69 lines
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69 lines
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Joel';
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Title = 'The Book of Amos';
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SubTitle1 = 'Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 4';
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<p id="Chapter4" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 4
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<p id="Am4_1"><a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,'1-13');">Amo 4:1-13</a>. DENUNCIATION OF ISRAEL'S NOBLES FOR OPPRESSION; AND OF THE WHOLE NATION FOR IDOLATRY; AND FOR THEIR BEING UNREFORMED EVEN BY GOD'S JUDGMENTS: THEREFORE THEY MUST PREPARE FOR THE LAST AND WORST JUDGMENT OF ALL.
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<p><b>1. kine of Bashan</b>—fat and wanton cattle such as the rich pasture of Bashan (east of Jordan, between Hermon and Gilead) was famed for (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',32,14);">Deu 32:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',22,12);">Psa 22:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',39,18);">Eze 39:18</a>). Figurative for those luxurious nobles mentioned, <a onclick="return mV('Amo',3,9,10,12,15);">Amo 3:9-10, 12, 15</a>. The feminine, <i>kine,</i> or <i>cows,</i> not <i>bulls,</i> expresses their effeminacy. This accounts for masculine forms in the <i>Hebrew</i> being intermixed with feminine; the latter being figurative, the former the real persons meant.
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<br><br><b>say to their masters</b>—that is to <i>their king,</i> with whom the princes indulged in potations (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',7,5);">Hsa 7:5</a>), and whom here they importune for more wine. "Bring" is <i>singular,</i> in the <i>Hebrew</i> implying that <i>one</i> "master" alone is meant.
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<p id="Am4_2"><b>2. The Lord</b>—the same <i>Hebrew</i> as "masters" (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,1);">Amo 4:1</a>). Israel's nobles say to their master or lord, Bring us drink: but "the Lord" of him and them "hath sworn," etc.
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<br><br><b>by his holiness</b>—which binds Him to punish the guilty (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',89,35);">Psa 89:35</a>).
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<br><br><b>he will take yon away</b>—that is God by the instrumentality of the enemy.
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<br><br><b>with hooks</b>—literally, "thorns" (compare <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',33,11);">2Ch 33:11</a>). As fish are taken out of the water by hooks, so the Israelites are to be taken out of their cities by the enemy (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',29,4);">Eze 29:4</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Job',41,1,2);">Job 41:1-2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',16,16);">Jer 16:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hab',1,15);">Hab 1:15</a>). The image is the more appropriate, as anciently captives were led by their conquerors by a hook made to pass through the nose (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',19,28);">2Ki 19:28</a>), as is to be seen in the Assyrian remains.
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<p id="Am4_3"><b>3. go out at the breaches</b>—namely, of the city walls broken by the enemy.
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<br><br><b>every <i>cow at that which is</i> before her</b>—figurative for <i>the once luxurious nobles</i> (compare "kine of Bashan," <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,1);">Amo 4:1</a>) shall go out <i>each one right before her;</i> not through the gates, but <i>each at the breach before him,</i> not turning to the right or left, apart from one another.
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<br><br><b>ye shall cast <i>them</i> into the palace</b>—"them," that is, "your posterity," from <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,2);">Amo 4:2</a>. You yourselves shall escape through the breaches, after having cast your little children into the palace, so as not to see their destruction, and to escape the more quickly. Rather, "ye shall cast <i>yourselves</i> into the palace," so as to escape from it out of the city [CALVIN]. The palace, the scene of the princes riots (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',3,10,15);">Amo 3:10, 15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,1);">4:1</a>), is to be the scene of their ignominious flight. Compare in the similar case of <i>Jerusalem's</i> capture, the king's escape by way of the palace, through a breach in the wall (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',12,5,12);">Eze 12:5, 12</a>). GESENIUS translates, "Ye shall be cast (as captives) into the (enemy's) stronghold"; in this view, the enemy's stronghold is called "palace," in retributive contrast to the "palaces" of Israel's nobles, the <i>store houses</i> of their <i>robberies</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',3,10);">Amo 3:10</a>).
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<p id="Am4_4"><b>4.</b> God gives them up to their self-willed idolatry, that they may see how unable their idols are to save them from their coming calamities. So <a onclick="return mV('Eze',20,39);">Eze 20:39</a>.
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<br><br><b>Beth-el</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',3,14);">Amo 3:14</a>).
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<br><br><b>Gilgal</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',4,15);">Hsa 4:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',9,15);">9:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',12,11);">12:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>sacrifices every morning</b>—as commanded in the law (<a onclick="return mV('Num',28,3,4);">Num 28:3-4</a>). They imitated the letter, while violating by calf-worship the spirit, of the Jerusalem temple-worship.
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<br><br><b>after three years</b>—every third year; literally, "after three (years of) days" (that is, the fullest complement of days, or <i>a year</i>); "after three full years." Compare <a onclick="return mV('Lev',25,20);">Lev 25:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jdg',17,10);">Jdg 17:10</a>, and "the days" for the <i>years,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Joe',1,2);">Joe 1:2</a>. So <i>a month of days</i> is used for <i>a full month,</i> wanting no day to complete it (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',29,14);">Gen 29:14</a>, <i>Margin;</i> <a onclick="return mV('Num',11,20,21);">Num 11:20-21</a>). The Israelites here also kept to the letter of the law in bringing in the tithes of their increase every third year (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',14,28);">Deu 14:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',26,12);">26:12</a>).
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<p id="Am4_5"><b>5. offer</b>—literally, "burn incense"; that is, "offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with <i>burnt incense</i> and with leavened bread." The frankincense was laid on the meat offering, and taken by the priest from it to burn on the altar (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',2,1,2,'8-11');">Lev 2:1-2, 8-11</a>). Though <i>unleavened cakes</i> were to accompany the peace offering sacrifice of animals, <i>leavened bread</i> was also commanded (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',7,12,13);">Lev 7:12-13</a>), but not as a "meat offering" (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',2,11);">Lev 2:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>this liketh you</b>—that is, this is what ye like.
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<p id="Am4_6"><b>6-11.</b> Jehovah details His several chastisements inflicted with a view to reclaiming them: but adds to each the same sad result, "yet have ye not returned unto Me" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',9,13);">Isa 9:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',5,3);">Jer 5:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',7,10);">Hsa 7:10</a>); the monotonous repetition of the same burden marking their pitiable obstinacy.
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<br><br><b>cleanness of teeth</b>—explained by the parallel, "want of bread." The famine alluded to is that mentioned in <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',8,1);">2Ki 8:1</a> [GROTIUS]. Where there is no food to masticate, the teeth are free from uncleanness, but it is the cleanness of want. Compare <a onclick="return mV('Pro',14,4);">Pro 14:4</a>, "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean." So spiritually, where all is outwardly smooth and clean, it is often because there is no solid religion. Better fighting and fears with real piety, than peace and respectable decorum without spiritual life.
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<p id="Am4_7"><b>7. withholden...rain...three months to ...harvest</b>—the time when rain was most needed, and when usually "the latter rain" fell, namely, in spring, the latter half of February, and the whole of March and April (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',6,3);">Hsa 6:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Joe',2,23);">Joe 2:23</a>). The drought meant is that mentioned in <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',17,1);">1Ki 17:1</a> [GROTIUS].
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<br><br><b>rain upon one city...not...upon another</b>—My rain that fell was only partial.
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<p id="Am4_8"><b>8. three cities wandered</b>—that is, <i>the inhabitants of</i> three cities (compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',14,'1-6');">Jer 14:1-6</a>). GROTIUS explains this verse and <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,7);">Amo 4:7</a>, "The rain fell on neighboring countries, but not on Israel, which marked the drought to be, not accidental, but the special judgment of God." The Israelites were obliged to leave their cities and homes to seek water at a distance [CALVIN].
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<p id="Am4_9"><b>9. blasting</b>—the blighting influence of the east wind on the corn (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',41,6);">Gen 41:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>when...gardens...increased</b>—In vain ye multiplied your gardens, etc., for I destroyed their produce. BOCHART supports <i>Margin,</i> "the <i>multitude</i> of your gardens."
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<br><br><b>palmer worm</b>—A species of <i>locust</i> is here meant, hurtful to fruits of trees, not to herbage or corn. The same east wind which brought the drought, blasting, and mildew, brought also the locusts into Judea [BOCHART], (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',10,13);">Exd 10:13</a>).
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<p id="Am4_10"><b>10. pestilence after the manner of Egypt</b>—such as I formerly sent on the Egyptians (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',9,3,8);">Exd 9:3, 8</a>, etc. <a onclick="return mV('Exd',12,29);">Exd 12:29</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',28,27,60);">Deu 28:27, 60</a>). Compare the same phrase, <a onclick="return mV('Isa',10,24);">Isa 10:24</a>.
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<br><br><b>have taken away your horses</b>—literally, "accompanied with the captivity of your horses"; I have given up your young men to be slain, and their horses to be taken by the foe (compare <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',13,7);">2Ki 13:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>stink of your camps</b>—that is, of your slain men (compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,3);">Isa 34:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Joe',2,20);">Joe 2:20</a>).
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<br><br><b>to come up unto your nostrils</b>—The <i>Hebrew</i> is more emphatic, "to come up, <i>and that</i> unto your nostrils."
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<p id="Am4_11"><b>11. some of you</b>—some parts of your territory.
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<br><br><b>as God overthrew Sodom</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',29,23);">Deu 29:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',13,19);">Isa 13:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',49,18);">Jer 49:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',50,40);">50:40</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Pe',2,6);">2Pe 2:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jud',1,7);">Jude 1:7</a>). "God" is often repeated in <i>Hebrew</i> instead of "<i>I.</i>" The earthquake here apparently alluded to is not that in the reign of Uzziah, which occurred "two years" later (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',1,1);">Amo 1:1</a>). Traces of earthquakes and volcanic agency abound in Palestine. The allusion here is to some of the effects of these in previous times. Compare the prophecy, <a onclick="return mV('Deu',28,'15-68');">Deu 28:15-68</a>, with <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,'6-11');">Amo 4:6-11</a> here.
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<br><br><b>as a firebrand plucked out of...burning</b>—(Compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',7,4);">Isa 7:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',3,2);">Zec 3:2</a>). The phrase is proverbial for a narrow escape from utter extinction. Though Israel revived as a nation under Jeroboam II, it was but for a time, and that after an almost utter destruction previously (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',14,26);">2Ki 14:26</a>).
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<p id="Am4_12"><b>12. Therefore</b>—as all chastisements have failed to make thee "return unto Me."
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<br><br><b>thus will I do unto thee</b>—as I have threatened (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,2,3);">Amo 4:2-3</a>).
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<br><br><b>prepare to meet thy God</b>—God is about to inflict the last and worst judgment on thee, the extinction of thy nationality; consider then what preparation thou canst make for encountering Him as thy foe (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',46,14);">Jer 46:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,31,32);">Luk 14:31-32</a>). But as that would be madness to think of (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',27,4);">Isa 27:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',22,14);">Eze 22:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,31);">Hbr 10:31</a>), see what can be done towards mitigating the severity of the coming judgment, by penitence (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',27,5);">Isa 27:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',11,31);">1Cr 11:31</a>). This latter exhortation is followed up in <a onclick="return mV('Amo',5,4,6,8,14,15);">Amo 5:4, 6, 8, 14-15</a>.
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<p id="Am4_13"><b>13.</b> The God whom Israel is to "prepare to meet" (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,12);">Amo 4:12</a>) is here described in sublime terms.
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<br><br><b>wind</b>—not as the <i>Margin,</i> "spirit." The God with whom thou hast to do is the Omnipotent Maker of things <i>seen,</i> such as the stupendous mountains, and of things <i>too subtle</i> to be seen, though of powerful agency, as the "wind."
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<br><br><b>declareth unto man...his thought</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',139,2);">Psa 139:2</a>). Ye think that your secret thoughts escape My cognizance, but I am the searcher of hearts.
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<br><br><b>maketh...morning darkness</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',5,8);">Amo 5:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',8,9);">8:9</a>). Both literally turning the sunshine into darkness, and figuratively turning the prosperity of the ungodly into sudden adversity (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,12,18,19);">Psa 73:12, 18-19</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',13,16);">Jer 13:16</a>).
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<br><br><b>treadeth upon...high places</b>—God treadeth down the proud of the earth. He subjects to Him all things however high they be (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',1,3);">Mic 1:3</a>). Compare <a onclick="return mV('Deu',32,13);">Deu 32:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,29);">33:29</a>, where the same phrase is used of God's people, elevated by God above every other human height.
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