CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amos 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. Amos 6:12; Deuteronomy 29:17).
Amos 5:8.] God in creation, moral government, and judicial procedure described almost in words like Job 9:9,
Amos 5:10. Hate] the reprover who condemns their sins; Amos himself, or judges at the gate who put down injustice (Isaiah 29:21; Jeremiah 17:19).
Amos 5:11. Take] Burdensome taxes levied in kind from the wheat of the needy to pamper the lusts of the great [Henderson].
Amos 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 (Numbers 35:31).
Amos 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.—Amos 5:7
The proper place for these words, many think, is after Amos 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.—Amos 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 (Genesis 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 (Deuteronomy 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
Amos 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 (Isaiah 9:1).
3. From sorrow and suffering (Job 16:16; Jeremiah 13:16; Psalms 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].
Amos 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.—Amos 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 (Proverbs 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 (Proverbs 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 (Acts 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 (Leviticus 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.—Amos 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 (Jeremiah 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 (Leviticus 10:3). In his mysterious providence we learn to be still (Psalms 46:10). Whatever social or national yoke is put upon us we must “sit alone and keep silence” (Lamentations 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” (Psalms 39:9; Nehemiah 9:33; Hebrews 12:9).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amos 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 (Amos 5:8-9). Amos 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” (Amos 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 (Amos 5:11 b, Amos 5:12) [The Preacher’s Lantern].
Amos 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 (Amos 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.”
Amos 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 (Hosea 4:17; Ezekiel 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
Amos 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].
“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.]
Amos 5:10. Who is there that sometimes does not merit a check? and yet how few will endure one [Feltham].
Amos 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.]
Amos 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].