HOMILETICS
CRITICAL NOTES.] Second woe denounced. Ease] Recklessly and carelessly. Mount.] not in God. Sam.] Strong, which resisted for 3 years, and was the last city of Israel taken (2 Kings 17:5-6). Chief] in influence and office, Heb. men designated (Numbers 1:17; 1 Chronicles 12:31). Came] for decision and help. Israel was the chief of nations, and these princes the distinguished of Israel. Sadly degenerate now!
AT EASE IN ZION.—Amos 6:1
In the first part of this chapter woe is uttered against the careless chiefs of the nation, for profane security, contempt of Divine judgments, and heartless oppression. Special allusion is made to the leaders, but the whole nation had sunk into godless conduct and shameful debauchery.
I. At ease in eminent responsibility. “At ease in Zion.” Israel was exalted as a nation above others. Israel’s princes were men of rank and authority; “renowned of the congregation,” and consulted by the people. All were blessed with eminent privileges and great responsibility. But the honour was not recognized. The highest motive to action did not confirm them in fidelity to God. They carelessly indulged themselves and forgot their responsibilities. Where much is given, much will be required. To be “at ease in Zion,” in the midst of religious ordinances and gospel light, is especial danger. If we neglect or despise our eminent position, we aggravate our guilt, and increase the greatness of our downfall—“Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!” &c.
II. At ease in carnal security. “And trust in the mountain of Samaria.” Zion, the centre of religion, and Samaria, the metropolis of a powerful kingdom, were the security of Israel. Our own strength and resources will prove a broken reed. Men may boast of the places in which they live, glory in their eminence, and secure themselves in ease; but vain confidence in the means of grace will awfully disappoint. We must trust to no great men, no high hills. “Our help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”
III. At ease in great pride. Connected with ease and carnal security was a haughty spirit. Israel prided themselves in their relation to God, and disdained other nations. “The chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came” would think themselves, and expect others to call them, great men. “Haughty because of my holy mountain.” Many are puffed up with pride, and rock themselves to sleep in religious privileges. They cry “The temple of the Lord are we” (Jeremiah 7:4), and doubt not but God’s sanctuary will secure them from judgments to come. But pride never gives true rest, and those who delude themselves in superior holiness and distinguished titles shall be utterly forgotten (Psalms 109:13). The greater their glory, the more shameful their punishment. “How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her.”
IV. At ease in threatened judgments. “Woe to them.” When God is angry men have no reason to sleep. Reckless indifference, in business and religion, is a forerunner of certain ruin. Careless sinners, sleepers in Zion, are in danger of eternal destruction. When they rouse not at the call of the gospel, when deaf to the thunders of Divine judgments, they sleep where God will come first and be most severe; where the calls are loudest and the doom most hopeless. Wake up at the sound of “Woe,” before you feel its dreadful reality. “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise and call upon thy God.”
SCOURGE FOR SLUMBERING SOULS
In itself considered it is no ill thing, but a great blessing, to be at ease in Zion, in a healthy sense of the word. But there is an ill sense in which it is used, “Woe to them,” &c: the ease of one grown callous, hardened, and sullen, a sleep which if not broken will bring to the bed of hell.
I. First, to rouse the many at ease in Zion, we will call out their names—which are found in the chapter before us. The name of the first sleeper in Zion is Presumptuous. His character is described in the first verse, “They trust in the mountain,” &c.—boast of their morality and self-righteousness. “I am rich and increased in good,” &c. A second is Not-now, or Procrastination. “Ye that put far away the evil day” (Amos 6:3). The third name is Evil-doer, or Sin-lover. “They cause the seat of violence to come near.” The next is Love-self. “They lie upon beds of ivory,” &c. Among those at ease was one called Careless, an individual who belongs to a large family. We may give him another name, giddy, light-hearted. “That chant to the sound of the viol.” The last name is Crossless. “They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” II. Now having mentioned their names we shed some light upon these sleepers’ eyes. A hopeless errand! for they sleep with the sun of heaven shining upon their eyelids. “At ease in Zion.’ Not in Ethiopia, where they have never heard the gospel; not in Sheba or the ends of the earth, where no warning prophets had been sent. In the first place you are asleep, but you know your danger. You have frequent arousings. Everything in this place cries out against you. To be at ease when the House, the Gospel, and the Sabbath are crying out against us, is to be at ease while God is making ready his sword against us. III. The last point is, to sound the trumpet in the ears of the sleepers. My trumpet has but one note, “Woe! woe! woe!” Not a living man knows the full meaning of that word. Bring out the gentler parts of the note; and first, woe to you, for now is it at all likely that you ever will be saved? In the innumerable cases in this place of conversion the majority were persons who had not long heard the word. I think Christmas Evans used the simile of the blacksmith’s dog, which was very frightened with the sparks at first, but at last got so accustomed to them that he went to sleep under the anvil. “And so,” said the good preacher, “there be many that go to sleep under the gospel, with the sparks of damnation flying about their nostrils.” Remember you are asleep in a place where Justice deals its heaviest blow. Do you tremble? You are saved the moment you believe in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation,” &c. [Spurgeon].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Amos 6:1. Ease. This is carnal ease, a fleshly security; it is not the confidence of a man who is pardoned, but the ease of a hardened wretch who has learned to despise the gibbet. It is not the calm of a soul at peace with God, but the ease of a madman, who because he has hidden his sin from his own eyes, thinks he has concealed it from God [Spurgeon].