October 1927
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ant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.” These unrighteous finan ciers enjoyed the luxury and the com forts of great palatial residences on large landed estates surrounded by pleasant vineyards; but the prophet assured them that the God of justice will avenge their unrighteousness by casting them forth. Evidently these people were entirely en grossed in worldly affairs and the pleas ures of sin for a season Which crowded out the Word of God (Mátt. 13:22; Lk 8:14). They had built their homes am were enjoying the luxuries thereof with “blood money,” with little thought that “It is appointed unto men once to die and after this cometh judgment." They did not realize that “the hire of the labor ers . . .crieth out . . . into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (armies)” (Jas. 5:4). The psalmist (Psa. 49:11, 18, 20) evidently had the same class of people in mind. These vast landed estates and pa-’ latial homes will, by the providence of God, be taken from them, says the prophet; hence they would not enjoy the riches ill-gotten by them. In contrast with these, who are dispossessed of their homes and vineyards, note the blessings of the remnant of Israel who shall, when Jesus returns,, enjoy the blessings' of the land with the curse removed (Amos 9:11-15). Riches are a millstone, as it were, around the neck of most people who possess them (Matt, 19:16-22). Jesus says, “Lay up treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6 :19-21 cf. Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Pet. 1:3-5). V. 12. “For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins.” “One sin calls for an other,” someone has said. (See David’s history of sinning, 2 Sam. 11-12.) _When the conscience becomes seared sin be comes the order of the life. When one loses his grip on God he: plunges to the very depths of the chasm of sin and deg radation. Such was the case with those whom Amos denounced. “Ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe . . .” . What ever one does even to the least of the children of God is done unto God (Matt. 10:42; 25:31-46). The word translated “bribe” is derived from the root word which means' to “cover, hide, make away, obliterate; hence, an expiation,” and is the regular Old Testament term for atonement. The connection between the idea of bribing and that of atonement is this: Bribing an unscrupulous judge causes him to acquit the condemned crim inal; the blood of the lamb atonement, which was evidence that life had been forfeited, symbolically covered sin and transgression, hiding them from God’s view. Now the Blood of Christ covers or hides from God’s sight all of the sins of those who have made covenant with Him (Psa. 50:5). V. 13. “He that is prudent should keep silence at such a time; for it is an evil timé” There are times when wisdom dictates to one to- hold his peace (Prov. 9:7-8). Jesus taught that one should “not cast pearls before swine," and like wise practiced this same principle. When ever men give clear evidence that they do not want the truth and do not appre ciate it, to attempt to speak or to preach to such a one is to cast pearls before swine. In “evil times” when the message is absolutely rejected and no good is ac complished, wisdom dictates to the faith ful child of God to betake himself to God in prayer instead of preaching the Word to those who would trample it under foot. Though the times be evil,
“rise” is the word used by Isaiah (Isa. 26: 19) to refer to the resurrection from the dead; likewise it is used in Isa. 52:13, which passage is a prediction of the wise dealings of the Servant Jehovah (Christ), of His resurrection, ascension, and exalta tion at the right hand of God. In this passage, however, it' is translated in our version as “be exalted,” but literally it should be “shall rise.” In the Amos pas sage the idea of rise is inherent in the word and means that the Northern King dom, which consisted of the ■ ten tribes which revolted against Rehoboam, shall never have a “national resurrection.” There is, however, promised the national resurrection of the twelve tribes into one kingdom under King Messiah (Ezek. 37), Who will sit upon the throne of David (Isa. 9:6-7), Whose reign shall extend from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth (Zech. 9 :10). V. 3. “The city that went forth a thou sand shall have a hundred left. . . ." This language shows that only a remnant of the nation would survive the national overthrow (Isa- 6:11-13). Vs. 4-9. In these omitted verses appears a strong plea by the prophet to the na tion to give up their idolatrous worship , at Bethel, to abandon the national shrines created by Jeroboam at the time of the revolt from the house of David, and to seek Jehovah that they might live, lest His righteous indignation should blot out the kingdom. In verses 7-9 the prophet in an oratorical flight presents Jehovah, his God, as the Creator, Sustainer and Rulei of the entire universe. In the latter half of verse 8 God is the One Who sends the rain (Gen. 2:5; Matt. 5:45). In verse 9 God controls and punishes the nations (Psa. 33:10-11).. Amo s presents two other pictures of God as the God of the universe in 4:12-13 and 9:5-6. V. 10. “They hate him that reproveth in the gate, ¿and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.” The principle, “Un solicited advice is seldom appreciated,” is justified by these verses. The people were determined to have their way and did not wish to be interrupted or bothered. The men of Israel hated Amos and doubtless would have killed him had they dared to do so. John the Baptist’s reproving Her od was the occasion of his imprisonment (Lk. 3:18-20; cf. Prov. 9:7-9). The word translated “abhor” is very vivid and graphic in the original and is the strong est term to be found to express the idea of loathing and detesting the one speak ing uprightly, as one would loathe that which is filthy and unclean, drawing back in utter disgust from the sight. The words translated “speaketh uprightly” lit erally mean “speaking completely, sound ly or healthfully,” the idea being that the speaker is bringing a message which is perfect (because it is God’s message), sincerely as a messenger of God. V. 11. “As ye trample upon the poor and take exactions from him of wheat.” This language is spoken to the wealthy and powerful people of the land. They doubtless are the same class (great land- owners) concerning which Isaiah a little later spoke (Isa. 5:8-12). As to how they oppressed the poor we are not told, except that they were . extortionate in their levies of grain. It is quite probable that these wealthy financiers resorted to all of the underhanded methods which are practiced in our modern civilization by unscrupulous financiers. “Y e h a v e built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleas
V . 1. “Hear ye this word which I take • up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.” The prophets conx stantly urged the people to listen to their In view of the statement of v. 13 what question may we all well ponder ? (Psa. 130:3.) If one really hates evil (Rom. 12:9), how will his hatred express itself? (1 Thess. 5 :22.) —o— G o l d e n T e x t I l l u s t r a t io n Let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream (Amos 5:24). r a n While Athens was governed by the thirty tyrants, Socrates was summoned to the Senate House, and ordered to go, with some others, to seize a certain man of rank and fortune, whom they had de termined to put out of the way, that they might get his _estate. Socrates flatly re fused to participate. “I will not assist in an unjust act,” said the philosopher. “Dost thou think,” asked one of the of ficials sharply, “that thou canst talk in this high tone and not suffer?” “Far from it,” said Socrates; “I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly.” When men are ruled by -such a spirit as this, judgment will indèed “run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” —o—. the entrance into the heart of which gives light (Psa. 119:130). T h e Scriptures just quoted show the perfection of the messages which came through the law giver and the prophets which, though per fect, could not make alive (Gal. 3:21) ; but the -message which came through Jesus is the “words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68). The Special message which our prophet in this chapter brings is a lamen tation, a mournful, funeral dirge such as David’s lament over Jonathan (2 Sam. 1: 17), and Ezekiel’s lament over the princes of Israel (Ezek. 19). This lamentation was really the funeral dirge for the Northern Kingdom, sounded as a warn ing to Israel that they might see the er ror of their ways and turn to God. V. 2. “The virgin daughter of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise.” The ex pression “virgin daughter of Israel" does not imply that Israel was living a pure, consecrated life devoted to God, for the entire history of the Northern Kingdom proves conclusively to the contrary, but it means, as in Isa. 47, which speaks of the “virgin daughter of Babylon,” that the na tion, viewed as a woman, had not been violently dishonored,—the nation had not been degraded from its proud position of supremacy into a shameful state of deg radation and servitude. The prophet uses the perfect tense of the verb in order to portray vividly the certain doom of the nation. This prophetic perfect is similar to that used in Josh. 6:2. This usage speaks of things yet in the future as if they were already accomplished. Their fall was due to the fact that they had sold themselves for transgression and ini quity (Isa. 50:1). The word translated messages and to give ear unto their speech, the reason being that they were not speak in g t h e i r own thoughts and words, but the thoughts and words of God (Zech. 7:12; 1 Cór. 2:13).
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