“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered.
So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“Therefore thus I will do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6–12 But I gave you cleanness of teeth in all…
But I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your borders; and ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah. God here expostulates with the people on account of their incurable perverseness; for he had tried to restore them to the right way, not only by his word, but also by heavy punishments; but he effected nothing. This hardness doubled the guilt of that people, as they could not be subdued by God’s chastisements.
The Prophet now says, that the people had been chastised with famine, I gave them, he says, cleanness of teeth. It is a figurative expression, by which Amos means want, and he explains it himself by want of bread The whole country then labored under want and deficiency of provisions, though the land, as it is well known, was very fruitful. Now since the end of punishment is to turn men to God and his service, it is evident, when no fruit follows, that the mind is hardened in evil. Hence the Prophet shows here, that the Israelites were not only guilty, but had also pertinaciously resisted God, for their vices could be corrected by no punishment. We have just mentioned famine, another kind of punishment follows —
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, 10, 11, 12 That is, lack of bread and meat.
That is, lack of bread and meat.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–12 Amo 4:6 And I also have given you cleanness…
Amo 4:6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
Ver. 6. And I have also given you cleanness of teeth] So that you need not spend time in picking them, as those that are fully fed; for I have cut you short enough, and held you to hard allowance; as those that would tame wild creatures keep them empty and waking; but you have been, and so continue, untamed and untractable, incorrigibly flagitious, uncapable of repentance. Your diseases are complicated, yea, they are so ingrained, that they are not easily stirred, much less destroyed by any potion I have yet given you. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction, Jer 2:30.
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In all your cities] One as well as other, lest you should say as those Philistines, It was a chance, 1Sa 6:9 : and as the Rabbis tell us, that the idolatrous priests told Jeroboam that the drying up of his hand happened merely by accident.
And want of bread in all your places] Thus the Scripture often interpreteth itself, and is ever its own best gloss. Some think that by "want of bread" here, is meant dearth of grain; as by cleanness of teeth, scarcity of flesh; and that by "all your places" we are to understand all your houses. This occured in the times of Elias and Elisha, 1Ki 17:1 2Ki 6:25; 2Ki 8:1; and God would not have it to be forgotten, but is justly angry that they remained so irreformable. That dearth in Elias’ days lasted over three years; and might likely be as extreme as that here in England (about the year 700) of three years’ continuance; and so violent it was, that not only many died daily for hunger, but great numbers, joining hand in hand, 40 or 50 in a company, threw themselves headlong into the sea. A like three years’ famine also we read to have been in Bohemia and Polonia, A.D. 1312, so great, that children devoured their parents, and parents their children; some fed upon the dead carcases that hanged in gibbets. Wolves also were so famished, that they fell upon all they met, and fed upon them.
Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord] Ye have lost the fruit of your afflictions ( perdidistis fructum afflictionis. Aug.), and all mine hammers hitherto have but beatten cold iron. The bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed, the founder melteth it in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away, sc. from their wickedness; his dross is yet with him, his great scum still in him, Eze 24:6; Eze 24:12-13, it is woven into the very texture of his heart, and cannot be separated. Reprobate silver shall men call him, because he returneth not to God that smiteth him, Jer 6:29-30 Isa 9:12-13.
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 vv6–12 And I, the Lord, who gave many blessings to…
And I, the Lord, who gave many blessings to win you to repentance, hath also tried what might be done by judgments.
Cleanness of teeth: this is a description of famine by one effect of it; where meat fails the teeth are not fouled, as where it is eaten.
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In all your cities; it was a general famine, and probably it was that long famine, 2Ki 8:1.
Want of bread in all your places; if there were some bread, yet it was very scarce every where: this passage explains the former.
Yet have ye not returned unto me; yet this starving people repented not of their idolatries, nor cast off their idols; left not their sins of oppression and cruelty, &c.; see Joe 2:12,13; what you did like returning was partial and hypocritical, and not lasting.
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 v6 Here, I. God complains of his people's incorrigibleness under…
Here, I. God complains of his people's incorrigibleness under the judgments which he had brought upon them in order to their humiliation and reformation. He had by several tokens intimated to them his displeasure, with this design, that they might by repentance make their peace with him; but it had not that effect.
1. It is five times repeated in these verses, as the burden of the charge, "Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord; you have been several times corrected, but in vain; you are not reclaimed, there is no sign of amendment. You have been sent for by one messenger after another, but you have not come back, you have not come home." (1.) This intimates that that which God designed in all his providential rebukes was to reduce them to their allegiance, to influence them to return to him. (2.) That, if they had returned to their God, they would have been accepted, he would have bidden them welcome, and the troubles they were in would have been removed. (3.) That the reason why God sent further troubles was because former troubles had not done the work, otherwise it is no pleasure to the Almighty that he should afflict. (4.) That God was grieved at their obstinacy, and took it unkindly that they should force him to do that which he did so unwillingly: "You have not returned to me from whom you have revolted, to me with whom you are in covenant, to me who stands ready to receive you, to me who have so often called you." Now,
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2. To aggravate their incorrigibleness, and to justify himself in inflicting greater judgments, he recounts the less judgments with which he had tried to bring them to repentance.
(1.) There had sometimes been a scarcity of provisions, though there was no visible cause of it (Amo 4:6): "I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, for you had no meat to chew, whereby your teeth might be fouled," especially no flesh, which dirties the teeth. Or, I have given you emptiness of teeth, nothing to fill your mouths with. "Bread, the staff of life, has been wanting, for you have sown much and brought in little," as Hag 1:9. Some think this refers to that seven years' famine that was in Elisha's time, which we read of Kg2 8:1. Now when God thus took away their corn in the season thereof, because they had prepared it for Baal, they should have said, We will go and return to our first husband, having paid dearly for leaving him; but it had not that effect. They have not returned to me, saith the Lord.
(2.) Sometimes they had wanted rain, and then of course they wanted the fruits of the earth. This evil was of the Lord: I have withholden the rain from you. God has the key of the clouds, and, if he shut up, who can open? Amo 4:7. The rain was withheld when there were yet three months to the harvest, at the time when they used to have it, and therefore the withholding of it was an extraordinary thing, and, if the course of nature was altered, they must therein own the hand of the God of nature; and it was at a time when they most needed it, and therefore the want of it was a very sore judgment, and blasted their expectations of a crop at harvest. And one circumstance which made this very remarkable was that when there were some places that wanted rain, and withered for want of it, there were other places near adjoining that had it in abundance. God caused it to rain upon one city, and not upon another, in the same country; nay, he caused it to rain upon one field, one piece of a field, and it was thereby made fruitful and flourishing, but on the next field, on the other side of the hedge, nay, on another part of the same field, it rained not at all, and it was so long without rain that all the products of it withered. No doubt this was literally true, and there were many instances of it which were generally taken notice of. Now, [1.] By this it appeared that the withholding of the rain was not casual, but by a divine direction and disposal, and that the cloud which waters the earth is turned round about by the counsels of God, to do whatsoever he commands it, whether for correction, or for his land, or for his mercy, Job 37:12-18. Rain does not go by planets (as common people speak), but as God sends it by his winds. [2.] We have reason to think that those cities on which it rained not were the most infamous for wickedness, such as Bethel and Gilgal (Amo 4:4), and that those on which it rained were such as retained something of religion and virtue among them. And so in the town-fields it rained or rained not, upon the piece, according as the owner was; for we are sure the curse of the Lord is in the house, and upon the ground, of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the just, and his field is a field that the Lord has blessed. [3.] It would be the greater grief and vexation to those whose fields withered for want of rain to see their neighbours' fields well watered and flourishing. My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry, Isa 65:13. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved. Probably those that were oppressed were rained upon, and so they recovered their losses, while the oppressors withered, and so lost their gains. [4.] Yet, as to the nation in general, it was a mixture of mercy with the judgment, and, consequently, strengthened the call to repentance and reformation, and encouraged them to hope for all mercy, in their returns to God, since there was so much mercy even in God's rebukes of them. But, because they did not make good use of this gracious allay to the extremity of the judgment, they had not the benefit of it, which otherwise they might have had, for (Amo 4:8) two or three cities wandered at uncertainty, as beggars, unto one city, to drink water, and, if possible, to have some to carry home with them, but they were not satisfied; it was but here and there one city that had water, while many wanted, and then it was not, as usual, Usus communis aquarum - Water is free to all. Those that had it had occasion for it, or knew not how soon they might, and therefore could afford but little to those that wanted, saying, Lest there be not enough for us and you. Those that came drank water, but they were not satisfied, because they drank it by measure, and with astonishment; and those that drink of this water shall thirst again, Joh 4:13. They were not satisfied, because their desires were greedy, and what they had God did not bless to them, Hag 1:6. And now, one would think, when they met with all this disappointment, they should have considered their ways and repented; but it had not that effect: "Yet have you not returned to me, no, not so much as to pray in a right manner for the former and latter rain," Zac 10:1. See the folly of carnal hearts; they will wander from city to city, from one creature to another, in pursuit of satisfaction, and still they miss of it; they labour for that which satisfies not (Isa 55:2), and yet, after all, they will not return to God, will not incline their ear to him in whom they might have satisfaction. The preaching of the gospel is as rain; God sometimes blesses one place with it more than another; some countries, some cities, are, like Gideon's fleece, wet with this dew, while the ground about is dry; all withers where this rain is wanting. But it were well if people were but as wise for their souls as they are for their bodies, and, when they have not this rain near them, would go and seek it where it is to be had; and, if they seek aright, they shall not seek in vain.
(3.) Sometimes the fruits of their ground were eaten up by caterpillars, or blasted with mildew, Amo 4:9. Heaven and earth are armed against those who have made God their enemy. When God pleased, that is, when he was displeased, [1.] They suffered by a malignant air, the influence of which, either too hot or too cold, blasted their fruits, with a force that could be neither discerned nor resisted, and against which there was no defence. [2.] They suffered by malignant animals. Their vineyards and gardens yielded their increase in great abundance, so did their fig-trees and olive-trees; but the palmer-worm devoured them before the fruits were ripe, and fit to be gathered in. This was either the same judgment with that which we read of Joe 1:4-6, or a less judgment of the same nature, sent before to give warning of that. But they did not take warning: Yet have you not returned unto me.
(4.) Sometimes the plague had raged among them, and the sword of war had cut off multitudes, Amo 4:10. The pestilence is God's messenger; this he sent among them, with directions whom to strike dead, and it was done. It was a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; deaths were scattered among them by the hand of a destroying angel at midnight. And perhaps this pestilence, as that of Egypt, fastened upon the first-born. In the way of Egypt (so the margin); when they were making their escape to Egypt, or going thither to seek for aid, the pestilence seized them by the way and stopped their journey. The sword of war is likewise the sword of the Lord; this was drawn among them with commission; and then it slew their young men, the strength of the present generation and the seed of the next. God says, I have slain them; he avows the execution. The slain of the Lord are many. The enemy took away their horses, and converted them to their own use; and the dead carcases of those that were slain either with sword or pestilence were so many, and for want of surviving friends were left so long unburied, that the stench of their camps came up into their nostrils, and was both noisome and dangerous, and might put them in mind of the offensiveness of their sin to God. And yet this did not prevail to humble and reclaim them: You have not returned to him that smites you. Such a rueful woeful sight as this prevailed not to make them religious.
(5.) In these and other judgments some were remarkably cut off, and made monuments of justice, others were remarkably spared, and made monuments of mercy, the setting of which the one over against the other one would have thought likely to work upon them, but it had not its effect, Amo 4:11. [1.] Some were quite ruined, their families destroyed, and themselves in them: I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps they were consumed with lightning, as Sodom was, or the houses were, in some other way, burnt to the ground, and the inhabitants in them. Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be condemned with an overthrow, and so made an example, Pe2 2:6. God had threatened to destroy the whole land with such an overthrow as that of Sodom, Deu 29:23. But he began with some particular places first, to give them warning, or perhaps with some particular persons, whose sins went beforehand to judgment. [2.] Others very narrowly escaped: "You were many of you as a firebrand plucked out of the burning, like Lot out of Sodom, when the fire had already kindled upon you; and yet you hate sin never the more for the danger it has brought you to, nor love God ever the more for the deliverance he wrought for you. You that have been so signally delivered, and in such a distinguishing way, have not returned unto me."
II. God, in the close, calls upon his people, now at length, in this their day, to understand the things that belong to their peace, before they were hidden from their eyes, Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13. Observe here,
1. How God threatens them with sorer judgments than any they had yet been under: "Therefore, seeing you have not been wrought upon by correction hitherto, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel!" He does not say how he will do, but it shall be something worse than had come yet, Joh 5:14. Or, "Thus I will go on to do unto thee, following one judgment with another, like the plagues of Egypt, till I have made a full end." Nothing but reformation will prevent the ruin of a sinful people. If they turn not to him, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. I will punish you yet seven times more, if you will not be reformed; so it was written in the law, Lev 26:23, Lev 26:24.
2. How he awakens them therefore to think of making their peace with God: "Seeing I will do this unto thee, and there is no remedy, prepare to meet they God, O Israel!" that is, (1.) "Consider how unable thou art to meet him as a combatant." Some make it to be spoken by way of irony or challenge: "Prepare to meet God, who is coming forth to contend with thee. What armour of proof canst thou put on? What courage canst thou steel thyself with? Alas! it is but putting briers and thorns before a consuming fire, Isa 27:4, Isa 27:5. Art thou able with less than 10,000 to meet him that comes forth against thee with more than 20,000?" Luk 14:31. (2.) "Resolve therefore to meet him as a penitent, as a humble suppliant, to meet him as thy God, in covenant with thee, to submit, and stand it out no longer." We must prepare to meet God in the way of his judgments (Isa 26:8), to take hold on his strength, that we may make peace. Note, Since we cannot flee from God we are concerned to prepare to meet him; and therefore he gives us warning, that we may prepare. When we are to meet him in his ordinances we must prepare to meet him, prepare to seek him.
3. How he sets forth the greatness and power of God as a reason why we should prepare to meet him, Amo 4:13. If he be such a God as he is here described to be, it is folly to contend with him, and our duty and interest to make our peace with him; it is good having him our friend and bad having him our enemy. (1.) He formed the mountains, made the earth, the strongest stateliest parts of it, and by the word of his power still upholds it and them. Whatever are the products of the everlasting mountains, he formed them; whatever salvation is hoped for from hills and mountains, he is the founder of it, Psa 89:11, Psa 89:12. He that formed the great mountains can make them plain, when they stand in the way of his people's salvation. (2.) He creates the wind. The power of the air is derived from him, and directed by him; he brings the wind out of his treasures, and orders from what point of the compass it shall blow; and he that made it rules it; even the winds and the seas obey him. (3.) He declares unto man what is his thought. He makes known his counsel by his servants the prophets to the children of men, the thought of his justice against impenitent sinners, and the thought of good he thinks towards those that repent. He can also make known, for he perfectly knows, the thought that is in man's heart; he understands it afar off, and in the day of conviction will set the evil thoughts among the other sins of sinners in order before them. (4.) He often makes the morning darkness, by thick clouds overspreading the sky immediately after the sun rose bright and glorious; so when we look for prosperity and joy he can dash our expectations with some unlooked-for calamity. (5.) He treads upon the high places of the earth, is not only higher than the highest, but has dominion over all, tramples upon proud men, and upon the idols that were worshipped in the highest places. (6.) Jehovah the God of hosts is his name, for he has his being of himself, and is the fountain of all being, and all the hosts of heaven and earth are at his command. Let us humble ourselves before this God, prepare to meet him, and give all diligence to make him our God, for happy are the people whose God he is, who have all this power engaged for them.
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 vv6–12 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth…
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,.... Meaning a famine, having no food to foul them with, or to stick in them. This was not the famine in Samaria, Kg2 6:25; for that was only in that city, and for a short time, while besieged; whereas this was in all the cities in Israel; rather therefore it designs the famine predicted by Elisha, which should be upon the land for seven years, Kg2 8:1;
and want of bread in all your places: this is the same with the former clause, and explains it, and still makes the famine more general, not only in their cities, but in all their places of abode, their towns and villages:
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yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord; this judgment had no influence upon them, to bring them to a sense of their evils, particularly their idolatry, and to repentance them, and to reclaim them from them, and return them to the Lord, and to his worship, as the Targum paraphrases it.
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 vv6–12 An I - The Lord who gave many blessings…
An I - The Lord who gave many blessings to win you to repentance, hath also tried what might be done by judgments. Cleanness of teeth - This is a description of famine.
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, 9, 10, 11, 12 Verse 6. Cleanness of teeth] Scarcity of bread, as…
Verse 6. Cleanness of teeth] Scarcity of bread, as immediately explained. Ye shall have no trouble in cleaning your teeth, for ye shall have nothing to eat.
Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.] This reprehension is repeated five times in this chapter; and in it are strongly implied God's longsuffering, his various modes of fatherly chastisement, the ingratitude of the people, and their obstinate wickedness. The famine mentioned here is supposed to be that which is spoken of 2Kg 8:1; but it is most likely to have been that mentioned by Joel, Joe 1:1-2:17.
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, 10, 12 Amo 4:6-8. And I also have given you —…
Amo 4:6-8. And I also have given you — Or, for this cause I have given you, cleanness of teeth — An expression signifying a scarcity of food, or a famine. The famine which we read of 2Ki 8:1, seems to be that which is here referred to. Yet have ye not returned unto me — Nevertheless ye have not been brought to a sense of your sins, to any sorrow for them, or to any sincere purpose of amendment. Also I have withholden the rain, when there were yet three months to the harvest — At a season when your country most needed it, and when it had been wont to fall most plentifully. And I caused it to rain upon one city, and not upon another — And, to make it more remarkable, I caused it to rain upon cities or places adjoining to yours, at the same time that the drought was so great on all your territories. This may import that God punished them with drought at the same time when he sent rain upon the cities of Judah; making a remarkable difference between Israel and Judah, like that which he formerly made between Egypt and the land of Goshen. One piece was rained upon, &c. — This seems to be spoken of those parts which lay quite contiguous to the lands of other nations, of which parts, though they touched each other, yet rain fell upon the one and not upon the other; the consequence of which was, that the one piece of land was withered, or scorched up for want of moisture, while the adjoining one was green and flourishing. So two or three cities wandered, &c. — So the inhabitants of several of your cities went to some city or other without your territories for the sake of getting water to quench their thirst. But they were not satisfied — They could not obtain a sufficient quantity.
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 vv6–12 And I, I too have given you - Such…
And I, I too have given you - Such had been their gifts to God, worthless, because destitute of that which alone God requires of His creatures, a loving, simple, single-hearted, loyal obedience. So then God had but one gift which He could bestow, one only out of the rich storehouse of His mercies, since all besides were abused - chastisement. Yet this too is a great gift of God, a pledge of His love, who willed not that they should perish; an earnest of greater favors, had they used it. It is a great gift of God, that He should care for us, so as to chasten us. The chastisements too were no ordinary chastisements, but those which God forewarned in the law, that He would send, and, if they repented, He would, amid the chastisements, forgive. This famine God had sent everywhere, “in all their cities,” and “in all their places,” great and small. Israel thought that its calves, that is, nature, gave them these things. “She did not know,” God saith, “that I gave her corn and wine and oil;” but said, “These are my rewards that my lovers have given me” Hos 2:8, Hos 2:12. In the powers and operations of “nature,” they forgat the God and Author of nature. It was then the direct corrective of this delusion, that God withheld those powers and functions of nature. So might israel learn, if it would, the vanity of its worship, from its fruitlessness. Some such great famines in the time of Elijah and Elisha 1 Kings 17; 18; 2Ki 8:1-6 Scripture records; but it relates them, only when God visibly interposed to bring, or to remove, or to mitigate them. Amos here speaks of other famines, which God sent, as He foretold in the law, but which produced no genuine fruits of repentance.
And ye returned not unto Me - He says not, that they “returned not at all,” but that they “returned not wholly, quite back to God” . Nay the emphatic saying, “ye did not return quite to Me,” so as to reach Me, implies that they did, after a fashion, return. Israel’s worship was a half, halting 1Ki 18:21, worship. But a half-worship is no worship; a half-repentance is no repentance; repentance for one sin or one set of sins is no repentance, unless the soul repent of all which it can recall wherein it displeased its God. God does not half-forgive; so neither must man half-repent. Yet of its one fundamental sin, the worship of nature for God, Israel would not repent. And so, whatever they did was not that entire repentance, upon which God, in the law, had promised forgiveness; repentance which stopped short of nothing but God.
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, 9, 10, 11, 12 Dulness, (stuporem) as when the teeth have bitten at…
Dulness, (stuporem) as when the teeth have bitten at a stone (Haydock) and are edged, Jeremias xxxi. 29. Septuagint, "gnashing." Hebrew, "cleanness," through want of food. Eliseus foretold a famine under Achab, 4 Kings viii. 1. That of Joel (i.) seems to have happened later than this. (Calmet) --- God sent these afflictions for their amendment. (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 vv6–12 Jehovah details His several chastisements inflicted with a view…
Jehovah details His several chastisements inflicted with a view to reclaiming them: but adds to each the same sad result, "yet have ye not returned unto Me" (Isa 9:13; Jer 5:3; Hos 7:10); the monotonous repetition of the same burden marking their pitiable obstinacy.
cleanness of teeth--explained by the parallel, "want of bread." The famine alluded to is that mentioned in Kg2 8:1 [GROTIUS]. Where there is no food to masticate, the teeth are free from uncleanness, but it is the cleanness of want. Compare Pro 14:4, "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean." So spiritually, where all is outwardly smooth and clean, it is often because there is no solid religion. Better fighting and fears with real piety, than peace and respectable decorum without spiritual life.
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, 7, 10, 11, 12 6-11. Seven unheeded chastisements. Through various acts of providence…
6-11. Seven unheeded chastisements. Through various acts of providence Jehovah attempted to win back the rebellious people, but without success.
6. Famine.
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And I also — The contrast is brought out more clearly by rendering, “But I on my part” (Amo_2:9).
Have given — See on Amo_3:6.
Cleanness of teeth — That is, famine, identical in meaning with “want of bread.”
All your cities,… all your places — Throughout the whole land. Several famines are recorded in the Old Testament. The two most recent preceding the time of Amos are those mentioned in 1Ki_17:12; 2Ki_4:38. These, severe enough to be remembered for a long while as special divine judgments, or other famines, unrecorded in the Old Testament, may be alluded to by Amos. The judgment was sent for a purpose, to bring the people to their senses and to lead them back to Jehovah in obedience and love; but the purpose was not accomplished.
Returned — See on Hos_14:1. The fivefold repetition of the phrase, “yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah,” emphasizes both the love of Jehovah, who wearied not in his efforts to win back Israel, and the stubbornness of the people who would not yield to his pleas.
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 vv6–12 6. Famine.
6. Famine.
And I also] i.e. And I on my part[153]—in return for your zeal in the observance of a merely external formalism.
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[153] For this use of also comp. Gen_20:6; Jdg_2:3; Jdg_2:21; 2Sa_12:13; Psa_52:5. &c.; and see the Heb. Lexicon published by the Clarendon Press, s.v. נם, 4.
cleanness of teeth] An expressive description of a famine. Famines are often mentioned as a dreaded occurrence, or contingency, in Palestine: Gen_12:10; Gen_26:1; 2Sa_21:1; 2Sa_24:13; 1Ki_8:37; 1Ki_18:2; 2Ki_4:38; 2Ki_8:1; Rth_1:1.
in all your cities] The famine had been felt in every part of the land.
returned unto me] The idea of ‘returning to God’ is very common in the Old Testament. Man has alienated himself from God: and the aim of God’s visitations, whether of mercy or judgement, as well as of the exhortations and admonitions of His prophets, is to effect his return to Him who is the source of his true good. See e.g. Hos_6:1; Hos_14:1-2; Isa_10:21; Isa_31:6; Deu_4:30; Deu_30:2; Isa_55:7. In the N.T. ἐπιστρέφειν, Act_3:19; Act_9:35; Act_11:21; Act_14:15; Act_15:19; 1Th_1:9; and elsewhere. These and similar passages, in a later stage of theological thought, gave rise to the idea of “conversion.”
6–11. The five unheeded chastisements which have passed over Israel. The description of each ends with the pathetic refrain, indicating its failure to produce the desired effect, “Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah” (cf. the refrain of Isa_9:12; Isa_9:17; Isa_9:21; Isa_10:4).
“In the ancient world it was a settled belief that natural calamities like those here alluded to were the effects of the deity’s wrath. When Israel suffers from them the prophets take for granted that they are for the people’s punishment … And although some, perhaps rightly, have scoffed at the exaggerated form of the belief, that God is angry with the sons of men every time drought or floods happen, yet the instinct is sound which in all ages has led religious people to feel that such things are inflicted for moral purposes. In the economy of the universe there may be ends of a purely physical kind served by such disasters apart altogether from their meaning to man. But man at least learns from them that nature does not exist solely for feeding, clothing, and keeping him wealthy … Amos had the more need to explain those disasters as the work of God and His righteousness, because his contemporaries, while willing to grant Jehovah leadership in war, were tempted to attribute to the Canaanite gods of the land all power over the seasons [Hos_2:5; Hos_2:8]” (G. A. Smith, p. 162 f.; cf. Geogr. pp. 73–76).
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, 9, 10, 11, 12 (6) Cleanness of teeth is, by the poetic parallelism,…
(6) Cleanness of teeth is, by the poetic parallelism, identified with the want of bread, the former phrase being a graphic representation of one of the ghastly aspects of famine; clean, sharp, prominent teeth projecting from the thin lips. Notwithstanding their chastisement, God says, “Ye have not returned even up to me.” Jehovah is here introduced as grieving over the failure of his disciplinary treatment of Israel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–12 In this and the five following verses God sets…
In this and the five following verses God sets forth instances of the judgments which he had sent at various times to correct Israel; viz. famine, drought, blight, pestilence, earthquake; but all had been in vain. Five times recurs the sad refrain, "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." God"s unwearied love had not conquered their rebellion. Cleanness of teeth; Septuagint, gomfiasmontwn, "dulness of teeth;" Vulgate, stuporem dentium. It is not "toothache" that is meant, but famine, as is seen by the parallel term, want of bread; as Corn. a Lapide says, "Cum enim in fame et penuria dentes non habent quod mordeant et mandant, innocentes sunt et mundi." This is the first chastisement mentioned. It was threatened in the Law as a consequence of backsliding. (see Le 26; Deu_28:48, Deu_28:57) The famines to which Amos alludes are not recorded. Plainly they were not fortuitous, but were providential inflictions, in accordance with previous warnings Yet have ye not returned unto me. Pusey notes that the words imply, not that they returned not at all, but that they did after a fashion return, but not so as to reach God, their repentance being a half-repentance and their worship a half-worship, and therefore unacceptable.
Vers. 6-13.
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Judgment the Divine retort to human sin.
This is the sad history of God"s vain contendings with an incorrigible nation. In ch. 3. is an account of the mercies by which he at first had tried to draw them. All that had failed utterly. They met privilege with inappreciation, friendship with rebuff, and favour with incredible disregard. Then he had changed his tactics. They would not be drawn, perhaps they might be driven. The experiment was worth the making, and the record of it is in these verses.
I THE VARIED VISITATIONS OF JEHOVAH. "So then God had but one gift which he could bestow, one only out of the rich storehouse of his mercies, since all besides were abused chastisement" (Pusey). This he sent:
1. In diverse forms. He reduced them by famine, which often acts as a moral depletive, by cutting off its supply from, lust. He plagued them with pestilence a visitation that strikes terror into the boldest hearts. He slew them with the sword of their enemies a fate which has terrors peculiarly its own. He swallowed them up in earthquakes the most portentous and awful of earthly phenomena.
2. In increasing severity. Famine is direful, but it is directed primarily against the means of life. Pestilence is ghastlier, for it is directed against the life itself. The sword is more terrible than either, for it takes the life with circumstances of cruelty, which are an added horror. The earthquake is the most terror-moving of all, for it summons the overwhelming forces of nature to our destruction.
3. With differentiating circumstances in different cases. There was nothing humdrum in the visitations, no pitching them on the dead level of hackneyism or prescription.
(1) The drought came three months before harvest. This was a most unseasonable and fatal time. It was in February, just when the latter rain was due. The seed would be brairded, or just in the stage in which rain was the one thing absolutely essential to life and growth. Drought at this season "is utterly ruinous to the hopes of the farmer. A little earlier or a little later would not be so fatal, but drought three months before harvest is entirely destructive ("The Land and the Book").
(2) It came on one place and not on another. Ordinarily the showers fall impartially. They water the fields of the just and the unjust alike. (Mat_5:45) They refresh the wilderness where no man is, as abundantly as the cultivated land, with its teeming population. (Job_38:26) When they become eclectic, falling on one city or field and not on another, the feature reveals miraculous intervention. When, as probably in this case, (see Pro_3:33) the watered fields or cities are those of the righteous, the adjustment is eloquent of the moral government of a God who hates sin. (Isa_65:13) On the artificially irrigated gardens, where drought would not readily tell, he sent blasting, mildew, and worms (ver. 9). In the repertory of nature he found an instrument of destruction suited to every possible case, and in the allocation of these was revealed his omnipotent and resourceful hand. The overthrow of "some" when others escaped (ver. 11) was a providence burdened with the same lesson.
(3) The cause and its effect are set dose together for identification. "The piece whereupon it rained not withered," etc. The nearer results are to their causes the easier it is to see the connection between them. God, both in the visitation and the record of it, pointedly associates the drought with the sin, and the withering with the drought, and thus puts his signature and endorsement on his disciplinary work.
(4). In minute correspondence to prophetic warnings. They were plagued with pestilence "after the manner of Egypt" (ver. 10). This Moses had circumstantially announced would be the result of disobeying the Law revealed on Sinai, (Deu_28:27, Deu_28:60) whilst immunity from it was promised in connection with fealty and obedience. (Deu_7:15) Then, with blood curdling explicitness (vers. 6, 7, 10), famine, pestilence, the sword, and desolation, (Lev_26:23-33) blasting, mildew, drought, and locusts (ver. 9; Deu_28:21-26, Deu_28:38, Deu_28:42) and, to crown all, destruction and ruin, as of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Deu_29:22-28) are piled (ver. 11), Ossa on Pelion, in prophetic intimation to Israel to be "upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed forever". (Deu_28:46) In all this the work of identifying national judgments, as from a pledge keeping and sin-avenging Jehovah, is made easy to all but the wilfully blind.
II THEIR MEAGRE RESULTS. Judgments fell thick and wide in five varieties of terror moving severity and appositeness, and five times the prophet, gleaning vainly after the scythes of God for a grain of good result, can but repeat the sadly reproachful refrain, "Yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
1. The sinner refuses to believe that his affliction is punishment. He attributes it to accident, or bad management, or natural causes, or the malice of others, as the case may be. While unconscious of his sin, he is necessarily blind to the significance of his suffering, and until he sees this he cannot profit by it. If men would "hear the rod and who hath appointed it" they would have realized a primary condition of improvement under it.
2. Suffering is not in itself purifying. A bad man it often makes worse. He wants to "curse God and die." Even if the hardening stops short of this, he is frequently soured and embittered. Suffering, to be beneficial, must not go alone. It prepares for other measures. It makes men more amenable to moral influence, but if no such influence be brought to bear in connection with it, it is no more fitted of itself to purify the character than ploughing is to fertilize the desert sand. "Bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his folly depart from him.
3. The love of sin is stronger than the fear of suffering. Courses, which all observation and experience declare to be ruinous to health and happiness, are entered on deliberately by millions. Even the physical evil consequences of the early steps in sinful indulgence, which are soon felt, do not arrest the evil doer in his way. By the confirmed sinner hell itself is practically, if not consciously, preferred to reformation. Only what weakens the love of sin secures the successful application of suffering for its removal. The operation of one or ocher of these principles, or the concurrence of them all, no doubt accounted for Israel"s persistent sinning even in the fire.
III THE LAST RESORT TO WHICH GOD WILL NOW BETAKE HIMSELF. "Therefore thus will I do unto thee. The terror of these words is in nothing lessened by their vagueness. It is evident rather:
1. That the thing menaced would in point of severity be an advance upon all that had yet been done. Only thus would there be any use in adopting it. After expostulation the rod, and after the rod a sword that is the logical order of corrective measures. "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee," was a foreshadowing of God"s consistent policy.
2. It would involve being brought face to face with God. "Because I will prepare" (ver. 12). The kind or occasion of the meeting with God is not explained. It is, therefore, to be taken to include all modes and occasions, whether in life, at death, or at the final judgment. And the thought of it is one of terror to the ungodly, under whatever circumstances. They can face his judgments; God is not in them, unless in figurative sense. They can face his prophets; God is not in them, unless in a spiritual sense. But to face God literally was, even to a pious Jew, like facing death; (Jud_1:13:22) whilst to the impious it must have been the embodiment of all terror. It is from the "presence of the Lord" that the wicked in the judgment call upon the hills to hide them. That, of all things in the universe, is an ordeal they cannot face.
3. It is left undefined that it may seem the more terrible. We have hers the eloquence of silence. The terror of the threat is enhanced by its vagueness. Familiarity breeds contempt. If a thing, however bad, is exactly defined, we can familiarize ourselves with the thought of it in time, and brace our courage up to meet it. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be," but our idea of it, meantime, has an element of enlargement in its very indefiniteness. God says vaguely "Thus," and stops short, that imagination may fill up the blank. His silence is charged with deeper meaning than any words could carry.
IV ONE FINAL APPEAL BEFORE THE STROKE FALLS. "Prepare," etc.
1. Look for a meeting with God. It is inevitable. It is at hand. The fact must be faced. No good, but harm, can come out of the attempt to escape or blink it (2Co_5:10; Psa_139:7-12)
2. Prepare for it. This is a word of hope. Meeting with God is inevitable; but it need not necessarily he injurious. Preparation for it is possible, being enjoined, and would avail something if it were made. "God never in this life bids people or individuals prepare to meet him without a purpose of good to those who do prepare" (Pusey).
3. Do this because of impending judgments. "Because I will do this unto thee." We might suppose that if God was going to destroy, the preparation to meet him would be too late. But that does not follow. When Nineveh was wicked God expressed his purpose to destroy it, but when it became penitent he spared it. Hezekiah, prayerless in the particular matter, was bidden prepare to die; but Hezekiah, praying for more life, was spared fifteen years. (Isa_38:1, Isa_38:5) What God will do to us, so far as it comes within our cognizance, is conditioned by what we will do to him. Until the judgment has actually fallen, the threat of it is a message of mercy. A sentence of destruction itself is a call to repentance, and so has woven into it a thread of hope. "Because I will do this unto thee, prepare.
Vers. 6-11.
National calamities are Divine chastisements.
Graphic and morally impressive is the catalogue of Divine judgments which the inspired prophet here draws up and puts upon record for the admonition of future ages.
I OF WHAT THESE CALAMITIES CONSIST. They are thus enumerated in the several verses.
1. Famine.
2. Drought.
3. Blight.
4. Pestilence.
5. War.
6. Destruction.
Alas! from the beginnings of human history such have been the sad and weary experiences of the nations. Some of these ills appear to be beyond human control; others of them are more or less attributable to human ignorance, to human neglect, to unbridled lust and passion. The peculiarity of their treatment in the books of Scripture is not in their description, but in the connection shown to exist between them and the moral life and probation of man, and the righteous government of God.
II FOR WHAT INTENT THESE CALAMITIES WERE INFLICTED. They are not here regarded simply as events; even the philosophical historian does not regard them thus.
1. They convince the observant and pious mind of the concern of God inhuman affairs, and of God"s indignation with human sin. Certain philosophers imagined the great rulers of the universe to be indifferent to all the affairs of men. The Scriptures teach us that nothing escapes Divine observation, that nothing eludes Divine justice, God"s censure, or approval.
2. They induce, in the case of the right minded, repentance andreformation. When God"s judgments are abroad, the inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness. If events teach men that "the way of transgressors is hard," they may also teach them that "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every child whom he receiveth." "Before I was afflicted," said the psalmist, "I went astray; but now have I kept thy Word.
III IN WHAT SPIRIT THESE CALAMITIES ARE RECEIVED.
1. There can be no question that, in many instances, they are the occasionof hardening of the heart. As in the case of Pharaoh King of Egypt, afflictions may increase insensibility and rebelliousness.
2. There are cases in which chastisements of the kind here describedproduce national humiliation and repentance. Such was the case with Nineveh, even when Jonah preached and foretold the city"s doom; the people repented even before the calamity came, and so averted it. And there were instances in the history of stiff-necked Israel where chastisement led to general abasement and repentance.
3. There are cases in which calamity fails to produce a general reformation,but is nevertheless the means of effecting in individuals a genuine repentance and a sincere conversion unto God. T.
Obduracy reproached.
There is a mingling of severity and pathos in this language of Jehovah addressed to Israel. The repetition of the reproach adds to its effectiveness and solemnity. As one calamity after another is described, and as all are represented as chastisements inflicted by Divine righteousness, the touching words are added, "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
I THE WANDERINGS IMPLIED. In order that there may be a return to God, there must first have been a departure from God. Such had certainly been the case with Israel. The people and their rulers had alike done wickedly in departing from their covenant God. They had mingled with the worship of Jehovah practices superstitious and idolatrous. They had broken the Divine laws of morality, and that in a flagrant and shameful manner.
II THE SUMMONS AND INVITATION TO RETURN WHICH HAD BEEN ADDRESSED BY GOD TO ISRAEL. Dealing with sinful men, a benevolent God has not been content simply to reveal truth and to inculcate holiness. He has ever addressed the children of men as those who have disregarded the truth and disobeyed the Law. Revelation is full of declarations of Divine mercy and promises of Divine forgiveness.
III THE CHASTISEMENTS WHICH WERE INTENDED TO PRODUCE REPENTANCE AND REFORMATION. Words proving insufficient, they were followed by acts. It is dangerous for us confidently to interpret the plans of Divine providence. Yet God most high is the supreme Ruler of the nations, and in his own Word his "dealings" with the nations are interpreted with unerring justice and truth. The several disasters recounted in this passage as having befallen Israel are declared to have been of the nature of chastisements designed to awaken refection and to call to penitence and to newness of life. "The voice of the rod" is a voice sometimes effectual, and always morally authoritative.
IV THE INATTENTION OF ISRAEL TO THE SUMMONS AND TO THE CHASTISEMENTS. It is amazing to learn that not only the messages of prophets and authorized heralds, but even the "judgments" of the righteous Ruler, failed to produce the intended effect. Yet so it was, and those who had been often reproved hardened their neck. In this Israel was an example of that obduracy which may be discovered in all ages and in all communities. The power of man to resist the appeals and the entreaties, the commands and the chastisements, of a righteous God, is one of the most surprising and awful facts of the moral universe.
V THE PATHETIC REPROACH. He whose power could smite and destroy the rebellious speaks as if himself wounded and distressed by the perseverance in rebellion of those he governs. It seems as if Omniscience
were astonished and appalled at human obstinacy and obduracy. Hence the expostulation, the reproach addressed to the impenitent and rebellious, "Yet have ye not returned unto me. T.
Vers. 6-11.
God"s government of the world a chastising government.
I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places" etc. In these verses the Almighty describes the various corrective measures which he had employed for effecting a moral reformation in the character of the Israelites. At the end of each chastising measure which he describes, he marks their obstinate impenitence with the expression, "Yet have ye not returned unto me." As if he had said, "The grand end of all my dealings is to bring you in sympathy, heart, and life back to me." The subject of the verses is this God"s government of the world is a chasing government; and three remarks are here suggested.
I The chastisements employed are often OVERWHELMINGLY TERRIFIC.
1. He sometimes employs blind nature. Here is famine. "I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places." The transgressors under the Law God had threatened with famine. (Deu_28:48) The Divine government has often employed famine as a ruthless and resistless messenger to chasten mankind. In the days of Elisha the demon wielded his black sceptre for seven long years. (2Ki_8:1) The second is drought. "I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied." Rain indispensable to the life of the world comes not by accident or Mind necessity, but by the Divine will. "He watereth the hills from his chambers." To show that the rain is entirely at the disposal of the Almighty, it came upon one field and one city, and not upon another. Hence the inhabitants of the places where it rained not had to go great distances for water, and yet "were not satisfied." This is a terrible chastisement. The third is blight. "I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive tress increased, the palmerworm devoured them." A malignant atmosphere combined with devouring reptiles to destroy the produce of the land. The fourth is pestilence and the sword. "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils." The allusion, perhaps, is to the pestilence with which God visited Egypt. (Ex 9) The pestilence is God"s destroying angel. Thus by blind nature God has often chastised mankind. He makes the stars in their courses fight against Sisera. Nature is a rod in his chastening hand; and what a rod it is! At his pleasure, by a touch, he can wake tempests that shall shake the globe, earthquakes that shall engulf cities, etc. Yes, whatever materialistic scientists may say, nature is nothing more than a rod in the hand of its Maker. The fifth is fire. "I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.
2. He sometimes employs human wickedness. The sword is mentioned here. "Your young men have I slain with the sword." War, unlike famine, drought, pestilence, and fire, is human, devilish. It is the work of free agents, under the influence of infernal evil. But God employs it; he does not originate it, he does not sanction it, he does not inspire it; but he permits it and controls it for purposes of chastisement. Thus all things are at the use of his chastising government matter and mind, angels and fiends, heaven and hell.
II The chastisements employed are ever DESIGNED FOR MORAL RESTORATION. After each judgment described we have the words, "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." This is the burden and design of the whole. Note:
1. Men are alienated from the lord. They are estranged in thought,sympathy, and purpose. Like the prodigal, they are in a far country, away from their Father.
2. Their alienation is the cause of all their misery. Estrangement from Godmeans distance, not only from virtue, but from freedom, light, progress, dignity, blessedness. Hence the benevolence of all these chastisements. They are to restore souls. "Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring him back from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living". (Job_33:29, Job_33:30) To every unconverted man God can say, "I have chastised you in this way and in that way, on this occasion and on that, but "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
III The chastisements employed often FAIL IN THEIR GRAND DESIGN. "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." This shows
(1) the force of human depravity, and
(2) the force of human freedom.
Almighty goodness does not force us into goodness. Almighty love does not dragoon us into goodness. He treats us as free agents and responsible beings. D.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, 10, 11, 12 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth…
Amo_4:6-11
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities.
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Afflictions providential
There is a material difference between what may be called permissive and active providences; and between such as are disciplinary, and such as are strictly punitive. The afflictions enumerated here were sent by the direct visitation of God for disciplinary purposes. Hence the people were responsible to God for the moral effect of His providential visitations upon them. Just so with every man under Gods government. A thousand evils may come on me, and I may be personally innocent in relation to them; but God will judge me as to the uses I make of these visitations--the moral effects they produce upon me in the way of chastening and reformation.
1. Consider, then, that Gods hand or purpose is in every providential visitation.
2. That God has a specific moral end in every visitation that He lays upon us.
3. That these providences are sure to accomplish their mission upon us, namely, to chasten, soften, reclaim, or else to harden, render obdurate, and ripen for final destruction, as in the case of Pharaoh, ancient Israel, and a multitude of others.
4. Afflictions of every kind should humble us, awaken us to serious reflection and earnest inquiry as to their meaning. They are never sent in vain. A gracious purpose is behind them, or a fatherly rebuke is in them, or the dark cloud is ominous of coming wrath if we haste not to repent. (J. M. Sherwood.)
Gods government of the world a chastising government
In these verses the Almighty describes the various corrective measures which He had employed for effecting a moral reformation in the character of the Israelites.
I. The chastisements are often overwhelmingly terrific.
1. He sometimes employs blind nature, famine, drought, blight, pestilence, sword.
2. He sometimes employs human wickedness.
II. They are designed for moral restoration.
1. Men are alienated from God.
2. Their alienation is the cause of all their misery. See the benevolence of all these chastisements. They are to restore souls.
III. The chastisements often fail in their grand design. Yet have ye not returned unto Me. This shows--
1. The force of human depravity.
2. The force of human freedom. Almighty goodness does not force us into goodness. He treats us as free agents and responsible beings. (Homilist.)
Chastisement--its purpose and failure
I. The character of the chastisement.
1. It touched them in their temporal comfort, Nothing else would reach such obstinate sinners. To a good man the Divine love and favour is the highest of all blessings: Israel could only be reached by loss of temporal comfort.
2. The chastisement took various forms in order to reach them all.
3. Stroke after stroke fell upon them, that if their hearts were at all softened by the troubles they had just known, the new trouble might lead them to true repentance; and so that every class of the community might be reached and won for God. A glance at the five forms which the visitation took will show how it reached every circle.
II. The purpose of their sorrows. God wanted to bring them home to Himself.
III. The failure of this chastisement. God had done all that even He could do to make it impressive. Chastisement may fail. Many meet the gods, but few salute them. Sorrows which might purify are lost upon us because they do not make us acknowledge Him. God can do nothing more, He must leave men to their sin till the blow fall and the ruin irretrievable has come. (J. Telford, B. A.)
Unavailing chastisements
I. The design of God, in all his dispensations, is to bring men from their wanderings back again to himself. No truth can be clearer than that we have departed from Him. Being anxious for our restoration, God is pleased to chastise us. He does not afflict willingly, as is evident from--
1. His nature. He is a Being of boundless compassion.
2. The patience He exercises.
3. The warnings He gives.
II. That these dispensations frequently fail to answer the end for which they were intended. Happily it is not so in all cases. It is in very many. They are chastised in vain, and the complaint from heaven is heard. Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. In the visitations here referred to, three things appear.
1. They are fearful in their character. Some light stroke might be unheeded.
2. Frequent in their infliction. If a single trial is unavailing, surely one coming after another would bring them to consider their ways, and turn to Him that smote them.
3. Marked by certain features which showed the hand of God in the clearest manner. Rained on one city, and not on another.
III. When such dispensations are disregarded the most disastrous consequences are likely to ensue. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee. (Expository Outlines.)
God varies His instruments of punishment
One day, seeing some men in a field, I went up to them, and found they were cutting up the trunk of an old tree. I said, That is slow work, why not spilt it asunder with the beetle and wedges? Ah, this wood is so cross-grained and stubborn that it requires something sharper than wedges to get it to pieces. Yes, I replied, and that is the way God is obliged to deal with obstinate, cross-grained sinners; if they will not yield to one of His instruments, you may depend on it He will make use of another. (G. Grigg.)
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 vv6, 12 Amo_4:6. Teeth] Famine, as threatened in the law (Deu_28:48;…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo_4:6. Teeth] Famine, as threatened in the law (Deu_28:48; Deu_28:57; cf. 2Ki_8:1).
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Amo_4:7. Yet three] The latter rain, which fell in latter part of February and beginning of March, when most required (1Ki_17:1). One city] Distress so great that people from one place had to go a great distance for supply, yet could not get enough to satisfy.
Amo_4:8. Wandered] Heb. indicates the trembling, unsteady gait of those exhausted in quest of food (Psa_59:15; Psa_109:10; Jer_14:1-6).
Amo_4:9. Blasting] Lit. an exceeding scorching. Mildew] Heb. intensive. The mention of these would remind them of other judgments (Deu_28:22).
Amo_4:10. Manner] i.e. the way in which God punished Egypt (Exo_9:3). “Palestine was by nature healthy. Hence on account of the terribleness of the scourge, God often speaks of it as of his own special sending” [Pusey].
Amo_4:11. Firebrand] Proverbial for escape from imminent danger. Yet] after all corrective measures, obstinately impenitent, and determined to persist in wicked courses!
THE CORRECTIVE MEASURES OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE.—Amo_4:6-11
In these verses God describes the different corrective measures which he employed for the purpose of effecting a change in the Israelites, and at the close of each mentioned in the series, the obstinate impenitence, under the influence of which they persisted in their wicked courses, is emphatically marked by the declaration, Yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord; such repetition gives great force to the reprehension [Elzas]. The verses naturally suggest the divisions of the outline.
I. Famine. Cleanness of teeth and want of bread indicate scarcity of flesh and dearth of corn. The famine was everywhere, “in all your places.” This was no accidental failure of crops, nor owing to a combination of second causes. It was the work of God himself, who gives daily bread. “Man’s life,” says Calvin, “is not shut up in bread, but hangs on the sovereign will and good pleasure of God.”
II. Dearth and scarcity of water. They would remember times of plenty, when they had water “every man from his own well and from his own cistern.” How minute the circumstances of the calamity.
1. The time is specified. “Three months to the harvest.” A time when most needed to ripen corn and grain. This is utterly ruinous to the hopes of the farmer. A little earlier or a little later would not be so fatal, but drought three months before harvest is entirely destructive” [The Land and the Book].
2. The inequality is given. In one city and not in another; upon one field to fertilize it; not upon another, which remained unproductive. Thus were they urged to reflect upon God. In sovereign mercy he holds the key of the clouds, to open and shut at pleasure. Every drop of rain is measured and sent by Divine direction to its destination. He gives rain from heaven and fruitful seasons (Act_14:17).
3. The distress is noticed. Inhabitants in some places were frustrated in their hopes; necessitated to go far away to seek for water, and found only a scanty and insufficient supply. Water, free to all now, was withheld from them. In trembling fear, and weak through toil, they begged from city to city. God can wither our harvests, withhold Divine influence from our schools and churches, and create natural and spiritual distress throughout the nation. “Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
III. Blasting and mildew. Blight would follow from scarcity of rain.
1. Vegetation suffered. The gardens which they cultivated in neglect of God, the fruit which was appearing to reward their toil, and the olive trees which they watched with care, were smitten by the blast.
2. Insects abounded. “The palmer-worm” and putrefaction devoured the fruits of the ground. Malignant air and voracious animals destroyed fruitful fields and prosperous vineyards. “The Lord shall smite thee … with blasting and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish (Deu_28:22).
IV. Pestilence and sword. Pestilence such as visited Egypt fell upon them. Young men, the hope of the country, were slain in war. Horses on which they depended were taken from them by a victorious foe. The mighty hosts which they assembled in pride were like sheep for the slaughter. The stench of men and horses, unburied on the field, poisoned the air and polluted the land. Yet this did not humble nor reclaim them. “He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence” (Psa_78:50).
V. Total overthrow by earthquake. They seemed insensible, but the solid ground beneath them trembled with unwonted motion. The houses above their heads fell in utter confusion. Some of the inhabitants were buried in the ruins or smitten by the lightning. Others who narrowly escaped were like brands plucked out of the fire. Some were overthrown like the people in Sodom; but few, like Lot, were rescued from the danger. Yet notwithstanding these terrible judgments and displays of Divine anger Israel did not return to God. These last chastisements, which typify more than anything else the great judgment day, have failed. Therefore they must prepare to meet God as the Judge and Ruler of the Universe.
“Not thou, O Lord, from us, but we
Withdraw ourselves from thee” [French].
CHASTISEMENTS WITHOUT REFORMATION.—Amo_4:11
“Yet have ye not returned unto me,” is the cry full of grief and tenderness repeatedly uttered. God designed to bring them to repentance, but they were incorrigible and chastised in vain.
I. Man is distant from God. This is not a natural fact merely. Estrangement from God is a state of mind. The miser loving gold, the worldling drinking pleasure, and the atheist denying God—each has a specific state of mind characterized by the distinct evil. In the heart is fixed opposition to God. The will and the word of God are distasteful to the sinner. The lower sentiments and nobler faculties are influenced by his apostasy. The mind is ingrossed with things like our nature. Men talk of fancied reverence and adoration for God; but spiritually they live “having no hope, and without God in the world.”
II. God seeks to bring man to himself. The Scriptures abound with facts and figures to illustrate this truth. God seeks to recover the fallen and save the lost.
1. By mercy. Mercies given in Christ and multiplied day by day. Good beyond desert and degree to bring to God. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.”
2. By judgment. Judgments national and personal, severe, many and long-continued. God chastens in body and mind, in social and family circumstances, that we may not go astray. “Man’s wisdom consists in observing God’s unalterable appointments and suiting himself to them,” says Scott. “In the day of adversity consider.”
III. Man is often chastised without returning to God. The innumerable judgments of Israel begot no repentance. Nothing external will make us wise without due improvement of it. Sensibility to bodily pain is one thing, sorrow of heart another. “I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart.” God visits us in many ways, sends bereavement in the family and disappointment in business. And perhaps there is room for repetition day by day. The same judgments have continue I and new ones been inflicted, but we have not returned to God. This proves—
1. Great guilt.
2. Great provocation.
3. Great danger. The voice resounds still in Scripture and providence. “Yet ye have not returned unto me.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo_4:1-11. The three charges. I. Oppression of the poor (Amo_4:1-3). II. Corruption of worship (Amo_4:4-5). III. Incorrigibleness under Divine judgments (Amo_4:6-11). Learn—
1. That God has various judgments to exercise a sinful nation.
2. That judgments are changed, not removed, until a return to God.
3. That God is earnest in bringing men to repentance. “A course of sin will not prove a thriving way in the end to any, but especially to the Church, which the Lord will either make a theatre of mercy, or a field of blood, and he hath many rods for that end; for as they liked their way of sin (Amo_4:5), so he also chooseth their judgments and pours out a quiver-full of them upon them” [Hutcheson].
Amo_4:7. Withered. So will it ever be in the Church, which is God’s vineyard, if ministers give no doctrine and God no blessing, fitly resembled to rain on regard,
1. of cooling heat;
2. quenching thirst;
3. cleansing the air;
4. allaying the winds;
5. mollifying and mellowing the parched earth;
6. causing all things to grow and fructify. This rain of righteousness goes sometimes by coasts as here; God withholding showers, though clouds be full and likely enough to drop down in abundance (see Eze_3:26; Hos_9:7; Pro_16:1) [Trapp].
Amo_4:10. After the manner of Egypt.
1. Slaughter of young men.
2. The land filled with pestilence and locusts.
3. Harassed in this defenceless condition by the incursions from Assyria.
Amo_4:11. A firebrand plucked.
1. A scene of danger—“burning.”
2. An act of mercy—“plucked.”
3. A present uncertainty. Once in danger, now rescued. Will you continue where you are, or escape entirely to refuge?
The words will apply—
1. Temporally. “They may recall a striking deliverance in God’s providence, when others were taken and they were left. A shipwreck—a battle—an awful accident involving loss of human life—a sickness from which many others around them died” [Ryan].
2. Spiritually. Every sinner saved is a firebrand plucked from the burning. This should prompt—
1. To gratitude.
2. To earnestness in rescuing others from “the wrath of God,” which “is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”
HOMILETICS
THE FIREMEN OF GOD, OR THE STRANGE PARALLEL BETWEEN FIRE AND SIN.
Fire—what is there in the moral world to which it answers? But one thing, that is, wickedness—sin against God—sin in a man’s life. Against this evil God calls all his servants to be firemen. “Put out the fires of sin,” is a nobler motto than any blazoned on the symbols of commerce and art.
I. Consider the analogy between fire and sin.
1. You cannot weigh fire in the scales. You cannot grasp it, yet it exists—you can feel and see it work. You cannot rate sin by horse power, but you feel its withering, burning influence in the soul.
2. Fire becomes sometimes almost invisible. So with sin. In the glare and noon-day of busy life some fail to see it. The dimness of religious truth to the mind is a terrible monitor of what sin is doing in the heart.
3. Sin is like fire in its attractions. A child loves to play with fire, unconscious of danger. Men toy with sin, which has indulgence for appetite, mirth to amuse, feasts for gluttons, and revelry for the reckless.
4. Sin consumes like fire. It burns down men instead of houses; the man vanishes, and only the animal, the brute, the sensualist is left.
5. Sin spreads like a fire. Wicked thoughts, evil suggestions, are the sparks that kindle the fires of sin in the soul and set communities in a blaze.
6. Sin inflicts pain like a fire. It burns, stings, and agonizes its victim. Here, in the naked conscience and despairing death, is the germ of the fire that is never quenched.
7. Sin, like fire, defaces what it touches.
8. Sin must be resisted like fire. It is an evil to be put out in heart and life.
9. Sin, like fire, if you wait too long to put it out, will render attempts useless. The soul should not be left till sin has mastery. In this world men are often beyond reasonable prospect of repentance.
II. Sin is the fire, but the sinner is the fuel. Ye were as a firebrand.
1. A firebrand is combustible, or it never would have been a firebrand. So with the sinner’s heart.
2. A firebrand has been already exposed to the fire. It is charred and blackened, and bears the marks of sin. So the sinner.
3. A firebrand has offered no effectual resistance to the flames. The sinner has not resisted sin. He is bound, and by the grace of God can resist.
4. A firebrand is ready to be kindled anew, after it has been once quenched. A spark may kindle the soul.
5. A firebrand is in the process of being consumed, and a little longer will finish it. So with the sinful heart.
6. A firebrand only needs to be let alone, and it will burn to ashes. Leave the soul to sin—the ruinous power of its own lusts—and its ruin will be complete.
7. A firebrand is a dangerous thing, if its sparks and coals come in contact with anything else. The sinner destroyeth much good.
III. But even firebrands may be saved. Sinners are sometimes plucked out of a desperate condition—Mary Magdalen, the thief on the cross, Saul of Tarsus—but the work is God’s. A converted soul is a miracle of grace. Firemen! guardians of our dwellings against a subtle and dangerous foe, be ready to rush to the scene of conflagration, when the alarm is given, night or day! The fires of sin burn all around, and perhaps within you unchecked. Be God’s firemen, and help to quench it. Nothing but the blood of Christ can put out the fires. Repent and believe, and you shall be saved. [From The Preacher’s Treasury.]
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo_4:12. Therefore] punishments must be continued. This] not expressed, but discerned from what follows—all kinds of things imagined in the uncertainty; but the last the greatest calamity. Prepare] “When thou seest that thou hast resorted in vain to all kinds of subterfuges, since thou never wilt be able to escape from the hand of thy judge; see now at length that thou dost avert this last destruction which is hanging over thee [Calvin].
Amo_4:13] To give greater emphasis to the command, God is described as Almighty, reading the thoughts of men, creating prosperity and adversity as he changes light and darkness, subjecting all things to his control, and ruling as the Lord of Hosts. What an argument for being at peace with him.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Amo_4:6-10. We look to second causes and impute our years of dearth to wet and cold, to hot and parching seasons, to cycles of weather, to comets, and many other accidents, some real and others imaginary, and thus wilfully conceal from our view the power of God, who blesseth a land and maketh it to bring forth fruit abundantly, and who “turneth a fruitful field into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” The acts of God’s providence are as certainly a part of his administration now as in former ages, and as directly affect each individual of the race as they did the children of Abraham. It is to those who are subdued under his rebukes that he sends his word to heal them. They who watch the ruling hand of God shall become wiser in reading his purposes and their own necessities [Duncan].
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v6 Various Punishments Leading up to the Last Judgment
Various Punishments Leading up to the Last Judgment
v. 6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, namely, because they had nothing to eat, and want of bread in all your places, by famines sent at various times; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord, His punishment had not had the desired effect.
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v. 7. And also I have withholden the rain from you, the latter rain, which was necessary to insure a crop, when there were yet three months to the harvest, which occurred in the latter part of May or in early June; and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city, both granting and withholding this great blessing according to His will; one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. To this day this is, in spite of spurious claims of scientists concerning reasonable causes for everything, the only explanation which suffices for the fact that moisture in a given locality is often found in definite strips only.
v. 8. So two or three cities, impelled by necessity, wandered unto one city to drink water, to get enough at least to sustain life; but they were not satisfied, they could not drink their fill, and their trip, made with unsteady feet as it was, brought them nothing. Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord.
v. 9. I have smitten you, as a third chastisement, with blasting and mildew, with a blight upon the cereal grains; when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees increased, the enumeration of the individual cases tending to emphasize the visitation, the palmer-worm, the Oriental locust, devoured them. Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord.
v. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, so called because it was prevalent in that country; your young men have I slain with the sword, especially when the Israelites suffered defeats at the hand of the Syrians, and have taken away your horses, these also being slaughtered in battle; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils, namely, that of the dead bodies of men and beasts. Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord, even this chastisement having no effect upon them.
v. 11. I have overthrown some of you, some of Israel’s cities, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye, those who escaped such utter extinction, were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning, the escape being very narrow. Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord.
v. 12. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, namely, what He now says in conclusion; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, namely, to stand before the Lord’s judgment-seat, and therefore to make due preparation to avert the final destruction by true repentance.
v. 13. For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, calling them into existence by His almighty power, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, His omniscience readily penetrating into the mind of man, that maketh the morning darkness, turning back the dawn into night, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, ruling the whole earth with unlimited power. The Lord, the God of hosts, is His name, the Ruler of all the heavenly armies. The entire creation proclaims the one true God, and it is a matter of wisdom for man to stand before Him in a relation which will cause Him to show mercy rather than stern justice.
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, 8, 10, 12 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
God continues to speak to the people of Israel.
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I gave you cleanness of teeth
Here having clean teeth represents having no food in the mouth to make the teeth dirty. AT: "I caused you to starve" (See: Metonymy)
lack of bread
Giving them "lack of bread" represents causing them to lack bread, and "bread" represents food in general. AT: "I caused you not to have enough food" (See: Metonymy)
you have not returned to me
Returning to God represents submitting again to him. AT: "you have not submitted again to me" (See: Metaphor)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated these words in Amos 2:11. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
I also withheld rain from you
"I prevented the rain from falling on your crops"
when there were still three months to the harvest
It can be stated clearly that the people needed the rain. AT: "when there were still three months to the harvest and your crops needed the rain" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
One piece of land was rained on
This can be stated in active form. The phrase "One piece of land" represents any piece of land." AT: "It rained on one piece of land" or "It rained on some pieces of land" (See: Active or Passive)
the piece of land where it did not rain
This refers to any piece of land where it did not rain. AT: "the pieces of land where it did not rain" (See: Generic Noun Phrases)
translationWords
harvest
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, 10, 11, 12 4:6-11 God sent natural disasters to bring his people…
4:6-11 God sent natural disasters to bring his people to repentance, but each time they failed to respond in any sincere manner. Amos ends the account of each disaster with the refrain, “But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.