CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amos 6:2. Pass] Survey three neighbouring kingdoms. “If these kingdoms are not better and greater than yours, why do ye worship their gods and forsake the true God?” [Elzas].
Amos 6:3. Woe] Charge first from a general and then a special view. Put off] Lit. with aversion, the day of retribution, though declared near (Ezekiel 12:21-28). Bring near] Suffer oppression to be enthroned among you.
INGRATITUDE FOR THE PRESENCE AND INDIFFERENCE TO THE WARNINGS OF GOD.—Amos 6:2-3
To prove the ingratitude of the nation, Amos shows that Israel was not inferior to any heathen state in greatness and prosperity—that this honour involved serious responsibility, and that to despise the warnings of God who had thus blessed them would bring great punishment.
I. Ingratitude for God’s presence. Israel were ungrateful to God for the original gift and the continued preservation of the land. The heathens had suffered, they had been spared, yet they forgot God.
1. In national prosperity. “Pass ye,” &c., look everywhere and see if any kingdom has a “border greater than your border.” We boast of our rank and pre-eminence; talk of our colonies and dependencies, and exclaim, “Great and mighty England!” But empire is not greatness. The history of Gath and Hamath, of Greece and Rome, remind us that we stand by God’s providence alone—that we fall when we rely on our own might and prosperity. If we trust to our insular position, our popular platform, and our natural resources, we forget the real and extract the wrong causes.
2. In national morality. We pride ourselves in national worth, and point to other nations, are “they better than these kingdoms?” Education and government, society and public sentiment, are intoned and controlled by the spirit of Christianity. But morally we are far from being what we ought. Boasting is excluded by non-recognition of God and prevalent evils. We are often extravagant and haughty. Vice and intemperance abound. Bacchus and Mammon have temples in every town, and votaries in every street. There are spots in our sun and dirt upon our pedestal. Let us not be unthankful to God, not forgetful of other nations. “Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea,” &c. (Nahum 3:8-9)?
II. Indifference to God’s warning. “You put away the evil day.” As Israel despised the judgments, so men now put away the warnings of God’s providence. The evil day frightens the ungodly, and in different ways they push it from them and assign it to a distance.
1. In carelessness. Sentence against sin is not executed speedily, and men grow indifferent. Space for escape is given, the long-suffering of God is seen, and they take liberties. Sin blinds the mind and hardens the heart. Impressions wear away, proofs of judgments grow weaker, and sinners view things with inverted glance. Duty is delayed and death is put out of their minds.
“All men think all men mortal, but themselves.”
2. In unbelief. Amid culture and science scepticism abounds, infidelity spreads, and warnings are unheeded. Indulgence in sin opens up avenues to unbelief. Led to believe against all moral evidence, men speak as they feel, and make evil days small and distant. “Therefore do men take judgment to be far off from them,” says one, “because they take sin to be near them.” Truth looked at from a distance will gradually fade away, and lose its authority over life. It will be put farther and farther from us until it is denied altogether, and we sleep in false security.
3. In contempt. Israel neither feared nor believed approaching danger. In scorn they might tell the prophet it was delayed, and would therefore not come near them. Instead of preparing for it, they grew harder and more eager in sin. “They cause violence to come near.” The farther they put away judgment the nearer they brought oppression. Under colour of justice and law the wicked fix up the throne of iniquity, disregard the voice of God, and hasten on that last destruction which they dream will never come. Death is but a step off, and “the Judge standeth before the door.” Retribution follows judgment, and if retribution were only temporal and mutable that would be alarming. But it is eternal and irreversible. Are we prepared for the change? “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Amos 6:2-3. He that is graceless in a day of grace will be speechless in a day of judgment [Mead].
“Heaven gives the needful, but neglected call.
What day, what hour, but knocks at human hearts,
To wake the soul to sense of future scenes.” [Young.]