Bible Commentaries

Am 3:1-15.

GOD'S EXTRAORDINARY LOVE, BEING REPAID BY ISRAEL WITH INGRATITUDE, OF NECESSITY CALLS FOR JUDGMENTS, WHICH THE PROPHETS ANNOUNCE, NOT AT RANDOM, BUT BY GOD'S COMMISSION, WHICH THEY CANNOT BUT FULFIL. THE OPPRESSION PREVALENT IN ISRAEL WILL BRING DOWN RUIN ON ALL SAVE A SMALL REMNANT.

1. children of Israel--not merely the ten tribes, but "the whole family brought up from Egypt"; all the descendants of Jacob, including Judah and Benjamin. Compare

Jer 8:3, and Mic 2:3,

on "family" for the nation. However, as the prophecy following refers to the ten tribes, they must be chiefly, if not solely, meant: they were the majority of the nation; and so Amos concedes what they so often boasted, that they were the elect people of God [CALVIN], but implies that this only heightens their sins.

2. You only have I known--that is, acknowledged as My people, and treated with peculiar favor

(Ex 19:5; De 4:20).

Compare the use of "know,"

Ps 1:6; 144:3; Joh 10:14; 2Ti 2:19.

therefore I will punish--the greater the privileges, the heavier the punishment for the abuse of them; for to the other offenses there is added, in this case, ingratitude. When God's people do not glorify Him, He glorifies Himself by punishing them.

3-6. Here follow several questions of a parable-like kind, to awaken conviction in the people.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?--Can God's prophets be so unanimous in prophesying against you, if God's Spirit were not joined with them, or if their prophecies were false? The Israelites were "at ease," not believing that God was with the prophets in their denunciations of coming ruin to the nation

(Am 6:1, 3;

compare

1Ki 22:18, 24, 27; Jer 43:2).

This accords with

Am 3:7, 8.

So "I will be with thy mouth"

(Ex 4:12; Jer 1:8; Mt 10:20).

If the prophets and God were not agreed, the former could not predict the future as they do. In

Am 2:12

He had said, the Israelites forbade the prophets prophesying; therefore, in

Am 3:3, 8,

He asserts the agreement between the prophets and God who spake by them against Israel [ROSENMULLER]. Rather, "I once walked with you"

(Le 26:12)

as a Father and Husband

(Isa 54:5; Jer 3:14);

but now your way and Mine are utterly diverse; there can therefore be no fellowship between us such as there was

(Am 3:2);

I will walk with you only to "punish you"; as a "lion" walks with his "prey"

(Am 3:4),

as a bird-catcher with a bird [TARNOVIUS]. The prophets, and all servants of God, can have no fellowship with the ungodly

(Ps 119:63; 2Co 6:16, 17; Eph 5:11; Jas 4:4).

4. The same idea as in

Mt 24:28.

Where a corrupt nation is, there God's instruments of punishment are sure also to be. The lion roars loudly only when he has prey in sight.

Will a young lion cry out . . . if he--the "lion," not the "young lion."

have taken nothing?--The young lion just weaned lies silent, until the old lion brings the prey near; then the scent rouses him. So, the prophet would not speak against Israel, if God did not reveal to him Israel's sins as requiring punishment.

5. When a bird trying to fly upwards is made to fall upon the earth snare, it is a plain proof that the snare is there; so, Israel, now that thou art falling, infer thence, that it is in the snare of the divine judgment that thou art entangled [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU].

shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing--The bird-catcher does not remove his snare off the ground till he has caught some prey; so God will not withdraw the Assyrians, &c., the instruments of punishment, until they have had the success against you which God gives them. The foe corresponds to the "snare," suddenly springing from the ground and enclosing the bird on the latter touching it; the Hebrew is literally, "Shall the snare spring from the earth?" Israel entangled in judgments answers to the bird "taken."

6. When the sound of alarm is trumpeted by the watchman in the city, the people are sure to run to and fro in alarm (Hebrew, literally). Yet Israel is not alarmed, though God threatens judgments.

shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?--This is the explanation of the preceding similes: God is the Author of all the calamities which come upon you, and which are foretold by His prophets. The evil of sin is from ourselves; the evil of trouble is from God, whoever be the instruments.

7. his secret--namely, His purpose hidden from all, until it is revealed to His prophets (compare

Ge 18:17).

In a wider sense, God's will is revealed to all who love God, which it is not to the world

(Ps 25:14; Joh 15:15; 17:25, 26).

unto his servants--who being servants cannot but obey their Lord in setting forth His purpose (namely, that of judgment against Israel)

(Jer 20:9; Eze 9:11).

Therefore the fault which the ungodly find with them is groundless

(1Ki 18:17).

It aggravates Israel's sin, that God is not about to inflict judgment, without having fully warned the people, if haply they might repent.

8. As when "the lion roars" (compare

Am 1:2; Am 3:4),

none can help but "fear," so when Jehovah communicates His awful message, the prophet cannot but prophesy. Find not fault with me for prophesying; I must obey God. In a wider sense true of all believers

(Ac 4:20; 5:29).