“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 vv7–12 I have said that another kind of punishment is…
I have said that another kind of punishment is here recorded by the Prophet; it is not, however, wholly different: for whence comes the want we have noticed, except through drought? For when God intends to deprive men of support, he shuts up heaven and makes it iron, so that it hears not the earth, according to what we have noticed elsewhere. Yet these words of the Prophet are not superfluous; for God would have the punishment he inflicts on men to be more attentively considered. When men are reduced to want, they will indeed acknowledge it to be the curse of God, except they be very stupid; but when a drought precedes, when the earth disappoints its cultivators, and then a want of food follows, more time is given to men to think of God’s displeasure. This is the reason why the Prophet now distinctly speaks of rain being withheld, after having said that the people had been before visited with a deficiency of provisions; as though he said “Ye ought to have returned, at least after a long course of time, to a sound mind. If God had been offended with you only for one day, and had given tokens of his displeasure, the shortness of time might have been some excuse for you: but as the earth had become dry; as God had restrained rain, and as hence sterility followed, and afterwards there came want, how great was your stupidity not to attend to so many and so successive tokens of God’s wrath?” We now perceive why the Prophet here connects drought with want of food, the cause with the effect: it was, that the stupidity of the people might hence be more evident.
But he says that God had withheld rain from them, when three months still remained to the harvest. When it rains not for a whole month, the earth becomes dry, and men become anxious, for it is an ill omen: but when two months pass without rain, men begin to be filled with apprehension and even dread; but if continual dryness lasts to the end of the third month, it is a sign of some great evil. The Prophet, then, here shows that the Israelites had not been in an ordinary way chastised, and that they were very stupid, as they did not, during the whole three months, apply their minds to consider their sins, though God urged them, and though his wrath had been manifested for so long a time. We now then see that the hardness of the people is amplified by the consideration of time, inasmuch as they were not awakened by a sign so portentous, When there were yet three months, he says, to the harvests I withheld rain from you.
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Another circumstance follows, “God rained on one city, on another he did not rain; one part was watered, and no drop of rain fell on another This difference could not be ascribed to chance: except men resolved to be willfully mad, and to reject all reason, they must surely have been constrained to confess these to have been manifest signs of God’s wrath. How came it, that one place was rained upon, and another remained dry? that two neighboring cities were treated so differently? Whence was this, except that God appeared angry from heaven? The Prophet then does here again condemn the obstinacy of the people: they did not see in this difference the wrath of God, which was yet so very conspicuous. The import of the whole is, that God shows that he had to do with a people past recovery; for they were refractory and obstinate in their wickedness, and could bear the application of no remedy. 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 vv7, 8, 10, 11, 12 I stayed the rain till the fruits of the…
I stayed the rain till the fruits of the earth were destroyed with drought, and yet you would not consider it to return to me by repentance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–12 Amo 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain…
Amo 4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when [there were] yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
Ver. 7. And also I have withholden the rain from you, &c.] And so have punished you with thirst and drought, as well as with dearth and famine: and because I have found you wells without the water of piety, 2Pe 2:17, therefore I have refused to rain upon you, as I threatened, Deu 28:23-24.
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“ En quia iam vobis sunt ferrea pectora, reddit
Coelum etiam vobis durius aere, Deus. ”
When there were yet three months, &c.] When you could worst of all want it {See Trapp on "Joe 2:23"} for the watering of the seed and opening of the earth.
And I caused it to rain upon one city] It rains not then by haphazard; neither are the seasons of the year (whether barren or fruitful) ruled by the course of nature or influence of the stars, but by God, Act 14:17. It is he that giveth rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons. He covereth the heaven with clouds, he prepareth rain for the earth, he maketh grass to grow upon the mountains, and standing corn in the fields, Psa 147:8. He weighs these waters by measure; so that not a drop falls in vain, or in a wrong place, but by Divine decree, Job 28:26, for the fattening of the earth, allaying the heat, nourishing the herb and tree, Deu 32:2 Isa 63:14, producing unto us "the appointed weeks of harvest," Jer 5:24, "that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater," Isa 55:10. This the poor Pagans ascribed to their god Jupiter, whom they therefore styled Nεφεληγερετης. Him they confessed the greatest of all, calling him υπατος, the overseer of their trading; hence αγαραιος, the keeper of their houses, hence Jupiter Herceus, from ερκος, a wall, or hedge. This they did, to the great shame of many atheists among us, who hold that all things come either by benign nature or blind chance.
One piece] sc. Of the same field, was rained upon, and fructified (this was near to a miracle; as when Gideon’s fleece was wet and no place else; and again, every place else, and not Gideon’s fleece, Jdg 6:37).
And the piece whereupon it rained not] It, that is, the cloud, but by God’s appointment; for he it is that filleth those bottles of the sky, and emptieth them again, where and when he pleaseth, either in mercy, as Joe 2:23 Zec 10:1 Lev 26:4, or for a judgment, as Joe 1:17 Gen 17:11-12 1Sa 12:18-19. In the year of grace 1551 a great multitude of men and cattle in Germany were drowned and destroyed; decidentibus subito nubibus, ac effusis certatim aquis, saith Bartholinus; by excessive showers and immoderate waters, pouring down upon people as by spouts. This was the very finger of God, who will one day rain upon the wicked snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, Psa 11:6, Heb. a burning tempest; like as now out of those very clouds where hence he raineth, he doth again scatter sudden fires unto all parts of the earth, astonishing the world with the fearful noise of that eruption.
Withered] It must needs do so; and so must God’s own vineyard, the Church, when he shall command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, Isa 5:6, that is, his ministers, that they drop no doctrine upon it, Deu 32:2 Eze 21:2 Amo 7:16, fitly resembled to rain in regard, 1. of cooling heat; 2. quenching thirst; 3. cleansing the air; 4. allaying the winds; 5. mollifying and mellowing the parched and heat hardened earth; 6. causing all things to grow and fructify. This rain of righteousness goes sometimes by coasts, as here: God tying up the tongues of his most faithful labourers, and withholding their showers, though they be clouds thick, and full, and likely enough to drop down in abundance; see Eze 3:26-27 Hos 9:7 Pro 16:1. Pray, therefore, oh pray earnestly, both ministers, for ability and liberty to "drop their word toward the holy places, and prophesy," Eze 21:2, and people, that he would fill their ministers as full of good matter as ever Elihu was, Job 32:18, and then be with their mouths, Exo 4:12, yea, stretch out his holy hand, and touch them, Jer 1:9, performing that piece of midwifery, Pro 16:1, that they may freely utter their conceptions, "and come to their hearers in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of peace," Rom 15:29. In the Island of St Thomas, on the back side of Africa, in the midst of it, is a hill; and over that a continual cloud, wherewith the whole island is watered. This is our happiness for present. Oh that we knew but this gift of God, Joh 4:10, and were answerably thankful and fruitful! Oh, how cursed a generation are those that repine at it, saying, Never was merry world, since so much preaching, &c. How shall such miscreants one day wish to have but one drop fall from these full clouds to cool the heat and horrors of their consciences, but shall not obtain it.
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 vv7–12 I also have withholden the rain from you; your…
I also have withholden the rain from you; your vanities could not, and because ye did so greatly sin against me I would not, give you rain; I forbade the clouds from above, and they, thus prohibited, did withhold their rain, as I threatened, Deu 28:23,24.
When there were yet three months to the harvest; at a season when your country most usually had, and as then it ever did most need, rain: see Joe 2:23. Three months drought then, as it was unusual in the course of nature, so it was an extraordinary curse and punishment on them. That you might see my hand in it and be instructed, I gave rain to one city, and withheld rain from the next neighbour city; nay, one part of a field, the same field, was watered and flourished, another part dry and withered. All this to convince and turn you.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–12 And also I have withholden the rain from you,....…
And also I have withholden the rain from you,.... As he did for the space of three years successively in the days of Ahab, as predicted by Elijah, Kg1 17:1; the consequences of which are very bad to men and beast, and bring on a scarcity of food for both, and a famine if long withheld:
when there were yet three months to the harvest; that is, three months before the harvest, as Jarchi; when, as Kimchi observes, there was need of rain: this was the latter rain which was usually given and expected about this time, and on which the goodness of the crop, and so of the harvest, greatly depended; these three months before barley harvest were December, January, and February, that being in March; and before the wheat harvest, February, March, and April, that being in May usually:
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and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; so that it might appear to be not by the course of nature, or through the influence of the planets, or by chance; but was according to the direction of divine Providence, the hand of God was manifestly in it: yea,
one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered; one piece of ground or field had a plentiful shower on it, whereby it became fruitful; and another field or close on the other side of the hedge or partition had none, whereby what did spring up withered away and came to nothing: or "one inheritance" (u), or farm, as some render it; one man's estate was well watered with rain from heaven, and brought forth much fruit; and another man's estate, for want of it, was barren, and brought forth nothing: thus God was pleased to do in his providence, to show his sovereignty, and to chastise men for their sins; and in such a manner as that they might, if not blind easily perceive his hand in it.
(u) "fundus", Mercerus, Vatablus; "hereditas", Targum.
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 vv7–12 When - At a season when your country most…
When - At a season when your country most needed it. Upon one city - That you might see my hand in it, I gave rain to one city, and withheld it from the next; nay one part of the same field was watered and flourished: another part, dry and withered.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Verse 7. When there were yet three months to…
Verse 7. When there were yet three months to the harvest] St. Jerome says, from the end of April, when the latter rain falls, until harvest, there are three months, May, June, and July, in which no rain falls in Judea. The rain, therefore, that God had withheld from them, was that which was usual in the spring months, particularly in April.
I caused it to rain upon one city] To prove to them that this rain did not come fortuitously or of necessity, God was pleased to make these most evident distinctions. One city had rain, and could fill all its tanks or cisterns, while a neighbouring city had none. One farm or field was well watered, and abundant in its crops, while one contiguous to it had not a shower. In these instances a particular providence was most evident. "And yet, they did not return to the Lord."
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 vv10, 12 Amo 4:10-11. I have sent among you the pestilence…
Amo 4:10-11. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt — I have sent such pestilence among you as I formerly sent upon Egypt: Or, such as has frequently taken place in Egypt. “The unwholesome effluvia, on the subsiding of the Nile, caused some peculiarly malignant diseases in this country.” — Newcome. Maillet also tells us, (Lett. 1. page 14,) that “the air is bad in those parts, where, when the inundations of the Nile have been very great, this river, in retiring to its channel, leaves marshy places, which infect the country round about. The dew is also very dangerous in Egypt.” Your young men have I slain, &c. — I have caused your young men to fall in battle with your enemies. And have taken away your horses — Have enabled your enemies to take them from you. Horses being very scarce in the land of Israel, the loss of them was a great affliction. I have made the stink of your camps, &c. — I have sent diseases into your camps; so that they have been rendered quite noisome by the smell of the dead carcasses, or so great has been the slaughter in your camps, that there were not a sufficient number left alive to bury the slain. The Syrians made frequent incursions on the Israelites, which obliged the latter to be often encamped. I have overthrown some of you, &c. — Some of your cities I have caused to be burned with fire and utterly consumed, as Sodom and Gomorrah were. And ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning — Those that remained very narrowly escaped. A proverbial expression, used both by sacred and profane authors, to signify a narrow escape out of imminent danger.
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 vv7–12 And I, I too have withholden the rain -…
And I, I too have withholden the rain - Jerome, dwelling in Palestine, says, that “this rain, when “three months yet remained until harvest,” was the “latter rain,” of the very greatest necessity for the fields of Palestine and the thirsty ground, lest, when the blade is swelling into the crop, and gendering the wheat, it should dry up through lack of moisture. The time intended is the spring, at the end of April, whence, to the wheat-harvest, there remain three months, May, June, July.” “God withheld the rain that they might endure, not only lack of bread, but burning thirst and penury of drink also. For in these places, where we now live, all the water, except small fountains, is of cisterns; and if the wrath of God should withhold the rain, there is greater peril of thirst than of hunger, such its Scripture relates to have endured for three years and six months in the days of the prophet Elijah. And lest they should think that this had befallen their cities and people, by a law of nature, or the influence of the stars, or the variety of the seasons, He says, that He rained upon one city and its fields, and from another withheld the rain.”
This was a second visitation of God. First, a general famine, “in all their cities;” secondly, a discriminating visitation. “Nature” possesses no discrimination or power over her supplies. Seeming waste is one of the mysteries of God in nature, “to cause it to rain on the earth” Job 38:26 where “no man” is; on “the wilderness wherein” there, “is no man.” Ordinarily too, God “maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” Mat 5:45. But God does not enslave Himself, (as people would have it) to His own laws. Amos appeals to them, that God had dealt with them, not according to His ordinary laws; that not only God had given to one city the rain which he had withheld from another, but that He had made the same difference as to smaller “pieces” of ground, the inherited “portions” of individuals . Some such variations have been observed in Palestine now. But this would have been no indication of God’s Providence, had not the consciences of people responded to the prophet’s appeal, and recognized that the rain had been given or withheld according to the penitence or impenitence, the deeper or more mitigated idolatry, the greater or less sinfulness of the people. We have. then, in these few words a law of God’s dealing with Israel. God, in His word, reveals to us the meaning of His daily variations in the workings of nature; yet, hardly even in such instances, as people can scarcely elude, do they think of God the Creator, rather than of nature, His creation.
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 vv7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Months. The latter rain falls in April. See Deuteronomy…
Months. The latter rain falls in April. See Deuteronomy xi. 14. (Calmet) --- Harvest. Septuagint have as usual, "vintage." But this is less accurate, as it never rains in the preceding summer months. (St. Jerome)
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 vv7–12 withholden . . . rain . . . three…
withholden . . . rain . . . three months to . . . harvest--the time when rain was most needed, and when usually "the latter rain" fell, namely, in spring, the latter half of February, and the whole of March and April (Hos 6:3; Joe 2:23). The drought meant is that mentioned in Kg1 17:1 [GROTIUS].
rain upon one city . . . not . . . upon another--My rain that fell was only partial.
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 vv7, 10, 11, 12 7, 8. Drought.
7, 8. Drought.
The rain — Hebrews geshem (see on Joe_2:23), here rain in general.
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When there were yet three months to the harvest — Since the harvest is in April and May, the drought must have set in during January or February. A drought at that time would be disastrous, and might completely destroy the prospects of harvest. A similar phenomenon occurred in Palestine in the winter of 1894-95. “After raining several times quite heavily in December, especially on the coast, the weather has been since before Christmas pleasant and mild, and if no more rain falls there will be great suffering, for up till now (February 16) no one has filled his cisterns.”
Caused it to rain — The tenses in Amo_4:7-8 are frequentatives. Jehovah did the things mentioned again and again. To the ancients the phenomenon of a partial drought would be an even stronger proof of the presence of the supernatural than a universal withholding of rain. Partial rainfall such as is described here has been experienced in Palestine in more modern times. “There has been a smart shower here (Tiberias), while at Samakh the ground was baked hard, and the grain drooping sadly. The same was true on a former occasion when I came up the Jordan valley. The ground in the Ghor was like a parched desert. There had not been sufficient rain to bring up the grain,… while here at Tiberias the whole country was a paradise of herbs and flowers.” And again, “It was literally so about Samakh and ‘Abadiyeh, while their nearest neighbors were rejoicing in abundant showers” (Thomson, ii, p. 66).
Piece — Field (Rth_2:3; Rth_4:3).
Two or three cities — That had suffered from the drought. For the ascending enumeration see on Amo_1:3.
Wandered — Literally, tottered, or, staggered. The people were so weak from thirst that they could not walk with a firm step.
One city — One favored with rain. With reference to this passage Thomson says (on the same page): “A fact often repeated in this country. No longer ago than last autumn it had its exemplification complete in Belad Besharah, the ancient inheritance of Naphtali.” Since there are few springs throughout Palestine, people are dependent largely upon rain water stored in cisterns; when the rainfall is irregular the water supply soon becomes exhausted.
They were not satisfied — The water was not sufficient to supply the needs of all. This judgment also was in vain.
9a. Blasting and mildew. 9b. Locusts.
You — Your fields and crops.
Blasting and mildew — The two words are frequently joined (Deu_28:22; 1Ki_8:37; Hag_2:17). The former, from a verb to burn, describes the disastrous effects of the scorching east wind or Sirocco (see on Hos_12:1); the latter, literally, greenness, is “a blight in which the ears turn untimely a pale yellow, and have no grain.”
One word in the Hebrew makes the rest of Amo_4:9 awkward. With a very slight change, favored by most modern commentators, it may be translated, “I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; and your fig trees and your olive trees hath the palmerworm devoured.”
I laid waste — By some blow not specified by the prophet.
Fig trees — See on Joe_1:7.
Olive trees — See on Hos_14:6; Joe_1:10.
Palmer-worm — See on Joe_1:4, where reference is made to the frequency with which locusts visit Palestine.
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 vv7–12 7–8. Drought.
7–8. Drought.
And I also have withholden the winter-rain from you, when there were &c.]. The Heb. is not mâṭâr, but géshem, i.e. a burst of rain: the heavy rains of winter, which continue as a rule from the end of October to the end of February and are then followed by the ‘latter rain,’ or showers of March and April, which refresh and advance the ripening ears (see on Joe_2:23), had ceased prematurely; the crops were consequently deficient in fulness and strength, and the harvest (which comes in May) was seriously damaged. Something of the same sort happened in the winter of 1895; there had been hardly any rain since the Christmas of 1894, and in a report, dated Feb. 16, it was stated that unless rain fell shortly there would be great deficiency of water, as no houses had their cisterns full (G. A. Smith, p. 161). Géshem, though a general term for an abundant rain (as 1Ki_17:14; 1Ki_18:41; 1Ki_18:44-45), is used specially of the heavy rains of winter in Son_2:11; comp. Lev_26:4, Eze_34:26, Joe_2:23 (see note).
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I caused it to rain &c.] would cause it to rain … would be rained upon … would wither. The tenses, both here and to the end of the verse, are frequentative, indicating what had happened repeatedly.
piece] i.e. plot of land, or portion belonging to a particular proprietor (Rth_2:3; Rth_4:3; 2Sa_14:30). The same partial character of the rain-fall is still sometimes observable in Palestine.
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 vv7, 9, 10, 11, 12 (7, 8) Three months to the harvest.—The withdrawal of…
(7, 8) Three months to the harvest.—The withdrawal of rain at this period (February and March) is at the present day most calamitous to the crops in Palestine.
Caused it to rain . . .—The tenses should be regarded as expressing repetition of the act, and might be, with advantage, rendered as present cause it to rain . . . is rained upon, &c. The inhabitants of the most suffering districts wander, distracted and weary, to a more favoured city, and find no sufficiency. Comp. the graphic description in Jer_14:1-6. Moreover, the specialties of affliction, in particular localities. reveal the purpose of God rather than the operation of universal laws.
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 vv7–12 The second punishment is drought, as predicted (Lev_26:19, etc.;…
The second punishment is drought, as predicted (Lev_26:19, etc.; Deu_28:23) When there were yet three months to the harvest, and when rain was most necessary to swell the grain. The season meant is in February and March, when what was called "the latter rain" fell. In the south of Palestine the harvest commenced at the end of April, but in the northern parts it was some weeks later, so that it might be said in round numbers that it took place three months after the latter rain. I caused it to rain upon one city. That they might not attribute this drought to the blind laws of nature, God caused it to be of a partial character, giving rain to one city while he withheld it from another. One piece. The portion of ground belonging to an individual is so called. (Rth_2:3 Rth_4:3)
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 vv10–12 Your young men have I slain with the sword…
Amo_4:10
Your young men have I slain with the sword . . . yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord.
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Gods dealings with us nationally, and their object
While we are in this state of trial and probation God does not punish us, individually or nationally, in the spirit of vindictiveness or vengeance, but out of love and compassion, and with the view of working in us that which is needful for our temporal prosperity and eternal welfare, and which His good gifts and past mercies have failed to effect.
I. The parties here addressed. Primarily the children of Israel. If we can trace a resemblance between our conduct and theirs, we must undoubtedly consider the words of the text equally addressed to us.
1. Pride was a striking characteristic of Gods people of old. What was the return they made for all the signal blessings bestowed on them? Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Have not we, nationally and individually, acted like them in this particular? How have we requited the good and gracious Benefactor for His great mercies? Have we not been lifted up in pride? Is it not the prevailing sentiment that it is to our own wisdom we owe our constitution, to our own exertions our wealth, and to our superior institutions our freedom from rebellion and revolution?
2. Israel had drawn down Gods judgments for their hypocrisy. They were very zealous in the profession of their religion. But their hearts went after their idols, and their hands were full of blood. Therefore God refused their worthless profession. And, nowadays, there is a vast deal of outward profession of religion, yet but very little real, practical, influential religion. Where is the self-discipline, the self-denial, the self-sacrifice which our holy religion calls upon us for?
3. Forgetfulness of God, their great Benefactor, was a striking characteristic of the Israelites of old. And do we acknowledge Gods hand in the productiveness of our land, or in the failure of our crops?
4. Our sin and rebellion against God fix us with the applicability of these words to ourselves. Who can fathom the demoralisation and wickedness of the dense masses of our great cities, etc.!
II. Gods dealings with them in like connection with his dealings with us. Unexampled favours demand a higher standard of holiness and devoted obedience, and proportionately increase the heinousness of guilt. Trace the dealings with which God had visited the Israelites, in chastisement for their sins, which are referred to in this chapter. Scarcity, disease, war, etc.
III. What is the object of these dealings of God towards us? His yearning over us is that we should become a people fearing Him, and working righteousness. The nation is made up of individuals; and as far as individual responsibility is concerned, it will be by individual practice, example, and influence that we must severally promote that reformation amongst us which is needful to restore us to the Divine favour. (Edward T. Cardale.)
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 v12 THREATENED EVIL ESCAPED BY RETURN TO GOD.—Amo_4:12
THREATENED EVIL ESCAPED BY RETURN TO GOD.—Amo_4:12
“When he has said, ‘This will I do to thee,’ he is silent as to what he will do, in order that whilst Israel is left in uncertainty as to the particular kind of punishment (which is all the more terrible because all kinds of things are imagined), it may repent of its sins, and so avert the things which God threatens here” [Jerome]. The words indicate—
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I. An expression of anger. “Therefore,” since ye persist in rebellion, regardless of former judgments and respites, “thus will I do.” Judgment must follow judgment until there is a full end. God’s hand is still lifted up, and the threat is the more severe, because nothing is mentioned. If a smitten people continue impenitent, and will not be corrected nor reclaimed, God will prosecute his work and inflict more plagues. His judgments are sadder or lighter according to our conduct under them, and terrible are those strokes which follow inflicted chastisement. “Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord’s anger none escaped nor remained” (Lam_2:22).
II. An exhortation to repentance. When God is about to strike he waits to be prevented. Though hardened in sin, and insensible under Divine correction, men may repent, and are exhorted to return to God. Repentance is not impossible. Set about it, prepare to meet God, and he will pardon you. “If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant.”
III. A motive to reconciliation. God can still be met—though punishment is threatened, God’s design and feelings may be seen in it. He chastens to restore. Sins may abound, but “His mercy endureth for ever.” He is willing to be thy God. He waits to be gracious and to be reconciled to thee. “Noah, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” Josiah endeavoured to ward off the threatened judgment by humiliation before God. But some foresee impending evil and escape not (Pro_22:3). There is a hiding-place in Christ. Let chastisements awaken you from slumber, and urge you to lay hold of the hope set before you. “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
PREPARATION TO MEET GOD
I. The solemn event. Not an ordinary event, not the meeting of man with man, but of man with his Maker. We have to meet God on earth, and especially at the judgment-day, when the atheist and the scorner, the righteous and the wicked, each one will see him for himself and not for another.
II. The needful preparation. If in judgment, prepare, for how can we contend against him? If in penitence, prepare, for he will meet us in forgiveness. A preparation of heart and life are necessary. The sinner must be reconciled; the soul must be renewed and the life be holy. “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
III. The motives to enforce the preparation.
1. The greatness of God. If he be such as here described, what folly to oppose him, and what an argument to make our peace with him.
2. The providence of God. “Because I will do this, therefore prepare;” that is, God’s providential dealings with us are a motive to urge preparation to meet him. God comes near in judgments and great events. We should consider our ways. The doctrines of the gospel and the providences of life often fail to rouse attention. Men sleep unconscious of the presence of God and the impending danger. If we do not meet him as a Friend we shall have to meet him as a Judge. “Prepare to meet thy God.”
PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD.—Amo_4:12-13
Man forgets God. Scripture denounces this, and the great aim of its precepts, history, threatenings, and promises, is to produce and cherish the habit of remembering God. The text calls to remember God, is often applied exclusively to the meeting of God in another world; but from the context it applies to what goes on in this world also. Consider, therefore, how to meet God as he comes near.
I. During our time of probation on earth. It is common for those who dispute the reality of God’s coming to assert that he is too highly exalted to notice insignificant creatures. But in Scripture God’s greatness and man’s littleness often combine to illustrate this truth.
1. In the way of repentance. A sinful course is turning back from God, fleeing from a God of mercy to a God of anger. He calls the careless and impenitent to meet him.
(1) Quickly. Now a day of grace in which outward calls combine with inward connections. This time is precious, and will be succeeded by “a night wherein no man can work.”
(2) Carefully. “Let us search and try our ways.” Rush not carelessly and without thought to the throne of God. “Take with you words.”
(3) Decidedly. With the firm conviction that in no other way can peace and salvation be found.
2. In the way of temporal blessings. It may please him to let our life pass peaceably on—to keep off apprehended danger—to make the cup of sorrow pass from us, that we drink it not. Awful accidents and fearful calamities may have plunged others into misery, but we go on from day to day in security and peace. Meet God in a spirit of gratitude and praise.
3. In the way of temporal sorrow.
(1) Endeavour to turn judgment aside by humble prayer (Amo_7:2-6).
(2) To hear it as coming from God. We do not meet God if we look to second causes; nor profit if we do not see his hand and will
4. In the use of the means of grace God meets his people. There is no peradventure like Balaam’s in the believing use of means. Special blessings rest upon family worship, social and public worship, and when we obey the injunction “this do in remembrance of me.” But we lose much from not preparing to meet God in ordinances. Prepare with reverence and godly fear, and with earnest expectation.
5. We meet God in the works of righteousness (Isa_64:5). Thus we see it our duty to meet God during the time of probation. In Christ we meet him in repentance, and find him reconciled—in prosperity he calls for gratitude and praise—in judgment we bow with submission and endeavour to turn it aside—in the means of grace we should meet him with glad reverence, and earnest expectation of good things from his Fatherly bounty.
II. Prepare to meet him after the time of trial is over.
1. Very solemn and awakening is the thought of meeting God then. Here we meet him in his works and ways, there we shall meet God himself. Remember this in the engrossing concerns of uncertain life. Eternity, and not time, is the stage of our existence.
2. After death cometh the judgment, when we must “be made manifest” before the tribunal of Christ. Some will meet God in anger, and cry for rocks to fall on them; others will meet a God in mercy. No righteousness will stand them but “the righteousness of God.” Have we that righteousness? Is the thought of that day a part of your daily meditation? Give diligence to be found in him in peace and security. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” This waiting frame of mind will be one of the greatest helps to prepare, and one of the surest signs that you are prepared to “meet your God” [Ryan].
THE DISPENSATIONS OF PROVIDENCE CARRYING OUT THE DESIGNS OF GRACE.—Amo_4:13
In true repentance we must have right views of God and his claims. The prophet here describes God in the resources of creation and the wonders of providence to induce Israel to think of him and prepare to meet him. “For” if mercy move not, let majesty. God is great, and can carry out his designs of love—
I. By his mighty power in creation. “He that formeth the mountains,” &c.
1. Power in the past. Before the mountains were brought forth God was. He created the solid parts of the earth, and reared the everlasting hills. “Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains.” They owe firmness and stability to him. The Alps and the Andes are “girded” and preserved from falling down by his power.
2. Power in the present. “And createth the wind.” The heathens believed in an inferior God, whom Jupiter appointed a store-keeper to raise and still the winds at pleasure. But God “bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries” (Jer_10:12). The winds and the seas obey him. “He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” The most solid and the most subtle, the mildest and the most terrific, agents were created by God. If we read rightly we see not only power but mind in the works of God. Men are thus encouraged to flee unto him. The salvation expected from the hills typifies deliverance from sin and protection in Christ (Psa_89:11-12). Control over winds sets forth his dominion over minds. All creation manifests his beneficence to men.
II. By his unceasing activity in providence. “That maketh the morning darkness.” God not only created, but governs all things according to the counsel of his will. He is unceasingly active for the good of his creatures. “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.”
1. Literally God makes the morning dark. He spreads the clouds and overcasts the sky. He creates light and darkness, and gives day and night.
2. Providentially God makes the morning dark. The morning of joy and prosperity is turned into the night of sorrow and distress. The sunshine of Divine favour may be followed by retributive judgments. It is folly to trust in any means of deliverance but his. Our expectations may be darkened by unlooked-for changes. Everything that is joyous and beautiful may be effaced by darkness. “Seek him that … turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night.”
“For we have also our evening and our morn.”
III. By his omniscient presence with men. “And declareth unto man what is his thought.” He can read the heart and understand the thought afar off (Psa_139:2). We hide our sins and do not wish to know our hearts; but “God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” He reads and reveals us to ourselves and sets our sins in order before us. “The thought of God as a Creator or Preserver without,” says Pusey, “affects man but little. To man a sinner, far more impressive than all majesty of creative power, is the thought that God knows his inmost soul. God knows our thoughts more truly than we know ourselves.” There is no deceiving him in our conduct. We have to do with One who searches the heart. “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins” (Jer_17:10; Psa_7:9). The moral government of God is ever administered on the principle that man is accountable for his thoughts. The law of God weighs the purposes of men and the dispensations of God. “Give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
“On human hearts he bends a jealous eye.”
IV. By his supreme control in all things. “The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.” Not only the God of Israel, but the supreme Ruler of men and Disposer of all things.
1. He is supreme in the universe. “The Lord of hosts.” Head over all principalities and powers in heaven and earth. He has being in himself, and is the fountain of being and blessedness to others. “Who is over all, God blessed for ever.”
2. He makes all things subservient to his purpose. “Treadeth upon the high places of the earth.” He walks on the sea (Job_9:8), and on the wings of the wind (Psa_104:3). He subdues the proud and dethrones the mighty. Whatever is eminent and exalts itself against him he will put down. He reigns above all creatures, controls the highest spheres of power, and everything around him stands ready to execute his will. Thus the prophet sees in the course of nature the will of God, links the physical with the moral events, and makes the one find its loftiest end in the other. National calamities are revelations of God’s wrath. But these only endanger the material welfare of a people. A God of transcendant greatness sends them to draw us to himself. Nothing will avail before him but righteousness and truth. Prepare to meet him with joy and not with grief.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Amo_4:12-13. The Rev. Mr Madan was desired one evening, by some of his companions who were with him at a coffee-house, to go and hear Mr John Wesley, who they were told was to preach in the neighbourhood, and to return and exhibit his manners and discourse for their entertainment. Mr M., educated for the bar, went with that intention, and just as he entered the place, Wesley named his text, “Prepare to meet thy God,” with a solemnity of accent which struck him, and which inspired a seriousness that increased as the good man exhorted his hearers to repentance. Mr M. returned to the coffee-room, and was asked, “if he had taken off the old Methodist?” “No, gentlemen,” said he, “but he has taken me off;” and from that time he left their company and became a converted man [Whitecross].
Amo_4:13. “I never had a sight of my soul,” said the Emperor Aurelius, “and yet I have a great value for it, because it is discoverable by its operations; and by my constant experience of the power of God, I have a proof of his being, and a reason for my veneration” [Whitecross]. Let us incessantly bear in mind, that the only thing we have really to be afraid of, is fearing anything more than God [Book of the Fathers].
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10, 12 Two or three cities staggered
Two or three cities staggered
Here "cities" represents the people of those cities. AT: "The people of two or three cities staggered" (See: Metonymy)
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I afflicted you with blight and mildew
Here "afflicted you" represents afflicting their crops. AT: "I afflicted your crops with blight and mildew" or "I destroyed your crops with blight and mildew" (See: Metonymy)
blight
This is a disease that dries and kills plants. It is caused by the hot wind from the desert.
mildew
This is another disease that kills plants.
you have not returned to me
Returning to God represents submitting again to him. See how you translated this in Amos 4:6. 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)
translationWords
afflicted
vineyard
fig
olive
locust
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 vv10–12 4:10 God had used plagues to convince Egypt to…
4:10 God had used plagues to convince Egypt to let Israel go (Exod 7:14–12:30; 9:2-3; Ps 91:6; Hab 3:5); he promised to bring the plagues of Egypt on Israel if they continued to turn away from him to worship pagan gods (Deut 28:27, 60).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.