I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says Yahweh.
“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
Parallel Translations
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I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says Yahweh.
“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
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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.
But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
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And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.
But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying: 'Prophesy not.'
Cross-references (39)
- Numbers 6:2-3 (v11) “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate…
- Isaiah 30:10 (v12) who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.
- Amos 7:13 (v12) but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”
- Jeremiah 7:25 (v11) Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up…
- Jeremiah 11:21 (vv11–12) “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy in Yahweh’s name, that you not…
Show all 37 cross-references
- Micah 2:6 (vv11–12) “Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
- Deuteronomy 18:18 (v11) I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I…
- Judges 13:4-7 (v11) Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing; for, behold, you shall conceive and give…
- 1 Samuel 3:20 (v11) All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 19:20 (v11) Saul sent messengers to seize David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them,…
- 1 Kings 17:1 (v11) Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there…
- 1 Kings 18:4 (v11) for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and…
- 1 Kings 19:16 (v11) Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.
- 1 Kings 20:13 (v11) Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver…
- 1 Kings 20:35 (v11) A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by Yahweh’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him.
- 1 Kings 20:41 (v11) He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets.
- 1 Kings 22:8 (v11) The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him,…
- 2 Kings 2:2-5 (v11) Elijah said to Elisha, “Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel.” Elisha said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives,…
- 2 Kings 6:1 (v11) The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we live and meet with you is too small for us.
- 2 Kings 17:13 (v11) Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments…
- 2 Chronicles 36:15 (v11) Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and…
- Isaiah 5:3-4 (v11) “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard,…
- Isaiah 30:10-11 (v11) who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. Get out…
- Jeremiah 2:5 (v11) Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity,…
- Jeremiah 2:31 (v11) Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken…
- Jeremiah 26:11 (v11) Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied…
- Lamentations 4:7 (v11) Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.
- Amos 7:12-13 (v11) Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but don’t prophesy…
- Amos 7:16 (v12) Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’
- Micah 6:3-4 (v11) My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out…
- Matthew 21:34-38 (v11) When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat…
- Luke 1:3-17 (v11) it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent…
- Acts 4:18 (v11) They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
- Acts 5:28 (v11) saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to…
- Acts 7:51 (v11) “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 (v11) who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us…
- 2 Peter 1:20-21 (v11) knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men…
37 distinct cross-references across this passage (39 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11–12 He now subjoins, I have raised from your sons…
He now subjoins, I have raised from your sons Prophets, and Nazarites from your young or strong men, (for בחרים, 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 אף, 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 Numbers 6:1-8, 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.
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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.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v11 Ye contemned my benefits, and abused my graces, and…
Ye contemned my benefits, and abused my graces, and craftily went about to stop the mouths of my Prophets.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Amo 2:11 And I raised up of your sons…
Amo 2:11 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.
Ver. 11. And I raised up your sons for prophets] The ministry is worthily instanced as a singular mercy, Psa 147:19-20. Other nations had their prophets, such as they were, Tit 1:12, προφητης. Tragedians and comedians were said, εις διδαχην εργαζεσθαι, to labour in teaching the people, and were highly esteemed of the Athenians; insomuch as that after their discomfit in Sicily they were relieved out of the public stock who could repeat somewhat of Euripides. But what were these to Israel’s prophets, those holy men of God, who spake as they were moved, acted, and, as it were, carried out of themselves by the Holy Ghost, to say and to do what God would have them? φερομενοι, 2Pe 1:21; yea, those holy children, such as Samuel and Jeremiah (for of them especially the Rabbins understand this text), who devoted themselves to the work betimes, being more forwardly than either Athanasius, the boy bishop, or Cornelius Mus, who (if we may believe Sixtus Senensis) was a preacher at twelve years old, and such a one as with whom all Italy was in admiration.
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And of your young men for Nazarites] The Chaldee hath it doctors, or teachers; it being the office of these holy votaries to teach the people. Heathens also had a kind of Nazarites, as Lucian setteth forth in his Dea Syria (Habent et vespae favos, simiae imitantur homines), and the Turks at this day have their Dermislars, and their Imailers, whom they call the religious brothers of love. Epicurian hogs they might better term them, saith the historian. The Papists would prove their monks to be Christian Nazarites: but the abolishing of that order is declared, Act 21:25; and monks are so far from the abstinence of the Nazarites, that they eat of the best and drink of the sweetest that sea and land can afford. So far also from the singular sanctimony of the Nazarites, whereof see Lam 4:7, that the poet sung truly of them,
“ Non audet Stygius Pluto tentare quod audet
Effraenis Monachus. - ”
They may better profess themselves successors to the scribes and Pharisees, who may seem (saith one) to have fled and hid themselves in the monks and friars. Now, the Pharisees pretended to succeed the ancient Nazarites, as their very name imports, vitae sanctimonia et voto singulari ab aliis separati, but they were (as likewise the Popish monks) a generation never instituted by God, nor brought in by the prophets, but only a human invention, and through their own boldness; whence Chemnitius, upon the tenth of John, takes thieves there to be the Pharisees. An interpreter here showeth how God hath now made all his people Nazarites, i.e. separated and sanctified unto himself, by making them patterns of piety, as the Rechabites, holy, harmless, undefiled of dead works and evil works, from whom they are bid to stand off, 1Ti 6:5, as also not to "be drunk with wine, wherein is excess," but "to be filled with the Spirit"; abstaining from all appearance of evil, hating the garment spotted with the flesh, Eph 5:18 1Th 5:22 Jdg 1:23. {See Trapp on "Num 6:1"} &c
Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel?] If it be not testified against me, as Mic 6:3, and if ye cannot then read the sentence against yourselves, as Judas did, Mat 27:4, that ye may appear to be subverted and self-condemned, Tit 3:11. God loveth to fetch witness from men’s own consciences for the justifying his proceedings; and to convince them clearly that he is no way wanting to them, but they to themselves. A cunning carver can carve the similitude of any creature, but not on a rotten stick. What could God do more to his vineyard than he had done? Isa 5:4. "How oft would I have gathered thy children, as a hen her chickens," &c., Mat 23:37. "How long shall, thy vain thoughts, lodge within, thee?" Jer 4:14. God as so far from being guilty of Israel’s misery as that, besides other undeniable arguments of his love, as bringing them out of Egypt, destroying the Amorite, &c., he had raised them up prophets and Nazarites, given them his word, sacraments, all good helps to mollify their hearts; and then appealeth to their consciences by this rhetorical interrogation, "Is it not even thus?" so to wring from them a confession of the truth, in spite of their teeth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–12 I raised up; gave prophetic endowments, stirred up their…
I raised up; gave prophetic endowments, stirred up their minds, commissioned them to prophesy, and carried them through by an undaunted courage given to them, that they, should not fear to set upon, or faint in attending to, their office.
Of your sons for prophets; did not employ strangers, whose affections you might with some colour of reason suspect, but your own sons, whose affections to you and to their own country are unquestionable, were sent prophets to tell you of your sins, to foretell your dangers, and to importune you to repent of your sins, and to prevent your dangers.
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Your young men; though that age be generally inclined to please their own fancies, to walk after the sight of their eyes, Ecc 11:9, yet did God change the mind of some of them in their youth, and inclined them to eminency in religion, to be examples to others.
Nazarites; which were religious persons under vow bound to a very sober, abstemious, and holy life; either for some certain limited time, or for their whole life: see Num 6:1,2, &c. These were not to drink any strong or intoxicating liquors.
Is it not even thus? God appeals to them in this matter whether he had not done this for them, given prophets to teach them, and Nazarites to be examples to them, in both which God showed his love and care of them.
Ye children of Israel; apostatized Israel, you of the ten tribes.
Saith the Lord: this is added to excite them to serious pondering what is said to them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–12 And I raised up of your sons for prophets,....…
And I raised up of your sons for prophets,.... Such as Moses, Joshua, and the seventy elders, and others; not only to foretell things to come, but to teach and instruct the people in the doctrines and duties of religion, and to warn them of their sins, and the danger of them:
and of your young men for Nazarites: as Samson, Samuel, and others; whose vow not only obliged them from shaving their hair, but to abstain from drinking wine, and eating grapes, which the youthful age is inclined unto; but such grace was given them, as enabled them to deny themselves sensual gratifications, and to be examples of piety and constant attendance on the service of God, and instructing the people. The Targum is,
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"of your young men for teachers;''
these were the spiritual mercies, as the former were the temporal ones, the Lord bestowed on these people, for the truth of which he appeals to them:
is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord? can ye deny it? the thing was too notorious to be contradicted.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Nazarites - Persons who bound themselves to a very…
Nazarites - Persons who bound themselves to a very sober and holy life; either for some certain time, or for their whole life.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v12 Verse 12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine] This…
Verse 12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine] This was expressly forbidden in the laws of their institution. See Nu 6:1-3.
Prophesy not.] They would not worship God, and they would not hear the voice of his prophets.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v11 Amo 2:11-12. I raised up your sons for prophets…
Amo 2:11-12. I raised up your sons for prophets — Such were Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and many others; and of your young men for Nazarites — Who, by devoting themselves to my service in a peculiar manner, and by observing peculiar rites, were an honour to you. But ye gave the Nazarites wine — Ye tempted the Nazarites to violate their vow and contemn God’s law, persuading them to drink wine; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not — You bid the prophets hold their peace, and not speak against your actions, nor denounce any punishments against you for them. An example of this we have in Amos himself, chap. 7.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–12 And I raised up of your sons for prophets…
And I raised up of your sons for prophets - Amos turns from outward mercies to inward, front past to present, from miracles of power to miracles of grace. God’s past mercies live on in those of today; the mercies of today are the assurance to us that we have a share in the past; His miracles of grace are a token that the miracles of His power are not our condemnation. God had, from the time of Moses, “raised up” prophets. Eldad and Medad Num 11:26-29 were images Of those, whom God would raise up beyond the bounds of His promise. Samuel was an Ephrathite 1Sa 1:1; Ahijah the Shilonite, that is, of Shiloh in Ephraim, lived on to old age in the kingdom of the ten tribes after their schism, the witness against the apostasy of Jeroboam 1Ki 14:7-14; 1Ki 15:29, yet acknowledged by the king whose rise and of the destruction of whose house he prophesied 1Ki 14:2, 1Ki 14:4.
Jehu, son of Hanani, was the prophet of both kingdoms 1Ki 16:1, 1Ki 16:7, 1Ki 16:12; 2Ch 19:2; 2Ch 20:34; Micaiah, son of Imlah, was well known to Ahab, as “prophesying evil concerning him” 1Ki 22:8, 1Ki 22:18 continually; unknown to Jehoshaphat 1Ki 22:7. That wondrous pair, marvelous for superhuman sanctity and power among the marvelous miracles of God, Elijalh and Elisha, were both “sons” of Israel, whom God “raised up; Elijjah the Tishbite” 1Ki 17:1, born doubtless at Thisbe, a village of Naphthali , and one of the sojourners in Gilead; Elisha of Abelmeholah 1Ki 19:16, on the west side of the valley of the Jordan . And even now He had raised up to them of their own “sons,” Hosea and Jonah. Their presence was the presence of God among them, who, out of the ordinary way of His Providence, “raised” them “up” and filled them with His Spirit; and where the presence of God is, if there is fear, yet there is also hope.
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And of your young men for Nazarites - The Nazarite was a fruit of the grace of God in its moral and religions workings, superhuman in holiness and self-denial, as the prophets were of that same grace, conferring superhuman wisdom and knowledge also. Of both, God says, “I raised up,” teaching that both alike, holiness of life and superhman wisdom, were His own special gift to each individual, His own creation. God survived His people, called, and “raised up,” by His grace, out of the crowd, those souls which responded to His call. The life of the Nazarites was a continual protest against the self-indulgence and worldliness of the people. It was a life above nature. Unless any prophet like Samuel 1Sa 1:11, was also a Nazarite, they had no special office except to live that life. Their life taught. Nay, it taught in one way the more, because they had no special gifts of wisdom or knowledge, nothing to distinguish them from ordinary people, except extraordinary grace.
They were an evidence, what all might do and be, if they used the grace of God. The power of the grace of God shows itself the more wondrously in these who have nought beside. The essence of the Nazarite life, as expressed by its name, was “separation,” separation from things of the world, with a view to God. The separation was not, necessarily, for more than a limited time. In such case, it answered to the strictness of the Christian Lent. It was a considerable discipline for a time. In those simpler days, when luxury had not been so busy , the absolute prohibition of anything fermented Num 6:3-4, whether from the grape or any other substance or vinegar made of either, or any liquor or refreshing food or drink, made in any way from the grape, fresh or dry, its husks or its kernels, while it cut off every evasion, involved the giving up not only every drink, in any way exciting or stimulating, but very much also, which was refreshing. Water, which in the east has seldom the freshness of ours, was their only drink. This, which to individuals may be an easy rule, would not be so in the main.
Those only think an undeviating rule slight, who have never tried one, nor set themselves on system to conquer self-will. Such a rule would not be acted upon, except for God. The long never-shorn hair was probably intended to involve the neglect of personal appearance. Yet this was the body only of the vow; its soul was the dedication to God. The Nazarite not only “separated himself from” Num 6:3 those earthly things; he “separated himself to” the Lord Num 6:2, Num 6:5-6 : he “consecrated to the Lord the days of his separation Num 6:12 : all the days of his separation he was holy to the Lord Num 6:8 : the separation of his God was upon his head.” Num 6:7. The vow was a great and singular thing. “When man or woman shall vow a special vow of a Nazarite” Num 6:2. The ritual of the Nazarite likened him to the priest. Giving him no priestly office, it yet even intensified some of the rules of the priesthood.
The priest was to abstain from wine and strong drink, only “when” he “went into the tabernacle of the congregations,” that he might “put difference between holy and unholy, and teach Israel the statutes” of the Lord Lev 10:9-11 : the Nazarite, so long as he remained such. The priest might defile himself for certain very near dead Lev 21:1-3; the high priest alone and the Nazarite, “neither for father nor mother” Lev 21:11-12; Num 6:7 : and that for the kindred reason; the high priest, “because the crown of the anointing oil of his God” was “upon him;” the Nazarite, “because the consecration of his God was upon his head!” His consecrated hair was called by the self-same name Num 6:19 as the mitre of the priest. It appears to have been woven into “seven locks” Jdg 16:13, itself a number of consecration. If his consecration came to an end, that hair was mingled with the sacrifice Num 6:18, and on “his” hands alone, besides the priest’s at his consecration, was part of the offering laid Num 6:19.
All Israel was, in God’s purpose, “a kingdom of priests” Exo 19:6; and, among them, the Nazarite was brought yet nearer, not to the priest’s office, but to his character. This must have diffused itself indefinitely through the outward and inward life. Further strictness probably lay in the spirit of the vow. The outward appearance of the Nazarites appears to have been changed by their abstemiousness. “Her Nazarites were purer than snow; they were whiter than milk” Lam 4:7. Their countenance had that transparent purity, which sometimes results from a pure abstemious life; as Athanasius is said to have been “bloodless.” John the Immerser, the counterpart of Elijah, ate only of the food of the wilderness, “locusts and wild honey;” his clothing was the hair cloth Luk 1:15; Luk 7:33; Mat 3:4.
Of James the Just it is related with reference to the Nazarite vow ; “He was holy from his mother’s womb; wine and strong drink he drank not, nor ate any living thing; the razor came not up upon his head; he anointed him not with oil, and he used not a bath.” Nazarites there had been in the most disorganized times of Israel. The histories of Samson and Samuel stand over against one another, as Nazarites who, the one forfeited, the other persevered in, his vocation. Elijah’s ascetic character is as if he had been one of them, or deepened the lines of their rule. Ahaziah’s ungodly messengers described him contemptously as “a man, lord of hair,” as though he had nothing but his prophet’s broad mantle of hair, and “the leather girdle about his loins” .
The Rechabites, although Kenites by origin 1Ch 2:55, had been enrolled in the people of God, and had received a rule from their father, uniting with the abstinence of the Nazarites, a mode of life which kept them aloof from the corruptions of cities Jer 35:7, Jer 35:9. The rules of their Nomadic life were consecrated to God, for He says, “There shall not be cut off from Jonadub, the son of Rechab, a man standing before Me for ever” Jer 35:19, that is, as the servant of God. God uses as to them the term which marks the service of the Levites Deu 10:8, priests Jdg 20:28, and prophets 1Ki 17:1. Jonadab, the author of their rule, was plainly an ascetic, through whose presence Jehu hoped to cast a religious character over his ambitious execution of God’s command .
But the value which the artful, though impetuous 2Ki 9:20, bloodstained, captain attached to the presence of the ascetic shows the weight which they had with the people. Strange sight it must have been, the energetic warrior in his coat of mail, and the ascetic, as energetic, in his hair-cloth. Deeper far the cotrast within. But the more marvelous the contrast, the more it attests the influence which the unworldly ascetic had over the world. Like the garb of the prophets, their appearance was a standing rebuke to a life of sense. Like the patriarchs, it professed that they were “strangers and pilgrims upon the earth.” They who sought nothing of the world or of time, were a witness to the belief in their eternal home. The Nazarites must now have been a numerous body, since Amos speaks of them, as a known class, like the prophets, of whose numbers we hear incidentally .
Yet the memory of these, who, amid the general corruption, were, each in his own sphere, centers of pure faith and life, is embalmed in these few words only. So little reason is there to think that God’s commands were neglected by all, because their observance is not related. Amos appeals publicly to the people that the fact was so, that God had raised up Nazarites as well as prophets among them. He had His “little flock” Luk 12:32, His “seven thousand” 1Ki 19:18, who escaped the eye even of Elijah. The gift of the Nazarites was a special favor to Israel, as a memorial what the grace of God could do for man, what man could do, with the grace of God. His “raising up Nazarites, out of their young men,” men in their first bloom of unmarried , virgin (Deu 32:25; 2Ch 36:17; Jer 51:22; and in the plur. Psa 78:63; Psa 148:12; Isa 23:4;. Jer 31:13; Lam 1:18; Lam 2:21; Zec 9:17; and by Amos himself, Amo 8:13), life their picked “very chosen men,” such as furnished the prime of their warriors , stengthened that teaching.
Even now, one devoted to God in his youth is a witness for God, leaven of the world around him. But the Nazarite had also to bear an outward mark for good, to be singular. His appearance bespoke that he had chosen God. His vow was not only a living up to the law; it lay beyond the law, the free-will offering of those whom God called. At an age, when so many do things unlawful, to gratitfy passion, these abstained even from things lawful. “Canst thou not do what these youths and these maidens can? or can they either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God?” was Augustine’s upbraiding of himself , on the eve of his conversion, in thought of those who were living a devoted virgin life.
Is it not even thus? - It were enough that God, the Truth, said it. But He condemns not, without giving space for excuse or defense. So he describes the Day of Judgment Mat 25:24-30, Mat 25:41-45; Mat 22:11. “The books were opened - and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” Rev 20:12. Now, in the time of grace, the question asks, what, written under the picture of Christ crucified, once converted a sinner; “This have I done for thee: What doest thou for Me?” What did they? What had they done? What would they do?
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v11 Nazarites. Some went secretly to Jerusalem for this purpose;…
Nazarites. Some went secretly to Jerusalem for this purpose; or perhaps they performed these rites illegally at Bethel: for many parts of the law were observed, though not perfectly, chap iv. 4. The Nazarites were in high estimation, Lamentations iv. 7. But the dissolute Israelites (Calmet) derided them as well as the prophets, (Haydock) and attempted to make them transgress. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the…
Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the prophets and Nazarites, appointed by Him, to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint.
of your young men--It was a specimen of Israel's highly favored state, that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine, and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite was not to shave (Num 6:2, &c.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity of their worship and their faithfulness to it (Lam 4:7). The same comes from a Hebrew root, nazar, "to set apart." Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazarites.
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Is it not even thus--Will any of you dare to deny it is so?
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. raised up] Cf. Deu_18:15, Jer_6:17 : similarly of…
11. raised up] Cf. Deu_18:15, Jer_6:17 : similarly of judges, Jdg_2:16; Jdg_2:18; deliverers (ib. Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:15); a priest, 1Sa_2:35; kings or other rulers, 2Sa_7:8, Jer_23:4-5; Jer_30:9, Eze_34:23. “God is said to raise up, when by His providence, or His grace, He calls forth those who had not been called before, for the office for which He designs them” (Dr Pusey on Amo_6:14).
for prophets] as Moses himself (Deu_34:10; Hos_12:13), Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Ahijah, Shemaiah, Jehu son of Hanani, Micaiah son of Imlah, Elijah, and Elisha: to say nothing of many, not named individually (comp. 1Sa_28:15; Hos_4:5; Hos_6:5; Hos_9:7-8; Hos_12:10; ch. Amo_3:7, and on ch. Amo_7:14). A succession of prophets had, in various ways, by example and precept, held up before Israel the ideal of a righteous life: but they had refused to listen to them: comp. Hos_6:5, and especially Amo_9:7-8, a passage which illustrates the opposition and hostility to which, in the age of Amos, the prophets were exposed. On the prophets in early Israel, see an excellent chapter in G. A. Smith’s Book of the Twelve Prophets, Amo_1:11-15 (cf. also pp. 44–58).
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Nazirites] The Heb. nâzîr signifies properly one separated from the people at large, or consecrated (though without the special ideas attaching to ḳâdôsh, holy), the particular direction in which the ‘separation’ in question takes effect being fixed by usage. Comp. the corresponding verb (in different applications), Hos_9:10; Lev_15:31; Lev_22:2; Eze_14:7; Zec_7:3; and with special reference to the ‘separation’ of the Nazirite, Num_6:2-3; Num_6:5-6; Num_6:12 : also the subst. nézer, “separation,” ib. Num_6:4-21 (repeatedly). The Nazirites were men who, when the sensual and self-indulgent habits of the Canaanites threatened to make their way into Israel, endeavoured by a vow of abstinence to set an example of moderation and self-denial, which might help to preserve the old simplicity of Israelitish life. The chief obligations of the Nazirite were to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, to eat no “unclean” thing[145], and (according to Num_6:6 f.) to avoid the ceremonial “uncleanness” occasioned by contact with a corpse: as a sign of his “separation” (cf. Num_6:7 end), also, his hair was not shaved, but suffered to grow in its natural state[146]. The only certain historical example of a Nazirite, mentioned in the O.T., is Samson (cf. Jdg_13:5; Jdg_13:7; Jdg_13:14; Jdg_16:17). Samuel, however, is often considered to have been a Nazirite (cf. 1Sa_1:11; 1Sa_1:28), though the term itself is not actually applied to him[147]. But from the present passage it may be inferred that they formed a numerous class. The law regulating the vow of the Nazirite is codified in Num_6:1-21 : but this, in its present form, springs probably from a later age than that of Amos, and represents the form which the regulations on the subject finally assumed. Samson was dedicated to the life of a Nazirite before his birth, and so also was Samuel (if he is rightly treated as a Nazirite): but this, no doubt, was exceptional; it is implied by Amos that “young men,” when they felt the inner call, spontaneously dedicated themselves to the ascetic life. The Rechabites (Jeremiah 35), whose founder was a contemporary of Jehu’s (2Ki_10:15 ff.), were a sect or guild, established with the same object of maintaining a simple habit of life, in contrast to the laxity and effeminacy too often prevalent in these cities. Amos regards the Nazirites as a living protest against the luxury and sensuality to which Israel was now too much addicted (cf. Amo_4:1, Amo_6:3-7); and sees in their appearance, as in that of the prophets, a mark of God’s care for the higher welfare of His people. See further, on the Nazirites, Nowack, Hebr. Archäologie, II. pp. 133–138.
[145] At least this may be inferred from the condition imposed upon Samson’s mother (Jdg_13:4; Jdg_13:7; Jdg_13:14).
[146] Cf. with this the rule by which the Arabs, while a sacred obligation rests upon them (as the duty of blood-revenge, or during a pilgrimage) never shave their hair (Wellhausen, Reste Arab. Heidentumes, pp. 116 ff.). Comp. also 1Sa_1:11 (of Samuel).
[147] At least, until Sir_46:13 (Heb. and Syr.).
saith Jehovah] more lit. “(’tis) Jehovah’s whisper (or oracle)!” a solemn asseverative interjection, usually thrown in parenthetically in the middle or at the end of a sentence. It is very common in the prophets, occurring for instance in this book, Amo_2:16, Amo_3:10; Amo_3:13; Amo_3:15, Amo_4:3; Amo_4:5-6; Amo_4:8 &c. (in Amo_1:8; Amo_1:15, Amo_2:3, Amo_5:16-17; Amo_5:27, Amo_7:3, Amo_9:15, on the contrary, the word is the usual one for say). Only very rarely is a human speaker the subject, if the reference be to some prophetic or oracular declaration (Num_24:3; Num_24:15; 2Sa_23:1; Pro_30:1; cf. Psa_36:1). The word is in form a passive participle, from a verb which however does not appear to have been generally in use, though it is coined from the subst. for a special purpose in Jer_23:31 (“and say, ‘He saith’,” i.e. use this solemn prophetic formula without authority [cf. Eze_13:6-7]: more lit. “and oracle oracles”). The root in Arabic signifies to utter a low sound; and hence the Hebrew term probably denoted properly a whispered or murmured utterance, of a revelation heard quietly by the mental ear: cf. Job_4:12 (though the word here rendered whisper is a different one); and the expression to uncover the ear (viz. to whisper something into it) said of a man, 1Sa_20:2; 1Sa_20:12-13 al., and of God, speaking to the mental ear, 1Sa_9:15, Job_33:16; Job_36:10; Job_36:15; cf. 2Sa_7:27.
11–12. Further marks of God’s favour. He had not only bestowed on them material blessings; He had provided also for their moral and spiritual needs: He had raised up among them prophets to declare His will, and Nazirites to be examples of abstemious and godly living. But they had refused to listen to either.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v11 (11, 12) God added to the mercies of His…
(11, 12) God added to the mercies of His providence, the transcendent blessings of special revelation. The prophets of Israel were numerous, and renowned, and exposed to frequent persecution, e.g., the cases of Micaiah, Elijah, and others. “The Nazarite vow to abstain from wine, which, in the earliest case, that of Samson, appears a life-long vow, was undoubtedly a religious protest against Canaanite civilisation in favour of the simple life of ancient times.” (W. R. Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 84.) The Nazarite was, moreover, a link between the prophet and the priest, upon whom, without hereditary rank or sacerdotal rite, great privileges were bestowed. The assault upon both is highly characteristic of the disloyalty of Israel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Having mentioned two temporal benefits conferred on Israel, the…
Having mentioned two temporal benefits conferred on Israel, the prophet now names two spiritual favours the presence of holy speakers and holy doers. I raised up. The prophet and the Nazarite were alike miracles of grace. The former gave heavenly teaching, the latter exhibited holiness of life. It was the Lord who gave the prophet power and authority to proclaim his will; it was the Lord who inspired the vow of the Nazarite and enabled him to carry it out in practice. Prophets. To Israel belonged Samuel, (1Sa_1:1) Ahijah of Shiloh, (1Ki_14:2, 1Ki_14:4) Jehu, son of Hanani, (1Ki_16:7) Elijah and Elisha, Hosea and Jonah. Young men. In the height of their passions, lusty and strong. Nazarites. The law concerning the Nazarites is given in Numbers 6. The special restrictions by which they bound themselves (viz. abstention from strong drink, from the use of the razor, and from all ritual defilement) were the outward signs of inward purity and devotion to God. Their very name implied separation from the world and devotion to God. They were, in fact, the religious of the old Law, analogous to the monks of Christian times. The vow was either temporary or lifelong. Of perpetual Nazarites we have as instances Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. Is it not even thus? Is not the existence of prophets and Nazarites among you a proof that you are signally favoured by God, separate from other nations, and bound to be a holy people? Taking the general import of the passage and the signification of the word "Nazarite," the LXX renders, eijv ajgiasmon, "I took and of your young men for consecration."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets,…
Amo_2:11-12
And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites.
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Divine appointments and their frustration
The sin and folly of their conduct is manifest when we consider--
I. The author of the appointments. I raised up. The Founder of their nation. He whose mercies have been commemorated in the ninth to the eleventh verses, had originated these appointments. What more signal proof of the folly in attempting this reversal! Everything that God willed should have been accepted gratefully as their rule of life; yet they tampered with His appointments thus.
(1) An abiding sense of the relations which God bears to His people is a constant safe guard against the spirit which would east off all restraint. He is the Author of all our blessings.
(2) The claim on reverence for Divine appointments is not confined to His people. Gods love is boundless as the universe.
II. When we consider the character of the appointments. God was striving to preserve the national purity, to train them up in all His ways. Such was His purpose in these remarkable institutions:--the prophetic office, and the order of the Nazarites. God had raised up these workers out of the young men of Israel--the class which could bring the greatest energy to this arduous work, devote the longest time to it, and furnish, amid the temptations to which youth was peculiarly exposed, the strongest proof of the restraining grace of God. God still uses means to preserve men in purity. The Spirit of God is His witness; conscience is His voice; truth is His messenger; His servants, by their words, and by the example of godly lives, are our prophets and the Nazarites. How great these agencies! Seek to know them to your own salvation.
III. Were frustrated by those for whose benefit they had been made. No regard for God, no sense of their own interest, deterred them from presuming to interfere with the counsels of God. The motive which prompted such conduct marks their degradation. The Nazarites were a standing reproof of their excess and revelry; the prophets were obnoxious because they tore away the disguises by which sin sought to hide its deformity, and warned the people of danger. If the voice of the prophet was silenced, they fancied that heaven had no means of reproving sin. They forgot that God could speak in the thunder and the earthquake. Application--Man can frustrate the purposes of God. Heaven may appoint; earth may undo the appointment. The effort is proof of degradation. Success in such effort is the worst punishment of any man. Israel reaped disaster and ruin from this attempt to reverse Gods appointments. False prophets multiplied, sin increased, the nation went into captivity. (J. Telford, B. A.)
The vow of the Nazarite
Though Amos was neither a prophet nor a prophets son, but a rough herdsman, and unlettered gatherer of sycamore leaves, his was one of those masculine, indignant natures which burst like imprisoned flame through the white ashes of social hypocrisy. Like Samuel before Saul, like Elijah before Ahab, like John the Baptist before Herod, like Paul before Felix, like John Huss before Sigismund, like Luther before Charles V., like John Knox before Mary, so Amos testified undaunted before the idolatry of courts and priests. One crime of that bad period was luxury and intemperance. In this text the prophet confronts Israel with the high appeal of God, whether He had not put the fire of the Spirit into the hearts of some of their sons, and they had quenched that fire by their blandishments and conventionalities; and whether He had not inspired some of their youths to take the vow of abstinence, and they with the deliberate cynicism of worldlings had tempted them to scorn and break that vow? The very essence of the vow of the Nazarite was self-dedication. The young Nazarite consecrated himself to God, he offered himself, his soul and body, a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice. The Nazarite was a marked man, and because his vow was regarded as a tacit condemnation of the popular self-indulgence, he was exposed to the sneers of the worldly, and the temptations of the base. Nevertheless, wisdom is justified of her children. The best men, and the bravest men, and the least conventional men, in this world have been ever the most loudly and the most scornfully abused. Little recked the true Nazarite of muttered sarcasm and bitter hate,--little as recks the sea of the foolish wild birds that scream above it. Health, strength, physical beauty, wholesomeness of life, tranquillity of soul, serene dominion over evil passions, followed in the path of early and life-long abstinence. There seems to be a special strength, a special blessing, above all, a special power of swaying the souls of others for their good, which is imparted to wise and voluntary abstinence. The hands of invisible consecration overshadow, the fire of a spiritual unction crowns the head of him who in early youth has learnt to say with his whole heart, In strong warfare, in holy self-denial, I dedicate my youth to God. This age wants, this England wants, the Church of Christ wants those who, self-dedicated, like the ideal Nazarite, to noble ends, have not lost the natural grace and bloom of youthful modesty. We do want natures strong and sweet and simple, to whom life is no poor collection of fragments, its first volume an obscene and noisy jest book, its last a grim tragedy or a despicable farce; but to those of whom, however small the stage, the life is a regal drama, played out before God and man. We want the spirit of willing Nazarites. And total abstinence was the central conception of the vow of the Nazarite. (The rest of the sermon is an impassioned plea against indulgence in alcoholic drinks.) (Dean Farrar.)
The vigorous young man in most danger
To supply the abundance of life in the large and rich nature of a young man is difficult; and it is that which makes his being for ten or twelve years of his youth so critical and so precarious. You will have noticed that it is not the dull men who go to pieces in a small town, but often the best men, the men who have the largest natures to fill, and who, therefore, find the town too monotonous for them. It is the same in the workshop. It is the best workmen who go furthest wrong when they begin to drink. A cabbage is perfectly happy in a back garden; and a dull young man is perfectly happy without any brilliant outlet for his energies and amusements. But the man that requires looking after is the man of strong and vigorous youth, the man of rich personality, the man of strong individuality, the all-round good fellow, who is so hard to interest and so hard to control. So much as his life is difficult to control, so much the better to the community when it is fairly won over for high purposes and noble ends. The difficulty is to get hold of the brilliant young man and interest him, and divert his strong, rich life into useful channels. (Prof. Drummond.)
But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink.
Giving wine to the Nazarite
In Israel worldly prosperity had produced its usual effect--in excessive self-indulgence, and in forgetfulness of God; and in the capital itself, more especially, the luxurious life of the upper classes contrasted painfully with the miserable destitution of those who were dependent upon them. Under the circumstances we should have expected God to interfere. And He does interfere. He calls forth a considerable number of Nazarites, and sends them as His representatives among the people. The Nazarites were a class of persons whose mode of life wan intended to be a witness to the high importance of the covenant-position of Israel. Some such took vows for a period; some for life. Their obligations were mainly to abstain from the use of all intoxicating liquor. And they were to be on their guard against ceremonial defilement. Every Nazarite who made his appearance in public would be a living protest against the sensual ways of the leading inhabitants. We, can well understand that these self-indulgent nobles and wealthy citizens would not unfrequently endeavour to induce one of these devotees to break his vow. It would be a triumph for them if they succeeded. The charge is brought against them by Amos. What lessons may be conveyed to persons situated as you and I are? There is something peculiarly bad in Gods sight in the endeavour to induce another person to act in opposition to his conscience. By offering wine to the Nazarite we are clearly casting in our lot with the opponents of the cause of Christ. (Gordon Calthrop, M. A.)
Ruin wrought by drink
We have no means for focalising the ruin wrought by England s greatest trade. The Press cannot mirror the tithe of it, nor the gossip relate its thousandth part. The trade is everywhere, and everywhere its work is one--unceasing slaughter. Could we but see in one fearful perspective the colossal host of men and women and sweet children struck to death by the traffic in drink, a new agony of compassion would break from the Churchs heart, and the days of the trade that can only flourish as men decay would be numbered. (Great Thoughts.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues his message of judgment on the people of Israel.
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General Information:
The words "your" and "you" in these verses refer to the people of Israel.
raised up
"appointed"
Is it not so, people of Israel?
Yahweh asks this question to emphasize what he has said. This can be stated in active form. AT: "You people of Israel certainly know that what I have said is true!" (See: Active or Passive)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
raise
prophet
son
Nazirite
Israel
Yahweh
declare
wine
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 2:11-12 In addition to priests, God provided prophets to…
2:11-12 In addition to priests, God provided prophets to speak his word and will (Deut 18:15-19) and holy men called Nazirites, who were dedicated to the Lord by vows that included abstention from fermented drinks (Num 6:1-21). Israel showed its disregard for God by telling both the Nazirites and the prophets to ignore and violate God’s calling (see Amos 7:12-13).
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