Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals;
They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
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!’
Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain.
Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won’t escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;
and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says Yahweh.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6–14 The Prophet here assails the Israelites, to whom he…
The Prophet here assails the Israelites, to whom he had been sent, as we have said at the beginning. He now omits every reference to other nations; for his business was with the Israelites to whom he was especially appointed a teacher. But he wished to set before them, as in various mirrors, the judgment of God, which awaited them, that he might the more effectually awaken them: and he wished also to exhibit in the Jews themselves an example of the extreme vengeance of God, though there was greater purity among them, at least a purer religion, and more reverence for God prevailed as yet among them. He in this way prepared the Israelites, that they might not obstinately and proudly reject his doctrine. He now then addresses them, and says that they continued unmoved in their many sins. The import of the whole is, that if the Moabites, the Idumeans, the Tyrians, the Sidonians, and other nations, and that if the Jews as well as these were irreclaimable in their obstinacy, so that their diseases were incurable, and their wickedness such as God could no longer endure, the Israelites were also in the same condition; for they also continued perverse in their wickedness, and provoked God, and repented not, though God had waited long, and exhorted them to repent.
It is now meet for us to bear in mind what we have before said, — that if impiety was so rampant in that age, and the contempt of God so prevailed, that men could not be restored to a sane mind, and if iniquity everywhere overflowed, (for Amos accuses not a few people, but many nations,) let us at this day beware, lest such corruptions prevail among us; for, certainly, the world is now much worse than it was then: nay, since the Prophet says here, that both the Israelites and the Jews were wholly irreclaimable in their obstinacy, there is no excuse for us at this day for deceiving ourselves with an empty name, because we have the symbol of faith, having been baptized; and in case we have other marks, which seem to belong to the Church of God, let us not think that we are therefore free from guilt, if we allow ourselves that unruliness condemned here by the Prophet both in the Israelites and in the Jews; for they had become hardened against all instructions, against all warnings. Let, then, these examples rouse our attention, lest we, like them, harden ourselves so much as to constrain the Lord to execute on us extreme vengeance.
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Let us now especially observe what the Prophet lays to the charge of Israel. He begins with their cruel deeds; but the whole book is taken up with reproofs; there is to the very end a continued accusation as to those crimes which then prevailed among the people of Israel. He does not then point out only one particular crime, as with respect to the other nations; but he scrutinizes all the vices of which the people were guilty, as though he would thoroughly anatomize them. But these we shall notice in their proper order.
Now as to the first thing, the Prophet says, that the just among the Israelites was sold for silver, yea, for shoes. It may be asked, Why is it that he does not begin with those superstitions, in which they surpassed the Jews? for if God had resolved to destroy Jerusalem and his own temple, because they had fallen away into superstitious and spurious modes of worship, how much more ought such a judgment to have been executed on the Israelites, as they had perverted the whole law, and had become wholly degenerate; and even circumcision was nothing but a profanation of God’s covenant? Why, then, does not the Prophet touch on this point? To this I answer, — That as superstition had now for many years prevailed among them, the Prophet does not make this now his subject; but we shall hereafter see, that he has not spared these ungodly deprivations which had grown rampant among the Israelites. He indeed sharply arraigns all their superstitions; but he does this in its suitable place. It was now necessary to begin with common evils; and this was far more opportune than if he had at first spoken of superstitions; for they might have said, that they did indeed worship God. He therefore preferred condemning the Jews for alienating themselves from the pure commandments of God; and as to the Israelites, he reproves here their gross vices. But after having charged them with cruelty, shameless rapacity, and many lusts, after having exposed their filthy abominations, he then takes the occasion, as being then more suitable of exclaiming against superstitions. This order our Prophet designedly observed, as we shall see more fully from the connection of his discourse.
I now return to the words, that they sold the just for silver, and the poor for shoes. He means that there was no justice nor equity among the Israelites, for they made a sale of the children of God: and it was a most shameful thing, that there was no remedy for injuries. For we hence, no doubt, learn, that the Prophet levels his reproof against the judges who then exercised authority. The just, he says, is sold for silver: this could not apply to private individuals, but to judges, to whom it belonged to extend a helping hand to the miserable and the poor, to avenge wrongs, and to give to every one his right. It is then the same as though the Prophet had said, that unbridled licentiousness reigned triumphant among the Israelites, so that just men were exposed as a prey, and were set, as it were, on sale. He says, first, that they were sold for silver, and then he adds for shoes: and this ought to be carefully observed; for when once men begin to turn aside from the right course, they abandon themselves to evil without any shame. When an attempt is first made to draw aside a man that is just and upright and free from what is corrupt, he is not immediately overcome; though a great price may be offered to him, he will yet stand firm: but when he has sold his integrity for ten pieces of gold, he may afterwards be easily bought, as the case is usually will women. A woman, while she is pure, cannot be easily drawn away from her conjugal fidelity: she may yet be corrupted by a great price; and when once corrupted, she will afterwards prostitute herself, so that she may be bought for a crust of bread. The same is the case with judges. They, then, who at first covet silver, that is, who cannot be corrupted except by a rich and fat bribe, will afterwards barter their integrity for the meanest reward; for there is no shame any more remaining in them. This is what the Prophet points out in these words, — That they sold the just for silver; that is, that they sold him for a high price, and then that they were corrupted by the meanest gift, that if one offered them a pair of shoes, they would be ready without any blush of shame to receive such a bribe.
We now then see the crime of which Amos accused the Israelites. They could not raise an objection here, which they might have done, if he touched their superstitions. He wished therefore to acquire authority by reprobating first their manifest and obvious crimes. He afterwards, as it has been stated, speaks in its proper place, of that fictitious worship, which they, after having rejected the Law of God, embraced. It follows —
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 They esteemed most vile bribes more than men’s lives.
They esteemed most vile bribes more than men’s lives.
If he spare not Judah unto whom his promises were made, much more he will not spare this degenerate kingdom.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–16 Amo 2:6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions…
Amo 2:6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;
Ver. 6. For three transgressions of Israel, &c.] The ten tribes come in last, lest they (with whom his main business lay, and to whom he will henceforth apply himself) should conceit themselves privileged, because for the present prospered; lest they should read or hear the menaces of God’s mouth, as men do the old stories of foreign wars, that nothing concern them.
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Because they sold the righteous for silver] Even God’s own pasture sheep, that had golden fleeces, precious souls; these they made sale of for a little money, which ever was and still is a common medler, and drives the bargain and business to an upshot. Money, saith one, is the world’s great monarch, and bears most mastery: whence it is that the Hebrew word, Adarcon, used for money, 1Ch 29:7 Ezr 8:27, comes of Adar, strong, or mighty, and Con, to prepare; to show that a moneyed man is a mighty man, as this world goes. Unless we may say of money, as one doth wittily of Sardanapalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs: Sardanapalus, saith he, had a terrible name. Sar noteth a prince, Dan a judge, Niphal an overthrower, or conqueror; not otherwise applicable to him, but that his luxury was the overthrow of both sovereignty and judgment. So is money mighty and well prepared, but it is to blind the eyes of the wise, and to pervert the matters of the righteous, Deu 16:10, who because not so well underlaid as his adversary, lies long languishing many times at Hope’s hospital; as that lame man did at the pool of Bethesda, but might not be sped, because (for want, belike, of stirring angels) he could get none to put him into the pool immediately after the angel had stirred it. That was a sad complaint made by the prophet Habakkuk, Amo 1:4, "Behold, the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth circumvent the righteous," viz. by his bribery and baseness, "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." A judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the law; yea, of the law maker, with whom there is no iniquity, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts, 2Ch 19:7. Nec prece, nec pretio, should be the magistrate’s motto; he should be above all price or sale.
And the poor for a pair of shoes] For a cup of wine, Joe 3:3; for handfulls of barley, or pieces of bread, Eze 3:19; for a thing of nothing, so base they were grown at length; a very small deal of gain would win them over. See Amo 8:6. At first, a little matter would not hire them; it must be silver, and a considerable sum too; as a harlot, that requires at first no small reward, but afterwards prostituteth herself quite cheaply to all comers. Sin seemeth modest and maidenly at first; but meddle not, for it soon woadeth an impudence in men’s foreheads, and debaucheth them.
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 vv6–16 For three transgressions: see Amo 1:3.
For three transgressions: see Amo 1:3.
Israel; the kingdom of the ten tribes, under the government of Jeroboam the Second at this time, against which the prophet was chiefly sent, though he began with Syria and others, by the threats against which nations he prepared both Judah and Israel to hearken and consider.
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I will not turn away the punishment: see Amo 1:3.
They; those who by the appointment of the law had power to hear and decide causes between man and man; judges and witnesses, like the corrupt judges,
sold, for bribes were their aim, and they would at any time sell justice to the highest bidder.
The righteous; the innocent, or those who had a just and righteous cause, for the prophet here speaks of the justness of the cause, not of the exact justice or absolute righteousness of the person.
For silver: money was the most current and prevailing commodity with these judges, but money’s worth would do the feat too, if money were out of the way.
The poor: when poor men went to law with poor men before these judges, and the thing they contended for was of small value, the contenders too had light purses, and could not give a considerable bribe;
a pair of shoes, a very poor bribe, expressed here proverbially, would sway with these judges, who gaped still after somewhat of gain from all.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v9 Here, I. God puts his people Israel in mind…
Here, I. God puts his people Israel in mind of the great things he has done for them, in putting them into possession of the land of Canaan, the greatest part of which these ten tribes now enjoyed, Amo 2:9, Amo 2:10. Note, We need often to be reminded of the mercies we have received, which are the heaviest aggravations of the sins we have committed. God gives liberally, and upbraids us not with our meanness and unworthiness, and the disproportion between his gifts and our merits; but he justly upbraids us with our ingratitude, and ill requital of his favours, and tells us what he has done for us, to shame us for not rendering again according to the benefit done to us. "Son, remember; Israel, remember, 1. That God brought thee out of a house of bondage, rescued thee out of the land of Egypt, where thou wouldst otherwise have perished in slavery." 2. That he led thee forty years through a desert land, and fed thee in a wilderness, where thou wouldst otherwise have perished with hunger. Mercies to our ancestors were mercies to us, for, if they had been cut off, we should not have been. 3. That he made room for them in Canaan, by extirpating the natives by a series of wonders little inferior to those by which they were redeemed out of Egypt: I destroyed the Amorite before them, here put for all the devoted nations. Observe the magnificence of the enemies that stood in their way, which is taken notice of, that God may be the more magnified in the subduing of them. They were of great stature (whose height was like the height of the cedars) and the people of Israel were as shrubs to them; and they were also of great strength, not only tall, but well-set: He was strong as the oaks. Their kingdom was eminent among the nations, and over-topped all its neighbours. The supports and defences of it seemed impregnable; it was as fine as the stately cedar; it was as firm as the sturdy oak; yet, when God had a vine to plant there (Psa 80:8, Psa 80:9), this Amorite was not only cut down, but plucked up: I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath, so that the Amorites were no more a nation, nor ever read of any more. Thus highly did God value Israel. He gave men for them and people for their life, Isa 43:4. How ungrateful then were those who put such contempt upon him! 4. That he made them possess the land of the Amorite, not only put it into their hands, so that they became masters of it jure belli - by right of conquest, but gave them a better title to it, so that it became theirs by promise.
II. He likewise upbraids them with the spiritual privileges and advantages they enjoyed as a holy nation, Amo 2:11. They had helps for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their temporal enjoyments and were therefore more valuable. It is true the ten tribes had not God's temple, altar, and priesthood, and it was their own fault that they deserted them, and for that they might justly have been left in utter darkness; but God left not himself without witness, nor them without guides to show them the way. 1. They had prophets that were powerful instructors in piety, divinely inspired, and commissioned to make known the mind of God to them, to show them what is pleasing to God and what displeasing, to reprove them for their faults and warn them of their dangers, to direct them in their difficulties and comfort them in their troubles. God raised them up prophets, animated them for that work and employed them in it. He raised them up of their sons, from among themselves, as Moses and Christ were raised up from among their brethren, Deu 18:15. It was an honour put upon their nation, and upon their families, that they had children of their own to be God's messengers to them, of their own language, not strangers sent from another country, whom they might suspect to be prejudiced against them and their land, but those who, they knew, wished well to them. Note, Faithful ministers are great blessings to any people, and it is God that raises them up to be so, that they may justly be reckoned an honour to the families they are of. 2. They had Nazarites that were bright examples of piety: I raised up of your young men for Nazarites, men that bound themselves by a vow to God and his service, and, in pursuance of that, denied themselves many of the lawful delights of sense, as drinking wine and eating grapes. There were some of their young men that were in their prime for the enjoyment of the pleasures of this life and yet voluntarily abridged themselves of them; these God raised up by the power of his grace, to be monuments of his grace, to his glory, and to be his witnesses against the impieties of that degenerate age. Note, It is as great a blessing to any place to have eminent good Christians in it as to have eminent good ministers in it; for so they have examples to their rules. We must acknowledge that it bodes well to any people when God raises up numbers of hopeful young people among them, when he makes their young men Nazarites, devout, and conscientious, and mortified to the pleasures of sense; and those that are such Nazarites are purer than snow, whiter than milk; they are indeed the polite young men, for their polishing is of sapphires, Lam 4:7. Those that have such men, such young men, among them, have therein such an advantage, both for direction and encouragement, to be religious, as they will be called to an account for another day if they do not improve. Israel is here reckoned with, not only for the prophets, but for the Nazarites, raised up among them. Concerning the truth of this, he appeals to themselves: "Is it not even thus, O you children of Israel? Can you deny it? Have not you yourselves been sensible of the advantage you had by the prophets and Nazarites raised up among you?" Note, Sinners' own consciences will be witnesses for God that he has not been wanting to them in the means of grace, so that, if they perish, it is because they have been wanting to themselves in not improving those means. The men of Judah shall themselves judge between God and his vineyard, whether he could have done more for it, Isa 5:3, Isa 5:4.
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III. He charges them with the abuse of the means of grace they enjoyed, and the opposition they gave to God's designs in affording them those means, Amo 2:12. They were so far from walking in the light that they rebelled against it, and did what they could to extinguish it, that it might not shine in their faces, to their conviction. 1. They did what they could to debauch good people, to draw them off from their seriousness in devotion and their strictness in conversation: You gave the Nazarites wine to drink, contrary to their vow, that, having broken it in that instance, they might not pretend to keep it in any other. Some they surprised, or allured into it, and with their much fair speech caused them to yield; others they forced and frightened into it, reproached and threatened them if they were more precise than their neighbours; and, by drawing them in to drink wine, they spoiled them for Nazarites. Note, Satan and his agents are very busy to corrupt the minds of young people that look heavenward; and many that we thought would have been Nazarites they have overcome by giving them wine to drink, by drawing them in to the love of mirth and pleasure, and drinking company. Multitudes of young men that bade fair for eminent professors of religion have erred through wine, and been undone for ever. And how do the factors for hell triumph in the debauching of a Nazarite! 2. They did what they could to silence good ministers, and to stop their mouths: "You commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not, and threatened them if they did prophesy (Amo 7:12), as if God's messengers were bound to observe your orders, and might not deliver their errand unless you gave them leave, and so you not only received the grace of God, in raising up those prophets, in vain, but put the highest affront imaginable upon that God in whose name the prophets spoke." Note, Those have a great deal to answer for that cannot bear faithful preaching, and those much more that suppress it.
IV. He complains of the wrong they did him by their sins (Amo 2:13): "I am pressed under you, I am straitened by you, and can no longer bear it, and therefore I will ease myself of my adversaries, Isa 1:24. I am pressed under you and the load of your sins as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves, is loaded with corn, in the midst of the joy of harvest, as long as any will lie on." Note, The great God complains of sin, especially the sins of his professing people, as a burden to him. He is grieved with this generation (Psa 95:10), is broken with their whorish heart (Eze 6:9), a consideration which, if it make not the sinner's repentance very deep, will make his ruin very great. The great God that upholds the world, and never complains that his is pressed under the weight of it (he fainteth not, neither is weary), yet complains of the sins of Israel, yea, and of their hypocritical services too, that he is weary of bearing them, Isa 1:14. No wonder the creature groans being burdened (Rom 8:22), when the Creator says, I am pressed under them.
V. He threatens them with unavoidable ruin. And so some read, Amo 2:13, "Behold I will press, or straiten, your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses; they shall be loaded with judgments till they shall sink under them, and shall make a noise, as a cart overloaded does." Those that will not submit to the convictions of the word, that will neither be won by that nor by the conversation of those about them, shall be made to sink under the weight of God's judgments. If God load us daily with his benefits, and we, notwithstanding that, load him with our sins, how can we expect any other than that he should load us with his judgments? And it is here threatened in the last three verses that, when God comes forth to contend with this provoking people, they shall not be able to stand before him, to flee from him, nor to make their part good with him; for when God judges he will overcome. Though his patience be tired out, his power is not, and so the sinner shall find, to his cost. When the Assyrian army comes to lay the country waste by sword and captivity none shall escape, but every one shall have his share in the common desolation. 1. It will be in vain to think of fleeing from the enemy that comes armed with a commission to make all desolate: The flight shall perish from the swift; those that have been famed for happy escapes and happy retreats shall now find their arts fail them; they shall have no time to flee, or shall find no way to take, or they shall have no strength or spirit to attempt it; they shall be at their wits' end, and then they are soon at their flight's end. Are they, as Asahel, as swift of foot as a wild roe? (Sa2 2:18), yet, like him, they shall run the faster upon their own destruction: He that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself, Amo 2:15. Or do they say (as those, Isa 30:16), We will flee upon horses, and we will ride upon the swift? Yet they shall be overtaken: Neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself from his pursuers. A horse is a vain thing for safety. 2. It will be in vain to think of fighting it out. God is at war with them; and are they stronger than he? Is there any military force that can pretend to be a match for Omnipotence? No: The strong shall not strengthen his force. He that has a habit of strength shall not be able to exert it when he has occasion for it. And the mighty, whose should protect and deliver others, shall not be able to deliver himself, to deliver his soul (so the word is), shall not save his life. Let not the strong man then glory in his strength, nor trust in it, but strengthen himself in the Lord his God, for in him is everlasting strength. And, as the bodily strength shall fail, so shall the weapons of war. The armour as well as the arm shall become insufficient: Neither shall he stand that handles the bow, though he stand at a distance, but shall betake himself to flight, and not trust to his own bow to save him. Though the arm be ever so strong, and the armour ever so well fixed, neither will avail when the spirit fails (Amo 2:16): He that is courageous among the mighty, that used to look danger in the face, and not be dismayed at it, shall flee away naked in that day, not only disarmed, having thrown away his weapons both offensive and defensive, but plundered of his treasure, which he thought to carry away with him, and he shall think it as much as he could expect that he has his life for a prey. Thus when God pleases he takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes those who used to boast of their courage, and their daring enterprises in the field, to wander and sneak in a wilderness where there is no way, Job 12:24.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–16 Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel,....…
Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel,.... The ten tribes rent from the house of David in the times of Rehoboam, and who departed from the true worship of God, and set up calves at Dan and Bethel:
and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; the following part of this prophecy is taken up in pointing at the sins and punishment of Israel; now the prophet is come to the main business he was sent to do:
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because they sold the righteous for silver; meaning not any particular person, as Joseph sold by his brethren, for in that they were all concerned, Judah as well as the rest; nor Christ, as others (q), sold for thirty pieces of silver; since the persons here charged with it, and the times in which it was done, will not agree with that case; but the sense is, that the judges of Israel were so corrupt, that for a piece of money they would give a cause against a righteous man, and in favour of an unjust man that bribed them:
and the poor for a pair of shoes; that is, for a mere trifle they would pervert justice; if two men came before them with a cause, and both poor; yet if one could but give a pair of shoes, or anything he could part with, though he could not give money; so mean and sordid were they, they would take it, and give the cause for him, however unjust it was.
(q) Vid. Galatin. Cathol. Ver. Arcan. l. 4. c. 24.
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 Shoes - The smallest bribe, exprest here proverbially.
Shoes - The smallest bribe, exprest here proverbially.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Verse 6. - 8. For three transgressions of Israel,…
Verse 6. - 8. For three transgressions of Israel, c.] To be satisfied of the exceeding delinquency of this people, we have only to open the historical and prophetic books in any part for the whole history of the Israelites is one tissue of transgression against God. Their crimes are enumerated under the following heads: -
1. Their judges were mercenary and corrupt. They took bribes to condemn the righteous; and even for articles of clothing, such as a pair of shoes, they condemned the poor man, and delivered him into the hands of his adversary.
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2. They were unmerciful to the poor generally. They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor; or, to put it on the head of the poor; or, they bruise the head of the poor against the dust of the earth. Howsoever the clause is understood, it shows them to have been general oppressors of the poor, showing them neither justice nor mercy.
3. They turn aside the way of the meek. They are peculiarly oppressive to the weak and afflicted.
4. They were licentious to the uttermost abomination; for in their idol feasts, where young women prostituted themselves publicly in honour of Astarte, the father and son entered into impure connections with the same female.
5. They were cruel in their oppressions of the poor; for the garments or beds which the poor had pledged they retained contrary to the law, Ex 22:7-26, which required that such things should be restored before the setting of the sun.
6. They punished the people by unjust and oppressive fines, and served their tables with wine bought by such fines. Or it may be understood of their appropriating to themselves that wine which was allowed to criminals to mitigate their sufferings in the article of death; which was the excess of inhumanity and cruelty.
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 vv6, 8, 9, 11, 13 Amo 2:6-7. For three transgressions of Israel — Amos,…
Amo 2:6-7. For three transgressions of Israel — Amos, having first prophesied against the Syrians, Philistines, &c., who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the twelve tribes, and who had occasionally become their enemies and oppressors; and having thus not only taught his countrymen that the providence of God extended to other nations, but conciliated attention to himself by such interesting predictions; “he briefly mentions the idolatries and consequent destruction of Judah, and then passes on to his proper subject, which was to reprove and exhort the kingdom of Israel, and to denounce judgments against it. The reason why that kingdom was particularly addressed seems to have been, that Pul invaded it in the reign of Uzziah, 2Ki 15:19; and that in less than half a century after the first Assyrian invasion, it was subverted by Shalmaneser, 2Ki 17:6.” — Newcome. Because they sold the righteous for silver, &c. — They perverted the cause of the righteous; and gave forth unjust sentences against them for bribes of the smallest value, even for a pair of shoes or sandals. That pant after the dust of the earth — That is, silver and gold, white and yellow dust: they covet it earnestly, and levy it on the heads of the poor by their unjust exactions. The Vulgate, however, gives another sense to this sentence. Qui conterunt super pulverem terræ capita pauperum: who tread down the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth: that is, they throw them into the dust and then trample upon them. And turn aside the way of the meek — From right and justice. They contrived to do injuries to those who they knew were mild and patient, and would bear injuries; invading their rights, and obstructing the course of justice. Observe, reader, the more patiently men bear the injuries that are done them, the greater is the sin of those that injure them, and the more occasion they have to expect that God will do his people justice, and take vengeance for them. And a man and his father will go in to the same maid — Or, young woman; to profane my holy name — To the great reproach of my name and religion: being such an instance of fornication as is scarce heard of among the more civilized heathen, as St. Paul observes, 1Co 5:1.
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 vv6–14 For three transgressions of Israel, and for four -…
For three transgressions of Israel, and for four - In Israel, on whom the divine sentence henceforth rests, the prophet numbers four classes of sins, running into one another, as all sins do, since all grievous sins contain many in one, yet in some degree distinct:
(1) Perversion of justice;
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(2) oppression of the poor;
(3) uncleanness;
(4) luxury with idolatry.
They sold the righteous for silver - It is clear from the opposite statement, “that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes,” that the prophet is not speaking of judicial iniquity, but of actual buying and selling. The law allowed a Hebrew who was poor to sell himself , and a Hebrew to buy him until the year of release; yet this too with the express reserve, that the purchaser was forbidden to “serve himself with him with the service of a slave, but as a hired servant and a sojourner stroll he be with thee” Lev 25:39-40. The thief who could not repay what he stole, was to “be sold for his theft” Exo 22:2-3. But the law gave no power to sell an insolvent debtor. It grew up in practice. The sons and daughters of the debtor Neh 5:5, or “his wife and children” Mat 18:25, nay even the sons of a deceased debtor 2Ki 4:1, were sold. Nehemiah rebuked this sharply. In that case, the hardness was aggravated by the fact that the distress had been fomented by usury. But the aggravation did not constitute the sin. It seems to be this merciless selling by the creditor, with Amos rebukes. The “righteous” is probably one who, without any blame, became insolvent. The “pair of shoes,” that is, sandals, express the trivial price, or the luxury for which he was sold. They had him sold “for the sake of a pair of sandals,” that is, in order to procure them. Trivial in themselves, as being a mere sole, the sandals of the Hebrew women were, at times, costly and beautiful (Son 7:1; Ezra 10; Judith 16:9). Such a sale expressed contempt for man, made in the image of God, that he was sold either for some worthless price, or for some needless adornment.
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15 Just man. Joseph, (Rupert) or our Saviour, (Sanctius) or…
Just man. Joseph, (Rupert) or our Saviour, (Sanctius) or any other. The expression is proverbial, Ezechiel xiii. 19. (Calmet) --- Israel contemned the law, and adopted the abominations of all. (Worthington)
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 Israel--the ten tribes, the main subject of Amos' prophecies.
Israel--the ten tribes, the main subject of Amos' prophecies.
sold the righteous--Israel's judges for a bribe are induced to condemn in judgment him who has a righteous cause; in violation of Deu 16:19.
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the poor for a pair of shoes--literally, "sandals" of wood, secured on the foot by leather straps; less valuable than shoes. Compare the same phrase, for "the most paltry bribe," Amo 8:6; Eze 13:19; Joe 3:3. They were not driven by poverty to such a sin; beginning with suffering themselves to be tempted by a large bribe, they at last are so reckless of all shame as to prostitute justice for the merest trifle. Amos convicts them of injustice, incestuous unchastity, and oppression first, as these were so notorious that they could not deny them, before he proceeds to reprove their contempt of God, which they would have denied on the ground that they worshipped God in the form of the calves.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6, 9, 13, 14 THE SIN AND PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL, Amo_2:6-16.
THE SIN AND PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL, Amo_2:6-16.
The denunciations in Amo_1:3 to Amo_2:5, are preparatory to Amo_2:6-16, which is the thesis of the entire book. Chapters 3ff. are an elaboration of this thesis. If other nations, less favored than Israel, are to be punished for their sins, can Israel, with its superior privileges and advantages, hope to escape judgment? The prophet begins his accusation in the same stereo-typed form, but he departs from it after the first verse. He opens with the presentation of the indictment (Amo_3:6-8), containing two counts: (1) oppression of the poor, (2) immorality and inordinate self-indulgence practiced in the name of religion. With this conduct he contrasts the divine care for Israel and condemns the base ingratitude of the corrupt nation (Amo_3:9-12). He closes with an announcement of the speedy destruction of the people (Amo_3:13-15).
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6, 7a. Oppression of the poor.
Sold the righteous for silver — This accusation is commonly interpreted as a separate count in the indictment, maladministration of justice. It is thought to refer to the acceptance of bribes on the part of the judges, for which they pronounce guilty the innocent and cause him to be sold into slavery. The next clause, “the poor for a pair of shoes,” is said to mark an advanced degree of corruption, when the judges do the same “for a pair of shoes” (see below). Others interpret the second clause as referring to the oppression of poor debtors by rich creditors; the latter sell the former into slavery, though the indebtedness involved may be insignificant. The latter interpretation of “(they sold) the poor for a pair of shoes” is to be preferred (Amo_8:6, but compare Amo_5:12; Isa_1:23; Isa_3:14-15); and it seems best to interpret the first clause also of the oppression of the poor by rich creditors rather than of maladministration of justice.
They — The wealthy and powerful creditors.
Sold — That is, into slavery. In a figurative sense the verb may be used of less severe treatment.
Righteous — Not in an ethical but in a forensic sense — innocent; those who have come into the control of their creditors without any fault of their own.
Silver — The money for which they are said to be indebted.
Poor — R.V., “needy.” Those who are unable to meet their obligations and have no one to take their part.
For a pair of shoes — A proverbial expression for something of little value; equivalent to the modern “for a song.” “One of the commonest crimes of Amos’s day was that of land-grabbing on the part of the rich (Isa_5:8), and it is this that Amos is here denouncing.”
The greed of the rich is further described in 7a, in Hebrew in the form of a participial clause, reproduced in English by a relative clause, connected with “they” of Amo_2:6.
Pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor — A peculiar expression. If the text is correct, a twofold interpretation is possible. With both, “dust on the head” is a sign of distress and mourning (2Sa_1:2; 2Sa_15:32; Lam_2:10). The meaning, then, may be either that they are “so avaricious that they begrudge the poor even the little dust used as a token of mourning,” or, that they are so heartless that they yearn to see the poor reduced to a state of misery and distress in which they will sprinkle the dust upon their heads. Jerome reads a different, though similar, verb, “to crush” for “to pant,” and omits the preposition before “the head.” He reads, “who crush upon the dust of the earth the head of the poor,” which gives excellent sense, and is accepted by many as original. With this forceful figure of extreme cruelty may be compared Isa_3:15, “grind the faces of the poor,” and Mic_3:2-3, “strip the flesh off their bones.” Other emendations suggested are less probable.
Meek — Simple-minded, God-fearing persons, who harm no one and who do not know the craftiness and deceitfulness of this world, to guard against it. Turn aside the way —They place obstacles in the way of the meek; thus they prevent the carrying out of their plans and purposes, and throw them into difficulties where they become an easy prey.
7b. Immoralities.
A man and his father will go in unto the same maid — The addition of same, which is not in the original, is based upon a misapprehension. The emphasis is not upon the fact that the father and the son go in to the same girl, but upon the universality of the immoral practices. The article is used in a generic sense, to indicate that the maiden alluded to is a member of a well-known class (G.-K., 126g). In English the indefinite article may be used. The allusion is to the sacred prostitutes at the shrines of Ashtoreth, who were found even in those Hebrew sanctuaries where, nominally at least, Jehovah was worshiped (see on Hos_4:13). A man and his father — father and son; the practice is universal; there is no attempt to conceal it.
To profane my holy name — A final clause, “in order to.” The Israelites should have known better (Amo_2:11), and Amos assumes that they did know better; therefore he represents the practice of these immoralities as deliberate premeditated acts in defiance of the well-known will of God, by which acts discredit and dishonor were brought purposely upon the name of Jehovah, that is, upon his character; for “God’s name is equivalent to the sum of his attributes as revealed to his chosen people” (Isa_57:15; Psa_111:9; see on Mic_5:4). On profane see on Joe_2:17.
The immoralities condemned in 7b are those practiced in the name of religion; the excesses condemned in Amo_2:8 also are connected with the religious cult, though “clothes taken in pledge” goes back to the first count in the indictment. Lay themselves down… by [“beside”] every altar —In drunken carousal (8b). There may be an allusion to the practice condemned in 7b.
Clothes laid to [“taken in”] pledge — The term used denotes the outer garment, a large square cloth with a hood, thrown over the body and held together from the inside. To the poor people this garment served also as a covering at night, and since the nights are at times very cool it is indispensable. Sometimes the garment was given in pledge, but the humane law in Exo_22:26, demands its return to the owner at sundown. This law the unrighteous nobles neglected to observe in their mad desire to satisfy their lusts.
They drink the wine — At feasts connected with the peace and thank offerings (Amo_5:23; Exo_32:6, etc.); these feasts had become occasions of revelry and debauchery.
Of the condemned — Better R.V., “such as have been fined.” The wine was purchased with money received from fines; whether just or unjust Amos does not say; that in many cases they were unjust there can be no doubt.
The house of their god — R.V., “God.” It is also possible to render “gods” or even “the houses of their gods.” The Hebrew is ambiguous. To Amos the chief earthly dwelling place of Jehovah was Jerusalem (Amo_1:2). Whether he considered all local sanctuaries illegitimate and the worship practiced there idolatry is not certain. At any rate, he evidently has in mind here the practices at such sanctuaries as Beth-el, Gilgal (Amo_4:4), and Beer-sheba (Amo_8:14); that he thinks of more than one place is indicated also by “beside every altar.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–16 6. sold the righteous for sliver] The venal Israelitish…
6. sold the righteous for sliver] The venal Israelitish judges, for a bribe, pronounced the innocent guilty, i.e. ‘sold’ them for a consideration to any one whose advantage it might be to have them condemned: in a civil case, by giving judgement in favour of the party really in the wrong, in a criminal case, by condemning the innocent in place of the guilty. Righteous is used here not in an ethical, but in a forensic sense, of one ‘righteous’ in respect of the particular charge brought against him, exactly as Deu_25:1. Corrupt justice, that most common of Oriental failings, is the sin which Amos censures first; the sin which legislators in vain strove to guard against (Exo_23:6-8; Lev_19:15; Deu_16:18-20), and which prophet after prophet in vain attacked (Isa_1:23; Isa_3:14 f., Isa_5:23, Isa_10:1 f.; Mic_3:9-11; Mic_7:3; Jer_5:28; Jer_22:3; Eze_22:29; Mal_3:5): the great men, the nobles, in whose hands the administration of justice rests, abuse their office for their own ends, are heedless of the rights of the helpless classes (the “needy,” the “poor,” and the “meek”), and sell justice to the highest bidder.
and the poor] R.V. the needy (exactly as Jer_5:28; Jer_22:16 al., in the A. V.); a different word from that rendered poor in Amo_2:7.
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for the sake of a pair of sandals] named as an article of trifling value. The reference in this clause is not, it seems, to the unjust judge, but to the hard-hearted creditor who, if his debtor could not pay the value of some trifling article, was forthwith sold by him into slavery (2Ki_4:1; Mat_18:25). In the use of the word sell, there is a slight ‘zeugma’: for it is used figuratively in the first clause, and literally in the second.
Amo_2:6-16. The sin of Israel, and its punishment
6–16. At last Amos comes to Israel. The Israelites might listen with equanimity, or even with satisfaction, whilst their neighbours’ faults were being exposed: but they now find that precisely the same standard is to be applied to themselves. The stereotyped form is not preserved after the first verse; both the indictment and the punishment being developed at much greater length than in the case of any of the previous nations. The indictment (Amo_2:6-8) consists of four counts: 1. maladministration of justice; 2. oppression of the poor; 3. immorality; 4. inordinate self-indulgence, practised in the name of religion—all, in view of the signal favours conferred by Jehovah upon Israel in the past, aggravated by ingratitude (Amo_2:9-12). The judgement, viz. defeat and flight before the foe, follows in Amo_2:13-16.
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 (6) Transgressions of Israel.—The storm of Divine threatening which…
CURSE ON ISRAEL.
(6) Transgressions of Israel.—The storm of Divine threatening which had swept over the whole political horizon gathers, at last, over Israel. The sins and ingratitude of the people are aggravated by a recital of the Divine Mercy. By comparing this verse with Amo_8:6, it is clear that the Jewish interpreters (followed by Keil) were incorrect in charging this sin upon corrupt judges, who, by bribery, would deliver unjust judgments against the righteous. The sin consists in the perverse straining of the law, which allowed an insolvent debtor to sell himself into bondage to redeem a debt (comp. 2Ki_4:1; also Lev_25:39). In this case the debtor was a righteous man in sore straits for no fault of his own. Render, on account of a pair of sandals. A paltry debt, equivalent, in worth, to a pair of sandals, would not save him from bondage at the hands of an oppressive ruler (see Introduction).
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 vv6–16 Vers. 6-16. Summons and general denunciation of Israel for…
Vers. 6-16. Summons and general denunciation of Israel for injustice, cruelty, incest, luxury, and idolatry.
They sold the righteous for silver. The first charge against Israel is perversion of justice. The judges took bribes and condemned the righteous, i.e. the man whose cause was good. Pusey thinks that the literal selling of debtors by creditors, contrary to the Law (Exo_21:7; Lev_25:39; Neh_5:5) is meant. (comp. Amo_8:6 and Mat_18:25) The needy for a pair of shoes. For the very smallest bribe they betray the cause of the poor; (comp. Eze_13:19) though, as sandals were sometimes of very costly materials, (Eze_16:10 RAPC Jdt 16:9) the expression might mean that they sold justice to obtain an article of luxury. But the form of expression is opposed to this interpretation.
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Vers. 6-8.
The woe against Israel.
This is the last woe and the greatest. "The thunder cloud of God"s judgments having passed over all the nations round about, and even discharged the fire from heaven on Judah and Jerusalem, settles at last on Israel" (Pusey). Just as God"s honour suffered specially by their sin, so does his heart suffer specially in their punishment. And so, whilst compendious justice may be meted out to heathen nations, the destruction of the chosen people cannot be denounced without regretful enlargement on the circumstances of the case.
I COVETOUSNESS PUTS A CONTEMPTUOUS ESTIMATE ON HUMAN LIFE. "They sell the righteous for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes." This may be either a commercial or a judicial transaction, but in either case the principle involved is the same. An undue estimate of wrong involves an inadequate estimate of all else. Wealth becomes the one good, and gain the one pursuit. Human life is as nothing in comparison with personal aggrandizement to the extent of even a paltry sum. Officialism, to which the death of a human being is mainly a question of a burial or registration fee, is not an altogether unheard of thing. This principle has a bearing, not only on murder and the perversion of justice, but on slavery, oppression, the opium and liquor traffics, and every method of making money at the expense of human life or health or well being. The extent to which such things prevail, and the tens of thousands of human lives annually sacrificed for gain, is a startling commentary on the maxim that "the love of money is a root of all evil.
II THE DOMINATING VICE OF A COMMUNITY MAKES ALL THE OTHER VICES ITS TRIBUTARIES. Israel"s besetting sin as against their fellow men was covetousness.
1. This was inhuman. It bore hardest on the poor. These, being helpless, were its easiest victims. Humanity was put out of the question, and the unspeakably greater suffering involved in making the same gain off the poor, as compared with the rich, was no deterrent whatever. Gain, though it be the very heart"s blood of miserable fellow creatures, was all they had an eye for or a heart to consider.
2. It was ungodly. It made special victims of the righteous. This course was partly utilitarian, no doubt. The righteous might be expected to submit to the maximum of wrong with the minimum of retaliation. But it was profane as well. The wicked hate good, and all in whom it is found. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." It was natural, therefore, that a worldly act should assume an ungodly character where opportunity arose.
3. It was devilish. "Who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor." It rejoiced in all the incidental evils which oppression of the poor involved. When those it impoverished were levelled in the dust of misery and degradation, this was the sort of thing it panted after. One side of a man"s moral nature cannot become vitiated without affecting the other sides. The vices have an affinity for one another, and tend to come together in groups. If evil gets in the little finger of one vice, the intrusion of the whole body is only a question of time.
III WHEN MEN GET SATED WITH SIMPLE SINS, THEY RESORT TO COMPOUND SINS FOR A NEW SENSATION. Sin does not satisfy any time, and the longer it is followed up it satisfies the less. In the commission of it appetite increases, and relish diminishes pari passu, and so the candle of actual enjoyment is being shortened at both ends. One device in mitigation of this is to increase the dose, and another to multiply the ingredients. Reduced to the latter expedient, Israel mixed:
1. Carousal with uncleanness. The two things often go together. They are the two chief indulgences craved for by carnal appetite. The one, moreover, helps to produce the other. A Falstaff who combines the drunkard with the libertine is the typical debauchee.
2. Uncleanness with incest. "A man and his father go to the same girl." This act was equivalent to incest, which was a capital crime according to the Mosaic code. (Lev_18:7, 15 20:11) It outdid the heathen themselves, among whom this crime was not so much as named. (1Co_5:1) An apostate is always the vilest sinner. (2Pe_2:21, 2Pe_2:22)
3. Robbery with all three. "Stretch themselves upon pawned clothes." This was robbery in two forms. They retained pawned clothes overnight, contrary to the Law of Moses, (Exo_22:26, Exo_22:27) and in further violation of it used them to sleep on. (Deu_24:12, Deu_24:13) "And drink the wine of the amerced." Again a double injustice. The fine was unjustly inflicted, and then dishonestly appropriated.
4. Profanity with the entire troupe. "In order to profane my holy Name." Incest was the guiltiest, but as a carnal indulgence it had no advantage over any other form of uncleanness, It must, therefore, have been sought out because of its very horrors, and with a view to the profanation of God"s holy flame, making the "members the members of an harlot" "Before every altar," i.e. at Beersheba and Dan, where Jehovah was worshipped after a fashion (see Keil), and therefore in determinate contempt of God. "In the house of their God," not the idol god probably, but the God of Israel. "In the time of Jeroboam II there was no heathenish idolatry in the kingdom of the ten tribes, or at any rate it was not publicly maintained" (Keil). But the sin, though less complicated, was scarcely less heinous than if idolatry had been a part of it. It was done of set purpose to dishonour him, and in order to this the place selected for the commission of it was his house, and the occasion the celebration of his worship. What a horrible exhibition of extreme and multiplex depravity! "They condensed sin. By a sort of economy in the toil of sinning they blended many sins in one and in all the express breach of God"s commandments" (Pusey).
Vers. 6-8.
A nation"s crimes.
The ministry of Amos was mainly to the northern kingdom. With this passage commences the long impeachment and warning which the prophet was inspired to address to Israel. The previous denunciations are pungent, but brief; now Amos puts forth all his strength of invective, reproach, and expostulation.
I UNGODLINESS IS AT THE ROOT OF A NATION"S MORAL DEBASEMENT. Israel did not, indeed, abjure religion; but Israel abjured God. "The house of their god," says the prophet with a quiet irony, referring to the idol temples which the people had taken to frequenting. The reverence of the supreme Lord of righteousness is the very root of national morality. Let a people worship such deities as were worshipped by Israel"s neighbours, the Philistines, the Amorites, the Syrians, and it is well known to what fatal results such worship will surely lead. And let a nation abandon all worship, and live a life of sense, and it is certainly upon the high road to moral ruin.
II GREED AND OPPRESSION ARE AMONG THE FRUITS OF NATIONAL UNGODLINESS. In the state of society with which Amos was conversant, these immoral habits displayed themselves in the enslavement of the poor or in their deprivation of the ordinary comforts of life. There was no human law to prevent some of the base transactions mentioned, and all belief in a Divine Law was abandoned. History gives us many proofs of the pernicious effect of secularism and superstition upon human relations. Not only are all restraints, save those of civil law and physical force, spumed and ridiculed; there is no impulse and no motive to a higher than the selfish and animal life.
III FLAGRANT LICENTIOUSNESS IS ANOTHER FRUIT OF A NATION"S IRRELIGION. The passions which lead to such atrocities as those here mentioned are, no doubt, deep seated in human nature. But religion assists men, not in repressing them wholly, but in controlling and guiding them. It is believed by many that Amos refers to some of the practices which were encouraged by the idolatries to which the Israelites were conforming. Certain it is that infidelity is often associated with the vilest principles of an immoral life, and tends to the letting loose of that wild beast-sensual appetite which works dire devastation in society.
APPLICATION. These considerations should induce those who prize true religion for themselves to seek its maintenance at home against the assaults of infidelity, and to seek its propagation in lands where its absence is so morally deleterious. T.
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 vv6, 9, 11, 13, 14 For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I…
Amo_2:6
For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.
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National unrighteousness
I. God is the sole and righteous governor of the world. Not simply of Israel, but of Israels enemies, Syria, Gaza, Edom, etc. Here we get a glimpse of the great truth of Gods common Fatherhood. Amos somewhat anticipated Peter, God is no respecter of persons, and taught that God regarded the sin of Israel as He did that of Syria and Edom. That God would bring them to judgment in common with other nations, came as a thunderclap to the people of Jeroboam
II. With Amos there came to Israel a new conception of God. Note his words (Amo_3:2). Their privileges and blessings would not exempt them from sins consequences. They regarded God as benevolent to them. The prophet proclaims Him as righteous (Amo_5:21-24).
II. Judgment turns, not on questions of privilege, ceremony, or profession, but on character--Upon the character manifested in our treatment of those in our power. Personal character is tested by our treatment of the least of these My brethren. Priest and Levite proclaimed their unmercifulness in leaving the robber-smitten man to his fate. We see in the infinite regard and tender compassion of Christ to the poor, the suffering, the outcast, a revelation of Gods character. National character similarly tested. Damascus, Edom, Tyre, Israel cursed for what they did to people defenceless and in their power. Doing is the gauge of being. Their greed was expressed in their utter disregard of the rights of others. Damascus rioted in the blood of defenceless Gilead (Amo_1:3). Gaza traded in men (Amo_1:6). Tyre was rich, clever, strong, enterprising, artistic, resourceful, conquering. Lust of wealth and power led them, notwithstanding their close alliance with Solomon, to trade in Hebrew captives (Amo_1:9-10). Edom became the incarnation of the demon revenge (Amo_1:11). Ammon, prompted by lust of gain, invaded with devilish ferocity the sanctity of motherhood (Amo_1:13). Israel, ceremonious, self-righteous, prosperous, idolatrous, vain, privileged, denied justice to her poor, oppressed her children, sacrificed her young life to pleasure (Amo_2:6-8). These nations were marked, as modem nations, alas! are too often, by selfishness, and wide wasting and insatiable pride. For these things, etc. Samson could not destroy Gaza, but greed did. Tyre was strong to defy Assyria, to found Cathage, and set at nought Nebuchadnezzar, but was consumed by fire enkindled of her own lust. The stone houses and rocky palaces of Edom afforded no refuge from the consequences of her sins. Israel destroyed herself. He who obliterated Tyre, removed Israel, consumed Edom and Gaza. He who obliterated Babylon, destroyed Egypt, buried Greece and Rome under the debris of their own greatness. He still judges the nations. In reading the judgments pronounced by Amos we are reminded that--
(1) Whoever sins against man sins against God. All human interests are sacred.
(2) The law of equilibrium obtains in matters moral as well as physical. As we give we receive. Justice is of God and meted out to all. Anything that dulls the hearts sensibilities, robs of manhoods sympathy, destroys the faculty for humanity, prepares for hell.
(3) Character is destiny. Salvation is character, character is the result of moral decisions made daily.
III. Sin is cumulative. What are the three transgressions? They are not stated. The fourth only is mentioned. Why? The last is the abridgment and consummation of all the foregoing. It does not stand alone. It is but the development in the way of evil. The first sin leads to the second, and the fourth were impossible but for the former three. The growth is shown in the case of Edom (Amo_1:11). Verse 11 indicates--
(1) A time when Edom was so sensitive that the very thought of cruelty caused him to shudder.
(2) But he nursed revengeful thoughts; kept the memory of wrongs ever fresh; until the shuddering ceased. He corrupted his compassions.
(3) His anger grew upon him until it thoroughly conquered him. He became gradually the incarnation of brutal revenge. Gradually men ripen for judgment. To-days deeds are the fruit of former days. Present life is the resultant of the past. No deed, no day, no sin stands alone!
IV. The consequences of sin are inevitable. Every act of sin is self-destructive. It avenges itself. The forces of judgment are loosed by the act which violates the law. (John T. Ecob.)
They sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.
No remedy for injuries
The prophet means that there was no justice nor equity among the Israelites, for they made a sale of the children of God: and it was a most shameful thing that there was no remedy for injuries. The prophet levels his reproof against the judges, who then exercised authority. The just, he says, is sold for silver: this could not apply to private individuals, but to judges, to whom it belonged to extend a helping hand to the miserable and the poor, to avenge wrongs, and to give to every one his right. It is then the same as though the prophet had said that unbridled licentiousness reigned triumphant among the Israelites, so that just men were exposed as a prey, and were set, as it were, on sale. He says, first, that they were sold for silver, and then he adds, for shoes: and this ought to be carefully observed; for when once men begin to turn aside from the right course, they abandon them selves to evil without any shame. When an attempt is first made to draw aside a man that is just and upright and free from what is corrupt, he is not immediately overcome; though a great price may be offered to him, he will yet stand firm: but when he has sold his integrity for ten pieces of gold, he may afterwards be easily bought, as is the ease with women. Judges, then, who first covet silver, that is, who cannot be corrupted except by a rich and fat bribe, will afterwards barter their integrity for the meanest reward; for there is no shame any more remaining in them. This is what the prophet points out in these words,--that they sold the just for silver; that is, they sold him for a high price, and then they could be corrupted by the meanest gift, that if one offered them a pair of shoes, they would be ready without any blush of shame to receive such a bribe. (John Calvin.)
The penalty of oppression
Two centuries ago quaint Thomas Fuller said, If any suppose that society can be peaceful while one half is prospered and the other half pinched, let him try whether he can laugh with one side of his face while he weeps with the other. I am not concerning myself now, however, with those outside the Church, but those within. As surely as darkness follows sunset will the alienation of the masses follow sanctimonious selfishness in the Church. If a Christians motto is Look out for number one, then let them look out for estrangement and coldness on the part of number two. The Church millionaire stands at exact antipodes to the Church millennial, and in proportion aa the former flourishes, the latter will be hopelessly deferred. It is not an orthodox creed which repels the masses, but an orthodox greed. Let a Christian man stand forth conspicuously in any community, as honest as the law of Moses, and, yet let it be seen that he is building up an immense fortune by grinding the faces of the poor and compelling them to turn the grindstone for him while he does it, and he will wean a whole generation from the Gospel. The reckless I dont care for the Church, which is coming up in ever-loudening chorus from the poorer classes, is but the echo of the stolid and selfish I do care for myself and my own that we may live luxuriously and fare sumptuously, which is the undeniable expression of so many Christian lives. (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v6 Amo_2:6. Israel] The ten tribes the main object of…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo_2:6. Israel] The ten tribes the main object of the prophecy. First, prevalent crimes of injustice and oppression, shameless immorality, and daring contempt of God.
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Amo_2:6-8. Sold] Perverted their cause, and gave an unjust sentence for a small bribe (Deu_16:9). Shoes] Lit. sandals. Needless ornament was thought more valuable than man. Pant] Eagerly thirst (Ecc_1:5) for this object, i.e. they long to see the head of the poor covered with dust or earth, or to reduce them to such misery that they scatter dust upon their head (cf. Job_2:12; 2Sa_1:2). Turn] Bend, bring them into a trap, cast them into destruction, by impediments laid in their path. Unto] Not so much as named among the Gentiles (1Co_5:1). Clothes] pawned; upper garments or square piece of cloth, to wrap all around and serve the poor for a counterpane. If a poor man was necessitated to pledge this garment, it was returned to him before night (Exo_22:25); and a garment so pawned was not to be slept upon (Deu_24:12-13). Godless usurers kept them to stretch themselves upon at feasts, at sacrificial meals in the temple. Wine] bought with money of those whom they unjustly fined.
Amo_2:9-12. Yet] Former benefits make ingratitude more base. Israel delivered from Egypt and from the most powerful enemy of all the Canaanites. Roots] Destroyed utterly, no fruit above, no root from which to spring beneath. Raised up] additional privileges; furnished with religious instructors and examples of self-restraint. Gave] Tempted the Nazarite to break his vow.
Amo_2:13-16.] Judgment the inevitable consequence. Press] I will depress your place, i.e. make it narrow, opposite to enlarging or relieving (Psa_4:1; Pro_4:12); others, I will press you down. It is a rustic figure, a cart full of sheaves sets forth the pressure of their provocations. God was weary of them (Isa_43:24; Mal_2:17), overlaid with their wickedness [Bp Hall]. Neither agility of man or horse, neither courage nor valour, would deliver them; few would escape, and those few would be fugitives in other countries, or naked captives in the hands of the enemy.
HOMILETICS
THE JUDGMENT UPON ISRAEL.—Amo_2:6-16
The storm which has been gathering all around, and threatening nation after nation, now falls upon the ten tribes of Israel. Their sins are minutely specified, and the terrific consequences follow.
I. The guilt of Israel. Several atrocious crimes are charged upon them, some of which are sanctioned and upheld by persons of rank and authority.
1. They perverted justice. The smallest bribe would induce the judges to give up a poor man to the will of his oppressor. The debtor and the insolvent received no mercy from his creditor. The righteousness of a man’s character or cause was no plea for justice. Magistrates neither feared God nor regarded man. Man made in God’s image was sold for some worthless price or some trivial ornament. All nations more or less have honoured the sentiment of justice. In the administration of law it is the glory of a people, and in commercial life the bonds of society. In a moral sense it gains respect from man and approval from God. But injustice in whatever form or degree, bribery for any cause, drags the ermine in the dust, and damages the interests of a nation. The national character of Rome in the degenerate period when the judges received bribes had lost its purity and honour. When the Jews sold the righteous Son of God for thirty pieces of silver, they perverted judgment, disgraced humanity, and filled up the measure of their iniquity. “And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous.”
2. They oppressed the poor. “That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor.” They brought the poor into such misery that they strewed dust on their heads in sorrow, or they sank into the dust and perished through oppression. The least property of the poor excited their cupidity, and some think that they “grudged him even the dust which as a mourner he strewed on his head, since it too was earth.” They turned “aside the way of the meek,” injured their character, invaded their rights, and put hindrances in their path. It is sad when men take pleasure in trampling upon the poor, and grudge servants the smallest luxury and advantage. Those who rob others to increase their own store, who act unjustly and over-reach the simple and meek, “will receive the greater condemnation.” God will reckon with them. “Riches profit not in the day of wrath.” “What shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth what shall I answer him?”
3. They practised incest. “A man and his father will go in unto the same maid.” Prostitution was a part of the filthy worship of idols, and the damsel spoken of is probably one of the prostitutes belonging to the temple. This sin was most abominable and worthy of death. Cf. Lev_18:7; Lev_18:15; Lev_20:11. Or if prostitution is not intended, we have a daring contempt of the commands of God (Lev_22:32). Modesty will have little influence upon those who disregard justice. The name of God will be profaned by those who honour not the nature of man. Father and son forget their filial duties and disgrace themselves by the same crime. “I am the Lord, and ye shall not defile my holy name! For I will be sanctified among the children of Israel.”
4. They desecrated the sanctuary.
(1) By unlawfully keeping the pledges of the poor. “They lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge.” If a poor man pawned his upper dress which was his only bed, it was to be returned to him before night (Exo_22:25; and a garment so pledged was not to be slept on (Deu_24:12-13). But creditors kept the garments, treated them as their own property, and stretched themselves in luxuriant ease “by every altar.” In shameless publicity and hard-heartedness they lay on the garments of the poor and despoiled. They avowed their sins and insulted the true God by the altars of false gods.
(2) By drunken feasts in idolatrous temples. “They drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.” They fined the poor, and were paid in liquor or expended the money in wine. What they got by injustice they spent in sensuality. They added revelry to oppression and the wine which they poured out in libations or drank at idolatrous feasts was the price of innocent blood. Idols may not refuse such abominable sacrifices, but God will not accept them. “For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt-offering.”
Not such the service the benignant Father
Requireth at his earthly children’s hands:
Not the poor offering of vain rites, but rather
The simple duty man from man demands [Whittier].
II. The aggravation of Israel’s guilt. God’s benefits should strengthen our gratitude. He requires much from those to whom much is given. Israel’s guilt is measured by Israel’s privileges. They despised the blessings and neglected the warnings they received from God (Amo_2:9-11).
1. Israel was indebted to God for its national existence. He created them for his own peculiar people, preserved them from danger, and kept them in continued existence.
(1) He redeemed them from bondage. “I brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Mercies to our ancestors are blessings to us, for we could not exist without them. Past deliverances should never be forgotten. They should keep alive our gratitude and bind us to duty. God dates our benefits that we may remember them. If we despise his kindness, we aggravate our guilt. England has a wonderful past, and the present generation should not forget God’s benefits. “He hath not dealt so with any nation.”
(2) He defended them in danger. “Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them,” &c. The Amorites were the most powerful of the Canaanites and most terrible to Israel. Joshua, rehearsing God’s kindness, places the destruction of the Amorites as one of the most prominent deeds to Israel. “I brought you into the land of the Amorites which dwelt on the other side of Jordan, and I destroyed them before you.” The greater the danger, the greater should be our gratitude for deliverance. The more God displays his love and power towards us, the more should we keep his law and praise his name.
(3) He guided them in their journeys. “Led you forty years through the wilderness.” This reminded them of innumerable blessings in the course of their existence. Manna from heaven and water from the rock; deliverance from serpents and manifold perils; provoking sins and unqualified mercy; human guides and Divine presence. God led them and gave them possession of the land, for they did not get it by their own numbers and skill. Thus were they raised up and defended; planted in their inheritance and preserved in their existence. What echoes of the past resounded in their laws! The mercies of to-day remind us of the miracles of yesterday. Past and present, memory and law, remind us of our duty. “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.”
2. Israel was indebted to Cud for inspired teachers. “And I raised up of your sons for prophets.” From the beginning to the end of their existence they were not left without light and instruction. Men of sanctity and power, like Elijah and Elisha, were sent unto them, filled with wisdom and the Holy Spirit. Messenger after messenger rebuked their sins and revealed the will of God. They were never left without a witness of God’s presence and a prophet to teach them. “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.”
3. Israel was indebted to God for noble examples. “And of your young men for Nazarites.” Prophets instruct, examples show that these instructions may be put into practice. They are visible illustrations both of the possibility of doing what is enjoined and of the method in which it is done. Hence the proverbs, “Example is more powerful than precept;” “Precepts lead, examples draw;” “Every art is best taught by example.” The Nazarites were noble specimens of temperance and self-control, examples of men who vow and are able by God’s grace to keep the vow. We are more apt to learn through the eye than the ear, and what is seen in fact makes a deeper impression upon the mind. Israel were blessed with men, living among them day by day, to quicken attention and incite to the obedience of that law which they despised. Men who counteracted the evil and gave an impulse to the virtuous tendencies of the age. Young men who are examples of self-denial and devotedness to God are an honour to any country. They are monuments of God’s grace, living reproofs of the impiety of the day, and deserve to be imitated in their spirit and conduct. “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done.”
4. Israel did not acknowledge her indebtedness to God for these privileges. They sought not to walk in the light, but to extinguish it. They perverted God’s gifts into occasions for greater sin. (a) They tempted the Nazarite to break his vow. “But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink.” It is a horrid sin when men will neither be holy themselves, nor let others keep the law of God. It is the height of ingratitude to abuse the temperate and seek to destroy their character. Yet such crimes are committed in England to-day. Sons of temperance are tempted to break their pledge (Num_6:2-3); self-denial is considered weakness, and pious men are exposed to ridicule and contempt. Young men are often surprised and allured, reproached and frightened, into sin. “And so,” says a quaint author, “many do the tempter’s work.” (b) They sought to silence the prophet in his teaching. “Commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.” The guilty conscience hates reproof. The godly teacher irritates the sinner, and God’s servants are often threatened if they hold not their tongue. Jezebel swore by her gods to destroy Elijah (1Ki_19:2-3). Amaziah silenced the prophet: “Art thou made of the king’s counsel? forbear. Why shouldest thou be smitten?” Jeremiah had to face hatred, mockery, and imprisonment. The chief priests sought to silence the apostles, first by command, then by scourges, and lastly by persecution. If God’s ministers will not preach evil tidings, they will be unmolested; but when they proclaim the judgments of God on the sins of men, then nations rise up in authority and opposition. “Wherefore dost thou prophesy?” (Jer_32:3). Those who deaden the voice of God within, and silence the word of God without them, leave no means of access to the soul or the people. Dreadful is the doom of those who harden themselves against the gospel, and refuse its last offers of mercy from its faithful ministers. Such were Israel’s guilt and Israel’s punishment. “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”
III. The severe punishment for Israel’s guilt (Amo_2:13-16). Base contempt for covenant mercies God will visit with severe punishment. The long-suffering of God will at length be wearied out by obstinaate sinners and ungrateful nations.
1. Punishment most crushing Taking the words as alluding “to the force of war, under which even the bravest and most able heroes will succumb.” God threatens to oppress them most heavily. As the cart full of sheaves presses the ground; so God would press them down, by war and the effects of war. This is a fit retribution for their own oppression, robbery, and injustice to the poor. Judgments in number and variety would fill the land, and distress would overcome its inhabitants. Bradford the martyr said, “He that will not tremble in threatening shall be crushed in pieces in feeling.” Men through their own sins often have to say, “We were pressed out of measure above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.”
2. Punishment most inevitable. The judgments are fixed and inevitable, and none can escape except by repentance, the door of which is never shut in these Divine threatenings.
(1) The swift cannot flee away. “The flight shall perish from the swift.” Men are afraid and wish to escape from the judgments of God. But it is too late, and the escape is impossible. “He that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself.” A horse will be a vain thing in that day for safety. “Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself” from his pursuers.
(2) The strong cannot defend themselves. “The strong shall not strengthen his force” against the power of God. Military hosts are not a match for an angry God. “The mighty,” who may have protected others, shall not “deliver himself” then. “There is no king saved by the multitude of a host; a mighty man is not delivered by much strength” (Psa_33:16). Weapons of war will be of no avail. “Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow.”
3. The courageous cannot withstand the attack. “He that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away.” The most spirited and brave, the most firm-souled and mighty, cannot deliver themselves. What a picture. Fear will disable the skilled archer. The strong will be bereft of his might. Panic will seize all ranks, and those who flee cannot escape. “A kingdom for a horse,” cried one in battle, but in the day of judgment every means of strength, resistance, and escape will fail. Those who make not God their refuge, shall find none for themselves in the day of visitation. “Many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken” (Isa_8:15; Amo_9:2).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo_2:7. God had laid down the equality of man, made in his own image, and had forbidden to favour either poor (Exo_23:3) or rich (Ib. 6). Amos calls these by different names, which entitled them to human sympathy; poor, depressed, lowly; poor, in their absolute condition; depressed, as having been brought low; lowly, as having the special grace of their state, the wonderful meekness and lowliness of the godly poor [Pusey].
Amo_2:9. God removes difficulties out of the way. The pilgrim often magnifies them into sons of Anak. “I destroyed” (emphatic). God uproots all fears, extirpates all enemies, and leaves neither “fruit from above” nor “roots from beneath.” Not merely cut down, but plucked up, and no chance of springing into existence again. A complete and irrecoverable destruction. This—
1. Displays power.
2. Should excite confidence; and
3. Stimulate progress.
Amo_2:10. God’s fidelity towards Israel contrasted with Israel’s conduct towards God (Deu_2:7; Deu_8:2. Cf. Mic_6:4).
HOMILETICS
CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE.—Amo_2:10
Life is a pilgrimage; but all pilgrims do not consider themselves “strangers” on earth. Had God intended this world to be the home of his people, he would have made better accommodation. But they seek a country, even a heavenly one.
I. The destination. “To possess the land of the Amorite.” Canaan was promised to the Jews, and though in the possession of the enemies, yet God drove out the heathen and planted them (Psa_44:2). A people numerous, warlike, and strongly fortified, were overturned by a feeble nation. The oaks of Bashan were torn up to plant his chosen vine. God now gives his people inheritance of faith and knowledge, puts them in possession of wealth and vantage-ground on earth, and will give them rest in heaven.
II. The starting-point. “I brought you up from the land of Egypt.” The local and political elevation of Israel set forth the deliverance and dignity of the Christian. All are found in the house of bondage, under the dominion and lash of sin. Egypt is the starting-place of Israel; the City of Destruction, for the Pilgrim. All are found in a state of degradation and alienation from God. From a lower God’s people are called to a higher condition, translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
III. The way. “Through the wilderness.” After leaving Egypt, Israel were literally in the wilderness. A dreary solitary place, full of privations and perils. The world comparatively is a wilderness. It is not the rest, the home of God’s people. It is polluted by sin, and unsuited to their moral nature. We must not form attachments and secure possessions which bind us here. “Here we have no continuing city.” We must avoid the company and renounce the maxims of the world. Our happiness is not here; it is more elevated and on high.
All, all on earth is shadow; all beyond
Is substance: the reverse is Folly’s creed;
How solid all, where change shall be no more!
IV. The leader. “I brought you up.” Their safety and joy sprung from God’s care. The pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day, went before them and never left them. Moses and Aaron could not guide them. Hence the request, “If thy presence go not with us,” &c. God conducts his children now by his Spirit, providence, and word. He will never leave nor forsake them till they have entered the land of promise. He “led them up through the wilderness, for his mercy endureth for ever.”
V. The time. “Forty years through the wilderness.” A considerable period, but appointed by God. What scenes and memories would it recall! What proofs of God’s power, goodness, and truth! What displays of ingratitude, impatience, and rebellion! Thus God reminds us of important crises in our life, that we may thank him for his goodness, note the progression of time, and prepare for our journey’s end. “These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.”
Our life is a dream; our time as a shadow
Glides swiftly away;
And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo_2:11.
1. The gift of prophecy and the institution of the Nazarites are considered special blessings to the nation.
2. This effort to purify society from a special evil is said to be of Divine origin. “I raised up your young men.”
3. This method of sobering the people must be as wise and necessary now as then. “We learn from these verses the importance attached by God to the Nazarite class, and also that their preeminent characteristic was abstinence from wine. Jehovah claims to have raised up a succession of prophets and Nazarites, and the attempt to subvert the fidelity of the Nazarites is coupled as a sin with the impious effort to silence the teachers of the nation, and the organs of the Almighty” [Temp. Com.].
Amo_2:13. God pressed down with man’s iniquity is the sense in which many take these words. I. The pressure of ingratitude. God daily loadeth us with benefits, but we heap up sins upon him. II. The pressure of insults. Insult to his Being, Word, and providence. In whatever light we look upon evil, it is a burden to God and his works. God faints not in the upholding and government of the world. But he grows weary with our iniquities (Isa_43:24); and creation groans beneath its weight (Rom_8:22). In another sense he carries our sins and will take them from us. Then if delivered from sin, we shall not be crushed by judgments.
The judgments of God. With what patience God bears with man’s sin! Three transgressions are followed by a fourth; sin is multiplied by sin, before he inflicts punishments; but impenitent sinners may be sure, that if Divine patience lingers, not willing that any should perish, yet their judgment “lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Amo_2:6-8. Oppression. To rob and oppress the rich is a great sin; but to rob and oppress the poor is a greater: but to rob and oppress the poor, because he is poor and wants money to buy justice, is the top of all inhumanity and impiety. To oppress any one is a sin; but to oppress the oppressed is the height of sin. Poverty and want should be motives to pity; but oppressors make them whetstones of their cruelty and severity, and therefore the Lord will plead the cause of his poor oppressed against their oppressors without fee or fear [Brooks].
Amo_2:9-10. Wilderness. An Emperor of Persia, who designed to go on a journey into Media, durst not proceed on account of the vast quantity of scorpions that were lying round about the road. He sent a great number of stout fellows to destroy these terrible creatures, promising a superior reward to him who killed most. Till this execution was over he durst not venture his dignified person abroad [Whitecross].
Amo_2:12. A man once called upon a publican to settle an account, in a village near Elgin, and was asked to take a dram. The man was a member of a Temperance Society and declined. The publican first began to ridicule and then to tempt him, saying that he would give him a real good one, and that besides, a gin dram would not be objected to. The simple man at length yielded, and having yielded was more ready to sink before other less powerful temptations. He did so, and is no longer a temperate man nor a member of a society. The conduct of the publican was most atrocious in tempting a man, when he knew his conscientious reasons for total abstinence. If his unhappy victim die the death of the drunkard, who will say he is guiltless of the loss of that man’s soul? [Whitecross].
Amo_2:14-16. Swift. The mighty hosts of Persia were no defence at the battle of Arbela. Napoleon led more than half a million of men into Russia, but could not escape the danger by retreat. His valiant guards could neither uphold his empire nor protect his person at Waterloo, when he cried out—“It is all over; save yourselves who can.”
“Not the chief his serried lances,
Not his strength secures the brave;
All in vain the war-horse prances,
Weak his force his lord to save.” [Richard Mant.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v6 Israel's Sins and Ingratitude
Israel's Sins and Ingratitude
6-8. Israel is now threatened in the same form as the rest, but Amo_2:6-16 were not spoken by Amos at Bethel; they form the conclusion of the preface which he wrote after his return home.
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6. The unrighteous judges condemn the innocent for the sake of a bribe. A pair of shoes would have been too paltry a present, but for the fact that the shoe was a symbol of property (Rth_4:7; Psa_60:10). To hand over the shoes was equivalent to our delivery of title-deeds.
7. They begrudge the very dust, a sign of mourning, which a poor man has sprinkled on his head: they hinder the man who is in a lowly position from attaining his modest purpose. To profane.. name] The religion of many of the nations of antiquity sanctioned unchastity and even adopted it as part of the worship of the gods, but if Jehovah's worshippers are morally unclean they pollute His Holy Name.
8. The poor in the East sleep in their day-clothes. Garments taken in pledge should therefore be restored ere nightfall (Exo_22:25; Deu_24:12); but these creditors, undeterred by their supposed nearness to their god, treat the needy man's clothes as if they belonged to themselves. Possibly, however, Amos wrote, 'And they stretch out beside every altar clothes taken in pledge,' meaning that they hung them up as a votive offering in honour of their god.
They drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god] that is to say, at their sacrificial banquets they drank wine obtained by unjust fines, and whilst they imagined themselves to be worshipping the God of Israel He disclaimed them: they were really worshipping an idol of their own imagination.
9-16. The ingratitude thus evinced and the judgment which it provokes.
9. We may exhibit the emphasis designed by Amos by rendering thus: 'Yet it was I who destroyed.. and it was I who brought you up,' etc. The Amorite here is a name for all the earlier inhabitants of the Holy Land. Instead of fruit from above, etc., we say 'root and branch.' But the Canaanites were not utterly extirpated (Jos_13:13; Jos_16:10; Jdg_1:19-36; 2Sa_5:7).
11. The accounts we have of Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and the 'schools of the prophets,' show that prophets, declaring God's will by word of mouth, had been more numerous in the northern than in the southern kingdom. The 'Nazirites' (RV) showed their obedience to His will by self-control, austerities, renunciations of pleasant things (Numbers 6). God's most precious gift to His people consisted in true men, and, above all, in inspired prophets.
12. It was exceedingly base to tempt the Nazirite to break his vow. For the silencing of the prophets see 1Ki_1:22; Isa_30:10-11; Mic_2:6, Mic_2:11.
13. The v. may be understood in two ways. First, as in AV, which represents Israel as a burden on God (Isa_1:14; Isa_7:13 etc.). Secondly, and better, as in RV, 'Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.' As the ground reels under the loaded wagon so shall they under God's heavy hand (Psa_32:4; Job_33:2).
16. The stress lies on the word naked. In headlong flight the long, outer garment would be cast away as a hindrance.
Here, and at Amo_3:13, Amo_3:15; Amo_4:3, Amo_4:5-6, Amo_4:8-9, Amo_4:10-11; Amo_6:8; Amo_8:11; Amo_9:7-8, Amo_9:12-13, the expression rendered saith the Lord is a kind of exclamation, thrown in parenthetically to call attention to the gravity of what is said. Utterance of Jehovah! the prophet cries.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v6 Against Israel
Against Israel
v. 6. Thus saith the Lord, now turning at last to the people of the northern kingdom among whom Amos was laboring, For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, literally, "not will I reverse it,". because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes, namely, by the unjust condemnation of innocent people when they were brought into court, the judges being guilty of shameless bribery to the detriment of justice;
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v. 7. that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, by oppressing the poor so severely that the latter, in their misery, show their grief by placing dust on their heads. Job 2:12, and turn aside the way of the meek, by placing obstacles in their way, thereby causing them to stumble and fall; and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, in an excess of shameless lechery, which was regarded as being on a level with incest, to profane My holy name, for such sins brought disgrace upon the name of the God who had chosen Israel as His people;
v. 8. and they lay themselves down upon clothes, the upper garment of the poor, laid to pledge by every altar, although the Law required that such pledges be returned in the evening, because the garments also served as covers by night, Cf Exo 22:25; Deu 24:12-13, and they drink the wine of the condemned, such as was purchased with money gotten from the poor by oppression, in the house of their god, being brazen enough to do this in the very Sanctuary, in places which, after all, were originally intended as altars consecrated to Jehovah.
v. 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, when Joshua overthrew them in battle. Num 21:24; Deu 2:31, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks, a powerful people; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath, the picture of a mighty tree being retained to make the fact of his annihilation more vivid.
v. 10. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, by the deliverance to which the prophets point time and again, Exo 12:51, and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite, for so the entire land of Canaan might fitly be called, as having been in the possession of this nation before the Hittite invasion.
v. 11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, a distinction which they had evidently not appreciated, and of your young men for Nazarites, this also being a special favor which the Israelites had despised. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. They themselves, thus challenged, would have to admit the truth of the Lord’s accusations.
v. 12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, contrary to the command of the Lord, Cf Num 6:2-12, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not; they refused to hear the words which the Lord told them through His servants.
v. 13. Behold, I am pressed under you, rather, "Behold, I will press you down,". as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves, as a cart loaded with sheaves presses down the ground beneath.
v. 14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, literally, "is lost to the swift," he will not have time to escape, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself, all his strength and skill would avail him nothing;
v. 15. neither shall he stand that handleth the bow, and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself, all his fleetness would not avail to carry him to safety; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself, even so he would not escape.
v. 16. And he that is courageous among the mighty, among the champions of the army, shall flee away naked in that day, leaving behind the very garment by which the enemy seizes him, saith the Lord. This threat, which implies the destruction of the kingdom, is further elaborated in the next chapter.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 For three sins of ... even for four
For three sins of ... even for four
This is a poetic device. It does not meaan that a specific number of sins had been committed, but indicates that many of sins had led to God's judgment. See how you translated these words in Amos 1:3.
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Israel
This represents the Israelite people. AT: "the people of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
I will not turn away punishment
Yahweh uses two negatives here to emphasize that he would punish them. See how you translated these words in Amos 1:3. (See: Litotes)
the innocent
This refers to innocent people in general. AT: "innocent people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
the needy
This refers to needy people in general. AT: "needy people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
translationWords
Israel
innocent
silver
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16 2:6-16 Israel: After leading the people through a litany…
2:6-16 Israel: After leading the people through a litany of sins committed by Israel’s neighbors, Amos arrived at his real point: The Israelites would suffer a similar fate (cp. Nathan’s use of prophetic rhetoric to induce self-indictment, 2 Sam 12:1-13).
2:6 Honorable people are the “righteous,” those who enjoyed a right relationship with God and other people. The parallel with poor people creates the idea of the “righteous needy.” The law of Moses urged those who had much to help those in need by lending freely (Deut 15:7-11). As a last resort, those too poor to pay their debts could become bond servants to repay their debts through labor (Lev 25:39-43). These righteous needy were being sold into bond servitude for a pair of sandals, a hyperbole for the pittance they owed (see Amos 8:6). The sandals were a pledge given for the debt or a token used to seal a bargain (see Ruth 4:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.