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英文原文
In this chapter we have, I. A sinful people studying to put a slight upon God's threatenings and to make them appear trivial, confiding in their privileges and pre-eminences above other nations (Am 6:2,3), and their power (Am 6:13), and wholly addicted to their pleasures, Am 6:4-6. II. A serious prophet studying to put a weight upon God's threatenings and to make them appear terrible, by setting forth the severity of those judgments that were coming upon these sensualists (Am 6:7), God's abhorring them, and abandoning them and theirs to death (Am 6:8-11), and bringing utter desolation upon them, since they would not be wrought upon by the methods he had taken for their conviction, Am 6:12-14.
1-7
The Danger of False Security (790 BC)
简体中文
虚假平安之险（公元前790年）
¹ 国为列国之首，以色列家所归、在锡安安逸、在撒玛利亚山仗恃的人有祸了！
² 你们要过到甲尼察看，从那里往大城哈马去，又下到非利士人的迦特；看他们比这两国强么？他们的境界比你们的境界还宽么？
³ 你们以为降祸的日子还远，坐在位上尽行强暴。
⁴ 你们躺卧在象牙床上，舒身在榻上，吃群中的羊羔、棚里的牛犊。
⁵ 弹琴鼓瑟唱消闲的歌曲，为自己造乐器，如同大卫所造的。
⁶ 用大碗喝酒，用上等的油抹身；却不为约瑟的苦难担忧。
⁷ 所以这些人必在被掳的人中首先被掳；舒身之人的荒宴必废去了。
本章开头的几句话就是这几节的内容；但这些话听来十分奇特，与虚浮之世人的想法相悖：在安逸中的人有祸了！ 我们总爱说：在安逸中的人有福了，那些既不感到烦扰、也不惧怕任何事、躺卧在温暖柔软之中、对什么都不放在心上的；我们也以为如此行的人是有智慧的，他们纵情于感官的快乐，不在乎世事如何。那些为身体打算、善待自己身体的人，世人看作是为己谋得不错；然而祸哉正针对他们宣告，这里也告诉我们他们的安逸是什么，那祸又是什么。
I. 这里描述了他们的骄傲、安逸和纵欲，神要因此向他们算账。
1. 他们虚浮地自负于自己的尊荣，并以为这些能保守他们免受所宣告的审判，成为他们抵御神与人双方面怒气的屏障。(1.) 住在锡安的人以为，那对他们而言已是足够的尊荣和保护，他们可以在那里免于一切灾祸的惊吓，因为那是一座坚城，天然与人工都防御坚固（我们读到锡安的保障和她的城垣），又因为那是王城，大卫家的宝座设在那里（它是犹大的首邑，所以实在伟大），尤其因为那是圣城，圣殿在那里，以色列的见证也在那里；住在那里的人毫不怀疑，神的圣所必成为他们的庇护所，必掩护他们免受祂的审判。这些是耶和华的殿，耶7:4。他们因圣山而骄傲，番3:11。请注意：许多人因教会特权和在锡安中所占的地位而骄傲自大，并被肉体的安全感所安抚入眠。(2.) 住在撒玛利亚山的人，虽那山不像锡安山那样是圣山，他们却仗恃它，因为那是一个强盛王国的京都，或许也效法耶路撒冷，是其宗教的总部；随着时日推移，舍默的山在他们眼中也得了与锡安山相埒的声誉。他们指望从这些山岭得着拯救。(3.) 这两个王国都自矜与以色列——那与神较力的王子——有关，他们以此为荣，自视为列国之首，比任何国家都更古老、更尊荣；他们是列国初熟的果子（原文如此），献给神，使全禾稼成圣。以色列家来到他们那里，意即分成这两个王国，而锡安和撒玛利亚是它们的母城。那些在安逸之中的，是君王和官长、是大户、是列国之首——即那两个王国的首领——全以色列家都向住在锡安和撒玛利亚的他们求判断。请注意：身居高位而不骄傲，实在很难。大国和大人物常高估自己，轻看邻舍，因为他们以为自己稍微高出别人一筹。然而，为要抑止他们的骄傲和安逸，先知吩咐他们留意他们所知道的范围内那些城邑——那些城邑在他们当世曾与锡安或撒玛利亚一样显赫，如今却已毁灭，摩6:2。“去甲尼（那是宁录所建造的古城，创10:10），看看它成了什么样，如今已成废墟；大城哈马也是如此，那是叙利亚的首要城市之一。西拿基立曾夸口毁灭哈马的神明。迦特也已被哈薛夷为荒场，为时不久，王下12:17。如今他们比犹大和以色列这两国更好么？是的，他们曾更好，他们的境界比你们的境界更大，所以更有理由自信自己的安全；然而你们看见他们成了什么样子，你们还敢安逸么？你岂比那有众河环绕的挪更好么？”鸿3:8。请注意：别人灭亡的鉴戒，禁止我们自恃安稳。
2. 他们因假定自己永不必为此受审，便执意行他们邪恶的道路（摩6:3）：“你们以为降祸的日子还远，就是算账的日子，以为那日子永不会来，或以为它离得如此之远，以致对你们毫无影响；你们把它推得远远的，自以为还能继续推得更远，一日一日地拖延；所以你们坐在位上尽行强暴；你们胆敢行一切不公不义和欺压，并与那借着律例架弄毒害的宝座同流，诗94:20。你们把这事拉得更近，仿佛那能保护你们免受这些审判，而其实那正是使你们为审判更加成熟的。”请注意：人所以使罪离自己近，是因为他们把审判推得离自己远；但如此戏弄神的人乃是自欺。
3. 他们放纵于各种感官的快乐和宴乐之中，摩6:4-6。这些以色列人可谓十足的享乐主义者、食欲的奴仆。他们既有的尊荣——他们本当以之为榜样行自制与刻苦的——他们却以为可以为自己纵欲辩解；他们以欺压强暴所得的，他们以为足以供给这些花费；他们又把降祸的日子推得远远的，免得它来搅扰他们。此处所控告他们的，本身并非有罪（这些事物本可节制有度地享用），而是他们将自己的福乐寄托于肉体情欲的满足；并且他们虽是在职之人，有当办之事务，却把自己交给宴乐，在其中虚掷光阴，把心思、关怀和产业都抛在其中。他们以这些享乐为本行。他们的心全在其上；他们毫无节制，并且这正是当神借护理召他们哭泣哀号之时（赛22:12-13）。他们既处在罪与怒气之下，神的审判随时就要临到他们，他们却呼求酒和浓酒，妄断明日必像今日一样，而且更为丰盈（赛56:12），如此与神背道而驰，公然藐视祂的公义。(1.) 他们在陈设上极其奢华。他们非要象牙的床来躺卧、或在席间坐着不可，而其实麻布和灰尘对他们才更合宜。(2.) 他们懒惰，纵容自己对安逸的爱好。他们不仅躺卧，更是舒身在榻上，而那时他们本当振奋起来办理自己的事务；他们甘心怠惰，并以无所事事为夸耀；他们在奢侈中纵情（边注如此读），而他们许多穷苦的弟兄却连必需品都缺乏。(3.) 他们在饮食上讲究挑剔，什么都要最好的，并且要丰足：他们吃群中的羊羔（整批整批的羊羔）、和棚里的牛犊，是他们所能找到最肥的；这些也许并非出于自己的羊群和自己的牛棚，而是从穷人那里欺压来的。(4.) 他们在宴席上欢乐纵饮，以音乐和歌唱自娱：他们弹琴鼓瑟唱消闲的歌曲，又设计新式的乐器，在此比在别的事上更努力要超越祖宗；他们绞尽脑汁，要想出怎样讨好自己的喜好。有些人除了在奢侈享乐上之外，从不显露他们的聪明才智；他们把一切发明的本领都花在那上面。他们为自己造乐器，如同大卫所造的，以那从前只有君王才能享受的来自娱。或者这也表明他们在欢乐中的亵渎；他们仿效圣殿的音乐，并以此取笑，因为也许那已显得陈旧，他们以嘲弄它为荣，正如巴比伦人催促俘虏为他们唱锡安的歌一样；伯沙撒之亵渎也与此相类——他在圣殿的器皿中饮酒；又如那些故意用诗篇的调子唱轻浮淫词之人，专为戏弄神圣的制度。(5.) 他们饮酒无度，从不以为自己能灌得够：他们用大碗喝酒，不是用小杯（如耶35:5）；他们厌恶受节制，必要大口畅饮，所以使用能从中偷饮一口的器皿。(6.) 他们讲究最浓烈的香料：他们用上等的油抹身，以悦鼻息，并使自己更爱自己身体，并防御那些他们在活着时随身携带的朽坏预兆。寻常的膏油不能满足他们；他们必要最上等的，从远方运来、价昂难得的，尽管较便宜的也照样合用。
4. 他们对神的教会和国家的利益毫不关心，而这些正在下沉衰败：他们却不为约瑟的苦难担忧；神的教会——包括犹大和以色列两国（称为约瑟，诗80:1）——正处在患难之中，受侵犯、受侮辱、被攻破。至于他们本国——他们受托治理、他们作其指导者、他们作其平安守护者的——这国的平安与福祉已大受破坏；他们却如此痴迷，竟毫无觉察，又如此沉溺于宴乐，竟毫不放在心上，并对所谓的事务如此厌恶，以致毫无挂虑去修补破口。国度沉也好、浮也好，对他们都一样，只要他们能安然躺卧、纵情享乐。属于约瑟的个人正处在苦难中，他们却不理会他们的案件——他们所受的冤屈艰难、所处的困境，也不肯费力去救济他们、为他们伸冤，这与圣洁的约伯截然不同——约伯在兴旺之时与遭灾的人同哭，他的心为穷人忧伤，伯30:25。有人认为，称受苦的教会为约瑟，是暗指法老酒政的故事：当酒政恢复把杯递在主人手中的职任时，没有记念约瑟，竟忘了他，创40:21、23。他们如此用大碗喝酒，却不为约瑟的苦难担忧。请注意：那些一心沉湎于自己享乐的人，对别人的患难通常漠不关心；当神的教会在受苦而我们却不为之担忧、不放在心上时，这在神眼中是大罪。
II. 这里宣告了对他们的判决（摩6:7）：所以这些人必在被掳的人中首先被掳，并要陷入一切俘虏所遭遇的苦境；那些舒身在榻上之人的荒宴必废去。他们的丰裕必被夺去，他们也要被夺离丰裕，因为他们把它当作情欲的饮食和燃料。1. 那些生活奢华的人，连自由也要失丧；他们因被掳为奴，正公义地为自己尊荣和权柄的滥用受罚。2. 那些仗恃本国快乐和宴乐的人，必被掳到异国，以此叫他们的骄傲和自信蒙羞；他们必被掳。3. 那些将福乐寄托于感官之乐、并一心恋慕的人，必被剥夺这些快乐；他们的荒宴必被废去，他们必知道度日艰难是什么滋味。4. 那些舒身的人必被迫蜷缩，被缩减到更窄的境地。5. 那些把降祸的日子推远的人，必发现那日子比别人的更近；那些因患难若来必最后才被抓住的指望而自慰的人，必在被掳的人中首先被掳。那些不为别人和神教会的患难放在心上的人，正迅速为患难成熟。当神召人哀哭时却沉湎于欢乐的人，必发现这是一件不能不受罚的罪，赛22:14。
英文原文
The Danger of False Security (790 BC)
¹ Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
² Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
³ Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
⁴ That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
⁵ That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;
⁶ That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
⁷ Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
The first words of the chapter are the contents of these verses; but they sound very strangely, and contrary to the sentiments of a vain world: Woe to those that are at ease! We are ready to say, Happy are those that are at ease, that neither feel any trouble nor fear any, that lie soft and warm, and lay nothing to heart; and wise we think are those that do so, that bathe themselves in the delights of sense and care not how the world goes. Those are looked upon as doing well for themselves that do well for their bodies and make much of them; but against them this woe is denounced, and we are here told what their ease is, and what the woe is.
I. Here is a description of their pride, security, and sensuality, for which God would reckon with them.
1. They were vainly conceited of their own dignities, and thought those would secure them from the judgments threatened and be their defence against the wrath both of God and man. (1.) Those that dwelt in Zion thought that was honour and protection enough for them, and they might there be quiet from all fear of evil, because it was a strong city, well fortified both by nature and art (we read of Zion's strong-holds and her bulwarks), and because it was a royal city, where were set the thrones of the house of David (it was the head-city of Judah, and therefore truly great), and especially because it was the holy city, where the temple was, and the testimony of Israel; those that dwelt there doubted not but that God's sanctuary would be a sanctuary to them and would shelter them from his judgments. The temple of the Lord are these, Jer 7:4. They are haughty because of the holy mountain, Zep 3:11. Note, Many are puffed up with pride, and rocked asleep in carnal security, by their church-privileges, and the place they have in Zion. (2.) Those that dwelt in the mountain of Samaria, though it was not a holy hill, like that of Zion, yet they trusted in it, because it was the metropolis of a potent kingdom, and perhaps, in imitation of Jerusalem, was the head-quarters of its religion; and by lapse of time the hill of Shemer became with them in as good repute as the hill of Zion ever was. They hoped for salvation from these hills and mountains. (3.) Both these two kingdoms valued themselves upon their relation to Israel, that prince with God, which they looked upon as masking them the chief of the nations, more ancient and honourable than any of them; the first-fruits of the nations (so the word is), dedicated to God and sanctifying the whole harvest. The house of Israel came to them, that is, was divided into those kingdoms, of which Zion and Samaria were the mother cities. Those that were at ease were the princes and rulers, the great men, that were chief of the nations, chief of those two kingdoms, and to whom, having their residence in Zion and Samaria, the whole house of Israel applied for judgment. Note, It is hard to be great and not to be proud. Great nations and great men are apt to overvalue themselves, and to overlook their neighbours, because they think they a little overtop them. But, for a check to their pride and security, the prophet bids them take notice of those cities that were within the compass of their knowledge, that had been as illustrious in their time as ever Zion or Samaria was, and yet were destroyed, Am 6:2. "Go to Calneh (which was an ancient city built by Nimrod, Ge 10:10), and see what has become of that, it is now in ruins; so is Hamath the great, one of the chief cities of Syria. Sennacherib boasts of destroying the gods of Hamath. Gath was likewise made desolate by Hazael, and not long ago, 2Ki 12:17. Now were they better than these kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Yes, they were, and their border greater than your border, so that they had more reason than you to be confident of their own safety; yet you see what has become of them, and dare you be secure? Art thou better than populous No?" Na 3:8. Note, The examples of others' ruin forbid us to be secure.
2. They persisted in their wicked courses upon a presumption that they should never be called to an account for them (Am 6:3): "You put far away the evil day, the day of reckoning, as a thing that shall never come, or you look upon it as at such a distance that it makes no impression at all upon you; you put it far away, and think you can still put it yet further, and adjourn it de die in diem—from day to day, and therefore you cause the seat of violence to draw near; you venture upon all acts of injustice and oppression, and have fellowship with the throne of iniquity, which frames mischief by a law, Ps 94:20. You cause that to come near, as if that would be your protection from these judgments which really ripens you for them." Note, Therefore men take sin to be near them, because they take judgment to be far off from them; but those deceive themselves who thus mock God.
3. They indulged themselves in all manner of sensual pleasures and delights, Am 6:4-6. These Israelites were perfect epicures and slaves to their appetites. Their dignities (in consideration of which they ought to have been examples of self-denial and mortification), they thought, would justify them in their sensuality; the gains of their oppression and violence, they thought, would bear the charge of it; and they put the evil day at a distance, that they might give them no disturbance in it. That which they are here charged with is not in itself sinful (these things might be soberly and moderately used), but they placed their happiness in the gratification of their carnal appetites; and though they were men in office, that had business to mind, they gave themselves up to their pleasures, spent their time in them, and threw away their thoughts, and cares, and estates upon them. They were in these enjoyments as in their element. Their hearts were upon them; they exceeded all bounds in them, and this at a time when God in his providence was calling them to weeping and mourning, Isa 22:12,13. When they were under guilt and wrath, and the judgments of God were ready to break in upon them, they called for wine and strong drink, presuming that to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant (Isa 56:12), thus walking contrary to God and setting his justice at defiance. (1.) They were extravagant in their furniture. Nothing would serve them but beds of ivory to sleep upon, or to sit on at their meat, when sackcloth and ashes would have become them better. (2.) They were lazy, and humoured themselves in the love of ease. They did not only lie down, but stretched themselves upon their couches, when they should have stirred up themselves to their business; they were willingly slothful, and took a pride in doing nothing; they abound in superfluities (so the margin reads it), when many of their poor brethren wanted necessaries. (3.) They were nice and curious in their diet, must have every thing of the best and abundance of it: They ate the lambs out of the flock (lambs by wholesale) and the calves out of the midst of the stall, the fattest they could lay their hand on; and these perhaps not out of their own flock and their own stall, but taken by oppression from the poor. (4.) They were merry and jovial, and diverted themselves at their feasts with music and singing: They chant to the sound of the viol, sing and play in concert, and they invent new-fashioned instruments of music, striving herein, more than in any thing else, to excel their ancestors; they set their wits on work to contrive how to please their fancy. Some men never show their ingenuity but in their luxury; on that they bestow all their faculty of invention and contrivance. They invent instruments of music, like David, entertain themselves with that which formerly used to be the entertainment of kings only. Or it intimates their profaneness in their mirth; they mimicked the temple-music, and made a jest of that, because, it may be, it was old-fashioned, and they took a pride in bantering it as the Babylonians did when they urged the captives to sing to them the songs of Zion; such was Belshazzar's profaneness when he drank wine in temple-bowls, and such is theirs that sing vain and loose songs in psalm-tunes, on purpose to ridicule a divine institution. (5.) They drank to excess, and never thought they could pour down enough: They drank wink in bowls, not in glasses, or cups (as Jer 35:5); they hate to be stinted, and must have large draughts, and therefore make use of vessels that they can steal a draught out of. (6.) They affected the strongest perfumes: They anoint themselves with the chief ointments, to please the smell, and to make them more in love with their own bodies, and to guard against those presages of putrefaction which they carry about with them while they live. No ordinary ointments would serve their turn; they must have the chief, such as were far-fetched and dear-bought, when cheaper would have served as well.
4. They had no concern at all for the interests of the church of God, and of the nation, that were sinking and going to decay: They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph; the church of God, including both the kingdoms of Judah and Israel (which are called Joseph, Ps 80:1), was in distress, invaded, insulted, and broken in upon. As to their own kingdom which they were entrusted with the government of, the affairs of which they were directors of, the peace of which they were the conservators of, great breaches were made upon it, upon its peace and welfare; and they were so besotted that they were not aware of them, so indulgent of their pleasures that they never laid them to heart, and had such an aversion to the thing called business that they were in no care or concern to get them repaired. It is all one to them whether the nation sink or swim, so that they can but lie at ease and live in pleasure. Particular persons that belonged to Joseph were in affliction, and they took no cognizance of their case of the wrongs and hardships they sustained and the troubles they were in, nor took any care to relieve them, and right them, contrary to the temper of holy Job, who, when he was in prosperity, wept with him that was in misery and his soul was grieved for the poor, Job 30:25. Some think that, in calling the afflicted church Joseph, there is an allusion to the story of Pharaoh's butler, who, when he preferred to give the cup again into his master's hand, remembered not Joseph, but forgot him, Ge 40:21,23. Thus they drank wine in bowls, but were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Note, Those are commonly careless of the troubles of others who are set upon their own pleasures; and it is a great offence to God when his church is in affliction and we are not grieved for it, nor lay it to heart.
II. Here is the doom passed upon them (Am 6:7): Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and shall fall into all the miseries that attend captives; and the banquet of those that stretched themselves upon their couches shall be removed. Their plenty shall be taken from them, and they from it, because they made it the food and fuel of their lusts. 1. Those who lived in luxury shall lose even their liberty; and by being brought into servitude shall be justly punished for the abuse of their dignity and dominion. 2. Those who trusted in the delights and pleasures of their own land shall be carried away into a strange land, and so made ashamed of their pride and confidence; they shall go captive. 3. Those who placed their happiness in the pleasures of sense, and set their hearts upon them, shall be deprived of those pleasures; their banquet shall be removed, and they shall know what it is to fare hard. 4. Those who stretched themselves shall be made to contract themselves, and to come into a less compass. 5. Those who put the evil day far from them shall find it nearer to them than it is to others; those shall go captive with the first who flattered themselves with hopes that if trouble did come they should be the last who should be seized by it. Those are ripening apace for trouble themselves who lay not to heart the trouble of others and of the church of God. Those who give themselves to mirth, when God calls them to mourning, will find it a sin that shall not go unpunished, Isa 22:14.
8-14
Threatenings of Judgment (790 BC)
简体中文
审判的威吓（主前790年）\n\n> ⁸ 主耶和华万军之神指着自己起誓说：我雅各的荣华，我憎恶他的宫殿；因此我必将城和其中所有的，交付仇敌。\n> ⁹ 那时，若在一所房子里剩下十个人，也都必死。\n> ¹⁰ 死人的叔叔，就是烧尸首的，要将尸首搬出房外，问房屋间内的人说：你那里还有人没有？他必说：没有。又说：不要作声，因为我们不可提耶和华的名。\n> ¹¹ 看哪，耶和华出令，大房就被攻破，小屋就被裂开。\n> ¹² 马岂能在崖石上奔跑？人岂能在那里用牛耕种呢？你们却使公平变为苦胆，使公义的果子变为茵陈。\n> ¹³ 你们喜爱虚浮的事，自夸说：我们不是凭自己的力量取得了角吗？\n> ¹⁴ 耶和华万军之神说：以色列家啊，我必兴起一国攻击你们；他们必欺压你们，从哈马口直到亚拉巴的河。\n\n本章前半部分，我们看见那些安逸的以色列人把自己的享乐尽情堆在自己身上，仿佛他们再也不能欢乐够了；此处我们看见神把刑罚尽堆在他们身上，仿佛他们再也不能受苦够了。请留意——\n\nI. 这重担捆绑得何等牢固，不致被他们的狂妄与安逸所摆脱；因为这重担乃是 主万军之神 借他大能的、全能的手所捆绑——无人能敌；这重担是用誓言所捆，使判语再不能收回：主耶和华已经起誓，必不后悔；他既没有更大的可以指着起誓，就指着自己起誓。他们的灭亡——他们的永远灭亡——既是神自己已经起誓，而他既能执行他的旨意，又不能改变其旨意，那些人的处境是何等可怕、何等可悲！\n\nII. 这重担压得何等沉重！让我们看看其中细节。1. 神必厌恶他们、丢弃他们——这就意味着足够的灾祸、一切的灾祸：我厌恶雅各的荣华——他们所引以为傲、所自矜、并据此自称为 列国之首 的一切。他们有形的教会成员身份以及其中的特权——他们的圣殿、祭坛、祭司体系——这些原是雅各之荣华中最突出的；但当这些被罪玷污污秽之时，神便厌恶它们；他憎恶并藐视它们（摩5:21）。当知，神厌恶假冒为善之人所维持的敬虔外貌，正如他们厌恶敬虔的实意一般。他若因圣殿中的罪孽而厌恶圣殿，那么他因其中所行的强暴与欺压而恨恶他们的宫殿，也就不足为奇了。当知，我们若对某受造之物心怀如此之满足、寄以如此之信靠，以致使之与神相争，那物便因此成为神所憎恶的。他 恨恶罪人的宫殿，因住其中之人的恶（箴3:33：耶和华的咒诅在恶人的家中）。他既厌恶他们，紧接的下文便是：他必将 城和其中所有的，交付仇敌——交在敌人手中，使他们将其变为荒场，并将其一切财富劫掠一空。当知，那些被神所厌恶所丢弃的人，从各方各面都已彻底败亡。2. 他们中间必有大而普遍的死亡（摩6:9）：若在一所房子里剩下十个人——他们都躲避了仇敌的刀剑——却仍必以别的方式追上他们；他们必全部因饥荒或瘟疫而 死。在最疫疠流行的时期，若一家十口，至少可盼其中半数得以脱险，按 两个人在床上，取去一个，撇下一个 的比例；然而此处十人之中无一人得以存活埋葬其余。死亡的浩大的另一实例是（摩6:10）：死者的至亲被迫亲手用布缠裹他们的遗体，亲自埋葬他们，因无人可雇；那是 至近的亲属——本享有赎业之权的——所能为他们做的一切，他们且是带着极大不情愿去做的。这暗示年轻人最先被剪除；因为存活的叔叔通常是年长的亲属。当死者的叔叔带着掘墓人（或 烧尸的） 将尸骨从房中搬出之时，他必对所见在房屋旁边的人说：你那里还有人没有？还有活着的吗？ 他必说：没有，这是最后一位；如今全家已被死亡剪除，根枝俱无。 但使这审判更显痛苦的，是他们似乎在其中已经心硬。那在被房屋旁边所发现的人，开始与那搬尸的人交谈之时，他们必说：不要作声；不要向我们讲论这灾祸中神护理的作为，因为我们不可提耶和华的名；神向我们发怒如此之烈，以致我们不能向他说话；他对我们所作之错极尽严苛地记念，以致我们连提他的名也不敢。 这样，人的愚妄倾覆他的道，使他陷入困境，然后 他的心便恼恨耶和华。 即便在那时，他们仍不肯留意他的作为，也不容许周围的人留意。或许某些拜偶像的王曾明令禁止提 耶和华 之名，正如摩西律法禁止提异教之神的名一样：我们若如此行，便难免受罚。 当知，那些心已硬到神的手已经伸出攻击他们、疾病与死亡已经临到他们家中之时，仍不肯提神的名、不肯敬拜他的人，他们的心实在是硬得可悲极了。这样，那些 神捆绑他们之时仍不哀求 的人，便只是 为自己积蓄忿怒。 3. 他们的房屋必被毁坏（摩6:11）。神必 用破口攻击大房，用裂缝攻击小屋；二者都要裂开，以致失去其华美与力量，趋向倾倒。贵胄的宫殿不能超脱神公义的责罚，穷人的茅舍也不可免受其刑；二者都不得脱。罪既已将它们标为毁灭，神必找出方法将其成就。破口之来，乃是奉他的命令。\n\nIII. 这重担压在他们身上是何等公义。我们若正确地明了这事，必说：主是公义的。 1. 用以挽回他们的方法都已归于徒然无效（摩6:12）：马岂能在崖石上奔跑——在那里踹谷或耙地？或 人岂能在那里用牛耕种呢？不能，因为所得不足抵偿所劳。神差遣他的先知去 开垦他们的荒地；但他们发现他们如同崖石一般又硬又顽固，又粗又糙，对他们无能为力，不能在他们身上动工，所以他们也不再试图如此行。他们既不肯受挽回，便不再受责备，而被完全丢弃。当知，那些不肯如田地葡萄园那样受耕种的人，必如荒岩沙漠那样被弃绝（来6:7-8）。2. 他们滥用自己的权柄，欺压了许多人；那位至高的审判者不但要为受伤之人伸冤，更要复仇：你们使公平变为苦胆——可憎之物；又使 公义的果子变为茵陈——有害之物；看见那些受托施行公义的人，竟以本应护卫扶持公平的权柄将公平压下，反倒将其武器转过来对付它本身，足以令人作呕。当知，我们对神的敬拜既因罪变酸，神的护理也必公义地对我们变苦。3. 他们蔑视神的审判，并仗恃自己的力量，自以为是全能者的对手（摩6:13）。他们 喜爱虚无之事，自慰以为虽有祸患必不临到他们——虽然他们对那信靠毫无根据，无可凭之物足以承重。他们说：我们不是凭自己的力量取得了角吗？ 我们岂不是已经登上了极大的尊荣与权势？我们岂不是已经用角抵触倒我们的仇敌、推进了我们的得胜？而且这岂不是 凭我们自己的力量——我们自己的谋略勇气，我们自己的财富军力——所得的吗？那么我们还需要怕谁呢？我们还需要讨好谁呢？连神我们也不必。当知，兴旺与成功常使人放肆骄傲；那些已经成就大事的人，便以为自己无所不能——没有神也能，甚至敌挡神也能。但那些倚靠自己力量的人，所喜乐的不过是 虚无之物——他们也必如此发现。或许他们口里并没有 逐字 如此说，但他们的心和他们的行为所说的，正是这语言——神明白这一切。\n\nIV. 这重担将何等轻易、何等有效地压在他们身上（摩6:14）。将这重担压在他们身上的乃是 主万军之神，他既可凭己意而行，又能凭己意而行；他统率万有；他既有工作要做，便不愁没有可用的器皿；他们虽是以色列家，他必 兴起一国攻击他们——他们所不曾畏惧、却屡次寄望于其一国，即亚述人；这一国必 欺压他们，使他们陷入困窘，使他们受苦；从北方的 哈马口 直到南方的 旷野之河——即埃及之河、西曷或尼罗河。全国既同有罪孽之分，就必同有灾祸之份。当知，当人无论以何方式成为我们受苦的工具之时，我们必须看见是神兴起了他们攻击我们——因为他们在他手中：棍棒在他手中，刀剑在他手中。是主吩咐示每咒骂大卫。\n
英文原文
Threatenings of Judgment (790 BC)
⁸ The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
⁹ And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
¹⁰ And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
¹¹ For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
¹² Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
¹³ Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
¹⁴ But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
In the former part of the chapter we had these secure Israelites loading themselves with pleasures, as if they could never be made merry enough; here we have God loading them with punishments, as if they could never be made miserable enough. And observe,
I. How strongly this burden is bound on, not to be shaken off by their presumption and security; for it is bound by the Lord the God of hosts, by his mighty, his almighty, hand, which none can resist; it is bound with an oath, which puts the sentence past revocation: The Lord God has sworn, and he will not repent, and, since he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself. How dreadful, how miserable, is the case of those whose ruin, whose eternal ruin, God himself has sworn, who can execute his purpose and cannot alter it!
II. How heavily this burden lies! Let us see the particulars. 1. God will abhor and abandon them, and that implies misery enough, all misery: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, all that which they are proud of, and value themselves upon, and for which they call and count themselves the chief of nations. Their visible church-membership, and the privileges of that, their temple, altar, and priesthood, these were, more than any thing, the excellencies of Jacob; but, when these were profaned and polluted by sin, God abhorred them; he hated and despised them, Am 5:21. Note, God abhors that form of godliness which hypocrites keep up, while they abhor the power of it. And if he abhors their temple, for the iniquity of that, no marvel that he hates their palaces, for the injustices and oppression he finds there. Note, that creature which we take such a complacency and put such a confidence in as to make it a rival with God is thereby made abominable to him. He hates the palaces of sinners, for the sake of wickedness of those that dwell therein. Pr 3:33, The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. And, if God abhor them, immediately it follows, He will deliver up the city with all that is therein, deliver it up into the hands of the enemy, that will lay it waste, and make a prey of all its wealth. Note, Those that are abhorred and abandoned of God are undone to all intents and purposes. 2. There shall be a great and general mortality among them (Am 6:9): If there remain ten men in one house, that have escaped the sword of the enemy, yet they shall be met with another way; they shall all die by famine or pestilence. In the most sickly times, if there be ten in a house, one may hope that at least the one-half of them will escape, according to the proportion of two in a bed, one taken and the other left; but here not one of ten shall live to bury the rest. Another instance of the greatness of the mortality is (Am 6:10) that the nearest relations of the dead shall be forced with their own hands to wind up their bodies, and bury them, for want of other hands to be employed in it; that is all that the next of kin, to whom the right of redemption belongs, can do for them, and with great reluctance will they do that. It intimates that the young people shall be cut off soonest; for the uncle that survives is, ordinarily, the senior relation. "When the uncle comes with the sexton (or him that burns), to bring out the bones out of the house, he shall say to him that he sees next about the house, 'Is there any yet with thee? Are there any left alive?' And he shall say, 'No, this is the last; now the whole family is cut off by death, and neither root nor branch remains.'" But that which makes the judgment the more grievous is that their hearts seem to be hardened under it. "When he that is found by the sides of the house begin to enter into discourse with those that are carrying off the dead, they shall say, 'Hold thy tongue; do not stand preaching to us about the hand of Providence in this calamity, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord; God is so angry with us that there is no speaking to him; he is so extreme to mark what we do amiss that we dare not so much as make mention of his name." ' Thus the foolishness of men perverts their way, and brings them into distress, and then their heart frets against the Lord. Even then they will not take notice of his hand, nor suffer those about them to do it. Perhaps it was forbidden by some of the idolatrous kings to make mention of the name of Jehovah, as by the law of Moses it was forbidden to make mention of the names of the heathen-gods: "We may not do it without incurring the penalty." Note, Those hearts are wretchedly hardened indeed that will not be brought to make mention of God's name, and to worship him, when the hand of God has gone out against them, and when, as here, sickness and death are in their families. Thus those heap up wrath who cry not when God binds them. 3. Their houses shall be destroyed, Am 6:11. God will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts; they shall both be cracked so as to lose their beauty and strength, and to be hastening towards a fall. The princes' palaces are not above the rebuke of divine justice, nor the poor men's cottages beneath it; neither shall escape. When sin has marked them for ruin God will find ways to bring it about. It is by order from him that breaches are made.
III. How justly they are thus burdened. If we understand the matter aright, we shall say, The Lord is righteous. 1. The methods used for their reformation had been all fruitless and ineffectual (Am 6:12): Shall horses run upon the rock, to hurl or harrow the ground there? Or will one plough there with oxen? No, for there will be no profit to countervail the pains. God has sent them his prophets, to break up their fallow-ground; but they found them as hard and inflexible as the rock, rough and rugged, and they could do no good with them, nor work upon them, and therefore they shall not attempt it any more. They will not be reclaimed, and therefore shall not be reproved, but quite abandoned. Note, Those who will not be cultivated as fields and vineyards shall be rejected as barren rocks and deserts, Heb 6:7,8. 2. They had abused their power to the wrong and oppression of many, whose injured cause the sovereign Judge would not only right, but revenge: You have turned judgment into gall, which is nauseous, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock, which is noxious; it would make one sick to see how those that were entrusted with the administration of public justice bore down equity with that power which they out to have defended and supported it, and so turned its own artillery against itself. Note, When our services of God are soured with sin his providences will justly be embittered to us. 3. They had set the judgments of God at defiance, and, confiding in their own strength, thought themselves a match for Omnipotence, Am 6:13. They rejoiced in a thing of nought, pleased themselves with a fancy that no evil should befal them, though they had no ground at all for that confidence, nothing to trust to that would bear any weight. They said, "Have we not taken to us horns; have we not arrived to great dignity and dominion, have we not pushed down our enemies and pushed on our victories, and this by our own strength, our own skill and courage, our own wealth and military force? Who then need we be afraid of? Who then need we make court to? Not God himself." Note, Prosperity and success commonly make men secure and haughty; and those that have done much think they can do any thing, any thing without God, nay, any thing against him. But those who trust in their own strength rejoice in a thing of nought, and so they will find. Probably they did not say this with their lips, totidem verbis—in so many words, but it was the language of their hearts and of their actions, both which God understands.
IV. How easily and effectually this burden shall be brought upon them, Am 6:14. He that brings it upon them is the Lord the God of hosts, who both may do and can do what he pleases, who has all creatures at his command, and who, when he has work to do, will not be at a loss for instruments to do it with; though they are the house of Israel, yet he will raise up against them a nation which they feared not, but had many a time hoped in, even the Assyrians, and this nation shall afflict them, bring them into straits, and put them to pain, from the entering in of Hamath, in the north, to the river of the wilderness, the river of Egypt, Sihor or Nile, in the south. The whole nation has shared in the iniquity, and therefore must expect to share in the calamity. Note, When men are in any way instruments of affliction to us we must see God raising them up against us, for they are in his hand—the rod, the sword, in his hand. The Lord has bidden Shimei curse David.
在本章中，我们看到：I. 一个犯罪的百姓，设法轻看神的警告、使之显得无关紧要，他们仗恃自己超越别国的特权与尊荣（摩6:2-3），仗恃自己的权势（摩6:13），并完全沉溺于宴乐之中，摩6:4-6。II. 一位郑重的先知，设法加重神警告的分量、使之显得可畏，他宣告即将临到这些纵欲之人的审判何等严厉（摩6:7），宣告神厌弃他们，将他们和他们所有的人交于死亡（摩6:8-11），并使他们全然荒凉，因为他们既不受神为使他们知罪所用的方法所感化，摩6:12-14。