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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
A M O S.
CHAP. IV.
In this chapter,
I. The oppressors in Israel are threatened for their oppression of the
poor,
II. The idolaters in Israel, being joined to idols, are given up to
their own heart’s lusts,
III. All the sins of Israel are aggravated from their incorrigibleness
in them, and their refusal to return and reform, notwithstanding the
various rebukes of Providence which they had been under,
IV. They are invited yet at length to humble themselves before God,
since it is impossible for them to make their part good against him,
| Threatenings against Oppressors; Punishment of Proud Oppressors. | B. C. 790. |
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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.
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 fish-hooks.
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.
4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply
transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and
your tithes after three years:
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.
It is here foretold, in the name of God, that oppressors shall be
humbled and idolaters shall be hardened.
I. That proud oppressors shall be humbled for their oppressions: for
he that does wrong shall receive according to the wrong that he has
done. Now observe,
1. How their sin is described,
v. 1.
They are compared to the kine of Bashan, which were a breed of
cattle very large and strong, especially if, though bred there, they
were fed upon the mountain of Samaria, where the pastures were
extraordinarily fat. Amos had been a herdsman, and he speaks in a
dialect of his calling, comparing the rich and great men, that lived in
luxury and wantonness, to the kine of Bashan, which were wanton
and unruly, would not be kept within the bounds of their own pasture,
But broke through the hedges, broke down all the fences, and trespassed
upon the neighboring grounds; and not only so, but pushed and gored the
smaller cattle that were not a match for them. Those that had their
summer-houses upon the mountains of Samaria when they went thither for
fresh air were as mischievous as the kine upon the mountains of Bashan
and as injurious to those about them.
(1.) They oppress the poor and needy themselves; they crush
them, to squeeze something to themselves out of them. They took
advantage of their poverty, and necessity, and inability to help
themselves, to make them poorer and more necessitous than they were.
They made use of their power as judges and magistrates for the invading
of men’s rights and properties, the poor not excepted; for they made no
conscience of robbing even the hospital.
(2.) They are in confederacy with those that do so. They say to
their masters (to the masters of the poor, that abuse them and
violently take from them what they have, when they ought to relieve
them), “Bring, and let us drink; let us feast with you upon the
gains of our oppression, and then we will protect you, and stand by you
in it, and reject the appeals of the poor against you.” Note, What is
got by extortion is commonly made use of as provisions for the
flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof; and therefore men are
tyrants to the poor because they are slaves to their appetites.
Bring, and let us drink, is the language of those that crush
the needy, as if the tears of the oppressed, mingled with
their wine, made it drink the better. And by their associations for
drinking and reveling, and an excess of riot, they strengthen their
combinations for persecution and oppression, and harden the hearts of
one another in it.
2. How their punishment is described,
God will take them away with hooks, and their posterity with
fish-hooks; he will send the Assyrian army upon them, that shall
make a prey of them, shall not only enclose the body of the nation in
their net, but shall angle for particular persons, and take them
prisoners and captives as with hooks and fish-hooks, shall draw them
out of their own land as fish are drawn out of the water, which is
their element, them and their children with them, or, They in their day
shall be drawn out by one victorious enemy, and their posterity in
their day by another, so that by a succession of destroying judgments
they shall at length be wholly extirpated. These kine of Bashan
thought they could no more be drawn out with a hook and a cord than the
Leviathan can,
But God will make them know that he has a hook for their nose
and a bridle for their jaws,
Isa. xxxvii. 29.
The enemy shall take them away as easily as the fisherman takes away
the little fish, and shall make it their sport and recreation. When
the enemy has made himself master of Samaria, then,
(1.) Some shall attempt to escape by flight: You shall go out at the
breaches made in the wall of the city, every cow at that which
is before her, to shift for her own safety, and make the best of
her way; and now the unruly kine of Bashan are tamed, and are
themselves crushed, as they crushed the poor and needy. Note, Those to
whom God has given a good pasture, if they are wanton in it, will
justly be turned out of it; and those who will not be kept within the
hedge of God’s precept forfeit the benefit of the hedge of God’s
protection, and will be forced in vain to flee through the breaches
they have themselves fearfully made in that hedge.
(2.) Others shall think to shelter themselves, or at least their best
effects, in the palace, because it is a castle well fortified and a
garrison well manned: You shall throw yourselves (so some read
it), or throw them (that is, your posterity, your children, or
whatever is dear to you), into the palace, where the enemy will
find it ready to be seized. Note, What is got by oppression cannot long
be enjoyed with satisfaction.
3. How their sentence to this punishment is ratified: The Lord God
has sworn it by his holiness. He had often said it, and they
regarded it not; they thought God and his prophets did but jest with
them; therefore he swears it in his wrath, and what he
has sworn he will not revoke. He swears by his holiness, that
attribute of his which is so much his glory, and which is so much
glorified in the punishment of wicked people; for, as sure as God is a
holy God, those that plough iniquity and sow wickedness shall reap
the same.
II. That obstinate idolaters shall be hardened in their idolatries
(v. 4, 5):
Come to Bethel, and transgress. It is spoken ironically: “Do so;
take your course; multiply your transgressions by
multiplying your sacrifices, for this liketh you; but what will
you do in the end hereof?” Here we see,
1. How intent they were upon the service of their idols, and how
willing they were to be at cost upon them; they brought their
sacrifices, and their tithes, and their free-will
offerings, hoping that therein they should be accepted of God, but
it was all an abomination to him. The profuseness of idolaters in the
service of their false gods may shame our strait-handedness in the
service of the true and living God.
2. How they mimicked God’s institutions. They had their daily
sacrifice at the altar of Bethel, as God had at his altar; they had
their thank-offerings as God had, only they allowed
leaven in them, which God had forbidden, because their priests
did not like to have the bread to heavy and tasteless as it would be if
it had not leaven in it, for something to ferment it. Holy bread would
not serve them, unless it were pleasant bread.
3. How well pleased they were with these services themselves: This
liketh you, O you children of Israel! So you love. What was their
own invention they were fond of and wedded to, and thought it must be
pleasing to God because it was agreeable to their own fancy.
4. How they upbraided with it: “Come to Bethel, to Gilgal; bring the
sacrifices and tithes yourselves; proclaim and
publish to the nation the free-offerings, pressing them
to bring in abundance of such; go on in this way;” that is,
(1.) “It is plain that you are resolved to do it, whatever God and
conscience say to the contrary.”
(2.) “Your prophets shall let you alone in it, and not admonish you as
they have done, for it is to no purpose. Let no man strive nor
rebuke his neighbour.”
(3.) “Your foolish hearts shall be more and more darkened and besotted,
and you shall be quite given up to these strong delusions, to
believe a lie.”
(4.) “What will you get by it? Come to Bethel and multiply
your sacrifices, and see what the better you will be, what returns
you will have to your sacrifices, what stead they will stand you in in
the day of distress. You shall be ashamed of Bethel your
confidence,”
(5.) “Come, and transgress, come, and multiply your
transgression, that you may fill up the measure of your
iniquity and be ripened for ruin.” Thus Christ said to Judas, What
thou doest do quickly; and to the Jews, Fill you up the measure
of your fathers,
Matt. xxiii. 32.
| Incorrigibleness of Israel; Judgments Called to Remembrance; Greater Judgments Threatened. | B. C. 790. |
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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.
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.
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.
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 palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the LORD.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here,
I. God complains of his people’s incorrigibleness under the judgments
which he had brought upon them in order to their humiliation and
reformation. He had by several tokens intimated to them his
displeasure, with this design, that they might by repentance make their
peace with him; but it had not that effect.
1. It is five times repeated in these verses, as the burden of the
charge, “Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord; you
have been several times corrected, but in vain; you are not reclaimed,
there is no sign of amendment. You have been sent for by one messenger
after another, but you have not come back, you have not come home.”
(1.) This intimates that that which God designed in all his
providential rebukes was to reduce them to their allegiance, to
influence them to return to him.
(2.) That, if they had returned to their God, they would have been
accepted, he would have bidden them welcome, and the troubles they were
in would have been removed.
(3.) That the reason why God sent further troubles was because former
troubles had not done the work, otherwise it is no pleasure to the
Almighty that he should afflict.
(4.) That God was grieved at their obstinacy, and took it unkindly that
they should force him to do that which he did so unwillingly: “You
have not returned to me from whom you have revolted, to me
with whom you are in covenant, to me who stands ready to receive
you, to me who have so often called you.” Now,
2. To aggravate their incorrigibleness, and to justify himself in
inflicting greater judgments, he recounts the less judgments with which
he had tried to bring them to repentance.
(1.) There had sometimes been a scarcity of provisions, though there
was no visible cause of it
(v. 6):
“I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, for you
had no meat to chew, whereby your teeth might be fouled,” especially no
flesh, which dirties the teeth. Or, I have given you emptiness of
teeth, nothing to fill your mouths with. “Bread, the staff
of life, has been wanting, for you have sown much and brought
in little,” as
Some think this refers to that seven years’ famine that was in
Elisha’s time, which we read of
Now when God thus took away their corn in the season thereof,
because they had prepared it for Baal, they should have said, We will
go and return to our first husband, having paid dearly for
leaving him; but it had not that effect. They have not returned to
me, saith the Lord.
(2.) Sometimes they had wanted rain, and then of course they wanted the
fruits of the earth. This evil was of the Lord: I have withholden
the rain from you. God has the key of the clouds, and, if he shut
up, who can open?
v. 7.
The rain was withheld when there were yet three months to the
harvest, at the time when they used to have it, and therefore the
withholding of it was an extraordinary thing, and, if the course of
nature was altered, they must therein own the hand of the God of
nature; and it was at a time when they most needed it, and therefore
the want of it was a very sore judgment, and blasted their expectations
of a crop at harvest. And one circumstance which made this very
remarkable was that when there were some places that wanted rain, and
withered for want of it, there were other places near adjoining that
had it in abundance. God caused it to rain upon one city, and not
upon another, in the same country; nay, he caused it to rain
upon one field, one piece of a field, and it was thereby
made fruitful and flourishing, but on the next field, on the other side
of the hedge, nay, on another part of the same field, it rained
not at all, and it was so long without rain that all the products
of it withered. No doubt this was literally true, and there were
many instances of it which were generally taken notice of. Now,
[1.] By this it appeared that the withholding of the rain was not
casual, but by a divine direction and disposal, and that the cloud
which waters the earth is turned round about by the counsels of God,
to do whatsoever he commands it, whether for correction, or for his
land, or for his mercy,
Job xxxvii. 12-18.
Rain does not go by planets (as common people speak), but as God sends
it by his winds.
[2.] We have reason to think that those cities on which it rained not
were the most infamous for wickedness, such as Bethel and Gilgal
(v. 4),
and that those on which it rained were such as retained something of
religion and virtue among them. And so in the town-fields it rained or
rained not, upon the piece, according as the owner was; for we are sure
the curse of the Lord is in the house, and upon the ground,
of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the just, and
his field is a field that the Lord has blessed.
[3.] It would be the greater grief and vexation to those whose fields
withered for want of rain to see their neighbours’ fields well watered
and flourishing. My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry,
Isa. lxv. 13.
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved. Probably those that
were oppressed were rained upon, and so they recovered their losses,
while the oppressors withered, and so lost their gains.
[4.] Yet, as to the nation in general, it was a mixture of mercy with
the judgment, and, consequently, strengthened the call to repentance
and reformation, and encouraged them to hope for all mercy, in their
returns to God, since there was so much mercy even in God’s rebukes of
them. But, because they did not make good use of this gracious allay to
the extremity of the judgment, they had not the benefit of it, which
otherwise they might have had, for
(v. 8)
two or three cities wandered at uncertainty, as beggars, unto
one city, to drink water, and, if possible, to have some to carry
home with them, but they were not satisfied; it was but here and
there one city that had water, while many wanted, and then it was not,
as usual, Usus communis aquarum–Water is free to all. Those
that had it had occasion for it, or knew not how soon they might, and
therefore could afford but little to those that wanted, saying, Lest
there be not enough for us and you. Those that came drank
water, but they were not satisfied, because they drank it
by measure, and with astonishment; and those that drink of
this water shall thirst again,
John iv. 13.
They were not satisfied, because their desires were greedy, and what
they had God did not bless to them,
And now, one would think, when they met with all this disappointment,
they should have considered their ways and repented; but it had not
that effect: “Yet have you not returned to me, no, not so much
as to pray in a right manner for the former and latter rain,”
See the folly of carnal hearts; they will wander from city to city,
from one creature to another, in pursuit of satisfaction, and still
they miss of it; they labour for that which satisfies not
(Isa. lv. 2),
and yet, after all, they will not return to God, will not
incline their ear to him in whom they might have satisfaction. The
preaching of the gospel is as rain; God sometimes blesses one place
with it more than another; some countries, some cities, are, like
Gideon’s fleece, wet with this dew, while the ground about is dry; all
withers where this rain is wanting. But it were well if people were but
as wise for their souls as they are for their bodies, and, when they
have not this rain near them, would go and seek it where it is to be
had; and, if they seek aright, they shall not seek in vain.
(3.) Sometimes the fruits of their ground were eaten up by
caterpillars, or blasted with mildew,
v. 9.
Heaven and earth are armed against those who have made God their enemy.
When God pleased, that is, when he was displeased,
[1.] They suffered by a malignant air, the influence of which, either
too hot or too cold, blasted their fruits, with a force that could be
neither discerned nor resisted, and against which there was no defence.
[2.] They suffered by malignant animals. Their vineyards and
gardens yielded their increase in great abundance, so did their
fig-trees and olive-trees; but the palmer-worm
devoured them before the fruits were ripe, and fit to be gathered
in. This was either the same judgment with that which we read of
or a less judgment of the same nature, sent before to give warning of
that. But they did not take warning: Yet have you not returned unto
me.
(4.) Sometimes the plague had raged among them, and the sword of war
had cut off multitudes,
The pestilence is God’s messenger; this he sent among
them, with directions whom to strike dead, and it was done. It was a
pestilence after the manner of Egypt; deaths were scattered
among them by the hand of a destroying angel at midnight. And
perhaps this pestilence, as that of Egypt, fastened upon the
first-born. In the way of Egypt (so the margin); when they were
making their escape to Egypt, or going thither to seek for aid, the
pestilence seized them by the way and stopped their journey. The sword
of war is likewise the sword of the Lord; this was drawn among
them with commission; and then it slew their young men, the
strength of the present generation and the seed of the next. God says,
I have slain them; he avows the execution. The slain of the
Lord are many. The enemy took away their horses, and
converted them to their own use; and the dead carcases of those that
were slain either with sword or pestilence were so many, and for want
of surviving friends were left so long unburied, that the stench of
their camps came up into their nostrils, and was both noisome and
dangerous, and might put them in mind of the offensiveness of their sin
to God. And yet this did not prevail to humble and reclaim them: You
have not returned to him that smites you. Such a rueful woeful
sight as this prevailed not to make them religious.
(5.) In these and other judgments some were remarkably cut off, and
made monuments of justice, others were remarkably spared, and made
monuments of mercy, the setting of which the one over against the other
one would have thought likely to work upon them, but it had not its
effect,
[1.] Some were quite ruined, their families destroyed, and themselves
in them: I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. Perhaps they were consumed with lightning, as Sodom was,
or the houses were, in some other way, burnt to the ground, and the
inhabitants in them. Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be condemned
with an overthrow, and so made an example,
2 Pet. ii. 6.
God had threatened to destroy the whole land with such an overthrow as
that of Sodom,
But he began with some particular places first, to give them warning,
or perhaps with some particular persons, whose sins went beforehand
to judgment.
[2.] Others very narrowly escaped: “You were many of you as a
firebrand plucked out of the burning, like Lot out of Sodom,
when the fire had already kindled upon you; and yet you hate sin never
the more for the danger it has brought you to, nor love God ever the
more for the deliverance he wrought for you. You that have been so
signally delivered, and in such a distinguishing way, have not
returned unto me.“
II. God, in the close, calls upon his people, now at length, in this
their day, to understand the things that belong to their peace, before
they were hidden from their eyes,
Observe here,
1. How God threatens them with sorer judgments than any they had yet
been under: “Therefore, seeing you have not been wrought upon by
correction hitherto, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel!” He
does not say how he will do, but it shall be something worse than had
come yet,
Or, “Thus I will go on to do unto thee, following one
judgment with another, like the plagues of Egypt, till I have made a
full end.” Nothing but reformation will prevent the ruin of a sinful
people. If they turn not to him, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still. I will punish you yet seven
times more, if you will not be reformed; so it was written in the
law,
2. How he awakens them therefore to think of making their peace with
God: “Seeing I will do this unto thee, and there is no remedy,
prepare to meet they God, O Israel!” that is,
(1.) “Consider how unable thou art to meet him as a combatant.” Some
make it to be spoken by way of irony or challenge: “Prepare to meet
God, who is coming forth to contend with thee. What armour of proof
canst thou put on? What courage canst thou steel thyself with? Alas! it
is but putting briers and thorns before a consuming fire,
Art thou able with less than 10,000 to meet him that comes forth
against thee with more than 20,000?”
(2.) “Resolve therefore to meet him as a penitent, as a humble
suppliant, to meet him as thy God, in covenant with thee, to
submit, and stand it out no longer.” We must prepare to meet God in
the way of his judgments
(Isa. xxvi. 8),
to take hold on his strength, that we may make peace. Note,
Since we cannot flee from God we are concerned to prepare to meet him;
and therefore he gives us warning, that we may prepare. When we are to
meet him in his ordinances we must prepare to meet him, prepare to seek
him.
3. How he sets forth the greatness and power of God as a reason why we
should prepare to meet him,
If he be such a God as he is here described to be, it is folly to
contend with him, and our duty and interest to make our peace with him;
it is good having him our friend and bad having him our enemy.
(1.) He formed the mountains, made the earth, the strongest
stateliest parts of it, and by the word of his power still upholds it
and them. Whatever are the products of the everlasting mountains, he
formed them; whatever salvation is hoped for from hills and
mountains, he is the founder of it,
He that formed the great mountains can make them plain,
when they stand in the way of his people’s salvation.
(2.) He creates the wind. The power of the air is derived from
him, and directed by him; he brings the wind out of his treasures, and
orders from what point of the compass it shall blow; and he that made
it rules it; even the winds and the seas obey him.
(3.) He declares unto man what is his thought. He makes known
his counsel by his servants the prophets to the children of men, the
thought of his justice against impenitent sinners, and the thought of
good he thinks towards those that repent. He can also make known, for
he perfectly knows, the thought that is in man’s heart; he
understands it afar off, and in the day of conviction will set
the evil thoughts among the other sins of sinners in order before
them.
(4.) He often makes the morning darkness, by thick clouds
overspreading the sky immediately after the sun rose bright and
glorious; so when we look for prosperity and joy he can dash our
expectations with some unlooked-for calamity.
(5.) He treads upon the high places of the earth, is not only
higher than the highest, but has dominion over all, tramples upon proud
men, and upon the idols that were worshipped in the highest places.
(6.) Jehovah the God of hosts is his name, for he has his being
of himself, and is the fountain of all being, and all the hosts of
heaven and earth are at his command. Let us humble ourselves before
this God, prepare to meet him, and give all diligence to make him our
God, for happy are the people whose God he is, who have all this power
engaged for them.
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