Bible Commentaries

Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel.

Hear ye this word — A new sermon, as appeareth by this new O yes; not unlike that of St Paul, Acts 13:16 , "Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience": or rather, that of Diogenes, who cried out at Athens, Aκουσατε ανδρες , Hear, O ye men. And when as (thereupon) a great sort of people resorted to him, expecting some great matter, he looked about him, and said, ανδρας εκαλεσα, ου καθαρματα , I called men, and not slaves. They were no better surely that our prophet had to deal with; "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers," Isaiah 1:4 , children that were corrupters; they had forsaken the Lord, provoked the Holy One of Israel, they had increased revolt. Hence this onerosa prophetia, this word, this weighty word, this burdensome prophecy.

Which I take up against you — Heb. lift up, being scarce able to stand under the burden of it, âשׁà , from this îשׁà , onus. burden. See Trapp on " Malachi 1:1 " And it is against you, not for you; but that is your own fault; for "do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?" Micah 2:7 . Excellently Austin, Adversarius est nobis quandiu sumus et ipsi nobis. The word of God is adversary to none but such as are adversaries to themselves; neither doth it condemn any but those that shall be assuredly condemned by the Lord except they repent. But we have in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, saith the apostle, 2 Corinthians 10:6 , and if any man will hurt God’s faithful witnesses, for discharging their duties, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed, Revelation 11:5 , for Elisha had his sword as well as Jehu and Hazael, 1 Kings 19:17 . And when Elisha unsheatheth and brandisheth his sword, it is a fair warning that the sword of Jehu and Hazael are at hand, See Hosea 6:5 Jeremiah 1:18 .

Even a lamentation — Heb. a very bitter lamentation, Ezekiel 19:14 , like those of Jeremiah for Judah, or of the mourners in Jerusalem, Ezekiel 9:4 , or of Christ weeping over that city, Luke 19:41-42 . Or of Paul bewailing his wretched countrymen, Romans 9:3 ; Romans 10:1: or of the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth, Revelation 11:3 , the habit of mourners: or of Athanasius, who by his tears (as by the bleeding of a chaste vine) sought to cure the leprosy, and prevent the misery of that tainted age. Heu, heu, Domine Deus, Alas alas, Oh God, God, was the cry of the ancient Christians. Flete nefas magnum, nam toto flebitis orbe (Cardan.). Their books are like that in Ezekiel, written on both sides, and there was written therein, "lamentations, and mourning, and woe," Ezekiel 2:10 . This of Amos was a sad song, a doleful ditty, a lamentable prophecy of Israel’s utter destruction, as it followeth in the second verse, where (prophet-like) he speaketh of it as already done, notwithstanding their present prosperity and tranquillity. And have not England’s turtledoves groaned out for a great while the sad and lamentable tunes of woe and misery to this sinful nation; and plainly foretold what we have felt already, and have yet cause enough to fear. Ah! great be the plagues that hang over England (said Mr Philpot, martyr, long since). Happy shall that person be whom the Lord shall take out of this world, not to see them, … And the like said Rogers, our proto-martyr, Bradford, Ridley, Lever, …, besides the concurrent predictions of God’s faithful servants lately, whose hearts and tongues he hath so guided, as that they all, as one man, have denounced heavy judgments, and taken up loud lamentations against us. Now, as before great storms cocks crow loud and thick: so is it here; and so it should be, Exodus 32:31-32 Jeremiah 18:20 Joel 2:17 ; else God will be displeased, Ezekiel 13:5 ; Ezekiel 22:30-31 .

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The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.

The virgin of Israel is fallen — i.e. Though of the spouse of God she be become the devil’s adulteress, Jeremiah 3:1 Hosea 1:2 , yet she will needs be counted and called a virgin still; as Sardis, she hath a name to live, but is dead, Revelation 3:1 ; as the Romish crew cry themselves up the only Church Catholic, and therein (like oyster wives) do much outcry us. But what saith the Lord by his prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 18:13 ? "Ask ve now among the heathen; who hath heard such things?" And "the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing." And the virgin of Rome may well say, as Quartilla the strumpet in Petronius doth, Iunonem meam iratam habeam, si unquam me meminerim virginem fuisse: I can hardly remember myself a maid. Israel may also be called a virgin, because she yet subsisted and flourished in her first liberty and splendour, till taken and defloured, as it were, by the Assyrian. And in this sense we read of the virgin of Babylon, Isaiah 47:1 ; of Egypt, Jeremiah 46:12 ; of Zidon, Isaiah 23:12 ; and now of Venice, whose motto is, Intacta maneo, I am still a maid; as having never yet fallen into the enemies’ power. Tournay, a town in France, was ever counted so invincible, that this sentence was engraven over one of the gates, Iannes ton me perdu ton pucellage, Thou hast never lost thy maidenhead. Yet was it yielded up to our King Henry VIII, with 10,000 pounds sterling, for the the citizens’ redemption. The virgin of Israel sped not so well.

She is fallen — That is, she shall fall, surely, suddenly, utterly.

She shall no more rise — i.e. Return out of captivity, and be restored to her pristine splendour; yet some think otherwise.

She is forsaken upon her land — Proiecta est, prostrata iacet, she is thrown hard upon her ground, and as it were dashed against it, like an earthen pot against a rock; and all this, because she had left off righteousness in the earth, Amos 5:7 . Those that forsake God shall be forsaken of him, 2 Chronicles 15:2 .

There is none to raise her up — God will not; and then, man cannot. "Behold," saith Bildad, "God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he take the ungodly by the hand," Job 8:20 , and he will bring them into trouble, and there leave them, Ezekiel 22:20 ; Ezekiel 29:5 . His own he will not leave; or if he do, yet forsake them he will not, Hebrews 13:5 ; and if men do, he will relieve them the rather. "Because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after; therefore I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord," Jeremiah 30:17 .

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For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth [by] an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

The city that went out by a thousand — i.e. That had a thousand inhabitants passing to and fro through the gates, see Genesis 34:24 ; Genesis 23:10 , for men love not to be cooped up, or confined to a place, as the Duke of Venice is, but to be travelling and trading or that can send out a thousand fit to bear arms.

Shall leave an hundred — Here is a woeful decimation, purporting a very great paucity of people; such as was threatened, Deuteronomy 28:62 , a tenth man only shall be left, if that. Behold the severity of God, and betray not the lives of others by an impenitent continuance in sin. Turn to God, if but for your poor brethren’s sake, that are in danger, or in durance. Hezekiah’s reason to repent is very remarkable, 2 Chronicles 30:9: "For if ye turn again to the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn his face from you, if ye return unto him."

Shall leave ten — Not take ten in a hundred and leave the rest, as the Roman generals used to do in the army, in case of a mutiny. This was fulfilled in that three years’ siege of Samaria, 2 Kings 18:10 , as afterwards the like occured at Jerusalem, which could hardly be repeopled in Nehemiah’s time, and at this day is but thinly inhabited; there being not a hundred households of Jews to be found there. In our countries, of the abundance of people cometh dearth, which maketh many malcontents to mutter; but in many parts of Turkey, for want of men to till the ground; most of the poor being enforced with victuals and other necessaries to follow their great armies, in their long expeditions; of whom scarce one of ten (saith mine author) ever return home again, there by the way perishing, if not by the enemies’ sword, yet by the wants, intemperateness of the air, or immoderate painstaking.

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For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

For thus saith the Lord — Or, truly thus saith the Lord; notwithstanding the former terrible sentence, which the prophet could not denounce with dry eyes; but takes up a lamentation, though less concerned in it, and might well say, as one did in another case,

“ Tu quibus ista legis, incertum est, lector ocellis,

Ipse quidem siccis dicere non potui. ”

All God’s threatenings (for the most part) are conditional, Jeremiah 18:7 ; Jeremiah 26:2 , sc. if men repent not. As if they do, they may live in his sight, and be accounted worthy (such is God’s great goodness) to escape all those things that shall befall the impenitent, Luke 21:36 . The gospel is post naufragium tabula, writing tablet after the ship wreck, sand hath its reward too, Hebrews 11:6 , sc. of grace and mercy. Do this and live, saith the law. Seek the Lord, and live, saith the gospel. "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," and that is the force of the Hebrew word here used, which signifieth to inquire, to make serious search and scrutiny, to seek him out ( εκζητησατε με , as the Seventy have it), when he is withdrawn; to seek him as a student doth sciences, a worldling gold, a hungry man meat, …, as a man studiously turns over a commentary to find out the sense of a text, Isaiah 34:16 . Do this, saith God, and ye shall live; not only have your lives for a prey, but live merrily, happily. "Now we live," saith the apostle; that is, we rejoice, 1 Thessalonians 3:8: and "Thus shall ye say to him that liveth"; that is, hath a comfortable life, and a confluence of blessings, 1 Samuel 25:6 . But besides all this, ye shall live for ever; and aeterna vita, vera vita, eternal life is the only life properly so called. Life (in what sense soever taken) is a sweet mercy: "A living dog is better than a dead lion," saith Solomon, Ecclesiastes 9:4 ; and "Joseph is yet alive," saith Jacob (he doth not say, Joseph is lord of Egypt), "I will get down, and see him before I die," Genesis 45:28 . "But eternal life is" (by a speciality and with an accent) "the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord," Romans 6:23 ; and this gift he will freely bestow on all that so seek him as not to be satisfied without him, as Moses, who would not be put off with an angel, but said, "If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence," Exodus 33:15 ; and as Luther, who when great gifts were sent him, refused them and said, Valde protestatus sum, me nolle sic satiari a Deo: I deeply protested that I would not be satisfied with these low things, but that I would have God or nothing. This was one of those brave apophthegms A terse, pointed saying, embodying an important truth in few words; a pithy or sententious maxim. ŒD of his, concerning which Melchior Adam well saith, A man would fetch them upon his knees from Rome, or Jerusalem, rather than be without them.

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But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

But seek not Bethel, … — Make not lies your refuge, idols your oracles; "they that observe lying vanities do" (by their own election) "forsake their own mercies." Jonah 2:8 But I (saith the prophet, who had now paid for his learning, and was yet under the lash) will sacrifice to thee alone, will seek thy face and favour, not at Bethel, or Gilgal, but in the place where thine honour dwelleth; not at Hull, Sichem, or Loretto, but in the true reformed Churches, in the beauties of holiness, in the midst of those seven golden candlesticks, in the hearts and houses of his faithful people, concerning whom he hath said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them," 2 Corinthians 6:16 , and when they walk within their houses with a perfect heart, I will come unto them, Psalms 101:2 . I will there command my blessing, "even life for evermore," Psalms 133:3: see Amos 4:4 Hosea 4:15 . See Trapp on " Amos 4:4 " See Trapp on " Hosea 4:15 "

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity — An elegant alliteration in the original, such as the prophets are full of, and this plain prophet among the rest ( äâìâì âìä éâìä ): see Amos 8:2 . Ministers may sometimes rhetoricate; and it had need to be an elaborate speech that shall work upon the conscience.

And Bethel shall come to nought — Heb. shall be Aven, as elsewhere it is called Betharch, Hosea 4:11 ; Hosea 10:5 . Against Beersheba he saith nothing; because that name afforded him not the like elegance, as Mercer thinketh; or because that city belonged to Judah, and so was not destroyed with the ten tribes, as Jerome holdeth, 1 Kings 19:3 . Seek not these places, saith the prophet, for help and succour in distress; but say, as Jeremiah 3:23 , "Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from these hills: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel."

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Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and [there be] none to quench [it] in Bethel.

Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live — See Amos 5:4 . Sic eadem saepe surdis et obstinatis inculcantur (Mercer). The continual pressing of a duty imports: 1. The excellency; 2. The necessity; 3. The difficulty of doing it: else what need so many words? Perquam durum est, sed ita lex scripts est, saith Ulpian. Hard or not hard, it must be done, or men are undone.

Lest he break out like fire — Lest he go through you and burn you together, Isaiah 27:4 , lest ye be "utterly burnt with fire in the same place," 2 Samuel 23:7 , that is, in hell (as some expound it), which the prophet called tormenting Tophet, Isaiah 30:33 , and Plato calleth πυριφλεγεθων , a fiery lake; so terrible, saith Bellarmine, that one glimpse of it were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober, but anchorite A person who has withdrawn or secluded himself from the world; usually one who has done so for religious reasons, a recluse, a hermit. ŒD and monk; to live after the strictest rule that may be.

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Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

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, Daniel 8:12 , while you oppress the just, crush the needy, …, Amos 4:1: see the note there. Some read the text, by way of exclamation, thus: O ye that turn judgment, …; q.d. What strange creatures are you! what monsters of men! what public scourges! what scabs! Isaiah 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.).

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[Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name:

Seek him that maketh the seven stars — Once again, "Seek him"; that is, Return to him by true repentance; and by faith take hold of his strength, that ye may make peace, and ye shall make peace with him, Isaiah 27:5 . To stand out it boots not; since it is he that made Bootes and Orion, …, that is, of infinite power; and doeth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth, "who only doeth wondrous things," Psalms 72:18 . See Amos 4:12-13 . Chimah and Chesil, that is, Pleiades and Orion, are twice mentioned together in Job. Noted stars they are, and known to shepherds and such like. Amos, likely, was but such an astronomer as herdsmen use to be. Those who write of these stars tell us, that Chimah comes of Chamah, to love ardently; because of the fellowship and working together that appears in them. They be seven stars that have all one name; because they all help one another in their work, which is to bring the spring; and like seven sisters or lovers, so are they joined together in one constellation, and in one company. We see (saith one) that God will have the sweetest works in nature to be performed by mutual help. The best time of the year cometh with these seven stars (hence we read of their sweet influence, Job 38:31 ), and the best time of our life cometh when we enter into true love and fellowship. As for Orion, it is the star (saith the same author) that brings winter; and his bonds cannot be loosed. It binds the earth with frost and cold, that the fruits thereof might be seasoned and made kindly against the spring: neither can the spring come till Orion have prepared the way. God will have us suffer before we reign. The word Chesil here used signifies, in the Chaldee, to perfect; because by suffering and offering violence to ourselves we enter into perfection, Luke 13:32 . If we would have a pleasant spring of graces in our hearts, we must first have a nipping winter: the spirit of mortification must be like the cold star Orion, to nip our quick motions in the head, and to bind all our unclean desires and burning lusts, that they stir not in us; and unless we do thus, the seven stars of comfort shall never appear to us.

And turneth the shadow of death, — that is, the thickest darkness ( tenebras ferales et letales, Psalms 23:4 ),

into the morning — Into "the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," Proverbs 4:18 . This severing of night from day and day from night, this mutual and orderly succession and course of the night after the day, and the day after the night, the lengthening and shortening of the days in summer and winter, the wonderful eclipses, and other occurrents of that nature, are works of God’s power and providence, not to be slighted, but improved to true repentance. We are to mark the countenance of the sky, and to discern the face of heaven; that every day and night winketh at us, and beckoneth to us, to remember the wisdom, power, justice, and mercy of God lined out unto us in the brows of the firmament. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork," Psalms 19:1 . The creatures are Regii professores, ministers of the King, saith one; Catholic preachers, saith another; Real apostles of the divinity, saith a third. Clemens Alexandrinus saith, that the world is Dei scriptura, word of God, the first Bible that God made for the instruction of man. Antonius Eremita told a philosopher, who objected to him his want of books, that the universe was to him instead of a well furnished library, everywhere ready at hand. Hugo affirmeth, that everything uttereth these three words, Accipe, Redde, Fuge, Receive mercy, Return duty, Shun sin, together with that hell that it hales at the heels of it. Much a man may learn out of the book of nature, with its three leaves, Heaven, Earth, and Sea; but there he must not rest. For, as where the naturalist ends the physician begins; so, where nature fails and can go no farther, there Scripture succeeds and gives more grace, James 4:6 Psalms 19:1-2 ; Psalms 19:7-8 . The Chaldee paraphrast takes this text allegorically, as if the sense were; God changeth his hand towards the sons of men at his pleasure, prospering them one while, crossing them another; so that they walk in darkness and have no light, Isaiah 50:10 , yea, they walk through the vale of the shadow of death, Psalms 23:4 . Not through a dark entry or churchyard in the night time, but a valley, a large, long, vast place; not of darkness only, but of death; and not bare death, but the shadow of death, that is, the darkest and most dismal side of death, in its most hideous and horrid representations. And yet if God be with his Davids in this sad condition, no hurt shall befall them, but much good.

“ Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur. ”

That calleth for the waters of the sea — That is, for great armies, saith the Chaldee. But better take it literally, of the generation of rain, the chief author whereof is God: the material cause is the sea sending up vapours; the instrumental cause is the sun, by the beams whereof God draws the vapour upwards; sends for them, as it were, into the middle region of the air, there thickeneth them into clouds, and then resolveth them into rain. This Kimchi illustrateth by the simile of a boiling pot, whereout vapours and fumes, ascending to the colder pot lid, are turned into drops of water, see Genesis 2:6 .

The waters of the sea — 1 Kings 18:44 , a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man’s hand. And presently the prophet said to Ahab, "Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds," …

“ Humorem magno tollunt ex aequore ponti

Nubes, qui in tote terrarum spargitur orbe,

Cum pluit in terris ” (Lucret. lib. 6).

The naturalists observe that it snows not in the sea, because it sends up hot vapours, which presently dissolve the snow.

The Lord is his name — His memorial, Hosea 12:5 . See Trapp on " Hosea 12:5 " He is not an idol, to be dallied with and deluded.

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