You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:
Parallel Translations
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You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:
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Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
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Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast righteousness to the ground;
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Amos 5:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Amos 6:12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
- Deuteronomy 29:18 lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
- Ezekiel 3:20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand.
- Hosea 10:4 They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
- Amos 5:11-12 Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.
- Zephaniah 1:6 those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.
- Psalms 36:3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
- Psalms 125:5 But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
- Isaiah 1:23 Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
- Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Isaiah 10:1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
- Isaiah 59:13-14 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter.
- Ezekiel 18:24 “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.
- Ezekiel 33:12-13 “You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed.
- Ezekiel 33:18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein.
- Habakkuk 1:12-14 Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the Prophet, after having inveighed against superstitions, comes…
Here the Prophet, after having inveighed against superstitions, comes to the second table of the law. The Prophets are sometimes wont to shake off self-complacencies from hypocrites, when they spread before God their external veils, by saying that all their ceremonies are useless, except accompanied with integrity of heart: but in this place the Prophet expressly condemns in the Israelites two things; that is, that they had corrupted the true worship of God, departed from the doctrine of the law, and polluted themselves with ungodly superstitions; and he also reprehends them for their wicked and dishonest conduct towards men, — for their disregard of what was right and equitable, — for plunder, cruelty, and fraud. This second subject the Prophet handles, when he says, that they converted judgment into wormwood and allowed righteousness to fall on the ground. But the rest I must defer till tomorrow.
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 Instead of judgment and equity they execute cruelty and…
Instead of judgment and equity they execute cruelty and oppression.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Amo 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and…
Amo 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
Ver. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood] Ye grandees and governors of the people, that turn the sweetest thing into the sourest (as corruptio optimi pessima), right into wrong dealing; that follow the administration of justice as a trade only, with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain; not caring what becomes of righteousness, but leaving it off in the earth, or rather not leaving it at all upon earth ( terras Astraea reliquit), but chasing it out of the world as much as in you lieth; while you cast it down to the ground, and tread it underfoot, Dan 8:12, while you oppress the just, crush the needy, &c., Amo 4:1 : see the note there. Some read the text, by way of exclamation, thus: O ye that turn judgment, &c.; q.d. What strange creatures are you! what monsters of men! what public scourges! what scabs! Isa 5:7, God "looked for judgment, but behold oppression" (in the original it is, behold a scab); "for righteousness, but behold a cry": such a cry as entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, Iudices instar scabiei molesti sunt oppressis (Piscator in loc.).
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 Ye; rulers and judges.
Ye; rulers and judges.
Judgment; the righteous sentence of the law, the equity of it, which is sweet and pleasing to just men, and safe for all.
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Wormwood; proverbially understood, bitterness, grief, injustice, and oppression.
Leave off righteousness; make it to cease in your courts of judicature, and tread it under foot.
In the earth; or among men, in the land: the latter part of this verse explains the former.
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 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,.... This seems to…
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,.... This seems to be spoken to kings and judges, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe; in whose hands is the administration of justice, and who often pervert it, as these did here addressed and complained of; that which was the most useful and salubrious, and so the most desirable to the commonwealth, namely, just judgment, was changed into the reverse, what was as bitter and as disagreeable as wormwood; or "hemlock", as it might be rendered, and as it is in Amo 6:12; even injustice:
and leave off righteousness in the earth; leave off doing it among men: or rather, "leave it on the earth" (c); who cast it down to the ground, trampled upon it, and there left it; which is expressive not only of their neglect, but of their contempt of it; see Dan 8:12.
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(c) "in terram prosterunt", Piscator; "justitiam in terram reliquerunt, i.e. humi prosternitis et deseritis", Mercerus; "collocantes humi", Junius & Tremellius.
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 Ye - Rulers and Judges. Judgment - The righteous…
Ye - Rulers and Judges. Judgment - The righteous sentence of the law. To wormwood - Proverbially understood; bitterness, injustice and oppression. Leave off - Make to cease in your courts of judicature.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood] Who…
Verse 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood] Who pervert judgment; causing him who obtains his suit to mourn sorely over the expenses he has incurred in gaining his right.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Amo 5:7-9. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood —…
Amo 5:7-9. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood — Or into hemlock, as the word here used is translated, Amo 6:12. Ye judges and rulers that pervert the law that was designed to protect innocence, and under colour of it exercise the greatest oppression. True or just judgment is sweet or pleasing; corrupt judgment, mere bitterness. And leave off righteousness — That is, leave off to practise it, or make it to cease in your courts of judicature. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion — Concerning these constellations see notes on Job 9:9; and Job 38:31. These and the other constellations were commonly thought to have great influence upon the seasons; and therefore their rising and setting used to be particularly taken notice of by husbandmen and shepherds; whose employments lying abroad, made them more observant of the appearances of the heavenly bodies. So this was a dispensation of providence, which it was very suitable for one of Amos’s profession to mention. “But in Arabia and the neighbouring countries, to this present day, not only the shepherds, but the men in general, the women and children, know the names of the stars. Sanctius assures us, that the shepherds in Spain know perfectly well the stars of Ursa Major, Orion, the Pleiades, &c., and that they generally measure the time of night by the course of these stars.” — Dodd. And turneth the shadow of death into the morning — The greatest adversity into as great prosperity; and maketh the day dark with night — Changes prosperity into adversity: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them upon the earth — Who commandeth the seas and the rivers to overflow the earth in great inundations; or rather, commands the vapours to ascend from the sea, turns them into rain, and then pours it from the clouds, to render the earth fruitful. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong — Who giveth strength to him that hath been conquered and spoiled, and enables him to subdue his conquerors, and become master even of the strongest places. This was very properly mentioned here as one act of God’s great power, because it implied, that the deplorable state of the Israelitish affairs might be retrieved if they sought to him.
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 Ye who turn - Those whom he calls to…
Ye who turn - Those whom he calls to seek God, were people filled with all injustice, who turned the sweetness of justice into the bitterness of wormwood . Moses had used “gall” and “wormwood” as a proverb; “lest there be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him” Deu 29:18, Deu 29:20. The word of Amos would remind them of the word of Moses.
And leave off righteousness in the earth - Better, “and set righteousness to rest on the ground” . They dethroned righteousness, the representative and vice-gerent of God, and made it rest on the ground. The “little horn,” Daniel says, should “cast truth to the ground” Dan 8:12. These seem to have blended outrage with insult, as when “the Lord our Righteousness” Jer 23:6 took our flesh, “they put on Him” the “scarlet robe, and the crown of thorns” upon His Head, and bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him,” and then “crucified Him.” They “deposed” her, “set her down,” it may be, with a mock make-believe deference, as people now-a-days, in civil terms, depose God, ignoring Him and His right over them. They set her on the ground and so left her, the image of God. This they did, not in one way only, but in all the ways in which they could. He does not limit it to the “righteousness” shown in doing justice. It includes all transactions between man and man, in which right enters, all buying and selling, all equity, all giving to another his due. All the bands of society were dissolved, and righteousness was placed on the ground, to be trampled on by all in all things.
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 You. Septuagint, "the Lord, [God] who does judgment on…
You. Septuagint, "the Lord, [God] who does judgment on high, and has placed justice on the earth; (8) who maketh and transformeth all things, and turneth," &c. (Haydock) --- Hebrew agrees with the Vulgate. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain turn judgment to wormwood--that is, pervert it to most…
turn judgment to wormwood--that is, pervert it to most bitter wrong. As justice is sweet, so injustice is bitter to the injured. "Wormwood" is from a Hebrew root, to "execrate," on account of its noxious and bitter qualities.
leave on righteousness in . . . earth--MAURER translates, "cast righteousness to the ground," as in Isa 28:2; Dan 8:12.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. Jehovah demands righteousness: the prophet, with passion and…
7. Jehovah demands righteousness: the prophet, with passion and indignation, declares abruptly how far Israel is from righteousness, and then proceeds to announce again the doom which it may in consequence confidently expect. As before (Amo_2:6-8, Amo_4:1), Israel’s crying sin is neglect of civil justice, and oppression of the poor: it is the aristocracy who arouse the moral indignation of Amos, as afterwards, in Judah, they aroused that of Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah.
turn judgment to wormwood] Instead of being something wholesome and grateful, it is bitter and cruel to those who have to receive it. For wormwood (always as a figure for something bitter), cf. Amo_6:12; Jer_9:15; Jer_23:15; Lam_3:15; Lam_3:19; Pro_5:4; Rev_8:11. The plant in question (Heb. la‘ǎnâh; Aq. [Prov. and Jer.] ἀψίνθιον, whence Vulg. [everywhere] apsinthium: LXX. paraphrases,—in Amo_6:12 by πικρία) is a species of the genus Artemisium, of which several varieties are found in Palestine (Tristram, N.H.[157]. p. 493; Fauna and Flora of Palestine, p. 331).
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[157] .H.B … H. B. Tristram, Natural History of the Bible (1868).
and lay righteousness down on the earth] instead of maintaining it erect, in its place (cf. Amo_5:15), they (Pusey) ‘dethrone’ it, and lay it (Isa_28:2) ignominiously on the ground: we should rather say, ‘trample it under foot’ (Hitz.). ‘Righteousness,’ as the context shews, means here civil justice (as 2Sa_8:15, Jer_22:3, and frequently). The virtue is almost personified (cf. Isa_59:14).
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 (7) Is placed after Amo_5:9 by Ewald, since Amo_5:7-8…
(7) Is placed after Amo_5:9 by Ewald, since Amo_5:7-8 stand in the Heb. without any connecting-link. The holy thing “judgment” is perverted into the bitter thing “wormwood,” that which is execrated.
Leave off.—Or rather, cast down righteousness to the earth, i.e., by false judgments and unjust decrees. Pusey sees here the analogue of the humiliation of the Holy One by wicked hands, when He was crowned with thorns, and fell beneath His cross.
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 The prophet brings out the con-trust between Israel"s moral…
The prophet brings out the con-trust between Israel"s moral corruption and God"s omnipotence. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood. As Jerome puts it," Converterunt dulcedinem judicii in absinthii amaritudinem," "They turned the sweetness of judgment into the bitterness of absinth". (comp. Amo_6:12) Who make judgment the occasion of the bitterest injustice. There is no syntactical connection between this verse and the last, but virtually we may append it to "seek the Lord." It would sound in people"s ears as a reminiscence ofma. (Deu_29:18, Deu_29:20) The LXX reads, oJ poiwn eijv uyov kri "that executeth judgment in the height," referring the sentence to the Lord, or else taking laanah, "wormwood," in a metaphorical sense, as elsewhere they translate it by ajnagkh pikria, ojdunh (Deu_29:18; Pro_5:4; Jer_9:15 Jer_23:15) The name "wormwood" is applied to all the plants of the genus that grow in Palestine the taste of which was proverbially bitter. And leave off righteousness in the earth; rather, cast down righteousness to the earth, (as Isa_28:2) despise it and trample it underfoot. (comp. Dan_8:12) This is Israel"s practice; and yet God, as the next verse shows, is almighty, and has power to punish. Righteousness includes all transactions between man and man. The LXX (still referring the subject to the Lord), kainhn eijv ghn eqhken, "and he established righteousness on earth.
Vers. 7-13.
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The contrast presaging the conflict.
Judgment is coming. Warning has been given. Duty, and the prevailing derelictions of it, have been pointed out. Here God"s perfections and Israel"s iniquities are set in juxtaposition, and the colocation is suggestive. Such incompatibility must lead to collision. It is by God"s character and ours that our mutual relations and attitudes are shaped. We see here
I GOD REVEALING HIMSELF. (Vers. 8, 9.) God"s work is an important revelation of himself. He has written all over it the glorious lineaments of his character. Each part of it reflects some feature, and in the whole we see his face. Here he shows himself:
1. In the sphere of creation. "He maketh the seven stars and Orion." This is a pregnant thought. Alcyone, one of the seven stars, or Pleiades, is the central orb of the heavens, round which the others move. It is as it were the heart of the material universe; and the Creator of it is by implication the Creator of all. In this fact speak the power and wisdom of the Great Uncaused, who is the Cause not only of all effects, but of all causes as well.
2. In the sphere of providence. "And turneth the shadow," etc. (vers. 8, 9). We have here three classes of operations. The first was illustrated in the miraculous light that shone around Paul at his conversion, is seen daily in the rise of the morning sun, and appears in the turning of the night of adversity into the day of prosperity. The second was seen in the three hours" miraculous darkness at the Crucifixion, is seen in the gathering shades of every night, and in the darkening down into adverse circumstances of many a life day. The third was seen in the Deluge, is seen in every shower of rain, and will be seen in future widespread judgments on the wicked. Ver. 9, "Who causeth desolations to flash on the strong," etc. God"s judgments are bold, as singling out the strong and the fortress; swift, as coming on them like the lightning"s flash; sweeping, as involving them in utter destruction.
3. In the sphere of redemp tion. God scatters spiritual night. He illuminates the darkness of the soul. He makes men light in the Lord. He gives them the inheritance of the saints in light. He also judicially blinds, by leaving impenitent souls to the natural effects of wrongdoing; and he casts into outer darkness at last. In all these things we behold power power here as goodness, power there as severity; but power everywhere as resistless and Divine.
II ISRAEL REVEALING HERSELF. (Ver. 12.) This is a sad apocalypse. In many transgressions and great sins Israel"s many-sided and deep corruption comes out. Particulars am:
1. As unjust. Injustice is a natural form for the sin, which is at bottom selfishness, to take. It was a specially prevalent form, moreover, among the Hebrew people. From Jacob down the sordid race has cheated the strong and imposed on the weak. Action is in a sense the fruit of character, and answers to the tree. God"s grace is to convert the thorn into the fir tree, and the briar into the myrtle tree; but man"s sin works the converse process, and changes the sweet "tree of righteousness" into bitter wormwood. Casting "righteousness down to earth" is another aspect of the same charge. Righteousness ought to rule. Its proper place is the throne of human life. But Israel had dethroned and cast it down to the earth, and set injustice, a usurper, in its place.
2. As oppressive. (Vers. 11, 12.) The oppression suffered by Israel had done nothing to produce detestation of the thing. What other nations had inflicted on them in this way, they were only too ready to inflict, with interest, on each other as they had opportunity. Humiliation does not always prepare for exaltation, nor poverty for wealth, nor the endurance of injustice for power. The freed slave will often make the very worst master, and the erewhile victim of wrong the most outrageous inflictor of it. (Pro_19:10 Pro_30:02, Pro_30:23)
1. As venal. "Who take a bribe." They did injustice, not only in their private, but in their public, capacity. They not only plundered the public themselves, but made a profit by helping others to do the same. A dishonest man will make a corrupt magistrate. He will use for his own aggrandizement whatever power he gains.
2. As impious. (Vers. 10, 12.) As cowardice appeared in oppressing the poor, so did impiety in oppressing the righteous. Much of what the righteous suffer is due to the hatred of righteousness by the wicked. They hate the thing itself, they hate it as a standing rebuke to their own ways, and their antipathy invariably exhibits itself as it has occasion.
III THEIR FUTURE RELATIONS CLEAR IN THE LIGHT OF BOTH. Given what God is and what Israel is, and the Divine course of treatment may easily be anticipated.
1. God will disappoint their schemes of self-aggrandizement. (Ver. 11.) Their labour and pains and sin would prove in the end to have been thrown away. Their ill-gotten gains would never be enjoyed. The vineyards and houses, in which they had invested them, would, after having been acquired at great pains, be lost again before they had even begun to be used. Gain gotten by injustice is seldom abiding, and never remunerative. The one condition of getting satisfaction out of earthly good is to acquire it according to the will of God.
2. He will leave them unrebuked. (Ver. 18.) The prophets and the wise would both be silent. This would be a great calamity. It would be followed by an increase of sin, involving in turn an aggravation of punishment. It would mean abandonment to fate; for when God ceases to strive, a man"s doom is sealed. It is the Physician discontinuing his treatment because the hand of death is on the patient. The sinner sins conviction away, and then congratulates himself on the discovery of peace. But it is only God saying, "Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone." It is the one spiritual case that is utterly desperate.
Vers. 7-9.
The Lord of the universe.
The herdsman of Tekoah was a true poet. His eyes were open to the beauty and to the splendour of nature; and his heart felt the presence of the Unseen and Eternal in all the works of his hands, in all his providential arrangements. More than this, the moral character and rule of the Omnipotent were very present and very real to him; he felt the force of the appeal made to the spiritual nature of man, and calling for a life of religious faith, of practical obedience. There is nothing strained or unnatural in the striking conjunction in this passage of poetic sensibility with ethical and religious exhortation.
I A REPRESENTATION OF DIVINE GREATNESS AND GLORY.
1. Seen in the creation of the starry host. The Pleiades and Orion are mentioned as two of the most noticeable and most splendid of the constellations of the midnight sky.
2. In the alternations of day and night, in sunrise and sunset, in storm andin eclipse.
3. In the grandeur of the sea, in the torrents of rain, in the floods whichpour their waters over the earth; in a word, in all the processes of nature.
4. In the providential interpositions and the righteous rule of the Most High, who does according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth.
II AN INFERENCE AS TO HUMAN CONDUCT. The poet-prophet is more than a mirror to reflect the visible splendour, the awful forces of the universe. To him nature has a voice of authority, appealing to the understanding and to the conscience of the sons of men. There is a summons to the unrighteous and the irreligious to forsake their ways and to choose a better path. This summons will take a different form according to the character, the moral development, of those addressed.
1. There is what may be called the lower view a God so great will not suffer iniquity to triumph, or injustice and disobedience to go unpunished. All are in the hands of the Almighty; and he whose power is so evidently revealed in the heavens above and on the earth beneath will not fail to assert his authority over all the creatures of his power. Although wickedness may prosper for a season, the law of righteousness shall be maintained and vindicated.
2. There is a higher view not inconsistent with the other, but presenting itself to natures more morally cultivated and advanced. Great as God appears in nature, our conceptions of his excellence are enhanced when we reflect upon his glorious attributes and his righteous reign. The eternal law of righteousness administered by Omnipotence demands our lowly reverence, deserves our grateful obedience. 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 Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Amo_5:7-9.] God in his omnipotence in contrast with the…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo_5:7-9.] God in his omnipotence in contrast with the ungodly people, indicating that he who can destroy should be feared. Wormwood] Justice embittered, corrupted, and made hateful cf. ch. Amo_6:12; Deu_29:17).
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Amo_5:8.] God in creation, moral government, and judicial procedure described almost in words like Job_9:9,
Amo_5:10. Hate] the reprover who condemns their sins; Amos himself, or judges at the gate who put down injustice (Isa_29:21; Jer_17:19).
Amo_5:11. Take] Burdensome taxes levied in kind from the wheat of the needy to pamper the lusts of the great [Henderson].
Amo_5:12. Bribe] Lit. a price to deliver from sentence. “The judges allowed the rich murderer to purchase exemption from capital punishment by the payment of atonement money, whilst they bowed down the right of the poor. “This illegal (Num_35:31).
Amo_5:13. Silence] “A chosen silence towards vile corrupters of law and justice who will nothing mend though reproved; or silence before God, owning his justice in punishing such sinners” [Poole].
HOMILETICS
JUDGMENT TURNED TO WORMWOOD.—Amo_5:7
The proper place for these words, many think, is after Amo_5:9. They might be taken in connection with the charges there, or separately as here.
I. The impartial administration of justice is pleasant. Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues, and regarded by Plato as including all human duty. It was made of first importance in the Hebrew code. Laws were given to protect life and property, to secure rich and poor against violence and wrong. It was the duty of the judges to interpret and administer, not to make or give laws. When just laws are obeyed by kings and princes, confidence is strengthened, peace prevails, and judgment is in sweet odour. “For law guards the people and magistrates guard the law,” says Becon. “National happiness must be produced through the influence of religious laws,” says South. “The king by judgment establisheth the land.”
II. The partial administration of justice is bitter. Let justice be done though the heavens fall is often the cry. But many cast it down from its lofty position and trample it under-foot. As God’s vicegerent it is dethroned in the laws of the nation and the hearts of the people. Partiality and injustice make void the best laws, increase the burdens, and embitter the toils of life. They rob man, disorder society, and offend God. They turn judgment to wormwood. Good laws are a blessing or a curse, a corrupt spring or a fountain of life, as they are administered. “One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples,” says Bacon, “for these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain.” “Ye have turned judgment into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock.”
“Laws grind the poor and rich men make the law” [Goldsmith].
GOD GREATLY TO BE FEARED.—Amo_5:9-10
Israel were exhorted to forsake unrighteousness and seek God. The prophet tells them who God is and what he does, that they might know him. He is the Creator and Governor of the universe, infinite in resources and omnipotent in power. How can they contend with him? Seek him in penitence, despise not judgment, for he is great and greatly to be feared. For three reasons God is to be sought.
I. God displays omnipotence in the creation of the world. “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion.” Amos read the power of God in the stars and names those well known to shepherds. The Pleiades were arranged in their splendour and Orion was bound in its place by him (Job_9:9). He created the heavens and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. He keeps the planets and directs their motions. Tempests and fogs, judgments and earthquakes, may darken the sky, but do not hide the power of God. The Divine edict is still in force (Gen_1:3), preserves and marshals the constellations of heaven. “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion” (Job_38:31)?
II. God displays omnipotence in the government of the world. He is seen in all its vicissitudes. In multitude and magnitude, in minuteness and mystery, his works are unsearchable.
1. In changing seasons. Literally he turns night into day by the rising, and day into night by the setting, sun. We find a constant presence, an abiding power, in the seasons of the year. Creation “is but the projected shadow of a throne that overlooks the high places of the universe, filling them with the changeless splendour of a Moral Presence.” In all movements there is no caprice but unchanging law. “He appointeth the moon for seasons, the sun knoweth his going down.”
2. In benevolent designs. Light and darkness are both necessary. Day and night indicate the perfection of Divine arrangement. God has “set the one over against the other” that we may appreciate both. In all changes of nature we have benevolent design. So in spiritual seasons, in prosperity and adversity; we have shadows of death and days of rejoicing; “the morning of hope, the noon of enjoyment, and the night of sorrow.” Each is given in proportion to our faith and the sovereign will of God, whose work is perfect (Deu_32:4).
3. In great calamities. The flood may not again destroy, but it typified fearful inundations which God “pours out upon the face of the earth.” He sends rain in mercy and in judgment. He permits the clouds to send their torrents and the sea to burst its bounds. His power is employed to bless or to punish, to turn the sorrow of the penitent to joy, or the light of the wicked into darkness. Amos predicts a future calamity like that in which God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it, and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?”
III. God displays omnipotence in the retributions of the world. Those that are strong with sinful strength, that defend their spoil, shall be overcome. Desolation will attack every place that was deemed inaccessible. Man’s might is perfect weakness with God. He prevails against the strong, rescues the weakest saint, and destroys all vain confidence. Then if man’s strength cannot defend him when God is angry—if God’s power in creation and in providence is employed in giving retribution to men—what will be the fate of those who trust to their own fortress and rebel against God? Learn—
1. How ruinous to resist a God of such majesty and power.
2. To submit to his chastening rod.
3. To seek and adore him in the most severe and hopeless trials. For “there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo_5:8. The shadow of death into morning. This typifies redemption—
1. From sin, which is darkness of heart and life.
2. From spiritual misery (Isa_9:1).
3. From sorrow and suffering (Job_16:16; Jer_13:16; Psa_24:4).
4. From the grave (Job_3:5; Job_34:22; Job_38:17). “Amos first sets forth the power of God, then his goodness. Out of every extremity of ill God can, will, does deliver. He who said, let there be light, and there was light, at once changeth any depth of darkness into light, the death darkness of sin into the dawn of grace, the hopeless night of ignorance into the daystar from on high; the night of the grave into the eternal morn of the resurrection which knoweth no setting” [Pusey]. So light, when abused or neglected, He so withdraws it, as at times to leave no trace or gleam of it. Conscience becomes benighted, so as to sin undoubtingly: faith is darkened, so that the soul no more even suspects the truth. Hell has no light [Ib.].
It is not enough to see God in nature and providence or second causes; but we ought so to see him in them as to commend piety to our hearts and press us to it, therefore the exhortation runs, “seek him that maketh,” &c. First, it is an argument to seek him, that he “maketh the seven stars,” &c. It is held out—
1. That God is worthy and ought to be sought and served, who is not only above men and creatures on earth, but his power is in the heavens.
2. He is able either to ruin or refresh men by means and second causes, which are at a great distance from them, even by the influence of the stars.
3. The very vicissitudes and change of seasons and weather are God’s works wherein he is to be seen, and which should invite us to seek him. Secondly, his turning the shadow of death into morning and making the day dark with clouds, teacheth that God can change or settle conditions, as he pleaseth; and if he settle, none can shake, and if he shake, none can establish. And therefore the short path to well-being is to seek him. Thirdly, his calling for the waters of the sea and pouring them out, &c., teacheth that God hath showers of comforts and deluges of miseries to pour out as he pleaseth [Hutcheson].
Amo_5:9. He employs his power and wisdom in vindicating the cause of those who cannot help themselves, and in so remarkable a way, that when the weak have been spoiled by their oppressors, and their oppressors have entrenched themselves in fortified places, even then he causes “the spoiled to come against the fortress.” Hence—
1. Let the impenitent tremble.
2. Let the righteous “be still.”
3. Let those who are moved with fear repent and be saved [Ryan].
HOMILETICS
MANIFOLD AND MIGHTY SINS.—Amo_5:10-13
The duty pressed from consideration of God’s power is still urged on account of Israel’s sins and God’s judgments upon them. These sins are “manifold” and “mighty,” countless in number and aggravating in nature.
I. They hated the public monitor. “They hate him that rebuketh at the gate.” Those who reproved in God’s house, in courts of justice or in places of concourse, were despised. When wisdom lifted up her voice she was not heard (Pro_1:21). When men are impatient under reproof and deaf to good counsel it is an evil sign.
1. They detested the rebuker. Judges were so wicked, that they could not endure those who opposed or rebuked their unrighteous decisions. Claimants and witnesses who pleaded for equity were insulted. Men who defended innocence and cried against injustice were hated beyond degree.
2. They abhorred the upright. Amid general corruption some few, like Noah, witnessed for God and were exposed to ridicule and contempt. Veracity is the bond of society, and all who value the interests of mankind will esteem a truthful man. The example, prayers, and life of the upright are a blessing to any community (Pro_11:11). To hate them and put them to silence is the way to ruin. Yet men love darkness rather than light, and cannot endure those who reprove their sins. Ministers become enemies because they tell the truth. They “make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.”
II. They practised shameful oppression. “Your treading is upon the poor.” The poor were persecuted as if enemies to the State. If they sued for justice they could not get it. “He remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.”
1. Judges took unlawful bribes. “They take a bribe.” Injustice and violence were connived at; the helpless were trampled in the dust, and the rich unjustly acquitted. He that rules over men must be just and rule in the fear of God. “A bad magistrate deprives us of the blessing of just laws.” Sir Matt. Hale could not be corrupted, and Paul would not bribe his judge for freedom (Act_24:26) “A gift perverteth the ways of judgment.”
2. Judges indulged in unbounded selfishness. They imprisoned the righteous, and would only release him for money. They robbed the poor to build houses, plant vineyards, and minister to their own luxury. Their mansions of hewn stone were monuments of extortion. They might preserve from disease (Lev_14:34-38), and be free from decay. But men who secure themselves and enlarge their possessions by injustice will destroy both. Those who ruin others to live in grandeur and state. will find that they build on false foundations and will be robbed of their possessions. “Thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.”
III. They necessitated prudent silence. “Therefore the prudent, shall keep silence.” We must bear open testimony to holiness and truth; but there is “a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” When pearls are cast before swine, when men are deaf to reproof and all warning is useless, then servants of God keep solemn silence. In times of iniquity and judgment, of danger and distress, silence to man may be a duty; but the prudent will speak to God in secret prayer. “For the Lord our God hath put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.”
“Bedewed and silent as a summer’s night”
TIMES OF PRUDENT SILENCE.—Amo_5:13
The prudent man will be well disciplined in mind and speech, will carefully watch for opportunities and improve them. Great wisdom is required to know when and how to speak. It is a time to be silent—
I. When reproof is ridiculed. In the treatment of a fool we must restrain ourselves, and neither indulge his folly nor cherish his spirit. Pride should never be reproved with pride, nor passion checked with passion. Discretion is needful in rebuke. “Wise mariners do not hoist sails in every wind,” says Bp Hall. Jeremiah turned away from false prophets in silence (Jer_28:11). Christ sets us an example in giving kind answers to rude speeches. “Speak not in the ears of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.”
II. When reproof would increase guilt. Men are often hardened and infatuated; deliberately shut their ears and refuse instruction. Reproof would then only add to their guilt and misery. Christ in mercy withheld his tongue before such persons. It is best to “let them alone.” Rebuke might stir up a torrent of abuse and frustrate the design in view. A conceited man needs no direction, thinks his own way right, and follows it to his ruin. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.”
III. When reproof is silenced by calamities. God’s dealings in personal affliction and public judgments call for silence. “It is an evil time.” We are perhaps to blame and cannot reprove others. Under his frown we must hold our peace (Lev_10:3). In his mysterious providence we learn to be still (Psa_46:10). Whatever social or national yoke is put upon us we must “sit alone and keep silence” (Lam_3:28). There are times when we must reverently adore God and submit to his chastisements; when the pride of the wicked and the pleading of the righteous are put to silence. “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it” (Psa_39:9; Neh_9:33; Heb_12:9).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo_5:7-13. To seek God and renounce unrighteousness and oppression. To enforce this exhortation three pictures are made to pass in rapid succession before the eye.
1. The righteous Judge. They are reminded that Jehovah, whose omnipotent power, as manifested in the heavens and on the earth, is described in majestic terms, selects as the special object of his vengeance the strong oppressor (Amo_5:8-9). Amo_5:9. Literally, “That flasheth forth destruction upon the strong, and destruction cometh upon the fortress.”
2. The sin judged. The flagrant maladministration of justice. Claimants or others who sought to maintain the cause of right in the gate, or place of public trial, were rebuked. Truthful witnesses were frowned upon. The poor were trodden under-foot, and justice was sold for burdens, or, as it should rather be rendered, “presents of wheat” (Amo_5:10-11 a).
3. The judgment to be inflicted. Deprivation of all the fruits of their unjust gains and oppressions. They are reminded that though the prudent found it necessary to keep silence in so evil a time, and their deeds thus escaped public exposure, God was acquainted with their “manifold” and “mighty” sins (Amo_5:11 b, 12) [The Preacher’s Lantern].
Amo_5:12. “[know your manifold transgressions,” &c.] The sins of some men. Manifold and mighty. Sins committed with a mighty hand and a haughty spirit. The disobedience of Pharaoh, the “rage” of Sennacherib, and the pride of Herod the Great. Sins injurious to men and offensive to God. The mighty sins of the text and those mentioned by James (Amo_5:7-10).
2. God’s intimate knowledge of these sins. “I know your” sins. You may try to conceal them, darkness and dissimulation may hide them from the gaze of men: but I know them. Nothing can be hidden from the eye of the great Judge. He knows though he does not avenge. We should not flatter ourselves that God sees not and will not punish our sins. All things shall one day be made manifest. “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known.”
Amo_5:13. This may be applied to abstinence from speaking in three ways.
1. From reviling. When injury is inflicted the natural impulse is to return it. Other weapons failing, the tongue is always ready. It must be restrained if we would be disciples of Christ. Vindictive words are absolutely forbidden.
2. From reproof. It is indeed an evil time with the sinner when reproof is not to be used (Hos_4:17; Eze_3:26).
3. From explanation. The best course is to commit our cause to God. The devil, who in an evil time forges the accusations which are often made against the people of God, can suborn the witnesses too [Ryan].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Amo_5:8-9. Power is that glorious attribute of God Almighty which furnishes the rest of his perfections: ’Twas power which made his ideas fruitful, and struck the world out of his thoughts. ’Tis this which is the basis of all things; which constitutes the vigour of second causes, and keeps the sun and moon in repair. Omniscience and goodness, without a corresponding power, would be strangely short of satisfaction; to know everything without being able to supply defects and remedy disorders, must be a grievance; but when omnipotence comes into the nation the grandeur is perfect [Jer. Collier].
Amo_5:9-11.
“It often falls, in course of common life,
That right sometimes is overborne of wrong.
The avarice of power, or guile, or strife,
That weakens her and makes her party strong.
But Justice, though her doom she do prolong.
Yet at the last will make her own cause right.” [Spenser.]
Amo_5:10. Who is there that sometimes does not merit a check? and yet how few will endure one [Feltham].
Amo_5:11. “Built houses,” &c.
“You take my house when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house; you take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live.” [Shakespeare.]
Amo_5:13. Keep silence. Euler lived at Peterburg during the administration of Biron, one of the most tyrannical ministers that ever breathed. On the philosopher’s coming to Berlin, after the tyrant’s death, the late queen of Prussia, who could hardly get a word out of him, asked him the reason of his silence. “Because,” said he, “I come from a place where if a man says a word he is handed” [Whitecross].
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.