Commentari biblici

Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken, … — Here beginneth the second sermon, tending to confirm what had been affirmed in the former, and evincing the equity of the judgments there threatened for their hateful ingratitude and other horrible offences, condemned and cried out upon by the very heathens.

Hear this word — Verbum hoc decretorium, this notable word. There are three articles in the original; and there is not the least tittle in the text upon which there hangeth not a mountain of sense, said the Rabbis; this next verse ( àú äøáø çæä ; so Matthew 22:21 ; τα του Yεου τω Yεω ).

That the Lord hath spoken — And shall he not do it? Who ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Job 9:4 .

Against you, O children of Israel — By his word Christ many times secretly smites the earth, Isaiah 11:4 , that is, the consciences of carnal men, glued to the earth: He sets a continual edge upon the word, and consumes them by his rebukes, till he have wearied them with his secret buffets and terrors; and then in the end casts them into a reprobate sense, as he did the Pharisees, who were toties puncti et repuncti, minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti.

Against the whole family — The Dodecaphylon, all the twelve tribes, the whole house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, Isaiah 48:1 ; God stands not upon multitudes, Psalms 9:17 , nor matters whether it be against a nation that he speaketh and acteth, or against a man only, Job 34:29 .

Which I brought up from the land of Egypt — This they often hear of by way of exprobation, as Amos 2:10 . God seeming to repent him for their detestable unthankfulness, as David did of the kindness he had shown unworthy Nabal, in safe guarding his substance, 1 Samuel 25:7 ; and to complain, as Frederick III, Emperor of Germany did, that of those courtiers whom he had advanced he found scarcely any that proved faithful to him, but the worse for his courtesy; or as Queen Elizabeth, that in trust she had found treason.

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You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

You only have I known — That is, owned and honoured, called and culled, chosen and accepted to be my people, when I had all the world before me to choose in, Deuteronomy 10:14-15 , and nothing to move me thereto but mine own mere grace, even the good pleasure of my will ( ευδοκια ).

Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities — Not passing by the least without a sensible check: the least, I say, that is allowed and wallowed in; and that because of the disloyalty and treachery that is therein. Other mens’ sins are rebellions against God; but the saints’ sins are treacheries, because against the covenant. Let such, therefore, look to themselves, and walk accurately, or they shall be sure to rue it, ακριβως , Ephesians 5:15 . God will be sure to plough his own ground, whatsoever becomes of the waste; and to weed his own garden, though the rest of the world should be let alone to grow wild. His own he will not fail to punish. 1. In case of scandal, as David. 2. For sins unrepented of, though not scandalous. Oh the bloody welts that God hath left upon the backs of his own dear children for such sins! Bastards may escape scot-free, but sons shall pay for it. Ingentia beneficia, fiagitia, supplicia. The punishing angel is bidden begin at God’s sanctuary, Ezekiel 9:6 . He will be sanctified in all that draw near unto him, Leviticus 10:3 . Sanctified I say, either actively or passively; either in the sincerity of men’s conversation or in the severity of their visitation; at which time his articles of inquiry will be very strict and critical against his own professed people, who are therefore worse than others (and shall therefore speed worse), because they ought to be better.

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Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Can two walk together, except they be agreed — God permits his people to walk together with him in a humble familiarity; but then they must take care that familiarity breeds not contempt; and that they conceit not that he will connive at their iniquities, or that their holy services will bear them out in any known sin. He is just and jealous of his glory, wherein he should be no small loser, if he did wink at any besides involuntary failings and unavoidable infirmities; for which there is a pardon of course, if sued out. If I shall walk with you, saith God, as a father, friend, husband, you must agree with me, consent and conform to me, idem velle, et idem nolle, will and nill the same that I do; or else I shall walk with you no otherwise than as a severe judge or cruel enemy, Leviticus 26:24 , as a lion with the prey that he hath taken, as the fowler with the bird he hath caught, or the hunter with the wild beast he hath gotten into his snare.

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Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

Will a lion roar in the forest, when, … — It is said of the lion, that he sets up a double roar; first, when he spies his prey, next, when he seizeth it; then, saith Plutarch, he roareth, or rather belloweth like a bull, that other beasts may come to him, and take part with him. It is not for nothing that the lion uttereth his voice; much less that Almighty God thundereth and threateneth by his prophets, your sins without repentance will be your ruin, according to those threatenings; though you are so sturdy, or at least so stupid, as to fear them no more than Behemoth doth the iron weapons, which are esteemed by him as straws, or bullrushes, Job 40:15 . Shall the wrath of a king be as the roaring of a lion, Proverbs 19:12 , and as the messengers of death, Proverbs 16:14 , and shall God’s menaces be slighted? will vile men imagine him a God of clouts? One that howsoever he speaketh heavy words, will not do as he saith? intends them no otherwise than in terrorem, for spectres? Surely they will find it far otherwise; and it must be concluded, that being already sentenced, either their beds are very soft, or their hearts very hard, that can sleep securely in so deplorable a condition. Surely God’s predictions shall have their accomplishment, 1 Samuel 3:19 ; 1 Samuel 15:29 . Believe them, therefore; stand in awe and sin not, since he that "despiseth the word shall be destroyed; but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded," Proverbs 13:13 . See Trapp on " Proverbs 13:13 "

Will a young lion cry out of his den — q.d. Is it for nothing that God so terribly threateneth? "Is there not a cause?" as David said in another case, 1 Samuel 17:29 . Surely, as in the Revelation we never read that heaven opened, but some great matter followed; so here: Hath the Lord spoken it, and shall he not do it? Never think it. Oh think of God as of one not to be thought of; as one whose wisdom is his justice, whose justice is his power, whose power is his truth, and all himself. He is the God of Amen, Psalms 31:6 , faithful and true; he can as soon die as lie; neither can he be hindered or resisted, as angels, men, and devils may. In the creature there is an essence and a faculty whereby they work; as in fire is the substance and the quality of heat. Now between these God can separate, and so hinder their working, as in the Babylonish fire. In the angels there is an essence and an executive power: God comes between these often and hinders them from doing what they would. Not so in God, who is most simple and entire, armed with power irresistible to tame his rebels: "Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame," Zephaniah 3:5 ; the fool passeth on and is punished, Proverbs 22:3 .

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Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth? … — Think you that all things are carried here by blind fortune, and not by a particular providence, as if

“ mundo nullus inesset

Rector, et incerto fluerent mortalia casu? ”

Will you say of the evils you have suffered, in the language of Ashdod, "It is a chance?" 1 Samuel 6:9 . Is that heathen idol fortune anything in the world, 1 Corinthians 10:19 , more than a blasphemy, spued out by the devil against the Divine providence? Can a sparrow fall to the ground, or any the least bird into a snare upon the earth, without your heavenly Father? Matthew 10:29 . Birds flying seem to be at liberty, yet are guided by an overruling hand. They fall sometimes into a gin; and do not you thereupon conclude that some fowler’s hand is in it? Lo, you are ensnared and ensnarled by your enemies; and can you not discern that it is the Lord who hath done it? Lamentations 3:37-38 Acts 17:25 ; Acts 17:28 Ecclesiastes 9:12 , "For man knoweth not his time" (nor his chance, Amos 3:11 ): "as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly" (but providentially) "upon them."

Or shall one take up a snare from the earth, … — No wise fowler will take up his nets till he have gotten his prey; no more will God withdraw his hand, or call off the enemy and the avenger, till he have his design; till he hath either reformed or ruined you.

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Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done [it]?

Shall a trumpet be blown — sc. out of a watch-tower in time of war, to sound an alarm, and to say, Hannibal ad portas, the enemy is at hand, the Philistines are upon you.

And the people not be afraid — Or run together to make resistance? Will ye not then tremble at my threats, saith the Lord? "Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob," Jeremiah 5:22 Psalms 114:7 . Fear is an affection of the soul, shrinking in itself from some eminent evil. God is the proper object of it, whence he is called fear in the abstract, Psalms 76:11 , and those that come on his errand should be received with reverence, yea, "with fear and trembling," as was Titus, 2 Corinthians 7:15 , and before him Samuel, by those elders of Bethlehem, 1 Samuel 16:4 , as suspecting it was the purpose of some judgment that brought him thither. Comest thou peaceably? said they. It is a good thing to stand in awe of God’s messengers, and to tremble at his judgments, while they yet hang in the threatenings. It appeareth by this prophet that carnal security was grown epidemical, and had overspread the land, Amos 6:2-3 . Some there were that said, God had not sent the prophets to denounce those evils, but that they had done it of their own volition, as we say. Others doubted the certainty of those evils denounced, Amos 6:3 , against whom he here disputeth by these foregoing similitudes; and in the next words plainly asserteth the Divine providence, and the authority of the prophets, God’s privy councillors.

Shall there be evil in a city — Understand it of the evil of punishment. See Lamentations 3:37 Isaiah 45:7 Micah 1:12 Ecclesiastes 7:14 1 Kings 9:9 ; 1 Kings 21:29 . See my treatise called God’s love-tokens.

And the Lord hath not done it? — Although God doth it not but only as it is bonum iustitim, good in order to his glory. That which we are here advertised is that it is not luck and fortune that doth toss and tumble things here below; but that God sits at the stern, and steers the affairs of the world. The Gentiles, indeed, held Fortune as a goddess; representing her by a woman sitting upon a ball, as if the whole world were at her command; having with her a razor, as if she could at her pleasure cut off and end man’s happiness; bearing in her right hand the stern of a ship, as if she could turn about all things at her pleasure, and in her left hand the horn of abundance, as though all plenty came from her. This was abominable idolatry, to be shunned by Christians; yea, the very name of luck or fortune is to be spit out of their mouths with utmost detestation. It repented Austin that ever he had used that wicked word, Fortuna , Chance (Aug. Retract.).

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Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Surely the Lord God will do nothing — i.e. hardly anything. He loveth to foresignify, to warn before he wound; and this merely out of his philanthropy. Howbeit sometimes, and in some cases, he is more sudden and still in his revenges; that he may thereby, first, maintain his honour and glory, the eyes whereof are by some sins extraordinarily provoked, as Acts 12:23 . And secondly, to teach men not to continue in sin, no, not for a moment; since they may be presently cut off from all further time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever; this made Austin say that he would not be an atheist, no, not one half hour, to gain all the world. See Luke 17:32 ; Luke 12:20 . Pharaoh had warning of the first and second plagues, not so of the third; and again of the fourth and fifth, but not of the sixth; and yet again of the seventh and eighth, but not of the ninth. And when neither warning nor no warning would do good, then came that sweeping plague;

“ Tandem prototocos ultima plaga necat. ”

But he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets — God’s prophets, then, are his menial servants; not his underlings, or inferior hinds but of noblest employment about him. Every faithful minister is servant to the King of heaven (Acts 27:23 , "whose I am, and whom I serve"; this the devil denied not, Acts 16:16-17 ), yea, his steward, ambassador, herald (as here), by whom he proclaims war, but first proffers pardon and proposes conditions of peace: a practice usual not only among the people of God, by his appointment, Deuteronomy 20:10 , but also among the heathens, as histories inform us. The Romans had their Lex Faecialis; by their heralds they sent to such as had wronged them, Caduceum et Hastam, as ensigns of peace and war, that within thirty days they might take their choice; within which time, if they did them not right, the herald presently denounced war against them, casting forth a dart in token thereof. Alexander’s course was as follows, when he sat down before a city, to set up a torch; to show that if they would come in and submit before that torch were burnt out, they should have hearing; Tamerlane hanged out first a white flag, then a red, and lastly a black; and the Turks to this day first make to their enemies some offer of peace, how unreasonable soever it matters not. God’s offers in this kind are all of grace, and for our good. If it were otherwise, what need he give warning? and why doth he not as Absalom did, when, intending to murder Amnon, he spake neither good nor evil to him? Well might the Lord say, "Fury is not in me: O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. As I live, I desire not the death of a sinner," … If he did, why might he not rush suddenly upon such and confound them at once, as he did the reprobate angels, even in the very act and first moment of their sin? Why comes he first in a soft still voice, when he might justly thunder strike us? and why sendeth he his heralds to proclaim war, but yet with articles of peace and reconciliation open in their hands? Why was he but six days in making tbe world, and yet seven days in unmaking and destroying one city, Jericho? (Chrysost.). Was it not to show that "the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and of great kindness?" Psalms 103:8 . And this he hath commanded his prophets to make known, that the goodness of God may lead men to repentance, Romans 2:4 . As, if they turn his grace into wantonness, and pervert his patience to presumption, their commission is to declaim against such practices with all authority, Titus 2:15 , and to proclaim hell fire, in case men amend not. Necessity is laid upon them so to do, and woe be to them if they preach not law as well as gospel; that when they return up their commission they may report the matter, saying, "Behold, we have done as thou hast commanded us," Ezekiel 9:11 . True it is, that perverse people question the prophets, and quarrel them for this plain dealing; as Ahab did Elijah for a troubler of Israel, and Amaziah our prophet Amos for a trumpeter of rebellion. But this is as great folly as if some fond people should accuse the herald or the trumpet as the cause of their war; or as if some ignorant peasant, when he seeth his fowls bathing in his pond, should cry out of them as the causes of foul weather.

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The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? — Who that knoweth the terror of the Lord can dare to do otherwise, when he commandeth it? Shall men fear fire, water, bears, lions, …, and not the great and terrible God? If he roar upon his servants and say, as to Jeremiah he once did, "Thou therefore, gird up the loins of thy mind, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them," Jeremiah 1:17 . We must roar against men’s sins, and be instant, though they roar against us for so doing, and threaten never so much. Micaiah will not budge for a king’s authority when once he had seen the Lord in his majesty; nor Paul for an angel’s, Galatians 1:8 , the rest of the apostles for the Sanhedrim’s, Acts 4:19 ; Acts 5:25 . When the emperor threatened Basil with imprisonment, banishment, death, he answered: Let him threaten boys with such spectres; I am resolved: neither menaces nor flatteries shall silence me, or draw me to betray a good cause or conscience. If I deal not plainly and faithfully with your souls, said Bernard, vobis erit damnosum, mihi periculosum. Timeo itaque damnum vestrum, timeo damnationem meam si tacuero: i.e. it will be ill for you, and worse for me. The truth is, you would be betrayed, and I should be damned, if I should hold my peace. Let me be accounted proud, pragmatic, anything rather than found guilty of sinful silence when the Lord calleth me to speak, saith Luther. These were men whose hearts were fraught with the reverential fear of God; and therefore found themselves necessitated to be faithful; besides the love of Christ constraineth them, 2 Corinthians 5:14 , so that they could do no less, they could not but speak, Acts 4:19 .

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