deserti.
|
When the Prophet saw that he succeeded less than he
expected, leaving the people, he speaks of what he would do himself,
I will cry to thee,
Jehovah. He had before bidden others to cry,
and why does he not now press the same thing? Because he saw that the Jews were
so deaf and listless as to make no account of all his exhortations: he therefore
says, “I will cry to thee,
Jehovah; for they are touched neither by
shame nor by fear. Since they throw aside every regard for their own safety,
since they account as nothing my exhortations I will leave them, and will cry to
thee;” which means this, — “I see, Lord, that all these
calamities proceed from thy hand; I will not howl as profane men do, but I will
ascribe them to thee; for I perceive thee to be acting as a judge in all the
evils which we suffer.” Having then before declared that the Jews were
more tardy than brute animals and having reproached them for feeling less
acutely than oxen and sheep, the Prophet now says, that though they all remained
obstinate, he would yet do what a pious man and a worshipper of God ought to
do, I will cry to thee
— Why? Because the
fire has consumed the pastures,
or the dwellings, of the wilderness.
He here again gives an awful record of God’s
judgments. Though the heat may burn up whole regions, yet we know that
pasture-lands do not soon wither, especially on mountains; and of such cold
pastures he speaks here. We know that however great may be the fertility of
mountains, yet coolness prevails there, and that, in the greatest drought, the
mountainous regions are ever green. But the Prophet tells us here of an unusual
thing, that the dwellings of the wilderness were burnt up. Some render
twan
naut pastures; others, dwellings: but as to the meaning, we may read
either; for the Prophet refers here to cold and humid regions, which never want
moisture in the greatest heats. Some render the word, the beautiful or fair
spots of the wilderness, but improperly. He doubtless means pastures, or
dwellings, or folds. The
fire then
has consumed the
dwellings, or
pastures of the
wilderness. This was not usual; it did not
happen according to the ordinary course of nature: it then follows that it was a
miracle. This is the reason why the Prophet says, that it was now time to cry to
God; for it did not appear to be fortuitous, that the heat had burnt up regions
which were moist and well watered.
The
flame, he
says hath burnt up all the trees
of the field.
He afterwards adds
The beasts of the field will also
cry (for the verb is in the plural number;) the
beasts then will cry. The Prophet expresses here more clearly what he had said
before that though the brute animals were void of reasons they yet felt
God’s judgment, so that they constrained men by their example to feel
ashamed, for they cried to God: the beasts then of the field cry.
He ascribes crying to them, as it is elsewhere ascribed to the young ravens. The
young ravens, properly speaking, do not indeed call on God; and yet the Psalmist
says so, and that, because they confess, by raising up their bills, that there
is no supply for their want except God supports them. So also the Prophet
mentions here the beasts as crying to God. It is indeed a figure of speech,
called personification; for this could not be properly said of beasts. But when
the beasts made a noise under the pressure of famine, was it not such a calling
on God as their nature admitted? As much then as the nature of brute animals
allows, they may be said to seek their food from the Lord, when they send forth
lamentable cries and noises, and show that they are oppressed with famine and
want. When, therefore, the Prophet attributes crying to beasts, he at the same
time reproaches the Jews with their stupidity, that they did not call on God.
“What do you mean,” he says. “See the brute animals; they show
to you what ought to be done; it is at least a teaching that ought to have
effect on you. If I and the other prophets have lost all our labor, if God has
in vain performed the office of a teacher among you, let the very oxen at least
be your teachers; to whom indeed it is a shame to be disciples, but it is a
greater shame not to attend to what they teach you; for the oxen by their
example lead you to God.”
We now perceive how much vehemence there is in the
Prophet’s words, when he says, Even the beasts of the field will cry to
God; for the streams of waters
have dried up, and the fire has consumed the dwellings, or the pastures of the
wilderness. He again teaches what I have lately
stated, that sterility proceeded from the evident judgment of God, and that it
ought to have struck dread into men, for it was a sort of miracle. When,
therefore the courses of waters dried up on the mountains, how could it be
deemed natural?
µyqypa
aphikim mean courses of waters or valleys through which the waters run.
The Prophet here refers, no doubt, to those regions which, through the abundance
of water, always retain their fertility. When, therefore, the very valleys were
burnt up, they ought surely to own that something wonderful had happened. On
this account, he ascribes crying to herds and brute animals, and not any sort of
crying, but that by which they called on God. What remains we shall defer till
to-morrow.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou sees
us to be surrounded with the infirmity of our flesh, and so held by, and, as it
were, overwhelmed with, earthly cares, that we can hardly raise up our hearts
and minds to thee, — O grant, that being awaked by thy word and daily
warnings, we may at length feel our evils, and that we may not only learn by the
stripes thou inflictest on us, but also of our own accord, summon ourselves to
judgment, and examine our hearts, and thus come to thy presence, being our own
judges; so that we may anticipate thy displeasure, and thus obtain that mercy
which thou best promised to all, who, turning only to thee, deprecate thy wrath,
and also hope for thy favor, through the name of one Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
CHAPTER 2
LECTURE
FORTY-FIRST
|
JOEL
2:1-11
|
|
1. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an
alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the
day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
|
1. Clangite tuba in Sion, et clamate (alii
vertunt, tantarizate: sed est generale verbum: clamate igitur, vel, clamorem
odite) in monte sancto meo: contremiscant omnes incolae terrae, quia venit dies
Jehovae, quia propinquus est.
|
|
2. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day
of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a
great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be
any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
|
2. Dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nubis et
obscuritatis, sicut aurora expanditur super montes, populus magnus et robustus
(vel, terribilis;) similis ei non fuit a seculo, et post eum, non addet (hoc
est, non erit amplius) ad annos generationis et generationis (ego cogor uno
contextu legere haec omnia; dicam postea suo loco rationem.)
|
|
3. A fire devoureth before them; and behind
them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind
them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
|
3. Coram facie ejus (coram ipso) devorans
ignis, et post eum exuret flamma: sicut hortus Eden terra coram ipso (ante
faciem ejus ad verbum;) et post eum desertum solitudinis (vel, vastitatis;)
adeoque evasio non erit ei.
|
|
4. The appearance of them is as the appearance
of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
|
4. Quasi aspectus equorum aspectus ejus, et
tanquam equites current.
|
|
5. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of
mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the
stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
|
5. Sicut vocem quadrigarum (sic
twbkrm
interpretes vertunt: postea dicam de hoc verbo,) super cacumina montium
saltabunt, secundum vocem flammae ignis vorantis stipulam, quasi populus
robustus (vel, terribilis) paratus ad proelium.
|
|
6. Before their face the people shall be much
pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
|
6. A facie ejus pavebunt populi, omnes facies
colligent nigredinem.
|
|
7. They shall run like mighty men; they shall
climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and
they shall not break their ranks:
|
7. Quasi gigantes (vel, fortes) discurrent,
sicut viri proelii ascendent murum, et vir (hoc est, quisque in viis suis
ambulabit, et non tardabunt gressus suos (alii, non inquirent de viis
suis.)
|
|
8. Neither shall one thrust another; they
shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall
not be wounded.
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8. Vir fratrem suum (hoc est, quisque socium
suum) non premet, quisque in viis suis ambulabit: usque in gladium cadent (hoc
est, super gladium cadent) non vulnerabuntur (alii, non
concupiscent.)
|
|
9. They shall run to and fro in the city; they
shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter
in at the windows like a thief.
|
9. Per urbem gradientur, per murum discurrent,
in domos ascendent, usque ad fenestras intrabunt tanquam fur.
|
|
10. The earth shall quake before them; the
heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall
withdraw their shining:
|
10. Coram eo contremiscet terra, et angentur
coeli; sol et luna nigrescent, et stellae retrahent splendorem
suum.
|
|
11. And the Lord shall utter his voice before
his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word:
for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide
it?
|
11. Et Jehova edet vocem suam coram exercitu
suo, quia magna valde castra ejus: quia robustus qui facit (vel, exequitur)
verbum ejus; quia magnus dies Jehovae, et terribilis valde, et quis sustinebit
eum?
|
This chapter contains serious exhortations, mixed
with threatening; but the Prophet threatens for the purpose of correcting the
indifference of the people, whom we have seen to have been very tardy to
consider God’s judgments. Now the reason why I wished to join together
these eleven verses was, because the design of the Prophet in them is no other
than to stir up by fear the minds of the people. The object of the narrative
then is, to make the people sensible, that it was now no time for taking rest;
for the Lord, having long tolerated their wickedness, was now resolved to pour
upon them in full torrent his whole fiery. This is the sum of the whole. Let us
now come to the words.
Sound the
trumpet, he says,
in Zion; cry out in my holy
mountain; let all the inhabitants of the earth
tremble. The Prophet begins with an
exhortation. We know, indeed that he alludes to the usual custom sanctioned by
the law; for as on festivals trumpets were sounded to call the people, so also
it was done when anything extraordinary happened. Hence the Prophet addresses
not each individually; but as all had done wickedly, from the least to the
greatest, he bids the whole assembly to be called, that they might in common own
themselves to be guilty before God, and deprecate his vengeance. It is the same
as though the Prophet had said that there was no one among the people who could
exempt himself from blame, for iniquity had prevailed through the whole body.
But this passage shows that when any judgment of God is impending, and tokens of
it appear, this remedy ought to be used, namely, that all must publicly assemble
and confess themselves worthy of punishments and at the same time flee to the
mercy of God. This, we know, was, as I have already said, formerly enjoined on
the people; and this practice has not been abolished by the gospel. And it hence
appears how much we have departed from the right and lawful order of things; for
at this day it would be new and unusual to proclaim a fast. How so? Because the
greater part are become hardened; and as they know not commonly what repentance
is, so they understand not what the profession of repentance means; for they
understand not what sin is, what the wrath of God is, what grace is. It is then
no wonder that they are so secure, and that when praying for pardon is
mentioned, it is a thing wholly unknown at this day. But though people in
general are thus stupid, it is yet our duty to learn from the Prophets what has
always been the actual mode of proceeding among the people of God, and to labor
as much as we can, that this may be known, so that when there shall come an
occasion for a public repentance, even the most ignorant may understand that
this practice has ever prevailed in the Church of God, and that it did not
prevail through inconsiderate zeal of men, but through the will of God
himself.
But he bids
the inhabitants of the land to
tremble. By these words he intimates, that we
are not to trifle with God by vain ceremonies but to deal with him in earnest.
When therefore, the trumpets sound, our hearts ought to tremble; and thus the
reality is to be connected with the outward signs. And this ought to be
carefully noticed; for the world is ever disposed to have an eye to some outward
service, and thinks that a satisfaction is given to God, when some external rite
is observed. But we do nothing but mock God, when we present him with
ceremonies, while there is no corresponding sincere feeling in the heart; and
this is what we shall find handled in another place.
The Prophet now adds threatening, that he might stir
up the minds of the people: For
coming, he
says, is the day of Jehovah for
nigh it is. By these words he first intimates
that we are not to wait until God strikes us, but that as soon as he shows signs
of his wrath, we ought to anticipate his judgment. When God then warns us of his
displeasure, we ought instantly to solicit pardon: nigh, he says, is the day of
Jehovah. What follows has a regard to the end which we have mentioned; for the
Prophet paints the terrible judgment of God with the view of rousing minds
wholly stupid and indifferent.
And then he says,
A day of darkness and of thick
darkness, a day of clouds and of obscurity, as the dawn which expands over the
mountains. By calling it a dark and gloomy day,
he wished to show that there would be no hope of deliverance; for, according to
the common usage of Scripture, we know that by light is designated a cheerful
and happy state, or the hope of deliverance from any affliction: but the Prophet
now extinguishes, as it were, every hope in this world, when he declares that
the day of Jehovah would be dark, that is, without hope of restoration. This is
his meaning. When he says afterwards,
As the dawn which
expands, etc., he mentions this to signify the
celerity with which it would come; for we know how sudden is the rising of the
dawn on the mountains: the dawn spreads in a moment on the mountains, where
darkness was before. For the light penetrates not immediately either into
valleys or even into plains; but if any one looks at the summits of mountains,
he will see that the dawn rises quickly. It is then the settle as though the
Prophet said, “The day of the Lord is nigh, for the Lord can suddenly
stretch forth his hand, as the dawn spreads over the
mountains.”
He then mentions its character,
A people great and strong to whom
there has not been the like from the beginning, or from ages and after whom
there will be no more the like, to the years of a generation and a
generation. Here the Prophet specifies
the kind of judgment that would be, of which he had generally spoken before; and
he shows that what he had hitherto recorded of God’s vengeance ought not
to be so understood as that God would descend openly and visibly from heaven,
but that the Assyrians would be the ministers and executioners of his vengeance.
In short, the Prophet shows here that the coming of that people ought to have
been as much dreaded as if God had put forth his hand and executed on his people
the vengeance deserved by their sins. And by these words he teaches us, that men
gain nothing by being blind to the judgments of God; for God will
notwithstanding execute his works and use the instrumentality of men; for men
are the scourges by which he chastises his own people. The Chaldeans and the
Assyrians were unbelievers; yet God used them for the purpose of correcting the
Jews. this the Prophet now shows, that is, that God was the avenger in these
very Assyrians, for he employed them as the ministers and executioners of his
judgment. We see at the same time that the Prophet describes here the terrible
wrath of God to shake off from the Jews their tardiness; for he saw that they
were not moved by all his threatening, and ever laid hold on some new flattering
pretenses. This is the reason why he gives such a long
description.
Before
them, he
says, the fire will devour, and
after them the flame will burn. He means that
the vengeance of God would be such as would consume the whole people: for God
has in various ways begun to chastise the people, but, as we have seen, without
any advantage. The Prophet then says here that the last stroke remained, and
that the Lord would wholly destroy men so refractory, and whom he could not
hitherto restore to a sound mind by moderate punishments. For he had in a
measure spared them, though he had treated them sharply and severely, and given
them time to repent. Hence, when the Prophet saw that they were wholly
irreclaimable, he says, that it now only remained that the Lord should at once
utterly consume them.
He adds,
As the garden of Eden the land is
before them, and after them it is the land of solitude; and
so (and also)
there will be no escape from
them. Here the Prophet warns the Jews, that
though they inhabited a most pleasant country and one especially fruitful, there
was no reason for them to flatter themselves, for God could convert the fairest
lands into a waste. He therefore compares Judea to the garden of Eden or to
Paradise. But such also was the state of Sodom, as Moses shows. What did it
avail the Sodomites that they dwelt as in Paradise, that they inhabited a rich
and fertile land, and thought themselves to be nourished as in the bosom of God?
So also now the Prophet says, “Though the land is like Paradise, yet when
the enemy shall march through it, a universal waste shall follow, a scattering
shall everywhere follow, there shall be no cultivation, no pleasantness, no
appearance of inhabited land, for the enemy will destroy every
thing.” His purpose was to prevent the Jews, by confiding in
God’s blessing, which they had hitherto experienced, from heedlessly
disregarding in future his vengeance; for his wrath would in a moment consume
and devour whatever fruitfulness the land had hitherto possessed. This is the
meaning. He therefore concludes that there would be no escape from these
enemies, the Assyrians, because they would come armed with a command to reduce
to nothing the whole land.
He afterwards adds many similitudes, which any one of
himself can sufficiently understand: I shall not therefore be long in explaining
them, and many words would be superfluous.
As the appearance of horses
their appearance, and as horsemen, so will they
run. This verse sets forth again the suddenness
of vengeance, as though the Prophet had said, that long distance would be no
obstacle, for the Assyrians would quickly move and occupy Judea; for distance
deceived the Jews, and they thought that there would be a long respite to them.
Hence the Prophet here removes this vain confidence, when he says that they
would be like horses and horsemen. He then
adds, Like the sound of
chariots. They expound
twbkrm
merecabut, chariots, though the Hebrews rather think them to be harnesses
or saddles as we call them; but yet I prefer to view them as chariots; for what
the Prophet says, that they shall
leap on the tops of mountains like the sound of
chariots, would not be suitably applied to the trappings of horses. They then
shall leap on tops of mountains — but how? as chariots, that is, they
shall come with great force, or make a great and terrible noise. And he speaks
of the tops of mountains for there we know the noise is greater when there is
any commotion. The Prophet, therefore, does in every way amplify God’s
vengeance, that he might awaken the Jews, who by their indifference had too long
provoked the Lord’s wrath.
Like the sound, he says, of the
flame of fire, or of a fiery flame,
devouring the
stubble. He compares the Assyrians to a flame,
which consumes all things; and he compares the Jews to stubble, though they
thought themselves fortified by many forces and strongholds.
At length he adds,
As a strong people, prepared for
battle; their face the people will dread, and all faces shall gather
blackness. By these words the Prophet intimates
that the Assyrians at their coming would be supplied with such power as would,
by report only, lay prostrate all people. But if the Assyrians should be so
formidable to all people, what could the Jews do? In short, the Prophet here
shows that the Jews would by no means be able to resist enemies so powerful; for
they would by their fame alone so lay prostrate all people, that none would dare
to rise up against them. He then compares them to giants.
As
giants, he says,
they will run here and there;
as men of war they will climb the wall, and man (that is, every one) in his ways
shall walk. The Prophet heaps together these
various expressions, that the Jews might know that they had to do with the
irresistible hand of God, and that they would in vain implore assistance here
and there; for they could find no relief in the whole world, when God executed
his vengeance in so formidable a manner. He says further,
they shall not stop their
goings, though some render the words,
“They shall not inquire respecting their ways;” for he had said
before, “They shall proceed in their ways:” then the meaning is,
They shall not come like strangers, who, when they journey through unknown
regions, make anxious inquiries, whether any be lying in wait, whether there be
any turnings in the road, whether the ways be difficult and perplexed:
They shall not
inquire, he says; they shall securely proceed,
as though the road was open to them, as though the whole country was known to
them. This part also serves to show celerity, that the Jews might dread the
vengeance of God the same as if it was quite nigh them.
He then adds,
A man shall not push his brother.
By this mode of speaking the Prophet means that
they would come in perfect order, so that the multitude would create no
confusion, as it is mostly the case: for it is very difficult for an army to
march in regular order without tumult, like two or three men walking together.
For when a hundred horsemen march together some commonly hinder others. When
therefore so large a number assemble together, it can hardly be possible for
them not to retard and impede one another. But the Prophet declares that this
would not be the case with the Assyrians, for the Lord would direct their
goings. Though then the Lord would bring so large a multitude, it would yet be
so well arranged and in such order, that no one would push his companion, or be
any hindrance to him. A man, he says, shall in his way proceed, even
without any impediment.
And on swords they shall fall, and
shall not be wounded: that is, they shall not
only be strong men of war, so that they shall intrepidly face every kind of
danger; but they shall also escape unhurt from all weapons; though they may rush
on swords like madmen and show no care for themselves, they shall not yet be
wounded. But this may be taken in a still simpler way, “They shall not be
wounded” that is, as if they could not be wounded. And it seems to me to
be the genuine sense of the Prophet, that they would not entertain any fear of
death, so as cautiously to attack their enemies, but would with impunity provoke
death itself by casting themselves on the very swords: they would not then fear
any wound, but dare to face swords as if they were wholly harmless to them. Some
render the word, “they shall not covet;” and then the word means as
if the Prophet had said, that they would not be covetous of money. But this
meaning can hardly suit this place; and we see that the best sense seems to be,
that they would heedlessly rush on swords, as though they could not be
wounded.
It afterwards follows,
Through the city shall they
march; over the wall shall they run here and there; into houses shall they
climb; through the windows shall they enter like a
thief. The Prophet here shows that the Jews in
vain trusted in their fortified cities, for the enemies would easily penetrate
into them. They shall march, he says, through the city, that is, as though there
were no gates to it. The meaning then is, that though Judea abounded in cities,
which seemed impregnable and appeared sufficient to arrest the course of
enemies, as it had happened almost always, so that great armies were forced to
desist when any strong fortified city stood in their way; yet the Prophet says
that cities would be no impediment to the Assyrians at their coming to Judea,
for they would march through the city, as along a plain road, where no gates are
closed against them. They shall then march through the midst of cities as
through a plain or open fields. To the same purpose is what follows, They shall
run here and there over the wall, he says. These are indeed hyperbolical words;
yet, when we consider how slow men are to fear punishment, we must allow that
the Prophet in these expressions does not exceed moderation. They shall then run
up and down through the city; that is, “In vain you expect that there will
be to you any rest or quietness, for ye think that you sill be able for a time
to sustain the onsets of your enemies: This,” he says, “will by no
means be the case, for they shall run here and there over the wall, as though it
were a plain. Besides, they shall
climb into the houses, and enter in through the windows, and do this as a
thief; that is, though there should be no
hostile attack, yet they shall stealthily and secretly penetrate into your
houses: when there will be a great tumult, when the whole regions shall meet in
arms, and when ye will think yourselves able to resist, they will then as
thieves quietly enter into your houses and come in through the windows, and ye
shall not be able to close up the passage against them.”
Then he adds,
Before their face shall the earth
tremble, and in anguish shall be the heavens; the sun and the moon shall become
dark, and the stars shall withdraw their
brightness. The Prophet speaks here more
hyperbolically; but we must ever remember that he addressed men extremely
stupid: it then behaved him to speak in an unusual manner, that he might touch
their feelings; for it avails nothing to speak in all ordinary way to perverse
men, especially to those who have divested themselves of all shame, and whom
Satan has fascinated, so that they fear nothing and grieve at nothing. When
therefore each stupidity lays hold on the minds of men, God must thunder that
his word may be heard. As then the listlessness of the people was monstrous, so
it was necessary, so to speak, for the Prophet to utter monstrous words. This is
the reason why he now says,
Before their
face (namely, that of the enemies)
shall the land tremble;
and then he adds,
The heavens also shall be in
anguish; not that the heavens would fear the
Assyrians; but the Prophet intimates that such would be the vengeance, that it
would terrify the whole world; and this he intimates, that the Jews might cease
to expect any subterfuges, for they flattered themselves, as though they could
fly on the clouds, or could find for themselves some hiding-places or some
corners at a distance. The Prophet gives them to understand that the whole world
would be full of horror, when the Lord would come furnished with his army. He
speaks also of the sun and the
moon; as though he said, “There will be
no more any hope of aid from created things; for the vital light itself shall
fail, when the Lord shall pour forth the flood of his fury:
The sun and the
moon, he says,
shall become dark; and the
stars shall withhold their brightness.
Though then ye lift up your eyes, not even a spark of light will there be to
comfort you, for darkness on every side will cover you; and ye shall know by
heaven as well as by earth that God is angry with you. Here, in short, he shuts
up against the Jews every avenue to hope; for not only the Assyrian will rage on
earth, but God will also give signs of vengeance from heaven, so that the sun
will be constrained to show such a sign, as well as the moon and all the
stars.
He at last adds,
And Jehovah will utter his voice
before his army. The Prophet seems in this
verse to anticipate whatever objection men might adduce. “O! thou
denounces on us great terrors, and as if the Assyrians were not to be counted as
men, as if no other people were in the world, as if there was no other army, as
if there were no other forces, as if none else had courage; but if the Assyrians
are at this day formidable, they have yet neighbors who can gather a force
sufficient easily to oppose them.” And Egypt was then a populous
country, and well fortified; and who would not have said that the Egyptians were
equal to the Assyrians? and the Jews also thought themselves safe through a
treaty with them. And then there was Syria; and there were many kingdoms, with
which the Jews might have boasted that they were surrounded, so that no access
to them was open to the Assyrians; for however insufficient were the people of
Moab or the people of Amman, yet they were all joined together, even Edom, and
Ammon, and Moab: and then Tyrus and Sidon, and the many neighboring kingdoms,
might certainly have been sufficient to resist the Assyrians. Now, that no one
might object all this, the Prophet shortly anticipates it by saying, that God
would be the leader of his army; as though he had said, “I have already
declared this to be the hand of God: for the Assyrians will not come here of
their own accord; that is, without being stirred up by God: but as this truth
has not as yet sufficiently moved your feelings, know that God will be the
leader of this army: God will
send forth his voice before his
army.” Here he distinctly calls
the Assyrians the attendants of God; they shall not then come as soldiers hired
by their own king, they shall not come as carrying on war for an earthly king,
but the Lord himself shall guide them, and by his voice encourage them. By this
expression the Prophet shows that the Jews would not have a contest with one
nation only, but also with God himself and with all his celestial
power.
He therefore says,
God will utter his voice before
his army; for leery great will be his camp. He
again repeats that the multitude which was to execute the biddings of God would
be so great, that the Jews would seek forces in vain to resist it.
Strong,
he says, is he who
executes his word. He expresses more clearly
what I have stated already, that though cupidity impelled the Assyrians, that
though they were intent on rapine and plunder, yet they would not come merely
through an impulse of their own, but that the Lord would prepare them and use
them as his instruments: “Powerful, then, is he who does the
word of God; that is, who executes his command; not that the Assyrians
designed to show regard to God or to offer to him their service, as the faithful
do, who willingly devote themselves to Him; but that the Lord by his secret
providence guided them and employed them to punish his own
people.
He afterwards adds in the last place,
For great will be the day of
Jehovah and terrible, and who will endure it?
In this clause he shows that the vengeance would be such as would reduce the
Jews to nothing, and that it was now time to repent, and that if they still
turned a deaf ear to what the Prophet denounces, God would punish their
perverseness.
Now with regard to what he says, that strong
is he who does the word of God, we have elsewhere reminded you that men serve
God in two ways, — they either execute his commands willingly, or are led
to do so by a blind impulse. The angels and the faithful perform God’s
commands, because they are guided by the spirit of obedience; but the wicked
also, and the devil who is their head, fulfill God’s biddings; this,
however, is not to be imputed to them as obedience, for they are only led by
their own wicked purposes, and seek to destroy, as far as they can, the whole
government of God; but they are constrained, willing or unwilling, to obey God,
not of their own accord or willingly, as I have said, but the Lord turns all
their efforts to answer the end which he has decreed. Whatever, then, Satan and
the wicked attempt to do, they at the same time serve God and obey his commands;
and though they rage against God, he yet holds them in by his bridle, and also
so guides their attempts and their purposes as to answer his own ends. In this
sense, then, it is, that Joel says, that the Assyrians would do the word of God;
not that it was their purpose to obey God, not that God had commanded them
anything, but he puts the word of the Lord here for his secret purpose. As,
then, the wicked perform no voluntary obedience to God, but constrained, when
they execute God’s commands; so there is a twofold command or word of God:
there is the command by which he teaches his own children and leads them to obey
him; and there is another, a hidden command, when he deigns not to address men,
and shows not what pleases him or what he means to do, but suffers them to be
led by their own sinful desires; in the meantime, he has his own secret purpose,
which by them he executes though without their intention.
PRAYER.
Grant, almighty God, that as thou
invites us daily with so much kindness and love, and makes known to us thy
paternal goodwill, which thou didst once show to us in Christ thy Son, — O
grant, that, being allured by thy goodness, we may surrender ourselves wholly to
thee, and become so teachable and submissive, that wherever thou guidest us by
thy Spirit thou mayest follow us with every blessing: let us not, in the
meantime, be deaf to thy warnings; and whenever we deviate from the right way,
grant that we may immediately awake when thou warnest us, and return to the
right path, and deign thou also to embrace us and reconcile us to thyself
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-SECOND
|
JOEL
2:12-13
|
|
12. Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn
ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with
mourning:
|
12. Atque etiam nunc dicet Jehova,
convertimini ad me in toto corde vestro, et in jejunio, et in fletu, et in
planctu.
|
|
13. And rend your heart, and not your
garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
|
13. Et scindite cor vestrum, et non vestimenta
vestra, et convertimini ad Jehovam Deum vestrum, quia ipse propitius et
misericors, longus ad iram, et multus clementia, et poenitebit eum super
malo.
|
The Prophet, having proclaimed the dreadful judgment
which we have noticed, now shows that he did not intend to terrify the people
without reason, but, on the contrary, to encourage them to repentance; which he
could not do without offering to them the hope of pardon; for as we have said
before, and as it may be collected from the whole of Scripture, men cannot be
restored to the right ways except they entertain a hope of God’s mercy
inasmuch as he who has been ungodly, when he despairs, wholly disregards
himself, observing no restraint. Hence the Prophet now represents God as
propitious and merciful, that he might thus kindly allure the people to
repentance.
He says first,
And even now the Lord says, Turn
ye to me. The Prophet exhorts the people, not
in his own name, but speaks in the person of God himself. He might indeed have
borne witness to the favor which he proclaimed; but the discourse becomes more
striking by introducing God as the speaker. And there is a great importance in
the words, even now; for when one considers what we have noticed in the
beginning of the chapter, a prospect of relief could hardly have been deemed
possible. God had, indeed, in various ways, tried to restore the people to the
right way; but, as we have seen, the greater part had become so void of feeling,
that the scourges of God were wholly ineffectual; there remained, then, nothing
but the utter destruction which the Prophet threatened them with at the
beginning of the second chapter. Yet, in this state of despair, he still sets
forth some hope of mercy, provided they turned to him; even now, he says.
The particles
µgw
ugam are full of emphasis, “even now” that is, “Though
ye have too long abused God’s forbearance, and with regard to you, the
opportunity is past, for ye have closed the door against yourselves; yet even
now, — which no one could have expected, and indeed what ought to be
thought incredible by yourselves, — even now God waits for you, and
invites you to entertain hope of salvation.” But it was necessary that
these two particles, even now, should be added; for it is not in the power of
men to fix for themselves, as they please, the season for mercy. God here shows
the acceptable time, as Isaiah says
(<234908>Isaiah
49:8) to be, when he has not yet rejected men, but when he offers to be
propitious. We must then remember that the Prophet gives not here liberty to men
to delay the time, as the profane and scorners are wont to do, who trifle with
God from day to day; but the Prophet here shows that we must obey the voice of
God, when he invites us, as also Isaiah says, ‘Behold now the time
accepted, behold the day of salvation: seek God now, for he is near; call on him
while he may be found.’ So then, as I have reminded you, these two
particles, even now, are added, that men may be made attentive to the
voice of God when he invites them, that they may not delay till tomorrow, for
the Lord may then close the door, and repentance may be too late. We at the same
time see how indulgently God bears with men, since he left a hope of pardon to a
people so obstinate and almost past recovery.
Even
now, he says,
turn ye to me with your whole
heart. The Prophet here reminds us that we must
not act feignedly with God; for men are ever disposed to trifle with him. We
indeed see what almost the whole world is wont to do. God graciously meets us
and is ready to receive us unto favor, though we have a hundred times alienated
ourselves from him; but we bring nothing but hypocrisy and disguise: hence the
Prophet declares here distinctly, that this dissimulation does not please God,
and that they can hide nothing, who only pretend some sort of repentance by
external signs, and that what is required is the serious and sincere feeling of
the heart. This is what he means by the whole heart; not that perfect repentance
can be formed in men, but the whole or complete heart is opposed to a divided
heart: for men well understand that God is not ignorant; yet they divide their
heart, and when they bestow some portion on God, they think that he is
satisfied; and in the meantime there remains an interior and some hidden
perverseness, which separates them far from God. This vice the Prophet now
condemns, when he says, Turn with
the whole heart. He then shows that it is an
hypocrisy abominable to God, when men keep the greater part of their heart, as
it were, closed up, and think it enough, if only they bring, so to speak, some
volatile feeling.
He afterwards adds,
fasting, and weeping, and
mourning; and by these words he shows how
grievously they had sinned; as though he said, that they deserved not only one
kind of destruction, but were worthy of hundred deaths; that God therefore would
not now be content with any common repentance, and except they came suppliantly
and deeply felt their own guilt. It is indeed true, that we ought daily and even
constantly to sigh, because we continue almost every hour to provoke God’s
wrath against us; but the Prophet here speaks of solemn fasting, because the
people had so grievously offended God that there was required some extraordinary
confession, such as he here describes. Come then to me
with fasting, and weeping,
and wailing” that is “Show at
length that you are guilty and submissively deprecate the vengeance which ye
have through your wickedness deserved.” He speaks like a judge, when he
tells the criminal, not to act dissemblingly, but simply to confess his fault.
The guilty are indeed wont to weave many excuses to avoid punishment; but when
the judge deems a man guilty, and he is abundantly proved to be so, he says,
“What good can you do? for these your shuffling and subterfuges make your
case worse: for now I hold you bound, and you cannot escape by these shifts, and
will only the more provoke my displeasure. If then you wish me to show you
favor, own how grievously you have offended, and without any coloring; confess
now that you are worthy of death, and that nothing else remains for you, except
I mercifully pardon you: for if you try to extenuate your crime, if you attempt
by some excuse to seek reprief, you will gain nothing.” So now does the
Lord deal with this people: Turn
to me, he says; first, sincerely; then
with fasting, with weeping, and
with wailing; that is, “Let it
appear that you suppliantly deprecate the destruction which ye have deserved,
for moderate repentance will not do, inasmuch as ye are guilty before me of so
many crimes.” We now apprehend the Prophet’s
meaning.
He then subjoins,
Rend your heart, and not your
garments, and turn to Jehovah your God. The
Prophet again repeats that we ought to deal sincerely with God; for all those
ceremonies, by which men imagine that they discharge their duties, are mere
mockeries, when they are not preceded by a pure and sincere heart. But as they
were wont under mournful circumstances to rend their garments, he therefore
says, “God has become now insensible to these customs; for with regard to
men, ye are ceremonious enough, and more than enough: ye indeed rend your
garments, and thus draw pity from men, and yet your heart remains whole, there
is no rending, no opening; Rend then your heart,” that is,
“Leave off thus to mock God, as ye have been wont to do, and begin with
your heart.” It is indeed certain that the orientals were given to many
ceremonies; but the vice the Prophet here condemns in the Jews is natural as it
were to all men; so that every one of us is inclined to hypocrisy, and has need
of having his attention drawn to the sincerity of the heart. We must then
remember that this truth is to be set forth at all times and to all nations. Let
any one search himself and he will find that he labors under this evil, —
that he would rather reed his garment than his heart. And since the Jews usually
observed this custom, the Prophet does not without reason deride it, and say,
that it was of no account with God except they rent their hearts. But when he
bids them to rend their hearts and not their garments, though he seems to
repudiate that external practice, he does not yet distinctly condemn it, but
intimates that it was a lawful thing, provided the heart was rent. Now this
expression, Rend the
heart, ought not to be deemed harsh, for it is
to be referred to the external practice: when they rent the garments, they made
themselves naked before God and put off all ornaments; but he wished them to be
displeased with themselves, and rather to make bare the heart itself. The heart
of hypocrites, we know, is wrapped up, and they ever have recourse to hiding
places, that they may avoid the presence of God. Then the similitude is most
suitable, when the Prophet bids them to rend the heart. Besides, the passage is
clear enough, and needs not many remarks; it means, that God regards the real
feeling of the heart, as it is said in
<240401>Jeremiah
4:1; he is not content with ocular obedience, such as men exhibit, but he would
have us to deal with him in sincerity and truth.
Hence he repeats again,
Turn to Jehovah your
God. Here the Prophet shows, from what God is,
that men foolishly and grossly deceive themselves when they would please God
with their ceremonies: “What!”, he says, “have you to do with
a child?” For the import of the words is this, — “When an
offense against man is to be removed, ye anxiously come to him: now when ye
perceive that God is angry with you, ye think that he will be propitious to you,
if ye only trifle with him; can God bear such a reproach?” We hence see
what the Prophet means when he says,
Turn to Jehovah your
God; that is, “Remember that you
have not to do with a block of wood or with a stone, but with your God, who
searches hearts, and whom mortals can by no crafts deceive.” The
same is said by Jeremiah, ‘Israel, if thou turnest, turn to me,’
(<240401>Jeremiah
4:1;) that is, “Pretend not to turn by circuitous courses and windings,
but come in a direct way, and with a real feeling of heart, for I am he who
calls thee.” So also now the Prophet says,
Turn to Jehovah your
God.
Then follows the promise of pardon,
For he is propitious and
merciful. We have already said that repentance
is preached in vain, except men entertain a hope of salvation; for they can
never be brought to fear God truly, unless they trust in him as their Father, as
it is stated in
<19D004>Psalm
130:4 ‘With thee is propitiation that thou mayest be feared.’ Hence,
whenever the Prophets were anxious to effect anything by their doctrine, while
exhorting the people to repentance, they joined to the invitation
“Come,” the second part, “Ye shall not come in vain.”
This “Come,” comprehends all exhortations to repentance; “Ye
shall not come in vain,” includes this testimony respecting God’s
grace, that He will never reject miserable sinners, provided they return to him
with the heart. The Prophet then now engaged on this second head; God, he says,
is propitious and merciful. And this connection is to be observed by us;
for as Satan fills us with insensibility when God invites us, so also he draws
us away into despair when God denounces judgment, when he shows that it is not
time for sleep. “What good will you gain?” Thus Satan by his craft
disheartens us, that we may labor in vain, when we seek to be reconciled to God.
Hence, whenever Scripture exhorts us to repentance, let us learn to join this
second part, “God invites us not in vain.” If then we return to him,
he will be instantly inclined to grant forgiveness; for he wills not that
miserable men should labor in vain or be tormented. This is the benefit of which
the Prophet speaks when he says that God is propitious and
merciful.
He afterwards adds, that
he is slow to wraths and abundant
in goodness. These testimonies respecting God
occur often in other places; and all the Prophets, as well as David, have
borrowed these declarations from
<023401>Exodus
34:1; where the nature of God is described; and He is said there to be
propitious and merciful, slow to wrath, and abundant in goodness. Though there
is no need of dwelling longer on these words, as we perceive the Prophet’s
design; yet more extended remarks will not be superfluous since the Prophet so
much at large recommends the mercy of God. Though men too much indulge
themselves in security, yet when God calls them to himself, they are not able to
receive his favor; though he may testify twice or thrice that he will be
propitious to them, yet he cannot persuade them but with great difficulty. This
is the reason why the Prophet, after having said that God is propitious and
merciful, adds, that he is slow
to wrath, and abundant in goodness; it was,
that the Jews might overcome their distrust, and that however much despair might
keep them back, they might not yet hesitate to come to God, seeing that he
declares himself to be so merciful.
He at last adds,
He will repent of the
evil. The Prophet here not only describes the
nature of God, but goes further and says, that God, who is by nature placable,
will not remain fixed in his purpose, when he sees people returning to him in
sincerity; but that he suffers himself to be turned to show favor, so as to
remit the punishment which he had previously denounced. And it is a mode of
speaking which often occurs in Scripture, that God repents of evil; not that he
really changes his purpose, but this is said according to the apprehensions of
men: for God is in himself immutable, and is said to turn from his, purpose,
when he remits to man the punishment he has previously threatened. Whatever
proceeds from God’s mouth ought to be regarded as an inviolable decree;
and yet God often threatens us conditionally, and though the condition be not
expressed it is nevertheless to be understood: but when he is pacified to us and
relaxes the punishment, which was in a manner already decreed according to the
external word, he is then said to repent. And we know, that as we do not
apprehend God such as he is, he is therefore described to us in such a way as we
can comprehend, according to the measure of our infirmity. Hence God often puts
on the character of men, as though he were like them; and as this mode of
speaking is common, and we have spoken of it elsewhere, I now pass it by more
briefly. It follows —
|
JOEL
2:14
|
|
14. Who knoweth if he will return and repent,
and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto
the LORD your God?
|
14. Quis novit an revertatur et poeniteat eum,
et relinquat post se (alii vertunt, post eum; ego tamen malo sic transferre,
Relinquat post se) benedictionem, oblationem et libamen Jehovae Deo
vestro?
|
The Prophet seems at first sight to leave men here
perplexed and doubtful; and yet in the last verse, as we have seen, he had
Offered a hope of favor, provided they sincerely repented. Hence the Prophet
seems not to pursue the same subject, but rather to vary it: and we have already
said, that all exhortations would be frigid, nay, useless, by which God stirs us
up to repentance, except he were to testify that he is ready to be reconciled.
Seeing then that the Prophet here leaves the minds of men in suspense, he seems
to rescind what he has before alleged respecting God’s mercy. But we must
understand that this is a mode of speaking which often occurs in Scripture. For
wherever God is set forth to us as one hardly willing to pardon, it is done to
rouse our slothfulness, and also to shake off our negligence. We are at first
torpid when God invites us, except he applies his many goads; and then we act
formally in coming to him: it is hence needful that both these vices should be
corrected in us, — our torpor must be roused, — and those
self-complacences, in which we too much indulge ourselves, must be shaken off.
And this is the object of the Prophet; for he addresses, as we have seen, men
almost past recovery. If he had only said, God is ready to pardon, if he had
used this way of speaking, they would have come negligently, and would not have
been sufficiently touched by the fear of God: hence the Prophet here, as it
were, debates the matter with them, “Even though we ought justly to
despair of pardon, (for we are unworthy of being received by God,) yet there is
no reason why we should despair; for who knows” which means
“God is placable and we must not despair.”
The Prophet then sets forth here the difficulty of
obtaining pardon, not to leave men in suspense, for this would be contrary to
his former doctrine; but to create in them a desire for the grace of God, that
they might by degrees gather courage, and yet not immediately rise to
confidence, but that they might come anxiously to God, and with much
deliberation, duly considering their offenses. We now understand the purpose of
the Prophet.
But this will be easier understood by supposing two
gradations in repentance. Then the first step is, when men feel how grievously
they have offended. Here sorrow is not to be immediately removed after the
manner of impostors, who cajole the consciences of men, so that they indulge
themselves, and deceive themselves, with empty self-flatteries. For the
physician does not immediately ease pain, but considers what is more necessary:
it may be he will increase it, for a thorough clearing may be needful. So also
do the Prophets of God, when they observe trembling consciences, they do not
immediately apply soothing consolations, but on the contrary show that they
ought not, as we have already said, to trifle with God, and exhort them while
willingly running to God, to set before them his terrible judgment, that they
may be more and more humbled. The second step is, when the Prophets cheer the
minds of men, and show that God now willingly meets them, and desires nothing
more than to see men willing to be reconciled to him.
The Prophet is now urging them to take the first
step, when he says, Who knows
whether the Lord will turn? But some may object
and say, “Then the Prophet has spoken inconsistently; for first he has
described God as merciful, and has spoken of his goodness without any reserve;
and then he throws in a doubt: he seems here to observe no consistency.” I
answer, that the Prophets of God do not always very anxiously hold to what seems
consistent in their discourses; and farther, that the Prophet has not spoken
here in vain or inconsiderately; for he, in the first place, generally sets
forth God as merciful, and afterwards addresses particularly a people who were
almost past recovery, and says, “Though ye think that it is all over with
you as to your salvation, and ye deserve to be rejected by God, yet ye ought not
to continue in this state; rather entertain a hope of pardon.” This
is what the Prophet had in view; he throws in no doubt, so as to make the sinner
uncertain, whether or not he could obtain pardons; but as I have said, he wished
only to rouse torpidity, and also to shake off vain
self-flatteries.
He then adds,
And leave after him a
blessing. We here see more clearly what I have
already said, that the Prophet, considering the state of those whom he
addressed, states a difficulty; for the Jews were not to escape temporary
punishment, and the Prophet did not intend to dismiss them in a secure state, as
though God would inflict on them no punishment; nay, he wished to bend their
necks that they might receive the strokes of God, and calmly submit to his
correction. But all hope might have been lost, when the Jews saw, that though
the Prophet had declared that God would be propitious, they were yet not spared,
but suffered severe punishment for their sins, — “What does this
mean? Has God then disappointed us? We hoped that he would be propitious, and
yet he ceases not to be angry with us.” Hence the Prophet now subjoins,
Who knows whether he will leave
behind him a blessing?
What is this —
behind
him? What does it mean? Even this, that as God
was to be a severe judge to punish the people’s wickedness, the Prophet
now says, “Though God beats you with his rods, he can yet relieve you by
administering comfort. Ye indeed think that you are beaten almost to death; but
the Lord will temperate his wrath, so that a blessing will follow these most
grievous punishments.” We now, then, understand the purpose of the
Prophet: for he does not simply promise pardon to the Jews, but mitigates the
dread of punishment, that is, that though God would chastise them, he would yet
give place to mercy. Then God
will leave behind him a
blessing; that is “These strokes
shall not be incurable.” And this admonition is very necessary,
whenever God deals severely with us; for when we feel his wrath, we then think
that there is no grace remaining. It is then not without reason that the Prophet
says, that God leaves behind him a blessing; which means, that when he shall
pass by us with his rod, he will yet restrain his severity, so that some
blessing will remain.
He afterwards adds,
µkyhla hwhyl ˚snw
hjnm meneche unesac laIeuve Aleicam, an
offering and a libation, he says, to Jehovah your God. This has been
designedly added, that the Jews might entertain more hope. For with regard to
them, they had deserved to be wholly exterminated a hundred times; yea, they
deserved to pine away utterly through famine: but the Prophet intimates here,
that God would have a regard for his own glory and his worship.
“Though,” he says, “we have deserved to perish by famine, yet
God will be moved by another consideration, even this, — that there may be
some offering, that there may be some libation in the temple: since then God has
chosen us a people to himself, and has required the first-fruits to be offered
to him, and has consecrated for himself all our provision and all our produce in
the first-fruits, and also in the daily offerings, though he has now resolved to
consume us with famine and want, yet that his worship may continue, he will make
the land fruitful to us, corn and wine will yet be produced for us,” But
the Prophet does not mean that there would only be so much corn as would be
enough for offerings, or only so much wine as would be sufficient for libations;
but he means, as I have already said, that though God would not provide for the
safety of the people, he would yet have a regard for his own glory. God required
the corn and the wine to be offered to him, not that he needed them, but because
he consecrated to himself our provision. As then he would have the food and
provisions, on which we live, to be sacred to him, he will not allow them wholly
to fail. “God will yet surely pity us, and he will pity us, because he has
deigned to choose us a people to himself, and so to join us with himself, that
he wishes to eat, as it were, with us.” For God seemed then to partake, as
it were, of the same table with his people; for the law required bread or the
ears of corn, and also wine, to be offered to God: not that he, as I have said,
needed such supports; but that he might show that he had all things in common
with his people. This communion then, or fellow-participation of God with his
chosen people, gave them more hope; and this is what the Prophet had in
view.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest
us so foolish in nourishing our vices, and also so ensnared by the
gratifications of the flesh, that without being constrained we hardly return to
thee, — O grant, that we may feel the weight of thy wrath, and be so
touched with the dread of it, as to return gladly to thee, laying aside every
dissimulation, and devote ourselves so entirely to thy service, that it may
appear that we have from the heart repented, and that We have not trifled with
thee by an empty pretense, but have offered to thee our hearts as a sacrifice,
so that we and all our works might be sacred offerings to thee through our whole
life, that thy name may be glorified in us through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-THIRD
|
JOEL
2:15-17
|
|
15. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast,
call a solemn assembly:
|
15. Clangite tuba in Sion, sanctificate
jejunium, indicite conventum:
|
|
16. Gather the people, sanctify the
congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the
breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her
closet.
|
16. Colligite populum, sanctificate coetum,
coedunate senes, colligite parvulos et sugentes ubera, et egrediatur sponsus e
penetrali suo et sponsa e thalamo suo.
|
|
17. Let the priests, the ministers of the
LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people,
O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule
over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their
God?
|
17. Inter atrium et altare plorent sacerdotes,
ministri Jehovae, et dicant, Propitius esto Jehova super populum tuum; et ne des
haereditatem tuam in opprobrium, ut dominentur super eos gentes: cur dicent in
populis, Ubi est Deus corum?
|
Here again the Prophet reminds them that there was
need of deep repentance; for not only individuals had transgressed, but the
whole people had become guilty before God; and we also know how many and
grievous their sins had been. There is no wonder then that the Prophet requires
a public profession of repentance.
He bids them first to
sound the trumpet in
Zion. This custom, as we have seen at the
beginning of the chapter, was in common use under the Law; they summoned their
meetings by the sound of trumpets. There is then no doubt but that the Prophet
here refers to an extraordinary meeting. They sounded the trumpets whenever they
called the people to the festivals. But it must have been unusual for the Jews
to proclaim a fast on account of God’s heavy judgment, which was to come
on them unless it was prevented. He then shows the purpose of this, bidding them
to sanctify a fast. By this word
çdq
kodesh, he means a proclamation for a holy purpose. Sanctify,
then a fast, that is, Proclaim a fast in the name of
God.
We slightly touched on the subject of fasting in the
first chapter, but deferred a fuller discussion to this place. Fasting, we know,
is not of itself a meritorious work, as the Papists imagine it to be: there is,
indeed, strictly speaking, no work meritorious. But the Papists dream that
fasting, in addition to its merit and worth, is also by itself of much avail in
the worship of God; and yet fasting, when regarded in itself is an indifferent
work. fb5 It
is not then approved by God, except for its end; it must be connected with
something else, otherwise it is a vain thing. Men, by private fastings prepare
themselves for the exercise of prayer, or they mortify their own flesh, or seek
a remedy for some hidden vices. Now I do not call fasting temperance; for the
children of God, we know, ought through their whole life to be sober and
temperate in their habits; but fasting, I regard that to be, when something is
abstracted from our moderate allowance: and such a fast, when practiced
privately, is, as I have said, either a preparation for the exercise of prayer,
or a means to mortify the flesh, or a remedy for some vices.
But as to a public fast, it is a solemn confession of
guilt, when men suppliantly approach the throne of God, acknowledge themselves
worthy of death, and yet ask pardon for their sins. Fasting then, with regard to
God, is similar to black and mean garments and a long beard before earthly
judges. The criminal goes not before the judge in a splendid dress, with all his
fine things, but casts away every thing that was before elegant in his
appearance, and by his uncombed hair and long beard he tries to excite the
compassion of his judge. There is, at the same time, another reason for fasting;
for when we have to do with men, we wish to please their eyes and conciliate
their favor; and he who fasts, not only testifies openly that he is guilty, but
he also reminds himself of his guilt; for as we are not sufficiently touched by
the sense of God’s wrath, those aids are useful which help to excite and
affect us. He then who fasts, excites himself the more to
penitence.
We now perceive the right use of fasting. But it is
of public fasting that the Prophet speaks here. For what purpose? That the Jews,
whom he had before summoned, might present themselves before God’s
tribunal, and that they might come there, not with vain excuses, but with humble
prayer. This is the design of fasting. We now see how foolishly the Papists have
abused fasting; for they think it to be a meritorious work; they imagine that
God is honored by abstinence from meat; they also mention those benefits of
fasting to which I have referred; but they join fasts with festivals, as if
there was some religion in abstaining from flesh or certain meats. We now then
perceive by what gross puerilities the Papists trifle with God. We must then
carefully notice the end in view, whenever the Scripture speaks of fasting; for
all things will be confounded, except we lay hold on the principle which I have
stated — that fasting ought ever to be connected with its end. We shall
now proceed.
Proclaim,
he says,
a
meeting.
Hrx[
otsare is not properly an assembly, but the deed
itself:fb6
hence also the word is transferred to festivals.
Proclaim,
then, a meeting, call
the people, sanctify the assembly. The word,
sanctify, seems to be taken here in a sense different from what it had been
before. The people, in order to engage in holy services, performed those rites,
as it is well known, by which they cleansed themselves from their pollutions. No
one entered the temple without washing; and no one offered a sacrifice without
abstaining from an intercourse with his wife. The Prophet then alludes to these
legal purgations when he says
Sanctify the
assembly.
He afterwards adds,
Bring together the old, gather
the young sucking the breasts. With regard to
the old, we have said before that they are separately named, because they ought
to have taken the lead by their example; and further a greater guilt belonged to
them, for we know that it is a duty incumbent on the old to govern others, and,
as it were, to hold the reins. But when the old themselves become dissolute, and
restrain not the lusts of the young, they are doubly culpable before God. It is
no wonder then that the Prophet bids here the old to be called; for it became
them to be the leaders of others in confessing their repentance. But what
follows seems strange. He would have the young, sucking the breasts, to be
assembled. Why are these brought in as involved in guilt? Besides, the people
were to own their repentance; and yet infants are without understanding and
knowledge; so that they could not humble themselves before God. It must, then,
have been a mockery and a vain show; nay, the Prophet seems to encourage the
people in hypocrisy by bidding young infants to assemble together with men and
women. To this I answer, that children ought to have been brought together, that
those grown up and advanced in years might through them perceive what they
deserved; for the wrath of God, we know, reached to the very infants, yea, and
to brute animals: when God puts forth his hand to punish any people, neither
asses nor oxen are exempt from the common scourge. Since, then, God’s
wrath comes upon brute animals and upon young infants, it is no wonder that the
Lord bids all to come forth publicly and to make a confession of repentance; and
we see the same to have been the case with brute animals; and when, if the Lord
grants, we shall come to the Prophet Jonah, we shall then speak on this subject.
The Ninevites, when they proclaimed a fast, not only abstained themselves from
meat and drink, but constrained also their oxen and horses to do the same. Why?
Because the very elements were involved, as it were, with them in the same
guilt: “Lord, we have polluted the earth; whatever we possess we have also
polluted by our sins; the oxen the horses, and the asses, are in themselves
innocent, but they have contracted contagion from our vices: that we may
therefore obtain mercy, we not only offer ourselves suppliantly before thy face,
but we bring also our oxen and horses; for if thou exercises the fullest
severity against us, thou wilt destroy whatever is in our possession.” So
also now, when the Prophet bids infants to be brought before God, it is done on
account of their parents. Infants were in themselves innocent with regard to the
crimes of which he speaks; but yet the Lord could have justly destroyed the
infants together with those of advanced age. It is then no wonder that in order
to pacify God’s wrath the very infants are summoned with the rest: but as
I have already said, the reason is on account of their parents, that the parents
themselves might perceive what they deserved before God, and that they might the
more abhor their sins by observing that God would take vengeance on their
children, except he was pacified. For they ought to have reasoned from the less
to the greater: “See, if God exercises his own right towards us, there is
destruction not only hanging over us, but also over our children; if they are
guilty through our crimes, what can we say of ourselves, who are the authors of
these evils? The whole blame belongs to us; then severe and dreadful will be
God’s vengeance on us, except we be reconciled to
him.”
We now then perceive why infants were called,
together with their parents; not that they might confess their penitence, as
that was not compatible with their age, but that their parents might be more
moved, and that such a sight might touch their feelings, and that dread might
also seize them on seeing that their children were doomed to die with them for
no other reason, but that by their contagion and wickedness they had infected
the whole land and everything that the Lord had bestowed on
them.
He afterwards subjoins,
Let the bridegroom go from his
closet, or recess, and the bride from her
chamber. It is the same as though the Prophet
had bidden every joy to cease among the people; for it was of itself no evil to
celebrate nuptials; but it behooved the people to abstain from every rejoicing
on seeing the wrath of God now suspended over them. Hence, things in themselves
lawful ought for a time to be laid aside when God appears angry with us; for it
is no season for nuptials or for joyful feasts, when God’s wrath is
kindled, when the darkness of death spreads all around. No wonder, then, that
the Prophet bids the bridegroom and the bride to come forth from their chamber,
that is, to cast aside every joy, and to defer their nuptials to a more suitable
time, and now to undergo their delights, for the Lord appeared armed against
all. It would have been then to provoke, as it were, His wrath, to indulge
heedlessly in pleasures, when he wished not only to terrify, but almost to
frighten to death those who had sinned; for when the Lord threatens vengeance,
what else is indifference but a mockery of his power? “I have called you
to weeping and wailing; but ye have said, ‘We will feast:’ as I
live, saith the Lord, this iniquity shall never be blotted out.” We see
how extremely displeased the Lord appears there to be with those who, having
been called to weeping and fasting, did yet indulge themselves in their
pleasures; for such, as I have said, altogether laugh to scorn the power of God.
The Prophet’s exhortation ought then to be noticed, when he bids the
bridegroom and the bride to leave their nuptials, and to put on the same
mournful appearance as the rest of the people. He thus shook off heedlessness
from all, since God had appeared with tokens of his wrath. This is the sum of
the whole.
Then it follows,
Between the court and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah,
weep. It was the priests’ office, we
know, to pray in the name of the whole people; and now the Prophet follows this
order. It was not, indeed, peculiar to the priests to pray and to ask pardon of
God; but they prayed in the name of all the people. The reason must be well
known to us; for God intended by these legal types to remind the Jews, that they
could not offer prayers to him, except through some mediator; the people were
unworthy to offer prayers by themselves. Hence the priest was, as it were, the
middle person. The whole of this is to be referred to Christ; for by him we now
pray; he is the Mediator who intercedes for us. The people stood then afar off,
we now dare to come nigh to God; for the vail is rent, and through Christ we are
all made priests. Hence, we are allowed in familiar way and in confidence to
call God our Father: and yet without Christ’s intercession, no access to
God would be open to us. This then was the reason for the legal appointment.
Hence the Prophet now says, Let
the priests weep; not that he wished the people
in the meantime to neglect their duty; but he expresses what had been prescribed
by the law of God; that is, that the priests should offer supplications in the
name of the people.
And he says,
Between the court and the
altar; for the people remained in the court,
the priests themselves had a court by its side which they called the sacerdotal
court; but the people’s court was over against the sanctuary. Then the
priest stood, as it were, in the middle between God, that is, the ark of the
covenant, and the people: the people also were standing there. We now perceive
that what the Prophet meant was, that the people had the priests as their
mediators to offer prayers; and yet the confession of them all was public. He
calls the priests the ministers of Jehovah, as we have before found. He
thus designates their office; as though he had said, that they were not more
worthy than the rest of the people, as though they excelled by their own virtue
or merits; but that the Lord had conferred this honor on the tribe of Levi by
choosing them to be his ministers. It was then on account of their office that
they came nearer to God, and not for any merit in their own
works.
He further adds,
Spare,
Lord, or be propitious to,
thy people; and give not thy
heritage to reproach, that the Gentiles may rule over
them. Here the Prophet leaves nothing to the
priests, but to flee to God’s mercy; as though he had said that now no
plea remained for the people, and that they were greatly deceived if they
pretended any excuse, and that their whole hope was in God’s mercy. He
afterwards shows the ground on which they were to seek and to hope for mercy;
and he calls their attention to God’s gratuitous covenant,
Give not thy heritage for a
reproach to the Gentiles. By these words he
shows, that if the Jews depended on themselves, they were past recovery; for
they had so often and in such various ways provoked God’s wrath, that they
could not hope for any pardon: they had also been so obstinate that the door as
it were had been closed against them on account of their hardness. But the
Prophet here reminds them, that as they had been freely chosen by God as his
peculiar people, there remained for them a hope of deliverance, but that it
ought not to have been sought in any other way. We now then understand the
design of the Prophet, when he speaks of God’s heritage; as though he had
said, that the people could now undertake nothing to pacify God, had they not
been God’s heritage: Give
not then
thy heritage to
reproach. He had in view the threatening, which
he had before mentioned; for it was an extreme kind of vengeance, when the Lord
determined to visit his people with utter destruction; after having worn them
out and consumed them by famine and want, God resolved wholly to consume them by
the sword of enemies. It is then to this vengeance that he now alludes when he
says, That the Gentiles may not
rule over them. It is therefore absurd, as many
do, to connect with this the discourse concerning the locusts: such a thing is
wholly inconsistent with the design of the Prophet.
fb7
It is then added,
Why should they say among the
people, Where is their God? The Prophet now
adduces another reason, by which the Jews might propitiate God, and that is,
because his own glory is concerned: this reason has indeed an affinity to the
former, for God could not expose his heritage to the reproaches of the Gentiles
without subjecting also his holy name to their blasphemies. But the Prophet
shows here more distinctly that God’s glory would be subject to reproach
among the nations, if he dealt with the people according to the full demands of
justice; for the Gentiles would contemptuously deride him, as though he could
not save his people. Hence in this second clause he reminds us, that when
engaged in seeking pardon, we ought to place before our eyes The glory of God,
that we ought not to seek our own salvation without remembering the holy name of
God, which ought of right to be preferred to all other things. And at the same
time he strengthens also the hope of the people, when he teaches that the glory
of God is connected with the salvation of those who had sinned; as though he had
said, “God, that he may provide for his own glory, will have mercy on
you.” They must then have come more willingly to God’s presences
when they saw that their salvation was connected with the glory of God, and that
they would be saved that the name of God might be preserved safe and free from
blasphemies.
We now then perceive what the Prophet meant in this
verse: he first strips the Jews of all confidence in works, showing that nothing
remained for them except they fled to God’s free mercy. He then shows that
this mercy is folded on God’s gratuitous covenant, because they were his
heritage. In the third place, he shows that God would be merciful to them from a
regard to his own glory, lest he should expose it to the reproaches of the
Gentiles, if he exercised extreme severity towards his people. Let us now
proceed —
|
JOEL
2:18-19
|
|
18. Then will the LORD be jealous for his
land, and pity his people.
|
18. Et aemulatus est (aemulabitur, ad verbum)
Jehova (hoc est, zelo ducetur Jehova) super terram suam, et propitius erit (et
miserabitur, vel, parcet; nam
lmj
est parcere) populo suo.
|
|
19. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his
people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be
satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the
heathen.
|
19. Et respondit Jehova (vel, respondebit) et
dicit (vel, dicet) populo suo, Ecce ego mitto vobis triticum et mustum et oleum,
et saturabimini eo (vel illis potius, est mutatio numeri,) et non dabo vos
amplius opprobium inter Gentes.
|
The Prophet here again repeats, that prayers would
not be in vain, provided the Jews truly humbled themselves before God. Then God,
he says, will be jealous for his land and spare his people. He confirms what I
have already said that God would deal mercifully with his people, because they
were his heritage, that is because he had chosen them for himself. For the title
of heritage, whence does it proceed except from the gratuitous covenant of God?
for the Jews were not more excellent than others, but election was the only
fountain from which the Jews had to draw any hope. We now then see why these
words, God will be jealous for
his land, are added; as though he said
“Though this land has been polluted by the wickedness of men, yet God has
consecrated it to himself: He will, therefore, regard his own covenant, and thus
turn away his face from looking on their sins.” He will spare, he
says, his people, that is, his chosen people: for, as I have said, the
Prophet no doubt ascribes here the safety of the people, and the hope of their
safety, to the gratuitous election of God; for the jealousy of God is nothing
else but the vehemence and ardor of his paternal love. God could not, indeed,
express how ardently he loves those whom he has chosen without borrowing, as it
were, what belongs to men. For we know that passions appertain not to him; but
he is set forth as a father, who burns with jealousy when he sees his son
ill-treated; he acknowledges his own blood, his bowels are excited, — or,
as a husband, who, on seeing dishonor done to his wife, is moved; and though he
had been a hundred times offended, he yet forgets every offense; for he regards
that sacred union between himself and his wife. Such a character, then, does God
assume, that he might the better express how much and how intensely he loves his
own elect. Hence he says, God
will be jealous for his land. As he has
hitherto been inflamed with just wrath, so now a contrary feeling will overcome
the former; not that God is agitated by various passions, as I have already
said, but this mode of speaking transferred from men, is adopted on account of
our ignorance.
He afterwards says,
God has
answered
fb8
and said to his people,
Behold, I will send to you corn, wine, and oil.
The Prophet does not here recite what had been
done, but, on the contrary, declares, that God in future would be reconciled to
them; as though he said, “I have hitherto been a herald of war, and bidden
all to prepare themselves for the coming evil: but now I am a messenger to
proclaim peace to you; if only you are resolved to turn to God, and to turn
unfeignedly, I do now testify to you that God will be propitious to you; and as
to your prayers know that they are already heard; that is, know that as soon as
they were conceived, they were heard by the Lord.” Hence he says, He
has answered; that is “If, moved by my exhortation, ye return with
sincerity to God, he will meet you, nay, he has already met you; he waits not
until ye have done all that ye ought to do; but when he bids you to come to his
temple and to weep, he at the same time wipes off your tears, he removes every
cause of sorrow and anxiety.” God, then, has answered; that is, “I
am to you a certain and sufficient witness, that your prayers have been already
accepted before God, though, as I have before reminded you, ye have not offered
them.”
And, at the same time, he speaks of the effect,
Behold, I will send to you corn,
wine, and oil; and ye shall be satisfied. Here,
by the effects, he proves that God would be propitious; for want of food was the
first evidence of God’s displeasure, to be followed by the destruction
which the Prophet had threatened. What does he say now? God will restore to you
abundance of corn, wine, and oil; and he says further,
I will not give you to the
Gentiles for a reproach that they may rule over
you.
We now then apprehend the meaning of the Prophet; for
he not only promises that God would be placable but also declares that he was
already placable; and this he confirms by external tokens; for God would
immediately remove the sins of his wrath, and turn them into blessings. Hence he
says, ‘He will give you abundance of corn, wine, and oil, so as fully to
satisfy you.’ As they had perceived that God was angry with them by the
sterility of the land, and also by its produce being consumed by chafers, by
locusts, and other animals or insects; so now the Lord would testify his love to
them by the abounding fruitfulness of every thing. And then he joins another
sentence, I will not give you any
more for a reproach to the Gentiles. When he
says, “any more,” he intimates that they had been before exposed to
reproach; and we indeed know that they were then suffering many evils; but there
remained that destruction of which we have heard. God does then here promise,
that they should no more be subject to the reproaches of the Gentiles provided
they repented; for the Prophet ever speaks conditionally. It now follows
—
|
JOEL
2:20
|
|
20. But I will remove far off from you the
northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face
toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink
shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he has done great
things.
|
20. Et Aquilonarem procul abigam a vobis, et
disjiciam eum ad terram desertam et siccitatis: facies ejus ad mare orientale,
et terminum ejus (disjiciam; ego enim
apo tou
koinou repeto) ad mare novissimum: et ascend et
foetor ejus, et ascendet putredo ejus; quia magnificavit ad faciendum (hoc est,
quia magnifice se extulit ad faciendum.)
|
In this verse he more fully confirms the Jews, that
they might not be afraid of reproach from the Gentiles. It may have been that
the Assyrians were now in readiness, prepared for war; it was then difficult to
free the Jews from every fear. The Prophet had said generally that they would be
no more subject to the mockeries of the Gentiles; but yet fear could not but be
felt by them. “We see the Assyrians already armed; and what can we expect
but to be devoured by them? for we are not able to resist them.” Anxiety
then must have constantly tormented the Jews, had he not distinctly and in
express words declared, “It is in God’s power to drive away the
Assyrians, and to confound all their attempts.” The Prophet, therefore, is
now on this subject. The Northlander,
fb9
he says, will I remove
far from you. The Chaldeans and the Assyrians,
we know, were northward of Judea. He then means here by the North those enemies,
whose preparations terrified the Jews. Hence he says,
I will drive them from you, and
drive them far into a land of desert and of
drought
fb10. By
these words he intimates, that though furnished with the greatest forces, and
gaping for the land of Judea, and ready in their cupidity to devour it, the
Syrians would yet return home without effecting anything;
I will cast them into a desert
land. In vain, he says, they covet your
abundance, and desire to satisfy themselves with the fertility of your land; for
I will drive them and their dread away.
He then
adds, His face to the east sea,
and his rear to the hindmost sea; that is, I
will scatter them here and there, so that his front shall be to one sea,
(supposed to be the Salt Sea,) and his extremity to the hindermost sea,
which was doubtless the Mediterranean: for the Salt Sea was east to the Jews,
that is, it lies, as it is well known, towards the east. We now perceive in part
what the Prophet means. But it must, at the same time, be added, that the
Prophet removes fear from the Jews, which occupied their minds by observing the
power of the Assyrians so great and extensive. “What is to be done? though
God is present with us, and protects us by his help, yet how will he resist the
Assyrians, for that army will fill the land”. “God will yet find
means,” says the Prophet; “though the Assyrians should occupy the
whole land, from the Salt or the East Sea to the Meridian or Mediterranean Sea,
yet will God drive away this vast multitude: there is no reason then that ye
should fear.” Hence the Prophet has designedly set forth how terrible the
Assyrian forces would be, that he might show that they could not be resisted,
unless the Lord should disperse them and disappoint all their efforts. At last
he adds, And his ill savor shall
ascend: but I am not able to finish
to-day.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we continue
to excite thy wrath against us, and are so insensible, though thou exhortest us
daily to repentance, — O grant, that what thy Prophet teaches may
penetrate into our hearts, and be like a sounding trumpet, that we may be really
and sincerely made humble before thee, and be so touched with the sense of thy
wrath, that we may learn to put off all the depraved affections of our flesh,
and not merely to deplore the sins we have already committed: and do thou also
look upon us in future, that we may diligently walk in thy fear, and consecrate
ourselves wholly to thee; and as thou hast deigned to choose us for thine
inheritance, and gather us under thy Christ, may we so live under him as our
leader, until we be at length gathered into thy celestial kingdom to enjoy that
happy rest, which thou hast promised to us, and which thou promisest also daily,
and which has been purchased by the blood of the same, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-FOURTH
YESTERDAY the Prophet spake of the northern enemy,
and said that it was in God’s power to drive him far away, that he might
not hurt the people, that his vast army would not prevent the dispersion of his
power and enterprises. Now he adds this, which we could not finish yesterday,
Ascend will his ill savor,
and ascend will his rottenness; for highly has he borne or exalted himself to do
his purpose. The Prophet expresses here more
than in the former sentence, and that is, that God would turn to reproach the
whole power of the Assyrian. The reason he subjoins deserves to be noticed,
‘He has highly exalted himself in his doings,’ which means, that he
was elated with great pride, thinking he could do anything; therefore he says,
‘Ascend will his rottenness and ill savor.’ This contains a very
striking allusion; for when men deliberate about great things, it is the game as
if they were to raise up themselves on high; and we also observe that hither
tend their designs, who are engaged in difficult and arduous undertakings; for
they are not content with their lots but try to climb above the clouds. Since
then the design of all mortals is to rise aloft, when they seek for themselves
more than what is just, the Prophet, deriding this folly, says, “Ascend
will the ill savor of the Assyrian, as a bad smell ascends from a putrid
carcass. He thinks,” he says, “that he can do what he pleases, as
though heaven and earth were under his control: his power, enterprises forces
and splendor, shall not ascend; but his ill savor only shall ascend as from a
dead carcass.” Why so? “He has mightily exalted himself,” he
says, “to do his purpose.”
He now understand the design of the Prophet: and
hence this useful instruction may be gathered, that God so checks the foolish
confidence of those who pride themselves on their own strength, that he not only
casts them down, but also turns their glory into shame, so that nothing ascends
from them but ill savor and the smell of rottenness. Now follows what is of an
opposite character: —
|
JOEL
2:21
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|
21. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for
the LORD will do great things.
|
21. Ne timeas terra, exulta et laetare; quia
magnifice extulit se Jehova ad faciendum.
|
Here he shows that God would have his turn to exalt
himself, which the Assyrian presumptuously attempted to do. For God seems for a
time to lie still, when he withholds himself, when he puts not forth his power,
but waits to see the tendency of the insane conspiracies and the Satanic madness
of those who rise up against him and his Church. But having for a time thus
restrained himself, he at length comes forth; and this is what the Prophet means
when he says, God has highly exalted himself to do his purpose. The
Assyrian first attempted this; but now the Lord in his turn will raise up
himself. God indeed could have done this before, but he would not; and we see
this to be his usual mode of proceeding, to connive at the presumption of men,
till the ripened time comes which he has predetermined; and then he dissipates
in a moment their enterprises.
God, then, has now nobly exalted himself; therefore
rejoice and exult, O
Land. But he says first,
Fear not, O
Land; and then,
Exult and
rejoice. For it was necessary, in the
first place, to remove the fear with which the minds of all were now seized. The
Prophet, then, begins with consolation; for the Jews could have hardly
entertained any joy, except the fear that oppressed them was first shaken off.
Hence the Prophet maintains due order by saying, “Fear not, O Land, but
rather exult and rejoice.” He afterwards subjoins —
|
JOEL
2:22
|
|
22. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for
the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the
fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
|
22. Ne timeatis bestiae agri, quia germinarunt
pascua deserti, quia arbor protulit fructum suum, ficulnea et vitis protulerunt
virtutem (vel, substantiam) suam.
|
Here the Prophet turns his address to the beasts; not
that his instruction suited them; but it was a more efficacious mode of
speaking, when he invited the very beasts to a participation of the
people’s joy; for except the Jews had been made to know that God’s
wrath was now nigh at hand, no consolation which the Prophet has hitherto
applied would have been of any weight with them. But now since they perceived
that God’s wrath did not only suspend over them, but extended much
farther, even to the beasts, and since the Lord would have mercy on them, so
that his blessing would be partaken in common by the beasts and brute animals,
the address was far more impressive. We hence see that the Prophet, for the best
reason, directed his discourse to the very beasts, though destitute of mind and
discernment. For in addressing brute animals he addressed men with double force;
that is, he impressed their minds more effectually, so that they might seriously
confess how great was God’s wrath, and also how great would be his
blessing.
Beasts,
he says, fear
not. Then the beasts of the field ought to have
dreaded the judgment of God which he had before denounced; for except God had
been pacified to his people, the fire of his wrath would have consumed the whole
land, trees and pastures; so all the beasts must have been famished. But now
when God is reconciled to his people, his blessing will smile on the brute
animals. What then is to be said of men? For God is properly propitious to them,
and not to brute animals. We hence see that the fruit of reconciliation is made
more evident, when it is in part extended to the brute
creation.
He therefore
says, Fear not, ye beasts of the
field: for the pastures of the desert will grow, the trees will bring forth
their fruit. By these words the Prophet
intimates, that had God’s wrath toward his people been implacable, the
sterility of the land would not have been improved. Now then whence came so
sudden a change that the pastures grew, that the trees produced their fruits,
both the fig-tree and the vine, except that God was pleased to bless the land,
after having received men into favor? We now then apprehend the meaning of the
Prophet, even this, — that the land would be made by an angry God to
execute his judgment, and that there would be no remedy for the barrenness of
the land until men propitiated God. This is the sum of the whole. It now follows
—
|
JOEL
2:23
|
|
23. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and
rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately,
and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter
rain in the first month.
|
23. Et filii Sion exultate, et gaudete in
Jehova Deo vestro, quia dedit vobis pluviam ad justitiam (alii vertunt, doctorem
justitiae; sed de eo paulo post dicemus) et descendere faciet vobis imbrem
pluviam (vel, pluviam tempestivam, ut vertunt: dicemus etiam de hac voce) et
pluviam in mense primo.
|
He now exhorts the Jews also to rejoice, but in a way
different from that of the land and of the beasts.
Rejoice,
he says, in your God.
For the beasts and the sheep, while rejoicing,
cannot raise their thoughts higher than to their food: hence, the joy of brute
animals, as they say, terminates in its object. But the Prophet sets forth God
before the Jews as the ground of their joy. We then see how he distinguishes
them from brute animals from the land and other elements; for he not only bids
them to rejoice in meat and drink, in the abundance of provisions, but he also
bids them to rejoice in the Lord their God; and he says no more, “The land
will yield its strength, or the vines and fig-trees, or the trees, will produce
their fruit, and the pastures will grow;” no, he speaks not now in this
manner, but he says “God himself will give you rain:” for he had to
do with men, endued with understanding, yea, with those very Jews who had been
from their childhood taught in the law of God: he speaks, not only of the land,
not only of bread and wine, but of the Giver himself.
He then reminds them of God’s blessing, and
declares that God would be so propitious to them as to pour down his grace upon
them, and act the part of a father and a guardian towards them. God then, he
says, will bring forth or give to you rain according to what is necessary. Some
translate
hrwmh
emure a teacher; and the meaning of the word, we know, is doubtful. At
the same time
hrwm
mure is very often taken for rain, and sometimes generally, and sometimes
for a particular kind of rain, as we shall presently see. Though then
hrwm
mure signifies a teacher, yet the context here seems not to allow that
sense. They who have thus taken it seem to have been led by this one reason,
— that it is absurd to set in the first place, and as it were on a higher
grade, those fading blessings which belong only to the support and nourishment
of the body. But this reason is very foolish; for the Prophets, we know, lead
children as it were by initial principles to a higher doctrine. No wonder then
that the Prophet here affords them a taste of God’s favor in blessings
belonging to the body; he afterwards ascends higher, as we shall see: and this
view is certainly what the context demands; for the Prophet says at last,
“I will hereafter pour my Spirit on all flesh,” etc. In these words
the Prophet commends the favor of God, which ought to be held as the most
valuable: but he begins now with temporal benefits, that he might lead by
degrees, and by various steps, a people, rude and weak, to something
higher.
Then the word, teacher, by no means suits this place;
and we must mark also what immediately follows. He introduces a word derived
from
hrwm
mure; he afterwards adds
hrwm
mure the second time, which no doubt, means rain; all confess this, and
confess it to be taken for rain in the same verse. When all agree then on this
point, it seems somewhat strained to render it in the same verse a teacher and
also rain; especially since we find that the Prophet’s object is this,
— to make the people to recognize God’s blessing in outward things.
There is also another thing which has lead astray these interpreters. There
follows immediately the word
hqdxl
latsadke, according to what is just. When they join together these word,
hqdxl
hrwmh emure latsadke, they ask, What is the
rain of righteousness? They have hence thought that a teacher is here meant. But
we know that
fpçm
and
hqdx
meshapheth and tsadke are often taken in Scripture for a just
measure, for equity. “God then will not deal with you unequally as
hitherto; but having been reconciled to you, he will reassume the part of a
father, and will also observe towards you a legitimate order; for things have
been on both sides in confusion, inasmuch as ye have been carrying on war
against God, and your wickedness has subverted the whole order of nature. But
now, God being pacified towards you, there will be on both sides an equable
state of things, everything will be in a fitting condition; he will not deal
with you any more in an irregular manner.” We now then perceive the real
meaning of the Prophets and see how frivolous are the reasons which influenced
these interpreters, who have rendered the words, “Teacher of
righteousness.” I do not love strained expositions.
Let us now return to the words of the Prophet:
He will give to you, he says,
rain according is what is fit; then he adds,
He will make to descend on you
showering rain, (using another word;) and he
adds again the word
hrwm
mure, which, no doubt, means rain, and no one denies this. But yet it
seems that the word
µçg
geshem has here a specific meaning, and some think it to be a violent
shower, occasioned by a storm or tempest; and yet we may gather from many parts
of Scripture that the word means rain in general. Now
hrwm
mure seems here to be taken for the rain of September, which the Greeks
call txwimon,
proimon; and so they call
çwqlm
melkush oyimon,
opsimon, or the latter rain, as a common
interpreter has rendered it. And the cultivated land, we know, needs these two
rains, that is, after sowing, and when the fruit is ripening, — after
sowing, that the ground by receiving moisture may make the seed to grow; for it
then wants moisture to nourish the roots. Hence, the rain of September or
October, which is after sowing, is rightly called seasonable rain; and the
Greeks, as I have already said, call it
prwimon
proimon; and James, following them, so calls
it in James 5, ‘He will give you rain,’ he says, ‘both of the
first time and the late rain,’ that is, of the month of March. For in
those warm climates the harvests we know, is earlier than with us. We here
gather the corn in July but they gather it there in May. The fruit then ripens
with them in March, when they need the late rain. And in Jeremiah 5 it appears
quite evident, that
hrwm
mure, as in this place, is called the rain, which comes down after
sowing; for God says there, ‘I will give you,’ etc., and first he
uses the general word
µçg
geshem, and then he adds the two kinds of rain, which are also mentioned
here; and afterwards he adds, ‘In their time,’ that is, each rain in
its time and season. — Then
hrwm
mure has its time, and
çwqlm
melkush also has its time; otherwise the words of the prophet would not
be consistent.
We now see what the Prophet means. Of the word
µwqlm
melkush we halve said something in Hosea 6. Then the Prophet says now,
that God would be so propitious to the Jews, as to neglect no means of
testifying his favor towards them; for he would give them rain in the month of
October and in the month of March, to fertilize the ground after sowing, and
before the harvest or before the fruit came to maturity. Here then is promised
to the Jews that the land would be made fertile by natural means. It now follows
—
|
JOEL
2:24
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|
24. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and
the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
|
24. Et implebuntur horrea frumento et
resonabunt torcularia vino (musto, ad verbum: diximus de hac voce prius,) et
oleo.
|
He goes on with the same subject in this verse, and
shows the effects of rain; for when the earth is irrigated and satiated with
sufficient moisture, it brings forth fruit, rich and plentiful. God then will
cause that the rains shall not be useless, for the floors shall be full of
wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine as well as oil. He afterwards adds
—
|
JOEL
2:25
|
|
25. And I will restore to you the years that
the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm,
my great army which I sent among you.
|
25. Et reddam vobis annos (pro aliis annis,
subaudiendum est) quibus comedit locusta, bruchus, eruca
(lysj,
alii vertunt, rubiginem: sed dixi primo capite me non adeo solicitum esse de
istis vocibus, quia etiam ignotae sunt hodie ipsis Judaeis; sed certum est esse
insecta, quae corrumpunt omnes terrae fruges, ut tunc diximus,) exercitus meus
magnus, quem miseram ad vos.
|
The Prophet confirms what he had previously said, and
states what is of an opposite character, — that God can as easily restore
a rich fruitfulness to the land as he had before rendered it barren by sending
devouring insects. I will give
you years, (for the other years,) he says; and
that the Jews might more fully understand that all this was in God’s hand,
he expressly declares that the
cankerworms, the chafers, and the
locusts
fb11, were
his army and as it were his hired army, whom he had employed as it seemed good
to him. The spoilers, then, which had destroyed the whole produce of the land,
were, as the Prophet declares, the messengers of God: it was not, he says, by
chance that the locusts, or the cankerworms, or the chafers came; but God hired
these soldiers, they were his forces and his army to distress the whole people;
then famine and want consumed them. It is not then to no purpose that the
Prophet mentions here that these destructive insects were God’s army; it
is to show more fully what is here promised; for God, who had by this army
devoured the whole increase of the land, can now easily restore plenty for the
barrenness of past years. Now, when any one lays down his arms, the land is
afterwards cultivated, and brings forth its usual fruit: so the Lord also now
shows, that the land had been barren, because he had sent forth his army, which
laid waste its whole produce. But now, he says, when I shall restore you to
favor, there will be no army to devour your fruit: the land then will nourish
you, for there will be nothing to prevent you to receive its wonted
produce.
Had not the Jews been made assured that the land had
been sterile, because the locusts, and the chafers, and the cankerworms, were
the army which the Lord had prepared they might have ever dreaded these
spoilers: “Surely the locusts will spring up, the chafers and the
cankerworms will come, to devour all the fruit.” The Prophet shows that
this happened not by chance: “Now then, when God shall be reconciled to
you, the land will yield its increase, and nothing shall hinder you from
enjoying its abundance.”
By calling this army great, he shows that God
has no need of strong forces to subdue men; for when he prepares locusts and
insects, which are but little things, they snatch food from the mouths of men
and leave them in want; though no one puts forth a sword against them, they yet
pine away with hunger. The Prophet then derides here the arrogance of men, and
shows that God needs not do much, when he intends to reduce them to nothing. Let
us now proceed —
|
JOEL
2:26
|
|
26. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be
satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously
with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
|
26. Et comedetis comedendo et vos satiando, et
laudabitis nomen Jehovae Dei vestri; quia egit vobiscum mirabiliter (ad
miraculum,) et non pudefiet populus meus in perpetuum.
|
He now concludes what he has hitherto said of
God’s blessing. As the Jews were starving while God was offended, so he
promises that when reconciled to him they should have abundance of produce from
the land: Ye shall eat
plentifully, he says, and satisfy yourselves.
But he mentions also their gratitude; for it was an evidence of true repentance
when they praised the name of God, whom they understood to be the giver of their
abundance; for he had before proved that the land was under his power, when he
consumed its whole substance, so that none of it came to supply the wants of
man. Hence the Prophet exhorts them to give thanks, that they might thus declare
that they from the heart repented.
Ye shall then praise the name of
Jehovah your God”. Why?
“Because he will deal with
you wonderfully. He takes away here every plea
for ignorance. We know how difficult it is to lead men to do this act of
religion, for which we yet confess that we were born; for what is more natural
than to acknowledge God’s bounty towards us, when we enjoy many blessings?
But yet, though God in various ways stimulates us, he cannot draw from us
genuine gratitude. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, “God will
deal with you wonderfully: though ye are stupid, God will yet by his power
awaken you; for he will not deal with you in a common way.” He then
mentions something miraculous, that he might leave to the Jews no excuse, in
case they considered not God’s bounty and perceived not in this change,
first, what they had deserved and then how merciful God had been to them: for
this change could not have been ascribed to chance; nor was it a common thing,
that when the Jews had been for four successive years nearly consumed with wants
and when the enemy was at hand, they should see the land now fruitful, that they
should see it freed from destructive insects, that they should be also at peace,
and not disturbed by the dread of any foreign enemy. Since the Lord, then, would
beyond hope give them a serene instead of a turbulent sky, should not such a
wonderful change deeply affect them? This is what the Prophet now means, —
“As the Lord will deal with you wonderfully, there will be no excuse for
your torpidity, if ye will not be diligent in praising his
name.”
Not ashamed, he says, shall my
people be for ever. The Jews are here reminded
by implication of their former disgrace; for they had been greatly confounded;
though enemies touched them not, no, not even with their finger, they yet died
through famine; an enemy was also prepared, as we have seen, to destroy them.
They were therefore frightened with dread, and also perplexed with their own
evils, by which God had almost worn them out. The Prophet says now,
My people shall not be ashamed
for ever, intimating that God would at length
relieve his people from their evils, that they might not, as hitherto, be
ashamed. He at last subjoins —
|
JOEL
2:27
|
|
27. And ye shall know that I am in the midst
of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall
never be ashamed.
|
27. Et cognoscetis, quia in medio Israel ego,
et ego Jehova Deus vester, et nullus praeterea: et non pudefiet populus meus in
seculum.
|
He repeats the same sentence; and in the beginning of
the verse he unfolds what I have already said — that the miracle would be
such as to constrain the people to praise God.
Ye shall know that I am in the
midst of Israel: and this was the case, because
God showed not in an ordinary way his kindness to them, and especially because
it had been foretold, and also because this reason had been adduced — that
God was mindful of his covenant. The manner, then, in which he dealt with them,
and farther, the prediction itself, left to the people no pretext for ignorance.
Hence the Prophet now says, ‘Ye shall know that I am in the midst of
Israel,’ and still more, ‘that I am Jehovah your God.’ By
these words the Prophet reminds us, that the deliverance of the people from
their evils was to be wholly ascribed to the gratuitous mercy of God; for we
have already seen, that things would have been past hope, had not this
consolation been added — ‘Turn ye even now to me.’ The Prophet
therefore repeats, that there would be no other reason why God would deal so
kindly with his people, and so mercifully spare them, but this — that he
dwelt in the midst of Israel: but whence was this dwelling, except that God had
gratuitously chosen this people? This indeed availed much to raise up the
people; for how could they have hoped that God would be propitious to them, had
they not been reminded of this truth that God was dwelling in the midst of them?
Not because they were worthy, but because he deigned to come down to
them.
He afterwards adds, And none else. By this
sentence the Prophet more sharply stimulates them to return immediately to God;
for if they deferred longer disappointment would be in delay. That the Jews,
then, might not, after their usual manner, procrastinate, he says that there is
no other God; and thus he shows that there was no remedy for their evils, except
they sought to be reconciled to God. “There is then no God besides me, and
I dwell in the midst of thee.” The Lord claims to himself every power, and
then kindly invites the people to himself, and for this reason, — because
he dwells in the midst of them. That the people, then, might not form other
expectations, God shows that all their hope was in him alone. He farther shows,
that salvation was not to be sought afar off, provided the people had not
forgotten the covenant, that God was dwelling in the midst of them. But a higher
doctrine follows —
|
JOEL
2:28
|
|
28. And it shall come to pass afterward, that
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions:
|
28. Et accidet post sic (hoc est, postea,)
effundam Spiritum meum super omnem carnem: et prophetabunt filii vestri et
filiae vestrae: senes vestri somnia sommabunt: juvenes vestri (aut, viri electi)
visiones videbunt.
|
We have explained why the Prophet began with earthly
blessings. One may indeed think that this order is not regular; for Christ does
not in vain remind us, that the kingdom of God ought to be first sought, and
that other things shall be added in their place, (Matthew 6;) for food, and
every thing that belongs to this frail life, are, as it were, additions to the
spiritual life. But the Prophet designedly mentioned first the evidence of
God’s favor in outward benefits; for we see how slow the perceptions of
men are, and how slothful they are in seeking spiritual life. As, then, men rise
to things above with so much difficulty, the Prophet makes use of the best
helps; and we must indeed be dealt with as we usually deal with children. For as
there is not so much discernment in them as to be influenced by reasons, we set
before them what is suitable to their weak and simple comprehension; so the
Prophet did; for he showed first that God would be kind to the Jews in food for
the body, and having used this as a help, he then added,
Afterwards I will pour my Spirit
upon all flesh.
By these words the Prophet reminds us, that people
act absurdly when they are satisfied with vanishing things, when they ask of God
nothing more excellent than to be pampered like brute animals; for in what do
the children of God differ from asses and dogs, except they aspire after
spiritual life? The Prophet, then, after having set before them lower things, as
though they were children, now brings before them a more solid doctrine, (for
thus they were to be led,) and affords them a taste of the favor of God in its
external signs. “Ascend, then, now,” he says, “to spiritual
life: for the fountain is one and the same; though when earthly benefits occupy
and engross your attention, ye no doubt pollute them. But God feeds you, not to
fill and pamper you; for he would not have you to be like brute animals. Then
know that your bodies are fed, and that God gives support to you, that ye may
aspire after spiritual life; for he leads you to this as by the hand; be this
then your object.” We now, then, understand why the Prophet did not at
first speak of the spiritual grace of God; but he comes to it now. He began with
temporal benefits, for it was needful that an untutored people should be thus
led by degrees, that on account of their infirmity, sluggishness, and dullness,
they might thus make better progress, until they understood that God would for
this end be a Father to them.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that since we want
so many aids while in this frail life, and as it is a shadowy life, we cannot
pass a moment, except thou dost continually, and at all times, supply through
thy bounty what is needful, — O grant, that we may so profit by thy so
many benefits, that we may learn to raise our minds upwards, and ever aspire
after celestial life, to which by thy gospel thou invites us so kindly and
sweetly every day, that being gathered into thy celestial kingdom, we may enjoy
that perfect felicity, which has been procured for us by the blood of thy Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-FIFTH
And it shall be, that I shall
afterwards pour my Spirit upon all flesh, and prophesy shall your sons and your
daughters and your old men shall dreams dream, and your young men shall visions
see. We mentioned in our last lecture why the
Prophet now at length speaks of the spiritual grace of God, having before spoken
of earthly blessings. The order may seem indeed irregular; but it can be easily
accounted for. The Prophet said first that God, being reconciled to the people,
would openly manifest this by external proofs, by restoring abundance of wine
and corn; for the almost wearing out of the people by famine and want, being the
evidence of God’s vengeance, the Prophet made the testimony of
reconciliation to be in tokens of a contrary kind. But as the restoration of the
Church consists not either in the fruitfulness of the land, or in the abundance
of provisions, the Prophet now raises higher the thoughts of the godly, and
makes them to look for the spiritual grace of God: hence he says,
I shall afterwards pour my Spirit
upon all flesh.
The Prophet, no doubt, promises here something
greater than what the fathers under the Law had experienced. The gift of the
Spirit, we know, was enjoyed even by the ancients; but the Prophet promises not
what the faithful had before found; but, as we have said, something greater: and
this may easily be gathered from the word here used, “pour out;” for
˚pç
shephek means not to distill, but to pour forth in great abundance; and
God did not pour out his Holy Spirit so abundantly and so largely under the law
as after the manifestation of Christ. Since, then, the gift of the Spirit was
more copiously given to the Church after the advent of Christ, the Prophet uses
here an unwonted expression — that God would pour out his
Spirit.
Another circumstance is added,
upon all
flesh. Though the Prophets, as we know, had
formerly their colleges, yet they were but few in number. As then the gift of
prophecy was rare among the Jews, the Prophets in order to show that God would
deal more bountifully to his new Church when restored, says, that he would pour
out his Spirit upon all flesh. He then intimates that all in common would be
partakers of the gift of the Spirit, and of its rich abundance, while under the
law a few had but a sparing taste of it. We now then perceive the design of the
Prophet; it was to make a manifest difference between the state of the ancient
people and the state of the new Church, of the restoration of which he now
speaks. The comparison is, that God would not only endow a few with his Spirit,
but the whole mass of the people, and then that he would enrich his faithful
with all kinds of gifts, so that the Spirit would seem to be poured forth in
full abundance: I will then
pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh. We hence learn how absurdly the Greek
interpreter has rendered this, “I will pour out from my Spirit:” for
he diminishes this promise by saying, “From my Spirit,” as though
God promised here some small portion of his Spirit; while, on the contrary the
Prophet speaks of abundance, and intended to express it.
It follows,
Prophesy shall your sons and your
daughters. The Prophet now proceeds to explain
what he had said, unfolding at large what he meant by the expression,
“upon all flesh,” which was this, — that the whole people
would prophesy, or that the gift of prophecy would be common and prevail every
where among all the Jews, in a new and unusual manner. The ancients had also
Prophets though in number few; but now the Prophet extends this gift and favor
to all orders: Prophesy then shall your sons and your daughters, he says, so
that he does not exclude women.
He afterwards mentions two kinds of prophesying,
Your old men shall dreams dream,
and your young men shall visions see.
“Young men” mean literally “chosen,”
µyrwjb
bechurim: but as in middle age strength prevails most in man, those who
possess vigor and judgment, and as yet retain their strength, are called
“chosen:” hence by “chosen” he means those of mature
age. When God manifested himself to the Prophets, it was usually done, us know,
by dreams and visions, as it is said in Numbers 12: this was, as we may say, the
ordinary method. The Prophet now refers to these two modes of communication, and
says, that the gift of prophecy would be common to men and women, to the old and
those of middle age. We now perceive the import of this verse. There is then no
difference between dreams and visions, only the Prophet mentions these two
kinds, that readers might better understand, that what the Prophet had stated
before generally would be common to all.
But I have already said that this prophecy must be
referred to the advent of Christ; for we know that what is here described was
not fulfilled until after Christ appeared in the world: and the Prophet now
preaches of the new restoration of the Church, which we know, was suspended
until the Gospel was proclaimed. Let us now then see whether God, after Christ
was revealed, performed what he had spoken by his Prophet. Peter, in Acts 2,
says, that this prophecy was fulfilled when the Spirit was sent. But it may be
objected, that all were not endued with the gift of prophecy, even when God
opened all the treasures of his grace; and Paul says that they were not all
prophets even when the Church especially flourished; and experience proves the
same. How then could Peter say, that this — that God would pour out his
Spirit upon all flesh, was fulfilled? To give a reply to this is not difficult:
let us only remember, that the Prophet speaks comparatively, as the Scripture is
wont to do. He affirms not in express terms that all would be partakers of this
gift, but that in comparison with the ancient Church, this gift would be as it
were common, and that it was so is well known: for if any one compares the
ancient Church with that abundance which God vouchsafed to his people after
Christ’s advent, he will certainly find true what I say — that the
Spirit of God, who was given only to few under the law, was poured out upon all
flesh. True then is what the Prophet says, provided this contrast is to be
understood — that God was much more bountiful towards his new Church than
formerly towards the fathers: for the Prophets then were not many, but they were
many under the gospel.
We must also remember that the Prophet hyperbolically
extols the grace of God; for such is our stupidity and dullness, that we can
never sufficiently comprehend the grace of God, except it is set forth to us in
hyperbolical language; nor is there indeed any excess in the thing itself, if we
take a right view of it: but as we hardly understand the hundredth part of
God’s gifts, when he presents them before our eyes, it was needful to add
a commendation, calculated to elevate our thoughts. The spirit of God is then
constrained to speak hyperbolically on account of our torpidity or rather
carelessness. We need not however to fear, lest our thoughts should go beyond
the words; for when God would carry us above the heavens, we can hardly ascend
two or three feet.
We now then perceive why the Prophet mentions all
flesh without exception: first, there were more Prophets, as I have said, under
the gospel than under the law; hence, the comparison is very suitable; —
and, secondly the Prophet speaks not here of the public office of teaching, for
he calls those Prophets who had not been called to teach, but who were endued
with so much of the light of truth, that they might be compared with the
Prophets; and certainly the knowledge which flourished in the primitive Church
was such, that the meanest were in many respects equal to the ancient Prophets;
for what did God confer on the ancient Prophets except the power of foretelling
something to come? It was a special gift, and very limited. Besides these
predictions are hardly worthy to be compared with the celestial wisdom made
known in the gospel. Faith then after the coming of Christ, if rightly estimated
according to its value, far excels the gift of prophecy. And so the Prophet
here, not without reason, dignifies with so honorable name those who were
private men, and to whom was not intrusted the office of teaching among the
people, but who were only illuminated; for their light was much superior to the
gift of prophecy in many of those who lived under the law. We now understand
what the Prophet means when he makes the Spirit of God to be common, without
distinction, to all the godly, so that they possess what excels the gift of
prophesying.
Now as to the two kinds of gifts mentioned here, it
must be observed, that the Prophet spoke according to what was commonly known
among the people: for as the Jews were accustomed to dreams and visions, the
Prophet therefore made use of these terms; and this manner of speaking occurs
often in the Prophets, and it ought to be borne in mind by us. When they speak
of the worship of God, they mention sacrifices, ‘They shall come and bring
frankincense and gold; they shall lead camels laden with the wealth of the
land.’ In short, in their prophecies they raise altars and build a temple:
and yet no such things were seen after Christ appeared: for the Gentiles came
not to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices; nay, shortly after the temple was
destroyed, there was no altar among them, and the whole legal worship ceased.
What then is to be understood by such expressions, as — that people shall
come from all places to sacrifice together? Even this — They set forth
under a visible form the spiritual worship of God. It is so in this place; as it
was the usual way among the ancients that God manifested himself by dreams and
visions to the Prophets, so he
says, your old men shall dreams
dream, and your young men shall visions
see: but the Prophet no doubt sets forth
under these forms of speech that light of knowledge in which the new Church
excelled after Christ appeared: he indeed compares the light of faith to
prophecy, as we have already stated; but he accommodates his manner of speaking
or his discourse to the comprehension of his people, for he knew whom he
addressed. All the Prophets have followed the same rule; ‘There shall be
offered a sacrifice,’ says Malachi, ‘from the rising to the setting
of the sun.’ What is this sacrifice? The Papists take this for the mass;
“Then under the kingdom of Christ there is to be some sacrifice; and we do
not now offer to God sheep and calves; it therefore follows, that there is to be
the sacrifice of bread and wine:” and this is said, as though the Prophet
had thus refinedly philosophized on the word, sacrifice, while he was teaching a
rude people according to what they could bear. But what he meant was, that the
worship of God would be universal among all nations. The same thing is intended
by Joel when he says, I shall
pour forth my Spirit upon all flesh: your old men shall dreams dream, and your
young men shall visions see. We now see the
whole meaning of the Prophet. Now it follows —
|
JOEL
2:29
|
|
29. And also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
|
29. Atque etiam super servoset super ancillas
in diebus illis effundam Spiritum meam.
|
As the particle
µg
gam amplifies in Hebrew, it seems singular that the Prophet now limits to
a few a gift common to all; for he had previously said, “Upon all flesh
will I pour out my Spirit;” and now, “Upon servants and
handmaids;” and he puts down “Also”. If he had simply said
“Upon servants and handmaids will I pour out my Spirit,” there would
have been no inconsistency, for it would have been the explanation of his former
statement; for we know that what the Prophet says of all men must be taken with
exception, inasmuch as many who were unbelievers were without this gift, and
even those who before excelled in some sort of divine knowledge; we indeed know
that the Jews were blinded, and we also know that not all among the common
people were partakers of this excellent gift. There is no doubt, therefore, but
that this which is said of “all flesh,” must be limited to the
Church. It would not, then, have appeared strange, had the Prophet now added,
“Upon servants and handmaids;” but the particles
µgw
ugam, “And also,” create difficulty: it is a way of speaking
to enlarge on what has been said, but here it seems not to enlarge; for to pour
out the Spirit upon all the people, is more than to pour it out on servants and
handmaids. The solution is twofold: the particles
µgw
ugam are sometimes to be taken confirmatively. ‘I have blessed
him,’ said Isaac of his son Jacob, ‘and also blessed shall he
be.’ So in this place we may take the words of the Prophet to be, yea
surely, being a repetition serving to confirm what had been said: but I
prefer another sense; for the Prophet, I doubt not, meant here to add something
more incredible than what he had previously said,
“Upon servants and
maid-servants will I pour out my Spirit,”
that is, even upon those who were before Prophets; for they shall be enriched
with a new gift, and shall gain increasing knowledge after the restoration of
the Church, which is now approaching. We apprehend this to be the meaning of the
Prophet. He had promised the grace of the Spirit to the whole body of the
faithful, which appears, as I have said, from comparing the ancient state with
our own: but now, after having spoken of the mass or the common people, he comes
to the Prophets, who were superior to others who before performed the office of
teaching, who attained rank and degree in the Church; these also shall gain
accessions; that is, “My Spirit shall not only be conspicuous in the
ignorant and the common people, but also in the Prophets
themselves.”
Surely it is a greater thing when they are taught who
were before superior to others, and whom the Lord had set over the Church, and
when they appear as new men, after having received a gift which the Lord had not
previously conferred on them. When, therefore, new light appears in such men, it
is certainly a greater thing than when the Spirit is poured out on the common
people. We now then see the Prophet’s meaning as to the servants and the
handmaids. fb12
He then repeats,
In those
days, intimating that so sudden and incredible
the change will be, that Prophets will seem to have been before untaught men;
for a much more excellent doctrine shall be given them. Then God shall so pour
out his Spirits that all the ancient prophecies will appear obscure and of no
value, compared with the great and extraordinary light which Christ, the Sun of
Righteousness, will bring at his rising. And he mentions
“handmaids”, for there were, we know, Prophetesses under the Law.
Let us now go on —
|
JOEL
2:30-31
|
|
30. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and
in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
|
30. Et ponam (statuam) prodigia in coelis et
terra, sanguinem et ignem et columnas nubis.
|
|
31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD
come.
|
31. Sol vertetur in tenebras et luna in
sanguinem, antequam veniat dies Jehovae magnus et terribilis.
|
The Prophet seems here to contradict himself; for he
had hitherto promised that God would deal kindly and bountifully with his
people; and every thing he has said tended to elevate the spirits of the people
and fill them with joy: but now he seems again to threaten them with God’s
wrath and to strike miserable men with fear; who had not as yet a breathing
time; for at the time the Prophet spoke, the Jews, we know, were in the greatest
sorrow. What then is his purpose in adding a new cause of grief, as though they
had not sorrow and lamentation enough? But it is rather an admonition than a
threatening. The Prophet warns them of what would be, lest the faithful should
promise themselves some happy condition in this world, and an exemption from all
cares and troubles; for we know how prone men are to self-indulgence. When God
promises any thing, they flatter themselves and harbor vain thoughts, as though
they were beyond the reach of harm, and free from every grief and every evil.
Such indulgence the flesh contrives for itself. Hence the Prophet reminds us,
that though God would bountifully feed his Church, supply his people with food,
and testify by external tokens his paternal love, and though also he would pour
out his Spirit, (a token far more remarkable,) yet the faithful would continue
to be distressed with many troubles; for God designs not to deal too delicately
with his Church on earth; but when he gives tokens of his kindness he at the
same time mingles some exercises for patience, lest the faithful should become
self-indulgent or sleep on earthly blessings, but that they may ever seek higher
things.
We now then understand the Prophet’s design: he
intends not to threaten the faithful, but rather to warn them, lest they should
deceive themselves with empty dreams, or expect what is never to be, that is, to
enjoy a happy rest in this world. Besides, the Prophet regards also another
thing: we know indeed that men are hardly led to seek the grace of God, except
when they are, as it were, forcibly drawn; hence spiritual life is neglected,
and whatever belongs to the celestial kingdom, when we have all kinds of
supplies on earth. The Prophet then commends here the spiritual grace of which
he speaks, for this reason, — that the condition of men would be
miserable, were not the Lord to exhilarate their minds and refresh them with the
comfort which we have already noticed. — How so?
There will be prodigies in heaven
and on earth, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, and all things shall be in disorder and
in horrible darkness. What then would become of men, were not God to shine on
them by the grace of his Spirit, to support them under such a confusion in
heaven and on earth, and to show himself to be their Father?
We then see that this was added for the fuller
commendation of God’s grace, that men might know, that they would be much
more miserable if God called them not to himself by the shining light of his
Spirit. And that this was the Prophet’s design, we may learn from the
discourse of Christ, which he made to his disciples a short time before his
death. They asked what would be the sign of his coming, when he reminded them of
the destruction of the temple,
(<402401>Matthew
24:1). They thought that he would immediately accomplish that triumph of which
they had heard, that they would be made participators of that eternal beatitude
of which Christ had so often spoken to them. Christ then warned them not to be
deluded with so gross a notion. He spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, and
then declared that all these things would be only the presages of evils —
“These,” he says, “shall be only the preludes; for tumults
will arise, wars shall be, and all places will be full of calamities; in a word,
there will be an immense mass of all evils.” As Christ then corrected the
mistake, with which the minds of the disciples were imbued, so the Prophet here
checks vain imaginations, lest the faithful should think that Christ’s
kingdom would be earthly, and fix their minds on corn and wine, on pleasures and
quietness, on the conveniences of the present life: I will give you, he
says, prodigies in heaven
and on earth blood, fire, and dark clouds; the sun all be turned into darkness,
and the moon into blood, before it shall come — the day of Jehovah, great
and terrible.
We now see why the Prophet adds here this sad
catalogue, and how well these things harmonize together, — that God would
testify his paternal love by the manifestation of Christ, — and that he
would exhibit tokens of his wrath, which would fill the whole world with anxiety
and fear.
What he says of blood and darkness is, no doubt, to
be taken metaphorically for a disordered state of things; for we know that
calamities are often compared to obscurity and darkness. It is the same as
though he said, “So great will be the succession of evils, that the whole
order of nature will seem to be subverted that the very elements will put on a
new form; the sun, which illuminates the earth, will be turned into darkness,
the moon into blood; the calamities which shall come will take away every token
of God’s kindness. Then nothing will remain, but that men, sunk, as it
were, in the deepest abyss of all evils, will seek some spark of grace from God
and never find it; for heaven will be dark, the earth will be covered with thick
darkness.” We then see that the Prophet does not express what would be,
word for word, nor is he to be understood as speaking, as they say, literally,
but he uses a figurative mode of speaking, by which he sets forth such a
dreadful state of things, that the very elements would put on a new appearance;
for the sun would not any more perform its office, and the moon would refuse its
light to the earth. As God, then, would take away all tokens of his favor, so
the Prophet, by blood, by darkness and by dark clouds, sets forth metaphorically
that sorrows by which the minds of men would necessarily be
possessed.
Now if any one asks, why by the coming of Christ was
God’s wrath more stirred up against men? for this may seem to be without
reason. To this I answer, that it was, as it were accidental: for if Christ had
been received as he ought to have been, if all embraced him with due reverence,
he would have certainly been the giver, not only of spiritual grace, but also of
earthly happiness. The felicity of all, then, would have in every respect been
made complete by the coming of Christ, had not their wickedness and ingratitude
kindled up anew the wrath of God; and we see what a flood of evils burst forth
immediately after the preaching of the gospel. Now when we consider how severely
God afflicted his people formerly, we cannot but say that much heavier have been
the calamities inflicted on the world since the manifestation of Christ, —
whence this? Even because the world’s ingratitude had arrived to its
highest point, as indeed it is at this day: for the light of the gospel has gone
forth again, and God has exhibited himself to the world as a Father, and we see
how great is the wickedness and perversity of men in rejecting the gifts of God;
we see some contemptuously rejecting the Gospel, and others impelled by satanic
fury to resist the doctrine of Christ; we see them making a boast of their
blasphemies, and we see them kindled with cruel rage and breathing slaughters
against the children of God; we see the world full of ungodly men and of the
despisers of God; we see an awful contempt of God’s grace prevailing
everywhere: we see such an unbridled licentiousness in wickedness, that it ought
to make us ashamed of ourselves and weary of our life. Since, then, the world is
so ungrateful for such a favor, is it a wonder that God should show more
dreadful tokens of his vengeance? For certainly at this day, when we closely
examine the condition of the world, we find that all are miserable, and even
those who applaud themselves, and whom the world admire as semigods. How can it
be otherwise? The common people, doubtless, groan under their miseries, and that
because God thus punishes the contempt of his grace, which he has again offered
to us, and which is so unworthily rejected. Inasmuch, then, as so base an
ingratitude on the part of men has provoked God’s wrath, it is no wonder
that the sound of his scourges is everywhere heard: for the servant who knows
his lord’s will and does it not, is worthy, as Christ declares, of heavier
stripes, (Luke 12.) And what happens through the whole world is, that after God
has shone by his gospel, after Christ has everywhere proclaimed reconciliation,
they now openly fall away, and show that they prefer having God angry than
propitious to them: for when the gospel is rejected, what else is it but to
declare war against God, and to scorn and not to receive the reconciliation
which God is ready to give, and of which he treats of his own accord with
men?
It is then no wonder that the Prophet says here, that
the world would be full of darkness after the appearance of Christ, who is the
Sun of Righteousness, and who has shone upon us with his salvation: but it was,
as it were, accidental, that God exhibited himself with so much severity to the
world, when yet it was the acceptable time, when it was the day of salvation and
of good-will; for the world suffered not that to be fulfilled which God had
promised to us by the Prophet Joel, nor received the Spirit of adoption, when
they might have safely fled to God; nay, when God was ready to cherish them in
his own bosom. But since they were refractory and untractable, it was necessary
for God to visit such perverseness in an unusual manner. It is no wonder then
that the Prophet says, that in
those days there shall be prodigies in heaven and on earth, for the sun shall be
turned into darkness, etc., before it shall come — the day of Jehovah,
great and terrible.
It may be asked what day the Prophet refers to: for
he has hitherto spoken of the first coming of Christ; and there seems to be some
inconsistency in this place. I answer, that the Prophet includes the whole
kingdom of Christ, from the beginning to the end; and this is well understood,
and in other places we have stated that the Prophets common speak in this
manner: for when the discourse is concerning Christ’s kingdom, they
sometimes refer to its commencement only, and sometimes they speak of its
termination; but they often mark out by one delineation the whole course of the
kingdom of Christ, from its beginning to its end; and such is the case here. The
Prophet, by saying, ‘After those days I will pour out my Spirit,’ no
doubt meant that this, as we have explained, would be fulfilled when Christ
should commence his kingdom, and make it known through the teaching of the
gospel: Christ poured out then his Spirit. But as the kingdom of Christ is not
for a few days, or for a short time, but continues its course to the end of the
word, the Prophet turns his attention to that day or that time, and says,
“There shall, in the meanwhile, be the greatest calamities: and whosoever
shall not flee to the grace of God shall be very miserable; they shall never
find rest nor comfort, nor the light of life, for the world shall be sunk in
darkness; and God shall take away from the sun, the moon, the elements, and all
other aids, the tokens of his favor; and he will show himself everywhere to be
angry and offended with men.” The Prophet further shows, that these evils
of which he speaks would not be for a few days or a few years, but perpetual;
‘Before,’ he says, ‘the day of Jehovah, great and terrible,
shall come.’ In short, he means that all the scourges of God, which he had
hitherto mentioned, would be, as it were, preparations to subdue the hearts of
men, that they might with reverence and submission receive Christ. As,
therefore, men carry by nature a high spirit, and cannot bend their neck to
recede the yoke of Christ, hence the Prophet says here that they were to be
subdued by severe scourges, when God would remove all evidences of his love, and
fill heaven and earth with dread. Thus, then, he would in a manner change the
hardness and contumacy which is innate in men, that they might know that they
had to do with God. And, at the same time, the Prophet reminds them, that unless
they were amended by these scourges, something more dreadful remained for them,
— the Judge would at last come from heaven, not only to clothe the sun and
moon in darkness, but to turn life into death. It would, indeed, be far better
for the reprobate to die a hundred times than always to live and thus to sustain
eternal death in life itself.
The Prophet then means, that men persisting in their
obstinacy shall meet with something more grievous and more ruinous than the
evils of this life, for they must all at last stand before the tribunal of the
celestial Judge: for the day of Jehovah, great and terrible, will come. He
refers, in this sentence, to unbelievers and rebels against God; for when Christ
shall come, he will be a Redeemer to the godly; no day in their whole life will
shine on them so pleasantly; so far will this day be from bringing terror and
fear to them, that they are bidden, while expecting it, to lift up their heads,
which is a token of cheerfulness and joy. But as the Prophet Joel’s object
was to humble the confident pride of the flesh, and as he addressed the
refractory and the rebellious, it is no wonder that he sets before them what is
terrific and dreadful.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we are now
surrounded on every side by so many miseries, and as our condition is such, that
amidst groans and continual sorrows, our life could be hardly sustained without
being supported by spiritual grace, — O grant, that we may learn to look
on the face of thine Anointed, and seek comfort from him, and such a comfort as
may not engross our minds, or at least not retain us in the world, but raise our
thoughts to heaven, and daily sell to our hearts the testimony of our adoption,
and that though many evils must be borne by us in this world, we may yet
continue to pursue our course, and to fight and to strive with invincible
perseverance, until having at length finished all our struggles, we reach that
blessed rest, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy only-begotten
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-SIXTH
|
JOEL
2:32
|
|
32. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom
the LORD shall call.
|
32. Et erit, quisquis invocaverit nomen
Jehovae liberabitur: quia in monte Sion et in Jerusalem erit evasio, sicuti
promisit Jehova, et in residuis quos Jehova vocaverit.
|
We said yesterday that the Prophet denounced future
calamities, that he might thus stimulate men, distressed by many evils, to seek
God: we indeed know how tardy we are by nature, except the Lord goads us
continually. The subject, then, on which we discoursed yesterday tended to show,
that as so many and so grievous calamities would press on the Jews, all would be
miserable who fled not to God, and that this consolation only would remain to
them in their extreme evils: but now the Prophet seasonably adds,
Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be delivered. Having then
stimulated men to seek God, he now gives them firm assurance of being saved,
provided they in sincerity and from the heart fled to God.
This is indeed a remarkable passage, for God declares
that the invocation of his name in a despairing condition is a sure port of
safety. What the Prophet had said was certainly dreadful, — that the whole
order of nature would be so changed, that no spark of light would appear, and
that all places would be filled with darkness. What, therefore, he says now is
the same as though he declared, that if men called on the name of God, life
would be found in the grave. They who seem to be even in despair, and from whom
God seems to have taken away every hope of grace, provided they call on the name
of God, will be saved, as the Prophet declares, though they be in so great a
despair, and in so deep an abyss. This circumstance ought to be carefully
noticed; for if any one takes this sentence of the Prophet by itself, though
then it would not be frigid, it would not yet be so striking; but when these two
things are joined together, — that God will be the judge of the world, who
will not spare the wickedness of men, but will execute dreadful vengeance,
— and that yet salvation will be given to all who will call on the name of
the Lord, we see how efficacious the promise is; for God offers life to us in
death, and light in the darkest grave.
There is, therefore, great importance in the
expression,
hyhw
ueie, ‘Then it shall be;’ for the copulative is to be
regarded as an adverb of time, ‘Then whosoever shall invoke the name of
the Lord,’ etc. And he uses the word “deliver;” for it was
needful to show that the saved differ nothing from the lost. Had the Prophet
used the word “preserve,” he would have spoken less distinctly; but
now when he promises deliverance, he bids us to set up this shield against
trials even the heaviest; for God possesses power sufficiently great to deliver
us, provided only we call on him.
We now then understand what the Prophet had in view:
He shows that God would have us to call on him not only in prosperity, but also
in the extreme state of despair. It is the same as though God had called to
himself the dead, and declared that it was in his power to restore life to them
and bring them out of the grave. Since then God invites here the lost and the
dead, there is no reason why even the heaviest distresses should preclude an
access for us or for our prayers; for we ought to break through all these
obstacles. The more grievous, then, our troubles are, the more confidence we
ought to entertain; for God offers his grace, not only to the miserable, but
also to those in utter despair. The Prophet did not threaten a common evil to
the Jews, but declared that by the coming of Christ all things would be full of
horror: after this denunciation he now subjoins, ‘Whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be delivered.’
But as Paul cites this place in Romans 10, and
extends it to the Gentiles, we must inquire in what sense he takes the testimony
of the Prophet. Paul means to prove that adoption was common to the Gentiles,
that it was lawful for them to flee to God, and familiarly to invoke him as a
Father: ‘Whosoever,’ he says, ‘shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.’ He hence proves that the Gospel ought to have been
preached even to the Gentiles, as invocation arises from faith: for except God
shines on us by his word, we cannot come to him; faith, then, is ever the mother
of prayer. Paul seems to lay stress on the universal particle, Whosoever;
as though he said, that Joel did not speak of the Jews only, but also of the
Gentiles, that he testified that God would indiscriminately, and without
exception, receive all who would seek him. But Paul appears to misapply the
Prophet’s words; for Joel no doubt addresses here the people, to whom he
was appointed as a teacher and prophet. What Paul then applies generally to all
mankind seems not to have been so intended by the Prophet. But to this there is
an easy answer; for the Prophets after having spoken of the kingdom of Christ,
had no doubt this truth in view, that the blessing in the seed of Abraham had
been promised to all nations; and when he afterwards described the miserable
state in which the whole world would be, he certainly meant to rouse even the
Gentiles, who had been aliens from the Church, to seek God in common with his
elect people: the promise, then, which immediately follows, is also addressed to
the Gentiles, otherwise there would be no consistency in the discourse of the
Prophet. We therefore see that Paul most fitly accommodates this place to his
subject: for the main thing to be held is this, that the blessing in Christ was
promised not only to the children of Abraham but also to all the Gentiles. When,
therefore, the Prophet describes the kingdom of Christ, it is no wonder that he
addresses the Jews and Gentiles in common: and then, what he said of the state
of the world, that it would be full of horrible darkness, undoubtedly refers,
not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles. Why was this done, except to
show that nothing else remains for them but to flee to God? We then see that an
access is here opened to the Gentiles that they may with one consent call on God
together with the Jews.
If there is promised salvation and deliverance to all
who shall call on the name of the Lord, it follows as Paul reasons that the
doctrine of the Gospel belongs to the Gentiles also; for their mouths must have
otherwise been closed, yea, and the mouths of us all: had not God himself
anticipated us by his word, and exhorted us to pray, we must have been dumb. It
would have been a great presumption in us to present ourselves before God,
except he had given us confidence and promised to hear us. If then the liberty
of praying is common to all, it follows that the doctrine of salvation is common
to all. We must now also add, that
as deliverance is promised to
all who shall call on the name of God,
his own power is taken from God, when salvation is sought in any other but in
him alone: and we know that this is an offering which he claims exclusively for
himself. If, then, we desire to be delivered, the only remedy is, to call on the
name of Jehovah.
He afterwards adds,
For in mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Jehovah has
promised. The Prophet here intimates, that
though the people might seem apparently to have been destroyed, yet God would be
mindful of his covenant so as to gather the remnant. Such, indeed, was the
slaughter of the people, that no hope whatever, according to the flesh,
remained; for they were scattered through various parts of the world; there was
no social body, no distinct nation, no civil government, no worship of God. Who,
then, could have thought that the Church of God would survive? Nay, the
probability was, that after thirty or fifty years, the name of Abraham and of
his seed would have become wholly extinct; for they had joined in one body with
the Chaldees and the Assyrians. That scattering then was, as it were, the death
of the whole nation. But God, by Joel, declares here, that there would yet be
deliverance in mount Zion and in
Jerusalem; that is, “Though I shall for a
time exterminate this people, that the land may remain desolate, there shall yet
be a restoration, and I will again gather a certain body, a Church, on mount
Zion and in Jerusalem.” This is the substance.
We learn from this place, that however much God may
afflict his Church, it will yet be perpetuated in the world; for it can no more
be destroyed than the very truth of God, which is eternal and immutable. God
indeed promises, not only that the state of the Church shall be perpetual, but
that there will be, as long as the sun and moon shall shine in heaven, some
people on earth to call on his name. Since it is so, it follows, that the Church
cannot be utterly subverted or wholly perish, however severely and heavily the
Lord may chastise it. However great then the scattering of the Church may be,
the Lord will yet gather members, that there may be a people on earth to show,
that he who is in heaven is true and faithful to his promises. And this truth
deserves a careful attention; for when we see the Church scattered, immediately
this doubt creeps into our minds, “Does God intend wholly to destroy all
his people, — does he mean to exterminate all the seed of the
faithful?” Then let this passage be remembered, “In mount Zion there
will be deliverance,” after the Lord shall have punished the profane
despisers of his name, who abused his patience, and falsely professed his
name.
But he adds,
As Jehovah has
promised, which serves for confirmation; for
the Prophet bids us here to regard God rather than our own state. When indeed we
believe our eyes, we cannot but think sometimes that it is all over with the
Church; for when God inflicts heavy punishment on his servants, there seems to
us no remedy; and when we believe the diseases of the Church to be incurable,
our hearts immediately fail us, except God’s promise comes to our minds.
Hence the Prophet recalls our thoughts to God, as though he had said,
“Judge not of the safety of the Church by sight, but stand and rely on the
word of God: he has spoken, he has said, that the Church shall be
perpetual.” Let us plant our foot on this promise, and never doubt but
that the Lord will perform what he has declared.
But it is subjoined by the Prophet as a sort of
correction, And in the remnant
whom Jehovah shall call: and it was necessary
to state this distinctly, lest hypocrites, as they usually do, abuse what had
been said. They who occupy high stations in the Church, and pass in name for the
children of God, swell, we know, with great confidences and boldly trifle with
God; for they think that he is bound to them, when they make a show either of
external badges or of profession, in which they glory before men: they think
this display sufficient. We may indeed gather from many parts of Scripture, that
the Jews were inflated with this false presumption of the flesh, that they
imagined God to be bound to them. Hence the Prophet shows, that he did not
address all the Jews indiscriminately, because many of them were spurious
children of Abraham, and had become degenerated. If then under this pretense
alone they wished to lay hold on the promise of salvation, the Prophet shows
that they were excluded from the Church of God, since they were not legitimate
children, after having departed from the faith and piety of their father
Abraham. He therefore mentions remnant: and by this word be means, in
short, that the whole multitude could not be saved, but only a small
number.
When therefore we speak of the salvation of the
Church, we ought not to gather into one bundle all who profess themselves to be
the children of God; for we see that hardly one in a hundred worship God in
truth and without hypocrisy, for the greater part abuse his name. We see, at
this day, how dishonest is the boasting of the Papists; for they think that the
Church of God dwells among them, and they scorn us because we are few. When we
say that the Church of God is to be known by the word and the pure
administration of the sacraments, “Indeed,” they say, “could
God have forsaken so many people among whom the gospel has been preached?”
They think that after Christ has been once made known, his grace remains fixed,
and cannot by any means be taken away whatever may be the impiety of men. Since
then the Papists so shamefully lay claim to the name of Church, because they are
many in number, it is no wonder that the Prophet, who had the same contest with
the Jews and Israelites, had here expressly mentioned a remnant; as
though he said, “In vain do the ungodly boast of God’s name, since
he regards them not as his people.” The same truth we observe in Psalm 15,
and in Psalm 24; where the citizens of the Church are described; they are not
those who pride themselves on external symbols, but who worship God with a
sincere heart, and deal honestly with their neighbors; such dwell on the
mountain of God. It was not a difficult thing for hypocrites to thrust
themselves into the sanctuary, and to present there their sacrifices to God; but
the Prophet shows that none are owned by God, but those who have a sincere heart
and pure hands. So also in this place Joel says, that this Church indeed would
be saved, but not the vast multitude, — who then? the remnant
only.
But the clause which follows must be noticed,
Whom Jehovah shall
call. We have already seen that the Church of
God consists often of a very small number; for God counts not any his children,
but those who devote themselves sincerely and from the heart to his service, as
Paul says ‘Whosoever calls on the name of God, let him depart from
iniquity;’ and many such are not found in the world.
But it is not enough to hold, that the Church of God
is only in the remnant; it must be also added that the remnant abide in
God’s Church for no other reason but that the Lord has called them. Whence
then is it that there is a portion in the Church, which shall remain safe, while
the whole world seems to be doomed to destruction? It is from the calling of
God. And there is no doubt but that the Prophet means by the word, call,
gratuitous election. The Lord is indeed often said to call men, when he invites
them by the voice of his gospel; but there is what surpasses that, a hidden
call, when God destines for himself those whom he purposes to save. There is
then an inward call, which dwells in the secret counsel of God; and then follows
the call, by which he makes us really the partakers of his adoption. Now the
Prophet means, that those who will be the remnant shall not stand by their own
power, but because they have been called from above, that is, elected. But that
the election of God is not to be separated from the outward call, I allow; and
yet this order ought to be maintained, that God, before he testifies his
election to men, adopts them first to himself in his own secret counsel. The
meaning is, that calling is here opposed to all human merits, and also to virtue
and human efforts; as though he said, “Men attain not this for themselves,
that they continue a remnant and are safe, when God visits the sins of the
world; but they are preserved by his grace alone, because they have been
chosen.” Paul also speaks of the remnant in Romans 11, and wisely
considers that passage, ‘I have kept for myself seven
thousand.’
It is then God’s peculiar province to keep
those who fail not: and hence Paul says that they are the remnant of grace; for
if God’s mercy were taken away, there would be no remnant among the whole
human race. All, we indeed know, are worthy of death, without any difference: it
is therefore the election of God alone which makes the difference between some
and others. Thus we see that the gratuitous goodness of God is extolled by the
Prophet, when he says that a remnant shall be saved, who shall be called by the
Lord: for it is not in the power of men to keep themselves unless they are
elected; and the gratuitous goodness of God is the security as it were of their
salvation. Now follows —
CHAPTER 3
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JOEL
3:1-3
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1. For, behold, in those days, and in that
time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and
Jerusalem,
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1. Quia ecce, diebus illis et tempore illo,
quo convertam captivitatem Jehudah et Jerusalem;
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2 I will also gather all nations, and will
bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there
for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the
nations, and parted my land.
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2 Et congregabo (tunc congregabo) omnes
gentes, et descendere faciam in vallem Jesephat, et disceptabo illic cum ipsis
super populo meo et super haereditate mea Israel, quia disperserunt inter gentes
et partiti sunt terram meam (addemus et hunc etiam versum.)
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3 And they have cast lots for my people; and
have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might
drink.
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3 Et super populo meo jecerunt sortem et
posuerunt, puerum pro scorto (hoc est, addixerunt pro scorto) et pullam
vendiderunt pro vino ut biberunt.
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The Prophet confirms in these words what he had
before taught respecting the restoration of the Church; for it was a thing
difficult to be believed: when the body of the people was so mutilated, when
their name was obliterated, when all power was abolished, when the worship of
God also, together with the temple, was subverted, when there was no more any
form of a kingdom, or even of any civil government, who could have thought that
God had any concern for a people in such a wretched condition? It is then no
wonder that the Prophet speaks so much at large of the restoration of the
Church; he did so, that he might more fully confirm what would have otherwise
been incredible.
He therefore says,
Behold, in those days, and at
that time, in which I shall restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I
shall then make all Gentiles to come down into the valley of
Jehoshaphat. And the Prophet says this, because
the Jews were then hated by all people, and were the execration and the dregs of
the whole world. As many nations as were under heaven, so many were the enemies
of the Jews. A fall then inter despair was easy, when they saw the whole world
incensed against them: “Though God may wish to redeem us, there are yet so
many obstacles, that we must necessarily perish; not only the Assyrians are
enraged against us, but we have found even greater hatred in our own
neighbors.” We, indeed, know that the Moabites, the Ammonites, the
Syrians, the Sidonians, the Idumeans, the Philistines, and, in short, all in the
surrounding countries, were very hostile to the Jews. Seeing then every access
to their land was closed up to the Jews, it was difficult to entertain any hope
of deliverance, though God encouraged them. For this reason the Prophet now
says, that God would be the judge of the whole world, and that it was in his
purpose and power to call together all the Gentiles, as though he said,
“Let not the number and variety of enemies frighten you: the Assyrians
alone, I know, are not your enemies, but also all your neighbors; but when I
undertake the defense of your cause, I shall be alone sufficient to protect you;
and however much all people may oppose, they shall not prevail. Then believe
that I shall be a sufficient defender, and shall deliver you from the hand of
all the nations.” We now perceive the Prophet’s design when
he declares, that God would come
to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and
there call together all
nations.
But the Prophet says,
In those days, and at that time,
when the Lord shall restore the captivity of Judah and
Jerusalem, etc. This time the Jews limit to
their return: they therefore think, that when liberty to return was granted them
by Cyrus and Darius, what the Prophet declares here was then fulfilled;
Christian doctors apply this prediction to the coming of Christ; but both
interpret the words of the Prophet otherwise than the drift of the passage
requires. The Prophet, no doubt, speaks here of the deliverance we have just
noticed, and at the same time includes the kingdom of Christ; and this, as we
have seen in other parts, is very commonly done. While then the prophets testify
that God would be the redeemer of his people, and promise deliverance from
Babylonian exile, they lead the faithful, as it were, by a continuous train or
course, to the kingdom of Christ. For what else was the Jewish restoration, but
a prelude of that true and real redemptions afterwards effected by Christ? The
Prophet then does not speak only of the coming of Christ, or of the return of
the Jews, but includes the whole of redemption, which was only begun when the
Lord restored his people from the Babylonian exile; it will then go on from the
first coming of Christ to the last day; as though he said, “When God will
redeem his people, it will not be a short or momentary benefit, but he will
continue his favor until he shall visit with punishment all the enemies of his
Church.” In a word, the Prophet here shows, that God will not be a half
Redeemer, but will continue to work until he completes everything necessary for
the happy state of his Church, and makes it in every respect perfect. This is
the import of the whole.
We also see that the Prophet Haggai speaks in the
same manner of the second temple, — that the glory of the second temple
shall be greater than that of the first, (Haggai 2) He, however referred, no
doubts to the prophecy of Ezekiel; and Ezekiel speaks of the second temple,
which was to be built after the return of the people from exile. Be it so, yet
Ezekiel did not confine to four or five ages what he said of the second temple:
on the contrary he meant that the favor of God would be continued to the coming
of Christ: so also Joel means here, when he says,
When God shall restore the
captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, he will then call together all the
nations; as though he said, “God
will pour out not a small portion of grace, but will become the complete
Redeemer of his people; and when the whole world shall rise against him, he will
yet prevail; he will undertake the cause of his Church, and will secure the
salvation of his people. Whosoever then will attempt to delay or hinder the
restoration of the Church, shall by no means succeed; for the Lord, the defender
of his people, will judge all nations.”
Let us now see why the Prophet particularly mentions
the valley of Jehoshaphat. Many think that valley to be intended, which
was called the Valley of Blessing, where Jehoshaphat obtained a signal and a
memorable victory, when yet he was not provided with large forces, and when many
nations conspired against him. Though Jehoshaphat fought against a large army
with a few people, he yet wonderfully succeeded; and the people there presented
thanks to God, and gave a name to the place. Hence, many think that this valley
is mentioned, that the Prophet might remind the Jews how wonderfully they were
saved; for their enemies had come for the very purpose of destroying the whole
of God’s people, and thought that this was wholly in their power. The
memory then of this history must have animated the minds of the godly with a
good hope; for God then undertook the cause of a small number against a vast
multitude; yea, against many and powerful nations. And this view seems to me
probable. Some place this valley of Jehoshaphat half way between the Mount of
Olives and the city; but how probable their conjecture is I know
not.
Unquestionably, with regard to this passage, their
opinion, in my judgment, is the most correct, who think that there is here a
recalling to mind of God’s favor, which may in all ages encourage the
faithful to entertain hope of their salvation. Some, however, prefer to take the
word as an appellative; and no doubt
fpçwhy
ieushaphath means the judgment of God; and so they render it, “The
valley of the judgment of God.” If this is approved I do not oppose. And,
doubtless, though it be a proper name, and the Prophet speak here of that holy
King, to encourage the Jews to follow his example, he yet alludes, no doubt, to
the judgment of God, or to the contest which he would undertake for the sake of
his people: for it immediately follows
µç µm[
ytfpç kw uneshaphathti omem shim,
“And I will contend with them there:” and this verb is derived from
fpç
shephath. Hence also, if it be the proper name of a place, and taken from
that of the King, the Prophet here meant, that its etymology should be
considered; as though he said, “God will call all nations to judgment, and
for this end, that he may dwell in the midst of his people, and really testify
and prove this.”
Some apply this passage to the last judgment, but in
too strained a manner. Hence also has arisen the figment, that the whole world
shall be assembled in the valley of Jehoshaphat: but the world, we know, became
infected with such delirious things, when the light of sound doctrine was
extinguished; and no wonder, that the world should be fascinated with such gross
comments, after it had so profaned the worship of God.
fb13
But with respect to the intention of the Prophets he,
no doubt, mentions here the valley of Jehoshaphat, that the Jews might entertain
the hope that God would be the guardian of their safety; for he says everywhere
that he would dwell among them, as we have also seen in the last chapter,
“And God will dwell in the midst of you.” So also now he means the
same, I will assemble all
nations, and make them to come down to the valley
of JEHOSHAPHAT; that is, though the land shall
for a time be uncultivated and waste, yet the Lord will gather his people, and
show that he is the judge of the whole world; he will raise a trophy in the land
of Judah, which will be nobler than if the people had ever been safe and entire:
for how much soever all nations may strive to destroy the remnant, as we know
they did, though few remained; yet God will sit in the valley of Jehoshaphat, he
will have there his own tribunal, that he may keep his people, and defend them
from all injuries. At the same time, what I have before noticed must be borne in
mind; for he names here the valley of Jehoshaphat rather than Jerusalem, because
of the memorable deliverance they had there, when God discomfited so many
people, when great armies were in an instant destroyed and without the aid of
men. Since God then delivered his people at that time in an especial manner
through his incredible power, it is no wonder that he records here the name of
the valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will
contend, he says,
with them there for my people,
and for my heritage, Israel. By these words the
Prophet shows how precious to God is the salvation of his chosen people; for it
is no ordinary thing for God to condescend to undertake their cause, as though
he himself were offended and wronged; and God contends, because he would have
all things in common with us. We now then, see the reason of this contention,
— even because God so regards the salvation of his people, that he deems
himself wronged in their person; as it is said in another place, “He who
toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye”. And to confirm his doctrine
still more, the Prophet adds, For
mine heritage, Israel. God calls Israel here
his heritage, to strengthen distressed minds, and also to comfort them; for if
the Jews had only fixed their minds on their own state, they could not but think
themselves unworthy of being regarded by God; for they were deemed abominable by
all nations; and we also know that they were severely chastised for having
departed from all godliness and for having, as it were, wholly alienated
themselves from God. Since, then, they were like a corrupted body, they could
not but despond in their adversity: but the Prophet here comes to their
assistance, and brings forward the word heritage, as though he said, “God
will execute judgment for you, not that ye are worthy, but because he has chosen
you: for he will never forget the covenant which he made with your father
Abraham.” We see, then, the reason he mentions heritage: it was,
that the Jews might not despair on account of their sins; and at the same time
he commends, as before, the gratuitous mercy of God, as though he had said,
“The reason for your redemption is no other, but that God has allotted to
himself the posterity of Abraham and designed them to be his peculiar
people.” What remains we must defer until
to-morrow.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou not
only invites us continually by the voice of thy Gospel to seek thee, but also
offerest to us thy Son as our Mediator, through whom an access to thee is open,
that we may find thee a propitious Father, — O grant, that relying on thy
kind invitation, we may through life exercise ourselves in prayer: and as so
many evils disturb us on all sides, and so many wants distress and oppress us,
may we be led more earnestly to call on thee, and, in the meantime, be never
wearied in this exercise of prayer; that, being through life heard by thee, we
may at length be gathered to thy eternal kingdom, where we shall enjoy that
salvation Which thou hast promised to us, and of which also thou daily
testifiest to us by thy Gospel, and be for ever united to thy only begotten Son,
of whom we are how members; that we may be partakers of all the blessings, which
he has obtained for us by his death. Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-SEVENTH.
We said in our yesterday’s Lecture, that God
proves the singular love he has to his Church by condescending to undertake her
cause, and contend as a worldly man would do for his paternal inheritance. He
says, that his heritage, Israel,
had been dispersed among the nations; as though
he said, that it was an intolerable thing that enemies should, like robbers,
thus divide his heritage. He speaks first of the people, then of the land; for
God, as it is well known, consecrated the land to himself, and he would not have
it occupied by profane nations. There was then a twofold sacrilege, — the
people were carried away into distant lands, and others were sent to inhabit and
possess their land, which God had destined for his children and elect
people.
There follows now another indignity still greater;
for they cast lot on God’s people, —
On my people they have cast lot,
and prostituted a boy for a harlot, and a girl have they sold for wine, that
they might drink. By these words the Prophet
enhances the injury done them; for the Jews had been reproachfully treated. Some
measure of humanity is mostly shown when men are sold; but the Prophet here
complains in the person of God, that the Jews had been exposed to sale, as
though they were the off scourings of mankind, and of no account. They have cast
lots he says; and this was to show contempt; and the Prophet expresses more
clearly what he meant, and says, that a boy had been
given for a harlot, and a girl
for wine. Some consider the Prophet as saying,
that boys were prostituted to base and scandalous purposes; but I prefer another
view, — that the enemies sold them for a mean price to gratify their
gluttony, or their lust; as though the Prophet had said, that the Jews had to
endure a grievous reproach by being set to sale, as they say, and that at the
lowest price. He farther adds another kind of contempt; for whatever price the
enemies procured by selling, they spent it either on harlot or on feasting. We
hence see that a twofold injury is here mentioned, — the Jews had been so
despised as not to be regarded as men, and had been sold not for the usual
prices, but had been disposed of in contempt by their enemies almost for
nothing; — and the other reproach was, that the price obtained for them
was afterwards spent on gluttony and whoredom: yet this people was sacred to
God. Now this contumelious treatment, the Prophet says, God would not endure,
but would avenge such a wrong as if done to himself. This is then the
meaning.
But the reason which induces me thus to interpret the
Prophet is because he says that a girl was sold for wine, as the boy for a
harlot; and the construction of the Prophet’s words is the same. It is
indeed certain that in the latter clause the Prophet meant nothing else but that
the price was wickedly spent for vile and shameful purposes; then the former
clause must be understood in the same way. Let us proceed
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JOEL
3:4-6
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4. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O
Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a
recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your
recompence upon your own head;
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4. Atque etiam, quid vobis mecum Tyre et
Sidon, et cuncti termini Palestinae? An mercedem vobis rependitis mihi? Etsi
confertis hoc in me, velox (subito) rependam mercedem vestram in caput
vestrum;
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5. Because ye have taken my silver and my
gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant
things:
|
5. Quia argentum meum et aurum meum
abstulistis, et desiderabilia mea bona transtulistis in templa vestra (alii,
palatia.)
|
|
6. The children also of Judah and the children
of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from
their border.
|
6. Et filios Jehudah et filios Jerusalem
vendidistis filiis Graecorum, ut elongaretis eos a termino suo (hoc est, procul
abduceretis eos a finibus suis.)
|
God expostulates here with Tyre and Sidon, and other
neighboring nations, and shows that they vexed his people without cause Had they
been provoked some excuse might have been made; but since they made war of their
own accord, the wrong was doubled. This is what God means these words.
What have ye to do with me, O
Tyre and Sidon? He indeed continues the subject
before explained: but he speaks of the concern here as hid own; he seems not now
to undertake the protection of his own people, but detents his own cause.
“What have ye to do with me?” he says. God then interposes himself;
as though he said, that the Syrians and Sidonians were not only called by him to
judgment because they had unjustly wronged his people, and brought many troubles
on men deserving no such things; but he says also, that he stood up in his own
defense. “What have I to do with you, O Syrians and Sidonians?” as
we say in French, Qu’avons-nous a desmeller? (what have we to
decide?) Now the Prophet had this in view, that the Syrians and Sidonians became
voluntary enemies to the Jews, when they had no dispute with them; and this, as
we have said, was less to be borne. “What then have ye to do with me, O
Syrians and Sidonians? Do I owe anything to you? Am I under any obligation to
you? Do ye repay me my recompense?” that is, “Can you boast of any
reason or just pretense for making, war on my people?” He then means, that
there had been no wrong done to the Syrians and Sidonians, which they could now
retaliate, but that they made an attack through their own wickedness, and were
only impelled by avarice or cruelty thus to harass the miserable Jews: “Ye
repay not,” he says, “a recompense to me; for ye cannot pretend that
any wrong has been done to you by me.”
But if ye repay this to me, he
says, I will swiftly return the recompense on your
head.
lmg
gimel means not only to repay, as the Hebrew scholars ever render it, but
also to confer, to bestow, (conferre, ut loquuntur Latine) as it has been
stated in another place. ‘What shall I repay to the Lord for all the
things which he has recompensed to me?’ This is the common version; but it
is an improper and inconsistent mode of speaking. David no doubt refers to
God’s benefits; then it is, ‘What shall I repay for all the benefits
which the Lord has bestowed on me?’ Then he who first does wrong, or
bestows good, is said to recompense; and this is the sense in this place.
‘If ye,’ he says, ‘thus deal with me,
“swiftly”,
hrhm
mere suddenly (for the word is to be taken as an adverb,) will I return
recompense on your head;’ that is, “Ye shall not be unpunished,
since ye have acted so unjustly with me and my people.” We now perceive
the whole meaning of the Prophet: He enhances the crime of the Syrians and
Sidonians, because they willfully distressed the Jews, and joined themselves to
their foreign enemies, for the purpose of seizing on a part of the spoil. As,
then, vicinity softened not their minds, their inhumanity was on this account
more fully proved. But, as I have said, the Lord here places himself between the
two parties, to intimate, that he performs his own proper office when he takes
care of the safety of his Church.
He afterwards shows that this wickedness should not
be unpunished — If ye deal
thus with me, he says, I shall swiftly (suddenly) return the recompense on your
heads. This passage contains a singular
consolation; for God declares that whatever evils the faithful endure belong to
him, and also that he will not suffer those under his protection and defense to
be distressed with impunity, but will quickly return recompense on the heads of
those who unjustly injure his heritage. We now understand the Prophet’s
design: he doubtless intended to support the minds of the godly with this
thought, — that their afflictions are objects of concern with God and that
he will shortly be the avenger of them, however necessary it may be that they
should for a time be thus violently and reproachfully treated by wicked
men.
Let us now proceed: He says that their silver
and their gold had been taken away by the Syrians and the Sidonians. All
who were the neighbors of that people, no doubt, derived gain from their
calamity, as is usually the case. They were at first ill disposed towards them;
there was then a new temptation; they gaped after booty: and they showed
themselves openly their enemies, when they saw that there was hope of gain. Such
was the case with the Syrians and Sidonians. There is no doubt, but that they
sedulously courted the favor of the Assyrians, that they helped them with
provisions and other things, that they might partake of the spoil. It was,
therefore, no wonder that gold and silver was taken away by them, for the
carriage of them to Assyria would have been tedious: and, as I have just hinted,
it is usually the case, that conquerors gratify those by whom they have been
assisted. Many extend this plunder generally to the whole wealth of the people;
that is, that the enemies plundered what gold and silver there was in Judea, and
that the Sidonians got a portion of it for themselves. But there seems to have
been a special complaint, that the sacred vessels of the temple were taken away
by the Syrians and Sidonians: I therefore prefer to render the word, temples,
rather than palaces. Some say, ‘Ye have carried away my silver and my gold
to your palaces.’ Though the word is capable of two meanings, yet the
Prophet, I have no doubt, refers here to the temples. The Syrians, then, and the
Sidonians profaned the silver and the gold of the temple by dedicating them to
their idols; they adorned their idols with spoils taken from the only true God.
This was the reason why God was so exceedingly displeased. There was, indeed, a
cause why God, as we have said, contended for the whole nation of Israel: but it
was a far more heinous wrong to spoil the temple, and to strip it of its
ornaments, and then to adorn idols with its sacred vessels; for God was thus
treated with scorn; and in contempt of him, the Syrians and Sidonians built, as
it were, a trophy of victory in their own dens, where they performed
sacrilegious acts in worshipping fictitious gods.
Ye have taken
away, he
says, my gold and silver, and my
desirable good things. God speaks here after
the manner of men; for it is certain that even under the law he stood in no need
of gold or silver, or of other precious things; he wished the temple to be
adorned with vessels and other valuable furniture for the sake of the ignorant
(rudis—rude) people; for the Jews could not have been preserved in
pure and right worship, had not God assisted their weak faith by these helps.
(adminiculis—props, aids) But yet, as obedience is acceptable to
him, he says that whatever was an ornament in the temple was a desirable thing
to him; while, at the same time, by speaking thus, he put on, as I have said, a
character not his own, as he has no need of such things, nor is he delighted
with them. We ought not, indeed, to imagine God to be like a child, who takes
delight in gold and silver and such things; but what is said here was intended
for the benefit of the people, that they might know that God approved of that
worship, for it was according to his command. He therefore calls every thing
that was in the temple desirable,
Ye
have, he
says, carried away into your
temples my desirable good things.
It follows,
And the children of Judah, and
the children of Jerusalem, have ye sold to the children of the
Grecians
fb14. There
is here another complaint subjoined, — that the Syrians and Sidonians had
been sacrilegious towards God, that they had cruelly treated God’s
afflicted people. In the last verse, God inveighed against the Syrians, and
Sidonians for having prostituted to their idols gold and silver stolen from him;
he now again returns to the Jews themselves, who, he says, had been sold to the
children of the Grecians; that is, to people beyond the sea: for as Javan passed
into Europe, he includes under that name the nations beyond the sea. And he
says, that they sold the Jews to the Greeks that they
might drive them far from their
own borders, so that there might be no hope of
return. Here the cruelty of the Syrians and Sidonians becomes more evident; for
they took care to drive those wretched men far away, that no return to their
country might be open to them, but that they might be wholly
expatriated.
We now perceive what the Prophet had in view: He
intended that the faithful though trodden under foot by the nations, should yet
have allayed their grief by some consolation, and know that they were not
neglected by God; and that though he connived at their evils for a time, he
would yet be their defender, and would contend for them as for his own heritage,
because they had been so unjustly treated. He afterwards adds
—
|
JOEL
3:7
|
|
7. Behold, I will raise them out of the place
whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own
head:
|
7. Ecce ego excitabo eos e loco in quem
vendidistis eos, et rependam mercedem vestram in caput vestrum.
|
The Prophet declares here more fully and expressly,
that God had not so deserted the Jews, but that he intended, in course of time,
to stretch forth his hand to them again. It was indeed a temporary desertion:
but it behaved the faithful in the meantime to rely on this assurance, —
that God purposed again to restore his people: and of this the Prophet now
speaks,
Behold,
he says, I will raise them
from the place unto which ye have sold them; as
though he said “Neither distance of place, nor the intervening sea,
will hinder me from restoring my people.” As then the Syrians and
Sidonians thought that the Jews were precluded a return to their country,
because they were taken away into distant parts of the world, God says that this
would be no obstacle in his way to collect again his Church.
But it may he asked, When has this prediction been
fulfilled? as we indeed know that the Jews have never returned to their own
country: for shortly after their return from exile, they were in various ways
diminished; and at length the most grievous calamities followed, which consumed
the greatest part of the people. Since this then has been the condition of that
nation, we ought to inquire whether Christ has collected the Jews, who had been
far dispersed. We indeed know that they were then especially scattered; for the
land of Judea never ceased to be distressed by continual wars until Jerusalem
was destroyed, and the people were almost wholly consumed. Since then it has
been so, when can we say that this prediction has been fulfilled? Many explain
the words allegorically, and say, that the Prophet speaks of apostles and
martyrs, who, through various persecutions, were driven into different parts;
but this is a strained view. I therefore do not doubt, but that here he refers
to a spiritual gathering: and it is certain that God, since the appearance of
Christ, has joined together his Church by the bond of faith; for not only that
people have united together in one, but also the Gentiles, who were before
alienated from the Church, and had no intercourse with it, have been collected
into one body. We hence see, that what the Prophet says has been spiritually
fulfilled; even the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have
been redeemed by the Lord, and restored again, not on foot or by sea; for
Jerusalem has been built everywhere as it is said in Zechariah.
I will therefore gather
them, he says; and he adds,
I will return recompense on your
head. He again confirms what he said
before, — that though the ungodly should exult, while ruling over the
children of God, their cruelty would not be unpunished; for they shall find that
the Church is never neglected by God; though he may subject it to various
troubles, and exercise its patience, and even chastise it, he will yet be ever
its defender. It follows —
|
JOEL
3:8
|
|
8. And I will sell your sons and your
daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to
the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
|
8. Et vendam filios vestros et filias vestras
in manum filiorum Jehadah, et vendent eos Sabaeis, genti lonquinquae, quia
Jehovah loquutus est.
|
The Prophet describes here a wonderful change: the
Syrians and Sidonians did sell the Jews; but who is to be the seller now? God
himself will take this office,
—
I, he
says, will sell your children,
as though he said, “The Jews shall subdue
you and reduce you to bondage,” — by whose authority? “It
shall be, as if they bought you at my hands.” He means that this servitude
would be legitimate; and thus he makes the Jews to be different from the Syrians
and Sidonians, who had been violent robbers, and unjustly seized on what was not
their own: and hence the manner of the sale is thus described, — “I
myself shall be the author of this change, and the thing shall be done by my
authority, as if I had interposed my own name;” and the Jews themselves
shall sell, he says, your sons and your daughters to the Sabeans, a distant
nation; that is, the people of the East: for the Prophet, I doubt not, by
mentioning a part for the whole, meant here to designate Eastern nations, such
as the Persians and Medes; but he says, that the Tyrians and Sidonians shall be
driven to the meet distant countries; for the Sabeans were very far distant from
the Phoenician Sea, and were known as being very nigh the Indians.
fb15
But it may be asked here, When has God executed this
judgment? for the Jews never possessed such power as to be able to subdue
neighboring nations, and to sell them at pleasure to unknown merchants. It would
indeed be foolish and puerile to insist here on a literal fulfillment: at the
same time, I do not say, that the Prophet speaks allegorically; for I am
disposed to keep from allegories, as there is in them nothing sound nor solid:
but I must yet say that there is a figurative language used here, when it is
said, that the Syrians and Sidonians shall be sold and driven here and there
into distant countries, and that this shall be done for the sake of God’s
chosen people and his Church, as though the Jews were to be the sellers. When
God says, “I will sell,” it is not meant that he is to descend from
heaven for the purpose of selling, but that he will execute judgment on them;
and then the second clause, — that they shall be sold by the Jews, derives
its meaning from the first; and this cannot be a common sake, as if the Jews
were to receive a price and make a merchandise of them. But God declares that
the Jews would be the sellers, because in this manner he signifies his vengeance
for the wrong done to them; that is, by selling them
to the Sabeans, a distant
nation. We further know, that the changes which
then followed were such that God turned upside down nearly the whole world; for
he drove the Syrian and the Sidonians to the most distant countries. No one
could have thought that this was done for the sake of the Jews, who were hated
and abominated by all. But yet God declares, that he would do this from regard
to his Church even sell the Syrians and the Sidonians, though it was commonly
unknown to men; for it was the hidden judgment of God. But the faithful who had
been already taught that God would do this, were reminded by the event how
precious to God is his heritage, since he avenges those wrongs, the memory of
which had long before been buried. This then is the import of the whole. The
Prophet now subjoins —
|
JOEL
3:9-11
|
|
9. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles;
Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them
come up:
|
9. Publicate hoc in Gentibus, sanctificate
proelium, excitate robustos, venient, ascendent omnes viri
bellatores.
|
|
10. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your
pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
|
10. Concidite vomeres vestros in gladios et
falces vestras in lanceas; debilis dicat, Ego sum robustus.
|
|
11. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye
heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty
ones to come down, O LORD.
|
11. Congregamini et venite omnes gentes,
congregamini in circuitu (hoc est, undique congregamini;) illic prosteruet
Jehova fortes tuos.
|
Some think these words were announced lest the
people, being terrified by their evils, should become wholly dejected; and they
elicit this meaning, — that God placed this dreadful spectacle of evils
before their eyes, that the Jews might prepare and strengthen themselves for
enduring them; that though nations should everywhere rise up, they might yet
abide arm in the hope, that God would be the defender of his own Church. But the
Prophet, I doubt not, continues the same discourse, and denounces war on the
heathen nations, who had molested the Church with so many troubles;
Publish
this, he says,
among the nations, proclaim
war, rouse the strong; let them come, let them ascend:
and we know how necessary it was by such means
to confirm what he had previously said: for the ungodly are moved by no threats,
nay, they laugh to scorn all God’s judgments; while the faithful yielding
to their evils, can hardly raise up their minds, even though God promises to be
a helper to them. Except, then, the matter had been set forth as painted before
their eyes they would not have experienced the power of consolation. Hence the
lively representation we see here was intended for this end, — that the
people, being led to view the whole event, might entertain hope of their future
salvation, while they now saw God collecting his army, and mustering his forces
to punish the enemies of his Church. The faithful, then not only hearing by mere
words that this would be, but also seeing, as it were, with their eyes what the
Lord sets forth by a figure, and a lively representation, were more effectually
impressed and felt more assured that God would become at length their
deliverer.
We now then see why the Prophet here bids war to be
everywhere announced and proclaimed, and also why he bids the strong to
assemble, and all warlike men to ascend; as though he said, “The Lord will
not disappoint you with empty words, but will come provided with an army to save
you. When ye hear, then, that he will be the author of your salvation, think
also that all nations are in his power, and that the whole world can in a moment
be roused up by his rod, so that all its forces may from all quarters come
together, and all the power of the world meet in obedience to him. Know, then,
that being provided with his forces, he comes not to you naked, nor feeds you
with mere words, as they are wont to do who have no help to give but words only:
this is not what God does; for he can even to-day execute what he has denounced;
but he stays for the ripened time. In the meanwhile, give him his honor, and
know that there is not wanting the means to protect you, if he wished; but he
would have you for a time to be subject to the cross and to tribulations that he
may at length avenge the wrongs done to you.”
It may be now asked who are the nations meant by the
Prophet? for he said before, that God would visit all nations with punishment,
whereas, there was then no nation in the world friendly to the Jews. But in this
there is nothing inconsistent; for God caused all the enemies of the Church to
assail one another on every side, and to destroy themselves with mutual
slaughters. Hence, when he designed to take vengeance on the Tyrians and
Sidonians, he roused up the Persian and Medes; and when he purposed to punish
the Persian and Medes, he called the Greeks into Asia; and he had before brought
low the Assyrians. Thus he armed all nations, but each in its turn; and one
after the other underwent the punishment they deserved. And so the expression of
the Prophet must not be taken in a too restricted sense, as though the Lord
would at the same time collect an army from the whole world, to punish the
enemies of his Church; but that he rouses the whole world, so that some suffer
punishment from others; and yet no enemy of the Church remains unpunished. We
now perceive the Prophet’s objects in saying,
Publish this among the
nations; that is, God will move dreadful
tumults through the whole world, and will do this for the sake of his Church:
for though he exposes his people to many miseries, he will yet have the remnant,
as we have before seen, to be saved.
He afterwards adds,
Beat your plowshares into
swords. When Isaiah and Micah prophesied of the
kingdom of Christ, they said, ‘Beat your swords into pruninghooks, and
your spears into plowshares’,
(<230201>Isaiah
2:1,
<330401>Micah
4:1.) This sentence is now inverted by Joel. The words of Isaiah and Micah were
intended figuratively to show that the world would be at peace when Christ
reconciled men to God, and taught them to cultivate brotherly kindness. But the
Prophet says here, that there would be turbulent commotions everywhere, so that
there would be no use made of the plough or of the pruninghook; husbandmen would
cease from their labor, the land would remain waste; for this is the case when a
whole country is exposed to violence; no one dares go out, all desert their
fields, cultivation is neglected. Hence the Prophet says, ‘Turn your
plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears;’ that is, field
labor will cease, and all will strenuously apply themselves to war. And
let the weak say, I am
strong, for there will then be no exemption
from war. Excuses, we know, availed formerly on the ground of age or disease,
when soldiers were collected; and if any one could have pleaded disease, he was
dismissed; but the Prophet says, that there will be no exemption then;
“God”, he says, “will excuse none, he will compel all to
become warriors, he will even draw out all the sick from their beds; all will be
constrained to put on arms”. It hence appears how ardently the Lord loves
his Church, since he spares no nations and no people, and exempts none from
punishment; for all who have vexed the Church must necessarily receive their
recompense. Since then God so severely punishes the enemies of his Church, he
thereby gives a singular evidence of his paternal love to us.
At length he concludes,
There will Jehovah overthrow thy
mighty ones. Though the Prophet uses the
singular number, “thy”, he no doubt refers to the whole
earth; as though he said, “Whatever enemies there may be to my people, I
will cut them down, however strong they may be.” We now perceive that
everything the Prophet has hitherto said has been for this end — to show,
that God takes care of the safety of his Church, even in its heaviest
afflictions, and that he will be the avenger of wrongs, after having for a time
tried the patience of his people and chastised their faults — that there
will be a turn in the state of things, so that the condition of the Church will
be ever more desirable, even under its greatest evils, than of those whom the
Lord bears with and indulges, and on whom he does not so quickly take
vengeance.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we are
assailed on every side by enemies, and as not only the wicked according to the
flesh are incensed against us, but Satan also musters his forces and contrives
in various ways to ruin us, — O grant, that we being furnished with the
courage thy Spirit bestows, may fight to the end under thy guidance and never be
wearied under any evils. And may we, at the same time, be humbled under thy
mighty hand when it pleases thee to afflict us and so sustain all our troubles
that with a courageous mind we may strive for that victory which thou promises
to us, and that having completed all our struggles we may at length attain that
blessed rest which is reserved for us in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
FORTY-EIGHTH
|
JOEL
3:12
|
|
12. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to
the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round
about.
|
12. Expergefiant et ascendant gentes ad vallem
Josaphat: quia illic sedebo ad judicandum omnes gentes ex
circuitu.
|
The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, —
that God will at length become an avenger of the wrongs of his people, when they
shall be unjustly harassed by profane men. We indeed know that God does not
immediately succor his servants but rests as though he did not regard their
troubles; but this he does to try their patience; and then at a suitable time he
declares that he had not been indifferent, but had noticed the evils done to
them, and deferred punishment until the wickedness of his enemies had been
completed. So he says now, that God will at length be the defender of his people
against all the nations assembled from every quarter in the valley of
Jehoshaphat. Of this valley we have said enough already. But the chief thing is,
that the afflictions of the Church shall not go unpunished; for God at the right
time will ascend his tribunal, and cause all nations from every part of the
earth to assemble and to be there judged. Now it follows
—
|
JOEL
3:13
|
|
13. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is
ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their
wickedness is great.
|
13. Mittite falcem, quia maturuit messis:
venite, descendite, quia plenum est torcular, refertae sunt cuppae, quia
multiplicata est malitia ipsorum.
|
As God defers his judgments when miserable men groan
under their burdens, the Prophet uses a form of speech, which represents God as
not delaying, but, on the contrary, as hastening to judgment, though this be not
perceived by carnal minds; for these two things well agree together — God
waiting his opportunity as to the ungodly and suspending the punishment they
deserve — and yet quickly accelerating their destruction; for he is said
to defer with respect to men, because one day with us is like a hundred years;
and he is said to hasten, because he knows the exact points of time. So he says
in this place, Put forth the
sickle, for the harvest has ripened. He uses
metaphorical words, but he afterwards expresses without a figure what he means
and says, that their wickedness
had multiplied.
But there are here two metaphors, the one taken from
the harvest, and the other from the vintage. The Prophet calls those reapers who
have been destined to execute his judgment; for God makes use as it were of the
hired work of men, and employs their hands here and there as he wills. He
afterwards adds another metaphor, taken from the vintage, Full, he
says, are the presses and
the vats overflow; and at last he expresses
what they mean, — that their wickedness had multiplied, that is, that it
was overflowing. God said to Abraham, that the wickedness of the Canaanites was
not then completed; and long was the space which he mentioned for he said that
after four hundred years he would take vengeance on the enemies of his people:
that was a long time; and Abraham might have objected and said “Why should
God rest for so long a time?” The answer was this, — that their
wickedness was not as yet completed. But the Prophet says here, that their
wickedness had multiplied; he therefore gives to God’s servants the hope
of near vengeance, as when the harvest approaches and the vintage is nigh at
hand; for then all have their minds refreshed with joy. Such is the
Prophet’s design; to encourage the faithful in their hope and expectation
of a near deliverance, he declares that the iniquities of their enemies had now
reached their full measure, so that God was now ready to execute on them his
vengeance. This is the purport of the whole. It follows —
|
JOEL
3:14
|
|
14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of
decision.
|
14. Populi, populi in vale concisionis (vel,
tribulae,) quia propinquus dies Jehovae in valle concisionis.
|
The Prophet confirms the same truth; but he
multiplies words, because the devastation of the Church might have taken away
all hope from God’s servants; for who could have said that the Church
could be restored when it was so miserably wasted, yea, almost reduced to
nothing? For the people were so scattered that the name of Israel was of no
account. The people then had ceased to exist, for they had lost their name; in
short, the constitution of the Church was dissolved, and all might have said,
that the people were given up to thousand modes of destruction, as all execrated
the name of Israel. Since it was so, whatever the Prophets said of the
restoration of the people might certainly have seemed incredible. The repetition
then is not superfluous, when the Prophet in various forms of words testifies
and affirms that God would abide faithful, and that, though Israel should perish
according to what men could see, yet God had power enough to vivify the people
when dead: hence the Prophet speaks emphatically, Nations! Nations! for
he assumes here the character of a herald, as indeed this office had been
committed to him, and shows that his predictions would not be fruitless, that he
declared not words which would vanish into air, but that whatever he declared in
God’s name was full of power and energy. It might indeed have appeared
ridiculous in the Prophet to summon all nations since his doctrine was laughed
to scorn, even at Jerusalem. How could his voice penetrate to the utmost borders
of the world and be there heard? Though hidden then was the power of this
prediction, it yet showed itself at last, and it was really made evident that
the Prophet spoke not in vain.
Besides, he addresses the nations as though they
could hear; but he raises thus his voice, and nobly triumphs over all the wicked
for the sake of the godly, though the wicked then proudly ruled and with high
disdain: “They shall come,” he says, “at length before
God’s tribunal, though they now tread the Church under foot; yea, the
nations, the nations.” He does not now mention the valley of Jehoshaphat,
but of concision.
≈wrj
cheruts some take for a fixed decree; but the word means a sledge or an
instrument for threshing. We know not the mode of threshing used by the Jews,
but it is evident from several passages that
≈wrj
cheruts was an instrument with which they were wont to thresh; and I am
inclined to adopt this sense; for the Prophet had first called God’s
judgment a harvest, then he compared it to presses. But if the word
“concision” is more approved, I object not; at the same time, I do
not doubt but that the Prophet alludes to threshing, as he ascribes to God his
own office, that of scattering nations, who seem now to have conspired for the
destruction of the Church. If any one considers it to mean a fixed decree, or a
cutting off, as it means in Isaiah, I make no objection; for many give this
interpretation. I have, however, explained what I most approve.
As to the drift of the subject, there is no
ambiguity; the meaning of the Prophet is, — that God will so punish all
the ungodly, that he will cut down and scatter them all, as when the corn is
threshed on the floor.
At last he adds, that
nigh was the day of Jehovah in
the valley of the sledge. He intimates, that
though God as yet connived at their wickedness, yet the day was coming on,
unknown indeed to men, and that he would come at length to that valley, that is,
that he would inflict such punishment as would prove that he was the protector
of his people. Of this valley we have spoken already; and no doubt he has
throughout a reference to it, otherwise he would not have used a suitable
language, when he said, Ascend
into the valley. But what is to ascend into the
valley? for, on the contrary, he ought to have spoken of descending. But he
compares Judea with other parts of the world; and it is, as it is well known
elevated in its situation. Then the higher situation of Judea well agrees with
the ascent of which the Prophet speaks. But he ever means that God would so
punish the nations as to make it evident that he did this in favor of his
Church, as we shall soon see more clearly. But he says —
|
JOEL
3:15
|
|
15. The sun and the moon shall be darkened,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
|
15. Sol et luna obscurabuntur (vel, contrahent
nigredinem,) et stellae retrahent splendorem suum.
|
I have already explained this verse in chapter 2
(<290201>Joel
2:1): the Prophet, as we then stated, describes in these words the terrible
judgment of God, in order to shake off the indifference of men, who carelessly
hear and despise all threatening, except the Lord storms their hearts. These
figurative expressions then are intended to awaken the ungodly, and to make them
know that it is a serious matter when the Lord proclaims his judgment. Let us
now go on with the passage —
|
JOEL
3:16
|
|
16. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and
utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but
the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of
Israel.
|
16. Et Jehova e Sion rugiet, et e Jerusalem
dabit (edat) vocem suam; et contremiscent coeli et terra: et Jehova spes erit
populo suo, et fortitudo filiis Israel.
|
The Prophet explains here more clearly his object, or
the end for which he had hitherto spoken of God’s judgment; for what we
have heard served only to spread terror: but now the Prophet shows that his
purpose was to console the faithful, and to give some relief to their troubles
and sorrows. This is the reason why he introduces God as roaring from Zion and
crying from Jerusalem. Roaring is ascribed to God, inasmuch as he compares
himself in another place to a lion, when representing himself as the faithful
protector of the salvation of his people: “I will be,” he says,
“like the lion, who suffers not the prey to be taken from him, but boldly
defends it with all the fierceness he possesses: so also will I do, I will not
suffer my people to be taken from me.” In this sense does the Prophet now
say, that God will roar from
Zion. God had been for a time despised; for the
nations had prevailed against his chosen people, and plundered them at their
pleasure; and God then exercised not his power. Since God had been for a time
still, the Prophet says now, that he will not always conceal himself, but that
he will undertake the defense of his people, and be like a lion; for he will
rise up in dreadful violence against all his enemies.
And
tremble, he says,
shall the heaven and the
earth. As almost the whole world was opposed to
his elect people, the Prophet carefully dwells on this point, that nothing might
hinder the faithful from looking for the redemption promised to them:
“Though the heaven and the earth,” he says, “raise oppositions
God will yet prevail by his wonderful power. Tremble, he says, shall all
the elements; what, then, will men do? Though they muster all their forces, and
try all means, can they close up the way against the Lord, that he may not
deliver his people?” We now understand the Prophet’s design in
speaking of the shaking of heaven and earth.
He at last adds,
God will be a hope to his people,
and strength to the children of Israel. In this
part he gives a sufficient proof of what I have stated, — that he
denounces extreme vengeance on the nations for the sake of his Church; for the
Lord will at length pity his people, though they may seem to have perished
before he succors them. However past hope then the people may be in their own
estimation and in that of all others, yet God will again raise up the
expectation of all the godly, who shall remain, and will inspire them with new
courage. He speaks in general of the children of Israel; but what he says
belongs only to the remnant, of which the Prophet had lately spoken; for not
all, we know, who derive their origin from the fathers according to the flesh,
were true Israelites. The Prophet refers here to the true Church; and hence
Israel ought to be taken for the genuine and legitimate children of Abraham; as
Christ, in the person of Nathanael, calls those true Israelites who imitated the
faith of their father Abraham. I shall to-day finish this Prophet; I do not
therefore dwell much on every sentence. It now follows —
|
JOEL
3:17
|
|
17. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your
God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there
shall no strangers pass through her any more.
|
17. Et cognoscetis quod ego sim Jehova Deus
vester, habitans iu Sion, monte sanctitatis meae: et erit Jerusalem sanctitas,
et alieni non transibunt per eam amplius.
|
This is a confirmation of the preceding doctrine,
ye shall
know, he says, that I am
your
God. The Prophet intimates that the favor of
God had been so hidden during the afflictions of the people, that they could not
but think that they were forsaken by God. His word ought indeed to be sufficient
for us in the greatest evils; for though God may cast us into the deepest gulfs,
yet when he shines upon us by his word, it ought to be a consolation abundantly
available to sustain our souls. But yet, unless God really appears, we are
confounded, and ask where is his power. For this reason the Prophet now says,
that the faithful shall at length know, that is, really know him
as their God.
There is a twofold knowledge, — the knowledge
of faith, received from his word, — and the knowledge of experience, as we
say, derived from actual enjoyment. The faithful ever acknowledge that salvation
is laid up for them in God; but sometimes they stagger and suffer grievous
torments in their minds, and are tossed here and there. However it may be with
them, they certainly do not by actual enjoyment know God to be their Father. The
Prophet therefore now treats of real knowledge, when he says, that they shall
know that they have a God, — how are they to know this? By experience. Now
this passage teaches us, that though God should not put forth his hand
manifestly to help us, we ought yet to entertain good hope of his favor; for the
Prophet spoke for this end, — that the godly might, before the event or
the accomplishment of the prophecy should come, look to God and cast on him all
their cares. Then the faithful, before they had real knowledge, knew God to be
their Father, and hence hesitated not to flee to him though what the Prophet
testified had not yet been visibly accomplished.
Dwelling in Zion, the mountain of
my holiness: This has been designedly added,
that the faithful might know, that God made not a covenant in vain with Abraham,
that mount Zion had not in vain been chosen, that they might there call on God;
for we must have our attention called to the promises, otherwise all doctrine
will become frigid. Now we know that all the promises have been founded on a
covenant, that is, because God had adopted the people, and afterwards deposited
his covenant in the hand of David, and then he designated mount Zion as his
sanctuary. Since, then, all the promises flow from this fountain, it was
necessary to call the attention of the Jews to the covenant: and this is the
reason why the Prophet says now that God dwells in Zion; for otherwise this
doctrine would no doubt only lead to superstition. God, indeed, we know, cannot
be included within the circumference of any place, much less could he be
confined to the narrow limits of the temple; but he dwelt on mount Zion on
account of his own law, because he made a covenant with Abraham, and afterwards
with David.
It then follows,
And Jerusalem shall be holy,, and
aliens shall not pass through it any more.
While he declares that Jerusalem shall be holy, he exempts it at the same time
from profanation. We know that it is a common mode of speaking in Scripture, and
what often occurs, that God’s heritage is holy, and also, that they
profaned it. Hence, when the people were exposed as a prey to the pleasure of
their enemies, the heritage of God became forsaken and polluted, profane men
trod Jerusalem as it were under foot. But now the Prophet exempts the holy city
from this pollution, as though he said, “The Lord will not allow his
people to be thus miserably harassed, and will show that this city has been
chosen by him, and that he has in it his dwelling. Aliens then shall no more
pass through it — Why? For it is first the holy city of God, and then, of
his Church.
But as this promise extends to the whole kingdom of
Christ, God doubtless makes here a general promise, that he will be the
protector of his Church, that it may not be subject to the will of enemies; and
yet we see that it often happens otherwise. But this ought to be imputed to our
sins, for we make the breaches. God would, indeed be a wall and a rampart to us,
as it is said elsewhere,
(<232601>Isaiah
26:1;) but we betray his Church by our sins. Hence aliens occupy a place in it:
Ye we see at this day; for Antichrist, as it has been foretold, has now for ages
exercised dominion in God’s sanctuary. Since it is so, we ought to mourn
at seeing God’s holy Church profaned. Let us yet know, that God will take
care to gather his elect, and to cleanse them from every pollution and
defilement. It follows —
|
JOEL
3:18-19
|
|
18. And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come
forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of
Shittim.
|
18. Et erit in die illa, stillabunt montes
mustum, et colles decurrere facient lac; et omnes rivi Jehudah emittent aquas
(hoc est, descendere facient,) et fons e domo Jehovae egredietur et irrigabit
vallem Sittim.
|
|
19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom
shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
|
19. Aegyptus in solitudinem erit, et Edom in
desertum solitudinis erit, propter vexationem filiorum Jehudah; quia fuderunt
sanguinem innoxium (vel, purum) in terra sua (vel, ipsorum.)
|
The Prophet here declares that God will be so
bountiful to his people, that no good things will be wanting to them either in
abundance or variety. When God then shall restore his Church, it will abound, he
says, in every kind of blessing: for this is the meaning of this language,
Distill new wine shall the
mountains, and the hills shall make milk to run down; and all rivers also shall
have abundant waters, and a fountain shall arise from the house of Judah to
irrigate the valley of Shittim. We now perceive
the design of Joel. But we must remember that when the Prophets so splendidly
extol the blessings of God, they intend not to fill the minds of the godly with
thoughts about eating and drinking; but profane men lay hold on such passages as
though the Lord intended to gratify their appetite. We know, indeed, that
God’s children differ much from swine: hence God fills not the faithful
with earthly things, for this would not be useful for their salvation. At the
same time, he thus enlarges on his blessings, that we may know that no happiness
shall in any way be wanting to us, when God shall be propitious to us. We hence
see that our Prophet so speaks of God’s earthly blessings, that he fills
not the minds of the godly with these things but desires to raise them above, as
though he said, that the Israelites would in every way be happy, after having in
the first place been reconciled to God. For whence came their miseries and
distresses of every kind, but from their sins? Since, then, all troubles, all
evils, are signs of God’s wrath and alienation, it is no wonder that the
Lord, when he declares that he will be propitious to them, adds also the proofs
of his paternal love, as he does here: and we know that it was necessary for
that rude people, while under the elements of the Law, to be thus instructed;
for they could not as yet take solid food, as we know that the ancients under
the Law were like children. But it is enough for us to understand the design of
the Holy Spirit, namely, that God will satisfy his people with the abundance of
all good things, as far as it will be for their benefit. Since God now calls us
directly to heaven, and raises our minds to the spiritual life, what Paul says
ought to be sufficient, — that to godliness is given the hope, not only of
future life, but also of that which is present, (1 Timothy 4;) for God will
bless us on the earth, but it will be, as we have already observed, according to
the measure of our infirmity.
The
valley of
Shittim was nigh the borders of the Moabites,
as we learn from
<042501>Numbers
25:1, and
<060201>Joshua
2:1. Now when the Prophet says, that waters, flowing from the holy fountains
would irrigate the valley of Shittim, it is the same as though he said, that the
blessing of God in Judea would be so abundant, as to diffuse itself far and
wide, even to desert valleys.
But he afterwards joins, that the Egyptians and
Idumeans would be sterile and dry in the midst of this great abundance of
blessings, for they were professed enemies to the Church. Hence God in this
verse declares that they shall not be partakers of his bounty; that though all
Judea would be irrigated, though it would abound in honeys milk, and wine, yet
these would remain barren and empty; Mizraim, then,
shall be a solitude, Edom
shall be a desert of solitude. Why?
Because of the troubles, he says,
brought on the children of Judah. God again
confirms this truth, that he has such a concern for his Church, that he will
avenge wrongs done to it. God, then, does not always come to our help when we
are unjustly oppressed, though he has taken us under his protection; but he
suffers us for a time to endure our evils; and yet the end will show, that we
have been ever dear to him and precious in his sight. So he says now, that for
the harassments which the Egyptians and Idumeans occasioned to the
children of Judah, they shall be destitute, notwithstanding the abundance of all
good things.
Because they shed, he says,
innocent blood in their (or, in their own)
land. If we refer this to Egypt and Idumea, the
sense will be, that they had not protected fugitives, but, on the contrary,
cruelly slew them, as though they had been sworn enemies. Many, we know, during
times of distress, fled to Egypt and Idumea, to seek refuge there. As, then, the
Egyptians had been so inhuman towards the distressed, the Prophet threatens them
with vengeance. But I prefer to view what is said as having been done in Judea;
they have then shed
innocent Blood, that is, in Judea itself. As
God had consecrated this land to himself to pollute it with unjust slaughters
was a more atrocious crime. Forasmuch then as the Egyptians and Idumeans thus
treated the Jews, and slew them in their own country in a base manner, though
they were abiding quietly at home, it is no wonder that God declares, that he
would be the avenger of these wrongs. It follows —
|
JOEL
3:20
|
|
20. But Judah shall dwell for ever, and
Jerusalem from generation to generation.
|
20. Et Jehudah in aeternum habitabit (alii
passive accipiunt, habitabitur) et Jerusalem erit in generationem et
generationem.
|
God here testifies that his redemption would not be
for a short time, but that its fruit would be for a long, period, yea,
perpetual: for it would be but a small thing for the Church to be redeemed,
except God kept it safe under his own power. This second thing the Prophet now
adds, — that Judah shall
always remain safe, and that
Jerusalem shall
be for a continued succession of ages. The
ungodly, we know, sometimes flourish for a time, though before God they are
already doomed to destruction. But the Prophet here declares, that the fruit of
the redemption he promises will be eternal: for God is not led to deliver his
Church only for a moment, but he will follow it with perpetual favor, and remain
constant in his purpose and ever like himself; he is therefore the eternal and
faithful protector of his people. The last verse follows
—
|
JOEL
3:21
|
|
21. For I will cleanse their blood that I have
not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.
|
21. Et mundabo sanguinem corum, non mundavi:
et Jehova habitans in Sion.
|
The beginning of the verse is in various ways
explained. Some make a stop after cleanse thus, “I will cleanse,
yet their blood I will not cleanse;” as though God had said, that he would
forgive heathen nations all their other wrongs, but could not forgive them the
great cruelty they had exercised against his elect. So the sense would be,
“Avarice may be borne, I could pass by robberies; but, since they slew my
people, I am in this case wholly unforgiving.” Hence, according to this
view, God shows how precious to him is the life of his saints, inasmuch as he
says, that he will not be pacified towards those ungodly men who have shed
innocent blood. But this sense seems rather too forced. Others render thus,
“Their blood will I cleanse, and will not cleanse,” that is,
“I will cleanse the Jews from their defilements, but I will not use
extreme severity;” as he says also in Isaiah 48, ‘I will not refine
thee as gold or silver, for thou wouldest turn all into dross.’ They hence
think that God promises here such a cleansing of the Church, as that he would
not use extreme rigor, but moderate his cleansing, as it is needful with regard
to our defilements, of which we are all so full.
But this sense seems to me more simple, — that
God would cleanse the blood which he had not cleansed; as though he said,
“I have not hitherto cleansed the pollutions of my people; they are then
become, as it were, putrid in their sins; but now I will begin to purify all
their wickedness, that they may shine pure before me.” There is a relative
understood as is often the case in Hebrew. But
hqn
neke is taken in
<243001>Jeremiah
30:1, in another sense, that God will exterminate his Church: but we cannot in
this place elicit any other meaning than that God will cleanse his Church from
pollutions; for the Prophet, no doubt, means the defilements of which the people
were full. They will not, then, be able to enjoy the favor of God while lying in
their filth. Now God, in promising to be a Redeemer, comes to the very fountain
and the first thing, — that he will wash away their filth; for how could
God be the Redeemer of the people, except he blotted out their sins? For as long
as he imputes sins to us, he must necessarily be angry with us, we must be
necessarily altogether alienated from him and deprived of his blessing. He then
does not say in vain that he will be a purifier; for when pollutions are
cleansed, there follows another thing, which we have already noticed as to this,
future redemption, and with this —
He at last concludes and says
And Jehovah shall dwell in
Zion. The Prophet recalls again the attention
of the people to the covenant; as though he said, “God has willingly and
bountifully promised all that has been mentioned, not because the people have
deserved this, but because God has deigned long ago to adopt the children of
Abraham, and has chosen mount Zion as his habitation.” He shows then this
to be the reason why God was now inclined to mercy, and would save a people, who
had a hundred times destroyed themselves by their sins.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we have, in
this world, to fight continually, not only with one kind of enemies, but with
numberless enemies, and not only with flesh and blood, but also with the devil,
the prince of darkness, — O grant, that, being armed with thy power, we
may persevere in this contest; and when thou afflictest us for our sins, may we
learn to humble ourselves, and so submit to thy authority, that we may hope for
the redemption promised to us; and though tokens of thy displeasure may often
appear to us, may we yet ever raise up our minds by hope to heaven, and from
thence look for thy only begotten Son, until, coming as the Judge of the world,
he gathers us and brings us to the fruition of that blessed and eternal life,
which he has obtained for us by his own blood. Amen.
END OF THE
COMMENTARIES ON JOEL.
LECTURE
FORTY-NINTH
He shows himself the time when he began to discharge
his office of a teacher; but it does not appear how long he prophesied. The Jews
indeed, think that his course was long; he continued his office, as they write,
under four kings. But he mentions here only the reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam.
His purpose was to mark the time when he began to execute his office of a
Prophet, but not to express how long he labored for God in that office; and why
he mentions only the beginning, we shall in its proper place notice. It is,
indeed, certain, that he commenced his work under king Uzziah, and under king
Jeroboam: and this also is to be noticed, that he was appointed a Prophet to the
kingdom of Israel. For though he arose from the tribe of Judah, yet the Lord, as
we shall see set him over the kingdom of Israel. He sometimes turns his
discourse to the tribe of Judah, but only, as it were, accidentally, and as
occasion led him; for he mainly addressed the Ten Tribes. I now come to his
words.
CHAPTER 1.
|
AMOS
1:1
|
|
1. The words of Amos, who was among the
herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of
Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years
before the earthquake.
|
1. Verba Amos, qui fuit inter pastores (vel,
pecuarios) ex Tucua: quae vidit super Israel diebus Uzziah regis Juhudah, et
diebus Jarobeam filii Joas regis Israel, biennio ante motum (vel
casma)
terrae. nominibus, quia de sensu Prophetae satis constabit. Nunc venio ad
inscriptionem libri.)
|
Amos boasts not here, in speaking of his own words,
that he adduced anything as from himself, but avows himself to be only the
minister of God; for he immediately adds that he received them by a vision. God
himself raised up the Prophets and employed their labor; And, at the same time,
guided them by his Spirit, that they might not announce anything but what had
been received from him, but faithfully deliver what had proceeded from him
alone. These two things then, well agree together, — that the prophecies
which follow were the words of Amos and that they were words revealed to him
from above; for the word
hzj,
chese, which Amos uses, properly means, to see by
revelation;Fc1
and these revelations were called prophecies.
But he says, that he
was among the shepherds of
Tekoa. This was a mean towns and had been
shortly before surrounded by walls and had ever been previously a village. He
then mentions not his country, because it was celebrated, or as though he could
derive thereby more authority or renown: but, on the contrary he calls himself a
Tekoan, because God drew him forth from an obscure place, that he might set him
over the whole kingdom of Israel. They are therefore mistaken, as I think, who
suppose that Amos was called one of the shepherds on account of his riches, and
the number of his flocks; for when I weigh every thing, I see not how could this
be. I indeed allow that
µydqn,
nukodim are not only shepherds who do the work, but men possessing
flocks, carrying on a large business; for the king of Moab is said to have been
a
dqn,
nukod, and that he fed large flocks; but it was by hired shepherds. As to
the Prophets I do not see how this can be applied to him; for Tekoa was not a
place famous for wealth; and as I have said, it was a small town, and of no
opulence. I do not then doubt, but that Amos, by saying that he was a shepherd,
pours contempt on the pride of the king of Israel, and of the whole people; for
as they had not deigned to hear the Prophets of God, a keeper of sheep was sent
to them.
It must be further noticed, that he is not called a
shepherd of Tekoa, but from Tekoa; and interpreters have not observed
this preposition. We shall see in chapter seven, that though Amos sprang from
the tribe of Judah, he yet dwelt in the kingdom of Israel: for the priest, after
he had slandered him before the king, bade him to go elsewhere, and to eat his
own bread, and not to disturb the peace of the country. He therefore dwelt there
as a stranger in a land not his own. Had he been rich, and possessing much
wealth, he would have surely dwelt at home: why should he change his place?
Since then it appears evident, that he was a sojourner in the land of Israel, he
was, no doubt, one of the common people. So that his low condition
(ignobilitias—ignobility) was intended for this purpose, —
that God might thereby repress the arrogance of the king of Israel, and of the
whole people; for we know how much inflated they were on account of the
fruitfulness of their land and their riches. Hence Amos was set over them as a
Prophet, being a shepherd, whom God had brought from the
sheepfolds.
The time also is to be observed, when he is said to
have seen these prophecies; it was
in the days of Uzziah king of
Judah, two years before the earth-quake, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of
Joash. What the state of that time was, I
described in explaining the prophecies of Hosea. Sacred history relates that the
kingdom of Israel flourished under the second Jeroboam; for though he was an
ungodly and wicked man, yet God spared then his people, and caused that not only
the ten tribes should remain entire, but also that Jeroboam should enlarge his
kingdom; for he had recovered some cities which had been lost. The state of the
people was then tranquil, and their prosperity was such as filled them with
pride, as it commonly happens. Uzziah also so reigned over the tribe of Judah,
that nothing adverse prevailed there. Shortly after followed the earthquake. The
time this earthquake happened, sacred history does not mention. But Josephus
says, that it was when Uzziah seized on the priestly office, and was smitten
with leprosy. He therefore makes that stroke of leprosy and the earthquake to be
at the same time. But Amos, as well as other Prophets, spoke of it as a thing
well known: thus Zechariah, after the people’s return, refers to it in
chapter 14:
(<381401>Zechariah
14:1),
‘There shall be to
you a terror,
such as was in the
earthquake under king Uzziah.’
He states not the year, but it was then commonly
known.
Then the Prophet meant nothing more than to show by
this event, that he denounced God’s vengeance on the Israelites, when they
were in prosperity, and were immersed, as it were, in their pleasures. And
satiety, as it ever happens, made them ferocious; hence he was not well
received; but his authority is hereby more confirmed to us; for he did not
flatter the people in their prosperity, but severely reproved them; and he also
predicted what could not be foreseen by human judgment, nay, what seemed to be
altogether improbable. Had he not then been endued with the heavenly Spirit, he
could not have foretold future calamities, when the Jews, as I have already
said, as well as the Israelites, and others, promised themselves all kinds of
prosperity; for God then spared the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah,
nor did he execute his judgment on neighboring nations.
We must now observe this also, that the words which
he saw were concerning
Israel. We hence learn, as I have already said
that the Prophet was specifically appointed for the Israelites, though born
elsewhere. But how and on what occasion he migrated into the kingdom of Israel,
we know not; and as to the subject in hand, it matters not much: but it is
probable, as I have said before, that this was designedly done, that God might
check the insolence of the people, who flattered themselves so much in their
prosperity. Since, then, the Israelites had hitherto rejected God’s
servants, they were now constrained to hear a foreigner and a shepherd
condemning them for their sins, and exercising the office of a judge: he who
proclaims, an impending destruction is a celestial herald. This being the case,
we hence see that God had not in vain employed the ministry of this Prophet; for
he is wont to choose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, (1
Corinthians 1) and he takes Prophets and teachers from the lowest grade to
humble the dignity of the world, and puts the invaluable treasure of his
doctrine in earthly vessels, that his power, as Paul teaches us, may be made
more evident
(<460401>1
Corinthians 4:1.)
But there vas a special reason as to the Prophet
Amos; for he was sent on purpose severely to reprove the ten tribes: and, as we
shall see, he handled them with great asperity. For he was not polite, but
proved that he had to do with those who were not to be treated as men, but as
brute beasts; yea, worse in obstinacy than brute beasts; for there is some
docility in oxen and cows, and especially in sheep, for they hear the voice of
their shepherd, and follow where he leads them. The Israelites were all
stubbornness, and wholly untamable. It was then necessary to set over them a
teacher who would not treat them courteously, but exercise towards them his
native rusticity. Let us now proceed; for of the kingdom of Uzziah and of
Jeroboam the son of Joash, the second of that name, we have spoken on the in
<280101>Hosea
1:1 It now follows —
|
AMOS
1:2
|
|
2. And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion,
and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall
mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
|
2. Et dixit, Jehova e Sion ruget, et e
Jerusalem edet (vel, emittet) vocem suam; et lugebunt (vel, disperibunt)
habitacula pastorum; et arescet (vel, pudefiet) vertex Carmeli.
Fc2
|
He employs here the same words which we explained
yesterday in the
<290301>Joel
3:1; but for another purpose. By saying, ‘Jehovah from Zion shall
roar,’ Joel intended to set forth the power of God, who had been for a
time silent, as though he was not able to repel his enemies. As God was then
despised by the ungodly, Joel declares that he had power, by which he could
instantly break down and destroy all his enemies and defend his Church and
chosen people. But now Amos, as he addresses the Israelites, does here defend
the pure worship of God from all contempt and declares to the Israelites, that
how much soever they wearied themselves in their superstitions they still
worshipped their own devices; for God repudiated all the religion they thought
they had. There is, then, to be understood an implied or indirect contrast
between mount Zion and the temples which the first Jeroboam built in Dan and
Bethel. The Israelites imagined that they worshipped the God of their feather
Abraham; and there were in those places greater displays (pompae —
pomps) than at Jerusalem. But the Prophet Amos pours contempt on all these
fictitious forms of worship; as though he said, “Ye indeed boast that the
God of Abraham is honored and worshipped by you; but ye are degenerate, ye are
covenant breakers, ye are perfidious towards God; he dwells not with you, for
the sanctuaries, which you have made for yourselves, are nothing but brothels;
God has chosen no habitation for himself, except mount Zion; there is his
perpetual rest: Roar then will
Jehovah from
Zion.”
We now see what the Prophet had in view: for he not
only shows here, that God was the author of his doctrine, but at the same time
distinguishes between the true God and the idols, which the first Jeroboam made,
when by this artifice he intended to withdraw the ten tribes from the house of
David and wholly to alienate them from the tribe of Judah: it was then that he
set up the calves in Dan and Bethel. The Prophet now shows that all these
superstitions are condemned by the true God:
Jehovah
then shall roar from Zion, he
will utter his voice from Jerusalem. He
no doubt wished here to terrify the Israelites, who thought they had peace with
God. Since, then, they abused his long-suffering, Amos now says that they would
find at length that he was not asleep. “When God then shall long bear with
your iniquities, he will at last rise up for judgment.”
By roaring is signified, as we said yesterday, the
terrible voice of God; but the Prophet here speaks of God’s voice, rather
than of what are called actual judgments really executed, that the Israelites
might learn that the examples of punishments which God executes in the world
happen not by chance, or at random, but proceed from his threatening; in short,
the Prophet intimates that all punishments which God inflicts on the ungodly and
the despisers of his word, are only the executions of what the Prophets
proclaimed, in order that men, should there be any hope of their repentance,
might anticipate the destruction which they hear to be nigh. The Prophet then
commends here very highly the truth of what God teaches, by saying that it is
not what vanishes, but what is accomplished; for when he destroys nations and
kingdoms, it comes to pass according to prophecies:
God
then shall utter his voice from
Jerusalem.
Then it follows,
And mourn shall the habitations
of shepherds.
lba,
abel, means to mourn, and also to be laid waste, and to perish. Either
sense will well suit this place. If we read, mourn, etc., then we must
render the following thus, and
ashamed shall be the head, or top, of Carmel.
But if we read, peris”, etc., then the verb
çb
besh must be translated, wither; and as we know that there were
rich pastures on Carmel, I prefer this second rendering: wither then
shall the top of
Carmel; and the first clause must be
taken thus, and perish shall the
habitations of
shepherds.
As to what is intended, we understand the
Prophet’s meaning to be, that whatever was pleasant and valuable in the
kingdom of Israel would now shortly perish, because God would
utter his voice from
Zion. The meaning then is this, —
“Ye now lie secure, but God will soon, and even suddenly, put forth his
power to destroy you; and this he will do, because he denounces on you
destruction now by me, and will raise up other Prophets to be heralds of his
vengeance: this will God execute by foreign and heathen nations; but yet your
destruction will be according to these threatening which ye now count as
nothing. Ye indeed think them to be empty words; but God will at length show
that what he declares will be fully accomplished.”
With respect to Carmel, there were two
mountains of this name; but as they were both very fertile, there is no need to
take much trouble to inquire of which Carmel the Prophet speaks. Sufficient is
what has been said, — that such a judgment is denounced on the kingdom of
Israel as would consume all its fatness; for as we shall hereafter see, and the
same thing has been already stated by the Prophet Hosea, there was great
fertility as to pastures in that kingdom.
We must, at the same time, observe, that the Prophet,
who was a shepherd, speaks according to his own character, and the manner of
life which he followed. Another might have said, ‘Mourn shall the whole
country, tremble shall the palaces,’ or something like this; but the
Prophet speaks of mount Carmel, and of the habitations of shepherds, for he was
a shepherd. His doctrine no doubt was despised, and many profane men probably
said, “What! he thinks that he is still with his cows and with his sheep;
he boasts that he is God’s prophet, and yet he is ever engrossed by his
stalls and his sheepfolds.” It is then by no means improbable, but that he
was thus derided by scornful men: but he purposely intended to blunt their
petulance, by mingling with what he said as a Prophets those kinds of
expressions which savored of his occupation as a shepherd. Let us now proceed
—
|
AMOS
1:3-5
|
|
3. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of
iron:
|
3. Sic dixit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Damasci et super quatuor non ero propitius ei; quia trituraverunt serris (vel,
tribulis ferreis) Gilead.
|
|
4. But I will send a fire into the house of
Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.
|
4. Et mittam ignem in domum Chasael, et
vorabit palatia Ben-Adad.
|
|
5. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and
cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the scepter
from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto
Kir, saith the LORD.
|
5. Et confringam vectem Damasci et excidam
habitatorem ex Bikath-Aven (vel, ex planitie Aven, vel, molestiae vel, doloris:
alii vertunt, ex templo idoli) et tenentem sceptrum e domo Eden (alii
appellative accipiunt, e domo voluptatis;) et transferetur populus Syriae Kirah
(in Kir) dicit Jehova.
|
It is singular that Amos said that his words were
concerning Israel, and that he should now turn to speak of Damascus and the
country of Syria. This seems inconsistent; for why does he not perform the
office committed to him? why does he not reprove the Israelites? why does he not
threaten them? why does he not show their sins? and why does he speak of the
destruction then nigh to the people of Syria? But it is right here to consider
what his design was. He shows briefly, in the last verse, that ruin was nigh the
Israelites; for God, who had hitherto spared them, was now resolved to ascend
his tribunal. But now, that he might better prepare the Israelites, he shows
that God, as a judge, would call all the neighboring nations to an account. For
had the Prophet threatened the Israelites only, they might have thought that
what they suffered was by chance, when they saw the like things happening to
their neighbors: “How is it credible that these evils and calamities have
flowed from God’s vengeance, since the Idumeans, the Moabites, the
Ammonites, the Syrians, and the Sidonians, are implicated in these evils in
common with ourselves? For if God’s hand pursues us, it is the same with
them: and if it is fate, that with blind force exercises its rule over the
Moabites, the Idumeans, and the Syrians, the same thing, doubtless, is to be
thought of our case.” Thus all the authority of the Prophet must have lost
its power, except the Israelites were made to know that God is the judge of all
nations.
We must also bear in mind, that the kingdom of Israel
was laid waste, together with other neighboring countries, as war had spread far
and wide; for the Assyrian, like a violent storm, had extended through the whole
of that part of the world. Not only, then, the Israelites were distressed by
adversities at that time, but all the nations of which Amos prophesied. It was
hence necessary to add the catalogue which we here find, that the Israelites
might have as many confirmations respecting God’s vengeance, as the
examples which were presented to their eyes, in the dire calamities which
everywhere prevailed. This is to be borne in mind. And then the Prophet regarded
another thing: If the Idumeans, the Moabites, the Syrians, and Ammonites, were
to be treated so severely, and the Prophet had not connected the Israelites with
them, they might have thought that they were to be exempted from the common
punishments because God would be propitious to them; for hypocrites ever harden
themselves the more, whenever God spates them: “See, the Ammonites and the
Moabites are punished; the Idumeans, the Syrians, and other nations, are visited
with judgment: God then is angry with all these; but we are his children, for he
is indulgent to us.” But the Prophet puts here the Israelites in the same
bundle with the Moabites, the Idumeans, and other heathen nations; as though he
said, “God will not spare your neighbors; but think not that ye shall be
exempt from his vengeance, when they shall be led to punishment; I now declare
to you that God will be the judge of you all together.”
We now apprehend the design of the Prophet. He wished
here to set before the eyes of the Israelites the punishment of others to awaken
them, and also to induce them to examine themselves for we often see, that those
who are intractable and refractory in their disposition, when directly addressed
are not very attentive; but when they hear of the sins of others, and especially
when they hear something of punishment, they will attend. The Prophet therefore
designed by degrees to lead the Israelites to a teachable state of mind, for he
knew them to be torpid in their indulgences, and also blinded by presumption, so
that they could not be easily brought under the yoke: hence he sets before them
the punishment which was soon to fall on neighboring nations.
We must yet observe that there was another reason I
do not throw aside what I have already mentioned; but the Prophet no doubt had
this also in view, — that God would punish the Syrians, because they
cruelly raged against the Israelites especially against Gilead and its
inhabitants. As God, then, would inflict so grievous a punishment on the
Syrians, because they so cruelly treated the inhabitants of Gilead, what was to
be expected by the Israelites themselves who had been insolent towards God, who
had violated his worship who had robbed him of his honor, who had in their turn
destroyed one another! For, as we shall hereafter see, there was among them no
equity, no humanity; they had forgotten all reason. Since, then, the Israelites
were such, how could they hope that so many and so detestable crimes should go
unpunished, when they saw that the Syrians, though uncircumcised, were not to be
spared, because they so cruelly treated professed enemies, on whom they lawfully
made war?
I now come to the words of the Prophet:
Thus saith Jehovah, For three
transgressions of Damascus, and for four, will not be propitious to
it; literally, I will not convert it
Fc3:
but I take this actively that God would not turn himself to mercy, or that he
would not be propitious to Damascus. We know that Damascus was the capital of
Syria; And the Prophet here, by mentioning a part for the whole, threatens the
whole people, and summons all the Syrians to God’s tribunal, because they
had inhumanely treated, as we shall see, the city of Gilead. But he says, God
will not be propitious for three
and four transgressions of Damascus.
Some take this meaning, “For three transgressions I have been
propitious, for four I will not be.” But there is no need of adding
anything to the Prophet’s words; for the most suitable sense here is that
for the many sins of Damascus God would not be propitious to it: and the
Prophet, I have no doubt, intended by the two numbers to set forth the
irreclaimable perverseness of the Syrians. Seven in Scripture is an indefinite
number, and is taken, as it is well known, to express what is countless. By
saying then, three and four
transgressions, it is the same as if he had
said seven: but the Prophet more strikingly intimates the progress the Syrians
made in their transgressions, until they became so perverse that there was no
hope of repentance. This then is the reason, that God declares that he would no
more forgive the Syrians, inasmuch as without measure or limit they burst forth
into transgressions and ceased not, though a time for change was given them.
This is the true meaning. And the Prophet repeats the same form of speech in
speaking of Gaza, of Amman, of Edom, and of other nations.
Let us learn from this place, that God, whom the
world regards as too cruel, when he takes vengeance on sins, shows really and by
sure proof the truth of what he declares so often of himself in Scripture, and
that is, that he bears long and does not quickly take vengeance: though men are
worthy to perish yet the Lord suspends his judgments. We have a remarkable proof
of this in these prophecies; for the Prophet speaks not only of one people but
of many. Hence God endured many transgressions not only in the Syrians, but also
in other nations: there was not then a country in which a testimony to
God’s forbearance did not exist. It hence appears, that the world unjustly
complains of too much rigor, when God takes vengeance, for he ever waits till
iniquity, as it was stated yesterday, reaches its highest
point.
There is besides presented to us here a dreadful
spectacle of sins among so many nations. At the same time, when we compare that
age with ours, it is certain that greater integrity existed then: all kinds of
evils so overflow at this day, that compared with the present, the time of Amos
was the golden age; and yet we hear him declaring here, that the people of Judah
and of Israel, and all the other nations, were monstrously wicked, so that God
could not bring them to repentance. For he testifies not here in vain, that he
would punish wickedness wholly obstinate since they had not turned to him, who
had advanced to the number seven; that is, who had sinned, as it has been before
stated, without measure or limits: and this ought also to be noticed in the
Prophet’s words; but I cannot now proceed farther.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest
us to be of a disposition so hard and rebellious, that we are not, without great
difficulty, drawn to thee, — O grant, that we may at least be subdued by
the threatenings thou daily denouncest on us, and be so subdued, that being also
drawn by thy word, we may give up ourselves to thee, and not only suffer
ourselves to be constrained by punishments and collections, but also obey thee
with a willing mind, and most readily offer ourselves to thee as a sacrifice of
obedience, so that being ruled by the Spirit of thy Son, we may at length attain
that blessed rest, which has been prepared for us by the same thy Son our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTIETH
We explained in yesterday’s Lecture, that what
the Prophet means by the three and four transgressions of Damascus, is perverse
and incurable wickedness; for God here declares that he had borne long enough
with the sins of Damascus, and that now he is in a manner forced to proceed to
extreme rigor, seeing that there was no hope of amendment. But what follows may
seem strange; for immediately the Prophet subjoins,
Because they have threshed
Gilead with iron wains, or serrated machines.
He records here only one wickedness: where, then, were the seven of which he
spoke? The answer may be easily given. By naming the three and four sins of
Damascus, he means not different kinds of sins, but rather the perverseness
which we have mentioned; for they had been extremely rebellious against God, and
God had suspended his vengeance, till it became evident that they were
unhealable. It was, therefore, not necessary to mention here seven different
sins; for it was enough that Damascus, which means the kingdom of Syria, was
held bound by such a degree of obstinacy, that no remedy could be applied to its
transgressions; for it had for a long time tried the patience of
God.
Now the Prophet subjoins,
I will send fire unto the house
of Hazael,
which will devour the palaces
of Ben-hadad. The Prophet speaks still of the
kingdom of Syria; for we know that both Ben-hadad and Hazael were kings of
Syria. But Jerome is much mistaken, who thinks that Ben-hadad was here put in
the second place, as if he had been the successor of Hazael,.
Fc4 while
sacred history relates that Hazael came to Elisha when Ben-hadad was ill in his
bed,
(<120809>2
Kings 8:9;) and he was sent to request an answer. Now the Prophet declared that
Hazael would be the king of Syria, and declared this not without tears; for he
pitied his own people, of which this Syrian would be the destroyer. After he
returned home, he strangled Ben-hadad, and took to himself the royal dignity.
But it is common enough in Scripture to speak of a thing present, and then, as
in this place, to add what has past,
I will send fire into the house
of Hazael, and this fire will devour the palaces of
Ben-hadad; as though he said, “I
will destroy the kingdom of Syria, I will consume it as with burning.” But
he first names the house of Hazael, and then the palaces of Ben-hadad; as though
he said, “No ancientness shall preserve that kingdom from being
destroyed.” For, metaphorically, under the word fire, he designates every
kind of consumption; and we know how great is the violence of fire. It is then
as though he said, that no wealth, no strength, no fortifications, would stand
in the way to prevent the kingdom of Syria from being
destroyed.
He then
adds, I will break in pieces the
bar of
Damascus.
The Prophet confirms what he had already said; for Damascus, being strongly
fortified, might have seemed unassailable. By bar, the Prophet, mentioning a
part for the whole, meant strongholds and everything which could keep out
enemies. Nothing, then, shall prevent enemies from taking possession of the city
of Damascus. How so? Because the Lord will break in pieces its
bars.
It is then added,
I will cut
off, or destroy,
the inhabitant from Bikoth
Aven, or from the plain of Aven. It is
uncertain whether this was the proper name of a place or not, though this is
probable; and yet it means a plain, derived from a verb, which signifies to cut
into two, or divide, because a plain or a valley divides or separates mountains;
hence a valley or plain is called in Hebrew a division. Now, we know that there
were most delightful plains in the kingdom of Syria, and even near Damascus.
Aven also may have been the name of a place, though it means in Hebrew
trouble or laborer. But whatever it may have been, the Prophet no doubt
declares here, that all the plains nigh Damascus, and in the kingdom of Syria,
would be deprived of their inhabitants.
I will
then
destroy the inhabitant from the
plain of Aven, and the holder of the scepter from the house of
Eden, or from the house of pleasure.
This also may have been the name of a place, and from its situation a region,
which, by its pleasantness greatly delighted its inhabitants. But the Prophet, I
have no doubt, alludes, in these two words, to trouble and
pleasure. Removed, he
says, shall be the people of Syria
into
Kir. The purport of this is, that the kingdom
of Syria would be wasted, so that the people would be taken into Assyria; for
the Prophet declares that the Assyrians would be the conquerors, and remove the
spoils into their own kingdom, and lead away the people as captives; for the
word city, as a part for the whole, is put here for the whole land. It now
follows —
|
AMOS
1:6-8
|
|
6. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them
up to Edom:
|
6. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Gazae et super quatuor, non ero propitius ei, quia transtulerunt captivitatem
perfectam, ut concluderent in Edom:
|
|
7. But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
which shall devour the palaces thereof:
|
7. Et mittam ignem in murum Gazae, qui
devorabit palatia ejus:
|
|
8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from
Ashdod, and him that holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine
hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the
Lord GOD.
|
8. Et excidam habitatorem de Azoto et tenentem
sceptrum de Ascalon; et convertam (vel, reducam) manum meam super Ekron, et
peribunt reliquiae Philistinorum, dicit Dominus Jehova.
|
Amos directs here his discourse against Gaza, which
the Philistine occupied. It was situated in the tribe of Judah, towards the sea;
but as the Anakims were its inhabitants, the Philistine kept possession of it.
Then the Jews had these enemies as
aktwrhkouv,
(guardians of the shore), who had a greater opportunity of doing harm
from being so near: and we may learn from the Prophet’s words, that the
Philistines, who dwelt at Gaza, when they saw the Israelites oppressed by their
enemies, joined their forces to foreign allies, and that the Jews did the same.
God then now denounces punishment on them.
As to the word, Gaza, some think that it was given to
the city, because Cambyses, when warring with the Egyptians, had deposited there
his money and valuable furniture; and because the Persian call a treasure,
gaza; but this is frivolous. We indeed know that the Greek translators
ever put
g
(gamma) for an
[,
(oin); as of Omorrha they make Gomorrha, so of Oza they make Gaza.
Besides, the city had this name before the time of Cambyses. It was then more
probably thus called from its strength: and that the Greeks rendered it Gaza was
according to their usual practice, as I have said as to other words. But there
were two Gazas; when the first was demolished, the inhabitants built another
near the sea. Hence Luke, in the 8th chapter of the Acts says, that
Gaza was a desert; and he thus makes a difference between Gaza on the sea-side
and the old one, which had been previously demolished. But Amos speaks of the
first Gaza; for he threatens to it that destruction, through which it happened
that the city was removed to the shores of the Mediterranean.
I come non to the Prophet’s words: “God,
he says, will not be propitious
to Gaza for three and four transgressions,
as the Philistine had so provoked God, that they were now wholly unworthy of
pardon and mercy. I reminded you in yesterday’s Lecture, that there is
presented to us here a sad spectacles but yet useful; for we here see so many
people in such a corrupted state, that their wickedness was become to God
intolerable: but at this day the state of things in the world is more corrupt,
for iniquity overflows like a deluge. Whatever then men may think of their
evils, the Lord from heaven sees how great and how irreclaimable is their
obstinacy. It is nothing that some throw blame on others, or look for some
alleviation, since all are ungodly and wicked: for we see that God here declares
that he would, at the same time, take vengeance on many nations. The Idumeans
might then have objected, and said, that their neighbors were nothing better;
others might have made the same excuse; every one might have had his defense
ready, if such a pretext availed, that all were alike implicated in the same
guilt and wickedness. But we see that God appears here as a judge against all
nations. Let us not then be deceived by vain delusions, when we see that others
are like us; let every one know that he must bear his own burden before God:
I will
not then
be propitious for three and for
four transgressions.
Because they carried
away, he says,
a complete
captivity. The Prophet records here a
special crime, — that the Gazites took away Jews and Israelites, and
removed them as captives into Idumea, and confined them there. I have already
said that it was not the Prophet’s design to enumerate all their sins, but
that he was content to mention one crime, that the Israelites might understand
that they were involved in a heavier guilt, because they had grievously offended
both God and men. If then so severe a vengeance was to be taken on Gaza, they
ought to have known, that a heavier vengeance awaited them, because they were
guilty of more and greater sins. But he says that they had effected a complete
captivity, inasmuch as they had spared neither women, nor children, nor old men;
for captivity is called perfect or complete, when no distinction
is made, but when all are taken away indiscriminately, without any selection.
They then carried away a complete captivity, so that no pity either for sex or
for age touched them: that they
might shut them up, he says,
in Edom.
Now follows a denunciation of punishment, —
that God would send a fire on the
wall of Gaza, to devour its palaces. And it
hence appears that Gaza was a splendid town, and sumptuously built; and for this
reason the Prophet speaks of its palaces. He shows, at the same time, that
neither strength nor wealth would prevent God from executing the punishment
which the Gazites deserved. He names also other cities of Palestine, even
Ascalon and Azdod, or Azotus, and Ecron. These
cities the Philistine then possessed. The Prophet then intimates, that
wheresoever they might flee, there would be no safe place for them; for the Lord
would expose as a prey to enemies, not only Gala, but also all the other cities.
We may conclude that Ascalon was the first city; for there was the royal
residence, though Gaza was the capital of the whole nation; it might yet be that
the pleasantness of its situation, and other attractions, might have induced the
king to reside there, though it was not the metropolis;
Him
then who holds the scepter I will
cut off from Ascalon. He at last concludes,
that all the remnants of Palestine would be destroyed. Now, whenever God
denounces destruction on the Jews, he ever gives some hope, and says that the
remnant would be saved: but here the Prophet declares that whatever remained of
that nation would be destroyed; for God purposed to destroy them altogether, and
also their very name.
He therefore adds, that
Jehovah
Lord had
spoken, saith the Lord
Jehovah. This was added for
confirmation; for the Philistine were then in possession of many and strong
defenses, so that they boldly laughed to scorn the threatening of the Prophet.
He therefore brings forward here the name of God. Now follows the prediction
respecting Tyrus: —
|
AMOS
1:9-10
|
|
9. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered
not the brotherly covenant:
|
9. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Tyri et super quatuor non ero ei propitius, quia concluserunt captivitatem
perfectam in Edom, et non recordati sunt foederis fratrum:
|
|
10. But I will send a fire on the wall of
Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
|
10. Et mittam ignem in murum Tyri, qui comedet
palatia ejus.
|
He uses nearly the same words respecting Tyrus which
he did respecting Gaza, and charges it with the same sin, which was that of
removing the Jews from their country, as refugees and exiles, into Idumea, and
of selling them as captives to the Idumeans. As of all the rest, he declares the
same of Tyrus, that they had not lightly sinned, and that therefore no moderate
chastisement was sufficient; for they had for a long time abused God’s
forbearance, and had become stubborn in their wickedness.
But what he says, that
they had not been mindful of the
covenant of brethren, some refer to
Hiram and David; for we know that they had a brotherly intercourse, and called
each other by the name of brothers; so great was the kindness between them. Some
then think that the Tyrians are here condemned for having forgotten this
covenant; for there ought to have remained among them some regard for the
friendship which had existed between the two kings. But I know not whether this
is too strained a view: I rather incline to another, and that is, that the
Syrians delivered up the Jews and the Israelites to the Idumeans, when yet they
knew them to be brethren: and they who implicate themselves in a matter of this
kind are by no means excusable. When I see one conspiring for the ruin of his
own brother, I see a detestable and a monstrous thing; if I abhor not a
participation in the same crime, I am involved in the same guilt. When therefore
the Syrians saw the Idumeans raging cruelly against their brethren, for they
were descended from the same family, they ought doubtless to have shown to the
Idumeans how alienated they were from all humanity and how perfidious they were
against their own brethren and relatives. Now the Prophet says, that they
had been unmindful of the
covenant of brethren, because they made
themselves assistants in so great and execrable a crime as that of carrying away
Jews into Idumea, and of shutting them up there, when they knew that the
Idumeans sought nothing else but the entire ruin of their own brethren. This
seems to be the real meaning of the Prophet.
But he adds, that
God would send a fire on the wall
of Tyrus to consume its palaces. When this
happened, cannot with certainty be known: for though Tyrus was demolished by
Alexander, as Gaza also was, these cities, I doubt not, suffered this calamity
long before the coming of Alexander of Macedon; and it is probable, as I have
already reminded you, that the Assyrians laid waste these countries, and also
took possession of Tyrus, though they did not demolish that city; for in
Alexander’s time there was no king there, it had been changed into a
republic; the people were free, and had the chief authority. There must then
have been there no small changes, for the state of the city and its government
were wholly different from what they had been. We may then conclude that Tyrus
was laid waste by the Assyrians, but afterwards recovered strength, and was a
free city in the time of Alexander the Great. Let us now proceed: for I dwell
not on every word, as we see that the same expressions are repeated by the
Prophet.
|
AMOS
1:11-12
|
|
11. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all
pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for
ever:
|
11. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Edom et super quatuor non ero ei propitius, quia persequutus est gladio fratrem
suum, et violavit misericordias suas, et diripuit in seculum ira ejus, et
indignationem servavit perpetuo:
|
|
12. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which
shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
|
12. Et mittam ignem in Theman, qui comedet
palatia Bozrah.
|
The Prophet now passes to the Idumeans themselves. He
had denounced ruin on the uncircumcised nations who delivered up the Jews into
their hands: but they deserved a much heavier punishment, because their crime
was much more atrocious. The Idumeans derived their origin, as it is well known,
from their common father Isaac and bore the same symbol of God’s covenant,
for they were circumcised. Since nearness of blood, and that sacred union, could
not make them gentle to the Jews, we hence perceive how brutal was their
inhumanity. They were then unworthy of being forgiven by God, when he became so
severe a judge against heathen nations. But the Prophet says now, that the
Idumeans had sinned more than their neighbors, and that their obstinacy was
unhealable and that hence they could no longer be borne, for they had too long
abused God’s forbearance, who had withheld his vengeance until this
time.
He charges them with this crime, that
they pursued their brother with
the sword. There is here an anomaly of the
number, for he speaks of the whole people. Edom then pursued his brother, that
is, the Jews. But the Prophet has intentionally put the singular number to
enhance their crime: for he here placed here, as it were, two men, Edom and
Jacob, who were really brothers, and even twins. Was it not then a most
execrable ferocity in Edom to pursue his own brother Jacob? He then sets before
us here two nations as two men, that he might more fully exhibit the barbarity
of the Idumeans in forgetting their kindred, and in venting their rage against
their own blood. They
have
then pursued their brother with
the sword; that is, they have been
avowed enemies, for they had joined themselves to heathen nations. When the
Assyrians came against the Israelites, the Idumeans put on arms: and this,
perhaps, happened before that war; for when the Syrians and Israelites conspired
against the Jews, it is probable that the Idumeans joined in the same alliance.
However this may have been, the Prophet reproaches them with cruelty for arming
themselves against their own kindred, without any regard for their own
blood.
He afterwards adds,
They have destroyed their own
compassions; some render the words,
“their own bowels;” and others in a strained and improper manner
transfer the relative to the sons of Jacob, as though the Prophet had said, that
Edom had destroyed the compassions, which were due, on account of their near
relationship, from the posterity of Jacob. But the sense of the Prophet is
clearly this, — that they destroyed their own compassions, which means,
that they put off all sense of religion, and cast aside the first affections of
nature. He then calls those the compassions of Edom, even such as he ought to
have been influenced by: but as he had thrown aside all regard for humanity,
there was not in him that compassion which he ought to have
had.
He then adds,
His anger has perpetually
raged. He now compares the cruelty of
the Idumeans to that of wild beasts; for they raged like fierce wild animals,
and spared not their own blood. They then raged perpetually, even endlessly, and
retained their indignation
perpetually. The Prophet seems here to allude
to Edom or Esau, the father of the nation; for he cherished long, we know, his
wrath against his brother; as he dared not to kill his brother during his
father’s life. Hence he said, I will wait till my father’s death,
then I will avenge myself,
(<012741>Genesis
27:41) Since Esau then nourished this cruel hatred against his brother Jacob,
the prophet here charges his posterity with the same crime; as though he had
said, that they were too much like their father, or too much retained his
perverse disposition, as they cherished and ever retained revenge in their
hearts, and were wholly implacable. There may have been other causes of hatred
between the Idumeans and the posterity of Jacob: but they ought,
notwithstanding, whatever displeasure there may have been, to have forgiven
their brethren. It was a monstrous thing past endurance, when a regard for their
own blood did not reconcile those who were, by sacred bonds, connected together.
We now perceive the object of the Prophet: and we here learn, that the Idumeans
were more severely condemned than those mentioned before, and for this reason,
— because they raged so cruelly against their own
kindred.
He says in the last place,
I will send fire on Teman, to
consume the palaces of Bozrah. By fire
he ever means any kind of destruction. But he compares God’s vengeance to
a burning fire. We know that when fire has once taken hold, not only on a house,
but on a whole city, there is no remedy. So now the Prophet says, that
God’s vengeance would be dreadful, that it would consume whatever hatred
there was among them: I will then send fire on Teman; which, as it is
well known, was the first city of Idumea. Let us now proceed
—
|
AMOS
1:13-15
|
|
13. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead,
that they might enlarge their border:
|
13. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
filiorum Ammon, et super quatuor non ero ei propitius; quia secuerunt gravidas
(praegnantes) Gilead, ut propagarent suum terminum:
|
|
14. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of
Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of
battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
|
14. Et accendam ignem in muro Rabbah, qui
vorabit palatia ejus in clamore (vel, jubilo) in die proelii, in turbine die
tempestatis:
|
|
15. And their king shall go into captivity, he
and his princes together, saith the LORD.
|
15. Et transibit rex eorum in captivitatem,
ipse et principes ejus simul, dicit Jehova.
|
He now prophesies against the Ammonites, who also
derived their origin from the same common stock; for they were the posterity of
Lot, as it is well known; and Lot was counted as the son of Abraham, as Abraham,
having taken him with him from his country brought him up, no doubt, as his own
son. Then Abraham was the common father of the Jews and of the Ammonites. Now,
when the children of Ammon, without any regard to relationship, joined their
forces to those of enemies, and conspired together, their cruelty admitted of no
excuse. And there is no doubt but that they were guilty of many other crimes;
but God, by his Prophet, enumerates not all the sins for which he had purposed
to punish them, and only points out distinctly, as in passing, but one sin, and
generally declares, that such people were utterly past hope, for they had
hardened themselves in their wickedness.
He therefore says of the children of Ammon, that they
rent the pregnant women. Some take
twrh,
erut, for
µyrh,
erim, mountains; but I see not what can induce them, unless they think it
strange that pregnant women were rent, that the Ammonites might extend further
their borders; and for this ends it would be more suitable to regard the word as
meaning mountains; as though he said, “They have cut through mountains,
even the earth itself; there has been no obstacle through which the Ammonites
have not made their way: an insatiable cupidity has so inflamed them, that they
have rent the very mountains, and destroyed the whole order of nature.”
Others take mountains metaphorically for fortified cities; for when one seeks to
take possession of a kingdoms cities stand in his way like mountains. But this
exposition is too strained.
Now, since
twrh,
erut, mean women with child, the word, I doubt not, is to be taken in its
genuine and usual sense, as we see it to be done in Hosea. But why does the
Prophet say, that the Ammonites had rent pregnant women? It is to show, that
their cupidity was so frantic, that they abstained not from any kind of cruelty.
It is possible that one be so avaricious as to seek to devour up the whole
earth, and yet be inclined to clemency. Alexander, the Macedonian, though a
bloody man, did yet show some measure of kindness: but there have been others
much more cruel; as the Persian, of whom Isaiah speaks, who desired not money,
but shed blood,
(<231317>Isaiah
13:17) So the Prophet says here of the Ammonites, that they not only, by
unlawful means, extended their borders, used violence and became robbers who
spoiled others of their property, but also that they did not spare even women
with child. Now this is the worst thing in the storming of towns. When a town
has wearied out an enemy, both pregnant women, and children, and infants may,
through fury, be destroyed: but this is a rare thing, and never allowed, except
under peculiar circumstances. He then reproaches the Ammonites, not only for
their cupidity, but also for having committed every kind of cruelty to satisfy
their greediness: they have then
torn asunder women with child, that they might extend their
borders.
I will therefore kindle a fire in
the wall of
hbr,
Rabe,
which shall devour its
palaces, (the Prophet adds nothing new, I shall
therefore go on,) and this by
tumult, or by glamour, in the day of war. The
Prophet means that enemies would come and suddenly lay waste the kingdom of
Ammon; and that this would be the case, as a sudden fire lays hold on wood, in
the day of war; that is as soon as the enemy attacked them, it would immediately
put them to fight, and execute the vengeance they deserved,
by a whirlwind in the day of
tempest. By these figurative terms the
Prophet intimates that the calamity destructive to the Ammonites, would be
sudden.
He finally adds,
And their king shall go into
captivity, he and his princes together.
As
µklm,
melcam, was an idol of the people, some regard it here as a proper name;
but he says, wyrçw awh
µklm, melcam eva ushariu, ‘their
king, he and his princes;’ hence the Prophet, no doubt, names the king of
Ammon, for he joins with him his princes. He says then that the ruin of the
kingdom would be such, that the king himself would be led captive by the
Assyrians. This prediction was no doubt fulfilled, though there is no history of
it extant.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou
hast designed, by so many examples, to teach the world the fear of thy name, we
may improve under thy mighty hand, and not abuse thy forbearance, nor gather for
ourselves a treasure of dreadful vengeance by our obstinacy and irreclaimable
wickedness, but seasonably repent while thou invites us, and while it is the
accepted time, and while thou offerest to us reconciliation, that being brought
to nothing in ourselves, we may gather courage through grace, which is offered
to us through Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-FIRST
|
AMOS
2:1-3
|
|
1. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into
lime:
|
1. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Moab et super quatuor non convertam eum (vel, non convertam me, sicut prius
diximus,) quia ipse combussitossa regis Edom in calcem:
|
|
2. But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it
shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with
shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:
|
2. Et mittam ignem in Moab qui comedet
palatia,
(twyrq,
alii vertunt urbium appellative: sed magis arbitror esse proprium nomen loci) et
morietur in tumultu Moab, in strepitu, in clangore tubae.
|
|
3. And I will cut off the judge from the midst
thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the
LORD.
|
3. Et excidam judicem e medio ejus, et omnes
principes ejus occidam cum eo, dicit Jehova.
|
Now Amos prophesies here against the Moabites, and
proclaims respecting them what we have noticed respecting the other nations,
— that the Moabites were wholly perverse, that no repentance would be
hoped for, as they had added crimes to crimes, and reached the highest pitch of
wickedness; for, as we have said, the number, seven, imports this. The Prophet
then charges the Moabites here with perverseness: and hence we learn that
God’s vengeance did not come hastily upon them, for their wickedness was
intolerable since they thus followed their crimes. But he mentions one thing in
particular, — that they had
burnt the bones of the king of Edom.
Some take bones here for courage, as though the
Prophet had said, that the whole strength of Edom had been reduced into ashes:
but this is a strained exposition; and its authors themselves confess that they
are forced to it by necessity, when yet there is none. The comment given by the
Rabbis does not please them, —
that the body of a certain king
had been burnt, and then that the Moabites had
strangely applied the ashes for making a cement instead of lime. Thus the Rabbis
trifle in their usual way; for when an obscure place occurs, they immediately
invent some fable; though there be no history, yet they exercise their wit in
fabulous glosses; and this I wholly dislike: but what need there is of running
to allegory, when we may simply take what the Prophet says, that the body of the
king of Edom had been burnt: for the Prophet, I doubt not, charges the Moabites
with barbarous cruelty. To dig up the bodies of enemies, and to burn their
bones, — this is an inhuman deed, and wholly barbarous. But it was more
detestable in the Moabites, who had some connection with the people of Edom; for
they descended from the same family; and the memory of that relationship ought
to have continued, since Abraham brought up Lot, the father of the Moabites; and
thus the Moabites were under an obligation to the Idumeans. If then any humanity
existed in them, they ought to have restrained their passions, so as not to
treat so cruelly their brethren. Now, when they exceeded all moderation in war,
and raged against dead bodies, and burnt the bones of the dead, it was, as I
have said, an extremely barbarous conduct. The meaning then is, that the
Moabites could no longer be borne with; for in this one instance, they gave an
example of savage cruelty. Had there been a drop of humanity in them, they would
have treated more kindly their brethren, the Idumeans; but they burnt into
lime, that is, into ashes,
the bones of the
king of Edom, and thereby proved that they had
forgotten all humanity and justice. We now understand the Prophet’s
meaning.
He therefore adds a threatening,
I will send a fire on Moab, which
shall devour the palaces of
twyrq,
Koriut.
We have stated that what the Prophet means by these modes of speaking is that
God would consume the Moabites by a violent punishment as by a burning fire,
that fortified places could not hinder him from executing his vengeance, and
that though they were proud of their palaces, yet these would avail them
nothing.
And he subjoins,
Moab shall die with tumult, with
noise, with the sound of the trumpet;
that is, I will send strong enemies, who will come and make no peace with the
Moabites, but will take possession of every place, and of fortified cities, by
force and by the sword. For what the Prophet means by tumult, by shouting, by
the sound of the trumpet, is, that the Moabites would not come under the power
of their enemies by certain agreements and compacts, as when a voluntary
surrender is made, which usually mitigates the hostile rage of enemies; no, he
says, it shall not be so; for their enemies shall have not only their wealth but
their lives also.
He finally adds,
And I will cut off the judge from
the midst of her, and will slay her princes, saith
Jehovah. God here declares, that the kingdom of
the Moabites and the people shall be no more; for we know that men cannot exist
as a body without some civil government. Wherever then there is an assemblage of
men, there must be princes to rule and govern them. Hence, when God declares
that there would be no more a judge among the Moabites, it is the same thing as
if he had said, that their name would be blotted out; for had the people of Moab
continued, some princes must have necessarily, as we have said, remained among
them. When princes then are destroyed, the people must also perish, for there is
no security for them. The Prophet then denounces not here a temporary punishment
on the Moabites, but utter ruin, from which they were never to rise. This is the
meaning. Let us now proceed —
|
AMOS
2:4-5
|
|
4. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his
commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers
have walked:
|
4. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Jehudah, et super quatuor non convertam cum; quia spreverunt (vel, abjecerunt)
legem Jehovae, et statuta ejus non custodierunt; et errare eos fecerunt mendacia
sua, post quae ambulaverunt patres ipsorum:
|
|
5. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it
shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
|
5. Et mittam ignem in Jehudah, qui devorabit
palatia Jerusalem.
|
Amos turns now his discourse to the tribe of Judah,
and to that kingdom, which still continued in the family of David. He has
hitherto spoken of heathen and uncircumcised nations: what he said of them was a
prelude of the destruction which was nigh the chosen people; for when God spared
not others who had through ignorance sinned, what was to become of the people of
Israel, who had been taught in the law? For a servant, knowing his
master’s will, and doing it not, is worthy of many stripes,
(<421247>Luke
12:47) God could not, then, forgive the children of Abraham, whom he had adopted
as his peculiar people, when he inflicted each grievous punishments on heathen
nations, whose ignorance, as it is commonly thought by men, was excusable. It is
indeed true, that all who sin without law will justly perish, as Paul says in
Romans 2, but when a comparison is made between the children of Israel and the
wretched heathens, who were immersed in errors, the latter were doubtless worthy
of being pardoned, when compared with that people who had betrayed their
perverseness, and, as it were, designedly resolved to bring on themselves the
vengeance of God.
The Prophet then having hitherto spoken of the
Gentiles, turns his discourse now to the chosen people, the children of Abraham.
But he speaks of the tribe of Judah, from which he sprang, as I said at the
beginning; and he did this, lest any one should charge him with favoring his own
countrymen: he had, indeed, migrated into the kingdom of Israel; but he was
there a stranger. We shall now see how severely he reproved them. Had he, then,
been silent as to the tribe of Judah, he might have been subject to calumny; for
many might have said, that there was a collusion between him and his own
countrymen and that he concealed their vices, and that he fiercely inveighed
against their neighbors, through a wicked emulation, in order to transfer the
kingdom again into the family of David. Hence, that no such suspicion might
tarnish his doctrine, the Prophet here summons to judgment the tribe of Judah,
and speaks in no milder language of the Jews than of other nations: for he says,
that they, through their stubbornness, had so provoked God’s wrath, that
there was no hope of pardon; for such was the mass of their vices, that God
would now justly execute extreme vengeance, as a moderate chastisement would not
be sufficient. We now then understand the Prophet’s
design.
I come now to the words:
For they have
despised, he says,
the law of Jehovah.
Here he charges the Jews with apostasy; for they
had cast aside the worship of God, and the pure doctrine of religion. This was a
crime the most grievous. We hence see, that the Prophet condemns here freely and
honestly as it became him, the vices of his own people, so that there was no
room for calumny, when he afterwards became a severe censor and reprover of the
Israelites; for he does not lightly touch on something wrong in the tribe of
Judah, but says that they were apostates and perfidious, having cast aside the
law of God. But it may be asked, why the Prophet charges the Jews with a crime
so atrocious, since religions as we have seen in the Prophecies of Hosea, still
existed among them? But to this there is a ready answer: the worship of God was
become corrupt among them, though they had not so openly departed from it as the
Israelites. There remained, indeed, circumcision among the Israelites; but their
sacrifices were pollutions, their temples were brothels: they thought that they
worshipped God; but as a temple had been built at Bethel contrary to God’s
command, the whole worship was a profanation. The Jews were somewhat purer; but
they, we know, had also degenerated from the genuine worship of God. Hence the
Prophet does not unjustly say here, that they had despised the law of
God.
But we must notice the explanation which immediately
follows, — that they kept
not his statutes. The way then by which Amos
proves that the Jews were covenant-breakers, and that having repudiated
God’s law, they had fallen into wicked superstitions, is by saying, that
they kept not the precepts of God. It may, however, appear that he treats them
here with too much severity; for one might not altogether keep God’s
commands either through ignorance or carelessness, or some other fault, and yet
be not a covenant-breaker or an apostate. I answer, — That in these words
of the Prophet, not mere negligence is blamed in the Jews; but they are
condemned for designedly, that is, knowingly and willfully departing from the
commandments of God, and devising for themselves various modes of worship. It is
not then to keep the precepts of God, when men continue not under his law, but
audaciously contrive for themselves new forms of worship; they regard not what
God commands, but lay hold on anything pleasing that comes to their minds. This
crime the Prophet now condemns in the Jews: and hence it was that they had
despised the law of God. For men should never assume so much as to change any
thing in the worship of God; but due reverence for God ought to influence them:
were they persuaded of this — that there is no wisdom but what comes from
God — they would surely confine themselves within his commands. Whenever
then they invent new and fictitious forms of worship, they sufficiently show
that they regard not what the Lord wills, what he enjoins, what he forbids.
Thus, then, they despise his law, and even cast it away.
This is a remarkable passage; for we see, first, that
a most grievous sin is condemned by the Prophet, and that sin is, that the Jews
confined not themselves to God’s law, but took the liberty of innovating;
this is one thing: and we also learn how much God values obedience, which is
better, as it is said in another place, than all sacrifices,
(<091522>1
Samuel 15:22) And that we may not think this a light or a trifling sin, let us
notice the expression — that they despised the law of God. Every one ought
to dread this as the most monstrous thing; for we cannot despise the law of God
without insulting his majesty. And yet the Holy Spirit declares here, that we
repudiate and reject the law of God, except we wholly follow what it commands,
and continue within the limits prescribed by it. We now perceive what the
Prophet means.
But he also adds, that
their own lies deceived or caused
them to go astray. He here confirms his
preceding doctrine; for the Jews had ever a defense ready at hand, that they did
with good intent what the Prophet condemned in them. They, forsooth! sedulously
worshipped God, though they mixed their own leaven, by which their sacrifices
were corrupted: it was not their purpose to spend their substance in vain, to
undergo great expenses in sacrifices, and to undertake much labor, had they not
thought that it was service acceptable to God! As then the pretense of good
intention, (as they say,) ever deceives the unbelieving, the Prophet condemns
this pretense, and shows it to be wholly fallacious, and of no avail. “It
is nothing,” he says, “that they pretend before God some good
intention; their own lies deceive them.” And Amos, no doubt, mentions here
these lies, in opposition to the commands of God. As soon then as men swerve
from God’s word, they involve themselves in many delusions, and cannot but
go astray; and this is deserving of special notice. We indeed see how much
wisdom the world claims for itself: for as soon as we invent anything we are
greatly delighted with it; and the ape, according to the old proverb, is ever
pleased with its own offspring. But this vice especially prevails, when by our
devices we corrupt and adulterate the worship of God. Hence the Prophet here
declares, that whatever is added to God’s word, and whatever men invent in
their own brains is a lie: “All this,” he says, “is nothing
but imposture.” We now see of what avail is good intention: by this indeed
men harden themselves; but they cannot make the Lord to retract what he has once
declared by the mouth of his Prophet. Let us then take heed to continue within
the boundaries of God’s word, and never to leap over either on this or on
that side; for when we turn aside ever so little from the pure word of God, we
become immediately involved in many deceptions.
It then follows,
After which have walked their
fathers; literally it is, Which their fathers have walked after
them:
Fc5 but we
have given the sense. The Prophet here exaggerates their sin, the insatiable
rage of the people; for the children now followed their fathers. This vice, we
know, prevailed in all ages among the Jews; leaving the word of God, they ever
followed their own dreams, and the delusions of Satan. Since God had now often
tried to correct this vice by his Prophets, and no fruit followed, the Prophet
charges them here with hardness, and by this circumstance enhances the sin of
the Jews: “It is nothing new,” he says, “for children to
imitate their fathers, and to be wholly like them: they are then the bad eggs of
bad ravens.” So also said Stephen,
‘Ye are hard and
uncircumcised in heart, and resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers also did
formerly,’
(<440701>Acts
7:1)
We now understand the intention of the
Prophet.
But we hence learn of what avail is the subterfuge
resorted to by the Papists, when they boast of antiquity. For they set up
against the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel, this shield, — that theirs
is the old religion, that they have not been the first founders, but that they
follow what has been handed down to them from early times, and observed for many
ages. When the Papists boastingly declare all this, they think that they say
enough to put God to silence, and wholly to reject his Word. But we see how
frivolous is this sort of caviling, and how worthless before God: for the
Prophet does not concede to the Jews the example of the fathers as an excuse,
but sets forth their sin as being greater because they followed their perfidious
fathers, who had forsaken the Law of the Lord. The same thing is also said by
Ezekiel,
‘After the precepts
of your fathers walk
not,’
(<262001>Ezekiel
20:1)
We now see what sort of crime is that of which the
Prophet speaks. At last a threatening follows, “The Lord saith, Fire will
I send on Judah, which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.’ But all
this we have already explained. Let us now proceed —
|
AMOS
2:6
|
|
6. Thus saith the LORD; For three
transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of
shoes;
|
6. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus
Israel et super quatuor non convertam cum (vel, ad eum,) quia emerunt (vel,
vendiderunt: quidam enim deducunt a
trk,
et putant
m
esse literam formalem nominis: alii autem deducunt a
rkm
quod est vendere vel mercari; sed sensus Prophetae eodem redit, quia intelligit
quasi ad nundinationem expositos fuisse justos; ideoque proestabit vertere,
pretium ipsorum; quasi diceret, commercium non secus ac de merce voenale fuisse
habitum; quoniam ergo emerunt) justum pro argento, et miserum pro
calceamentis.
|
The Prophet here assails the Israelites, to whom he
had been sent, as we have said at the beginning. He now omits every reference to
other nations; for his business was with the Israelites to whom he was
especially appointed a teacher. But he wished to set before them, as in various
mirrors, the judgment of God, which awaited them, that he might the more
effectually awaken them: and he wished also to exhibit in the Jews themselves an
example of the extreme vengeance of God, though there was greater purity among
them, at least a purer religion, and more reverence for God prevailed as yet
among them. He in this way prepared the Israelites, that they might not
obstinately and proudly reject his doctrine. He now then addresses them, and
says that they continued unmoved in their many sins. The import of the whole is,
that if the Moabites, the Idumeans, the Tyrians, the Sidonians, and other
nations, and that if the Jews as well as these were irreclaimable in their
obstinacy, so that their diseases were incurable, and their wickedness such as
God could no longer endure, the Israelites were also in the same condition; for
they also continued perverse in their wickedness, and provoked God, and repented
not, though God had waited long, and exhorted them to repent.
It is now meet for us to bear in mind what we have
before said, — that if impiety was so rampant in that age, and the
contempt of God so prevailed, that men could not be restored to a sane mind, and
if iniquity everywhere overflowed, (for Amos accuses not a few people, but many
nations,) let us at this day beware, lest such corruptions prevail among us;
for, certainly, the world is now much worse than it was then: nay, since the
Prophet says here, that both the Israelites and the Jews were wholly
irreclaimable in their obstinacy, there is no excuse for us at this day for
deceiving ourselves with an empty name, because we have the symbol of faith,
having been baptized; and in case we have other marks, which seem to belong to
the Church of God, let us not think that we are therefore free from guilt, if we
allow ourselves that unruliness condemned here by the Prophet both in the
Israelites and in the Jews; for they had become hardened against all
instructions, against all warnings. Let, then, these examples rouse our
attention, lest we, like them, harden ourselves so much as to constrain the Lord
to execute on us extreme vengeance.
Let us now especially observe what the Prophet lays
to the charge of Israel. He begins with their cruel deeds; but the whole book is
taken up with reproofs; there is to the very end a continued accusation as to
those crimes which then prevailed among the people of Israel. He does not then
point out only one particular crime, as with respect to the other nations; but
he scrutinizes all the vices of which the people were guilty, as though he would
thoroughly anatomize them. But these we shall notice in their proper
order.
Now as to the first thing, the Prophet says, that
the just among the Israelites
was sold for silver, yea, for
shoes. It may be asked, Why is it that he does
not begin with those superstitions, in which they surpassed the Jews? for if God
had resolved to destroy Jerusalem and his own temple, because they had fallen
away into superstitious and spurious modes of worship, how much more ought such
a judgment to have been executed on the Israelites, as they had perverted the
whole law, and had become wholly degenerate; and even circumcision was nothing
but a profanation of God’s covenant? Why, then, does not the Prophet touch
on this point? To this I answer, — That as superstition had now for many
years prevailed among them, the Prophet does not make this now his subject; but
we shall hereafter see, that he has not spared these ungodly deprivations which
had grown rampant among the Israelites. He indeed sharply arraigns all their
superstitions; but he does this in its suitable place. It was now necessary to
begin with common evils; and this was far more opportune than if he had at first
spoken of superstitions; for they might have said, that they did indeed worship
God. He therefore preferred condemning the Jews for alienating themselves from
the pure commandments of God; and as to the Israelites, he reproves here their
gross vices. But after having charged them with cruelty, shameless rapacity, and
many lusts, after having exposed their filthy abominations, he then takes the
occasion, as being then more suitable of exclaiming against superstitions. This
order our Prophet designedly observed, as we shall see more fully from the
connection of his discourse.
I now return to the words, that they
sold the just for silver, and the
poor for shoes. He means that there was no
justice nor equity among the Israelites, for they made a sale of the children of
God: and it was a most shameful thing, that there was no remedy for injuries.
For we hence, no doubt, learn, that the Prophet levels his reproof against the
judges who then exercised authority. The just, he says, is sold for silver: this
could not apply to private individuals, but to judges, to whom it belonged to
extend a helping hand to the miserable and the poor, to avenge wrongs, and to
give to every one his right. It is then the same as though the Prophet had said,
that unbridled licentiousness reigned triumphant among the Israelites, so that
just men were exposed as a prey, and were set, as it were, on sale. He says,
first, that they were sold for silver, and then he adds for
shoes: and this ought to be carefully observed; for when once men begin
to turn aside from the right course, they abandon themselves to evil without any
shame. When an attempt is first made to draw aside a man that is just and
upright and free from what is corrupt, he is not immediately overcome; though a
great price may be offered to him, he will yet stand firm: but when he has sold
his integrity for ten pieces of gold, he may afterwards be easily bought, as the
case is usually will women. A woman, while she is pure, cannot be easily drawn
away from her conjugal fidelity: she may yet be corrupted by a great price; and
when once corrupted, she will afterwards prostitute herself, so that she may be
bought for a crust of bread. The same is the case with judges. They, then, who
at first covet silver, that is, who cannot be corrupted except by a rich and fat
bribe, will afterwards barter their integrity for the meanest reward; for there
is no shame any more remaining in them. This is what the Prophet points out in
these words, — That they sold the just for silver; that is, that they sold
him for a high price, and then that they were corrupted by the meanest gift,
that if one offered them a pair of shoes, they would be ready without any blush
of shame to receive such a bribe.
We now then see the crime of which Amos accused the
Israelites. They could not raise an objection here, which they might have done,
if he touched their superstitions. He wished therefore to acquire authority by
reprobating first their manifest and obvious crimes. He afterwards, as it has
been stated, speaks in its proper place, of that fictitious worship, which they,
after having rejected the Law of God, embraced. It follows
—
|
AMOS
2:7
|
|
7. That pant after the dust of the earth on
the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his
father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
|
7. Anhelantes super pulverem terrae ad caput
inopum, viam miserorum (vel, pauperum) deflectere facient: vir et pater ejus
ingredientur ad puellam ut profanent nomen sanctum meam (vel, nomen sanctitatis
meae.)
|
Here Amos charges them first with insatiable avarice;
they panted for the heads of the poor on the dust of the earth. This place is in
my judgment not well understood.
ãaç,
shaph, means to pant and to breathe, and is taken often metaphorically as
signifying to desire: hence some render the words, “They desire the heads
of the poor to be in the dust of the earth;” that is, they are anxious to
see the innocent cast down and prostrate on the ground. But there is no need of
many words to refute this comment; for ye see that it is strained. Others say,
that in their cupidity they cast down the miserable into the dust; they
therefore think that a depraved cupidity is connected with violence, and they
put the lust for the deed itself.
But what need there is of having recourse to these
extraneous meanings, when the words of the Prophet are in themselves plain and
clear enough? He says that they
panted for the heads of the poor
on the ground; as though he had said,
that they were not content with casting down the miserable, but that they gaped
anxiously, until they wholly destroyed them. There is then nothing to be changed
or added in the Prophet’s words, which harmonize well together, and mean,
that through cupidity they panted for the heads of the poor, after the poor had
been cast down, and were laid prostrate in the dust. The very misery of the
poor, whom they saw to be in their power, and lying at their feet, ought to have
satisfied them: but when such an insatiable cupidity still inflamed them, that
they panted for more punishment on the poor and the miserable, was it not a fury
wholly outrageous? We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning: He points out
again what he has said in the former verse, — that the Israelites were
given to rapacity, avarice, and cruelty of every kind.
He adds at last,
and the way of the miserable they
pervert. He still inveighs against the judges;
for it can hardly comport with what belongs to private individuals, but it
properly appertains to judges to pervert justice, and to violate equity for
bribery; so that he who had the best cause became the loser, because he brought
no bribe sufficiently ample. We now see what was the accusation he alleged
against the Israelites. But there follows another charge, that of indulge in
lusts.
PRAYER.
Grant, almighty God, that since we see
so grievous punishments formerly executed on unbelievers who had never tasted of
the pure knowledge of thy word, we may be warned by their example, so as to
abstain from all wickedness, and to continue in pure obedience to thy word; and
that, as thou hast made known to us that thou hatest all those superstitions and
depravations by which we turn aside from thy word, — O grant, that we may
ever be attentive to that role which has been prescribed to us by thee in the
Law, as well as in the Prophets and in the Gospel, so that we may constantly
abide in thy precepts, and be wholly dependent on the words of thy month, and
never turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, but glorify thy name,
as thou has commanded us, by offering to thee a true, sincere, and spiritual
worship, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-SECOND
It follows, in the seventh verse, that
the son and the father
entered in into the same maid. The Prophet here
charges the people of Israel with the unbridled lusts which prevailed then among
them; which were promiscuous and even incestuous. It is, we know, a detestable
monstrosity when a father and a son have connection with the same woman; for the
common feeling of mankind abhors such flagitousness. But the Israelites were so
much addicted to their own lusts, that the father and the son had the same woman
in common; as indeed it must happen when men allow themselves excessive
indulgences. A strumpet will, indeed, readily admit a son and a father without
any difference, for she has no shame; and no fear of God restrains abandoned
women given up to filthiness. It hence becomes a common thing for a father and a
son to pollute themselves by an incestuous concubinage. But it is no diminution
of guilt before God, when men, blinded by their lusts, make no difference, and
without any discrimination, and without any shame, follow their own sinful
propensities. Whenever this happens, it certainly proves that there is no fear
of God, and that even the common feeling of nature is extinct. Hence the Prophet
now justly condemns in the Israelites this crime, that the father and the son
entered in into the same woman.
An amplification of this crime is also added, —
that they thus polluted
the holy name of
God. We indeed know that the people of Israel
were chosen for this end — that the name of God might be supplicated by
them; and well known is that declaration, often repeated by
Moses,
‘Be ye holy, for I
am holy’
(<031144>Leviticus
11:44)
Hence the children of Israel could not defile
themselves without polluting at the same time the name of God, which was
engraven on them. God then complains here of this profanation; for the children
of Israel not only contaminated themselves, but also profaned whatever was
sacred among them, inasmuch as the name of God was exposed to reproach, when the
people thus gave way to their filthy lusts. We now understand what the Prophet
means. It follows —
|
AMOS
2:8
|
|
8. And they lay themselves down upon clothes
laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the
house of their god.
|
8. Et super vestes oppignoratas accubuerunt
prope omne altare, et vinum damnatorum biberunt in domo Dei
sui.
|
Here the Prophet again inveighs against the
people’s avariciousness, and addresses his discourse especially to the
chief men; for what he mentions could not have been done by the common people,
as the lower and humbler classes could not make feasts by means of spoils gained
by judicial proceedings. The Prophet then condemns here, no doubt, the luxury
and rapacity of men in high stations.
They lie down, he says, on
pledged clothes nigh every altar. God had
forbidden, in his law, to take from a poor man a pledge, the need of which he
had for the support of life and daily use,
(<022226>Exodus
22:26) For instance, it was prohibited by the law to take from a poor man his
cloak or his coat, or to take the covering of his bed, or any thing else of
which he had need. But the Prophet now accuses the Israelites, that they took
away pledges and clothes without any distinction, and lay down on them nigh
their altars. This belonged to the rich.
Then follows another clause, which, strictly
speaking, must be restricted to the judges and governors,
They have drunk the wine of the
condemned in the house, or in the
temple, of their God. This may also be understood of the rich, who were
wont to indulge in luxury by means of ill-gotten spoils: for they litigated
without cause; and when they gained judgment in their favor, they thought it
lawful to fare more sumptuously. This expression of the Prophet may therefore be
extended to any of the rich. But he seems here to condemn more specifically the
cruelty and rapaciousness of the judges. We now then perceive what the Prophet
had in view by saying, that
they lay down on pledged
garments.
He then says that
they drank
wine derived from fines, which had been
laid on the condemned. But this circumstance, that is added, ought to be
observed, — that they lay
down near altars and drank in the very temple:
for the Prophet here laughs to scorn the gross superstition of the Israelites,
that they thought that they were discharging their duty towards God, provided
they came to the temple and offered sacrifices at the altar. Thus, indeed, are
hypocrites wont to appease God, as if one by puppets played with a child. This
has been a wickedness very common in all ages, and is here laid to the charge of
the Israelites by the Prophet: they dared with an open front to enter the
temple, and there to bring the pledged garments, and to feast on their spoils.
Hypocrites do ever make a den of thieves of God’s temple,
(<402113>Matthew
21:13) for they think that all things are lawful for them, provided they put on
the appearance, by external worship, of being devoted to God. Since, then, the
Israelites promised themselves impunity and took liberty to sin, because they
performed religious ceremonies, the Prophet here sharply reproves them: they
even dared to make God a witness of their cruelty by bringing pledged garments
and by blending their spoils with their sacrifices, as though God had a
participation with robbers.
We hence see that rapaciousness and avarice are not
alone condemned here by the Prophet, but that the gross superstition of the
Israelites is also reprobated, because they thought that there would be no
punishment for them, though they plundered and robbed the poor, provided they
reserved a part of the spoil for God, as though a sacrifice from what had been
unjustly got were not an abomination to him.
But it may be asked, Why does the Prophet thus
condemn the Israelites for they had no sacred temple; and we also know (as it
has been elsewhere stated) that the temples, in which they thought that they
worshipped God, were filthy brothels, and full of all obscenity. How is it,
then, that the Prophet now so sharply inveighs against them, because they
mingled their spoils with their impure sacrifices? To this the answer is, That
he had regard to their views, and derided the grossness of their minds, that
they thus childishly trifled with the God whom they imagined for themselves. We
say the same at this day to the Papists, — that they blend profane with
sacred things, when they prostitute their masses, and also when they trifle with
God in their ceremonies. It is certain. that whatever the Papists do is an
abomination; for the whole of religion is with them adulterated: but they yet
cease not to wrong God, whose name they pretend to profess. Such also were then
the Israelites: though they professed still to worship God, they were yet
sacrilegious; though they offered sacrifices to the calves in Dan and in Bethel,
they yet reproached God, for they ever abused his name. This, then, is the crime
the Prophet now condemns in them. But what I have said must be remembered,
— that this blind assurance is reprehended in the Israelites, that they
thought spoils to be lawful provided they professed to worship God: but they
thus rendered double their crime, as we have said; for they tried to make God
the associate of robbers, mingling as they did their pollutions with their
sacrifices. Let us proceed —
|
AMOS
2:9-12
|
|
9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them,
whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks;
yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from
beneath.
|
9. Et ego exterminavi Amorrhaeum a facie
ipsorum, cujus proceritas erat sicut proceritas cedrorum, et qui fortis erat
sicut quercus; et perdidi fructum ejus superne et radicem ejus
subtus.
|
|
10. Also I brought you up from the land of
Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of
the Amorite.
|
10. Et ego eduxi vos e terra Egypti, et deduxi
vos (ambulare feci vos ad verbum) in deserto per quadraginta annos ad
possidendam terram Amorrhaei.
|
|
11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets,
and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of
Israel? saith the LORD.
|
11. Et suscitavi ex filiis vestris prophetas,
et ex juvenibus vestris Nazaraeos: annon etiam hoc, filii Israel? dicit
Jehovah.
|
|
12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink;
and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
|
12. Et propinastis Nazaraeis vinum, et super
prophetis mandastis, dicendo, Non prophetabitis.
|
God expostulates here with the Israelites for their
ingratitude. He records the benefits he had before conferred on that people; and
then shows how unworthily and disgracefully they had conducted themselves; for
they forgot their many blessings and proudly despised God, and acted as if they
were like other nations, and not bound to God for the singular benefit of
adoption. The sum then is that God here complains that he had ill bestowed his
blessings; and he reproves the people for their impiety, inasmuch as they did
not lead a holier life after having been freely redeemed.
He says
first, I have exterminated the
Amorite before their face. God shows here that
he was disgracefully defrauded by the Israelites, for whose sake he had
previously destroyed the Amorites. For why were the Amorites exterminated, but
that God would cleanse the land, and also, that he might give there a dwelling
to his own people, that he might be purely worshipped? Then the people of Israel
ought to have given up themselves wholly to the service of God; but as they
neglected to do this, they frustrated the purpose of God, who had expelled the
Amorites from that land, yea, and entirely destroyed them. The first complaint
then is, that the children of Israel were nothing better than the Amorites,
though God had given them the land, which was taken from its natives, that they
might dwell in it, and on the condition, that his name should be there
worshipped. Hence the Prophets say elsewhere, that they were Amorites. They
ought to have been a new people; but as they followed the examples of others, in
what did they differ from them? They are therefore called their posterity. But
the Prophet speaks not here so severely; he only reproves the Israelites,
because they differed in nothing from the Amorites, whom they knew to have been
destroyed that they might be introduced into their place, and succeed to their
inheritance.
It is then added, that the
Amorites were
tall in stature, and also that they were
strong men. By these words the Prophet intimates that the Amorites were
not conquered by the people’s valor, but by the wonderful power of God. We
indeed know that they were dreaded by the people of Israel, for they were like
giants. Then the Prophet speaks here of their height and strength, that the
Israelites might consider that they overcame them not by their own valor, but
that the land was given them by a miracle, for they had to do with giants, on
whom they could hardly dare to look. It was then God who prostrated the cedars
and the oaks before his people. We hence learn, that the Israelites could not
boast of their own strengths as though they took possession of the land, because
by means of war they ejected their enemies; for this was done by the singular
kindness of God. They could not indeed have contended with their enemies, had
not that been fulfilled which the Lord had so often foretold, ‘For you,
while still, I will fight,
(<021414>Exodus
14:14) We now perceive the Prophet’s intention. But we may hence farther
learn, that the Israelites had not possessed the land, because they were more
excellent than the Amorites, its ancient inhabitants; but because it so pleased
God. There was therefore no reason for the people of Israel to be proud on
account of any excellency. It hence appears that they, who did not consider this
remarkable kindness done to them, were more than doubly ungrateful to
God.
He says that their
fruit above and root below were
destroyed. By this metaphor God enlarges on
what he said before, that the Amorites had been exterminated, so that none of
them remained. “I have demolished,” he says, or, “I have
entirely destroyed the root beneath and the fruit above; I have extinguished the
very name of the nation.” And yet the Israelites were not better, though
the Amorites were thus destroyed; but having succeeded in their place, they
became like them: this was utterly inexcusable. The more severe God’s
vengeance had been towards the Amorites, the more ought the Israelites to have
extolled his favor: but when with closed eyes they passed by so remarkable a
testimony of God’s paternal love, it appears that they were extremely
wicked and ungrateful.
He afterwards subjoins,
I have made you to ascend from
the land of Egypt; I have made you to walk in the desert for forty years, in
order to possess the land of the Amorite. The
circumstances here specified are intended to confirm the same thing, that God
had miraculously redeemed his people. Men, we know, for the most part extenuate
the favors of God; nay, this evil is innate in us. This is the reason why the
Prophet so largely describes and extols the redemption of the people. Hence he
says now that they had been led
out of the land of Egypt. And they ought
to have remembered what had been their condition in Egypt; for there they were
most miserably oppressed. When therefore that coming out was set before them, it
was the same as if God had reminded them how shamefully they had been treated,
and how hard had been their bondage in Egypt. That beginning ought to have
humbled them, and also to have stimulated them to the cultivation of piety. When
now they proudly exulted against God, when no recollection of their deliverance
laid hold on them, this vice is justly laid to their charge by the Prophet:
“See,” he says,
“I have brought you forth
from the land of Egypt; what were ye
then? what was your nobility? what was your wealth or riches? what was your
power? For the Egyptians treated you as the vilest slaves; your condition then
was extremely ignominious; ye were as lost, and I redeemed you: and now buried
is the recollection of so illustrious a kindness, which deserved to be for ever
remembered.”
He afterwards adds,
I have made you to
walk, etc. The Prophet here reminds them of the
desert, that the Israelites might know that God might have justly closed up
against them an entrance into the land, though he had promised it for an
inheritance to Abraham. For how was it that the Lord led them about for so long
a time, except that they, as far as they could, had denied God, and rendered
themselves unworthy of enjoying the promised land? Then the Prophet indirectly
blames the Israelites here for having been the cause why God detained them for
forty years without introducing them immediately into the promised land; which
might have easily been done, had they not closed the door against themselves by
their ingratitude. This is one reason why the Prophet now speaks of the forty
years. And then, as God had in various ways testified his kindness towards the
Israelites, he had thus bound them the more to himself; but an ungodly
forgetfulness had buried all his favors. God daily rained manna on them from
heaven; he also gave them drink from a dry rock; he guided them during the day
by a pillar of cloud, and in the night by fire: and we also know how often God
bore with them, and how many proofs he gave them of his forbearance. The
Prophet, then, by speaking here of the forty years, meant to counsel the
Israelites to call to mind the many favors, by which they were bound to God,
while they were miraculously led by him for forty years in the
desert.
He now subjoins,
I have raised from your sons
Prophets, and Nazarites from your young or strong
men, (for
µyrjb,
becharim, as we have elsewhere said, are called by the Hebrews chosen
men;) then from your youth or chosen men have I raised Nazarites.
Was it not so, O children of
Israel? or certainly it was so: for the
particle
ãa,
aph, sometimes is a simple affirmation, and sometimes an addition.
Is not then all this true, O
children of Israel? saith Jehovah. God
first reminds them that he had raised up Prophets from their sons. It if a
remarkable proof of God’s love, that he deigns to guide his people by
Prophets: for if God were to speak himself from heaven, or to send his angels
down, it would apparently be much more dignified; but when he so condescends as
to employ mortal men and our own brethren, who are the agents of his Spirit, in
whom he dwells, and by Whose mouth he speaks, it cannot indeed be esteemed as
highly as it deserves, that the Lord should thus accommodate himself to us in so
familiar a manner. This is the reason why he now says, that he had
raised up Prophets from their
sons. They might have objected and said, that
he had introduced the Law, and that then the heaven was moved, and that the
earth shook: but he speaks of his daily favor in having been pleased to speak
continually to his people, as it were, from mouth to mouth, and this by men: I
have raised up, he says, Prophets from your sons; that is, “I have chosen
angels from the midst of you.” The Prophets are indeed, as it were,
celestial ambassadors, and God commands them to be heard, the same as if he
himself appeared in a visible form. Since then he choose angels from the midst
of us, is not this an invaluable favor? We hence see how much force is contained
in this reproof, when the Lord says, that Prophets had been chosen from his own
people.
And he mentions also the Nazarites. It appears
sufficiently evident from
<040601>Numbers
6:1, why God appointed Nazarites. Nothing is more difficult, we know, than to
induce men to follow a common rule; for they ever seek something new; and hence
have arisen so many devices, so many additions, in short, so many leavenings by
which God’s worship is corrupted; for each wishes to be more holy than
another, and affects some singularity. In case then any one had a wish to
consecrate himself to God beyond what was commonly required, the Lord instituted
a peculiar observance, that the people might not attempt any thing without at
least his permission. Hence, when any one wished to consecrate himself to God,
though they were all holy, he yet observed certain regulations: he abstained
from wine; he allowed his hair to grow; in a word, he observed those ceremonial
rites which we find in the chapter already referred to. God now reminds the
Israelites that he had omitted nothing calculated to preserve them pure and
holy, and entire in his worship.
After having related these two things, he asks them,
Is not all this
true? The facts were indeed well known: then
the question, it may be said, was superfluous. But the Prophet designedly asked
the Israelites the question here — Is it not so? that he might more deeply
touch their hearts. We indeed often despise things well known, and we see how
many heedlessly allow what they hear, and pass by things without any thought.
Such must have been the torpidity of the Israelites; they might have confessed
without disputing that all this was true, — that the Lord had raised up
Prophets from their children, and that he had given to them that peculiar
service of which we have spoken; but they mighty at the same time, have
contemptuously overlooked the whole, had not this been added: “What do ye
mean, O Israelites? ye do indeed see that nothing has been left undone by me to
retain you in my service: how then is it now, that your lust leads you away from
me, and that having shaken off the yoke, ye grow thus wanton against me?”
We now perceive why the Prophet inserted this clause, for it was necessary that
the Israelites should be more sharply roused, that being convicted, they might
acknowledge their guilt.
But it now follows,
Ye have to the Nazarites quaffed
wine, and on the Prophets ye have laid a command, that they should not
prophesy. God complains here that the
service which he had instituted had been violated by the people. It seems indeed
a light offense, that wine had been given to the Nazarites; for the kingdom of
God, we know, is not meat and drink,
(<460808>1
Corinthians 8:8) though this saying of Paul was not yet made known, it was yet
true in all ages. It was then lawful for the Nazarites to drink wine, provided
they used moderation. To this the simple answer is that it was lawful to drink
wine, for they of their own accord undertook to abstain from it. In similar
manner God forbade the priests to drink wine or strong drink whenever they
entered the temple. God indeed did not wish to be served with this kind of
ceremony; but his intention was to show, by such a rite, that a greater
temperance is required in priests than in the people in general. His purpose
then to withdraw them from the common mode of living, when they entered the
temple; for they were as mediators between God and his people: they ought then
to have consecrated themselves in a special manner. We now see that the priests
were reminded by this external symbol, that greater holiness was required in
them than in the people. The same thing must be also said of the Nazarites. The
Nazarites might drink wine; but during the time they consecrated themselves to
God, they were not allowed to drink wine, that they might thereby acknowledge
that they were in a manner separated from the common habits of men, and were
come nearer to God. We now understand why it was not lawful for the Nazarites to
drink wine.
But it is frivolous for the Papists to pretend this
example, and to introduce it in defense of their superstitions, and of their
foolish and rash vows, which they undertake without any regard to God: for God
expressly sanctioned and confirmed whatever the Nazarites did under the law. Let
the Papists show a proof for their monastic vows, and foolish rites, by which
they now trifle with God. We also know that there is a great difference between
the Nazarites and the Papal monks; for the monks vow perpetual celibacy; others
vow abstinence from flesh during life; and these things are done foolishly and
rashly. They indeed think that the worship of God consists in these trifles.
They promise what is not in their own power; for they renounce marriage, when
they know not whether they are endued with the gift of chastity. And to abstain
from flesh all their life is more foolish still, because they make this to be a
part of God’s service. I do, at the same time, wonder that they bring
forward this example, since there are none so holy under the Papacy as to
abstain from wine. As for the Carthusians and other monks of the holier sort,
they seem determined to take revenge on abstinence from flesh, for they choose
the sweetest and the liveliest wine; as though they intended to get a
compensation for the loss and deprivation they undergo, when they pledge to God
their abstinence from flesh, by reserving the best wine for themselves. These
things are extremely ludicrous. Besides it is a sufficient reply if we adduce
what I have already said, that the Nazarites did nothing under the law but what
God in his word approved and sanctioned.
Since God then so sharply and severely reproved the
Israelites for giving wine to the Nazarites, what must be expected now, when we
transgress the chief commandments of God, when we corrupt his whole spiritual
worship? It seemed apparently but a venial sin, so to speak, in the Nazarites to
drink wine. Had they become wanton or robbed, or had they done wrong to their
brethren, or committed forgery, the charge against them would have doubtless
been much more atrocious. Yet the Prophet does not now abstain from bitterly
complaining that they drank wine. Then, since God would have us to worship him
in a spiritual manner, a much heavier charge lies against us, if we violate his
spiritual worship. As, for instance, if we now pollute the sacraments, if we
corrupt the purity of divine worship, if we treat his word with scorn, yea, if
we transgress as to these main points of religion, much less is our excuse. Let
us then remember that the Prophet here reproves the Israelites for giving wine
to the Nazarites.
He then adds, that they
commanded the Prophets not to
prophesy. It is certain that the Prophets were
not forbidden to speak, at least expressly forbidden: but when the liberty of
teaching faithfully as they ought to do is taken away from God’s servants,
and a command to this effect is given them, it is the same thing as to reject
wholly their doctrine. The Israelites wished Prophets to be among them; and yet
they could not endure their plain reproofs. But when they had polluted the
worship of God, when their whole conduct became dissolute, the Prophets sharply
inveighed against them: this freedom could not be endured by the Israelites;
they wished to be spared and flattered. What then the Prophet now lays to their
charge is that they forbade God’s servants to declare the word freely and
honestly as God had commanded them. Hence he says,
On the Prophets they have laid a
charge, that they should not prophesy.
This evil reigns in the world at this day. It would
indeed be an execrable audacity wholly to reject the Lord’s word; this is
what even ungodly men dare not openly to do: but they wish at the same time some
middle course to be adopted, that God might not fully exercise authority over
them. They then would gladly put restraint on the Holy Spirit, so as not to
allow him to speak but within certain limitations: “See, we willingly
allow thee some things, but this we cannot bear: so much asperity is extremely
odious.” And under the Papacy at this day the liberty of prophesying is
wholly suppressed: and among us how many there are who wish to impose laws on
God’s servants beyond which they are not to pass? But we see what the
Prophet says here, — that the word of God is repudiated when the freedom
of teaching is restrained, and men wish to be flattered, and desire their sins
to be covered, and cannot bear free admonitions.
Let us also notice the word command, which the
Prophet uses.
hwx,
tsue, means to order, to command, or to determine, in an authoritative
manner. The Prophet then does not expostulate with them, because there were many
who clamored, who murmured against the Prophets, as it is always the case; but
he rather condemns the audacity of the chief men for daring to consult how they
might silence the Prophets, and not allow them the free liberty of teaching, as
we find it to be done even now. For not only in taverns and lurking-places do
the ungodly clamor when their sins are severely reproved, but they also go forth
publicly and complain that too much liberty is allowed the ministers of the
word, and that some course ought to be adopted to make them speak more
moderately. It is then this sacrilege that the Prophet now rebukes, when he
says, that the ungodly commanded
the Prophets, that they should not prophecy, as
though they made a law, as though they wished to proclaim a decree, that the
Prophets should not speak so boldly and so freely. It now follows
—
|
AMOS
2:13
|
|
13. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart
is pressed that is full of sheaves.
|
13. Ecce ego angustians (vel, angustiatus,
constrictus, vel, constringens) in loco vestro (vel, sub vobis,) sicuti
constringitur plaustrum quod plenum est manipulo (id est,
manipulis.)
|
The verb
qy[,
oik, in Hebrew is often transitive, and it is also a neuter. This place
then may admit of two interpretations. The first is, that God was pressed under
the Israelites, as a wagon groans under too much weight; and so God expostulates
by Isaiah, that he was weighed down by the Israelites, ‘Ye constrain
me,’ he says, ‘to labor under your sins’
(<230114>Isaiah
1:14) The sense then, that God was pressed down under them, may be viewed as not
unsuitable: and yet the more received interpretation is this, “Behold, I
will bind you fast as a wagon is bound.” I am, however, more inclined to
take the first meaning, — that God here reprehends the Israelites, because
he had been pressed down by them: for
µkytjt,
tacheticam, properly signifies, “Under you,” which some
render, but strainedly, “Is your place:” for when the verb is
transitive, they say, that
µkytjt,
tacheticam, must be rendered “In your place:” but this is
frigid and forced; and the whole passage will run better, if we say, “I am
bound fast under you, as though ye were a wagon full of sheaves;
Fc6”
that is, “Ye are to me intolerable.” For God carried that people on
his shoulders; and when they loaded him with the burden of iniquities, it is no
wonder that he said that they were like a wagon — a wagon filled with many
sheaves: “Ye are light as wind, but ye are also to me very burdensome, and
I am forced at length to shake you off:” and this he afterwards
shows.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast
not only redeemed us by the blood of thy only begotten Son, but also guides us
during our earthly pilgrimage, and suppliest us with whatever is needful,
— O grant, that we may not be unmindful of so many favors, and turn away
from thee and follow our sinful desires, but that we may continue bound to thy
service, and never burden thee with our sins, but submit ourselves willingly to
thee in true obedience, that by glorifying thy name we may carry thee both in
body and soul, until thou at length gatherest us into that blessed kingdom which
has been obtained for us by the blood of thy Son. Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-THIRD
|
AMOS
2:14-16
|
|
14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the
swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty
deliver himself:
|
14. Peribit fuga a veloce, et fortis non
roborabit vires suas, et robustus non servabit (non liberabit) animam
suam:
|
|
15. Neither shall he stand that handleth the
bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he
that rideth the horse deliver himself.
|
15. Et tenens arcum non stabit, et velox
pedibus suis non liberabit, neque ascensor equi liberabit animam
suam.
|
|
16. And he that is courageous among the mighty
shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
|
16. Et qui robustus est corde suo inter fortes
nudus fugiet die illa, dicit Jehova.
|
I explained yesterday the verse, in which the Prophet
says, in the name of God, that the people were like a grievous and heavy burden,
as though they were a wagon laden with many sheaves. I stated that the
Prophet’s words are differently explained by many interpreters, who give
this view, — that God compares himself to a loaded wagon, under which the
people were to be crushed. But no necessity constrains us to take the same verb
in two senses, active and neuter, as they do; and then the comparison seems not
quite suitable; and farther, it is better, as I have said, to say, that God
complains, that he was loaded and pressed down under the people, than to render
µkytjt,
tacheticm, “In your place;” for this is wholly a strained
rendering. But most suitable is the Prophet’s meaning, when understood as
the complaint of God, that it was a grievous thing to bear the burdens of the
people, when he saw that they were men of levity, and, at the same time,
burdensome.
Hence the Prophet now denounces vengeance such as
they deserved; and he says first,
Perish shall flight from the
swift, etc., that is, no one will be so
swift as to escape by fleeing; and the valiant shall do nothing by
fighting; for it is to confirm strength when one resists an adversary and repels
assaults. The valiant, therefore, shall fight with no advantage; and then,
The strong shall not deliver his
own life: he who holds the bow shall not stand;
that is, he who is equipped with a bow, and repels
his enemy at a distance, shall not be able to stand in his place.
He who is swift on foot shall not
be able to flee, nor he who mounts a horse;
which means that whether footmen or horsemen, they shall not, by their
celerity, be able to escape death. And, lastly, he who is stout and intrepid in
heart among the valiant shall
flee away
naked, being content with life alone,
and only anxious to provide for his own safety.
The Prophet intimates by all these words, that so
grievous would be the slaughter of the people, that it would be a miracle if any
should escape.
We now then see how severely the prophet at the very
beginning handled this people. He no doubt observed their great obduracy: for he
would not have assailed them so sharply at first, had they not been for a long
time rebellious and had despised all warnings and threatening. Amos was not the
first who addressed them; but the Israelites had hardened themselves against all
threatenings before he came to them. It therefore behaved him sharply to reprove
them, as God treats men according to their disposition. I come now to the third
chapter.
CHAPTER 3.
|
AMOS
3:1-2
|
|
1. Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken
against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up
from the land of Egypt, saying,
|
1. Audite verbum hoc quod pronunciat Jehova
super vos, filii Israel, super totam familiam eduxi (vel, ascendere feci) e
terra Aegypti, dicendo,
|
|
2. You only have I known of all the families
of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your
iniquities.
|
2. Tantummodo vos cognovi ex omnibus familiis
terrae: propterea visitabo super vos omnes iniquitates vestras.
|
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 people: it was therefore needful to beat it down, that
they might be habituated to dread and fear, when God reproved them by his
Prophets.
It was then the common mode of speaking, when he
said, Hear the word which God has
spoken concerning your, O children of Israel.
He brings forward here the name of God, that they might know that they had not
to do with a mortal man, or with a shepherd, such as he was. We then observe
here, what I have just referred to, and that is, that the Prophet seeks to
strengthen his authority as a teacher, that he might gain more respect among the
people. But he adds, concerning
the whole family which I brought up out of
Egypt. It is certain that this discourse
was not addressed except to the ten tribes; why, then, does the Prophet speak
here so generally? Even because the kingdom of Israel formed the greater portion
of the race of Abraham, and on this account they boasted that the adoption
continued to be possessed by them. Since, then, they despised the tribe of
Judah, and the half-tribe of Benjamin, which was connected with it, and had ever
boasted of their great number, the Prophet says here, by way of concession, that
they were indeed the blessed seed, the posterity of Abraham; in a word, the
elect people, whom God had redeemed from Egypt. Then the Prophet includes not
here the kingdom of Judah, but concedes to the Israelites what they boasted,
— that they were the elect people, the holy race of Abraham, the very
nation which had been miraculously delivered. “Let, then,” he says,
“all these boastings be granted, yet God will not, on this account, desist
from executing his judgment upon them.”
We now apprehend the design of the Prophet: he first
seeks to gain respect for his doctrine, and takes occasion to speak of his own
vocation, that he brought nothing of his own, but only discharged faithfully the
office committed to him; yea, that he was the organ of the Holy Spirit, and
adduced nothing from his own mind, but only spoke what the Lord had commanded
him. And then, as the Israelites, relying on their large number, thought that
wrong was done them, when they were severely reprehended by the Prophets, and as
there was an absurd rivalship between them and the kingdom of Judah, the Prophet
concedes to them that for which they were foolishly proud; but, at the same
time, he shows that they in vain confided in their number, inasmuch as God
summoned them to judgment, though they were the elect people, and the holy seed,
and the redeemed nation. These are the main points.
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 men, because the Lord had adopted them: but
it seems rather to be a reproach cast on them. God then brings forward here his
benefits, of which we noticed yesterday a similar instance, that he might
enhance the more the sin of the people, in returning the worst recompense to
God, by whom they had been so liberally and so kindly treated: “I,”
he says, “have loved you only.” It is indeed true, that the
Israelites, as we have in other places often observed, gloried in their
privileges; but the Prophet seems not to have this in view. God then
expostulates with them for being so ungrateful: You only, he says, have I
known. It is indeed certain that God’s care is extended to the whole
human race, yea even to oxen and asses, and to the very sparrows. Even the young
of ravens cry to him, and the smallest bird is fed by him. We hence see that
God’s providence extends to all mortal beings; but yet not in an equal
degree. God has ever known all men so as to give what is needful to preserve
life. God has, therefore, made his sun to rise on all the human race, and has
also made the earth to produce food. Then as to the necessaries of life, he
performs the office of a Father towards all men. But he has known his chosen
people, because he has separated them from other nations, that they might be
like his own family. Israel, then, is said to be known, because God favored them
alone with a gratuitous adoption, and designed them to be a peculiar people to
himself. This is the knowledge of which the Prophet now speaks.
But by saying that they only,
qr,
rek, had been known, he shows that they had been chosen through
God’s singular favor, for there was no difference between the seed of
Abraham and other nations, when regarded in themselves, otherwise this exception
would have been superfluous. For if there had been any superiority or merit in
the people of Israel, this objection might have readily been made, “We
have indeed been chosen, but not without cause, for God had respect to our
worthiness.” But as they in nothing differed from other nations, and as
the condition of all was alike by nature, the Lord upbraids them with this, that
he had known them only; as though he said “How has it happened,
that ye are my peculiar possession and heritage? Has it been by your merit? Has
it been because I was more bound to you than to other nations? Ye cannot allege
these things. It has therefore been my gratuitous adoption. Ye are then the more
bound to me, and less excusable is your ingratitude for rendering to me so
unjust a recompense.” So also Paul says, ‘Who makes thee to
differ?’
(<460407>1
Corinthians 4:7) He wished to show that every excellency in men ought to be
ascribed to God. For the same purpose it is said here, you only have I
loved and known of all the
families of the earth: “What were
you? Ye were even the children of Adam, as all other nations; the same has been
the beginning of all. There is then no reason for you to say, that I was
attached to you by any prepossession; I freely chose you and chose you
alone.” All this tends to amplify grace; and ingratitude on their part
does hereby appear more evident. For had God spoken these words of his general
benefits, the guilt of his chosen people would not have been so great: but when
he says that they only had been chosen, when others were passed by, their
impiety seemed doubtless more base and wicked in not acknowledging God in their
turn, so as to devote themselves wholly to Him, to whom they owed every
thing.
And the bounty of God shines forth also in this
respect, that he had known the Israelites alone, though there were many other
nations. Had God owed any thing to men, he would not have kept it from them;
this is certain. But since he repudiated all other nations, it follows, that
they were justly rejected, when he made no account of them. Whence then was it
that he chose the Israelites? We here see how highly is God’s grace
exalted by this comparison of one people with all other nations. And the same
thing also appears from these words,
of all the families of the
earth; as though God had said, “There
were many nations in the world, the number of men was very great; but I regarded
them all as nothing, that I might take you under my protection; and thus I was
content with a small number, when all men were mine; and this I have done
through mere favor, for there was nothing in you by which ye excelled others,
nor could they allege that they were unjustly rejected. Since then I preferred
you of my own will, it is evident that I was under no obligation to you.”
We now then understand the design of the Prophet’s words.
He then subjoins,
I will therefore visit upon you
your iniquities. God declares here, that the
Israelites would have to suffer a heavier judgment, because they acknowledged
not their obligations to God, but seemed willfully to despise his favor and to
scorn him, the author of so many blessings. Since then the Israelites were bound
by so many and so singular benefits, and they at the same time were as wicked as
other nations the Prophet shows, that they deserved a heavier punishment, and
that God’s judgment, such as they deserved, was nigh at hand. This is the
substance of the whole. It now follows —
|
AMOS
3:3-8
|
|
3. Can two walk together, except they be
agreed?
|
3. An duo ambulabunt simul nisi inter ipsos
conveniat?
|
|
4. Will a lion roar in the forest, when he
hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken
nothing?
|
4. An rugiet leo in sylva et praeda non erit
ei? an dabit leo (vel, leunculus edet, vel, emittet) vocem suam e cubili suo
(vel, lustro) quum nihil ceperit?
|
|
5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth,
where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have
taken nothing at all?
|
5. An cadet avis super laqueum ad terram
absque aucupe (et auceps non erit ei? Ad verbum;) an tollet auceps laqueum ex
terra priusquam capturam ceperit? (ad verbum, et capiendo non capiet: sed ego
redidi sensum Prophetae.)
|
|
6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and
the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not
done it?
|
6. An clanget tuba in urbe et populus non
contremiscet? An erit malum in urbe quod Jehova non fecerit?
|
|
7. Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
|
7. Quia (vel, certe) non faciet Dominator
Jehova quidquam nisi revelaverit secretum suum servis suis
Prophetis.
|
|
8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear?
the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
|
8. Leo rugivit, quis non timeat? Dominator
Jehova locutus est, quis non prophetet?
|
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 punishment he would inflict on transgressors, that they might in
time repent, and that he does not cry out for no reason, as unreflecting men
grow angry for nothing, but that he is driven to anger by just causes, and
therefore terrifies them by his Prophets. He teaches, thirdly, that nothing
happens by chance, that the Israelites might thereby be made to consider more
attentively the judgments of God. In the fourth place, he declares that men are
extremely stupid, when they are not moved by the threats which they hear proceed
from God. He intimates, in the fifth place, that the execution of them was ready
to take place, and that when God has denounced anything, his threatenings are
not vain, such as those by which children are terrified.
These, then, are the five points, which we shall
hereafter notice in their due order. He at the same time confirms what he said
at the beginning of the chapter, — that God did not suddenly take
vengeance on the Israelites, but called them to repentance, provided they were
healable. He had indeed spoken before more distinctly, ‘For three
transgressions, and for fours I will not be propitious to them:’ but now
he demands attention from the people of Israel, “Hear this ye children of
Israel, Will two men walk
together, except they agree among
themselves?” By these words he
teaches, that though God might have immediately and unexpectedly brought
punishment on them, he yet spared them and suspended his judgment, until they
repented, provided they were not wholly irreclaimable. Amos now then confirms
the truth, that God would not punish the Israelites, as he might justly, but
would first try whether there was any hope of repentance.
Let us now come to the first similitude; he asks
Will two walk together without
agreeing? Some forcibly misapply the
Prophet’s words, as though the meaning was, that God was constrained to
depart from that people, because he saw that they were going astray so
perversely after their lusts. The sense, according to these, would be, “Do
you wish me to walk with you?” that is “Do you wish that my blessing
should dwell among you, that I should show to you, as usual, my paternal love,
and bountifully support you? Why then do ye not walk with me, or, why should
there not be a mutual consent? Why do ye not respond to me? for I am ready to
walk with you.” But this exposition, as ye see, is too strained. There are
other two, which are these, — either that the Prophet intimates here that
so many of God’s servants did not, as it were with one mouth, threaten the
Israelites in vain, — or, that the consent of which he speaks was that of
God with his Prophets. This last exposition being rather obscure, requires to be
more clearly explained. Some, then, take the sense of this verse to be the
following, — “I am not alone in denouncing punishment on you; for
God has before warned you by other Prophets; many of them still live; and ye see
how well we agree together: we have not conspired after the manner of men, and
it has not happened by any agreements that Isaiah and Micah denounce on you what
ye hear from my mouth. It is then a hidden accordance, which proceeds from the
Holy Spirit.” This sense is not unsuitable.
But there is a third equally befitting, to which I
have briefly referred, and that is, that the Prophet here affirms that he speaks
by God’s command, as when two agree together, when they follow the same
road; as when one meets with a chance companion, he asks him where he goes, and
when he answers that he is going to a certain place, he says I am going on the
same road with you. Then Amos by this similitude very fitly sets forth the
accordance between God and his Prophets; for they did not rashly obtrude
themselves so as to announce anything according to their own will, but waited
for the call of God, and were fully persuaded that they did not by any chance go
astray, but kept the road which the Lord had pointed out. This could not indwell
have been a sufficiently satisfactory proof of his call; but the Prophet had
already entered on his course of teaching; and though nearly the whole people
clamored against him, he yet had given no obscure proofs of his call. He does
not then here mention the whole evidence, as though he intended to show that he
was from the beginning the Prophet of God; but he only confirms, by way of
reproof, what his teaching had before sufficiently attested. Hence he asks,
Will two walk together except
they agree among themselves? as though
he said, “Ye are mistaken in judging of me, as though I were alone, and in
making no account of God: ye think me to be a shepherd, and this is true; but it
ought to be added, that I am sent by God and endued with the gift of prophecy.
Since then I speak by God’s Spirit, I do not walk alone; for God goes
before, and I am his companion. Know then that whatever I bring forward proceeds
not from me, but God is the author of what I teach.”
This seems to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet:
by this similitude he affirms that he faithfully discharged his office, for he
had not separated himself from God, but was his companion: as when two agree
together to travel the same road; so also he shows that he and God were agreed.
If, however, the former interpretation be more approved, I will not dispute the
point; that is, that the Prophet here confirms his own doctrine by alleging that
he was not alone, but had other colleagues; for it was no common confirmation,
when it appeared evident that the other Prophets added their testimony to what
he taught. As, however, he does not apply this similitude in this way, I know
not whether such was his design: I have therefore brought forward what seems to
me to be a simpler view.
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 reverberate by an empty sound, when the Prophets
threatened, “These,” they said, “are mere words;” as
though indeed they could not find that the necessity of crying arose from
themselves, because they had provoked God by their vices. Hence the Prophet,
meeting their objection, says, “If lions roar not, except when they have
obtained a prey, shall God cry from heaven and send forth his voice as far as
the earth, when there is no prey?” The meaning is, that the word of God
was very shamefully despised by the Israelites, as though there was no reason
for crying, as though God was trifling with them. His word is indeed precious,
and is not thrown heedlessly into the air, as if it were a mere refuse; but it
is an invaluable seed. Since the Lord cries, it is not, says Amos, without a
lawful cause. How so? The lions do not indeed roar without prey; God then does
not cry by his Prophets, except for the best reason. It hence follows that the
Israelites were hitherto extremely stupid inasmuch as they did not listen with
more earnestness and attention to the teaching of the Prophets, as though God
had uttered only an empty sound.
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 commonly ascribed to chance; but the Prophet here
reminds us that God stretches his nets, in which men are caught, though they
think that chance rules, and observe not the hand of God. They are deceived, he
says; for the bird foresees not the ensnaring prepared for him; but yet he falls
not on the earth without the fowler: for nets weave not themselves by chance,
but they are made by the industry of the man who catches birds. So also
calamities do not happen by chance, but proceed from the secret purpose of God.
But we must observe, that similitudes ought not to be too strictly applied to
the subject in hand. Were one to asks how God could compare himself here to a
fowler, as there is craft and artifice employed in catching innocent birds, when
nets are laid for them, it would be a frivolous question; for it is evident
enough what the Prophet meant, and that the design of his words was to show,
that punishments fall on men, and that they are ensnared through the secret
purpose of God; for God has long ago foreseen what he will do, though men act
heedlessly, as the birds who foresee nothing.
Then it follows in the fourth place,
Will the fowler remove his snare
before he has made a capture? In this second
clause the Prophet intimates that the threatening of God would not be without
effect; for he will execute whatever he declares. It is indeed certain, that
fowlers often return home empty, and gather their nets though they have taken
nothing; but the Prophet, as I have said, in using these similitudes, only
states what fowlers usually do, when they are in hope of some prey. As for
instance, when one spreads his nets, he will wait, and will not gather his nets
until he takes some prey, if so be that a prey should come; he may indeed wait
in vain all night. Then as fowlers are not wearied, and wish not to lose their
labor after they have spread their nets, so also the Prophet says that God does
not in vain proclaim his threatenings to serve as empty bugbears, but that his
nets remain until he has taken his prey; which means, that God will really
execute what he has threatened by his Prophets. The meaning then is, that
God’s word is not ineffectual, but when God declares any thing, it is sure
to be accomplished: and hence he reproves the Israelites for receiving so
heedlessly and with deaf ears all God’s threatening, as though he was only
trifling with them. “It will not be,” he says, “as you expect;
for God will take his prey before he takes up his nets.”
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 amazed, when the trumpet
sounds. God himself cries, his voice deserves much more attention than the
trumpet which fills men’s minds with dread; and yet it is a sound uttered
to the deaf. What then does this prove, but that madness possesses the minds of
men? Are they not destitute of all judgment and of every power of reason?”
We hence see that the Prophet in these words intended to show, that the
Israelites were in a manner fascinated by the devil, for they had no thought of
evils; and though they knew that God sounded the trumpet and denounced ruin,
they yet remained heedless, and were no more moved than if all things were in a
quiet state. What remains I cannot now finish.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou art
pleased daily to exhort us to repentance, and dost not suddenly execute thy
judgment by which we might be in an instant overwhelmed, but givest us time to
seek reconciliation, — O grant, that we may now attend to thy teaching,
and all thy admonitions and threatenings, and become teachable and obedient to
thee, lest thou be constrained on finding us hardened against thy threatening,
and wholly irreclaimable, to bring on us extreme vengeance: make us then so to
submit ourselves to thee in the spirit of teachableness and obedience, that
being placed under the protection of thy Son, we may truly call on thee as our
Father, and find thee to be so in reality, when thou shalt show to us that
paternal love, which thou hast promised, and which we have all experienced from
the beginning, who have truly and from the heart called on thy name, through the
same, even Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-FOURTH
In our last Lecture were noticed these words of Amos
— that a whole people
tremble at the sound of a trumpet; he
now seems to add a sentence wholly different, and says,
No calamity happens, except
through God. But he had before said what we
already noticed respecting the sound of the trumpet, that the people might
understand that nothing happens by accident, and that punishments are, for just
reasons, inflicted by the Lord; and this he soon after confirms by saying, that
God did nothing, without having first revealed his secret to his Prophets. The
meaning then is that the people at Israel were extremely stupid for not having
repented after so many warnings; nay, they remained still in their perverseness,
though they had been constrained by the most powerful means.
We now then comprehend what the Prophet means; but
that the whole subject may be made more clear, let us notice this intervening
sentence, there is no evil
in the city which God has not done. By
these words the Prophet reminds us, that calamities happen not by chance, as the
vulgar of mankind believe; for the words, “Prosperous or adverse
fortunes” are, we know, in the mouths of all, as though God was idle in
heaven, and took no care of human affairs. Hence, whatever happens, the world
usually ascribes it to fortune. But the Prophet here shows that the government
of this world is administered by God, and that nothing happens except through
his power. He does not, indeed, treat here of sin: but the Prophet, according to
the usual practice, calls whatever is adverse to us,
h[r,
roe, evil. Whatever, then, we naturally shun, is usually called an evil;
and this mode of speaking Amos follows here, as God is said by Isaiah to have in
his power night and day, light and darkness, good and evil,
(<234507>Isaiah
45:7) When good and evil are spoken of there, it is certain that what is
referred to is prosperity and adversity. So also here, the Prophet teaches that
men are chastised by God whenever anything adverse happens to them, as though he
said that fortune rules not, as the world imagines, and that things do not take
place at random; but that God is at all times the judge of the world. In short,
Amos wished to recall the people to an examination of their lives, as though he
summoned them to the tribunal of God; and he showed by evident external tokens
that God was justly offended with the Israelites: “Ye see that you are
severely dealt with, do you think that God sleeps idly in heaven? Since nothing
happens but by the will of God, he now designs to awaken you by treating you
with so much sharpness and severity, so that you may know your vices.” We
now then perceive the design of the Prophet in saying, that
there was no evil in the city
which God had not done.
In a similar manner, also, does God by Jeremiah
sharply expostulate with the people, because they imputed slaughters in war,
famine, and other evils, to fortune. When, therefore, any calamity happened, the
Jews complained of bad fortune, as the world are wont to do. God was displeased
and severely reproved this profane notion; for the government of the world was
thus taken away from him: for, were any thing to take place against his will, so
much would be abstracted from his power; and farther men would grow hardened in
their sins; for however grievously he might punish them, they would not yet
acknowledge his hand: they might indeed cry out under the strokes, and feel how
severe his scourges were; but they would not regard the hand of the striker,
which is the principal thing, as it is stated elsewhere,
(<230913>Isaiah
9:13) Then the Prophet takes this as granted, that, whenever any calamity
happens, men are extremely stupid, if they are not roused and reflect on their
sins, and consider the tokens of God’s wrath, so as to flee to him, and
confess themselves guilty and implore his mercy.
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 another sentence, For the
Lord Jehovah will do nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the
Prophets. The Prophet declares in this verse,
that God dealt not with the Israelites as with heathen nations; for God punished
other people without warning them by his word; he summoned to judgment neither
the Idumeans, nor the Ammonites, nor the Egyptians, but executed his vengeance,
though he never addressed them. Different was his dealing with the Israelites;
for God not only brought on them such punishment as they deserved, but he
preceded it by His word, and showed beforehand what evil was nigh them, that
they might anticipate it; he indeed gave them time to repent, and was ready to
pardon them, had they been capable of being restored. Now then the Prophet
aggravates the guilt of the people, because they had not only been chastised by
the Lord, but they might, if they chose, have turned aside their punishment;
instead of doing so they hardened themselves in their
wickedness.
God then will do nothing without revealing his
secret to his servants, the Prophets. This ought to be confined to that
people, and it ought also to be confined to the punishments of which the Prophet
speaks. It is certain that God executes many judgments which are hid both from
men and angels; and Amos did not intend to impose a necessity on God, as if he
was not free to do any thing without previously revealing it; such was not the
Prophet’s design; but his object was simply to condemn the Israelites for
their irreclaimable perverseness and obstinacy, that, having been warned, they
did not seriously think of repenting, but despised all God’s threatening,
and even scorned them. God then will do nothing, that is, “God will
not treat you in an ordinary way, as he does with other nations, whom he
chastises without speaking to them. They, for the most part, understand not what
is done; but God in a paternal manner kindly reminds you of your sins, shows why
he resolves to chastise you and forewarns you, that you may have time to seek
and ask forgiveness.”
God therefore reveals his secret to his
Prophets; that is, “He does not suddenly or unexpectedly punish
you, as he might do, and as ye see that he does with respect to others; but he
proclaims what he will do, and sends his messengers, as though they were heralds
sent to denounce war on you; and at the same time they open a way for
reconciliation, provided ye are not wholly past recovery, and perverse in your
wickedness. Ye are then doubly inexcusable, if God can do nothing by his word
and by the punishment which he afterwards subjoins to his word.” We now
comprehend the object of the Prophet. Then foolish is the question, at least
unreasonable, “Does God here bind himself by a certain law, that he will
do nothing, but what he previously reveals to his Prophets?” For Amos
means not this, but only affirms that it was the common method which the Lord
adopted in chastising that people. It is certain, that the Prophets did not know
many things; for God distributed his Spirit to them by measure: all things then
were not revealed to the Prophets. But Amos here only intimates that God did not
deal with his chosen people as he did with heathen nations; for these often
found God unexpectedly displeased with them, and had no time to reflect, that
they might repent. Much more kindly and mercifully has God acted, says Amos,
with that people; for God was unwilling suddenly to overwhelm or to surprise
them, but has warned them by his Prophets. We see how widely this doctrine
opens; but it is enough to understand the Prophet’s design, and to know
the purpose to which his discourse ought to be applied.
God then will do nothing without revealing first his
secret to the Prophets. He calls it a secret, because men are perplexed when God
executes vengeance on them, and stand amazed: but when they are in time warned,
then what God designs becomes evident to them, and they know the cause and the
source of punishment. Thus then the secret is revealed which was hid from
miserable men: and the guilt of the people is doubled, when, after these
threatening, they do not repent.
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
Prophets are sent from above, and that there is a charge committed to them.
Hence, when Prophets are severe in their words, the world clamors and wrangles:
“What do these men intend? Why do they urge us so much? Why do they not
allow us to rest quietly? for they provoke against us the wrath of God.”
Whenever then men are roused, they immediately menace God’s Prophets with
strife and contention, and regard not threatening as coming from God himself.
This vice the Prophet now condemns:
The lion roars, he says, who
would not fear? God speaks, who would not
prophesy? “Ye think that I am your
adversary; but ye can gain nothing by quarreling with me: were I silent, the
voice of God would of itself be formidable enough. The evil then proceeds not
from my mouth, but from God’s command; for I am constrained, willing or
unwilling, to obey God: he has chosen me to be a Prophet, and has showed what he
intends that I should proclaim. What can I do, he says? I am not at liberty to
invent revelations; but I faithfully bring forth to you what has been delivered
to me by the Lord. How great then is your madness, that ye contend with me, and
consider not that your strife and contention is with God himself?” We now
see what the Prophet meant, and also understand, why he adduced the four
similitudes, of which we have already spoken. I now proceed with the remaining
context.
|
AMOS
3:9
|
|
9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in
the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the
mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the
oppressed in the midst thereof.
|
9. Promulgate in palatiis Asdod, et in
palatiis terrae Aegypti, et dicite, Congregamini super montes Samaria, et videte
tumultus multos (vel, concussiones multas) in medio ejus, et oppressiones in
medio ejus.
|
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 rebellious; but yet this was necessary. God, indeed, had cited
them to his tribunal, as long as a hope of reconciliation remained: when they
became angry on account of God’s threatening, clamored against his
servants, yea, and obstinately disputed, as though they were guilty of no fault,
what remained, but that God should constitute judges over them, whom the Prophet
names, even the Egyptians and Idumeans? “Ye cannot bear my judgment;
unbelievers, who are already condemned, shall pronounce sentence upon you. I am
indeed your legitimate judge; but as ye have repudiated me, I will prove to you
how true my judgment is; I will be silent, the Egyptians shall speak.” And
who were these Egyptians? Even those who were equally guilty with the
Israelites, and labored under the same charges, or were at least not far from
deserving a similar punishment; and yet God would compel the Israelites to hear
the sentence that was to be pronounced on them by the Egyptians and Idumeans. We
know how proudly the Israelites gloried in their primogeniture; but the Lord
here exposes to scorn this arrogance, because they made such bad use of his
benefits. We now then perceive the Prophet’s intention.
Publish,
he says,
in the palaces of Ashdod, in
the palaces of the land of Egypt, and say
— what? “Assemble on the mountains of Samaria. He would have the
Egyptians and the Idumeans to meet together, and the mountains of Samaria to be
as it were the theater, though the idea of a tribunal is more suitable to the
similitude that is used. It was then, as though the Egyptians and Idumeans were
to be seated on an elevated place; and God were to set before them the
oppressions, the robberies and iniquitous pillages, which prevailed in the
kingdom of Israel. Assemble then
on the mountains of Samaria. The Prophet
alludes to the situation of the country: for though Samaria was situated on a
plain Fc7,
there were yet mountains around it; and they thought themselves hid there, and
were as wine settled on its lees. God says now, “Let the Egyptians and
Idumeans meet and view the scene; I will allot them a place, from which they can
see how greatly all kinds of iniquity prevail in the kingdom of Israel. They
indeed dwell in their plain, and think themselves sufficiently defended by the
mountains around; but from these mountains even the very blind will be able to
see how abominable and shameful is their condition.”
Let them come and see, he says,
the oppressions in the midst of
her. The word he uses is
tmwhm,
meumet, tumults; but he means oppressions, committed without any regard
to reason or justice, when all things are done with glamour and violence.
“Let them see then the oppressions, let them see the distresses.” He
speaks of their deeds; he afterwards mentions the persons; but the Prophet means
the same thing, though he uses different forms of expression, that is, that the
kingdom of Israel was filled with many crimes; for plunder of every kind
prevailed there and men kept within no bounds of moderation, but by tumult and
clamor pillaged the poor and the miserable. It now follows
—
|
AMOS
3:10
|
|
10. For they know not to do right, saith the
LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
|
10. Et non noverunt facere rectum, dicit
Jehova, thesaurizantes rapinam et praedam in palatiis suis.
|
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 tar from them everything that
was just and allowed themselves all liberty in sinning, without any
discrimination, without any shame; as though he said, “They are brute
animals, who are void of all judgments of all reason, and of all shame; for they
seek not to have a light understanding any more.” here then he accuses the
Israelites of wilful blindness; for they hardened themselves in every evil, and
extinguished all judgments shame and reasons so that they no longer
distinguished between what was just and unjust: and he mentions one thing in
particular — that they accumulated much wealth by plunder and robbery. The
Israelites were no doubt guilty of many other crimes; but by stating a part for
the whole, he mentions one thing which includes other things, and intimates,,
that the people were wholly given to all kinds of crimes, and that as they had
cast aside every shame, obliterated every distinction, and repudiated every
regard for justice, they abandoned themselves to every kind of wickedness. This,
is the import of the Prophet’s words.
But our Prophet points out here the gross sins of the
Israelites, because he had previously constituted the blind as their judges.
Hence it was the same as though he had said, “Though the Egyptians and the
Idumeans are void of light, yet your iniquity is so palpable, that they will be
able to perceive it. There is indeed no necessity of any subtle disputation,
since plunders and pillages are carried on with so much violence, since no
moderation or equity is any longer observed, and no shame exists; but men rush
headlong with blind impetuosity into every kind of evil; so that the very blind,
though without eyes, can know what your state is. Then the Egyptians and
Idumeans will perceive your vices, when located on the neighboring
mountains.” This is the meaning. It now follows —
|
AMOS
3:11-12
|
|
11. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An
adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy
strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
|
12. Propterea sic dicit Dominus Jehova,
Adversarius et quidem in circuitu terrae, et tollet abs te robur tuum et
diripientur palatia tua.
|
|
12. Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd
taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the
children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed,
and in Damascus in a couch.
|
12. Sic dicit Jehova, Quemadmodum eripit
pastor ex ore leonis duo crura vel externam partem auris, sic eripientur filii
Israel qui habitant in Samaria in angulo lecti, et in Damasco tanquam in
grabato.
|
The Prophet here announces the punishment God would
inflict on the Israelites. An
enemy, he says, and
indeed one around
you, etc. Some think
rx,
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 besiege
them on every side. The ungodly are ever wont to seek escapes, and if they see
the smallest hole, they think that they can escape. Strange is the presumption
of men with regard to God: when they see themselves hemmed in, they are really
frightened, yea, they become wholly disheartened; but yet they seek subterfuges
on the right hand and on the left, and never submit to God except when
constrained. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, that an enemy
was near, and indeed
around them; as though he said, “You have
no reason to think that there is any way of escape open to you; for God has
hemmed you in on every side; there is therefore a siege which so confines you,
that you in vain hope to escape.”
An
enemy, he says, is indeed around —
around the whole land, who will
take away from thee thy strength. Here the
Prophet removes from the Israelites their vain confidence; for they could not
think of God’s vengeance, while looking on their own power. They indeed
thought that they had sufficient protection in their own large number, riches,
and arms, as men are wont to set up against God what proceeds from himself, as
though creatures could do anything against him, and as though God could not take
away, when he pleases, what he has given: and yet such is the blindness of men.
Hence the Prophet says, that all the wealth and all the strength in which the
Israelites excelled would be useless, inasmuch as an enemy, he says,
armed by God, shall take
from thee thy strength; and thy palaces shall be plundered.
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 shows, on the contrary, that when any should be saved, it would not
be because the people would defend themselves, or were able to resist; but that
it would be as when a trembling shepherd snatches some small portion of a spoil
from the lion’s mouth. We must bear in mind what I have just said of the
proud confidence of the people; for the Israelites thought that they were safe
enough from danger; and therefore despised all threatenings. But what does Amos
say? “Think not,” he says, “that there will be any defense for
you, for your enemies will be like lions, and there will be no more strength in
you to resist them than in sheep when not only wolves but lions, seize them and
take them as their prey.” When any thing is then saved, it is as it were
by a miracle; the shepherd may perhaps take a part of the ear or two legs from
the lion’s mouth when he is satisfied. The shepherd dares not to contend
with the lion; he always runs away from him, but the lion will have his prey and
devour it at his pleasure; when he leaves a part of the ear or two legs, the
shepherd will then seize on them, and say, “See, how many sheep have been
devoured by lions:” and these will be the proof’s of his loss. So
now the Prophet says, “The Lord will expose you as a prey to your enemies,
and their rapacity will not be less dreaded by you than that of a lion: in vain
then ye think yourselves defended by your forces; for what is a sheep to a lion?
But if any part of you should remain, it will be like an ear or a leg: and still
more, — as when a lion devours a sheep, and leaves nothing after having
taken his prey until he is satisfied, so shall it happen to
you”.
They are then mistaken who think that the preceding
commination is here designedly mitigated; for the Prophet does not do this, but
continues the same subject, and shows that the whole people would become a prey,
that their enemies would be like lions, and that they would have no strength to
resist. Some hope, I indeed allow, is here given to the people; for, as it has
been before seen, God intended that there should ever be some remnant as a seed
among that chosen people. This, I admit, is true: but we must yet regard what
the Prophet treats of; and what he had in view. He then did not intend here
expressly to console the Israelites; though incidentally he says, that some
would remain, yet his object was to show that the whole kingdom was now given up
as a prey to lions, and that nothing would be saved except a very small portion,
as when a shepherd carries away an ear when the wolves and lions had been
satiated. It follows —
|
AMOS
3:13-14
|
|
13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of
Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
|
13. Audite et testificamini in domo Jacob,
dicit Dominus Jehova, Deus exercituum,
|
|
14. That in the day that I shall visit the
transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and
the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the
ground.
|
14. Quia die quo visitabo scelera Israel super
ipsum, etiam visitabo super altaria Bethel: et scindentur cornua altaris et
cadent ad terram.
|
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 themselves. When the Israelites heard that God was offended with
them, they looked on their sacrifices and other superstitions, as their shield
and cover: for thus do hypocrites mock God. But we know that the sacrifices
offered at Bethel were mere profanations; for the whole worship was spurious.
God had indeed chosen to himself a place where he designed sacrifices to be
offered. The Israelites built a temple without any command, nay, against the
manifest prohibition of God. Since then they had thus violated and corrupted the
whole worship of God, strange was their madness to dare to obtrude on God their
superstitions, as though they could thus pacify his displeasure! The Prophet
then rebukes now this stupidity and says,
In the day when God shall visit
the sins of Israel, he will inflict
punishment on the altars
of Bethel. By the sins, which the
Prophet mentions, he means plunder, unjust exactions, robbery, and similar
crimes; for there prevailed then, as we have seen, among the people, an
unbridled cruelty, avarice, and perfidiousness.
Hence he says now, When God
shall visit the sins
of Israel; that is, when he shall punish avarice,
pride, and cruelty; when he shall execute vengeance on pillages and robberies,
he shall then visit also the altars of Bethel. The Israelites thought that God
would be propitious to them while they sacrificed though they were wholly
abandoned in their lives: they indeed thought that every uncleanness was
purified by their expiations; and they thought that God was satisfied while they
performed an external worship. Hence, when they offered sacrifices, they
imagined that they thus made a compact with God, and presented such a
compensation, that he dared not to punish their sins. Their own fancy greatly
deceives them,” says Amos. For, as we know, this was, at the same time,
their principal sin, — that they rashly dared to change the worship of
God, that they dared to build a temple without his command; in short, that they
had violated the whole law. God then will begin with superstitions in executing
judgment for the sins of the people. We now then understand the Prophet’s
design in saying, that God would visit the altars of Bethel when inflicting
punishment on the sins of Israel.
But as it was difficult to produce conviction on this
subject, the Prophet here invites
attention, Hear ye, and
testify, he says,
in the house of
Jacob. Having bidden them to hear, he
introduces God as the speaker: for the Israelites, as we know they were wont to
do, might have pretended that Amos had, without authority, threatened such a
punishment. “Nothing is mine,” he says. We then see the design of
this address, when he says, Hear: he shows God to be the author of this
prophecy, and that nothing was his own but the ministration.
Hear ye, then, and testify in the
house of Jacob. By the word
testify, he seals his prophecy that it might have more weight, that they
might not think that it was a mere mockery, but might know that God was dealing
seriously with them, Then testify ye in the house of Jacob. And for the same
purpose are the titles which he ascribes to God,
The Lord
Jehovah, he says,
the God of
hosts. He might have used only one word,
“Thus saith Jehovah,” as the prophets mostly do; but he ascribes
dominion to him, and he also brings before them his power, — for what end?
To strike the Israelites with terror, that vain flatteries might no longer, as
heretofore, take possession of them; but that they might understand, that so far
were they from doing anything towards pacifying God’s wrath by their
superstitions, that they thereby the more provoked him.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as we
so provoke thee daily by our sins, that we are worthy of eternal destruction,
and no good remains in us, and though we are severely chastised with temporal
punishments, thou dost not yet take from us the hope of that mercy, which thou
hast promised in thy Son to those who truly and from the heart repent and call
on thee as their Father, — O grant, that being touched with the sense of
our evils, we may, in true humility, and with the genuine feeling of penitence,
offer ourselves as a sacrifice to thee, and seek pardon with such groaning, that
having undergone temporal punishments, we may finally enjoy that grace which is
laid up for all sinners, who truly and from the heart turn to thee and implore
that mercy which has been prepared for all those who really prove themselves to
be the members of thine only begotten Son. Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-FIFTH
One thing escaped me yesterday: pain in my head
prevented me to look on the book. The Prophet says in the twelfth verse, that
the children of Israel would be so delivered as when a shepherd rescues only an
ear, or some part of a sheep: he adds, “So the children of Israel
shall be rescued who dwell in
Samaria in a corner of a bed, and at Damascus on a
couch. This similitude I did not
explain. Some think that Damascus is here compared with Samaria, as the more
opulent city; for Jeroboam the Second had extended the limits of his kingdom to
that city, and subdued some portion of the kingdom of Syria: they then suppose,
that Samaria is called a corner of a bed on account of its confined state, and
Damascus a couch; but there is no reason for this. He might have better called
Damascus a bed. Others give this exposition, “They who shall escape among
the people of Israeli shall not be the valiant and the brave, who will oppose
the attack of the enemy, or with arms in hand defend themselves; but those shall
be safe who will hide themselves and flee to their beds.” But the Prophet
seems here to compare Damascus and Samaria to beds for this reason, because the
Israelites thought that they would find in them a safe receptacle:
“Thought then ye dwell at Samaria and Damascus as in a safe nest, it will
yet be a miracle if a few of you will escape; it will be as when a shepherd
carries away the ear of a sheep, after the lion has satiated himself.”
This seems to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet; for I doubt not but that he
derides the foolish confidence in which the Israelites indulged themselves,
thinking that they were secure from all danger when shut up within the gates of
Samaria or of Damascus. “Ye think that these nests will be safe for you;
but lions, shall break through, and hardly one in a hundred, or in a thousand,
shall in a corner of a bed escape; it will be as when a lion leaves an ear or
part of a leg.” Let us now proceed —
|
AMOS
3:15
|
|
15. And I will smite the winter house with the
summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall
have an end, saith the LORD.
|
15. Et percutiam domum hyemalem cum domo
aestiva, et peribunt domus eburneae et deficient domus magnae, dicit
Jehova.
|
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, the Prophet here declares, that these houses would be no
impediment to prevent God’s vengeance to break through;
I will then destroy the
winter-house together with the summer-house.
Amos no doubt intended by this paraphrase to
designate the palaces. The poor deem it enough to have a cottage both for winter
and summer; for they change not the parts of their buildings, so as to inhabit
the hotter in winter, and to refresh themselves in the colder during summer: no
such advantage is possessed by the poor, for they are content with the same
dwelling through life. But as the rich sought warmth in winter, and had their
summer compartments, the Prophet says, that their large and magnificent
buildings would be no protection to the rich, for God’s vengeance would
penetrate through them; I will
destroy then the winter with the summer
house.
And then he says,
Fail shall the houses of
ivory. We now see more clearly that the Prophet
speaks here against the rich and the wealthy, who inhabited splendid and
magnificent palaces. Perish then
shall the houses of ivory and fail shall the great
houses; some say, many houses, but
improperly; for the Prophet continues the game idea; and as he had before
mentioned houses of ivory so he now calls them great houses; for they were not
only built for use and convenience, like common and plebeian houses, but also
for show and display; for the rich, we know, are ever lavish and profuse, not
only in their table and dress, but also in their palaces. This is the meaning.
Now follows —
CHAPTER 4.
|
AMOS
4:1
|
|
1. Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are
in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which
say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
|
1. Audite verbum hoc vaccae Basan, qui estis
in monte Samariae, quae opprimitis pauperes, quae conteritis egenos, quae
dicitis dominis eorum, Affer et bibemus.
|
He who divided the chapters seems not to have well
considered the Prophet’s argument: for he pursues here his reproof of the
rich, and he had been prophesying against the chief men in the kingdom of
Israel. We indeed know how much ferocity there is in the rich, when they become
formidable to others by their power. Hence the Prophet here laughs to scorn
their arrogance: Hear, he says, this word; as though he said,
“I see how it will be; for these great and pompous men will haughtily
despise my threatening, they will not think themselves exposed to God’s
judgment; and they will also think that wrong is done to them: they will
inquire, ‘Who I am,’ and ask, ‘How dares a shepherd assail
them with so much boldness?’ “Hear then ye cows; as
though he said, that he cared not for the greatness in which they prided
themselves. “What then is your wealth? It is even fatness: then I make no
more account of you than of cows; ye are become fat; but your power will not
terrify me; your riches will not deprive me of the liberty of treating you as it
becomes me and as God has commanded me.” We hence see that the Prophet
here assails with scorn the chief men of the kingdom, who wished to be sacred
and untouched. The Prophet asks by what privilege they meant to excuse
themselves for not hearing the word of the Lord. If they pleaded their riches
and their own authority; “These,” he says, “are fatness and
grossness; ye are at the same time cows and I will regard you as cows; and I
will not deal with you less freely than I do with my cattle.” We now then
perceive the Prophet’s intention.
But he goes on with his similitude: for though he
here accuses the chiefs of the kingdom of oppressing the innocent and of
distressing the poor, he yet addresses them in the feminine gender,
who
dwell, he says,
on the mountain of Samaria, who
oppress the poor, who consume the needy, who
say, etc. He does not think them worthy
of the name of men; and yet they wished to be viewed a class separate from the
common people, as though they were some heroes or halfgods. The Prophet, by way
of contempt, calls them here cows; and he also withholds from them the name of
men. Bashan, we know, derived its name from fatness; it was a very rich
mountain, and celebrated for its pastures: as the fertility of this mountain was
well known among that people, the Prophet gave the name of the cows of Bashan to
those fat and full men: and it was right that they should be thus roughly
handled, because through fatness, as it is usually the case, they had contracted
dullness; for when men abound in riches, when they become great in power, they
forget themselves and despise God, for they think themselves beyond the reach of
danger. As then this security makes the rich torpid and inattentive to any
threatenings, and disobedient to God’s Word, so that they regard all
counsels superfluous, the Prophet here rebukes them with greater asperity, and
addresses them, by way of reproach, under the name of cows. And when he says
that they were on the mountain of Samaria, this is still ironical; for they
might have made this objection, that they dwelt in the royal city, and were
watchful over the state of the whole nation, and that the kingdom stood through
their counsels and vigilance: “I see how it is,” he says; “Ye
are not on mount Bashan, but on the mount of Samaria; what is the difference
between Samaria and Bashan? For ye are there inebriated with your pleasures: as
cows, when fattened, are burdened with their own weight, and can hardly draw
along their own bodies; so it is with you, such is your slowness through your
gluttony. Samaria then, though it may seem to be a watch-tower, is yet nothing
different from mount Bashan: for ye are not there so very solicitous (as ye
pretend) for the public safety; but, on the contrary, ye devour great riches;
and as your cupidity is insatiable, the whole government is nothing else to you
than fatness or a rich pasturage.”
But the Prophet chiefly reproves them, because they
oppressed the poor and consumed the needy. Though the rich, no doubt, did other
wrongs, yet as they especially exercised cruelty towards the miserable, and
those who were destitute of every help, this is the reason why the Prophet here
elates expressly that the poor and the needy were oppressed by the rich: and we
also know, that God promises special aid to the miserable, when they find no
help on earth; for it more excites the mercy of God, when all cruelly rage
against the distressed, when no one extends to them a helping hand or deigns to
aid them.
He adds, in the last place, what they say to their
masters. I wonder why interpreters render this in the second person, who say
to your masters; for the Prophet speaks here in the third person:
they seem therefore designedly to misrepresent the real meaning of the Prophet;
and by masters they understand the king and his counselors, as though the
Prophet here addressed his words to these chief men of the kingdom. Their
rendering then is unsuitable. But the Prophet calls those masters who were
exactors, to whom the poor were debtors. The meaning is, that the king’s
counselors and judges played into the hands of the rich, who plundered the poor;
for when they brought a bribe, they immediately obtained from the judges what
they required. They are indeed to be bought by a price who hunt for nothing else
but a prey.
They said then to
their masters, Bring and we shall
drink; that is, “Only satiate my
cupidity, and I will adjudge to thee what thou wouldest demand: provided then
thou bringest me a bribe, care not, I will sell all the poor to thee.” We
now comprehend the design of the Prophet: for he sets forth here what kind those
oppressions were of which he had been complaining. “Ye then oppress the
poor, — and how? Even by selling them to their creditors, and by selling
them for a price. Hence, when a reward is offered to you, this satisfies you: Ye
inquire nothing about the goodness of the cause, but instantly condemn the
miserable and the innocent, because they have not the means of redeeming
themselves: and the masters to whom they are debtor; who through your injustice
hold them bound to themselves, pay the price: there is thus a mutual collusion
between you.” It now follows —
|
AMOS
4:2
|
|
2. The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness,
that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks,
and your posterity with fishhooks.
|
2. Juravit Dominus Jehova per sanctuarium
suum, quia ecce dies veniunt super vos, et tollet vos in clypeo (vertunt quidam;
alii, in hamo,) et residuum vestrum in spina piscationis.
|
Here Amos declares what sort of punishment awaited
those fat cattle, who being well fed despised God, and were torpid in their
fatness. He therefore says, that the days were nigh, when they should be taken
away together with all that they had, and all their posterity, as by a hook of a
fisher.
But to give more effect to his combination, he says
that God had sworn by his
sanctuary
Fc8.
The simple word of God ought indeed to have been sufficient: but as we do
not easily embrace the promises of God, so also hypocrites and the reprobate are
not easily terrified by his threatening; but they laugh to scorn, or at least
regard as empty, what God’s servants declare. It was then necessary that
God should interpose this oath, that secure men might be more effectually
aroused.
“The Lord then has sworn by his
sanctuary”. It is singular that God should swear by his temple rather than
by himself: and this seems strange; for the Lord is wont to swear by himself for
this reason, — because there is none greater by whom he can swear, as the
Apostle says,
(<580616>Hebrews
6:16.) God then seems to transfer the honor due to himself to stones and wood;
which appears by no means consistent. But the name of the temple amounts to the
same thing as the name of God. God then says that he had sworn by the sanctuary,
because he himself is invisible, and the temple was his ostensible image, by
which he exhibited himself as visible: it was also a sign and symbol of
religion, where the face of God shone forth. God did not then divest himself of
his own glory, that he might adorn with it the temple; but he rather
accommodated himself here to the rude state of men; for he could not in himself
be known, but in a certain way appeared to them in the temple. Hence he swore by
the temple.
But the special reason, which interpreters have not
pointed out, ought to be noticed, and that is, that God, by swearing by his
sanctuary, repudiated all the fictitious forms of worship in which the
Israelites gloried, as we have already seen. The meaning is this, —
“God, who is rightly worshipped on mount Zion, and who seeks to be invoked
there only, swears by himself; and though holiness dwells in himself alone, he
yet sets before you the symbol of his holiness, the sanctuary at Jerusalem: he
therefore repudiates all your forms of worship, and regards your temples as
stews or brothels.” We hence see that there is included in this expression
a contrast between the sanctuary, where the Jews rightly and legitimately
worshipped God, and the spurious temples which Jeroboam built, and also the high
places where the Israelites imagined that they worshipped him. We now then
understand what is meant by the words, that God
sware by his
sanctuary.
And he sware by his sanctuary, that
the days would
come, yea, were nigh, in which
they should be taken away with
hooks, or with shields.
hnx,
tsane, means in Hebrew to be cold:
Fc9 but
twnx,
tsanut denotes shields in that language, and sometimes fishing-hooks.
Some yet think that the instrument by which the flesh is pulled off is intended,
as though the Prophet still alluded to his former comparison. But another thing,
which is wholly different, seems to be meant here, and that is, that these fat
cows would be drawn out as a little fish by a hook; for afterwards he mentions a
thorn or a hook again. It is the same as though he had said, “Ye are
indeed of great weight, and ye are very heavy through your fatness; but this
your grossness will not prevent God from quickly taking you away, as when one
draws out a fish by a hook.” We see how well these two different
similitudes harmonize: “Ye are now trusting in your own fatness, but God
will draw you forth as if ye were of no weight at all: ye shall therefore be
dragged away by your enemies, not as fat cows but as small fishes, and a hook
will be sufficient, which will draw you away into remote lands.” This
change ought to have seriously affected the Israelites, when they understood
that they would be stripped of their fatness and wealth, and then taken away as
though they were small fishes, that a hook was enough, and that there would be
no need of large wagons. It follows —
|
AMOS
4:3
|
|
3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every
cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith
the LORD.
|
3. Et per rupturas exibitis unaquaeque coram
se (coram facie sua,) et projicietis vos ab excelso (vel, ex palatio,) dicit
Jehova.
|
The Prophet expresses now, in different words, what
would be the future calamity of that kingdom; but he still speaks of the rich
and the chief men. For though he threatened also the common people and the
multitude, it was not yet needful expressly to name them, inasmuch as when God
fulminates against the chief men, terror ought surely to seize also the humbler
classes. The Prophet then designedly directs his discourse still to the judges
and the king’s counselors,
Ye shall go forth at the breaches, every one of
you. We see that he continues as yet the same
mode of speaking, for he counts not those pompous and haughty masters as men,
but still represents them as cows, “Every one”, that is, every cow,
he says, shall go forth through
the breaches over against it. We know how
strictly the rich observe their own ranks and also how difficult it is to
approach them. But the Prophet says here, that the case with them would be far
different: “There will not be,” he says, “a triple wall or a
triple gate to keep away all annoyances, as when ye live in peace and quietness;
but there will be breaches on every side, and every cow shall go forth through
these breaches; yea, shall throw
herself down from the very palace:
neither the pleasures nor the indulgence, in which ye now live, shall exist
among you any more; no, by no means, but ye will deem it enough to seek safety
by flight. Each of you will therefore rush headlong, as when a cow, stung by the
gadfly or pricked by goads runs madly away.” And we know how impetuous is
the flight of cows. So also it will happen to your says the Prophet. We now then
perceive the import of the words.
Some take
hnwmrh,
ermune, for Armenian because the Israelites were led away into that far
country; and others, take it for the mount Amanus; but for this there is no
reason. I do not take its as some do, as meaning, “In the palace,”
but, on the contrary, “From the palace,” or, from the high place.
Ye shall then throw yourselves
down from the palace; that is, “Ye
shall no more care for your pomps and your pleasures, but will think it enough
to escape the danger of death, even with an impetuosity like that of beasts, as
when cows run on headlong without any thought about their
course.”
It was not without reason that he repeated the name
of God so often; for he intended to shake off from the Israelites their
self-complacencies; inasmuch as the king’s counselors and the judges, as
we have already stated, were extremely secure and careless; for they were in a
manner stupefied by their own fatness. It follows —
|
AMOS
4:4-6
|
|
4. Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal
multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes
after three years:
|
4. Ita in Bethel et scelerate agite, in Gilgal
adjicite scelerate agendum, et adducite mane sacrificia vestra, ad tres dies
(hoc est, tertio anno) decimas vestras;
|
|
5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with
leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye
children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
|
5. Et adolete e fermento laudem et adducite
voluntarias oblationes, publicite; quia sic vobis libuit, filii Israel, dicit
Adonai Jehova.
|
|
6. And I also have given you cleanness of
teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the LORD.
|
6. Atque etiam ego dedi vobis mundiciem
dentium (alii vertunt, obtusiones, sed male) in omnibus oppidis vestris, et
penuriam panis in omnibus regionibus vestris; et non estis reversi usque ad me,
dicit Jehova.
|
The Prophet here again pours contempt on the perverse
confidence, in which the Israelites were become hardened. They thought, indeed,
that their worship was fully approved by God, when they offered Sacrifices in
Bethel and Gilgal. But the Prophet here shows, that the more sedulously they
labored in performing sacred things, the more grievously they offended God, and
the heavier judgment they gained for themselves. “What do you obtain by
wearying yourselves, when ye so strictly offer sacrifices, and omit nothing that
is prescribed in the law of God? Only this — that you provoke God’s
wrath more and more.” But he condemns not the Israelites for thinking that
they rendered a compensation, as hypocrites were wont to think, and were on this
account often reproved by the Prophets; but he denounces their modes of worship
as vicious and false, and abominable before God. The Prophets reprobated
sacrifices for two reasons; — first, because hypocrites brought them
before God as a compensation, that they might escape the punishment they
deserved, as though they paid God what they owed. Thus at Jerusalem, in the very
temple, they profaned the name of God; they offered sacrifices according to what
the law prescribed, but disregarded the true and legitimate end; for they
thought that God was pacified by the blood of beasts, by incense, and other
external rites: it was therefore a preposterous abuse. Hence the Prophets often
reproved them, inasmuch as they obtruded their sacrifices on God as a
compensation, as though they were real expiations for cleansing away sins: this,
as the Prophets declared, was extremely puerile and foolish. But, secondly, Amos
now goes much farther; for he blames not here the Israelites for thinking that
they discharged their duty to God by external rites, but denounces all their
worship as degenerate and perverted, for they called on God in places where he
had not commanded: God designed one altar only for his people, and there he
wished sacrifices to be offered to him; but the Israelites at their own will had
built altars at Bethel and Gilgal. Hence the Prophet declares that all their
profane modes of worship were nothing but abominations, however much the
Israelites confided in them as their safety.
This is the reason why he now says
Go ye to
Bethel. It is the language of indignation; God
indeed speaks ironically, and at the same time manifests his high displeasure,
as though he had said, that they were wholly intractable, and could not be
restrained by any corrections, as we say in French, Fai du pis que to
pouvras. So also God speaks in
<262001>Ezekiel
20:1, Go, sacrifice to your idols.’ When he saw the people running
headlong with so much pertinacity into idolatry and superstitions, he said,
“Go;” as though he intended to inflame their minds. It is indeed
certain, that God does not stimulate sinners; but he thus manifests his extreme
indignation. After having tried to restrain men, and seeing their ungovernable
madness, he then says, “Go;” as though he said, “Ye are wholly
irreclaimable; I effect nothing by my good advice; hear, then, the devil, who
will lead you where you are inclined to go:
Go then to Bethel, and there
transgress; go to Gilgal, and transgress there
again; heap sins on
sins.”
But how did they transgress at Bethel? Even by
worshipping God. We here see how little the pretense of good intention avails
with God, which hypocrites ever bring forward. They imagine that, provided their
purpose is to worship God, what they do cannot be disapproved: thus they wanton
in their own inventions, and think that God obtains his due, so that he cannot
complain. But the Prophet declares all their worship to be nothing else than
abomination and execrable wickedness, though the Israelites, trusting in it,
thought themselves safe. “Add, then, to transgress in Gilgal; and offer
your sacrifices in the morning; be thus diligent, that nothing may be objected
to you, as to the outward form.”
After three
years
Fc10,
that is, in the third year, “bring also your tenths”; for thus it
was commanded, as we read in
<051401>Deuteronomy
14:1. Though, then, the Israelites worshipped God apparently in the strictest
manner, yet Amos declares that the whole was vain and of no worth, yea,
abominable before God, and that the more they wearied themselves, the more they
kindled the wrath of God against themselves. And to the same purpose is the next
verse. And burn incense with the
leaven of thank offering. He speaks of
peace-offerings; sacrifices of thanksgiving were wont to be offered with leaven;
but with other sacrifices they presented cakes and unleavened bread. It was
lawful in peace-offerings to offer leaven. However sedulous, then, the
Israelites were in performing these rites, the Prophet intimates that they were
in no way approved by God inasmuch as they had departed from the pure command of
the law. Some take leaven in a bad sense, as meaning a vicious and impure
sacrifice, which the law required to be free from leaven; but this view seems
not suitable here; for nothing is here condemned in the Israelites, but that
they had departed from what the law prescribed, that they had presumptuously
changed the place of the temple, and also raised up a new priesthood. They were
in other things careful and diligent enough; but this defection was the chief
abomination. It could not then be, that God would approve of deprivations; for
obedience, as it is said elsewhere, is of more account before him than all
sacrifices,
(<091522>1
Samuel 15:22) Proclaim, he says,
twbdn,
nudabut, voluntary oblations. What he means is, “Though ye not only
offer sacrifices morning and evenings as it has been commanded you, though ye
not only present other sacrifices on festivals, but also add voluntary oblations
to any extent, yet nothing pleases me.”
Bring forth then, and proclaim
voluntary offerings; that is, “Appoint
solemn assemblies with great pomp; yet this would be nothing else than to add
sin to sin: ye are acting wickedly for this reason, — because the very
beginning is impious.”
But the last part of the verse must be noticed,
For so it has pleased you, O
children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. By
saying that the Israelites loved to do these things, he reprobates their
presumption in devising at their own will new modes of worship; as though he
said, “I require no sacrifices from you except those offered at Jerusalem;
but ye offer them to me in a profane place. Regard then your sacrifices as
offered to yourselves, and not to me.” We indeed know how hypocrites ever
make God a debtor to themselves; when they undertake any labor in their
frivolous ceremonies, they think that God is bound to them. But God denies that
this work was done for him, for he had not enjoined it in his law. “It has
thus pleased you,” he says, “Vous faites cela pour votre plaisir
et bien mettez le sur vos comptes”. We then see what Amos meant here
by saying, ‘It has so pleased you, O children of Israel:’ it is, as
if he had said, “Ye ought to have consulted me, and simply to have obeyed
my word, to have regarded what pleased me, what I have commanded; but ye have
despised my word, neglected my law, and followed what pleased yourselves, and
proceeded from your own fancies. Since, then, your own will is your law, seek a
recompense from yourselves, for I allow none of these things. What I require is
implicit submission, I look for nothing else but obedience to my law; as ye
render not this but according to your own will, it is no worship of my
name.”
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou
wouldest have our life to be formed by the rule of thy law, and hast revealed in
it what pleaseth thee, that we may not wander in uncertainty but render thee
obedience, — O grant, that we may wholly submit ourselves to thee, and not
only devote our life and all our labors to thee, but also offer to thee as a
sacrifice our understanding and whatever prudence and reason we may possess, so
that by spiritually serving thee, we may really glorify thy name, through Christ
our Lord. Amen
LECTURE
FIFTY-SIXTH
But I gave you cleanness of teeth
in all your cities, and want of bread in all your borders; and ye turned not to
me, saith Jehovah. God here expostulates with
the people on account of their incurable perverseness; for he had tried to
restore them to the right way, not only by his word, but also by heavy
punishments; but he effected nothing. This hardness doubled the guilt of that
people, as they could not be subdued by God’s
chastisements.
The Prophet now says, that the people had been
chastised with famine, I
gave them, he says, cleanness of teeth. It is a
figurative expression, by which Amos means want, and he explains it himself by
want of
bread. The whole country then labored
under want and deficiency of provisions, though the land, as it is well known,
was very fruitful. Now since the end of punishment is to turn men to God and his
service, it is evident, when no fruit follows, that the mind is hardened in
evil. Hence the Prophet shows here, that the Israelites were not only guilty,
but had also pertinaciously resisted God, for their vices could be corrected by
no punishment. We have just mentioned famine, another kind of punishment follows
—
|
AMOS
4:7
|
|
7. And also I have withholden the rain from
you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain
upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained
upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
|
7. Atque etiam ego prohibui a vobis pluviam,
quum adhuc essent tres menses ad messem; et plui super urbem unam, et super
alteram urbem non feci pluere; pars una compluebatur, et super quam non pluebat
exaruit.
|
I have said that another kind of punishment is here
recorded by the Prophet; it is not, however, wholly different: for whence comes
the want we have noticed, except through drought? For when God intends to
deprive men of support, he shuts up heaven and makes it iron, so that it hears
not the earth, according to what we have noticed elsewhere. Yet these words of
the Prophet are not superfluous; for God would have the punishment he inflicts
on men to be more attentively considered. When men are reduced to want, they
will indeed acknowledge it to be the curse of God, except they be very stupid;
but when a drought precedes, when the earth disappoints its cultivators, and
then a want of food follows, more time is given to men to think of God’s
displeasure. This is the reason why the Prophet now distinctly speaks of rain
being withheld, after having said that the people had been before visited with a
deficiency of provisions; as though he said “Ye ought to have returned, at
least after a long course of time, to a sound mind. If God had been offended
with you only for one day, and had given tokens of his displeasure, the
shortness of time might have been some excuse for you: but as the earth had
become dry; as God had restrained rain, and as hence sterility followed, and
afterwards there came want, how great was your stupidity not to attend to so
many and so successive tokens of God’s wrath?” We now perceive why
the Prophet here connects drought with want of food, the cause with the effect:
it was, that the stupidity of the people might hence be more
evident.
But he says that God had
withheld rain from them, when
three months still remained to the harvest.
When it rains not for a whole month, the earth becomes dry, and men become
anxious, for it is an ill omen: but when two months pass without rain, men begin
to be filled with apprehension and even dread; but if continual dryness lasts to
the end of the third month, it is a sign of some great evil. The Prophet, then,
here shows that the Israelites had not been in an ordinary way chastised, and
that they were very stupid, as they did not, during the whole three months,
apply their minds to consider their sins, though God urged them, and though his
wrath had been manifested for so long a time. We now then see that the hardness
of the people is amplified by the consideration of time, inasmuch as they were
not awakened by a sign so portentous,
When there were yet three months,
he says, to the harvests I withheld rain from you.
Another circumstance follows,
“God rained on one city, on
another he did not rain; one part was watered, and no drop of rain fell on
another. This difference could not be
ascribed to chance: except men resolved to be willfully mad, and to reject all
reason, they must surely have been constrained to confess these to have been
manifest signs of God’s wrath. How came it, that one place was rained
upon, and another remained dry? that two neighboring cities were treated so
differently? Whence was this, except that God appeared angry from heaven? The
Prophet then does here again condemn the obstinacy of the people: they did not
see in this difference the wrath of God, which was yet so very conspicuous. The
import of the whole is, that God shows that he had to do with a people past
recovery; for they were refractory and obstinate in their wickedness, and could
bear the application of no remedy. It follows —
|
AMOS
4:8
|
|
8. So two or three cities wandered unto one
city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the LORD.
|
8. Et venerunt duae tres urbes ad unam urbem,
ut biberent aquas, et non satiatae sunt: et non reversi estis usque ad me, dicit
Jehova.
|
Marking the difference, the Prophet relates, that two
or three cities had come to one, to seek drink, and that they were not
satisfied, because the waters failed on account of so large a number: for though
the fountains could have supplied the inhabitants, yet when such a multitude
flowed from every quarter, the very fountains became exhausted. The Prophet thus
aggravates the punishment brought by God on the Israelites; for so great was the
thirst, that whole cities had recourse to fountains, where they heard that there
was any water. It was indeed an unusual thing for inhabitants to leave their own
city and to run to another to seek water, like wild beasts who, when satiated
with prey, run far for water: but it is an unwonted thing for men to undertake a
long journey for the sake of finding drink: for they dig wells for themselves,
and seek water by their own industry, when rivers do not flow, or when fountains
do not supply them with drink. When therefore men are forced to leave their own
homes and to seek water at a distance, and when they exhaust the fountains, it
is a portend which ought to be observed.
But how was it that the Israelites took no notice of
God’s hand, which was then as it were visible? Hence then, as they
repented not, their obstinate blindness became quite evident. They were no doubt
terrified with fear and harassed by grief; but all this produced no effect, for
they continued in their sins, took delight in their own superstitions, and
pursued the same life as before. Since then they divested not themselves of
their own character, nor ceased to provoke continually the wrath of God, their
hopeless and incorrigible obstinacy is here manifestly proved. This was the
Prophet’s design. It follows —
|
AMOS
4:9
|
|
9. I have smitten you with blasting and
mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive
trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me,
saith the LORD.
|
9. Percussi vos Orientali vento et rubigine;
magnos Fc11
hortos vestros et vites vestros et ficulneas vestras et oliveta vestra voravit
bruchus (vel, eruca;) et non reversi estis usque ad me, dicit
Jehova.
|
Though one kind of punishment may not convince men,
they are yet thereby proved with sufficient clearness to be guilty before God.
But when in various ways he urges them, and after having tried in vain to
correct them in one way, he has recourse to another, and still effects nothing,
it hence more fully appears that they, who are thus ever unmoved, and remain
stupid whatever means God may adopt to lead them to repentance, are altogether
past recovery. This is the drift of what the Prophet now adds: he says that they
had been smitten by the
east wind. He shows that want of food
does not always proceed from one cause; for men become hardened when they feel
only one evil: as the case is when a country labors under a drought, it will be
thought to be as it were its fate. But when God chastises men in various ways,
they ought then no doubt to be touched and really affected: when, on the
contrary, they pass by all punishments with their eyes closed, it is certain,
that they are wholly obstinate and so fascinated by the devil, that they feel
nothing and discern nothing. This is the reason why the Prophet records the
various punishments which had been already inflicted on the
people.
Hence he says now, that they had been smitten by the
east wind, and by the
mildew. What mischief the mildew does to
the standing corn, we know; when the sun rises after a cold rain, it burns out
its substance, so that the ears grow yellow, and rottenness follows. God then
says, that the standing corn of the people had been destroyed by this blasting,
after dryness had already prevailed though not through the whole land in an
equal degree; for God rained on one part, while a neighboring region was parched
through want of rain: the Prophet having stated this, now mentions also the
mildew.
He says further, that the fig-trees and
vines had been consumed, that the gardens had been destroyed, and that
the olive trees had been devoured by chafers or palmer worms.
Since then the Israelites had been in so many ways warned, was it not a strange
and monstrous blindness, that being affrighted they could bear these
chastisements of God, and be not moved to return to the right way? If the first
chastisement had no effect, if the second also had been without fruit, they
ought surely at last to have repented; but as they proceeded in their usual
course, and continued like themselves in that contumacy of which we have spoken,
what any more remained for them, but to be wholly destroyed as those who had
trifled with God? We now then understand what the Prophet
means.
Moreover, this passage teaches, as other similar
passages do, that seasons vary not by chance; that now drought prevails, and
then continual rains destroy the fruits of the earth, that now chafers are
produced, and then that heaven is filled with various infections, — that
these things happen not by chance, is what this passage clearly shows: but that
they are so many tokens of God’s wrath, set; before our eyes. God indeed
does not govern the world, according to what profane men think, as though he
gave uncontrolled license both in heaven and earth; but he now withholds rain,
then he pours it down in profusion; he now burns the corn with heat, then he
temperates the air; he now shows himself kind to men, then he shows himself
angry with them. Let us then learn to refer the whole order of nature to the
special providence of God. I mention his special providence, lest we should
dream only of some general operation, as ungodly men do: but let us know that
God would have himself to be seen in daily events, so that the tokens of his
love may make us to rejoice, and also that the tokens of his wrath may humble
us, to the end that we may repent. Let this then be learnt from the present
words of the Prophet.
Amos further teaches us, that wind and rain, hail and
droughts heat and cold, are arms or weapons by which God executes vengeance on
account of our sins. Whenever God then intends to inflict punishment on us, he
puts on his armor, that is, he sends either rain, or wind, or drought, or heat,
or hail. Since it is so, let us not think that either rain or heat is
fortuitous, or that they depend on the situation of the stars as ungodly men
imagine. Let us therefore know, that all nature so obeys God’s command,
that when rain falls seasonably, it is a token of his love towards us, and that
when it is unseasonable, it is a proof of his displeasure. It is meet to think
the same of heat and of cold, and of all other things. Let us now go on with the
words of the Prophet —
|
AMOS
4:10
|
|
10. I have sent among you the pestilence after
the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken
away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your
nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
|
10. Misi in vos pestem secundum rationem
Aegypti; percussi gladio robustos vestros, cum captivitate equorum vestrorump;
ascendere feci foetorem castrorum vestrorum et ad nares vestras (vel, usque ad
nares vestras, ut copula supervacua sit;) et non reversi estis usque ad me,
dicit Jehova.
|
God now expostulates with the people, because their
perverseness had not been subdued even by additional punishments; for he had in
vain exhorted and stimulated them to repentance. He says, that they had been
smitten with pestilence. The Prophet has hitherto spoken only of the
sterility of the land, and of the fruit being destroyed by infections; he has
hitherto mentioned want only with its causes; this only has been stated: but now
he adds that the people had been afflicted with pestilence, and also with war,
and that they had still persevered in their wickedness. Whatever measures then
God had adopted to correct the vices of the people, the Prophet now complains
and deplores, that they all had been tried in vain. But so many upbraidings are
mentioned, that God might show that there was no more any hope of pardon,
inasmuch as they thus continued to be untractable and perverse.
He then says that he had
“sent pestilence according
to the manner of Egypt.
˚rd,
darec, means a way, but is taken for mode or manners as the
10th chapter of Isaiah ‘I will smite him according to the
manner of Egypt,’ says God, speaking of Sennacherib, as though he said,
“Ye know how formerly I checked the fury of Pharaoh; I will now put on the
same armor, that I may drive far from you your energy Sennacherib.” But
the Prophet says here, that God had exercised towards the Israelites the same
extreme rigor which he had used towards the Egyptians; as though he said,
“I have been forced by your obstinacy to turn my power against you: ye
know how Egypt was formerly smitten by me from kindness to your fathers; I then
showed how dear to me was your preservation, by putting forth my strength to
destroy the Egyptians: how is it that I now turn my weapons against you for your
destruction? I have been indeed always ready to oppose your enemies, and kindly
to cherish you in my paternal bosom. As then ye are become to me like the
Egyptians, how is this and whence this change, except that ye have constrained
me by your irreclaimable wickedness?”
We now then see why the Prophet speaks here expressly
of the Egyptians. He intimates that God could not show favor to the Israelites,
which he would have continued to show, had they not closed the door against it;
as though he said, “I had chosen you from other nations; but now I
chastise you, not as I do the uncircumcised Gentiles, but I avowedly carry on
war with you, as though ye were Egyptians.” We see how much it serves for
amplification, when Amos compares the Israelites to the Egyptians, as though he
had said that they, by their perverse wickedness, had extinguished all
God’s favor, so that the memory of their gratuitous adoption was of no
more avail to them. I have therefore
sent among you pestilence after
the manner of Egypt.
And he adds,
I slew with the sword your
strong men. It was a different kind of
punishment, that all the strong had been slain, that their horses had been led
into captivity, and that, finally, the foetor of dead bodies had ascended to
suffocate them. These were certainly unusual tokens of God’s wrath. As the
people had not repented, it became now again quite evident, that their diseases
were not healable; for God had effected nothing by the application of so many
remedies. These different kinds of punishments ought to be carefully noticed,
because the Lord has collected them together, as so many arguments to prove the
contumacy of the people.
By saying that the
foetor of camps had ascended to
their nostrils, it was the same as if he
had said, “There has been no need of external force; though no enemy had
been hostile to you, ye have yet been suffocated by your own foetor; for this
came up from your own camps into your nostrils, and deprived you of life. Since
God then had raised up this intestine putridity, ought you not to have been at
length seriously affected, and to have returned to a right mind? Inasmuch then
as no fruit followed, who does not see, that you have been in vain chastised,
and that what alone remains for you is utter destruction? As God has hitherto
stimulated you in vain by punishments, were he to proceed, he would lose all his
labor. Since then God has hitherto to no purpose visited you with his scourges,
there is no reason why he should chastise you more moderately: you must now then
be utterly destroyed.” This is the meaning: and he further adds
—
|
AMOS
4:11
|
|
11. I have overthrown some of you, as God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the
burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
|
11. Subverti vos secundum subversionem Dei
contra (vel, in) Sodomam et Gomorrham; et fuistis quasi torris ereptus ab
incendio: et non reversi estis ad me, dicit Jehova.
|
Amos proceeds further, and says, that God had used a
severity towards his chosen people similar to that which formerly he showed
towards Sodom and Gomorrah. That, we know, was a memorable evidence of
God’s wraths which ought to have filled all ages with dread, as it ought
also at this day: and Scripture, whenever it graphically paints the wrath of
God, sets Sodom and Gomorrah before our eyes. It was indeed a dreadful judgment,
when God destroyed those cities with fire from heaven, when they were consumed,
and when the earth, cleaving asunder, swallowed up the five cities. But he says
that nearly the same ruin had taken place among the people of Israel, only that
a few escaped, as when any one snatches a brand from the burning; for the second
clause of the verse ought no doubt to be taken as a modification; for had Amos
only said, that they had been overthrown as Sodom and Gomorrah, he would have
said too much. The Prophet then corrects or modifies his expression by saying,
that a few had remained, as when one snatches a brand from the burning. But in
the meantime, they ought to have been at least moved by punishments so grievous
and dreadful, since God had manifested his displeasure to them, as he did
formerly to Sodom and Gomorrah.
History seems, at the same time, to militate against
this narrative of Amos; for he prophesied under Jeroboam the second, the son of
Joash; and the state of the people was then prosperous, as sacred history
records. How then could it be, that the Israelites had been destroyed like Sodom
and Gomorrah? This difficulty may be easily solved, if we attend to what sacred
history relates; for it says that God had pity on the Israelites, because all
had been before consumed, the free man as well as the captive,
(<121425>2
Kings 14:25, 26) When, therefore, there was so deplorable a devastation among
the people, it was God’s purpose to give them some relief for a time.
Hence he made king Jeroboam successful, so that he recovered many cities; and
the people flourished again: but it was a short prosperity. Now Amos reminds
them of what they had suffered, and of the various means by which God had
stimulated them to repentance though they proved wholly
untamable.
Then these two things are in no way inconsistent,
— that the Israelites had been consumed before God spared them under
Jeroboam, — and that they had yet been for a time relieved from those
calamities, which proved ruinous both to the captive and to the free, as it is
expressly declared. We must, at the same time, remember, that there was some
residue among the people; for it was God’s design to show mercy on account
of his covenant. The people were indeed worthy of complete destruction; but it
was God’s will that some remnant should continue, lest any one should
think that he had forgotten his covenant. We hence see why God had preserved
some; it was, that he might contend with the wickedness of the people, and show
that his covenant was not wholly void. So the Lord observed a middle course,
that he might not spare hypocrites, and that he might not abolish his covenant;
for it was necessary for that to stand perpetually, however ungodly and
perfidious the Israelites may have been. The Prophet then shows, that God had
been faithful even in this case, and constantly kept his covenant, though all
the Israelites had fallen away from him. He at length concludes
—
|
AMOS
4:12-13
|
|
12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O
Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O
Israel.
|
12. Propterea sic faciam tibi Israel; et quia
hoc faciam tibi, praepara te in occursum Dei tui Israel.
|
|
13. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains,
and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh
the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD,
The God of hosts, is his name.
|
13. Quia ecce formans montes, creans spiritum
(aut, ventum,) annuntians homini quae sit cogitatio ejus, faciens auroram,
tenebras (et tenebras, subaudienda est copula,) ambulans super excelsa loca
terrae, Jehova, Deus exercituum, nomen ejus.
|
Amos here declares, in the person of God, that the
people in vain hoped for pardon, or for a modification, or an abatement, or an
end to their punishment; for God had in vain made the attempt, by many scourges
and chastisements, to subdue their extreme arrogance:
therefore,
he says, thus will I do to
you. What does this particle
hk,
ke, thus, mean? Some think that God here denounces on the Israelites the
punishments they had before experienced: but the Prophet, I doubt not, means
something much more grievous. He now removes the exception which he lately
mentioned as though be had said, that God would execute extreme punishment on
this reprobate people without any mitigation.
This will I do to thee,
Israel: “Thou hast already perceived with
how many things I armed myself to take vengeance on the despisers of my law; I
will now deal more severely with thee, for thy obstinacy compels me. Since,
then, I have hitherto produced no effect on you, I will now bring the last
punishment: for remedies cannot be applied to men past recovery.”
Thus, then, he says, will
I do to thee Israel.
Fc12
And because I will do this to
thee, etc.
bk[,
okob, means often a reward or an end: this place may then be thus
rendered: ‘I will at length surely do this to you;’ but the sense
the most suitable seems to be this,
Because I will this do to you,
prepare to meet thy God. The passage may be
explained in two ways: either as an ironical sentence, or as a simple and
serious exhortation to repentance. If we take it ironically, the sense will be
of this kind, “Come, now, meet me with all your obstinacy, and with
whatever may serve you; will you be able to escape my vengeance by setting up
yourselves against me, as you have hitherto done?” And certainly the
Prophet, in denouncing final ruin on the people, seems here as though he wished
designedly to touch them to the quick, when he says, “Meet now thy God and
prepare thyself:” that is, “Gather all thy strength, and thy forces,
and thy auxiliaries; try what all this will avail thee.” But as in the
next chapter, the Prophet exhorts again the Israelites to repentance, and sets
before them the hope of favor, this place may be taken in another sense, as
though he said, “Since thou seest thyself guilty, and also as thou seest
that thou art seeking subterfuges in vain, being not able by any means to elude
the hand of thy judge, then see at last, that thou
meet thy
God, that thou mayest anticipate the
final ruin which is impending.” The Prophets, we indeed know, after having
threatened destruction to the chosen people, ever moderate the asperity of their
doctrine, as there were at all times some remnant seed, though hidden. And
similar passages we have seen both in Joel and in Hosea. It is not, therefore,
improper to explain the words of Amos in this sense, — that though the
people were almost past hope, he yet exhorted them to anticipate God’s
wrath.
Prepare
then thyself to meet thy
God, as though he said, “However
worthy thou art of being destroyed and though the Lord seems to have closed up
the door of mercy, and despair meets thee on every side, thou can’t yet
mitigate God’s wrath, provided thou prepares to meet
him.”
But this preparation includes real renovation of the
heart: it then takes place, when men are displeased with themselves, when with a
changed mind they submit to God, and humbly pray for forgiveness. There is then
an important meaning in the Prophet’s words, Prepare thyself. With regard
to meeting God, we know what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:,
‘If we judge
ourselves, we shall not be judged by the Lord.’
How comes it, then, that God deals severely with us,
except that we spare ourselves? Hence this indulgence, with which we flatter
ourselves, provokes God’s wrath against us. We cannot then meet God,
except we become our own judges, and condemn our sins and feel real sorrow. We
now see what the Prophet means, if we regard the passage as not spoken
ironically.
But that he might rouse careless men more
effectually, he then magnificently extols the power of God; and that he might
produce more reverence and fear in men, especially the hardened and the
refractory, he adorns his name with many commendations. As it was difficult to
turn the headstrong, the Prophet accumulates many titles, to move the people,
that they might entertain reverence for God. “God,” he says,
“has formed the mountains, and created the spirit,” and further,
“he knoweth hearts, and men themselves understand not what they think of,
except as far as God sets before them their thoughts; God maketh the morning and
the darkness, and walketh in the high places of the earth; and his name is,
Jehovah, God of hosts.” Why were all these encomiums added, but that the
hearts of men might be touched, who were before void of thought and sunk in
blind stupidity? We now understand the Prophet’s object. But what remains
to be said on the words will be added in tomorrow’s
lecture.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that since by thy
word thou kindly invites us to thyself, we may not turn deaf ears to thee, but
anticipate thy rod and scourges; and that when, for the stupidity and
thoughtlessness by which we have become inebriated, thou addest those
punishments by which thou sharply urgest us to repent, — O grant, that we
may not continue wholly intractable, but at length turn our hearts to thy
service and submit ourselves to the yoke of thy word, and that we may be so
instructed by the punishments, which thou hast inflicted on us and still
inflictest, that we may truly and from the heart turn to thee, and offer
ourselves to thee as a sacrifice, that thou mayest govern us according to thy
will, and so rule all our affections by thy Spirit, that we may through the
whole of our life strive to glorify thy name in Christ Jesus, thy Son our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-SEVENTH
We have explained the last verse of the fourth
chapter, except that there remains something to be said of the glorious
representation given of God by the Prophet. He says first, that he had
formed the mountains then that he
had created the spirits, afterwards that he
declares to man what is his
thoughts, makes the morning and the darkness, and walks on the high places of
the earth. Such an accumulation of words
might seem superfluous, only this main thing must be borne in mind, that it was
necessary for men, whose minds were exceedingly torpid to be aroused that they
might seriously consider what we have seen had been denounced on them. Hence the
Prophet sought to shake off from the Israelites their thoughtlessness, by
setting God before them in his greatness; for when his name only is announced,
he is wholly neglected by the greatest part of men. It was therefore necessary
that something should be added, that they who were asleep might be awakened, and
understand how great and how fearful the power of God is. This is the design of
all that we read here.
The word
jwr,
ruch, is interpreted in two ways. Some refer it to the wind, and others
to the soul of man. If we take it for the wind, it will join suitably with the
creation of mountains, for the winds emerge from them on account of their
cavity. If you understand it of man’s soul, it will agree with the
following clause. It appears to me more probable that the Prophet speaks of
man’s soul; though one may possibly choose to connect both, so that there
is an allusion to wind, and that yet Amos, about to speak of thought, first
mentions the spirit.
But what the Prophet says, that God
announces to men what their
thought is — this is done in various
ways. We indeed know that the end of teaching is, that men may confess their
guilt, who before flattered themselves; we know also that the word of God is
like a two-edged sword, which penetrates into the bones and marrow, and
distinguishes between thoughts and feelings,
(<580412>Hebrews
4:12) God then thus draws men out of their recesses into the light; and he also
convinces them without the word; for we know how powerful are the secret
movements (instinctus — influences) of the Spirit. But the Prophet
meant only here, that the Israelites had to do with God, who is the searcher of
hearts, and from whom nothing is hid, however concealed it may be. Each one is
to himself the best witness of his own thoughts; but the Prophet ascribes to God
a higher degree, for he understands whatever any one conceives in his mind,
better than he who seems to have all his own thoughts well understood.
Fc13 Since
men therefore craftily hide themselves, the Prophet here reminds them that they
cannot succeed, for God understands what they inwardly think better than they
themselves. We now then perceive what he substantially means.
Some explain the words, that God
makes the morning
darkness, as if Amos had said, that he
converts light into darkness; but we ought rather to consider a copulative to be
understood; ‘for he here declares the power of God, not only as displayed
in once creating the world, but also in preserving the order of nature, and in
minutely regulating the changes of times and seasons. Let us now proceed to the
fifth chapter.
CHAPTER 5
|
AMOS
5:1
|
|
1. Hear ye this word which I take up against
you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
|
1. Audite verbum hoc quod ego tollo super vos,
lamentum domus Israel.
|
Some render the verse thus, “Hear ye this word,
because upon you, or for you, I raise a lamentation:” but we shall
hereafter speak more at large as to the proper rendering. Let us see what the
subject is. The Prophet here denounces on the Israelites the punishment they had
deserved; and yet they did not think that it was nigh; and they ferociously
despised, I have no doubt, the denunciation itself, because no chance had as yet
taken place, which might have pointed out such a destruction. Hence the Prophet
and his threatenings were both despised.
He however threatens them here in severe terms with
the judgment of God, which they feared not: and this is the reason why he says,
Hear ye. It was not, indeed, without reason that he thus began and
intimated that they greatly flattered themselves, nay, that they stopped their
ears against wholesome counsels: the admonition would have been otherwise
superfluous. The Prophet then indirectly reproves that supine indifference in
which the Israelites indulged themselves.
But with regard to the words, some, as I have before
mentioned, refer this lamentation to Amos himself, as though he had said, that
he lamented the state of the people, finding that they were so stupid, and did
not perceive how dreadful the wrath of God is. Since, then, they thus flattered
themselves in their sins, those interpreters think that the Prophet here assumes
the character of a mourner for that irreclaimable people. Hear, he
says, this word even because I lament over you. For the more refractory
the people were, the more touched with grief the prophet no doubt was: for he
saw how horrible the judgment of God was, which was nigh them, on account of
their stubbornness. No wonder then that the Prophet says here, that he undertook
or raised lamentation for the people; and this mode of speaking is common in
Scripture.
But yet I rather think that another sense is more
suitable to this place, which becomes evident by putting in an exegetic
particle, Hear ye then this word
which I raise upon you, even a
lamentation, etc. The word
açm,
mesha, rendered burden, is derived from the verb
açn,
nusha, which means to raise up: and there is a striking allusion to the
subject treated of here. For the Prophet does not here simply teach the people,
nor comfort them, nor does he only warn them, but he denounces on them the last
punishment. We hence see the import of the expression, to raise up a word; it
was the same as though he said, “I lay on you this prophecy:” for a
burden is laid on the shoulders of men when God’s wrath is
denounced.
It afterwards follows, Even
a lamentations O house of
Israel; which means, “I raise upon you a
word, which will constrain you to mourn and lament: though now ye are so
refractory against God, that ye spurn all warnings, and reject all threatening;
yet this word shall at last prove mournful to you.” This seems to be the
genuine sense of the Prophet: in the first place, he reproves the stupidity of
the people of Israel, by demanding a hearing; then he reproves their contempt of
God in despising all threatenings; and he shows also that this prophecy would
prove mournful to them for having so long trifled with God, “The lament of
the house of Israel shall be this word, which I now raise up upon you.” it
follows —
|
AMOS
5:2
|
|
2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall
no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her
up.
|
2. Cecidit nec adjiciet ut resurgat virgo
Israel: relicta est super terram suam; non est qui attollat.
|
This was substantially the vengeance which was now
nigh the Israelites, though they rested securely, and even scorned all the
threatening of God. The virgin of
Israel, he says,
has
fallen. Expounders have too refinedly
explained the word virgin; for they think that the people of Israel are here
called a virgin, because God had espoused them to himself, and that though they
ought to have observed spiritual chastity towards God, they yet abandoned
themselves to all kinds of pollutions: but a virgin, we know, is a title given
for the most part by the Prophets to this or that people on account of their
delicacies; for Babylon, no less than Samaria or the people of Israel, is called
a virgin. Certainly this refined interpretation cannot be applied to Babylon, to
Egypt, to Tyre, and to other places. I have therefore no doubt but the Prophet
here arraigns the Israelites, because they, relying on their strength, indulged
themselves. They were quiet in their own retreats, and when all kinds of
blessings abounded, they lived daintily and sumptuously. As then they were
indulging themselves in such pleasures he calls them a virgin.
The virgin of Israel then has
fallen, and shall no more rise again.
A condition may be here included, as an exhortation
to repentance immediately follows: we may then fitly regard this as being
understood, “except they timely repent:” otherwise the Israelites
must have fallen without hope of restoration. But we may also refer this to the
body of the people: fallen then had the virgin of Israel, not so however that
they were all destroyed, as we shall hereafter see; for the Prophet says that
the tenth part would remain: but this is rightly said of the people generally;
for we know that the kingdom had so fallen, that it never afterwards did rise. A
remnant of the tribe of Judah did indeed return to Jerusalem; but the Israelites
are at this day dispersed though various parts of the world; yea, they are hid
either in the mountains of Armenia, or in other regions of the East. Since then
what the Prophet here denounces has been really fulfilled as to the whole
kingdom, we may take the place without supposing any thing understood,
“Fallen has the virgin of Israel.” For as God showed mercy when the
people as a body were destroyed, that some remained, is what does not militate
with the prophecy, that the whole body had fallen.
Fallen then has the virgin of
Israel, nor will she any more rise again; that
is, the kingdom shall not by way of recovery be restored; and this, we know, has
never taken place.
Forsaken is she, he says, on her
own land, and there is none to raise her up;
which means, that she will continue fallen:
though she may remain in her own place, she will not yet recover what she had
lost. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning; and, at the same time, we
see that that people had so fallen, as never to rise again, as it has been
stated, into a kingdom. Let us now proceed —
|
AMOS
5:3
|
|
3. For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that
went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an
hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
|
3. Quia sic dicit Dominus Jehova, Urbs e qua
egrediebantur mille, manebunt in ea centum; et e qua egrediebantur centum,
manebunt (ad verbum, restabunt) decem domui Israel.
|
The Prophet now expresses more clearly what he had
before said, — that the kingdom would perish and yet so that the Lord
would preserve some remnants. Then as to the body of the people, Israel had
fallen; but as to a few remnants they were saved; but they were a small numbers
such as the Prophet mentions. We hence see that some hope of mercy was given to
God’s chosen people, and that in the meantime destruction was denounced on
the whole nation. We have already seen that their wickedness was past hope; it
was therefore necessary to announce to them the sentence of final ruin; but it
was so done, as not to drive to despair the faithful few, who remained hid among
the multitude.
The city then, from which a
thousand went forth, shall have a hundred
remaining; and the city from
which went forth a hundred, shall have
ten. Armies were wont formerly to be decimated, when any sedition had
been made: but God threatens the Israelites here with a much heavier judgment,
that only the tenth part would be saved from ruin. We now then perceive the
design of the Prophet. Now this could not alleviate the grief of the people; but
the hypocrites were more exasperated, on hearing that few would be saved, and
that all hope of deliverance was cut off from them. When, therefore, they saw
that God dealt with them with so much severity, envy increased their griefs and
more embittered their minds; and this was what the Prophet designed; for it was
of no use to apply any solace to the despisers of God: but as God knew that
there were some seed remaining among the people, he intended to provide for the
miserable, who would have been a hundred times swallowed up with grief, had no
mitigation been offered them. The Prophet then directs his discourse to the few,
when he says, “In the city from which a thousand had gone forth there will
be a hundred; and in that from which a hundred went forth, ten will remain
alive.” It now follows —
|
AMOS
5:4-6
|
|
4. For thus saith the LORD unto the house of
Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
|
4. Quia sic dicit Jehova domui Israel, Querite
me, et vivetis.
|
|
5. But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal,
and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel
shall come to nought.
|
5. Et ne quaeratis Bethel, et in Gilgal ne
eatis, et ne transeatis in Berseba; quia Gilgal migrando migrabit, et Bethel
erit in nih ilum (vel, in molestiam.)
|
|
6. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he
break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to
quench it in Bethel.
|
6. Quaerite Jehovam et vivetis; ne transeat
(vel, scindat) quasi ignis domum Joseph, et absorbeat, et non sit extinguens in
Bethel.
|
Amos here again exhorts the Israelites to repentance;
and it was an address common to all, though the greater part, as we have said,
were altogether past recovery; but it was necessary, as long as they continued a
chosen people, to call them to repentance; for they had not been as yet
abdicated. We further know, that the Prophets preached in order to invite some
to God, and to render others inexcusable. With regard to the end and design of
public teaching, it is, that all should in common be called: but God’s
purpose is different; for he intends, according to his own secret counsel, to
draw to himself the elect, and he designs to take away all excuse from the
reprobate, that their obstinacy may be more and more apparent. We must further
bear in mind, that while the people of Israel continued, the doctrine of
repentance and faith was preserved among them; and the reason was that to which
I have alluded, because they remained as yet in the fold of God. It is no wonder
then that the Prophet gives again to the Israelites the hope of pardon, provided
they repented.
Thus saith Jehovah to the house of
Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live. This
sentence has two clauses. In saying, Seek me, the Prophet exhorts the Israelites
to return to a sane mind: and then he offers them the mercy of God, if only they
sought from the heart to reconcile themselves to him. We have elsewhere said
that men cannot be led to repentance, unless they believe that God will be
propitious to them; for all who think him to be implacable, ever flee away from
him, and dread the mention of his name. Hence, were any one through his whole
life to proclaim repentance, he could effect nothing, except he were to connect
with this the doctrine of faith, that is, except he were to show that God is
ready to give pardon, if men only repent from the heart. These two parts, then,
which ought not to be separated, the Prophet here connects together very wisely
and for the best reason, when he says,
Seek me, and ye shall
live; intimating that the gate of mercy
was still open, provided the Israelites did not persevere in their obstinacy.
But, at the same time, he lays this to their charge, — that they willfully
perished through their own fault; for he shows that in themselves was the only
hindrance, that they were not saved; for God was not only ready to receive them
into favor, but also anticipated and exhorted them, and of his own free will
sought reconciliation. How then was it, that the Israelites despised the
salvation offered to them? This was the madness which he now charges them with;
for they preferred ruin to salvation, inasmuch as they returned not to God when
he so kindly invited them, Seek
me, and ye shall live. The same thing is
stated in another place, where it is said, that God seeketh not the death of a
sinner,
(<261832>Ezekiel
18:32)
But as we have already said, the Prophets spoke thus
in common to all the people, but their doctrine was not to all efficacious; for
the Lord inwardly attracted his elect, and others were rendered inexcusable. But
still this is true, that the whole blame, that they perished, were in the
children of Israel, for they refused the salvation offered to them. What indeed
was the cause of their destruction, but their own obstinacy? And the root of the
evil, was it not in their own hearts? Then none of them could evade the charge
made against them by the Prophet, — that they were the authors of their
own ruin, for each of them must have been conscious of his own
perverseness.
But Amos afterwards defines the character of true
repentance, when he says, Seek
not Bethel, go not to Gilgal, pass not over to
Beersheba. Some think that the Prophet
here repudiates all the disguises, which are usually pretended by hypocrites. We
indeed know that when God calls such men to himself, that they seek indirect and
tortuous courses; for none of them return sincerely and willingly to God. Men
indeed see that they are justly reproved for having departed from God: but when
they are called back to him they take a circuitous course, as I have said, and
not the straight road. Thus, though they pretend to seek God, they seek
subterfuges that they may not present themselves to him. All this is no doubt
true; but the Prophet advances farther; for he shows here, that the Israelites
by going to Bethel not only lost all their labor, but also grievously offended
God; for superstition was in itself condemnable. If Amos had preached at
Jerusalem, he might have said, “Go not into the temple, for in vain ye
offer sacrifices;” as indeed he does say hereafter, “Come not with
your flock.” For he there shows, that God is not to be pacified by
ceremonies; nay, in that very chapter, he rejects feast—days and
sacrifices; but in this place he ascends higher, and says that these two things
are wholly contrary — to seek God, and to seek Bethel; as though he said,
“If ye from the heart return to me, renounce all the superstitions to
which you have been hitherto attached.”
It is indeed a proof of true conversion, when the
sinner is displeased with himself on account of his sins and hates the things
which before pleased him and with a changed mind devotes himself wholly to God.
It is of this that the Prophet now treats; as though he said, “If there is
in you a purpose to return to God, cast away all your superstitions; for these
two things — true religion and idolatry, cannot be joined together. As
long then as ye remain fixed in that false worship, to which you have accustomed
yourselves, ye continue alienated from God. Then reconciliation with him demands
that you bid adieu to all your corrupt forms of worship.” The import of
the whole then is this, — that the Israelites could not be reconciled to
God, except they departed from their superstitions. Let them turn away, he says,
from Bethel, and Gilgal, and
Beersheba.
We indeed know that the calves were made at Bethel;
and Gilgal, no doubt, became celebrated for the passing of the people over
Jordan, and also, as it is well known, for the circumcising of the children of
Abraham; and as to Beersheba, we know that Abraham dwelt there for a long time,
and frequently offered sacrifices to God. Now, this vicious zeal
(kakozhli>a
— evil zeal or affectation) ever prevails in the world; without reason or
judgment it lays hold on something special, when it undertakes to set up the
worship of God, as we see to be the case under the Papacy. But God has
prescribed to us a certain rule according to which he is to be worshipped; it is
not then his will that there should be a mixture of our inventions. When
therefore the posterity of Abraham presumptuously availed themselves of his
example, and when they extolled the memorable event of the circumcision, God
repudiated all contrivances of this kind; for as it was well known, it was
expressly his will to be worshipped at Jerusalem; and by appointing one
tabernacle and one altar, he designed to cherish unity and concord among the
people. We now then understand that it was the intention of Amos to show, that
the conversion of the people would be fictitious, until they turned away from
all the superstitions and vicious modes of worship, in which they had habituated
themselves: hence, Seek not
Bethel, come not is Gilgal, pass not over to Beersheba.
The same thing may be said at this day to those who
wish to blend the dregs of the Papacy with the pure and holy worship of God; for
there are at this day many go-betweens, (mediatores) who, while they see
that our doctrine cannot be disapproved of, yet wish to contrive some middle
course; that is, they wish to reconcile Popery with the doctrine of the Gospel.
But the Prophet shows that such a mixture cannot be endured by God. How so?
Because light cannot agree with darkness. Hence, corruptions, except they be
abolished, will always subvert the true worship of God. We now see, that the
lesson conveyed by this doctrine is, that the pure worship of God cannot be
restored while the corruptions of the world, which are contrary to his word,
prevail.
Come
not then to
Gilgal, for by migrating it shall
migrate. There is an alliteration in the
words of the Prophet, “Gilgal by rolling shall be rolled;” for
Gilgal means rolling. Were such a phraseology allowable, it would be this,
“Gilgal by gilling shall be gilled;” that is, it shall be rolled
with quick rolling. God intimates that this place, under the protection of which
the Israelites thought themselves safe, would be destroyed, as it had been
already destined for destruction.
Gilgal then be migrating shall
migrate; not that the place could
remove, but that it would be wholly demolished, so that nothing should remain
there but dreadful tokens of God’s vengeance.
He then adds,
Seek Jehovah, and ye shall
live. This repetition is not
superfluous: the Prophet confirms what I have already stated, that such was the
opposition between the true and legitimate worship of God, and idolatry and
superstition, that the people of Israel, as long as they retained their
corruptions, proved that they had nothing to do with God, whatever they may have
pretended with their mouths and by their ceremonies. Seek God, he says, and ye
shall live; and this repetition was very useful for this end, that hypocrites
might know that they were justly condemned, inasmuch as they did not consecrate
themselves wholly to God; for they were ever ready to contend with God whenever
they could. “Why does God deal so strictly with us? why does he not
concede to us at least something? for we do not deny him every thing. But if we
do what we think to be right, why does he not indulge us at least on this
account?” But when God not only urges hypocrites by his doctrine, but
visits them also with punishments then they become angry, and even raise a
clamor. Hence the Prophet, the second time, calls them to this duty, Seek
Jehovah, and ye shall live; as though he said, “Ye will gain nothing
by evasion; for if any one seeks God truly and from the heart, God will not
disappoint him; he will receive him into favor and will bless him. That ye then
pine away in your calamities, impute this to your own obstinacy and
stubbornness: it is so, because ye do not truly seek God; for while ye retain
your corruptions, as I have said before, ye do not seek
him.”
But he adds
Lest he pass on like a
fire.
jlx,
tselach, means to pass on, to advance; it means also to break out, and
sometimes to prosper; but, in this place, the Prophet no doubt meant what I have
said. Then it is, Lest he advance
like fire upon the house of Joseph and consume it, and there be none to
extinguish it in Bethel. The kind of vengeance
which God threatened is not here expressed, but it may be easily understood.
There is, therefore, in the meaning no obscurity; for he declares, that if the
Israelites hardened their hearts against God, a burning was nigh at hand, which
would seize on them, devour, and consume them. There shall come then or shall
advance, a fire upon the house of
Joseph; some say, shall burst out, which
amounts to the same thing. By the house of Joseph is meant Ephraim; for he was,
we know, the second son of Joseph; and, by taking a part for the whole, the
Prophets usually include the ten tribes, as it is well known, when they mention
Ephraim; and the kingdom of Israel is sometimes called the house of Joseph.
Lest then he ascend as fire into
the house of Joseph, and consume it, and there be none to extinguish
it: this was said, because the
Israelites never thought that they should be thus consumed by a sudden burning.
The fire then shall devour the
house of Joseph, and there will be none to quench it.
In the verse before I omitted one thing, to which I
shall now advert. The Prophet said, that Bethel would
be for a
trouble, or be nothing. Bethel, we know,
is called in another place Bethaven, the house of iniquity; and Aven means in
Hebrew sometimes iniquity, sometimes grief or trouble, sometimes labor or
difficulty, and sometimes nothing. It is not to be taken for iniquity in this
place; this is certain: but Amos, on the contrary, speaks of punishment, which
awaited that place, since it was abominable in the sight of God. As then he had
said of Gilgal, that it would be rolled; so now he says of Bethel, that it would
be for a trouble or grief, or be nothing. Either senses would be appropriate;
— that Bethel, from which the Israelites hoped for a remedy to all their
evils, would be to them a trouble, that is, the cause of their ruin, or that it
would be nothing; as though he had said, that their hopes would be fallacious
and empty in expecting any relief from Bethel. It afterwards follows
—
|
AMOS
5:7
|
|
7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave
off righteousness in the earth.
|
7. Qui convertunt in absynthium judicium, et
justitiam in terra dimittunt.
|
Here the Prophet, after having inveighed against
superstitions, comes to the second table of the law. The Prophets are sometimes
wont to shake off self-complacencies from hypocrites, when they spread before
God their external veils, by saying that all their ceremonies are useless,
except accompanied with integrity of heart: but in this place the Prophet
expressly condemns in the Israelites two things; that is, that they had
corrupted the true worship of God, departed from the doctrine of the law, and
polluted themselves with ungodly superstitions; and he also reprehends them for
their wicked and dishonest conduct towards men, — for their disregard of
what was right and equitable, — for plunder, cruelty, and fraud. This
second subject the Prophet handles, when he says, that they
converted judgment into wormwood
and allowed righteousness to fall on the
ground. But the rest I must defer till
tomorrow.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest
us to be so entangled, not only by depraved lusts, but also by the allurements
of Satan, and by our own ignorance and blindness, — O grant, that being
roused by thy word we may at the same time learn to open our eyes to thy
wholesome warnings by which thou callest us to thyself: and since we cannot do
this without thy Spirit being our guide and leader, grant that he may enlighten
our eyes, to the end that, being truly and from the heart tarried to thee, we
may know that thou art propitious and ready to hear all who unfeignedly seek
thee, and that, being reconciled to thee in Christ, we may also know that troll
art to us a propitious Father, and that thou wilt bestow on us all kinds of
blessings, until thou at length gatherest us to thy celestial kingdom, through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-EIGHTH
Ye who convert judgment into
wormwood, and leave righteousness on the
ground. We stated yesterday why the Prophet
added this sentence: he wished in every way to prove the Israelites guilty.
Having inveighed against their superstitions, he now adds, that they acted also
falsely and iniquitously towards men. And he attacks the chiefs who ruled the
people, not because they were alone culpable, but because they drew with them
the whole community. We know that diseases descend from the head to the whole
body: and this is the reason why the Prophet directs his address especially to
the rulers. He says that they
turned judgment to wormwood. This similitude
often occurs. Nothing, we know, is sweeter than justice, when every one gains
his own right; for this serves much to preserve peace. Hence nothing can be more
gratifying to us, than when uprightness and equity prevail. This is the reason
why the Prophet calls that iniquitous state of things bitterness, when no regard
is had for justice and rectitude. He says also that
righteousness was cast down on
the ground, or thrown to the ground. Now
the judges ought to have defended what was right among the people: for this, we
know, is the duty enjoined them: and the Prophet now lays this to their charge
that they left justice on the ground — that they suffered it to lie
prostrate. We now perceive the Prophet’s design. It follows
—
|
AMOS
5:8
|
|
8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and
Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark
with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon
the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
|
8. Qui facit Pleiades et Orionem, qui
convertit in lucem matutinam tenebras, et diem in noctem obtenebrescere facit:
qui vocat aquas maris et effundit super superficiem terrae: Jehova nomen
ejus.
|
Some interpreters connect this verse with the former,
and think that what the Prophet had said before is here explained; but they are
greatly mistaken, and misrepresent the meaning of the Prophet. We have indeed
said, that the Prophet shows in that verse that the Israelites were not only
perfidious and covenant-breakers with regard to God, having fallen away from his
pure worship, but that they also acted iniquitously and dishonestly towards men:
but these interpreters think that God is, by a metaphor, called righteousness
and that religion is called judgment. This is in no way the mind of the Prophet;
nay, it is, as I have already said, wholly different.
What, then, does the Prophet mean? I take this verse
by itself; but yet we must see why the Prophet proclaims to us, in such sublime
terms, the power of God. We know how heedlessly hypocrites trifle with Gods as
though they had to do with a child: for they imagine a god according to their
own fancy; yea, they transform him whenever they please, and think him to be
delighted with frivolous trifles. Hence it is, that the way of pacifying God is
with them so easy. When in various ways they provoke God’s wrath, there is
in readiness some little expiation, and they think that it is a satisfaction to
God. As then hypocrites imagine that God is similar to a dead idol, this is the
reason why the Prophet, in order to banish these delusions, shows that the
nature of God is far different. “What sort of being,” he says,
“do you think God to be? for ye bring your worthless and frivolous
expiations as though God would be satisfied with these trifles, as though he
were a child or some silly woman: but God is He
who makes the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns darkness into morning, who changes day into night, who pours forth on
the earth the waters of the sea
Fc14.
Go to now, and set forth your play-things, as though access to God were open
to you, when ye labor to pacify him with your trifles.” We now perceive
the Prophet’s object: we see how this verse ought to be taken separately,
and yet to be connected with the main discourse of the Prophet; for after having
inveighed against the gross vices of the people, seeing he had to contend with
the headstrong, yea, with the mockers of God, he grows angry and sharply
exclaims, “What do ye think or feign God to be?” Then the Prophet
sets forth the character of God as being far different from what hypocrites
imagine him to be in their own fancies. “What are your notions of
him?” he says. “You indeed make God to be like a child; but he made
the Pleiades and Orion.”
Some translate
hmyk,
kime, Arcturus. There is no need of laboring much about such names; for
the Jews, ignorant of the liberal sciences, cannot at this day certainly
determine what stars are meant; and they show also their complete ignorance as
to herbs. They are indeed bold enough; they define what every word means; but
yet they betray, as I have said, their own want of knowledge. And our Prophet
was a shepherd, and had never learnt astronomy in his youth, or in his manhood.
He therefore speaks of the stars according to the common notions of his age: but
he, no doubt, selected two stars of an opposite influence. The Pleiades (which
are also called the seven Stars) are, we know, mild; for when they rise, they
moderate the rigor of the cold, and also bring with them the vernal rain. But
Orion is a fiercer star, and ever excites grievous and turbulent
commotions both at its rising and
setting.Fc15
This being the case, the Prophet names here those stars most commonly known. He
says “Since the Lord changes the seasons, so that the mildness of the
spring follows the rigor of winter, and since days succeed nights, and darkness
comes after the light, and since it is God who renders a serene heaven suddenly
cloudy by raising vapors from the veins of the earth, or from the sea, since all
these changes manifest to us the wonderful power of God, how is it that men so
presumptuously trifle with him? Whence is this so great a stupidity, unless they
wholly overlook the works of God, and leave him a name only, and see not what is
before their eyes?” We hence see how beautifully and how strikingly the
Prophet does here set forth the power of God, and how opportunely he speaks of
it. He then maketh the Pleiades
and Orion.
And he adds,
He changeth darkness into the
morning, he maketh the day to grow dark into
night. Here he brings before us the
various changes of times. The night turns not into day by chance, nor does
darkness come over the earth by chance when the sun has ceased to shine. Since
then this variety ought to awaken even the unwilling, and to constrain them to
adore God, how is it that his majesty is treated by men with such mockery, that
they bring their frivolous expiations, and think him to be no more angry with
them when they present to him what is worthless and childish, as when a nurse by
a pleasing sound soothes an infant? I say again, whence is this so great a
stupor, except that men willfully close their eyes to so bright a display, by
which God shows himself to us, that he might constrain us all to adore his name?
We now see why the Prophet describes the various changes which daily take
place.
He speaks also of the waters of the sea,
Who
calleth, he
says, the waters of the sea, and
poureth them on the surface of the
earth. Some explain this of fountains;
for they think that all waters proceed from the sea, and that fountains are
nothing else but as it were the eyes of the sea: but this passage ought rather
to be viewed as referring to rains; for the power of God is not so conspicuous
in the waters which come from the earth, as when he suddenly darkens the heavens
with vapors. For whence is it, that the heavens, a while ago clear, is now
cloudy? We see clouds rising, — but at whose command? Philosophers indeed
assign some natural causes; they say that vapors are drawn up both from the
earth and the sea by the heat of the sun: but why is this done to-day rather
than yesterday? Whence is this diversity, except that God shows that the element
of water is under his control, and also the air itself, as veil as the vapors,
which are formed as it were out of nothing? For what is vapor but gross air, or
air condensed? and yet vapors arise from the hollow places of the earth as well
as from the sea. Certainly the water could not of itself produce a new element:
it is ponderous, and vapors rise up on high: how is it that water thus loses its
own nature? But vapors are in a middle state between air and water, and yet they
ascend above the air, and arise from the earth to the heavens. The Prophet
therefore does not without reason say, that waters are called, that is, that
these vapors are called, from the sea, and are afterwards poured on the surface
of the earth. This may be understood of the clouds as well as of rain; for
clouds extend over the earth and surround us; and rain is poured on the earth.
This is doubtless the wonderful work of God.
Hence the Prophet concludes,
Jehovah is his
name. It is not the idol which you have
devised for yourselves; for your expiations might indeed draw a smile from a
child but they cannot satisfy the judgment of God. Then think that you have to
do with God himself, and let these fallacious delusions deceive you no
longer.” It follows —
|
AMOS
5:9
|
|
9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the
strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
|
9. Qui fortificat vastatorem super robustum,
et vastator super munitiones ascendet.
Fc16
|
The Prophet speaks not now of the ordinary works of
God, in which his majesty, inspiring the highest reverence, as well as his dread
power, shines forth; but he more closely urges the Israelites, who had become so
hardened in their vices, that they were wholly inflexible. Here then the Prophet
charges them with contumacy and says, “What, think you, will take place?
Ye are strong; but God will stir up robbers against you, who will prevail, and
beat down and chatter in pieces that obduracy, through which you now resist
God.” Thus after having filled them with dread by setting before them the
course of nature, he now holds forth this threats that they would themselves
have to feel the power of God: for however callous they were, and though in
their ferocity they dared to rise up against God, he declares that it would
avail them nothing; inasmuch as there was in God’s hand a waster, who
would prevail against their obduracy.
And a
waster, he says,
shall ascend on the very
fortresses, or shall enter the
fortresses. The Prophet here, in an indirect way, laughs to scorn the vain
confidence which filled the Israelites, on observing that they were inclosed in
fortified cities and had defenses and a powerful army. All this, he says, will
be wholly useless to them when God will raise up strong depredators, who will
penetrate through well fortified gates, and leap over walls, and enter strongly
defended cities. We now apprehend what the Prophet had in view in these
words.
It will now be easy to apply this doctrine to our own
instruction: Whenever we are not suitably moved, either by the truth, or by
warnings, or by threatenings, let this come to our minds which the Prophet
teaches here, namely, that God cannot be mocked, and that hypocrites gain
nothing by their delusive ceremonies, when they sacrifice and present their
expiations, which by no means please God, — how so? We may indeed easily
learn the reason from the nature of God himself. Hence, that we may not
transform God, let us learn to raise up our eyes to behold him, and also to look
on all things around us; and this will constrain us to adore and fear his great
power. It follows —
|
AMOS
5:10
|
|
10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate,
and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
|
10. Oderunt (odio habent) in porta
corripientem, et loquentem rectum abominantur.
|
It is probable that in this verse also, the judges
are reproved by the Prophet, though what is here said may be extended to the
whole people: but as nearly the whole discourse is leveled against the judges, I
readily subscribe to the opinion, that the Prophet now accuses the judges on
this account, — because they could not bear to be reproved for the great
license they allowed themselves, but, on the contrary, abhorred all those who
reproved them. What then he says as to the reprover being hated in the gate, is
to be thus explained: When judges sat in the gate and perverted justice and
right, and when any one reminded them of their duty, they haughtily rejected all
admonitions, and even hated them. In the gate then, that is, They who
ought to rule others, and to correct whatever vice there may be among the
people, cannot themselves bear any reprover, when their own vices require strong
remedies.
And well would it be, if this disease were healed at
this day. We indeed see that kings, and those in authority, wish to be deemed
sacred, and they will allow no reproof. Instantly the majesty of God is violated
in their person; for they complain and cry out, whenever teachers and
God’s servants dare to denude their wicked conduct. This vice then, which
the Prophet condemns, is not the vice of one time; for, even in the present day,
those who occupy the seats of judgment wish to be exempt from all reproofs, and
would claim for themselves a free liberty in sinning, inasmuch as they think not
that they belong to the common class of men, and imagine themselves exempt from
all reprehension; in short, they wish to rule without any equity, for power with
them is nothing but unbridled licentiousness. We now understand the
Prophet’s meaning. It now follows —
|
AMOS
5:11
|
|
11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is
upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of
hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards,
but ye shall not drink wine of them.
|
11. Quia calcastis pauperem (vel, onus
imposuistis,) et onus frumenti abstulistis ab eo, domos excisionis (hoc est, ex
lapide quadrato) aedificabitis, et non habitabitis in illis; vineas
desiderabiles plantabitis, et non bibetis vinum earum.
|
The Prophet here declares, that though the judges
enriched themselves by plunder, yet God would not allow them to enjoy their
booty, but that he would deprive them of the great wealth they had accumulated.
This is the import of the whole. We hence see that the Prophet contends not here
with the common people, but professedly attacks the chief men, inasmuch as from
them did proceed all the prevailing evil.
The first thing is,
they imposed burdens on the poor,
and then, they took away corn from them.
He says first, “A burden have you laid”, or, “ye have
trodden on the poor;” for the verb may be taken in either sense,
and it matters not which as to the import of the passage. It is not indeed often
that we meet with a verb of four letters;
Fc17 but
interpreters explain this as meaning to tread under foot or to lay a burden. The
Prophet, I doubt not, accuses here the judges of not sparing miserable men, but
of burdening them with tributes and exactions; for this is to burden the poor.
Then he adds, “Ye have taken a load of corn”. The Prophet had
doubtless fixed here on a species of cruelty in robbing others, the most
detestable. When judges take money, or any other gift, it is less odious than
when the poor are compelled to carry corn to them on their shoulders. It was the
same as though they surrendered their very life to their plunderers; for when
judges constrained loads of corn to be brought to them, it was as though they
strangled the poor, or drew blood from their veins, inasmuch as they robbed them
of their food and support. We now perceive what the Prophet meant: You have, he
says, oppressed the poor, and taken from them
a load of
corn. Some render
rb,
ber, chosen, but improperly.
Ye shall therefore
build, etc. He declares here that they
would not realize their hope, though they plundered on all sides to build
palaces, and though they got great possessions to enrich themselves and their
heirs: “This self-love,” he says, “will deceive you; defraud,
rob, plunder; but the Lord will at length strip you of all your robberies: for
after having been venal, and prostituted not only your souls but your shame for
gain, and after having spent much labor and expense in building,
ye shall not dwell in your
palaces; and when ye shall have planted
vineyards with great expense and care, ye shall not drink their wine.”
Isaiah also speaks in the same strain,
‘O plunderer, thou
shalt be exposed to
plunders’
(<233301>Isaiah
33:1)
Experience also teaches the same thing; for we see
how the Lord transfers from one to another the possessions of this world: he who
seems to provide riches after his death for his heirs for ever, passes his whole
life, as we see, without enjoying his own property; for he is hungry in the
midst of the greatest abundance, and even famishes himself. This is very
frequently the case. And then when his abundance comes to his heirs, it falls
into the hands of prodigals, who soon dissipate the whole. And sometimes the
Lord allows not that such vast wealth should have heirs, and it is scattered
here and there, and the very name is extinguished, though the name to such
haughty and wealthy men is a great object, as they commonly wish it to be
eminent in the world for some hundred ages after their death.
This passage of the Prophet ought therefore to be
especially noticed. He tells us that unjust gains were laid up by these robbers
and wicked plunderers, in order to amass great riches; but he adds, “The
Lord will spoil them, and will not suffer them to enjoy their abundance, however
anxiously they had collected it from all quarters.” Let us now proceed
—
|
AMOS
5:12
|
|
12. For I know your manifold transgressions
and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn
aside the poor in the gate from their right.
|
12. Quia cognosco magnas iniquitates vestras
(vel, multas,
µybr)
et robusta scelera vestra; efflictores justi, sublatores redemptionis, et
pauperes in porta declinare faciunt (hoc est, causa cadere
faciunt.)
|
The Prophet introduces God here as the speaker, that
the threatening might be more authoritative: for we know, at it has been before
stated, that the Prophets were despised by haughty men; but when God himself
appeared as it were before them, it was strange if no fear laid hold on them;
they had at least no excuse for their presumption, if God’s name did not
touch their hearts and humble them.
I
know, he says,
your
iniquities; as though he said, “Ye
do not think yourselves bound to render an account to men, as probably no such
account; will be rendered by you; but how will you be able, think you, to escape
my tribunal? for I am your judge, and mine is the government: however
ferociously ye now tread on the poor, and evasively contend with me, your crimes
must necessarily be judged by me;
I know your
crimes. And as the rich by their splendor
covered every wickedness, particularly the magistrates, who were adorned with a
public character, God says that their turpitude was fully known to him: as
though he said “Contend as much as you please, still your iniquities are
sufficiently apparent to me; ye will gain nothing by your subtle
evasions.” Moreover, he reprehends them not merely for slight offenses,
but says that they were wholly past being borne with. When something is done
amiss by the highest power, indulgence is commonly granted; for nothing is more
difficult than for one who sustains so great and heavy a burden, to retain so
much integrity as to be free from every blame: but the Lord shows here that they
were not lightly culpable, but that their crimes were so grievous and flagrant
that they could not be endured. We now then understand what was the object of
the Prophet.
When therefore their own greatness dazzles the eyes
of proud men, let us know that they cannot deprive God of his right; for though
he may not judge them to-day, he will yet shortly ascend his tribunal: and he
reminds them, that those pompous displays by which they cover their many crimes,
are only shadows which will vanish. This is what the Prophet
means.
Then he calls them,
The oppressors of the
just. He enumerates here some
particulars, with regard to which, the iniquity of the judges whom he now
addresses might be, as it were, felt to be gross and abominable.
Ye
oppress he says, the just; this was one thing:
then follows another, They
take
rpk,
capher, expiation, or, the price of redemption. The Prophet, I have no
doubt, meant to point out here something different from the former crime. Though
interpreters blend these two things, I yet think them to be wholly different;
for these mercenary judges made an agreement with the wicked, whenever any
homicide or other violence was perpetrated; in short, whenever any one
implicated himself in any grievous sin, they saw that there was a prey taken,
and anxiously gaped for it: they wished murders to be committed daily, that they
might acquire gain. Since, then, these judges were thus intent on bribery, the
Prophet accuses them as being takers of ransom. They ought to have punished
crimes; this they did not; but they let go the wicked unpunished; they spared
murderers, and adulterers, and robbers, and sorcerers not indeed without
rewards, for they brought the price of redemption, and departed as if they were
innocent.
We now perceive what the Prophet means here; and well
would it be were this crime not so common: but at this day, the cruelty of many
judges appears especially in this — that they hunt for crimes for the sake
of gain, which seems to be as it were a ransom; for this is the proper meaning
of the word
rpk,
capher. As then this evil commonly prevails it is no wonder that the
Prophet, while reprehending the corruptions of his time, says, that judges took
a ransom.
Then he adds,
The poor they turn
aside from judgment
in the
gate. This is the third crime: the
Prophet complains, that they deprived miserable men of their right, because they
could not bring so large a bribe as the rich; though relying on the goodness of
their cause, they thought themselves sure of victory. The Prophet complains,
that they were disappointed of their hope, and their right was denied them in
the gate, that is, in the court of justice; for we know that it was an ancient
custom for judges to sit in the gates, and there to administer justice; And
hence Amos mentions here gate twice: and what he complains of was the more
disgraceful, inasmuch as the judicial court was, as it were, a sacred asylum, to
which injured men resorted, that they might have their wrongs redressed. When
this became the den of robbers, what any more remained for them? We now then see
that the Prophet speaks not here of the common people, but that he mainly levels
his reproofs against the rulers. Let us go on —
|
AMOS
5:13
|
|
13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence
in that time; for it is an evil time.
|
13. Propterea prudens in tempore hoc silebit,
quia tempus hoc malum
est.Fc18
|
Some interpreters think that a punishment is here
denounced on the people of Israel, and that is, that the Lord would deprive them
of Prophets and teachers. We indeed know that nothing is more to be dreaded,
than that the Lord should extinguish the light of sound doctrine, and suffer us
to go astray in darkness, yea, to stumble, and to rush headlong to ruin, as they
do who are destitute of wholesome counsels. But I think that the meaning is
quite different. Another exposition may be deemed probable, which is this, that
the prudent dared not to speak on account of the prevailing tyranny; for Amos
had said before that the judges, who then ruled, would not bear reproof. Hence,
the prudent were forced to be
silent at that time, for that time was
evil; and every liberty of teaching was
taken away. And this meaning opens still wider; for the silent would have to
bear the wrongs done to them, and to devour inwardly their own groans, for they
dared not to complain; nay, the very teachers did not oppose the torrent, for
they saw that it was not the time to resist haughty and violent men. But this
view may be also fitly applied to God’s judgment, that the prudent would
be silent, being put in fear: for silence is often connected with fear: and it
is a dreadful judgment of God, when the prudent closes his mouth, or puts his
hand, as it is said elsewhere, on his mouth.
As to the first exposition, I have already rejected
it, and it has certainly nothing in its favor: but the second may be
accommodated to the general meaning of the Prophet, that is,
the prudent shall be silent at
that time, because all liberty shall be
taken away. I am, at the same time, unwilling thus to restrict it, as they do;
for it became not a wise man to pass by in silence sins so grievous: though
tyrants threatened hundred deaths, yet those on whom was laid the necessity of
teaching ought not to have been silent. But the Prophet here speaks not of what
the prudent would do or omit to do; on the contrary, he intimates, that whenever
they began to speak, the arrogance of the judges would be so great as to repel
all reproofs. The prudent then
shall be silent, not willingly; for
that, as I have said, would have been unworthy of wise men. And the Prophet
here, by way of honor, calls those prudent who rightly discern things,
who are not led away by corruptions, but remain upright; who, though they see
the whole order of things collapsing, and though they see heaven and earth, As
it were, mingled together, yet retain a sound judgment. Since the Prophet speaks
of such men, he certainly does not mean that they would be willingly silent; for
it would have been a base indolence in them thus to betray the truth and a good
cause. What then does he mean? Even this — that the wickedness of tyrants
would be so great, as not to allow one word to be declared by the prudent; when
any one came forth to reprove their vices, he was not suffered.
When therefore he says, that the time would
be evil, he means, that such audacity would prevail, that all liberty
would be denied to wise men. They would then be forced to be silent, for they
could effect nothing by speaking, nay, they would have no freedom of speech
allowed them: and though they attempted to discharge their office, yet
tyrannical violence would instantly impose silence on them. Similar was the case
with Lot, of whom it is said that he groaned and vexed his own heart,
(<011601>Genesis
16:1) He was constrained, I have no doubt, to be silent after having often used
free reproofs; nay, he doubtless exposed himself to many dangers by his attempts
to reprove the Sodomites. Such seems to me to be the meaning of the Prophet,
when he says, that the prudent would be silent, because these tyrants would
impose silence on all teachers, — now throwing them into prisons, then
banishing them, — now denouncing death on them, then visiting them with
some punishment, or loading them with reproaches, or treating them with ridicule
as persons worthy of contempt. We now understand the Prophet’s, design. We
may further observe, that men have then advanced to the extremity of evil, when
reception is no more given to sound doctrine and salutary counsels, and when all
liberty is sternly suppressed, so that prudent men dare not to reprove vices,
however rampant they may be, which even children observe, and the blind feel.
When licentiousness has arrived to this pitch, it is certain that the state of
things is past recovery and that there is no hope of repentance or of a better
condition: and this was the meaning of the Prophet.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as we cannot
see with our eyes thy infinite and incomprehensible glory, which is hid from us,
we may learn at least by thy works, what thy great power is, so as to be humbled
under thy mighty hand, and never trifle with thee as hypocrites are wont to do;
but to bring a heart really sincere, and also pure hands, that our whole life
may testify that a true fear of thy name prevails, in our hearts: and grant,
that whilst we devote ourselves wholly to thy service, we may courageously and
with invincible hearts, fight against all these corruptions, by which we are on
every side beset, until, having finished our warfare, we attain to that
celestial rest, which has been prepared for us by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
FIFTY-NINTH
|
AMOS
5:14
|
|
14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live:
and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have
spoken.
|
14. Quaerite bonum et non malum, ut vivatis;
et erit hoc modo Jehova, Deus exercituum, vobiscum, quemadmodum
dixistis.
|
The Prophet again repeats, that it was only owing to
the Israelites themselves that it was not well with them; for God was ready to
grant them his blessing; but they designedly sought a curse for themselves.
Inasmuch, then, the hypocrites are wont to put away from themselves the blame of
every evil, and to complain of their miseries, as though the Lord afflicted them
unjustly, the Prophet here shows, that no evil happened to the Israelites, but
what they procured by their vices: and at the same time he exhorts them to
repentance, and gives them the hope of pardon, provided they hardened not their
hearts to the last. He therefore bids them to seek good; but by adding,
seek not evil, his words are full of meaning, as though he had said, that
they were so fixed in their own wickedness, that they could not be torn away
from it. The import of the whole, then, is this — that the Israelites
could not complain of being too severely treated by God, because they suffered
not themselves to be kindly dealt with. And the Prophet assigns this as the
reason — that they were not only alienated from what was good, but that
they also with avidity and eager desire followed what was evil: in the meantime
he exhorts them to repentance and adds a promise the more to encourage
them.
Seek then good, he says,
that ye may
live; And then he adds,
And thus God will be with you, as
ye have said. Here the wickedness of the people
is reproved who sought to bind God to themselves; for hypocrites are wont to
misapply the promises: when they presumptuously reject God himself, they still
wish him to be under an obligation to them. Thus they gloried that they were the
children of Abraham, an elect people; circumcision was to them like a royal
diadem; they sought to be superior to all other nations: and thus they abused
the name of God, and at the same time they petulantly scorned both the word of
God and his Prophets. As, then, they ever boasted that God was dwelling in the
midst of them, the Prophet says, “Then and
thus will God be with
you if ye seek what is good or the doing of
good;” for to seek good is nothing else than to endeavor to do good; as
though he said “Change your nature and your manners; for hitherto iniquity
has prevailed among you; you have been violent, and rapacious, and fraudulent:
begin now to do good, then God will be with you.”
There is therefore a great emphasis to be laid on the
particle
ˆk,
can, thus will God be with you: for the Prophet reminds them of
what so often occurs in the law, “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” who
dwell in the midst of you,
(<031144>Leviticus
11:44) God shows, in these words, that it could not be that he would dwell with
the Israelites except they sanctified themselves, that there might be a mutual
agreement. But they had no regard for holiness, and yet wished God to be bound
to them. This false confidence the Prophet derides, and says, that a certain
condition is fixed in the law, according to which God would dwell in the midst
of them. Thus then will God be in the midst of you; that
is, when he sees that you strive after uprightness and the doing of
good.
I have already explained what this means, as ye
have said; for he proves that foolish vaunting to be false which was heard
among the Israelites: “Has not the Lord chosen and adopted us as his
people? Is not the ark of the covenant a sure pledge of his presence? How then
could he depart from us? God would deny himself, were he not to keep his pledged
faith; for he covenanted with our fathers, that we should be his flock even to
the end of the world.” Since, then, they thus foolishly boasted, and were,
at the same time, covenant breakers, the Prophet says, “Ye boast, indeed,
by your mouth that God is in the midst of you, but see what he in his turn
stipulates and requires from you. If, then, ye respond to his call, he will not
surely be wanting to his pledged faith; but as ye willfully depart from him, he
must necessarily become alienated from you.” We now then perceive the
meaning of the Prophet in these words. It follows —
|
AMOS
5:15
|
|
15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and
establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be
gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
|
15. Odio habete malum et dilligite bonum; et
statuite in porta judicium, si forte misereatur Jehova Deus exercituum
reliquiarum Joseph.
|
The Prophet inculcates the same truth; and he did
this designedly; for he saw that nothing was more difficult than to bring this
people to repentance, who, in the first place, were by nature refractory; and,
in the second place, were hardened by long habit in their vices. For Satan gains
dominion by degrees in the hearts of men, until he renders them wholly stupid so
that they discern not between right and wrong. Such, then, was the blindness
which prevailed among the people of Israel: it was therefore necessary often to
goad them as Amos does here.
Hence he bids them
to hate evil and to love
good. And this order ought to be preserved,
when we desire really to turn to God and to repent. Amos here addresses perverse
men, who were so immersed in their own wickedness, that they distinguished no
longer between light and darkness: it was therefore not without reason that he
begins with this sentence, that they should hate evil; as though he had said,
that there had been hitherto a hostile disagreement between them and God, and
that therefore a change was necessary, in order that they might return to him.
For when any one has already wished to devote himself to God’s service,
this exhortation to hate evil is superfluous: but when one is sunk still in his
own vices, he has need of such a stimulant. The Prophet therefore does here
reprove them; and though they flattered themselves, he yet shows that they were
greatly addicted to their vices.
He afterwards adds, Love good. He intimates,
that it would be a new thing for them to cultivate benevolence, and to apply
themselves to what was right. The import of the whole is this, — that the
Israelites would have no peace with God, until they were wholly changed and
became new men; for they were now strangers to goodness, and given to wickedness
and depravity. But Amos mentions here only a part of repentance: for
bwf,
thub, no doubt means the doing of good, as iniquity is properly called
[r,
ro [the doing of evil.] He speaks not here of faith, or of prayer to God,
but describes repentance by its fruits; for our faith, as it has been stated in
other places, is proved in this way; it manifests itself, when sincerity and
uprightness towards one another flourish in us, when we spontaneous]y love one
another and perform the duties of love. Thus then by stating a part for the
whole, is repentance here described; that is, the whole, as they commonly say,
is shown by a part.
But now the Prophet adds,
And set up judgment in the
gate. He here glances at the public
state of things, of which we have largely spoken in our yesterday’s
lecture. A deluge of iniquity had so inundated the land, that in the very courts
of justice, and in the passing of judgments, there was no longer any equity, any
justice. Since then corruption had taken possession of the very gates, the
Prophet exhorts them to set up
judgment in the gate; it may be, he says,
that God will show mercy to
the remnants of Joseph. The Prophet shows here
that it was hardly possible that the people should continue safe; nay, that this
was altogether hopeless. But as the common degeneracy, like a violent tempest,
carried away the good along with it, the Prophet here admonishes the faithful
not to despond, though they were few in number, but to retake themselves to God,
to suffer others to fall away and to run headlong to ruin, and at the same time
to provide for their own safety, as those who flee away from the
burning.
We now then understand the object of the Prophet: for
when the whole multitude, given up to destruction, had laid aside every care for
their safety, a few remained, who yet suffered themselves to be borne along, as
though a tempest, as it has been said, had carried them away. The Prophet then
does here give comfort to such good men as were still alive, and shows that
though the people were sinking, there was no reason for them to despair, for the
Lord still promised to be propitious to them. What this doctrine teaches is
this, — that ten ought not to regard what a thousand may do; but they
ought to hear God speaking, rather than to abandon themselves with the
multitude; when they see men blindly and impetuously running headlong to their
own ruin, they should not follow them, but rather listen to God, and not reject
his offered salvation. However much then their small number may dishearten them,
they ought not yet to suffer God’s promises to be forced or snatched away
from them, but fully to embrace them.
The expression, it may be, is not one of
doubt, as it has been stated in another place,
(<290201>Joel
2:1) but the Prophet, on the contrary, intended sharply to stimulate the
faithful, that he might, as it was needful, increase their alacrity. Whenever
then
ˆp,
pen, lest perhaps or
ylwa,
auli, it may be, is set down, let us know, that they are not intended to
leave men’s minds in suspense or perplexity, that they may despond or come
to God in doubt; but that a difficulty is thereby implied, in order to stir them
up and to increase the ardor of their desire: and this is necessary in a mixed
state of things, for we see how great is the indolence of our flesh. Even they
who desire to return to God, do not hasten with that ardor which becomes them,
but creep slowly, and hardly draw themselves along; and then when many obstacles
meet them, they who would have been otherwise full of courage, almost despair at
every step. It is therefore necessary to apply such goadings as these,
“Take heed; for when any one is beset on every side by fire, he will not
long delay, nor think with himself how he may escape without any hurt and
without any inconvenience; but he will risk danger rather than that he should by
delay or tardiness deprive himself of a way of escape. So also ye see, that
iniquity surrounds you on every side; what then is to be done except that each
of you must quickly flee away?”
We now then perceive the design of the Prophet in
saying, It may be that he will
show mercy. The sum of the whole is
this, — That there was need of a great change, that they might become
altogether new men, who had hitherto devoted themselves to wickedness, —
and then, that the few should not wait until the whole multitude joined them;
for though the people resolved to go astray, yet God ought to have been attended
to, when recalling the few to himself and bidding them to escape, as it were,
from the burning, — and, thirdly, that there is stated here a difficulty,
that those still healable might not come tardily to God, but that they might
strive against impediments and quickly run to him seeing that they could not
without great effort extricate themselves; they were therefore to come to God,
not slowly; but having overcome all difficulties, they were on the contrary, to
flee to him. It now follows —
|
AMOS
5:16
|
|
16. Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the
Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the
highways, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such
as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.
|
16. Quapropter dicit Jehova Deus exercituum,
Dominus, In omnibus compitis lamentum, et in omnibus viis dicent, Vae, vae; et
vocabunt agricolam ad luctum, et lamentum erit super omnes peritos
luctus.
|
The particle of inference, set down here, confirms
what has been already said, — that the Israelites vainly flattered
themselves, though they were in the worst condition. And as the Prophet knew
that there would be no end to their evasions, being, as they were, perverse
hypocrites, he cuts off all their subterfuges by saying, that God had now
announced his purpose concerning them, and that however they might object this
or that, God’s judgment could no longer be deferred by delay, for their
iniquity was more than sufficiently proved.
Therefore
Jehovah, he says,
God of hosts, the Lord,
saith. He again repeats the attributes of God,
in order to set forth his supreme power; as though he had said, that the
Israelites gained nothing by acting the part of sophisters with God; for that he
is the supreme judge, against whom there is no appeal, and whose sentence cannot
be revoked. Hence we see that what is here checked is that waywardness which
deceived the Israelites, while they continued to clamor against God. Thus then
saith Jehovah; this was said, that they might understand that they were depraved
in their disposition, corrupt in morals, wholly given to wickedness, and without
a particle of goodness in them.
Thus
then saith God, In all the
streets of concourse there shall be lamentation, and in all the highways they
shall say, Woe! Woe!
Fc19 The
Prophet disputes not here with them, nor denounces their vices, but speaks only
of punishment; as though he had said, that the litigation was decided, that
there was no need of an accuser; for nothing now remained but that God should
execute his vengeance on them, inasmuch as he had already contended more than
enough with them. And this mode of teaching frequently occurs in the Prophets;
and it ought to be observed, that we may not think that we can gain anything by
our evasions, when the Lord regards us as guilty. Let us then dread the
punishment, which is prepared for all the intractable and the obstinate. They
shall say, he says, in all the highways, Woe! Woe! They now prattle and think to
prevail by their loquacity: when they murmur against God, they think that a
delay is thus attained, that he dares not to inflict punishment; but God
nevertheless proceeds with his judgment; they shall cry, Woe! Woe! there will be
no time then for devising shifts, but they will be wholly taken up with
wailing.
They shall
call, he says,
the husbandman to
mourning. Some think
rka,
acar, derived from
rkn,
nucar, which is to own, or, to make, one’s self a stranger: and
they are induced to regard it so only for this reason, because the Prophet
immediately mentions those who were
skillful in
mourning. But, as all the Hebrews agree
as to the meaning of this word, I am unwilling, without authority to make any
change: and it also harmonizes well with what the Prophet says. At the same
time, those Hebrew interpreters are wrong, who think that the order is inverted,
as though it ought to have been thus, “The skillful in lamentation shall
call husband men to mourning.” But the Prophet, I doubt not, meant, that
all were to be led together to mourning; for, though the manner was different,
yet, in the first place, he appoints mourning to husbandmen, and then he shows
that it would be common to all those who were wont to mourn.
Let us then consider what the Prophet says,
Lamentation to all the skillful
in mourning. Eastern nations we know,
exercised themselves in acting grief, and so they do at this day. We find,
indeed, that they practiced all manner of gesticulations: a greater moderation
at least is seen among us, however heavy the grief may be. And this custom in
former times came also into Europe; for we know that there were women hired to
mourn at Rome; and we know that there were everywhere those who lamented. They
therefore mourned for wages. This vicious custom the Prophet notices: but it is
not discussed here whether this was done rightly or foolishly: for the Prophet
here only refers to a common custom; ‘There will be lamentations’ he
says, ‘to all the skillful in mourning;’ that is, all who are wont
to employ their labor in weeping will now be fully occupied. This is the first,
though the last in order, at least it is the middle between two other clauses.
Now, the two others follow, which are these, — that the very husbandmen
would be led to mourning, — and then that there would be lamentation in
all the highways. But why does the Prophet say, that all the skillful in
mourning were to be occupied in lamentation? Because the common calamity would
thus constrain them. He further adds, that this grief would not be feigned; but
that as destruction would prevail through the cities and fields none would be
exempt. However much the husbandmen were unaccustomed to such rites, they would
yet wail and learn this new art, says the Prophet. We now then see what these
words mean: but the next verse must be joined to them —
|
AMOS
5:17
|
|
17. And in all vineyards shall be
wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
|
17. Et in omnibus vineis lamentum, quia
transibo in medio tui, inquit Jehova.
|
A reason is now added, why the whole country would be
taken up with lamentation and mourning; for the Lord would pass through the
whole land. Surely nothing was more to be desired, than that God should visit
his own land; but he here declares that he would pass through as an enemy. As
then an enemy runs through a country and spreads devastation wherever he comes,
such would be the passing through, which the Prophet now threatens. “God,
then, of whom ye boast, as dwelling in the midst of you, will come forth, lay
waste, and consume the whole land, as when an enemy spreads ruin far and
wide.”
But the Prophet seems to allude to the passing of
God, described by Moses in Exodus 11. The Lord then passed through the middle of
Egypt; that is, his wrath pervaded the whole land; no corner was safe or
tranquil, for God’s vengeance penetrated through every part of it. So also
now the Prophet intimates, that the land of Israel would be like that of Egypt;
for the Lord, who then testified his love towards the children of Abraham, would
now, on the contrary, show himself an enemy to them, while passing through the
midst of them. And the Prophet again indirectly ridicules the vain confidence by
which the Israelites were blinded, while they used God’s name as a
pretext, as it will more clearly appear from what follows, for he says
—
|
AMOS
5:18
|
|
18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the
LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not
light.
|
18. Vae desiderantibus diem Jehovae! Ad quid
hoc vobis? Dies Jehovae ipse tenebrae et non lux.
|
The Prophet expresses here more fully what he briefly
and obscurely touched upon as to the passing of God through the land; for he
shows that the Israelites acted strangely in setting up the name of God as their
shield, as though they were under his protection, and in still entertaining a
hope, though oppressed with many evils, because God had promised that they
should be the objects of his care: he says that this was an extremely vain
pretense. He yet more sharply reproves their presumption by saying, “Woe
to thosewho desire the day of Jehovah!” This appears, even at the
firstview, to be very severe; but we need not wonder that the Prophetburns with
to much indignation towards hypocrites, from whom thatsecurity, through which
they became ferocious against God, couldhardly be shaken off. And we see that
the holy Spirit treatshypocrites everywhere with much more severity than those
who areopenly impious and wicked: for the despisers of God, how stupid soever
they may be, do not yet excuse their vices; but hypocrites seek ever to draw in
God into the quarrel, and they have their veils to cover their turpitude: it was
therefore necessary to treat them, as the Prophet does here, with sharpness and
severity.
Woe,
he says, to those who desire the
day of Jehovah! Some expound this day of
Jehovah of the day of death, and pervert the meaning of the Prophet; for they
think that the Prophet speaks here of desperate men, who seek self-destruction,
or lay violent hands on themselves. Woe, then, to those who desire the day of
Jehovah, that is, who have recourse to hanging or to poison, as no other remedy
appears to them. But the Prophet, as I have already reminded you, does here on
the contrary rouse hypocrites. Others think that the contempt which Amos has
before noticed, is here reproved; and this in part is true; but they do not
sufficiently follow up the Prophet’s design; for they do not observe what
is special in this place, — that hypocrites flattered themselves, falsely
assuming this as a truth, that they were the people of God, and that God was
bound to them. Though, then, the Israelites had been a hundred times perfidious,
they yet continued arrogantly to boast of their circumcision; and then the law
and the sacrifices, and all their ceremonies, were to them as banners, —
“O! we are a holy nation, and God’s heritage; we are the children of
Abraham, and the redeemed of the Lord; we are a priestly kingdom.” As then
these things were ready in the mouth of all, the Prophet says, “Woe to
those who desire the day of Jehovah!” And, indeed, when the Lord had begun
to punish them for their sins, they still said, “The Lord, it may be,
intends to try our constancy: but how can he destroy us? for he would then be
false; his covenant cannot be made void: it is then certain that we shall be
saved, and that he will be shortly reconciled to us.” They did not indeed
expect that God would be propitious to them; but as they were overwhelmed with
many evils, they sought to allay their sorrows by such a drug.
When therefore the Prophet saw, that the Israelites
so waywardly flattered themselves, and so foolishly and wickedly laid claim to
the name of God, he says, Woe to
those who desire the day of Jehovah! What will this be, he says, to you? The day
of Jehovah will be darkness and not
light; as though he said, “God is
an enemy to you, and the nearer he comes to you, the more grievously you must be
afflicted: he will bring nothing to you but devastation, for he will come armed
to destroy you. There is therefore no reason for you to boast that you are a
chosen people, that you are a priestly kingdom, for ye are fallen away from the
favor of God; and this is to be imputed to your own misconduct. God then is
armed for your destruction; and whenever he will appear, he will at the same
time pursue you with cruelty and violence; and it will be for your destruction
that God will come thus armed to you. Whenever then the Lord will come, your
evils must necessarily be increased. The day then of Jehovah will be darkness
and not light.” He afterwards confirms this truth —
|
AMOS
5:19
|
|
19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a
bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a
serpent bit him.
|
19. Quemadmodum si quis fugiat coram leone, et
occurrat ei ursus; et veniat domum suam, et nitatur manu sua super parietem, et
eum mordeat coluber.
|
|
20. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness,
and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
|
20. Annon tenebrae dies Jehovae et non lux? et
caligo et non splendor ei?
|
Here is expressed more clearly what the Prophet had
said before, — that hypocrites can have no hope, that the various changes,
which may take place, will bring them any alleviation. Hypocrites, while
straying in circuitous courses, do indeed promise better things to themselves,
when the condition of the times is changed: and as Satan transforms himself into
an angel of light, so hypocrites imitate the true servants of God. But it is a
false imitation; for these are only fading flowers, no fruit follows; and
besides, they proceed not from a living root. When the children of God are at
any time pressed down by adverse events, they sustain and patiently nourish
their faith with this consolation, — that clouds soon pass away: so also
when the Lord chastises them with temporal punishment, he will presently return
into favor with them. Hypocrites present the same outward appearance; but they
widely differ from the faithful: for when the faithful promise to themselves a
prosperous issue, they are at the same time touched with a sense of their own
evils, and study to reconcile themselves to God; but hypocrites continue
immersed in their vices and boldly despise God; and at the same time they see
here and there, and when any change happens they think that they have got rid of
all evils. Inasmuch then as they deceived themselves with vain consolation, the
Prophet now says, “You have no cause to think that it will be better with
you, when one calamity shall pass away; for the same thing will happen to you,
as when one flees away from a
lion and meets with a bear, as when one
escapes from a bear, and betakes
himself to his own house, and there a
serpent finds him: while he is leaning with his hand on the wall, a
serpent bites him. Thus the Lord has in readiness various and many ways, by
which he can punish you. When therefore ye shall have sustained one battle, when
one enemy departs, the battle will be immediately renewed and that by another
enemy: when a foreign power does not rage through the kingdom of Israel, the
Lord will consume you either by famine, or by want, or by pestilence.” We
then see how well the context of the Prophet harmonizes
together.
“You have no reason,” he says, “to
hope for any light from the day of Jehovah.” Why? “For Jehovah will
not come, except when armed; for, as ye conduct yourselves in a hostile manner
towards him, he must necessarily take vengeance. He will, therefore, bring with
him no light, except it may be to fulminate against you: but his appearance will
be dreadful, even darkness and thick darkness; and then, when he ceases to
pursue you in one way, he will assail you in another; and, when foreign enemies
spare you, God will find means by which he may destroy you in your own land
without the agency of men; for ye have already found what the sterility of the
land is, and what pestilence is: the Lord then has all such modes of vengeance
in his own hand. Think not, therefore, that there will be any alleviation to
you, were the world to change a hundred times, and were the condition of the
country wholly different.”
But the Prophet did not intend here to drive all
those indiscriminately into despair, who were guilty of grievous offenses, but
his design was to shake off from hypocrites their self-flatteries, that by such
proofs they might be led to know that God would be ever like himself. If, then,
they wished to return into favor with him, he shows that a change was needful:
when they put off their perverse conduct, God would be instantly ready to give
them pardon; but, if they proceeded in their vices and obstinate wickedness, and
always continued in that hardness, in which they had hitherto indulged, he
declares, that the day of Jehovah would be ever to them dark and gloomy, and
that, though the Lord does not always use the same kind of rod, he yet has means
innumerable, by which he can destroy a perverse nation, such as the Israelites
then were.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that seeing we are
so sleepy, yea, so fascinated by our sins, that nothing is more difficult than
to put off our own nature and to renounce that wickedness to which we have
become habituated, — O grant, that we, being really awakened by thy
scourgings, may truly return to thee, and that, having wholly changed our
disposition and renounced all wickedness, we may sincerely, and from the heart,
submit ourselves to thee, and so look forward to the coming of thy Son, that we
may cheerfully and joyfully wait for him, by ever striving after such a
renovations of life as may strip us of our flesh and all corruptions, until,
being at length renewed after thine image, we become partakers of that glory,
which has been obtained for us by the blood of the same, thy only-begotten Son.
Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTIETH
|
AMOS
5:21-23
|
|
21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I
will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
|
21. Odi, reprobavi dies festos vestros, et non
olfaciam in solennitatibus vestris (alii legunt, sacrificia vestra, et non
olfaciam in congregationibus vestris; sed de vocibus postea dicam suo
loco.)
|
|
22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and
your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace
offerings of your fat beasts.
|
22. Certe si obtuleritis mihi holocausta et
munera vestra, grata non habebo: et pacifica pinguium vestrorum non
respiciam.
|
|
23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy
songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
|
23. Tolle a me multitudinem canticorum tuorum;
et concertum lyrarum tuarum non audiam.
|
Here the Prophet, anticipating an objection, shows
that the Israelites deceived themselves, for they believed that God was pacified
by their sacrifices: he declares all these to be useless; not only, as I think,
because they themselves were impure; but because all their sacrifices were mere
profanations. We have said elsewhere that sacrifices are often reprehended by
the Prophets, when not accompanied by godliness and sincerity: for why did God
command sacrifices to be offered to him under the law, except as religious
exercises? It was hence necessary that they should be accompanied with penitence
and faith. But hypocrites thought, as we have seen, that they thereby discharged
their whole duty: it was then a profanation of divine worship. Though the Jews,
as to the external form, had not departed from the rule of the law, yet their
sacrifices were vicious, and repudiated by God: “I cannot bear them
— they are a weariness to me — I repudiate them — I loathe
them,” — these are expressions we meet with every where in Isaiah.
And yet hypocrites regarded their worship as conformable to the law; but
impurity of heart vitiated all their works, and this was the reason that God
rejected every thing which the Jews thought available for holiness. But
different, as I think, was the design of our Prophet: for it was not only for
this reason that he blamed the Israelites, — because they falsely
pretended God’s name in their sacrifices, but because they were apostates;
for they had departed from the teaching of the law, and built for themselves a
spurious temple.
It is yet true that they were deluded with this false
notion, that their sins were expiated by sacrifices: but God reproved the
Israelites, not only for this gross error, with which the Jews were also
infected but for having renounced his true and lawful worship. Hence the
external form of their worship deserved to be condemned; for it was not right to
offer sacrifices except on mount Zion: but they, without having the ark of the
covenant, devised a worship else-where, and even there worshipped the calves. We
now understand the design of the Prophet: and this ought to be carefully
observed, for interpreters think that the Prophet had nothing else in view, but
to condemn a false presumption in the Israelites, because they sought to satisfy
God with external sacrifices, while they were yet continuing obstinately in
their sins. But the other evil ought to be added, which was, that they had
corrupted the true worship of God even in its outward form.
Having now pointed out the prophet’s object, I
come to consider his words, I
have hated, I have rejected, etc. The
word
ggj,
chegig, means to leap and to dance: hence
gj,
cheg, signifies a sacrifice as well as a festal day. Some then render the
words, “I have rejected your sacrifices,” and those which follow,
thus, “I will not smell at your solemnities.” Others render the last
word, “assemblies.”
Rx[,
otser, means to restrain, and sometimes to gather: hence
hrx[,
ostare, means an assembly or a congregation. But
trx[,
osteret, means a festal day, because the people, as it is well known,
were then restrained from work, and also, because they were detained in the
sanctuary. But with respect to the subject itself, it makes but little
difference, whether we read assembly or a festal day: we see that what the
Prophet meant was this, — that God rejected all the rites, by which the
Israelites thought that he was pacified, as though they were the most effectual
expiations. He does not simply declare that they were of no account before God;
but he speaks much stronger and says, that God despised and abhorred them.
I
regard, he says,
with hatred your festal
days. He speaks also of burnt offerings,
When ye offer me sacrifices and
your gift, etc.
hjnm,
meneche, properly means a gift of flour, which was an addition to the
sacrifice; but it is often taken generally for any kind of offering. It is
indeed certain that the Prophet meant, that however much the Israelites
accumulated their ritual observances, they did nothing towards appeasing God,
inasmuch as they observed not the law that was given them; and they turned also
to a wrong purpose their sacrifices; for they did not exercise themselves in
piety and in the spiritual worship of God, but, on the contrary, spread veils
before God, that by presenting a fictitious form of worship, they might cover
all their sins; for they thought themselves to be hidden from
God.
This is the reason why the Prophet declares that
these offerings would not be received by God,
hxra
al, la areste,
I will not
accept them. The Prophet no doubt alludes here
to those promises, which are to be found everywhere in the law, as he did when
he said in the last verse, jyra
al, la
arich, I will not
smell.
hjwr,
ruch, means to smell; and Moses often uses the expression, that God is
delighted with the odour of sacrifices, or with the smell of incense. But when
the Lord declares that odour is pleasant to him, he means that it is so,
provided the people sacrificed rightly, that is, when they brought not
sacrifices as false veils to cover their sins, but as true and real evidences of
their faith and repentance; God promised in that case that sacrifices would be a
sweet odour to him. Now, on the contrary, he declares that the perfume would not
be acceptable to him, nor sacrifices appeasing. But sacrifices not only were
acceptable to God, but also pacified him. Since then the Lord had so often said,
that he would be propitious to his people, when sacrifices were offered, it was
necessary expressly to cut off this confidence from the Israelites, when they
dealt not faithfully with God. God never disappointed his true worshipers, but
ever received them into favor, provided they approached him in sincerity. But as
these hypocrites dealt falsely with him, they were necessarily disappointed of
their hope, as the Prophet here declares.
The peace-offerings of your fat
things, he says,
I will not
regard. God indeed promised in the law
that he would regard their sacrifices provided they were lawful; but as the
Israelites had in two ways departed from pure worship, God now justly says,
I will not look on your
sacrifices, nor on the peace-offerings of your fat
things. He calls them the
peace-offerings of fat things, intimating, that though the beasts were the
choicest, they would not yet be acceptable to him; for the Lord regards not
fatness, as he needs neither meat nor drink. Then, in a word, the Prophet here
sets this fatness in opposition to true godliness and obedience too. In both
respects there was, as we have seen, a defect among the Israelites; for they
obeyed not the law as to its outward requirements, and their hearts were impure
and perverse: hence all their sacrifices were necessarily polluted and
corrupt.
It follows,
Take away from me the multitude
of thy songs. By speaking of multitude,
he aims at hypocrites, who toil much in their devices without measure or end, as
we see done at this day by those under the Papacy; for they accumulate endless
forms of worship, and greatly weary themselves, morning and evening; in short,
they spend days and nights in performing their ceremonies, and every one devises
some new thing, and all these they heap together. Inasmuch, then, as men, when
they have begun to turn aside from the pure word of God, continually invent
various kinds of trifles, the Prophet here touches indirectly on this foolish
laboriousness (stultan sedulitatem— foolish sedulity) when he says,
Take away from me the multitude
of thy songs. He might have simply said,
“Thy songs please me not;” but he mentions their multitude, because
hypocrites, as I have said, fix no limits to their outward ceremonies: and a
vast heap especially follows, when once they take to themselves the liberty of
devising this or that form of worship. Hence God testifies here, that they spend
labor in vain, for he rejects what he does not command, and whatever is not
rightly offered to him.
And the harmony of
lyres, or of musical instruments. But
lbn,
nabel, was an instrument, which, as to its kind, is unknown to us now.
Take
away, then,
from me the harmony of
lyres; for the verb,
take
away, may refer to both clauses; though
some join them to the last the verb “lo
[mça
al, la ashimo, I will not hear. The
difference really is very little: but their view is the most probable, who join
together the two clauses, ‘Take away from me the multitude of thy songs
and the harmony of lyres;’ with which thou thinkest me to be delighted.
They afterwards take [mça
al “I will not hear,” by itself. But I
contend not about such minute things: it is enough to know the design of the
Prophet. It now follows —
|
AMOS
5:24
|
|
24. But let judgment run down as waters, and
righteousness as a mighty stream.
|
24. Et decurret quasi aquae judicium, et
justitia quasi torrens violentus.
|
Interpreters variously expound this verse. To some it
seems an exhortation, as though the Prophet said, “Ye thrust on me victims
of beasts and various ceremonies; but I regard not these things; for the
interior purity of heart alone pleases me: take away then all these things,
which are of no moment with me, and bring what I especially require and demands
even a pure and sincere heart.”
Some also think that newness of life is here
described by its fruits or its evidences: for the Prophet mentions not purity,
speaks not of faith and repentance, but by the fruits sets forth that
renovation, which God always chiefly regards, and for the sake of which he had
required sacrifices under the law. The meaning then is, that hypocrites are here
recalled to true worship, because they vainly and absurdly tormented themselves
with their own fictions: and by requiring from them righteousness and judgment,
he required a holy and pure life, or, in a word, uprightness.
Others think that the Prophet turns aside here to
celebrate the grace of Christ, which was to be made known in the gospel: and the
verb
lgy,
igel, is rendered by many “shall be revealed;” but others
more correctly derive it from the root
lg,
igel, to roll. Let justice then as it were, roll. But I will return to
the second exposition. Most think that there is here a prediction of that
righteousness which God was to make known by the coming of Christ; and some
retain also the proper meaning of the verb
lg,
gal, to roll. They then say that the gospel is here compared to an
impetuous river and a violent stream, because the Lord would rush on and
penetrate through all hindrances, how many soever Satan might attempt to throw
in his way. But this meaning seems not to harmonize with the Prophet’s
words and is in my judgment, too refined.
Some again regard the verse as a threatening, and
think that God here reproves the Israelites, as though he had said, that since
they were trifling with and mocking him, he would at length show what was true
righteousness and what was true judgment: for hypocrites think that they come
not short of a perfect state, when they are veiled by their ceremonies, inasmuch
as they flee to these lurking holes, when they would cover all their flagitous
deeds. Hence they think not that they are guilty, for they hide their sins under
their ceremonies as under Ajax’s shield. Seeing then that they thus trifle
with God, some interpreters think that God here sharply reproves them and says,
that they were greatly deceived, for he would himself at length make known what
was true righteousness. Righteousness then shall run down or be rolled; and by
this verb he expresses impetuosity; but he sets it forth afterwards more clearly
by
ˆtya,
aitan, “Judgment shall be a violent stream.” But hypocrites
amuse themselves as children do with their puppets. Inasmuch then as they do
nothing seriously, and yet desire to pacify God as with baubles, the Prophet
here shakes off such delusions, as though he said, “Do you think that God
is like a child? Why do you set up these trifles? Do you think that
righteousness is a fictitious thing, or that judgment is a vain figment? The
Lord will certainly show to you how precious righteousness is.
It
shall therefore
run
down as violent
waters,
as an impetuous
stream.
Judgment,” he says “shall rush upon you and overwhelm you.”
This is the third meaning.
But the verse may be again explained in a different
way, as though God obviated an objection; for hypocrites, we know, always raise
a clamor, and make no end of contending; “What! Have we then lost all our
labor, while endeavoring to worship God? Is all this to go for nothing? And
further, we have not only offered sacrifices, but sought also to testify that
the glory of God is to us an object of concern. Since then we have had a care
for religion, why should God now reject us?” The Prophet here shortly
answers, — that if only they brought forth true righteousness, their
course would be free; as though he said, “God will not put a check to your
righteousness and rectitude:” and this must be referred to the fruit or
remuneration; as though the Prophet said, “Only worship God in sincerity,
and he will not disappoint you; for a reward will be laid up for you; your
righteousness shall run down as a river.” As it is said in another place,
‘Your righteousness shall shine as the dawn,’ so it is also in this,
‘Your righteousness shall run down as violent waters.’ There was
therefore no reason for hypocrites to expostulate and say that wrong was done
them by God, or that their performances were lightly esteemed, since God openly
testified, that he would provide for righteousness, that it might have a free
course, like an impetuous river: and this seems to be the genuine meaning of the
Prophet. While I do not wholly reject the other expositions, I do not yet follow
them; but show what I mostly approve.
Fc20
Then the Prophet, after having bidden them to throw
aside all their fictitious and spurious forms of worship, does not now simply
exhort the Israelites, as some think, to exhibit righteousness and rectitude,
but expresses this in the form of a promise, “Run down shall your
righteousness as impetuous waters, provided it be true, and not an empty name.
Whenever God shall see in you sincere rectitude, there will certainly be
prepared an ample reward for you.” It follows —
|
AMOS
5:25-26
|
|
25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and
offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
|
25. An victimas et munus (est
hjnm)
obtulistis mihi in deserto quadraginta annis, domus Israel?
|
|
26. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your
Moloch and Chuin your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
|
26. Et sustulistis Sicuth Regem vestrum, et
Chion, imagines vestras, stellam deorum vestrorum (vel, deos vestros,) quae
fecistis vobis.
|
The Prophet shows in this place, that he not only
reproved hypocrisy in the Israelites in obtruding on God only external display
of ceremonies without any true religion in the heart; but that he also condemned
them for having departed from the rule of the law. He also shows that this was
not a new disease among the people of Israel; for immediately at the beginning
their fathers mixed such a leaven as vitiated the worship of God. He therefore
proves that the Israelites had ever been given to superstitions, and could not
by any means be retained in the true and pure worship of God.
Have ye then caused sacrifices, victims, or an
oblation to come before me in the desert for forty years? He addresses them as
though they had perverted God’s worship in the desert, and yet they
were born many ages after; what does he mean? Even this, — the Prophet
includes the whole body of the people from their first beginning, as though he
said, “It is right to inclose you in the same bundle with your fathers;
for you are the same with your fathers in your ways and dispositions.” We
hence see that the Israelites were regarded guilty, not only because they
vitiated God’s worship in one age by their superstitions, but also from
the beginning. And he asks whether they offered victims to him: it is certain
that. such was their intention; for they at no time dared to deny God, by whom
they had been not long before delivered; and we know that though they made for
themselves many things condemned by the law, they ever adhered to this
principle, “The God, who hath redeemed us, is to be worshipped by
us:” yea, they always proudly boasted of their father Abraham. They
had never then willingly alienated themselves from God, who had chosen Abraham
their father and themselves to be his people: and indeed the Prophet shortly
before had said, ‘Take away from me,’ etc.; and then, ‘when ye
offer to me sacrifices and a gift of flour, I will not count them
acceptable.’ There seems to be an inconsistency in this — that God
should deny that victims been offered to him — and yet say that they were
offered to him by the people of Israel, when, as we have stated, they had
presumptuously built a profane and spurious altar. The solution is easy, and it
is even this, — that the people had ever offered sacrifices to God, if we
regard what they pretended to do: for good intention, as it is commonly called,
so blinds the superstitious, that with great presumption they trifle with God.
Hence with respect to them we may say that they sacrificed to God; but as to
God, he denies that what was not purely offered was offered to him. We now then
see why God says now that sacrifices were not offered to him in the wilderness:
he says so, because the people blended with his worship the leaven of
idolatry: and God abhorred this depravation. This is the
meaning.
But another objection may be again proposed. This
defection did not prevail long, and the whole people did not give their consent
to idolatry; and still more, we know what the impostor Balaam said, that Jacob
had no idol; and speaking in the twentieth chapter of Numbers, by the prophetic
spirit, he testifies that the only true God reigned in Jacob, and that there
were among them no false gods. How then does the Prophet say now that idolatry
prevailed among them? The answer is ready: The greater part went astray: hence
the whole people are justly condemned; and though this sin was reproved, yet
they relapsed continually, as it is well known, into superstitions; and still
more, they worshipped strange gods to please strumpets. Since it was so, it is
no wonder that they are accused here by the Prophet of not having offered
victims to God, inasmuch as they were contaminated with impure superstitions: it
could not then be, that they brought anything to God. At the same time
God’s worship, required by his law, was of such importance, that he
declared that he was worshipped by Jacob, as also Christ says,
“We know what we
worship,”
(<430422>John
4:22;)
and yet not one in a hundred among the Jews cherished
the hope of eternal life in his heart. They were all Epicureans or profane; nay,
the Sadducees prevailed openly among the,n: the whole of religion was fallen, or
was at least so decayed, that there was no holiness and no integrity among them;
and yet Christ says, “We know what we worship;” and this was true
with regard to the law.
Now then we see that the Prophets speak in various
ways of Israel: when they regard the people, they say, that they were
perfidious, that they were apostates, who had immediately from the beginning
departed from the true and legitimate worship of God: but when they commend the
grace of God, they say, that the true worship of God shone among them, that
though the whole multitude had become perverted, yet the Lord approved of what
he had commanded. So it is with Baptism; it is a sacred and immutable testimony
of the grace of God, though it were administered by the devil, though all who
may partake of it were ungodly and polluted as to their own persons. Baptism
ever retains its own character, and is never contaminated by the vices of men.
The same must be said of sacrifices.
I shall now return to the words of the Prophet:
fc21
Have you offered to me victims
for forty years in the desert? He
enhances their sin by the circumstance of their condition; for they were there
shut up in a narrow and hard confinement, and yet they turned aside after their
superstitions. And it was certainly a monstrous thing: God fed them daily with
manna; they were therefore under the necessity, however unwilling, of looking up
to heaven every day; for God constrained their unwillingness with no common
favor. They knew, too, that water flowed for them miraculously from a rock.
Seeing then that God constrained them thus to look up to him, how was it that
they yet became vain through their own deceptions? It was, as I have said, a
prodigious blindness. Hence the Prophet speaks of the forty years and of the
desert, that the atrocity of their sin might more fully appear; for the Lord
could not, by so many bonds, keep the people from such a
madness.
It now follows,
And ye have carried Sicuth your
king. This place, we know, is quoted by
Stephen in the seventh chapter of the Acts: but he followed the Greek version;
and the Greek translator, whoever he was, was mistaken as to the word, Sicuth,
and read, Sucoth, and thought the name an appella-tive of the plural number, and
supposed it to be derived from
˚ws
suk, which means a tabernacle; for he translated it
skh>nhn
as if it was said, “Ye bore the tabernacle of your king instead of the
ark.” But it was a manifest mistake; for the probability is, that Sleuth
was the proper name of an idol. Ye bore then Sicuth your king. He
called it their king by way of reproach; for they had violated that priestly
kingdom, which God had instituted; for he, as a king, exercised dominion over
them. Since then God would be deemed the king of Israel, as he had ascribed to
himself that name, and since he promised to them a kingdom, as in due time he
gave them, it was the basest ingratitude in them to seek an idol to be their
king; it was indeed a denial of God which could not be borne, not to allow
themselves to be governed by him. We hence see how sharply he upbraids them, for
had refused to God his own kingdom, and created for themselves the fictitious
Sleuth as their king.
Then it follows, And Kiun, your images. Some
think that
ˆwyk,
Kiun, means a cake, and
hwk,
kue, is to burn, and from this they think the word is derived; but others
more correctly regard it as a proper name; and the Prophet, I have no doubt, has
named here some reigned god after Sleuth. Kiun then, your images;
I read the words as being in apposition. Others say, “The cake of your
images;” and some render the words literally, “Kiun your
images;” but yet they do not sufficiently attend to the design of the
Prophet; for he seems here to ridicule the madness of the people, because they
dreamt that some deity was inclosed in statues and in such masks. “Ye
carried,” he says, “both Sicuth and Kiun, your images. I am now
deprived of honor, for ye could not bear me to govern you. Ye now enjoy your
King Sicuth; but, in the meantime, let us see what is the power of Sicuth and
Kiun; they are nothing more than images. Seeing then that there is neither
strength nor even life in them, what madness is it to worship such fictitious
things?”
But some think that Kiun was the image of Saturn.
What the Hebrews indeed say, that this idolatry was derived from the Persians,
is wholly groundless; for the Persians, we know, had no images nor statues, but
worshipped only the sacred fire. As, then, the Persians had no images. the Jews
fabled, in their usual way, when they said that Kiun was an image of Saturn. But
all the Jews, I have no doubt, imagined that all the stars were gods, as they
made images for them; for it immediately follows, A constellation,
or a star. your gods. These, he says, are your gods; even stars and
images; and there is here a sarcasm
(sarkasmov;)
used; for the Prophet derides the folly of the people of Israel, who, being
not content with the Maker of heaven and earth, sought for themselves dead gods,
or rather vain devices. “Your gods then,” he says, “are images
and stars.”
But it must be observed, that he calls them images:
he does not, as in other places, call them idols; and this, I say, ought to be
observed, for here is refuted the foolish and
refinement of the Papists, who at this day excuse all
their superstitions, because they have no idols; for they deny that their
devices are idols. What then? They are images. Thus they hide their own baseness
under the name of images. But the Prophet does not say that they were idols; he
does not use that hateful word which is derived from grief or sorrow; but he
says that they were images. The name then in itself has nothing base or ominous;
but, at the same time, as the Lord would not have himself represented by any
visible figure, the Prophet here expressly and distinctly condemns Sleuth and
Kiun. The Greek translator whom Stephen followed, put down the word, types or
figures, that is, images. Now, when any one says to the Papists that their
figures or images are sinful before God, they boldly deny this; but we see that
their evasion avails nothing.
He adds in the last place,
Which ye have made for
yourselves. I prefer rendering the
relative
rça,
asher, in the neuter gender, as including all their fictitious gods, and
also their images, which things
then ye have made for yourselves. To
make these things is at all times vicious in sacred things; for we ought not to
bring any thing of our own when we worship God, but we ought to depend always on
the word of his mouth, and to obey what he has commanded. All our actions then
in the worship of God ought to be, so to speak, passive; for they ought to be
referred to his command, lest we attempt any thing but what he approves. Hence,
when men dare to do this or that without God’s command, it is nothing else
but abomination before him. And the Greeks call superstitions
eqeloqrhskei>av;
and this word means voluntary acts of worship, such as are undertaken by men of
their own accord. We now understand the whole design of the Prophet. It follows
—
|
AMOS
5:27
|
|
27. Therefore will I cause you to go into
captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of
hosts.
|
27. Et migrare faciam vos ultra Damascum,
dicit Jehova, Deus exercituum nomen ejus.
|
Here the Prophet at last denounces exile on the
Israelites as though he had said that God would not suffer them any longer to
contaminate the Holy Land, which had been given them as an heritage, on the
condition that they acknowledged him as the only true God. God had now, for a
long time, borne with the Israelites though they had never ceased to pollute his
land with superstitions. He comes now to cleanse it.
I will cause
you, he says,
to migrate beyond
Damascus; for they thought that enemies were
driven, by means of that fortress, from the whole country, and they took shelter
there as in a quiet nest. The expression would have otherwise no meaning, and
this is what interpreters have not noticed. They say, “I will cause you to
migrate beyond Damascus”
Fc22 that
is, to a far country; but why did the Prophet mention Damascus? This reason
ought to be observed. It was because the Israelites thought that all the attacks
of enemies would be prevented by having the city Damascus as their defense,
which they supposed was impregnable. “That fortress,” the Lord says,
“will not prevent me from taking you away, and removing you as far as the
Assyrians.” We now see what the Prophet means, and why he expressly added
the name of Damascus.
It follows,
The God of hosts is his
name.
Fc23
Here the Prophet confirms his threatening, lest hypocrites should think that he
did not speak in earnest: for we know how readily they flattered themselves; and
when the Lord fulminated, they remained secure. Hence the Prophet, that he might
strike terror, says, that the speaker is
the God of
hosts, as though he said, “Ye
cannot hope to escape the vengeance which God now denounces on you; for his
power is infinite, he is the Lord of hosts. See then that he is prepared to
destroy you except ye timely repent.” This is the meaning. I will not now
proceed farther.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest
us to be so prone to corrupt superstitions, and that we are with so much
difficulty restrained by thy word, — O grant, that we being confirmed by
thy Spirit, may never turn aside either to the right hand or to the left, but be
ever attentive to thee alone, and not worship thee presumptuously, nor pollute
thy worship with our outward pomps, but call on thee with a sincere heart, and,
recumbing on thy aid, flee to thee in all our necessities, and never abuse thy
holy name, which thou hast designed to be engraven on us, but be conformed to
the image of thy Son, that thou mayest be to us truly a Father, and that we may
be thy children, in the name of the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
CHAPTER 6.
LECTURE
SIXTY-FIRST
|
AMOS
6:1
|
|
1. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and
trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom
the house of Israel came!
|
1. Vae securis in Sion et confidentibus in
monte Samaria, qui celebres fuerunt principio gentium, et ingressi sunt ad illos
domus Israel.
|
The Prophet now directs his discourse not only to the
Israelites, to whom he was especially given as an instructor and teacher, but
includes the Jews also: and yet he addresses not all indiscriminately, but only
the chief men, who were intent on their pleasures, as though they were exempt
from the common miseries: for he does not, as many suppose, reprove here luxury
and pride only; but we must remember a fact connected with their case, —
that they were not awakened by God’s judgments; when God severely punished
the sins of the people, the chief men remained ever heedlessly in their own
dregs. This security is now condemned by our Prophet.
And this is a very common evil, as we may see, in the
present day. For when the Lord afflicts a country with war or with famine, the
rich make great gain of such evils. They abuse the scourges of God; for we see
merchants getting rich in the midst of wars, inasmuch as they scrape together a
booty from every quarter. For they who carry on war are forced to borrow money,
and also the peasants and mechanics, that they may pay taxes; and then, that
they may live, they are obliged to make unjust conditions: thus the rich
increase in wealth. They also who are in authority, and in favor at the court of
princes, make more gain in wars, in famine, and in other calamities, than during
times of peace and prosperity: for when peace nourishes, the state of things is
then more equable; but when the poor are burdened, the rest grow fat. And this
is the evil now noticed by the Prophet.
Hence he pronounces here a curse on the secure and
those at ease; not that it is an evil thing, or in itself displeasing to God,
when any one quietly enjoys his leisure; but, not to be moved, when the Lord
openly shows himself to be displeased and angry, when his scourges are
manifestly inflicted, but to indulge ourselves more in pleasures, — this
is to provoke him, as it were, designedly. The secure, then, and the
presumptuous the Prophet here condemns, for it became them to humble themselves
when they saw that God was incensed against them. They were not indeed more just
than the multitude; and when God treated the common people with such severity,
ought not the chiefs to have looked to themselves, and have examined their own
life? As they did not do this, but made themselves drunk with pleasures, and put
far off every fear and thought that the scourges of God were nothing to them,
— this was a contempt deservedly condemned by the Prophet. We see that God
was in the same manner greatly displeased, as it is recorded in Isaiah: when he
called them to mourning, they sang with the harp, and, according to their
custom, feasted sumptuously and joyfully,
(<232312>Isaiah
23:12) As then they thus persevered in their indulgences, the Lord became
extremely angry; for it was, as though they avowedly despised him and scorned
all his threatening.
We now observe the design of the Prophet, which
interpreters have not sufficiently noticed. It behaves us indeed ever to keep in
view these scourges of God, by which he began to visit the sins of the people.
God can by no means endure, as I have said, such a contumacy as this, —
that men should go on in the indulgence of their sins and never regard their
judge and feel no guilt. Hence the Prophet says,
Woe to you who are secure in
Zion, who are confident, that is, who are without any fear, on the mount of
Samaria
Fc24.
He names here the mount of Zion and the mount of Samaria; for these were the
chief cities of the two kingdoms, as we all know. The whole country had been
laid waste with various calamities; the citizens of Jerusalem and of Samaria
were, at the same time, wealthy; and then trusting in their strongholds, they
despised God and all his judgments. This then was the security, full of
contumacy, which is condemned by the Prophet.
He then mentions their ingratitude: he says that
these mountains had been celebrated from the beginning of the nations, and that
the Israelites entered into them. God here upbraids both the Jews and Israelites
with having come to a foreign possession: for they had got those cities, not by
their own velour, but the Lord drove out before them the ancient inhabitants.
Seeing then that they perceived not that a safe dwelling was given them there by
the Lord, that they might purely worship him and submit to his government, their
ingratitude was inexcusable. The Prophet then, after having inveighed against
the gross and heedless security, with which the chiefs of both kingdoms were
inebriated, now mentions their ingratitude: “Ye are not natives, but ye
have come in, for God did go before you, for it was his will to give you this
land as your possession: why then are you now so inflated with pride against
him? For before your time these cities were certainly well known and celebrated;
and yet this was of no avail to the natives themselves. Why then do ye not now
fear the Lord’s judgment and repent, when he threatens you? Yea, when he
shows his scourges to you?” We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning in
this verse. It now follows —
|
AMOS
6:2
|
|
2. Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from
thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be
they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your
border?
|
2. Transite Chalneh et aspicite; ite illinc in
Chamath magnam, et descendite in Gath Philistinorum; an meliores sint regnis
istis? An terminus illorum major termino vestro?
|
By this representation Amos shows that there was no
excuse for the Jews or the Israelites for sleeping in their sins, inasmuch as
they could see, as it were in a mirror, the judgments which God brought on
heathen nations. It is a singular favor, when God teaches us at the expense of
others: for he could justly punish us as soon as we transgress; but this he does
not, on the contrary he spares us; and at the same time he sets others before us
as examples. This is, as we have said a singular favor: and this is the mode of
teaching which our Prophet now adopts. He says, that Calneh and Hamath, and
Gath, were remarkable evidences of God’s wrath, by which the Israelites
might learn, that they had no reason to rest on their wealth, to rely on their
fortresses, and to think themselves free from all dangers; for as God had
destroyed these cities, which seemed impregnable, so he could also cut off
Jerusalem and Samaria, whenever he pleased. This is the real meaning of the
Prophet.
Some read the sentence negatively “Are not
these places better than your kingdoms?” But this is not consistent with
the Prophet’s words. Others attend not to the object of the Prophet; for
they think that the blessings of God are here compared, as though he said,
“God deals more liberally with you than with the Chaldeans, the Assyrians,
and the neighboring nations.” For Calneh was situated in the plain of
Babylon, as it is evident from
<011001>Genesis
10:1; and Hamath was also a celebrated city, mentioned in that chapter, and in
many other places; and Gath was a renowned city of the Philistines. In this
opinion therefore interpreters mostly agree; that is, that there is set forth
here God’s bounty to the Jews and Israelites, seeing that he had favored
them with a rich and fertile country, and preferred them to other nations. But
this view seems not to me to be the correct one; for when a comparison is made
between Calneh and Jerusalem, Babylon was no doubt the more fruitful and the
more pleasant country, as we learn from all histories. The Prophet then does not
speak here of the ancient condition of these places, but shows, as I have
already said, that it availed these cities nothing, that they were wealthy, that
they were fortified by all kinds of defenses; for God, at last, executed
vengeance on them. Hence the Prophet declares that the same was now nigh the
Jews and the Israelites.
“What will hinder the hand of God,” he
says, “from delivering you to destruction? For if men could have arrested
God’s wrath by any fortresses, certainly Calneh and Hamath, and Gath,
would have resisted by their forces; but the Lord has yet executed his vengeance
on these cities, though fortified; your confidence then is nothing but
infatuation, which deceives you.” Jeremiah uses a similar language, when
he says, ‘Go to Shiloh,’
(<240712>Jeremiah
7:12) He certainly does not remind the Jews, that the Lord had more splendidly
adorned them than Shiloh; but he had quite a different thing in view. Shiloh had
indeed been eminent, for it had long afforded a dwelling to the ark of the
covenant; the sanctuary of God had been there. But at that time the place was
deserted; and Jeremiah sets before the eyes of the people its sad desolation,
that they might know that they ought to dread the same event, except they
repented; for if they hardened their necks, nothing could prevent God from
dealing with them as he did before with the inhabitants of
Shiloh.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet, when
he says, Go and pass into Calneh,
and see. In bidding them to see, he no
doubt refers to the dreadful change which had taken place there. For Calneh had
been a strongly fortified city, and possessed supreme power; and the neighboring
country was also no less pleasant than fruitful: but it was now a solitary
place; for Babylon, as it is well known, had swallowed up Calneh. Since then the
place afforded such a spectacle, the Prophet rightly
says, Pass over into Calneh, and
see; that is consider, as in a mirror,
what men can gain by their pride and haughtiness, when they harden themselves
against God: for this was the cause of destruction to that celebrated
city.
From
thence, he says,
go to
Hamath,
hbr,
rebe, the great; which was a well-known city of Assyria; and see there,
“How has it happened that a city so famous was entirely overthrown, except
that the Lord could not endure so great a perverseness? As they had abused his
patience, he at length executed his vengeance. The same thing also happened to
your neighbors.” For the Jews and the Israelites were not far distant from
Gath. Now then since there were so many evidences of God’s wrath before
their eyes, justly does the Prophet here inveigh against their want of thought,
inasmuch as they feared not God’s judgment, which was nigh at
hand.
Are they then
better? that is, is the condition of these
cities better than that of the two kingdoms, Judah and Israel? and then,
Is their border larger than your
border? They have indeed been reduced to such
straits, that they even pay tribute for their houses, whereas formerly they
occupied a wide extent of country, and ruled, as it were, with extended wings,
far and wide: but God has taken away those territories: for all these cities are
become tributaries. See, he says, Is their border larger than your border? It
now follows —
|
AMOS
6:3
|
|
3. Ye that put far away the evil day, and
cause the seat of violence to come near;
|
3. Qui procul rejicitis diem malum, et
appropinquatis solium violentiae.
|
The Prophet here reproves the Jews and Israelites for
another crime, — that they had often provoked God’s wrath, and
ceased not by their sins to call forth new punishments, and in the meantime
rejected, through their haughtiness and obstinacy, all his threatening, as if
they were vain, and would never be executed on them. We must ever remember what
I have said before, — that the Prophet speaks not here of the whole
people, but of the chiefs; for the expression, that
they drew nigh the throne of
iniquity, could not have been applied to
the common people. This discourse then was addressed particularly to the judges
and counselors, and those who were in power in both kingdoms, in Judah as well
as in Israel.
But it is a remarkable saying, that they
drove far off the evil
day, while they
drew nigh the throne of
iniquity, or of violence; as though he
said, “Ye seek for yourselves a fever by your intemperance, and yet ye
drive it far off, as drunken men are wont to do, who swallow down wine without
any moderation; and when a physician comes or one more moderate, and warns them
not to indulge in excess, they ridicule all their forebodings: ‘What! will
a fever seize on me? I am wholly free from fever; I am indeed accustomed to
drink wine.’” Such are ungodly men, when they provoke God’s
wrath as it were designedly, and at the same time scorn all threatening, as
though they were safe through some special privilege. We now then see what the
Prophet had in view by saying, that they
drove far the evil
day, and yet
drew nigh the throne of
iniquity. He means, that they drew nigh
the throne of iniquity, when the judges strengthened themselves in their
tyranny, and took the liberty to steal, to rob, to plunder, to oppress. When
therefore they thus hardened themselves in all kinds of licentiousness, they
then drew nigh the throne of iniquity. And they put away the evil day, because
they were touched by no alarm; for when the Prophets denounced God’s
vengeance, they regarded it as a fable.
In short, Amos charges here the principal men of the
two kingdoms with two crimes, — that they ceased not to provoke
continually the wrath of God by subverting and casting under foot all equity,
and by ruling the people in a tyrannical and haughty manner — and that, in
the mean time, they heedlessly despised all threatening, prolonged time, and
promised impunity to themselves: even when God seriously and sharply addressed
them, they still thought that the evil day was not nigh. Passages of this kind
meet us everywhere in the Prophets, in which they show their indignation at this
kind of heedlessness, when hypocrites putting off every feeling of grief, as
though they had fascinated themselves, laughed to scorn all the Prophets,
because they thought that the hand of God was far removed from them. Thus they
are spoken of by Isaiah, as saying,
‘Let us eat and
drink, since we must die,’
(<232313>Isaiah
23:13)
They indeed thought that the Prophets did not
seriously threaten them; but they regarded the mention of a near destruction as
an empty bugbear. We now then understand what the Prophet meant. It follows
—
|
AMOS
6:4
|
|
4. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch
themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the
calves out of the midst of the stall;
|
4. Qui decumbunt (vel, dormiunt) in lectis
eburneis et se extendunt super strata sua (alii vertunt, et superflua; alii,
induti sunt tiaris; sed utrumque mihi videtur coactum,) qui comedunt agnos e
grege (hoc est, selectos) et vitulos e medio saginarii (vel, opimi pascui; nam
qbrm
quidam ita vertunt.)
|
Amos still pursues the reproof we have noticed at the
beginning of the chapter, — that the chief men, of whom he speaks, cast
away from them all cares and anxieties, and indulged in pleasures, while the
whole country was miserably distressed. We must ever bear in mind what I have
already said, — that luxury is not simply reprehended by the Prophet, as
some incorrectly think, without sufficiently considering what is said, for it is
not what the Prophet treats of; but he upbraids the Israelites for setting up an
iron neck against God’s judgments, yea, for shamelessly trifling with God,
while he was endeavoring to lead them by degrees to repentance. The Prophet
complains that nothing availed with them.
He then says, first, that they
slept on ivory
beds. To use ivory beds was not in itself bad,
except that excess is ever to be condemned; for, when we give up ourselves to
pomps and pleasures, we certainly are not then free from sin: indeed, every
desire for present things, which exceeds moderation, is ever justly
reprehensible. And when men greedily seek splendor and display, or become
ambitious and proud, or are given to delicacies, they are guilty of vices ever
condemned by God. But it might be, that one used an ivory bed, who was yet
willing to lie on the ground: for we know that there was then a great abundance
of ivory, and that it was commonly used in Asia. Italy formerly knew not what it
was to use a bed of ivory, that is, before the victory of Lucius Scipio: but
after the king Antiochus was conquered, then Italy freely used ivory beds and
fineries; and thus luxury broke down their courage and effeminated
them.
I will come now to our Prophet: it might have been
that ivory was not then so valuable in Judea: they might then have used ivory
beds without blame. But Amos ever regards the miseries of those times. The rich
then ought to have given up all their luxuries, and to have betaken themselves
to dust and ashes, when they saw that God was incensed with them, when they saw
that the fire of his vengeance was kindled. We now then perceive why Amos was so
indignant against those who slept on ivory beds.
He adds,
And who extend themselves on
their beds: for
jrs,
sarech, is properly to extend; it means also to become fetid; and
further, it means to be superfluous; and therefore some render the words,
“upon ivory beds and superfluities;” but this is strained, and
agrees not with what follows, upon their couches. The Prophet then, I have no
doubt, points out here the manners of those who so heedlessly indulged
themselves: “Ye extend,” he says, “your legs and your arms on
your couches, as idle men, accustomed to indulgences, are wont to do. But the
Lord will awaken you in a new way; his scourges ought to have roused you, but ye
remain asleep. Hence, since God could not terrify you by his rods, nothing more
remains but to draw you forth against your will to be punished.” This was
the reason why the Prophet said that they extended themselves on their
couches.
Ye eat also the lambs from the
flock, and the calves from the midst of the rich
pasture, or of the stall. I prefer taking
qbrm,
merebek, for folds. Since then they loved fat meat, the Prophet reproves
this luxury: he had indeed in view, as it has been already said, the then
calamitous time; for if the rich had in their usual way feasted, and had even
taken fat meat, they would not have deserved so severe a punishment: but when
the Lord called them to mourning, and when the signals of his wrath spread
horror all around, it was a stupidity not to be endured, for them to continue
their indulgences, which they ought, on the contrary, to have renounced. Indeed,
this passage agrees with that of Isaiah, to which I have already referred. It
now follows —
|
AMOS
6:5
|
|
5. That chant to the sound of the viol, and
invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;
|
5. Concinentes super ore cithera, sicut David
excogitarunt sibi instrumenta cantici.
|
The word
frp,
pereth, means to divide; so some explain it, and derive it from the
clusters which remain after the vintage, because there are not then thick
grapes, but a cluster here and there, and a great distance between: hence they
think that the participle
µyfrwph,
epurethim, is to be taken here metaphorically as meaning to divide by
marks, as music has its various notes; for except there be a distinct variety in
singing, the sound would be confused, and would produce no pleasing effect.
Who sing then with the harps and
have invented for themselves, after the example of David, musical
instruments.
The Prophet still continues his discourse, and shows
that these men lived sumptuously; as though they did not belong to the common
class, they delighted themselves, against God’s will, not only in the
common mode of living, but even sought new pleasures, as if they were
continually at marriage feasts, or celebrating birthdays. As then they had no
season for mourning, they pursued their own indulgences; and this is what the
Prophet now reprehends. If then any one thinks that music is in these words
condemned, he is much deceived, as it appears from the context. Indeed, the
Prophet never dealt so rigidly with that people, but he ever kept to this point
— that they were extremely torpid, nay, destitute of common sense, who
perceived not that God showed himself angry with them, in order that they might
flee immediately to the standard of repentance and humbly deprecate, with
mourning, the wrath of God, as they ought to have done. It was therefore meet
ever to set before them Gods wrath, which ought to have humbled the Jews and the
Israelites, inasmuch as they ever obstinately set up against God their own
indifference.
In saying that
after the example of David they
invented for themselves musical instruments,
he no doubt greatly aggravated their sin by this comparison: for it is not
likely that they had abused this pretext, as hypocrites do, who are wont to
boast of the examples of the saints, when they seek to disguise their own vices,
— “What!” some will say, “Did not David use musical
instruments?” Others will say, “Had not Solomon very splendid
palaces?” And some will add, “Had not Abraham a company of servants
in his house?” So every one lays hold on what may avail for an excuse: and
thus the examples of the saints are absurdly referred to by many. But it seems
not probable that this was done by those whom Amos now addresses: but, on the
contrary, he appears sharply to reprove them for provoking God’s wrath by
self indulgence, and for manifesting their perverseness, while David employed
musical instruments in the exercises of religion, to raise up his mind to God.
no doubt, David, when in a peaceful state, after having been delivered from all
dangers, could also amuse himself: but he applied musical instruments to another
purpose — to sound forth the praises of God in the temple, that thereby he
and other godly persons might together elevate their thoughts to a religious
devotion. While David then, even in a state of peace and prosperity, did not
allow his mind to become sunk in vain self-indulgences, these men, when God
appeared angry, when he spread terror by so many tokens of his vengeance, yet
dared contumaciously to follow their own ways, so that they left off nothing of
their usual pomp and of their accustomed pleasures.
We now see the design of the comparison which the
Prophet makes: He aggravates, I have no doubt, their sin, because they regarded
not the example of David, but transferred musical instruments to serve the
purpose of gross and beastly indulgences, and thus they did when God was opposed
to them, when he had begun to terrify them by his vengeance. Let us proceed
—
|
AMOS
6:6-7
|
|
6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint
themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction
of Joseph.
|
6. Qui bibunt in phialis vinum, et primitiis
oleorum sese ungunt, et non condolescunt super contritionem
Joseph.
|
|
7. Therefore now shall they go captive with
the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves
shall be removed.
|
7. Propterea nunc transferentur (voluentur) in
capite migrantium, et veniet luctus extensorum (est deductum ab eodem verbo jrs;
diximus plura significare sed accipio pro extendere; et aliquid rursus dicendum
erit in fine.)
|
Amos now reproaches the chiefs of both kingdoms for
drinking wine in bowls, that is, in vessels either elegantly formed or precious.
Some think “silver” to be understood “in vessels of
silver:” but there is no need of regarding any thing as understood in the
Prophet’s words. The meaning is, that those men were sufficiently
convicted of brutish stupidity, inasmuch as they did not forsake their
indulgences, when God manifested his terrible vengeance. Since God then did thus
what tended to humble them, their madness and blindness were conspicuous enough;
for they indulged themselves, they drank wine according to their usual custom,
when they ought to have betaken themselves, as we have said, to fasting,
lamentation, and mourning, to sackcloth and ashes.
They drank
wine in
bowls, and further, they anointed
themselves with the chief
ointments. Christ, we know, was anointed
at least twice,
(<420738>Luke
7:38
<402607>Matthew
26:7) and this practice was not blamed in David, nor in king Hezekiah, nor in
others. Since then anointing was not in itself sinful, we see that the Prophet
must have something particular in view. He meant to show, that when God
manifested tokens of his wrath, nothing then remained for those who were
conscious of having done evil, but humbly to abstain, like guilty persons, from
all indulgences, that they might, by fasting and mourning, excite the mercy of
God: as the Israelites had not done this, the Prophet expostulated with them.
There is no need of seeking, any other interpretation of this
place.
For he immediately subjoins, that they
grieved not for the bruising of
Joseph. These words are to be read in
connection with the former, and ought to be applied to the whole discourse. The
Prophet then does not specifically blame the Jews and Israelites because they
drank wine in bowls, because they anointed themselves with the best and most
precious ointment, because they reposed on ivory beds, because they extended
themselves on their couches, because they ate the best meat; but because they
securely indulged in such delights, and grieved not for the distress of their
brethren, for God had miserably afflicted the whole kingdom before their eyes.
How much had four tribes already suffered? and how much the whole land and those
who lived in the country? Ought God to have spared any longer these chiefs? It
is indeed certain, that those who were still free from these calamities were
especially culpable. Since then they did not consider the wrath of God, which
was evident enough before their eyes, it was a proof of stupidity wholly insane,
and showed them who still indulged themselves to have been utterly besides
themselves.
We now then understand the full meaning of the
Prophet; and hence he says, They
shall emigrate at the head of the
emigrants, that is, “when there
shall be an emigration, they shall be the first in order of time. I have
hitherto indulgently spared you; but as I see that you have abused my
forbearance, ye shall certainly be the forerunners of others; for ye shall go
first into captivity. And my rigor shall begin with you, because I see that I
have hitherto lost all my labor in attempting, kindly and paternally to call you
to repentance. Ye
shall now
then migrate at the head of the
emigrants.
And come shall the mourning of
those who extend themselves,
µyjwrs,
saruchim
Fc25;
that is, “Ye indeed lie down, (as he had said before,) ye extend
yourselves on your couches; but mourning shall come to you. Ye think that you
can escape punishment, when ye repose quietly on your beds; but though your
chambers be closed, though ye move not a finger, yet mourning shall come to
you.” We now see the connection between the words, mourning and resting in
idleness and indulgence. The word
jrs,
sarech, means indeed properly to recumb; and hence some render the
passage, “Mourning shall rest on you:” but the more received meaning
is, Mourning shall come on you
while recumbing. Though then they stretched out
themselves on their beds, that they might pleasantly and softly recumb and rest
themselves, yet mourning would come to them, that is, would enter into their
chambers.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou
showest thyself at this day to be justly offended with us, and our own
consciences reprove us, inasmuch as dreadful tokens appear, by which we may
learn how much and in how many ways we have provoked thy wrath, — O grand,
that we may be really touched with the consciousness of our evils, and being
afflicted in our hearts, may be so humbled, that without any outward affliction,
we may wholly submit ourselves to be reproved by thee, and at the same time flee
to that mercy which is laid up for us, and which thou daily offerest to us in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-SECOND
|
AMOS
6:8
|
|
8. The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith
the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his
palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is
therein.
|
8. Juravit Dominus Jehova per animam suam,
dicit Jehova, Deus exercituum, Detestor ego excellentiam Jacob, palatia ejus
odio habeo, et tradam urbem et plenitudinem ejus.
|
God here declares that he would not desist, because
he had hitherto loaded his people with many benefits: for he had now changed his
purpose, so that he would no longer continue his favors. And this was designedly
added by the Prophet; for hypocrites, we know, grow hardened, when they consider
what dignity had been conferred on them; for they think their possessions to be
firm and perpetual: hence they become haughty towards God. Since then hypocrites
act thus foolishly, the Prophet justly says that it would avail them nothing,
that they had hitherto excelled in many endowments for God no longer regarded
their excellency.
The word
ˆwag,
gaun, means in Hebrew pride and also excellency; but it is to be taken
here in a good sense, as it is in many other places. In
<230201>Isaiah
2:1, it cannot be taken otherwise than for glory, for it is applied to God. So
also in
<194701>Psalm
47:1, ‘The glory of Jacob, whom I loved; he had fixed the inheritance of
God.’ The gifts of God ever deserve praise: hence the Prophet in this
place inveighs not against pride; but, on the contrary, he shows that the
Israelites were deceived; for they set up their excellency and nobility in
opposition to God, as though they were to be thus exempt from all punishment.
God then says that he had now rejected this excellency, which yet was his gift;
but as the Israelites had abused his benefits, they were therefore to be
esteemed of no account. The meaning then is, — that there is no acceptance
of persons before God, that the dignity which had been conferred on the people
of Israel was now of no moment; for it was a mere mask: they were unworthy of
adoption, they were unworthy of the priesthood and kingdom. It was then the same
as if the Prophet had said, “I will judge you as the common people and
heathens; for your dignity, of which ye are stripped, is now of no account with
me.” They had indeed long before departed from God; they were therefore
wholly unworthy of being owned by God as his inheritance.
I detest then
the excellency of
Jacob, and
his
palaces; that is, all the wealth with
which they have been hitherto adorned. But the Prophet does not take either
palaces or excellency in a bad sense; on the contrary, he shows that God’s
blessings are no safeguards to the wicked, so as to avoid the judgment which
they deserve.
He afterwards adds,
I will deliver up the city and
its fullness; that is, “Though ye
are now full of wealth, I will empty you of all your abundance”. Hence,
I will deliver up the city
together with its fullness, that is, its
opulence.
But that this threatening might not be slighted, the
Prophet confirms it by interposing an oath. Hence he says, that God had sworn.
And as we know that God’s name is precious to him, it is certain that it
was not in vain adduced here, but on account of the hardness and contumacy of
those who were wont to set at nought all the prophecies, and were wont in
particular to regard as nothing all threatenings. This was the reason why the
Prophet wished thus to ratify what he had said: it was, that hypocrites might
understand that they could not escape the vengeance which he had denounced. The
form of swearing, as it is, may seem apparently improper; but God in this place
puts on the character of man, as he does often in other places. He swears by his
soul, that is, by his life, as though he were one of mankind. But we ought to
accustom ourselves to such forms, in which God familiarly accommodates himself
to our capacities: for what Hilary philosophizes about the soul, as though God
the Father swore by his own wisdom, is frivolous: that good man certainly
exposed his own doctrine to ridicule, while he was attempting to refute the
Arians. “God the Father, he says, swears by his own wisdom. Now he who is
wont to swear by himself, could not swear by an inferior; but wisdom is the only
begotten Son of God: hence it follows, that the Son is equal to the
Father.” These things at first sight seem plausible; but they are puerile
trifles.
Let it then be observed, that God borrows from men
this mode of swearing; as though he said, “If men be believed when
swearing by their life, which yet is evanescent, of how much greater weight must
that oath be, by which I pledge my own life?” Since God thus speaks,
surely the whole world ought to tremble. We now apprehend the Prophet’s
design. Let us go on —
|
AMOS
6:9
|
|
9. And it shall come to pass, if there remain
ten men in one house, that they shall die.
|
9. Et erit, si restabunt decem homines in domo
una, morientur.
|
The Prophet here amplifies the calamity, which was
nigh the people; as though he had said, that God would not now take moderate
vengeance on that reprobate people, for he did nothing by dealing moderately
with them: there was therefore nigh at hand the heaviest vengeance, which would
reduce the people to nothing. This is the import of the Prophet’s words
when he says, that ten, if
remaining in the same house, would die.
But in naming ten survivors, he intimates that a slaughter had preceded, which
had taken away either the half or at least some part of the family, since ten
remained. At the same time this number shows how severe and dreadful a judgment
of God awaited that people, that ten would be taken away together. But it
rarely happens, even when a direful pestilence prevails, that so numerous a
family entirely perishes; when three out of four, or six or five out of eight,
are taken away, it is a diminution which usually greatly terrifies men: but when
ten are taken away together, and no one is left, it is an evidence of an awful
vengeance.
We see then that the Prophet here denounces on the
people utter ruin, for they could not be reformed by milder punishments: when
God tried to recall them to a sane mind, he effected nothing. There was
therefore no remedy for their desperate diseases: it was hence necessary
entirely to take away those who were thus incurable.
Perish
then shall the ten, who shall
remain in one house. It follows
—
|
AMOS
6:10
|
|
10. And a man’s uncle shall take him up,
and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say
unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he
shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention
of the name of the LORD.
|
10. Et tollet eum patruus ejus et avunculus
ejus (vel, comburet eum) ad tollendum ossa e domo, et dicet ad eum qui erit in
lateribus domus, An adhuc quispiam tecum? et dicet, Finis est (ad verbum,
nihil;) et dicet, Tace; quia non licet recordari nominis
Jehovae.
|
In the beginning of the verse the Prophet expresses
more clearly what he had just said, — that the pestilence would be so
severe as to consume the whole family: for when he speaks of an uncle coming to
bury the dead, he shows, that unless neighbors performed their duty, bodies
would remain without the honor of a burial: but this never happened, except
during extreme devastation; for though the pestilence destroyed many in the same
city, there were yet always some who buried the dead. When therefore it was
necessary for uncles to perform this office, it was evident how great the
calamity would be. This the Prophet meant to express in these words,
His uncle shall take him
away; that is, his uncle shall take away each
of the dead. But this office, being servile, as I have said, was wont to be
committed to mercenaries; and when a father or an uncle was constrained to do
this, it was a proof of great confusion.
An
uncle then shall come and
take him
away.
ãrç,
shireph, means to burn; it is written here with
s,
but the change of
ç
into
s is
well known. Hence, many render the words,
and shall burn him in order to
take away his bones; and this
interpretation seems to suit the place. Then it is, “he will burn him,
that he may carry his bones out of the house”. Dead bodies, as it is well
known, were usually carried forth and burnt publicly. But as one man could not
carry out a dead body especially an old man, and Amos mentions an uncle, he
says, that another plan would be necessary, that the uncle would burn his
nephews at home, that he might have the bones only to carry out, as he could not
carry forth their dead bodies. This seems to me to be the real meaning of the
Prophet. For they who explain this of a maternal uncle, have no reason on their
side: it was enough to mention one only when men were so few. If indeed a
maternal uncle be added to the paternal one, a great number of men would seem to
have been still remaining. But when mention is made only of one uncle, this
circumstance agrees best with what I have stated.
An
uncle shall come, he shall
take
him; and then,
he will burn him that he may
carry forth his bones. The bones could
be easier carried out when the body was burnt, for the burden was not so heavy.
We now then perceive the meaning of the words.
It follows,
And he will say to him who shall
be at the sides of the house. By the sides of
the house, understand the next dwellings. He will then inquire,
Is there yet any one with
thee? that is, Is any one of thy
neighbors alive? We cannot indeed explain the sides of the house as meaning the
inner parts of the house, except one understands a reference to be made to
strangers or lodgers, as though the Prophet said, “If there will be any
lodger, he will seek retreat in some corner of the house.” Then the uncle,
when the whole house had become desolate, should he by chance meet a guest,
says, “Is there any one with thee? And he shall say, There is an
end”, or a decay. Though there be some ambiguity in the words, we yet see
what the Prophet meant, and what he had in view. He indeed confirms what he had
previously declared in the person of God, which was, — that though ten
remained alive in one house, yet all of them would die together, so that there
would not be, no not one survivor; for the uncle, on inquiring respecting his
nephews, whether any remained, would hear, that there was an end, that all had
perished together. Now, the design of these words was to strike men with terror;
for we know how great their stupidity is, as long as God spares them: but when
they feel his hand, they then dread, though they are not moved by any
threatenings. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet denounces here at large
on the Israelites the dreadful judgment, which they would not dread, being, as
we have seen, extremely secure and thoughtless.
It follows,
And he will say; Be silent; for
it is not meet to mention the name of
Jehovah. This place is differently
explained. Some think that their extreme wickedness is here noticed, that those
who died, even in their last moments, would not mention the name of God. They
thus then expound the words, — “Be silent,” as though it were
the expression of one indignant or of one who denied God.
Be
silent, then; for they remembered not
the name of God, that is, those whom God would have humbled, repented not of
their perverseness; even death itself could not bring them to the right way.
Others give this exposition: Be
silent, for it is not meet to mention the name of
God; that is, “What can God’s name
do to us? for we abhor it as a bad and an unhappy omen; for God brings us no
joy”. The wicked dread the name of God, and wish it to be wholly
obliterated. But it seems to me that the Prophet’s design is another,
which interpreters have not sufficiently weighed. We first find that the
hypocrites, whom he reproves, boasted of God’s name; for they said in
adversity that it was the day of the Lord, as though they expected a change for
the better. The Prophet now says, that the time would come when this boasting
would cease, for they would perceive that God was offended with them, and they
would no longer falsely pretend his name, as they had been wont to do. There is
then a contrast to be understood between what is here said, and what is said in
a former verse. The Prophet had previously inveighed against their rash
vaunting, when they pretended the name of God without any shame, “O! we
are God’s people, we are a holy nation, we are God’s
heritage”. As, then, they were become thus arrogant, and yet had cast away
God far from them, the Prophet now says, “These delusions shall then
cease, by which ye now deceive yourselves; God will not suffer you wickedly to
abuse his name, as we have ever hitherto done; and ye still go on in this
iniquity. Ye shall at that time,” he says, “be silent respecting
God’s name; yea, it will be a dread to you.”
We now apprehend the Prophet’s object: he means
that such would be the grievousness of this last calamity, that the Israelites
would really find that God was an enemy incensed against them, so that they
would cast aside the false glorying which filled them with pride; yea, that they
would dread the very name of God, for they would know that nothing would be
better for them than to be hid from his presence. As it is said of the
reprobate,
‘They will say to
the mountains, Cover us; and to the
hills,
Bury us,’
(<660616>Revelation
6:16)
so also in this place, the Prophet says, that when
hypocrites shall be struck and seriously frightened by God’s judgments,
their false vauntings will continue no longer; for they would find that to be
near God is to be near destruction.
Be silent, then, for there is
no reason for us to remember the name of
Jehovah. It follows —
|
AMOS
6:11
|
|
11. For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he
will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with
clefts.
|
11. Quia ecce Jehova praecipiens et percutiet
domum magnum mixtionibus (vel, contritionibus,) et domum parvam rimis (vel,
rupturis, aut, scissionibus, ut vertunt, vel, scissuris.)
|
This verse is added only to confirm the former
sentence. The Prophet indeed intimates, that the common people, as well as the
chiefs, in vain trusted in their quiet state; for the Lord would destroy them
all together, from the highest to the lowest.
Behold,
Jehovah, he says,
commands
etc.; by using the word commands, he means, that God had many reasons why he
should take away and destroy them all. But he goes farther than this, and
intimates that their destruction was dependent on the sole will of God; as
though he said, “Though the Lord may not send for ministers of vengeance,
though he may not prepare great forces, yet his word only, whenever it shall go
forth, will consume you all.” We now then perceive what the Prophet means
by the word “commands.”
He afterwards adds,
He will smite the great house
with confusions, or, according to some,
with breaking.
ssr,
resas, means properly to mingle. The Prophet therefore, I doubt not,
refers here to those dreadful falls which commonly happen to great and splendid
palaces. When a cottage is overturned so great a ruin is not occasioned by its
weight; nay, when its ruin begins to appear, fragments fall down one after
another, so that the whole work falls without any violence. This, I say, is the
case with small and common houses; but when there is a great building, its
downfall is tremendous. I am therefore inclined to render the word
“confusion,” and the difference between small and great houses will
then be more evident. Great
houses then
shall be smitten with
confusions, (mixtionibus, with
minglings) but small houses shall be smitten with fissures or clefts. But yet,
as I have already reminded you, the Prophet means that there would be a ruin,
both to the principal men and to the common people, so that they would all
perish, from the least to the greatest. We hence learn how great was the
corruption of that people; for God punishes none but the wicked. It then follows
that equity was everywhere subverted and that all orders of men were become
vicious and corrupt. It follows —
|
AMOS
6:12
|
|
12. Shall horses run upon the rock? will one
plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of
righteousness into hemlock:
|
12. An current in rupe equi? An arabitur bobus
(est, an arabit quispiam in bobus; sed quia est verbum indefinitum, ideo verto
impersonaliter, an ergo aratio fiet bobus, nempe in rupe?) quia vertistis in fel
judicium et fructum justitiae in absynthium.
|
This verse interpreters misrepresent; for some think
that the Prophet, by these figurative expressions, means, that the people were
wholly unprofitable as to any thing good; as some one says, “The slothful
ox wishes for the saddle, the horse wishes to plough.” They therefore
suppose that this is the meaning of the words, “Ye are no more fitted to
lead a good life than a horse is to run on a rock, or an ox to plough on a
rock.” Others think that the Prophet complains that the order of things
was subverted as though he said, “Ye have alike confounded all equity
government, and justice. In short, ye have subverted all right; as when one
tries to ride swiftly over a high rock, or attempts to plough there, which is
contrary to the nature of things: ye are therefore become monsters.”
Others, again, understand that the Prophet here complains that he had lost all
his labor; for he had been singing, according to the common proverb, to the
deaf. “What do I effect as to this iron generation? It is the same as if
one tried to ride on the rock, to mount a rock on a swift horse; or as if one
attempted to plough there; both which are impossible. So now, when I address
stupid men, there is no fruit to my labor, and no advantage is
gained.”Fc26
But let us see whether a fitter and a more suitable
meaning can be elicited. We have already observed how secure the Israelites
were; for they thought that God was, in a manner, bound to them, for he had
pledged his faith to be a father to them. This adoption of God puffed up their
hearts. The Prophet now reproves this presumptuous security; and, in a fitting
manner, “Can a horse,” he says, “run on a rock? and can an ox
plough in a stony place? So there is not among you a free course to God’s
blessings. Ye ought indeed to have been the vineyard and the field of the Lord;
justice and judgment ought to have reigned among, you but
ye have turned judgment into
gall
(çar,
rash, which is variously taken, but as to the sense it matters but
little,) ye have then
turned judgment into gall, and righteousness into
hemlock. Since then ye are so perverse,
a way for God’s blessings is doubtless closed up. It cannot be that the
Lord will act towards you in a manner like himself; for he must necessarily be
refractory towards the refractory, as he is gentle towards the gentle”.
The Prophet seems to me to mean this and if any one impartially considers the
whole verse, he will easily find out the truth of what I have stated, namely,
that the Prophet here reproves the supreme haughtiness of the Israelitic people,
who thought God bound to them though, at the same time, they, as it were,
designedly provoked his wrath. “Ye think”, he says, “that God
will be always propitious to you; whence is this confidence? Is it because he
has adopted you, because he made a covenant with your fathers? True he has done
so; but what sort of covenant was it? What was engaged on your part? Was it not
that ye would be perfect before him?
But ye have turned judgment into
gall, and righteousness into hemlock.
Fc27
Since then ye are thus covenant-breakers, what can God now do? Do you wish him
to proceed in the same course, and to bestow on you his blessings? Ye do not
allow them to be bestowed. For ye are become like craggy rocks. How can God
proceed in his course? how can he continue his benefits to you? He can certainly
no more do so than a horse, however nimble he may be, can run swiftly on a rock
or an ox plough on a rock.” We now understand what the Prophet means in
this place. A confirmation of this view now follows, and from this connection
the truth of what I have stated will become more evident.
|
AMOS
6:13
|
|
13. Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought,
which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
|
13. Gaudetis in non re (hoc est, in
nihilo,) dicitis, Annon in fortitudine nostra sustulimus nobis
coronua?
|
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 by such deceptions
as these, “God could not have suffered his Church to err; we have indeed
succeeded the apostles: and though there are among us many vices and
corruptions, yet God abides with us; and all who think not with us are
schismatic; nay, though we may be supported by no reasons, yet their defection
is not to be borne with. Let us then continue in our own state, for the Lord
approves of our hierarchy.” Thus the Papists not only deal in trifles to
deceive the ignorant, but also harden themselves against God. Such was the
blindness of the people of Israel. Hence the Prophet here reproves them, because
they rejoiced in nothing; ‘In no word,’ he says, for so it is; but
it means that they rejoiced in nothing; for they involved themselves in mere
fallacies, and thus set up their empty delusions in opposition to God and his
judgments.
Who say, have we not in our own
strength raised up for ourselves horns? Horns,
we know are taken in Hebrew for eminence, for strength, for elevation, or for
any sort of defense. Hence the expression means the same as though they had
said, “Are we not more than sufficiently fortified by our own
strength?” It is however certain that they did not say this openly; but as
the Prophet possessed the discernment of the Holy Spirit, he penetrated into
their hearts and brought out what was hid within. We indeed know this to be the
power of the word, as the apostle teaches in the fourth chapter to the Hebrews:
for the word partakes of the nature of God himself, from whom it has proceeded;
and as God is a searcher of hearts, so also the word penetrates to the marrow,
to the inmost thoughts of men, and distinguishes between the feelings and the
imaginations. This spiritual jurisdiction
Fc28 ought
therefore to be noticed, when the Prophets allege against the ungodly such gross
blasphemies; for it is certain that they had not actually pronounced the words
used by the Prophet; but yet their pride had no other meaning, than that they
had raised
horns to themselves by their
own
strength. They were indeed separated
from the Lord; in the meantime they wished to abide safe through their own
power. What did they mean? They had become alienated from God, and yet they
sought to be in a state of safety, and thought themselves to be beyond any
danger. Whence came this privilege? For they certainly ought to have sheltered
themselves under God’s shadow, if they wished to be safe. But as they
renounced God, and despised all his instructions, nay, as they were manifestly
his enemies, whence was this safety to come, which they promised to themselves,
except they sought to derive their strength from themselves?
We now perceive the Prophet’s design: He
reproves the Israelites for being content with a false and empty title and for
heedlessly despising God, and for only pretending a form of religion instead of
its reality; it was this so gross a vice that he condemned in them: and he shows
at the same time, that they put on horns by which they assailed God; for while
they were separated from him, they promised to themselves a secure and happy
state. It at length follows —
|
AMOS
6:14
|
|
14. But, behold, I will raise up against you a
nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall
afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the
wilderness.
|
14. Certe, ecce tollo contra vos, domus
Israel, dicit Jehova, Deus exercituum, gentem; et coarctabunt vos ab introitu
Hemath usque ad torrentem campestrem.
|
At last follows a denunciation, and this is the close
of the chapter. God then after having seriously exposed the vices which
prevailed among the people of Israel, again declares that vengeance of which he
had shortly before reminded then; but with this difference only — that God
now points out the kind of punishment which he would inflict on the Israelites.
He had said before, ‘Behold God commands;’ and then he had spoken of
calamity, but expressed not whence that calamity would come: but he now points
it out in a special manner,
Behold
he says I am raising up
against you, O house of Israel, a nation, who will straiten you from the
entrance into Hemath to the river, etc. The
Prophet no doubt speaks here of the Assyrians, and expresses in strong terms how
dreadful the war with the Assyrians would be, which was now nigh at hand; for
though large was their land and country, (and being large and spacious it had
many outlets,) yet the Prophet shows that there would be everywhere straits,
when the Lord would raise up on high that nation.
I
am then
stirring up a nation against
you.
He again calls the Lord, the God of hosts, for the
same reason as before, — that they might understand that all the Assyrians
were at God’s disposal, and that they would stir up war whenever he gave
them a signal. The Lord
then
will raise up a nation, who will
straiten you. In what place? He speaks
not here of strait places, but of a spacious country, which, as it has been
stated, had many outlets. But after the Lord had armed against them the
Assyrians, all the most spacious places were made strait to them, “Ye
shall be everywhere confined, so that there will be open no escape from
death.”
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that since we are
extremely deaf to those so many holy warnings by which thou continuest to recall
us to thyself, and since we ever harden ourselves against those threatenings, by
which thou terrifiest us, that thou mayest break or at least correct our
hardness, — O grant, that we may, though late, yet in time, before final
vengeance comes, attend to thy word and submit ourselves to thee, and in a
teachable spirit undertake thy yoke, that thou mightest receive us into favor,
and vouchsafe to us thy paternal kindness, and being at length reconciled to us,
thou might grant us thy blessings, which thou hast promised to all thy children,
who are the members of thy only begotten Son our Lord. Amen.
CHAPTER 7.
LECTURE
SIXTY-THIRD
|
AMOS
7:1-3
|
|
1. Thus hath the Lord GOD showed
Fc29 unto
me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of
the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s
mowings.
|
1. Sic ostendit mihi Dominus, et ecce formans
locustas principio ascensionis herbae (hoc est, quum incipit herba ascendere:
çql,
proprie significat secundam herbam, quam vocamus, Regian) et ecce herba post
sectiones (vel, tonsuras, ut alii vertunt) Regis.
|
|
2. And it came to pass, that when they had
made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I
beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
|
2. Et factum est dum perficeret ad comendendum
(hoc est, quum jam fere in totum absumpsisset herbam terrae,) tunc dixi, Adonai
Jehova, parce, obsecro: quis stabit (vel, quis restituet) Jacob, quia parvus
est?
|
|
3. The LORD repented for this: It shall not
be, saith the LORD.
|
3. Poenituit Jehovam super hoc; Non erit,
dixit Jehova.
|
Amos shows in this chapter that God had already often
deferred the punishments which he had yet determined to inflict on the people;
and thus he reminds the Israelites of their perverseness, inasmuch as they had
abused the forbearance of God, and repented not after a long lapse of time: for
God had suspended his judgments for this end — that they might willingly
return to the right way, as he commonly allures men by his kindness, provided
they be teachable. Since then this forbearance of God had been without fruit,
Amos reproves the Israelites, though he had also another object in view: for
ungodly men, we know, when God spares them and does not immediately indict the
punishments they deserve, laugh at them, and harden themselves for the future,
so that they fear nothing; and when the Lord threatens, and does not instantly
execute his vengeance, they then especially think that all threatening are mere
bugbears; and therefore they harden their minds in security and think that they
can with impunity trifle with God. Inasmuch then as this obstinacy prevailed
among the Israelites, the Prophet here shows in various ways, that in vain they
gloried, and thus securely despised the judgment of God; for though the Lord for
a time had spared them, yet the final vengeance was not far distant. This is the
sum of the whole: but such expression must be considered in its
order.
A
vision, he says, had been
shown
to him by the Lord; and the vision was, that God himself had
formed
locusts. Yet some think
rxwy,
iutsar, to be a noun, and render it, creation; others, a swarm or a
troop. But these are forced expositions. The Lord then, I doubt not, formed
locusts in the Prophet’s presence, which devoured all the grass. He
therefore says, when the grass
began to grow”, that is,
after the cuttings of the
king. Here also expounders vary: some
think that the shearings of the king are referred to, when the king had sheared
his sheep. Others regard it as the mowing of hay; and they say, that the best
grass was then cut for the use of the king, that he might feed his horses and
his cattle. But these conjectures have nothing well-founded in them. I therefore
doubt not, but the Prophet here calls that a royal cutting, when by a public
order they began to cut their meadows. It is indeed credible that there was then
some rule: as with us, no one begins the vintage at his own will, but a certain
regular time is observed; so those cuttings, which were publicly done, were
called royal; as the king’s highway is called that which is public. But
yet the Prophet, I think, refers under this figurative expression to the
previous calamities, by which the people had been already reduced as to their
number.
But we must supply this prophecy or vision to its
proper time. I doubt not, and I think that I can gather this from certain
considerations, that the Prophet here compares the time which had preceded the
reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, with the prosperous time which followed.
For when Jeroboam the Second began to reign, the kingdom was laid waste, partly
by hostile incursions, and partly by drought and heat, by inclement weather, or
by pestilence. Since then the condition of the people, as sacred history
relates, was most miserable, hence the Prophet says, that locusts had been shown
to him, which devoured all the grass and standing corn: for he not only says,
that locusts were formed, but also that they devoured the grass, so that nothing
remained, When they had
finished, he says,
to eat the grass of the
earth, then I said, Lord Jehovah, etc.
Thus then the Prophet shows that sure tokens of God’s wrath had then
already appeared, and that the people had in part been already afflicted, but
yet that God had afterwards given them time for repentance.
Now by locusts I understand a moderate kind of
punishment. We have seen elsewhere
(<290101>Joel
1:1) that the country had been then nearly consumed by the locusts and the
cankerworms, and the like pests. But in this place the Prophet metaphorically
designates hostile invasions, which had not immediately laid waste the whole
country but in some measure desolated it. This was indeed manifest to all, but
few viewed it as the judgment of God, as also the Lord complains, that the
perverse regard not the hand of the smiter,
(<231001>Isaiah
10:1) Though then the Israelites saw their land consumed, they did not think
that God was displeased with them; for ungodly men do not willingly examine
themselves nor raise their eyes to heaven, when the Lord chastises them: for
they would grow, as it were, stupid in their calamities rather than set before
themselves the judgment of God, that they may be seriously led to repentance:
this they naturally shun almost all. Hence the Prophet says that this was
especially shown to him. The calamity then was known to all, and evident before
the eyes of the people; but the Prophet alone, by a vision, understood that God
in this manner punished the sins of the people: at the same time, the special
object of the vision was, — to make the Israelites to know that the hand
of God was withheld, as it were, in the middle of its work. They had seen the
enemies coming, they had felt many evils; but they thought that the enemies
retreated either through good fortune or some other means. They did not consider
that God had spared them, which was the main thing. It was therefore shown to
the prophet in a vision, that God spared his people, though he had resolved to
destroy the whole land.
And the Prophet expressly declares, that God had been
pacified through his intercession and prayer: hence appears very clearly what I
have already referred to, that is, that the Prophet condemns the unbelieving for
having perversely trifled with God; for they regarded the threatening which they
had heard from the mouth of Amos and of others as jests. Whence was this?
Because God had spared them. The Prophet shows how this took place; “The
Lord,” he says, “had at first resolved to destroy you, but yet he
waits for you, and therefore suspends his extreme vengeance, that by his
kindness he may allure you to himself; and this has been done through my
prayers: for though ye think me to be adverse to you, as I am constrained daily
to threaten you, and as a heavenly herald to denounce war on you; I yet feel
compassion for you, and wish you to be saved. There is, therefore, no reason for
you to think that I am influenced by hatred or by cruelty, when I address you
with so much severity: this I do necessarily on account of my office; but I am
still concerned and solicitous for your safety; and of this the Lord is a
witness, and the vision I now declare to you.” We now see that God’s
servants had so ruled and moderated their feelings, that pity did not prevent
them from being severe whenever their calling so required; and also, that this
severity did not obliterate from their minds the feelings of compassion. Amos,
as we have already seen, severely inveighed against the people, sharply reproved
their vices, and daily summoned irreclaimable men to the tribune it of God: as
he was so vehemently indignant on account at their vices, and as he so sharply
threatened them, he might have appeared to have forgotten all compassion; but
this place shows that he had not yet divested himself of pity, though he
faithfully discharged his office, and was not diverted from his purpose, when he
saw that he had to do with wicked and obstinate men. He was therefore severe,
because God so commanded him; it was what his calling required; but at the same
time he pitied the people.
Let then all teachers in the Church learn to put on
these two feelings — to be vehemently indignant whenever they see the
worship of God profaned, to burn with zeal for God, and to show that severity
which appeared in all the Prophets, whenever due order decays, — and at
the same time to sympathize with miserable men, whom they see rushing headlong
into destruction, and to bewail their madness, and to interpose with God as much
as is in them; in such a way, however that their compassion render them not
slothful or indifferent, so as to be indulgent to the sins of men. Indeed, the
temper of mind which I have mentioned ought to be possessed, so that they may go
forth as suppliants before God, and implore pardon for miserable and wretched
men: but when they come to the people, in their new character, that they may be
severe and rigid, let them remember by whom they are sent and with what
commands, let them know that they are the ministers of God, who is the judge of
the world, and ought not therefore to spare the people: this then is to be
attended to by us.
Now as to the word repent, as applied to God,
let us know, as it has been elsewhere stated, that God changes not his purpose
so as to retract what he has once determined. He indeed knew what he would do
before he showed the vision to his Prophet Amos: but he accommodates himself to
the measure of men’s understanding, when he mentions such changes. It was
then the eternal purpose of God, to threaten the people, to show tokens of his
displeasure, and yet to suspend for a time his vengeance, that their
perverseness might be the more inexcusable. But in the meantime, as this was
without advantage, he sets forth another thing — that he was already armed
to execute his vengeance. God then does not relate what he had decreed, but what
the Israelites deserved, and what punishment or reward was due to them. When,
therefore, God begins to inflict punishment on sinners, it is as though he
intended to execute fully his vengeance; he however forms a purpose in himself,
but that is hid from us. As soon then as he lifts up his finger, we ought to
regard it as owing to his mercy, that we are not instantly reduced to nothing;
when it so happens, it is as though he changed his purpose, or as though he
withheld his hand. This then ought to be borne in mind, when the prophet says,
that God created locusts to devour all the grass, but that he suppliantly
entreated God to put an end to this calamity. He then adds, that it repented
God, not that there was any change of mind in God, but because God suddenly and
beyond hope suspended the vengeance which was near at hand.
It shall
not then
be.
With regard to the clause,
Be propitious, I pray; how will
Jacob rise up, or who will raise up
Jacob? it appears that the Prophet saw no other remedy, except the Lord,
according to his infinite goodness, forgave the people, and hence he prays for
pardon. In the meantime, he shows that he prayed for the Church,
“Lord,” he says, “thy hand does not now pursue strangers, but
an elect people, thy peculiar possession:” for by the name, Jacob,
the Prophet extols the covenant which God made with Abraham and the Patriarchs;
as though he said, “O God, wilt thou be inexorable towards the people whom
thou hast chosen and adopted, of whom thou art the Father? Remember that they
are neither Babylonians, nor Egyptians, nor Assyrians, but a royal priesthood,
and thy holy and peculiar people.” And there is nothing that inclines God
more to mercy than the recollection of his gratuitous covenant, as we have
elsewhere seen.
He then says, that Jacob was small. He does
not allege the worthiness of Jacob, or adduce any proof of excellency, but says
that he was small; as though he said, “O Lord, thou drawest forth now thy
power against miserable creatures, who are already enfeebled enough” for
he calls him small, because he had been worn out by many calamities: and
hence I said, that reference is here made to that miserable time, of which
Scripture records, when it declares that the free as well as the captive were
reduced to extreme distress, before Jeroboam the second began to reign. Then
indeed God restored his people; but short was that favor; for immediately after
the death of king Jeroboam, a sedition arose, which proved ruinous to the whole
kingdom: his son Zachariah, as it is well known, was slain by Shallum,
(<121501>2
Kings 15:1)
How
then will Jacob rise up?
Some take the verb
µwqy,
ikum,
Fc30 in
a transitive sense, “Who will raise him up?” but others think it to
be a neuter verb, “How will Jacob rise up?” that is, by what means
will Jacob rise up? as
ym,
mi, may be taken to mean, how, or by what means: How then will Jacob rise
up? But this difference has little to do with the main point It is then enough
to say, that the Prophet here speaks of the weakness of the people, that on this
account God might be more ready to forgive them. It now follows
—
|
AMOS
7:4-6
|
|
4. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and,
behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep,
and did eat up a part.
|
4. Sic ostendit mihi Dominus Jehova: et ecce
vocans ad disceptandum in igne Dominus Jehova, et consumpsit (aut, voravit)
abyssum magnam (et consumpta fuit possessio) (alii
qlj
vertunt partem agri; sed malo accipere pro tota possessione.
|
|
5. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech
thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
|
5. Et dixi, Adonai Jehova, cessa, obsecro;
quis (hoc est, quomodo) consurget Jacob? (vel, quis attollet, ut prius dictum
est;) quia parvus est.
|
|
6. The LORD repented for this: This also shall
not be, saith the Lord GOD.
|
6. Poenituit Jehova super hoc; Etiam hoc non
erit, dicit Dominus Jehova.
|
The Prophet shows that God had not once only spared
the people, but that when he was again prepared for vengeance, he still
willingly deferred it, that, if possible, the people might willingly recover
themselves: but as all were unhealable, this forbearance of God produced no
fruit. Now as to the words of the Prophet, we see that a heavier punishment is
designated by the similitude of fire, than by what he said before when he spoke
of locusts. We stated that by locusts is to be understood ordinarily a moderate
punishment, one not so dreadful at first sight. For though the want and famine
introduced by locusts, when they consume all kinds of fruit, are most grievous
evils; yet fire sometimes strikes people with much greater dread. Hence the
Prophet shows by mentioning fire, that God had become very indignant, having
seen that the people had hardened themselves and could not be reformed by common
and usual remedies. The Lord’s usual mode of proceeding, as he declares
everywhere in Scriptures is this: At first he tries to find whether men are
capable of being healed, and applies not the most grievous punishment, but such
as may be endured; but when he perceives in sinners hardness and obstinacy, he
doubles and trebles the punishment, yea, as he says by Moses, he increases his
judgments sevenfold
(<052801>Deuteronomy
28:1) Such then was the manner which Amos now records; for God at first created
the locusts, and then he kindled a fire, which consumed the great deep, and
devoured their possession.
The point, denoting a participial form in the word
here used, shows that they are mistaken who render
rxwy,
iutsar, creation, of which we have spoken before; for the point here
corresponds with that in
rxwy,
iutsar,
Fc31. In
both places the Lord shows himself to be the author of punishment, which is wont
to be ascribed to chance; for men imagine that evils proceed from something else
rather than from God. Hence it was necessary for this to be distinctly
expressed, as the Prophet does also, when he says that locusts had been created
by God, and that fire had been kindled by him.
God then
called to contend by
fire. It was not without a design that the
Prophet uses the verb
bwr,
rub, which yet expositors have not duly weighed. For he indirectly
condemns the hardness of the people, inasmuch as the Lord had already not only
chastised the vices of the people, but had also contended with men depraved and
obstinate: as when no justice can be obtained, a litigation becomes necessary;
so the Prophet says here, that God was coming prepared with fire, to contend
with the stubbornness of the people.
The great
deep, he says, was consumed by this
fire. Hence what I have already said becomes more evident, — that a more
dreadful punishment is here described than in the first vision. The locusts
devoured the grass only but the fire penetrates into the utmost deep; it
consumes and destroys not only the surface of the earth, but burns up the very
roots, yea, it descends to the center and consumes the whole earth. They who
render
qlj,
chelak, a part, do not sufficiently attend to the design of the Prophet,
for he concludes that the surface of the earth had been laid waste, because the
very gulfs had not escaped the burning. And when the fire reaches to the very
bowels of the earth, how could their possession stand, which was also exposed to
the heat of the sun? We see how the earth is burnt up by heat, when the sun is
scorching at Midsummer. We now perceive the Prophet’s
design.
He adds, that God was again pacified. We must ever
bear in mind the object he had in view; for ungodly men thought the Prophets to
be liars, whenever God did not immediately execute the vengeance he had
denounced: but Amos here reminds them, that when God defers punishment, he does
not in vain threaten, but waits for men to repent; and that if they still go on
in abusing his patience, they will have at last to feel how dreadful is the
vengeance which awaits all those who thus pervert the goodness of God, who hear
not God inviting them so kindly to himself. This is the meaning. It follows
—
|
AMOS
7:7-9
|
|
7. Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord
stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his
hand.
|
7. Sic ostendit mihi: et ecce Dominus stabat
(stans) super murum perpendiculi, et in manu ejus
perpendiculum.
|
|
8. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a
plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any
more:
|
8. Et dixit Jehova mihi, Quid tu vides Amos?
Et dixi, Perpendiculum. Tunc dixit Dominus, Ecce ego pono perpendiculum in medio
populi mei Israel: non adjiciam amplius ut transeam ipsum:
|
|
9. And the high places of Isaac shall be
desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise
against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
|
9. Et destruentur excelsa Isaac, et evertentur
(excidentur) sanctuaria Israel; et surgam super domum Jeroboam in
gladio.
|
This vision opens more clearly to us what the Prophet
meant before, and what was the object of his doctrine: his intention was to show
the people that what they had gained by their obstinacy was only to render God
implacable, and to cause him not to spare them any longer, as he had hitherto
done. The meaning is, — “God has hitherto borne with you according
to his own goodness, promise not to yourselves that he will ever deal in the
same manner with you; for your contumacy and waywardness has provoked him. As he
sees you to be beyond measure obstinate, he must now necessarily execute on you
final vengeance. There is therefore now no forgiveness provided for you; but as
ye are incurable, so the Lord on his part will remain unchangeable in the rigor
of his judgment, and will by no means turn to mercy.”
Interpreters explain this vision in various ways, and
refinedly philosophize on the word, plumbline; and yet frigid are almost
all their refinements. Were I disposed plausibly to handle this passage, I would
say, that the plumbline is the law of God; for it prescribed to his people a
regular order of things, which might serve as a plumbline; inasmuch as all
things were directed according to the best rule. I might speak thus; but I am
not disposed to refine in this manner; for I doubt not but that God meant only
that this would be the last measuring; for he would punish his people without
any remission and without any delay. We now apprehend the Prophet’s
meaning: but all this will become more evident from the words of the
passage.
Thus he showed to me; and, behold,
the Lord stood on a wall of a plumbline. The
wall of a plumbline he calls that which had been formed by rule, as though he
had said that it was a wall by a plumbline. God then stood on a plumbline-wall,
and a
plumbline,
he says, was in his
hand. False then is what some
interpreters say, that a plumbline was cast away by God, because he would no
more perform the office of a mason in ruling his people. This is frivolous; for
the Prophet testifies here expressly that a plumbline was in the hand of
God.
But that which follows has an important meaning: God
asks his Prophet, What sees thou,
Amos? It is probable that the Prophet
was astonished at a thing so mysterious. When locusts were formed, and when
there was a contention by fire, he might have easily gathered what God meant;
for these visions were by no means ambiguous: but when God stood on a wall with
a plumbline, this was somewhat more hard to be understood; and the probability
is, that the Prophet was made to feel much astonishment, that the people might
be more attentive to hear his vision, as we commonly apply our thoughts more to
hidden things; for we coldly attend to what we think to be easily understood;
but mysteriousness, or something difficult to be known, sharpens our minds and
attention. I do not then doubt but that God made the Prophet for a time to feel
amazed, with the view of increasing the attention of the people.
What
then dost thou see,
Amos? A
plumbline,
he says: but, at the same time, he knew not what was the meaning of this
plumbline, or what was its design. Then God answers,
Behold, I set a plumbline in the
midst of my people; that is, I fix this
to be the last rule, or the final measure,
and I will not add any more to
pass by them. As God had twice leaped
over the bounds of his judgment by sparing them, he says, now that the last end
was come, “I will proceed no farther,” he says, “in forgiving
them: as when a wall is formed to the plumbline, that no part may, in the least,
exceed another, but that there may be regularity throughout so also this shall
be the last order; this measuring shall be true and just. I will pass by them no
more.” This, I have no doubt, is the real meaning of the Prophet. We now
also perceive the design of the other two visions to have been to prevent the
Israelites from deceiving themselves by false self-flatteries, because God was
kind and favorable to them. He shows that he dealt so with them, not because
they were just; for God had already begun to execute his judgments on them; and
the punishments with which they had been visited were strong evidences of their
crimes: for God is not without reasons angry with men, especially with his
chosen people. Since then they had been already smitten once and again, the
Prophet proves that they were worthy of heavier punishments; and that
punishments had been mild and moderated, was to be ascribed, he says, to the
indulgence of God, because he was willing to forgive his people; but that the
time had now come when he would no longer pardon them; for he saw that he had to
do with irreclaimable obstinacy. This is the meaning.
It now follows,
And destroyed shall be the high
places of Isaac, and overthrown shall be the sanctuaries (some render palaces)
of Israel; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the
sword. The Prophet here distinctly declares,
that the people in vain trusted in their temples and superstitions, for by these
they kindled the more against themselves the wrath of God. He would not indeed
have expressly threatened the high places and the temples, unless the Israelites
had provoked in this way, as I have already said, the vengeance of God against
themselves, inasmuch as they had corrupted the true and lawful worship of
God.
Destroyed then shall be the high
places of Isaac. It may be asked, Why
does he mention here the name of Isaac, which is rarely done by the Prophets?
And there is also a change of one letter; for the word Isaac is commonly written
with
x,
tsade, but here it is written with
ç,
shin; but it is well known that
ç,
shin and
x,
tsade, are interchangeably used. It is, however, beyond dispute, that the
Prophet speaks here of the holy man Isaac; and the reason seems to be plainly
this, — because the Israelites absurdly pretended to imitate their father
in their superstitions; for temples, we know, had been erected where Isaac had
worshipped God, and also their father Abraham and Jacob. Inasmuch then as the
Israelites boasted of the examples of holy fathers, the Prophet here condemns
this vain and false boasting. They who understand by the word Isaac, that the
Prophet threatens the Idumeans as well as the Israelites, have no reason for
their opinion; but the reason which I have already mentioned is quite
sufficient.
We indeed know, that the Israelites had ever in their
mouths the examples of the fathers, like the woman of Samaria, who said to
Christ, ‘Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,’
(<430422>John
4:22) So also the Israelites were wont formerly to allege, that the holy
patriarchs worshipped God in those places, — that God appeared in Bethel
to holy Jacob, and also that in other places altars were built. Being armed with
the examples of the fathers, they thought them to be their shield. The case is
the same with the Papists in our day; when they hear of anything as having been
done by the fathers, they instantly lay hold on it; but these are vain excuses.
Like them were also the Israelites; hence the Prophet says, “Behold, ye
gain nothing by this fallacious pretense; for
destroyed shall be the high
places of Isaac, even those which are
now covered by an honorable name: and at the same time the temples or palaces of
“Israel shall be overthrown.
And I will rise against the house
of Jeroboam with the sword. We learn
from this last clause that things were then, as we have stated elsewhere, in a
prosperous state in the kingdom of Israel, though God had in various ways wasted
it before Jeroboam: but they had been ever obstinate. He afterwards restored
them to a better condition; for the state of the people greatly improved under
Jeroboam: he recovered many cities enlarged the borders of his kingdoms and then
the people, in their affluence began to grow wanton against God. As then the
Prophet thus saw that they abused God’s goodness, he denounced destruction
on Jeroboam; hence he says,
Against the house of Jeroboam I
will rise up with the sword; that is,
“I will begin to execute my judgment on the offspring of the king himself;
though I may spare him, yet his posterity shall not escape my
hand.”
PRAYER.
Almighty God, since thou so suspendest
thy hand in chastising us, that except we be wholly blind and stupid, we must
acknowledge that we are spared in order that we may willingly return to thee,
and that being allured by the gentleness of thy forbearance, we may submit
ourselves to thee in willing obedience, — O grant, that we may not harden
our hearts, nor be slow, nor slothful, nor even backward to repent, when thou
deferrest extreme punishment, but strive to anticipate thy final vengeance, and
so submit ourselves to thee, that we may be pardoned while it is time, and so
hasten to offer our hearts whole and sincere to thee, and so repent, while urged
by extreme danger, that there may not remain any hidden hypocrisy in our hearts,
but that we may in such a way search every faculty of our soul, that thou mayest
become to us a real and faithful witness of that integrity which thou requires
of all who return to thee to obtain pardon through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-FOURTH
|
AMOS
7:10-13
|
|
10. Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to
Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst
of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his
words.
|
10. Et misit Amazias sacerdos Bethel ad
Jeroboam regem Israel, dicendo, Conspiravit contra te Amos in medio domus
Israel: non poterit terra sustinere omnes ejus sermones.
|
|
11. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by
the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own
land.
|
11. Quia sic dicit Amos, Gladio morientur
Jeroboam; et Israel migrando migrabit e terra sua.
|
|
12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer,
go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy
there:
|
12. Et dixit Amazias ad Amos, Videns, vade,
fuge (tibi, est supervacuum) in terram Jehudah; et comede illic panem et illic
propheta:
|
|
13. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel:
for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s
court.
|
13. Et in Bethel ne adjicias amplius
prophetare, quia sanctuarium regis est, et domus regni est.
|
The Prophet here relates the device by which Satan
attempted to depress his mind, that he might not go on in the discharge of his
prophetic office. He says, that Amaziah had sent to the king to induce him to
adopt some severe measure; for he pretended that as Amos scattered words full of
sedition, and made turbulent speeches, the affairs of the king could not be
carried on, except the king in due time prevented him: and besides, the same
Amaziah said, that nothing could be better for the Prophet than to flee into the
land of Judah, as he might live in safety there; for he had incurred great
danger in having dared to prophesy against the king. It hence appears that
Amaziah was a perfidious and cunning man, but not so bloody as to attempt openly
anything serious against the Prophet’s life; unless perhaps he thought
that this could not be done, and gave this advice, not so much through his
kindness, as that the thing was impracticable: and this second supposition is
probable from the words of the passage.
For, in the first place the Prophet says, that
Amaziah had sent to the
king. He then tried whether he could
excite the king’s mind to persecute Amos. It may be that his design did
succeed: hence he undertook what in the second place is related, that is, he
called the Prophet to himself, and tried to frighten him, and drive him by fear
from the land of Israel, that he might no longer be troublesome to them. But we
must, in the first place, notice the motive by which this Amaziah was
influenced, when he endeavored so much, by any means possible, to banish the
Prophet from the kingdom of Israel. It is certainly not credible that he was
influenced by what he pretended to the king, that there was a danger of
sedition; but it was a pretense cunningly made. Amaziah then had a care for his
own advantage, as we see to be the case in our day with cardinals and milted
bishops who frequent the courts of princes, and do not honestly profess what
their designs are; for they see that their tyranny cannot stand unless the
gospel be abolished; they see that our doctrine threatens to become a cold and
even an ice to their kitchens; and then they see that they can be of no account
in the world, except they crush us. And what do they at the same time pretend?
that our doctrine cannot be received without producing a change in the whole
world, without ruin to the whole civil order, without depriving kings of their
power and dignity. It is then by these malicious artifices that they gain favor
to themselves. Suchwas the device of Amaziah, and such was his manoeuvre in
opposing the Prophet Amos.
Behold,
he says to the king, he has
conspired against thee.
rçq,
kosher, is to bind, but, by a metaphor, it signifies to conspire:
Conspired
then has Amos against
thee. But who speaks? Amaziah; and the
Prophet omits not the title of Amaziah; for he says that he was
the priest of
Bethel. He might have only said,
“Amaziah sent to king Jeroboam”, but by mentioning that he was a
priest, the Prophet shows that Amaziah did not strive for the peace of the
public, as he pretended; and that this was therefore a fallacious pretense, for
he fought for his own Helen, that is, he fought for his own kitchen, in short,
for his living: for he would have been deprived, with disgrace, of his
priesthood, and then reduced to penury and want, except he had driven away the
Prophet Amos. Since then he saw that such and so great an evil was nigh him
except Amos was banished, he had this object in view, and pretended another
thing, and sent to the king and said,
Amos has
conspired; and he enhances the crime,
In the midst of the house of
Israel. “This is not done,” he says
“in a corners or in some obscure place; but his doctrine is heard on all
the public roads, whole cities are filled with it; in short, it burns like fire
in the very bosom, in the very midst of the kingdom; and thou wilt soon find thy
own house to be all in a flame, unless thou applies a remedy, yea, except thou
extinguishest it.” We hence see how Amaziah acted, and the reason why he
so earnestly persuaded the king to give liberty no longer to the Prophet
Amos.
With regard to what follows, —
that the land could no longer
bear his words, the sentence admits of two
probable meanings. The first is, that he said, that the people, being offended
with his turbulent doctrine, did now of themselves hate and detest the Prophet
Amos, as a seditious man. Kings are in our day stirred on in like manner,
— “Why do you delay? Your subjects desire nothing so much as to
extinguish this evil, and all of them will eagerly assist you: ye are in the
meantime idle, and your people complain of your tardiness. They think the
princes in power are unworthy of their station, since they thus suffer the
ancient rites and ordinances of holy Mother Church to fall into decay.” So
they speak: and we may imagine the words of Amaziah to have been in the same
strain, — that he stimulated the king by this artifice — that the
people were prepared to do their part. The other meaning is this,
The land cannot bear his
words; that is, “If he goes on here with
full liberty to raise tumults, as he has begun, the whole kingdom will be on the
verge of ruin, for many will follow him; and when an open sedition will arise,
it cannot be checked without great difficulty. We must therefore make every
haste, lest Amos should get the upper hand; for there is already the greatest
danger.” As the Pharisees held a consultation, and said,
‘Lest the Romans
come and take away our place and
nation,’
(<431148>John
11:48)
so also Amaziah might have excited the king by
causing him to fear, that the land, the country, or its inhabitants, had been
disturbed by the words of Amos, and that therefore it was time to put a stop to
him. Such was the message of Amaziah to the king.
Now our Prophet is wholly silent as to the answer of
the king: it is therefore probable, either that the king was not much excited,
— or that he dared not openly to take away the life of Amos; for he had
probably obtained some authority among the people; and though he was hated, yet
his name as a Prophet and his office were had in reverence, — or that the
matter was by agreement arranged between the two enemies of sound doctrine, as
flatterers often gratify kings by putting themselves in their place, and by
bearing all the ill will. However this might have been, it is certainly a
probable conjecture, that the king did not interfere, because he was so
persuaded by the priest Amaziah, or because he feared the people, or because
religion restrained him, as even the ungodly are sometimes wont to contain
themselves within the bounds of moderation; not that they are touched by real
fear towards God, or that they desire to embrace his true worship: they wish God
to be thrust down from heaven, they wish all knowledge of religion to be
obliterated; but yet they dare not pour forth their fury. Such fear then might
have seized the mind of Jeroboam, that he did not tyrannically rage against the
Prophet Amos. But if we regard the tendency of the words of Amaziah, he
certainly wished the Prophet Amos to be immediately visited with capital
punishment; for conspiracy is a crime worthy of death; and then, fear might have
impelled the king to put the holy Prophet immediately to death. Amaziah
therefore expected more than what he attained: and then appeared his vulpine
wiliness, for he sent for the Prophet and advised him to withdraw to the land of
Judah. Hence, as I said at the beginning, it is very probable that Jeroboam was
not excited according to the expectation of the ungodly priest of Bethel, who at
first was a cruel wild beast; but when he could not proceed openly to destroy
Amos, he put on a new character; he became a fox, because he could do nothing as
a raging lion. Hence follows his second attempt,
And Amaziah said to
Amos, etc.
I have passed over one clause in the last verse:
Amos says, By the sword shall
Jeroboam die, and Israel, by migrating, shall migrate from their own land.
These, in short, are two heads of accusation. Some
interpreters think that Amaziah had slanderously perverted the words of the
Prophet Amos; for he did not denounce death on king Jeroboam, but only on his
people and posterity: but I do not insist on this. It might then be, that
Amaziah did not designedly pervert the words of Amos, but only wished to excite
the ill will of the king. Die then shall Jeroboam or his posterity with the
sword, and Israel also, by migrating, shall migrate from their own land. We
hence learn, that Amaziah was not impelled only by the last address of the
Prophet Amos, but that he then discovered the hatred which he had long harbored.
Amaziah therefore had been, no doubt, on his watch, and had heard what Amos
daily taught, and when he thought the matter ripe, he sent to the king. Having
tried this way, and found that it did not answer, he came to his second attempt,
which we are now to consider.
Amaziah then said to Amos, — that is, after his
first proceeding disappointed him; for he did not obtain from king Jeroboam what
he expected, — then Amaziah said to Amos,
Seer, go, flee to the land of
Judah! By saying
Go,
he intimates that he was at liberty to depart, as though he said, “Why
wouldest thou willfully perish among us?” At the same time, the two
clauses ought to be joined together. He says first,
Go,
and then,
flee.
When he says Go, he reminds him, as I have already said, that if he wished, he
might go away, as no one prevented his departure: “Go, then, for the way
is open to you.” But when he says,
flee,
he means that he could not long remain safe there: “Except thou provident
for thy life, it is all over with you: flee then quickly away from us, else thou
art lost.” We hence see how cunningly Amaziah assailed God’s
Prophet. He proposed to him an easy way of saving his life; at the same time he
urged him with the fear of danger, and declared that he could not remain safe,
except he immediately fled. These then were the two reasons which he used as
mighty engines to depress the heart of the holy Prophet.
He afterwards subjoins,
And eat there thy
bread. This is the third argument. He
might be allowed to live in his own country, and be supplied there with
sustenance; for Amos was, as we have said, one of the shepherds of Tekoa. He
must then have arisen from the tribe of Judah, and he had his habitation and his
relations in that kingdom. Besides, Azariah was not an ungodly king: though not
one of the most perfect, he yet respected and honored the servants of God.
Hence, by saying, Eat there thy
bread, Amaziah means that there was a safe
residence for the Prophets in the kingdom of Judah, and that they were there
esteemed both by the king and by the people, and that they might live there.
This is the third argument.
Now follows the fourth: “If thou dost object to
me, and say that thou art a Prophet, and that it is neither lawful nor right in
thee to be silent, be a
prophet there. Thou knowest that prophets are
attended to in the kingdom of Judah; thou mayest then perform thine office
there, and live at liberty, and without fear.” We hence see four of the
reasons by which Amaziah attempted to persuade the Prophet Amos to leave the
people of Israel, and to go to his own kindred.
But there follows a fifth reason:
But in Bethel prophesy no more;
for the sanctuary of the king it is, and his
court. Here Amaziah annoys the Prophet by
another pretense, or he tries, at least, to shake his courage, by intimating
that it was unbecoming to raise commotions in the kingdom of Israel, and also
that, by so doing, he offended God, because Jeroboam was a divinely appointed
king, and endued with the chief authority. Since then the king could, by his own
right, institute new modes of worship, Amaziah here argues that it is not in the
power of any one who pleased to pull down those rites which had been universally
received, and then confirmed by a royal edict, but that they ought to be
received without any dispute. We then perceive now the import of the
whole.
But it must be noticed in this place, that we must be
watchful, not only against the open violence and cruelty of enemies, but also
against their intrigues; for as Satan is a murderer, and has been so from the
beginning, so he is also the father of lies. Whosoever then wishes strenuously
and constantly to spend his labors for the Church and for God, must prepare
himself for a contest with both: he must resist all fears and all intrigues. We
see some not so fearful, though a hundred deaths were denounced upon them, who
are yet not sufficiently cautious when enemies craftily insinuate themselves. I
have not, therefore, said without reason, that God’s servants have need of
being fortified against both; that they ought to be prepared against the fear of
death, and remain intrepid, though they must die, and that they ought to lay
down their necks, if needs be, while performing their office, and to seal their
doctrine with their own blood; — and that, on the other hand, their ought
to be prudent; for oftentimes the enemies of the truth assail them by
flatteries; and the experience of our own times sufficiently proves this. More
danger, I know, has ever been from this quarter; that is, when enemies attempt
to terrify by such objections as these, “What is your purpose? See, the
whole world must necessarily at length be consumed by calamities. What else do
you seek, but that religion should everywhere flourish, that sound learning
should be valued, that peace should prevail everywhere? But we see that the
fiercest war is at hand: if once it should arise, all places would be full of
calamities, savage barbarity, and cruelty, would follow, and religion would
perish: all this ye will effect by your pertinacity.” These things have
often been said to us. When therefore we read this passage, we ought to notice
the arts by which Satan has been trying to undermine the efforts of the godly,
and the constancy of God’s servants.
As to the first argument, there is no need much of
dwelling longer upon it; for every one can of himself perceive the design of all
this crafty proceeding. He says first, Seer, go. Amaziah addresses Amos in a
respectful way: he does not reproachfully call him, either an exile, or a
seditious man, or one unlearned, or a cowherd, or a person unworthy of his
office. He does not use any such language, but calls him a seer; he concedes to
him the honorable title of a Prophet; for by the word
hzj,
chese, he means this “I confess thee to be God’s Prophet: I
grant that thou art a Prophet, but not our Prophet; Seer, then,
go.” We hence see that he left to him untouched the honor of being
a Prophet, that he might more easily creep into his favor, lest by raising a
dispute at first, there should be between them a violent contest: he therefore
avoided all occasions of contention.
It might however have been asked him, Why he was
blind? For the office of a priest was to watch; and the Prophets were in such a
manner joined to the priests, that when God substituted Prophets in their place,
he indirectly charged them with idleness and indifference. For why were the
priests appointed? That they might be the messengers of the Lord of hosts, as it
is said by Malachi,
‘The people shall
seek from the mouth of the priest my law, for he is the messenger of the Lord of
hosts,’ (Malachai 2:7)
Amaziah then ought especially to have performed
himself the Prophet’s office, for he was a priest. He was indeed, I allow,
a spurious priest; but having claimed so honorable a name, he ought to have
discharged its duties: this he did note and conceded that title to the Prophet.
So now our milted bishops are very liberal in conceding titles, “O, Mr.
Teacher, ye can indeed see and understand many things: but yet ye ought, at the
same time, to consult the peace of the community.” They call those
teachers who have been invested with no public office, but are yet under the
necessity of undertaking the duties of others, for they see that these milted
bishops are dumb dogs. In a like manner, also, did Amaziah act towards the
Prophet Amos; for he was content with his own splendor and great pomp, and with
his own riches; he lived sumptuously, and enjoyed a rich booty, and
superstitions well warmed his kitchen. He therefore easily surrendered to others
the title of a Prophet: in the meantime, he prided himself on his
priesthood.
But as to the second argument, there was a sharper
sting in it, Flee, he says. By flight he intimates, that it was necessary
for the Prophet to depart, though he wished to remain. So this second reason was
borrowed from necessity; for the Prophet could no longer be borne with, if he
proceeded in the free discharge of his office.
Flee
then to the land of Judah,
and there eat bread.
With regard to this third reason, he seems to imply
that the Prophet Amos would be too pertinacious and too much wedded to his own
opinion, if he preferred not to live safely and quietly in his own country,
rather than to endanger his life in another land. Go then. Where would he send
him? To his own country. Why? “Thou art here a foreigner, and sees thyself
to be hated; why then dost thou not rather return to thine own country, where
thy religion prevails?” Amaziah did not indeed address the Prophet Amos,
as man of profane men do at this day, who are less like Epicureans than they are
to swine and filthy dogs; for they object and say, “Thou mayest return to
thine own country; why hast thou come to us?” They send us away to our own
country, when they know that there is there no safe place for us. But at that
time pure religion flourished in the land of Judah: hence Amaziah says,
“Why dost thou not live with thy own countrymen? for there are many there
who will supply thee with sustenance; the king himself will be thy friend, and
the whole people will also help thee.”
As to the fourth argument, we see what a crafty
sophist is the devil, Be a
Prophet there. Who speaks? Amaziah, who
perfectly hated the temple at Jerusalem, who would have gladly with his own
hands set it on fire, who would have gladly put to death all the pious priests;
and yet he allows to holy Amos a free liberty to prophesy, and he allows this,
because he could not immediately in an open manner stop the holy Prophet in his
course: he therefore sends him away to a distance. We hence see that Satan, by
various arts and means, tempts the servants of God, and has wonderful turnings
and windings, and sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light, as it is
said by Paul,
(<471114>2
Corinthians 11:14) and in this place we have a remarkable instance of this. Is
not Amaziah an angel of light, when he advises the Prophet Amos to serve God
freely in his own country, and to prophesy there, and to open his mouth in
defense of God’s worship and of pure religion? provided he did not do all
this in the land of Israel. We have then in this chapter, as I have said, a
remarkable instance of the wiliness of Satan.
Now as to the fifth argument, it is especially
needful to dwell on it. In
Bethel, he says,
add no more to prophesy, for it
is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the
kingdom. Here only Amaziah shows what he
wished, even to retain possession of his priesthood; which he could not have
done without banishing the Prophet: for he could not contend with him in
arguments. He consulted then his own advantage by getting rid of the Prophet.
Whatever various characters therefore he assumed in the last verse, and
notwithstanding the many coverings by which he concealed himself, the ape now,
as they say, appears as the ape. Amaziah then shows what he had in views even
that he might remain quiet in the possession of his own tyrannical powers and
that Amos should no more molest him, and pull up by the roots the prevailing
superstitions: for Amaziah was a priest, and Amos could not perform his office
without crying out daily against the temple of Bethel; for it was a brothel,
inasmuch as God was there robbed of his own honor; and we also know that
superstitions are everywhere compared to fornication. Amaziah then now betrays
his wicked intention, In Bethel
prophesy not; he would retain his quiet
state, and wished not the word of God to be heard there. His desire was, as we
have already said, to extinguish everywhere the light of heavenly truth; but as
he could not do this, he wished to continue at least in his own station without
any disputes, as we see the case to be in our time with the Pope and his milted
bishops. They became quite mad when they heard that many cities and some princes
made commotions in Germany, and departed from their submission to them; but as
they could not subdue them by force, they said, “Let us leave to
themselves these barbarians; why, more evil than good has hitherto proceeded
from them; it is a barren and dry country: provided we have Spain, France, and
Italy, secured to us, we have enough; for we have probably lost more than what
we have gained by Germany. Let them then have their liberty, or rather
licentiousness; they will again some time return, and come under our authority:
let us not in the meantime be over-anxious about them. But let not this
contagion penetrate into France, for one of our arms has been already cut off;
nor let Spain nor Italy be touched by it; for this would be to aim at our
life.” Such also was this Amaziah, as it evidently appears, —
Prophesy not then in Bethel.
And he spoke cunningly when he said,
Add no more to
prophecy; for it was the same as though he
pardoned him. “See, though thou hast hitherto been offending the king and
the common feeling of the people, I will not yet treat you with strict justice,
I will forgive thee all, let what thou hast done amiss remain buried, provided
thou ‘addest no more’ in future.” We hence see that there is
emphasis in the expression, when he says, Proceed not, or, add not; as though he
had said, that he would not inquire into the past, nor would accuse Amos of
having been seditious: provided he abstained for the future, Amaziah was
satisfied, as we may gather from his words,
Add
then no more to
prophesy.
And why? Because
it is the king’s
sanctuary. This was one thing. Amaziah
wished here to prove by the king’s authority that the received worship at
Bethel was legitimate. How so? “The king has established it; it is not
then lawful for any one to say a word to the contrary; the king could do this by
his own right; for his majesty is sacred.” We see the object in view. And
how many are there at this day under the Papacy, who accumulate on kings all the
authority and power they can, in order that no dispute may be made about
religion; but power is to be vested in one king to determine according to his
own will whatever he pleases, and this is to remain fixed without any dispute.
They who at first extolled Henry, King of England, were certainly inconsiderate
men; they gave him the supreme power in all things: and this always vexed me
grievously; for they were guilty of blasphemy (erant blasphemi) when they
called him the chief Head of the Church under Christ. This was certainly too
much: but it ought however to remain buried, as they sinned through
inconsiderate zeal. But when that impostor, who afterwards became the chancellor
of that Proserpina,
Fc34 who, at
this day, surpasses all devils in that kingdom — when he was at Ratisbon,
he contended not by using any reasons, (I speak of the last chancellor, who was
the Bishop of Winchester,
Fc35) and as
I have just said, he cared not much about the testimonies of Scripture, but said
that it was in the power of the king to abrogate statutes and to institute new
rites, — that as to fasting, the king could forbid or command the people
to eat flesh on this or that days that it was lawful for the king to prohibit
priests from marrying, that it was lawful for the king to interdict to the
people the use of the cup in the Supper, that it was lawful for the king to
appoint this or that thing in his own kingdom. How so? because supreme power is
vested in the king. The same was the gloss of this Amaziah of whom the Prophet
now speaks: It is the sanctuary of the king.
But he adds afterwards a second thing,
It is the house of the
kingdom.
Fc36
These words of Amaziah ought to be well considered. He says first,
It is the king’s
sanctuary, and then, It is the house of the kingdom.
Hence he ascribes to the king a twofold office,
— that it was in his power to change religion in any way he pleased,
— and then, that Amos disturbed the peace of the community, and thus did
wrong to the king by derogating from his authority. With regard to the first
clause, it is indeed certain that kings, when they rightly discharge their duty,
become patrons of religion and supporters (nutricios — nursers) of
the Church, as Isaiah calls them,
(<234923>Isaiah
49:23) What then is chiefly required of kings, is this — to use the swords
with which they are invested, to render free (asserendum) the worship of
God. But still they are inconsiderate men, who give them too much power in
spiritual things; (qui faciunt illos nimis spirituales—who make
them too spiritual) and this evil is everywhere dominant in Germany; and in
these regions it prevails too much. And we now find what fruit is produced by
this root, which is this, — that princes, and those who are in power,
think themselves so spiritual, that there is no longer any church discipline;
and this sacrilege greatly prevails among us; for they limit not their office by
fixed and legitimate boundaries, but think that they cannot rule, except they
abolish every authority in the Church and become chief judges as well in
doctrine as in all spiritual government. The devil then suggested at that time
this sentiment to Amaziah, — that the king appointed the temple: hence,
since it was the king’s
sanctuary, it was not lawful for a
private man, it was not even lawful for any one, to deny that religion to be of
authority, which had been once approved of, and pleased the king. And princes
listen to a sweet song, when impostors lead them astray; and they desire nothing
more than that all things without any difference or distinction should be
referred to themselves. They then gladly interfere, and at first show some zeal,
but mere ambition impels them, as they so carefully appropriate every thing to
themselves. Moderation ought then to be observed; for this evil has ever been
dominant in princes — to wish to change religion according to their will
and fancy, and at the same time for their own advantage; for they regard what is
of advantage to themselves, as they are not for the most part guided by the
Spirit of God, but impelled by their own ambition. Since then we see that Satan
by these hidden arts formerly contended against God’s prophets, we ought
to bewail and lament our own courses. But whosoever desires to conduct himself
as it behaves him, let him watch against this evil.
It now follows,
And it is the house of the
kingdom. Amaziah contends here no more
for the royal prerogative, with regard to spiritual power. “Be it, that
the king ought not to have appointed new worship, thou hast yet offended against
the peace of the community.” The greater part of the princes
Fc37 at this
day seek nothing so much as that they might enjoy their own quietness. They ever
declare that they would he courageous enough even to death in the defense of
their first confession; but yet what are the teachers they seek for themselves?
Even those who avoid the cross and who, to gratify the Papists, or to render
them at least somewhat milder, change according to their wishes: for we see at
this day that the minds of princes are inflamed by these fanners, not to spare
the sacramentarians, nor allow to be called into question what is asserted, not
less grossly than foolishly and falsely, respecting the presence of
Christ’s body, or his body being included under the bread. “When we
show that we contend against them, and that we are separated from them, nays
that we will be their mortal enemies, we in this agree with the Papists; there
will then be some access to them, at least their great fury will cease, the
Papists will become gentle: they will no more be so incensed against us; we
shall hereafter obtain some middle course.” So things are at this day
carried on in the world; and nothing is more useful than to compare the state of
our time with this example of the Prophet, so that we may go on in our works
employing the same weapons with which he contended and not be moved by these
diabolical arts; for we have no enemies more hostile and open than these
domestic traitors.
It is then the house of the
kingdom. He now speaks of the secular
arm, as they say, and shows that though religion were to perish a hundred times,
yet care was to be taken, lest Amos should pull up by the roots the kingdom of
Jeroboam, and the customs of the people. It now follows —
|
AMOS
7:14-15
|
|
14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I
was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a
gatherer of sycomore fruit:
|
14. Et respondit Amos, et dixit ad Amaziam,
Non sum Propheta ego, neque ego sum filius Prophetae; quia pecuarius sum ego et
colligens (vel, quaerens) sicomoros:
|
|
15. And the LORD took me as I followed the
flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people
Israel.
|
15. Et sustulit me Jehova a tergo ovium (quum
sequerer oves meas; de post oves, ad verbum,) et dixit mihi Jehova, Vade,
propheta ad populum meam Israel.
|
The Prophet Amos first pleads for himself, that he
was not at liberty to obey the counsel of Amaziah, because he could not renounce
a calling to which he was appointed. As then he had been sent by God, he proves
that he was bound by necessity to prophesy in the land of Israel. In the first
place, he indeed modestly says, that he was not a prophet, nor the son of a
prophet: why did he say this? To render himself contemptible? By no means though
the words apparently have this tendency; but it was to gain for himself more
authority; for his extraordinary call gave him greater weight than if he had
been brought up from his childhood in the schools of the prophets. He then shows
that he became a prophet by a miraculous interposition, and that the office was
not committed to him by human authority, and in the usual way; but that he had
been led to it as it were by force, so that he could not cast aside the office
of teaching, without openly shaking off the yoke laid upon him by
God.
This account then which Amos gives of himself ought
to be noticed, I was not a
Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet. Had
he said simply that he was not a Prophet, he might have been accused of
presumption: how so? No one takes to himself this honor in the Church of God; a
call is necessary; Were an angel to descend from heaven, he ought not to subvert
public order;
(<480108>Galatians
1:8) for all things, as Paul reminds us, ought to be done decently and in lawful
order in the Church; for the God of peace presides over us. Had Amos then
positively denied that he was a Prophet, he might on this account have been
thrust away from his office of teaching, for he wanted a call. But he means that
he was not a Prophet who had been from his childhood instructed in God’s
law, to be an interpreter of Scripture: and for the same reason he says that he
was not the son of a Prophet; for there were then, we know, colleges for
Prophets; and this is sufficiently evident from sacred history. As then these
colleges were instituted for this end — that there might be always
seminaries for the Church of God, so that it might not be destitute of good and
faithful teachers, Amos says that he was not of that class. He indeed honestly
confesses that he was an illiterate man: but by this as I have already said, he
gained to himself more authority inasmuch as the Lord had seized on him as it
were by force, and set him over the people to teach them: “See, thou shalt
be my Prophet, and though thou hast not been taught from thy youth for this
office, I will yet in an instant make thee a Prophet.” It was a greater
miracle, that Christ chose rude and ignorant men as his apostles, than if he had
at first chosen Paul or men like him who were skillful in the law. If then
Christ had at the beginning selected such disciples, their authority would have
appeared less: but as he had prepared by his Spirit those who were before
unlearned, it appeared more evident that they were sent from above. And to this
refers the expression the Prophet uses, when he says, Jehovah took me
away: for it intimates that his calls as we have said, was extraordinary.
The rest we shall defer till to-morrow.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as
thou permittest reins so loose to Satan, that he attempts, in all manner of
ways, to subvert thy servants, — O grant, that they who have been sent and
moved by thee, and at the same time furnished with the invincible strength of
thy Spirit, may go on perseveringly to the last in the discharge of their
office: and whether their adversaries assails them by crafts, or oppose them by
open violence, may they not desist from their course, but devote themselves
wholly to thee, with prudence as well as with courage, that they may thus
persevere in continual obedience: and do thou also dissipate all the mists and
all the crafts which Satan spreads to deceive the inexperienced, until at length
the truth emerge, which is the conqueror of the devil and of the whole world,
and until thy Son, the Sun of Righteousness, appear, that he may gather the
whole world, that in thy rest we may enjoy the victory, which is to be daily
obtained by us in our constant struggles with the enemies of the same, thine
only Son. Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-FIFTH
|
AMOS
7:16
|
|
16. Now therefore hear thou the word of the
Lord: Thou sayest Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the
house of Isaac.
|
16. Et nunc audi verbum Jehova tu, qui dicis,
Ne prophetes super Israel, et ne stilles (vel, loquaris) super domum
Isaac.
|
|
17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife
shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the
sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted
land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of this
land.
|
17. Propterea sic dicit Jehova, Uxor tua in
urbe prostituetur, et filii tui et filiae tuae gladio cadent, et terra tua
funiculo devidetur, et tu in terra polluta morieris: et Israel migrando migrabit
e terra sua (ad verbum est, de super terram suam.)
|
Amos having shown that he must obey God, who had
committed to him the office of teaching, now turns his discourse to Amaziah, and
points out what he would gain by his insolence in daring to forbid a Prophet, an
ambassador of the God of heaven, to proclaim what he had in command. As, then,
Amaziah had proceeded into such a degree of rashness or rather of madness Amos
now assails him and says, Hear
then now the word of Jehovah. He sets
here the word or the decree of God in opposition to the prohibition of Amaziah:
for the ungodly priest had forbidden God’s servant to proclaim his words
any more in the land of Israel: “Who art thou? Thou indeed thus speakest;
but God will also speak in his turn.” He shows, at the same time, the
difference between the speech of Amaziah and the word of God: the impostor had
indeed attempted to terrify the holy man so as to makehim to desist from his
office, though the attempt was vain; but Amos shows that God’s word would
not be without effect: “Whether I hold my peace or speak,” he seems
to say, “this vengeance is suspended over thee.” But he, at the same
time, connects God’s vengeance with his doctrine; for this was also
necessary, that the ungodly priest might know that he gained nothing else, by
attempting to do everything, than that he had doubly increased the vengeance of
God.
There is, therefore, great emphasis in these words,
Now hear the word of Jehovah thou
who sayest, Prophesy not. Amaziah was indeed
worthy of being destroyed by God a hundred times, together with all his
offspring: but Amos intimates that God’s wrath was especially kindled by
this madness, — that Amaziah dared to put a restraint on God, and to
forbid his Spirit freely to reprove the sins of the whole people. Since, then,
he proceeded so far, Amos shows that he would have justly to suffer the
punishment due to his presumption, yea, to his furious and sacrilegious
audacity, inasmuch as he set himself up against God, and sought to take from him
his supreme authority, for nothing belongs more peculiarly to God than the
office of judging the world; and this he does by his word and his Prophets. As,
then, Amaziah had attempted to rob God of his own right and authority, the
Prophet shows that vengeance had been thereby increased:
Thou
then, who sayest, Prophesy not
against Israel, and speak not, hear the word of
Jehovah.
Remarkable is this passage, and from it we learn that
nothing is better for us, when God rebukes us, than to descend into our own
consciences, and to submit to the sentence which proceeds from his mouth, and
humbly to entreat pardon as soon as he condemns us: for if we be refractory, God
will not cease to speak, though we a hundred times forbid him; he will therefore
go on notwithstanding our unwillingness. Further, we may vomit forth many
blasphemies; but what can our clamorous words do? The Lord will, at the same
time, speak with effect; he will not scatter his threatening in the air, but
will really fulfill what proceeds from his mouth; and for this reason Paul
compares heavenly truth to a sword, for vengeance is prepared for despisers. We
ought therefore to take notice of this in the Prophet’s words, —
that when profane men attempt to repel every tenth and all threatening, they
gain nothing by their perverseness; for the lord will exercise his own right;
and he will also join to his word, as they say, its execution. Thou then who
sayest, Prophesy not, hear the word of Jehovah; though thou mayest growl, yet
God will not be hindered by these thy commands; but he will ever continue
complete in his own authority.” And he mentions word, as we have
already said, to show that the truth, with which the ungodly contend, is
connected with the power of God. God might indeed destroy all the unbelieving in
silence, without uttering his voice; but he will have his Word honored, that the
ungodly may know that they contend in vain, while they vomit forth their rage
against his word, for they will at length find that in his word is included
their condemnation.
Now, when he says,
Prophecy not against Israel, and
speak not against the house of Isaac, we may
learn again from these words, that the word Isaac is used by the Prophet by way
of concession; for the people of Israel were then wont to adduce the example of
this holy patriarch. Thus superstitious men, neglecting the law of God, the
common rule, ever turn aside to the examples of the saints; and they do this
without any discrimination; nay, as their minds are perverted, when anything has
been wrongfully done by the fathers, they instantly lay hold on it: and then,
when there is anything peculiar, which God had approved in the fathers but
wished not to be drawn, as they commonly say, into a precedent, the
superstitious think that they have the best reason in their favor, when they can
set up such a shield against God. As, then, the Israelites had at that time the
name of their father Isaac in their mouths while they were foolishly worshipping
God in Bethel and in other places, contrary to what the law prescribed, the
Prophet Amos designedly repeats here again the name of Isaac, expressing it
probably in imitation of what had been said by Amaziah.
Now follows a denunciation,
Therefore thus saith
Jehovah. This
ˆkl,
lacen, therefore, shows that Amaziah suffered punishment, not only
because he had corrupted God’s worship, because he had deceived the people
by his impostures and because he had made gain by the disguise of religion; but
because he had insolently dared to oppose the authority of God, and to turn
aside the Prophet from his office, both by hidden crafts and by open violence.
Inasmuch then as he had attempted to do this, Amos now declares that punishment
awaited him. We hence see that destruction is doubly increased, when we set up a
hard and iron neck against God, who would have us to be pliant, and when he
reproves us, requires from us at least this modesty — that we confess that
we have sinned. But when we evade, or when we proceed still outward, this issue
will at last follow — that God will execute double vengeance on account of
our obstinacy.
Therefore
then Jehovah
saith: and O! that this were deeply
engraven on the hearts of men; there would not then be so much rebellion at this
day prevailing in the world. But we see how daring men are; for as soon as the
Lord severely reproves them, they murmur; and then, if they have any authority
they stretch every nerve to take away from God his own rights, and from his
servants their liberty. At the same time, when we observe the ungodly to be so
blind, that they perceive not the vengeance, such as the Prophet here denounces,
to be nigh them, and dread it not, it behooves us duly to weigh what the Prophet
here declares and that is, that perverse men, as I have already said, do gain
this only by their obstinacy — that they more and more inflame God’s
displeasure.
With respect to the kind of punishment he was to
suffer, it is said, Thy
wife in the city shall be wanton: it is
so literally; but the Prophet speaks not here of voluntary wantonness. He then
intimates that Amaziah could not escape punishment, but that his wife would be
made a prostitute, when the enemies occupied the land of Israel. We indeed know
that it was a common thing for conquerors to abuse women: and well would it be,
were the practice abolished at this day. Besides, it was deemed lawful in that
age for the conqueror to take to himself not only the daughter but also the wife
of another. This then is the reason why the Prophet says,
Thy wife shall be a
prostitute. But he says,
in the
city; which was far more grievous, than
if the wife of Amaziah had been led to a distance, and suffered that reproach in
an unknown country: it would have less wounded the mind of Amaziah, if the
enemies had taken away his wife, and this disgrace had continued unknown to him,
it being done in a distant land. But when his wife was publicly and before the
eyes of all constrained to submit to this baseness and turpitude, it was much
more hard to be endured, and occasioned much greater grief. We hence see that
the punishment was much increased by this circumstance, which the Prophet states
when he says, Thy wife shall in
the city be a prostitute.
Then it follows,
Thy sons and thy daughters shall
by the sword fall. It is a second
punishment, when he declares, that the sons and also the daughters of the
ungodly priest would be slain by the enemies. It was indeed probable, that some
also of the common people had suffered the same evils; but God no doubt punished
the willfulness and madness of Amaziah for having dared to resist admonitions as
well as threatening.
But he also adds,
Thy land shall be divided by a
line. He means by this statement, that
there should be none to succeed Amaziah; but that whatever land he possessed
should become a prey to the enemies.
Thy
land then
shall be divided by a
line. It may at the same time be, that
Amos speaks here generally of the land of Israel; and this seems to me probable.
I indeed allow that neither by Amaziah nor by the other priests was the law of
God kept; but we yet know that there was some affinity between the lawful
priesthood, and the spurious priesthood which the first Jeroboam had introduced.
Hence I conjecture that Amaziah had no possessions, it being lawful for priests
to have only gardens and pastures for their cattle; but they cultivated no
lands. I am therefore disposed to extend to the whole people what is said of the
land of one man; and this opinion is confirmed by what immediately
follows.
But thou shalt die in a polluted
land. He called that the land of Amaziah in
which he and the rest of the people dwelt; but he calls the land into which he,
with all the rest, were to be driven, a polluted land. If any one objects and
says that this punishment did not apply to one man, the ready answer is this,
— that God meant that an especial mark should be imprinted on his common
judgment, that Amaziah might know, that he had as it were accelerated
God’s vengeance, which yet he intended to turn aside, when he sent away,
as we have seen, the Prophet Amos into the land of Judah.
It follows at last,
Israel by migrating shall migrate
from his own land. We here see that the
Prophet proclaimed no private threatening, either to Amaziah himself or to his
wife or to his children, but extended his discourse to the whole people: the
fact at the same time remains unchanged that God intended to punish the
perverseness of that ungodly man, while executing his vengeance on the whole
people. Now follows —
CHAPTER 8.
|
AMOS
8:1-2
|
|
1. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and
behold a basket of summer fruit.
|
1. Sic ostendit mihi Dominus Jehova; et ecce
corbis fructus aestivi (vel, canistrum.) Et dixit, Quid tu vides,
Amos?
|
|
2. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon
my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
|
2. Et dixit, Corbem (vel, canistrum) fructus
aestivi: et dixit Jehova mihi, Venit finis super populum meum Israel; non
adjiciam amplius transire in eo.
|
By these words or by this vision the Prophet confirms
what we have already observed — that paternal chastisements would no
longer be exercised towards the people of Israel. God indeed, as it is well
known, had so treated that people, that he ever spared them even in their
greatest calamities. It was with a suspended hand that God ever struck that
people, until after many trials they at length seemed so refractory, as not to
be benefited by such remedies. This subject then Amos now pursues: but a vision
was shown to him to confirm more fully God’s judgment, or at least to
produce a greater impression on the minds of the people.
God showed to him a
Basket
full of summer-fruit. By summer-fruit, I doubt not, he means a ripe
punishment, as though he said, that the vices of the people had ripened, that
vengeance could no longer be deferred: for an exposition of the vision
immediately follows, when he says, that
the end of the people had come,
etc.; and this we have already explained in the
third vision. But there is a similarity in the Hebrew words, which cannot be
expressed either in Greek or Latin.
xyq,
kits means a summer-fruit,
xq,
kots, signifies an end: one letter only is inserted in the word,
summer-fruit, which God showed in a basket; and then he adds that
xq,
kots, the end had come. But as to the main point, we see that there is
nothing ambiguous. W will now return to the first thing.
Thus God showed to
me. There is no need of repeating what I have
already discussed. The Prophet here prefaces, that he adduced nothing without
authority, but only faithfully related what had been commanded him from above.
And this ought to be carefully observed; for God ever so employed his Prophets,
that he yet reserved for himself entire the right of teaching, and never
transferred his own office to men, that is, as to the authority. Then he says,
The Lord Jehovah showed to me,
and, lo, a basket of summer-fruit. We may
understand cherries by summer-fruit, and those fruits which have no solid vigor
to continue long; but this is too refined. I take the simple meaning, that
punishment had now become ripe; for the people had not repented, though they had
been so often warned; it was then as it were summer. He showed to me a basket of
summer-fruit. But as to God asking his Prophet what he saw, we have already
explained the reason why it was done: it behaved the Prophet to be at first
filled with astonishment, that the people might be made more attentive; for when
we hear of a conference between God and the Prophet, our minds are awakened;
inasmuch as it must immediately occur to us, that there is something worthy of
being remembered. God then rouses in this manner the minds of his people. So we
see there is nothing superfluous in this repetition.
Now follows the exposition of the vision,
Jehovah said to me, Come has the
end on my people Israel. We perceive,
then, the meaning of the Prophet to be, — that the people had hitherto
been warned by moderate punishments; but that as they had become hardened,
extreme vengeance was nigh at hand, when God would no longer perform the part of
a father or of a physician, but would utterly destroy those whom he had long
borne with. We indeed know that most grievous calamities had happened to the
people of Israel, even before this time; but whenever God showed forbearance, he
ever allured them to true penitence. Lest, then, they should promise such a
treatment to themselves hereafter, and by self flatteries protract time, as
hypocrites are wont to do, the Prophet declares here expressly, that the end had
come; as though he said, “Your iniquity is ripe: now then gather the
fruit; for ye cannot proceed farther, no, not even for one day. Fruit will
indeed come to you of itself.”
The end then is come, and I will
no more add to pass by them. To pass by, as we
have already explained, is to be referred to punishment. For why does God
chastise his people, except that he is solicitous for their salvation? He says,
then, that he would make an end, that he would not spend labor hereafter in
correcting the people, for he saw that nothing availed. Hence,
I will not pass by
them, that is, I will execute my extreme
vengeance: Il n’y faudra plus retourner, as we commonly say. It
follows —
|
AMOS
8:3-4
|
|
3. And the songs of the temple shall be
howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in
every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
|
3. Et ululabunt cantica templi die illo, dicit
Dominus Jehova: multum cadaver (hoc est, multa cadavera) in omni loco
prosternentur cum silentio.
|
|
4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy,
even to make the poor of the land to fail.
|
4. Audite hoc qui absorbetis pauperem et
exterminatis inopes terrae.
|
The Prophet touches the Israelites here, in an
indirect way, for taking such delight in their superstitions as to sing in their
prosperity, as though God was favorable to them; for the unbelieving are wont to
misconstrue both the hatred and the favor of God by the present appearance of
things. When the Turks enjoy prosperity, they boast that God is on their side:
we see also that the Papists draw the same conclusion. It is the disposition of
men not to look so much on themselves as on external circumstances. When,
therefore, God indulges them for a time, though they be more than usually
wicked, they yet doubt not but that God is favorable to them. So the Sodomites,
to the very time in which they were overwhelmed by sudden destruction, thought
that they had peace with heaven,
(<011901>Genesis
19:1): this also is the reason why Isaiah says, that the ungodly had made, as it
were, a covenant with hell and death,
(<232801>Isaiah
28:1) and we know what Christ says of the time of Noah, that they then
heedlessly feasted and built sumptuous houses,
(<402401>Matthew
24:1) Such carnal security has prevailed almost in all ages. But a special vice
is here noticed by the Prophet, namely, that the people of Israel sang songs in
their temples, as though they meant designedly to mock God: for the voices of
the Prophets resounded daily, and uttered grievous and terrible threatening; but
the people in the meantime sang in their temples. In the same way the Papists
act in the present day; while they bellow and chant, they think that God is
twice or three times pacified; and they also congratulate themselves in their
temples, when they have everything prosperous. This abuse, then, is what the
Prophet refers to when he says,
Howlings shall be the songs of
the temple. For melody he mentions
howling, as though he said, “God will turn your songs to lamentations,
though they be now full of joy.”
He afterwards adds,
For many a carcass shall be cast
down in every place: but I prefer to
render the word passively, “Cast down everywhere with silence shall be
many carcases”
Fc38. By
these words he intimates that there would be such a slaughter as would prevent
them from burying the dead bodies. We have said in another place that the right
of burial is commonly observed even by enemies; for it is more than hostility to
rage against the dead: and all who wish not to be deemed wholly barbarous either
bury their dead enemies, or permit them to be buried; and there is a sort of an
understanding on this point among enemies, and the right of burial has been
usually observed in all ages, and held sacred among all nations. When therefore
dead bodies are thrown down in silence, it is an evidence of a most grievous
calamity. We hence see why the Prophet distinctly expresses here, that many a
dead body would be cast down in every place in silence, that is, that there
would be no burying of the dead. But as we see men, though a hundred times
proved guilty, yet quarreling with God, when he executes rather a grievous
punishment, the Prophet now contends with the Israelites, and again repeats what
we have before noticed, — that God did not deal cruelly with them, and
that though he should consume and obliterate the whole people, it would yet be
for just reasons, inasmuch as they had reached the very extremities of
wickedness.
And he assails by name the princes of the people,
Hear
this, he says,
ye who tread upon or swallow up
the poor. The Prophets, as we have
already stated, did not without reason direct their discourses to the chief men,
though the common people were nearly as much involved in the same guilt. It is
certain that the state of the people of Israel was then so corrupt, that all,
from the highest to the lowest, were become degenerated and none were free from
blame. But as more guilt belongs always to leaders, this is the reason why the
Prophets treated them with more sharpness and severity: for many of the common
people go astray through thoughtlessness or ignorances or are led on by others,
but they who govern, pervert what is just and right, and then become the
originators of all kinds of licentiousness. It is no wonder then that the Lord
by his Prophets inveighed so sharply against them; and this is now the object of
the Prophet in saying, Hear this: for there is an emphasis in the
expression, when he bids them to hear; it was either because they did not
sufficiently observe their sins, and were wholly deaf, or because they in vain
contended with God; for hypocrites think that by evasion they can escape
judgment.
Hear,
he says, ye who devour the
miserable, and destroy the poor of the land. We
see here some difference marked, and that the Prophet does not generally and
indiscriminately summon the common people and the princes to God’s
tribunal; but turns his discourse to the princes only. It now follows
—
|
AMOS
8:5
|
|
5. Saying, When will the new moon be gone,
that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the
ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by
deceit?
|
5. Dicendo, Quando transibit mensis, ut
vendamus frumentum? et sabbathum, ut aperiamus (hoc est, depromamus) triticum,
et attenuemus ephah? (hoc est, mensuram minuemus; scimus enim ephah fuisse
communem mensuram: quando ergo minuemus mensuram,) et augemus
lqç,
siclum, et pervertamus stateras dolosas?
|
The Prophet goes on here with the same subject; for
this could not apply to the whole people, but only to the plunderers who were
able to oppress the miserable and the poor among the common people, and who had
a great abundance of corn: the same we see at this day, — a few men in
time of want have provisions hoarded up, so that they as it were put to death
miserable men by reducing them to want. Since then the few rich held the whole
people in a state of famine, the Prophet says here, “Do you think that God
deals too rigidly or too cruelly with your inasmuch as ye have hitherto been
killing men with misery and want?” Were any one to object, and say, that
the slaughter which the Prophet has already threatened was to be common to the
whole people, and that therefore it is now improperly stated, that the wrongs
done to the people were brought on them by a few men: to this I answers that
there were other vices among the people which required to be corrected, and this
we have already seen, and shall see again in other parts; but it was necessary
to make a beginning with the proud men, who, relying on their own dignity,
thought themselves exempt and free from the common lot. Hence it was necessary
to close their mouths: and further, the Prophet did not spare others in their
turn. But we see to what extent of mad folly haughty men, and such as possess
worldly riches and powers would run, were not the Lord to restrain and check
them. This is the reason why the Prophet now especially addresses
them.
Ye therefore say,
When will pass the month, that we
may sell corn? Some take
çdj,
chedash, month, for the new-moon; and it is sometimes so taken and this
interpretation is probable; for immediately follows the word, Sabbath.
When then will pass the month,
and when will pass Sabbath, that us may be able to sell our
corn? As it was not lawful to carry on business
either on the Sabbath or on the new-moon, whenever they rested but one day, they
thought that so much time was lost to them; for we see that the avaricious grow
weary, as their cupidity ever excites them, for they are like an oven: and since
they are thus hot, if an hour is lost they think that a whole year has passed
away; they calculate the very moments of time. “How is it,” they
say, “there is no merchant coming? I have now rested one day, and I have
not gained a earthing.” As then the avaricious are so extremely careful,
it is probable that the Prophet here refers to this disease of the mind, as
though he said, “You have no rest, no relaxation. God has commanded his
people to rest on every new-moon; and his will also is, that you should abstain
from every work on the seventh day: ye think it is time as lost, for ye get no
gain.” But another exposition is equally probable, which is this, —
that they expected corn to be every month dearer; as those robbers in our day
gape for gain, who from every quarter heap together corn, and thus reduce us to
want; they look forward, month after month, and think that some calamity may
happen to increase the price of corn; frost or rain may come, some disaster may
take place; when the spring passes away, there may come some hail or mildew; in
short, they are, as it were, laying in wait for some evil. This meaning does not
ill suit this place; at the same time they refer it to the intercalary month,
which being an addition, prolongs time, so that the year becomes longer: and
what follows, respecting the Sabbath corresponds well with this view; as the
word is to be taken in another sense than of the seventh day, for we know that
on every seventh year there was no sloughing, no cultivation of the land, among
the Jews; and the corn was then dearer, when there was no crop. Thus then there
was a prey as it were provided for the avaricious and the
extortioners.
When
then will pass the Sabbath, that
we may open our storehouses? They closed their
storehouses, until the whole year, without cultivation or produce or harvest,
had passed away; and then they opened their storehouses, or at least it was the
time when they in a great measure opened them. Since then they so cruelly dealt
with the people, the Prophet justly reproves them, and shows that God did not
too rigidly treat theme but recompensed them with such a reward as they merited.
Other matters we shall defer to the next Lecture.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty, that as thou ceases not
daily to warn us in time to repent and anticipate thy judgment, — O grant,
that we may not be so deaf and slow, as to delay until our vices be ripened,
lest no remedy should remain for us; but, on the contrary, that being tamed and
subdued by thy threatening, we may flee to thy mercy, and so consider thy
judgments while at a distance, that we may not provoke thy wrath by our
perverseness, but rather dispose thee to pardon by striving to be reconciled to
thee in the name of Christ thy Son, and by doing this not only with the mouth
and tongue, or by any other outward means, but also with a real feeling of heart
and a life corresponding thereto, so that we may present ourselves in
uprightness and sincerity, as thy children, that thou mayest also show thyself
as a Father to us in the same Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-SIXTH
In my last Lecture I was under the necessity of
breaking off the subject: the sixth verse, with the two preceding ones, must be
connected together. The Prophet says
|
AMOS
8:6
|
|
6. That we may buy the poor for silver, and
the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the
wheat?
|
6. Ut emamus argento pauperes et inopem pro
calceamentis, et quisquilias frumenti vendamus.
|
Here still he speaks of the avarice of the rich, who
in time of scarcity held the poor subject to themselves and reduced them to
slavery. He had spoken before of the Sabbaths, and he had spoken of deceitful
balances; he now adds another kind of fraud, — that by selling the refuse
of wheat, they bought for themselves the poor. We indeed know what is the
influence of poverty and pressing want, when men are oppressed with famine; they
would rather a hundred times sell their life, than not to rescue themselves even
by an invaluable price: for what else is food but the support of life? Men
therefore will ever value their life more than all other things. Hence the
Prophet condemns this iniquity — that the rich gaped for such an
opportunity. They saw that corn was high in price; “Now is the time for
the poor to come into our possession, for we hold them as though they were
ensnared; so then we can buy them for a pair of shoes.” But the other
circumstance increases this iniquity, — that they sold the refuse of the
wheat; and when they reduced to bondage the poor, they did not feed them; they
mingled filth and offscourings with the wheat, as it is wont to be done; for we
know that such robbers usually do this, when want presses upon the common
people; they sell barley for wheat, and for barley they sell chaff and refuse.
This kind of wrong is not new or unusual, as we learn from this passage. Now
follows a denunciation of punishment —
|
AMOS
8:7
|
|
7. The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of
Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
|
7. Juravit Jehova per excellentiam Jacob, Si
obliviscar unquam omnia opera eorum.
|
God, having made known the vices of the rich, now
shows that he would be their judge and avenger: for were they only reproved,
they would not have cared much, like the usurer mentioned by Horace, who said,
“The people may hiss me, but I felicitate myself.” So also these
robbers were wont to do, when they were filled: though the whole people
exclaimed against them, though God thundered from heaven, they laughed
everything to scorn; for they were utterly destitute of every shame; and they
were also become hardened; and insatiable cupidity had so blinded and demented
them, that they had cast aside every care for what was right and becoming. Since
it was so, God now declares that they could not escape punishment; and that this
threatening might more effectually penetrate into their hearts, the Prophet
makes use of an oath in the name of God,
Jehovah,
he says, hath sworn by the
excellency of Jacob.
An old interpreter has rendered the words, “He
has sworn against the pride of Jacob:” but he did not sufficiently
consider the design of the Prophet; for he speaks not here of vice, but of that
dignity which the Lord had conferred on the posterity of Abraham; for we have
before seen this expression, ‘I abhor the excellency of Jacob.’ Some
give this rendering, “I abhor the pride of Jacob,” as though God
were speaking there of perverse haughtiness. But he, on the contrary, means,
that the Israelites were deceived, for they thought themselves safe and secure,
because they were introduced into great favor by a singular privilege.
“This,” the Lord says, “will profit them nothing: I have
hitherto been kind and bountiful to the children of Abraham; but I now abhor
this whole dignity.” So also he says now in this place,
Jehovah hath sworn by the
excellency of Jacob. They were proud of
their dignity which yet was the free gift of God. hence God interposes a form of
oath, the fittest to reprove their presumption. Some at the same time give this
translation, “By myself, (at least they give this explanation,) by myself
have I sworn:” for God was the glory of Jacob. Others think that by this
word,
ˆwag,
gaun, is designated the sanctuary; for this was the excellency of Jacob,
because God had chosen it as a habitation for himself in the midst of his
people: hence, also, He is often said to dwell between the cherubim; not that he
was inclosed in the sanctuary, but because the people perceived there his
presence, his favor, and his power. But I rather understand by the term,
excellency, in this place, the adoption, by which God had separated for himself
that people from the rest of the world.
Sworn
then hath
Jehovah. How?
By the excellency of
Jacob: and thus he glances in a severe
manner at the ingratitude of the people, as they did not own themselves to be in
every respect bound to God; for they had been peculiarly chosen, when yet other
nations in many things excelled them. It was doubtless an invaluable favor for
that ignoble people to have been chosen to be God’s peculiar possession
and heritage. Hence the Prophet now rightly introduces God as being angry; and
the form of the oath is suited to set forth the people’s ingratitude:
“What! do ye now rise up against me, and elevate your horns? By what
right? Under what pretext? Who are ye? I chose you, and ye truly repay me with
this reward, — that though ye owe me all things, ye seek to defraud me of
my right. I therefore swear by the excellency of Jacob, — I swear by the
benefits which I conferred on you, — that I will not allow that which is
justly precious in my sight to be disgracefully profaned. Whatever then I have
hitherto bestowed on you, I will return on your own heads, and, as ye deserve,
ye shall miserably perish.” This is the meaning.
We hence see that the oath which the Prophet uses,
ought to be applied to the present case. He says,
I shall never forget all your
works, that is, none of your works shall
be passed by unpunished. For though conscience sometimes disturbs hypocrites yet
they think that many things may be concealed; and if the hundredth part, or at
farthest the tenth, must be accounted for, they think this to be quite enough:
“Why! God may perhaps observe this or that, but many faults will escape
him.” Since then hypocrites thus heedlessly deceive themselves, the
Prophet says, “Nothing can ever be hid from my sight; nay, as I now know
all their works, I will show that all their sins are recorded in my books, in my
memory, so that all things shall at last be called to an account.” It now
follows —
|
AMOS
8:8
|
|
8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and
every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood;
and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
|
8. Annon super hoc tumultuabitur terra, et
lugebit quicunque habitat in ea? Et ascendet quasi flumen tota (vel,
elevabitur,) et profligabitur et submergetur quasi a fluvio
AEgypti.
|
He confirms what the last verse contains in other
words: and the question is emphatical, for it is a double affirmation. A
question, we know, is usually put, when there is no measure of doubt on the
subject. God then asks here as of a thing certain, how they could remain in
safety, who had so perverted every thing right and just, who had violated all
equity, who were influenced by no feelings of humanity, — how could such
continue safe? It was impossible. We hence see why the Prophet here uses a
question; it was, that he might more fully confirm what he
declares.
Shall not the land, he says, make a
tumult?
Fc39 when
these disturb all order, when they mingle, as the proverb is, heaven and earth
together, can the earth remain quiet under such a violent confusion? when all
reason and equity is confounded, how, he says, can the land do otherwise than
make a tumult? And though the Prophet ascribes not here either clamor or speech
to the land; it is yet a sort of personification, when he says that the earth
must necessarily make a tumult, while it sustains such inhabitants; for between
them there was no agreement. Since then their way of living was extremely
turbulent, the land itself must necessarily be agitated.
He afterwards adds,
And mourn shall every one who
dwells in it. He now shows that the
inhabitants of the earth shall feel that commotion of which he predicts: for the
earth, ceasing to fulfill its offices, constrains its inhabitants to lament and
mourn. And then there is another metaphor which sets forth the moving of the
earth, that it will rise as a river to destroy men with a deluge. Many render
what follows, “It shall be driven away and closed up like the river of
Egypt.” But after the Prophet has spoken of inundation of the earth, he
turns his discourse to the men whom this inundation would drown and swallow up.
Hence, the real sense is, that their habitations would be destroyed, as by a
deep gulf, in a way similar to the Nile, which, by overflowing the whole
country, seems to make a sea of what had been inhabited. As the Prophet’s
words lead us as by the hand, I wonder how those skillful in the Hebrew language
could have blended things so different, for they give this explanation,
“The land shall be raised up, as a river, and then it shall be destroyed
and driven away;” and they refer this to the land; and then, “it
shall be sunk down:” this also they apply to the land; except that some
give this rendering, “It shall discharge itself like the river of
Egypt.” But I translate otherwise, “It shall heave up whole as a
river, and shall be driven away, and shall be immersed as by the river of
Egypt.” It shall heave
up, he says, that is,
the land as a
river; so that there will be no
habitation for men: “I have given this land to my people that they might
live in it; but the land itself shall heave up as a river; there shall be an
inundation of the whole land.” And then when he says,
It shall be driven away and
sunk, this ought not to be referred to
the land itself, but to the inhabitants or to the people.
Fc40
He had said before,
rak,
kar, as a river; but now he says,
rwayk,
kiaur, which I explain as meanings as by the river of Egypt. The Nile, we
know, overflows annually and covers the whole plain of Egypt. The Prophet
therefore borrowed a similitude from the Nile; and he says, that such would be
God’s vengeance, that the land would be like a river, and its dwellings
would be immersed and carried away, or annihilated: for when there is no surface
of land, it seems to have been cleared away. So then be says now,
It shall be driven
away, It shall be sunk. This is the
simple explanation; and
[,
oin, is to be understood; for
[qç,
shiko, is to sink or to cover. Here,
h,
he is only put, but
[,
oin, is to be understood, and there is also a double reading pointed out.
Fc41 We now
then perceive the Prophet’s meaning. But it follows —
|
AMOS
8:9
|
|
9. And it shall come to pass in that day,
saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will
darken the earth in the clear day:
|
9. Et accidet die illa, inquit Dominus Jehova,
ut occumbere faciam (vel, descendere faciam) solem in meridie, et obtenebrescere
faciam terram in die lucido.
|
The Prophet speaks here metaphorically of the
punishments which were then to the people nigh at hand: and as prosperity and
success deceived the Israelites, the Prophet makes use of this significative
mode of speaking: “Ye congratulate yourselves on account of your wealth
and other things which delight you, as though God could not turn light into
darkness; and as God spares you, ye think that it will ever be the same with
you; but God can, he says, turn light into darkness: a dark night therefore will
overtake you even at mid-day.” We now understand why the Prophet employed
this figurative expression, — that God would obscure the sun, or cause it
to go down, and would on a clear day send darkness to obscure the earth. It was
not, it is certain, the eclipse of the sun; and the Prophet did not mean this.
But these figurative expressions must be first noticed, and then we must see
what they import.
Were any one disposed to lay-hold on what is literal
and to cleave to it, his notions would be gross and insipid, not only with
regard to the writings of the Prophets, but also with regard to all other
writings; for there is no language which has not its figurative expressions.
There is then in this passage a remarkably significative mode of speaking,
— that God would make the sun to go down or to become cloudy at mid-day.
But we must especially notice the design of the Prophet, which was to show, that
the Israelites trusting in their prosperity, thought themselves to be beyond the
reach of danger; hence their security and hence their torpor, and at length
their perverseness and their contempt of God: since then the Prophet saw that
they abused the benefits of God, he says, “What! the Lord indeed has
caused your sun to rise; but cannot he make it to set, yea, even at mid-day? Ye
now exult in its light; but God will suddenly and unexpectedly send darkness to
cover your heads.” There is then no reason for hypocrites to flatter
themselves, when God smiles on them and treats them indulgently; for in this
manner he invites them to repentance by the sweetness of his goodness, as Paul
says in the second chapter to the Romans. But when he sees them stubbornly
wanton, then he turns his benefits into punishments. This then is what the
Prophet means: “God,” he says, “will make the sun to set at
mid-day, and will darken the clear day.” Let us go on
—
|
AMOS
8:10
|
|
10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all
loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an
only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
|
10. Et convertam dies festos vestros in
luctum, et omnia cantica vestra in lamentum; et ascendere faciam super omnia
dorsa (vel, super omnes lumbos) saccum, et super omne caput calvitium; et ponam
eam quasi luctum (vel potius, quasi in luctu) unigeniti, et posteritatem ejus
quasi in die amaritudinis.
|
The Prophet pursues the same subject; but he omits
the figurative mode which he had before adopted. He therefore denounces
vengeance more openly, — that God would turn their festal-days into
mourning, and their songs into lamentation. This was designedly mentioned; for
the Israelites, we know, flattered themselves on account of their ceremonies by
which at the same time they more and more provoked God’s displeasure: for
the worship of God, which they pretended to perform, was mere superstition, and
was therefore a profanation of true religion. Though then they thus brought on
themselves God’s judgment by their wicked ceremonies, they yet thought
that they were sufficiently disguised; for as Jeremiah says, ceremonies are to
hypocrites the dens of robbers,
(<240701>Jeremiah
7:1) So here the Prophet speaks expressly of festal-days and of songs, —
“Think ye that I am pacified on your feast-days, when ye offer sacrifices
to me, or rather to idols under my name; and think ye that I am delighted with
your songs? these things are so regarded by me, that they the more excite my
wrath. Your festal-days then will
I turn to mourning, and your songs to
lamentation. At the same time, the Prophet
threatens generally what we have before noticed, — that there would be
mourning among the whole people for having too long abused the forbearance of
God; I
will then
turn your joy into
mourning. This is the sum of the whole.
We have already shown why he names feast-days and songs, and that is, because
they thought them to be expiations to turn aside God’s vengeance, when yet
they were fans by which they kindled more and more the fire of his
displeasure.
He afterwards adds,
I will make to come up on all
backs the sackcloth, and on every head
baldness. These are various modes of speaking,
which refer to the same thing: for they were wont to put on sackcloth and they
were wont to shave their heads when in grief and mourning. The Prophet then
means, that there would be extreme sorrow among the people, that having cast
away all delights, they would be constrained to give up themselves entirely to
weeping, lamentation, and grief. I will then make to come up on all loins the
sackcloth, that is, I will make each one to put off all valuable and soft
clothing and to put on sackcloth; and also to shave their heads, and even to
tear off their hair, as they were wont to do. We indeed know that the orientals
were more disposed to adopt external tokens of sorrow than we are. It was in
truth the levity of that country that accounts for their playing the part of
actors in mourning; and from this practice of mourning our Prophet borrowed his
mode of speaking.
He afterwards subjoins,
I will set
her (he speaks of the Israelites under the name
of land) in mourning as for an
only begotten. This similitude occurs
also in another place, ‘They shall mourn as for an only-begotten,’
says Zechariah 12; so also in other places; so that there is no need of a long
explanation. For when one has many children and one dies, he patiently bears his
death; but when any one is bereaved of an only-begotten, there is no end nor
moderation to his grief; for there is no comfort remaining. This is the reason
why the Prophet says, that there would be grief, such as that which is felt for
an only-begotten.
And he shows that these calamities would not be for a
short time only, Her
posterity, he says,
shall be as in the day of
bitterness.
Fc42 For
hypocrites drive away, or at least moderate, their fear of punishment by
imagining that God will not be so severe and rigid but for a short time, —
“O! it cannot be God will for long punish our sins; but it will be like
mist which soon passes away.” Thus hypocrites felicitate themselves. Then
the Prophet does not without reason subjoin this second clause, that their
posterity shall be as in the day of bitterness. Hence when they shall think
themselves freed from all evils, then new ones shall succeed, so that their
posterity shall even doubly grieve; for they shall feel more bitterness than
their fathers. It now follows —
|
AMOS
8:11-12
|
|
11. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
|
11. Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Jehova, quibus
mittam famem in terram, non famem panis, neque sitim aquarum, sed audiendi verba
Jehovae:
|
|
12. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and
from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of
the LORD, and shall not find it.
|
12. Et errabunt a mari usque ad mare, et a
septentrione usque ad orientem discurrent ad quaerendum verbum Jehova, et non
invenient.
|
Here now the Prophet fulminates, for he denounces not
temporal punishments, but final destruction, and what proves to be an evidence
of reprobation, and that is, that God would deprive the Israelites of every
light of truth, so that they would wander as the blind in the dark. It is indeed
certain, that they had been before this time bereaved of sound doctrine; for
falsehoods and superstitions prevailed among them; and we have seen that in the
land of Israel the true and faithful servants of God suffered cruel tyranny. But
yet God restrained the people, as it were, against their will; when they fled
away from him, and withdrew themselves from under his government, he still
goaded them, and tried as by force to restore them to the way of safety. God
thus contended with the wickedness of the people for many years, to the time of
our Prophet, yea, until the ten tribes were banished; for these, we know, were
led to exile first, and at length the kingdom of Israel was abolished; but the
Lord ceased not to stretch forth his hand. Now when he saw that the labor of his
servants was vain and useless, when he saw that no fruit proceeded from his
word, when he saw that his name was profaned and his kindness trodden under
foot, he denounced final vengeance, as though he said, “I am now broken
down with weariness, I have hitherto borne with your cries, and though by many
kinds of punishment I have endeavored to restore you, I have yet observed a
moderate course, that there might not be wanting some remedy for you. It has
not, therefore, been my fault that your diseases have not been healed; for I
have often sent Prophets to draw you to repentance, but without any success. I
will now then take away my word from you.” But as celestial doctrine is
the spiritual food of the soul, the Prophet rightly adopts this metaphor, that
the Lord would send a famine. This figure, then is borrowed from the efficacy
and nature of God’s word: for to what purpose does God send to us Prophets
and teachers, but to feed us with spiritual food? As he sustains our bodies by
bread and water, or wine, and other aliments, so also he nourishes our souls and
sustains our spiritual life by his word. Since, then, spiritual doctrine is our
spiritual aliment, the Prophet very properly says, that there would come a
famine.
I will then send a famine, not of
bread or of water, but of hearing the word of
God. The antithesis amplifies or exaggerates
the severity of the punishment, as though he had said, that it would be
endurable to wander in hunger and thirst, and to seek roots on mountains, and to
seek water in distant rivers: but a bodily famine, he says, is not what shall be
grievous to them, — what then? They shall be in hunger and thirst, and
shall seek the word of God, and
nowhere find it. But that we may better
understand the meaning of the Prophet, we must notice what Paul says, —
that we are fed by the Lord as by the head of a family, when the word is offered
to us,
(<560103>Titus
1:3) for teachers go not forth of themselves, but when they are sent from above.
As then the head of a family provides meat and sustenance for his children and
servants, so also the Lord supplies us daily with spiritual food by true and
faithful teachers, for they are as it were his hands. Whenever then pure
doctrine is offered to us, let us know that the teachers who speak and instruct
us by their ministrations are, as it were, the hand of God, who sets food before
us, as the head of a family is wont to do to his children: this is one thing.
And certainly since the Lord cares for our bodies, we must also know that our
souls are not neglected by him: and further, since the earth produces not corn
and other things of itself, but God’s blessing is the source of all
fruitfulness and abundance, is not his word a much more precious food? Shall we
then say that it comes to us by chance? It is hence no wonder that the Prophet
sets here the deprivation of sound doctrine among God’s judgments; as
though he said, “Whenever men are faithfully taught, it is a proof of
God’s singular kindness, and a testimony of his paternal care. As God then
has hitherto discharged towards you the office of the kindest father of a
family, so now he will deprive you of meat and drink, that is, those which are
spiritual.” Now, in the second place, we must observe, that when we abuse
God’s bounty, our ingratitude deserves this recompense, that want should
teach us that God ought not to have been despised in his benefits. This is
generally true: for when we intemperately indulge in luxury when God gives us
abundance of bread and wine, we fully deserve that this intemperance and excess
should be cured by famine and want. But bread and wine are of no great value,
and soon pass away: when therefore we abuse celestial doctrine, which is far
more precious than all earthly things, what punishment does not such willfulness
deserve? It is therefore no wonder that God should take away his word from all
ungrateful and profane men, when he sees it treated with mockery or disdain: and
this truth ought to be carefully considered by us at this day; for we see with
how little reverence the greater part of men receive the celestial doctrine,
which at this time is so bountifully offered to us. God has indeed in our age
opened the wonderful treasures of his paternal bounty in restoring to us the
light of truth. What fear there is now? What religion? Some scoff, some disdain,
some indeed profess to receive what is said, but they pass it by negligently,
being occupied with the cares and concerns of this world, and some furiously
oppose, as the Papists do. Since then the perverseness or the wickedness, or the
carelessness of the world, is so great, what can we expect, but that the Lord
will send a much thicker darkness than that in which we have been before
immersed, and suffer us to go astray and wander here and there in hunger and
thirst? If then we fear God, this punishment, or rather the denunciation of this
punishment, ought ever to be before our eyes. And the antithesis also, as it is
very important should be carefully considered; for the Prophet by the comparison
increases the punishment: it shall not, he says, be the want of meat and drink,
for such a divine visitation would be more tolerable; but it shall be a
spiritual famine. Inasmuch then as we are too much entangled by our flesh, these
words ought to arouse us, that we may more attentively reflect on this dreadful
punishment, and learn to fear the famine or want of the soul more than that of
our bodies. When the sterility of the land threatens us with famine, we are all
anxiety, and no day passes, in which this anxious question does not ten times
occur to us, — “What will become of us? We now suffer from famine
and want, and we are, as yet, distant from the harvest three or four
months.” All feel anxious, and in the meantime we are not touched by any
concern when the Lord threatens us with spiritual want. Since then we are so
disposed to be overanxious for this frail life, it is the more necessary for us
to take notice at the comparison mentioned by our Prophet.
But it may be here asked, Why does he say that they
should be so famished as to run
here and there, and wander from sea to sea, from the south even to the
east, since this ought to be counted as
one of God’s favors; for what more grievous thing can happen to us, than
that the Lord should render us stupid and unconcerned? But when we are touched
with some desire for sound doctrine, it evidently appears that there is some
religion in us; we are not destitute of the Spirit of God, though destitute of
the outward medium: and then comes what Christ says,
‘Knock, and it
shall be opened to you; seek, and ye shall find,’
(<400707>Matthew
7:7)
Therefore this denunciation of the Prophet seems not,
it is said, so severe and dreadful. But we must observe, that the Prophet does
not speak here strictly of famine, as though he said, that the Israelites would
feel the want of God’s word, that they would really look for it, that they
would sincerely seek it, but that they would perceive by the punishment itself,
that nothing is more to be dreaded than to be deprived of the spiritual food of
the soul. An example of this is found in Esau: when he saw that he had lost his
birth-right, he cried and howled. He did not do this either from a right
feeling, or because he had returned to a sound mind; but he was urged on by
despair only: and then he sent forth lamentations and howlings, as though he
were a wild beast. An anxiety like this is what the Prophet describes here. We
hence learn, that the reprobate, when they see themselves deprived of
God’s favors, are not really moved, so that they repent, but only feel
strong agonies, so that they torment themselves without any benefit, and do not
turn themselves to God.
What then is this to
seek?
We must notice what he said before — that they shall
wander from sea to
sea, and then, that they shall
run here and
there. When the faithful perceive any
token of God’s wrath, they immediately conclude and clearly see, that
there is no remedy but to retake themselves directly to God: ‘but the
ungodly, what do they do? They disquiet themselves, and make a great noise. It
is then this empty and false feeling of which the Prophet speaks. Now then the
question is answered. But we must at the same time observe, what the best way is
to recover the favor of God, when we are deprived of it; and it is this, —
to consider our elate, and to return to him under a due consciousness of
God’s judgment, and to seek to be reconciled to him. Thus will he restore
what he has taken away. But if our obstinacy be like that of the Israelites, God
will deprive us of his benefits, and not only those which are necessary to
support our present life, but also of the spiritual food of the soul: then in
vain will our howlings rend the air, for he will not give us an upright spirit
to return to him; but we shall in vain bite the bridle, we shall in vain torment
ourselves: for he will not suffer us to come where we ought, that is, he will
not lead us to true repentance nor to a genuine calling on him, but we shall
pine away in our evils without any remedy.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou
continues to recall us to thyself, and though thou sees us to be alienated from
thee, thou yet dost extend thy hand to us, and often exhort and stimulate us by
holy admonitions, and even frighten us by punishments, that we may not run
headlong to our own ruin, — O grant, that we may not be deaf to
admonitions so holy and gracious, nor be hardened against thy threatening, but
that we may become instantly submissive, and also return to the right way and
constantly proceed in it, and follow one vocation through our whole life, as
long as thou continues it to us, until we at length reach the mark which is set
before us, even until we be gathered into thy celestial kingdom, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-SEVENTH
|
AMOS
8:13-14
|
|
13. In that day shall the fair virgins and
young men faint for thirst.
|
13. In die illa deficient virgines decorae et
adolescentes prae siti.
|
|
14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and
say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they
shall fall, and never rise up again.
|
14. Jurantes in peccato Samariae, et qui
dicunt, Vivet via Barsaba; et cadent et non resurgent amplius.
|
The Prophet, having threatened spiritual famine, now
adds, that the people would in every respect be barren and destitute of every
good: for I take not thirst here in the same sense as before; but that they
should be dried up through the want of all things. It is indeed the worst
deprivation when men are parched up with thirst; and this is what the Prophet
threatens here. A country may suffer from want of provision, while there is
water enough to drink; but when not even this remains, it is an evidence of a
heavier and of almost the extreme curse of God. We now perceive what the Prophet
meant, which was this, — that when God should take away his word, by which
the souls of men are nourished up to eternal life, the Israelites would be then
in want also of all blessings, so that they would not only be without bread, but
also without water; and he mentions a circumstance which would greatly aggravate
the evil,
Faint,
he says, shall the fair virgins
and the youth in their vigor. It seems
unnatural, that those who are vigorous, and can run to get supply for their
wants, should faint: but the Prophet, as I have said, wished to show that there
would be no escape, but that God would distress the strongest, when he sent such
a famine, and with it the want also of drink.
He afterwards mentions the reason why the Lord would
inflict such punishments on his people; it was, because they had prostituted
themselves to wicked superstitions;
They
swear, he says,
by the sin of Samaria; they say,
Live does thy God, Dan; Live does the way of
Beersheba. Some understand
“sin” here metaphorically, (as it is taken also in many other
places,) as meaning sin-offerings, which are called by the Hebrews
twmça,
ashimut, and by the Latins piacula — expiations: but this
exposition is too refined. The Prophet then speaks only of the idols of
Israelites: and they are called wickedness or sin, because superstitious men, we
know, delight in their own devices. He therefore calls an idol sin by way of
reproach, though they gave it the honorable name of a god.
They
swear, he says, in or
by the sin of
Samaria. He calls it the sin of Samaria,
for thence arose all their corruptions, it being the royal residence and the
chief city of the whole country. Since then superstition proceeded from thence,
the Prophet does not without reason say that all the idolatry, throughout the
whole land, was the sin of Samaria; for he regarded the source where impiety
originated.
And he afterwards explains himself by saying,
Live does thy God, Dan; and, Live
does the way of Beersheba: for we know
that temples were raised both in Dan and in Beersheba. He then subjoins two
forms of an oath, but for this end, — to show the character of the sin of
Samaria, which he mentions. They swear then by the gods of Samaria, who were
really detestable; for there is no greater atrocity in the sight of God than
idolatry: but he afterwards adds, that they were gods who were worshipped at Dan
and at Beersheba. What some say of the word
˚rd,
darek, that it means pilgrimage or the way that leads there, is frivolous
and puerile; for the Prophet, no doubt, used a common expression. He therefore
calls custom “the way of Beersheba”, such as then was by common
consent receded and approved.
They
then who
swear by these fictitious forms of worship
shall be
parched, or pine away,
with
thirst.
He then adds,
They shall fall, and rise again
no more; that is, their stroke shall be
incurable, for God has hitherto employed moderate punishments, which could not
heal them, as they had been obdurate in their evils. The Prophet then declares
now that there would be no more any prospect of a remedy for them, and that the
wound which God would inflict would be fatal, without any hope of being healed.
This is the meaning. Let us now proceed —
CHAPTER 9
|
AMOS
9:1
|
|
1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and
he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in
the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that
fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be
delivered.
|
1. Vidi Dominum stantem super altare, et
dixit, Percute superliminare et coommovebunter postes, et affliget (vel,
afflige, in modo imperativo) in capite omnes, et novissimum ipsorum (vel,
posteritatem) gladio occidam; non effuget ex ipsis fugiens, neque evadet ex
ipsis qui evadit.
|
The Prophet confirms the threatening which we have
already explained; for he says that the people would be soon removed, as there
was now no hope of repentance. But it must first be observed, that he speaks not
here of the profane temples which Jeroboam the first had built in Dan and in
Bethel, but of the true and lawful temple; for it would not have been befitting
that this vision should have been made to the Prophet in one of those profane
temples, from which, we know, God was far away. Had God appeared in Dan or
Bethel, it would have been an indirect approbation of superstition. They are
then mistaken who think that the vision was given to the Prophet in any other
place than on mount Zion, as we have shown in other places. For the Prophets say
not, that God had spoken either in Dan or in Bethel, nor had there been any
oracle announced from these places; for God designed in every way to show that
he had nothing to do with those profane rites and abominations. It is then
certain that God appeared to his Prophet on mount Zion, and on the lawful altar.
Fc43
Let us now see the design of the vision. The greater
part of interpreters think that the destruction of the kingdom and of the
priesthood is predicted here, at the time when Zedekiah was taken and led
ignominiously into exile, and when his children were killed, and when afterwards
the temple was erased and the city demolished. But this prediction, I doubt not,
ought to be extended much farther, even to the many calamities which immediately
followed, by which at length the whole people were destroyed. I therefore do not
confine what is here said to the demolition of the city and of the temple. But
the meaning of the Prophet is the same as though he had said, that the
Israelites as well as the Jews in vain boasted of their descent and of other
privileges with which they had been honored: for the Lord had resolved to
destroy them, and also the temple, which they employed as a cloak to cover their
iniquities. We now then understand the intention of the Prophet. But this also
must be noticed, — that if the Lord spared not his own temple, which he
had commanded to be built, and in which he had chosen a habitation for himself,
those profane temples, which he had ever despised, could not possibly escape
destruction. We now see the design of this prophecy, which is the last, with the
exception of the promise that is given, of which we shall speak in its proper
place.
He says then that he
saw
God standing on the
altar. The Prophet might have heard what
follows without a vision; but God then, we know, was wont to sanction his
predictions by visions, as we find in the twelfth chapter of Numbers. God then
not only intended to commit to his Prophet what he was to proclaim, but also to
add authority to his doctrine; and the vision was as it were the seal, which the
Israelites as well as the Jews knew to be a proof, that what the Prophet
declared by his mouth proceeded from heaven.
It now follows,
Smite the
lintel.
rwtpk,
caphtur, is, I think, called the cover which is on the top of the posts
of the temple; for the Hebrews call
µyrwtpk,
caphturim, apples. As then they painted there pomegranates and flowers,
the Hebrew doctors think that the part which is above the two posts of the
temple is called
rwtpk,
caphtur. But that part of the entrance might have taken its name from its
round form. However this may be, they called the highest part of the porch of
the temple
dwtpk,
caphtur. Now the posts sustained that which they commonly called the
lintel. God then says, Strike the
lintel, and let the posts be moved, or
let them shake, let the whole gate of the temple shake. Then he adds, And strike
and break all on the
head, or on the head of all. This verb
is differently read by interpreters. Correctly, according to the rule of
grammar, it ought to be read in the third person,
and it will dash to the
ground. But some however, render it
thus, “and dash to the ground”, or break, because he had said
before, Smite. As to the meaning, it matters not much for an explanation
immediately follows. Now as to what he says, “on the head”, and as
to the word
µtyrja,
achritam, which follows, some by the head understand the priests and the
rulers of the people, which view I am inclined to embrace; but when they explain
tyrja,
achrit, to mean posterity or children, it does not seem to suit this
place; for it ought rather as I think, to he referred to the common people. As
then the Prophet had spoken of the head, he now adds the people in general. The
Hebrews call whatever follows or comes after by
tyrja,
achrit. They indeed understand posterity by it, but it is a word that has
variety of meaning: for it is taken for end, for a footstep, in short, for
anything that comes after.
Fc44
It is easy now to gather the meaning of the Prophet:
A vision was exhibited to him which showed that it was decreed by God himself to
smite both the chiefs and the common people: and since God begins with his
temple, how can profane men hope for pardon, who had deserted the true and pure
worship of God? They were all apostates: how then could they have hoped that God
would be placable to them, inasmuch as he had broken down his own
temple?
He now adds,
I will slay with the
sword, etc. We see then that this vision
is to be referred to the stroke which was shortly after to be inflicted. I will
slay then with the sword whatever follows, that is, the common
people.
He afterwards says,
Flee away from them shall not he
who fleeth, nor shall he escape from them who
escapeth; that is though they may think
that flight is possible, their expectation will deceive them, for I shall catch
them. Had the Prophet said that there would be to them no means of fleeing away,
he would not have spoken with so much severity; but when he says, that when they
fled, he would catch them, that when they thought that they had escaped, there
would be no safety to them, he says what is much more grievous. In short, he
cuts off all hope from the Israelites, that they might understand that they were
certain to perish, because God had hitherto tried in vain to restore them to the
right way. Inasmuch then as they had been wholly incurable, they now hear that
no hope remained for them.
And since the Prophet denounces such and so dreadful
a destruction of an elect people, and since the vision was exhibited to him in
the temples there is no reason for us to trust in our outward profession, and to
wait till God’s judgments come, as we see many are doing in our day, who
are wholly careless, because they think that no evil can happen to them,
inasmuch as they bear the name of God. But the Prophet here shows, that God sits
in his temple, not only to protect those whom he has adopted as his people and
peculiar possession, but also to vindicate his own honor, because the Israelites
had corrupted his worship; and the Jews also had departed from true religion.
Since then impiety everywhere prevailed, he now shows that God sits there as the
punisher of sins, that his people may know that they are not to tolerate those
evils, which for a time he does not punish, as though he had forgotten his
office, or that he designs his favor to be the cover of their iniquity; but
because he designs by degrees to draw to repentance those, who are healable, and
at the same time to take away every excuse frown the reprobate. Let us proceed
—
|
AMOS
9:2-4
|
|
2. Though they dig into hell, thence shall
mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them
down:
|
2. Si foderint ad sepulchrum (vel, ad
infernum,) inde manus mea educet vos; et si ascenderint in coelos, inde detraham
eos;
|
|
3. And though they hide themselves in the top
of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from
my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he
shall bite them:
|
3. Et si occultaverint se in fastigio (vel,
culmine) Carmeli, inde scrutabor et extraham eos; et si absconditi fuerint ab
oculis meis (ad verbum, e regione oculorum meorum) in profundo (vel, pavimento,
in fundo ipso) maris, inde mandabo serpenti ut mordeat eos:
|
|
4. And though they go into captivity before
their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I
will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
|
4. Et si profecti fuerint in captivitatem
coram inimicis suis, inde mandabo gladio ut occidat eos; et ponam oculum meum
super eos in malum et non in bonum.
|
Here the Prophet denounces horrible punishments; but
not without reason, for there was astonishing torpidity in that people, as there
is usually in all hypocrites when they have any shadow of excuse. They were then
the only elect people in the whole world. When, therefore, they thought that
they excelled others and that they were endued with singular privileges beyond
all other nations, this glory inebriated them, and they imagined that God was in
a manner bound to them, as we have seen in other places. This, then, was the
reason why the Prophet in so many ways enlarged on the judgment of God on
hypocrites; it was, that they might be terrified by the vehemence and severity
of his words.
Hence he
says, If they dig for
themselves passages to hell, that is, to
the center of the earth, for
lwaç,
shaul, is here put for the center;
thence shall my hand draw them
forth; and then,
If they ascend to heaven, thence
I will draw them down, saith the Lord;
If they hide themselves in
deserts, if they flee to the top of Carmel, I will trace them
out: in short, they shall find no corner
either in heaven, or on the earth, or in the sea, where they can be hid from my
sight. There is no need here to understand by heavens high citadels, as the
Chaldean paraphraser explains it: it is a frigid paraphrase. But the Prophet
speaks in an hyperbolical language of the center of the earth, of the heavens,
and of the deep of the sea; as though he had said, “Should all the
elements open themselves for hiding-places, yet the Israelites shall in vain try
to escape, for I will follow them when sunk in the depth of the sea, I will draw
them down from heaven itself; there shall, in a word, be no hiding-place for
them either above or below.”
We now understand the Prophet’s meaning; and an
useful warning may be hence gathered, — that when God threatens us, we in
vain seek subterfuges, as his hand extends itself to the lowest deep as well as
to heaven; as it is said in
<19D907>Psalm
139:7,
‘Where shall I flee from thy
presence, O Lord? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend to the
grave, thou art present; if I take the wings of the dawn, (or, of the morning
star,) and dwell in the extremities of the sea, there also shall thy hand lead
me.’
The Prophet speaks not in that psalm, as some have
very absurdly philosophized, of the unlimited essence of God; but he rather
shows, that we are always in his sight. So then we ought to feel assured that we
cannot escape, whenever God designs to make a scrutiny as to our sins, and to
summon us to his tribunal.
But we must at the same time remember, that the
Prophet has not employed a superfluous heap of words; there is not here one
syllable which is not important though at the first view it seems to be
otherwise. But the Holy Spirit, as I have already reminded you, knowing our
heedlessness, does here shake off all our self-flatteries. There is in us, we
know, an innate torpor by nature, so that we despise all threatenings, or at
least we are not duly moved by them. As the Lord sees us to be so careless, he
rouses us by his goads. Whenever then Scripture denounces punishment on us, let
us at the same time learn to join with it what the Prophet here relates;
“Thou hast to do with God, what can’t thou effect now by evasions?
though thou climbest to heaven, the Lord can draw thee down; though thou
descendent to the abyss, God’s hand will thence draw thee forth; if thou
seekest a hiding-place in the lowest depths, he will thence also bring thee
forth to the light; and if thou hidest thyself in the deep sea, he will there
find thee out; in a word, wherever thou betakest thyself, thou canst not
withdraw thyself from the presence and from the hand of God.” We hence see
the design of all these expressions, and that is, that we may not think of God
as of ourselves, but that we may know that his power extends to all
hiding-places. But these words ought to be subjects at meditations though it be
sufficient for our purpose to include in few words what the Prophet had in view.
But as we are so entangled in our vain confidences, the Prophet, as I have said,
has not in vain used so many words.
Now as to what he says,
I will command the serpent to
bite them, some understand by
çjn,
nuchesh, not a serpent on hand, but the whale, or some other marine
animal, as the leviathan, which is mentioned in Scripture; and we may learn from
other parts of Scripture that “nachash” means not only a serpent,
but also a whale or some animal living in the sea. In a word, God intimates,
that he would be armed everywhere, whenever he should resolve to punish his
adversaries, and that in all elements are means in readiness, by which he can
destroy the wicked, who seek to escape from his hand.
Now when he says,
If they go into captivity among
their enemies, I will there command the sword to slay them,
some interpreters confine this part to that foolish
flight, when a certain number of the people sought to provide for their safety
by going down into Egypt. Johanan followed them, and a few escaped,
(<244302>Jeremiah
43:2) but according to what Jeremiah had foretold, when he said, ‘Bend
your necks to the king of Babylon, and the Lord will bless you; whosoever will
flee to Egypt shall perish;’ so it happened: they found this to be really
true, though they had ever refused to believe the prediction. Jeremiah was drawn
there contrary to the wish of his own mind: he had, however, pronounced a curse
on all who thought that it would be an asylum to them. But the Lord permitted
him to be drawn there, that he might to his last breath pronounce the Woe, which
they had before heard from his mouth. But I hardly dare thus to restrict these
expressions of the Prophet: I therefore explain them generally, as meaning, that
exile, which is commonly said to be a civil death, would not be the end of evils
to the Israelites and to the Jews; for even when they surrendered themselves to
their enemies, and suffered themselves to be led and drawn away wherever their
enemies pleased, they could not yet even in this way preserve their life,
because the Lord would command the sword to pursue them even when exiles. This,
in my view, is the real meaning of the Prophet.
He at last
subjoins, I will set my eyes on
them for evil, and not for good. There is a
contrast to be understood in this clause: for the Lord had promised to be a
guardian to his people, according to what is said in
<19C104>Psalm
121:4,
‘Behold, he who
guards Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.’
As hypocrites ever lay hold on the promises of God
without repentance and faith, without any religious feeling, and afterwards turn
them to support their vain boasting, the Prophet therefore says here, that the
eye of God would be upon them, not indeed in his wonted manner to protect them,
as he had done from the beginning, but, on the contrary, to accumulate
punishment on punishment: it was the same thing as though he said, “As I
have hitherto watched over the safety of this people, whom I have chosen for
myself, so I will hereafter most sedulously watch, that I may omit no kind of
punishment, until they be utterly destroyed.”
And this sentence deserves to be specially noticed;
for we are reminded, that though the Lord does not indeed spare unbelievers, he
yet more closely observes us, and that he will punish us more severely, if he
sees us to be obstinate and incurable to the last. Why so? Because we have come
nearer to him, and he looks on us as his family, placed under his eyes; not that
anything is hid or concealed from him, but the Scripture speaks after the manner
of men. While God then favors his people with a gracious look, he yet cannot
endure hypocrites; for he minutely observes their vices, that he may the more
severely punish them. This then is the substance of the whole. It follows
—
|
AMOS
9:5
|
|
5. And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that
toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn:
and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood
of Egypt.
|
5. Et Dominus Jehova exercituum percutiet
terram, et contremiscet; et lugebunt omnes habitantes in ea, et ascendet sicut
fluvius tota, et submergetur sicut a fluvio Egypti.
|
The Prophet repeats here nearly the same words with
those we explained yesterday: he used then the similitude of a flood, which he
again mentions here. But as the first clause is capable of various explanations,
I will refer to what others think, and then to what I deem the most correct
view. This sentence, that the earth trembles, when it is smitten by God, is
usually regarded as a general declaration; and the Prophets do often exalt the
power of God in order to fill us with fear, and of this we shall see an instance
in the next verse. Yet I doubt not but that this is a special threatening.
The Lord
Jehovah, then, he says,
will smite the land, and it will
tremble.
Then follows the similitude of which we spoke
yesterday, Mourn shall all who
dwell in it; and then,
It will altogether ascend as a
river. Here he intimates that there
would be a deluge, so that the face of the earth would not appear. Ascend then
shall the land as a river. The ascent of the earth would be nothing else but
inundation, Which would cover its surface. He afterwards adds, “and it
shall be sunk”; that is, every convenience for dwelling: this is not to be
understood strictly, as I have said, of the land, but is rather to be referred
to men, or to the use which men make of the earth.
Sunk
then shall it be as by
the river of Egypt. We have said that
Egypt loses yearly its surface, when the Nile inundates it. But as the
inundation of the river is given to the Egyptians for fertilizing the land and
of rendering its produce more abundant, so the Prophet here declares that the
land would be like the sea, so that there would no longer be any habitation. It
now follow —
|
AMOS
9:6
|
|
6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the
heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters
of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his
name.
|
6. AEdificans in coelis ascensiones suas, et
coagmentationem suam super terram fundans (qui fundat,) qui vocat aquas maris et
effundit eas super faciem terrae, Jehova nomen ejus.
Fc45
|
The Prophet describes now in general terms the power
of God, that he might the more impress his hearers, and that they might not
heedlessly reject what he had previously threatened respecting their approaching
ruin; for he had said, ‘Lo, God will smite the land, and it shall
tremble.’ This was special. Now as men received with deaf ears those
threatening, and thought that God in a manner trifled with them, the Prophet
added, by way of confirmation, a striking description of the power of God; as
though he said, “Ye do hear what God denounces: now, as he has clothed me
with his own authority, and commanded me to terrify you by setting before you
your punishment, know ye that you have to do with God himself, whose majesty
ought to make you all, and all that you are, to tremble: for what sort of Being
is this God, whose word is regarded by you with contempt? God is he
who builds for himself
chambers
Fc46
in the heavens, who founds
his jointings
Fc47
(some render it bundles)
in the earth, who calls the
waters of the sea, and pours them on the face of the
earth”; in a word, He is Jehovah,
whose being is in himself alone: and ye exist only through his powers and
whenever he pleases, he can with-draw his Spirits and then vanish must this
whole world, of which ye are but the smallest particles. Since then He alone is
God, and there is in you but a momentary strength, and since this great power of
God, the evidences of which he affords you through the whole order of nature, is
so conspicuous to you, how is it that ye are so heedless?” We now perceive
why the Prophet exalts in so striking a manner the power of
God.
First, in saying that God
builds for
himself his ascendings
(ascensiones) in the
heavens, he alludes no doubt, to the
very structure of the heavens; for the element of air, we know, rises upwards,
on account of its being light; and then the element of fire comes nearer to what
heaven is; then follow the spheres. as then the whole world above the earth is
much more favorable to motion, this is the reason why the Prophet says that God
has his ascents in the heavens. God indeed stands in no need of the heavens or
of the air as an habitation, for he is contained in no place, being one who
cannot be contained: but it is said, for the sake of men, that God is above all
heavens: he is then located in his own elevated throne. But he says that he
founds for himself his jointing on the earth, for this part of the world is more
solid, the element of earth being grosser and denser, and therefore more firm.
So also the waters, though lighter than the earth, approach it nearest. God then
builds in the heavens. It is a mechanism which is in itself wonderful: when one
raises to heaven his eyes, and then looks on the earth, is he not constrained to
stand amazed? The Prophet then exhibits here before our eyes the inconceivable
power of God, that we may be impressed by his words, and know with whom we have
to do, when he denounces punishment.
He further says,
Who calls the waters of the sea,
and pours them on the face of the earth.
This change is in itself astonishing; God in a short time covers the whole
heaven: there is a clear brightness, in a moment clouds supervene, which darken
the whole heaven, and thick waters are suspended over our heads. Who could say
that the whole sky could be so suddenly changed? God by his own command and
bidding does all this alone. He
calls then
the waters of the sea, and pours
them down. Though rains, we know, are
formed in great measure by vapors from the earth, yet we also know that these
vapors arise from the sea, and that the sea chiefly supplies the dense abundance
of moisture. The Prophet then, by taking a part for the whole, includes here all
the vapors, by which rain is formed. He calls them the waters of the sea; God by
his own power alone creates the rain, by raising vapors from the waters; and
then he causes them to descend on the whole face of the earth. Since then the
Lord works so wonderfully through the whole order of nature, what do we think
will take place, when he puts forth the infinite power of his hand to destroy
men, having resolved to execute the extreme judgment which he has
decreed?
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast
showed to us by evidences so remarkable that all things are under thy command,
and that we, who live in this world through thy favor, are as nothing, for thou
couldest reduce us to nothing in a moment, — O grant, that being conscious
of thy power, we may reverently fear thy hand, and be wholly devoted to thy
glory; and as thou kindly offerest thyself to us as a Father, may we be drawn by
this kindness, and surrender ourselves wholly to thee by a willing obedience,
and never labor for any thing through life but to glorify thy name, as thou hast
redeemed us through thy only begotten Son, that so we may also enjoy through him
that eternal inheritance which is laid up for us in heaven.
Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-EIGHTH
|
AMOS
9:7
|
|
7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians
unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out
of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from
Kir?
|
7. Annon sicut filii AEthiopum vos mihi, filii
Israel, dicet Jehova? Annon Israel ascendere feci e terra AEgypti? Et Philistim
ex Cappadocia? Et Syrios e Kir?
|
The Prophet shows here to the Israelites that their
dignity would be no defense to them, as they expected. We have indeed seen in
many places how foolish was the boasting of that people. Though they were more
bound to God than other nations, they yet heedlessly boasted that they were a
holy nation, as if indeed they had something of their own, but as Paul says,
they were nothing. God had conferred on them singular benefits; but they were
adorned with the plumes of another. Foolish then and absurd was their glorying,
when they thought themselves to be of more worth in the sight of God than other
nations. But as this foolish conceit had blinded them, the Prophet says now,
“Whom do you think yourselves to be?
Ye are to me as the children
of the Ethiopians. I indeed once
delivered you, not that I should be bound to you, but rather that I should have
you bound to me, for ye have been redeemed through my kindness.” Some
think that the Israelites are compared to the Ethiopians, as they had not
changed their skin, that is, their disposition; but this view I reject as
strained. For the Prophet speaks here more simply, namely, that their condition
differed nothing from that of the common class of men: “Ye do excel, but
ye have nothing apart from me; if I take away from you what is mine, what will
you have then remaining?” The emphasis is on the word, to me, What
are ye to me? For certainly they excelled among men; but before God they
could bring nothing, since they had nothing of their own: nay, the more
splendidly God adorned them, the more modestly and humbly they ought to have
conducted themselves, seeing that they were bound to him for so many of his
favors. But as they had forgotten their own condition, despised all the Prophets
and felicitated themselves in their vices, he says,
Are ye not to me as the children
of the Ethiopians, as foreign and the
most alien nations? for what that is worthy of praise can I find in you? If then
I look on you, what are ye? I certainly see no reason to prefer you even to the
most obscure nations.”
He afterwards
adds, Have I not made to ascend,
or brought, Israel from the land of
Egypt? Here the Prophet reminds them of
their origin. Though they had indeed proceeded from Abraham, who had been chosen
by God four hundred years before their redemption; yet, if we consider how
cruelly they were treated in Egypt, that tyrannical servitude must certainly
appear to have been like the grave. They then began to be a people, and to
attain some name, when the Lord delivered them from Egypt. The Prophet’s
language is the same as though he had said, “Look whence the Lord has
brought you out; for ye were as a dead carcass, and of no account: for the
Egyptians treated your fathers as the vilest slaves: God brought you thence;
then you have no nobility or excellency of your own, but the beginning of your
dignity has proceeded from the gratuitous kindness of God. Yet ye think now that
ye excel others, because ye have been redeemed: God has also redeemed the
Philistines, when they were the servants of the Cappadocians; and besides, he
redeemed the Syrians when they were servants to other
nations.”
Some take
ryq,
kir, to mean Cyrene; but as this is uncertain, I pass it by as doubtful.
Whatever it was, there is no ground of dispute about the subject itself; for it
is certain that the Israelites are here compared with the Philistines as well as
with the Syrians, inasmuch as all had been alike redeemed by the Lord, and this
favor was common to all of whom he speaks. As God then pitied in former ages
other nations, it was certainly not peculiar to the race of Abraham, that they
had been freed by God, and by means of extraordinary miracles: “Even the
Philistine will say the same, and the Syrians will say the same; but yet ye say
that they are profane nations. Since it is so, ye are now divested of all
excellency, that is, there is nothing of your own in you, that ye should exalt
yourselves above other nations.” This is the meaning. It now follows
—
|
AMOS
9:8-9
|
|
8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon
the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving
that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the
LORD.
|
8. Ecce oculi Domini Jehovae ad reguum
sceleratum, et delebo illud a superficie terrae, praeterquam quod non delendo
delebo domum Jacob, dicit Jehova.
|
|
9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift
the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet
shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
|
9. Quia ecce ego praecipiam, et agitabo inter
cunctas gentes domum Israel, quemadmodum agitatur (subaudiendum est nomen
tritici, agitatur triticum) in cribo, et non cadet lapis (id est, granum) in
terram.
|
Here the Prophet concludes that God would take
vengeance on the Israelites as on other nations, without any difference; for
they could not set up anything to prevent his judgment. It was indeed an
extraordinary blindness in the Israelites, who were doubly guilty of
ingratitude, to set up as their shield the benefits with which they had been
favored. Though then the name of God had been wickedly and shamefully profaned
by them, they yet thought that they were safe, because they had been once
adopted. This presumption Amos now beats down.
Behold,
he says, the eyes of the Lord
Jehovah are upon all the wicked. Some
restrict this to the kingdom of Israel, but, in my opinion, such a view
militates against the design of the Prophet. He speaks indefinitely of all
kingdoms as though he had said, that God would be the judge of the whole world,
that he would spare no kingdoms or countries. God then will show himself
everywhere to be the punisher of vices, and will summon all kingdoms before his
tribunal, By destroying I will
destroy from the face of the earth all the ungodly and the
wicked.
Now the second clause I understand otherwise than
most do: for they think it contains a mitigation of punishment, as the Prophets
are wont to blend promises of favor with threatening, and as our Prophet does in
this chapter. But it seems not to me that anything is promised to the
Israelites: nay, if I am not much mistaken, it is an ironical mode of speaking;
for Amos obliquely glances here at that infatuated presumption, of which we have
spoken, that the Israelites thought that they were safe through some peculiar
privilege, and that they were to be exempt from all punishment: “I will
not spare unbelievers,” he says, “who excuse themselves by comparing
themselves with you. Shall I tolerate your sins and not dare to touch you,
seeing that you know yourselves to be doubly wicked?” We must indeed
notice in what other nations differed from the Israelites; for the more the
children of Abraham had been raised, the more they increased their guilt when
they despised God, the author of so many blessings, and became basely wanton by
shaking off, as it were, the yoke. Since then they so ungratefully abused
God’s blessings, God might then have spared other nations: it was
therefore necessary to bring them to punishment, for they were wholly
inexcusable. As then they exceeded all other nations in impiety, the Prophet
very properly reasons here from the greater to the less: “I take an
account,” he says, “of all the sins which are in the world, and no
nations shall escape my hand: how then can the Israelites escape? For other
nations can plead some ignorance, as they have never been taught; and that they
go astray in darkness is no matter of wonder. But ye, to whom I have given
light, and whom I have daily exhorted to repent, — shall ye be unpunished?
How could this be? I should not then be the judge of the world.” We now
then perceive the real meaning of the Prophet: “Lo,” he says
“the eyes of Jehovah are upon every sinful kingdom; I will destroy all the
nations who have sinned from the face of the earth, though they have the
pretense of ignorance for their sins; shall I not now, forsooth, destroy the
house of Israel?” Here then the Prophet speaks ironically,
Except that I shall not destroy
by destroying the house of Israel; that
is, “Do you wish me to be subservient to you, as though my hands were
tied, that I could not take vengeance on you? what right have you to do this?
and what can hinder me from punishing ingratitude so great and so
shameful?”
He afterwards adds,
For, lo, I will
command, etc. The Prophet here confirms
the former sentence; and hence I conclude that the second part of the preceding
verse is ironically expressed; for if he had promised pardon to the Israelites,
he would have gone on with the same subject; but, on the contrary, he proceeds
in another direction, and says, that God would justly punish the Israelites; for
the event would at length make it known, that among them not even a grain would
be found, but that all would be like chaff or refuse: Lo, he says,
I will shake among the nations
the Israelites as corn is shaken in a sieve: a grain, he says, shall not fall on
the earth; as though he said, “Though I
shall scatter the Israelites through various places that they may be dispersed
here and there, yet this exile shall ever be like a sieve: they now contend with
me, when any grain has fallen. The event then shall show, that there is in them
nothing but chaff and filth; for I will by sieving cleanse my whole floor, and
nothing shall be found to remain on it.” If one objects and says, that
there were some godly persons in that nation, though very small in number. This
I admit to be true: but the Prophet speaks here, as in many other places, of the
whole nation; he refers not to individuals. It was then true, with regard to the
body of the people of Israel, that there was not one among them who could be
compared to grain, for all had become empty through their iniquities; and hence
they necessarily disappeared in the sieve, and were like chaff or
refuse.
But it must be observed, that God here cuts off the
handle for evasion, for hypocrites ever contend with him; and although they
cannot wholly clear themselves, they yet extenuate their sins, and accuse God of
too much severity. The Prophet then anticipates such objections, “I will
command,” he says, “and will shake the house of Israel as corn is
shaken.” It was a very hard lot, when the people were thus driven into
different parts of the world; it was indeed a dreadful tearing. The Israelites
might have complained that they were too severely treated; but God by this
similitude obviates this calumny, “They are indeed scattered in their
exile, yet they remain in a sieve;
I will shake
them, he says,
among the nations: but not
otherwise than corn when shaken in a
sieve: and it is allowed by the consent
of all that corn ought to be cleansed. Though the greater part disappears when
the corn, threshed on the floor, is afterwards subjected to the fan; yet there
is no one but sees that this is necessary and reasonable: no one complains that
the chaff thus perishes. Why so? Because it is useless. God then shows that he
is not cruel, nor exceeds moderation, though he may scatter his people through
the remote regions of the earth, for he ever keeps them in a
sieve.
He afterwards adds,
And fall shall not a grain on the
earth. They translate
rwrx,
tsarur, a stone, but
rrx,
tsarer is to tie, and hence this word means what is collected or,
binding, as when the children of Jacob had their money tied in their sacks, they
said, ‘Behold my binding;’ so also now it is taken for the solid
grain. God then intimates that he would not be so rigid as not to moderate his
punishment, so as to spare the innocent. I have already said that though there
would be still a remnant among the people, yet what the Prophet says is true as
to the whole body; for it had nothing either sound or pure. But this objection
might be made: It is certain that many faithful worshipers of God were taken
away into exile with the wicked; they then fell on the earth as useless chaff or
refuse; but God denies that this would be the case. To this I answer, that
though the Lord involves his servants with the ungodly when he executes temporal
punishment, he is yet ever propitious to them; and it is certain, that however
hardly they may be dealt with, they yet do not expostulate; they groan, indeed,
but at the same time they acknowledge that they are mercifully treated by the
Lord.
But another thing must also be remembered, —
that though the Lord would not have dealt so severely with his people, had they
been like the few who were good, yet not one of them was without some fault.
Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, were indeed
like angels among men; and it was indeed a miracle, that they stood upright in
the midst of so much impiety; they were yet led into captivity. When they
approached God, they could not object, that they were punished beyond what they
deserved. Worthy, indeed, was Jeremiah of heavier punishment; and so was Daniel,
though an example of the highest and even of angelic integrity. God then could
have cast them away as refuse: it is nevertheless certain that they were wheat;
and the Lord shook them in the sieve like the chaff, yet so as ever to keep them
gathered under his protection; but at the same time in a hidden manner: as, for
instance, the wheat on the floor is beaten together with the chaff, this is
common to both; no difference can be observed in the threshing. True is this,
and the case is the same when the wheat is being winnowed. When therefore the
wheat is gathered, it is, together with the chaff, to be sifted by the fan,
without any difference; but the wheat remains. So also it happened to the pious
worshipers of God; the Lord kept them collected in the sieve. But here he speaks
of the people in general; and he says that the whole people were like refuse and
filth, and that they vanished, because there was no solidity in them, no use to
be made of them, so that no one remained in the sieve. That God then preserved
his servants, was an instance of his wonderful working. But the denunciation of
punishment, here spoken of, belonged to the outward dealings of God. As then the
people were like refuse or chaff shaken and driven to various places, this
happened to them justly, because nothing solid was found in them. It now follows
—
|
AMOS
9:10
|
|
10. All the sinners of my people shall die by
the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent
us.
|
10. Gladio morientur omnes scelerati populi
mei, qui dicunt, Non accedet et non antevertet proper nos
malum.
|
Amos goes on with the same subject, — that God
without any measure of cruelty would execute extreme vengeance on a reprobate
people:
Die,
he says, by the sword all the
wicked of my people. In naming the wicked of
the people, he meant no doubt to include the whole people; though if any one
thinks that the elect are by implication excepted, who were mixed with the
ungodly, I do not object: this is probable; but yet the Prophet speaks here of
the people generally. He says that the wicked of the people would perish by the
sword: for it was not the sin of a few that Amos here refers to, but the sin
which prevailed among the whole nation. Then all the wicked of my people shall
die by the sword. He points out what sort of people they were, or at least he
mentions the chief mark by which their impiety might be discovered, — they
obstinately despised all the judgments of God,
They say, It will not draw near;
nor lay hold on our account, the evil.
Security then, which of itself ever generates a
contempt of God, is here mentioned as the principal mark of impiety. And
doubtless the vices of men reach a point that is past hope, when they are
touched neither by fear nor shame, but expect God’s judgments without any
concern or anxiety. Since then they thus drove far away from themselves all
threatening, while at the same time they were ill at ease with themselves, and
as it were burying themselves in deep caverns, and seeking false peace to their
consciences, they were in a torpor, or rather stupor, incapable of any remedy.
It is, therefore, no wonder that the Prophet lays down here this mark of
security, when he is showing that there was no remnant of a sound mind in this
people. Die then shall all the wicked by the sword, even those who say, It will
not draw near; nor anticipate us, on our account, the evil: for we can not
explain the word
µydqh,
ekodim, in any other way than by referring it to the threatening. For the
Prophets, we know, commonly declared that the day of the Lord was at hand, that
his hand was already armed, that it had already seized the sword. As then the
Prophets, in order to smite despisers with fear, were wont to threaten a near
punishment; so the Prophet does here; wishing to expose the impious stupor of
the people, he says, “You think that there will not be such haste as is
foretold to you by the Prophets; but this sheer perverseness will be the cause
of your ruin.”
As to the expression, It will not come
on our
account, from a regard to us, it
deserves to be noticed. Though hypocrites confess in general, that they cannot
escape the hand of God, yet they still separate themselves from the common
class, as if they are secured by some peculiar privilege. They therefore set up
something in opposition to God, that they may not be blended with others. This
folly the Prophet indirectly condemns by saying, that hypocrites are in a quiet
and tranquil state, because they think that there will be to them no evil in
common with the rest, as also they say in
<232815>Isaiah
28:15, ‘The scourge, if it passes, will not yet reach us.’ We now
then see what the Prophet has hitherto taught, and the meaning of these four
verses which we have just explained. Now follows the promise
—
|
AMOS
9:11
|
|
11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle
of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up
his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
|
11. In die illa erigam tabernaculum David,
quod cecidit, et sepiam rupturas ejus, et subversiones ejus erigam, et
aedificabo illud, sicuti diebus antiquis (seculi, ad verbum.)
|
Here now the Prophet begins to set forth the
consolation, which alone could support the minds of the godly under afflictions
so severe. Threatening alone might have cast the strongest into despair; but the
event itself must have overwhelmed whatever hope there might have been. Hence
the Prophet now applies comfort by saying, that God would punish the sins of the
people of Israel in such a way as to remember still his own promise. We know,
that whenever the Prophets designed to give some hope to a distressed people,
they set forth the Messiah, for in him all the promises of God, as Paul says,
are Yea and Amen,
(<470120>2
Corinthians 1:20) and there was no other remedy for the dispersion than for God
to gather all the scattered members under one head. Hence, when the head is
taken away, the Church has no head; especially when it is scattered and torn, as
was the case after the time of Amos. It is no wonder then that the Prophets,
after having prophesied of the destruction of the people, such as happened after
the two kingdoms were abolished, should recall the minds of the faithful to the
Messiah; for except God had gathered the Church under one head, there would have
been no hope. This is, therefore, the order which Amos now
observes.
In that
day, he says,
will I raise up the tabernacle of
David: as though he had said, that the
only hope would be, when the redeemers who had been promised would appear. This
is the import of the whole. After having shown then that the people had no hope
from themselves, for God had tried all means, but in vain and after having
denounced their final ruin, he now subjoins, “The Lord will yet have mercy
on his people, for he will remember his covenant.” How will this be?
“The Redeemer shall come.” We now then understand the design of the
Prophet and the meaning of the verse.
But when he speaks of the tabernacle of David, he
refers, I doubt not, to the decayed state of things; for a tabernacle does
notcomport with royal dignity. It is the same as though Amos had said,
“Though the house of David is destitute of all excellency, and is like a
mean cottage, yet the Lord will perform what he has promised; he will raise up
again his kingdom, and restore to him all the power which has been lost.”
The Prophet then had regard to that intervening time, when the house of David
was deprived of all splendor and entirely thrown down. I will then raise up the
tabernacle of David: he might have said the tabernacle of Jesse; but he seems to
have designedly mentioned the name of David, that he might the more fully
strengthen the minds of the godly in their dreadful desolation, so that they
might with more alacrity flee to the promise: for the name of Jesse was more
remote. As then the name of David was in repute, and as this
oracle,
‘Of the fruit of
thy loins I will set on thy
throne,’
(<19D211>Psalm
132:11)
was commonly known, the Prophet brings forward here
the house of David, in order that the faithful might remember that God had not
in vain made a covenant with David:
The
tabernacle then
of David will I then raise up,
and will fence in its breaches, and its ruins will I raise up; and I will build
“it as in the days of old. Thus
the Prophet intimates that not only the throne of David would be overthrown but
also that nothing would remain entire in his mean booth, for it would decay into
ruins and all things would be subverted. In short, he intimates that mournful
devastation would happen to the whole family of David. He speaks, as it is well
understood, metaphorically of the tabernacle: but the sense is clear, and that
is, that God would restore the royal dignity, as in former times, to the throne
of David.
This is a remarkable prediction, and deserves to be
carefully weighed by us. It is certain that the Prophet here refers to the
advent of Christ; and of this there is no dispute, for even the Jews are of this
opinion, at least the more moderate of them. There are indeed those of a
shameless front, who pervert all Scripture without any distinction: these and
their barking we may pass by. It is however agreed that this passage of the
Prophet cannot be otherwise explained than of the Messiah: for the restitution
of David’s family was not to be expected before his time; and this may
easily be learnt from the testimonies of other Prophets. As then the Prophet
here declares, that a Redeemer would come, who would renew the whole state of
the kingdom, we see that the faith of the Fathers was ever fixed on Christ; for
in the whole world it is he alone who has reconciled us to God: so also, the
fallen Church could not have been restored otherwise than under one head, as we
have already often stated. If then at this day we desire to raise up our minds
to God, Christ must immediately become a Mediator between us; for when he is
taken away, despair will ever overwhelm us, nor can we attain any sure hope. We
may indeed be raised up by some wind or another; but our empty confidence will
shortly come to nothing, except we have a confidence founded on Christ alone.
This is one thing. We must secondly observe, that the interruption, when God
overthrew the kingdom, I mean, the kingdom of Judah, is not inconsistent with
the prediction of Jacob and other similar predictions. Jacob indeed had
said,
‘Taken away shall not be the
scepter from Judah, nor a lawgiver from his bosom, or from his feet, until he
shall come, the Shiloh,’
(<014910>Genesis
49:10)
Afterwards followed this memorable
promise,
‘Sit of thy progeny on thy throne
shall he, who shall call me his Father, and in return I will call him my Son,
and his throne shall perpetually remain,’
(<19D211>Psalm
132:11,12)
Here is promised the eternity of the kingdom; and yet
we see that this kingdom was diminished under Rehoboam, we see that it was
distressed with many evils through its whole progress, and at length it was
miserably destroyed, and almost extinguished; nay, it had hardly the name of a
kingdom, it had no splendor, no throne, no dignity, no scepter, no crown. It
then follows, that there seems to be an inconsistency between these events and
the promises of God. But the Prophets easily reconcile these apparent
contrarieties; for they say, that for a time there would be no kingdom, or at
least that it would be disturbed by many calamities, so that there would appear
no outward form of a kingdom, and no visible glory. As then they say this, and
at the same time add, that there would come a restoration, that God would
establish this kingdom by the power of his Christ, — as then the Prophets
say this, they show that its perpetuity would really appear and be exhibited in
Christ. Though then the kingdom had for some time fallen, this does not militate
against the other predictions. This then is the right view of the subject: for
Christ at length appeared, on whose head rests the true diadem or crown, and who
has been elected by Gods and is the legitimate king, and who, having risen from
the dead, reigns and now sits at the Father’s right hand, and his throne
shall not fail to the end of the world; nay, the world shall be renovated, and
Christ’s kingdom shall continue, though in another form, after the
resurrection, as Paul shows to us; and yet Christ shall be really a king for
ever.
And the Prophet, by saying,
as in ancient
days, confirms this truth, that the
dignity of the kingdom would not continue uniform, but that the restoration
would yet be such as to make it clearly evident that God had not in vain
promised an eternal kingdom to David. Flourish then shall the kingdom of David
for ever. But this has not been the case; for when the people returned from
exile, Zerobabel, it is true, and also many others, obtained kingly power; yet
what was it but precarious? They became even tributaries to the kings of the
Persian and of the Medes. It then follows, that the kingdom of Israel never
flourished, nor had there existed among the people anything but a limited power;
we must, therefore, necessarily come to Christ and his kingdom. We hence see
that the words of the Prophet cannot be otherwise understood than of Christ. It
follows —
|
AMOS
9:12
|
|
12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom,
and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth
this. Fc48
|
12. Ut possideant reliquias Edom et omnes
gentes, super quas (alii vertunt, super quos) invocatum est nomen meum,
dicit Jehova hoc faciens.
|
By these words the Prophet shows that the kingdom
under Christ would be more renowned and larger than it had ever been under
David. Since then the kingdom had been greatest in dignity, and wealth, and
power, in the age of David, the Prophet here says, that its borders would be
enlarged; for then he says,
Possess shall the Israelites the
remnant of Edom. He speaks here in
common of the Israelites and of the Jews, as before, at the beginning of the
last chapter, he threatened both. But we now apprehend what he means, —
that Edom shall come under the yoke.
And it is sufficiently evident why he mentions here
especially the Idumeans, and that is because they had been most inveterate
enemies; and vicinity gave them greater opportunity for doing harm. As then the
Idumeans harassed the miserable Jews, and gave them no respite, this is the
reason why the Prophet says that they would come under the power of his elect
people. He afterwards adds, that all nations would come also to the Jews. He
speaks first of the Idumeans, but he also adds all other nations. I cannot
finish today.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we see
everywhere so many evident tokens of thy displeasure, and more grievous ones are
impeding, if we indeed duly consider how grievously we have provoked thy wrath,
and how wickedly also the whole world at this day rages against thee and at the
same time abuses thy many and excellent benefits, — O grant, that we may
ever remember thy covenant and entertain a perpetual confidence in thy
only-begotten Son, that whenever it may please thee to sift us, thou mayest keep
us in safety, until we come, not into any earthly storehouse but into thy
celestial kingdom, where we may become partakers of that glory which thy Son has
obtained for us, who has once for all redeemed us that we may ever remain under
his guardianship and protection. Amen.
LECTURE
SIXTY-NINTH
In yesterday’s Lecture, we could not finish the
verse in which Amos says, that the Idumeans and other nations would come under
the power of the people of God. As to the first clause there is no ambiguity,
but the latter admits of two meanings. Some take its sense to be this,
“Other nations on whom my name is called:” and others refer this to
the children of Abraham in this way, “That possess the remnants of Edom
and all nations they may, upon whom,” etc.; that is, that they on whom my
name is called, even the descendants of Abraham, may possess the Idumeans and
all other nations. If we choose the reference to be made to the chosen people,
the order of the words seems to be somewhat broken; and yet this sense is very
suitable, — that possess their enemies the faithful may, on whom my name
is called; for the reason appears to be here expressed by the Prophet, why he
promised a large kingdom to the Israelites, and that is, because they were
enrolled in God’s name, the Lord owned them as his people, inasmuch as he
had chosen and adopted them in the person of their father Abraham. But if the
other view be more approved, then the particle
rça,
asher, is not, as I think, a pronoun relative, but an adverb expressing a
cause, “That they may possess the remnants of Edom and all nations, for my
name shall have been, or shall be, called on them:”
Fc49 for who
can have possession of this right or title but those who, having been aliens,
shall pass over into the family of Abraham? Israel is indeed said to possess
whatever comes from another quarter, and is incorporated into the body of the
Church.
But on this point I will not contend; for this main
thing is evident to us, — that the extension of the kingdom under Christ
is here promised as though he had said that the Jews were included within narrow
bounds, even when the kingdom of David especially flourished, but that God would
under Christ extend their borders, and cause them to rule far and wide. What it
is to call God’s name on a people, we have elsewhere stated. Let us now go
on with the context.
|
AMOS
9:13
|
|
13. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that
soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall
melt.
|
13. Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Jehova, et
occurret arator messori, et calcator uvarum efferenti semen; et stillabunt
montes dulcem liquorem, et omnes colles liquefient (nempe ut lacte
diffluant.)
|
Here the Prophet describes the felicity which shall
be under the reign of Christ: and we know that whenever the Prophets set forth
promises of a happy and prosperous state to God’s people, they adopt
metaphorical expressions, and say, that abundance of all good things shall flow,
that there shall be the most fruitful produce, that provisions shall be
bountifully supplied; for they accommodated their mode of speaking to the
notions of that ancient people; it is therefore no wonders if they sometimes
speak to them as to children. At the same time, the Spirit under these
figurative expressions declares, that the kingdom of Christ shall in every way
be happy and blessed, or that the Church of God, which means the same thing,
shall be blessed, when Christ shall begin to reign.
Hence he says,
Coming are the days, saith
Jehovah, and the plowman shall draw
nigh, or meet,
the
reaper. The Prophet no doubt refers to
the blessing mentioned by Moses in
<032601>Leviticus
26:1 for the Prophets borrowed thence their mode of speaking, to add more credit
and authority to what they taught. And Moses uses nearly the same words, —
that the vintage shall meet the harvest, and also that sowing shall meet the
plowing: and this is the case, when God supplies abundance of corn and wine, and
when the season is pleasant and favorable. We then see what the Prophet means,
that is, that God would so bless his people, that he would suffer no lack of
good things.
The plowman then shall come nigh
the reaper; and the treader of grapes, the bearer of
seed. When they shall finish the harvest, they
shall begin to plow, for the season will be most favorable; and then when they
shall complete their vintage, they shall sow. Thus the fruitfulness, as I have
said, of all produce is mentioned.
The Prophet now speaks in a hyperbolical language,
and says, Mountains shall
drop sweetness, and all the hills shall
melt, that is, milk shall flow down. We
indeed know that this has never happened; but this manner of speaking is common
and often occurs in Scripture. The sum of the whole is, that there will be no
common or ordinary abundance of blessings, but what will exceed belief, and even
the course of nature, as the very mountains shall as it were flow down. It now
follows —
|
AMOS
9:14
|
|
14. And I will bring again the captivity of my
people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and
they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make
gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
|
14. Et reducam captivitatem populi mei Israel;
et aedificabunt urbes dirutas, et habitabunt illic; plantabunt vites, et bibunt
vinum earum; facient hortos, et comedent fructus ipsorum.
|
As the prophecy we have noticed was one difficult to
be believed, especially when the people were led away into exile, the Prophet
comes to the help of this lack of faith, and shows that this would be no
hindrance to God to lead his people to the felicity of which he speaks. These
things seem indeed to be quite contrary, the one to the other, — that the
people, spoiled of all dignity, should be driven to a far country to live in
miserable exile, and that they should also be scattered into various parts and
oppressed by base tyranny; — and that at the same time a most flourishing
condition should be promised them, and that such an extension of their kingdom
should be promised them, as had never been previously witnessed. Lest then their
present calamities should fill their minds with fear and bind them fast in
despair; he says that the Israelites shall return from exile, not indeed all;
but as we have already seen, this promise is addressed to the elect alone: at
the same time he speaks here simply of the people. But, this prophecy is
connected with other prophecies: it ought not therefore to be extended except to
that remnant seed, of whom we have before taken notice.
Restore
then will I the captivity of my
people Israel; and then,
They shall build nested cities
and dwell there; they shall plant vineyards, and their wine shall they drink;
they shall make gardens, and shall eat their
fruit. He reminds the people here of the
blessings mentioned in the Law. They must indeed have known that the hand of the
Lord was opposed to them in their exile. Hence the Prophet now shows, that as
soon as the Lord would again begin to be propitious to them, there would be a
new state of things; for when God shows his smiling countenance, prosperity
follows and a blessed success in all things. This then is what the Prophet now
intends to show, that the miserable exiles might not faint in despair, when the
Lord chastised them. It follows at last —
|
AMOS
9:15
|
|
15. And I will plant them upon their land, and
they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith
the LORD thy God.
|
15. Et plantabo eos super terram suam, (in
terra sua,) et non evellentur amplius a terra sua, quam dedi illis, inquit
Jehova Deus tuus.
|
The Prophet further mentions here a quiet dwellings
in the land, for it was not enough for the people to be restored to their
country, except they lived there in safety and quietness; for they might soon
afterwards have been removed again. It would have been better for them to pine
away in exile, than to be restored for the sake, as it were, of sporting with
them, and in a short time to be again conquered by their enemies, and to be led
away into another country. Therefore the Prophet says, that the people, when
restored, would be in a state of tranquillity.
And he uses a most suitable comparison, when he says,
I will plant them in their own
land, nor shall they be pulled up any
more: for how can we have a settled
place to dwell in, except the Lord locates us somewhere? We are indeed as it
were flitting beings on the earth, and we may at any moment be tossed here and
there as the chaff. We have therefore no settled dwelling, except as far as we
are planted by the hand of God, or as far as God assigns to us a certain
habitation, and is pleased to make us rest in quietness. This is what the
Prophet means by saying, I will
plant them in their own land, nor shall they any more be pulled
up. How so? “Because, he says, I
have given to them the land”. He had indeed given it to them before, but
he suffered them to be pulled up when they had polluted the land. But now God
declares that his grace would outweigh the sins of the people; as though he
said, “However unworthy the people are, who dwell in this land, my gift
will yet be effectual: for I will not regard what they deserve at my hands, but
as I have given them this land, they shall obtain it.” We now apprehend
the meaning of the Prophet.
Now, if we look on what afterwards happened, it may
appear that this prophecy has never been fulfilled. The Jews indeed returned to
their own country, but it was only a small number: and besides, it was so far
from being the case, that they ruled over neighboring nations, that they became
on the contrary tributaries to them: and further still, the limits of their rule
were ever narrow, even when they were able to shake off the yoke. In what sense
then has God promised what we have just explained? We see this when we come to
Christ; for it will then be evident that nothing has been in vain foretold:
though the Jews have not ruled as to the outward appearance, yet the kingdom of
God was then propagated among all nations, from the rising to the setting of the
sun; and then, as we have said in other places, the Jews
reigned.
Further, what is here said of the abundance of corn
and wine, must be explained with reference to the nature of Christ’s
kingdom. As then the kingdom of Christ is spiritual, it is enough for us, that
it abounds in spiritual blessings: and the Jews, whom God reserved for himself
as a remnant, were satisfied with this spiritual abundance.
If any one objects and says, that the Prophet does
not speak here allegorically; the answer is ready at hand, even this, —
that it is a manner of speaking everywhere found in Scripture, that a happy
state is painted as it were before our eyes, by setting before us the
conveniences of the present life and earthly blessings: this may especially be
observed in the Prophets, for they accommodated their style, as we have already
stated, to the capacities of a rude and weak people. But as this subject has
been discussed elsewhere more at large, I only touch on it now as in passing and
lightly. Now follows the Prophecy of Obadiah, who is commonly called Abdiah.
Fc50
END OF THE
COMMENTARIES ON AMOS.
CALVIN’S
PREFACE
TO
OBADIAH
THIS PROPHECY does not consist of many oracles, nor
of many sermons, as other prophecies; but it only denounces on the Idumeans a
near destruction, and then promises a restoration to the chosen people of God.
But it threatens the Idumeans for the sake of administering consolation to the
chosen people; for it was a grievous and hard trial for the children of Jacob,
an elect people, to see the posterity of Esau, who had been rejected by God,
flourishing both in wealth and power.
As then the children of Israel were miserable in
comparison with their own kindred, the adoption of God might have appeared
worthless; and this was in great measure the reason why the Israelites preferred
the lot of other is observed by us, our sorrow is enhanced and our weariness is
increased. When therefore the Israelites saw the Idumeans living at ease and
beyond the reach of danger, and when they also saw them in the enjoyment of
every abundance, while they themselves were exposed as a prey to their enemies,
and were continually expecting new calamities, it could not have been, but that
their faith must have utterly failed, or at least become much weakened. For this
reason the Prophet here shows, that though the Idumeans now lived happily, yet
in a short time they would be destroyed, for they were hated by God; and he
shows that this would be the case, as we shall see from the contents of this
Book, for the sake of the chosen people.
We now then perceive the design of the Prophet: as
adversity might have weakened the Israelites, and even utterly broken them down,
the Prophet here applies comfort and props up their dejected minds, for the Lord
would shortly look on them and take due vengeance on their
enemies.
And the reason why this prophecy is levelled against
the Idumeans only is this, — that they, as we know, raged more cruelly
than any others against the Israelites: for it is not said without a cause in
<19D707>Psalm
137:7,
‘Remember the
children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, Make bare, make bare even to
the very foundations.’
Now at what time OBADIAH prophesied, it does not
appear fd1a
except that it is probable that this prophecy was announced, when the Idumeans
rose up against the Israelites and distressed them by many annoyances: for they
seem to be mistaken who think that OBADIAH lived before the time of Isaiah. It
appears that Jeremiah
(<244901>Jeremiah
49:1) and this Prophet made use of the same thoughts and nearly of the same
words, as we shall hereafter see. The Holy Spirit could, no doubt, have
expressed the same things in different words; but he was pleased to join
together these two testimonies, that they might obtain more credit.
fd2a I know
not whether Obadiah and Jeremiah were contemporaries, and on this subject we
need not bestow much labor. It is sufficient for us to know, that this prophecy
was added to other prophecies, that the Israelites might feel assured, that
though their kindred the Idumeans might prosper for a time, yet they could not
escape the hand of God, but would shortly be constrained to give an account of
their cruelty, inasmuch as they had without cause been all in a flame against
the distressed and afflicted people of God.
Now our Prophet shows at the end that God would
become the avenger of this cruelty, which the Idumeans had exercised; for though
he chastised his own people, he did not yet forget his gratuitous covenant. Let
us now come to the words.
COMMENTARIES
ON
THE PROPHET
OBADIAH
|
OBADIAH
1:1
|
|
1. The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord
GOD concerning Edom
Fd3; We have
heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise
ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
|
1. Visio Obadiae. Sic Dominus Jehova contra
Edom, Rumorem audivimus a Jehova, et legatus ad gentes missus est, Surgite et
surgamus contra eam ad proelium.
|
OBADIAH’S preface is, that he brought nothing
human, but only declared the vision presented to him from above. We indeed know
that it was God alone that was ever to be heard in the Church, as even now he
demands to be heard: but yet he sent his prophets, as afterwards the apostles;
yea, as he sent his only begotten Son, whom he has set over us to be our only
and sovereign Teacher. Obadiah then by saying that it was a vision, said the
same, as though he declared, that he did not presumptuously bring forward his
own dreams, or what he conjectured, or discovered by human reason, but that he
adduced only a celestial oracle: for
ˆwzj,
chezun, as we have observed in other places, was a vision, by which God
revealed himself to his Prophets.
He then adds,
Thus saith
Jehovah. Here is a fuller expression of the
same declaration. We thus see that the Prophet, in order that the doctrine he
brought forward might not be suspected, made God the author; for what faith can
be put in men, whom we know to be vain and false, except as far as they are
ruled by the Spirit of God and sent by Him? Seeing then that the Prophet so
carefully teaches us, that what he declared was delivered to him by God, we may
hence learn what I have lately referred to, — that the Prophets formerly
so spoke, that God alone might be heard among the people.
He says afterwards,
A rumor have we
heard. Some render it, a word, or a doctrine.
H[wmç,
shimuoe, is properly a hearing, and is derived from the verb the Prophet
subjoins. A hearing then have we heard; so it is translated literally. But some
think that what was taught is pointed out, as though he said, “The Lord
has revealed this to me and to other Prophets;” according to what Isaiah
says,
<235301>Isaiah
53:1, ‘Who has believed our hearing?’ It is the same word, and he
speaks of God’s word or doctrine. But it is probable that he refers here
to those tumultuous rumors, which commonly precede wars and calamities.
We
have then
heard a
rumor. The verb in Jeremiah is not in
the plural number,
wn[mç
shimonu, but wt[mç
h[wmç shimoti shimunoe, ‘I have
heard,’ says Jeremiah, ‘a hearing.’ But our Prophet uses the
plural number, ‘We have heard a hearing.’ The sense however is the
same; for Jeremiah says that he had heard rumors; and the Prophet here adds
others to himself, as though he said, “This rumor is spread abroad, but it
is from the Lord: it is certain that this rumor has been heard even by the
profane and the despisers of God.” But the Prophet shows that wars are not
stirred up at random, but by the secret influence of God; as though he said,
“When a tumult arises, let us not think that its beginning is from the
earth, but God himself is the mover.” We now then apprehend the design of
the Prophet: though he speaks of the rumor of wars, he yet shows that chance or
accident does not rule in such commotions, but the hidden influence of
God.
We have
heard, he says
from Jehovah, and a messenger,
or, an ambassador, to the nations has been sent
Fd4,
Arise ye, and we will arise
against her to battle. In Jeremiah, it is,
‘Assemble ye, come and arise against her to battle.’ The Prophet
here shows, I have no doubt, whence the rumor came, which he had just mentioned;
for they were now indeed stirring up one another to destroy that land. If any
one had formed a judgment according to human wisdom, he would have said that the
Assyrians were the cause why war was brought on the Idumeans, because they had
found them either inconstant or even perfidious, or because they had feigned a
pretense when there was no just reason for making war. But the Prophet here
raises his mind upwards and acknowledges God to be the mover of this war,
because he intended to punish the cruelty of that people, which they had
exercised toward their own kindred, the Israelites; and at the same time he
encourages others also, that they might understand that it was altogether
directed by the hidden counsel of God, that the Assyrians, from being friends,
became of a sudden enemies, that a war was all in a flame against the Idumeans
at a time when they were at ease, without any fear, without any apprehension of
danger. It follows —
|
OBADIAH
2-4
|
|
2 Behold, I have made thee small among the
heathen: thou art greatly despised.
|
2 Ecce parvum posui te inter gentes,
contemptus tu valde.
|
|
3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee,
thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that
saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
|
3 Superbia cordis tui decepit te, qui habitas
in scissuras petrae (vel, rupis;) excelsa habitatio ejus, dicens in corde suo,
Quis detrahet me in terram?
|
|
4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and
though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith
the LORD.
|
4 Si exaltaveris quasi aquila, etsi inter
nubes posueris nidum suum, inde ego detraham te, dicit Jehova.
|
Jeremiah uses nearly the same words; but the sense of
the expression is ambiguous, when he says, ‘Lo, little have I set
thee.’ To me it appears probable, that the Prophet reproves the Idumeans,
because they became arrogant, as it were, against the will of God, and in
opposition to it, when, at the same time, they were confined to the narrow
passes of mountains. It is said elsewhere,
(<390102>Malachi
1:2,) ‘Jacob and Esau, were they not brethren?’ “But I have
given to you the inheritance promised to your father Abraham; I have transferred
the Idumeans to mount Seir.” Now it is less bearable, if any one be elated
with pride, when his condition is not so honorable. I therefore think that the
Idumeans are here condemned because they vaunted so much, and arrogated to
themselves more than what was right, when they yet were contemptible, when their
condition was mean and obscure, for they dwelt on mount Seir. But others think
that the punishment, which was impending over them, is here denounced,
Lo, little have I made thee among
the nations, and Jeremiah says, ‘and
contemptible among men’; he omits the two words, thou and exceedingly;
he says only, ‘and contemptible among men’. But as to the
substance, there is hardly any difference. If then we understand that that
nation was proud without reason, the sense is evident, that is, that they, like
the giants, carried on war against God, that they vaunted themselves, though
confined to the narrow passes of mountains. Though I leave to others their own
free opinion, I am yet inclined to the former view, while the latter has been
adopted nearly by the consent of all; and that is, that God was resolved
forcibly to constrain to order those ferocious men, who, for no reason, and even
in opposition to nature, are become insolent. But if a different interpretation
be more approved, we may say, that the Prophet begins with a threatening, and
then subjoins a reason why God determined to diminish and even to destroy them:
for though they dwelt on mountains, it was yet a fertile region; and further,
they had gathered in course of long time much wealth, when they attained
security, when no enemy disturbed them. This then is the reasoning,
Lo, I have made thee small and
contemptible in the mountain, —
and why? because the pride of thy
heart has deceived thee; and Jeremiah
adds, terror
Fd5,
although some render
˚txlpt
taphlatastae, image; but this seems not appropriate. Jeremiah then, I
doubt not, mentions terror in the first place; for it almost ever happens, that
the proud strike others with fear: such then were the Idumeans.
Now if we follow the first meaning I explained, the
two verses may be read as
connected, Lo, I have made thee
small and contemptible among the
nations;
Fd6 but
the pride of thy heart has
deceived thee; some render it, has
raised thee up, deriving it from
açn
nusha: but they read
ç
shin, pointed on the left side; for if
açn
nusha has the point in the branch of the shin, on the right hand, it
means to deceive, but if on the left, it signifies to raise up. Then they give
this translations “The pride of thine heart has raised thee up:” but
we clearly learn from Jeremiah, that it ought, as almost all interpreters agree,
to be rendered thus, “The pride of thine heart has deceived thee:”
for he says not
˚ayçh
eshiac but ˚twa
ayçh eshia autea, that is, it was to
thee the cause of error and of madness. Of the sense then of this verb there can
be no doubt.
The Prophet now laughs to scorn the Idumeans, because
they relied on their own fortresses, and thought themselves, according to the
common saying, to be beyond the reach of darts; and hence they petulantly
insulted the Israelites and despised God himself. The Prophet therefore says,
that the Idumeans in vain felicitated themselves, for he shows that all they
promised to themselves were mere delusions. The import of what is said then is,
“Whence is this your security, that ye think that enemies can do you no
harm? Yea, ye despise God as well as men; whence is this haughtiness? whence
also is the great confidence with which ye are puffed up? Verily, it comes only
from mere delusions. The pride of
thine heart has deceived
thee.”
And yet there was not wanting a reason why the
Idumeans were thus insolent, as the Prophet also states: but he at the same time
shows that they had deceived themselves; for God cared not for their fortresses;
nay, he counted them as nothing. Thou dwellest, he says, (this is to be
regarded as a concession,)
in the clefts of the
stone; some read, “between the
windings of the rock;”
Fd7 though
others think
[ls
Salo to be the name of a city. But though I should allow that the Prophet
alludes to the name of a city, I yet do not see how can that stand which they
hold; for clefts comfort not with a city situated on a plain, though within the
ranges of mountains. I do not then doubt but that
[ls
Salo here means mount Seir. As then the Idumeans had fortresses amidst
rocks, they thought that all enemies could easily be kept out.
And hence it follows,
The height is his habitation,
that
is, he dwells in lofty places;
and hence he says in his heart, Who shall
draw me down to the
ground? He afterwards subjoins what I have
already stated, — that though their region was exceedingly well fortified,
yet the Idumeans were greatly deceived, and indulged themselves in vain
delusions, “If thou shouldest raise up thy seat, he says,
like the
eagle”, — literally,
‘If thou shouldest rise as the eagle,’ — “and if
thou shouldest among the clouds
Fd8 set and
nest, I will thence draw thee down, saith Jehovah”. We now see that the
Prophet did not without reason deride the confidence with which the Idumeans
were inflated, by setting up their fortresses in opposition to God: for it is
the greatest madness for men to rely on their own power and to despise God
himself. At the same time he could, as it were, easily dissipate by one blast
every idea of defense or of power that is in us; but this subject will be more
fully handled by us tomorrow.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest
us to be on every side at this day beset by so many enemies, even by those who
constantly devise means to destroy us, while we are so very weak and feeble,
— o grant, that we may learn to look up to thee, and that our trust may so
recumb on thee, that however exposed we may be to all kinds of danger according
to what appears to the flesh, we may not yet doubt but that thou art ever armed
with sufficient power to terrify our enemies, so that we may quietly live even
amidst all dangers, and never cease to call on thy name, as thou hast promised
to be the sure and faithful defender of our safety in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
LECTURE
SEVENTIETH
We observed in our yesterday’s Lecture, that it
nothing avails the ungodly, when they set up their fortresses against the
judgment of God, as though they could escape safe from his hand; for as God has
heaven and earth under his control, he can, whenever it pleases him, draw down
all who now despise his power, and, therefore, deride his Prophets, or regard as
nothing their threatening. This passage then ought to be carefully noticed; for
God declares that it is in his power to draw down from the very clouds those who
so raise themselves up, as to think themselves to be elevated above all dangers.
The Prophet now says —
|
OBADIAH
5
|
|
5. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by
night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough?
if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some
grapes?
|
5. An fures venerunt ad te? An praedones
nocturni? Quomodo in silentium redactus es? (vel, quomodo consumptus es?) annon
furati essent sufficientiam suam? An vindemiatores ad te venerunt? Annon
reliquissent racemos?
|
The Prophet shows in this verse that the calamity
with which God was resolved to afflict the Idumeans would not be slight, for
nothing would be left among them; and he amplifies what he says by a comparison.
When one is plundered of his property by thieves, he grieves, that what he had
acquired by much labor through life, has been in one moment taken from him: and
when any one has spent labor and expense in cultivating his vineyard, and
another takes away its fruit, he complains of his great misfortune, that he had
lost his property and big labor in the cultivation of his vineyard, while
another devours its fruit. But the Prophet intimates that God would not be
content with such kind of punishment as to the Idumeans.
Hence he says,
Have night thieves or robbers
come to thee? They must doubtless have stolen,
and have taken away what they thought sufficient for them; but now nothing shall
be left to thee. In short, the Prophet intimates that the Assyrians would not be
like thieves or night robbers, who stealthily and privately take away what comes
to their hands; but he means, that the Idumeans would be so plundered, that
their houses would be left wholly empty, and he declares that the Assyrians
would thus spoil them like night thieves or robbers, who are wont to proceed
with unbridled liberty; for none dares to resist them, or even to say a word
against them. This plundering then will not be, says the Prophet, of an ordinary
kind; but the enemies will make thee entirely empty.
The same is the object in view when he says,
Have
vintagers
come to
thee? To be sure, they commonly leave some
clusters; but the Assyrians will leave, no, not one: they shall depart so laden
with plunders, that thou shalt be left empty.
But all this, as we have reminded you, was said in
order to alleviate or to mitigate the grief of the faithful, who then deemed
themselves very miserable, as they were alone plundered by enemies; for they saw
that their neighbors were dwelling in safety, and even becoming partakers of the
spoil. Their condition therefore was very miserable and degraded. Hence the
Prophet, that he might moderate this bitter grief, says, that the Idumeans would
in no common way be plundered, for not a hair could be left them. This is the
import of the passage.
But some regard the verb
htymdn
nudamite as signifying, “Thou art reduced to silence;” for
the verb
µwd
dum or
hmd
dame means to be silent: and they give this exposition, “How dost
thou not endeavor at least to meet thine enemies?” for they take “to
be silent” in the sense of being still, as
hmd
dame is often so taken in Scripture, “How then have they been
silent?” but he speaks of the future in the past tense, as though God had
already inflicted punishment on the Idumeans, that faith in the prediction might
be made more certain: thou hast been reduced to silence, that is, how couldest
thou remain quiet on seeing thine enemies plundering with so much violence
— how then hast thou been reduced to silence? Others say, How hast thou
been consumed? for
hmd
dame often means to destroy. But to this point belongs no great
importance; for the Prophet means, that it could not be ascribed to chance, that
enemies would destroy the whole land of Edom, for the cruel assault would by no
means be of an ordinary kind: and then as the Idumeans thought that an entrance
to their enemies was on every side closed up, as they inhabited the summits of
mountains, according to what I have already said, and that they were most safe
in their recesses and lofty rocks, the Prophet here sets it forth as a wonderful
thing that God’s judgment would yet reach them. Let us proceed
—
|
OBADIAH
6
|
|
6. How are the things of Esau searched out!
how are his hidden things sought up!
|
6. Quomodo quaesita sunt Esau, pervestigata
abscondita ejus?
|
He confirms the former sentence, — that the
Idumeans in vain trusted that their riches would be safe, because they had
hidden and deep recesses. Even when a country is plundered by enemies, the
conquerors dare not to come to places of danger; when there are narrow passes,
they avoid them, for they think that there is there some evil design. Hence
conquerors, fearing hidden places, plunder only those which are open, and always
consider well whether their advance is safe: but Idumea, as we have said, had
hidden recesses, for its rocks were almost inaccessible, and there were many
conveniences there for hiding and concealing its riches. But the Prophet says,
that all this would be useless: and that he might more effectually rouse them,
he speaks with astonishment, as of something incredible.
How have been
sought the things of
Esau,
and thoroughly searched his hidden places! Who could have thought this? for they
might have concealed their treasures in rocks and caverns, and thence repelled
their enemies. But in vain would be all their attempts: how could this possibly
be? Here then he awakens the minds of men, that they might acknowledge the
judgment of God; and at the same time he laughs to scorn the vain confidence
with which the Idumeans were inflated; and besides, he strengthens the minds of
the godly, that they might not doubt but that God would perform what he
declares, for he can indeed penetrate even to the lowest deep.
In short, the Prophet intimates that the faithful did
not act wisely, if they measured God’s vengeance, which was impending on
the Idumeans, by their own understanding or by what usually happens; for the
Lord would make a thorough search, so that no hiding — places would escape
his sight; and then all their treasures would be exposed as a prey to their
enemies. We hence learn, that as men in vain seek hiding places for themselves
that they may be safe from dangers; so in vain they conceal their riches; for
the hand of God can penetrate beyond the sea, land, heaven, and the lowest deep.
Nothing then remains for us but ever to offer ourselves and all our things to
God. If he protects us under his wings, we shall be safe in the midst of
innumerable dangers; but if we think that subterfuges will be of any avail to
us, we deceive ourselves. The Prophet now adds —
|
OBADIAH
7-8
|
|
7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought
thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived
thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound
under thee: there is none understanding in him.
|
7. Usque ad terminum expulerunt te omnes viri
foederis tui; deceperunt te, praevaluerunt tibi, viri pacifici tui (viri pacis
tuae;) viri panis tui posuerunt vulnus sub te: nulla est intelligentia in
eo.
|
|
8. Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD,
even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of
Esau?
|
8. Annon in die illa, dicit Jehova, perdam
sapientes ex Edom? Et intelligentiam e monte Esau? (hoc est, e monte
Seir.)
|
Here the Prophet expresses the manner in which God
would punish the Idumeans: trusting in their confederacies, they despised God,
as we have already had to observe. The Prophet now shows that it is in the power
of God to change the minds of men, so that they who were their friends being
suddenly inflamed with rage, would go forth to destroy the Idumeans. Seeing then
that they regarded the Assyrians not only as a shield to them, but also as a
defense against God himself, the Prophet here declares that when it would be
God’s purpose to punish them, there would be no need to send to a distance
for agents or instruments to execute his vengeance; for he would arm the
Assyrians themselves and the Chaldeans, inasmuch as he could turn the hearts of
men as he pleased. We now see the Prophet’s meaning; for he here takes
away and shakes off the vain confidence of the Idumeans, that they might not
harden themselves for being fortified by confederacies and for having powerful
friends, for the Lord would turn friends into enemies.
To thy
border, he says,
have they driven
thee.
jlç
shilach is properly to send forth or to throw away; some render it, they
have followed; as though the Prophet here spoke of the neighboring nations, and
according to their view the meaning is, “However much thy neighbors may
love thee, yet nothing will they show of this love, except that they will follow
thee with feigned tears, when thine enemies shall lead thee away captive.”
But this is a strained exposition, and corresponds not with the context. The
Prophet then describes here, I doubt not, the change, such as would take place,
that the Idumeans might know, that they trusted in vain in their power and
defenses. The men of thy
covenant, he says,
have driven thee
away; as though he said, “See what
thou gainest in anxiously seeking the friendship of those who will yet be thy
enemies; hadst thou remained quiet in thy clefts, it would have been much better
for thee: but now thou runnest to Assyria and Chaldea, and this will be the
cause of thy ruin. Hence the men of thy covenant shall banish thee to the
border: but if thou hadst had no friendship nor commerce with them, thou
mightest have lived safely in thy recesses, no one would have driven thee out:
just, then, has been the reward of thy ambition, for having thus resorted to the
Assyrians and Chaldeans.”
Continuing the same subject, the Prophet says,
Deceived
thee
have the men of thy
peace — friends and confederates; for the
Hebrews call those men of peace, who are connected together by any kind of
alliance. The
men then of
thy
peace, that is those whom thou
thoughtest thou mightest trust, and on whom thou midst rely; — these have
deceived thee, even these have prevailed against thee, and oppressed thee
through craft and treachery. The
men of thy bread have placed under thee a
wound: the men of bread were those who
were guests or friends. Some give this rendering, “Who eat thy
bread;” and it is an admissible interpretation, for the Assyrians and
Chaldeans, as they were insatiable, had taken booty from the Idumeans; for
whosoever then hunted for their friendship, must have brought them some gifts.
Since then they thus sold their friendship, the Prophet rightly calls them the
men of bread with regard to those whose substance and wealth they devoured. If
then we take the men of bread in this sense, there is a probability in the
meaning. But we may give another interpretation, as though he had said that they
were guests and friends: these then
have fixed under thee a
wound, that is, they have been thy
destruction, and that through guile and hidden artifices. When one attacks
another openly, he who is attacked can avoid the stroke; but the Prophet says,
that the Assyrians and Chaldeans would be perfidious to the Idumeans, so as to
conquer them through treachery. Fix then
shall they a wound under
thee, as when one hides a dagger between
the bed and the sheet, when a person intends to go to sleep. So also he says
that a wound is placed underneath, when a feigned friend hides himself, that he
may more easily hurt him whom he assails deceitfully and
craftily.
He at length thus concludes,
There is no intelligence in
him. Here the Prophet no doubt derides in an
indirect way the foolish confidence with which the Idumeans were blinded; for
they thought themselves to be in a superlative degree wary, so that they had no
reason to fear, as they could see afar off, and arrange their concerns with the
utmost prudence. Since then they thought that they excelled in wisdom, and could
not be surprised by any craft, the Prophet says here, that there would be in
them no understanding.
But he immediately subjoins the reason, “Shall
I not in that day, saith Jehovah, destroy, or extinguish, the wise from
Edom?” While the Idumeans were prosperous, because they acted wisely, it
was incredible that they could thus in a moment be overthrown: but the Prophet
says, that even this was in the hand and power of God; “Can I not,”
he says, “put an end to whatever there is of wisdom in the Idumeans?
Cannot I destroy all their prudent men? This will I do.” We now then
perceive the import of the words.
But this place deserves notice: the Prophet upbraids
the Idumeans, and says, that their confederates and friends would prove their
ruin, because they had conspired among themselves beyond what was just and
right. When men thus mutually join together, there are none of them who do not
greedily seek their own advantage; in the meantime, both sides are deceived; for
God disconcerts their counsels, and blasts the issue, because they regard not
the right end. And when the wicked seek friendships, they ever blend something
that is wrong; they either try to injure the innocent, or they seek some
advantage. All the compacts then which the ungodly and the despisers of God make
with one another, have always something vicious intermixed; it is therefore no
wonder that the Lord disappoints them of their hope, and curses their counsels.
This is then the reason why the Prophet declares to the Idumeans, that those,
whom they thought to be their best and most faithful friends, would be their
ruin.
But here it may be objected and said, that the same
thing happens to the children of God. For David, though he acted towards all
with the utmost faithfulness and the greatest sincerity, yet complains, that the
man of his peace and a friend had contrived against him many
frauds,
‘Raised up his heel
against me,’ he says, ‘has the man of my peace; eat bread together
did I with him, and he with
me,’
(<194109>Psalm
41:9)
It was necessary also that this should have been the
case with Christ himself. Now, if the children of God must be conformed to the
image of Christ, what the Prophet says is no more than what applies to the whole
Church, and to every member of it. This may appear strange at the first view;
but a solution may be easily given: for while we strive to maintain peace with
all men, though they may perfidiously, through treachery, oppress us, yet the
Lord himself will succor us; and in the meantime, however hard may this trial
be, we yet know that our patience is tried by God, that he may at last deliver
us, so that we may confidently flee to him and testify our sincerity. But while
the ungodly mutually cheat one another, while with wicked and sideway artifices
they oppress and circumvent each other, while they cast forth their hidden
virulence, while they turn peace into war, they know that their recompense is
just and merited: they cannot flee to God, for their conscience restrains them.
They indeed understand that they have deserved what the Lord has justly repaid
them. It is then no wonder that the conspiracy in which the Idumeans trusted,
when they made the Chaldeans their friends, should have been accursed; for the
Lord turned to their ruin whatever they thought useful to
themselves.
This then is the import of the whole, — that if
we wish not to be deceived, we must not attempt anything without an upright
heart. Provided then we exceed not the limits of our calling, let us cultivate
peace with all men, let us endeavor to do good to all men, that the Lord may
bless us; but if it be his purpose to try our patience, he will be still present
with us, though false friends try us by their treacheries, though we be led into
danger by their malice, and be for a time trodden under their feet; if, on the
contrary, we act with bad faith, and think that we have fortunate alliances,
which have been obtained by wicked and nefarious artifices, the Lord will turn
for our destruction whatever we think to be for our safety.
We must now notice what the Prophet says,
Shall I not in
that
day destroy the wise from
Edom? Though men be in many respects blind,
whom God guides not by his Spirit, and on whom he shines not with his word, yet
the worst blindness is, when men become inebriated with the false conceit of
wisdom. When therefore any one thinks himself endued with understanding, so that
he can perceive whatever is needful, and that he cannot be circumvented, his
wisdom is insanity and extreme madness: it would indeed be better for us to be
idiots and fools than to be thus inebriated. Since then the wise of this world
are insane, the Lord declares that they will have no wisdom when the time of
trial comes. God indeed permits the ungodly for a long time to felicitate
themselves on account of their own acumen and counsels, as he suffered the
Idumeans to go on prosperously. And there are also many at this day who
felicitate themselves on their successes, and almost adore their own cunning.
Who indeed can persuade the Venetians that there is anywhere consummate wisdom
but among themselves, by which, forsooth, they surpass all others in deception?
For no other reason do they, amidst many agitations, retain their own position,
except that they seem to see farther into what is for their own advantages; nay,
that kings in general stand, and continue safe amidst so many shakings, this
they ascribe to their own wisdom: “Except I had looked well in this
respect to my own affairs, except I had anticipated danger, and except I had
foreseen it, it would have been all over as to my condition.” Thus they
think within themselves: but the Lord at length infatuates them, that it may be
evident, that this was not formerly said in vain to the Idumeans,
Shall I not in that day, saith
Jehovah, etc. and it was emphatically
added, in that day: for the Prophet means, that it was no wonder that the
Idumeans had been hitherto wary and adopted the best counsel; for it was not the
Lord’s purpose to deprive them of wisdom; but when the suitable time of
vengeance came, he instantly took away whatever prudence there was in them; for
it is indeed in God’s hand to take away whatever there is either of
understanding or of acuteness in men.
But we are warned by these words, that if we excel in
understanding, we are not to abuse this singular gift of God, as we see the case
to be with the ungodly, who turn to cunning whatever wisdom the Lord has
bestowed on them. There is hardly one in a hundred to be found, who does not
seek to be crafty and deceitful, if he excels in understanding. This is a very
wretched thing. What a great treasure is wisdom? Yet we see that the world
perverts this excellent gift of God; the more reason there is for us to labor,
that our wisdom should be founded in true simplicity. This is one thing. Then we
must also beware of trusting in our own understanding, and of despising our
enemies, and of thinking that we can ward off any evil that may impend over us;
but let us ever seek from the Lord, that we may be favored at all times with the
spirit of wisdom, that it may guide us to the end of life: for he can at any
moment take from us whatever he has given us, and thus expose us to shame and
reproach.
When he says,
from mount
Esau, he means mount Seir, as I have
already reminded you. But he meant to point out their whole country; for they
were almost surrounded by mountains, and dwelt, as it is well known, in that
Arabia which is called Patraea. It follows —
|
OBADIAH
9
|
|
9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be
dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by
slaughter.
|
9 Et deficient (vel, frangentur) fortes tui,
Theman, ut excidatur vir e monte Esau prae occisione (vel, quia excidetur;
ˆ[ml
enim postest duobis modis exponi.)
|
The Prophet, after having spoken of one kind of
God’s vengeance, adds another, — that he would break whatever there
was of strength in Idumea: and thus he shows that the courage and strength of
men, no less than their understanding, are in the hand of God. As then God
dissipates and destroys, whenever it pleases him, whatever wisdom there may be
in men, so also he enervates and breaks down their hearts: in a word, he
deprives them of all strength, so that they fail and come to nothing of
themselves. Were they who are proud of their strength and counsels rightly to
consider this, they would at length learn to submit themselves in true humility
to God. But this truth is what the world cannot be made to believe: yet God
shows to us here, as in a picture, that however men may flourish for a time,
they would immediately vanish, were not he to sustain them, and to support his
gifts in them, and keep them entire; and, especially, that empty smoke is
everything, that seems to be understanding and strength in men; for the Lord can
easily take away both, whensoever it may please him.
We ought therefore carefully to observe what he says
here, Broken down shall be thy
brave men, O Teman. Some think that a
particular country is here pointed out; for Teman is the south, that is, with
regard to Judea. But as Teman, we know, was one of the grandsons of Esau,
(<013615>Genesis
36:15
,) and as a part of Arabia was called by this
name, it is the more probable, that the Prophet turns here his discourse to
Idumea. But as to the word Teman, it is, a part taken for the
whole.
For cut off,
he
says, shall be
man: by saying, cut off shall man, he
means, that all to a man would be destroyed. How? “by slaughter”
Fd9. But
ltq
kothel means a slaughter in which no one remains alive. We hence see what
the Prophet means, — that all the Idumeans would be so broken down, that
all would fall, for there would be no heart nor strength to resist. It now
follows —
|
OBADIAH
10-11
|
|
10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob
shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
|
10. Propter oppressionem fratris tui Jacob,
operiet te opprobrium, et excideris in perpetuum.
|
|
11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other
side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and
foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast
as one of them.
|
11. Die quo stabas ex opposito, die quo alieni
auferebant substantiam ejus, et extranei ingressi sunt portas ejus, et super
Jerusalem miserunt sortem, etiam tu quasi unus ex illis.
|
The Prophet here sets forth the reason why God would
deal so severely and dreadfully with the Idumeans. Had he simply prophesied of
their destruction, it would have been an important matter; for the Jews might
have thereby known that their ruin was not chance, but the scourge of God; they
might have known that they themselves were with others chastised by God, and
this would have been a useful instruction to them: but what brought them the
chief consolation was to hear, that they were so dear to God that he would
undertake the defense of their wrongs and avenge them, that he would have a
regard for their safety. Hence, when they heard that God, because he loved them,
would punish the Idumeans, it was doubtless an invaluable comfort to them in
their calamities. To this subject the Prophet now comes.
For the unjust oppression of thy
brother Jacob, etc. The word
smj
chemes, violence, is to be taken passively; as though he said,
“See, how thou hast acted towards thy brother Jacob.” And he calls
him his brother, not for honor’s sake, but, on the contrary, for the
purpose of showing forth more fully the cruelty of the Idumeans; for
consanguinity had had no effect in preventing them from raging against their own
brethren, and as it were against their own bowels. It was therefore a proof of
barbarous inhumanity, that the Idumeans, forgetting their common nature, had
been so inflamed with hatred against their own brethren: for, as it is well
known, they had descended from the same common father, Abraham, and also from
Isaac, and had the symbol of circumcision. The Idumeans indeed professed that
they were the descendants of Abraham, and were God’s peculiar people.
Since then God had made his covenant with their common father Isaac, and since
they had equally retained circumcision, which was the seal of that covenant, how
did it happen, that the Idumeans conducted themselves so cruelly towards their
brethren? We hence see, that the name of brother in this clause —
for the oppression of thy brother
Jacob, is mentioned for the purpose of
enhancing their crime.
As then, he says, thou hast been so violent against
thy brother, cover thee shall
reproach, and forever shalt thou be cut
off.
He intimates that the calamity would not be only for a time as in the case of
Israel, but that the Lord would execute such a punishment as would prove that
the Idumeans were aliens to him; for God in chastising his Church ever observes
certain limits, as he never forgets his covenant. He proves indeed that the
Idumeans were not his people, however much they might falsely boast that they
were the children of Abraham, and make claim to the sign of circumcision; for
they were professedly enemies, and had entirely departed from all godliness: it
was then no wonder that their circumcision, which they had impiously profaned,
was made no account of. But he afterwards more fully and largely unfolds the
same thing.
In the
day, he says,
in which thou didst stand on the
opposite
side”.
But the Idumeans might have made this objection, “Why dost thou accuse us
for having violently oppressed our brother? for we were not the cause why they
were destroyed: they had a quarrel with the Assyrians, we labored to protect our
own interest in the midst of these disturbances; we sought peace with the
Assyrians, and if necessity so compelled us, that ought not to be ascribed to us
as a crime or blame.” In this way the Idumeans might have made a defense:
but the Prophet dissipates all such pretenses by saying,
In the day in which thou
didst stand on the opposite side, in the day in which strangers took away his
substance, and aliens entered his gates, and cast lots on
Jerusalem — were not thou there? Even
thou were as one of them. Now this is emphatically introduced — Even
thou or, thou also; (Tu etiam) for the Prophet exhibits it here as a
hateful omen: “It was no wonder that the Assyrians and Chaldeans shed the
blood of thy brethren, for they were enemies, they were foreigners, they were a
very distant people: but thou, who were of the same blood, thou, whom the bond
of religion ought to have restrained, and further, even thou, who oughtest by
the very claims of vicinity either to have helped thy brethren, or at least to
have condoled with them — yea, thou were so cruel as to have been as one
of his enemies: this surely can by no means be endured.”
We now perceive what the Prophet meant by saying,
In the day in which thou didst
stand on the opposite side: it is then
as it were, an explanation of the former sentence, lest the Idumeans should make
a false excuse by objecting that they had not been violent against their
brethren. It was indeed the worst oppression, when they stood over against them;
though they were not armed they yet took pleasure in a spectacle so mournful;
besides they not only were idle spectators of the calamity of their brethren but
were also as it were a part Of their enemies. “Hast thou then not been as
one of them?” I shall not proceed farther now.
PRAYER
Grant Almighty God, that as thou hast
once received us under thy protection, and hast promised that our salvation
would be so much cared for by thee, that whatever Satan and the whole world may
contrive, thou wilt yet keep us safe and secure, — O grant, that being
endued with perseverance, we may remain within our borders, and be not carried
away here and there either by craft or by wicked counsels; but be thou pleased
to keep us in genuine integrity, that being protected by thy help, we may, by
experience, find that true which thou declarest in thy word, that they who call
on thee in truth shall ever know thee to be propitious to them: and since thou
hast already made open to us an access to thee in the person of thy only —
begotten Son, O grant, that we the sheep, may rely on him as our shepherd, and
resignedly abide under his protection until we be removed from all dangers into
that eternal rest, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy Son Jesus
Christ. Amen.
LECTURE
SEVENTY-FIRST.
|
OBADIAH
12-14
|
|
12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the
day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou
have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction;
neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of
distress.
|
12. Et non aspicias in die fratris tui, in die
alientationis ejus, et ne gaudeas super filiis Jehudah die exitii corum, et ne
magnifices os tuum in die afflictionis (hoc est, ne magnifice
loquaris.)
|
|
13. Thou shouldest not have entered into the
gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have
looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on
their substance in the day of their calamity;
|
13. Ne intres in portam populi mei die exitii
eorum, ne aspicias etiam tu in afflictione ejus, (in malo ejus,) in die exitii
ejus, et ne extendas (manum subaudiendum est) in substantiam ejus in die exitii
ejus;
|
|
14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the
crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have
delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of
distress.
|
14. Et ne stes super exitum (vel,
lacerationem, confractionem,) ad perdendum eos qui evaserint, et ne tradas (vel,
concludas) residuos ejus in dic afflictionis.
|
The Prophet enumerates here the kinds of cruelty
which the Idumeans exercised towards the Church of God, the children of Abraham,
their own kindred. But he speaks by way of prohibition; it is then a
personification, by which the Prophet introduces God as the speaker, as though
he taught and admonished them on the duties of human kindness. Engraven, indeed,
on their hearts ought all these to have been, on account of which he now
reproaches them; for by forgetting humanity they had departed from everything
right which nature requires. God indeed did not commence by instructing or
teaching the Idumeans what were their duties; but the Prophet reminds them of
things which must have been well known to them, and were beyond all dispute
true.
Hence he says,
Thou shouldest not look on in the
day of thy
brother, in the day of his
alienation. The day of Judah he calls that in
which God visited him: so the day of Jerusalem is called the day of calamity.
Thou shouldest
not then
look
on: we know in what sense this verb, to
look on, is usually taken in Scripture; it is applied to men, when they lie in
wait, or very anxiously desire anything, or rejoice at what they witness. The
Prophet no doubt takes it metaphorically for taking delight in the misery of the
chosen people; for, shortly after, he repeats the same word.
Thou shouldest
not then
look on in the day of thy
brother, even
in the day of his
alienation. Some take another sense; but
I approve of their opinion, who regard this alienation as meaning exile; at the
same time, they give not the reason for this metaphor, which is this, —
that such a change then took place in the people, that they put on a new
appearance. It was then alienation, when God wholly abolished the glory of the
kingdom of Judah, and when he took away all his favors, so that the appearance
of the people became deformed. In
the day then
of his
alienation, that is, when the Lord
stripped him of his ancient dignity.
Thou shouldest not rejoice, he
says, over the children of
Judah, in the day of their
destruction, that is of their ruin; “thou
shouldest not make thy mouth great in the day of affliction”. We now
perceive what the Prophet means. Though indeed he seems here to show to the
Idumeans their duty, he yet reproves them for having neglected all the laws of
humanity, and of having been carried away by their own pride and cruelty. It
hence follows that they were worthy of that dreadful vengeance which he has
already mentioned. In case then the Idumeans complained that God dealt too
severely with them, the Prophet here reminds them, that they in many ways sought
such a ruin for themselves, — How so? “Were not thou delighted with
the calamity of thy brother? Didst not thou laugh when Judah was distressed? And
didst not thou speak loftily in ridicule? Was this outrageousness to be endured?
Can the Lord now spare thee, as thou hast been so cruel towards thy
brother?” And he repeats the name of brother, for the crime was the more
atrocious, as it has been already said, as they showed no regard for those of
their own blood. But the Prophet often mentions either affliction, or ruin, or
calamity, or evils, or adversity; for it is a feeling naturally implanted in us,
that when one is distressed, we are touched with pity; even when we see our
enemies lie prostrate on the ground, our hatred and anger are extinguished, or
at least are abated: and all who see even their enemies ill — treated,
become, as it were, other men, that is, they put off the anger with which they
were previously inflamed. As then this is what is common almost to all men, it
appears that the Idumeans must have been doubly and treble barbarous, when they
rejoiced at the calamity of their brethren, and took pleasure in a spectacle so
sad and mournful, and even spoke proudly, and jeered the miserable Jews; for
this, as we have said, is the meaning of the words, to make great the
mouth.
It follows,
Thou shouldest not enter the
gates of my people in
the day of their destruction, nor
shouldest thou look on in their
calamity.
Probably the Idumeans had made an irruption in company with the Assyrians and
Chaldeans, when they ought to have remained at home, and there to lament the
slaughter of their brethren. For if I cannot save my friend from death or from a
calamity, I shall yet withdraw myself, for I could not bear to look on: but were
I constrained to look on my friend, and be not able to succor him in his
necessity, I should rather close my eyes; for there is in the eyes, we know, the
tenderest sympathy. As then the Idumeans willingly went forth and entered
Jerusalem with the enemies, it was hence evident that they were no better than
wild beasts. Thou shouldest
not then, he says,
enter the gates of my people in
the day of slaughter, nor shouldest thou especially then, look
on. He again repeats
hta
µg gam ate, thou also, or, especially
thou: “If other neighbors do this, yet thou shouldest abstain, for thou
art of the same blood; if thou can’t not bring help, show at least some
token of grief and of sympathy: but as thou willingly and gladly lookest on
their calamities, it is quite evident that there is not in thee a particle of
right feeling.”
He afterwards adds,
Thou shouldest not stretch forth
thy hand
to his
substance. Here he accuses the Idumeans of
having been implicated in taking the spoils with other enemies, as though he
said, “Ye have not only suffered your brethren to be pillaged, but ye
became robbers yourselves. Ye ought to have felt sorrow in seeing them
distressed by foreign enemies; but ye have plundered with them, and enriched
yourselves with spoils; this certainly is by no means to be
endured.”
It follows,
And thou shouldest not stand on
the going forth. The word
qrp
perek signifies to break, to dissipate, to rend; hence
qrp
perek, as a noun, in Hebrew means rending and breaking. Therefore some
take it metaphorically for a place where two ways meet, when one road is cut or
divided into two. When the two meet then there is a going forth by two ways;
hence they take
qrp,
perek, for such a place. But we may simply take it for the rending of the
people. Though I am certainly pleased with the first explanation, yet I do not
confine the word to that meaning; and I prefer the idea of going forth, as it
harmonizes better with the context: Thou hast
stood
then on the going
forth; and for what purpose?
To destroy those who had escaped,
and to stop or to deliver up his remaining captives in the day of
affliction. In short, the Prophet means
that the Idumeans occupied all the ways, to intercept the miserable exiles, to
whom flight was the only way of safety.
As then the miserable Jews tried by winding outlets
to provide for their own safety, the Prophet says that they were intercepted by
the Idumeans, lest any of them should escape, and that they were stopped, that
afterwards they might be slain by their enemies. Inasmuch as the Assyrians and
the Chaldeans were a people far remote from Judea, it is probable that the roads
were unknown to them, and that they were afraid of being entrapped; but the
Idumeans, who were familiarly acquainted with all their roads, could stand at
all the outlets. Some give the following explanation, but it is too frigid:
Thou shouldest not stand for the
rending of thy brethren, that is, thou
should not stand still, but strive to extend a helping hand to the distressed:
but this, as I have said, is too frigid and strained.
Thou shouldest
not then stand on the going forth
of the roads to
destroy. We now see what the Prophet had
in view; to destroy, he says, and whom did they destroy? Even those who
had already escaped. Expressly then is pointed out here the cruelty
to which I have referred, that the Idumeans were not contented with the ruin of
the city, and the great slaughter which had been made; but in case any had
stealthily escaped, they occupied the outlets of the roads, that they might not
flee away: and the same thing is meant when he adds, that all were betrayed or
stopped who had remained alive in the day of affliction.
We now understand the Prophet’s meaning;
— that the Idumeans could not complain that God was too severe with them,
when he reduced them to nothing, because they had given examples of extreme
cruelty towards their own brethren, and at a time when their calamities ought to
have obliterated all hatred and old enmities, as it is usually the case even
with men the most alienated from one another. Let us proceed
—
|
OBADIAH
15
|
|
15. For the day of the LORD is near upon all
the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall
return upon thine own head.
|
15. Quia propinquus dies Jehovae super omnes
gentes; sicut fecisti fiet tibi; merces tua revertetur in caput
tuum.
|
By saying that
the day of Jehovah was nigh upon
all nations, the Prophet may be regarded
as reasoning from the greater to the less: “If God will not spare other
nations, how canst thou escape his hand?” In a like manner does Jeremiah
speak in chapter 49,
(<244912>Jeremiah
49:12) he addresses the Idumeans in these words, ‘Behold, they shall drink
of the cup, who have not been by judgment condemned to drink; and shalt thou not
taste? by drinking thou shalt drink to the very dregs. He shows then that the
Idumeans deserved a double vengeance; for if indeed they were compared with the
Assyrians and Chaldeans, the fault of the latter would appear small: the
Chaldeans might pretend some causes for the war, they were aliens, they were, in
short, professed enemies; but the Idumeans were neighbors and kindred. The same
thing might be also said of other nations. But the words may be explained in a
simpler manner; and that is, that God would not only take vengeance on one or
two nations, but on all. “See,” he says, “a change will take
place not only in one corner, but in the whole world. The Lord will thus show
that he is the judge of the whole earth. Hence it follows, that the Idumeans
also must render an account, for God has resolved to execute judgment on all
nations; no one whatever shall be passed by.”
Behold, then, nigh is the day of
Jehovah. We have said that the time in which
Obadiah prophesied is unknown to us. But it is no matter of wonder that he
declares that nigh is the day of
Jehovah; for the Lord hastens not after
the manner of men; but, at the same time, he knows his own seasons; and this is
ever accomplished, that when the ungodly think themselves to be at rest, then
sudden destruction overtakes them.
He draws this conclusion,
As thou hast done, so shall it
be
done to
thee. There seems, however, to be here an
implied comparison between the chastisement of the chosen people and the
punishment which shall be inflicted on other nations. When the Idumeans saw that
the kingdom of Israel and of Judah was trodden under foot, they thought that the
children of Abraham were thus punished because they had despised their own
Prophets, because they had become immoral and perverse in the extreme. Thus they
exempted themselves and others from punishment. Now the Prophet declares that
God had been the judge of his people, but that he is also the judge of the whole
world, and that this would quickly be made evident. When, therefore, he says,
that nigh was the day of
Jehovah, he had, I have no doubt, a
regard, as I have already said, to the chastisement of the Church; as though he
said, “As God has proved himself to be one who justly punishes sins with
respect to Israel and Judah; so also at length he will ascend his tribunal to
judge all the nations; no one, therefore, shall escape punishment. All then in
their different conditions shall be constrained to give an account of their
actions, for the Lord will spare none: and though he has begun with his Church
and his own house, yet there will come afterwards the suitable time to take
vengeance, when he will extend his hand to punish all heathen nations.”
This, seems to me to be the real meaning.
Rightly then does he conclude,
As
then thou hast done, it shall be
done to thee: “Think not that thou
shalt be unpunished for having gone against thy brother. It was God’s
purpose to exhibit an example of his severity towards others, while he spared
thee; but thou hast abused his forbearance; for thou mightest have remained
quiet at home: the Lord will then repay thee.” And then he subjoins,
Thy reward shall
recoil, or return,
on thine own
head. Here the Prophet announces what
Christ also says
‘With what measure
any one measures, it shall be repaid to him,’
(<400702>Matthew
7:2.)
This sentence is worthy of being noticed: for when
God leaves the innocent to the will of the ungodly, they think that they may do
whatever they please with impunity, as though they were the executioners of God.
As then they become thus insolent when the Lord spares them, let us take notice
of what the Prophet says here, — that a reward is prepared for every one,
and that whatever cruelty the ungodly may exercise, it shall be returned on
their own heads. It follows —
|
OBADIAH
16
|
|
16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy
mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and
they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not
been.
|
16. Quia sicuti bibistis super montem sanctum
meum, bibent omnes gentes jugiter, bibent (inquam) et sorbebunt; et erunt quasi
non sint.
|
Here Obadiah proceeds farther and says, that God
would revenge the wrongs done to his Church. The declaration in the last verse
was general, “Behold, on all the nations the day of Jehovah is nigh; as
then thou hast done, God will repay thee:” but now he shows that this
would be, because God purposed to defend his own servants, (clientes
— clients;)and as they had been cruelly treated, he would become the
avenger of their wrongs; As then
ye have drunk on my holy
mountain, etc. The Prophet, I have no doubt,
taking a part for the whole, included in the word drink their triumphs and
rejoicings. As then ye have rejoiced on my holy mountain, so also all the
nations shall drink and continue their excess;
they shall drink
up, so that ye shall utterly perish. But
the Prophet appears to me evidently to add here a proof of their avariciousness.
He had shortly before accused the Idumeans of having taken away a part of the
spoil, together with the foreign nations, when the miserable Jews were
plundered. So also, he says now,
Ye have
drunk, in token of triumph and
rejoicing.
Ye
have then
drunk
wine on my holy
mountain:
now drink shall all the
nations. This latter drinking is to be
taken in a sense different from the former. What then?
Drink they shall, and
drink up, that is, “They shall
consume all your substance.” And he afterwards adds,
And drink they shall continually;
and they shall be as though they had not
been, that is they shall not cease to
eat and to drink until they shall consume whatever is among you. He then
intimates that the Idumeans, who had enriched themselves with the spoils of
their brethren, and who had also kept feastings in token of their joy on the
holy mountain, would hereafter be the food of others,
for all the nations would drink,
and drink them up. To drink then here is
the same as to consume. It follows, (for I am under the necessity of finishing
this prophecy today, and time, I hope, will allow me) —
|
OBADIAH
17
|
|
17. But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance,
and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their
possessions.
|
17. Et in monte Sion erit evasio, et erit
sanctitas (nempe mons ipse;) et possidebit domus Jacob possessiones suas (alii
vertunt, eos a quibus possidebantur.
|
Here the Prophet promises deliverance to the Jews;
for other consolations would have been of no great moment, had they, who then
were perishing, no hope of being some time restored to safety. The Jews might
indeed have objected, and said, “What is it to us, though the Lord may
avenge our wrongs? Should the Idumeans be destroyed for our sake, what profit
will that be to us? We are in the meantime destroyed and have no hope of
deliverance.” The Prophet here meets this objection, and says,
In mount Zion shall be
escape. Though then the Idumeans had
attempted to intercept all outlets, as it has been before mentioned, yet God
promises here that there would be an escape in mount Zion: he says not, from
mount Zion, but in the very mountain. What does this mean? even that God would
restore those who might seem then to be lost. Then Obadiah clearly promises that
there would be a restoration of the Church.
But we are taught in this place, that the punishment,
by which the Lord chastises his people for their sins, is ever for a time.
Whenever then God inflicts wounds on his Church, prepared at the same time is
the remedy; for God designs not, nor does he suffer, that his own people should
be wholly lost. This we may learn from the Prophet’s words, when he says,
that there would be escape in Zion. And it was no ordinary comfort for the Jews
to know, that even in their extreme decay, there remained for them some hope of
deliverance, and that the people, who might appear at the time to be extinct,
would yet be saved, and preserved alive, as though they arose from the
dead.
He says that mount Zion would be holiness or
holy, by which he means that God would be mindful of his covenant. As then he
had chosen mount Zion where he would be worshipped, the Prophet intimates that
God’s name was not there involved presumptuously or in vain. Inasmuch as
God had chosen this mount for himself, it was holy; for God is said to have
profaned the land and the temple, when he forsook them and delivered them up
into the hands of enemies. So also now when the Prophet says, that mount Zion
would be holy, it is the same as though he had said, that God would have a care
for this mountain, because he had once consecrated it to himself, and designed
it to be his own habitation. The cause then is put here for its effect. He had
said, that the Jews would survive, how much soever like the lost and the dead
they might for a time be, — How could such a thing be? The reason is this,
— mount Zion shall be holy: it was a dreadful profanation of mount Zion
when the temple was destroyed, when the holy vessels were taken away by the
Babylonians, when, in short, the enemies showed there every kind of insolence.
But when the Lord restored his people, when the altar was built again, and
sacrifices were offered, then mount Zion recovered its holiness, that is, God
manifested that the grace of his election had not been abolished, for he had
again sanctified mount Zion, and thus designed it to be preserved safe.
Holy
then shall be mount
Zion. Were any one disposed to refine
more on the Prophet’s words, he might say, that it is evidently the manner
of our salvation that is intended, when God is said to sanctify or govern us by
his Spirit: but the Prophet, I have no doubt, has regard here simply to the
election of God.
And the house of Jacob shall again
possess his own
possessions,
that is whatever God has given as an heritage to the children of Abraham, he
will restore to them when they return from exile. If any one prefers to take
possessions to be those of Edom, I do not object. But yet I think that the real
meaning of the Prophet is, that when the children of Israel should return from
exile, God would restore to them their ancient country, that they might possess
whatever had been promised to their father Abraham. He means then, by their
possessions, the whole land, which came by lot into the possession of the chosen
people, as it had been promised to Abraham. It follows —
|
OBADIAH
18
|
|
18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they
shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of
the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.
|
18. Et erit domus Jacob ignis, et domus Joseph
in flammam (flamma, ut respondeat,) et domus Esau erit palea; et ardebunt in
ipsis et consument (vorabunt) eos; et non erit quidquam residuum domui Esau,
quia Jehova loquutus est.
|
Here again the Prophet meets a doubt, which might
come into the mind of each of them; for the Idumeans were flourishing, and their
condition was independent, when the Israelites as well as the Jews were led into
exile, and Jerusalem with its temple was destroyed. They might under such
circumstances despair; but the Prophet shows, that though for a time the house
of Jacob seemed to be dead, yet a fire would be kindled, which would consume the
Idumeans, though they were then proud of their power and their wealth, and also
of the prosperous issue of the victory over the Jews, for they had been
enriched, and well as the Assyrians, by the overthrow of their brethren. A
similar mode of speaking Isaiah also adopts; though he directs his discourse,
not to the Idumeans, but to others, yet his manner of speaking is the same when
he says, that God, the light of Israel, would be a fire and a flame to consume
the wicked,
(<232906>Isaiah
29:6
.)
But this was fulfilled, when the Lord avenged the
cruelty of Edom, though the Jews were then in exile and could not move a finger,
when they were without arms, yea, when they were miserable slaves: the Idumeans
were even then consumed, by what fire? how was this burning kindled? Even then
the house of Jacob and the house
of Joseph were like a
fire and a
flame. The cause of this ruin, it is
true, did not immediately appear to the Idumeans: but we must here look to the
purpose of God. Why did God with so much severity punish the Idemeans? Because
he intended by this example to show how much he loved his Church. Since then
their cruelty was the cause of ruin to the Idumeans, rightly does the prophet
say, that the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph would be like a fire and a
flame to consume the Idumeans. And it was not a small solace to the miserable
exiles, when they understood, that they were still regarded by God in their
depressed condition. Inasmuch then as they were exposed to the reproach and
ridicule of all, it pleased God to testify that they were the objects of his
care, and that he would, for their sake, destroy whole nations even those who
then gloried in their power. We now then see why the Prophet adopted this
figurative language. By the house of Joseph, he means as we have said elsewhere
the kingdom of Israel; he mentions a part for the whole. It follows
—
|
OBADIAH
19-20
|
|
19. And they of the south shall possess the
mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the
fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess
Gilead
|
19..Et possidebunt meridiem montis Esau, et
planietiem Philistim, et possidebunt agros Ephraim et agros Samariae; et
Benjamin possidebit Gilead.
|
|
20. And the captivity of this host of the
children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath;
and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities
of the south.
|
20. Et migratio exercitus hujus filiorum
Israel, quod Chananaeorum fuit usque ad Zerphath (vel, qui sunt in Chananaeis,)
et migratio Jerusalem, quod in Sepharad, possidebunt (in quam) urbes Australes
(vel, meridionales.)
Fd10
|
The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, —
that God would not only gather the remnants of his people from the Babylonian
exile, but would restore the exiles, that they might rule far and wide, and that
their condition might be better than it was before: for the Prophet, as I think,
directs the attention to the first blessing of God, which had been deposited in
the hand of Abraham. God had promised to the posterity of Abraham the whole land
from Euphrates to the sea. Now this land had never been possessed by the
children of Abraham. This happened, as it is well known, through their sloth and
ingratitude. David in his time enlarged the borders; but yet he only made those
tributaries whom God had commanded to be destroyed. So this blessing had never
been fulfilled, because the people put a hindrance in the way. The Prophet now,
speaking of the restoration of the Church, tells the people, who would return
from exile, that they were to occupy the country which had been promised to
their fathers as though he said, “There will come to you a full and
complete inheritance.”
Now it is certain that this prophecy has never been
completed: we know that but a small portion of the land was possessed by the
Jews. What then are we to understand by this prophecy? It does unquestionably
appear that the Prophet speaks here of the kingdom of Christ; and we know that
the Church was then really restored, and that the Jews not only recovered their
former state from which they had fallen, but that their kingdom was increased:
for how great became the splendor of the kingdom and of the temple under Christ?
This then is what the Prophet now means, when he promises to the Jews the
heritage which they had lost; yea, God then enlarged the borders of Judea. Hence
he shows that they should not only be restored to their former condition, but
that the kingdom would be increased in splendor and wealth, when Christ should
come. Let us now run over the words.
Possess then shall they the south
of the mount of Esau. The space was no doubt
great: even when David reigned, the Jews did not possess that part or south
portion of mount Seir. Then the Prophet, as I have said, shows that the borders
of the kingdom would be more extensive than they had been.
And the
plain, he says,
of the
Philistines. On that side also the Lord
would cause that the Jews would extend farther than their kingdom.
And possess they shall the fields
of Ephraim. Here I will not spend much
labor in describing the land: but it is enough for us to understand that the
design of the Prophet was to show, that the state of the people after their
exile would be far more splendid than it had been before, even under the reign
of David. What he means by Gilead is not very clear: but it is not probable that
mount Gilead is referred to here, which was not far distant from the tribe of
Benjamin, but rather that a town or some place distant from that part, and not
included in their portion, is pointed out.
He afterwards adds,
And the migrations of this host
of the
children of
Israel, etc. There is here an obscurity in the
words. The Hebrews by Canaan mean the Illyrians as well as Germans, and also the
Gauls: for they say, that the migration, which shall be dispersed in Gaul, and
in Germany, and in these far regions, shall possess the southern cities. Now by
Zarephath they understand Spain. But we know, as we have elsewhere said, that
the Jews are very bold in their glosses: for they are not ashamed to trifle and
to blend frivolous things; and they assert this as though it were evident from
history, and easily found out. Thus they prattle about things unknown to them,
and this they do without any reason or discrimination. The Prophet, I doubt not,
means here that all those territories, which had been formerly promised to the
children of Abraham, would come into their possession when the Lord would send
his Christ, not only to restore what had fallen, but also to render the state of
the people in every way blessed. The import of the whole then is, that the Jews
shall not only recover what they had lost, but what had not hitherto been given
them to possess: all this the Lord would bestow on them when Christ came. It
follows —
|
OBADIAH
21
|
|
21. And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to
judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the
LORD’S.
|
21. Et ascendent servatores in montem Sion, ad
judicandum montem Esau; et erit Jehovae regnum.
|
Here the Prophet says, that there are in God’s
hand ministers, the labor of whom he employs to preserve his own people. He
alludes here, I have no doubt, to the history of the judges. We indeed know that
the people of Israel were often so distressed, that their deliverance was almost
incredible; and that yet they were also delivered in such a way as to have made
it evident that the hand of God had appeared from heaven. Since this then was
well known to the Jews, the Prophet here reminds them that God had still in his
hand redeemers, whenever it might please him to gather his people. God then
shall send preservers, even as he did send them formerly to your fathers.
They had indeed found true by experience what the Prophet says here, not only
once, but more than ten times. This then ought to have served much to confirm
this prophecy.
Ascend
then shall they who will judge the mount of Esau, — who, being endued with
the power of God and his authority, will execute judgment on mount Seir and on
the whole nation, and will avenge the cruelty which Edom had exercised towards
the children of Abraham.
But this passage shows, that Christ came not to be
the minister of our deliverance and salvation in an ordinary way, but that he
became our savior in a special manner; so that he stands alone in that capacity:
and this is a very strong argument against the Jews. They confess that the
Messiah would be the Redeemer of his people, but they ascribe this office to him
in a general way, as they do to David and other kings. But it certainly appears
from this passage, that the Messiah would not be of the common class, for
saviors would be under him as his ministers. This the Jews dare not to deny,
though they grumble: for it would be absurd that he should be one of their
number. Since then he was sent to be a Redeemer and Savior in a way different
from others, it follows that he is not man only, but that he is the Author of
salvation. It would indeed be easy to reply, “Why do you speak to us of
many redeemers? Do you not hope for one Savior? If God will commit this office
to many in an equal degree, why are there so many glorious promises respecting
the Messiah? Why are we ever reminded of him alone? Why is he alone set forth to
us as the ground of our salvation?” It hence certainly appears that Christ
is to be distinguished from all others, and that others are saviors under his
authority; and such were the apostles, and such are all at this day, the labor
and ministry of whom God employs to defend and support his
Church.
Now he adds, Jehovah’s shall be the kingdom.
But as it is certain, that it was God’s purpose to rule among his people
after having restored them, in no other way than by the power of Christ, the
Prophet, by saying that the kingdom of Christ would be Jehovah’s, means,
that it would be really divine, and more illustrious than if he had employed the
labor of men. But two things must be here observed by us, — that God
himself really rules in the person of Christ, — and that it is the
legitimate mode of ruling the Church, that God alone should preside, and hold
alone the chief power. Hence it follows, that when God does not appear as the
only King, all things are in confusion, without any order. Now God is not called
a King by way of an empty distinction: but then only is he regarded a King in
reality, when all submit themselves to him, when they are ruled by his word; in
short, when all creatures become silent in his presence. To God then belongs the
kingdom. We hence see that the Church has no existence, where the word of God
does not so prevail in its authority, as to keep down whatever height there is
in men, and to bring them under the yoke, so that all may depend on God alone,
that all may look up to him, and that he may have all in subjection to
himself.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we are so
scattered in our pilgrimage in this world, that even a dreadful spectacle is
presented to our eyes, when we see thy Church so miserably rent asunder, O
grant, that being endued with the real power of thy Spirit, and gathered into
one, we may so cultivate brotherly kindness among ourselves, that each may
strive to help another, and at the same time keep our eyes fixed on Christ
Jesus; and though hard contests may await us, may we yet be under his care and
protection, and so exercise patience, that having finished our warfare, we may
at last enjoy that blessed rest, which thou hast promised to us, and which is
laid up for us in heaven, and which has also been purchased for us by the blood
of Christ thy Son, one Lord. Amen.
END OF THE
COMMENTARIES ON OBADIAH.
A TRANSLATION OF
CALVIN’S
VERSION OF
THE PROPHECIES
OF JOEL.
CHAPTER
1
1 The
word of Jehovah which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear
this, ye the aged; And give ear, al ye inhabitants of the land; Hath this been
in your days, Or in the days of your fathers?
3 This
to your children declare, And your children to their children, And their
children to the next generation,—
4 “The
residue of the locust hath the chafer eaten, “The residue of the chafer
hath the cankerworm eaten, “The residue of the cankerworm hath the
caterpillar eaten.”
5 Awake
ye drunkards, and weep; Howl ye all who drink wine for the new wine; For cut off
it is from your mouth.
6 Verily
a nation came up over my land, Strong and without number: Its teeth the teeth
the teeth of a lion, And its jaw-bones those of a young
lion:
7 It
exposed my vine to desolation, And my fig-tree to the stripping of the bark; By
denuding it denuded it and cast it away, White have been made its
branches.—
8 Lament
as a young woman, girded with sackcloth, For the husband of her
youth.
9 Cut
off is offering and libation From the house of Jehovah; Mourn do the priests,
the ministers of Jehovah;
10 Wasted
is the field, mourn does the land; For laid waste is the corn, Dried up is the
wine, destroyed is the oil.
11 Be
ashamed, ye husbandmen, howl, ye vinedressers, On account of the wheat and the
barley; For perished has the harvest of the field,
12 The
vine is dried up, and the fig-tree is destroyed; The pomegranate, the palm also
and the apple tree,— All the trees of the field have dried up: Verily
dried up is joy among the children of men!
13 Be
girded and lament, ye priests; Howl ye ministers of the altar; Come, spend the
night in sackcloth, Ye ministers of my God; For withheld from the house of your
God Is offering and a libation:
14 Sanctify
a fast, call an assembly, Gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land,
Into the house of Jehovah your God, And cry ye to
Jehovah.—
15 Alas
the day! For nigh is the day of Jehovah, And as a desolation from the Almighty
it will come.
16 Has
not the meat before your eyes been cut off, Joy and gladness from the house of
our God?
17 Rotted
have the grains under the clods, Desolate are the granaries, Pulled down have
been the barns, For dried up has the corn.
18 How
has the beast groaned! Confounded are the herds of oxen! For wanting to them are
pastures; The flocks of sheep are also desolate.
19 To
thee Jehovah will I cry; For the fire hath consumed the pastures of the desert,
And the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field:
20 The
beasts of the field will also cry to thee; For dried up have the streams of
waters, For the fire hath consumed the pastures of the desert.
CHAPTER
2
1 Sound
ye the trumpet in Zion, And cry aloud on my holy mountain: Let all the
inhabitants of the land tremble; For coming is the day of Jehovah, for nigh it
is,—
2 A
day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of cloudiness and of obscurity, Like
the dawn expanding over the mountains,— A people, great and strong, The
like of them has not been from the beginning, Nor after them shall be for many
generations;
3 Before
them, a devouring fire, And after them, a flame, shall burn; Like the garden of
Eden the land before them, And after them, a desert of solitude; And so there
will be no escape from them:
4 As
the appearance of horses, their appearance, And as horsemen they will
run;
5 As
the sound of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, As the sound of
the flame of fire devouring the stubble, As a strong people prepared for
battle;
6 Their
face will the people dread, All faces will gather blackness;
7 As
giants will they run here and there, As men of war will they ascend the wall,
And each in his ways will proceed, And they shall not stay their
goings;
8 No
one will thrust his brother, Every one in his way will march on; On the sword
shall they fall, and shall not be wounded;
9 Though
the city shall they go, over the wall shall they run, Into houses shall they
climb, Into the windows shall they enter like a thief:
10 Before
them shall tremble the earth, And in anguish shall be the heavens, The sun and
moon shall be darkened, And the stars shall withdraw their
brightness;
11 And
Jehovah will utter his voice before his army, For very great will be his camp.
For strong is he who doeth his word; For great will be the day of Jehovah, And
very terrible, and who will endure it?
12 But
even now, saith Jehovah, Turn to me with your whole heart, And with fasting, and
weeping, and mourning;
13 And
rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn to Jehovah your God; For he is
propitious and merciful, Slow to wrath, and abundant in goodness, And will
repent of the evil:
14 Who
knows, whether he will return and repent, And leave behind him a blessing—
An offering and a libation to Jehovah your God?
15 Sound
ye the trumpet in Zion, Sanctify a fast, proclaim a meeting,
16 Gather
the people, sanctify the assembly, Bring together the aged, gather the children
And those suckling the breasts; And let the bridegroom come forth from his
recess, And the bride from her chamber;
17 Between
the porch and the altar let the priests, The ministers of Jehovah, weep and
say,— “Be propitious, Jehovah, to thy people, “And give not
thy heritage to reproach, “That the nations should rule over them;
“Why should they say among the people, “‘Where is their
God?’”
18 Then
jealous will Jehovah be for his land, And he will be propitious to his
people;
19 And
Jehovah will answer, and say to his
people:fb16
“Behold, I will send to you corn, and wine, and oil, “And ye shall
be satisfied with them; “And I will make you no more a reproach among the
nations;
20 “And
the Northlander will I remove far from you, “And drive him to a desert and
dry land, “With his face to the eastern sea, “And his rear to
the hindmost sea; “And ascend shall his ill savor, “And ascend shall
his rottenness; “For high hath he exalted himself to do his
purpose.”
21 Fear
not, thou land; exult and rejoice; For Jehovah hath high exalted himself to do
his purpose:
22 Fear
not, ye beasts of the fields; For grow shall the pastures of the desert, For the
tree shall bring forth its fruit, The fig-tree and the vine shall yield their
substance:
23 And
ye children of Zion, exult, And rejoice in Jehovah your God; For he will give
you rain in due measure, And make to come down for you the showering rain, And
the rain in the first month;
24 And
filled shall the floors be with corn, And overflow shall the vats with wine and
oil;
25 And
I will restore years to you For those which the locust hath eaten, The
chafer, and the caterpillar,— My great army, which I sent to
you:
26 And
eating, ye shall eat and satisfy yourselves, And shall praise the name of
Jehovah your God, Because he hath dealt wondrously with you; And ashamed shall
not my people be for ever.
27 And
ye shall know that in the midst of Israel I am, And that I Jehovah am your God,
and none else; And ashamed shall not my people be forever.
28 And
shall it be afterwards, That I will pour my Spirit on all flesh, And prophesy
shall your sons and your daughters, And your old men shall dreams dream, And
your young men shall visions see;
29 And
also on servants and maid-servants Will I in those days pour my
spirit:
30 And
I will set prodigies in heaven and on earth,— Blood and fire, and columns
of mist;
31 The
sun shall be turned into darkness, The moon into blood, Before it
comes—the day of Jehovah, great and terrible:
32 Then
it shall be, that whosoever shall call On the name of Jehovah, shall be
delivered; For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem Shall be deliverance, as Jehovah
hath promised, And for the residue whom Jehovah shall call.
CHAPTER
3
1 For,
behold in those days, and at that time, When I shall restore the captivity of
Judah and Jerusalem, I will then gather all the nations, and bring them down to
the valley of Jehosaphat; And I will there contend with them, For my people and
for my heritage Israel; Because they have scattered them among the
nations,
2 And
divided my land, and on my people cast lots, And have given a boy for a harlot,
And have sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
3 And
yet, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of
Palestine? Will ye recompense return to me?
4 Now
if ye repay me with this, Quickly—suddenly will I return Your recompense
on your own head.
5 Because
ye have taken away my silver and my gold, And my desirable things have removed
to your temples,
6 And
have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem To the children of
the Grecians, That ye might drive them far from their own
borders;—
7 Behold,
I will raise them from the place to which ye have sold them, And will return
your recompense on your head;
8 For
I will sell your sons and your daughters to the children of Judah, And they
shall sell them to the Sabeans, a distant nation; For thus hath Jehovah
spoken.
9 Publish
this among the nations, Proclaim a war, rouse the strong, Let them come, let
them ascend, all the men of war:
10 Beat
your plowshares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into spears; Let the weak
say, “I am strong.”
11 Assemble
and come all ye nations, Assemble all around; There will Jehovah lay prostrate
all thy valiant ones.
12 Awake
let the nations, and ascend to the valley of Jehosaphat; For there will I sit to
judge all the nations around.
13 Put
forth the sickle, for ripened has the harvest; Come, go down, for full is the
wine-press, Overflowing are the vats, For multiplied has their
wickedness.
14 Nations!
Nations! In the valley of the sledge; For nigh is Jehovah’s day in the
valley of the sledge: The sun and the moon shall be darkened, And the stars
shall withdraw their brightness;
15 And
Jehovah from Zion shall roar, And from Jerusalem shall utter his voice, And
tremble shall the heavens and the earth;
16 But
Jehovah will be a hope to his people, And a strength to the children of
Israel:
17 Then
ye shall know that I Jehovah am your God, Dwelling in Zion, the mount of my
holiness; And Jerusalem shall be holiness, And aliens shall pass through it no
more.
18 And
it shall be in that day, That distill new wine shall the mountains, And the
hills shall cause milk to run down, And all the rivers of Judah shall send forth
waters; A fountain also from the house of Jehovah shall go forth, And it shall
water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt
shall be a solitude, And Edom shall be a desert of solitude, For the outrage
done to the children of Judah, Because they shed innocent blood in their own
land:
20 But
Judah shall forever safely dwell, And Jerusalem shall be from age to age; And I
will cleanse their blood which I have not cleansed, And Jehovah shall
dwell in Zion.
A TRANSLATION
OF
CALVIN’S VERSION
OF THE
PROPHECIES OF AMOS.
CHAPTER
1
1 THE
words of Amos, who was among the shepherds at Tekos, which he saw concerning
Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the
son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake; and he
said,—
2 Jehovah
from Zion will roar, And from Jerusalem will he utter his voice; And perish
shall the habitations of shepherds, And wither shall the top of
Carmel.
3 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will
not be propitious to it; (157) Because they have threshed Gilead with iron
wains:
4 And
I will send fire into the house of Hazael, And it shall devour the palaces of
Benhadad;
5 And
I will break in pieces the bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the
plain of Aven, And the holder of the scepter from the house of Eden; And removed
shall be the people of Syria to Kir, saith Jehovah.
6 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not
be propitious to it; For they carried away a complete captivity, To shut them up
in Edom:
7 And
I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, And it shall devour its
palaces;
8 And
I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, And the holder of the scepter from
Ascalon; And I will turn my hand against Ekron, And perish shall the remnants of
the Philistines, Saith the Lord Jehovah.
9 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will
not be propitious to it; For they have shut up a complete captivity in Edom, And
have not remembered the covenant of brethren:
10 And
I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, And it shall devour its
palaces.
11 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not
be propitious to it; For he pursued with the sword his own brother, And
destroyed his own compassions; And raged continually has his anger, And his
wrath has he kept perpetually:
12 And
I will send a fire on Teman, And it shall devour the palaces of
Bozrah.
13 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of the children o Ammon, and for
four, I will not be propitious to him; For they have rent the pregnant women of
Gilead, That they might extend their own borders:
14 And
I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbah, And it shall devour its palaces,
With clamor in the day of battle, With whirlwind in the day of
tempest;
15 And
pass shall its king into captivity, He and his princes together, saith
Jehovah.
CHAPTER
2
1 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not
be propitious to him; For he burnt the bones of the king of Edom into
ashes:
2 And
I will send a fire on Moab, And it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth; And die
in a tumult shall Moab, With shouting, at the sound of the
trumpet;
3 And
I will cut off the judge from the midst of him, And with him all his princes
will I slay, saith Jehovah.
4 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will
not be propitious to him; For they have despised the law of Jehovah, And his
statutes have they not kept; And to go astray have their lies made them, After
which their fathers walked:
5 And
I will send a fire on Judah, And it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem.
6 Thus
saith Jehovah,— For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will
not be propitious to him; For they have sold the just for silver, and the poor
for shoes;
7 Panting
for the dust of the earth on the head of the needy, They turn aside the way of
the miserable; The son and his father enter in into the same maid, So
that they profane my holy name;
8 And
on pledged garments they lie near every altar, And the wine of the condemned
they drink In the house of their god.
9 Yet
I exterminated the Amorite before their face, Whose tallness was like the
tallness of cedars, And who was strong like the oak; And I destroyed his fruit
above and his root beneath;
10 And
I brought you up from the land of Egypt, And led you in the desert forty years,
That you might possess the land of the Amorite;
11 And
I raised up Prophets from your sons, And from your youths, Nazarites;—
Have I not done all this, O children of Israel, saith Jehovah:
12 But
to the Nazarites have ye quaffed wine; And on my Prophets have ye laid a
command, Saying, “Ye shall not prophesy.”
13 Behold,
I am fast bound under you, (196) As a wagon is bound, which is full of
sheaves.—
14 Perish
shall flight from the swift, And the valiant shall not confirm his strength, And
the strong shall not deliver his life,
15 And
the holder of the bow shall not stand, And the swift on foot shall not escape,
Nor shall he who mounts a horse save his life;
16 Yea,
the strong of heart, among the valiant, Shall flee away naked in that day, saith
Jehovah.
CHAPTER
3
1 Hear
ye this word which Jehovah pronounces Against you, children of
Israel—against the whole family, Which I brought up from the land of
Egypt, saying,—
2 “Only
you have I known of all the families of the earth, “I will therefore visit
on you all your iniquities.”
3 Can
two walk together, except they be agreed?
4 Will
a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion roar in his
den, when nothing is taken?
5 Will
a bird fall into a snare on the ground without a fowler? Will a fowler take up
his snare from the ground before he catches?
6 Shall
a trumpet sound in a city, and the people tremble not? Shall there be an evil in
a city, which Jehovah hath not done?
7 For
nothing will the Lord Jehovah do, Except he has revealed his secret to his
servants the Prophets.
8 The
lion hath roared, who would not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken, who would
not prophesy?
9 Publish
in the palaces of Ashdod, And in the palaces of the land of Egypt, and
say,— “Assemble ye on the mountains of Samaria, “And see the
great tumults within it, “And the oppressions in the midst of
it.”
10 And
they know not how to do right, saith Jehovah,— Treasuring up the
fruit of robbery and plunder in their palaces.
11 Therefore
thus saith the Lord Jehovah,— Lo, an adversary! And one around the
land! And he will take from thee thy strength, And plundered shall be thy
palaces.
12 Thus
saith Jehovah,— As when a shepherd snatches from the mouth of a lion Two
legs and the extreme part of the ear, So shall be rescued the children of
Israel, Who dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, And in Damascus on a
couch.
13 Hear
ye and testify to the house of Israel, Saith the Lord Jehovah, the God of
hosts,—
14 That
in the day in which I shall visit upon him the sins of Israel, I will also visit
the altars of Bethel; And broken shall be the horns of the altar, And they shall
fall to the ground;
15 And
I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house, And perish shall the houses
of ivory, And come to an end shall the great houses, saith
Jehovah.
CHAPTER
4
1 Hear
this word, ye cows of Bashan, Which are on the mountain of Samaria, Which
oppress the poor, which crush the needy, Which say to their masters,
“Bring, and we shall drink.”
2 Sworn
hath the Lord Jehovah by his sanctuary, That, lo, in the days are coming on you,
That he will take you away by a hook, And your residue by a
fishing-hook;
3 And
through the breaches shall ye go out, Each one over against her; And ye shall
cast yourselves down from the palace, saith Jehovah.
4 Go
ye to Bethel and transgress, And in Gilgal transgress still more, And bring, in
the morning, your sacrifices, In the third year, your tithes,
5 And
burn incense with the leaven of thanks-offering. And publish voluntary
offerings, proclaim them; For so it hath pleased you, O children of
Israel, Saith the Lord Jehovah.
6 But
I even gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And want of bread in all
your borders; Yet ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah:
7 I
also withheld from you the rain, When as yet there were three months to the
harvest; And I rained on one city, And on another city I made it not to rain;
One part was rained upon, And the part where it rained not dried
up;
8 And
there came two and three cities to one city, To drink water, and were not
satisfied; Yet ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah:
9 I
smote you with the east wind and mildew; Your large gardens and your vineyards,
(236) And your fig-trees and your olives the chafer devoured; Yet ye turned not
to me, saith Jehovah:
10 I
sent on to you the plague after the manner of Egypt; I smote with the sword your
strong men, And led captive your horses; I made to ascend the stench of your
camps even to your nostrils; Yet ye turned not to me, saith
Jehovah:
11 I
overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And ye were as a brand
snatched from the burning; Yet ye turned not to me, saith
Jehovah.
12 Therefore
thus will I do to thee, Israel, And because I will do this to thee, Prepare
thyself to meet thy God, Israel.
13 For,
behold he who formed the mountains, Who created the spirit, Who declares to man
what is his thought, Who makes the dawn and the darkness, Who walks on the high
places of the earth,— Jehovah, God of Hosts, is his name.
CHAPTER
5
1 Hear
ye this word which I raise upon you, Even a lamentation, O house of
Israel.
2 Fallen
is the virgin of Israel, and she will rise no more; Left is she on her land,
none is there to raise her up.
3 For
thus saith the Lord Jehovah,— The city from which went forth a thousand,
There will remain in it a hundred; And that from which it went forth a
hundred, There will remain ten to the house of Israel.
4 For
thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel,— Seek ye me, and ye shall
live;
5 And
seek not Bethel, and to Gilgal go not, And pass not over to
Beersheba;Fc51
For Gilgal by migrating shall migrate, And Bethel shall be as
nothing:
6 Seek
Jehovah, and ye shall live, Lest he advance as a fire on the house of Joseph,
And devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7 They
turn judgment into wormwood, And righteousness they cast on the
ground.—
8 He
who made Pleiades and Orion, (261) Who turns darkness into morning, And darkens
the day into night, Who calls the waters of the sea, And pours them on the face
of the earth,— Jehovah is his name;
9 Who
strengthens a waster against the strong, And against a fortress shall a waster
ascend. (263)
10 They
hate in the gate a reprover, And the speaker of right they
abominate.
11 As
ye have trodden the poor under foot, (266) And a burden of corn have taken from
him, Houses of hewn stone shall ye build, But ye shall not dwell in them; And
pleasant vineyards shall ye plant, But ye shall not drink their
wine;
12 For
I know your many iniquities, and your mighty sins; Oppressors of the just! And
takers of ransom! And the poor in the gate they turn aside.
13 Therefore
the prudent at that time will be silent, For an evil time it is.
(270)
14 Seek
ye good, and not evil, that ye may live; And so Jehovah, the God of Hosts, Will
be with you, as ye have said.
15 Hate
evil, and love good, And set up judgment in the gate; It may be, that Jehovah,
the God of Hosts, Will show mercy to the remnants of Joseph.
16 Therefore
Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the Lord, saith,— In all the streets of
concourse shall be lamentation, And in all the highways shall they say,
“Woe! Woe!” (279) And they shall call the husbandman to mourning,
And lamentation shall be to all skillful in mourning;
17 And
in all the vineyards shall be lamentation; For I will pass through the midst of
thee, saith Jehovah.
18 Woe
to those who desire the day of Jehovah! What will this be to you? The day of
Jehovah will be darkness and not light;
19 As
when one flees before a lion, and a bear meets him; Or comes to his house, and
leans with his hand on a wall, And a serpent bites him.
20 Shall
not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? And thick darkness and no
brightness?
21 I
hate, I abhor your festal-days, And I will not smell at your
solemnities;
22 Verily,
when ye offer me your burnt-offerings and your gifts, I will not count them
acceptable; And the peace offering of your fat things I will not
regard.
23 Take
away from me the number of thy songs, And the harmony of the lyres; I will not
hear them:
24 And
run down as waters shall judgment, And righteousness as an impetuous torrent.
(292)
25 Have
ye offered to me sacrifices and an oblation In the desert for forty years, O
house of Israel?
26 But
ye bore Sicuth, your king, and Chion, Your images, the stars being your
gods; Which ye made for yourselves. (295)
27 To
migrate therefore I will make you beyond Damascus, Saith Jehovah, the God of
Hosts is his name.
CHAPTER
6
1 Woe
to the secure in Zion, And to the confident on the mount of Samaria; (302) Which
have been renowned from the beginning of the nations; And entered in into them
has the house of Israel.
2 Pass
ye over into Calneh and see, Go hence to Hamath the great, And come down to Gath
of the Philistines, Are they better than these kingdom? Is their border larger
than your border?
3 Woe
to you who drive far off the evil day, And draw nigh the throne of
violence;
4 Who
lie down on beds of ivory, And extend themselves on their couches; Who eat lambs
from the flock, And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who
sing to the sound of the harp, And like David invent instruments of
music;
6 Who
drink wine in bowls, And with the chief ointments anoint themselves, And grieve
not for the bruising of Joseph.
7 They
shall now therefore emigrate at the head of the emigrants, And come shall the
mourning of those who extend themselves. (312)
8 Sworn
hath the Lord Jehovah by himself, Saith Jehovah, the God of hosts,— Abhor
do I the excellency of Jacob, And his palaces I regard with hatred, And I will
deliver up the city and its fullness.
9 And
it shall be, that when there shall remain Ten men together in one house, they
shall die:
10 And
take him shall one’s uncle and burn him, In order to take away his bones
from the house, And shall say to him who shall be at the sides of the house,
“Is there yet any one with thee?” And he will say, “There is
an end;” Then he shall say, “Be silent, For it is not for us to
remember the name of Jehovah.”
11 For,
behold, Jehovah commands, And he will smite the great house with confusions, And
the small house with fissures.
12 Will
horses run on a rock? Will it be ploughed by oxen? For to gall have ye turned
judgment, And the fruit of righteousness to hemlock;
13 Ye
rejoice in a thing of nought, ye say,— Have we not in our own strength
Raised up for ourselves horns?
14 Behold,
I will surely raise against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah, the
God of hosts: And they shall straighten you from the entrance of Hamath to the
river of the plain.
CHAPTER
7
1 Thus
hath the Lord Jehovah showed me,— Even lo, he formed locusts when grass
began to grow, And, lo, it was the grass after the cuttings of the
king:
2 And
it was, after they had finished to eat, That I then said, “Lord Jehovah,
spare, I pray; Who will restore Israel, for he is small?”
3 Jehovah
repented of this; “It shall not be,” said Jehovah.
4 Thus
hath the Lord Jehovah showed me,— Even lo, the Lord Jehovah called to
contend by fire; And it devoured the great deep and their
portion:
5 And
I said, “Lord Jehovah, cease, I pray; Who will restore Israel, for he is
small?
6 Jehovah
repented of this; “This also shall not be,” said the Lord
Jehovah.
7 Thus
hath he showed me,— Even lo, the Lord stood on a plumbline wall, And in
his hand a plumbline,
8 And
Jehovah said to me, “What seest thou, Amos?” And I said, “A
plumbline:” Then said the Lord, “Behold, I shall set A plumbline in
the midst of my people Israel; I will no longer pass by them:
9 And
destroyed shall be the high places of Isaac, And overthrown shall be the
sanctuaries of Israel, And I shall rise up against the house of Jeroboam with
the sword.”
10 Then
sent Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, To Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying,—
“Conspired against thee has Amos In the midst of the house of Israel; The
land cannot bear all his words:
11 For
thus saith Amos,— ‘By the sword shall Jeroboam die, And Israel, by
migrating, shall migrate from their own land.’”
12 Amaziah
said also to Amos,— “Seer, go, flee into the land of Judah, And
there eat bread, and there prophesy:
13 But
in Bethel, prophesy no more; For it is the king’s sanctuary, and the house
of the kingdom.”
14 Then
answered Amos, and said to Amaziah,— “No Prophet was I, nor was I a
Prophet’s son, For a shepherd I was, and a gatherer of
sycamores:
15 But
Jehovah took me from after the sheep, And Jehovah said to me,— ‘Go,
prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 And
now hear the word of Jehovah, thou who sayest,— ‘Prophesy not
concerning Israel, And speak not concerning the house of
Isaac:’
17 Therefore
thus saith Jehovah,— Thy wife in the city shall be prostituted, And thy
sons and thy daughters shall by the sword fall, And thy land shall by a line be
divided, And thou in a polluted land shalt die, And Israel, by migrating, shall
migrate from their own land.”
CHAPTER
8
1 Thus
hath the Lord Jehovah showed me,— Even lo, a basket of
summer-fruit;
2 And
he said, “What seest thou, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of
summer-fruit.” Then Jehovah said to me,— “Come has the end of
my people Israel, I will no more pass by them.”
3 And
howlings shall be the songs of the temple In that day, saith the Lord Jehovah;
Many a dead body, in every place, Shall be cast down in silence.
(362)
4 Hear
this, ye who swallow up the poor, And exterminate the needy of the land,
saying,—
5 “When
will pass the new moon, that we may sell corn? And the Sabbath, that we may
bring out wheat, And lesson the ephah, and increase the shekel, And turn one
side the deceitful balances?
6 That
we may buy with silver the poor, And the needy for shoes, And sell the refuse of
corn.”
7 Sworn
hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob, “I shall not forget any of their
works.”
8 Shall
not the land be for this in a tumult, And every one who dwells in it mourn? Yea,
heave up as a river shall the whole of it, (371) And it shall be driven and sunk
as by the river of Egypt.
9 And
it shall be in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, That I will cause the sun to
set at noon, And will darken the land in a clear day;
10 I
will also turn your festal-days to mourning, And all your songs to lamentation;
And to come up on all loins will I make sackcloth, And upon every head,
baldness; And I will set her as in mourning for an only son, And her posterity
as in the day of bitterness. (375)
11 Behold,
the days are coming, saith Jehovah, When I shall send a famine on the land, Not
the famine of bread, nor thirst for waters, But for hearing the words of
Jehovah;
12 And
they shall wander from sea to sea, And from the south to the east shall they
run, To seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it:
13 And
in that day shall faint, The fair virgins and young men, for
thirst;
14 Who
swear by the sin of Samaria, and who say,— “Live does thy God, O
Dan, And live does the way of Beersheba;” And they shall fall and rise
again no more.
CHAPTER
9
1 I
saw the Lord standing on the altar, and he said,— “Smite the lintel,
and moved shall be the pillars, And strike the head of them all; And the rest of
them with the sword shall I slay: Flee from them shall not he who fleeth, And
escape from them shall not he who escapeth: (385)
2 If
they dig to hell, thence my hand shall bring them out; And if they ascend to
heaven, I will thence draw them down;
3 And
if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, There will I search for and draw
them forth; And if they be hid from my eyes in the bottom of the sea, I will
there command the serpent to bite them;
4 And
if they go to captivity before their enemies, I will there command the sword to
slay them; Yea, I will set my eyes on them For evil, and not for
good.”
5 And
the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, will smite the land, And it will tremble, and mourn
shall all who dwell in it; And heave up like a river shall the whole of it, And
it shall be sunk as by the river of Egypt.—
6 He
who builds his ascendings in the heavens, And founds his jointings on the earth,
Who calls the waters of the sea, And pours them on the face of the earth,—
Jehovah is his name. (392-3)
7 Are
ye not as the children of the Ethiopians to me? O house of Israel, saith
Jehovah; Did I not make Israel to ascend from Egypt, And the Philistines from
Cappadocia, And the Syrians from Kir?
8 Behold,
the eyes of Jehovah are on every wicked kingdom; And I will destroy it
from the face of the earth; Except that by destroying I shall not destroy The
house of Jacob! Saith Jehovah.
9 For,
behold, I will command, And I shall shake the house of Israel among all nations,
As wheat is shaken in a sieve, And fall shall not a grain on the
ground:
10 By
the sword shall die all the wicked of my people, Who say, “Draw near and
overtake us Shall not, for our sake, the evil.”
11 In
that day I will raise up the tent of David, That is fallen, and I will fence in
its breaches, And its ruins will I raise up; And I will build it as in ancient
days;
12 That
possess they may the remnants of Edom, And all the nations on whom my name shall
be called, Saith Jehovah, the doer of this.
13 Behold,
the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That meet shall the plowman the reaper, And
the treader of grapes the bearer of seed; And distill shall the mountains sweet
wine, And all the hills shall flow down with milk
14 And
I will restore the captivity of my people Israel; And they shall build wasted
cities, and dwell in them; They shall plant vineyards, and drink their wine;
They shall make gardens, and eat their fruit:
15 And
I will plant them in their own land, And they shall be plucked up no more From
their own land, which I have given to them, Saith Jehovah, thy
God.
A TRANSLATION
OF
CALVIN’S VERSION
OF THE
PROPHECIES OF OBADIAH.
CHAPTER
1.
1 The
vision of Obadiah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah against Edom,— A rumor have
we heard from Jehovah, And a messenger to the nations has been sent,—(423)
“Arise ye, and we shall arise against her to
battle.”
2 Lo,
small have I set thee among the nations, Despised greatly wert thou: (425)
3 The
pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, Who dwellest in the clefts of the rock:
“Who shall draw me down to the ground?”
4 If
thou shouldst rise high as the eagle, And if among the clouds thou shouldest set
thy nest, Thence shall I draw thee down, saith Jehovah.
5 Have
thieves come to thee, or night-robbers? How hast thou been reduced to silence?
Have they not stolen what sufficed them? Have vintagers come to thee? Have they
not left some clusters?—
6 How
much sought out have been the things of Esau, And thoroughly searched his
hidden places!
7 To
the border have they driven thee, All the men of thy confederacy; Deceived thee,
prevailed against thee, have they, The men who were at peace with thee; The men
who did eat thy bread Have set a wound under thee:— There is in him no
understanding!
8 Shall
I not in that day, saith Jehovah, Destroy the wise from Edom, And understanding
from the mount of Esau? Yea, broken down shall be thy valiant ones, O Teman,
9 So
that cut off shall be every man, From the mount of Esau by slaughter.
10 For
the oppression of thy brother Jacob, Cover thee shall reproach, And thou shalt
be cut off forever.
11 In
the day when thou didst stand on the other side, In the day when aliens took
away his substance, And foreigners entered his gates, And on Jerusalem did cast
lots, Even thou wert as one of them.
12 But
thou shouldest not look on the day of thy brother, In the day of his alienation;
Nor shouldest rejoice over the children of Judah, In the day of their
destruction; Nor speak with thy mouth proud things, In the day of distress;
13 Nor
shouldest thou enter the gate of my people, In the day of their destruction;
Nor look on him, especially thou, in his distress, In the day of his
destruction; Nor stretch thy hand to his substance, In the day of his
destruction:
14 Nor
shouldest thou stand on the outlets, To destroy those who were escaping; Nor
deliver up his remnants in the day of distress.
15 Seeing
that near is the day of Jehovah on all nations, As thou hast done, it shall be
done to thee, Thy reward shall be returned on thine own head;
16 For
as ye have drunk on my holy mountain, Drink shall all nations continually; They
shall drink and drink up; And they shall be as though they never had
been.
17 But
in mount Zion shall be deliverance, And Zion shall be holiness; And
possess shall the house of Jacob their own possessions:
18 The
house of Jacob shall be also a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame, And the
house of Esau shall be chaff; And kindled they shall be among them, and consume
them; And no remnant shall be to the house of Esau; For thus hath Jehovah
spoken.
19 They
shall also possess the south of the mount of Esau, And the plain, even
that of the Philistines; And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim And
the fields of Samaria, And Benjamin shall possess Gilead:
20 And
the emigrants of this host of the children of Israel Shall possess the
land of the Canaanites to Zarephath; And the emigrants of Jerusalem, what is
in Sepharad, Even the southern cities: (451)
21 And
ascend shall saviors to mount Zion, To judge the mount of Esau; And
Jehovah’s shall be the
kingdom.
ADDENDA
TO
HOSEA
HOSEA. 1:2,
Take to thee a
wife, etc., Whether the marriage of the
Prophet was a real transaction or not, has been a subject much controverted by
the learned. Bishop Horsley, in his Introduction to his New Translation of
Hosea, defends, with his usual ability, the opinion that it was a real marriage.
Dr. Henderson, in his work on the Minor Prophets, takes the same view. The
strongest point in favor of the opposite sentiment, that it was a kind of a
parabolic representation, is the command, similar to this, which is given to the
Prophet in the third chapter; and to this Calvin especially alludes. Though the
latter command is similar, yet it materially differs in many circumstances; and
the design of the transaction is wholly different.
The reason for what is commanded is given in both
instances. The first marriage was to represent the defection of this people from
God, because “by wantoning the land had grown wanton, that it did not
follow Jehovah.” The second contract (for it was no marriage) was to set
forth “the love of Jehovah towards the children of
Israel.”
There seems to be no ground for the opinion, that the
first wife, Gomer, is “the woman” mentioned in the third chapter,
who, having been repudiated for her incontinence, was again to be restored. The
dowry which the Prophet is said to have given for her, according to the usual
manner of those times, clearly shows that it was a new engagement, and not the
renewal of a former union. What Dr. Henderson states in favor of what he thinks
to have been a reunion, seems to be of no force. The command, he says, is
different; it is not “take,” but “love.” The evident
reason for this difference is, that it was no marriage but a contract for
marriage, as the sequel evidently proves: he “bought” her, she was
to “abide” for him, she was not to be for another, and he promised
to be for her.
The evident design of the first marriage, whether
real or not, was to represent the state of the people at that time, in their
idolatry, and the ruinous consequences of that idolatry. The evident design of
what is recorded in the third chapter, as Calvin states at large, was to set
forth the dealings of God with the people during their exile. As the latter
transaction bears much the appearance of a parable, we may reasonably conclude
that the first was of the same character.
It may be added, that Marckius, who wrote
largely and learnedly on the Minor Prophets, maintains that “children of
wantonness,” or of fornications, do not mean spurius children, but those
addicted to wantonness; as in the case of the mother, who was not called a woman
of fornications because of her birth, but of her lewd conduct. The children,
then, were thus called prospectively; that is, with regard to what they would
be. Now, if this be true as to the children, the question may be asked, Was not
this also the case with the mother; that is, was she not called prospectively
“a wife of fornications?” This would certainly be a corrector emblem
of the state of the people, who had become idolaters, after God as it were
married them, or entered into covenant with them.
HOSEA. 1:6,
I will take them
away, In confirmation of the note on this
place, the following texts are adduced: —
<011826>Genesis
18:26; 50:17;
<022321>Exodus
23:21;
<041419>Numbers
14:19;
<062419>Joshua
24:19;
<192518>Psalm
25:18; 99:8;
<230209>Isaiah
2:9. These are all the instances in which the verb
açn
is followed by
l,
without an objective case: and it means invariably to forgive, and not to take
away. And the last text in Isaiah has nearly the very words of this passage,
µhl
açtAalw, “and forgive them
not.”
HOSEA.
2:11, Her new
moon, etc., It is the character of
poetry to use the singular number in a collective sense; her new moon, not her
new moons. Several instances of this we meet with in this chapter: “her
vine and her fig-tree” — “her ear-ring and her chain”
— “the bird of heaven and the reptile of the earth,” —
all these, though in the singular number, are to be understood as including
multiplicity. Calvin retains this poetic character of the original. It would
have been better if it had been retained in all translations.
HOSEA 3:4,
Without a
statue, etc., “If I may offer a
conjecture concerning the difference between these idolatrous statues and
teraphim, I would say, that the statues were of large dimensions, set up in
public, as objects of popular adoration, [as crucifixes, etc., in Popish
countries:] the teraphim were of a smaller size, and for different purposes;
kept in the most secret recesses of the temples or consecrated chapels, for
magical rites, and rarely, if ever, exposed to public view.
“Thus, since it appears that both the statue
and the teraphim of Hosea were impliments of idolatry, no doubt can remain, that
the ephod, which is mentioned between the two, is to be understood of the
idolatrous ephod, not that which belonged to the holy vestments of the high
priest. As it is put between the statue and the teraphim, it may seem, that it
may be connected with either: connected with the statue, it will denote the robe
with which the idol was clothed: connected with the teraphim, the ephod of the
priest of the teraphim. And in this connection (to which, indeed, the structure
of the sentence in the original seems to point in preference) I would choose to
take it. For thus we shall have idolatry described by the three principal
features in its external appearance, — the statue, the public object of
popular adoration, — the teraphim, the images of the more secret rites of
incantation, — and the sorcerer, or heirophant, conduction the ceremonies,
and propounding to the consultors of the oracle the answers he pretended to
receive, represented by the ephod, the most remarkable of his robes of
office.” — BISHOP HORSELY.
HOSEA 4:8,
To iniquity they lift up the
heart of each, Probably the words are
not correctly rendered according to the exposition given by Calvin. As he
explains As to
iniquity,
would be perhaps the best rendering; for his comment is, “that the priests
lifted up the soul of each by relieving their consciences by soothing words of
flattery.” However true this may have been, yet the meaning of this
sentence is, I believe, what I have stated in a note. The rendering I have given
removes the anomalies of persons which Calvin notices. The persons who did eat
or feed on the sin of the people were evidently the priests, and they were those
who raised or lifted up the heart or mind of the people. The affix,
their, to iniquity, refers to the priests, and the affix, his, to
the heart or mind, refers to the people, and ought to be rendered, their,
in our language. Some copies have their appended to the word,
µçpn;
but this, I have no doubt, has been an attempt, as in other instances, to
correct what appeared to be an anomaly. Dr. Henderson renders the line,
“And long for their iniquity,” and adds in a note, that
çpn
açn, to lift up the animal soul for
anything, means to lust after it, long or have a strong desire for it. It
has no doubt this meaning; but it means also, to raise up, or guide, or direct
the soul, including the mind, the attention, and affections, to an object. The
phrase is included, with all its accompaniments, the verb, an objective case,
and the proposition
la
or
yla,
in the following sentence, hwhy
˚yla aça yçpn, ‘To thee,
Jehovah, my soul I lift up,’
<192501>Psalm
25:1. See
<198604>Psalm
86:4.
HOSEA 4:18,
Putrid is become their
drink, Newcome reads, “He is gone
after their wine,” that is, of idols. But this rendering cannot be
admitted, as it gives a sense to
rs
which it nowhere has. Horsley renders thus, — “Their strong
drink is vapid;” and has this note, — The allusion is to libations
made with wine grown dead or turning sour. The image represents the want of all
spirit of piety in their acts of worship, and the unacceptableness of such
worship before God: which is alleged as a reason for the determination expressed
in the preceding clause, to give Ephraim up to his own ways. “Leave him to
himself,” says God to the Prophet, “his pretended devotions are all
false and hypocritical, I desire none of them.” Henderson’s
rendering is new, but seems unsuitable to the text, — “When
their carousal is over, they indulge in lewdness.” What appears to comport
best with the words and with the context, is what is given by Dathius,
“compotationes eos seduxerunt,” — drinkings have seduced them.
He takes
rs
in a causative sense. Then the literal version of
µabs
rs would be, “Turned them aside, or
seduced them, has their strong drink.” Drunkenness was ascribed to
them in verse 11. If this be the meaning, then we have in this verse three of
the prevailing sins of the people — drunkenness — fornication, that
is idolatry — and bribery.
With regard to the remaining portion of the verse,
both Newcome and Henderson have taken such liberties in clipping
and in changing the order of the words, that their versions are wholly
inadmissible. Where there is a meaning, and a striking one too, this liberty is
by no means to be allowed. Horsley’s version substantially agrees with
that of Calvin; and it is this, “Given up to lasciviousness, greedy of
gain, (O shame!) are her great men.” The parethetic expression, “O
shame!” had been previously suggested by Drusius. “For a long
time,” says the Bishop, “I thought myself original and single in
this way of rendering: but I have the satisfaction to find, that the learned
Drusius was before me in it. He renders thus,’ — Scortando scortati
sunt, amant date (O dedecus) protedctores ejus.’” This is certainly
a very literal rendering of the original, —
wnzh
hnzh
hyngm ˆzlq wbh
wbha
Wantoning they have
become
wanton,
‘Bring
ye,’ (O shame!) do her protectors love.
HOSEA 5:1,
A net expanded over
Tabor, Striking are the words of
Bishop Horsley in connection with this passage, — “The toils
and nets are whatever, in the external form of idolatry, was calculated to
captivate the minds of men; magnificent temples, stately altars, images richly
adorned, the gaiety of festivals, the pomp, and in many instances, even the
horror of public rites.”
HOSEA 6:5,
Thy judgments,
etc., Henderson thinks that judgments
here are to be viewed in the sense of punishments, and that “thy
judgments” mean those alluded to and deserved by Ephraim. That this mode
of speaking is not unusual in Hebrew, is no doubt true. But the word here used,
commonly rendered judgments, is one of very wide meaning. It signifies not only
the sentence pronounced on the criminal, but also the sentence pronounced by God
as to what is right or wrong. The latter is very frequently its meaning. Moses
speaks of statutes and judgments,
µyfpçm,
which the Israelites were to “do,” or observe and keep,
(<050414>Deuteronomy
4:14.) The Psalmist prays God to teach him his judgments, (Psalm 119:108.) Hence
precepts, as Horsley renders it, suitably express the meaning. Then
“thy” means given to thee, revealed and communicated to thee. The
expression, “thy judgments,” admits then no doubt of either of these
two meanings. The question is, which of the two is the most suitable to the rest
of the sentence, and to the context? To compare inflicted judgments to light
going forth, appears not certainly very appropriate; but when the clear teaching
of God’s word as to what is right, and just, and equitable, is compared to
out-spreading light, there is a striking suitableness. And then the context
seems to favor this view.
HOSEA 6:9,
By
consent, etc., Newcome, Horsley,
and others, render the line thus, “A company of priests murder in
the way to Shechem,” taking
hmkç,
a shoulder, taken figuratively for consent, as the name of a place. But by this
rendering they change the order of the words:
˚rd,
the way, is before the verb to murder, and cannot be construed “in the way
to Shechem.” Besides, the following line confirms the rendering of Calvin;
for what they are said to do is
hmz,
a device, a conceived wickedness, or a concerted scheme, which seems to imply a
consent.
HOSEA 6:11,
Judah also did set a plant
for thee. There is much difference in
the meaning attached to this line. The foregoing is certainly its most literal
rendering, except that for “plant” some would substitute
“harvest:” but the word means both. In all other versions there is
something that seems forced. Some then disjoin the next line from this, and
connect it with the first verse of the following chapter, and mainly because
they cannot see its meaning as connected with this. Now it appears to me, that
by this arrangement a confusion is introduced. It must be borne in mind that
this section commences in verse 4, in which both Ephraim and Judah are
mentioned: but, in the next chapter, Israel or Ephraim is alone spoken of
throughout. Hence, to begin the next chapter by introducing Judah, which is
evidently meant by “my people,” while the whole chapter refers only
to Ephraim, is certainly not to produce order, but rather disorder. The
connection of the line with the preceding one is, in my view, made sufficiently
clear by Calvin, — that while God was restoring, or endeavoring to
restore, the captivity, the dispersed state of his people, (for many of them
were taken captives by the neighboring nations long before their final
captivity,) — while God was doing this, Judah was engaged in setting the
plant of idolatry in the land; and he is said to do this “for thee,”
that is, for Ephraim, to further as it were, and assist Ephraim in his
idolatry.
The Prophet is supposed to allude to what is recorded
in 2 Chronicles 28. And there we see Jewish captives restored, and Ahaz, the
king of Judah, was at the same time introducing idolatry into the land: he was
making, as it were, a large plantation; for he made “molten images,”
and “sacrificed to the gods of Damascus.”
HOSEA 9:8,
The watchmen of
Ephraim, etc. The objection to this,
because Ephraim is not in construction in the original with watchman, is not
valid; for the latter word is a participle, and used as a personal noun, as is
often the case in Hebrew. Literally, it is, “He who watcheth
Ephraim.” The rendering of Henderson is far-fetched, and irrelevant, as
there is nothing in the context which justifies it. It is this, —
“Ephraim expecteth help from my God.” To translate
hpzx,
“expecteth help,” is without any example. The references,
<190504>Psalm
5:4, and
<250417>Lamentations
4:17, do not bear out the meaning. Besides, the common usage in Hebrew is, when
a participle is employed as a verb to express the present time, the auxiliary
verb being understood, that it follows the nominative case, and does not precede
it as here. It is quite clear that the “watchman” and “the
Prophet” is the same, and that he is described “as a snare of the
fowler in all his ways.” The only difficulty is in the words,
yhlaAˆ[,
“with my God.” If not construed with Prophet, as I have proposed in
my note, it may be appended to the first line, and
µ[
may be rendered “before,” or, “in the presence of,” as
in
<090221>1
Samuel 2:21, where it is said that Samuel grew
hwhyAµ[,
“before Jehovah.” Grotius suggests that
µ[
here may be taken for people; and so it may, for the punctuists alone have made
it especially a preposition. Then it would be, “the people of my
God,” a designation of Ephraim according to God’s adoption and their
own profession, notwithstanding their idolatry. The meaning still would be
nearly the same, for the false prophet, as well as the people, professed
God’s name, and claimed to be a Prophet before God: and by this means
especially were the people deluded. Satan is never so dangerous as when he
pretends to be an angel of light — a servant of God, and an advocate of
idolatry — a Prophet in the presence of God, and a fowler to catch men,
and to draw them into superstition.
HOSEA 10:4,
Judgment grows up,
etc. Though I gave in a note a view of this
sentence different from that of Calvin, yet on looking on the original, I find
that the order of the words favors his view. Rendered according to the order of
the words it is this, —
And germinate like
wormwood does judgment on the furrows of the field.
By Judgment Calvin means religious conduct; I take it
to be the administration of justice; but Dr. Henderson, with
Grotius and others, considers it to be punishment, inflicted on the
people, which seems not suitable either to the comparison or to the context.
Newcome’s explanation is, “In these times of confusion,
judgment has changed its nature, and has become destructive.” The passage
in
<300612>Amos
6:12, seems to determine the meaning here. “Judicium hic accipio pro impia
gubernatione principum Israelis, maximè in jure dicendo: quae judicia,
cum deberent esse salutaria et grata, acerba et amara fiunt et hominibus
perniciosa.” — Rivetus, quoted by Poole.
HOSEA 10:9,
There they
stood. It ought, perhaps, to be, “There
they have stood, (steterunt;”) that is, they have continued the same,
perverse and corrupt. Horsley says, “They stood;” that is,
the Israelites set themselves in array for the attack: which, in this
connection, seems to have no meaning. Henderson considers the Gibeonites
to be meant, “There they remain,” that is, the same in character as
at this day: but this view, no less than the former, seems foreign to the
context.
In the next line Newcome and Boothroyd,
with several others, following the conjecture of Hobigant, without the
countenance of any MS., guided only by a hint given in the Septuagint, make a
considerable alteration. They separate the end of th eninth verse, and join it
to the beginning of the tenth. The dismembered line and the newly-formed one are
thus given, —
“Did not the
war overtake them in
Gilbeah?
I came
against the sons of iniquity and chastised them.”
The first word in verse 10 is changed;
ytab
is put for
ytwab.
Both Horsley and Henderson very justly reject this
emendation.
HOSEA 10:15,
Thus shall Bethel do to
you, Horsley gives the same rendering.
Newcome, on the mere authority of the Septuagint, changes the whole
sentence, “Thus
shall it be done unto you, O house of
Israel.” No less frigid and inconsistent with the words in Hebrew is the
version of Henderson, “Thus shall he act towards you at
Bethel.” The comment of Calvin shows the remarkably striking import of
this sentence.
HOSEA 11:7,
To him on high they call
them, etc. Rivetus, as quoted in
Poole’s Syn., gives a very different rendering of this clause. In
commenting on the Vulgate, which has this version — “Jugum autem
impontur eis simul, quod non auferetur — but a yoke will be laid on them
together, which shall not be taken away,” Rivetus says, that
nothing opposes this meaning, except that the Hebrews say that
l[
here does not mean a yoke, but the high one, that is, God. But the same word,
without the
w,
which it commonly has, when it means a yoke, occurs in verse 4: and there seems
to be a allusion here to what is said there; as there is in the verb
arqy
to what is expressed in verse 2. The yoke is considered to be that of captivity.
God called them by his prophets to himself, as it is said in the second verse;
they turned away from God, yet God continued his kindness, and when they were
distressed, he raised up the yoke, that is, relieved them: but now, they being
bent on defection, he threatens them with subjugation to a foreign power, and
withdraws every hope of relief. Taking this view, we might render the words
thus, —
Therefore to the
yoke he will call them
together;
He will not
raise it up;
Or, as Rivetus proposes,
None will raise it
up.
Not only is this a literal rendering, but it fits in
remarkably with the following as well as with the previous context. The
exclamation which follows naturally flows from this denunciation of judgment.
The version of Newcome is somewhat like this, but not so literal nor so suitable
to the context, —
And
though they call on him together because of the
yoke,
he will not
raise it.
HOSEA 11:10, 11,
After Jehovah shall they
walk, etc. Calvin differs from
most, if not from all, commentators, as to the meaning of these two verses. It
is said that Jehovah “will roar as a lion.” This roaring will cause
trembling, — to whom? Most say, to the children of Israel; but
Calvin says, to their enemies. But in order to avoid the evident
incongruity of applying trembling to the Israelites, the meaning of hastening
has been given to the verb
drj,
which it is said to have only here and in
<120413>2
Kings 4:13, its general import being that of trembling or shaking with fear. The
Septuagint favors this latter idea,
eksthsontai
— shall be astounded; and “children from the west” is rendered
tekna
ujdatwn — children of the waters, or,
according to another copy, uJioi
qalasshv — sons of the sea. The Israelites
were not thus designated, but their enemies. But no doubt the last clause has
occasioned this mistake, which, according to our version, is, “I will
place them in their houses;” which may be rendered, “I will cause
them to sit still on (that is, the top of roof of) their houses:” for it
is not in, but on,
l[.
The flat roofs of the east were places to which people in fear would likely
betake themselves.
Bishop Horsley has here a beautiful
disquisition on the progress of the Gospel; he takes roaring for preaching, a
singular notion. “The roaring,” he says, “is unquestionably
the sound of the Gospel. Jehovah himself shall roar: the should shall begin to
be uttered by the voice of the incarnate God himself. The first effect shall be,
that children shall come fluttering from the west, a new race of children,
converts of the Gentiles, chiefly from the western quarters of the world;
— afterwards the natural Israel shall hurry from all the regions of their
dispersion, and be settled in their own dwellings,” etc., etc. Though all
this is very fine, it has nothing to do with this passage. Speaking of this
roaring being applied to the preaching of the Gospel, Calvin says,
“This and the like are refinements of which I think the Prophet never
thought.
HOSEA 11:12,
But Judah as yet rules with
his God, etc. Notwithstanding what
modern critics have said on this verse, the rendering of Calvin, which as
to the first line is adopted by Horsley, seems to most natural, and the
most literal. Newcome mangles the whole text, assisted by the Septuagint,
the Syriac, and Arabic versions, and the Vulgate. Henderson, following
Dathius, Boothroyd, and others, affixes a new idea to
dr,
supported, as they say, by the following texts:
<240231>Jeremiah
2:31;
<012740>Genesis
27:40; and
<195503>Psalm
55:3. There are no other examples, except that the word occurs, as it is
thought, in the form of a noun in
<250107>Lamentations
1:7; 3:19. Now, in none of these places is there anything decisive in
favor of the meaning attached in the following version, —
“And as for
Judah he is still inconstant with God.”
It is said that the word includes the ideas of being
unfaithful, rebelling, wandering at large. Much stronger and clearer
examples must be adduced before this meaning can be received. It is always
suspicious when anything doubtful or far-fetched is brought forward to explain a
text. The meaning of ruling with or before God, as explained by Calvin
and by others, such as Rivetus, seems quite satisfactory, and obviates
the difficulty felt by Dathius and others, and which obviously induced
them to seek a new interpretation.
With regard to the other line, And together with
the saints he is faithful, I find no improvement, but
otherwise.
Newcome’s version of the whole verse is
this, —
“Ephraim hath
compassed me about with
falsehood,
And the
house of Israel and of Judah with
deceit;
But hereafter
they shall come down a people of
God,
Even a faithful
people of saints.”
Henderson’s is the following, —
“Ephraim hath
encompassed me with
falsehood,
And the
house of Israel with
deceit;
And as for
Judah, he is still inconstant with
God,
Even with the
faithful holy ones.”
So various become versions, when once a license is
taken with the text, or with the current meaning of the words. Junius and
Tremelius agree with Calvin, except as to time, the past tense is
adopted. The last two lines are thus given, —
“Quando
Jehudah adhuc dominabatur cum Deo
forti,
Et cum sanctis
fidelis erat.”
The whole verse, according to this version, is as
follows, —
“Surround me
did the Ephraimites with
falsehood,
And with
guile, the house of
Israel;
When Judah as
yet ruled with
God,
And with the
saints was faithful.”
By referring to past times, the objection as to the
condition of Judah, he being at that time much given to superstition and
idolatry, though still adhering to the outward form of true worship, is to a
great extent removed. But the remarks of Calvin on this point seem
sufficient.
HOSEA 12:8,
In all my
labors, etc. Newcome’s
version is very different, he having been led astray, as usual, by the
Septuagint, —
“All his
labors shall not be found profitable unto
him,
For the iniquity
wherewith he hath sinned.”
Horsley’s rendering is nearly as far
from the Original as this — “All my labors procured not for me what
may expiate iniquity.” Henderson’s version is a paraphrase,
but materially agrees with that of Calvin, —
“In none of
my labors am I chargeable with guilt.”
What he considers the literal rendering is this
— “With respect to all my efforts, they shall not find attaching to
me iniquity which is sin.” Perhaps the words may admit of a still more
literal rendering — “All my labors shall not be found to be
an iniquity to me, that is a sin.”
HOSEA 12:11,
Is there iniquity in
Gilead? There is considerable difficulty
connected with this passage, and, indeed, with the whole of this chapter, from
the eighth verse to the end. The main drift is evidently what is stated by
Calvin, and in this most commentators agree. It was clearly the design of
the Prophet, in alluding to Jacob and his history, to prove the ingratitude and
to beat down the pride of Ephraim. But still, to connect the whole together in a
continuous narrative, is no easy task. On this very line there is a great
variety. Grotius reads, “Si in Galaade idolum fuit;”
Junius and Tremelius, “An in Gilhade iniquitas?”
Horsley, “Was there idolatry in Gilead?” Newcome,
“Verily, in Gilead there is iniquity;” and
Henderson, “Verily, Gilead is iniquitous.”
It appears that Gilead was at this time destroyed;
for what is said in
<121529>2
Kings 15:29, was evidently previous to the time of Hosea. It is there stated
that the king of Assyria had taken Gilead, with other cities, and carried the
inhabitants captive to
Assyria.fa101
The reference, then, to Gilead, must have been to its former state. Gilgal being
still in the possession of Israel, its state at that time is described. This
shows that Grotius and Horsley are more correct than Calvin,
Newcome, and Henderson. Gilead is evidently introduced as an instance
of the effects of idolatry, and the folly of Israel is exposed in continuing the
same idolatry at Gilgal. That I may attempt to exhibit the whole passage from
verse eighth to the end, in a connected form, I submit to the reader the
following version, —
8. Canaan is
he!fa102
In his hand are the balances of
deciet;
He loves to
oppress:
9. Yet Ephraim
says, “Surely I am become
rich,
I have found
substance for
myself;
In all my
labors they will not find against
me
An iniquity that
is a sin.”
10. But I, Jehovah,
thy God from the land of
Egypt,
Will yet make
thee to dwell in
tents,
As in the days
of meeting:fa103
11. Thus have I
spoken by the
prophets,
When I had
visions
multiplied,
And by
the prophets showed similitudes.
12. If Gilead has
been iniquitous, (literally,
iniquity;)
Surely
vain have they become in
Gilgal;
They
sacrifice oxen, yea their altars
Are like the heaps
on the furrows of the field.
13. When Jacob fled
to the land of
Aram,
Then Israel
served for a
wife,
And for a wife
he kept sheep;
By a
prophet also did Jehovah bring Israel from
Egypt,
And by a
prophet was he preserved.
14. Yet Ephraim has
caused the bitterest
provocation:
But his
blood on himself shalt be
left,
And his
reproach will his Lord return to him.
HOSEA 13:2,
Who sacrifices men,
etc. Henderson, after mentioning several
authors for and against this rendering, strengthens his own, which agrees with
our common version, by referring to a rule of syntax laid down by Gesenius; but
that rule refers to adjectives and to passive participles, according to the
instances given, and not to participles, as in the present case, in an active
form. The words here are literally “the sacrificers of men,” which
certainly can never mean the men who sacrifice. The words are not in apposition
but in regimine. We have in
<051803>Deuteronomy
18:3, yjbz
jbzh, “the sacrificers of the
sacrifice,” a phrase similar to the present.
Hosea 13:14,
From the power of the grave would
I redeem thee, etc. The conditional form is
adopted by Grotius and others, but disapproved by Horsley, Newcome,
and Henderson. When we consider what precedes this verse, and what
follows it, the condition seems the most suitable. Then the expression,
“repentance is hid from my eyes,” appears more consistent with a
threatening than with a promise, especially as the threatening is continued in
the next verse. To repent of evil, and not of good, is the phrase usually found
in the Old Testament. It is true that Paul makes use of the expression with
regard to the gifts of God,
(<451129>Romans
11:29,) but the context here seems to favor the other notion.
HOSEA 14:2,
Bring
good. Horsley reads, “Accept the
good;” Newcome, “Let us receive good;” Henderson,
“Graciously receive
us.”fa104
The words are
bwfAjqw,
literally, “and receive,” or “bring good.” The verb
means simply to “take’” but then it is used to express taking
for one’s self in the sense of receiving, and taking for another in the
sense of bringing. Naaman said to Elisha,
hkrb an
jq, “Take,” or “receive, I pray,
a blessing,”
<120515>2
Kings 5:15; and Jacob said to Joseph,
yla
anAµjq, “Take,” or “bring
them, I pray, to me,”
<014809>Genesis
48:9. See also
<011509>Genesis
15:9;
<120220>2
Kings 2:20. So the meaning may be either that given by Horsley or by
Calvin; and as the latter is more consonant with this passage, and does
not blend in sense, as the former does, with the next clause in the verse, it
ought to be preferred. But the Bishop’s note must be added, —
“Take away all iniquity, i.e., Take away entirely the sinful
principle within us. Take away the carnal heart of the old Adam. Create in me
a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. And then, when we
are thus begotten again unto holiness by thy Spirit, accept the good,
accept as good, what, so regenerate, we shall be enabled to perform.” All
this is perfectly true; but the former part is not an explanation of the text;
for to take away sin does not mean the renewal of the heart, but the
forgiveness of sin. Though they be two gracious acts which go together, they are
yet wholly separate and distinct; and to confound them may lead to serious
mistakes.
The same verb is used at the beginning of the verse,
Take, or bring with you words. As they were to bring words of
confession and prayer, so God is solicited to bring good; and to bring
good very suitably follows the taking away of iniquity; and then follows the
gratitude that is required.
ADDENDA TO
JOEL
JOEL 1:4,
The residue of the
locusts, etc. “A
comparison,” says Dr. Henderson, “of the different passages in which
these names occur, renders it more than probable that they are here employed by
the Prophet, not with any reference to the species into which the locusts may be
scientifically divided, but to designate four successive swarms, according to
certain destructive qualities, by which, as a genus of insects, they are
distinguished, and thereby to heighten the terror which this description was
intended to produce.”
Mercerius, as quoted in Poli Syn., tells us,
that almost all divines, both ancient and modern, understood this narrative of
the locusts allegorically; and it appears that, according to some, they
designate the four incursions of the Chaldeans into the land, that is, by
Tiglathpileser, Shalmanezer, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar; or, according to
Cyril, by Shalmanezer, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and the Romans; or, according
to Jerome, the four empires which successively ruled over the Jews, the first
locust representing the Chaldeans, — the second, the Medes and Persians,
— the third, the Macedonians, — and the fourth, the Romans. But
these are hallucinations and not expositions. Much more appropriate is the
opinion stated and approved by Henderson, that in this chapter Joel
describes a devastation of the country by natural locusts; and that in the
second he predicts a devastation by the Assyrians in a language highly
metaphorical, borrowed in some measure from the scene described here; and this
is exactly the view of Calvin.
JOEL 2:12,
But even
now, etc. Our version, “Therefor
also now,” is not so emphatical as that of Calvin. The full meaning
has been perceived by Newcome, “Yet even now,” though omitted
by Henderson, whose rendering is, “Now therefore,” which
comes short of our common version.
JOEL 2:13,
For he is
propitious, etc. It is of great
importance that this declaration of what God is should be correctly rendered.
Newcome’s version is the same with our common translation.
Henderson’s is different; it is this, —
“For he is
pitiful and
compassionate,
Long-suffering
and of great
mercy,
And repenteth
of the evil.”
The first,
ˆwnj,
is not “pitiful,” but gracious, benevolent, propitious, gratuitously
kind, favorable to the undeserving; it comes from
ˆj,
to show favor or kindness; and the last letter being doubled, it may be
rendered, very kind, or very gracious. The second is
µwjr,
which more properly means pitiful, but rightly rendered,
“compassionate,” rather than “merciful,” as in our
version. The third, µypa
˚ra, is better expressed by “slow to
anger,” or to wrath, than by “long-suffering.” The fourth is,
dsjAbr,
much, or abundant in goodness: the word
dsj
is sometimes rendered mercy, but not properly; it means overflowing goodness, or
exuberant benevolence. Adam Clarke has given an accurate description of
these terms: — “gracious — good and benevolent in his
own nature, — merciful — pitying and forgiving, —
slow to anger — not easily provoked to punish, — of great
kindness — exuberant goodness to all them who return to
him.”
JOEL 2:14,
who
knows, etc. Henderson has been
very felicitous in his version of this line, —
“Who knoweth?
He may turn and repent.”
It is an instance of the potential or subjunctive
meaning of the future tense in Hebrew; which is the case probably much oftener
than what is generally thought. But not so felicitous is the rendering of
hswj,
in verse 17, by “Have pity.” The meaning of the verb is, no doubt to
spare, as it is rendered, I believe, uniformly in our version. It may be seen in
connection with two other verbs, which include the ideas of pity and sympathy,
in
<241314>Jeremiah
13:14; 21:7.
JOEL 2:20,
For high hath he exalted himself
to do his purpose. Both Newcome and
Henderson retain the common version, only the former reads,
“Though,” instead of “because he hath done great
things.” Twç[l lydgh
yk, “For he made himself great in (or, by)
doing,” or, “Became great in doing.” It is the greatness of
the doer that is set forth, rather than of the things done. Henderson
very justly observes, that those words “convey the idea of moral agency,
and can with no propriety be interpreted of the locusts.” Exactly the same
words are adopted in the next verse in reference to God.
JOEL 2:25,
My great
army, etc. Newcome says, “We have
here a key to the grand and beautiful description which runs through these two
chapters.” He considered that the Prophet is to be understood throughout
“as foretelling a plague of locusts.” But this can be no key to such
an interpretation, for what is said in this verse coalesces much better with the
other view. On the supposition that there had been locusts, as related in
the first chapter, and that the Prophet threatens a heavier judgment in this,
which could only be prevented by repentance, to which he exhorts them, it
appears most appropriate for him to say, that not only “the
Northlander,” of whose invasion he had spoken, would be driven away and
destroyed, but that also the devastations already produced by the locusts would
be repaired. So far then is this verse from being a key to the proposed
interpretation, that it is much more suitable to the other.
JOEL 2:30,
And I will set
prodigies, etc. Calvin extends the range
of these prodigies beyond what most commentators do. They are viewed by most as
those prodigies, recorded even by the historian Josephus, which preceded the
overthrow of the city and the temple by the Romans, when the whole kingdom, in a
civil and ecclesiastical sense, was completely abolished.
The day of the Lord,
as mentioned here, has therefore been regarded as
the day or time when this awful calamity happened to the Jews: but Calvin
regards it as the day of final judgment. There is no doubt much truth in what he
says about prodigies or awful judgments ever accompanying the gospel, not as its
effects, but as visitations for unbelief, and willful and malicious opposition
to it. There is much in the history of the world in confirmation of what he
advances. The determinate suppression of the gospel by those who had opportunity
of knowing it, or the evident depravation of it either by the influence of
infidelity or of superstition, have often been visited in this world with awful
judgments, such as wars and political disturbances.
ADDENDA TO
AMOS
AMOS 2:7,
Who
pant, etc. Our common version is the literal
one, which is followed by Henderson, but altered for the worse by
Newcome, who was led astray by Hobigant and the Septuagint. Not only are
the words inverted, but a change is made in the verb, without the authority of
any MS. It is a strong mode of expression to set forth the extreme cruelty and
avariciousness of the persons referred to. “They even begrudged
them,” as Henderson observes, “the small quantity of dust they had
cast on their heads in token of mourning:” or, as Parkhurst says,
They “longed to see the poor and miserable still more wretched: a
most diabolical character surely!” To cast dust on the head was then
customary in seasons of great distress. See
<180212>Job
2:12;
<262730>Ezekiel
27:30; and
<101319>2
Samuel 13:19.
AMOS 3:5,
Will a bird fall into a snare on
the earth without a fowler? etc.
Newcome, with whom Henderson materially agrees, renders this verse
differently, —
“Can a bird
fall into a snare upon the
earth,
Where no gin
is set for
him?
Will a snare
spring from the
ground,
When it hath
not taken anything?”
The comparison is more appropriate according to the
version of Calvin; and the probability is that it is the right one. The word
çqwm,
rendered, “gin” by Newcome, as it is in our version, is
considered by Henderson as redundant; and this very circumstance creates
a suspicion that the passage is not rightly understood. This word is often
rendered in our version “snare,” but it means more properly the act,
ensnaring, than the instrument, snare: and it may be considered here a Hiphil
participle — “he who ensnares,” or, “the
ensnarer.” It is rendered
iJxeuthv,
a bird catcher by the Septuagint. Then the two following lines will admit
naturally of Calvin’s rendering, and there will be no need of having
recourse to Henderson’s “elastic snare,” or to Adam
Clarke’s “spring-trap,” neither of which is, I believe,
intended by the word
jp,
which signifies a snare spread out, or an expanded net. See
<181809>Job
18:9;
<19E005>Psalm
140:5; 142:3.
AMOS 4:3,
And ye shall cast yourselves
down from the palace. This difficult line is
variously rendered. Dathius renders it, “To Amenia shall ye be led
away;” Newcome, following Houbigant, who always mends the
text, “And I will cast it forth, and will utterly destroy it;”
Henderson, “Ye shall be even thrown out of the palace;” and
Horsley, following Parkhurst, “And ye shall be thrown into
the shambles.” The whole difficulty lies in the word
hnwmrhh,
found only here. The idea of shambles agrees well with the context, in which
cows are mentioned. Parkhurst, after Schultens, derives it from
µrh,
not found in Hebrew as a verb, but it means in Arabic, “to cut into small
pieces.” Hence as a noun,
ˆwmrh
seems to denote the place in which meat is thus cut. The
h,
as Parkhurst observes, is evidently radical, as it is preceded by
h
servile. This appears to be the best solution of the
difficulty.
AMOS 4:5,
And burn
incense, etc. The word for incense is
not in the form of a verb. Both Houbigant and Horsley take it here
not a verb but a noun: but their transpositions are by no means necessary. The
latter part of the fourth verse, and the whole of this, I would render thus,
—
And bring, in the
morning, your
sacrifices,
In the
third year, your tithes,
5. And incense with
the leaven of
thank-offering,
Yea,
publish vows, proclaim
them;
For thus ye
love to do, O children of
Israel,
Saith the
Lord Jehovah.
Amos 5:24,
And run
down, etc.,
“But judgment
shall come rolling on like
waters,
And justice
like a resistless torrent.
“That is, the irresistible judgment and justice
of God shall come upon those hypocrites like an inundation, and sweep them away
like a torrent.” — Horsley.
AMOS 6:1,
which have been
renowned, etc. Various are the
expositions of this and the following line. Newcome’s version
overleaps the rule of grammar, —
“That are
named after the chief of the
nations,
And to them
the house of Israel resort.”
The explanation is this, — “They call
themselves, not after their religious ancestors, but after the chief of the
idolatrous nations, with whom they intermarry contrary to their law.” How
foreign to everything in the context is this! Henderson’s rendering
is more like a version of the original, —
“The
distinguished men of the first of
nations,
To whom the
house of Israel come.”
He considers that the chief persons of the Hebrew
nation are here spoken of, to whom the house of Israel, the community, came for
judgment: and this has little to do with the context. Horsley seems to
have given the most literal version, and the most suitable to this place,
—
“Marking out
the first of the
nations,
Go unto
them, O house of Israel.
And then the Prophet mentions in the next who these
nations were, “Pass over,” he says, “into Calneh,” etc.
So that this distich is connected with the following verses. For
ybqn,
one copy of Kennicott has
wbqn,
“Mark ye out,” or, notice; this would make the line complete. Though
the Septuagint here goes much astray, yet it gives the verb used here in the
third person plural: and that person in Hebrew is the same as the second person
plural of the imperative.
AMOS 9:12,
That possess they
may, etc. Both this and the preceding verse are
quoted, in
<441516>Acts
15:16, 17, not literally, but mainly from the Septuagint, which differs
considerably in words, but not incense, from the Hebrew. Newcome, with
the view of producing a verbal agreement, has changed and altered the Hebrew
text without the authority of a single MS. This is rightly disapproved both by
Adam Clarke and Henderson. The former says, “We must dismiss
all these conjectural emendations, and take the Hebrew text as we find it. That
it speaks of the conversion of the Jews in gospel times, we have the
authority of the New Testament; and if we cannot make the words, as they
stand there, entirely to agree with the words here, the subject is
not affected by it.”
Index of
Subjects
Index of
Names
Index of
Citations
Index of Latin Words
and Phrases
List of Scripture
References
FOOTNOTES
FTa101 "Do ye
think there was more iniquity in the Gileadites, that are already carried away
captive, than in you? Surely the rest of Israel is in the same case; they all
lie open to the same judgement. ... They sacrifice to their idols in Gilgal
also." — Bishop Hall, quoted by Scott.
FTa102 "God
says to the Prophet, Instead of turning to me and keeping to the works of
charity and justice, he is a mere heathen huckster. Thou hast miscalled him
Jacob; he is Canaan; not Jacob, the godly, the heir of the promise; [but]
Canaan, the cheat, the sone of the curse." — Bishop
Horsely.
FTa103 This
refers to the meeting or assembling of the people in the wilderness to the
tabernacle. The tabernacle was called
r[wm
lja, the tabernacle of meeting, the very word used
here. See Exod. 25:22; 30:36. But if
yfy
r[wm designate the days of the annual feast of the
tabernacles, yet they must be viewed here, as Scott says, with reference only to
the manner in which they lived in the wilderness.
FTa104 The
Doctor says, that Horsely is wrong in his philogy in this instance, and
adds, that
kwm
is used adverbially. No instance is given; and it is difficult to find one. Let
it be adduced, and then the philogical accurateness of this rendering shall be
allowed. The fact is, that in Hebrew very few words of this kind are taken
adverbially: the language deals very sparingly in adverbs. —
Ed.
ftd1a
Newcome supposes that he prophesied between the taking of Jerusalem in
587 before Christ and the destruction of Idumea, a few years later, by
Nebuchadnezzar. Usher, as quoted by Newcome, places the destruction of Jerusalem
in 588 B.C.; and the siege of Tyre by the Babylonians three years later, that
is, in 585; and it was during this siege, which lasted thirteen years, that the
Idumeans, as well as the Sidonians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, were
subdued by the Babylonian power: so that the threatenings contained in this
prophecy were soon executed. — Ed.
ftd2a
Expositors are divided in their opinions as to the priority of the two Prophets,
and consequently as to whom of the two was the copyist. As the time cannot be
ascertained, our only mode of ascertaining this, are the passages themselves as
given by each. It is said that Jeremiah has not presented them in so perfect a
form as Obadiah, and that in the latter they appear as the naturally connected
parts of his subject, and accordant in style and character with the rest of the
prophecy. But the matter is of no great importance, and to discuss it can bring
no benefit. — Ed.
FTd3
The Septuagint renders the words, “to Edom” —
Tade legei kuriov oJ Qeo<v th
Idoumai>a
—“Thus saith the Lord God to
Idumea;” which is an exact rendering of the original, for it is,
µwdal
—“to Edom.” It was a message
from God to that people. May we not hence conclude that this prophecy
was sent to them by Obadiah? They are often personally addressed: and
this seems to favor such a supposition. It is indeed true that
l
prefixed to a word after the verb, to say or to speak, is often rendered,
of, or, concerning; but it is also rendered by, to, meaning
that the address is made to the person.—Ed.
FTd4 Or
the two lines may thus be rendered,—
A rumor have we
heard from
Jehovah,
And a
messenger to the nations hath he sent.
The verb, to send, is here active; and so it is
rendered in the Septuagint. It is indeed passive in the corresponding passage
in Jeremiah; but there are several other instances of variety in the expressions
used by the two Prophets, though there be in sense a material
agreement.—Ed.
FTd5
Blayney, for very satisfactory reasons, transfers this word to the preceding
verse, and then the passage will be almost literally the same with this of
Obadiah. The 15th, and the beginning of the 16th in
Jeremiah 49 may be thus rendered,—
15. For, behold,
small have I made thee among the
nations,
Contemptible
among the men of thy
terror,
(that is,
such as thou didst fear.)
16.Deceived thee
has the pride of thy heart; etc.—Ed.
FTd6 It
is evidently of the past, and not of the future, that this verse speaks. The
corresponding passage in Jeremiah is, in our version, rendered in the future
tense, but Blayney renders it, as it is, in the past tense. Our version
here adopts the past tense in the first line, “I have made,” etc.,
and the present in the second, “Thou art,” etc., contrary to
the rule, that when the auxiliary verb is not expressed in the original, the
tense of the verbs expressed is to be observed. The two lines should therefore
be thus translated, —
Behold, small have
I made thee among the
nations;
Despised
wert thou exceedingly.
The reference is, no doubt, as Calvin says, to the
poor inheritance assigned to the Edomites, and to the low station they occupied
among other nations; and hence their pride and insolence appeared more evident
and unreasonable.—Ed.
FTd7
Blayney renders the same words in
<244916>Jeremiah
49:16, “the encirclings of the rock:” but Parkhurst renders them
“the cracks, or fissures of the
rock.”—Ed.
FTd8
Literally it is, “among the stars,”
µybkwk
ˆyb.—Ed.
FTd9
This word has been by some critics removed to the beginning of the next
verse, but as it appears for no sufficient reasons, while indeed there is
nothing in the context that requires such a
change.—Ed.
FTd10
The rendering of the first of these two verses is materially different from
our version. There are difficulties here which are considerable. Our version
in the first part follows Septuagint; and others have followed the same, such as
Newcome and Henderson, though Junius and Tremulius
and Dathius have rendered it materially the same with Calvin, and
certainly more in consistency with the Hebrew text. The following may be
considered as a literal version of the whole verse:—
19. And they shall
inherit the south, the mount of
Esau,
And the plain,
even that of the
Philistines,
And they
shall inherit the field of Ephraim and the field of
Samaria,
And of
Benjamin, even Gilead.
The word “to possess” does not convey the
meaning of
çry,
which means to inherit, or to possess by inheritance, as Junius and Tremelius
render it—haereditario jure possidebunt—“They shall
possess by an hereditary right.” And this exactly corresponds with
Calvin’s explanation. Though our version follows the Septuagint in the
two first lines, it yet departs from it the two last.
But the 20th verse is the most difficult.
“Captivity” is more properly “migration” or
transmigration, as Calvin renders it. Then follow the words,
larçy ykbl
hzjAljh, literally, in my view, “the
beginning, this, to the children of Israel.” So the Septuagint takes the
word
ljh,
as meaning “beginning,” and not “host:” it wants the
w
except in three copies, and it always has this, when it means a host. I propose
the following translation:—
And the migration,
which commenced with the children of
Israel,
Shall inherit
what the Canaanites had as far as
Sarephath;
And the
migration from Jerusalem, which are in
Saphrad,
The cities
of the south.
The latter verse is a fuller explanation of the
former; and, as is the case commonly in Hebrew, when two things previously
mentioned are referred to, the order is reversed, the last particular is
mentioned first, so it is here. The verb “inherit” is in the last
clause in Hebrew; but the idiom of our language requires it to be in the
first.—Ed.
Ftb1
—Pastoreum nostrum mhden
uJsterhkenai twn uJper lian profhtwn ; ut sensuum
elatione et magnificentia spiritus prope summis parem, ita etiam dictionis
splendore et composititonis elegantia vix quoquam inferioreum.—Lowth,
Prael. xxi.
Ftb2 All these
are different kinds of locusts. There are in Hebrew ten names for them,
designative probably of so many kinds. There are four here:
µzg
, gizam, the young locust;
hbra
, arebe, so called from their number, one on the wing;
qly
, ilak, one of the hairy bristly kind; and
lysj
, chesil, one unfledged. Following the
probable ideal meaning of the words, we may give them these names, —the
cutter, the multiplier, the licker, and the
devourer.—Ed.
Ftb3 But most
commentators consider these two verses as containing a more particular
description of the devastations produced by the locusts mentioned before. That
they are called “a nation” is according to prophetic style, and what
has been done by heathen poets: the wasting of the vine and the barking of the
fig-tree seem more suitable to this view. It is true that
ywn
, nation, and not
µzw
people, as in
<203025>Proverbs
30:25, is here used; but, as Dr. Henderson observes, it seems to have been
selected on purpose “to prepare the minds of the Jews for the allegorical
use made of these insects in chapter 2.”—Ed.
Ftb4 Of the
three foregoing trees we may add this
account:
The pomegranate,
ˆwmr
, grows about 20 feet high, has a straight stem and
spreading branches, and bears large red blossoms. Its fruit is about the size
of an orange, and is delicious and cooling.
The
palm or date-tree,
rmt
, is sometimes as high as 100 feet, and remarkably
straight. Its fruit grows in clusters under its leaves, and is in taste very
sweet. Palm branches were emblems of
victory.
What is called here the apple-tree,
jwpt
, was no doubt the citron-tree. The word is
derived from
hpn
, to breathe, on account of the extreme fragrance
it emits.—Ed.
Ftb5 Medium
opus, “a middle work, neutral, neither good nor
bad”.—Ed.
Ftb6 That is,
restraint. Literally it is, Proclaim a restraint. And as it means a
restraint generally from labor as well as from food, it is applied to designate
a feast-day, when men are detained or restrained from
labor.—Ed.
Ftb7 Dr.
Henderson, in his learned work on the Minor Prophets, lately published, agrees
with Calvin in rejecting the interpretation alluded to here, though adopted by
many learned men. He considers that the Asyrians, and not locusts, are
described in the beginning of this chapter and that the Prophet “employs
language borrowed from the appearance and movements of these insects, in order
to make a deeper impression upon his hearers, whose minds were full of ideas
derived from them as instruments of the calamity under which they were
suffering.” The locusts in the first chapter are spoken of as having
already appeared; but the judgment detailed in this chapter is represented as
future.—Ed.
Ftb8 There is
no reason for rendering this in the past tense: it is in the same predicament
with the verb, “will be jealous,” in the former verse, and ought to
be rendered like it in the future time, “will answer.” The comment
founded on this rendering, though true in itself, is yet too refined, and suits
not this place.—Ed.
Ftb9 Dr.
Henderson agrees with Calvin in rendering this word, Northern or
Highlander, and quotes Coverdale as rendering it, Him of the North.
He considers this word as of “prime importance in the interpretation of
this prophecy.” Locusts visited Palestine not from the north, but from the
south. “That, however,” he adds, “which determines the
question, is the addition of the patronymic
y
to
ˆwpx
, indicating that the North was not merely the
quarter whence the subject of the discourse came, but that its native
country lay to the North of Palestine; just as
ynmyth
, the Temanite, means the Southern,
etc.—Ed.
Ftb10
Literally, “Into a land dry and
desolate.”—Ed.
Ftb11 There
are four sorts mentioned in Hebrew as in the first chapter: one of them is
omitted here and in the Latin text.—Ed.
Ftb12 However
true in itself is what is here advanced, yet the exposition seems rather too
refined, and what the passage does not require. The difficulty stated will
vanish, when we consider that “all flesh” is a general expression,
afterwards particularized and limited: and “and all flesh,”
according to what is subsequently specified, evidently means all conditions of
men, men in all states and of every age, and not the whole of mankind.
“And also,” in verse 29, is very emphatical, as the persons
afterwards mentioned were of the lowest grade, “servants and
handmaids,” that is, slaves: and such were many of the first converts to
Christianity. See
<480328>Galatians
3:28;
<510311>Colossians
3:11. Though the word for ‘servants’ does not necessarily mean those
in a servile condition, yet it has that meaning. The same is true of the word
for handmaids. Hagar, expressly called a bondwoman by Paul, is called by this
name,
<011601>Genesis
16:1. And to view the words as signifying slaves, would make the prophecy more
striking, as being literally fulfilled at the first promulgation of the
Gospel.
Ftb13
“To this valley or glen, in which is the celebrated burying-place of the
Jews, the Rabbins have appropriated the name, (the valley of Jehosaphat,) and
maintain, that in it the final judgment of the world is to be held;—a
conceit in which they have been followed by many Christian writers, as well as
by the Mohammedans.”—Dr. Henderson.
Ftb14
µynwyh
ynbl
, to the children of the Ivanites, or
Javanites.—Ed.
Ftb15
“This prophecy was fulfilled before and during the rule of the Maccabees,
when the Jewish affairs were in so flourishing a state, and the Phoenician and
Philistine powers were reduced by the Persian arms under Artaxerxes Mnemon,
Darius Ochus, and especially Alexander and his successors. On the capture of
Tyre by the Grecian monarch, 13,000 of the inhabitants were sold into slavery.
When he took Gaza also, he put 10,000 of the citizens to death and sold the
rest, with the women and children, for slaves.”—Dr.
Henderson.
Ftb16 This
line is rendered to the version of Calvin, and not according to his comment.
See p. 75.
FTc1 There is
an incongruity in our language in saying, “The words of Amos, which he
saw.” To see words, except when written, is no proper expression.
To avoid this, Newcome has paraphrased the passage thus,—
“Which had come to him in a vision.” There would be no necessity for
this, had we a suitable term for “words,” which in Hebrew has the
same latitude of meaning with
logov
in Greek. Dathius renders it, Effata, oracles. They were the things, the
matters, the events, which the Prophet saw, or were discovered to him in a
supernatural manner. The faculty of sight seems to have been used, because
scenes were presented often to the prophets, when these communications were made
to them; and then seeing became the term to designate these divine revelations,
when nothing but messages, either of mercy or of judgment, were conveyed to the
prophets.—Ed.
FTc2 Rendered
literally from the Hebrew, this verse is a fine specimen of sublime simplicity:
the poetical inversion of words is
preserved:—
And he
said,—
Jehovah from Zion
will roar,
And from
Jerusalem will he send forth his
voice;
Then mourn
with the inhabitants of
shepherds,
And wither
will the top of Carmel.
The roarings of lions are dreadful to shepherds.
God’s voice is either of mercy or of judgment; it is the latter here, and
evidently that of drought, (see
<300506>Amos
5:6,) as the withering of Carmel was to be the
effect.—Ed.
FTc3 Eam non
restituam—‘I will not restore it.’—Bishop Lowth.
Of all commentators, Dathius gives the best explanation of the first part of
this verse. His remarks are these:—“There is here mentioned a
fourth sin, for which God would no longer defer punishment. The
three sins, which had preceded the fourth, signify all those sins which
they had besides committed, a definite number being put for a number
indefinite.” But as to the phrase,
wnbyça
al, non avertam illud—‘I will not turn
it away,’ so as to forgive it, that is, the fourth sin, he seems not to
have been so felicitous; for the reference is evidently to Damascus. It will
admit of either these renderings, —“I will not restore it,”
that is, to favor; or “I will not turn away from it,” so as to let
it go unpunished. The whole verse I would render thus:—
Thus saith
Jehova,—
For
three transgressions of
Damascus,
Yea, for
the fourth, I will not turn away from
it;
For it threshed
Gelead with iron wains.
Literally, it is, “they threshed;”
for it is usual with the prophets, when speaking of a city or people, to pass
from the singular to the plural number.—Ed.
FTc4 There
were two Ben-hadads: the one whom Hazael strangled,
<120815>2
Kings 8:15; and his son who succeeded him,
<121303>2
Kings 13:3. But ben-hadad seems to have been the name of many of the kings of
Syria, as Pharaoh was the common name of the kings of Egypt. Hence the
palaces of Ben-ha-dad were probably those built by several kings of that
name.—Ed.
FTc5 This is
one of the peculiarities of the Hebrew language—the use of two pronouns,
the one before, and the other after the verb; and the preposition, when
necessary, is given with the latter, and not the former. There is a similar
peculiarity in the Welsh, exactly the same and of common occurrence. There are
several instances of likeness between the two languages, and even an identity of
idiom, and that in those things in which they differ from other languages. In
the present instance the Welsh is literally, word for word, the
Hebrew—y shai yr aeth eich tadau ar eu hol— which your
fathers have gone after them.—Ed.
FTc6 This
verse has caused great labor to commentators; and many have been the views
given. The first difficulty is in the words rendered in our version,
“under you.”
tjt
and with the Iod commonly added when there is a suffix, often occurs, and
means on doubt, an place, a spot, a standing, as in the following passages:
<021023>Exodus
10:23; 16:29;
<091409>1
Samuel 14:9;
<350316>Habakkuk
3:16; and this seems to be its meaning here. Then the second difficulty is about
“the cart” or wagon. Some consider it to be the vehicle to carry
corn; and others, the machine to thresh it as Newcome and others do: but this
view is not consistent with the other expressions used in this
clause.
A critic, quoted by Poole, evidently gives the
meaning in these words, Sensus est, q.d. Ego vos in eas angustas adducam, unde
vos ipsos mimime expedire valeatis — “The sense is, as though he
said, I will bring you to those straits, from which ye will by no means be able
to deliver yourselves.” I would then translate the verse
thus:—
Behold, I will
confine you in your
place,
As a wagon
confines its load—the
sheaves;
or word for
word,
As a wagon confines the
filling of it—the sheaf.
The rendering of the last line by Newcome is
certainly not what the original will bear; his translation of the whole verse is
this:—
Therefore, behold I
will press your
place,
As a loaded
corn-wain presseth its sheaves.
It is not pressing or crushing that corresponds with
the contents of the following verses, but confining and reducing to straits from
which they could not escape.—Ed.
FTc7 This is a
mistake: Samaria was situated on a hill, and not on a plain: but there were
hills or mountains surrounding it; so that what is said here equally applies to
the place.—Ed.
FTc8 This word
is commonly rendered ‘holiness,’ though it is also used to denote
‘the sanctuary.’ Calvin has been blamed for taking it here in the
latter sense. What induced him to do so is evident from his comment: and when we
consider all the circumstances of the passage, we may perhaps be disposed to
think him right.—Ed.
FTc9 It is
once applied in
<202513>Proverbs
25:13, to denote the piercing cold of snow; but its ideal meaning seems to be,
pointed, piercing, penetrating: hence it means a thorn, a goad, and also a
fishing-hook.—Ed.
FTc10
Literally, “on the third of days,”
µymy
tçlçl: but days here are evidently
for years. “I cannot doubt,” says Dr. Henderson, “but that the
Prophet has in view the enactment recorded in
<051429>Deuteronomy
14:29, 26:12.
µymy,
days, mean here, as in
<032529>Leviticus
25:29, Judges 27:10, the fullest complement of days, i.e., a
year.”—Ed.
FTc11 The
words are, µkytwng
twbrh, “the abundance of your gardens,”
and not your great or large gardens. I would thus render the
verse—
I smote you with
blight and with
mildew;
The abundance
of your gardens and of your
vineyards,
And your
figs and your olives, the locust
devoured;
yet ye
turned not to me, saith Jehovah.—Ed.
FTc12 There
seems to be a reference in “tuus” to the judgment denounced on
Israel in the 2nd and 3rd verses of this chapter: he
declares that he will deal with Israel “thus,” or in the manner
before described.—Ed.
FTc13 This
conjecture is fully borne out by the fact, that the copulative
w,
vau, is found in more than twenty MSS., as given by Kennicott: it is also
found in the Septuagint.—Ed.
FTc14 The
verse, as evidently understood by Calvin, is to be thus
rendered—
“He who made
the Pleiades and
Orion,
Who turns
darkness into
morning,
And darkens
the day to night,
Who
calls the waters of the
sea,
And pours them
on the face of the
earth,—
Jehovah
is his name.”
This is the rendering of the Septuagint. It is not
consonant with the character of Hebrew to borrow a word, as it is done in our
version, from a preceding verse. Newcome has prefixed the words,
“That have forsaken;” on what authority it does not appear. The
obvious construction of the passage given
above.—Ed.
FTc15
Commentators are not agreed as to the meaning of the words rendered here,
Pleiades and Orion,
hmyk,
and
lysk.
They are found only in two other places,
<180909>Job
9:9, and
<183831>Job
38:31; and in the first of these in conjunction with
ç[,
in our version, Arcturus, and also in the second with
twrzm,
Mazzaroth. Most think that all these were names given by the Hebrews to
certain stars or constellations. It is evident, that with the exception of the
last, Mazzaroth, the words, Pleiades, etcl, are names borrowed from the Greek
poets, and first introduced by the translators of the Septuagint: but they
observe no consistency; for in
<180909>Job
9:9, they render
hmyk,
Arktourov,
and in
<183831>Job
38:31;
pleiav
and in Amos the sentence is paraphrased and the word is left out. Again,
lysk
is rendered e[sperov,
the evening star, in
<180909>Job
9:9 and
Wri>wnov
in
<183831>Job
38:31 while
ç[
is translated
e[sperov,
and in
<180909>Job
9:9,
pleiav.
This confusion proves that the translators exercised no discrimination. The
Vulgate exhibits a similar inconsistency.
Parkhurst’s view is the most satisfactory, and
corresponds with the terms used in connection with the words in
<183831>Job
38:31, and with the context here. The genial heat, according to him, is
hmyk,
and the cold is
lysk.
The passage in Job is, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleuiades,
hmyk,
or loose the bands of Orion?
lysk;”
which influences
twnd[m,
the delights, the pleasures, the delicacies) of the genial heat,
hmyk,
or open contradictions of the cold?
Lysk
In the present passage what things God is continually doing are referred to, and
not his past works, which would be the case where the constellations intended.
Then the first line would run this:—
He who makes the
genial heat and the cold.
Thus the whole passage would agree well together, as
relating the various acts of God as the supreme agent in the material
world.—Ed.
FTc16 This
version differs widely from ours, but is no doubt nearer the meaning of the
original. Newcome’s translation is as
follows—
Who scattereth
desolation over the
strong,
And bringeth
desolation over the fortress.
What comes nearest the original is the rendering
proposed by Parkhurst, and is striking and poetical: the first line is
this—
Who causeth the
waster to laugh at strength.
The verb here used means primarily to laugh or to
smile, and in a secondary sense, to be refreshed or made cheerful, or to be
comforted. It is here in Hiphil, the causative mood. The whole verse may be thus
rendered:—
Who causeth the
waster to laugh at
strength;
And a
waster on the fortress he will bring.—Ed.
FTc17 The verb
is
µksçwb,
from
µçwb
but in ten MSS. Of Kennicott, and in five of D’Rossi, the
w is
left out: and then
ç
is supposed to be put for
s,
as Amos in another place,
<300714>Amos
7:14, puts
s
for
ç.
The verb
sb,
and in its reduplicate form
ssb,
occurs in other places, and means to tread or trample under foot. The expression
here literally is, “your trampling;” but such a form may often be
expressed in our language, “ye trample.” The connection of the whole
verse will be better seen by the following version:—
Therefore, as ye
trample on the
poor,
And tribute of
corn extort from
him,—
Houses of
hewn stone you may
build,
But ye shall
not dwell in
them;
Vineyards of
delight ye may
plant,
But ye shall
not drink their wine.—Ed.
FTc18 This
verse literally rendered from the Hebrew is as follows:—
Therefore, the
prudent at that time will be
silent;
For a time of
evil will that be.
It is a rule, which may be viewed as nearly if not
wholly, universal, that the substantive verb, to be, whenever understood
and not expressed in the original, is to be rendered in the same tense with the
other verbs in the sentence. So here, “A time of evil will that
be,” and not, “is;” for the previous verb is in
the future tense.
There are many instances of the neglect of this rule
in our version, as in
<192304>Psalm
23:4, “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;” it ought
to be, “for thou wilt be with me.” And then the line which
follows ought be rendered in the same way, for the verb is in the future tense,
—“Thy rod and thy staff, they will comfort
me.”—Ed.
FTc19
Henderson gives a better rendering of these two
lines,—
In all the broad
places there shall be
wailing,
And in all
the streets, they shall say, Oh! Oh!
twbjr,
from
bjr,
to be dilated, and to be made broad or wide, mean broad places or broad streets:
and
twxwj,
from
hxj,
to divide, signify the common streets, by which the town is divided. The
exclamations,
wh,
wh,
are rendered by Calvin, Vae! Vae! Eheu, in Latin, and Woe, in our
language come nearest to sound in the
original.—Ed.
FTc20 There
appears here a great candor in our Author: but the first view of the passage
seems the most natural and obvious, as presented in our version, with which that
of Newcome and Henderson agrees. Having before exhorted them to
“take away” what they thought much of, the Prophet now exhorts them
to attend to judgment and justice. The two verses, 23 and 24, may be thus
rendered:—
23. Remove from me
the multitude of thy
songs,
And the music
of thy harps; I will not hear them.
24.And let judgment
roll down like
waters,
And
righteousness like a mighty stream.
I prefer rendering
ˆwmh,
“multitude,” with Calvin, rather than “noise,” with our
version and Newcome, or “sound” with Henderson. It
forms a variety as to the next clause. In idiomatic English the expressions
would be—“thy many songs and thy harmonious harps.” The two
verses ought to be read as connected; and the 24th should begin with
“And,”
w,
and not “But.”—Ed.
FTc21 No
commentator has given us a satisfactory rendering of these two verses. Perhaps
that of Calvin, as a whole, comes nearest to the original. The question, Have
ye, etc., is considered by many as not implying a negation but a concession,
as though it had been said, “I grant this; ye did offer,” etc.; and
then, what is said in verse 26 was what they did besides. It was this mixture of
two worships, the worship of God and the worship of idols, that is here brought
against the Israelites. I venture to present the following
translation:—
Did you bring me
sacrifices and oblation in the
wilderness
For forty
years, O house of
Israel?
You did also
bear Sacut, your
king,
And
Kiun, which were your
images;
A star
was your
god,
Which ye formed
for yourselves.
That the hosts of heaven were the objects of their
worship, is evident from Stephen’s Sermon in
<440742>Acts
7:42, “Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of
heaven.” Stephen then refers to, and quotes this passage, not from the
Hebrew, but almost literally from the Septuagint. Instead of, “their
figures which ye have made for yourselves,” he has, “figures which
ye made to worship them.” He gives the meaning, but not the
words.
Between the words of Amos, in Hebrew, and those of
Stephen, there is a material, though not verbal agreement. Two objects of
idolatrous worship are mentioned, and also their images, but their names are
different. The probability is, that those used by Amos were not current at the
time the Greek version was made, and that the names by which those deities were
then known were used. Moloch, indeed, means a king, but applied, like Baal, to
several heathen gods; and Kiun is said to be Arabic, and Remphan is an Egyptic
term, designating the same star or planet, which critics suppose to have been
Saturn. Moloch, as Grotius suggests, had the figure of a king, and Kiun that of
a star.
FTc22 Here is
another instance in which the meaning and not the words, is given by Stephen in
<440743>Acts
7:43. In this instance, the Septuagint is the same with the Hebrew text,
“beyond Damascus;” but Stephen says, “beyond Babylon.”
The same quarter is meant, though the name of the place is
different.—Ed.
FTc23 There
seems to be a peculiar propriety in introducing this sentence. The Israelites
became the worshippers of the hosts of heaven; then the Prophet says, that
Jehovah is the God of Hosts. What folly, then, it was to worship the
hosts of heaven, and to forsake the God of
them!—Ed.
FTc24
“Woe to them that
are at ease in
Zion,
And to them
that are secure in the mountain of
Samaria.”
—Dr.
Henderson.
From not considering the main drift of what follows
in this chapter, critics have proposed emendations in this verse. The careless
and the secure, both at Jerusalem and Samaria, are evidently meant. Newcome
renders the last line nearly the same with Henderson—
“And that
rest secure in the mountain of Samaria.”
So that the word “trust” in our version
is not correct. The word used means often to be confident or secure, as well as
to trust; but the law of parallelism requires it to be in the former sense here;
as they were at ease in Zion, so they were confident or secure on the mount of
Samaria.—Ed.
FTc25 The
words are µyjwrs hzrm
rsw, usar merezach saruchim, —an
instance of striking alliteration. But Calvin’s rendering, though
amounting in its general import to the same thing, is certainly not the correct
one.
rs
never means to come, but the reverse, to depart. To decline, to turn aside or
away, or to depart, is its common signification. Then
hzrm
is properly shouting, either for grief or for joy; here evidently for the
latter; and it may be rendered here mirth; so the clause may be thus
translated—
And depart shall
the mirth of the
recumbents,
or, of
those who stretch themselves.
Dr. Henderson’s version is the
following:—
And the shouting
company of those that recline shall depart.
The translation of Symmachus is, “Taken away
shall be the company of the voluptuous,
eJtairei>a
trufhtwn” The idea of “banquet”
for the word here used, is what the Rabbins have given to
it.—Ed.
FTc26 This is
the view taken by Matthew Henry, and seems not unsuitable. “The methods
used for their reformation,” he says, “have been all fruitless and
ineffectual. Shall horses run, etc. No; for there will be no profit to
countervail the pains. God has sent them his prophets to break up their fallow
ground; but they found them as hard and inflexible as the rock, rough and
rugged, and they could do no good with them, nor work upon them, and therefore
they shall not attempt it any more.”—Ed.
FTc27
“Ye have turned judgment into gall, which is nauseous, and the
fruit of righteousness into hemlock, which is noxious.”—M.
Henry.
FTc28
Jurisdicto, which means sometimes the authority to determine the import
of the law; but it means here the power to interpret the thoughts of the
heart.—Ed.
FTc29 The verb
is
ynarh,
“made” or caused “me to see;” and so to render it would
have been better; and it is the same verb in the succeeding
clauses.—Ed.
FTc30 One MS.
has
µyqy,
which is, to cause to rise, or to raise up. This agrees with the
Septuagint—anasth>sei,
and comports with the rest of the sentence; for
ym
is ‘who,’ and not ‘how’ or ‘by what means.’
—Ed.
FTc31 The
Masoretic point, called Holem, is referred to, which, being put above the
w
after the first radical letter, or in absence of the
w,
denotes a participle.—Ed.
FTc34 The
fabled queen of hell.—Ed.
FTc35 This was
probably Gardiner.—Ed.
FTc36 So it is
literally hklmm
tyb. Newcome renders it, “The temple of the
kingdom.” Henderson, “The royal residence.” Grotius, Sedes
imperii, “The seat of the
empire.”—Ed.
FTc37 He
refers evidently to the Protestant princes.—Ed.
FTc38 The
literal rendering of the verse seems to be this—
And they shall howl
the songs of the
temple:
Many a dead
body shall be in every
place;—
“Cast
it away, be silent.”
The expressions are abrupt, but very striking. What
would be commonly said is mentioned, “Cast it away,” etc.
Newcome translates as follows:—
“There
shall be many dead bodies in every
place:
And men shall
say, Cast forth, be silent.”
Very tame is this, compared with the original
literally rendered. To introduce, And men shall say, lessens the force of
the sentence.—Ed.
FTc39 Shake or
move is the most current meaning of the word, and the most suitable to this
place. Newcome renders it, “be shaken;” Henderson,
“tremble;” and Grotius, “be
moved.”—Ed.
FTc40 A
different view is given by Newcome and also by Henderson.
Newcome translates thus,—
And shall
not all of it rise up as the
river,
And be driven
out of its place and sunk down as the river of
Egypt?
Henderson renders the lines in the same sense,
though in different words,—
Shall not all of it
rise like the
river?
Shall it not
be driven and
subside
Like the
river of Egypt?
The question is unnecessarily retained, borrowed from
the first line of the verse. It is seldom, if ever, that this is the case in
Hebrew; it is not consistent with the simplicity of the language. It is
evidently the earthquake that is here compared to the rising and subsiding of a
river. I would therefore render the whole verse thus,—
Shall not for this
the land shake,
And
every inhabitant in it
mourn?
For heave up
as a river shall the whole of
it,
And it shall be
agitated and subside like the river of Egypt.
Here is the heaving, the agitation, and the
subsidence of the earth in an earthquake.—Ed.
FTc41 He means
evidently the Keri, the marginal
reading.—Ed.
FTc42 Both
this and the former line are rendered differently by Newcome, more
consistently with the words of the original—
And I will make it
as a mourning for an only son,
And the end thereof
as a day of bitterness.
The pronoun “it,” and also
“thereof,” is the feminine
h:
Newcome refers it to
hrbdh,
this matter, or this event, understood: or in case
≈ra,
land, be the antecedent, he thinks that
lbak,
“as a mourning,” should be rendered participially, as “one who
mourns.” Either of these constructions may suit the original; but another
seems preferable. The antecedent to “it appears to be
lba,
“mourning,” in the first line of the verse. Our own version is no
doubt the correct one, and not that which Calvin adopts; only the last line may
be better rendered thus, as Junius and Tremelius
do—
“And the end
of it as that of the bitterest day.”—Ed.
FTc43 Calvin
is not without many expounders, who agree with him in this view; yet the reasons
assigned do not apply. “Though the true God,” as Dr.
Henderson justly observes, “was seen beside the idolatrous altar, it
was not for the purpose of receiving homage, but of commanding that the whole of
the erection and worship at Bethel should be
destroyed.”—Ed.
FTc44 These
two lines are variously explained. The words can hardly admit the meaning here
given to them. The scene was in the temple, and worshippers were present. The
command was to strike the lintel; the fall of the pillars or posts was the
consequence: many were destroyed, and those who remained were to be killed by
the sword, and not one was to escape. There seems to be here an allusion to two
previous events—the shaking and pulling down of the pillars of the house
of Dagon by Sampson,—and the slaughter of the priests of Baal by Jehu. I
render the verse thus:—
I saw the Lord
standing on the altar, and he said,—
“Strike the
lintel, that the pillars may
shake,
And break them
down on the head of them
all;
And the
remainder of them with the sword will I
slay;
Flee away from
them shall not he who
fleeth,
And escape
from them shall not he who escapeth.”
Junius and Tremelius, as well as
Dathius, render the third and fourth lines, where the difficulty alone
exists, according to the version given above; and Henderson renders the
third line materially the same,—
And break them in
pieces on the heads of them all.
But he retains “posterity” in the fourth
line, which seems not consistent with the tenor of the passage.
The version of Junius and Tremelius is
this,—
Et divide ipsos in
capite ipsorum
omnium,
Quod autem
post ipsos est gladio interrficam.
Dathius is more paraphrastic, and gives the
same sense,—
Eosque diffinde
ut ruant in caput omnium qui
adsunt,
Reliquos vero gladio
interficam.
Newcome, who is too fond of emendations,
folllows Houbigant, who, for no reason that appears, turns the verb into
the first person; and he gives this rendering of the third
line,—
For I will wound
them in the head, even all of them:
But this evidently does not comport with the
context.—Ed.
FTc45 This
verse and the preceding are connected together, and form but one period, as it
evidently appears from the construction of the words in Hebrew. The following
may be considered a literal version:—
5. And the Lord,
Jehovah of
hosts,—
Who
touches the earth and it
melts,
And mourn do
all who dwell on
it,
And it heaves up
as a river, the whole of
it,
And sinks down as
the river of Egypt,—
6. Who builds in
the heavens his
ascents,
And fixes on
the earth his
station,
Who calls
the waters of the
sea,
And pours them
forth on the face of the
earth,—
Jehovah
is his name.—Ed.
FTc46
Caenacula, in other places, ascensiones, and more correctly; for
twl[m
is properly ascents, steps to ascend, stairs; and hence, the places ascended to,
chambers.
FTc47
Coagmentationes suas—his joinings, cementings; but
wtdna
is in the singular number. It is difficult to ascertain its meaning. It occurs
not as a verb, but from its application, its ideal meaning seems to be, to join
or bind together, so as to form a compact body. It is applied in
<100225>2
Samuel 2:25, to designate a troop, a compact body of men. It signifies in
<020722>Exodus
7:22, a bundle of hyssop. Newcome renders it a storehouse,
deriving its meaning from the Chaldee; and Henderson renders it
vault, tracing it from the Arabic, and says that it signifies the vault
or arch of heaven, the hemispheric expanse, which apparently to the eye is
founded on the earth; but a band or troop has been its most common
acceptation.
It must be borne in mind, that it must be something
on earth that corresponds or forms a contrast with ascents in the
heavens. God has his ascendings, or as it were, his steps or stairs in the
heavens, along which, speaking after the manner of men, he ascends: then what
has he on earth? It seems to me that something firm, solid, compacted, is
intended; and the earth is said to be his footstool. Hence a firm footing,
standing, or station, appears to be the meaning of the
word.
The French translation
is—
Qui fonde son
batiment sur la
terre—
“Who
founds his building on the
earth.”—Ed.
FTc48
taz
hç[, “who will do these
things.” It appears that
taz
is a pronoun which is plural as well as singular: and the Welsh hyn is
exactly the same; it will admit thing or things to be added to it—y
peth hyn—y pethan hyn. When it is put by itself, hyn it conveys
the idea of one particular thing, or of several things, according to the
context.
The relative pronoun,
rça,
who, whom, is of the same character; it is both singular and plural, as whom
also is in the English language, and sawl in Welsh.
Hç[
is considered a participle, and the participle in Hebrew may often be rendered
as a personal noun, and in this instance the doer. It is the
oJ
poiwn of the Greek. But if the verbal form be
retained, the auxiliary verb must be in the same tense with the leading verb in
the context, “who will do these
things.”—Ed.
FTc49 This
sentence is an instance, common in Hebrew, of the use of two pronouns, —a
relative and a personal pronoun; to the latter of which is prefixed the
preposition. It has already been noticed, that in Welsh the same idiom exists;
in that language this line is rendered word for word like the Hebrew: and the
true rendering is no doubt that which is mentioned last by Calvin. The Hebrew
literally is this,—
Whom shall be
called my name upon them.
The same line in Welsh, without any change even in
the order of the words,—
Y rhai y gelwir vy
enw arnyt.
Another peculiarity is, that the preposition is
prefixed and joined to the personal pronoun in Welsh as well as in
Hebrew; and a third is, that the relative y rhai (the whom) in Welsh,
like
rça
in Hebrew, admits of no case. It is the same when a nominative to a verb, or
when an accusative governed by it.—Ed.
FTc50 There is
no Prayer here, for the Lecture is not completed: it includes a portion of the
Book of Obadiah.—Ed.
FTc51
“And travel not to Beersheba,” or “make no pilgrimage to
Beersheba.” The verb
rb[
expresses going abroad to another country. Beersheba belonged to the kingdom of
Judah.—Bp. Horsley.